Castle in the Stars.

[Judah Lesan]

"Oh come now, Nyra, do let the boy go. It can't be helped that you happen to be the most interesting woman on this planet," Xander suggested hoping the flattery would help his case. Working with someone knew was always interesting. Most of the lot he had met among the Sith Order were new to the monarch. Then again, none of the Sith were what they were so long ago. Xander missed his time and constantly had to remind himself this thing that had once been a distant future was now his reality. With his huntress gone, his master gone, even those few Jedi he could actually tolerate gone, Xander continued to peck away at the galaxy as it was until his foothold in it was greater than what it had ever been. It took friends to do such a thing, and yet, perhaps all Xander wanted today was sport.

Xander lifted a brow waiting for the Sith to comply. He wasn't about to rescue the poor boy that had followed the cat burglar into the alley way only to find himself trapped like mouse in the claws of its predator. The picture brought a smile to Xander's face, a smile which drew him a couple more steps closer to the woman. He smoothed out the sash which rested around his neck and shoulders. His attire certainly dated him. His age was nearly as old as the style of garments he had chosen. The stasis which the force had placed him in robbed him of many things, but his youthful appearance was not one of them.

"I can't speak for your toy here, but I was after a little fun and thought you might lead to some. You haven't disappointed so far. Though your mark did." The monarch shrugged. "There are other ways to destabilize the crime lords around here though. An opportunity will present itself sooner or later. Until then perhaps a diversion is in order."

[member="Nyra Mazul"] | [member="Onley Xiangu"] | [member="Olom Grihk"]

 

[Onley Xiangu]

Everyone was always mentioning his Mom. It was kind of weird really. He hardly knew her and half the galaxy seemed to find it the default way to tease him. Which was even weirder because he was pretty sure Matsu didn’t even care whether he lived or died and he tagged along by virtue of attempting to figure out how her power worked and how to harness his own.

Either way, mentioning his mom wasn’t the sexiest way to start a conversation and Onley was still trying to figure out how to navigate away from that particular segue when another man showed up. He didn’t seem particularly pleased about Onley’s presence, which was fine because Onley wasn’t pleased about his.

Overall, things were going well.

He was attempting to hold back the torrents of vomit that threatened to come out of him when the two started flirting. He thought he was bad, but hoo boy. Not that he could really blame the other dude. (Speaking of which, what was he wearing? Onley was pretty sure he couldn’t pull off those pants but the vest was pretty sweet.) Shapeshifter or no, the woman they’d both chased in to the alley was beautiful no matter how she changed her appearance - feline and confident in a way that had made Onley give chase in the way the boring girls outside the cantina couldn’t have done if they tried.

He ignored the labels of toy and the like. If his Mother had ever given him a valuable lesson it was to use underestimation to his advantage. If they considered him just a boy they wouldn’t be looking when he took everything from them.

“Honestly none of my intentions are polite enough for present company, but destabilizing crime around here sounds like an okay second option.”

[member="Darth Vizios"] | [member="Nyra Mazul"] | [member="Olom Grihk"]​

 

[Nyra Mazul]

Nyra smiled and winked at Onley as he spoke about his intentions. She tightened the whip around his body and reeled him in closer until their bodies pressed together. Then she looked over at Vizios. She didn't really know either of these. Onley she'd seen at the big meeting as with his mother before the Silver Jedi started encroaching on Korriban, but knew little about him. And the other... well she'd seen him around. Perhaps he'd been at one of the booster club meetings. She wasn't sure.

"Well, if you boys are willing to help we do have our work cut out for us." Stretching out she looked between the two men licking her lips. "We have a second job though." She brought out the holographic device and displayed the data sent to her by Olom. An image appeared of a young woman, a dull heiress by all accounts. Although she looked good enough Nyra could tell she made up for any deficit with money. Then again who was she to judge, she could change form at will. "this woman, Kentra Villes is debating on investing here. She's prepared to do a tour. More and more she has authority in Daddy's company, Lorem Hypermatter Consolidated. We need supplies of energy for out little station. It has been suggested that we blackmail this woman." Reaching behind her she ran a finger along Onley's cheek letting the clawed gauntlet skid over smooth flesh.

"She might have files on her or she might be susceptible to a scandalous affair. And if we do things right we can frame criminal elements and get them in double trouble. Infighting and the law, plus whatever bounty hunters this woman might hire for revenge."


