He never got tired of this game, perhaps it was because he didn’t get a chance to play it every day, thus the excitement of it took longer to fade. Silonik ran about the courtyard, jumping into every large puddle he spotted. The young Trandoshan laughed as the water from the puddle got all over him, adding to the wetness in his clothing the rain itself put it in, before speeding off to jump into the next puddle.

When he was close to the wall that bordered the Academy grounds, he sat down to rest: jumping in puddles was tiring! It was then that feeling that something wasn’t right came to him. He blinked his lilac eyes, trying to make sense of the feeling as it frightened him: the last time he felt afraid was when that nasty spirit tried to kidnap him. Something bad was about to happen and the instant before it happened it flashed in his mind. Instinct took over and he did what he always did when his brother Trissan was starting to get the upper hand in their scraps: Silonik didn’t even need to look at his attacker to do it either.

The Force blast had taken his attacker completely by surprise, the howl of surprise proof of that. Silonik then sprang to his feet and turned to get a look at the one that intended to hurt him: a big brown furry thing. Well, make that a big, brown wet furry thing: he had never seen a Wookiee this close before.

“Bully!” Silonik hissed at him in Basic. “Big mean bully! You not nice at all!” Not wanting to stick around he ran off, but not before throwing a nice big ball of water from a near by puddle right into his face via the Force.

***

The danger sense had increased as fast as the rain was soaking his clothing and panic was starting to fill Trazu’s mind as he searched the seemingly endless courtyard, the rain cutting his visibility down dramatically. Then it suddenly vanished and his heart filled with dread, not knowing if he was too late or not.

A moment later he saw something small heading in his direction and the moment he could see it clearly his spirits lifted: it was Silonik. He was moving fast though, Trazu nearly missed him as he snatched him up by the tunic as he passed by. At first Silonik struggled, but then recognized him and relaxed and hugged him tightly.

“Big furry thing tried to hurt me.” Silonik whimpered.

Trazu snarled and set his son down. “Go back inside.”

Silonik didn’t argue and did as he was told this time, while Trazu sped in the direction his son had fled from, the hilt of his saber in his hand. He reached the spot just as a dark shape disappeared back over the wall. With a roar of rage he gave chase, the Force giving him the boost he needed to get over the wall without difficulty. He landed in a crotch on the other side and looked around before straightening up. Unfortunately the attacker had disappeared without a trace.

“Consider yourself lucky….” He hissed under his breath. “If it wasn’t raining I’d be able to track you down to the ends of the planet…” Not seeing the point in staying out here, he climbed back over the wall with a little more difficulty then previously. His senses on full alert he walked back to the entrance, where he intended to have a little chat with his son about going outside without supervision….

Ruse snarled as he limped to a nearby alleyway, his eyes hurt from the mud being flung into it. "Looks like I under-estimated that brat" he rubbed his eye's a few more time's before finally being able to see clearly. "That brat can use the FORCE!" he roared. "Blast those jedi!"

He walked around the alleyway, and toward the Academy. "Errrrr.... Couldn't hit Asri, nor Silonik.. guess I have no choice BUT to go for Lavality...." he snarled a bit more, that brat got a glimpse of him and he knew he would have problem's getting into the academy now. What type of a hunter was he without his blasted Jetpack though?

He thought about this failure, this wasn't helping him at all, first Asri, now Silonik.. what next? Lavality? No.. he was SURE he would get her since she couldn't control the force just yet

He dropped his dagger though, in the rush of all thing's he dropped his dagger back there how he prayed that they wouldn't find it, cause if they did he wouldn't be able to pay for the bounty's, all the information related to his mission was in the hilt of the dagger. "Blast .. how could I be so clumsy," he said and began to walk out, however he walked right into the sight of the car that Maskis and Asri where in

***

Maskis was just looking out when he saw Ruse, his blood boiled. "There he is.. thats who tried to attack you Asri," he said in a calm manner, the calmest he could manage despit the attempt on the friends of lavality's live's

(ooc: Asri vs Ruse! Round One! FIGHT! :P )

Dolash didn't hear the warning in time, however - all he saw was something suddenly looming out of the rain. He spun the wheel in an attempt to swerve out of the way, dodging around the wookie and crashing the speeder messily into a stone column. Dolash's head cracked forwards into the dashboard, and his two brains bumped into each other painfully. His vision instantly split, and - in a haze - he fell unconscious slowly in the driver's seat.

Not that he was completely out, however. When he next opened his eyes, he found that his conscious self was now invisibily projected through the Force. From where he was, he could now see his crash site where he and Maskis had been thrown from the vehicle - he'd never realized a stone column was so hard. That left Asri, the white Trandoshan, stumbling into the rain. Slowly, understanding dawned on Dolash as he saw the Wookie emerge from the shadowy rain. Disaster loomed...

