A Jedi's Day Off

[Cirith An'Gol]

Tey smiled reassuringly at Locke as he apologized for his raised tone "Hey, don't worry about it. I've known since I met you that you've had it worse than some in your past. There's no need to apologize my friend" he said clapping Locke on the back lightly as they ,ade their way to the speeder. Tey looked in suprise at what the CSF was allowing them to fly, it wasn't new ofcourse but it was kept in better shape than he expected.

It almost looked like one of the sport speeders he'd seen as he looked out the window of the temple. He looked in the back drawn by Locke's suprise and feel in the force, taking note of the blaster pistols and the light vests "Yes, it was nice of them to arrange this for us" Tey commented bringing a vest to himself with the force from the back seat, and looking it over as it floated in front of him. After getting in he started to pull away the fabrics of the robes he wore and donned the vest. For a moment Locke would be able to see the supple musculature of his chest and abdomin, before Tey pulled the robes back on covering himself. He shook his head at Locke's question "Not as a rule no, though I have held a blaster before. I used to practice with one so that I could have some skills with one, should I ever have to use it". Tey went quiet for a moment thinking of what they'd possibly run into "Hey Locke, is it like that all the time with the CSf and other police organizations? Y'know, them providing speeders and such when you need them?"

[Rugs]

Locke tilted his head from side to side as he thought. "Eeeehhhh... It really just depends on the situation and the mission at hand. Most of the time when I'm undercover I'm on my own, but I've gotten supplies from police agencies before." Locke shrugged nonchalantly. "It varies."


Their trip was short. Ironically, the Gilded Towers were within view of the CSF complex, though that may just have been because of the height of the buildings. They rose, tall and imposing, over the relatively short buildings of the Entertainment District around them. Over the years they had fallen into disrepair, as the more affluent citizens moved elsewhere, to the point that they were now occupied by one of the most powerful gangs on Coruscant. As the speeder zoomed in closer, Locke decided against his original plan of landing right outside the building in favor of landing a ways off; he and Tey could walk the rest of the way.

After parking the speeder, he stepped out of the speeder to put on his vest as well. He undid his upper robes, and other than the smooth, lean muscles of his torso, the long, jagged scar that ran across his back from his left hip to right shoulder came into view. He got it from being to close to an explosion while on a mission with his master when he was still a padawan. "So here's the plan," he said as he pulled his robes back on. "We'll find a way to slip into the south tower unseen and from there we'll make things up as we go a long." He barked a laugh. "Kinda like at the Star's End last night. Hopefully it won't be too long before the team the CSF is sending comes to give us a hand, but expect the worse, like they get into a crash on the way over or something. Until they get here, it's just us, and if they don't get here, then things'll get rough, but it's still just us."

Before he closed the door of the speeder, he took a second look at the pistols. Well, it couldn't hurt to have an extra one, just in case, he thought as he put the shoulder holster on over his robes. "Alright, I think that's everything," he thought as he put his cloak on around his shoulders. "You ready?"

[Cirith An'Gol]

Tey just nodded, he hadn't really expected Locke to say anything different but, he'd hoped anyway. He took in the sight of the Gilded Towers with awe they surely must have been a beutiful sight when they were new and well taken care of Tey thought as the speeder swept low to come to a halt a block away. Tey watched as Locke shook off his robes and pulled on the light vest, taking in his scars along his chest and back, and wincing. Locke pulled on the robes and asked if he was ready to go.

"Ready as I'll ever be I guess" Tey said with a shrug "mind if I hang on to one of the blasters? I have a feeling we'll probably get a chance to use them when we get to the towers and I need all the practice I can get these days" he walked to the front of the speedeer and waited for Locke to join him on the side walk. He looked at the towers again, now that they were so close he could tell the Gilded Towers were in serious disrepair and that it would be the perfect place for criminals of all sorts to hide. Unintentional traps could lay anywhere in the mountainous buildings, like a section of floor rotting away unseen, or a peice of wall finally coming loose after a disturbance of some sort.

"Well, atleast it'll be interesting moving around in there" Tey said with a chuckle "It might give me a chance to work on my agility"

[Rugs]

Locke grabbed the other pistol out of the back of the speeder before locking it up. He tossed the pistol to Tey as he walked to the sidewalk beside Tey and looked up. He whistled sharply at the thought of traversing the huge buildings and started to walk. "Well, it's always good to be agile. My philosophy is to take agility over strength any day." After think about that, a laugh burst from his throat. "But that might just be because I'm not that strong myself."


