Embracing the Shadows

[Ardgal Raxis]

NAR SHADAA​

Ardgal's wardrobe was predominated with his armor, uniforms, and fatigues. It was almost all combat, almost all fight. Most of what else he had were suits for business occasions and elbow rubbing in the greatest degree. But for today he had to wear something unique, something different. The man wanted something, something incredible. Ordinarily that would be easy, he had tanks, walkers, soldiers, a literal army at his call. But for some jobs there was a need for subtly.

Over his black form-fitting tee shirt Ardgal pulled a trenchcoat. It was subtle and would help him blend in, but more importantly, it would help to hide the two pistols he had concealed on his person. The khaki fabric covered all the way down to his blue jeans and black boots, each of which concealed vibroknives. Even in street clothes, the cyborg was armed to the teeth.

He gave himself a once over in the cracked mirror as an overhead monorail shook the appartment to the core. Specks of white dust fell from the ceiling like star dust from the heavens. This place was condemned and waiting to fall apart. He hated it, but it was understated and no one would think to look for him here--and the renter didn't ask any questions.

The monorail passed and Ardgal resumed looking through the files on the screen of the desk top, refreshing the last bits of intel for this job. He couldn't do this alone, the man had called in [member="Kurayami Bloodborn"] for his assistance but hadn't been too forthcoming in the details, it was safer that way, the fewer details he gave to him over the holonet.

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

Kurayami was kicked back at his desk inside the headquarters of Nubia StarDrives, looking over expense report, material costs, design proposals, and many other mind numbing tasks. Granted he tried to take care of this stuff while away from the HQ as well so he could have something resembling a life yet he always had to come back at some point to make sure everything was still intact. He had to admit he was getting tired of looking over the same ideas and having to decide which to stamp and which to send back for an update. He set down his datapad for a moment as he heard the door slide open at the front of his office. He looked up the exhaustion clear in his features as a young female Chiss approached his desk.

"Sir, we have a message that came in recently. It was marked as 'Eyes Only' for you. Comms channel indicates it originated from Nar Shadaa. Shall I direct it to your company address or your personal datapad?"

"Personal datapad will do fine, Samira. And before you go, is everything else well under control? No more documents or some such to go through?"

"No sir, all current designs and reports have been reviewed and filed. Is that all?"

"Yes, that will be all. Thank you."

The young woman turned and left the office without another word as Kurayami opened the message. Something from [member="Ardgal Raxis"]. Asking for help with something meant to be low key. He'd fill him in when he arrived. Well then looks like it was time to get a move on. He stood and made his way out to his private hangar where he kept his personal transport/mobile home. Walking onboard he quickly suited up in his armored flightsuit, scuffed up combat boots, and threw his old Aquila squadron jacket over. Sealing the helmet to the suit he looked like a pilot who simply valued safety. To keep a low profile he placed Jenni's saber within a pocket on his belt, and stashed the Punisher pistols underneath the jacket, while two A-180 pistols hung at either hip. He walked over to his gunship, fired up the engines and ran a preflight while all the systems warmed up. He transmitted his clearance code and as soon as the hangar doors opened he made his way into orbit and set the navicomp to make the jump once he was able to.

Within a short time that was spent checking and rechecking his weapons, and armor systems, he got an alert notifying him he was nearing his destination. All that was included was a set of coordinates. Utilizing an encrypted holochannel he checked the location of the coordinates and found a suitable landing spot a short walk away. Once he set the craft down and climbed out he sent a quick message back to Ardgal to let him know he was almost at the rendezvous point. Upon reaching the place he knocked on the door and waited quietly. Certainly couldn't say it was anywhere many people were likely to be given its less than stellar condition, but in this case that made it perfect for the meeting.

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

Ardgal instinctively gripped his hand cannon concealed bellow the trench coat when he heard the knock at the door. Through the filth that seemed to be embeded in this building, he could smell Bloodborn's scent on the other side of the door. Every being had one, but those like Ardgal who had an enhanced sense of smell could detect it. Most beings underestimated their nose and overestimated their eyes. Now there was something to add to his lectures for the new cadets with the next army he trained.

The man gripped the knob for the aged wooden door that served as this room's entrance. He swung the thing open and greeted Bloodborn with a nod, "Good to see you."

