Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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Strikhedonia (Cyberpunk Squad [Joy and Kole])

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In the dingy, stiff, ancient excuse for a bed the man lay on, he tossed and turned in his sleep, eyebrows furrowing as his eyes raced every which way behind closed eyes. What haunted him tonight? It was an old terror, from his days as a simple stormtrooper in the ranks of The Sith Empire, the first incarnation in the present age, but surprisingly enough it wasn't the Dark Harvest with its desperate firefight on an asteroid near Dagobah when death seemed to be right beside him in the void, nor shambling undead he'd faced prior, slowly tearing apart his platoon trooper by trooper. What haunted him tonight was Korriban.

Red sand slipped through his fingers and into desert as he kneeled there, the bodies of his brothers and sisters strewn about him, the entire capital city reduced to rubble by the self-righteous Jedi, not that they wouldn't and hadn't done the same. He'd given up on reaching escape, the Empire, the only thing he'd ever known, was gone, as the others slipped into the sandstorm first becoming silhouettes before fading to nothing, he screamed loud and long, rage and loss overwhelming him so strongly that he could not move, and he simply sat and let the storm swallow him whole.

Cadmon's eyes snapped open, labored and panicked gasps escaping his lips. It was just a nightmare, they always came, this night and every other. He'd allowed himself to get a proper nights sleep on this day, or at least tried to allot the right amount of time, he'd gotten nothing on the vigilante in the past few days except that his strike on 1316 was successful, the bastard hadn't been seen since that he knew of, but perhaps his 'friend' in the Security Force had something.

They hadn't reached out since that night, but as he was running dry on leads, now was as good a time as any, not like she'd be up to anything else right?
[member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"] [member="Kole Harper"]​
 
Coruscant, CSF Station - Slum District G17, Undetermined Time | The Fire



The coffee's cold.

Joy scowled at her mug, pushing it away by the handle across her handle. Desk work, the last in the unholy trinity of probie work-- Booking, traffic patrol, and report filing --was the worst of the three. Returning to electronically filing away a document, her mind wandered freely. Not much brain power was needed to do this, after all. A smile crossed her face at a thought, though it flickered away soon enough back to that menacing pout she often sported.

It was just funny, is all.

Funny how for two of her three probationary assignments, he'd gotten involved. Would it be three-for-three, or would paperwork not have enough explosions or firefights to attract Geller this time? The communicator in her pocket got a little heavier, it felt.

Standing up from her desk, Joy grabbed her mug and moseyed over to the small would-be kitchen set-up in the corner of the station's ground floor. A rather sad looking coffee maker sat on the corner, along with a open box of muffins -- All gone except one half-eaten disaster she didn't want to touch. Pouring the cold drink down the drain, Joy set her emptied mug under the coffee spout, waiting for a fresh brew impatiently.




[member="Cadmon Geller"] [member="Kole Harper"]
 
Coruscant, CSF Station - Slum District G17, Undetermined Time | Sister, Pt. 1




His was warm.

A neutral expression that read nothing more than distracted with an absent mind rest upon Kole's face. The would-be kitchen that Detective Erantes-do-Nascimento soon found herself in is where he stood. His left arm supporting his leaning figure against the counter, the warm cup in his right hand occasionally being raised into forcing a singular sip. It was mundane, but so were most things in Harper's life nowadays. No more intensive action, but he couldn't say he missed it. Life goes on.

The encroaching footsteps of Joy alerted him to her presence, although he didn't pay her much mind until she fell right into his line of sight. Kole pushed himself away from the counter, standing upright entirely as a brief turnaround, step forwards, then a repeat of the turn left the machine free for the woman. A courteous grin cracked upon his lips for the briefest of moments as his eyes interlocked with Joy's, then subsiding.

​"It's good today." The words escaped him, as slow as they were spoken they got the point across. Another grin forming on his face to show the comment was in jest. The same perpetual emptiness resided within him but it didn't cost anything to be polite, or in the least bit sociable.




[member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"] | [member="Cadmon Geller"]
 
Pulling himself out from under his sheets and donning whatever clean clothes he had on hand, and hadn't been permanently stained with the blood of one species or another. Geller found his way to the communicator he'd left sitting on his bedside and turned it on. Then, through an encrypted channel that wouldn't be seen by every Jedi and their mother, he sent a simple burst of text to his uneasy ally on the force.

