"Simple happy language-words? Wow." Zirsha pressed her fingers against temples that were starting to ache and squinted out at the avenue leading away from Senate tower, the late-afternoon sun glaring through Coruscant's perpetual shroud of smog. The negotiation with the Gree ambassador droids had taken up more of the day than she'd anticipated. She wasn't sure if she'd ever get the smell of the Works out of her hair and robes. Her stomach rumbled. She struck out toward the Galactic Market, intending to remedy at least the latter problem.
"Master Jedi! A moment, please,"
She turned. A harried-looking Zabrak woman in battle dress hurried toward her, auburn hair flying.
"Lieutenant Tahrvi Telgar, Republic Special Forces. Sorry to bother you; I just picked up an assignment that needs the expertise of a Jedi. General Wendin thought you'd be a good fit for the job. He was going to comm you, but I figured I could save you the run back through the tower."
Zirsha rolled her eyes skyward and suppressed an exasperated sigh. "Lieutenant, have you had lunch? If this isn't a dire emergency, the Republic will derive more benefit from its defenders when they're adequately fed. Do you like Tionese food?"
"Yes sir. Beats the hell out of field rations."
"I'm buying, then. Come with me."
"Yes sir."
…
The quiet, dimly-lit interior of Kaon Cuisine was a welcome contrast to the bustle outside. Zirsha's pre-existing relationship with the staff and a generous tip for the Brigian host afforded them very prompt service and a seat in a secluded back-corner booth. After the dishes were cleared and the stimtea was served, the pair began to discuss the upcoming assignment.
"Private hyperspace lanes? I knew those existed in theory, but I guess it never occurred to me that the Jedi would be in on a project like that. Or that there would be strategically-valuable information left in the Temple twenty years after the Sacking, and that no one would've retrieved it yet. "
"No kidding. The Imps have the Reclamation Service to salvage or destroy the good stuff before our ground-pounders get their hands on it. You'd think we'd have people to do that job on our side." Lieutenant Telgar produced a holopad, bearing a schematic of Coruscant's ruined Jedi Enclave. "Here's what Belkin could tell us about the situation: His squad went in expecting to find the place deserted, or a few unskilled looters at most. They found the place covered by a full company of Imperials and swarming with Sith. They'll be set up mostly here, here, and here, so I think we'll encounter the least resistance if we take this path to the objective." She traced a route along the wall of the circular Council Chamber to a short corridor and a connecting room southwest of the entrance.
"I'll trust you on that, Lieutenant. I'm combat-certified, but as medic, not a war-chief"
The Zabrak produced a sigh, followed by a broad grin, skewing the lines of her elaborate facial tattoos. "Well that's a relief. Glad to hear it."
"I take it this has been a problem?"
"Don't hear me wrong: the best fighters in the Republic are outclassed by mediocre Jedi in single combat. Having Jedi, especially ones with real training in strategy, in a command-and-control role for big actions makes us practically unstoppable. But for anything else, the op tends to dissolve into a pissing match at light speed. Most Jedi are blindingly incompetent to lead soldiers. Most generals don't know how to take advantage of what Jedi can do well."
"So noted." Zirsha's eyes unfocused briefly before she spoke up again. "Weird question. I don't know much about Zabrak anatomy. Do you have two hearts?"
"Well… yes.
"Okay, that's what I'm hearing. Good to know. To the Temple, then?"
…
Even with the ceiling blown open to the sky, the upper gallery collapsed to the floor, and the further deterioration wrought by two decades of exposure to the polluted stew of Coruscant's weather, the ruined Jedi temple had an unexpected beauty. Zirsha resolved to visit again when the place wasn't full of enemy combatants
Getting past the Imperial soldiers were a relatively simple matter. The instability of the wreckage in the council chamber made it easy to fling debris into a sniper nest or unbalance the footing of canoneers and riflemen, letting recoil do most of the work of flinging them onto their backs. The handful of Sith apprentices were another matter. Sith feed on aggression and fear, the Jedi reminded herself, you're at an advantage when you're empty of both. When her calm began to falter under the assault of two screaming, wildly-slashing initiates in the close confines of a hallway, she began to recite titration tables in her head, timed against the steady rhythm of Tahrvi's carbine.
The hallway opened into a circular room, littered with chunks of broken plaster, splintered wood, and various electronic artifacts. Zirsha sidestepped the half-crushed case of a navcomp hard-drive and identified the iridescent shards spread out in a fan around it as the obliterated platters of an old modular astrogation array. They must be getting close.
"There!" Tarvi pointed out a footlocker-sized, armored metal case resting against the back wall and dashed over to examine it. Zirsha heard the click of the latch opening, a few seconds of silence, followed by an impressive stream of multi-lingual invective from her colleague.
"Motherkarking sonsahutts! They've taken the drives already. Our job just got five times ha-"
A shadow passed briefly over Zirsha's head like a cloud. She threw one arm out in a backhanded sweep, sending Tahrvi sprawling. An instant later, a Sith landed a lightsaber-blow in the empty air the trooper had occupied.
"Good show, child." he said. "Would that my underlings had at least your sense. No matter. I can find new ones." He brought the saber overhead and swung for the middle of Zirsha's body. She stepped off-center, produced her own saber and voided the blow. He was testing her.
"You're smart, but not much of a duelist at all. This will be brief, then." He lifted the blade and swung again, this time at an angle meant to bisect her from collar to hipbone. She danced away and blocked again, binding his blade at the height of her waist.
"The worst you can do is to rejoin me to the Force. Have at it."
Tahrvi leveled her carbine and fired, slightly wide of the intended mark. Zirsha corrected the trajectory of the blast with her saber, hitting the Sith squarely in the gut. He howled in pain and advanced on the trooper, brandishing his saber-staff in a blinding whirl. She responded with a hail of blaster-fire, slowing his advance. Zirsha took that opportunity to auger a back-spun, speeder-sized chunk of masonry into his head. He fell.
After a long moment in which both women silently tried to catch their breath, the Jedi spoke up. "That was some masterful shooting, Lieutenant. Now, how shall we proceed in tracking down that missing astrogation computer?"
Tahrvi pushed up to her feet and prodded the side of the Sith's remains with the muzzle of her carbine, producing a muffled clank. "You mean, this missing astrogation computer?"
…
"You know, Master Jedi, I might have to change my opinion about the utility of force-wielders in assignments like these," the trooper opined as she and the Jedi made their exit. "I'm happy to have had you along."
"I appreciate that, Lieutenant. I can take the astrogation comp back to General Wendin if you want. I've got an appointment with my Master this evening anyhow."
Tahrvi swung her leg over her swoop-bike and ignited the engine. "Take care, Master Jedi. Hope we get to party again sometime. I've gotta head back to port. If I'm away too much longer, my sergeant will be yanking his hair out…and he's a Cathar, so he's got a lot of it."
"Wait, he's a what?" The engine's roar drowned out Zirsha's query. She followed Tarvi's path with her eyes until the exhaust trail was indistinguishable from Coruscant's haze.