Middle Men [Open]

[Miss Blonde]

Miss Blonde wasn't the type of person who particularly enjoyed classroom based training. In fact she detested it down to its core. The idea of learning something on a chalkboard and then trying to translate it into physical actions was more or less something that was best left to the Jedi and Sith of the Galaxy. As for the criminal underground, well they danced to a different tune. A lot of it was learn as you go and do your best not to die in the process, which was respectable in its own way.

So for [member="Serenity Loveheart"] she would be getting a glimpse of what it was like in Miss Blonde's world. To go from being a petty street rat to being in a position of real power where often enough people died from the commands you gave. Hopefully she would take well to it and Blonde wouldn't need to scoop her corpse off the ground and try and find a new successor.

So what might be her first task one might ask? Well it was a pretty straight forward operation with very little room for error. A long time ago there was this dude named Krag, and Krag was a big scurry Graug who enjoyed skinning his enemies and putting their heads on pikes. You know, stuff like that. While Blonde personally wasn't a fan of him, she was a fan of the technology the graug produced. The weapons, the armor, the raw physical power they wielded as space orcs. But one thing stuck out to her more than anything, something that would net them a crap ton of money for very little operational cost.

The Omen. A pair of capital ships that that started under the Sith Empire then defaulted to the One Sith after its collapse and merger. But now that the One Sith was no longer around these ships were up for grabs, and while Blonde didn't have the resources to maintain or much less use these ships, she knew a few major factions that would be very interested in buying them at auction or for a few special favors.

So above the jungle planet of Gratos, Blonde and a few drop ships worth of droids were breaking through the atmosphere to make sure this job went as smoothly as possible. For Serenity this would be the chance for her to prove her combat ability because if Graug were known for one thing it was their savagery in battle.

"I don't suppose you've seen a Graug up close and personal before?" Blonde leaned against the cabin of the dropship speaking out to Serenity wherever she might be.

"My best advice if you see one, shoot it in the head. They have a mass produced ultrachrome armor that's standard issue for warriors. The planet is quite rich with the materials to craft the metal. So do beware of that, and if you get caught by one then gouge out their eyes before they bite your head off." Once done dispensing her words of wisdom, Blonde picked up Delilah and readied herself by slinging it around her and straightening her tie.

Only she would wear a suit and tie to a jungle.

 

[Natalie LaForte]

Serenity, too despised the classroom. And it was noticeable. Her handwriting was certainly not neat, and even at a young age she only liked the subjects which taught you to do rather than how to do it. Learn as you go? Perfect. Although, sitting in a classroom learning how to be a criminal, not something she had heard of before. She was already one of those, again, not by nature, if there was any other way to live she would do it, but working a job on Nar Shaddaa just made yourself susceptible to robberies. If you were a known gangster, the rabble wouldn't interact with you, out of fear for their family's lives.

As she mentioned Graugs, her face screwed up. "Uh.. you're asking the wrong person. This girls only ever been on the core worlds." as she gave a loose smile following it.

Serenity didn't even believe the suit and tie was weird at this point, not only because she was wearing such unsuitable gear for this mission but this was the same woman who owned starships just as a hobby; and that was a hobby Serenity would love to get into. The closest she had ever gotten to running a star ship was a gun ship, 500 times smaller than the one she was presently on.

Seeing Blonde pick up her personal weapon, she did the same. The Modified Z-6 Rotary blaster cannon, strapped around her torso, a lightsaber in her short-shorts. Her philosophy was so; if I can't deflect it I'm probably dead anyway. It was something she had learned ever since she had received the light saber from her master, [member="Darth Abyss"], she never really used it for offensive maneuvers, only on the occasion that a droid picked out her stand-outish hair and bare skin.

"So uh... where'd you get these ships from? They're pretty big for a crime Lord.."

