The Imperial Palace is a marvel of engineering. At its base it covers kilometers of Coruscant's surface, and extends even higher into the atmosphere. The skyscape scene from the viewports of the tallest spire shows only the deep purple of high atmosphere.
If the Imperial Palace could have been picked up and drop on any planet, with the exception of a few of the Core Worlds, it would have been considered a metropolis in its own right. Even in the middle of the night, there are over a million sentients sleeping or working in the building.
Contained within the building, are numerous shops, countless restaurants, the multitudes of offices of the bureaucracy needed to govern a galaxy, and the apartments of the elite of the New Republic. In addition there are countless courtyards and parks as well as gyms and pools and even a fully functional medical center.
It is said that one could live his entire life, from birth to death, within the confines to the Imperial Palace.
This is the building which the Mogwai have been released into.
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As Jacen bursts into the home he shares with his parents and siblings, he sees his mother and girlfriend in the kitchen staring up into a ceiling vent. He slides to a stop. "Are you both all right?"
The two women turn towards him, Tenel Ka nods her head. "Fact."
Leia looks back up into the vent, wiping the slime from her face. Jacen takes a step closer to them, looking around the room. "Where are the Mogwai?"
Leia points up into the vent. "They went in there."
Jacen grabs his mother's shoulders, and pulls her around to face him. "Mom, we need to close down and evacuate the Palace."
Leia glances up into the duct once more, then looking back at her son; she silently nods her head in agreement. As they walk towards the door, Jacen pauses. "Where's Gizmo?"
Horror crosses Leia's face. "You want to take one of those things with us?"
Jacen ignores her, and rushes down the hall to his room. Opening the door, he can hear a muffled pounding from an overturned box. Lifting it gently, Gizmo pops his head out, a smile brightening his features.
Jacen lifts Gizmo to his shoulder, and returns to where Leia and Tenel Ka are waiting. Opening the door, he quickly slips out, reaching with the Force trying to sense any of the creatures.
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Jaina and Zekk land their speeder in the hanger bay, and get out, walking at a fast pace towards the turbolight. Zekk presses the recall button, and takes a step back as the machinery hums to life. He glances at Jaina, and gives her a small smile. "So you think this is as bad as Jace says?"
Jaina laughs slightly. "Probably not."
The door opens, and there's a grey scaly creature standing there, cackling madly. It darts out, brushing past Jaina's leg eliciting a scream from her. "What was that?"
Zekk shakes his head. "Don't know. But it went this way."
He walks back towards their landspeeder, as a wrench comes flying out from the darkness striking him on the back. Spinning and igniting his blade in one smooth motion, he looks in the direction which the wrench had come. Jaina ignites her saber as well. Moving cautiously, she begins walking that way, senses alert for an attack.
As she nears the workbench, a flicker of movement to her right startles her and she spins that way, but sees nothing. Lowering her saber from a ready position, she turns back to Zekk.
"I don't see anything over here."
Zekk turns towards Jaina, consternation clouding his face. "Well, whatever that thing was got off the turbolift and ran into here."
Jaina opens her mouth to reply, when something large and scaly drops onto her shoulder. As she twists to get it off, she can feel claws gripping her hair and arm, and sharp teeth slicing into her shoulder. Letting out a cry of pain, she slips to her hands and knees.
Within seconds Zekk is by her side, his saber raised and stabbing into the gremlin. With an ear-shattering shriek, the creature drops away from Jaina, grasping at the back of its head where the lightsaber had burned into it.
Zekk steps around Jaina, and slams his saber down into the creature, and then steps back as it slowly begins to melt until all that is left is a puddle of greenish-yellow goo.
Frowning, Zekk turns back to Jaina, and helps her stand back up. "Come on; let's try to get to your parent's apartment."
Jaina nods her head slowly, and Zekk frowns at how grey her skin has become. He quickly pulls out his comlink, and flicks it on, trying to contact Jacen. After a second, Jacen's voice comes out of the device. "Solo."
"Hey Jace, Jaina got bit by something green and scaly, we're in hanger 135.42-x."
"Okay, there should be a med-station two floors above you, we'll meet you there."
"Okay."
Zekk flicks off the comlink and then ignoring Jaina's protests picks her up in his arms, and carries her to the turbolift, keying in for the floor where they are to meet Jacen.
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Jacen, Leia and Tenel Ka walk into the med-station a few minutes after Jaina and Zekk arrive. Leia quickly walks over to her daughter, wrapping her in a hug. "Are you all right Jaina?"
"I'm fine mom." Then she turns towards Jacen. "Did you ever get a hold of Anakin?"
Jacen slowly shakes his head. "Not yet. He and Tahiri were going to one of the pools, probably the one closest to the apartment, but he's not answering his comm."
Leia pinches the bridge of her nose. "Okay, so we have killed two of them now, so that leaves thirteen. I'll need to go down to the command center, and see about making sure nothing can get out of here."
Leia pauses before looking back up. "Jacen, you and Tenel Ka start looking for these creatures, killing them when you find them. Jaina, once you're done here, find Anakin and Tahiri."
Leia looks at the twins and then their friends, seeing the resolve on the four young people's faces. She nods her head. "Keep in touch, and may the Force be with you."
As she turns to leave, Jaina asks a final question. "Mom, where's dad?"
Leia pauses at the door. "The hanger for the Falcon, and no he's not answering the comm either."
Jaina watches as Leia disappears into the hallway. Then turning to Zekk, fer face is set in determination. "We're going to make a stop by the hanger to find my dad before we go get Anakin."
Zekk just nods his head, as Tenel Ka and Jacen leave the med-station. A few minutes later, with a bacta patch affixed to her shoulder, they leave, heading towards the hanger where the Falcon is at.