'Ah, for goodness sake!'
<"Retry! Scimitar to Little Angel! Progress report: the Sorannis cartel's rivals have reached out, contacts made within the Muntar, aid given in abundance so far.... Further reports impending, implementing comm-silence again. Scimitar out">
After reaching the halfway point of his route to COMPNOR's empty-apartment waypoint, Jordi's rental transport speeder was stopped at a junction by a stoplight, and by the two speeders that stopped at either side of him. Fortunately for Massad, they were representatives of the Muntar, there with orders to escort the Imperial wherever he needed to go, to follow his orders, and to protect the Kandaran in whatever path he chose to tread that night. Reaching the apartment in question, it didn't take long for his temporary bodyguards to suggest somewhere better, and in seeing that they had no intention of letting the Sorannis-HQ compound out of their sight, Jordi would let intuition kick in and in doing so - would quickly take up the old Half-Atrisian's Sicarios on their kindly offer. If it meant trading out for an empty old apartment with just an uncomfortable couch for company, Massad knew he would think anything was better than what he was issued before long.
'Imperial! You wanna check out the little,"Nest", we got? Can see the whole east side of the compound, and then some!'
And just like his gut-instinct was telling him, the Kandaran would be pleased to see that his two guards weren't lying, seeing what could only equate to the equivalent of a celebrity's summer condominium. Not an apartment for Sicarios, at least not as far as Jordi saw it, more like an apartment for Capos, or even higher in the Muntar's food-chain.
'Lead the way - er.... Daurinn, was it? Ah, good. My brain isn't running on fumes after all, but please; show me this,"Nest", of yours. The view you're describing could be of great help- no, really. I'm actually serious, so please.... Lead the way and show me where Hoyler's hiding! Heh! Seems like a good spot if he likes to make a beeline for it on arrival, wouldn't you say?'
Laughing with the Imperial, Daurinn clearly appreciated his new acquaintance's bantering receptiveness to conversational cues, along with the kind courtesies he'd received from the Kandaran since meeting him at the turnpike-junction less than an hour before that moment. Leaning in to keep Hoyler from overhearing, the older of the two muttered,
'Little bro doesn't know we're going to be, uh - working tonight. If there's any chance you can keep him away from the worst of it, please do.', expressing the first err away from superficiality of the night, a first that revealed a door of further-opportunities with the Muntar. And yet, Massad still wasn't very impressed with what he was hearing, and to the extent that the Kandaran saw both his bodyguards as little more than goons sent to keep a knife out his back, but that didn't mean he wouldn't help - it only meant that Jordi would be doing things his own way again.
On his own terms.
'And what you don't know is that neither of you are going to be near the compound when I kill everyone inside.'
Shocked at first, the Muntar goon could scarcely believe what he was hearing, trying to understand how a COMPNOR agent, flesh and blood, and without any cybernetics to aid him in combat, could prevail in a fortified compound that none of his colleagues could infiltrate without losing their lives in the process. Not even storming the Sorannis headquarters with a numerical advantage could bear the Muntar any lasting fruit, as the maze-like inner workings of the compound held many blindspots, bottlenecks and traps that could've been and were used against their rivals in droves, a nightmare of which that few ever survived long enough to suffer recounting it all to their superiors. All their efforts, all in vain until the Imperial showed up, and it was looking a lot like the only ones who knew for sure would be the shadowy leadership of the cartel who were facilitating him with such hospitality, aiding him in their own shady ways.
'My apologies, but I need you relaying all you see to the Zabrak tonight.... Hey! Now don't get me wrong, I like the guy - but I see far too much disbelief in his eyes to let his challenge stand unaccepted. I'm out to prove people wrong tonight, and that only bodes well for you if I succeed, so lighten up. For your brother's sake as much as ours.'
'Enjoying the view, Scimitar?'
Laughing almost maniacally as he looked out the window to the fortified compound beneath, and though still wicked to the tone, (almost like every exertion of mirth had a lashing sting to it) Jordi still had enough control over it to return a kindly nod of confirmation in response.
'Very much, Hoyler. Very much indeed.', Jordi replied as he reached out for a handshake, only to see a fist hanging out instead, meeting it in the middle to stick with the local habits. To maintain his trend in being as endearing as possible for the sake of his hosts from the Muntar, the Kandaran didn't mind indulging simple differences, such like the preference of fist-bumps over,
"lowly" handshakes. The Clawdite brothers had earned it, as it was as close to a top-down view of the compound as Massad was hoping and more, well and truly deserving of a fist-bump to say the least, and certainly deserving of the wise call to keep his guards exactly where they were. Looking back to the brothers, the Imperial smiled and continued,
'The Muntar outdid themselves with this place, lads. My compliments to the old Zabrak, and to my guards for suggesting it.' turning back to the view outside, with gears and cogs already turning in his mind in as the next phase of his part in the operation was looking set to begin.
<"Scimitar to Command! Progress report: sending coordinates, evidence of Sorannis-centralised resources, and some convenient overheads in case you wish to see what I'm seeing at the moment.... Do send word to Little Angel, he ought to know how easy it'll be for the rest of the op. We've just secured an early conclusion, sir. This I can guarantee. Scimitar out!">
Lifting his briefcase, rucksack and all his other tech onto the coffee-table between them, Massad would unload everything as a means of getting a better look at the entire inventory, needing to categorize exactly what was needed for what he needed to proceed. Once this was achieved, the Kandaran would pick up the night-vision/thermal goggles and binoculars first, walking closer to the window as Daurinn asked,
'We're ordering takeout soon, want some? It's a decent restaurant too, so it won't be like you'll be forced to devour inedible swill or anything. We don't eat like serial-killers here anyway, so no worries there..', resulting in Jordi turning back to answer with a protesting stomach that hungered more than he did. Like a low growl, the Clawdites had no trouble hearing it, chuckling heartily at the sound of the stomach-groans and making their decision to order out on the premise of their guest's predicament alone.
'Good, then be sure to order me something spicy. Blander flavours almost never sit well with me, been that way since my youth as well.'
With hands slightly jittery because of the hunger, Jordi knew he had no choice but to put down his observational materials for a while, forced by his own stomach to enjoy the view of the city's richer districts as the Clawdite brothers saw to filling up on good food, waiting patiently on the fuelling of both mind and body before any real planning could be done competently.
Relax yourself, Jordi. You have all night to get this done.... Plenty time, and more than you had for the last outing too.
He couldn't know what would happen that night, not with any real sense of certainty, but what Jordi did know for sure was that he would be causing far more destruction than ever before. Convinced he wanted to make a lasting impression on COMPNOR's other agents, and on the latest of the organisation's underworld contacts, Massad knew he would need to achieve the impossible if he wished to use Kuat as a means of earning his way at a higher level, something the Kandaran was all too willing to endeavour in that moment. After all, Massad's choice to deploy on Kuat had been made solely on the fact it was higher risk than the other contracts on offer at the time, and in the fact he knew it would give him vital experience for the future, the Kandaran was really beginning to believe he was in the right place at the right time.
Let the city see, let them tremble.... Won't change the fact I'll do it again if I'm given a reason to.
Zav Traros
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Djorn Bline