[member="Miss Blonde"]

 

[Miss Blonde]

"I stole them from the Techno Union. Razed their capital of Roon, slaughtered their force order, burned their temples to the ground, massacred their military. You know, stuff like that." Miss Blonde said in a very chipper voice on where she got these particular ships.

As for Serenity, she was lucky. Or at least she was lucky up until today for never seeing a Graug. They were massive hulking grey scaled monsters that toted guns, blades, and fangs. They were not an opponent to be taken lightly in a fight. However since the loss of their God King Krag, they weren't as difficult to deal with as feuding tribes and clans rather than an organized and well outfitted military. But Blonde would cover all that in today's lesson to her student.

"When you see one, you'll know what it is. Just remember that knowledge is the key to any victory. The more you know your enemy the better chance you have at destroying them. Sometimes there are moments where you can't plan your victory ahead of time and must resort to a head on fight. While I don't recommend that at all, you must be able to know your enemy in order to exploit their weaknesses. Fair and honorable fights are for dead men and idiots." As far as being a criminal went, Blonde had mastered that art long before she had mastered the force.

But the time for lectures had come to an end, the various drop ships of the Syndicate had touched down on the planet and the doors opened promptly. Hot and humid jungle air hit them immediately and Blonde stepped out onto the ground to get a feel for things. She'd never been to the planet before, she'd killed plenty of Graug in her life but never had she stepped foot on their home planet. It was satisfying in a way, to murder the ever loving crap out the them and then desiccate their home world further by stealing what was essentially a god in their eyes.

Following behind her were the war droids of the Syndicate that Serenity was already very well acquainted with. They pushed forward into the trees and jungle making a B Line straight to the objective. Which was of course a large and scary looking temple that could be seen towering over the trees. That's where they would find their ship.

Blonde on the other hand waited for Serenity to disembark. She looked at the woman's massive gun and raised an eyebrow under her mask. Did she really think that was an effective weapon? Yes it was great for crowd control but moving with it was a pain along with how it chewed through ammo.

"You want me to make you a lighter gun? Delilah here packs way more of a punch than that ever could and she's more accurate." Really it was no trouble at all. She didn't want her student running around with a weapon that would get her killed. Hopefully it was just a phase.

[member="Serenity Loveheart"]

 

[Lucien Galtier]

Lucien and squad sat in the hover copter boredly. Out of all the places they could've been assigned to they were on the planet Gratos. A hot, humid, festering pit of bull poodoo. It wasn't a paid vacation, but Lucien supposed it beat fighting on the front. Or, at least it would if it weren't for the hulking orcish tribes that roamed the jungles. All this aside Lucien expected this mission to be a cake walk. With his legs dangling outside the copter he carefully surveyed the area with macrobinoculars.

What he was looking for shouldn't have been too hard to find and indeed it wasn't. A great temple with creepy designs of all manor loomed off in the distance. As they got closer they approached a clearing. The hover copter floated about meter from the ground and the commandos hopped out. They landed and brushed themselves off carefully. Someone withdrew a holocommunicator and tossed it down to the ground. A faint shimmer and then an armored figure appeared. It was a nasty looking Grouk.


“Bien garcons, This will be our enemy today. As you can see he is big, ugly, and armored to the teeth. He hides our prize in the foreboding temple of doom over their,” Lucien said with a finger pointed in the temple's general direction. “We will attempt to barter with these savages first and if that does not work then we will blow them all to hell,” he finished with a pat on his trusty rifle. “Any questions? Non? Good. Let us move out,” He finished as he made his way into the dense jungle brush.


[member="Miss Blonde"]
[member="Serenity Loveheart"]

 

[Natalie LaForte]

The air hit her first as she exited the ship; far too clean. Nar Shaddaa and Malachor, the planets she usually found herself inhabiting, were rid with corruption and pollution, you couldn't walk an inch without getting hit in the face with it. Similarly to Blonde, she too, had never been on this planet, her interstellar travel was lacking to say the least. Her eyes adjusted to the brightness and in the distance she could see the stone building, towering over the jungle in the distance.

