A Night Amongst Swords (Open To All)

[?? Akihiro]

Day dawned upon the Galactic Republic's capital planet of Coruscant, the sun breaching over the horizon, giving new light to a new day. Continuously ships sped through the districts, seemingly endless movements and blurs as they rushed by, a polar opposite compared to the citizens below as they went about their normal day to day activities. However, one citizen in-particular stood out from the rest, his eyes wide, his brow laced deep with sweat and perspiration, not uncommon in the Entertainment District, but odd none the less. Turning on his heel he grabbed the shirt of a man, "You've gotta help me!" he pleaded, nearly dropping down to his knee's as he spoke, "I've got a bounty hunter on me and i can't shake him off. You have to get me off of this planet! Please, i beg you!!". The man simply shrugged the wailing man off and continued to walk on, "Damn lowlifes" he grumbled under his breath, a keen sense of agritivition and disgust promptly and prominently displayed on his facial expression and bodily language as he walked off. The exhaust from the surrounding bars and buildings molded together into a thin cloud of smoke that rolled around the edges of the platform where the man stood. The citizens began to move away from that section, already sensing something was going to happen and chose to be no part of it.


Peering down at the man from a sitting position atop one of the surrounding bars, Akihiro scrolled through the man's readings that were fed to him via holographic wrist pad. The man's name was Valrick Coldron, wanted for death stick dealing on Malistar, fourteen counts of robbery and two counts of murder here on Coruscant. Shaking his head, Akihiro smirked underneath his darkly colored hood, "hmph" he chuckled, "What has this poor guy got himself into?" he asked himself as he made his way down the building. With a thud, Akihiro's boot's hit the concrete ground beneath him, alerting the Valrick who spun around, his eyes only growing wider when they met the image of Akihiro approaching him. "fourteen robberies? Killed two people..one a politician. And death stick dealing? Really? Is that what you think life is?" Akihiro asked Valrick, trying to buy some extra time to hopefully just get him quickly and easily, "You don't have any room to talk..Bou...Bounty Hunter! You're scum! Just like me! Nobody likes Bounty Hunters..only the people that work with you" Valrick quickly hissed back. 

Akihiro shook his head, "No. I clean up these streets from scum like you" he replied, gesturing towards Valrick with his left hand, which slipped out from underneath his long dark cloak, "I could care less what these people think about me. Knowing that they can sleep peacefully at night because one less maniac is off the street is good enough for me...plus the pay isn't bad". Valrick chuckled, with holding a shudder that traveled down his spine and branched off into his entire body as his right hand reached into his back pocket. From behind his torn up shirt, a low end blaster revealed itself, it's barrel finding it's way to being pointed at Akihiro, who shook his head in disapproval, "Don't try it" he warned the bounty, unsheathing his sword upon doing so, "Ha! Just a sword! What good would that do?!" Valrick proclaimed, a rush of happiness overwhelming him for the split second, "Oh..just see".

[Rugs]

Tsubasa liked to wander.

It was the story of his life, really: drifting from system to system, world to world, often with little rhyme or reason. There was the occasional job, of course, since food and supplies didn’t pay for themselves, but in between, he was a leaf on the wind. Sometimes it felt that particular wind was the Force, leading him to specific times and places. Other times it was just life itself.

Today certainly felt like one of the Force days.

He’d finished a job not too long ago, buttressing security for a new production making its debut at the Galaxies Opera House. Three days, very comfortable pay, and a quiet job; it was as much as the Matukai could ask for. That he’d been able to see the play — which was quite excellent — for free only served as a bonus.

Paid and with restocked supplies aboard the Vagabond, he’d be fine for a while. In truth, he didn’t need to stay on Coruscant any longer, but he decided to for another day or two. Maybe more. Maybe less.

He’d been out exploring, passing through one of the city world’s countless entertainment districts, when something began to nag at the back of his mind. For a time, he tried to ignore it, but he knew the Force’s urgings when they came, and they were hard to ignore.

Still, he tried for a time, or at least wanted to put it off long enough for him to finish seeing a few particular sights, but when a sense of danger flared nearby, he knew he couldn’t avoid it much longer.

“Change of plans, Ifrit,” he muttered to his companion, a little dragon droid that rode on his shoulder with holographic wings folded over his back.

“Oh?” Ifrit tilted his head, turning a photoreceptor from a neon sign to Tsu’s face. “Is something the matter, Tsubasa?”

