[Arh] Shimmy, Shimmy, Down the Chimney

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

LINK –sans robe is Tal. She NEVER looks very ‘jedi’, and Talon (when lit) is purple

---

Well, this gave a whole new meaning to ‘gray Jedi’ didn’t it?

Panting, and trying her best not to let the saber burns get to her, Talau wriggled a bit in the dusty and sooty confines of the chimney she was shimmying down. Now certainly sentinels tended to find unusual ways to get into places…lock picking, subtle coercion (see bribery), slicing (glorified lock picking), disguises, etc…but this was the first time she’d ever heard of someone going down a chimney, never mind having ever done it herself. Still, she hadn’t had time to try and pick the lock on the door, it certainly looked (and more importantly) felt abandoned, and she couldn’t risk breaking a window in case one of the dark jedi tailing her was smart enough to notice it and put two and two together. Pretty sure they would…those men weren’t stupid.

With a huff she twisted herself and tensed her muscles, attempting to make herself even more compact than she already was. She certainly wasn’t the most well endowed woman ever…proportionate, yes, but a lifetime of hard training and work involving combat had kept the extra fat to absolute minimum and her body quite streamlined. Still, she was going down a chimney, ‘streamlined’ or not it wasn’t easy getting down it. Finally, with a few more twists of her body, her toes touched solid hearth, followed by the rest of her boots. It took a bit more work getting out of the fireplace, but soon enough she was out and her saber was (unlit) back in her hand.

A cough and clinking of small metal beads heralded her full entrance into the small shack that, upon inspection, was covered in layers of dust. Good, no one around to worry about if they catch up to me, she mused as she stepped swiftly through the shack toward one of the grimy windows and glanced through it in the direction of the forest. Nothing ye— Her thoughts were cut off by the sudden sensation of others in the immediate area. A swift stiffening of her posture melted into a swiftly flowing turn in the direction of the sensation. Golden-brown eyes, streaked orange with her general wariness, surprise and anxiety over the current situation, flickered over a door that looked to belong to a closet.

What in the great Winds? I don’t have time for puzzles or distractions! Again she checked her presence to be sure she had all of it reigned in to the point she couldn’t be sensed in the force, on top of doing her best to dampen the sensation of the tablet she carried. She didn’t understand fully what this tablet was that she’d wrested from the dark jedi, but it felt strongly of darkness and evil, and she was certain that someone at the temple would be able to translate the writing on it…eventually. What she did understand was that the three men she’d taken it from had put up a hell of a fight to try and keep hold of it, then chased her miles to a forest where she’d barely lost them and ended up here. One of them had been dealt with, but the other two were still out there…and while she couldn’t feel them yet, she couldn’t be sure that she’d lost them completely.

Ignoring the pain across her ribs and her opposite thigh, the leather clad woman crept toward the door, her boots barely making a whisper on the wooden panels of the floor. Gloved hand tested the grip on Talon as her eyes swirled a combative mixture of orange, bronze and pale yellow against the natural golden brown. Putting her shoulder to the door, she gripped the handle with her free hand. I should have checked physically, first. Doing otherwise was sloppy and could get me killed. With a twist of her wrist, followed by a swift step back, the door was open and she was around it, ready to punch if she needed to…but not a soul was there.

Blinking once, then twice more, she was about to slip into the closet to check it when she felt them…the dark jedi. She left the door open as she hurried toward the area of wall beneath one of the windows. It was the best place to hide, being difficult to see anything directly below it and not easily visible from the other windows in the place. Pressed up against the wall, she brushed the many colored (Rilan) feather hanging from one set of beads back over her shoulder as she waited. She just hoped that whatever it was she felt from the closet wasn’t going to end up being bad news…

[A®heim]

The floor of the cabin rumbled as something unseen shifted far below it. A noise began to emanate from the closet door the Jedi had checked just moments ago, growing louder as the shaking became more pronounced. At the peak of the sound’s crescendo, the floor of the closet slid away and a pair of heads rose from the ground right before her—one topped with a mousey mop of brownish-grey hair, the other with a matte black security helmet. A matching pair of torsos and eventually legs followed suit. The one without the helmet wore a brilliant orange maintenance jumpsuit with a tarnished steel harness over the chest and was talking very loudly to be heard over the clamor of the hidden elevator. “I’m just saying, as much as appreciate the gesture, there’s really no need for an escort. The sensor node is hardly half a click East of here, if you had just let me gone the moment it went out instead of arranging all this, I could have been done and back by now.”

