Seasonal [Black Sun] You Did A Job With The Person Above You And Made This Much Money

[Maera Dren]

Nala knew Eaton Waters as the sort of man who'd smile while making promises he never intended to keep. He was smooth, careful with his words, but she could detect the same hunger for power in him that she recognized in everyone who fancied themselves smarter than Black Sun.

Her assignment had taken her to Pamarthe. It wasn't her usual territory, but she owed a favor to a Sable Cut investor. This investor insisted she keep Eaton alive long enough to finalize a deal. Eaton had orchestrated a sale: an ancient hydro-map salvaged from a Republic survey ship. It was invaluable to corporations eager to exploit Pamarthe's currents. The issue was, the map had already been promised to three other parties.

Nala's task was straightforward: ensure Eaton survived until his deceptive dealings were through. She followed him through the waterfront meeting spots, her gaze vigilant while he offered Corellian brandy and spun falsehoods with a disarming laugh. When the first buyer discovered they'd been deceived, the room erupted. Shouts turned to violence, and blasters were drawn. Nala's Teräs Käsi training intervened, breaking the tension and two arms before any shots were fired. Eaton, unmoved, maintained his smile, closing the sale with the highest bidder while Nala dispersed the others effortlessly.

Later, on the deck of the courier ship, Eaton raised a glass of sea-wine to her, declaring he couldn't have succeeded without her. Nala didn't buy it. Eaton had the air of someone who always planned multiple steps ahead, even if those plans involved others suffering for his ambitions.

Still, he paid her, the transaction clean and timely. And that, Nala conceded, was worth something.

 

[Tiione Dine]

Maera Dren​

The job was a big one.

It was enough credits to keep her on budget for at least two months. Those kinda credits do not just drop on her lap. Tiione knew it. She understood it.

The pragmatic working girl in her told herself that all things considered, it wasn't a bad gig.

It was a standard mind wipe. Maybe a day or so. Not bad.

But when she stood in front of the family of eight, saw the tears in their eyes and heard their pleas. It made it hard. Real hard.

Nala had hired Tiione to wipe the minds off a few slaves so that they didn't remember who took 'em and how they got to the auction block. Helped in making sure if they made an attempt for an escape, they wouldn't remember where to go.

Tiione had to tell herself not to look 'em in the eyes. And just to make sure she didn't get all emotionally swayed, she had them face away from her.

It was all going well. At least, until the request came to make sure to erase the names of their siblings from their memories. Made for selling them separately easier if they didn't have them mewling for one another. Less fight and more apt to listen. To settle into their new status.

Tiione had been taken aback, as that hadn't been part of the job.

Another offer of credits to sweeten the deal, but it was made in a way that said that if she didn't accept, she'd regret it. And word on the street was that if one failed to do what Black Sun wanted, well... ain't no one gonna hire her again.

So she did it. She plucked the memories that covered the happy and the sad. The joy and the hurt. The trust and the love. The name of each sibling was erased from their memories so that it would be as if they never even existed at all.

After the job, Tiione didn't head home.

No. She spent it drinking. Crying.

Because for once, she was the one reliving the family life from another's mind that she desperately missed. And in her act of depriving four siblings of the life they once had, where they were loved.

 

[Skeevi Merrill]

Sensibly, many things scared Doc Merrill. Skeevi had operated on hardcore criminals like Xalazar Krev for frell's sake. Grown up in the Denon undercity. Taken electric knuckles to a Sith Lord and learned the unwisdom of that the hard way. But all those fears were quantifiable and external. Tiione Dine , however, scared the shavvit out of them in a whole other way. She had a reputation rarely whispered of, even among the Black Sun legbreakers whose implants Skeevi turned up. Memory wiper, these people said with an invariable shiver. Kind of person you bring in to erase half of someone else.

When Black Sun errands put them in the same room, then, Skeevi made sure to have a ratty old taozin amulet under their shirt and another in their coat pocket in case one of them was just plain leather. They kept both amulets on their person through the whole job, which amounted to 'Dine, make sure the parts of brain Merrill's replacing don't have anything irreplaceable in them.' Which would have been interesting if not for the fear, yeah. Back home afterward, curled up in a yellow-lit window overlooking a Nar Shaddaa promenade, Skeevi tried to sort out the why of that fear, the reason they were so spooked by the idea of memory erasure, and couldn't come up with much. Not much at all. Easily the scariest part.

 

[Eaton Waters]

Getting to work on some payroll was always nice. Eaton wasn't a Black Sun purist but it didn't matter. A job was mostly a job. And these were helping him get to his next spot. The last job? Got him a good amount of credits and some knowledge of a few different witch clans.

But it only did a bit.

What he really needed was some parts. Black Sun had found themselves a witch, one injured in a raid. And word found then that Eaton was a decent fence. But for slightly used cybernetics? There was only one name to come for that.

Skeevi Merrill .

