Chapter 16

Location: Government District on the planet Coruscant

All systems were a go!

Operation "Cat Trap" was moments from beginning. There was a buzz of energy in the Hotel room the team had set up base in. Besides Tahiri and Dena, everyone else was here. Hands instinctually went for lightsaber hilts when several harsh knocks rang out in the room from the door. Just as quickly all in the room returned their hands to a neutral position after the knocker and his companion had been identified by their unique force presence. Jaina walked up to the room's entrance and pressed a button on the panel. The door slid open to reveal... Han and Leia Solo.

Her greetings consisted of an obligatory eye roll followed by: "Dad, can you just once activate the door chime, instead of banging like a mad man."

Leia stepped inside, and while embracing her daughter, she replied: "He is a mad man, sweety."

Han put a hand around his daughter's shoulders and asked: "How goes the battle kid?"

After exchanging first familial greetings with Jaina and Ben, and then a general warm salutations to the room's only other occupant, Corran took Han aside. "How did you find out about our little party?"

He asked this with the slightest whiff of nervous suspicion.

"Don't worry! Your hidy-hole ain't blown, we talked to Master Sebatyne right before she headed back for Shedu. She told us were to find you." Han said.

Now it was Corran's turn to roll his eyes and he asked "Doesn't that long tail know the meaning of the term "Need to know"?

With a lopsided grin Han parted his hands upward in an "I'm innocent" gesture and with an equally "innocent" tone he replied "Hey, you know how it goes... ex-Master/Padawan prerogative... what can you do?"

At that moment they heard a voice over the Communicator: "Look alive people, she's here!"

Tahiri and Dena had set up on a small 2nd story (that is 2nd storey in relation to sky level, which was already kilometres above the planets surface) balcony of the towers directly across from Tendrando arms. Their observation nest included a high powered Macrobinocular Tripod setup, a surveillance go bag courtesy of GA Security, and a mobile compact Data hub that was equipped with duel Data screens, a multi channel comms scanner and 2 headsets.

The Balcony team had just spotted Vestara arriving by air taxi. It dropped her off on the large balcony courtyard that served as the tower's upper city entrance. As was the case at the Tendrando Arm's tower, the Balcony of many upper city buildings were connected by a vast pedway system, that connected the towers to each other. Large balconies/platforms that were several square kilometres in size, served as an airspeeder landing pad, an outdoor food court, and a general courtyard, to the upper city.

Dena locked onto Vestara, with the macrobinoculars, and zoomed in on the target. Everything she was viewing also showed up on the compact units data display and was also being transmitted to the hotel base.

"We see her" Corran's voice came through their headset.

Dena had to remind herself to breathe as she watched Vestara head for the steps of Tendrando Arms. She hadn't had many interactions with Vestara, but when she had they were usually marked by fear and humiliation. Dena knew all too well how dangerous this innocuous looking "girl" could be.

Although Dena served as a spy for the Qrephs and had supplied certain needed security codes to them, it was Vestara who had used the codes to cause a mining catastrophe that killed nearly 30,000 of Lando's workers. What made the act that much more despicable was the fact that all those lives were simply just "collateral damage" in her failed quest to kill her real targets: Han and Leia. She did it without hesitation or remorse. "Monster" that was the only word that came close to describing Vestara.

She wasn't alone, inside the Hotel room, Vestara's image had caused the whole room to grow silent as everyone huddled around the display. Everyone but Ben shared the same feelings toward her albeit perhaps a different shade.

Han had nothing but disgust and hate for her, after she led an attack that nearly killed his grand daughter. Not to mention her attempt on himself that cost so many lives.

Leia viewed the girl with a more ideological distain. She was her exact polar opposite and as far as she was concerned, there was no place for the both of them in the galaxy.

Corran, had a sense of cold resentment toward her, since she had infiltrated their midst and fooled all of them into believing she had given up her Sith ways.

Jaina was a bit overprotective when it came to Luke and Ben. Maybe with Mara's death something was triggered in her, something innate and maternal. Whatever the case: Vestara had chosen the wrong somebody's uncle/cousin to mess with.

Then there was Ben.

He deeply hated that he had loved her so much. He had hated her like he had hated Jacen for killing his mother, only in this case it was good and redeemable Vestara who had been killed by the terminally self centred Vestara. Add to that all the murders she had stained her hands with... Chance and Tendra. She was truly lost to evil and she and her people had to be excised from the galaxy. He channeled his negative energy into that one goal.

"Switching to internal surveillance." Tahiri's voice crackled into the room.

