To Trap A Battering Ram (Siobhan)

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Tempest"]


Well, that was one way to ensure you got an appointment. Tremendously impolite but it cut down on the minutes you had to sit in waiting rooms reading fashon magazines. Admittedly Sio might be into being a fashionista these days when she was in her decadent aristo mode, but she was a very impatient person.



Siobhan had heard the commotion out at the back and quickly hurried after, though she trusted Tempest to get the job done. She heard one man go down, then felt the rippls in the Force as her apprentice unleashed a blast of telekinetic energy. This pleased Siobhan, since Tempest had always been reticient about using the Force.



"Good work," she said as she finally reached her and the predictably angry merchant.


"You won't get away with this!" Gaiseric yelled.



"If you know who I am, then you know we will," Siobhan retorted and backhanded him when he would not shut up. She quickly produced a pair of stuncuffs and cuffed him - she was very good at tying people up, but then she had learned from the best. Because he did not want to be quiet, he also got a gag. Somehow Siobhan happened to carry these items around with her, and so they hopped onto their speeder.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
Clearly the gags and various restraints that Siobhan carried with her was solely for religious purposes in the literacy module, and not for any reasons which might corrupt the younglings.

Still, they had a few legal complications when the Coronet police showed up. The two women were quite distinctive after all. After persuading, cajoling and threatening they were able to ask Gaiseric some questions, though predictably there would be a lawyer showing up.

Knowing this, Gaiseric lounged in his seat insolently. “You got no right to hold me, you know. I thought the Protectorate was supposed to be above this sort of thuggery. What do you want, anyway?”

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Tempest"]



"By the Defence Regulations our actions are completely legal. As I'm sure your lawyer knows. We could dispense with the pleasantries and detain without warrant for consorting with enemies of the state! Phrik is a restricted materiel. Especially during wartime. We know you're at the head of a group that has been proliferating it across Protectorate space. We intercepted one of your shipments and analysised the metal," Siobhan said firmly.



"It's from Gromas. All phrik was cleared out by the Sith ages ago. Only someone...with ties to them would have access to any of it. Who supplied it? Collaboration with Sith is a capital offence!"

 

[Tempest]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
“Listen, lady, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I think you have me confused with someone else!” he blustered.
The lawyer leaned in to whisper something, but was angrily brushed off.
“I don’t have to listen to these libellous accusations!” he said, trying to stand.
Tempest shoved him back into his seat. “Sit down,” she growled. “Under the Defence of the Protectorate Act, consorting with Sith and smuggling illegal goods for them allows us to intern you as an enemy of the state. So you’re going nowhere until you tell us where you got it!”

Gaiseric looked between them, then to his lawyer, who shrugged.
“Oh, fine. But it’s not my fault! He came to me with this offer. Said he needed to raise capital and suggested I sell it in Protectorate space. We split the profits 50/50. I didn’t know it was wrong!”
“Oh sure. But who came to you? Who gave it to you?” Tempest demanded.
“Old guy, Sith I think. Darth…Shadow.”

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Tempest"]


Shadow....Shadow was alive. The man had worked with Shadow.


Images of the past flashed into her mind and she lashed out. The table before her crumpled into a hundred pieces as she unconsciously wrapped her telekinetic willpower around it and tore it apart. The chair in which Gaiseric was sitting was shoved back against the wall.



"You worked with that monster? Shadow is at Gromas?" There was no humanity to be found in her eyes, which suddenly appeared like a fathomless void that showed a woman's parabolic descent into the abyss. Siobhan was in abeyance, the Butcher had awoken from her slumber.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
Tempest was no empath, and barely used the Force except when necessary, but even she sensed the immediate change. That name…she’d heard Siobhan use it, knew vaguely who it belonged to, but the sheer anger and…hatred…she felt, that was something new.
“Sio…settle down, hey?” she said anxiously.
Gaiseric, who was fated by history to be the one who unleashed the Butcher, looked paralysed.
“I…I…didn’t know who he was! I swear! He’s still there, at that station!” he babbled, holding up his hands to shield himself from the avatar of wrath which towered over him.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Tempest"]


Siobhan imagined seizing the man's throat and crushing it. It would be so easy. He had worked with Sith - willingly. Collaborated with Shadow. Whether he knew who he was did not matter. Tempest's words jolted her back to reality. Gaiseric did not matter.



"Take that piece of thrash away," she said coldly to the Protectorare guard who was with them. Presumably the state's actual justice system would take over now. "Shadow wanted us to find out. Let's go," she spoke icily as an aside to Tempest and without waiting for a response turned on her heels. The feeling of cold fury emanating from her aura was such that it felt almost like a physical presence. "I need a line to Tegs."