Of course Ardgal checked the hall to make sure no one had followed him and that there was no one else to listen in on their conversation. When the door was closed, the room was dark again, totally dark, except for the dim lighting coming from the monitors on the desk. The warrior crossed his arms in the darkness, "I'm glad you came, what we are after requires the upmost delicateness in dealing with this."

Trust. That was what this was about. The man needed someone with this job that he could trust. Bloodborn had proven himself time and time again, and the man knew he could count on him here to help in gaining what he was after. And when they had it, Ardgal knew they would be a step closer to an asset that was more than worth its weight in gold.

"I have had a pet project for a long time," Ardgal began, "Growing up, I had a friend who was a Zabrak, he was a deep fan of this historical figure--Darth Maul. Some speculate the existence of this and if so, to what degree he existed, what he did, and so on. He is something of a legend, really. But one thing that struck me deeper than anything else was this man's ship. It's name--" even now he wasn't sure he could say it. There could be listening devices everywhere. "That is unimportant. What is important is this."

Ardgal pulled one of the monitors close so Bloodborn could see the images. They were massive ships with damage across their hulls, wrecked in strait lines. The pure destruction caused by the attacks was unique, the strikes were intense right across the surface of the hulls, or strait through. The attacks were precise, and impossible, and across several different larger vessels. Some were even reduced to scrap pieces floating through space.

"These have all been spotted, near Nar Shadaa," the man said after he had shown the images, "And that is what has brought us here. The attacks are all consistent among the few survivors. Something hit them they couldn't see. Some sort of ghost. And the few who could see it, said it was like a demon from hell itself. I have triangulated the size and determined that it is about 26 to 27 meters long and I have triangulated the times it has come in and attacked the vessels in the system. This is where you come in."

Ardgal moved away from the console, 'This is where I need you to do your work. I need you to find where its held. Use whatever you have to do, slice into the sub net, the local system's flight controls, whatever you have to do to get into all of it to find where this ship is being held. This level is beyond me or what I can gather."

[member="Kurayami Bloodborn"]

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

His hands were casually placed in the pockets of his flight jacket as he waited for [member="Ardgal Raxis"] to open the door. Sure he could have just opened the door and gone in, ripped it off the hinges, any number of options here really. That would have been rude though and would have ended in him getting shot, which he had to admit was not something he was a fan of. Getting shot hurt, especially by a seasoned marksman, and that was a skill of the cyborg's that Kurayami had no doubt about. It felt like an eternity before the door opened and the other man greeted him while making sure no one else had followed.

"Good to see you as well. I see you like to keep it fancy."

He chuckled as he stepped inside and the door closed behind him. The dim light of monitors was the only source of light in the room, and he couldn't say he was surprised by that even if he was surprised this building was still standing. He knew the man before him wouldn't have called him in for basic ops, and that fact was made abundantly clear when Ardgal filled him in on some finer details.

"Delicacy is not the easiest of things but I think we should be able to manage well enough. A pet project that deals with extremely delicate details...well color me interested."

The bit about his Zabrak friend wasn't overly surprising given that Kurayami had worked with and befriended quite a motley crew of sentients in his time as well. THe story was one he had heard before. Talk of some ancient Zabrak Sith Lord, Darth Maul. There were times that what was told of the man sounded like nothing but pure fantasy, however he did have recollection of having seen mention of the man in old Sith archives and tomes during his studies. He nodded as Ardgal mentioned the ship. A smirk played over his lips as he nearly said the name and then stopped himself. Couldn't blame the man for being careful especially in a place like this. Following this was a monitor being pulled close in. He studied the damage that appeared on the ships that were shown on the screen. It was incredible the amount of damage this ship was producing, especially if it were as small as the estimates placed it. These ships were multiple times the size of the supposed attacker. Either people were totally wrong and this was a star destroyer attacking these ships or they were after a very old but still deadly craft.

"A ghost ship that can punch way above its weight. Gotta say sounds like a tall tale if ever I heard one. However the man you mention in your story, Darth Maul, I have run into mention of him before. If this ship is as lethal and evasive as these images suggest then we have little chance of taking it down in anything less than a damn good fighter. Thing is I didn't come prepared for that, and if it is what you claim...then it needs to be taken with as little damage as possible. Which means finding it when its on the ground and getting to it then."

