Getting Our Hands Dirty (Valx)

[Tallia Farn]

Tallia's speeder gunned out of the Jedi temple as Coruscant's sun began to set. Her padawan, Valx Raizod sat in the seat next to her. They were both wearing regular Coruscanti street clothes and had their lightsabers tucked away inside a hidden compartment aboard the speeder. The mission they were about to undertake would require some stealth, and wouldn't be easy. She suspected her padawan had what it would take to complete the task though.

There had been several riots that had broken out in the lower levels of Coruscant. Numerous deaths had been reported on the scene. What was worse, was that the rioters had been spreading anti-Jedi propaganda at an alarming rate. It was sounded ridiculous to Tallia. The Jedi were the only thing that kept a Sith takeover from happening. Whoever was at the bottom of this was certainly not up to anything good.

That was why Tallia was investigating. They needed to get down to the root of these disturbances. It wouldn't do to have the common people of Coruscant to live in fear of these zealous terrorists. Their first stop would be at The Rusty Ronto, a beat up bar in the lower city. She had made contact with an information broker that had told her that he had the information she needed. There was a risk that he was lying, but they needed to start somewhere.

"You ready?" She asked her padawan.

@[member="Valx Raizod"]

 

[Valx Raizod]

"I suppose," Valx said, "Ready as I'll ever be."

They zoomed off into the scum infested, filthy, crime ridden, underworld of Coruscant, which strongly resembled a Cantina on Tatooine. He wore tinted glasses over his eyes, so as not to be taken as being blind. A handicap was a sign of weakness, and Valx wanted no part of being weak.

"Are we almost there," Valx sighed heavily, "it seems like we've been driving for hours"

He sat there and stared out at the skyline, not that he could see anything anyway. Hopefully soon he would become a Knight. He felt confident in his abilities and was sure of his leadership skills. Maybe after this little...scavenger hunt, he could consult his master and then the Council. One could only hope...

@[member="Tallia Farn"]

 

[Tallia Farn]

"I'm sorry, but I prefer to not break traffic laws unless it's necessary." She pulled the speeder into a parking spot outside the cantina. Before getting out, she pulled a blaster out of the back seat and handed it to Valx. "I'm not expecting a fight, but just in case, here's a blaster." She stepped out of the vehicle and walked across the street. "Try to stay behind me, It get's rough in here sometimes."

The cantina was filled with a load of drunken spacers and the second hand smoke from death sticks. "What a nice place for a meeting." She thought to herself. Tallia looked around for the contact, and finally spotted him sitting in the very back of the main room. His mark had been the glass of blue tinted Juma Juice, an odd choice of drink for a human. He wore a brown trench coat along with a hood obscuring his face, but she could tell by the way that he sat at the table that he was human. She slipped into the booth and made room for Valx to sit beside her.

"So, your the Jedi that contacted me? You don't look the part."

"I can hardly go flouncing around with my robes on and my lightsaber ablaze, now can I? Do you have anything for me or not?"

"That depends on how much credits you have."

She shoved a bag of credchips across the table. The man picked it up and weighed it in his palm.

"Seems right." He said. "Now here's what I got. The riots down here were pretty heated, of course you probably know that. All this anti-Jedi and Republic stuff brewing. But what you didn't realize, was what was going on behind the scenes. The riot was just a cover up. There a huge spice operation going on down here. Larger than I've ever seen. It seems like a whole crime ring is in the works. Word is though, that the Black Heth are behind it."

The Black Heth were a gang of thieves and scoundrels that had been functioning on Coruscant for as long as anyone could remember. The Republic had tried to get rid of the group before, but they had always returned in some new form.

"Any idea where we could find them?" As Tallia said the words, she instantly felt a dark presence enter the cantina. She leaned to her padawan. "Did you feel that? I think they found us."

@[member="Valx Raizod"]

 

[Valx Raizod]

Valx looked at the blaster, then at @[member="Tallia Farn"], "Why would you give a blind guy a blaster?" He asked while shaking his head.

The place was a hell hole. The smell was comparable to that of a Bantha's droppings mixed with the intense smell of alcohol, spices, and deathsticks. Great. To top it all off, his nose was freaking out. The intense smell was overwhelming for his heightened sense of smell. Valx knelt over and vomited. People stared and looked disdainfully, almost offended by his actions. He really felt like whining right then. Then, he could sense a big, beefy looking guy saunter over and begin conversing with his master. He 'looked" around and sensed several beings walk in the door behind them. They weren't speaking basic, and the noise was blocking out most of the words they were saying. There! Valx understood one. Dosh...Trandoshans. And they were sniffing and looking around.

"Uh...Master..." Valx tried to interrupt.

 

[Tallia Farn]

Tallia reached down for her lightsaber, then realized she'd left it in their speeder. "Oh, Bloah." She cursed silently to herself.

"Come on lets go." She said to Valx. Trandoshans were bad news. She could handle them easily enough with her lightsaber, but she didn't think she'd be winning any arm wrestling competitions. They surfed through the crowd, heading for a back exit on the other side of the room. Their pursuers didn't seem to be on their trail yet, but she guessed they wouldn't be far behind. They had tracked them all the way to this hole in the wall after all. They ducked out the door and into a back alley. The contents of a trash disposer had been set on fire in the back, and a group of grimy, rag covered beings huddled around the can for warmth. Tallia ran out into the parking area where their speeder was. She quickly grabbed Valx's lightsaber and handed it to him, then took out her own and clipped it to her belt.

"Padawan Raizod, any ideas? This is just as much your mission as it is mine. I want your opinion." The Trandoshans were no good to them dead. If they could track them to the source, then that would be beneficial.

@[member="Valx Raizod"]