"Uh-... I should probably tell you." she said while they were rushing, Serenity actually managing to keep up with everyone else despite the weight of her gun. "I really can't aim, that's why I chose this. For some reason, I just shake too much when I hold other guns... this one has sort of... an emotional attachment, if you get me." she said while pathetically shrugging the statement off. "Besides, I've gotten so used to it, that it would feel awkward to carry anything else; even using a light saber is tricky for me at times."

While they were walking, she continued to comment. "Besides, I'd rather you make me a ship, not one like what we came out of, just-.. a small one, if you get me." As she said this, fire began to emerge from the various groups now beginning to encircle the temple. The Graug were going to make a stand against them, being surprised, one of them rushed a droid infront of her, pummeling its carcas to the ground and continuing to smash it. As her own weapon turned to face it, it sparked off the armour, not even grazing the creature.

"Uh-.. Why isn't it dying?!" with a panicked look about her, continuing to fill the beast with the cells, but this only made it more angry, continuing to pounce on other droids in a fit of rage. More advanced, and they seemed to be getting replaced faster than they would be knocked down -- an important thing to note, they still lived, but were temporarily stopped.

[member="Lucien Galtier"] I [member="Miss Blonde"]

 

[Miss Blonde]

It had been years since Blonde had been in a real fight. Since she was running a criminal empire, the woman didn't get a lot of combat. For the most part she played a behind the scenes role and when she was leading an operation she often was at an objective with very little to no resistance. Simply put a cap in a guard or two then proceeds onwards. It was just how she preferred things, her fighting days were long past her. Though that didn't mean she couldn't throw down, what serenity didn't know was that Blonde was forever in her prime and had stopped aging at around twenty-four. Thank you obscure technology.

So as droids grappled, shot, or stabbed Graug. Blonde simply watched the woman fire wildly at a Graug whose Ultrachrome armor was doing exactly what it was designed for. While they might of seemed like mindless beasts, the Graug were amazing engineers when it came to war. They usually couldn't string a proper sentence together, but putting together a quality piece of armor or weapon was second nature to them. Kind of a weird thing about their species, also poison didn't work on them. Just a fun fact.

"This is why you need a new weapon. I'll fix the aiming thing." Blonde said casually as she walked her way up towards Serenity.

As they cleared the jungle and the temple was in sight, the Graug fighting a Serenity roared and charged forward in pure bloodlust. Blonde wasn't scared though, she simply raised up Delilah and pulled the trigger. The modified EE-3 let out a chatter of a three round burst and each shot connected into the Graug's brain pan. It fell in a heap of dead meat burnt brains as it hit the ground.

"Hold this." Blonde said as she handed off Delilah to a nearby guard.

"Follow me, kid. Try and keep up." As the rifle went away the woman drew her twin Czerka pistols from her suit and cocked both hammers.

In a dash of speed augmented by the force, the woman moved forward past her droids into the lines of Graug. Her hair swayed in the wind and sounds of pistol fire rang through the trees and surrounding jungle. The woman was on a warpath and head shot after head shot Graug continued to fall to the ground. Blood splattered against the trees and Blonde was almost single handedly eliminating the outer forces of the temple guard. Her movements were fast, calculated, and there was no wasted movement in them.

"COME AND GET SOME IF YOU'RE HARD ENOUGH!!" There was a cackle coming from the blur of movement that was Blonde and it was safe to assume she missed doing stuff like this.

If Serenity was following her, she'd be able to the numerous bodies the woman left in their wake as they proceeded towards the temple.

