Private A Crimson Night Before Dawn

[Juniper Le Fey]

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Zeltros—

Juniper's eyes rolled back in a mix of ecstasy and that faint, irritating feeling like she had to sneeze as she took the quick bump of glitterstim from the end of her pinky nail. It was a pick-me-up while she waited out her newest contact. Since the Suns had gone belly up, the Mid Rim to Wild Space had all become a hunting ground. Survivors from every faction wanted to collect on the downfall of the others, and they were picking each other off left and right.

Juniper wasn't interested in becoming a statistic, so she chose to tail it out of there, head toward the Core, and take advantage of the Alliance falling apart.

It wasn't long until she would be leaving the planet, only stopping to refuel and re-up for the long ride ahead. It was exciting to imagine leaving all of this behind, the Hutts, the Suns, the damned Imperials. Wild Space could burn for all she cared.

She would be an Inner Rim darling, living lavish on Coruscant or sipping sparkling wine on Carratos. Or so she thought.

It wasn't long until she felt herself getting parched. Glitterstim had a habit of doing that. That's when Juniper decided to stop in a small cantina for a drink.

She swiftly entered the establishment and took a booth toward the back. She may have been out of Wild Space, but she was still being hunted, and Zeltros sat on the edge of Mandalorian space, so it wasn't as easy to disappear here.

Juniper ordered a drink quickly and quietly, keeping herself and her hidden weapons covered by the cape attached to her bodysuit. The Sorceress was an easy catch if you got a good look at her, and she was too close to freedom to risk it.

The serving droid came back quickly with her drink, three fingers of warm whiskey, and set it in front of her. Juniper brought the glass to her painted lips and took her first sip. It was warm with just enough sweetness to pass. Whatever swill they were pedaling here, it would do.

For the first time since landing on Zeltros, Juniper felt her shoulders lower slightly, a mistake she would come to regret.

"You're one of them Suns, ain't ya lady?" A shrill voice broke her peace and quiet as Juniper blinked herself back to reality and the man in front of her. He was a rather unfortunate-looking man, mid to late forties, seen more battles than sleep, with a foul odor that hit you before his handshake ever could.

Juniper couldn't help but be visibly repulsed by him.

"You was working with them, you're worth some money ya know?" He snorted at his own words, a grotesque attempt at a laugh. "I think I'm gonna go turn you in to me boss. He'll have to give me a cut of tha profits!"

The type of man who approached a dangerous woman like she was harmless never failed to amaze her. He really believed Juniper would let him get away with it.

Juniper wanted to electrocute him right then and there, or use her Pathbreaker to smash his jaw into his knees, but there were too many eyes.

"Now, why would you go and do that?" Juniper's voice was quiet at first, playing into his foolishness, letting him believe he had the upper hand. "I'm sure we can come to an understanding?" Her tone lifted just enough, feeding into the innocent ignorance he expected.

"No, Boss'll kill me if I let you go, you're worth somethin to them Imps." He then did something Juniper hadn't expected, reaching for a com-link in his pocket. He brought it to his lips, ready to give away her location.

"Ah, kark it." She closed her eyes and took a breath, exhaling her irritation at not even getting to finish her drink before she stood, towering over the scum mid-sentence. She looked him dead in the eyes as her extendable staff dropped into her hand and snapped out, the tip bursting through his jaw and breaking it instantly.

He fell to the floor screaming, clutching at his face as people around them began to stir, some rising, some reaching for blasters to see what was happening. On the ground, the com-link rang out, "Zalth, are you there? Where are you? Where is the bounty?"

Well shit, that was about the worst thing to break the silence.

In a room full of addicts and mercenaries, the word bounty might as well have been another bag, another hit, another meal, and Juniper was nothing more than a credit chit to them now.

"Well fu-" Her words were cut short by a solid punch from her flank. It was hard enough to knock the thought from her head and leave her ringing. She shook it off quickly, leaving drops of blood on her outfit as she backpedaled, putting space between herself and the rest of the cantina.

"Isn't Zeltros under Mandalorian control now?" She called out as she drew on the Force, dazzling pink lightning coming alive around her body, trailing up her staff and arcing toward the nearby tables. It wasn't meant to kill, just enough to make them hesitate.

"I have some information, worth more than my bounty I'm sure of it. I want to parlay."

