Vacation

Meanwhile at the Jedi Academy...

Some weeks earlier, Jedi Knights Sto'Vo'Kor and Nemo along with the latter's padawan, Hexecter Hue, had been dispatched to Corulag from Coruscant as a result of information regarding various arms deals, fomented unrest, and the potential secession of the planet from the Republic into the welcoming arms of the Empire. The circumstances surrounding the way the Jedi had received this piece of juicy intel prompted the High Council, specifically Councilor Jade in this instance, to send in a small team of Jedi that she could trust to firstly, identify the veracity or otherwise of their data; secondly, to determine how far the situation had deteriorated; and, thirdly, to see if a significant portion of the population was still loyal to the Republic in order to set up an underground intelligence network in case the planet was lost temporarily. In the midst of the growing unrest, Terra Kiros had completed her Trials and become a Knight in her own right, allowing Jade the momentary freedom to act on her own initiative.

The result of the Corulag mission and the in-depth network of black market dealers acting more boldly than normal had raised Jade's curiosity. Shortly after the Corulag team had returned to Coruscant, Jade and Sto'Vo'Kor had departed for Corellia to speak with Nalatua'lin face to face.

Jade's footsteps echoed hollowly in the main corridor of the Academy as she headed towards her own quarters, flanked on one side by a much taller Twi'Lek female, the Academy's Chief Healer, Nalatua'lin, and on the other by an old friend, Al'lara by name, currently studying at the Academy as a Knight. Nalatua'lin had forwarded the original data to Jade on Coruscant mere hours after receiving it in a trade with Five, a Twi'Lek artist residing at the Academy. A short acquaintance had revealed that there was much more to her than met the eye as she was clearly a spy. In spite of the fact that she was most likely selling the Academy's secrets in turn, one of the Raganellas had decided that it was worth the risk, if the information that she gave them was valuable enough.

Jade glanced at her wrist chrono as she keyed open the door.

"Sto'Vo'Kor should be here in three minutes, unless he has lost himself. Nalatua'lin, the data was sound, though it has raised more questions. Kor will be able to give a more full report since he was our eyes on the ground."

Nemo and himself had been granted full autonomy in how they carried out their initial mission, as Jade herself was unable to foresee and plan for every situation that might arise once they were on Corulag. She nodded to Al'lara and waved both of them to the room's two chairs. For herself, she stood near the window. Selaya, the Jedi Master's 'pet' vornskr was off hunting somewhere in the grounds outside the Academy precinct.

Nalatua'lin moved to the indicated seat and sat down, crossing her right leg over her left. Tchunn was draped down her back, while tchinn hung over her shoulder, twitching slightly in concern.

"Due to the nature of a cold war, we have to act carefully, since the Jedi fight a defensive war. The Empire will use any excuse to accuse us of provoking the political situation into outright confrontation." Deceptively delicate hands tapped the arm of the chair as she was speaking. "But, what if the situation on Corulag is a result of tampering on the part of the Empire?"

Silence descended on the room as the Healer voiced the question all three Jedi were thinking.

Jedi academy-Coronet

Kor walked down the halls of the Corellian academy, having left Master Jade in order to get his reports archived and copied to a single datacard for the presentation. He found the room and entered, bowing to Master Jade and Master Nalatua'lin then regarding Al'lara with a polite nod. Despite all these years, he had yet to fully shake the deference to rank and position of his Coynite breeding.

"Sat'skars kabar'rattar esteemed masters and Lady Al'lara. I have come with the evidence requested."

He slipped the datacard into the holoprojector and it automatically turned on, dimming the lights in the room.

"Master Nemo, his padawan, and I procured these images and documents during our investigation. There are links to a known Ubese arms merchant, and in my own private observation, this is the third time I've encountered mercenaries from my own people amongst the criminal element here in the core. While it is not at all uncommon for young warriors to seek to make their name as mercenaries, it is unusual to see them in such numbers this far from Coyn."

He looked around at the three women. He couldn't quite understand why he felt this was important, but it continued to enter his mind, and as a jedi it was sometimes necessary to trust your instincts.

"It may well be nothing, but as Coyn is within Imperial space, and I have continually noticed it, I cannot help but feel as though it may mean something."

"Quantum entanglement," he replied instantly. The question was a trap so profoundly tricky that, even as a robot, he had understood the fear that males of most species nurtured where it was concerned. There was not now nor ever could be a perfectly right answer, but it was said that an honest non sequitur was better than a sweet lie. "We know that by altering the rotation of one half of a pair of entangled electrons while the other remains unobserved, the unobserved electron will orient itself to match the other upon observation, but I was wondering what would happen if we were to somehow annihilate the first, would the second be destroyed upon observation? If so, the applications are endless."

Eralam knew exactly what brought on this line of thought, but he wasn't quite ready to divulge it just yet. It had occurred to him that, if something were to happen to Sin while they were apart, it would utterly destroy him when he found out. And, much like the electron in his thought experiment, the act would release massive amounts of energy. The difference was, instead of light, radiation and exotic particles, it would be released as lead and fire.

Jedi Academy

All three of the women paid close attention to what Sto'Vo'Kor was saying, though with varying degrees of outward interest. Jade was watching the reactions of Nalatua'lin and Al'lara since she and Sto'Vo'Kor had been discussing these things in detail during the flight in from Coruscant. The Twi'Lek's grey eyes looked as if a storm had rolled through them, clouds obscuring their normally piercingly clear gaze.

