Bounty Hunter Pursuit
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Night had fallen over Coruscant. Padme had settled down for the night, while Anakin and Livia were on guard in the living room. Presently, Obi-Wan and Tey joined them, the two Jedi Knights having been giving the building the once-over. "Captain Typho has more than enough men downstairs. No assassin will try that way." Obi-Wan said as he shrugged off his brown Jedi robe. "Any activity up here?"
"Quiet as a tomb." Anakin replied. "I don't like just waiting here for something to happen to her."
"Be patient, Anakin." Tey advised him. "Sooner or later, something will break."
Obi-Wan checked a palm-sized view scanner showing the inside of Padme's bedroom. It showed a shot of R2-D2 standing by the door, but no sign of the Senator on the bed. "What's going on?" he frowned.
"Ah, she covered the cameras." Anakin explained. "I don't think she liked me watching her."
"Can't say I blame her after seeing you trying it with her, earlier." Livia commented lightly.
"What is she thinking?" Obi-Wan shook his head disapprovingly.
"Women like their privacy, Obi-Wan." Tey told him. "I know I do."
"She programmed R2 to warn us if there is an intruder." Anakin said.
"It's not an intruder I'm worried about." Obi-Wan said. "There are many other ways to kill a Senator."
"She also programmed the droid to raise the alarm if there's any poisonous gas in there." Livia said. "And I checked the room out for any booby traps; it's clean."
"Good." Tey approved. "Well, I guess all we can do now is wait. I'm gonna get us some coffee. It's gonna be a long night." And she went off to the kitchen, while Livia stepped out onto the balcony to watch the speeder lanes outside. She always found clarity in watching the world go by around her, and she had a particular fondness for seeing Coruscant at night. There was something quite beautiful about seeing all of the buildings lit-up in varying colours, while the never-ending streams of speeders and air taxis navigated between them. Behind her, she could hear Obi-Wan and Anakin having a disagreement about Padme's idea to use herself as bait to draw the killer out, but she tuned the two bickering men out and concentrated on identifying which landmarks she could see. She counted the private spire belonging to industrialist Raith Sienar, the Senate building, the Executive building and in the distance, she could just make out the spires of the Jedi Temple.
Presently, Anakin came out to join her on the balcony and she noticed that he had dark circles under his eyes. "Are you alright?" she asked him. "You look tired."
"I don't sleep well anymore." Anakin answered quietly.
"Because of your mother?" Obi-Wan asked, watching them from the doorway.
Anakin nodded. "I don't know why I keep dreaming about her now. I haven't seen her in 10 years."
"Dreams pass in time." Obi-Wan assured him.
"D'you wanna talk about it, Anakin?" Livia offered. "Ya never know, you might feel better for it."
"No, I'll be alright." Anakin waved her off. "I'd much rather dream about Padme. Just being around her again is... intoxicating."
"Here we go..." Livia groaned, and went off to join her master in the kitchen.
"Be mindful of your thoughts, Anakin, they betray you." Obi-Wan lectured his apprentice. "You've made a commitment to the Jedi Order... a commitment not easily broken... and don't forget, she's a politician and they're not to be trusted."
"She's not like the others in the Senate, Master." Anakin whined.
"It is my experience that Senators only focus on pleasing those who fund their campaigns, and they're by no means scared of forgetting the niceties of democracy in order to get those funds."
"Not another lecture." Anakin rolled his eyes. "At least not on the economics of politics... and besides, you're generalising. The Chancellor doesn't appear to be corrupt."
"Palpatine is a politician." Obi-Wan pushed. "I have observed that he is very clever in following the passions and the prejudices of the Senators."
"I think he's a good man." Anakin countered. "My instincts are positive about..."
"Oh, stop it, you two." Tey said as she and Livia returned from the kitchen. "You're like an old married couple sometimes."
