Private Investigating the Eternal

[Darlyn Excron]

Spare no expense. There was nothing more valuable than information, and to that end there was no cost too great in the pursuit of it. Acquiring the sith-origin darts once used on him was surprisingly simple when you never spent money on yourself, and with black markets not asking questions in the slightest. Who wouldn't want to have some kind of tool against Jedi after all? Though Darlyn had no intention on using them on others, instead there was a more... unorthodox use in his mind. After donning his old Desperado Class Armor, complete with his mirror mask, dope hat, and voice modulator to make his voice natural, but not his own, and taking his newly acquired 'bounty hunting ship' out into hyperspace... he took one dart and jammed it into his skin. The cold, empty feeling that came after was one he hated the memory of, but this time at least it was expected.

These darts naturally had a nasty effect, making his connection to the force as weak as the average person, maybe a bit above average at best, but nowhere near 'force sensitive'. All together, this would completely mask who he was to anyone observing him, visually, auditorily, or through the Force. At least that was the plan, as Darlyn had managed to get a meeting with Ingrid L'lerim under his bounty hunter persona. The Empire seemed to be taking interest in people close to him, certainly Loreena Arenais-Valhoun , his beloved niece, as they well should considering her role as a rebel against them. Not knowing if they were a threat to the others however, or how far they were willing to take this, Darlyn needed to investigate himself. So, meeting with a representative on the prospect of a 'fortuitous business relationship' would give him the in he needed to find what he wanted.

Not knowing how long this would be, Darlyn had taken steps to 'set' a few extra darts ready to apply their force numbing effect again, and prolong it further, underneath discreet portions of his suit. Even if they accidentally activated, there should be no risk that they do anything but what they needed to anyways, and he had plenty to keep the charade going as long as he needed. And in case this went bad, he'd only brought the Punisher pistol along with, seeing as anything he was really comfortable with would be too recognizable. Well, his pistol and the shattered remains of his lightsaber, in case he needed to give himself some credibility.

He exited hyperspace to the coordinates he'd gotten on his secure hunter channel, and patiently waited. He was early, it seemed.

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim-Ragal
Empress Regent of the Eternal Empire, Overlord of the Eternal Empire, the Emperor's hand
The Red Witch; Director of Blackwatch; Baroness of Vengard, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium​

Location: Vexillium, territory of the Eternal Empire
Equipment: Gildenweave Imperial Uniform | Viper Mk. I Skinsuit | G1 OmniLink
Tag: Darlyn Excron

It’s another business, a bounty hunter asked for an audience from her, and it’s usually always good to be good with ones like that. Who knows when to entrust them with a job. That is why Ingrid agreed to the meeting and the coordinates were sent. As this was not specifically an official matter, the woman was on board the Vexillium and they went to the meeting with it. Actually, few ships with greater luxury could have been found in the Eternal Empire, but well, it also belonged to the woman's company.

The Vexillium was almost as big a luxury cruiser as a star destroyer, except it wasn't a warship. This beautiful, huge monster stepped out of hyperspace into the system where Ingrid had to meet the mystery bounty hunter. There is still plenty of time until the meeting, yet they have already arrived. She was on the bridge with the permission of the executives of the Vexillium company (not as if Ingrid had not been the CEO). Upon arrival, she also issued an order to immediately scan the system to see if their guest had arrived or not.

Since this was a system where there were no planets, it was assumed that the only ship here was the ship that arrived for the meeting. A greeting was sent to him along with the coordinates of which hangar you could land in. As soon as this was done, Ingrid walked down to the designated meeting room, where her partner would be accompanied if he arrived and landed in the hangar. But until that happened, the red-haired woman had little choice but to wait for the bounty hunter to arrive.

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[Darlyn Excron]

• Location: Eternal Empire Territory
• Equipment: Desperado Class Armor, mirror mask, Punisher pistol, shattered lightsaber
• Tags: Ingrid L'lerim

In barely any time at all, another ship entered the empty space alongside his own, a massive luxury ship by the looks of it. Truth be told he had expected something with a bit more firepower, either the Empire had more class than he anticipated or they had confidence in spades. Receiving the hail from the larger vessel, he simply nodded to himself and sent back a quick confirmation before following the docking instructions. He was by no means a fantastic pilot without the Force, but he managed to more or less make the docking seem natural. He double checked his timer for the dart duration, and began to keep a mental count of the time before leaving his vessel to the larger luxury cruiser.

He lifted a hand in a casual greeting of the staff that were outside, and after following any security precautions that didn't involve taking off his mask (at his insistence, of course), he was eventually lead off to the designated meeting hall. Naturally, well before other Forcies could start prodding his mind, he'd been throwing up a defense that had worked against him and others before. Though instead of a wall of strong emotion, or pazzak, he started developing pun after pun in his head, using the process to coat himself in as best a defense as one could hope. The fact he found himself hilarious likely helped bolster the defense precaution.

