Any problem in the galaxy could be solved with the right data. This was at least, what Finnian thought as he sat atop a stack of packing crates carelessly tossed beside one of Coruscant's busy catwalks. Finnian watched the mass of beings moving down the causeway, casually smoothing his short, green-black fur as he thought. "If I had the right statistics, I could probably predict the next four supreme chancellors." Finnian's problem at the moment, however, was not intergalactic politics, but instead something far more important; an empty stomach.
He ignored its growling as his magenta eyes swept the crowd, searching for a suitable subject. He found it a moment later. A balding middle aged human being jostled by the crowd as he clutched at a small holomap, obviously trying to find his way as he walked. A map meant an off-worlder, and an off-worlder meant someone who wasn't aware of all the little intricacies of Coruscant's busy streets. His attention now focused on the man, Finnian observed him more carefully. His suit was smart, nothing fancy, which meant he wasn't particularly wealthy. This also was beneficial to Finnian. Wealthy travelers tended to keep their cash in combination lock bags or carry small coded cards instead of actual credits. Neither did Finnian any good. This man, on the other hand, was probably carrying around 25 credits if Finnian's previous experiences served him properly.
He waited until the man came even with a light pole he had paced the distance to a few moments earlier before sliding off the crates and melding into the crowd. Pulling his black jacket closer to his body, he put his head down and began to walk toward the man. Mentally, he counted down the seconds until he would move. When his countdown hit two, he allowed his stride to carry him into the path of a Wookie rumbling its way through the crowd. The Wookie shoved him, and Finnian allowed his fall to carry him directly into the man.
"Hey!" The man shouted as Finnian almost knocked him over. Finnian's nimble paws slipped inside the man's jacket, finding a small hide pouch.
Finnian pushed off the man and mumbled "Sorry" as he slid the pouch inside his own jacket pocket. He continued on the way he had been walking, his small stature disappearing into the crowd. He counted 15 breaths, before finally letting out a far longer one of relief. The man hadn't so much as slowed his stride after Finnian had picked his pocket. He risked a glance behind him to double check and barely saw the man's shiny bald head amongst the crowd as it rounded the street corner. Finnian set a course toward a nearby food shop and risked peering inside the credit pouch. A small, cheap, imitation hide package, it didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary. Finnian opened it and smiled. Inside were four 10 credit chips neatly stacked end to end. It was almost double what Finnian had expected and it could last him the rest of the week if he was careful. He replaced the pouch inside his jacket and smoothed his dyed red hair as he hurriedly made his way inside the small cafe he usually shopped at. The owner, a rather fat human woman named Chuma, didn't care where he found his money and made sure he had a nice place to sleep in exchange for keeping the books for her.
"What'll it be today Finni?" She asked in a raspy voice as she flashed him a snaggle-toothed grin. He set a sandwich and a cup of coffee on the table.
"Just these." He said quietly. Chuma frowned down at him.
"You sure hon?" Finnian looked back at the pouch and the unexpected credits it contained. He had gotten lucky today, and he could afford a little luxury. He grabbed a handful of hard candy and added them to his small pile. This seemed to finally satisfy Chuma and she rang out the items. Finnian paid in cash before taking his dinner with him out into the street. He popped one of the hard candies into his mouth, savoring the sweet fruity flavor for a moment, before resuming his walk. Making his way back to the stack of packing crates that served as his lookout post, he scrambled atop them. He ate his meal in silence as he watched the crowd change from the busy tumult of the end of day shift change to the trickle of late hour party goers, to empty nighttime streets.
Tossing off the last of his coffee, he prepared to jump off his stack of pallets, when he noticed a pair of beings walking down the causeway. A couple, Finnian guessed by their interlocked hands and affection glances toward each other, but something was off about them. They didn't seem to have the purposeful movement of natives, but neither did they seem like the average naive off-worlder. Both were some form of canine species Finnian didn't recognize. The female was almost a head taller than her compatriot with an athletic build and a blue furred tail peeking out from under her travel stained brown cloak. The male, on the other hand, seemed far thinner and had a thick grey-black fur coat that poked out from under his own robe. Finnian tried to place them into one of the categories he had developed for the people of the undercity, but couldn't manage to find one that fits just right.
