Just Another Job

[Tathra Khaeus]

Nar Shadda

Far above the gruesome, unforgiving city streets of the Smugglers Moon lived a vicious self proclaimed warlord who prayed on the helpless and powerless people on this planet. He lived high up in a tower in the city, the building was heavily guarded and ran by Trandoshan Slavers, the warlord being the head of a group of them himself. The warlord had made far too many enemies, especially with the local hutts. He had raided and pillaged one of there outposts on Tatooine and now the Hutts were sending someone after them, they had paid well and were now sending Nevaeh after the Warlord high in the sky. However, it would prove a difficult task even for someone so skilled.

There were 40 guards in total in the base. The majority of them carrying standard blaster rifles, and wearing leather jackets and random patches of cloth and small pieces of durasteel armour. The warlord himself was wearing full body durasteel mesh armour and carrying a very heavy and nasty looking vibrostaff with blades as sharp as that of a master craftsmen's blade. The fortress he lived in had six levels all leading up to one elevator that led to a sixth floor that was in the shape of a spire. There, the warlord sat with an a large range of cages surrounding his thrown and two guards at his side. All the cages had small bowls beside them and were filled with men, women and children of all different species.

However, [member="Nevaeh Krytal"]; a lethal assassin had been sent to end this trandoshan's tyranny. She was being paid 5,000 credits for every dead trandoshan and 50,000 for the warlords head on a platter. Of course, the hutts were always a dirty lot and had posted this bounty publicly and therefore others may come to topple the warlord and get in the assassins away.

The Warlord sat, stirring in his chambers as he flickered through the com channels at his datapad sitting at the side of his throne. "Hssssssk, the hutts have placed a bounty on my head. Hssssssssk..." The trandoshan fumbled over the datapad controls opening up a com channel for all of his slavers to hear; "If anyone so much as looks at you funny...ssssssk....shoot them....Hsssssk..." This was a result of paranoia, the building was in lock down. Sweat dripped from the Trandoshan Warlords brow as his fingers held on eagerly to hilt of the vibrostaff sitting at the side of his throne. He was eager for blood, but terrified of loosing his own.

[member="Atretes Rhoujen"]

 

[EmKay]

What? He needed money. The Confederacy had its pay, yes, but Atretes had been doing a bit of extra spending lately and needed the funds. As far as the young Templar was aware, the CIS was strictly against slavery, and Nar Shadaa was only a stone's throw from Nal Hutta. It all worked out, technically. He was clad in his armour, and the helmet was hanging over his shoulder by its coif. He took a deep breath and stepped off the KWS Morvak and took a look around. This was worse than he'd imagined.

The particular sector he found himself in was dimly lit, shambled, and had a distinct foul stench through the air. The fact that there didn't appear to be a port authority of any kind was both a blessing and a cause for suspicion. Either way, he didn't linger on such thoughts. He had a mission. He flexed his shoulders, still not used to wearing this kind of plating, and set to walking around the area. He was on the hunt for somewhere in particular.

Luckily, that somewhere in particular was easy to find once he spotted the Trandoshan guards. He gave them all a glance, and slipped away before they spotted him. They looked well-armed, and particularly dangerous. He didn't fancy being forced to desperate measures again, so he slipped on his helmet. The whole thing hissed as it sealed, and the ventilation system activated. To say he sounded like Darth Vader would be a joke. The respiratory system had a slight click-hiss, but it was quiet enough to only truly be heard in complete silence... or by people with excellent hearing. He tapped a button next to his arm-mounted datapad and a mechanical whirr announced the opening on a compartment that stored his slugthrower. A silencer also slid out alongside the pistol and he screwed it on snugly. He took a deep breath.

He spun where he was and looked around. He saw a ladder. He ran to it and climbed up, his armorweave soles allowing him to move somewhat quietly. He climbed onto the rooftop and skirted around a sleeping hobo, then made his way to a narrow gap between this rooftop and the one that gave him access to the guards. He jumped the gap and landed in a crouch. He then sneaked his way to the edge and went prone on the ground. He pulled up his arm, which he'd tinkered with to replace his original datapad, and tapped a few of the tactile buttons to initiate a programme he'd developed. It was simple, it was a kill counter with image verification. Put simply, for every Trandoshan he killed it added not only a number to the tally, but a picture of the victim as evidence using his optical array as a camera. He felt quite proud of that. He took aim, and his HUD allowed him greater accuracy. While he could try and use telekinesis on the projectile, it wasn't as exact a science as having the actual power that let him move bullets so he decided to be mundane with this. For now.