[member="Lucien Galtier"] [member="Serenity Loveheart"]

 

[Captain Keeli]

[member="Miss Blonde"]

It'd been a brief time since Quaz'c had last seen Blonde. He had assisted her in a mission in the sewers sometime back. Miss Blonde had liked what work Quaz'c put forth, and offered him another job. The time to get the job hadn't come up yet, as he was preoccupied. But now seeing how she was about to fight someone, he had to help. Racing through the jungle with rope in hand, the gladiator made his way to Blonde. Oh how great it'll be for her to see me! He said to himself in a sarcastic tone. Criminals didn't really have time for emotion, just work. Not spot of happiness in their life, only pain. Not one lick of self control, only rage. And rage had consumed Quaz'c. His veins were coursing with red hot fire, ready to kill at any moment. He flew out of the jungle and squatted next to Blonde. A raspy voice spoke to her. "Hello Blonde, happy to see me again?"

 

[Lucien Galtier]

Lucien and squad made their way through the dense jungle. Lucien had taken point with a machete and was busy chopping away at the tall brush that stood in the Imperials way. A large mosquito flew on Luciens face and he slapped at it absentmindedly. As they drew closer the sounds of battle could be heard. Lucien ordered his squad to halt. He climbed a nearby tree and withdrew his macrobinoculars. Off in the distance he could make out the large brutish orcs and several droids. Both sides were fighting.

Then he almost fell from the trees at the sight of a petite teenager with a fucking minigun. What's more the Graug seemed to be dropping like flies, and what appeared to be a brief flash was the source of their demise. Lucien had seen enough. Whether he'd have to fight the kid and the blur too was to be decided. He climbed down the tree and with a single hand signal motioned for his squad to follow him. The commando swung harder with his machete and they made it to the treeline of the skirmish within moments. As they observed the skirmish from the confines of the tree line Lucien felt something rumble behind him.

He turned just in time see a giant rancor and atop it sat it's graug Beast master. The Rancor was covered in ultra chrome armored head to toe. Lucien's squad backed away slowly, taking aim as they did so. Finally they fired their EE-4's at the beast. It roared ferociously and swung wildly. Lucian charged head on. The beast swung once more, but this time it had managed to grab hold of the commando with it's rough scaly hand. It brought Lucien up to it's gaping maw and Lucien could smell the fetid stench of rotting flesh. Lucien managed to wriggle his machete and left arm free. As it attempted to make a meal out of him the beast head drew closer and Lucien thrust his Machete into its eye.

He grabed onto the hilt tightly and as the beast reared back in pain. He was flung high into the air. He landed atop the beast back and climbed its ultrachrome scales to the Graug beast master. He swung with a left and the graug grabbed his arm. Laughing like Lucien were a child the Graug began to push Lucien's whole arm backwards at a sickening angle. Lucien thrust his right leg between the graugs and with his free hand performed a takedown on the Graug. It fell to the jungle floor below and Lucien took hold of the reins and turned the Rancor on its former master.

[member="The Rope"]
[member="Miss Blonde"]
[member="Serenity Loveheart"]

 

[Natalie LaForte]

Serenity was almost stunned as the stout woman destroyed the Graug, who both her and the accompaniment she had brought with her were having major difficulties dealing with. Perhaps it was time for an upgrade; to her current weapon. She couldn't abandon her side-kick in causing mayhem, so as she looked down for just a moment, pondering on the cool additions she could make to her weapon, and she was told to 'keep up' a smirk came across her face, and as she looked up and was about to speak, Blonde was off in a second, screaming at the top of her lungs while running at an ungodly speed.

"You didn't tell me we were going to be killing these types of creatures."

She sighed, and ran at a steady pace behind her teacher, though definitely not enough to catch up to her. As she walked through the forests, she saw the slaughtered beasts, head shot with precision aiming by none other than yours truly, Blonde. Slaughter was not an uncommon sight, but this one woman, who was as small as a child, destroying these beings was quite shocking for Serenity. One appeared behind her, and in a fit of rage let out a scream which echoed throughout the force, sending the tree's leaves around her to flutter down, the beast being momentarily stunned by this display of strength.

"Just. Get. Away. From. Me."

