Slipper Sleaze

[Kiber Dorn]

Come to think of it, if they were asking his name then it was likely that there wasn't a warrant out for his arrest. Well unless she was playing games with him. Hopefully not, though. It all pointed to just a simple questioning about the incident. Mild relief.

They couldn't have just sat down over a desk with a stimcaf and have a pleasant chat though. Nah, gotta have holding cells, bruv.

Next question.

Did he know the man? No, not even a hint of a shred of a clue as to who he was and why he had such a murderboner for him. Just some scary Sith-type nattering on about rats and god kings. As if he had a clue about any of that piddle-paddle.

“Nope, don't know a single scoob about him,” he replied, itching the back of his ear casually as small white flecks of skin drifted down from the afflicted area, “was kinda hoping that your lot would fill me in there, love.”

We've gone from ma'am to love in the space of a minute.

 

[J3C0]

A displeased frown crossed her face and she wished that she had her blaster.

Bo didn't like lables, especially pet names. “Commander.”

She corrected him with eyes that told of a certain amount of fury. She could have him killed in a heartbeat, his throat slit or his head plucked off. He was still a prisoner here, still captive. Ending him would be counter to what she wanted though. If one of the Voices wanted this man dead then there was a reason for it, she wanted to know that reason.

Was he dangerous?

“The man followed a person well known to me.” Bo said quietly. “Why would he try to kill you is the question?”

Bo hadn't heard the man speak, so perhaps Kiber could offer some insight.

 

[Kiber Dorn]

You can correct me any time of day, Commander.

Kiber's unwavering eye contact told that he was used to giving out nicknames and pet names to those who never asked for them. Were his windpipe not crushed he would have definitely taken the time out to make a cheap shot at his attacker's fashion sense. Black is not the new anything, son.

Seemed like she only new a fraction more than he did.

Not helpful but hey, she was here asking these questions to fill in these gaps. He continued to pick at the back of his ear until all traces of dry skin were gone and now spread out upon his clothes and the cell floor. He was beginning to feel a touch on the low side, coming down to a more normal and sad level of being. A Yellow Viper would fix that right up. Don't think the good old Commander over there would allow a smoke.

“I don't rightly know, Comm-an-der,” he replied with his cheeky drawl, “he knew my name, said all Dorns are rats, y'know? Real rood dood.”

He shrugged.

“Maybe a bounty hunter.”

Correction.

“But I ain't done nothin' to warrant a bounty, yo.”

 

[J3C0]

That name again.

“Dorns?” Her raspy tone was rather inquisitive. “Who are the Dorns?”

Obviously he was one of them, but that name still sounded oddly familiar, oddly close. She tried to poke through the fog in her mind, tried to understand exactly what it was she was trying to remember. Her faced scrunched slightly.

Of course there was no way for Boan to know the History of the Dorn clan. There was no reason for her to know about Evelynn or Karin or what happened to them at the hands of Kaine Zambrano. That wasn't exactly public knowledge, at least not to anyone like her, someone who was from the outside looking in.

All Boan knew was that this man had come after Kiber, and it was because he was a Dorn.

But why should that matter?

 

[Kiber Dorn]

He sighed, as if he could escape his name. Force knows he had tried and up until this moment in time he had succeeded.

Kiber had no connection to the family back on Lianna. He didn't know their affairs, he didn't keep up with what they were doing and how they were doing. Good riddance to them. Bunch of bent backs sucking up to whoever was the big dogs in charge. He imagined that with the fall of the Sith Empire he would have been big time riding the One Sith train. Could they summon the balls to take advantage and strike out on their own?

As bloody if.

“Nobody important,” he said, “bottom feeders in Sith society, you dig me?” He slouched as he sat in the cell, obviously he didn't want to talk about this subject very much. “One of them is runnin' the show on Thule last I heard.”

Of course he knew Karin's name, but he chose not to say it, avoid that bitter taste on the tongue. Disdain Station.

It had clearly been a while since Kiber subscribed to Dorn Weekly however, nor Karin Dorn or her successor existed upon Thule any longer. In fact she was long dead, then alive and then dead again.

 

[J3C0]

“Unlikely.” Boan said, though he was stoking memories within her. She remembered Karins name now, though only because when she had been in the Anaxes Academy she had studied the Sith Empire, Karin Dorn had been a well known name at the time, and suddenly a revelation dawned upon Bo, a thought of who this boy was, and why Kaine wanted him dead.

“Karin.” She smiled whispering to herself. “Karin Dorn.”

That was the name, that was the important thing.

Kaine must have had some sort of beef with Karin. As far as Bo knew the two had cooperated within the Sith Empire, she knew that Kaine had been Emperor, and Karin had had a position that was very much equal to a voice now. The fact that Karin had been the Eye still eluded her, but she was slowly getting her thoughts together.