The new floor lurched to a stop and the man in the jumpsuit went to step out of the closet when the security guard barred him suddenly with one hand. “Hold up. This door is usually closed; someone may have been poking around in here.”

The first man gingerly pushed away the guard’s hand as if contact with another living being might burn him and chuckled. “Come on, Darial, the whole system has been acting up. Maybe it jiggled the doors a bit, or maybe whoever came down last just forgot to close it behind them. Anyway, there’s just no reason to be so jumpy about it.”

The other reluctantly lowered his arm and muttered back. “It’s security procedures, Dr. Centari, we have to be ready for absolutely any-GET BACK!” He thrust the scientist back into the elevator with one arm while the other raised a small, compact carbine that had been slung over his shoulder. “Freeze! Drop your weapon!” He barked at the woman he had spotted out of the corner of his eye. Her apparel wasn’t anything like any of the uniforms worn in the facility, nor did her crouched posture suggest she was here for business reasons. He shifted slightly back when he recognized the object in her hand, keeping himself between her and Dr. Centari.

The other man meanwhile was pressed flat against the back wall of the elevator, eyes wide and focused on the intruder as his hand flailed around jerking at every object hanging on the wall, failing to find the hidden switch that activated the lift. “What is it?! What’s happening?! Is it a Sith assassin?!”

Darial ignored the man’s hysterics and brought his other hand to the blaster’s grip. He did pray, however, that this woman would not in fact turn out to be a marauding Dark Jedi as he counted his chance of coming out victorious against one at slightly above abysmal. A thin, transparent lens slid down from his helmet over his eyes. The light blue flickering of the HUD could just be made out from anyone watching him. After a few tense moments, he relaxed his stance and lowered his weapon. “My apologies, Ms. Firians.” He gave the all-clear signal to Centari. “She’s a Jedi Sentinel.”

Dr. Centari hesitantly stepped forward again and laughed nervously. “You’re kidding? What’s one of them doing here? Not that you don’t have the right to be of course, ma’am. You sure gave us a startle, though—weren’t expecting a Jedi Knight in our foyer.”

“Odd coincidence that would happen by just as our close-range proximity sensor goes out, though…” Darial murmured as he tapped out something on his armored bracer display. “Wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?” Before she could answer, he squinted down at something on his arm as a small beeping sounded and cursed under his breath. “Get away from the door!”


“I can’t believe you let her escape, Kharnas. Nephenee paid for your failure with her sorry life, and that Jedi still made off with the tablet of Kir’atoll. Why didn’t you remain at the chamber entrance like I instructed?!” The black-robed Reussi Dark Jedi ignited his crimson saber and carved a large tree in two in his frustration. “We’ll have worse to pay if we don’t bring that tablet back to our master…”

Dirge moved to continue through the woods but paused suddenly, his saber retracting into the hilt. Squinting his eyes, he peered through the newly-made gap in the trees before turning and picking his way through the brush in that direction. He parted a finally branch and found himself in a small clearing. In the center, an old, run-down shack sat nestled into the hillside. A slow sneer spread over his face. “We may be able to redeem ourselves yet. Do you smell it? The trepidation? The fear?”

He stalked slowly up to structure, if it could even be called as much, and stood before the door. His saber reignited in one hand as the other rose, palm facing the weathered wood. “Knock, knock.”


The door crumpled as a dent appeared in the woodwork. Wait, a dent? This thought went through several minds nearby except that of the maintenance worker and the security guard, the latter or which kept his weapon trained on it as he shouted into the tiny receiver on his helmet. “Security 1 to PFHQ! Perimeter breach! Perimeter breach! Two hostile targets!”

A horrendous noise drowned out his distress call as the door was ripped from its surprisingly reinforced hinges and hurled from view. Dirge swept in with an air of disgruntled vindication, looming over the other occupants of the room by at least five inches. He brought his saber up parallel to his body, it’s glow illuminating a wicked grin through which a single word, dripping with malice, flowed out. “Hello.”