Trazu found Silonik at the entrance where he was supposed to be. The young Trandoshan was sitting just inside, his arms wrapped around his knees. He tried to make himself even smaller when he saw the expression on his father’s face: he knew he had done wrong.

With a patient sigh Trazu knelt down so he was closer to eye level with him. “Silonik.” He said calmly, yet sternly. “What did we agree upon before I went to send my message?”

“That we were going to meet in the cafeteria….” Silonik replied quietly.

“And what did Master Ian say was going on before that?”

“That there was a bad guy running around that hurt a Jedi and wanted to hurt others.”

“Ok, then why did you go outside, knowing both those things?”

Silonik simply whimpered and buried his face in his arms: he had no excuse. Gently Trazu coaxed his head up and looked into his eyes. “I could have lost you today.” He said softly. “And losing you would have been more painful to me then it was when I lost your mother. You and your siblings are all I have left of her. You have your whole lifetime to play in the rain my son, but only one life to live: you need to be mindful of the dangers that are around us. So what did you learn from this?”

Silonik was quiet as he thought it over. “That there are bad guys that want to hurt me and I shouldn’t do things that give them the chance to hurt me….an…and that I should do as I am told and not let myself get distracted.”

Trazu smiled, picked Silonik up into his arms and hugged him. “Very good. You were lucky today Silonik.” He said. “The Force enabled you to not only sense the danger, but to repeal it as well: for that I am proud of you. That won’t always be the case though, so you must keep your senses alert, especially in this day and age. Do you understand?” A nod. “Good. Let us get you in dry clothes and get ourselves something to eat.”

“What about you daddy?” Silonik piped up. “You’re wet too.”

“Well…this is all I have right now and I am not sure Lady Asri was able to get any clothes for me due to what happened out there. Maybe I can find a loner set until these dry.”

***

Asri caught sight of the wookiee, directed by Maskis, just before Dolash had swerved to avoid him and crashed. Some how she managed to stay in the vehicle despite the crash and she climbed out of the wreck, well, more like spilled out, clumsily. She was a bit dazed due to a minor concussion, but besides that and some minor cuts and bruises she was relatively uninjured.

The nanos in her body worked overtime to reorient her senses as she managed to raise herself onto all fours. Though it seemed like forever, her confusion and awareness returned to her quickly (thanks to the nanos) and she remembered why they had crashed. That wookiee, the one that tried to kill her, was close by and her instincts switched to hunting mode.

Staying on all fours to keep her profile low, she scanned her surroundings through the pouring rain. While it reduced her vision and dampened her other senses, the heavy down pour also helped to conceal her: her pale scales blending in with the misty gloom the rain caused. The wookiee didn’t have such an advantage and she quickly spotted his shape in the gloom. With a low growl she started stalking him like a feline on a hunt, her long forearms enabling her move on all fours as easily and comfortably as any quadruped.

Asri didn’t move toward him directly, instead she circled around him a bit, determining which way he was facing and what his reaction was to the crash. He didn’t seem to realize that one of his targets had been in that vehicle and was more interested in melting back into the crowd. She wasn’t going to let him.

Once she had his back to her, she charged. She hit him right at knee level, making him start to crumple over her back. Her forward motion carried her out from underneath him as he crashed to the wet street and she stopped a few feet away.

“Lets see how well you fight without your gun coward!” She challenged as she sprang at him, bloodlust in her dark blue eyes.

Maskis laid there on the ground, briefly knocked out by the crash. "Now I know how Lavality felt.." he said after a few seconds, he saw something in the rain, a large shape; Ruse

"Hey there Maskis," Ruse grinned at him, looking over him, he held out a blaster and aimed it at him. "Send my regard's to your pathetic race." he smiled, he was about to pull the trigger when something hit him, he fell backwards and hit the ground, his hand still on his blaster, he got up on one knee and scanned the area. "Blast it.. who attacked me?!" he roared and gave a clance to where Maskis was, or had, been.. he roared once more and looked around. "Come out and fight Coward!" he said and watched as something charged toward him in the rain

He leveled his blaster, albiet his arm was shaky, something broke, but he ignored the pain and fired several shots

Maskis managed to get away from the scene, he wasn't in any condition to fight, although thanks to the training he received as a High Guard it still wasn't enough to dull the pain he felt. "Bastard...." Maskis said and snarled. "I hope Asri give's you a good butt kicking..." he said, he walked back over to the car where an unconcious Dolash was, he laid up against the car and soon passed out, if only he still had his comm.'s unit then he'd be able to send a signal to the prowler in orbit, but he didn't want to worry Fleet Admiral Tzhali, and besides, Asri was here.. what more could go wrong?