[member="Onley Xiangu"] | [member="Darth Vizios"] | Olom Grihk

 

[Judah Lesan]

"Chasing a woman into an alley way for a bit of impolite intentions... not too unlike a common thug wouldn't you agree," he said to the boy with a rather unsatisfied smirk. Perhaps his status as a royal meant he projected certain expectations on other Sith. Perhaps Xander simply found [member="Nyra Mazul"] to be too uncommon of a creature to approach with that certain mentality. Whatever the motives or reasons for his words they would remain closely held and unknown to anyone. It was like this with any of Xander's motives or intentions. He rarely revealed what he was after as it meant he maintained a certain modicum of control. Control was everything to the Sith. He was constantly playing a calculated game which required an ever watchful eye on the strategies he employed.

The way Nyra played with [member="Onley Xiangu"] reminded Xander of a cat toying with a rat before it was devoured. Yet there was an heir of teasing as well, almost as though it was directed at him. She was certainly a curious sort, and the idea of discerning the mystery behind the woman was something of an attraction to Xander. He was always one to enjoy uncovering secrets only to exploit them later. Even Onley had secrets which could be exploited. Whether either would serve as allies, or more, something less, it was to be determined. For now it seemed they would be working together.

At mention of an heiress the Sith Lord quirked a brow. "A boring heiress you say," Darth Vizios grinned, "they are always looking for something to do with daddy's money. Sometimes they are even looking to do something to get even with daddy. Now is she the type to be swayed by the rich and powerful," as if on cue Xander's gaze shifted over to Onley, "or is she seeking the attention of the exact type of man her mother warned her about?"

Xander's eyes returned to Nrya, wandering a bit as they did so. "What do we know of daddy? Say this precious daughter of his should fall into trouble... would he make those responsible pay?"

[member="Olom Grihk"]

 

[Onley Xiangu]

It was genuinely freaking him out how much the other guy was saying the word ‘daddy’.

Thankfully he didn’t exactly mind being all wrapped up with Nyra teasing at him. He’d been in worse situations with less pleasant views, and generally those didn’t have potential for later moments. Toy or not he was out for his own gain and sometimes letting someone else have control was fun. He let out a snort of laughter at being likened to a common thug, one edge of his mouth quirking up in a smile as he looked at Vizios. “My name is Onley Xiangu. But you can call me Daddy if you want.”

Looking back at the small read-out of the heiress in question, Onley felt something like indifference. He was helpless and hopeless when it came to, as stated, chasing women. He was - self-admitted - a pig. But this girl looked boring. Plastic and perfect she looked vapid, empty. If he was being frank that usually didn't stop him, but neither did it encourage.

But it was supposed to be a game. And he liked games.

“I’d prefer the scandalous affair option. Believe it or not, I own a nice suit.”

[member="Darth Vizios"] | [member="Nyra Mazul"]​

 

[Darth Osano]

It was only out of kindness to the writer behind [member="Thengil Ri'Shajirr"] that the feline was allowed to accompany the Givin. Pollux would simply have to ignore the fact that [member="Tai Fa"] never once mentioned that one of his guardsmen would be following him around for the duration of this contract. It seemed unnecessary to Pollux. Were not all business relationships built upon the solid foundations of trust and good nature Did Tai Fa have reason to doubt Pollux's trustworthiness The Givin was, in all things, a professional. Once he was paid to carry out a task, it would be carried out. It hurt his feelings dearly that Tai Fa felt otherwise.

His outrageous, emotional Givin feelings.

Perhaps the Cathar would be useful. What a tragic twist of fate it would be if the creature Tai Fa dispatched to monitor Pollux ended up jeopardizing the mission...

- - -​

The time spent on the planet was brief, but productive. Thengil would not have much to do aside from watch Pollux make a lot of holocalls and stare bleakly at various screens- datapads, communications monitoring equipment, computer screens, etc. The works. Since he was an interloper and explaining things to him would take more time than it was worth, neither Pollux nor his Guavians said more than a word to the Cathar. Questions were given non-answers. If he bothered to squint at any of the screens, it would only be gibberish. Complex gibberish. The kind you needed cybernetics or a Givin's mathematical mind to fully understand.

