Chapter 11: A Koorivar, A Zeltron And A Nautolan All Walk Into A Bank...
[About fifteen hours ago, Skako, the Skako system]
"Alright," said Master Shaak Ti, "I just got the message from the mechanics, our shuttle is fully up and running again."
She was addressing her padawan, Fe-Sun; a lanky, pale Geonosian with inquisitive, red eyes.
{Bout time}, she replied, {I was beginning to wonder how much longer we'd be trapped on this world.}
She hopped up from the table she'd been waiting at and they both left the hotel. As they began to head down the street however, Fe-Sun tugged on Shaak's arm.
"What is it?" Shaak asked, turning towards her padawan. Fe-Sun pointed down a nearby alleyway. There was an Utai striding down it, followed by a crouching figure sneaking up behind him. The glint of a vibro-knife shone from their hand.
Shaak nodded at Fe-Sun, who spread her wings and took off silently into the sky. Shaak then dashed down the alley way, almost silently. The figure didn't hear her coming until She was right behind them.
"Drop the knife please," she said over the figure's shoulder. The figure – a Vulptereen – turned quickly, slashing at her with the knife. Shaak dodged backwards, then swept her long sleeve over the Vulptereen's hand. The ensnared the knife clattered to the floor - one problem sorted. Apparently realising they were outmatched, the assailant turned and dashed after the Utai.
Which was when Fe-Sun landed on their head.
{Do yourself a favour,} she said as she stepped off them. {Don't get up.}
The Vulptereen made no effort to do so.
Shaak turned to the Utai, "Are you alright?"
{Yes... Yes, I think so. thank you Master Jedi,} he replied, sweating profusely. Shaak's eyes narrowed slightly.
"You do not seem to be surprised by this attack. May I ask why that is?"
{Er.. well. I... suppose I could tell you, seeing as how you are Jedi. I am an inventor; I recently developed a new thought processor and am on my way to a demonstration for Arakyd Industries.} he hefted the securely locked case he was holding up to her. {The... issue... is that I was also approached by Czerka Corporation, who I turned down in favour of Arakyd. Czerka corporation is... well... not known for it's scruples...}
"Oh, I am well aware of their frankly abhorrent management style," replied Shaak with more than a smidgen of contempt.
{Yes... I had hoped I could get to Arakyd's headquarters discreetly, through back alleys and whatnot. But it seems, well, that won't be happening.}
Shaak levelled a piercing gaze at him for a moment, chewing her lip, before responding, "I shall escort you to Arakyd industries myself then, if you will permit it."
The Utai looked as through Life Day had come early.
{Oh, thank you Master Jedi! Thank you! I, er... suppose we had better get going then.}
If she was going to be honest, Fe-Sun found the whole thing rather dull. A couple more attacks were made on the inventor as they escorting him. Mostly street ruffians so desperate they had resorted to killing for hire. A couple Twi'Leks, a Human, another Vulptereen. Things could have gotten interesting when a Thisspiasian charged them from a nearby rooftop, but he was clearly not experienced at fighting and was foiled by Shaak simply catching him with The Force and throwing him into some nearby bins. But no-one challenging. In little more than half an hour, the inventor had been safely delivered to Arakyd and he shook their hands fervently before walking into the building.
{So, can we go now?} Fe-Sun asked, stretching in a catlike manner.
"Yes, Fe-Sun," replied Shaak, "Although I am concerned by how disinterested you are in the good we have done today."
They were about halfway back to where they had started when they heard an alarm begin ringing and a loud crashing sound. They both looked at each other.
{What is it you keep saying, Master? 'The Work of Jedi is never finished'...} clicked Fe-Sun. They quietly darted towards the sound. They arrived at a statuesque building with a glass front - a bank of some sort. {Original. Can we have some imaginative criminals please?} Fe-Sun commented dryly.
Several local security officers were grouped outside the bank, the two Jedi approached them. As they neared the closest one, he turned to face them.
"Jedi? Good, we were beginning to think we were out of options. A group of armed criminals are holed up in the bank with hostages. We don't know how many of either," said the rather stressed-looking Vulptereen. "They want someone to negotiate. Your help would be much appreciated – they've cut off surveillance and I'd rather not wait for their exit plan."
"I see," answered Shaak. She thought for a moment, tapping a beat on her chin with her fingers before speaking further. "Pull your people back. Their negotiator demand is just to stall time; lets see how they handle actually getting a negotiator."
{Master?} asked Fe-Sun.