Couldn't have anyone determining what he really wanted, now could he?

When finally he was brought to the room, the red haired woman was already there waiting for him. Behind his mask he couldn't help but grin, she didn't look anything like he'd expected... which meant this was all the more curious to him. He'd expected either a uniformed official or something more akin to, well a Sith-styled Forcie of course. What she was couldn't be felt by him, but he'd have to take note of everything about her for later.

Upon entry, he offered an exaggerated bow to the Empress Regent, and his modulated and disguised voice came crisp and clean despite the mask. "My my aren't you a beauty? I was half expecting some old hag, or worse a military officer with a stick up her rear. And yet here you are, traveling in luxury with nary a destroyer in sight. Not at all what I was to expect." He rose himself up to his full height and moved just a bit closer to Ingrid, extending a hand out to shake. "You can call me Tempest, forgive the mask but I prefer to keep my day job and my profession separate. And what may I call you?"

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim-Ragal
Empress Regent of the Eternal Empire, Overlord of the Eternal Empire, the Emperor's hand
The Red Witch; Director of Blackwatch; Baroness of Vengard, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium​

Location: Vexillium, territory of the Eternal Empire
Equipment: Gildenweave Imperial Uniform | Viper Mk. I Skinsuit | G1 OmniLink
Tag: Darlyn Excron

True, Ingrid might have looked like everything with her looks, just not the leader of a militaristic empire. Her build and appearance also reflected much more of some kind of noble court rather than a cold, calculating, tough-handed, and ruthless assassin, or soldier. Of course, this was only one half of her character, the other was much more suited to her appearance, although only a few could know it. She looked at the man entering with her blue eyes.

”Luxury is not an aspect, the only reason this ship is the meeting place is that there is no better neutral place in the Empire.”

Her voice, in turn, reflected that she was a soldier, cold, stiff, and distant. As is her body language. Her uniform, which had no sign on it, supported her words that luxury did not matter to her. Anyway, she really considered it an incredible exaggeration to have Sure and his companions buy this luxury ship for themselves. But Vex leaders were incorrigible in that regard. She accepted and reciprocated the handshake; and the man's manners were ignored for the time being. She nodded at the helmet, familiar with such cultures.

”Welcome, Tempest. I am Ingrid L’lerim, the Overlord, or my Lord will perfectly address me. Please take a seat!”

She pointed to one of the chairs here in the briefing room. Waited for the man to sit down, she only did the same thing afterwards.

”I would be grateful if you could share with me why you wanted this meeting.”

​

 

[Darlyn Excron]

• Location: Eternal Empire Territory
• Equipment: Desperado Class Armor, mirror mask, Punisher pistol, shattered lightsaber
• Tags: Ingrid L'lerim

"I was expecting a Star Destroyer of some kind, so neutrality in this aspect is appreciated but unexpected." After the shaking of hands, Darlyn took the seat that was indicated, and leaned back in it to get fully comfortable. While she sat down, he let his eyes wander over her, taking in how she stood and held herself. That confidence spoke much about her, far more than he'd expected. She held herself not terribly unlike a Jedi, or Sith... he could only imagine how she would feel if he wasn't using the darts. He'd have to find a way to talk to Loreena sometime, get more information out of her.

When she sat down, she opened by asking him why he wanted this meeting... as expected. "Same reason any Hunter worth his salt would contact a government, I smell profit. A lot of profit. Pardon the bluntness of it, Overlord L'lerim, but there's not much of a better way to put it. A legitimate government with a thorn of a rebellion in it's side, that just reeks of bounties. And there's nothing I love more than putting a good criminal down, except being paid for it."

He folded his hands in his lap, a completely relaxed posture despite still being tensed, ready in the event that Ingrid took offense to something, or at least enough to strike at him. Ever present in the moment and ready, just in case. Hopefully if Ingrid picked up on that, she'd understand it as a precaution rather than a warning sign. "But bounty boards are so slow and dull, and everyone has access to them which means competition. So I was hoping to speed the process up a bit, get a bit of exclusivity, you catch my meaning? Jobs here or there you don't give away to the free market."

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim-Ragal
Empress Regent of the Eternal Empire, Overlord of the Eternal Empire, the Emperor's hand
The Red Witch; Director of Blackwatch; Baroness of Vengard, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium​

Location: Vexillium, territory of the Eternal Empire
Equipment: Gildenweave Imperial Uniform | Viper Mk. I Skinsuit | G1 OmniLink
Tag: Darlyn Excron

Ingrid's movements were military throughout, and she also had perfect elegance, not to mention something else. Something that suggested danger is a perfect predator. These could only be seen by the man if he was familiar with such things, if not, he could only see the military but elegant woman. What might have been interesting was that Ingrid hadn’t hidden these, she wasn’t even trying to disguise what they seemed dangerous, or just not in front of the uninitiated eyes.

