Log:Jedi Order: Finding Fondor

The Jedi investigate the Dosimir Corporation on Fondor.

OOC Date: January 10, 2022
Location: Fondor
Participants: Aryn Cortess, Ban Iskender, Ben Solo, Chani Tahn, Rey Skywalker

Fondor.

The Jedi had been lead to Fondor via the assassin that had tried to take out their presence on The Wheel. The Assassin succeeded in eliminating their contact before they could speak to them, but the Jedi on the Wheel captured the assassin, and his pilot....

They talked. They indicated a wealthy Fondorian business owner named Jri Dosimir.

The Dosimir Corporation is one of a countless number of wealthy industrial manufacturing groups on the planet. After some research, their HQ was located, and now the Jedi group being sent there today is arriving at their main building.

It's hectic outside. The whole planet is hectic for that matter, and utterly filthy with industrial pollution.

This main lobby, when the Jedi step into it, however, is a bastion of pure white cleanliness! The floors are a polished marble with black and white patterns across them, cleaning droids eagerly waiting to trail after the Jedi as they track in filth from outside....

And a single droid stands behind a black marble counter with a glass top, a wall of water gently trickling down stones set into the wall behind it, with a 'Dosimir Corp' logo behind the calm serene water wall.

Rey has her white hood up, her eyes looking around the room as she pulls a mask from her face, just a simple gray cloth mask she'd had on to keep the filth out of her mouth a little better from outside. "Well. This seems... professional." She says, looking over to the others with her. "It sure beats caverns and train tunnels." She says further with a sly grin.

"Quite," Ban agrees evenly to the 'professional' description of the pristine lobby. "Ironic, is it not, that the source of such industry is so exempt from its own effects." The gentleman re-settles the green half cape over one shoulder with a short exhale. The soot stained garment might be ruined, after this. "If I might inquire, what is our objective here, this day?"

Aryn steps into the lobby of this place with a moment to appreciate the smell of clean air. Ban's comments on the industry, and their environs sparks a crooked grin from Aryn. She has not commented on the surroundings, though she perks up when the question concerning their objective is raised. She adds her voice to the conversation at that point, saying, "Yes; a topic I would like more on, I think. Places like these /are/ notoriously professional and often require a reservation for appointment well in advance. I do hope they entertain walk-ins, at least." Aryn spares no glance to her clothing; it would be burned upon returning to the ship. She is dressed in a nice tunic with matching boots, and her cape could cover both her shoulders if it weren't tipped stylishly in Alderaanian fashion to favor one shoulder, leaving the other undecorated save for an electrum clasp.

Approaching the tall monument to Dosimir Corporation's wealth, Chani Tahn is bundled in the simple fabric of her robe with its hood drawn up and angled to both conceal her face with the material while casting shadow across it. Raised arms and pushed together sleeves hide any semblance of visible skin, leaving those viewing her with little perception of her identity save for the ambiguous nature of her silhouette and the brown leather boots that slip forward from between the split in the robe and cause its hem to flow around the rhythm of her steps. Rising the steps and passing into the building, Chani's sleeves part, unfolding away from another in a spilling of fabric that reveals the dark, wide sleeves of her outer runic and the lighter brown of the more closely fit sleeves of the inner. She sweeps her hood down, exposing her face.

"It's brighter," Chani remarks in passing to Rey, voice distant and indicative that her attention is where her eyes are: scanning, as they do, across the pristine surfaces that seem sterile in comparison to the filth of the impure air and the industrial landscape that had served as the scenery on their way here. She takes a deeper breath than she has since landing, instantly able to discern the difference in quality between the atmosphere outside and the heavily filtered air circulating through the building's ventilation system. Chani glances towards the marble floor, brightened by the play of light across its surface. Every step triggers a subtle squeak between the polished, gleaming stone and the soles of her boots. Chani's arms lower to a relaxed position by her side.

Rey pauses several steps away from the droid attendee who hasn't looked up at them yet. The little cleaning droids zip around on the marble floor already dusting up whatever the Jedi 'may' have tracked in. Rey looks to the reception desk, before she looks to the three with her. A smirk shows to Ban's comment before Rey nods to Aryn and him both.

She speaks quietly, amongst their group.

"We're here to find out why they hired someone to shoot at us. Plain and simple, really." She exhales softly, her hands clasped together in front of her lap.

"They killed our contact, they nearly vented an entire section of the Wheel out into space... We need answers as to why they're hiding from the topic of the Sentinel droid that attacked our temple too."

A glance is given to the Reception droid who is now eying the four of them with its bright cyan hued eyes. Rey waves to it, and smiles, before she looks back to the other Jedi.

"We'll get an audience with the highest seated person we can... and maybe go from there." She says then before she turns and starts to walk toward the reception droid.

"Hello." Rey speaks out to it, as she looks around the lobby. "Lovely place you have here...."

The others may notice that there is a corridor off to the north that is equally well kept, and holds two turbolift doors that are set into a black and smoky hued marble wall.

