What's up Egg-man.[Laughs at his own stupid joke] I read Silvershadow70's RP, it was sweet. Too bad it ended. So to honor and respect those who posted in that awesome RP, I shall join this one. I'll start with my profile.

NAME:Unknown(All who knew it he's presumes dead)
PREFERRED NAME:Peaches
SPECIES:Human
AGE:29
AFFILIATION:Neutral
APPEARANCE:Long, dark brown hair that reaches down to his shoulder blades. He keeps it over his ears but out of his face, to show off his sexy dark green eyes[laughs at another stupid joke]. Wears a black garb similar to that of the sith. His hands are bandaged from the knuckle to the mid forearm. Keeps his lightsaber holstered on his left hip.
LIGHTSABER LAYOUT: His main lightsaber is black and has a sleek handle. He keeps a second one in his robe for tight situations but prefers to use only one. It has a similar handle and a red blade. Also has a small lightsaber dagger concealed at all times, which has a blue blade.
ABILITIES:Uses force push, force pull, force choke and others. Also uses his force powers to manipulate things in the surrounding area. Has secret force powers that are the full extent of his power. Everyone who has seen them are dead.
PERSONAL BACKSTORY:Grew up in a small city on the planet of Alderaan. When he was 13 the Sith invaded the city looking for a group of jedi. When the jedi refused to show themselves the Sith proceeded to attack the townspeople. In the midst of the slaughter he discovered his extreme powers and used them to try and defend the city. But, having just uncovered these powers, he didn't know how to use them and the Sith turned the city into nothing but ashes. He was the only survivor. He blames the jedi for being such cowards and despises their ways. He has taken many jedi lives and now can control his powers to an extent. Though the Sith eradicated everyone he knew, he believes they wouldn't have if the jedi had shown themselves. He wishes to rectify the wrongdoings by making the jedi feel the his wrath. Though he knows his skills and powers are good, they are untrained and he wishes to become stronger before seeking revenge.

IC:Peaches forced his way though the crowded streets of Coruscant to the nearby pub, bumping into many different species along the way. He didn't take notice to any of them as they yelled insults at him from behind his back. He just continued to the pub, mostly because he was desperate for a drink. He had landed half an hour ago in the fighter he had acquired about four years back and was pretty thirsty. When purchased the ship, it was barely flyable, but months of tuning and customizing had turned it into a fine piece of work.

When he reached the pub, it was fairly empty. There were two groups of creatures at tables and one other person, sitting at the far end of the bar. Peaches took a seat at the bar just a few seats away from the other person. The bartender came over from where he had been leaning against the wall, "What'll it be?" "Just water for now.", Peaches replied. The bartender quickly handed him his drink. He brought up to his lips and gulped it down lighting fast. He set the glass back down and heard one of the groups at a table let out a hearty laugh. The bartender pick the glass up, "You want something besides water?" Peaches looked him dead in the eyes, "Yes I would. I just came from Tatooine and I'll drink just about anything you put in that cup." The bartender quickly obliged and went to pour something.

Just then some one came in and sat down beside him. Peaches looked over and quickly noticed the clothing. The man was a jedi knight. He became enraged by just looking at him. He was most likely scouting for Sith. Peaches turned to him, "Hey, I don't like your kind. So, you might want to leave before things get ugly." The jedi looked at him in confusion, "Excuse me, what do you mean 'your kind'. Are you refering to the jedi?" "As a matter of fact I am.", replied Peaches, "Now this is your last chance before I kill you. Leave." The jedi then became serious, "I warn you, I do not take threats seriously." Peaches gave an evil smirk, "Good."

He then pulled his lightsaber out with his right hand and quickly ignited and swung the black blade at the jedi. The jedi blocked the attack with his own green saber, but Peaches pushed the jedi back with his force powers knocking him back into the other man at the bar. He then stood up and began to walk over to the jedi. Just then the jedi threw his lightsaber at him. Peaches had just enough time to deflect the blade away. He heard a loud gasp, then turned to see that the lightsaber had stabbed into the bartender. Peaches reached out with the force to grab the lightsaber and then threw it back at his opponent. It flew straight through the man's heart.

Peaches walk over to where the jedi knight was laying, his eyes wide and his own lightsaber sticking out of his chest. He pulled the lightsaber out and disengaged the blade, "Don't worry. I'll take god care of this." He laughed to himself as he exited the pub. It wasn't much of a battle, but he had gotten a free drink out of it.

OOC:
Welcome Peaches! Your intro was pretty entertaining! Now I really can't wait to see where this goes! Anyways I'll add another profile for my other character I will be using (if you read or took part in Shroud then you can already know who I'm gonna use!) Also I post an IC just to get my chars into the mix! HEH! Also remember any questions just ask!

NAME: Wala-Ca-Hana
PREFERRED NAME: Waller
SPECIES: Wookie
AGE: ???
AFFILIATION: Sith
APPERANCE: Eyes are of a Jade color, His fur is snow gray, and only garb he wears is a utility belt for holding his sabers and other small tools.
LIGHTSABER LAYOUT: Normal golden blade lightsaber.
ABILITIES: He is still in training and knows very limited force powers.
PERSONAL BACKSTORY: Unknown to everyone except Stiken and himself!

IC:
"Transport 0 0 0 -7 6 7 0, transport vessel "God of Hate" requesting permission to dock." rasped the sith into his communicator. Seated behind him was a snow colored wookie grunting and groaning as he punched in coordinates into a small navi computer.

"Transport shuttle "God of Hate" You have permission to dock. Please land over at docking bay 86! Enjoy your stay sir!" a voice came back through.
"Thank you!" the sith then turned back towards his apprentice, "Well Waller you heard the nice man, take us to docking bay 86!"
The wookie shot a low picthed roar as the ship rocketed into the traffic that consatntly hovered over the Courscant metropolis. It was dusk at this time of day, and the city all lit up cast an angelic glow that could be seen from space itself. The sith walked towards a small ort window, leaned up against the bulkhead, and breathed a small sigh.
"Well it sure has been some time since I was here!" he began, "Some time indeed! However that is a good thing! People shouldn't be able to reconigze us."
Waller grunted and growled in response to the sith's comments.
"Of course! We techinically won't be spending much time here. The Jedi council is still very active in these parts and they would be the first to point us out! Also the alert is up due to a threat of a Sith attack, people will be very cautious, but we shouldn't have no trouble blending in! Ah there's 86! We should begin landing preperations!"
Waller grunted followed by a wookies rendition of a chuckle.
The sith noticed a small crowd and authority personel gathering around the local tavern.
"Hm, I wonder what's going on there?" the sith thought outloud, "The owner of that pub is our contact!"
The wookie responded in several shrill grunts.
"Odd indeed!" he said almost losing his thought, "Well we have no other choice, might as well see what the commotion is! Release the loading ramp!"

A small compartment on the bottom of the sith's sleekly designed transport opened up a a boarding ramp extended. The two sith came walking down.
"Waller I want you to stay with the ship in case something happens." the sith stated as he began to walk towards the tavern."
Waller grunted after the sith.
"Don't worry I can handle myself it comes to that! Relax when was the last time you saw Chonai Stiken on the losing side of a duel?"
Stiken fidgeted with several credits in his outer pocket as he stepped into the pub. Waller turned and entered the vessel that was fit for a king as several (illegal) swoop racers whisked by in the background!
As Striken entered the bar he noticed several medical personel whisking out what seemed like two corpses. Striken payed no mind and continued forward. The bar was still full in srvice this being the slums and all a dead body or bodies wsn't gonna halt business! Stiken charged thorugh the murky smoke filled room. He made his way up to the counter, and motinoned for someone to wait on him.
"Help ya sir?" it was a portly human, female that spoke.
"I'm looking for Snide," Striken said calmy with no emotion whatsoever.
"Well you're five minutes too late!" she said with a grin, "You of course noticed the two bodies being carried out? Well Snide was one of them!"
Striken slamed his head against the bar, "Well that's just fantastic!" he pulled out a small radio, "Waller!"
The wookie's voice came through.
"We have to resort to the back up plan! Take the shuttle to docking bay 1123, I'll meet you there!" Stirken pocketed the communicator and turned to the 'new' barkeep, "So since I'm here hows about a drink?"
"What will you have?" she asked.
"The best you got!"
"Well this being hard times and all we barely making a profit, so the best we got will cost you 20 Credits, also all we have is the cheap stuff!"
"20 for cheap!" Stirken grumbled obscenities as he handed over the dough.
The keep smiled and handed him his drink. Striken turned and gazed over all the individuals inside the un inviteing abode.
TBC

OOC:
I was running short on time yesterday so I kinda ended abruptly, this edit is more inviteing for anyone jumping in! Come on you know you want to!

IC:Peaches proceeded through the crowded streets of Coruscant. He knew he shouldn't have started that bar brawl, but he could never forgive the jedi for the pain they caused him. He wanted to make the jedi suffer. Though without full control of his force powers he couldn't achieve his goal.

He was here on Coruscant for a reason. He was looking for something. Something that would undoubtedly help him with his goal, whether it worked the way he wanted or not. That is, if it really exists. He heard rumors of it on Tantooine. If he wanted to find it Coruscant was the place to look. He was looking for anything that would lead him to it. If it did exist there was a possibility that the jedi had acquired it... or perhaps the sith? But that was not a certain possibility. It could be out there floating around in a merchant's shop.

He had to know if it was out there.

OOC:Hope this works for now.

OOC: Yea that's good! Going to take this opportunity to (kinda) introduce my final char into the mix!

IC:
No sooner than Waller had strapped himself in when the wookie spotted him. He very calmly and causually walked towards the entrance to the run down pub. It was buisness as usual for this mysterious man! He wore a light tan hood which hid his gleaming bald head. A thick black goatee hid the lower half of the man's chin. Four different lightsaber hilts dangled from his waist belt. He began to adjust the straps on his black fingerless gloves. He looked back towards Waller in the God of Hate and let loose an evil grin. Waller began to panic as he frantically fumbled around for his communicator. He grasped it and violently flicked it on. He let loose a shrill growl and Chonai Striken's voice came through.

"Haven't you left yet? You're not supposed to make contact unti-"
Waller interuppted with a series of grunts.
"What do you mean he's here? The last I heard his was still dickering around Dantooine!"
More paniced growls.
"What are you saying? Slow down I don't see an-! Waitasecond! He just entered the bar! Waller get the hell out of there! We will meet up at rendevous!"
Waller moaned in protest.
"Waller just... OH SH-" static.
Waller slamed his head against the operating console. He breathed a sigh then fired up the engines. He was worried about his master, but orders were orders! Waller wouldn't be so worried if it weren't for the fact that it was him that was about to confront Striken! A tear rolled down Waller very hairy face as the ship lifted off of the ground!"

INSIDE

The mysterious Jedi scanned the pub very carefully. he sensed Striken's presence, but he did not quite know where. He casually walked to the bar and got the keep's attention.
"Excuse me miss I was wondering if you happened to have seen a particular feller!" He said with a grin.
"A "particular" feller, eh? Well then take your pick, we got plenty." she waved her arm making an imaginary selection of the entire bar.
"This feller I'm looking for happens to be a Sith. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that now would you?" his grin grew wider.
"Naw' ain't seen no Sith types in here, well 'cept for this one kid! He 'bout damn near decimated our former owner, and took out a Jedi in the process."
"Very interesting! Do you have any idea as to where he ran off to?"
"Don't know! He hightailed out the front door 'bout ten minutes ago."
"Thanks you have been most helpful!" he smiled, turned, then left the bar.

The keep breathed a deep sigh.
"Well then looks he's gone!" she said as she leaned down below the counter.
Striken came crawling out, "Thanks greatly! The last thing I needed was him on my tail!"
"You didn't tell me you were no Sith! I expect double!"
Striken waved his hand across her face, "You've done a great deed today, you'll let the sith go for free!"
The keep nodded, "Yup, yup I guess you're right! Well then have a nice day!"
"You too!" Striken exited throught the rear exit.

The mysterious Jedi made his way through the crowded streets when a sharp jolt raced through his body. Someone nearby was emitting a massive force energy.
"Stiken!" he hissed and bolted in the general direction. However, what he found was much different. As he neared the man with the power, he noticed that his physique was much smaller than that of Striken's. However, Striken was a very crafty "feller", and he wuldn't be fooled by his tricks. The Jedi reached out and grabbed the man by the shoulder.
"Where do you think you are running off to CHONAI STRIKEN!!!!"
As the man spun around in shock, the Jedi realized it was not Striken. The man the Jedi had grabbed instead was Peaches!

OOC: I'll post a profile for this new char when I reveal his name! And no he does not know peaches I didn't really mean to imply it that way!

Peaches needed to find some sort of lead that would help him discover the origin of the rumors he had followed here. That notion reminded him of the terribly long trip it took to get here. Traveling from the Outer rim to a core planet wasn't to pleasant for him. Especially without long distance hyperdrive capabilities. Which reminded him, he needed to find somewhere to acquire some parts for his fighter, legal or otherwise.

Just as he was pondering this someone grabbed his left shoulder."Where do you think you are running off to CHONAI STRIKEN!!!!" Peaches spun around ready to defend himself if need be. But as he spun around the man realized he had the wrong person. Peaches looked the man over and took notice of the lightsabers hanging from his waist. He didn't seem like a jedi, but there was something about him. Peaches sensed a strange energy about him. The top of the man's head was completely void of hair, yet he had a large amount on his chin. "Sorry, wrong person.", the man said. As Peaches was about to take his leave, the man stopped him, "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know anything about the incident at the pub down the street, would you?" Peaches gave him a cold look. He took one step backwards then turned and began to walk away.

"HEY!" Peaches shot off into a sprint and duck into the nearest alleyway. He sped down it and into another street. He could sense the man following him, he was a fair distance off, but he didn't want to take any chances. As he forced his way through the street he tried to conceal himself by ducking down in the crowd. He then heard something. He looked over and saw a hooded figure standing in an alley, "Quickly, this way!" Peaches obliged not thinking of what might happen.

He followed the figure into the dark alley. Peaches continued to follow this hooded person through a series of intersecting alleyways. After rushing in several different directions the figure came to a halt. He turned to Peaches,"I know what your looking for, and it does exist." Peaches eyes grew wide, "What!" The figure removed its hood and revealed its face. It was a Nautolan. His long green tendrils were tuck into the back of his cloak. "Quiet. You don't have much time. He will find us soon. Here take this.", The Nautolan handed him a small hologram projector, "It may help you. And take this to, to defend yourself.", He then handed him a blaster pistol. He was apparently in to much of a rush to notice the lightsaber tuck neatly into the left side of his belt. "Once you lose your follower, get up higher and reach a transport station. After sunset there will be a transport with no number, get on it." Peaches stopped him, "Wait, how do you know what I'm looking for?" The Nautolan looked around Peaches, "No time to explain." Peaches turned around to try and see what he was looking at, but saw nothing. When he turned back around he was gone. Suddenly a voice sounded from behind him, "YOU, WAIT!!" Peaches took off out of the alleyway and began to make his way through the crowded streets to the next one. He turned hard and slipped into the alley. Dead end.

The man turned to enter the alley, but saw nothing but the wall of a building. He turned and continued on down the street. Peaches breathed a sigh of relief from the small catwalk up above, his feet barely fit on it. How the man didn't notice him he didn't know. But Peaches was glad he was gone. He looked up to try and see the top of the building, but then he remembered he was on Coruscant. He then turned around and began to scale the side of the building. The Nautolan had told him to get to a transport station on a higher level, and he didn't want to risk another run in with that shiny domed predator.

OOC:Will edit if needed.

Peaches had just begun to scale the building when he felt his legs being yanked out from indeneath. Peaches had been beside an open window and was quickly drug inside the tall complex.

"Well NOW I guess you really do know something about the Pub." the Jedi stood above Peaches, "Why act so surprised? It's almost as if you never seen a Jedi before?"

The Jedi narrowed his eyes as he saw Peaches grasp at soemthing. It was his lightsaber! Peaches quickly pulled it out, but it was quickly whisked off to the side by the Jedi's force pull.

"So you are the one I was senseing!" the Jedi grinned and smelled the air, "Ah, what great hidden power! You must be his apprentice! Tell me! Tell me where Striken is?"
"I don't know what you are talking about Jedi scum!" peaches spat in the jedi's face.
"Scum? So you are a Sith, but you have no idea who Striken is!" The Jedi used a slight force push against Peaches for intimadation, "I think you are lying to me! I don't like liars! If anyone is scum it's you! Now you tell me where Chonai Striken is or give me the location of that Star Map!"
"Star Map?" Peaches remained calm given the situation.
"I know that's what that bastard is after! TELL ME NOW!!!" the Jedi was getting pissed. He ignited one of his four custom built lightsabers. It was vibrantly blue, bluer than any one to come before it. "I am not going to ask again!"
"Go to Hell!" Peaches yelled as he shot out for his own lightsaber. In a nano second it was flying thorough the air heading straight for Peaches out reached hand, but then it was intercepted by another.

Peaches looked over to see who had acquired his blade.

"You must be a fool to pick a fight with this man kid!" the newcomer said.
"So he really was telling the truth afterall, Mr. Striken!" the Jedi hissed as he ignited another gold bladed saber, "So did you find that Star Chart yet?"
"What if I did?"
The Jedi began to circle Striken as Peaches just watched in confusion, "Would you mind telling me where I may be able to find it?"
"Hah, don't act like you're after the Star Map! You're here for me!"
"Humor me Sith man, please!" The Jedi raised his eyebrows in a pleading motion.
"Well then have you tried checking..." Striken ignited his blood red saber, "...UP YOUR ASS!!!"

The blades came crashing together in a loud hiss of crackiling electricity, and the majestic spark that only a lightsaber could produce.

"You know what Striken!?!" the Jedi yelled over the noise, "Me and you would have made great partners!"

The two bounced backwards, and ran at each other once again. Striken went for the decapitation shot, but the Jedi dropped to the ground and kicked Chonai's legs out from under him. The sith warrior crashed to the ground, but held his lightsaber high in the air slashing the Jedi across the soldier.

"OW!" the Jedi roared as he stumbled backwards.

"You should't waste your time reliving the past! It only brings forth painful memories. All that is totally pointless whenyou learn that you cannot alter them!"

"You lie, Sith man!" the JEdi yelled s he ignited yet another lightsaber, a green one, this one hovered ever so gentely in the air beside him, "You know more than anybody that memories can in fact be altered! You just need to have the damnable equiqpment to perform such an atrocity!"

The Jedi began to charge after Striken once more, but found himself smash to the ground. Peaches had in fact trpped up the Jedi turning the tables for good. Before the Jedi could stand Chaonai's blade was already at the tip of his throat.

"You know what I really hate about you Jacxx?" Choani said with a sneer.

"The fact that you can never kill me?" The Jedi smiled before he done a reverse backflip and flew out the window!

"DAMMIT!" Stirken yelled as he ran to the window noticeing the Jedi nowhere. He slammed his fist against the seal then turned back to peaches. "Here!" he said calmly as he tossed peaches' saber back to the kid, "You may be strong, but strength will only get you so far! Watch out for yourself next time! Jacxx Malo is envious to anyone who can potentially usurp him in the future! He may be a Jedi, but he is also a bounty hunter, and doesn't necessarily play by the rules all the time! The name is Striken, Chonai Striken, and I sugest you leave this place before he stirs up the entire Jedi council!"
TBC

OOC:
I hope I played your charcter decently there Peach. The next move is up to you!

OOC:Yeah, you did a damn good job. Well, time to post.

IC:Peaches slipped the saber back into his belt and stood up from where he was kneeling, "The name's Peaches, thanks for the assist, I owe you one." He moved over to another window and opened it, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some business to attend to." He began to climb out onto a small outcropping. "You know, you could just use the lift.", Striken said. Peaches looked back at him, "Now, where's the fun in that?" Peaches force jumped up to a small ledge and once again began to scale the building.