Pap! Pap!

Two shots, two kills. A soft chime from his comlink told him they were registered, and he looked around for options. Climb down would take too long, and hiding the bodies would be severely delayed. He could already hear the loud chatter over their communicators, echoing all the way to his location. He looked up. A power line. He groaned to himself, hoping there was a better way, but did what he had to do. He took a running start, and leaped up to the wire. He held on, and used it as a zip line. Halfway through, his weight broke the wire and he went swinging through the air toward the building. He guessed when he would be safely close to the ground to drop, and did so. He landed hard and tumbled toward the building, but forced himself back to his feet and quickly shuffled around, collecting any spare credits from the bodies, grabbing one of their communicators, and tossing the bodies into one of many bottomless pits typical of the planet. He turned down the communicator's volume, then had his datapad screen the signal it was attuned to. After a minute or so, his comlink secured an audio-only line to their signal and he tossed the communicator down the pit as well. He leaned against the wall, back from the door, and took a breather. A lot had happened, by his standards, in a short amount of time.

[member="Astrian Callus"] // [member="Nevaeh Krytal"]

 

[Nevaeh Krytal]

An air of confidence fluttered in her step as she walked through the damp, mould infested slums of Nar Shaddaa. But she had little care for her surroundings. She had a job to complete, and this one was of some importance. As she approached the building from behind she silently cursed the Hutt's for putting the bounty out in public. She hadn't know until a few hours ago. If anyone else had decided to take on the bounty it would cause some trouble for her. Regardless, from the back of the building she could scale her way up to the roofs and walk along there until she found an open window. Simple enough. Trandoshian's weren't her goal. They would be there when she left. Her first problem to tackle was the big one.

As she approached the building her speed increased. Her feet took light steps across the floor before they left it all together. Nevaeh soared through the air, her hands outstretched to catch the window ledge. As her fingers met with the stone a faint smile appeared behind the black material that covered the lower half of her face. She was grateful for her abnormal height. Sometimes. It took little effort for her to pull herself up onto the roofs of the building. On the roofs, she was a black shape, shifting against an illuminated moon. To any onlookers, her body seemed to shimmer for a moment, then disappear from sight. The force flowed through her body, bending the particles of light and rendering her invisible. But she couldn't keep this up forever without wearing herself down. She exhaled, leaning backward on her right foot, before heading off at a quiet, but quick pace across the roofs of the encampment.

Her feet moved with certainty, silently padding against the tiled roof. The only obvious noise to her was the dull thud of her heart against her rib cage. As she approached the spire, her speed ground to a halt. Positioning herself at the edge of the building, her eyes fluttered over the surrounding area's. The view was surprisingly breath taking, she had to remind herself she wasn't here for sight seeing. Her body lingered for a moment, before she turned herself around and lowered her body down slowly. Her finger tips took most of the weight as she scanned the wall facing her for an open window. Luckily enough there was one a few feet away. She shifted her weight, one finger at a time, across the tiles on the roofs. She only hoped they were strong enough to hold her. As she neared, Nevaeh swang her weight in the wind, just enough to gain momentum to swing through the window. Wasting no time, she stood, setting the camera on her Shadez to eye level. It beeped in her ear, confirming her choice to begin recording. The elevator was around the corner, she had remembered studying the schematics of the building on the holonet before she arrived. There would be guards.

Nevaeh edged her way along the wall, staying out of sight as best she could. Ever since she had entered the building her body had faded into view again. From the corner she could hear the mumbling of two voices, two angry voices. She pressed her head against the wall, listening for a moment or two, if only to gather her thoughts. As if something or someone was looking down on her, there was a loud click, and the hallway lights dimmed into darkness and her body with them. She almost had to stifle a laugh. How perfect. Her shadez automatically turned on the night vision, a good investment on her behalf. Now without fear, she stepped around the corner, the green light illuminating the guards confused faces.

