Markus heard the chirping of his comlink, telling him that he had an incoming call, but he decided to ignore it. This girl was too beautiful, and at the moment, he could not care less who was calling him; what could be so important, after all, during a time such as this? Taking the girl's hand, Markus pulled her close, and kissed her on the lips. She returned the kiss, snaking her arm around the back of his head even as they continued to dance. His comlink chirped again, and the girl broke the kiss. Giving him a playful look, she said, "It keeps going off...don't you think you should check it?"

"Not for the galaxy," Markus laughed, and they kissed again.

A third time, the comlink chirped, jolting Markus back to reality. Anyone calling this many times meant it was important, and he could only think of one person who would be trying to reach him this furiously, especially at a time like this. Pulling away from the girl, Markus flipped his comlink open and asked, "Jason?"

"We've got to fall back and go back underground, we can't hold them. You need to get everyone of the street now!" shouted Jason from the other end. In the background, Markus could hear what sounded like blaster fire and crumbling rubble.

"I read you!" shouted Markus back. "We'll link up at the cafe!" Markus was referring to the Spindler Cafe, a small, out of the way joint whose owner, a man named Valken, allowed the Coruscant Security Force to meet in secret in his basement and provided plenty of warning of any approaching Imperials. It was as safe a location as they could have found, and regularly used it as a linkup point.

Putting his comlink away, Markus looked around at the partying, the singing, dancing, and loud music, and felt a bolt of despair and fear rush through him. How could he possibly break this party up? Even if he shouted as loud as he could, no one would be able to hear him or even understand him. It was imperative that all of these people cleared out, however, before the Imperials came rumbling through and massacred anyone who was celebrating. Sighing in resignation, Markus pulled out his holdout blaster pistol and fired it once into the air. People around him screamed in surprise, and the music abruptly stopped. Everyone was staring at him, falling quiet, and Markus was able to shout, "The Imps are coming! Get out of here!"

The screams broke out now louder, but in fear, as people scrambled to get off of the street.