3523/Curiosity & the Miraluka

Curiosity & the Miraluka
Date of Scene:	14 December 2015
Location:	Far Away Galaxy - Coruscant
Synopsis:	Jayale goes to the Coruscant of HK-47's reality to try and piece together an inquiry on the droid and stash some bait with which to draw him out... but if there's one thing assassin-droids don't like, it's having questions get asked.
Cast of Characters:	754, 892

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HK-47 (754) has posed:
     Long regarded as the center of Galactic prosperity and providence, Coruscant had been the bastion and centerpiece of the Galactic Republic for untold millennia - the symbol of peaceful society and a secure governmental presence across the Galaxy.

     ... or at least, that is what it was in comparison to other worlds. Compared to sixty years prior, this was a bit of a different story.

     The wars between Exar Kun, Mandalore the Ultimate and Darth Revan had crippled and stricken the Republic's prosperity. Even as the planet-wide metropolis of Galactic City itself was as bustling as ever, disrepair was evident in many districts as a result of the horrid bankrupcy the Republic had undergone eight years prior. It had improved drastically, but a few areas - most notable the lower levels - had suffered from the lack of credits and resources as the Republic tried to recover from the wounds dealt to it by Revan and Malak in the Jedi Civil War.

     The Jedi Temple, still standing proud and tall in this era, is largely quiet as the number of Jedi within is a pale shadow of the number contained within years ago, the Order still in the midst of rebuilding in the wake of the Shadow War against the Sith Triumvirate.

     In fact... many of the Masters for this rebuilding Order had been acquainted with Revan's associates before her fall to the Dark Side, trained by Meetra Surik - the Jedi Exile who had been Revan's lieutenant in the Mandalorian War.

     Where else could one get information on the new Sith Empire and the forces behind it.

     ...

     Sadly, though... even the core of the Republic is not safe from the touch of the Dark Side or it's servants... especially when one starts trying to dig too deeply for their secrets.

     And especially not when one such servant, cloaked atop one of Coruscant's many skyscrapers, sits waiting with rifle in hand to target any speeder vehicle or taxi or even walkway pedestrian who's occupant carries a target that has most /assuredly/ been seeking out information she should not be. A certain female that had interfered in at least two prior operations.

     A female that, if she came into his sights, would not interfere again after today.

Jayale (892) has posed:
    Indeed, one such speeder was going along the skyways currently. Jayales craft had landed within the Coruscant landing pad closest to the Jedi Temple and beyond that, she had gone about trying to(in her belief) stealthily inquire about various things, try to get some understanding of what was going on, recent events and all the such. Trying to get some understanding of what, and when, things were going on.

    Which was why she was heading towards the Jedi Temple now, in a rented speeder, with several things she had reacquired from her ship. Among them was a package that HK-47 himself had attempted to acquire from one Han Solo.

    Jayale herself was fully cloaked at the moment, no outward signs it was /her/ though if one was tracking her back it wasn't hard to follow. She was good at staying a target that doesn't exist, not being a target that can hide once known.

HK-47 (754) has posed:
     The speeder comes into sight... and the machine had proceeded to stalk her for some time through the scope of his rifle before risking taking aim.

     If not for the fact that he had already met her before, the droid might not have been able to pick her out among the crowds and the bustling speeders... but it helped that he had a good idea of where she would go - he assumed the Jedi Temple would be her target for the conclusion of her inquiries... so all he needed to do was watch all traffic to and from the Temple, and he would likely spot her regardless of what route she took.

     ...

     Soon enough... he did.

     There was her speeder - there was her cloaked form... and what clinched it was the crate the speeder had inside it as well - the ores that he had wanted. The ores that the Smuggler was meant to bring before being exterminated.

     His rifle was already charged and primed... he only needed her to get closer in range... closer...

     Even if he only hit her vehicle, it would down her as she would be unlikely to survive the crash. But then again, Jedi were always a very slippery lot. The best-case scenerio was to aim for her directly.

     And as soon as he has the shot lined up... he fires.

Jayale (892) has posed:
    The notiong that HK-47 was actively tracking her, or for that matter was looking at her transport through a scope, wasn't something that the older Jedi had any sense of. Sure, she could have been more careful, should have been more careful, but this was hardly her area of expertise. She was not a spy, was not a trader of information. She was a supplier, she was a trader of /goods/. She had connections, could grease wheels, but this? Was new territory for her. She almost seemed relaxed, going back towards the Jedi Temple that was so familiar in the distance.

