Private Love and Corruption - The Coruscant Conundrum

[Hawk Hinata]

The speeder shot from the parking area and veered upward into the sky. They wove through the traffic; took several sharp turns, and even backtracked a few times all at high speed, before the mysterious driver slowed. No doubt he had been ensuring no one was following them.

"If your finger moves any closer to that button I will take your arm off," Hawk commented as if beginning a casual conversation about the weather.

"You knew?" The mysterious figure replied, his finger hesitating for a moment before withdrawing from a button on the speeder display. "Why did you get in if you knew?"

"Yes, I knew, but you have no contract on Miss Reeves." Hawk stated as if this were obvious. "The real question is why you didn't press your button during our escape instead of once we were safe and I was far more likely to deduce your movement?"

The assassin looked thoughtful and for a while Hawk thought he wasn't going to answer...maybe he didn't know himself?

"Maybe I'm fed up with the corruption myself," he suddenly replied. "They took my neighbour's daughter," he added and Hawk could feel the anger swelling within him. "I knew Torshin was trafficking kids damn it, but I never cared until I saw her mother's face...I have a son see..."

Hawk sat silently as his would-be assassin confessed to him as if Hawk were a priest able to absolve him of his sins. The Jedi wondered if the child trafficking had any connection to the irregularities and murders at the energy union, but did not press him for information while he was exorcising his demons.

"Chances are Torshin will know that you haven't killed me very soon. I'm moving Miss Reeves somewhere safe. You will be safe there too."

"To hell with safe," he growled. "I'm getting my neighbour's daughter back, and as many of the others as I can."

"Very well, but you follow my lead. We do things my way, and you kill no one unless it is absolutely necessary - The alternative is I take you in as an accessory to murder and child trafficking and the charges you're in for get accidentally leaked to the other inmates. I hear even criminals take a dim view on child traffickers." Hawk added seeing him about to argue.

He nodded.

" What do I call you? " Hawk asked.

"Orlic Trevannon, but most just call me Trevannon."

Hawk nodded and then guided Trevannon back toward the hotel where he and Kat were staying.

 

[KitKatt]

After a few moments of hurried blaster fire Kat summoned the Force to push the shooter off balance. He tripped forward and Kat shot out of her hiding place in time to kick his blaster away from him and pull her own.

“Don’t shoot!”

Kat hesitated, watching the man on his belly begging her not to shoot. That didn’t sound like the type of man with the guts to take down a Jedi.

“Why were you trying to blow up the Jedi Hinata?”

“Jedi? I ain’t blowing up any Jedi. I was told to grab the reporter. I’m no killer.”

Kat could sense no lies from the man and lowered her weapon slightly. This wasn’t an assassin. This was a common thug hired to grab the reporter. The bomb must have been planted by the assassin tailing Hawk, and since Hawk was headed to the reporter it all got mixed together. Or maybe there was a third deadly party in this game. That wasn’t a comforting thought.

She felt a jolt of fear and annoyance well up inside her. Her actions to keep this man busy had done nothing to help protect Hawk, and by now the reporter and Hawk could be who knows where.

“Get up.”

The man got to his feet, arms raised. He had a weak chin, which he covered with a small goatee. Now that she could look at his face she saw he was Zeltronian.

“Who hired you to kidnap the reporter?”

“I’m not a snitch.”

“Really? Well I’m not a very good shot so if I try to persuade you with a warning it might cost you a limb.. or worse.”

His eyes went wide as he sized her up. Clearly the cops were corrupted as well because he seemed to genuinely believe she could be a dirty CorSec agent. That might be common institutional corruption and have nothing to do with the energy Union though. Either way it worked to her advantage.

“Some office aid. Works with some big wig Counselor. I didn’t ask a lot of questions.”

“Well the people I work with do ask a lot of questions so you better remember something.”

“You aren’t taking me in are you?”

“Yes. Do you have some problem with that?”

“I can’t go to jail! I’ll make a deal. I know where some of those kids are!”

“Where is that?” She hid her surprise at the mention of children. How in the universe could children be related to the energy union business?

“Underground. Near..”

He started to choke as a dart made contact with his throat. Kat spun around to see who was watching them but she saw nobody. The man fell to the floor gasping but before she could take two steps to help him she heard a distinct beep.

