Deadly Game: In for a Penny

[Baros Sal-Soren]

Republic Medical Center
Coruscant
Three days after the incident

Sal-Soren was guided to her room by two heavy set CSF officers. Although he had been cleared from all suspicions regarding the blast in Ee'everwest's apartment, they were taking standard precautions like this all the time. At least, that is what he had been told. To be frank, he did not care. His purpose was to pass on a message that he had received and to thank Teyla for her efforts in saving his life the other day. It had damn near gotten her killed. It was her job, and he could now see she was dedicated to it. He liked that about her. At least there was one thing he liked.

The door slid open and he walked in tentatively. "Miss Ee'everwest?" He asked in a normal conversational tone. He did want to wake her up after all. On second thoughts, why was he almost tiptoeing?

Moving to her bed side, he spoke up a little louder to try and rouse her from her slumber. "Teyla!" He said in a whisper shout, he didn't have time to mess around.

@[member="Teyla Ee'everwest"]

 

[Amz]

@[member="Baros Sal-Soren"]

Teyla's eyes began to flutter open at Baros rousing. Her energy levels had drastically dropped, and she was still getting her bearings. A very faint smile tugged up her lips and Teyla tried to sit up a little. "Hey...Mr. Sal-Soren..." Teyla said tiredly, pushing hair out of her eyes and trying to prop herself up on her elbows. "I must look terrible..." she said with a little laugh. "You look good, I'm glad." One life had been saved, and that lifted her spirits some.

"Look..." she said, closing her eyes when she tried to sit up the rest of the way, getting an instant headrush, half a second later Teyla opened up her eyes again. "I'm really sorry for dragging you into all of this."

 

[Baros Sal-Soren]

He looked good? There was a first for everything. Baros had to admit her preferred Teyla this way, cordial not recovering from a near death experience. Perhaps the near death experience knocked the sass out of her? He put the truly horrid thought out of his mind. "You don't look that bad," Baros said with wary smile, "actually...better than last time I saw you...but not as good as the time before that." Perhaps some humour was the way to go? No, not really. He had never done this before. Delivered a message like this.

"The doctors informed me that you are going to make a full recovery," Baros said with a sincere hint of relief, "I am pleased to hear that, I had feared the worst."

Pulling out a datapad, Baros took a moment to compose himself. He was not keen on what he was about to say. "Miss Ee'everwest. It seems we have drawn the attention of a rather sadistic man...or I guess, woman," he began to read from it very slowly, "six have fallen, one by one, I took my time and had some fun. Now you both think that you can catch me, don't you know the Nether's Gree? I expect to see a lot more of you two. The game is afoot. One will die each week until you catch me. They will become increasingly closer to you, more personal. I expect that you will not employ the full force of the CSF...they bore me. You two are fun, becuase you think you are more than that. Catch me if you can, Thyssel Bark Killer."

Sal-Soren swallowed. Putting the datapad away, he looked about to see if anyone else had heard, no one was in the room how could they? "Nether's Gree is a Corellian fairy tale...a king who was kind and gentle to his subjects during the day, but at he would place a spell on his subjects. They would go mad. Some would kill themselves by running off a cliff. In the morning, they would all run back to the king for solace," Baros explained as much as he knew, "I haven't shown anyone else this message...I thought you should be the one to decide what we do with it."

@[member="Teyla Ee'everwest"]

 

[Amz]

@[member="Baros Sal-Soren"]

"Yeah...should be going home in a day or so. Or at least to whatever is left of the place." So she was a little pessimistic about having her apartment blown up, who wouldn't be? She didn't exactly live in the ritz, but it'd been home. At least some of her energy seemed to be coming back.

When Baros began reading the letter to Teyla, her face got hot. Not a word that fell from his lips was missed, and the officer was paying close attention to the message. By the end, her stomach felt knotted again, and her throat was dry.

"Nether's Gree is just a fairy tale." Said Teyla, biting down on her lip in thought. "But it might lead to some clues. Keep the message, if we're lucky, then it will be traceable." Teyla looked over to the sunshine coming from outside. She owed it to the victims and their families to find this person and bring them to justice. But the description had said their target was a male, the droid was destroyed. So far, who ever this Thyssel Bark Killer was, she'd been extremely thorough in cleaning up the crime scene and sweeping away incriminating evidence. "If we don't even know who we're up against, how are we supposed to get to them? We're just grasping at straws." Teyla brought her hands up to bury her face into her palms, wiping away the anger heat that'd risen earlier, and then slid them back down to rest in her lap again. This was serious news.