    To know that in thousands of years... terrible things would happen. Then again terrible things always happened.

    That was a way of life in the Galaxy. For the Jedi. For the Sith. No matter how long peace reigned, war returned. Fighting, death. Pain.

    Despite it all, though, something passed through Jayales senses. Something that was so subtle and quick that normally any being which had a thought would not be able to think about said thought and react in time, or even formulate a way of reacting. However, Jedi were accustomed to feeling things through the Force, trusting the Force, and as utterly paranoid as Jayale was in her efforts of trusting the Force and being safe, that momentary flicker of something instantly got a reaction out of the older Miralukan.

    The transport was grasped mid-air courtesy of the Miralukan and forcibly halted with the Force, hard enough that she and the pilot lurched forward, nearby transports screeching out of the way and zooming by with calls of anger and blaring sirens and horns to let them know they screwed up. The pilot was launched forward and flipped over the open-air shield that acted to protect him as Jayale cracked her head hard on the barrier, dazed and wounded as the rifle tore through the transport and disentegrated part of it, as well as a good portion of the clothing along her back and side, barely avoiding grazing her body but still close enough to sear across her and leave what would likely be a lifelong scar across her.

    "H-help!" the pilot called as the ship rocked and started to plummet. Jayale was nearly too dizzy to act, though she forced herself to do what she could despite the blood running down her head from the slamming of it on the vehicle. She reached out and through the Force shakily wrapped it around the fellow, throwing him towards where it felt 'safest' to do so, letting him land painfully(and alive) in the contents of a recycling vehicle. She, on the other hand, wasn't as lucky and barely managed to slow her descent as she pushed herself out of the vehicle before it impacted the ground below and shattered into an explosive million pieces. The older Jedi tumbled as she landed roughly with the Force barely able to cushion her descent, probably saved only by hear near lifetime of that novel application of 'floating' with the Force. Really it was just pushing up from below while she was doing other things, but it also meant she wasn't complete paste, just terribly injured far below, and not moving at the moment. Still, there was too many things around now for HK-47 to charge up and get another clean shot. He would have to go down himself to finish the job or search the rubble.

HK-47 (754) has posed:
     And so, as usual, the Jedi proved difficult prey to hunt - they always seemed to register danger just a /fraction/ of a second before it could satisfyingly incinerate them.

     While the scene of chaos that now gripped this particular skyline was a very soothing consolation prize, it would also make his job simultaneously easier as it would disguise his moments... and harder as it would draw the planetary authority onto the area.

     All the more reason not to waste time, then.

     Moving away from his sniping point - she was out of his line of fire now, somewhere several levels below - the cloaked tore away the covering on his concealed speeder and hopped into the chair, pulling away quickly and soon honing in on the burning wreck where the vehicle was.

     He very much hoped the ores weren't badly damaged. It would be terribly inconvenient to have to procure replacements - more-so then it already had.

     Moreover, though... he wondered what the intact /Jedi/ could offer in terms of information. Provided he left her intact after this.

     As the chaos above hides his descent for the moment, the speeder quickly lands at the site of the Jedi's crash, the cloaked form emerging quickly and taking note of her prone form.

     He wondered if he ought to check whether or not she was deceased... but then again, considering their propensity for melee combat, getting close to a Jedi, even a seemingly-dead one, never had good results. The fact that his prior Master could often struggle back to her feet in spite of severe injuries pointed to the more pragmatic route being to just pelt the corpse from a distance.

     As such, a rust-red limb emerges from beneath the folds of the cloak, the plates on the forearm sliding open as a Carbonite-projector begins spewing the supercooled liquid at the fallen body.

     Either she moved and proved she was alive and conscious... or she didn't and he had her body or corpse for study. Either way, he'd benefit.

Jayale (892) has posed:
    Indeed, the Jedi was not moving when he came. She was entirely still, her hearbeat, all vital signs seemed completely missing. In fact, to anything but a trained force user, and the /best/ of medical equipment, her pulse might not even be able to be felt. She /was/ alive, however, her systems, her body slowed to a crawl that was meant to aid in long travels and slowing things down to negate the effects of long travel. Morichro, a technique that while typically used by dark-sided Force users to kill, in the hands of a Jedi or those with better intentions, could have self-targeted applications. It also meant she wasn't feeling the pain quite as much as she should be while trying to sort things out.

