Deception is a Contact Sport

[Armand Temi]

Now that Livna no longer resided with Priestess Tiin, the blonde Caprine had the type of freedom that she'd never experienced before. She could go where she wanted, eat the foods she craved, stay up all night, sleep in beds of her choice... well, except for one thing.

She couldn’t do any of those things without credits.

Sure, Livna had picked up odd jobs here and there, but without a source of steady income the former servant was mostly bound to whatever planet she happened to be on, scraping by on remnants, favors and charity.

Currently she was on Naboo, where the discrepancy between wealthy and destitute could not be wider. Watching a noble couple stroll along, the man presenting his lady with a beautiful, sparkling diamond bracelet, Livna thought about her encounter with Marcus on Garqi, not really because of the public display of affection, but the fact that he had offered her a way to make a living. Of course, offer wasn’t the right word… blackmailed wasn’t either… but whatever it was, they had an arrangement and the deal would have credits attached to them. And why shouldn't it? Ever since Priestess Tiin joined up with the One Sith, her coffers had grown, her Grand Temple was built, and she was courting a Pharaoh with endless riches. If Livna opened her mind to the possibilities - this time not opening your legs, she thought with a sigh – she knew that being associated with Sith Lords meant that credits were not far behind.

Sitting in a remote area of Theed, the Caprine opened up the data pad which Marcus left her. It was a little cracked and chipped from her travels but still worked. Opening up the frequency, she sent the code phrase that Marcus had whispered to her. Livna shivered a little remembering his hot breath on her neck, and the forceful way he took her in the Tigercinth grove.

Why aren’t you just the silliest lamb strolling back into the lion’s den, she thought sullenly? Her stomach growled quite furiously, silencing this self-chiding. On the way to the Theed soup kitchen where she would have to suffer through piteous looks from the charitable Dukes and Viscounts, she tucked the datapad under her arm, waiting a response.

[member="Vengeance"]

 

[Kenrath]

Vengeance was hard at work trying to build an Empire when he heard a chirp. Flipping through a serious of Data Pads in his possession he found what he was looking for. He looked curiously seeing which pad it was. It had been less than a weak surely she could not have found out something that juicy to be wanting to see him already. He sighed sending a quick message with the location to meet him and what time to be there. He had chosen a secluded spot out of the way where they would not be interrupted.

Once he did he gathered up a few things and headed to the Star port to move to the meeting location. It would take a little over a day to get there and it better be worth the journey.


[member="Livna Zios"]

 

[Armand Temi]

Livna couldn't really complain about the Naboo soup kitchen. At least the wealthy monarchs of the planet cared that the food wasn’t completely gruel, and even the vegetarian selection was fairly impressive. For a bovidae like herself that was important, although on one of her hungriest nights, she had been so famished that she'd wolfed down a handful of stale Bantha jerky. After she was done and sat outside on a set of stone stairs, her datapad pinged. The location had been sent:

Belkadan, Abandoned ExGal-4 Listening Post is all the comm read.

Using her last few credits, Livna made her way to the main Theed Spaceport and bought passage on a dilapidated cargo ship piloted by a trio of surly Klatooinians.

“There’s a rolled up mattress in the cargo hold,” said Tokko, the leader of the group.

“But it’s quite a long journey to Belkadan. For your over-inflated price, there’s no private quarters where I can sleep or rest?” she asked, trying to stifle her outrage.

“We could make the floor on the refresher nice and comfortable for you,” Tokko retorted with a withering glare.

Livna noticed how grungy the Klatooinians were and didn’t even want to picture the state of the refresher. She acquiesced, riding in discomfort the entire way. But the smugglers kept their promise – they took her to Belkadan and didn’t even try to accost her.

The ExGal-4 Listening Post was a former communications center of the Primeval. But now that the darksided cult had disappeared into even more remote cracks in the galaxy, the post lay abandoned, most of the networks down for the time being. The Caprine maiden crept through the main gate, making her way into the Listening Post itself where she was scheduled to meet again with the enigmatic Marcus.

