You're not the Empress... [Anaya]

[Sarge Potteiger]

Ossus
Orbital Research Station

Sarge strode confidently through the near deserted halls of the orbital research station. He'd been here once before, killing guards and neutralizing scientists; all in the name of stealing research data. Ashin and he had reached something of an accord, and he'd been on his way.

After all, no harm no foul and whatnot.

Still, he needed to contact her, and he had to be circumspect. The wedding had put things out of wack, politically, across the galaxy. Or at least he'd feared it had. That meant any number of things for someone like Sarge. Not the least of which was having to get involved.

As a scientist left the control room, he slipped in, quiet as death and as invisible as a panther stalking a moonless night. Force-Dead as he was, he didn't fear anyone 'sensing' him, since there was nothing to sense.

Still, he should have figured someone other than Ashin would be in the control room.

And that this person was going to be a Sith.

Feth. Good thing he was a master of being unseen and unheard.

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Finally alone Anaya slumped her head against the control panel in front of her and let out a small scream of frustration. There weren't many times when Anaya couldn't get her way by using her charm and body, today was one of those time. She had to careful with her words and her actions to communicate the results she wanted to see from the experiments.

At least, she had the month old nexu cub at her side, as young as its head still reached her waist and it seemed to unsettle the scientists enough to scurry away and obtain the results she was after. Rising from the chair she rubbed the cubs head absent minded, a small smile coming to her face.

"I think we did well, little one." she said softly as she moved across to the control panel and picked a room at random. A small holoimage appeared and she watched with mild interest as a Ysanna was tormented. "A few more months and we might have a warrior we can use."

The nexu began to growl, its head low, its eyes directed at the door. You could be unseen and unheard and dead in the force. But you would always smell. Anaya moved her eyes to the door and then back to the nexu "Shut up. There is nothing there. Vallik said you were intelligent, please don't prove him wrong or I might have to actually kill him this time."

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

"He's intelligent enough to know better than to attack.", came a disembodied voice. With the room closed, it echoed a bit off the metal walls, but Sarge didn't mind. Usually he'd cover his scent; as an expert tracker scent was something he knew well.

But hey, if you weren't expecting an attack... cat-thing then you couldn't prepare for it. What followed next was something more than curious. There was a thud, and the nexu cub went flying towards a wall as though it had been kicked.

It may or may not have been unconscious, Sarge couldn't be bothered to check.

Still nothing there...

Until a blade appeared from thin air - held aloft by a severed wrist - in front of Anaya and made to press to her throat. "Who are you." The voice asks. "The answer better be good."

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Anaya froze. There was something very unnerving about being snuck up on. It wasn't something you got used to as a force user. She moved her hand slowly to her lightsaber as she scanned the room extending her sense and feeling nothing she listened instead, but even his steps were silent.

She let out a cry of surprise as the nexu cub went flying and made to move forward to check it was ok when the knife flashed before her face to press against her throat. "Oh, your good." she mused with a smile, moving her hand away from her lightsaber. It was always wise to be passive when someone had a knife to your throat.

"Interesting that you should waltz into a sith base and ask who I am when you are clearly the intruder. Surely this should be the other way round?" She extended her senses to the cub checking it was unharmed, if unconscious. "If I don't answer, what will you do, open my throat? And then what?"

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

One could only imagine the sinister smile plastered on whatever face this being had. Other than 'humanoid' it was hard to peg what the specter was. "I'll open you a new airhole...", he begins slowly, "then I'll call Ashin. And what I'll do at that point is tell her that in attempting to contact her I had to ventilate the throat of a rather shapely Lethan who got in my way."

It was simple, straightforward, and very matter-of-fact. This wasn't a threat. It was a promise. But the casual way he used Ashin's name would, hopefully, give her pause. You didn't use the Empress' name in such a tone without knowing her in some capacity.

"So, what'll it be, Red?"

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Anaya chuckled and clicked her tongue at the mention of Ashin's name. It should give her pause, but then she was Anaya Fen and sometimes the game was to good to think twice about.

"Mmm, I love it when a man makes promises. Threats are so cliché. I must warn you though, the empress wouldn't be particularly happy you killed one of her champions." She smirked wondering just how much this man knew about the empire.

"If that's not enough for you, then I suppose I can tell you my name is Anaya...though I think I prefer it when you call me Red."

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

"You like nicknames, eh? Good, so do I." He grinned, "Something tells me she wouldn't be surprised if I were to rid her of one of her chosen ones. I have a habit of killing the useful ones." This time, a hint of a thick, bushy brown beard appeared as he raised his head a bit or two.

As he did so, the hood pulled back just enough to expose his chin... and the feral grin that split his face. This was a human who'd snuck up on her. "Alright, Red. I'll give you a tit for a tat. I'm Sarge. So, what're you doing here?"

That thirty centimeter blade didn't move from her throat.

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

A human?! There was a brief flicker of surprise on Anaya's face and perhaps a touch of annoyance but it was concealed quickly. "Tit for tat? Now that's is a good game."

She tilted her head at his question "My job." she replied with a grin "Making sure people are doing their jobs and generally instilling fear. You?"

