Sitting on a bench outside a small dinner on one of Coruscant's upper levels Zell was savoring the taste of a smoothie like drink which he had purchased from the nearby dinner. Quietly slurping its contents through a straw as he people watched. The drink was made up of several layers of different colors, each colors providing a different fruity flavor.
'Wow this is good'
C-5 mean while was in a spirited friendly debate with another astromech droid that it had just met while wait for Zell to finish his beverage.
After a good seven minutes Zell finished the smoothie, got up throw away the cup into a close trash can, then looked down at his wrist comlink to check the time. Seeing that it was getting late. If he was on Coruscant's surface level he would undoubtably be seeing an orange-red sky leading to a sunset.
As a padawan he didn't have a curfew like he did when he was still a youngling, and with his master still off world there was no one he needed to report to at present, so he didn't need to actually return to the temple. But Zell understood the importance of getting proper sleep so he didn't make it a habit of purposely staying up late, only doing so if he had a good reason to so.
So deciding now was a good time to call it for the day he called out to C-5 so that they could start heading back.
"Okay C-5, sorry, but its time to say good by to your new friend, its time we start getting back"
Beeping in sadness C-5 gave a quick farewell to the other droid and immediately began rolling after Zell who was already walking down a street heading to a taxi air speeder pickup and drop off landing pad that was close, to catch a ride back to the temple.
After five minutes of walking they reached the landing area and after a little bit he flagged down a taxi.
Just when he was about to get into the air speeder the loud sound of something thrashing from down a nearby alleyway caught his ears. Initially Zell was going to ignore it, writing the sound off as nothing important, likely just some animal tossing about some trash cans, but C-5 also heard the noise and unlike Zell it couldn't reel in its curiosity and went to investigate.
"Wait! C-5! where are you going!"
Rolling into the alleyway were the sound originated from Zell quickly lost sight of the droid.
"Seriously.....Good grief"
Zell thought for a second and considered just waiting for the astromech to return after satisfying its curiosity but after thinking about it he decided against it.
This is because He was wise enough to know that even on Coruscant's upper levels the chances of encountering danger wasn't zero especially for a little droid, as such he wasn't willing to leave his droid's fate, quickly choosing to pursuit it before anything happens.
Pick his next course of action Zell had the taxi driver hold their position and wait for him to return after collecting his droid, since they still need a ride home.
The driver happy agreed to wait, that is on the condition that he start running the meter while he waits.
Agreeing to the condition with a slight look of agitation from the clear extortion Zell began walking after C-5. Turning into the same alley that he saw C-5 go into he saw no sign of the droid.
"Well isn't that just great"
He said sarcastically as he raised his wrist comlink up to mouth, activating it with the press of a button.
"C-5 where the heck did you go, the speeder is waiting for us. And just so you know I'm going to have to pay them extra the longer we keep waiting. Which leaves a bad taste in my mouth for some reason. So come back already"
No response came.
"Hey C-5 you there, respond"
Waiting on a rely Zell surveyed the ally in the mean time. Wanting to see what actually draw C-5's attention.
Looking around he could tell from the thrown about debris and cans something like a struggle occurred here and noticing certain markings on the ground it would appear that something or someone was forcefully dragged away deeper into the alleyway.
After a minute a reply finally came through Zell's comlink from C-5.
"Finally you respond now can you please get back here alread.... wait what!"
Alarmed by what he was hearing from C-5 Zell couldn't help but rush to the droid's location.
"Alright hold on I'm on my way quickly transmit your position to me!"
Receiving the transmitted coordinates of C-5' s precise position, Zell burst into a sprint heading deeper into the alley, in the direction of the location he was sent.
*******
Reaching the designated spot as indicated by C-5, Zell found himself coming out of the alleyway maze that he'd navigated through for a good ten seconds reaching what looks like the edge of a sort of deserted back alley parking lot, situated far from any main streets, devoid of almost any people.
The exception being what seemed to be a group of people in the center of the lot.
Scanning the area Zell soon spotted C-5 who appeared to be hiding behind a nearby pile of garbage watching the scene ahead.
"Okay I'm here C-5 I take it that's them right?"
Zell asked, approaching C-5.
