Hell Hath No Fury... [Ask]

[Jiang Winters]

Naiya gave a short nod of her head in thanks and moved in, rifle at the ready. She paused a moment at the top of the staircase to lean over and poke her head and rifle over the rail and look down, to ensure there were no guards. Once assured that there were no guards lurking below them, the cathar woman began rapidly descending the stairs, her footfalls making relatively little sound compared to what might be expected of such rapid movement on the metal stairs.

It took just a few moments to reach the level on which Martuk's office was located. She delayed just long enough for Sol to catch up, then tapped the door's keypad. It silently whooshed open, granting entry to the black-marble walled hallway that lead down to her enemy's office.

She glanced both ways down the corridor to make sure that the only presence was down by Martuk's office, then moved out into the hallway and turned left, towards her destination.

The Receptionist, a blue-skinned Twi'lek woman, saw the rapidly approaching Naiya Swift almost immediately, and unlike the two lazy guards flanking the door, she panicked. She shot up from her seat and had just opened her mouth to alert the pair of careless guards, who had been looking off into space, when Naiya laid on the trigger.

A hail of slugs screamed from the barrel of her rifle into the chest of the guard standing to the left of the stainless durasteel doors, and a fine red mist erupted from his chest as all five of the rounds tore through his chest armor and ripped through his back, finally coming to a stop as they ploughed into the marble wall and sent plumes of dust spraying into the air, covering his body as he crumpled to the ground.

Before the other guard could react, Naiya had twisted right and loosed off a three-round burst at him. The trio of blue tracers hit his chest as well, right on the heart. The bullets sliced through his armor as though it was paper, obliterated his heart, and exited his body in the same fashion as the other guard.

The Receptionist fainted as the second guard collapsed to the floor, leaving them with a straight shot into Martuk's office. "Sol, breach and clear." Naiya spoke, producing a door-breaching charge from a pouch on her armor and lightly holding it up over her shoulder as she advanced to the door, assuming that he would not only know what to do with the explosive, but would also snatch it out of her hand with the force.

 

[T.J]

Sol followed Naiya almost as quiet as the Cathar. He was unable ot be equal to her in speed and silence, due to the fact that he was not a feline humanoid. He was several steps behind her when they reached the bottom.

Sol did not ignite his lightsaber, seeing that Naiya had everything under control in the main area. Seeing that his accomplice wanted him to breach something. Sol used the force to grab the charge as he walked past Naiya. He set it down on the receptionist desk before standing about infront of the door. Bringing his hands out and pointing his palms towards the door with his hands open. Sol focused the force into his hands and sent a strong force push into the door, causing the door to shudder and rip off of its hinges before flying into the room behind them. Sol then quickly brought his lightsaber up and ignited it, the orange blade cutting through the dust that filled the air after the doors impact.

 

[Jiang Winters]

"Holy SHIT!" One of the guards in Martuk's office screamed as the doors tore off their hinges and flew into the office. One of the heavy stainless steel doors slammed into a guard who had been in it's flight path. The momentum of the door carried the guard with it as it sailed across the office and right through a transparisteel window, sending itself and the guard plummeting down to the surface of Coruscant.

Two of the remaining three guards were still distracted by the rapidly-fading screams coming from their now-flying comrade, but the other one was very much so focused on the glowing orange lightsaber blade cutting through the dusty cloud that had settled over the door. "Aw, Kriff, we got ourselves a Jedi!" He yelled, raising his blaster and squeezing off a pair of bolts at Sol.

Meanwhile, Naiya moved up behind Sol, only to dive for cover behind the right door frame when one of the guards popped off a couple shots.

 

[T.J]

Sol heard the guards shouting, snorting in disgust when they refered to him as jedi. He easily deflected the shots sent his way. Picking up the guard that fired the shot and flung him out the same window his commerade had met his fate through.

Orange glowed across Sol's stone cold face as he walked into the room with his lightsaber at the ready. He kept his eyes open for Martuk, not wanting to take Naiya's prize from her. Sol picked up one of the last two guards and threw him inot the other, hoping to keep them occupied long enough for him to cut them down.