The view of a long hallway filled the display. It suddenly blinked with static but within a second the video was restored (failed force flash). It was a hallway off the main entrance. They watched as Vestara quickly moved down toward the maintenance room at the end.

Once she was out of camera range, everyone resorted to to their own internal countdown until with mixed predictions, she showed up again on the screen. One failed force flash later, they watched as she climbed into the building ventilation shaft and again she was out of sight. The next set of cameras were set up where the tracking snares were.

For the snare, they kept it simple. During the building's construction, throughout the ventilation system, bundles of essential wiring had been fed through through the duct work as an efficient way to keep the utilities and mechanical systems easily accessible. Corran had made sure that 3 innocent enough looking bundles of wires throughout the passage would include one stubborn wire that formed an oversized loop. At the tip of the loop was the tracker. The goal was not to catch her with the loop but for the top of the loop to graze her as she passed by, thus depositing the discreet tracker to her clothing.They set up 3, counting on the redundancy for success. They dared not go higher then 3 and risk her noticing a pattern.

In the vents she was not aware of the planted camera's existence, so there was no force flash interruption. They watched as she passed over the first tracker.

Everyone held their breath, until the camera zoomed in on the end of the loop.

"No Joy" Tahiri needlessly said over the comm.

The tracker was still there. Several minutes later the second snare came into view. Again: Failure.

"Don't worry, there is a reason why we had three. The last one is in a particularly tight junction. It will work." Corran said.

A few minutes after that, she approached the last tracker and then she crossed over it and... The camera zoomed in to the end of the looped wire and... Nothing!

Success!

Sure enough a green light activated on the tracker screen which had just become active. A map started to form around the green dot. It zoomed in closer... and closer... and... then: The map faded back to nothing and the green light winked out.

"Damn!"

Several voices in the room said. The tracker had only partially attached and had fallen off. A quick assessment of the surveillance footage, confirmed it.

"Ok.. OK... Alright, we are still in the game! She still has to get back out. That doubles are chances." Corran said with a confident tone that no one was buying.

A few minutes later, the surveillance camera in the data storage centre was forced flashed. When the image came back, Vestara could clearly be seen making her way to one of the service terminals. She looked at ease, and why shouldn't she?The room was only accessed by staff when there was a problem, which was rare. The next 20 minutes proceeded in an expected anticlimactic manner, that isn't to say "the team" relaxed. Everyone's eyes were fixed to the display as if the secrets of the universe were about to be exposed.

Then she started to close shop on whatever she was doing. She then went to exit out of the room...

IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION!!!

This time she headed for THE ROOM'S PROPER EXIT!

To Corran, it all started to make horrific sense. She was dressed in a semi formal smart outfit, not some spy jumpsuit. Add to that the simple truth: that people coming into the building have more scrutiny than people leaving, it all made damn belated sense. She would exit out the building's public entrance and attract zero attention from staff and security. This is how she must have done it the first time. Previous analysis had only indicated that she had used the Vent. They had foolishly assumed it had been an in and out passage. Now, there would be no 2nd shot at the snares.

Corran went to speak in to the comm but then changed his mind. He just stood there trying to purge himself of emotions that were dangerous to a Jedi.

Jaina grabbed the comm from his hand (a fellow master could get away with that) and called out "Dena! Send in Dena!"

At hearing this Dena's eyes widened to the size of gas giants, and all she could say was: "No! No! I'm not an assassin spy! I'm a corporate spy! I do numbers not... not this (she said while gesturing over the balcony)."

Tahiri, just stood there, closed her eyes, and opened herself fully to the force. This was it. She could sense that this was one of those pivotal momentsin time, and she would not fail. The path in front of her began to reveal itself. With that, her eyes burst open full of steely determination.

She dug her hand into the GA "spy bag" and pulled out a small cylinder, and then she turned to Dena who was still sputtering out resistance to her involvement. Crouching down with her right arm drawn back she closed her eye's again.

"What!... What's wrong Tahiri?" She asked.

Tahiri responded exactly how you would expect a statue would:

Nothing.

A moment later, Tahiri's eyes flew open and she thrust forward with her right hand toward... DENA!

The poor woman was hit by a force push and was sent flying off the balcony like a rocket upward an outward, all the while releasing a scream that faded into the distance.

In the same instance, with a running start, Tahiri force launched herself from the top of the railing. She perceived time slow down as the force once again proved to be her ally. She flew with her forward momentum toward the stream of air traffic in front of and below her.

With such a dizzying amount of traffic, it would be easy at this point to become overwhelmed and loose focus with devastating results. She, however, was a Jedi knight. Even before she pushed Dena, her attention had been guided by the force to an air speeder that had been a block away, at the time. She saw the target speeder now rushing towards her.

