Wubba Lubba Dubrillion

[Caulder Dune]

DUBRILLION
RISHAN

Dubrillion's surface was primarily ocean. What sparse land there was had become occupied with high-rise cities that reminded Adekos of Coruscant. It was his most recent assessment of the One Sith that led him to believe that it was charted for a painful, downward spiral. The Yuuzhan-Vong were insolent, mindless beasts that knew nothing but destruction and being cultural troglodytes. In the grand scheme of things, leaving them was optimal. For the short term, it meant two things. One: the One Sith had a new set of enemies that knew more about their tactics and strategy than they'd like. Two: the deprivation of their primary shock force was going to leave them vulnerable to impending assault. Maybe the One Sith would rise to the occasion and surmount the rising star of the Galactic Alliance regardless of being deprived of their favorite cannon fodder and renown leaders.

But probably not.

And that was why Adekos was going to have to turn his gaze outward again and make sure his other projects would continue on long after the demise of the One Sith again. Normally he didn't handle these sorts of things himself, but he just happened to be in the area, so why not? This was the sort of mission that required a special touch as well. Hegemonic Automaton had been looking to establish a distribution center in this area for the better part of several months. Construction should have been completed by now, but the local mob kept hampering their efforts. They demanded a bribe, but Gerion Ardik did not deal with criminals. The result now was that construction workers and Hegemonic employees were being intimidated and assaulted. Machinery was being stolen, droids destroyed. It was all but too much for an Umbaran to take, so now there would be hell to pay.

The local mob leader was a Caamasi. It was unsurprising that on a humanocentric world like Dubrillion, most of the alien races turned to crime. What was surprising was that it was a Caamasi! They were supposed to be peaceful, but apparently if they were raised far enough away from their planet, anything was possible. Heseqey no doubt felt that she was owed something for her mistreatment by the Dubrillionites over the years. Never an excuse to turn to crime or harass more legitimate enterprises, which was why Adekos was going to forcibly place her under an unofficial citizen's arrest and use her as leverage to beat her mob back into line. Or, in other words, kidnap her and use her as leverage.

Since she was naturally a non-murder type of person, who better than to contract than [member="Ivy Lasranae"]? Ostensibly this was the only factor that led to her contracting. It had precious little do do with... Anything else.

Heseqey was currently attending a lavish party in the upper floors of a skyscraper. The windows were not tinted or shuttered, and so Adekos could see through them very plainly from his vantage point on the rooftop of a neighboring building. With the assistance of macrobinoculars, of course. He tracked her from window to window before eventually holding them out for Ivy to take. "Of all the intelligence I had gathered, I don't know how long she usually stays at these little parties for." He grumbled. "She's getting another drink. See if you can spot her guards. They peeled off from her a while ago."

 

[Hazel Scheler]

The overwhelming aroma of alcohol and blackspawn was curiously not accompanying the Merc today. Small, quiet jobs like this required focus and despite her penchant for drinking when in the presence of Magicians, Ivy was not want for any further mishaps where Mr. Ardik was concerned. Had to have her wits about her.

Wits she had and all assortment of gadgetry.

Minutes ago, when the man stood squinting through the window pondering which spec across the galley belonged to his target Ivy pressed those macros into his hand with the words Try these uttered over a toothpick. Arms folded, the amusement of watching him fiddle with the things for several long moments before just using them sat somewhere squarely between the fresh bruise on her cheek and the cut on the opposite eyebrow. Ivy declined comment when asked.

She took the macros back without a word, resetting them with a hairy glance at the man before taking a look herself.

"Second drink," she said, scanning the party floor and the host of bodies in attendance, "more guests arriving on the floor below. She won't be going anywhere for at least an hour. Two Guards at the entrance, one at the lift, fourth in the corner. I imagine she has a few dressed incognito as well. All these potsy bigwigs are the same."

[member="Darth Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Ivy Lasranae"]

He snickered at her assessment of the gathered Caamasi, despite the fact that he was every bit as 'potsy' a bigwig as she thought them to be. "Careful, miss Scheler. These are little more than common criminals. Abnormally organized ones at that. Certainly not worthy of a title as prestigious as 'big wig.'"

