Kavtan reels from the blow as a spasm of pain shoots through his body. He immediately steeled himself, however, and the heroic, adventurous trait of his race took hold of him. He set his phaser to the lethal setting and began fighting defensively, using the wall obscuring the alley from the street for cover. The human thug fires once again, but Kavtan narrowly avoids the attack. His defensive fighting has it's price, however. When he fires next, his shot is so poorly aimed that it's unclear to all around who he was even shooting it - it comes close to hitting Ninkanna.

Ninkanna on the other hand, has moved to attack the ringleader, the scarred Arcona. She turns from her attack on his human henchman to strike at him. Aiming for the criminal's legs, Ninkanna slices horiztonally. The disoriented foe is not in any position to defend himself.

The blow is stronger than perhaps Anna herself had planned - she slices both of his legs clean off, bringing the Arcona to the ground. Despite the fact that he is stunned, the Arcona lets out a cry of agony and curls into a ball on the ground, howling in pain. The thug to the Arcona's left fires at Ninkanna once more, but his shot is easily deflected once more. The two criminals seem even more determined to kill their two attackers now, however, and the human who had previously been firing on Kavtan has turned his blaster towards Ninkanna...

(OOC: Good job, once again; Ninkanna not only hit the thug's legs, but also scored a critical hit, taking his legs clean off. Your main opponent is incapacitated. Now you have the two remaining thugs to deal with...)

Ninkanna sees the Arcona fall, and to her surprise the two pawns don't simply run away. No choice. The thought vaguely passes through her mind as she again reverses the grip on her lightsaber, to try to appease her imbalance. She has yet to achieve the balance and prowess to wield both of her lightsabers simultaneously in a true battle, but she longed to do so. With the reversal of her grip comes another slash, to finish the human she had already hit.

Using the wall for cover he just dodges the humans shot but this throws his shot right off, it had been better if he hadn't fired as he nearly hit his ally. Still on his guard he takes a second shot at the human and sees Ninkanna slice the Arcona's legs clean off, 'well' the thought 'at least that'll keep him incapacitated'. He also noted that he had turned on Ninkanna, they seemed even keener to kill her now, they didn't seem too bothered about him at the moment, they probably thought him a (£@? shot.

Kavtan takes another shot at the human to the right, ducking out from behind the wall once more. This time, his aim is true, and he hits the thug with a bolt from his hold-out blaster. It doesn't kill the human, but it does seem to injur him quite a bit; he lets out a howl of pain.

Ninkanna turns, reversing the grip on her lightsaber and slices outward in one swift stroke, striking out at her adversary once more. This time the blow is very nearly lethal. As the lightsaber singes his skin and cuts into him once more, the foolish adversary stumbles and collapses, slumping against the alley wall. He is breathing heavily, severely injured, possibly dying.

The last thug looks nervous; as he struggles to keep his aim trained on Ninkanna, his hands clearly shake. Suddenly, rather than fire, he runs, heading for the opposite end of the alley than Kavtan and Ninkanna came in on. Sprinting at full speed to escape the fire fight, the human drops his blaster.

BOOM!

On the other side of the alley are five humans, all decorated in the deep blue and black of the Interplanetary Miner's Union. On each of their right shoulder's is a patch - a blue circle, outlined in black, with a clenched fist in the center. Kavtan immediately recognizes the men as Union Security Forces. And the man standing in the center of them is wearing a blue cloak with the hood drawn, a Sporting Blaster Rifle in his hands - it's barrel is smoking.

The head of the fleeing human has been blown off by the figure, who hands the rifle to one of the other Union Security men standing with him. He pulls back the hook of his cloak, revealing a man with darkly-tanned skin and dreadlocks. Kavtan recognizes something familiar about this man, remembering only that he is a man in a position of power working for the Miner's Union, probably head of the security team. But the name elludes Kavtan.

Without warning, two of the other Union Security Force members raise their blaster rifles and fire on the two incapacitated thugs, including the Arcona, killing them without provocation.

The cloaked man with dreadlocks then nods to the Security men, who lower their blaster rifles and begin to advance on Kavtan and Ninkanna.

"Check around and secure the area," the man says, audibly. If there's anyone else sneaking around here, I want them brought to me. He approaches the Jedi and technician. "Tamir Slade, second-in-command of the Miner's Union, chief of the Union Security Forces. Someone reported blaster fire and we were in the area. I didn't expect to see a Jedi, however."

He studies the face of the two as his men begin inspecting the bodies of the dead criminals; Slade's face is hard; he seems to be a committed, unforgiving type. "I'm sorry we arrived as late as we did. I'm sorry that you had to see that, but the Union enforces a strict code of security on Dathu. I recognized these men as criminals - at least two of them have been in our holding cells before. And causing such a disturbance...attempting to murder civilians...well, they had to be terminated. The Union doesn't burden itself with the 'rights' of criminals as you do on the Core Worlds."

