Think You're So Criminal - Ruby's Intro to AoC

[Ruby Sky]

Coruscant Underworld​

​

The underworld was never quiet. Even in the late hours when only artificial light illuminated the streets criminals were active. Tonight the Digital Dragons were part of the ruckus. The swoop gang was notorious for their reckless driving and their hacking capabilities. They were small time as far as criminal empires went, but they did enough business to keep themselves comfortable. Little did they know that a world of opportunity was about to present itself in the form of the Agents of Chaos.

Ruby heard the engine of the bike long before she saw it's lights. In a flash her partner side swiped the corner and threw a disc at her. She caught it and smiled, thinking the job had gone well. A split second latter she realized there was trouble. Her partner was being followed. "Frak!"

"Go! Just go!" The comm unit in her ear went off as Ruby's old fashioned tires squealed against the pavement. A moment latter she heard the tale tell signs that she was being followed.

"What the hell happened Digs?"

"I dunno. They were waiting for me at the server."

Ruby gritted her teeth and headed up a ramp. She could tell there were people on either side, just behind her. She kept going up the ramp, until she hit the roof of a building, where the edge came and she was out of pavement. With a loud scraping noise the bike slid sideways as she tried to stop.

She threw her leg over the bike and ran to the edge of the building. Glancing down all she saw were the speeder lanes of the city.

She pulled the disc out of her pocket and glanced over her shoulder. Three of her followers were dismounting their bikes and drawing blasters. With a big gulp Ruby threw herself over the edge of the building and starting falling into traffic. A moment latter she landed on the hood of somebodies speeder with a loud THUD! Hanging on for dear life she pulled herself up into the seat of the convertible style speeder.

"Keep driving!"

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

[member="Ruby Sky"]​

The Sithling had changed her mind. She loved the Coruscani underground. Parts of her were in there right now, taking notes. They needed something similar to this on Eve, where everything was, in part because of how new it was, completely new and shiny and sparkly. The grit, the – oh there was an idea! She could use the slums to open such a place up!

But such bright and wonderful ideas were always a bad thing to have when you were in the middle of frakking illegal fighting pit, getting pummeled. Scherezade had managed to slither her way into her ship back in the Unknown Regions. She was, technically, forbidden from going into Coalition space and setting them on fire until they returned her sister to her, at least for the time being, so she went for the next best thing; fighting in a place that had absolute and complete disregard for life. Coruscant.

Her mouth had burst from an earlier hit taken to the fact, turning into a violent red in the corner. She could taste her own blood every time she licked her lips. She had won thirteen consecutive fights before sighing and calling it a night. Her skin had broken on her knuckles, various bruises and cuts decorated her body, and even the civilian clothes she had worn coming in seemed to barely be holding by the thread. But she didn't care. She couldn't care. She needed more… More violence.

So she had taken her speeder for a wild ride, occasionally peeking at the height of the buildings, shoving old memories down until they no longer threatened to choke her.

But something she had most definitely not expected, was to get a visitor. The other speeder almost flew out of its route as a person hung to it for dear life, and for half a moment Scherezade was more than tempted to jump over in the air just to kick the woman in the face and let her fall down into the bottom they could not even see from this height.

Instead, she rolled her eyes and took a sharp turn, positioning her speeder just below the one the other woman was holding on to. "JUMP!" she screamed over the sound of traffic and high driving, "THAT VEHICLE IS PROBABLY ALREADY TAGGED!"

 

[Zachariel Steelblood]

Coruscant, the massive city planet was impressive to Zachariel. It was a giant jewel of a planet, showing the galaxy what people could accomplish together, and despite all that had been done to destroy the planet, it still stood. However, every jewel has a dark side, and Coruscant's Underworld was the planets dark side, and it's where Zachariel currently was. He currently stood on the back of a speeder, his sheer size prevented anything else, as it traveled through the skylines taking him deeper into the Underworld. As he traveled into the Underworld, Zachariel examined his surroundings, the people in speeders around him, and their reactions to seeing an 11 ft tall monster clad in armor, spikes bedecking him, along with a look that could kill.

Zachariel was taken out of his examination as he heard a commotion coming from above him and to his right. Glancing in that direction, he was surprised to see someone leap off a building and land on a speeder. Shortly thereafter another speeder moved closer to the first person, shouted something, though Zachariel didn't catch what it was over the distance and speed they were going. However, it didn't matter what was said, it was a distraction from the boredom of doing nothing, and his prior little quest could wait for him to do this first. Grinning madly behind his helmet, Zachariel commanded his droid pilot to bring them closer to the little situation occurring there.

