Military vehicle traffic became quite a common thing for Coruscant skies since the cone wars started. And nobody could ever suspect two Jedi were piloting military gunship to escape from the city center to the industrial area.
'Have you ever been there?' Shiri asked, looking at the grim industrial landscape.
'Yeah, twice,' replied Riv. 'It's not that bad as many people tend to believe.'
'And what we are going to do there?'
'We need a ship. Clean, civilian ship with working hyperdrive,' said Riv.
'So where are we going to go then?'
'To the Pongarlon. My clone mates are still there. I want to see them.'
'Are you serious about it?' Shiri exclaimed. 'Clones assaulted our Temple and accused Jedi of treason. We barely made it out alive, and you just said we got to stay low.'
'Yeah, I know. Listen-' Riv tried to calm Shiri down. '-those clones are my friends. We've been together since the first days of the war, saved each other countless times. They won't turn against us. Even if Chancellor himself would order it!'
'I hope you are right,' sighed Shiri.
'I trust them my life, so you can too.'
The gunship arrived at a large well going deep down towards the underworld of Coruscant. Riv began descending the gunship, avoiding other vehicles.
'Wait, we might need to change our appearance,' said Shiri while they were descending.
'What do you mean?'
'If those clones said Jedi are traitors of the republic now... Won't it be safe not to look like a Jedi now?' She pointed out.
'Yeah, guess you are right-' Riv touched his padawan's braid. '-better not to attract any attention now.'
Riv managed to find a dark docking platform in the wall of the well. It looked empty, with nobody being there. He landed LAAT right on that platform.
'Alright, let's see if there is anything we can put on,' said Shiri jumping over the platform. She walked deeper into the dark warehouse, which appeared to be abandoned for a while. There were many empty old crates and boxes around, and something like a work robe.
'That going to be fine for now,' said Shii, took one for herself and one for Riv. Riv went into the warehouse to see if there is anything valuable to take. Shiri gave him a robe to change and pointed on Riv's padawan's braid.
'You need to remove it,' she said.
'I'll cut it off,' said Riv, but Shiri stopped him.
'No! It should be done in a right traditional way.'
'It doesn't matter now,' said Riv.
'It does!' Shiri insisted. She ignited her green lightsaber. 'Riv, Kneel!'
Riv kneeled in front of her.
'By the right of... The Council,' she lowered her lightsaber over Riv's left shoulder.
'By the will of The Force,' she brought a lightsaber above Riv's right shoulder.
'I dub Riv Veldo a Jedi Knight.' Shiri cut Riv's braid with her lightsaber.
'Now rise!' She said and disabled her lightsaber.
'Thank you!' Riv smiled. 'But I'm not sure this would count in.'
'I did everything exactly like the ceremony when Council granted me the rank of Jedi Knight, so it does count!' Shiri smiled back, and they both laughed. It was the first time they both were having some positive emotions together for the last several days.
Riv piloted gunship down into the Underworld. The city of eternal night, where generations of people lived and died without seeing the sunlight.
'We need to find a flyable ship and get out from the Coruscant,' said Riv.
'I'd say we need to change clothes. And I'd say we do it first. Wearing those old robes is better than Jedi's outfit, but still far from good!' Shiri insisted.
'Fine, let's do it now,' sighed Riv and lowered to a nearby empty landing pad over the edge of underworld busy places
They managed to find a decent shop selling various stuff. It was situated in one of those low-income districts, so nobody paid much attention to two people wearing old dirty robes.
'Greetings! Welcome to my humble place!' Said a female rodian race seller. 'Is there anything I can offer you today?'
'We need some clothes,' said Shiri.
'And what kind of clothes do you need? Working robes, combat clothes, space or underwater?' The seller asked.
'Oh no, nothing like that!' Shiri replied. 'We need just ordinary clothes for ordinary people.'
'Yes, of course. You can check deeper in the clothes section. You and your husband shall find there everything you need.'
'Oh, she is not my wife,' said Riv smiling.
'I'm sorry!' The seller smiled too.