“I don’t know,” the Epicanthix answered honestly, breaking from the flow of the crowd to cut across a back alley. “Keep at the ready, though.”

As he followed the Force’s lead, he felt that someone was very distressed about something, and that another someone was very intent on following them.

On a world like Coruscant, that could be almost anything. A robbery, a child fleeing from an abductor or an angry parent. A petty criminal running from the law. Why then, did he choose to investigate?

The two signitures came to a stop while he was still in an alley catching up. “Be ready,” he muttered to the droid, then rounded a corner to find a peculiar scene.

A man, panting and sweaty from running pointed a gun at another, who held only a sword. Obvious reason said the man with the gun was accosting the blade-holding one, but the Force did not. Neither did their body language.

Tsubasa paused and furrowed his brow, not afraid for his own safety, with his weapons and expertise to rely on, but about what might happen if a fight broke out. There was a bar right behind the two men, and several shops not much further away. Whatever the two men were confronting each over, they’d picked a less than ideal place to do it.

“Excuse me gents,” he called, approaching them with surety in himself in stride and voice. “What’s going on here?”

[?? Akihiro]

Upon the arrival of Tsubasa, Varick shouted in sudden terror, dropping his gun and taking three steps back as the man approached. Clearly fear and the, overall, amount of anxious energy coursing through Varick had gotten the best of him, causing him to drop his weapon the moment he heard another voice. Ahikiro turned his attention to the newly arrived man, an aggravated expression now slanted prominently across his face. "Official Bounty Hunter business" Ahikiro finally replid to Tsubasa, gesturing over to Varick with his head, "Unless of course you'd like to take it up with the CSF who issued the bounty on him". Seeing the opportunity as it arrived, Varick turned on his heel and dashed into one of the alley ways that ran through the middle of the buildings, separating them from one another.

The alley ways were dark, humid, moist, and most of all, smelled of raw meat, the origin of which nobody dared to question. The dark gave Varick the cover he needed to escape right under the nose of Ahikiro, who only saw the back of the man as he rushed down the alley way and eventually, out of sight. Released an aggravated sigh, Ahikiro peered upwards as he sheathed in his sword then glared back down to Tsubasa. "Alright..i'll give you a break today. You didn't know what was going on..so it's not all your fault. But i will give you a word of advice..stay out of my way and go home. This guy is a murderer and death stick dealer, i get this guy out and domino affect all the way back to the distributors. Find them and not only will your planet be cleaner..literally, but also one hell of a pay day for me".

With time running out on him, Ahikiro trusted the man to take in what he said and actually stay out of the way as Ahikiro, himself, spun around and bolted down the alley way after Varick. Already Varick had a minute run on Ahikiro as they both raced down the alley way but Ahikiro was quickly gaining ground, his stronger legs and higher stamina making it easier for him to run such far distances. Breathing heavily, Varick peered over his shoulder, almost immediately tripping over body of a homeless man sleeping in the alley. With a hard, echoing, thud, Varick hit the damp alley way, his hands quick to stop his face from planting itself into the concrete floor. "****ing homeless people!!!" Varick roared in agitated fury, forcing himself back up to his feet only to immediately turn left and into another alley way where his eyes struck the image of a group of men. The dark outline of the men slowly became visible as they walked up to the edge of the faint shinning of the neon lights on the skyscrapers over head. "Varick..why do you run brother?" The man in the center asked, the facial expression of Varick quickly shifting to one of excitement and relief, "Bounty Hunters..two of them. Chasing me. We've got to call the boss, tell him to move the shipment. They find that stash and the whole trade route to his damned planet could be lost".

[Ash]

Ah, how great the Entertainment district was, at least when it comes to the night life. During this time when the sun peeking over the towers with made up the horizon, it was still as lively as ever. The district was as seedy as ever, but compared to some of the other districts around the city planet...

A man woke up when sunlight broke through partially closed curtains, nailing him in the eyes. He groaned silently, his head pounding from the drinks the night before. A bottle slammed onto the ground when he moved into a sitting position, making him cringe for a second. When he recovered, Zwei began his daily duties, not minding the woman who was still lying asleep in the bed he vacated.

20 minutes later, after he showed and dressed, Zwei left the hotel, ignoring the words from the now awake woman. The bill was paid on his way out of the lobby, and off into the streets the man went. Before he even stepped off, he made sure his black suit jacket was strait, and his red shirt under that was tucked into his pants properly. He ran a hand through his hair, giving it the somewhat messy, windblown look it always has, and began walking towards the senate district, lighting a cigarette as he walked.