As she said this, she unsheathed her lightsaber from its holder and dug it straight into the troll's head, its lifeless body slouched to a lump on the ground, hitting a rock and caving its head in. A singed lightsaber mark was left where the blade had entered. She flipped her hair back and sheathed the sword once more, proceeding to run after Blonde, panting when she finally caught up with her.

"THIS is a first mission?!" she exclaimed loudly, trying to catch her breath.

[member="Miss Blonde"]

 

[Miss Blonde]

Once Serenity had caught up to Blonde, the temple was now fully in sight. They had fought through the trees and were now at the edge of the tree line, but they weren't alone. Slithering on up was the Rope and while Blonde certainly didn't mind him, he had a odd habit of turning up when she least expected it. Though his company was not unwanted, they were going to need as many bodies as they could to move this thing. Looking over to the man she let out a sigh as she rolled her head and neck around her shoulders to loosen a bit of the tension brought on by combat.

"Hello, Rope. It's always a pleasure. As much as I'd like to chat I sadly have a job to do, I assumed you're here to assist. If so then I'll make sure to give you a good portion of profits made." Speaking while gaining her composure once more the woman straightened up her tie and would next turn to Serenity.

"You act like I wasn't going to put you through the ringer, and compared to a lot of our other operations this is child's play. So suck it up and deal with it." She was to the point, if the kid was going to be ready by the time Blonde popped then she had to learn fast. She had to learn that sometimes things weren't always going to be easy.

But before Blonde could make a dash towards the temple, she noticed something. There were signs and other signals that they weren't the only ones here. Across the way she could see the outline of something going down. By the looks of it, it was a struggle. Some kind of fight, though as of right now they didn't have time to directly address it. They had to get into the temple and do it fast. She had paid good money for this information and she would be dammed if her prize was taken out from under her.

"Keep up now, Serenity. No haste makes waste." And just like that in another augmented kick off, Blonde was already meters ahead of the pack.

With the droids coming up from the rear, they secured the tree line and we're now using to set up a base of fire on Graug that had positioned themselves around the temple in hard points. Blonde however was keen to see that those emplacements were taken care of. In her blur of movement, Serenity got to witness the short woman appear behind a foxhole where two Graug were operating a heavy weapon system.

She would see the woman raise her pistol at the back of one Graug's head and pull the trigger. The slug thrower killed the beast in a brutal fashion and before she could put a hole in the other one's head her pistol had spent its magazine. But did that stop her from murdering the Graug? Of course not! Reaching behind her back a wicked blade was produced from underneath her jacket and the sword moved in a clean path to slice the beast's head from its shoulders in one fell swoop.

Good times.

[member="The Rope"] [member="Lucien Galtier"] [member="Serenity Loveheart"]

 

[Captain Keeli]

[member="Serenity Loveheart"] [member="Miss Blonde"]

"Hey, wait up!" Quaz'c sped off after them, eager to get some action. It'd been some time since he was last able to fight someone. The gladiator was to be a fighter in the galaxy's Tournament of the Saber, which was highly anticipated. He wanted to help his boss and still make it back in time. Seeing Miss Blonde kill the Graugs made him smile. Such skill he said to himself as he unraveled his rope and made a noose at the end to throw. "If you don't mind me asking Blonde, why are we here?"

 

[Natalie LaForte]

This woman was fast. Far faster than she could run, but she still made pace with her. No haste makes waste? What? She assumed that meant, "if you don't run I'm going to shoot you", or something along those lines. Strange how a pregnant woman could run that fast, so it was confirmed, she was some sort of force user; but she had made that assumption from earlier, given that she hadn't been affected in any capacity by her own attempts at harming her in the office.

As she was running, looking dead ahead, she too saw the Graug operating the encampment, firing a hail of inaccurate shots in her general direction, in response, she fired back, her own gun possibly firing nearly twice as many rounds in comparison; given the modifications she had made, but before they even reached her target, the two were dead, out cold from the sounds of shots ringing out in the valley.

