Open Trip Zip Homecoming

[Janus Rook]

This looked like they were going to get worse rather then better, just my luck. But at least this way I was going to get some action. Taking out my commlink I opened up a channel to the Coruscant police, I knew that I was going to have to get the place locked down. An if there was anything criminal on the ship, I will be able to lay claim to finding them even if the local law came.

"This is Sector Ranger Janus Rook, calling for backup, my location will be transmitted through the commlink, there is a ship in the abandon hangar and I have at least two individuals inside that are refusing to listen to my orders. I need support to lock down the hangar and help me search the ship." I knew it will be a while before my backup arrived and no doubt it will be those worthless security droids that were as useful as a training droid set on beginner mode, but my voice was quiet enough that they shouldn't hear the call even if they did though there wasn't much they could do anyway.

But the more bodies meant a better chance to trap whoever was inside the ship. For now I just needed to keep those inside talking and wait for my backup. From the sound of the woman's voice she was rather emotional and from what I understood she seemed very willing to get into a fight maybe I could speak with the man then whose voice I only heard a little bit.

"Listen how about you try explaining to me whats wrong. It is my job to handle situations and clear things up. You mentioned a club do you believe the previous owner has done something?" If I notice anyone coming down the ramp I would be keeping my weapon down but my rifle was on stun mode in case I needed to start blasting.

I quickly did the same with my pistol, I got a response from my commlink and knew that I will need to sit tight for several minutes which could be anywhere from 30 minutes to 5 minutes. I had a good 20 meters between myself and the end of the ramp that lead into the ship. Looking around in case this became a firefight, I noticed several different crates and places to get cover. There was at one of the walls a officer that had a staircase that lead into it. If I needed to make a retreat that would be where I would go. The stairs were about 30 meters away which I could get to pretty quick with my Jetpack. If nothing happened I would most likely head over there and see about closing the hangar doors to make sure no one escaped.

@Celiana Drayven @Catbert

 

[Kel Dryden]

In a matter of moments, Celi went from "upset" to "angry and determined". I knew better than to stay in the way of that force of nature. I had seen a Jedi in action before. An average gunslinger didn't stand a chance against their use of the lightsaber. Overwhelming odds, however, could become a problem, and lead to injuries. That's something I witnessed as well.

And of all the things Celiana could do, she chose to play high and mighty with the law. A "Get off my lawn" type of threat. Seriously? A single report from the ranger could result in a crackdown; the newly-bought club could become a big target on Celi's back. Then again, I didn't exactly know how things on Coruscant worked. Nar Shaddaa was simpler in that regard: don't mess with the bigger guys, and feel free to protect yourself.

Anxiously, I set my own blaster to stun. The last thing I needed was adding murder to my rap sheet... which, to my knowledge, was rather short so far. And built up mostly outside of the Galactic Core. So, until the ranger saw and memorized my face, I was fine. All I needed was a piece of cloth as an impromptu mask; but I couldn't make one out of those people's clothes when Celi made it clear we had to be respectful. If only she hadn't mentioned me at all in her defiant shout...

Meanwhile, the woman herself was paying respects to the dead in her own ways. I'm normally not opposed to that, but a large part of me felt that it wasn't the time. Looking for other options, I headed towards the ship's controls; taking extra care not to turn on the engines or and alert the ranger outside to what I was doing in any other way. "I'm going to see if this thing can fly. Maybe we could get out of the hangar that way. Or one of us could distract him while the other gets out through a hatch and stuns him." With the ship as big as it was, I was pretty confident that the ranger wouldn't hear us unless we shouted.

"Unless you want to play it some other way..." I shrugged. It was Celi's ship, hangar, and show. A part of me hoped she'd find a solution that wouldn't result in bloodshed. However, to my dismay, that was getting less and less likely.

@Celiana, @Richie B.

 

[Celiana Drayven]

Looking at Kel as he suggested other options I said "the engines were fethed, that's why they were here for repairs. We're not leaving that way yet. Though I can check and see if....." This vessel was a mix of Echani and Mando design which meant....Looking around the commanders chair my hand darted over the weapons control. Both Echani and Mandalorians enjoyed being the one to fire the shot... running some quick mental calculations I realized that while we'd been exploring the droids outside had been restoring functionality and the generators were at least able to be powered now.