[member="Vengeance"]

 

[Kenrath]

Vengeance board his ship people accustomed to him using the inconspicuous freighter. The ship took off with a destination set for almost clear on the other side of the Galaxy. However what most didn't realize or even seem to take notice was the fact he was not on his ship when it took off. Instead he had slipped back off of it through a maintenance hatch and was on a speeder head towards an abandoned listening station in the middle of nowhere.

He slipped into the main building of the post and into a back room waiting on her to arrive getting there long before she did. He had time to think and meditate before she arrived his mind going over a dozen different things marveling at home much his missed just being a warrior on the battlefield responsible for only himself.

[member="Livna Zios"]

 

[Armand Temi]

Skirting old databanks, Livna made her way deeper into the building. It was utterly quiet in the structure, and her hearing wasn’t the greatest – poor audial skills a racial trait of her species – so she purposefully heightened other senses like smell and vision. If she were prescient like her former Lady, she may be able to predict what was about to happen. That wasn’t likely, but still…

There was a spark of something inside her. She’d always thought of it as Ax’no’s gift, but when Livna approached the Priestess about it, she was summarily shooed away. Therefore that subtle energy that flowed through the blonde nymphette was mistaken for anything else but the Force. Which was exactly what it was.

Finally she reached the main room of the listening post and saw him again – Marcus.

Steady those nerves, Livna. He needs you more than you need him, but even she could not believe her own lie.

He appeared lost in thought for a moment, but her presence would bring him around. Luckily the Caprine had time to shower on the Klatooinian’s ship. While she did not smell like Tigercinths this time, she smelled like generic smuggler's soap, her long, blonde hair cascading down her shoulders, her horns shined but looking every bit like the weapons they could be if she was to wield them properly. Every Caprine – male or female – knew how to spar with their horns, learning this skill at an early age. Of course some were better than others at it, but if she needed to, she could – and would - headbutt a bull rancor without fear.

“Hello Marcus, while this isn’t as picturesque as a flower grove, I hope we can make it comfortable for an hour or two while we catch up.” Honestly, Livna had no idea how long their encounter would last, or how surprised he would be at any of the information she had to offer.

[member="Vengeance"]

 

[Kenrath]

When she spoke he didn't yet stand.

"You smell like a Hutt's back side." "Low key is one thing but I think you may be taking it a little far."

It was then that he looked up at her but still remained in his relaxed position.

"So am I to understand you have learned so great secrets about my former Masters you are just couldn't wait to share?" "If so you Master must be more loose lipped than you laid me to believe." "After all it has not been that long since I last saw you?"

[member="Livna Zios"]

 

[Armand Temi]

Livna blinked at the insult and then let out a belly laugh, her melodious chuckle echoing around the empty listening station.

“You have an interesting foreplay technique, I’ll give you that,” she teased. Perhaps the smuggler’s soap wasn’t as fragrant as she thought. Besides, she’d been living like a vagabond for the past week. When he’d met her last, the Caprine maiden had been perfumed, oiled and scented as her Lady had been – the maiden representing her Priestess in all manner of things, even in beauty and odor. The fact that she might as well have just crawled out of a ronto’s pen wasn’t lost on her.

“Things have changed quite dramatically since we last saw each other,” said Livna. “I am no longer in the company of Priestess Tiin, but I do have information to share.”

She set down her satchel, the same one that he might remember from Garqi.

“But maybe there is a functioning refresher in this station where I can get an actual bath,” she finished, glancing around. “I have been on the run, it’s true. And if I offend I wish to correct that problem.”

She titled her head coyly, her mannerisms still resembling a servant’s, but there was something else there. The free spirit that she’d been over the last week, the taste of liberty… this had made her bolder and a little less contained. Livna was the wildflower he’d taken before, but today she was more of a wild animal. The Sith Lord was just as handsome and controlled as before but the maenad was his foil. Unpredictable and feral, her blue eyes glittered like Ilum crystals, less dull than when she’d been enslaved a week ago.

[member="Vengeance"]

 

[Kenrath]

His eyes flashed for a moment.