    The world was a blur, even to one with the Force as an ally. The injury to her head, and the fact that she had barely managed to survive the fall thanks to overexerting herself meant she was pretty well screwed. Hopefully whatever attempted to bring her down wasn't going to come finish the job?

    In front of all the beings here?

    That was too much to hope for, unable to try and respond in time partially due to her own attempts to manage what was going on. Her body was way too sluggish to jump back to full strength and as a result, even though she barely managed to roll onto her side, arm caught in the carbonite while leaving her mostly prostrate and now trapped. Her vital signs quickly began to recover, however, and in a rather bad attempt to avoid simply being sprayed down and being completely trapped, Jayale attempted to grasp the weapon through the Force and quickly point it down towards HK-47's feet, possibly trapping him as well if he wasn't quick enough to respond - or if she even had the concentration and capability left in her after that.

HK-47 (754) has posed:
     Jedi /truly/ were an annoying breed.

     Even as he managed to douse one of the meatbag's limbs in Carbonite, his own limb was wrenched downward abruptly, deep-freezing his newly-minted legs - freshly restored from his encounter with Toph Beifong - and cementing him to the floor. His knee-joints creaked and strained as he struggled to try and break free, his armored form working against him in this instance as the weight of his frozen legs caused some of his framework to bend a bit, electing a metallic shriek as his internal sensors sent feedback through his processor akin to a jolt of pain traversing the human nervous system.

     And beneath the hood of his cloak, the ruby-red photoreceptors of HK-47 pulsated with thinly-veiled hate, as well as a budding anticipation to either incapacitate or butcher the Jedi meatbag before him.

     The comparatively few meatbags that hadn't fled in the wake of the crashing speeder were assuredly scared off by the cloaked form attacking another entity, most assuming that they were watching some horrific bounty-hunter's mission gone wrong... or an assassination mission they would rather not be part of.

     If nothing else though, Coruscant Security Forces - as well as the Jedi in the Temple who may very likely have sensed the disturbance of this conflict - would congregate here soon enough... meaning the assassin droid was on a timetable.

     Lifting his arm, the droid fires off his flamethrower this time, deciding that his prey may be more amicable if the will to fight was /literally/ burnt out of what parts of her body the carbonite hadn't encased.

     Then... perhaps he could get her out of here... and take his time in finding out just how much about him the Union now knew off-hand.

     And perhaps make an offering to Darth Vader? After all... what better Life-Day Present could a Sith Lord ask for then a Jedi?

Jayale (892) has posed:
    Trapped.

    Jayale was trapped and she knew it just as much as HK-47 did. The carbonite had them both locked in place with the primary difference being she was pinned and at a loss defensively, and aggressively, while HK was simply rooted in place. He had all of his weapons, and the advantage, and the carbonite both weighing her down, and pinning her to the ground, made it quite impossible to do anything in her current position.

    Was this it? She could see him bringing up the weapon, pointing it at her.
    Could feel the flames pour out and catch the remnants of her cloak and some of the clothing beneath on fire, barely avoiding damage to her face by turning her face down so the rest of her took the immediate brunt of it. But while the HK unit may need his limbs to do things, Jayale only needed her fingers, her hand, to move slightly. There was a silver flash, the sound of a lightsaber and the shrill scream of pain from the Jedi by what was likely her being burned alive.

    Something surprising happened, however. She rolled away further and tried to claw her clothing away, somehow separate from the carbonite. But that was not possible unless...

    Like a trapped animal that gnawed its' own limb off, so to speak, to get free rather than die. Her lightsaber lay on the ground next to the carbonite and what was likely inside as she barely managed to drag the burning cloak off and try to clamber away. Which was quite hard. In fact, she didn't get too terribly far, considering she just crippled herself to avoid what was likely going to be a lethal assault. With HK rooted, and Jayale attempting to crawl away, she should still be an easy target. But would he see in time a lightsaber hilt roll slowly towards him, the one that she had dropped after cutting herself free? Would he see it in time as it shot upright, Jayale ceasing her attempt to crawl away as she resigned herself to the fact she was barely conscious at this point and probably wouldn't manage to stay that way for more than the next few moments. The silver blade flew up and tilted, igniting at an angle in an attempt to pierce through the space between the rusted red durasteel plating, towards the black underside in a hope to pierce some vital component. Possibly a power source, if the HK-51's designs were any indication of where his might be.