After getting a new look, Riv and Shiri went to the seller to pay for their purchases.
'Anything else I can offer you?' The seller asked.
'Might be you know, is anyone is selling some spaceships, unofficially?' Riv asked her.
'Not so ordinary people....' the seller said quietly, but Riv could hear her. 'Well, I might have a suitable contact for such deals.' The seller said.
'Sure, we'd like to meet him,' Riv gave her some extra credits.
'Fine then, I shall give you the location where you can find him. He shall be glad to have a business with you!' The seller said. Riv and Shiri thanked her and left the shop.
'Frankly, I thought this would be more challenging than it was,' said Riv while they were walking back to their gunship. They left the district and flew over the eternal night city to the coordinates from the seller.
They were approaching another industrial and low inhabitable area, filled with numerous old and semi-abandoned factories. The area was poorly lightened, with only red marking and beacon lights working, making the place look even more unpleasant. The coordinates the Rodian seller gave were leading Riv and Shiri towards quite a large cargo platform. But they saw only one big ship and a dozen armed men on that platform.
'I have a bad feeling about it!' Shiri said.
'This time, I shall agree,' nodded Riv. He would turn around and leave such a place on every other occasion, but not today. Riv initiated the landing sequence, although he clearly sensed a threat coming all around this place.
'Stay on guard. Those guys here aren't just businessmen,' He said to Shiri after their craft touched down.
Riv and Shiri slowly approached a group of armed people and a tall trandoshan male, wearing a long fur coat and many jewelers on his head and paws.
'So... You've been looking for a business?' Asked trandoshan with his hissing voice.
'We need a starship with working and reliable hyperdrive,' said Riv. He preferred to stay at some distance from the trandoshian and his "lovely partners."
'Payment,' asked trandoshan with the same hissing voice. 'What is your offer?'
'20 thousand and a gunship,' Riv quickly pointed on their LAAT gunship behind him.
'This is not even a half of the ship's price!' trandoshan hissed.
'Do you have any smaller or cheaper ship?' Riv asked him.
'Give me the girl, and you can have the ship!' trandoshan said.
'What?!' Riv exclaimed.
'The girl with you. I want her. My girl, your ship.'
'No way you slug!' Riv retorted.
'Then I'll take girl, your gunship and your credits!' trandoshan smiled, showing his throat full of yellow teeth.
'Try taking this one!' Riv ignited his lightsaber.
'A Jedi ambush!' trandoshan wasn't ready for such an event. 'Kill him!' He ordered his gunmen.
'But he is a Jedi!' Backed one of his men.
'I said kill him!' trandoshan snarled and grabbed his blaster. Riv made a quick but powerful Force push, throwing away four thugs at once. The rest of the men and trandoshan opened fire. Riv easily deflected all the blaster bolts back, disabling everyone else but trandoshan. When the trandoshan had no support left, Riv pulled him closer and cut off his hand with the blaster. Trandoshan cried out of pain and fell. He backed away from Riv, looking at him with eyes full of rage and fear.
'Alright! I surrender!' Cried Trandoshan.
'Surrender? I don't think so. We are not taking any prisoners!' Riv walked towards the injured trandoshan, who was trying to back away from him.
'No, you are a Jedi. You can't kill me! You must arrest me, not kill!'
'Don't you think that everyone is doing what they have to?' Riv said.
'No! Don't!' Cried transdoshan, but those were his last words. Riv made a vertical swing with his lightsaber and then disabled it.
'In the name of... Why did you kill him?' Shiri cried out loud. Riv turned around and saw his dazed companion.
'You believe we had to arrest him, call the law-keeping forces and surrender him and ourselves, right?' He asked.
'But you killed unarmed creature!' Shiri exclaimed.
'I have killed a criminal who wanted to enslave you and kill me. I bet this is a good reason for having him dead rather alive!' Riv turned to look upon the ship, which is now happened to be free. 'Besides, we've got a new ride now....'