"We shall improvise, then," Ban notes with a small nod to their aims. As Rey addresses the reception droid, the gentleman clasps hands at the small of his back and regards the chamber around them, taking note of the turbolifts, and any visible surveillance systems in the vicinity.

"I see," Aryn intones in matching volume, then looks ahead. "A delicate topic, that." When Ban notes improvising, Aryn responds with a gentle, "Agreed." Then moves toward the north to spy the corridor with the two turbolifts. With the Paragon Rey occupying the droid's attention, Aryn puts on her 'entitled rich hat' and casually walks toward the north as a means of probing the security. She walked with her gloved hands clasped properly at her front, in a prim-and-proper post that had an air of decorum to it.

Rey's explanation from their visit concluded, Chani follows the white-robed Paragon towards the front desk of the lobby. She doesn't join the woman at the counter to discuss business with the droid behind it, but stands some feet away to survey the lobby from a new angle. The north corridor is given its due appraisal, pristine and sterile as the rest of the lobby and decorated with abstract artwork. Chani wonders if it's from the Tapani sector or imported from some far off place. Driven by natural curiosity, she wanders closer and adjusts her standing position to view one at a better angle rather than one that puts her gaze at an unfortunate angle. The colliding colors and dramatic strokes of brush work across the canvas mean little to her.

Ban is able to see a bit of what he was looking for, while Aryn gets a nice look at one of the lifts when its metal doors hiss apart. A pair of Quarren businessmen step off of the lift, each of them eying Aryn as they speak to each other, both preparing hoods to go back outside into the polluted weather there-in.

Chani gets to see the droid react first hand when it stares at Rey, then glances toward Ban and Aryn before looking back.

"We are not seeing any new visitors today. I am afraid you will have to make an appointment---"

Rey drops the hand of the assassin that fired at them on to the counter, she'd had it in her satchel this whole time?

The droid looks down at the severed hand, then back up at the Paragon. "Ma'am?" It asks her.

Rey looks to Chani, then to where Ban and Aryn are. "Oh, I'm sorry. This belonged to a mercenary who was hired to kill us. He won't be needing it anymore..." Rey says with a sweet smile for the droid.

"However...." Rey continues. "I would like to speak to the person who hired him. Jri Dosimir. My friends and I are quite curious as to why anyone would attack us as so. We are very agreeable people, you see..."

The droid looks around at each of the Jedi, then the hand, then back to its terminal on the counter.

"One moment." The droid says as it can be heard conversing in garbled mumbles on a secured line....

"Mm. There is something to be said for the.. direct approach," Ban notes, dryly. Anticipating a response by security, he draws out a comlink, and sends a message back to their ship, with the silent request to monitor this building for any fleeing shuttlecraft. Just in case Jri Dosimir or their representatives elect to flee from the bringers of severed gun hands.

Aryn makes no effort to adjust her course as the Quarren business beings come to view and notice her. She is not so rude as to avoid their stares, her gaze settles on theirs and she dips her chin in quiet greeting. The open lift is eyed, and she moves closer to it wholly unaware that their paragon has dropped a bargaining chip on the counter of the check in desk! Such intrigue! Perhaps she can hold the door to the lift..

It's a mistake to look at the counter when Rey provides the reason for their visit. Chani's glimpse is brief, measured in less than a second, but it's enough to see the dismembered hand placed on the counter and that's enough to make her exhale heavily through her mouth and nose. Her gaze fixates anywhere else. Down the corridor is the best, so the hand itself is out of her peripheral vision. Is it real? Chani doesn't know. She was not with Rey and Ben when they chased down the assassin through the transportation tunnels. She has no other reason to believe otherwise. The eerie disassociation between this pristine, wealthy environment fostered by those concerned with money rather than the state of affairs outside their doors, the moral focus of their order, and the fact their Paragon has been carrying around a severed hand in her satchel is a convergence of at-odds ideals that leaves her light-headed.

Chani feels the tickle of bile trying to rise and calms her body before it follows its more subconscious instincts. Deep breaths. In and out. The sound of the droid speaking over its secured line is already muffled, but to Chani it's distant. She reaches a hand out to her side and braces the tips of her fingers against the wall. There's a brief moment when she believes the darkness encroaching on the edge of her vision is going to take over and everything is going to go black, but that moment passes and she's still standing. She doesn't take her hand away from the wall. She's seen combat before, but this is different, in so many ways, and her mind is having trouble reconciling the absurdity of it.

The droid talks for nearly a full minute in its encrypted language before its metal head turns to look at Chani and Rey again. "You're cleared for lift Alpha." It says then. "The lift is pre-set to take you to level twenty two."

Did it work? That bold attempt at just throwing a hand on the counter?

"Thank you." Rey says with a quick smile before she bows her head and turns to walk toward where Aryn is by the lifts. The Alpha lift being the other of the two. Its bright blue light over its double doors suddenly turns green as the doors now split open....

