Among the Dead

[Davin Jusik]

Rhen Var. A cold rock well within the borders of Republic space and the site of an untold multitude of skirmishes between the powers that be for centuries. Which gave the old Stromtrooper a bit of an odd feeling considering his history, but the Remnant and the pubs seemed to be getting along fine. Max stood along the edge of a set of ruins that had some personal meaning to him. Towering gray spires and structures that had stood for millennia held echoes of the pain that had radiated throughout several years before. The intricate cityscape surrounded by uninhabitable wastes was the site of one of the officer's first battles, back when he'd been but a Junior EOD Tech and Corporal in the Sith Empire's Stormtrooper Corps. It seemed like a lifetime ago. Snow drifted underneath his heavy winter gear as a gust picked itself up into a howling bitter wind. From behind a pair of goggles he watched the past play out before him like a dream, before the droid in the starfighter he'd borrowed from the Navy brought him back to reality with a worried BEEOW.

"It'll be fine, just keep an eye on the ship. Should be back within the hour."

The droid retorted with a half hearted affirmation, as if annoyed slightly. It'd picked up an unusual amount of activity within the "abandoned" ruins using the ship's scanners.

Max didn't really care.

His only weapon was a well maintained vibro bayonet, which he'd made and fitted himself for his Service Rifle. It was a running joke amongst his troopers that their CO was the only man in the Military crazy enough to still try to kill something with it. Max moved to explore the ruins with sense of wonderment at the scope of the buildings around him. They'd survived whatever calamity had claimed the civilization or people that had originally constructed them, before surviving battles waged by any major military that had passed through the system. It struck him that he didn't really know why he'd came. What was he hoping to find? Closure?

He didn't know.

Max pushed on underneath a skyline of infinite gray.

 

[Miss Blonde]

"So the job is simple right?" A gruff voice of a large dark skinned man said to Patricia as small civilian ship pushed into the atmosphere. Inside the ship the republic field agent known as Agent G, or Patricia as she preferred to be called. It was the name she gave herself after she left her home on Zeltros. It was a good name in her opinion and it fit her current lifestyle. At least in her eyes maybe. The woman sat cross legged and huffed a sigh of frustration towards the large man that stood next to her. "Yeah I got it, get in and play damsel in distress, woo him and then get any information of imperial troop movements from the inside. We've been over this a thousand god damn time boss get off my nuts." Metaphorical nuts that is. Patrica was a grown woman and despite having the rebellious mouth of a teenager she was quite grown into her body.

"Just get your ass out there and do what needs to be done!" The dark skinned man said with anger and authority dripping from his words in a half snarl. "Yeah yeah, spare me the details." The ship moved into the abandoned city scape about a hundred yards where the stormtrooper was walking. Garter made her way to the ramp and heaved for a moment as the ship slowed into a descent. "So let's get started." The door opened and the man spoke. "Garter, one last thing" she turned back with an angry expression only to be caught in the eye with a right hook from the man. "You need to look the part." Patricia's head rocked back and her vision tunneled only to see another right impact her face. Falling backwards off the ramp and two feet onto the ground she hit the cold pavement with hard thump. "THAT WILL TEACH YOU FOR NOT PAYING UP WHORE!" The dark skinned man said out loud hoping to get the attention of the good captain.

Patricia coughed and laid there, a bruise swelling on her left eye as she curled into a helpless ball and started her act. Secretly she was swearing revenge but she had to get to work now. Hot tears dropped down her face and she cried loudly. She wore a tight torn red dress that showed off some of her more lovely assets but did leave room for the imagination. She lay there crying and sobbing letting out a pained cry and sobbed more hoping her tears and shouts would be noticed.

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="Maximilian Vinticus"]

 

[Davin Jusik]

[member="Patricia Susan Garter"]

The sound of a spacecraft broke Max's thoughts as the clouds parted with it's approach. The exhaust burned a deep cherry red that reminded him of the color a thermal detonator made near it's base when it was being detonated by a plastic explosive. What an odd place for a shuttle to come. Could it be a fellow explorer like him? A veteran of another conflict from another time?

No such luck.

