The views are stunning…

[Nubica Felidae]

She rolled her eyes at his comment about a kiss. She was used to being around other Padawans and always getting the last word – and this was a challenge for her. Not in her application of the Force – that was actually something she was able to learn as she went along.

What she needed was someone to tell her when she’d gone too far, to let her know she didn’t have all the answers and when the arrogant and sarcastic response wasn’t the right one – if it ever was. She was bright and a decent fighter, but there was so much more to being a Jedi than that – yet her duelling was central to who she was and that was something she was keen to avoid being diminished.

She smirked. “No, not as graceful. But I grant you, it was effective.” She bit her lip, she wanted to say more but for once respected the fact she was with someone who had been there and done that and probably had a handful of T-shirts.

As she stood by him, wondering the best way to travel, she wondered something aloud. “What’s it like to face the Sith in battle? I mean, I’ve sparred and I just know, deep down, it’s nothing like that. But being a Padawan and not having a Master, I’ve not been permitted to go to an Invasion. It’s not that I’m itching for a fight…” She didn’t sound too convincing at this last statement, “But it’s my duty to defend the weak, and sitting on Ossus doesn’t feel enough when we’re defending a planet.”

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

"Yes you are.", Varus said plainly in response to the young woman, knowing exactly what she was feeling in that moment. He knew because it was a feeling he'd had when he was just a few years younger, a profound force user himself, but not cut and honed the way he needed to be. It hadn't taken him long to become a Knight, a talent that overshadowed even some of the others the very day he'd set foot in the temple of Ossus. Talent, however, was not nearly enough, and that he would learn the hard way.

He glanced back and forth down to either end of the hallway before his blue eyes focused on an exit door. That door would lead to an emergency stairwell that had practically never been used, but this time it was necessary. They needed to get to the ground floor and disappear into the open public so that they could regroup and search for the antagonist of this story, and they didn't seem to be having the best luck with lifts that day. So, the stairs would have to suffice, and as he turned and began walking down the hall he motioned with a large, strong hand for her to follow, not a word spoken as his eyes shifted back and forth to either side of the hallway.

If they were really that worried about he and his soon to be apprentice, then there could be a bounty hunter or mercenary in one of those rooms just waiting for them to get into position, though for now the Force was not stinging at the back of his mind in warning. "It's like...", he started to say, stopping as they reached the end of the hall and stepping out first to the connecting hall that ran along the edge of the building to check it before they turned their backs to it and proceeded through the stairwell door. When he saw that it was clear he turned and opened the door, holding it open for the young woman before he slipped in behind her.

"Honestly?", he asked her, reeling his mind back to her question as he glanced over the railing to look down the many storied below them to make sure that no one was coming up after them. "It's exhilarating, arousing, and most importantly, humbling.", he told her honestly, glancing over to her, his blues connecting with her green. "And the next time I'm called to war, you'll be accompanying me.", he said, though he didn't smile or give her a confident nod or anything of the like. He was as serious as he could be, she was of age and talented, and they needed her out there with him and the others.

[member="Nubica Felidae"]

 

[Nubica Felidae]

Nubica held her face in check. What she wanted to hear in his words was that Varus had agreed be her Master. What she heard was her admission she couldn’t go to war without a Master and he said he could go with her. She didn’t want the embarrassment of jumping to the wrong conclusion.

So she kept herself busy as they walked. “Before we walk down 250 flights of stairs, we should have an idea where we’re heading.”

She opened up the datapad again. "We can check the records. Everyone coming in or out of Cloud City has to leave some sort of passport information. Docking records, passenger manifests, tariff documents. It'll be quite a search…but green hair isn’t exactly common.”

She quickly bounced through the public records databases, but the search ultimately turned up nothing.

"See, he never came here," she said, sarcastically. “But then any man who's got that many connections and is involved in illegal activities would know how to hide his tracks. He even hid that murder."

Next, she looked through docking records, credit receipts, list of purchases made and transmissions sent. It was a monumental task and required all of her concentration as well as the full access given to her by her Jedi access code.