Someone had armed the bomb remotely.

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

The trio entered the hotel via the service entrance and moved swiftly up to the room where Hawk and Kat had spent the previous evening watching their holonet film.
Joycin had been very quiet the entire journey back; Hawk presumed she was in some kind of shock. Facing one's mortality was not an every day occurances for the majority of the galactic populace. The Jedi experienced a momentary pang of longing for that kind of life, but he knew it was something he could never possess. His own father had tried to leave his Jedi life behind; to settle down for a quieter life, yet destiny had caught up with him eventually.

"You will be safe here," Hawk explained to Joycin. "I have security forces watching this building, and not even Torshin is stupid enough to attempt something so brazen."

"I want to help!" Joycin suddenly burst out, her chin shaking slightly. "I'll not let that bastard frighten me."

Hawk had picked up a communicator and sent a message to Kat, informing her that he had returned to the hotel with guests, and he smiled at the young reporter as she spoke.

"It is rarely a choice we get to make as to what frightens us," He told her. "But it is always our choice as to how we react to that fear. There's no one braver than a frightened person who stands against evil..."

It was the great failing of the darkness that it sought greater and greater means of destruction in its persuit of power. It chose the blaster over the book every single time; the flashy obvious power over subtle strength, and immediate ephemeral gratification over meaningful enduring connections.

"...You can help," He continued. "There is someone you will meet soon. She is the brains behind the investigation while I merely make a pretty target," He laughed. "I think you will like each other."

 

[KitKatt]

Katarine stretched her senses to the maximum and felt the smallest presence in the garage. It felt simple, like a mouse but how could a mouse activate a bomb and where did the assassin go?

First things first, the bomb. Kat slid under the speeder and took a moment to study the wires. It was a fairly basic bomb and when she cut the yellow wire it powered down. There was no backup system.

She got back up and called the bomb, and the deaths in but decided not to stick around for the real CorSec agents to show up.

She needed to find Hawk, and luckily he made that easy for her by finding a new communication device and getting a message to her.

After arriving at the hotel and knocking she was let in by Hawk, who seemed unhurt from a quick glance over. The reporter was with him and so was the mysterious driver. Kat narrowed her eyes slightly at the driver but trusted Hawk so didn’t say anything. The pleasantries would come latter but first she wanted to let Hawk know they may be in danger.

“The person who tried to nab Joycin is not an assassin. He did not plant the bomb under her speeder and was genuinely surprised to learn of it. He was also murdered about twenty minutes ago, right before someone activated the bomb. So either your assassin knew you were going to rescue her or we have a third party in this dance.”

As she said these words her deep green eyes traveled to the mysterious driver again and narrowed. It seemed highly convenient that he should appear at just the right moment.

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

Hawk smiled as Kat entered. He had seen her only a short time ago and yet his heart leaped as if he had not seen her for days. He listened as she reported back to him, suppressing the urge to brush a few stray hairs from her face as she did so.

"This is Orlic Trevannon," Hawk introduced the assassin as he saw Kat shoot him a suspicious look. "He's the assassin that Torshin sent to kill me." He added before turning to the assassin and asking, "Do you know who was sent after Joycin?"

"I presumed that you would figure out Torshin wanted the reporter dealt with," Trevannon began offering an apologetic look toward Joycin. "That's the easy part about hunting Jedi; their code brings them to you." His eyes fixed to Kat. "I was never going to kill Hawk; Torshin is a cancer to this world. I don't know who he sent after Joycin, though when I was checking out the building I did spot an energy distribution vehicle that was not on the logs."

Hawk shot Kat a look. It seemed that all leads were pointing them towards the energy company, but Hawk could not fathom how the energy distributor and their worker's union tied in with the child trafficking. There was more to this that they did not yet know.

"Joycin, you will work with Kat. Your skills as an investigative reporter will come in handy trawling through the mountains of data we'll get from the energy company. Trevannon, you're with me at the front door while Kat cracks their security."

Hawk intended to keep Trevannon close. His story about being fed up with the corruption and the taking of his neighbour's daughter might well have been true, but it might also have all been part of a plan to gain Hawk's trust so that he let his guard down. Perhaps that was how he managed to kill Jedi in the past.

