Disclaimers: See Part 1
The Fallen Beginning
by
AJ Marks
Chapter 5
Petra paced around the hotel room with Wedge watching him the whole time. They had not heard anything from either Ri-Jun or Tillis and it was beginning to make both men nervous. Petra was beginning to have second thoughts about the course of action that he had taken and was now wishing that he had gone himself. In a way though he knew that he was fooling himself. The two men had gone to Ossus and no one knew how long it would take for them to find what they were looking for while they were there. He just wished that he had a way to get in contact with the two men.
"Petra, you're making me dizzy, please have a seat." Wedge said to his security chief. "If anyone should be pacing it should be me." He said reminding Petra of whose family it was that had been kidnapped.
"I know, but you know that I don't like feeling helpless like this." Petra replied. They would have continued but the phone rang.
"Hello!" Petra said as he answered it.
"Wedge Organa." The mysterious voice said and Petra knew who was calling.
"This is Wedge Organa speaking." Wedge said as he took the phone.
"We are pleased, so far. Expect more instructions soon." The voice said as the line went dead.
"Are we able to trace the call?" Petra asked one of the guards.
"No sir, but we might be able to pull up the number with some help." The guard said.
"I guess we should bring in Jessica, I think that we can trust her." Petra said as he started walking towards the door.
"Sounds like a plan, let me know if anything happens, and take your communicator with you this time." Wedge said before Petra got to the door.
"Okay, I'll let you know what I find out. But don't make anymore calls until we are able to trace the call." Petra said as he grabbed his communicator and walked out the door.
Petra made his way down the elevator towards the office where Jessica was located. She had moved her office into a temporary office in the same building, which made sense to Petra. He knocked on the door when he arrived at the office.
Jessica looked up to see who was knocking now. Her captain had just been in and had wanted a complete report of everything that had been happening. She noticed that Petra was standing in the doorway and waved him in.
"We just got a threatening call and I was wondering if you can help me locate the origin of the call?" Petra told her. The woman still did not know about and preferred to leave that way for now.
"I think that we can, it might take an hour or so to locate but we should be able to." Jessica replied. "This could be a lead into who is threatening him."
"That was my thought as well." Petra told her glad that she had mentioned it first. He had the feeling that she was not in on anything, but he could not take the chance yet to involve her in the real investigation.
Petra gave her the information about the call including the time and an estimate of the duration of the length of the call. Jessica handed the information to a technical officer who specialized in this type of services. He tells the two waiting that it might be an hour or so depending on the route the call took, how much interference the person had running and how many dead ends they had set up. Jessica told him to just let them know when he had found something and they watched as he walked out of the room.
"Well its obvious that this call is important to you Petra." Jessica said as she had watched the man be silent during the talk with the other officer. She was wondering if there was not something else going on, and if she even needed to know about it. "Something else is going on isn't there?" She asked point blank.
"Nothing yet!" Petra replied knowing that he just lied to her and that she knew it by the look in her eyes.
"Nothing yet that you know of or nothing yet that you can tell me." She asked wondering which one it would be.
""Nothing yet I can tell you, I trust you, a bit, but I don't trust who you work for." Petra replied.
"Fair enough." Jessica replied having gotten her answer which was fine by her, there were some people she did not trust either that she worked for. The less she knew the better everyone was. "I want to put a tap on all calls coming in to the room in case the person tries again."
"I don't think that he will call back again, but, I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't." Petra said making a decision real quick. "Do it, we might get lucky and the guy will call again."
"It will give me something to report to get the ones on my back to lay off for a day or so. I can tell them some punk made a prank call and that we are not taking any chances with it." Jessica said.
"Sounds good, and allows you to stay in touch with us when I will need you." Petra said already knowing that he would have to contact the investigators on Alderaan to let them know to call him on the direct line.
Petra went back up to watch over the installation of the tap into the phone line in the room. He had left Jessica with the promise that she would let him know what the results were. Petra hovered as the technicians installed the tap and he asked several question about some privacy matters in case Wedge was talking about politics on the line. He was assured that the tap was only there for tracing the call, not recording the conversations that would take place.
It was not much longer until Jessica came into the room with a grim look on her face. Petra could only guess that the news was bad news.
"I got the results back and its not good." Jessica told him. "There were several areas of interference but he was able to locate the original source of the call. It was from a pay phone, and the person used hard currency, untraceable. I've got people on the way there to see if they can find anyone who might have seen someone using the phone."
