Private The Great Voyage

[Lucretia Lister]

Wearing: Sage Suit

Armed With: Double Agent (Blue Saberstaff)


Earlier...

Syd Celsius had been trapped in other forms, other personas before. But rarely had she encountered a persona so pernicious, so hard to wake up from as Lucretia Lister, a Sorceress Personality that behaved almost like an infection in hosts.

Syd had begun a deep meditative trance to explore the depths of her own shattered mind, represented to her as a multicolored void through which her composite self descended into its very depths, seeing the fragments of what was left of her old self, represented in her composite mind as a her old body missing most of its self, empty space where an arm, organ, foot, hand, or part of the head should be, replaced by green lightning. A multitude of faces could be seen on the representation's still intact stomach. Old, young, all women.

Syd approached, looking for one face in particular.

Lucretia's face was on the lower right, Green veins spread all the way through mental flesh to Syd's head from that face.

Once you channeled Lucretia, you basically were stuck as her unless she had a reason to let go or got weakened somehow.

Syd floated towards the creepy representation. Something had to be done to make it more controllable. But she had to explore it's nature first. Usually, even the most distant copy of a copy carried some small trace of its original creator in itself.

Syd peered closer, closer at the wizened face locked in a frozen, wide smile on the surface of the Avatar's stomach. Her inner sight allowed her to pierce it's very bondings, feeling how it was grafted to her consciousness. As she ran mental fingers along the bondings, terrible insight flooded her as to who the originator of this pernicious persona was--

But her sudden shock had disrupted her concentration, causing her to submerge fully in her own mind unexpectedly...

...and that was when Lucretia Lister woke up in Syd's catsuit. In the quiet of Syd's retreat on Susevfi...

Days later...

Lucretia had been busy on the outer rim, seeking adventure to cure herself of her boredom. She hadn't given thought to how or why she woke up anywhere the past few years. It just happened, and she accepted this.

She had piloted her Starfighter to the Wellspring of Chaos, a shadow port on the edge of Alliance Space, die to rumors an infamous pirate Battle cruiser was about to show itself. It had been targeting and blowing up countless civilian transports after robbing them.

Like all Shadowports, it was filled with rough sorts and dark grimey places in alleyways. But one look at the elderly, but extremely athletic and hourglass shaped Lucretia in Syd's green and gold Catsuit and they all instinctively stayed back as she walked with a voluptuous sway towards a dingy club on the station, her suit's chromium like finish reflecting everything around it with disturbing mirror perfection, so tight it looked painted on as opposed to worn. Some having heard the old stories of her type of Sorceress, made superstitious hand gestures and backed away in actual fear.

The Club itself was nothing to write about. Dancers, Neon lights, but little else going for it besides the overpriced Juma. Lucretia sat at a pre-arranged alcove awaiting a friend she had made in a previous journey, Zad Ruzed .

She had contacted him because this was an invaluable opportunity to take a criminal battle cruiser out of action, and make Alliance Space a tad safer. In spite of the expense, Lucretia ordered a drink for herself while she waited...

 

[Zad Ruzed]

Current Outfit

Spoiler: Music IC

It had been a minute since their last visit and, to be honest, Zad still didn’t know what to make of it. Or of her. He had never really caught onto what others observed over her appearance. She was just another old woman to him if he was an old man, which mattered little and less and, well, she was more gorgeous than some dumb generic Twi’lek stripper.

Mister Ruzed she had addressed him when they first met. When he had asked a man in a cantina to get out of town, got turned down and shot him dead in self-defense. Hell, Zad was probably going to put a bolt in his head anyway. He’d have been justified either way. Next came the silver surfer of the universe. Queue another offer from catsuit that the rough-and-rude officer couldn’t refuse. That was then. The thread in the web of the man and woman had ended with the nonlethal ending of criminal elements in the desert.

And the image of another version of Lucretia, only with a rather different face, prettier in that dangerously younger way, her hair certainly redder than silver, her name Surt’r, and thank you, sir.

The Ranger thought about her that day on his way to a dark part of the expanse. A man like him was never fazed by such a place. He’d raze shadowports to the abyss if he had it his way. Bury its bastards and bitches in their own alleyway. But that wasn’t why he came today. Tonight. Whatever time it was. Never much mattered in the darkness of the universe. In the blackness between stars far apart.

Past the port, toward a cantina, pass the morons on the right and the chikenshits on the left who looked away when he glanced at them, toward the bar where a not-so-dark silver sorceress waited for him despite the danger in her eyes.

“Whiskey. Neat.” He ordered. Bartender slid a glass over. The whiskey didn’t really taste like ass but it was cheap. The cantina’s expensive Juma wasn’t exactly his thing. Well, he had arrived, and right on time. Somehow. Being tardy was conversely his thing. He looked around. Left. Right. When he spotted his target, he was hardly surprised to find a catsuit on her person, if with different colors to it.

“Nice outfit.” A smile in his eye if not on his lips. Skintight as ever but not silver. Green and gold. It complemented the chocolate in her eyes. At that, Zad sat down on the other side of the table, held a stable gaze with his once-upon-a-partner in fighting crime, slipped a cig ‘tween his teeth, lit it, took a hit, sipped his liquid. “Hi.”