If he had known he'd be up here for that long, he would have packed a nice dinner. Of course, Adekos' idea of a nice 'dinner' while working was an Imperial ration in a self-heating can. What it lacked in taste of any discernible kind, it made up for in nutritional value. Everything a human could ever need in their diet, packed into one convenient can. A miracle of modern science and technology. And food processing. Ivy could probably appreciate that. Then again, it couldn't get her drunk, so perhaps not. He didn't broach the subject.

Adekos regarded her with a curious gaze. Or it would have been, had there been anything other than Ivy and some of the surrounding rooftop reflected in his mask. "You're not terribly fond of society's upper-crust, I suspect."

 

[Hazel Scheler]

"I'm not terribly fond of society in general."

To say nothing of the fondness of society towards the Merc. She hoped the feeling was mutual, really, but couldn't figure out why she still felt compelled to save them all the damn time. This snatch-and-grab wasn't her typical M.O. but Tyrin had promised that he intended on killing no one. Her faith in his word wasn't very strong but if there was one thing Ivy could do to assure this would be the case it was to do it herself.

That and her armor needed some upgrades. Costly upgrades. Upgrades that weren't covered by the deal struck with the man the last time they'd traded words.

[member="Darth Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Ivy Lasranae"]

"Society in gen-" Adekos could hardly finish his sentence, such was the magnitude of how flabbergasted he was. A short cough escaped his lips after that.

He could almost understand where she was coming from. There were days when Adekos wasn't terribly fond of society either. His most vivid memories of this were when he governed Hypori. Oh, the endless complaining. "Stop taking our blasters, it's my right to bear arms, waa! You can't get rid of our right to trial by jury, waaa! You can't just search our homes without a warrant, waa! Give us back our minimum wage! Give us back our freedom of assembly! No more mandatory curfews! Stop deporting the Yuuzhan-Vong! Waa, waa, waa, waa!" As if any of those bleeding hearts actually knew what was good for them. His administration had brought law, order, and safety to a society that was about to tear itself apart.

Not that they ever thanked him for it, the fools. But he didn't do what he did because he suspected people would thank him for it.

The Umbaran cleared his throat. "Now, that's a lie. If you weren't terribly fond of the populace at large, you'd be more keen on murder. You didn't even kill those crooks and junkies on Coruscant."

 

[Hazel Scheler]

"I'm hearing an awful lot of Sith coming out of that mechanical voicebox."

The target was on the move. Well, she was moving. More like footling-about. Ivy tracked her very slow and circly-windy progress across the main hall to greet some of the newest guests. Oh yes, there it was, drink number three. Champagne. Ugh, what a Princess.

[member="Darth Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Ivy Lasranae"]

The Umbaran huffed indignantly. It wasn't like the Sith had a monopoly on pragmatism. Not a lot of people like him or Ivy, when threatened by criminal miscreants, felt the need to utilize the stun setting on any of their weapons. They were doing the galaxy a favor by offing them then and there. What sort of life awaited those kinds of dregs? How many more victims? "Right, next time I'm assaulted by murderers and rapists, I'll be sure to leave them alive." He chided. "That way, once I've escaped, they can... Rethink their lives? Or, more likely, murder and rape someone else. Someone without the combat training to stop them." Adekos threw up his hands in mock surrender and began to meander away from the edge of the rooftop. "That's not even a strictly Sith thing. Jedi have killed out of convenience before. They'll only rack up more civilian casualties as they continue to chart their downward spiral."

His tirade was long and loud enough that neither would hear the access hatch on the opposite side of the roof slowly, quietly open.

 

[Hazel Scheler]

"Mmm," said the woman thoughtfully from where she stood while she let him spew and fume and tirade as only what could make him happy. For her part she didn't disagree with his stance on Jedi but she would have formally tacked the name Galactic Republic in there somewhere for posterity. Certainly been enough of their name zooming around the tabloids for all manner of heinous war crimes as of late.

"Don't stop now," she said during a lull of hot air as the man seemingly caught his breath and prepared for another round, "you've got some good momentum going."

More guests. Ivy enhanced the zoom on the macros as she watched them pile in. She did not hear the sound of the roof access hatch as Tyrin spouted like a hot air balloon setting to rise.

[member="Darth Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Ivy Lasranae"]

There it was again: that haughty huff of his. "Well if you're only going to deride me, I don't-" Adekos was about to launch into another complaint about how utterly atrocious Ivy was in terms of civil discourse, but was interrupted by the sound of a disruptor pistol going off remarkably nearby. A single crimson bolt sailed across the rooftop and smacked into the back of Adekos' helmet. Or at least, it would have, if it hadn't instead impacted his personal energy shield. It was for these kinds of scenarios that Adekos very rarely left home without his Icon-Class Personal Energy Shield. The Umbaran was enveloped head to toe in a sickly blue light as the shield became visible from the impact.