“Your hand, ma'am." The Droid says.

"Oh, you can keep it." Rey says back to the metal faced receptionist that reluctantly reaches out for the hand... and dumps it in a trash receptacle behind its counter.

Rey gives a look to Ban and Aryn, but just shows a quick smile before entering the lift. "I should've told you all about that part, my apologies...."

When the group enters the lift, should they all, the doors will begin to close again....

Aboard the lift, Aryn takes to one side and waits for someone in the know to press the correct button to prompt the lift to close and take them up. Her hands remain clasped, though they have relocated to her lower-back now, lingering beneath the confines of her cape. A quick inventory of those gathered, flicking from Ban, to Rey, and lastly Chani. "Best be about it then; we would not want to keep our good hosts waiting." A hint of amusement in Aryn's tone. She still had no idea about the hand! If she had, she might have recommended a cleaner for Rey's bag.

Recovering from her episode, Chani's hand drops away from the wall and she proceeds down the corridor at the side of Rey and the behest of the receptionist. The quiet tap of her boots plays louder in the narrowed hall, and becomes most prominent in the turbolift presented to them after the doors whisk open to reveal an empty tube. Chani files into the back and turns, a multi-step process rather than a sharp pivot, to face outwards. Quick flicks of her eyes take in the panel and the information displayed above the doors, though this is more habitual than for the purpose of gathering information. Her arms remain neutral at her sides, and her silence endures. It is not quiet in the lift, however. The mechanisms that guide it to its location provide sound if no one else inside is bothered to during the ascent.

At the last second, before the lift doors can completely close, a hand shoves in, triggering the safety reopen mechanism. Awkwardly stepping in, adjusting his jacket self-consciously, is Ben Solo, eyes glancing left and right before focusing on a spot on the floor as he occupies the center of the lift, all the nice wall areas taken by other passengers. "...What are the odds there's another assassin at the top of this lift?" he finally offers in the way of conversation. "Since we make friends everywhere we go lately." The droid had said it was pre programmed for level 22, but when Aryn speaks of pushing the button, it makes Rey reconsider that. "Oh. Good point." She notes as she moves to the panel and looks down at it. "Oh, uh..." She doesn't have a lot of turbolift experience and this one is a very fancy one, with displays in so many different languages.

And then Ben's hand appears in the door!

The severed hand has come back for revenge! No, it really is just Ben.

Rey smirks at him. "We'll be fine.... probably."

The panel is pressed and it buzzes a deep crimson red. The receptionist droid voice comes over the panel comm. "This lift is pre-programmed. simply sit back and relax..."

"Oh. Right." Rey says as she does just that.

A moment later and the lift is off, traveling upward with that heavier feeling of suddenly rushing upward within the lift tube.

Soft music plays, its terrible music. It sounds like a Bith trying to eat itself.

Rey darts her eyes around at everyone else. "See? No assassins." She says quietly.

After a minute or so, the doors open again, and a new level is seen, this one darker in shades, but just as elegant. It has huge windows that look out on the industrial city beyond, shining gray light across the polished marble floors. Some plush white furniture takes up the center of the large open room, and a single Neimodian stands waiting for the Jedi, wearing deep purple finery, his eyes upon them.

"Jedi." He says. "I am Jri.... I beg you... for your help."

"Lately?" Ban echoes Ben dryly, with a raised brow. "As to the odds, I struggle to imagine a gambler desperate enough to wager against it, sir. The only uncertainty is whether we shall have any useful discussion, ere they ensue." He's less optimistic, but perhaps it's all just in his head. When the doors part and the Neimoidian greets them with that plea, Ban asks flatly, "In what way might we offer help, sir?"

Aryn shows some surprise by Ben's sudden appearance, and a smile with the words he offers just after. Ban's surprise is a slow laugh from Aryn. A sinking feeling follows as they are taken up, up, up into the 'castle' of this corporation to find their intended contact. When the doors part and the Nemoidian is standing there before them already issuing a plea, Aryn's brow peaks with a bit more surprise. Ban's question is a good one, and Aryn does not add onto it. Instead, she steps from the lift to look around the rest of the room and get a feel for their surroundings. Jri begs for help, and Aryn intuits that it must mean danger. Her own experience with a particular Nemoidian revealed that they did not sacrifice their dignity unless it was absolutely necessary for survival; they are a proud, smug race.

Assassins, or the potential of them, is enough of a reason for Chani to stretch out the sense of her perception beyond herself to encompass the lift and even what is beyond it. That quiet communication with the Force will hopefully forewarn her of impending danger, but even then Chani cannot keep her muscles from developing a level of tension akin to an animal ready to react to danger after hearing something in its environment that seems out of place. Her instinct, however, is not to go for her lightsaber, but to wait patiently. That, the communion with the Force, and the numerous other Jedi placed between herself and the whisked open doors of the turbolift, places her in a simple state: simply waiting to step off the turbolift itself.