She was understanding. “Why then, would they target you? Bottom Feeder as you are.”

 

[Kiber Dorn]

Ugh.

There it was, the name said out loud that actively made Kiber sneer. What an absolute waste of space. One sniff of success and they fawned over her, everybody should be like Karin Dorn because she can use the Force! Waste of time, waste of energy, waste of breath.

As Dorn tradition the moment that he was found to be very Force sensitive they pushed him to follow in those same steps. Gruelling, never-ending training that he had almost forgotten. Killed his childhood, he wouldn't let it take his teenage years though and he ran away.

Funnily enough that little Force push saved him, gave him that moment for security to burst in and mow him down. Ingratitude is the new black.

“Dunno, Commandy,” he replied nonchalantly, “Sith politics maybe. I don't keep up with the fam, waste of time if you ask me, and you are asking.”

 

[J3C0]

“Yes. Sith are a waste of time.” Boan said with a sneer. Yes that was it. Sith Politics. So Karin had some connection to Kaine, that connection passed through the line of Dorns, now Kaine held a dislike for Dorns and wanted to see them dead. That was likely why Kiber had nearly been killed, likely why the assassin had come after him.

Likely why he was still alive.

He was a force user.

Boan had missed Kibers earlier use of the force, had not witnessed him pushing the assassin away. Yet now she assumed he was at least a practitioner in that strange little world, which of course made him even more disgusting in her eyes.

Yet there was a chance for something here.

“Are you not concerned?” Boan said in that raspy tone. “If they send one, they will send another.”

 

[Kiber Dorn]

“No arguments there,” he said in agreement, much preferring to live the life or a petty drug dealer in the blur of Coruscant than that of a Sith.

Then came the new concern, one for his own life

“Bugger, you're right,” he said looking up at her, a mixture of confusion and distaste mingled upon his exceedingly expressive face. He had only escaped this one through the skin of his teeth and that was because of a certain security team.

He definitely didn't have the credits to ensure his own personal safety though those means.

“Well,” he started, “you seem to know who it is sendin' the black crusade after my pert arse. You not going to give me a clue, a name, a chance? C'mon.”

 

[J3C0]

Would he be that stupid?

There was only one way to find out. “Does the name Zambrano mean anything to you?”

It was a play that was difficult to attain, a move of the Dejarik board that would need to shift all of the pieces slightly. There was a chance that Kiber Dorn would take the bait, that he would move against Kaine Zambrano and perhaps even try to kill him.

That thought brought a pleased smile to her face.

Boan wasn't exactly hateful of the Sith. She didn't despise them for being them, she just thought of them as archaic, useless, and outdated. Bo thought she could do a better job than them, and the less of them there were, the better.

 

[Kiber Dorn]

Having long since wiped his memory of family living away with a steady steam of women and spice, he couldn't say that he knew the Zambrano name. Maybe that had been mentioned by his family in his youth, or maybe not. He didn't know. He didn't really care.

“Zambrano?”

What a peculiar name. Surely, to add an argument to the paragraph prior he would have surely remembered an odd name like Zambrano.

“Is...is that a DJ? Or….a vegetable?”

His musing of course, was merely jest and he already knew that Miss Commander would likely not approve of jesting, which made it all that better. However Kiber had caught the smile, and given her sneering, scowling nature, that meant shenanigans.

“Commander,” he began voice filled to the brim with faux-innocence, “there's-a-something tick tockin' in that brain of yours and I'd like to be at least somewhat privy to that information.”

 

[J3C0]

“Zambrano is the name of the family that rules the Panathan Empire.” Wrongly.

The Fringe Confederation allowed Kaine to rule for some reason that was beyond her understanding. She very much doubted that he was loyal to the Fringe, and she very much doubted that he was loyal to the One Sith. She doubted that Kaine was loyal to anyone, so why allow him a dynasty in your territory.

Boan shook her head.

“It is also the name of the man who tried to kill you.” Well, who sent the man that tried to kill him anyway. Close enough. “He styles himself a god, and I have a feeling he does not like you.”

Dorns.

Thule.

She remembered now.

 

[Kiber Dorn]

Great, an Empire after his balls. That's just what he needed. Oh no, forget small time authorities and rival spice dealers, no the Panathan Empire. Great beans, fun beans, beans of beans!

His eyebrows danced across his brow which was either a sign of boredom, curiosity or annoyance, perhaps a mixture of all three. It was hard to gauge. How are you supposed to feel? I mean, he was flattered in part, some self-proclaimed god wanted him to be mashed potatoes on the ground, talk about an ego boost. Then again, oncoming death, that's a bit of a downer, ain't it? Nobody wants to be assassinated.

“Ya know? I get that feeling too.”

Of course, with no visable cue he had no idea of what train of thought was going Boan's mind and thus didn't know what nugget of memory she had come across in her brain.

