Cassie's Tale

By Daishi Prime

- 4 -

They reached Coruscant a week later, by an untraveled route from a nondescript point in the middle of deep space, so far from any star system not even scientists would have found it interesting. Most of that time was spent in hyper, one short jump after another on any course Cassie could randomly pick up on. A lesser portion of time was spent reprogramming the Dancer's transponder codes, which were the only means of identifying the fighter, as Cassie never bothered painting any markings on the craft.

The landing had been nerve-wracking for her, on several levels. The most obvious was also the least dangerous – she knew someone was seriously after her ward now, and figured they had enough resources and chutzpah to make a try for him even on Coruscant. Between the transponder code, the high traffic volume, and the routine landing protocols, Cassie managed to move that particular fear to the back of her mind. She also had a niggling fear of running into a Jedi, but her comments to the spacer back on Minari had not been boasting. She was confident in her ability to talk down any Jedi.

The worst aspect was one she had not fully anticipated – traffic. Cassie was a product of the Outer Rim, where even the most populous worlds had cities and starports. Where no matter how large, no ship could match the bulk of a planet, and no space station could cut her off. Coruscant was a city, it was a starport, its entire surface covered in buildings, ringed with vehicles, and studded with landing pads sized for everything from single-man starfighters smaller than hers, to the gargantuan mass of cargo freighters and warships. The sheer number of ships rising and descending, arriving and departing, or simply sitting in orbit, was staggering, more than she had seen in her entire life. For all her confidence, navigating through that tangled morass of metal and ions was a daunting prospect. The insistence of Coruscant's traffic control that they remote pilot her ship down did nothing to help, even after she convinced them that the Spiral Dancer couldn't accept such control.

Finally, however, she managed to set down at one of the larger ports, a commercial region in the same hemisphere as Hanjin's Firrenze Academy, but still far enough away to give herself room to maneuver. Once the fighter was settled and powered down, and once she had convinced herself that there were no immediate threats in the area, she made a few calls, had Hanjin make a few more. Between the two of them, they arranged to meet Dilaar Ren, Assistant Head of Security at the Academy, at a small cantina several hundred kilometers from the port.

To Hanjin's delight, Cassie was unwilling to risk his safety on public transportation, even with him 'dressed down' in one of the Dancer's spare work-suits. So they nabbed a taxi-speeder, changing off twice to satisfy her growing paranoia. The traffic in space had been bad, but planet-side, Cassie was finding more problems.

The Force is generated by and absorbed by all living things, she could remember Master Lorus explaining, unconsciously, continuously, a never-ending cycle. The more living things in an area, the more active the cycle. That had been but a small part of his teachings, and she had never considered what it could mean. Now, she had first-hand example, and the pressure of it was getting to her. She had always liked the feeling of cities, a sense of vibrancy and energy that was only surpassed when she was flying. Coruscant was so much worse, she could feel the energies of billions of living beings thundering about her, and shutting out the noise was difficult, distracting, enervating. She couldn't believe the members of the Jedi Order lived with this so continuously.

As she had planned, they arrived at the cantina well ahead of time. The buffer gave her a chance to scout the area, leaving Hanjin sitting at a table with his back to a wall. She made two circuits of the cantina itself, one inside, one outside, noting exits and entrances, likely hiding places and probable sniper positions. She did not much care for the place, in general, as there were far too many places for unsavory types to hide, and far too many people for her to keep track of, but the entire planet was like that.

Eventually, she settled down beside Hanjin to wait, plain water in front of each of them. It wasn't long before something started pulling at her senses, a combination of general distortion and a change in the patterns of the crowd. "Keep watch for a minute," she told Hanjin, then leaned back and slipped into a light trance. Two things became clear to her almost immediately. Someone in the area was manipulating the Force, subtly and skillfully. Second, and of more immediate concern, at least four beings in the cantina had specific hostile intentions towards her and her charge.