"What do you mean no longer in the company of Priestess Tiin?"

As she continued to talk his mood only soured more as he started to put two and two together. His little spy had gone rogue and ruined every plan he had for keeping ties on the One sith. His fist clenched for a brief second before he shot up and out to blast her full force with a Force Push. Which would be followed up with him focusing every bit of the Force he could to slowly apply a crushing squeeze on her entire body while keeping her off the ground. As he did he would stand up.

"Do you remember the part where I told you without a steady supply of information on your Master and the One Sith you are of no use to me."

He words came out in a growl.

"Do you think this is a game...................tell me you did not intentionally sabotage my plans?"

He practically snarled.

"Did you really thing you could betray me and I would just embrace you with open arms.............pat your little head and tell you it will be ok just because a had sex with you?"

[member="Livna Zios"]

 

[Armand Temi]

Livna wasn’t aware of her misstep until she heard Marcus’s voice growing angrier and more cross with each word. Suddenly she was thrown backwards and lifted into the air, her organs getting squeezed inside. More uncomfortable than painful, her brows furrowed, and she lifted her own upper lip in a canine growl.

“Undidbelel phantsi, Demon!” she shouted in Caprinense, her windpipe so constricted it was difficult to get the words out.

And then, Livna had done what she’d never even thought she could. Out of sheer anger, she tried to push him back using the Force. While it was nowhere near as strong as the Sith Lord’s energy, he would feel the Caprine there, the dark flare of her aura press against him.

“I did not betray you, nor sabotage your plans! I escaped, not on a whim, but because I would have been killed if I returned to her. You don’t need to know the circumstances… only that I had to run from her.”

A low growl emerged from her throat, and she howled like a graveyard banshee in frustration at being such a captive already. Finally, when she thought he was close enough, the former servant forgot all of the fine manners she’d been taught by Lady Tiin and spat at him in an attempt to further insult him.

[member="Vengeance"]

 

[Kenrath]

Vengeance merely laughed when the pitiful excuse of a blast hit him. If she had any training it may have caused him to pause and maybe even release her from the hold. The attempt to spit at him also amusing but one that would beg a response.

He would yank his hand to send her flying across the room smashing against the far wall. He wold then turn to blaster with lightning to get blasting her until he was right in front of her.

"Do you presume to tell me what i do or do not need to know?"

His saber shooting to his hand and igniting he would point the tip of it at her chin, not touching her yet but close enough to feel the heat. His words still full of venom.

"Chose your next words carefully for they may very well be your last." "It is very simple...............if they please me you get to live for another day." "If they displease me I will kill you were you stand." "Best case your Master was smarter than you gave her credit which is of not fault of your own. Worse case you are an incompetent fool that blew your own cover in a day which is punishable by death." "Sith do not abide by failure and incompetence."

[member="Livna Zios"]

 

[Armand Temi]

Livna flew backwards hitting the wall with a bone-crunching thud. Luckily she didn’t hit her head, but there was the distinct crack of ribs being broken. Exponentially adding to her misery, Marcus then covered her body with lightning which curled around her skin like a thousand electric eels.

She heard his words, but they didn’t register amidst the pain she was experiencing. But she did notice the saber as it came dangerously close to her chin, Marcus wielding it, close to her on the ground.

Gasping through the agony, she said, “My former Lady is a Sith Inquisitor with designs on rising to be the Grand Inquisitor someday. She told me this as I was… servicing her in her bedchambers. She is also the lover of the Director of Intelligence for the One Sith. And I have been to his palace… know the layout and have been exposed to some of the inner workings of his operations.”

She heard a drip and realized her nose was bleeding. With the back of her hand, Livna wiped it away.

“I haven’t… and I won’t fail you,” she said, trying to keep the pleading edge out of her voice as difficult as it was. Damn my pride for spitting, she thought, cognizant to not do anything like that again.

Not until she knew she held an iota of leverage over him.

[member="Vengeance"]

 

[Kenrath]

His saber did not move even as he spoke.

