"I can shield us from attention," he stated, not letting go of her hand but instead helping her to get the stun cuffs and headdress off and get herself to her feet. Simultaneously he did a quick sense of just how she was doing physically, keenly aware that she was hurting.

"But I don't know if we'll get out so well the way we came in, especially not with your injuries," he stated, wincing as he looked at the burns on her wrists...and much more concerned about any internal injuries. "Is there a back way out of here?"

--------------------

Superficial burns to my wrists and hands, minor nerve damage there. Minor cardiac arrhythmia, probably temporary due to the shocks. Major burns to the right side of my face and neck. Optic nerve flash burned in right eye, also scaring of the cornea, and permanent damage to my retina.

Kani pushed those thoughts to the side and instead she recalled the layout of the building, considering their options. In a place such as this the staff would treat the explosion as a terrorist event, they would evacuate under a fire drill to not arouse to much suspicion. Likely Stormtroopers would be watching the crowd and Kani with her burns would be a dead giveaway. So a ground floor exit was out, she then remembered a parking garage on the top floors housing the guests speeders.

We would need a distraction, luckily we can use the one that will happen when I destroy the evidence of us being here. Guess its better than nothing.

“Down the hall is a service elevator for staff,” said Kani. “We override it, take it to the roof garages, and steal a speeder. In my room is a bag containing my armor grab that we need its contents.”

Kani waited until Shawn complied before moving to a hidden panel on the far wall. She tried to fumble with the release mechanism but her hands didn't want to comply with the precise manipulation required. So instead she retrieved her lightsaber from the floor and cut through the panel's outer housing to reveal the controls behind it. At that point Shawn returned with her armor in a bag and Kani pressed a button on the panel activating a silent countdown within the room.

“Okay in five minutes the mini thermal detonators are going to obliterate this room,” said Kani. “That's our distraction; we just need to slice the turbolift, hotwire a speeder, and fly out of here. Or you need to because right now I can't do any of those things.”

Spreading his sphere of influence out to the surrounding area while also keeping tabs on Kani who, as a testament to her strength, kept up with him despite her pain, Shawn began to head out to the service elevator down the hall. All the while he kept a Force shield about he and Kani, hoping to keep their presence as unnoticed as possible as they fled. And this worked, at least for the time being, for those who passed by were so concerned about the explosion that drew their attention earlier that with a little Force subversion they didn't even notice Kani or Shawn.

In no time, they arrived at the turbolift. And it was at that moment that Shawn knew he had to do something, something that he knew Kani ws going to have to allow or they would never get out of this alive. Without hesitation...

...for there was no time for such...

...he stretched out into Kani's mind. For, though Jedi he was, Splicer and Tech he most certainly was not.

You're going to have to guide me through this with what you know.

And with nothing futher he pulled the panel revealing the circuitry to the turbolift.

Time was running short.

--------------------

Its actually easier than you think. My bag has a number of keycards, the one we need is a solid red color. It is an emergency service override it will commandeer the turbolift and allow you to take us to the staff parking. The vehicles there do not need keys because only authorized hotel staff have access to that level.

Kani could vaguely follow Shawn rummaging through her bag, finding the keycard she described, and carrying out her instructions. It helped that as much as she could in her instructions she included the images and memories associated with her requests. They arrived on the staff garage and Shawn was guiding or more aptly dragged Kani along and help place her in the passenger chair of a speeder. Confident that no one was listening in on them Kani gave Shawn some final instructions.

“Here's the deal Shawn,” Kani said between labored breaths. “I'm going to pass out soon, and at this point I have no plan besides escape. Get us to the undercity it will be harder for the Empire to find us. And our disguises will still work there. Good luck Shawn and May the Force be with you.”

Kani didn't immediately slip into unconsciousness but became gradually less and less aware of her surroundings. She lost track of what was happening around her mumbling the same word to herself.

“Buir.”

But no one was followig them. Not. a. single. person.

Shawn frowned to himself, the obvious becoming apparent.