She snapped out of the trance, blinking quickly to clear her senses, then grabbed Hanjin and hauled him to his feet. "We're leaving."

"But, what about Dilaar?"

"Mister Ren's going to be disappointed, about something," she responded, shoving him towards the rear exit. "someone in there's looking to kill you, and we aren't hanging around to find out who."

Now that she had recognized their presence, it was relatively easy for her to sense the motions through the crowd. All four figures had seen them, and were shifting towards the exit as well. One would reach them before she could get Hanjin out of the building, but she had enough time to get him into the short access passage.

"When I stop, keep going," she ordered as the passage door closed behind them, "I'll find you once I delay the pursuit."

She shoved him out of the cantina just as the passage opened again behind her. Spinning back around, she found herself faced with a cloaked and hooded figure, goggles covering its eyes, a cloth over its lower face. Standing sideways, she held up her left hand in a 'stop' gesture. "You do not want to do this, neighbor," she warned, right hand drawing her lightsaber as subtly as possible.

He remained in the door, unmoving, "I'm being paid enough to risk a Jedi. And unlike you, I have friends."

Mentally, she cursed. Outwardly, she replied, "Sorry to hear that." Unlike the sensory or mental techniques, Cassie had always been more than skilled with the purely physical aspects of the Force. With her hand already up as focus, it was simplicity itself to launch the mercenary back into the cantina, suddenly and with enough force to bowl over the two mercenaries right behind him. A flick of her hand, and the door hissed closed, not quite quickly enough to stop a blaster-bolt from coming through, but it was poorly aimed. Another twist of the Force, and the door wrenched in its frame, buying her time.

She did not wait to find out how much, but turned and lunged through the outer door after Hanjin. He was down the alley/hall outside and around a corner, crouched where it let out onto the street, watching the traffic. She slid up on the opposite side of the opening, and checked outside herself.

"That's, an Academy speeder," he said, pointing to a large vehicle hovering at the landing platform in front of the cantina. "But those aren't the Academy's guards."

"Recognize Ren?"

There was an odd note to Hanjin's voice, and he pulled a little further behind the crate he was behind. "He's the one standing to the side, blue and white outfit."

"Why aren't you out there saying hello?"

Hanjin grunted. "I may enjoy a good time as much as any guy, but I'm not an idiot. Those aren't Academy guards. And Dilaar Ren is not entitled to that uniform. Only the Academy Master At Arms is, and I don't remember Dilaar challenging for the post, let alone succeeding. It would've been all over the hypercomms, I'd have heard within hours of the challenge, let alone a victory. And I don't think he could have beaten Master Tydus,either - no one could beat an Anx master of Teras Kaasi. 'Cept maybe a Jedi."

Cassie nodded, "Then we're leaving by other means. Come on."

She turned and started back down the alley, heading down the continuation of the alley behind the cantina. They reached the corner and she glanced around it quickly, finding both ways empty. She started down the alley, away from the cantina, already scanning it for another turn or door she could use to get her ward into cover.

They were fifty meters down when The Force brought her warning. She spun in place, left hand grabbing Hanjin by the collar and throwing him to the floor, while her right hand whipped up her lightsaber. A blaster-bolt bounced off the lightsaber, striking the overhead metal with a crack of vaporized metal, while more whined past in the narrow confines.

Hanjin, surprised or not at his sudden landing, rolled onto his back and produced a pistol she hadn't suspected he had. It was small, a fancy hold-out, but started returning fire with a steady, metronome-like rate of fire. With that as cover, she completed her spin, lunged up the alley and sliced open a door-lock. "Here!" she shouted, pulling Hanjin along the floor with the Force. To her surprise, he didn't panic but continued shooting until he was at the door. She stepped over him, lightsaber flashing to deflect bolt after bolt when his pistol fell silent, then dodged into the door after him.

Hanjin hadn't waited for her. The door let into some sort of office space, and he simply ran through it, ignoring the surprised shouts of the office's inhabitants. Cassie came through on his heels, closing down the lightsaber as she ran to avoid accidentally hitting a bystander, and they burst out the front of the office into a main thoroughfare.