 

[Jiang Winters]

"AIIIEEEEEEAAAAHHH!!!" The shrill cry of the guard flung through the window paralyzed the remaining two, who both stood still, eyes widened in absolute terror. Martuk was sitting at his desk, his face drained of all color thanks in no small part to the terrifying display of force being levied against his guards, who were powerless to even slow down the saber-wielding man standing at his office door.

The other two guards yelled and swore as they were flung into one another, and made a pathetic attempt to pick themselves back up, only to humiliate themselves by tripping over one another and then slipping and landing on their backs. By the time one of the two was back on one knee and had his blaster at the ready, it was too late. "Why won't you just die!?" He cried out, filling the air with shoddily-aimed blaster bolts in a last-ditch effort to ward off Sol, while his buddy scampered off to hide like a scolded dog.

Naiya, meanwhile, had entered the room and was slowly advancing on Martuk, pausing only to wait for Sol to finish off the two thugs before she reclaimed what was hers and executed him.

 

[T.J]

Sol deflected the stray shots that managed to get close to him, not slowing his pace as he continued his march. He let the one guard that fled go for the time being, focusing on the one that posed the omst threat, no matter how little that threat might be. As he continued to block stray shots, Sol brought his off hand up and slowly closed his fist in a crushig motion. The guard stopped firing his blaster and cluched his throat, an invisible force slowly crushing it.

Sol stopped when the guards struggle for life stopped. Letting his hand drop back to his side as he slowly walked to the second guard. He was hiding under a chair, shaking in pure terror and sobing hysterically. Sol ensured the guards death was quick and painless, simply stabbing him into his back and hrough his heart. He stood back and let Niaya do her business with his lightsaber still drawn.

 

[Jiang Winters]

The moment the only fighting guard perished, Naiya quickly moved to the front of Martuk's desk, moving her rifle to her back, where a row of magnetic clamps on her armor securely grasped the weapon, holding it in place until she needed it. The angry cathar then reached for the Katana sheathed on her back, her fingers wrapping tightly around the blue cord-wrapped hilt of the weapon as she drew it, a metallic 'shing' sound filling the room as the gleaming blade departed it's sheath.

"Give me the Holocron." She ordered sternly, reaching out with the tip of the blade and lightly touching it to his throat. "And maybe, just maybe, I'll consider letting you live."

"No! You'll never get away with this, you'll never take the holocron from me! I am it's rightful owner!" The back-stabbing businessman growled, glaring daggers at Naiya as if he could frighten her off. What he received instead was a sharp thrust in his shoulder from the tip of the razor-sharp katana wielded by the adventurer standing before him. "No, I am it's rightful owner. You forfeited that right when you betrayed me. Now, the holocron, unless you want me to stab you in the other shoulder." Naiya hissed in a dark, lethal tone, slightly twisting the blade of her weapon to aggravate his wound.

Martuk gasped in pain, and as all pudgy sleazeballs are apt to do, he relented. The man reached for a hidden safe tucked inside his desk and pressed his thum to the biometric lock. It hummed for a split second, then the door swung open. He fished around inside it for a second, then produced a glimmering gold-lattice cube, five inches wide on all sides. "Take it and leave me! But I promise you, Swift, you haven't seen the last of me!" He threatened, as Naiya plucked the holocron out of his hand and deposited it in a pouch on her right hip.

"This is the last time we'll ever meet, because I'm sending your rotten soul to the abyss." She growled, as she took a single step back and firmly grasped her katana with both hands. He realized what was coming, but didn't even have the time to scream for mercy as Naiya made a single, lightening-fast slash with her sword. It connected with the right side of his neck and easily cleaved through muscle and bone alike as though he was made of butter.

She stepped back again and offset her sword into one hand, giving it a flick downwards, sending a rain of crimson droplets spattering onto the floor, while at the same time, Martuk's head slowly slid backwards off his neck, and then rolled back onto the floor. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

And with that, the feline female turned on her heel and began walking out of the office, sheathing her sword as she moved, an sense of satisfaction and finality stemming from what she had just done... And yet, at the same time, a bit of guilt was mixed in with the rest of her emotions. Confusing indeed, but that could wait until they were safely away from Martuk's offices.

