(OOC: Sorry I'm so late. Been having IRL trouble)




Vodo tucked his identification papers into a hidden pocket in his robes. It identified him as Quell Idanian, Captain of the Nerf Herder, a Corellian ship which was a part of a communications equipment distributor, Traieka Communications Utilities.

He leaned down and picked up his walking stick and hobbled over to where Leia, the wookie, and Fraktusk were gathering.

"I am ready. We should hurry, we may be able to beat the Customs officers out of here." He said in his grave voice.

They all shuffled out of the vessel, hauling their equipment along with them. Vodo packed light, with just one other change of clothes, his papers, some credits and his stick.

The customs officers approached from the side. Vodo strode up to them, trying to seem important. The lead officer, who seemed to be in charge greeted him.

"Halt!"

The group stopped, Vodo could feel Fraktusk, Leia and Azak silently preparing to fight if need be.

"Which one of you is..." He looked at his documents, "Idanian?"

"Me." Vodo said.

"Your identification." The officer intoned.

Vodo handed it to him.

"Who are the rest of you? I want your IDs as well." The officer in charge said.

To fit his role, Frakutsk did not have identification. To have identification for himself would not exactly fit the alias of being a life-debtor to Leia. Instead, Leia had his identification papers, because a life-debtor, though not property, could be treated as such in many ways.

Frakutsk looked down at his feet and stood behind Leia, and she began to get out the papers for bolth of them, the gaurd began to ask Frakutsk (alias 'Sdener-Dink') for his papers, put Frakutsk, not making eye contact, motioned to Leia.a

Frakutsk, also, had packed light. It woulden't be very logical to bring much in this situation. He had simply packed one pair of clothes, and of course his lightsaber and credits. Normally, Frakutsk would be wearing traditional Jedi robes, but somehow he figured that those woulden't come off to well on this planet.

Frakutsk's mind wandered to what came after this... perhaps the group would simply head straight for their goal. However, this would pose some problems... such as not having a plan as to what to do when they got there. So, perhaps the group would check in to some kind of hotel, preferable one that didn't ask too many questions. Or, another option, they could try and use the nerf herder as a base... but that would most likely result in some more run-ins wi th imperials... not something that they want to happen.

Leia's smile was concealed by her helmet as she stood quietly and patiently off to the side, and watched Vodo smoothly slip into his role as Captain. Fraktusk was standing with a fairly resigned look that he had mustered close behind her, and Azak was close by her side, his incessant fiddling with the strap of the bag slung around his shoulder suggesting that he was impatient.

A guard wearing a crisp uniform and a suspicious expression on his face stepped up to her, and with an air that she percieved to be arrogance he snatched the papers from her hand. He shuffled through them for an insufferably long moment, and then looked up to glare at Fraktusk, then at Leia.

"What purpose do you serve on this ship?" he suddenly shot at Leia. Leia glanced over to a bipedal protocol droid standing attentively at the officer's side. They'd had enough forethought and coodination after their little conversation on the comm earlier to bring a translator droid along with them, to avoid any.... misunderstandings it seemed.

Leia's answer came in gravelly, distorted Ubese, which was promptly translated by the protocol droid into very polite basic.

[I was hired quite some time ago by Captain Idanian to pilot this ship.]

The officer gestured to the Gungan standing awkwardly behind her. As had been expected, Fraktusk was recieving special attention. Leia knew that the best way to set a man's mind at ease on such matters was simply to go along with his prejudices....

"And who is this overgrown frog?"

[An indentured servant.]

"Is he your co-pilot?"

[Does he look capable of safely piloting a spacecraft? Gungans were never known for their stunning intelligence.]

The officer glared at Fraktusk again, and looked as though he wanted to say more... but his attention eventually turned to the Wookiee.

"Is he yours, too?"

Leia rolled her eyes at the man's snobbish prejudice, glad to have the freedom of doing so that was provided by her helmet.