The oddities of the day aren't over. When they emerge onto the new level, Chani discovers another floor of opulence that stands in such stark contrast to the destitution outside the massive windows that provide such a broad view towards the city. Their Neimoidian host surprises Chani when the first words out of his mouth are not a greeting, made slippery by a cunning intent to deceive them, but a plea for help. She knows she should be ashamed of the presumption, but finds herself with another: is his beg for help genuine? The forward members of the entourage engage with him while Chani moves to the side, near but no longer in front of the lift doors.

"You should meet more gamblers," Ben replies archly, before stepping out into the area at the top of the lift, his boots tapping in that soft-sharp way a loud floor creates. His eyes run over the Neimodian, Jri, to the plush white furniture behind him, and then back. Rather than engage with the green-skinned fellow, he takes a few steps flankward, putting a small distance between him and the others. A deferential cue, or perhaps just giving himself space if the situation abruptly devolves. "A curious method of getting in touch you have."

As it so happens, the Jedi spread out fairly evenly after leaving the lift, their reflections all shining down upon the dark stone floor that is polished to a near mirror finish. The Neimoidian's own reflection shines back at them as he starts to walk slowly toward them. His yellowish eyes look each one of them over. "It was not my choice!" He loudly whispers at them. "It was the /droid/!" he insists.

One of his green hands rises up to where he points at a security camera mounted on the wall that does not look like the same type used throughout the rest of the room, or the lobby downstairs.

"He is watching us. All the time." Jri states, now stopping about ten feet away from the Jedi. "There... there were TWO of them here up until a year ago. Then it dwindled to just one. Then... it showed up. The black Sentinel.... We unearthed it on a salvage project. It seemed like a treasure trove, but soon became a curse."

Rey looks to the camera, then back to Jri. "Is it watching now?" She asks.

"No. We believe we have found a way to scramble its holonet feed... For at least a few hours, maybe a day. Maybe ... less."

Jri looks at all of them again, spreading his hands apart. "We have been taken hostage by this ... thing. It is demanding valuable assets of our business, at the cost of our lives. It has killed two of our board members already, as 'proof' of its ownership of us now."

He takes another step. "Please. You must help us. Learning about the return of the Jedi, has given my company hope. We take this opportunity to beg for it from you!"

Ban Iskender seems unconvinced by Solo's quip regarding gamblers, but then the story of the Black Sentinel unfolds. Aside, he notes quietly to those nearest, "His terror of this droid is not feigned." To the Neimoidian directly, "Some few questions, sir: first, where this droid presently dwells, and whether there security measures it might take control of within this room; second, whether you know why it compelled you to dispatch low assassins after our number." The gentleman's words remain dignified and steady, throughout.

Suspicion spreads across Aryn's expression as she quietly regards the Nemoidian. Though she relies upon the influence of the Force in an effort to sense whether he was being truthful or not, her perception of the answer remains an enigma. Unsure of trusting them, she takes on a more stoic look, listening when questions are presented. Rather than overwhelm the frightened Nemoidian with other inquiries, she opts to hear what he says to those presented already.

"Won't a scrambled feed alert it to something going on?" Observing the exchange as an outsider looking in, Chani is compelled to posit the question after Rey's exchange with Jri. "If it's like you say and it's watching all the time." A sentient might not notice something like that, but a droid which is able to monitor a specific thing day in and day out, with no need to blink, sleep, eat, or suffer from the maddening monotony of stillness such a thing demands? The tension in her muscles hasn't gone away. It doesn't help that she makes the conscious decision to not relax. The Neimoidian continues to advance on them and Chani cautions a glance around them. They're in an enclosed space, albeit separated from being in too close a cluster.

Ben just nods when their new friend tells them a litany of information about the 'black Sentinel' which can only be the Sentinel Prime the Jedi encountered on Devaron. "Yes. You're lucky you haven't been killed yourself. Odds are good you will be once we've left and it learns of your deception," Ben remarks casually, without much real concern. "If I were you, I would forget about this company." He frowns as he glances up towards that camera. Ban is trying to get some information out of Jri, so he stops saying upsetting things for a moment. "...If this were my operation, I would have expected you to fail in a way that would trace things back to you." Only for a moment, apparently.

The Neimoidian stares at the Jedi individually as they speak. He looks to Chani first, where he nods his head rapidly. "We are looping footage from over a month ago when the room was empty for an entire day." He explains before his eyes go to Ban.

He's cut off before he can reply to Ben. He puts his green skinned hands together and rubs his thick fingertips over one another. "I... I accept my fate. I run my share of this company for the benefit of others..." He tries to say, coming off as quite guarded about who that might be. Family, maybe?

"The crimson Sentinels... they were bad enough, but they paled in comparison to the black." He draws in a stammered breath.

Rey steps forward once. "You mentioned a salvage operation. Where was this at?" She asks.

