Chapter 22 - Detective Draco Part II

(Sorry for the delay. I got sick and then I was super busy trying to finish a class. I will do my best to return to a release schedule of at least one chapter every other day. Hopefully it will be more than that but I never know what comes up. Anyways, enjoy!)

Mizaki looked a bit scared. "I think I'd rather go to a prison."

Tyler laughed. "Nonsense my friend. Just cooperate with me and you'll be glad you did."

Valorum sighed. "I hope I'm not making a mistake doing this."

Tyler shook his head. "Don't worry Chancellor. You of all people should know how thorough and careful I am with my work."

Valorum nodded. "I can't argue with you there, Lord Draco."

Tyler smiled. "Glad you understand. Anyways, Mizaki, tell your men to stand down. I don't think I need to tell you what happens if you don't comply."

Mizaki chuckled. "Relax, relax. I'll do it. Just cut me some slack, will ya? It wasn't my idea to pull off this mindless job."

Tyler nodded. "I'm sure that is the case. You will tell me all about that later." Mizaki ordered his men to stand down over comms. "Thank you for making this easy. Now just put these on and we'll be on our way." Tyler handed some cuffs over to Mizaki and had him put them on.

*Quest Completed: Chamber in Chains*

*Rank: Gold*

*Bonus Reward: Investigation Quest*

*Chain Quest Triggered: Exposing the Puppet Master*

*Rank: Legendary*

*Description: While taking part in the operation to resolve the hostage situation at the Senate Building, you took custody of the lead bounty hunter. Investigate and expose the mysterious backers. The reward will be scaled off of performance.*

*Potential Rewards: 10 billion credits, +12000 GR Reputation, 10 Level Ups*

Tyler smiled. "Let's go somewhere more… private." He pressed a buŧŧon on his comm to summon a transport.

The three of them walked through the building and arrived at a private hangar on the upper floors. This was the hangar for the Chancellor's Office and their security detail. By the time they arrived, the LAAT was waiting.

Suddenly, Tyler remembered something. "Hehehe, now I have a chance to put the new dungeon to use." He had a maniacal look on his face.

The color faded out of Mizaki's face. "I am really starting to feel like prison would be better."

A few minutes later, they arrived in the top floor hangar of the guild hall. Tyler and Kai escorted Mizaki to the "dungeon" on the top floor. In actuality, it was just an armored room that had a biometric lock.

The inside of the dungeon was plain. The walls were padded to prevent self injury and there was a table with a few chairs.

Tyler removed the cuffs and had Mizaki sit in the chair on the far side of the table. He then sat down and had Kai stand behind him.

Tyler put his feet up on the table. "Mizaki Shoko, public enemy number one right now at least. What was the goal of taking the senate hostage?"

Mizaki sighed. "What is in it for me if I tell you?"

Tyler sighed. "So we have to do it this way. It seems that you are more afraid of your employer than you are of me."

Mizaki chuckled. "Well of course. If you knew who it was, you'd be scared too!"

Tyler shook his head. "There are very few people in this galaxy that I need to be careful around. None of which, however, I am scared of."

Mizaki raised his brow. "And why is that?"

Tyler smiled. "Well considering that I have the largest fleet in the galaxy, there are not many individuals that I need to be scared of. If they try to hide, I can just remove them from the face of whatever world they're hiding on from orbit."

Mizaki started sweating. "Well, I guess I was mistaken then. You clearly are scarier than my employer. Can you guarantee my safety?"

Tyler nodded. "I can do even better. If you cooperate with me, I will hire you full time. That would mean that you'll be under my protection at all times. And don't worry, I can pay you handsomely."

Mizaki thought for a moment. "Deal. What do you want to know?"

Tyler smiled. "Let's start with the question from before. What was the goal of this operation?"

Mizaki sighed. "I don't know what my employer wanted to achieve by this, but we were instructed to take the senators hostage and eliminate a list of targets. The operations went to shit when we were about to start making our rounds."

Tyler raised his brow. "Where is the list?"

Mizaki took out a data pad and handed it to Tyler. "That's it right there. I don't know too much about politics so you'll have to figure out the motives."

Tyler looked over the list and made a realization. "A lot of the senators on this list are anti war. It would seem that someone is trying to eliminate the opposition to war. Who was your employer?"

Mizaki shrugged. "I never met them. All I know is that I was going to get a lot of money."

Tyler sighed. "Did you at least get a name?"

Mizaki nodded. "I believe his name was Tyranus."

Tyler perked up. "And you're sure of this?"

