The light bleeder

[April Lotuka]

Coruscant never slept. It flickered.

From the upper balconies of the mid-level districts, the planet-city looked like a circuit board stretched to the horizon, towers pulsing in orderly rhythms of wealth and power. But Aurelia Veyr stood three thousand meters below that elegance, where the light stuttered and the air tasted metallic, and felt the city watching her back.

They were close.

Not because she saw them. Not yet. But because the Force pressed differently tonight. Thin. Searching. Like fingers combing through fabric.

Mercenaries.

Three confirmed signatures earlier near the transit rails. One with cybernetic dampeners. One Force-blind but methodical. One she could not read at all.

That was the one that bothered her.

Aurelia kept her hood low as she stepped through the drizzle of condensation falling from overhead traffic lanes. Her long red hair was braided tight against her spine, no loose strands to identify her. Her green eyes scanned reflections instead of faces. Reflections told the truth. Faces lied.

A flicker in the transparisteel of a vendor stall.

There.

The same broad silhouette from two districts back.

She didn't run.

Running spiked her pulse. Spiking her pulse invited the Force to surge. Surges drew attention. Attention caused bleeding.

Instead, she adjusted course naturally, turning into a narrow stairwell that spiraled downward into the undercity lodging quarter.

Her comm vibrated once in her sleeve.

A text-only ping.

Room secured. Payment doubled. No refunds.

Of course it was doubled.

Her contact, Virek Tal, dealt in disappearances. He charged according to desperation. Tonight, she must have felt very expensive.

She slipped inside the lodge without looking back.
​

---

The building called itself The Luminous Rest. It was neither luminous nor restful.

Dim amber wall strips fought against mildew stains and decades of unreported violence. The air smelled like recycled breath and old coolant. But it had something far more valuable than comfort.

Privacy.

The door sealed behind her with a mechanical hiss. No biometric scans. No ID logs tied to the Temple network. Just a manual bolt and an outdated security grid she could scramble herself.

She exhaled.

Too deeply.

Pain lanced behind her ribs.

The Force had been riding her nerves for hours, restless, curious. Being hunted did that. Fear around her sharpened everything. It wanted release. It always wanted release.

Aurelia leaned her forehead against the cool metal wall and counted backward from fifty.

Forty-nine.

Forty-eight.

Her veins flickered faint gold beneath her skin, visible for only a second before she forced the current down. The Veyr Conduit rested at her hip, humming softly. Regulating. Bleeding excess into harmless dispersion.

She did not touch it.

Not yet.​

 

[April Lotuka]

She crossed the room and activated the privacy shroud on the single window. The city vanished into opaque gray.

Think.

Why were they hunting her?

Not random bounty hunters. Too coordinated. Too precise.

This was sanctioned.

Someone had pulled her sealed records.

The Healing Hall incident.

Relis IV.

Or worse.

The Red Quiet.

Her hand drifted unconsciously toward the hidden compartment sewn into the lining of her travel cloak. The unregistered saber felt warm, even dormant, as if it sensed the tension in her bloodstream.

She swallowed.

If the Council discovered she had built it, she would be stripped of rank at best.

If someone else discovered it first, she would be labeled something far more permanent.
​

---

A sharp pulse hit her senses.

Not outside.

Below.

Two floors down.

Aurelia closed her eyes and reached carefully, cautiously. Not drawing. Not absorbing. Just listening.

Bootsteps.

Disciplined.

A faint mechanical whir.

And underneath that, the emotional static of hired intent. Detached. Paid. Efficient.

They were sweeping the building.

Her heart kicked.

The Force answered instantly, flooding her nerves as exposed wiring dropped in water. Gold light traced beneath her skin before she could stop it. Her breath hitched painfully.

Not here. Not inside.

If she were discharged in this building, half the structure would shear sideways.

She forced the surge down again, teeth clenched, palms trembling.

Fight or leave.

Coruscant was the heart of the Republic. The Temple was here. The Council. Safety.

But also surveillance.

If she fled the planet, she would become exactly what rumor already hinted she was. Unstable. Rogue. Dangerous.

If she stayed and fought…

The image rose unbidden in her mind.

Fire hanging midair. Blood glowing. Walls bowing inward.

She could survive them.

The question was whether the district would.​

 

[T'zarna Khab]

Location: Coruscant, Middle Levels
Objective: Information Retrieval
Tags: April Lotuka

There was a sudden darkness creeping through the building, one that blinded not the eyes, but only a particular sense. It was like a shade in the very essence of The Force. This creeping darkness was the signature of a much different agent, one of The Final Dawn's Imperial Hands. They were a clandestine order sent on missions directly from the head of the organization. She was less a member of The Final Dawn, and more so a weapon.

Today her mission was espionage, meaning simply there were limits to how much damage she could cause. There was an eerie quiet at the moment she entered the 9th floor. She was aware to some degree of the mercenaries and their hunt, it was what drew her to this dingy place.

Even as the scent of mildew and stale sweat filled her nose, she pressed on with an unflinching visage. Every step made that darkness move just a bit closer to the hiding Jedi.

By now most of the civilians in the building were in their rooms or cleared out. It wasn't clear yet if the mercenaries were cleaning house, or something less extreme. For now, T'zarna would continue shadowing them. Only when it behooved her to make her presence known to the trio of hunters.

Whatever it was they were hunting, it was valuable enough to risk a major incident on one of the most secure planets in the galaxy. Maybe they had plans to extract someone from the hotel? It mattered very little, there was work to be done, a target to be found. A force sensitive target at that!

Soon though, this hotel would be the site of quite the battle, a clash of powerful forces. T'zarna's insectoid hear now beat quickly thrummed with excitement and anticipation!