He didn't get very far before his cybernetically enhanced hearing picked up a commotion... right in his path. He sighed, exhaling smoke as he did so. This kind of drama is something he didn't need on this day... or any day. Man, he hated this planet so, but he was still stuck here for a little bit longer. Zwei had the cigarette hanging from his lips, hands in the pockets of his pants as he passed a man with a sword, and a second man with a blaster. He didn't have trouble listening to their conversation, even at his distance, so he knew that this was just a simple exchange between bounty hunter and bounty.

At least it was, before someone else joined in, a man with a small droid on his shoulder. The hunted man screamed and bolted, leaving the other two high and dry. After a few words were spoken, the grey clad man took off running after the bounty he was after. That was when Zwei's natural curiosity, which he normally kept in check, took over. He turned and ran down a parallel alleyway, fallowing the echoing footsteps on the damp ground. He had to use all his focus on this task, but it paid off as he spotted the first man run down the alley ahead of him, meaning he must have cut that way.

Zwei slowed up his pace, and was in luck. If he would have kept sprinting, he would have ran right into the grey clad man. He didn't know if the third man was going to come this way as well, so, making an assumption, Zwei toggled a switch on a small box on his belt, and his body winked out as his stealth field generator activated. Adding on to that, the man reached behind his jacket and right on top of the blaster holstered at the small of his back, and grabbed a white mask with some azure marking around the eyes and 'cheeks', and donned it.

Zwei felt complete and he cleared his mind, taking on that of his alternate persona, the Assassin known as Phantom of Azura, or simply Phantom. Zwei made his way forward slowly, checking his corners before proceeding around the turn to fallow the men. It didn't take long for him to pick up some voices from under neon lights. He caught the last part of the conversation: the man who was running seemed really shaken up, and was spewing some bull about a shipment. Perhaps he should tail these men and see just what kind of shipment and trade was going on around this planet.

[Rugs]

[Quick and dirty, but should suffice for now]

A bounty hunter. Of course.

A wave of irritation threatened at the bounty hunter’s rudeness, but Tsubasa let it roll over harmlessly; it was hardly his fault if the fellow couldn’t deal with someone seeing why he was causing a scene in the middle of the entertainment district. A scene that still threatened to spill over to violence, even as the targeted man — a supposed killer and drug peddler — took the bounty hunter’s lapse in attention as a chance to get away.

This, of course, was somehow Tsubasa’s fault, or so the bounty hunty claimed as the man ran away. “You assume a great deal,” Tsu said as his only reply, biting down annoyance. He assumed his pursuit of a target gave authority. He also assumed Coruscant to be Tsubasa’s home.

Neither of these were the case.

As the bounty hunter ran off, leaving Tsu to wonder why he didn’t just carry a pistol set to stun to bring the man down if he was that important, the Matukai turned to the droid on his shoulder. “Go up. Keep an eye on the man. Don’t be seen and don’t set anything on fire.”

Ifrit’s holographic wings slashed orange, then yellow before settling on a britlliant red as he leapt from Tsu’s shoulder. “As you say, Tsubasa.”

With the droid dispatched, Tsubasa looked down the alley the two fled down. He could feel them further away, running along. But there was more at play than just a frightened man running from a bounty hunter.

He followed, driving in small part by curiosity and much larger simply because the hot-shot thought he could tell him where not to go. Tsubasa Arus was not so easily commanded.

A short run closed the gap well enough to see the bounty hunter, though the bounty himself had vanished. Still, both were clear in his mind, but another presence lingered, in a place his eye should have been able to see, but could not.

His narrowed his eyes as he caught up to the bounty hunter, wondering.

At the same time, Ifirt returned, darting over the bounty hunter’s head to land on Tsubasa’s shoulder. “He found another group of men ahead,” the droid reported. “They were collaborating. He mentioned telling a”boss” and moving a shipment of something.” Ifrit paused briefly. “It could be assumed this shipment is of contraband, from the way he was talking.”

Tsubasa nodded quietly. “A gang of drug traffickers and an invisible man,” he said, dropping his voice as he closed the gap with the bounty hunter. “And you’re going it alone?”

