Stuck In The Middle With You {Rabbit}

[Ghostie]

The large, single pane of transpirasteel in the window shattered into countless pieces, each with its own thunder of cracking as the golden lightsaber blade drove into it, and swiped through the glass. The weequay holding the weapon, a stout man of average height but thick build, spun on the spot once the opening was clear, his lightsaber spinning with him in a high two-handed attack, perfect for a decapitation. His target was just as fast and nimble as he was strong, however and she ducked out of the way of the blow before it could even come close to her blonde head. Rolling away and parallel to the destroyed window, the diminutive female sprang back to her feet in an instant. Rather than trying to goad her enemy into a renew lightsaber duel where she had better footing, instead, she reached out with one hand and telekinetically lifted a heap of the fresh shards of glass, hurling them towards the alien.

“ARGH!”

There was a growl of pain as the weequay tried to spin away, but was too slow. A handful of the clear shrapnel caught the man in the side, bloodying him, but doing no serious damage. Nonetheless, the maneuver had given the woman the space she needed to find her bearings once again, and steady herself. Her one advantage was her speed and dexterity, and relying on it to end fights quickly. But given the training her quarry had, he wasn’t going to go down quickly, and she couldn’t stand to go toe-to-toe with him much longer. Activating her lightsaber once again, the violet blade was held in a high Ataru stance, in both hands and at her shoulders. The weequay took a moment to recompose himself, but didn’t move towards her. Instead, his black eyes drilled holes through her skull. The Jedi Knight could sense the rage and anger in the man, but she didn’t even blink. He wasn’t the first darksider she had faced down before.

“This is the only time I’m sayin’ it…” The alien wheezed with a bit of a rasp. One of his hands reached into a pouch on his belt and clicked something. “... If you know what’s good for you, y’won’t follow me anymore, Gaeriel.”

“I’m not the one running, Bey!”

And with that, he jumped backwards out of the window, and slid down the slanted surface of the building towards the pedway below. Gaeriel ran to the edge of the window and didn’t waste a moment by hesitating to follow suit, deactivating her lightsaber and holding onto it tight as he followed the alien into the dark Coruscanti night, the wind tugging at her dark robes and braided hair. Somersaulting from the lip of the window, the Jedi Knight landed with a loud thud against the slanted transpirasteel that belied her size. Having stuck the landing rather well, Gaeriel angled her feet just right and bent her knees heavily, sliding quickly after the weequay. But he already had quite the lead on her. No doubt having felt Gaeriel’s landing under his feet, he looked over his shoulder and threw a hand around his side, trying to blast her with Force energy.

The Jedi Knight dropped backwards to avoid the first blast, rolling sideways and away from the alien. But the first blast was followed quickly by a second, which sent Gaeriel’s tumble completely out of her own control. For a moment, Gaeriel was at a loss. Dark transpirasteel was above her. Then the night sky. Transpirasteel. Night Sky. Transpirasteel once again and on and on it went, the only sounds that of her small body bounding down the slanted incline of the building. An incline that ended well before Gaeriel was ready for it. Feeling the drop off, she reached out to try and grab the edge, but her fingers merely slowed her fall, and didn’t stop it. At least now she was falling feet first towards the pedway, and not spinning anymore. She could see the pedestrians coming up in a hurry below on the well-lit walkway as Atros Bey, the weequay she was chasing, was using the Force to slow his own fall onto the walkway.

Gaeriel herself instead angled for a parked speeder, unoccupied and not far under her. Landing in the back with a grunted ‘oof!’ as she hit the cushions, the vehicle dipped, but quickly righted itself on it’s repulsors. The Jedi Knight was just as quick about righting herself. Mounting the side, Gaeriel leapt once again, hoping that this time she could make it to her intended target without so much spinning. With quite a bit of help from the Force once again, Gaeriel landed on her feet with all the grace of a prowling feline, stopping in a low crouch just in time to look up and see Bey barreling through the crowded walkway, much to the indignation of some of the pedestrians. Gaeriel made after him, using the wake he left to quickly catch up.

“Stop, Bey! Come back to the Temple! We can - !”

