Private On to Triumph or to Judgement Day

[KitKatt]

Location: Saltwater Hotel - Coruscant - Room 1138
Objective: Hunt Down Mando Scum & Catch Up With Old Friend
Tags: Hawk Hinata

Title Song: Here

Friendship is just another word for love
- Unknown

​

---

Katarine was sitting at the small table in room 1138 of the Saltwater Hotel on Coruscant. The rescued farmers and Mandalorians who had been arrested had been turned over to the Alliance, who would charge the Mandalorains and help re-home the farmers. Although she had done her best to clean up aboard The Phoenix, she had been happy to have a longer shower at the hotel so she could get rid of every spec of the horrible lake. Hawk was probably doing likewise. She could hear the water running in the hotel bathroom. Katarine would have taken Hawk to the New Jedi Order Temple, but she wasn't sure where he wanted to be in this galaxy, or how long he had been in this galaxy. Had he officially rejoined the Jedi? Did he know anything about what was happening in the galaxy now? They had not had time to discuss any of this so a hotel was the easiest place to rest without those answers.

She heard a knock at the door and went to answer it. The front desk had laundered their clothes and sent them up. She thanked the attendant and sat the bag down on the table. The hotels fuzzy robes were comfortable enough but she would be glad to get back into her own freshly cleaned clothes.

She sat back down at the table just as she heard the water turn off. He had mentioned wanting a cup of tea so she had made some, which would hopefully be enjoyable. Kat still felt extremely awkward about what they had shared back in the cave, not to mention awkward that someone she had known a century ago was here with her today. There was a story there that she would hopefully get to hear before they started hunting down the astray Mandalorian hunters.

She stirred her tea with her finger, lost in thought while she waited. If she was being honest with herself the thing that was troubling her the most was the small nudge she had felt in the Force from the portion of her brain reserved for Daxium. It made no sense that she should feel her twin now. He ought to be dead.. but then again... so should Hawk.... so should she for that matter...

 

[Hawk Hinata]

Hot water poured over his shoulders and down his back bringing the relief that only a good hot shower could after such an ordeal. The water ran red at his feet as dried on blood slipped away from his body and came out of his hair, a little of his own with it from tiny wounds he didn't even know he had until the dirt left him.

Hawk's body ached, but more than that he was tired. He had not exerted himself to such an extent in the force since before he was frozen, and he still wasn't sure if his strength would ever be what it had once been. The force had sustained him on suspended animation for a long long time and he felt depleted.

Hawk shook his head and laughed at his own internal admonishments. Anyone else would have been pleased with the outcome and they certainly wouldn't be questioning their strength after defeating a god of darkness. If there was one thing that Hawk knew he was bad at it was letting go of the things beyond his control. He could not save everyone and he was not all powerful, though it helped to let his enemies believe he was. People from his own time often thought him arrogant for allowing his legend to become embellished, but an enemy who faced him believing themselves already defeated was one less enemy to fight.

If Kat had not been waiting out in their hotel room he might have stayed in the shower for far longer, perhaps hoping that the soothing hot jets of water would carry away the memories of having Tenebris inside his mind. As it was, Kat was waiting and he didn't want her to think he was avoiding her.
For a few seconds the two had shared a rare force dyad. He had seen deep into Kat and found her strength beneath layers of self-doubt, but he also knew what there was inside of him for her to see. There was passion, love, and the crushing weight of the position he once held...gone. What he had been; his responsibility to the galaxy, all of it was now gone. He did not lead one or even two orders of Jedi. It was not his decision to take Jedi into battle; to plan wars, or to oversee the day to day running of a Temple. In truth he had been lost since waking up on Illum, wandering from place to place waiting for the force to give him purpose again.

Hawk shut the water off and emerged looking slightly ridiculous in one of the hotel robes. With a smile he cast a grateful eye at the streaming cup of tea that Kat had made for him, which after briefly excusing himself to change, he sipped at with relish.

"I thought I was hallucinating when I saw the Mandalorians take you," Hawk said while blowing lightly across the top of his cup. "Everywhere I go I think I see someone or hear a familiar voice, but even the streets of Coruscant..." He cut off before he started rambling. "What I mean is, it's great to see you." He smiled and reached out to touch her hand and gave her fingers an affectionate squeeze.

 

[KitKatt]

Hawk emerged from the bathroom in a fuzzy hotel robe and Kat fought the urge to giggle. She was sure she looked just as ridiculous to him in her own puffy robe. At least there were no matching bunny slippers.

He changed and took a seat at the small table. For moment her deep green eyes watched him sip his tea and begin to speak. She smiled and squeezed his own hand back.

“It is good to see you too. I thought I would never see another old face again. I have been wandering this new strange galaxy aimlessly for a few months now. I guess thats how the Mando found me.”

