Honor among thieves (Ashe, Draken)

[Kale]

Imperial City, Coruscant, 18:15 local time

Dusk came early in downtown Coruscant. Long before the sun kissed the horizon, the smog began sucking up its rays like rain in a desert, turning the sky from blue to brown to gray and eventually to inky black, the stars forever drowned by the garish city lights.

The sky was tan and fading as Kale turned down a busy sidewalk on Larch Street in the Chiba district. The small, teenaged human wore a jacket against the unseasonable chill nipping in the wind, and he gripped tightly at a broken strap holding a backpack over his shoulder, taking care to keep it from jostling against the mix of humans and aliens passing by on either side. The pack contained all his possessions plus a few wrapped sandwiches he'd lifted from the Last Stand hostel's cafeteria during dinner. He was on the move again--where to, he wasn't sure. But he didn't feel safe at the hostel anymore. Not after all the Imperial attention Lorca had inadvertantly drawn to the place.

Apparently, some do-gooder had seen the wanted posters and leaked Lorca's whereabouts to the authorities. Either the Imperials really thought he was dangerous or they thought his arrest would make some good PR, because they'd sent a ridiculous number of agents to investigate the Last Stand--Kale had nearly lost his lunch when two of them showed up at his door to question him about the suspected "Jedi insurgent." He'd answered their questions like a good little peon, then started packing his things the moment they were out the door. He couldn't risk them tying him to the plainclothesman he'd robbed two weeks prior.

This was the best cover he knew--disappearing into the masses of sentient cattle that clogged the streets and alleys of the city. As long as he was nobody, the Imperials couldn't touch him. And as far as he knew, no one from the hostel knew he'd left. So no one should've been looking for him.

He'd eaten well for the past two weeks, and he had enough food in his pack for several days. What he didn't have was credits--he'd been running low when he made his last pull, and the plainclothesman he'd hit wasn't carrying much. He'd need to make another hit soon, or he'd be sleeping under trash bags again tonight. As he passed a row of shops and kiosks, he began scanning the storefront windows and the people inside for potential targets.

[Draken Chakara]

Another day, another cred. Well, actually it was more than one cred... but not much more. But what else could he do? Like many from his homeworld, he was just a simple farm boy. He didn't have much in the way of technical skills to find a higher paying job here on Coruscant. Not to say he was dumb... he just simply had no training.

He came to Coruscant, as so many others had, seeking a better life. So, he came here. Actually, he had been hoping to find some of the fabled Jedi. As a boy, Draken had learned that some of his abilities were above and beyond that of others. He could make himself much stronger than anyone around him... among other things.

He slumps down in a small chair (they all seem small, actually...) and drinks his water, resting from his day of hard labor. A few days ago, he'd spotted a young man who he'd seen on one of the wanted posters, and dutifully reported his information. But other than that, there had been little excitement over the past few days.

However, just as he was beginning to relax, he noticed the same face from the poster, doggedly slipping through the crowd. Rising to his feet, he starts calling out...

"Hey! Hey, you!"

[Kale]

Kale's heart bounced up into his larynx. It always did that when he heard someone shout "Hey, you!" or "Stop, thief!" into a crowd, whether or not he was on the run. But there was no reason to assume he was the one being called out. Better to just keep walking and drift deeper into the passing throng.

He glanced around looking for uniforms, just in case.

[Draken Chakara]

Just after he speakes, it seems that the young man is gone. He had glanced to the side, hoping to see a Storm Trooper or other Imperial authority, but had seen none. In that brief glance, the man had vanished.

Draken would not be disuaded so easily, though. Using his superior size (at 6"9' he was several inches taller than most) and rather prodigious strength, he was able to shoulder his way through the crowd rather easily. Wading through the throng, industrial impact hammer on his back, seaching for the man he had spotted.

He couldn't just let the man go. He was on a poster! That surely meant that he was bad, and must be taken to the proper authorities. He had heard rumors of innocent people being harassed, or the Imperial soldiers taking their justice a bit too far but... no, that couldn't be. He had always been taught to trust the authorities. It was his civic duty!

He was beginning to fear that he had lost the young man, when he catches a glimpse of a tattered backpack. He redoubles his persuit, calling out, "Troopers! There's a wanted man over there!"

[Kale]

The second shout was closer, and it was accompanied by a pang in Kale's spine that he couldn't possibly deny. They were after him--didn't matter that he didn't know who "they" were, or what they wanted; all that mattered now was getting out of their way.

He ducked his head and quickened his pace, a scant target at five foot two. He had a head start and plenty of places to go. His biggest fear was that some citizen vigilante would reach out from the crowd and try to restrain him. Kale was limber, but he was no fighter. He just hoped that nut would give up and stop shouting...

Holy frell! Kale had just glanced over his shoulder and caught sight of Draken bulling through the crowd like an angry gundark. He needed cover, and fast.

And then he bounced off what seemed to be an overstuffed mattress but turned out to be an enormously fat Ithorian. Kale fell onto his backside and scrambled to his feet.

"Ee-sa mo chinka, slimo!" the hammerhead barked at him.

"Sorry--'scuse me!"

Kale squeezed past the alien and around a glopstick vendor, then caught a glimpse of white helmets pushing through the civilians about thirty yards up the street.

"Aw, feth..."

[Draken Chakara]

The white helmets catch Draken's attention as well. With luck, he should be able to herd the young man into them. He rushes ahead, barrelling past the large Ithorian, slowly gaining ground. He sees the man slip into a alley a few steps ahead, and rushes to follow.

He's in luck! The alleyway looks to be a dead end, and the place seems deserted. He blocks out the opening to the alley with his rather large frame, and motions to the guards. "Over here!"

He turns back to the younger man, hoping to talk the main into going quietly.

