The Rebel Faction

Asri watched the gossipy Jedi walk off, wondering just how she got her gossip when she barely let one get a word in edgewise. She then turned her attention to Maskis and a faint frown on her face. “You’re lucky I heard you come up behind me and recognized your musk…otherwise you’d be hurting right now.” She said warningly. “And one doesn’t need pure strength to take down those bigger then you. Remember, he’s Force Sensitive. Just what are you doing in this area anyway?” She added. “Shouldn’t you be keeping an eye on Lavality?”

Before Maskis could respond, Asri felt and heard an explosion. “Ferfek!” Asri cursed. “I bet you that’s another bounty hunter.” Without thinking she shoved the loaned clothing into Maskis’ arms and ran off, leaving a confused Maskis behind. She aware of it, but the nano’s had improved her already excellent Trandoshan senses, enabling her to hear and feel things other Trandoshans wouldn’t notice. The explosion, she noted, sounded muffled, but not by just the walls of the Temple. Sounded like it came from underground: where they trying to sneak into the Temple through a sewer system now? If so, they are not being very quiet about it.

Her lack of knowledge about the Temple’s layout made finding the source difficult and it wasn’t until she just barely perceived a faint dust cloud emerging from behind a dusty bookcase. Moving closer to it, she felt a draft coming from behind it, very slight, but there. A secret passage… Asri thought to her self, looking over and around the case to find the switch and hoping it wasn’t one that required a Force user to activate. Luck was with her as she found a brink that looked a bit out of place and pressed it in, the case swinging out into a tunnel system beyond. How many more of these hidden passages are there? She wondered as she cautiously entered the tunnel. If there’s many…it would be an assassin’s paradise if they found out the layout.

The smell of dust and sewage dominated the air as she navigated the tunnels, realizing the explosion had to have come from somewhere in them. After traveling for a while, carefully marking which way she had come from in case she got lost, she caught the not so pleasant scent of burnt fur.

Wookiee fur to be exact, with a faint but familiar scent of it’s owner. Well now… Asri thought with a grin as she started tracking the scent, her pose now one of a hunter. Mister Ruse trying to sneak in eh? Better pray you were blown up by that explosion furball, as I am not going to be nice when I find you….

The Jedi were confused and scattered, searching high and low for the source of the blast as well as those they'd been protecting - who had apparently wandered out of sight at just the wrong moment. In the midst of one such group, Dolash rattled off orders.

"We'll need someone at the gates, at the doors, and in the hall! All the entrances must be watched! Keep in pairs and check the lower levels first, there are many hidden entrances and tunnels -"

Tunnels. Tunnels! Of course! The one tunnel no one would look into.

Dropping everything else, Dolash broke into a run for the inner edge of the Temple's courtyard, where the tunnel he'd used to escape the temple at night and roam the city had been left forgotten. It had been some time since it's use, and only him and a small group of Jedi had even known of it - how could he have forgotten to guard it?

Dolash then paused. If the Bounty Hunter was here - which he very well could be - then that meant that Jubaz hadn't caught up with him, or worse. He stood at the door of the great hall, wavering between his desire to see this Bounty Hunter captured and his need to ensure his friend was unharmed. In the end, duty won out, but on his way to the courtyard he grabbed the Twi'lek Jedi Proq.

"Proq! Find Jubaz! I think he's somewhere in the tunnels!"

"Wait, what? What's he doing there?" Proq simply gave him a confused look.

Dolash didn't have time, though, and said so. "You have to hurry! I'll explain later, okay? Find Jubaz, I know you can!" And with that, he set off full stride towards the tunnel entrance.

Trazu was too deep in his studies to actually hear or feel the explosion, but the Force certainly told him. His first thought was for his son and he left the book on the table he was reading at as he sped off, nearly running into several Jedi that were scurrying about trying to find the source of explosion in the process. Fortunately Silonik and his roommate Mortor were smart enough not to go wandering about trying to solve the mystery themselves and were in the room where he last saw them.

