Getting away (open)

[Naj Arilov]

The silence was something to be treasured. Amid the hustle and bustle of Coruscant, there was hardly a place to find such splendid quiet. Surprisingly enough, it was to be found in the simplest places. A library.

With silent steps, Naj made his way in, nodding politely at the librarian before making his way toward the back. Slowly he made his way along the shelves, looking for something of interest. As he walked, he became slightly annoyed, as most of the books were utterly useless. He kept moving along though. Silently he cursed, How could one place have such a concentrated mass of useless crap? He thought the librarian to be simple minded for this outrage. How disrespectful to mark such a wallowing hole of stupidity with the word "library". Naj fought the urge to walk to the front and slap the woman. That wouldnt solve anything though, as slapping someone wont make them any smarter. The ultimate complication of the galaxy, it seemed. As he mused about the dullness of the librarian, a book caught his eye. He quietly removed it from the shelf and made his way to a table. It wasnt as informative as he would have liked, but it would make due. After all, it was quiet here....

[Reese Vortex]

Reese sat in one of the chairs with her feet propped up on the table crossed at the ankles as she read quietly from some book she just took off the shelf of the library to keep her mind from thinking of other things. She saw the newcomer sit down a few tables from her with a scowl on his face. She smirked, touching his mind briefly to find him not a happy camper at the selection here. Her eyebrows raised at the erratic thoughts going around in his mind and quickly slipped out before being detected.

This newcomer definately piqued her curiousity. Glancing back down at the book in her lap, she tried to concentrate on the droning words, but just couldn't. Her own mind had it's own agenda and she looked back up at the man. 'Something about him...I can't quite place it.' She thought to herself. Letting out a deep sigh, Reese numbly thumbed through the rest of the book, letting her mind drift to hear other's whispered conversations.

[Naj Arilov]

"This isnt right at all. Whoever wrote this book is an idiot. Silver Sand Panthers arent a myth, they are just rare." Naj thought to himself as he read. In his mind, how could an author of something put into print for others to read make such an uninformed assumption. He was about to put the book back onto the shelf, but decided it was a waste of time. Something like this had a more useful place, and Naj knew exactly where, as he dropped the book into the waste basket beside him.

Sighing somewhat, Naj moved onto the next book.

[Reese Vortex]

Watching as he dumped the book into the trash, Reese tried to bite back a laugh, but failed and it rushed out of her. Heads turned to stare rudely at her and she could see the matronly librarian making her rounds. She quickly ducked her head, her shoulders shaking with silent laughter. When Reese felt the librarian pass, she looked up to see the newcomer's eyes on her briefly. She raised an eyebrow at him and watched as he opened the new book he grabbed.

'Oh, the heck with it.' She thought to herself, getting up. Reese covered the blasters on each of her hips with her trench coat and walked quietly to the newcomer's table, standing there waiting for him to look up. When he didn't, she smiled, plopping herself down in the chair across from him and bringing her booted feet up on the table's edge. When he finally did look up, she gave him her brightest smile and whispered,

"Name's Reese. You are definately new around here, although I haven't been here very long myself." Reese said, looking down at her long nails. "Don't ask me why, but something about you is intriguing me and I'd like to find out exactly what that is."

[Naj Arilov]

"Curious."

Naj replied, not taking his eyes off the book before him. Reese's introduction was informal, and in some cultures, rude. Naj was tolerant to an extent though, reguarding the planet he was on. The book he was reading (Predators of Myrkr) seemed to be somewhat accurate, though it was clear that the author was peddling second hand knowledge. Without looking up he spoke again.

"Maybe you find my clothing to be unique to this planet?"

[Salem Ave]

The library was indeed busy, and so busy that without anyone noticing books began to go missing. One by one they slipped from their shelves and into the deep cloak of a boy he skulked between the isles, merging in with the failing lighting in the less frequented areas of the archives. He would pluck books on animals, books on magic, books on history – whatever topic he felt the need to research on, or just remove from the library so that no others could learn about it.