Both male Jedi turned to reply when they suddenly froze as they sensed a presence in the bedroom. Tey and Livia sensed it too and all four Jedi took off running into the bedroom. Anakin, who was in front, ignited his lightsabre and the light from the glowing blue blade revealed two deadly black Kouhuns crawling up the bed towards the sleeping Padme, poised to attack her with their poisonous stinger tongues. Using his Jedi reflexes to propel him forward, Anakin made short work of the Kouhuns, slicing them in half with two precise swipes of his lightsabre, sending them flying into a corner of the room. Padme woke with a start just as Obi-Wan and Tey went over to examine the remains of the creatures. Livia meanwhile heard a buzzing noise and turned to see a black probe droid hovering outside the window, a small tube extending out into the room through a hole in the window. This was where the Kouhuns had come from. Without thinking, Livia charged at the window, dived through it and grabbed onto the droid before it flee. The droid sunk a little under her weight, but managed to stay afloat and flew away, with the young Jedi handing on for dear life, thousands of feet in the air.
"Anakin, go help her." Tey ordered. "We'll look after the Senator."
"Yes, Master Tey." Anakin nodded, and hurried out of the room just as Dorme, Typho and two guards came racing in to see what had happened.
~8~
Livia had to admit that in hindsight, maybe grabbing onto a flying probe droid wasn't a good idea after all. The droid tried to dislodge her by flying close to the side of a building, causing her to catch her shoulder on the wall, but she managed to maintain her grip. The droid then sent several electric shocks across it's surface, but Livia still held firm. As they darted in and out of the speeder traffic, Livia disconnected a wire on the back of the droid and it's power shut off. The droid abruptly dropped like a rock. Realising her mistake, Livia quickly put the wire back in. The droid's systems rebooted and it gained height again.
~8~
Anakin ran into the Senate apartments' parking lot and approached a line of parked speeders. He vaulted into the driver's seat of a yellow XJ-6 airspeeder, hotwired it and took off towards the lanes of traffic above.
~8~
The probe droid continued to take Livia on a wild ride through the traffic, several speeder drivers angrily honking their horns at her. Presently, the droid headed towards a green Koro-2 airspeeder hidden in the alcove of a building, with a figure dressed in purple standing beside it. When the assassin saw the Jedi hanging onto the droid, they pulled out a long sniper rifle from the speeder and took aim. They fired and scored a direct hit on the droid, which was blown away and Livia was sent free-falling towards the ground thousands of feet below. The assassin then jumped into their speeder and made their escape.
Anakin saw Livia free-falling, so he skilfully maneuverer his speeder beneath her and she was able to grab onto the back end and hoist herself into the passenger seat next to him. "What took ya so long?" she asked him flippantly.
"Oh, you know, Livia, I couldn't find a speeder that I really liked..." Anakin replied nonchalantly.
"There he is!" Livia saw the assassin's speeder darting thought the traffic ahead.
"... with the open cockpit and the right speed capabilities." Anakin continued as they zoomed up in pursuit of the assassin.
"Ya know, if you spent as much time practising with your lightsabre as you did your wit, I bet you'd rival Master Yoda as a swordsman." Livia said dryly.
"I thought I already did." Anakin replied flippantly.
"You wish." Livia retorted.
The chase was on as the two speeders weaved and dodged through the lanes of traffic around them. The assassin's speeder suddenly twirled and banked down into a steep nose-dive. Anakin did the same and he and Livia were thrown back into their seats as they plunged downwards, Livia's long dark hair billowing behind her. Down and down the speeders dived, darting through several layers of traffic. Livia suddenly noticed that they were on a collision course with a parked cargo ship. In the corner of her eye, she could see Anakin laughing like a madman as he pulled back on the steering yoke and the speeder roughly levelled off, missing the ship by inches.
Livia let out the breath she'd been holding. "Ya know, Anakin, I sometimes think facing the Trials will be a picnic compared to flying with you!" she complained.
"Relax, Livia, you know I've been flying since before I could walk." Anakin replied flippantly.
"Yeah, well, just try not to get us both killed." Livia told him as they narrowly missed an airtrain. "I would like to live long enough to become a Jedi Master."
"I'm not the one who jumped out of a 500 storey window." Anakin retorted.
The two speeders continued to nip through the traffic and between buildings. The assassin suddenly zoomed upwards and navigated between a mast of flags. Anakin followed, but one flag got caught in one of the speeder's front air scoops. "We're losing power!" Anakin hollered, jabbing at several buttons on the dashboard.