“So what? What's a guy like me supposed to do? Hide? Die? You gon' keep me in prison.”

 

[J3C0]

“Get Revenge.” Bo said with a simple shrug.

Oh it wouldn't quite be that easy of course, but she was trying to sell him on this, not tell him how hard it would be. Having someone try to kill you was a good way to stoke hatred like none other. She frowned slightly, looking down at the little man. He was tiny, even compared to her., briefly she wondered if he would ever be able to kill Kaine.

He would have to be trained.

Yes.

That was it. He would have to be trained until he could kill Kaine. All good things took time.

“Do to him what he wished to do to you.” She shrugged, rolling her shoulders slightly. “Its the only path.”

 

[Kiber Dorn]

He laughed.

It was a loud deliberate laughter, put on to only confirm that her idea was ludicrous. While this Zambizzle fellow sounded like an absolute nonce he was still likely not a slouch in terms of Dark Side abilities. No, self-styled gods usually have to have a bit of punch to back up their claims and she wanted him to get revenge on that?

Hello, Miss Agenda.

“The only path? As if, I could hide. Coruscant's the best place to get lost, y'know.”

Question was, why did she want Zambinano dead? Curiouser and curiouser.

“What's your game, Comm-an-der?”

 

[J3C0]

“You think you can hide from a man like that? You think you can hide from a man at the top?” He likely could, Coruscant was big, but his life would be sub-par at the very best. Hiding in rat holes and the like. Then again, from the looks of him it seemed that perhaps he wouldn't mind that. “Kaine sits at the very top of the ladder of the One Sith. A voice, he controls entire planetary sectors.”

“You think he can't find one little rat?” Of course she pointedly ignored his question.

This wasn't time for her to answer, it was time for her to lead him to his eventual noose.

Even if he did kill Kaine Zambrano, even if he did somehow do it, he would die in the end. Boan couldn't chance people finding out her plot, but that was far, far down the line. First she had to secure this boy, first she had to make him do what she wanted.

Shouldn't be too hard.

 

[Kiber Dorn]

“Yeah, I do actually,” he said in response to her doubt of his hiding abilities. “Don't care if he's Empress of the whole karkin' Galaxy. If I wanted to be gone, I'd be gone, lady. You try to find one rat in a sea of Skraal, see how easy it is.”

That was mostly ego talking.

Kiber had absolutely zero desire to spend the rest of his days hiding out in the undercity, trading cheddar with the real rats to manage to get on by. Have you ever been down there? The stench alone is enough to knock a man out, it's like a hella bad sedative. He shuddered at the thought of spending time down there. Could make it work. Get in tight with that fat-ass king, maybe even get himself hooked up with some nice tail.

Wait no. Egh.

“Said it yourself, Grey Suit. The very top of the ladder of the One Sith, a voice, yo. I'd get absolutely murdered before I even got close.”

He gave her a shrug, and then a smirk which immediately maximised the punchability of his pointed face.

“Come on. You're sellin' something, and hey I could be interested in buyin'. Just play it right, girl."

 

[J3C0]

She thought about having him killed for the tone that he spoke in.

Then she thought better of it.

He would be more useful as a tool. He had reason to see Kaine dead and he could be trained and controlled far more easily that other Sith. Boan would simply have to turn the manipulation into overdrive, push this boy in the direction that she wanted him to go. Of course that wouldn't be hard since their goals were already intertwined in a way.

“I can help you kill him.” She said simply.

Normally she would've been more careful, but she knew well that there were no cameras or audio devices here, and the rest of the cells were empty. She was liking this orbital station more and more.

 

[Kiber Dorn]

“Yeah?”

There we go. Intentions out in the air like sickly sweet scent of perfume of the local tramp. I mean, really this woman was about as trustworthy as a fart after McYoda's but at least there was a notion of an agenda out there. Baby steps.

“I would have to assume that you're not Zamblambo's number one fan then, eh?”

There was a shred of doubt though. Man styles himself as a god, surely has to have the skills to back it up, otherwise the ego hunters of the galaxy would have long since snuffed his light out. He had to be packing some wicked powers in there and this woman, well, she didn't exactly look like the anti-Force assassin.

Sorry babe, but thems the breaks.

“How?”

 

[J3C0]

“I have connections.” That was certainly true. Though she didn't really deal with the Sith, Boan knew how they trained, how they became stronger. Pretty much everyone within the military knew, it was practically a requirement to know. Mostly because the Military and the Sith were now so intertwined with one another, so put together.

Boan disliked it.

“I can help you train.” She practically purred the words. “I can help you grow and become stronger.”

She was telling the truth for once.

Their goals aligned. If Kiber grew in strength and killed Kaine it would open up a spot, a spot for her to take. Non-force users had been voices before, were voices right now. She just needed the opportunity, and time.