Toe to Toe with My Sins

[Farah]

Coruscant

Picking up the broken pieces of Coruscant had been a tiresome job. A conflicting one, too—Farah was as much a part of the Sith Empire as she was attached to the planet she called home. Here, she’d managed to carve out her own little slice of life. An apartment, a job, even a lover. At first it was all in her own self-interest but Farah underestimated how attached she’d become to the city-planet. It was all new territory. She'd never really experienced the feeling of caring deeply for something, someone, or even a concept that wasn’t directly about her.

Didn’t mean that in between pulling bodies from the rubble and handling triage units, she wouldn’t take advantage of the chaos. She’d done her research, scoped out a few labs in the area and their characteristics. Where they were, who owned them, what they produced. Who bought from them, what their output was, where they sourced their materials.

She found one, a smaller operation that printed organs. Just what she needed—and she took it in the exact same way she’d taken Cornerstone Scientific. Force and intimidation.

It had been a few days until she managed to check up on it again, having disposed of some of the staff and altered the ones she wanted to keep. She’d sent some of her own over there as well, to replace the ones that had left. Today she’d managed to stop by and see how things were progressing.

Seated in what served as an office, the Zeltron had two holoprojections raised above the desk. One had information about the laboratory’s procedures, the other had details of her own pulled up on tissue compatibility. Her brow creased somewhat in concentration as she dragged data back and forth, pulling up charts and making comparisons.

This, at least, was the boring part.

[member="Ardeth Zun"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Farah"]

A sentient being couldn't do business in the Galaxy without ruffians breaking down the doors and staking their own claim on it.

Rude as feth.

The sound of glass cracking echoed through the corridor as one Ardeth Zun stepped foot into his former rich investment. He surveyed the damage with one burning eye (the other one had been burned out long ago) and softly sighed to himself. It would be a mess to clean all this up and make it profitable again. In the meantime the Muun ignored the increasingly more agitated pair of humans approaching at him and warning him to go away.

He thought he recognized one of them.

The one with the shock-staff already pointed at him. "Treason is not a healthy pursuit to be followed by my colleagues, mister Brandt." Ardeth finally said, looking down at one of his former workers.

Obviously hiring humans had been a kindness not worth pursuing.

Before either of them could reply the Sith's hand already pressed forward. A shockwave of kinetic force slammed into both of them. One sailed through the air and dashed against a column. The other went through the glass in Farah's new office. Well, it had been his office first, so in that regard Ardeth didn't feel overly rude about the entire affair.

He did feel angry though.

 

[Farah]

Maybe it was instinct, foresight or the Force—whatever it was, it had given Farah half a second to cross her arms in front of her face as the body came sailing through the glass wall of the office. Really, a glass wall? The transparency was so ugh.

The larger shards collapsed by the door while smaller ones came raining down over her, enough to cause a few shallow yet annoying cuts over her face and the exposed parts of her arms. Standing abruptly with the beginnings of a scowl on her face, Farah sidestepped her desk and started to kneel down to where the body was.

She stopped herself, noting the gash in his neck and the pool of blood spreading around him at an alarming rate. Could she have saved him? Maybe. There was something more important she had to deal with.

“Mm. Rude.”

Did she perform an illegal takeover? Yes. Was she surprised at the totally random explosion she’d assumed from the shockwave earlier? Not in the least. Was she irritated? Of course.

Her eyes turned towards the hold made by the shattered panes, jagged edges lining both sides.

[member="Ardeth Zun"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Farah"]

For the Muun's part he dusted his robes off a bit and strode further into the complex.

The one burning eye studied the human-shaped hole, before the palm of his hand pushed outwards again. In any other situation Ardeth might have taken it slower, more methodical, but in truth... he was pissed right now. It had taken him months and months of work to set this lab up, the paperwork, the experts and just like that it had all been blown away.

Within the span of a breath the rest of the viewport folded in and the rest of the sharp shards of glass would fly into Farah's new office.

It would probably hurt.

Which was good, as far as Ardeth was concerned, because whoever had occupied his office had probably wrinkled the leather of his seat. The fact that he had probably destroyed his seat was not the point.

 

[Farah]

Farah dove behind the desk, arms over her head and wrapping around the back of her neck. You could do without an arm or a leg—especially with cybernetics these days—but spine and brain damage were not so easily negated.

