Private Corpse Caper

[Vestra Tane]

Nar Shaddaa - Undercity Hospital
Persons of Interest: Adeline Noctua ​

Oh, man, this was a stupid fething idea. You didn't do work for this kind of client - if not for the ethical reasons, then because they had a historic tendency to kill their employees over arbitrary banthachit.

"Hi, Mother - yeah, the new job's going great, thanks. Yeah, sorry, just - yeah, it's hard work, but you were the one who told me i needed something safer."

Vestra Tane sighed, resigned to enduring a torrent of her mother's oh so helpful commentary. At least it kept her nerves steady. No hospital on the Smuggler's Moon was ever lacking in work, of course, but a gang conflict a night or two ago nearby meant this one in particular was...busy. And loud. Lots of frantic yelling from doctors, screams and moans from the patients, the occasional sound of a fight breaking out in the lobby - Vestra had a cool head, generally, but everyone had their limits. And as...grating as her mother was, the old bantha kept the girl from focusing too much on all the morbid chit around her.

"No, Mother, I'm not - you were talking is why I wasn't saying anything. No, I'm not sassing you-"

The hospital's exit was a a handful of yards away now. Vestra white-knuckled the steering-bar on the cart she was pushing. Couldn't let Mother hear this next part. It'd break the old bag's heart; plus, she'd never hear the end of it.

"Mother, I need to go. Work, Mother, that's why! ...Yes, I'll be around for dinner next month. Yes. I promise. I love you too, Mother."

A few seconds later, accompanied by protest and the sounds of general confusion from her "coworkers," Vestra ran an antigrav cart full of corpses out into the streets of the Nar Shaddaa undercity.

Plan was simple. It was as stupid as a Kel'Dor trying to breathe oxygen, but it was simple.

Phase One was getting a volunteer job near some corpses; that part had been easy enough. As previously mentioned, the Smuggler's Moon was always churning those out. It was like a corpse factory down here.

Phase Two was getting those former-people onto The Smiling Knife and delivering them to Sith Space, to be handed off to some creepy Sith woman, presumably for unspeakable and nefarious purposes. That - that was trickier. Vestra shouted a quick apology when the gravcart slammed into someone who hadn't been quick enough to jump out of the way. At least there was a hospital nearby.

Getting the corpses out of the door had been easy. The plan to get them onto the ship had taken some prepwork, though, and it was pricey to bribe enough hangar bay guards to get through security with a literal palette of corpses and no documentation. That, too, was solvable, though, and she'd done so.

The young woman cursed aloud as a bolt of fuzzy blue energy flew past her head. Great. Damn Hospital sent security after her. It was Nar Shaddaa, didn't they have better things to be doing? Feth. She needed cover -

And cover provided itself, in the form of a particularly unlucky bystander. A middle-aged looking twi'lek man, momentarily stunned by shock, caught Vestra's attention as she jogged past. A harsh tug with the Force, and he was within grappling distance.

Vestra grabbed the unfortunate twi'lek by the shirt collar at the same time that she jumped up onto the back of the impromptu corpse wagon. At least until the cart ran out of inertia, she had an - extremely uncooperative - sentient shield. Thankfully, her shield got a lot less squirmy after the first stun bolt hit him in the chest. The twi'lek served her well until she jerked the cart to make a hard right, at which point the unlucky bastard tumbled from her grip and hit the pavement below. She'd lost her cover, but, fortunately, it seemed that her pursuers had given up chase as well. There was only so much effort you'd go to over a pile of corpses, after all.

The rest of the plan was mercifully smooth sailing - as agreed, the guards at the hangar let her through, no questions asked, and in a few minutes, she had a cargo bay filled with twenty-odd corpses on ice. Plus, free grav cart.

Three Galactic Standard Days later, and The Smiling Knife appeared in realspace near the orbit a damned and detestable planet. Vestra's Sense wasn't the most refined, but even she could tell - this place was bad news. She started getting those particular goosebumps as her ship entered atmosphere. Was that...a temple, she saw, as she approached the ground? Feth, the Sith really were pompous. Ah, well. Pretty late to back out now, and she had to get those hunks of used-to-be-people off her ship somehow. Why not get paid for it?

Vestra took a swig of cheap Corellian whisky in the pilot's seat of the Knife, and tapped a few buttons on the ship's control panel to bring up Comms.

<<Requesting clearance to land. This is The Smiling Knife, with twenty-four reasonably fresh corpses, as promised.>>

 

[Adeline Noctua]

Equipment | In Bio
Location | Duo Temple/Yalara
Tag | Vestra Tane

By technicality this section of space was not part of any faction, yet with it being so close to Sith space... It was only a matter of time till either troops marched on the soil or some Sith lord had laid claim to this place, this time it would be the latter... Well only somewhat, Adeline may show signs of being a strong user of the force, yet for now she remained an apprentice.

The temple itself was merely a start, a growth upon the land that would one day grow like a cancer. It stood proudly, surrounded by... Pits? Large chunks of their earth had been dug up, the soil caked on top of them for some unknown reason.

<<Affirmative smiling knife, you are clear to park your vessel at bay two.>>

Whatever had picked up, it was clear it was not human. The being's voice was raspy as if stuck in the middle of a desert for days on end, in reality it had been an undead servant that picked up the call.

The landing bay was rather simple, the only things that could be considered fancy were church symbols and banners littered with ur-Kittât that spoke of the church, and how Eternalism guides you.

The dark Jedi and her entourage of bodies would be met by a woman whose skin and hair were white as snow, the same could be said of most of her attire, white robes that made he look... Not like a Sith at all, more like some holy priestess who was there to guide and heal you. She gives a bow to Vestra, along with a welcoming smile.

