Onslaught of the Empire

[Miss-Pandemica]

Nova was about to round the corner of the building when she spotted the female Sith come out of the laundry area and walk into one of the streets. She immediately recognized her for who she was. Ilia Nightwind. A powerful Sith lord to be sure, and one of the more influential amongst the reigning Sith. Anyone who lived on Kaas knew the name and the reputation that came with it. Though fearful Nova kept herself hidden and followed at a steady pace when it appeared that the Ilia had found her target.  

[Valkore Fraust]

"I think you can," Valkore said as he followed. The man looked like a lost puppy following her. He was more attracted to her at this point, but the main goal was finding out who she was and why she was here. Hopefully she'd open up a little. Maybe Valkore wouldn't even bother turning her in. She'd be the least of his worries; there were plenty of Jedi in the galaxy to turn in.

Valkore took a seat and moved his bag aside. He placed his left hand on the table and kept the other one under. During the remainder of their conversation, he'd keep his eyes and ears open. Hell, if the man managed to get a date, he'd make a great first impression. Listening to girls ramble wasn't a big deal. In fact, it was more of a necessity. "How long've you been here?" he asked.  

[Darkened Angel]

" Not too long. A few weeks, maybe. " Danika said. She moved between Valkore and the table and began giving him a lap dance. " Long enough to make a decent impression at the cantinas around here. Dancing's been a hobby of mine, and on a planet like this, I tend to have a more exotic appeal. "

Danika danced slowly, gently rubbing her body against the man's armor while looking at him with a seductive smirk before putting her chest right in his face, only inches away in a tease, pulling back a second later. She stopped for a moment, putting both arms on his shoulders. " I imagine a battle-hardened stud like you has seen plenty of exotic things. " Her smirk changed to a smile, but then she pulled her arms away again and continued dancing. " Any interesting stories, honey? " she asked.  

[Valkore Fraust]

Valkore remained silent as she spoke. One hand remained on the table while the other was on his lap. The man was a gentleman, keeping his hands to himself. The only thing that was groping her was his eyes. It was strange that he couldn't shake the feeling of mistrust.

"Too many," Valkore said, watching her. "Especially for when I worked for the Republic, but that's between you and I." That was a lie, but a good one. He'd never work for the Republic; the Mandalorian in him hated them and all they stood for. The Sith were no better, but at least their agenda was rather insidious. "What about you? How "exotic" can a dancer be?" A trick question; either she was a regular, revealing dancer, or she killed her private viewers for money.  

[Darkened Angel]

" I'm guessing you're not interested in sharing those particular stories. " Danika said. " I can't blame you for that around here. I've seen all kinds of people around places like this that have histories they don't wish to advertise. All that matters to me though is that I please the patrons, regardless of where they came from. "

Danika continued giving Valkore a lap dance as they talked, enjoying the dancing herself. " Well, I may not actually be all that rare or anything, but I don't imagine there's too many people in the galaxy that are of both Arkanian Offshoot and Zeltron descent. " she said. " Though, I do have my own history. I was a slave once. I was captured for my beauty and my dancing skills. I was treated well, thankfully, because my master couldn't resist me, but I was glad when authorities got the drop on his group and I was freed. As for dancing, you could say it's my passion. I've learned many dances and I like entertaining others with my talents. "

She paused for a moment. " I'm not a prostitute by any means, so don't get me wrong here, but I have done some other things to have fun with people. I'm not too bad at Pazaak, and Nar Shaddaa rules tend to make the game a bit more exciting. " She seemed to almost blush, as if she was embarrassed to say it. " I've had to give a few... naked lap dances afterwards... " She composed herself as she kept dancing for Valkore. " Anything to make a patron happy and want to return, you know. " She looked at the man's armor with a curious expression, then looked him in the eyes and smiled. " If you're interested in a game yourself, I'm a bit curious as to what all you've got under there. " she said teasingly. " It's up to you, stud. "  

[Valkore Fraust]

Valkore couldn't keep himself from interest. There's no way a girl like this is a Jedi. Regardless, she could have been a spy. The first time he saw her, she sparked a curiosity. He'd have to get a hold of her. Literally.