Today he was ‘erasing’ a particular planet from this small library on Coruscant, and was almost done with his endeavour. Unfortunately, two talking people stood in the way of his last quarry.

He watched them with solid black eyes, craned around the edge of a book case as he flicked the pages of a novel at high speed, tearing one page out on occasion with the simple swipe of one talon.

[Naj Arilov]

The room was silent for a moment. Maybe the woman had decided Naj wasnt as curious as she thought. Maybe she thought he was rude, either way, there was a prolonged stillness in the room.

That was when Naj heard it. His red eyes flared lightly at the sound of a page tearing. It wasnt a sign of emotion. The glow of Chiss' eyes was usually dependant on the oxygen of his/her particular enviroment. Naj's sometime flared though, and the flaring was usually coupled with an eerie tugging at the back of his mind, and seemingly increased senses.

His eyes peered out over his book at the source of the noise. A tall human, but young looking. A teenager it seemed, removing certain pages from a book. It was curious indeed, but most likely he had a book on anatomy, and was pocketing pictures of nude females.

Naj kept his gaze on the boy long enough for the boy to look up and make eye contact. Naj politely bowed his head and returned his gaze to his book. "Solid black eyes, interesting"...

[Reese Vortex]

Reese followed his eyes and had to smirk when they came in contact with with the young man. She saw the pictures he held and laughed out loud. Turning back to the new comer, she smiled.

"It is not your clothing that intrigues me, Sir." She whispered. "It is you in general. I have not seen the likes of you before. You are most interesting." Reese stood and held out her hand. "I apologize for my rudeness. My name is Reese Vortex." She watched him for a few minutes, her yellow eyes glowing softly as she waited for him to respond.

[Salem Ave]

The thoughts that passed between both the grey figure and the woman penetrated Salem’s mind sharply, and he darted his gaze back up to them, offended at even the implication that he would be doing such things as they suggested.

No – he was here for a far greater reason, to remove Koros Major from existence. Already it was hard enough to locate the place, but with this library and a few more he would have stripped it almost entirely from archival subsistence. Nought but the Jedi Archives themselves would have a mention of the Krath in them.

Deciding against waiting for the two to finish petting, Salem simply strode straight between them. At a lanky six foot seven, he had to stooped his shoulders to find the books he was looking for, though was having a hard time placing the final volume – “The Chronicles of Empress Teta”.

[Naj Arilov]

Naj politely shook Reese's hand, though he was visibly distracted by the lanky teen, searching the shelves for a book. He smiled politly towards Reese though.

"My name is Najiri'tilth'sabosen, a pleasure to meet you"

He looked over at Salem, where he was searching. It didnt exactly dawn on him what book the man was looking for til he looked back down in his own stack of books. He removed the book from the stack and turned around toward Salem.

"Is this the book you are looking for? Please down tear any pages from it, intend on reading it when you are through..."

[Salem Ave]

Salem twitched visibly as he was handed the book. At least, from what the man said, he had not read the book yet. Perhaps he was lying though … people like to lie; it was an easy thing to do.

“Thank you,” the vampire purred as he took the book, inspecting it carefully. He still had a clump of torn pages between his talons.

With a courteously nod of his head he began to wander off, and didn’t appear he was going to stop, especially not to return the book.

[Naj Arilov]

"If you'll excuse me Madam Vortex, I feel this matter may require my attention. I do hope I see you around again..."

Naj stood up from his seat, eyeing Salem as the lanky teen walked off. The books he was reading were left on the table, as he started after Salem...

[Reese Vortex]

Reese watched as he Naj stood, nodding at him as he took his leave. She smiled to herself, liking the tone of his voice. She turned to watch him and the young one.

'Something odd is going on here.' She thought to herself. 'And I intend to find out what it is. I could use some action right about now.'

Reese quietly followed the two, not knowing where she was going to end up.