The blaster bolts sizzled past her, vaporizing any rain drops they came in contact with as they flew. One did graze her arm, but she ignored the pain as she pounced upon the wookiee, sending back to the ground.

“Coward am I?” Asri snarled as she ripped the gun out of his hands and tossed it away. “You’re the one using a gun.”

Suddenly the world flipped upside-down as the wookiee used his legs to flip her off him. She landed on her back and the impact knocked the wind out of her. The wookiee took the advantage to attempt to choke her. She wanted to scratch his face with her long claws, but she had no leverage to do any real damage, so instead she dove those sharp claws into an upper arm, easily bypassing his thick fur. There was a satisfying scream of pain as she apparently had hit the part of that arm that was broken and used her feet to kick him off her.

Now back up on her feet, she pressed her advantage, landing a few strong blows on her opponent. The wookiee managed to land a couple of good counter blows on her, but they did not deter her at all. Finally Asri managed to slip behind him again and bite down on his shoulder with her jaws, only to nearly let go again due to the pure vileness of the taste. What a way to be reminded that wookiees never bathed….

Somehow the wookiee was able to grab her and throw her to the ground, however her tight grip on his shoulder cost him a sizeable patch of fur there. Again knocking the wind out of her lungs. but apparently the wookiee had had enough of the fight and took the opportunity to retreat, disappearing into the rain and gathering crowd.

“Who’s the coward now!?” Asri screamed after him as she forced herself to her feet. She wondered why she was so tired now as it hadn’t been that hard of a fight. Then it dawned on her: she hadn’t had a meal since before she took her nap on the way to the planet. She needed to eat soon, else the nanos would start using pieces of her own body as fuel instead.

Thus far it had been easy hide her somewhat odd eating habits, but on a planet she barely knew and in a city she had no map of, she was going to have to rely on what the city itself offered. However, she doubted any restaurants here would be willing to give her blood or raw liver to consume and she wasn’t sure how deep into the city she was in.

Her stomach already rumbling, she walked back to the crash sight to see how the other’s fared. She was no medic, but it looked like they would both live, however they still needed medical attention from the looks of it. Asri looked around at the coward of gawkers and felt her temper rise.

“Don’t just stand there staring!” She snapped at them. “Go summon an ambulance!”

Consider the fight they just witnessed, a couple of bystanders ran off to do just that: the last thing they wanted was to have the white Trandoshan’s rage turned on them. Satisfied that help was on the way, Asri took a set next to Maskis and kept watch while she waited for help to arrive, lest that Wookiee decided to return….

Dolash slowly felt his consciousness flow back into his body, and his eyes flickered.

"Ow." was his first word, as he rubbed his forehead. All around was rain and blood and wreckage. Oh, and pain.

Finding his center, he suppressed the pain and brought himself under control. His sight realigned, and he saw Asri.

"Good work there." he said, nodding "Taking on a wookie - a bounty-hunter no less - with nothing but your bare claws is something even I wouldn't consider lightly." Dolash managed a chuckle that shook his prodigious frame. He sat up and steadied himself. "Ironic that after trying to kill you he almost managed it on accident through a traffic accident. The Force does indeed move in mysterious ways."

Other Jedi arrived, but he waved away their help and had them tend to Maskis instead. With him being looked after, Dolash turned to Asri again. "You have my thanks, Asri. I had hoped we could protect you, but it appears that you are more then capable of doing that on your own! Even so, best that we get in doors and see to some rest - you must be tired and hungry after the day's events."

Maskis was quickly carried into the temple, and Dolash lead Asri in after him. In reality, he felt a small spot of embarassment at first, the thought of such a failing on his part to keep someone safe. Then it occured to him that perhaps this too was the Force's will? Whatever the reason, the most important thing to do was see to their guests and make sure there would be no further problems. "I'm sure Trazu will be glad to hear you have arrived as well, considering the dangers involved."

Ruse made it to another alley, his right arm was completely useless, although he could check in into a hospital, he knew that the hospital would ask around and try to find out what happened; the best he could do was tight a nuse around it and wait out the pain, and without medical attention, he also knew the infection would most likely kill him, so he decided to move up his plans. "Fine then," he said with a snarl

He walked through the alleyway, and into a grassy field on the outskirts of the city, he decided to keep low for the time being, if he didn't show himself for a few days, or hell, maybe even a few hours, then perhaps they'd forget he was there. Wait. Wrong thinking, with an assassin on the loss, a bounty hunter no less, they'd never forget and he knew Naboo's police force would be on the hunt as well

He found himself a small cave, to suit his pleasures, he had money from the fleets bank account and the fleet themselves didn't know what happened; so he would use that money for his own good, the fleet was able to transport certain items quickly to there agents and seeing how they didn't know he was a Bounty Hunter, they'd just figure Lavality needed the extra weapons

