Star Wars: Return to Trigalis Ch. 03

Ta'tan'ia sensed that something wasn't right, but she wasn't sure what it was exactly. She definitely didn't remember being ordered to work with any Imperials. The Jedi Masters wouldn't want them to know they had just rescued Tahiri from the Zoloz here, for one thing.

"Where's my lightsaber?"

"Under your clothes," Lieutenant Kintra said, gesturing towards the corner.

Ta'tan'ia could see her gray cloak, part of her bodysuit, a strap of her thigh harness, and the sole of one of her ankle boots in a pile. She wrapped the blanket around her as best she could, and climbed off the bunk. As soon as she put her weight on her feet, pain shot through both of her calves. She winced, and stayed on the balls of her feet for the few steps to the corner, and leaned over and felt for her lightsaber, and blaster. Then she picked up the entire pile, and carried it back to the bunk. She wasn't sure why her calves hurt like that, but she dismissed it for the moment.

"You mind giving me some privacy so I can get dressed?" Ta'tan'ia asked her.

"I've already seen your chastity belt," Lieutenant Kintra said with a smile. "Besides, the doctor said I shouldn't leave you alone for awhile."

"I'm sure I'll be okay for a few minutes or so," Ta'tan'ia replied. She paused a moment, then added, "I won't be long."

"Alright, I'll be in the cockpit," Stormie told her, standing up. "Just take a right when you come out."

"Thanks," Ta'tan'ia said as she left.

The first the Ta'tan'ia did was check her comlink for messages. She had a couple from Syal Antilles, and a few from several other of her friends, including one from Aileen and Neelia, Arik the Hutt's slaves. She ignored all of those though, and read the two from her Jedi Masters.

The first one was from Master Solo, stating that she would be unavailable until further notice, and directing her to contact the Jedi Temple if she needed any instructions during her mission to Trigalis. The second one was from Master Horn, explaining that the Empire had discovered that the Zoloz' weapons had come from them. They were sending a Security Operative named Lieutenant Kintra to assist with her investigation, and she was to work with her as far as possible. It also included a flatholo and her basic information for identification.

While that answered Ta'tan'ia most pressing questions, it didn't relieve her sense of unease. She ran through a Jedi calming technique, and commed the Jedi Temple.

"Hey Ta'tan'ia, what can I do for you?" a friendly voice—which Ta'tan'ia immediately recognized as belonging to her friend Jedi Turi Altamik—said a few moments later, once the voice-only link had been established.

"Hey Turi," Ta'tan'ia replied, holding her wrist close to her face so she didn't have to talk loud. "This is going to sound weird, but what were the last orders I was given?" While she spoke, she checked the power level of her blaster.

There was briefly the sounds of her tapping a keyboard, and a computer terminal working, then Turi answered.

"Let's see. . . Four days ago Master Skywalker ordered you to assist Wyric on a mission marked secret. Yesterday Master Solo said that was completed satisfactorily, then ordered you to Trigalis, in the Juris Sector, to investigate the local chapters of the Zoloz swoop-bike gang smuggling weapons. About five hours ago Master Horn sent you a message ordering you to work with a Lieutenant Kintra of Imperial Security, as the weapons possibly originated from the Empire." Turi paused a moment, then added, "And you acknowledged the message about fifteen minutes after you received it."

Ta'tan'ia thought it was a little odd that she took fifteen minutes to acknowledge his message, but pushed that concern aside for the moment.

"Okay," she replied after a few seconds of consideration. "I just wanted to verify that, is all," she explained as she checked the power level of her back-up blaster as well.

"Why?" Turi asked curiously. "What's going on?"

"Apparently Lieutenant Kintra and I were ambushed by the Zoloz and I was knocked unconscious. I'm having a little amnesia problem right now," Ta'tan'ia told her.

"Are you okay?" Turi probed.

"Other than not remembering anything past Master Solo ordering me back to Trigalis, yes. I don't even remember arriving on planet."

"Are you sure?" Turi demanded. "I can get Master Katarn or Master Ramis to send someone to help you if you need it."

"No, I'll be fine," Ta'tan'ia assured her defensively. "Lieutenant Kintra got me back to her ship, and got a doctor to take a look at me."

"You don't remember what happened though? How do you know you can really trust this Lieutenant Kintra? Maybe I should find out what information we have on her, and send it to you?"

Ta'tan'ia sat in silence a few moments. Unfortunately the Force didn't seem to be leading her one way or the other. Lieutenant Kintra seemed okay though, at least for now. "No, I'll be fine," she finally repeated. "Thanks though."