May as well try and keep up, as she stormed to the temple, several more Graug started to clash with the forces deployed by Blonde, this time, seeing the necessity for headshots, she aimed directly and as soon as those bolts hit, they dropped like a bag of stones. It was disappointing in her head though, the weapon's inaccuracy didn't have the desired affect against beings who could shrug off the rounds like paper.

Then she heard behind her [member="The Rope"] speaking, and she turned around, giving a confused look. "We're here to steal something.. obviously."

[member="Miss Blonde"] I [member="Lucien Galtier"]

 

[Captain Keeli]

[member="Serenity Loveheart"] [member="Lucien Galtier"] [member="Miss Blonde"]

He gave her stupid look. "Really, I didn't know that! But on a serious note, what are we stealing?" The atmosphere around him felt thick. Maybe it was smog? Graugs began to attack from his behind, prompting him to leap into action. Quaz'c's rope lashed out at a Graug, wrapping around its neck and strangling him. A small jerk led to a broken neck, and he finished it off with a dagger. More Graugs were coming now, each with weapons more efficient than his. Rope and dagger, that all he had. Shots rang out as they moved back to the offensive. One grabbed Quaz'c and kicked him in the back, sending him reeling into the ground. He spat out blood. "Damn beast, come here!" Running towards it with his rope out, Quaz'c tackled the beast and began a back and forth fist fight with him. Punch after punch, the blows came down on the duo. Blood everywhere, teeth knocked out of the Graug's mouth, bruises and cuts on backs, the whole nine. Another Graug noticed the fight and began shooting at Quaz'c. The pair would be locked together and roll to switch places, and a shot would crash on the ground next to them. The Graug had begun to gain the upper hand as he was much bigger than he was. But, an error from the Graug's friend caused his shot to get him right in the head. "Wow, thanks for that!" said Quaz'c, and he threw his dagger into the remaining Graug's neck. He stood up and brushed himself off. "Now then, shall we continue?"

 

[Miss Blonde]

The outer guard of the temple was all but destroyed by their assault. War Dogs now taking advantage of the openings made by the more heavy hitters of the group; the droids made their way in and had all but wiped out whatever main guard there might be. There were still small isolated pockets of resistance scattered here and there but the main group were ready to proceed into the temple. Blonde's prize was awaiting her, the key to get a little extra cash flowing into Syndicate and make sure operations could be secured for a good while. Staying in the black was a real pain sometimes when the Galaxy just wanted to wage war with itself. War made everything bad for business, and it honestly pissed her off. What with the never ending cycle of red sabers versus blue sabers, it just got really old really fast.

So once the situation outside was relatively handled, the woman adjusted her suit and placed her blade back in its sheath hidden behind her jacket. Dusting herself off the crime lord looked down at her feet then a pained cry left her mouth. It was one that would worry her fellow criminal comrades and cause concern with her droids. It was followed by a gritty frustrated grunt attempting to stave off pain.

"I got blood on my $&#%ing shoes!!" Yeah she was fine.

There was another groan of annoyance and anger as the woman ducked down and started to wipe her expensive leather dress shoes with a rag from the corpse of a nearby Graug. What? He didn't need anymore. Not like he even used it in the first place. So she wiped at her feet until she realized that the stain had set in the leather and she'd have to buy a new pair. Rest in peace Blonde's shoes.

"Anyways story time! You two War Dogs, make me a door." Blonde said as she walked over towards Serenity to teach her a very valuable lesson about the criminal underworld.

Standing next to her the woman got close and spoke telepathically so the Rope couldn't hear what she was saying to her student. It was a small but very important thing she needed to know about this line of work.