"I dunno, love," Valkore replied with a smile. "Not sure if you can handle this." The man chuckled. In reality, he couldn't fool around. Valkore had his own law; lust gets in the way of work. Should he fool around, it'd be during retirement. Maybe that'd be soon. Forcefully or otherwise. "Really, it's up to you." Valkore looked up from her hips and winked.  

[Darkened Angel]

" I think I can handle it. " Danika said. " I may not be a pro, but I know my way around the cards. " She continued her dancing routine. " Perhaps another time though. You seem to be more content with the show anyways. " she said, smiling at him for a moment.

" If you don't mind me asking, do you know what went on earlier? I couldn't help but overhear some of the other patrons talking about some attack. Do you know anything about that? It sounded pretty bad. " Danika said.  

[Nelowulf]

Jian stared around the cantina he had walked into. The buzzer which had announced his presence was far past annoying. Patrons of all sorts were uneasy, spacers abound. Despite the unnerving results of the newcomer, most did not draw a bead on him directly, yet most did take note of him. At least it was civilized enough for him to enter without much issue. Still, it was bound to be difficult, as Jian approached the bar. His youth may have been called into question soon enough, as the tender came by closer.

"I can't serve minors, kid," he gruffly announced, folding his arms and leaning on the table. Jian lifted his hands up in resignation.

"I'm here for buisness, I promise. If you can willingly serve some water up, I'd gladly take some for a parched throat," Jian calmly stated. The bartender cocked an eyebrow, and giving an eerie eye. Giving a jerk of his head to the side, the tender served the glass down the table, and let Jian walk off into a corner stall. Jian stared at what he assumed would be a good start, the Rodians in conversation, ignoring a miralian, several humans, and a bothan in the same area.

"I'm looking for transport off world..."  

[ElladanKenet]

Ilia followed Jian into the bar, finding the human accosted by the barkeep, before turning his attention to a group of aliens. The Sith couldn't quite make out what he was saying, but were she in his shoes, she might have been looking for a way offworld. Well, no, she wouldn't have. Ilia would have faced her enemies, not run from them.

Stepping past the bouncer and through the scanner, the device beeped alerting her presence. She made her way over to the Jedi, standing right behind him. She quickly went through her options of how to resolve this situation. While the Jedi would make a valuable prisoner, getting him out would be quite a hassle. Killing him would be the easiest, though she would do her best to detain him.

Quickly pushing the homing function on her comlink, and knowing the platoon would quickly convene on her to back her up, Ilia took a deep breath, before pulling out her lightsaber and activaying the crimson blade.  

[lady_skuld]

Bars are tricky. Kira knew this, as well as everyone in the room. There were quite a few notable hunters in the room, all of them waiting to pounce on the local bounty of a Jedi. Some were a bit more jumpy than others, but Kira watched as the humans leveled their sonic weaponry at the "jedi". The miralian had a smug grin on her face, as she set her blaster for stun, and armed the sonic pistol in her other hand.

"Hey boys, it looks like we found the jedi the bounty is on planet," the large one said with a chuckle. "And don't worry calling for help, this place is dampened. I have to thank you for walking into the bar and presenting yourself."

Kira slid herself out silently as the others surrounded the sith. This wasn't going to end well...  

[Miss-Pandemica]

Nova tailed Ilia as she entered the cantina but made not moves to enter it from the front, instead she went around towards the back entrance and stepped inside. She maneuvered through the kitchen area without much problem and none of the cooks seemed to care that she was amongst them. As she headed into the actual bar area at the front she immediately spotted Ilia being surrounded. This didn’t concern her because she was more curious to find the Jedi that constantly evaded them.  

[Valkore Fraust]

"I haven't heard a damned thing," Valkore replied. "Like I said, I'm looking for Republic work." As he spoke, he looked around. Even though he was lying, she and those around didn't know. The last thing Valkore wanted was to spark a bar fight. "What'd you hear?" His hand slid over to the holstered blaster as he peered behind her. The man simply could not shake the feeling that something was off about her.  

[stellarmagic]

The Jedi weren't the only ones looking for a way off world at that moment.