Jri looks from Rey, to Ban, then back again. "The Kulma System. It was the site of a Galactic Civil War battle. Rebellion insurrectionists fled into a thick asteroid field to hide from the might of the Empire. Star Destroyers were sent in to route them out. The scrap and salvage was a huge financial boon...." He explains. Rey glowers at this particular part.

"The Sentinels were the ones who told us of this untouched field of treasure. But now I see why. It wasn't to boost our net profits. It was to free their trapped ... brother."

Rey looks toward the others on her left, then to Ben on her right.

"We cut open the Star Destroyer that was nestled between two massive rocks, to get at the interior parts and pieces. Once inside, we inadvertently activated the black Sentinel... and it has been a veritable thorn in our side since."

"You... you are our only hope, for freedom from this monster!" Jri exclaims, once more growing visibly emotional.

Ban Iskender exhales slowly as the oration and appeal are made. He repeats the inquiry of before: "Its location, sir." He has come to other quiet conclusions, but limits his words to those few, for now.

There's little left to say. The Neimoidian has made his plea for help and explained where he and his company discovered the Sentinel Prime, but even Chani notices he seems ignorant of the question to the Prime's current location. Chani once again casts a glance over her shoulder, as if to ensure that the lift is still there and not currently in operation once they left it. She maintains her distance back, naturally in a defensive position to the rest of the gathered Jedi even if such a thing is circumstance rather than intention. With Rey, Ben, and Lord Iskender keen on extracting the relevant information, Chani is best served by watching and observing those who know what they're doing and who have some idea of how to carry on this impromptu investigation.

"Most things from the past are better off destroyed, or at least undisturbed," Ben muses darkly, eyes lingering on the camera before turning back to the others, almost dismissing Jri by dearth of the Neimoidian's inability to provide the location of the Sentinel right now. "I've never liked droids. I suppose I should be grateful to be vindicated. Our next step is best discussed somewhere outside of active surveillance. Are you going to answer his question?" he asks, glancing back at Jri and nodding towards Ban.

"I don't know where he is." Jri answers with a look between Ben and Ban. "His ship. His ship launched from the Star Destroyer and came straight here after we woke him. We believe he has returned to the site of the salvage operation, to the Star Destroyer, several times, but the Destroyer's location has leaked to pirates, and they are now flooding the Kulma system to lay claim to the treasure trove of wreckage."

Jri sighs, his shoulders slumping some. "If I knew where he was, I would tell you. Believe me. It's ... possible... that the Destroyer might have some way of tracking the Black's ship.... but... you would have to get inside it, and the hanger has been blocked off by asteroids since the Sentinel launched. There is no way inside it, unless you cut your way through the Hull, but then what is left of the atmosphere inside the capital ship... would be vented, along with much of what is left inside it. The pirates... would be all over you in moments."

"Here.... I can give you the information we have on the system, if you find it of use..." He says as he starts to walk toward a datapad on a table beside one of the pieces of white furniture.

Chani, when she looks over her shoulder, will see the lift doors closing.... The lift is going back down.

A short sniff at the answer they are given. "Marvelous. And when this droid contacts you all. Gives orders. Surely some signal trace can be made. As to the rest.. for once I am in assent: we ought discuss the remainder elsewhere." It feels unclean to agree with Ben.

Aryn's mouth scrunches up in that way it does when she's thinking. This was a lot of specific detail to take into account, especially for a Nemoidian who doesn't know where 'he' is. "I do agree with Ban; these loop feeds transmit somewhere. It ought to be a simple matter of a trace were one of our number capable of such a feat. Alas, I know little in the way of computer..uh hacking--slicing, rather." She pushes her glasses up slightly by the bridge.

The doors to the turbolift hiss as they shut and Chani's gaze rests on them. They flick, once, to the digital display indicating its direction of travel before Chani steps over to the panel and brushes her finger against the top button to try to see if that will stop the lift. "The lift is moving." Rather than stay quiet about it, Chani immediately alerts the other Jedi to this new development. It's an odd one, given the amount of time it remained in place and that it was specifically locked to this floor by the reception droid. She supposes it's possible that the droid simply changed that, but given the apparently covert nature of their arrival here, it seems odd to take it back without them. Chani repeats herself via question.

"Should the lift be moving?"

This time it's accompanied by a glance to the other Jedi.

"The droid was expecting you to fail and us to follow you back here. I said that already," Ben repeats, turning towards the lift now that Chani has alerted the group to its motion. "The only question is whether it intended to do anything about it when we got here." His thinking to the answer is indicated by the glint of silver in his hand as he pulls down the cylindrical handle at the back of his hip, readying his lightsaber in anticipation.

The Neimoidian picks up the datapad and starts to walk it toward the Jedi. His eyes go past them to the lift, and then up to the display screen. "It is my Assistant's clearance code." He says as he motions to it. "They are due back from mid day break."

