Nar Shaddaa Nights

[Er'in Tenel]

Nar Shadda - The Black Diamond​

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Er'in lounged in one of the better seats situated within the better parts of the Black Diamond's bar, doing a genuine and convicing job of looking interested in the flexible young Twi'lek dancer who was acrobatically showing off for the rich woman in the hope the tips kept coming, or at least some time simply dancing.

The Sith was happy enough to oblige, and pondered briefly asking if the girl was for sale, before reminding herself she didn't have any practical use for a Twi'lek dancer with no education and while it might be a charitable deed, charity didn't have any place on this planet and she didn't feel like drawing attention to herself. She was as in disguise as Er'in could practically get, wearing a set of extremely outlandish and expensive 'civilian' clothes that screamed disguised rich girl, and a simple Force Veil obscured her tattoos and glowing from eyes that could not pierce it.

Where was her contact? She hated Hutts and she hated Nar Shaddaa, it was a planet she would entirely happily obliterate from the galaxy. The air of pointless suffering drove her to the edge of her temper simply from the moment she set foot on the planet.

But she wanted that holocron, it was reputed to belong to Darth Cadeus, and since she'd lost access to his original...

... oh kark it, she might as well buy the slave, if she was a slave. She could at least get a private dance, and a woman of her status had needs. But then again, she might not be a slave. Er'in had no idea who ran this establishment. Perhaps she should find out, that could be a good distraction while she waited.

What was she thinking? This place was clearly getting to her. If he didn't show up soon, she'd have to go looking for him. That thought perked her up, and she sipped at her drink and offered another mildly outrageous tip to keep the dancers attention.

Keep yourself distracted. Do not start thinking about taking out your temper. Or satisfying your curiosity. Yet.

But it was getting harder by the moment. She could not abide tardiness.

[member="Mirvak"]​

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(Also [member="Arekk"] to keep you in the loop as I'm using your codex sub, since it came up in a google image search and I thought I'd use existing lore rather than just copy the image - no fights will start in your bar!)​

 

[Mirvak]

5 hours earlier.​

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"Boss, we have succeeded in capturing the relic hunter," the craven Rodian voice called out from Mirvak's holocommunicator. Mirvak awoke from his deep, meditative state. Standing outside the door, the messenger cringed, hating to interrupt his master for even good news. The door opened, and the Rodian stepped into the dimly lit, bare room, seeing his master sitting back turned to him, facing his disassembled lightsaber suspended in air. The door immediately shut behind him, the Rodian glancing over his shoulder nervously. Mirvak spoke at once,"Extract the location of the relic from him." The obedient gang member nodded,"Yes, boss." The beast immediately spoke over him,"Do not fail me. It would be most unfortunate if I were to be the one to extract it. For the both of you."

The goon didn't reply to this, swallowing hard and nodding. "There is something else, boss. The slicing droid cracked the encryption on his communicator, we learned he was gonna sell what he knew to some rich lady at the Black Diamond in a few hours." Mirvak snarled at this, growling in his throat,"Hauuurgh! Insolent aristocrat, seeking to make an archaeological bauble out of a powerful tool she cannot comprehend..." Mirvak paused to think,"Send someone in his place, and a team with him. Coerce her to come here, learn what she knows of the Holocron, then dispose of her. Do not kill her in Black Diamond, it is not our territory." The Rodian waited for a moment, gathering the strength to ask a question,"And what if she recognizes him as a fake?" Mirvak chuffed, growing tired of the conversation,"Let her flee, track her until she is somewhere private, kill her." The Rodian bowed and immediately turned, the door opening for him automatically, and closed so fast behind him it almost knocked him in the head.

. . .​

Harrol was the most similar looking of all the gangsters to the relic hunter, if you counted species, sex, and skin color to be the only categories to be a good doppleganger. He was dressed in some of the nicest, upper class casual clothes the gang could round up in the last minute. He felt off in them, not used to being so clean, or so well dressed. They didn't even know if the rich lady and the wannabe archaeologist had had a full visual holocall, they were just riding on the hope that they were attempting to be discreet and didn't reveal their faces to each other beforehand.

Either way, he had to play the part even if he didn't believe he could. The boss didn't accept failure. He felt a shove in his shoulder as one of his comrades berated him,"Come on, come on, she's in there, you're 15 minutes late, idiot!" He brushed his hair with his hand to the side, mimicking some mannerisms he had seen from the opulent gangsters and party boys he watched on countless holovids. Stepping up to the front of the line and handing the guard a few thousand credit chits, something Harrol earned about every 2 months, the disguised goon stepped into the club and scanned briefly.