Finally her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she stared at the images that flickered by from docking bay holocams.Some of the video snapshots stuttered and wavered. "Oh dear, these images have been tampered with! I'm seeing skilful erasures and fine video cuts. Most sophisticated. "

“If someone has assisted in covering up the arrival of this man, they most likely have sanitized recordings from the docking bay... but they may have overlooked other holocams." Images flowed by in a rapid blur. "There! I see it. That's him," she purred in triumph

An external holocams from one of the Port Town gambling casinos had managed to catch the image of a tall man with moss-green hair and a narrow silver laser visor; the man emerged from a docking port and ducked into a casino, trying to lose himself in the crowd. "He couldn't clean up everything,"

She froze an image and enlarged it. “Port Town. Levels 121 through 160. And the Last Card Casino is on level…132. Seems we’ve got some walking to do.” She flashed him a grin. “We make a good team.”

Well, there was no harm in testing the waters.

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

Varus smirked after hearing her last bit, knowing that already she seemed to be preferring his company to many others that she'd trained with and gone on missions with. It was sweet, and for all he know she was actually starting to like him. It also didn't hurt that she really was smart and knew her stuff, while maintaining a certain, natural and unfiltered beauty that you just didn't see anymore. In fact, though she was younger than him, she managed to make even him a bit nervous around her. Varus was not a man of many words, however, and so that would be hard for her to actually find out without him outright admitting it.

"It seems we do.", he told her as they descended the steps, those blue eyes glancing over his shoulder at her with a knowing look in them. "I haven't ever requested that a Padawan be assigned to me, did you know that?", Varus asked her as he glanced over the railing, realizing that this little trek down the never ending staircase was taking too long. "I've always been decently agreeable when someone has asked me to train them or be their mentor for the long haul, but I've never reached out to the Council and actually asked for a specific apprentice, like all the other Masters have done a time or two.", he told her, smiling a bit as he realized that by now she knew he was playing with her a bit.

"Do you think I should break that tradition?", he asked her, knowing full well what she thought, knowing that she might very well have been whispering to herself in her own mind the word "yes". He rather enjoyed her excitible nature, however, and was interested in seeing whether or not she would respond jokingly, sarcastically or seriously. That was why be stopped, five stories down from where they'd started, and leaned over the railing, blue eyes having to focus just to see the ground floor where all of this ended before glancing over to her to await her response before he escalated the pace a bit.

[member="Nubica Felidae"]

 

[Nubica Felidae]

It was one thing to say you’ll walk over a hundred flights of stairs, quite another to do so. She knew Varus was fit (in the physical sense…or rather in the toned and muscular way…or to put it another way…actually, best to stop now). She was used to keeping herself in good shape and used the Ossus gym but looking up, the walk looked daunting. Their prey might retire before they got there.

But she kept pace and knew that they’d get there sooner or later. His words were tantalising. Was he toying with her or was he oblivious to his words. She hoped the former as each sentence made her hope he’d pop the question.

So she nodded and shook her head in the right places and hoped he’d relent and put her out of her misery. “Yes,” she added a little too quickly when he asked about breaking with his past record.

She blushed. “OK…” she laughed — the sound echoing down the stairwell. “Yes, I want you to ask me to be your Padawan. I think, or hope, or guess, or all three that you’re hinting at it. Not just because I need a Master, although if I’m honest I do, but because you seem the sort of Jedi that will teach me what I need. They say you’re committed and I think I am too. But maybe, just maybe, I’m little too arrogant. And you don’t get to be a Master without learning when to stick to your guns and when to go with the flow.”

“So I accept,” she said, grinning. “And can we use the Force to speed this up?”

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

Varus laughed lightly as he heard the young woman's response, smiling a bit at how chipper she seemed to become when responding to his suggestion that he break his tradition of not taking on Padawans. "You accept?", he asked, a bit of a playful tone to his voice as if to press her patience with him a bit more. He knew she wanted that Master and Apprentice relationship with him, but he wasn't entirely sure that it was only because she liked the way he handled his business and thought that they would be a good match. Or perhaps he was just hoping there was some kind of ulterior motivation hiding behind those beautiful green eyes of her. Maybe he wanted her to want him and not just to be overseen and trained by him.

