The Capital's Underworld/The Second Message

Since smoking isn’t allowed in the Senate Rotunda, the Mon Calamari rep- resentative also has to sneak out of the building to indulge his own craving for his signature strong botanical cigarras. In fact, that particular tree happens to be one of his regular smoking areas. Arriving at the tree and giving the other Senator a nod, he pulls an individually wrapped cigarra, opens and lights it. "Afternoon," he finally says after his first inhalation.

Kalna has been off-planet for a while, busy with - well, work. The sort of work that you’re really not supposed to talk about. In fact, the word ’treason’ comes to mind, if one were to talk about it in the wrong circles. She enjoys her work (a little too much, at times) but she was still glad to be back on Ord Mantell, which was as much of a home as she knew, anymore. With a brief respite between jobs, and a little time on her hands, she decides to indulge herself in a stroll, a glorious opportunity to do /absolutely nothing/, while she enjoys the sights and lets her mind wander.

After a hellish shift at the hospital, Myiari looked absolutely terrible. All she wanted to do right now was sit down somewhere and finish reading her holonovel, but not at home. No. The fresh air and sunlight felt too good after being in a sterile, illness-ridden building all day long. As she makes her way to the park, she spots the two Senators a short distance away, and decides to wander over. "Hello, Senator Sandomere. Senator Tokoga," she greets, giving them each a nod.

"Lively debate, eh?", Sandomere asks when the Mon Calamari arrives, though before anything else is said, save for a greeting for Myiari when she arrives, the man heads to a nearby garbage bin. "Littering laws affect the low as well as the mighty.", he says with a chuckle, the cigarra thrown casually away, the second one along with the first. And when he returns, he has to dodge and weave through the foot traffic to get to the tree he just left.

"Always," Tokoga responds with a little bit of an amused grin, which only widens as he takes a break from the conversation to make his way over to the garbage bin. The representative from Ord Mantell is the Senator’s kind of man.

"I used to do the same thing until I discovered these wonderful devices," he says once the man has returned, demonstrating a small portable ashtray.

With her attention on a ball game a short distance away in the plaza, Kalna takes a few steps back, not quite minding where she’s headed. When she bumps into someone, she turns quite abruptly, an apology already on her lips. "Oh, I am so sorry - err, Senator." It doesn’t take her but a moment to recognize the man’s attire, causing her to nod her head politely, with a somewhat sheepish look on her features. "Sorry, sir, I’ll have to be more careful."

The medic tucks her novel underneath her arm as she eyes the two politicians with a mildly amused look. "Taking a break, or has the Senate adjourned for today?" she asks the two of them. "Wouldn’t want to eat up your valuable time in case you two need to be heading back soon."

At least this time, the man doesn’t fall completely on his back, though Kalna is no Horansi and therefore it doesn’t feel as though a speeder struck him. "No worries Miss, no worries at all. Are you alright? And nevermind this Senator talk, you can call me Ivanil or barring that,", knowing how formal some people can be, "Mr. Sandomere." There is the strong smell of the fire bush leaf on him, one of the more uncommon leaves used in cigarras. "It has, but mainly because the histrionics from some of the opponents of the Senator’s bills were getting out of hand." He stands just outside of the walking path, attention divided between the three people before him.

The Mon Calamari nods in agreement with his colleague. "It isn’t a par- ticularly common event, for the Senate to adjourn prematurely, but it happens every now and again when things get especially ... heated. But I’m sure the finer points of parliamentary procedure aren’t something you’re interested in. There are more important things in life, like good books." his grin returns as he gestures at the book in Myiari’s hand. His eyes dart momentarily to the other woman in acknowledgement, though he stays silent.

"Ivanil it is," Kalna replies easily enough. She wasn’t one to stand on cere- mony, not when she has a practically handwritten invitation to run roughshod all over it instead. She flashes the senator a friendly smile, before Myiari catches her eye. "Ah, hello," she greets the woman. "Nice to see you again." The last time she’d seen the medic had been... what? Shortly after that mess with the Sith? That had been a mess, but then... the Sith always were.

Kalna is offered a polite smile in turn, and Myiari runs a hand lightly through her hair as she replies, "Yeah...it’s been a while, hasn’t it. Good to see you again too." Glancing back to the pair of Senators, she says, "Sounds pretty rough. The debates in the Senate aren’t always like this, are they? The news has a habit of blowing things out of proportion."