It was a while after when Peaches could finally see the top of the building. As he reached for the final ledge, his foot suddenly slipped and he caught sight of the ground very, very far below. He regained his position on the side of the building, then continued to pull himself up onto the rooftop. He turned around and saw that the sun was beginning to set behind the horizon. As he turned back around he realized that the area he was standing in was in fact a small transport station. There were people exiting a transport and heading over to the lift doors. Some of them had witnessed him haul himself up and were now staring at him.

As the transport left he moved over to a small bench in the middle of the rooftop. He began to wonder how the Nautolan knew his objective and why he was having him board this strange transport that appeared at night. He then remembered the hologram projector that he had received from the tendril headed helper. He looked around and saw that no one was present. It had begun to get dark and the glow lights surrounding the area turned on. He reached inside his garb for the small round projector. He had placed in the same spot he kept his second lightsaber. He removed it from the small pocket and examined it. It appeared beaten and worn, Peaches doubted it would even play. But then as he press the button on the side, the figure of a young jedi appeared.

He seemed panicked and he sounded out of breath, "We were ambushed...*bzzt*...th took out our communications...*bzzt*...ere overrun by them...*bzzt*...ey took the..*bzz*..al...*bzzzzt*...ut the ship is..*bzzt*..avily damaged...*bzzt*...oing down fa...*bzzt*...ill crash on...*bzzzttzzztzt*...*sigh* I pray this reaches you in time." The message cut off. Though the message was damaged he still knew what they were talking about. But where did they crash? Perhaps the one who had given this to him knew.

Just then a transport with its number scratched off docked in the station. Peaches stood up as the doors opened and a large man stepped out. His hair was black, but was grey on the sides of his head. He wore an eyepatch over his right eye and had a tattoo of the word "Hawkeye" on his left shoulder. "You the guy.", he said. Peaches held up the small projector. He saw the small metal object and then waved his arm toward the transport, "Hop aboard."

The one eyed man sat down in what appeared to be a heavily modified drivers seat, "Get comfortable, its a long ride." Peaches sat down in the seat farthest back and pondered what he might have gotten himself into.

- OOC -
This looks really interesting, I'd love to join when I see a fitting opportunity.

OOC: Go right ahead! The more the merrier! The guild is dying as of late so I was lucky to just get one player! *cries*! Seriously though I'm truly excited Sten! Join whenever you fell like! No IC for now!

He could see it just in front of him... What he was searching for... He reached for it...But as he grabbed it, he felt as though something was wrong... He could feel the power inside him, growing... It was growing too much... He couldn't control it... It was too powerful for him to contain... He could feel his body burning... Unimaginable pain surged through every inch of his being... His screams of agony and shear terror echoed through the confines of his mind...

Peaches awoke and tried to remember where he was. Then as the last of the nightmare receded into memory, he took in the surrounding area. He was still on the transport. The seat was uncomfortable and warm where he had been sitting in it. He did not know how long he had been asleep, so it was very hard to tell how much time had passed. Though it was still dark outside, so he couldn't have slept too long. Almost simultaneous to that thought, the transport docked onto the side of a building. The large one-eyed man stood up from his strangely modified seat, "Come on, we're here." He began to exit the transport. Peaches stood up and quickly followed him, "Where's here?"

They had just exited the transport when they reached a heavy security door. The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a keycard. He swiped it through the lock and entered a code on the keypad on the wall to the side. The door slid opened to reveal a long hallway with a single door at the end. As they entered the security door closed much faster than it opened. When they reached the next door, Peaches suddenly felt a bad feeling, as if something was about to happen. He could sense a group of people behind this door. He could also sense another group of people in the surrounding area, but he couldn't pinpoint where. They were probably just people passing by on the street, he didn't check to see how low or high they were.

His rather rugged guide knocked loudly on the door. As he waited for a response Peaches suveyed the rather plain looking hallway. It was then that he noticed the camera above the door they were standing at. He then got another wave of the bad feeling he had felt before, but it quickly faded as the door was opened by a dark-haired woman. One eye entered and Peaches followed behind.

Inside was a large room filled with computer equipment, weapons, and planetary maps lining the walls. There were people that were scattered around the room, most of them human. Though he did notice a few other species standing around. There was a Clantaani, a Rodian, a Bothan, and he noticed the Nautolan that he met in the alley. The Nautolan moved forward and placed his hand on Peaches' shoulder, "Welcome to our headquarters. I know it's not much but we have many others throughout the galaxy, many of them are worse than this." Peaches looked at him, "Headquarters for what?"

The Nautolan toke his hand off of Peaches' shoulder and turned to him, "Well, you should know. You're looking for it too. That message we gave you is the only lead we have at the moment. We've been working to try and discover the origin of it, but nothing yet." Peaches gave him a stern look, "You still haven't told me who you guys are." The Nautolan took a seat in a chair that was sitting behind him, "We are part of a secret orginization who work to find the object and destroy it." Those words hung in the air around Peaches. "We come together, hunt it down, and destroy it. After the job is done we disapear and return from the shadows when it resurfaces. You see, your like us, you believe that that kind of power shouldn't be wielded by anyone."

Peaches stopped him there, "I belive we have a misunderstanding on our hands. You see I don't want it to be destroyed." In an instant Peaches was restrain by the one-eyed man who had brought him here and the Nautolan brought a blaster pistol to his temple, "Are you with Flk'ijn?" Peaches looked at him, the anger clearly showing on his face, "What's a Flk'ijn?" The Nautolan pushed the barrel of the pistol harder into his head, "Do you realize what could happen if someone used it?" Peaches stuggled, but the large man's grip was too great for him to break away, "If you were in my position, you'd want it too." The Nautolan got close to his face, "Do the lives of thousands of innocent people mean anything to you?" Peaches began to reach out with the force to his lightsaber, "You have no idea."

Peaches' lightsaber flew from his belt to his hand. He then summoned a large amount of energy and blasted the one-eyed man holding him into the wall knocking him unconsicous. He ducked down to dodge the blaster bolt from the pistol that was pressed to his head. He then ignited his lightsaber and sliced the blaster pistol in two. He then reached into his robe and grabbed his second lightsaber with his left hand. He ignited the burning red blade and stood up, now realizing that every other person in the room had a gun pointed at him. Peaches prepared himself. He had deflected blaster bolts before, just not this many and not at this many angles.

Just then the far wall of the room burst in an explosion of fire and shrapnel. Men in bright red suits with blater rifles poured into the room. The Nautolan yelled to the others, "Flk'ijn's men!" The ragtag team opened fire upon the red assaulters. Peaches took this opportunity to his advantage. He ran and flipped over the heads of the ones in front of the door and sliced through it. He sprinted down the hallway and kicked the button on the wall to open the door. As he exited he heard one of the red-suited men shout orders to the others, "Get that one, he has the message."

After the door closed he used his lightsabers to weld the door shut. He then put away his lightsabers, boarded the transport and tried to start it up. The sun was now rising in the distance. Apparently the trip was longer than he suspected. After poking around he eventually got it to start. As the hum of the engines filled the air he sensed something going on behind the security door, he needed to get this thing moving quickly. He began to search around the controls, but everything was rearranged from the normal control setup of a vehicle. He then flipped a switch and heard the transport release from where it was docked, followed by a large "boom" and the sound of the security door smashing through one of the transport's windows. He quickly pulled the transport away and began his escape, but his escape vehicle wasn't too fast. He realized that he was driving through some sort of alley and he could see a street up ahead. Peaches turned back to see his would-be pursurers, "HA, HA! Better luck next time assho..." Peaches stopped as he realized that one of them was aiming a rocket launcher directly at the transport. "OH, SHI-"

The force of the blast slammed him into the winshield. The transport was dropping through the air at a high rate of speed. Though everything seemed to slow down. Peaches could see the other side of the street, the building that the crashing transport, the transport that he was in, was about to hit. Everything went black.

......Peaches could hear the sound of his own heartbeat over the screams of the surrounding people. An unimaginable pain ripped through the left side of his body. Peaches opened his eyes and saw the large chunk of metal his left leg and part of it on his elbow. He strained the muscles in his body to move and attempted to move the metal off of him. He could feel anger building up within. He didn't know from where, but he could feel it. And with that one burst of anger he let loose a wall of force energy that flung his inanimate metal captor through the air. He couldn't move his left leg. It was possible that it was broken. But, he could move left arm though it sent a surge of pain through his shoulder straight to the rest of his body. Considering his condition, he had to escape the area, because he wouldn't survive an attack from the ones who wanted the holographic message in his robe.

He looked around and saw the damage the crash had done to the surrounding area. The buildings were alight in flame and the passerbys that were alive were screaming in pain at the shrapnel piercing their bodies. He saw a swoop bike lying on the ground nearby. He didn't know how it got there, but he didn't care right now. He called forth every ounce of strength in his body and began to crawl toward the bike. He reached it quicker than he expected and pulled himself onto it. Another burst of pain surged through as he pulled his leg over the bike. He twisted the throttle as hard as he could and the bike flew forward. He needed to get off this planet, ASAP.

OCC:I didn't want time to pass so quickly, it's completly my fault, it the way I wrote it out.

OOC: That was pretty sweet peaches! Lenghty too! Mine may not be as long, but I hope it will be just as kick ass!

Chonai Striken was nearing his destination now. It has been some hours since he left the bar and the strange character 'Peaches' behind. Striken came to this planet for information, and there was a mention of a Star Chart, but it's not conclusive if whether the two tie in together now or not.

It was still fairly dark out right at the moment, and Striken cast an odd shadow as he neared. He was walking with a slight limp, almost as if he was dragging something behind him. Light began to rise over the horizon slowly. As more and more light began to surround the lone sith it became apparant that he was in fact dragging something behind him. Not something, but someone!

"You and your lazy ass brother are really getting on my bad side!" Striken said as he truged forward with a rope thrown over his shoulder, "I asked you politely and you still refuse! Do you really seek to die?"
"I-I don't know what you are talking about!" the tied up individual being dragged against his will stated, "We know nothing of a Star Map or have any knowledge about anceint baubles!"
"Really? The what is this?" Striken pulled out a long silver data projector and activated it. An image of a planet within an small star system whirred to life!
"How did you get that?" the man said with a gasp.
"I found it amongst your other trash!" Stiken dropped the rope and gazed meanceingly at the man, "Now Tella, tell me what I want to know, and I'll leave your brother out of this! I'm sure you have the same knowledge as he does and we really wouldn't want to litter this nice city with TWO fresh corpses!"
"WHAT?!?" the man said shocked, "I won't tell, and neither will my brother! Go ahead and kill us you'll be exactly where you started!"

Striken quickly brought his knee into the gut of his captive. He next brought his elbow down against his back knocking the opponet into the ground. He next began to levitate the man known as Tella in the air.

"You forget about my apprentice! I may not be able to get any information from you or your brother, but my wookie friend most certainly can!" Tella felt a magical force grip around his neck, "He just so happens to be waiting next to your brothers abode as we speak! To far for him to reach us now, but like I said what's TWO corpses?"

Striken had focused all his attention on Tella that he almost didn't notice the Swoop approching him at rapid speed. The sun was now in full force and much could be seen. Tella certainly saw the Swoop, and smiled when he noticed Striken didn't. At the last possible second Striken released Tella and spund around ignited his lightsaber in an instant. The crimson blade easily slahed through the front end of the bike sending it carreening into a nearby trash dump. Striken had dodged what seemed to him an attack on his life.

Striken began to appraoch the wreckage ignited another saber and forgetting all about Tella who lay behind him.

"All right vermin!" Striken yelled at the river, "Let me see the face of a dead man!"

The wrecakage began to move as a figure began to crawl out. Striken insatntly reconigzed who it was. It was the kid from yesterday! Peaches!

"You again!" Striken turned and noticed that Tella had ran off, "Bastard!" Striken grabbed the helpless Peaches and raised him above his head, "DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE! Tella will inform his brother of our meeting and take out my apprentice who awaits my next orders!"

Striken threw Peaches back to the ground. "You best be coming up with a plausible excuse before I get ill! Tella is fast but I am faster, but no one is faster than a commicator! Waller is waitng outside Tella's brother's house and will be taken by surprise if he should happen to get any unwelcome visitors!"

Striken disenaged one of his sabers and brought the other to Peaches' neck, "I may have saved your ass yesterday, but you're about to find out why no one pisses me off! So what do you have to say for yourself?"

Peaches opened his mouth to speak after being silent the entire encounter with the sith...
TBC

OOC:Thanks Eggpire, I hope this post works.

IC:Peaches lay on the ground. He looked down at the lightsaber blade at his neck, "Lower your blade." He didn't care who this guy was, or who he thought he was, his anger was rising and he didn't take to kindly to threats. Striken refused to move his blade and remained silent. Peaches felt more anger rising from deep within him. Anger from everything: From his pursuers whom he had nothing to do with, from being tossed around like a rag doll by this Sith, from memories he hoped had faded away, from not being able to protect his family and friends, from never being able to ANYTHING RIGHT! It rushed through every part of his being;his body, his mind, his soul.

He summoned the lightsaber from his belt, ignited it in halfway to his hand, and snatched it out of the air. In one swift motion he launched himself upward spun in midair, knocking back Chonai's oncoming attack. He landed, no longer to feel any of the pain from earlier. He rushed forward with unknown speed and locked blades with the Sith. Striken easily held back his counter attack, "You have no idea what your getting yourself into." Peaches looked directly into his eyes and gave a smirk of pure battle lust, "Neither do you."

Peaches pushed his lightsaber forward with an amount of strength he had never felt before. Chonai's feet began to slide backwards on the pavement. Undoubtedly realizing this he slid his blade downward and swooped down and slashed at Peaches' feet. But his attack sliced only air as Peaches did a quick back flip. Striken quickly went back on the offensive and charged toward his opponent. Their lightsaber clashed together with the sound of thunder and the hiss of a thousand snakes from the bowels of hell. Peaches unleashed the fury within him in a flurry of random slashes that were skillfully blocked by the Sith master. He didn't want to fight Striken, he had helped him get away from that man, Jacxx, but he couldn't stop. He had never been able to fight so well before, even if his style was untrained and undeveloped, he was taking it to a whole new level in the heat of this one battle.

Striken parried an attacks upward and went for an attack, but it was stopped as Peaches flipped his blade downward to block the slice aimed at his stomach. Peaches then blasted Chonai with a force push of immense proportion, launching him through the air. He rolled through the air and landed almost catlike on his feet. Peaches immediately rushed forward letting out a warcry that shook the heavens. He reached to the back of his belt and pulled something out. It was his trophy from the fight in the bar. He ignited the blade and tossed it full force at Striken, who easily deflected the saber away from him and pulled his second saber back out, ready to take on Peaches full force. Peaches saw this and pulled out his own second saber, the red blade blazing from the hilt in his left hand. Their blade collided together in a flash of red, black, violet, and crimson. Once again their weapons were locked together and again they were close enough to smell the adrenaline in each others bloodstream. Chonai looked deep into Peaches eyes, seeing every drop of his uncontrollable anger.

Their battle was suddenly interrupted by a blaster bolt making contact with the ground next to Peaches' foot. He looked up and saw one of his pursuers in red with a sniper rifle crouched on a balcony preparing for the next shot. He also caught sight of a group of them running down the street from behind his masterful opponent. Suddenly regaining his sanity, he took Striken off guard while he was still distracted by the sniper's shot and knocked him away. Peaches spun around and took off down the street. He put away his second lightsaber, disengaged his main one, and reached into a small pocket on his pants. He pulled out the blaster pistol that the Nautolan had given yesterday. He tossed it aside, because it wasn't what he was looking for. He reached back into the pocket and pulled out a device with a small screen. He looked down at it and saw a single light on the screen. He wasn't too far from his ship. It seems that in his visit here he just traveled in one big circle. He turned onto another street headed straight for his ship. This street was bustling with people setting up small shops on the streetside.

Peaches forced his way through the crowd trying to reach his ship. He looked back down at the device. It was still a ways off, but if he hurried he could reach his ship with enough time to get away. As he thought, he once again became aware of the immense pain in the left half of his body. He stumbled to the ground and cringed in pain. It felt even worse than before. His duel with Chonai must have put enormous strain on the injuries. He could barely move. He could feel the ones in red getting closer. A small group of people began to encircle him. There was no way for him hide. They would definetly see him and when they did, they would kill him.

OOC:I'll figure out how he escapes later.

Striken was pissed. Peaches had no idea what he had just done. Thorughout the entire fight Striken didn't even devolop one single sweat bead, and now the wants to run off because of these "think they're so awesome" pursurers! Striken had noticed that Tella had been taken out by these Nautolans.

"Well then that settles it! Before I go after Granz, I should thend to this little ordeal before it gets out of hand!" Striken then pulled it out. The legendary Dual Stacked Lightsaber. Both blades hissed to life as Striken leapt into the air.

He noticed that there were three of them, Nautolans, and the rouge boy. 'this should be easy' Striken thought and zeroed in on his first victim. SLINK! Beofore the first Nautolan even knew what hit him, he lay on the ground in two pieces. Split straight across the middle! Striken then laept to his next target. In an instant the Nautolan carrying the sniper riffle fell to the ground headless. 'One more" Striken hissed in his mind! The next Nautolan was quite a distance away but that didn't matter. In front of the Nautolan was a small crowd of people. Peaches was in the center. Striken quickly tossed his saber and gided it with the force until it shot clear through the last nautolan. The lightsaber bounced back to Striken. He then started to approach Peaches.

As Striken neared he disengaed his lightsaber and glared at the boy. Striken didn't know what this individual sought in life, but his ambition interested the sith.

"You're pretty brave, albeit stupid, to draw sabers with me!" Striken let a smile cross his lips, "I may have overreacted a bit back there, after all my friends life was on the line! You seem to be making enemies pretty quickly around here, but for the record I am not one of them!"

Peaches didn't know what to say. "You're fearless! You fight only for yourself! You let your hatred guide you! You fight like a true sith warrior!" Striken turned and began to walk away, "I may know a little somethng or something about what you are seeking. If you are interested meet me at docking bay 1123 at dusk, the pasword is CARLY!"

At that the sith seemingly vanished into thin air!
TBC

OOC: Now's you chance Peaches take it or leave it!

OOC:Hey Eggpire, the guys in red are Flk'ijn's men(if you didn't already figure that out)and they're a medley of different species. But, if you were just making a couple of them Nautloans, then that's okay.

IC: Peaches lay there, the pain slowly retreating back into the dark abyss that it had crawled out of. He pulled himself off of the street and stood up, his mind an empty void from the immense pain. He could barely remember anything. A woman approached him from the crowd, "Hey, are you alright." He couldn't hear her. All he could hear was... music. He could hear music. He didn't know from where... but he liked it. It was soft. He could hear a piano and some other instrument, but he couldn't tell what it was. He could also hear someone singing... a woman. Her voice as beautiful as the music. As he took a step forward the music picked up; drums, violins, and trumpets rang out. The music helped soothe the pain as it lashed out at his body and soul. He didn't make it far till his body gave out. He collapsed to the ground, eyes blank. The music toned down to what it was like before. And as the last notes faded from his mind, as the last word echoed from the lips of the faceless vocalist, his eyes went dark and he faded into unconsciousness.