It truly was good to see him, but it was also a little odd. Hawk Hinata was this living legend that for so long was her version of what a perfect Jedi should be. Sure they had been friendly, but somehow never equal, almost like a student and a wise teacher who seemed in a different world. Yet here she was in a hotel room with the man, sitting in a bath robe, with his own memories and thoughts still fresh in her mind. It felt like some bizarre dream, though truthfully his mind had contained several things she could relate to. She had lost her love too, her friends, her place in the Order, her very purpose in life, just as he had. Maybe she had more in common with Hawk Hinata than she ever realized.

She opened her mouth to ask him how he was even alive, but closed it again. Instead she reached for sarcasm and wit, her defense mechanisms.

“I have to say you look great for your age. Have you been working out?”

This time she did laugh at the awkwardness, at her own stupid joke, at the happiness of seeing someone she had known so long ago, just at everything.

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

For a while they both laughed, and it was genuine laughter. Whether it was Kat's joke; relief at having survived the domed hunt world, or the shared understanding that they weren't alone in the galaxy anymore, Hawk didn't know, but he suspected that it was a pleasant mixture of all of those things.

Aa the laughter faded, the entry-request sound of their room room buzzed. Food had arrived.
With every bite of the hotel cuisine, which was good but by no means gourmet, Hawk felt a little warmth return to him that had nothing to do with being cold. Since awaking his meals had been solitary affairs and functional, having eaten when necessary and not really cared about the bland ration packs upon The Phoenix. Now the meal was shared and conversation began to flow, and as the old friends ate and talked it seemed, at least to Hawk, that the strange new galaxy with all its familiar problems faded into the background.

Eventually of course the conversation got around to how they came to be there. Hawk told Kat of how he had made an emergency jump to lightspeed with the calculations not quite complete, and had therefore emerged from hyperspace far too close to Illum's surface. He had crashed straight into an ice shelf, which had then collapsed and buried The Phoenix.

Hawk had worked for days under the ice trying to mend the ship's systems, even as life support gave out and the cold airless ship began to look more and more like it would become his tomb. Eventually he knew that he had only one chance, and that was to leave the ship. He had cut himself a watery path out of his ship, but the ice shelf had collapsed further. Tons of ice piled down upon him and only a swift force barrier had prevented him from being crushed. In that moment however Hawk had know it was over. He had survived so many wars; fought so many great evils, and here he was going to die beneath some ice.

"That was the last thing I remember," Hawk told her as he finished his food and wiped his mouth on a napkin. "Unconsciously the force allowed my body to cool slowly instead of instantly freezing, this way I went into a sort of stasis instead of just freezing to death." Hawk laughed before continuing. "You know, they found The Phoenix a couple of decades later and retrieved it. Put it in a museum with a life sized wax figure of me. They had no idea that I was only a few hundred meters below, and I'm sure you can imagine the look on the curator's face when I showed up at the museum some decades later wanting my ship back."
____________________

Meanwhile in the lower district a Mandalorian clad in completely black armour addressed a group of others knelt before him.

"There will be no more Wolfpacks." He spoke with a silky sibilant voice. "I am your leader now. You underestimated the Jedi and the rising of our Lord was thwarted...but our efforts were not in vain." The dark Mandalorian raised his hands towards the ceiling where shapes undulated in the shadows.

To look upon the shapes too long was to feel queasy; their unnatural movements and feeling of great malice overwhelmed the senses. Their form seemed to be of a purple energy that flowed like smoke.

"Fear not my brothers, for these are the the forces of our Lord Tenebris. They crossed into our world in the moment of his defeat, when the god Lychnus came to take our Lord back into the Beyond and his attention was not upon them. Open yourselves to them and this will hurt somewhat less."

The smokey shapes descended upon the assembled Mandalorians as he spoke and agonised screams filled the room. The demonic beings poured themselves into the open mouths and up the noses of the terrified Mandalorians and it was all over in less than a minute. The Mandalorians returned to their kneeling positions before their dark leader, each of them now thrumming with malicious power and eyes that glowed a deep and sinister purple.

 

[KitKatt]

Hawk told the story of his stasis and Katarine empathized. It must have been horrible to will away the hours knowing death was on its way to the icy tomb.

As he told his story she noticed that the corners of his mouth made little crinkles when he smiled with genuine happiness. It enhanced the attractive features of his face and softened him somehow. She realized she didnt know a ton about the man personally, only professionally. The other Jedi had said he was married once, maybe even twice, and he had children. That loss must be devastating, but it was good to see he could still smile genuinely.