"It is a small world, is it not?", Sandomere asks, after all, with Ord Mantell’s populations, how likely is it that these two would know each other. "Howdo you two know each other?", he asks next before turning to Tokoga, "While I have you here Senator, you would not mind discussing what it will take for meto support your act? There are certain things that I will need in turn." Tokoga shakes his head slowly. "Not always. Only when the subject is of particular controversy. The Senate as a whole, I think, would be quite useless otherwise..." he trails off the rest of his statement to listen to Ord Mantell’s representative. "Not at all. What do you have in mind?" The Mon Calamari reaches up for another long puff of the cigarra. "But, please...no titles among friends," he adds after blowing the smoke.

"Oh, we had an unfortunate run-in with some unsavory types," Kalna ex- plains a bit dismissively, waving one hand vaguely. "Myiari-here helped put me back together afterwards. Always nice to have the medically inclined around." She tells the almost complete fallicy easily, with a friendly smile on her lips. After all, Myiari had been the one in terrible shape at the end of it.

Myiari nods slightly at Tokoga’s explanation in apparent understanding. She frowns a little as her gaze flits back to Kalna. That definitely wasn’t the whole story, and she still didn’t like recalling it. "Sith," she says, elaborating on Kalna’s previous statement. "There was an indicent involving the Sith, and we both happened to be in the same place at the same time." The medic didn’t feel the need to elaborate any more than that; revealing that you were once a Sith puppet was likely to raise a few eyebrows to say the least.

"The Sith, eh? Well, you both seem alright, so that’s something.", he had heard of that, but nothing more than this or that, only those on the appropriate committees were allowed to know certain things. "I understand that you, as senator of Mon Calamari, have a certain...influence let’s say over some of your colleagues." Dac would always be one of the most important members of the Republic. "There are a few issues that I would like passed through your defence committee without much alterations. In turn, I think that the people of Ord Mantell would welcome something like your act being fast-tracked through the Senate. I have a few colleagues who would agree with me were I to speak on your behalf."

"The Sith, eh? Well, you both seem alright, so that’s something.", he had heard of that, but nothing more than this or that, only those on the appropriate committees were allowed to know certain things. "I understand that you, as senator of Mon Calamari, have a certain...influence let’s say over some of your colleagues." Dac would always be one of the most important members of the Republic. "There are a few issues that I would like passed through your defence committee without much alterations. In turn, I think that the people of Ord Mantell would welcome something like your act being fast-tracked through the Senate. I have a few colleagues who would agree with me were I to speak on your behalf." And he turns back to Myiari with that, "I understand that you were there when the Senator was attacked some time back. One would think that you are a magnet for trouble.", a joke, but still, first the Sith and now criminals?

"Well, what are they?" Tokoga asks, taking another short puff of his cigarra. Dac’s seat on the Defense Council isn’t something to be passed about and bartered with. Even though the shipyards had been destroyed, it’s holder continues to be a decision-making force in its dealings. Sandomere probably didn’t want anything too out of the ordinary, though. Enlarging the size of the de- fensive Home Fleet in orbit around the capital, perhaps. He isn’t expecting a massive policy change to come from the man.

Kalna tries to ignore the casual way with which they wheel and deal major, life affecting decisions. She was, after all, friends with two of the former senators to Alderaan - Del, and Alistair. But despite that, she hadn’t actually seen any of them making these deals in front of her face, before. As Myiari mentions the Sith specifically, Kalna raises an eyebrow at the woman, before commenting a bit drily, "I was going to leave that unsaid. Some people have the most dramatic responses to the simple word ’Sith,’ at times." Imagine that. "We killed the frelling bastards," she informs the two senators casually, before pulling out a cigarra of her own. "Pardon my Corellian."

"At least I left out the more...’intricate’ details," Myiari retorts, folding her arms. At Sandomere’s comment, she can’t help but smirk. Her, a magnet for trouble? "You have no idea..." she mutters. Now that she thought about it, she had been caught in the middle of a lot strange incidences since her arrival on Ord Mantell.

Knowing the Sith, it is perhaps for the best that those details were left out. "Oh, I don’t think that anyone will take offense at the knowledge that some Sith are dead, it’s what we are in the business of.", each in their own way. "I do think that more of the Second Fleet does need to be based here instead of being spread about.", and the more units are here, the more money being pumped into the planet. "Not only on New Alderaan but elsewhere. And there are one or two acquisition projects that those that I will need to convince will want passed. Nothing big, just enough for them to go back home and say they were effective."

