Private Bidding War

[Seva Geroux]

Seva turned a panicked gaze to the side, Desric looked as calm as the day is long. However, with her own force-presence reaching out -- could she feel something beneath the still surface? Fear, perhaps? It was well understandable considering their situation... in fact, she was frightened, too.

As their attacker made his apperance known -- and was joined by his fellows -- Seva felt herself edging away.

The crowd was beginning to panic, many people were already on their feet and scrambling for the exit... only to discover that the way was blocked. It seemed that the windows had not been the only point of entry. Boots crunched the shards of glass beneath them as the first man began to advance on the crowd.

Seva was now on her feet and instinctively grabbed hold of Desric's arm.

"W-what now?" she whispered. "What do you think they want?"

She knew that most gentlemen would probably move to shield her with their own bodies. However, she had the distinct impression that Desric might use her as a shield if it came down to it. In less dire circumstances, the thought might have made her laugh. At the moment, however, laughter was far from her mind.

 

[Desric Terassi]

This was bad. This was really, really bad. He did not want to deal with a Sith without a state's authority at his back.

By the time Seva grabbed ahold of his arm, Desric had opened a priority communications link with headquarters. One of the benefits of high-end cybernetics. Not that they could do all that much on Commenor, except file another incident report in the veritable stream the authorities were receiving and prepare for the possibility of a hostage situation.

"I hope they are after the items up for auction." So far, they were not gunning anyone down, which was a good thing. It was hard to say whether they wanted hostages briefly or whether the hostages were the goal.

There were a whole lot of rich and well-connected people present, after all.

Desric winced as one of the aforementioned people - a blusterous noble in his fifties - was smashed to the ground with the butt of a blaster rifle by a masked goon. He looked conscious, but the crunch had been sickening.

"You... don't happen to know what to do in such situations, do you?" He whispered, his tone lapsing into uncharacteristic nervousness. Was that his imagination or had the Sith looked his way? Force, he hoped not.

He was pretty sure he could smell the blood. His face turned slightly green.

 

[Seva Geroux]

Seva gasped when a nobleman was knocked in the head with the butt of a rifle. Her eyes widened, taking in the scene – the old man crumpled on the floor, blood spilled in the shiny marble floor tiles.

Did she know what to do?

Feth no.

She took a step backwards, drawing Desric back as well, her hand still holding his arm. "J-just do what they say," she whispered. The masked goon moved forward as the crowd made away and motioned to his fellows. Like clockwork, they made a move for the stage. No doubt, their eyes were on the valuables up for auction.

The main goon seemed to be scanning the crowd, eyes flickering from datapad to each and every face.

It was then that the masked face locked on Seva, and she felt the hollow eyes staring into hers. The goon stepped in their direction. Her grip tightened on Desric's arm and panic surged through her.


A black-gloved hand closed on her free wrist and tugged sharply – which caused Seva to pull Desric forward, too.

 

[Desric Terassi]

Desric did not object to being pulled backwards, given the circumstances.

Terrified as he was, Desric was not all that aware of what was going on beyond his immediate vicinity. It was impossible to not notice the intimidating figure's approach, however - nor that he was coming for Seva specifically.

Dragged along by her surprisingly firm grip, he found himself beside Seva in an open space, the other visitors having moved back to put distance between themselves and the Sith, whose eerily yellow eyes were now drilling into them.

"Seva Geroux." It was a statement, not a question. "Who are you?"

Eyes twitching at being called out, Desric hesitated for a moment before regaining the illusion of calm. "Desric Vandiir. I, uh, do PR." He was not entirely sure whether he wanted the man to recognise the last name - but unknown or associated with a Sith was probably better than unknown or associated with piles of money, right?

 

[Seva Geroux]

Seva's blood ran cold.

The good knew her name. Now it made sense, they were likely planning to hold people for ransom. It was a good place to find hostages, after all. Just to her side, Desric managed to introduce himself to the goon. Seva couldn't help but shoot him a brief look. PR? Well, she couldn't blame him for trying to save his own skin. And it worked, too. The goon reached out to give Desric a hard shove, separating him finally from Seva's grip.

She looked up to the masked face of her attacker. "Y-you... needn't--"

But he gave her wrist a hard squeeze to shut her up. Seva winced. During her last social outing on Coruscant, she'd seen a senator shot and killed. Now, she was about to be kidnapped from a charity auction. Her social life was over. It made her angry. Suddenly, Seva started to pull away from the goon... even though it hurt her arm quite a lot.

By the stage, the others seemed to be packing up auction items... their eyes flickering to the scene unfolding by the windows.

Seva gasped, her free hand shot towards the goon's chest -- releasing a pulse in the force that pushed him hard. He let go of her and stumbled back... right out the broken window. She stood rooted to the spot for a long moment, her breath held in. Had she just killed a man? Terribly unladylike.

