Onslaught of the Empire

[Sol Walker]

As Darth Cinn descended his transport, he was met by a quartet of soldiers from his battlecruiser, who had deployed to the city to secure some things for their lord.
"You have news for me?" He asked, towering above the soldier and crossing his arms, awaiting an answer.
"Yes, My Lord." Spoke their leader. "We've just received word that lady Nightwind has surrounded and blockaded the location of a possible Jedi."
"That was swifter than I expected." Cinn remarked, his personal landspeeder being lowered behind him from the ship as he spoke. "And an entirely different response from that little witch than I expected. Soldier, you and your men will accompany me to the scene. I want to witness Nightwind's success or failure in this little bust first hand. Preferably her failure."
 

[Valkore Fraust]

Valkore stepped into the cantina, weapon strapped over his chest. It dangled about on the three point sling. The large armored Mandalorian scanned the cantina, searching for the young, skimpy dressed girl. It'd probably be hard, considering this was a cantina.

"Sir," Valkore stated to the bartender. His eyes went up and down Valkore's armor. It seemed that was the only attractive part for Fraust. "I'm looking for a girl.."

"You and half the galaxy," the man joked. Valkore smiled and let out an audible chuckle. See? He does have emotions.

"Medium height, dark brown hair," Valkore informed, trying to recall the most he could. Due to the distance, he couldn't see much of her. If he saw her rear, he'd recognize it from a mile away; dirty old man. Valkore scanned for her as he spoke, unable to find her.

"Stick around, Mando," the bartender said. "Maybe she'll pop up." Valkore checked out a young lady as she passed by. This'd be interesting.  

[Darkened Angel]

Danika hadn't been back on stage for long before she noticed an armored soldier near the bar. He seemed to be out of place, but she had seen all kinds of people in various places before, and didn't think much of it. She continued dancing around, but kept looking back at him. Something was off. She wondered if he was the one that was looking for her, and if so, why.  

[Nelowulf]

Jian wasn't foolish; feeling the dark side approach wasn't entirely hard. Even so, he had rudimentary skills in diminishing his presence in the force. By dampening that, they'd have a much harder time to track him. The executive suite luckily had two floors in the room, but such things would be useless at the moment. Jian already knew that the shuttle and crew had bravely defended themselves against an attack, but none would be able to withstand much more. With the jamming in place, there'd be no way to contact them safely. He felt the chaos in the hotel surrounding him like a maelstrom, as he lifted the fabric underneath the cart as it entered the laundry room. As the droid servant continued to push it's load, Jian took one last look around and rolled out of his hiding place. The exit was clearly marked and easy enough to find. Putting his hand on the door, he was able to step into the daylight with a sigh of relief.

