Part 4

In her study, the two plotted and schemed. Her resources were extensive, and Qui-Gon wondered if hers weren't better than the Jedi. Shania had several people that she could 'talk' to concerning the drug, but she had the feeling that subterfuge was going to be the only option.

"We're going to have to go underground fully. With something this hot for the underground market, things are going to be tightly sealed." She looked up at him from the computer console she'd been sitting at for the past three hours. "How would you like to be my apprentice?"

He looked at her, shocked. "Excuse me?"

"It's the only way you'll get into most of these places, Qui-Gon." She placed a well-manicured index finger on her lips consideringly, pursing them as she thought. Qui-Gon got distracted and turned away. She didn't notice.

"Even with you as my companion?" Qui-Gon put down the hard copy printout he'd been perusing.

She gave him an amused look. "Oh, most definitely." She gave a husky chuckle. "You're amusing, Jedi. Are all of you this naive?" He glared at her and went back to his reading. "Our best bet would be having someone challenge your ability. Like me, for example, to prove your worth as a thief. Prove that you can do it, and you'll be a little more accepted underground."

Qui-Gon refused to look up as he answered. "Stealing is against the Code."

"Code, Shmode. Break it. That's what rules are for, Qui-Gon, to be broken." She gave another chuckle. "That would be amusing. A Jedi thief. How well would that go over with your Council? Not very well, I'd wager."

"I'll take that bet." He was looking straight at her. She raised an eyebrow. "I have open policy to do whatever's needed for this, within reason. This skims the line, but if you think that's the only way, I'll take that bet."

"Hmm." Shania pondered the idea. "Like I said it has merit, if I know you can do it. It would have to be a set up challenge. You bragging at various places at how good you are, etcetera. It's very doable."

"You're serious!" He was flabbergasted.

"Very serious." She gave him a wink. "Let's see what you can do."

What he could do was hang upside down, tangled in various cords that were supposed to be helping him. He meticulously began working through the knots with the Force, but found himself freefalling to the floor, barely righting himself before he landed. He felt his shoulder wrench when he hit the floor with it hard.

He groaned.

"That was pathetic."

He groaned again.

"I thought you Jedi were supposed to be graceful and coordinated?"

He gritted his teeth and stood up, pushing the pain away. He stalked to the ladder and climbed up again.

"Don't bother. This will never work." Shania had watched him attempt to lower himself over a pedestal setup for the past three hours. He'd broken the model toy twice by falling on it and now he had the gear hopelessly tangled. She was disgusted. What the hell was so special about Jedi, especially this one? The man was lucky he knew how to walk near as she could tell.

"Once more," he ground out.

She threw her hands up and reset the lasers and alarm system surrounding the toy and pedestal. "Fine, but you might want to relocate your shoulder first."

He glared at her as he strapped himself into the extra harness. The other had been picked up by a grumbling Shinoba, who had cut it off him, causing his fall. "I'll deal with it," he snapped. She shrugged noncommitally. It didn't matter to her, he knew.

Qui-Gon nimbly walked across the catwalk, dodging two laser beams that he had tripped his first time around. He stepped over a press pad alarm and cartwheeled through a mine area of them. He grinned to himself that his technique had impressed the thief below him at the time.

Qui-Gon hooked the rigging up with practiced quickness and began to lower himself, flipping upside down once he'd cleared the catwalks to do so. Nothing tangled this time, much to his relief. He cautiously lowered himself and found his hair almost brushing a green laser beam. It wouldn't hurt him, he knew, but the alarm was painfully loud.

Qui-Gon looked at Shania. She was studiously ignoring him. He heaved a sigh and pulled his head up so his hair wouldn't brush the beam. He reached down and grabbed the toy and began pulling his way up.

WHOOP!
WHOOP!
WHOOP!

The alarms startled him and he almost lost his grip on the line. He glanced down at the pedestal and saw flash of light emanating from where the toy had sat. Internal alarm on the pedestal. He cursed under his breath.

"Are you going to hang there waiting for security to shoot you down or are you going to make an escape?" Shania's voice shouted casually over the alarms.

Qui-Gon tucked the toy in his tunic and began to quickly haul himself up less than gracefully. His hands slipped and he hit the floor with a thump. //To hell with it,// he thought to himself and Force-jumped to the catwalk and raced back to the entrance he had 'created' in the wall near the catwalk.

