Private Pound of Flesh

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Outer Rim
Outfit: Undercover outfit
Necklace: Link
Weapon: Lightsaber (Concealed)
Blasters: Link
Tag: Kasady

"Wait."

Valery had remained quiet while Kasaday began her interrogation and while she wasn't exactly fond of the pain that was being used against the man, she hadn't interfered to make sure he wouldn't catch on to any tension between the two. But when she called him useless and gripped his throat, she felt like the man had very little time left, and decided it was time to step in.

"I have an idea," Valery continued as she tried to get Kasady to step away. Davoss looked Valery in the eyes, unsure as to what to expect from the woman who looked rather intimidating, "You will tell us who you're working for." A hand came up, and without any physical touch made, he was forced back into his seat, his eyes widened and for just a few seconds, it looked as if he wasn't quite himself anymore.

"I will tell you..." he seemingly relented.

Valery heavily disliked using these mind tricks to influence someone's free will, but in this case, it was going to safe lives, "Tell us who, and where they can be found," she continued, and he nodded without offering anymore resistance.

"A crime lord operating from Mek-Sha," he answered. "We know him as Lord Duras."

"See, that wasn't that difficult, hm?" she glared at him a moment longer, then turned her eyes to Kasady. They had the answers they were looking for, which was going to bring up the question as to what to do next. And what to do with Mr. Davoss here. "It seems there's a lot more work to do."

 

[Kasady]

Kasady reluctantly released her grip, grumbling as she stepped back to let Valery try. Anger had gotten the better of her. It was frustrating, seeing as that anger is usually what fueled her.

As much as she preferred her own methods, it seemed the Jedi’s strategy paid off, and they now had a name. A name that made Kasady roll her eyes. False titles and pretenses to give some sense of grandiosity to a business that was nothing more than parasitism.

“Mek-Sha? Where’s that?” She turned to Valery. It wasn’t a place she had ever even heard of; Not that her knowledge of habited systems was plentiful to begin with.

Though it wasn’t spoken aloud, the question of what to do with Davoss hung heavily in the air. He’d given them what they needed. Which meant he was, officially, useless. Kasady tapped the grip of her pistol impatiently, before holstering the weapon entirely. Luckily, he seemed too surprised by the information he just freely spewed to his captors to say anything that might antagonize her more.

“Can you… can you make him… turn himself in? Reveal what he did?” She swallowed, waiting for the Jedi to pull out another magic trick. That was how they liked to operate, wasn't’ it?

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Outer Rim
Outfit: Undercover outfit
Necklace: Link
Weapon: Lightsaber (Concealed)
Blasters: Link
Tag: Kasady

"Mek-sha is essentially a space station built into an asteroid. It's near Hutt Space, so not too far out." She looked at Kasady with a small frown, "It's quite a hub for pirates and other criminals though — dangerous and unpleasant." Not that it would stop her from going there, but it wasn't the kind of place you walked into with any peace of mind. Even for criminals, it was dangerous because of rival gangs, riots and frequent shootings.

Valery's eyes then settled back on their captive, and she watched quietly while Kasady's question lingered in the air.

"Making someone talk is one thing, but he'd likely snap out of it if I tried to make himself turn in. It's too... against his nature," she tried to explain. "But I can lock him up in the cargo area of my ship with food and water. Then I'll deal with him later, and we could see about a trip to Mek-sha, maybe?"

She figured Kasady would not want her to take the prisoner and then be left out completely, so if she wanted to come along to Mek-sha, she'd be more than welcome to join.

 

[Kasady]

The crash course on Mek-Sha only made it more appealing to Kasady. If she didn't like running headlong into trouble, she wouldn't be hunting down slavers. The Jedi's inability to bend his nature further was disappointing, but the alternative suggestion was in fact more appealing to Kasady's nature. "...Do you think he needs food and water?" She leered back at the man in the chair with a vulpine smirk. It was half a joke, but at the same time…

"Alright. Let's get a move on." Kasady spoke, leaving little room for deliberation. The plan was settled, as far as she was concerned, "Those slavers aren't going to arrest themselves." She enunciated 'arrest' with a bit of displeasure. More than they deserved. But Valery's strategy was working up to this point, and so she begrudgingly continued to play along.

