Still a project to learn HTML, or at least what of it this site will let me use. :) Also, I forgot in the first post, I apologize for the short divisions within this story. The Jedi Council forums on boards.theforce.net are set up differently, making them (in my humble opinion) more suited to shorter posts. Thus, the chapters are really a bunch of shorter posts which I've crammed together.
Feed back is always appreciated.
This world is Lucas's. I make no money. It's a kind of catharsis for me, so please don't sue me for person pleasure in writing.
~~~~~~~~~
The Chase
"I can't believe this."
Raven shot Nat a glare as she moved towards the booth that had held Iain the night before. "Can't we ever pursue someone with good taste in establishments?" he complained, looking slightly put out. Raven ignored him, slipping behind the table where their quarry had ensconced himself when Raven noticed him. "All I want is a good place with some palatable cuisine.
"Quit whining. You're breaking my concentration," Raven replied impatiently. She was ready to be on the move, and Nat must not have slept well, since he was far more sociable the night before than he was now. Nat gave her a petulant look which she ignored as she closed her eyes and immersed herself in the Force.
Taking a deep breath, Raven began to sift through the residue left behind by patrons who had sat here. The task was fairly simplistic, a matter of connecting the visual she associated with Iain to the faint signature she had sense from him. The combination of the two made a thread strong enough for her to follow through the Force. Her eyes opened again, shining with anticipation. "Stop thinking with your stomach," she added. "This is the best part, and I don't want you to ruin it."
Nat's irritable look faded into mere incredulity. "You enjoy this way too much," he finally said.
Raven shrugged, moving away from the booth and heading towards the door. "I love it when all the pieces fall together, and we begin the pursuit. This is the part where justice is done, and we actually help to keep the peace of the Republic."
One eyebrow climbed its way up Nat's forehead, articulating his speculation on Raven's mental state well. "Lead on, then," he chuckled, pushing open the door that lead into the semi-gloom of late morning, "and preferably up."
The dark-haired Jedi followed the trail through the Force that she had discovered, her face betraying her concentration Nathaniel walked behind her, providing a rearguard while she had her attention elsewhere. They were soon standing in front of the lift where Raven had taken his picture.
Taking a deep breath, Raven passed her hand over the indicator panel, focusing on the buttons. Her thin fingers twitched slightly as she moved them over, but then they stopped over one that designated the lift to go about one hundred and fifty stories up, above the entertainment district into the picturesque world of skyscrapers Coruscant was known for. "You got your wish," Raven murmured, still obviously distracted, as she depressed the button.
The lift shot them upwards, and Nat looked out over the cityscape once they had cleared the perpetual haze around about the one-hundredth floor. Raven remained focused on something just beyond the transpariesteel of the elevator doors. The lift began to slow, and when the doors opened, Raven led the way out.
They were in a covered walkway that branched off at right angles from the elevator, arching to the two spires a short distance from the one supporting the elevator. Raven pursued her lips and reached out with her senses. "He went… left," she said, pausing as she traced the tendril he left within the Force.
The arched walkway led to residential apartments, obviously a very upscale neighborhood for residents that weren't affiliated to the Senate or other governmental agencies. Raven arrived at the locked door on the other side and frowned, trying to discern the combination that would open it.
Nat had fallen some distance behind, and he looked out over Coruscant as she worked on the combination. He half-turned when he sensed her nearing the end of the process, having felt through the Force the first four digits of the five-digit number. Something ticked at the back of his awareness. "Watch it, Ven," he said in a low tone, "I think there's someone behind that door who will be none too happy when you open it."
"You mean, Iain doesn't want to be found?" she replied, giving him a grin. Her hand strayed to her lightsaber as she punched in the code.
***
There was no one beyond the door.
Raven turned to give Nat a questioning look. She still clung to the small tendril that was leading into the hallway, its Force signature fading into the distance. She had to concentrate deeply to keep track of it, which is why Younam was sensing for dangers. He shrugged, making a gesture that he could still sense the danger, a little beyond the door and to her right.
As Raven stepped through the doorway, she cast a glance around, seeking out any potential dangers. Finding none, she moved farther into the small foyer, closing her eyes to find the trace of him. Sniffing was always a mental challenge for her, and often the Jedi would have to block out distractions, such as visuals, to be success.