"I'll get it." Livia huffed, and she climbed out onto the front of the speeder and removed the flag. She slumped back into her seat as the speeder took off again.
Presently, the chase took them into a power refinery and the two speeders had to weave between flaming flares. The assassin leaned out of their speeder and fired a blaster shot at a set of power couplings as they passed. The couplings sizzled and blocked the Jedi's way, but Anakin wasn't fazed. "Watch this." he smirked, and charged towards the coupling at full speed.
"No, don't..." Livia began, but it was too late. The speeder flew straight into the couplings and both Jedi were zapped. "... go in there." Livia managed to ground out, flinching at the nasty shocks stinging her skin. After what seemed like an eternity, the speeder made it out through the other side. "Well, that was fun." Livia said sarcastically.
The chase then moved into the city again and the assassin zoomed left into a tunnel, but Anakin continued flying straight ahead. "Uh, Anakin, I dunno if you noticed, but he went that way!" Livia told him.
"Look, if we keep this chase going any longer, that creep is gonna end up deep fried." Anakin said. "Personally, I'd very much like to find out who he is and who he's working for."
"Oh, so that's why you're going the wrong way." Livia said sarcastically.
"This is a shortcut." Anakin replied. "I think." He turned up a side street, zoomed up several passageways and stopped in mid-air, high above the traffic lanes.
"Well? Where is he?" Livia asked him, crossing her arms.
"I don't know." Anakin replied, looking around for any sign of the assassin.
"Admit it, you lost him. So much for that shortcut. Ya know, maybe next time leave the driving to me."
"If you'll excuse me..." Anakin said suddenly, and leapt over the side of the speeder.
"Oh, that's not fair." Livia muttered, leaning over to see Anakin free-falling towards the traffic below.
Anakin continued to freefall until he landed smartly on the back of the assassin's speeder as it passed. The assassin, a Human female, looked up and realised what had happened. She slammed on her air brakes and Anakin slid onto one of the speeder's front mandibles. The assassin then leaned out of the window and took several pot-shots at Anakin with her blaster pistol, but Anakin managed to jump over to the other mandible. The assassin then tried to knock him off by dipping the speeder to one side, but Anakin stubbornly held on and managed to climb up on top of the mandible. The assassin promptly accelerated and Anakin slid to the back of the speeder. As he passed the cockpit, he saw the assassin's face momentarily change into that of a Clawdite, before changing back into a Human female. Anakin managed to grab hold of one of the speeder's tail fins and he climbed up on top until he was over the cockpit canopy, then he took out his lightsabre and began cutting his way through the canopy. The assassin took out her blaster pistol and started firing at the Jedi, managing to knock the lightsabre out of his hand.
The lightsabre flew through the air until it was caught by Livia, who had taken the controls of the yellow speeder and caught up with Anakin and the assassin. Despite no longer having his weapon, Anakin wasn't beaten. He stuck his hand through the hole he'd managed to cut and began wrestling with the assassin for the blaster. As they struggled, the blaster went off and struck several controls, which burst into flames and the speeder began to careen wildly out of control, diving down towards the city's entertainment district below. Livia saw what had happened and so she dived down after them.
The assassin struggled furiously with the controls of her stricken speeder as it dived towards the ground. Anakin lost his grip and fell onto the pavement, his Jedi training allowing him to make a relatively painless landing. The speeder meanwhile impacted the pavement and slid along in a shower of sparks before coming to a stop, miraculously missing all of the pedestrians, who all gathered round to see what was happening. Anakin picked himself up just in time to see the assassin jump out of her wrecked speeder and make a run for it. He pushed his way through the crowd and ran after her. They'd landed in the seedy underbelly of Coruscant, with broken pavements, garish lights reflected in filthy puddles and all manner of alien low-lives, panhandling droids and the occasional group of upper-class slummers. Livia was overflying the area in her speeder and she caught sight of Anakin running through the crowd, so she landed the speeder and set off to help him.
The assassin ran into the Outlander club. Anakin was about to go in after her when he heard Livia calling to him, "Anakin!"
"She went into the club, Livia." Anakin said breathlessly.