There were few warnings. A gentle change in wind, the slight pressure of the sharp, untamed blades under their necks. Within moments their vocal chords were severed, and crimson liquid poured over their fingers as they clutched their throats. 10,000 credits. Nevaeh stripped them of necessities as they attempted to take their final breath. Nothing but the gurgling sound of liquid escaped. Comms, elevator codes, weapons, credits... nothing of real value. At least she would know what's going on. She stepped over the bodies, which by now were curled up at the foot of the elevator. The one down side to her strange blessing was the power outage to the elevator. She could see the elevator through the glass doors. She worked her fingers into the gap and began to pull at the two doors with a small grunt. With any luck, the alarm would have died with the rest of the power.

After a few moments she was able to rest her back against one door, and her foot against the other. The doors groaned at the extra pressure, but eventually relented and slid fully open. There was a moment were she celebrated her success thus far, but it didn't last long. The trap door at the top of the elevator, for maintenance purposes, slid open without any protest. Now it was just a short climb to pay day...

[member="Astrian Callus"] [member="Atretes Rhoujen"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Under attack, the Warlord sat up in his chair. His reptilian eyes flickering about as his camera's switched to the back up generator in the base and activated their night vision unit, the back up generator also activated dim red lights on the sixth floor. The Warlord had access to everything on the sixth floor, elevator controls and lock down options. Unfortunately he could not activate the lock down as it would waste too much energy. "Hssssk....the womaaan in the elevator shaft. Let's SQUISH her into delicious meats!" The Warlord cried with joy as he activated the elevator's return program. The shaft wasn't incredibly long, but it would take an average person at least a minute or so to climb the wire. However, Nevaeh and her augmented counterparts were leaps and bounds above a normal person. "Hsssk...guardsssss. If she tries coming through here, get her and squish her to bitzz and then we can kill the other and feasssttttt." The trandoshan warlord spoke as he slowly raised himself from his throne, he himself stood at nearly 7 feet in height. His massive double edged vibrostaff gripped in both hands, the warlords tongue slivered along his crocodile like teeth.

There was a low hum from the elevator as it reactivated, similarly red dim lights filled the elevator shaft as the elevator itself slowly begun to pull itself up the shaft after the assassin. The warlord eagerly watched the Elevator cam's to see what would happen to their trouble maker, both of his guards could barely take their eyes of the cam however every once in a while their eyes flickered to the door in anticipation of hearing screams first hand.

Other trandoshan slavers throughout the building were searching about rapidly for the second intruder, [member="Atretes Rhoujen"] whom had taken out the power. Unluckily for Atretes, trandoshans were famous for their smelling abilities and hunting/tracking abilities. They were on his trail, two units of four; were on his trail. Each coming from different directions, however all trandoshans shared the same crazed hunger for blood and violence and if they were able to find Atretes, they would most certainly show him no mercy.


[member="Nevaeh Krytal"]

 

[EmKay]

Rhoujen gasped, making his respirator hiss like a serpent. His senses just detected a group of Trandoshans, approaching rapidly. Then his eyes narrowed in his helmet. Two groups. He tallied them up in his mind to eight with ease, but knew that this would present problems for his task. He slipped into the door and activated the infrared and night vision mixed setting on his multiple-setting optics array. Atretes crouched low and examined his immediate area.

The room was large. It had many places for cover, but none of them suited him. They were too limited, too obvious. The young Templar looked up. The room was rather tall, and there appeared to be a hanging light fixture. He determined it would be too weak to climb upon, but-

WHAM!

The doors on either side of the room flew open, and the hissing breath of the Trandoshan slavers filled the room. The soft scuffle of Rhoujen's feet would have alerted them, but in just the way he'd wanted. They grouped toward the noise, and Atretes hid behind a desk. An obvious hiding place -- but with a purpose. He pried open the panel box, keeping an ear on the tick-clack of the reptilian foot-claws. The Templar worked quickly as his gloved fingers would allow, and he was about to put the finishing piece when a vibrosword was held to his throat. He looked up. His violet photoreceptor and optics relays shone faintly on the lizard, who was startled temporarily by his nearly robotic appearance. That gave him the opportunity he needed. He jumped backward and flicked his fingers at the wire he was handling and quickly shielded his central photoreceptor. A jolt of telekinetic energy set the two wires into contact, and the resulting electrical overload sent a blinding light typical of a flash-stun grenade. He uncovered his eyes and his vision and hearing were assailed with the images and sounds of the two parties of Trandoshans angrily flailing their arms for sight, and their tails swishing in instinctive defence from attacks from the rear. He would be arrogant, but he had a mission.