He awoke hours later, a white light burning his eyes. As they adjusted, he looked around. He was lying in a plain white bed. The entire room around him was also white. His right arm was hooked onto some sort of machine. He was in a hospital. Peaches looked down at his body lying under the blanket. He was completely nude, except for the bandages he could feel on his leg and the ones on his entire left arm. It seemed that they had taken the bandages he had put on himself and replaced them with new one, but the ones on his right arm were as dirty as usual. He thought was interrupted as the door slid open and a nurse walked in. She had black hair that about the same length as his and she was carrying a tray with some medication and a roll of bandages on it, "Ah, I see your awake." Peaches forced the words from his mouth, his head still groggy from unconsciousness, "What happened?" She came over, placed the tray on the bed beside him and sat down in a chair that was to the right of the bed, "Well, someone reported some activity going on, so the guard was sent down to check things out and they found you out cold in the middle of the street. It must have been one big scuffle. An entire transport ship was wrecked." That was just about all he could remember.

Peaches grabbed the nurse's arm as soon as he realized that she was removing the old bandages from his right arm, "What are you doing!?" She seemed scared from his sudden outburst, "I-I'm just replacing these bandages." Peaches released her when he noticed how hard he was squeezing, "I...I'm sorry." The nurse remained silent as she continued to remove the bandages from his arm. He also remember that he had just seen his left arm in new bandages. But he had always been reluctant to remove them himself. He didn't feel comfortable letting this complete stranger removing them... no matter how attractive she was. The bandages removed, they revealed his badly scarred palm and arm. She seemed shocked at his massively damaged hand. She apparently wasn't present when they applied the other bandages. Despite whatever she was thinking she kept to herself.

Peaches laid there and let his mind wander back as the nurse proceeded to apply the clean bandages. He remembered the Nautloan he had encountered, had called the men in red something. "Flk'ijn's men!", Peaches could hear him yelling out as clear as he had before. It seemed like this Flk'ijn didn't want the others to destroy what he was seeking. Perhaps they were after it also. Remembering this sparked another recent memory. It was Striken. I may know a little something or something about what you are seeking. If you are interested meet me at docking bay 1123 at dusk, the password is...", his thought was cut off as the nurse spoke to him. "Here take this." she handed him a pill of a strange orange color.

He was about to place the pill in his mouth, until Striken's voice echoed through his memory again, "...meet me at docking bay 1123 at dusk..." He looked over to the nurse, "Uh, what time is it?" She quickly looked down to a small watch on her wrist, "Its ten after four, why." Peaches turned to the left and saw his clothes lying on a table next to the window. Dusk was still a while away, but there was no telling where the docking bay was. He put the pill down on the tray and pulled the blanket back enough for him to swing his legs out. As he placed them on the cold floor, he noticed that they were completely void of feeling. The nurse stood up behind him, "What are you doing?" He slowly rose up from the bed, "I'm leaving."

He dragged himself over to the table and picked up his black pants. The nurse came over and took the pants away from him, "Sir, you need to get back to your bed." Peaches reached back over to the table and picked up the gray boxers that were under the pants for some reason, "You know I don't think I will." He then proceeded to slip them on. He looked at her, she was slightly shorter than him. She somehow seemed familiar. He pointed to his pants in her hand, "Could you hand me those?" Her face became serious, but her eyes were full of fear, "Don't make me call the guard." Peaches shrugged his shoulders, "Alright." At that moment his lightsaber whipped from inside his robe and in a mere second the pitch black blade was just underneath her chin, "You know, I would really, REALLY hate to kill you." Her face turned to shear terror, Peaches could even see a drop of sweat form on her forehead. He pointed, once again to his pants, "Now, can you hand me those?" Her arm slowly extended and he pulled the pants from her loose grip.

He disengaged the blade, "Thank you." He could hear her let out a breath of relief as he pulled his pants up. He then quickly slipped on his robe and belt, slipping his lightsaber into the side in the process. He made sure that his second lightsaber and the holographic message were still in his pocket. The nurse looked at him, "Why are doing this?" He gave her a look that could make a Rancor wonder what the hell he was thinking, "Because, even as strange as it sounds, I have better things to do than lie it that bed, relax, and do nothing while you cater to my every whim and check you out every chance I get until my wounds heal." He then walked over to the window and opened it, "Plus, I don't have the credits to pay for medical bills."

After that notion he leaped out of the window and fell a few stories before having to use the force to soften his landing. As he walked away he began to ponder if he had seen the nurse holding something. A weapon? A distress beacon of some sort? But it didn't matter now. What did matter was him finding his way to the docking bay Striken had told him to meet at.

OOC:I don't even know if SW characters wear underwear...OH WELL!!

OOC: Update tomorrow!

(Edit) IC:

Striken had left Peaches to ponder his offer, and continued on with his misson. It wasn't too much farther before he reached Granz's pad. Striken was prepared for a battle, but what he got was instead only hindered the sith's plot. Striken knew something was up when, he noticed the door to Granz's grimmy house was wide open. the smell of smoldering flesh flew through the air. It was then Striken knew Granz was dead!

The sith trudged through the front door and began to scan the trashed buiding for his target.

"Damn!" Striekn hissed as he saw Granz's corpse strewn across the floor in the kitchen, "Whoever got him knew what he was after!" Granz was stripped naked any evidence that the sith was after had left with Granz's killer.

Stirken left the ruined abode and proceeded to his ship docked just outside. He walked to the underside of the God of Hate and began to rap against the metal. A communictaor hanging above the entrance ramp hissed to life, and the wookie's voice shot through demanding the password!

"It's me Waller! Open the door!" the entance ramp began to extend and Chaoni Striken walked on board.

Waller began to grunt and growl in a dissappointed manner.

"Sorry buddy, he was dead when I got there! I guess you being calvary was a bad idea afterall!" Striken said as he plopped down in a reclineing chair.
Waller grunted and growled some more as if wondering what to do next.
"We wait for now! There's someone who should be dropping by in a little while, and could really prove useful to our cause! He's strong in the ways of the force, but he is reckless! With our guidence and his talents we should have quite a worthy ally!"
Waller growled wondering when he should expect company.
"Around dusk! That isn't to far away as we speak so we shouldn't be waiting to awefully long. If he isn't here by midnight then you have my permission to fire thrusters and blast offa this planet! Next course of action will be decided back at base!"
Waller grunted in acknowledgement and the sith Striken closed his eyes and began to drift off to sleep!

Peaches head been wandering the streets of Coruscant for some time now, when he stumbled across a merchant that struck his fancy. He was selling star ship parts, his wares displayed out on the ground in front of him. He looked up to the sky and saw the sun slowly descending. It wouldn't hurt if he browsed for a while.

He approached the toydarian merchant, who didn't seem to have much business, with much enthusiasm. All the parts seemed to be in good condition. The merchant took notice of him immediately. His skin was gray, and he sounded as if his throat were full of rocks,"Ah, hello there. What sort of parts are looking for, sir?" Peaches looked up to the floating merchant as he lifted himself from the ground, "I'm looking for some parts that are compatible with my fighter." The toydarian's face lit up with delight at that notion, "I have many different fighter parts here. What model are you looking for?" Peaches began to look around once again, "None. My fighter is of no specific model. Do you have any navigation systems?" The mechant maneuvered himself through the air to a medium sized piece of equipment consisting of a large screen and many different wires hanging from the back of it, "I have one right here. It's not new, but it's very reliable." Peaches took the navigation system from the toydarian, checking it for any damage, "I'll give you 350 credits for it." The merchant eyed him with a greedy look, "500."
"400."
"450"
"425"
"...I suppose that will do.", the toydarian held out his hand as Peaches counted out the credits. Placing his new navigation system into a large cloth bag that he kept in his robe, underneath his lightsaber, he continued his search for the docking bay.

After searching for another hour, Peaches came across a transport ship docked next to a average sized Coruscanti home. He wondered if he had found the correct place and was answered quickly. The door to this person's home was left open and the smell of death wafted through the surrouding area. Striken must of not liked the curtains.Peaches approached the transport anxiously, searching for an entrance-way.

He was startled as the communicator above him activated, a wookie growling from the opposite end. Peaches understood the basic of the wookie language but he didn't catch what this wookie was saying. He must have found the wrong docking bay. "I'm sorry.", Peaches said. The wookie repeated his sentence. "Password?" The wookie grunted in answer. Peaches remembered Striken saying something about a password, perhaps he had found the right transport after all. If only he could remember what the password was. "Uh, krill?" Silence. Apparently that wasn't the right password. There was no telling what this wookie would do to him because of his incorrectness. He needed to come up with the right one quick. "Uh, charisma." Nothing. "Cogitative? Kilobars? Kuchen? Bacon? Damn it, I can't remember!" The wookie roared into the communicator. "Well how am I supposed to give you the password if I can't remember it?" The wookie roared back at him. "Don't threaten me!", Peaches was getting agitated, "Listen, I just came because Chonai asked me to."

Peaches waited for an answer.

IC:
"...Chonai asked me to!" came Peaches voice through the communicator.
"Yep that's him! Lower the ramp and let him proceed on board." Striken turned to greet his guest, "DO IT WALLER!"
Waller began to mock Striken in a playful voice as he flipped a switch and the ramp began to lower. Waller quickly reached under neath the seat and found his old translator droid which he had used on multiple missions in the past.
"Good thinking Ca-hana! Even if he understands what you're saying, cnahnce are he doesn't understand fully!"
The trans droid whirred to life as the kid boarded the sith's transport.
"Welcom to my luxury transport the God of Hate!" Striken said with a smile as the ramp closed behind Peaches, "Make yourself comfortable while we get ready to discuss buisness!"
"Thanks." Peaches said nervously as he glared at the wookie.
"Oh, this is Wala-Ca-Hana! He's my wookie apprentice! He looks intimidateing, but inside he's just a big softie! Call him Waller for short." Striken introduce his apprentice.
Waller shot an evil glare at Chonai Striken, the bowed to Peaches.
"You said you know what I'm after, right?" PEaches asked as he sat in one of Striken's very expensive chrome plated chairs.
"You see, I don't know if we are after the same thing yet! A mole told me that you had been asking around about an object of sorts! A powerful object at that! As it happens I'm after an object of imense power as it is. I've been thinking that our meeting wasn't by chance. Two guys seraching for mysterious power clash not once, but twice! More than a conieceidence if you ask me!" Striken poured himself a strange green liquid into a silver cup and then sat down in the chair next to Peaches, "Here." Striken handed the glass to Peaches.
"Ummm." The kid could only just stare at the liquid.
"It's really good. I insist!" Peaches then took the cup, "First things first I need to know exactly what you know about this object, and whether it's realted to the Hearld's Heart or not. So let's spill the beans here!"
Peaches took a sip of what he learned was called Arminian Spice Cocktail, and beagn to respond to the sith!

Elsewhere on Courscant

The sun had completely set now and the streets were crowded with the hodgepodge of creatures that normally paraded during the night. The night clubs began to open their doors, and anyone fearful of their life found sanctuary insdie their own homes. Amongst the crowd was fearless jedi bounty hunter Jacxx Malo.

"That kid has joined ranks with Striken!" he hissed to himself as he walked onward down the street nearing a night bar titled "Swinging Beginning". The bars neon lights could be seen nearly a kilometer before you even neared the club. There was no fancy light animations, just a neon lit sign. However a massive crowd was piled out front of the joint.

"Piles of filth!" Malo hissed, "Only care about their own pleasures in life! Ironically they are what craft the "real" world. People who were told countless times that they would never make it in the real world! Filth all of them!" Jacxx stood outside the joint and fidgeted with his lightsaber strapped onto his belt, "BAH!" he turned to leave when he spied something in the airspace above him.

There were several of them, Seven to be exact. Long slim transport craft. Milatrary special, and to Malo...
"Sith Battle transports!" his eyes narrowed, "What?"

A transport at the tail end of the chain began to break off from the rest of the others and began to land nearbythe club Malo stood at. He watched as another broke off and began to land further up ahead. He watched as the chain disappeared in the distance.

"Not good!" He began to bolt in the opposit direction, "Everyone Quickly get inside!" He began to yell to everyone gatehring puzzeled looks from everyone, "SITH ARE ON APPROACH! GET INSIDE NOW!"

At that everbody within earshot began to panic as the all flocked to the night club which was oblivious to the situation!

OOC: Note the sith attack doesn't affect anything going on with Striken and Peaches at the moment! I added that to develop back plot and introduce a starting place for anyone who might still be interested in joining this!
EDIT: 1000 posts WOOT!

Peaches responded casually,"I'm looking for something that will help me achieve my goal of eliminating the jedi. I'm not sure if I can trust you yet though... or your wookie." Waller growled. Peaches paid him no mind and continued, "I do hope that you will help me in my search though. Until then, I'm not sure what else to tell you."

OOC: I don't know either!

NAME: Brandi Asil
PREFERRED NAME: Brandi
SPECIES: Human
AGE: 16
AFFILIATION: Bounty hunters…? Anyone who pays her. Or her own self.
APPEARANCE: 5'4, long black hair usually tied into a braid that reaches her back. Wears light brown tank top (stomach showing) with black shorts. Black gloves and Black boots. Dark brown eyes with tan skin. Bangs slightly covering her eyes.
Weapons: Carries around different weapons depending on her mission, but her main weapons are twin pistols. ABILITIES/Personality: She's very quick and agile. Skilled, she can get through almost any security system. Although she seems bad, if you earn (repeat: EARN.) her trust and friendship, she's a good person. PERSONAL BACKSTORY: She was born on Tatooine, being a slave for a few years. Then she learned how to pilot almost any type of ship. When her family died of disease, she flew away to Corusant. Knowing she would never survive, broke down and wondered where to turn. Boba Fett found her and trained her to be a bounty hunter.
----------
Brandi sat on the roof of a bar, watching the busy streets of Corusant. Shining her gun, she waited for Boba Fett to appear. She then heard comotion inside. Using her large amount of skill, peered inside to hear the word "sith".

That wasn't a new word to her.

Seems there has been quite a bit of stir of intrest in this RP lately! Everybody who wishes can join as I'm still for continueing this RP! Also just a point of correction lovedove830, while you charcter is great there is a slight problem though! The story takes place 1500 years before SW:Ep I so there is no possible way for Bobba Fett to be alive! Other than that everything looks OK! Anyways I look forward to finally continueing the story, and I hope any and all potential newcomers will have lots of fun RPing in the Star Wars universe!

OOC: Soory about the double post the edit button wouldn't show up for some odd reason! I have re-read the entire story (it has been over a year since this was started) and decided to continue with an IC as a couple of people have decided they want to join in the fun! Bear with me though I am a bit rusty!

EDIT: As I was re-reading this post I realised just how many friggin typos and poor grammar there was! I blame it on the excitment for finally at last getting more involvement in Herald! Nothing has been changed story wise, but I did clean it up as close as I can!

IC:
"Trust is such a hard thing to earn I gather!" Chonai said with a smile, "Even the great Jedi are at ends with one another when it comes to trust! Perhaps in time I reckon!"
Striken took a drink from his cup. Peaches smiled a little when he noticed a green trail of liquid roll down the fron of the Sith's chin. Waller just shook his head and went into his little workshop stationed in the rear of the ship.
"So an entire genocide of the Jedi is your goal, eh?" Striken leaned back in his chair and wiped the cocktail's residue from his chin, "Any particular reason?"
"Let's just say the Jedi are responsible for the loss of everyone I loved, and that is all I will tell you!" Peaches said in a defensive manner.
"A rather bold statement considering what the Jedi advertise themselves as! Keepers of peace! Defenders of Justice! Vanquishers of emotion!" Striken paused as he chuckled a little, "That last one was all mine! Ah, well! Whatever your reasons I have a feeling that you will not be dissapointed with my findings. Shall I explain?"
"Go on. I didn't just come here for idle chatter ya'know!"
"Okay then. The Herald's Heart...the Herald's Heart where do I even begin?" Striken began to stir his drink with his finger as he thought of the best way to tell his story, "Many centuries ago the Jedi and Sith were locked in a war very different from the one they wage today! It wasn't just good and evil as the vid-reports portray the battles! No in fact it was much more gray in scale! No one really knew who was just and who was wicked. The people feared the Sith and their relentless aggression. They also feared that the Jedi, upon winning their war, would rule over them with an iron fist essentially making the galaxy's citizens hapless slaves to the Jedi order!"
"Please tell me your story has a pont!" Peaches said starting to get annoyed.
"Pateince my new friend, pateince! I guarantee you won't be dissapointed!" Striken said as he leaned forward and placed his cup on the table in between the two, "Where was I? Oh, during this period even the Republic rennounced the Jedi! It seems everyone thought they were would be tyrants! It was during the pinnacle of this war that the Herald's Heart was crafted. They were only five Grand Sith Lords, and three Jedi Masters back then, and they had all agreed to meet in secret (on Nar Shadaa it was speculated). Each side said that they would call off their armies if they could come to a plausible agreement with one another! However it had only been merely a trap set up by the Sith to take out the Jedi leaders once and for all! Using a mysterious power not seen since, the Sith began to extract the Jedi's own force essence! Furious that they had been duped the Jedi retaliated with any and all force powers avaliable to them! It wasn't long before the Jedi realised that they couldn't last much longer with ther powers being drained. They then decided in a bold act to try and turn this weird magic against the sith! The three got together and used a mirroring technique which shot the spell right back to the sith! The Jedi's mirroring barrier however could not reflect the entire spell and all eight in that room gave in to the deadly effects! In minutes eight lifeless bodies littered the room and the war, for the time being, was essentially over with neither side claiming the rights to victory!"
"Very amusing, but what am I suppsoed to gather from this?" Peaches said with a hint of amusement of in his voice.
"Let me finish," Striken stated as he crossed his legs, "This story has often been cited as being no more than myth and legend, and up until now I had no reason to believe otherwise. You see the end of the tale states that all the Jedi and Sith's powers that was drained, crystalized into a single mass. It took the shape of a sphere with an imprint that was shaped like a heart. It was dubbed the Herald's Heart and is said to entomb the very esscence of the five sith lords and three jedi masters themselves. The one who can lay claim to this bauble can essentially gain the powers of those anceint masters and shape the galaxy as he/she/it sees fit! Seeing the deadly potential in this seemingly harmless rock it was hidden away its location known only to a few. Who found and hid it away? No one knows, but it is said that a series of Star Maps contain essential clues as to where we can find the Herald's Heart! I personally didn't believe, the legend until I found this!" Striken pulled out a small metallic disk.
"Let me guess a Star Map?" Peaches said observing the piece of metal in Striken's hand.
"And it's been well updated!" Striken said in acknowledgement, "Notes, names, and places (well encrypted I might add) of particular intrest has been plastered all over the map!"
"What makes you think its one of those legendary Star Maps?" Peaches pondered.
"Mainly the date and the vauge content strewn all over the map! "My mothers heart once wept for her fallen kin, but grew cold over the ages. Now her love only sparkles for one and it is not I, but those who wish her to die!" That is a quotation from a mad writting in upper left corner of the map."
"Where exactly did you find this map?" Peaches said quite interested in the artifact.
"On Dantooine in the ruins of an old Jedi temple! I came across it when scouting for a base of operations! The legends has been taught to me since I was a kid. Needless to say it perked my intrest so I set off to investigate it! Over the course of the next five years I have uncovered next to nothing on the artifact until recently. Turns out a secret organization has found one of the Star Maps, and they launched a relentless assault to hunt down the artifact and destroy it. I have traced their oraganization to this planet, go figure the center of the universe, and recovered the next Star Map! I've yet to see its contents."
"Do you actually think it's that powerful?" Peaches said fully interested now as it draws direct comparrisons to the object he so desperately lusts after.
"Honestly, no I don't!" Striken said bluntly, "I believe its magnitude was exaggerated in the legend. However this doesn't mean it doesn't contain some sort of power worth hidding throughout these years!"
"So all we have to do is gather these Star Maps and we'll find its location?" Peaches asked.
"No. I think the Herald's Heart has been relocated since the maps were created."
"Then why go to the trouble of finding the maps?"
"As I said before they've been updated quite frequently with notes and the such! What I'm after are these notes, despite the fact that they sound like mad ramblings! Names are also listed! I believe these are clues that will help find out where the artifact is hidden! Oh and there is another thing. I've got reason to beilive that the Herald's Heart has been broken down into several shards in order to prevent anyone from obtaining them all! That is also my reasoning for believing that the objects we search for may be seperate, but are eventually part of the same whole!"
"How do you know this?"
"Just trust me on that fact!" Striken then quickly changed the subject, "I've tried my best to keep my mission a secret from both the Jedi and Sith, but I now know I have failed in that repect! Someone knows, and they even took out a bounty on me! To make matters worse my most hated adversary is the one who has decided to collect! You've already met my "friend" Jacxx Malo the Jedi bounty hunter! Though he is just one, he is not the only only one we will probably run into! There are many bounty hunters out there who like nothing more than capture the great Chonai Striken! I have gatherd quite a bit of reknown during my ventures!"
"One last thing, why do you seek the Herald's Heart, and aren't you and the Sith allies?" Peaches eyes then narrowed at the Sith knight.
"I am TECHNICALLY a sith! Many of them know and respect me, and I have trained a few of them over the years, but my ambitions are my own not the siths! In that respect I figure they need not know what I'm after! As for my reasons for finding the Herald's Heart..." a sad expression crossed Striken's face.
"Yes go on." Peaches encouraged.
"I do not seek power as one might think," tears began to form in the siths eyes, "do you believe that an artifact of the Hearld's Heart can do more than give one relentless power? Say for instance, do you believe it may also have the ability to raise the dead?"
"Based off what you have told me, I believe its plausible!" Peaches noticed that some memory weighed heavy on Striken's heart.
"Well then," Striken smiled and wiped the tears from his eyes, "Are you intrested in my offer? I believe I can offer you help in return for you helping me! Afterall it sometimes seems that my apprentice is unwilling to do alot a things I ask. He is quite lazy after all!"
A serious a shrill grunts and growls came from Waller's workshop.
"TRANSLATION: I heard that!" the translator droid clicked and whirred.
"Relax I'm only kidding!" Striken yelled to his partner then leaned forward to Peaches and whispered, "but seriously I'm not!"

