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[Evard L'Rik]

Corellia​

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Madness has no hold on me, for I have been madness. Darkness holds no fear, for I am darkness. ​

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So how do you propose to save them? How does one escape endless despair? I am despair. I am endless. I shall endure until the universe is oblivion. ​

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Tell, me, young one....​

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Do you fear death?​

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---------------------------------​

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Ugh.... Another vision of the man who possessed me. Couldn't he even let me sleep a night without mental torture? Without visions of the people I killed nearly a decade ago?


The question would have to be answered another time. I had a lead on somebody named L'Rik on Corellia, and I had no doubt that this would be the place to hide evidence of a ransacked planet. I was supposed to meet two women here: a cop, and a self-proclaimed master slicer.


I sat at the bar in this rather out of the way cantina, and waited for [member='Keturah X'] and [member='[COLOR=rgb(255,255,255)][URL="http://starwarsrp.net/user/5357-malin-spritej%C3%A4gare/"]Malin Spritejägare[/URL]'][/COLOR]

 

[Beowoof]

Spritejägare was sort of on-duty, sort of not. Supposedly, she had been called to this cantina by one Dredzhi Helsen, a parolee of hers. That was not suspicious in the slightest. Parolees totally request their officers all the time just to chat.

The blond CorSec officer slowly made her way out of the squad speeder and towards the door of the establishment. Helsen had not been restricted from watering holes, so it was technically a legitimate location for a meetup. That did not make it comfortable, however. This place was in the bowels of Coronet City--seriously, the bowels. It was true that Dredzhi did live in this vicinity, but cops were not particularly welcome around here. Thus, the lieutenant kept her hand against her holstered short-barreled DH-17 and flicked it to the three-round burst setting. If anyone was looking for trouble, they were certainly going to find it.

Spritejägare stalled for a moment outside the entrance, eyeing the coming and going patrons and searching for any ominous body language. There was nothing out of the ordinary--at least, not for this locale--so everything seemed as clear as she could make. With full strides, Lieutenant Spritejägare stepped into the bar and scanned the room for Mister Helsen.

[member="Evard L'Rik"]

 

[Evard L'Rik]

I was a little surprised that [member="Malin Spritejägare"] had decided to come here in a uniform..... Gutsy. I checked for my heavy pistol in its holster. As far as I knew, she was unaware of my occupation as a Sith, and I certainly didn't indulge in the full body armor most of my compatriots did.

She seemed to be looking the opposite direction from me. Looking for somebody else, perhaps? Or maybe some trouble? I guessed that the person she was looking for was either a contact or a target, but it could've been that she was unaware of my actual presence at the bar.

But then, there was also movement near the door. A man, with no visible weapons. He had a confidence about him that belied the presence of hidden weapons.

The other thing that belied this was that his left leg suddenly exploded.

[member='Brill']

 

[Slot 16]

Keturah skipped down the street, her teddy bear backpack bouncing slightly. She wore her hair in two long pigtails, a black choker, a black mini-dress with a layered skirt, black-and-white striped thigh-high stockings, and black flats. Yep. She was dressed for business. She had contacted a certain "Mr. Helsen" in regards to his manhunt, only as long as her alias was kept strictly between him and the other woman involved. As she made her way to the cantina entrance, a man walked in ten feet in front of her. Then his leg exploded. Keturah stood in the doorway and let out a surprised scream, covering her mouth with her hands at the sight. Her amber-gold eyes were wide with shock.
@Malin Spritejägare
[member="Evard L'Rik"]

 

[Evard L'Rik]

And the guy's leg exploded....

Which would've been a problem for him.... If he hadn't been floating.

Goddamn repulsorlifts. Floating people get on my nerves. I pulled my needler from its holster, and laid down fire on the now attacking man, and I kicked over a table to use as a shield. This would get nasty very quick.

I saw the girl at the door, and gripped her in the Force. She came flying into my chest just as the one-legged, floating guy threw some sort of explosive at the doorway.

Of course she landed on me feet-first, which was painful.

I looked around to find that CorSec officer I had been watching, to see her behind another table. Smart woman. I looked back down at the girl.

"You okay, there? That must've been a bit of a shock."

[member="Keturah X"] [member="Malin Spritejägare"]

 

[Beowoof]

Kraf. What exactly was going on at the moment transcended her understanding. Why there was a man floating into the bar and chucking bombs around the place was perplexing. But there was no time to ask questions. Spritejägare dove out of the area of the explosion and sought cover. This attack was no coincidence, was it? You're so busted, Helsen. Removing her DH-17 variant from her holster, the CorSec officer brought its barrel to bear on the entrance of the building.

