Chapter Text
Quinlan Vos was officially a wanted felon on Coruscant, and he was shocked it took this long. Well, actually, Kavron Dol was the wanted felon, but they were the same person. It counted. Quinlan couldn’t help feeling a little proud, and if he wasn’t in an investigation, he would’ve called Obi Wan. He even made the frontpage of the Coruscant Daily, and there’s kriffing murderers swarming Coruscant. Quinlan smiled up at his portrait gleaming blue in the undercity lights.
Unfortunately, having a lovely picture of his face across the city was going to make being discreet very difficult. Bounty hunters thrived in the chaos hidden beneath Coruscant, and almost everyone would happily make a quick credit. It was frustrating, especially since all he did was drain a senator’s bank account.
It was the stupid crime lord’s fault. Morgan Treld, or the ‘Crimson Shrike’ (because mobs are overdramatic) had told him to take Senator Ronet Coorr’s money and repurpose it for delivering yogan fruits, AKA drugs.
He supposed he shouldn’t be having fun stealing from the senate since it was so un-Jedi like. But he was. He didn’t even have to worry about what poor souls got caught in this mess because the consumers just happened to be more Jedi helping him stage a lavish trap to destroy the crime syndicate.
None of it would work though if he was arrested in the middle of the undercity. Which was very much a possibility.
In any other case, Quinlan would’ve just gotten Windu to smooth things over with the senate, sit Coorr and Palpatine down and give them vague details, and then get them off his back. HOWEVER, Quinlan definitely didn’t have permission to rob the senate. The Council had specifically said not to mess with any senators. Quinlan was 100% just procrastinating the unavoidable conversation with Windu. Besides, he figured it could be good for the other Jedi to learn these skills.
The two Jedi working with him, Trey Boone and Angeline Rye, were both knights, and horrible, horrible liars. It was shocking the council even considered letting them deal with anything on Coruscant, but Yoda had been all ‘learn, they must’ and ‘practice, they need’. The snapping turtle didn’t seem to understand that covert operations weren’t fucking practice time. But the knights were fine people, even if they were so inexperienced.
Quinlan rounded the corner to meet the two humans and smirked. “Hey. Want your yogans?”
The knights looked at him annoyed and Quinlan raised his hands. Angeline rolled her eyes. “We both know those aren’t yogans in your bag.”
“But what if they are?”
Trey’s olive green eyes narrowed. “But they aren’t. Come on, we don’t have time for your hypotheticals.”
“You're gonna yell at me about robbing the senator, aren’t you? Not cool.”
Trey dragged both of his hands down his face. “Don’t you, I dunno, have limits or morals?”
“Way to be blunt, Trey. But, yes, yes I do. We just needed Treld to trust me. Now he trusts me.”
Angeline snorted. “Windu doesn’t trust you anymore.”
“He didn’t trust me in the first place.”
“Touche,” Trey said as he stuck his hand out expectantly. Quinlan jerked the bag away.
“Credits, then yogans.”
Trey gave a long dramatic look at Angeline like he couldn’t believe this was how businesses worked. The knight slowly yanked out a large coin purse, and Quinlan smiled warmly, accepting the money. The satchel of ‘yogans’ landed in Trey's hand. Together they nodded and went separate ways straight into the depths of Coruscant where his picture gleamed.
<[--]>
So, it turns out that the street was mobbed with the Coruscant Security Force, and that mob had managed to arrest him. And sure he knocked a few unconscious, but there was only so much he could do without the force. After the fifth man down, a young man who could barely be 19 tackled him to the ground, and secured unfairly tight handcuffs around his wrists.
He could’ve sworn he saw Trey and Angeline laughing as his cheek was smooshed into the uncomfortable metal path.
None of this was a problem though. The problem he faced was the very disappointed Mace Windu standing in front of him, frowning. Theoretically the man was supposed to bail him out, playing his ‘this is my dumbass Jedi spy’ card. Theoretically. The look Mace was giving him did not support that plan.
Mace pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh that should win a prize. “Did we not tell you to avoid anything with senators?”
“Buuuuuut, you also told me to get close to Treld. And he really trusts me now.”
Mace Windu's expression didn’t even try to hide the migraine, too little sleep, and absolute doneness he clearly felt. One of his eyebrows was raised in a challenge, and Quinlan instantly shut up.
“Knight Boone is going to take over the operation,” Mace Windu said after a long awkward silence. Quinlan repulsed. Trey was going to be dead within an hour. Neither of those knights should be anywhere near the mob! Oh, man, Trey was going to be long dead.
“Why?!” Was all Quinlan could stutter out.
Mace Windu leveled a look that clearly explained how many headaches Quinlan was causing him. His shoulders sagged just slightly as he crossed his legs.
“I managed to come to an understanding of who you are with the Coruscant Guard, so please, for the love of kriff, don’t get arrested again.”
Quinlan nodded, hoping to avoid aggravating the already pissed Jedi. “Now that Trey’s taking over, what do you want me to do?”
“We have reason to believe some senators may be taking Separatist bribes. It would be greatly appreciated if you checked in. Don’t end up in jail again.”
“Me? Never!”
“Quinlan.”
Quinlan clamped his mouth shut before another sarcastic comment drifted out. Windu let out another sigh, before standing. “Give me a sec to bail you out.”
Mace Windu left the cell, and bailed him out a day later. Jerk.
<[--]>
It was Quinlan’s first day of his new job in the middle of the senate. Rogos Pazel, a fictional photographer, became his new identity. Within his first day on the job, Quinlan came to a conclusion.
The senate was fucking corrupt as sithhells.
He delighted in telling Mace alllllll about it, and watched with a smirk on his face as Ronet Coorr was arrested for taking Separatist bribes.
Oh man, his job was going to be fun.