Private Among the Club's Shadows

[CT-312]

//: Darth Strosius //:
//: Attire //:

Quinn had placed her on temporary leave.

Something about a forced vacation and needing to learn how to take a break. CT-312 had interpreted that as freedom to pursue other productive matters. There was still work requiring her attention within the former Black Sun territories. That had led the Scout to her current location: some club on Dandoran.

Around her, patrons crowded together with their voices competing with the music. The pulsing lights rolled across the matte surface of the camouflaged Halycon’s plating. CT-312 made no effort in joining the “fun”. Instead, BARCA listened for her, sifting through the sounds and separating the overlapping conversations into distinct audio threads. Most were discarded immediately, but anything that might be useful was transcribed. The information was briefly displayed across CT-312’s HUD before being stored as the Scout continued moving slowly around the Club’s floor.

A sharp tone sounded inside her helmet. One of the audio threads had changed. Quickly, multiple threads turned into hurried whispers. A disturbance that spread outward, immediately catching the attention of the club goers. Many turned their heads to see what was happening while others moved away. BARCA highlighted a word repeated throughout the surrounding conversations.

[ SITH ]

CT-312’s brow rose behind the visor. She made her way further into the crowd, towards the source of the commotion. There was a break in the surrounding frightened patrons. A Rodian on the ground, and standing over him was a familiar looking cloaked and masked figure. Recognition followed along with BARCA’s confirmation. Darth Strosius . CT-312 had never interacted with the Sith, but she knew of him from the dossiers provided to her as Quinn’s head of security. More recently, the Scout had seen him fighting from the viewing box above the arena on Jutrand Academy.

What was he doing this far from Sith Space?

She remained among the onlookers and observed the interaction. A question about the Black Sun and one of its Blackwing Facilities caught her attention. CT-312 prepared to move closer—

Stopping in the middle of a step. Another figure approached the Sith. BARCA found a match from archived records. A Jedi. CT-312 eased back into the crowd, blending with a group of patrons that were pretending not to watch. Her armor became partially concealed in the darkness between each pulse of the club’s lighting. An amused breath escaped through the helmet’s modulator, drowned out by the whispers and chatter around her as the exchange unfolded.

It was strange to hear a Jedi advise the Rodian lying on the floor that his predicament was, in essence, his own fault for refusing to cooperate with a Sith. During CT-312’s brief service within the Galactic Alliance, the Jedi had been rigidly opposed to the Sith. She had witnessed much the same within the High Republic. Merely speaking the word Sith could turn suspicion into aggression with remarkable speed, leading to a witch hunt.

Yet here stood one of their own… speaking calmly to Darth Strosius, while showing little concern for the trembling Rodian at his feet, criminal or otherwise. Most unusual. CT-312’s helmet tilted a fraction as she continued watching.

Perhaps the Jedi were not so different from the Sith after all.

The continued interaction was nothing like the occasional brawl that erupted inside the clubs across lawless space. Eventually, the Rodian surrendered a disc, containing the information the Sith had come to retrieve. The Jedi continued talking as though nothing had happened, even after the Rodian was struck down. There was an uneasy stillness for several seconds before conversation returned. Everyone pretended nothing had happened. Those nearest to the corpse relocated elsewhere.

Only when the exchange between the two had ended did CT-312 step out from among the spectators. BARCA chimed. From the rear of the club, security and sanitation droids had been deployed from the Club’s owner to converge on the corpse. She approached the cloaked figure. “There are more effective ways to make someone talk and hand over information.” Before the enroute droids could reach the body, CT-312 lowered herself beside it and began patting down the Rodian's clothing. “Causing less of a scene and attracts fewer wandering eyes.” Checking the inside of his jacket, her gloved hand emerged with a small collection of credit chips and a personal datapad. CT-312 continued by rolling the body enough to finish the search. “Granted, I’m sure you already know that.”