Kasady walked over to the man, now increasingly suspicious about their motives, "What do you think you-" Before he could finish, she casually slapped him upside the head. It appeared light, but with her cybernetics, there was enough force behind it to knock the man unconscious. She then snatched his collar, and began to drag him behind her, and toward the exit of the warehouse.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Outer Rim
Outfit: Undercover outfit
Necklace: Link
Weapon: Lightsaber (Concealed)
Blasters: Link
Tag: Kasady

"...Do you think he needs food and water?"

Valery didn't answer the question, and just gave the woman a 'look' that made the answer very clear. Not that she believed Kasady actually wanted to leave him without food or water, but she had to play it safe here. Not safe enough though — before Valery could even react or say anything, Kasady had whacked the guy hard enough to send him unconscious.

The Jedi Master just sighed.

"I doubt he would have tried to resist coming with us, you know? But... eh, never mind," She shook her head and decided to drop the topic. The guy was out cold and likely not going to wake up anytime soon. "Let's just bring him to my ship." She wasn't actually sure if Kasady had one, but it didn't matter as far as Valery was concerned.

They were taking her ship, whether she liked it or not.

When they finally did arrive at the shuttle, Valery opened it up and gestured for the cargo bay, "Drop him in there. I'll bring food and water later. First getting us off this rock before more trouble shows up." Speaking of, the sound of more convoys was already getting closer in the distance.

Hopefully, none would come to cause trouble...

 

[Kasady]

Kasady gave no resistance to Valery's decisions. Her own ship wasn't very fun for long trips anyways. It was old, rusty, and small. She assumed the Jedi master would at least have something a little less likely to give you tetanus.

Kasady dragged the man all the way to the ship, taking Valery's poor choice of words quite literally, as she unceremoniously tossed him against the cold metal. She shrugged, when the sound of speeders caught her ear. "Get this ship out of here. I'll make sure no one stops us." The sniper rifle was revealed once more, and Kasady posted up in preparation for an arrival.

Shortly after her scope caught sight of the first speeder. Dark, armored, tinted windows; Yep, the mobsters had caught their scent. A shot rang out from the truck, pinging off the exit ramp. Kasady laughed; Chances are they weren't the kind to fire a warning shot, they were just bad at aiming. In response, Kasady blew out the main engine, causing the speeder to tumble forward, crashing against the street below. "Any time now!" She called back to the Jedi.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Outer Rim
Outfit: Undercover outfit
Necklace: Link
Weapon: Lightsaber (Concealed)
Blasters: Link
Tag: Kasady

She shot Kasady a 'Really?' type of look when she threw their prisoner against the cold floor, but the sound of incoming speeders forced her to move on quickly. A nod was given to Kasady and she'd sprint off to the cockpit. Behind her, she could hear the first shots already, and the crash of one of the speeders definitely caught her attention.

"I'm working on it!"

The problem was that Valery hadn't exactly brought a ship she was overly familiar with. To stay undercover, she had taken a civilian shuttle she knew how to fly, but wasn't nearly as quick in. So rather slowly, the engines came online, and other systems powered up. A bit too slow — the speeders that were approaching lowered windows, and a few thugs leaned out to fire a couple of bolts at Kasady.

Most had the accuracy of a stormtrooper, but there was a lot of fire coming in.

"Hang in tight, bringing her up!" That was the second problem — this ship was big so it sloooowly cleared the ground and hovered about of the surface, still in firing range of the thugs. "You okay over there?!"

 

[Kasady]

"Not fast enough!" Kasady shouted back, under a hail of stray bolts. She got off another shot, disabling one of the other incoming speeders.

Just as the ship began to raise, one of the blasts came a little too close, hitting the ground right in front of her and knocking Kasady off-kilter as she tried to react. At the same time, the nearest speeder was daring enough to ram itself into the ship, just catching the lip of the exit ramp and destabilizing the craft, although not actually causing significant damage. The impact did, however, knock Kasady further forward, and she had to fight to catch her sniper as it slipped from her grasp and nearly off the ramp.

"Not really! What's taking so long?!" The young slave dangled over the edge, tossing the weapon back just as another bolt hit the shoulder of her exo-skeleton, causing the arm to fall limply to her side. Kasady was far from being fit enough to outlift the metal bars in any meaningful or timely manner. So with few other options she lugged herself back past the ramp, and revealed a thermal detonator from behind her back. "This is for pissing me off," She activated the timer, and rolled the grenade out, where it landed behind the speeders. A few seconds later, a fiery explosion launched the vehicles onto their sides, and effectively spared them from any more incoming fire. "Now?!" She shouted at Valery again, a command to leave as much as it was a question.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Outer Rim
Outfit: Undercover outfit
Necklace: Link
Weapon: Lightsaber (Concealed)
Blasters: Link
Tag: Kasady

"Not really! What's taking so long?!"