 

[T.J]

Sol watched silently as the scene unfolded infront of him, he knew Naiya would probably kill the businessman. Konwing that he would come back for her and most likely his skin when he got back up to full strength. Killing him was the only way to ensure saftey and a life without being hunted. Now the only thing they needed to do was get out of the building and back to Naiya's ship before anyone noticed.

He followed the Cathar female out of the room, shutting offhis lightsaber and putting it back on his belt as he walked. Sol took a moment to admire his weapon of choice, he was thankful that the blade was made of energy and not an alloy. The blade did not need cleaning after battle, all gore and blood as simply vaporized on impact. He decided to think more about it later on when he had more time.

 

[Jiang Winters]

The short travel to the staircase was blessedly uneventful; the guards on the lower levels must not have been alerted to the fighting upstairs, for which Naiya was immensely thankful. She only paused once to retrieve the unused breaching charge, to keep that last shred of physical evidence out of the hands of Martuk's guards. [Not that they were bright enough to use any evidence left behind anyways, but there was still the possibility of the police being called in.]

A short minute or two of walking passed before they reached the speeder. Naiya ushered Sol back into the passenger's seat and then took the driver's seat again, and after buckling herself back into the machine, she took off. "That went well." The cathar remarked, as the speeder rose into the air, then shot forward, heading back to the docking bay where her ship was parked.

After they were up and away, and traveling at a safe, reasonable speed in a traffic lane back to the docks, Naiya spoke up again. "Listen, Sol... Thank you for helping me with Martuk. I owe you one."

 

[T.J]

"Think nothing of it." Sol said as he began bracing himself for the flight ahead. " You where kind enough to let me stay in your ship, its the least I could do." Sol was sincere with his answer, Naiya had been kinder than he would have expected any sentient to be, many in the galaxy where untrusting of force users. Sol was an easily trusting person, and would do much more for the cathar if she needed him to. It was just part of his personal code.

 

[Jiang Winters]

Naiya knew that Sol was uncomfortable with flying, and so this time around, she was putting forth great effort to ensure that the flight was smooth and comfortable for him, and as relaxing as possible. She owed him that much, at least.

As he spoke, a smile worked it's way onto her muzzle, and she laughed softly. "Hey, it was my pleasure to have you aboard. I was starting to get lonely, after all." She replied, though she was perfectly serious about it. "But still, no matter what you say, I'll still owe you a debt." She added. "On another note... I think I'll give acessing the holocron a go when we get home. I'll probably fail miserably if it needs me to actually focus on it, though. I may be sensitive to the force, but I by no means have any measure of control over it!"

 

[T.J]

"I believe you will be able to access it eventually.....Who knows. Maybe it will speed up your understanding of the force." Sol was interested in the holocron, but it was ultimately Naiya's to use and learn from. A device such as that could many secrets, or absolutly nothing of importance. It was a game of chance.

 

[Jiang Winters]

"Wouldn't that be nice." Naiya said in a humerous tone. While she trusted Sol, she wasn't quite sure about a Holocron being able to expand her knowledge of the Force. Maybe that was because she had a hard time thinking of it as being more than a fancy-looking oversized flash drive that was locked down with a biometric scanner that simply checked whoever tried to access it for high concentrations of Midoclorians, or whatever those little things were called.

Still... Nothing ventured, nothing gained. She'd give it a shot when they got back, and once she was out of her armor and back into more comfortable clothes.

A few minutes of relatively eventless flying passed, and then the speeder once again settled down onto the hangar floor, not far from Naiya's ship. She unbuckled herself and hopped out once again, though this time she was moving at a relativly leisurely pace. "Well, if it's alright with you, Sol, I'd like to move to Nubia or Corellia for a few days, before Martuk's thugs remember what hangar we're staying at and come after us with pointy sticks and torches. Once we're off and the autopilot is engaged, I think we should both take a look at the Holocron. You're more experienced than I am with force-related items, and I don't want to make a mistake that will toast it's circuits. If it even has circuits, that is."

