Under The Sea...Sort Of

[Hades Michae]

“Sir, it appears there was a – um, uh – an, uh, issue.” The knuckles of the man holding the clipboard were so white Hades imagined snow, pure and untouched by the piss and dirt deep down here in Coruscant’s filthy underbelly. He took a deep drag from the ever-present cigarette, the dark hollows under his eyes illuminated by the pull. He spoke through the exhalation, smoke curling out of his nose and mouth in lazy curls.

“I’m gonna need you to try that again, and this time without sounding like you just got hit in the head.” He had no patience for problems. He hadn’t had a hand in starting this Club because of the credits or the perks – hell, he felt more at home in a cardboard box, belt still around his upper arm, skin gray and waxy as he licked his lips and stared up at a manufactured heaven. Drink in his hand, cigarette in his mouth, something shot in to his veins. This life kept him close to the only thing that’d mattered after the first hit. That he was good at it was secondary. The Club was primarily and simply a way to avoid ennui. That he’d found good men to build something with wasn’t a half-bad perk either.

So despite feeling nothing even resembling an emotion another person would recognize, he saw the need to correct their employee’s mindsets when there was an issue. He and his partners were trying to build something great and failure in any aspect was unacceptable. Hades did not accept ‘problems’ and ‘no’s’ and ‘difficulties’. He dealt with them with a characteristic all-or-nothing approach, separating chaff and wheat without mercy. The last time there had been an ‘issue’ with no foreseeable solution presented by his employees, he’d reached over with his cigarette without a word and burned out the eye of the man that’d told him. He believed in shooting the messenger and his sender. That would explain the pale, sweating man in front of him now.

“The shipment…someone seems to have uh….gotten at it.”

Not bothering to ask what the man meant lest her receive more stuttering, Hades put a hand to the back of his clipboard and used it to shove him aside, entering one of the warehouses he’d painstakingly chosen specifically for their unassuming exterior.

Blood was everywhere: splattered over the floor, dried where it dribbled down the side of the freezers, even splashed against the walls. There had been no attempt at subtlety here. Moving over to one of the chilled containers, Hades inspected each as he walked by. Some were completely empty, but others still had a few kidneys strewn about the bottom looking sad in little puddles of blood. Thousands of kidneys – a huge order, the kind of movement that would put the CRC and Hades on the map as the premier in organ trade. All gone. Though they were one of most easily kept organs they still only had thirty hours to get them to the buyer in peak condition. It couldn’t have been more than two since they’d arrived.

“You mind explaining to me how in the span of two hours somebody got in here and took every single goddamn one of these things, and not one of you worthless druks noticed?”

The head guard following him (from out of arm’s reach) stammered, opening and closing his mouth in the hopes that’d make words come out.

Reaching down in to one with a few of the organs left, Hades scooped up a cold kidney and rolled it over. Bite marks. All over it. Nothing human – long gashes, two’s and four’s. A muscle in his cheek twitched, a ripple of wrinkles. Holding up the kidney he turned to the guard.

“You and your guys are gonna find who did this, and you’re gonna do it in the next hour. If you don’t, I’m taking the kidneys from every single one of you to fill this order. I hear that’s a poodoo way to go. Man, I remember one time I was tweaking and the guy next to me, his kidneys just shut right off on him. First I thought he was just tripping really hard because he was talking about seeing things you know? I mean that ain't all that weird, I see things even when I'm not high. Next thing I know he’s screaming about how it’s hard to breathe, grabbing at his throat with his eyes bugging out of his head. Then as he’s trying to breathe he’s holding on to his head like it’s gonna explode, still screaming as much as he can. He went in to a coma I think – I don’t know for sure, I was high. But he was just staring, not moving. It was probably…two hours, and then he had a seizure. Blood, foam coming out of his mouth, the whole nine yards. Ended up cracking his skull open on the sidewalk, brained himself right next to me. Kind of annoyin’, really. Killed my trip.” He took a breath, licking his lips, taking a drag off the cigarette he’d almost forgotten about and seemingly oblivious to the green color his employee had gone. “Bet it’d be worse if someone just took them out of you were alive and left you to see what happened. Anyways yeah – go find those things.”

Truthfully, whether or not the men found the shipment, Hades would kill them anyway. He couldn’t have that kind of carelessness in his leg of the business. They had a reputation to uphold. But the threat would make them work faster.

Sighing, he pulled out his datapad. It was so hard to find good help these days.

[member="Tanek Santii"]​

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

She lifted her head from the corpse she’d been taking apart, a careful peeling of the scalp to reveal perfect ivory cranium. Her datapad had let out a soft chirp, enough to be heard over the music that played softly through her labs. Wiping one delicate metallic hand on a towel she kept draped over one leg for just such occasions, she opened the message.