"Huh?" Darth Adekos half-turned, one hand outstretched as he seized his assailant by the neck with the Force. A male Bothan, dressed like an assassin. In one fell motion Adekos raised the Bothan barely a meter off of his feet before slamming him back into the ground with extreme prejudice. Still alive, but dazed. His grip on his disruptor pistol loosened considerably. Since Ivy was adverse to killing, Adekos would refrain from killing as well. In the name of lust.

The Bothan attempted to struggle, but Adekos held him there seemingly with little problem. "Great. I think we've been had. What's going on at the party?"

Ivy was right that there were plainclothes security mingled in with the rest of the ball. She was wrong in assuming they were in Heseqey's employ. Whether Ivy was looking or not, someone at the party abruptly opened fire on all of the guests with a rapid-fire blaster pistol. A trio of other criminals, three Caamasi, fell upon Heseqey's guards with vibroknives. It was, predictably, messy. The entire party descended into chaos as guests either tried to escape or revealed themselves to be in on the massacre. There was just enough time to see Heseqey herself get dragged into an elevator by two more Caamasi and third, more distinct figure: a Gluss'sa'Nikto with a crimson eyepatch.

 

[Hazel Scheler]

"You know making such a racket really doesn't help with our-" Hazel flicked her helmeted head to look back over her shoulders just in time to watch [member="Darth Adekos"] bodily slamming a bothan into the ground like a dirty carpet, "-cover."

"The feth, Tyrin?"

This is what she gets for egging him on. All that blather made for lousy sensory awareness but damn if it wasn't fun to press his buttons. Buttons she was quickly learning to recognize as easy targets. Bad Ivy, bad.

At least he seemed to have things well in-Force. She eyed him, the glare obscured by the reflection of her helmet visor, and quickly turned to look back at the party below. Instead of a party, however, the macros honed in on a quickly reddening celebration, "Sithspit," the Merc dropped to a crouch, zooming in to try and find their hostess, "Heseqey's being dragged into a lift. Two...three Caamasi...and a really ugly guy with an eyepatch. This doesn't make any sense...since when did Caamasi become violent?"

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Ivy Lasranae"]

"The feth, Tyrin?"

"What?" He asked, glancing behind him. An invisible force kept the Bothan pinned to the ground, unable to move. "It's just a Bothan."

The would-be assassin tried to reach for his weapon, which had fallen close by to him. Darth Adekos turned back to look at him just in time to see the display. As a reward for the Bothan's efforts, the Umbaran levitated him back into the air and flung him into a wall. Not hard enough to break any bones, but enough to wind the poor fellow, who collapsed back onto the ground in a tangle of limbs. He gave a pained groan. It was unlikely he'd be walking out of here without help or would be of any further trouble. While Ivy reported the situation in the adjacent building, Adekos took the time to telekinetically snatch up the disruptor.

A Model MSD-32! Where the devil had a Bothan gotten one of these? The blueprints were destroyed, outlawed... Very curious. Unless it was just a cheap knockoff. Ivy complained that Caamasi weren't supposed to be violent. It was true, most of them were remarkably peaceful. "Those aren't Caamasi from Caamas. Some of them are born here on Dubrillion. It's amazing what a different planet, government, can do to a- wait!"

Adekos whirled around, momentarily forgetting the Bothan and the fancy disruptor pistol. "Who had an eyepatch? What did they look like?"

 

[Hazel Scheler]

A grunt in reply. She supposed that made sense.

"I didn't get a long look," said the Merc in response, attempting to get another visual on the group that had disappeared into the lift. With all the chaos cluttering up the view through the windows it was becoming difficult to see much of anything, "tallest guy in the group...red eyepatch, real bushy eyebrow. I'm going to assume this is a rival of Heseqey..."

Another glance back and the assassin was ten feet to the left in a heap, "What are you doing?" she hissed, pulling out her blaster and shooting the bothan in the rear, "Do you have to play with the bothan? Just stun the damn thing."