When Ardgal stepped back Kurayami took a moment to sync his HUD to the display and run through the data to determine a rough estimate of how long they had before the next strike. He began running searches on the damage done, what kind of cargo was onboard the ships, where they were headed, what time the calls for help were made. Every detail he could gather from the area. Getting into the air control systems and such would take some doing and unfortunately time, right now a very precious resource. It took a few hours of work but eventually he had managed to use a system of nodes to disguise the location and after a bit longer managed to hijack an encrypted channel used by traffic control to direct ships when they were inbound for landing as well as a rudimentary tracking program, it would embed in the banks of any ship entering the system and transmit their location to the waiting pair. Once the ghost ship made their strike, it would be tracked. After that was just getting in and getting it out in one piece or as most would call it 'the hard part.'

"Alright got a tracking program set up. Once it enters the system and ATC contacts them for any reason we will know the movements. Sadly, that is the easy part. After that is getting to it and leaving in one piece again. All we can do is wait now.

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

Ardgal was a patient man. Every good thing in this galaxy took time, and often a lot of it. But comparatively, Bloodborn had been pretty quick about the business. He remembered what Ordo had liked to always call it. Hurry up and wait. The slow sprint. Running in place. It was always this way on ops.

"Excellent work," the cyborg said. He took a look at the cot that came with the room before deciding it wasn't worth the risk. "Now we just wait it seems."

___________​

The ping finally came, arousing Ardgal from his light sleep. Night had fallen over the moon of Nar Shaddaa. The man rose and looked at the address, quickly storing it in his mind and cross referencing it with the location on the planetside. The building looked like it was condemned, like a high rise that had seen better days, like this one--only it had been scheduled for demolition a few years earlier and now the lot was--

Before Ardgal could finish reading the description he heard a second ping. As part of setting up camp in this crap-hole he had installed sensors along the halls to the room to monitor movement and give a forewarning. The man switched over one of the cracked monitors to the live video feed just in time to see four figures hurrying down the hall towards them.

"We gotta go," Ardgal said moving towards one of the piles of blankets on the floor. He removed the top blanket and tossed a jetpack towards Bloodborn, "We have company inbound. The man grabbed a second and pulled it over his shoulders, buckling the straps before he kicked the boarded up window open.

The soldier flicked his thumb just a second before he felt the familar jolt of the jetpack gaining momentum. It carried him in a clean arc over one of the nearby buildings onto another's top. Neon lights of the sin city below them gave just enough lighting for the man to see as he quickly unclipped the pack. He strode across the litter-strewn roof top towards a graphitti-covered rust covered airspeeder.

A blaster bolt sailed just past Ardgal's head from the abandoned apartment room. The man pulled the hand cannon from his coat and fired back at the enemy, "See if you can get this thing running again!"

He fired back, covering Bloodborn while he worked.

When the door was opened, Ardgal jumped inside. As the air speeder moved away, two others began to roar after them in hot persuit through the city of neon lights.

"Crap," Ardgal muttered ratching a new power pack into his weapon.

[member="Kurayami Bloodborn"]

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

"It is a skill I have been working on a bit since our tech got knocked out over Obroa-Skai. Thanks though."

He had fortunately managed to sleep a bit on the way over and so he just watched the data feed with a detached interest. The feed went through the normal cycles that would be expected with a planet like Nar Shadaa. Multiple hits at odd times but nothing of real note. He did end up falling asleep for a time eventually with how slow the feed seemed to be moving. When the ping came through Kurayami's eyes snapped open and he immediately looked around. This was followed by noticing that [member="Ardgal Raxis"] was already up and he took a quick screenshot of the address, running it through the Holonet. All it gave him was a basic map to get to the area, not any details. No time to worry about that as Ardgal threw him a jetpack. It had been awhile since he had used one, but he could manage. He quickly strapped it on and followed Ardgal.

"Well that was convenient for them to find us right then. Hate when things go crazy right when you think you had everything under control."

As soon as they were both stably on the adjacent roof, Kurayami wasted no time discarding the jetpack and setting to work on hotwiring the speeder. It was a basic enough model so it shouldn't be hard. Pulling up schematics he quickly located the ignition and repulsor controls and within a minute had managed to get it airborne and in mostly operable condition. HE prayed the speeder would hold together as blaster bolts seared past them. He did his best to remain calm, even if he could feel the pressure within building.