[Need to meet. Same place?]

It wasn't terribly specific, but the only place the two had met where they hadn't gotten involved in a gunfight was the dive bar next door to the now collapsed tenement building. Nondescript, and a good enough place to get a drink that he was desperately in need of as last night's venture into the dark recesses of his mind required him to finish off the rest of his personal supply of booze.

Truth be told, he was going to that bar with or without the good detective coming along, but if she decided to come along and maybe bring some leads with her, he wouldn't complain. Something about the little quips back and forth was something like fun anyway, as much as he hated to admit it the woman was growing on him slightly, it never hurt to know a straight cop after all.

[member="Kole Harper"] | [member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"]​
 
Coruscant, CSF Station - Slum District G17, Undetermined Time | The Fire



"It always tastes like water anyways," The Detective muttered, briefly making eye contact before her attention fell on the chitty little coffee pot, "How are you, Harper?"

She hadn't had many opportunities to speak to the others on the homicide squad, but that was almost always personal preference. Most wound up being stuck-up psychopaths, maybe except for her partner Muir -- Or, maybe not, with hindsight -- and people like that rubbed Joy the wrong way. Harper, though, Harper still had time to go one way or the other on her spectrum of decent-cop-to-corrupt-karker.

And they could always do with more decent cops.

Before she could say anything more a soft chiming noise distracted her. Joy's ear was still firmly pricked in is direction, but for now the majority of her attention was drawn to to the slim communicator she produced from her jacket pocket. Dull eyes flashed a little with anticipation as she read whatever had been sent, firing off something in response before slipping it back.

[I'm buying.]




[member="Cadmon Geller"] [member="Kole Harper"]
 
Coruscant, CSF Station - Slum District G17, Undetermined Time | Sister, Pt. 1




"Fine." Harper replied, leaning back against the wall whilst his left ankle crossed over his right. Kole's mind briefly wandered over his own well-being, wondering if he truly was 'fine'. In short, he wasn't. Though pressing your burdens upon someone else didn't seem right, nor fair, to the man. So he bit his tongue.

"How's probation treating you?" He asked afterwards, pressing the warm and curved edge of the mug against his lips, taking a sip. By now it seemed everyone had heard of her probation streak, even Harper; a man known for keeping his head down. In truth, he didn't really know Joy and had only brief interactions with her. Much like this one now. From what Kole had heard, however, she was as dedicated as they come. It was probably what earned her the probation. There were no complaints on his end, but he never really did have any.

For the briefest of moments his eyes shifted down to the communicator, but whatever was going on certainly wasn't any of his business. As a result he turned his head to the right, glancing at any detail along the wall. The Detective didn't want to seem as if he was intruding, despite the curiosity that lingered.




[member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"] | [member="Cadmon Geller"]
 
Geller smirked, how polite of her. As much as the temptation was there to shoot back a reply with just the right amount of sarcasm, he shook it off. Sliding on a longcoat, and sliding his revolve into its holster and blade to its sheath, the stormtrooper was equipped with all one needed to survive in the lower levels, one only had to look remotely intimidating for most street toughs to leave them be, and at the risk of coming off as arrogant, he was fairly sure he fit the description.

Leaving the room and sealing it tight, he made his way onto the bustling street, stopping shortly to grab a bite from a street vendor he'd become a regular of. Once upon a time he'd gouged the Mirialan's eye out and torched his law firm, the least he could do was come to him for grub on a routine basis. It was hard to tell if he was fully aware of how he was trying to ease his guilt by aiding those he'd wronged in the name of the Sith, or if he still pretended it was something less than that, but frankly he hated Miralan food, yet he still ate it every, single, day.

Aside from the quick stop by the vendor, the stroll was uneventful, 1313 had gotten quieter since the [member="Coratanni Cartel"] had taken the streets back. Some muggers still were around, sure, but they lived in constant fear of being caught, force forbid unknowingly trying to strong arm a member of the family. Cadmon didn't mind, even with the likes of miss detective, there were never going to be enough honest cops to tame things this deep, so settling with the next best thing had to do for now.

Wordlessly entering the bar, Cadmon took a seat at the same stool he had a week earlier and simply waited. He'd give it an hour, then he'd start drinking himself on his own money.