During this unsurprisingly dull montage sequence, Pollux was setting himself up a new identity. It was important to draw out the cartel goons that were acting as enforcers to the guild instead of running to them directly. As it turned out, there was some space opening up on the asteroid- a disgruntled independent miner was selling off his stake so the mining guild would leave him alone. They were prepared to buy him out, but Pollux offered the miner a better deal at the last moment and control of the share would go to him instead. Pollux was now scheduled to inspect his little slice of paradise tomorrow morning, where he fully expected a representative of the cartel to appear.

And now it was time for Thengil to help.

Originally Pollux was just going to have one of the Guavians do it, but since the Cathar was here, he might as well help in a more active role. Pollux and another Guavian approached Thengil one fine day aboard the shuttle- the Guavian was holding scrappy, uncomfortable looking clothes. Something a miner would probably wear. They would have to add a bit more to the Cathar's disguise to make him look more to the part and less intimidating, but that bridge could be crossed when they got to it. "You're going to impersonate a miner." Pollux flatly informed him. The Guavian dropped the clothes into the Cathar's lap. "Your name is Olivo Chutrifo."

It was apparent now that Pollux was taking Thengil's presence here as seriously as he had taken Vnut's back on Enigma Prime.

"Glenda will be here shortly to do your makeup." Pollux removed a scratched up datapad containing all the information pertinent to Olivo Chutrifo from his pocket and tossed it on top of the clothes pile. "Read that in the meantime."

 

[Nyra Mazul]

"Oh gasp," Nyra said in a shocked voice. "socialite heiress caught with cute twinkish boy in a hotel room! Oh the scandal!" Alright so maybe she was laying it on a little thing. "The horror. Clearly no young, rich, party girl has ever done anything like that." Playfully she slapped at [member="Onley Xiangu"] patting him on the cheek a few times and gave him a reassuring smile. "Although you looking good in a suit could definitely wouldn't hurt anything a simple love affair won't do. We need an errant rent boy dead in hotel."

Shrugging Nyra looked over at [member="Darth Vizios"]. "Earl Villes. That isn't a title, his first name is actually earl." Taking a deep breath Nyra considered the small data packet on the man. "Fat and on the last leg of middle aged. He'll pay for blackmail but also send out security forces, or else bounty hunters if security isn't presence."

"What I think we should do, is get close to the target." Looking over at Onley she nodded. "If we can get to her personal datapad and copy the contents there might be something useful in there. Companies are rarely squeaky clean. If we can get some dirt, use it as leverage we may get what we want."

[member="Olom Grihk"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Plans were formed and being executed.

It was time to put his own role into motion - much as [member="Olom Grihk"], [member="Velok the Younger"] and [member="Pollux"], Tai Fa was a planner more than anything else. Oh, he could dish out some damage when it was necessary, but more often than not he preferred to handle things through intermediaries.

It was neater, cleaner. Usually there was a lot of blood involved and getting that out of his fabric was simply annoying, to say the least of it.

"Look here, my friend Vnut.​

The dwarf gave us good guidance.​

This will be worthwhile.​

​

Not too big, or small.​

To seize it... few eyes on us.​

We'll go unnoticed."​

​

Lorem Hypermatter Consolidated was an old player in the game, but old did not necessarily mean successful. They had gone through some turbulent times in the past two decades - going from a mid-sized, yet successful company, to a lower-scale and slugging holdings firm barely a blip on a market dominated by the usual names.

It wasn't a Santhe, nor an Iron Crown or an Arceneau. It was barely a recent day TaggeCo.

But what it lacked in size, it more than made-up for in terms of quality of its produce. Which is probably why friend Olom had flagged it down in the first place.

If this worked out well... they would have all the high quality hypermatter they needed.

"To reel in this whale.​

We must know all about it.​

More info needed."​

 

[TB-705]

Amber eyes flicked between the pile of threadbare clothes and the walking cadaver. A deep, throaty growl like a sublight engine mid-takeoff rumbled in the back of Thengil’s throat for a moment. It ceased when his clawed paws curled around the well-used data pad. He brought it up to eye level and scanned the contents. Chutrifo, a coarse, inelegant name.

“Olivo, an uneducated, but hard working man, who scrapes by on a daily wage of- that can’t be right.”

In short, an insect of a being whose life would leave no more mark on the galaxy than that of a bantha.

The Cathar’s nostrils flared. “You expect me to play a peasant’s part. Will your handmaid wipe a bit of rock dust on me to hide my coat’s golden sheen?” Removing a monarch’s coronet made him no less a monarch. He let out an amused purr. ”Good, I grow bored of watching the gibberish on your screens.”