Mizaki nodded. "Yep."

Tyler sighed again. "This is not good."

Mizaki raised his brow. "Why is that?"

Tyler laughed. "Darth Tyranus, otherwise known as Count Dooku, is a Sith Lord. I don't know if I can handle him. He is able to hold off Grandmaster Yoda in a duel for fuċks sake."

Mizaki scoffed. "Oh, we're gonna fuċkin die."

Tyler shook his head. "I doubt that. I most definitely can not defeat him, but that doesn't mean I can't hold him off. We just need to get the evidence and get out. I guess that we are headed to Serenno."

About a half an hour later, Tyler was on his way to Serenno, Dooku's home world and the capital world of the CIS. At least that had yet to be formed.

Accompanying him was Kai in his fighter. Mizaki stayed back since Dooku would easily recognize the bounty hunter he had hired to attack the senate.

Upon landing they were greeted by a squad of guards. Once Tyler got out, they recognized him immediately. "Lord Draco, welcome to Serenno. Please, right this way."

Tyler smiled and nodded. "Thank you." He then turned to Kai and nodded. On the way there, they discussed that Kai would have to sneak around to find the archives. He had his fingers crossed that it would be that easy. This is a legendary quest after all.

The guards led them to what appeared to be a palace. It was quite grand. The gargantuan building was ornate and made of stone. Statues of previous leaders lined the path that led to the main entrance.

The two front doors were gorgeous. They were about 15 feet tall and made of metal. Carved on them were meticulous designs. Ornate designs of floral and abstract patterns dominated the surface.

Two guards pushed the doors open in a manner that made them appear weightless. Waiting behind the door was a nicely dressed woman. She was smiling at Tyler. "Lord Draco, welcome to Serenno. I trust that your trip went smoothly?"

Tyler nodded. "Indeed. I appreciate the warm welcome, Miss…"

She nodded. "Ah yes, how rude of me. My name is Maree Courte. I am an aide to the Count. To what do we owe the pŀėȧsurė of you visiting?"

Tyler smiled. "I wish to discuss some business with the Count. Might he be available to meet?"

Maree shuddered a bit. She couldn't afford to mess this up. Every system in the Republic was trying to do business with Kessel. Unfortunately, they had to go through Limitless to do so. This is a bad thing because the guild has quite the military strength to back up their words. They do, afterall, have the largest standing fleet in the Republic at this time.

Shaking herself out of her stupor, she regained her focus. "Please, come right this way. Count Dooku is currently having lunch. I am sure he would love for you to join him."

Tyler smiled. "Great. Lead the way." They then headed to the dining room.

-GE-

While on the way to the palace, Kai slipped away from their escort. A few blocks down from the palace, he ducked into an alleyway.

Fortunately, they took a scan of the city on their way down so Kai had a holomap of the area. He activated the hologram. Searching around, he found an alleyway near the palace that had a cluster of life signatures. If luck was in his favor, he would be able to slip into the palace.

Kai jumped up against a wall. Pushing off, he jumped across to the other side of the alley and continued hopping up to the roof. The alley he was interested in was a few blocks down on the side of the palace. He jumped across the roofs in an acrobatic fashion. He made sure to use the force to mask the sound of him impacting the roofs.

About a minute later, he was above the alleyway he was looking for. He looked down and noticed a mixture of people. There were speeders out in the streets. Some people were carrying crates from the speeders towards the door.

Shuffling in and out of the door were people who looked to be various staffers of the palace. They were receiving the crates from the delivery people and bringing them inside.

Kai sighed. 'Well shit, I need a way to get inside.' He decided to wait and observe for a bit. They were nowhere close to being finished unloading the crates.

After a few minutes, he counted that there were 4 total staffers from the palace. One of them appeared to be a manager that was taking stock of the deliveries. The other three were carrying the boxes in and out. This could work to his advantage.

Kai looked around on the roof to see if there was anything he could use to his advantage. He found an empty glass bottle so he picked it up. He then patiently waited until all three of the staffers that were carrying the crates were outside.

At last, the moment struck. He took the bottle and chucked it down at the far end of the alleyway. It landed on the ground, shattering. No one got hit with it but it was quite startling. Everyone in the alley looked towards the spot where the bottle fell.

Using the momentary distraction, Kai dropped off the roof and silently rolled into the door and then dashed to the side to find a hiding spot. Infiltration was successful. Now he needed to figure out where he was going.

-GE-

On the way to the dining room, Tyler made use of a new skill he had been practicing. He masked his force signature to hide it from the Count.