Looking at Kel who was standing by a power transfer console I said "pull up the ship layout and engage the generators then transfer power to weapons. We can make sure we don't have company at least....This ship likely has Echani seeker and sentry drones which could be used to keep this a two to one fight, odds in our favor. Get power to weapons and we'll see if we can prevent that shall we?"

Looking at the captains's chair I looked at what other information was pouring into the ship now. Having fired the generators I could see sensors with the transmission sending. Fingers flying over controls I jammed the transmission and instead put myself on speaker. "Tempting offer, however the person I bought this club from neglected to mention the fact that he had a Mandalorian and Echani owned vessel. Not to mention that he'd hired mercenaries to seal them on the bridge and gas them. Now I'm not sure what your thoughts are on that Sector Ranger Rook, but mine are first to honor the dead still aboard which I discovered then find the person I bought the club from and end them. So either way you're going to be dealing with a body, with Echani blood spilt I am owed vengeance Rook."


I waited for Kel to reroute power as well as the rangers' response; as it was there weren't many who would deny a vengeance kill. He'd be hard pressed to deal with me one on one though. I had no intentions of going outside just yet. Even though I would for sure have my vengeance I had have balance. I could see about appealing to his sense of honor as a Jedi, fallen though I may be... odds were he wouldn't want to mess with me after seeing my saber.

@Kel Dryden @Richie B.

 

[Janus Rook]

I waited but it seemed I will need to act, and I flew out towards the control room of the hang within a second or two thanks to my Jetpack landing inside the room I ran towards the computer system that was already active thanks to the fact that the droids were connected to it. It took less then a second to cancel that command, and the same to put out a new command to disable the generators of the ship. It would take some time but it wouldn't be notice till it was too late by the people inside, as there was no obvious change in the droids actions that would signal that change of commands.

Next thing I did though was to see if I couldn't closed the hangar doors, if the droids couldn't disable the ships generators on time I would need to at least make sure that it couldn't fly out. An when the hangar's ray shields activated it do so with a hiss and a pop, I doubt it would hold if the ship did power up and shot at it but those inside the ship wouldn't know that.

When she finally started talking again I listened to the woman speak, I tried to understand what she was trying to say. Sounded like she was either trying to throw me a story to get out of her way or she just lost someone close she just learned about it. Either way if I could get her talking a bit longer she would soon find herself in a powerless ship and once my backup arrived I would be able to make a charge into the ship with a bit of support. Either way as she spoke I realized that even if I turned the power off the ship there might be other minor generators that could be a problem and power other systems. Activating the hangars own speaks, revealing to the two inside that now I was in the control room of the hangar. If it wasn't already known to them.

"Listen I am a Mandalorian of Clan Rook, I understand the desire to honor ones dead. An if what you speak is true I most then asked for you to leave the bodies so me and the proper authorities can handle the investigation. I could even see about having you assist in the arrest but for this to happen I need you a bit of good faith from you. Power down your ship and come outside, from there once the local police arrive they can help me investigate your claims and we can take the proper response." Hopefully the woman wouldn't allow her emotions to blind her to the situation she was in, I couldn't just let her out now that she told me about the supposed murder that occurred in the ship.

Despite my own times of disliking the bureaucratic world of law enforcement, it allowed for clear heads to do what needed to be done. An considering that she seemed to believe someone had the skills to kill the crew of the ship within their own ship, I didn't want to risk letting some vigilant try to get some sort of justice.

@Celiana @Catbert

 

[Kel Dryden]

The vessel and its layout were unfamiliar, sure. But a ship is a ship nonetheless. So while Celi got on the comms and argued with the uninvited ranger, I accessed power management. Surprisingly, the generator and the weapons were still working. And here I thought that the ship was a useless derelict. As ordered, I rerouted the power to weapons just in case. More importantly, droid charging stations. While the generator was active, the ship-based sentry droids would be charging. A minute or two, and they'd be ready for a bit of action.

At least it was now clear why the guy sold the bar so quickly. I didn't remember Celi getting a deed to the place or whatnot. He must've been waiting for us to inspect the hangar. Sector rangers get called, murder gets pinned on us, the guy gets the money and the ship's cargo. The scheme and the recent events were starting to make a bit more sense.