 

[KitKatt]

"I was never going to kill Hawk; Torshin is a cancer to this world. I don't know who he sent after Joycin, though when I was checking out the building I did spot an energy distribution vehicle that was not on the logs."

Kat’s deep green eyes remained narrowed as the man spoke. She detected no lies but no doubt he was good an concealing such information if he regularly hunted Jedi.

“Well then someone was worried you would bail on your assignment because somebody just armed that bomb to kill me.”

From the tone in her voice it was evident Kat was not convinced the assassin was on their side, but was at least considering it. If someone had started to question Orlics loyalties it made sense he would be followed. She was willing to trust that, until Hawk stated his split up and search for clues plan.

She gave him a look indicating she wanted to switch partners, but didn’t say anything. Yes the reporter was more suited for undercover work but the assassin was more suited to stay with his target and make the kill. But keeping the assassin with her would endanger the reporters life.

She started towards the door and the assassin, who must also be the paranoid type, spoke up.

“Where are you going?”

“To get my toys.”

She left the room with the phrase hanging in the air. Orlic gave Hawk a look that was somewhere between is she for real and you lucky bastard. A few moments latter Kat came back with a heavy trunk and started digging around in it.

“If we all use hidden ear buds we can stay in communication. I also have a few things that might help me and Joycin get into offices if we want to infiltrate on foot instead of completely remote. And since we may be working with traffickers an iodine trace wouldn’t hurt. You drink it and once it enters your bloodstream I can find you if you stay on this planet. I can give you all different ones so there won’t be any mixups.” Her eyes drifted back to Orlic.

“No deal! Iodine traces can be hacked and if I’ve got an assassin on my tail we don’t need to hand him a map.”

“Then you better hope Hawk stays alive so he can keep the boogeyman away from you.”

“Funny stuff sweet cheeks. That stuff tastes like bantha dung.”

“It tastes better than lightsaber through your skull.”

Orlic looked at Hawk with an exasperated expression, but Kats glare didn’t leave the assassin. Clearly they weren’t going to play nice together.

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

Hawk watched the exchange between Kat and Trevannon with an amused look upon his face. He knew she wanted to protect him, even if she also knew he was fully capable of protecting himself, and just the knowledge of that gave Hawk a warm feeling of being loved.

"We do things Kat's way or I drop you off to the authorities on our way. You'll be lucky if Torshin gets to you before the inmates kill you."

"I thought Jedi were meant to be compassionate," Orlic grumbled.

"I didn't cut you down on the spot did I?" Hawk asked lightly, but Orlic visibly paled at the implication.

Hawk took one of the iodine trace vials and drank it swiftly. Trevannon wasn't wrong about the taste.
___________________

Hawk emerged from the hotel into a flock of journalists who waved cameras and microphones in his face. Questions regarding his investigation flew, but he ignored them all, merely stating that it was too early in the investigation to comment. Hawk hated politics.

The speeder rose into the Coruscant skyline. Hawk and Trevannon raced off toward the energy hub, the atmosphere inside the vehicle tense after the assassin had grudgingly taken his iodine trace.

"So, does this neighbour's daughter have a name?" Hawk asked.

"Myrial-" Orlic replied, turning his head away to look out of the window.

There was something in Trevannon's voice as he said the name. It wasn't a lie, but there was something he was keeping to himself. Something more to it.

When they arrived there were guards at the door of the energy hub, but after a brief exchange they stepped aside to allow Hawk and Trevannon inside. The whole place hummed with energy; Hawk could feel it in the air like static. A blue light passed over them and the feeling of static disappeared, no doubt some safety protocol to remove static from those who entered from the outside.

A man in a suit that looked like it cost the annual salary of one of the engineering staff walked upto him with a smile that did nothing to cover the anger behind his eyes.

"Master Hinata, you honour us with your visit." His oily voice dripped with sarcasm, but Hawk noted a slight quiver of nervousness within it, and the suited man cast a furtive glance at Trevannon.

"I want access to your staff for interview; your financial records; the visitor logs for the past six months, and a pot of tea." Hawk stated.

Hawk's bluntness didn't throw the man for long.

"Of course inquisitor, I'll get right on that." He drawled.