Maree opened a smaller set of ornate doors. Behind them was a grand dining room. A large fireplace and a long wooden table with plenty of seating around it.

At the far end, Count Dooku was enjoying his meal. Having not been informed of the intrusion, he looked up from his plate with a glare as he set his wine glass down. As soon as he saw who was there, his expression vastly improved.

Dooku stood up. "What a surprise! Lord Draco, welcome to Serenno."

Tyler smiled and walked towards Dooku. They stepped up to each other and exchanged a firm handshake. A handshake can tell you a lot about a person. From his first interaction with Dooku, Tyler could tell that he is a strong and honorable man that sticks to his beliefs.

"Count Dooku, it is a pŀėȧsurė to finally meet you. I have heard many great things about your days as a Jedi Master." Tyler let on a gentle smirk.

This did not slip through Dooku's attention. His face became more neutral. "Those days are in the past. Unfortunately, I had to return to my home world and take up the mantle of Count. It is my family's duty afterall."

Tyler nodded. "Of course. That is completely understandable. I am on your side when it comes to family. I do have my mother to take care of after all."

Dooku smiled. "Ah, yes. Senator Cynthia. How is she doing?"

Tyler stepped back from Dooku. "She is doing well. Senator Amidala has been wonderful with helping her get accustomed to the political arena. I'm guessing you have met Cynthia and my other representatives?"

Dooku nodded. "Indeed. I made a trip to Coruscant recently. Our Senator Lissa Pavan invited me to accompany her to an event. There was a wonderful reception at the Limitless guild hall."

One of the servants walked up and pulled the seat next to Dooku out. Another servant rushed over to set down a wine glass with a deep red wine in it and a plate with an elegant sandwich. Tyler sat down and smiled at Dooku. "That is great. The interesting thing is that I paid for the place but I never get to be at the parties! What kind of arrangement is that?"

They laughed lightly. Dooku nodded. "I imagine that is what it feels like to be a father."

Tyler shrugged. "That might be the case. Anyways, let us discuss business."

Dooku nodded as he sat down. "Indeed. What can I help you with?"

Tyler shook his head and chuckled. "My friend, I should be the one asking that question."

-GE-

After getting inside, Kai found himself in the storeroom. He snuck around and luckily found a console. He plugged a key fob into the port and then pressed his wrist comm. "R2, get me the schematics for this building. I need a holomap."

R2 beeped a few times aggressively. Kai sighed. "Fine, fine, I'm sorry. PLEASE get me the schematics for this building."

R2 then beeped happily. About 30 seconds when by and R2 beeped again. The incoming data light then blinked on Kai's comm. "Thanks R2. I'll clean your servos later personally." R2 beeped again in excitement.

Kai pulled up the holomap of the building. He was currently on sublevel 1. The data banks appeared to be on the ground floor. He presumed that it would be thoroughly guarded. It would seem that he will need to put his force training to good use.

He slowly made his way to the exit of the store room. He was trying to get to a maintenance stairway that is down the hall. As he was about to go through the door, he froze. He then jumped up to the ceiling and positioned himself in the crook between the wall and ceiling.

Within a second, a staffer walked through the doorway and went outside to help with the delivery. Kai breathed a sigh of relief. 'That was a close one. I doubt that any excuse could convince them that it is okay for a little green man to be here.'

Kai dropped down and hurried through the door. He had to go about 30 feet down the hall. He was hurrying because he felt another staffer approaching the hall he was rushing down. In the knick of time, he slipped into the staircase as the staffer rounded the corner none the wiser.

He silently ascended the stairs and found himself in a maintenance hall. From what he saw of the map, the archives were a straight shot down the hall from here. Fortunately, there are two entrances to the data room. One of those being accessible from the maintenance hallway.

Using this information, he dashed down the hall stealthily. He had a short window before a patrol would round the corner so he needed to hurry. He walked up to the door and tried using the console to open it but it was locked. He now had mere seconds before the patrol would be able to see him.

'Shit shit shit shit, what do I do?' Kai looked through his cloak and as if he saw god, his face lit up. He then dropped to his knees.

The guards came around the corner and walked down the hall towards Kai. They looked at him. He was wearing a cloak and was scrubbing the floor with a cloth. One of the guards slowed down as they passed him. "Finish that up and then go back to your chambers. We have a guest."

Kai nodded under the cloak. "Yes sir. I'll make it quick." The guard nodded and continued on his patrol.

As soon as they rounded the next corner, Kai stood up and put the cloth away. 'That was a close one.'