The smell of ozone permeated the small area at the same time the hiss of a blaster echoed, and Raven opened her eyes to see some kind of guard running away as Nat drew and activated his lightsaber. The purple blade hummed as he deflected the two bolts away. "He's going the right way, probably a guard of Iain's," Raven yelled, already running after the youth.
Nat's footsteps echoed next to hers as they raced down the corridor after him. Raven could scent his path through the Force like a hunting beast, smelling the trail his fear left. This wasn't a tried guard, but if he rose the alarm, that wouldn't matter. Iain would come back to Coruscant only to be caught due to inexperience guards.
"This way," Raven called, pulling Nat down a side hallway. The younger sentry could be seen in the distance. He stopped in front of a door and opened it by swiftly punching the code. He was yelling something, though the only word she understood was 'Jedi.'
A far more confident guard appeared, leveling a heavy blaster towards them. Raven tumbled to the ground in a shoulder roll, coming out in time to activate her white saber blade and block the bolts. Her blade hissed, and the ozone affronted her sense of smell. Nat had moved to flank her, and the pair pressed forward, covering each other as they moved.
When the reached the door, Raven slipped into the room as more guards appeared around the corner, called from somewhere. She found herself in a room with more men wielding blasters. She deflected the bolts, her lightsaber humming gratifyingly, as she searched for Iain. He was nowhere to be seen.
Raven continued to move across the room towards a large picture window that gave an impressive view of Coruscant. The Jedi was slightly confused. There were a few doors on her left, but beyond that, she couldn't find a way that Iain would have gotten away. Unless he had never been here.
The extra moment cost Raven her footing. She stumbled slightly, her mind reeling away from introspection of Iain's whereabouts to the more important here and now, and found herself staggering towards the picture window. One of the guards noticed what was happening and took aim at the window. It spider-webbed moments before Raven made impact, and then she was in open air.
***
Here and now, Raven berated herself as she tumbled beyond the building, You're supposed to remain concentrated on the here and now. The Jedi pushed away the thought even as it came, searching for something as she deactivated her saber. She located another transparisteel walkway between buildings for pedestrian traffic and shifted her weight to head towards it.
It came up fast, and Raven had to set her shoulder into the cover to as not to land flat on her stomach. Her left shoulder broke into the transparisteel, and the Jedi shielded her face with the same arm. She rolled away, again landing on the same shoulder, in an attempt to diffuse the strength of the fall.
Raven drew herself up on her hands, her shoulder smoldering with pain. Carefully she stood, her head spinning slightly from the impact, only belatedly taking notice of the people around her, looking shocked and disbelieving. Then Raven sensed it. Iain had been here and not moments before her abrupt arrival. She flicked the switch on her saber, noticing blood on her hands with detachment, and took a moment to figure out which way he had gone. Her senses expanded, and Raven took off at a full run to her right, pushing through the still dazed crowd.
She knocked the lock off the door with her saber, knowing the element of surprise was lost. Manipulating the Force to open the door, Raven came into a long hallway, instantly noticing the tall, well-built, graying man she had seen in the cantina the night before. The Jedi was after him and his bodyguards before she even thought about it.
Iain had the advantage; there was little doubt about that. Wherever they had come from, those men hadn't fallen through the walkway. Raven was gaining distance, ignoring the pain in her shoulder and now her hands, but it was a painfully slow increase. Then she had an idea.
Raven slowed, reaching out into the Force beyond the fleeing men. She stopped running and reached out her hand, making a beckoning gesture. The Jedi watched as the men came up short, swept off their feet by something. Raven then resumed her chase, easily catching up as the stun guards scrambled to their feet. They shot a few bolts, which Raven deflected easily. Then, she called their blasters to her hand, earning incredulous looks form the guards. In the meantime, Iain stood, moving behind his bodyguards.
"Chur Iain, I need you to come with me," Raven said authoritatively. Iain shifted, obviously unsure of what to do with his guards unarmed, but still not wanting to give himself up. The Jedi frowned and made a suggestive gesture with her hand towards the guards. "You will not interfere with me," she said, reaching out into the Force to grasp their minds.
"We will not interfere with you," the two men repeated, a dazed look coming into their eyes. The two men moved out of the way as Raven approached Iain.
"You weak-minded fools!" he cried, turning to run.