That thought got interrupted when I saw the hangar's ray shields engage. Normally, I'd be more agitated. But this time it didn't make much of a difference. It wasn't like we'd be leaving hangar with the state the engines are in, anyway. I set the sentries to no-fire mode and sent one of them patrolling around the ship. It was a necessity; I had to show me and Celi to the droid and mark us as non-hostiles. Once that was done, those droids wouldn't fire at us; but they could fire at other intruders. I wondered why the unlucky couple hadn't used them. Perhaps they didn't have the time.

Sending the patrol droid back to the charging station, I looked at Celi and simply nodded to her. We had some internal defenses. Not that it mattered. If we were to fight that ranger and even get rid of him, we'd lose either way. At least Celi would; for me, it'd be sufficient to disappear without getting noticed.

Then something caught my attention on the screen. The sentry drone spotted one of the maintenance drones from the hangar. Instead of leaving the ship after restoring power, it was heading back to the generator. Curious. I had the sentry tail the maintenance droid back to its destination, where it got to removing the maintenance panel of the generator again. I thought this part of the ship had been fixed already.

"Looks like we've got uninvited guests aboard," I drew Celi's attention to the viewscreen. We'd have to do something about the sabotage. Even if the droid were successful, the sentries must have powered up to an extent. Should be enough to provide some cover if things got dicey. I switched the remotes to stand-by mode just in case. If the generators and the charging stations were to get disabled—we could still do something about the sabotaging droid though—then the sentries would activate automatically.

I looked at Celi. The ranger's offer seemed genuine. If Celi were to pose as a relative of the deceased (she sure cared about her enough), then we could perhaps work a way out of that mess without resorting to violence.

@Celiana, @Richie B.

 

[Celiana Drayven]

As Kel mentioned uninvited guests I checked the view screen and in annoyance targeted my Force powers onto the new visitor in the form of a maintenance drone. Focusing my will on the drone I simply crushed it and, looking towards the screen I pulled up the ship diagnostics and schematics. "Certainly will be disappointing when the person I paid for this club realizes one of those gems is a tracer." Sitting in the captains' chair I said into the speaker. "Ranger Rook, I'd love to deal with you politely, however the problem with that is that you're trying to get me to focus on one hand while your other holds the knife."

Using The Force I shoved the shards of metal from his reprogrammed drone into a shipping crate to emphasize my point emphatically. "Reinforcements or not that was a hut'uun move. Now if you'll politely just stay put I'll give you what you're looking for." Pulling up the tracer ID on my gauntlet I broadcast the information to him. "Check that data ranger Rook, you'll find the person I just bought this club from in a very quick hurry towards a starport. Here's a description for you even, in my opinion it pays to be a tad paranoid. Strange coincidence there are bodies less than an hour old and you're called in to arrest me don't you think?"

"Regardless of what you do with that information ranger Rook, he's mine. I am excersising the Echani Huntress right to bring down the one who felled one of my sisters. As a Huntress myself this is something you are honor bound to allow ranger. Especially as a Mandalorian, one hunter to another I am owed this right."

Having found the generators on the schematics I pulled an earpiece from the console and looking at Kel I said "I'm going to power the generators manually, it'll allow me to come out a maintenance hatch near where he was broadcasting from. Once you see there's power to all the generators transfer the influx of power to all systems."

Moving down through a maintenance hatch I began crawling and soon enough I'd be at the central generator junction....Then I could outpour my emotion and sadness into the generators. It was time for me to give Seriah's ship wings and teeth again...

@Kel Dryden @Richie B.

 

[Janus Rook]

I could watch the video of the droid begin to disable the generators. It didn't complete the job but from what I notice it would make it somewhat slower to get the power where they want it to. But how did they destroy it, I didn't hear a blast just a sudden crushing sound then I saw the pieces of the droid flying out the ramp. Which made it obvious that whoever was inside the ship wasn't going to get out without a fight now. I moved the remaining droids around the ship to make sure any area's the camera's couldn't see could be covered so there could be no way for someone to exit the ship without me knowing.

Then the woman began to speak, and I knew that anything short of her murdering the man was her intention. Something that I couldn't reasonably allow without at least some actual evidence. Her word meant as close to nothing in the eyes of the law as it could get considering her actions and unwillingness to allow me in to the ship to see the bodies. Though curiously there was another person on the ship and I hadn't been able to hear from them at all. Could this been a bizarre kidnapping situation going on or was the other person actually following this woman to the crazy end she is going for.