She felt herself smiling too and realized she hadn't done much of that lately. When it was her turn to tell her story she did not have the thrilling details he did. Katarine did not know how she had been frozen. All she knew was that she had been found on Jakku in an enchanted sleep. The Jedi who found her had suspected Dathomiri magic, or at least the runes carved around the casket she had been placed in looked like those found on temples of Dathomir.

“When I woke up I didnt even know who I was. It took a month of meditation to get my memories back and Im not sure they are all there. I started doing some work with the Jedi in this galaxy but they are very different than our Order was. I am not sure they trust me yet, so I have been focusing on trying to figure out who bewitched me into stasis. Thats how I ran across our Mandalorian friends. The god they worshiped had a similar style of runes. I thought there might be a connection. By the time I realized my mistake everything went to poo doo.”

She took a sip of her tea and thought for a moment.

“What do you think they will do now with their god destroyed? The Alliance has the two we caught in custody but I am not sure if they have questioned them yet.”


Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

Hawk listened to Kat's story with interest. Dathomiri magic had always interested him. The Jedi Brotherhood had in fact gone to war with the Witches and occupied the planet a long long time ago; supporting the clans who practised the friendlier kinds of their magic and did not subjugate their men.
Even when the Brotherhood withdrew and the dark witches returned, Hawk had developed an...amicable relationship with their leader.

Their food had arrived with a pot of fresh tea and Hawk refilled his cup. He blew across the surface and furrowed his brow as he considered Kat's question.

"I'm not certain that Tenebris was or even can be destroyed," he responded. "He was a primordial entity; intertwined with the fabric of the universe itself. Even if a puny mortal such as myself could destroy such a being...I don't think the results would be good for anyone."

No, Hawk had thought about that question himself in the time since thrusting his lightsaber into the bloody mass that was the embodiment of Tenebris in their realm. If the dark god could have been killed than it stood to reason that it would have occured the first time he was defeated by the gods of light.

"I believe he can only be contained, yet always influencing from the shadows, preying on the minds of the weak and those who seek an easy path to power." Hawk sipped his tea. "I don't think we need to stick around for the interrogations. If there's one thing I know about religious zealots it's that they never talk."

A feeling in the force washed over him; a warning as a glimpse of the nearby future. The window opposite them exploding inwards as high powered sniper bolts blasted through it; the first striking him in the chest and the next taking Kat in the back as she moved to him.

"Down!" Hawk bellowed throwing himself to the floor and launching the nearby cabinet into the air with the force as the first bolt came through the window, in the hope that it would put off the sniper's aim.

 

[KitKatt]

"Down!"

Katarine fell to the floor and seconds latter the cheap hotel cabinet splintered as the blaster bolts hit it.

Thankful she had changed out of the fluffy bathrobe before such acrobatics were necessary, she rolled sideways and ignited one of her white blades. She deflected the next three bolts, sending one sideways into the buildings fire security system. The sprinklers erupted, soaking the room in seconds and signaling the fire alarm to sound. From the broken window they could hear the sound if the fire team and the local police already on route to the hotel.

She stepped closer to the window, just in time to see a jet pack fire from the roof across the street.

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

"Well, I guess we're not going to be eating dessert." Hawk laughed looking at the ruined bowls of ice cream as he rose, disengaging his aqua blue blade as he did so and then reaching up towards the sprinklers he shunted the valves closed within the pipes to shut off the water flow.

Hawk watched the Mandalorian jetpack away at the shattered window with Kat, the small form quickly disappearing into the neon glow of Coruscant's nighttime. The Jedi's emerald eyes slid away from the cityscape and fell upon a piece of the broken cabinet. A small metal casing was lodged in the wood.

"This looks like a DC-17m round," Hawk thought out loud as he retrieved it, recalling the nights he had spent studying such mundane facts. "An old clone commando sniper that fires projectiles encased in blaster energy."

It was definitely safe to say that they had got on the bad side of the Mandalorian cult, and it also now appeared that they had been followed to Coruscant...or, as a more disturbing thought appeared to Hawk, there were cells of this cult already placed on worlds ready to kidnap people and sacrifice them. Whatever the truth, this attack had at least left them with a clue.

"I think we need to take a trip to the underworld and see who is still dealing in clone war era weaponry."

 

[KitKatt]

"I think we need to take a trip to the underworld and see who is still dealing in clone war era weaponry."

Katarine deactivated her blade and gave Hawk a lopsided grin.

“I love a man who takes me antiquing.”

They left the hotel quickly, not wanting to be drawn into a lot of questioning with the local authorities. The hotel manager was probably pretty upset about the damages, but Kat had paid upfront and left a generous tip and wasnt sure what else she could do for the man. Hopefully the place was insured.

“Should we start in the underbellies of Coruscant or do you think its unlikely? The Mando population used to like to hang out away from the core for their merchandise but a lot can change in a century.”