[No. He is a paid crewmember as well. An educated individual such as yourself should know that Wookiees have an aptitude for technology, and are capable of being skilled mechanics.... as this one is.]

The officer did not reply, apparently he'd had enough of non basic speaking alien species. He coldly turned his back to the three and held a short conversation with 'Idanian' that Leia could not catch. Soon the officer handed all of their papers back to Vodo, and Vodo nodded respectfully to the officer.

Easy as that, their welcoming party turned and headed back for the customs building, leaving the group to their own devices.

Their first order of business was procuring a base of operations... Vodo lead the way as they set out on their mission, headed to a local hotel where they intended to rent a few rooms for a few days. There was a considerable amount of scouting to be done before they could actually get down to the break in itself.

(sorry for my lateness)



Vodo inclined his head slightly, leaning on his stick heavily as the short Imperial customs agent glared at him with a look that can only be described as venomous. Vodo reached out with the Force and touched the man's mind, but the agent was far to angry and annoyed for Vodo to get a clear hold. There would be no Jedi mind tricks with this man.


Leia said something, in Ubese, and the protocal translated happily, "No. He is a paid crewmember as well. An educated individual such as yourself should know that Wookiees have an aptitude for technology, and are capable of being skilled mechanics.... as this one is."


Vodo almost wanted to chuckle, but he held back, for fear of angering the officer even more. The man glared at Leia and for a moment Vodo thought he would respond, but instead he ignored the others and turned to Vodo.


"Stay away from any and all Imperial soldiers and officers, as well as government buildings. As per new regulations, your ship will be marked and entered into the Customs Logfile Database for future identification."

"Of course." Vodo replied.

"Welcome to Coruscant."

Vodo nodded respectfully to the Customs officer, who then spun on his heel and headed back towards the Customs building.


Vodo turned to his left and headed toward the busy street that ran adjacent to the docking ports. He had memorized the map of this area on the way from Naboo and he knew there was a small, out of the way hotel two blocks away.


When the reached the area, Vodo rented three rooms, one each for Leia, and Azak while Fraktusk and himself would be sharing. He specifically asked for rooms with a view of the street below, as well as a distant shot at the landing platform. They couldn't see their ship, though, which was on the other side of the Customs Building.


After they had gotten settled, they met in Leia's room for planning.

Vodo spoke first, setting a holoprojector on the table, "During the trip I did considerable studying with Azakhaban's holomap, along with my own knowledge of the area from when I was younger.


"Everyone should know beforehand that I grew up in an orphanage about ten blocks from here." He said, pointing to the west outside the window.

He looked at Leia and smiled slightly from beneath his hood, "However, that was about sixty years ago..."

He waited for a moment to let that sink in before explaining, "My people are extremely long-lived, sometimes living for several hundred years. I was born well before the Clone Wars and was abandoned here on Coruscant, as a small child. So my knowledge of this area is substantial." He said, continuing.


Time to get down to business.


"Now, the Jedi Temple stood for thousands of years, and during the reign of the Emperor Palpatine, it was kept largly intact. Aside from the occasional crashed ship, it went untouched. Perhaps the Emperor wanted it to stand as a monument to the defeat of the Jedi...? But that IS mere speculation.

"However, during the many battles of this planet after his reign ended, it is becoming apparent that the temple suffered grevious blows and I believe it suffered severe structural damage. We are not exactly sure when this happened, but it was some time before," He looked at Leia, "Your new Republic came to power.

"Now, we know that the Temple as a standing structure is gone, but it is known, from old records at Naboo, that the Temple was not just a building, but it extended to lower, subterranian levels. When the building collapsed, it is possible the upper levels caved in on the lower ones. I believe some of the relics inside may have been preserved."

He stopped, standing back as the holocron played arial shots of the temple, back when it was standing.

Frakutsk almost sighed with relief when they were allowed to depart the custom's building, it seemed like an eternity having a staring contest with the imperial custom officer.

Frakutsk followed his fellow Jedi as they went to their destination, glad that Vodo knew where he was going.

