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“Gambling, I suppose,” Rede said, the first thing that came to mind as Lilaena stalked in front of him. What else would he be doing in a casino? Aside from attracting a lot of attention to himself. “Honestly, I don’t remember. My brothers do some business with Groola some time. Maybe I was here on their behalf.”
The tunnel was empty. Lilaena drew on the Force to extend her senses and the only sounds inside were from her and Rede.
"Well, whatever you did after you got here, you got the attention of CorSec. They won't stop once I get you out of here. And if they can't find you, the Imperial Knights might be called in."
Lilaena turned around, walking backwards in front of him. "Do your brothers know you're a Force adept?"
Rede kept pace with her, trying not to think about the many people whose radar he might now be on. CorSec wasn't too much of a bother, but the Imperial Knights? That could be messy. Zealots like that couldn't be bribed.
“Yeah, though it’s.. not something we talk about. There’s a few people in the family touched by it. Go back a couple of generations and we’ve got some witchblood.”
She raised an eyebrow at witchblood, but didn't comment.
"Groola isn't likely to be pleased you scared off all his customers." Lilaena turned again, leaving him at her back. "Back there you asked me where we'd go - if you want to go home I can take you there."
Her tone suggested there were other options.
She was right, of course. Whatever he had done - what had he done? - Groola would be looking for some form of compensation.
“What if that’s not a good idea?”
Lilaena began shrugging out of “Lana Solo’s” CorSec jacket, dropping it on the ground as she walked. She had already deactivated the tracker in her gear, but she left the comms on, in case they knew about Groola’s little escape hatch.
“I’ve got a place you can lay low. But I’m not staying in this sector for much longer.” She pulled the blaster and checked the power cell before reholstering it.
The tunnel crept on and on ahead. The longer they walked, the more Rede felt himself. There was something reassuring, calming even, about being able to do nothing but walk forward and follow.
“I need to talk to Cael, tell him what’s happened. But… he’ll probably want me out of the way, for a while. Until things blow over.”
“Sure,” she said.
The tunnel was ending, and Lilaena held up a hand for him to be still while she quested forward with the Force. Groola must have been very confident that his tunnel was secret - there was no guard on this end.
No biometric lock or keypad on the interior either, just a simple switch to release the door. After a moments hesitation, she flipped it and the door slid open, revealing a terrible alleyway filled with large garbage receptacles.
“Lead the way,” she said, crouching by a corner and peering out. “Coast is clear.”
Emerging from the alleyway, the sights, sounds and smells of Tyrena city hit Rede. Huge, garish hotels and casinos dominated the skyline, while throngs of tourists meandered along the crowded pedwalks in search of cheap thrills. Imperial Stormtroopers prowled through the crowds, the empty black eyes of their helmets sweeping back and forward. Rede exhaled and, with a glance at Lilaena, stepped out into the crowds. There was no pervading flow of foot traffic, so moving away from the towering presence of Groola’s Palace was easy enough. The further they walked, the more run-down the street-side bars and cafes became. The odd letter flickered and died on advertising signs, and alleyways that had previously been the sole resort of vomiting tourists and overflowing dumpsters soon gained a more threatening air, where a glance in the wrong direction might start a fight.
Eventually, they came to a halt in front of a squat, utilitarian looking building with a sign hanging over the door. It bore an image of a bristle-covered animal with tusks, and the words: The Murra’s Head.
“We’ll go in the back,” Rede gestured down the side of the pub, and when he walked the group of customers drinking outside seemed to naturally part to allow him by.
Rede parted the crowd, not with the Force, but with his presence. Lilaena followed with her chin up, noting a few discrete, curious glances as they walked to the back of the building. She hadn’t even heard of The Murra’s Head, but she hadn’t been in Tyrena for very long, and not in this part of town.
Her comm buzzed in her ear: CorSec had cleared out of the casino, but they had put out an alert for “Lana Solo” and an unidentified human male (still waiting on a positive ID from facial recognition software). They seemed to think he might have absconded with her and stunned Perkins himself, which meant that they hadn’t been able to access the holocams in Groola’s office.
They were both going to need hoods.
In through the back door, Rede cast a quick glance around the hallway the door lea dinto. The smell of smoke, sweat and stale beer hung in the air, clung to the walls even.
“My family owns this place… Groola will send people here first, if he’s looking for me.”
Leaning to the left, he saw through an open doorway. He could hear the din of the pub and see the bar staff, dishing out more drinks. Leaning to the right, he saw the hatch down to the cellar was open.
“My brothers'll be down here. Wait up here if you want, or come down,” he said, not waiting for an answer before jogging down the stone steps to the cellar.
She weighed the option of watching out for Groola's goons against being spotted and having CorSec called in, and flipped a mental coin. Lilaena followed Rede down the stairs.
The cellar was packed wall to wall with barrels bearing stamps like BLOOD STRIPE ALE and CORELLIA’S BEST BITTER. Little light followed the pair down from the floor above but in the half-light, Rede could pick out a lamp at the far end of the cellar. Two men were partly illuminated in the light, one sat at a table and the other stood over him. Rede hesitated before walking any further, trying to get straight in his mind what he was about to say.
“What’ve I told you about trying to sneak up on people?” said the man sitting down, with his back to both Rede and Lilaena.
The one on his feet, spotting the two of them advancing across the cellar, scowled. ”And who the fuck is this?”
Rede held up both hands. “I think I’ve done something stupid.”
There was a moment where Cael didn’t move, sitting at the table, his eyes still on the documents he had been reviewing.
He knew that he couldn’t ignore his youngest brother, couldn’t ignore whatever difficult situation Rede was abroad to drop on his doorstep like a cat with a mangled mouse.
Turning, he rose to his feet, revealing the blaster pistol holstered under his left arm. “What’s happened?” he said, his eyes - the colour of the skies over Hoth - shifting from Rede to Lilaena.
Lilaena stopped just behind Rede, arms crossed and blaster on her hip. After sizing up the two men she turned slightly so she could keep the steps in her peripheral vision.
Rede started an explanation and she listened closely, keeping an eye on his brothers' reactions.
“So, the thing is,” Rede started, trying to focus on Cael instead of Gram’s glowering face behind him. “I just woke up inside of Groola’s office, and I think… I think I might have done something to the casino.”
Cael’s expression didn’t change, though Gram swept a frustrated hand back through his already tousled hair. “We heard something was going down at the Palace. You realise you’re lighting up the CorSec boards like a Dathomiri candle?”
“Who’s the woman?” Cael asked, with a slight nod.
“She helped me get out. Says she can take me somewhere safe.”
Cael paced out from behind the table, gaze firmly levelled on Lilaena.
“For what price?”
Lilaena returned the stare.
"Just a conversation. A private conversation." She unfolded her arms, holding them out, palms up in a partial shrug as she turned to look at Rede.
"You're free to stay here, kid. Up to you."
Cael glanced at Rede, whose lips worked as if he were about to say something but then thought better of it. Satisfied, Cael looked back at the stranger.
“Whatever you’ve to say to him you can say to the three of us. There’s no secrets between us.”
"Okay."
Lilaena folded her arms, cocking her head a bit. "You're an adept, Rede. If CorSec does't put you down they'll turn you over to the Empire, and they aren't likely to ever let you go. You don't have control over it now, and I can teach you not to blow up casinos by accident when you get worked up."
Her eyes flicked over his brothers, but returned to Rede. "That's it, that's the pitch. You don't owe me a thing for pulling you out of there, but I burned my cover so I'm going to have to get out of Tyrena City pretty quick."