"Got it! Not sure how long she'll hold out, but should be long enough to get us there. Also hope you have a good grip on this thing. Rides going to get a bit crazy."

As he finished saying this he cut power to the repulsors for just a moment, dropping them quickly to a much lower altitude. The bottom of the speeder scraped against the ground as the old repulsors struggled to get them steady again. He firewalled the throttle and kept moving at random, making small jinks, slides, and changes in altitude to keep the pursuers from getting a solid lead on them. It was a longer trip than he would have liked to be on, but it would be worth it if the prize was there.

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

Ardgal braced himself as they jerked through the skies of the massive city. He knew that there was a 60% probability that this thing could fall strait from the sky without a warning. What most beings would have felt fear over that realization is fear. What Ardgal felt take him over was pure coldness. Machine-like coldness.

Combat readiness: Engaged.

The warrior holstered his hand cannon and withdrew a Punisher pistol from the other side of his coat. He rocked with the speeder as Bloodborn manevuered it, his other hand withdrew a Brimstone round and slid it into the grenade launcher. Blaster bolts were flying all around them, one hit a nearby speeder, shredding through the driver's head and sent them crashing through a casino along the way. Ardgal's shattered his window, the man stuck his arm and head out the opening, the wind whipping around the man as he took aim.

One of the two speeders weaved in and out of the sights as both Bloodborn and the other driver twisted through the streets of Nar Shaddaa. Ardgal's analysis matrix charted the pattern, making probabilties and finding the man's movement sequence. Everything had a sequence.

Target Locked.

Ardgal squeezed the trigger, the grenade flying, he saw the man's face widen in surprise as the projectile sailed toward his viewport--exploding in a massive ball of fire. Both persuing speeders got caught up in secondary explosions, sending shrapnel everywhere.

The warrior pulled himself back in the speeder, holstering his weapon, "Good work."

It didn't take them much longer to reach the abandoned apartment building. The plaza in front was a matted mess of broken sidewalks, torn parking space, and garbage. The whole place looked like it was due for destruction with its gutted interior, bashed in walls in several places, boarded up windows, and crumbling siding.

"A perfect place to hide a stealth weapon," Ardgal thought aloud.

A golden sunset was beginning to form behind them as he looked to Bloodborn, "There is a 84% chance that we will encounter booby traps inside."

[member="Kurayami Bloodborn"]

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

While the shattered window was not entirely unexpected the shift in the airflow, Kurayami worked to keep the craft more stable utilizing Force Reflex to keep in ocntrol at such high speeds. Everything seemed slower to him than they were actually happening it was likely the only reason many of the blaster bolts missed, and those that did manage to connect did so at a shallow enough angle to keep them from causing severe damage. Ardgal held his position surprisingly well as he worked on getting a bead on the pursuers.

He heard the 'thump' of the grnade launcher on the Punisher pistol as he took his shot finally. Then a second later, 'BOOM!' It was loud enough to trigger the audio dampening in his helm, there was no doubt that there was some collateral damage from two speeders getting blown out of the sky, but sadly there were times such things were unavoidable in a place like Nar Shadaa, especially with how crowded the airlanes tended to be.

"There's a reason I tend to stick to the skies in combat, it's where I'm most at home. Hell of a shot against those pursuers, one grenade for two vehicles. Not to mention only minimal collateral damage, I'm not the only one who did well here."

Once they reached the structure and the speeder set down, Kurayami wasn't sure if it would be able to get back in the skies, but that was fine, they were leaving here with a stealth craft if all went according to plan. He was right this was a very good place to hide such a craft, and just as good for the placing of multiple traps or turrets to prevent people from getting in.

"Running scans on this place and I am not seeing any signs of traps, which makes me think whoever set this up likely has someone who is not worried about creds, or they themselves are rather wealthy and are doing these hit and runs for fun. I've run basic scans on all frequencies I can, let me know if you pick up anything. Even without confirmation of such things I still got a bad feeling here."

He tried to think of what sensor blocking tech they could use...or if the traps themselves had been made with very thin plating to make them undetectable amongst the garbage. It was possible he might be able to reconfigure the sensors, but to readjust for such materials would be very difficult and would require quite a long time as he would have to try not only for the single materials or alloys, but also any combination that could be utilized. The sun was nearly down at this point, it was time to see exactly what was in store. He nodded to [member="Ardgal Raxis"].

"Ready whenever you are."

