The Midnight Tourist

[Tmoxin Temi]

Location: Coruscant, Tourist Center

The taxi speeder driven by Verd Skirata dropped Commander Temi off at the entrance of the Coruscant Tourist Center. She brought the two Mirari bodyguards with her to flank either side of her as she scurried down the street. It was just after midnight and even though the main CTC building was open, there was only a lone Coruscant Security Droid at the front desk and the rest of the front lobby was deserted, dark and without the normal happy, swivel-head tourists. Ignoring the gleaming holomaps of Coruscant that were situated around the open plan lobby, she approached the droid who scanned her retinas to confirm her identity.

Once approved to enter, the droid said, “Take the elevator to Level 08.”

Along with her own security droids, Tmoxin went to the large bank of elevators and as the thick doors hissed opened, she and her entourage slipped inside. Level 08 was, as expected, eight floors down and in the subterranean bowels of the Tourist Center somewhere.

It was deathly quiet on Level 08 with only flickering florescent lights to illuminate the hallway. Commander Temi could tell she was deep in the underground by the lack of ambient noise, and whether it was an illusion or not, Tmoxin felt as though if she stayed down there long enough, that she would be swallowed up by the core of Coruscant itself. She eventually found the door she was looking for and ignored the cold chill that had made its way through her body. She pressed the button on the door, signaling whoever was inside know she was there. The Hapan officer didn't have long to make this transaction so she hoped the whole sordid affair would go quickly.

[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

Cryax Bane spread his lips into a wide, self-satisfied smile as he pressed the activation switch that would let his customer "Eva" into the basement of the Coruscant Tourist and Visitor's Center. Eva, his ass. His latest customer was the Embezzlement Queen herself, Tmoxin Temi, a former employee of his as well as a former enemy. For political reasons concerning her new station as Commander of the One Sith Blood Monarchs, he was forced to rescind the bounty he'd put on her head for stealing from him. Although Bane was a reluctant forgiver, but he wasn't a forgetter. He had watched Miss Temi on Holo cam the entire time she strolled through the Tourist Center with her security droids in tow, security droids that were about to get some members of his own security team fired. She never should have been let through with her metal soldiers. Heads were going to roll through the Coruscant streets once he found out which guards were culpable.

The door opened with a hiss, and he greeted Miss Temi with his blaster drawn. His own Mirari bodyguard droids, his personal property from his time in the Red Ravens, mirrored hers behind him, their metal sheen reflecting the fluorescent flickers of faultily-wired lighting.

"Eva," smirked the familiar Chiss. "So nice to 'meet' you."

There were air quotes in his tone.

"I believe we have some product waiting for your inspection." He beckoned with his blaster, an edge of a warning in his face as his luminous, red eyes flashed to her Mirari droids.

"Just you, Miss Temi. Those have to wait in the corridor."

[member="Tmoxin Temi"]

 

[Tmoxin Temi]

“Oh by the Eternal Core, not you again!”

Commander Temi faced her former employer Cryax Bane and as usual his blasters and his droids. Never one without the others, she thought. But she quickly composed herself and tried not to look so shocked or afraid. Tmoxin remembered the Chiss’s volatile temper, and even as memories of being abandoned by him and Patricia Susan Garter at Camp Raven came to her unbidden, she would need to tread carefully. Her recollection of him was as sharp as his wicked tongue.

“Ritot csaah, Mr. Bane,” she said greeting him in Cheunh. With a raise of her chin, she said, “I hope the Sith have been treating you well. It was clever of you to seek refuge with us.”

Tmoxin signaled her droids to wait outside. Her own blaster remained inside a holster on her belt and she was careful not to seem too trigger happy for it. “I have something very specific in mind,” she said to Bane, making sure she could see where he was at all times. “I hope your products will fill that need.”

[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

Bane sniffed at Miss Temi's assumption that he was hiding from anything or anyone. Although there were definitely certain planets he could no longer set foot on, he was able to walk freely around Coruscant for the most part. The planet was a One Sith fortress and he, like she, was quasi-royalty within its walls. Better to keep his connection with the Wrath of the Dark Lord under wraps with Temi. He rather liked being the underestimated kind of enemy and he wasn't completely sure he could trust her yet.

"The clever ones are the One Sith who have taken me into Coruscant's dark womb. After all, my slicing skills will be put to much better use in their galactic crusades."

Bane grinned and waved a hand out to the side, gesturing to the Tourist's Center as if it weren't a labyrinth of human suffering. "This place is my handiwork. Soon much of the Coruscant underworld will be influenced by my own prescience and that of partners in the CRC who are visionary men and women."

As they proceeded down the dim corridor, the sounds of mournful groaning could be heard. They were obviously nearing the holding cells. Flicking on his Datapad, he perused the specifications of Miss Temi's order with blood red eyes.

"It says here you're looking for young, athletic humans and near-humans of both sexes. Although there is one very specific sentient you need. Tell me more about this special purchase, Miss Temi."

Lifting a glossy orb to the retinal scanner that safeguarded the door to the holding pens, and waiting a moment as it opened with a hiss, the Chiss ushered the Commander inside the bowels of the Visitor's Center.

[member="Tmoxin Temi"]

 

[Tmoxin Temi]

Ugh as cocky as ever, Tmoxin thought following Bane down the corridor to where the "product" was being kept. She shivered as she heard cries and moans of living beings behind those doors. "Someone help me!" and "Get me out of here!" were specific shouts which could be heard. This whole thing was terrible distasteful and she couldn't wait for it to all be over with. The only reason she was performing this task herself was the specificity of the request. Otherwise she would have had her troopers or a smuggler deal with this unsavory business.