Raven tackled him, twisting around his side to grab his hand. Iain landed, immediately rolling in an attempt to pin her. He slammed her into the corridor wall, and Raven grunted in response, her shoulder making its presence known. She braced herself against the wall and shoved him away from her, wedging a knee between her torso and his back. Snaking her left hand around him, she grabbed his left wrist and wrenched it painfully behind him. Using her weight to keep his arm in place, Raven reached for a pair of stun cuffs on her utility belt. It was on his wrist with a flick of hers, but then he shifted her, rolling her off.
The Jedi stifled a curse, trying to move to tackle him again. Iain didn't cooperate, though, pinning her beneath him. The cuffs rattled against his wrist as he moved to choke her. Raven twisted, slipping one of her legs between them and bodily pushing him away. She used the momentum to continue rolling him until she was on top. Raven jammed her knee into his gut, knocking the wind out of him, and grabbed his other wrist, clicking the other half of the stun cuffs to it. Almost instantaneously, the fight went out of Iain, and he slumped backwards, lying on the floor to stare placidly at the ceiling.
***
Raven pushed herself to her feet, feeling the full pain from her shoulder and her hands now that she wasn't in immediate danger. Glancing at her hands, she found crisscrossed marks from the transparisteel as well as red from the blood. Raven sighed, slipping the overlapping outertunic out of the way to wipe them on her undertunic, taking off as much of the excess as she could. "Another tunic ruined," she mumbled to herself, although rightfully, she knew she was lucky to have survived that fall. She moved the outertunic back into place, hiding the bloodstains.
The Jedi then clipped her lightsaber back to her utility belt and found her comlink. Raven thumbed it on when she noticed the two bodyguards were still there, watching her disinterestedly. "You will go back to your homes and be back to your normal selves in an hour," she informed them with another wave of her hand, watching as they wandered away.
Raven put in the code for Nat and waited for it to click over, indicating he had responded. "I've got him," the Jedi said into the comlink. "He's lying at my feet right now, enjoying a pair of stun cuffs."
"Put up that good of a fight, did he?" Nat replied dryly.
"You have no idea. Ruso isn't going to be happy with me. I broke the cover to a walkway, but I figured that was preferable to becoming one with the Force, not to mention the permacrete some one hundred stories below."
Nathaniel chuckled. "I sat the work you made of the window in that apartment. The thing I can't figure out is why you didn't check the rooms first."
"It wasn't really an option at the time. You'll appreciate this: I went out the window because I was thinking too hard." A snort echoed from her link, and then Nat's baritone laughter came through. "So now what do we want to do?"
"That all depends. Do you think you can make it back to the Temple with Iain in tow, or would you like a little help?"
"A little help would be appreciated. The transparisteel and I didn't get along, and the floor didn't appreciate me either. Iain ought to be easily contained, but if something goes wrong, I want you here to help me out." Raven glanced down at the form of Chur Iain, incapacitated from the cuffs.
"Sounds good. If you give me your coordinates, I'll be there momentarily."
Raven gave him the coordinates and produced some clean rags from her utility belt. Carefully she began shredding them to wrap around the palms of her hands. The Jedi inspected her cuts precisely, noting that most of them were merely superficial, if bloody. A few of the larger ones did still have the transparisteel caught in the wound, though Raven quickly removed them before finishing her ministrations.
Nat appeared, walking leisurely down the hallway, an amused look on his face as he approached her. "I saw your handiwork," her partner chuckled. "I think I'm going to start a pool when we get back to the Temple on who thinks when you'll finally meet your end. We've been partners since we became knights, and I think you've defied death at least half a dozen times since then. It's only been what, ten months?"
"A little over eleven, actually," Raven replied drolly, "and if you want horror stories about my death-defying antics, just talk to my master. When she wasn't ready to kill me herself over class performance, I was trying inadvertently to kill myself, one way or another."
The pair helped Iain to his feet and led him through the corridors back to their speeder. The stun cuffs worked well, making their job fairly easy. He was soon strapped into their speeder, ready to be taken to the Temple.
***
"Who is this lovely fellow?"
