Wasting Someone Else's Mind is a Wonderful Thing

[The Fifteen]

Cigarra smoke hung in the air, a dirty mist spewing from evil-thought factories. The large, clear transparisteel table was surrounded by a rather untrustworthy set of fifteen beings, of various species.

One was a somewhat short (for a wookie), tubby wookie, who held a protocol droid's head on what looked to be a hacked off microphone stand. With a roar, he flicked the thing on. The droid burbled to life, its eyes lighting up--but one flickered unsteadily.

"Oh my!"

The wookie roared again, the droid-head silencing itself with a squeek.

A round of laughter rounded the table, the wookie finally stopped urfing a minute later before barking at the droid again.

"Chrawrallrr wants to know what bounty hunters you have for the scum. He also wishes the bounty to be halved."

One suprisingly muscular rodian spoke up.

"Already taken care of. Jerico?"

Jerico Grunzilli was a greasy looking fellow. His face was thin and narrow, his nose too long, and he had a rather thin frame. But, he was a trickshot and a cunning bastard. Jerico slicked his hair down with a free hand while the other's fingers jittered and drummed on the table. He smiled at the inconspicuos twi'lek to his right: Firn Virn, his usual partner in crime.

"I found two that were particularly qualified. One says he used to be Jedi, which, well, who gives two frelling leaps? But he has a solid record, and his word is all we really have. The other is weird. Some woman who says she can null the Force or some crap. Supposedly there are some weird lizzard things that do it, but they're hard to get. Anyway, show them in, Trinker."

Trinker opened the door and shuffled out.

"The Krinsys are ready to see you."

[Force Master Hunter]

"About bloody time" snarled Hunter, turning around from the windows he had been staring out of. Dressed in his usual black clothing, with the trenchcoat and dark eyeshades, his gloved hands touched the butt of the rail guns at his side. If they wanted him to remove his weapons, well they could go frell themselves. His class of bounty hunter only killed when paid to do it - and in his case paid extraordinarily well. When you had the types of hits Hunter had on his sheet, you had to expect to pay through the <smallfont color={hovercolor}>-Censored-</smallfont><smallfont color={hovercolor}>-Censored-</smallfont><smallfont color={hovercolor}>-Censored-</smallfont>.

As he entered the room, ignoring the freak bitch, he got a handle on who was there, assessed them. Mainly to work out if they were time waters, or whether they really had a job that would be top line and paid top credit.

Otherwise, he was walking out.

[Azure Regalia]

The Huntress said nothing as they were ushered into the next room, raising an amused eyebrow at the other man's retort. She seen him before, but never on a one on one basis, and having been in the same room with him for the last 20 minutes had been rather dull, save for the fact he kept looking out the only window in the room and muttering every now and then. Neither one had spoken to the other during the time they had been in the room.

They were brought to a table where several beings sat, all looking at them. She'd been asked to show for a chance at a hefty bounty they wished to place. And that was the only reason she'd agreed to the meeting. Being well paid for something was always an incentive.

[The Fifteen]

"I can tell you all are the type who don't parctiuarly care for seats. Thats expected. Regardless, the open bounty of half a million credits is closed, and has been for a week." Hunter looked peeved, but already aware of the fact. Tressk Arelyn continued. "So, the bounty has been halved. We're commisioning you two because we're rather tired of the morons who've been shooting at Evanar with disruptors. We want him alive, in one piece. For a hundred twenty-five a piece. You two are supposed to be excellent, but further suited for taking down a Jedi Master." The Bothan flipped open the case in front of him, and produced two stacks of credits in a clear plastic case. He casually flipped one to each of the bounty hunters.

"Ten thousand. Expenses, deducted from the rest of the bounty. You two have to work together on this, because we're tired of amature foulups. We'd like the subject delivered incapatcitated, if possible. Get him in a week, and we'll have a bonus of another ten."

[Force Master Hunter]

Hunter gave this Arelyn being a filthy look.

"10 G bonus for early delivery? That's pathetic. 50 G for early delivery. How fast you want this guy is directly related to how deep your credit line is. "

Jedi Master Morgan Evanar heh? Well aint this a bitch. Wonder what he did to piss someone off this badly?

"As for your other terms... fine. As long as you have someone here who can make me a bit of a different bullet and some nerve inhibitors"

[Azure Regalia]

The Huntress laid a hand protectively on the plastic case that had been presented to her. FMH's response to the bonus brought a smile to her lips. She may not think much of having a partner, but she liked the way this man thought when it came to money. She looked at the Bothan, indicating with her head towards Hunter.