He then turned back to the door panel. He took out the key fob and plugged it into the terminal. He pressed his comm. "R2, would you please open this door for me."

R2 beeped with satisfaction. After a few seconds, the door slid open. Thankfully, there was no one inside. "Thanks R2."

Kai rushed inside and stood on the chair to access the terminal. "Let's do this."

-GE-

Dooku was stroking his beard. "That is a very tempting proposition. There must be a catch."

Tyler smiled. "Of course. If there was nothing in it for me, there would be no reason to do business at all! The special clauses in the agreement will be the same as the others that I have made. Firstly, Limitless withholds the right to eliminate any interference that prevents the fulfillment of the trade deal. I am sure you are aware of how we handled the Naboo Affair."

Dooku nodded. "Indeed. I was very surprised to see a Jedi taking such decisive action. It is uncharacteristic of The Order."

Tyler shook his head. "You are mistaken, Count. My intervention on Naboo was merely in fulfillment of the trade agreement. If there is one thing that no one should mess with, it is definitely my money."

Dooku chuckled. "You are a smart man. Every power needs the capital to support it. What other conditions are there?"

Tyer smirked. "As I am a member of the Galactic Republic, I wish to keep my business within it. If you, for any reason, find yourself to be no longer a part of the Republic, our trade will cease."

Dooku frowned. "That is a bit unreasonable. Isn't the purpose of business to turn a profit?"

Tyler nodded. "Indeed it is. However, the Republic is where my interests and ȧssets lie. It would be quite a reckless move to trade such critical goods to a potential enemy."

Dooku smiled. He saw an opportunity. "Lord Draco, I believe I understand what the problem is. Might you be willing to listen to me for a bit about the Republic?"

Tyler raised his brow. Dooku was up to something. Whether it was him trying to gain Tyler as his apprentice or have Tyler as a backer to his secession from the Republic. "I am happy to hear the wise words of a Jedi Master."

Dooku nodded. "The Galactic Republic is an old system. It has fulfilled its purpose over thousands of years. Over these millennia, certain factions and systems have secured their grasp of power in the Senate. This has led to countless cases of corruption."

"Unfortunately, the Jedi Order has not been of much help in this matter. They are a toothless organization that are bound by restrictive traditions and codes. They do not work well on the political stage. Sadly, I have experienced this fact first hand."

Tyler sighed before revealing his force signature. Dooku's face changed. Tyler smiled seeing this. "So, where exactly are you going with this?"

Dooku shook his head as he changed his tune. "I am merely trying to make sure you know all of the facts before making such a binding agreement."

Tyler raised his brow. "What might convince me otherwise? I don't see how my ȧssets and interests are at any risk due to the drama in the senate. No one would dare cross me with the strength that I have."

Dooku nodded. "That may be the case for now. I am sure you have felt it too, but this galaxy is headed towards war. In war time, you'd be naive to believe that no one will take advantage of the chaos to turn a profit."

Tyler shrugged. "If anyone decides to pull up on my block, they most likely have a deathwish."

Dooku sighed. "I guess I must be more direct. It seems that you prefer to deal in more… clear and absolute terms."

Tyler smiled. "Please, enlighten me, Count."

Dooku nodded. "After leaving the Jedi Order, I came across a power that will allow me to stick to my values while serving a greater purpose. I wish to find a way to force the Republic to change using this power. Even if it leads to civil war."

Tyler chuckled. "So you are a Sith now? Is that what you are trying to say?"

Dooku nodded. "You are a man with similar values to mine so I am sure that you will understand my point of view."

Tyler shook his head. "You misunderstand me Count. I may be a part of the Jedi Order, but I am not aligned with their core beliefs. The Code? That is just some ancient saying that is a hardline ideology. I don't agree with the Sith Code either. That is merely a shortcut to losing yourself to the seduction of power."

Dooku smiled. "Then we are of the same ideology. I use the dark side to gain power but not to oppress others."

Tyler shrugged. "I suggest you give up on trying to pull me to your side. I am not interested in serving someone else or sharing in the spoils. If you plan on splitting from the Republic, I am happy to do business with you until that point in time."

Dooku sighed. "I guess that will do. Do well to remember that the invitation will remain if you decide to change your mind."

Tyler nodded. "I appreciate the offer, Count. Hopefully we can have a prosperous relationship."

Dooku smiled. "As do I. As a show of our friendship, please feel free to call me Dooku."

Tyler smiled. "Then you may call me Draco." As he said this, a green light flashed on his comm. It would seem that their objective has been fulfilled.