"I appreciate you sending me a picture of some random person and thinking it amounts to anything but it doesn't. Without those bodies if they actually exist I have to assume you are either lying or without evidence in a criminal matter both of which is a crime. But what of your partner, the pilot what is their opinion on this, can I speak with them?" Hopefully I could hear from the pilot and maybe get someone else to talk to that had more sense, since it was clear I wasn't going to get anywhere with the Echani woman.

If the woman was being straight forward though then she really needed a reality check when it comes to operating in the core worlds. You don't just get to murder someone just cause you believe they did something. Well that actually did happen a lot but those people were arrested for the most part. The galaxy core was a more civilized place that didn't like the idea of someone getting vengeance. The old saying a eye for a eye in these peoples mind meant everyone became blind and polite society falls apart.

Using the hangars connection to the holonet, I was able to transmit the information provided by the woman to the local authorities. Though I wouldn't know of any attempts to block it, the stronger transmitter made it impossible for the ship to jam and the information about a Duros that was suspected in a crime was put out. Though there was no legal justification to arrest him yet, he would be watched. The best I could do really, and even this was a bit of a reach until I got into the ship to begin a actual investigation.

Taking out the suits computer spike I began to preprogram it to hack into the ships systems, just need to get it connected to the ships internal systems. After completing the task I will get ready to jump into the ship, but depends on how the pilot response.

Spoiler: OOC

Five more posts still security shows.

@Catbert @Celiana

 

[Kel Dryden]

My jaw dropped as he saw a perfectly-functional droid turned into a crumpled hunk of metal in a couple of moments. Only when Celi replied to the ranger, did I put two and two together: the droid was most likely reprogrammed from the outside. It had to be the ranger; there was nobody else around. Just perfect. I had a ranger who spoke reasonably, but was all too eager to get us cornered. Then there was Celi: seemingly all-powerful, but wilful as a result. She sure drove a hard bargain; and I could even see it working on Nar Shaddaa. On Coruscant, even in the undercity, things were apparently done by the book.

What I didn't want was to get into a conversation with the ranger. A single wrong word could dramatically decrease my chances of coming off clear. I simply shrugged to Celi and tilted my head. Making sure that the microphone was off, I offered my two credits to Celiana alone: "I'm no fan of the Rangers, but the guy makes sense. Looks like they're not keen on vengeance and accusations without proof here. Maybe we should let the guy do his job while we do ours?" Regardless, I wouldn't argue with Celi's plan and decision, lest I'd end up as that droid. So, unless she told me to keep the Ranger talking, I'd keep silent. More options down the line that way.

If Celi carried through with her plan, the power of the ship would crank up to eleven soon enough. I even had an idea how she achieved this. She had done it with her lightning before, but on a smaller scale. The first thing I'd do would be to raise the ramp just in case. Then send the power to all the ship's systems, as Celi had instructed me. One would have to be aboard the ship to stop that process. Let alone the fact that it probably would be impossible to do in the time left before lift-off.

@Celiana, @Richie B.

 

[Celiana Drayven]

Over comms tied into the ships' speakers I sent another picture, this time of the couple time stamped as was the picture of the Duro. "I have an alternate idea. You come aboard and everyone drops their weapons." Smiling I realized that no matter what I'd be able to exert equal and opposite force on people to avoid blasters going off in close quarters. In any event I also sensed there were more drones reaching out as I crawled through the shaft I focused on the power sources of two drones and simply accelerated their charge so that they'd short out.

Tucking my knees I kicked out against a grate and swing through the opening into the main generator junction. "Y'know ranger Rook if I were you I'd highly suggest taking that offer. Thing is, you're still playing the coward sending drones. With from my perspective no intentions of honoring your word." Crushing another drone to emphasize my point I breathed in and channeled EVERYTHING I was feeling and disengaged the main power charging port. Then with emotions ablaze I felt the tingle of lightning arcing over my arms and channeled my emotion into fuel, following an Echani martial form steady streams of lightning, aqua, indigo and crimson flowed into the first and second generators at the same time.

Switching stance I then repeated the process into the third and fourth generator and at the end I simply poured all of my emotion into the fifth and sixth. Thereby overcharging everything, looking at them thrumming in unison I spoke through the speakers again. "Ranger Rook that is my only offer come aboard, everyone will politely lock their weapons and you can see for yourself. The only other option is you trying to come aboard forcefully in which case I don't imagine your chances will be good."

