The Rebel Faction

The moment he saw it he hated it. The way he felt on him he hated it more. The fact that he had no way to bring his lightsaber with him without it looking painfully obvious made him put it on his top ten list of things he hated the most. So he was already in a sore mood when they left for the party and he had to force himself to meditate during the ride so he could clear his mind for the task ahead. Fortunately, Naosha (and no one else in the family for that matter) gave him any sort of grief about how the suit looked on him and for that he was grateful.

Elder Councilor’s manor looked much like Naosha’s, so Trazu safely guessed the layout inside was similar. Not that it would help him very much, as he had only been in his Mother’s manor a handful of times and Naosha had been living with Rissonik on the Clan grounds pretty much ever since Rissonik regained control over the Clan. Needless to say, he wasn’t about to rely on his memory of his mother’s manor should bad things start happening at this party.

His mood started to sour again when they parked at the manor and Naosha started fusing over how he looked. “Mother.” He said with a faint growl. “Stop treating me like a kid. I’m not some prize to be showed off.”

“Sorry son.” Naosha replied with a faint smile. “This is the first time I’ve gotten a chance to introduce you to the other Councilors.”

“The first impression they’ll get of me is that I am your grandson.” He pointed out sourly. “Besides…what they think of me won’t be as critical as it would be if I was to become a Councilor instead of a Sha’tor.”

“Point taken.” Naosha ceded. “Just don’t let your tongue get us into grief ok?”

“Mother…I’ll be doing a lot of listening…not talking…” Trazu said, then added softly. “Remember why you decided to bring me instead of my sister.”

“Of course.”

“Naosha!” A voice called out to them from the front door. It was Councilor Shissa. “Glad you could come.”

“It’s been a while since we got a chance to have a girls night Shissa.” Naosha said pleasantly.

“Too long…this must be your son.” Trazu winced slightly, knowing what was going to come next. “Funny…I thought he would be older….”

It took all his training not to snap at her and even more will power to keep his face from showing his…displeasure…at the comment. “He’s 24 Shissa.” Naosha corrected. “He wasn’t blessed with the tall genes in the family.”

“Oh that’s right…I did hear he was a bit on the short side…just didn’t realize he was…that short….”

This time he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. “I would appreciate it madam…if you didn’t keep dwelling on my ‘short comings’.” He said, slightly hotly.

“Yes it’s a very touchy subject for him.” Naosha said, then thankfully changed the topic. “So who has arrived?”

“Looks like just about everyone I invited will be coming. Most are here now with a couple of stragglers having already called in to say they will be late.” Shissa beckoned for them to follow her. “Come on in, I’ll get you a couple of drinks while dinner is finishing up cooking.”

As they followed her in, Trazu finally pushed his emotions aside and accessed the Force. With it he looked Shissa over and found no hint of ill intent in her. “Sho’s cloun.” He whispered in Clan Dialect to his mother, whom sighed with relief. He continued to use the Force as they entered the main lobby where several over guests were milling and chatting. Almost the moment he stepped into the lobby he felt it: a strong sense of malevolence, but he couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from. Still, he felt it was a good idea to inform his mother.

“Tho truiter is horo.” He told her in whisper.

“Whe is it?” Naosha replied, obviously trying her best to look normal.

“Den’t knew yot…I nood timo te fecas.”

Naosha simply nodded as they went to find a place to sit.

They found some sets in the living room, where there were a few other guests chatting. The moment Trazu sat down he took a deep breath and let it out slowly to help clear his mind, then started focusing on tracking down the source of the malevolence he felt. He had just started to narrow down location to one of the other rooms when someone disturbed him.

“So Lord Trazu, are you married?” Shissa’s voice said, breaking his concentration.

“Widowed.” He replied a bit stiffly, accepting the drink she offered him. “However I am currently seeing someone.” He added quickly, safely guessing the intent of the line of questioning.

His guess was right, going by the slight disappointed expression on Shissa’s face. “I thought we were getting away from the ‘arranged’ marriages.” Naosha asked, having caught on as well.

To that Shissa simply shrugged. “Old habits die hard.” She replied simply before heading off to attend to other guests.

Trazu sighed and forced himself to relax again, pushing the annoyance out of his mind from the gull the woman had to ask him such a personal question. Gradually he weeded out possible sources of the malevolence until he had concluded the individual was in the very next room. There was more then one person in that room though, so he started to narrow the focus even more.

Suddenly the source entered the living room and Trazu opened his eyes to lay eyes on the person itself. The malevolent presence quickly evaporated and was replaced by fear when she spotted him.

Got you…. Trazu thought, giving the female a faint smile.

Trazu casually elbowed his mother to get her attention. He didn’t look at Naosha, instead keeping his eyes locked onto the traitor, but out of the corner of his eye he saw her look at him then look in the direction he was looking at and heard a faint gasp from her. Naosha started to stand, likely to confront the individual, when a sudden tremor hit the area, accompanied by an audible rumble.

“That sounded like it came from the space port!” One of the other guests said, resulting in a sudden rush of people crowding the windows and walking outside.

Lavality… Trazu thought, knowing who had to be behind the trouble. Guess she found McGan. He realized his error to allow himself to get distracted when he saw the traitor was gone: no doubt using the distraction to make a hasty retreat. “Kazuk…” He cursed as he jumped to his feet and went in the only direction she could have gone. Using the Force he quickly ‘found’ her in his minds eye and set off in pursuit.

The one problem with this course of action was immediately evident in his mind: he had no weapons on his person besides the Force should she decide to get violent. No choice. He thought as he made his way quickly through the next room. I can’t let her escape.