With arms crossed over his chest, Zachariel's speeder pulled alongside the pair, the speeder on even footing, even as Zachariel was left to loom over and look down at the two other speeders and their occupants. Then he spoke, his voice a low, rumbling bass sound, that would remind one of an earthquake, even as he spoke, his voice wasn't spoken loudly, but still clear to be heard.
"Need some help?"

Scherezade deWinter | Ruby Sky

 

[Be'iqaronn]

Renn ran down the steps of the building, while this caused him to lose his vantage point he was able to follow the bike as it neared, he watched as people followed and hopped on his own speeder following them. The ramps were a bit difficult to navigate, having to make sharp turns on a speeder rather than a bike. When he reached the top he saw her leaping off and yanked out his [COLOR=var(--text-link)]The XR-18 Revolver[/COLOR]. It was a slam-fire of sniper rounds, and he soon ran by them, but reached the edge not knowing when to jump. He took a step back and jumped, landing on the hood of a speeder, dislocating his arm from the impact on the engine. He jumped to one ahead and threw the driver out onto the following one.

Popping his arm back into place Renn reloaded his revolver as he was getting closer. In it there were six explosive rounds and once cocked he pulled the vehicle up to their level. Pulling back the hammer he was going to fire on Zack, but he held off for a shot that close could kill all of them. So he just pulled up behind the massive fellow and pulled out a dagger.

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

Intervention
Corellia Digital Mobile Headquarters || In Orbit of Planet Coruscant

[ who is in control? ]​

"I saw your financials."

The Clone Wars era destroyer had made its way to the Core. In orbit of the storied world of Coruscant, the company had undertaken the rather difficult talk of entertaining a minor business magnate from one of the free trade zones. It was a rather inconsequential venture from a purely profit analysis, but it had the benefit of giving Corell Financial a new market point at which to launder the money associated with the Agents of Chaos -- both accounts payable and receivable.

He couldn't exactly do it around Corellia. Not without attracting the attention of Corellia's government du jour in the Corellian Confederation. When Sor-Jan had picked the company up from bankruptcy, the One Sith had ruled the Five Brothers. Then it had been the Galactic Alliance. Then the Alliance had collapsed and left all the planets it had promised protection to vulnerable, creating a void into which the current government had found its foothold. And, like all such governments, quickly abandoned its fealty to Corellia for the promise of expansion. The promise of a fiefdom among the stars. Stripping resources from the planets and people of Corellia and using them to fuel campaigns to bring other worlds under its umbrella of political clout.

He wondered if he couldn't, perhaps, get Scherezade to consider using her rather unique talents to unseat the present Corellian government, except he already knew that there would be another fool's crusade waiting to swoop in and claim Corellia as its own. It was a song and dance they'd sung many times, narrowly avoiding entangling themselves in either the ill-fated Commenor Systems Alliance or short-lived New Republic.

So he needed access to a financial market outside Corellia. There was Druckenwell, but Sor-Jan wasn't willing to risk the activity catching the attention of the Knights Obsidian. Particularly were the Agents to turn their knives toward Geonosis. It had to be a free market. Somewhere with enough legitimacy to pass muster, but enough de-regulation that the exchanges could be fabricated in order to adjust the ledgers for when the money returned to circulation in the Corellian, Confederate, or other galactic markets in which Corellia Digital conducted itself.

Fenton Marquette Laad was exactly what he was looking for. "I'm sure you'll make for it in the next quarter," the man said, with just the slightest hint of a snide demeanor masquerading behind the thin veneer of a polite smile. The man didn't even look at Sor-Jan as he made the quip, instead staring down at the expensive cut of nerf on his plate.

The Anzat's pale blue eyes didn't so much as blink at the rather cheap attempt at casting insults. "There's always next quarter," the boy uttered in a neutral tone, feigning agreement as much as he was disinterest. Well, the disinterest was genuine. So, there was that. He had water in his wine glass, swirling it around as he watched Laad from across the table. The pair were dining in the lower part of the Intervention. The ballroom and lavishly appointed restaurant that was usually used for entertaining the shareholders and board of trustees during the various meetings of the company.

A glance down to the HoloLink on his wrist provided a momentary respite from the droll small talk.

He hoped that Scherezade appreciate the effort that went into cementing these negotiations. Sor-Jan would have had no hesitation getting up and walking away from this table right now, except he needed Laad. Or, at least, he needed access to the money markets that Laad held influence over.

Hell, if he played his cards right, he might easily be able to make Laad his patsy and set the whole thing up to look as though Laad was the one laundering the money for the Agents.