"One way to find out." He thought as he slid off the crates. Satisfying his curiosity would be even easier than his previous escapade. If he lifted the wife's credit pouch quickly enough, the males often preferred staying close to their mate and guarding them as opposed to pursuit. He waited for them to pass, before slowly creeping up behind them. Timing his sprint so they would have no time to react, he dashed forward. "Hey!" He shouted, trying to surprise the pair. The male stayed straight forward, but the female turned, her hands snapping out to her sides in what Finnian guessed was some sort of self-defense stance. He slipped by it, sliding his hand inside the cloak. He suddenly felt something like a vice grip clamp to his wrist and twist it painfully away. An elbow slammed into his back and the air left his lungs as he hit the hard pavement. He tried to roll over and get his feet under him to run away, but a knee was in his chest, pinning him to the ground. He stared up into the female's violet eyes. Perhaps on another occasion, Finnian decided he might have been mesmerized by them, but at the moment, the anger smoldering in them made him queasy with fear. "How did she move so fast?" He wondered before his eyes fell on a distinctive silver and gold cylinder hanging from her belt. Internally, the queasy feeling grew. His curiosity had gotten the better of him, and he'd just tried to pick a Jedi's pocket. The male did a quick sweep of his surroundings, checking to make sure that no other attack was coming before turning around and chuckling.
"You've got some luck don't ya kid?" He asked as he stared down at Finnian. The male turned to his blue furred compatriot. "Did you have to hit the kid that hard Nala?" Nala, as Finnian now assumed the blue-haired female was called, turned to glare at her compatriot.
"I thought he was going for my wedding ring Shae." She said as she stood up, apparently deciding that Finnian was not enough of a threat to keep pinned to the ground.
"Maybe I should try it then." Shae said as he turned on a smirk on his wife. "It looks like fun." Nala muttered something vile sounding in a language that Finnian hadn't heard before and turned to walk away. Finnian didn't dare move yet, instead staring up at the gray furred Jedi, his curiosity still uncontented. He had never seen a Jedi before, only hearing stories from people that passed him on the streets. The Jedi examined him for another moment before he squatted down to eye-level with Finnian. "I'll be there in a sec Nala." He said. The Jedi offered a hand that Finnian looked at suspiciously for a second, before reluctantly taking it. "What's your name kid?"
"F-f-finnian." He stuttered. Shae seemed to consider that for a moment, before shaking the pickpocket's hand.
"Well Finnian let me tell you something, I did my time as a pickpocket once and let me tell you something, I never saw anyone get old doing it." He pulled his hand away, and Finnian found a large denomination credit chip resting in his hand. He looked up as the Jedi pulled the hood back over his head. He turned and rejoined his companion before they resumed their march down the quiet city streets. Finnian's heart raced.
"Too close." He decided as he started to walk back toward his stack of crates. He paused, turning behind him to see if the Jedi were still visible. They weren't. Finnian shrugged and leaned against the pallets, but even as he did so his mind raced. He hadn't ever seen Jedi down here; he hadn't seen Jedi at all as a matter of fact, and Jedi wouldn't be down here for nothing. That meant they had to be doing something important. If it was important, it might be fun to watch. Besides, he wasn't doing anything better right? Coming to a quick decision, he pushed himself off the crates and jogged to try and catch up to the pair. He had to guess the first corner they had turned, and he was relieved when he caught sight of their brown hoods a moment later. He slowed his pace enough that he could stay unnoticed while also keeping them within eyesight. They turned two more corners, going away from the inner city where Finnian normally roamed and into a mostly abandoned industrial park. Finally, the Jedi stopped in front of what Finnian decided was an empty factory, and leaped. Finnian's jaw fell open as both Jedi landed on the roof 15 meters up. He quickly collected himself and dashed across to the building. After a brief search, he managed to find an access ladder to the roof. He hastily climbed it and arrived atop the building, only to find it vacant. Confused, he searched for where the Jedi had disappeared to. A skylight overlooking the factory gave him his answer, the hole the Jedi had cut still glowing red. He inched his way up to the glass and looked down, and smiled in delight. The Jedi were below, their lightsabers ignited as they twirled around each other, deflecting bright red bolts of energy from a circle of black battle droids. One droid caught its own bolt in the faceplate and toppled to the floor smoking. Another was cut in half by Nala's violet blade as she spun past it. Finnian watched in awe as the Jedi masterfully destroyed the battle droids. After pausing for a moment to examine their carnage, the moved somewhere deeper into the factory where Finnian couldn't see.