Lucretia Lister

 

[Lucretia Lister]

"Juma, fine." Lucretia ordered in a silken purr that could reverberate across the spine.

"Why thank you, Zad..." she replied with a flirting smile. "You're cutting quite the figure yourself today..."

The drinks soon arrived, and Lucretia took a small polite sip.

"I did so enjoy our last outing together, and I feel absolutely terrible that it's taken me so long to find something suitably delightful enough for us to turn our mutual intellect towards." she added quietly while producing a datapad and sliding it over to him

"In my spare time not working with Bacta-Works, I prefer ambitious forms of community service. In this case...a very old Pirate vessel of great renown. The Birth of Tyram... She explained.

"We're going to sneak aboard, and I've brought some absolutely wonderful goodies to disable it." she explained through flashing lights, and other dancers, nightclub lasers making her suit glitter for a split second at a time. "It arrives in about ten hours. More than enough time to get ready. These are ruthless individuals, Mister Ruzed. They destroy every ship they rob. They flee like cowards. While it would be good to capture the ship I am fully prepared to destroy it and the pirate scum along with it should that prove impossible. So...what do you think?" she added flirtingly.

"Should we call it our first date?"


Zad Ruzed

 

[Zad Ruzed]

Spoiler: Music IC (Recurring)

Whatever Zad’s figure, he was glad to hear that apparently it hadn’t much changed since their last encounter. No, maybe it had, but for the better. He felt like he was getting fat. Couldn’t tell it himself, especially with the duster, but he wondered. Hell. Maybe it’s really just recognizin’ you’re gettin’ to be an old man, Zad.

He grinned, not at those thoughts, or even at the woman’s for the man, but at her words. Lucretia had not only a silver suit (at least she used to) and silver hair but a silver tongue also. The way she emphasized her words were kinda like the way she emphasized those hips of hers in her gait.

She also kept a badass collection of weapons in her trunk. This wasn’t a woman who just carried junk with that ass. She had class. What goodies this time? From missile launcher to Super Star Destroyer? He wouldn’t put it past her. This woman could already change her shape in more ways than one.

“Y’know, ruthless is a funny word.” Smoke escaped from the corner of his lips, making sure not to blow it in her face, but he never looked away. “Gets tossed around for criminals like a pair o' dice but sometimes those dice lean my way.” He licked whiskey from his lips. Bit of a burn from the cheapness but he liked it. “Had a captain who said my pursuit of those miscreants was ruthless, merciless, pitiless.”

Silence. Just give him a moment as he thinks about pirates, murderers and thieves, oh my. “Suffice to say sometimes the stuncuffs just don’t serve justice, baby.” She could take that anyway she wanted but, if she remembered, she was the one who wanted a stun setting on a gun for their last rodeo. He had simply rode along for the show.

“I think there are those who don’t deserve mercy but we’ll see.” The Ranger didn’t always shoot first, ask later. He just told once, shot second, ‘cause hesitation could cost him more than his gun or badge, he reckoned.

“Lady, if this is our first date after the fireworks we made back on Tatooine, then…” He winked, lifting his drink so as to toast, but he’d let her add to it if it floated her boat. “Here’s to cheap whiskey and I’ll be your huckleberry.”

Lucretia Lister

 

[Lucretia Lister]

"I am so delighted we could work together again." Lucretia purred, sipping her drink a little more, her suit sparking under the neon lights...

Fifty minutes later...

The drinks had been pleasant. Lucretia had sipped slowly, enjoying the company of Zad Ruzed .

Lucretia had purchased an old storage facility before her arrival, sending the things she would need ahead of her anonymously as she had prepped to assault the craft.

She had gotten all manner of goodies due to her Bacta-Works connections. The facility be was very close to the docking port.

"These..." Lucretia spoke, figure swaying as she retrieved to rifles from a set of weapon cases.

"Are what will assist us personally in the initial phase of our infiltration..." she explained, laying the two rifles on a steel table.

"F-11D Stealth Rifles." she said. "Fires a silent and invisible blaster bolt. Short range, poor firing rate, but the whole point is to keep out of a fight as long as possible."

She then took out a pair of Talon Vibrodaggers.

"Completely silent..." she pointed out happily. And then she took out a glittering, transparent holodisk.

"And this is what we use to fully tip the odds in our favor..." Lucretia said proudly. "The software on this is geared to affect old Separatist Computer Systems. Trillions of lines of military grade slice coding. Set me back six months pay..." she chuckled. "The real goal is to get to the computer mainframe, upload the code, and watch as their security systems either freakout, shut down, or turn against them. A pity we can't bring popcorn. It'd be a blast to sit back and watch the fireworks. But we'll have plenty of fun reaching the mainframe in of itself...I plan to smuggle us aboard..."

 

[Zad Ruzed]

The drink hadn’t been delicious but damn had the company been sweet. Zad Ruzed learned a long time ago that there was drinking and there was drinking and there was drinking. Maybe he’d elaborate on what the heck that meant someday but not today. Fifty minutes passed that Zad would never get back but that was all right because of the woman at his side.