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

When a warrior was on the battle field long enough, they didn't need the Force to develop that sixth sense for when things were off. Right now, this was all levels of off. The General nodded to Bloodborn, gripping the Punisher pistol in his hands and taking the lead. It made sense for him to go first. After all, he was the one with bone grafts, accellerated healing, and all kinds of enhancements that made him a super soldier by definition.

He stepped into the pure darkness, his eyes switching to alternate bands of light. Through the smell of the trash, he could faintly detect explosives.

"Baridum," Ardgal whispered, barely audible at all. "Somewhere in here."

He made his way across the dark, litter covered lobby towards a rickety set of wooden stairs. The place was by far too quiet. The soldier slowly made his way up the stairs. He tested each step before placing his weight on it gingerly. Several were busted out, leaving gaping holes in their wake, and others were so badly cracked it was clear they would go soon too. He spotted three different trip wires, one just barely in time.

Eventually the decaying stair case led them up to a hall of several doors. What little light filtered through the two mostly boarded up windows on the ends of the hall showed more rotting trash strewn across barely visible red carpet. The walls were covered in graffiti, sometimes over peeling yellow wall paper, sometimes on rotting wood. Most of the doors on the wall were boarded up and sealed off. The nails and wood were exceptionally new. And all of the doors--except one. One that was covered in cardboard.

Bingo. Ardgal thought to himself.

He motioned towards the door and made his way stealthily towards it across the piles of crap. He held up three fingers when he reached the door for the old classic count down. 3.....2.....1.

The door gave way under his boot like putty to a lightsaber, caving in and sending a shower of splinters inward. Ardgal charged in right after, pistol raised.

Their target, the ship they had come for lay waiting in what was now some well maintained hangar in the midst of this hell hole. A quartet smartly dressed men in leather sat around a table on the far side. They leapt in surprise at the duo's entrance. One of them turned the table over, sending a flurry of papers onto the ground as the others pulled sub machine guns from their coats, spraying blaster fire at the two. Ardgal rolled for cover behind a stack of crates as they all took cover behind the overturned tables.

Ardgal popped over the top of the cover, firing a pair of pot shots before having to duck down for their spray of blaster fire.

"I can't get a target lock on them," he said, "I don't have enough time. Got any ideas?"

[member="Kurayami Bloodborn"]

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

The fact that the person next to him was Force Dead was something Kurayami had become accustomed to at this point in time. Not that it had ever really bothered him to start with some might see it as strange that a Force User would be unperturbed by such a situation, but Ardgal had proven to be trustworthy many times. He made no comment as the other man took point. Even if his armor could absorb the hit perfectly well, it was always best when it was not needed. He switched the mode of his HUD to night vision and also set the millimeter wave radar to run in the upper right as well as infrared scans in the upper left. It was a lot of data to keep track of, but if he had to he could combine the three data feeds into a singular display, in theory at least. Something to try in a less dangerous situation.

Though he didn't draw a weapon as of yet, he moved the saber onto his left hip, the flight jacket covering the base of the hilt, while the rest was concealed from the front by the holster for his A-180 pistol. Then came the barely whispered warning. Baradium. It gave him a moment of pause as he wondered which variant had been detected. Both were lethal, but baradium 357 was definitely the more lethal of the two. Either way, Kurayami had no real wish to find out.

He followed in Ardgal's steps precisely, given the state of the building it was possible that a trip wire or sensor could be placed anywhere, if the man in front of him wasn't setting anything off, there was little doubt that he would. It only made sense that the path Ardgal tread was safe. Then came the stairs. There he felt as the Force screamed a warning in his mind as they began ascending. As they passed each tripwire it became clear to Kurayami that whoever had been utilizing this ship had made sure it was very well protected. The third wire was placed so as to be very difficult to not hit, but somehow they both made it past that one. He sighed slightly, not even realizing he had held his breath during t he climb up.

The doors and hallway presented to them at the top of the landing were not something any would consider to be nice, or safe, and yet here they stood. It was strange though that some of the boards on the windows and the nails holding them seemed more recent, not quite as run down. Same with a few of the doors. Before he had even noticed the other door Ardgal was already standing in front of it preparing to breach it. Kurayami stood behind him and unholstered the A180. It seemed as soon as he had done so that Ardgal kicked the door in. He followed him through the now splintered door.