Valery blinked as she tried to find the button to raise the ramp again, but she wasn't going to tell Kasady that was the issue, "I uh, I'm trying! The engines are old!" That would work for now, and the sound of the massive explosion caused by the thermal detonator made sure no other words could be exchanged either.

"Ah, there it is," she smirked to herself and quickly tapped the button to raise the ramp Kasady had been on. To the blue-haired woman, that was also the signal to get her butt back into the cockpit so she could strap in for flight. So Valery made sure to give her a couple seconds before she pulled the nose of the ship up, and blasted away.

"Thanks for the cover," Valery told Kasady wen she inevitably entered the cockpit. She likely wasn't going to be happy about how long it took to get out, so a quick focus on a different topic was maybe the right distraction, "Did you get hit? If you need medical help, let me know. I have some equipment and supplies on the ship."

 

[Kasady]

As soon as the ramp began raising, Kasady slid back and made a beeline for the co-pilot's seat. With a huff she plopped down and strapped in, all the while having to accommodate her immobile arm. "Just struck one of the servomotors, that's all. I'll fiddle with it once we're in transit."

The exoskeleton hissed, and the mechanics around the limb underwent an emergency decoupling, freeing it from the heavy confines of a dead metal chassis. Kasady stretched her arm, working off the stiffness that had already taken hold. "How long till we hit Mek-sha?" There was an air of irritation to her voice, but frankly she was too tired now to be genuinely pissed at the Jedi. Evidently, faulty machinery was a mutual problem for them at this point.

At least as far as Kasady was aware.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Outer Rim
Outfit: Undercover outfit
Necklace: Link
Weapon: Lightsaber (Concealed)
Blasters: Link
Tag: Kasady

She seemed irritated.

So there was no way Valery was going to admit about her struggles with the ship — she now knew where the buttons were as well, so the incident was hopefully not going to repeat itself, "We should be arriving shortly but if you need to fix something up first, please do. Mek-Sha is not a great place to be, and you don't want to seem... weak, to those people."

Not that she believed Kasady appeared weak, but it was going to help them if they were both at their best.

"I'm going to take us down as close as possible, but it's in the middle of gang territory. And uh, they're typically not very kind to lone women walking around in their territory. Especially not when they're armed to the teeth," Valery flashed a brief grin and flicked a couple of switches on the control panel in front of her.

"So expect trouble."

 

[Kasady]

Weak.

Kasady spat out a dry chuckle, and already began fiddling with the shoulder motor, "I'll get it done before we arrive," She had no illusions about her capabilities; Without this exoskeleton, she was as good as dead in the field. Without it, she was frail, and slow, and weak. That was what she beat into her head over and over again, anyway. The only time she trusted to be without it was when she was alone. When there was no one around to lord over her, to threaten her.

At this point she didn't care about her body. But her mind, that was worth something. It was why she had this suit in the first place. And by extension it was how she would beat any challenge that got in her way.

"Good thing I'm not alone then," She remarked with a smirk, now prodding at the motor with a small tool, "I always expect trouble."

A few sparks burst out, and the servo whirred back to life. The whole process didn't take more than a few minutes, before it seemed to be working as good as new. The chassis opened up to take back her arm, and after a few test motions, Kasady gave a satisfied nod.

"So we just go in, kick ass, take the boss, and leave? Or am I missing something?" Fine by her, even if it wasn't exactly a complex plan.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Outer Rim
Outfit: Undercover outfit
Necklace: Link
Weapon: Lightsaber (Concealed)
Blasters: Link
Tag: Kasady

"They're less likely to try something if we stick together but yeah... it's good to expect trouble," she said while she briefly turned to watch Kasady fix up her exoskeleton. Without it, the woman seemed hardly built for getting into trouble, but it just showed how a gifted mind could offer different ways to address issues.

A few sparks and a little bit of messing around later, and she seemed to be ready, which Valery responded to with a nod, "If you put it like that, it sounds simple... but yes," she chuckled and turned back around in her chair to focus on bringing them down. "Hopefully we don't have to kick too much ass though — just adds to the risk. But we'll have to at least handle some guards and take the boss in. With the two of us, we can't bring down the entire organization, but we can cut off the head of the snake."

With the capture of a high profile leader, it would be a lot easier to break down the rest of the slaver gang. There was even a chance they'd do it themselves in the struggle for power once the vacuum was created.

