Away

The woman sitting at the receptionist's desk at the embassy stood, her face shocked when Raven strode in, Qui-Gon close on her heels. She sputtered something, although Raven cut her off. "I'm a friend of Dane's, and I'd like to see his office," she said quietly, waving her fingers for emphasis. The woman closed her mouth, her expression looking slightly unhappy, and gestured for them to follow.

Once in the room, the woman left them at Raven's request. Then, the rogue began to look around the room, focusing on small, personal effects. She closed her eyes in the middle of the room, and Qui-Gon felt her reach out into the Force, tracing something he couldn't follow. When her green eyes opened again, Raven took off with purpose, leaving the office again.

"What are you doing?" he couldn't help but asking.

Raven gave him a playful smile. "It's called sniffing. I doubt that was a part of your training at the Temple."

Qui-Gon frowned slightly, following her as she led the way back out of the embassy. "What exactly did you do at the Temple?" he couldn't help but ask.

"I was a member of the Intelligence Corps," she replied. Qui-Gon raised his eyebrows slightly, his face flickering for a moment with surprise. Perhaps that was why her file was so nondescript. It wouldn't do to have Intelligence members' files marked with obvious achievements, should there ever be a breach in the security of the Archives. Qui-Gon's line of thought was broken as Raven's sense reached out beyond him again, and the Jedi waited for her to find the trail again. "He was afraid," she murmured to herself, "but defiant. He knew why they had come for him." Then she walked swiftly down the walkway.

They twisted in and out of alleys, making their way towards the sector beyond the Senatorial one. Often Raven would mutter to herself, reflecting on the moods she could feel still in the Force. He was amazed and tried to reach out himself to find such small traces that she was following. Whenever he tried this, she would get a tight smile on her face. He could never sense what she could.

Qui-Gon lost count of the number of turns they made. Then, she stopped in front of a dilapidated structure, an old warehouse by appearances. "He's in here," she said softly, "many levels below."

"How did you do that?" Qui-Gon asked in return.

She smiled enigmatically again. "The first key is the fact I know him much better than you. The second is that it was part of my Intelligence training. Gathering information is much easier when you can tail the person who gives you leads."

Qui-Gon nodded. "Shall we go in, then?"

"Do you want to be the rear guard, or would you like me to?" she replied. He watched as she methodically checked both her blaster and its silencer attachment and her lightsaber for availability.

"I'll lead, I suppose. I can at least find sentient life forms in buildings," he countered wryly.

Raven smiled back, easing some of the tension that had settled in her face from her pursuit. "Lead away then," she whispered, "and may the force be with us."

***

Raven's back had begun to ache again, but she took great pains to ignore it. Instead, a musical theme was running through her head, something she must have heard somewhere, quiet, creepy music that seemed to fit the mood as she followed Qui-Gon through the damp, badly lit building. Shards of glass from broken illumination banks were scattered on the floor, as well as broken beams from supports and frames of windows or doors. Someone had passed through her recently, that much Raven could tell, but she didn't know him well.

The rogue fingered her lightsaber hilt. Her entire body was tensed, ready for some kind of attack, but nothing happened. Qui-Gon moved sure-footedly in front of her, and they made their way deeper into the bowels of the city, places that probably hadn't seem much sentient life.

They came into a huge room with a high, vaulted ceiling. Raven felt her breath catch in her throat. The room had furniture, though the damp had begun to deteriorate what must have been rich wood at some point. Diffused light came from windows lining the far wall of the room, their grimy, fogged surfaces casting a grayish pallor to the room. It illuminated the rotting wood, as well as older furniture that had fallen or been broken apart. The floor was filled with obstacles, piles of forgotten things and rumpled rugs, memories of someone's life long gone, as well as a huge banquet table dominating the middle of the room. The room must have been an old gathering place or part of a mansion, long forgotten and built over. Something about the room appealed to her, its antiquated majesty and disused purpose.

A split second later, Raven noticed him. In the far corner of the room, beyond what she could see in the dim light, she could sense Dane, dazed and mildly frightened. He was also bound and probably gagged. The odd thing was, there wasn't another person in the room. Whoever brought him here had left him, and probably not just because they became tired of carrying him.

Raven touched Qui-Gon's shoulder. "It's a trap," she whispered as softly as she could. The sound seemed to echo in the quiet chamber. "Dane's over in the corner, a little dazed. They must have knocked him out to get him here."

"Or just recently moved him," Qui-Gon replied as quietly. "How about this? Same drill as this morning, you circle around the right side, and I'll take the left. We'll meet at Dane. Here, do you have your comm? Good. This is the number for mine. If you find major trouble, use the commlink. If we don't have time…" He trailed off and shrugged.

Raven could fill in the rest of that thought. Even though they both were trained in the Jedi Arts, communication between two minds that weren't intimately familiar was very taxing and difficult. If necessity dictating, it could be used. However, that might cause more damage. "We get Dane and get out then?"

The Jedi shrugged. "Depends on how easy this is. My mission is to remove the threat on Valorum, and if this doesn't go well, I may not get a second chance. It'd be nice to apprehend Younam."

"Understood. It's that time then. May the Force be with you," she said, beginning to move away.

"And with you, Raven," Qui-Gon replied, watching her go for a moment. The thought crossed his mind that she was more a Jedi at heart that some of the Knights within the Temple itself. She gave freely of herself, with no thought of her gain. The rogue wasn't afraid of confronting wrongs as she could. The sense of trust that he'd had since she'd rescued him from the CorSec welled up within him again, even stronger, he wondered about her leaving the Temple. Abruptly, he brought himself back to the task at hand. Later would be the time for speculation.\