Striken stood and stretched.
"Shall I pour you another drink?" he said with a smile.
Before Peaches could respond a noise broke the usual silence of the God of Hate. It started out soft and got louder and louder! It soon became apparant to Chonai that it was the sound of a ship and a massive one at that!
"What the!" Striken exclaimed puzzeled, "That sounds way to loud to be driving in the civil lanes!"
Waller came out to see what was going on.
"Stay put!" Striken said to his apprentice as he opened the entranceway.
As the sith made his way down the ramp he looked up in the sky where he would normally see a clutter of traffic. Instead what he saw was massive transport slowly making its way in between the massive skyscrapers! Striken eyed the markings on the side and he knew right away what was going on! He quickly ran back inside!
"Ah hell! It looks like our departure got a little more difficult!" Striken said a little angry!
"What's going on?" Peaches asked confused.
"It looks like the sith decided to carry through on their threats for a change!" Striken reached into a nearby compartment and pulled out a small blaster pistol and placed it inside a pocket in his sith garb, "The Sith are attacking Courscant!"
TBC

OOC: First post in this RP, so here's my character profile. I'll even see if I can squeeze in some IC action to accompany it!

Name: Talia Wei'Liret
Preferred Name: Talia (occasionally 'Twilight' since it sounds similar to a contraction of her full name)
Species: Ullanthon
Age: 220 years (looks 20)
Affiliation: Neutral
Appearance: Significant detail required here, so be patient! While Talia doesn't come from a race of shape-shifters, her kind are chameleonic. Thus the colour (and texture) of hair, skin, eyes, etc can vary significantly. But, when using the colours she was born with, her description is as follows: Largely human in appearance, with golden-brown skin. Golden eyes, black hair cut in a bob. Has minimal facial markings, these being black lips, black upper eyelids & a small mark at the outer corner of each eye, like an upturned hook. She has slightly pointed ears and a long, bare tail, that she normally keeps wrapped around her waist so that it seems to be a belt (and has a metallic decoration worn over the tip). She also has batlike wings, which (while she can keep them properly folded), she tends to drape around her shoulders, using her chameleonic ability to make them seem like a loose outer garment. As far as actual garments are concerned, she wears an outfit like the one worn by a pre-Vader Anakin in Episode 3- with one or two modifications. The modifications being that Talia's jacket, tunic,or whatever you want to call it has a hood attached to it since she doesn't wear an outer robe with a hood (for the reason given above), and also has openings for her wings to fit through. In addition to this, the ends of the sleeves on her outfit tend to be gathered into wrist-bands, rather than left loose to flap about. Also, Talia tends to vary the colour she wears fairly regularly, and has some sleeveless versions of this outfit. One other thing she sometimes wears is a set of gloves not unlike the glove Anakin wore over his robotic limb for most of Episode 3. Since her tail is often wrapped over her belt, she keeps her lightsaber inside her tunic.

Lightsaber Layout: (uses more than one) Talia's main weapon is a double-bladed lightsaber, not unlike the weapon wielded by Darth Maul. However, hers is not a one-piece weapon; the hilt can be 'unlocked' into two standard lightsabers. The hilt for this weapon is mainly black, with some gold-coloured components, and both blades are bright orange. She also has one other, hidden lightsaber, housed as an integral part of her tail decoration. This lightsaber has a violet blade and is dual-phase, extending from 2 feet to 1 metre long.

Abilities: These remain largely unknown, due to the fact that Talia likes to keep to herself. One ability she does possess that is noteworthy however, is that she has honed- almost to perfection- an ability to mask her Force-presence. This means that, while using this ability, even a strong Jedi (or Sith) would only detect from her a flicker more Force-presence than found in anyone who is not Force-sensitive. It is probably due to her being able to use this ability with minimal effort that she has remained unknown to both Jedi & Sith- at least, so far. One other (natural) ability worthy of mention is this: Because Talia comes from an avian species, she has the accompanying large heart & light bones. This means that- when on the ground at least- Talia is quick on her feet & has commendable endurance. Thus she will occasionally- should she find a lightsaber pointed at her- attempt to simply duck and dodge to keep her Force-powers a secret. This is a risky strategy though, since it means she can't bring her own lightsabers into play, or use her powers, and one day it could be the end of her...

Personal Backstory: Talia comes from a world far from the busy centre of the galaxy, and largely ignored. It could perhaps best be described as physically resembling a curious cross between Coruscant and Endor (including oceans). Since it is so out of the way, Jedi presence is minimal there, and whilst Force-sensitive natives are not necessarily rare, neither are they common. Talia's people are long-lived, with the average life-span being between 1000-1200 years, and once they've entered young adulthood they age slowly. They are also a very naturally serene, calm people (unless you get between parents & children) and the majority are naturally ambidexterous. So, when one Jedi- who happened to be visiting this world- found a Force-sensitive infant, he didn't propose that the parents send her to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant and instead worked out a deal: He would allow her to remain with her parents, on her native world, if in return the parents would allow him to train her in the ways of the Force. The parents agreed, as long as the training was 'unofficial', so that she would remain simply a student of the Jedi rather than a 'padawan' bound to the Jedi Order. This agreed to, the Jedi trained her over the next several years, until she reached 20, by which time she had become a consumate Force-user, effectively a Jedi knight in everything but name and allegiance. However, Talia's people- as well as being serene- have an instinctive curiosity & a liking for hearing both sides of every argument. So it is possible that Talia- in the centuries since her instructor returned to Coruscant- has gained knowledge of the Dark Side of the Force to balance her Jedi instruction. Talia currently works as an independent researcher of sorts, employed regularly to go throughout the galaxy doing the footwork for well-paying clients. Though her work mainly involves searching through backlogs of documents centuries old, she is sometimes required to investigate ancient artifacts as well. In truth though, her employment is just a means to an end; Talia's true reasons for her frequent travel to different worlds is her ongoing quest for greater knowledge & understanding of the Force...

IC: A few streets away from the 'Swinging Beginning' nightclub a solitary figure walked down an unusually deserted street. A deep hood shadowed the face and a loose, flowing garment of some sort obscured many other details of the lone individual. As the figure passed through a pool of light, it became apparent that both hood and outer garment were of the same deep blue colour. What would also become apparent- to anyone who might've been listening- was the fact that the figure was female since, with the absence of other activity on the street, and her own footfalls being almost too soft to hear, her voice could be heard as she spoke with whoever was listening on the other end of her communicator. "...It definitely looks like a lead worth pursuing," she was saying, "but the question you ought to be asking yourself is; do you really want to pursue it? Remember what I told you about this thing, it leaves a distinct trail across the pages of history-a trail of blood and death. Even if you secure it, you may not be able to do as you wish with it within your lifetime, and maybe not within the lifetime of your children-assuming either of you ever have any. And you'll have to keep it locked away somewhere where no-one even might have an outside chance of identifying it for most of that time. And do you have any feedback for me on what I've given you already?" She was silent a moment, as the individual on the other end said something. Then, "transmit it to me once you're certain," she said, and ended the conversation.

The name of this lone individual was Talia, and the conversation had been a progress report on her latest assignment. Her clients were a brother and sister (both a few years younger than she looked) who were co-heirs to one of the wealthiest families on Coruscant, both apparently the toast of their respective schools, both destined for great things, by all accounts. And both serious history enthusiasts, with an obsession for ancient artifacts made by the Force-sensitive. When she had made her first visit to them, Talia had been impressed by the private collection they had already amassed, though not concerned, since the bulk of the collection consisted mainly of antique lightsabers. These (they assured her) they had found legitimately on ancient battlefields, and presently saw no more action than the occasional clean & polish. They had made plain that they would pay her well for any aid she could give them, and better if she could do it while keeping them anonymous. Duly intrigued, Talia had promised them she could keep her lips sealed and then asked them what it was they wanted finding. The answer had set alarm bells ringing in her head. The object they had named was one of both great antiquity & terrible power. With some trepidation, she had asked what they wanted it for. If the previous answer had alarmed her, this answer made her wonder if they were as bright as their teachers made them out to be. They wanted it, they said- and unfortunately Talia knew they were sincere about it- because such a valuable antique had no rightful owner. It belonged to the people of the Republic. And once they found it, they intended to donate it to a museum, so that the people could enjoy it. Talia had then informed them that the object had been lost, found, and lost again over the centuries, and that- should it ever turn up in a museum- it would probably vanish again very swiftly. The duo had then informed her that- even if they couldn't display it in a museum- it was the thrill of hunting for the object that drew them more than anything else. For that, Talia had put aside her reservations & told them she would help them.

Since then, she had been to several worlds scattered throughout the galaxy, retracing anything that might have been a resurfacing of the artifact. Thanks to much of the previous research she'd done for others, Talia knew what records to check. As she'd mentioned, anytime the real object resurfaced, blood and death seemed to blossom around it, and a little reading between the lines could turn up a surprising amount. So could the twins for, as Talia had found, getting information was no problem for them. But, being dedicated students & promising future world-shakers, they couldn't leave Coruscant to go chasing after leads. Which made it somewhat ironic that the latest lead had begun on Coruscant. No sooner had she arrived back, than Talia had heard a rumour- Coruscant was the place to hear rumours after all- that a barkeep in the slums might know something. Following this rumour, she had found the barkeeper in question dead- killed by a lightsaber during a battle in his own bar; a battle between a Jedi & an unknown individual who, due to his referring to the Jedi as 'Jedi scum', was probably a Dark-Sider. Not five minutes later, the present barkeep had told her, a Sith had walked in and asked for the now-deceased barkeeper. And seconds after that, a Jedi had walked in right on his tail. The new barkeeper had tricked the Jedi into going after the late Jedi's killer and allowed the Sith to escape. The barkeeper hadn't known- or wouldn't reveal- any names, but she had given a description of the unknown, the Sith, and the Jedi. These Talia had transmitted to her employers. Some hours later, there had been an explosion of violence in a different neighbourhood, when a transport had been shot down, apparently by a gang of some sort. Following this up, Talia learned that the gang had been in pursuit of an individual who closely matched the description of the Jedi-killer, and that both had then had an encounter with the Sith. From this, Talia had gleaned a crucial clue for learning the Sith's identity: His highly individual weapon. Eyewitnesses said he'd thrown it at one point- presumably guiding it with the Force- to make it hit one of the gang members & no-one else. And of those eyewitnesses, one had had the experience of the weapon hissing millimetres past his face. When that had happened, time had seemed to slow down for him & he'd been able to see every detail of the weapon as it sailed by. Those details Talia had transmitted to the twins.

Now her communicator buzzed again. It was the twins, relaying her the feedback on this newest lead. She clicked the communicator on & scrolled through it. There was no mistake: The Sith was Chonai Striken. That on its own was bad news, but it further meant that the Jedi looking for him was- in all probability- his rival Jacxx Malo. She called the twins. "Still certain you want to go after it?" she asked. Again she listened to the answer. "Exciting isn't exactly the word I'd use," she remarked, "what do I mean? Well think about what I said earlier, about the trail it always leaves. So far we've got only a rumour of this thing & look what's happened: We've got one dead Jedi, one unknown but deadly assailant, one known & deadly Sith (who must've wanted something pretty badly to brave Coruscant for it), one Jedi/bounty hunter who's hell-bent on catching the Sith (and probably whatever he's after), a witness who says he heard the Sith make an offer to the unknown assailant that sounded dangerously like an overture to co-operation and-", here she broke off as a noise attracted her attention. She stared up at the sky for a second and then continued rapidly, "-and there's a Sith attack about to take place very close to hand! That last one may be unconnected, but its my sign that its time to be elsewhere! I'll call you back later!" With that, Talia cut the call and made her way at a rapid pace towards the night club...

OOC: Well, what a long post that was! Sorry if it's a little information-heavy, but I had a lot to cram in!

OOC: Nicely done Gemajinn! And now some IC regarding the sith attack!

IC:
"Quickly everyone get inside!" Jacxx roared at the top of his lungs, "It's the sith!"
He pulled out a small communicator as frantic citizens flooded into the night club behind the Jedi.
"This is Malo!" He rasped trying to yell over the torrent of screams and yells, "I'm just outside the western slums! Sith battletransports, maybe four I can't really see, but they are landing in the western slums!"
There was a sense of panic in the Jedi's voice as he tried to relay his message.
"This is general Tahm of the Republic Armed Forces," came a voice from the other end of the communicator, "Slow down we couldn't make out what you said!"
"SITH BATTLETRANSPORTS!" Malo boomed loud and slow, "It's a sith invasion! They are attacking from the slums!"
"Are you sure...Malo was it...we've got nothing on our scanners!"
"I'm standing here looking at one descend! They must be using some kind of radar jamming technology to veil their landing!"
"We'll have to..."
Jacxx had already gotten annoyed with the general and tossed his communicator on the ground. He gave it a quick stomp, not really caring that it was his only communication with anyone in a seat of power!
"I'll have to handle this myself!" He pulled out his deep blue lightsaber and ignited it, "I may not be fond of the filth that populate the pit of this city, but I won't stand by and let them be slaughtered by the sith!"
With that he darted towards the vessel before him.

* * * * *

"We will begin our descent shortly sir!" a soldier dressed in an officers uniform reported.
He stood before a meanceing figure who at one time called himself human. Various control pannels and sitchboards flittered the chamber, each being manned by someone dressed in similar garb as the soldier. The figure stood looking out the large, rectangular window before him.
"How fares the invasion?" came a soft raspy voice from the meanceing person.
"Perfectly lord Sparrow. By the time the Republic realises we are planet side it will have already been to late." a humble smile crossed the face of the officer.
"Wipe the smirk off of your face!" the figure turned to face his subordinate revealing a half metallic face and years worth of battle scars on the side that was still flesh. His body however was draped in a black smock to hid his arms and any weapon he amy have on him. "We will not celebrate until we have what we came for!"
"Ruh-right Darth Sparrow suh-sir!" Sweat began to bead on the officer's face.
"Those republic Jedi stole something precious from us and WE WILL get it back!"
"Uh, you mean the droid? It's just a protocol droid sir! I thought we after the capture that Jedi!"
The backside of the sith lord's hand flew from underneath the smock and across the face of the officer. He fell to his knees and began to rub his cheek to ease the imense pain surgeing through it!"
"They send me officers who haven't even been breifed?" the organic eye on the sith's face narrowed as turned to gaze back out the window, "The Jedi's capture is just a diversion! We need that droid! It was stolen from us recently during a battle over the wookie homeworld, Kashyyyk! The droid had vital information inside its memory banks even it didn't know about!"
"Li-like what?" the officer spat out (along with a tooth).
"Like the names of each every single one of our Grand Sith Lords!"
"What!?!" the officer said surprised, "why would it have information like that?"
Darth Sparrow turned to face the officer once again, "That is need to know information!"
A loud voice rang from the ships intercom, "We will now begin landing preperations."
"The ship is now under your control! I must assist our ground troops! If anything happens..." with that Darth Sparrow turned and headed off towards the ships exit!
TBC

OOC: I kinda was in a little hurry while typing so I hope everything sounded okay! For the record the ship that Darth Sparrow is currently on is the one in front of Jacxx Malo, and the latter part of my IC took place before the ships began their descent! Oh and Dath Sparrow is NPC!

OOC: This post should hopefully be a bit less information-heavy than the last...

IC: Talia strode towards the nightclub, walking fast without actually running. She was- thanks to her natural disposition- calmer than she had allowed herself to sound on the communicator. The Sith & their troops she could handle- she'd done so before- but not this many, not all at once, and not on her own. Hopefully, she could get inside the nightclub before the Sith started disembarking, or before anyone did anything either reckless or stupid. She emerged before the club from the street she'd been moving down, just in time to see a Sith battle transport landing & a figure with a deep blue lightsaber running towards it with apparent abandon. So much for hope number two, she thought wryly. Since she was using her Force-mask ability (a standard practice of hers whenever she visited Coruscant) she was unlikely to attract much attention- unless she stayed outside for much longer. Darting forward, Talia passed within less than a metre of the Jedi as she ducked into the club. It was only once she was inside that two things registered in her mind. The first was that the Jedi she had just passed matched the description of Jacxx Malo, the individual hunting Chonai Striken. The second was that she had seen a communicator that very probably belonged to him lying crumpled on the ground near the doorway. 'Terrific,' she thought, 'that probably means there's no reinforcements on the way'. Whatever the Jedi code might have said, Talia didn't savour the prospect of getting into a battle she knew she could not win. Fortunately, there was something she could do about that, something that might turn a one-sided slaughter into a race against time. As much as she was reluctant to do so, Talia found a relatively quiet space within the club (where people at least weren't screaming) and, pulling out her communicator, contacted the Jedi Temple.

Once the connection was established, she asked to speak to the Jedi Council. The voice on the other end asked who was calling. "Talia Wei'Liret," Talia informed the voice, "former student of Master Han-Seung. And I have an urgent message for the Council". She waited a moment as the person on the other end searched for her name. Her name would check out, it was in the system. After all, even though she'd never set foot in the Temple, or been a padawan, Master Han-Seung would still have left a record to the effect that he'd once had a student named Talia Wei'Liret. And when whoever it was on the other end asked the system to confirm her name, it would simply inform them that Han-Seung had indeed once had a student of that name. What it wouldn't say- unless specifically asked- was that Master Han-Seung had been dead for nearly a hundred and fifty years, and Talia Wei'Liret hadn't been his student for about a hundred and ninety. The voice came back on her communicator. She was cleared to speak to the Council. She kept her message short and sweet. "Members of the Council," she said, "I must tell you that the Sith are attacking Coruscant as we speak! They have landed a substantial force on the perimeter of the western slums, and are preparing to launch a major offensive any moment now". A voice asked her something. "With my own eyes," she answered, "and one of those transports has landed not fifty feet from the building in which I stand! I urgently request assistance". Again a question. "Myself and one other," Talia informed the Council, "Jacxx Malo is outside defending the building. And should you ask why I'm not out there with him, it is because- if I had not sought the shelter of this building to contact you- no message would have got through, and the first you'd hear of it would be when you found our two corpses and a host of slaughtered civillians in the wreckage of what used to be a nightclub tomorrow morning". A brief silence as Talia listened again. Then, "the club is called 'Swinging Beginning," she said, "and I can sense the presence of the Dark Side, so I suspect its more than merely soldiers of the Sith this time! Jacxx & I will do all we can to hold them until you arrive. May the Force be with you," she finished, and terminated the connection.