"Look... no one's going to hurt you... but you're a wanted man, and you must be turned in to the proper authorities..."

[Kale]

Frell me...

Kale wheeled to face the gorilla blocking the alley, and all thoughts of trying to sprint past him died a quick and painful death. Even if he managed to slip by Iron Man over there, those were Stormtroopers rushing his way, and they were notorious for going to their blasters when they saw a fleeing target.

It was scant seconds before the Stormies arrived. Still grasping for a plan, Kale backed away from Draken, his face full of ire.

"What the frell are you talkin' about? Leave me alone, you freak!"

[Draken Chakara]

The young man's outburst actually surprises Draken. Freak? Him? Sure, he was big, but... still, he's the good guy here! No matter... this man's obviously a criminal. He was on the poster and everything.

"Sorry, but you're going to have to stay here till the Storm Troopers arrive..."

No sooner had he finished talking than two of the white armored soldiers round the corner and wander into the alley way. They dismiss Draken as they move in on the young man.

<font color=red>"Move along citizen, and thanks for the help."</font>

They turn their attention on the young man.

<font color=red>"Now... let's see if we can't get some information out of this miscreant..."</font>

Draken turns to leave, but something about the Troopers' tone seems... sinister. He walks out of the alley way, but peeks around the corner, just to see what happens. He can't put his finger on it, but something just seems wrong. He can't shake the feeling that he's made a mistake turning this guy in.

He knows that surely there is nothing to fear from the Imperial authorities, but he has watch anyway. No matter... his fears will be put to rest once they calmly arrest the young man...

Won't they?

[Kale]

Kale froze at the sight of the troops.

Then he swallowed and said, "Boy, am I glad you're here. This creep's been followin' me since--"

<font color="red">"Keep your mouth shut and get against the wall."</font>

Any protest from Kale was cut short as a pair of gloved hands spun him and forced him bodily against a duracrete tenement wall. The other troop seized his backpack and attacked the zipper pouches.

"Hey, that's my stuff--"

<font color="red">"I said keep your mouth shut,"</font> the first trooper growled.

Kale was helpless as the Stormie started patting him down, then plunged a hand into the boy's pocket. <font color="red">"Look at this, the squirt's armed."</font>

"That's a pocketknife!"

<font color="red">"It's a vibroblade, or a thermal detonator, or whatever I say it is, street trash. Where are you headed in such a hurry?"</font>

Kale nervously tried to glimpse what the other stormtrooper was doing with his pack, but the fist in the middle of his back drove him harder into the wall. Wincing, he said, "Just lookin' for a place to spend the night. I was on my way to Yangtze District."

<font color="red">"Captain, take a look at this."</font>

The Stormtrooper who was questioning Kale turned to look, and the youth managed to twist his neck around just far enough to see himself. The grunt was holding up Kale's agedan crystal. Kale tried to hold back the look of aguish that crossed his face.

[Draken Chakara]

Draken's eyes widen as the naive country boy gets his first taste of Imperial oppression. It seems they are being... well, at least a bit rough with the young man. They seem to be willing to accuse him of anything to get what they want out of him. But perhaps this young man is more criminal than he let on. Maybe this is how they have to deal with him?

Still, it doesn't seem right.

He sees the Trooper hold up the crystal pilfered from the man's backpack. What on earth is it? It looks to be well made, but it does not resemble any known gemstone Draken has heard of. Not that he knows much of anything about gems. He watches more closely, curious as to what this gem signifies.

[Kale]

Kale's mind was racing through all sorts of dark possibilities now--they'd caught Lorca, and he'd told them about him, and they'd come to arrest him as a Jedi insurgent. Or the plainclothesman he'd ripped off had IDed him, and they were going to take him to an Inquisitor to find out if he was a Rebel spy. Or they'd just strip him of anything valuable and shoot him in the street. If these troopers had any inkling of what they were holding, Kale's chances weren't worth a deci-cred.

The Captain took the agedan crystal in hand and held it in front of Kale's face. <font color="red">"Mind explaining this, street trash?"</font>

"That was a gift," Kale said. "I keep it for good luck."

<font color="red">"Yeah? Where'd you get it?"</font>

"My mother gave it to me."

<font color="red">"Like a street whore would be carrying around a stone this big. I'll ask you again, where'd you get this?"</font>

It stung--shouldn't have, but it did. Grinding his teeth, he growled, "I already told you--"

The other trooper interrupted him. <font color="red">"Captain, I've seen these before... Refracting crystal. They put them in plasma weapons, like lightsabers."

"Feth!"</font> The captain dropped the crystal and spun Kale around, seizing him by the throat. The point of his E-11 blaster rifle nuzzled Kale's ear. <font color=red>"Is that true?"</font>

"I--I don't know!" Kale choked. "I've never seen a lightsaber--"

<font color="red">"Captain, got a transmission from headquarters. This kid matches the profile of a suspected co-conspirator with Lorca Dawnstone."</font>

Kale's eyes watered with strain and shock. The captain's faceless white helmet leaned over him close enough that he could feel the cold breath through helmet's ventilator slits. <font color="red">"You and I are going to have a nice, long talk, street trash."</font>

[Draken Chakara]

Simple interrogation Draken could understand... but not this.

He'd been raised on a rural planet, true, but he'd heard of Jedi before. And above all else, he knew that the Jedi were the good guys. His great-grandfather was one, if the family histories were true. Surely they wouldn't be trying to arrest a guy for that, would they?

Suddenly, the rumors of the Jedi being hunted down a few years back didn't seem so far fetched. Anyway, anyone could see that the young man wasn't even trying to resist... putting a gun to his head like that... it just wasn't right.

He slings his impact hammer off his back and flips the switch, bringing the mag field to life. An audible hum is heard. He walks up behind the Troopers and speaks.