The suppressed pop of Atretes' slugthrower heralded the deaths of the reptilians. He felt remorse for the deaths, but not for the kills. They were slavers, and death was a suitable alternative to their freedom. He looked around and, confident that he was temporarily safe, made for the elevator shafts. He saw the doors were locked and glared at them. He reached into the Force and pretended he held a wedge of telekinesis in his hand. He opened his palm as though it were against the broad side of the wedge, and pressed forward. It was as though he were prying the doors open using his telekinetic ability, and when he'd broken past the initial seal he waved his hand to the side and the doors were jammed open by the might of the Force. He grinned.

The young Templar looked up and saw that the elevator was lowering at a frightening rate. His mortal instincts said to run, but his killer instinct had a better idea. He dove forward and gripped onto the crude elevator's suspension line, and held tight. He immediately zipped up the shaft at the same speed the elevator was lowering. As he neared the top, he released the line and upward momentum set him flying through the air. A gentle nudge of telekinesis set him toward a bit of piping along the elevator shaft interiour, and he held tight. He was at the same level as the Warlord now, and the only separator was that elevator door.

[member="Astrian Callus"] // [member="Nevaeh Krytal"]

 

[Nevaeh Krytal]

Nevaeh hoisted herself with a grunt through the service shaft of the elevator. She took a moment to inspect her surroundings. A few quick and well timed jumps would get her up there in less than a minute. The first jump sent her straight up, a few meters into the air. Her fingers clutched onto the sides of the elevator shaft and she used the angle to get better momentum for her next agile pounce. She could see the distinct seams of another maintenance hatch as her legs bent into her final jump. But something wasn't right.

Click. Woosh.

The elevator began shooting up at her, at a rather fast pace. That bastard was trying to crush her to a pulp. Luckily, she was tall enough to reach the catch and push the hatch open in time. She scrambled to get through, her hips getting caught in the much smaller than expected hole. There was no time to curse or take a moment to consider the situation. She could feel the elevator pushing up against her heels. Her body twisted in an alarming way, diagonally placing itself through the hole. Then the powerful force of the elevator shoved her upward and soaring through the air. The crash would alert them of her presence on the roof, and that was the last thing she needed right now. The force flowed through her body again, muffling the sound waves as she came into contact with the tiles. Her body tucked into an ball, to decrease the pressure against the tiles and the force on her own feet.

Nevaeh stood up on the roof, feeling it creak under her weight. Wasting no time she set herself on the edge of the roof. This was her least favourite party trick and this was the second time she'd had to do it. Hopefully, the near miss of her escape was enough to set them focused on the other assassin wondering about. Nevaeh grinned as she lowered herself down from the roof. If they were planning a head on attack through the elevator doors, they were in for a surprise. Blaster bullets and the like. Her body swung through the window and she landed without a sound, crouched in the shadow of the room's furnishings.

The idiots were still watching the screen in anticipation. Or probably even discussing how to kill the second assassin waiting at the elevator doors. Their mumbled voices weren't the target of her interest. The 50,000 credit bounty was lent over the screen, hunched and hissing like a mutated snake. Nevaeh took a step forward with her right foot, followed by a quicker left step. From there she pushed herself from the floor, her body sailing through the air to silence her steps and hopefully her attack. Her katana, drawn a few moments earlier on the sanctuary of the roof, poised mid air and aimed for the spinal chord.

[member="Astrian Callus"] [member="Atretes Rhoujen"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

The large trandoshan warlord was no fool, did they think this was the first time his home had been attacked? Vicious reptilian grumbles could be heard the warlord and his men speaking in trandoshan. The sound of the assassins footsteps all but silent to excellent ears, the two guards moved towards the elevator and the warlord stood ready for combat, it was only moments later however that his enemy revealed herself. The warlord slipped back a few feet, bringing one of the blades of his staff up diagonally to parry the impending blow of the assassins blade.