Max gave a sigh as a very large man hit a woefully underdressed woman off of the entrance ramp and onto the ground. Her body heaved with what was obviously a physical reaction to sobs and she gave a pained shout. Max felt his blood boil at the underlying sadomasochism of the whole situation.

He channeled his Head DI from across the gulf of time and space, beyond the grave, saying in a terrifying voice.

"HEY."

As loudly as he could, as he authoritatively began walking towards the other, larger man.

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="Maximilian Vinticus"]

The senior republic agent looked up at the oncoming stormtrooper and smirked a grin of contempt before yelling out "SUCK A CHODE LOSER!" The ramp on the door began to close and Patricia looked up at the man the welt on her eye beginning to swell. She muttered a curse under her breath at the man and went back to her act. "Don't F@&$ this up garter." The dark skinned agent mouthed to Patricia as the ramp closed and the ship boomed off into space. Leaving only Patricia and the young captain on this abandoned world. She coughed a few times and laid there for a few moments before stirring from her defensive ball.

Her small slender limbs began to stir and her body shifted to lay there at an awkward angle. Rolling to her side she coughed and tears began to lessen as she staggered to her feet. Buckling a few times in the three inch heels she wore the woman stood there in front of the young captain. Very carefully she bent her left arm and grabed the slender bicep of her right arm. She looked like she had just been through hell. The swelling around her left eye began to purple darken.

"Hello? Please don't hurt me..." She said letting her last word linger on her tongue. Her voice was soft and velvety it commanded attention from anybody like the meow of a kitten. Her eyes a soft blue looked at Max with a desperation, but yet if one could study them there was something more to it. They were the eyes of a predator

 

[Davin Jusik]

[member="Patricia Susan Garter"]

Max looked up at the vessel curiously as it flew upward into the cloud layer. Now that was odd. Why would someone go through the trouble of bringing someone all the way out here and then leave when one potential threat presented itself? Especially when the man had been significantly larger than the trooper and hadn't even bothered with posturing before leaving. Something was sketchy. Criminals maybe. Not that Max particularly cared what vices folk were into, normally.

"You alright?" He asked the woman directly, ignoring the act, Rhen Var was too out of the way and the ship had went up to quickly for this to be some sort of domestic spat. He doubted she was nearly as helpless as she pretended.

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="Maximilian Vinticus"]

Patricia tensed up slightly in fear and looked the man up and down. He was a bit taller than she thought, his picture in the report didn't really do him credit. However that was just him in a dress uniform that was dreadfully grey. Patricia pursed her lips and looked down holding her scraped arm. "Yeah, I'm ok." She said softly trying not to make eye contact. "I'm Patricia, listen I don't know who you are but please don't hurt me." Patrica coughed and took a hobble forward on her heels.

She looked like a dancer, not just in her revealing outfit but also her body. All slender limbs and a curved torso. She was a attractive looking woman even with her blonde hair frazzled and covering parts of her face in a fried mess of crazy hair. "They just left me here. They left me here to die!" Patricia's pretend world started to come down as she looked at the ground hot tears streaking down her face.

 

[Davin Jusik]

[member="Patricia Susan Garter"]

"Why would they do that? Who are they? If they hate you so much why would they leave you here alive?" Max asked in monotone as he began to pull an emergency blanket out of his survival bag. The woman was still tugging him around and Max still couldn't figure why, with crime still being his best guess. She wasn't being upfront so neither would he. He'd seen enough women die for his evolutionary instinct to "protect the female" had long ago been dulled by self preservation. Not that he didn't care, he just didn't let emotion rule his response to these sorts of situations. Came with his job's territory.

She was pretty.

And a good actress.

Who happened to be hiding something.

Dangerous.

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="Maximilian Vinticus"]

This guy was good, he didn't let his biological emotions get in the way of deductions. No wonder he was a captain, but it was time to lay out her cover story. "Well." She bit her lip in nervousness and exhaled. "I'm a dancer on Zeltros, and I owe a lot of money to some bad people." Patrica looked down at her arm and a tight metallic bracelet was fastened there quite firmly. "And dead people don't pay." She looked at silently blinking monitor and looked up at Max, shining her angelic blue eyes. "So they strapped this on me and left me here to motivate me to pay them. They told me if I try to leave the planet them boom." She looked away and bit her lip nervously again.