No missile launchers in this package, some standard F-11s, and Zad was as content as could be with the big iron on his hip and then some but what kind of Ranger didn’t like to play with other guns on occasion?

“Sommat ‘bout you and those daggers that just…works.” He blow smoke but not at her.

To be honest, the daggers and the holodisk weren’t really Zad’s line of business. Rough and tumble, he tended to end up in trouble with his simple approach to missions, but that’s exactly why his partner was smarter than he was for this one.

“Oh we can bring the popcorn,” the Ranger promised. “Ever heard helmets and heads when they go -POP-?” He grinned, indicating he was kidding, just…not really?

“Smuggle sounds like trouble sounds like fun. What do you plan to do? Snuggle us up in a container?” He blinked. “Oh…please tell me you don’t mean carbon-freezing…”

Lucretia Lister

 

[Lucretia Lister]

""There's plenty about me besides the daggers that also works..." Lucretia purred at Zad Ruzed .

"And as for the smuggling, I indeed intend to use a container. A large weapons crate, except when they open it, they won't find grenade launchers..."

Suddenly, Lucretia's flesh and mind shuddered and warped violently back into that of Syd Celsius .

Syd stumbled back, clutching her head in dizziness for a second before she noticed him.

"Oh! Zad! It's you..." she said...

"I...I must have momentarily lost the strength to channel her. That or her control had that rare slip..." Syd said to him.

Her hands went to her hips as she looked at the weapons.

"So Fine Wine wants to stealth it, huh? Makes sense. Frontal assaults on a ship like that would get messy, quickly..." Syd observed, even as she felt the change reversing itself.

She turned to Zad.

"It's nice to sometimes wake up to a familiar face. Word of advice..." she trailed before smiling slightly.

"I like quiet walks in the meadow..."

Her flesh warped and shuddered back into that of Lucretia.

"...Once they open the containers however, we'll have to disrupt communications and take at all immediate security around us, then make a direct beeline for the Bridge...Zad,are you listening, or are you too distracted by the silver catsuit?" Lucretia asked Zad flirtingly, not realizing she had gone bye bye for a moment...

 

[Zad Ruzed]

This was the part where Lucre would mention them finding a pair of absolute asskickers in the container instead of grenade launchers with more than a pair of blasters.

“Yeap. I reckon them— Oh sweet cinnamon.”

It was all Zad could say, never mind think, as Lucre suddenly changed. Had this been the first time then Zad Ruzed might just have cursed but this was the second time which didn’t mean much. He still couldn’t get used to the metamorphosis business or whatever this shit is.

But Surt’r was definitely as pretty as ever and there was no mistaking that either. Had she stumbled forward, the man would have caught her, but elected for standing there staring at the woman who was once another woman. Here we go again. Not that he was complaining, really.

"Oh! Zad! It's you..."
“Yeap. Howdy.”

Channel. Control. Slip. Fine wine and frontal assaults on a messy ship suddenly had the man wondering where these two women had been all his life. He had already been taking Lucre’s advice. Why not take her something-or-other’s in turn?

"I like quiet walks in the meadow..."
“I like a slow ride down the valley…”

But she was gone. Vanished like the mist of a cigarette. As quickly her face was replaced with Lucre’s all over again as Zad blinked at her words.

“What? I…uh…yeap…containers, communications, security, bees, bridge and we mean business.” He just studied her for a moment. “It’s just…you’re all silver catsuit, I’m all dirty duster, yet here we are, partners.” He wasn’t lying. “And I’m glad my partner has moves like yours with a suit like that to tell you the damn truth.”

Lucretia Lister

 

[Lucretia Lister]

Lucretia only smiled coyly at this.

"Oh trust, me, Zad..." she replied seductively. "If you think I look good with the suit on..."

She didn't finish, knowing he was smart enough to fill in the blanks.

"There'll be plenty of time to appreciate it after we're done here...and plenty of time to appreciate it up close while getting smuggled." she assured. "Now. Let's get ourselves ready, shall we?"

Present...

The Container they were in was coated in Reflec in certain sections to hide them in the initial scans. It was surprisingly roomy too, and as the ship that had arrived at this rogue Space Station took it up into it's cargo hold, Lucretia made sure to stick close by to Zad, partly to be able to coordinate with him better, but also partially because she liked his stare.

It made the person actually controlling her every thought and action, Syd, actually start to question herself over her taste in lovers over the years. Was it really that simple? Had ignoring good, ordinary people as a source of affection and warmth cost her as much as she was beginning to suspect it had?

Lucretia was unburdened by this worry of course, much more focused on having a good date.

"We'll wait a half hour until the ship is well into Hyperspace before we start to act..." Lucretia cautioned Zad Ruzed quietly.

Then she smiled seductively again.

"By the way, getting an eyeful?" she flirted, winking at him, as she spun one of her pistols.

 

[Zad Ruzed]

Smuggled. Whatever it was, whoever she was beneath the surface, Zad remembered the other woman’s words and decided to keep quiet about that subtle if not so subtle transformation only moments ago. It was quite a performance for him, given he tended to break the knees of those who lied rather than be the one who lied, but this shit was kind of dangerous to begin with.