“Daddy….” Silonik said as Trazu entered the room and sighed with relief that nothing had befallen them. “What’s going on?”

“I am not sure.” Trazu confessed. “Felt like someone was trying to blast their way into the temple. Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you.”

The two Trandoshan kids huddled close to him as he sat on their shared bed. Trazu rubbed their backs comfortingly as he kept all his senses alert for danger, but one thing kept nagging at him.

Where’s Asri? He thought.

****

Asri had just sighted the wook as she turned the corner and the echo of the tunnel betrayed his mutterings clearly to her. Dumb am I? I don’t think so! She thought with a silent sneer.

She took much better care to ensure her toe claws didn’t click on the tunnel floor as she stalked closer to the wook, her night vision picking him out of the gloom easily. Asri had to duck behind a pile of rocks once when the wook started to look behind him, but otherwise she was certain he continued to believe he was alone down here. She proved him wrong when she sprung onto his back once she was close enough, sending him face first into a sewage filled puddle.

“You greatly underestimate us T’Doshok furball.” Asri hissed. “Especially me!”

This wook was a fast thinker: before she could do any damage he had scooped up a bit of sewage infested mud and managed to back throw it into her eyes. With a screech she instinctively jumped back and started getting the filth out of her eyes, but by the time she was able to see again the wookiee had disappeared down the tunnel.

Round two is yours, but the third round is coming and I will win the prize. She growled as she took off down the tunnel after him.

Asri followed the tunnel the wookiee disappeared down, carefully examining the tracks at each intersection so that she didn’t miss his most recent trail. It wasn’t long before she noticed the marks she had left behind herself and this disturbed her.

Damn wookiee is getting close to the exit! She thought with a snarl as she picked up the pace. She new she had to either beat him to the exit, or find him before he reached it. While she knew his chances of getting to Lavality were low now that the Temple was on high alert thanks to the explosion, the sooner she stopped him the better.

A sickening question rose to her mind: what if he recognized her marks for what they were? Deciding not to take the chance she sped back toward the entrance and it turned out her hunch was right: that damn wookiee was just about to step out! Sprinting as fast as she could she ran at him and smiled when he turned with a look of dread on his face just before she tackled him.

It was a ball of brown fur and white scales that tumbled out of the tunnel entrance. Asri wailed at him with all she had, but his fur reduced the damage done by her claws. Once Ruse had gotten his senses he sent her flying into a wall with a kick and took off down the hallway. After wasting precious seconds shaking the stars out of her head Asri cut loose a roar of rage and took off after him. The roar was not only to show her anger, but to warn the residents of the Temple that the intruder had made it in.

Lavality walked over to the window in her quarters, looking out, she heard the clatter on the ground of the Jedi's and others running around, almost as if they where trying to find someone

Maskis turned the corner and froze, there standing in front of him was a large furry thing, he looked up and saw the teeth of a wookie. "Um.. hey Ruse!" Maskis said and raised his pistol, but the wookie grabbed his arm, snapped the bone, then threw him against the wall, knocking the wind out of him. Maskis clutched his arm, "how the hell YOU get into here?"

Ruse grinned. "My Secret," he said and rushed Maskis, slamming his fist into the stomach and knocking Maskis out, he then let the unconcious form of his opponant fall to the ground, after some time of searching the numerous room he finally found Lavality's room, and slowly opened the door

Lavality was just standing there, staring out the window. Ruse grinned and unshelthed his knife, then threw the door open and rushed her. She was caught off guard, but that would prove fatal for the Wookie. As he approuched she turned around and saw a wookie heading toward her, not even thinking who it might be, out of no where the objects in the room lifted off the ground and flew around everywhere, some going through windows, while another going through her door, breaking it in two

After several minutes, she opened her eyes... and saw a wookie directly in front of her, several object's protruded from his body. "Damn..... you...." he fell forward onto her, she jumped back, both arms up to her face. "Wha... wha.... what....." she kept on trying to say something, but the act of killing got to her. Even though she was used to it before, for some reason it hit her like a ton of bricks this time, and sent her into a confused and shocked state