Parties & Pleasantries

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"He has the blast vest." Anything more and they would have given away that he was wearing armor. It would protect Ian from pretty much everything short of a missile, but...well he wouldn't be happy about it after it went down, that was for sure.

"We have no idea who these people are." She finally reached the top, scrambling onto the thick duracrete roof. "Or what they're capable of. For all we know this is just a political rival of the Senator who got a bit...too bold."

It could also be the First Order, Sith...any number of things.

She let out a sigh as she helped Jamie off of the ladder, thinking to herself that this was all becoming a bit too complex. Every week it felt like there was another plot, another plan, another cult or terrorist group that wanted someone good dead. It was slowly beginning to grate on her nerves, slowly beginning to wear her down. She sighed but didn't say anything to Jamie, deciding that it was best not to share those types of feelings with her padawan.

"Over here." She motioned Jamie over towards the edge of the building that would give them a good view of Ian and the meeting point.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie reached the top of the ladder, Aela taking her hand to help her up. But in that quick and brief moment Jamie sensed there was a measure of unease and trepidation in the older girl. She thought to ask what was up, but thought better of it for the time being. Now wasn't the time, and Aela had afforded her the respect of not diving too much into the whole Kurt baby daddy thing. For now it could wait.

For now it had to wait.

"Maybe." She said with a nod. That would make things rather simple.

At least it wouldn't be giant mutated Sith creations with six legs and spiked tails trying to--Best not to think about that.

The Padawan carefully crept over towards the edge where Aela was, kneeling down on one knee. There they could hopefully, relatively safely watch Ian.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Third frequency." Aela told her padawan as she switcher her Padawan. Almost immediately Ian's voice popped in over the comm.

"Waiting...waiting...waaaaaaaaaaaaaaiting."

The soldier stood on a nearby landing pad, rocking on his heels and seemingly just...waiting, for whomever was supposed to come. Aela smiled slightly, watching the man in silence and wishing that they had brought a pair of macro-binoculars. A few speeders passed by, one even slowing, but none of them stopped. It wasn't until nearly twenty minutes later that someone finally showed. They didn't appear in a vehicle, but instead slowly wandered up behind Ian.

"Six o clock." She whispered into the comm. "Twi'lek Male."

Ian didn't turn around, that would have been more than a little suspicious, instead he kept rocking on his heels, until finally the man apparently said something. Ian turned almost instantly, drawing his blaster and pointing it at the man who seemed entirely unconcerned.

"You failed."

The voice was barely audible through her comm, but she heard him well enough. Ian didn't say anything, but instead just nodded and lowered the blaster. He was supposed to be playing the meek Soldier, not any sort of military figure.

"Disappointing. Our employer will not be pleased. Come with me."

Ian didn't say anything as the Twi'lek turned around, but he did spare a glance in Jamie and Aela's direciton. "We have to follow."

Aela said as she stood up.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie followed Aela's lead as she stood up to follow Ian. She didn't like the idea that he was being led elsewhere by this man. Her gut instinct told her that he was being led to his death. Even with both Jedi following closely she didn't like this. The ominous figure and his cryptic words did little to help quell her fears either. There was just something about him that she found unsettling.

"Alright. Let's go."

Aela likely already knew that Jamie wouldn't let Ian out of he sight, given how she'd chased after the senator by jumping clear out of a window over a balcony and onto a gunship simply to pursue the hostage takers.

She could only hope that they would be able to easily hide themselves by following Ian wherever the man was taking him. By the sounds of it, it was to their boss.

Perhaps then they could figure out who was behind the kidnapping and prevent another one from happening.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

They rushed quickly off the roof top and in the direction that Ian had been taken by the strange Twi'lek. The journey was surprisingly quick, Ian walking at a slower pace likely just to allow the two Jedi to catch up. Aela gently pulled Jamie back, holding her padawan for just a minute as the Twi'lek swung his head around, peering about to see if anyone was following them. For a moment the Marshall held her breath, then slowly poked her head out to see if the man was still looking.

When she saw the two walking Aela motioned Jamie forward.

They followed Ian and the Twi'lek for nearly thirty minutes, rushing through the slums and jumping from place to place so they weren't spotted. Eventually they reached a Cafe, bright neon sign of a naked woman sitting atop the building, huge windows already barred by blinds. She frowned for a moment as Ian looked back towards them, shrugging and then following the Twi'lek inside. "Let's go around back.

The Marshall told Jamie quietly.

The two Jedi moved quietly just to the side of the cafe, stepping into an alleyway that was entirely covered in filth.

Aela shivered as she stepped into a pile of much, some of the sewage seeping into her boot as he moved. Her entire face seemed to scrunch into a scowl as they reached the back of the cafe, her lips thinned as she tried the door. Luckily, a lazy employee had placed a piece of tape over the hinge, preventing the door from properly locking. She smiled and then crouched down, slowly waving Jamie forward and leading her into the back of the cafe.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie followed Aela closely, carefully avoiding the muck that the master had stepped in, snickering as the other girl cursed. When the door was pushed open darkness appeared to engulf the cafe, or what posed as a cafe anyway. Inside the back room there was a single, old, barely lit light that hung from the ceiling in a very bare way, dozens of dusty boxes scattered about. Some were partially opened, others empty, some waterlogged from leaks in the ceiling. It was a dingy, disgusting place at best, likely filled with vermin and pests.