"No need, my associate here will convey my wishes to your personal assistant. Your interview is first." Hawk smiled.

 

[KitKatt]

"Shouldn't we be going with them?"

Kat and Joycin stood by the window, both watching Hawk walk through a sea of reporters as best they could from the hotel.

"No. We don't want to draw attention to ourselves."

Kat left the window and sat down at the small desk, which currently housed a laptop. She was watching the security camera footage of several rooms.

"Is that the energy Union?"

"Yes. Whatever they don't want Hawk to find they will be working to hide while he is distracted with interviews."

Joycin sat down on the hotel bed and whistled. "If I had your skills I could win a pulitzer no problem."

Kat smiled and took a sip of the caf sitting next to her. The truth was Kat hadn't grown up with a lot of technology, and what she had grown up with was now more than a century old. Most of the new stuff in the galaxy confused her, but slicing into a companies security system was pretty low key. Some of the other undercover agents had been able to work technological miracles that would make Joycins jaw drop.

After a few more moments of switching between screens Kat realized there was no basement view, and something from earlier sparked in her memory.

Underground….

————————————————————

"Have you ever seen that holo flick where the dad tells everyone to stay out of the basement?"

Joycin was nervously babbling to Kat, a trait the Jedi knew well but one that could also get them caught. She didn't respond to the question, but instead kept working on the door panel. Joycin was supposed to be keeping watch, but she kept glancing nervously back at Kat.

"Got it."

The basement door slid open and Kat motioned for Joycin to follow her. The room was dark and dank smelling. It clearly wasn't part of the new buildings design, but rather a relic from an older building long gone. There were shelves all over containing dusty items put to storage, and a large bin over to the side. Kat walked over and lifted the lid and felt her stomach lurch.

Shoes

Children's shoes

At least twenty pairs

"Why would they take shoes?"

"So a person isn't tempted to run."

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

A light sheen of sweat broke out on the suited man's forehead at Hawk's words, but he regained his composure swiftly. Hawk then followed the man to what appeared to be an executive office; its decor both functional and luxurious.

"Would you like a drink Master Hinata?" The suited man asked, but Hawk shook his head and took a seat, gesturing for the man to take the one opposite.

A moment later and another wealsley looking man entered with an armful of datapads and other files, which he placed before Hawk with a nervous glance towards the suited man who had taken the proferred seat. This nervous weasel of a man was followed into the office by Trevannon, who stood himself in a corner.

"Allistaire Pergenton, operations manager of the Western Power hub?" Hawk floated the question as he set a recording device upon the desk.

"Err, yes, that is me," Pergenton replied, deftly avoiding the piercing emerald green gaze of the Jedi opposite him.

"I sense a great deal of fear, discomfort and anger at my visit, Mr. Pergenton." Hawk told him. "You have nothing to fear so long as you tell me the truth and have nothing to hide...because there is nothing you can hide from me Mr. Pergenton."

A flicker of something shot across Pergenton's face and then he lifted the glass he had poured for himself to his lips, but he could not tilt the contents in and his hand shook with the effort. Hawk had sensed the danger at the last moment and held the suited man's arm in place with the force as he got up to take the glass from him.

"Is it company policy for an operations manager to keep a bottle of poisoned alcohol in stock?" Hawk asked and sniffed at the glass before pouring it down the executive's sink.

Pergenton's composure evaporated.

"He runs the whole planet," Pergunton hissed through his teeth. "Your investigation is a sham and can never succeed while he controls everything. I'm already dead, so are you and that fool in the corner." He glanced at Trevannon who blew him a kiss.

"How does he control every-" Hawk began but was cut off as the window exploded behind him.

A red blaster bolt vibrated in the air an inch from Pergenton's forehead and several shards of glass floated, slowly spinning in the air. Hawk's Jedi reflexes had allowed him to catch them in time.

"Whatever power Torshin has amassed is inconsequential to the power of the force." Hawk stated.

"You don't get it Master Hinata, when was the last time the Jedi received a youngling from Coruscant?" He asked, and then with a sudden violent jerk of his neck his thrust his head forward onto the blaster bolt and slumped dead face first onto the desk.