Alyn Roc took a long pull from a tabac cigarette as he leaned against a crate in one of the warehouses in the Ruurian star-port. A half dozen other mercenaries were standing around with their weapons, clad in battered and dirty armor or general everyday clothes. Their leader, an older mercenary name Geoff Dunn was speaking with a Ruurian, the enormous larval form of the local sapient species that resembled little more than an enlarged caterpillar.

“I don’t give a damn about how risky it is, I’m sure the Sith would love to kill us considering what our contract was. Guarding convoys they like to destroy is a sure way to earn their ire, and I don’t want to end up dead!”

The Rurrian’s mandibles clattered together in answer and Alyn almost wished he had a translator to understand the talk. This… negotiation to be smuggled off planet was going just as well as the others from the sound of it, which was to say it wasn’t going well at all.

“How much?” The old man demanded to know.

The Ruurian’s mandibles clicked shut for a moment as if in thought before a quick series of clicks echoed in the warehouse.

Geoff was shaking his head. “That much?”

Then the door to the warehouse blew apart, bits of metal came scattering into the room as the mercenaries dropped to the ground behind whatever cover was closest. Alyn swore under his breath as a squad of sith troopers clad in black and red armor scrambled into the room.

“Blast em!” Crackled one of the comlinks of the enemy. Then they lifted their rifles and filled the room with blaster fire.

Two bolts slammed into the Ruurian, ripping through its exoskeleton and spraying green gore across Geoff as he lifted his rifle to the threat.

Alyn leaned round the crate beside him, lifted the rifle to his shoulder and squeezed the trigger. Expended ACP charges hurtled over his shoulder as the burst of metal and plasma caught one of the Sith, ripping through a meager energy shield and then gouging deep into his armor. The shots walked up the trooper’s midline and he slumped, blood pouring from his body.

Blaster bolts burned down two other troopers as Alyn dropped back from cover and pulled a rifle grenade from his pocket. Swearing to himself he loaded the launcher and swung round the crate looking for a target.

Behind the troopers a female armored figure clad in a combat jumpsuit and holding a light repeating blaster stepped into view, an auditory sensor package framed her face as she made a feral smile and two shield projectors leapt from her belt and made a chest high wall of ray shielding.

“Operative!” One of the mercs called out. “Concentrate fire!”

Alyn lifted his rifle on target and fired a burst of ACP rounds. Sparks and puffs of plasma rose from the glowing red shield before a round ripped through the barrier and embedded itself in the operative’s hip. The woman dropped back with a surprised cry temporarily out of the fight.

“I’m hit!” The sith operative yelled as she struggled behind the energy barrier, a hand grabbing for a pack on her hip and pulling out a syringe. “Keep fighting you frack-tards!”

Alyn stood and lifted his rifle again as a team of three sith troopers rushed out of the cover of some boxes, their rifles firing. Without a thought he pulled the trigger sending a grenade into the midst of them, blowing them off their feet. Not checking to see if they were down Alyn scrambled back from the door searching for the next viable piece of cover.

“Sith, behind us!” Geoff yelled and Alyn spun as he saw a lightsaber blade burning through one of the side walls. “Guess they figure we can cut them to pieces on one access point.”

“8259, Jackal to command, heavy resistance at block ninety, sub-section twelve!” The operative called out as she stabbed the syringe in her hip and sat upright still protected by the shield barrier for a moment before slumping back and cursing. “Blast!”

Alyn swore and pulled out another rifle grenade, loaded it, and lifted it toward the circle being cut in the wall. “On them Geoff!”

“Jokol is down, blaster to the face!” One of the other mercs yelled.

As the blade completed the circle Alyn smiled and pulled the trigger of the launcher. The grenade stuck in the midst of the plug of durasteel and launched it like a missile into a sith apprentice beyond flattening him against the wall.

“Nice shot!” Geoff glanced over his shoulder. “Who’s left?”

Alyn scowled and glanced around uncertain when the bang of the durasteel plug hitting the ground echoed in the warehouse. Spinning back toward the sith Alyn’s jaw gaped as the apprentice straightened up and shook his head brandishing his lightsaber.