Slitted pupils flicked up from the datapad to stare unwaveringly into the Givin's cavernous sockets. “But if this Glenda tries to cut my fur I will rip out her throat.”

[member="Pollux"]

 

[Olom Grihk]

The strange little alien continued playing with his computers. If [member="Pollux"] could be said to have screens of gibberish, then Olom's screens could be said to be, well, less substantial gibberish with a lot of bits missing, unless you had a degree in mathematics and could see the parts that were broadcast purely in ultraviolet frequencies. Still, the overlays made sense to him, which was what mattered. He'd already managed to leave bread crumbs for two different members of this coalition to acquire sufficient access to the hypermatter. Both [member="Nyra Mazul"] and [member="Tai Fa"] had the opportunity, although how each one would execute it would be fascinating.


He checked his messages. The parcel that had been listed for sale a week back had been pulled. The mining company didn't seem to be pushing the paperwork through for the offer, though--at least, his slicing worm into the chief purchasing officer's personal comm-unit hadn't indicated anything of the sort. He smirked. Someone else was making a play for the site. He quickly grabbed his 'surveying gear.' The meet-up would have to be soon. He could set up his 'survey' and see who else was moving on the board. He'd forgotten how much he enjoyed all this skullduggery. There were few things more fun than moving pieces around a board, even if it wasn't in a hostile way. It was simply nice to play the game. After all, if either of them succeeded, he was clever, if both of them did, than he they could share the stakes and bragging rights, and if they both failed, then he could at least say he tried multiple solutions and learned something.


His arrival on the site, and his set-up of a small surveying camp on the edge of the claim, was sufficient. Tempting fate to draw attention, but not so much that anyone would find it odd. Of course, a suspicious person would find it suspicious. Then again, how suspicious was a surveyor on a random claim? Well, probably about as suspicious as an architect with a bunch of surveying equipment. Ah, well. Maybe someone would chase him. That'd be interesting. Or maybe it wouldn't. Only one way to find out.....


[member="Thengil Ri'Shajirr"]

 

[Onley Xiangu]

It was only his nature to automatically shift to Plan B when the prospect of wooing the socialite for scandal reasons was shot down. He was really banking on that one but was also fairly certain he could still somehow work this whole situation out to his liking - or at least the parts of it that mattered to him.

"So I'm good at the getting close part," he said, though between Nyra and Onley is was debatable which was one was 'better' considering he was still wrapped up and standing casually close to her. "And you're good at the lifting datapads thing." He assumed cat-burglary was a specialty combined with the outfit and the way she could sprint down an alleyway like nobody's business and felt safe guessing she could lighten someone's pockets while keeping them none the wiser. It was sort of like one of those moments in holoflicks where the two troublemakers exchange a look and bounce their eyebrows conspiratorially. It may just have been Onley doing it but it was hilarious in his own head.

Then again, he knew some women were in to older dudes and Vizios was dressed for the part. Frankly he didn't like the idea of losing out on that front, but one couldn't win all days.

"As nice as this is," he said, nodding his head towards the ties that still bound him, "I think we should get moving."

[member="Darth Vizios"] | [member="Nyra Mazul"]​

 

[Judah Lesan]

(OOC: Sorry for the wait...)

"It sounds to me the best solution is to let Onley have his fun with the girl. If he is as good as he says he is, he can get invited anywhere. Allow the boy to serve as distraction and then go lift the datapad."

Xander looked over the pair. He smirked at the predicament the boy had found himself in, and if the cat wanted to play with toy later that was up to her. However, there was information to steal. While Xander was not one to usually suggest a con job. His mind was keenly aware to the fact it may be the most effective in this case. His eyes danced over the female. There was more to her than met the eye, and Xander was quite certain she could devise a few ways to pull of this scheme without any of them. However here they were.

"Why not simply pose as the woman. While she is distracted we lift the passcode from her mind while Nyra walks in as the daughter and gets what we need. Onley here gets his kicks and we get the information we need. If the Earl sends his men they are easily disposed of. It is cliche, but leave the killing to the assassin."

He shrugged. The boy was right about them needing to move along. Xander could appreciate his appetite for sexual conquests, but found the timing to be lacking. It was something Xander endulged in but after the force stealing 800 years from him it was something he chose not to allow him to get too distracted. Right now they needed to get on with the job.

"You're call Nyra..."

[member="Onley Xiangu"] | [member="Nyra Mazul"]