Slade gestures to his men and they begin carrying the bodies off. "I trust you're the Jedi that was scheduled to mediate the negotiations tomorrow? And who might you be, Duros?"

Still reeling from his blaster wounds he responded.
"My name is Kavtan Cleentor, I work for Klebb at his landing strip and was there when the bomb exploded on the transport. That is when I became involved with this Jedi, we decided to pursue the arcona to save time and with the intention of questioning him. With your authority I would like to search the arcona for a detonation device."
His response was measured, he had a good mind to be reproachful for the killing of the arcona but he had dealt with The Union before. It was a member of them that had tried to assassinate him.

With this he holstered his Hold-Out Blaster, he knew it was perfectly legal but not wise to have it on display, and deactivated his stun baton before hanging it on his belt.

Ninkanna deactivates her lightsaber and returns it to her belt, her hands shaking slightly. She takes in a deep breath, calming her emotions to be serene. The wound in her side feels bad, but not too bad; hopefully the bolt didn't cause too much damage.

"I thank you for your intervention, however, you may have acted a bit rashly." Ninkanna says softly, her voice gentle and calm, "That Arcona had some use to us alive."

"As to answer your question." Ninkanna quickly adds, moving on since it was of little consequence now anyway, "I am not the one you are referring to; my Master and I were passing through the area when we were involved in an incident. This was, as my companion here said, the use of an explosive on a transport vessel that resulted in the death of the Jedi Master you are referring to. His padawan was relatively uninjured, and we averted the loss of other civilian life by containing the fire. This Arcona seems to have been the culprit, however, due to his demise we now cannot interrogate him to be sure."

Ninkanna says the last sentence matter-of-factly, not implying anyone is at fault, despite it being so. Her violet eyes examine the group assembled before her, not judging or angry, but just calmly and kindly.

"I am going to locate my Master and the other padawan." Ninkanna says before turning to leave.

Kavtan turns to face Ninkanna as not to cause offence to Tamir Slade and addresses her, being careful not to mention her name. He might be injured and in pain but that's no reason for him to reveal his partners name, and no excuse for carelessness. If The Union found her name they could dig something up on her and try something, it was obvious that she didn't want them to know them.
"I know you want to find your master and the second jedi padawan but this needs your attention, there has been an assassination attempt and would be undiplomatic..."
turning back to Tamir he begs his pardon and insists that he means no offence
"to leave it to an allied party, let alone The Union or The Guild's security forces."

He turns back to Tamir if he responds but continues to face Ninkanna waiting for her response.

"Lemme go," he says to the Jedi. He looks back and forth between her and her companion. "Listen...if you let me go, I'll make it worth your while. In credits, see? I didn't do anything anyway, this is all just a big misunderstanding. So just let me go before any Guild security shows up, and I'll make you both richer for it."
As the Arcona stirred, Si-Di turned her attention to him and kept him covered with the blaster now set on stun and stayed just out of reach of his hands or feet. She raised an eyebrow seeing the color of his eyes; a salt addict, which was not unusual in his race especially ones who were on the wrong side of the law.

“If you didn’t do anything,” She asks in a calm even tone, “then why did you and your companion run when you saw us and even fired your weapon?”

Hearing him pleading to let him go and his feeble attempts at bribery she only shook her head giving him a sad look which appeared as if she would if she could.

“I’m sorry… I cant do that!” Si-Di’s voice was soft at first but when she continued it hardened just a bit, “You see I believe you might have had something to do with the explosion outside and if you did I need to know who ordered you to attack that ship and why? Tell me that and maybe we can talk a deal.”

She says all this not yet knowing what Rok may have seen prior to their arrival in the cantina. She still hopes to hear if he might have anything interesting to relate regarding the actions of the Arcona. His statement could set the man free or accuse him, but for now she had to wait for him to speak.

(OOC: She is still on guard for any other attacks, and if the Union Security comes in her actions would be similar to those already stated in the Q&A thread. For now this man is in her custody until she decides otherwise.)

In the alleyway...
Tamir Slade smiles; his gaze seems to stare straight through Kavtan. He bows his head slightly.

"You're right, my Duros friend," he says. "We do have our alliances. But why not? There is no government here, only the law of the two mining organizations. If law enforcement is not handled by us, it will be handled by the Mining Guild. And they too are biased in their concerns. We will conduct our investigation into the motives of these men. Trust me, we will look into their backgrounds and known associates. We respect the Jedi order and the will of the Republic..."

Slade sighs, as if musing on an inconvenient truth. "Despite the fact that we are outside the Republic, they are a business partner, and their laws must be respected."