After all, the only thing better than clean money was sticking someone else with the criminal liability.

Scherezade deWinter Be'iqaronn Zachariel Steelblood Ruby Sky​

 

[Ruby Sky]

Ruby was shocked to see a citizen deciding to help. In her experience people tended to look the other way in the underworld so they didn't get killed by proxy. She wasn't going to question it though. She jumped onto the back of the bike and flung her arms around the drivers waist.

"Thanks."

Before she could say anything else another speeder loomed and a monster appeared. Ruby felt her jaw drop but she shook it off quickly. "We need to go! They won't be confused long."

Sure enough someone had jumped off the building too. Ruby couldn't tell if it was one of the people following her or something else but she did not want to stick around to find out.

Scherezade deWinter Sor-Jan Xantha Be'iqaronn Zachariel Steelblood

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Ruby Sky Sor-Jan Xantha Be'iqaronn Zachariel Steelblood

​

The person who had stopped to her side and offered help as well was one Scherezade did not know. Glowing green eyes narrowed as she took him in and inhaled through the Force, committing the scent of his blood to her memory. Questions about who he was and where he had come from would wait – especially since the girl jumping from the speeder above them had a choice to make. And apparently, she had made the correct choice, landing behind Scherezade and holding on to her.

Looking around her, she knew Renn was nearby, and now that she realized it, she could also hear the shooting. "What the krakking sort of trouble are you in?" she asked the girl, taking a single breath to survey their surroundings between turning to the man she didn't know (Zachariel), "I hope you can keep up," she shouted at him with a wink.

And without further warning, Scherezade dipped. Her speeder went down through the different road-less levels of Coruscant, at a near straight angle. It was like falling, and the main thing keeping them seated on the speeder were the mighty power of her thunder thighs, holding on with everything she had as her hands steered.

"Renn, who the krak is shooting at you?!" Scherezade yelled into her comlink before pulling the steer up, straightening the speeder. They were nearly a hundred levels closer to the ground now. Not much by Coruscanti standards, but enough to make a dent in anyone trying to shoot them, unless they were being successfully followed. But without a specific scent to look for, her Blood Hound abilities didn't server her in that scenario.

Scherezade stopped the speeder and turned to look at the girl (Ruby). "And just who are you, anyway? Why are you dangling from other vehicles in the middle of the night?"

Looking up back into the skies, Scherezade couldn't help but wonder. Not knowing that Sor-Jan was there, how quickly could she grab a handful of people and drop them on a ship? Whatever else was going on, unless someone was majorly going to surprise her, it seemed their current trip to the galaxy's capital was nearing its end.

 

[Zachariel Steelblood]

His sudden appearance caused one of the two individuals to be shocked, a rather jaw dropped look on her face. Grinning viciously behind his helm at that, Zachariel made no comment, instead just nodding while continuing to watch. Seemed the runner decided to take the risk of going with the biker, all the better then. Turning his gaze to said biker, Zachariel noted that she didn't seem all that perturbed by his look or his sudden appearance. Oh well, he might be able to rectify that soon. For now though, his speeder kept pace as he turned slightly to observe the scene behind him. More importantly, to the scene of a certain individual(Renn) suddenly following along.

Uncrossing his arms, Zachariel let his right hand fall on the large rifle magnetically attached to his right thigh. He was about to unclip it and unleash a barrage of fire towards the pursuer when deWinter called out to him once more. Zachariel didn't even bother with thinking about his next command, as he knew what it'd be regardless of the situation. As deWinter made her bike dive straight down, Zachariel's speeder was quick to follow, with the man himself calmly standing there the entire time. However, where as Scherezade had a clear dive down, Zachariel didn't, unfortunately enough for him, or rather unfortunately for the other speeder driver.

Where deWinter, or anyone else, would've dodged around the speeder, Zachariel's speeder simply rammed straight through without slowing. Now, the speeder itself had a design that allowed such a maneuver to be easily done, while Zachariel's armor was easily able to take the damage from crashing through half the speeder. On the other hand, the civilian in the unfortunate speeder had neither such protection, instead his speeder was split in half, crumbled more like, and he was flung out of it, left to scream helplessly as he fell towards his doom. Zachariel payed the man no mind, nor whatever damage the destroyed speeder would no doubt cause now too, instead he focused most of his attention on two main things, deWinter, and the pursuer.