"Kat," Hawk called over their comms. "Interviews aren't proceeding as I would have liked, the operations manager just killed himself on a frozen blaster bolt...don't ask. Any luck your end?" He asked. "Oh, he did say something interesting before offing himself. He asked when the Jedi had last received a youngling from Coruscant. We might be dealing with the trafficking of force sensitive children." He added.

 

[KitKatt]

“This is bad… this is bad..”

“Actually it might be good.”

“Good?!??”

“If they don’t want the children to run it means they are keeping them alive.”

Before the reporter could respond to that Hawks voice chirped in their ears.

Kats fingers found their way under her long brown hair and switched her earpiece over so Hawk could hear her.

“We found a bin of children’s shoes in the basement. I think the children are being taken underground. What would an energy union want with Force sensitive children?”

She felt the warning before she saw the blaster bolt. A moment latter two armed guards entered the room. Kat kicked the first one in the head and was pleased to see Joycin knew self defense. After a quick struggle the two unconscious guards lay at Kats feet as an idea started to form.

“I have access to some uniforms if you feel like getting arrested. If you’ve already been shot at they are probably going to drop pretense and go after you while you are in the building.”

Kat and Joycin could pose as guards and hope they would be directed to bring Hawk to some monologuing villain. But if that villain was the strong silent type they might just have Hawk killed and skip the theatrics. It was a risk.

“Unless you have a better plan?”


Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

Hawk looked thoughtfully at the slumped body of the operations manager as Kat spoke. There was a mystery here that it seemed people would rather die than talk about, and Kat was right, they had already shot at him. It seemed that perhaps Torshin knew the investigation would bring him to the energy hub and he had left more assassins in waiting.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Hawk responded. "Come and join me and Trevannon. He'll have to get me with a nerve dart to make it look plauseable."

Trevannon quirked an eyebrow, "Decided to trust me have you?"

"You can trust that if you try to kill me, that when I become one with the force, I will manifest as a ghost and haunt you for the rest of your days." Hawk smiled in response.

The assassin pulled a small weapon from his hip and pointed it at Hawk's chest.

"You Jedi are crazy," He said and pulled the trigger.

The dart took Hawk in the chest and the effect was almost instantaneous. Hawk protected a section of his conscious mind as the nerve agent moved through his body and he slumped to the floor completely paralysed.

 

[KitKatt]

Katarine and Joycin quickly took the guard uniforms and stuffed the unconscious guards into a broom closet. Joycin pointed out if they woke up it would blow everything, but Kat was against killing the guards. It didn’t seem like the right thing to do. Hopefully it wouldn’t bite them in the behind latter.

When they approached Trevannon several other guards had joined them, one with a different hat who must be a captain or something because Kat could sense the authority she carried.

“Ah.. I suppose you will want your payment now… assassin. Bring the body downstairs. He will want proof.”

They started towards the lift and Katarine crosses her fingers they were heading for a monologue.

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

Within the small section of his mind that Hawk had protected from the nerve agent he began to build his power. If things did not go to plan that he would need to very quickly overcome the toxins in his system. Once he had fallen Trevannon had stood over him, and for a moment Hawk thought that perhaps he had misjudged the assassin, but the moment passed and he called for security.

Security arrived and looked at the scene that lay before them. The operations manager was dead; an unconscious Jedi lie upon the floor, and the assassin Orlic Trevannon sat feet up on the desk grinning at them.

With the arrival of Kat and the reporter they were about to move Hawk downstairs when the door opened again Trevannon shot a nervous look towards Kat as a high ranking security officer entered.

"The Jedi Hinata," Trevannon proclaimed and gestured to Hawk's still form. "Just as Councillor Torshin requested."

"I was under the impression he wanted the Jedi dead," responded the security officer and drew his blaster."

A shot fired from behind the desk and the security officer's blaster sailed out of his hand to clatter across the floor.

"Don't be stupid. I'm sure Councillor Torshin has figured out by now that the Jedi isn't working alone, he will want to question him, and he can only do that if he is alive."

Tension filled the room as the rest of the security team pointed their weapons at Trevannon.

"Lower your weapons, he's right. Torshin will want to question the Jedi." An ugly grin crept over his face. "He'll wish you had killed him by the time Torshin's done with him," he chucked and kicked Hawk in the ribs.

