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….

Ruse coughed a few times. "That ..... blasted trader said that ...... thing wasn't THAT high yeild," he coughed somemore before finally being able to breath easilly. He looked around and sighed, looking behind him he noticed the path was now blocked, "only one way to go I guess." He said to himself and began to move forward, he had wasted to many traps on the ground, so now he was left with only a few detonators, a short sword, a jedi lightsabre that he didn't even know how to use, and a blaster, or rather, what was once *A* blaster before a certain trandoshan got her claws on it

***

Maskis stared at Asri left, "She's fast...." he blinked a few times at how stunning speed. "Guess I'll go and check on Lavality," he looked at the jedi, "I'll take these cloth's to my quarters, when Asri come's back let her where I took them." he smiled, he had a gut feeling he knew what was about to transpere underground and that smiled alternated from a smile to a grin every now and then

After a few minute's he arrived at the room Lavality had been given, a Jedi showed him where and, upon looking in, he noticed she wasn't there. "Where's Miss Lavality?"

The jedi looked in. "She should be in here, Master Silus told her to take a few days off to rest... this is where I last saw her a few minutes ago"

"Lavality?" A young Padawan walked up to the two. "I saw her heading to the courtyard, she seemed disturbed though, like she was lost in thought, deep thought"

Maskis narrowed his eyes. I hope she's not remembering the past.... it would tear her to peice's if she does, and right now she isn't strong enough to handle such a quest, he folded his arms, maybe he SHOULD talk to a Master and clue the master in to her past, but then again, he thought better of it; if he was to explain her past then they might loss faith in her since she is to nervous to speak.But he was told that most of childhood memorys where locked away by someone else; A jedi, as the report had said, but he had problems believing that... would a Jedi TRUELY lock someones memory away? And if so, what purpose? He asked himself that question while making his way to the courtyard

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.

Maskis ran down the hall's, seeing the jedi scatter about made him worry, in fact, to a point where he drew his blaster out of instinct

He rounded the corner and into the courtyard, where he found Lavality laying on the ground. "Admiral!" he yelled, forgetting he wasn't on a fleet ship or mission. He ran over to her and lifted her head up, checked her pulse, and sighed in relief. He picked her up and ran through the hall's, arriving shortly there after at the medi bay. "Need a Doctor!" he yelled

***

Ruse moved through the tunnals, whipping the sweet from his forehead and worked his way through the winding tunnals. He thought he smelled a Trandoshan, but shrugged at the thought. "Not possible, if I didn't know this was here, I doubt that dumb Trando did"

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.

Ruse ran down the tunnal, stopping to catch his breath momentarily. Damn Trando... he said as he looked over his shoulder, making sure the Trando hadn't follow him. He noticed that the side tunnals where either caved in, or intentionally sealed up. On occasion he also found a tunnal that lead to a dead end, so he retraced his steps, but after several minutes of finding nothing but dead ends he finally stopped. This tunnal HAS to end somewhere he said and continued down one of the adjacent corridors

***

A doctor in the medi room brought Lavality to one of the beds, checked her out and, satisfied she wasn't injured both internal and external, turned to Maskis. "She's ok, although I want to know what happened." she said

Maskis shrugged. "I don't know, I just found her collasped there." he said

Lavality blinked a few before getting up and looked around. "Whaaa..." she said as she felt her head, she had a massive headache. "Ow...." she said, "Wh... oh no..." she stared at the doctor. "What am I doing here?"

Maskis stared at her for a second. "You don't remember?"

"Remember? Remember what?" Lavality said

he shook his head. "Never mind, I do suggest you go back to your room though." He said

She looked at the doctor, who nodded. She got down from the bed and walked over to the door. "Thank you," she said and walked out of the room

Maskis stared at her, before following her

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.

Dolash arrived all of too late, to find the Trandoshan roaring in fury and yet more blood and fur scattered on the ground. Damnation! he cursed, and dashed over to Asri.

"A thousand apologies, we remembered only too late this one particular, disused tunnel. Did the wookie escape? Which way did he go? Tell me, and I'll see to it that we track him down and capture him immeadietly."

Dolash was feeling frustrated, but he knew that he needed calm. At every turn, this assassin crawled just barely out of savage beatings and wiggled out of certain deathtraps. At every turn, his best plans were confounded. It was almost as if -

And then he paused. Almost as if... as if...

No, no chance. But maybe...

He knew that this wookie was no Force Sensitive, or else he would have felt it. But it may be that the Force had some hand in this. Despite ample opportunities and occurances, no one had yet died, it was as if there awas a purpose, a rhyme or reason to these coincidental events. True coincidences are rare to a Jedi, and Dolash began to suspect...

Elsewhere, Proq struggled to lift the unconscious form of Jubaz "It's okay, friend. You'll be fine now. I'll get you to the city, and you can see a doctor. Don't worry about a thing, your old friend Proq'll handle it, okay?"

Proq didn't panic, he played it cool instead, staying relaxed. "And once you're okay, I'll come back here, follow the tunnel to it's end, and find the one responsible. Jubaz made a faint hissing noise, but Proq let him rest for now - he'd need it.

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

Asri hadn’t ran far when she nearly ran into Dolash and her impatience was evident as he fired off his questions. “Yes he got away. Just follow the blood trail.” She said, wanting to add that his delaying her may have been cost her in stopping him in time but bit her tongue. Her lust for that wookiee’s blood still not satisfied she dashed off, not waiting to see if the Jedi followed.

It wasn’t long before she found Maskis, who obviously had a run in with the Wookiee. She got one of the Jedi’s attention to see that he got medical care before running off again, running as hard as she could to get to Lavality’s room. But she was too late.

Just as she found the room, the door literally exploded as various room objects bashed it to pieces. Asri was forced to wait until the Force storm ceased before running into the room, but not before hearing the satisfying sound of a Wookiee in pain. Seemed Lavality saved herself and this was confirmed when she entered the room, a dead Wookiee on the floor.

She was about to congratulate Lavality on the kill, but the look on the young girl’s face told her she wasn’t taking this very well. Ferfek! No one told her this furball was coming after her!? She thought as she approached Lavality, her motherly side kicking in: Lavality may hold important rank in the Fleet, but she was still a kid and kids can take these kinds of things very badly. “It’s ok hun.” She said calmly and gently as she knelt down infront of her to avoid looking intimating herself; rubbing her arm comfortingly. “You did a good thing.” Asri reassured her, making sure she blocked Lavality’s view of the body. “He would have hurt you if you hadn’t reacted like that.”

Something wasn’t right here: Lavality was obviously afraid, but afraid of her, like she didn’t recognize her right now. “Lavality?” Asri said gently. “Do you remember who I am?”