Beeping in a panic the droid confirmed his assumption and directed him to center of the parking lot.
There the two could see a group of six people in a sort of altercation.
Five were gentlemen of a somewhat unsavory nature, which Zell could infer due the men's rough and grim exterior, expressions, and plain to see blaster pistols each had holstered attached to there hips.
Two were humans, one was a twi'lek, another a nikto and the fifth was a Falleen who was slightly dressed better than the previous men.
The Sixth was a Devaronian male who was being held up and restrained firmly by the two humans had bruises all over his face, blood dripping from his nose and mouth.
'This isn't looking good'
Seeing the scene before him part of Zell wanted to immediately intervene and save the Devaronian who clearly looked like he was either being mugged, assaulted, or shaken down for something. But he stopped himself and thought for a moment.
'While this may look bad I don't have a grasp of the whole situation, for all I know that Devaronian may have down something to rightful earn the five men's anger and subsequent beating. But still.... even if that's true I can't just walk away and ignore this"
Focusing his force sight in the direction of the men while still remaining a good distant away, Zell could some what make out that the Falleen man with a smug face was talking with the restrained Devaronian. At the same time Zell noticed the Falleen had something a kin to brass knuckles on his hands, which appeared to be covered in what seems to be blood, likely from the devaronian.
'Alright they're clearly roughing him up quiet a fair bit, but if they wanted him dead they could have easily shot him by now with their blasters and be done with it. So at least for now I think there's no immediate threat to the man'slife . So no need for me act rashly, let's try a wait and see approach'
As Zell's mind wrenched on what to do next, C-5 seeing that its master hadn't taken action yet asked what was the plan.
"For now I'm going to see if I can get a little closer and assess the situation better, if I'm luck I'll be able to hear some of whatever their saying. And if things sudden escalate I'll be within range to intervene more quickly. While that man's in terrible shape its best we don't act carelessly or we run the risk turning this violent situation into a deadly one. You stay here and begin recording as much as you can, the footage may prove useful for Coruscant security if this thing goes side ways and they end up needed to get involved.
Obeying its orders C-5 began recording the scene while Zell started carefully skulking closer, using the surrounding debris and garbage as cover to keep out of sight. Lucky the deserted lot was full of such obstructions so Zell had the perfect type of terrain to work with, masking his approach.
Having closing the distant a fair bit Zell found himself positioned behind a large broken down air conditioning unit twice his size. Hiding behind it he was within ear shot of the men and could just barely make words.
"Now, now Sirus why are you making this complicated, what's the point in being difficult, if you just agree to help us we can put all this unpleasantness behind us and move forward"
The Falleen man griped one of the Devaronian's horn and yanked his dropping head behind, forcing him to look at him face to face.
The Devaronian called Sirus refused to answer, refusing eye contact, looking away with a sneer.
Sighing the Falleen readjusted the brass knuckles on his hands.
"Have it your way"
Growing feed up with Sirus's stubbedness the Falleen began delivering blow after blow on him. Aiming mostly at the Devaronian's face and gut, causing blood to start spraying on to the surrounding ground.
Seeing the grueling treatment Zell nearly moved to jump out from his hiding spot and put a stop to it, but at the last minuet he noticed a distinct symbol on the Falleen's and the other four thugs clothing. It was the image a flaming ball like object colored black, a symbol that was notoriously known by many in the galaxy.
The symbol of the Black Sun crime syndicate.
"C-5 change of plans, call in an alert to the nearest Coruscant security station about an assault is in progress with our location, and let them know that [Black Sun] members are involved, armed and dangerous"
Zell whispered into his comlink.
At first he had wanted to get a clearer picture of things before acting but upon Identifying that a major criminal syndicate was involved, Zell had no farther desire to wait longer.
He had zero tolerance for organized crime and if a dangerous criminal organization rivaling the Hutts and Pykes like the Black Suns were involved, then even more so. This is because during his travels he'd seen it many times, more times than he'd like in fact, the pain and suffering caused by the criminal element, on to innocent people who simply wished to live peacefully.