This was all too easy.

His mind shifted to all that had been going on. Tarnus's arrest. Actar's disappearance and his control of Force users such as Kani. Kani's connections to the Force and to the Mandalorians....and Tarnus's connections to the Sith and to a child with quite amazing capabilities...

Shawn couldn't contain himself from thinking something he had heard out of the mouths of Terrin Danner's assistants quite so often: Oh bloody hell.

Shawn then shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts even as he tangled himself and Kani into the undercity further. Occasionally Kani muttered a single word: Buir...

He took a moment to cast a concerned look Kani's way as she murmured the Mandolorian term for Grandfather. And in that moment, inspiration struck. For Shawn knew that if they attempted to make any communication with anyone via traditional means, at least while Kani was down for the count, there was potential of tracing.

But he had something other that could not necessarily be traced. And they needed allies, especially now.

So, making use of the new identity Kani had set for him and the perks of it being the wee hours of the morning, Shawn pulled his speeder up to a lavish hotel in the undercity with drive through check-in. Using the Force as cover to mask Kani's presence altogether, he secured a suite using his identity. Securing their speeder in a VIP garage where they had easy and direct access to it when needed, he carried all of Kani's belongs and Kani herself into the posh suite, laying her on a bed to rest comfortably and then sitting in a chair beside her. Making certain the room was secure, only then did Shawn close his eyes and stretch out to the Force to connect with Kani, not only to begin healing at least some of her wounds, knowing that if they were ever going to find Tarnus and get out of all of this in one piece, especially now, they were going to need a new strategy...

[ 06-17-2016 10:46 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shawn Petrolu ]

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In the confines of her own mind Kani unconsciously worked to rewrite the pathways that the sudden removal of the wall within her own mind coupled with the expelling of the other presence had caused. These was damage there, some of it would be permanent, abilities hindered or affected. There also was the potential for greater growth, the stress of the ordeal opened entirely new pathways for her. She had no idea how long this process lasted her disconnect while the healing process went of disrupted her biological clock.

Slowly though she cam back to her own body, she felt intense pain most of it centered around her left eye. Kani didn't try to move at first assimilating what had happened, she knew one healing session alone couldn't undo the damage this time her injuries even with the best healer would take time.

Nerve damage to my arms have been corrected, heart arrhythmia corrected, skin burns mostly healed some scaring especially to my face and neck, left eye optic nerve completely flash burned no chance of regeneration.

Even with this assessment fresh in her mind it still did not prepare Kani when she opened her eyes. The world first came unfocused, blurry, then slowly came into view. Like she thought her left eye was permanently blind, however even with all the physical loss she couldn't help but laugh and feel joy for the first time since her mother was killed.

“I can...” rasped Kani. “I can feel her, what Buir was trying to tell me when they killed her. We will meet again... well she kept her word.”

And truly, wasn't that the truth of it? She had been lied to, misused, and drugged. She deserved a time of reprieve to process all that she was just now finding out, and her body certainly needed rest to recuperate...

...but they had little time.

Still, Shawn did not speak for several moments, giving Kani time to process what she was feeling without interruption. His only action was to at length place a hand carefully on her shoulder so as not to jar recently regenerated nerves.

"I believe you will be able to make contact with your Grandfather now..." he said simply, in seeming non-sequitur.

For this time he most certainly was not speaking of contact in the traditional sense...

--------------------

"I would if I could Shawn," answered Kani. "I don't know if he told you or if any of the Jedi at the academy let it slip but my Grandfather is Force Blind. Even if I could connect with him right now that might alert the Empire to us. I wasn't assigned your case likely the Empire has another agent allocated to handle you do you think we can handle a Jedi hunter at the moment? Don't you think a man like Actar would also have a means of knowing if I broke free as well?"

Assessing their situation, Kani noted that though Shawn was in a hurry he still managed to get them out of their last location and into relative safety.

So he knows more than just Jedi philosophy, not Imperial Intelligence Agent by any means but better than what I gave him credit for.