Cassie took a fast glance around as Hanjin tried to hail a taxi, and shouted, "Cross!" She pointed to a facing alley, and when the moment felt right, bolted into traffic, dragging the noble with her. Horns blared, engines screamed at sudden stress, and she thought she heard a distinctly un-musical crash, but she ignored it all to reach that alley.

They ran into the poorly lit tunnel, and she took the first turn that came to hand, running flat-out for the far end. She was almost there when someone stepped into the tunnel. In the reflected street lights, she saw a bald human head, a face half hidden behind wrap-around sunglass, and a too-familiar tattoo. Irritated by the inexplicable reappearance of this particular bad penny, she snapped on her lightsaber and charged. The figure flinched back a step, then froze as her lightsaber swept past his neck in fast lunge.

For a moment, the two of them stood there, him frozen with his hands extended away from his sides, she extended in a lunge, her lightsaber centimeters from his unprotected throat. She broke the silence, snarling at him, "Who are you, pirate, and who's paying you to follow me?"

His eyebrows rose slightly, "Is it compatible with the Jedi Code to threaten an unarmed man?"

"You've been there twice now when someone tried to kill my ward. The Code's prohibition on needless killing is the only reason you're still alive to be questioned. Answer me!"

"Here is not the place, padawan," he said, "as your pursuers close in on you. However, I believe this should provide you some minor reassurance." She felt the Force shift and change, felt it start with him, and couldn't help glancing down as his cloak fell away to reveal a heavy hand-torch strapped to his leg. It came away with a click, flipped through the air to a safe distance, and ignited into a lightsaber, the blue glow contrasting with the light shed by her own.

She could only stare at it in shock for a few seconds. Hanjin prodding her shoulder brought her back to herself, and she shut down her own blade with a grunt. "You should've told me that sooner, Jedi," she muttered. She brushed past him, turning down the new alley away from the street. "Come on, Hanjin, we'll loose the pursuit down here."

"I have a faster method available, padawan," the newly identified Jedi offered, retrieving his own lightsaber.

"I don't think so."

"Probably a good idea," Hanjin countered, in the alley now but leaning back around the corner to watch for pursuit. "seconds count, and..."

"Fine, go," Cassie agreed, feeling the shift in approaching malice. "I've got rear guard. Hanjin, he tries anything weird, shoot him in the back. I don't like the feel of this guy."

The Jedi smiled slightly and bowed, seeming to accept her threat without note, then turned back towards the street. He led them into a building, wherein they found a small, non-descript speeder. Over his protests, Cassie pushed Hanjin into the cramped rear, and settled into the passenger seat herself, power-down lightsaber sitting in her lap, while the still unidentified Jedi brought the craft out of standby, and slid out of the garage. A few moments later they were well away, shifting through Coruscant's unending traffic.

"My name," the Jedi said, breaking the silence first, "is Tenar Ressal, a Miralukan. I hold the rank of Knight in the Jedi Order. Despite your impression of me, Jedi Lorus, my intentions towards you have never been hostile. Your own senses are quite finely honed in that area, and it would take a more powerful Jedi than I to hide any hostility I might feel towards you, or your companion."

Cassie grunted, then replied, "Best bounty-hunters in the galaxy don't feel anything for their targets, Jedi. What were you doing on Minari?"

He sighed slightly, then explained, "Despite what you told me there, the Jedi Order is quite interested in you. We began hearing rumors of an unknown Jedi in the Outer Rim some two years ago. Being a freshly minted Knight with applicable skills, I was sent to investigate. At the time, it was assumed that you were merely an impersonator, at best a self-taught dabbler who had come by her lightsaber through nefarious means."