Raven looked up at the cultured voice, smiling at the friendly face before her. Master Dooku was well known in the Temple as a man of strong opinions, often disagreeing with the Temple. Still, despite these difficulties, he was respected amongst the ranks of the Jedi and an acquaintance of her own master, Daré Shioc. He was an imposing figure with sharp features and a neatly trimmed black and gray beard. His hair was always meticulously combed away from his face and his clothes neat and clean. She had taken a few classes under the venerable Master, and her own opinions about the nature of the Republic and its relationship towards the Jedi tended towards his own.
"Some baggage the Chancellor asked us to collect for his people to question," Raven replied. "He's accused of altering sensitive data within the government files."
A cloud crossed Dooku's face as he regarded the placid prisoner, and Raven knew that he was wondering why the Jedi had been involved at all. Still, he held his tongue, just giving his head a regretful shake. Nat glanced between to two, obviously not as familiar with Dooku on a personal level as Raven, and broke the brief silence. "Ven, why don't you go on down to the infirmary for your hands and shoulder? I doubt Iain will be much trouble for me."
"Sounds like a plan," Raven replied, veering off to head down to the infirmary. Dooku nodded a farewell and disappeared down the hallway the opposite direction from Nat. It was a short walk to the infirmary, and Raven enjoyed the moment of not having anything to do. All was right with the word, and even the ache in her shoulder couldn't dampen her spirits.
Raven pushed open the glass doors separating the infirmary from the hallway and grinned at her friend, Elep Irec, who rolled her eyes. "I've already seen you once this month," the purple Twi'lek groaned, her lekku twitching in mock-frustration.
Smiling disarmingly, Raven shrugged and proceeded to grimace from the gesture. She held up her roughly bandaged hands and showed them to her friend. "Give me a break. I could have died today."
Elep blinked thoughtfully, shaking her head as she studied the stripped cloth biding Raven's hands. "You're a Jedi; that's a possibility for every day," she retorted. Then the Healer smiled back. "Come with me, and I'll clean you up."
When the pair had relocated to an examination room, Elep began to unbind Raven's hands, her eyes twinkling impishly. "So what did you do this time?" she asked, inspecting the myriad of cuts on her palms. "I feel through the transparisteel enclosure on a walkway," Raven replied, sounding a little resigned. She flexed her hands, feeling the sting of the movements.
Elep began to clean out the blood and dropped a few bandages to soak in bacta before she applied them. "Sounds fun. At least you didn't fall a hundred fifty stories first. Or did you?" The Twi'lek gave her a questioning look.
"No, I didn't. I fell one, maybe two stories before I crash-landed. You'll have to look at my shoulder for that as well."
The Healer chuckled indulgently. "If I were you, I'd be dead by now." She began to bind the wounds on her hands, covering the wet bandages with dry ones.
"I get that a lot."
"I'd imagine. And where was your good-for-nothing partner?" Elep tied the dressing and trimmed it, giving Raven a look.
Raven began to shrug again and stopped mid-gesture, remembering the consequences. "He was not there. Still out in the hallway covering for me." She watched as Elep's lekku twitched again, showing her doubts on that issue. "We work well together, Elep. He's a good partner."
"If you like moody and unreliable," the Twi'lek shot back. She pursed her lips and tried to look formidable. Raven shook her head and sighed.
"He has gotten worse lately," Raven conceded, "but I think that he is just restless. He's doing what he watched his master do forever, and he wants to move on to something else. I'm sure he'll settle once he finds his niche."
It was obvious the Healer didn't agree, but she merely asked to see Raven's shoulder. Letting out a low whistle, Elep inspected the other Jedi's injury. "You're going to be feeling this one for a while," Elep said, amusement in her voice. "It's about the color of me, and this happened when? About an hour ago?"
"Roughly," Raven replied, grimacing as the Healer's cold fingers probed her sore shoulder.
"I've never seen anything bruise that quickly that completely! You should put bacta salve on it in the mornings and in the evenings. That should help abate some of the tenderness and help it heal a little more quickly. But beyond that, there's not much I can do for you. Do a few healing trances and try to be kind to it. I'd hate to see the enclosure," she added with a grin.
"It's in a thousand little pieces, some of which lodged in my hands. Does being kind to it mean I can't participate in the tournament in ten days?"
Elep sat back and shifted to take a protective stance in front of Raven. "You do not need to be competing in the single sparring matches," the Twi'lek warned, waving one of her lekku in admonition. "Don't you dare sign up."