Everything after that was a blur as the startled men flipped a table onto its side and began firing at them with automatic weapons. Ardgal was right, getting a target lock with this withering amount of fire flying at the would be a miracle. This was one of those times that he was glad he kept with his basic saber practice. It took a moment for him to formulate a plan, granted not exactly one most people would think of as 'good' or'survivable,' then again he never did tend to like the safe plans too much.

"Yea I got an idea, just keep firing when you get a chance."

He set the powercell on the A180 in hand to overload after 5 seconds, throwing it in an arc over towards the cover the others were utilizing, this was followed by the second set to do the same and thrown only slightly further. The first explosion could be heard as the second hit the ground, following the first in exploding a couple seconds later. Once both pistols were safely exploded and the enemy reloading Kurayami rushed from cover, pulling the saber from his belt as he did. The snap-hiss of the blade activating was followed by the distinctive hum. The hilt was held in a reverse grip, not ideal for close quarters combat with another Forcie, but it was good for the blocking of blaster fire. And that was his intent.

He readied himself as the enemy finished reloading, his mind cleared as he focused on purely defense. Then came the rain of blaster fire once more from the two with automatic weapons. His focus tightened and the world around him slowed to a crawl as he let the Force guide his movements, sending bots back towards the shooters, as well as into the ceiling, walls, and floors. He wasn't sure exactly how long he could manage this feat, but hopefully it would be long enough for Ardgal to eliminate the threat.
[member="Ardgal Raxis"]

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

As Bloodborn did his blast and charge, Ardgal waited his time. It was a risky move what Bloodborn was doing, but it was unexpected. And often the matter of surprise was what was could and would tip the scales in really any attack. As the enemy concentrated their fire on the force user, Ardgal rose to his feet, Punisher pistol extended. His first shot tore through the skull of one of the auto-fire wielding assailants in suits, tearing through his skull and leaving hardly anything behind.

As the first body fell, Ardgal centered on the second, squeezing the trigger. The shot tore through the man's chest, knocking him back as the gore spewed from the wound opened in his chest cavity. The general leaped over the crates he had as cover as the other two were torn between firing at Bloodborn or Ardgal. Their hesitation was their downfall. Ardgal's two shots dispatched them both, sending their carcasses sprawling backwards.

The general lowered his revolver, wiping the sweat from his brow on the back of his coat sleeve.

"Excellent work," said a haughty, cold voice coming from the ship they had come so far to get.

From the loading ramp emerged a well dressed, dapper gentleman, groomed to perfection. Not a hair was out of place on his pristine face, not a single thread was out of place on his perfect suit. He stopped at the base of the ramp, "I must say, such effort, such passion. Not many beings could ever hope to get this far. You've done so exceptionally well, I half want to let you live. Hell, I am even tempted to just give you my ship since she means so very much to you."

"All I want right now is one more bullet," Ardgal said grimly as he tossed his empty revolver away.

The man chuckled as he shook his head, "I have seen some efforts but let me tell you, none of it compares to this. So I am afraid, this is the end for the two of you."


The man rolled his sleeve back casually and pressed a knob on the side of his golden watch. The stack of crates Ardgal stood near went up in a massive explosion. The Cyborg was sent flying, bouncing across the floor till he slid to a halt against one of the boxes. The well dressed man extended his other hand, a lightsaber leapt to his waiting palm, emitting a crimson blade.

"Now that just leaves you," the man said in a haughty taunt.

[member="Kurayami Bloodborn"]

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

It seemed that the element of surprise had worked in their favor, at least at first. Ardgal was quick to dispatch the most immediate threats, the two who were wielding automatic weapons. He saw the carnage in all its glory but maintained his focus on defense. The other two were quick to follow their comrades due to their hesitation. As he eased off the use of Force Reflex and the world went back to normal speed there came a voice. One that was at once familiar and unknown. He knew the tone taken well, that of one used to being on top, one who knew little of being defeated. There were times he had that edge to his own voice.

Kurayami felt his muscles tense as his mind instinctively reached out towards the seemingly new presence from onboard the ship. The style of dress suggested wealth, and served only to reinforce the vanity present in his voice. Impeccably dressed and styled it was clear this was someone who placed a lot of care into his image. which could prove to be an advantage given that neither he nor Ardgal looked like they were all that skilled. A causal observer would have taken them getting this far simply to luck. When the figure stopped Kurayami knew this was the source of the bad feeling he had gotten earlier. It had never gone away completely during their sortie, but it hadn't grown in magnitude until now. There was something about this man that suggested there was far more to him than there seemed. And the fact that he was after such a historically significant ship made him wonder what reason the man had for such a craft.