The lift starts its way back up now, headed for this level. Rey looks to Ben as he seems to be preparing for the worst. "Wait, we can't be sure..." She speaks while Jri walks toward Ban to hand him the datapad. "Here is everything we have on the Kulma System and the destroyer that we found the black Sentinel within."

Rey watches this, sweeping her stare between Ban, and then back to Ben.

The lift doors open again.

A loth cat comes prancing out in to the room. It meows as it looks around at everyone gathered just outside the lift.

A second later a female Neimoidian steps off the lift, and is startled by what she sees. "Jri?" She asks, her left hand on her chest.

Jri smiles at the sight of her. "Ama. These people are here to help...." He says to her.

Outside the huge windows, something happens. Over Jri's shoulder, out of his line of sight. A TIE Interceptor, bathed in crimson colors, raises up, facing the windows....

It opens fire!

"Only the most desperate gambler, sir," Ban repeats his prior estimation of violence to Ben, droll. "Though at least a discussion of some substance took place, first." He adds aside, after looking back to Chani's noting of the lift, with a dip of his head to the other, "A fit observation, mistress Tahn." Amid precautions taken against imminent violence, Ban accepts the datapad with a short nod, prompting, "And the relay signals from its communiques?" His green eye is drawn from Jri to motion over the Neimoidian's shoulder, prompting a sharp and sudden shout to, "EVADE." The non-datapad bearing hand seizes hold of the Neimoidian, seeking to hurl the industrialist to one side before leaving out of the path of fire, himself. Only after that first instant can he think of reaching for his sword.

Aryn is unprepared for the series of events that transpire, and in the moments following Chani's alert of the lift, to the loth cat prancing out, and the exchange, Aryn felt some sense of accomplishment that they had gathered some intelligence. Allegedly, at least. Then there was a scream to evade, and Aryn only saw the green lance before the concussive blast drowned out all sound everywhere. Just a ringing noise. Aryn sees black darkness as she collides with the wall behind her and slides down, the impact enough to rob her of wind in her lungs. She attempts to breathe during the chaos, only able to hear the ringing and feel the absence of air in her chest. Panic begins to set in.

There's no time to relax. When the assistant and loth cat start to emerge from the lift, Chani is ready to. There's a noise, though. A low whine that starts to get louder and louder and louder until it demands attention. Chani freezes at the sight outside the window. Words escape her. Adrenaline surges through her system. She has a single moment to react and Chani's instinct leads her to throwing herself both ahead of the female Neimoidian leaving the lift and trying to tackle her to take them both to the floor. The green lances of laser cannon fire that erupt from the TIE Interceptor could likely have shattered the glass through the intense noise emitting from the fighter alone. Her only feasible concern is protecting this other sentient, hoping to get her out of the way of the fire in time that it'll make a difference.

There is a moment of rueful indignation whenever Ban is about to be proved correct, followed shortly by a moment of blissful relief when he isn't, followed by a flare of danger in the back of Ben's mind that precludes the ability to feel (dis)satisfaction one way or the other. He focuses himself, focuses on his feet sticking firmly to the floor. It's not a field, really, that he generates, but an awareness of space, a resolution that nothing will encroach within that space nearest him. As the TIE's fire comes ripping through the building, and structural elements begin to fly with the same velocity of bullets, anything that comes too close to Ben is stubbornly halted, pushed away individually.

It's incredibly taxing and he only maintains it for a moment, enough to survive that initial blast intact. When that tension around him dissipates, along with a deep furrow in his brow, it takes Ben a moment to clear his mind, to get himself moving again. Towards the window. He's running towards it.

Rey watches the TIE raise up, the hairs on the back of her neck tickling as it happens. She sees things move in slow motion around her. Ban and Jri. Aryn being hit hard by the impact, Chani going for the woman, and Ben charging forward while sending shrapnel way from them all.

Rey slips down to the ground, ducking beneath debris, as she wraps her arms around the Loth Cat and clutches it against her chest!

Her hand flies up as she tries to shove the TIE away, but the madness is too much for her to concentrate! "Ben!" She shouts.

The TIE doesn't let up. Its quad laser cannons just start unloading on the interior of the building. The one saving grace is that the winds are strong today, causing the fighter to be buffeted by the currents, the laser blasts are wildly inaccurate, but still shredding the Dosimiri Corp building from the eastern side!

Ban Iskender draws his saber, and ignites the green blade. There is little he can do with it against quad laser fire, or the building being shredded all around them, but the weapon forms a focus for the soldier, keeping his mind centered on the task at hand: protecting those behind him. "STAY DOWN," he advises Jri.

Aryn doesn't witness any of the heroics in her moment of ringing tunnel vision. It's simply a moment of survival and it's by chance the debris being blown in every direction misses her. Aryn curls on the ground for the moments that follow, wrapping her hands over her head and hunkering down to increase her chance of survival. All she can feel are the impacts of the laser cannons, the shifting kinetic forces that are concussive waves of energy, and the struggle to draw in air, wheezing as her brain begins to focus on drawing oxygen IN so she can BREATHE.