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

"I'll enen buy you dinner if we get to eat dessert this time," Hawk chuckled at Kat's remark about going shopping for antiques as they set out.
____________________

"I think the underbelly is a good place to start. Change can be slow to filter down to the lower levels, and I'm sure if we go far enough down we'll find things exactly as we remember them."

It was people who changed the most over time, or at least what one could expect from them, and yet as always there were the same problems rearranged in different patterns. There was the affluent upper cityscape of Coruscant, glittering and pulsing with life as it always had done; plagued by beurocracy and government hypocrisy, corruption and opulence as it always had been. It didn't matter that the faces had changed; the structure was different, and that new developments lined the streets. It was still Coruscant. The same would no doubt hold true for the seedy world of crime that lingered in the lower levels, and if Hawk was right, the poorer areas would likely have seen little change in comparison.

The walkways became more and more crowded the further they got from the glittering megatropilos and the veneer of high society wore thin. People bustled on their way to or home from work; other ducked into markets or other vendors to make purchases, and some just strolled along peering at wares in windows. Though as the two Jedi continued to descend the quicker people went about their business, and the less likely they were to meet your eye.

"I sense an unusual amount of fear considering the early hour, there may be more going on down here than we have guessed at." Hawk commented to Kat as he waved away a street vendor offering him some grey looking meat on a stick.

 

[KitKatt]

“I sense it too. It doesn’t feel directed at us, but it has something to do with our presence. “

How she knew that she had no idea. Her trip into Hawks brain had helped her confidence in some ways perhaps.

They continued walking, their eyes roving over markets and street vendors until a hunched over old man caught Kats attention. He was sitting on a side street with a collecting tin for begging. This wasnt that strange as the deeper they went the more they would see this type of poverty, but what struck Katarine as odd was the collecting tin itself. It was a Mandalorian helmet.

She pointed this out to Hawk and raised her eyebrows. Perhaps they were getting closer.

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

"I don't imagine they see many Jedi down this way," Hawk commented sadly.

When Hawk had led the Jedi he had made certain to walk in the parts of Theed that did not glisten and glitter. Not only were the less reputable parts of the city a font of information, but they were the parts that needed the most hope. Everybody knew about his frequent visits to an old tea room, but fewer knew that he was the patron of the ramshackle shanty hospital and soup kitchen that operated in the unseen waterways of the Solleu River. Most were not even aware of the slums that sprawled beneath the Palace District, or at least while so well hidden they had no desire to know.

Poverty leant itself to darkness. Desperation bred extremism, and those who lived safely in their towers above the mournful squall of those in need were happy to feed that extremism with anything that kept the masses off their scent. Hawk could feel it all. The fear; the tension. All that was missing was the spark. Coruscant was sitting on top of a time bomb of its own making. Something had frightened them and focused their minds away from fighting one another.

"There is unrest brewing down here. Something or someone has sown the seeds of discord."

No sooner than had Hawk spoken the beggar that Kat had pointed out to him rose to his feet and began to call to the crowds around him.

"Is your stomach full tonight friends?" He addressed passers by. "What about that of your children ma'am?" He asked a woman. "Did you know they throw away enough food in one of those fancy towers every day to feed the entire underworld?"

The beggar transformed as he spoke. He drew himself up and no longer looked haggard and sorrowful as with each phrase his voice grew in strength and passion. Before long a small crowd had stopped to listen to his words, and many were talking among themselves repeating his words while some called back with their own additions. Hawk was impressed; the man was quite the orator, however there was usually only one way such talk ended, and it wasn't good if they wanted to discover anything about the helmet this man held.

"Look at the tattoo on his forearm," Hawk whispered to Kat as they listened to the man's speech. "Does that look familiar?" The sleeve of the man's forearm fell back to reveal a wolf insignia tattooed upon his arm, not too dissimilar to that upon the armour of Tenebris' Mandalorian followers.

Could it be that the Mandalorian had recruited followers here to stir up the citizens of the underworld? Were they hoping for riots, or a bloody uprising? Some new form of sacrifice to bring their Lord into this world perhaps?

Police droids appeared at the end of the street and Hawk rolled his eyes. Trust a droid to bring the spark needed to ignite the flames of anger.

"We need to stop this before it starts." Hawk said, a plan already formulating in his mind. "Grab the speaker and I'll meet you around the corner in a moment," he told Kat before pushing his way through the crowd as it began baying at the police droids.

"Stand down," Hawk ordered the police droids over the noise of the crowd.

"Your authority is not recognised here Jedi Hinata," the nearest droid responded and reached out to move him from their path.

In a movement so fast that the only hint of it was a blue light upon the inside of one's eyes when they blinked, Hawk removed the police droids offending arm.

