Private Cleaning House

[Brehg Sha]

Lucrehulk-Class Command Ship in orbit over Enarc
15:29 Local Time​

There was a lot riding on this meeting, Sha knew that. Less because the negotiations themselves were important, and more because if this whistleblower left the conference room alive, Sha would be a dead woman. A Skakoan flight controller had noticed a number of shipments had been disappearing mysteriously from the logs, taking off but never arriving, usually never arriving in Alliance space. He was planning on bringing these concerns forward to Sha since she oversaw customs for the sector, but the trouble there was those shipments were being deliberately deleted by Sha herself. If he kept pressing this issue, a massive network of underground corruption in Enarc would be exposed, namely the network Sha had built up, so she needed this little loose end tied up quickly.

She'd managed to get into contact with a professional contract killer to deal with this little annoyance, but the trouble was she couldn't make this look like an inside job. This had to be explainable (at least in a court of law), so this attack had to look like an outside operation. Sha had given Sha'ri everything she needed to infiltrate the ship, the plan was to hit the conference room once the target and the necessary expendable personnel had arrived and pretend to be a Lok independence fighter looking to drive the Federation off the planet. The trouble was, in order to make this look good Sha needed to be in danger as well, or at least look it. This was a delicate tightrope to walk, but the Vizier trusted she could manage it. Or at least that she could clear out her safe and reach her ship before someone with honest intentions got here.

Sha'ri Sorkh

 

[Sha'ri Sorkh]

A preliminary view of the command ship's interior along with a preorganized back door protocol gave Sha'ri a definitive way out of the complex once her mission was complete. She knew the only viable option to eliminate the whistleblower with the least suspicion towards Brehg Sha's operation was to emulate the most obvious rival to the Federation as much as she could to eliminate any ideas of internal foul play. Despite her steeled character, she was an incredible actor, and since her appearance behind her signature mask was relatively unknown throughout the galaxy, authorities would not be able to trace the killer's face back to any known individual.

After the details of the mission were relayed to Sha'ri by Brehg Sha, she began preparations to masquerade as a guerilla soldier. She removed her mask for the first time in days, revealing her olive skin, which had been defiled by aged scars and exhaustion. She had organized a small kit of makeshift armaments and clothing, portraying the image of a grizzled rebel forced to rely on scraps along the battlefield to fuel their confrontation.

She had swapped her Chakram for something less recognizable - a few throwing knives were stuffed in a pouch around her waist, and she decided on bringing a humble blaster pistol to further sell the character, and their desperate circumstances.

Sha'ri looked into the mirror installed in the cockpit of her starship. She looked... Normal, almost. Despite the shagged dress and the long healing wounds across her face, she looked no different than any other ordinary citizen.

---

Sha'ri's sleek black starship rode the orbit of Enarc and discreetly approached the command ship. The hour of the meeting had almost arrived, and Sha'ri entered the hangar of the ship using forged credentials she had received for the mission.

She wrapped herself in a long dark cloak which extended down to her ankles. She also put on a head covering visor with a thin slit across the eyes that could relay detailed visual information as she actively investigated her surroundings. Her current persona was an aged dignitary, covered head to toe in black felt with a face obscuring silver mask. The security personnel at the dock neglected to further verify her information, as the command ship had several meeting rooms with varying content being discussed at every hour, so people were arriving consistently for their individual appointments.

Sha'ri slowly hobbled down the winding hallways of the ship's interior, waiting for the transceiver in her helmet to relay further information on the mission.

 

[Brehg Sha]

Sha couldn't risk communicating directly with Sha'ri during this meeting, so instead she'd allowed her to tap into the comms for the conference room to know when and where this operation was going down. As security was almost entirely droids, they had simply been given orders to ignore Sha'ri and let her pass through the station unheeded. It was then that the conference room doors slid open and the Skakoan wheezed inside surrounded by organic guards from off-site, a security measure from some big-wig the little cretin knew.

"Mr. Galos, thank you for attending!" Sha said, feigning as much warmth and sincerity as possible.

"When discuss-EEEEE," Damn these methane-bags and their finicky suit controls. "EEE-ng BZZT, BZZT, matters of Trade Federation corruption, attendance should be expected."

"Corruption?" Sha's face was stony but her blood was cold.

"Yes Vizier Brehg, corruption." The Skakoan confirmed sharply.

Sha'ri Sorkh

 

[Sha'ri Sorkh]

Now Playing - Looking For Tracy Tzu

---

Sha'ri couldn't afford for Galos to elaborate on what he meant. Scribes were usually in conferences noting every word discussed, so any evidence given would be recorded on a permanent record.

She also realized the timing of this staged terror attack could be a loose end that would eventually unravel the conspiracy. She had to take drastic action in order to stamp out any possible trace she could leave.

