As part of the planet blankets into night, the mega-metropolis of Courscant lights up into a dazzle of neon and electric light. The horde of passing people in the streets gives an air of excitement as the nightclubs and bars open for buisness, in the rush of the frenzy of drunken patrons, a young green skinned Padwan watches it all with curiosity as he walks alongside his female companion and tour guide.

"Over there is the senate building…and if you look far left to that is part of the Jedi Temple." She says to the giddy boy skipping along side of her.

"More I wish to see, Tinara! More!" Yoda shouts with excitement.

Tinara giggles at his foolish behavior and pats his head. "Easy there lil' guy. We've been out here for hours now…I've pretty much shown you all I can in this sector. Maybe you should think about heading back to the Temple now huh? I mean, I'm pretty sure the council is going to be furious with you for being out with a…a…"

Yoda looks up at her as she struggles to find the right word to describe herself.

"A friend?"

"Uh…right."

The two suddenly stop walking and she lowers herself down to his height. A look of concern now washes over her face where the once beautiful smile was and breathes out as she once again stuggles to talk to the small boy.

"Look Yoda, its been fun hanging out with you and all…but…I've got work to do, you know? The Jedi will want to know where you are…and I don't want to be the one they search for and question if you get my meaning."

The boy thinks for a second and shakes his head negatively as he doesn't comprehend what she is talking about.

"They don't like my sort." She says sternly. "To them, I'm nothing more then someone that should be locked away for all time and never allowed to pilot a ship. I've done stuff that would probably get me in a lot of trouble with the Jedi and I'd hate to think that keeping you away from the temple would be the last staw with them."

"Tell not will I." Yoda says innocently. "Only to be with you…a good friend…I wish to be."

"I know buddy." She smiles. "But there comes a time in your life when you have to learn to let go of the friends and focus on what needs to be done. You were born to be a Jedi Knight and I was born to be what I am. You're still my friend Yoda…and I'll always remember you fondly. But you were destined for greater things…I see that now."

Yoda gives a quivering sigh and his ears droop down in a sorrowful manner.

"Never to see you again will I? Must it be so? Harder to be a Jedi it is, wish it were different it makes me feel…allowed to keep the friends and not distance one self from them just to be a Jedi.'

Tinara hugged the tearful Yoda and patted him on the back for comfort.

"Hey, hey now…that's no way for a brave Jedi to act. Come on my little man, no tears for Tinara now. They may not allow us to see one another, but there's no reason we still can't talk to each other. I promise to write whenever I can and keep you up to speed with what I'm doing, ok?"

The green child sniffles and wipes his eyes. "Yes…yes…right you are. Write you back I will also…friend you will always be to me, Tinara."

Giving a last deep hug to each other, they split apart and Tinara rises to her feet again. She pats her eyes with her fingers to remove the forming tears and reaches her hand down to hold his.

"Ok, if you're going to stick with me a little longer…then I'll have to take you while I make my next contact. Just stay low and try not to get into any trouble again, ya hear?"

Yoda nods agreeingly and once again skips beside her as they walk towards one of the local bars. Shaking her head and giving a last sigh, the black woman fixes her hair with her only free hand.

"Yoda, please stop skipping. The last thing I need to do is walk into a seedy bar like this and have a young kid jumping beside me. Low key remember?"

"Sorry Tinara." Yoda snickers as he stops jumping.

"Low Key…look who's talking. I'm taking an under aged kid into a bar with me. Sheesh! How do I get myself into these things?"

As the two enter the bar, the mixture of aliens and humanoids watch them both carefully as they enter. Just as they finally step inside, another figure steps up to the bar entrance in a dark cloak and follows in behind them.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Pacing about in the Jedi temple's main lobby, Jin Wan bites his thumbnail in frustration as the disappearance of Yoda has him worrying. A young Jedi Knight woman with blond hair and fairly shorter in height comes running up to him and causes him to break out of his nasty habit.

"Well? Is he in his room?" Jin Wan demands.

"No, Master So'bal. I looked everywhere and he's nowhere to be found."

"Blast that child!" Jin Wan shouts in anger. "I told him to wait for me."

Another Jedi with blue skin and green eyes heads down the long staircase to them and reports to the Jedi Master.

"Sir, I've looked on the monitors and it appears the young boy left this temple with a humanoid female."

"Well done, Deibon. Describe her to me." Jin Wan orders.

"Dark skinned, long hair and she seemed to have a blaster on her person."

"Tinara!" So'bal realized. "They've gone into the city. We'll never find them in that crowd."

"What do you want us to do, Master So'bal?" The woman Jedi asked.

"You two go and search the records of the taxi service as to get a location of their last known drop off. I'll head out into the city and see if I can locate them at some of the popular tourist areas."

"That could take hours, Master So'bal!" The alien looking Jedi squawked. "There's no chance you'd be able to spot them on your own…we should come with you to help in the search."

"Fine." He grumbles. "But be sure to give someone else the task of locating those taxi records and message it to us when they have it. Understood?"

Both Jedi Knights nod in agreement and rush off down the hall.

"Meet me at lower level fifteen! I'll see you on the streets!" So'bal screams to them as they hurry.

