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[IC] Clone Wars (Attack of the Revenge of the Menace)
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Nar thought about it. "But don't try to play dress-up with me. Capturing a Jedi is a greater feat than capturing a captain, anyway."
He paused at the thought of yesterday and turned to Captain Del. "It's a long shot, but do you happen to know what became of the droid that returned with us in the speeder?"
"Oh, thank the maker!" said Trill, "I'm so pleased to see you both! The security corps are most troubled that we have not yet left to Coruscant, and insisted that I ask you 'what is the hold-up'? It is a somewhat crude idiom, but I am merely relaying the message as instructed."
"The security corps will be pleased to know that we will not be leaving Bunduki until the rioting is quelled. You can relay that to them, if you'd like. We're going to help these people," he added, not without a bit of pride.
"Now, so, we can get --" Nar paused. A thought had hit him, not entirely something he'd put together himself. He wasn't certain the Force itself could speak, but this might be close, and he voiced the thought immediately. "They think Dooku is a Jedi." Why hadn't it occured to him earlier? It was obvious!
He thought about it, and then, suddenly, he cracked a grin. "My droid? Will I need to buy him a license and a collar?"
Casso swallowed the last big spoonful of unidentifiable food and pushed his bowl aside. "Master, I don't understand people some times. The rest of the time either. But right now, I'd settle for understanding how Dooku is driving them to tear their city apart.
"Maybe we should go to Phow Ji's apartment. If nothing else, it might serve as a little, ah, inspiration towards finding one of those secret paths through the vents."
"Not a bad idea, Jedi. Pike had the place locked down ever since he took off with you two."
The captain slid a key card over to the two Jedi. He flinched as Trill knocked over a stack of empty metal trays near the chow line.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," the medical droid stammered, "I simply cannot detect a traffic pattern in this facility... everything is just so chaotic!"
"This has a pretty high security clearance," Del continued, "It'll get you in there. And I don't care what you do with that bucket of bolts there, just get him out of my sight."
Master Windu shifted on his meditation cushion. The temptation to practice saber techniques during long journeys was strong, but he knew it was merely a compulsion to help pass the time. He preferred to cultivate his discipline by sitting with the Force, feeling the unique currents one feels in hyperspace.
"Master Windu?"
"You've been standing outside the door for a while now, Master Fisto. Please come in."
Kit Fisto walked into the room and took a seat opposite Windu. He scratched at his skin for a moment... it was difficult to avoid drying out during space travel. An uneasy feeling had settled upon many of the Jedi. Mace could not help but notice that the Nautolan had lost his characteristic grin and easy manner. He was troubled.
"You are worried about your former Padawan." It was a statement. Windu had no need to ask.
"Yes... I understand that you spoke to him. He is to meet us on Geonosis?"
"Those were my orders."
"... Do you think he is following them?"
"You suspect that he is not."
"Yes. Nar sent us this information yet did not want to follow. He must feel something that we do not. What if this is a trap, Master Windu? What if Dooku is already a step ahead?"
"Let us hope Dooku is foolish enough to think that he is. He cannot know of Nar's escape, nor that we are aware of this gathering of Separatist leaders on Geonosis. Dooku is the shatterpoint, and he has just given us the opportunity to end a great conflict before it starts. We cannot fail."
There was a long pause.
"It has already started," said Fisto, getting up to leave, "And perhaps... we have already failed."
"Casso. Do you need anything? There's no reason to waste time; we should get moving." Nar glanced between the captain and his Padawan. He hopes something would come of this ... he didn't want to regret his decision to stay on Bunduki, and he did want to help these people.
He placed a hand on Trill's shoulder, more as a gesture than anything, and guided the droid over to where fewer people were walking. "If you could relay Master Aval's message about our takeoff status back to the crewmen, please, and then wait at the ship until we return. If something comes up, and you need to give us a message, you can come back to the Citadel and find someone to tell Captain Del here what you need to tell us. Okay?"
He moved away from Trill without giving the droid a chance to respond: he knew that whatever Trill said would be long-winded and unnecessary. He did feel a sort of pity for the droid, though. It tried so hard to please, and Nar was always needling it. Casso went back to the table and addressed the Captain. "Trill's probably going to try to leave us a message at least once, if I've learned anything about him since we met, and he'll leave it through you, if that's all right." Then, to Nar: "Are you ready, Master?" It was time to save the planet.
heck yes for perception
Casso turned up a great variety of weapons as he rifled through the apartment... some more alcoholic contraband from the outer rim (which was probably more valuable than the weapons) and some Devaronian pornography that he promptly put back in place... he wasn't supposed to look at that, and the fur and horns were a bit unsettling.
Eventually he came across a datapad that was affixed to the bottom of a piece of furniture with mesh tape... could it hold something useful?
