A Necessary Evil

[Lina Ovmar]

The red orb of Aeten II loomed in the viewport of the Femme Fatal, a world yet to be conquested by the Sith Empire but something that was on their radar nonetheless. The Saaraishash had passed word to the Dark Lord's apprentice of a small mining operation funded by the Jedi, nothing to be particularly concerned about, but in the grand scheme of things it was also not something that they could allow to happen.

Her task was simple. Stop the operation, and kill everyone involved. It seemed wasteful, but then she'd always found casual murder a pointless exercise. Calina understood, despite her misgivings, that not only did a message need to be sent following the events that had unfolded on Mirial, but also that eradicating threats before they came to conquer the planet proper was essential to their success.

She rose smoothly from her chair as the pilot confirmed they were in orbit. A transport ship was prepped and ready to go. "Parla," she said softly, the HRD slid up smoothly beside her. "Maintain open communications, alert us of anything that might intefere with our assault.

"As you wish."

Sweeping from the bridge she headed for the hangar bay where [member="Itash Mecetti"] was waiting for her. Clad in a black jumpsuit that accentuated the smooth curves of her body, decorated with silk thread she barely gave her companion for this trip a second glance as they boarded the transport shuttle with a handful of thugs that were to accompany them on the mission. Cannon fodder, for want of a better word.

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

Tash was leaning against the shuttle's hull when Calina strode into the bay with all the arrogance of the Galaxy.

But his eyes weren't on the frosty expression or the distant look, instead it cupped and brushed and supported the accentuated lines. His wandering wasn't subtle, there was no attempt to hide the interest or soften it. It was just as arrogant as her and just as unashamed as Itash always carried himself. There was not enough time in the Galaxy to truly worry about what other people might think or say.

She walked on by and didn't even give him a first glance.

Eyebrows went up.

That was a first. One of the Thyrsians smirked, but other than that the Sunguards with him didn't comment on it one way or another. The fact that their Master had been blown off in the first ten seconds would be an endless source of humor for them.

But now it was time for business.

"You walk with confidence, Calina Ovmar." Tash remarked as he followed her in, eyes studying her back freely. "I like it."

 

[Lina Ovmar]

The words from Itash brought Calina up short, and she turned to look at him with a slight frown. The shuttle rumbled to life and her hand snaked up to slide through the hoop above her. She walked with confidence because she was confident it seemed odd to her that someone would comment on it.

Somewhere in the back of her mind the penny dropped and her eyebrows arched. "Do try and keep your attentions on the mission, Itash and not on my walk, as difficult as that may be for a man like you." she replied with an almost bored tone, before casting a glance out of the port hole and watching the Femme Fatal shrink away as they headed for the surface of Aeten II.

The shuttle shuddered, red blurring the port hole as they breached the atmosphere and Calina brushed a lock of golden hair back behind her ear.

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

Tash smirked up before settling next to her and the viewport.

Elbows brushing for a moment, but not entirely touching. No point in poking the bear when the bear was feeling inhospitable. "Oh, my attention is squarely on the mission, don't you worry." Something would tell Calina that it wasn't the mission she was talking about. She would be right. The look he gave her briefly, before studying the outside of outer space through the viewport told all tales in truth. For now Ovmar was interesting to him, a hunt to pursue during the boredom of this... mission of hers.

Fighting Jedi, yadadada, stygium, yadada, killing.

It gave a foul taste in his mouth. He didn't truly enjoy killing people or hurting them in any physical way, really. But sometimes you needed to break a few eggs before breakfast could be served. His funds were running out again and he was almost at the home stretch.

A few more weeks... a few more months of pay.

Then the library would be his.

"You don't look much like Sith," Head tilted, smirk grew larger but his attention was still somewhat studying the growing shape of the continent beneath them. "Might not be the worst thing."

 

[Lina Ovmar]

"Good." Calina replied, completely missing the subtleties of his words, she didn't give the matter anymore thought. Unfortunately for her, her exposure to such attention had been limited, she did not understand that she was considered attractive. Her focus had always been on something beyond herself a mission or a goal that he appearance had nothing to do with. Thus far, the only people she had found attractive had been those who intrigued her on a mental level. Thus far, Itash was not even on her radar. Perhaps that was fortunate...