She turned on her heel, using her staff to crack across the face of someone trying to sneak her, his eye socket giving instantly.

"Tell the Mandalorians I want to parlay, or I will take this whole block out with me." Her eyes flashed white, almost purple as the lightning intensified, building toward something unstable.

It was reaching a head now, and the chaotic nature of her magick was about to show itself.

Sidonia

 

[Sidonia]

O B J E C T I V E​

Tag: Juniper Le Fey​

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The cantina did not erupt. Instead it stilled.​

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Not from fear of Juniper’s lightning; but from something colder, heavier, more deliberate settling over the room like a shadow that had decided it belonged there.​

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“Enough.” The voice did not rise. It didn’t need to..​

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The glistening of silver and black could be seen before the owner of the voice could be identified. Long strands of icy blue hair was perhaps the only thing that one could make out when searching for its owner. A gloved hand rested loosely against the table, one finger tapping once; just once; against the surface. The sound was soft, but it carried; the kind of sound people obeyed without understanding why.​

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Those who were closest to Juniper would be the first to respond, their blasters which had been hoisted ready in position lowered slightly at the command. Those who weren't even part of the Crimson Dawn command would have heard of the woman, by reputation, and knew not to mess with her if she happened upon a situation. A situation quite like this one. There was no great reward that a bounty could offer that would be greater than having their heads taken off if they didn't obey, and a simple look at the guards around Sidonia would be clue enough.​

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She was never anywhere to play.​

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Sidonia rose from her seat, the light sound of her silver heels tapping on the uneven floor the only sound that broke the silence. The others watched, or rather gaped, at her movements, like that of a woman at a dance. The woman pondered a moment before she continued, addressing Juniper directly. "You are indeed correct about the Mandalorian's acquisition, although..." she lowered her voice, her gaze now holding that of the stranger if they were to look at her "I wonder about that reference to the Black Suns..." Of course, as the warden of Thule, she knew of the Black Suns, its downfall mostly, but seeing someone who had been allied with them here now peaked her interest.​

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Then, finally, she stepped closer; close enough now that the air between them felt… wrong. As if Juniper’s storm had met something that did not resist it, but absorbed it, bent it, waited for it to collapse under its own weight.​

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“You asked for parlay,” Sidonia said, voice lowering just enough to draw Juniper; and only Juniper; in. “That implies you believe you still have leverage.” She paused, perhaps for dramatic effect "Convince me..."​

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Behind her, the room held its breath; not because they feared Juniper anymore, but because they understood, instinctively, that whatever happened next no longer belonged to them.​

 

[Juniper Le Fey]

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Juniper loved a good show, and that's exactly what the enchanting woman was putting on. She locked in as Sidonia spoke. This must have been how other people felt when Juniper entered the room. She was absolutely taken aback by the presence of the woman before her. It was as though the room bent, her vision narrowing to flowing strands of icy hair, the walls stretching wide and cavernous, echoing her words long after they were spoken. Whoever she was, Juniper knew she needed to meet her.

The situation diffused the moment Sidonia spoke, not into calm, but into something heavier. A pressure that settled over the room and stayed there. One wrong move now would cost more than anyone here was worth. The Sorceress watched as the ones closest to jumping her gave space without being told twice, their bodies shifting to make way. Even the man she had dropped was dragging himself back across the floor just to stay out of her path. This was either going to be very good, or very bad for Juniper.

Realizing the weight of it now, Juniper probably shouldn't have fibbed about the knowledge she possessed, but she hadn't expected someone like this to be sitting in the same cantina. The lie had been meant to buy time, to give her room to plan an exit, not to trap her in whatever this was. "Well, that's just lucky, isn't it." She swallowed, forcing the words out. Her weight shifted, eyes moving, measuring. She hated feeling cornered. The pressure crawled under her skin as pink lightning traced down her fingers again. She needed control, and fast.

Her thoughts snapped apart at the sound of the comm-link still crackling on the ground. "Zalth! We are coming down there-" It cut through everything at once, sharp enough to grate. Juniper's jaw tightened. She didn't have time to think, not with the room turning and Sidonia watching. She stepped forward and snatched the comm-link from the floor on instinct alone. The lightning still running over her skin bled into it the moment she touched it, the device sputtering and smoking in her hand. Efficient, but not what she meant to do.