They passed through a light crowd of people as they drew closer. From the nearer distance, Locke could see that the two buildings were actually one, joined at the bottom by a centralized hub with the two towers rising to either side of it. "Hey Tey," he said casually. "How much would you want to bet that the hostages are at the top of the damn tower?" He laughed mischievously, though the thought wasn't a very pleasant one at all. "Wouldn't that just make life more exciting, eh?" He craned his neck to look up again at the towers. The sun was behind them from the angle he saw them, and gave them an almost ghostly aura. He tried to count the floors, but it got hard to keep up with where he was after fifteen. I certainly hope they aren't at the top...

After a few more minutes of walking, the two came onto the grounds of the Gilded Towers and Locke came to a halt. "Alright," he said seriously. "We're absolutely sure we've got everything, right?" He checked his two guns, and his lightsaber. His belt was fully supplied, with a bit of light first-aid equipment, though it would really only help for minor scrapes or cuts. "I've got everything. What about you? Once we're in there we're probably stuck in there until the mission's done. Not a good place to be and remember you forgot something you need." He laughed remembering an instance where just that had happened to him. It had not been pleasant. "Trust me on that."

[Cirith An'Gol]

Tey looked to Locke and laughed as his friend commented on his strength. Tey nodded with a smile "Yeah, that's where I'd put my hostages, easy to see people coming and easy get away from the roof if they have a transport of some type".

Tey walked with friend through the light crowd "Yes, I believe I have everything Locke. Shall we do this?". Tey walked across the street and to the entrance of the building, stretching out his force senses for any sign of traps or guards behind the doors. Not sensing anything he waited for Locke's signal to open the door for him.

[Rugs]

Locke looked up at the massive buildings one last time before looking at Tey. Well, this is it, he thought. He pulled his own blaster pistol out its holster and held it at the ready. "Well, Tey, this is it. I guess there's no turning back now, eh?" He laughed at that and pushed open the door and stepped into the lobby.

Locke swept over the room with his pistol, reaching out with the Force as he did. Something was wrong. The inside was a bit nicer than the exterior of the buildings would have one believe, but something was missing. Locke pursed his lips in thought as he tried to think of what it was. Everything looked to be in place, but something was missing... What could it be? Something's wrong, but I don't see anything... And then it hit him. It wasn't what was there, but what wasn't there. People! the room was utterly devoid of any occupants, an odd thing for an apartments the size of the Towers.

"Where is everyone?" Locke muttered aloud as he looked down a hallway. The longer he thought about it, the worse he felt about the emptiness of the building. Something's up...

He let his pistol fall, though he kept his awareness stretched out through the Force. "Hey, Tey, something's wrong... There should be people in here, but there's no one..." Locke paced around for a moment. "I don't know what it could be, but I've got a bad feeling about this." Locke suddenly turned for one of the hallways and started to go down it, motioning for Tey to follow. "Well, whatever it is, we've got people to save so let's get to it."

[Cirith An'Gol]

Tey levelled his own pistol in a ready position "Yeah, I guess" following Locke inside, Tey moved to the left as Locke moved right and swept the room. Tey expanded the force out and into the room, letting it guide his senses as his eyes looked around the room. Tey spread his force senses upward, searching for any signs of life, somewhere above the fourth floor, he faintly detected someone or something. "Yeah, this is weird, the only thing I can sense is something four floors up and I can't tell if it's a person or some kind of animal" Tey said shaking his head.

"Yeah, I guess the sooner we start searching this place, the sooner we find something. How do you want to do this? It is a big building" Tey asked, he wasn't particularly thrilled with the idea of searching one part of the building by himself, he was getting the same feeling as Locke. Something was definetly wrong, that much he could tell.

[Rugs]

Locke paused and let his blaster pistol fall as he pondered what to do. They'd have to move up, that much was certain, but how far up should they go? "Well, we might as well go up to the fourth floor and check out whatever's there," he said slowly. He started to make his way to one of the turbolifts, and pressed the button to summon it. There was a muffled rumbling sound as it descended to the ground floor, and the glass doors slid open when it came to a halt. Locke suddenly had second thoughts about using the lift as he stepped into the lift and turned to face Tey. "Actually, using the lift might not be the best idea... there could be a trap or something..." He shrugged. "We'll just have to hope there isn't." Famous last words, he thought as the two stepped into the lift and the door closed before them. Locke hit the button to have it take them to the fourth floor, and the lift started to move up.

As it passed the second floor and moved to the third, the lifted started to grind to a halt. "Dammit," Locke muttered. The lift completely stopped when it was about halfway through the third floor, leaving it suspended a few feet off of the floor. Locke uttered a few more curses under his breath as he looked around wondering what was going on. But he wasted no time in getting out of the lift. He blasted what little glass was exposed to the third floor out into the hallway with the Force. Then he got down and squirmed his way out, and fell rather unceremoniously onto the ground. He grumbled something about needing to make the stone floor softer as he stood to his feet and dusted himself off.