A silence so complete that you could hear the rats scurrying fell over the crowd. The anger of a moment ago evaporating in the shock of the scene before them. A Jedi had emerged from the crowd and stood up to the always heavy handed police droids.

"Your superior can take this up with me if they have the nerve," Hawk told the police droid as it inspected its severed limb. "But if you take one more step towards these good citizens I will send you back to him as a box of scraps." Hawk paid the police droids no further heed and turned towards the gathered citizens. "The power of change lies within you all; but it is not a power of violence, for that will only bring more violence, and who will feed your children if you are killed in a riot, or locked away from them?" Hawk asked the crowd, but directed his gaze towards the same woman the beggar had spoken to before.

The crowd began to disperse as they remembered their previous tasks and went about their lives once again. Calm had been restored for now, but Hawk knew his words were but a balm on a much deeper wound than he could heal with mere theatrics and a speech. The Mandalorians had the great advantage that the societal wrongs that these people were suffering were very real. It might well be that there was no way to avoid the coming conflict without significant improvements from the government.

Behind him the police droid picked up the severed limb, and without a word to him they departed. No doubt they'd submit a formal complaint, but Hawk was no stranger to controversy surrounding his methods and was unconcerned. Instead he went to see if Kat had apprehendrd their preacher of discord.

 

[KitKatt]

Kat's deep green eyes honed in on the tattoo and widened slightly, then narrowed suspiciously. Yes that marking was certainly familiar. She nodded at Hawks plan and they parted ways, him approaching the crowed and her heading towards the speaker.

She slowed her walk down, batted her eyelashes accordingly, and approached the man. Years of being undercover had taught her how to talk to criminals. She got him off to the side and practically purred at the man.

“That was some speech. Its put me in the mood for something special.”

He smirked at her. “Lead the way.”

She turned down the side street, heading for the corner mentioned. Halfway up the alley though he decided he could not wait and grabbed her rear end.

Kat spun around and grabbed him by the arm and shoulder, then pushed him against the wall. He was caught off guard but seemed to think this was part of the plan because his hands were in her hair, and sliding down her shoulders. Her hand however had unclipped the lightsaber from her belt and shoved it roughly against his crotch.

“What the Frak you crazy… this is not something special. “

“Oh yes it is. See this is a special lightsaber. Its super sensitive. Sometimes I breathe the wrong way and it ignites.”

He froze completely.

“We are gonna go have a chat with my friend and you aren't going to do anything to take my breath away. Agreed?”

He glared at her but she had the upper hand so didn't dare do anything. They walked the rest of the way down the alley quite awkwardly until they reached the corner in question. When she confirmed Hawk was there she removed her weapon from its unsightly position and steered the Mando towards the other Jedi.

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

Hawk swept into the side street, something nagging at the back of his mind that he just could not bring to the forefront at the moment. Whatever it was, it would work its way forward in time Hawk decided as he took in the scene before him, his eyebrow rising with slight amusement as the angry frustration of the cult orator hit him. A pretty face was a great weakness for many men, and though Hawk had never considered Kat in that way he would have been lying to no one but himself if he didn't concede the fact that she was quite striking.

"You think I will talk to you, Jedi dog?" the man spat upon the floor and stared hard into Hawk's eyes. "My Lords will feast upon your flesh while your body still lives and they will make you watch and listen as they kill this whore first!"

"Your Lords?" Hawk said as he leaned in closer to the man. "Fortunately for you I don't need you to talk any more than you already have."

Hawk touched a single finger to the man's forehead and his eyes rolled back as he fell into unconsciousness. The Jedi let the body crumple unceremoniously to the ground, his face landing in a heap of what might have been mud, but likely wasn't. It served him right for his foul words Hawk thought with a grin.

"I don't think he was Mando," Hawk commented to Kat as the nagging strangeness he felt earlier slid forward in his mind to fill another gap in the puzzle.

Hawk bent down and lifted the man's arm and pulled back the sleeve. What he had originally thought to be a tattoo was now clearly a brand. The Jedi's eyes were drawn from the brand to the Mandalorian helmet that lay upon the ground a short distance away.

"We need that, but whatever you do do not let it touch your skin."

It was their earlier talk of Dathomiri magic that had stirred something in Hawk's mind. The pieces of the puzzle were all there; the helmet, a totem of some kind imbued with dark energies; the brand, a symbol of servitude, and the oration skills of the man like a spell being placed on the people.

"He said my Lords," Hawk inhaled deeply as he stood back up. "I think some of Tenebris' demon forces may have slipped through the breach between worlds in the brief moment it was opened for him to be taken back."