He knew it was wrong, perhaps even forbidden, but he couldn't help it. This young woman was rather alluring, particularly in the eyes, and he couldn't help the way he felt. He had, after all, gone quite some time without that delicate attention of a woman. Since Seraphina had run away from him, in fact, hiding away somewhere in a darkened corner of the galaxy. He wanted to lie to himself and convince himself that his compulsion was of a physical sort, but it wasn't just that. There was something special about Nubica, and she was slowly drawing him in, whether she was intending to do so or not.

He felt helpless.

"I'll make it official when we return.", he told her, glancing over his shoulder at the young woman before he stopped and grabbed the railing of the staircase. He then hopped up and flipped his legs over the railing, spinning a 180 and lending on the edge of the staircase on the other side of the railing, holding it and balancing his boots on the edge. "That is, if neither of us get killed today.", he said with a smirk before he released the railing, fell back and turned, jumping from one row of stairs down to the next floor below them. He grabbed the railing and landed there, only for a moment as he glanced back up at Nubica, those excited blue eyes of his watching her before he pushed off and began jumping between each stair case, one at a time, making much better time in the effort of getting to the ground floor.

[member="Nubica Felidae"]

 

[Nubica Felidae]

Nubica hoped his playful tone was just that – an attempt to prolong the banter and not, as she feared an indication that she’d overstepped the mark.

So once he confirmed the situation was official, her heart skipped a beat. For a Youngling to have to wait, day after day to be accepted as a Padawan was terrible. She was at an age when any longer and she’d no doubt be asked to leave the Order. If nobody has the faith in training you, you don’t become a Jedi. It’s that simple.

So she was delighted and a little apprehensive at the same time. She would not let him down and would prove to the others that passed her over how they were wrong to do so.

But for now, they had the more mundane task of stairs to deal with, so she copied him in his approach and was able to make short work of each floor – instead of having to take each stair at a time.

Once on the right level, they exited. If Mos Eisley was bad, this place was worse. Despite being part of Cloud City, this level was downright down at heel. The streets boasted electronic gambling devices and card games sprouted wherever two or three were gathered.

But they headed for the casino itself – the sort of place where you wiped your feet on the way out it seemed. The floor was worn and dirty, the air filled with smoke and an odour of spice that indicated some of the patrons might be chemically enhanced – or chemically debilitated, depending on how you viewed such things. Large armed guards stood at regular intervals, looking, she thought, for somebody to shoot. It all looked seedy and unkempt.

There was a row of holoboard games set up in one corner of the casino, with players betting on their skills there, and Nubica – in the absence of facts – followed her gut instinct. It was amazing how fast a path cleared for them. There was a 'no shooting inside' policy, according to the signs, but almost everybody seemed to be sporting a weapon of some kind.

She sighed. Somehow when she'd signed on to defend the galaxy, she'd never pictured herself in a ninth-rate, bug-chewed casino waiting to find a man so well connected, he didn’t even appear on security tapes. If somebody had told her that even a few months ago, she would have laughed and told them to see a medic.

And then she glimpsed a flash of green hair moving away from them…and at some pace. And she knew her Master would have seen it too.

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

Varus walked along with Nubica with an easy stride, both confident and relaxed as they sifted through the underworld filth of the used up casino. As they did, the young Jedi Master's eyes were swaying from side to side, taking in everything as he searched for the color green. He noticed guards, what weapons they had, mostly electric weapons for the uses of crowd control, but a few of them sported blasters. They'd have been the ones overseeing the others as they kept the peace. Just then Varus wondered if it would be more beneficial to start a riot as a distraction, but he realized that this might be a little too dangerous. There were also less chaotic ways to get this this man alone and cornered, but they'd have to find him first.

The young male had glanced over to his new apprentice with those iced over eyes and was about to say something when he saw the look on her face. It was a look of excitement and interest, which told him she'd been sharp eyed and found their target. Sure enough, when Varus whipped his head back forwards he saw that head of green hair, and instinctively he started walking in that direction, leading Nubica through the vile inhabitants.

