Chapter 116
One of the strangest incongruencies of Coruscant that I had to wrap my head around in the past, was that despite the fact that you had air travel via a million forms of speeder, you could still get 'stuck' in air traffic. The trillions of sentients on the city planet did explain it somewhat, but not everyone had access to their own personal transportation.
Even if you had the money, it was a bureaucratic nightmare to get that speeder approved and integrated into the giant, planet spanning traffic control system. That's why most citizens just used taxis owned by the big transport corps, who could in most cases trace their lineage back thousands of years to the time of Revan and the Old Republic.
One of the biggest ticket items for families on Coruscant, besides your living space, was a legally integrated speeder that could be passed down as inheritance to the next generation.
You bypassed a lot of problems when your speeder was some form of law enforcement and especially when they were registered to the Jedi Order.
Which was why Anakin and I requisitioned two double seat speeders for redundancy and safety in our task to apprehend 'Rako Hardeen'.
He was currently in Trueping's Cantina in Slum district G17, more than 500 floors down, which was decidedly not a safe part of town.
I pulled up on the yoke of my speeder, dutifully following R2's calculated course and revelling in the feeling of relative free flight over the endless cityscape.
A tap on my wrist enabled the comlink to Anakin's speeder, leading the way in front of me. These Jedi speeders were something else; they were the fastest thing in the air that wasn't a starship, easily reaching 800 kph to cruise and topping out at 900 with 'afterburners' when you wanted a burst of speed. We were sticking with a sedate 300 kph speed at the moment, not even coming close to the air lanes and flying in technically 'restricted airspace'.
Even for someone flying a Jedi transponder, there were levels of clearance and our current emergency clearance was just short of having the chancellor or a council member on board.
"So did the council actually say how they were able to find this Rako Hardeen so quickly, master?"
"No," his tone of voice clearly indicated that he didn't care, but would answer my question, "though my guess is Master Sinube."
Sinube's intel network was something I was definitely striving to emulate with Fulcrum, though his was solely focused on the criminal underworld of Coruscant and the major crime syndicates. How he built that network and who were the primary members was something that reminded me almost of that prolifically brilliant fictional detective from my previous life.
"We're approaching our descent point, get ready."
A few seconds later, I nosed over my speeder and dove.
My vision was filled with city roofs, air lanes and the gargantuan access trench that let us access the undercities.
We zipped left and right to dodge the air lanes we were diving past, before we were surrounded on all sides by buildings and mega infrastructure that zipped by in a blur.
I leveled the speeder out when we passed into the first major grouping of sublevels below the surface city. We were now flying in a vast tunnel that was nearly three kilometers in diameter. This tunnel itself could be considered a city in its own right, with buildings, infrastructure and public walkways integrated on every conceivable surface - even the ceiling above us had buildings that speared downward.
This tunnel snaked steadily downward in a colossal spiral.
We pushed our speed a bit here, making a steady left turn as we sank deeper and deeper into Coruscant.
It took just over half an hour to emerge from the tunnel city, before it flowed naturally into the G17 district subcity.
As far as the eye could see, a cityscape above and below, which faded into a smoggy haze.
I really did not like subsurface levels of Coruscant, simply because I knew of the mind boggling physics that was being played with here.
The Old Republic should've just started building a Culture-style Orbital back in the day, but the original human founders of the planet had just done what was easier. Even back then the material technology had existed for it, but the issues of labor and constant warfare had surely nixed such grand ideas, even if someone had thought about it.
Our course took us a further six minutes to traverse to our destination, before we pulled back on the speed and came to a hovering landing outside a relatively small thirty floor building, primarily lit with neon blue advertising.
'Trueping's Bar' was proudly proclaimed with individual giant Aurebesh lettering running down the side. The building was also home to a 'massage parlor' called Chezdeze. It didn't take a Jedi with my senses to know that it was much more than that.
We landed our speeders within spitting distance of the front doors of the Bar.
The two bouncers outside, two big humans, were puffing themselves up to object but stopped when they saw the nice big Jedi symbol on the side of our vehicles.
I secured my speeder using its onboard security - the least of which was a stun system rigged into the seats that would trigger the moment anyone unauthorized planted their butts inside.
Anakin and I hopped out with an eerie synchronicity and approached the bouncers.
Both men looked at each other and seemed to come to an unspoken agreement a moment later, after just looking at Anakin's eyes spitting figurative blaster bolts and my Mandalorian style armor.
They parted to either side of the door and opened it for us with a nod.