"That went well. How did I ever get into this mess?" He asked himself rhetorically.

~~~~~~~

Three minutes prior.....

Jian felt the dark side at his door, a push against a group of innocents. Igniting his saber, he stepped to the side and into the bathroom, and begun to spin around in a circle. The floor fell down, crashing into the room below, as he sped to the right and opened the door into the 7th floor hallway, just as a loud crunch echoed from above him. Someone was hunting him, that was for sure, and had forced the locked doorframe to be ripped from it's parts.

"What is with these people?" he asked himself, running down the hall just a bit and ducking into the stairwell. The urge to jump down was suppressed; to use the force for anything right now was an attempt to get himself caught by those hunting him. Diminishing his presence, he took several stairs at a time, using his momentum and the railing to guide his presence until he reached the second floor. Going straight for the exit might have forced him to run into any reinforcements, and by extension, anyone else who might be looking for him. Plus, sooner or later they would inspect the stairwell, and the constant noise of someone rushing would more than alert them.

He looked down over the railing of the second floor into the main entryway, a normally grand view to accommodate those of status, this new site had allowed him a quick glance to notice the incoming forces, now barging into the door. A sith Lady had seemed to try to panic everyone in her midst. Jian could hear others coming up the stairwell already, and as fortune would have it, a laundry droid came by. Letting a sigh of disgust leave his lips, the cart of lightly soiled linens became his shelter, as it passed through the hallway into the lift going down, passing right by a squad who began to secure the perimeter. The droid seemed unphased by the new passenger, as it contently pushed the lift doors open at the ground floor and made it's way through the hallway. Jian gave it a quick, but subtle, look outside his hiding spot.

"That would do nicely," he said, feeling the dark presences stir around him. Just as the droid passed by a marked section of the wall, a thin hand reached up, pressing a red panel, making the fire alarms throughout the building go off. The droid, having a simple routine function programmed, continued into the service access tunnels and headed into the laundry rooms, all the while every organic in the building being unnoticed as they went their crazy ways....  

[ElladanKenet]

Ilia's trooper teams were less than a few dozen yards from Jian, when the alarm went off. Confusion gripped the building and people began to stream for the exists. Ilia cursed at the stampede of people, but she held her ground. Instead of evacuating the building, she proceeded upstairs. Why?

Simple. The fire alarm was going off, and there was no smoke. Sure, there fire could be elsewhere, where the smoke could not reach her. But Ilia was not someone easily shaken up, and short of being surrounded by fire herself and faced with a building collapse, she was not about to abandon her hunt.

So, not two minutes after Joan was heading to the laundry rooms, the Dark Lady stormed into the hallway. All she had to do was pause and submerse herself in the force to know that something was wrong.

She was no Assassin, not by training, so her tracking skills were less than optimal. Ilia had never been face to face with a Jedi, though she did know the light side of the force when she felt it; she had felt it when he first arrived. But now, she felt nothing. The answer was simple: he was hiding. The Jedi knew that his existance was known. He might even be trying to escape. She reached her comlink. "Lieutenant, seal off all access points to the building. I don't want the Jedi wriggling away. Call for reinforcements if you have to."

Now, what would her next move be? She could try going to the Jedi's room. Some evidence would surely be there, but she doubted the Jedi would. No, the room could be handled later. She had to find the Jedi, and now. But how? Her men were well trained, though she knew a Jedi probably could get away if he really wanted to. The problem was, how he would choose to make his escape. Would he sneak through the crowds and risk passing the Sith, or try and find an escape route? The latter, probably. But how? The fire exits were being monitored. Escaping off the side of the building would cause too much commotion and draw attention. Hmmm.

It was at that minute that another laundry droid passed by. Ilia watched the droid scurry past, heading to the laundry rooms. She frowned. Laundry. She didn't know the building plans, but Ilia was pretty sure the laundry rooms were located at the ground floor... and probably had access to the cargo rooms. And the cargo rooms had access to vehicles. The Jedi could sneak off that way. Ilia knew that her men wouldn't be able to inspect any vehicles that left soon.

Trusting her instincts, Ilia followed the droid, confident that one way or another, she'd be a step closer, even if the Jedi had a head start on her.  

[Valkore Fraust]

Valkore's gaze slowly shifted over to Danika. It was her; he knew it. The dark visor settled upon her in an uneasy way. He stood there for a minute, watching her, in hopes of creeping her out. Oddly enough, it was his favorite way of weeding out Jedi in a crowd. It was also an intimidation factor on either a Jedi or a non force user. Most of the time, at least.

"I think I found her," Valkore said. His voice was filtered to a drone. The bulky man stepped towards the dancer in a non-hostile way. Hopefully he could charm her. For all he knew, she was just a dancer at the wrong place and time. The last thing he'd do is jump to conclusions and point a blaster at her.  

[Darkened Angel]

Danika noticed the man had come closer to the stage, and while still dancing, she made her way towards him. " I don't think I've seen you around here before. What's your name, honey? " Her tone was flirty, and she kept dancing as she talked.  

[Miss-Pandemica]

Nova entered the room the Jedi had occupied just seconds after it had disappeared. Leveling the vibrostaff in her left hand, she quickly sensed that the room was empty and her prey was gone. The hole found in the bathroom was clear that it had escaped and the new presence of a Sith Lord was clearly below her. She jumped down through the hole to the seventh floor and while she was several seconds behind her prey it seemed prudent not to give chase. Especially since it was already aware that it was being hunted now. Tucking her weapon away she evaded the troops in the hallways by escaping through a window and climbing down the side of the building landing somewhere in the back by the garbage.

