The casino air reeks of the smell of death sticks, contaminating the lungs of those within its existence. Tera, a former smoker, couldn't withstand its intensity.
Tera ventured into the casino expecting it to be busy, except they were in the process of closing up shop. Tables were overturned and the small bar was smashed into a million pieces. "Go away, we aren't open!" The owner begged for Tera to leave. Conversely, remained cool and went about questioning the owner.
"What happened here?"
"Someone had a little too much to drink." The owner confessed. Tera believed him and didn't press on, seeing as this scene had little connection to the case she was currently on.
"I think you served my friend an hour or so ago?" Tera expected the owner to scoff and say he serves a lot of people. To her surprised, he knew exactly who she was talking about.
"You're looking for Hassan, he's long gone. He came in with some kid. His dumb friend cleaned me out!" Tera was amused at how the kid could be foolish if the owner didn't realize he was ineligible to gamble.
"The kid came back looking for Hassan. Kyle was his name. I told him to look for the dealer at his table. Dré. But he was out on a break then. He's back now. There he is." He points to the dealer cleaning up his station.
The casino air reeks of the smell of death sticks, contaminating the lungs of those within its existence. Arrington, a smoker, couldn't withstand its intensity. "Stay outside, let me handle this." He told Dedric, his partner. "Let me know if you see anything." Like a good young lad, Dedric nodded and did what he was told, no questions asked. Arrington wasn't so agreeable when he was in Dedric's position. He gave his mentor a tough time at almost every turn.
"Dré." She called to the dealer who was briskly pacing the floor to clean up the messesBane and Jah made earlier tonight. "You had two bounty hunters in your establishment little over an hour ago. They made off with somebody, who is he and where did they take him?"
Dré has his fingers in the pots of all the action going down on Coruscant. It was in his best interest to keep the names of his most loyal patrons secret. "I don't know what you're talking about." Tera sighs, before handing him 40 credits. "I can't give you the names of the bounty hunters, they were only doing a pick up and drop off. The guy they wrangled was Hassan Nao, a smuggler who owes Jabba a lot of money. He didn't pay the tax to use his personal trade routes. I didn't talk to the kid looking for him. He's probably wandering the city for me right now." Dré chuckles at the thought of anyone looking for him.
(Scene break)
"Stay outside, let me handle this." He told Dedric, his partner. "Let me know if you see anything." Like a good young lad, Dedric nodded and did what he was told, no questions asked. Arrington wasn't so agreeable when he was in Dedric's position. He gave his mentor a tough time at almost every turn. Arrington showed up to the establishment a couple minutes after Tera's departure and received the same tale from the source.
This information didn't check out to Arrington. The Coruscant Police Department had a file on Hassan an inch thick. A bit of an unsavory past, an ally to the Galactic Republic through and through. Plus, Jabba and the Jedi made a deal recently. What's the problem?
"Your information is outdated. Why would Jabba want Hassan, he's an ally to the Galactic Republic." Dré hesitates. Sensing blood in the water, Arrington closes in like a shark. "You know, and if you don't tell me I'm going to shut this place down, throw you away and shove the key down your throat!"
Dré relented, aware he wouldn't survive in prison. "Hassan didn't use those routes for the Galactic Republic. He used them to deal spice and didn't cut Jabba in."
The fool. Arrington knew anyone stupid enough to screw the Hutts deserved to die. Unfortunately, his duty to protect and serve won out.
"That's all I can give you. Now please, leave." Arrington figures there's no need to grill the owner further, assuming this was the limit of his knowledge of the previous events.
A minute later, he's in his speeder talking to Jah via his com-link. He made sure to drive far from the casino, avoid getting tailed, and to push his partner out, to keep him out of the loop.
"Jah, you stupid bastard. What have I told you to do after that skirmish in the Bluudon Sector? Lay low." He berates the Bothan, then threatens him with a lengthy prison sentence. "I don't like liars, Jah. Liars get the book thrown at them because they serve no use to me."
"I owed Bane money, what was i supposed to do? He cleaned me out at the tables."
"Maybe attend gamblers anonymous." Arrington speaks dryly, smirking to himself, very proud of his quip.
"Look, i don't know where Bane took Hassan. We split up mid-ride. We square?"
"For now."
(Scene break)
Finding this warehouse proved more trouble than Kyle expected. He knew to stop and ask for directions, but honestly, it just arouse suspicion. The lone warehouse in the Federal District is abandoned and in the middle of nowhere. Why would anyone want to go there?"
