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