However, whilst the trandoshan was capable of defending itself from an oncoming blade; it did not expect the sheet physical power behind the blow. The warlord staggered back a few feet, his enemy was stronger, faster and more deadly than himself or that he would have anticipated. Cautiously, it moved towards it throne. It stopped a few metres away from the assassin, side steeping back to the right of himself and then to the left, it swung its right handed blade with great momentum towards the assassins abdomen, it's tongue hanging from its mouth as it seemed the warlord was entering a blood raging frienzy.

The guards all around the building remained stumbling and confused as they could not find their way to the other floors, the main elevator was out and the elevator to the sixth floor was moving upwards with nothing in it. Within minutes of the confusion, the trandoshan slavers began scaling the building, their claws finding firm positions to climb across the entirety of the building. If the assassin did not end the warlord quickly, she would not have time to escape the oncoming trandoshan horde. The very angry, horde.


[member="Nevaeh Krytal"] [member="Atretes Rhoujen"]

 

[EmKay]

Rhoujen heard the clamour. The clash of blades. The hissing. He sensed the confusion, and the anger. It was a battle now. He took a deep breath and wedged the Force into the doorway. He opened the door slowly, partly due to his split focus on holding on and partly for theatrical effect. He kept the door sliding open while he hooked his arm around the piping and removed the suppressor and changed clips to his "VENOM" slugs. He made sure the pistol was locked and loaded, and at that moment the door was wide open and blaster fire came like a rain from the doorway.

He threw up a latticed barrier of energy deflection. It chipped away much faster than against training remotes, and only deflected a few bolts, but at least two hit hostile marks, and the others flew aimlessly. In the confusion of being fired upon by nothing, the Trandoshan guards gave pause. That was Rhoujen's opportunity. He dove into the door and rolled. As he did, he sprayed three-round burst fire into the fray. The loud repeated bang of the pistol echoed in the room, and slugs flew like tiny hornets, and those they hit were devastated by the toxin within the rounds. He hid behind a chair and reloaded his already-used clip, and switched back to single-fire mode. He could still sense more than himself, the warlord, and someone that was not Trandoshan. He intended to at least get as many slaver kill payment as he could.

The Templar swept out from his cover. Blaster fire, aimed at centre mass and his head as would be most lethal, was harmless against the Phrik, and he shot the offending Trandoshans' faces in with impunity. He gave a condescending click of his tongue as they fell so easily, and he tucked his pistol away. He could sense the angry horde rising from below, but he had bigger matters to attend to. He took a moment to switch hands with his slugthrower and drew his blade Drachlann from its back-mounted sheath. The edge gleamed dangerously in the dim light, and he zeroed in on the Trandoshan warlord. He watched how he moved and used his attunement to the Force to react accordingly. He leaped, and as he landed he took a sweeping strike with his blade toward the back of the Warlord. Best case scenario, he just cut the lizard's tail. Worst case, the fiend had two to opponents.

[member="Astrian Callus"] // [member="Nevaeh Krytal"]

 

[Nevaeh Krytal]

She stalked his movement, listening to the sound of blaster fire behind her. The other assassin was making quick work of the common soldier. Her eyes never left his. The on coming blade was more than expected. Nevaeh twisted her body to meet the warlords sword with her own. The blades crashed together, locking centimetres away from the sharp bite of cold metal. The heavy momentum of the swing caused her hand to shake with the pressure of his weight against her blade. With her spare hand she jabbed upward, the serrated edges of her nails aimed for the opening under his chin, hoping to end it all quickly. Even from where she was standing she could hear the tapping of claws against the walls and the uprising over the comm links.

[member="Astrian Callus"] [member="Atretes Rhoujen"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

The warlord roared in fury as the blade of the second assassin sunk deep into his armour. It the blade did not cut through his armour however it left him with blunt force trauma. Then, the blade of the first assassin and his front blade collided, once more her strength was overwhelming. His hands shaking with pain. He let out a vicious roar as the first assassin, [member="Nevaeh Krytal"] reached out with claws at his neck, considering the speed of the assailants and the proximity between the three, if one were to miss there was a high chance of colliding with the other. The warlord ducked under the claws, he was barely capable of keeping his head, the battle was in incredibly close quarters and he had two people attacking him. He dropped his blade from one hand, allowing it to fall from the first assassins blade down to his hands in a crouched position, he held the hilt at the very tip of one of the blades; pressing the majority of the large hilt and other blade against his back, he then executed a large swinging move spinning on the ground. Bringing the blade across with his body's momentum at both of his attacks feet at the same time. He intended to knock them both down, or one at least. He couldn't fight them both at the same time.

