Sensation Washes Over Me... (Caid Centurion; training of Viktor DuSang)

[Viktor DuSang]

Dosuun - Capital City of Avalonia

Yellow eyes scanned the city streets. He dropped his sunglasses, sneering a bit. From an architectural standpoint, the city was a masterpiece. But, it paled in comparison to his home on Coruscant. How he yearned for the hustle and bustle of the city. A city so encompassing that it engulfed the entirety of the planet. A testament to civilization, and what it could do under noble rule.

The young nobleman stopped at a cafe, picking up a stimcaf. He sipped the hot brew slowly, enjoying the flavour. His freehand absentmindedly going through his black hair, eyes closing behind sunglasses. He straightened the cuff of his black jacket, then made sure his white silk shirt was wrinkle free. His black slacks were also perfect, but he had to set down his cup to examine his shoes.

Staring at the polished leather, he realized he missed a spot. Pulling out a napkin, he licked it before buffing the spot out. He gave his shoes another once over, just to be sure. Satisfied, he picked up his stimcaf and walked on. His gaze rested on the Citadel in the far off distance.

His father had brought them here for Force knows why. There was always some ulterior motive for
Avicus DuSang's involvement. He only got involved whenever he came out better off than what he started. A universal game of chess, he called it. The young noble could only scoff.

His father was a fool. A fool who stumbled his way into greatness. Viktor would be better, he would go further. His story began with joining the Order of Ren. They would teach him the ways of the Force. And from there, he would pursue his own destiny.

He would free himself from his parents' shadows.


[member="Caid Centurion"]

 

[Caid Centurion]

As was typically the case when he was on Dosuun, Caid was not dressed in anything indicating him belonging to the Knights of Ren. Instead, he sat casually outside a small cafe dressed in a pair of khaki pants, white dress shirt, and a navy blue blazer. A cup of caf rested in front of him as he seemingly surveyed items on a datapad. In truth, Caid was reading the datapad. It contained information about two recent arrivals on Dosuun. Typically - visitors to Dosuun did not garner the attention of the Knights of Ren. However, these particular individuals hadn't exactly kept much of a low profile and obviously one of the senior members of their Order knew the name. If not, Caid would have never been dispatched.

Former nobles from Coruscant...or current... It was hard to tell now that Coruscant was in the hands of the Galactic Alliance. The DuSangs...Caid knew more or less nothing about them. Well, he hadn't known anything prior to reading the brief report contained on the datapad he currently held in his hands. The younger of the two, [member="Viktor DuSang"], had just departed the cafe at which Caid currently sat. The man's trajectory suggested he was headed deeper towards the heart of the capital, but Caid could not be precisely sure at that moment.

Waiting until the man was just barely out of his field of vision, Caid eventually came to his feet. After dropping a credit chip on the table, next to the untouched coffee, Caid initiated a casual pace that did not mirror the younger DuSang but certainly allowed him to follow in the same general direction for the time being.

 

[Viktor DuSang]

A light shiver shot up his spine. There was that sensation again; as if he were being watched. One of the few things he learned from those Sith Assassins was that intuition was always to be trusted. There wasn't such a thing as coincidence. Someone had peaked an interest in the young noble.

Slowly, he sipped his brew, his pace staying the same. His mind wandered back to his time spent on Korriban. When he wasn't under his mother's watchful eye, his time was spent observing and learning from the assassins. One of their favorite games was disappearing into a crowd. A game that came in useful when having a tail.

The technique was simple enough. You find the most ordinary person in a crowd and blend your signature with theirs. You then made a split and wait to ambush or flee. Yellow eyes danced around the city streets, finding the perfect patsy and the perfect alley to duck into. Black tendrils of the force reached out, merging with the pedestrian. Two people passed behind Viktor, and he was gone.

He ducked into an alley, clinging to the wall. Yellow eyes focused on finding who was tailing him. A silver hilt of one of his lightdaggers slid into his hand, his finger resting on the button that would spring the orange blade to life. Another shiver rushed up his spine, but this one was different.

It was a shiver of anticipation.

[member="Caid Centurion"]

 

[Caid Centurion]

While Ciardha had indeed been directed to observe the younger DuSang, there wasn't exactly a specific timeline on when contact was to be established. For that principal reason, the Knight of Ren wasn't much attempting to track him through the Force. After all, he did not really know the man. There was the ability to hone in on unusual force activity, but Ciardha judged it to be unnecessary.

When [member="Viktor DuSang"] ducked down an alley, Ciardha did not give chase. At roughly the same time, however, the Ren's communicator began beeping steadily. Withdrawing the device, Ciardha spoke into the receiver. "Yes?"

A pause.

"That is acceptable, thank you." Ciardha slipped the device back into his pocket before turning down a side street lined with a number of commercial shops.

 

[Viktor DuSang]

His heart pounded fiercely as he tried his best to control his breathing. Sweat beaded onto his forehead, slowly dripping down olive skin. His eyes danced around his surroundings. But the figure never stepped around the corner. The ambush never came. Letting out a deep sigh, he squatted down, putting his forearms on his knees. The silver hilt of his lightdagger rested against his forehead. The cool metal giving him some relief.