"I built this lightsaber with my own hands," Cassie muttered, rolling the device in her hands, remembering. It was a simple design, a basic housing, minimal circuitry and no decoration. Like her fighter, like her appearance, like her life - nothing beyond what she needed to get the job done. "Per my Master's instructions, fulfilling his last wish, and claiming the rank of Jedi Knight for myself."

"Fulfilling one of the traditional tests," he agreed. "As I said, that was the Order's impression at the time. I learned several things very quickly, however. The first was that you are a very difficult woman to track over any great distance. You are far more... mobile... than most, worse even than the tramp freighters. Additionally, you have a habit of inspiring loyalty in the strangest people, and initially I could find no one willing to speak of you save in the most general terms. Until I ran into a pirate you brought in to Naboo, and got an earful. Finally, I also discovered the name you use, and it matched the records of one Yrthan Lorus, a Zabrak who achieved his mastery some thirty years ago, and made a specialty of the Outer Rim. He had come no closer to Coruscant than the Mid Rim in fifteen years, and the Order's only record of him in the last ten years was notification of his death at the hands of pirates.

"It was simple enough, in the Outer Rim itself, to find records of him in that time, including visual records and statements noting the presence of a young human female apprentice." He grinned, "Universally described as, 'short, waif-like, and possessed of inhuman reaction time.' After discovering that, it merely remained to confirm that you were his last padawan, which task required meeting you. That, alas, proved impossible until, while investigating the latest report of one of your captures, I stopped in at a small port-side cantina before taking ship for Coruscant once more."

"So what were you doing on the Gallant Venture?"

"Meeting you convinced me you were a Jedi, it is obvious in your stance, your attitude, and your aura. However, I wanted to know more, how complete your training had been, and how well you had learned it. I was somewhat disappointed when you abandoned an entire shipload of civilians to a pirate attack, but your escape proved more efficacious than you may realize. The pirates attempted to pursue you into hyper and hold the ship at the same time, a division of resources which lost them both targets. After that, I merely proceeded to Coruscant as quickly as possible, and began monitoring the traffic nets for the arrival of any Gunstar-class starfighters. From there, tracking you through the Force was simple enough."

"Never heard of that," Cassie muttered, "tracking another Jedi using the Force. Didn't think it was possible, without them using the Force at the time."

"Like I said, I have certain skills which are quite useful in investigations. I am something of an oddity in the Order, as I rarely display my membership openly. I investigate things, generally quietly, and report back for others to take action, should it prove necessary. Your display in the cantina today was much more impressive. Well controlled, both in your self and in your actions, you reacted quickly and intelligently to the appearance of danger, and manged to extricate yourself and your companion from the scene without seriously harming anyone."

"Never been one to fight inside. I'm a pilot, not a gun-bunny. Why aren't we headed back to my ship?"

"The Temple will be much safer..."

"Like hell we're going to the Temple. Whoever's after Hanjin has money, power, and the will to use both. They know I'm a Jedi, and will be monitoring the Temple."

"They will also, no doubt, be monitoring your ship. However they discovered your presence in the cantina, they will now know that you are on Coruscant. Not too many Gunstars come here, and they will find it much easier to do you and your companion harm at your fighter than in the Temple."

Cassie grinned, "I told you, Jedi, I'm a pilot. No one's going to 'do me harm' when the Dancer's near to hand. If you don't want to go, fine, just drop us off right now, and I'll arrange separate transport."

For the first time, Hanjin spoke, "I'd listen to her, Jedi. She may be nuts, but she's also proven very good at this so far."

"So be it," Tenar agreed, turning the air-speeder into another traffic pattern.

Several hours later found the three of them clustered around the Dancer's aft end, Tenar's speeder pulled in beside the fighter. Cassie checked the area around the ship, then set Ace to monitoring the ship's sensors for anything remotely hostile. While Coruscant's general traffic made it difficult, she chose to limit his scanning range to the reach of the Dancer's own guns, which cut down on the false alarms.

While she did that, Hanjin had apparently been discussing the situation with Tenar. When she rejoined them, they were in the middle of a mild argument of some sort.