"Helloooooo beautiful!", a cocky sounding Durosian said as he reached out and grabbed Nubica by her arm to stop her. "How about you come have a little fun spending my cred, and then maybe you and I can get out of here and go have a drink in my room upstairs, Dollface?", he asked her as if she were sone command street trash just like he seemed to be. Words not taken kindly by Varus, knowing that Nubica would have been incredibly offended, though she would likely keep a more level head.

He shadowed the man, looking down at him from above for just a moment before he gathered the man's attention with his warning. "If you don't release her immediately I can't promise that she won't kill you, but I will."

[member="Nubica Felidae"]

 

[Nubica Felidae]

Nubica was about to smack the Durosian hard between the eyes when her Master stepped in. His approach was far less…physical and she reflected it wouldn’t have been a best start to their formal relationship. Sometimes she acted first and thought second. Perhaps that’s why others had avoided taking her on as a Padawan.

She simply raised her eyebrow at the Durosian and pulled back her cloak slightly to reveal a training saber. Not that the Durosian would recognise it as such. To him it would look just like the real thing.

He backed off to such a degree that he blended into the wallpaper behind him. She suppressed a snigger and faced Varus. “Thanks…if you weren’t there I might have hit him.” She may be foolish at times and lead with her emotions, but she was not one to lie or pretend something wasn’t what it really was.

Of course by now ‘green hair’ had gone and she glanced around without success. So they headed off in the direction they’d seen him walk in. After thirty seconds or so they reached what could only be described as a dead end. If he came this way there was nowhere else for him to have gone.

At that point they heard a cough behind them and span to see a man with close-cropped moss-green hair and an eye visor that circled the base of his skull like a ring around an oddly shaped planet. His face was heavily scarred – but it was the twin saber hilts on his belt that caught Nubica’s attention most of all.

"This had better be important," he said. “I was on my way somewhere more intimate.” The two busty Twi’leks in tow were possibly a clue here. “Tell me what you know about the ExOne and I’ll make your deaths quick and painless.”

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

At that point there was no more use in concealing his Auro in the force, which was practically blinding and incredibly potent. When he turned around he finally let go, a powerful force presence spreading across the area like a thick, unseen mist. His blue eyes fell on the green haired man who might have realized that simply ending both of the lives in front of him wouldn't be as simple an option as he'd made it out to be.

"I'm sorry, were you speaking to me?", Varus asked, dressed casually with both of his sabers tucked beneath his leather jacket. Nubica seemed to be the more telling one, having flashed her lightsaber at the man that Varus had threatened earlier. It didn't matter now, however, because they'd already been found out and there was about to be trouble if he didn't seek verbal resolution.

Smiling at the man, Varus took a couple of steps to close the distance between them so that he would be standing right in front of him. When he stopped he glanced up at the two Twi'Lek women behind him and raised his right hand, flicking his fingers towards them calmly as if to shoo them away. "He won't be needing your services for now.", he told the pair who seemed to be rather intimidated by the unfolding scene, and so it took only his suggestion to send them reeling from the spot only to disappear back into the establishment.

"How about we find a private place to talk?", Varus asked, choosing civil conversation over strength and violence to get this man somewhere that they could take advantage of what he knew and get a confession for what he'd done. "My pretty little friend here would like a word.", he said with a bit of a smirk as he raised his hand and extended his thumb over his shoulder to point out Nubica behind him.

[member="Nubica Felidae"]

 

[Nubica Felidae]

Nubica was brave. And arrogant. And headstrong. But she knew when to act and when to take the back-seat. And right now, she was letting Varus drive and navigate and serve the drinks.

Nubica would find it difficult to hide her calling – she wore robes – albeit they were such a dark shade of brown, they were often mistaken for Sith attire. But Varus was dressed more casually and perhaps the green-haired man simply underestimated him. For she felt the radiance of his Force aura as he allowed it to be visible and if their foe had the same reaction, he might be reconsidering his position.

Varus squared off to the man. He was an impressive sight and Nubica took note. The Twi’lek escorts quickly disappeared and the Dark-sider seemed less sure of himself.

“How about we use my office?” He indicated the men’s rest-room, still clearly trying to keep an appearance of being in charge. Who he was trying to fool was anyone’s guess. Nubica would lay money on it being himself. It was a casino after all.