"Ahem... umm... sir? Aren't you being a bit rough?"

[Kale]

Kale was scared. The blaster muzzle was icy-cold in his ear, and he felt he could barely squeeze enough oxygen through his windpipe to keep himself conscious. When Draken spoke up, Kale couldn't understand what he was saying. But he was thinking murderous thoughts about the son of a couhoun who'd called the troops on him. From the sound of things, they didn't even know what he was wanted for.

The captain never flinched. <font color="red">"Corporal, get rid of the spectator."

"Yes, sir."</font> The Stormtrooper underling turned on his heel and approached Draken. <font color="red">"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to move along. Imperial business."</font>

Kale gasped as the captain readjusted his hold on his throat.

[Draken Chakara]

He starts to bakc off... honestly, what right does he have to stop a legal arrest... but still... that boy is about to pass out.

"Sir... I'm not trying to impede, but you're going to have to stop choking that young man... now."

Well, here's a first. He'd never expected that within his first month of being on Coruscant he'd be lecturing Storm Troopers, but a man can't just stand by and let them kill a man.

[Kale]

The corporal laid a hand on his sidearm. <font color="red">"Sir, for your own safety, I'm asking you to leave."</font>

The captain was less patient. He swung his rifle toward Draken and bellowed, <font color="red">"You heard him, blue-collar, get the frell out of--"</font>

Suddenly, Kale freed his left arm and made a wild grab for the captain's blaster rifle. His fingers grasped the stormtrooper's wrist, and the weapon went swinging upwards--it discharged, sending a bolt of ionized destruction through a window three stories up.

The corporal spun around to aid his captain, who was struggling with Kale. Crazed with fear, the kid was beating at the unyielding blastech armor with his free hand and his feet, scraping his knuckles and bruising his shins. But the trooper was far too much for him. He seized Kale by the shirt and threw him hard against the wall, dropping him to the ground. Kale curled up and tried to cover his head as the captain bent down and began beating him with the stock of his rifle.

[Draken Chakara]

Draken is about to back off when the captain begins yelling. The sudden movement by the young man followed by the blast disorients Draken slightly. Before he's realized what's happening, the Trooper captain is beating the young man.

Authority figures or not, this is too much for Draken to handle. He concentrates, summoning his people's ability to armor their bodies. Granted, his people use the ability to protect themselves from the overactive solar flares that occur, but it should do ok against blaster fire.

In a flash of light, his body is covered in a silvery substance. He bull-charges the dumb-struck corporal out of the way and gets within reach of the captain. He lets out a shout as he swings his hammer, flinging the Trooper across the alley. Draken tries to limit the force of his swing, but the man definately has several broken ribs now.

He turns toward the other Trooper. "I don't want to hurt you, but you're going to have to leave now."

[Kale]

Kale was hurting badly. He wheezed for breath and just barely managed to lift his head enough to glimpse the iron colossus standing over him.

The corporal stumbled backwards toward the alley mouth, his sidearm suddenly leveled at Draken. <font color="red">"Back-up!"</font> he bawled into his comm. <font color="red">"I need back-up!"</font>

The captain hoisted himself shakily onto his elbows. Just meters away, he saw his blaster rifle lying in the street grime. Shutting out the pain from his ribs, he scrambled over his chest to grab for the blaster and raise it toward Draken's broad back.

[Ashe Sieris]

From behind the captain came a voice that was no more a whisper in his ear from the shadows behind him. It was calm but commanding at the same time, pushing into the trooper's mind.

"You don't want to be doing that."

The captain rolled over quickly and aimed the gun at the shadows that danced along the ally way. The shadows suddenly shifted and he fired his gun. The bolt flew into the wall, creating a small crater in the side of the building and a burn mark. A laugh comes from the shadows, this time all can hear it.

"You almost hit me. Too bad you missed."

Suddenly a golden beam comes out of the shadows and spins around, slicing off the end of the gun, along with one of the captain's fingers. Materializing out of the shadows come a female figure in a long coat, black pants with silver chains hanging from a leather belt and twisting their way down her right leg, ending at a pair of black boots with silver buckles on them. A black tank top with a red upside down A in a circle covers her chest. In her hand is an all to well known weapon called a light saber.

Ashe dodges forward, kicking the rest of the gun out of the Captain's hand and sends it skittering across the allyway. She puts her booted foot on his chest, forcing him down to the ground and puts her saber to his neck. Her eyes remain on the trooper.

"Kale. How many times do I have to tell you not to play Cops and Robbers with the nice storm troopers. They tend to take it a bit to seriously."

[Draken Chakara]

The sight of the woman appearing out of nowhere causes Draken's jaw to simply drop. And she carries a lightsaber! Could he actually be meeting a real Jedi?

He is so distracted from her sudden appearance that he allows the other Storm Trooper to escape from the alleyway to get more backup. But the Trooper is the least of his worries. With a look of wonder in his metallic eyes, he stammers at the newcomer.

"Are... are you... are you a J-J-... a Jedi?"

His hammer hangs slack in his fingers. All his life he had heard of the incredible Jedi. His family had never believed the stories about them trying to take over the Republic. They had been the heroes of his stories as a child. Now, to actually see one in action... it is incredible.

[Kale]

Kale rolled up onto his knees and coughed--oh, how it hurt. He looked up at Ashe, holding his arms tightly around his ribcage as if he were afraid it'd fall apart if he let go. Almost felt like it would.

"Ashe!" he rasped. "What are you..."

Turning his head, he saw Draken and, for the first time, fully apprehended that he was covered in organic chrome. He scrambled to his feet and backed up against the wall.

"You... you stay the frell away from me!"

[Ashe Sieris]

"Kale, he helped you. Metal or not, the fact of the matter is that he just mixed himself up with a 'bad croud' according to the Empire. He has just subject himself to the dumb logic of the empire."