Probably bugs too.

The tile flooring was a collection of old, discarded refuse and stains of varying sorts. It smelled like a trash compactor. Jamie's face soured as she held her nose. "What is that?" She whispered, her finger pinching both nostrils to avoid the smell. The two pushed further inside, the distant sound of voices exchanging words could be heard, but the words difficult to make out. Jamie could distinguish at least three, maybe four. One was definitely Ian, the others she couldn't identify.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela thought about the fact that she had yet to teach Jamie breath control, but quickly decided it wasn't important. "Shhh."

She silenced the padawan, if only because they were drawing closer to the meeting and she thought that the others might have heard her. Ian and the Twi'lek was there, and so were two other men. One was a HUman, and the other one appeared to me a Rodian. The human was surprisingly well dressed, and...looked somewhat familiar. She frowned for a moment, her head peeking over the counter as she tried to get a better look at exactly who it was she was standing with.

Aela's lips thinned as a realization struck her.

"He was at the party." The Marshall said as she dropped down to be level with Jamie again. "The man on the left."

"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO KILL HIM! THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT. HIS CHARITY NEEDS TO FAIL"

The scream rang through the Cafe, motivations quickly unraveling and falling into place. Aela glanced at Jamie and pulled out her lightsaber. She didn't know the mans name...but a few seconds within the Cafe and he had already made his intentions more than obvious.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie kept quiet, but offered an accusing glare complete with squinting, piercing eyes to Aela. She hated being told to shush. It irritated her to no end, being treated like some obnoxious child. The girl then turned her attention to the words being spoken at overly loud intervals, as if Ian wasn't standing almost directly in front of the man, or was somehow partially deaf. Some people just liked being over dramatic.

While the man had quickly revealed his intentions, he hadn't quite revealed why the senator's charity needed to fail. She hoped that he would at least continue talking, even if it were to simply rant about how Ian and the mercenaries had failed. The Padawan scanned the room with her eyes, looking for places where there may be other bodies hiding, in the even that the two Jedi needed to intervene. If so, Ian was in a rather bad spot, even with a blast vest it wouldn't protect his head or anywhere else.

Looking over to the man yelling she tried to place him, she'd seen him, but other than that couldn't tell who he was, or what he was associated with. If he was a high ranking official on Coruscant she didn't recognize him. She hadn't seen the man speak with the senator either.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

The man continued to scream for what seemed like a solid few minutes, though after a moment or two Aela decided that she'd had enough. Ian seemed to withering in front of her very eyes, the poor man seeming somewhat frail under constant screams from the man in front of him. "You block the door."

She told Jamie quietly.

There were no other people in the building besides themselves and the four men, and she doubted that anyone was lurking in the wings. She still didn't quite know who the other man was save for the fact that he was at the party, but they had more than enough of him on tape admitting to the plot, and in the end that was all she really needed to hear. CoreSec would be more than happy to throw him into prison, especially given the high profile nature of the case.

"Ready?" Jamie nodded to her. "Go."

In one quick swoop Aela bounded over the counter top, one lightsaber igniting. "In the name of the Galactic Alliance you're under arrest."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The man cursed something, bounding towards the exit. His Twi'lek friend drew a blaster and quickly took aim towards Aela, finger squeezing the trigger several times to fire a few shots at the woman. He shouted something in his native tongue, something Jamie did not understand, though she was too busy rushing towards the door herself to make sure that the man didn't get away. Luckily for her the path to the door was far less of an obstacle to reach than for him, and made it there relatively quickly, her back facing it as she ignited her own lightsaber.

"Not so fast." She said with a smirk.

"Curse you damn Jedi!"

The man pulled a holdout blaster from the pocket on his blazer, quickly squeezing the trigger, trying to desperately gun down the younger Jedi while making a break for the exit. Luckily not only was he a terrible shot, but Jamie was already prepared for him to take such a foolish step and quickly deflected the shot. Her weapon came slashing forward across the man's chest, sending him to the floor in an instant in front of her.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

The other two men quickly stuck up their hands, either unwilling to fight or knowing that it was futile. Ian stepped back, pulling out his own blaster and pointing it at the two men.

"Ian, call for help." She tossed the soldier her comm-link. He nodded and immediately dialed the number for CoreSec.

It would take some time, nearly fifteen minutes, but eventually Coruscant's security forces once again arrived on the scene. This time they brought more than a few officers, and Aela and Jamie's captives were quickly taken away. One of the captains that arrived on the scene wandered up to Aela, a small smile on his face as he greeted the two Jedi rather warmly, attempting a bow but somehow managing to mess it up in the middle of the process.

"That's Arken Raith."

The man said. "Who?"

"He's a big wig here, owns half of the Factories in The Works while maintaining a few buildings in the Senate District. Guy is richer than rich...but always wanting more."

"I see." It didn't take the pieces long to fall into place after that. Mr. Raith had likely hired the mercenaries as a way to kidnap and kill the good Senator, stop his charity in the process and keep the people in The Works poor. It was...well a rather simplistic scheme on the grand scale, but it made quite a bit of sense for Coruscant. She shook her head slightly and thanked the Captain, then turned to Jamie with a shrug. "Come on."

She bade her Padawan. "Let's go home."