[member="Atretes Rhoujen"]

 

[EmKay]

The movements were faster than he'd anticipated from an overgrown sentient lizard clad in armour. He recovered from gouging into the creature's armour, his alchemised blade gleaming in the dim light still, as though it craved blood. He took a step back and a flare in the back of his mind triggered him to leap up, flick the switch on his slugthrower from single-fire to burst-fire, and flip over the Trandoshan warlord while raining fire down upon him. He landed in a crouch, flicked the switch back to single fire, and took a moment to let his current ally have her turn with the Trandoshan.

Behind the mask, Atretes' face was nearly the visage of calm. Sweat beaded up on his slightly furrowed brow, but in the Force he was less of a spiraling mess of panic and treading the currents. He was driven, and this prey was not going to be given up easily. Then that sense for danger hit again and Atretes spun on his heel, blade raised, and a Trandoshan's head was severed from its neck. He glared at the corpse, even as a chime indicated the kill and the tally of eleven confirmed kills entered his peripheral vision. This was one of the many approaching from below. They had to work faster.

Astrian Callus // Nevaeh Krytal

 

[Nevaeh Krytal]

Nevaeh tumbled forward with the sudden disappearance of her target. She hadn't realised how comforting the heavy weight of his blade pressed against hers was, until there was nothing holding her up. As her body fell forward she lifted her weight with the tip of her toes. With the small push she dove into a roll and tucked her body up, and her katana to the side, as it thudded to the ground. She grunted as she made contact and landed at least a few feet away from the battle. With an elegant slide she turned to face the battle and pushed herself up. There was no hesitation as she took two quick steps to the warlord crouched on the ground.

Her second katana spun out from its shealth, and the deadly assassin crossed both blades. As she reached the warlord she tightened her grip on the hilts. With powerful momentum from both her arms, the blades swung through the air. The sharpened metal of both aimed to decapitate as their paths crossed.

[member="Astrian Callus"] [member="Atretes Rhoujen"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

The warlord was barraged with bolts from the slugthrower, he slipped into a fit of rage. Bringing his body up and swinging his blade viciously into the air at [member="Atretes Rhoujen"], then as the second assassin landed in a crouch, he prepared his to plunge his blade into the assassin. However, the first assassin intervened. Her blades cut deep into the trandoshan, cutting through his neck and severing head from body, arm from body. The arm holding the blade fell to the ground, the trandoshans last moments of consciousness was that of watching his body become limp and fall in a river of its own blood and his arm and blade falling to the ground helplessly. His eyes grew wide as he was in astonishment and terror. His pupils became dilated as death settled in, emotions running through his eternally cold corpse. He was allowed one final breath before he was permanently silenced, his eyes falling on the female assassin. [member="Nevaeh Krytal"], his killer.

 

[EmKay]

The world went still for a moment. Atretes spun on his heel and saw that the woman had offed the warlord. He nodded once to himself and looked up to the large female. He spun his blade in-hand and stood straight. He approached her slowly. The air nearly seemed that he would start a battle with her, then he gave her a small bow.

"Well done," he said quietly, though it was amplified by the speakers, "I'd like to speak with you after we escape, if you like." he finished. Then, as soon as the politeness came, it vanished in place of self-preservation. His sword swung around and sliced a Trandoshan clean in half, and his pistol-wielding hand took aim and fired.

BANG!
BANG!
click.

With a frustrated sigh, Atretes tapped into his Telekinetic abilities and sent the wave of Trandoshan he was fighting out into the abyss of Nar Shadaa. His kill count approximated, and tallied up seven kills from that act alone. Given a moment of respite, he reloaded his clip and locked it in while he scanned the visual area for exits. He shuddered at the thought that there was no way out. Then he saw mounting brackets. He took a sidestep to get a better view, and realised that there were support cables that kept the tall building from swaying too much. He got multiple thoughts at once, and decided in moments what he would do. He threw off another four Trandoshan from the window, and fired at one of the supports. The building wobbled slightly.

He fired at another, the building began to sway with foreboding. The third, and the building began to groan in distress.