HK-47 (754) has posed:
     He'd won.

     He knew it, the meatbag knew it. All that was left was to /cement/ that fact. They were both trapped, but she was defenseless - he was not. It was HK's victory as the flames seemed to engulf the meatbag's form-

     And then that victory was stolen away abruptly as a silver flash of light suddenly sliced across the meatbag, causing a rare stall-out of HK-47's logic-processors in the droid analog of shock. Something that persisted for the split-second in which the meatbag rolled away screaming with a delightfully pain-filled overclocking of her vocal unit as her form, cloth-coverings burning from his attack, she began crawling across the floor... with smoke trailing from the cauterized stump where her limb had once been attached.

     She enacted a self-disassembly to avoid being exterminated. How annoyingly clever - most meatbags were far too attached to their non-compartmentalizable bodies to ever make such a practical move.

     Not that it would save her... but if nothing else, HK-47 would opt to terminate her with a tad more respect for meatbag survivability logged into his memory unit as he pulled his disruptor free-

    And in doing so, became aware of another silver flash sprung to life even as he inclined his head down, the tip of the lightsaber coming active with it's distinctive 'snap-hiss' as it speared for his torso, the stunned droid reacting in a snap and throwing his disruptor at the weapon to send it off-course.

     Sword met rifle, the energy-blade slicing through the power-core of his weapon - and causing an explosion that tore HK-47 free of the carbonite that kept him trapped and sent him skidding across the ground as the improvised detonation blew him several feet back, scorching his metal body and blacking out one of his photoreceptors as shrapnel and concussive force shattered the right lens. His hands were more burnt then his body, one of the digits of his right limb going inactive as he was tossed across the duracrete pavement of the Coruscant walkway.

     ...

     And when HK-47 got back up, his intact photoreceptor glowed with pure, undiluted /hate/, the machine pushing himself to his feet, black marks covering much of his chest with his back-plates holding multiple scrapes. His burnt hands clenched, fourth-right finger frozen from it's damaged connectors.

     Indeed... Jedi truly were a challenge...

     ... however, while his state would inspire pure rage under normal circumstances... HK-47 couldn't help but feel the damages were more a mark of pride, all things considered. Badges of honor against facing one of the supposedly-revered Jedi and bringing them down - and a Union Elite, no less. Maimed in the process of facing him...

     But while this reaffirmed the droid's faith that he was more then capable of engaging Elites himself... he wasn't going to simply let the Jedi walk away.

     This time, raising his arm up, HK-47 selected his Neural-Scrambler Stun Ray, so that he would be able to enjoy a through direction and interrogation upon returning to the homestead.

     A Life-Day present all his own... waiting to be unwrapped of it's fleshy covers.

Jayale (892) has posed:
    Jayale was barely even conscious enough to know what was going on, a high mixture of the pain of her own injury sustained in trying to get free to avoid death, and the fact that she'd basically been hunted and failed to escape. There was no further response from the Jedi, no further attempts at escape. To be fair she had nothing left to give. Which is why when the scrambler was aimed and fired, it hit and left her quite fully unconscious with no real response out of her.

    HK-47 had won.

    She had no annoying backup. She hadn't radioed anyone, or really had the chance. All that remained was to collect his prizes. Oh, speaking of, that ore of his was actually still intact, though the container was practically falling apart, laying off to one side amidst a smoldering piece of the transport she had taken. A good day for the assassin-droid it seems.

HK-47 (754) has posed:
     This time... the Jedi does not get back up.

     Once again... the merits of launching the first attack become clear. Had he faced the meatbag in a frontal battle... he likely would have sustained far more extensive damage. Already the damages he'd sustained was rather impressive for a meatbag - even a Jedi - to inflict.

     But in the end, the logical conclusion - his triumph - had occurred, and now all that was left was for HK-47 to recover both his previously-stolen ores and his new information source-

     BLAM!