Or at least, Actar had put a lot of effort in... came the errant but very logical thought. Despite himself Shawn frowned, his greeny blue eyes defocused a bit as he thought. This didn't last long however, as Shawn redirected both his eyes and his attention to Kani.

"Getting you combat ready will still take some time," he admitted, keenly aware of the injuries she had sustained. Still, she had abilities of her own, and could endure more than most. Shawn hoped that Kani knew he understood this. "As for being out of practice with your abilities...

...I can, if and when you are ready and if you so choose, help you with that."

Turning then back to his Healing abilities, Shawn stretched out to the Force once more to further heal and mend Kani's physical injuries.

--------------------

Kani tried to think of anything occupy her mind, truth be told the reality of what she had done even under the Empire's control began to hit her.

The fact Actar knew exactly what to do to control me, no utterly turn me to his use.

Then he turned to her query regarding a new Jedi Academy.

"Establishing a new Academy has been an idea more than once, and by more than one. At one point, the Empire tried to offer assistance in restarting said Academy."

He paused with a snort, not needing to look at Kani to know what her reaction probably was.

Yeah, he thought a bit blackly, What better way for Actar to keep tabs on the Jedi and all their dealings than to have direct involvement in the Academy...

"But there hasn't been any Academy for quite some time, and the people involved in that...

...who knows what happened to them, if they are alive at all..."

He trailed a moment, his eyes defocusing, a brief moment of obvious pain glinting his eyes.

Your sister included, right Petrolu?

Shawn quickly snapped away from that thought, knowing there was no time at this moment.

"But yes, establishment of a new Academy should happen. And your assistance would be essential, especially with any Force users currently spread througout the galaxy, and some of them perhaps in hiding."

He paused once more, cocking his head at Kani and arching an eyebrow. "Apprentice of the Battlemaster, eh? Impressive."

It was not a taunt, or a jab, although it was stated as such. For the truth of it was Shawn was more than just slightly impressed with Kani, and not just for her ability to fight or use the Force, but for her character.

Saying nothing further, Shawn returned his attentions to healing Kani a bit further, knowing the time for such was short.

[ 01-16-2017 03:19 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shawn Petrolu ]

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Kani laughed a little, talking with Shawn helped her pass the time and not focus on her own physical condition. However all this talk did remind her of her own loneliness.

The Jedi always frowned upon my Mandalorian heritage, and the Mandalorians had disdain for the Jedi. And my unique Force abilities forced me to keep away from others until I learned to control it.

"No, the Empire is good at creating machines of their own without any help," he quipped a bit blackly despite himself. Then, "I think I'm finally getting the major portion of your injuries to a more..."

He paused, wincing at what he was about to say. "...manageable level."

He knew she was by no means healed, and no matter what he did scars would remain. As a healer, this pained him greatly, and even more so when it was someone he cared about.

Something Kani had just said registered in Shawn's brain, a bit belatedly but just the same. She had felt alone, and had been isolated even more so, and very purposefully, by the Empire. Shawn's greeny-blue eyes deepened slightly, the look in them a bit far off.

You aren't alone anymore, came his response to her mention of loneliness.

He hadn't said it aloud, but he was certain Kani heard it.

--------------------

Most of the nerve damage to my hands have healed, fine motor control still an issue but will recover in time. Heart damage from the electrical shock, completely recovered. Minor burn scarring to both wrists will heal over time. Major scarring to right side of face, starburst pattern crossing right eye socket needs major cosmetic surgery to remove scars. Right eye, retina and optic nerve flash burned, cornia permanent scarring, no chance of regeneration or repair surgically. Major surgery required for replacement.

As Kani evaluated herself she noted Shawn following along with her assessment through the Force and his growing resentment for not being able to do more.

“Don’t beat yourself up over it,” said Kani. “With my ability I know your healing ability is a bloodline trait, even if you fully developed it to a Masters level you wouldn’t be able to heal everything. And the scars.” Kani paused briefly to think of an appropriate Mandalorian idiom. “Well lets just say Mandalorians dig scars. Not that it would help me, most are scared off by the lightsabers, the rest when they see me working at the anvil.”