"I just have problems. I'm sorry you had to see this." She held up the supposed explosive device around her left hand and another tear rolled down her face. "Listen just get away from me before it blows." Patricia said with sorrow in her voice, this would have to work something in him. The torn revealing dress, the damsel in distress with a problem he could potentially solve. It did seem too good to be true but whether it was real or not this woman looked to be in danger

 

[Davin Jusik]

[member="Patricia Susan Garter"]

Max raised an eyebrow at the small device tapered to her wrist, he'd only seen one a few times before. Those times had almost always ended with a death, besides the prisoner shuttle that was headed to a maximum security facility. The trooper still wasn't buying her tale but it wasn't in his nature to leave someone to die on the chance they might be a threat. Especially in such a horrible manner.

"Let me see." He said as he drapped the thick survival blanket over her shoulders, offering his hand for her to rest her forearm on.

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="Maximilian Vinticus"]

Patricia sniffled a bit then gave a weak genuine chuckle. "What a gentleman." She said in a soft tone that exuded her femininity. Placing her forearm gently on his hand and rested it. She was sizing max up, he was smart. Almost too smart for a stormtrooper. Most men would of been ogling her and thinking of inappropriate acts. But not this one, this one was business and sharp. And he was a good person, he could of left Patricia or worse. He could of taken advantage of the situation even. The whole "save the woman" routine didn't work. And she'd have to take a different route once she felt the shock of the situation had worn off with her act.

Draping the blanket around her she pinched the ends together by her collar bone and looked like a child pretending to be a super hero wearing a cape. Her eye was now starting to swell shut and become a dark purple as the bruise began to set in. "Thank you." She said pausing before speaking again. "I'm Patricia."

 

[Davin Jusik]

[member="Patricia Susan Garter"]

"Max." He said as he began to tinker with the device. Opening up it's back panel with his gloved finger and exposing the several wires that ran within. Six out of seven caused the bracelet to explode. The specific one varied from manufacturer to manufacturer and to a casual observer were indestinguishable, unless you knew exactly what to look for. There was the smallest fraction of copper on the top of three of the wires. Depending on the model it was the one of those three, which could only really be distinguished by a small manufacturers mark underneath the wires. The Empire was very thorough in training.

Max checked before procuring a small bag of tools from his bag and cuting the appropriate wire.

"I appreciate the compliment, but I'm a gentlemen as much as you're a dancer."

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="Maximilian Vinticus"]

Patricia took in a deep breath of air whilst Max browsed around in the device in her arm. It of course did not have real explosive in it and instead the puddy explosives were clay. But the device beeped a few times then shuttered and died. With a sigh of relief she gave a weak smile that quickly turned sour when she was accused of being someone else than what she said. Well she wasn't really lying, before her gig as a republic agent Patricia really did dance on Zeltross for a few clubs. She loved dancing and in her defense she believed she was quite good at it.

"Hey." She said defensively. "I am a dancer and don't think for a moment I can't prove that." The five foot seven woman stared up at the man and scowled a bit clearly offended by his comment. Her expression changed shortly, she sighed and tucked the blanket closer to her. This man did just "save" her life. "Could out dance you..." She muttered under her breath and spoke once more "And I mean that you are a gentleman. You just saved me, no ones ever gone out of their way for me."

 

[Davin Jusik]

[member="Patricia Susan Garter"]

"Now that I don't doubt." Max replied with a chuckle at the dance off comment. The lithe woman did have the body of someone graceful. The tech discarded the explosive and gave her a look over, making mental notes as he did. She was still being evasive about something, and it gave Max a bit of an off putting vibe.

"So what are you going to do now?"

