An attractive redhead kept her arms tightly wrapped around Zep Wilco's right arm as they made their way out of one of the many nightclubs in Coruscant's entertainment district. After watching Obi-Wan and Nahlia together the night before, Zep had decided to don a long brown hooded robe and toy lightsaber he'd picked up at Ogby's for a little experiment. "Gosh, I don't know..." he said, feigning innocence. "As a Jedi Knight, I've never done anything like this before."

"Don't worry," the redhead assured him seductively. "I'll be gentle."

"But-" Zep stopped and pretended to put up a resistance. "What if in the heat of passion, I should touch the Darkside?"

The redhead gave him an 'is this guy for real?' look. "Honey," She snuggled up against him so she could feel the length of his lightsaber handle up against her belly. "You can touch whichever side you want, I won't mind."

Zep couldn't help but let a not so innocent smirk come across his lips. The night was getting better and better, he thought as the pretty redhead kissed him. They continued down one of the sidewalk platforms that were common in the upper levels, until they finally stopped by a sleek red speeder parked in mid air. Before they had a chance to board, Zep heard a grating but familiar voice behind him speaking in Huttese. "Moovadee boonkee ree slagwa."

Without looking Zep knew who it was and what it was about. Slowly he turned around as the voice had requested. "Viddo!" He flashed an anxious smile and responded in Huttese. "How are ya, buddy?"

The male green skinned Rodian kept his blaster low by his hip, but aimed carefully at Zep. "I am not your buddy, scum. Since you are clearly no longer dating Sevario's daughter, he has sent us to collect the 16,000 credits you owe."

"Us?" Zep asked confused. Only Zep, his redheaded companion, and Viddo were standing there by the red speeder. He then realized that the woman he was with had pulled away and was now pointing a blaster at him as well.

"If he is still dating her," She told the Rodian in Huttese. "He won't be when she finds out he's been going around prowling for females and using that old Jedi Knight routine."

Laughter sputtered out of the Rodian's funnel like mouth. "He's using that old scam?! Come upon hard times, have you Wilco?"

"Yeah, well, I'm open to trying anything once." Zep said snidely. He glanced over to the redhead. "You could have found that out for yourself, my dear."

The woman shrugged, unimpressed. "I'm seeing someone." She gave the Rodian a wink.

"I see. Perfect." Zep sighed. "Uh. I'll just leave you two alone then." He began to step away when both the Rodian and the redhead stepped forward, their blasters still aimed at him and at close range. "Or not." Zep said nervously. "Look, I don't have the credits for Sevario at the moment but I will later tonight, or tomorrow... possibly."

"Do you take us for fools?" Viddo said angrily. "Sevario said if you don't have the credits that we are to take you in, dead or alive. I vote for dead."

The redhead nodded. "Dead sounds good to me."

Obi-Wan, who had been watching from a distance, decided to make his presence known. "Friends of yours, Zep?" He asked as he stepped out of the shadows of a nightclub's entryway.

As bad as the situation was, Zep wasn't exactly thrilled to see Obi-Wan again. "My friends don't normally point blasters at me, Jedi."

"Perhaps they should put the blasters down, then." Obi-Wan suggested pointedly.

"Great. Another poser." The redhead said as she aimed her blaster at Obi-Wan. "Not tonight, 'Jedi.' I have a headache." In the time it took her to squeeze the trigger and fire, Obi-Wan had drawn his lightsaber from his belt and ignited it just in time to deflect the blast.

"He's for real!" The Rodian shouted as he turned and joined his partner as they fired at Obi-Wan several more times. Obi-Wan deflected each blast with the skill and precision of a Jedi Master. One deflected and met the ground just in front of Zep, knocking him off his feet, and preventing him from escaping. Another came from the Rodian's blaster, only to be deflected by Obi-Wan back at the redhead - killing her instantly and sending her blaster flying. The Rodian fired again, but this time his fire was deflected by the blue saber right back at him - hitting his pistol and causing it to explode in his hand. He let out agonized screams from the burns on his hand as he rolled on the ground by his partner's lifeless body.

By the wall, Zep had regained consciousness and was struggling to get to his feet when the intimidating glow and hum of Obi-Wan's blue lightsaber blocked him. "You are not going anywhere."

Trindi hurried out of her hiding place inside the club to stand beside Obi-Wan.

"Look, whatever it is, I didn't do it." Zep pleaded to the Jedi. "I'm innocent."

Trindi wagged her finger at Zep accusingly. "You haven't been innocent since you came slithering out of whatever Force forsaken female gave birth to you."

"Trindi." Obi-Wan waved his hand at her to quiet her. "Let me handle this." He turned his attention back to Zep who was back on his feet. "Have you seen Nahlia?"

"Nahlia?" Zep shrugged the question off. "You were the one who walked her home last night."

"And yet," Obi-Wan pointed out as he read Zep's reactions carefully. "No one has been able to find her since this morning."

"Really?" Zep folded his arms, there was a hint of jealousy laced his voice. "Saw her this morning, did you?"

"No." Obi-Wan said - offended by the insinuation. Zep was proving more difficult to read that he'd thought, and now he was attempting to throw the Padawan's focus off entirely. "Trindi saw her."

"She was supposed to meet me for lunch," Trindi explained, "and then I was going to take her job hunting with my speeder but she never showed up."

"Hm." Out of the corner of Zep's eye, just behind Obi-Wan, he could see the injured Rodian slowly crawling on his belly towards the redhead's blaster. "Interesting."

"Do you know where she is?" Obi-Wan asked impatiently.

"Can't say I do, no." Zep responded coolly.

"You're sure?" Obi-Wan concentrated his mind on reading Zep. He couldn't figure out if he was lying or not, but he was sure he was hiding something.