     -and yet, not one moment after the droid had started to move forward, he was stricken by a series of blaster bolts against his sides, burning away more of his cloak. The shots were diffused - too diffused to do much harm... but that in turn meant they must have been made from a rather noteworthy distance.

     And as he looked up at the oncoming speeder, the droid realized that if the shots coming from it were from the same weapons that just attacked him, his ambusher was no ordinary opponent.

     Unbelievable - was there no /end/ to these's meatbags continual interruptions in his efforts??

     Turning to open fire on the speeder with his ion-charger, the vehicle performed a surprising arial spin before righting and performing a rapid parallel-park against the side of the walkway, two forms suddenly emerging to face him.

     "Well... long time, no see, rusty" came an annoying voice that the droid remembered all-too-well - he could never forget the smug arrogance in that voice even if the owner /wasn't/ so spiteful to droids. Or at least droids of his peerless make. "I mean, I knew you were one sick droid... but picking a fight on an old woman? That's low even for you - but she must be pretty important, huh? Especially if you're stupid enough to start a firefight with her right outside our windows."

     Hopping out of the speeder with a half-swagger, lightsaber held idly in one hand and blaster-pistol in the other, the form of the meatbag known as Atton Rand promptly strode over to where Jayale lay prone on the ground, a look of concern passing over his eyes before turning into one of hard focus. The green blade of his Jedi weapon ignited to life with a sharp hissing sound as he took up a more offensive position, slowly advancing on the Sith Assassin Droid.

     Behind Rand, another meatbag emerged from the speeder's passenger side - this one having blonde hair in contrast to Rand's dark hair and clad in more traditional Jedi garb as opposed to Rand's Jal Shay armor. This meatbag - Mical, acting member of the Jedi Council, head of the Healers and chief Librarian in the sill-undermined Jedi Order, coming out in spite of his high ranking due to no-one else of high-rank for handling emergencies being present - placed a hand against Jayale's body in obvious concern for her state, expressing sorrow at her severe injuries - especially her arm. "Atton, these wounds are severe. We need to get her out of here immediately!"

HK-47 (754) has posed:
     "Statement - Yes, her safety is so very important, meatbags. More so then engaging me."

     It was here, as Mical spoke to Rand on Jayale's status, that HK took his chance, pulling free his fragmentation grenade and lobbing it at the pair.

     This elected a startled curse from Rand as both he and Mical threw their hands up, pulling the wreckage of Jayale's speeder in front of them to shield from the blast, the explosion blacking the area in front of them out in a cloud of smoke as it impacted the husk of the vehicle.

     In the chaos, HK bitterly realized he needed to cut his losses, instead making for the object that fell out of the speeder - the crate of ores the meatbag had been transporting - and grabbing onto it with his burnt hands, all but sprinting back to his own vehicle.

     HK didn't need to look back to tell the two now-veteran Jedi had prevented the blast from killing them and Jayale - he could safely assume that their pooled strength would stop whatever blast-force that wreckage didn't block.

     But he'd done enough, in the end. Attacked her in the heart of the Republic itself - and even though the attempt was quickly botched by how she did not perish with the first shot... the result was still salvageable as he loaded the crate of Chromite ores onto his speeder, hopped into the driver's seat and gunned the repulsorlift engines to their limit, peeling away at top speed.

     On the walkway below, Atton Rand & Mical remained in their standing positions with both hands brought in front of them, having used the Force to disperse and shield from the blast, Rand cursing while Mical immediately returned to Jayale's side, calling for medical attention.

     Atton, seeing a fallen object - Jayale's radio - immediately picked it up and began trying to call in assistance from whoever was listening... and subsequently groaning in exasperation as he ended up getting a droid on the other end of her commlink. "Droids" he moaned ". "... why'd it have to be droids?"

     As Atton reported the details of this, Mical reached out with the Force to try and heal or at least lessen Jayale's injuries as best he could, hoping that he could keep her stable long enough for someone to come reach her - "It's okay. We've got you."

     And so the incident on Coruscant came to as abrupt an end as it's beginning, leaving behind many wrecked vehicles, a skyway in chaos, a plume of smoke visible a dozen city-blocks from the Jedi Temple... a wounded Jedi left near-death... and a fleeing assassin droid, damaged but ultimately victorious... for now.

     After all... if perhaps he'd known the ores he carried had a homing device installed in them... he might not have felt quite confident or victorious.