Reaching out with The Force and focused on the drones busy trying to shut things down I simply crushed the half and shorted the other half of them. He'd likely understand soon that he was dealing with someone trained in the Jedi arts, not a shot had been fired and this engagement such as it was geared to only end in my favor.

Speaking over internal comms I said sweetly "Kel if you wouldn't mind transferring power now to shields, weapons, and sensors. That'd be lovely, also remind me later that I owe you minimum a drink and dinner." We'd shared a drink and more previously.....and my frustration was such that I was vastly in the mood for a repeat performance. The drones were simply a precaution against incoming forces and as it were with a ship owned by both Mandalorian and Echani even if this did drag into a fight they were still outmatched. I was trying diplomacy, though I was also covering my own bases. All in all what I offered was the best offer the ranger would get, further than that I didn't negotiate, the offer was the offer and more than fair.

@Kel Dryden @Richie B.

 

[Janus Rook]

Listening to her offer, I groaned. Did I really have such a big trust issue? Yes, and for good reason to. But the longer I fight and played cat and mouse the longer this would take. So the only thing I could do was to try and risk it, slinging my rifle I pulled out the pistol, though keeping it down I don't think the rifle would be useful in this situation. I didn't hear from the pilot so I could only assume there was at least two people in that ship that were on the same page. Which meant I will be at the worst case a two v one situation.

Activating my Jetpack I landed on the ramp of the ship. I had seen the droids get destroyed and was sure something weird was going on, I hadn't had any knowledge of the Force so maybe that was it but if that was a case there was very little chance this woman was a Jedi. From what I knew they worked with the Sector Rangers and don't threaten them. Plus the law was still on my side as the woman continued to threaten a Sector Ranger.

Putting the pistol in the holster but keeping my hand on it for ease of release I spoke loud enough for everyone in the ship to hear hopefully.

"I am coming in." Walking slowly I kept my eyes open for any movement, walking only so I was somewhat in the ship's entrance.

If no one came to me I would have to enter deeper into the ship. But for now I waited for a little bit, if I noticed anything suspicious I would probably shot first. I also noticed a terminal nearby if I plugged into it I could probably take over the ships system thanks to the computer spike. But at that point there would be no going back so had to shelf that option for now. No reason picking fights that I didn't need to.

@Celiana @Catbert

 

[Kel Dryden]

"You got it," I replied to Celi over the comms with a chuckle. As long as that wouldn't end up with finding more dead bodies and a confrontation with another ranger, I'd be more than up for it. All systems of the ship were powered; but with Rook already aboard, it wouldn't make much of a difference. Let's see if he's the trustworthy kind.

I did hear the ranger, but remained at the bridge in case I'd need to do something about the ship's systems again. I cast a glance at the two bodies. A grim reminder that everyone could be outplayed. Staying alone and in the same room with them felt a bit off. My normal instinct would've been to make as much distance from them as possible, so as not to be associated with whatever happened on board. But that wasn't an option.

All I did was hide my blaster pistol in the inner pocket of my jacket, and then zip it up. Mostly to hide the fact that the jacket was over my naked torso. But the lack of an openly-carried weapon would make me seem less of a threat. Sure, the ranger could draw first under these circumstances. But I had a feeling he'd run into Celiana first. And a Jedi doesn't need a blaster to defend herself.

@Celiana, @Richie B.

 

[Celiana Drayven]

Crawling through the shafts I finally found where I'd left from originally, directly under the bridge. Unsealing the hatch I crawled up and out of the hatch to find Kel on the bridge. Reaching down to my waist I untied the black silk belated handed it to Kel. Looking at him I kept my voice low and asked "Scale of zero to ten how bad would it be if this ranger got a facial ID of you? Just in case take this and keep face covered hmm?" Kissing him on the cheek briefly I magnetically locked my blaster on the underside of the console facing the only entrance to the bridge.

Engaging the charge to my blaster pistol I sat back in the captains chair and spoke into the shipboard PA "Welcome aboard Ranger Rook, now if you're interested in sorting things out in a civil manner please make your way to the bridge." Odds were he was already on his way but checking over some things I decided to lock out access to internal ship systems other than by me. Looking around the captains' chair I pulled up the the biolife sensors and ran a comparison on the previous captain Seriah then did a comparison against my scan. Typing in a command :previous Captain Seriah deceased xfer command access to only living Echani aboard. User ID Celiana Drayven: Confirm through bioscan: Hitting the command in the system I'd now transferred control of the ship to me.