 

[T.J]

Sol jumped out of the speeder, using the force to cushion his fall so he didnt make a sound. " I dont mind if we move somewhere else. A change in scenery is always good." He said with a smile. "I would be honored to assist you in opening the holocron. After all, thats what I'm here for right? To help you."

 

[Jiang Winters]

Naiya flashed Sol a bright smile as a thank-you, then moved off to her ship. After unlocking and then boarding the vessel, Swift made a beeline right to the cockpit. It took her a moment to decide which planet they should go to, but in the end, she chose Corellia. She heard there was a great little beachside resort there, and she figured that might be worth checking out if she found herself with a bit of time to burn.

After taking a moment to ensure that Sol was aboard her ship, Naiya set the autopilot with a delay of several minutes, then headed back to the main corridor of her vessel, partly to see for herself that Sol was aboard, and partly because she was eager to shed all the gear she was carrying. At the same time, she drew the Holocron from the pouch she had tucked it in, and started looking it over. There were no external buttons as far as she could tell; maybe the controls were hidden inside and had to be manipulated with the force, or perhaps there were no controls, and the device itself responded to the thoughts of a force-sensitive being?

She shrugged and put aside that line of thinking as she neared the central corridor of her ship and thought of what to do next. After a brief internal debate, she headed for her private quarters, with the intent of changing into more comfortable attire.

 

[T.J]

Sol headed into his own temporary quarters, removing his robe to gain a little more comfort. Truthfully he wasnt sure how the holocron would respond to him. It did not let any of its secrets go with its apperance, no special markings or symbols that showed its origins. Sol had no way of knowing if it contained benevolent or dark knowledge, he would have to let fate govern that.

He casually walked to the galley and sat down in one of the chairs, Sol could almost feel the cold durasteel through his tunic. He rarely took off his robe when out and about, getting used to it was an unfortunate side effect. Sol folded his hands in his lap and waited for Naiya to join him with the holocron. He was eager to see what the small device had in store for them.

 

[Jiang Winters]

Naiya shed her equipment as she had planned, leaving her wearing just her black leather pants and her blue-accented white bodysuit, which functioned as a shirt of sorts for her. She ditched her armorweave Kama and the leather pistol belt, then made her way back out into the halls of her vessel, cradling the Holocron in her furred hands.

The young cathar woman soon found Sol sitting in the Galley. "What are your thoughts on this Holocron, Sol? How do you think one would activate it?" She asked, while settling into the chair across from him and placing the holocron on the table between them. Her light green eyes focused on the object as she studied it's surface, double-checking for any sort of interface she had missed before.

 

[T.J]

"Well the ones they had at the Jedi order seemed a little more complex than this one, but I never got to really actually access them. They were restricted to padawans and younglings. It seemed to be fairly easy though. The older knights and masters seemed to just tell it to activate. Probably using the force to influence it or activate some sort of mechanism within." So l paused for a moment as he thought through those distant memories for some sort of clue.

"May I?" He said as he motioned to hold the holocron. He thought that possibly simply holding it would trigger some sort of reaction.

 

[Jiang Winters]

Naiya mulled over what Sol had said while continuing to visually examine the device. She was fascinated by it. No visible buttons, no data port, no display screens, no power cells that she could recognize... It was truely a remarkable piece of technology. "Hmm? Oh, of course!" She replied when she realized Sol had asked if he could see the device, sliding it across the table to the man as she spoke.

 

[T.J]

Sol gingerly picked up the device, looking over its surface. It did absolutly nothing when he touched it, not a inch of movement, not a smidge of light. He was slightly dissapointed by it not reacting. It meant it would be more difficult to activate. Sol put it flat in the palm of his hand and gently levitated it with the force. Maybe exerting the force on the holocron would activate it. His next step was to try and command it, but he would try all other alternatives first.