Meanwhile, the blue and black-clad Union security men are loading the bodies into a Union landspeeder. One of the security men can be overheard saying, "Take them to forensics..." And all the while, the hustle and bustle of Dom-Rhett spaceport is all around them on the neighboring streets.

It suddenly hits Kavtan and Ninkanna - the smell of a back-alleyway in a crowded spaceport. Coupled with the heat from the steam vents and the noise of passing speeders, the two suddenly realize the awful assault on their senses, now that the adrenaline of the battle has passed. Clearly even the Union security men are somewhat uncomfortable. Tamir Slade doesn't seem to mind, however. In fact, he seems to be somewhat aloof, as if his mind is elsewhere.

"In any case," (He addresses the Jedi this time), "There are no courts, no legal system to speak of here. Those men could have either been detained or killed, but their guilt or innocence was never in question - after all, those are legal terms, and in absentia of a penal system, our word is law."

His words are disturbing, but they are the accepted wisdom on Dom-Rhett; this is precisely why so many criminals end up on Dathu.

"Now then," Slade continues. "Before you, young Jedi, I'd like to know exactly why these men were shooting at you."

In the cantina...
Lysander (or 'Rok', if you will) and Si-Di await an answer from the salt-addicted Arcona.

"If you didn’t do anything," She asks in a calm even tone, "then why did you and your companion run when you saw us and even fired your weapon?"
"This one!" The Arcona shouts, nodding his head towards the human next to Si-Di, called 'Rok'. "He attacked my friend, kicking him without provocation. My friend's father was killed by a Jedi...he doesn't trust them. So he panicked. I have no idea why you've attacked me like this..."

The lie isn't even slightly bought by either Si-Di or Lysander - it was barely believable in the first place, but the Arcona twitches and shifts, glancing about. This one seems nervous and untrustworthy, making it unclear as to whether or not any reliable information will come out of him.

((His Bluff check failed spectacularly against Si-Di's Sense Motive check.))

Si-Di continues her line of questioning.

“You see I believe you might have had something to do with the explosion outside and if you did I need to know who ordered you to attack that ship and why? Tell me that and maybe we can talk a deal.”
The Arcona's face suddenly hardens. "I'm not sayin' nothin'..."

"Look, Guild security!" someone in the cantina says.

Sure enough, out the window, one can clearly see Guild security walking onto the landing pad and proceeding towards the charred ship. Decked out in the red and gold color scheme that the Guild is known for, agents of the security team are already approaching the mechanics at Klebb's who had helped fight the fire and can be seen interviewing them. Meanwhile, three Guild security officers walk through the front door of the cantina.

The reaction is immediately different to the one given to Si-Di...the patrons of the bar, and those being given medical aid immediately look towards the door, some even standing. The implications are obvious - the Guild is what is real out here, not the Republic.

Two of the security men, dressed in bright red with gold trimming, a Twi'lek and a Duros, are carrying blaster rifles. However, the person who appears to be their leader is a Trandoshan female.

"Attention, patronsss," she announces, "I am Susska, Chief of Ssecurity for the Dathu Mining Guild. I am here to inquire as to whether or not any of you have any information about the destruction of that transsit ship."

A flicker of impatience appears on Ninkanna's face before she banishes it to the depths of her mind.

Ninkanna turns towards Kavtan, "I have not been trained in diplomatic procedures; I have been trained to protect and defend. My master and the other padawan are far more suited to deal with this in that department than I am. I never said my attention would go elsewhere; I merely stated that I would go to find the others. It is a logical thing to do, is it not? There is little more I can do here."

Ninkanna hears Slade out, however her eyes glaze over slightly as he rambles; she was not all that interested in what system it is. The facts remained facts, and that was all that mattered. One of those facts is that the Arcona may or may not have been one of the culprits behind the bomb. Secondly, the Arcona has died, without any information being obtained. The questionable guilt of the Arcona was never an issue, as information is simply information, and alone is neither good nor ill. Thirdly, this is a foreign world to her, and she does not know anything about it. Ninkanna stays silent, knowing that her own opinion, regardless of how wise or thoughtful it may be, is irrelevent to the officer who is clearly just following orders and what he believed was right.

"Now then," Slade continues. "Before you, young Jedi, I'd like to know exactly why these men were shooting at you."
Ninkanna's ears twitch and she turns back to the officer, "I cannot fully answer that inquiry. The ones that could have, are they." Ninkanna says, indicating the dead Arcona and his allies, "My companion and I were about to question the Arcona who appeared to have knowledge regarding the incident already mentioned, and he chose to run, for what reason I do not know. Regardless of why he ran, here he had chosen to take a stand and open fire. Without them capable of explaining, there are a number of possibilities for the reason why, and more than one may be right, and clearly many may be wrong. They did not say why before they fired, so I cannot even legitimately guess."