Shiri walked towards the ship without saying a single word to Riv. She went on and sat down in the passengers' compartment. Riv looked at her, but Shiri turned away from him, pretending there is nobody else on the ship. Riv sighed and walked into the cockpit. He managed to start the systems and lift the vessel over the platform. Soon, they were already moving up through the well back into the upper Coruscant and then to orbit.
Riv programmed hyperdrive to jump near then Pangalor. He engaged the autopilot and went into the passenger compartment, where Shiri was sitting saying nothing.
'I've plotted a course to the Pangalor,' said Riv, sitting down near Shiri. 'The flight will take some time but not that much. It is quite a fast ship.' He smiled, looking at the girl.
'Fine then.' She answered quickly, without looking at Riv, and moved further away from him.
'Alright... I'm sorry,' sighed Riv. 'You are right. I should not have done it.'
'Your master and the Jedi council were right for not granting you the rank of a Jedi Knight! You can't control your emotions, and you are not even trying to avoid a fight!'
'I know, I'd be a really bad Jedi, ' nodded Riv. ' But this is because I can't hold myself when there is a threat for someone I care about.'
'And who was threaten back there when you killed that trandoshan?' Shiri asked, with a slight mockery in her voice.
'You,' said Riv. 'He was ready to take you by force. Something that I would never allow to happen.'
'I could have handled it by myself,' said Shiri, but with a slight embarrassment now.
'I didn't want you to take unnecessary risk back there.'
'Why, because I'm bad at combat?' She asked.
'Because... I... Care about you,' said Riv. He wanted to touch Shiri's hand but decided not to. The girl was obviously struggling to control her emotions too.
The ship was still flying in hyperspace when Riv and Shiri sensed a powerful & sudden disturbance in the force.
'You felt it?' Shiri asked, looking at Riv.
'Yes, a powerful one,' he nodded. 'I can't remember when I've sensed something like thins one without meditation.'
'Something terrible has happened?' Shiri looked worried.
'I'll try to find it out,' said Riv preparing to meditate. He attempted to grab that powerful Force wave and felt the heat. Sweat covered his body immediately, despite the chill air in the ship.
'A scalding place,' he said, breathing heavily. Riv tried to look deeper but felt sudden sharp pain and darkness. He cried out of pain, making Shiri anxious.
'Are you alright?' She asked him, but Riv could not hear her.
'Pain. Lots of pain!' He said, still breathing hard. 'I can't see it. The darkness surrounding it is way too strong.'
'Then stop it!' Shiri shook Riv's should to wake him up.
'I have to know what has happened!' He said, opening his eyes. 'If something is causing such massive disturbance, we have to know about it to be prepared for it.' He took another deep breath and closed his eyes when he felt Shiri's warm hands touched his own.
'Let's do it together,' she said quietly.
The darkness clouded everything but Riv and Shiri could hear the sound of clashing lightsabers. Through the dark, they could see two blue-bladed lightsabers. And two shadowy figures fighting each one intensively. Both Riv and Shiri could sense a wave of powerful anger coming from one of the warriors. For a moment, shadowy sworders separated.
'I have the high ground!'
'You underestimate my power!'
'Don't try it!'
And a massive wave of pain stroke both Riv and Shiri. The pain was severe and coming from both swordsmen. The one lying down defeated, and another one was standing up victorious. They were both suffering lots of pain.
Riv and Shiri opened their eyes. Sweat covered both of them, and Shiri had tears coming from her eyes.
'I can't stand it anymore!' She said with a trembling voice, being terrified. 'So much pain, hate, and suffering. It's so dark and murky!'
'There were two Jedi!' Said Riv. 'But why would they fight each other? It wasn't training, for sure.'
'I don't know!' Shiri said emotionally, 'Might be they were no Jedi. Or not both of them.'
'But who is victorious? A Jedi, or his opponent?' Riv asked.
'Please, leave it. I don't even want to talk about it anymore!' Shiri cried out.
'Alright,' nodded Riv. 'And.... Sorry for such an experience. I could not ever think it would turn that way.'