"The chances of that are going to be slim." Petra replied knowing that the investigation was approaching another dead end and he was running out of ideas.
"Would you like some help?" Jessica said feeling the excitement of going out on an adventure. "I can help by knowing who to talk to and where to go."
Petra weighed the pros and cons of bringing her along in the mission. She did bring up some valid points with knowing who to talk to and where to go. But if she was involved then it would not be too much longer before she knew the truth and he was not willing to tell her that yet. In the end he agreed that she could go with him.
Tillis watched as Ri-Jun went through the training that the others would go through. His friend was showing surprising strength that the others did not have, almost as if he was a beginning of what would become. Ga-Sat walked up to where Tillis was watching and the two of them just watched as the trainers instructed Ri-Jun on how to do something that he already could do, usually better than the trainers.
"Are there others out there like Ri-Jun?" Ga-Sat asked Tillis knowing that he had sent the man to Coruscant on this particular mission.
"I'm not sure, most are living in fear of their lives right now." Tillis replied. "The few that I have met don't announce their powers to much, but I think that they are not quite as powerful as he is, but they are more powerful than most of the new recruits that you receive."
"That is a bit disturbing, but not shocking anymore." Ga-Sat replied. "Not after watching your friend here in action, he is truly amazing."
"He also wants to learn how to control all of his powers through training, I think that is why he is so anxious to learn from your trainers. We will be leaving soon." Tillis replied.
"I think that the learning has gone both ways Tillis," Ga-Sat told the man.
Tillis looked at the wise man and knew that he was being quite respectful of his new friend. Even Tillis was a bit impressed with the power that Ri-Jun was showing. So far he had been able to jump higher and do more than just about any of the others in the area. That was probably why he was still alive with everyone hunting him.
Ri-Jun had just completed a jumping training exercise that was designed to teach a student how to leap a great distance safely. It was something that he listened to carefully. He could already jump very high, he needed to know how to land from such a high jump without injuring himself. He usually jumped up to a roof of a small building then walked down the stairway. It was actually easier than he expected it to be, just use a little bit of what they called the Force on the way down to help slow you down.
Ri-Jun looked over as Tillis called his name and knew that it was time for him to go. He had enough time to shower and freshen up before the trip to Alderaan where they would meet up with the local investigators that Petra had told them about. He thanked each of the instructors that he had worked with and told them that he wanted to come back to learn more about everything.
"You impressed our instructors Ri-Jun." Ga-Sat said as the man approached them. He was truly amazing, but Ga-Sat wondered if it would be enough to defeat the darkness that he felt looming around them.
"Let me go and shower and then we'll be on our way." Ri-Jun said to Tillis who nodded his head and watched as he went into the building that the quarters were in.
"I'll have a taxi waiting for you when you are ready to leave." Ga-Sat said to Ri-Jun and then left to take care of some business of his own.
Tillis was left wondering if Ri-Jun had learned anything of importance about the kidnapping from the prophets. He knew that Ri-Jun had learned something about his powers that he had and how to better control them. Tillis would have to wait to see if they had indeed learned anything from the prophets.
Tillis turned and walked to the mess hall to grab a bit to eat before they left for the spaceport. He wasn't sure that there would be time to grab anything before their flight and the food on board the flights usually was not to good.
Ri-Jun sat down beside Tillis with a plate of food as Tillis was eating. "Thought that I would grab a bit to eat here before we headed out. Our flight leaves in about an hour." He said taking his first bit to eat.
"Grabbing a bit to eat before its time to leave, the food on the flights is usually not to good, usually generic stuff that has no taste." Tillis said.
"If the meals are anything like the one we had on the way here, I think that I would rather starve." Ri-Jun said as the two men laughed about that.
After eating they waited as the taxi pulled up and Ga-Sat walked out to tell them good-bye.
"Be careful my friend, I sense danger along your path." Ga-Sat said to Ri-Jun as they approached the cab. "Do not trust everyone, there is a spy in your midst that is giving information to the enemy. I do not know who it is. Also we do not sense that they have left Alderaan, focus your attention there my friend."
"Thanks my friend." Ri-Jun said already knowing that the path would be dangerous, but a spy he did not really believe, perhaps it was someone that he was to meet or on the investigation team. "You be careful as well. I wish to come back and learn more from you."
Tillis and Ri-Jun got into the taxi and it sped off toward the spaceport for their next destination.
Jessica and Petra walked down the street towards the area the phone call had been made. Jessica had been able to commandeer a couple of disguises for them to use so they would not stand out too much. They were dressed as a couple of normal people so they would not stand out.