[Salem Ave]

The Force alerted him to the fact that he was following, and he quickened his pace. Outside, the sun shone brightly, and Salem could see this from the lobby of the library. He had no time to cover himself and so launched himself upwards against the wall of the room, driving one hand into the stone – both his hands were composed solely of talons, two elongated and one to serve a thumb, and were strong enough to penetrate flesh, stone and metal. He took the book he held into his mouth into pulled himself up onto the roof of the room, just above the doorway, to hide …

[Naj Arilov]

Naj walked out of the library and begin searching around. The boy was quite tall, so Naj figured he would see him above everyone else's heads. He stood at the doorway searching the crowds. His own senses were tearing at him, trying to tell him something. It seemed his sense spoke a different language than he did though, since he didnt know what they were trying to tell him. Behind him, he heard a sound. He turned to see nothing, except for a fine cloud of dust that seemed to be drifting toward the ground.

Slowly he looked up.....

[Salem Ave]

And there, still with his hands literally embedded into the wall above the door, hung Salem – upside down. The book was held in his mouth still, locked in place by fangs that barely pierced the covering. His eyes broadened as the man fixed his gaze on him.

One hand tore out of the wall and fumbled in his back pocket. A mask, made of some opaque black material was pulled out into view and Salem tugged it violently on over his head. It covered all of his neck and head from any light, but also rendered him blind. With this small change done, he was rendered impervious to minimal light – but still could not face a full assault from the sun.

Pieces of concrete crumbled to the ground as Salem dropped, like some bipedal arachnid and darted for a corridor that presumably lead off to another exit, instead of the main door.

[Naj Arilov]

It was curious that the boy would pull a mask over his face at this point. It wouldnt have mattered if Naj had seen his face already or not, the boy's height would have given him away. Naj kept a quick pace after him. The thought played over in his mind. Why would he put on a mask? Why would he run back into the building, rather than out in the open.

For now, Naj would keep after him. Presumably, this library wouldnt hide him for long. Whatever his weakness was, it would probably be more apparant once the boy was out in the open.

Naj's interest in Salem was no longer in the book, but in the curious behavior he displayed...

[Salem Ave]

Where the hall lead was into a staff area of the library. It was a long walkway, off of which only a few doors lead off of. A short man carrying a pile of books was coming in the opposite direction as the running Sith Knight –

When Salem ran, it was a very odd sight. His legs were immensely long and gangly and seemed to take an eternity to cycle through one stride. None the less though, they carried him over long distances in short times.

- and therefore found what he carried spilled all over the floor. He shouted after the boy, who simply ran on, spinning around a corner into a doorway. The door opened out onto a fire exit; a case of metal stairs that lead down into an alley way. Salem fumbled his way back inside, but could sense that the man from earlier was still following him.

He hissed, frowned, and sprung outside, tumbling down the stairs as he went.

[Naj Arilov]

With a hurried pace, Naj found himself outside on a fire escape. Below he could see the boy halfway stumbling as he kept on his escape. It seemed most likely that he had injured himself going down the stairs, but as agile as the boy had been earlier, this seemed a bit farfetched.

Naj carefully scaled the stairs down the fire escape, letting the boy pull away from him some. It wasnt on purpose, it was just the fact that Naj himself wasnt very athletic.

The hood over the boys head was starting to bug Naj. Could it have been possible that the boy was sensitive to sunlight. It would explain his solid black eyes, as it made sense that black eyes would be more sensative to sunlight. Naj slowly began to gain on the boy. As he ran, he stretched his arm out in front of him.

It was a hit or miss affair, and was only something Naj had tried to do a few times while in hyperspace between planets. With his hand outstretched, Naj focused as hard as he could on the boy. Was proceeded this was actually what Naj was trying to do. A force push. The fact that it succeeded was a surprise, and the effect ended up hurting Naj more than it helped. Instead of pushing the boy to the ground, it merely made him stumbled forward, and letting him regain some of the ground that Naj had gained....