Knowing the Sith, it is perhaps for the best that those details were left out. "Oh, I don’t think that anyone will take offense at the knowledge that some Sith are dead, it’s what we are in the business of.", each in their own way. "I do think that more of the Second Fleet does need to be based here instead of being spread about.", and the more units are here, the more money being pumped into the planet. "Not only on New Alderaan but elsewhere. And there are one or two acquisition projects that those that I will need to convince will want passed. Nothing big, just enough for them to go back home and say they were effective."

"That shouldn’t be a problem." Tokoga says, putting the remainder of his cigarra inside the small portable ashtray. Ideologically, the Mon Calamari doesn’t like the idea of pulling away elements of the fleet to stick them in orbit here, protect a bunch of politicians, and – probably what Sandomere has in mind – pump funding to Ord Mantell through the military. Still... there isn’t much chance of the act getting past floor debate without the aid, and in light of the same events that Kalna and Myiari refer to, increasing the military presence in orbit probably wouldn’t be particularly controversial.

There are those who occasionally try to get away with driving motorized bikes on the walking paths, they aren’t heavy vehicles after all. And one suchbegins to head through this section of the Chianar plaza, the bike parked not far from where the group is, its owner hopping out to run towards a nearby building. On his uniform is some sort of insignia for a courier group.

"Once you mention them, you might as well mention you helped kill them," Kalna informs Myiari with a slight shrug of her shoulders. "Everyone sleeps better, and besides," she grows a wide, almost mischevous grin, "it’s not every- one who can make that claim." She takes another puff of her cigarra before she adds, "So, am I to understand that you were not, in fact, staying out of trouble while I was away, doc?"

Myiari nods, recalling that two had died at her own hands, though that was well after she had returned to New Alderaan. At Kalna’s second comment, she glances away with an awkward look and begins fiddling with her goggles. "Ah...about that. I happened to be around during a few con artist scams, and MAYBE a few attempts on Senator Tokoga’s life." She offers a sheepish smile. She really was a magnet for trouble.

"Excellent, I will send the various paperwork out to you Senator, and hope- fully we can start seeing some movement on this within the week." But, he had finished his cigarra some time ago now, and so he must retreat back into his office. "If you would excuse me, I’ll go back to the complex. And as I said, just watch out Miss, it’s not always that you’re going to get away and I like to think that if Iwere to lead such an excitting life, I’d hide out more." And with that, the fellow leaves.

But barely has he gone a couple of dozens of steps that the motorcycle, or repulso-bike as the purists would say, parked not far away begins to sizzle. There is no other way to describe it as smoke begins to eminate from it before finally with a loud bang the thing flies apart, parts propelled this way or that.

"Excellent. I look forward to it." Tokoga offers Sandomere a handshake before he leaves, then follows the man with his eyes as he goes. _That’s_ a man who understands politics. Shame he hadn’t made Ivanil’s acquaintance earlier. His thoughts about what might have happened differently if he had, though, don’t get very far, the smoke catching is eye and tripping some racial technical curiosity.

"Myiari!" His first thought is to get the young woman–closest to the thing– down to the ground, which he does by grabbing Myiari’s arm and making a forceful lunge in the opposite direction that belies his age, aiming to get the two of them to the ground and partially behind the tree.

Kalna has a similar reaction - though she cares nothing for Myiari, the poor innocent bystander. Her instinct is to shield the senator. Even as he is dragging Myiari to the ground, she is putting herself between Tokoga and the dangerous malfunctioning, exploding vehicle. The end result is, more or less, a dog pile, with Kalna reaching for her blaster as the rain of shrapnal heads towards them. There are plenty of folks in the plaza to call for emergency services - her plan was to make sure that no one would take advantage of this (intentional or otherwise) chaos in the meantime.

At first Myiari is completely clueless as to what’s going on, at least until the explosion is heard. She lets out a yelp of surprise as she’s grabbed and then forcefully dragged away towards cover, stumbling and then landing in an undignified heap on the ground. "Ow! Wha? What was that?!" A quick glance over herself tells her that she’s unharmed, at least for the moment.

The Senator makes a loud "oof" noise as Kalna piles onto the two of them, and keeps his eyes tightly shut during the explosion. The Mon Calamari holds either side of his head and grumbles near-silently, his ears quite bothered by the loud noise of the explosion.