Inside the bar was decently furnished and had all the amenities to attract and entertain its denizens; screens featuring pod racing, gambling machines linked to the pod racing and other live sports events, holos of scantily clad females of various races dancing above tables and some wearing nothing at all. They clearly reserved the real thing for those who went to the massage parlor and this was just enticement and advertisement. Trueping was naturally the owner of both establishments.
Our entrance had naturally attracted attention and I felt the fear of almost every patron ratchet up a notch. The average customer of this bar was not squeaky clean in terms of criminal record. Many would have reason to not enjoy the company of a Jedi.
Anakin led the way to the bar counter, also letting his presence in the Force flare outward and push on everyone's mind and spirit. It was the closest he could achieve to a form of Battle Meditation, but this was done for sheer intimidation.
I was distinctly reminded of what, in another future, Darth Vader and a few other Sith Lords of the past could achieve by simply being in their presence.
He had locked his eyes on the anacondan bartender, whose stalky eyes widened in fear.
"Uh… uh, what- what can I do for you, Master Jedi?" the sinuous snake-like alien hanging from the top of the bar asked.
"Rako Hardeen," Anakin said through gritted teeth, projecting his anger outward. "Where is he?"
"B- back room, go through the door," he gestured with his entire head to the door in question, which opened as his tail pushed on a hidden keypad mounted near his overhead perch.
We walked into the corridor beyond and easily sensed where Obi-Wan was waiting for us.
The door at the far end was forced open with a gesture from Anakin and we walked into a rather grungy apartment.
A tall human figure in partial armor was 'sleeping' with his back to us in the adjoining bedroom.
The first thing I noticed was the smell of strong drink pervading the room. Well, I had to give Obi-Wan credit, he was clearly living the role.
I folded my arms and glared. "Sleeping off a hangover it seems."
"He won't be sleeping off anything in the future," Anakin said viciously and stepped forward, pulling Rako over onto his back.
He opened his eyes briefly and gazed at Anakin, "Uh, huh? A Jedi? Sorry, not accepting clients right now…" He yawned and promptly rolled back over.
"Wow, he really is drunk," I shook my head in wonder.
Anakin rolled him back, grabbed Rako by the lapels and easily lifted him with a burst of strength enhancement before slamming him into a nearby wall. "Wake up, you filth!"
That somewhat worked, Rako's eyes snapped open and the first elements of wit began returning to those dull blue eyes. "Je- Jedi?!"
"Yes, Jedi!" Anakin snarled into his face. "If it were up to me, I'd kill you right here! But lucky for you, the man you murdered would rather see you rot in jail." Anakin pulled him off the wall, pulling one arm behind Rako's back, before securing him in cuffs. "Now let's go, before I change my mind."
He used his artificial hand to clamp on the back of Rako's armor to control his movement, leaving no chance for the man to get away.
We ended up doing a perp walk through the bar, where everyone looked on in fear and relief that they weren't the ones being arrested by two war hardened Jedi.
Back at our speeders, I had to remove the unconscious form of a kowakian monkey-lizard from my ride that some bright spark had thought to use to steal it.
I dumped the thing on the sidewalk unceremoniously and glared at the small crowd of onlookers now gathered, one of whom I could sense was the master of the lizard.
Anakin had practically lifted Hardeen by the scruff of the neck into the passenger seat of his own speeder. "Now sit still. I've enabled the security system on your side. You try to stand up, you'll be stunned instantly and I'll not make much effort to stop you from falling to your death."
Rako grunted, "All right, I get it…"
"Quiet," Anakin snapped. "Let's go, Ahsoka."
We fired up our speeders and took to the air.
Next stop, Judicial Detention.
Anyone who gets arrested for breaking the law on Coruscant, will generally get sent to one of the few thousand detention centres that was scattered across the surface. Even so there were simply too few given the size of the population, therefore the greatest percentage was shipped to detention colonies that were sprinkled across the various planets and moons of the system.
The severity of the crime would decide what your eventual destination was. Typical petty crime would net you a few months in one of the small detention centers on Coruscant itself. On the other side of the spectrum, hardened killers and crazy psychotics were shipped to Centax 2, one of Coruscant's four moons.
Criminals who were 'politically sensitive' or who needed to be on hand for prosecutors to access readily were shipped to the Tower - Judicial Detention One.
It was barely half an hour by speeder flight west of the Senate District.
Much like the Jedi Temple district that had no buildings to compete with its height and size, the Tower had a similar arrangement.
It stood up like a needle into the sky with a flattened cityscape around it for thirty kilometers in all directions. The immediate airspace around it was the most restricted on the planet and only certain vehicles and shuttles had the codes to fly into it. Civilian air lanes avoided the district completely, though you could see the Tower easily at that distance.
