Private Where Have You Been Hiding?

[Jamie Pyne]

Reid Brimarch

Jamie nodded, "Of course. It would be irresponsible of me to let you go in there alone." She smiled, "Besides, I doubt they're expecting one Jedi, but two? I want to see their faces." 244Core was not a beacon of hopes and dreams by any stretch of the imagination, but not everyone was bad. Those poorest among the populace were constantly exploited. The refugees had the worst of times.

And if someone was planning on killing hundreds of them because of simply who they were?

Well, that wasn't going to sit well with Jamie. Not when much of her life had already been spent helping those in very similar positions, both on Naboo, and abroad. The galaxy was a cruel, dark place. If they could stop it together here, this time, it was worth it.

"Lets get going. Don't want to keep them waiting."

Nor did she want to give them any more time to further their plans.

 

[Reid Brimarch]

Jamie Pyne

"We are myths at the best of days, but now? We will be a nightmare." A laugh there, eyes gleaming as he looks back towards her.

Before he could continue the joke, the scent of the garbage container distracted him again.

"What is in there anyway, I can't concentra-" His path took him to the front of the container. There Shaw was cut off, because the sight of its interior managed to surprise even him. "-...feth, this turned from conspiracy to actuality." Inside of the container was a corpse. Old enough to already start to stink it all up.

"So close to their warehouse, how stupid are they?"

Or maybe they just didn't care.

Was there even a police on 244Core that would deal with this, if they wouldn't? Anyone who would give a chit? Something told Shaw no. That they were used to doing things with impunity.

"Looks like he got stabbed a number of times."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Reid Brimarch

The blonde covered her mouth and nose as Shaw lifted the container to reveal the contents within. The stench was gravely offensive. "Oh, dear heavens, that's terrible!" Her words held meaning twofold with regard to the smell and the vile act itself. The fact that this was done so close was likely due to the lack of enforcement the local authorities, if one could imagine such a thing here, had. The murder was perhaps a few days old, well within the time frame to start to get that really atrocious smell. And mixed with raw trash to boot.

"They likely stumbled into something they shouldn't have, and were handled in a manner considered appropriate. I wouldn't expect a warm welcome when we drop in."

She gestured for Shaw to close the container, there was nothing they could do with respect to that right now, and if they delayed, more would die. Jamie didn't feel good about leaving a body like that, discarded like waste, but the bigger picture was at stake.

"Come on, lets go set this right."

The body was indicative of the seriousness of the threat, and they had precious little time to waste.

 

[Reid Brimarch]

Jamie Pyne

A glance on over to her and her exclamation.

Oh, yeah, definitely princess material.

"No, I reckon not, but just so we are on the same page here..." Starting to walk with her. "I assume we are agreed we ain't going in there to kill 'em all, aye?" Sure sounded like a ridiculous question. But that all depended on which side ya fell on. So many Jedi who thought that just because they were of the 'Lightside of the Force', it meant they could go in guns 'n' blazing. Killing left and right. Because they were on the right side of it, no?

Nah.

A killer is a killer, as far as Shaw was concerned.

It didn't matter, if they were facing killers themselves. Didn't mean they had to be. Either way, Shaw would take the lead on the ladder. Letting his finger tips brush worn metal. Shards of memories filtering in there. It still felt weird to sink into someone else's view like that. But it had its benefits.

"Guy up top... favors his left leg. Got a knife in his boot and a blaster in his hand." Peering up from over the edge. Guy had his back to them, which was absolutely great.

Silently he crept up, then made room for Pyne to follow him.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Reid Brimarch

Shaw was speaking her language.

It was rare she encountered Jedi with similar morals as she. While most Jedi held to the belief of peace until it became a fight, in all her years she had not once used her lightsaber to kill anyone. At least not directly or intentionally. To answer his question, or rather, assertion, Jamie gently tapped her vest where her lightsaber was hidden away.

"Bondar crystal." She said with a nod. "It'll ring their bell, but no more lasting damage than a training saber when all is said and done."

She ascended the ladder with Shaw, listening to his assessment as they climbed quietly together, hopeful to not alert their presence to anyone.

"Subdue the ones on the roof and then find our way inside from there?"

There was likely an access door that led to inside, or a ventilation shaft they could sneak through if not.