Having made the call, Talia ducked out of the club to check on Malo's status. He was still heading towards the transport, but now he was knee-deep in Sith troops, and two of his lightsabers were flashing viciously to and fro, hissing & humming as they scythed through his opponents. Searching for the object her employers had hired her to trace had lead to her uncovering the presence of Chonai Striken, and now it had lead her to finding Malo (Striken's arch-rival) too. Could it be more than coincidence? Before she could dwell on that for long, a stray shot flew past above her head! It missed her, but burned into the neon sign, causing it to pulse in a way that was painful to the eye, and added a lurid, surreal quality to the scene. Seconds later, a Sith soldier lost his arm when he pushed his luck a little too far. The arm went flying out of the melee that surrounded Jacxx and landed- blaster still in hand- two feet from where Talia stood. Darting over, Talia scooped up the weapon. She considered for a moment. There was no need to place all her cards on the table yet, was there? Raising the weapon, she squeezed off several shots, downing the soldiers & opening up a little more space around Jacxx. Running over to join him- and shooting at soldiers who had turned their attention to the new threat- Talia remarked as she reached him, "need a hand?"           

Jacxx Malo sent three sith soldiers flying into a nearby trash heap with a force push. He then turned to the newcomer, "You shouldn't be out here!"
Four more troopers came sprinting at he two. Their blasters were firing haphazardly effectively missing the two. As they got closer, however, one of the troops pulled out a bright red lightsaber and took a swing at Jacxx. Malo fell to the ground, and sliced the attacker's leg clean in two. The soldier howled in pain as he tumbeled to the ground. Jacxx quickly sprung to his feet, ready to confront the other three, but discovered they had already been taken out by well placed blaster shots. He then turned to Talia who had a smoking blaster in her hands.
"Funny I could've told you the same thing!" She quickly side stepped a blaster shot and opened fire upon her most recent attacker. "Oh by the way I contacted the Jedi Council. Reinforcements should be on their way!"
"Well that's great." Malo said somewhat dismayed, "I tried to contact the military, but they accused me of lying!"
"So you decided to get angry and smash your communicator instead of trying to contact someone else, like the council?"
Malo noticed more sith soldiers marching toward the duo. "We'll have to discuss this later!" Malo said as he raised his lightsaber. The soldiers, however, did not attack.
Instead they stopped and took a step off to the side, clearing a path through the middle of them. There was still alot o fsmoke from the skirmish and it made it hard to see, but it was obvious someone was approaching. Someone with great power. As the figure came into the clear Jacxx knew exactly who it was.
"Darth Sparrow!" Malo exclaimed.
"Jacxx Malo." The moonlight gleamed brightly off Sparrow's half metallic face, "It has been quite awhile!"
"I thought Striken killed you!"
"That coward souldn't bring himself to finish me off!" Darth Sparrow then began to rub the smooth metal on his face, "Though he did leave me a gift as you might have noticed!"
Malo ignited another of his four lightsabers and pointed its vibrant green blade at the sith lord, "Rather bold attacking the Republic capital!"
"We only came for someone, and as soon as that someone is in our custody we will leave!"
"So the rumours are true," malo took a step forward, "You're after Melanie Blackweller!"
A crimson lightsaber blade came out from underneath the sith's smock, "So you know who we are after?
"I do, but I got to ask you, why go after a mere padawan?" Malo began to tense.
"That is none of your concern! Now you and your freind step aside before I make you!"
In that instant Jacxx threw his two lightsabers at Darth Sparrow. With one swipe the saber handles lay on the ground in four pieces. Malo pulled out his other two, one violet and another blue, and charged at Sparrow before Talia could open her mouth. The viscious purple blade raced toward Sparrow's neck only to be richotched away by the sith's own lightsaber.
"You never think before making rash decisions! You never have!" Darth Sparrow mocked as the two warriors locked blades.
Malo remained silent as he leapt back and went for a gut shot. Sparrow laughed, quickly dodged to the side, and brought his saber down on Malo's back. The bounty hunter howled as the slash extened down into hi left leg. Jacxx suddenly became lightheaded as he began to loose balance. He fell to the ground and gazed up at the meanceing sith lord before he ultimately lost conciousness.
Sparrow disengaed his blade and turned to his troops, "A republic stronghold is just on the outskirts of these slums! That is our destination!" he then turned to Talia, "I suggest you lower your weapon or else you'll end up like your friend over there!"

Talia's gaze flickered momentarily towards Malo's unconcious form. This being Coruscant, the reinforcements from the Jedi Temple shouldn't take too long to arrive, but she'd have preferred that Malo remain on his feet for at least a little bit longer. In the split second or so it took her to flick her eyes from Darth Sparrow to Malo and back several thoughts ran through her head. She could follow the Sith Lord's advice, but she'd said she would delay the Sith as long as possible- and she always endeavoured to be true to her word. And even if she did step aside, there was no gurantee the Sith wouldn't kill her anyway. Alternatively, she could try to face Darth Sparrow with the blaster whilst trying to dodge his lightsaber- but he'd probably get rid of the blaster by using the Force. And after that, if she simply attempted to dodge him, he'd either attempt to kill or knock her aside with the Force or, more likely, simply order his troops to shoot her while he continued to his destination. Time, Talia decided, to up the stakes. She fixed her gaze on the Sith lord.

"That's a tempting offer you make," she remarked in an even voice, "but Malo is no friend of mine". Darth Sparrow's expression didn't change, but a hint of a smirk crept into his voice. "He isn't?" the Sith lord queried. "If he were," Talia informed him, "he'd have known the old 'fools rush in' proverb. But I'm digressing. As I said, your offer sounds tempting, Malo is not my friend, your business with the padawan is no concern of mine, and as for the weapon," here she twitched the blaster slightly, "if you want it you can have it. I only picked it up after Malo convinced one of your men to 'lay down his arms'. Or one of them. Right arm I think. It'll still be back there if you want to check," Talia finished, again twitching the blaster slightly to indicate the space behind her. "You are wiser than Malo then," Darth Sparrow intoned. Before he could say any more however, Talia flicked the gun back to its former position. "However," she continued, "there's still a small point of contention between us". From the tone in Darth Sparrow's voice, she could tell what patience he had was wearing thin. "And what is that?" the Sith lord grated. "Collateral damage," Talia informed him. "Collateral damage?" the Sith lord repeated, seeming momentarily nonplussed. "Collateral damage," Talia confirmed, "basically,you've landed just outside the slums with maybe a few thousand Sith soldiers & possibly one or two other Sith besides in the other transports. In the process of capturing the padawan, you will probably encounter resistance from the local authorities. Or your soldiers will have fun slaughtering any civilians who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even assuming you could march up the street without firing a single shot, or meeting a shred of resistance, when you get to the Republic stronghold you mentioned the fighting will start in earnest. It will probably spill over into the surrounding area, causing considerable damage to property & people's lives. All of which may just be collateral damage to you," Talia continued, "but collateral damage from your business might prove bad for mine. And since I detest making losses, I guess that means we're not done here".

For a moment after Talia finished speaking there was a total silence. Then, "this has been amusing," Darth Sparrow intoned, "but the joke's wearing thin". Suddenly the blaster flew out of Talia's hand, as the Sith lord used his Force power to grasp & throw it. "Now that you no longer have the weapon," the Sith said, "contrary to what you believe- we are done here". He turned to address his troops again."We've wasted enough time on this girl," he instructed them, "shoot her and proceed to the Repu--". That was as far as he got, for in the instant he began the word 'republic' several things happened at once. The first thing that happened was that Talia released her Force-mask, causing Darth Sparrow to feel a sudden spike in Force presence. The second thing that happened was that she used a strong Force-push to slam the Sith soldiers into the walls, half-stunning most of them. The third thing that happened was that, as Darth Sparrow spun back around, Talia slammed another burst of her Force-power into him, knocking him back several feet. The fourth thing that happened was that she used the Force to gently levitate Malo's still-unconcious form to one side, leaving a considerable clear space around her. As the Sith lord rose to his feet again, Talia's hand went inside her jacket. She was well aware that Darth Sparrow wouldn't be stunned, or even harmed after that, but most probably irritated or enraged. But she'd needed to put the distance between them for one reason. Her hand withdrew from her jacket holding her lightsaber. She flicked the switch and the bright orange blades hummed into life. Walking forward a few paces to meet the advancing Sith, Talia intoned, "as I said- we aren't done here".

OOC: So at last I have returned! After reading through the story once more I realize that I may have almost drove the story flat! More so in my latter posts due to the fact that at the time I wasn't feeling so well! During the the time I was away i have been refineing my writing "talent"! i hope that it shows as I try to make this rather crazy story more coherent! I hope to get more players as I don't see Darklord Peaches returning, but if not that's okay! So anyways bear with me as I try to restart this tale yet again!

IC:
REPUBLIC TATCICAL DEFENCE

Commander Grees sat back in his chair and smiled. The holo screens layed out before him displayed images of the sith transports as they made their descent into the city. He gently stroked his light brown mustache as he began to speak.

"Tahm, are you sure you're doing the right thing?" he spoke in soft deep voice with the slightest hint of a chuckle, "I mean the Jedi are hopelessly outmatched for you to just ignore them like that...well it's kinda inhumane don't you think"

Grees turned to a suprisingly short man gazing out the massive window, taking in the sights of the sprawling city below. He turned, slightly, just enough to let Grees see the scar stretching down his right cheek.

"I say the Jedi brought this on theirselves," He turned back around and took in a deep breath, "Ever since we adopted the Jedi to help keep the Republic stable it's been nothing but one meaningless war after another. I mean what are we even fighting for?"

"General Tahm," a desk mounted communictor interupted, "Sith soldiers are gathering in the courtyard, what are your orders of attack?"

"There ARE no orders!" Tham said calmly.
"Sir? Are you sure?"
"The sith have no quarrels with us! Let them be."
"As you wish!" the communication ended.

Grees just laughed as he lit up a smoke. "You truely are the Repubic's heartless hero!"
"When all this comes to an end there will be no more Jedi. There will be no more Sith. There will only be the Republic, and with just the Republic there will finally be peace in this wretched galaxy!" Tahm turned and made for the exit stopping breifly as the door slid open, "If Jacxx Malo is down there then Chonai Striken mustn't be too far off!"

Grees chuckled as he switched off the holo screens cloaking the chamber in darkness with the outside light through the window being the only source of illumination.

WESTERN SLUMS

"What exactly was that supposed to accomplish?" Darth Spparow said as he readied his lightsaber, "You are outnumbered, and even if you could somehow stop my advance other transports have already landed. Other Sith soldiers are are already en route to Republic stronghold. There will be no Republic to help you and all the Jedi will fall!"

Sparrow dis-ignited his saber and took several steps toward Talia.

"Stand back!" She warned, "You'd be crazy to think I'll just let you walk past me! Your emprty threats do nothing to phase me!"

"If that's the way you want it then I'll be happy to take you on!" the sith extended his arms out to the sides, "Go ahead, Jedi, make the first move! Strike me down! End my life! I'm pretty certain that's the Jedi way!"
He began to laugh as Talia made no attempts to rush at him!
"HA! I thought so! You really should be tending to your friend over th-" Sparrow gasped as he noticed the missing Jacxx Malo.

"You talk pretty for someone who's still green!" the crowd all glanced over towards the rooftop of the nightclub. With Malo at his feet stood none other than Chonai Striken, "After listening to you one would think that you were, ARE, a bad ass sith hero! In reality you are nothing more than a pawn to a group of people you've never even met!"

"Striken! Well where there's one there's always the other! What you didn't your little monkey friend? I'm dissappointed! Anyway you should show some respect! I now out rank you, you know! You never even earned the title of Darth!" Sparrow's attention was focused soley on Chonai, as Talia kept her guard up against Sparrow, "This is none of your buisness, and if you were to leave now I just might forget I even saw you!"

Striken drew his blaster pistol, "So Sparrow thinks he's a big man now? leading an attack on the Republic's homeground to capture some rookie Jedi and an old junker protcol droid? I seriously doubt the higher ups would approve!"

A sesne of shock crept into Darth Sparrow's expression, "How did you-"
"Know about the droid? A droid which supposedly contains information on the grand sith lords? The same grand sith lords whom doesn't even know the identities of one another? You don't seriously believe that garbage do you?"

Sparrow just stood speechless lowering his guard for a brief second. "You don't realize it now, but this silly invasion of yours was the worst possible thing you could have done! You just basically played into someone's hand, and it may very well be the undoing of the once formidable sith!"

At that Striken pulled the trigger of his blaster and watched as the bolt slam into the sith's chest! Talia immediately braced herself as sith soldiers came charging, blasters firing blindly, as they try to rush to the aid of their commander. Striken calmly dropped off the rooftop into the now crowded street striking down any and all soldier foolish enough to approach him! He made his way to Darth Sparrow and kneeled down beside him. Sparrow was trying hopelessly to draw a breath as he slowly began to slip away.

"I guess even the MIGHTY Darth Sparrow isn't immune to an old fashioned blaster! This makes it two to zero. I guess I win!"
"Juh...Just whu..whut..are...you...afte...afte...aftuhhhh?" Sparrow managed to spit out.
"That is need to know information, my friend!" Striken stood and ignited his violet lightsaber as Sparrow closed his eyes for the last time.

Talia held her ground, gracefully dispatching the Sith soldiers as they charged towards her with her deadly orange blades. Things weren't going quite as she had hoped. Until Striken had assasinated him, the focus of the Sith soldiers had been on Darth Sparrow; all of them waiting to see what their leader would do. Had Darth Sparrow actually engaged her in combat, then his underlings probably would have simply watched to witness the outcome- with maybe one or two being either foolish enough or ambitious enough to harbour notions of shooting the winner. Even though he hadn't fought her, he'd at least delayed long enough to make a disparaging speech about the Jedi he thought she was. She'd had reasons of her own for not accepting his invitation to strike him down though. For one, even if he'd actually been depending on her not being cold-blooded enough to kill an unresisting foe she'd seen what had happened to Jacxx Malo when he'd attempted to rush the Sith. Darth Sparrow could have very well been prepared just in case she did attempt to kill him. For another, if she'd actually struck him down, the soldiers would have ceased to be merely observers, and would have charged her in a killing rage- not too unlike the present situation in fact. As things stood though, even that wasn't entirely to her disadvantage. Since she hadn't struck the killing blow, the main focus of the soldiers was now Striken; their leader's executioner- with the result that he was now slaying soldiers left and right simply to get clear of the place. And with their focus now on him and his words about the futility of their misson still ringing in their ears, they were staying in one place rather than trying to head to their original destination. They were delaying, and every second that passed brought the Jedi reinforcements closer.

With that thought, the drone of fighter-craft reached Talia's ears. Glancing up, she saw the first of the Jedi Knights beginning their approach. 'About time', she thought to herself. She stepped up her pace, redoubling her efforts against the Sith soldiers, who were as yet unaware of the approaching Jedi. During a momentary respite, Talia suddenly found herself face to face with Striken! She thought quickly. Striken had come here simply to stop Darth Sparrow and to find information about whatever he was after- possibly the same thing Talia herself was searching for. There was no point in fighting with him. Gesturing slightly to indicate the incoming craft, Talia said to Striken, "in a matter of moments these slums will be crawling with Jedi Knights. If you don't want to be found amongst these guys when that happens, I suggest you get going now".

Chonai looked at Talia and grinned ever so slightly, "Why would I leave? Not while I have the advantage!"

"Are you crazy not even you can take on a garrison of Jedi knights!" Talia shouted over the noise of gunfire, reflecting each and every bolt that neared her.

A sith soldier came within arms length a Chonai and quickly found himself in two pieces. "You really shouldn't worry about me, afterall you are a Jedi. What do you think the council would think if they knew you let Chonai Striken escape? Besides what are they going to do to me? It's against their code the murder me in cold blood!"

The Jedi drop ship was directly overhead now, and if one was to look up one would see the left entrance sliding open, ready for the Jedi knights to drop in on the fight! "I gave you your chance. I doubt they will be as generous as I was!" At that Talia darted toward a small crowd of Sith soldiers leaveing Chonai to face the Jedi as the first one touched ground. With a violent hiss a green bladed lightsaber came to life. It's owner? A young Rodain, most likely a padawan. He wore a traditional Jedi knight battle outfit with another lightsaber hanging off a crude attachement located on the left pectoral.

"My what an odd palce to hang one's weapon?" Striken chuckled.

A few more knights began to land on the ground each igniting their own lightsabers, as the Rodian quickly pointed his saber in Chonai direction.
"Disengage your blade or I will be forced to strike you down!" he said sternly.
Striken complied as his purple beam slid back into the hilt, "By all means! I definately wouldn't want my reputation to be tarnsihed because I was slain by third rate Jedi knight!"

More knights landed as they charged toward the sith soldiers who was now in an all out retreat! "Toss your weapons to the side, all of them!"
"Even my harmless blaster pistol?" Chonai joked.
"I said all of them, and no tricks!"
"Of course!" Choani tossed all three of his sabers and single blaster out towards the right.

All of the Jedi knights had know been dispatched throughout the slums, taking out any and opposition they came across. Talia glanced over at Striken a bit puzzeled as to what exactly was going on. Her attention then focused on two knights as they cautiously approached her.

Still swatting at Sith soldiers here and there, Talia gave the two knights a grin and commented, "nice of you boys to show up". The stance of each knight seemed to relax ever so slightly, but other than that they didn't give away any hinto or signal that would confirm their acceptance of Talia as a friend rather than a foe. "So you're not with the Sith then?" one of them asked. "I would hope not," Talia replied, "since I'm the one who alerted the Council to the Sith presence here in the first place! That and the fact that I'm presently not doing my own side any favours if I am a Sith ought to tell you something about where I stand". The knights seemed to be giving this some serious contemplation. "Pardon us if we seem suspicious," the second of the two said, "but we've also just seen Chonai Striken himself slaying Sith soldiers and he definitely is a Sith. Who's to say you aren't the same?" Talia nodded slightly at this. "He slew the leader of these soldiers, Darth Sparrow," she explained, with a gesture to the Sith lord's body as she did so, "apparently he'd just played right into someone's hand and Stricken wanted to put a stop to that- that and they were old rivals it seems. And speaking of old rivals," Talia remarked, "you might want to attend to Jacxx there, Darth Sparrow sliced him up quite badly". The knights seemed to notice Malo for the first time. Forgetting Talia- for the moment- they began making their way over to Malo, leaving Talia to brood on the revelations brought about by recent events.

Chonai Striken was surrendering himself to the Jedi Knights. Why was he doing so? What possible advantage could that bring him? Was there some information currently in Jedi hands he believed would help him find what he wanted? Was it a ploy to avoid being taken by other Sith once they learned of his actions here? Or was it a plan to avoid whomever Chonai believed might have played Darth Sparrow? There was another thing that bothered Talia: Assuming Striken was right, who had played Darth Sparrow? Who was influential enough to do so, and to what end had it been done? Who's agenda was being carried out? And- perhaps the most important question- was it all coincidence that these things were happening now, when rumours of a legendary Force-wrought artefact were surfacing again? Talia glanced sidelong at Striken again for a moment. She would have to contact the twins again soon, but for the moment, it seemed like tracking Striken's movements might be the most promising lead...