He did just that, and inputted a request for a certain rifle, the request went to a prowler in orbit

"Sir, request received from High Guard Ruse," The communications officer said

The captain looked at the request, he found it a little suspious that Lavality would request a plasma rifle, she couldn't CARRY it for starters and Maskis doesn't need it since he use's titanium claws as a weapon. She that left a gut feeling, "Tell him we authorize the request... but get a message off to the Jedi Temple, ask them if Maskis is there and if so, if we may talk to him

***

Maskis felt light headed, seeing how what just happened that wasn't a doubt. He looked around and saw he was in a room, the after life perhaps? No.... the air was cool, and the smell of rain permiated the room, he looked around and saw someone there, a medic? A doctor? A nurse? He couldn't make out who it was due to his vision being blurred out like it was. "I have a headache...." is all he said

Asri smiled. “It was my pleasure Master Dolash.” She said as she pulled a strand of fur out from between her teeth. She looked at it in disgust for a moment tossing it away. “I don’t normally have anything against wookiees, since many of their kind has endured suffering almost as great as my own, but he was an exception. If we were to cross paths again I wouldn’t hesitate to repeat my…performance.” She flashed a predatory grin. “The training I received from past….’employers’….has allowed to be quite flexible in a scrap.” Her stomach growled painfully, making her wince and remind her of something rather important she needed to do. “And yes…I am starving: haven’t had a bite since I arrived on planet. I hope your faculties support a somewhat…unusual….dietary need….”

By the time they reached the temple her stomach was really complaining.

"I'm sure Trazu will be glad to hear you have arrived as well, considering the dangers involved."

Asri smiled at the thought, remembering how supportive Trazu has been of her. Trandoshan’s did have something similar to the wookiee lifedebt when someone saves their life: which is what she practically did when she destroyed that skull. However lately she’s started to suspect his support of her was due to more then just honoring a lifedebt. She couldn’t tell what that other reason is just yet though.

Speaking of Trazu, the shorter then normal Trandoshan had just emerged from one of the side corridors, Silonik in tow. He had changed his cloths into what looked like a loaner set, as they looked a little big on him: she felt bad that she had failed to get him any clothes as he had requested of her. The look in his eyes though when he saw them however, told her something had happened while they were absent.

“Master Dolash.” Trazu said as he and Silonik walked up to them. “There’s been an attempt on my son’s life. Unfortunately…” He added with a hiss. “The coward ran rather then attempt to face a real opponent.”

“Don’t worry…I got some licks in for you.” Asri said with a grin as she pulled another strand of wookiee fur out of her mouth: skraggit….she was going to be pulling this foul fur out of her mouth all day it looked like. “But how did he get into the temple?” She asked.

“He didn’t need to get into the temple…” Trazu said with a sigh, glancing down at his son, who hung his head. “Tell them what happened son.”

“I was…bad.” The younger Silonik squeaked. “I went out to play in the rain when daddy asked me to go to the cafeteria. Big furry thing tried to hurt me, but the Force showed him to me, so I ‘pushed’ him away. I threw water in his face before running and meeting up with daddy.”

Dolash nodded as he absorbed all of this information. "What we need" he said "Is security. I request that you all stay securely indoors until this assassin is captured - wookie or not, he won't go far injured. A task such as this calls for Jubaz, and I shall seek him out to hunt down the offender. The cafeteria is meant to serve countless different species, so I'm sure there will be something to your liking found therin, but the most important thing is to stay in the larger, more public areas of the temple - the library, the common area, the cafeteria, anywhere were there will be Jedi to keep an eye on you all."

Dolash paused, and added "I best see to it that there is all the necessary security around Lavality as well, considering the assassin traveled here with her." and with that left to make arrangements.

Dolash met with the Rodian Jedi Jubaz in the halls towards where Lavality could be found, and called him over. The Rodian was gaunt by the standards of his race, and his robes were worn short to allow for mobility in battle. A race of bounty-hunters, glory-seekers, and warriors, Jubaz still carried the hints of those traits under his Jedi training.

"Jubaz" said Dolash "I have a mission for you. A wookie by the name of Ruse - heavily wounded - has been attempting assassinations throughout the day. He has failed so far, but if a wookie wants someone dead and isn't stopped he will eventually succeed. I request that you seek him out now and keep him from striking again, he was last seen outside the temple."

Wordlessly, the Rodian nodded, and made haste for the doors while Dolash made haste to speak to the Jedi Masters.

Elsewhere, Fwar was seeing to the injured Trandoshan Maskis, and passed him a comlink. "I apologize on the intrusion, but it appears your superior officer desires to speak to you - it sounds urgent, about a rifle requested by your fellow 'bodyguard'."