 

[Reid Brimarch]

Jamie Pyne

"Aren't you full of pleasant surprises," He drawls bemusedly. Oh, Shaw would kill, if he had to. But 'had' didn't mean 'got into a fight'. Nobody deserved an instant death sentence, just because they resisted. "Aye, that's the strategy alright."

A Jedi wasn't judge, jury, executioner as far as Shaw was concerned.

Once they were both on top, Shaw nodded to the guard, but put his finger against his lips. Universal gesture. Then gestured for her to move up. Towards the thug, who was currently humming a merry arse song to himself. Not aware of what was about to happen to him. That was alright with Shaw, would make things so much easier.

While Jamie was busying herself with that?

Shaw crept up towards the door. It was locked, but that didn't mean everything. Hand reached out, touching the knob, the area around it. Letting the memories of the wood slowly stream into him.

It told him all matter of things.

Including... where the thug hid the key, while he was loitering on the roof.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Reid Brimarch

"Always be the one to surprise, and you'll never be shocked."

She smiled, feeling rather witty with an off the cuff moment of wisdom likely drawn from her days playing tongue-in-cheek games with other politicians, though she was particularly proud of that little quip. Perhaps she'd remember it for another time.

Jamie nodded, understanding the silent plan. She waited a moment for Shaw to close the gap a bit further towards the door before making her move. Once she was confident, she drew the Force close, then enveloped the thug with invisible hands, lifting him quickly and violently slamming him into the ground. The way she figured it, there was less of a chance to be heard if she simply rocked his noggin against the duracrete than if she ignited a lightsaber and shocked him into submission. At least this way he'd never even see the pair on the rooftop.

Thirty minutes or so and he'd wake up with one nasty body and head ache. Better than the fate of the poor soul they found in the trash bin, so she had little sympathy in that regard.

The blonde then turned back to Shaw to see him inspecting the door for a way inside.

 

[Reid Brimarch]

Jamie Pyne

He was grappling with the duracrete bricks.

Finger tips moving against the lines of the stone. Over and over again. The memories were clear. One of those bricks was false. There was a little room above it. Enough that someone could put a key on it. That way, if you got knocked out..... or like Pyne offered, smashed against the floor, it didn't matter for the door.

The key was still somewhere else.

Lucky for them that Shaw was fingering the edges of the bricks.

Until-

"Ahaha!" Just as Pyne turned towards him. "Yeah, this be the spot." He murmured as he pulled the key from the upper bricks and showed it to her. "Let's disarm him and then we will go down, kick some arse, eh?"

No sense in letting an enemy keep weapons. Even if they were knocked out right now.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Reid Brimarch

Kiffar were certainly a gifted lot. Psychometry - A natural talent she did not possess, one that made them exquisite detectives and investigators. Also made lying to one nearly impossible she figured. If this were up to her she would have had to simply break the lock and force her way in.

Keys made things so much easier, but more importantly, quieter.

The blonde nodded, reaching down and taking his blaster, as well as the hip holster to secure it. She fumbled inside the man's jacket, as well as his pockets for any other surprises he might have had on him, such as a disguised knife. Coming up empty handed she holstered his weapon over her right hip and made towards Shaw.

"Let's bring the party to them."

 

[Reid Brimarch]

Jamie Pyne

Key went out.

It went exploring.

His hand explored the gasps, until Shaw managed to grasp for the key. Until he went for it and grabbed hold of it. It was one of those things, right? You weren't sure in the moment, but once it was there in your hand, you were glad it touched your skin.

"Let's do it." Shaw murmured, before pushing the door open for her. There was nothing wrong for her to go first. Right? It was simply one of those things.

Once she went down, Shaw followed after her.

His lightsaber went up.

Pyne believed in no violence whatsoever. But Shaw did not. No, whatsoever. It was a thing one might, or might no. They crawled down, until the spiral down went to something nobody was happy with.

There was blood here.

Confusing right?

But one step down. You felt the blood down your step.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Reid Brimarch

Carefully she led the way down the cramped corridor, step by step. The light padding of feet against duracrete echoed for a brief moment before fading into the abyss. Eyes caught sight of the blood spatter on the ground, carefully stepping over the mess. She pointed to it as she passed it by. Her hand gripped the hilt of Rominaria as they neared the entryway that opened into the building proper.

The blonde pressed the side of her head against the cold durasteel door in an attempt to listen in for any signs of life -- Talking, footsteps, the like.

Nothing.