Frakutsk looked around the new hotel they had entered. It was middle-lower class, definately. It looked good, low-key. Frakutsk put his few belongings in his and vodo's room, he then returned to Leia's room to plan this venture.

Frakutsk surveyed the holographic scene inquisitively. Vodo's assessment seemed accurate enough. The information that could be gained through the exploration of this practically arcane facility was, indeed, quite an incentive for this mission.

The holographic images continued rolling. Frakutsk was in the Coalition breifing room again. The years of training as a militarist were easy to forget in comparison to Frakutsk's most recent experiances, but they all came rolling back.

Frakutsk remembered Structural Studies, tought by the Mon Calamarian Grukan Arat. Frakutsk remembered example after example of good structure design, of bad structure design, of flaws in structure design, of decay in structure design. Whoever designed this temple was, indeed, quite a genious. However, years and years of decay, neglect, and, of course, collapse, had worn it away. Frakutsk stared at the holo-images for a few more moments. And then, an obvious entrance! A former ventilation duct had been knocked out of place about 6 feet below the surface, it wouldn't take much effort to dig down, and once there the hole for air-flow could serve as an entrance point.

Then, Frakutsk stopped it. "Der, rightsa der wesa can get in. Looksa, onlysa few feet below da surface, ventilation duct used to be der, wesa dig down to it. Mightsa be squeeze for Azak, but itsa be perfect placed, otherwise." He said, nodding.

"Of coursa, mesa know getting to temple notsa hardest part... so wesa still needsa da good way to get offa planet."

Frakutsk shrugged smally. Leia had done a good job with the plan to get in, maybe she could get them out as well!

Despite the fact that Leia had seen pictures of the old Jedi Temple before, she still found herself mesmorized by the beauty and commanding presence that the building had exuded when it was at the peak of it's existence.

Truly great Jedi must have trained, lived and worked there... maybe even Luke's teacher, Yoda.

When Fraktusk spoke, Leia nodded.

"We'll just have to worry about getting offplanet when we get there. We don't know what we may find, but if there are only small things to carry we can smuggle them back to the ship easily enough on foot. If we find anything very big that we want to take... or we run into trouble, we may have to bring the ship to the site, load the cargo and make a run for it before the Imperials catch us. We can't risk them finding our cargo should they capture us or seize the ship.

Either way, I think it is best that Azak stay on call in the ship while we pull this off, so that we can make a quick getaway if needed."

Azak growled in dissent.

"Yes I know the benefits of bringing a big strong Wookie along on the trip, but I also know that out of all of us you probably know the overall area the best, in terms of where a ship of the Nerf's size will and will not fit. You worked for a construction company of sorts, surely you had to learn how to handle massive equipment in such tight, unstable areas as the one we are going to be working in?"

Azak reluctantly grunted an affirmative, and Leia gestured to him as she continued.

"That's why if someone needs to pilot the ship into such tight confines as those, I think it should be you. Vodo is also familiar with this area, he should be able to guide us on the ground. And while it would be handy to have a big strong wookiee along to help, three Jedi shouldn't have much trouble on their own. We'll be able to go places and stay together, where you on the other hand might not be able to follow. As nice as it might be to have you alone on the ground for support, we need you on the ship even more."

Leia studied the ventilation shaft that Fraktusk had pointed out as a possible entrance point to the ruins underneath.

"Tonight let's scout the area for surveillance and any other possible entries or exits. We'll take some more pictures, and figure out where to meet the ship should we have to call it. It'll be harder to scout at night, but we'll be safer under the cover of darkness. Even so, we'll have to be sure to remember that the Imperials are not the only ones who present a threat to us. We'll be venturing a considerable distance into the lower levels, and from what I've heard they can be a bit rough..."

Leia glanced at the chrono on the wall. It was late afternoon...

"I know we've all just come from a long trip of nothing but rest and sleep, but we should all try to catch some sleep now, while we can. Tonight will be a long tedious night, and if everything goes well let's plan on pulling off the actual mission tomorrow night."