Snuggled. That’s almost what this man and woman were doing with each other given the limited room of their container. Okay, sure, it was surprisingly roomy in hindsight, but maybe at least one of them was just looking for an excuse to cuddle, and never mind who.

In more than one instant, Zad gazed into her eyes, looking away only if she didn’t like it, but she didn’t seem to mind. In truth, he was looking for an excuse to see who and what might be hiding behind. Just who the hell are you? Shapeshifter, sure, there were those in this universe and then some, but that didn’t answer the underlying question. Then again, this wasn’t the right occasion for it.

“Damn straight I am,” Zad answered playfully as to the question over an eyeful. His gaze was trained on her hand if not her ass. “Lady, twirlin’ a pistol is one way to please the cowboy in me and no mistake.”

Well, it was also one way to pass the time in relative quiet, so he brought up his own gun, slipped his finger between the guard and the trigger, and gave it a whirl.

“Did this in a circus once,” he shrugged. “If you can believe it.” He spun it this way, that way, finalized it with a full figure eight. “Even got a kiss for my performance. Hoowee was she sweet.” He winked.

Lucretia Lister

 

[Lucretia Lister]

"A kiss, eh?" Lucretia purred as she slinked to him, placing a hand on his chest.

"Like this?" she asked, taking him by the chin and planting one for a long four seconds on his lips.

"Now, on terms of sweetness..." she purred, pulling back. "What would you rate that? Maple Syrup? Or Caramel?"

There was a sudden thud.

"Alas..." she flirted, winking at him. "We'll have to continue this discussion another time..."


Ten minutes later....

The Birth of Tyram, a 2,544 golden Recusant Class Light Destroyer, had docked with the shadowport and loaded up it's latest shipment of illegal goods and supplies, from weapons to Drugs and it's crew were currently busy inspecting the cargo. A surly lot, but well armed and rather disciplined.

So when they opened the door, they could be forgiven for spotting a smiling Lucretia waiting right at the entrance, a silver clad fist smashed into his face and he crumpled to the ground in front of her. She moved with no sound a beam of blue energy silently lancing out from her hands to take out another nearby guard non lethallly. Then she was sprinting quietly into two guards patrolling at the same time, executed a hyper fast spin kick into one and somersaulted behind the other, clamping on his shoulder and making him glow momentarily with stunning Ion Energy that knocked him out cold. Then she signalled to Zad Ruzed .

The operation was commencing. They would have a short window of time, maybe five minutes to suppress all security and communication in this area. Lucretia signalled him about four guards loitering near a workbench in the distance.

"You take the two on the right, I'll take the two on my left, you handsome twirly pistol devil you." she whispered to him when she was close enough, throwing in a rather flirtatious remark to keep it interesting.

 

[Zad Ruzed]

Oh. There it is. Maybe he had beckoned it, in retrospect, what with his flirtatious ways, his performance with twirlin’ that weapon of his, or maybe it was just his black jacket gait she remembered in their container, weren’t no mistake. Whatever, as he felt the soft weight of her hand on his chest, Zad Ruzed fell silent, her purr shutting him up, quieting his gun.

Chaotic as his thoughts could be, suddenly they didn’t mean a damn thing, weren’t worth a hill of beans in this crazy galaxy. Her finger on his chin, lifting it, lips on lips, his eyes weren’t closed but open as they kissed. He wanted to see her own with his. Eyes into eyes, all right. Her chocolates. Do. Done. Did.

He expected no less than a moment. A taste of her lips. Simple. Gentle. Delicate. Sweet. Maple syrup? Maybe. Caramel. Chocolate. Molasses. The kiss dripped with it. Was as slow as it. Smoky whiskey. Now there’s a taste, no mistake.

“Lady,” Zad began, still savoring her taste as his tongue gently licked his lips. “That right there is—”

Queue the sudden thud to interrupt the gunman’s statement.

“Aight den,” the old man sighed, but he felt young all over again, never mind the other woman beneath this one. “Let’s do it.”

Ten minutes later and, when their container opened, Lucre was waiting and smiling and Zad was too, only with his boot instead of his fist. A swift kick struck the other idiot on his noggin and sent him topplin’. Zad sure as sugar didn’t move as fast as his companion did, couldn’t spin kick or somersault, but he could walk tall. First he watched her.

Impressive. More like most impressive given his partner’s performance. It put twirling a blaster in a circus to shame, though the actor within him did kind of miss it. Then again, Zad was never that good at pretending or pretenses. He sure as molasses didn’t need to in Lucre’s presence.

Five minutes and counting. Somehow he already knew that would be enough time for the two of them. They knew what they had to do: first thing was to get to the computer mainframe and upload a code to turn this ship’s security systems into a plague. The fireworks could wait. Then ultimately capture the ship or destroy it. Neither much mattered to him as long as they didn’t die on it.

Gat dang if this chick didn’t already keep things interesting just by kriffing existing and sharing this old man’s presence. Four guards. Let’s mosey. Had to keep it twirly. Big iron on his hip but he didn’t need it yet. “Yes, miss daisy, I be honkin’.” He decided against blowing her a kiss. Zad preferred the real thing and it was coming. Business first. That meant the two on his right and the two on her left.