[Telepathic]"When on a mission like this one, never tell the help what you're after. If it's a unique item then they are better off not knowing. Trust is a very fickle mistress in this business and its best to keep them in the dark until the last moment. Your higher ranking officers and close circle can be acceptable to know, but even then keep the information light. They are getting paid to perform a task, not to play twenty questions. Understand that and commit it to your memory, you never know who will get greedy and try and take what's yours." Finishing up her psychic lesson the woman stood back and watched as a crew of War Dogs blew a hole into the side of the stone temple.

"You'll know it when you see it." Blonde said in a very chipper mood as she entered the breach.

Once inside the temple the woman looked around her got a good idea of her surroundings. When that was all well and good she extended her hand and her modified EE-3 Delilah was placed in her hand. They needed to find a way down into the lower levels of the temple, that's where they would find their prize.

"We need to get to the lower levels. Find me some stairs!" Giving her orders there was a slight groan coming from beneath her and she could see a Graug stir with a bit of life.

"Rude much." Casually pointing her rifle downwards the weapon went off and the beast bellow spasmed in a death throw before going still.

[member="Serenity Loveheart"] [member="Lucien Galtier"] [member="The Rope"]

 

[Natalie LaForte]

She looked awkwardly at her response to getting blood on her shoes. Wouldn't she just take them off? Ugh. Pregnant women.

But she didn't know what quite to make of the woman's advice, and if she was probing her mind on the surface even slightly she could see the confusion in response to her statement. She assumed it was in accordance to the [member="The Rope"], and it certainly was a valid point. Perhaps it was just in general, but she gave a nod regardless to the crime lord. Although as she continued speaking, she understood that jealously could erupt from her subordinates should she tell them what they are actually here for. She admired her for that, Blonde had a way of knowing what to say with the bare minimum and still persuade people. Not many could do that.

As she said "Find me some stairs!" it wasn't a difficult task, trivial at most as she turned her head to the left moving down the corridor before spotting a small air duct. Without a word, she disengaged and made way for it, blasting it open and then crawling through before ultimately falling to the stone below on her butt. It didn't hurt really as she looked up at the light above from where she had just fallen.

Her new mission? Find some stairs.

[member="Miss Blonde"] I [member="Lucien Galtier"]

 

[Miss Blonde]

[Telepathic]"Wait." The message shot directly into Serenity's brain and Blonde would continue to train her student.

[Telepathic]"You're learning how to be a boss, not how to be an underling. The boss doesn't look for stairs, the boss gets their people in order and makes sure the task gets done by overseeing. As boring as it might be sometimes you must play the part of the one with power." More training and lectures, the kid was definitely one who wanted to dive in head first and fight people. Which was admirable in itself but it wasn't what made a sound tactician. Yeah you could lead, but you'd only be stepping into a shallow unmarked grave.

In the criminal underworld it wasn't like the Sith or Jedi. Brute strength and power didn't win. What won battles and achieved victory here was smart and deadly moves that were executed before a fight even began, so one had to maintain that image of cool and collected deadliness. Serenity had a long ways to go until she could master that look. When people looked upon the soulless lenses of Blonde's mask and her black suit they could feel that power, and not just in the force. But the actual command and influence she moved around with sheer willpower and tenacity.

So with a snap of her fingers her War Dogs spread through the temple and started to scan the structure for the opening to a few stairs. After a minute two and the sound of echoing fire fights, the data came back to Blonde's mask and she was able to use her mapping tracker to get a route to where they needed to be.

"Remember, Serenity. Guns and violence are fun, but the real joy comes in being able to tell someone to jump and then asking how high." Going to fetch her student, Blonde dropped herself down along side Serenity and stood next to her as she casually continued to clean off her suit from dust.

"Tell me, how were you raised?" She asked her student; had to kill time while waiting for forces to mobilize.

[member="Serenity Loveheart"] [member="The Rope"] [member="Lucien Galtier"]

 

[Sal Katarn]

Gratos​

Temple​

​

The distinct sound of a slugthrower's hammer cocking back sounded within the confines of the temple. Followed immediately by the sharp crack of a discharge.