He settled in to wait, hoping the Jedi would come back. After a half hour, he became bored. When a full hour had passed without even a sound of the Jedi, he began to grow nervous. Something had obviously happened to them, so maybe it was time for him to leave. He stood up to make his way off the roof and back to Chuma's for the night, when he paused for a moment, some small part of him telling him that it wouldn't be right to leave the Jedi. "Ridiculous." He told himself. "If the Jedi can't handle whatever is down there, I don't have much of a shot. Besides, there isn't anything to be gained from it. It would be completely illogical" With this final assurance, he made his way down the ladder and back onto the streets. He took two strides before his conscious began to gnaw at him. " Logical or not, the Jedi wouldn't so easily leave me to my fate. If they could do something they'd do it." He stopped and looked back at the factory, its dark exterior looming grimly above him. "Maybe not everything has to be done for a logical reason." He turned back toward the factory with a sigh. Again, he patrolled the outside of the factory, this time more thoroughly, and was rewarded by finding an open window a few feet off the ground.
Grasping the bottom lip with his paws, he managed to pull himself up and inside the ledge. As he tried to swing inside the room, he lost his balance and crashed to the floor. He wildly crawled under a desk in the center of the darkened room just as the door swung open and a figure stepped inside. Finnian saw his boots a few feet from him, and he held his breath. After a long, gut-wrenching moment, the boots turned and disappeared back out the door. "Stupid!" He rebuked himself as he crawled out from under the desk. "Just because you aren't doing this for a logical reason doesn't mean you become a vac head." Moving silently on his bare feet, he opened the door and ducked into a long hallway. Aside from light spilling from an open doorway halfway between him and a pair of large double doors, the hall was completely dark. Moving cautiously, he approached the door. He poked his head around the corner and saw what looked like a storage room. Inside were five beings, two humans, and three aliens, sitting around a table. All five were passed out, dozens of empty alcohol containers and an unfinished game of cards on the table suggesting a well-enjoyed night by all. Finnian crossed the entryway and finally arrived at the double doors.
Exiting the hallway, he found himself inside what looked like a large assembly area. Conveyor belts crisscrossed the whole room and large cranes with chains dangling from them seemed to form a canopy over a cleared out area. Finnian noticed almost two dozen black battle droids patrolling around it. "Where are the Jedi?" He wondered. His eyes drifted upward into the latticework of cranes, to finally notice the pair. Their boots dangled almost 10 meters above the ground. A chain connected to a set of stun cuffs held the pair to one of the numerous crane arms. "I'd better get a closer look." Using the conveyor belts as cover, he crept right up to the large circle. A loud clang made him drop beneath one of the belts, and he saw a pair of heavy sandals step off the conveyor belt and into the circle. Finnian watched as a hulking figure dressed in shabby armor shuffled into the circle and looked up, it's pig-like snout wrinkling in disgust as it looked at the Jedi.
"I see my trap worked." The armored figure said triumphantly.
"I mean sure Shabbs." Shae said with a smirk. "I guess if you wire a whole room to put a couple hundred volts through a guy as soon as he steps on the first tile then you might have a chance at catching someone."
"Catching you is catching you, no matter how I did it." Shabbs shot back angrily.
"I'm sure that's what your wife said after you were married." Shae replied.
Shabbs eyes bulged in anger and he held up a small remote from his meaty hand. He flicked a switch and Finnian watched as sparks of electricity danced along the outside of the cuffs, causing the Jedi to writhe in pain. After a few seconds, Shabbs flipped it off
"Why don't you let us down and prove yourself to be a real pig thing or whatever you are?" Shae shouted.
"Shae shut up!" Nala hissed from beside her husband.
"I could do that." Shabbs admitted. "But leaving a smashed and bloody corpse is so much less clean than just shoving you both in the incinerator." His point was punctuated by a beep from his remote. A massive steel door opened beneath the Jedi, the glow of the incinerator brightening the room. The heat was intense enough that Finnian began to sweat even from several meters away.
"Uh-oh." Shae muttered.
"You just had to go and open your kriffing mouth didn't you?" Nala growled as they began to look around for some form of escape. Finnian had to think fast. If he didn't, the two Jedi were dead. Scrabbling back the way he had come under the conveyor belts, he returned to the hallway. Careful to balance stealth and haste, he crept inside the room the guards had been sleeping in. He picked a blaster he recognized from the belt of one of the humans, and gently eased it out of its holster. Stepping back out of the room, he made his way back into the conveyor belts. Over the roar of machinery, he could he Shabbs giving orders.