The Rodian pulled out a pair of restraints and clasped them around the sith's wrists.

"These are force resistent restraints!" the Rodian smirked, "Any attempt at using you sith powers will be nullified! You are now in custody of the Jedi order and will appear before the council to decide your punishment!"
"Force resistent, eh?" Striken smirked, "I bet those come in quite handy, don't they?"
The Rodian just ignored Chonai's remarks and began to march him toward the Jedi drop ship as it calmly made it's landing in a clearing littered with various articles of refuse.

Several Jedi knights began to surround the seemingly lifeless Jacxx Malo. They pulled out several straps and tied them around Malo's feet and torso, keeping his limbs in place. One of the knights motioned to several personel while they stepped off the landing craft. Two instantly darted toward Malo's location as the other turned and grabbed a satchel from the craft, then followed his comrades. The first two Jedi positoned themselves at the head adn feet of Malo repspectively, and the third pulled out a collapsable gurney. Within seconds the two Jedi hoisted Jacxx onto the gurney and were well on their way to the Jedi drop ship.

The excitment seemed to come to a crawl as all the opposing sith forces were wither dead or in custody (more so of the former)! The Jedi knights were clearing the area and checking to see if there were any civillian casualties.
"It seems the sith were only able to dissrupt the peace," the Jedi commander said as he scanned the area, "nary a citizen in sight!"
"Most can be found inside the nearby nightclub!" Talia stated as the commander made his way towards her, "Malo made sure of that."
"Is that so?" the commander looked slightly puzzeled at this remark. He shrugged it away then tunred to a padawan who was standing directly behind him. "Take three others and see to the civillians! Ensure them that the threat has been taken care of!"
The padawan nodded, "Yes master!" then darted off toward his allies.
A communicator on the commander's wrist began to shrill loudly as he tunred around to answer the call. Talia stood silent as she wacthed the knights go about their buisness, still casting a glance everynow and then toward the Jedi transport which now housed Chonai Striken.  The commander turned back around with a worried expression on his face.

"That was Republic Tactical Defense! It seems that sith soldiers have overrun their base!" he looks down at Talia, "We are going to have to lend our support! We'll have the best advantage if we remain here on the ground! I'm sending several of my younger knights back to the temple along with the prisoners. You are welcome to join us or accompany my knights if you would like!"
"How do you know I'm trustworthy?" Talia stated almost suprised at the lax security in the Jedi Knight commander.
"Well you obviously aren't one of them, and you can never have too much help!" he smiled and began to appraoch his knights.

Chonai sat back in his seat. It was rather quite comfortable for a drop ship. 'I guess the Jedi perfer to fly in luxury!' he thought to himself with a smile. He noticed that Jacxx Malo was laying off to his right. Striken let out a chuckle, then closed his eyes as several Jedi began to board the vessel.

It didn't take Talia too long to make her decision. She had no desire to walk into another war zone, which was doubtless what the Republic Tactical Defence Base would be if the Sith had overrun it. Though it was possible that someone amongst the Sith might have caught wind of the artefact Talia was after, and be using the invasion to cover a search for the source of the rumour, it would be impossible to spot anything significant amidst the chaos of conflict until it was too late. Chonai Striken on the other hand, was only one individual- a dangerous individual, but only one person nevertheless- and he was stowed aboard the drop-ship that was headed back to the Jedi Temple. He'd be easier to observe there- at least for the duration of the flight- and more importantly, she might get sufficient time to herself to contact the twins again. There was one other factor that motivated her decision though.

About sixty years before, Talia had made a brief stop by the Jedi Temple to use the library to research some aspects of a case she was then working on. She had gone virtually unnoticed in the Temple, because she looked very much like a Jedi and no-one sensed the Dark Side emanating from her. Whilst conducting her research she had directed a young padawan to the relevant section of the library to collect some records for her master. The grateful youth had asked her name, and Talia had given it. Twenty years later, when Talia had made another stop at the Temple for similar reasons, the girl from those years before had become the head librarian and record keeper. And, she told Talia, had looked through the records and discovered exactly who Talia was. Rather than alerting the Council to the presence of a non-Jedi within the Temple though, the womanhad decided to keep it a secret. When Talia had asked why, she had been informed that the woman was still grateful for her help all those years ago, and had enjoyed the challenge of discovering Talia's identity. Since then, she and Talia had become good friends, and though the woman was now into her early eighties, she was still one of Talia's best and most-trusted contacts pertaining to all things Force-related. If she went to the Temple, Talia decided, she could probably shed some more light on the artefact. And possibly figure out what Striken was up to at the same time.

Boarding the drop-ship with the other young knights, Talia took a seat. Hopefully the ship wouldn't be shot down during the short journey back to the Temple. Hopefully she could contact the twins again. Hopefully she'd gain some insight into Striken's seemingly bizzarre strategy. A lot of hopes, but not much good unless accompanied by results. Pondering over the seemingly-lax security amongst the Jedi, and hoping it wasn't merely a facade to trap both her and Stricken, Talia waited for the ship to take off.

The Jedi knight commander gave a slight nod to the craft's pilot, and the drop ship slowly started to ascend. Chonai peered out the window to his right and wathced as the remainder of the knights began their march to Republic Tactical. Striken turned his attention back to the rodian who had apprehended the sith.

"So tell me?" Striken raised his hands to scratch his nose, "Who's the head honcho at this here temple? I'm pretty sure management has changed since I was last here seeing as how I killed your previous master!"
"Seriously INJURE our former master you mean!" the rodain said with a bit of hostility.
Striken eyes widened, "No kidding? Well then how is the old bastard? I'm pretty certain he wasn't able to grow new arms!" Striken leaned real close to the rodian and said in a real soft voice, "Does he have robotic replacements? I bet they look real spiffy!"
The rodian ignored Striken's statement and just glared ahead.
"No sense of humor? The order has really went downhill since I was a member! At least back then all emotion wasn't forbidden!"
"Pilot!" the rodain barked getting impatient, "Are we almost there?"
"Just a little further!" the pilot shot back, "We are prepping landing procedures as we speak!"
Striken then noticed Talia. A small grin spread across his face, as he pondered on calling out to her. However, he figured it would be for the better if he remained silent for the rest of the trip. Gods know that the rookie Rodian would be thankful!

OOC: Sorry if it's a little short couldn't think of anything else at the moment.

Talia noticed Striken smiling at her as the ship prepared to land. She decided not to smile back, just in case the act of doing so drew the attention of one of the young Jedi Knights who wasn't such a novice as the Rodian appeared to be. It wasn't just the Jedi, or their apparent lack of security that concerned her though. Whatever else Chonai Striken may be, he'd never been described as stupid by either friend or foe. Unless he believed that she was a rather naive Jedi girl, who was of the opinion that Striken had done her a favour by killing Darth Sparrow, and was simply trying to return the favour, Striken was bound to wonder why she had given him the opportunity to run before the other Jedi arrived. Did he believe she was another Jedi like Malo, who didn't always follow the rules? Did he think that maybe she secretly fostered some sympathy towards the Sith that he could play upon? Or was his line of thought altogether different? Whatever his reasoning, Talia doubted he'd think her an inexperienced Jedi-girl: He'd seen her fight & he'd know her combat skills denoted experience. There was something else that bothered Talia as well: Chonai had a partner.

For all that Darth Sparrow had been contemptuous of him, Striken's partner was a Wookie, a race not to be underestimated. Was Striken planning to use his partner in some manner that would serve his purpose, even as he was taken to the Jedi Temple? If not, what would his partner be up to? And perhaps most importantly, why did Striken consider becoming a willing captive to the Jedi and advantage? Talia focused on the environment around her again as the ship began its descent towards the Jedi Temple. Time, she decided to start looking for some answers. A thought occurred to her: If the Sith had actually attacked Coruscant, would they dare an attack upon the Jedi Temple? Talia hoped not, that wouldn't be very convenient if it happened when she was there. Then again, if it did happen, it might be the perfect cover for Chonai to escape under- and Talia had no doubt he would escape one way or another. Hoping no-one would pay too much attention to her when the Jedi Knights disembarked, Talia started to stand as the ship came to a smooth halt...

Chonai Striken's ship, God of Hate, hovered ever so peacefully in the airspace above Republic Tactical Defense. Seated in the pilotseat was the one and only Wala-ca-nala, or Waller for short, he sat and watched as Sith soldeirs stood in the courtyard. They were all grouped in a strange formation, almost as if they were waiting for someone. Waller increasd altitude so he wouldn't be spotted by ground forces and turned on the radar cloaking to prevent being spotted by Tactical's radar systems. A sense of confusion swept over the wookie sith. Hadn't only moments before Tactical Defense radioed for reinforcements? Yet, the scene seemed anything, but chaotic. Waller's thoughts then drifted to the young man he had previously met, Peaches. It had only been moments before Striken left to confront Darth Sparrow that Peaches decided to return to his ship! He had agreed to meet up later as he had an agenda of his own to attend to first. How was Peaches able to avoid the sith troopers considering he headed out into the direction of the first two drop ships? Waller was curious if they will ever meet up again. He was certain that they would cross paths once, but he was unsure if they would be allies as they were now seeing as how their alliance was only tempoary. Waller knew that the two situations, Republic Tactical and Peaches, had little in common, but this whole day has been insanely weird. At this point anything could happen. Waller gazed down as he noticed several Republic personel exit the base. He guessed from their attire they were higher ranked officers. He watched as the first man appoached one of the sith officers and shook hands. The Repblic officer seemed to know this particualr gentleman. The two walked down the steps in front of the courtyard as the sith soldiers began to march past the other Republic officers and into the defense building. Seconds later blaster fire erupted from with in, and waller could hear the sounds of detenators going off within. The wookie let out an angry growl, as he began to accelerate the ship forward. It looks like the current plan had to be postponed.

As the ship touched down, a small group of Jedi, dressed in traditonal garb, casually emerged from teh temple entrance. The pilot switched off the engines then opened the side dorrs. "Wait here for a second." the pilot said as he stood and made his way out the exit. Striken watched out his window with disintrest as the pilot began to converse with the welcoming party. The pilot made a couple of quick glances toward Striken's window as he continued. Suddenly the ships communictaor came alive with frantic screaming and blaster fire, "...under fire! I repeat we are under fire...Sith has overrun the base...we were defenseless...commanders have fled...I repeat we are all alone and under heavy attack! Anyone, someone help!" The radio died. Striken gave a slight smile as he turned to one of the young Jedi knights seated beside him, "Looks like your buddies aren't going to make it in time!" Of course the small crowd just ignored him. Striken turned back to his window as he watched the pilot turn and make his way back to the ship. "Okay everyone, our orders are the get Malo to the medical ward immediately. So let's have three grab him, while the others help get the prisoners into the detention block!"

Talia immediately stepped forward to help with Malo. It mades sense after all; she'd been the only one who stood with him to repel the Sith and contact the Jedi, so she should be amongst those who insured he was taken to the safety of the medical ward. Besides, if she stuck with the group that escorted Striken, she would only confirm to him by that action her interest in his actions: there was no need to appear so enthusiastic about a Sith when he believed you a Jedi. Moreover, if she was amongst those who escorted him to his cell, he might change his escape plans on account of her and she needed him to escape for reasons of her own. More importantly than this though, whoever was amongst the Jedi that escorted the Sith to his cell stood a fair chance of being assigned to guard-duty, and Talia wanted to get to the Temple library more than she wanted to know where Striken would be held. After all, it didn't matter where Striken escaped from when he escaped, but where he escaped to. And maybe in the seclusion of the library Talia could finally contact the twins again and update them on her current situation.

As she helped two other Jedi Knights lift Malo and begin carrying his inert body out of the ship, Talia allowed her mind to dwell on something else. Striken had said that Darth Sparrow was playing into someone's hand, with potentially disastrous results for the Sith. Who might that be? And if the goal of the Sith had been to capture a padawan and a protocol droid, why had they marched upon a Republic Defence stronghold? Prodded by that thought, another came suddenly to light: Malo had mentioned that Tactical Defence had been dismissive about his report of a Sith attack, to the point of accusing him of dishonesty. There hadn't been much opportunity to dwell on that at the time, but upon reflection, it seemed highly uncharacteristic for Tactical Defence to dismiss an imminent Sith invasion reported by a Jedi. Even allowing for that dismissive attitude though, once the Sith had actually arrived, shouldn't Tactical Defence have been able to hold out against them in their own stronghold? Only some of the Sith soldiers could use The Force to a degree after all, and there couldn't have been many other Sith to match the calibre of Darth Sparrrow- where knowledge of the Dark Side was concerned- on the scene could there? So how had they been overrun so quickly? And, if they had been overrun, how were they still sending out messages? A nasty suspicion formed in the back of Talia's mind. Could whoever had played Darth Sparrow be controlling- or manipulating- the military as well? If so, to what end? Maybe a little chat with the twins could give her some possible leads there. For now though, best to focus on gathering whatever information could be gleaned from the library. Face impassive, Talia kept pace with the two Jedi Knights as they carried Malo towards the medical ward...

Chonai Striken slid (was forced) into a forming line of other (captured) Sith soldiers. He cast a glance over to the almost lifeless body of Jacxx Malo. That Jedi girl from before was assisting two other knights in carrying the wounded Jedi inside the Jedi complex. Striken just smiled and shook his head. Something about her seemed odd, but he didn't quite know what it was. It was just there hanging over him. Why would a Jedi want to assist the escape of one of the most wanted Sith warriors in exsistence. He took a deep breath and tried not to think on it. There were more pressing matters on the Sith's mind.
"All right let's move!" a knight from the front of the small line shouted, "They are all to be seperated! One per cell!"
Striken began to move with the rest of the prisoners toward the massive entrance way of the Jedi complex.

"Easy now, we don't want to bang him any more than he already is!" a rather chubby man said with a smile, "We need to get him in tip-top shape! He definately has some answering to do. The council are none to pleased with his recent actions." The chubby doctor laughed as the three Jedi (Talia included) placed the down bounty hunter (carefully of course) on a long, slim silver table. The Jedi stepped back.
"Aha! Thank you, thank you!" he approached Malo, "That will be all!"
The three Jedi nodded and left the medical ward. The doctor made his way to the door and locked it behind the trio. He then turned to Jacxx and smiled brightly.
"Now that I've got your undivided attention, you and I have some buisness matters to discuss!" he took several steps toward the outcold Jedi and pulled a strange metal instrument out of his inside pocket. It was shaped like an eating utensil, but had a long slim needle coming from the top. Numerous knobs and switches littered the tool.
"I believe a mind probe is in order, before I bring you back to health!" he flicked a switch and it began to hum, "Trauma is the best kind of vulnerability!"
At that the doctor jabbed the instrument into the back of Malo's head, close to the tip of the spine.

The cell door slid open and Chonai Striken was thrust inside. He turned around to face his "escort". "Like your restraints the cell walls are force resistant so no funny buisness!" the knight said expressionless. Choani smiled, gave him a wave, and said, "Bye, I'll be seeing you!" as the cell door slid shut once more. Striken surveyed the cell's interior. Just a bed and a small silver toilet. "Humble." Striken said to himself with a chuckle. He made his way to the small bed and sat down. He kicked his boots off, and fell back into the unusually comfortable bed. Striken felt it was better to rest all he could, things can go crazy at any given moment.

Talia- along with the other two knights she had assisted- took their leave to let the doctor work on Malo. Maybe now, Talia mused, she'd finally get the time to dig up an answer or two, not to mention send a few answers to her employers, who would doubtless by now be wondering what had happened to her. What would they make of what she could now tell them, Talia mused, since the Sith attack had raised even more unanswered questions? It seemed to her that unanswered questions were rapidly forming a web around the artefact she had been hired to find- or even around rumours of it. Hopefully, once she answered the simple questions she was certain  the twins were sure to have regarding her personal safety, she could find some less simple answers to the questions she had. And then, on the subject of unanswered questions, Talia realised that there was perhaps one more relatively simple question she could get an answer to.

Turning on her heel, Talia strode back down the corridor towards the medical ward, and the room that housed Malo and the doctor. Hopefully, if the doctor hadn't started yet, she wouldn't be interrupting by asking how long the doctor's work was likely to take. Although a simple question, to Talia it was a very prominent one: An estimate of the time Malo was likely to be undergoing treatment would give her an approximate window of opportunity in which to work. Once Malo was healed, it would only be a matter of time before he heard that the girl who'd fought alongside him was a Jedi- one who'd managed to conceal her Force-capabilities from him completely. Once he heard that, he'd want to know where she was and who she was. By the time he was that interested, Talia wanted to be long gone from the Jedi Temple. Arriving at the door, Talia found it locked. Just as she was about to knock, she heard the doctor speaking inside the room. "Now that I've got your undivided attention, you and I have some business matters to discuss," the doctor's voice declared. Talia stepped softly closer to the door and listened intently. "I believe a mind probe is in order, before I bring you back to health!" the doctor's voice continued, "trauma is the best kind of vulnerability!" After that, Talia heard a humming noise followed by the sound of an implement entering living flesh. Well, Talia mused, that made Malo, Chonai, the twins, herself, and now this doctor all individuals after something each believed or knew the other knew something about. And just what was the doctor after and why? Despite having been hired to look for answers, Talia mused as she listened for whatever might follow, all she seemed to be getting were more unanswered questions...  

The good doctor looked down at his patient (Malo), and let loose a small grin. His attention then focused to the small monitor the mind probe was attached to. He surveyed the information appearing on the screen looking for something in particular. He sighed and began to adjust several dials located on the monitor. "You're pretty stubborn," he began to shake  his head, "But I am in charge here!" The doctor pressed several keys on a small touch panel beneath the monitor. Suddenly the room began to shake knocking over several pieces of medical equipment. The lights began to flicker before they went out for good. "Damn!" the doctor hissed as an alarm began to sound, "Let's just hope I got enough intel." He pressed a switch and out popped a small silver disc which he placed into his right hand pocket. He then unhooked the mind probe from Jacxx. He walked over to the corner of the room and picked up a small communictaor strapped to the wall. He raised it to his face and switched it on, "This is Dr. Doron, I seemed to have lost power to the medical lab." "It's not just you," a voice responded over the communictaor, "The whole sector is down." "I read!" Doron tossed the communictaor on the floor and walked back over to Malo. "I'll be back don't you go anywhere, I can't begin begin treatment until the power is back on!" Doron picked up a small red jacket lying in the floor and pulled it on. He turned and headed for the exit.

Chonai peered through the small window of his cell. The temple was in chaos as Jedi ran back and forth trying to determine the problem. Unluckily for Striken the cell block's security system wasn't conected to the city energy grid. The sith was still trapped. One of the guards talked into his communicator. "What's going on up there? Are we under attack?" "Negative" a voice came through, "There was an explosion near the energy plant just outside the Western Slums! It's knocked the power out for the entire sector." "Any info on the cause of the explosion?" the gurad asked calming down a little as the other Jedi dropped their guard. "No," the response came through, "Not yet. Today is just getting crazier and crazier. Sith invasions, Sith vs. Sith, and an entire Republic stronghold over run! If I had to guess this explosion is related to the other oddities of the day!"

Chonai stepped back and fell onto the small bed. The last few day had certainly been odd. Things has been odd since he began his quest to find the Herald's Heart. They are no such things as coincidences. Choani knew that there are connections to what he's searching for, and he knew one of those connections could be ffound here in the Jedi temple. With the power outage, it gave Striken an opportunity, but first he had to find away out of this cell!

TBC

OOC: Just for record the doctor (Doron) is NPC.