[?? Akihiro]

The men stepped out of the shadows of the alley, revealing themselves as Gran's, each a faded greenish color, but differentiated from articles of clothing each wore and an eye patch over the far left eye of the center Gran. "Varick..you idiot! We cannot transport enough out to sustain our trade route..no..instead we will execute the plan tonight. The boss is inside of the temple as we speak, setting everything up. Go, draw the Bounty Hunter's attentions away from us. Make yourself useful for once" The Gran in the center roared, the aggravated tone in his voice growing with each passing second. Varick froze, his eyes growing as a realization struck him, "But..but what if i get caught?! What if they get me?!" he exclaimed, almost in a pleading tone, "Then you better hope they kill you before we do" the Gran simply replied before turning and disappearing from sight along with the other two men.

Varick stood there, frozen in complete shock before the voice of the Gren called out to him and broke him out of the state his was in, "Move!". Varick jumped up, peering left then right before bolting madly to the right and continued down the alley way, where he immediately heard the footsteps of Akihiro and Tsubasa following him. Akihiro smirked, noticing the sudden form of Varick appear a few feet in front of him, "Going in alone makes it more exciting" he chuckled a reply to Tsubasa. Excitement and happiness ran through Akihiro as he vaulted over a fallen box, the feeling given him more energy to chase after the bounty as they came upon another open marketplace square, giving sight to a speeder rushing off in the distance, the Jedi Temple being it's main course.

Aboard the speeder, the Gren's had placed three barrels in one of the seats as they activated a holo-communicator in which the image of a man appeared, his eyes a deep yellow with orange like flames emitting around the edges of the pupil. "Sir, it's done. We have the barrels but Varick has ran into trouble with some Bounty Hunters" The Gren stated with a stutter in his voice, "Varick is of no importance to us. Get the barrels over here..i have the ventilation shafts of the Jedi Temple closed..the only way to get out is through me and not one Jedi alive can do that. Activate the Synox poison run them along with the ship through the main entrance" the man replied. The Gren paused, "With..with us on board?!" he pleaded, "No you idiot. Jump off the damn speeder just before impact...and make sure to put on your masks..".

Meanwhile,

Akihiro entered the empty marketplace square, once more corning the bounty he had been chasing for the past hour and a half, "So what now?! Kill me?!" Varick exclaimed as Akihiro approached him, sword drawn, before pausing and glancing over to his newly acquired acquaintance, "I don't know. Ask him..he seems to know what to do, trust him in your fate. If it were up to me, you'd be in custody heading back to the police force on Mallistar..either way, you'll be off these streets and the people around here will be that much safer". Varick chuckled, bursting out in a laugh not longer after, "Nobody will be safe in the next five minutes" he proclaimed proudly, "What do you mean?" Akihiro questioned curiously, "The protectors of Coruscant will be dead! And the true rulers of the galaxy will reign supreme!!!!!".

[Ash]

Zwei was patiently listening to the conversation between the bounty and his little groupies he met up with. He didn't bother turning around the corner, just in case his generator decided to spasm out on him and deactivate, so he didn't get a view of what was going on. After a few more words of exchange, they separated from each other.

Well... it seemed like whatever route they had was about gone now. No big deal for Zwei. But the temple... unless they were some secret cult, they may have meant the Jedi Temple. They weren't too far from it, considering where they were. If it was that option, then the Jedi were in for a nice surprise. Somewhere deep down, Zwei thought that was good.

He heard a sharp yell, then footsteps as the bounty started running away from where Zwei was set up, and his footsteps were quickly matched by two more pairs of footsteps. Zwei fallowed, running after them as well, wishing he had his sound dampening stealth field generator rather than his smaller, cheaper stealth generator he had. He stopped on a corner when he saw that the bounty was caught once again by the hunter, as well as the one who joined him.

Zwei didn't know, highly doubted that they knew what was going on... at least until the bounty mentioned that no one will be safe soon. By then, Zwei was walking towards the trio of people. He switched off his generator when he was about 10 feet out, mainly conserving the battery power, but it should have been somewhat intimidating seeing a masked man slowly 'materialize' out a thin air like a specter... or phantom.

So the temple is your target...

[?? Akihiro]

Varick chuckled, shaking his head with a malignant smirk flashing upon his face before he peered back up to the bounty hunter and his ever growing company, "No. Again you idiots are only thinking about the small picture. But you have to think on a much, much bigger scale my friends" Varick replied, extending his arms outwards as if he were a magician presenting a finished product to his audience, "Bigger scale? What's bigger than killing off every single Jedi on this planet?" Akihiro asked curiously, much to the displeasure of Varick who released a sigh and shook his head once more, "Alright. I will make this easier for you 'lot. Underneath this city is a huge ventilation system. Absorbing tones and tones of exhaust from your vehicles, buildings, and temples and converts it into oxygen for the filth of this planet to breath. But i wonder what would happen if the engines encountered a substance identical to oxygen? Like..i don't know..Synox".

