The darkness was held at bay by the flashing neon signs. It was going on midnight, and the bars still served their favorite patrons. Not many souls were out this late in the night, except for wandering to either a bar or their home. Music had ceased to come from the closed doors of the bars. Yet here and there, whooping and hollering could be heard. For most people, it was nothing more than some rowdy men yelling about something, but Deltina's ears caught what most people missed.
"Hey baby!"
"Take it off!"
"Show me some skin!" Deltina scoffed loudly from the shadows she was creeping in. Perverts. I've never seen a society of men more obsessed with women since the backwaters of Coruscant. She had seen what those men could do, and it did nothing to ease her mind about what might have been taking place behind the bar doors. With one final look at the loudest bar at the end of the street, she turned right into the Merchant's Corridor.
Here the lights were much fewer. The bars all had to be separated from the residential area, and the Merchant's Corridor was where that buffer lay. None of the stores had their signs lit or wares displayed for sale. The only thing for sale was either a shot of illegal drugs or a woman. One such vendor slinked up from a dark alley behind Deltina.
"Hey, sexy. How would you like to make some big bucks and get everything you could ever desire?" The pimp was short, not much taller than Deltina's midriff. She turned around and glared into the eyes of the pimp.
"Can you give me back my friend?" The pimp chuckled and lightly placed one arm around her.
"Baby, I am your friend." He smiled up into her face and pinched her. Deltina gave the man a yellow-eyed stare full of hatred, and he started to back away. "Come on, baby. You'll be my best prize! Every man will-" His speech ended as his head flew off into the wall on the other side of the wide street. Deltina bent down over the decapitated body as she put her lightsaber away. She ran a hand quickly through the clothes and, finding nothing worth taking, kicked the body into the wall, letting it fall next to its head. She stood up and looked about quickly and was about to move on before she saw a slight shift in the shadows. Curious, Deltina idly tossed the hilt of her lightsaber in her hand.
"Come on out, there. I won't hurt you, unless you're like this scum." The shadows flinched, and after a few moments, a woman emerged. Her face told of uncountable bruises from the past and her clothes barely covered her at all. Her hair was frizzled and dirty, and her eyes told tales of unspeakable horror. Deltina smiled at the woman, acting as though she were a scared child. "It's OK. Who are you? Were you one of," she gestured towards the headless corpse, "his…agents?" The woman only nodded slowly, clutching to the corner of the alley and street wall. "Well, you don't have to worry about anything now. He won't hurt you anymore. Go home. Start over. Live a good life." The woman looked on Deltina with, not respect, but relief. She stood up and nodded once before scampering off towards the residential area. To think there are scumbags who would do such a thing as sell a woman's body for some credits. She walked over to the pimp's limb body and kicked it a few times before she felt less angry. She harrumphed once in satisfaction before she turned and continued her creep in the shadows of the street.
The steps led down into infinite darkness for even the Tybaltian's eyes. She looked over to her left and still saw no sign of life in the billboard of the Diluted Wine. The note had said midnight, and the big city clock had just chimed the hour only a few minutes ago. She looked again into the darkness and did not feel the fear leave her. Nor the determination. The only lead I have to Arby is down there. I'm not leaving him to die. With tears slowly working their way from her eyes, Deltina slowly descended into the gloom and drew both her lightsaber hilts.
She pushed open the door slowly. It was cracked a bit, and she felt some relief at that. Maybe he's expecting me. Keeping both her lightsabers in her hands but not activated, she glided into the room. Her first step fell on a squeaky floorboard, and she stopped, ready to kill anything that moved. She held her attack position for a minute or so before deciding it was safe to travel on. She looked around and tried to adjust her eyes to the dark, and she was able to make out a few of the objects. She slowly picked her way around the table and chairs with a cat-like grace, keeping her eyes on the bar. As she reached it, she set down one of her lightsabers and felt around for a clue. Her hands soon hit a piece of paper and she greedily grabbed at it. She placed it close to her eyes before she decided to activate the lightsaber in her hand for light. With a soft whoosh and a steady vroom, she held the paper close to light and read the two words on the small slip.
Back door
She read the paper once, twice, then a third time to see if she had missed anything. She grunted and began looking around for a back door before she saw a small slit of light penetrate from under a door. She burnt the piece of paper on her saber and slowly slid to the door. With a steadying breath, she kicked down the door and held both lightsabers high, ready to strike down any foe.
"Ah, there you are." Cardy was sitting down at a small table, a deck of cards laid out before him. He took one glance at the lightsabers before he stood up and ignored them, only the slightest trace of the effort reflected in his eyes. "Come. Our guests have been waiting." He began to reach for the light switch, peeking out into the main bar before he stopped and looked back at Deltina. "Wait a minute? Where's your friend?"