In terms of physical security, the Tower had its own air defenses comparable to a Venator.
Our entry to the restricted airspace proceeded without a hitch and we were cleared to land on the circular platforms that surrounded the Tower's superstructure.
We were immediately met by a duo of clone troopers in red and white armor.
The Tower had been manned and guarded on a rotating basis by various clone legions, ever since the formation of the GAR. Legions that needed light duty after extensive deployment or had suffered large numbers of casualties were usually used. These troopers were from the 783rd Legion and had taken a rather brutal mauling in the southern battlespaces a few months ago.
"You should be expecting this scum," Anakin sneered and shoved Hardeen forward.
The lieutenant trooper immediately grabbed the prisoner and swung him around to face the prison entrance.
"Yes, sir. We were informed. All is ready."
Hardeen had regained most of his faculties by this point and glared with resentment at Anakin.
Anakin returned the look with a sneer of hatred, "Let me know if he's any trouble. I'd be glad to straighten him out."
"Move it," barked the trooper and shoved Hardeen forward towards the closest entrance of the Tower.
We boarded our respective speeders and took off for the Jedi Temple.
"Master, how long do you think he'll last in there?"
"Are you concerned about him?" Anakin retorted incredulously.
"No, it's just that prison can be a brutal place, never know when that makeshift dagger will stab you in the back."
"In that case, I'll hope Hardeen makes plenty of enemies in there."
He had experienced rough times and squalor, especially when he had been on the run with Satine, but being processed into the Tower inmate population was a rather humiliating experience.
Stripped down to complete nudity, he was scanned by a variety of droids, before being pushed into a decon shower.
From there he was issued mildly uncomfortable underwear, shoes and an orange jumpsuit with his new prisoner number stenciled on the back in big bold Aurebesh lettering.
Two clone trooper guards were waiting outside the processing area and escorted him without a word into one of the fifty cell wards.
Each ward was a cylindrical structure, containing dozens of levels, each featuring forty cells to a level, secured with a force field. The only way to access cells was through a repulsorcraft that delivered the inmate. In this way, even if power failed, sheer height would keep prisoners where they were, unless they felt suicidal.
He was delivered to his cell without fuss and found himself alone in it. There was space for four prisoners sleeping on bunk beds-
"Don't get used to the space, Hardeen," the trooper sneered from the repulsorcraft. "This is just temporary because of the time of your arrival. You'll be taken to your new permanent accommodations after breakfast tomorrow."
Obi-Wan just grunted an acknowledgement and flung himself onto the lowest bed on the right side.
The Force Field snapped on, bathing the cell in a light red hue.
'Comfy, Obi-Wan?' he heard Anakin's amused thoughts.
'It's a veritable cloud of comfort,' he retorted wryly. 'Did you have to be so rough?'
'You know we were being watched.'
'One would think the enemy would have more important things to occupy his time with.'
'Right now, Ahsoka and I are that important thing. We're barely back in the temple for an hour and she's already spotted multiple new surveillance bugs that've been installed.'
'We really need to root out the enemy's spies in the temple.' Obi-Wan knew, even before being inducted into Fulcrum, that the enemy had to have some method of keeping tabs on the doings of the Jedi Order. The worst his imagination could conjure was a mere handful of spies, but Ahsoka had quickly illuminated the ugly truth. Palpatine actually had enough spies and informants that it literally could be called its own network. It only made sense after all, since he would want to keep a close eye on his greatest enemy. None of the spies knew each other, but the majority were part of the Temple's staff - the non-Jedi workers who made the Order's operations work on a day-to-day basis. There were even a number of Jedi spies, mostly those who were stuck in either the padawan or apprentice limbo - unable to find a master or be selected by one. A situation that the war had made even worse. 'Has Ahsoka managed to find all of them?'
'That's still a work in progress,' Anakin admitted. 'The spy network isn't static. She thinks she's already sniffed out a new one that's been recruited since we were last in the temple.'
'Anyone I know?' Obi-Wan asked grimly.
'No, she only has the face of the potential spy at the moment and we must be careful of our archive searches. We can't do anything until we've mapped out all of them.'
'Well, keep up the good acting, I'll be trying to get rid of this lingering hangover.'
'Good luck, Obi-Wan.'
He would've normally already been awake when the prison rang its waking siren to signal the start of a new day. Obi-Wan had slept in as Rako Hardeen would've done and also grumbled a few choice Mandalorian curses as he got up from the bed.
"Ten minutes is allocated for refreshment tasks."
