First Reply Gone Guerrilla

[Davik Haize]

Cantina The Paradise, Trader's Belt
Taleuceuma, Saleucami​

Boots crossed on the table, Davik Haize lounged back in the soft booth, idly twirling a pendant with a blue gem between his fingers, lost in thought. The pendant itself emitted a distress call across every friendly frequency the Outer Rim's patchwork comm relays could reach.

It belonged to Tannis Courte. An old friend to both Haize and his late mentor; a man they'd run into from time to time in the Outer Rim.

But more importantly — Tannis was a rebel, a revolutionary, a lifelong fighter against injustice. Last Haize had heard, Tannis was building a resistance network in the Kuthic Worlds, just down the Talcene Transit from here, against the Imperial Confederation. And now he was gone. All that remained was this tracker pendant, and little else to follow.

CorSec detectives would call it a cold case, and, truly, the longer Haize sat turning it over in his mind, the colder his mind's cogs became. But he owed the man, and so did his mentor.

He had to find out what happened.​

--

OOC: Maybe you’re a friend of Tannis, maybe you’re most definitely not. I don’t know, just cook.

 

[Cortana Jade]

The Paradise was full on low music and the static chatter of off-world traders. Tucked in a booth near the back, she watched the man with the pendant -- at this point she didn't for how long. From her vantage, the man with the pendant was framed between the drifting silhouettes of servers and the long gleam of the bar.

She was here because she had a lead that Tannis might have knowledge about Imperial black operations -- operations possibly linked to the death of her parents.

He sat alone, boots on the table, absently twirling it. She noticed them before he did. Two brutes, broad-shouldered, moving without hurry but with a purpose, cutting through the crowd in a slow arc toward his booth.

She just let the seconds stretch, measuring him, their approach, the weight of the room. She just loosely sat back, fingers brushing the rim of her glass.

Their eyes flicked to the pendant, then to each other -- and she could sort of surmise then what they had in mind. She was already mapping the space between them, the exits, and how quickly she could close the distance if she needed to -- it was just as she was taught. For now, she watched, letting the cantina's noise swallow the tension building in the room.

---
Davik Haize​

 

[Davik Haize]

The golden lights of the cantina dimmed as a pair of dark clouds drifted over Davik’s table, breaking his train of thought.

Hmm? He looked up to find two walking slabs of muscle standing there, cracking their knuckles and grins flashing rows of expensive, ceramic-white teeth. Almost blinding.

“Think you’ve been sniffing around the wrong place, sleemo,” the bald one said. Davik tilted his head slightly toward the exit. Two armed goons now occupied the usual security posts; the fire exit was probably covered, too, and he guessed more muscle was waiting outside for rebounds.

They weren’t Imperials, so who else did you manage to piss off, Courte?

“You. Think?” Haize flashed a chit-eating grin. The bald man’s face curdled into rage.

“I’ll show you, bastard--”

Before the thug could throw a punch, Davik's force-enhanced fist shattered his jaw. Mandible cracked loudly, and expensive teeth spun through the air like white glitter. The second goon lunged immediately after, only to catch an elbow to the gut before Haize swept his legs out from under him.

Easy.

As the (dry)wall of muscle fell, a dozen more stepped into view, hidden until now by the first two’s bulky frames.

Maybe not so easy.

I need a way out.

The fight began.

Cortana Jade ​

 

[Darth Moskvin]

Gone Guerrilla

"Horrors, I believe, should be original--the use of common myths and legends being a weakening influence."
- H.P. Lovecraft -​

Location: Taleuceuma, Saleucami
Gear: In Sig
Familiar: Archimedes​

O'Death

My arrival to the Outer Rim planet was not born from the freshly dug graves of pleasure, but from the cold tendrils of creeping business; as always as been my past few weeks. Easily I could dispatch Sisters to conduct such circumstances, but I prefer doing the devil's work; quite literally, for I am the devil clothed in the skin of the boogeyman. I had delegated myself to conducting research for a project that held much potency in reshaping the galaxy, and for this reason I found myself standing in front of a cantina in hopes my contact would not be late. I despise tardiness. And so did my fowl, Archie, who stood proudly erect on my right shoulder, his eyes always observant, his stomach always seeking food. With a long, dry sigh I entered the cantina.

The sights and smells where offensive to someone like myself. Well, the smells anyway. The sights were as one would expect; and I suppose the smells should be too. Mentally handwaving the whole debacle in front of me, I scanned the occupied tables, and as I feared; tardiness. With a low growl, I moved toward an empty table, my deathly appearance gliding through like the phantom I project on the psyches of others. They call me Lady Death, and it doesn't take a genius to understand why. Just look at me, I quite faithfully check off the ticks of a monster, the harbinger of death; the eater of men's souls.

Sitting down at a table, my undead body attracting curious looks and quick turning of heads, I could only smile at them hauntingly; the tips of my fangs slightly exposed. Archie flew to the table's surface, in search of food in any form. To appease my friend, I produced a piece of rotted flesh from an inner pocket of my cloak; tossing it on the table, watching with dark enthusiasm as he gobbled it up in mere seconds. Then I felt the air change, an event formulating from the thoughts of others. Again, I smiled, not hauntingly this time, but passionately. I love killing, watching those die; and not always just by my hand.