“Goodbye.” Darial retorted as he shot him in the chest. The Dark Jedi’s eyes widened as his muscles failed to respond—he had moved to block the shot but the cerulean bolt traveled at a ridiculous velocity and, though he swore he had moved his saber into its path, seemed to pass straight through the blade and strike him regardless. He crumpled to the ground, muscles twitching as Darial trained his weapon on the second intruder. “Drop the saber or I drop you too.”

Dr. Centari retreated into the closet again.

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

She barely felt it at first, her attention more on the nearing dark jedi than the shack itself....until she noticed the floor was vibrating, if only very gently. Those presences were getting closer as well, accompanied by the sound of...it sounded almost like a...

'A lift! Damnation!' The thought hadn't occurred to her, until then, that there could be more of this place beneath her feet! As the sound of voices were heard behind her, she knew that she couldn't make herself scarce enough to avoid their detection in this small area, and she couldn't leave, either. There was too much of a risk that they would get caught up in her ordeal with the approaching dark jedi. There was nothing for it but to remain where she was and hope for the best. Turning her head in the direction of the closet, she could finally fully make out what they were saying as they reached the top.

"--proceedures, Dr. Centari, we have to be ready for absolutely any-GET BACK!"

The first presence, strict and straight-forward enough in what she caught of its thinking to be male, combat trained (most likely), or both, appeared in the doorway of the closet, pressing back what was likely the second presence...that Dr. Centari. Well, it was good to know that her perception skills were still keen, at least, though the small carbine that was raised at her had her frowning a bit more deeply. She did not need this right now. "Freeze! Drop your weapon!"

She couldn't, absolutely could not, divide her attention any further from concealing herself and the tablet she carried...thus, persuasion or any other means of telepathic 'handling' of the situation, was out of the question. Left with few options she slowly moved her hands where the man (likely security of some kind) could see them, hoping to make herself appear to be less of a threat.

"What is it?! What's happening?! Is it a Sith assassin?!"

"Please...I am je--" she started, her voice quiet and urgent, eyes swiftly filling with a vibrant coppery color, but before she could get farther the man seemed to stand down. His actions so unsettled her that she tensed slightly, her attention nearly wavering from her task of masking herself in the force.

"My apologies, Ms. Firians. She's a jedi Sentinel."

"You're kidding? What's one of..."

That...certainly earned a physical reaction, eyes widening slightly and threading swiftly with a surprised (and mildly frightened) orange that also happened to flicker through her presence and out into the force. Mentally steeling herself once more, she reigned in her presence once more, eyes returning almost fully to that previous copper. "Look, I don't know who you are or what you're talking about but there are two--damn. Too late."

A heartbeat later a soft beeping could be heard from the guard as he cursed under his breath, but her eyes were locked on the door, her hand testing the grip on Talon once more, rolling it in her palm so that her thumb settled easily on the activation plate. Every muscle in her body coiled itself into readiness even as she ignored the guard's words to get away from the door. Her head ducked slowly to almost between her shoulders as her crouched stance shifted into one she could more easily rise from...no, not simply rise from, but lunge directly into an attack from. There was more at stake now than just the tablet and her own life.

---

"I didn't let her get away, you two timing toad. I stuck to the plan! It was your under-developed ability to work in a team that likely allowed the jedi to pick up our trail in the first place! It almost wouldn't surprise me if you didn't do that on purpose!" Kharnas, Dirge's Lafrarian...compatriot, retorted as he folded his bare arms across a chest covered in thick crimson and grey cloth. The crashing of the tree Dirge had split seemed to do little more than make the avian man blink once or twice at the noise.

"Oh that's good thinking....let her know we're coming, if she doesn't already. Hey, next time, how about you bring an air hor--*sigh* and here we go again..." Needless to say, Kharnas had been brought along for the parts of this job that had needed a bit more...finess. Dirge, the brawn. Man wasn't known for his brains, that was certain. Still, their collective master had put rock-for-brains as second in command on this little outting.