“We’ve got a problem.

Meet in the usual spot. I’ll be there until you can get there.

- Your Favorite Pessimist”

Such a message was reason enough to wipe both hands off, pushing back her chair and going to wash them clean.

Problems were not necessarily something she couldn’t handle on her own, but there was an acolyte she kept hearing about…a Togruta, Tanek Santii. As she made her way out to her personal ship she scrolled through the directory of students within the Academy, selecting his name and sending out a private message.

“Pardon the late hour, but I have a matter I’d like to include you in. Please meet me at my apartments – coordinates attached – as soon as possible.

- Matsu Xiangu”

Hopping in her ship, she set a course for her private residence at the very top of Coruscant’s upper level. Even before she’d taken mantle as its Empress she’d had the very best, a deep love for the jewel of the galaxy that extended to all things. She’d left the message purposely vague with intention to pique the acolyte’s curiosity.

 

[Darth Pyrrhus]

Tanek sat cross-legged, wearing only a pair of loose black pants. The rest was only red skin, mixed in with white marks. Four lekku hung down his form, two at the front, two at the back. In front of his head floated a lightsaber. It wasn't his own, he had yet to make one. This he had taken off the corpse of a dead Acolyte on Ruusan. That had been a fun day. Not for the Acolyte, obviously. He was currently at the penthouse of one Kaine Zambrano, though he knew him only as his Master, Darth Vornskr. While he was off on some business, performing the many duties of a Voice of the Dark Lord, possibly involving clubbing baby seals, Tanek had been permitted to stay. He spent his time wisely, in study and training. Today he was working on his telekinesis. The lightsaber floated around his head clockwise, slowly, while the hilt twirled counter-clock wise.

The dead silence was broken by a sound coming from his datapad. His concentration broke, and the lightsaber dropped to the ground. "Kark." he muttered, annoyed as he rose to his feet to see what the interruption was about. When he saw the message and who it was from, he almost dropped the datapad too. Matsu Xiangu... He knew that name. This was the Empress of Coruscant, the former master of Sage Bane. It was Sage who had first introduced Tanek to the Sith, and had since been very helpful in showing him a few neat tricks. When he'd first mentioned Matsu, Tanek had mistakenly believed she was the ruler of the Sith. Despite that not being the case, she was high up in the hierarchy, and getting a summon from her was a big deal. It was an opportunity, although an intimidating one. He doubted it was a trap, or that he was to be reprimanded. Unless... Something had happened, and Darth Vornskr and Matsu Xiangu were at war. Sith had enemies, he knew, and familiarizing himself with their history had showed him that infighting was to be expected. Something had indeed happened, but he had a feeling it wasn't an immediate threat to him. His guard was up, his curiosity piqued.

Conveniently, he was in the neighbourhood. It had taken him no time to get dressed. He wore the simple black robes of the Sith, a tight fitting dark tunic underneath the signature black hooded robe. The hood was kept back. It didn't agree very well with his horns. The lightsaber was, of course, hanging from his belt. He had hesitated for a moment, standing before a speeder. The master and apprentice hadn't exactly covered to what extent Vornskr's facilities and resources were available to him. Though when the Empress calls... She had said as soon as possible. The speeder took off, and the Acolyte sped off towards the coordinates given.

[member=Matsu Xiangu]

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

[SIZE=12pt] “Lady Xiangu, a speeder has arrived on your private landing pad,” announced a smooth, feminine voice from the datapad in her lap. “It checks out as one of Darth Vornskr’s machines.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Let him through,” the Lady answered, lifting herself from her seat and moving towards the landing pad that flared from the entrance to her high-rise home. There were those that might have been concerned greeting relative strangers in their sacred space, but Matsu had no home. She had places she slept and enjoyed but there was a fundamental ‘lacking’ in her sense of personal belongings. And few would try to get in without an invitation. Visually it was hardly a Sith’s dwelling at first glance. It lacked much of what one would expect – no stone, no fires, no draconian gargoyles leering from the corners of every castle-like room. Instead it was astonishingly post-modern, a sleek tribute to fashion, one of her few human indulgences. (And she WAS human. She just…forgot sometimes.)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt] She waited at the entrance, allowing Tanek the comfort of sizing her up from across the pad once he’d landed. The Sith had, by and large, left behind their seething hatred of aliens long ago. Matsu saw it as an appropriate change of attitude. In her mind humans had the advantage of being the majority but beyond that, they were no better or worse than any other sentient creature in the galaxy. However, she DID find the fact that Vornskr had taken on a Togruta apprentice something of a surprise. She could recall more than a few instances where he’d made his views on such things abundantly clear.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt] For the most part Matsu was fairly relaxed but there was work to be done, and when Tanek approached she waved him along with her. “I appreciate your swiftness,” she began, the whisper of the glass doors allowing them inside accenting her speech. “I have a matter of a certain…difficulty to attend to. Both of my apprentices are away on missions, but your name hasn’t escaped my attention. If you are willing I’d like to bring you along.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt] She didn’t share any details in case he refused – a great waste, she would think, would remember – but she was interested in his response. His name had reached her because she’d heard of potential, whispers up the grapevine of possible sorcerer. Those always peaked her interest.[/SIZE]