She never pulled the trigger. As the assailant was ripped by a spurt of needler fire. Nevermind that needlers were illegal for unauthorized civilians to even own, much less carry. This bar was a warzone, and Spritejägare stood out as the lone cop in the middle of it all. She might as well have scribbled a big red bullseye on her forehead. "Stand down, everyone! Stand down!" she demanded. Hopefully there was at least a minimal respect for authority around here.

[member="Keturah X"], [member="Evard L'Rik"]

 

[Slot 16]

Keturah nodded. "I'm okay. I've....I've seen worse...." Her voice was shaky, as was her whole body. She didn't want to get up and see what the commotion's aftermath was. "Is... Is he dead?" She asked, a light whimper in her tone. She didn't like to see dead things. Much less dead people.
[member="Evard L'Rik"]

[member="Malin Spritejägare"]

 

[Malik Rodarch]

The problems of the short feline.

Brill found himself stretching to unbelievable lengths in the bathroom, trying to reach the sink so he could wash his grubby little paws. No luck. What do you mean, lick them clean? That's vile! Egads, man! That's bodily fluids, I'm not licking that! You lick it!

This left him missing the story of the man with the erupting limbs.

Awkwardly wiping his paws on the arse of his trousers, Brill strolled out of the bathroom and into one of the most perplexing scenes he had seen in recent times. What had happened while he was doing his business? Madness? Violence? Death?

“Kiblets and giblets, what the frak happened here?!”

[member="Evard L'Rik"], [member="Malin Spritejägare"], [member="Keturah X"]

 

[Evard L'Rik]

Aaaaand the cop stood up. She probably realized as much as I did that she was painting a sign on herself that said 'please shoot me'. I holstered my gun and turned to the girl next to me. She was a cutie, but the guy exploding must've been a shock.

"He might be dead, I'm sorry to say. But I only shot him in the hip.... Turns out that's where the repulsorlift was. He could've died from loss of blood, though."


I stood up, looked around the room, and saw a furry guy who was fractionally shorter than me, and the cop glaring at me like I'd just killed a public servant or something.

"What? Was I not supposed to shoot the guy throwing bombs around the room? Jeez... I'll ask permission before saving people, next time...."

[member="Malin Spritejägare"] [member="Keturah X"] [member="Brill"]

 

[Beowoof]

Spritejägare slowly crept towards the mangled body of the dead man, maintaining a ready position with her blaster as her gaze flitted about the room, making sure no one tried a fast one. Her eyes narrowed at the needle shooter. While she had to admit that his firing at the bomber had been timely, it was still disconcerting that he was carrying around an automatic weapon.

Backing out the door, the CorSec officer took in all the details she could of the fragmented body and filed them in her mental catalog. There was no way she was going to stop for a more comprehensive examination of the corpse and expose her back for trigger-happy thugs. She was going to need backup for this situation. Having cleared the exit, Lieutenant Spritejägare sent a request over the comms for assistance. "We have a dead assailant and live autos. Live autos on the premises."

[member="Evard L'Rik"], [member="Keturah X"], [member="Brill"]

 

[Evard L'Rik]

I shook my head. Really, we were gonna get into a police incident over a freaking needler? I'd probably just saved everybody in the room, including the cop and the girl at the door. I glanced back at [member="Malin Spritejägare"], who must've not had the correct intel for this meeting. She didn't recognize me or anything.

"Look, I'll cover your back. Just check to make sure he's not carrying anything else that's dangerous. I don' feel like dying today."

[member='Brill'] [member='Keturah X']

 

[Slot 16]

Keturah slowly lifted her head up slightly over the table, peeking just over it. The man didn't appear to be moving. She quickly looked away to avoid seeing the mess to its full extent. She pulled her teddy bear backpack off her shoulders and hugged it, unzipping its back and fishing out a cherry sucker. She stuck the sucker in her mouth and continued hugging her bear.
[member="Evard L'Rik"]

[member="Malin Spritejägare"]
[member="Brill"]

 

[Evard L'Rik]

I saw the girl pull out a piece of candy and turn away from the dead body. Wish I could do that. I spun slowly to keep my glare on all the underworld denizens in the bar. [member="Malin Spritejägare"] was still glaring, and I had nothing to say. Plus, I was trying to make sure the girl wasn't scarred, and the furry guy didn't try to say he was a witness to murder. I just rolled my eyes to the sky and talked to the room at large.

"Look, I take offense when somebody throws grenades at me. And at women. I don't like women getting hurt. Honestly, is it a big problem that some random bomb-throwing freak comes and tries to 'splode people and I shoot 'im? Is it?"

[member="Keturah X"] [member="Brill"]

 

[Beowoof]

The cop shook her head. Apparently this guy did not get that she had every right to--and every responsibility to--arrest him and lock him up just for carrying his automatic weapon. "Look, you can come out here to talk to me," Spritejägare called back to [member="Evard L'Rik"], "Or you can stay inside and wait for the rest of CorSec to show up and throw you away for a very long time."

