Special Delivery !

[Vega Van-Derveld]

Coruscant didn’t have roads, per say, but the traffic itself caused bumps, and Vega wasn’t avoiding any of them. In the back of his speeder was lain a package – a special delivery no less – for the Greater Jedi Order, and at no time had he been told to handle it with care. As he weaved back and forth through the lanes of transports, his cargo rolled about, bumping with wet thuds against the backs of the chairs and the car doors. On occasion the Lupine would glance up into the rear-view mirror to get a glimpse at it, grinning before setting his eyes back on the road – he didn’t want to end up dead like his passenger!

Within a short while the speeder swerved to a halt by the Jedi living complex, with its high – and mighty – white walls. Vega climbed out of the car and busied himself with something on the back seat for a moment before pulling out a lifeless body. He strode to the wall, glanced left, glanced right, then bent his knees and hurled the body up into the air, right over the wall.

“Alley-oop!”

His lips parted with anticipation as he listened, waiting for the inevitable- phthk. Holding a gloved hand up to cover his mouth as he sniggered, he tiptoed back into the speeder and floored the pedal, screeching away into the labyrinth ahead.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the wall, Michael Cline lay dead (http://www.sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?threadid=24001#post550422), a bruised mess sprawled with limbs splayed out at all angles. There was a note on – no, nailed to his head (the two inch pin jammed right between his eyes), which appeared to have something scrawled on it. The paper of the note was colored a slight brownish red in places – a trace of the now black bloody handprint below, smeared across the fallen Jedi's gaunt face.

The note read:

Next time, send us someone worth our time.

[Lillian Snow]

The living complex is Lillian's favorite place. No one to bother her or attack her...no muggings or killings. It's peaceful, and the outer world of Coruscant is blocked out by the protective walls. The Padawan girl is walking with one shoulder pressed to them, waiting on Logic to come back from the Bar and Grill with her dinner, when a squishing sound ahead draws her focus.

"Logic? What was that?"

She hurries forward, ducking between the trees, and stops cold at what awaits her. A dead, bloody body with a scrap of paper nailed to its head. Lillian screams and backs up as quickly as she can to trip and fall against one of the sturdy trees.

"LOGIC! HELP!"

Lillian coughs violently, spattering her hands with her own blood. It flows down her arms in rivers and pools in the folds of her clothing, choking her words and forcing her to struggle to breathe. Her mind is screaming fearfully, however, trying to block the body from memory and will away its existence. Lillian's world of sheltered peace has been shattered. Violently.

[Logic]

Logic scales the wall with a bag of take out gripped in one oversized hand, landing softly in a fresh patch of soil which is to be a flowerbed. Lillian was supposed to wait here for it to bring her dinner, so where is she? It hears a gagging sound not too far from its position and moves cautiously toward it.

Lillian, is something wrong?

Clearly yes, as she's doubled up on the ground, soaked with her own blood, screaming and coughing and gagging and pressing her head to her knees as she curls into a fetal ball. It takes a knee, dropping the food and trying to comfort her.

Lillian, calm down. Nothing can hurt you within these walls; there's no need for this fear. What has gotten into you?

It stands up, looking about for the answer it knows she won't give him. Rather than finding evidence of the genetic monsters that plague her, it finds the most bloody corpse it has ever experienced.

I see...you've never seen a dead body before, have you?

[Lillian Snow]

Lillian shakes her head weakly as the coughing fit subsides, breathing hard and looking terrified. Logic helps her to her feet as she tries to stand and supports her weight as she falls against him.

"...it's horrible," she rasps after a long silence. "What...what happened to him?"

[AmazonBabe]

:: AB had been in the garden within the complex when she'd heard Lillian's exclaimation. She dropped what she had been doing and made her way over to the sound, somewhere behind some thick bushes against the outer wall. As she neared, she could distinctly feel the presence of death, and the girl being comforted by Logic confirmed what she was suspecting. Only when she came to stand behind the duo, did she see the broken body of a Jedi, the bloody hand imprint unmistakable on his face. ::

:: From behind Lillian and Logic, AB asnwered the girl's question, looking down at the body with a frown on her face and distaste in her voice. ::

The Black Hand is what happened to him.

:: She pulled out her commlink and called security to the scene to allow them to investigate. But she knew in the end they would find nothing to help them track the one that had so uncerimoniously dropped the body here. And, in a sense, it was unneccessary. It was painfully obvious who was behind the masacre of the Jedi. ::

:: She stepped back as the security detail arrived. ::

Logic... why don't you move lillian out of there and let security do their work. She doesn't need to see this anymore.

[Logic]

What?...Yes, yes you're right...

Logic turns her away, but remains riveted by the dead body, commiting the mutilated face to memory, planning to do background on him later to find out what should warrant such a horrific fate--and to see to it that Lillian should avoid the same.

If it would be convenient for you, Miss Mystt, I need to talk to you at any point in the future regarding this "Black Hand"...come Lillian...let's get you cleaned up and fed.

[Lillian Snow]

Lillian nods again, leaning into her droid and finding the voice to speak.

"I...I don't want to eat...I'm not...not hungry anymore..."

[AmazonBabe]

I will be in my quarters later tonight, Logic. You may find me there.

:: AB herself stayed a while longer, coversing with one of the security guards, before turning and walking back to the jedi Temple. This incident would have to be reported if it hadn't been already. ::