Locking out any access to anything else I worked on creating a ID for Kel aboard the ship. That way he'd have access to everything too, with the finishing steps left up to him for credentials I said "Might wanna get your access to the ship as well right now." Moving between the door and Kel I pulled both saber hilts from my waist and secured them in plain view on either hip for the ranger to see. If he did try drawing on me that wouldn't go over well....But at the very least we could start things off politely.

@Kel Dryden @Richie B.

 

[Janus Rook]

It seemed they weren't going to be polite to walk me to the crime scene. Walking deeper into the ship I noticed a few things but nothing that would explain what has happened here. So as I walked towards the bridge I was thankful that nothing happened. No ambush or feint, just a quiet though stressful walk to where I got to see two bodies in the bridge with the two people that was said to be here.

So far I got nothing that would tell me what happened but it became clear that there needed to be an investigation of what happened. One of the victims were a Mandalorian and I spoke to myself in a quiet whisper, a pray for my fallen Vod. But even my emotions could not cloud my judgement the reality of things still required a proper investigation and that could not be done with these two walking across the crime scene any more then they already have.

But the most surprising of the scene wasn't the bodies but the blades that were on the womans hip. If I wasn't mistaken those were lightsaber which meant a small handful of things. Either she was a Jedi but her actions didn't add up if that was the case, one of the new dark saber cultist that meant this whole thing was a trap and now I needed to start blasting my way out. Thankfully my Jetpack was set so if I made a jump it would activate, no matter how fast the magic people were a good Jetpack would outrun all of them. But the final option was she was someone who either killed a Jedi or cultist or had gotten her lightsaber some other way. Either way it required a deeper investigation.

"Well I am here now and I can see you were at least telling me the truth about their being bodies. Now the question is what caused their death and how much did you mess up the crime scene. I know you already have a suspect you are planning on going after but how much evidence do you actually have that he did this? Or that he even did this with his own hands even if he was ultimately the one to caused their deaths doesn't mean others weren't involved. Has your Jedi magics answered these yet or will you actually allow me to do a proper investigation?" Now was the moment of truth, the Echani woman needed to give me the space to do the work that was my job, but she had been shown to be stubborn about leaving the bodies despite the fact that once the Coruscant police force shows up they will be asking the same thing as me, but with a lot more muscle to prove their point.

I had about 5 meters between myself and the Echani woman, it was enough space to react but still to close for my comfort with those lightsabers of hers. The sad fact though is I had to keep an eye on both of them so I did, any sudden aggressive movements would be meant with the same but if none came my own nerves will calm down. Maybe I need to start working with a pair if I was so jumpy with just two people. But I have to give myself some slack one of them just so happens to be a crazy magic woman.

@Celiana @Catbert

 

[Kel Dryden]

"Zero to ten? Then two, I guess," the unexpected kiss evoked a soft smile. To think of it, I needn't have worried as much. I wasn't notorious, especially in the Core Worlds. In fact, recognition was one of the things I was after. But the fewer rangers knew and recognized me, the better. Still, I took Celi's belt, but decided to wrap it around the neck as an impromptu scarf instead. At that point, covering my face would have added more problems than it could solve.

When prompted, I approached the scanner as well. Having access to the ship's systems never hurt. Once I was done, I saw the ranger finally enter the bridge. Great, a Ranger and a Mando. Their kind was... different. Not only because they seemed to sleep with their helmets on. Most of them had skill with weapons to back up their deadly reputation. A Mando definitely wasn't someone you wanted to cross on Nar Shaddaa. Then again, I'd still bet on a Jedi.

I stood a couple of meters behind Celiana, letting her and the Mando do the talking for the time being. The guy had a point. How did she know? I had heard Celi's story and just... taken it for granted. Then again, she had shown that she was capable of something like that. Either way, I saw no harm in letting the Ranger do his job. The problem was getting bogged down in bureaucracy, explaining all the events leading up to that point, and generally making yourself known at a local precinct. It could bite me in the rear in the future, hence my reluctance to deal with the Rangers.

@Celiana, @Richie B.

 

[Celiana Drayven]

As he came into the bridge I saw him pause at the fallen Mandalorian. I also noticed his gaze stop along my hips where my sabers sat, probably thought I'd killed a Jedi and taken them. Before anything else it seemed he was all business and tongue in cheek accusing. Before pulling my blades on him for his tongue I simply pulled up the internal security footage from the console I was standing by. Thankfully these two had thought to back up the cam footage too. In clear view was the Duro with corrupted audio though I had only started a search for security footage. I wouldn't have had to time to edit this even had I wanted to.