Sha'ri eventually reached the conference room, on the tail end of the whistleblower stating his suspicion, which he would've announced to the world in a panicked shout if it weren't for Sha'ri's sudden entrance. She had removed her first disguise revealing her rebel outfit.

Sha'ri had a lisp - she also took this detail of herself into account, as her voice could also be traced by ensuing detectives. She could only wear the emblem of a rebel while silently committing violence in the name of a cause she was not dedicated to.

She threw a knife at Sha first, to sell her indiscriminately violent message. It aimed to imbed itself in her right shoulder, missing important arteries on impact. She segued her throw into a sprint across the table, equipping another knife from her pouch and slashing through Galo's neck in one swift swipe. While guards clambered across the table, diligently aiming their weapons, Sha'ri had a moment of hesitation.

I can't use the force. A force wielder is too suspicious...

With one opportunity to exit, she kicked the nearest guard with their aim squared properly and proceeded to run outside into the corridor.

The government officials that attended meeting rooms nearby began to run out of their rooms in a panic, with a few now running in Sha'ri's direction in confusion.

She had no choice. If she only eliminated one or two targets in one room, that would also be a detail of interest to authorities. She steeled her resolve and began to cut down a few of the unsuspecting dignitaries and workers. She tried to aim for non-vital areas - cutting off hands or fingers, or slashing their chests with minimal force, but a few succumbed to injuries regardless, and Sha'ri could only bite her tongue as she continued to abscond towards the loading dock she arrived from.

 

[Brehg Sha]

"Yes Vizier Brehg, corruption." The Skakoan confirmed sharply as he took his seat across from Sha, flanked by a number of guards that were distinctly not on her payroll. Last Sha heard the Skakoan was still in the 'maybe it's a clerical error' phase of his investigation, if he had enough to make declarations of company corruption then her operations were in danger.

"Mr. Galos, I'm not sure what you're implying-" She tried to interject calmly but the gas-bag cut her off with an electronic screech.

"I-AAAEEEE-I believe you do, because my investigation shows that-" Sha had never been so relieved to see an armed assailant break into her conference room. Granted that armed assailant was on her payroll and she helped her break in, but still. Sha reflexively ducked to the side when she saw the knife coming but still hissed when she felt the blade bite into the flesh of her arm. She would be taking the scar-removal surgery out of Sha'ri's back payment.

As for Mr. Galos, he barely had time to react to the sudden onrush before his pressure suit (and neck) were punctured in a swift blow, spilling pressurized methan and blood all over the floor. Unfortunately for both Sha and Sha'ri, the independent guards were sharper than your average B1 and even taking blows to the chest they were hot on Sha'ri's heels, calling in reinforcements as she ran for the hangar bay. The same hangar bay the reinforcements were coming from.

Sha'ri Sorkh

 

[Sha'ri Sorkh]

It wasn't long before Sha'ri was face-to-face with the incoming back-up. She was utterly surrounded, and the screams of the fallen dignitaries didn't help the patience of the guards as they swarmed her position. She didn't even get a chance to use her blaster, as a guard outside of her peripheral tackled her to the ground.

It was an incredibly tight hallway, now filling up with a dogpile of bodies holding onto Sha'ri. Without the strength of the force, she could barely lift more than two bodies off her back at a time, and soon succumbed to the weight.

She could feel her neck being held in a vice grip, and her head being squeezed between the cold floor and the palm of another guard. All her extremities were kept solid in one place, and she couldn't free herself without exposing vital details of her identity.

If any of this came back to her, or Brehg - she'd be dead regardless, so for now, she could only wait for another opportune moment to escape.

She had to keep her mouth shut.

---

"KILL HER!"
"M-my face! SHE MUST BE EXECUTED!"

[#]"How could you... You killed them all! End her now!"

The insistent voices of gathering government officials pleaded for the instantaneous death of Sha'ri as she was held down on the ground. Some people gathering in the hallway attempted to pry through the guards to hit Sha'ri with something or throw something at her. The few who were capable spat on her while the guards attempted to better secure the perimeter. They pushed away dignitaries from the action and proceeded to wait for further orders.

 

[Brehg Sha]

Alright, this was bad, very bad. If Sha'ri got captured the Federation would wring the information about this job out of her, and even if she didn't crack under extensive torture her capture would raise questions and poke all sorts of holes in her cover story. She needed something, anything to help Sha'ri escape this situation, and frantically searching around the conference room she found her answer. The dead Skakoan had his security card on him, and with everyone leaving the room to play a round of kick-the-captive Sha was free to swipe the card and quietly dip toward the hallway security terminal. With this access card, and some creative reprogramming, she was able to send the hallway security system into fits, lights, doors, ray shields, everything began flickering on and off erratically. Giving Sha'ri as good a chance to escape as Sha could muster.