She laughed at the few attempts that young Mandalorian warriors would try to impress her by attempting to work at her forge, only for her to run it three times hotter and swing the hammer with much greater force.

“When we get out of this remind me to make you something at my forge, short of a full set of custom made Paladin Armor.”

...when they got out of this.

That final statement refocused his attention on the situation they were currently in. And of what had happened to Tarnus.

"Yes, when we get out of this," he finally stated sincerely, shaking himself from the momentary reverie he had shifted into. "Speaking of which...

...we do need to figure out a way to get out of here, and figure out what happened to Tarnus. I am certain your cover plan was impeccable, but that was before you stumbled upon Actar's work in your head."

He paused, his eyes darkening as the whole thing deeply troubled him.

--------------------

Kani let out a deep sigh, the reality of their situation did not escape her.

“Just kidding by the way,” said Kani. “Mandalorians are into dark humor, just get use to it. Well when it comes to Tarnus all I know is he was taken away from what looked like Actar’s men, if he’s fine then he can think of a way of contacting me.”

If he can remember any of those old codes his “mentor” taught him and I’m right about him being Mandalorian that is.

“To find out what happened to Tarnus that’s the tricky part.” said Kani. “If as we assume Actar know I broke his control any attempt I make to use Imperial resources will be flagged and bring a legion of Stormtroopers down on us. This hotel appear to be in the undercity enough to keep us off the Empires radar for the short run. Good job with that by the way.”

Kani thought about her other assets, to get Shawn out, and contact her Uncle like Tarnus wanted she had to burn most of her resources. Now anything remotely Imperial was too risky of an option.

My own Force abilities are out of the question, too wild for one, and unpracticed if we are making a list.

"That's not an entirely impossible suggestion," he then responded to Kani. "But I'm afraid before we can be of any use to anyone we're gonna have to get away from Coruscant. Too many eyes and ears are watching and listening."

He paused, pursing his lips, a couple of ideas coming to mind. "I do have some potential connections to get us away from here...

...and on the road to finding Tarnus as well," he then stated. "It's possible Stargazer Corporation, an information smuggling agency which is owned by my sister and brother-in-law, may have connections here that we can tap into and use, and I know how to contact them."

For a brief moment Shawn trailed, his eyes defocusing a bit at the mention and thought of Shayla and Erik.

Had Erik gone after and found her? Had they reconciled with the loss of their child? And with each other?

The very thought of them and of the situation troubled Shawn. With effort, he refocused.

"We could also contact Terrin Danner and Eagle Enterprises," he stated, this idea seeming to make the most sense to Shawn. "He's got good connections as EE does business selling ships of all varieties all over the galaxy...

...and he is also very familiar with... political...matters."

Not to mention so more than that. What an understatement, Petrolu...

[ 06-16-2017 12:20 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shawn Petrolu ]

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“I would avoid using comms planet side,” said Kani. “Or at least until we can get past the range of the planetary shield. Out of system would be better yet. Aktar is beyond paranoid about holding this world.”

She ran through the overlapping layers of security; from getting a ship (easy), breaking atmo (kinda difficult), clear planetary shielding undetected (borderline impossible), escape the blockade alive (impossible). Their problem was the ideal vessel to clear the shield threshold was light and nimble, while the one to run the blockade was big and bulky. Ideally a light frigate with a cloak…

That ideal vessel does exist, in fact we could probably steal it and get it in the air. Too bad flying in atmo with the cloak is basically suicide. For most people.

This sounded like something his sister would be good at, not him...

"I am able to pilot a ship, and probably have enough of a Force connection that, along with radar, I could control a ship blind with pretty good skill...."

Shawn trailed. But good enough to get them away safely?

He looked at Kani, and another idea popped into his head. She was well more trained for something like this than he was, and that was putting things very lightly.