[member="Tanek Santii"]​

 

[Darth Pyrrhus]

The speeder touched down without any problems. So far so good. The Togruta Acolyte emerged, walking with quick steps towards the entrance. Someone was waiting for him. Was it her? Or was it one of her lackeys who would take him to her? The closer he got, the more foolish his question became. The feel of being in her presence told him that this was definitely Matsu herself. The way she carried herself through the Force left him with little doubt.

He had been very curious to see what she looked like. What race would she be? As he got closer he found the body to match the presence. She looked Human. To his knowledge, he was the only Togruta. At least he had never encountered another among the Sith. He had not received any problems for it either. Perhaps he was lucky to not have run into Vornskr earlier, back in his less accepting days. Humans were definitely the majority, but he didn't mind, he found their race to be fascinating, sometimes even strangely appealing. There certainly were worse looking species.

"Of course, Empress" he gave her a swift but respectful bow of the head, as he'd turn to walk with her. Was that the appropriate way to address her? If not, he was sure he'd be hearing of it soon enough. "Always happy to serve" Tanek gave his reply. He didn't say much, but he didn't need to. She would know from his answer that he'd accept, regardless of not knowing the full details of whatever she had in mind. His tone was serious, in an effort to mask his excitement. The fact that she turned to him when her own apprentices were out of reach was not something he took lightly or for granted. The fact that she even knew his name, that somehow he had caught her attention was proof that he was doing something right. Was it pride he felt?

This was an opportunity. And like all opportunities, they offered room for failure. The fact that the matter was described as difficult did not faze him. Tanek would throw himself towards the most challenging task without hesitation. He would either emerge a Sith, or not at all.

[member=Matsu Xiangu]

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Truthfully she was one of the more relaxed Sith counted among the organization’s ranks. She did not get riled easily, nor was she constantly on the hunt for conquest. Her pursuits veered more towards esoterica, a head in the occult, spells and rituals. Some part of her loved battle, but most of her loved the stars. In most ways she differed from her old, ancient, long-gone Master but in one thing she was the same – calculated, cold, thinking first and acting second. She was equally as capable of punishment as any other Sith, but her violence was pointed and devastating instead of wonton.

She smiled when he agreed, happy with his acceptance. “Good. And call me Matsu,” she offered. Leading him down to a more discreet landing pad, she explained on the way. “I have an associate that contacted me asking for help. He and his business partners run a large-scale organization in Coruscant’s underground buying and selling all sorts of things you can’t find anywhere else, or at least not easily. A shipment disappeared and they’d like it back – and frankly, so would I, hence where we come in.” They passed by a dozen quiet, nearly invisible guards, women that patrolled Matsu’s establishments all over the city-planet. The Atrisian didn’t necessarily covet ‘things’, but a show of force deterred those that would disturb her when she found time for oft-unavailable down time. An elevator zoomed the Lady and the Togruta downwards.

“As I’m sure you can gather, this is all information of a sensitive nature that you are being trusted with. This organization has provided invaluable resources to the One Sith. To have that relationship compromised for some reason would be…unfortunate.” The warning in her tone was accompanied by a split-second change in her expression before she folded back to her usual pleasant neutrality, a mask that served her well. The elevator door hissed open, revealing a second landing pad lower than the first. It would be better if they left a different way than the one Tanek had come in – they had work to do.

 

[Hades Michae]

Hades slipped the sixth cigarette of the last hour in his mouth just as word ran down the grapevine that the Sith had arrived with a guest. He didn’t have any particular feelings about Matsu – mostly because he had particular feelings on very little – but if pressed he might describe her as someone he respected. A smart man would include fear on the list, and although Hades was intelligent he was fundamentally lacking in any department than would help him with self-preservation. He didn’t fear death.