Quietly her hand gripped the knob and ever so slowly, began to turn it. Eventually it released and Jamie pushed on the door with two fingers. A light creak within the door cried out in protest as it was opened, though lucky enough for them this seemed a storage room with roof access. The main floor was just below them, and now Jamie could hear the sounds of voices and footsteps below, echoing up from the ventilation ducts along the floor.

They could either crawl through the ducts, or take the lift down at the end of the room to the main floor from here.

"What do you think?" She whispered, gesturing towards the two choices.

 

[Reid Brimarch]

Jamie Pyne

Two choices.

Neither of which were ideal.

One was cramped and made them sitting ducks. The other would announce them almost immediately. Especially if someone was near the elevator, which they couldn't know until it was already too late. "Vent, I guess." He murmured back softly. "Elevator be too loud, who knows how many will be waiting for us downstairs."

This time around Shaw went first.

Gesturing for Pyne to keep a look-out as he crept over and started to carefully dismantle the grate over the vent. It was better this way. Compared to her taking the lead here.

No awkward situations with accidentally staring at her arse, while they were crawling through that tight-fit.

The grate went pop and a moment later he pushed himself in. "Didn't expect my week going like this when I first touched ground here..." Shaw whispered over his shoulder, as they made progress, meter by meter.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Reid Brimarch

The idea of crawling through a dirty old ventilation duct was hardly appealing, but Shaw was still right. The moment those elevator doors opened all element of surprise was out the window, and following that? Probably a lot of blaster fire their way. Perhaps some bystander casualties, if any were present. Not a good outlook.

The blonde nodded and stood by as he began to dismantle the access point for the duct, then promptly followed into the narrow passageway a few paces behind the shadow, hand over foot in an ever steady, yet slow and quiet pace.

"I've been on this planet for months now, but this isn't exactly what I had in mind in coming here, either."

Finding it best to keep quiet as they crawled further into the building she simply kept up behind the other Jedi, pausing once in a while where there was a grate above the floor below to peer through the tiny holes, checking on the number of people they passed to get an estimate of what they were up against when finally they did drop in to the party.

"A few of them down there" She whispered up to Shaw.

 

[Reid Brimarch]

Jamie Pyne

Yeah, you didn't go from Queen of Naboo to just another nameless face on 244Core to play hero.

Makes ya wonder tho.

She hadn't hesitated even once, to jump right back into it, which probably said something. Maybe if they survived this it would even be said out loud. Who knew though. Maybe they'd all die by the end of it. "Aye," He murmured back, his eyes following the same numbers as Pyne. There were a lot. Straight up fight it would be difficult.

Oh, not to end them.

Jedi, right? But that was the thing. When you were trying to avoid killing folks things turned more difficult. "Might be best if we hit 'em from two sides." He finally murmured, once they had glanced over all their numbers through the interior of the warehouse.

"You drop down from one grate. I take the far-end one. Hit 'em at the same time?"

It would be risky, sure, but at the same time it would make sure they weren't just one huge target for a whole crowd of thugs to home in one.

Kick them at the same time, keep them off-balance.

He glanced over his shoulder. Eyes met, make sure they agreed, before he continued to crawl down the vent, to his end of the bargain.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Reid Brimarch

The plan was the best they had. Improvising was often the way of things. Plans fell apart too quickly and easily. Thinking on ones feet was a general necessity. Jamie had learned those lessons the hard way after making them herself many times over throughout her career as both a Jedi and politician. Surprisingly the latter was often the more difficult to navigate. Her stance as a Jedi never wavered, though as a politician one had to know the field and the opponents. Those were often far more varied than the code of the Sith.

She nodded to Shaw, "You got it."

Following his instruction she quietly and carefully crawled her way to the opposite end, before turning to her fellow Jedi. She held up three fingers in a universal sign of counting. Slowly she removed her lightsaber with her other hand and held it to towards the grate. When activated the idea was to quickly cut through an opening and drop down to catch their opponents off guard and to end the fight quickly.

One finger fell, then another. On the third the bright yellow hue and ever familiar snap-hiss of her blade came to life, creating the opening for her as she dropped down to greet the conspirators.

 

[Reid Brimarch]

Jamie Pyne

Snap-hiss.

Grate went down and Shaw dropped.

From there things went wild. He didn't want to think about it too much. A figure dropped from a grate, literally on top of a thug, that was the only sign he'd get in that moment. After that? Shaw had to do his best. His lightsaber stayed disable. Unlike Pyne there wasn't a crystal which would incapacitate anyone Shaw touched.