Really, he was starting to get very skeptical of their master's mental capacity. He was all for letting the brawn do the heavy lifting, but being in charge? Really? Still, he had to hand it to Dirge, he was like a bloodhound for Fear. Sadly, his own senses weren't the best. Telekinesis, now there was something he was good at...in fact, as he followed his trusty Dirge-hound toward the shack, he was wondering just what sort of lock was on that door. Hell, he could probably just take the hinges off no troub--

"Knock, knock."

"Wai--oh force damn y--" Well there went any chance they had at maybe, just possibly, sneaking up on the jedi and surprising it! There also went the door...You know, he really hated Dirge. The only person he hated more than Dirge (at this moment anyway) was the jedi for taking his tablet away! That mounting pressure only built as he watched Dirge crumple before him as the two of them moved into the room. Was this really happening?!

Okay, now he was furious.

Of course, Talau had made very sure that as the two entered their attention was kept away from her, allowing her to remain perfectly still, crouched beside the door and about as interesting as the side-table that was behind her. As the first brute had entered she'd started to rise, his attention already focused on the most visible man near the closet. His companion, by the time he entered, was already focusing his rage (something that bit and lashed at her senses) into something that could be far more deadly than his lightsaber. As his arm lifted to drop the saber to the side of him, Talau was feeling the draw on the force.

The world around her melted into something akin to slow motion, the saber dropping silently toward the floor as she allowed her concealment in the force to melt away...

...she could feel the surprise of her enemy, the fear of the doctor in the closet, the pulse of her own blood in her veins...

...Her will slammed against his presence, aiming to batter it down, or outright break it, and she could feel him reeling with it, that building telekinetic power starting to ebb away from him slightly...

He started to turn, his saber reversing its descent to return to his hand, even as she twisted through her second step...

...the sound of her footfall and her own breath was clearly audible to her even as any words or sounds coming from the direction of the closet were muffled...

Her own hair entered the edges of her vision, her right fist sweeping around even as she could sense through his outward emotions that his saber had returned to its place in his hand...

...the distinguishable sound of a saber igniting filtered into her awareness, but the vibrant energy propelling her own muscles made that a moot point...

She was well within his personal boundries by then, and time was warping back into its proper tempo even as her fist (strengthened by her grip on Talon's casing) connected with his nose sharply.

Stunned, and with a broken nose, the Lafrarian's grip on his saber faltered as he staggered backward. Her free hand lifted and she ripped the saber from his hand through the force, the tainted-feeling hilt hitting her palm as she booted the man backward over the arm of the nearest couch. Clipping that first dark blade to her belt, Talau wasted no time in seeking out the other and doing the same as she spoke.

"Do you have an extra set of binders? I should return them to the Council for appropriate punishment, but I'm afraid I wasn't prepared to bring...guests...home for dinner."

Turning, she looked back at the two men...well, the security guard and the open closet door (since she couldn't see the doctor), eyes stained with violet and gold, before she pulled a set of thick binders from one of the many pouches on her belt and went to cuff the Lafrarian. Needless to say she was keeping a hawk-eye on him, since he was the one most likely able to do the most damage at the moment. As he attempted to struggle, she was sure to give him another good press of her will to remind him he should behave. Once the binders were on, she pulled a small object from her belt as well and pressed it tightly to the man's neck, depressing a button at the top, after which he almost immediately started to relax.

The dazed look on his face a few seconds later had all the tells of a sedative, which Talau made certain she administered to her other new 'friend'. Sighing a bit she shook her head and tucked some of her hair behind her ear before finally stowing Talon it its own pouch on her belt.

"Now, would you mind telling me just how you know who I am? Much less why you came out of an empty closet?"

[A®heim]

The security officer clicked his own pair of binders around the other Dark Jedi and dragged him over to the far wall alongside the Lafrarian. The latter groaned slightly as blood continued to drip from his shattered nose, but did not stir. Of course that’s not to say that will be true for long. Moving over to the dusty, worn coffee table, the uniformed man reached underneath it and flipped a tiny switch. The table beeped and a panel in the false wood slid open to reveal a small holoscreen which he deftly tapped out his security clearance code upon.