Pushing off the wall, he stood with feet at shoulder-length and one hand in his pocket as the petite woman and her companion rounded the corner in to his complex. Blood had leeched the bottom of his pant-legs, the impression of a butcher surrounded by the last bits of discarded refuse around him as his face appeared through the puff of smoke he let out. He wasn’t familiar with the alien that Matsu had brought with her but if she trusted him Hades didn’t have a problem with it. The Sith Lady was one of the reasons his Club ran around the planet with impunity – he wasn’t about to say no to her.

“Xiangu,” he offered by way of greeting, giving a nod to her companion as well. His voice was a drawl, slow and tired, bored almost. Moving over to one of the empty freezers, he held the cigarette between his lips as he reached down and picked up what remained of a kidney. Holding it up, he rotated it so the enormous toothmarks in its side showed in the harsh relief of the lighting in the warehouse. “Ain’t never seen anything like it myself,” he said, swinging the organ towards the alien he didn’t know, half-interested in his reaction to an organ shoved in his face and half not caring at all. “Have you?”

[member="Tanek Santii"]​

 

[Darth Pyrrhus]

"I will, Matsu." he nodded, professionally, like a soldier accepting an order without question. Were they on first name basis now? Neat. You can call me whatever you like. Tanek walked with her, listening as if his life depended on it. In some ways, perhaps it did? He assumed if he'd said Huh? Could you repeat that please? the Sith Lady would not have been pleased.

In truth, Tanek knew little of what went on in the lower sectors of Coruscant. It had been beneath his notice, his focus entirely on training and further forwarding the One Sith agenda. It would seem that he was about to get a formal introduction to the inner workings of the underworld. "I see." It had its benefits, he could see that. Access to all sorts of things one couldn't otherwise acquire was useful. It likely only came at the price of overlooking certain transgressions, allowing the organization free reign in Coruscant's underworld. A small price.

He didn't ask what the shipment was. Discretion seemed to be the name of the game, and so he trusted she would tell him everything he needed to know, when he needed to know it. That he wasn't being trusted with more caused him no offense. Would he have acted any differently in her position? Hardly. "I'll give you no cause to regret your decision to involve me, Matsu." he replied knowingly, his eyes revealing an awareness of the fact that if he made one wrong step, his life would be forfeit. Such was the nature of the Sith. Success or death, no success without the risk of death. He accepted it completely.

Unless Matsu spoke, the Togruta would remain silent during their trip. He wasn't much of a talker. He had risen from humble beginnings as a hunter on Shili, though exposure to the Dark Side was slowly cultivating him. It was teaching him how to become a proper manipulating and eloquent being.

The seemingly sinister Sith rounded the corner. Again, he would allow Matsu to take lead. He was merely her shadow in this. He was trying to gauge what kind of man they were dealing with, but he was difficult to read. Someone high in the hierarchy of whatever organization Matsu was dealing with, he would guess, if only because they were talking to him right now. Either that, or her liaison. When the man nodded to him, the shadow nodded in return.

Tanek observed, as the damaged organ was presented. The nature of their little business arrangement was becoming clearer, though for what purpose, he did not know. Seeing the sight, teeth marks upon flesh, an image flashed before him from Iridonia, when he had bitten off the face of a Padawan, in a moment of Dark Side infused rage.

"No. I have not." he replied, revealing a set of sharp, predatory teeth when the organ was held up close to his face. He didn't flinch. As a hunter, he had skinned and dissected many a beast. Blood and entrails did not faze him. If anything, he held an almost morbid curiosity for it, and the way they behaved in the moment of their owner's death.

[member=Matsu Xiangu]

 

[Hades Michae]

When he was younger he’d been the kind of guy who might have been disappointed by the lack of reaction on the stranger’s part when Hades teased him with the mutilated organ. But instead he just shrugged, accepting it as par for the course. That was the problem with Sith. Most of them weren’t easily unsettled.

“Yeah well, looks like rodents to me. Big ones…”

He imagined an army of giant rats coming to steal his precious cargo and felt his mouth tense to a flat line. He’d thought he was past rats, past the sort of rudimentary planning that would allow for such third-rate disasters but as always…people got in the way.

“Sir! Si—” The henchman bustling in immediately slowed when he saw that Michae had company, straightening himself up and approaching with the same amount of urgency but less panic. “Sir, one of the men just spotted a…uh…rat-looking thing heading in to a sewer opening with one of our coolers in its arms. Real big. Real nasty.”

Hades shifted his craggy valley of a face towards Matsu, raising a brow.

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

He always called her Xiangu. She’d done business with him more than a few times now, and even sat down to sample product with him – shoot the breeze, admire communal hallucinations, discuss ennui and futility and the universe at large – but he still always called her Xiangu. They certainly weren’t friends though Matsu wasn’t opposed to those. He simply seemed a creature that found little point in human interaction beyond the basic amount he needed to salvage what was left of his sanity. She could respect that, but it was strange.