Eaton was too well dressed for what appeared to be a Jawas workshop that passed for an … oh Force, he hoped not an apartment.

His job here? Take the trinkets and trade them for parts for the witch. And make some credits for himself.

The real question? Why was everything so wet.

 

[Tohu]

Three AM, Nar Shaddaa. Jatz music was playing softly from the speakers, the live band already gone home, along with most patrons, but the lights were still down, keeping the mood for the few that remained. Place wasn't really Tohu's type of dive bar, nor was the music. He'd come over to get his job's payment from the bartender and stayed for Verse.

Who wouldn't?

Verse. He'd just met her. She sat in the half-light, a face not asking for attention, just taking it. She was around his age, but that look in her eyes was like a made man's, like she'd seen a lot of chit and kept her cool, knows how to swim in the gutters of the underworld. They sat at the bar, he in his loose harem pants, she in her collar, buttoned high; his unruly, black hair opposite her sleek, dark locks; two opposites, but you know what they say about opposites, right? He'd told her 'can I buy you a drink?', she said sure and they were having some funny small talk. Him trying to get her attention, her interest, and her -- driving a hard bargain, you know how these things go.

Tohu was telling her about that job he came here to get paid for, "... so me and this smuggler, we open up this case and it's glowing inside, almost blinds us, you know what I'm talking about." she nodded and took a sip of her drink, "We both look at each other and know for sure this is Mr. Razmir Tezhyn 's case, now we just got to get the hell outta here. We tell Brett, you know the one that didn't speak much Basic, nobody feths with Mr. Tezhyn, except Mr. Tezhyn's wife, so I put a cap in him and we're out the door. Smuggler says let's get a huttaburger, I'm famished, I say sure. And we're just outside the building when cops swarm the place, surround us, blasters pointed us. This lady comes out one of the speeders, good looking lady, black skirt, black blazer, real official, sunglasses on, blonde hair tied in a knot, real cool. Smuggler says 'chit, it's Sisco.' I look at him, I don't know what he's talking about but he sure as hell looking at that lady like he's known her his whole life. She shakes her head, chit-eating smirk on her face, tells him, "Told you I'd catch you one day, Waters. And the guy just bolts."

"Waters?" Verse raised an eyebrow, "Are you talking about Eaton Waters ?"

Tohu said, "Maybe. I don't know his first name."

"Blonde hair, blue eyes?"

Tohu said, "Yeah." thinking there's probably more than one Eaton Waters with blonde hair and blue eyes in the galaxy.

"Half Bluebreen?" Versed asked and he was just looking at her, "Blue sheen on his skin?" and a pause later he nodded, "That's Eaton Waters. Big time spice mover from the Rim to the Core. I didn't know he was doing work for Razmir." she said like she was slotting that information on a useful shelf in the back of her mind, "Makes sense though."

"Right, Eaton Waters. So we're running. They're blasting at us and I am blasting back. This Waters guy he's like fish out of water. All the way three blocks down, scrambling for his ship, we make it and we're off." Tohu said, took a sip of his drink, wet his dry lips, and figured he'd never talked with someone so much, never was much of the socializing type. And neither was she, but he was the one chasing today, so you know how these things go.

"I'm lounging on the co-pilot seat, we're already in hyperspace. Forgotten about the cops. Just looking forward to come home, take my paycheck and," Tohu gave her a grin, "have a drink with you." but she just gave him a tight smile, maybe a little shake of her head. So he kept talking, "I look at this guy, Waters, and he's sweatin'. He's cool, like there's no other place he feels home than on the pilot seat, but he's sweating. I ask him why, he says 'we're not off the hook yet, Sisco won't give up that easy.' I give him a funny face, just as we exit hyperspace to take a new course and ask him, 'she's an Alliance Marshal, isn't she?' cause no one else is a rabid hound like them."

Verse cuts him off, saying, "Debatable. ISB's pretty committed."

"I think the same thing." Tohu said without meaning to say it, "So I tell him the same thing. He tells me, 'She's, uh, different.' and there's this tone in his voice, I don't know. It's like they've been married, divorced now, and he knows all about her and she knows all about him." Verse laughed at that, a short laugh, but it was something, and Tohu could feel his eyes gleaming now. "No way, right? Well, the proximity sensors start blaring, scanners show a gunship right on our tail. Comms crackle and would you believe it? Sisco's talking, saying 'You're getting booked today, Waters.' and this guy just hits the throttle till it breaks. I'm glued to the seat and he's running us through an asteroid field, trying to shake off our tail. I've never seen someone fly through an asteroid field like that."

"He's well known for his piloting." Verse said. "He's done some runs few others have."

"Known for his piloting? He's crazy. But I can't tell him that, I can't tell him anything, the way he's driving this boat, rocks the size of the Rotunda flying by. I'm thinking I tell him anything maybe this guy flips and shoves us straight into one of these rocks. We're ten minutes inside the field, zapping past death and I take a look at the scanners -- Sisco's still on our tail. I look at Waters, he's zoned in like he's shot up ten deathsticks in one go. So I figure I'm gonna tell him she's still on our tail and he curses under his breath, shakes his head and picks up the comms and you know what he tells her?"