"I think I'd like to have a chat with these people. Tell me everything you know about the building, please."
"I sense... four hostages... and... three assailants," whispered Shaak as they crouched behind a nearby speeder outside the shattered front window. "Keep it quiet. Go in, find the hostages, get them out. Then we take the criminals."
Fe-Sun nodded. They both crept round opposite sides of the speeder and slipped close to the building. Shaak backed herself against the wall by the front entrance, nodded to Fe-Sun, then marched into the bank. Fe-Sun waited a few seconds before fluttering her wings, then quietly flying up to the second floor and slipping in an open window. She was in a small office, haphazardly kept and freshly abandoned. A ghost office. She edged the door open and glanced out. A long corridor, empty. Flitting out, she remained in the air and fluttered quietly down the hall. She found what she was looking for after about a minute: a maintenance hatch. Made for cleaning and repair droids, not people, but Geonosians were rather flexible. Fe-Sun only had to contort herself slightly to fit into the shaft. She pulled herself slowly along it, taking care to keep as quiet as possible. Eventually she reached an access port at the end and slid it slowly open. A quick survey of the room confirmed that it was indeed the lift shaft the building plans had detailed. Fe-Sun pulled herself out and dropped into the shaft, taking flight almost at once. She drifted down to the elevator below and gently lifted away the emergency hatch. Dropping softly into the lift, she checked to see if the doors were closed. They were.
Now for the tricky part.
She took her lightsaber from her belt and pressed the emitter against the floor, it was far from ideal but was the best means of muting the sound possible. She ignited the pink blade through the surface.
She cringed.
'Was that too loud?'
She heard no sudden response, no shouting, running or any indication she had been heard. She quickly cut a circle in the floor, holding it from falling with The Force. Cautiously lifting it out, she slowly set it down beside her, then dropped through into the shaft below, returning her lightsaber to her belt.
She glanced at her timekeeper.
This was taking too long; she wasn't sure how long Shaak could keep the two in the lobby distracted.
She was going to have to do something completely against her instincts.
A shudder ran through her body at the mere thought of it.
She took a deep breath, every spiracle in her body tightening for a moment.
Fe-Sun furled her wings and dropped like a stone.
Horrible.
She felt the air rushing around her, the horrible pull of air resistance, the feeling of the ground rushing up to meet her.
She opened her wings and her fall arrested – not too quickly – but quickly enough to slow to a hovering stop just above the ground.
Breathing out, she dropped to the floor.
She was never. Ever. Doing that again. Had she at least shaved off some time? A glance at her timekeeper told her about a minute.
She darted up to the maintenance hatch above the lift door and scrambled in. After crawling along it for a while, she quickly, yet quietly flitted out and crept up to the balcony now directly in front of her. Looking out over the room below, she took in the large vault door. It was unsurprisingly open, with one of the criminals loading up one of many hover-trolleys with an assortment of valuable goods. Three of the hostages were grouped in front of the vault door, as Shaak had sensed. She fought to stifle the mocking laughter she longed to throw his way. That would not end well - lots of head-giblets.
Suddenly a two-way viewscreen by the vault entrance came to life, displaying a view of the lobby. The criminal, a Nautolan man who looked to be in his thirties, stopped his loading and walked over to the screen. Visible on the screen was Shaak standing in the middle of the lobby, the other two criminals – a Koorivar and a Zeltron – and the remaining hostage.
"Three, we have ourselves a negotiator here. If she tries anything, put a shot into one of them."
[A little earlier, in the lobby]
Shaak strode across the glass floor, her long robes billowing around her, hands drawn into her sleeves - but not for warmth.
"Attention. This is your negotiator speaking," She called towards the criminals across the lobby, "What are your demands?"
The apparent leader, a masked Koorivar who looked a tad worn out, placed his blaster against the head of a Vulptereen hostage.
"That's far enough."
Shaak stopped walking. She was now in the centre of the lobby. A glass, helix staircase emerging from the lower floor stood between them. If she was honest with herself, she had been hoping for better.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Shaak Ti. Who are you?"
"That doesn't matter. We want transport. We want the authorities to back off."
"Well then, you are going to have to give us some concessions," said Shaak, "We need some guarantees for the safety of your hostages."
He seemed taken aback at that. Good. An off footing could give her exactly the right opening.
"We hold all the cards, we don't need to give you anything."
"You asked for a negotiator. This is how negotiation works – compromise. Give and take. We will get you some space and some transport, but we need a show of faith on your part. Were you not serious about negotiation?"