Her hand inched to her lightsaber again.

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

"Don't.", he states flatly, and the barrel of a slugthrower pistol pressed to her stomach. "Me? I kill people. That's my job. So you're a vaunted Champion, eh? Tell me, where's your Master? Ashin? She made a right mess at that wedding from what I hear."

That grin never faded.

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

She grinned as the shotgun in her belly and moved her hand away. "Ashin's not my master." She laughed though.

"That was a good wedding! Never had so much fun. A mandalorain tried to seduce the bride, someone poisoned the punch and a few Echani died. And that doesn't even cover the family dramatics..." she stopped remembering the knife and the shotgun.

"I don't know where she is. She could be on Dromund Kaas, or Korriban. Feth she could even be here. Why? You gonna kill her?"

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

Thankfully Sarge didn't have a shotgun, just the pistol. Still, a gun was a gun. The grin disappeared faster than a midget in a wheatfield. "Kill Ashin? Never. I'm frankly offended you'd suggested it." Holstering the pistol, the mirage shifted a bit.

"I just want to talk to her about not making fragile galactic politics even more fragile. Last thing I need is to be fighting an acquaintance."

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

"Well," Anaya sid spreading her hands and shruging. "She's not here...I, on the other hand, am." she gave the knife at her throat gentle force push away from her "And you can stop threatening me now. I don't pick fights I can't win." Moving away from the mirage she moved to her nexu cub running her had across its body checking for any permanent damage.

"Ashin didn't go to the wedding to upset fragile politics. She went for personal reasons. Everything that followed was fall out of Kamon's bad manners..." rising she realised she had lost ight of him again and she scowled. "Well, almost all of it. Some sith just like to ruin a go party with exploding cake."

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

The knife disappeared as she nudged it away, and the mans chin did as well. "Mm, Kamon. The White Current user?", he snorts. The man had seemed a pompous sort, with an ego larger than his skill. Such was life.

"Cubs fine. Mostly. Some bruising, perhaps, little else. I was gentle." The lingering image of if flying into a wall said otherwise, and did little to confirm that his 'gentle' didn't mean 'violent' to everyone else.

Smirking beneath the hood as she seemed aggravated that she was unable to see him, he added, "So, Red. If she's not here where does that leave us?"

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Anaya smiled inwardly, wondering if this master of stealth was 'gentle' in the bedroom. Mystery was always a big turn on, the less you know the better the night turns out to be, and right now, she new nothing other than his name was Sarge and he knew Ashin.

"Well, you bruised my pet, and that has repercussions. I could send a message to Ashin and tell her you're looking for her, but -" she stopped as the door opened, a timid scientist looked at Anaya and then at the cub and back to Anaya again. his staring irked her. "What?!" she snapped at him.

The scientist jumped and looked down at the datapad in his hand "Ummm, we lost subjects twelve, fourteen and eighteen." Anaya stared at him, momentarily forgetting about Sarge, "And?" she pressed.

"Well...we need more." Anaya clapped her hand to her forehead in dismay. "So go and get some. And stop pestering me."

"But-"

"OUT!"

The scientist fled.

"Do you drink, Sarge?"

She assumed he was still there, after all, he hadn't got what he wanted yet.

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

Oh, he was still there. He was definitely still there.

The conversation with the scientist certainly piqued his curiosity, but he said nothing. They had clearly shifted gears on the research here since last he'd set foot here. So it goes. Whatever the funding was for, scientists had to do.

"I do. But not right now."

Drink had caused him problems in the past. It was a temptation that was quite hard to resist right now. "What do I have to do to get you to tell her I'm lookin' for her?" Simple business proposition.

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Anaya grinned.

She was going to make him regret asking that.

"Well, for starters, you can stop hiding from me."

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

Reluctantly, the hands appeared once more.

He pulled the hood down, and then split his cloak so that she could see his armored torso and legs. He was clad in black cloth and black carapace armor pieces of indiscernible metal. As expected, there was the usual webbing and pouches.

The bayonet was held in his belt.

His face, scarred on the right side from what was probably shrapnel, still managed a thick beard one would expect from a man who lived in the wilderness. Bags under his eyes attested to a number of sleepless nights, but his short brown hair stood at odds with the scraggly, thick beard he sported.

Eyes so brown they were almost black gazed at her without a hint of amusement.

"There."

He was, technically, still hiding. The cloak would prevent a good look from behind, but otherwise, there he was.

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Anaya smiled. Dark hair, dark eyes, rough around the edges and rugged. She ran her eyes over him from head to toe with a look that clearly showed she was undressing him mentally.

"Better." she said with a smirk as she crossed the room to stand in front of him. "Why would you hide such a pretty face?"

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

He gave her a look that implied he thought everything of himself except that he was in any way attractive, and that she was rather mental to think otherwise. Then again, he was firmly of the mindset that she was mental, and she'd probably back him up on that.

"Not being seen is part of my job."

There's a faint bit of an annoyed smirk as he adds, "Allowing women to judge me on my looks is not."

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

"Really?" said Anaya tilting her head with a coy smile.

She was still thinking of other things she could get him to do. "How an earth do you get laid?" Her eyes glittered with mischief.