CT-312 found a concealed packet along his belt, then felt a smaller object tucked behind it. Her fingers closed around it and withdrew a compact encryption key. That explained the bargain the Rodian had been trying to make. Her visor turned towards the Sith while she rose. “Awfully far from Sith space, aren't we, Lord Strosius?”

The cleanup droids arrived behind her, their mechanical limbs extending to secure the corpse. CT-312 stepped aside and allowed them to work. Two miniature slicer droids crawled from separate pouches along her belt and moved across her gauntlet towards the Rodian's datapad and the recovered key. Immediately, streams of information appeared across CT-312’s HUD as BARCA monitored their progress. She faced the Sith fully and inclined her helmet in a brief greeting.

“CT-312.”

There was little reason to pretend he would not recognize her armor that she wore while on duty beside the Princess. “You retrieved your data, but it appears the deceased intended to remain alive long enough to provide the encryption key.” The Scout’s visor lowered toward the disc in Strosius’s possession before returning to his mask. “If I may?” CT-312 extended an open palm between them. “Just to make sure the key works.”

 

[Darth Strosius]

Tags: CT-312
--------------------------------------------

Darth Strosius was more than content to take His leave of the club with His business concluded, next would be the waiting game of seeing who jumped to react to the Rodian's death first and thus earn His attention. He certainly wasn't here for the cheap drinks and even cheaper thrills after all. Much to His surprise however He didn't have the chance to get more than a step away before He was approached by another figure from the crowd. Were she not clad in armor He'd have suspected that she was merely some inebriated local getting too bold for their own good.

An eyebrow quirked up behind His mask as she began checking over the body for any additional belongings, stepping in before the little cleanup crew droids could arrive to come fix the scene. Undoubtedly such a feature and service was standard at any place of business on a seedy world such as Dandoran, and more than likely one which paid for itself quite quickly if He had to guess. "If I didn't want to cause a scene then I'd have been waiting for the slime at his penthouse down the street. The display is half the point."

His hidden gaze narrowed slightly at the device that she pulled from the corpse's belt, idly recognizing it to be some form of key although whether it belonged solely to the disk that He had was the real question. Though that took a bit of a secondary focus to her addressing Him by name. Just how many people knew of Him on this wretched little world?! "Everything worth doing is beyond Sith space, all the deals and occurrences within have already been decided." He wasn't the only one far from Sith space it seemed.

The masked Sith Lord noticed the droids creeping up along the woman's form and onto the datapad in her possession with another raised eyebrow, His head cocking to the side slightly at what He assumed was her introduction. "CT-312. A pleasure, I'd introduce myself but it seems as though you're already aware." Her request for the disk was met with a brief hesitation before He decided to entertain the offer and set the device into her open palm. "Just to make sure it works." If nothing else that would save Him the trouble of having to figure that out for Himself later.

"And, pray tell, what are you doing so far beyond the Blackwall yourself? You don't seem to be on a vacation of any sort. Business then?"

 

[CT-312]

//: Darth Strosius //:
//: Attire //:

CT-312 paused at the mention of a penthouse. Her visor dipped toward the Rodian as the cleanup droids began securing the corpse. Nothing about the dead man’s clothing or what was found on him suggested the sort of wealth required for a penthou—

Ah… Perhaps this was one of those social conventions BARCA had attempted to explain to the Scout. Exaggeration… Or was it sarcasm? “Penthouse is going a bit far. Though the display did bring forth something amusing.” Maybe that was what Lord Strosius had intended. Around them, BARCA continued filtering the club’s overlapping conversations. As the droids grabbed hold of the Rodian, the immediate panic began to fade. The patron's attention shifted on the corpse that was being hauled away.

Her brow rose behind the visor at Strosius’s remarks of Sith Space. An interesting assessment. Since entering the Sith Order’s service, CT-312 could scarcely remember a period when there had not been something requiring her attention or deployment. Granted, the more she thought about it, there was enough truth to his words. The farther one traveled from established Sith territory, the more uncertain things became… and uncertainty tended to create opportunities.