“You’re a Jedi. There isn’t a detail of your life that isn’t on record. The closet is a lift.” He answered passingly as he continued to type. “Looks like short-range comms are down too,” he murmured to the doctor who had crept warily from the closet to peer over at what his colleague was working on, “but I should still be able to manually access some local systems.”

With a final flourished stroke, the panel slid shut again just as another larger one opened in the ceiling overhead. From it dropped an almost featureless white sphere that dangled by a piston and several wires. Stepping up beside it, the guard pressed down a button on his bracer and addressed empty space. “Scan. Sensor perimeter 1.25 meters, maintain secure status.”

“CONFIRMED,” said empty space as the sphere rotated to face the two unconscious Dark Jedi and affixed them with a single cyan “eye” that flickered into illumination. The sides of the device hissed and slid away from the center, bringing a pair of humming barrels to bear on their captors.

Satisfied, the guard nodded and turned back to Talau. “The turret’ll readminister the stun pulse if they start to stir. Hopefully we’ll get comms back online before they outsmart its AI—so we have about a 300 year window to finish repairs. Speaking of which, we’re on a tight schedule and have a lot of work to do so let’s just cut to the chase; I’m security officer Darial Tassaday and this is senior maintenance associate Dr. Lazarus Centari.” He motioned to the scientist who bowed his head slightly.

Darial continued, “Now I’m not sure what your business is with these delightful gentlemen but I’m afraid security protocol dictates that I stay with you at all times so long as proximity sensors are out. I also need to stay with him,” he inclined his head towards Dr. Lazarus, “and his skills are needed at one of our nodes just a short walk from here.” He left it at that and let her fill in the implications for herself.

Dr. Lazarus started moving towards where the door used to be, edging around where the Dark Jedi were slouched against the wall with a sidelong glance. “Looks like I needed the extra security after all. Glad you were along, Darial. You too, uh…Talau, was it?” He addressed the unrobed Jedi—odd apparel he thought, but then the Jedi order and other such space wizardry wasn’t exactly his area of expertise. “Like he said, the node is close by; we should be there and back before these guys can even start groaning. Worst case scenario, our little home security system will have to zap them a couple more times.” He stepped through the doorway and gestured with both arms. “Shall we?”

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

“You’re a jedi. There isn’t a detail of your life that isn’t on record.”

That hadn’t quite been what she’d meant.

”That I understand, but I didn’t expect you to have a facial recognizer on your person…” She couldn’t help but sigh at that. ”At least it was you and not these ones or I’d have been in trouble much sooner.”

The young woman watched the sphere closely as the security officer gave what she could only guess was a central defense computer the command to keep the area secure. She had just about started to say something about not wanting two dead dark jedi on her hands when the guard spoke. ’Stun round, hmm? Well, better that than anything else, but I would simply prefer to be g—‘ Her thoughts were interrupted as he also introduced the two of them…a Dr. Centari and his name was Darial. Nodding to them she offered a smile and a bow of her head, but Darial continued on.

Drawing her presence in around herself and focusing on attempting to mask the tablet’s energy as well, she bit back a sigh. This wasn’t at all the sort of day she had been expecting to have. Well…maybe with the dark jedi, but certainly not this. Patting and brushing herself off a bit, small clouds of soot came off of her person, leaving the brown leather much more obviously brown in places. ”Well, I wasn’t intending on staying…but then, I wasn’t intending for any of this either…except, perhaps, those two. I was expecting them, unfortunately. Either way, I suppose that I don’t have a choice and I’ll keep an ‘eye’ on them from a distance. If it’s as short a walk as you’re implying it won’t be any trouble. Still…”

Careful to be sure she wouldn’t attract the turret’s attention, she moved to the two dark jedi and knelt down. It took her less than a moment to heal the first one’s nose enough so that it wouldn’t bleed further and then she extended her hand to rest on his forehead. Using that as the focal point, she brought her will down onto the stunned man and coalesced it around his mind, pressing him into a deep sleep that (unless woken by something or someone else) would last for quite a few hours. In turn, she did the same to the second man and then stood, moving back to the other two. The process had taken only a minute…two at most.

”Apologies…I just…feel better knowing that they’re fully unconscious. They should stay that way for several hours now, so long as nothing wakes them up.”

