Three's Company

[Miss Blonde]

[media] https://youtu.be/doku-BRZpD0 [/media]​

Miss Blonde was an unconventional crime lord to say the least. Most people when invited to have dinner with a notorious person such as her along with the equally infamous [member="Darth Abyss"] expected to meet in some high class five star restaurant with the finest wines the Galaxy had to offer. That just wasn't Blonde's style though, she'd certainly had enough of that when leading the Red Ravens and living in the Dragon Palace Casino. These days people already knew who she was as a criminal and her reputation preceded her, so she didn't need to waste time on ceremony and flashy fifteen course meals where everything was a yuppy bite sized snack.

Instead she much rather preferred the restaurant she owned on Deneba's capital; A place known as The Little Cabana Dive. a small but cozy little place that had great food, atmosphere, and was the site of a few rather grizzly murders Blonde had committed a few years back. Though that wasn't important, she couldn't even remember their names much less their positions anyways. So this is where the dinner to discuss how everyone could be mutually beneficial to one another. How the criminal underworld could assist the Sith and the Sith the criminal underworld.

Deciding not to wear her clunky gas mask, the crime lord settled for a pair of thick round sun glasses that covered a fair amount of her upper face coupled with her long blonde hair. Her slender chin, cheeks, and mouth were left exposed and even though Abyss knew what lay beneath the glasses it was more of a formality for the guest of honor [member="Ignus"] who had decided to accept her invitation to join.

Waiting at the back booth of the joint, Blonde had her favorite little red dress on and showed a fair amount of cleavage with its low cut. A band in the other room laid down a few smoth tunes and Blonde simply relaxed with a glass of some kind of non alcoholic juice cocktail. Being pregnant really sucked sometimes, but she loved Abyss enough to bare his kid and put up with another stint of not drinking for the health of their kid.

"God damn Abyss, you did this to me you bastard." Blonde muttered to herself as she sipped her juice cocktail.

She only a little upset that tequila wasn't on the menu for her.

 

[Darth Abyss]

Abyss mask was never far, at least if there was a meeting that involved another lord of the sith. [member="Miss Blonde"] was one of the few allowed to see what was behind it, but [member="Ignus"] was not. The sith lord might was an ally to Abyss, but their relationship was purely professional. In fact the Mindeater wasn't a fan of Ignus from a philosophical perspective, but he was a to much of a pragmatic to let that get in the way of business. He had seen first hand that Ignus had many skills, some of them outside of Abyss own.

Instead of his ragged robe Abyss had picked something else for once. Black pants, black hoodie and a scarlet scarf. Not nearly as fashionable as Blonde's sense of style, but a step up from dark, crazy sith lord. The sith lord appeared inside the back of the establishment, walking all the way there under the cloak of shadows unseen as he preferred. With a grin he approached the mother of his not yet born child, leaning in for a quick kiss beyond anyone's eyes before their guest would arrive.


"How angry would you be if I order a drink?"

He took place on a chair, looking at Blonde with a slight chuckle. Since their last meeting the degeneration of his body had continued, dark veins deeply marking the bit of his face that could be seen, yet it felt like the live inside of his yellow eyes had become stronger and more vibrant than ever before. Once his fellow sith lord would arrive he would wear another mask above the wooden one on his face, the live and energy would become dark and mad, just to keep Ignus from suspecting weakness. But for this short moment he was the man beyond the mask.

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

There focused attention upon one another had allowed their guard to drop just a tiny bit. Enough that an illusionist had made his way into the restaurant unbeknownst to all, and settled within the booth while [member="Miss Blonde"] was being attentive to [member="Darth Abyss"]. They would have no reason to suspect as much, or pull out the illusion, because they were in no danger. Leos merely watched the two for a moment, contemplating the nature of his invitation to a dinner with the two. The last time he had seen Abyss, the Sith had disappeared at the mere mention of Sith working together. A shame that had been. Now the Ascendancy grew stronger while the Empire spread itself thin.

When he decided there was no point in drawing it out any longer, he let the illusion drop to reveal his Mirialan frame sitting within the booth already. If it caused a small fright he would find it mildly humorous, but it was unintended.

"I take it from your conversation that you're pregnant," he said, his eyes on Blonde. "Congratulations then."

No. No 'Surprise! Here I am!' from the Mirialan known to most simply as Ignus. That wasn't in his modus operandi. Instead, he lifted a hand to beckon a server over to them and ordered a glass of water. Only when this was done did he turn his attention back to the two individuals in the booth with him. He wasn't overly familiar with either, but he was even less familiar with the woman that had invited him to the dinner. He'd only come because he'd been told it was to discuss some manner of business, and business always warranted at least some attention from him.