Two of the security officers took Hawk under each arm and dragged him upright, and together the security team entered the turbolift on the far wall of the office. Hawk counted the floors as they descended; they had passed the ground floor a short while ago but continued to descend after the high ranking security officer had placed his palm on an access panel.

These things are always underground Hawk thought to himself with an inward chuckle. So long as there wasn't a cavern sporting any more lakes of blood and primordial entities than he would be happy.

The turbolift finally came to a halt and it opened out onto a brightly lit facility. They emerged into a corridor lined with walls made of duraglass that overlooked numerous other rooms where children of varying ages were being trained in what appeared to Hawk to be very familiar Jedi styles. For a short while they followed this corridor before branching off into one such room.

Torshin rose from a mat as they entered from where he had been sat in front of a small group of the oldest children Hawk had yet seen. In fact these were almost adults.

"Why is the Jedi alive?" Torshin asked without turning to look at them.

"He is working with someone and we thought-" The high ranking security officer cut off and grasped at his throat as his body rose from the ground.

"You thought you'd bring the most dangerous man on the planet into the heart of my facility?" Torshin's voice was measured but his barely contained rage was obvious.

"Hinata was brought here at my insistence." Trevannon spoke a look of surprise upon his own face that he had done so.

"You betrayed me Orlic. I told you to kill Hinata, but you decided to help him." The security officer slumped to the ground drawing in ragged breaths, but now it was Trevannon's turn to be choked.

"This...is how...I work," Trevannon choked out. "I needed...to get close...for Hinata to drop...his guard." The grip holding his loosened. "It was the only way, but by the time the opportunity came it was obvious he wasn't working alone." He gasped gratefully filling his lungs with air.

Hawk observed the whole thing with unblinking eyes as the other security members held him in increasingly sweaty hands. He could not turn his head to see Kat or the reporter, but he was sure that Kat would be as shocked as he was to discover Torshin was a force user, and equally disturbed that it appeared he was running his own Temple beneath the energy hub.

Trevannon dropped to the ground much as the officer had.

"I know your mind is strong Jedi, but not even you can resist the power of me and my students together. Of course you will try and your mind will break. I will enjoy this, but you will not."

Torshin's group of students formed up around him and Hawk felt Torshin's power as he held out a hand towards him, then one by one the students also held out their hands. Pressure began to build on Hawk's mental defenses. The pain was indescribable, as if claws made of lightning were tearing through his mind.

"Who is working with you Jedi?" Torshin demanded.

 

[KitKatt]

Kat felt lost. How was she a Jedi master when she never seemed to know what to do in these situations? Hawk would know what to do immediately. Why couldn’t she be more like that?

Think…

She couldn’t take them all. It would be a futile attempt that would do little more than delay the torture. Maybe she could keep to the shadows and take them out ninja style.

With that thought in mind she used the Force to overload the fire safety system. Soon the red security lights were blinking but the other lights were cut and the sprinkler systems came on. The confusion was immediate, and increased when a powerful Force pulse sent those gathered flying towards the walls.

Kat flung her arm out and clasped Trevannon around the wrist, holding Hawk with her other hand to keep both men in place. She felt a pang of guilt when she heard Joycin shriek as the reporter was flung but Kat didn’t have enough time to go to the reporter.

“Do you have the agent that counter acts the toxin?”

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

"I don't carry antitoxins." Trevannon hissed. "I deliver them cold or unconscious." He looked somewhat apologetic as he spoke, but then a frown descended upon his face. "Do blast doors usually block exits when the fire alarm sounds?" He asked pointing as huge blast doors slid over the exits.

The assault on Hawk's mind had almost caused him to lose control of the protected area of his consciousness, and it wasn't until Kat intervened that he was able to think straight. Of all the scenarios that Hawk had considered, finding Torshin training force sensitive children in the Jedi arts was not even among them. The Jedi Master had not sensed the darkside within the Councillor...he was not a Sith, Hawk was sure of it - but then, what was he?

Light erupted from the protected corner of Hawk's mind, burning it's way through the toxin in his sysyem. The paralysis released its grip on his body and he rose to his feet, water from the sprinklers dripping from his hair.