[member="Kole Harper"] | [member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"]​
 
Coruscant, CSF Station - Slum District G17, Undetermined Time | The Fire



The machine took a second before sputtering out a light brown liquid, but at least it'd be hot. A grimace crossed her face as he mentioned that, "Yeah, it's alright I guess, almost done. Then I'm back on cases." Her voice grew moderately wistful at the idea of working the beat again, clearly, she was tired of the nuances of probation work. As any good cop would be. With her mug filling, she was on an impatient edge now. Taking it once the mug was full she looked back up to Kole again and briefly lifted the mug in his direction, like a toast, before she turned to head back to her desk. Most of the work was done now, anyways... She could feasibly leave and be on 1313 in under an hour.

It was just a matter of escaping bureaucracy.




[member="Cadmon Geller"] [member="Kole Harper"]
 
Coruscant, CSF Station - Slum District G17, Undetermined Time | Sister, Pt. 1




Kole offered the same raise of the mug in return, the faint smile appearing once more in an attempt to come off the least bit friendly. He wasn't sure what he truly was. It helped hide his motives, too. Being tasked with keeping an eye on Joy made him feel a bit uneasy in all honesty, though it was definitely something worthwhile considering recent events. At the end of the day, Kole was a good cop who got the job done - or so he thought. His blue eyes lingering on her figure, just hoping it was the desk she would return to. Sneaking suspicions never ended well.

With one final sip, and a larger one at that, the coffee was finished. The mug found it's way into the sink, lazily left for someone else to clean up. He had more important things to tend to. In time, Harper lounged in his chair with an expression of boredom. His eyes consistently glued to Nascimento. They deemed her misdoings such a priority that his cases were temporarily stripped away. The only comfort Kole felt here was the padding of the seat on his back.




[member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"] | [member="Cadmon Geller"]
 
It was getting close to time, and Geller was nearly at his breaking point. If the man didn't get alcohol soon, he swore that something would happen, what that was he had no idea, but something nonetheless. "I don't think she's comin buddy." Mused the bartender, a Rodian who hadn't been there for the bombing, maybe the old guy had left, or maybe it was just his day off, didn't make much of a difference.

"Five more minutes, then I'll by my own drink." Cadmon shot back, leaving the alien to shrug his shoulders and go to another customer who was actually spending at present and left the old soldier to his own machinations. Aside from needing a drink, he actually wan't feeling all that impatient, getting out of the station probably wouldn't be the easiest thing to do, and he could only imagine that some eyes might be on her after her speeder was taken out of the air.

If this attention was born out of concern, or out of desire to finish the job was anyone's guess. Regardless, something told him it wouldn't be too much longer. He regretted being as dry on leads as he was on booze, but such was the way of things. He could only hope the one of them with access to more resources might have something, anything for them to go on. If not, then at least they had a drink.

[member="Kole Harper"] | [member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"]​
 
Coruscant, CSF Station - Slum District G17, Undetermined Time | The Fire



A few moments of normalcy, then Joy made her 'escape'.

She left her mug at the desk, still piping hot, her computer logged out and in order. Pulling her jacket around her, she stepped out into the cold Coruscanti night and was on her way. Harper was an afterthought now; she had no reason to suspect him.

It was wiser to take her personal vehicle than her squad car -- Her attack was still making the rounds, and it would take a while for another CSF car to get issued to her, especially after how the last one went -- So she hopped into her own speeder, parked amongst the others, and primed the engine. 1313 was quite a ways away, but the drive was worth it for a multitude of reasons. Already, her heart felt a little lighter, free of burdens, and utterly eager for a good verbal spar.

Traffic was good enough that it only took just under an hour to park outside the indicated bar. Bittersweet memories flooded back as she glanced up at the apartment building with a fond smirk, shutting the door to the car and locking it so no miscreants could get in. Indeed, only a few moments after the Rodian sassed Cadmon, Joy slid her hands into her pockets and entered the bar, a grin crossing her face as she spotted him despondently at the bar. Stepping up, she set a credit chit down, waving down the bartender with the same hand to indicate them both, "Two whiskeys, if you would."