[Salem Ave]

None the less, Salem stumbled. He tripped repeatedly, over stones, cans, the laces on his boots – it didn’t matter what it was, he kept falling. His vision with the Force was extremely limited, in that he could see whilst standing still but not whilst trying to formulate an escape route from an angered pursuer. Truthfully, there was no chance that he would escape the man with injuring himself and, submitting to this fact, Salem drew his saber and ignited it, whirling around to face the direction Naj was advancing from.

[Naj Arilov]

"Put the saber away, you're out of your element."

So was Naj, but that didnt have to be apparant. Naj stood in front of the boy, slowly walking a half circle around him, staying just outside of swinging range.

"Police are everywhere, are you trying to get us both arrested?"

As small as Naj was, he kept his shoulders squared and pushed upward slightly, to give the appearance of strength. Inside, Naj was nervous, if the boy advanced on him, he would have no option but to retreat. The blaster he kept hid in his clothing would do little more than provide projectile energy for the boy to bounce back at him...

"We both have something the other wants, but neither of us can benefit from the other with you swinging that thing around..."

[Salem Ave]

What Salem could currently see was a vaguely outline of Naj moving around him. The Force provided him with limited sight, and therefore it was hard to tell whether or not the man was bluffing. However in the end he grudgingly disengaged the saber beam, hissing quietly beneath his breath as he clutched the book against his chest with both hands.

“It’sss mine now…”

[Naj Arilov]

"Ive studied the history of the Empress Teta System before. It is quite intrigueing....Im not interested in taking the book."

He was more curious as to why the boy ran with the book, actually. The boy seemed intent on having the book. But he was also tearing pages from other books. Maybe he didnt want the book....

Maybe he didnt want anyone else to have the book....

"Tell me...."

Just then, Naj heard someone behind him. He heard the librarian's voice and the voice of a man. A cop most likely.

Imbeciles. Inferiors should know when to not ask questions

He looked up at Salem, who had also noticed the people behind Naj.

"Which is the cop? Your left, or your right?

His hand slowly creeped for his blaster....

[Brask]

Dammit! All I need- cops.

Brask was standing between two sets of shelves, a book in his hand. He had picked this place because it was out of the way and quiet. The drop off he was expecting was unlikely to happen if his contact saw law enforcers standing around.

Brask had done very little field work in the last few years, his operations kept him office bound most of the time. But for this job he had to go himself, slip on to the planet undetected and get what he needed. And what he needed was information.

The cop was heading towards a blue skined humanoid so ditance to Brask's left. He saw the alien move his hand...

[Salem Ave]

His mind expanded as new Force signatures entered his field of ‘visions’. His minds eye sensed fear in one, resolve in the other. It was the latter that was the law enforcement and officer, and he approached with the librarian, standing on the left from behind Naj.

“Left,” he said quietly as he began to back away a few steps.

[Naj Arilov]

Naj's eyes flared somewhat. His hand was on his blaster by now. He could sense the two people behind him. Most likely, he'd only get one shot, and they'd have to stay and fight, or make a run for it.

In an instant, Naj spun around and brought the weapon up, taking a split second to take aim at the cops chest. He pulled the trigger, and the red energy flew forward, burning into the cops, upper left shoulder.

The shot knocked the cop down, giving Naj the opportunity to shoot again.

[Salem Ave]

The pain that welled from the police patrol fed Salem’s mind and enhanced his vision through the Force two-fold. With this booster, he now gained sight through the mask he wore and spied finally the man who had spoken to him – a half-breed, of sorts, something of a mixture of a Chiss… and something he did not recognise. For the moment he remained still, paused in his step as the Darkside oozed to him.

[Naj Arilov]

The librarian turned to run as Naj was putting a final shop into the downed cop. Two blaster bolts flew by her, one embedded itself into the back of her head. Satisfied, he turned back to Salem...

"We should probably be leaving...."

[Brask]

The alien had moved with incredible speed, dropping the cop with a burst of fire. Brask flinched at the man's evident pain as he dropped to the floor. Brask yanked out his comlink:

"Belzar, we have a problem. Block all transmiisions from my current position." That should stop the librarian getting the authorities into the shop for now. Buying him a little time at least.


And if it's not enough you two will pay.