 

[Tempest]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
Like being an Admiral for a certain Sith Lord, one had to imagine that being Siobhan Kerrigan’s minion came with all sorts of dangers. On the one hand she was a formidable warrior and actually a decent teacher, and rich of course. On the other…there was always the chance she might turn into a rampaging chaos goddess.
Heavy risks…but the priiiize.

Tempest instantly obeyed, hurrying to their ship to connect a secure line back to Kaeshana for when Siobhan arrived. Falling back into some of her old servile survival instincts, Tempest hid in the shadows, not wanting to draw attention to herself whilst Siobhan and Tegaea talked.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Tempest"]


Since this writer likes being a nitpicking legalist at times, one might wonder about the legality of two members of a private corporation arresting and questioning a suspect. Admittedly Gaiseric had been involved in criminal activity and collusion with an enemy of the state, but fact was that Firemane was a private enterprise and presumably would not be empowered to conduct arrests, let alone interrogations.


Then again this is a universe where the Trade Federation had representation in the Senate and fielded its own army, and public-private partnership was so close that CEC was headed by the ruler of the Protectorate. Not to mention the Corporate Sector being a playground for corporations. Dahomey probably counted as a company planet, so this was probably out of the ordinary. Now that this writer's desire to break the 4th wall has been satisfied, we shall return to the actual plot.



While Tempest had perhaps wisely decided that discretion was the better part of valour, old survival instincts kicking back in, the raging chaos goddess had gotten a line to probably the only person who could exercise a measure of control over her. Without any sort of magical powers. Still, there were limits. As has been said, Siobhan was destruction on a leash. "Tegs, it's Shadow. He's behind the phrik shipments. Probably meant for us to find out. He is on the station at Gormas."

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
Timezones were difficult enough on one planet, let alone an entire galaxy! As it turned out, it happened to be the middle of the night on Kaeshana. Roused by the instant beeping of her communicator, Tegaea got up and activated the holoprojector in her room. It was important, she knew, because Siobhan had used their priority code.
Peering at her wife and trying to force herself to concentrate, Tegaea processed her words.
“But…I thought he was dead?” she managed to say. “And if he wants you to find out, it’s got to be a trap.” Gromas…she remembered now. “I can get you some backup if you’d like, either from the Mandalorians or we might be able to get one of our ships there.”
Both Firemane and the Eldorai had some pretty strong warships which could provide backup, but that would take time, days or even weeks to activate and bring online.
“Don’t go after him alone, Siobhan. He’s dangerous, and he’ll know you’re coming.”
Tegaea, usually such a good judge of character, had made the mistake of giving her wife a challenge. Timezones suck.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"]



Unsurprisingly common logic did not work on Siobhan. She had not gotten where she was by using her brain. Otherwise Roche would have gone differently. "I thought so as well. That he was banished into the netherworld. Guess I was wrong. Time to finish the job. If I have the chance to kill him now I can't waste it. I'm not the weak girl I was when he possessed me. He may think I'm also interested in the phrik, but I'll just go to tear his station apart."


Well, she could certainly wreck a good chunk of it before even landing. "Please...be on your guard. Get some Angelii to guard the villa. Hell, call Eyrecae. I can't have something happen to you. I...have to do this. I love you. Always will."

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
Tegaea sighed, accepting defeat. “I will, love. I’ll make sure everything is in order. Take care of yourself. Don’t…don’t lose control. That’s what he’ll want,” she said. Anxiety filled her like a cold spear of ice. “I love you, Siobhan. Be safe, please.”

She closed the connection and sighed.
“Is everything alright, Mistress?” a soft voice said from the door. It was Raya, her Twi’lek ‘guest’.
Tegaea looked up and smiled unexpectedly. “Yes, everything will be fine, dear. I have a call to make….” She did not say to whom, but she would be putting her own affairs in order very soon. Her hand touched the small silver pendant she wore around her neck.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Tempest"]


Expecting Siobhan of all people to have even the slightest hint of self-control was....not very realistic, alas. If she possessed it, then Roche and Gehenna would have gone differently. Anyhow with a sigh Siobhan closed the connection, staring at the empty space that had been vacated by the holographic projection.



For a moment she seemed uncertain of herself. Perhaps some of Tegs' words had gotten through to her and she was seeing how foolhardy an endeavour she was embarking upon. Then, characteristically, she shook this feeling off and turned away. Rationality was something that was wholly alien to her. She could death charge until either her opponent or she herself had died. Again, not the attitude for someone in anything close to a leadership position.