 

[Miss Blonde]

Blonde and Abyss were dangerous people, not just in the sense that they held power and sway across many parts of the Galaxy. They were also dangerous in terms of fighting prowess and reflexes, and while Blonde had no idea Ignus had showed up due to her being distracted by kissing her love. The moment Ignus uncloaked, Blonde's reflexes kicked in and nine millimeter Czerka pistol was aimed right at the man's face with the hammer cocked back and ready to fire. Blonde had certainly jumped a bit at the shock but her nerves were ice cold and calm showing Ignus the woman was very much capable of defending herself. Thankfully the wait staff here knew who Blonde was and was more than used to a gun being pulled at a table.

"Holy Skywalking $&@# dude you scared me!" Blonde's sailor mouth kicked in and she quickly flipped the safety of the weapon back on and lowered the hammer of the pistol.

With a heavy sigh of her getting herself out of combat mode, Blonde put the pistol away in her purse and collected herself. It was time to put her business face on and get to the point of this after dispensing with a few pleasantries.

"Thank you, we're due early next year." Ignus had already put two and two together so there was no point in hiding that Atton was the father.

"Anyways. Thank you for coming, I apologize for pulling a gun on you. But we all know in our line of work it's just an every day occurrence. I welcome you to my little cabana and hope you find it to your liking. Whatever you order is of course on the house." Blonde would then look to Abyss and scooch on over to let him sit next to her.

"Please, sit dear. We have much to discuss with our guest; and go ahead and order a drink. This isn't my first rodeo." Blonde said as the waiter stood by ready to fetch their drinks.

You had to hand it to Blonde's staff, she made sure to hire only the best. Since it took the best to serve some of the most dangerous people the Galaxy had produced.

[member="Darth Abyss"] [member="Ignus"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

The gun was in Abyss hand only a split second after that of [member="Miss Blonde"], ready to fire a deadly shrapnel at the suddenly revealed figure of [member="Ignus"]. Spying on people, sitting in their homes, listing in to their most intimate moment, Abyss had done it all, but now that it had happened to him he was more than a little displeased. The weapon remained aimed at the man's head a few seconds longer than that of Blonde, a wordless warning about the aftermath should this information ever leave this place. Ignus wasn't as treacherous as others, but as a sith lord he also wasn't above backstabbing if it was the only option given to him. It was rather hard to enrage Abyss if he didn't meant to be enraged by someone, but Ignus had found one of the few things that could do it.

Abyss slowly lowered the weapon and took place besides Blonde, but his eyes constantly rested on the other sith. Letting the weapon disappear in his boot, he leaned back in his chair, relaxing just a bit. From staff he ordered a glass of whiskey, his favourite, exactly what he needed to take the edge of and calm his nerves down so he wouldn't try to kill Ignus for the knowledge he now had.

"Lord Ignus. As always a pleasure."

With the drink finally in his hands Abyss returned to his normal, far more controlled self. Yet his words carried enough sarcasm to make it clear again what he really thought about this situation. If the existence of his child would ever be used against him, somebody would pay in a unnecessary painful and violent way.

"Let us talk business then."

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

He shrugged at [member="Miss Blonde"] casually.

"If I didn't scare people it would be a useless skill. Surprise is everything."

He waved away the honorific offered by [member="Darth Abyss"]. He'd never been overly fond of being referred to as Lord or Master. It always felt rather tacky to him, and didn't encourage the sort of relationship between people that was most apt to harbor good outcomes. Generally speaking it was lesser's that were made to refer to people in such a way, and he didn't believe that either of these two warranted that sort of treatment, although Abyss was sort of suspect with how long he held a freaking gun on him. Uncivilized cretins. Both of them. Carrying such weapons. Sure his company made them, but he would never use one himself.

When he was told he could order anything on the house he grabbed a menu and scanned through it, looking first at the most expensive things. He could afford it anyway, but he wasn't going to pass up an offer of a free meal. The most expensive things didn't strike his fancy, but he eventually settled on a fish meal before turning his attention back to the two individuals that had invited him to dinner.

"Feel free to talk away. I'm curious what business you wish to discuss."

 

[Miss Blonde]

With her nerves now settled, the woman was collected enough to carry on with actual business rather than just dispensing a few pleasantries for Ingus. She had a few topics she wanted to bring up through the course of dinner, but she'd start off with the elephant in the room. Well not elephant but more killer teddy bear that made her call for this little meeting in the first place. She had seen first hand what that murderous little thing was capable of and while she couldn't care less if Ingus died she did care about his company. As a fellow weapons designer and company owner she needed diversity in the marketplace in order for her weapons to stand out among basic-queen weapons that Ingus peddled.