Ashe kicks the helm off of the captain.

"Your going to regret this. When back up gets here, you will regret this."

Ashe rolls her eyes and brings her saber to the side of his head, knocking him out. With that, she deactivates her saber so that the golden light shoots back into the hilt. She turns to face the other two, her black and blue hair shining a bit in the low light of the city.

"As for your question, my friend. Yes, I am a jedi. As is my male counterpart... or atleast he will be."

She motions over to Kale. With that she turns back to the entrance of the ally and looks around quickly. Down the street a little ways, she sees a larger group of troopers headed their way. She sighs and quickly turns back to the other two.

"Kale, we need to get out of here. Large group of bantha poo is headed this way."

She waves her hand towards a fire escape and the ladder falls down beside Kale, waiting for him to get on. She turns back to the silvery giant beside her.

"Well, unless you want to be hunted like us, I would advise you to tell the incoming troopers that we used some sort of mind trick to get you to help us out. If you want to be hunted, which I doubt you do beings no one really wants it, then I would advise you to climb your silvery self up the ladder as fast as you can. Cause we are not waiting."

With that she starts walking towards the ladder where Kale is.

[Draken Chakara]

The woman's words put him at a bit of an impasse. He could stay here, return to his simple life, make a decent living, and be an ordinary strong guy. Or, he could take a chance for once and possibly end up training with a Jedi.

It seems as though an eternity passes before he can decide, but in reality the decision takes less than a second. He has to take this chance.

He allows his armor to drop as he switches off his hammer and slings it onto his back. The armor always seems to make him a bit slower and heavier. Not to mention, a giant silver guy climbing up a ladder is not exactly what one would call inconspicuous.

He zips up the ladder as fast as he can. That last thing he wants is to be left behind.

[Kale]

Kale hurried up the ladder after Draken, as fast as his aching sides and back would allow. He was just as glad to be behind the new guy--he still didn't trust him. Draken's change of heart aside, Kale was firmly convinced the whole thing was his fault.

The teen hefted himself up over the top of the ladder and onto the first platform of the fire escape. Glancing back down at Ashe, he said, "I don't wanna sound ungrateful, or nothin'... but what are you doin' here? I didn't exactly leave a trail of bread crumbs on my way out of the hostel."

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe begins to climb up the ladder as the other two make it to the top. She took extra time in examining the ally to make sure no one else had been around to see them. She gets two levels up the ladder when blaster fire starts from the entrance into the ally. The back up had finaly arived.

"Oh frell."

The fire escape was weak as it is and the blaster fire was making it creak with every hit taken. Then it suddenly colapses from the level above her. She jumps from the falling platform and lands at the feet of the troopers. She quickly back rolls away from them, pulling out her saber in the process.

"Kale, Run!" she shouts to the top of the building.

Ashe quickly begins dodgeing blaster fire, hiting a few of them back at the troopers with her saber. She runs back to the end of the ally where the fallen fire escape is. Her eyes quickly look up then back down to judge the distance to the nearest fire escape level. Then she sees them. Poles that had been attached to the lower fire levels were still sticking out of the wall. She could easily use them as a ladder. She has to deactivate her saber to do so though.

Knocking back a few more blaster bolts, she alows the blade to slip back into the hilt and clips it to her belt. The debree from the fallen part of the fire escape acts as a shield for the blaster bolts for now. But after a couple of levels, that protection would not be of any help to her. She begins the climb anyways.

Sure enough, after a few levels, blaster fire begins to reach her. She is able to use the force to dodge away from most of the bolts. Just before she makes it to the bottom level of the rest of the fire escape, though, she gets hit pretty hard in the left shoulder. She makes the last jump to the fire escape, ignoring the pain, and begins running up the steps. Just a few more levels and she is to the top.

Ashe climbs over the edge of the building, her shoulder pretty damaged but not beyond repair. She sighs and grabs her light saber again, looking around for Kale, then cuts the last of the fire escape down.

[Draken Chakara]

Just as the two reach the top of the next building, they hear a loud crash, and turn to see the aftermath of the rickety fire escape's fall. Draken would like to help if he could, but a few shots from the Troopers' blasters send them both scurrying for cover. Draken rushes to the other side of the roof and starts trying to work his way to another building. It's highly unlikely that, should the woman get away from the Troopers, that they'll simply give up. They've all got some running to do.

And since they're going to be running together, he might as well find out what he can about his companions. "By the way... my name's Draken... what's your name, and the Jedi lady's name?"

[Kale]

So much for keeping a low profile. From the sounds of things, the back-up was more like a full squad--there must've been an armored carrier nearby when the corporal made the call. Ashe was going to have her hands full. For that matter, so were Kale and Draken.

Kale scrambled after Draken to the joint where the current building joined the next one, and both of them vaulted over the short duracrete wall that separated the roofs. "Seems a moment ago you knew exactly who I was," Kale snapped. "The wanted man, right?"

He flinched at the sound of a blaster bolt, but it must've been a stray blast. The ionized projectile hissed harmlessly into the sky.

The two fugitives hurried up a rusty metal staircase to reach the next rooftop, which was raised by at least a level. "My name's Kale," the teen said at last, grudgingly. "And until I trust you, you only know the Jedi lady as Ashe. Got it?"

They could follow the rooftops until the end of the block, but that would be the end of the line. Kale couldn't jump the width of an alley, and he rather doubted Draken could, metallic or otherwise. That meant they needed to seek either higher ground or lower ground.

Coruscant was a world built in strata--levels upon levels of hostile subterranean works and sewers, then the dark and dismal ground levels, the murky twilight districts, and the bright and booming commercial and government levels. Each stratum contained spiderwebs of transit lines: suspended streets, skybridges, rails, lifts, and speeder lanes, all built with their foundations on the roofs of the levels below. The best escape Kale could think of was to find a service stairwell down from the basement of one of these buildings into the depths of the twilight district below Larch Street.