"This place is just so lively," he said as he looked about the halls, which were as empty as the ones on the first floor. "No wonder the place looked so exciting from the outside..." The young Knight walked forward to look around a bit as he waited for Tey to make his way out of the elevator. He kept his pistol lowered, but he was still tense, ready to act at a moment's notice if need be.

One of the doors to a room slid open as he walked by, and he stuck his head in to take a look around, against his better judgment. The room was quiet as well, and looked to be empty. But there was one thing that was off: a strange beeping noise that sang out every few seconds. He looked for the source, and found it just before disaster struck. It was a mass of wires connected to a small tube, hanging just above the doorway: a bomb. Locke reflexively jumped back into the hallway, and good thing for him that he did, because the explosive went off a second later, and surely would have blown his head from his shoulders. Even so, it blew a chunk of the wall above the doorway out into the hall, and Locke was almost hit by some pieces of shrapnel. "Great," he called out to Tey. "They have traps set up... Nasty traps." Locke looked over in the direction of the Togruta and grinned wryly. "This is gonna be fun, huh?"

[Cirith An'Gol]

Tey grimaced as the turbolift rumbled to the ground floor "Ummm...Locke are you sure about this?" Tey looked the platform over and to his expectations it showed alot of wear. He gingerly stepped onto the platform as the glass doors slid open, falling in beside his friend. Tey looked to his friend as he said

"Actually, using the lift might not be the best idea... there could be a trap or something..."

and added shrugging

"We'll just have to hope there isn't."

The Togruta looked to his friend and smiled nervously "Aren't those famous last words Locke?" before laughing lightly.

Tey grimaced as the lift slowly ground to a halt halfway up the third floor, he watched as Locke blew out the glass doors and slid through the opening. Tey crouched making sure to get his montrals clear before sliding the rest of himself through and rolling onto his feet drawing his pistol in one smoothe move. A second later the turbolift platform gave way and plummeted down slamming into the ground floor with a loud echoeing bang. Tey looked to Locke sheepishly with a smile on his face. Tey heard the regularly timed beeping before Locke stuck his head into the open doorway and tried to sound a warning. By then it was too late and Locke had already jumped backwards barely escaping the explosion a second later. Tey ducked as debris flew his way and covered his head protectively.

"Well...now whoever is here definetly knows we're here" Tey said getting up and dusting himself off. He heard something crack nearby, like someone stepping on brittle plaster or thick glass, and turned himself and his pistol in the direction of the sound.
He wasn't annoyed with Locke, though he did wish his friend would be more careful.
Tey looked to his friend and quirked an eyebrow "I think we've attracted somethings attention" he said as he stretched out with the force to determine what was near by. He got a sense of someone nearby, on the same floor they were on "uhh..make that something into a someone. They're on this floor, I can't tell where though my head's still ringing from that bomb going off". He looked around the hallway they were in, some parts of it were just barely hanging on, the walls cracked and caked with graffiti of some sort, some parts of the floor missing and the ceiling bowing in areas where water had gathered. Tey smiled wryly at his friend "Yes, this will be very fun".

[Rugs]

"That it will," Locke said as he moved further down the hall, his pistol still up and ready. Locke motioned for Tey to follow him down the hall as he moved. As they made their way through the hall, Locke noted that the old place was more than simply abandoned. It was run down. The walls were dingy, and mold was starting to grow in places where water had gathered, and some panels in the cieling had fallen to the floor some time ago. "No wonder the place is so empty," Locke said with a slight hint of awe to his voice. "This place is a wreck... Who would want to live here?"

Suddenly, the lights started to flicker, growing weaker and weaker until they faded away to darkness. "What now," Locke muttered irritably as he ignited his yellow-orange blade to light the area around him. The faintest clicking of a mechanism in motion caught his attention, and he looked down, to where the sound had come from. Unfortunately for the young Knight, he'd stepped on a trap. The panel gave way beneath him, and he plunged down to the floor below, yelling a stream of curses as he did. He landed rather unceremoniously on his rump, but was on his feet again almost immediately.

Locke was blinded for a moment when a number of extremely bright lights came alive, bathing the room in a sterile white light. Locke lowered his arm to look up and see a number of thugs waiting for him, along with some rather vicious looking attack dogs. "There's the Jedi!" One of the thugs yelled out. "Get 'im!!"

"Tey, I could use some help here!," he called up through the hole the fallen panel hand left.

[Cirith An'Gol]

Tey raised his blaster pistol and called his lightsaber into his hand through the force. The lights flickered for a few moments then everything went dark. "Oh great" Tey muttered when he heard his friends voice utter streams of curses as it fell away from him. Tey stopped in his tracks and ignited his lightsaber, flooding the small hallway in a bluish purple glow. He flipped his lightsaber around to the backhanded style and raised it in front of himself, the blade hovering along the frame of his arm. His eyes roamed over the walls, ceiling and floor and spotted the missing floor panels. The Togruta almost burst out laughing as he heard his friends voice calling for help, much in the same manner he had at the Star's End Cantina a few nights ago.