"Yes, young, athletic," she repeated quite distracted by the pleas for help. "Actually I'd like more males than females come to think about it." His unsettling red eyes met hers and she swallowed nervously. "The specific sentient I need is my decoy, Mr. Bane. I want a young woman, my size with reddish hair. She needs to be my exact doppelganger. I suppose this isn't an easy request."

She tried to catch a glimpse of the holding pens as he opened the door. "If she's blonde I can always have her hair color changed."

[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

"Your exact doppelganger, eh?" he asked, glowing red eyes giving Miss Temi the once-over. "Not sure if I have anyone that...frigid." he added with a self-satisfied smirk. Before she could react, he whirled around and picked up a clipboard with a flimsiplast sheets, detailing the center's current inventory. Then he escorted her through the dim, labyrinthine basement.

The hallways were lined with durasteel cells packed full of humans, near-humans, and aliens from across the galaxy, all of them once hopeful tourists, simply taking a jaunt through the Queen of the Core, tourists either brave or foolhardy enough to scoff at the hundreds of galactic travel advisories, warning the general public not to travel to the Sith-controlled planet. Every captive's neck wore a collar that had cables attached. The thin wires were linked to panels on the wall, and it was obvious a vicious shock would be given to any headstrong sapient who stepped out of line or caused trouble for the other merchandise. Cryax lead Miss Temi through the corridor, every now and then glancing at his clipboard, describing the place with the terminally bored tone of a tour guide in a museum.

"We keep them well-fed and healthy, so that they're in excellent shape once they're delivered to their new owners." He pointed to a wing adjacent to the people pens. "Over there is a med bay to treat any sick or diseased sentients. For an additional fee, we can have a kill chip installed in their craniums."

He stopped, standing in front of holding pen that contained a disproportionate number of athletic males.

"If you see anything, you like, let me know."

[member="Tmoxin Temi"]

 

[Tmoxin Temi]

Tmoxin was too distracted by the sights and sounds to react to Bane's insults. As much as the Commander felt she was battle-hardened, the sight of all of these miserable slaves turned her stomach, so much that she nearly lost her nerve to go through with the purchase. She felt like making a speedy exit and even thought: Do I leave the way I came in or...?

But after breathing deeply and trying to steel herself for the chore ahead, it helped to remember why she wanted the captives in the first place. She couldn't think of these beings as animals in a pen, which is pretty much what they were right now or she again would begin to feel nauseous and light-headed. If she looked at them as warriors to train and mold it was better. Yes, much better. It's a little like I'm shopping for stormtroopers, she mused.

"I'm going to give you a better life," she said to the enclosure with the male slaves. "Some masters would pluck you out of this cage only to make you work twenty-four hour days in their factories. Or sell you to vile scumbags who would torture and kill you for fun. Not me," she said thinking that they would all clamor up and try to kiss her hand in gratitude. But they didn't. The poor beings had been so shocked into submission they just stood there aimlessly with vacant eyes.

"They're not brain dead are they?" Tmoxin asked a bit rhetorically. "I'll take thirty of the strongest humans out of that particular pen. They must be healthy," she added. "I also can't transport them and they will need to go to Lok in the Outer Rim. I'm assuming I can pay for those services as well?"

She pulled out her credit chip and handed it to Mr. Bane. "Now for the redhead. Can you show me the female slaves?"

[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

Gleaming red eyes rolled upwards at her naivety. As if those slaves believed that, however noble she thought it was, the fate that Miss Temi offered the men was anything but enslavement. However well she would treat her troops, they would still be forced to fight for another's cause, and most would suffer a deep-seated resentment for it.

"I assure you, they aren't brain dead," said the Chiss, with a deadpan tone. "And don't worry, they are healthy." Ish. There was one in the bunch with a mild croupy cough, but it wasn't anything to worry about, or so the center's medic told him.

Bane snatched the credit chip out of her hand with his blue-skinned fingers, and nodded. "We can transport your merchandise to Lok for you, but I must warn you, once today's purchase is made, the Tourist's Center is not to be held liable for any mishaps during the flights. Pirates, accidents, what have you...caveat emptor, Miss Temi."

He marked a few checkboxes on the Flimsiplast sheet and continued down the corridor, stopping short at another group of sapients.

"This organic," he gestured to a young, athletic near-human who vaguely resembled Tmoxin. "Is the closest you're going to your twin, I'm afraid."

Wrinkling his brow, he glanced down at the records. "Also, it says here that you need a few Force sensitives?"

[member="Tmoxin Temi"]

 

[Tmoxin Temi]

Tmoxin scanned the woman who was somewhat similar in apperance to herself. Her hair was blonder and she had more freckles but her height was nearly similiar, as was her build. Commander Temi tried to picture the slave in an Imperial uniform and well... she may just work for the purposes of fooling a bounty hunter or two.

"Good," Commander Temi said, still inspecting the female slave who cowered with her arms wrapped around herself protectively. "This one will do. And yes I need five Force sensitives. Better if they are actual padawans but I'll take what I can get. These can be male, female or any species honestly."

The Commander knew that her new colleague [member="Sylvanan Tal'verda"] needed them for something but she wasn't sure exactly what. "Those five specifically need to go to Ession to a place called Crynic Labs." She turned from her scrutiny of the female slave and addressed Mr. Bane. "I'll have you know that this entire purchase needs to be completely confidential." This was said in the haughty tone that he was more than familiar with as their tenure as Red Ravens. Then her eyes looked wistful for a moment.

"I'm sorry about the embezzlement," she added, hoping the apology would buy the Chiss's utmost silence on the matter.

[member="Cryax Bane"]