"So you shared a pontoon table with Cad Bane and another guy, you presume to be a-"
"Dealer of some sort. Certainly looked like one."
"Kyle," Ahsoka didn't like the sound of Kyle overly generalizing a persons occupation based off of how they looked. She felt Kyle was withholding critical information from her.
"What? Don't bounty hunters have little sashes or something on their clothes that let them in certain circles they otherwise wouldn't be able to gain entry?" Kyle asks defensively. Ahsoka stands there astonished.
"That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard."
"Stick with me baby, you'll hear a lot dumber." He remarks.
"Oh, where have you been all my life?" She pretended to give Kyle a loving expression, fluttering her blue eyes at him which Kyle did find genuinely endearing. "What are you looking at?" She asks, snapping him out of his trance.
"I... uh, oh nothing. Let's just go." Kyle desperately wanted to change the subject. He noticed an extra lightsaber clipped to Ahsoka's belt. "You make a new one?" He asks, pointing to her hip.
"What are you- oh! No, this is yours. Tera said you forgot it in your quarters." Kyle didn't look too please to see his weapon again. "What?"
"Nah. Don't worry about it." He took it and hooked it to his belt.
(Scene break)
"Shouldn't we call for backup?" Dedric ponders why Arrington wasn't contemplating this option when he's said he knows where the kidnapped individual is. Luckily, Arrington did not need to answer to anyone, but the chancellor.
"We surround that warehouse they'll kill him." He explains. "You should probably go, make sure the trains are running on time back at the precinct." Dedric held his reservations, and complied anyway. Someone caught his eye, a tall blue figure walking across a dimly lit street.
Tera looks to the opposite side of the street to see a woman holding a gun at a man's throat. He could hear her harangue from a distance. "You're facing multiple life sentences if you don't comply!" He barks at Bane, who remained cool the entire time. That is until Arrington shot him in the foot to show he means business. "I'll do it again!" He tells him.
Bane told Arrington he's only heard of Kyle's actions and subsequent task from one of the workers at the casino. Arrington noticed the man being held up and thought how small the big city of Coruscant must be for a coincidence of such magnitude to occur.
Rushing out from the sidewalk Tera confronted Arrington thinking this was a petty scrabble between two drunk mates. Arrington noticed Tera's lightsaber and thought she was one of those people who wanted to be dangerous and decided purchasing a Jedi weapon would earn them the respect they crave. He's seen plenty of people play Jedi and live to regret it.
"What is going on out here?" He managed to turn Tera around with the full intention of arresting her. She scowls.
"CPD business." He shows off his badge to her. "Get lost!"
"Jedi Master." She one-ups him, showing her robe, a staple of Jedi attire.
"You need to venture out of the temple more often lady, everyone wears robes. I have one I put on after I get out of the bath." Arrington mocks.
"I have one I wear to bed." Bane nonchalantly brings up.
Tera proved she was a Jedi by crushing the lightbulb to a lamppost hanging over them, now they stood in darkness, but at least Arrington got the memo. "Ah, I see." He never met a Jedi before. Judging by this one, he figured all of them must be this on edge.
"What brings you to my territory?" He asks.
"First, let Bane go. He obviously can't tell you anything." Tera tells him.
"And did he tell you where my Padawan is?" Arrington shakes his head, saying Bane doesn't know. "Dedric, come to where you just left me. I found a Duros gentleman selling narcotics." He calls through his com-link.
"Planting evidence, how the mighty have fallen." Bane tsk tsk.
"I make more putting slime like you behind bars."
"If it makes you feel any better, the kid had a wonderful straight face. Couldn't tell if he was sitting on a out or a hit." Bane leered at the Jedi.
"Quiet!" Arrington pistol whips the Duros breaking his cheek in the process. Coughing up blood, the Duros relented seeing as he had bigger fish to fry and couldn't do so while in prison. "I took Hassan to the Federal District, 6199."
"Let him go." Tera demanded this time.
"He's scum. You know he's taken children hostage?" Arrington spits in the face of the Duros' man.
"We don't win by stooping to their level." She tells him. Arrington sighs, knowing he wasn't going to win against a Jedi.
"Get out of here." He tells Bane. "You're lucky someone was watching your back."
"I'll keep that in mind, Mr. officer."