[member="Darth Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Ivy Lasranae"]

Adekos watched passively as one of the apples of his eye whipped out a pistol and shot the hapless Bothan in the rear. The assassin cried out once and fell silent- unconscious on account of two telekinetic slams and one stun bolt to the tuchus. Darth Adekos, typically, balked in disapproval of both Ivy's insinuation and her waste of ammo. That Bothan had clearly been incapacitated already. "Well, normally I would have just snapped his neck, but I opted for what we in the biz call a-... Well, that's not important." No point in bothering her with the technical details of the maneuver. She probably wouldn't care. Truly it was just like [member="Darth Carach"] said: there was just no dealing with women. You were either chastised for doing things your way or yelled at when you tried to do things their way.

Why was he always right?

"Follow me, quickly." Adekos beckoned, quickly striding for the exit hatch. "There's only one scoundrel on this planet I know of that matches that description: Sextus of Kintan he calls himself. Apparently we're not the only ones who thought to launch a kidnapping to influence a rival gang. That damnable Nikto has been trying to make inroads into this side of the city, but Heseqey wouldn't budge."

He stopped at the hatch, which was wide open. Adekos took the time to peer down below to make sure no one would be waiting for them once they descended. There were quite a few floors to cover once they disembarked the ladder. Hopefully that Bothan had come alone.

"Apparently he decided to take the initiative and budge Heseqey himself. Here, I'll go first."

Without further delay, the Umbaran took to the ladder and began the climb down. It was only a few feet long, but from there they were going to have to take a couple of elevators, maybe a stairwell depending on how inconspicuous they wanted to be getting out of here. Not that they had an especially luxurious amount of time...

 

[Hazel Scheler]

Groaning, the Merc's helmet rolled in mirror mime of her eyes. Sextus, really?

"That's the worst fething name I've ever heard..." grumbling, Hazel got back to her feet and strode after him, "even worse than Preacher." Never thought she'd top that one.

Holstering her blaster, collapsing the macros and hooking them back onto her hip she waited for him to make his way down the ladder, rung by rung, before crouching down at the hatch, feet dangling, and simply jumping down after him. She landed with a hefty thud and motioned for him to take the lead, following him down the hallway to a nearby set of stairs. Hazel nearly ran into him when he stopped short, leaning over to spy a group of at least half a dozen more on their way up.

He turned back and made haste for the elevator.

"I can take them-" Hazel said after him, setting her blaster cell pack to charge and reaching to belt where several items of inventive use sat at her disposal.

He insisted on the elevator.

"That's not...hnnnnmmmmmmgh-" growling, she followed. This was his charade, she was just here as the hired gun.

Ding.

She slipped into the elevator after him, waiting in a tense stance for him to press in the appropriate floor. The doors slid shut with a gentle hiss. Hazel whipped to look at him, "You realize an elevator is the worst place for us to fething be right now. Rule of thumb for survival as a Merc - you never take the elevator."

[member="Darth Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Ivy Lasranae"]

"You're very much right that's not a hnnnnmmmmmmgh." Adekos mimicked her growl as best he could (it was not that good), just as the doors to the elevator slid open and he gestured for her to step inside first. "It is an elevator, Ms. Scheler. You are familiar with them, yes?"

She sure complained a lot for a ragtag mercenary. She wouldn't even enter the turbolift until he got in first. It was like she somehow wasn't aware that he was a powerful space wizard with a laser sword that could cut through anything. This wasn't a gang-controlled building. He did his research before scoping the place out; he wouldn't pick anything so blatantly sketchy. Those goons clambering up the stairs to follow up on their unconscious comrade might have been packing heat, but they would hardly have control over the elevator. And if they did...

The Umbaran waved his hand over the elevator's control panel. Normally it would be making stops, but as of right now this was an express elevator to the ground floor. It was here that skills like Technometry and Electronic Manipulation came in handy. Not that they ever came in handy anywhere else. But when they did come in handy, it was always nice.

In response to ivy's rather vocal concerns, he gave a noncommittal shrug. "Oh, relax. If the elevator attempts to harm you, I will be right here to protect you."

The elevator began its descent as inappropriately soothing music played. Adekos took the time to examine himself in the reflective door and wipe the faceplate of his helmet with the back of his hand. It was always smudging up for some reason, even if he hadn't touched it. There was always some kind of wardrobe malfunction with him, one costume or another.

 

[Hazel Scheler]

She did not find the miming to be of an amusing sort. Nor the remarks.