Akihiro froze, his bodily language changing as his mind unraveled the puzzle presented to him, "Your target isn't just the temple..it's the entire planet! You'l kill this entire world!" he proclaimed, "Yes. So what? Not one person in this galaxy even notices. Look at Mallistar, Hutta...we aren't drug dealers or cartels. We are poison traders...we go in and create planets of poison in which he harvest from and sell to buyers. And what will they look to, to find the source..the cause of it all? The place it started. The Jedi temple. The Jedi will be accused of the crime, the masters will take over and business will be better than ever!".

[Rugs]

“I’m all for self-confidence pal, but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves,” Tsu muttered as he followed the bounty hunter in grey. They found the man he’d been chasing before long, who was, once again, cornered.

The invisible man seemed to be tagging along. Tsubasa wasn’t entirely sure why that annoyed him.

Then everything got weird.

The man started spouting off about some grand plan to attack the Jedi Temple, and more, Coruscant as a whole. Of course, unless he had several cruisers’ worth of poison, there wasn’t going to be near enough to pose any kind of thread on a planetary scale.

Yet even he couldn’t enjoy the ravings of a mad man.

“Nice of you to finally join us,” he muttered to the no-longer-invisible man. Next he turned to Ifrit, who was still perched on his shoulder. “Ifrit, you heard what the man said. Why don’t you relay that to CSF? Get a no-fly zone established and tell them to have poison control teams ready.”

“Of course, Tsubasa,” the droid said going silent.

“As for you…” Tsu turned to the target man, whoever he was. “Big plans are nice. Problem is, the bigger they are, the more likely they are to fail.”

Tsubasa had never been a Jedi, but he’d visited the Temple once or twice, and Barsavi had told him a thing or two about the order. Though they were monks, the Temple was heavily guarded by Jedi specifically trained to keep it safe. Not to mention other improbabilities.

“So what’re we doing with this guy?” he asked the bounty hunter. “Apparently he’s got some crazy friends, and as much as I’d love to sit around chatting with him, he just spilled their plan.”

Ifrit lifted his head slightly. “Report filed, Tsubasa.”

[Ash]

The one known as Zwei finally walked up to the trio of men, and he ignored the comment made by one of the men about him showing up. He glanced at the man though his mask, then set his eyes on the bounty. Regardless of how much synox these guys had, there would more than likely be casualties.

Zwei wasn't worried about the Jedi, however. His mistrust for force users ran deep enough for him to think that, but he was thinking about the civilians in the area. They didn't even need to make it to the Temple if they wanted to cause havoc.

Zwei was willing to bet CSF wouldn't be able to set up the parameter in time, and if they did, well... It would take a long time to clean up the poison, and there would be quite a few casualties. Minimizing the casualties would be best. He looked at the bounty hunter and the man with the droid on his shoulder.

If you want my opinion, I say off this guy, and go for the others, if they can be found. And you never know if it is just one speeder or many of them.

Zwei's voice sounded slightly muffled under his mask, but also had a very slight electronic distortion thanks to the mask itself. Zwei withheld taking out any of his weapons he had on his body, and rather just look at the bounty, letting him take in the empty black lenses in the white mask with the Azure markings.

If your friend would kindly give us a name... Although, making him talk would be much more fun...

[?? Akihiro]

Akihiro pondered the fate of his bounty as both of his newly acquired acquaintances filled in their opinions, "I agree" he finally commented, nodding his head as he did so, "Even though this scum is my bounty, there are bigger issues at hand. Whoever these people are, they obviously think they have something up their sleeve if they can think they can take down this entire planet". Turning his attention over to the mechanical bird currently perched on Tsubasa's shoulder, Akihiro rose an eyebrow, "Could that bird of yours send a message to Mallistar? Tell them we've got the bounty and some extras". Varick laughed, "You think you could capture the master?" he proclaimed, grabbing Akihiro's attention as he peered back over to him, "Who said anything about capturing?".

Varick gulped, his mind racing over all the possibilities this confrontation could go, his life flashing before his eyes. Smirking, Akihiro flipped out a pair of standardized stun cuffs and offered them to Varick, "Either you put these things on and cooperate with anything and everything either one of us say or you die right here right now. Either way i get paid and this plan of yours ends tonight".