But Gaeriel came to a sliding halt as they reached the end of the pedway, and a repulsor truck came down out of the traffic and landed on the narrow durasteel. Bey kept going, and the door on the side of the vehicle slid open to offload a few men, and let the weequay onboard. The men, dressed in assorted armor and carrying a variety of blaster rifles and carbines opened fire without hesitation on Gaeriel. There was three of them in total, all human, and once the red blasterbolts started to fly, the pedway filled with screams and the sounds of the crowd trying to move to the other end, and away from the danger.

As the bolts started to fly towards Gaeriel, she spun her violet blade in front of her in a web of energy, deflecting everything she could back at the group and the repulsor truck. It was the only safe target she could think of. Even redirecting the bolts into a building could cause them to hit an innocent bystander. Into the durasteel walkway, and they could ricochet off wildly. Catching a trio of bolts on her blade, Gaeriel angled them just right so that they all caught one of the men in the chest. He doubled over and fell to the walkway, not moving as smoke rose from his torso. The Jedi Knight used the momentary lapse in the blasterfire to surge forward, and closed the distance between herself and the other two men. By the time they brought their blasters to bear once again, Gaeriel was already slicing through the arms of the second man, his limbs falling to the durasteel before he did. The third was not so lucky, and received the full length of the Jedi’s purple blade through his chest.

By the time Gaeriel was ready to pounce on the repulsor truck that Bey had taken shelter on, the vehicle was already speeding well enough away, and Coruscant Security was bearing down on the whole scene.

[Rabbit]

It was apparently impossible for a man to have a quiet night out on Coruscant. At least, that's what it seemed like to one Kar'eth Tav'zra, as he found himself scrambling out of the way of whirling light sabers that came out of seemingly nowhere.

The SIS agent had been trying to catch some well-deserved downtime between missions. Earlier in the day, he'd attended a highly classified and deeply important meeting with two of the Republic's highest military officers - General Horst and Fleet Admiral Talion. Kar'eth had found himself volunteering for a mission to the edges of Republic space; in fact, he'd spent most of his early afternoon as a visitor to the Jedi Archives, pouring over some of the Order's most detailed galactic maps, and galactic sociology and anthropology texts. The last few hours of the afternoon and early evening, he'd been at SIS headquarters, examining transmissions and holo-messages that had been collected by field agents currently scattered throughout Hutt space. Kar's goal had been to pinpoint not only the most likely destination of refugees from Teth, but also the destination most likely to provide a neutral enough environment for him to find a refugee population that felt secure enough to open up to an inquisitive outsider.

He hadn't actually expected to find such a place, but as it turned out, there was one planet in all of Hutt space that had retained it's independence in the face of the cartel's obsessive bid for power. Kar'eth had read what information there was available on the planet, but it wasn't much, frankly. After having satisfied himself that he'd done the best work he could do for one day, he had set aside his notes and datapad, and taken himself out for dinner and a few drinks.

Given that he was going to be away from Republic space for what could be an indeterminate period of time, Kar had decided to visit a tiny little restaurant on the 6th level that was well known for its authentic, home-style Mirialan cuisine. Nothing hit the spot better than a plate of roasted beef skewers in a hot Miral sauce, fluffy spiced rice, and a fresh salad of indigenous Mirialan greens and vegetables. In fact, just the thought of such a spread had made Kar's stomach growl loud enough to get a few amused looks as he walked out of SIS HQ.

He'd decided to walk to said restaurant...and at present, he was regretting that decision. The agent had had a full day of unexpected work and had a bit of a headache right behind his eyes. The last thing he wanted was to get caught in the middle of two dueling Jedi. In fact, for a moment, he wasn't even sure what was going on, except that there was a lot of broken glass, a lot of random flashes of light (that only made his headache worsen), the noisy expulsion of blaster bolts, and a cacophony of startled screams as beings just like him flung themselves out of the way of the unexpected battle.

It was all a whirlwind of light and sound, and then...nothing, except for the sirens of Coruscant Security as they came rushing closer through the now backed-up air traffic. Kar'eth blinked and pushed himself off of the side of the building he'd flattened himself against in the rush to get out of the way. He was the first bystander to step out fully into the street - he looked to his left, toward the distant flashing lights of security, and then to the right, where he saw at least one of the culprits for the sudden disrupt in his evening.

