Private A Tail of Two Foxes

[Vulpesen]

Level 1313. When it came to hives of scum and villainy, few places were as infamous, reviled, or well known as the grimy heart of Coruscant's underbelly. It was all the horrid splendor of Nar Shadaa and only a drop away from the shining center of the Galaxy. For Vulpesen who now spent his time as the Wilder Envoy tot he Jedi Order, it was perfect. Teaching the next wave of younglings for the stodgy robed purists was all fun and good, but he had never been one for classrooms and decorum. Vulpesen had grown up a soldier and after that, he had focused his efforts on galactic law enforcement. Before he had even left Veradune, he had ensured that his children would keep their ears to the ground and let him know if there was any excitement to be had that might pop up on the VSF's radar. Now, he stared down at the holopad in his hands, pouring over the notes that he had been sent.

"Gyran Thrax," Vulpesen murmured to himself as he slipped through the crowded street. He was far from a two-bit crime lord. The weequay had a finger in every rancid pie he could find. Slavery, money laundering, trafficking, drugs, professional hit men. If there was a way to break the law, he had explored it. And it seemed like the Vitae Security Forces finally had a bead on his location. All they needed was an agent to seal the deal and who better than the previous Valde? There had been rumors of force sensititvy in the villain's base, attributed to both him and his closest lieutenants. Vulpesen might have been a soldier in the age of the sith wars, but he knew that unless he treaded carefully, he could easily get in trouble if he didn't pay attention to the numbers advantage Thrax held.

His free hand slid beneath his cloak, tracing the ear on the fox ended cap of his lightsaber. He knew that he'd be likely to draw it before the sun rose over the Coruscant over world. He felt it in his bones. He was one man against a cartel. No one in their right mind would surrender with those odds, not unless they truly knew what they were up against. But how could they know that a literal force of nature was about to knock on the door? It wasn't apprehension or worry that showed beneath the cowl of he Wilder. It was a grin of anticipation. They had no idea what was coming.

The Vulptex

 

[The Vulptex]

Above on the rooftops, a tail waved in the wind of the underground, the body of a Vulptex flew from roof to roof. The stink of the underground could only stop her so much. No one ever bothered to look up in this town, so she was free to ride under speeders and parkour across walls. Would it be better to just trek through the streets? Probably, but this way they could get their kicks. No one could sense them anyways. Their master had taught them how to suppress their force signature to the point of nonexistence. They didn't exist, and that's how they wanted to keep it. Well, expect when it was convenient for her.

Thrax. That was a name they'd already become accustomed to. Anyone in the underground was. But tracking him was a tricky business. Lucky for the Vulptex, they could simply let the authorities do the work for them. Now they was keeping their distance against this force user they had tracked. He seemed to be the officer in charge of this case. While he did his job, they'd sneak in and do theirs.

Vulpesen

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen put away the datapad as he found his target. A large office building, or at least, large for the underworld. Cramped as the underworld was, the office was little more than a warehouse with added floors and rooms. Clearing it would mean trouble. It would be nearly impossible if he entered through the front. He closed his eyes and concentrated, letting the force flow though him. For a brief moment, Vulpesen was nearly blinded by all that he saw. Life existed all around him, suffering, struggling, and in some parts, hoping. Still, he pressed onwards, focusing his attention on the building in front of him. Like a lifeday tree, it lit up with a multitude of lives. It seemed as though no matter where he went, he would find himself intruding on another, except...

Vulpesen's eyes turned up towards the rooftops nearby. Still unaware of his tailing company, he crouched and sprang into the air, the whoosh of wind sounding in his ears as he rose up to set his boots down on the roof of a dilapidated dive bar. "Knock knock," he said to himself as he lifted a hand, using the force to open a window. Inside a single guard, a klatoonian, turned to see what had made the slight sliding noise. His bark of alarm was cut short as a sudden grip surrounded his body and hurled him out the window, and towards a cloaked figure.

Klatoonians, Vulpesen decided, had hard skulls that were not ideal for punching. They were especially not ideal when the impact was increased by a sudden and unwilling acceleration into the Zorren's fist. Still, the unconscious guard at his side spoke well enough to the viability of the tactic. "You just nap here. Take some time off," The zorren offered the sleeping man while he rubbed his sore knuckles. "I've got and appointment with your boss." And with that, he hopped into the room, drew his dagger and headed to the hallway door.

The Vulptex

 

[The Vulptex]

The now broken window was a perfect entry point. And no guards? That was a miracle. She wanted to clear this guy out. So instead of staying upstairs, she headed downstairs. The slumlord surely had plenty of loot in the basement, right?

Vulpesen

 

[Vulpesen]

The force, caution, training, luck, something made Vulpesen turn around. After slipping into the hallway, he’d donned his golden mask, the fox faced visage his ever present persona in the time of battle. And it was from behind that mask that he saw the blue coated figure of The Vulptex as they tried to sneak down towards the stairs in the opposite direction. Their heading and the lack of all but one door between the pair told Vulpesen two things. First, the other masked figure had been behind him the whole time, somehow undetected. Second, they weren't an immediate threat. If they meant him harm, he was sure he’d have felt the blaster bolt thudding into his back by now.

His fennec pistol clicked as he drew back the hammer and leveled it at the figure. “Freeze.” The voice was hushed to not arouse any undue attention, but its authority carried down the hall to the coated being's ears. Threat or not, they were a variable. An unknown anomaly in an already dangerous job. The Mask in blue didn’t yet need to be removed, but they did need to be identified. “Who are you?”

 

[The Vulptex]

The figure didn't respond, only responding by chucking...an egg at Vulpesen 's face?

 

[Vulpesen]

A small round object coming through the air towards his face. Two thoughts flashed through Vulpesen’s head in half a second. First, he’d made a rookie mistake. Never pull your gun if you aren’t willing to shoot it. He had no qualms about removing this stranger as a threat. But he didn’t want to alert the entire business to his presence and the fennec was not a quiet weapon. Second, if a grenade was about to shear apart someone’s body and alert the whole base, he could at least ensure that his body wasn’t the one torn asunder.

While his right hand dropped to his holster, his left lifted up and sent a gale of wind down the hall. The wind’s purpose was twofold. Obviously, he planned on sending the egg back towards his foe, hoping to keep any explosion from happening in his face. But he also wanted to send back the white masked figure to keep her from blocking the object. It wouldn’t do him much good to send back the projectile if it exploded on her chest and he was still in range.

The Vulptex

 

[The Vulptex]

And just like that...

The thief knew they were out of their depth. Whatever plan they had previous had been thrown out the window in favor of one word. Escape.

The egg had flown back, smashing onto the thief's face with a cloud of noxious powder, obscuring their vision slightly but making the perfect opening for them to pop a smoke bomb. The room filled with a thick white cloud, the smell of burning sugar filling the air as the thief fled out a nearby window. Whatever info they had scoped out was faulty. The thief didn't realize they were following a powerful master of the force. Now they needed to run, escape the force user and find homebase. Stealing from a scum lord could wait. The ability to mask themselves in the force would keep them hidden at least.

Vulpesen