"Well I wanted to start with the obvious." Placing a datapad on the table she activated it and a holo image taken of the flyer written in blood popped up.

"This is a rather alarming subject which I'm sure you are more than aware of. Now I wanted to discuss the potential benefits of us working together to bring the pain to this furry little $&#%. He's been a pain in my side in previous operations and he needs to be disposed of. Or at the very least have his boys clipped off." Blonde was definitely not above neutering a teddy bear.

"I ask how might you be going about solving this situation and if there's anything I can do to assist you." Blonde then took a sip of her drink and had already placed what she was going to eat ahead of time.

"I also hear rumors of the primeval getting back together, and we all remember how dangerous they were. With this guy as one of their heavy hitters its best to eliminate him before he becomes a bigger threat. Planet massacring zealots aren't the best people to make alliances with after all." She'd of much rather made deals with people who were fellow businessmen. At least then when they stabbed you in the back it wasn't personal.

Professional courtesy was all she asked for when it came to subjects of that nature.

"Abyss? What say you about it?"

[member="Ignus"] [member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"I agree. The ewok has to go."

As a player of the underworld it was impossible for a bounty to go by him unnoticed, but normally he wouldn't care much. [member="Ignus"] wasn't his friend, but they shared common goals in the Ascendancy right now. The sith lord was an expert when it came to both creating and commanding ships, to a degree where they would have a hard time replacing him in their ranks. Therefore he placed some importance on keeping the man's operation intact when he could.

"But we have to act silently. The primeval is not our enemy, not if we do not force them to be."

From what he heard a few of the other sith of the Ascendancy were already establishing a connection to the primeval, a group that always had been on somewhat friendly terms with the sith, at least more so than most other groups in the galaxy. Making them enemies now, over something like a bounty would be a mistake.

"Depending on what kind of deal we will work out today, I am ready to offer up my abilities as an assassin to take care of the matter. Or we could work the shadows as well and answer the bounty with a bounty, one lucrative enough to keep the scum more interested in working for you instead of against you."

He wasn't as skilled as a hitman as his master or his acolyte brother, but he was still one of the best the galaxy had to offer currently. His eyes wandered to [member="Miss Blonde"]. She probably wasn't to exited about her boyfriend and father of her unborn child to go back into assassin work, but it was still a worthwhile option in this case.

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

"Seen that little childs toy once when I and some others raided Concordia. Didn't know he was a Primeval cretin."

He sipped on his water, looking thoughtful. Even thinking of such a disease as that group of individuals made his insides crawl. Fingers scratched nails against the glass, though not hard enough to illicit that despicable noise one might normally hear. He knew Abyss had many talents, talents that could be more than useful, but he hadn't considered going to him to help solve his feud with the Primeval. It made sense, though. If anyone could arrange to get it done it was him. Shadows were his plaything, where illusions were Leos'. Moving in and among them as Abyss did certainly made him a capable figure.

The fact that these two also had a vendetta against one of the Primeval's members was both amusing and fortuitous. He could certainly use that fact to his advantage, of that he was certain given what had already been said. Abyss was offering his services, and they could strike at one of them quickly enough. It seemed logical.

"I'd placed a bounty on the Primeval already. That was why he responded with one on me. The Primeval killed so many of my people that my home world is nearly barren. I want vengeance for it, but I haven't the time to enact it myself. There's too much to do for the Ascendancy."

He looked between the two of them.

"How would you propose taking him out? My offer for the bounty still stands for both of you, as well."

| [member="Darth Abyss"] | [member="Miss Blonde"] |​

 

[Miss Blonde]

"I'm glad to see that the idea of revenge has not consumed you as it does so many. Knowing when and when not to pursue it can be a very valuable trait to have." Blonde said in a very neutral tone despite praising Ignus for his discipline.

"However it makes me question your resolve and objectivism to simply pass off penance and revenge that important to the uncaring hands of a bounty hunter." Blonde then took a sip of her juice then continued.

"Righteous is the man who strikes down those who have with wickedness and malice taken the lives of your kin, is he not? What I'm trying to say is by the sound of things he's been a mild annoyance to Abyss and I, and your bane of existence. I respect you for being able to distinguish what is important, and that the dead shall remain dead no matter what for they do not want. To me it just seems that something more... personal might be a tad more effective than vengeance brought on upon by an individual who cares not." Blonde then looked over to her love and rather criticize him for wanting to get out into the field, she simply reminded him of something.