As luck would have it, this roof had an access door leading to a stairwell in the corner. Kale broke away from Draken and sprinted to the door. "Draken, this way!"

The door, as he expected, was locked. So he hovered his hand inches away from the knob and closed his eyes in concentration. He was rewarded with a hollow rattle and click, and the door opened with ease.

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe grabs her injured arm and winces slightly at the pain that runs through it. She lifts herself up with her good arm and carefully looks over the edge of the building. She pulls her head back, narrowly missed by a round of blaster fire. She sighs and stands up. They would soon find a way onto the roof and start to track her down again. She needed to keep moving. But her arm was going to slow her down until she got to the lower levels where she could safely bandage it up.

As quickly as she can, she starts to make her way towards the next closest building that she can get to. Climbing up buildings would be near impossable so going to higher levels is a negative. Not to mention the troopers would be able to spot her easily from the air. But going down. That is her main choice. Get to the lower levels of the city, and she could easily escape. Storm Troopers rarely ventured into the lower portions of the city. Not to mention, she already knew her way around down there. And she was sure that it was where Kale would run to.

A few roof tops later, she found and entrance into the building below and she knew that there was an opening in the bottom level that led to the lower levels of the city. Glancing back at the origonal roof top, she sees that the troopers had already made it to the top. Quickly, she opens the door and slips inside as quickly as she can and begins to make her way down the spiraling stairs to the bottom level.

[Draken Chakara]

The younger man's words bring a sheepish look to Draken's face.

"Well... your name wasn't on the poster."

He follows Kale as they leap across the rooftops. The sound of Trooper air transports can be heard in the distance, spurring both men to greater speed.

They come to a doorway that apparently leads to some sort of staircase. Draken gets ready to bash it down with his hammer when Kale does something rather strange. He simply places his hand above the knob and closes his eyes. Suddenly, the door opens. Draken is nearly speechless.

"You... can do that with the Force? How? Can... can you teach me that?"

[Kale]

Kale paused inside the door, blinking to accustom his eyes to the flourescent light. Draken's question surprised him. "You wanna learn about the Force? On this planet? You're crazier than you look. Come on, and shut the door behind you before they see."

With that, Kale began vaulting down the steps, taking them two at a time. It was six levels down to the basement, then two levels of foundation works, then another ten levels to the floor of the twilight sector. The maintenance elevator would be guarded with more than a deadbolt, and Kale didn't want to risk its computer logging a forced entry, so they'd have to climb all the way down.

It was dizzying--down a flight, pull a U-turn around a landing, down another flight to another landing--Kale held the pipe railing to keep him steady as he sped downward, taking care to keep his sneakers quiet on the concrete stairs. He was concentrating so much on speed and stealth that he couldn't distinguish between Draken's footfalls above him and the booted tramping below him until it was too late--he wheeled a corner and crashed headlong into a pair of Stormtroopers heading up the stairs. All three went down to the next landing with a crash, piled in a heap of arms, legs, and armor.

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe heard a loud crash several stories below her. Looks down, she could barely make out a group of storm troopers in a pile on the ground... with Kale ontop of them. She judged the distance between her and them. There was no way she could make it. Not with a busted arm. She would have to run it. So she started down as quickly as she could.

"Kale, you stupid idiot. If you are still alive when I get down there, I am going to kill you."

[Draken Chakara]

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to make himself as quiet as Kale. He tried to be quiet, but at the speed they were going, coupled with his size, it wasn't easy. He did his best to listen for the Storm Troopers coming up the stairs, but couldn't resist the urge to keep looking back. As he was checking over his shoulder for what must have been the twentieth time, he suddenly goes down, Storm Troopers, Kale, and himself all in one big tangle.

Before he can think, he's moving. He summons his armor once more, almost by instinct. Again, without truly knowing what he's doing, he is suddenly far stronger than he should be. He grabs one Trooper by the breast plate and slams him HARD into the duracrete wall, effectively knocking him senseless. He elbows the other, sending him tumbling down the stairs.

Believing the Trooper down the stairs to be out, he turns toward the other to make sure he's not hurt too badly. A movement out of the corner of his eye causes him to turn back. He looks to see the Trooper raising his rifle.

"Nooo!!!!"

He points both fists at the downed Trooper as he yells, simply wishing for the man to go away. In the process, he harnesses a very crude Force Push, slamming the man's head into the wall. At least he's out for now.

The problem is, Draken is a bit too slow to stop the shot. The bolt hits him dead center in the chest, knocking him back. For a moment, he's sure he's a dead man. But, under closer examination, it appears that his armor has held after all. He drops it entirely in order to check the damage. He's a bit scorched, and has what appears to be a nasty bruise, but he'll be ok. Rubbing his wound, he starts to process what's just happened. Though it seemed as if he'd been fighting for hours, the whole fight had been over in less than a minute. Suddenly, it dawns on him that he just survived a blaster bolt, and shoved a man into a wall without touching him.

"Woah... umm... Kale? What just happened?"

[Kale]

Less than a minute--Draken had put out both troopers in about three seconds, and a good thing, because neither had time to call in their buddies. Kale was nearly as shocked as Draken, but he didn't want to waste time philosophizing in case there were more troops where those came from.

He bolted to his feet and hiked up his backpack, wincing through the protests of his aching ribs. "I don't know, but if we run into any more troops, you just keep doin' what you're doin'."