"I already have," Raven replied, tilting her head to the side and neglecting to mention that she was competing in the weight class above her own. Elep shook her head and slumped back on the medical bed next to her friend. "Don't try to stop me. I will compete."
"I know you will. That's what worries me."
Feed back is always appreciated.
This world is Lucas's. I make no money. It's a kind of catharsis for me, so please don't sue me for person pleasure in writing.
~~~~~~~~~
The Chase
"I can't believe this."
Raven shot Nat a glare as she moved towards the booth that had held Iain the night before. "Can't we ever pursue someone with good taste in establishments?" he complained, looking slightly put out. Raven ignored him, slipping behind the table where their quarry had ensconced himself when Raven noticed him. "All I want is a good place with some palatable cuisine.
"Quit whining. You're breaking my concentration," Raven replied impatiently. She was ready to be on the move, and Nat must not have slept well, since he was far more sociable the night before than he was now. Nat gave her a petulant look which she ignored as she closed her eyes and immersed herself in the Force.
Taking a deep breath, Raven began to sift through the residue left behind by patrons who had sat here. The task was fairly simplistic, a matter of connecting the visual she associated with Iain to the faint signature she had sense from him. The combination of the two made a thread strong enough for her to follow through the Force. Her eyes opened again, shining with anticipation. "Stop thinking with your stomach," she added. "This is the best part, and I don't want you to ruin it."
Nat's irritable look faded into mere incredulity. "You enjoy this way too much," he finally said.
Raven shrugged, moving away from the booth and heading towards the door. "I love it when all the pieces fall together, and we begin the pursuit. This is the part where justice is done, and we actually help to keep the peace of the Republic."
One eyebrow climbed its way up Nat's forehead, articulating his speculation on Raven's mental state well. "Lead on, then," he chuckled, pushing open the door that lead into the semi-gloom of late morning, "and preferably up."
The dark-haired Jedi followed the trail through the Force that she had discovered, her face betraying her concentration Nathaniel walked behind her, providing a rearguard while she had her attention elsewhere. They were soon standing in front of the lift where Raven had taken his picture.
Taking a deep breath, Raven passed her hand over the indicator panel, focusing on the buttons. Her thin fingers twitched slightly as she moved them over, but then they stopped over one that designated the lift to go about one hundred and fifty stories up, above the entertainment district into the picturesque world of skyscrapers Coruscant was known for. "You got your wish," Raven murmured, still obviously distracted, as she depressed the button.
The lift shot them upwards, and Nat looked out over the cityscape once they had cleared the perpetual haze around about the one-hundredth floor. Raven remained focused on something just beyond the transpariesteel of the elevator doors. The lift began to slow, and when the doors opened, Raven led the way out.
They were in a covered walkway that branched off at right angles from the elevator, arching to the two spires a short distance from the one supporting the elevator. Raven pursued her lips and reached out with her senses. "He went… left," she said, pausing as she traced the tendril he left within the Force.
The arched walkway led to residential apartments, obviously a very upscale neighborhood for residents that weren't affiliated to the Senate or other governmental agencies. Raven arrived at the locked door on the other side and frowned, trying to discern the combination that would open it.
Nat had fallen some distance behind, and he looked out over Coruscant as she worked on the combination. He half-turned when he sensed her nearing the end of the process, having felt through the Force the first four digits of the five-digit number. Something ticked at the back of his awareness. "Watch it, Ven," he said in a low tone, "I think there's someone behind that door who will be none too happy when you open it."
"You mean, Iain doesn't want to be found?" she replied, giving him a grin. Her hand strayed to her lightsaber as she punched in the code.
***
There was no one beyond the door.
Raven turned to give Nat a questioning look. She still clung to the small tendril that was leading into the hallway, its Force signature fading into the distance. She had to concentrate deeply to keep track of it, which is why Younam was sensing for dangers. He shrugged, making a gesture that he could still sense the danger, a little beyond the door and to her right.
As Raven stepped through the doorway, she cast a glance around, seeking out any potential dangers. Finding none, she moved farther into the small foyer, closing her eyes to find the trace of him. Sniffing was always a mental challenge for her, and often the Jedi would have to block out distractions, such as visuals, to be success.
The smell of ozone permeated the small area at the same time the hiss of a blaster echoed, and Raven opened her eyes to see some kind of guard running away as Nat drew and activated his lightsaber. The purple blade hummed as he deflected the two bolts away. "He's going the right way, probably a guard of Iain's," Raven yelled, already running after the youth.