A war dog keeled over, sparks shooting from an obliterated processor. A figure stepped out into view, wearing a rugged, black poncho and a scarred T-visor helmet. The droid struggled to rise. The fellow placed a boot on the droid's chassis, pointed his slug rifle and pulled. Another deafening boom, another gaping hole in the droid. It stopped moving.

The man in the helmet worked the lever action, ejecting a smoking shell from the rifle.

War Dogs swiveled and in a chorus of clicks the open mouths of carbines and pistols soon faced at Katarn from nearly every direction.

He pointed the rifle vaguely toward [member="Miss Blonde"] and company.

The one who left me to die on Kessel.

Hard woman to find.

​

"You stole my bird." ​

​

​

[member="The Rope"] | [member="Serenity Loveheart"] | [member="Miss Blonde"]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAqG8eqFoLA​

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"Uh-... I wasn't.. raised? she said after being surprised by the sudden fall behind her. Laughing to herself while making hand gestures, she spoke once more "Well, of course I was raised. I-.. I was really independent when I was young, never really listened to my parents; if you follow my drift. I don't know really. I guess whenever my sister and I got kicked out of our dad's house we sort of.. just learned off the streets. I'm sure you know this story all to well yourself, reckless teenager turns criminal from bad parenting, but Nar Shaddaa facilitated that, finding you... was just by chance I suppose."

She said, awaiting a response before continuing.

"And about the gun... maybe it's time for an upgrade... or another weapon for me to carry. Old Zaps here is great... but in comparison, he doesn't scare armies in the same way he does petty street thugs. I've had my eye on a gun, but I'm still gathering some information on it, I'm sure you'd love to see your apprentice... developing?" Smiling afterwards while taking out a some sort of holo device and displaying a brief schematic of the weapon.

"It would be; a starting point, if you will."

[member="Miss Blonde"] I [member="Sal Katarn"]

 

[Miss Blonde]

Before Blonde could get to Serenity she had to address Sal, the man she had pretty much left for dead after stealing his bird. He has his rifle vaguely pointed at her which wasn't the smartest of moves, for starters she was pregnant and even though she wasn't showing, she wasn't about to let a washed up merc harm her unborn child. So she had to keep that bit of anger in check, she was a business woman at the end of the day. That meant she had to try to reach some sort of accord with the man, to be honest she'd rather not have to kill Sal due to the respect she had for him.

Pressing the charm on her left bracelet a silent and invisible telekinetic shield activated and she turned around to speak to the man. If everything went well then Sal could walk away from this a marginally wealthier man.

"Oh yes, I remember that. If you're expecting an apology you can $@&# right off. However I'm willing to reach a deal with you. You get your bird and twenty percent of the profits from this job. Which I guarantee there's a lot of money to be made. I'll even tack on an extra hundred K for your troubles. All you need to do is lower your weapon and walk away right now. All you've done is wreck a few easily replaceable droids, but if you attack me or my employee here. I'll have no choice but to kill you, your bird, your friends, and salt the ground of wherever you've taken step so nothing will ever grow there again. And we both know I'm very capable of doing that." It was a pretty fair deal all and all.

"So what's it gonna be? Life and wealth, or violence and pain?" To be completely honest Blonde was hoping he'd pick violence. She'd been wanting to put a bullet in that damn shrike forever now. It kept gouging out her employees eyes whenever they tried to feed it.

"Sweetheart, be a dear and run off to go find a door with a giant metal spider on it. Mister Katarn and I have to finish this transaction up." The woman shooed her apprentice and would wait for Sal's response.

[member="Sal Katarn"] [member="Serenity Loveheart"]

 

[Sal Katarn]

The expressionless helmet stared at her for a long moment, then Sal lowered the barrel of the rifle.

"Forget the money. I want the bird now."

Something seemed off about the man. There was an edge of desperation to his normal blank apathy.

[member="Miss Blonde"] | [member="Serenity Loveheart"]