"Are you sure?" Turi asked again. "It'd be no problem at all."

"Na, I'm good," she said.

"Okay, just comm me if you need anything; and I mean anything at all, okay?" Turi instructed her.

"I will," Ta'tan'ia replied. "Talk to you later."

"Okay, bye bye," Turi responded.

Ta'tan'ia shut down the link, and ran through a Jedi calming technique. Then she started getting dressed.

Since she was wearing her chastity belt, she didn't have panties. She also didn't wear a bra, as her tight-fitting armored bodysuit had built in support for her D-cup breasts. After the bodysuit she pulled her ankle boots onto her feet. They had hidden maglocks built into the straps to keep them in place. Next came her nerfhide head, chest and thigh harnesses. Her blaster was in its holster on her right thigh, and her lightsaber was horizontal across the small of her back. Her beskar collar, chrono, and comlink cuffs were locked around her throat and wrists, as always. She left her gray cloak on the bunk.

As Ta'tan'ia stepped out of the cell, she vaguely wondered if it was monitored. Oh well, she decided after a few moments thought. Too late to worry about that now. Besides, it wasn't like Lieutenant Kintra wouldn't expect her to contact the Jedi. The fact that she had just been practically naked in the cell never entered her mind. She was only concerned with security.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Stormie sat in the cockpit, listening to Ta'tan'ia's conversation with Turi over her earpiece, while watching her over the cell's holocameras. The cell had excellent audio detection, but she wanted to use the monitoring program she had installed on the Jedi's comlink. The program was working perfectly, and more importantly, so was the Doctor's memory wipe. She had conducted a quick holonet search, and discovered that Turi was almost certainly Jedi Knight Turi Altamik. Stormie really wished Ta'tan'ia had asked for that information. She would have loved to have seen what the Jedi had on her. Apparently Admiral Daala's Doctor's conditioning had made her at least a little loyal though. Maybe Stormie could still get Ta'tan'ia to ask for it though; since she was apparently so loyal to her now.

As Stormie watched Ta'tan'ia step out of the cell, she changed the monitor to show a system's status, pulled the earpiece out, and set it back on its charger. Then she turned her seat to face her as she came in.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"Everything good?" Stormie asked her as she stepped into the cockpit.

"Fine," Ta'tan'ia answered with a nod, pausing just inside the hatchway. "I'm Jedi Knight Ta'tan'ia, by the way," she said, nodding her head and wriggling her lekku in greeting.

"Lieutenant Kintra," Stormie replied with her own nod. "But you can call me Stormie."

"Stormie," Ta'tan'ia repeated obediently. "How long was I out?"

"Just a couple of hours or so," she answered. "I didn't check the time exactly, as I was a little busy getting you away from the Zoloz, and bringing you here. Then I had a doctor come check you out. He said you'd be okay, but you might temporarily lose some of your recent memories."

Ta'tan'ia could sense she was hiding something, but the mission came first. She'd just have to remain vigilant. "Okay. You might as well brief me on where we're at in the investigation," she informed her as she sat down in the co-pilot's chair.

"Nowhere, really. The computer is tracking the Zoloz' off-planet comm traffic, but they probably have disposable comlinks, as does whoever their source is. We were trying to capture one of them to interrogate when we were attacked."

Ta'tan'ia considered that a few moments. "So they know we're investigating them?

"I don't think so," Stormie answered hesitantly. "We were doing surveillance, and they attacked us. I've been more concerned about getting you checked out than anything else, but as far as I know, they don't know about our investigation."

Ta'tan'ia was pretty confident they would have recognized her from the party, even if they didn't know who she really was. It was possible they had attacked just because they had spotted her in the speeder.

"So we don't know why, exactly, they jumped us?"

"No," Stormie responded, shaking her head.

"Weren't a bunch of Zoloz arrested at a warehouse with a couple of thousand blasters a couple of days ago?" Ta'tan'ia asked after a few moments' thought. While she didn't know that for sure, she remembered that that was what Wyric had planned to happen.

"Yes," Stormie answered after a brief hesitation.

"Well let's go talk to some of them at the detention facility," Ta'tan'ia suggested. "We won't have to worry about being ambushed, or being interrupted."

"Sounds good to me," Stormie agreed with a nod. "The local police won't have a problem with us interrogating their prisoners?"

"I'm a Jedi," Ta'tan'ia said, as if that explained everything. "We have wide discretion in safeguarding peace and justice."

"Well okay then," she responded matter-of-factly.