The Mirialan blinked. She was...unexpectedly gorgeous. Kar didn't really give most Jedi a second look...but there she was. A blond-haired avenging angel, her profile cast in relief by the pale purple light cast by her light saber. The agent felt an eyebrow lift almost unconsciously, even as he took a step, then another, toward her.

"Everything all right, ma'am?" he mentally kicked himself for the utter lameness of his opening line - and he kept on going in that same vein, to his eternal horror. "Looks like I'm a little late to the party, but anything I can help ya' with?" in attempt to hide how embarrassed he was by his decidedly un-suave introduction, Kar squinted past her toward the rapidly disappearing vehicle she'd been deflecting blaster bolts from, and then glanced over his shoulder at the sirens that were now almost on top of them. "If nothing else, I can show you a quick way out of here, if you'd rather not get hauled into one of Coruscant Security's intensely awkward interrogations?"

Kar'eth realized how that might sound - if nothing else, the fact that he was a complete male stranger coming out of the crowd and offering to lead her down who-knew-what dark back-alley. He offered a brief smile.

"Name's Kar'eth Tav'zra, by the way. Security Information Services," he jerked an unusually awkward thumb toward a side street just at an angle from them. "Trust me, you don't want to stick around for a Security detective. They'll waste your night and half of your next morning with questions that don't get either of you anywhere, except frustrated and sleep-deprived."

The Mirialan silently prayed to whatever Force was listening, that she would rightly assume he spoke so ill of Coruscant Security because he'd dealt with them in his own line of work for SIS...and not assume that it was because he'd been on the receiving end of their questionings...

[Ghostie]

There was no time to waste as Gaeriel spun towards the fleeing repulsor truck. In this situation, Bey was going to be out of sight in just a moment, and there was only one thing the Jedi Knight could do about it. Fighting the urge to sigh as her night just became much longer by an unforeseeable amount, the short blonde dug in her utility belt with her free hand, as the other still held her lit lightsaber. Finding a small disc inside a certain pouch, Gaeriel tossed it with all her might towards the rapidly retreating repulsor truck. Hand still outstretched from her throw, the Jedi Knight used the Force to carry the tracking device the rest of the way until she felt it impact on the back of the vehicle. Watching it open and attach, Gaeriel allowed her shoulders to slump a bit, and then shut off her lightsaber.

That was when a voice came from just down the walkway, directed at her. The call of emergency sirens and flashes of light were still coming in fast, but not yet on scene when Gaeriel whirled around to find herself looking at a Mirialan. She assumed he was around her own age, with unique tattoos in geometric lines, whereas the Mirialans that Gaeriel usually dealt with had more blocky shapes across their face. He was taller than her, too, but that wasn’t saying a lot as everyone was usually taller than Gaeriel. And at the moment, the Jedi Knight was feeling far too jaded to appreciate the high cheekbones or strong jawline that he possessed.

“‘Ma’am’?” She repeated in unbelief. “Do I look like a ‘ma’am’ to you?” Gaeriel shot him a look that was both hurt and confused, if not at least mocking the former. She narrowed her eyebrows further and further as the man kept talking, her blue eyes glaring a pair of blaster holes through him as he mentioning trying to leave before CSec showed up and ruined the Jedi Knight’s entire night. Like her night wasn’t already ruined, anyways. When he mentioned being a part of Security Information Services, Gaeriel couldn’t help but blurt out. “And what do you do there, fetch the caf?” Nonetheless, her face had relaxed considerably, and she was now more surprised than anything. And she couldn’t sense any deception from the man through the Force.

And there was wisdom in the Mirialan words. Coruscant Security definitely had it’s uses, but sometimes they could tie up anyone more than anything, even a Jedi. It usually depended on the detective, and the bone they had to pick with whoever was involved. Looking over her shoulder, the security vehicles had already landed, and the officers were already starting to secure the scene. Gaeriel could definitely face some sort of reprimand from leaving the scene, if not from the Council, then from the next time she went to CSec for anything. But then again, when did that stop her? Walking quickly towards the Mirialan, she waved him on.