Having tackled the Neimoidian female to the ground, Chani knows that the initial blast was just the beginning. "MOVE TO THE LIFT!" She tries pushing the Neimoidian in that direction with her hands and scrambles after her, seeking purchase on the polished marble floor. "GO!" Is it possible to hear over the absolute destruction of glass and massive chunks of the building exterior and interior being obliterated? It's the only thing Chani hears aside from her own voice inside her head. She's clueless as to the reason she's not dead at the moment, but she can feel the hard impacts of small bits of marble and wall impacting against her through the layers of her robe and tunics. Her ears are ringing, too, and the cloud of dust growing rapidly from the pulverizing of the building leads her to a coughing fit and her eyes tearing up.

His feet pound the dusty tile, leaving a path back towards the elevator on the expensive flooring as he goes. He's a blur of black leather and flopping hair, and then he takes flight. The window is already gone, blasted to pieces by the TIE hovering unsteadily in the air beside the skyscraper. Wind rushes in, over the fighter, and then over him as his body launches out into space. He's born aloft by the aircurrents, his jacket flapping wildly, and he smacks into the side of the TIE's cockpit with the grace of a road-killed womp rat.

His knees, hands, and elbows all scream at the force of the impact into uneven, sharp metal, but adrenaline dampens their noise as he latches on gamely to all the workings of the ship, the gizmos and hoses providing something to loop an arm into. And then his saber activates, the flaming blade ripping into life and flailing pointlessly while he struggles to remain anchored firmly enough to do anything with it.

Anyone who saw Rey effortlessly slice the wing from his own TIE back in the day could remark on how impossibly /un/like that this is.

Holding the Loth Cat against her chest, Rey is huddled on the floor as a piece of falling debris slams into her back. It nearly crushes her to the ground before she can shrug it off. Her eyes raise up to look at Ben, but she's too stunned and injured now to do much for him. "Get to the lift!" Rey calls out, as she turns, clutching the cat in her arms.

She starts toward the lift doors, falling into it as the walls around it are being shredded by the TIE laser cannons.

Jri is with Ban, who seems to be avoiding damage well. Chani and Aryn seem to be in a bit more trouble, though the woman that Chani is protecting has benefited from the Jedi's presence, as she helps Chani toward the lift too now.

"We have to go!" Rey says, blood trickling down her forehead now as she hunkers down inside the lift.

Should everyone get in, the Assistant will try to activate the ground floor.

Meanwhile, outside.

The TIE pilot adjusts course and starts to turn his ship around away from the building. Having Ben on his hull, he starts to invert and do a barrel roll to try and throw the floppy haired man off of his ship!

This Has stopped the laser fire for the time being!

Alone among the Jedi, Ban had worn pale grey armor beneath his green cloak. The moment of earlier vanity when he reflected on the spot spoiling the garment is laughable now amid the superheated air, concussive force and blasted shrapnel of the bombardment. Green sword alight, the gentleman braces against the next blast, the burnt and tattered remains of his cape throw out by the force like the scraps of a flag blown by a strong wind. He can hear little, but sees the movement toward the lift, and shouts to Jri, "GO, NOW," giving the Neimoidian a helpful shove in case the other is frozen by the chaos. Ban himself backs toward the lift, sword raised in a guard of brave futility.

The impacts have ceased, and Aryn peeks out from the cradling arms to see people moving to the lift. She can't hear them, not over the ringing. Taking her cue to move, and believing the peace they experience now is temporary, Aryn places both hands on the ground to push herself up, feet toeing along the slippery dust and debris covered marble to slide several times in her rise up.

It's everything Aryn can do to reach the lift and get inside it. Her ears are bleeding, there's dust in her hair(!!), her cape is ruined, and the last image she sees is of Ben having the time of his life upon a TIE fighter. She did not envy the Organa heir, but silently commended his bravery and prayed to the Mother he might escape like his sacrifice allowed them to do now.

Something explodes. Pressure built up in a pipe from the cavitation of the kinetic impacts of the wild spray of laser cannon fire from the TIE Interceptor causes an integral failure in where one connects to another. The seal fails on one end and the excess pressure on the other launches it like a missile through the ceiling to impale straight through Chani's left shoulder. It punctures through with such force that it impales into the floor, cracking marble and shattering pieces of it into pebbles that are forcefully scattered around the point of impact. Chani screams in pain, body forced forward and down with her right hand hopelessly shooting out to try to catch her body. She ends up sprawled and unable to move, pinned in place by the metal.

Blood quickly begins tainting through her sliced through robes and tunic, with the angular slope of the metal providing a course for it to trickle down. Her left arm is limp, fingers lazily curled and palm turned upwards towards the ceiling. Both her robe and her skin is caked with pale dust. Right hand trembling, it moves into her robe. Chani grunts painfully, face contorted in an intricate mask that doesn't quite express the intensity of it. She moves upwards just a scant few inches and activates her lightsaber just so long as it takes to slice through the metal between herself and the floor. The cyan blade vanishes after that and Chani doesn't so much walk into the lift as scrapes herself in with the help of the female Neimoidian.