The voice belonged to a droid and given what he knew about the prison, this was most likely the ward droid itself. A droid intelligence integrated into the structure.
Obi-Wan hurried into the tiny refresher that unlocked itself at his approach and got the morning ablutionary business done. He was out with one minute to spare.
"Stand on the marked positions before the force field, prisoner."
Two holo circles appeared on the floor and Obi-Wan obediently stood with either foot in them.
A visible scan beam played over his body briefly.
"No weapons detected. You're cleared Prisoner 494893."
A much larger repulsorcraft appeared in the ward, looking more like a small public transport than the open top platforms that the guards used. It docked at each level, opening its rear to the cells, allowing prisoners to step inside, before hovering to the next cell. It was one of twenty such transports doing the same thing, acting with computer precision.
When his transport stopped in front of the cell, the force field vanished and Obi-Wan didn't hesitate to walk into the small throng of the standing prisoners.
It was a tiny cauldron of every race he knew of and one or two he couldn't name without a reference guide. Everyone might be technically clean, but the transport was now permeated with the natural scents of every prisoner and it all mixed into a cloying smell that ate at his nostrils.
His immediate neighbors were a human, a falleen and a gran.
All three gave Obi-Wan a curious, evaluating glance, immediately recognizing him as a new face, but kept their silence.
The transport moved on, filling itself with another eight inmates before it began an upwards journey out of the ward silo.
The silence was maintained until a nearby sullustan whispered something to a nautolan.
"Prisoner 301252, silence!"
A turret popped out of the ceiling, aiming instantly at the sullustan who'd dared speak.
The nautolan scowled and slapped the sullustan up the head.
Obi-Wan was very glad the sentient got the message, he could see that the turret had a variable broadhead emitter that could deliver a stun pulse to the entire transport.
The transport now made a short trip through a tunnel before backing up to a docking tube.
The doors opened and Obi-Wan followed the herd of prisoners through.
They were met by armed clone troopers who organized them into a single file, before being escorted through a long corridor, which opened up into a massive octagonal mess hall.
It was clear from the holos and painted demarcation on the floor that this was the first place where there was some freedom of movement. It was just enough to allow them to get food from the specific provision machines and to walk to the various rows of tables to eat.
Obi-Wan quickly availed himself of that freedom, breaking away from the pack of prisoners and casually walking to a newly formed line of prisoners waiting to be served breakfast.
A tray was automatically issued from a nearby station and he waited patiently as the line advanced slowly and steadily.
Each machine was responsible for another food item to be discharged into the tray and it was hardly appetizing to look at and smelled rather revolting. When he finally reached the end, he was given a single spoon utensil.
With food in hand, his next item of business was to look for Moralo Eval.
He made his walk as casually as possible, pretending to look for a suitable place to sit where he wouldn't have his back exposed to any prisoner. That was easier said than done, but the tables at least had decent separation from each other.
His search for a decent seat also proved useful in another way, as it allowed him to overhear a number of hushed whispers.
"Hey, is that him? Kenobi's killer?"
"A little ugly."
"He doesn't look tough."
"Idiot, that's precisely the point. Those are the ones you have to watch out for."
Well, it seemed the Council's efforts at some careful information leakage into the prison population had done its job.
He finally spotted his quarry at this point. Eval was sitting among a tight knit group of inmates and judging from their body language and emotions, the phindian definitely had his own gang of loyalists here.
Obi-Wan walked past but headed for the end of the long table which was entirely clear of anyone and sat down. Combined with his expression, he clearly marked himself as a loner. Someone who just wanted to be left alone and didn't need protection. In prison, that would normally be an unwise attitude, as it practically invited the bullies and monsters who wanted to take the Killer of Kenobi down a peg.
Keeping his senses spread outward for danger, he began digging into the meal.
It was awful and his throat immediately rebelled at the idea of swallowing it. Obi-Wan would normally tolerate it, but Rako Hardeen wouldn't. Therefore he made a show of spitting it out in disgust, before grudgingly continuing with the meal.
He was halfway done eating when the first idiots arrived.
"So you're the Jedi killer, eh?" sneered a karkarodon, who looked very odd actually walking on land and wearing the tailored orange prison gear. His skin was looking rather flakey and Obi-Wan wondered if the prison had a water cell for him. The water dweller also had a snivvian friend who was watching his partner's back. The karkarodon grabbed Obi-Wan's cup of water and provokingly drank from it.
Obi-Wan donned an utterly bored expression, "This food, it's terrible."
He turned his spoon around and drove the blunt end directly into the karkarodon's webbed hand that he so invitingly placed on the table.