"It's a lockdown protocol to hide his Temple in the event of an evacuation. No one in or out." Hawk rasped as the last of the toxin faded from his body.

"Uh, Hawk...they're getting up." Trevannon pointed behind the Jedi.

Torshin and his students were recovering from Kat's force attack, and while their teacher made an exit beneath the descending blast door, the students closed in with a mixture of orange and yellow lightsabers blooming into life.

"Don't let numbers fool you, you'd be outmatched even if I stood here alone." Hawk told them and retrieved his lightsabers hilts from one of the security officers who had brought them down; blue and lilac hues adding to the pools of orange and yellow light within the dimly lit room.

The twelve students seemed unperturbed by his statement and fanned out as the drew closer.

"I am not your enemy," Hawk tried again. "I don't know what Torshin is doing here, but I sense no darkside influence. You should have all been Jedi."

"We are more than Jedi. Jedi pretend to be selfless, but to be truly selfless you have to be able to cast aside the principles you hold dear to do what is right...what is required." One of the twelve spoke.

"And who tells you what is right, and what is required?" Hawk challenged. "Torshin?"

The attack came swiftly from several directions. Hawk stepped into the closet of them, swaying out of the way of his blade before slapping the hilt from his hand and sending him sprawling with a backhanded slap. The Jedi parried the blows of two more, disengaging his lilack blade and striking the first in the side of the head with it and headbutting the second. Both crumpled to the floor. With the sweep of his hand a half dozen of the remaining nine's blades disengaged before they dropped the hilts as if burnt. The three who remained were the strongest amongst their number, but their strength was undermined by their growing fear and they backed away.

"I could defeat your friends without killing them because they were weak," Hawk spoke. "I do not know if I can do the same for you three. Drop your weapons and we can all find a way out of here."

One by one the lightsabers hilts dropped to the floor with a light splash as the water from the sprinkler system had began to pool.

"Can you hack the system and override the lockdown protocol?" Hawk asked Kat. The sprinkler system was continuing to sprinkle, and Hawk was growing a little concerned by the slow but persistent rise of the water level within the room.

 

[KitKatt]

Kat went to the door panel to see what they were dealing with. What they really needed was access to a mainframe that controlled the entire system, but Kat suspected that room was not one that had so much foot traffic.

After a moment or so the doors cracked open, but then stopped halfway and sat there. A moment latter the sprinklers turned off and the lights came back on.

“I didn’t do that. He’s watching us.”

She turned away from the half open doors that were undoubtable a trap and instead approached the students.

“What is all this? Why has he taken you all here?”

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

"Master Torshin saved us," one of the three who had dropped their weapons replied to Kat. "The Jedi wanted to take us from our families, but he removed us from the database and trained us here. We see our families whenever we like."

Hawk moved subtly around the room as he listened to the exchange between Kat and one of Torshin's students. If Kat was right and he was watching them than it was probably best not to remain still.

"How is it Torshin knows the ways of the force?" Hawk asked as he approached the half open blast door.

"He was like some of us, not quite force sensitive enough for the Jedi to care about or the Sith to corrupt, but he became wealthy and powerful and found someone to teach him in secret."

Hawk frowned at this statement. In most parts of the galaxy children were tested at birth for force aptitude, the midichlorian count in their cells indicating their potential for it. The results could be very distressing for parents with children who were strong enough in the force to be taken by the Jedi, but eventually most understood that it was for the best. A child left untrained could become a danger to themselves and others around them, or a target for the Sith. Those whose midichlorian count suggested low to no attunement to the force were left with their families. If Torshin had learned to use the force than perhaps his test results had been incorrect.

"His results were not incorrect Master Jedi," the student smirked as they read his thoughts. "Torshin had a low midichlorian count and was barely more sensitive than most others."

"Was?" Hawk asked with intrigue.

The student did not get the chance to reply however as a hologram of Torshin was projected into the middle of the room and held up a hand to silence his student.

"You have two choices Hinata. You and your friends can leave here with your lives on nought but your word to forget everything you have seen. Or, you can pursue me and my students and never see sunlight again. Make the right choice; the choice that Ersher Dorton made, and go."