With that she followed the scientist outside, letting Darial bring up the rear. It was more to assure him that she was going to be compliant than any other reason. As they walked, she probed out through the force once more, trying to get a feel for any others that might be around. If they had come up from below then….they couldn’t be the only ones down there. Well, they could be, but it wasn’t likely. Besides, it was still faint, but she could feel others…it was like they were using the planet as a shadow to hide in. With the feel of the planet itself, and all the insects and plants living in the dirt, so prevalent it was difficult to sense anything past the first few feet without it all becoming a jumbled mess.

”So, what is this place anyway? I can feel the faint signs of others but…you have quite a unique method of hiding yourselves. It makes it difficult to tell how many with Kuat herself interfering.”

[A®heim]

((Kinda short, but I have the framework down for the next two so we can knock em out quick.))

The turret turned smoothly and silently to track Talau’s movements as she neared the two it was watching. The blue light at its center flashed twice and turned green. Darial glanced briefly at it then took a small step to the side so as to keep a clear line of sight to what the Jedi was doing. “Almost everything here does—most of our security is automated so installing the best recognition software we can get is critical.”

The scientist, meanwhile, did not move, only watched her with a small frown. He saw the facial features of the Dark Jedi she placed her hand on relax and he shuttered slightly. “Can’t abide by that mystical Force stuff. Anything that can’t be expressed in a data table shouldn’t-” A stern side-long stare from Darial silenced him and he dropped his eyes. “Just makes me uncomfortable is all…” he murmured.

When she was finished, the trio left through the somewhat warped doorframe, Darial pausing to hoist up what was left of the door and lean it somewhat haphazardly against the entrance behind them. “We’ll just, uh…deal with this when we get back.” He said, scratching underneath his helmet.

“The node is just down that way, in that hammock.” Dr. Centari pointed in the direction Talau and the Dark Jedi had come from. “It’s actually an entirely self-sufficient subfacility—only tied to the main one electronically. Most likely, though, it’ll just be something that’s landed on the array topside so we won’t even have to go in. All the basic calibration controls are located in the- uh, well actually…I…probably shouldn’t be telling you any of this. Security and all, you know…”

Darial chuckled, shook his head, and started off in that direction. “A lot of the boffins here don’t get out much. Being secluded like that tends to make anyone a bit chatty. That said, probably for the best they don’t get out much…” He looked over his shoulder at Talau when she posed her questions about the place, raised an eyebrow, and faced forward again before answering. “It’s a pseudo-government facility of sorts. That hiding-in-plain-sight philosophy is crucial to our operations here, and yes, there are many others, though maybe not so much the kind you’d expect—or be able to ‘feel out’ by that matter.”

As they neared the edge of the hammock, Darial quickened his pace, halting the others as he passed them. Approaching the tree line, he knelt down to examine the blackened edge of a sizeable tree that had been cut clean through. “Looks like this is where our friends back there came out from.” He twisted around to face Tal. “You’re sure there aren’t any others out there? We had the home field advantage back there—not so sure I want to try my luck against the Dark Side twice in one day.”

Dr. Centari approached cautiously, tilting his head at the fallen tree. He knelt down beside Darial and carefully ran his hand across the burnt area, squinting as he leaned in closer. Then, his gaze shifted, slowly following the length of the tree down to its fallen branches. “Awww, come on…what are the chances…” He stood up with a sigh and put his hands on his hips. “Yep. That was the surface array.”

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

[yeaaaah, I don't really have much to go off of other than reactions since idk where they're going with this >_>]

---

A mild sigh was given at the ‘good’ doctor’s comment while she worked. He didn’t need to agree, but he would end up appreciating the force if it saved him one day. As it was, she didn’t have the time or patience to have a debate with someone who would be as closed minded as most scientists were to ‘hokey religions’ and ‘anything that couldn’t be expressed in a data table….as he’d so adequately phrased it. Besides, he wasn’t the first to have expressed those feelings…being a jedi was often a very thankless job, a Shadow even more so.