Workbenches made sense. They had makeshift weapons like the rather large wrench Zad picked up at their backs. He tapped one on the shoulder, got his attention. A -WHACK!- the next second and he fell back. His partner looked like he was about to protest against that notion but the next moment ended with that wrench across his noggin. Neither got up. They were done.

But it wasn’t anything in comparison to what Lucre showed him as Zad gave her his attention.

Lucretia Lister

 

[Lucretia Lister]

When Zad Ruzed attacked his two, so did she attack hers. She slipped like liquid into the range of the other two, her fists and legs rapidly pinging into their frames and rapidly leaving bruises, silver clad fists and legs kicking or stripping weapons out of their hands before knocking them both unconscious by backflip-kicking them both at the same time into a wall. It happened in the span of four seconds, Lucretia looking like she had planned the assault on these lowly two months in advance in how she had thoroughly beaten her opponents.

Not wasting time she immediately ran to a nearby security station, the blue ionic glow surrounded her body, disrupting it's feed and the local electronics as she walked into the Security office, removing the first of many computer viruses to shut down security in this section, uploaded in the form of a Computer Spike...

EVERY light in the Cargo Hold went out, and outside the booth she saw multiple flashlights attached to rifles light up as some tried to contact the bridge. But they would find the security system had been reconfigured to actively jam communication in the section and every door leading out of the Cargo Hold was locked.

Lucretia signalled to Zad to follow her as she took the initiative, coming across the first four and observing them before she dashed forward, grabbing one in a silent sleeper hold, listen to the other grumbling at how brown outs on a ship of this size was embarrassing, not noticing how Lucretia was so silent he couldn't hear his friend losing consciousness, before she grabbed the complainer by the scalp and sent a painful Ionic jolt through it that knocked her second target out cold, silently somersaulted towards the third, before landing behind him on her hands, and getting him in a silent sleeper hold by locking silver clad ankles around his throat from behind, lifting him up as he flayed out helplessly before losing consciousness, and she set him down, slinking up to the fourth...who wheeled around with a portable Sonic Cannon and blasted her backward with a cone of sound at point blank range that sent her flying into a nearby wall, and on impact, her shape lost almost all coherence, becoming a giant mass of silver covered flesh--that bounced back like a rubber ball at the body of the shooter, slamming hard into him, knocking HIM out cold, and then reforming into Lucretia as though she had never been broken into a living silly putty like state.

Grabbing the Sonic Cannon, she wheeled and shot the last two at the same time who had come to investigate before dropping the Cannon, the stress of being hit momentarily making Lucretia's flesh bubble and warp into that of Syd Celsius for a half second before retaking her own.

"I admit, I'm embarrassed on that last one. Should have taken into account the plating I was moving on a bit more..." she admitted. "I think the Cargo Hold is secure, or as secure as it's gonna get for now. Now we have to reach the Bridge by the fastest, quietest, most efficient route. After we leave the Virus I uploaded into the security booth in this hold will lockdown the Cargo Hold and prevent re-entry. Any questions, gorgeous?" she flirted.

 

[Zad Ruzed]

“Hoo-wee.” It was all Zad had time for when it came to a reaction of his partner’s four-second performance. She was on the move and so was he. A united duo. Into the office, he let her do her thing as he stood guard with his blaster pointed toward the door. He wouldn’t take any chances with someone coming in uninvited. Granted, they were the intruders. Then again, when it came to crooks and criminals, what was the difference?

Yet again, Lucre was doing her thing to these four minions for idiots. Zad Ruzed had since learned when to jump in and when not to given the way that this lady could move. He decided that his best bet was to just hang back and let her handle it with her hips and legs, fists and then some, so he did nothing less.

Just then, a weapon from one of the grunts sent Lucretia backward, which triggered the Ranger to squeeze his finger over his trigger just as her silver ass bounced back and brought the town of wrath onto the man who had attacked her.

“Well hell.” Sometimes Zad Ruzed needed a cigarette. This was one of those moments. The way this woman moved continued to impress him in more than one way, shape and form. Her silvery fleshy state had been replaced by that other younger lady the next moment. He wasn’t an idiot. He knew this wasn’t magic but science. The Force? That was a door he never wanted to open.

“Embarrassed?” Ruzed shook his head. “Wait a minute, lady. I get it. You’re badass shit. But listen.” He wondered if too many questions might trigger her to attack him but whatever. He might be an old man but he still had his strength if not the wits in his noggin. He wasn't one to let emotions get in the way of professionalism. Then again, the only ones who called Zad Ruzed a professional were the fools and the dead.

“How am I supposed to watch your ass and have your back when you don’t even need me to begin with, sweets?” Zad grinned. He figured his questions on just who the kriff this woman really is could wait given that this was not the right time or place to delay. “You’re like a ghost. You attack quick. You vanish. You go.” He sighed as if smoke might blow from his lips. "Do. Done. Did."