With a flip, she changed her orientation from forward dive to a bracing crouch and... with a heavy thud/bang she landed on the hood of the speeder. Before she could even draw breath, the still screaming Dena Yus fell right into the waiting strong arms of Tahiri.

Catching the woman, she directed the excess energy by turning into the catch and with uninterrupted motion she gently placed her onto the hood.

The occupants of the speeder, two Gran in business apparel, responded with fist shakes, yelling (which just sounded like muffled honks/groans) and a slew of denunciations in their native tongue. Ignoring the simpering wreck of a woman beside her, she pointed at the tower to their left (directly across from balcony they were previously on) and spoke in a tone the brooked no argument: TAKE ME THERE, NOW! THIS IS JEDI BUSINESS! Although legally the jedi had no jurisdiction on Curoscant anymore, to the common person, Jedi were Jedi. The Gran at the controls turned the speeder (all the while cursing out the Jedi for her ill timing) toward the Tendrando arms Tower, all the while cutting through traffic and dodging speeders that now sped across their path.

Dena still was recovering from her ordeal and was almost finished hyperventilating. At this point the screaming had ended and now she was just blubbering a bit.

Gently, but firmly Tahiri cupped Dena's face and said: "DENA! DENA! Listen to me.. are you listening? You are the only one that can do this, do you understand that?"

which the gasping Dena nodded a "yes".

Tahiri continued: "I'm going to drop you off and I've got to clear the area so Vestara doesn't detect me. You have to find a way to get this on her!"

From her robes, she produced a tracker.

"I... I CA... I Cant... do this" Dena said.

"You have to do this, you're are only hope!"

Dena was still unconvinced "Bu...but.. she'll... recognize me!"

Without any reply, Tahiri produced the small cylinder that she had taken from her GA Security bag.

She raised it to Dena's face and said: "Close your eyes!".

She then pressed down on the cylinders top applicator and began to spray out a blue mist. The mist was then pulled through the air to Dena's skin, as if it was magnetized. When most of the droplets made contact with her face, it turned her skin a light blue colour in one naturally even coat. She quickly repeated this with her hands. Thankfully Dena was already wearing a wrapped scarf as a hair band. Tahiri simply unraveled and adjusted it so it would cover most of her hair.

"What.. what .. do I do?" She asked with a begrudging acceptance of the situation.

Tahiri's only reply was, "Just do what you got to do."

With that the speeder dropped the still slightly dazed and bewildered Dena off on the platform. She looked up to the top of the steps. Any moment now Vestara would be coming out the exit and down those stairs. She looked back at the speeder, but it was already gone with the traffic. She turned to start heading up the steps and... that was when she saw her! Vestara had just left the building and was about to descend the large set of steps. Dena had to think. Think! THINK! She couldn't just walk up to a Sith and slap her on the back. She needed a distraction.

Dena scanned the ever shrinking area between her and Vestara, and... there. Up ahead were what looked like a small tour group ascending the steps. In front was their guides, a pair of Tendrando employees. While her plan was still forming she ran up behind the group. There was a blue skinned Pantoran woman trailing her peers, who held an oversized day bag which hung over her shoulder and under her arm. Perfect!

Dena proceeded to grab the bag away from the woman, with such force that the strap broke and the bag was freed from it's owner.

The woman let out a scream and yelled out: "Thief!" as Dena ran away up the steps.

Before Dena could make it up more than several steps, she was grabbed by one the Employee/Tour Guides. She made an attempt to escape by lunging forward but to no avail.

That's when she made one final desperate attempt to free herself: She grabbed hold of the poor young woman that was descending the steps right in to the commotion. This was no random stranger she had grabbed ahold of. It was... Vestara!

Vestara stifled the urge to cut this waste of skin down, for fear of compromising a perfect mission. Instead she reacted by pulling her arm free of the "pathetic thief" and allowed the Tower's employees to subdue her.

One of them looked up at Vestara and asked: "Are you Ok Ma'am?"

To which she replied with her innocent (but not too innocent) smile: "Yes, thank you for getting that barvey woman off me."

She wouldn't give the woman the dignity of another thought. After all through the force, all Vestara could sense from her was the expected dread of getting caught. 2 Pantoran women had gotten into a scrap (probably over some undeserving man) about something meaningless and beneath her concern. All the while she was oblivious to the ultra thin addition to her own wardrobe.

Believing she was in the clear, Vestara made her way down the steps, leaving behind one blue skinned Dena, who by now, had binders on her wrists and... and a wide smile on her lips.

!