It was done with such strength that it penetrated skin and muscle.
The karkarodon roared in pain, trying to instinctively pull his hand away, but astonishingly found himself unable.
Obi-Wan grabbed his interlocutor by the face, normally a very dangerous thing with those teeth, but his thumb was pressing down hard on a pressure point near the gill, whilst another finger was pushed on a very sensitive organ that allowed karkarodons to perceive electrical charges. "Perhaps you would taste better?"
"Hey! No fighting in the mess hall, prisoner!" shouted a clone guard from the observation walkway above, already aiming his blaster rifle.
Obi-Wan abruptly let the karkarodon go, pulled out his spoon and raised his hands, "Sorry, just playing with my food."
"Urgh, you're crazy!"
The water dweller beat a hasty retreat with his companion in tow.
The show was over at this point and after cleaning off the blue blood from his spoon, Obi-Wan returned to his meal. Eventually he decided he'd rather get a refill of water from a different cup than risk drinking from the same one the karkarodon had helped himself to.
When he returned to his spot, it was to find Eval already sitting across the table, waiting.
Obi-Wan sighed and just drank some water, content to ignore his new interlocutor.
"Rako Hardeen," said Eval with a satisfied, smug air. "The Marksman of Concord Dawn and now with a new title that you can add to it."
Obi-Wan continued ignoring Eval and drank, but allowed his body language to show he was listening.
"I'm curious, when you killed that Jedi, was it for money, revenge or something else?"
"I don't know really, guess I was just bored."
That really amused Eval and he began openly chuckling, his yellow eyes dancing with a secret delight, "Try this." The phindian produced a small plastic vial from a pocket, filled with a yellow substance and put it in front of Obi-Wan's empty plate. "A simple condiment, no poison, and it will make that slop actually edible."
Eval stood and with a smirk declared, "I'll be seeing you around, Mr. Hardeen."
Obi-Wan snagged the vial quickly and pocketed it.
'That went rather well, the bait is set, it seems.'
Two days passed of Obi-Wan steadily learning the prison routine.
Morning breakfast was followed by five hours where inmates could spend time in an exercise yard with all manner of equipment specifically made to prevent them being used as weapons. This was followed by lunch and then a mass migration back to their cell wards.
Contrary to what the ward droid had said, Obi-Wan remained alone in the cell he had first slept in.
This gave ample time to simply lay back in his bed and seemingly contemplate the ceiling, whilst inwardly his mind was going over all the contingency planning of the Jedi Council and Fulcrum. It also helped in sinking further into his adopted persona, as he contemplated responses that the man would give to situations. He had mindwalked the actual Rako as extensively as he could within the time available, so a lot of time was spent reviewing the memories and generating reactions, habits and mannerisms from that.
It was only after the evening meal of the second day that Obi-Wan was approached by two clone troopers with new orders to escort him to his actual long term accommodations.
It was in a totally different cell ward, near the very top of the silo.
The force field shut down and Obi-Wan hopped off the repulsorcraft.
"Here you go, Hardeen. Home sweet home," commented the trooper.
The craft zoomed away immediately and the bright red force field reactivated.
Obi-Wan walked into the cell and raised an amused eyebrow at his new cellmate - Eval.
"What a coincidence."
Eval smirked, "Hmmm, no coincidence. I am Moralo Eval and I hold great influence here."
"I'm so tempted to ask just how you can manage that," Obi-Wan said leadingly, giving Eval a chance to brag. All the psych reports indicated the phindian had a colossal ego, one which was mostly backed up by his sheer ruthless intelligence.
"Let's just say that everyone and everything has their weaknesses, it's just a matter of finding it and then finding the means to exploit it."
"Then what do you want from me?"
"Man like you, able to reach out so far and snuff out a life, well, there's much bigger game than Jedi. If you've got the fortitude." Eval sat down on his bunk on the right side of the cell.
Obi-Wan took the empty bunk on the left, narrowing his eyes at Eval in thought. "All right, I'm listening."
"It's a brilliant plan if I do say so and it involves Chancellor Palpatine himself."
"You want my scope on the head of the Republic?" Obi-Wan asked in astonishment.
"No, no," Eval shook his head, scoffing. "That's too easy. Hardly a challenge at all. A child could maneuver you into position to take a shot like that. The chancellor is more valuable alive than dead to my client."
"We don't need more, Eval," said the third inmate of the cell in huttese, turning around on the top bunk. Obi-Wan regarded a green skinned rodian, gazing at him with hostility.