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="Maximilian Vinticus"]

Patrica tensed a little when the question was asked, she quickly looked down and shrugged like a lost child. "I don't know." She said trying to pick up the pieces to an imaginary plan, "I don't have any money or transportation." Patricia sighed and a single tear fell down her shining purple eye. "Can I go with you?" She said I a very soft voice looking up at him with genuine eyes. Well eye, the other was swollen and purple the bruise set firmly. She didn't have any other choice and was basically stuck on this world until her "captors" returned for her. She slide a hand forward and placed it gently on Max's chest letting her fingers sprawl out on him in a gentle warm touch.

"I know you may not believe me but these are bad people. And I don't want to go back to Zeltros. Do you know what they do with women who can't pay? We get sold into prostitution rings until our debt is settled." She kept her hand on his chest and moved her other hand off the blanket letting it fall to the ground in a bundle of fabric to reveal her torn dress and curves. "Please." She said sadly, taking her other hand she placed it on Max's right arm before pressing into him setting her cheek on his right pectoral. "Just believe me for ten minutes."

 

[Davin Jusik]

[member="Patricia Susan Garter"]

Max couldn't help but falter slightly to this semi intimate moment, being the man that he was. Despite his seemingly cold exterior and the weight of his actions he was still not inhuman. Or as sinister a man as some of his coworkers. He still believed she was hiding something, but he couldn't quite tell of that was a result of his normal paranoia or something more concrete. Regardless he understood that it would be relatively useless to have saved this woman's life to leave her to die in the cold.

Max felt an admiration for how she seized her gender's formidable array of skills perfectly, tailoring her actions to how she believed he was. Nothing overtly sexual. Just human. It gave him a grin.

"You're dangerous." Max said playfully before placing his right hand on her hip and closing his left hand in hers.

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="Maximilian Vinticus"]

"Only if you want me to be." She said in a playful tone as well, Patricia was definitely not afraid to be overly sexual if it came down to it. But her read of Max showed he was an intelligent man, he was smart, brave, and would do what needed to be done if it came down to it. Being a blonde bimbo sex bunny would not be the proper character to put forth to get what she wanted. And right now that was his trust, which was going to be a very hard obstacle to get over.

She shuddered slightly at his touch, a small yet pleasant shock tingling down her spine at it. Feeling his hand on her hip she pressed a bit deeper on him almost melting into him. The wind blew slightly and Patricia locked his fingers between her own in a small gentle grip. "I think that may be a yes." Patricia gave a weak smile and kept her head on his chest feeling her head rise and fall with each breath. "Thank you, max. What do we do now?" She asked the question and continued her embrace. She wanted to know why he was there but that question could come later

 

[Davin Jusik]

[member="Patricia Susan Garter"]

"Well, I've got something to do, alone." Max said as he moved his hands slowly away. "Then you need to tell me where you want me to take you so you'll be relatively hidden from these.... People."

He couldn't bring her back to Imperial Space without knowing more about her, and with the current climate. Max was about to transition fields.

"You can wait in the fighter, I'll walk you back to make sure the droid lets you in."

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="Maximilian Vinticus"]

Patricia nodded and understood him, she couldn't seem pressing at the moment. Digging for info was not a very smart idea, she had to slowly move from the victim role back to the independent woman act. But she couldn't drop it right now, she still had to make him feel that she was dependent on him and his protection. She had to get into imperial space and she was not going to take no for an answer. She frowned at bit and accepted he had to do something alone, "Don't be too long please, I'm still a little scared." She said in her soft voice that was laced with the smallest hint of fear in the tone. She tried holding his hand a little tighter as he pulled them away implying that she needed him to be around physically to help her in a time of need. It wasnt a death grip but it was just subtle enough to silently show it.

She looked up at him with her one good angelic blue eye. Now it was to show small signs of the woman in her and not the battered victim. "Take this with you." She sat up on her tip toes letting one of her hand rest on his shoulder as she set her warm soft lips on his right cheek. She lingered for a second and then let go of him. She gave another weak yet sad smile at his coming departure. "Hold my hand?" She asked while she picked up the blanket and draped it around her shoulders softly now waiting for him.

 

[Davin Jusik]

[member="Patricia Susan Garter"]

Max gave a nod and returned the kiss before grasping her hand.

"Of course." He said as he moved towards the fighter.

(I think we should be done with this one, we can pick up after he drops her off on another)