What he said about the bonus. Capturing AND incapacitating a Jedi Master is't a cheap deal.

As to the rest of the terms, I will concede.

She looked to Hunter a moment and wondered if he knew she had a means of transporting the Jedi; a Force cage. Well, it mattered not now. She had no doubt he and her would be discussing minor details for the capture of this Morgan Evenar later. Right now, the dealing and settling of the monitary issues was first on the list.

[The Fifteen]

Jerico snorted.

"Yeah, 125 is free, and I'm Palpy's long lost little kid. An extra 10 is a bonus. I'll give you an extra week for the 10. Two weeks, an extra 10. If you can't do it, no skin off anyone's back." Hunter shot a look across the crime syndicate that would peel paint, make babies cry, and spoil milk.

"20, two weeks."

A well dressed female Togorian clicked her claws against the table.

"Wee havve manageed to proccurrree inforrrmaationn about Morrrgaan." she mewled. "Forr onne, hess not humaann." Tarrra Rrannarrg brought the small holoprojector in the center to life.

"Humannsss donn't have clawss." A picture of Evanar came up, carrying a datapad on the steps of the Senate building. He was wearing dark brown gloves of course, and the picture zoomed in.

"Heerrrree isss tthee therrrmal ovverrrrlay." Three claws folded back from the knuckles on the illustrated left hand, a cool blue instead of the warm reds and yellows around it. Tarrra normalized the colors.

"Allsso, hisss body temmperrraaturrre is a degrrree tooo warrrmmm."

"Hee visssitsss the sSssenate almossst evverrrry dayy, but hisss rroute hasss gotten incrrreaassingly rrrranndommm. Expecctt a pairrr of lightsssaberrss and a rrraaail pissstol. Mmmaaybe a holddout blassterrr." Tressk tossed the pair of bounty hunters data cards.

"Goood hunnttiing." She mewed, cat with a mouse grin across her features.

[Azure Regalia]

The Bounty Hunter nodded her head in response to the information given them, and walked out of the room into the hallway, waiting for Hunter.

While she waited, she keyed in a few codes into her mini-computer gaunlet, resting on her left forearm, ordering her on-ship computer to begin searches for the last whereabouts of this Morgan Evanar.

[Force Master Hunter]

"Hmph"

Well, whatever his argument, this bounty was a bloody good one. This was a serious amount of credits in anyone's language. Picking up the datapad offered, he scanned a lot of the info he already knew, plus some other bits that he didnt that would come in handy. Like the fact Evanar carried rail guns as well. There was reason Hunter chose those things. The fact the Jedi also carried them was a cause for concern.

'Yeah, fine. Have the credits ready".

He turned on his heel, followed the lizard thing out the door. He didnt speak a word until they reached the turbolift. He still didnt speak until they entered and the door closed, beginning to take them back to street level. He kept his gze straight ahead even thien, strctly business.

"Allright, seems we are on this job together, the name's Hunter. I'm the one who took out Darth Turbogeek. Who are you and what makes you valuable in dealing with a Force user?"

[Azure Regalia]

The Huntress smiled to herself at the man's question as they walked to their respective rides.

I can inhibit the Force on command. Essentialy, I was bred specifically for hunting Force users.

She didn't go into detail about the recent information she had aquired, at a healthy sum. She'd been somewhat shocked and yet in her gut knew she had been made soley for the purpose of hunting Force users. To think the Empire had put money into the project she had come out of when the Shadow Academy first reared it's ugly head. But the project had not been needed as thr Shadow Academy had eliminated itself through it's own greed and power-wanting. And yet, after the project had been halted and banned, her creator continued in a secret lab. Out of all the experiments and genetic splicing, she was the only one to survive. Alas, her creator was soon caught by the Empire's factions and given the death penalty for violating a direct command.

It was a bitter-sweet feeling to know she was the only one, but it had helped her to make a life for herself, and a good one at that.

I also have the ability to camoflage to change my appearance, or simply vanish...

To make the point, her skin took on a rosey color, her hair turning chestnut, and her eyes changing to a hazel hue. And then, she took on the surrounding area's color, nearly becoming invisible. Though this close to Hunter, he would be able to see a somewhat shimmery-looking outline around the edges.

Finishing with the demonstration, she took back on her natural coloring.

...and a few other tricks, but whether they're needed is yet to be seen.

[Force Master Hunter]

"Ah, I have heard of you then"

His mind suddenly kicked into overdrive, for this presented whole new opportunities for catching the Jedi. Hunter himself understood the value of Yalsalir and if this lizard was like that...