Hearing the doctor's footsteps approach the door, Talia shrank back against the wall, using her chamaeleonic ability to blend with the wall behind her- though the doctor was unlikely to spot her in the gloom of the blackout anyway. She waited as she heard the door open and the footsteps enter the corridor. Keeping stock-still, she held her position as the door closed and the doctor's footsteps faded down the darkened corridor. Once she was quite sure she was alone, Talia reverted to her previous colours and took a small but powerful torch from one of her pockets. Light in hand, she entered the medical lab where Malo's inert form still lay, looking for anything that might tell her what the doctor was up to. Perhaps because it was a hurried search, she drew a blank; whatever information the doctor had tried to pry from Malo's mind he had taken it with him, and she could find no other clues just now. Before leaving, she cast a glance over at Malo. He couldn't be given proper treatment until power was restored, and he was seriously injured. Talia might not be able to keep him from dying, but she could increase his chances of survival. A quick stride brought her over to where Malo lay and, placing her hands on the inert bounty hunter's chest, Talia drew upon The Force. She allowed it to flow through her system and into Malo, lending strength and health to his wounded body, and allowing it to heal itself a little more swiftly. She kept this up for nearly a minute before stopping the flow of Force power and removing her hands from his chest again. She might not want him dead, but she didn't want him back on his feet just yet after all. Stepping away from Malo, Talia strode swiftly from the room.

Five minutes later, she was in the vast library the Jedi Temple kept. It was shrouded in gloom too, affected by the blackout Talia had heard reported to the doctor before he left the medical lab. Talia swept her small torch about, watching as its powerful beam picked out wast bookshelves and cast strange shadows. She saw no-one else, but muted voices from here and there throughout the library confirmed that she wasn't alone. She walked to the large desk near the door, normally the place to find the head librarian. There was no one behind it. Talia vaulted the desk, and slunk down out of sight behind it. With the power out, she couldn't use the computerised system to find the documents she might need, but the desk would give her some measure of privacy while she made long-overdue contact with her employers. She flicked her communicator into life. "It's me," she whispered into the device, before jerking her ear back from it sharply. "Not so loud!" she hissed urgently into her communicator, "I'm in a library right now!" She listened as the twins expressed their concern for her in quieter yet no less urgent tones before whispering back her reply. "Yes, I had a very fortunate escape from the Sith attack," she informed them, "two Jedi Knights- both more than a little crazy I'm sure- decided to stand against an army of Sith soldiers and one Sith Lord, buying us civilians time to get to safety, and delaying the Sith until more Jedi Knights arrived. Then it was lightsabers and confusion all round, with the victory going to the Jedi- for now at least," she concluded. She listened as the twins asked more questions. "I don't have any more leads on the unknown," she informed them, "but Jacxx Malo was there during the battle and was severely wounded by Darth Sparrow. Chonai Striken was there too- apparently to slay Darth Sparrow, because they were old rivals and maybe for other reasons besides. He was taken captive by the Jedi and is incarcerated somewhere within their Temple".

She continued to fill the twins in on the events that had transpired that night, relaying her theories as she did so. "The way it seems at present," she concluded, "is that we've got some hidden player- or maybe more than one. Someone capable of luring out the Sith with information that seemed credible to them- or at least to Darth Sparrow, which means that whoever this someone is, they may have infiltrated Sith intelligence- an achievement noteworthy in itself. Its that which leads me to suspect," she told her employers, "that either there's a splinter faction within the Sith ranks- which would hardly be surprising- or that maybe someone who doesn't belong to the Sith is working with them. Someone with in-roads into both the ranks of the Sith AND the Republic Armed Forces, given how quickly that stronghold was overrun. Which makes them a very dangerous someone, whose motives remain unknown to me, apart from seeming overtly hostile". She paused for a moment before continuing. "Since Malo is injured and the unknown and Chonai's apprentice remain unaccounted for," she informed the twins, "my current plan is to stay on Chonai himself and watch him as closely as I can". She listened as the twins voiced a question. "because he surrendered himself willingly to the Jedi," she answered, "which is something the Chonai I've read up on would never do. That means he's up to something, and I want to know what. And since I can't just ask him to tell me what he's doing, I'll just have to stay low and wait for him to show me. And who knows," she continued, "maybe he has some clues we don't and will lead us right to the artefact we're looking for..."  

The God of Hate was damaged in the explosion. The entire Republic Tactical Defense building had been taken out damaging the nearby power plant. Waller didn't know where the explosion originated or who caused it, but he did know that this definately wasn't part of the plan! Waller quickly tried to stabilize the careening vessel as it rocketed through the deserted slum airway. He was losing altitude fast. There was no other option but to abandon ship. The frustrated wookie unstrapped his harness and quickly made his way to the rear of the ship. The craft clipped the top of a large refuse pile, tipping the vessel on it's starboard side as it approached the trash strewn streets. Waller was on his back against the small table trying to pull himself up. He let out a vicious roar and rolled off to his left, bracing for impact behind the small table. God of Hate  slammed into the right wall of the Swinging Beginning nightclub. The ship, however, kept moving tearing through the wall. Scraps of metal was violently torn from the vessel and the small crowd inside the club all screamed in terror. The ship smashed into the large performance stage before coming to a halt at the front entrance. Smoke began to rise from the damaged vehicle and a small group surrounded it waiting to see if anyone will come out.

Waller was buried in a pile of debris created by the ships furniture including the very table he hid behind. He coughed as he began to toss the debris off of his body. He slowly began to rise to his feet. Other than a multitude of bruises and scratches, he was unharmed. He looked around and noticed the ship was now right side up once more. He sighed as he made his way back to what used to be his work area. He began tossing debris every which way looking for his special project. He let out a roar of joy when he came across the case and noticed it was still intact. he quickly scooped it up, placed it in a small satchel he found lying on the ground, and hoisted it around his shoulder. The entrance ramp was jammed so Waller instead made his way out the window located in the cockpit. The nightclub's bright neon lights cast an eerie glow of of his gray fur. He looked and noticed a crowd of individuals eyeing him cautiously. He jumped down and took in the damage done to the ship. Master Striken wasn't going to be be happy.

"Don't you know the rule of 'silence in the library'?" a voice asked in the gloom. Talia smiled to herself. Though it had been some years since she last heard it, she knew that voice. She turned in the direction it had come from. "Hello Shaela," she said, "I see you're still as strict a librarian as ever, even when you're dealing with an old friend". There was a sharp intake of breath, and then the voice spoke again. "Talia? Is that you" Talia flicked on her torch in response, letting it illuminate her face. "Who else?" she remarked, adding, "how many old friends come to you in the middle of a blackout, when rumours and Sith seem rampant in equal measure and nothing seems to make the slightest bit of sense?" A form stepped into the light cast by Talia's torch. The individual standing in front of Talia was a woman of about her own height, in traditional Jedi robes, whose movements and body language suggested that there was still a great deal of strength and vitality left in her. But even in the small pool of torchlight, the signs of advanced age were evident. The woman's face, though still shapely, had a number off deep lines etched into it, and crow's feet at the corners of her eyes. Her hair, though still thick, was dark iron-grey through and through, and in her eyes showed the wisdom gained only by many decades of living. This was Shaela, head librarian of the Jedi Temple, the padawan Talia had helped over sixty years before. It was strange to think, Talia had sometimes mused, that Shaela now looked a generation or two older than Talia, when in reality it was Talia who was the elder, by maybe ten generations. Humans lived such brief lives. "I'll admit," Shaela said, "that you only seem to come to town when there are strange things happening. Are you involved in what's been happening tonight?"

Talia considered the question. "Not exactly," she answered, "I wasn't responsible for any of it if that's what you mean. I do think it's all connected though". Shaela nodded sagely. "Sounds like you've a tale to tell," she remarked, "why don't you come on through to the back?" So saying Shaela turned and began walking further into the gloom behind the desk. Talia followed her, almost not needing the light. On her previous visits she had become familiar enough with the small, librarian-exclusive domain behind the desk to know it almost by heart. Shaela was headed towards the room where she did a great deal of her work, the room the two of them had often used during Talia's previous visits. Once they were both inside, Shaela lit a small lamp she kept inside the room and asked, "so what's the story?" Talia kept it as succinct as possible. "Rumours of a legendary artefact have surfaced again," she informed Shaela, "an artefact I've spent quite a bit of time researching. Whenever it does surface, it seems that a bow-wave of rumours go before it and that blood and death follow in its wake. That has been the consistent pattern that spans its chequered history". Shaela rested her face in one hand, a thoughtful expression on her face. "You're talking about the Herald's Heart," she stated. Talia nodded her confirmation and Shaela asked, "so what has the Herald's Heart got to do with today's strange happenings?" Looking her old friend straight in the eyes, Talia answered her question. "Everything," she said, "the Herald's Heart is at the root of all the strange events of the past few days. I was hired to find it by a wealthy and well-meaning, but probably crazy client who wants to put it in a museum. No sooner do I chase down a rumour of it here on Coruscant than the individual said to be in the know is murdered, along with a Jedi Knight. Then, not five minutes after the murder no less a person that Chonai Striken walks in looking for the murdered man, hotly pursued by his long-time rival Jacxx Malo. On the same day, a Sith invasion force comes to Coruscant, lead by Darth Sparrow, whom Striken subsequently kills in cold blood, before willingly surrendering himself to Jedi Knights. At the same time, a Republic stronghold is overrun by Sith in next to no time. Add to this that the Sith seem to have been manipulated by someone with an agenda of their own and you can see the pattern: rumours and bloodshed. With so many powerful players involved," Talia concluded, "and so much bloodshed already, I think that I might just be on the trail of the genuine article".

Shaela had listened quietly to Talia's explanation of events. Now she asked, "so what do you plan to do?" Talia smiled a little and lowered her voice. "I plan to stay on Chonai Striken," she said, "he's clearly after something and I know exactly where he is right now. And since he'd never just surrender to the Jedi he must have a plan for escaping. So when he does-," Shaela interrupted  Talia at this point. "When he does? Don't you mean 'if he does'?" she asked a touch sharply. "I've a feeling it will be a 'when' rather than an 'if'." Talia remarked, "especially with the blackout. Anyway, when he escapes, I plan to see where he leads me and what he leads me to. In the meantime though, I was hoping you'd be able to get me some more definite information on the Herald's Heart, so that I've a better idea of what I might be looking for than I've been able to get a hold of so far. Alas," Talia remarked as she gestured to the darkened environment around them, "I left my visit too late". Shaela smiled a wry grin at Talia's last remark. "Don't be too sure," she said and went over to a nearby computer. A few minutes later the machine hummed into life. "That thing still has power?" Talia asked, impressed in spite of herself. "The greater part of the data that makes up the library is so vast that it is stored on a system that has its own power supply," Shaela told her, "so it isn't affected by the loss of the power station on the edge of the slums". Talia smiled as she walked over to where Shaela was standing and said, "you never cease to impress me". Shaela simply nodded before asking, "and why exactly are you still intent on going after this thing- other than the pay?" Talia looked thoughtful as she replied. "Partly to see if I can find it before the others," she answered, "and to see what- if anything- I can learn from it if I succeed. Mainly though, with so many powerful factions after it," Talia said with a grim expression on her face, "I intend to see if it can be more securely hidden, or destroyed entirely, so that no-one can possess it and the potential power it might give them. This thing has been lost for centuries- better for everyone if it stayed lost forever". Shaela nodded, stretching her arms and cracking her knuckles. "Well then," she said as her fingers went to the keys, "let's just see what we can find...,"    

The battered Wookie took a few steps forward noticing that his right arm had been injured in the crash. He had not been unharmed as he at first thought. The pain was dull, but the damage was great. Waller just shook his head as he made his way through the crowd of individuals. They all gave him queer looks as he slowly made his way out the exit. He could could hear a flurry of whispers erupt as soon as he left. No doubt talking about him. He made his way to a nearby trash dumpster and leaned up against it. His backside slid down the grimy metal container until he sat on the debris laden ground. The pain began to increase. Waller carefully raised the damaged arm to survey the extent of the injury. A large piece of metal was lodged in his forearm. A thick sream of blood oozed down his arm. Several thicks patches of dried blood was tangled in the wookies gray fur. He grabbed the thick metal and gave it a slight tug. A loud wail let loose from the wookie's lips, and he quickly let go. He took several deep breaths and grasped the shard once more. This time it was going to come out. He clenced his teeth and yanked on the metal violently. Blood splattered across the ground as the wookie tossed the shard off to his left. It was much larger than he had anticipated. More blood began to ooze from the open wound. He grabbed the satchel he was carrying and ripped off a small strip of cloth. He quickly wrapped it around the wound, thying in a knot so it wouldn't come undone. He let out a msall sigh of relief, and rose to his feet once more. The pain was intense now, but at least the shard of metal was gone.

He grabbed the satchel and staggered forward several feet, making his way down the alleyway. He stopped when he heard voices up ahead. He saw several shadows emerging from around the corner. It was a small group of Jedi. They were covered in ash, and several looked injured. Wanting to avoid confrontation, Waller turned and rn in the opposite direction. He ran past the Swinging Beginning, and down another alleyway off to his left. No doubt Jedi would be making rounds through the streets considering the very odd Sith invasion. What became of the Sith anyways? Waller was curious. It seemed the invasion was over almost as soon as it began. Something did not feel right. He thought back to the Republic general meeting with the Sith, almost as if they were friends. Something was going on, and it was sure to interfere with Master Striken's plans.

While Striken's Wookie apprentice was pondering the turn events had taken that evening, Talia and Shaela were pondering the turn events had taken in the distant past. In order to gain a better understanding of the Herald's Heart, Talia had decided to review its history from the beginning- or as much of it as she could before her window of opportunity closed and either Striken escaped or Malo revived. She'd found this a helpful activity, illuminating facts and fables she'd long carried about in her memory that time had pushed to one side. "The original tale gives a definite description of the Herald's Heart," Talia remarked to Shaela, "in telling us that it was 'a spherical crystal with a heart-shaped imprint upon it'. That's where its' name came from, or part of it anyway. It also gives us an angle to pursue". Shaela grinned slightly, "such as who gave the description?" she asked. Talia nodded saying, "exactly. The only people who could have given such a description were those who saw it for themselves, or those possessing first-hand accounts from people who saw the artefact in its original condition. Who would possess that kind of knowledge?" Shaela thought for a moment. "The Jedi Knights of that time?" she suggested. "Possibly," Talia answered, "and there's a level of evidence that points that way. After all, if the Herald's Heart were found by the Jedi Knights, that would explain how the original legend came to be stored in the archives of the Jedi Temple- though to be fair, it's spread around the galaxy in the centuries since those events took place. Also if it were found by someone Force-sensitive, such as a Jedi, they would certainly be able to detect the Force-potential inherent in such an object. If that theory is correct, the most likely candidates for finding the Herald's Heart are any apprentices- or fomer apprentices- those Jedi Masters had within the Order who were still living by the end of that ancient war. They find- either by means of Force-visions or other forms of investigation- the place where the Sith Lords and Jedi Masters had agreed to meet, discover the Heart upon arrival, and decide to hide it safely away. There are some problems with that theory though," Talia added as she finished.

Shaela, her attention on the screen before her asked, "what problems?" Talia stroked her chin with one hand as she answered. "If the Jedi did indeed find the Heart," she answered, "then why didn't they store it somewhere within the vaults of one of their Temples? It could hardly be safer than with a legion of Jedi Knights surrounding it after all. They could have chosen any temple in use at the time, discreetly planted it in some secure vault and sealed it up to be forgotten by the rest of the galaxy. Over time, it might even pass from the memory of the Jedi themselves and sit forever, unremembered and unused in some ancient, forgotten chamber. Instead the legend endures and the artefact itself resurfaces every now and again. In addition, if the Jedi went to look for their leaders, the Sith would have done no less- though probably for no other reason than that the new Sith Lords would want to be certain of the passing of the old. If they'd arrived at the same location as the Jedi, at the same time, there would've been another battle- likely with similar results- and no one left to tell the tale. Therefore I don't think the Jedi found it- or if they did, they didn't keep it for long".

Shaela looked up thoughtfully. "So who else might have it?" she asked. "Well," Talia responded, "I think we can rule out the Sith. If they'd got their hands on it, they'd have kept its existence a secret from the start and probably some Sith Lord or other before now would have found a way to unleash its power upon the galaxy. Even if you take into account the penchant Sith have for fighting each other, one of them would have held onto it for long enough to use it. And with that kind of power, they'd have become a legend amongst the Sith, even if the power of the Heart has been exaggerated over time. I think one of the following options is most likely: Firstly, someone who fought during that long-ago war, most probably just to survive rather than for either side, makes a landing on the planet that the Sith and Jedi met upon. Maybe to repair their ship, maybe they've never been there, maybe for a dozen other reasons besides. By coincidence they find the reamains of the Sith and Jedi- and with them the Heart. It wouldn't take that someone- or those someones- long to figure out who the corpses belonged to, all they'd have to do would be to find the lightsabers. They'd quickly come to the conclusion that if the Jedi and Sith were fighting over the Heart then it must be important. So they decide to take pre-emptive action, for the good of the galaxy and hide the artefact away somewhere. Once they've hidden it though, they're going to want to remember where they've put it, so they make maps. And, as time goes on, they either appoint others to succeed them as guardians, or the task passes from parent to child, a family secret, a nameless anonymous order of guardians. It may even be that, as records indicate, they divide the Heart up into several pieces, so that it can be hidden not in one location but several, safeguarding against it ever being completely found and its full potential unleashed upon an unsuspecting galaxy".

Talia paused, brooding over her thoughts beefore continuing. "Secondly," she said, "we have a similar situation. Let us suppose that maybe some Jedi padawans, or maybe even Jedi Knights find the Heart in a similar manner- or maybe they guessed where the Jedi Masters were going and got there ahead of them,concealed themselves from Force-detection and witnessed the whole thing. However it happens, they find the Heart and recognise the Force-potential it has, and subsequently how dangerous it is. They decide to take action for the good of the galaxy. With the war on, or maybe only recently over, it will be some time before everyone is accounted for, and easy to make it seem that they were killed in the line of duty. So, forsaking the Order, they pledge themselves to become guardians of the Heart. Alternately, they could have left the Order, perhaps stating that they did so for personal reasons of the utmost importance. Anyway, they leave the Order to devote themselves to this task. They realise that if the Heart is divided up, there is less chance of anyone abusing its power. So they divide up this one crystal into several. And since part of Jedi training is to attune the crystals used in lightsabers to oneself- or vice versa- maybe they carefully give each crystal a specific Force-attunement. They could even go so far as to hide the crystals in specially-made lightsabers or in items of jewellery. And, so hidden, scatter the fragments across the galaxy- perhaps giving these items as gifts to certain wealthy individuals, perhaps hiding them in long-concealed treasure-troves. As in the first scenario though, they'd want to remember where each fragment was, so they'd have a map of the galaxy, one they'd constantly update as the fragments moved from place to place. Again, they might either choose successors they deemed worthy as apprentices, or pass the duty from parent to child. Either way, you get an order of guardians keeping the Heart safe from all comers," Talia concluded.