As they walked, Dr. Centari talking about the place they were going, only to stop himself because of ‘security’ reasons, she chuckled softly to herself, eyes hinting at an amused light blue-green. Maybe he wasn’t aware, but between her position as a knight, and further a Shadow, she had military Top Secret clearance…if she every chose to use it, anyway. Whatever he may have thought, Talau decided it wasn’t worth pushing the issue; after all, she had no idea about what sort of place these men were from or who they worked for. Yes they’d helped her with the dark jedi, and no she didn’t sense any hostile emotions from them toward her, but that didn’t mean that she should offer much information to them unless it was necessary (as they weren’t) and who was to say that military security clearances would mean anything for their security.

”It’s a good thing I’m good with listening and not speaking, I suppose,” she replied, giving Darial an amused look even as she thought over his answer to her question. Nodding a little, she considered the truth of those words. Chances were that sort of thinking would be a saving grace for her own people…not that it hadn’t been for generations already. It was the only answer for how long they had managed…”and, yes, I understand. It’s a sound philosophy that many people and companies live and are run by.”

As they reached the edge of the forest near by, she slowed, eying the felled tree quietly. When Darial turned back to her she smiled back and folded her arms across her chest. ”If there are, they’re more skilled at hiding themselves in the force than I am at finding people through it,” she paused momentarily for dramatic effect, her smile growing just slightly, ”and I am very, very good at finding people…so I wouldn’t worry. Even if someone does come, I’ll deal with them.”

Watching the scientist go about his business, she kept an eye out through eyes that quietly shifted hues with her thoughts. Still, as she followed the gaze of Dr. Centari, she shifted her weight a little. ”So what does this mean for our…unexpected trio?”

[A®heim]

Darial nodded almost imperceptibly to her reassurance but kept his eyes trained on the underbrush all the same. His weapon remained lowered but both hands gripped its length, muscles stiff and ready to snap it up at a moment’s notice. For a pair of Dark Jedi to sneak onto Kuat was impressive enough, but these two had happened along just as their perimeter sensors fell. He couldn’t help but feel the two could be connected. Why the Dark Side would be interested in PF, he couldn’t imagine, but he could bet it wouldn’t be pleasant; anything to do with something expressly self-labeled as “dark” was rarely ever.

Dr. Centari meanwhile was expressing his adrenaline by pacing rapidly around the damaged array, tapping incessantly on a datapad one moment and glancing around at his surroundings the next. He was, however, not on the lookout for impending attack but rather for yet another one of PF’s ingeniously concealed surface accesses. “What it means,” he chanted, “is that we’ll have to reset the system manually.” At last he came to a stop precisely in the center of three large teak trees, flashed a grin at Talau, and clapped his hands together. “Voice key: senior maintenance associate Dr. Lazarus Akim Centari Junior,” he announced jovially to one of the trees.

“Voice key accepted,” replied the tree. The sound of heavy machinery starting up pierced the relative tranquility of the wood and a thin circle about 4 feet in diameter appeared around the doctor. With a shudder, he began to descend slowly into the ground. “All aboard who’s coming aboard!” He gestured to the other two to step onto the platform as well, which Darial did pointedly, still watching for trouble—especially now with all the ruckus.

The lift continued down through the unlit steel chamber for almost a minute before clattering to a somewhat rough stop. A light dusting of loose soil showered them, further clouding the dim sunlight that filtered in from far above. Dr. Lazarus bit his lip in the sudden silence, flashing a nervous smile when he saw Darial’s skeptical look on him. The side of the chamber lurched and creaked open, the sound echoing into the darkness ahead. “Ah, there we go!” Dr. Lazarus chimed as he stepped off the lift. As soon as the others followed, the panel slid shut again with a clattering crash. The sound of the piston lifting it back to the surface was nearly deafening.

For a while everything was pitch black and, after the lift had resettled itself and shut down, silent but for the steady, deep breaths of the room—liquid and air flowing through pipes, the hum of overhead wires—and its new occupants. A bright pinpoint of light appeared suddenly, illuminating the face of Dr. Centari as he shined it along one of the worn, wire-covered, steel walls. “Sorry about the mess, as you can imagine these subfacilities don’t get much use. Most of them are just used for scrap storage these days—scrap we don’t much want drifting around a municipal junkyard, you know. I think this is the one,” The overhead lights clunked on, bathing the room in their dim florescent glow. In all appearances it resembled a boiler room or the interior of starship’s reactor chamber with much of the floor comprised of metal grating under which could be made out thick bundles of pipes and cables. The walls were similarly adorned but otherwise broken only by two doors on opposite sides, one reading “Maintenance Shaft A-G” and the other reading “Maintenance Shaft H-N.”