Everyone nodded, and departed to go about their own devices, whether those devices were sleep or something else. Leia had long ago mastered the ability to grab what sleep she could whenever possible and so she slept soundly, straight through until midnight that night. They were to meet outside the hotel at 12:30....

Leia grabbed a quick meal that had been packed to keep them from having to venture out very much and risk being discovered. She then donned her bulky armor disguise, grabbed the sack which held the various sensors, cameras, and remote devices that they would need for the night, and headed out to meet the others...

Vodo listened silently to the discussion that followed his analysis of the Jedi Temple's current state. He agreed with Fraktusk's suggestion that they use one of the many air ducts that came up out of the ground, used to supply ventilation to the subterranian levels of the temple. There were not many of the ducts, and most of them had either collapsed or were buried in rubble.


"I know we've all just come from a long trip of nothing but rest and sleep, but we should all try to catch some sleep now, while we can. Tonight will be a long tedious night, and if everything goes well let's plan on pulling off the actual mission tomorrow night."


Vodo nodded and headed off to his room which he and Fraktusk shared. He went in and sat on his small bed and closed his eyes, allowing the Force to seep through him. Over the past few days, Vodo had been declining to sleep, instead practicing some Force restoration techniques that he had learned. It had to do with allowing the Force to replenish the energy usually attained by sleeping. Technically a Jedi could go without ever sleeping, they could simply mediate and let the Force restore your energy for a few hours, while being alert and ready to move at a moment's notice.

A few hours later, he came out of his meditation, completely replenished. Fraktusk was fast asleep on the other side of the room, so Vodo checked the wall chrono and saw that it was about ten. He had a few hours until they were to meet up outside the hotel.

He went to the small desk near his bed where the holoprojector was sitting and turned it on, studying the maps of the temple location that Azak had provided. He had still not decided on a good approach route, one that would steer clear of any and all Imperial "entanglements", as well as from any other prying eyes.

Then, after about an hour of studying and research, he saw it.

They would have to approach from the east. There was an old building, probably used as a warehouse of some sort that was located on the east side of the temple. He knew, from structual plans of the building obtained from the Holonet, that the warehouse had a turbolift that could take them to the lower levels, which from there they could locate one of the air ventilation ducts. The only problem was Vodo did not know who occupied the building now, an dif the turbolift was working. It might be a good idea to find out.

He downloaded all of his gathered information into a small, handheled holoprojector. He glanced at the chrono again, he still had an hour left.

Might as well get a little more rest

He went back to the bed, and entered into his meditation trance again. He awoke an hour later, fully refreshed. Fraktusk was still sleeping, so Vodo grabbed his holoprojector, credits, ID, and walking stick and headed to where the young Gungan was sleeping.

Giving him a light whack, he awoke the Jedi,

"We have to go." Vodo said in his grave, scratchy voice.

Without another word, he headed out to meet Leia.

The light...

It shone infinately. Frakutsk closed his eyes, but it made no difference. It was everywhere, consuming him.

Frakutsk fell.

There was no end.

No hope of retreival...

THWAK!!!

"Owwwsa!"

"We have to go."

Frakutsk rubbed the back of his skull. Gungans are normally exceptionally fortituous, but for some reason long lost to Frakutsk, there was an abnormally vulnerable spot in the back of his neck.

Vodo didn't know that he had found the spot directly... and with his cane... in his attempt to wake the young Gungan Jedi up.

Wordless, Vodo Baas headed out the door. What made HIM so grumpy? the pain began to subside on the back of Frakutsk's neck. He made a comical face as he got out of his bed.

He took a few moments to get ready and then headed out the door. Obviously, Vodo had gone to meet Leia, with the blatent intention for Frakutsk to do so also.

So, withour further ado, Frakutsk went to meet Leia and Vodo.



And that Wookie.



Whatever his name was.

After the gangsta won da battle...

He sipped his milshake.

fdad