A blaster shot stopped him before he dove in. "That had to be the most inept burglary I've ever seen." The alarms stopped just as suddenly as they had begun and Qui-Gon balanced himself on the catwalk, panting from the exertion.

Shania walked into his view and he was chagrined to see she was laughing. At him. Again.

"Is this normal security?" he asked, tossing her the toy.

"No, this is kid's stuff. If you can't get through this, you won't get through normal security at all." She was giving him a considering look. "You jumped from the floor to the catwalk. That's not normal for a human, so I'm assuming it was something only you Jedi can do."

"It's called Force jump," Qui-Gon told her as he somersaulted from his high perch. He landed in front of her, looking down as she snorted. "Impressed?"

"Hardly, but it could be your salvation," she informed him with a roll of her eyes. "What other Force things can you do?"

The rest of the day was spent showing her Force speed, jump, leap, push, pull and various other actions. He was exhausted and drained when she finally called it to a halt. "Let me think," she told him. "This will require some planning."

Qui-Gon downed the glass of water a servant girl brought him. "What do you mean?"

Shania sat on the bench beside the door of the aboretum Qui-Gon had chosen as spacious enough for his demonstrations. "Every thief has his or her own skills and modus operandi, based on specie or whatnot. Your Force-assisted powers could be very useful for yourself in this line of work. With proper training in some crash courses, you might be able to pull off a job or two to convince those that need convincing that you're legit."

Qui-Gon frowned. "I'm still not sure about this."

"It's your call. If I do all the work, my price may add a few million credits to the roster."

Qui-Gon set the glass down in disgust. "Greedy, aren't you?"

She seemed amused. "You think I was going to do this out of the kindness in my heart? Fool."

Qui-Gon looked around at the opulent surroundings hidden away on some forsaken asteroid. "So you are truly serious about wanting a new life," he mused. "I can see why. This must get tiring, after all."

"You flatter yourself into thinking you know what I think, Jedi," laughed Shania, tossing a shapely leg over her head, causing her to tumble backward. He heard a splash below and peered behind the bench. He saw nothing. "Come down, Jedi, if you can swim!" called her voice.

He took a deep breath and dove headfirst past the bench. Qui-Gon felt the shimmer of a holo go by and then a deep waterfall area appeared before him. His eyes widened and he took a deep breath before plunging into the water.

"How did you do this?" He was stunned as he surfaced.

She shrugged. "I have my resources." She dove under. Qui-Gon grew nervous after a minute or two but she resurfaced and tossed him an object.

"You will know who that belongs to?" she asked amusedly as he stared at the green statue.

"It's Sith!" He was gaping at it, but he couldn't help it.

She laughed again, her husky tone washing over him silkily. "Yes, I found it on Yavin Four."

"Found it?" He gave her skeptical look.

"The only legal thing I own," she told him with a grin. "That's why I hide it."

Qui-Gon looked into the water, as if he could see what else she had hidden down there. He tossed it back and she submerged herself again. When she resurfaced she swam lazily to a small embankment and hauled herself up.

"Is there anything you've ever felt like stealing?" she asked casually, wringing out her long black hair.

Qui-Gon flipped onto his back and floated. "No."

"I have an idea." Shania gave him a sly look. "I normally avoid stealing from Hutts when possible. For them, yes, from them, no. There's a Hutt on Tattoine who's just starting to become big time in the gangster business. I lost an object to a thief of his, the competitor getting there the day before I did. I want the object, but I'm not stupid enough to steal it."

"But you figure I will make the perfect scapegoat," Qui-Gon finished for her. "You think I'm that good?"

"No," she laughed, "but if you fail, I don't have to worry about killing you later. Jabba will do it for me."

Qui-Gon turned to her, back to treading water. He swam to the embankment and pulled himself there on his elbows. "If I refuse?"

"Then you've wasted a lot of time, Jedi, finding Siren's Song through me."

He frowned. //Talk about a rock and hard place,// he thought to himself. "Let me think," he told her.

Shania gave him a benign smile. "Take all the time you want, Qui-Gon," she told him. "The exit's through there and the evening meal is in three hours."