But as of to deny them this they were force to endure being stolen from, forced to pay high protection fees, having friends and family hurt or Killed. Or even worse loved ones ending up kidnapped and sold into slavery, never being seen again. This was only a small portion of the things Zell seen since becoming a padawan and getting a wider look at the known galaxy.
And as a result his heart had a nasty habit of became slightly jaded whenever it comes to him dealing with high level criminals, syndicate members and so on.
C-5 beeped through the comms stating that the alert had been sent, and the security should be arriving in roughly ten minutes.
With this Zell went back to observing, staying ready to act should things take a turn.
Become a little winded from giving a rapid series of punches the Falleen Black Sun member took a step back for a breather. Finally getting a reprieve from the onslaught, Sirus, face swollen in several places and barely conscious finally spoke up.
"I-I-I don't get it, why can't you b-bastards just leave me alone. I paid my dues with the syndicate when I left over of decade ago and went straight"
"Ya Ya I heard something about that. They still talk about you, you know. How you paid quite the fortune which you'd saved over the years to the higher ups. All in order quit the syndicate and be allowed to leave in peace. Honestly, seemed kind of idiotic if you ask me. You'd paid so much just to become some nobody, I mean from the stories you were on track to becoming high ranking executive in the organization. So I gotta ask, why? why just quit?"
"Why? Hmph, maybe I just got tired of that life. Maybe I wanted strike out on my own and see where it lead. Or maybe I did it so I could finally look myself in the mirror, not see blood every time I look at my hands, and sleep in peace at night dammit"
Sirus cursed as he spat out a small squirt of bleed to the side that accumulated in his mouth.
The Fallen looked at him with an apathetic sneer, unmoved by Sirus's words.
"Well what ever, the reason it doesn't matter. What does matter is that you give up already and agreed to help us with the operations we're trying to jumpstart here on the upper levels"
'Operations?'
Zell made a mental note of what he just overheard.
"Not going to happen buddy, I just told you I'm out of the game and I intend to stay out, period. So whatever schemes the Suns got going---AH!"
Before Sirus could finish talking the Falleen pulled out double-barrel blaster, the signature weapon of the [Black Suns] from his coat and without a warning, shot the Devaronain in one of his thighs.
The humans holding him immediately let go and he dropped to the ground, clasping his thigh in pain.
"Sirus you know, this back and forth we've been doing is starting to get on my nerves, you're a smart man, so do the smart thing and---"
"Boss! we got trouble!"
The twi'lek thug shouted in a frenzy.
"What is it"
"I just received a message from one of our lookouts in the area! Coruscant security is heading our way fast! They'll be here in two or three minutes!"
"What!? Damn!---Alright you bring the transport around from the corner we're leaving!"
"Yes sir!"
The Nikto thug sprinted down a nearby alleyway likely leading to where the Sun's mentioned transport vehicle as parked.
Hearing this Zell moved quickly and whispered in his comlink.
"C-5 follow that guy and stop him, set stunt to maximum, last thing we want are these guys getting away"
Beeping in understanding C-5 swiftly moved around a corner, and once certain it was out of ear shot it gave pursuit using its retractable rocket booster and headed in the direction were the Nikto ran off.
"Well Sirus I was hoping we could've convince you too work with us here and now but o well. Seems we'll have to continue this discussion back at Black Sun HQ back in the lower levels"
Turning slightly pale at the thought of his impending fate if he was taken away by the Black Sun, all he could do is glare a hateful look at the Falleen before being knocked unconscious by one of the other thugs who had moved in his blind spot while he was distracted.
Wanting to leave here as soon as the air speeder arrives the Falleen ordered the thug who just struck Sirus to pick him up and thrown him over his shoulder, so that they would be ready to throw him immediately into the speeder once it arrived.
'Well this wasn't the plan but I'm sure we'll be able to find the means to persuade Sirus one way or another once we back, and I'll just have to come up with some excuse about why things are taking longer than planned to feed to my superiors'
The Falleen man thought to himself as he concluded his present situation was still within acceptable parameters.
"Parden me Gentlemen"
Reacting to the spontaneous voice the Fallen and the three other men looked to the side to see a child who appeared to be in his teens seemingly show up out of nowhere.
"I'm sorry for the inconveniences but I'm going to need you all to remain here until the authorities arrive"