Then it happened....a fight. Now this was worth forgiving my contact for his tardiness.

Davik Haize / Cortana Jade​

 

[Cortana Jade]

That first wave hit Davik pretty hard, bodies closing in from every side, but he she could tell he wasn't any slouch either. The cantina breaking into chaos around him -- From the shadows along the bar, Cortana moved without much fuss; who was she to them really anyway? During that whole scuffle -- a glass tipped, a tray slid, and those at the forefront of wave two stumbled as if the room itself turned against them. Another reached for Davik, only to crumple as his drink seared with poison, still on the bar behind him, slipped in moments before he could lift it.

Her presence wasn't obvious, at least not at first. She stepped into the half-light, gaze steady, posture calmly pushing against the violence. "Are you trying to attract every gun in Taleuceuma by breaking jaws like that? You're going to burn this entire place down..." she said, eyes never leaving the oncoming reinforcements. "I don't care about your fight, but I do care about my lead. So either you follow my exit, or you drown in bodies."

She pointed behind her, through the service exit.

She coiled, waiting to see what he'd do. It was clear: she wasn't here to save him, only to keep the game from collapsing before she had what she came for.

---
Davik Haize​

 

[Davik Haize]

"Who the hell are you?" he asked, wiping a bloodied lip and briskly eyeing her head to toe. Whoever she was, though, she was right -- the goons just didn't stop pouring in, and eventually the numbers would be too high for his strength to match.

"C'mon then." Davik jutted a chin towards the service exit, letting her lead the way out of this mess.

Cortana Jade ​

 

[Cortana Jade]

She slipped through the service exit first, at a pace they both could maintain; she scanned every angle of the corridor. She could feel Davik right behind, and then she cut left and guided them down a twisting path that took them through a kitchen and then through storerooms -- she shoved a crate here, snapped a latch shut there, they were just small delays to slow the muscle behind them.

She didn't look back often, only enough to confirm he was still on her heels, and then the cool night air hit. She cut sharply into a shadowed alley.

They didn't shake all their pursuers; two shadows peeled from the chaos and managed to continue pursuit. "Just keep up," she shot, voice low, as they jogged further into Saleucami's underbelly. In reality, she wasn't trying her best to escape -- she was herding.

When the alley pinched to a dead end, she pivoted on him, her vibro-sai flashing into her hand, tip pointing at his person "Now," she said evenly, eyes hard, "tell me what you really know about Tannis. Because if you're lying, I'll have the answers from one of them instead."

Davik Haize​

 

[Davik Haize]

Davik’s first instinct was to smash the mysterious woman’s face into the wall with a punch - the usual way for him to overcome threats. But rationality, and the Force, rebelled, jolting through his whole nervous system against it. She was this fast to turn and draw a blade up his chin without him being able to react at all. He’d be midway launching his fist when its edge would casually, but lethally, pierce through his chin and up into his brain.

For a long moment, they just stared at each other until he finally irritantly scoffed. “Hmph. Well, clearly, you’re not with them.” he jutted a thumb backwards, rationalizing his thoughts, then continued, “Tannis is an old friend.” he raised and opened his palm where the vanished man’s necklace laid, “Let me guess - this piece of junk drew here, right?”

“Some street vendor had it. Told me he saw a dozen men bag another last night. They looked like Imps, apparently.” That last bit of information was yanked from the salesman through a not-so-subtle means of intimidation.


“Now, are you going to move that fancy shiv out of my face and tell me who the hell you are?”

Cortana Jade ​

 

[Cortana Jade]

Her face screwed up at the claim that Tannis was a friend; It wasn't the reveal she was expecting. That sent her mind wondering, trying to connect the dots of it all. Her gaze shot to the pendant, and she was subtly loosed her grip on her weapon. His cooperation helped soften her a bit.

"I knew Tannis. He was connected to something I need answers to." she said, lowering the Sai, but only slightly.

Sigh

She pulled back, pacing backwards in slight frustration. "Do Imps even move in dozens -- unless they're protecting or after something important. Either they wanted Tannis silenced, or they need him alive. I do't know."

She tucked her weapon, "Names are for friends. You can call me C.J. That's all you need."

Davik Haize​

 

[Davik Haize]

Pssht.

Davik raised his hands mockingly with a scoff, "Yeah, don't worry, lady. I'm not here to be your friend." 'how many cats do you own,' he asked, but did not voice, instead, "And you can call me Haize." there was absolutely no reason for him not to share his first name, but he just played the script she wrote.

"There's no love lost between Tannis and any Imps in the galaxy you can think of," he shrugged to her earlier remark, whilst his mind wondered whether he could use the opportunity of her lowered blade to knock her out. Eventually, he decided against it -- he was already stuck in a mire, searching for Tannis. As reluctant as he was to team up with anyone, she was the only soul on this planet with whom he seemed to have a mutual interest."Killing him off would be a waste. If anything, he's probably locked down here in some Imperial facility if his captors were indeed Imps."

If they were, they would be torturing him every minute of every hour until he spilled the beans on all the rebel networks he'd been forming in the sector.

So we're running out of time. Every man breaks eventually. Even Tannis.

"You know any more of Saleucami than me?"​

Cortana Jade