Phow Ji apparently had left some notes behind however. He had left a very winding and precarious-looking route through abandoned utility tunnels down to the lower levels, and only a single word outside of those directions: Villie.
Villie?, thought Casso, what in blazes is a Villie?
The Jedi were focused, moving in silence but for a few occasions when Casso saw fit to nearly fall to his death, saved either by the quick work of his own hands, or those of his master. Nearly both of them were dragged down an abandoned turbolift shaft when Nar snagged his padawan by the belt, managing to get his hands on a hanging cable as the two of them fell.
The Twi'lek had a moment to reflect as he watched his protégé at work. Indeed, he boy was advanced in many ways. But he had doubts. Perhaps it was Casso's youth, but something about him seemed so... raw. Nar had been brought up in a different time, a simpler time. He had grown up with the blade, and learned to refine his character as he had his saber techniques. To cultivate a purity of his spirit that was reflected in the precision of his movements. He had learned that mind and body reflected one another, and expressed his devotion as a Jedi through his dedication to the lightsaber.
Casso was... different. He had become a Jedi at an age that would have been considered "too old" in Nar's time. The boy was not cut of the old cloth. Nar did admire his tact and diplomacy, as he felt lacking in both. Nar was from the warrior tradition, and his padawan was more of a philosopher or politician. Perhaps even the sort who would one day sit upon the Council. As Nar held Casso by his belt, scolding him for a lack of focus, it occurred to him that perhaps he had done the young one a disservice. He had always led by example, a stoic representation of all things Jedi. Perhaps Casso required a different training than his own. It was truly puzzling.
Nar's thoughts were cut off as he and his padawan arrived at their destination. Casso gave an unnecessary and enthusiastic nod toward a grate they approached, and through which a few armed guards could be seen milling about in a hallway. They appeared to be vigilantes, lacking any uniformity of clothing, armor or weapons.
Nar's fall (1d6=2)
Casso's fall (2d6+2d6=19) Ouch.
"Damned if it didn't get quiet 'round here last couple of days."
"Seems we're holding level five well 'nuf. Not much action getting down low, 'less a spider comes along."
"Speaking of... you think it's true 'bout Phow Ji?"
"You mean him bein' dead? He were a canny bastard, t'might just be rumors. Got some of them sub-level freaks powerful furious, and right useful."
"Might be he's 'round but there ain't much chance without him doin' this elegant-like."
"Never kenned I'd hear "elegant" and "Phow Ji" inna same breath."
"You sawed him wrap up Dux Pike, right? Like a damned surgeon he was."
"No doubt... last match in the Kettle weren't bad neither, didja catch when..."
The guards began to drift off into idle banter about Bunduki's curious tradition of prize-fighting.
"This is it, then," Nar commented. His complete disregard for subtlety had probably rarely lacked the subtlety it lacked now, as he stepped over to the grate and pounded on it with his forearm. "Hey!"
"It's the 'canthix!"
"It ain't them, y'idiot! They woulda just blown through the grate and shot us!"
"Oh."
The (apparently) smarter of the two called out in a louder voice.
"Hey! Who's that in there?"
"Crawlin' through ducts to do business, eh? Who sent ya?"
Sort of true?
"Shut up, you. So Phow Ji sent you, eh? Usually comes himself -- why not this time?"
They weren't terribly smart... but quite suspicious.
"Shut it."
"It's a kinda ship, right?"
The smart one smacked the other one in the back of the head. Nar realized that they couldn't see into the grate, and hadn't discerned his alien appearance nor the presence of his padawan.
"Whut exactly did Phow Ji send you here to do?"
"Shut up. Haven't shot yet, has he? We can handle it."
These two didn't actually seem confident... they seemed to have a legitimate fear of shooting someone who might be friendly... but were equally afraid that they might let an enemy within the compound.
"If you don't tell me what you're doin' here imma associate'cha with this blaster!"
His fingertip brushed against the activation knob on his saber (some Jedi liked 'force activated' switches, but not Nar. His lightsaber was very straight-forward in design.) He just needed some acknowledgment from his Padawan (he trusted Casso's intuition, sometimes), and then he'd burn his way through that grate and find exactly what it was Ji'd made that map for.
"On three, then?" he said, pointing his lightsaber to the grate.
While his fingers counted down, his lightsaber hissed into life, spitting out a yellow glow.
Nar, blue and foreign to these sheltered people, gripped his lightsaber with both hands and smiled. "I guess Master Ji will have to wait."
"Oh no... there's more of them!"
"We're... we're sorry! We -- "
"We just had to be sure!"
"Yeah! Yeah, that's it!"
"Yeah... uh... we'll take you --"
"Wherever! We'll take you wherever Phow Ji said to!"