Private The Dinner Party

[Melissa Bloodscrawl]

Earlier...Nar Shaddaa

Wearing: Armor weave Catsuit (Crimson)

Armed with: Herself, GWE-002

The particular information Melissa was after was valuable enough that she had struck quickly at the Hutt's hotel stronghold.

House Bloodscrawl had spies everywhere. That was what had allowed them to learn that this particular Hutt, Chartooza, was trying to send an infamous spy to Coruscant. A freelancer known as Point Blank. No known photos or DNA. But a flawless record of stealing sensitive information. He was targeting Alderaanian politicians as of late. Politicians valuable to her house.

Her objective was two-fold. First, secure the safety of their informant, second, secure that information no matter what else after the first objective.

She had dropped onto the roof from high up on a speeding shuttle using her newly installed Repulsor Cell Organs to softly land on the roof using her repulsor cell organs to land very gently. She took out a bag of tools with a cutting torch and cut her way into the roof. Her first destination was the informant's chamber. She jumped down the opening she had created.

She crept through the halls, her Personal Concealment System shielding her from their scanners as she skulked through the hulls. Her brother had made the decision to pull the informant out. He was under cover as a smuggler, had been doing low level jobs, collecting Intel for weeks about the schedules and ships the Hutt used to smuggle spice and weapons into the core. All of which was information that would be sent to Alicio Organa anonymously when the time was right.

Melissa froze as a squad of battle droids wandered past marble floors. The Informant was here as a guest. House Bloodscrawl had trained this one very well. He had aroused no suspicion, but he was growing increasingly uncomfortable with his ability to maintain his 'beneath suspicion' state.

What caught her attention however was how fast the expensive looking battle droids were moving...as well as being followed by a squad of actual heavily armed mercenaries moving fast behind them.

Melissa raised an eyebrow, and immediately, silently sprinted behind them, because she was headed in the same direction. Her databases immediately theorized her informant had been somehow discovered.

She didn't act against them as she snuck past expensive looking suites and museum pieces, the hotel becoming gaudier the deeper she went.

Melissa stopped as she saw the blood. The alarm hadn't been tripped...

As she followed more slowly, she saw more and more bodies. Doors busted open.

It was like something out of a slasher movie. She saw the mercs tense up, yelling to search the area. As they split up, Melissa searched the room she had come to extract the informant from.

Her gravity manipulating heart beat faster as she spotted the informant, a human in beat up looking armor and a long coat, lying dead on the floor.

She quickly surveyed the scene. Expert cuts, designed to create massive arterial spray as well as kill quickly. Nonetheless, he had managed to write some words in his own blood on the bedpost.

POINT BLANK

CORUSCANT

ADMIRAL GRENSLA.

Melissa analyzed the data. He had known she was coming. In death, he had still tried to do his job.

Melissa snuck back out of the hotel suite just as Chartooza's mercs filed in...



Present:

Wearing: This

Armed with: Herself

Melissa Bloodscrawl,

Slowly over time, Melissa had developed a distinct personality, showing great interest in piloting, her home's shelves lined with models of starfighters, her databanks filled with the biographies of famous politicians.

She had also become distinctly interested in socializing.

Admiral Grensla was retired, but maintained his connections to the Alliance's military-industrial complex. He had survived a number of scandals, but there was the general sense that his luck was going to run out sooner or later.

Her niece, Sera Mina , had resisted invitations to his lavish parties, but with the horror on Nar Shaddaa, there was concern that whoever had killed all those people was coming to repeat the process at the party he was throwing at his estate on the upper levels.

She had gone in Sera's place as a representative of Bacta Works, flashing her invitation at the door guard as she walked into the great ballroom, instantly turning heads. She had arrived under the name Melissa Crownwraithe, and her biot body had been modified to look as human as possible internally to fool military scanners. At best, she would come off as a high end cyborg.

She turned heads instantly in the dress and heels she wore, flashing smiles as she waded through the crowds of the rich and famous. There was a magnificent view of the city and it's lines of air speeders. No one suspected she was one of the most dangerous biots in the Galaxy.

However, given what she had seen at Nar Shaddaa, and how her tactical database was theorizing another scene of horror was imminent...

She was starting to wonder if that mattered ...