Oh kriffing hell this guy was on a monologue. Well that told Kurayami the last bit he needed to know, Sith or Dark Jedi for sure. Maybe even a rogue Jedi. Just listening to the droning speech was already grating on his nerves. Thankfully it wasn't as long as he had mentally prepared himself for. This soon proved too be far worse than anticipated as the crates behind Ardgal went up and sent the other man flying. And then bouncing and sliding into another crate to finally stop. Well that seemed less than positive though it did bring the fight down to a one on one. It had been sometime since Kurayami had face another in a duel like this. He took a deep breath and removed his flight jacket, setting it aside carefully. A seemingly odd choice, but one that revealed the rest of the armor worn. Gunmetal gray with golden trim. The gold was a signifier of vengeance in Mandalorian culture, a secondary driving for for him. He tilted his head as he watched his opponent bring his own saber to bear. A bloodshine blade.

He was quick to switch his stance to a basic stance from Form One. The most basic of saber forms, a simple ready stance. He chuckled slightly as the man observed the 'even odds.' He said nothing as he awaited the impending duel. He would not be waiting long either. The other man opened with a Makashi salute, and began to circle Kurayami. This part was all as expected, as Kurayami circled with the man to keep him off guard about what exactly he could or couldn't see. The man moved quickly and unexpectedly towards Kurayami a quick jab followed up with a slash. The jab was towards the shoulder with the slash aimed across the upper left arm. The jab to the shoulder glanced over the armor though the slash did manage to cut into the armorweave a bit. Kurayami took advantage of this short opening to lash out with a quick punch aimed at his opponent's solar plexus with his right hand. As he withdrew from the hit Kurayami extended the knuckleplate vibroblade as he brought his viridian blade up to lock with the blood red, he wasn't looking to kill with the strike, it was only to throw the man off guard. The slash across the chest did little outside of cut into the suit and open a minor wound. The attack had the opposite of the hoped for effect as the counter came in the form of a Force Push that sent Kurayami back into a wall. No major breaks fortunately, but he couldn't let the fight go on for too long either. There were some hairline fractures and those needed to be addressed. The dark side had means with which to heal, and though he didn't want to utilize any of those means this was an odd circumstance.

He reached out through the Force to the other man, focusing on the well of the Force within his opponent. And subtly he began creating and widening a link with the man, slowly draining his reserves a he did so. He poured this energy into the hairline fractures present to provide healing. It also served as the perfect distraction when the very connection was suddenly severed. The look of shock was one that brought a smile to Kurayami's face. He could tell it had done exactly what he needed. He waited, remaining slumped against the wall making the other man wonder what exactly had happened, making him think that it may have been the last attempt of a man who was now incapacitated. That wouldn't do though he needed Kurayami and Ardgal dead. He made his way over slowly and cautiously, just a few more steps...and now. As the other man came within range Kurayami moved swiftly pushing himself further than he had before utilizing Force Speed as he stood lashing out with his saber in the reverse grip from before, across the knees from right to left, a quick flourish bring the blade around through his opponents wrist that held his saber and bringing the blade to stop right above his enemies chest as he lay on the ground. He drove it into the center of the chest and pulled it straight up bisecting the upper body from sternum through the scalp.

Finally deactivating his blade Kurayami walked over to where he had set his flight jacket down and picked it up, putting it on after hooking his saber to his belt again. While doing so he sent a signal to his gunship, slaving it to his location. It would find a suitable location nearby to set down until he could board the craft and make his way home. After doing so he walked over to Ardgal and checked him over. Bioscans showed he was alive, but that he had taken a rather nice beating from that little trick the Dark Jedi, Sith, whatever, had pulled. And as adrenaline started to wear off he realized just how hard he had been thrown into that wall. It was clear that ending it as he had was for the best as he was going to need quite a bit of rest after this was all said and done. Taking a seat next to the Mandalorian Alor, he took his helmet off and took a deep breath.

"We did it. Just gotta get the ship outta here now. Hopefully won't be too hard."