"The fact that this puts the individual I gave you images of and a position on here at the scene of the crime prior to my arriving in the hangar. Hence no knowledge until recently of what happened here, secondly the time stamp on the image I showed you which is when I paid him for the club isn't even twenty minutes after the security cam footage at the very least placing him here at the scene of the crime. Also not sure if you noticed this or not but that hunk of metal in the hall? That's the door I had to cut through with my saber to even find this. Go ahead and check the other entrances and exits you'll find them welded shut."

Pausing I bit my lip with an elongated canine and tasted blood. "As for my Jedi magicks?" Picking up the sword currently on my belt I said "I witnessed their end. There's a Jedi skill called psychometry where by touching an object you can see a flicker of the past, a person's final moments, identify a face of a person that ended the victim. I can say after touching the blade that they were sealed in and gassed, she died first then him. A true loss because at the very least they were....close."

"Even Mandos only have a limited air supply in those suits friend. Now I'm not sure what more investigation as you call it needs done because it seems to me my deductive reasoning and Jedi magicks as you call them have already done a better job than what you could offer. However, I'll allow you to communicate with your superiors and check out what I've told you. Be advised though if you try crossing me vode and calling in the troops? There's not a power in the verse that'd stop me from ending you."

Fingers dancing across the controls as I disabled the jamming frequency and allowed for him to have clear communications with his people. I didn't threaten the law just because I felt like it. However as a Mando he should have known better than to use underhanded tactics like reprogrammed drones. Plus it was quite unwise to insult a Jedi, whether or not I had separated from The Order I still held the rank of Knight.

@Kel Dryden @Richie B.

 

[Janus Rook]

Arriving it seemed as though the woman had all the evidence prepared and ready. Now if only she had been willing to just given this to me in the beginning then perhaps this whole fight could have been avoided. Though not everything fit quiet as neatly into her way as she might have thought it was still a good start into the investigation. There were still things that needed to be checked out. In the end though her threat would get her no raise out of me, I knew better than to argue with a child.

"The recording I will need to verify it, and collect it as evidence. As for your magic skill you claim to possess you have to know better than to assume it will hold in court. If it can't be verified or proven by instruments people can see then it holds no wait. But everything you have shown me does seem to go in favor of you." I didn't pay to much attention to the pilot but it did seem like he was trying to keep out of this discussion.

Whatever his reasoning I couldn't worry to much about it since I already had enough on my plate. Especially dealing with a presumed Jedi. In fact I felt the need to confirm that, if she was one then perhaps her order could be informed and hopefully clear somethings up for her when it came to Sector Ranger matters.

"Huntress mind giving me a name at least. I would like to contact the Rangers to let them know that a Jedi was involved in a case. Honestly its just a formality and doesn't matter even if you didn't give me one." I took the commlink out and opened up a channel to the local police force.

"Updating the previous transmission, got two bodies on the ship, an additional two other individuals are onboard the ship but the preliminary investigation shows they don't have any involvement with the two decease. I would also like a Jedi representative can be called, as one of the two individuals is a member of their order.." I waited to see if the woman would give me a name if she didn't I would just finish the transmission then, if not I would add it for the report later.

Regardless seemed like after this was done I would need to speak with the supposed previous club owner. If this was just the two of them playing a long con to escape a murder they were doing one heck of a job at it. But if they were innoecnt and just found themselves here like they claimed then they were lucky to have literally the stupidest criminal try to frame them without even erasing his own fingerprints.

@Celiana @Catbert

 

[Kel Dryden]

The ranger didn't pay much attention to me. Just the way I wanted it to be. The less my name was brought up with lawmen, the better. In the Outer Rim, that kind of notoriety helped and gave me more street cred. But in the Galactic Core it only meant unwanted attention. So, for the time being I pretended to watch the readings from the ship's various indicators installed on the bridge. In the meantime, Celi's war of words with the rangers seemed to be going well. At least he wasn't all eager to detain us.

At that point, my only concern was Celi and her possible vendetta. She didn't seem like the type to let it go. She had made it clear she'd be going after that thug. Hell or high water, no quarter. That mix of passion and determination was what made her enticing. However, it could prove problematic on worlds like Coruscant in a situation... well, like the one we were in.