"So, dealings between the Coynite mercenaries and the Ubese arms fencer bring you to Corellia in search of answers?" the Healer inquired. She was not familiar with the species bond between Coynites, but Sto'Vo'Kor seemed to be concerned. And on their short acquaintance she already thought of him in the warrior, or Guardian category. He wouldn't be easily rattled.

Uncharacteristically, Al'lara had been inspecting her nails in a display of nonchalance. But, a few moments after Kor finished speaking, ice-blue eyes flicked up and looked him over closely before meeting his gaze.

"Have you run your images through the security cameras in Coronet's spaceport? If your suspects are running undercover and you think they have gone to ground here, they may have found another way in and tried to avoid the normal routine." She shrugged, then waved her hand in an alternative gesture, "Or, they may be attempting to lull suspicion and be temporarily following the legal procedures and registries of visitors to the city."

"Regardless, a ship name and ID code would be faked, although, depending on their resources not something easily spotted." Jade interjected, thinking that this was probably where Jedi intuition came into it. More importantly, why would someone come to Corellia if they wanted to remain hidden? They did not as yet have proof that the Ubese weapons dealer was here. She shifted against the window frame, "We'll have to see if the computers achieve a facial/body match of the recent traffic through the spaceport match with any of the images you have brought from Corulag, Kor. I would guess we've got an estimated time frame of two days or more to sift through. More than a week and this will look even more like a search for a needle in a haystack."

"And if we do get a match," Al'lara spoke up, idly running her hand down her lightsaber hilt, the metal cool against her palm. "We go get some answers?" This felt more comfortable to her, more recognizable. She'd been brought up on Galantos and served in the guard that Jade had trained while governor of the gelatinous planet. Fighting was something that brought her peace. Ever since her twin sister had been killed, she had been on edge. Leaving her homeworld behind in order to go to the Academy at Corellia seemed like the right choice, but she still felt out of place.

Jedi Academy

He knew he couldn't expect them to understand why he was concerned. It was not that he had any particular affection for his own people or the Mercenary's Guild. None had supported him against the charges that would lead to his attempted murder and exile. It was merely a feeling, a suggestion from the force that he could not ignore.

"If we can find anything with which to move forward, we will take action. I have informed Master Jade that I am prepared to see to this matter myself, as a master of her standing must certainly have better things to do, but she would hear none of it."

He looked at her and smiled fondly, clearly pleased by her insistence against sitting back while others did the work.

Coronet City

Dru was about as nondescript as a person could be in the galaxy. The trail of the weapons dealer seemed to defy logical thought. Usually weapons dealers were rich, traveled with an entourage of hulking and somewhat dimwitted bodyguards and had their own ship. However, all records from the public spaceport seemed to indicate that Dru arrived on a civilian transport, alone. The Ubese registered on personal business, bought a crappy speeder bike and spent at least a day in the city. Helmeted, wearing fatigues, boots and a cloak always, there was no records anywhere of Dru's face. To anyone's knowledge, she might not have one. It could just be another mask under that helmet. Such was the nature of the Ubese.

From there, reports took her to a warehouse on the outskirts of the city. Unsurprisingly, it contained a cache of stolen Imperial blasters and a rather nasty fellow named Bizard who claimed he had no idea who this Dru was, but the security footage didn't lie and his recent coms list had a number to a burn comlink on it. Jackpot. As long as the comlink was still on, they might have a location on Dru.


Cabin in the Woods

Sinistra shook her head at him as she grabbed some clothes and headed back into the bath.

"Yeah, I'm sure everyone would bow to an Emperor in a bathrobe."

She dried her hair, the messy waves curling up in an untamed mass. She slid back into some clean fatigues she had in the bottom of her bag, but she left the gunbelt, helmet and cloak on the chair by the bed. Fully dressed down to the boots, she came out of the bath again, clean and ready for some food.

"What's for dinner? I had a long day of sleeping and being mad at you."

She winked at him as she bounded down the stairs, a chuckle following her down.

Kor merely nodded an affirmation at Allara, and turned to follow Jade. Once they were out of the room, he turned to speak to her.
"Well then Master Jade, what should our first move be? I am not a skilled detective."

He turned to Allara as well, offering her his best approximation of a smile.
"It is a pleasure to work with you as well, and if you have any ideas, I am eager to hear them."

Kor was eager to learn more subtle techniques. Master Thorror, though a wise and righteous man, was a powerful warrior not a seeker of secrets. Kor himself, having served as a Kroyn to the En'Tra, likewise followed his wookiee master's path.

"I'm not sure. Something's off."

Eralam frowned, trying to put words to the feeling.

"The Force feels like the atmosphere before a storm. It hasn't turned green yet, but the clouds are on the horizon, and the first peals of thunder are ringing out in the distance. There's a storm a brewing, my love. Damnedest thing is, I can't tell when. Could be in five minutes, could be in five years. We'll know when it happens, I can promise you that."

The former Shard half expected a strike force to decloak in the clearing, but that didn't happen. Maybe he was just being paranoid. Or maybe it's Maybelline. Probably not the latter; his hair was too short to be slick and smooth and shiny. Just to be on the safe side, he walked into the house for a few minutes, returning with a duffle bag loaded with the rest of their combat gear. Sin's sabers were included, along with his own espada ropera, some spare ammo for both the Colt and the P38, as well as three concussion grenades and a thermal detonator. Better safe than sorry.