As deWinter pulled up to stop, after having continued on several more levels, Zachariel didn't immediately stop. Instead his speeder went down half a level further before pulling up, bringing Zachariel up to the other side of where he'd started. Unclipping his rifle as he came back up, Zachariel held it before himself as he scanned the area above them, his helmet having calculated likely vectors for the obvious pursuer to follow. Keeping an eye on those vectors, Zachariel spoke then, the same bass, rumbling voice as before, but now it contained a hint of bloodlust.
"She's a target, running from someone." Chuckling darkly, he continued. "Any whoever that someone is wants her dead, which means she'll have prey pursuing her. And that means I can kill something else." Chuckling darkly once more, Zachariel split his attention between the pair on the bike and what was above them.

Scherezade deWinter | Ruby Sky | Be'iqaronn | Sor-Jan Xantha

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

Intervention
Corellia Digital Mobile Headquarters || In Orbit of Planet Coruscant

[ who is in control? ]​

"Really, Mister Laad, words cannot express my gratitude for your time this evening."

Yes. Yes, he could. And those words would have been, and I quote: Blowhard. Arrogant. Son of a bit...

"Charmed," Fenton Marquette Laad uttered vapidly, his acerbic wit having been the dull entertainment of the night. Their mockery of a dinner having wrapped up, the small Anzat had escorted the business magnate to the hangar bay, to see his guest off. As they arrived near where the shuttle was waiting to take the man off to whatever rock he had crawled out of, the man paused to look around at the interior of the Intervention. "What is this? Clone Wars technology? And I thought your company high-tech."

Ordinarily, Sor-Jan would feel bad for trying to frame someone for money laundering.

In this instance, no. Not so much.

"Be that as it may, this evening was not a total waste of my time," the business magnate offered haughtily, looking down at the small Anzat with the same sneer that masqueraded poorly as a cold smile. "I shall consider your offer, and let you know if I believe you have something to offer the free trade zone."

The boy forced a smile of his own, veritably beaming as he chirped, "I should look forward to our speaking again."

He really wouldn't. He really wouldn't.

The man's sneer twisted into a frown. "Presumptuous," Laad uttered coldly, before making a dismissive gesture. "And good day," the man offered, stepping about the shuttle.

As the repulsors lifted the craft off the deck, taking Laad off into the clouds, the boy's smile faded. "-tt-"

A pair of droids arrived, flanking either side of the youth. The first held up a champagne flute of orange juice, which the boy accepted with a heavy sigh. The other held up a datapad containing the current HoloNet news feeds and stock quotes. Taking a sip of the juice, the boy tried to relax for a moment, contemplating what the next move should be.

A scan of the current financial news brought up mention of the Grayson Imperium.

It was at least the second time that he'd seen that name. If he recalled the earlier mention, they were a group based here, on Coruscant. "We should consider reaching out to someone from the Grayson Imperium while we're here," the boy stated, talking aloud as the first droid began taking notes for him.

As he spoke, the boy started flipping through some of the other headlines. "They seem like they might be the next... oh, hello?"

His finger rested over a headline that read: BREAKING NEWS: SHOOTING IN UPPER CORUSCANT.

The boy tapped the article. A hologram popped up, rendered in 3D above the datapad, as the anchor began to narrate the story.

"...Coruscant security forces have not yet confirmed the incident, but eye witness reporting has provided us with the following footage, which appears to show two individuals fleeing in air speeders. Several shots appear to have been fired as we..."

The videofeed changed, displaying a holorecording that had obviously been shot by an amateur. Probably on their comlink. As the images flashed back, something caught his eyes. "Play back to time index one-two-eight," the boy stated.

The holographic report reversed to the point at which the eye witness had pointed the holorecorder at a pair of speeders. "Freeze playback," the boy said, pointing to an indistinct face that was framed by dark hair. "Zoom and enhance."

What came up was an image that looked like it might have been Scherezade deWinter . Except what would Scherezade have been doing on Coruscant?

The answer was this.

This was exactly something that Scherezade would have been doing on Coruscant.

...but, was it her?

With a wave of his hand, the boy dismissed the hologram. Passing the now empty champagne flute back to the other droid, he sent both away as he stood on the deck of the hangar bay and peered down into the clouds of Coruscant below. Stretching out with his hand, the child closed his eyes and stretched out through the Force.

He was not a blood hound like Scherezade, but he was an Anzat. They were predators that stalked their prey across the stars, picking out one mind from among millions. It wasn't an ability that he liked to call upon, because he knew why his species had developed it. They weren't trying to locate their friends, they did it to find their preferred food.

And the minds of Force Sensitives were at the top of that list for them.

