First Reply Along The Rooftops

[Irrik Aizon]

Location: Eshan, Rain-slick urban streets
Objective: Make examples
Equipment: In Sig​

Eshan was beautiful, if one was sensitive to such things. Even the cities were works of statuesque artistry, seemingly built with form more than function in mind.

Unfortunately, Irrik wasn't here to see the sights. Not for long, anyway. He sat perched atop a massive silver building in one of the world's more populated regions, motionless despite the howling gale that was whirling around him.

He'd been led to believe that Eshan was generally of a colder climate, but tonight, whatever gods governed their weather were angry. Perhaps they sensed his intrusion. Wind and freezing sleet hammered down with a vengeance upon the streets below, creating a thin slick of ice across nearly every surface it touched.

Even so, Irrik's feet dangled carelessly off the edge as he sat, staring down at the streets some few hundred stories below.

He'd watched his target here for weeks, recording every little movement and deviation of schedule. Fortunately, it was no great challenge to track an Echani. They were a people of ritual and discipline, not unlike his own. That made them predictable in mindset.

Tonight was the night. He'd waited more than long enough, and the watching could give way to hunting. With a contended sigh, Irrik pushed himself up and hopped off the edge.

He tasted the rush of the free-fall for several exquisite moments. The wind whipping past, the sensation of weightlessness. It was exhilarating, but he wasn't here to have fun.

This was supposed to be an easy job, a favor thrown to his elders to get back in their good graces after his last jaunt. Get in, kill a few administrative functionaries, leave them where they could be found, and get out. Irrik didn't know why the House wanted these individuals dead, and he supposed he cared even less. House elders typically were not in the business of expressing the reasons for their targets to bothersome and energetic youngsters.

He only knew that said functionaries travelled with armed security the last few days he'd watched them. Whether they'd gotten wind that they were marked, or if it was just simple caution after the last war, he couldn't guess. It mattered little, in the end. It would take far more than that to stop him.

After the Galactic Empire had broken the back of the Alliance, Irrik figured there was no time like the present. Any outer hold on this planet was surely weak, distracted. With the Empire on one flank, the Black Sun close at hand on another, and the Mandalorians practically next door, Eshan wouldn't stay in this state of easy pickings for long. Somebody new would take over before too long, and getting this close again wouldn't be easy.

His bladed fingers bit into the building's metal surface as he fell, arresting his slide to the bottom. Helsteel fingertips clutched the tower's exterior for purchase, and he dangled for a moment before righting himself.

Irrik began scuttling down the sheer face of the building like an oversized insect, his eyes never leaving the tiny speck that was his target. One target. Six guards. All on the way to a no-doubt-armored airspeeder. That would make things significantly more difficult.

They'd never reach it, if he had his way. Irrik dropped onto a lower archway, then rolled into a Force-assisted leap onto a rooftop a couple dozen meters above his quarry's position. He tensed his muscles, readying for a pounce...