Lucretia Lister

 

[Lucretia Lister]

"Oh, don't get me wrong, Zad. You are are most definitely needed..." Lucretia assured him. "After all, if I hadn't had back up from you the last time I got a taste for your...charms..." she purred in an openly flirting manner. "I would have had my hands absolutely full. And I definitely would have come out the other end with more than my hair slightly out of place..."

She went over, searched the others for spare weapons and ammo, taking a pair of stun grenades.

"Four our five guys I can handle on my own. Any more than that and things get dicey. Plus, I had the advantage of surprise..." The silver clad woman said, the face and body of Zad Ruzed clearly reflected to an almost mirror sheen on its surface as she stood up.

"I guarantee you, if they had been alert, I'd have been keeping my perfectly formed backside behind cover like you. Unless I simply had no choice..."

Lucretia closed her eyes, felt the subtle shudder.

"The ship has stopped mid transit..." she noted. "Curious..."

"Besides, you are an absolute treat to watch in battle." she winked. "Let's get out of the cargo bay, shall we?"

Lucretia the headed to the exit and hit the emergency lever on the side, forcing the door open.

The passageways looked clear. Lucretia crept forward, evading the sweeping arcs of cameras as they panned across a section. She spotted two sentries patrolling and ducked behind a corner to another passage.

She signalled Zad to get behind some large, plasteel containers.

The sentries grew closer. She thought about attacking, but then a red alert sounded.

"ALERT, ALL HANDS TO BATTLESTATIONS. MULTIPLE FIGHTER SQUADRONS BEARING IN..."

The Sentries started running the other way.

"Interdiction Ambush. It must be..." Lucretia said in a whisper to Zad. "The ship was pulled out of hyperspace, it didn't stop on its own..."

She frowned. "This just got a lot more complicated..."

"ALERT, BOARDING PODS DETECTED..."

Powerful rumbles hit the deck, knocking Lucretia off her feet a moment before she scrambled up.

Lucretia saw a bunch of sentries running with heavy blaster cannons. Too many for even Lucretia to be comfortable taking on, possibly giving Zad some idea of her physical limits as she let them pass before signaling Zad to follow her into what looked to be a small repair bay. It was necessary to effect repairs on these sorts of ships as soon as possible, spotting a bunch of supply crates to hide behind within it, and when Zad had joined her she signalled him to stay silent and observe.

"Such delicious irony. We're here to take control of a pirate vessel, and other pirates happen to target it the exact same day..." she whispered, before shrugging. "Best laid plans..."

She went silent as she heard blaster fire, watching loads of Cloned Lady Soldiers storming the deck, firing at any who resisted...

She saw Droidekas come out of security slots, firing at the intruders, along with B2 Super Battle Droids.

"They're heading for the Bridge..." she observed.

She pondered what was going on, listening to the shooting.

"Well, we were heading to the Bridge anyway..." she joked wryly. "This doesn't seem like a large attack force...no mention of capital vessels...I suspect a relatively light, but professional group in a much smaller ship armed with interdiction mines, directing squadrons and releasing boarding pods...

Lucretia crept from cover and her eyes went wide as she saw the blue and black triangle service patch on one of the fallen clone soldiers.

"House Io! Damn!" she hissed, getting back to him.

"Go lethal, Handsome..." she said. "These are some ruthless bastards we're up against..."

Lucretia pulled out her Talon Vibrodagger and signalled him to follow, moving cautiously as she began to spot more bodies. Clean, accurate, professional shots, not like the rabble she and Zad had anticipated facing. They still had the element of surprise. It was vital to maintain it more than ever.

She came on a corner and spotted two of the Clone soldiers guarding a Turbolift.

She silently gestured for him to kill the one to the left, while she took the one on the right.

Lucretia tossed the Vibrodagger at the one on the right, nailing her square in the head...

 

[Zad Ruzed]

This shit really did get even more complicated by the second and the minute. Then again, a guy like him wasn’t too surprised to find pirates attacking other pirates. Honor among thieves was a myth. A portion of a pirate’s bounty was seized, not simply from civilian or corporate or even military ships, but from the competition. To their kind, it was a dog-eat-dog way of life.

“Go lethal, handsome,” she said and mentioned that these were ruthless bastards to go up against. Ever since that desert, however, when they had first met each other in a cantina, Lucre probably remembered the bolt that came out of Zad’s blaster and entered a criminal’s skull. He had taken nonlethal measures for her benefit since then. Yet, in Ranger Ruzed’s opinion, when it came to pirates of this caliber whose agenda was ‘kill first, take later’, well, his particular measure was ‘shoot first, ask later.’

“Now you’re speakin’ my language,” he grinned. He wasn’t so ruthless. He wasn’t sadistic. He didn’t necessarily enjoy killing others. However, he did take pleasure in putting down and taking out one more villain in this universe which could do without villains amid pirates and Sith and all other kinds of bastards and shitheads needing to get their shit kicked in by men like him so do done did.

Maybe he should have taken those daggers she had offered before all this commotion had happened. Then again, Zad wasn’t as versed on daggers. Blasters, however? Another story entirely. So, spotting the clones at the elevator, he waited for her gesture, only he didn’t use his blaster or her dagger. He used an axe buried in a body’s forehead.

