Citadel Station Orbiting Telos, Some Hours After Last

[suitably_heroic]

Atton	"Attention - this is Citadel Station Bay Control. Dock Module 126. Please remain where you are. Lieutenant Dol Grenn will arrive shortly to meet you. That is all." In Atton's experience, that was not regular docking procedure. In fact, that was only regular docking procedure if somebody wanted something from you. "I don't like the sound of that," he said, turning to Meetra on the launchpad. "If they think we caused the explosion..." Footsteps. He looked up and watched a group of three military types stomping towards them. "Uh oh - there comes the welcoming party. They may not know what happened, so don't blow it."
Meetra	"I am Lieutenant Grenn," the officer at the front supplied, stepping towards them. "Telos Security Force. I'm under orders to take you into custody in regards to the destruction of the Peragus mining facility." It wasn't like they had much choice, Meetra reflected. They were in the middle of a large space station with no way off besides a ship with a broken navicomputer. "How long will this take?" she asked. "Due to the nature of the investigation, I have no particular timetable for you," the lieutenant replied. "In the mean time, your ship and any droids you may have will have to be given over for safekeeping." T3-M4 beeped inquisitively. "Yes, that includes you," the lieutenant replied. "You are a droid, so you will be detained. In addition, we will have to take your personal arms, armor and comms until the completion of our inquiry." Meetra sighed. "I understand." "You will be held briefly in the TSF station until living quarters can be arranged, at which point you will be placed under house arrest. Now please follow me."
Atton	Six hours. He'd had six hours of precious freedom. "Tell me I'm not going to jail again," Atton muttered, as he followed after Meetra, Kreia and the troopers.
Meetra	"You'll be held here briefly," the lieutenant offered as they took their places in the security cages. "Living quarters are being arranged for you and your companions as we speak. Someone will return shortly to escort you to an apartment in Residential Module 082." Hard to imagine that just a few hours ago, Meetra had been staring at Atton through a security field just like this - from the other side. "A force cage?" she asked dryly. "This is ridiculous." "As I said, this is only temporary," the lieutenant said. "You'll just have to bear with us until then." "I understand," she said.
Atton	"Well, we're going to be here for a while," Atton said, rolling his eyes up to the sky. "Might as well get comfortable." He'd just started getting the sensation back in his legs, too.
Kreia	There was a fragile silence that lasted some innumerable amount of minutes. Kreia had been meditating, unwilling to waste her time on the fool, seeing no need to speak to the Exile. (It was sometime in this period that Atton received a very badly timed phone call, for which TSF had no time whatsoever.) Suddenly she veered up. "Someone is coming."
. . .	A man clad in a TSF uniform strode into the room. "So this is the last of the Jedi?" he said thoughtfully. "I must admit, I'm a little disappointed."
Meetra	Standing in this cage for ages on end had made Meetra a little crabby. She was finding some sympathy now for Atton's earlier attitude - and demonstrated it accordingly. "Let me out of this cage and I'll show you how disappointing I am," she said dryly.
. . .	"Doubtful," the man drawled, "Though it seems at least you have some spirit. The Exchange has a bounty on Jedi, you know. You're worth quite a bit of money."
Atton	The Exchange? Please. Atton only needed one look at this guy to know he didn't make that cut. "The Exchange, huh? I'm pretty sure some two-bit pistol jockey like you isn't one of them." Meetra really needed to stop attracting assassins, though. It was starting to get to be a pain in the ass.
. . .	"Eh?" The would-be assassin actually looked a little taken aback. "I'm more than skilled enough for the Exchange!"
Atton	Atton snorted. Yeah, no Exchange agent worth their salt would be this easily goaded. At least that meant they were in only limited danger, though - as long as they could keep the guy thrown off balance enough not to mess with the cages. "You bounty hunters couldn't even win a fair fight," he said. "You're the cheapest, most worthless mercenary scum in the galaxy. I'd hire a Mandalorian over your filth in a second."
. . .	The man twitched a little. "No Mandalorian could match my skills! No Mandalorian would've been clever enough to infiltrate the station, taken the identity of one of the guards, then..."
Atton	Space, this was just embarrassingly easy. "Then what?" Atton prompted. "Overloaded our force cages and made it look like an accident? You probably don't even have the guts to fight me. Pathetic."
. . .	"Don't think overloading your force cage fields didn't occur to me," the man said testily, "You're wanted alive, but I doubt anyone would care as long as I bring them your corpses." ... Yes, they would, dude.
Meetra	"Let's get this over with," Meetra said with a sigh.
. . .	The man perked up a bit. "Come, Jedi," he snarled, "It is time to die!"
Atton	... Okay, that wasn't what Atton had been aiming for. "Hey, leave her alone," he called. "You want a fight? Then try me, if you've got the guts."
. . .	"You have goaded me once, but you will not do so twice," the man declared loudly. (If you asked Atton, that was usually the kind of thing someone said when they were about to get goaded twice.) "I shall dispose of all of you eventually. An old woman, a fool, and a broken Jedi are no match for my skills." Then he walked over to the console and turned off the cage fields. (See?)
Meetra	The next few events went by very fast: Atton, closest to the assassin, shot forward and punched him in the face. Meetra hit his mind with a stunning blow in the Force - and Kreia shoved him against the wall with a quick use of her telekinesis, sending him sprawling. It was over quickly. Idiot. Moments later, the TSF lieutenant stormed back into the room. "Man down! Quick, call a medic!" He turned towards the others. "All right, 'Jedi', I want you to back away into your force cage - very slowly, with your hands up. Cooperate, and we won't have to gun you down." A woman clad in TSF uniform knelt down by the assassin's side. She looked up. "C'mon, Lieutenant, they've already killed--" She glanced back down. "...who is this? Is that Baku Rem?!" "He said he was an assassin," Meetra offered. The TSF grunt squinted. "Rem's no assassin." "Baku Rem is on leave," the lieutenant said. "He shouldn't even be on the station. This man isn't him!" "What's going to happen now?" Meetra asked, wanting very badly to ram her head against the wall over the stupidity of this entire mess. "We've arranged for your apartment," the lieutenant said. "You'll stay there under house arrest until the investigation into the Peragus matter has been concluded. You'll be under TSF protection. I'll personally clear any visitors to your quarters, and we'll investigate this incident to the best of our ability." "The best of your ability," Meetra echoed dryly. She exchanged glances with Atton. "Let's just go."