"And I have an idea. The organisation I work with has some of the best trackign on the Jedi in the Galaxy, they will know where Evanar is. After that, I suggest a plan to make him come to us and use your... talent to our advantage"

[Azure Regalia]

The HUntress nodded her head.

Very well then. Is this organization here on planet, or on a different rock?

They'd reached the hangar bays where their ships were.

In either case, we should track our query down as quickly as possible and set up a solid plan of capture.

I also have a means of transporting Force users aboard my ship if that would be of any use.

[Morgan Evanar]

Contrary to a moderately popular belief, the Senate building was not merely comprised of the main chamber. It housed a complex of meeting rooms, halls, a mail center and a library. The Senate attempted to convene ever 60 standard days. But, in reality, half of the debate that took place on the "floor" was show.

Most of it went on in the many meeting halls, occasionally occupied by Jedi along with Senate members and aides. Since Morgan had no Padawans, he was at the Senate building more than almost any other Jedi. Half the time he sat with his eyes closed, practicing reading emotions. The Jedi Master figured, after ten years of practice, that he might be able to be as good as Navaria-- if she were drugged, drunk, and in the frenzy of an armed riot.

Morgan was then aware of a lul in the conversation, and, judging from the emtions in the rooom, both sides were about to engage in a full on cavarly charge.

"Perhaps we could break for an two hours and reconvene?" It was the exact oposite that both sides of the arguement wanted right then, and therefore the Jedi figured it was a very, very good idea.

"A fine idea, Master Jedi." The Chandrillian Senator said, even if he half meant it.

"Very well, two hours then." replied the Senator from Bothwai, who hid his displeasure behind a fascade of calm.

A smile and a nod from the Jedi Master as he stood before leaving the room. Morgan took the steps that led to the Senate at his traveling speed; a stride that neither was rushed nor slow, but rather something purposeful and effiecient. It didn't attract attention but instead assumed you were going somewhere. Which Morgan was.

Lunch.

The Bar and Grill was roughly a klik away, which would take most people about twenty minutes, if they went by the obvious route. After a few days, Morgan had noticed a little used back alley that would have been a very busy thoroughfare if it weren't for a 4 meter wall dead-smack in the middle of it. He was about 3 minutes from the shortcut, which gave him plenty of time to annihilate the granola bar lurking in his jacket pocket. After a bit of fishing, it came out along with flower petals. The scent was wonderful.

Maybe Rie would be about for lunch. That would be a perfect respite from a Senate meeting for a few hours, the Jedi Master figured as he bit into the bar.

[AmazonBabe]

:: AB wiped at her brow, leaning back on her heels. She'd been in the Temples main garden all morning and moving along at a good pace to get everything tended to, only to be stopped by a sick aelora vine from Naboo. It was puzzling to find such a sturdy plant begin to brown and yellow. But after a quick look with the Force, she was able to determine that the plant had been exposed to a bacteria in it's water supply that it could not fight off naturally. Thankfully, it was easily righted by adding an ezym to it's fertilizer to counter-balance said bacteria, neutrolizing it around the vine. One disaster averted each day, and at least for this day, she'd done just that. ::

:: Gathering her belongings, she made her way back to the gardening shed when her stomache let out a hardy growl. Instinctively, she put a hand to her abdomen, realizing she'd not eaten a single bite all day. Well, now was a good a time as any to take a break, so after putting all her tools away, she made her way towards the garden's exit. ::

:: As she walked towards Yog's B&G, a less than a minute walk from the garden, she thought about Morgan and how his mediating between two senetor's was going. She didn't envy him his job for the day, as mediating had a way of giving one a splitting headache that could only be remedied with a bucket full of aspirin. ::

:: Entering the B&G, her stomache once again complain, and she made her way to a table. There she ordered a root stew, nerf steak, and a cool glass of water. She hoped she'd see Morgan, but couldn't count on the job of mediating to let him out at a reasonable time to have lunch... or any other meal for that matter. So, when her food arrived, she dug in hungrily. ::

[Force Master Hunter]

Things were getting better and better. No need for any special equipment or call on Yalsalmir. This was going to be resonably easy - relative of course. Dealing with a Jedi Master was always a bitch, but denying them The Force was always a good first step.

Plus, it made Jedi tricks to detox trancs ineffective.

"My contacts would say it doesnt matter where they are. All it counts is getting a location of the mark, which can be done quite quick. Especially for such high profile memebers of society. Within 15, they'll tell me what <smallfont color={hovercolor}>-Censored-</smallfont> hole he's on. If he's kept any type of profile, they'll know his location shortly after that.