"I'm bring us in."

​

The easy part about the mission was that Mek-sha required no access codes or permissions — she just brought them down at one of many landing areas, and guided Kasady outside into the neon-lit streets that faintly reminded her of Nar Shadaa. The difference was that Mek-sha was much smaller, and its narrow alleyways had its own entire, dark atmosphere to them.

As expected, there were shady people all around them, and some glances already came their way from those lurking. It was a creepy feeling even if you weren't Force-sensitive.

"What do you think?" Valery asked with a smirk.

 

[Kasady]

"Perfect," Kasady purred. Her idea of a plan was similarly straightforward. Except for the fact that it would usually involve her not being this close to the action. And that she would probably take the phrase "cut the head off the snake" a little more literally than this.

Even she could be open to something new, it seemed.

Once they had landed, it was clear to see why Mek-sha could be a haven for slavers. Kasady paid their stalkers little mind, spare the occasional glance at a shifting figure. "I think it's a shithole," She smirked. "We shouldn't have to look far, I think. Traffickers treat their slaves like cargo. Operating through the docks is pretty par for the course, and it's not like they have to be subtle about their business here." On Mek-Sha, it might as well have been a legitimate operation. Kasady half-expected to see a big sign pointing toward a slave trading depot.

Sadly, they weren't that brazen with their operations.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Outer Rim
Outfit: Undercover outfit
Necklace: Link
Weapon: Lightsaber (Concealed)
Blasters: Link
Tag: Kasady

"I think it's a shithole,"

Valery snorted and could only nod to the statement, "Can't say I disagree — I was here once, thousands of years ago, and it's still the same in so many ways," Valery said while she looked around. Her eyes weren't focused on the people around them, but she seemed to be looking for something while they walked along the docks they had chosen for their landing.

"And you're right, it's not too difficult to figure out where they are, but it is tricky to get there. Some parts of the docks have been taken over entirely by these groups, and it's almost impossible to access them without some... special tricks. Or, well, we could knock and deal with the guards, which is the likely option today." She flashed Kasady a bit of a grin and turned her eyes up the moment a larger ship passed over them. It was a cargo ship and it seemed to be heading for the docks nearby.

"There, that's where we should look first."

With Kasady beside her, she began to walk in that direction, which brought the pair through several smaller alleyways, and through a district of people living mostly in tents, containers, or just along the boardwalk. It was terrible, and many were sick, injured, or severely malnourished, but there was nothing that could really be done for them. Not in a place as corrupt as Mek-sha.

But the longer the two walked, the more it seemed like they had another problem to address — a pair of unrecognizable figures were stalking them through the alleys. They were careful not to get too close, but Valery was deliberately taking a strange, almost circular route, and they were still behind them.

"I think we got some company," she whispered.

 

[Kasady]

Kasady remarked the passing ship with a nod. A freighter of that size on an asteroid like this? There was only one commodity worth the space.

Through streets and back alleys, she hardly paid any mind to the downtrodden populace littering their path. She had grown accustomed to that much by now.

Once Valery had mentioned they were being followed, Kasady had never even bothered to check if it were true, and just assumed the Jedi knew what she was talking about. "Uh huh," She mumbled, then rounded the next corner. Rather than keep walking, she stopped right behind the turn and waited until their stalkers had arrived. Right on cue, the nearest was then grabbed by the collar and slammed against the wall. For extra intimidation, Kasady then punched an indent into the wall right beside his head. The second of them she left for Valery to take care of.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Outer Rim
Outfit: Undercover outfit
Necklace: Link
Weapon: Lightsaber (Concealed)
Blasters: Link
Tag: Kasady

She didn't even need to coordinate anything with Kasady — the moment she acknowledged that they were indeed being followed, they rounded the corner and waited for their stalkers to appear. When they did, Kasady snatched one and gave him a rather harsh treatment. Valery, however, just drew one of her pistols and fired a stun round to knock the other unconscious.

His body hit the floor quick enough for Valery to watch Kasady intimidate the other who, at this point, looked like he was going to piss his pants. It wasn't often that someone as small as the blue-haired woman possessed so much strength, after all. "That was easier than I thought it would be," Valery said, perhaps to rub a little salt into the wound.

"Now, why don't you tell us who sent you? Or I might look the other way while my friend here makes sure you're not stalking us anymore," Valery said with a faint smile that made it difficult to tell just how serious she was. The thug wasn't going to test his luck though and gulped as his eyes turned back to Kasady.