Eval grunted, "I'll be the judge of that. Hardeen, meet Greedo of the Tetsu Clan. He used to be a bounty hunter for Jabba the Hutt on the Outer Rim. Then he got involved in kidnapping the chairman of Pantora's daughters, which is how he finds himself in this lovely accommodation."
"And what does he bring to your brilliant plan?"
"Ruthlessness and good reflexes with a close range blaster. However, I find myself still lacking a crucial element, which is where you come in, Hardeen."
"Which is?"
"To escape from this prison, it requires more than just me and Greedo. I've worked out a plan, but with just two it runs into too many issues. You've undergone Mandalorian training, you know how to use anything as a weapon and to your own advantage."
Obi-Wan nodded, seeing the tactical merit of it. "Yes, but you still haven't sold me on the larger plan."
Eval chuckled, wagging a finger, "All in due time, Hardeen. The details are mine. All you need to know is who we're targeting. If that isn't good enough for you…"
"No, that's fine. Just my instincts screaming at me. I plan operations with meticulous detail as well and can appreciate keeping your cards close to the chest. We've just met, after all."
"Precisely, you get it," Eval smiled widely. "Now, I have to know, are you in or out?"
"Not looking forward to spending the rest of my life looking at these walls, I'm in."
Eval clapped his hands, "Splendid. Now let's talk about getting out of this place."
The next day, Obi-Wan, Eval and Greedo were picked up by the prison transport and ferried to the mess hall for breakfast.
He had gotten enough of a read on Eval to actually risk trying the sauce condiment the phindian swore by and surprisingly enough, it did help make things more palatable. The spiciness went a long way to distract the taste buds from complaining about the gruel texture of the prison food.
When it came time for the day's exercise he split off from Eval, on the pretense that he wanted to get some exercise on a weight lift machine.
As far as he could see, Eval never exercised and only used the opportunity of the exercise yard to essentially hold court with a bunch of prisoners that wanted to trade favors from him and his 'contacts'. Just how the phindian had seemingly compromised the prison already could only be explained by the fact that he had already done so years in advance of him ever being caught and put here.
Perhaps he had concluded in the past that one day his planning and luck would run out and this would be where the Republic would imprison him. Therefore, turning his actual capture into a mere relocation of business, instead of a catastrophic setback.
Obi-Wan paused at the weight machine, pointedly coughing to get the attention of another rodian already using it.
The rodian scowled, clearly wanting to object to being chased away from his exercise, until he caught sight of 'Rako Hardeen' looking at him patiently. Anyone who could casually take on a karkarodon and live was not someone to piss off, so the rodian let go of the machine with a huff and hurried off to find another.
Obi-Wan sat down with a lazy slump and leaned on his knees, letting his hands dangle naturally.
After a brief look around and carefully sensing with the Force, he was sure that no one was watching. His left hand quickly felt underneath the seat and hidden there, was a tiny earpiece communicator.
He palmed it and immediately pretended to stretch his arms over his head. This allowed him to surreptitiously place the comlink into his ear, where it was practically invisible as long as no one was too close.
A quick set of the weights and he laid back onto the machine to begin a steady set of repetitions.
"Ben, report." Mace Windu said shortly.
"Partial success, I was unable to coerce the details of the kidnapping plot. He's too cagey and cautious. I have been recruited by Eval to aid the plot, however."
"That's unfortunate. The scope of the operation will have to increase then."
"Yes, in the meantime he has shared his full plan for an escape from the detention centre. I'm going to need some intervention from your side."
"Such as?"
"Reduce the number of guards in the prison's lower level crematoria tomorrow, by half if you can manage."
"Very well. If you manage to get off Coruscant with Eval, do try and find a way to safely keep in touch, Obi-Wan."
"That will be problematic at best with him watching my every move, but I'll certainly try." Obi-Wan huffed as he felt the beginning of a pleasant burn in arms as the reps continued.
"That's all we can ask. Do whatever it takes to preserve your cover. We won't get another chance like this."
That was very easy for Windu to say. He sensed a clone guard approaching at this point.
"Have to go."
Obi-Wan let go of the weights, letting them fall onto the stops and pretending to be slightly winded. Keeping his arms up and wobbling them, he managed to subtly extract the earpiece and return it to the hidden slot underneath the seat.
The guard barely turned his head and merely continued on his rounds of the exercise yard.
He breathed hard to regain some blood oxygenation before leaning back to do another set of reps.
'Anakin,' he called across the Bond.
It took a few moments and Obi-Wan was left with the impression that his former padawan was quite distracted at the moment. 'Yes, Obi-Wa… ouch!... Sorry, sparring with Ahsoka at the moment.'
'I can call later,' he thought with amusement.