There were heading toward the building that the phone was in and they wondered what type of place of business it would be.
They walked through the doors and entered a bar that was open all day. There were a few people around the area who barely glanced at them. The bartender gave them a glance then went back to his business of washing glasses for the night crowd. The few people who were around did not seem like they would be the ones to either be a part of the group that kidnapped Wedge's family or the type to make practical jokes.
"Bartender." Petra said getting the man's attention.
"Ah hello there, what can I do for you today?" The bartender replied.
"I'll have a cup of Java." He said turning to Jessica who said that she would have the same thing.
"Of course, be right up." The bartender said grabbing a couple of glasses and filling them up. "That'll be twelve point six credits."
"Here's thirty." Jessica said then went to sit down. Petra was a bit confused by her actions but followed her lead.
"What's up?" He asked her when he reached the table.
"Just wait, the bartender knows that we want something, he'll come to us." She said obviously having done it before.
They chatted among themselves waiting for the bartender. They did not have to wait long until the bartender walked over to the tables to wipe them down and he made his way over to where they were sitting.
"Is everything all right here?" The bartender asked when he reached their table.
"Doing better." Jessica said slipping over a fifty-credit stick.
"What do you wish to know?" He asked and Jessica looked to Petra.
"Have you ever seen this man?" Petra asked pushing a holopicture of a man.
"Interesting, I don't but perhaps Shorty over there can, he's been here since last night." The bartender replied. "Just mention that Rullo sent you." Then he went back to his work.
"Thanks." Petra said.
They finished off their drinks then make their way over to the man called Shorty. He looked at them with disinterest in his eyes as they approached them.
"Rullo said that you might be able to help us." Jessica said as the reached his table. His eyes went from disinterest to interest with the mention of Rullo's name.
"Have a seat and what 'an Shorty do for you today?" The small man asked.
"Have you seen this man?" Petra asked producing the holopicture.
"Mmm, perhaps." Shorty answered with a bit of hesitation leading that he did know more than he was telling.
"Does this help your memory?" Petra said slipping over a hundred credits.
"Ah, this man, yes I remember him. Strange man he was, don't remember him ever being in here before." Shorty said. "He 'ame in and set up near the phone then made a phone 'all. He did something to the phone before he made the 'all." Shorty said.
"Thanks." Petra and Jessica said then left the bar thanking the bartender on their way out the door.
"Well that yielded more information than I expected." Petra said as they were walking back.
"Unfortunately it sheds no more light upon answering the questions." Jessica replied ant they both knew it to be the truth.
"Perhaps our friends have come up with some clues that we can use." Petra said as they continued towards where Petra was staying.
Ri-Jun and Tillis enjoyed a pleasant trip to Alderaan in style. The prophets on Ossus had given them first class tickets to Alderaan to avoid suspicion in their travel. It made sense to them, everyone would be expecting them to take an alternate route to the planet, but they would not be expecting someone to travel first class.
Ri-Jun looked up from his readings that Ga-Sat had given him when the announcement came that they would be landing soon. The old man was right in that this ship was fast. If they had taken their own transportation they would still be on the way here. Both men had expressed concern that time was beginning to become important and that the worst was still to come.
Ri-Jun bumped Tillis awake and the man looked at his traveling companion with questioning eyes.
"We are going to be landing soon, I thought that you would like to know." Ri-Jun told him.
"That was quick." Tillis said. "What do you think we should do first?"
Ri-Jun thought about that for a few minutes, there were several options open for them. They could just begin the search for Wedge's family or they could get in contact with the investigators. Ri-Jun decided to get in touch with the investigators, as they might have heard something from whoever did the kidnapping."
"Then our first course of action is to find out whoever is in charge then." Tillis replied watching as his friend nodded his head and they waited for the ship to land.
A non-dispirit ship made its way down through the atmosphere of the planet on a course for a specific place on the planet. It would have to be taught a lesson, or they would become a thorn in their sides for years to come.
The ship settled on the outskirts of the compound and scores of men ran out of the ship heading silently toward the compound that was their target. They had been highly trained to deal with this operation and they would succeed in their mission.
They silently crept to the perimeter of the compound and watched for any signs of a guard that would be lurking near by. Seeing no guards they went inside the compound to carry out their assignment, no one was to remain alive.
Jessica watched as Petra had given his report to the ranking investigator and had not gotten much in return. So far the investigation was a dead end. Every lead that the group had was a dead end, like whoever was setting it up was behind it. The frustration was mounting and no one seemed to have any ideas as to where to go from here.