Nat's footsteps echoed next to hers as they raced down the corridor after him. Raven could scent his path through the Force like a hunting beast, smelling the trail his fear left. This wasn't a tried guard, but if he rose the alarm, that wouldn't matter. Iain would come back to Coruscant only to be caught due to inexperience guards.
"This way," Raven called, pulling Nat down a side hallway. The younger sentry could be seen in the distance. He stopped in front of a door and opened it by swiftly punching the code. He was yelling something, though the only word she understood was 'Jedi.'
A far more confident guard appeared, leveling a heavy blaster towards them. Raven tumbled to the ground in a shoulder roll, coming out in time to activate her white saber blade and block the bolts. Her blade hissed, and the ozone affronted her sense of smell. Nat had moved to flank her, and the pair pressed forward, covering each other as they moved.
When the reached the door, Raven slipped into the room as more guards appeared around the corner, called from somewhere. She found herself in a room with more men wielding blasters. She deflected the bolts, her lightsaber humming gratifyingly, as she searched for Iain. He was nowhere to be seen.
Raven continued to move across the room towards a large picture window that gave an impressive view of Coruscant. The Jedi was slightly confused. There were a few doors on her left, but beyond that, she couldn't find a way that Iain would have gotten away. Unless he had never been here.
The extra moment cost Raven her footing. She stumbled slightly, her mind reeling away from introspection of Iain's whereabouts to the more important here and now, and found herself staggering towards the picture window. One of the guards noticed what was happening and took aim at the window. It spider-webbed moments before Raven made impact, and then she was in open air.
***
Here and now, Raven berated herself as she tumbled beyond the building, You're supposed to remain concentrated on the here and now. The Jedi pushed away the thought even as it came, searching for something as she deactivated her saber. She located another transparisteel walkway between buildings for pedestrian traffic and shifted her weight to head towards it.
It came up fast, and Raven had to set her shoulder into the cover to as not to land flat on her stomach. Her left shoulder broke into the transparisteel, and the Jedi shielded her face with the same arm. She rolled away, again landing on the same shoulder, in an attempt to diffuse the strength of the fall.
Raven drew herself up on her hands, her shoulder smoldering with pain. Carefully she stood, her head spinning slightly from the impact, only belatedly taking notice of the people around her, looking shocked and disbelieving. Then Raven sensed it. Iain had been here and not moments before her abrupt arrival. She flicked the switch on her saber, noticing blood on her hands with detachment, and took a moment to figure out which way he had gone. Her senses expanded, and Raven took off at a full run to her right, pushing through the still dazed crowd.
She knocked the lock off the door with her saber, knowing the element of surprise was lost. Manipulating the Force to open the door, Raven came into a long hallway, instantly noticing the tall, well-built, graying man she had seen in the cantina the night before. The Jedi was after him and his bodyguards before she even thought about it.
Iain had the advantage; there was little doubt about that. Wherever they had come from, those men hadn't fallen through the walkway. Raven was gaining distance, ignoring the pain in her shoulder and now her hands, but it was a painfully slow increase. Then she had an idea.
Raven slowed, reaching out into the Force beyond the fleeing men. She stopped running and reached out her hand, making a beckoning gesture. The Jedi watched as the men came up short, swept off their feet by something. Raven then resumed her chase, easily catching up as the stun guards scrambled to their feet. They shot a few bolts, which Raven deflected easily. Then, she called their blasters to her hand, earning incredulous looks form the guards. In the meantime, Iain stood, moving behind his bodyguards.
"Chur Iain, I need you to come with me," Raven said authoritatively. Iain shifted, obviously unsure of what to do with his guards unarmed, but still not wanting to give himself up. The Jedi frowned and made a suggestive gesture with her hand towards the guards. "You will not interfere with me," she said, reaching out into the Force to grasp their minds.
"We will not interfere with you," the two men repeated, a dazed look coming into their eyes. The two men moved out of the way as Raven approached Iain.
"You weak-minded fools!" he cried, turning to run.