Now... as for catching him - how well do you play damsel in distress?"

[Azure Regalia]

The Huntress smiled cooly. Play-acting had always been a part of her job to get within spitting distance of her querry.

Blonde or brunette?

[Morgan Evanar]

The granola bar made great crunching noises as the Jedi Master walked twoard his alleyway shortcut. He fumbled in his other pocket, looking for an apple.
Ate that during a trip to the bathroom. Meh, I'll be having lunch in a few minutes anyway.

Morgan felt a little more relaxed. No one had shot at him in a week. Progress. The last fellow who had shot at him, holes through both hands, blown out left kneecap, broken right leg. The last bit of the granola bar went down easy after a good, thoughtful chewing.

Hruh. Feel like that Exploder song today.
"Met a man locked away
for things he hadn't done
innocense on a ball and chain
never feel the sun
a grin on his face
roses in his hands
but when he smiled at me
I could understand

if you're free you'll never see the walls
if you're head is clear you'll never freefall
if you're out right you never fear the wrong
if you're head is high you never fear at all... "

[Force Master Hunter]

His grin just got bigger.

'Oh, blonde of course. They do make the best distressed damsels, do they not?"

--

Took his contacts a bit longer than he expected to get a approximate location of the Jedi in question. But the news was good. Right on Coruscant. Gave him a bit of time to change into more casual clothes and also to call up someone else, to arrange a nice couple of doses of of tranquiliser. And a small palm sized dart gun.

"Okay... we got our fix. Lets go"

[Morgan Evanar]

Blurry. The world became very blurry to Morgan Evanar as he threw the blonde away, and against a dumpster. Four darts stuck out of him, pumping potent tranquilizers and neurotoxins out. He growled and flailed for a moment, catching the mugger across the jaw, who stumbled backwards.

I guess I won't be making it for lunch today.

There was a vauge sensation of rolling over from a nasty kick before everything faded into white... and then nothing. Even the Jedi's superiour sense of place and time was nulled.

1st conciousness:

I woke with a nasty right to the face, but I suspect the thug had been hammering me for several minutes at least. The pain would have been preferable to the numb, drugged detachment I felt. Whatever they had given me had me noxious, jittery, and hazed at the same time. My hands shook but my eyes couldn't focus. The green, heavy Gammorean hammer hit me again, and grunted in satisfaction.

When the living wall moved, it revealed some sort of weird machine with a helmut attached. Fifteen grinning faces let me know this was a very bad thing. Futily, I thrashed and flailed, and my nervous system gave me the dim recognition of being bound. Metalic noises when I thrashed--chained then. Chained in a dank, ugly large grey hole of a room, long stripped of pride, and left withering with cracks and creases that came with abuse and neglect over a very long period of time. The floors were bare permacrete, well worn, grey, and sad, much like the walls.

A clear surgical mask was placed over my face. Realizing that holding my breath now would do absolutely no good, I inhaled. The pain and jitters faded to the distance. Muscle relaxant I decided. Focus was vanity. My eyes rolled about the room with the precision of a runaway steamroller on a black diamond slope, and the focus of stained glass.

They put something on my head, that weird helmut, a thin creature my vision was too blurred to see what it was, and an ugly mutant of a man, who's eyes were too big, and nose was too wide and flat. Random tufts of hair dotted his jawline where a beard should have been.

"Am I going for a ride?" I tried to ask sarcastically. If I was going to die a horrible death, may as well have some interesting last words. Instead it came out more like "A-h-m-m-a-g-o-i-n-n f-o-e-r-r-a-h-r-r-i-d-e?" a slow, mushy mess, like icecream just dropped on a hot summer sidewalk.

No one laughed.

After some time passed, someone turned on the headlights. My nervous system screamed HOTCOLDPAINTOUCH!!!!, and I blanked out for a moment. Instead of thrasing like a good body, it just hung there limp. Focus focus focus... I felt very drained.

The repossetion cleaners arrived. The house of my mind was due for a remodling job while I was tied and gagged on the couch. They were of the generous sort, bringing everything right in front of me before smashing it into pieces with sledgehammers.

"Who lives here?" I asked, as they were leaving. "Dunno." they said. But the did untie me and did away with the gag.