'No, might as well use the opportunity for multitask training. Anything new we should know?'
'Breaking out of prison with Eval and another prisoner named Greedo, a bounty hunter who worked for Jabba apparently, tomorrow.'
'I've heard of him. Never turn your back and always keep your senses up. He'll just as soon put a blaster bolt in it to get more of the cut.'
'Will do. Has Ahsoka any more clarity she can give?'
'One moment… This is more deduction than prescience. Eval will more than likely take you straight to Serenno and there will be more recruits for his plan waiting.'
'She thinks Dooku is personally overseeing the operation?'
'Yes, she'll also get in touch with Savage. We may be able to give you intel on what you're walking into there.'
'That would be much appreciated. Now I'll let you get back to sparring. Out of interest, what's the score tally anyway?'
'Five to three in my favor, we're sparring in the training arena, level six difficulty.'
'Impressive. Well, I'll get back to my own exercise.'
In the evening of the next day, Obi-Wan was idly walking with his tray of food and drink towards Eval's table, when he was accosted by a short but burly human prisoner that looked like he had spent many years in the exercise yard.
"Hey Hardeen!"
Obi-Wan turned around lazily and idly glared at his interlocutor. "What?"
"You still owe me something, remember."
Obi-Wan turned around, pretending to think it over. "Really? Your face does look familiar-"
"All that money you owe me and you forget! I'm Tonn Kientan of Corellia, you bastard!"
"Oh… oh I remember now," Obi-Wan looked down on him with a smirk, aware they had attracted the attention of most of this half of the mess hall, including the guards. "Tiny Kientan! You've bulked up a bit since I last saw you-"
"No one calls me tiny!"
That was the only warning Obi-Wan had before he was tackled around the waist, his tray of food flying as he let himself be slammed against a nearby table packed with prisoners. The tray impacted directly into the face of a big selonian, smearing his felinoid face with food and drink. He hissed in anger, his eyes flaring.
Kientan and Obi-Wan struggled briefly for dominance in a tussle of competing arms, matching strength for strength.
Obi-Wan managed to break grip and tossed his opponent into the gap between tables, allowing more space for the fight.
Kientan threw fast jabs for Obi-Wan's stomach and kidneys, which he blocked cold with his arms, before dodging a right hook to his jaw.
Obi-Wan threw two left jabs, which his opponent blocked but he wasn't fast enough to stop the follow up overhead hook which sent Kientan reeling backward.
Any further action was halted when two clone troopers rushed forward with stun batons.
"All right! That's enough! Fight's over!"
A massive trandoshan stood up from the table behind the troopers and grabbed both by the scruff of the neck, "It's only beginning!" He smashed both clones together by the head, stunning them
A snivvian and human took the chance, jumping forward and grabbing the stun batons from the dazed troopers before jamming them into their side and pulling the trigger.
"Argggh!"
Cheers went up as the spark of a prison riot began.
Inmates grabbed their trays and began fighting the closest prisoner they had a grudge against.
It was barely seconds before the entire mess hall became pandemonium with more clone troops storming into the room, seeking to restore order.
Prisoners abruptly stopped their infighting when a trooper was near, bodily overwhelming the clone, robbing him of the stun baton and simply continuing the fight.
Obi-Wan had meanwhile, decked Kientan unconscious with a single punch and hurried over to Eval and Greedo through the fighting throng.
It wasn't long until the troopers on the overhead walkways opened fire with blue stun shots.
However, some prisoners were now also armed with blasters looted from knocked out guards at this point and started returning stun fire.
A nearby door opened with five troopers to reinforce the guards. Two prisoners with looted weapons fired stunbolts in ambush, but ended up unconscious from return fire. A gang of further prisoners stormed the remaining troopers, tackling them to the ground.
"Go!" snapped Eval.
Obi-Wan and Greedo took the lead, with Eval sprinting behind them.
They joined a near mass exodus as other prisoners also saw the opportunity to break out into the access controlled hallways.
The general alarm began wailing through the corridors as the unlikely trio sprinted along the route that Eval had them memorize.
They had to dodge a number of fights between inmates and guard troopers, but managed to not get entangled.
Thankfully, their destination didn't require travelling with a turbolift and it was only eight minutes of frantic stop-start sprinting that had them ducking behind the corner that led into an octagonal shaped corridor.
"Whew, we must wait here for a moment," Eval gasped.
It didn't take long to see why, as a recessed door opened in the side of the corridor. Two officer clones carrying an empty stretcher between them emerged and thankfully walked in the opposite direction.
