New Power

Ch 2

Alyssa wanted to scream. Nothing could lead them closer to knowing if Sev was really dead, or any closer to Sephinroth's whereabouts. She knew there was another place they could go to instead of looking through the Jedi's mind-numbing boring Archives.

Sheeley's bar.

She really didn't want to go there. She knew who worked there and didn't really want to see them without any backup. She and Cain were both blamed for Sephinroth's disappearance.

"Any luck?" Scorch asked through their open communication.

"Nothing. Nothing at all," Alyssa replied. She roughly grabbed the disk out and returned it, along with many others, to a trolley. "I give up. Today at least."

Alyssa heard him sigh. "Better than nothing I guess. Come back to the barracks. Boss has been looking for you."

Alyssa scoffed. "Why's that?"

She could imagine Scorch's shrug. "Dunno. Can't contact you because I've been on the line with you for hours now."

"Yeah, fair. I'm coming back now."

"Alright. See you soon!"

The communication ended with a beep. Alyssa adjusted her helmet and walked out of the Archives. Her barracks, that she shared with the rest of Delta Squad, was on a ship rather than inside the Jedi Temple. It was relieving, not being around so many Force-sensitives day and night.

~~~~<+>~~~~

Alyssa flopped onto her bunk below Scorch's as soon as she arrived and tossed her helmet onto her bunk.

"Tired?" Boss asked, not looking up from a datapad.

"More like exhausted," Alyssa groaned. "Reading all day was never my strong suit. I don't know how people can do it."

"No luck again?"

"Yeah. I... do have one more place we can check. Or more like ask a certain someone." Alyssa sat up and rubbed her face.

Boss finally looked up from his datapad. "Who?"

"An old friend of mine."

Boss frowned. "That's very vague."

Alyssa smiled. "I know. You'll have to trust me on this one. She may seem sketchy, but she's a good person at heart."

"What do you mean 'sketchy'?"

"She used to do a few illegal things."

"Like what?"

Alyssa crossed her arms. "I'm not telling you."

"What's all this about?" Fixer asked, glaring down at Alyssa. He never really took a liking to her as he saw her as Sev's 'replacement'.

"It doesn't matter," she said. All anyone could hope was that he'd warm up to her like Boss and Scorch had. She then sighed. "We're going to see an old friend of mine that has a fifty-fifty chance of having any idea where our missing friends are."

"How are they going to help us?"

Alyssa hesitated. "They have a.. way of getting information."

Fixer shook his head. "It's going to be too dangerous."

"Like every other mission you've done. We are literally going ten levels below Coruscant's surface and down a few blocks. We aren't going to another planet."

"You didn't mention that. Why don't we go tonight?" Boss suggested.

"I don't see why not. I can still walk around," Alyssa agreed, standing up and stretching.

"Let's go then."

~~~~<+>~~~~

Coruscant's underlevels were noticeably cooler than the surface, but was something that Alyssa had grown up in and gotten used to quickly.

"So, where is this old friend of yours?" Boss asked her.

"At a bar."

"Should have I guessed that? A drunkard."

"Oh no, she owns the bar."

"That's probably the most surprising thing I'll hear all day." He paused. "Where is it?"

"Just up ahead." Alyssa pointed to an overhead sign that said 'Kuzakhan Bar'. She didn't need to sense their confusion to know about it. "It's a family owned business. It's her surname."

Once they got to it, Alyssa tenderly pushed open the door and was greeted with surprisingly quiet chatter. Usually the bar was bustling with people of every age, but there were only a few people dotted at tables here and there. The bar was straight across from the door and the squad all took seats at the bar. Alyssa removed her helmet and placed it on her lap.

She heard indistinct chatter coming from the kitchen behind the bar's wall. The place looked the same, apart from the few renovations that seemed to have taken place. Like the drinks were organised slightly differently and the carpet had been changed. The tables were the same wood but seemed to shine more. Maybe it was the new employees that made that difference.

A young-looking and pretty woman jogged out from behind the wall with a cheery smile. "Hello! What can I get you?" She asked. The smile faded as she recognised Alyssa. "Alyssa? Is that really you?"

"Yep. The one and only me. It's good to see you again, Celestae."

Celestae jumped over the bar and nearly knocked Alyssa off her stool with a hug. "I was almost certain you'd never show your face here again." Celestae let go of her and looked at the clones next to her. "You're here for business, aren't you?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Who do you need to see?" Alyssa was about to tell Celestae when the latter cut her off. "Y'know what. All of you, come behind." She motioned them to follow her.

"Does Ektziekel still work here?"

Celestae sighed but smiled. "Unfortunately." Alyssa raised a brow. "I'm kidding! He'll be forever in our hearts. Sheeley!"

A magenta-skinned Mirialan walked over to Celestae with a tall green-skinned Twi'Lek following behind. "Ah, Alyssa. Ektziekel said to expect you," the Mirialan said. Sheeley.

"Of course he did," Alyssa scoffed. The Twi'Lek, Ektziekel, rolled his eyes.

"What are you after, young one?"

"Information about Sephinroth's disappearance and Delta Squad's member Sev's supposed death."

Sheeley frowned. "You have found nothing?"

"Not a trace."

She hummed. "Follow me. Ektziekel, Celestae, stay out here in case of more customers." The two nodded and went to the bar chatting beween themselves.

Sheeley led Delta Squad into a darkened room with a fancy holoprojector in the middle of a circular table. She motioned her hand over the projector and a keyboard appeared. "Now, where do we start?" Sheeley asked them.

Alyssa looked at the clones. "With Sev."