"I don't know," Deltina sighed. "That's why I'm here. I was hoping you could tell me." Cardy shook his head once before shutting the back door and reaching for an identical door a short distance away.
"Well. Quite a pickle. We'll just have to make do. But come, we have to go." He opened the door and flipped off the light switch. With one last look at Deltina in the dark, he slipped through. Deltina walked over there and stopped with a small whimper, her nose wrinkled in disgust.
"Sewage. What luck." With a sigh, she sheathed both her lightsabers and followed the bartender down the passage.
A rat squeaked and ran off through a thin layer of muck. Deltina yelped and jumped backwards.
"What?" yelled Cardy, impatient to continue. "Can we please go?"
"I'm sorry! It's been a while since I hunted rats and the like in gunk like this. I'm coming!" Great! I, Deltina, the legendary Tybaltian of the ShadowLight Jedi, am afraid of a rat and some sewage! Man, if Arby could see me now. She hastened her pace to walk alongside the bartender. "Where are we going?"
"You'll see. It's not much further. I'm sorry about all the shit and stuff floating around, but it's safe. That's all that matters in the long run." Cardy looked closely at the walls as the two walked on in silence.
"So, who are these grand guests I get to meet?" Deltina said after a few minutes. "They must be important, or dangerous, for needing all this secrecy."
"Important. And dangerous only because Kahama hunts them. You see-"
"Wait, what? Why is Kahama hunting them? And why are you expecting me to help?" Deltina stopped dead in her tracks, reaching slowly for one of the hilts on her side.
"You'll see!" Cardy kept trudging on, completely ignoring Deltina. "They won't hurt you, if that's what you're worried about. Let's just go- ah!" He stopped and bent down to examine a grate. A moldy sewage grate, covered in wet moss, dead animal parts sticking out in various and disgusting ways.
"There?" Deltina said as she walked up behind him.
"Yes, there. Now hurry! If we keep them waiting much longer, they'll be gone. Come on!" He lifted up the lid, pieces of the gunk falling into the shoot. Deltina bent over and sniffed over the pipe a few times before muttering, "No smell. This isn't a sewage pipe."
"Correct!" And with that, he pushed her so she lost her balance and pitched headfirst into the shoot. Her scream echoed in front of her as she fell down the greasy slide. Cardy looked around quickly before hopping into the shoot himself, pulling the grate over him, muttering something about giddy girls.
"Umph!" Deltina had hit the floor in more of a belly flop than a head dive. The shoot was angled to prevent such things. "Great welcome," she muttered as she stood up and brushed herself off, only to be knocked down again by Cardy's form crashing down from the shoot.
"Thanks for the soft landing," Cardy said sarcastically as he got off of her. Deltina only grumbled under her breath and glared at him. "Now, this way, if you please." He started to walk a little forward into the darkness before blinding light flashed on. "That's better! Through this door." Deltina only grumbled some more before she opened the door and slipped through.
"Finally! Where have you been? You've been keeping us all night!" The guard grabbed Cardy's arm and dragged him into the small room before shutting the door. He stood about 5'5" in a dark cloak with a blaster pistol in his hand.
"Sorry. Things happen," replied Cardy as he took a spot on the wall nonchalantly. It was impossible to think that only a minute ago he was a bouncing ball of energy, full of urgency and desire to get here. Now he just looked like he wanted to go home. "And besides, notice we don't have our esteemed guest." The guard looked at Deltina for a second before replying.
"You said you'd bring a Jedi. Well, I see a Jedi. So what's the problem?"
"The problem is she's not the one we had contact with previously." This was the first Deltina noticed another figure in the room. She stood up slowly and pulled back her hood. "But that was something I had already feared. Please, Jedi, have a seat. I'm afraid we haven't been properly introduced. My name is Jeona. Jeona de la Rocknai." Deltina tilted her head to one side and opened her mouth slightly in confusion.
"Rocknai… how can you be a Rocknai? Would that mean you're related to Kahama?"
"No. Kahama is a traitor and a liar. Which is why I've brought you here. Arbinger already knows all of this, and-"
"Wait. So you're the girl Arby met the night of the ball?"
"Yes," Jeona replied. "He met me that night. Didn't he tell you anything?"
"Well, yeah. He did. But, I guess I kinda forgot. That night's still pretty hazy, and I never even thought about our dance," she mumbled, slightly embarrassed she really had forgotten until this moment.