"Do you even know what an Inquisitor is?" "They are hunters of rogue force users..............enemies of the Emperor.......or in this particular case the Dark Lord of the One Sith." "The problem with such a person claiming such a title would be the existence of the Wrath." "Not to mention the Sector Voices who can barely tolerate each other much less anyone else."

He shook his head.

"Your former Mistress is a dead woman walking." "To be a so called Inquisitor and not know she stood within a hundred yards of a Sith Lord wanted by the very Inquisition she claims to be part of." "A single message to any one of the Sith Lords still part of the One Sith of such a thing would see her head of a pike."

He sighed.

"And why should I care about this someone claiming to be Director of Intelligence." "Those idiots didn't even see the betrayal of the Black Rose before Venefica wanted them to and even then they failed to locate and bring to justice those so called traitors."

The tip of his saber shifted slightly from at her chin to by her cheek and then traveled to hover down by her throat. All it would take was a flick of his wrist and her pretty little throat would split wide open. However for now the fear of death would be enough.

"I have yet to hear what use you would be to me that would convince me to steel my hand from ending your life."

[member="Livna Zios"]

 

[Armand Temi]

Throughout the agonizing misery, as Livna lay there, she attempted to stifle a smile at thinking of Priestess Tiin’s head on a pike. But Marcus may have seen her soft, pink lips lift just a little at the corners, knowing Briga had failed what was most likely an easy task for any other Inquisitor.

The saber shifted, landing an inch away from her windpipe.

Livna thought back to her time in Vain Hollow, and her repeated torture at the hands of the One Sith. If she knew how to do anything it was behave as she was taught to do. There was no more stirring up hornets nest nor trying to impress him. Appeasement and servitude was the only way forward from here. And how ironic, that she had come here attempting to escape her life as a servant, only to become practically a slave again.

“Because I will serve you, body, soul and mind. I will carry out your orders and return to you with the information you seek. If I fail in these tasks, I will die by your exalted hand.” Her chest heaved with her next words, tense brows and a frown marring her lovely features.

“And because I hate my former Lady with a passion and will do anything to see her turned into a pile of bones and ashes.”

[member="Vengeance"]

 

[Kenrath]

He looked at her for a moment before a smile crossed his face and his saber deactivated.

"Anger is good, passion is good." "You have potential in the Force that even you don't realize." "If you had the ability to focus it that little push you tried earlier may have even done you some good."

He took a step back.

"On your feet little Flower."

He would wait until she was standing back up before he reached out a hand gently cupping her cheek.

"Disappoint me and I will finish what I started today."

He leaned in planting a soft kiss on her opposite cheek.

"Otherwise you may find things around here to your liking."

[member="Livna Zios"]

 

[Armand Temi]

Livna breathed a long sigh of relief. She couldn't help it as her body had been coiled like a spring, holding in oxygen and now it all came rushing out as though a deflated balloon.

The Force. She had tried to approach the Priestess so many times over it... but no matter, she'd consult with Marcus later on the issue. She slowly got up, wincing from the broken ribs. When the Sith Lord caressed her cheek, the horned maiden couldn't help but close her eyes and subtly lean into the caress. Still be wary, Livna, she warned herself. This is how captives begin sympathizing with their captors. When pity is shown, the feeling is much more rewarding than cruelty or savagery. He kissed her cheek and she sighed in appreciation.

But would he ever show her more than pity? Did Sith Lords have the capacity to empathize? She seriously doubted that they did.

"Again, I promise not to fail you. Now about the refresher situation," Livna said, her own hand inching up his arm. "Before we talk assignments, I would really like to freshen up. Though I suppose you do like your women a little bit... dirty."

[member="Vengeance"]

 

[Kenrath]

He smirked.

"If by dirty you mean on hands and knees then you may have a point.' "Though on your back works too."

He laughed.

"Don't know if it works considering this post looks like it has been abandoned for years."

He pointed back behind him down a hallway.

"Should be back through there though.............you got ten minutes."