So they entered the rather pungent men’s powder-room and turfed out the current occupants and the green-haired man grabbed the Out of Order sign from behind the door and placed it outside.

“OK,” he said, his voice now possibly belying a hint of nervousness. “That should stop any incoming calls. Now talk.”

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

"Thank you for complying.", Varus said when they'd reached the dank, smelly bathroom that this man had called and "office". Without another second spared, Varus took one step and threw his balled up fist square into the nose of the green haired man in front of him, snapping his visor and cracking his nose. He began to bleed immediately as he staggered back into the far bathroom wall behind him, his head thumping lightly against it as he raised his hands to cover his broken nose. Before he could even react or protest, Varus had made it to him again with calm, but calculated strides as he reached up and grabbed the man's head, thrusting it into the bathroom wall and pinning it in place with a heavy hand.

He didn't say anything at first, but raised his right hand, extending only his index finger as he pointed at the man like a disappointed parent. "That broken nose will heal, but a crushed skull won't.", he told the man, lowering his hand to point down towards the lightsaber that was hanging there as if to illustrate that he'd die if he went for it. Clearly the man understood, seeing as he wasnt moving at all aside from a little shivering from shock or fear.

"You've been a bad boy and we'd like to know why.", he told the green haired young man as he groaned beneath his strong grip. "As you can imagine, I'm the brawn and the pretty one behind me is the brains. You'll be answering her questions without a second of hesitation or uncertainty, or this is going to be getting much more painful.", he told the man, knowing that he was perfectly capable of extracting the necessary information from this man himself, but experience like this didn't come often, and he was going to have Nubica take full advantage of it.

[member="Nubica Felidae"]

 

[Nubica Felidae]

Even Nubica was taken by surprise by the pace and severity of Varus’ actions – so the green-haired man stood no chance.

It looked as though he was going to try to bluff it as first as a hand started to move towards his own sabers – but he quickly thought better of it.

So she stepped up, not wishing to overplay her part and she spoke simply, clearly and slowly.

"Three very simple questions. Who do you work for? What can you tell us about the ExOne and how do the two go together?"

The man didn't look at Nubica, he kept his eyes on Varus the whole time.

"I work for the Black Sun. The ExOne is a modern variant of the old X0-X1. A droid capable of reprogramming itself. How they go together is that with the right adjustments, the droid could be encouraged to not only manage the entire systems of a space station, but to turn them into weapons platforms. If we could get one on every facility like this, think of the ransom potential."

"Except the droid went rogue before we could execute the plan. I'm here to find it. Apparently it wants to turn organics into automata - some sort of flesh droids. It'll start with the current droid population to create an army first."

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

"Don't be dodgy.", Varus told the man, his tone not light or playful at all as he leaned in to place more pressure on the man's head. When he did the man squirmed a bit, suffering more under the Jedi Master before he glanced back up at him with less and less confident eyes as the moments passed. "You work for the Syndicate, great. Who in the sybdicate do you work for?"

His question was direct, and it was clear that he was playing no games. He was a very serious man when he needed to be, but at the same time he didn't want to alarm Nubica. He'd only kill this man if he absolutely had to, and his threatening presence and comments had mostly just been for show and to cut the man's confidence in half.

[member="Nubica Felidae"]

 

[Nubica Felidae]

If the man had visible eyes, they’d be full of fear now. But the thinness of his lips and the fact his skin went a couple of shades paler was a giveaway if you were looking.

“You know the score. I don’t get given names — that way I can’t spill the beans when the Jedi come knocking.” He attempted a smile but thought better of it.

“Honestly,” he added.

Nubica figured he wouldn't recognise honesty if it walked up to him, introduced itself and then opened its jacket to reveal a T-shirt with the logo, “I’m Honest” on it. But she was sure he was telling the truth.

“So…” she said, “Where do we start? What do you know that will help us?”