“The primer and main breaker are down in shaft D,” Dr. Lazarus said, pointing at the first door, “Once I reset the system, the CD should be able to reconfigure the sensor net through our auxiliary arrays. That way we at least won’t be completely blind until proper repairs can be made—will let us know if any more ‘friends’ of yours are creeping about.” The last remark was directed at the Sentinel with a wry smile.

“Then let’s not waste any more time.” Darial murmured as he placed his hand on the grimy access panel, frowning when the door didn’t slide open.

“This place is still on lockdown procedure, only a few basic electronic systems are in operation.” Dr. Lazarus said smugly as he walked up beside him. “The doors will have to be opened manually until we can reset the system.” Sliding past, he turned the latch with some difficulty and pushed open the door with quite a bit more difficulty. Dank, cool air drifted through the doorway from the even more dimly lit maintenance tunnel. Alcoves along its length could just be made out, as could the faint, blocky letters next to each of them. “Man…this place is in a real state…”

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

The situation Talau found herself in was, at best, precarious…at worst it was dangerous. While there wasn’t an immediate feeling of danger from the people she had come into contact with, no direct threat, there was a little nagging at her mind through the force that she would have been remiss to ignore. As she pondered the meaning of this nagging sensation, she kept one ear and one eye on what her two ‘companions’ were up to…or in the Dr. Centari’s case, what he was saying.

As the ground opened around the doctor and began descending, Darial joining him, the jedi woman was obliged to traipse along. ’Curiouser and curiouser…’ she thought as they descended into darkness. As the light began to fade, the auras around the two men became far more visible to the Rilan woman’s eyes, clinging to their forms…indistinct and nebulous lights that softly shone around them. For a long moment keen, curious brown and tan, eyes studied the colors that swirled around them before the lift stopped and her eyes turned elsewhere.

While the darkness may have been complete and suffocating to the two men, she tracked their movements easily through the dark and dank room. Mildly heightened senses clearly picked up the sound of electricity, liquid, air, and the movement of the others…the smell of dust, time spent neglected and of metal reached her nose…and more…Out through the force she followed the little, nearly imperceptible, binding ties to the others in the room as well as...

’What in the world does this one lead to?’ she wondered, eyes following one of the silken threads to what appeared to be nothingness. It was little more than a shimmering strand, no thicker than that of spider silk, but there it was. What, however, did it lead to? The doctor’s voice resounded somewhere in her consciousness, but she paid it little attention as she took a step in the direction the thread led…off toward the clinging darkness…This movement stopped the moment the lights turned on, nearly blinding her.

Blinking several times, she glanced back to where she’d seen that mysterious thread but…whatever it was, it eluded even her senses now. Furrowing her brow, she tried to put it from her mind as she turned back toward the two men. Glancing upward she noticed the A-G sign in the direction she’d started following the thread. ’Hmm, perhaps that’s all it was, then…’ she mused, nodding slightly to Centari. His final comment, however, had her frowning slightly.

”I’ve already told you there aren’t any more around…I would hope that you’d believe me.”

A bit miffed at the apparent lack of trust in her words, she folded her arms and watched the two men struggle to open the door. Certainly she could have helped…hell, she likely would have been able to open it herself if she’d had a mind to…but she didn’t. The good doctor had himself to thank for that. Still…even as the door opened Talau shifted slightly, a feeling of unease coming over her. It wasn’t a presence, but…

”You said it was shaft D, correct?” Stepping around both men, she stepped into the tunnel and gazed down it, watching the dim surroundings for a long moment then glancing back behind her and past the two men. ”Hmm…” Whatever it was she was feeling wasn’t simple to pinpoint…perhaps it was just nerves….or perhaps it was the tablet she had hidden away? Narrowing her eyes for a moment, she sighed and shook her head slightly. Whatever it was, it would either make itself known or turn out to be nothing. ”How far down the maintenance shaft is your destination?”