"FOLLOW ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!" Rhoujen shouted above the sound of bending durasteel. He quickly sheathed Drachlann and his pistol and dashed out the window. He leaped.

For a tense moment, Atretes questioned the merit of this idea, but just as that moment came it disappeared when his hands locked around the coiled wire rope and he found himself sliding down it and toward the other end of the support structure: a sturdy-looking tower. He could hear the building crumbling and toppling behind him, and hoped that the woman had taken his advice and escaped. He released the coil when he was near the tower, and fell between two buildings and into a dark alley in a crouch. He rose to one knee, then to his feet. The ground shook from the impact of the building. His datapad, using information from the com channel that now went dead, approximated his kill count to 36. He turned around so the optic sensors could take a photo of the decimated building and the data was sent off to the Hutts who posted the bounty with a message.

To Hutt Bounty Official:​

Warlord killed. Not by my hand.​

Approximately 36 Trandoshan slavers killed.​

Base of operations destroyed.​

Photos and recording included.​

​

A moment later, a reply was received.

A. Rhoujen:​

Data received. Your business is appreciated.​

​

36 Trandoshan Slavers killed -- 180000cr​

Base destroyed -- 20000cr​

Total bounty rewarded -- 200000cr​

​

Atretes' brows raised, and he grinned. Two hundred thousand, and all it took was... being foolish. Realising that he hadn't yet checked for the woman he'd left behind in the building. He looked around for her, hoping she was fast enough to escape, or tough enough to survive.

Astrian Callus // Nevaeh Krytal

 

[Nevaeh Krytal]

The warlords head hung proudly from her waist, she hadn't noticed the approaching assassin till he was a few feet away from her. Nevaeh stood, frozen to the spot in a heightened sense of danger and possibly another oncoming attack. Instead of attacking, the second assassin simply spoke above the din of claws scraping against stone. She almost didn't catch his sentence as the hissing threat filled her ears from behind her. Spinning on her heel, her right katana ripped through the air and bit down into the open jaw of an attacking trandoshan. It hung limply from his skull, dangling by a thread of remaining muscle. There was an expression of fear, before the second bite of the katana met his torso. As he slipped to the floor lifelessly she turned to the cages surrounding the throne. Each one housed slaves of a different sex. She felt the building wobble. Then heard the groan of protest from the bricks.

Her lower jaw hung open as she watched the second assassin dive out of the window. She lingered, her brain desperately worked to find a way to save them. Her head shook and she turned to run toward the window. She hesitated only for a moment, before her body lunged out of the window to follow him. A trandoshan clung to the side of the building for dear life as it swayed and buckled in the wind. Nevaeh used him as a boost, pushing her left foot against his head as she kicked off. Her weight caused the lizard like claws to snap, which was heard even above the groaning rock. Her body flew through the air along the coil, though she could feel the tension slowly disappearing. She hit the floor like a tone of bricks as the wire gave way with the building. The only thing to stop her from crashing into the wall was a cleverly placed hand.

She'd have to bring her prize back to the Hutt's later. For the moment, she had a bigger issue to address. She turned to face the second assassin silently, the only distinguishable features of her face were the bright blue eyes, surrounded by pale white skin. She forced what was meant to be a grateful nod. Though she couldn't help thinking the whole thing might have gone a little easier if he had stayed out of it.

[member="Astrian Callus"] [member="Atretes Rhoujen"]

 

[EmKay]

Atretes finally found her and saw her gesture, then suddenly was hit with the remembrance of the slaves. He got caught in the flurry of action, hadn't considered the consequences. His being tensed in trepidation, and he looked out to the building ruins. He saw movement. He took a few steps closer and absently tapped on his datapad, which caused his optics to zoom in on the wreckage. He saw people climbing out of the wreckage. Not as many as there were slaves, but now he wondered...

Controlling the Force to interweave it into his leg musculature, he bolted off toward the wreckage and helped a struggling ex-slave out of the rubble.

"My apologies, I... was not thinking," he all but pleaded to those watching him, guilt overwhelming his emotions, "Please, allow me to at least fix what little is left to fix." the young Templar said, and he gripped a large slab of broken permacrete with the Force and, despite his size, poured the regret he held into his ability. His mind and muscles strained, but the slab rose into the air. With a grunt of effort, he threw the chunk of artificial stone into the abysses, and activated his helm-mounted light. He peered into the wreckage and reached out with his senses. There were more survivors than he'd thought, but there were still many dead due to his indiscretion. He took a look around, and stepped forward. Into the blackness of the wreckage, to save those he'd condemned.