Verse's looking at him, that tight smile gone wider now, looser.

" 'How about we talk it over, honey.' " and Verse laughed again, " in this sweet voice, sounds like a siren's song. Know what happens next? She kills her engines, says nothing over the comms, and this Waters guy is grinning; he cruises out of the field, and we're back home safe."

Tohu took a sip of his drink, downed it, and let it rest in silence for a while before he said, "Another drink?"

Verse shook her head, "I'm calling it a night. Thanks." she stood up from her seat, watching him, bit of a smile on her face and Tohu's waiting, waiting for the invitation, but it never comes. Instead, she said, "See you another time, Tohu." passing by him now, smirking, "Maybe."

Tohu turned halfway round his seat, watching her go, saying, "Yeah. See you another time," hoping it was true.

Had to be.​

 

[Calyx Sundrift]

Calyx swayed his drink again, watching the liquor splash against the rim of his glass. Acier Moonbound was ignoring him texts again. Really, it seemed as if most friendships in the galaxy’s underbelly were little more than frozen, undeveloped semi-hostilities.

It was almost like that time when Black Sun had asked for professionals - the ones who'd done Troithe and the Corellian job. And Kanjiklub had graciously sent only one of them.

Calyx Sundrift. Thief and casanova extraordinaire. Fresh off an extended holiday on Zeltros and still high on the pheromones. The rest of the crew? Hired muscle and filler. A couple of sleazy Gran, a pair of Bothan spies, and a Theelin woman who’d rejected him before he’d even said “hi.” Really, the only one worth noting was the dark-haired guy with the strong handshake. Tohu . Calyx had smelled potential.

Black Sun’s request had sounded simple enough. Retrieve an antique vase before some high-class Coruscanti socialites - god forbid - could auction it off for charity. Unacceptable. Calyx had agreed wholeheartedly. Some things were just too sacred.

So how did that end with eight dead, two captured, and the vase smashed to pieces?

Well, it started out fine. He remembered sauntering in with Tohu and the rest of the crew. The Coruscanti mansion was empty, though someone had left food out in the dining room. Naturally, Calyx helped himself to the cake centerpiece. The Gran, already a few drinks in, discovered the wine cellar was unlocked. Tohu and the Theelin were more cautious. Perhaps too cautious, Calyx had thought at the time.

Then. things got fuzzy. The food had been drugged.

At some point, the family returned. With guests.

From there, it all went downhill.

Calyx vaguely recalled a prolonged firefight between the Bothans and the owner’s pet nexu, while he, the Theelin, and Tohu hid in the landlady’s wardrobe. Somehow, the Theelin had managed to talk the raven-haired mercenary down from joining the fight. The Gran had gotten trapped in the wine cellar. Which, it turned out, was vacuum-sealed to preserve rare vintages. Not a pleasant way to go, Calyx imagined.

He would’ve put his credits on the Bothans. They'd chosen to take a hostage. Unfortunately their hostage was a Teräs Käsi black belt.

Within twenty minutes of entering the mansion, the entire mission had collapsed, leaving just three left standing. The ever-composed Theelin, battle-ready Tohu, and a heavily hallucinating Calyx.

It was then, sneaking downstairs, that they'd spotted it. Tohu saw it first, and Calyx had seen it double.

The vase.

Which led directly to the second fight of the day. The Theelin decided that was the perfect moment to cash out by ditching her last two companions.

Would’ve been a good plan too. Had she been faster on the draw.

With a nexu on the loose and blasterfire lighting up the house, there wasn’t time to argue. The window was the fastest way out. They threw a chair through it, rigged the vibrocord, and abseiled down the building with the vase firmly in hand.

Miraculously, their transport hadn’t been discovered. They'd only gotten a parking ticket. Outrageously high, they'd agreed.

In the end, they’d made it out. Vase intact.

So how was it destroyed, you ask?

Too late with the skylane exit.

They banked left. Way too hard.

Fortunately the shards still had some value.

 

[Isur]

The team from Black Sun had taken another hallway. The ship was prepped for take off when they got inside. Lead by the Karkarodon Isur, the team was not exactly the most prepared. The shark being was the type to act first. Think second.


That was why the second team came in. With Calyx Sundrift leading this team. The goal was simple. Take the ship by storm and get it brought to Nar Shaddaa. It wasn't a treasure vessel, but it was a transport. A wealthy transport.

The goal was to use the ship for later missions, invading places a normal Black Sun vessel couldn't get. To the right galas. To the right events with the credits. Isur and his team were moving for the weapons. He only thought of combat.

But the collected Calryx? His team made it straight for the shields. Getting them online, they were moving to the bridge. This corvette was going to be moving before the Karkarodon knew what had happened.