[member="Cadmon Geller"] [member="Kole Harper"]
 
Coruscant, CSF Station - Slum District G17, Undetermined Time | Sister, Pt. 1




It was odd to say Kole felt glee once she was back on the move, but it was most certainly bittersweet. Especially with what came next. Just as Joy reached the door, Harper sprung from his chair and snatched at the coat that rest on it's back, throwing it over himself. His next steps were with haste, yet appeared normal enough. No attention grabbing, but in need of pursuing a target. As much as he hated how the explanation formed in his head. As the Detective strode past her desk he grabbed her mug, taking a quick gulp of it's contents even if they were a bit too hot, and then placed them on the first vacant desk he strode by. Harper needed it more than anyone tonight.

Kole found himself inside of his own personal vehicle, tailing Nascimento as the neon lights washed over his face and reflected off of his car. Where are you going? A question he couldn't help but ask himself as the journey grew longer and longer. Yet like all things it eventually came to an end.

His vehicle found itself parked on the side of the street. One of those days. Before departing Kole unfolded the collar of his coat to cover his neck and portions of his face; preparing for the worst. The streets is where he strolled, but at a slower pace and behind several droves of citizens, illegal or not. Dread was the emotion he soon felt. Things most definitely weren't looking good. Now a bar? Harper slinked in with a crowd, spotting a dark corner of the dingy bar that he could sit, watch, and wait. It's all he would be doing for a while it seemed.




[member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"] | [member="Cadmon Geller"]
 
A smile crossed his lips as the one and only Detective Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento stepped in and ordered drinks for the two of them, a woman of her word indeed. Cadmon threw back the liquor in an instant, draining it in one go just to wash away some of the mental stain of his nightmare. "Were they mad about the speeder?" He asked, a hint of humor in his tone as he threw a couple chits the bartender's way to get himself a refill, a single glass was nice, but he needed more.

Geller had a nagging suspicion that this would be the first of many little meetings, one would have something for the other or something like that, and they'd work their way towards the goal of putting a stop to the murderous rampage of the vigilante. If all went well maybe this would end some way other than the detective putting a gun in his back and ordering to put his hands behind his head. Hope springs eternal.

Sipping his whiskey he prepared for whatever quip Joy might have in store before the two got down to business, or more accurately, the lack of it on his end. In the days that had passed Cadmon had become uneasy, violence was in his nature, and without it he almost felt wrong, like something inside him was waiting to explode. Something dark. He drank deeply, and tried to turn his mind to other, more Joy-ous things.

[member="Kole Harper"] | [member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"]​
 
Coruscant, CSF Station - Slum District G17, Undetermined Time | The Fire



"Nothing I couldn't handle, Geller."

She drank more conservatively, sipping at the drink instead of chucking the whole thing down. Her voice was light but there was a hint of something behind it, but she still offered him a sideways smile as she drank. Setting the glass back on the bar she turned to properly face him, an eyebrow quirked in that way she did, "How're you holding up? Did you find something out?" She couldn't think of any other reason, any other reason at all, why else he would have called a meeting.

It was, after all, a risk for both of them.

Yet a risk they were willing to take.

Idly, Joy traced the rim of her glass with her finger as she listened to what he'd say, utterly unaware of the fact she could still be under watch even here.




[member="Cadmon Geller"] [member="Kole Harper"]
 
"No." He answered, taking another sip from the glass before looking over towards the detective. "It's been nothing but silence since that night, I needed to know if you had somethin'." Cadmon added, taking another sip from his glass. The longer this killer was on the lose, the greater the chance their connection would be uncovered, which would land them both in substantially warmer water than they were comfortable with. The kind that involved SWAT teams.

He had collected information of the hit the night Joy went down however, it was spotty at best, but it pointed to the targets being a now extinct street gang that kicked up to the Triad, located a few levels below where their encounter had taken place. A bloodbath according to all reports, their target had taken care of it personally rather than with bombs or some other indirect method. But that information had been circled around, and no doubt had fallen onto the ears of law enforcement, though if those ears decided to say anything was a separate story.

Geller hoped, prayed even, that she had something for him. If she didn't though, he doubted it was any fault of her own.

[member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"] | [member="Kole Harper"]​
 
Coruscant, CSF Station - Slum District G17, Undetermined Time | The Fire



Damn. Biting the inside of her cheek for a moment, Joy let out a heavy sigh before beginning to speak in a much lower tone, even leaning in so he could hear.But her expression was grim.

"Your guy, he knows how to cover his tracks. Ran database searches on bombings, only got a few hits for explosion reports where sabacc cards were found. But they were at gambling houses, nobody assumed they might have meant something, so no further investigation was done by CSF beyond cause, which was concluded to be environmental." It was an unfortunate truth, that the system wasn't perfect nor all-knowing. If those officers had only known what they could have been dealing with...

