Sora once again had that nagging feeling in the back of her mind that she needed to wake up. She cracked and eye open and to light poured in, shrinking her pupils and causing her eyes to slam shut again. Forcing herself to calm down she opened one eye, this time prepared for the sunshine. The first thing she saw was a face hovering over her own. Before she realized who it really was, her self-defense instincts took over and the next moment she was down on the ground on one knee, her arm around the person's neck and a vibro-blade activated near his throat, closing in slowly.
She heard a gasp of to the side and whipped her head around. A woman, clutching a toddler in her hands was staring wide-eyed at her captor. All of a sudden everything clicked. The bounty hunters, the Jedi gardens, Kenobi…
She stood up in one swift moment, pocketing her blade and backing up a few paces away from the Jedi Master who was trying to stand up. He obviously hadn't been prepared for her sudden outburst, and frankly, she didn't blame him.
He finally turned around to face her. His green eyes held none of the anger that she expected. Instead, he was smiling. After a moment of staring, he started to laugh. He rolled over on his back and laughed so hard that he held his gut. Sora stared passively at him, her arms crossed in front of her chest in an I-don't-get-it position. He finally stopped and stood back up. Still holding off a few chuckles, he walked over towards her and held out his hand, a large smile still on his face. Sora looked at it suspiciously. This was not the scene that she had had in mind for their next meeting.
"Saved your life again Jade," he finally said.
"Whatever Kenobi," she said rolling her eyes. She was still staring at his stationary hand, looming in front of her.
She finally looked back up into his eyes. She still hadn't touched his hand. "I came to ask you a favor, interested?" She held her cool gaze in his and she felt a small tingling in the back of her mind. He was using his force powers on her.
"Depends," he said casually. He still hadn't dropped his hand.
"I need protection. Since you Jedi are all so good hearted I figured that you'd be happy to help me." She watched his face carefully for his reaction to her sarcasm, wondering if he would notice. He obviously didn't, or else he was hiding it.
"I'd protect you even if I wasn't a Jedi," he answered smoothly. His hand was really starting to bug her. Her eyes flickered once more down to it and she felt a fleeting phase of blush creep into her cheek.
"Cut the flirting junk Kenobi. Can you or can you not give me protection?" She was sick of his game.
"As long as you check all your weapons at the door," he smiled at her and she felt her knees go weak for a moment. Shavit! She mentally hit herself for the blunder.
Sora smiled. "Whatever Jedi." She reached up to shake his hand and out of the corner of her eye, she saw the woman with the child smile.
The smell of alcohol was strong in the air and Terrik almost blacked from the smoke that clogged his lungs. This meeting had better be worth it. He staggered along the rows of tables, looking for Shrike. What a place to meet, he thought as he looked around once more. Shrike never said anything about this lower level dump…
"SOLO!" A voice boomed out of the drunken crowd and Terrik forced his bloodshot eyes to find the speaker.
Shrike wasn't very far away. His table was full of the usual bodyguards and his highly esteemed employees. Terrik gingerly sat down in the empty seat and accepted the water that had been offered to him from a passing server droid. He hoped it would clear his head some. Shrike seemed to be drinking some kind of bright red drink while smoking his usual pack of death sticks. All the goons surrounding him chose not to drink, keeping their hands firmly on their blasters. Terrik chugged the last of the water and saw the fuzziness die away from the front of his eyes. Shrike chose to remain silent and for a few moments, nobody spoke. Terrik glanced towards the bodyguard across from him. The guy was beefy, tall and he was carrying the very powerful DL-40 in his hand, one of the latest versions to come our on the smuggler's ring. With his head mostly clear of the drinks he had had at his home, Terrik made a mental note to scrounge up some better guns for the next men to go after Jade.
"So Shrike, you got something new for me or are we all supposed to just sit around and have a few drinks," he waved his hands out to the others, acknowledging their presence.
Shrike's lip curled up into a sneer.
"Solo…Solo, Solo, Solo…" he put out his death stick and waved the smoke out of his face. "You never knew when to stop."
"One of my motto's," Terrik answered importantly. "You of all people should know that Shrike."
"Oh of course I know Solo. I know everything about you. I also know that your wife left you this afternoon after she found out that you were hunting for Jade again."
Terrik's mouth twitched a little bit but he kept his face passive. Shrike was trying to hit a nerve, trying to make him seem weak. "Is that what you dragged me here to talk about? Because if it is, I don't know what you're trying to get out of it."
"You're wife, Solo. She knows your plans?" Shrike leaned forward in an intimidating position.
Terrik sat back and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He didn't like the direction that this conversation was heading in. "She head a com call. All she knows is that I'm working for you and Jade was able to kill a few of my guys." He shrugged, "It's no big deal."