She didn't look round at him as he spoke again, not for a few seconds, cogs whirring in her brain trying to decipher whatever that was supposed to mean. When she did, and caught his smirk, she realised then what she'd missed his original statement. "Appearances can be deceiving." she replied, a hint of venom in her voice, the walls she carried round with her suddenly seemed to develop spikes.

Whatever Itash had to say in response was drowned out by alarms screaming through the shuttle. "Incoming missile! Brace for impact!" the pilots shout rippled tension through the shuttle as people made to secure themselves. Calina tightened her grip on the hoop above her head, anchoring herself to the shuttles floor with the force.

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

The reaction he received amused him.

Immensely.

But before Itash could push her further something happened. It was the ping of danger in the distance that made him curl his fingers around a nearby tube. The shocks and shudders of the ship doing its best to outpace incoming fire came next, his feet were planted solid and for a moment Tash was pleased. At the very least he didn't fall on his face next to a pretty lady such as Cal-

The maneuvers failed or maybe the sensors hadn't picked up on another set of torpedos, but the result was the same.

Impact.

Once, twice, then it was a free for all as inertial dampeners got knocked out. All of a sudden gravity was out and he was send flying into Calina, the maneuvers continued as the pilot tried to crash the ship in some reasonable fashion.

Is this how I die? An explosion to the left and they got rocked once more, together, tangled in a mess of bodies and limbs send crashing into a nearby wall.

The Gs the ship was pulling at this point was insane.

They slipped down, groans in his mouth and mind, his shoulder hurt. Blood seeping from his brow, covering his eye. More explosions, chaos, they tried to rise and were only knocked off their feet again. Then the last knock as necks snapped from forceful crash, knocked out. Last thing Tash remembered? Her eyes... blinking, slowly, once, twice, then she slipped and so did he.

Her eyes, blue, sharp, ice.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

The first thing Calina became aware of was how much she hurt. Pain split across the back of her head, her back and shoulder ached and her breathing was hard. She opened her eyes, smoke stung her eyes and she blinked hard, realising that part of the reason she was finding it difficult to breath was because Itash was crumpled on top of her.

Groaning, she rolled him off her and pushed herself upright scanning the wreckage around them. The back half of the shuttle was missing, fire trailing the ground marking the path the shuttle had taken. Getting unsteadily to her feet she scrambled for the cockpit, both pilot and co-pilot were dead, comms were dead too. Cursing she moved back to the unconscious Itash as the distant shouts of soldiers told her the enemy was coming to check the wreckage.

"Itash." she hissed before slapping him."Wake up."

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

The first slap didn't work.

The second slap brought a stir.

It was the third one that finally made his eyes flutter up, he was awfully calm for someone who had just been in a crash. There was no panic in those eyes, instead he sized her up, once, twice, before cataloging the damage around them. "I usually prefer a private hotel room or something similar when we get to the slapping." There was a smirk again, eternal smirk, but this time it did not reach his eyes. "But I suppose this works." He carefully pushed himself up, making sure not to put too much pressure on any single bone or muscle, before knowing the damage.

Nothing.

Oh, there was pain and it kept ringing up and down his body, but it was nothing that he wasn't used to. Which was probably strange for a pampered noble boy with big ambitions that ran higher than his brain contents. "Any survivors?" Tash asked calmly, before squinting through the shattered viewport. There were shouts out there, people incoming and something told him that they weren't too friendly.

This wasn't good.

He hated killing.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Calina scowled at his waking statement but said nothing in reply, moving to the hole torn in the back of the shuttle. She had bigger problems than Itash's crude comments. "If there are survivors, they are not here." She nodded back down the trail of wreckage behind them. She squinted through the smoke, they could either wait to be discovered and fight, risking exposing the fact that there were survivors to the operation they were tackling, or they could move and hide before they searchers caught up with them.

Her head gave a sharp throb, and she hissed, placing hand to the back of her head, it came away covered in blood. "Feth." she breathed. "Come on." she grabbed Itash's arm and gave him a tug, before leading the way out of the shuttles new doorway and away from the approaching voices. They scrambled over rocks and dropped into a shallow crevice, Calina fighting the nausea ofhr concussion as they moved.

"Anti-air missiles were not in the debrief." she grumbled peering out from their hiding place, trying to get a head count, which was made considerably more difficult with vision that kept slipping into doubles.

