Assault On Heaven

[Xevek Nekonis]

Spaceport, Docking Bay 9


A body dropped to the feet of a cloaked figure revealing a gleaming needle covered in the blood that belonged to the collapsed Rodian.

Sighing, a gruff sound caused by the numerous scars that cross across his throat, Xavka wiped the needles clean on the dark cloak that shrouded his figure, hiding it from view, before replacing it in the pouch on his hip. Reaching down, he grabbed the unconscious Rodian by her ankles before dragging her out of the way and into the corner of the Docking Bay.

While Xavka was willing to kill and had blood already on his hands, that did not mean that he would direct his killing intent towards any being he came across. The corrupt and those that bore a weapon would feel his wrath and fall at his blade, his whip or his needles. All of them would be delivered into the hands of Nath, welcomed into the realm of the dead as their song, a tale written onto the fabric of reality would draw to a close, keening its death tolls. However, if Xavka could make it so, his intent to serve his God, Nath, by delivering the foul, the warriors or the deserved to him would never be directed at an innocent. In this particular case, the Rodian was an innocent and, as such, was only knocked unconscious by a minor poison rather than being injected with a lethal one.

Turning away from the green scaled body, Xavka's yellow eyes, only one of them seeing, turned to the ship before him. Outer Heaven. The ship of his target. The one he was contracted to capture.

Walking towards the ship with long, steady strides, Xavka flickered out of view between one instant and the next, the Forec coiling around him and hiding him from sight by casting an illusion around him, one that made whoever may see him only see what they expected to see. In the next step, his Force Presence disappeared into the background. First, it blanketed itself into the background feeling of the Force then it suddenly compressed, shrinking into a pin point. He had no idea as to whether or not such an effort was needed, had no idea as to whether or not his target, a Liam Darkgear, could even sense him through the Force, but Xavka had no wish to underestimate his prey. There was also the advantage that, if Darkgear was Force Sensitive, he would receive no warning through the Force as his Presence was almost no longer there.

Crouching next to the boarding ramp, Xavka quickly set to work slicing into the panel, seeking to bypass all security.


[member="Liam Darkgear"]

 

[Liam Darkgear]

The explosion...

Screaming...

His left arm torn to shreds...

The pain.

Liam sat up suddenly, heart pounding and panting for air. His arm- kark, his arm. His arm was on fire. Not his physical arm, though, his left arm. Or where it used to be, anyway. There was a dull red mechanical appendage there now, numb to pain. It was his phantom arm that hurt then, the one lost to the hyperdrive failure in Trandosha. He was doing his job, killing some Wookiees, when that happened...

Visible goosebumps ran down his arm and neck. His phantom limb was throbbing in pain. Darkgear stood up slowly, trying to shrug it off like he did every morning. The mild PTSD was beginning to take a toll on him. His pallor was growing paler, and some grey hairs could be seen poking up on the side of his head. His nightmares were becoming much more frequent, some nights ending in a cataclysmic explosion, others ending with his arm on fire, strangling him...

The mercenary grabbed his eyepatch and slung it on his right eye, covering the dead flesh and punctured eyeball itself. He checked his holster, where his lovely Mandalorian Heavy Pistol sat. He was already in his armor. Paranoia was to call for that, the soldier not wanting to be caught off guard at any time. That was all right, though.

It would probably save his life today.

Stretching about, Darkgear scratched the back of his head and went from the cockpit of the Outer Heaven to the bathroom, looking to take a quick piss and flush out his fear and pain before the day began...

[member="Xavka Duquo"]

 

[Xevek Nekonis]

Grunting in satisfaction, Xavka replaced the Datapad into the expanses of his robes as the ramp slowly lowered with a feint hiss caused by the hydraulics. While he had been slicing into the ship's computer systems and bypassing the lock on the Outer Heaven's boarding ramp, Xavka had been following the Presence of Darkgear through the Force, tracking his movements so as to know if he was approaching Xavka's location.

When Darkgear had moved, Xavka had frozen in place, momentarily pausing the program on his Datapad that was conducting the slicing. But, thankfully, Xavka's prey never near him and he was able to continue his work on gaining entrance.

Moving swiftly and silently on near bare feet (his soles only covered in a few scraps of fabric), the one armed Zabrak sped through the interior of the ship, his black cloak flowing out behind him. With every step he took he drew closer to his prey, closer to his target, closer to the man he was to take alive.

10 meters away, Xavka reached into his robes and withdrew a minor thermal grenade, designed to injure, not kill, enemies not clad in armour with more fire than pressure. Pressing against the button on top of the weapon, the light on the surface lit up, letting him know that the grenade was no active. At the same time, a feint buzz filled the air from the clasped grenade.

6 metres away from his target and Xavka could hear his prey finishing their business in the bathroom, due to his highly sensitive hearing, as he rounded the corner into a short corridor.