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

Varus leaned in a bit closer, blue eyes scanning over the cracked visor he still wore as he listened to Nubica continue his questioning. He didn't say anything, though, and instead let the Padawan do the intelligence work. Investigation and interrogation had never been his strong suit anyway, and as he'd expected before, this would be some invaluable experience for her. She, from what he could tell, was already and impressively well developed young woman and Jedi, which begged the question why she had never been taken as a Padawan before by any other Master.

Sure, she was hard headed and slightly argumentative, but the willingness to challenge others came more commonly with age, and so he couldn't blame her. She was growing older and more wise every moment, and every moment she learned a little bit more about the galaxy around her giving her the confidence to argue and disagree. "I don't think you're lying, but don't make a fool out of me or I'll find you again and make a dead man out of you.", Varus warned, raising his free hand, the other still gripping the man's head, and pulling back his visor so that he could see a pair of sunken in, dark and hesitant brown eyes and a scar across the bridge of his nose.

"Well?", Varus asked after having heard Nubica's next question.

[member="Nubica Felidae"]

 

[Nubica Felidae]

Melori appreciated the additional leverage that Varus brought to the situation. It would keep the man honest.

"Bionip Labs. Level 120. And the person you want to speak to is Lobot. Part man, part machine. He's Cloud City's computer liaison officer."

Nubica nods to Varus, as far as she'd concerned they have all they need. She pats the man on the back in a slightly sarcastic manner. "Thanks for all your help...if we need you, we'll be in touch."

She led straight away to level 120. "Oh, and I planted a tracker on him," she said. "Just in case we need to speak again."

As they approached the offices of the Computer Liaison department, a swarm of blue-clad wing guards - Cloud City's security forces - ran past them, blasters drawn.

Immediately they heard the sound of firing ahead and realise it's coming from the offices they're planning on visiting.

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

"Thank you for your cooperation. And just in case you're thinking of blabbing about our little meeting, just realize that if they're ready for us you'll be implicated as well.", he remembered warning the man when he finally raised his hand back from his head. "Rats with loose lips don't live long."

He'd been thinking about what he'd said for a long time as he and Nubica made their way to level 120, thinking that his words might have been a bit cliche. Perhaps they had been, but that didn't mean the fool shouldn't have taken them seriously. They were true, and if he had to hunt that one down for being a rat with a guilty conscience then he was going to kill him the next time he caught him.

Varus didn't like liars, but he absolutely hated rats, though since the one he'd just pried information from had cooperated with them he let him go free again. "Good thinking.", Varus admitted as his mind snapped back to the moment at hand. He nodded to her in confidence that she'd done the right thing, and immediately he felt a bit of pride on her behalf. He hadn't had many apprentices before, by his choosing, but this one was outright going to make him look good.

When the guards ran past them he reached out and laid his arm across her chest to stop her, instinctively becoming protective. He then continued forwards first, stepping out around the corner and following the guards, a quiet and subtle hand motion given to instruct her to silently follow as he peeked into the open doorway to the offices.

[member="Nubica Felidae"]

 

[Nubica Felidae]

The shooting was over as soon as it started and by the time the two Jedi arrived the local officials were looking to close the area down. One glanced at Nubica and his eyes took in her saber. "Jedi eh? You can come in."

Inside the room was carnage. Dead bodies everywhere.

"Here's the thing," the man that allowed them access said, as he'd followed them into the room. "There's no-one alive. We got here and the place was like this. So who's the murderer?"

Indeed, the room had no visible exits and apart from two droids that were performing routine maintenance functions, the room was empty except for now damaged computer screens, racks of servers and dead bodies.

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

When Varus stepped into the room with Nubica he could sense that something was missing. Maybe a piece of evidence or perhaps something that had been covered up by someone who didn't want them knowing who was reaponsible. Even the soldiers in that very room could have been suspect, perhaps if one of them had made it to the scene before the others.

Taking one glance around the room, Varus noticed the droids that seemed just like any other, but he felt as though they'd had something to do with all of thise. It came down to them, an incredibly accurate and ammunition stocked sniper or Casper the friendly ghost, and his money wasn't on the ghost.

"You're on, Kid.", Varus said with a confident smirk, wondering if she was the type that would remember that and want to prove to him that she was as much a woman as any other. Either way, it was fun to play such games with her.

[member="Nubica Felidae"]