After a moment, the boy's hand returned to his HoloLink. "Bridge, Xantha," the boy stated, calling up to the port tower of the Clone Wars era ship. "Prepare to break orbit on my command. Go ahead and run the navicomputer plots, we'll be making the jump to lightspeed as soon as we have a clear vector."

"Is everything all right, sir?"

No, everything was not all right. They were about to become victim to Random Act of Scherezade. Again, that is. "We're about to have company. And I fear they may have some... paparazzi tailing them, which we'll want to avoid."

"Understood, sir. What course shall we set."

"Set your course for Denon," the boy said, mentally selecting the first neutral planet that came to mind.

It was a lie, of course. As soon as they were clear of this sector, they'd drop out of hyperspace and make a second jump. To where, he honestly didn't know. Perhaps to whatever dream in the sky that Scherezade was constructing in the Unknown Regions.

One thing was clear: Scherezade deWinter was here. And Hell was likely riding in behind her.

Closing his eyes, the boy stretched out his hand and reached out through the Force toward the familiar presence of being.

Above you.

It was a simple message, but one he had no doubt of her ability to perceive.

Ruby Sky Zachariel Steelblood Be'iqaronn​

 

[Be'iqaronn]

Watching Ruby and the large fellow,

he slid his dagger back realizing the man wasn't a threat. "I'm being shot at?" Loud sounds and colors must've masked it, for when Renn looked into a rearview mirror, he say two men following him. Deciding to pull them away he went onto a highway, the two following. Renn could finally hear the shots and the red bolts flying by him. The highway was twisty and he was increasing distance between him and his companions. He continued but turned the vehicle around, cutting over lanes heading towards his group. ​

The two still trailed, gaining on him. The only thing Renn had was mobility as he weaved through vehicles. Eventually he decided to pull them off of him so he hopped onto another vehicle holding onto it. His speeder flipped back crashing into one of the speeders a large explosion. The other speeder came from the flames at a high speed, flames licking off of his armor and speeder. Dropping below the speeders he hugged the ground and as the speeder passed, he grappled on, and kicked the guy off.

Pulling off the ramp he had a grin on his face, he pulled up with them and gave a nod to the new person.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Ruby Sky Sor-Jan Xantha Be'iqaronn Zachariel Steelblood​

Turning her head to listen to Zachariel Steelblood , Scherezade nodded, turning then to look at her passenger. Who apparently, was now missing? Where in the drop from up there to down here the woman had managed to do that was beyond Scherezade, but it seemed they would be having bigger troubles to deal with soon enough.

The sound of shots fired could be heard above their heads, behind them, around them. Whoever it was that was shooting earlier, they were still shooting at them. Could they believe they still had the woman? Could they perhaps be going for Scherezade and her merry little band of insurgents?

Renn's question confused her, but there wasn't much time to focus on it right there and then.

And then the communication from Sor-Jan Xantha was heard in her earpiece.

"Change of plans, boys," she grinned at the other two who were still there and very much alive, unlike what she could only assume for the girl, "how high do you reckon all these pretty stolen speeders can go?"

Looking at the Coruscanti sky, her grin only deepened, "There's a rescue coming if we can make it there."

A blaster bolt shot by her nose. Grumbling, and knowing better than to waste any time, Scherezade kicked her speeder into high gear, and began the uphill through the air. Only one way to get there. And if they couldn’t? She preferred traffic below her, so that she had someone else's vehicle to fall on.

 

[Zachariel Steelblood]

Observing those around him and the fire coming towards them, Zachariel made no move to dodge the fire, instead letting his armor absorb the few shots that hit him. As for the rest, they missed or were targeted at others, so Zachariel didn't care where they went or who they hit. Taking in the coming targets, Zachariel noted that there were many of them, and all this for just one girl. Turning his head to said girl, Zachariel was momentarily stunned to not see her anywhere. Shaking his head free of the why's or how's for now, he instead prepared for a fight, unclipping his rifle from his hip.

Thus he was taken off guard once more when the woman in charge said she had evac ready. Chuckling at that, Zachariel nodded and looked skyward as well, estimating that his speeder should get him high enough. Bracing himself for the steep upward climb, Zachariel reclipped his rifle back to his hip and grabbed onto a special handhold for occasions just like this. Then his speeder shot forward before climbing upwards at a very steep incline. Lowering himself to cause as little air resistance as possible, Zachariel held on to his handhold and braced his feet, waiting out the trip in silence. While he was silent, he was constantly monitoring their pursuers, who no doubt would continue to chase them after this.

Scherezade deWinter | Sor-Jan Xantha | Ruby Sky | Be'iqaronn