An Interesting Offer

[Darth Morrow]

"Since Ive started using forces powers, well, I was too young to quite fully remember, always had a talent for them, family used that to their advantage. Seems like most women in the family were talented. Since I've been at the Sith academy. Well, it been three weeks."

Jane followed behind rather quietly, her steps silent as she kept a hand against where she was violently electrocuted, a burn having made its way across her side from the length of time the man had his fun.

She really had no idea where they were and hadn't seen the map, so she didn't question when they stepped in the elevator.

"Taking your time leaves for mistakes and chances of getting caught." Was her only reply before going silent again, standing next to them as they traveled further down, the sounds of footsteps echoing against metal became louder and louder as they continued down.

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Jane Lilley"]

"It does, indeed." The agreement came easily without any form of protest. Sometimes it was worth getting caught, if the joy was pleasant enough, but in general Itash had to agree with the young Sith.

"Three weeks?"

Hm.

He didn't otherwise comment on that number, so she wouldn't know if it was surprised praise or anything else. Itash was surprised but only mildly. It explained why she was so easily tired and had found herself in her position just a few moments ago. The surprise had more to do with Filiae sending basically a baby to him. She might be Sith, but three weeks was hardly enough to make someone into something capable.

Much less a warrior.

They passed another floor.

"Are you enjoying the mission?" He seemed rather serious.

 

[Darth Morrow]

Upon the repetition of three weeks, she'd nod. Yes she had only been at the academy for three weeks, she had a natural talent for using the force from a very young age, her fighting skills could use work, though really she was as talented as a new initiate could be in terms of mental prowess.

With his question asked the girl thought for a moment and nodded. "I suppose. Aside from the new scar to be on my side, though they remind us of reality." A hand drifted to her side to feel the altering texture of the burn under her shirt, it was going to hurt for a long while.

As they continued down and passed floor after floor, they recieved view of the occassional body being dragged from view by the troopers ahead of them clearing the building, and just when they began to think they could travel down forever, the elevator came to a stop in an area of dead silence.

The air smelled of dust and disuse, likely having not been traveled to by many and definitely not recently. Down the hall a few shimmers could be seen, from what though was questionable. All that could be told was that whatever it was hadn't seen them yet.

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Jane Lilley"]

Hm.

Three weeks, then.

Itash rearranged some of his expectations and conclusions over her performance. She had done admirably in the face of it, but for some reason Tash doubted the Sith would see it that way. They were insane to a fault, stupid, didn't see the... picture as far as Mecetti was concerned. They were all too busy with their little codes and laws that didn't work whatsoever.

Peace was a lie.

He couldn't help but snort- considering they had been wrecked time after time by the Jedi Order, you'd think that they would be a bit more realistic about their future chances of success. "Pain, scars, they are reality, yes." Tash reaffirmed after a while, nodding just as the lift-doors slid open.

The forms came into view.

Administrative workers.

The ding of the lift was what brought their attention to the pair in the elevator. "They are here, delete what you can!" Tash frowned at that. "Please do keep most of these fools alive. Unconcious is fine." He stepped on through.

 

[Darth Morrow]

The girl stepped off the lift and pulled two knives from her belt in one swift motion, launching them towards the new fleeing men. One found mark in a quite unpleasant region, the other dinking against the wall and falling to the floor. Her aim wasn't perfect after all, and in fairness, she was aiming for his lower leg.

With one if the men down she began running after the other, gritting her teeth as she pushed through the pain she was feeling at her side, hee vision blurring slightly and seeming almost red as she continued, ripping the saber from her belt and chasing him through a door up ahead.

An echoing scream heard but moments after.

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Jane Lilley"]

"I need him alive." Tash shouted into the room he was passing as he walked up towards the terminals.

They had interrupted them right at the critical junction by the looks of it.

Thank the Lord.

It would have been a mess, if they had come this far only for all the research to be erased in a brief moment. From the depths of his pocket the man revealed a data stick that was easily inserted into one of the data hubs. Then once the algorithm began to execute itself he wandered into the room where Jane was busying herself with the clean-up, so to speak.

"How many we got?"

They didn't need all of them alive.

But at least... half maybe? That would be a good number as far as Itash was concerned.

 

[Darth Morrow]

As he walked into the room, Jane would be standing before about five workers all jammed into a corner, lightsaber glowing in the dimly lit room against their terrified faces.

"Five alive. One other injured. Three dead." There would be two men in the room now in ruins on the floor. One missing an arm, the other missing two legs, each beside them had blasters which likely had been pointed at Jane as she entered the room.

"You should be ashamed, I hope someone ends you like you did to them!" One of the people called out from the corner only to earn the lightsaber closer to her face.

"I could make both numbers four."

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Jane Lilley"]

"Those that make friends with fear are the most likely to blabber indignity." Tash murmured as he surveyed the scene and knelt before one of the dead ones. Hands slipped into pockets, making a good show of exploring and ensuring there wasn't anything hidden. "Ignore them, they only fool themselves." False bravado was the surest access point to reveal fear.

It only really highlighted it to be honest.

"You did well, Jane. The second one to your left is hiding something though. Figure out what that is, please."

That immediately made the shouter pale a fraction or two. He tried to merge into the corner, but that wasn't very successful. "A data-stick, I think." Now that was just straight out of his mind.

 

[Darth Morrow]

"Just give it over. Surely this job isnt worth your life." Her words sounded sweet for but a moment, rather convincing, though her throat felt like it was on fire. A one time use of something she was taught that she was never going to try again.

She retracted the lightsaber for the time being as she strolled to him, extending a hand, waiting for it to be deposited to her. Thankfully, he wasn't very strong willed, though fair enough he had already been ready to soil himself.

As it was handed to her, indeed yet another data stick, she tossed it to Itash.

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Jane Lilley"]

He caught it in an under-arm grab and let it disappear into his pockets.

"Knock 'em out, explain to them that resisting will get them killed. Cooperating might give 'em a stiff headache and their life." Tash murmured over before stretching slowly and leaving the room behind. Instead he wandered back over to the computer panel and the status of his program. It was a new program Didact had created, familiar to OSI, but focused on breaking and assimilating architecture on-the-fly.

Basically it ensured that any computer system with access could be taken over on the spot.

They had been caught in the open, so it wasn't necessary to bring out a codebreaker either. The schematics of the AI were already being copied over for replication, which left only a few more loose ends.

Tash hummed a bit.

This was going rather well after the first few hitches.

 

[Darth Morrow]

Without much resistance, the others begrudgingly submitted to the knock out, which in most cases was far better than death, aside from the questionably dead man on the floor near them, which she bent down and slammed across the back of the head anyways.

There really wasn't much more for her to do, aside browse some of the rooms for anything of interest. Itash had other men to guard him now while he collected data, so it would be a waste to just stand about.

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Jane Lilley"]

The end of the mission came sooner than expected.

Once the outer perimeter had been disabled and the initial guards killed, there hadn't been much more standing in their way truth to be told. But Tash was rather okay with that, as it meant less time wasted in the corridors. "You did well today, Jane." Tash finally said over his shoulder as she passed him, while he worked the hardware the scientists had been trying to clear just a few minutes back.

"You will have your credits by the end of the day and I will be sure to keep you in mind in the future."

Might be he'd hire her again, might be he would just pass over the intel to [member="Darth Filiae"] and she'd tell her Masters.

Either way Didact came out ahead today in every way possible. They had the AI designs, a plethora of other blueprints they could use in the future. Couldn't have gone any better as far as Tash was concerned.