He knows these ships, or at least the successors to these ships. It's the same thing, basically, right? How many improvements could they have possibly made in just thirty years? Ben's mechanical mind races as he begins to turn over upside down with the TIE that is frantically attempting to throw him off, but he will not be so easily dislodged. Like a stubborn insect inexplicably clinging to a windshield wiper at highway speeds, he hangs on.

Chopping off the wing feels wrong, so he chops at the core of the thing instead, aiming at where the power trunking would route through the pylon on an SJFS TIE. This is not an SJFS TIE, but maybe they're the same basic core structure. Whatever he's destroying, it's evocative, showering him in a constant spray of sparks and only one moment of near-electrocution. The Assistant to Jri is still in good condition thanks to Chani's efforts! She gets the lift moving, with the doors shutting, bent in and broken.. but shutting!

This leaves the group inside it all a mess, together. Rey looks around at everyone. "Is anyone badly hurt?" She asks, seeing for herself that Chani appears so, Aryn too. Her own head bleeding from the scalp as she reaches up to touch the blood. The female Neimoidian, Ama, rushes to Rey to take her precious Loth Cat. She starts kissing it and cradling it as the lift descends.

"This is madness." Jri says. He puts a hand on Ban's shoulder, then looks to the others. "Thank you, Jedi. You saved us."

In theory anyway!

Unfortunately, Ben is not out of the woodworks yet. The efforts with the TIE have it descending out of control now, or at least rapidly wobbling as the pilot tries to manage control, while fire and flame start to pour out of the back of the ship that is headed down toward the street that the Jedi used to get into the lobby!

Madness? "One grows accustomed to it," Ban answers, in the process of deactivating his sword and lending whatever minor aid he is able to those worst affected by the past several seconds.

Hearing is beginning to return to Aryn, over a siren of high pitched tones. "Alas.. my medical supplies lay useless on the ship, or I might be of more aid! I am sorry!" Aryn shakes her hands out, and tries to use a meditation technique to control her fearful breathing. It's working to calm her nerves and help her with the overload of adrenaline that flooded her brain.

Ears still ringing, Chani is unable to hear much. It sounds like it's being spoken through water. It might just be the intense pain radiating through her shoulder dulling any sense that isn't the agony. Half-sitting and half-kneeling against the side of the turbolift, Chani glances down at her left hand. The will in her mind to move her left fingers is there, but they don't do anything except stay curled in a neutral position. Panting heavily, she leans harder into the turbolift wall and pushes herself to her feet. Blood from the tip of the metal pipe drips onto the lift floor, but Chani doesn't look at it. Her unfocused gaze is oriented towards the mangled metal doors that all of them are waiting to open once they reach the ground floor.

The TIE fighter is going DOWN. Ben spends half a heartbeat in satisfied consideration of this fact, smugly appreciating his handiwork, and then immediately snaps his eyes towards the street, rapidly approaching, and begins thinking some less charitable thoughts about his actions. Smoke belches forth from the broken components, flames have begun to spring from the superheating electrical connections, and gravity is now accelerating the whole conglomerate towards the pavement at a rate near 10 meters per second, the galactic standard.

There doesn't seem to be an excellent course of action here. Certainly he's survived crashing TIEs before, but that was on the inside of one that was actually made for someone that mattered (him!). In the end, the indecision is a decision, and the TIE continues to fall towards the street, engines screaming impotently.

At the last second, Ben braces every part of his body that can get any sort of purchase against the TIE and shoves himself off of it as hard as he can, just trying to get any distance possible from the thing and not be ensnared in the metal. Remarkably, it works, and he flies free of the fighter, flipping and rolling in a tight ball before smacking into a piece of fallen debris and coming to a stop, covered in dust, minor cuts, scrapes, bruises, and road rash, but somehow free of any serious harm. He lies there quietly for a moment, running a systems diagnostic and blinking in disbelief.

Rey reaches out to Aryn and gives her arm a squeeze. "I'm just glad you're okay." She says before looking at Chani next, and nodding once to her. "Thank you for helping her." She says before nodding to the woman clutching her Loth Cat still.

Rey tries to stand up, her back injured by that falling debris. She braces herself with one hand on the lift wall, her eyes going from Jri to Ban. "Same, Ban. Nicely done."

Jri holds that datapad still, and Rey reaches out for it. He hands it over to her just as the lift doors open up.

In the lobby there are security guards, and the receptionist droid standing there waiting. They move in to help others, as the TIE Interceptor just crashes down upon the ground, everyone jumping and looking out to the street.

Rey looks to the other Jedi, holding the datapad. "Come on! We have to check on Ben!"

It's never over.... It's a hard life. Being a Jedi.