Another level down, and they were in the lower foundations of Larch street. A pair of heavy steel doors, locked only from the outside, stood in their way. Kale turned the handle and heaved against one massive door--beyond was a warren of access tunnels, pipes, and conduits. Just across from the door was another stairwell, a metal one, twisting downward to the next street level. Kale had lived in such communities before--places that weren't only hidden in the shadow of the stratoscrapers but actually buried within their bowels, with no sky but the duracrete foundations and sewage lines of the levels above.

"Still got a ways to go--wait... Ashe!"

She'd just rounded the last landing and was ten steps above them. And she didn't look happy.

"Did you lose them?" Kale asked hesitantly.

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe made her way down the last flight of stairs, still holding her injured shoulder. Her hand was now covered in blood. The loss of blood was already starting to get to her. They would need to move fast in order to get to a safe place to bandage it in time.

"I.. don't know if I lost them."

Her vision blured momentarily and she shook her head quickly to keep herself up. She could hear the air transports above them, searching for them. She nudged the two of them through the doors.

"Just keep moving. We don't have much more time."

Once they were through the door, she glanced up at the cieling then slipped through the doors. Outside of them, she pulls out her lightsaber and looks at the two of them.

"Hold one second."

With the saber, she welds the two metal doors shut. That would hold the storm troopers if they found them for a while. With that done, she deactivated the saber and motioned them on.

[Draken Chakara]

The wound on her arm looks rather nasty. While she's sealing the door with her saber, Draken rips a strip of his shirt off. With the hole blasted in the front of it, it's not likely that he'll be wearing it again anyway.

As soon as she's done, he ties it tightly around her arm. "I know it's not much, but it'll keep pressure on the wound and make sure you don't have to hold onto it as long. Here, let me help you."

Draken moves beside her, looping one of her arms around him to help support her.

"Where to, Miss Ashe?"

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe points down the stairs. She could feel the blood flow from her arm beinging to slow. 'Thank the gods' she thinks to herself.

"Down there. We need to get to the lower levels. Once we get down there, the troopers wont touch us. The gangs rule down there and the troopers are scared to death of them. Not to mention there are plenty of places to hide and keep low until this blows over."

[Kale]

Somehow, the little gesture of offering a strip of his shirt as a bandage made Kale pause and reconsider Draken. First, because, as a streeter who only owned two shirts that weren't already in rags, Kale wouldn't have done it himself unless he absolutely needed to--second, because, up till now, Kale had thought Draken was just running with them to save his own hide. Now he wasn't so sure.

But the needs of the present were more important--getting out of the troopers' line of fire. Not that the gangs couldn't be just as bad, but at least he and Ashe knew how to deal with them, and they weren't looking for a trio of suspected force-adepts.

"My thoughts exactly," Kale replied. "C'mon."

He led the way down the stairs, keeping his pace a little slower this time. It was doubtful they'd meet anybody on the accessway this time of night; the upper and lower levels were entirely different worlds that rarely intermixed. Sure, there were wealthy prodigals who indulged their vices in the red light districts, but they never plunged to the depths where the bottom forty percent of Coruscant's population lived and died.

The descent was long and numbing--the musty air, the constant noise of shoes on metal, of ragged breath, the stinging light panels, the faded stenciling marking each level all whirled by in a maddening cycle with only random variations in the wear on the skid-strips to break the monotony. At last they came to the ground floor station, a duracrete cell with a hall leading to where the maintenance elevator emptied out and another pair of doors, also locked only from the outside. And on the other side was the twilight sector of the Chiba District.

The access doors were set at the end of a cul-de-sac. The alley that stretched before them, many times higher than it was wide, was littered with refuse in crates and bags. Beyond the alley was a broad thoroughfare, structurally the twin of Larch Street above, but a far harsher reflection. It was flanked by tall, faceless buildings whose liveability was second to their funtionality as pillars for the upper levels. The duracrete ceiling almost fifty meters up was mounted with pale yellow floodlights, a mockery of the sun and stars; they were augmented by guttering streetlamps on the sidewalks. Dark figures moved back and forth like wraiths through the pale and the shadows, humans and aliens made equal in the artificial caverns of Coruscant.

[Draken Chakara]

With each step downward, the walls seem to press in closer and closer. Draken has grown up all his life in open air under the sunlight and fresh air. This... well, he's never seen anything like this in his life.

During the monotonous walk, he is lost in thought, remembering back to the first time he saw Coruscant, or Imperial Center as it was now known. He almost chuckles as he remembers the wide-eyed stare and dropped jaw he was surely sporting. He's still not what one would call a "man of the world," but at least he's not quite as naive as he once was. As long as he'd been on the planet, though, he'd done his best to stay on top of the buildings when he could. His meager salary and low position as a physical laborer had not allowed him a top-side room, of course, but he always tried to wander about in any location where he could see the sky. It just... reminded him of home.

The flitting characters out of the corner of his eye distracts him out of his reverie. He looks around in alarm, not expecting to see the figures in the shadows. He calms a bit once he notices that neither Kale nor Ashe are alarmed in the slightest, but it is still a struggle to resist summoning up his armor and drawing his hammer.

He looks all around, both astounded and frightened by the subterranean feel of the undercity. If not for the vast size of the tunnels he would barely be able to stand the feeling of being covered by duracrete in all directions.

They have been walking in silence for some time, so Draken feels uncomfortable breaking it. However, his curiousity overwhelms his discomfort, and he whispers to his companions, "Do we have a specific goal in mind, or are we still just running?"

[Kale]

Kale sidestepped around a trio of eyeless mole rats tearing at something questionable in a pile of garbage, then he glanced back at Draken and shrugged.

"Well, I dunno. We should be safe for now, though I wouldn't advise stayin' too long in this neighborhood. Personally, I was on my way to Yangtze district when someone called Captain Imperial Psychopath on me."

That matter hadn't been forgiven yet--even if Draken had torn his shirt for Ashe, she wouldn't have been injured at all if he hadn't tried to play citizen informant. Which reminded him...