Shaking his head Tey lept into the darkness, slowing his decent as much as possible and landing in a neat looking crouch with a smile on his orange and white face. "Have no fear your rescuer is here" Tey said laughing wryly at his light jest to his friend. He stood and placed his lightsaber in front of him at a horozontal angle, letting the blade follow the bending arch of his arm, still in the backhanded style.
Tey looked around the room, it might've been the darkness playing tricks on his eyes, making their enemies number seem larger than it was but, Tey counted six people that he could see clearly and possibly six more hiding in the darkness farther in the back of the room.

He looked to his friend and smiled "Well Locke, how do you want to handle this encounter?" His blood boiled in excitement at the thought of getting the chance to use close combat, flooding his system with adrenaline. He lifted his lightsaber a little higher so that his face showed clearly as he smiled, making the predatory teeth of his race the first thing the thugs saw. He quickly looked over at his friend and winked before turning his attention back to the thugs. If Locke had looked at Tey just then, he might've seen a predator looking thrilled at the prospect of the easy prey before it, then again, he might've just seen his Togruta friend simply enjoying playing on people's common fears.

[Rugs]

A sly grin spread across Locke's face as Tey arrived. "Why Tey, you took time out of your busy schedule to come rescue me?" He laughed lightly. "You touch me, truly." His gaze returned to the men that stood before them as Tey asked his question and he grunted. "Hell if I know, Tey. Time's against us, so do whatever it takes to finish this quickly." He noted Tey's posture with a glance out of the corner of his eye and smiled softly. "Just make sure not to get to carried away, alright?"

"So then," Locke said as he stared down the men before him, "there are two ways we could do this. We could go the easy way and you could tell us where the family is being held. Or, you could go the hard way and make us have to hurt you. So what'll it be?"

"Get the Jedi!" was the only answer Locke got, accompanied with some of the thugs opening fire at him and Tey. Locke deflected one of the blaster bolts back at the thug that shot it, knocking him to the ground.

"I thought it'd go like this," he said to Tey as he set into motion. He knocked one thug down with a push of the Force before severing his hand at the wrist. Another shot at his back and he held his lightsaber up behind him, blocking the shot before grabbing his pistol in his free hand and shooting the thug in the chest as he turned around. And so it was that he fought, blade in one hand, pistol in the other, cutting down or shooting whoever got in his way, knowing that they didn't have much time to spare.

[Cirith An'Gol]

Tey Shaak laughed lightly "Well you do take alot of looking after my friend. You did find most of the traps already". He smiled and nodded "I will try to restrain myself" he replied to his friends counsel. He listened as Locke tried to talk them out of fighting, presenting the thugs with two options. The easy way, tell them where the family is being held or the hard way, make the two Jedi hurt them. The thugs not suprisingly chose the hard way.

Tey's lightsaber spun, deflecting a lazer bolt and sending it back to slap the gunners hand, before the Togruta ducked and spun again, sliding his energized blade through the air and avoiding a lazer bolt from behind and deflecting two more in the process. A light laugh escaped his lips, out of all the excercises at the temple, how he'd come to love his Shii-Cho training! Not that his movements were of Shii-Cho alone but, he mixed styles throwing in some Dejem-So here and what little Soresu he knew there. Tey smiled genuinely, this was the second fire fight he'd been in but, this time there wasn't quite so many opponents. Tey leapt over a bolt that came from his left and came down on two thugs, his feet planting themselves on either thugs shoulder and riding them down to the floor, as well as throwing in a little "Yeee Haaw!" for the sheer fun of it.

Tey laughed as one of the nearby thugs panicked and ran up to him, raising the butt of his gun and screaming wildly in an attempt to either scare the Togruta or render him unconcious with a wild swing. Tey Shaak simply stepped back and planted his heel on the man's upper thigh as he stepped down, flopping the man hard onto the ground, his face hitting first. Another ran up while he was deflecting bolts in the Shii-Cho style and Tey struck out with a lightning fast fist, catching the assailant, a Gran this time, in the jaw and spinning him to the ground. Yet, the thugs didn't give up, one came from behind while two ran towards him from the front. With a dancers grace Tey dispached all three nearly at the same time, he simply bent forward balanced himself on one foot and sent the other foot up, catching the assailant from behind in the jaw and lifting him a foot off the ground only to crumple to the floor. The other two were caught by his sweeping blade, taking their feet, quite literally, out from under them.

All the blaster fire stopped a moment later, there were no more enemies to dispatch. "Well that was quicker than I would've liked" Tey said straightening back up and turning to his friend, a smile on his face.