2nd conciousness:
This time it was a blow to the stomach. I bit my tounge, which hurt much more than the punch. Another hypo. It made me jittery, yet unable to focus. I was a wild, angry, declawed Nexu on an enclosed ice rink. With determination yet futility, I scrambled about the ice, hurting myself instead of accomplishing anything useful. But it was all I knew how to do, so I kept on until I was spent.

Who what where when why how?!? Frantic, I paniced. Nothing made sense. The fundamentals that grounded a being, that granted sanity, had been stripped away. I no longer knew anything, except that I didn't know anything, and that wasn't alright.

The pasty thug kept hammering me until he wore himself out. I decided there wasn't much point in being awake. I closed my eyes and tried to block everything out, perhaps gain a little bit of solitude.

Morgan! Where are you? I looked around the room, bewildered. But there was only pasty and sweaty, sitting there with a self-satisfied grin. I closed my eyes, and drifted off.

5th conciousness:
I screamed. Cold, fridgid water hit my battered body, a winter gail over open plains. Pasty was happy to let me know that I crapped my pants last night, and he didn't know that a person could hold it for a week and a half. I smiled stupidly, not knowing what else to do, so he hit me. I think he would have hit me anyway. Pasty didn't hit hard enough for it to register. It hurt terribly when Green was in the mood though.

When I passed out, I had a dream: a beautiful woman with long red hair came and rescued me with a wise old man. They explained that everything would be all right now. It was the second time I had dreamed of the woman. In the first dream, she came to me and said that she missed me very much, and that she and the others were looking for me. I asked her to help but she said she couldn't find me. She smelled of wild flowers and calm, quiet forests, with green eyes as bright as life.

8th conciousness:
The voices keep calling out, but I don't know how to call back. Pasty thinks I'm going mad, but Green suggested it's a Jedi thing. I doubt I'm a Jedi. It sounds important. Green gave me the shot today, but it didn't make me numb, only jittery. Calm. Focus focus focus focus...

I pulled against the chains with a slow, steady determination. Green had left the room, so pasty sat in his chair and Stared at me with a rather amused expression on his face. I ignored it. Focus. I closed my eyes slowly, each breath I took infused me with determination and something else that is far to intangible to describe. The chains begain to creak and groan. Pasty laughed.

"You tried this last week, you think its gonna work now?"

P-ping!. The IV tore free, and I landed in a messy heap while Pasty fumbled frantically for something in his jacket. He pulled it free, pointing it at me meanacingly. Blaster, Something distant registered in my mind. My head jerked to the side while something red and nasty fizzled by me, blackening the support post I was chained to mere moments before. Deftly, I grabbed the blaster from the paniced man, and squeezed. With a defiant hiss and a pop, it gave up before crumpling into twisted metal waste.

He hit me. For some reason, I smiled. The biggest grin ever to grace something bipedal grew on my face like sunset shadows. Death would have paused.

It was my turn: I hit him as hard as I could. His face made a sickening crunch when my fist impacted, and Pasty oozed red stuff everywhere. Blood. Upon second inspection, it looked broken, too. His jaw seemed to be floating free, and his cheekbone on one side looked rather dented in. Despite the blood on his shirt, his clothes looked much more appealing than my own filthy rags. I worked quickly, and found that everything was too big around in the middle, and too short. After I tightend the belt, I ran.

Up.

I kept running up, charging up the stairwell. Wherever I was, there wasn't any other people. Everything looked in disrepair. The broken doors led to a dimly lit street, also broken. Despair hit me like water from that hose, that evil winter wind.

Frell frell frell frell frell. Overhead loomed a seemingly impenterable concrete sky. Voices.


Morgan! Where are you? Up, and twoard that huge column. My legs were no longer me, and seemed to be working of their own accord.

[Azure Regalia]

The plan worked out smoothly with the Huntress acting the part of damsel in distress. As expected, the Jedi had come to her rescue. She thanked him and then smiled, though the smile held no thanks or warmth. In that moment, he'd lost all sense of the Force as her inhibiting bubble went up, making him stagger. Realizing what was potentially going on, he tossed the blonde aside, knocking her against a few dumpsters.

The hit was hard enough to make the Force bubble falter slightly as her mind got joggled from the impact... but it was too late. Hunter's expert aim brought several tranquilizer darts to land firmly into the Jedi's neck, instantly injecting the Jedi with the toxin. By that time, the blonde had already stood and brought the bubble to full strength. There was no way for the Jedi to fight off the toxin, and he fell into oblivion.

Both she and Hunter brought the unconcious Jedi to the drop off point and received their pay, each looking over it before accepting.

But before they'd left, their now former employers told them they'd be in touch... that perhaps they'd be needed again.