The fumes of the spaceport and just going through the large amount of thinking to provide a good response given the situation began to take its toll, and Ninkanna winces inwardly as her head begins to pound.

Slade merely nods at Ninkanna's answer.

"Very well. We will conduct an investigation. If we turn up anything by tomorrow, I will inform you before the negotiations begin." He smiles, judging Ninkanna and Kavtan's reaction. "Assuming, of course, that you will be there. I will be; I am second only to Rojan Odo, chief of the Union. In any case, I have other business. Good day to you."

Tamir Slade turns with that comment, his cloak swishing behind him. The remaining Union security men load into the speeder. Slade is last, he climbs in after the last underling does so. Before they speed off down the street on the other side of the alley, Slade shoots one last glance at Kavtan and Ninkanna.

(Finally wrapped up on combat and chases and fires and such. Now you may proceed in any way you see fit.)

Kavtan waited until Tamir Slade had gone to respond to Ninkanna, he even waited until Tamir was out of site and round the corner to respond. He knew that they just wanted a reason to get rid of him, he had heard rumors about opposition mechanics and such like being forced away to other planets to work in the mines, but they were only rumors. There was no reason to suspect that, he just needed to be a bit more careful then the average person, in fact, Ninkanna needed to be more careful, he knew she had said she wasn't diplomatic but on this planet you needed to be.

Once he had seen Slade round the corner he spat into the dirt where Tamir had been standing before spitting out an insult about Ninkanna in his own tongue, without mentioning her name or facing her, and walked back to Klebbs cantina, away from the fumes, he had grown up with the smell around him, it was still foul but he was more accustomed to it then the jedi, he laughed inwardly.

Why had The Union killed the arcona? Why didn't they let him search the arcona? When will The Guild become involved?
All these questions swirled inside his head, he wondered why he had risked his life for the jedi. He was caught up in this now. Finally he turned back to Ninkanna,
"Why are you here, you haven't come on a diplomatic mission. I'm involved in this now, you might as well tell me."

"Why are you here? You haven't come on a diplomatic mission. I'm involved in this now, you might as well tell me."
"Ugh... that's enough of the questions!" Ninkanna whines, finally displaying her innocence as merely a padawan learner.

She raises a slender, pawlike hand to her head, feeling her temples. She really had to meditate, the sooner the better.

"Besides, you heard me." Ninkanna adds, "My Master and I are really just passing through when we were caught up in this. I don't have the permissions to disclose the nature of our mission to anyone, alright? As far as I know it has nothing to do with the negotiations or diplomatics or politics. Yes, my Master may have asked me to essentially watch the back of uhh... what's her name? Anyway, that doesn't mean I can just now talk about our original mission!"

Ninkanna absently grooms her cat ears, a habit she picked up as a little girl that even Master Arkana hasn't been able to get her to break. "Oh, and yeah, you're not involved with my Master's mission; you're involved with the other padawan's mission, and you probably can guess more about that than I can say."

"Ugh... I'm going; this headache isn't going away, and the fumes aren't helping." Ninkanna says, walking out of the alleyway to retrace her steps back to the original bar.

"Innocent doesn't work when you make a demand and I don't think there's a single person on this planet who's innocent."
His tone is hard to decipher, it might be half scolding or half joke, but he is being sincere.
"The fumes do get to your head, I've grown up with them but they'll take hold in a bit, we best get back to the cantina to tell Si-Di what's happened."

Turning his back to the jedi he starts to walk back to the cantina, his chest acing. When he gets there he looks forward to a nice drink at the bar, he knows about the casualties and that they might make it difficult to get one but really they weren't his lookout, he was a mechanic and he had done what he could. They were the emergency services problem now.

(OOC:I am ready to post up his action back at the cantina but I think you need some more time to conclude things.)

"I am Susska, Chief of Ssecurity for the Dathu Mining Guild. I am here to inquire as to whether or not any of you have any information about the destruction of that transsit ship."
Despite the fact that he had just apprehended a criminal, possibly discovered an assassination plot and possibly earned himself some sort of reward, the term "Chief of Security" (even hissed) filled him with dread. As inconspiciuosly and quietly as he could he holstered his heavy blaster, and did his best to keep a pleasant look on his face.

The arcona was still at his feet, and due to his proximity to the situation there was little chance he could feign uninvolvement. Best to continue the charade he was already in.

"Greetings Susska." the words rolled off his tongue without the slightly reservation, "Name's Rok, and I believe the one you're looking for is right here." Lysander gestured at the arcona, who had already seemed to clam up.

Hopefully dumping the arcona on the scaley would be enough, and he could walk out of here without a hassle. Acutely aware of the guards' blaster rifles, Lysander gave a curteous bow and prepared to make his way out when the guards went to the arcona.