"All right, Hardeen, you said you could handle the lock, go. Greedo and I will position ourselves to intercept anyone coming."
Obi-Wan nodded and sprinted towards the morgue's recessed entrance.
He knelt and grabbed the control panel, feeling around the edges before finding the hidden switch that maintenance clones and droids used. The panel popped open and he was presented with a tiny forest of small conduits and wires. He fiddled here and there, pretending to use some cunning slicing technique whilst making sure Greed and Eval weren't looking his way.
With the Force, he reached into the mechanisms and electronics, feeling for the master switches that were especially built into this prison and which only a sufficiently skilled Jedi could manipulate.
The panel turned green and the recessed door vanished into the ceiling.
"Let's go," he hissed as he returned the panel to its normal configuration.
Greedo and Eval rushed into the morgue and Obi-Wan followed last, tapping on the interior control panel to lock it down.
"All right, we're in the morgue, now what?" Greed asked pointedly.
Eval smirked and walked over to the row of four caskets, tapping on a nearby control panel.
All four opened, two were empty and two held the dead bodies of a human and a rodian.
"We take the express route down to the crematoria level."
"Are you crazy? We'll be incinerated!"
"There are safeguards installed, sensors will detect our lifesigns and we'll be let out by the staff down there. That is where both of you come in with your no doubt superb close quarter combat skills. Now get in, time is running out."
Obi-Wan and Eval quickly claimed the open caskets, leaving Greedo to unfortunately share space with his dead fellow rodian.
The casket closed and the world of his eyes was reduced to utter darkness.
Through his body and the Force, he sensed the casket being picked up and slotted into a grav lev runner, before it was suddenly accelerated to something close to 5 Gs straight down.
He gritted his teeth with the strain, as the blood in his body was forced into his head. Calling on the Force for internal control, he pushed his internal fluids to follow a natural rhythm, despite the external forces.
Six seconds later the casket began slowing down gradually until it finally came to a full stop, just eleven seconds after the quick journey had begun.
He had little time to regain equilibrium.
Light returned as the casket opened up.
Obi-Wan surged forward, jumping out and tackling the nearby clone officer around the midsection.
The man lost all the wind in his lungs immediately, before Obi-Wan was on top of him.
A single elbow strike to the side of the clone's head knocked him out.
Next Obi-Wan fluidly jumped off into a reverse kick that knocked the blaster out of a clone trooper's grip, sending it skidding away on the floor.
The clone retaliated immediately, throwing strikes to Obi-Wan's neck and a kick to the knee.
He had to carefully moderate his reaction times to not be too good in dealing with the trooper, but after a quick exchange of dodges and strikes, Obi-Wan knocked out this one too.
The sharp discharge of a blaster resounded in the crematoria room, heralding Greedo defeating his own opponent and shooting the downed clone in the chest.
The rodian bounty hunter wasted no time and let loose with two rapid pinpoint blasts that also killed the two clones that Eval had been wrestling with.
"Excellent," he smirked. "Hardeen, arm yourself."
Obi-Wan nodded, scooping up the nearest DC-15 carbine that had fallen and following Eval as the phindian led them out the immediate room they had landed in.
They rushed down another octagonal corridor, only to run straight into two fully armored troopers going the other way.
Greedo fired first, sending a blast straight into the helmet of the left trooper, whilst Obi-Wan fired moments later, aiming his own shot center mass into the stomach area.
Both troopers went down, only one screaming in agony.
They sprinted further, taking a right turn before coming to a large door that Obi-Wan sensed would lead them outside.
"Loading area, should only be three troopers," Eval said.
Obi-Wan took one side of the door, Greedo the other, whilst Eval manipulated the controls.
The doors parted with a rush of wind and the sound of external alarms wailing.
Greedo fired, hitting a surprised trooper in the back, whilst Obi-Wan's shot hit his target in the upper-right back.
"Hey!"
The last trooper, who had been loading cargo onto a transport speeder, whirled around with his carbine and fired off rapid shots.
Obi-Wan just about managed to dodge in a way that didn't give the game away. The shot left a nasty scorching burn on his right hip though.
"Haaah!" he screamed in anger, aiming his weapon, but Greedo fired before he could.
The trooper collapsed to a center mass shot over the heart.
Eval rushed forward, grabbing the downed trooper's carbine and then ripped off the gauntlet and vambrace on his left arm.
The phindian awkwardly put it on, wriggling his arm in with strained effort. It hardly fit and was constricting his forearm, but his purpose was clear as his other hand blurred on the tiny controls of the vambrace.
The transport powered up and repulsors whirred into life.
"Our ride awaits, gentle beings."
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