"All the evidence we had has either been destroyed, or is dead. I'll have to start back at square one again. But," there was always a 'but' when it came to a case. "Listen... You and your family should be placed in protective custody until this is all over. That's what I should make happen." Teyla inhaled a breath and folded her hands together. "But I don't know what might happen if I don't listen to what the killer wants me to do, and that's for us to work together." Just hearing the words come out of her mouth caused Teyla to inwardly cringe. The thought of letting Baros put his life on the line again didn't exactly feel like it would bode well. Especially not with her boss.

"Like I said...we're going to have to start at square one, but this time we might do well to bring a couple of Jedi onto the scene. People are dying, and he ..or she. - Whoever! Needs to be yanked off the streets as quick as possible."

Pondering for a moment, Teyla turned to Baros again. "How did you get inside my apartment and hooked up to that droid? Did you see anyone?" Teyla then realized after asking, that he must have been asked that question a billion times already, and he likely didn't have an answer.

 

[Baros Sal-Soren]

The moment seemed surreal. He had known the message's content for some time, yet to see how shaken Teyla was by its words...that concerned him. It made sense for someone like him to be a little flustered by it, but a professional? Sal-Soren reminded himself of the humanity they all shared. No one here was superhuman emotionally. "I will organize my own protection and I will inform my families security detail only so as not to send my mother into a frenzy."

Upon the subject of how he got into her quarters, that was a tale that was rather short in its telling. "I was in the med-transport on my way to the Medcenter one moment...and then awake lying on your bed the next...I can only assume this Thissel Bark Killer has connections in the paramedic service."

He leaned forward a little and whispered. "You do not have to worry about me. I will dedicate whatever resources I need too in order to bring this lunatic down. You have my full support...if it means anything to you that is."

@[member="Teyla Ee'everwest"]

 

[Amz]

@[member="Baros Sal-Soren"]

"Alright. Just make sure that security is on them at all times, this guy blew up my apartment and sent you a message. Whoever this is... they're smart, and has already proven they can get around systems... no matter how secure. He's also pretty flamboyant, giving himself a name." And one step ahead of them. Teyla felt an urgency to get back to work, start drawing up conclusions and going over evidences to reprofile the killer. Another potential problem could be the deputy chief taking her off the case. "I can't withhold evidence. I need to turn that message over to my chief." Teyla said blandly, slipping easily back into business profession mode.

The suspect had proven to know more than both of them combined, and that message was going to be her starting point. Her gaze laid on Baros, naturally moving a little sideways when he leaned towards her.

"You do not have to worry about me. I will dedicate whatever resources I need too in order to bring this lunatic down. You have my full support...if it means anything to you that is."

"While I'm glad to... have your support," what was that supposed to mean anyway? "I'm sure you have your own problems to worry about right now. The press are having a field day.. I'm sure." She smiled a little and leaned back into the bed pillows. Her mind was racing with thousands of possibilities that needed to be put out of her head.

"You almost died, because I brought you on to this case. Mistakes and missteps get you killed in this job, and I can't keep taking those risks. You helped enough, go home Baros. Our department can figure this out."

 

[Baros Sal-Soren]

Alright. If that was the way she was going to be. Baros leaned back and pursed his lips as he thought through what was going through his head. Well, you are in no position to stop me, and while you may have an attitude now that wants to keep me out of this I do not think this psycho is going to be so kind. I will just start without you. But he didn't say it out loud.

Rapping his fingers on his knee for a bit, Baros pondered how he should best leave this moment. "As you wish," Baros said with a serious tone, "you are the professional."

Standing, Baros briefly took a hold of Teyla's hand and gently squeezed. "I hope you get better quickly, Teyla...and I hope we can catch up some time. Clean slate and all."

He turned, and slowly walked out of the door. There was a look of determination in his eyes that was beyond the placid, cool and calm demeanor that was his trademark. With a brief glance back over his shoulder, Baros allowed himself to ponder his feelings should it soon be his sister or parents in Teyla's place. As much as it was unpleasant to see this woman hurt, she was a professional. She put her life in jeopardy as a job. He had stepped out of his bounds and gotten potential crosshairs on the shoulders of everyone for whom he cared. It would not be them that lay half dead on a hospital bed. Not if he could help it.

A slight wave of his hand was offered, and Baros the crime fighting fashionista was let loose.

@[member="Teyla Ee'everwest"]