Vayla Mirana

 

[Vayla Mirana]

Spoiler: Music IC

Out the ship. Up the lift. At the entrance. Head in. Simple directions. Simple mission? In comparison. If a little different than her last one. That tended to happen given her profession. A Jedi Knight might expect to find oneself in all kinds of situations, from saving lives with lightsabers to chasing loth-cats. It just depended on the circumstances and the universe had an entire variety of scenarios to throw.

Yet, in most cases, the Knight was known. Whether one wore the robes or sported a jacket, if their blade was blue or green or violet, they wore their rank and status like a badge and helmet. Had no need to hide it. The galaxy might identify them as Jedi as much as the Sith could on sight. It was known. A Jedi Shadow, though? She was unknown.

Undercover. One moment just another Jedi Knight fighting on the front lines. The next, just a Pantoran woman in a gold dress. Invitation presented. Identification given: Ms. Medra Calix. She stepped past the entrance, toward the ballroom hall, holding a black purse by her breast. There was a dagger inside it, hiding like the daggers in her eyes, after a manner. Yet her cybernetic oculars weren’t in fashion for this occasion. Instead, she wore golden contact lenses fit for a Pantoran. No more or less.

At first inspection, the ballroom was as generic as any other with the rich and the famous. Guests mingled, sipping wine and champagne. Men and women, Human or Twi’lek, some single, some in a relationship. As she paced across the floor, taking it all in, Vayla Mirana recognized none of them and the sentiment was mutual. There was nothing unusual with her presence except she wasn’t Medra Calix. She just pretended, as a shadow dances the line between the dark and the light, hiding in plain sight.

As a man smiled at her with his hand extended, she took a glass from the tray and sipped champagne. Restraining a wave, she waited to exchange gazes with her partner in this shindig, and patiently listened to the violin. It was delicate; a perfect expression for this reception. Yet, like her, the music hid a certain secret within. There was more than one musician in this song of spies just waiting to be exposed the moment they played the wrong note.

Melissa Bloodscrawl

 

[Melissa Bloodscrawl]

Melissa kept drawing more and more stares as she passes through the crowd plucking a glass of champagne from the platter of the butler droid. Her walk alone made people hot under the collar.

She noticed a woman in a gold dress and unlike all the other socialites, her military databases had enough frame of reference that Melissa blinked a second, her body language databases confused, like they could not decide if something was wrong or not.

The way Vayla Mirana held herself was not usually how a socialite held themselves. But some of these types were adventurers in their spare time.

Melissa filed away the irregularity as there wasn't enough to make a conclusive judgement. It was likely nothing. She finally spotted Admiral Grensla, a well built man in a tuxedo and a smoking jacket. He had a full head of hair and thick beard. All white.

"Ah! The representative from Bacta-Works!" Grensla said as she approached. "Such a delight! And what fortuitous timing!"

"Admiral..." Melissa said politely.

"Melissa was it?" Grensla asked.

Melissa nodded. "Bacta-Works always tries to make time for those of importance."

(Cutaway of J. Jonah Jameson laughing uncontrollably)

"I am so delighted my invitation was finally accepted...I am somewhat aware of your company's ambitions. Such a marvelous little relief program your boss set up."

Melissa smiled modestly. "We do try, sir..."

"Y'know, your company is being whispered in a lot more circles than you think..." Grensla began before the lights winked out a moment.

"Huh?" Grensla asked with a frown.

He immediately directed one of his body guards to check down stairs...

Melissa was immediately concerned but hid it for the moment, her eyes trying not to glaze over as he began talking about his connections...

 

[Vayla Mirana]

Spoiler: Music IC (Recurring)

Having spent time in the shadows, Vayla knew how to adapt to them as a Jedi Shadow. She blended in with the crowd of socialites well enough, keeping her Jedi identity out of sight as much as the fact that she was here working undercover. She would smile at patrons, say hi, and all the saw was some harmless woman in a golden dress. Yet that was when she found her target.

However, someone was already talking with him. Keeping a low profile, Vayla made it look like she was just browsing through the crowd, looking at and listening to no one in particular. Her inner nature as a shadow, though, would keep her real deal from being noticed. She stretched out her senses and listened to the conversation from a distance.