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

When she tugged his arm he hissed in pain.

Large cut across his bicep that he had missed at first survey somehow, but this wasn't the time to be a baby about it. Tash followed her suit, scrambling across the rocks and hoping that they would still in their wake before the fethers came around. They were snuggly there, in that crevice, snuggly enough that the Tapani almost whispered something seductively, before stopping.

The first few came around.

Two, three.

Four, five, six.

Seven.

Seven was stretching it... seven was making it difficult. Pushing him to his limits, but seven... he could do it, couldn't he? "Let me try something." Tash whispered close to her ear, lips almost brushing her skin. "Excuse me, gentlemen!" He shouted, hands already up high and scrambling down again. Ignoring her pleas to stop. All seven aimed their rifles, but they didn't attack immediately.

They were the good guys, after all.

The lightside did not simply kill their targets, if they were not a threat.

:: Target. Hands high, no sudden moves :: one of them immediately said, stepping forward.

"Oh, but I am not a target. I am your friend." That brought them to a stop. They looked at one another, their expressions muddied and confused.

"Frie..."

"...nd?"

Brilliant smile now. "Oh, yes, definitely. I am in a bit of a pickle though. See... I really need a gun. I don't suppose you guys want to help a friend out?" They looked at one another again. Expression solidifying between astonishment, confusion and just general disbelief. It was a battle of wills, there was a beat of sweat trickling down his neck already.

But then the first one stepped forward again.

For a moment it seemed as if he was going to jack Tash over the head... until he reached out with the gun and allowed the Tapani to take it.

:: Friend. ::

Tash nodded thankfully and accepted the rifle. "I have another friend, please don't shoot her while she is coming down, yes?"

 

[Lina Ovmar]

"Oh you've got to be fething kidding me." she growled watching the muddled expressions on their faces. She turned her back against the crevice wall and bowed her head. Another reason, besides his fail attempts at charming her, to not trust Itash. Thank you very much, Jared Ovmar. Wonderful, now he had a gun, and so did six of their enemy. What exactly was the next phase of his plan? Have them waltz right into the operation and mindfeth everyone there?

She closed her eyes, the world spinning violently and making it harder to think straight. Whatever his plan was, she was in no position to argue it. She peered out again, hand hovering near her lightsaber before she scrambled down, eyeing them all warily. She might have offered to help, she was more than capable but as a rule Calina didn't play in peoples head. She looked, yes but she never played with them.

Her hand caught Itash's arm to steady herself, catching his eye she let go quickly. "Alright, lets go." she muttered.

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

Tash eyed her as a hand steadied her by her shoulder.

"If you say so." There was some measure of doubt in those eyes, but he didn't voice it. That would imply he cared about her state of being- which he didn't. Not really. Itash cared only for a set amount of people: me, moi, mon, monsieur and maybe part of him gave a crap about Wes as well. Mostly because Wes usually made sure he didn't get stuck in situations like these. It was funny that every time he did get into a situation like this it was when Wes wasn't around.

His fething sentient luck charm.

Attention went from her to the gaggle of 'friends' staring at him with mouth open and fascinated. He might have pushed them a bit too hard, that realization made him frown a bit. No matter what Tash didn't really enjoy permanently karking with people.

Not because of the people.

Because it complicated situations.

"Our friends will go first, reporting that they haven't found anyone alive." The first one nodded fervently to gain some measure of approval maybe. "Right. We will follow along, keep our distance, once the gates are open, our friends will realize just how badly they have been treated by those Jedi, yes?" This time the first one had doubt, head tilted ever so slightly in confusion. But before Itash had to apply more pressure one of the other ones piped up.

"Always hated 'em, acting like they too good for a proper drink and a card game."

Muttered approvals here and there. Good enough.

"Then you guys should go, yes?" They turned as one and started marching out of here. This time it was Tash's time to steady himself, blood from his nose, catching himself on her shoulder. "Feth- never did that many at once before."

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Calina caught his elbow as her reached out to steady himself. Her ice blue gaze watching the troopers leave before turning them slowly on Itash, certain he'd recovered equilibrium enough to let go of his arm. "It was a smart move." she replied, though the disapproval was still echoed in her eyes. She winced, a hand moving once more to the wound on the back of her head. Her hand still came away bloody, but a little less than before.