There he saw her, the beautiful, elegantly dressed woman sitting in an exclusive area, next to an alluring Twi'Lek dancer. Harrol grunted, thinking to himself,"Is this a cop? She's so damn obvious." The sauntered up to her, taking a seat across from her, only a small circular table where the Twi'Lek danced between them. Harrol tried his best charismatic smile that he thought a relic hunter would give, flicking a credit chit at the dancer's ankles. He instinctively began speaking Huttese to the dancer, but cut himself off for a moment as the thought crossed his mind: prettyboy relic hunters like the one he was playing might not know Huttese that well at all. He quickly brushed the thought away and finished his sentence, but the awkward pause hung in the air for a solid second. "We're... Uh, alright for now, mind if we get a little privacy, hon?" The olive skinned gang member in disguise watched as the Twi'Lek quietly collected the tips and walked off, swaying her hips. His eyes then trailed back to [member="Erin Tenel"]. "I'm ready to exchange the info for the rate we agreed on. But you should know something else: my team found exact coordinates, down to just a few kilometers. You'd be paying a higher price but you'd save money by narrowing down your search." The gang member folded his fingers together and leaned back into his chair. "Only thing is, you'll have to come back with me to my ship to get the full exchange, cause they updated me on the way here and I don't have the data on me, that's why I was late."

 

[Er'in Tenel]

Er’in smiled politely, aware she stuck out, but not how she did so - not that it was a concern she had, over confidence being a weakness she was more familiar with now, but not one she had surpassed. Here, she knew enough to know she was out of her depth.

“I see.” Her tone had the implied snap of ‘you’re late’, but she didn’t bother to add the words, no sense in overtly insulting someone. She looked over her contact, not hiding the thoughtful expression as greed warred with caution. Greed won - mostly.

“That seems... convenient.” She said with a soft, quirked grin, her accent utterly alien to this place as she set aside her glass and rose. “But convenience I can live with. But if it’s too convenient, no amount of backing will save you from some very unfortunate events.”

The threat was not for show, but it was also given with the casual, off-hand nature of someone who knew such threats, in and of themselves, were meaningless.

“Let’s go, my docking fees are racking up.”

As she said that, a faint flicker of fire glowed in her mind. Danger. The hot heat of conflict in the future, and a half remembered scent she couldn’t place. Okay, so it was a trap. But not... without reward, if she was any judge. She didn’t let her features change from the half-politely irritated expression, waving a hand for them to get going.

[member="Mirvak"]

 

[Mirvak]

Harrol smiled,"Stupid broad," he thought. He nodded as he stood,"Listen, it's just gonna be a short walk to my dock with no funny business. 10, 15 minutes tops." He put his hands on his hips,"And hey, don't worry, I'll protect ya." He winked, getting way too comfortable into his role it seemed. Leading the beautiful [member="Erin Tenel"] out of the club, he made his way down the street. He shoved his hands into his pocket as they meandered past the line of people, drawing eyes as they walked.

"Just gotta get her into our turf then we're set," the thug thought. He pointed up to a cramped, but well lit alleyway up on their right. "Just this way. Sorry, I'm kinda' a cheapskate, the scummier docks don't go for much per hour." Across the street, the thug's friends watched from a dark alley. A Rodian hissed,"Look, there he goes!" And they all nonchalantly peeled away from the darkness of the alleyway and trailed about 15 meters behind them so as not to draw attention. Just the sight of Erin in her expensive dress got them excited for payday, she was gonna be a good haul for sure.

But it was quickly becoming apparent that Erin was being led into an area that was not very safe for a woman with an expensive lifestyle displayed all over her to be walking. Harrol leaned in towards her,"Jus' stay close. Real sorry 'bout this." As they walked past a few disheveled death stick addicts huddled around a barrel fire, their eyes boring holes into Erin. They passed through the thin alleyway onto an abandoned street that screamed "run." It was run down, with shops that had probably been closed for centuries lining the street. But Harrol only turned to give her a reassuring grin again, as they pushed on.

The scene continued to get worse as they passed through alleys and dangerous street corners, until finally they came to an alleyway that had a single light illuminating it, and what appeared to be some sort of weird symbol etched into the wall. It was an ancient Sith rune that simply and directly meant,"Power, domination." Harrol looked back at her, offering another fake smile as he nodded down the alleyway,"Just this way, it's in there." He pointed to a large monolithic structure obscured by darkness ahead of them, suggesting to her it was a docking port. Curious, how quiet it was for a docking station, regardless of how "scummy" it may have been.

As they went down the alleyway, the tailing team caught up and close off the alleyway behind them. They hurriedly stepped up behind them, all 4 of them drawing their blasters with a clear charging sound. "Hands up, beautiful." One of the uglier ones commanded. Harrol turned around, also drawing his blaster from his pocket and prodding it into her back. "Let's go, we're just gonna ask you some questions is all." If Erin would comply, she would be led into a compound in what appeared to be a large warehouse, with tens of armed gangsters wearing armor marked with that same Sith rune.

. . .​

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Mirvak's eyes shot open and his ears pricked up immediately. He turned his head slowly over his shoulder in the direction of something... familiar. A presence he had not felt for some time but could not discern it. He stood up from his deep meditation and grabbed his greatsaber, stomping out of his secluded chamber.