"I'm going to Gromas. Good chance I won't make it back. I'm...not asking of you to come with," she said quietly to Tempest. If one was being generous one might say she was being 'noble', but this writer is neither generous nor do they like Siobhan much.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
Tempest’s anxiety had reached full blown paranoia. “Sio, no, please. Don’t go. It’s a trap. You know it’s a trap! All he wants is to get you there by yourself and get rid of you.”
Knowing she likely wasn’t going to persuade Siobhan otherwise, Tempest sighed. “I’ll come with you. I don’t know if I’ll be any use, but I’m your Apprentice, and I’m sticking with you.”

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Tempest"]


Unexpectedly Siobhan pulled Tempest into a hug and gave her a kiss. "Don't ever say you're no use. I...couldn't ask for a better apprentice. You can come then. There's bound to be traps, and a load of elite troops. Probably with anti-force user tech. But...stay away from Shadow. He's dangerous....and excels at getting into someone's mind and tearing it apart. No heroics. If I don't make it...take care of Tegs. The holocron I made....Anya has access to it, but it's for you." Having said her piece and looking a bit embarrassed at how emotional she had gotten Siobhan released Tempest and headed to the cockpit of their ship, taking the controls and bringing it up into space. They would go pick up their gear on Dahomey and then venture to Gromas.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
Tempest at first let out a startled cry, as if she thought Siobhan was attacking her. But then she realised what was happening and leaned into the kiss before moving back. Well that had been unexpected!
“Thanks, Sio. I’m not sure how good I’ll be in combat, probably get in your way. I can pilot though, and make sure you don’t get flanked. And if we can get a slicer we can help you go through the base!” Tempest said, suddenly a bit more enthused.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Tempest"]


"You won't get in the way, dear," Siobhan said reassuringly. It seemed the raging chaos goddess had calmed down a bit. . "And your idea's a good one. We'll pick one up at Firemane when we get our gear. Hear they had one on spot to plug some sort of leak. Make sure you take one of those new shatterboltguns with you. They have a big punch and are good for sniping."

 

[Tempest]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
Happy that her boss wasn’t about to turn into a chaos goddess, Tempest laughed in relief.
“Ok, great. I’ll set course for Dahomey at once.”

And so it was done. By the time they reached Tempest’s homeworld they had a list of the necessary equipment. Whilst they knew the battle with Shadow would be dangerous, nothing could have prepared them for the slicer they were about to encounter. A slicer who would probably end up being the arch troll of an already trollish company. A slicer named Kalinai Soluza.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Tempest"]


While they waited for the slicer they had ample time to load a ridiculous amount of death dealing toys - the sort that made things go boom, blew off limbs and thus were totally family-friendly - with an equally ridiculous amount of firepower onto their vessel. Many a praetorian guard of a tin pot dictator would probably turn green with envy at the devices being crammed into the vessel. Perhaps in time Firemane would qualify for the NGO Superpower trope.


"So we're waiting for a chick called Kalinai Soluza. Why does it feel like I know her...and yet don't?" Siobhan wondered to herself in what might be considered a 4th wall breaking moment. Somehow she had this image in her mind that had something to do with time travel, a Sith called Darth Fury and a younger Phylis...who had also withstood her attempt to seduce her!

 

[Kalinai Soluza]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
So I’m naked in a fridge and…wait, that’s a different story. Right, PG-13. Uh-huh.

Well, so I got this message saying that the great and wonderful Siobhan Kerrigan and Minion needed my help in doing something to someone. I was vague on the details, but I’m pretty sure they wanted me to help sneaky sneak somewhere. Or make a cake. I can do that, yanno. Well…not well. But I can!

Anyway, so down landed the heroes in their heroic ship. This Siobhan was pretty much like all of them. She was about…oh…that high…brown hair, brown eyes. Lots of brown. Speaking of brown…minion! Wait, that’s not politically correct. Bah, whatever.

So forward I strode, tripped over a paving slab raised for just that purpose and…down I went. Presumably Countess Nympho would interpret it as animal magnetism or something. So up I got, skinned palms sore.

“So hi! I’m Kally, Empress of the Universe!” It was always good that people understood who they were dealing with. “Nice to see you again, Sio! Though, you look a bit different this time. So how’d you get here? Time machine? Immortality bracelet? I got frozen in carbonite,” I said. Not my finest hour, but it was an epic nap. 800 year nap to be exact.
“And hi minion! Not seen you before!”