Sitll, I stayed out of the discussion until my input was needed. Celi clearly knew more about what happened, and had a personal stake in that. The ranger was trying to figure out the same thing and do his job. Me? For now, I was just a tag-along.

@Celiana, @Richie B.

 

[Celiana Drayven]

Looking the ranger over as he listed things needing to be done I listened. Things were in my favor, however there was a major snag as well, he was asking for my name in order to confirm a Jedi was involved in the case. Things like this could work out however I had also made off with a copy of everything in the Jedi's archives when I'd departed the temple. While my work was flawless there was a possibility however that they'd say I was no longer part of The Order.

As soon as that either did or did not happen we'd be looking at a standoff... There was one possible way out though. I'd previously been working undercover on Coruscant my last assignment.... "Excuse me Ranger Rook, but if it's all the same to you I can't give you a name. I can however give you a callsign. The Jedi tend to give their operatives a callsign for when they have contact while undercover, mine is fire dancer. As for footage I have no problem turning that over either."

He could certainly confirm that. As it was when I'd been here last under that callsign I'd left some things unfinished. It would make sense that I'd returned. I didn't want the Jedi to know exactly what I was up to though...pulling an empty data chip from the console I was standing by I pulled up the footage of the incident and inserted the data chip. Beginning a copy of the data to the chip I waited for the ranger to finish his report. A few seconds went by and the data transferred without issue, ejecting the data chip I held it out to the ranger for him to take possession of.

Better to just let him do his job than cause issue now. Plus I had no idea what kind of cargo was in the hold or strewn about outside in the hangar. Initiating the dockworker droids from the console I had them begin lifting the storage crates and moving them to the cargo hold. I'd check with Kel what all was in the cargo after the ranger left. I had the sense that there were some fairly valuable items of cargo, especially since I was currently wearing some. These robes per set were typically in excess of forty thousand credits, there were cases of such things out there...

@Richie B. ~ @Catbert

 

[Janus Rook]

What I got was a bit interesting, not sure why a call sign was necessary when the line of communication were with allies. But I wasn't going to argue over the call sign thing, so I sent the call sign. Of course it would take a bit before they could get a response from the Jedi, their order were no where near as organized and well put together as the Sector Rangers. Still whenever I got notice of a Jedi representative coming I would feel a lot better. But she is claiming to be one though something felt off I didn't have anything to base it on.

Still with a good part of the physical evidence was gathered now came the point of finding a motive for why this happened. Which felt like the weakest part of this whole thing. Why would a random club owner who might be dealing with something illegal want to kill two supposedly random individuals? What was the connection and what can I do to find that connection was what I needed.

I accepted the data card from the woman and looked to the two in the ship though their connection to this was only as the reports of the crime I needed some information as to how they found themselves here.

"Thanks, if you don't mind though how did you two found yourself here? Do you know these two or were you two just looking around?" I had given them a way out in my own statement but it was still telling if they took it or if they had some other reason to be here.

Though I recreated the distance between myself and Celiana just in case, plus I was clear I needed to work with these two though the local law was about to show up. Which would help to ease my worries and give a bit more backing to my requests.

Spoiler: OOC

Next post local Coruscant law shows up

@Celiana @Catbert

 

[Celiana Drayven]

As he accepted the data chip he asked yet more questions...Looking at him I said "I came back to Coruscant to finish up an assignment I'd left unfinished. Part of that meant establishing myself in the lower levels where I could freely gain information about a supposed trafficking ring. Weapons, spice, people.... I decided this club was as good as any and I made the previous owner an offer while I was at the bar enjoying a drink. Coincidentally where I met my new pilot as well, I decided to explore the club and found there was a hangar hidden below the club."

Looking at the bodies I said "No connection to these two other than she's Echani and also trained as a fire dancer. The weaponry she has about her indicates as much. That's really the only kind of connection possible ranger Rook." I wasn't a fan of the fact that C-sec would soon be here, however I also had ways of making sure any evidence or reports of anything detailing this new center of operations would be lost. If it existed as digital data I had ways of getting rid of that information.

With what I was planning to start doing here it'd better for reports to disappear. After all there were SO many faulty filing systems on Triple Z... Plus there were possibilities with the C-sec department itself.....For now I waited for the Ranger and his friends to show up before I started moving things around or examining cargo.

@Richie B. ~ @Catbert