Some woman in a black dress was speaking with Admiral Grensla. Melissa was her name. Bacta-Works. Vayla made note of both. She took a sip of her champagne. Just then, the lights winked out a moment. Electric interference? Tended to happen. Yet not this next thing. I sense…

Suddenly, the whole ballroom went dark. This wasn’t a flicker of lighting. It was pitch black. Then there was a scream. No, there were screams. Death. The whole hall echoed with them before the lights returned. It wasn’t from fear. It was from terror as others directed their attention toward the floor. Bodies.

Melissa Bloodscrawl

 

[Melissa Bloodscrawl]

Melissa had been trying not to go into low power mode out of sheer friggin boredom as Admiral Grensla yammered on about his deep ties to the Alliance war machine.

But then the lights blinked out again. Longer, this time...

She heard screams, a sound of movement.

She turned around, saw...something...in the darkness above the bodies, humanoid in shape.

Before she could even process the urge to move it seemed to glide between the crowds effortlessly before disappearing...her advanced organic sensors couldn't fully perceive it.

They lights came up and people were running and screaming, trying to flee the place as they saw the bodies.

Melissa observed the attack pattern on the bodies. The same as on Nar Shaddaa.

Whatever had killed her informant was in the building. But what did it half to do with the spy they had been tracking? WAS it the spy? Or something the Spy was using?

"The doors! They won't open!" A party goer shouted!

"I can't raise comms!" one of Grensla's bodyguards shouted.

Melissa approached the bodies. They were still fresh, she emotionlessly stared at the bodies looking for traces of where the killer had gone...


Vayla Mirana

 

[Vayla Mirana]

Spoiler: Music OOC

In an instant, instinct took over Vayla’s motions. Her emotions were kicked into the distance. Her senses, however, were on high alert. She had sensed a presence, a kind of darkness in the darkness, measured in seconds. A shade in the void. Humanoid in shape.

As quickly as it had emerged it had vanished. There was no doubt in the Jedi’s brain, however, that this entity was surely responsible for the bodies that had been created. As horrible as the ordeal was for these people, the Knight kept her eyes peeled in the Force, searching for figures, for answers.

The light offered more opportunity beyond the abilities of her sight. Behind her golden contact lenses, electric blue hues maneuvered through the scene, interpreting every shred of evidence, piecing together the puzzle like eyes spying the rubble.

Locked in. An occupant of this chamber confirmed it. This certainly made the situation worse. Whoever or whatever had decided to keep these patrons boxed in had malicious intentions given the bodies. Slaughter the lot of them? She would not be caught in its web.

Comms out. No call for emergency. No security in the hall. “Calm down,” Vayla told somebody who was weeping beside her. Suddenly, she didn’t care if they listened or not. Watching the bodies, the Shadow closed her gaze into the distance.

Toward a corner of the ballroom, a group had huddled to keep safe and away from trouble. Hiding behind them, are we? Maybe it made sense that the killer was still in her midst pretending to be one of them. Just then, the lights went out again.

Melissa Bloodscrawl

 

[Melissa Bloodscrawl]

Melissa continued to process the unfolding situation...and then the lights went out again...

Melissa immediately began scanning for the profile of the thing that had attacked the previous victims. But she saw no attacks occuring...

That was a bad sign. It meant the attacks would be random, the lights going out designed to generate dread and uncertainty. All the same, she prepared to leap into action to stop whatever entity was doing this...

Melissa's keen eyes followed the blood particle trail...it led into the upper levels of Grensla's estate...

But there were too many people panicking. Too many stumbling about blindly in the dark, their civilized facades crumbling as they started to become animalistic in their attempts to escape.

Melissa saw people attacking each other in a panic and forced them apart. She stealthily disarmed a bodyguard who drew his pistol and stopped him from firing in fear, tackling one who had pulled a knife and disarming him to.

She pulled away just as the lights came back on.

She had a location to investigate at least. Upstairs.

She just needed an excuse to slip away from a now panicking crowd demanding answers...

Vayla Mirana



OOC: Sorry for the wait!

 

[Vayla Mirana]

Spoiler: Music OOC

This was purposed. Predetermined. Premeditated murder. There was no doubt about it for the Jedi Knight in the midst of these guests disguised as one of them. There was a nefarious entity at work here and, to make matters worse, even her Force senses had difficulty keeping up with its movements. It was definitely not a challenge that Vayla Mirana had expected to encounter.