The man told the woman the same reason the Overlord had met so many times. This was the most common thing a bounty hunter usually brought up. However, based on the woman’s experience, there were very often ulterior motives behind this as well. She wondered for a moment if that was true even now. It would turn out over time, but in the meantime she nodded at Tempest's words. She watched the man with an unshakable face as she spoke, nothing really could be read from her face or even from her body language here. She controlled not only her emotions but her body perfectly.

”I mean, so, there's no particular reason, you just want a good supporter, an employer.”

She remarked in a still military, cold voice. Of course, she guessed it wasn’t just that much in the background. Yes, she knew this to be true, the question of the board; she also worked as a bounty hunter for a few years before the CIS was re-established and she was an independent agent. She has maintained her relationships ever since and paid the membership fee, who knew when the Red Witch disguise was needed again.

”As you know, we handle this matter discreetly and we don’t have a galaxy-level bounty hunter list yet, so you couldn’t even find a job in the Eternal Empire in the traditional ways. I assume you’ve made a portfolio so I know who you are, what your previous jobs were. I don't want to blindly employ anyone.”

​

 

[Darlyn Excron]

• Location: Eternal Empire Territory
• Equipment: Desperado Class Armor, mirror mask, Punisher pistol, shattered lightsaber
• Tags: Ingrid L'lerim

"Of course I want that, I'm a simple man. Got bills to pay."

Of course he was picking up the danger signs, though he could only barely notice most of them in Ingrid's posture and demeanor. Without the Force, it was noticeably more difficult, but despite that he could just barely catch many of those signs. Ingrid was an apex predator alright, and he was sitting here disguised as suitable prey to her, asking for her to throw him scraps of food. He wondered if she noticed it, the cues to his own danger that he was working so hard to disguise? The relaxed posture that tried to hide how dangerous he could be.

He wanted her to think he was a skilled hunter, not a force of nature. After all, in this room were two apex predators, each playing a game to discern what they wanted to know of the other. His only advantage was with the darts, she couldn't possibly know how sensitive he was, an advantage he had to hold.

When she asked for a portfollio, he smiled and nodded, reaching into his pocket. "Of course. I should have a nice datachip here with everything on it. Everything I can divulge, anyways. Might not be employed by them anymore, but ya gotta respect that confidentiality when it's brought up. Would sort of ruin that reputation if I just gave away even a dead government's secrets, now wouldn't it?" Finally finding the chip, he handed it over to her. IT would be able to fit in most any datapad, and have on it a rather comprehensive list of bounties, mostly criminals and government contracts, dating back years and years. NOt a single lie either, though he'd made sure to omit anything that would indicate who he was personally. Either timeline wise, Force wise, or otherwise.

"As you should be able to see, when you get a chance, I'm quite efficient. Dead or alive, capture assets or people, I've got more than a little evidence to my abilities."

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim-Ragal
Empress Regent of the Eternal Empire, Overlord of the Eternal Empire, the Emperor's hand
The Red Witch; Director of Blackwatch; Baroness of Vengard, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium​

Location: Vexillium, territory of the Eternal Empire
Equipment: Gildenweave Imperial Uniform | Viper Mk. I Skinsuit | G1 OmniLink
Tag: Darlyn Excron

Another transparent, empty sentence, at least for the woman, it seemed that way. Ingrid never underestimate anyone, not even the one who was already dying at her feet. She considered everyone equally dangerous, as dangerous as possible. That way, she could be constantly on standby. This man was no exception. She was paranoid, yes, she never denied it, but it was part of her job. Not to mention the fact that she came from a society where it was needed. No; it was not necessarily the Eternal Empire that the woman was thinking at the time, but even the earlier clan system.

”You don’t have to worry, this ship is equipped with all the jamming systems we’re talking about here, it stays in this room. For Vexillium, privacy and discretion are paramount.”

After the man's more humorous remark she did not show any emotion on her face or motions. She still controlled them perfectly. Not to mention that she didn’t like to show them anyway. Especially not strangers. She was perfectly content to see only the emptiness in her, on her, or just the perfect discipline. Who thinks of her rigidity and that she is the “ice queen”. She took over the chip and took out an empty datapad with nothing on it.

She could never know when they wanted to hack the system with a virus, so it was much more secure. Now she just ran through the data quickly and later to take a closer look at how Nite looks after the man. It never hurts to be sure in such cases. As for that, the woman had a hard time entrusting others with jobs like a bounty hunter. She was also familiar with these, she had not done such a job before, and she trusted her own work more.

”Impressive portfolio. What type of jobs would you prefer in the first place?”

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