After quickly contemplating her options she knew it would be futile to try and track the Jedi down herself again. She was lucky the first time, but now the trail would be too hard to find. Her prey could be anywhere at this point even it was only somewhere within the immediate area. Unless she could spot her target it would be pointless to continue. She looked around a bit scanning the area, wondering if it were possible to spot a Jedi just wandering out in the open as she circled the building. If she couldn’t spot him then the other option was to follow the Sith Lord who also seemed to have an interest in this Jedi….
 

[Valkore Fraust]

"Valkore," he replied. His voice was golden, even through the helmet's filter. A strange characteristic for a man like him. "And yours?" He was half expecting "Candy" or something along those lines. She didn't seem like a Jedi.

Valkore folded both arms and stepped even closer to the stage, looking up at her through the filtered visor. He leaned up against the stage and scanned her body; for weapons and for good measure. Mostly for good measure.  

[lady_skuld]

The transmission had been sent to some hotel or something downtown. According to dispatch there already was someone handling this particular case. So Sythica was left to take their prisoner back to base, while the shuttle got impounded for "military" use. Some high ranking officer was bound to enjoy a new private shuttle. That didn't concern Sythica at all though. The entire trip she stared at the crew in the back of the truck. Republicans all.

Back at the base, she helped the driver unload the terrorists while giving them a cold stare from behind her mask. They didn't say anything, and there was quite a good chance they weren't going to even after a bit of coercion. First, the sith would offer them the quick way out. Set them up in rooms and offer them some choice for being able to surrender and defect for the glory of the Emprah. She hated traitors, but these people had reportedly been seen with the Jedi so her hopes were higher that they had faith. Then sooner or later she would be called in to beat them up. That was a part she would enjoy thoroughly. While not an interrogator by any stretch of the mind, she recalled quite a few punishments back in her slave days that she was dying to let go onto someone. Repressed memories always did give good results. Many would reconsider talking then, and she still didn't think too highly of these people. At least they however tried to stick to their guns. But then there were the select few which would take a few more beatings, before a sith interrogator would be brought in. These people she had some respect for, but the elite few which never cracked, she respected most of all. To ease the suffering of the heretical few whose faith was misplaced Sythica would shoot calmly to death in the most vital regions. She herself knew the power of faith in a system and could empathize with those who allied themselves so wrongly. Still heretical by nature, but at least they had the determination which matched hers. And she really didn't like that.  

[Nelowulf]

Jian hadn't taken much effort into the evasion as soon as the door clicked behind him. Ducking into the crowd and by extension, a few alleyways, he let himself breathe, but never letting up on his suppressed Force signature. On one hand, the world seemed just about out to get him, but on the other, he couldn't panic nor hasten himself to anything. To do either would only speed up the inevitable problems that were bound to accrue from such an endeavor.

Passing through town, the youth was more relaxed but on his nerves. A small glint from the window caught his eye, as even jedi patience and focus went out the wayside, as he went to the window. Even with cloak and hood up, he must have looked rather odd, for inside the glass window was a small display of ceramic and metallic kettles, finely suited with adorning cups. A small guilty pleasure ran over Jian as he remembered a fine setting from his past, that of his masters and their own particular pleasures to be.

"Tea...." he grinned, his moist breath making a foggy cloud upon the window. Shaking his head, he remembered his own need to get going. A single last look at the shop, and Jian gave a sigh. "What fortune led me to such a place, now curses me to leave as quickly."

The Sentinel believed the best thing to do was to first find a way off planet; after that, the Jedi Danika should be reached (she did say soemthing about dancing) and then offworld. As of right now, the nearby locations around the hotel would be too hot... someone was bound to have a ship waiting to leave the planet's surface.  

[Darkened Angel]

" Danika. " she said. When the man got even closer, she got on her knees, and began to dance very provocatively, keeping her body only inches away from him. " You might be able to enjoy the view better if you take your helmet off. " she said teasingly.

Although her outfit had a hidden pocket for her lightwhip, she usually didn't have it on her while dancing around, often leaving it backstage in a safe spot. Private dances sometimes meant she would be groped, and she didn't want to take any chances that someone would notice it if they did. " So tell me, Valkore, what brings someone like you here? " She then remembered what the bartender said a short while ago. " Are you the one that asked about me? It's always nice to meet people that like my dancing. If you are, there's a vacant table near the corner there if you want a more... private performance. " she said, taking a flirty tone again.  

[Valkore Fraust]

"That's a pretty name," Valkore said, honestly. He looked over his shoulder before taking his helmet off. There wasn't a policy against taking helmets off, so he felt no need to keep it on. Besides, he wasn't your typical masked crusader who chose to remain hidden behind a visor. In fact, the more someone saw his face, the more personal things could get.

"My ship was stranded," Valkore answered. "I managed to hitch a ride here, damned Imperials won't even help out." His mind was sharp, always alert. If she was a Jedi, she could call his bluffs. He heard about clouding thoughts and what not. In fact, the man was pretty good at it. "A private show for a privateer? You just made my day, sweetheart." Valkore gave her a wink. He was being genuine, but when he had her in his grasp, it'd likely change. Perhaps he'd pursue the detective tactics and stay under the radar. There was no need to blow his cover.  

[Darkened Angel]

Danika noticed the scar on Valkore's face, but seemed to not react at all to it. " I bet that's got a good story behind it. " was all she said in regards to it. She stood up and stepped off the stage, and gestured towards the table near the corner as she walked towards it. " That's a shame about your ship, but hopefully I can help cheer you up a bit. " she said. She stood near the seat, waiting for the man to make himself comfortable.