Sha'ri Sorkh

 

[Sha'ri Sorkh]

Now Playing - Meet Matt Stryker

---

As the lights flickered around Sha'ri, she internally sighed in relief over the miracle given to her. Darkness - even just a few glimpses of it, allowed Sha'ri to perform her supernatural feats without fear of identification - without fear of pursuit.

Darkness - only for a second.
Using the force, she reeled the pair of throwing knives from her waist pouch up her back, over her shoulder and into her hand. Flicking the pommel of one with incredible strength while overcoming the weight of bodies, she compelled the force to spin the blade at frightening speeds, like a spinning chakram. It cleaved a line through the bodies directly on top of her - dividing one sorry security guard, while the second one keeping Sha'ri's legs bound lost a chunk out of their shoulder.

Light suddenly filled the hallway once more.
Onlookers would suddenly behold the streak of blood left on the steel wall of the hallway. They could only deduce some sort of gun had gone off, and in a panic, the previously jeering crowd started bunkering in nearby rooms or began sprinting deeper into the complex.

As Sha'ri climbed up from the receding dogpile of bodies, she kicked the closest guard into a flickering ray field, watching their body sizzle on impact. As the field deactivated once again, Sha'ri leaped through the doorway and continued down the hall towards the hangar bay she came from.

She could hear the thundering footsteps of more security echoing behind her, and before she could experience the relief of escape, another indiscriminate ray field activated in front of the hangar bay entry. Sha'ri could only gasp as the sounds of more reinforcements bolstered the march of stomping combat boots. She had to hide - now. The only place she could hide was a small vent to the left of the hangar bay entrance. As she peeled the metal grate of the vent, she realized it only went one way.

Down...

All she could do was... Fall.

 

[Brehg Sha]

Sha didn't see what happened when the security system when haywire, but when the lights came on, she was certainly glad she hadn't. There were...chunks on the floor, of people, and other people in various states of ex-people hood. Sha didn't mind the wetwork aspects of her job, but this seemed excessive. A dead officer and some wounded security was one thing, but trying to play this off as a tragic accident would be next to impossible. Sha needed to get her little assistant out of the ship before this turned into something unsalvageable.

"Wounded and dead to the medical center! I want security at all escape pods! I'm going to the command center to monitor the situation." Say what you want about Sha, she wasn't incompetent when it came to running the operations around Enarc. The remaining guards and attendants snapped to attention and scrambled to follow her orders while she headed for central command to see what she could do to help Sha'ri escape.

Meanwhile. down the chute Sha'ri threw herself down, she would land in one of the station's trash compactors, a large metal chamber overflowing with waste and refuse. It was far from a pleasant place to land, or smell, but she would be safe from the guards for a time. The creature slithering up from the depths of the waste container to inspect its new prey, was another matter...

Sha'ri Sorkh

 

[Sha'ri Sorkh]

Now Playing - Hang'em All

---

Huh. Deja vu.

Despite the disgusting environment Sha'ri found herself in, her lithe splendor clashed beautifully with the reflection on scrapped steel, or the rust and shine of pillaring formwork inside the compactor.

Like a dragon from the depths coming to steal the princess from her tower, the Dianoga slowly slinked up across the trash heap to consume Sha'ri. Little did it know, the ensuing panic of combat resurrected the dark pattern of Sha'ri's alter ego.

The Lethal Acrobat.

She took out a small porcelain mask hidden under her vest and put it on. It was her way of hiding away from the world - her way of coping.

She leaped across the expanse of waste and secured her hand on a small handle lodged in the corner of the container. She was several meters up in the air now - and she dangled from the handle weightlessly. A few spinning throwing knives subjugated by the force reeled out of Sha'ri's pouch and flew through the air - piercing the eye of the receding Dianoga. It screamed violently, and Sha'ri simply slinked out of the waste container like a creature out of the dark.

She was on a lower level of the Command Ship now. This was a whole new path unfamiliar to her.

To hell with appearances. If she was going to get out of this kriff pit alive, she was going to have to cut her way out.

 

[Brehg Sha]

Sha made it to the command bridge as fast as her legs would carry her, and once she arrived she found it (understandably) in crisis mode. Techs were scrambling to check alert messages and track the situation, but they all stood aside when she arrived. Sha knew she needed to play this very carefully, if she wasn't able to get Sha'ri out of here soon her career was dead, and maybe her along with it.

"What's the situation?" She barked.

"We have five confirmed dead so far, including officer Galos," Thank the goddesses for little miracles. "And the target slipped into one of the trash chutes."

"Do we have a location?" She asked sharply.

"N-No ma'am, the high concentration of organic matter is making them impossible to track. We're not even sure which trash compactor bay they got rerouted to." A twitchy Gossam replied, much to Sha's secret relief.

"Then send out the B1 garrison, comb the trash compactors for signs of the target, all of them!" That would stretch the garrison thin, and B1s were only slightly smarter than what you'd probably find swimming in that compactor waste.

Sha'ri Sorkh