Chapter 3
Oliso Dofer watched the holovid in front of her. In it, Altamira Tonuu walked out on a high balcony, waving to those below. From behind a blaster fired. She dove sharply backwards, the shot missing her by mere centimeters. The bolt of energy went on hit an officer in the lower leg, and he cried out in pain. A second shot grazed Tonuu in the shoulder. She rolled to the side to avoid a third shot. The scrambling officers accidentally knocked her flat to the ground… The fourth and final shot struck centimeters from her neck. A shot that could have killed her.
A figure dressed in a long black cape caught Oliso's eye. It was, as Altamira Tonuu described. Tall, stout, Human or some sort of humanoid. The cape swirled around it as it darted from the balcony. The tape didn't show much, but for some reason Oliso felt like she was missing something. Something was there right in front of her face, but she was missing it. Oliso could see the same feeling stretched across Nerca, Lexoc, Keldu and Jesbra's faces, and feel it flowing off of them.
Keldu's hazel eyes, which were always easy to read, clouded with uncertainty. Jesbra's eyes gleamed grey-green, as they did when she felt uncertain. Lexoc's eyes seemed a darker shade of brown than they usually did and even Nerca's black eyes reflected her feelings.
Oliso and the rest of the Kindred Knights sat in the room that she and Nerca would share. Jesbra and Keldu had perched themselves in two chairs with cushions as green as the leaves of the giant Uri tree in the room's corner. Oliso, Lexoc and Nerca had folded themselves up on cushions the same color green as the chairs, carpet and walls of the room.
Afternoon sunlight flooded through the large window in the wall. The light reflected off the zurite in the buildings outside, bathing the room in an aqua glow.
The tape played over again. This time Oliso noticed a few more things. The person's hand was large, hardened and scarred. Probably a man. Oliso could see a strand of dark hair stream out from under the hood as the man ran. Small clues that were hard to spot but they might be useful. Judging by the speed and size of the shot, Oliso guessed that he was using a RX-22 blaster rifle. A rare expensive weapon. This person looked like quite an accomplished assassin.
Oliso took the records off the table in front of her. She quickly scanned the datachip file on her datapad. Nothing.
How did this figure slide in and out so fast? Was this perhaps an inside job? Or just a really talented hacker?
Dead ends were everywhere and there were so many unanswered questions. What to do next?
After conferring with the others, Oliso decided that they should wake the Padawans and do an on-the-spot investigation. When Oliso slid the door open she found Xera waiting.
"Where would you like to go?" Xera asked.
"After we awake our students, then we would like you to take us to the spot where Tonuu's crisis occurred," Nerca answered her. Xera nodded that she would take them.
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After retrieving students weary because of a six hour shift in their day cycle, Xera led the Kindred Knights and students down many busy corridors. They came to the most heavily guarded section of the building. The guards saw the Jedi approaching and pulled open the two, large durasteel doors as though they were royalty.
The small group stepped out onto a large permacrete balcony covered in scorch marks. Flanking the large balcony on either side and a level and a half up were smaller balconies, connected to the larger by staircases. Ornate and intricately designed railings skirted all three balconies and both staircases, depicting the epic tale of Trep-tiersk la Chet-Nmon, legendary Iamese hero in hieroglyphs.
Oliso examined the scorch marks on the permacrete below her feet carefully. Now she was almost sure that it was an RX-22.
Other than the large scorches, she saw smaller singed spots, which she guessed were from the average-sized blaster pistols that most people carried with them. She could also see scrapes in the permacrete, probably from where some guards had fallen trying to escape.
The Padawans were using the standard Jedi strategy of walking in ever-widening circles, examining the ground. However, the Kindred Knights' methods were slightly more orthodox. Lexoc and Keldu had made their way to the left hand balcony while Jesbra was examining the right. Nerca stood at the edge of the central balcony running her hand across the elegant railing.
Nerca signaled Oliso. "Come here."
She answered by jogging over to where Nerca stood. "What?" Oliso asked.
"Look at this," Nerca said holding out her hand. Oliso bent forward to look at it. On Nerca's thin hand were tiny little pieces of something.
"What is it?" Oliso asked, still staring at the substance.
"I'm not quite sure," Nerca said, pouring the pieces into a small canister on her belt. "But I mean to find out."
"What did you find?" Keldu asked, coming up behind Nerca.
"Small particles off the banister," Nerca answered, closing the canister. She gestured to Xera, who was waiting silently on the balcony's edge, immediately. "Please, call Tonuu. We wish to speak with her."