“Let’s go.” She said simply, and fell into line behind him.

They walked for a bit down the pedway, and once then reached an alleyway, Gaeriel let the Mirialan lead the way. Just because she hadn’t sensed any deception in the Force from him did not mean that she wasn’t suspicious. Whoever he was, he could have been trained to hide his emotions well. For all Gaeriel knew, he had been planted by Bey, to ambush her in this exact scenario. A Strategic Information Service agent being onsite was just simply too convenient. They continued on, past a few smelly dumpsters, their footfalls making womp rats squeak and hide. Once they pair was out of earshot of the crowd back at the scene of the shooting, Gaeriel raised her hand, and used the Force to stop the Mirialan in his tracks, grabbing his legs and holding tight once he had finished his stride.

“Alright, pal. I.D., now.”

[Rabbit]

"Well, you're mighty sassy for a Jedi," Kar couldn't help but mumble under his breath as his new acquaintance made a jab at his role with SIS.

Ordinarily, Kar would have been put-off by such a comment. He took his job at SIS quite seriously and didn't think it was a stretch to say that he did damn important work on behalf of the Republic. But...this young woman was a bit of a novelty. All the Jedi he'd ever encountered - with the exception of Korbin Tharen - had the personality of a stack of flimsy. In a way, it was refreshing to come across a Jedi who snapped his words back at him without hardly missing a beat.

The Miralian did eye her cautiously as she curtly accepted his offer to whisk her away from the fast-approaching CSec. Something told him that this particular pretty face was more than a match for him. And not just because she was a Jedi...

He was also quite surprised by the fact that she took him up on his offer. Kar had mostly expected her to turn him down...but here she was, following him down a side street and into a back alley. The SIS operative was cautious, nevertheless. He'd had enough dealings with Jedi, to know that there was no way she trusted him lock-stock-and-barrel.

And, yup. There it was. Kar grunted briefly in a mild expression of surprise - more for her method, than for the fact that she had stopped him. Stopping him, he had expected. The sudden inability to move his legs...not so much.

"You know," he drawled lazily and flashed her a brief smile over his shoulder, as he slowly moved his right hand and slid it beneath the breast of his jacket. "I'm pretty sure it'd have been more fun for both of us, if ya'd just frisked me."

He did want to tease her too much, though. Just enough to test the waters. That, and Kar'eth was constitutionally incapable of not flirting with a good-looking woman. That was as far as he took it, though; otherwise, he remained silent as he handed her the personal data-chip that would confirm his identity as soon as she inserted it into her own datapad.

However, waiting for her to do that and pull up the information she wanted, would take a minute or two, and Kar'eth was uncomfortable in silence around strangers. He winked at her when her fingers brushed against his, as she took his chip. Then he shoved both of his hands into the pockets of his jacket and he offered her his brightest smile. He'd been told on more than one occasion that such a smile made him more attractive.

"You hungry?" he eyed her carefully for a moment, as he looked her over for any visible bruises or cuts. "I was on my way to get some dinner. Wouldn't mind some company, if you're in the mood. There's this great little Mirialan place I know - makes the best damn beef kabobs and spiced rice this side of the galaxy. Got a fabulous cold sweet-mint tea, too," Kar'eth felt a little note of uncertainty rise up within him as he watched her closely for her non-verbal reaction to his offer.

He suddenly felt like a gawky, awkward teenager trying to ask a girl out for a first date.

What on earth are you thinking, Tav'zra?! he berated himself silently. What in the Nine Corellian hells made you think you could just ask a Jedi out to dinner?

After a brief pause, he shrugged and added tentatively -

"My treat, seeing as it's my idea and all. And, well...my kind of food, I guess you could say."

[Ghostie]

“It’d be fun for me, at least…” The Jedi walked around the still trapped agent, one hand still holding his legs with the Force, and the other hand still holding her unlit lightsaber. She made a show of looking him up and down, as if she were trying to tease him. Her voice was low, and a bit sharp. “... After all, I’m still holding my lightsaber.” She shook her hand in front of his face a bit, showing him the silver canister, and implying that he might lose far more than he gained with a frisk.