"Well, that's quite alright. So, if there's no need to explain anything else, let's get straight down to business." She retook her seat and Deltina took one opposite of her. The guard and Cardy stood on either side of the door, Cardy now holding a blaster rifle.
"What do you need?" asked the Jedi.
"Your sword-arm, in specifics." She pulled out a small cube and clicked a button. A holographic, 3-D layout of the palace was displayed. "One of my men inside has been found out. Well, somewhat. All Kahama knows is that one of his servants has been slipping us information. And he's determined to find out who. He's prepared himself a hiding place once he's found out, but until then, he's just keeping a low profile. Which is unfortunate." Here she clicked another button and the image of a large transport vehicle came up. "Kahama's been bringing a bunch of these ships behind the backs of his supporters. We don't know what's in there, but our contact does. It must be something very important, or Kahama wouldn't mind letting the public know."
"Let me guess," interrupted Deltina. "You want me to somehow pull out your buddy, alive, of course, and then also keep my status with the prince so you get a new contact?"
You're a sharp one," chuckled Jeona. "But there's one more thing we'd like you to do." She pushed another button. "This is a new type of armor Kahama's engineers have been developing. That power you've been asked to claim? They have documents on it. Ancient text that only one of the scholars here was able to translate, and that barely. He said that this power was described as the ability to generate infinite amounts of Force in the user. He also said it was contained in an object. Kahama's always been a very ambitious man, so he's decided to try and duplicate this device. And then implant in into the armor. Simply put, he's trying to mass produce soldiers who have infinite Force abilities." Deltina's eyebrows rose at that as she considered the possibilities.
"Soldiers with infinite Force… Nobody could stand up to them. Not even what's left of the Sith and the New Republic would stand a chance. He'd have the universe in his hand…"
"Correct. What we want you to do is destroy this power when you come in contact with it. Nobody should have it. And we also want you to steal the blueprints for this armor. Our contact has been able to slip us bits and pieces, but he's never been able to lay his hands on the whole thing."
"Is that all?"
"No. There is… one more thing I'd like to ask you," Jeona's voice began to trail off, but it soon came back with a fire and passion. "I want you to bring him out alive. I know this is selfish, but I don't care about anything else. Even if you have to sacrifice everything, just bring him to me alive." Tears began to well up in her eyes. "Please…" Deltina looked on Jeona with a sense of pity. He must be really important to her, if she's the Queen Arby says she is. Thoughts of Arbinger again entered her head, and her feeling of pity turned into that of understanding. She had just lost her favorite person in the world, too. She understood what it meant to face the possibility that he might never return.
"Yes. Yes of course, Jeona. If I fail in every task, I won't let you down there." Jeona looked up at her with a smile and nodded once.
"Thank you. I know you'll do what you can. I believe in you." Jeona sniffed once and then stood up, resuming her dignified stance. "Alright. Then that's settled. Get in contact with Cardy sometime in the week with progress. However you can. We need to know what's going on. And don't do anything foolish." Deltina chuckled at that. "That concludes tonight's meeting. Get back to bed, and get some sleep." Without further ado, she walked out one of the doors leading in, her guard following at her heel.
"Well, that went pretty well." Cardy's face split a small grin as he stood up and began walking towards the last door. "Come on. Let's go home." He opened the door and walked out of it into the dankness of the rain forest. Deltina followed and stopped next to Cardy. "This is where we have to split up." He pointed off to his left. "Go that way and you'll hit the palace's back entrance in no time. You'll be fine. Night." And he left, leaving Deltina to walk back alone with her thoughts.
What a fine mess this is. Not only did I not get any leads to Arby, but I also got roped into another job! And what if she's wrong? What if she's the traitor? Maybe she's plotting to get rid of me. This armor could be fake, and this contact could be an assassin. She paused her slow trek back. But the look in her eyes. She really does like this guy. She can't be lying about that, can she? Oh, I don't know! She hugged herself as she walked out of the trees and through the palace gates. Arby, where are you?
Arbinger lifted his head slightly. He was still chained to the wall, and had been so without any movement since the night he had been taken. He barely had any food or water, and he didn't know what time or day it was, but it felt like an eternity. He blinked several times before he realized he couldn't make his splitting headache go away. He tried moving his head a little more but it hurt too much to do so without a groan. This is what I get for having a heart. That thought had crossed his mind many times over the days, yet he still thought about it with a sense of fondness. But I guess it's worth the price. A feeling had just popped in the back of his mind. It was a feeling of despair, but hoped was laced throughout. And over it all, love shone bright like a lighthouse beacon guiding a ship to safe harbor. Deltina… I'm right here. Help me.