Hawk's mind was working overtime to keep up with what was going on here. It seemed that Torshin was a mildly force sensitive Jedi reject who had chosen not to lead a regular life. What's more, he had sought to be and succeeded in being trained in secret before starting his own Temple of children removed from the Jedi databases and those who like him were rejected by the aptitude test. It was clear now why Torshin had needed to orchestrate such corruption; building and running an underground Temple would not have come cheaply, and it seemed that the union boss Ersher Dorton had discovered his secret and actually chosen to leave with his life.

"You know I can't do that Torshin, you've created a private army of force sensitives. The very existence of this Temple threatens the stability of Coruscant - perhaps the entire galaxy."

"Than you leave me no choice. I have to protect my students from the evils of Jedi and Sith brainwashing."

While he had been talking to Torshin, the students had quietly filed out of the training room, and now that they were gone, and Torshin had Hawk's response, the blast doors once again began to move into place.
Hawk threw out his arms and caught the blast door that led further into the Temple with the force. The gears that drove it downward groaned as they fought against his power.

"Go through," Hawk shouted over the sound of falling water as the sprinklers began activated again.

A vein in Hawk's forehead pulsed and he grew red in the face with the continued effort of holding the doors open. Several tons of reinforced durasteel being driven downward by pistons that could crush a starfighter, but as Hawk continued to remind himself the size and weight of the object did not matter and the strain was all of his own creating.

 

[KitKatt]

Kat felt a pang of sympathy when the student explained why they were there. Leaving one’s family was hard and traumatizing. Even her own brother who was destined to murder her, had been difficult to leave. Kat could feel the pain in these stories and they broke her heart.

"You know I can't do that Torshin, you've created a private army of force sensitives. The very existence of this Temple threatens the stability of Coruscant - perhaps the entire galaxy."

The pain Kat was feeling quickly turned to guilt with Hawks words. Over a century ago Katarine had considered opening her own school to spare children from leaving their families. Was she evil? Maybe the prophecy was true and Katarine was going to do great damage to the universe.

She slipped through the open doors after the assassin. For a brief moment she considered helping Hawk, but decided to wait. He was more than capable of handling the door and as of yet Torshin didn’t know he had two Jedi on his hands. That secret could be very useful to them latter.

Outside of the training room there was a long hallway with signs indicating a hangar was beyond. If Torshin took his students and ran he could disappear and train more students before they found him. Would that be bad? She felt another pang of confusion. What Torshin was trying to accomplish appealed to her but the means he was willing to use were terrifying.

She glanced down and realized this room was starting to fill with water too. Torshin was going to flood this entire building to keep it secret.

“We have to get up to the hangar. Torshin is going to flood this entire place.”

“Then what are you standing around for?”


Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

"I don't think he wants to flee," Hawk breathed heavily as he joined them. "I don't think he would have made the offer to let us go if he had the resources to start again."

The hairs on the back of Hawk's neck suddenly stood up on end and he sensed something he had not felt for a very long time...but it was impossible...the Crystal Hall had vanished when the Jedi Brotherhood had ceased to operate. Hawk cast a glance towards Kat wondering if she sensed the presence of the crystals too.
All Jedi of the Brotherhood had faced their trials within the Crystal Hall. A strange cavern of indefinable dimensions inhabited by enormous kyber crystals, the Crystal Hall was a powerful force nexus that each member of the Brotherhood imbued with their essence upon Knighthood. It was a living record and a powerful source of force energy, but more than this it was the heart of the Brotherhood. It made them all a part of each other.

"I sense..." Hawk's brow furrowed as he tried to think of another explanation for what he was sensing. "...the Crystal Hall..." Hawk finally conceded that it could be nothing else.

 

[KitKatt]

"I don't think he would have made the offer to let us go if he had the resources to start again."

“You think he is leading us to a trap?”

That confused Kat greatly. If Torshin really was someone who started so weak in the Force then how could he hope to win a duel with Hawk Hinata? What did he have up his sleeve?

“I don’t care what you sense or who is leaving where! We have to get out of here!”

Kat rolled her eyes at the assassin but knew he had a point. She could sense his frustration and knew that if his story was true he was still looking for a lost girl.

Her deep green eyes fell on Hawk when she felt what she suspected he was feeling.

“How could that be? The Crystal Hall was never on Coruscant… was it?”

Hawk Hinata