"He fell," she said, turning -- eyes searching for Desric.

 

[Desric Terassi]

He drew no special attention. That was a relief. The further he was from lethal weapons, the better.

Still, the shove was hard enough to make him wince, though he did not fall - and Seva being a 'priority hostage' was rather unfortunate. Not as unfortunate as he himself being in such a situation, but unfortunate nonetheless.

Except that, in a development that had him momentarily freeze in confusion, Seva pushed the Sith back far enough that he tumbled straight out the window. Unlike last time, he was aware enough to notice her Force Use - though fortunately, the 'gun goons' had not been looking towards the pair at that moment.

No one had suspected that a slim noble would pose a threat to a Sith.

Overhearing the nearest goon angrily asking questions over his comms, it was clear that the moment's repose would be just that - momentary. Either the Sith was dead and they'd have a problem, or he was alive and angry and they'd have a bigger problem. Hurrying over to Seva, he could not help but notice that all the exits were under guard.

"I don't suppose you can just levitate us out?" He whispered.

 

[Seva Geroux]

Seva snapped out of it when Desric arrived at her side, asking her to levitate them out. Her brow furrowed; it seemed her secret was out. Though, the other auction guests seemed to be huddled by the wall -- burrying their faces in their pocketbooks.

"I can't," she said, shaking her head. Her blue eyes scanned the room quickly.

Indeed, if they managed to get through one of the doors... would there be a clear path out of the building? Would they be saving their own skins, but leaving everyone else here to suffer the consequences? Well, it was a chance they may well have to take if they wanted to get out.

"... but maybe we can," Seva said, blinking at Desric. "That podium looks rather sturdy. If we can move it together and crash it through the door?" And the guards that were standing in front of it... "What do you think?"

 

[Desric Terassi]

In stark contrast with Seva, Desric was entirely unconcerned with the other attendees' situation. Not because he lacked empathy, mind you, but because it never once occurred to him to 'play the hero'.

That was what bodyguards and soldiers were for.

Grimacing at her suggestion, he almost said no. Almost. He got a distinct impression that the situation would deteriorate quickly, however. As soon as the Sith recovered and/or was found dead/unconscious, really - and one of the goons seemed to be heading towards that window at this very moment. They had a minute. At best.

"If that is the best you have, I can try."

Not exactly inspiring words. Feth, the Force relied on confidence and clarity of mind, no? Both were lacking, at the moment, but he had a few tricks up his sleeve. Just before they made the attempt, he released a chemical cocktail into his blood with a mental command - a mixture of gentle sedatives to calm the nerves and safe adrenals to hone the mind.

Nothing designed for combat, mind you, but useful for long study sessions and intense negotiations.

Without further ado, he applied as much force as he could - hopefully she could contribute more than him. While he was supposedly fairly strong in the Force, if his test results could be believed, he was trained for precision, not might.

 

[Seva Geroux]

Desric seemed... dubious. And when he responded, Seva's eye twitched. "If that's the..." she started to echo him. As if he'd presented anything better. However, it wasn't the time to get flustered. It really wasn't.

Blowing out a breath, Seva attempted to steel her nerves.

As she reached for the large podium with the force, it moved fairly easily... her eyes flickered to Desric. He, too, had an expression of concentration. She could feel his presence, which made her throw her own effort behind the task at hand even harder. The wooden podium shot towards the doors – and the guards, who fired off a few surprised shots into the air.

Then it hit them.

One guard was totally out, his armor-clad frame sprawled on the ground. The other was definitely injured, but not out of the picture. Though, the way was open for them. Immediately, the crowd began to flow that direction.

"C'mon!" Seva said, reaching for Desric's arm again.

 

[Desric Terassi]

Seva seemed almost offended, but Desric was far too worried about everything else to give it much thought.

Despite their plan working, Desric could not help but wince. He did not think the one lying still was dead, but it was hard to say for sure. His musings were interrupted by Seva grabbing ahold of his arm once more and dragging him towards the exit - it did not take more than a step or two before Desric started to move on his own.

Motivated by the armed thugs behind them and the uncertain fate of the Sith - had he heard swearing from outside, or was he imagining things? - he rushed ahead heedless of the lone guard still standing.

His 'recklessness' earned him a blaster bolt to the chest - or it would have if the greenish energy had not been swallowed up by his personal shield generator. That didn't stop him from flinching, of course.

As they got closer to the door, the guard was faced with a choice. Stop them or focus on the crowd behind them.

Seemingly unwilling to let anyone escape, the man drew a long knife, the blaster having proved ineffectual.

 

[Seva Geroux]

Seva felt a swell of hope as they rushed towards the door.

Their plan had worked, mostly. However, the sense of unease was quick to come crashing back down. A blaster bolt hit Desric square in the chest -- or would have -- if not for his clever protection. She didn't want to think about what would have happened if he'd not had that energy shield.