Names meant little to her. She had more than a few – Matsu, Xiangu, Mat, Spider, Darth Yaomo – but the first was the one she’d attached to the ‘thing’, to the body she was in. (A name made them all feel safe. A name made her real. A name reminded her she was supposed to be human even though every day drew her farther and farther from that truth. She was not a ‘who’. She had never been a ‘who’. She was a ‘what.’)

She felt one side of her mouth quirk up when Hades tried to rattle Santii with an organ. The crime lord probably knew better but she’d noticed he seemed to find cheap tricks amusing. The Togruta’s reaction was pleasing and she might even have laughed had the henchmen not burst in with news of giant infestations. Looking back to Michae, she gave him a look that implied he would owe her quite a lot for this one.

____________________________________________​

She’d opened the entrance to the sewers with relative ease, access to the codes to the elevator system that would bring them down to the main circulation chambers deep, deep beneath the surface right at her beck and call. From there it hadn’t been so simple. Enormous, towering pillars crackling with energy rose up on all sides, powering the planet’s filtration, waste, water, and electrical systems. It was an engineering marvel unmatched anywhere else in the Galaxy. From here it was obvious Coruscant’s architecture was based on ‘squares’, entire circuitry routed over and over on itself in giant cubes stacked longways and sideways and diagonally in dizzying shades of brown and tan. Gone were the neons of the upper levels or the gritty, swampy darkness of the underbelly. Here were the monsters that had been driven from the once rich, fertile land of ancient Coruscant to adapt to this bleak, abandoned world.

Despite all that it’d been easy enough finding the service entrance for the tunnels that would wind down towards the planet’s center – a decent journey, and one that was marked by enough ‘CAUTION’ signs to stop anyone less determined than Matsu.

At first it’d been a relatively dry walk, but after a while water filled the bottom of the dark tunnel in a steady stream. Her boots splashed through it gently with each step. She hadn’t thought she’d be traipsing around where very few had ever been and was without a traditional lightsource, but she opened the projector functioning on the wristband doubling as her holocommunicator, letting it cast a soft, eerie light over the tunnel as they walked.

“So Tanek – are you always so serious?” she asked as they traveled, side-stepping around a lump of garbage diverting the path of water slightly.

[member="Darth Pyrrhus"]​

 

[Darth Pyrrhus]

Rodents? Tanek wondered what that meant. Not what a rodent meant, of course, but what it implied. It seemed unlikely that rodents suddenly invaded the warehouse and consumed all of its content. Had they been controlled? Or was the man's assumption simply wrong?

As if to answer his thoughts, another burst in, claiming he'd seen some rat-like being make away with one of their coolers. He shot a look towards Matsu, as a thought came to mind, though he didn't say anything. He wasn't entirely sure if it would be safe to say in their current company. Tanek would hold his tongue, for now.

The Togruta and the Empress set off, down into the less glamorous part of Coruscant. The sewers. As soon as they were alone, in the sewers, Tanek would offer his thoughts, the ones he had withheld before. "It could be Sith Alchemy." though if he had thought of it, so would she, he reckoned. Although it was a way to learn what she was thinking, and perhaps discover what she thought they were up against. Did they have a rogue Sith on their hands? Could it be someone challenging Matsu's rule over the underworld?

It was a dark and gloomy place they appeared to be going to. Tanek had never been this deep. He barely even knew it existed, not having given it much thought before. Safe to say, his eyes were a little distracted, taking in the sights as they moved deeper into the bowels of the planet. The 'CAUTION' signs were enough to tell him they were going into unsafe territory. Though she was the Empress of the planet, he couldn't help but wonder if whoever they were up against had the advantage of being on home turf. Then again, she was a high-ranking Sith Lord, that ought to count for something. Yet there seemed to be so many paths, so many options. How would they find them?

His lips shaped into a frown as his boots and the lower area of his pants got wet. Having entered the sewers, he couldn't imagine the water was pure. Perhaps this was one of the few good things about having a limited light source? Though their surroundings were dark, he was a creature of the darkness now - he was a Sith.

The Lady asked him a rather casual question, one that had him loosen up slightly. They seemed to be passed formalities. "Yes." he replied, though with a smirk, and in a tone that sounded almost playful. The light joke served as an indicator of the opposite, he was not in fact always serious. He added some explanation, which was likely why she perceived him as such: "I tend to stay focused when on official business" when was he ever not?

[member=Matsu Xiangu]