"Make sure you get everything! We don't want the next pair of Jedi that come after us to have a trail." Finnian found the chain holding the Jedi and followed it to where it was anchored against the wall. Running up beside it, he set the blaster on its lowest setting and let it slowly begin to burn through the chain. He would have 20 seconds now before it would break, so he would have to hurry. He turned around, and Shae noticed him for the first time. The Jedi's eyes widened in surprise for a moment before he regained a veneer of calm. Finnian put his finger to his lips in a "be quiet" gesture, before hurrying up to where Shabbs was observing the unloading. Finnian now noticed that both of the Jedi's lightsabers hanging from Shabbs belt. He briefly considered trying to steal those too but decided against it.
"The Jedi will have to see to that part." As his mental clock ticked down, he made his move. The chain popped with a loud SNAP that drew the attention of everyone in the room, including Shabbs. As his hand lowered to his side, Finnian snatched the remote from it and dived under a set of conveyor belts. Coming to a rolling stop, he scrambled to find the button that would close the incinerator door but found it unnecessary. Stretching out her hand, Nala had used the Force to wrap the chain around another set a girder and had swung both Jedi onto the conveyor belts. Finnian found a switch to release the Jedi's binders. Both fell with an ominous thunk. There was a surprised gasp from Shabbs as the lightsabers on his belt left of their own accord. There was a pair of snap-hisses as Nala and Shae charged forward. The sound of blaster fire and whirring lightsabers filled the air. Shabbs' meaty head swung around toward Finnian.
"YOU!" He bellowed, rumbling toward the pickpocket. Finnian tried to put some distance between him and his attacker by scrambling a little further under the conveyor belt. Shabbs tried to reach under the belt and grab Finnian, but his thick arms could only brush the fur of Finnian's feet. Snorting in anger, Shabbs leaped atop the conveyor. Finnian tried to keep backing up, but his head banged against a wall behind him. Shabbs bent down and ripped the section of belt covering Finnian free and tossed it away. He tried to leap atop Finnian and crush him, but his ankle had caught in the belt and he tumbled face first onto it. Shabbs was so close Finnian gagged on his rank breath. A pair of meaty hands extended toward him. And for a moment, Finnian panicked. Then he remembered the remote. He flicked a switch, and the belt began to drag Shabbs away. Snorting and growling incoherently, He tried to pry himself loose. His eyes grew wide in panic as he realized the belt would dump him right into the incinerator. He was about to topple over the edge when he was lifted into the air by an invisible hand. Finnian peeked out from his hiding place to see all the droids lying in scattered pieces, and Nala's outstretched hand holding Shabbs suspended in the air.
"Would you look at that?" Shae said as he deactivated his lightsaber and stepped beside Nala. "How'd it go again? Doesn't matter how we caught you?"
"You'll never hold me Jedi!" Shabbs rumbled. "You don't know where I've kept all my war droids and without that, you don't have anything."
"Well, I hope you'll tell me." Shae said as he dusted off a conveyor belt and sat on it. "I like to talk but Nala..." He indicated his wife. "...not so much" Nala cracked a thin smile and briefly let go of her grip on Shabbs in the Force. He squealed as he dropped two meters before Nala caught him.
"Okay! Okay! Pull me in. I'll talk."
"Great!" Shae said as Nala pulled the alien back in. He turned around to see the pickpocket standing behind him. "Thanks for the save kid." Shae said warmly as he bent down to eye level with him. "If there's anything you ever need…" Shae broke off as Finnian came up and gave him a tight hug. "... just…. let me know." He finished awkwardly. The kid nodded, and without another word, he disappeared behind the conveyor belts. Shae straightened, still confused about what had just happened. "Strange." Shae said as he turned to look at his wife.
"I'm surprised he likes you." Nala said as she slapped a pair of stun cuffs on Shabbs' wrist. "I don't even like you."
"Funny." Shae muttered as he ran his paws along his tunic to clean off some of the grease on them, only to not feel something that should have been there. "You seen my pouch?" Nala shook her head. Shae looked around, trying to see if he could spot it, before coming to a sudden realization. Nala had come to the same one. She chuckled as Shae turned to look toward the door Finnian had disappeared from. "I can't believe it."
"Now that is funny." Nala said as she continued laughing.
"You know, I may have been wrong about old pick pockets." Shae said as he smiled. "I think the kid's got the chance to be one."