He hesitated for a moment before replying.
"What kind of compromise?"
"Simple. Am I to assume that you have more hostages than this poor fellow?"
He nodded.
"Well then, give me him in good faith, and I shall see about you getting you breathing room," Shaak put just a smidgen of the mind trick into her request. She couldn't do the full thing without waving her hand though – that would give her away.
He thought about it.
He thought about it for a long time. Shaak leant on the bannister of the staircase. Behind him, one of his accomplices – a Zeltron woman – flicked her eyes between them.
After what seemed like an age he nodded to the Zeltron. She pressed a button on a remote. A two-way screen on the wall to the side turned on. Shaak stood up straight and turned her gaze to it. There were three more hostages bound on the screen, kneeling. A masked Nautolan was picking up a weapon and turning towards the screen.
"Three," the Koorivar said to the Nautolan, "We have ourselves a negotiator here. If she tries anything, put a shot into one of them."
Three nodded and levelled his blaster at the head of the nearest hostage. The Koorivar turned back to Shaak.
"Alright. We'll let this one go. No tricks."
"Would not dream of it," Shaak smirked through her predatory teeth.
The Koorivar poked his hostage with his blaster.
"Up. Slowly walk over to her."
He stumbled to his feet.
Slowly, very slowly, he shuffled across the glass floor.
The only sound was the tapping sound of his feet.
Shaak took this time to discreetly study the room. Not much of use. Booths, nice wall decorations, fire suppressant system, a lot of glass. What is it with banks and glass?
Nothing especially useful at any rate.
She locked her eyes on the frightened hostage as he moved closer and closer towards her.
When he finally reached her, she took his hand and looked him straight in the eye.
"Walk to the entrance and leave. Now. No matter what happens, no matter what you hear, do not turn back. Understand?"
He nodded nervously, before continuing.
Shaak pulled out her comlink.
"Attention, Captain. Back your men away, I have negotiated the release of one hostage in return for reduced security presence. The hostage is coming out now."
"Confirmed ma'am. Backing off."
"They will release the remaining hostages in return for transport away from this place."
"Understood," came the reply, "We'll prepare transport for them now."
Shaak looked back to the Koorivar, painting an allegedly warm smile onto her face.
"There, you see. There is no need to be twitchy; this will all be over soon."
Fe-Sun watched the screen closely. Soon enough, Shaak had their full attention.
'How does she do it?', she silently pondered as she began to formulate a plan of attack. The mystery of Shaak's charisma could wait - there were heads that needed not-exploding. Fe-Sun gazed around the room looking for anything potentially useful. In short order she found a few things; firstly, the mute button on the screen. She could trigger that with The Force, but what then? She then spied a systems computer near the vault. From what she could see, it gave access to basic major systems – silent alarm, normal alarm, deadlocking the vault, fire suppression, security cameras and so on. The beginnings of a plan sprouted in her mind. She quickly dipped her hand over the railing, stretching down into the view of the screen. She saw Shaak's eyes briefly flit to it then return almost instantly to the Koorivar.
Fe-Sun hand-signalled, [Keep distracted,] to Shaak and quickly withdrew the hand before anybody noticed.
She then scrutinised the weapon in the Nautolan's hand. She couldn't quite see the power pack. Fluttering her wings, she lifted off from the balcony and hovered around until she had a better angle. She held out each hand, directing one towards the power pack and the other towards the mute button.
'Three, two, one'
Two simultaneous, quick pushes with The Force.
Simultaneously, the mute button depressed and the power cell popped out.
The Nautolan looked at his weapon, confused.
Fe-Sun fluttered down behind him as he started to bend down.
Before he could pick the power pack up, she body-slammed him.
"What the-"
The hostage frantically crawled away as the Nautolan leapt to his feet.
He swung his weapon at her – she quickly darted backwards.
Quick as a flash, she drew her lightsaber out and slashed the blaster in half.
He tensed, then dropped into what looked to be an opening stance of some kind.
{Give it up,} said Fe-Sun, pointing her lightsaber at him. {You've lost. There's no need to resist.}
He blinked at her.
"Huh?" he asked confused.
{Give up,} she repeated.
He stared at her, then shrugged.
"Look I don't got any idea what you tryin' to say, but I ain't goin' down easy."
Fe-Sun started. Of course. He didn't understand Geonosian.
She quickly began to sign, only for him to duck under her blade and rugby-tackle her. Her lightsaber hilt spun to the floor as he wrapped his arm tightly round Fe-Sun's neck. Apparently her plan had a major flaw.