"You dropped this." Livia said, holding up Anakin's lightsabre. "Don't worry, I won't tell Master Obi-Wan you lost it."
"Thanks, Livia." Anakin said sheepishly as he took the lightsabre and hung it off his belt. "If he found out about this, he'd never let me hear the end of it."
"Ah, Master Tey once dropped hers down a sewer." Livia remarked. "I remember 'cos she made me dive in and find for her. I had to take three showers afterwards." she grimaced at the memory. The two Jedi then made their way into the nightclub, quite a few patrons eyeing them suspiciously. "Hey, Anakin, look. They've got podracing." Livia said, pointing to a holo-screen that was showing a podrace. "Any sign of him?"
"I think he's a she..." Anakin replied, "and I think she's a changeling."
"Then you'd better be extra careful." Livia said. "Go find her. I'm going for a drink."
"A drink?" Anakin said incredulously.
"I need one after being in that speeder with you." Livia retorted. "See ya later!" And she walked smartly towards the bar, while Anakin began to search the club for the assassin, alien faces looking at him with hostility, suspicion and invitation as he moved among the tables.
Livia reached the bar and ordered a juri juice from the bartender. "Hey, gorgeous, you wanna buy some death sticks?" a sleazy-looking man next to her asked.
Livia rolled her eyes at him and moved her finger slightly, using the Force. "You don't wanna sell me death sticks." she prompted.
"I don't wanna sell ya death sticks." the man repeated.
"You're gonna go home and rethink ya life." Livia continued.
"I'm going to go home and rethink my life." the man repeated, and left the club.
Somewhere in the club, the assassin was hiding. She watched as Anakin looked around for her, then while his back was turned, she upholstered her blaster pistol and began to walk towards the unsuspecting Livia, who was contently knocking back her drink at the bar. The gun was raised and aimed directly at the young Jedi's back, then suddenly, Livia turned fast. She ignited her green-bladed lightsabre and with one swift stroke, severed the assassin's blaster arm. The assassin screamed in pain and collapsed to the floor, while Livia deactivated her lightsabre and signalled for Anakin to come over. The commotion had attracted the attention of most of the club's patrons. "Jedi business. Go back to ya drinks." Anakin told them, then he helped Livia to lift the assassin and carry her out of the club.
Anakin and Livia led the assassin out through a side entrance and into a secluded alleyway. "D'ya know who it was you were trying to kill?" Livia interrogated.
The assassin grimaced in pain from her severed arm. "It was a senator from Naboo."
"And who paid ya to do it?"
The assassin glared at Livia. "It was just a job."
"Who hired you? Tell us." Anakin demanded.
"That Senator's gonna die soon anyway," the assassin snarled, "and the next one won't make the same mistake I did..."
"Tell us now!" Anakin barked, his voice unusually harsh and commanding.
The assassin glared at him hatefully. "It was a bounty hunter called..." Suddenly, something thudded into her neck and she began to gag. The two Jedi looked round to see a silver armour-clad figure with a jetpack rocketing off from a roof high above. They turned back to the assassin to see her face morph into her true Clawdite form as she died. "Wee shahmit... sleemo." she managed to curse before she died.
Livia then noticed the object embedded in the assassin's neck. She carefully extracted it to see that it was a small silver dart. "What's this?" she wandered.
~8~
"This is a toxic dart." Obi-Wan said as he examined the dart brought back by the Padawans. After the Coruscant police had arrived to take the dead assassin away, Anakin and Livia had returned to Padme's apartment to tell their masters what had happened. "An unusual kind. I've never seen one like this before."
"The police have identified our dead friend." Tey said, checking a holo-pad. "Her name was Zam Wesell, a freelance bounty hunter."
"She was about to tell us that another bounty hunter hired her for the kill." Livia said.
"Which means that they were probably hired by someone else ." Tey realised. "I think our mandate might just be changing."
Author's notes: And here's the speeder chase scene. I deliberated as to which of the four Jedi I should have participate in the chase, but ultimately went for the two Padawans. I thought it would be fun to their dynamic together. The speeder chase was a fun scene. The sequel trilogy has nothing that can top that kind of fun! So, hope you like this chapter and hope to see you next time!