[member="Livna Zios"]

 

[Armand Temi]

In the main building next to one of the Terra Towers was a large refresher with two or three shower stalls, sinks and a bathtub. Holding her side from the pain of the broken ribs, she inspected the facilities, pressing a button for the faucet. Surprisingly water flowed alluding to the fact that it had actually been occupied more recently than Marcus thought (mostly by Primeval soldiers and even the Empress of the cult group, Anja Aj’rou herself). The tub had a layer of dust, but it was clean enough. For the ten minutes she had, Livna longed to soak her wounds – the aching ribs and slight first degree burns from the lightning attack.

The Caprine maiden ran hot water into the tub, and from her bag, she pulled out a perfumed oil bottle she’d gotten on Zeltros when she was last there with the Priestess. Advertised that it was a mix of fragrance from the trumpet flower and Zeltron pheromones, it was the type of essential oil that was sold on many a Pleasure Planet street corner. Livna tsked, doubting there were real pheromones in the ingredients, but the smell was sweet and intoxicating. The maiden stripped off her dirty clothing, not relishing the thought of putting those back on later - perhaps there were some utilitarian uniforms tucked away somewhere - and she slipped into the warm water.

Closing her eyes, for just a few moments, she could pretend she was anywhere else but in an abandoned listening post with a sadistic Sith Lord in the other room. The blonde maenad inhaled deeply and began to relax for the first time since she’d arrived on Belkadan.

[member="Vengeance"]

 

[Kenrath]

He waited for exactly ten minutes almost as if he had set a stopwatch from the second he told her she had ten minutes. No sooner did that last second pass then Vengeance came bursting through the door of the Refresher reminiscent of one of those Drill Instructors in the Imperial Army basic training videos

"RISE AND SHINE LITTLE FLOWER YOUR TEN MINUTES IS UP." "ON YOUR FEET WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS IS A PLEASURE CRUISE?"

He stood there with his arms crossed over his chest and a smirk on his face giving her enough time for her initial reaction to pass before he spoke again.

"I am sorry did I scare you?" "How rude of me...............bath time is over." "Time to begin your new life."

[member="Livna Zios"]

 

[Armand Temi]

Livna wasn't too concerned about the lack of privacy. Caprine were not normally shy or modest, and neither was the blonde maiden. But Marcus startled her with his Lieutenant-like shout, and the sudden fright caused her to splash bath water all over the floor. She held her hand up to her chest, then balled it into a fist and let it drop into the tub. Her first urge was to roll her eyes or act out, to chide him for scaring her so, but given the lightning attack and the saber at her throat not too long ago, she decided – I will play his game.

Rising from the tub, slowly, Livna let the water drip down off of her pale, clean torso until she could step out of the tub without leaving a huge puddle. One leg, then the other lifted, and her feet then found a spot on the floor, dry enough to stand upon. The Caprine stood there for a moment, making direct eye contact with the Sith Lord, gaze unwavering and with a hint of aphrodisia. Her hand rested on her cocked hip as though daring him to force her to cover up.

All of the linens and towels had been taken by the former occupants, so eventually, Livna began putting back on her dry clothes, but still hoped she could find something cleaner in another part of the building. Suddenly both of them would hear a loud roar, almost like a tiger or a panther. The howl was too loud to be outside – the animal was in the building somewhere.

“Do you think the beast in a cage?” asked Livna, fear replacing the impudence in her blue eyes.

[member="Vengeance"]

 

[Kenrath]

Vengeance met her gaze when she stood with her hand on her hip. His demeanor and expression seemed to give off the idea that he not only did not mind her nakedness but actually preferred it. That was simply because he actually did prefer it to her putting her clothes back on. Although he didn't protest or even flinch when she redressed.

The roar while inducing fear in the Maiden didn't even make Vengeance flinch. Even when she asked about it he simply shrugged.

"This was a Listening post not a petting Zoo." "My guess would be when the post was abandoned some of the locals decided to take up residence."

He was so nonchalant about it as if everywhere he went creatures roamed free and were constantly trying to kill him. Which was true enough during his period of exile on Dagobah but of course Livna didn't know that.

[member="Livna Zios"]