Ripping it from someone’s head, Zad Ruzed swung it like a tomahawk from his hidden position. From this distance, it didn’t take much precision and, while no marksman when it came to blades, he had played a few games at the arcade and carnival. With his fistful of punishment and experienced aim it meant the end of another person’s head as the axe entered the brain. There went the target on the left.

“Not bad, baby.” Zad gestured toward the dagger sticking out of Lucre’s target. “We do make a great a team.” He winked and, at that, he moved into the lift. They were on their way to the bridge.

Lucretia Lister

 

[Lucretia Lister]

Lucretia cartwheeled forward, plucking her dagger from the victim, and inspecting the downed target for usable weapons, she plucked a MASSIVE Pistol that screamed Marty Robbins.

"No one dared to ask him questions, no one dared to make a slip..." she said, handing it to Zad as she got in the lift with him.

"The Ranger there among them, had a big iron on his hip..." she finished quietly, pressing the button for the bridge.

"Get ready..." she warned, pulling out her Stealth Rifle, signalling him to get to the sides of the lift as it opened. Two sentries waited at the end of the Bridge entrance, and their weapons were up instantly as the doors finished opening...just as Lucretia dived out of the lift to the ground John Woo style, one silent, invisible bolt flying from her rifle as she fired it one handed into the skull of one sentry, while Zad Ruzed was free to deal with the other sentry as he saw fit. When both were down she armed the grenades she had taken earlier, opened the bridge with the door-pad nearby and tossed them in. Zad had probably done enough room clearings in his own that he didn't need much input beyond a whispered. "You go left, I go right."

With the flash bangs went off she cartwheeled in, spin kicking one of the green skinned Clone ladies in the head so hard her neck snapped and she went flying into her fellows, the impact of her already dead body colliding at high speed into the head of a clone killing that one instantly as well, as she somersaulted through showers of blaster fire, it was clear how much she held back in a fight most times...and how absolutely devastating she was when she stopped holding back.

Her fists dislocated jaws, kicks shattering ribcages as she waded into the team of five firing on her, even as she elegantly dodged their return fire as she whittled down the numbers of everyone on the right section of the Bridge, catching glimpses of how Zad would dispatch his own problems and admiring the hell out of his work as her silver covered knee smashed into a soldiers face.

The last remaining soldier managed to get her grenade launcher equipped rifle and managed to fire off the shotgun at her chest at point blank range, sending her flying into a bridge console, where she lost control of her form on impact, becoming a gelatinous silver mass that slid disgustingly off the console as though being on the verge of being outright ooze.

The Soldier that fired had no time to celebrate... Lucretia's knife had gone into her eye, and she fell over dead a second later.

The silver mass of flesh reformed into a dizzy Lucretia...whose form gradually melted and warped disgustingly back into the form of Syd Celsius , aka Surt'r.

Surt'r stumbled back, noticed Zad had gotten done with his side.

"Gonna...gonna need a minute there..." Surt'r gasped, clutching her chest and coughing.

"Only so much damage she can take, so much energy she can expend at once before the tank runs dry...strange, I thought I was completely topped off...guess that Sonic blast that got her in the cargo bay took more than I thought..." she remarked...

Surt'r, still coughing, went over to the security console and pulled the dead pirate body out of the seat.

"I'm afraid it's just you and me for a while..." she said as she locked down the entire deck, and redirected the Droid Security on the ship still under assault from the boarding pods and starfighters to defend anything leading to Bridge deck at all costs. She also glanced at some scans of ship damage, as she inserted her virus program holodisks into a computer slot, and within seconds had seized control of ship security and all access to the doors. Ironically, completing their original objective had bought them some time for their new one...figuring out how to escape with this ship and their lives.

"We've lost a lot of our point defense weapons already..." she remarked with a frown. "Locking down the bridge will only buy us so much time."

She then turned to him.

"On a plus note...I am absolutely enjoying the hell out of our date..." she said with a flirting smirk...

 

[Zad Ruzed]

Zad Ruzed didn’t know who the kriff Rarty Mobbins was but that pistol looked like his kinda caliber and no mistake given he liked a big iron on his hip to begin with. He was glad to accept it from his kickass partner with a sweet ass as a sweetass gift to kick ass with later.

“Big iron, is it?” He grinned. “Cute. Same as you.” He made sure to flirt with her. It was the game they played ever since they met in a cantina when another thug was at the receiving end of a big iron and then some.

Two more goons came out of the elevator a moment later. Naturally, Lucre did her gymnastics but Zad Ruzed was too much of an old man for this shit so he simply squeezed his trigger finger. It was rather itchy. A bolt struck the skull from his new blaster and never mind the dagger.

“Right,” Ruzed said at the direction for him to go left and her to go right. She was right: he had done enough room clearings that he didn’t need much input. It was nice to work with someone who trusted his judgment and then some.

Unfortunately the Ranger would be too busy blasting at enemies to see what Lucre was doing but he equally trusted that she was kicking ass as always. As bolts came his way, Zad took cover, raised two pistols and trained them his targets’ way. -BLAM!-BLAM!- rinse and repeat and there’s your blaster and forget the lather.