Zep looked him straight in the eyes and smiled. "Positive." He could see that Viddo now had the blaster aimed at Obi-Wan's back and was slowly stalking up behind him. The intense pain from his wound was causing his vision to blur and him to stumble as he stepped closer.

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow as he picked up on something. "Curious."

Zep's eyes shifted slightly towards Viddo again, he could see that the Rodian was intent on killing Obi-Wan, and that he'd likely be next if he didn't come up with Sevario's 16,000 credits soon. Still he smiled and waited, anticipating the cocky young Jedi getting his comeuppance - with a severe blaster wound to the back. Just as Viddo was about to fire, Obi-Wan swung around with his saber - slashing off Viddo's arm above the elbow. The creature screamed in pain and stumbled backwards until he reached the edge of the walkway platform and tumbled off the side - plummeting through the busy nighttime speeder traffic to his death.

Shocked, Trindi took a moment to absorb what had just occurred. "Uh... Obi-Wan? Does that sort of thing happen to you a lot?"

"Occasionally." Obi-Wan responded calmly as he disengaged his saber and placed it back on his belt.

Zep stood slack jawed a moment. Once again, he'd witnessed the Jedi cheat death and he wasn't liking it. Moreover, things were not looking good for Zep's own situation. "You cut his bloody arm off!"

"Actually, there isn't much blood." Obi-Wan explained candidly. "The lightsaber seals the wound instantly."

"You still cut his bloody arm off!" Zep's tone became panicked as he wasn't so sure one of his own appendages wouldn't be next. "I mean, really! When is that ever necessary?"

"He was about to shoot me in the back with a blaster," Obi-Wan pointed at the Rodian's severed limb a few feet away. "Look over there, it's still in his hand."

Trindi and Zep silently stared at the green arm, the smell of burnt flesh tickled their nostrils, making them both nauseous. The skin and tissue on one end sizzled where the lightsaber had burned through its connection to its host. On the other end, the hand twitched a moment as it clutched the blaster firmly.

Finally, Zep tore his eyes away and said to Obi-Wan. "Okay, I really didn't need to see that."

Meanwhile, Trindi found that she could not look away. "That's a... that's a.... haaand..." she sputtered softly. Soon everything in her head went black and she fainted to the walkway floor with a thud.

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Obi-Wan followed Zep down a dark hallway towards Nahlia's apartment. "Here it is," Zep told him as he stopped at door #671. "This is Nahlia's apartment. Well, I've done my part, now perhaps I should go back to check on Trindi at her apartment - just in case she had another fainting spell." Zep was about to start back towards the exit when Obi-Wan blocked him.

"She's fine." Obi-Wan's patience was being tested to the limits that night. "And for the last time, take off that robe and toy lightsaber. You're no Jedi."

"I could have been a Jedi, easily." Zep insisted as he stripped off the cloak and saber as requested. "All except for that whole force sensitivity thing."

Obi-Wan attempted to ignore him as he looked back at the door. It was dark grey and worn like the rest of the building. He tried to sense what or who was inside but came up with nothing. "You're positive this is her apartment?"

"Oh, definitely." Zep took pleasure in the opportunity to irritate the Padawan further. "I've been here many, many, many times."

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. "You have a key, then?"

"Uhm...." Zep suddenly realized he'd been shot down. "No."

"Very well..." Obi-Wan turned to the door and concentrated a moment, then with a flick of his hand it suddenly whooshed open.

"That's handy." Zep admitted, impressed. He followed Obi-Wan into the apartment cautiously. "Nahlia!" He called.

"She's not here." Obi-Wan told him as he wandered the meagerly furnished apartment. An old blue couch was in the center of the room by with a short long table just in front of it. The room had no windows but there were two doors to the left leading into a bathroom and bedroom. An arch shaped entryway towards the back of the living room led into a small kitchen area.

Zep threw his robe and toy lightsaber onto the couch. He noticed a small circular holoprojecter by Nahlia's holopad on the table and picked it up. "Hey, braid boy, take a look at this."

Obi-Wan returned from the kitchen and took the holoprojector from Zep. He quickly turned it on and Nahlia's image appeared. She was clearly frightened. For a moment, she struggled to move out of the recorder's view but a thick muscular arm grabbed her roughly by the neck and held her in place. Obi-Wan could not see the face of her captor but he recognized the arm and hand wrapped around her neck as belonging to Volacca. After a moment to recover, Nahlia hesitantly began the message.

"This message is for Obi-Wan Kenobi. I've been taken by-" Feeling the hand wrapped snuggly around her neck squeeze suddenly, she choked and pawed at the massive fingers that would not budge. The hand relaxed again, once it was clear that the warning had been heeded, and Nahlia continued. "I've been taken to the co-ordinates contained in this holoprojector. This is where my captors will wait for you." Nahlia breathed shallowly in the creature's grip, she tried to remain calm as she followed her kidnappers' instructions. "They want me to tell you that they will let me go, if you come alone and you co-operate with them. You must come alone, or they will kill me." The message stopped abruptly - freezing the image.

"You're going after her, right?" Zep finally asked.

"I am." Obi-Wan sighed. 'And I am sure to get an earful about this from Qui-Gon when I get back to the temple.'

"Good." Zep said - with a hint of satisfaction that caught Obi-Wan's attention even in his worried state. He glared at Zep suspiciously. Zep attempted to explain. "I mean, good that you're going to save her. Should be easy, right? All you have to do is show up, do that hacking off of limbs thing you do, and Nahlia's safe and sound."

Obi-Wan sighed again. "Right." Although extremely distrustful of the gambler, at the moment, he thought Zep Wilco was the least of his problems.

TO BE CONTINUED...