Raven tackled him, twisting around his side to grab his hand. Iain landed, immediately rolling in an attempt to pin her. He slammed her into the corridor wall, and Raven grunted in response, her shoulder making its presence known. She braced herself against the wall and shoved him away from her, wedging a knee between her torso and his back. Snaking her left hand around him, she grabbed his left wrist and wrenched it painfully behind him. Using her weight to keep his arm in place, Raven reached for a pair of stun cuffs on her utility belt. It was on his wrist with a flick of hers, but then he shifted her, rolling her off.
The Jedi stifled a curse, trying to move to tackle him again. Iain didn't cooperate, though, pinning her beneath him. The cuffs rattled against his wrist as he moved to choke her. Raven twisted, slipping one of her legs between them and bodily pushing him away. She used the momentum to continue rolling him until she was on top. Raven jammed her knee into his gut, knocking the wind out of him, and grabbed his other wrist, clicking the other half of the stun cuffs to it. Almost instantaneously, the fight went out of Iain, and he slumped backwards, lying on the floor to stare placidly at the ceiling.
***
Raven pushed herself to her feet, feeling the full pain from her shoulder and her hands now that she wasn't in immediate danger. Glancing at her hands, she found crisscrossed marks from the transparisteel as well as red from the blood. Raven sighed, slipping the overlapping outertunic out of the way to wipe them on her undertunic, taking off as much of the excess as she could. "Another tunic ruined," she mumbled to herself, although rightfully, she knew she was lucky to have survived that fall. She moved the outertunic back into place, hiding the bloodstains.
The Jedi then clipped her lightsaber back to her utility belt and found her comlink. Raven thumbed it on when she noticed the two bodyguards were still there, watching her disinterestedly. "You will go back to your homes and be back to your normal selves in an hour," she informed them with another wave of her hand, watching as they wandered away.
Raven put in the code for Nat and waited for it to click over, indicating he had responded. "I've got him," the Jedi said into the comlink. "He's lying at my feet right now, enjoying a pair of stun cuffs."
"Put up that good of a fight, did he?" Nat replied dryly.
"You have no idea. Ruso isn't going to be happy with me. I broke the cover to a walkway, but I figured that was preferable to becoming one with the Force, not to mention the permacrete some one hundred stories below."
Nathaniel chuckled. "I sat the work you made of the window in that apartment. The thing I can't figure out is why you didn't check the rooms first."
"It wasn't really an option at the time. You'll appreciate this: I went out the window because I was thinking too hard." A snort echoed from her link, and then Nat's baritone laughter came through. "So now what do we want to do?"
"That all depends. Do you think you can make it back to the Temple with Iain in tow, or would you like a little help?"
"A little help would be appreciated. The transparisteel and I didn't get along, and the floor didn't appreciate me either. Iain ought to be easily contained, but if something goes wrong, I want you here to help me out." Raven glanced down at the form of Chur Iain, incapacitated from the cuffs.
"Sounds good. If you give me your coordinates, I'll be there momentarily."
Raven gave him the coordinates and produced some clean rags from her utility belt. Carefully she began shredding them to wrap around the palms of her hands. The Jedi inspected her cuts precisely, noting that most of them were merely superficial, if bloody. A few of the larger ones did still have the transparisteel caught in the wound, though Raven quickly removed them before finishing her ministrations.
Nat appeared, walking leisurely down the hallway, an amused look on his face as he approached her. "I saw your handiwork," her partner chuckled. "I think I'm going to start a pool when we get back to the Temple on who thinks when you'll finally meet your end. We've been partners since we became knights, and I think you've defied death at least half a dozen times since then. It's only been what, ten months?"
"A little over eleven, actually," Raven replied drolly, "and if you want horror stories about my death-defying antics, just talk to my master. When she wasn't ready to kill me herself over class performance, I was trying inadvertently to kill myself, one way or another."
The pair helped Iain to his feet and led him through the corridors back to their speeder. The stun cuffs worked well, making their job fairly easy. He was soon strapped into their speeder, ready to be taken to the Temple.
***
"Who is this lovely fellow?"
Raven looked up at the cultured voice, smiling at the friendly face before her. Master Dooku was well known in the Temple as a man of strong opinions, often disagreeing with the Temple. Still, despite these difficulties, he was respected amongst the ranks of the Jedi and an acquaintance of her own master, Daré Shioc. He was an imposing figure with sharp features and a neatly trimmed black and gray beard. His hair was always meticulously combed away from his face and his clothes neat and clean. She had taken a few classes under the venerable Master, and her own opinions about the nature of the Republic and its relationship towards the Jedi tended towards his own.