Okay, maybe several major flaws. She struggled to free herself from the headlock. She jabbed her elbow into his gut – that made him drop her. Capitalising on her sudden freedom she took off into the air. She reached out with The Force and lifted him off the ground. Then slammed herself feet-first onto him.
Before he could recover, Fe-Sun freed one of the hostages of their binders and cuffed the Nautolan.
After freeing the other two, she walked over to the computer and kept one eye on the screen. Then she had another idea. She waved a hand at Shaak and signed her idea quickly.
On the other end of the screen, Shaak discreetly nodded back.
"What was that?" the Zeltron snapped suddenly at Shaak.
Apparently not discreetly enough. It was time to end this before they cottoned on.
"You made a good effort of this," Shaak said, "But your plan overlooked one critical part."
Both assailants were pointing weapons at her again, suddenly much more wary. With very good reason, admittedly, but that was about to be their problem.
"And what part was that?" demanded the Koorivar.
"The part where this happens."
A blue lightsaber blade ignited, beneath her sleeve, into the floor. The glass floor. Both criminals fired at her, but it was far too late. The section she stood on shattered, dropping her to the floor below, shots passing far over her.
Suddenly alarms blared and the fire suppression system activated, filling the room with viscous gas in mere seconds. Perfectly breathable, but a perfect smoke-screen.
To his credit, the Koorivar took less than a second to figure it out. He looked at the screen showing the vault.
"They've freed the hostages! We need to get ou-"
Then the glass panel under the Koorivar shattered and Shaak erupted from the floor below in a billow of smoke and cloth. Her shoulder ploughed into his chin. He was knocked backwards onto the next panel, safe but subdued. One down, one to go. Shaak paused only to destroy his blaster before dashing after the now-fleeing Zeltron.
She couldn't see her, but she could certainly sense her.
The Zeltron was leaving the bank. Shaak dashed out a side entrance just in time to see her zooming away in a commandeered speeder.
'A pity. The authorities will have to deal with her,' she thought.
[About an hour later.]
Having forwarded the paperwork to Shaak's office and making sure the two remaining criminals were taken into custody, she and Fe-Sun were finally on their shuttle and lifting off. Shaak guided the craft into the sky and into space, setting the navicomputer for Skako.
{Well, I can't say I'll miss Vulpter,} chirped Fe-Sun, {gun it, Master}
Shaak raised an eyebrow – or more accurately her Frontalis muscle arched on one side.
"Gun it? Is that slang... or...?"
Fe-Sun groaned painfully, {Yes. Yes it is. Just... just go.}
Shaak pulled the lever and the shuttle shot into hyperspace. She turned to face Fe-Sun. It was time for a conversation Fe-Sun had been avoiding for weeks. But now, now there was no escape.
"So, have you had any ideas?"
{About what?}
Shaak made a mental note to teach Fe-Sun how to lie properly.
"Have you decided what kind of Jedi you want to be?"
{Oh. That,} Fe-Sun turned to look out at the blue vortex. {I'm still not sure. What do you think I should be?}
Shaak smiled shrewdly, "What do you think you should be? I am not here to tell you where your destiny lies."
{So what are you here for then?} asked Fe-Sun.
"I am here to try and give you the tools to find out for yourself; and to be at least halfway good at it. Does martial skill attract you? The idea of being able to defend yourself and others with maximum effectiveness – as is the way of the Jedi Guardian. Or perhaps you prefer to think-talk? Negotiate, mediate and ponder the higher mysteries of creation – the way of the Jedi Consular? Maybe you find pragmatism to be more to your liking? Cunning and practical skills are very useful for ferreting out your foes – this being the path of the Jedi Sentinel. Or possibly even the drive to explore is your calling? Delve into the unknown, seek what has not been sought, find what has not been found – the way of the Jedi Adventurer. And of course, on top of this, there are the other specialisations available; Healer, Technician, Ace, Weaponmaster, Investigator and more. So tell me; What is it that drives you."
Fe-Sun stared into hyperspace for a long time. Was she stalling?
Eventually, {I... think... I should be a-}
They were interrupted by a great crunching sound and an explosion. The ship dropped out of hyperspace, a small fire blazing on its starboard side. Shaak turned, quick as a flash, to the controls.
"We hit a mine! The hull and life support are fine but our hyperdrive is a mess."
They were drifting. Dead in space. Absolutely wonderful.