"Ahh we finally meet! And I see you have my bodies all ready for me! My thanks, do you take payments in the form of credit? And don't worry dear, these aren't the kind you can only use in one place."

Surprisingly enough, her voice was soft like a fine silk, calming to the ears. Her general aura was far more gentle than any Sith Vestra had ever met before, her joy was clear as she spoke.

 

[Vestra Tane]

Location: Duo Temple, Yalara
Persons of Interest: Adeline Noctua ​

Vestra greeted her current employer with a raised hand, leaning against a cart full of corpses, and with a smoldering cigarra hanging from her lips. She knew inhaling tabac smoke wasn't...the best for her, but the buzz she got from it was better than just chewing the leaves, and it helped keep her sharp.

"Credits are good." Vestra plucked the roll of tabac from her mouth and snuffed it out on one of her sleeves. "But I can get those anywhere. I'm looking for something a bit more ephemeral. If you can get it for me." The woman hesitated for a single, solitary second. Stupid fething idea. Did she really want to do this?

Vestra had heard the standard Jedi line on what this sort of thing did to you. Corrupted you. Made you...worse. Angrier. More hateful. And it wasn't hard to believe, either. Anyone with a HoloNet connection knew what happened to a planet when the Sith closed in on it. Angry and hateful was a pretty fething apt description. Nevermind the spiritual risks, did she want to put herself in a situation that meant spending time with these freaks?

Vestra thought about the half-broken, pyramidal holocron tucked away in a footlocker beneath her bed. She thought about all the information it had, and all the answers it wouldn't fething give her. She thought about the night she'd stumbled, drunk and irritable, onto the single complete...technique? Ritual? Spell? On the damnable thing, and how fascinated she'd been with it, right up until she blew a coin-sized hole in her own palm trying to perform it.

Did she really want to do this?

The woman glanced down at the scar on her right hand, and smiled a little.

Yeah. She did. She just...had to be careful.

"I need information on...sorcery, I think that's the word you people use? I think I learned some. On accident."

 

[Adeline Noctua]

Equipment | In Bio
Location | Duo Temple
Tag | Vestra Tane

If the rather welcoming Sangnir had known that her guest had just called her a freak... It would have upset the woman in many ways, with the results being an extra body on that pile. But, for now she only got vague hints of her visitor's discomfort.

"Sorceries, magic, or just simply the force... You really can call it whatever, it can be a powerful tool so long as you use it right and don't become absorbed by it. From what I understand you aren't a Sith, for some of us we tend to be... Less welcoming. But I just see an opportunity to meet someone new, and luckily for you I am a scholar."

Adeline smiles softly again, gesturing for the woman to follow.

"To be honest I would have helped study whatever it is you found without the need of the bodies, I love to learn, it can be a great way to spend time."

She speaks as they walk, soon finding themselves in a decently comfortable lounge area.

"Any type of drink you prefer? Do make yourself comfortable, you are my guest."

Adeline takes a seat within a chair, soon speaking to Vestra again.

"I have many questions, but I suppose we should get the most important one out of the way, no? Could you describe to me whatever it was you found by accident? Perhaps I could help you understand it more, knowledge is power after all."

She chuckles a bit as an undead servant handed her a cup of what looked to be a red wine.. Hard to tell.

 

[Vestra Tane]

Location: Duo Temple, Yalara
Persons of Interest: Adeline Noctua ​

Vestra didn't trust the Sith. This was, as far as she was concerned, just good sense; the Sith didn't trust the Sith, after all, and really, why should they? They'd built an entire religion around becoming violent, self-centered maniacs and then declaring themselves God-Kings for doing so. That this particular Sith seemed a bit more hinged than usual didn't make Vestra any more trusting; if anything, it put her even more on edge.

Unsettling host or not, though, she was getting closer to what she'd come for, so she could put up with the discomfort for a little while longer. Besides; she always appreciated a chance to talk about herself.

Vestra rather casually threw herself down onto a chaisse some respectful distance from the Sith, then began sipping from a flask she had retrieved from beneath her coat.

"There's not really all that much to tell. I found a Sith tomb from around eight-fifty ABY out on some backwater planet near Er'stacia. I looted it. There was a holocron in the central chamber, so I took it and a few other things. That night, I was celebrating my find, had too much to drink, and decided I'd crack the holocron open and see what I could learn. If the thing was old enough, I could get a first-hand account of ancient ancient history. The First Great Hyperspace War, the Second Jedi Schism..."

Vestra seemed downright wistful thinking about it, smiling softly to herself and leaning back in her seat before continuing.

"...Except the damn thing was broken. Mostly broken, anyway. And from what I could gather, it didn't know much I didn't know already, at least from a historical perspective. But I was drunk and I was fething frustrated, dammit. So I kept asking the data ghost to teach me something, and maybe it just likes stubborn schuttas or maybe it was hoping I'd get myself killed?" The woman shrugged, seemingly unbothered by the thought. "But either way, it taught me to do...this."

The young woman stopped for a second, taking the time to pick out a point on the wall opposite her. Then, she lifted her right hand and inhaled.

Palm up. Spread your fingers. Tilt your hand so the index finger is pointing at sixty degrees. Curl ring and pinkie fingers inwards about half-way. Think about someone you hate, and for feth's sake, say it correctly.

"...Sutta Chwituskak."

The resultant bolt of purple-black energy was, truly, pathetic by the standards of any real Sorcerer.

But it had worked. This random piece of Nar Shaddaa street trash had just flung a sliver of her hate made manifest across the room and left a chip in the wall, to boot.

Vestra flailed her hand in the air and muttered curses to herself, then blew air onto her palm before looking back up at her host and grinning. "So. Yeah. I'd like to know more."

For academic purposes.

Obviously.