"I should check in with my superior." Jessica told them.
Petra looked at her and thought that it was not a good idea and voiced his thoughts out loud. He did not have a solid reason for not trusting anyone else outside of the room but he finally agreed that Jessica had to report in, otherwise her captain might come here.
Jessica walked out of the office deep in thought. Her argument with Petra had made her question her own captain. She thought about the man. He had been like a father to her and she just could not imagine the man being involved in something like this. He had always been quite caring, and usually willing to look at all sides of a conflict and understand things that others did not. She had learned everything she knew from him, and had modeled her own style after his.
Jessica refused to believe that he was involved in something like this. Her mind then clicked in and she remembered that he was not the only one that would read her reports and hear about what she was doing. Someone above him had to be in on the what ever was happening with the ambassador. She would have to talk to Petra and see if there was some way they could use this information to their advantage, maybe plant some false information to bring out the attackers.
Jessica walked into the headquarters for the security department and for the first time found herself scrutinizing her co-workers. Who was the one that was leaking information about the case? She made her way to her captain's office mentally checking everyone and seeing if there was anything suspicious in their actions. She could not go on those who would stare at her, because many did because of her beauty so she tried to see if anyone was looking that usually did not.
"Hello Jessica, how is the investigation going?" Her captain asked her.
"Nothing but false leads so far. Some punk decided to make a prank call last night and he was easily tracked down. Wedge refused to press charges so the boy got off light." Jessica said having made most of that up. It would cover the reason for why she had requested a tracking team this morning.
"Why was it done this morning?" The captain asked.
"Because that's when they contacted me about it." Jessica replied. "They at first wanted to keep it quiet but they wanted help in locating the origin of the call."
"Thanks for keeping me informed, now I have something to tell my superiors." The captain said leaning back in his chair. "For some reason they have been leaning on me pretty hard about this case, they want to know everything that's going on, even the smallest details."
"Is there a particular person who wants to know?" Jessica said wanting to reveal her reasons but not sure about it.
"No, a general across the board type of involvement, but with each group wanting to know it feels like more, and I can't always remember who I've told what." The captain said.
"Okay, thanks captain." Jessica said getting up to leave the office.
"You to." The captain said getting up with her then whispered in her ear. "Be careful, something strange is going on, but I don't know what." Then he gave her a hug and she went on her way.
Jessica walked back to her office a bit confused. Her captain obviously knew that something was wrong, but she was not able to tell him what it was, yet. The information did lighten her heart a bit knowing that the captain was probably not involved in what ever was going on. The requests for information about the case were baffling to her. There was not one group asking for more than the others and she could only put it down to the publicity of the case and the person targeted.
Ri-Jun and Tillis had managed to flag down a taxi that would take them to the other side of the planet were Wedge's family had been staying. They figured that going there would allow them to pick up any trail that might have been left. They also hoped to get in touch with the investigators in charge of the case.
They were half way there when Ri-Jun suddenly felt dizzy and in pain. Something was happening and he was not sure what, but whatever it was not good.
"Are you okay?" Tillis asked as his friend had a pale look about him and his eyes seemed distant.
"I don't know Tillis." Ri-Jun replied as an almost cramp like pain hit his stomach. "Something's very wrong." He whispered in Tillis' ear.
"Is it about..." He trailed off to wanting to say it out loud.
"I don't think so, but I'm not sure. I think we need to find out fast though as time is running out for everyone involved." Ri-Jun said to Tillis not really sure he understood what was happening.
The ride did not take very long and before they knew it they were at the place they requested. A small city located near the location where had Wedge's family been hiding. Tillis paid the taxi driver and walked over to where the hotel was and decided to check in. Ri-Jun had already walked into the hotel and was already at the counter checking in. They had decided to use some of the money that Petra had given them to stay in the hotel and get separate room that way if someone was tracking them it would be harder.
Ri-Jun walked through the lobby and to his hotel room and waited for Tillis to call him. He had told him his room number as he walked by him and now he could only wait for the call. He placed his few bags on the table and decided to meditate for a few minutes until the call came in.
Tillis had to wait a bit longer as someone called down to the front desk to complain about some sort of service that they were not receiving. He did not listen to the conversation and waited patiently for the conversation to end. He then was able to get a room that was surprisingly close to where they had put Ri-Jun. Tillis was not sure if this was good news or bad news.
After he placed his bags down he called his friend to let him know where he was as well.
End Chapter 5
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