"Speakin' of which, what were you doin' in the alley, Ashe?" Kale asked. "Not that I mind--you probably saved both our butts. But I didn't think anybody knew I'd left the Last Stand."

[Ashe Sieris]

"Just because you don't think someone knew, doesn't mean that someone didn't know. Not to mention,"

She taps her temple with the index finger on her good hand twice.

"the force will always give you away. I had a feeling something bad was going to happen to you so when we last parted, I made sure to keep tabs on you. You really should check your back pack thuroughly before leaving."

She smirks at him and holds up a tracer for which the other part of it was located in his bag.

The pain in her shoulder had subsided for now. But she would have to bandage it better soon or else it might get infected. Luckaly, sense her last encounter with a sith, she kept bandages and such on her at all times. Ashe looks around again then points off down a side ally.

"Down there. I know of an empty building down there that we can hide in for now. We are in safe territory for now. The gang that runs this area doesn't care about others in his territory unless you are part of an opposing gang. For which, I would assume because you dont know much about this planet, that you are not part of an underground gang, my tall metal friend."

[Draken Chakara]

Kale's stinging comment brings a bit of a blush to Draken's face. Fortunately, it's dark enough here so that it doesn't show.

"Well, where I grew up, we trusted the local authorities. I was always taught that they were... well, they were the good guys. I thought I was doing my civic duty. But, when I saw that Trooper choking you and beating you, I couldn't just let you get killed. I guess I've still got a long way to go before I'll fit in around here."

He listens quietly as Ashe speaks of using the Force to find Kale. When she makes the comment about underground gangs, Draken can't help but chuckle. He scratches the back of his head in a self-conscious manner. He looks at the ground as he responds, shuffling his feet.

"Heck... a month ago, I didn't know what a gang even was. I wouldn't even know how to join one."

[Kale]

Holy frell--what galaxy had this lumpkin come from, anyway? It was like he was a case study in natural selection just waiting to happen.

But Kale held back on that remark--there was something more important he needed to set straight first.

"Well, sorry to break it to you, but you're halfway there already," he said bluntly. "You've just assaulted military personnel. You've assisted two fugitives in escaping the law. And, if I'm not mistaken, you've marked yourself as one of the 'practicioners of unlawful arts' that the Empire has been tryin' to exterminate since before I was born. It looks to me like your whole 'good citizen' schtick just got blown straight to frell. So what I want to know is, what're you plannin' to do about it? Cause there's no goin' back for you now."

[Draken Chakara]

The younger man's words sink in, bringing to the forefront once more what he actually did. He can still barely believe what he's done. And Kale is right... there is no going back from here. It's the outlaw life from here on out. Somehow, though, he believes that his family would be more proud of him than ashamed. He tries to explain himself.

"I know. I just couldn't let them - or anyone else for that matter - do what they were doing to you. My daddy taught me to do what's right, and to follow the law. But he also told me that, no matter what I did, make sure I could look myself in the mirror the next morning. If I had let that Trooper beat you near to death, well, I wouldn't be lookin' myself in the eye for a long time. So, yeah, maybe the law doesn't like me anymore. But where I come from, we still respect the Jedi. Whatever consequences come from this, I'm gonna have to live with them. But I feel like I did what was right."

He turns toward Ashe to ask her a question that's been on his mind the whole time they'd been running.

"Umm... Miss Ashe? I've just gotta know... was that stuff I did back in the stair well... was that using the Force? And if it was, does that mean that I could... well, that I might possibly... be a Jedi some day?"

He almost holds his breath waiting for her answer. He wants to control himself, just in case he can't be a Jedi, but if he could...

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe thinks for a long moment about what happened on the stairs. She had witnessed it and she knew what he had done but even with that, there were still some doubts in her mind. She thought about everything she had done to go through training with her master. Does this man have the mental and physical fortitude to be able to go through Jedi Training? She looks him up and down again and makes her dicision.

"Becoming a jedi is not an easy task. Not only are you hunted by the government and hated by many civilians and other such people, but you also must loose all connections with your former life. From what my master used to tell me, when the jedi order was around, they only took young and special cases into the jedi order for training because they had no knowledge of their family. So they had nothing to hold them back."

She pauses a moment then looks him over once more.

"But I belive with training, you could make it as a jedi."

[Kale]

"I ain't so sure about that."

They passed briefly under the acrid glare of a streetlamp and then back into the shadowy gloom. Kale was staring straight ahead, his hands driven deep into his pockets, his face sullen and stony.

"What I mean is, I ain't so sure that any of us are gonna 'make it' as Jedi. Look, there's no temple. There's no council. There ain't even a Republic. Even if there are any other Jedi left, we've got no idea how to find them. So what are we gonna do? Defend peace and justice for the Empire? Huh, like frell. As far as they're concerned, we're the enemy."

[Draken Chakara]

Two ideas swirl within the big man's head. On one side, there's his elation that he might actually become a Jedi. On the other hand, there's Kale's depressing commentary about how on earth they'll go on. He thinks for a minute before speaking. Most people think he's a bit slow because he waits before he speaks. Actually, he's just thoughtful. He likes to make sure he knows what he's going to say before he says it. After his contemplation, he speaks.

"Well, I can't say that I know what we should do. And I know there's no council anymore, and that the Empire's not really what you'd call the good guys anymore.

"But I do know that the Jedi are the good guys. And, because of that, we have to do what we can. If we don't fight evil, who will? I don't know about you, but I want to fight. We can't let the Dark Side win. You can call me naive, and maybe I am. But I have to stand for what's right. It just plain has to be done."

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe nods her agreement with the large man.

"Besides, Kale. As long as we know that what we are fighting for is right and we fight for the hope that one day, a new jedi order will be astablished, then we are doing what the jedi would want."