"But first, you said your wrist was broken when the Zoloz attacked us?" Ta'tan'ia asked, gesturing towards the plasticast on her left arm.

"Yeah," Stormie answered, glancing down at it.

"Let me do a Jedi healing technique on it," Ta'tan'ia told her. "It's better than bacta."

"Thanks," Stormie replied warily.

Ta'tan'ia took her wrist in both her hands, and went into a healing trance.

"Wow, that does feel a lot better," Stormie said once she finished. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," the Jedi said with a flick of her lekku. "It's the least I can do, after you rescued me from the Zoloz."

"I think I can take this plasticast off," Stormie commented, flexing her fingers.

Ta'tan'ia sensed she was still uneasy, but she wasn't sure why.

"By the way, do you know where the rest of my clothes are?" Ta'tan'ia asked her.

Stormie shook her head. "On your ship, I guess. When I met up with you you were on a speeder-bike. Your cloak and what you're wearing is all you had with you."

Ta'tan'a sighed, and began tapping into her comlink. A few seconds later she discovered her ship was a little over a thousand klicks away, at another spaceport. She had wanted to change into her Jedi robes before visiting the police. Oh well, what she had would have to suffice.

"We just have one speeder-bike?" Ta'tan'ia asked as they passed through the cargo hold.

"Yeah," Stormie answered after a brief hesitation. "It's yours. You had it when we met up."

"Well, we can get an air taxi, or we can share the speeder-bike," Ta'tan'ia said, pausing just inside the hatchway.

"Air taxi," she replied with a nod.

"Alright."

When they left the ship Ta'tan'ia was wearing her armored black bodysuit, wedge heeled ankle boots, and gray cloak. Her head, chest, and thigh harnesses were strapped in place as well.

Stormie was wearing black pants and a matching tunic with a military-style cut, and knee boots. The left sleeve of her tunic mostly hid a black wrist brace, and the right one hid her comlink. Both of them had decided it was best if she didn't wear her Imperial Uniform.

"Hey, I meant to ask you," Stormie began as they went to find an air taxi. "Why do you wear those crazy high heels in the field? I mean they're sexy and all, but they're not very practical."

"Well, when I was Chief Daala's Jedi liaison, she liked me wearing eighteen-centimeter stiletto heels when I was on duty, which was pretty much at least sixteen hours a day. I started wearing fifteen-centimeter heels during my off-time as well, so now I just guess I feel more comfortable in towering high heels than regular shoes," Ta'tan'ia explained.

"I see," Stormie replied with a simple nod.

Ta'tan'ia briefly wondered why she didn't ask about her collar, but after a moment, she assumed the subject had already come up.

They found a air taxi near the entrance to the spaceport. They climbed in, and Ta'tan'ia told the driver their destination.

"You mind if I ask you something else?" Stormie said as they pulled off.

"Sure," Ta'tan'ia answered politely, checking her messages on her comlink.

"If the comlink maglocked around your right wrist has the time on it, why do you have a chrono maglocked around your left wrist too?" she asked with a smirk.

"Chief Daala wanted me to wear them both," Ta'tan'ia answered. "Probably because they remind people of cuffs. When she resigned she fused the maglocks, so they're permanent. The collar too."

"So you ever use them as cuffs?" Stormie asked her.

Ta'tan'ia glanced up at her a moment. "Sometimes," she admitted.

"Cool," Stormie replied with a friendly smile.

"You have a chrono to go with your comlink?" Ta'tan'ia asked her, glancing down and flicking her lek towards the band of durasteel around her right wrist.

"Na," Stormie answered with another smile. "It's just a little hard to use it right now anyway," she commented, raising her left hand a bit.

"If you need me too, I'll do another healing trance on it," Ta'tan'ia replied. "When we get a chance."

"Thanks," Stormie answered. "But I'll be fine."

About six minutes later they arrived at the New Coronet Detention Center. There was a lone officer on duty at a counter behind blaster-proof transparisteel. A cluster of small holes in the transparisteel allowed them to speak to him.

"Hi, I'm Jedi Knight Ta'tan'ia," the Twi'lek said as she displayed her identichit. "And this is my partner, Lieutenant Kintra," she added, waving her free hand towards her companion, and deliberately not mentioning that she was an Imperial Security Officer. "We need to see some of your prisoners, starting with a Quinn Nobi," she explained, glancing down at her comlink display.

"Wow, a real Jedi," the officer said in obvious surprise. "I never thought I'd get to meet one of you."

"Thank you, it's nice to meet you, too," Ta'tan'ia responded with a friendly nod. "Now, please let us see the prisoner," she told him, adding a little pressure with the Force.