Gaeriel had encountered her share of flirtations throughout her career as a Jedi. Being Hapan, she supposed it was bound to happen. There was always that one individual that had enough confidence to think they could slide right up to a Jedi, without any resistance or blowback. Most Jedi simply shrugged such things off. Spouted some sort of excerpt from the Jedi Code. But Gaeriel, well, she always had something snappy to say. She let people know right where they stood when they came at her like that. And she did it without the Code to back her up.

While she hardly expected such an attitude from an agent of the Strategic Information Service, it was a bit refreshing, the Jedi Knight had to admit. Most of those agents she met were useful, but had a durasteel rod up their backside about procedure and information. And that made for some dull personalities. Swiping the data-chip from the Mirialan, Gaeriel did her best to ignore his wink and his rather nice smile as she slid the card into her datapad. It took all of a few seconds for the device to find a signal to piggyback off of, and then after that, it only took a few more for the datapad to access the Jedi Archives and confirm that he was indeed Kar’eth Tav’zra, Field Agent for Strategic Information Service.

Gaeriel looked up from her datapad, and raised a single, curious and confused eyebrow. That was quite the coincidence. What came next however was as much as a surprise as the man’s real identity. While Gaeriel was no longer holding him in place, and her lightsaber and datapad and been returned to her belt, she almost wished for a moment that she still had her weapon at hand. The agent had asked her out to dinner, at some Mirialan restaurant. Truth be told, Gaeriel was a bit flabbergasted.

And truth be told, if it had been any other night, she just might have taken the man up on his offer. After all, it was a very nice smile.

“Did you not see the scene back there, or do you make a habit of wading into blasterfire to lure strange women down alleys, and then ask them for a dinner date?” She asked, only half serious. Fidgeting with the man’s identification chip in her hands, she paced a little bit back and forth in front of him. “ I’ve got a long night ahead of me, only made longer by your antics.” Gaeriel turned on the spot, and made to leave. “The sooner I find my guy, the sooner I can find my bed.” The last part had a bit of a bite, in the form of a growl.

[Rabbit]

"I wasn't aware that asking a person to dinner equated to a permanent engagement," Kar'eth responded dryly.

He let that sink for a moment, before continuing as calmly as he pleased.

"I also wouldn't be so quick to complain about my 'antics'," the Mirialan rocked back on his heels and tried not to look too smug as he flashed her another winning smile. "I saw that repulsor truck you were after and I know the idiots who were on board. Well..." he amended. "I know of them."

Kar'eth lifted a dusty-brown eyebrow at the Jedi...who, he realized, hadn't introduced herself. The light saber was pretty self-evident that she was a Jedi, but as of that exact moment, he had no idea what her name was. He grimaced inwardly.

He probably should have asked her name, before asking her to dinner.

"You're after the Saolin Cartel," the SIS agent met her blue-grey gaze with his own. "And I saw you toss a tracker onto their truck. Smart, since they have several safe houses and I have idea which one they'd be going to tonight. However, the Saolins call one of the deep levels their own - level 40, I think. Jedi or not," his crystal-blue eyes flickered to her light saber, then back up at her face. "You're gonna' need back-up if you're going down that way...or if you're going any where near the Saolins, period. They're a nasty bunch."

Kar casually opened his jacket and pulled one side away from his body, to show her that he was carrying a weapon of his own.

"I'm pretty handy with a blaster. Sure you don't want some help?" a mischievous smile tugged the edges of his lips. "Get two people in on this chase and you'll probably get to see your bed a lot sooner than you would otherwise."

The Mirialan was very proud of himself for not making a further suggestive remarks about getting her back to her bed in a timely manner. One, now just wasn't the time and two, it would have been rather crass of him. But, oh, if they knew each other better, he'd have so many inappropriate retorts lined up for her...

"What's your name, by the way?" he added, as a way to distract himself from his less appropriate lines of thinking. "You've got me at a disadvantage, Jedi. You know who I am, but I've got no clue who you are."