Asri had been doing well in the flight sim, the instructor telling her she was a born natural. In fact she was even enjoying it and was disappointed when they were ordered to evacuate the building due to a fight going on in one of the hangers.

Of all the times someone decides to cause a ruckus. Asri thought with a faint growl of disappointment as she followed everyone down the hallways toward the exit. She stopped in her tracks when she realized what it had to be. Lavality…sounds like she found McGan and he’s putting up a fight. She looked down a different hall, one that would take her in the direction of the fight. I wonder if I could be of assistance… Looking back, she noticed with a smile that no one was noticing her just standing here, everyone else being too wrapped out in getting out of the danger area. Still smiling she started running down the other hallway….

Meanwhile

Trazu cursed when he ‘watched’ the traitor leave the manor and start running down the street, forcing him to pick up the pace. Tackling her in the manor would allow his mother to easily explain to the witnesses what was going on, since everyone there would be other Councilors and their relatives and friends. Out here on the street though…he could be made out to be the bad guy, which meant he had to catch her quickly before she arranged it to seem just like that. With little option he used to Force to increase his speed to close the ground between them quickly.

He saw her look back at him and both saw and felt the fear in her eyes. Suddenly she turned and fired a blaster shot at him. At the speed he was running it was only due to a miracle of the Force that he managed to twist enough to avoid a fatal hit, the shot instead grazing him in the arm. Now pissed off that she had used a blaster on him, he grabbed her with the Force once she was close enough and threw her toward a nearby wall…

Back at the spaceport

Asri found the hanger bay most of the fighting was coming from and was standing in the hallway behind them. One of them had a big hole in the wall and when she (carefully) looked in she saw Lavality taking cover from some blaster fire. Ok I know which bay McGan is ‘not’ in. Asri thought with a grin, glancing at the maintenance door that lead into the other hanger. She stopped herself though before opening it, realizing that when she did she would invite every enemy in there to turn and fire upon her. So she needed a more covert means of getting in there. Looking around she quickly spotted a ventilation opening, one that was big enough for her to fit in. Now why there was a ventilation system in this part of the building when all the hangers opened out side she didn’t know, but she wasn’t going to argue.

She ripped off the covering and was just about to go in when she had another second thought. The albino Trandoshan poked her head into the hanger Lavality was in, got her attention and waved the removed grate covering where she could see. It was an simple way of saying: watch where your guys are shooting for the next few minutes. Once the message was delivered she went into the shaft.

Trazu watched with sly grin as the traitor slammed into the wall, the blaster flying from her hands as she bounced off the wall and fell to the ground. Obviously stunned, it took her awhile for her to start to rise to her feet again, which by that time Trazu was beside her. It was only then that Trazu noticed a potential problem: the sound of the blaster shot had attracted attention and a small crowd was watching them. He could hear the faint whispers between members of the crowd.

“Help me! This man is trying to kill me! He’s an assassin!” The traitorous female suddenly shouted, startling the crowd and prompting a couple of the larger males to step forward.

Kazuk. Trazu thought, afraid this would happen. Due to their public office, Councilors were more recognizable then most. “Stand your ground!” He said firmly, authority in his voice. “Do not know the circumstances behind this.”

“I think we understand plenty.” One of the males growled. “That’s one of the Elder Councilors you have there…what you are doing is punishable by death….”

“She’s the traitor.” Trazu countered sternly. “She’s one of the leaders of a group that attempted to assassinate Speaker-Above-All Naosha and her family very recently.” Trazu didn’t know what else to say to defend his position here. He didn’t want to say anything about the Serendivus, goddess knows too many people know about them already and he was certain Lavality didn’t want to go officially public until they cleaned out all the riffraff.

“Even so…isn’t that a matter for the security team?” The male countered. “Not some nobody kid in a fancy suit.”

Trazu’s eyes narrowed as he straightened. “First off…I am not a kid….second…I am Trazu K’Satikur…and I was one of the targets of the assassination attempt along with my children. I have every skragging right to apprehend her!”

The males eyes blinked as he took it in, then he and the other male held his hands up in submission and backed off. The traitor Councilor seemed to go limp in despair from where she lay on the ground.

“Get up.” Trazu growled as he pulled her roughly to her feet. “My mother and the other Councilors will want to have a chat with you….”

“Why don’t you just kill me?” She growled.

“Oh I’m tempted, but even scum like you have to have a trail first….” Trazu snarled in response as he marched her back in the direction of Councilor Shissa’s manor.

Spaceport

Asri indeed had seen the opening and grinned as she looked down at the hover tank that had stayed in place: it was conveniently parked right under her. She removed the grate covering in front of her, then dropped down, landing right on top of the tank. She kept herself flat on the surface of the tank and did a quick look around to be sure no one was shooting at her. Then she opened the hatch and grabbed a very surprised tank commander, yanked him out and broke his neck before tossing him over the side of the vehicle. Asri did the same with the main gunner before hopping into the tank herself.

Hmm…looks like the driver and the secondary gunner get in a different way. She thought with a grin. Works to my advantage. Now…how do you work this thing….

The white scaled Trandoshan took a few moments to figure out how to aim the turret and find the fire button. Once that was figured out, she aimed the main turret at the other tank that was only just figuring out that the smoke screen in another hanger was a decoy. With a savage grin she pressed the fire button and was awarded with a lovely explosion.

She knew better then to sit there and gloat. Not only would the remaining crew in her tank suddenly realize that their tank had been commandeered by an enemy, but everyone else in that hanger bay would as well. So she hastily made her exit from the vehicle and found a hiding spot so she could plot her next move…..