“Sith!” Geoff yelled as he lifted his rifle and opened fire sending a volley of blaster bolts toward his opponent. The sith charged forward, blocking the blasts with practiced ease then spun on his heel slashing across the old Merc’s chest. The cortosis reinforced armor held for a moment before the apprentice reversed his grip and slashed again, cleaving through the old man’s neck with a smirk.

“Idiot.” The sith said as he straightened up and spat at the slumped body.

Geoff lifted his rifle again and held down a burst of fire. The sith spun, his black robes spinning behind him and tried to block the first few shots with his lightsaber, thinking they were blaster bolts. The ACP rounds, sheathed in plasma ripped through his meager armor and robes leaving a burning ember in their wake. The sith staggered for a moment then slumped forward and expired.

Alyn stood in the middle of the now demolished warehouse. “Son of a sith…” He glanced around and realized he was alone. The bodies of his five comrades lay smoldering in the debris along with a dozen odd sith troopers.

A low moan slipped out from behind the shield the operative had deployed. Scowling Alyn walked to the woman and glanced down at her kicking away the repeating blaster rifle. “You dead yet?”

“No…” The woman hissed.

“Jackal squadron report… Jackal?” The comlink crackled and the woman glanced at her hud and shook her head before ripping it off and tossing it away. “We’re all dead, ******** kill you when they get here, you know that.” Alyn said with a slight smirk. “You want me to save them the trouble?”

“Not if I’m gone when they get here.” She growled before rolling onto her stomach. “Frack!”

“You’re not getting anywhere.”

“How much?” She hissed.

“How much for what?” Alyn asked.

“To get me the frak out of here! I’ll give you a thousand to take me somewhere else… I don’t fragging care where!” The sith operative said with another growl. “They’ll be here in five minutes!”

“Fine.” Alyn said as he reached down and pulled the woman up by the arm pit and ignored her scream of pain from the hip wound. “Let’s go sithlet.” As she stood the two shield generators that maintained her short shield disengaged and dropped to the ground. Scowling to himself he ignored them. “I bet you can afford new ones.”

“Suck a hutt...” She growled. The two of them hobbled out of the warehouse and Alyn wracked his brain trying to figure out what to do next.  

[Cale Darksun]

"Sir, there's been a firefight in the warehouse section of the space port." Darth Cinn's driver told the Sith. "Hard contact with a group of hostiles."

"Republic?" He asked.

"No sir. Only Mercenaries."

The Sith mused on this. He origionally planned on seeing this Jedi that had Nightwind all in a huff, but such an incident couldn't be ignored. No doubt some novice weaklings had already tried to take the Mercenaries on and failed. Such a small victory might encourage those that would defy the Empire. And that couldn't be allowed.

"Surely Nightwind is competent enough to deal with a weakling Jedi on her own. Driver, to the Space Port. I will deal with these space dogs."
 

[stellarmagic]

(Ooh... frak!)

"Can't you weigh less!" Alyn gripped as the pair hobbled through a set of doors into one of the passenger waiting areas. It was already crowded with civilians looking to escape the new regime the moment the blockade was lifted. Most sat around reading datapads or curled up in chairs asleep waiting for connecting flights that might not ever come.

As soon as they stepped amongst the crowd Alyn glanced around noting the holo-cams and security personnel that looked taxed to the limit with the mass of people. His scowl deepened for a moment before he glanced at the sith operative as she fished out a kolto-bandage and tried to wrap her leg as they hobbled along.

"We have to get out of here... a civilian terminal? Are you mad or just incompetent?" She groused as Alyn flushed red in annoyance.

"I don't have any better ideas, you know?" He ran a hand through his brown hair and scowled. "Damn it, Geoff would know what to do."

"Find a pub, a cantina, a Pazaak den! You know?" She growled. "I'm apparently just paying you to be a crutch."

"Fine, little sith... I'll find you a damn pub!" He growled as he glanced at the doors to the outside and a main thoroughfare through the port. Taking a deep breath he hobbled out the door and glanced around streets. "There was a pub Geoff took us too..." He glanced at the taxi's speeding by and sighed before hailing a cab. At least it'd give him an opportunity to properly treat the b***h's leg.