The sound of shattered glass tinkling against eachother quickly turned violent as the shards rushed inwards. When all was said and done, Farah uncovered her head and neck, pleased that neither seemed to be immediately damaged. She could flex her toes as well which was good, but the disturbingly sharp pain in her side made her gasp loudly.

A rather sizeable shard of glass had embedded itself into her abdomen. Her eyes narrowed as she placed her hands around it, instinctively trying to figure out if it had hit anything important. It wouldn’t be safe to remove it until she knew what was going on—or had access to medical supplies. Maybe she could heal herself?

Her attention quickly went to the force nullification ring on her left ring finger only to find bits of glass mangling that hand. Nothing too serious, she could still move it, but the ring? She briefly considered cutting off the finger right then and there.

Rising, she braced herself on the desk with one hand, the other holding her injured side. Usually Farah knew what to do in chaos—she could run a trauma unit, hell she was no stranger to the battlefield. A place where she usually accompanied Sith warriors to lend her support and mend them when they were injured.

Not…this. She cleared her throat.

“What ever happened to talking it out?”

[member="Ardeth Zun"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Farah"]

The sounds of cracking of glass under the pressure of boots paused for a brief moment when meeting that question.

It was sarcastic, certainly, no?

But the Muun considered it briefly regardless before stepping through the ruined glass wall. He studied his own office, noting the changes (if any) in the interior, before finally glancing over to the Zeltron. In the meantime she would have ample opportunity to attack him, if she wished it. If not? Well, then Farah would notice the stony expression that Ardeth was wearing.

"When you steal from a Sith, you generally do not get much opportunity to... 'talk it out' as they say, Zeltron."

Ugh, filthy pink-skinned mammal.

They thought themselves alien and separate from humans, but really now. Was a red apple truly all that different from a green one?

Certainly not.

"Talk then. I find myself amused by the prospect."

 

[Farah]

Even without the Force, a sense of danger hung in the air. Maybe it was the glass implosion. Either way, Farah had to make a quick decision. She couldn’t remove the ring normally and like hell she was cutting it off—it had taken her many failed alchemy attempts to enchant the artifact to hide the Force. She had ten fingers and only one ring. Were her priorities skewed? Maybe. High quality cybernetics were easy enough for her to obtain. Hell, she was working on designing improved cybernetic heart valves at CoreGen. A lost digit would be a small price to pay for a fighting chance in this encounter.

Glancing down at her swollen hand, she slowly moved her other hand away from her injured side, wincing in pain and drawing in a short breath as she moved. From her coat pocket, she retrieved a thin scalpel.

The Munn’s footsteps echoed closer now as the plasma bladed instrument sprung to life. It was small, handheld and comparable to the size of a standard durasteel surgical scalpel. The plasma blade was more difficult to wield, but it had no par in cauterization which made procedures easier and less dangerous when it came to potential blood loss. Her hand was shaking, either from blood loss or nerves. Not good. Usually she had steady hands. Things would be easier later if this were a clean cut.

Practically biting through her lower lip, a forceful groan accompanied the quick flick of her wrist and a swollen pink finger dropped to the floor. Bracing herself on the edge of the desk, she caught her breath for a moment before pocketing the scalpel.

“Amused, huh.” She spoke on a forceful exhale, obviously pained. Or maybe she was laying it on thick? “You sure sound like a Sith.”

Mutilated hand below the desk, she slowly drew up the disembodied finger and put that in her pocket as well. She could work the ring from it later in her own time.

Maybe he wouldn’t be expecting it. She’d be damned if she didn’t try, though.

“You’re more than a little presumptuous.” She paused to groan softly, shifting on her feet. “Don’t suppose we could come to a peaceful solution.”

One hand thrust forward, a shockwave of force exploding out from her person as she put her all into it.

[member="Ardeth Zun"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Farah"]

It came as a surprise when Farah suddenly unleashed a force blast against him.

Close proximity too.

He got slammed into the wall, the tiling shattering against the sudden weight and pressure. But the Muun wasn't a fragile doll being thrown around. He didn't even twitch or blink at the pain coursing through his body. The left eye only turning more feverish and amber as his own hand swept to the side. Immediately the table next to Farah was seized by the Force and would launch to slam against her.

"One opportunity to talk, you wasted it."

Hand lashing out again to throw the heavy table into her again.

He had gone from maybe teaching her a lesson (that could go out of hand, yes, but that was the cost of doing business) into something else. This was a forcer- Sith, probably, but maybe something else.

Competition.

There was only one fate for competition.