Her musings ended and she met Geller's gaze, shaking her head a bit wistfully, "And that's all I have. The explosion at the apartments is still on-going, and my incident, well, I can't pry there or it'll raise too much suspicion."




[member="Cadmon Geller"] [member="Kole Harper"]
 
Cadmon nodded in response, it had been as he suspected, the man covered his tracks well enough to throw off investigators, but left just enough behind to clue in the underworld that he had come. The Beast of J-27 was some sort of animal, aggressive, cunning, utterly ruthless. He was either the creme de la creme of criminal enforcers, or somebody's ex-Special Forces, there was just no mistaking it.

"Who knows, maybe Triad got him. Bit the wrong hand." He speculated, the possibility that the foundation of their alliance was dead and gone wasn't impossible, but something in his gut told him otherwise. The man had carved a bloody swathe through the underworld, someone like that wouldn't be easy to kill, and there were several occurrences over the past few months where he went dark for a week or so.

Geller polished off the drink and let out a sigh. "Sorry to have dragged you down here for nothin', just needed to compare notes, make sure I wasn't missing things."

"Needed the drink too."

[member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"] | [member="Kole Harper"]​
 
Coruscant, Level 1313, Bar, Undetermined Time | The Fire



"Amen to that."

Whether that was to his comment on needing a drink or to the fact that perhaps, just perhaps, their target was dead was hard to tell. Joy played that one close to the chest, and she took another dainty sip. With a pause to put together her thoughts, she spoke up again, "And, hey, I don't mind getting dragged."

Oh, feth. Why do I ever speak?

Accidentally making herself smile at that awful, out-of-context sentence, Joy rolled her eyes a bit and drank again, "Feels good to be out of the station as well, though once I'm off probation work things'll get better." Did she really believe that? Not really. It might even get worse, being put back on active cases with her partner would take up a lot of time, make these clandestine cases a lot harder to manage.




[member="Cadmon Geller"] [member="Kole Harper"]
 
Coruscant, Level 1313, Bar, Undetermined Time | Sister, Pt. 1




A glass lingered in his grip, the contents the kind that burned your throat with each sip you take. It was good to know that feeling never went away, unlike all too many things in this life. Like his trust for Joy, it had faded into obscurity now. An on-duty probationary policewoman ventured down into the seedy underworld of Coruscant to catch a drink with a known criminal? Yeah, Kole knew of Cadmon. It was a case he worked a while ago now, but it seemed he survived the ordeal. Maybe he would recognise Harper's face, maybe he wouldn't. Either way it'd likely affect the outcome of what was to happen next.

Break a leg. He always hated that saying, especially in times like these in which the reality of it could become entirely true.

"Didn't think this was your scene." The coated man stated with a pair of eyebrows raised. The jig was up, but he wanted to give her a chance, she deserved that much. Kole positioned himself on the left side of the bar next to Nascimento, leaving herself between him and Geller. He knew better not to get right up next to a man like that. The glass he had earlier was still within his grip, held firmly down by his left side and hidden behind his figure casually. A precaution, if anything.




[member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"] | [member="Cadmon Geller"]
 
A line about being up for a drag anytime almost escaped his lips, and it would seem like the hardened soldier would've dropped the oh-so-angry attitude for all but a moment. Then he showed up. Ragmar's Raiders had been taken apart in a joint operation between military and law enforcement, and subsequently most of those deployed on it turned up dead after the fact. His brow furrowed and his blood boiled, the whole world seeming to slip away in that moment.

In war one killed their enemy without hesitation if they wished to win, and while the rest of the patrons may not have ever even seen war, Cadmon's personal one raged on so long as Harper was still breathing. What happened next was a blur, Cadmon's hand slipped behind the bar, fingers snaking around the neck of a bottle and then, boom. With precision not usually expected from bottles of booze, Geller launched the brandy straight for the detective's head.

Of course the man would probably duck, Cadmon was counting on it, but it gave him plenty of time to dismount the barstool, and close the Joy sized gap between himself and the detective. The vigilante, Karsan, Jo-no, it all became a distant memory as he descended onto the officer. Debts were to be paid in full.

[member="Kole Harper"] | [member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"]​
 

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