He bounced between computer stations and the like, exchanging some cover for the other, using his practice at the target range and experience in the field to put bolts in brains, two eyes peeled, two pistols to spray vengeance.

When all was said and done, Zad Ruzed looked up. He knew Lucre would already be finished with her enemies before he was. “Hoo-wee,” he whistled, a little beat but always ready. Only he didn’t see Lucre. He saw her replacement. Surt’r. Here we go again. Only I ain’t playin’. Bet.

Zad went quiet as his ‘partner’ plugged in the virus. Electronics were never really this Ranger’s business to begin with. It seized control of the ship and security systems. Kinda reminded him of a woman seizing control of a woman.

“Date, is it?” This would be the perfect moment for a cigarette between his lips. “Lady, I don’t even know who I’m dealin' with.” He looked her straight in the face. “This morphin’ business is givin’ me a headache.”

Lucretia Lister

 

[Lucretia Lister]

Surt'r turned around and faced Zad.

"Okay, Zad, you've been such a good sport. You deserve clarification."

Surt'r sighed. "I'm a Shapeshifter, obviously, but you see, the specific catch with me is, my shape shifting is directly tied to...to..."

Surt'r seemed to hesitate. She really liked Zad and didn't want to scare him off.

"...to my connection to the Force..." she added hesitantly.

"It allows me to take a specific form, but I become submerged in the personality associated with that form as a price to use that skills and abilities that form has...and some personalities can be very very difficult to stop being. It's why you see Lucretia in charge most times. But the catch with Lucretia is she needs to keep her cells charged to remain in control. So when she gets injured...or expends to much energy...she reverts back to me. When I exist, she is stored away in my subconscious. When she exists, I am her subconscious. So everything she says and does comes from me, deep down, but...she says it, does it, thinks it, in ways I... can't..."

Surt'r blinked, sighed. "And like I said, at the moment, I am simply too spent to keep channeling her. I'd need at least ten minutes we don't currently have if we want to survive. But keep in mind--dear what a choice of words, eh?" she said, with a shake of her head in exasperation.

"Keep in mind it's basically me at all times."

Then Surt'r slinked up to Zad.

"Of course, the real me has her charms also." she flirted, winking at him seductively. "They just come out... different... from her."

There was a banging on the door to the bridge. Then a loud bang and a rumble.

"They just tried to blow the door to the bridge. So here's what I propose: We make out passionately like it's an action film for about thirty seconds, I activate all the hidden turret defenses out side and then we storm outside and blast them and the turrets also. Sound like a plan?" Surt'r flirted, blinking emerald eyes that contrasted with Lucretia's blue eyes at Zad Ruzed

 

[Zad Ruzed]

Spoiler: Music OOC

Clarification. Sure, Zad had earned it, deserved it, then and some. Finally, however, his contemporary and companion was apparently going to spill the beans, of which he waited patiently and listened without so much as cigarette smoke to breathe between his lips.

Shapeshifter. That much was obvious by this point. The voices that shifted between these two women amid appearances, younger or older, were a dead giveaway of this. The next word she mentioned, however? Well, hell, it wasn’t like the Ranger didn’t have his fair share of experience with Force-users, Jedi or Sith or something in between, but this was different.

Lucre, Lucretia, whoever and whatever, offered an explanation of the situation within. More important than her semantics, however, Zad Ruzed detected no lies in her eyes, and his opinion kriffin’ mattered more than a little bit. She knew it. He knew she knew it and that was their measure of shared respect.

Opinions. Facts. In the end, they were two partners who had first met in a cantina when Ranger Ruzed had put an end to a scumbag and this woman hadn’t judged him for it. Instead, she helped him fend off the dipshit’s reinforcements, and that was that.

Fast forward to another desert on a desert planet, to a space station establishment with whiskey and other drinks, to this ship and moment and, heck, who knew these two would become such a dynamic kriffin’ duo?

To say Zad Ruzed wasn’t at least a bit suspicious of his ally, however, would be to reduce him to a mindless security detail. He had already failed as a police officer. At least the Sector Rangers offered him a measure of freedom.

Distracted, maybe, given that this woman before him slinked up to him, and it didn’t matter if she had silver hair or red, was as old as he was or old enough to be his daughter, because her touch was genuine and he was a hard enough man to know the difference.

Green Eyes. Blue eyes. Surt’r. Lucretia. Kriff it. “Propose?” His fingers shifted to her hips, pulling her closer to him. “As long as it’s not marriage, miss,” he grinned. “I can only take one commitment at a time, starting with shapeshiftin’.” At that, his fingers found her chin, his lips founds hers, and he kissed.

Passionate, like a romance, or like an action flick, and sometimes there wasn’t much of a difference. Hidden turrets sounded as loud as the sparks between two hearts, or three, whatever.

Ten seconds. Twenty seconds. Thirty seconds. Then the moment ended. But the passion didn’t. “Let’s get ‘em then, miss.” He curved a finger over her cheek as commotions waged and raged by their side. “Do. Done. Did.”

Lucretia Lister