CT-312 noticed the momentary stillness before having the display disk placed in her open palm. Her gloved fingers closed around the device, inserting it in the interface built into the armor’s vambrace. Click. Secured in place, a pale white holographic projection immediately appeared through a haze of distortion between them. The incoherent haze shifted through one another. Lines of scrambled characters raced around the edges of the projection. BARCA immediately established a connection with the encryption key, matching authentication sequences and testing them on the disk.

Strosius’s comment about introductions drew her gaze away from the changing hologram. “The Princess may have mentioned a few words.” Exactly what Quinn might have said about Darth Strosius was another matter. CT-312’s HUD filled with fragmented strings of data as BARCA continued dismantling the encryption. “And as for what I’m doing here…” Her helmet angled slightly towards him. “That depends on who you ask. If you ask my employer, I’m on vacation.” Her tone had a faint trace of amusement through the helmet’s modulator. “But it’s like you said, Everything worth doing is beyond Sith Space, and former Black Sun territory has plenty worth looking into.”

A mechanical chirp sounded in CT-312’s helmet.

[ AUTHENTICATION ACCEPTED ]

Her visor tilted toward the projection. The scrambled holographic image abruptly collapsed into itself. Disappearing for half a second, before flickering back into view, this time clearer. The characters were readable and the lines were sharpened as several locations arranged themselves across the projection while BARCA duplicated the information onto her HUD.

“The encryption key works.” CT-312’s eyes moved through the decrypted entries.

[ BLACKWING PROJECT ]
[ DATHOMIR — IMPERIAL RESEARCH AND PRISON FACILITY ]
[ GRADIENT SEVEN — IMPERIAL CORRECTIONS FACILITY ]
[ DANDORAN — GALACTIC EMPIRE FACILITY ]
[ COORDINATES: PARTIAL — POSSIBLE VESSEL LOCATION ]

CT-312 remained silent as BARCA copied and indexed everything available. There were no schematics attached and no indication of whether the facilities were still operational or had been abandoned. Just locations, designations, and scattered references linking them all to the same project. Her focus lingered on the third entry. Dandoran.

Interesting. She had encountered Blackwing before, during a job undertaken while the Black Sun still controlled these territories. CT-312 remembered the abandoned facility and what had remained inside… It made sense why this disk was heavily encrypted. “Blackwing.” The Scout disengaged the disk from her vambrace and held it out between two gloved fingers towards Strosius to take. “Any particular reason this caught your attention?”

While she waited, the two slicer droids completed their work. Their tiny mechanical legs carried them back across her plating before disappearing into a separate pouch. BARCA continued sorting the copied material and the contents of the datapad in the background while CT-312 kept the encryption key resting in her other hand. There were other matters to pursue on Dandoran… Unfortunately, there was also Quinn.

More specifically, there was the inevitable conversation awaiting her once the Princess asked what she had actually done during her vacation. Returning with nothing but reports and dead criminals was unlikely to satisfy the spirit of taking a break. The alternative punishment would probably involve another session of romantic comedies… Rebreaching the infected facility was sounding a bit more appealing.

BARCA gave a quiet trill inside the helmet and opened a small reminder along the edge of the HUD.

CT-312’s eyes narrowed faintly, before letting out a quiet breath to herself. “One of the facilities listed on that disk is here on Dandoran. An abandoned Galactic Empire facility that I have breached before.” The Scout’s visor settled fully on Strosius. “Perhaps we can assist one another. I recovered whatever local data I could find, though I can’t guarantee it contains whatever you’re looking for. I still have access to the facility’s layout and know it well enough to get us inside without wasting time. I can also show you where the functional terminals are. Or I can just give you the limited data that was retrieved.”

There was a sudden seriousness in her tone. “In exchange, I require one thing.” CT-312's visor remained fixed on his mask. "I'm going to need a photograph." She held out the encryption key between them, holding it just beyond his reach. "Preferably one with both of us in it, resembling something that could reasonably pass for some sort of vacation.”