There was more that Hawk suspected; perhaps more that he could guess, but as of yet his suspicions rested upon some idle observations and a brief interaction with the unconscious orator. He suspected that these demons were recruiting the most desperate and angry citizens, whether knowingly or not into their cult. Some ritual that involved branding them was performed to make them controllable and compliant, and they were then sent out to sow discord.
If true, this meant a number of things. It meant that their enemies had multiplied and had powerful entities on their side. It meant that anyone that they passed on Coruscant could be a cultist, for who knew how small a totem could be. It also meant that they needed to find someone who knew more about magic.

"We need to find a witch," Hawk said turning his emerald eyes heavenward. "We need to go deeper into the underworld."

 

[KitKatt]

The decisiveness of Hawk Hinata was mesmerizing. He seemed to always know what to do, where to go, who he had to harm and who he had to save. Why couldn’t she be like that? Why couldn’t Kat command the attention of a room, direct forces, and move with a swift purpose? She felt like a wide eyed child tottering along in her fathers wake as he did the super heroic things children expected from their fathers. It made her feel less somehow, like she had shrunk three inches since this journey began.

Life had been so simple when she and James first married. Back then all Kat wanted was to be a parent, but that blessing had never been achieved. Perhaps Hawk could act like a superhero because he was a father. Or had been.

She pushed away those terrible thoughts and removed the duster she had been wearing. She carefully wrapped the helmet in it and tied the ends to keep it secure.

She stowed the helmet under her arm and let her fingers travel to her neck. Etched into her skin, and only visible in a sharp light, Kat had a collar of runes around her neck. They were an unwanted birthday present from the cult of dark Jedi she had been raised in. The witch who had performed the ceremony told her magic always left traces. She had despised these markings as much as she despised being born into a dark cult, but perhaps finally they would be useful.

She closed her eyes and stretched her senses as far as they would go, looking for anything that felt the same as the energy of the collar around her neck. There was something very week several levels down, behind a red door.

“We have to go down.”

She tucked the helmet more securely under her arm and opened her deep green eyes.

“There is something down there that feels like magic. Different magic than I am used to but magical nonetheless. We need to find a red door.”


Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

The dyad between Hawk and Kat had only been temporary, but it had left a lasting legacy; a strengthening of the connection between them. Hawk could feel some of what she was feeling but he did not think that this was the time for a pep talk; Kat was a Jedi Master and though learning was a lifelong pursuit, Hawk had no wish to come across as patronising.
Kat had seen his mind as much as he had seen hers, the internal world of Hawk's mind was not nearly so organised and resolute as his calm exterior appeared to be. People had always looked to him in the same way that Kat did now; eyes full of awe and expectation...seeing the legend and not the man, or perhaps in spite of the man.
Hawk suspected that there was little he could do to change this idealised view she had of him if a trip into his mind had done nothing to dispel it, and he wasn't sure he would even want to. He had no right to disillusion someone of their heroes, even if they were him.

"A red door," Hawk repeated Kat's words and mused out loud. "Now, I know this as a matter of business of course..." Hawk grinned. "...but, unless things have changed, red doors in the underworld are usually entrances to brothels."

Hawk glanced down at the cultist orator as he began to stir. There was little he could do about the brand on his skin without the proper medical equipment, but perhaps now that he was separated from his totem he might be more open to influencing.

"You don't want to cause any more unrest," Hawk spoke and slowly waved his hand, concentrating his will into the man's mind. "You want to go home and rethink your life," he added and smiled as he repeated the words.

"Lead on to the brothel," Hawk chuckled as he turned to Kat, trusting that her senses could lead them to the magic she sensed.

 

[KitKatt]

Kat's face slipped into a sly grin at the mention of a brothel. She had been to several. While most Jedi were commanding the war effort she had been undercover in the Underworld. While everybody was busy watching the war the criminal element had taken advantage and crime increased until the Council had deemed undercover Jedi a necessity. Even a century latter she felt comfortable in the mix of scum and villainy. It didn't quit feel like home because she wasnt truly a part of it, but Kat felt more confident walking into a brothel than she had ever felt walking the halls of the Jedi Temple.

She lead their decent into the lower levels. The lower they went the stronger the unrest, but so too was the traces of magic. It wasn't really a feeling like the Force, but more like particles of bread crumbs she could not see until they reached a district with red doors, red lights, and neon advertisements for pleasurable company. Here the magic was the strongest and though the door she chose seemed no different than any of the others she could feel what was on the other side.

They entered and found themselves in a sort of waiting lounge with a bar to appease waiting customers. There were two guards blocking the entrance to the upper levels, where she assumed the individual rooms would be. That was where they needed to search.

She lead the way to the counter and was greeted by a greasy haired woman with sallow cheeks. The woman's eyes narrowed slightly. She probably didn't see many couples walk in here.

"What can I do for you?"