"Oh yeah. Let me get Sergeant Bakuu, he'll get you set up."

"Thank you," Ta'tan'ia repeated.

After he commed Sergeant Bakuu, the officer informed them that he would need to secure their weapons before they entered the prisoner area. As Ta'tan'ia pulled her blaster from its holster, she noticed Stormie glance at her before following suit. She put the weapon into a security drawer built into the desk below the transparisteel, and Stormie placed hers in as well. The officer pulled the drawer through to his side, opened it, and retrieved the two blasters.

"Um, we need your lightsaber too, Jedi Ta'tan'ia," he told her politely. "As well as both your comlinks."

"You don't need my lightsaber," Ta'tan'ia responded with a wave of her hand, backing the words up with the Force. "And my comlink is permanently maglocked around my wrist," she explained, displaying the beskar cuff. "It doesn't come off."

"Mine too," Stormie added, holding up her wrist, showing the band of durasteel around it.

Ta'tan'ia glanced at her, but didn't say anything. Even though she knew she was lying, she could barely sense it.

Before the duty officer could respond, Sergeant Bakuu arrived.

"What can I do for you, Jedi Ta'tan'ia, Lieutenant Kintra?" he asked cheerfully once the introductions were made.

"We need to interview one of your prisoners," Ta'tan'ia told him. "A Quinn Nobi. Then possibly several more of the Zoloz you have."

"No problem," he answered with a smile. "We can have him brought out in just a couple of minutes. Come on back, and I'll get you settled in."

"Um, Jedi Ta'tan'ia still has her lightsaber, and they both have comlinks," the duty officer interjected.

"I think we can make an exception for a Jedi," Sergeant Bakuu replied as he led them behind the counter. "Call the detention level, and tell them to bring Quinn Nobi up to interrogation one ASAP."

While they were walking to the interrogation room, Sergeant Bakuu was very talkative. Ta'tan'ia chatted with him, mostly small talk, while Stormie pretty much stayed quiet.

"Do you want this recorded?" he asked as they arrived.

"No thanks," Stormie answered quickly.

"Okay."

"Could you please provide us with a list of all the Zoloz arrested since the warehouse raid the day before yesterday," Ta'tan'ia asked him. She hadn't thought about them recording the interrogation, it was probably better that they didn't.

"Sure, no problem," Sergeant Bakuu answered with a friendly nod.

"As a matter of fact, make that all the Zoloz you're currently holding," Stormie added.

"Okay," he agreed, raising his hand towards the comlink attached to his shirt collar.

"Just because they are already in jail for something else, doesn't mean they don't know who's providing the blasters," Stormie explained, leaning close to Ta'tan'ia and whispering while Sergeant Bakuu requested the list they asked for, and ensured the holocameras in the room were disabled.

Ta'tan'ia couldn't fault her logic.

A minute or so later, two officers brought in the Zoloz president, stun cuffed and shock shackled.

"Hey sexy, he said with a broad smile, glancing at Sergeant Bakuu a heartbeat then eyeing Ta'tan'ia as the officers moved him to the chair behind the table. "Nice to see you again. And I see you brought a friend," he added, glancing towards Stormie.

Ta'tan'ia could sense mild annoyance from Sergeant Bakuu, mostly boredom from the officers, and contempt from Stormie.

"Nothing will be recorded, like you asked, and I'll have that list of the rest of the Zoloz we have when you finish with him," Sergeant Bakuu said from the doorway. "Anything else you need?"

"Not at the moment," Ta'tan'ia answered with a wave of her hand. She was mildly annoyed he had mentioned the list in front of Quinn. "Thank you," she added with a polite smile.

Sergeant Bakuu and the two officers left, shutting the door behind them.

"I am Jedi Knight Ta'tan'ia," she introduced herself to Quinn. "And this is Lieutenant Kintra of Imperial Security."

She expected him to be at least a little apprehensive upon finding out she was a Jedi. Instead she mostly just sensed surprise.

"Seriously?" he replied grinning in obvious elation. "You mean to tell me I got a blow job from a real life no shavit Jedi Knight!?"

Ta'tan'ia didn't need the Force to sense Stormie's surprise at that statement. She'd have to tell her that she had infiltrated the party, and that it was to find out about the weapons. Hopefully she wouldn't look into that too much.

"Well it seems like it's going to be the last one you get for a very long time," Ta'tan'ia responded dryly. "With the nine dead police officers and weapons they're charging you with. Unless you can help us out a little," she added, backing up the suggestion with the Force.