"Look, I know I can trust him, because I know him," Hanjin argued.

"Anyone can be bought, young Prince," Tenar countered, "and the Hutts have the resources to buy anyone. If they have gone so far as to suborn the head of your Academy's security, they will not hesitate to buy your friends, as well."

"Not Maikan. His family is so tight with the Jedi, most people think they are Jedi. Maikan's looking at the Altarrian Rangers, which means he keeps his nose as clean as possible. For a student, anyway. Besides, he's a friend."

Cassie joined in by dropping from the Dancer's back to the tarmac, converting the crouch of landing to a slumped seat. "Find that hard to believe, you having friends, Hanjin. Gimme something more concrete."

Tenar gave her a mildly disapproving look, but Hanjin just grinned. "Fine, I owe him a beer."

Tenar's look transferred to the prince. "A beer?"

Cassie laughed, "A beer. Good enough for me. Bloody students."

"I don't understand," Tenar commented, "How is a single beer going to influence a young student in the face of all the Hutts can and will offer?"

"It's a kid thing," Cassie replied, "I know, because I spend all my time out here," she gestured around vaguely, "in the real world. No student gives a flip about who owes them a drink, except their best friends. It's a challenge thing, seeing who can come out ahead without actually risking the friendship. Not always beers, but you get the picture, yes? Hanjin wants to contact this guy, I'm guessing? I say, why not? If Hanjin owes him a beer, he'll want to collect. What's it about, anyhow?"

Hanjin turned to her, interrupting and ignoring Tenar's explanation, "I still need to get to the Academy. Despite the Jedi's concerns, the Hutts won't have that much pull at the Academy, too many other people are leery of just this sort of situation, so screening's incredibly tight. Ren's gotta be planning on being gone in the next couple of days, or the Academy's auditors'll be all over him. Even if the Hutts just removed Master Tydus for him to take the position of Master At Arms, that'll still be investigated. If I can get on campus, I can get in touch with the Headmaster. A student bringing this sort of story, especially right at start of term, will have the whole place locked down tighter than the Jedi Temple. No one will get in or out, and the Headmaster will keep me and Ren as far away from each other as possible. With the attention from other families, the Hutts won't be able to do anything. I just have to get on campus and talk to the Headmaster."

"And this Maikan can get us on campus? Without alerting the security teams?"

"Yeah, sure. Easy as breathing."

"How do you know?"

"'Cause he did it once before. There's a way in, but you have to have someone already inside to pull it off. And it can't be set up in advance, they have to be waiting at just the right place at exactly the right time. Maikan can be there, I just have to let him know."

Cassie thought it over, for a few seconds, then nodded. "Fine, we'll go for it. Get on the comms, contact Maikan. Be as subtle as you can, right? His line'll be tapped."

"I know that!"

"Once he's on board, tell me what else we'll need. Comm's in the Dancer." Hanjin scrambled up the ladder and forward, leaving Cassie alone with Tenar. She cocked her head at him, and asked, "So, why are you still hanging around?"

Tenar mirrored her look. "There is an injustice, a relative innocent in danger for things he did not do. I would be remiss as a Jedi Knight if I did not attempt to rectify the situation. This plan of his is foolhardy, however. I am familiar with the Academy, in a general way, and he is quite correct about their reaction to his story. I just do not believe he will be able to enter the Academy undetected."

"That's why I'll be going with him."

"We will be going with him."

Cassie shook her head, "Uh uh, no way, spacer. You've been dogging my heels long enough. I'm grateful for the assist earlier, but this is my mission, and I don't do groups. Hanjin and I will make our way in without you."

"Foolish of you, to turn down assistance."

"Who says I'm turning down assistance?" She grinned at the surprised look that flashed on his face before he regained control. "I just don't want you going in with us. Didn't say anything about you not going in."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Well now, that's an interesting question, Jedi. Just how good are you at appearing to be something you're not?"