[member="Ardgal Raxis"]

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

Systems check. Running..... Scanning...... Scanning........

Vital organs: operational. Minimal damage. Minor hemorrhaging.

Epidermis: Functional. Burns sustained along the left side. Non-fatal.

Limbs: Functional..... Third degree burns along the left side, left arm is primarily affected. Operational. Minor fractures along the right arm with minor abrasions.

Routing healing to the left and right arms......

Rebooting.

Ardgal felt himself kicked back to consciousness and pain shot over him once more as his injuries caught up with him. His vision slowly returned and the cyborg could see once more as Bloodborn dispatched the man in the suit. The general managed to pull himself upright, wincing in agony. He could feel his body mending itself, faster than most beings as his altered Fierrereo genes were kicking in. But it didn't take the pain away.

"Glad we made it," the man grunted with a nod. He gripped the top of a nearby pallet and pulled himself to his feet. "Getting it running shouldn't be too hard, after all," the man limped forward, picking his revolver off the ground. He cycled through the cylinder, reloading each chamber, "Its just a ship."

He limped towards the ship and up the loading ramp. He could feel the air tingling around him as the man moved through the small, red-lit walkway, up the latter that lead to the cockpit. Everything was angular, aggressive, and reeked of Sith creation. But it was starkly austere, utilitarian, and effective. The man admired and preferred that. Across the glowing console Ardgal could see the ship was locked, password protected with a firewall and redundant security measures.

The cyborg glided his hands across the durasteel console. It would have been a lot easier in his armor to bypass the security measures. He plugged into the armor, and the armor could have plugged into the console, like transitional connection directly to his brain. But now he was here all by himself. He quickly dragged his slicing knowledge back up from the recesses of the electronic components of his cyborg brain. His fingers flicked across the console, quickly overloading and bypassing the security measures before setting a new password. The ship was soon alive and ready for their control.

"I offer you the console," Ardgal said stepping aside for Bloodborn. "I need to find the medical kit."

[member="Kurayami Bloodborn"]

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

Kurayami sat and caught his breath, feeling fatigue start to set in. He was no duelist and even a short fight like the one he was just involved in was draining due to his needing to use the Force more than most would to offset his weaknesses. He looked down at the scar that showed clearly on his armor and felt the tightness of a cauterized wound beneath the armorweave. nothing major thankfully, but still was going to suck getting it healed correctly. As Ardgal was kicked back into consciousness Kurayami smiled, seeing that the other man was going to be alright after all.

"Yea, doesn't look like either of us made it out unscathed, but at least we get to go home again. I might have a good deal of combat experience under my belt, as I know you do as well, but I don't know that I would have made it through if I had tried this on my own. She is a beaut of a ship though, no doubts there."

Kurayami stood as Ardgal pulled himself to his feet. He resealed the helmet to his armor and ran a scan of the ship. If this truly was the one claimed then it wass priceless, and honestly he didn't want to sell it to someone else. As the scans completed he ran the data gathered from all the sensors through an encrypted holonet channel, searching databases far and wide for the layout of the ship and its systems. While this was happening he followed Ardgal up the ramp into the ship itself. Not nearly as large as he had expected. This ship was full of the dark side. It permeated every surface, and yet he had no headache as he would have expeced. It was like an ancient miasma that lay within the consoles and hull plates themselves, but at the same time the hatred one would expect to feel was more background than it was overpowering. Something that felt calculated, patient, and still under the surface anger, hate, bloodlust.

"I'll let you bypass the security measures. I am not exactly familiar with Republic Sienar designs. Thankfully the controls seem to be similar in layout to an early TIE/Ln or the old school Jedi Interceptors. No doubt I can get us where we need to be. As for my ship outside, I'll have my company send someone to pick it up."

As he saaid this he studied the layout of the controls and took a seat, doing a quick run through of the basics to see just how everything fit together. Once he had everything figured out enough he started the preflight as he composed and sent a message to Ri, telling her to send a pilot and small frigate to pick up his gunship at the given coordinates. It took only a few moments to receive confirmation that both were on the way and would arrive shortly. He had no doubts as to the ability of his employees. He turned his helmeted visage to Argal as he finished up the preflights and activated the cloaking systems heading for orbit as soon as was possible.

"You tell me where we are going and we'll see just what kind of beast this ship truly is."

[member="Ardgal Raxis"]