The apartment they wound up in was... serviceable, if bland. A couple beds, a refresher, all the basic creature comforts...

"Just to be on the safe side, why don't you leave us a blaster or two?" Atton had asked TSF Guy. TSF Guy had not been amused. Whatever, TSF Guy's loss.

Atton	"This isn't good," Atton said. "We need to get off this station."
Meetra	"Why do we need to leave?" Meetra asked. Not that she wouldn't like to, but...
Atton	"What do you think the TSF is going to find on Peragus?" Atton asked her. Seriously, think ahead! "That could bring the S--" ... and then what? He cut himself short. "You know what, forget it. As long as we're trapped here, it doesn't matter."
Kreia	"We cannot stay in any one place too long," Kreia volunteered. "But our path has brought us here for a reason." She folded her sleeves together. "I must meditate on this. In the mean time, we should rest."
Atton	Ah, yes, Jedi talk. Atton had missed it. So much. "Yeah, you go ahead and meditate," he said irritably. "As for me, I could use some sleep." Which didn't happen. Fifteen minutes of hanging around his bed and he was up again, poking at the consoles, hoping for something to happen. Ugh, he wasn't good at being left to his own devices - he might wind up thinking about stuff.

[[ and atton's time is running concurrent to fandom's again for a very brief time, meaning that this one post... is open for comm calls. do not expect long ones, however. taken from knights of the old republic 2 ]]