No.

if his saber touched anything, that meant death.

So Shaw had to make sure it didn't get that far.

He punched, kicked, shoved, until Shaw got to the middle of the warehouse. Studying Pyne across from his own field. "Well, that wasn't as bad, was it?" He ignored both of their efforts there.

Because that was the fair thing to do.

"You okay?"

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Reid Brimarch

Jamie had her principles, that was true. She wasn't a martyr for the cause, but she wouldn't be the one to lay down a life. Most Jedi did not take her approach, and she understood the reasoning. Jedi code never explicitly states anything relative to thou shalt not kill. Her belief that all life was precious was simply a part of her core being.

There was little time to study Shaw and his approach however, as the calamity from their collective entrance set off a series of events that would quickly end with a number of incapacitated deviants. For her part she managed to suffer little more than a few scraps, a tear or two on her clothing, and perhaps an uncomfortable bruise on her ribs in the day to come.

"Yeah." She said with a gentle nod of the head, clipping Rominaria back to her vest.

The blonde gazed around the room, "Thirteen." She counted, that was a formidable force to overtake and bring down a building. "Coordinated." Jamie knelt beside one, searching them for any kind of affiliation in hopes to identify perhaps who might have been backing their agenda.

"Any idea why they might be so focused?" She briefly looked up to Shaw.

 

[Reid Brimarch]

Jamie Pyne

He stretched, then winced.

Body hurt all over.

When you were trying not to kill anyone you left yourself open for punishment. They had gotten him a few times. Knives, punches with knuckledusters, all the works. Shaw would be bruised all over by tomorrow. He definitely wasn't looking forward to that. "They were trying to take out someone in the refugee center." That much had been clear about that shard of memory forced through the physical contact back at the noodle bar. "Not sure who it is, but it was deep personal fury that guided their hands."

A shrug there.

"Maybe someone betrayed them, or someone is trying to dismantle their operations." Whoever it was couldn't be that great a guy either, however. You didn't use a place full of refugees as your own personal shield, if you were a nice person.

At least that's what Shaw thought.

"They got anything on them that might tip us off? Datapad, flimsiplast?"

His hands were already starting to itch. Like they knew what Shaw was about to suggest and were deeply uncomfortable with it. "If it's anything useful, I can try and touch it, get a sense of some of their memories."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Reid Brimarch

The blonde searched several of the incapacitated men, hands grasping at their coats and pockets for anything that could be of use to Shaw. One of the men stirred and was promptly knocked back into his slumber while Jamie moved on to the others. One happened to have a small datapad, though it was damaged in the scuffle, so hopefully whatever information the other Jedi could gather by laying hands on it would be more important than accessing it normally.

Stepping over she handed the device to him and allowed him to do his thing while she wandered about the rest of the room.

"Rival gangs? Or maybe someone just wanted out of something after realizing they were in too deep?"

There was also still the concern as to whether or not explosives had already been set within the building somewhere.

And where was the ringleader behind this?

"Find anything?" She asked, head peering out one of the windows to the darkened street below.

 

[Reid Brimarch]

Jamie Pyne

He took the datapad carefully while making sure there was no skin contact. Neither between them, nor him and the datapad.

One of the worst things was that surprise contact.

The sudden rush of emotions, memories, thoughts... it was the worst. The noodle bar accident that caused him to investigate this very warehouse had left him with a migraine for the rest of the day. "Could be rivals..." Brows furrowed as he pulled a glove off, trying to mentally prepare himself for it. "Felt more personal than that though. Something like a betrayal, aye, but is it just hubris that makes 'em lash out like this?"

Bombing a refugee center just to get to one person seemed a lot.

Unless it was to send a message. That there was no place safe, no place secure or protected that they couldn't reach out and take.

Finally he closed his eyes and touched his finger tip against the glass. Nothing at first. Just a soft buzz. But before he could retract, the surge of memories suddenly flooded in. It was hazy, no clear answers here either, but.

One hint.

A gasp as he took his hand off the datapad. Cold sweat down his back. "Yeah... oh yeah, I did. There's a hidden button here somewhere. Behind one of those consoles. It should open up a grate, they got an underground hangar." Shaking his head to try and take out the memories. It never worked, of course, they were etched into his brain for some time to come. "Who the fark are these people? Gang members don't have hidden underground hangars, do they?"