Spritejägare took a few more steps back towards her police speeder. At this point, she was more concerned about her own safety than absolutely enforcing the law.

[member="Keturah X"], [member="Brill"]

 

[Evard L'Rik]

Sigh.... Here we go. I motioned to the kid and the furry guy.

"You really don't want to be caught here by yourselves. Come with me. If it comes to it, I can get you safely out of here."

I glared back at [member="Malin Spritejägare"], and strode toward the speeder she was at.

"You understand, I wouldn't be carrying such a weapon if I didn't have I.D. But my identity may cause problems if I ask for your help in a far more important matter. A disappearance."

[member="Keturah X"] [member="Brill"]

 

[Malik Rodarch]

Upon stumbling across a scene as nasty and high-strung as this, it was not advisable to charge straight in handing out opinions left, right and centre. Okay, maybe it was advisable if you were a demi-god with superpowers but for the rest of us down upon the ground it's a different story.

Not to mention CorSec.

They're the sort that really make a guy like Brill nervous. Probably because it's not entirely legal on most planet to craft and sell your own explosive devices. Just as long as they don't search your backpack you should be fine, besides, they've got other things to worry about.

He approached the rag-tag group, shoving his tiny paws into tiny pockets, trying to keep it casual, he added nothing to the conversation but merely lurked, green goggles glowing almost curiously.

[member="Malin Spritejägare"], [member="Evard L'Rik"], [member="Keturah X"]

 

[Slot 16]

Keturah's amber-gold eyes rested on the furry creature that the man was referring to. He was kind of cute, to be honest. She didn't say anything, however, and continued listening to the conversation. So, a CorSec officer was trying to arrest a man with a needler even after he made it quite clear that he wasn't trying to hurt anyone, but simply protecting them? That sounded a little rash on her part. Keturah cleared her throat. "Um, can I say something, as a victim?" She said. "Look, I'm well aware of the automatic weapons restriction on civilians here. It was put into place after several horrifying incidents in order to keep the peace. But did you not see what just happened? That man was going to kill everyone, including me, in his vicinity. If this man," She gestured to The blonde man who had saved her, "had not reacted with the speed and accuracy that he had, I and countless others would be dead or critically injured. I know you're a good woman just trying to do your duty as a CorSec officer, but this man has already made it quite clear that he has no intention of harming any of us. He was simply defending himself and others. Are you really going to just arrest someone on the grounds that he has a gun, even after everything he just did to protect us?" She asked the woman.
[member="Evard L'Rik"]
[member="Brill"]
[member="Malin Spritejägare"]

 

[Evard L'Rik]

I grinned a little. The girl thought her plead was going to save me if [member="Malin Spritejägare"] really wanted to arrest me. It wouldn't. Now the girl had possibly made herself an accomplice to any escape I might attempt to make. So, she'd have to come with me if it came to that. Not too bad, but I didn't want to get arrested or exiled from Corellia if I could help it. Seemed like a waste.

"Officer, I'm seriously just here to get some help investigating a disappearance. If I hadn't drawn, you would never have noticed me. Possibly cos you'd be dead. Now, I thought CorSec was better than that. Particularly you, Officer Spritejägare. I heard good things about you."

Leave it to her to puzzle it out. If she came to the right conclusion, great. If she didn't, I'd probably grab the kid and the furry thing and run the hell away.

[member="Keturah X"] [member="Brill"]

 

[Beowoof]

"The problem, here, is that I have to uphold something that more-or-less resembles the law," Spritejägare retorted, one foot already inside the door of her police speeder. "So that means you're either going to have to surrender your weapon or I'm going to have to leave you to the wolves." She smirked at the man--not short, but generously shorter than her.

The company he was keeping was very curious, indeed. Cared about women, did he say? A little girl with a sucker stood by him and squeaked up at her about how she 'owed him one'. That was a nice sentiment. "Yes, thank you," the cop said, suspiciously eying the little munchkin cat-thing sauntering up to them. "You'll just need to use something more legal next time that happens, is what I'm saying." She held out her hand to accept the needler. It was his choice, but not really.

[member="Brill"], [member="Keturah X"], [member="Evard L'Rik"]

 

[Evard L'Rik]

I handed her the needler. What the hell. Not like I didn't keep multiple weapons. That one wasn't even the best gun I had on me. The little girl looked a little pissed that I had actually handed the gun over, and the furry guy was just rummaging around in his pockets.

"So, what exactly do you plan to do with that, officer? And with the information on the actual reason I'm here?"

Of course, I'd unloaded the gun. So, if I ran with the girl and the furry cat thing, I'd have a decent chance of actually getting away with it. I just hoped that [member="Malin Spritejägare"] didn't do a check on the furry guy. He had so many explosives on him, I could almost sense it through the Force.

[member="Keturah X"] [member="Brill"]