"It's my husbands birthday and we are looking for a third party guest to help us celebrate."

The greasy hair woman relaxed, perhaps convinced they weren't cops now.

"It will be a bit of a wait but I am sure we can accommodate."

"Can we wait upstairs so we can start the party?”

She slid a credit stick over to the lady who pocketed it.

“Well it IS the mans birthday. Room 207.”

Kat took the key and the guards let her and Hawk past.

"Our magical friend is somewhere up here."

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

The guards leered openly at Kat and winked at him as they moved aside to let the two Jedi past. For his part, Hawk shot them a dazzling smile which merely stated 'Yeah, I know', to their internal monologue of 'Lucky bastard'. Hawk hurried up the stairs after Kat, deliberately tripping on the way to really sell their cover and the part he had chosen to play as the overexcited husband who couldn't quite believe his luck.

The door clicked shut behind them as they entered room 207 and a small light activated on the internal wall which indicated that a sound dampening field had activated; a novelty feature of such rooms designed both to give privacy and block the sounds of passion from adjoining rooms.

"Not what I had in mind for our first date, but..." Hawk paused as a small serving droid rolled from a small hatch bearing a bottle of champagne and three flutes from which to drink it. "...It's not nearly as seedy as it looks from the outside." Hawk continued plucking two of the flutes from the droid, and with a wave of his hand caused the champagne bottle to float into the air and the cork to pop, half filling both glasses before handing one to Kat with a silly grin on his face.

It was interesting. The feeling of fear and anger that had been building within the people as they descended deeper into the underworld did not appear to penetrate the brothel. Hawk could sense the magic. It was different to how he felt the force; less focused, almost like a peripheral sense. It made sense that the patron of this establishment would not want fear, anger and the unrest that came with it inside their walls...but this did not make them an ally. With magic involved they would need to be very careful.

Hawk sipped the champagne and made a face, he'd never really been one for wine, even of the fancy expensive sparkling kind.
The door buzzed indicating that someone wished to be granted entry.

"Our third," Hawk chuckled with a raised eyebrow in Kat's direction before going to answer the door.

The door swung open and Hawk immediately ducked as a serrated vibroblade hummed through the air. The Jedi's arm snaked out and grasped the assailant by the wrist, twisting their arm behind their back and brought his other arm up to wrap around their neck.

The door closed behind them as he dragged his would be murderer into the room, the sound dampening field reactivating. It was a woman with raven hair and a penchant for tight leather. Had she not just tried to decapitate him than he might well have believed she was the intended icing for his triple layered birthday cake, but there weren't many who could get that close to him without setting off some kind of warning in the force.

"Get your hands off me! " She groaned as the position of her arm was clearly painful. "We run a respectable business here and cause no problems."

Hawk eased up the pressure but did not let her go.

"Do you often try to decapitate people in your respectable business?" Hawk asked.

"The business is my mother's. I run security, and any time we see Jedi here it always means trouble."

Hawk sighed, they should have considered that the entrance would likely have been monitored and that someone might have recognised their attire. Who knew, perhaps there was even some spell that alerted them to the presence of force users.

"Fear not, we're not here for trouble." Hawk released the young woman to punctuate the fact that they weren't there to harm her mother's business. "We just have a few questions for you and your mother. I'm sure you've noticed things have been getting rather...tense in the underworld lately?"

The young woman narrowed her eyes at him and massaged her wrist where he had held her. She studied his face for a moment; he had eyes that were simultaneously terrifying and the most comforting she had even seen. She felt both wildly afraid to be stood in his presence, yet as safe as a child felt in its parent's arms. The man was an enigma, though an oddly handsome one that she wouldn't have minded figuring out. Colour rose in her cheeks as she thought this last thought and she turned to face the female Jedi instead.

"Yes, we have felt it here. Customers have been increasingly agitated, we've even had some violence, one of our girls got beat up pretty bad before I arrived. The man seemed to be in some kind of trance and had no idea what happened after I smacked him out of it." She addressed her answer to Kat, but cast a sidelong glance at Hawk.

"My friend and I have something we'd like your mother to take a look at if she would be willing, and perhaps she can answer some more questions, and in turn we can do something about these agitated customers?"

The young woman nodded, picked her vibroblade up from the floor where she had dropped it and beckoned them to follow her.

 

[KitKatt]

"Not what I had in mind for our first date, but..."

“Every date with me is an adventure.”