"You've yet to order your food, darling. I've already placed my order ahead of time. It's on me." Oh the words she had for him brewing under the kind guise of professionalism.

While she understood Ignus and Abyss were Sith, and that they came from different worlds. Revenge was something that both the Sith and she specialized in. Darth Sidious spent years on the long con to bring down the Jedi and rise to power. Darth Bane vanquished countless amounts of people in his name of revenge and power, so many Sith from so many eras were more passionate about power and vengeance and while yes business was business and despite how the job got done it was handled eventually.

Ignus' lack of care was the only thing that slightly worried Blonde. She was no stranger to bounties and letting assassins handle things, but those were for people who had mildly inconvenienced her. With the Imperial Remnant and their blatant theft and attack on her, she had taken that little operation into her own hands along side Abyss at Void Station.

"My proposal however is us assisting and aiding so you may have what is rightfully yours. Abyss and I have large fortunes and command many forces, I'm sure we'd both be willing to act in your interest to help you eliminate this furball either in the shadows such as Abyss has recommended, or gunning him down in the streets in broad daylight. I want to give to you your dream and ideal vision of revenge." It was always nice to give a gift to the potential person you sought to ally yourself with.

[member="Darth Abyss"] [member="Ignus"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"We are sith Blonde. Sure enacting vengeance is satisfying, but in the end a pragmatic solution is better than an emotional one."

It was the one truth of the sith. Emotions where there to be used, not as a reason to act. There was no denying that killing someone for revenge felt good, very good at times, but taking an enemy out of the picture mattered more than feeling good. While there were those mindless brutes that cared more for the death of others than an larger goal, neither Abyss nor [member="Ignus"] could be sorted in that category. As far as he could tell, Ignus was a true believer in the idea of the united sith, and Abyss simply placed so little worth on the lives of others, even of his enemies that he was more than happy to pass such task of to others.

"My personal take on this, as an assassin and not as a lord of the sith, would be to draw him out. We pretend to give him an opportunity to end your operation in one strike. And while he is caught up figuring out the trap, I push a knife in his back."

A cruel grin danced over the face of the Mindeater, and from seemingly nowhere a knife suddenly rested in his right hand. It was one of many tricks he had somewhere up his sleeve, or in his boot, on his back or pretty much any other place where you could hide something.

"Obviously this would take time to prepare, as the attack has to seem believable. There is an bounty on your company, and as far as anyone knows me and Blonde here are greedy criminals. If he believes us, or at least one of us, to be his ally in this then he will never see the knife coming."

Again to undermine his words, Abyss flicked the knife into the air and watched as it danced above their heads, only to fall down right besides Ignus left hand just close enough to touch it without being cut by it. There was no need to show of his party tricks, but the chance to get back into his old profession filled him with a bit of excitement.

[member="Miss Blonde"]

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

Leos shook his head in response to [member="Miss Blonde"]. Of course she didn't fully understand the situation because she wasn't Sith, but there was more to it than even that fact. There was a reason his bounty had required that those wishing to collect provide proof of the target's ties to the Primeval.

"I can't exact vengeance when I don't know the target. The members of the Primeval are beyond my knowledge. That's why my bounty required proof before payment. His reacting with a bounty of his own only just enlightened me to his status."

Of course the two of them were excellent strategists, as exhibited by their discussion. The plan laid out by [member="Darth Abyss"] could be a sound one assuming the stupid Ewok didn't see through it. It was hard to say these days. Some of the Force talent within the galaxy had tapped into the potential to see what was going to happen to them or to others around them in the future. Even if only mere moments ahead of time it could prove enough to save them from a trap. Proper planning would mean they have a contingency for failure, one that couldn't be traced back to him, but those party to it would know that he was involved in it.

The question, of course, became what. Gunning him down in broad daylight wouldn't do. Too impersonal, not enough allowance for enjoyment. In one sense he preferred to just have things done and over with, as Abyss proposed. If that plan worked, it was all well and good. But if it didn't, drawing him into a confrontation that he couldn't possibly win would also be plausible. It had worked rather well with Connor Harrison on Mirial, though the man hadn't died. He'd fallen to complete pieces which was just as good in the long run.

He grabbed his glass again and sipped the water.

"I like your plan, Abyss. It has potential. The bait will have to be very good, though. If it doesn't work, we find a way to draw him into an ambush he can't possibly escape from. Perhaps by slaughtering all his furry relatives on Endor. I usually despise such things, but an eye for an eye is sometimes the best policy."