"Some baggage the Chancellor asked us to collect for his people to question," Raven replied. "He's accused of altering sensitive data within the government files."
A cloud crossed Dooku's face as he regarded the placid prisoner, and Raven knew that he was wondering why the Jedi had been involved at all. Still, he held his tongue, just giving his head a regretful shake. Nat glanced between to two, obviously not as familiar with Dooku on a personal level as Raven, and broke the brief silence. "Ven, why don't you go on down to the infirmary for your hands and shoulder? I doubt Iain will be much trouble for me."
"Sounds like a plan," Raven replied, veering off to head down to the infirmary. Dooku nodded a farewell and disappeared down the hallway the opposite direction from Nat. It was a short walk to the infirmary, and Raven enjoyed the moment of not having anything to do. All was right with the word, and even the ache in her shoulder couldn't dampen her spirits.
Raven pushed open the glass doors separating the infirmary from the hallway and grinned at her friend, Elep Irec, who rolled her eyes. "I've already seen you once this month," the purple Twi'lek groaned, her lekku twitching in mock-frustration.
Smiling disarmingly, Raven shrugged and proceeded to grimace from the gesture. She held up her roughly bandaged hands and showed them to her friend. "Give me a break. I could have died today."
Elep blinked thoughtfully, shaking her head as she studied the stripped cloth biding Raven's hands. "You're a Jedi; that's a possibility for every day," she retorted. Then the Healer smiled back. "Come with me, and I'll clean you up."
When the pair had relocated to an examination room, Elep began to unbind Raven's hands, her eyes twinkling impishly. "So what did you do this time?" she asked, inspecting the myriad of cuts on her palms. "I feel through the transparisteel enclosure on a walkway," Raven replied, sounding a little resigned. She flexed her hands, feeling the sting of the movements.
Elep began to clean out the blood and dropped a few bandages to soak in bacta before she applied them. "Sounds fun. At least you didn't fall a hundred fifty stories first. Or did you?" The Twi'lek gave her a questioning look.
"No, I didn't. I fell one, maybe two stories before I crash-landed. You'll have to look at my shoulder for that as well."
The Healer chuckled indulgently. "If I were you, I'd be dead by now." She began to bind the wounds on her hands, covering the wet bandages with dry ones.
"I get that a lot."
"I'd imagine. And where was your good-for-nothing partner?" Elep tied the dressing and trimmed it, giving Raven a look.
Raven began to shrug again and stopped mid-gesture, remembering the consequences. "He was not there. Still out in the hallway covering for me." She watched as Elep's lekku twitched again, showing her doubts on that issue. "We work well together, Elep. He's a good partner."
"If you like moody and unreliable," the Twi'lek shot back. She pursed her lips and tried to look formidable. Raven shook her head and sighed.
"He has gotten worse lately," Raven conceded, "but I think that he is just restless. He's doing what he watched his master do forever, and he wants to move on to something else. I'm sure he'll settle once he finds his niche."
It was obvious the Healer didn't agree, but she merely asked to see Raven's shoulder. Letting out a low whistle, Elep inspected the other Jedi's injury. "You're going to be feeling this one for a while," Elep said, amusement in her voice. "It's about the color of me, and this happened when? About an hour ago?"
"Roughly," Raven replied, grimacing as the Healer's cold fingers probed her sore shoulder.
"I've never seen anything bruise that quickly that completely! You should put bacta salve on it in the mornings and in the evenings. That should help abate some of the tenderness and help it heal a little more quickly. But beyond that, there's not much I can do for you. Do a few healing trances and try to be kind to it. I'd hate to see the enclosure," she added with a grin.
"It's in a thousand little pieces, some of which lodged in my hands. Does being kind to it mean I can't participate in the tournament in ten days?"
Elep sat back and shifted to take a protective stance in front of Raven. "You do not need to be competing in the single sparring matches," the Twi'lek warned, waving one of her lekku in admonition. "Don't you dare sign up."
"I already have," Raven replied, tilting her head to the side and neglecting to mention that she was competing in the weight class above her own. Elep shook her head and slumped back on the medical bed next to her friend. "Don't try to stop me. I will compete."
"I know you will. That's what worries me."