That's when it hit. That drop in her stomach, like a grav-lift giving out beneath her, the world snapping tight as everything else fell away.

She was him, the dead guy from the cantina, seated at a table while Imperials spoke in low, controlled voices, hiring muscle, mapping movement. A holo flickered, casting cold light across a shadowed figure on the other end. Distorted, but powerful. Not military, something else. The moment shifted without warning. Crates moving. Glitterstim. Credits. Bodies dragged out like waste. Always that same presence just out of sight, watching, directing.

Then it pulled again.

A private room, buried somewhere in a club. The bass thudded through the floor, steady, alive. The air felt sterile, like ozone. The figure stood in front of her now, closer. A hand moved across the table, sliding something forward. A picture.

It only took a glance

Sidonia.

Whoever these Imperials were, they weren't here to negotiate.

They were here to kill her.​

The vision snapped.

Juniper came back hard, her head ringing as the world slammed back into place. To anyone watching, it was nothing more than a flicker, a slight dilation of her eyes, no more than a second or two. Juniper, however, knew exactly what she had just been handed...and for the first time since she walked into the cantina, she thought she might have the upper hand.

"You're being set up."

Her voice came out tighter than she intended, but steady enough to carry. Juniper knew juggling the emotions of a woman like Sidonia was a dangerous game. On one hand, she needed to prove her worth. On the other, accusing unseen enemies of disloyalty could just as easily turn that attention back on her.

 

[Sidonia]

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Tag: Juniper Le Fey​

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Sidonia didn’t react. Not to the words, not to the tension in Juniper’s voice, not even to the way the room had begun to subtly shift around them. Conversations had died off in uneven fragments, chairs no longer scraped so loudly, and the few who still lingered nearby had the sense to keep their distance. But Sidonia herself remained exactly as she was, her attention fixed in a way that felt less like looking and more like measuring.​

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She let a breath pass, slow and controlled, before tilting her head just slightly. “Everyone is,” she said at last, her tone calm, almost absent of weight. "Set up, lied to, framed....That’s not new.”​

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Only then did she move. She took one step forward, like she had already decided where this would end and was simply taking her time getting there. Her eyes flicked briefly to the ruined comm-link in Juniper’s hand, noting the smoke, the silence, the absence of whatever had been there a moment ago. Then her focus returned, settling back onto Juniper with quiet precision.​

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“You’re going to need something stronger than that.” She closed the distance by another step, not enough to crowd, but enough to make the space between them feel intentional. Controlled. “Because right now,” Sidonia continued, her voice lowering just a touch, “you look like someone who just realized this isn’t as simple as she thought.”​

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Sidonia’s gaze shifted, just briefly, toward the edges of the room. The entrances, the windows. The slow, creeping pressure that had nothing to do with Juniper’s display and everything to do with what might follow it. It was quick, almost imperceptible, before her attention returned fully “You cut someone off,” she went on, almost casually, as if piecing it together in real time. “Mid-sentence.”​

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Her eyes dropped again, just for a second, to the dead comm-link. “And I don't think they like that.” She circled around, turning her body in a little bit of a flourish, just enough of a shift that her position changed, subtly guiding the shape of the space so Juniper stood between her and the rest of the room without it ever being obvious.​

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“Which means they’ll try again,” Sidonia added. “Or they’ll stop trying and come see it through themselves.” Her gaze settled on Juniper again. “And either way," she said, “you’ve made yourself part of it.” Sidonia moved so as to establish the distance that had been absent before her and the other woman before continuing. "Most people who realize they've gotten into something that's too big for them to handle tend to retreat. I guess my question to you would be...." her gaze and voice lowered so that it was just audible to the other woman. "Why are you still here...?"​

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[Juniper Le Fey]

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Juniper didn't answer right away. Her jaw set slightly as she looked at Sidonia , really looked this time, not as something to react to, but something to measure. The pressure in the room hadn't eased, if anything it had settled deeper, heavier, pressing in from every direction, but it didn't feel like it was closing in on her anymore. It felt like something she could move through, something she could stand inside without being crushed by it. Her fingers tightened slightly around the dead comm-link, the faint scorch still clinging to it, a reminder of how fast everything had shifted.

"If I thought this was too big for me, I wouldn't still be standing here," she said at last, her voice steady, quieter than before but carrying all the same. There was no rush in it now, no edge of panic, just something deliberate.