Astrian Callus // Nevaeh Krytal

 

[Nevaeh Krytal]

Nevaeh could do nothing but watch him with a dumb struck face as she rushed off toward the wreckage. Though she did have hope that a few had survived, she wasn't going to hold onto it for long. Until she saw the outstretched arm of a slave, breaking through the settling layers of dust and debris, did she begin to make her way over to the pile of rubble again. Her feet nimbly picked their way through the sharp edges of broken stone and protruding metal spikes.

She scoffed under her breath, the night vision on her shadez warmed up, flickering in to cover her field of vision as she searched the wreck. It didn't take much effort for her to kick a few slabs of rock away, revealing half broken cages. The metal groaned in frustration, bent and warped by the heavy weight of an entire building collapsing down onto it. Some where dead, some where very much alive. Some seemed to be half way between, shocked at the swiftness of death and the mercy of their survival. As she offered a gloved hand out to an elder male she spoke toward Atretes. Her voice was low, muffled by the mask she wore to keep her identity covered. But it sounded sweet amidst the smouldering wreck.

"Was this your first bounty?"

She turned her head to regard him for a few moments, for the first time since they had met in the throne room. Behind the mask a gentle smile curved on the corners of her lips, tilting them up slowly. Her eyes found his and the look that possessed them showed her cynical attitude.

[member="Atretes Rhoujen"]

 

[EmKay]

Atretes aided what seemed to be a whole family who'd survived out of the wreckage, and when he'd climbed back out he saw that more slaves had managed to escape on their own. He grasped the edges of his helmet's coif and pressed a small button under the collar of his chest piece that released the airtight seal. He lifted up, and the coif pulled the full-faced helm up with it. He took a breath of unfiltered air and choked a little on the rubble dust. It was at this point he looked off to the side, and his translucent violet eyes met her blues. Then she spoke, and he sighed and nodded.

"Aye, and it's left quite a mess." he muttered. He saw a hand claw out of the rubble, and moved the debris away by the strength of his muscles and helped drag the young man out of the wreckage. He sighed again, but looked out over the ruins of the Trandoshan headquarters. There were slaves coming out everywhere. If the young Templar had to guess, he'd have only roughly ten or so of the unluckiest slaves. The rest were spared by the cages whose strength was intended to keep them in, not keep them alive. Confident that the survivors were, in the majority, out of the ruins, he turned to the large woman near him.

"Atretes. Nice to meet you." he offered. He did not, however, extend a hand. While it may have been perceived as rude, he was taught by his old captain that it was improper to extend a hand to shake to a female without them first doing so. It was odd for a pirate to teach a boy he found in an asteroid field manners, but they served him well.

[member="Nevaeh Krytal"]

 

[Nevaeh Krytal]

Nevaeh chuckled, a deep throaty laugh that wasn't intended to offend but probably came off this way. Turning her head, she took one last glance at the surrounding area. "I can tell. The first one always has it's hiccups..." She trailed off, resting her hand on top of the severed head attached to her waist. She was still on high alert. She held firm to the belief that the job was never over till the credits were yours. There could be anything coming around the corner. "It isn't advisable to stick around for too long. The rest of them can find any more survivors." Nevaeh worked her way through the rubble, heading back to the sanctuary of shadow the alley way provided. She did so slowly and purposefully, with the intent that eventually he would follow on.

[member="Atretes Rhoujen"]

 

[EmKay]

Rhoujen frowned at her laughter, not quite seeing how a failure was amusing. He let it go, though, if only because he had no quarrel with the woman. Her lack of introduction left him a bit miffed, but her dialogue helped him understand. With a cursory glance back over the wreckage, Atretes slipped his helm back on, the telltale hissing of the airtight seal and activation of the respirators filling his ears for a moment, then he set off after her. It didn't take long to return to the alley, where he leaned against a wall and looked out to the wreckage. The readout that showed his gain of two-hundred thousand still showed on the corner of his read-outs, but he noted to himself that sometimes the risk outweighed the reward.

[member="Nevaeh Krytal"]