Not like he'd divulged just what sort of space-magic-frippery he was capable of. Not like she had any idea what sort of hocus-pocus he could pull out of his firm Sith tuchus. The woman stewed in her armor for several moments, hazel eyes glaring daggers at him from behind the glint of her visor.

"This lift could open up to a trap of blaster fire and I don't care what kind of Space Wizard you are, no one can stop every bolt. If it's even just bolts." The Merc stepped over to him as he preened his helmet in the reflection of the door and placed herself directly at his front to purposefully obscure his view. A pointed helmet stare followed with it canting to the left in a manner that said, Really, Tyrin?

[member="Darth Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Ivy Lasranae"]

Darth Adekos paused mid-rub and sighed, standing back up straight and sizing up the mercenary in front of him. His hands clasped behind his back as if he were delivering an address to a crowd of demoralized infantrymen. "If you're really convinced of that, you probably shouldn't be standing in front of the door. Come, get behind me. I'll protect you." He should have known she'd be this much of a stick in the mud. Her proclivity towards lightheartedness while on missions had been more than evident on Coruscant. If there weren't concerns over reducing her combat effectiveness, Adekos probably would have put a few drinks in her before they got here.

Oh well.

"Not that it's necessary. we're in a public building. Those ruffians wouldn't dare open fire on us in the lobby. Besides, we'll be down there far before them since those idiots-" The elevator abruptly halted and the doors made like they were about to open, but Adekos pointed an open hand at the control panel just as fast. The elevator doors shut again and the lift resumed its decent. On the other side, a lawyer yelled in outrage, as there were no bathrooms on this floor. "-have all those stairs to go down. Relax, Hazel, please. Where's that flask of yours?"

 

[Hazel Scheler]

"Those very same ruffians just open fired on an entire floor of unarmed party-goers," she hissed back at him, stepping forward into his personal space, "you didn't see the bloodbath because you were too busy playing with the fething bothan."

Ding.

She glanced back over her shoulder as the doors tried and failed an attempt at opening with a confused hiss of their own. A brow lofted behind her visor at the short image of the lawyer through the narrow opening afforded for just that quick moment before turning to look back at her Sith companion.

Where's that flask of yours?

The grip of her fingers around her own blaster visibly tightened, shoulders hunching in preparation for an assault. She pressed forwards again, bodily encroaching on the man's space until he stepped back into the corner of the lift. A gloved hand moved to grab the hold-bar installed at waist height on the wall just behind him and around his side, tucking the man right up against her.

"If we weren't in fething armor right now I'd grind you into that wall so hard your ancestors would turn in their graves."

[member="Darth Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Ivy Lasranae"]

"Those weren't partygoers, Hazel, please. They were crim- Wait, what are you-" Suddenly Adekos found himself being worked into a corner by Scheler's indomitable advance. Was he being assaulted? It felt like he was being assaulted. Given that this was Hazel's bodily encroachment, it wasn't an especially uncomfortable corner... In theory. It was merely the fact that the Umbaran considered himself to be in the middle of working right now when Ivy supposed she might have ground him into the wall.

He was mostly flabbergasted. "Yes, well, that's nice." Adekos tugged at his collar as if it were suddenly several dozen degrees hotter in the room. "We can talk about that later. Maybe over dinner. Maybe when we're not-" There was a jovial ding as the elevator reached the ground floor and the doors rumbled open. The lobby was largely empty, save for some receptionist at a desk that couldn't be seen from this angle and an elderly janitor moping the floor near the front.

Surprise. No hail of gunfire.

"-You know, working."

Adekos slipped out from the corner like the slippery little creature that he was and started to cross through the lobby. He brushed off his chest and shoulders as a haughty, embarrassed man frequently does. "Come on, I'll drive."

 

[Hazel Scheler]

Should have known he'd be the sort of man that couldn't get behind a quickie on the job.

Not that attempting that sort of thing really worked with three layers to get through. Ivy gave a dejected sniff, letting the man peel himself out from his corner to the peculiar silence of the foyer. It was a bit like forecasting rain and ending up with sunshine and daisies. The Merc considered for a moment that she'd actually wanted the rain, and that was far darker a route of thinking than she needed to be going down.

Especially just to prove a Sith Lord wrong.

Cracking her neck with a roll of her helmet the woman turned to follow him out of the lift.

"By 'I'll drive' are you referring to your butler or...?"

Smirk.

[member="Gerion Ardik"]