She sighed and reached out, drawing on the force to strengthen herself doing her best to push the effects of the concussion aside. Once more distrusting glance at Tash, and she moved after the troopers, keeping distance enough to watch them but not necessarily be seen with them as the approached the facility. Failure was not an option, already they teetered close to it. The Dark Lord would not trust her if she could not complete such a simple task, and she needed his trust.

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

He rubbed the blood away and let go of her shoulder.

The first two steps were difficult, but the third step easier and the fourth step seemed as if nothing had happened whatsoever. This was not, strictly, the truth. Already Tash could feel a measure of exhaustion starting to seep into his bones.

But the Tapani felt lucky and it was his luck that flood through his muscles. Ushering him on. Whispering that there was opportunity afoot. Oh, this time around Itash knew exactly what type of opportunity it was, because he had been the catalyst of the set-up this time around. They followed the squad from a distance. Tash could still feel them at the back of his mind, tugging along with rope and iron. Some of them were unruly, but the presence of the more malleable ones kept them in line.

After all, seeing their close friends and allies working in tandem with them put them at ease. It reaffirmed for them that all was well and that they did not have to worry.

"You seemed unhappy with my move, even though it gives us a chance here." Tash commented softly as they watched and followed along. Just out of sight, but close enough to see the facility coming up at the horizon and growing larger in a steady fashion. "Why was that?"

The Tapani did not consider himself as a smart man.

Smart men had to work, but lucky ones? They had the whole world as their oyster. But people? People he got. Instinctive perspective that allowed him to see more than what they wished to show.

For the most part anyway.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Calina considered her words carefully, her mental guard rising at the question in case he felt the need to probe for the answer. Eyes remaining fixed on the facility ahead of them. "Because I've seen and suffered the consequences that come from breaking a mind." she replied with a finality that suggested she was not willing to discuss the matter further.

The facility entrance was flanked by two watch towers, a soldiers pacing in each one, eyes drawn towards the returning group. Calina came to a halt to assess them. To ask Itash to extend his already stretched ability was foolish, with only the two of them remaining from their infiltration group she needed his assistance in taking the facility. I she used the force to bring the towers down it would draw a great deal of unwanted attention.

This required something more subtle, a finesse she'd not tested. Closing her eyes she extended her reach in the force for the soldier on the left, moving past seeing him as an aura and moving beneath the layers of his armour to see the flesh beneath, she broke it down in her minds eyes, following the steady pulse of his heart, trailing along the arteries till she found the basilar artery and the base of his skull. Her hand closed into a fist at her side, the force closing neatly about the artery. After a moment, the soldier seemed to sway before toppling backwards and out of sight.

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

Tash wasn't interested in digging further anyway.

Part of him was curious, but the larger (more self-involved part) realized it was a trip down memory lane and that had no benefit to him. In truth unless the conversation was about him or otherwise had some kind of advantage to him? His attention would slip rather quickly. "Ain't your brain I am interested in anyway, love." Tash retorted without skipping a beat, while studying the effects of her manipulation.

One of the sentries was down and the other one hadn't noticed yet.

Cal caught the second one too and Tash nodded. "Get ready, the diversion begins... now." His voice was necessary for the initial compulsion, but once that link was established?

it only took a mental prod.

Suddenly the troopers raised their rifles - at first the Jedi assumed there was a threat they weren't seeing... after all, why would they suspect their own? The blaster bolts took them unaware, but Cal and Tash weren't around to witness it. They had already started to run, to scale the wall and get over it in quick order. It wouldn't be easy for the defenders to take down that squad.

Not when they would push on regardless of pain.

Not when they were a surprise.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Calina paused at the top of the wall, icy gaze sweeping over the facility before settling upon the central building. The control centre would be at its heart, but there was a fair amount of ground to cover between here and there. Too much to fight there way through without support. Even if Itash puppets survived their attack, it was unwise to rely on them for back up.

She dropped down, cushioning her landing with the force, feet barely making a noise. Shouts and the rumble of running feet reached her ears and she grabbed Itash's arm, tugging him into cover as a wave of security rushed past the towards the gates. "We need to get to the control centre. If we can take that while security is distracted we can take the facility."

She didn't wait for Itash response, slipping away from there cover and moving towards the main building, keeping to shadows with natural instinct that said this was precisely where she belonged.

[member="Itash Mecetti"]