Around her, as the lights went off again, and darkness took over, screams rang out. It was a mixture of the dying and those trying to survive. Suddenly, fear turned to terror, terror led to anger as more poured toward the doors and banged on the metallic gates. Yet they could not escape.

Focus, Vay. Those who had died, their lives would not be in vain. Hone in. She stretched her senses and, though she was at a distance from what she spotted, the blood on the floor led toward a door.

It’s not in our midst. Just a theory at that but a Jedi knew to trust her senses. It’s coming in and out. However, the last thing she needed was a stampede upstairs. That might make this stalker do something worse. So the Jedi took matters into her own hands. She flexed her fingers and turned off the lights only moments after they came on again.

She headed for the door and, amid the screams from those who expected death yet again, she used the Force to open it. She didn’t pay attention to those in her midst. She had to be quick. Get in, step into the corridor that led upstairs, close the door before anyone noticed, and her enemy better beware of the Shadow that approached.

Melissa Bloodscrawl

 

[Melissa Bloodscrawl]

The lights went out again, and Melissa's immediate reaction was to start scanning.

She spotted Vayla Mirana in the darkness, moving swiftly.

Melissa was torn. People were panicking once more. But she needed to know where that woman was going.

Melissa activated her stealth Field and followed Vayla up the steps. She was loaded with enough onboard weapon systems that she was more than ready, plus, her heart doubled as a Dovin Basal.

She wasn't sure what it was Vayla was up to. But now she was starting to suspect she was the spy...

If so... Melissa was going to hurt this woman. If she had anything to do with tonight's events so far, the night would end with the woman either dead or in the ICU.

Melissa didn't like to kill. She didn't like to break bones or inflict wounds. But Melissa would avenge tonight's victims.

Melissa was prepared to strike, moving deathly silent behind Vayla, wondering where, she was going to go once she was upstairs...

 

[Vayla Mirana]

A corridor stretched before her. It was bathed in darkness which made sense when one considered the attacker in her midst. If that door opened up on purpose or by accident then the last thing the entity needed was for someone to witness the exit. So no light was within it.

The Jedi in this establishment, however, was another kind of light. She was the shadow that crept at the edges between the light and the darkness. To say that Vay was used to these predicaments would be a bit of an understatement. Then why do you hide from me, beast?

This thing, whatever it was, wasn’t unaccustomed to masking its signature from the likes of her. The Jedi struggled to detect its presence as she walked across the floor of the corridor and ventured forward. The stairs were at the other end and she headed toward them.

Her senses were alert, of course. Every shred of her energy was reaching within the Force as much to search for her enemy as conceal her presence. So, eyes peeled and ears pricked, she looked and listened. There was no robe’s hood, though, only the dress she had entered this merriment in.

At the stairs, she climbed the steps. Caution was her best friend. Lost in the mist. She recited in her mind as she remembered another time. But like the eagle, I find you from my high cliff, and you try to hide, but it is feeble. Just then, while climbing the stairs, Vayla quickly turned to face whoever might be behind her, igniting her lightsaber with its blue blade.

“And who are you, spider?”

Melissa Bloodscrawl

 

[Melissa Bloodscrawl]

Melissa froze, went still at the sight of Vayla Mirana 's blade flashing to life.

She was silent, very silent, her invisibility field almost fully obscuring her in the darkness, the panic of the party guests still audible.

Melissa had to decide quickly. That lightsaber didn't mean anything. She could simply be a well paid merc with the Force.

Still...there was no way she could be that thing Melissa had seen.

Melissa de cloaked.

"I'm not your enemy..." Melissa said to Vayla. "I saw it too. In the dark. Moves quickly. Moved up here...When I saw you departing, I followed.

Melissa held up her hands, ready to defend herself at any moment from the Lightsaber using Vayla.

"If I 'were' your enemy...I would not have bothered answering..." Melissa stated plainly.

"Who are you?" The Biot asked, trying to get a feel for who she was dealing with very quickly. The longer this standoff went on, the greater the chances of another death occuring. It was probably going to happen anyway, but flapping jaws was NOT helping.



OOC: Apologies for the wait