"They know you're coming, and they're more than ready. You best turn around while you still can,"

Valery looked at Kasady and perked a brow, "I think he's threatening us." She shook her head dismissively, "We can't have that, can we now?"

 

[Kasady]

The man's attempts to threaten them were almost cute. A malicious grin curled at the corner of Kasady's lip with Valery's encouragement. "Oh, I see the problem." She then socked him in the gut, causing him to double over in pain. As he did, she then grabbed the back of his shirt, and with the strength afforded by her suit, fully flipped the man over and upside down, finally switching her grip from his neck to his ankle. His initial groans were replaced by a yelp of surprise as he now found himself disoriented and dangling.

"You're more scared of your boss, than you are of us." Kasady looked down disapprovingly on the man, "If you were to take a wild guess, of either option, which do you think is more likely to rip you in half right now?" Could her cybernetics even manage that level of violence? She didn't actually know, but it couldn't be ruled out. Not that she was genuinely going to anyway.

A tense beat of silence.

"I asked you a question!" She bumped him against the wall.

"Y-you! You are!" The man cowered, preempting some kind of strike that never came.

"Aw, he can hear me. Now where's that slave ship headed?" Kasady continued her interrogation. The man almost seemed surprised that she had so quickly registered it as such, but was given little time to dwell on anything other than his own self-preservation. With a shaky finger he pointed southward, "There's a container port over there! Whole place is owned by Lord Duras. You musta really pissed him off, cause he's there himself. Says he wants to 'meet' ya. Please, I'm tellin' the truth."

She nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer, "I'm sure you are. Now, when you wake up from this, you're going to run as fast as you can to the other end of the galaxy, and you're gonna live out the rest on whatever shitty planet working whatever shitty job. LEGAL, shitty job. 'Kay?"

The man nodded vigorously, before becoming a bit confused, "...Wake up from what?" And with that, she dropped him on his head, and the man fell unconscious. Kasady dusted her hands and looked back at Valery.

"Just as I'd hoped." The man of the hour was at the site. He thought he was bulletproof. She was eager to prove otherwise.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Outer Rim
Outfit: Undercover outfit
Necklace: Link
Weapon: Lightsaber (Concealed)
Blasters: Link
Tag: Kasady

Huh.

When Valery encouraged Kasady a little, she had expected things to get a bit rougher. But to see the blue-haired woman flip him upside down, hold him by the ankle, and talk to him like a bully would to their target, she was definitely a little surprised. It wasn't exactly the way Jedi would usually get information out of people, but they were on a timer and she would make sure no major harm was done to the man. He was just another worthless pawn in a much larger game.

She was here to take down the King.

"There's a container port over there! Whole place is owned by Lord Duras. You musta really pissed him off, cause he's there himself. Says he wants to 'meet' ya. Please, I'm tellin' the truth."

Valery began to smile a little and already knew what was going to happen next — the man was dropped on his head and was knocked out by the impact, "Well done, but we do have a small problem," Valery said before she looked in the direction he had shown them. "The docking port has two entrance points, and I'm quite sure they are heavily guarded."

She paused and looked at Kasady again, "The large containers that surround the docks are stacked up high to form a barrier, but I can get up there quietly. If you'll let me, I can also bring you up there, and we can hit them from above, and a side they would never expect. Gives you a great position to shoot from as well," she smirked and gestured at the sniper.

"You only have to trust me that I'll get you up there because it's easily two, maybe three stories high."

 

[Kasady]

“Imagine that,” Kasady muttered, fully expecting an audience to greet them. Lord Duras’ presence was a trap, obviously. But one that she was confident would ultimately backfire on the slaver.

Valery’s suggestion earned a distrustful look, “...You can do that?” It was all a bit beyond her understanding, but if Jedi were as magic as they were in stories, then maybe it wasn’t so impossible. Besides, this one had already pulled out a few tricks since they met. The sniper was drawn, and she caressed it in her hands with a smirk, “...Alright. Let’s see do it then.” Trust was not exactly a concept Kasady was familiar with. The continued trust she put in the master was a rather big deal for her personally, even if Valery could never know just how much that was the case.

Perhaps some underlying childhood wish fulfillment. Looking for proof that Jedi really were all she had been told they were.

“I can’t promise everyone is walking out with all their limbs, though.” Kasady gestured once again to the high caliber weapon, more than capable of taking off an entire hand, or more, with a single shot. It was, after all, literally designed as an anti-vehicle gun.

Valery Noble​