 

[Er'in Tenel]

Er'in was not particularly interested in complying with the demands of thugs working for an unknown Sith - or someone who had a fetish for the Sith, but she was curious and while she failed to do any sort of convicing job of looking remotely meek or indeed scared - acting was not, shall we say, her primary skill set - she did at least let herself be coralled as far as the opening door to the warehouse.

The sight of what lay beyond was enough for her to decide that further complication of tonights already complicated business dealings was quite uncalled for, really.

"You know, gentlemen. If you wear or work beneath that rune, or admire the Sith for their strength, you really should be more aware of what the Code means. Of what power and domination actually are."

Her casual words were enough to buy her a moments surprise, before one of the 'guards' quite successfully shoved her through the doorframe with his blaster, which would not bode well for him momentarily.

"Live by the code..."

Er'in's face ran like horrific wax as the sorcery hiding her appearance and her scars melted away and mixed with the blood that began to ooze from them as pain suffused her body, she needed power, and she needed it quickly.

"D̞͖̞̖̺r̸̵̮̣̗a̡̝̥̤̳̪͈̥r͚̘͖̮͘i̥̰̲͍̯̱͍̬͢͡n͎̱͔̺͚̰̲ͅa̤̲ ͈̱̯̙̳̫̹ś̺̼̝̘̻̩̫͝ͅͅą̗͕͇͔̮͔̀͜ͅs̸̫̰̲̺̠͙ ̛͉̟̖͔r̶̩̬͉̬͙͉͕͞i̸͏͉̥͓͔̪̫̰ ̠̥͚͓̦̺̫͈͙́́͠r̵̟͉͍͟͜a̸̤̹̥͈͉̤͕͘͟i̥͟t̲̻̖̬̘͚̣͔̀a̢̰̮̩̼̣̠!̲̞͙̣̼͈͎̺"


Her hands twisted in a quick gesture, and a newly invented spell washed out over the area immediately around her, black lightning spiraled up from unseen depths of her feet and washed about the sentients standing immediately about her, it left no mark on either object or person, but where it touched the guards collapsed, screaming in disbelief as their bodies were wracked with a pain that seemed to defy belief. It wasn't true torture - it had none of the immediate horror that came with it, it was pure pain, but Er'in was becoming rather a specialist in that subject. It was also extremely fatal and killed over long moments, without a mark, and she drank in the pain and fear. She was going to need it, she suspected.

She caught the fringe of the one stun blast the guard managed to get off, but it did little more than stagger her as she shifted to one side gracefully, waiting to see if the gangsters had been hardened enough to open fire at that display of power. If they had, she was going to need everything she had to deflect that volley of fire.

[member="Mirvak"]​

 

[Mirvak]

The gangsters smirked at her, mocking her threatening tone. After shoving her through the doorway, the thug responded,"Don't worry babe, after we get what we need from you, we'll be sure to show you a little 'power an' domination'." He grinned devilishly, but his grin soon faded away as he witnessed her face morph before his eyes. He reared back, his eyes going wide as she muttered some kind of foreign incantation. A swathe of gangsters were immediately struck by lightning all around her, convulsing as they felt the most intense pain they could have never imagined. Grown men, hardened criminals, brought to the ground in seconds. Their bodies began to char and pop as the lightning sizzled them.

The remaining gangsters in the large warehouse stood in fear, weapons raised. A goon shot off a stun blast in an attempt to put her down, but missed as she danced around the stun blast, staring the one who had shot it in the eyes. The Gran gunner's three eyes stared in fear, locked onto [member="Erin Tenel"]'s piercing gaze. He trembled, the only sound in the entire warehouse being the pained moans of the men who were hit by the lightning bolt. Suddenly he cried out in panicked, stuttering Huttese,"K-kill her!" The 40 or so remaining gangsters tensed up, raising their weapons to bare, being awakened out of their terror induced inaction. The Gran's thumb jammed the selector switch on his cheap blaster, setting it to blaster mode. He yelled again,"Kill her, NOW!"

The whole warehouse began opening fire, so fearful of this devil woman that they were more willing to kill her and disobey their boss than die by her hand.

. . .​

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Mirvak took his time walking down the dirty, poorly lit hallway. He turned a corner and stopped at a simple auto door. He hunched down, to peer his malevolent yellow eye into the vision slit of the door. Inside the room was a ramshackle torture cell, where Erin's ACTUAL contact lay. An interrogation droid stood over the bloodied man. The droid turned its head up slowly to look at Mirvak, then simply nodded once. Mirvak stood to his full height and continued down the hallway. That's when he felt it, an immense surge of rage and pain. Mirvak growled in response. Whoever this familiar presence was, they were here to destroy his operation. But who could it be?

The towering Sith moved at the same even pace towards the source of this presence, biding his time and building his rage up slowly. He thought of humiliation, slavery... of Darth Metus. He snarled involuntarily. Just that moment, he heard the fearful cries of his men from the end of the hallway up ahead, where the door to the warehouse lay. "Cowards." He spat.