"We could connect and use our Force strengths in tandem to do it," he suggested. "You certainly have the skills to do this much more than I do."

--------------------

“No electronic radar,” Kani corrected. “Imperial Customs Corvette, modified. 35 meters in length, 2 crew compliment, 6 passengers, no weapons, modified engines and shields. Most of its internal space are occupied by its capital ship class power core and cloaking field generators. It was envisioned to deploy small teams planet side behind enemy lines undetected. The fatal flaw being that because of the cloak field you are completely blind 2 meters beyond the hull. No radar, no comms, no sensor readings, no light on any band of the EM spectrum. Out in open space it worked great, intrasystem was adequate if you accurately knew most of the active travel lanes. Once you were in the atmosphere you were dead, to many flying objects, no way to know where the terrain was, and worse sudden wind sheer you can’t account for suddenly plowing you into a mountain. The Empire lost 15 of these things before it gave up trying. Plus they were tested on unpopulated barren rocks, imagine the most heavily populated world in the galaxy. Aside from its stealth capability it is literally the worse vessel to perform its designed function.”

She didn’t quite know of Shawn’s continued silence was out of sheer horror of the stupidity of the idea or if he was intrigued on how Kani planned to pull it off. She decided to continue before he could decide which.

“Like I said I can[i] see[\i] the Force,” Kani stated. “More accurately I can see its interactions with the natural world like a physical tangible thing. Without concentrating I see out to 25 meters, if I bring it down to 5 meters I can triple my reaction time, however extending it slows my reactions considerably. Because of the velocity of ship travel I will have to see 500 meters in all directions and close to 20 kilometers along our projected flight path. Now I can’t react to anything I see because all my concentration will be focused on maintaining that vision, but it may be possible to overlay that on your senses when you fly. You will be able to see in my field but it would be up to you to react to what you see and let me know where you want to look.”

Kani saw Shawn processing it all. Luckily he seemed familiar with the physical limitations and dangers to flying under that restrictive set of conditions, she wanted to give him enough time to form his own opinion of his own limits and abilities before she hit him with the big problem with the plan.

Assuming, of course, they had any sense at all.

And Shawn was fairly certain they did.

"I'm a descent pilot. After spending years being nearby my sister, who was an exceptional pilot, I learned a lot. Jedi reflexes and all should help with all this, and I know you know your skills well enough that you wouldn't suggest it unless you thought we could do it."

He paused, pursing his lips a bit. "And honestly I can't think of any other way for us to both get out of here in one piece, not with all that has happened."

Directing his greeny-blue eyes toward Kani, having an inkling of some of the potential dangers she might be alluding to already, he finished with, "I'm assuming your particular Force gfts--the fact that you can siphon power--is among the risks?"

Risky or not, their combined skills would probably be the only way they could get out of this, no matter how they did it....

--------------------

Total blindness, not even perception of light. I doubt bacta could do much at this point. No time to dwell on what we can’t handle.

“Yes it does pose a risk,” said Kani. “However not in the way you would think. The explanation is hard to grasp unless you experience it for your self. I need to borrow your raw power, my overall Force potential is quite weak in its own. I only need to use slightly more than I can naturally generate, do I have your permission?”

She waited a moment and upon hearing no protest Kani began. At first she slowly suppressed her own mental barrier that kept her Force Vampirism in check. She could feel the passive flow of power from all living things slowly start creeping toward her. Then focusing on Shawn she strengthened that connection just enough to allow Kani to tap into Shawn’s access to the Force.

“I have the connection,” She stated. “Since you will need to know what it’s like I’m going to share my Force perception with you, I’m going to limit it to one meter. I’ll do it twice around 10 seconds each time, try to see if you can notice the difference.”