She stops beside a door in an old wall. It was obvious that not many people had walked threw here in the past few years. Ashe pushes open the door and steps inside, motioning for the other two to come in. Once they step in, she closes the door and the three of them are plunged into darkness. They hear a crack and light spills out from a light stick held in Ashe's hand.

"We might not be from the old jedi order. But the old jedi order is gone. This universe was plunged into the darkness of the empire and the sith. But maybe," she holds up the glow stick, "its time for a new group of jedi to shed some light in the darkness. Maybe it is time for a new version of jedi to emerge and fight for what the old ones once gave their lives for."

She tosses the two of them a glowstick each that has not been activated.

"I'm ready to go for it. What about you two?"

[Kale]

Kale squinted in the sudden, pale brilliance of the glowstick in Ashe's hand--he barely adjusted in time to snatch the stick she'd thrown him out of the air.

He squinted at her from the gloom, then snapped his own stick.

"Pardon me if I'm not as eager as you two to make myself a martyr," he said acridly. "Personally, I'm more interested in stayin' alive."

[Draken Chakara]

It may just be a glowstick, but to Draken, it is much more. It is like a badge of honor. Almost like a tangible representation of his start as a Jedi. Unlike Kale, Draken took the impromptu ceremony very seriously. He snaps his glowstick with something akin to reverence.

"I accept."

[Kale]

Kale looked between Draken and Ashe in disbelief.

"Now wait a minute. Just wait a frellin' minute. Just what are you plannin' on fighting? And what are you plannin' on fighting for?"

He stepped closer, close enough that the light from both their glowsticks shone on his face.

"You wanna hit the Empire? How? Ambush Stormtroopers? Sabotage power generators? Bomb the Imperial Academy? I mean, what are you gonna do?"

[Ashe Sieris]

"Anything within our power. It was the empire that destroyed the older jedi order. It was them that scattered the last remaining jedi across the galaxy."

'It was them that murdered my master' she thought to herself but did not say it aloud.

"Do you want to just sit around here, and let them continue their horrid rule over the galaxy? I would even be willing to help the Rebel's in their fight."

She looks at Kale.

"Think about it, Kale. With our skills in the force and how we are able to use it for our theiving skills, why couldn't we use it to gain information for the rebels. Or to sabatage some plan of the empire."

[Draken Chakara]

Draken nods with her plan.

"I'm ready to help whenever I can. But, just one thing... don't I need a little training, at least? I really don't have much control at the moment..."

[Kale]

Kale sighed and walked a small circle, just working out nervous energy. Then he put his hands in his pockets and stared Ashe straight in the eye.

"You're forgettin' something important, Ashe. What's in it for me?"

[Ashe Sieris]

"The ability to, one day, be able to walk around and not be worried that some bounty is on your head. If we make this work, Kale, the jedi wont be hunted any more. We could start an order like the old jedi. We wouldnt have to worry about people turning us in or the empire being out to get us. We could find the rest of the jedi and unite them."

Her eyes look him over carefully, knowing alot about him already but always watching for more.

"Come on, Kale. You and I both know the best way for a rogue to not get caught is to not have people hunting you."

[Kale]

"Nobody was hunting me before I fell in with Jedi!" Kale retorted hotly. "If it wasn't for Lorca, I'd just be another pickpocket out there on the street. Well, maybe that's all I want to be. It's all I can afford to be."

Backing up, he threw his glowstick to the ground. "I've had it with this dren. My mom was arrested for it, an' I never found out what happened to her. I ain't gonna make the same mistake. You wanna take on some damn-fool idealistic crusade, you do it on your own time."

[Draken Chakara]

Draken moves toward him, putting one hand on the smaller man's shoulder.

"Kale... you can't just give up. It's not just for ideals. It's for... well, it's just for the sake of being good. Have you never felt any guilt for doing something wrong? Have you not ever wanted to make things better? Trust me, Kale... if you lose your integrity, nothing will ever make up for it. You have powers... a gift. You can use those to help people. Or, you can use them for your own gain. Which one will help you sleep at night?"

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe sighs and picks up his glow stick. She turns it slowly over in her hand before looking back up at Kale.

"The big guy is right, Kale. And you know that. But... it is your choice. I am sorry if you feel that doing this is not worth the risk. But to me, it is."

[Kale]

Kale backed away from Draken and stared at the pair of them. He didn't understand them. He didn't know what they intended to accomplish. And if there was something to be gained by taking on the Empire toe-to-toe, he didn't see it.

"Then I guess this is goodbye," he said. "Listen... you saved my life, an' I'm grateful." He dug into his pocket, pulled out a datachip, and tossed it to Ashe. "I ripped that off an intel officer a couple of days ago. I don't know what's on it, but you'll probably have more use for it than I will. And maybe handin' it off to you will help keep the Imps off my back. Anyway, uh..."

He took a few more backwards steps.

"May the Force be with you. You're gonna need it more than I will."

With that, he turned and headed out the door.

[Draken Chakara]

Draken's head falls at the young man's departure... perhaps their paths would cross again. Perhaps not. Now, the only thing to do is move forward.

He turns toward Ashe. "Well... I guess we might as well try to figure out what's on that chip. Any idea how we can do that?"

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe caught the chip and glanced down at it. She then watched as Kale said his good byes and left. She sighs deeply and looks at the ground. Her eyes then dart over to the chip that she holds in her hand.

"Only one way to find out."

She starts walking off in a different direction that Kale went.

[Draken Chakara]

Draken nods sagely and follows her silently. To think... this morning, he'd been a paid laborer swinging an impact hammer. Now... a possible future Jedi. He knew his life would change on Coruscant, but this is still a bit of a shock. However, he's ready to commit himself to this new life. Onward and upward...