[Ghostie]

As Gaeriel slowly walked away from the Strategic Information Services agent, she absent-mindedly played with the identification chip she still held; his identification chip. Silently, she was planning out her next move, and all together stopped listening to the Mirialan and his disarming, handsome smile. But the man’s next words cut through her thoughts like a mag-rail train ploughing through a light snow drift. Much like the imaginative snow, the Jedi’s thoughts dissipated in an instant, and she stood there, caught in mid-stride. Turning back to the Mirialan, Gaeriel cocked one golden brown in his direction.

The Saolin Cartel. Gaeriel had heard of them in a few scattered reports from Jedi who operated along the Republic’s border. Some sort of criminal organization, with very clear and very radical ideals. The sort of organization that attracted wayward and broken warriors. People like Atros Bey, the Jedi Gaeriel was trying to retrieve for the Order. The radicals were dangerous, as Agent Tav’zra pointed out. Gaeriel could agree with that much. And at the mention of level forty, she gave a little bit of a fidget. Everyone, Jedi included, usually avoided going down so far alone. And as it was night time, Gaeriel was already having a hard time seeing, thanks to her damned Hapan eyes. Down on level forty, she’d be practically blind. And thankfully, the Mirialan decided to not shoot Gaeriel a quip about finding her bed.

“Well Agent Tav’zra, you just made yourself extremely useful.” She took a few steps towards the man, and tossed his identification cip back at him. “For the moment, at least.” She smirked his direction. “Tell you what - come with me as backup, and you and that handsome smile of yours can buy me dinner, later.” Gaeriel felt it was a rather good deal, honestly. The man was already offering up himself as an extra blaster on her side, and he had genuinely asked about dinner earlier. Usually she would decline, on the basis of being a Jedi and all. But if things really went as smooth as the man proposed, well, she would owe him one.

Plus, well, Gaeriel wasn’t lying about his smile.

"What's your name, by the way?"

As the Mirialan asked his question, Gaeriel was already leading the way out of the alley, and towards where her speed was parked. Reaching the end of the narrow passage, she stopped, and took cover by the side of the building on her right. Just down the pedway, red and blue sirens cut through the night as the Coruscant Security Force secured the scene of the recent firefight, and swarmed the area like insects on a sweet. Gaeriel had no intention of heading back their way, and getting hung up on their questions and innuendo. Watching the scene unfold, she turned her head back towards the Mirialan, and spoke plainly.

“Jedi Knight Gaeriel Krieg. Just call me Gaeriel, though. With your fondness for walking into blastefire, you’d get shot before you could get the whole thing out.” Without waiting for a reply, she crossed the street as nonchalantly as she could, and started towards a rather plain looking speeder, black and with an open top. There were three engine pods on the back, one on each side and on the top. The vehicle had a flat nose, and a short windshield. Coming up to the left side of the vehicle, Gaeriel gestured with a nod of her head. “C’mon, Agent Pretty Boy. You’re driving.” Sliding over the top of the vehicle and into the passenger seat, Gaeriel took out her datapad, and started to pull up the signal for her tracking device. It had stopped moving, finally, and it looked to be on level forty, like Tav’zra had said.

“And consider it an honor - I don’t let just anyone fly when I can do it myself!”

[Rabbit]

"Agent Pretty Boy." Kar just flashed Gaeriel another winning smile and strolled over to the driver's side that she had so unexpectedly offered him. He'd been called plenty worse through the years and he hardly considered it an insult. He was pretty, after all. As far as he was concerned, she was merely stating fact. Admittedly, she was stating fact with a copious amount of snark...but he was starting to suspect that Gaeriel Krieg didn't know any other way to communicate. Not to mention, the mild insult of "Pretty Boy" was negated by the fact that she'd called his smile handsome, and she'd agreed to let him take her to dinner once this was all over.

She could call him anything short of late to dinner and he wouldn't take offense at this point.

"Well, if I'm driving, you're navigating, gorgeous," Kar revved the speeder's engines as he glanced over Gaeriel's shoulder to take a peek at the tracker she was holding. "Level 40 it is, then?"

The agent knew that he should have been a little more concerned about heading into Saolin territory, especially on such short notice. He was hardly prepared for such an "adventure", especially since all he had besides his wits was a single blaster strapped to his thigh. But, he was with a Jedi...

...What could possibly go wrong?