3 metres away and Xavka's arm flew forwards. The grenade flew through the air in a clear arc before coming to rest at the slowly opening door before him. The buzz from the grenade turned into a high pitched whine.

1 seconds until detonation of the grenade and Xavka threw himself upwards. The exposed claws of his feet and hand dug into the metal ceiling as he clung there, hovering above the door. Still silent, still invisible, Xavka awaited his chance to move.

As he clung there, Xavka grabbed his robes in a telekinetic grip and wrapped them around him, preparing for the explosion and confident in the knowledge that the robes, treated to be fire resistant, would save him while remaining intact.

Then, the thermal grenade detonated while resting at the base of a partially open bathroom door.


[member="Liam Darkgear"]

 

[Liam Darkgear]

The sound of rushing urine coming to a halt was quickly replaced by the whine of a thermal detonator.

Liam would recognize that sound anywhere.

Instinct took over as he dived for the nearby shower, not knowing that the grenade was set to a nonlethal setting. He unholstered his mighty blaster and sat there, gun aiming at the doorway.

BOOM!

The door was blown off its hinges. Fire rushed in, engulfing the sink and toilet in flames, but leaving the minimally sheltered Mandalorian safe in his armor and cover. The few flames that made it his way did no harm to his armor. He was unscathed.

Rising up, gun still pointed at the now flaming doorway, the mercenary stood his ground, waiting for someone to poke their head in. An assassin, more than likely. He'd find out one way or another.


[member="Xavka Duquo"]

 

[Xevek Nekonis]

Xavka stilled, his head titled to the side, as the ringing of the grenade settled and stopped. Reaching out with his senses, both through the Force and his physical senses, Xavka tried to figure out if his prey had been neutralised. However, the response to his inquiry lead to him spitting out a vicious smirk beneath his breath in his native language, Ul'Zabrak, High Zabrak, the ancient Zabrak language that his Clan still spoke to maintain tradition.

Dropping down, soundless as he always was, Xavka advanced towards the door to fresher before him, his body was crouched over, minimising the size of a target he would make should Darkgear have some means of seeing past the mix of Illusion and Sith Magic he utilised, nicknamed within his mind as Unseen. His claws made no sound beside a barely audible click as they touched with the metal of the floor beneath his feet, a sound that couldn't be tracked back to him due to how quiet it was but served to unnerve Xavka's prey in the past.

Stepping into the fresher, Xavka cursed as he realised why his attack had failed. Apparently, between the time the bounty had been posted and the time he had reached Darkgear, the man had developed a streak of paranoia and even wore his armour going to the fresher to relieve himself. Thankfully, he wasn't wearing a helmet, narrowing the chance that he would be spotted.

Stopping just inside the door, after taking a few steps to the left, Xavka leapt upwards, securing himself to the ceiling once again and slowly advancing towards his prey. Stopping above the man, Xavka released his grip and dropped down. As he fell, a weapon seamlessly appearing in his grasp. The weapon looked like a thin piece of metal with two barbed ends and a ring at the centre, called and Emeici. The ring was set over Xavka's middle finger, securing the Emeici in place while the metal shaft resting on the inside of his fingers, between them and the palm, the two barbed ends emerging from his fist.

As Xavka fell towards his prey, the one he was to capture, he was already swinging the Emeici. The plan was for him to land with his legs wrapped around the back of Darkgear, surprising him, while his right (and only) arm would land on Darkgear's right shoulder. From there the Emeici would piece into the man's neck, wounding him but not too severely and not killing him either, whoever wanted Darkgear wanted him alive after all.


[member="Liam Darkgear"]

OOC Note:

Spoiler

My appologies for being so late with this post. Some RL stuff had drawn me away from writing but I'm return to the site now so, if you still wish to continue, I should be posting more regularly.

 

[Liam Darkgear]

The bathroom was deathly silent as Liam waited, blaster at the ready, his ears ringing from the thermal detonator still. What was the assassin waiting for? The Mandalorian didn't know what to expect from this person, whoever was trying to kill him. He waited still, the ringing gradually clearing, replaced by a clicking sound...

Sounded like a maalraas...but what about the feline predator native to Dxun was similar to this sound?

The claws. It was the same noise.

"Kark."

The assassin was climbing on the ceiling.

Then the Zabrak landed on his back and shoulders.

The mercenary had made the revelation too late. Darkgear felt the one-armed man's legs wrap around his torso and a weapon plunge into his neck. The slight armoring on that part of his body prevented the wound from being more than that- a wound. That didn't stop the barbs from hurting like hell, though. With a roar, the son of Dxun swung around, trying to dislodge the assassin by slamming him against the tile wall. Hopefully that would shake him off enough for Liam to unload his gun into the Zabrak, then jettison his corpse into the vacuum of space.


[member="Xavka Duquo"]