Collecting himself, he stood back up. A handkerchief was pulled from his jacket pocket as he begun to wipe the sweat off of his face. The handkerchief was then put back in the pocket from whence it came. He then produced a pack of Coruscanti cloves, pulling one out as it rested between his lips. As the lightdagger and pack of smokes were put back into place, he lit the perfumed cigarette, inhaling the sweet smoke deep within his lungs.

Exhaling the smoke from his nostrils, he stepped out of the alley. He was obviously being paranoid and jumping to conclusions. But it never hurt to be overly cautious. The Hall of Lords proved to be as dangerous as his father warned. He could only assume his father wasn't being paranoid when he told the young noble to watch his step. To them, he was a stranger on their strange world walking through their strange, strange city.

He continued his path towards the Citadel, the cigarette hanging between his lips.

[member="Caid Centurion"]

 

[Caid Centurion]

Caid proceeded down the adjacent street for less than fifty feet before ducking down an alley. Rather than attempt to regain sight of the target via the street level, the Knight of Ren ascended the fire escape of a building located along the alley. Following several bounds and no shortage of pulling his body weight over obstacles, he emerged onto the building's roof. Taking a seat, the Knight of Ren allowed his presence to expand. Dark eyelids closed over his silver-green gaze as a variety of presences filtered into his mind. Maintaining his position and efforts for only thirty seconds at best, Caid's eyelids eventually shot back open.

Coming to his feet, the Ren withdrew his communicator from his pocket once more, connecting with Avalonia Law Enforcement. "Charlie Romeo Two Eight. Fugitive located in grid J8. Maximum containment." Disconnecting the transmission, Caid slipped the communicator back into his pocket. Utilizing the aid of the Force, he bounded across rooftops until he stood upon one that belonged to a building on the main street.

Just as he stepped to the edge, silver-green eyes gazed the roughly ten stories down to the ground. The distant sound of sirens and the accompanied sight of red and blue lights danced on the edge of his vision. The first responders would be on scene easily in less than sixty more seconds, prepared to lock down the perimeter of the grid referenced by Caid - though they would only know that an unidentified Knight of Ren had called in the order. The grid itself spanned roughly four city blocks.

For now. Caid waited and would watch to see what the crowds below did...who managed to stand out and for what reasons as the ever-shifting nature of the Force whispered to him.

[member="Viktor DuSang"]

 

[Viktor DuSang]

Taking a drag off of the clove cigarette, he heard the sirens in the distance. Judging from the strength of the sound, he gathered there wasn't much distance between himself and the police force. Though he didn't openly suspect they were sent after him, he couldn't be too sure. There had been a bit too many strange events in his brief time here in Avalonia for it all to be coincidence. Flicking his cigarette off into a nearby bin, he found his exit strategy.

A group of men and women walked into a nearby office building, Viktor simply followed. People always write suits off as mere garments, but they're the perfect urban camouflage. A person in a suit walking into an office building doesn't raise red flags. Nor does it alarm the people who actually work there. You just need a confident stride, a walk that says that you belong there. Hiding in plain sight.

He made his way to the roof of the building, pulling the pack of smokes out of his jacket pocket. Lighting up another clove, he took a long drag. Perhaps he was being paranoid. But he didn't want to take any chances on a foreign world. He didn't have his Coruscanti connections here. Back home, the police were quite hesitant from harassing the nobility. Here, his bloodline mattered very little.

[member="Caid Centurion"]

 

[Caid Centurion]

Fortunately, the advantage of height provided a fairly decent oversight of the area below. As was often the case when people heard approaching sirens, normal routines were paused...even if only briefly. This was especially true on such a well-disciplined and maintained planet as Dosuun. The frequency of times when masses of sirens were heard on the horizon was, fortunately, very low. This was particularly true in areas very close to the center of the city.

Naturally, the smooth, continuous movement of [member="Viktor DuSang"] caught Caid's eye. He barely caught sight of someone matching the man's relative height and clothing, but it was enough for him. The entire charade was as much a test as it was anything else. Casually, Caid turned his gaze from the horizon and proceeded back inside the building to make his own exit. Per typical policy, the initial units would do little else than set up a perimeter to keep people from entering or exiting the specified area. There wouldn't be any official sweeps until more highly-trained units had a chance to respond to the area. The response time for which would range anywhere from another two to three minutes, he presumed.

Before he was on the ground floor, Caid called in the location of the building he believed he saw DuSang enter. Patiently, he waited for the confirmation and the tell-tale sign of units closing in on the building, effectively reducing their search perimeter rather substantially. At that moment, he pulled the fire alarm of the commercial building he presently occupied and continued along his way down to the ground floor. When enough people had amassed in an attempt to evacuate the building, Caid fell into the crowds, doing precisely as all the others did.

The sudden outpouring of citizens caught local law enforcement off guard, and forced them to herd the large group into a designated area where they could be held until such time as the situation had been resolved. From within the middle of the pack, Caid feigned expressions of shock and concern as he masked his force presence. In the distance, aerial units could be heard completing lazy orbits either in support of law enforcement or media priorities.

At approximately that time, more advanced units began arriving and information was relayed to building security of the facility in question to have all personnel shelter in place and prepare for a police sweep.