No, there is nobody coming, the bike exploding seems to have been the entire attack and one can rest assured(even if these were famous last words...thoughts). The largest of the debris flies harmlessly over their heads while the smaller bits are little more than a nuisance. Thankfully, it was not a landspeeder than blew up. And the authorities are being fetched, many a passerby having reached for a commlink. The courier whose bike this was can be seen rushing to the burning carcass, what of it is still together, of his bike.

Kalna pulls herself up off the senator, though she keeps one hand on him to restrain the man from rising. "Stay down, Senator," she urges him quietly, her eyes seeking out Ivanil, to determine his condition, as well as searching for any approaching hostile forces. "It looks clear. We should get both of you to safety, though, just to be certain." And by ’both of you’ she doesn’t mean Myiari, though the woman was more than welcome to tag along. Especially since Kalna was ignoring the cut on her back from a piece of the sharpnel that had grazed her.

"Damn it!" The Senator curses and pounds the ground. This is starting to get more and more ridiculous, and closer and closer to the New Republic’s _seat of government._ Shaking his head to try and rid himself of an approaching headache, the Mon Calamari looks up in the direction that Sandomere had left. Hopefully, he was alright, too...

Myiari pushes herself off of the ground and onto her feet, surveying the carnage. "Think this was another attack aimed at you, Senator?" she asks of the Mon Calamari. As she had gauged earlier, she didn’t have a scratch on her aside from some slight bruising from the fall. "They really have it in for you..."

"What happened, what the hell happened?", the courier asks when he arrives at the scene of the crime. "Who did this?", the man asks, looking about before finally he looks at the three closes to the bikes. "Did you see?", the man certainly is surprised so maybe he is not to blame?

"I hope not," Tokoga says. "This is far too close for comfort." If there was a second attack involved, it already would have happened–no sense sitting on the ground getting his robes dirty. Besides, maybe the courier had some answers.

"Exactly what it looks like, it exploded." he says, standing up and looking at the courier and the remains of his vehicle. "How long were you parked there?" "Senator," Kalna says in a disapproving tone. "It would really be better if we got you to safety. We could bring this gentleman along with us," and have him thoroughly searched on his way into the government offices, she might add, "if you would like to speak with him." Kalna’s blaster remains in her hand,

though it’s now pointed towards the ground, as no target has presented itself. "I think," the medic starts, brushing the dust off of her clothes. "I’m goingto head home. I don’t think I’m going to get much peace once the police arrive, and Senator Sandomere might have been onto something when he mentioned me being a magnet for trouble." Offering a weary wave of farewell, she leaves the plaza and the carnage of the explosion behind.

Something suddenly zooms right before them, the thing, whatever it is, seeming to move at high speeds although it slows down not long after it passed them. When it approaches them, it can be seen to be a small droid, little bigger than a human’s fist when it is balled up. Almost as if programmed to do so, it begins hovering towards the Senator. "There will not be a third time.", the message repeated again and again, apparently what the droid was programmed to do.

The Senator doesn’t look particularly amused by the droid’s message, but he doesn’t look very shaken either. He initially turns away from the thing, but after hearing the message repeated some number of times, the Mon Calamari rolls his eyes and looks toward Kalna–specifically, toward her blaster.

"...mind if I borrow that?"

"Allow me," Kalna replies simply. After all, she’s well aware of her own shooting abilities. She’s not so sure of the Senator’s. With a quick flick of her thumb, the blaster is switched over to stun. Hopefully the bolt would be enough to incapcitate the little droid, without destroying too much evidence. She fires off two quick shots, before lowering the weapon again. She still wished the senator would get inside.

The little droid explodes instantly, though thankfully the rain of debris is nowhere as dangerous as before. And miraculously, the sirens of approaching law enforcement vehicles can be heard, a notable improvement on their normal response time.

"You’ve robbed me of my fun for the rest of the day." Tokoga says with a playfully scornful tone, looking down at the remnants of the droid. Though, whoever had sent it was sure to be watching one way or another. He really would have liked nothing more than to put a proper round through the thing; maybe as a message to the droid’s owner, but more just stress relief at this point. There wouldn’t be any evidence anyway. Whoever sent it there was smarter than that. They had to be, or they wouldn’t be the kind of person to be threatened by his activities in the Senate. Eventually, the Mon Calamari finally goes along with Kalna’s suggestion and returns to his offices on one of the police speeders.