Shaela looked up from the screen as Talia finished theorising. "Maps and rumours of maps do figure significantly in the history of the Herald's Heart," she said, "but what kind of Jedi would forsake the Order to take on a clandestine duty for the rest of their lives?" Talia gave her friend a grin as she answered. "What kind of Force-sensitive individual with the potential to be either a powerful Jedi or a deadly Sith would choose to be neither and stay out of the limelight?" she asked in return. Shaela gave her a wry grin, "good point," she said. "Whoever the Heart's guardians were- or are," Talia said, "it's entirely possible that some died without successors and their maps ended up on the market- or in the hands of relations. One way or the other, it is entirely possible that some of the maps were secreted away by fortune-hunting individuals who believed them to be treasure maps. Those might then be found by others at a later date, accounting for the significance of maps in the history of the Heart, and maybe for its periodic reappearences throughout history. Where are maps said to have been found or hidden anyway?" Shaela scrolled through the records. "You name it," she said, "they've been rumoured to have been hidden all over. Hoth, Endor, Naboo, Alderran, Korriban- what a choice!- Yavin, Ruusan, right here on Coruscant, and on Dantooine as well..". Talia snapped to attention at the mention of that last one. "Dantooine? Where on Dantooine?" she asked sharply. Shaela quickly checked. "The remains of an old Jedi Temple. What's wrong?" she asked. "Striken was on Dantooine some years ago," Talia said. "I assumed he was just searching for a suitable headquarters at the time. But now its possible that he knew the map was there and specifically went to retrieve it. Between now and then he may well have been scouring the galaxy for more clues and more maps. If that's what he was after today then I know what he's after. The question now becomes why?"        

OOC: I'll be completely honest with you, I have been immensely uninspired while writing on this RP recently. I had things happening (in this RP) at break neck speed, plot points dropping seemingly from nowhere, and an overabundance of one dimensional "shady" characters. To put it bluntly, since the restart I point to this as some of my worst material ever in a RP.  For that I apologize. I'm quite amazed that you are still here Gema, and supplying excellent work at that. It definitely made me look amateurish by comparison. All that will change I promise you. I created this RP because I had such a blast playing in another SW themed RP and was upset when it eventually faded into obscurity. I want to bring back that feeling of fun I had. This RP has potential, but at this rate I may run it into the ground. I've been going through a sort of creative renascence here recently, and I am fully confident that this RP will meet the potential it already had. Of course I will need help re-assemblimg the messy narrative. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Let me know what is in dire need of fixing and what should be axed completely. This applys to any and everyone intrested in joining not just Gemajinn. Afterall this is your RP too and I want you to have fun. So consdier this sort of a reconstruction phase. Thanks for your time and I hope to get this IMPROVED Herald underway very soon!

( OOC - Hey, Eggpire. You revamp'd this piece, eh? If I recall I was involved in the original piece, so.. maybe I can help in revamping this or something! Well, I've been reading the past few pages and this looks good and it looks like you need some more hands. I'm going to reread it through the week and see if any character ideas come up, s'cool? )

Sounds good to me! The more the merrier. Yeah I remember you in the original. Ah, good memories there! Anyways, I was going to type up the next part this weekend, but something came up and I won't get around to it until next weekend (sorry!). So take all the time you need and I'll see you soon!

OOC: And I'm back! Didja miss me? I've spent alot of time scrolling through the RP and decideing on what to do next. The result is what I feel will get this RP back on track. The goal is to clear up old plot points and slow down the frantic out of control pace (no more disasters like the sith invasion). I will refrain from throwing story nuggets everywhere and hoping it will stick! So here we go! BTW I apologize for the time leap. I felt it was necessary to somewhat clean the slate, kinda like a new chapter in a book!

IC:
The following day...

The sun had just risen mere minutes ago, and the red sphere hung low in the sky. Long auspicious shadows were cast across the city of from the taller buildings in the vicinity. Various shuttle craft rocketed to and fro across the busy airspace, delievering each individual to their destination with great impatience. It was just another busy day on the city world of Courscant. It remained oblivious to the general public that no more than 6 hours ago a sith invasion had taken place, and one of their greatest strongholds lay in rubble. Of course how would they, no media coverage on the matter escaped across the holo-net. The only ones who knew were the ones involved theirselves. It was almost as if the previous nights ventures hadn't happened at all. Save for a brief broadcast explaining the blackout that had occurred for several hours. Even then all thats was stated was a mention of a mysterious explosion near the west slums power plant. "We believe their is no foul play involved," is what one reported "official" claimed.

The backside of a figure wathced a holo-cast with great care. Almost as if it was watching for something. "In other news stories, gang related violence rocketed across the streets yesterday morning," the chirpy anchorwoman, a Twili'ek, reported standing in front of what seemed like a totalled transportation craft, "The fight started in the nearby alleyway before it made it was out onto the streets. Reports have stated that two of the involved were using Lightsabers which had many believing Sith were involved. One individual was apprehended and taken to a nearby hospital to tend to his wounds were he shortly escaped. His wereabouts are unknown, but officals have said repeatedly that he most likely wouldn't prove a threat due to the extent of his injuries. The other Lightsaber wielder was also taken into custody later that day. He has admitted to the murder of at least three other gang affiliated individuals. It was also said that he had stole the Lightsaber from a Jedi who was struck down the day before in a nearby Pub. Janus, back to you!" The holo-screen switched back to a male Twili'ek stationed at a desk of sorts. "Thank you Nartanga. In celebrity news, Jiang the Bothan is involved in yet ANOTHER scandal-"

The holo-image disappeared. The figure turned around to face several of it's subordanates. It was the Nautolan who had confronted Peaches yesterday. His tendrils wrapped around his shoulders in a very messy fashion. He looked around the large, but bare room. It was comletely void of windows. He stared forward and began to walk toward the far wall.

"Very good," he said still in transit, "All traces back to us must be eliminated if we are to succeed at our goal." He walked by a large cloaked man with an eyepatch and stopped for a brief second before continuing onward. "I will admit that the incident yesterday took me by complete suprise, and the loss of our only lead to the actual object is quite unfortunate." He stopped and turned around and began moving forward in the opposite direction, "However all is not lost!" he chuckled and adjusted the strap on his loose cloak, "Despite his best efforts, Flk'ijn is no closer to his goal than he was yesterday." The Nautolan pulled out a small sphereical object, "And I know it may seem otherwise, but we are now CLOSER to the object even without the transmisson. Last night I was contacted by a source in the Jedi Temple who has gave us our magnum opus."

He walked, silently, to the center of the room and held up the object. "It seems one of Flk'ijin's operatives managed to recieve a nasty wound in battle and is now resting in the facility's medical ward." He began to wave the object back and forth capturing the attention of those with passing intrest to what he was holding, "What I hold in my hand is none other than a mind probe from infamous Jedi bounty hunter, Jacxx Malo. After a quick glance, I am one hundred percent certain that this is a FAR more promising lead than the Jedi transmisson ever was.

A fidgety young Nemodian, wearing a long gold and red cloak, stepped forward and began to speak. "S-sorry sir, not to sound, er-you know, but what about Granz and Tella. They had just procured one of th-those star maps, and, well, you know were found dead yesterday." The Nautolan placed his hand on the Nemodian's shoulder, "Tella had gotten reckless. He wasn't to be trusted, and the fact he AND his brother were both found dead just proves my point. They sought to sell the star chart for profit and it eventually led to their death."

"But what of the data on the map?" a similarly dressed Twili'ek said. The Nautolan closed his eyes and smiled widely, "I took precautions as I always do. The map was coppied, and to my knowledge is the only copy. We are secure, trust me." He paused briefly as One Eye gave him a sharp look then changed the subject, "Anyways Malo's mind probe was not complete, but it did provide us with enough information as to where we should look next! A second star map has been found, and it is planetside." The Nautolan hesitated a bit, "It seems our acursed object has caught the eye of the sith, or rather A sith. Not to alarm you or anything, but this particular sith is none other than the legendary Chonai Striken." A loud gasp spread across the room and the Nemodian quickly spoke up, "You d-don't really expect us to confront Chonai Striken do you? You remember what happened the last time he was planetside!"

"Relax." the Nautolan sighed, "The myth surrounding Chonai Striken has been blown completely out of proportion. He is a strong sith warrior, but he's not immortal. In fact he's very much human. He bleeds like the rest of us. AND contrary to popular belief, he barely left Courscant alive last time." One Eye just grinned as the Nautolan continued, "Getting back on topic, Mr. Striken is in possession of the second star chart. Further more he is in Jedi custody meaning the map is ours for the taking. It is my firm belief that it is on boad his vessel or in the possession of his apprentice." A full-on smile spread across One Eye's face as he wathced with glee, "We will never get a better chance than this. As they say let's strike while the iron's hot!"

A massive fountain sat in the middle of the Common Room. Old statues of Jedi warriors were placed in the center of the structure, water flowing down their out streached lightsabers. Several young apprentices sat on the edge of the fountain chatting gaily between one another. In fact many Jedi were gathered inside the room. Dickering here and there, taking a respite before the day of training began. The pale stones the floor was crafted out of glinted in the sunlight coming in from the open ceiling. Busy traffic could also be seen high above.

A metallic door at the far left end slid open wish a loud "SWISH". In walked the current Jedi master (human) along with a young female (human), and an elderly male (Rodian). They were conversing about the recent happenings and whether proper action had been taken. "I understand your concern, but this matter must be kept secret!" the master said sharply, his golden eyes fixated on the Rodian, "Do not worry everything is being handled with the proper respect it deserves." The trio stopped. The Jedi master's robes were wrinkled and looked as if they had been worn for days. High stress.

"The sith invade and TAKE OUT an entire Republic stronghold and you want us to remain quiet in the matter?" the Rodian shot back, "I fail to see the reasoning behind this." The Rodian wore attire similar to the other Jedi Knights. "Quite frankly," the master began, "There is no solid reasoning, other than my instincts." At that the Rodian became furious and marched off, "Some master you are. You won't be satsified until the entire order was wiped out.!" The remaining duo wathced the Roadian exit at the far right entrance then turned to one another. "I just don't know Melanie?" the master stated. Melanie just twirled a strand of her blonde hair. "You know Melanie," the master began, "There isn't single trace of the sith, not one! Their battle transports, gone! A military base is wiped off the map, and the Media says nothing! Even the witnesses aren't talking, but that may be due to them being scared. I don't blame them on bit. Besides, what can I do?" He placed his hand on his temples and breathed out a long sigh, "It's times like this when I wished I wasn't the one in charge."

Melanie smiled wryly before speaking, "The sith, they said they wanted me. Do you have any idea why they would demand that?" The master looked at her with a blank stare, "No I haven't a clue. I actually supised they even know who you are! If I have to guess, I'd say they are familiar with you're family, but even then that's not a good enough explanation." Melanie just remained silent. "You know Chonai Striken is scheduled to go before the order today. Finally going to get a taste of justice," he pasued a let out a weak chuckle, "He's had it coming for quite some time!" Melanie remained silent as the terrible memory of her parents death drifted through her mind. "You should be getting ready, training starts in half an hour!" At that the Jedi master turns and exits through the door he had previously entered from. Melanie just made her way to a nearby bench and sat down. There was alot on her mind, and she needed to clear it before the training period began.

Everyone was in a panic, but then again it isn't everyday a patient goes missing. He had been delivered last night facing serious injuries, but was now nowhere to be found. Jedi doctors scurried to and fro looking for any trace of Jedi bounty hunter Jacxx Malo. The chubby doctor Doron looked and acted agitated. "I don't understand, he was under heavy sedation and was in serious condition how could he get up and walk away? Master Twilon will have my ass for this!" he turned to one of his aides, "Jacxx Malo had been wanted for questioning for quite some time now! Argh, alert the guard!" "Right away!" the aide scurried off to a nearby transmitor.

Jacxx Malo was outisde of the temple. He was moving as fast as he could. Limping painfully to his freedom. He was behind the massive Jedi structure, right underneath the main civillian airway. The noise of the various transport craft polluted the air. The most it would be unbearable, but for Malo is was the sound of success. There was just one more hurdle in his path though, the Jedi Temple was raised high above the ground seperate from all of the other buildings. The only way to truely escape free was to hijack a vehicle, that or plummet to his death. He stopped as he quickly pondered his situation. He walked to the edge of the platform and looked down. At this height he couldn't even see the streets below. All he saw were civillian craft scurrying back and forth.

He glanced back at the temple. No one was behind him. He was certain that they were aware of his abscence by now. It would be a little while longer before their search led outside, which gave him an admirable headstart. The pain was throbbing. His backside felt as if it were on fire. He didn't want to risk climbing down the platform, but at the moment it seemed as if it was the only way (hijacking was certainly out of the question). He took in a deep breath and sat down on the edge. He then lowered his body placeing the heels of his feet on a small support bar. His chin resting on the platform, he lowered his left arm and grasped a thin collum and lowered the rest of his body down.

Malo's breathing was erratic. He was having second thoughts, but he wasn't going to turn back now. Malo couldn't face the council, not now, not while he had unfinished buisness. He sucked it in and descended even lower. The pain was dull at this point, which was helpful, but it wouldn't last forever. He glanced down, there was still a long way to go.

OOC: I'm sure you've noticed Melanie in the previous IC. She is somewhat of an experiment I'm toying with. She is 100% completely NPC and anybody can use her. In fact, I WANT YOU TO USE HER. I've made a profile for her so it will be easier to grasp her character, but her personality and actions will be determined by how you use her. Don't worry about ruining any of my plans becasue quite frankly I don't have any, not for her anyway. She was merely mentioned earlier and felt I should do something about her. I'm not saying you have to use her in your next post (or intro if you're new), and I'm not saying you have to use her at all. As I said she's an experiment I'm trying out. So anyways here's her profile and if there are any questions please just ask.

NAME: Melanie Blackweller
PREFERRED NAME: Melanie
SPECIES: Human
AGE: 22
AFFILIATION: Jedi
APPEARANCE: She wears a traditional Jedi padawan outfit. She has blue eyes and long, wavy blonde hair. She is taller than most female padawan's of her species. She carries her lightsaber fasted horizantally to the front side of her belt.
LIGHTSABER LAYOUT: Carries a custom built lightsaber (not by her though). The handle design is long and smooth (save for the different knobs) and is jet black. It's odd to say the least as it appears it has no grip. No one has actually seen her use it, so the blade color is unknown.
ABILITIES: She's still green so her powers are limited. Force levitationis pretty much her extent.
PERSONAL BACKSTORY: Born to a wealthy family on city world courscant, she had everyhting she possibly want. Her parents were kind and loving, despite the fact her father was a top class weaons designer for the republic. Her mother was a famous actress and often dreamed of one day playing opposite her daughter in the next greatest Holo-show. However, when Melanie was15, disaster struck. The war between the Jedi and Sith had emerged planetside. The upper class district was their first target, as many Republic officials resided there. Locked away in the family possession chest, she watched as the sith known as Chonai Striken enter and slay her parents in cold blood. The attacker stole an object from her father's right pocket, and fled without even the slightest hint of emotion. After the battle was over the Jedi found her and invited her to live with them in their temple. A year later they learned she had the potential all Jedi possess. They offered to train her, but she at first refused. Not wanting to be drawn in to the conflict that cost her parents their lives. Eventually (when she turned 20) she decided that becoming a knight was the best way to avenge her family.

Well there you go! I'm tired of typing. I've got more to say, but I'll ave that for next time! That is all!

The rising sun found Talia in the plush environment of the home of one of the wealthiest families in the city. Although reluctant to curtail her watch on Striken, she'd had to when the power was restored. With power once more coursing through the systems of the Temple, it would only be a matter of time before Malo was restored to health and found out that his ally in the battle against the Sith was skilled in the ways of The Force and would want to know her name. And when he asked- since he knew she'd contacted the Jedi Temple for reinforcements- it would only be a matter of time before other denizens of the Temple began to ask themselves the same question: who was Talia Wei'Liret? Talia was wise enough to know she needed to be out of there before that happened so, reluctantly, she'd asked Shaela to be her eyes and ears at the Temple, and to contact her should there be a significant development, before leaving. Unlike Malo, she'd had no difficulty leaving the Temple, despite the power-cut and the Temple's location- that was one of the advantages of having wings. She'd hadn't flown straight back to the twins, but had found the nearest bar which had power, a holo-cast system, and was relaying the news. There she had learned of the injured individual in the hospital and had decided to pay him a visit. It had been easy enough to get in, all she had needed was a charming smile, some polite words- and a little bit of mind-tricking. Having gained access to the injured individual, she had used a litte further mind-trickery to persuade him to tell her what she wanted to know. The results had been informative.

The individual was, it turned out, an agent of someone named Flk'ijin, an individual searching for an ancient artefact of great power- the Herald's Heart, Talia suspected, althought the injured man didn't appear to know specifically. What he did know though, was that there was another agency, if that was the word, that was devoted to hunting down the artefact and destroying it- those were the people they'd fought with the previous night. Apparently they'd given an ancient transmission, that could be a vital clue to its location into the hands of the unknown who had later clashed with Striken. That had been about as much as Talia had been able to get out of him, the name's he mumbled as being connected to his opponents were not insignificant to her: Granz, Tella, Doron. She knew the first two as being amongst those who had died for what they knew the other day, but not who the third was. But she remembered the name Malo had mentioned to Darth Sparrow though: Melanie Blackweller. She knew that the Blackweller family were, or had been influential- she'd even used some of the weapons they'd designed on past assignments. Deciding that the twins might be the best source of information for this, Talia had reunited with them to pool their knowledge of the present situation. She was now lisening to their recital of the sad story of the Blackweller Murders. "...to this day no-one knows what it was that was taken from their home," she was informed, "except maybe Melanie and the Sith who took it. But here's the thing- the Sith who murdered the Blackwellers was none other than Chonai Striken". Talia nodded at that. "Striken again," she remarked, "Striken, Blackweller, Malo. It seems all my trump cards are in the Jedi Temple, and I can't risk going back there- yet. I need to allow time for things to calm down- or heat up, so my involvement with the Sith invasion last night is forgotten. As the invasion itself seems to have been. I don't like that development at all, it means there is a very powerful player somewhere in town, with who knows what agenda. We need to try some of the other leads I've got- this nameless agency, Flk'ijin and Doron. Particularly the last two".

Five minutes later, the search had been interrupted when Talia's communicator had buzzed, and Shaela had told her in hushed and urgent tones that Malo was missing from the Temple Infirmary. "As you can imagine that's caused quite an uproar," she told Talia, "he was due to appear before the Council to give an account of his actions as a bounty hunter. He wasn't back to full health, but evidently he was feeling livlier than people realised- and he was heavily sedated too! Doctor Doron is beside himself with worry!" Talia had snapped to attention at that last remark. "Doctor Doron? Is he the doctor that attended Malo last night?" she asked sharply. There was a moment's pause then, "yes that's right. Why is it important- what have you found?" Shaela asked. "Bad news I'm afraid," Talia told her, "Doron's part of a group that wants to destroy the Herald's Heart. He took a mind-probe from Malo last night before the power-cut. I didn't pursue him, but I'll bet he took it straight to his superiors! That means a violent group hell-bent on destroying the Herald's Heart now know whatever Malo knows!" She heard Shaela take a sharp breath. "And what does Malo know?" she asked, concerned. "I don't know," Talia answered, "but I think it's time I found out. You said Malo wasn't fully recovered right? Then he can't have got far. As much as is possible, keep a wary eye on Striken and Melanie Blackweller- both seem to be involved whether they want to be or not. Call me again if there are any more developments- over and out!" Talia ended the call, turned to the twins and said with a smile, "what do you have that's fast?"

Twenty minutes later she was in sight of the Jedi Temple and, while she had her Force-mask up again, she was letting her intuition and The Force guide her. If Malo wanted to escape quickly and quietly he wouldn't have been able to take a ship- it would draw too much attention. He couldn't fly off the high plinth the Temple was on so he'd have to go- down. Would he do that? Talia wondered, he was injured after all. Her instincts told her that he would- he might be injured but he was determined and had much to gain if he succeeded, much to lose if he didn't. She directed her vehicle down, scrutinising her surroundings- there! Small against the towering plinth a figure was clambering awkwardly downwards. Talia steered the vehicle towards the figure, so that it was just inches away from the wall as she drew up beside and beneath him, before opening a window and, repeating her line from the previous night, called out, "need a hand?"