Kat had her back to him, her deep green eyes scanning the room for cameras or listening devices. As she said this she paused and realized she had never considered Hawk Hinata in that way. Could she? He was handsome certainly and intelligent, but so different than her normal type. Hell she had married a pirate. Not that it had worked out. Being a husband never suited James and he took off the first chance he got. Somehow she couldn't see Hawk doing that. He had always seemed too good to be a real person but she knew deep down he was. If she allowed herself to dwell on what lay in his mind she would see his insecurities, his fears, the weight of the galaxy on his shoulders. In short she would see that he was mortal, perhaps one of very few to have that privilege. It was a different type of intimacy but strangely comforting.

She turned and accepted the drink from him, her mind still dwelling on the question of Hawk as a desirable man when the knock on the door brought her back to reality.

The situation escalated and defused easily enough and Kat couldn't help but smirk as the daughter spoke directly to her. It was easy to be intimidated and fascinated by the man.

They left the room and traveled down the hallway. At the end there was a concealed doorway that lead to a flight of stairs. Here the decor was minimal and more shabby. This wasn't for the patrons eyes.

They were lead into a small sitting room that was stifling hot, mostly due to the fire burning in a large antique fireplace. Its flames wafted a sweet smelling something that Kat could not identify.

They took a seat on a small sofa and Kat glanced around. There were many signs of open witchcraft here. She could see things in small vials, crystals, rune tablets, and what looked like a dead bird with half its feathers plucked off.

A door off the side opened and a haughty woman entered. She had a proud and somewhat strict look to her.

“My daughter says you want something… Jedi.”

The last word made her lip curl as of the word left a bad taste in her mouth.

Hawk Hinata

 

[Hawk Hinata]

Hawk had felt a wave of heat wash over him at Kat's personal thoughts through the echo of their dyad. The connection had linked them, albeit briefly, in such an intimate way that they knew each other and experienced what it meant to be the other in ways few others in the galaxy ever had. Was it just this that gave stir to such intimate thoughts within her, and withing himself? Was it this combined with the relief and joy of finding one another alive; someone familiar who understood what it meant to be displaced from time? Or was there more to it?

The questions of intimacy between them were secondary at this moment however, there was unrest on Coruscant provoked by demonic entities, and one of their followers had tried to assassinate them not too long ago, and now the young witch who had just tried to decapitate him was leading them to her mother.

Hawk cast a glance around the room they were led to. It was interesting to find a witch in such a place. The Witches of Dathomir lived in a matriarchal society where the males were little more than slaves and breeding stock, and yet here was a witch who ran a brothel...a place whose foremost customers were male and which existed to fulfil their lusts and desires. His mind drifted to Kat momentarily and he fought back the thoughts he wasn't sure weren't some lingering symptom of the dyad, and hoped Kat had not felt the desire stir within him.
The Jedi's focus snapped back to the room as an older woman entered. Hawk took her in at a glance, her attire and small sun shaped pin that held a deep purple cloak clasped around her suggesting the clan she belonged to.

"Mother," Hawk spoke offering a small bow to the woman, he sensed that the term was her title rather than her actually being the young witch's mother. "I was once a great ally of the Bright Sun Clan in the time of great grandmothers, I come to you in that same spirit..."

"My sisters of the Bright Sun Clan exiled me to this place, do not seek my favour through them Jedi."

The emotions behind her words were those of regret, sadness, guilt and desire. Hawk focused upon her emotions and tried to read the story that flowed through them. A vision of her as a younger witch came to him, she was in love with a man, a man who wore dark robes. He wanted a spell, and though she did not want to perform it, she did for him. The spell was dark magic, forbidden by the Bright Sun Clan. She had fled at first, seeking her love, but he just laughed at her as she cried and begged him to take her with him. His eyes glowed a sickly yellow. He was a Sith. Evil flared in his eyes and he swept his crimson blade up, but before he could strike her down a purple bolt of energy struck him in the shoulder and he fell back into his ship. The Clan fired upon the ship but within moments it had taken off and disappeared into the Dathomiri sky. She had been left broken hearted, but the worst was yet to come. For her crime of using forbidden magic she was exiled, forced to live the life she did to avoid the Nightsister clan who sought to recruit her.

"Your actions saw you exiled." Hawk replied with apparant brutal honesty. "But your actions were those of a young girl in love; a young girl in love who made a mistake. I sense no evil in you."

The witch bristled for a moment and then waved them both to take a seat. The Jedi had read her like a book. She had carried the guilt, shame and pain of what she had done and how she had been betrayed all these years, but she had never again given in to evil. The Jedi could not offer her absolution, but his words were true.

"As it is Jedi, I know why you're here. I have seen the demons in my scrying pool and my girls have suffered at the hands of those they have...influenced."

"That saves an awful of of explaining," Hawk smiled as he sat. "Master Ryiah has something that we would like you to take a look at. I believe it to be some kind of totem through which the demons can spread their evil, but the magic they use is not something I understand."

"Show me," the witch beckoned to Kat. "I will see what secrets it holds."