Concentrating Kani drew power from Shawn into herself, drawing in her awareness to around a meter she then sent a portion of that power back to Shawn bridging their senses and drawingShawn into her perception of the world. Chords of light emanated from the living things around them but also reflected off the non-living things. If Shawn chose to he could now focus on a particular object down to an almost microscopic level. Kani withdrew a coin and using a tiny portion of borrowed power she suspended it in the air showing Shawn how to her the visible threads of the Force flowing from him to her held it aloft. Then just as the coin settled back to her hand she withdrew the affect from Shawn. Twenty seconds of preparation and ten seconds of vision, thirty seconds in total.

“Now watch as carefully as I do it again,” Kani said.

This time Kani touched Shawn’s Force powers and instead of first channeling them through her own body Kani manipulated a portion of them directly at the source. Within an instant Shawn was back into Kani’s perception of the Force. She repeated the coin trick with the tendrils of Force power flowing directly from Shawn to hold it aloft before it settled back down. Kani then brought Shawn out of her shared vision and severed the connection, only 10.001 seconds had passed from when Kani had finished saying the word "again".

“Notice the difference between the two? Care to guess the potential dangers of the later compared to the former?”

Kani would link up with his mind, allowing him to use her ability to literally see the Force as he piloted "blind," using what she could see as his "glasses" so to speak.

But, unlike what he had first thought, Kani wouldn't be drawing from his Force power to guide both him and the ship with hers. In fact, it was almost the opposite.

"So you'd be basically giving me your ability to see and I'd be the one reacting...

...because you aren't able to see out with your Force vision at the distance we need and control the ship at the same time."

Shawn paused, pursing his lips.

She's putting a lot of trust in you to do this, you know that Petrolu. Your reaction time will have to be...

"This basically leaves you defenseless in in my hands, since I'll be using your vision to pilot the ship. My reaction time is going to have to be spot on...."

He trailed one more time, perhaps realizing something else. "...even with you drawing a portion of my strength into yourself to expand out your Force vision."

--------------------

He doesn’t yet understand the fundamental difference between the two actions I performed. Not Surprising because even the most experienced Jedis wouldn’t recognize the important detail.

“You are correct in identifying those potential hazards,” Kani said. “I will be defenseless and unable to react to what I see and you will be responsible for the flying. But for the moment think back to the coin, and the time from when I established a connection with your powers to when the vision started.”

She gave Shawn time to replay events in his head, he might have spotted the differences but did he understand the significance.

“The first time I used the Force like a typical Jedi would,” Kani continued. “Ignore the effect for the moment but remember how the Force flowed. First I drew a measured amount of power then shaped it to the task at hand, same with the coin. I gathered power from you channeled it through me and then influenced the world. When you break down how A Jedi or any Force user accomplishes what we do it follows those logical steps, and why would it not even for the Force sensitive your greatest amount of control comes when you channel it’s power through you. This in turn imposes two fundamental limits; the first being you first become the buffer introducing a measured time delay, the second is if the initial amount of power drawn is not enough then more must be drawn again also more time.”

“But consider this point,” Kani proposed. “What if you could see the very power you needed to draw in, what if you naturally could see its interaction and form when it is manipulated? Could one then bypass the need to use them selves at a buffer and manipulate the sources of power directly? The first time I acted as the bridge using my own body to channel the Force as needed to accomplish my goal. That second time I commanded your powers to directly act as I knew they needed to. Bypassing my need to be a conduit and allowing instant access to your full powers.”

Kani thought she saw the realization dawning on Shawn of the difference. Her demonstration and her explanation providing the information he needed.

He was no Jedi Master, after all. Still, he had trained as a Jedi all of his life.

"I have to be honest with you," he said then to Kani, "Depending on what obstacles we come against I may not have quite enough Force connection to do what needs to be done. And as far as the link being severed and the potential ensuing reaction to that..."

Shawn paused, frowning despite himself. Bang.

"If we do this I'm going to have to meditate and get my Force reserves and connection as solid as possible, but I know time is extremely limited. If I could think of another way out of this I'd take it...

...but anything I've got requires us contacting someone else one way or another, and like you've already said, that' a risk that is too big to take."

[ 01-05-2019 12:06 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shawn Petrolu ]

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