"Actually Solo it is. My intelligence reports that she's gone to stay at the Jedi temple, correct?"
"Yeah…" Terrik snapped his fingers for the waiter to bring him a strong drink. It came quickly and he immediately gulped it down all at once. The taste was putrid.
"Jade is there as well…" Terrik coughed as he spewed up some of his drink.
"What are you saying?" he wiped his mouth with his hands, trying to shake away the ugly feeling that this conversation was going to wrong way.
"I'm saying that you're wife knows to much. And she's gonna warn Jade."
"Are you crazy! My wife doesn't know anything more than Jade knows!"
"She knows that it's you and I who are going after Jade. That's all she needs…"
Terrik slouched back in his chair; the forgotten drink was still resting in his hand. "So…so you want me to…to take out my wife or something?" He could hardly hear himself speak. He knew that Jalia was still mad at him, and he was still a little upset at her…but their love had always been strong. Both of them knew that. Never in his wildest dreams did he ever think his job would lead him down this road.
Shrike leaned forward, "What I'm saying is, that you had better figure out a way to quite her…" he leaned forwards close enough so that Terrik could smell the alcohol on his breath. "Or I'll have to take matters into my own hands…"
"JADE!" Obi-Wan walked swiftly down the halls, calling out her name. If it wasn't one thing, then it was another. She had been nothing but trouble for the last week and he was getting sick of it. At least Jalia and Padme were around. He would die of boredom in this empty temple. Most of the Jedi had gone off to fight in the clone wars on a nearby planet. Obi-Wan was one of the five that had been left behind to help take care of the padawans. Jade was a handful herself.
He finally heard her delicate footsteps running down the stairs at the end of the hall. When he saw her face he had to get control of himself. Every time she came into his view his breath would always catch in his throat and lave him at a loss for words.
But this time was different. If she was going to act like this anymore, then that "protection" junk that she wanted, was no longer available.
He held up the piece of paper that he had been carrying and waved it in front of her beautiful face. "Do you know what this is?" he cried. His voice wasn't really that loud, there was just a lot of panic in it.
"No…"she said hesitantly. She moved a piece of hair out of her eyes and they locked stares for a moment. He wouldn't let her get to him. He turned to paper around towards him and frantically read:
"Dear Ms. Kenobi we are please to inform you that you're ship, the Millennium Falcon is repaired to it's highest standard. The bill is enclosed to your respective persons. You may pick up your ship at your convenience in the Jedi Docking bay number 31. Thank you for your business!" Obi-Wan shoved the paper back in the envelope and pulled out a smaller slip of paper. "This is the bill! Do you know who it is addressed to?"
Sora batted her eyes flirtatiously and shrugged her shoulders.
Obi-Wan cracked and threw his hands up, stopping them inches away from Sora's throat. He groaned at himself and clenched his teeth as he persuaded his arms to fall back down. Sora hadn't moved an inch. She was staring at him with a slight grin on her face.
Obi-Wan dropped the paper on the ground and the name "Obi-Wan Kenobi" flashed up at him, reminding him of the sum of that bill and what it was going to cost him.
"I thought that you had already fixed your ship!"
"You didn't expect me to leave it in it's terrible condition if I was going to make it back to Smuggler's Run did you! Someone more experienced needed to deal with it." She nodded her head responsively and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"The Treorician Shop! Did you ever stop to think how expensive they are!"
"Of course I did, that's why I put your name down instead of mine."
Obi-Wan grabbed the paper out of her hand and scanned it again. "Ms. Kenobi? What is that supposed to mean?"
"Well I had to be a relation to give them your card, I told them that you were my husband."
Obi-Wan threw his hands up in the air, finally defeated. "Is this another one of your clever flirting tricks? Because if it is it is definitely the wrong way to go…"
"Flirting? ME! How dare you! When you've been throwing me looks since the day I came here!"
Obi-Wan started to walk towards her, his face looking anything by loving. "Well who has been going around telling people that their married to me just to use my money?"
"Maybe if you were already married than this wouldn't be a problem!"
"What do you care if I'm married?"
Sora started to back away from Obi-Wan's hulking form. The wall stopped her movement. "I don't care if you're married…"
"Then why did you bring it up?" Obi-Wan's nose was about a foot away from hers. He could smell her sweet scent and he ached to hold her in his arms.
"I don't know!" Sora answered quickly. She was trying to tear her eyes away from his, but she wasn't succeeding.
"What would you do if I kissed you right now?" his voice was still at the same tone and he could tell she was surprised by his forwardness. He heard her sharp intake of breath.
"You wouldn't kiss me right now-"
"Well obviously I wouldn't if I just asked you but what would you do?" He was inching closer to her face. He stopped about 5 inches away, waiting for her answer.