Jin Wan quickly runs for the building's exit and heads out of the temple.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Strange electronic sounding music fills the bar air as Yoda and Tinara calmly walk through the busy crowd. Large screens show the latest sports events from around the galaxy and the ringing of gambling machines creates a noisy atmosphere. Suddenly the crowd cheers as the tune changes, now a band rises up out of the floor and plays an almost jazzy melody that seems to lighten the mood in the dimly lit bar.

"Stay close to me Yoda." Tinara warns. "And don't step on any toes this time, ok?"

Yoda nods and holds onto her hand tightly. While this bar is much larger then the one Jin Wan took him into the day they met Tinara, it had a much larger crowd of scum and villainy that the little Padwan had ever seen. Together they approached the neon-lit bar that had floating holographic menu screens just above it. As she leaned on to the brass rail and leaned in, the bartender turned around after filling a few glasses and gave a sigh at the sight of her face. The man was slim with graying hair; his clothes were drab and very sloppy as if he didn't even bother to tuck them in for the customer's sake. He wore a brown vest to cover the off-white long sleeved shirt underneath it and was wiping the counter with a simple blue rag.

"Sweet carbon fittings…what are you doing here? I thought they banned your sorry butt from stepping on Republic soil."

Tinara just smirked and sat on one of the stools. "Lets just say I've got friends in high places. Good to see you again Daniels."

The man folded his arms and rested them on the counter as he drew in close to her.

"Well, I'd like to say it's good to see you as well…but seeing how you owe some people in here some credits, you'll just have to forgive my lack of enthusiasm."

"Hey come on Anthony…it's not my fault that the suckers you bring in here tend to lose so quickly. Besides I've got a new gig that might just pay off all those debits once and for all."

"Uh, huh. I'll believe it when I see the money Tinara."

As Yoda tries to hop up onto the bar stool beside Tinara, Daniels looks over to him and notices the lightsaber attached to his belt.

"A Jedi kid?" He recoils in anger. "We don't serve their kind in here!"

"Oh pipe down Daniels." Tinara snarls back at him. "I've seen you hand over many a drink to a Jedi who come in here."

"A rarity at best Tinara…" The man grumbles. "But this is a kid. And children aren't allowed in these sorts of establishments. He'll have to wait outside."

Yoda gasps as he feels the anger being directed at him from the barkeep. Once again the female pilot defends her small friend from the man's unkind manner.

"If he waits outside…I'm going to tell everyone in this bar right now that you've rigged every game in this joint. And incase you've forgotten…those group of Wookies over there…they hate to lose. I'm sure they'd hate to be cheated out of their money as well."

The bar man's eyes twitches as he comes closer to whisper to her.

"You wouldn't dare do that."

"Oh wouldn't I?" She smirks playfully.

The man looks back at the innocent Yoda raising his eyes at him and giving a pleasant grin.

"Fine. He can stay…just don't expect me to baby-sit him for ya."

Tinara gets up off the stool and hoists her gun holster belt.

"Just give him a non-alcoholic drink and let him keep the seat warm for me. Is my private booth ready? I've got business to do tonight."

Anthony points over to the very back of the bar and shows her.

"It's been ready for nearly seventy solar cycles, ever since you messaged me and told me to set it up. Booth number ten, over there with the red curtains…that private enough for ya?"

Tinara nods and taps the bar as she smiles at him.

"Perfect. Thanks Anthony…took me awhile to get back here…but I told you I'd find a way."

She leans down to Yoda and holds his chin with care.

"Ok buddy. I've got to do something for a few minutes or so. Think you can sit tight while I do my thing over there?"

Yoda nods and swings his feet happily.

"Good boy. I'll be right back."

As she walks off the to booth at the back, the bartender hands Yoda a small glass filled with some sort of blue milk. The boy carefully sips the drink as he looks about the room with curiosity. Tinara steps into the red curtained booth and sits down, soon a dark cloaked figure approaches the same booth and enters into it as well. Yoda takes note of the mysterious person sharing the private table with Tinara and lowers his eyes with a puzzled look. With the curtains barely closed, he can just make out the two of them chatting away as their hands gesture back and forth to each other and their silhouettes moving against the red cloth. As the small green Padwan continues to sip his drink and watch the curtain, a sudden wave of the force warns him of danger. Struggling to figure out what the force is trying to say to him, the small boy looks around the room frantically. Again a disturbance in the force calls out to him, a much stronger presence this time and certainly evil in nature.

"What's the matter kid? Don't like the drink?" Daniels says to him as he notices his worried face.

"Danger, I sense." Yoda mutters. "I feel…I feel…Darkness."

As if in slow motion, the room quickly dies down in noise and small sounds that no one would pay attention too suddenly become very loud. Heartbeats, clinking coins and the one sound that seems to alert his sensitive ears…a weapon being charged. As the boy glances up to the direction of the sound, he soon sees the possible threat the Force was warning him about. There at the back of the room, standing up from the dark, hidden table in the corner was the bounty hunter that had been chasing him non-stop. Kelborne's gold armor shone in the glare of the neon lights and his equally golden weapon glared in the lights as he drew it upwards into Yoda's direction.

"Jediiii!" The creature hissed.

Yoda's eyes grew wide as the being prepared to fire his weapon.