The man stood armed with a rather nasty looking knife.

For now, it seemed most of the other guards had been forced to turn their attention to the crowd. Seva was running out of ideas, but one did come. "Y-you will let us pass," she said, her voice a bit shakier than she'd hoped. However, she was attempting to manipulate his mind with the force. The guard stood for a moment, his brows furrowed tight to indicate there was some sort of struggle going on in his mind.

Seva stepped closer, and opened her mouth to repeat her instructions.

But her attempt hadn't been strong enough...

And the guard slashed her upper arm, which sent her to her knees. A knife wound? Really?

 

[Desric Terassi]

Almost there. They were almost at the door when things started going wrong.

At first his companion's telepathic trickery seemed to do the trick, but as she moved closer the guard shook the compulsion. Had he been trained to resist or had she simply been too uncertain? No matter, the end result was the same - Seva with a long wound on her upper arm and Desric going as pale as an Echani.

Flinching backward, his eyes turned wide - doubly so when the knife-wielder turned his attention to him.

"Let us - let us be reasonable. We are all reasonable here, no? I can pay you far more than-" Desric's rambling, devoid of the mystical component Seva had included, fell on deaf ears. Speaking of Seva, she was bleeding - oh, he felt nauseous.

The guard had evidently arrived at the conclusion that Desric, despite his shield generator, represented a minimal risk at most. More fool him, for as he got too close Desric finally acted - kicking for the goon's groin with a polished boot. The goon did stab at him, in his defence, but the blade slid off the evidently armoured material of Desric's bespoke trousers.

As the guard dropped his dagger and stumbled sideways - Desric might not be much of a fighter, but he was in excellent shape and his boots were very, very hard - Desric scurried over to Seva and tried to pull her to her feet.

"Just a bit longer. I'm sure there are paramedics - and police - out there."

Police trained to deal with threats of this calibre had presumably not arrived yet - given that no one had breached following the shooting - but something was better than nothing, right? Besides, his yacht was inbound.

Unless, of course, they had shown up and run into that Sith. That was an unpleasant thought.

 

[Seva Geroux]

Desric Terassi​

Seva herself had gone pale, too. Though, she heard Desric attempting to reason with her attacker. And she was almost upset enough to chide him into action – but she didn't end up needing to resort to that. Her noble companion aimed a very stylish boot for the goon's groin.

Then, she was helped to her feet. "Y-yes," she said, offering him a weak nod.

Out there. They just had to make it out the doors. As her heels clicked against the floor, she focused on the sharp sound they made. It sounded... expensive. The high stilettos may well have been keeping her alive at that point. When she was out of this mess, she was going to buy as many shoes as she damn well wanted.

"Just there," she said, breathless.

To her relief, there were indeed law enforcement officers. They were armed, of course, which made Seva feel much better. Though, would they stand a chance if that Sith was still alive?

Don't think about it.

Guns were immediately pointed their way, until the officers realized that the two were in fact party-goers and victims. "I'd like to go home now," Seva said, glancing sidelong at Desric. He did have a way, didn't he?

 

[Desric Terassi]

They weren't exactly a graceful sight - and he even got some blood on his clothing - but they did make it without any further confrontations. As the police officers flagged them then lowered their guns to let them pass, Desric sighed in relief. "As would I." Before he could expand on the notion, sounds of alarm could be heard all around them.

Approaching them and the suddenly very nervous police was the Sith, his lightsaber ignited.

However, before the man could even start his monologue, he was briefly swallowed by a beam of luminous energy. Once the light faded, he could be seen sprawled on the ground, seemingly dead or unconscious.

"Ah. It seems my ride is here - worry not, it has a medbay!"

Above them, a sizeable yacht had appeared 'out of nowhere'. The police officers surrounding them were visibly baffled by the sudden confrontation between a Sith and a cloaked starship. A faint 'I need a vacation' could be heard.

 

[Seva Geroux]

Seva's body tensed as it became clear that something was still terribly wrong.

Her head turned in time to see the Sith's lightsaber glowing an angry red. But before she could even gasp, the dark form of the Sith disappeared into a burst of light. It might have been a pretty thing, except it was deadly, or so it seemed.

The cloaked man lay motionless now.

Seva let out the breath she'd been holding.

"Splendid," she said and hooked her arm around his. Her eyes turned up towards the yacht, there may have been a bit of envy in her gaze. There was also relief that there was a medbay ready to treat her wound. However, it was a pity that her crisp white gown was now badly stained. Even if the blood could be removed, she wouldn't dare to wear it ever again.

And as she glanced to the side at Desric, she could see her blood marring his fine clothes. "I owe you a new suit," Seva said, in what might have seemed like a jest. She was serious, though. "And, for what it's worth, I'll put in a good word with my father."

That's what the night had been about, hadn't it? Even though, that part of the evening seemed so very distant after all that had happened.