[Rugs]

“Bird?” Ifrit asked, wings ruffling over his back in umbrage at the classification. His draconic tail curled, irritated, around the back of Tsubasa’s shoulder. “I am no bird,” he corrected, smoke puffing form his mouth on the last word. “I am-“

“Yes, Ifrit, a dragon,” Tsu cut in. “It’s okay. About the man’s question. Can you get a signal that far?”

Ifrit paused thoughtfully, or as thoughtfully as a droid could. “I cannot send a signal directly to the world, no. Not from so far away and without knowing who I am sending it to. But I may be able to tap into a network to send a message.” He looked at the bounty hunter, head tilted slightly, waiting.

“You can fill him in on that as we’re going,” Tsu said to the grey-clothed man. Truth be told, they’d need to be filled in on several things—like who this mysterious group was and if the threat was any more real than a crazed man’s desperate rantings. But on the off-chance that this was real, they didn’t have time to waste.

Tsu moved around behind the bounty, face set on action. With a flick of his wrist, he removed his wan-shen from his waist and extended the weapon to its full length. He shoved the weapon between the man’s shoulder blades, forcing him to lay on his stomach. The man struggled, but Tsu’s pressure was too strong for him to move. “Cuff him and let’s go,” he said, looking at the bounty hunter. “If this is real, we need to get moving. We can drag information out of him as we move.”

The Matukai hadn’t expected to get involved with this, an impromptu mission to save lives with two strangers, when he’d stepped in between the bounty hunter and his bounty. But the Force had a way of pushing lives along, like leaves on the wind, and if that was what it had in store…

That’s what it’ll be.

[Ash]

Zwei silently stood by and listened to the confrontation between the Bounty and the Hunter, and the eventual offering of the stun cuffs to the bounty himself. The look on the man's face... priceless.

He was also paying attention to the man with the small droid on his shoulder. Apparently, it didn't like being called a bird, and between it and the man, it was quite clear about what it was.

The man with the droid was right in that they needed to get moving soon. Every second they spent here was a second that their new quarry had to get away. That wasn't good, especially with lives on the line. He nodded slightly to that man.

Agreed. We don't have the luxury of time to spend interrogating him.

[?? Akihiro]

Ahikiro nodded, quickly cuffing the young man then yanking him up back to his feet once the cuffs were firmly in place. "Ow" Varick complained, only to receive a smack up side of his head by Akihiro, immediately shutting him up. "Sense you two look to be in on this thing i will fill you in on the way to the Jedi Temple" Akihiro told the two men with a slight glance over his shoulder before moving his attention back to the open road in front of him. Hailing a cab with the device on his wrist, Akihiro quickly got into the vehicle once it hovered down to the edge of the platform they stood on, and tossed the bounty into the back seat.

Once the other two were in, Akihiro set the destination for the Jedi Temple and bolting off with a quick jot from the speeder. "I was employed by a dug on Malastare whose convinced these idiots are part of the Black Sun..or at least trying to get in anyways" Akihiro began, "His name is Rik'tol, he lives in his compound about forty clicks from Pixelito. He has a few connections with the Black Sun as it is but he's feeding information through to the Galactic Republic. So when he caught word of the plan he had me come get this guy..something to do with some schematics or something." He paused, his mind suddenly connecting with something before shooting his attention from the conversation and back over to Varick who stared at the buildings as they passed by, "Hang on. Your leader..the leader of the Black Sun's operates on Coruscant..everyone know's that. So..why flip it into a poison planet? It makes no sense what so ever".

Varick smirked, "I already told you all i can..this planet..this..republic. This war. Everything will change when we are done and for the better" he grumbled a reply as his eyes caught the sight of the temple gleaming through the horizon. Akihiro shook his head, peering back to the temple as they landed, his mind still trying to come to grips with what was going on and piecing together this puzzle. Something wasn't right and Akihiro could feel it deep in his gut; but what?

Suddenly the temple shook, the very ground beneath Akihiro moved as flames shot up from the top right corner of the temple entrance. The speeder had collided with the structure causing an explosion to erupt, amplified by the barrels in which Akihiro now correctly guessed had contained gas. Rushing up the steps, Akihiro glared out onto the entrance of the temple where on Sith warrior fought off in coming Jedi Knights and guards with the three henchmen that had escaped in the speeder just moments ago. "Something's not right.." Akihiro finally said out loud, squinting his eyes as he pondered deeply on the subject once more. Something was telling him, urging him to turn back and focus not on Coruscant, but on Malastare instead.