She rolled the comm-link once in her hand, slow, controlled, her eyes never leaving Sidonia's. The rest of the room stayed where it was, waiting, watching, but she didn't give them anything. They weren't the problem anymore.

"This stopped being about me the second that thing went off," she continued, almost like she was stating something obvious. "If they're still thinking bounty, they're already behind."

Her gaze dipped for just a moment, like she was replaying it, then lifted again, sharper now.

"They're not coming at you out here," she said, lowering her voice just enough to keep it between them. "It's somewhere controlled. Private, quiet enough that no one notices until it's already done. And whoever's behind it isn't putting themselves anywhere near it."

She let the words sit there, not filling the silence this time, letting it carry its own weight.

"That's why I'm still here," Juniper finished, her grip settling on the comm-link, the faintest hint of that pink lightning starting to creep back along her fingers. "Because walking out doesn't make this go away."
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[Sidonia]

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Tag: Juniper Le Fey​

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let Juniper finish without stepping in, without shifting the weight of the moment. Her attention stayed fixed, unbroken, and in the kind of stillness that didn’t come from passivity, but from control.​

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When Juniper fell silent, Sidonia held her there for a second longer. It wasn't because she wanted to test the other's patience, but more so her conviction. Only after that did she move.​

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A small exhale, almost inaudible, as her gaze dipped briefly to the faint flicker of lightning curling along Juniper’s fingers. Her eyes lifted again, settling back onto Juniper’s face with the same quiet intensity as before. “You’re right about one thing,” Sidonia said, her voice even and soft. “This isn’t about you anymore.” She shifted her weight slightly, easing back just enough to reintroduce space between them; to re-establish the shape of the interaction. Giving the words room to sit where they needed to. “But don’t confuse that with importance.”​

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Her gaze drifted outward for a moment, brushing across the edges of the room. The tension had shifted from chaotic to something quieter, more expectant. Then her focus returned to Juniper, sharper now. “Controlled environments. Distance from the source. Layers between whoever wants something done and the people doing it,” she said, almost thoughtfully. “You’re not wrong.”​

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She paused for a moment, “Which means they’re patient...and patient people don’t panic because you cut one line of communication. They don’t rush in swinging." Her gaze dropped briefly to the comm-link in Juniper’s hand, then lifted again.​

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“So whatever this is,” she continued, quieter now, “it didn’t start here. It was already moving long before you walked into this place… long before anyone decided you were worth a bounty. And yet you still stayed. Not because you think you can stop it,” Sidonia added, her tone steady. “But because you think you can turn it.”” She let that sit for a moment before moving again, a small step to the side that shifted the angle between them, just enough to break the straight line, to change the dynamic without announcing it.[/COLOR]​

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So let’s stop pretending this is about survival,” she said.​

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Her eyes settled back on Juniper’s, steady, unyielding.​

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“What do you actually want?​

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[Juniper Le Fey]

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Juniper didn't answer right away, but this time it wasn't hesitation. Her eyes stayed on Sidonia, steady, like she had already made the decision and was just letting the moment catch up to it. The pressure in the room hadn't gone anywhere, but it didn't feel like something closing in anymore. It was just there, something she was standing inside of now instead of trying to get out from under.

"What do I want?" she repeated, quieter, more to herself than anyone else.

Her fingers shifted around the dead comm-link again, rolling it once before she let out a small breath through her nose and dropped it to the floor. There was a flicker of something there, not quite a smile, not quite tension either, just something that settled into place.

"I want a cut of whatever this turns into," Juniper said finally, simple and direct, like there wasn't any point dressing it up. "This stopped being about a bounty the second it got organized, and people don't move like that unless there's something worth more than credits underneath it. Anyone in here still looking at me like a payout is already behind."

She tilted her head slightly, eyes never leaving Sidonia 's, measuring her the same way she had been measured.

"And I didn't stay because I thought I could stop it," she added, her voice leveling out again, that edge of certainty threading through it now. "I stayed because there's something here to take. Information, leverage, whatever it ends up being. Walking out doesn't change any of that, it just means I don't get a piece of it."

Juniper let that sit for a second instead of rushing to fill it, the faintest trace of pink lightning starting to creep back along her fingers again, controlled this time, deliberate.

"So yeah," she finished, quieter now but no less firm, "that's what I want."