Private Curse of Sycorax

[Malen]

"Don't tell me what to do."

Looking at Dagon Kaze , Malen made sure to add as much pain as possible to Kai's legs as possible. He was lying if he said it wasn't payback, but he wanted to shake the creature's legs. A weak foundation made for a dead man, no matter how big he was. Contrary to what Malen believed was Dagon's pacifist tendencies, the slicer saw him as nothing more than a beast. And having felt some of the pressures that Dagon had felt, Malen believed he needed to be put down. That was part of the reason he had taken the job.

It was well evident that his partner seemed to prefer a more pacifist approach even if the beast would be wanted alive. When Dagon went to put the bindings on Kai's limbs, he got out his blaster pistols, and set it to its highest stun setting. Malen then aimed it for the Sithspawn's chest, making sure not to fire in the direction Dagon was in. It was a calculated attempt to fire at him while Dagon was distracted, and so that he'd put his touch at the job.

"Speak for yourself. As long as I'm getting paid, I don't really care.", smirking inside his voice modulated helmet.

"Excellent doing business with you Kai Bamarri ."

"Let's look for something to carry this beast. If we don't find anything, I can carry it if you want."

 

[Kai Bamarri]

“You plan on telling us more on who this is or?”

Aside from the Jedi’s confrontational tone, the question puzzled Amelia. “As I told you previously, I don’t know much about this thing. Only that it has been terrorizing my countryside and must be stopped. Has your mystical energy field given you clairvoyance enough to see what it is and where it came from? If you know something I don’t, then please, enlighten me.”

“Excellent doing business with you, Amelia Ardal.”

Amelia’s eyes narrowed. “I believe I asked for you to bring the creature in alive, Mr. Rhist. Firing a stun weapon at point blank range has the potential to kill. Whether you have seriously harmed it or not, your pay will be docked for sheer stupidity.”

She turned to one of her aides. “Prepare a fluttercraft to airlift the target. A medic team should be on hand as well. I want it taken to one of our facilities… the fortress at the Isle of Atys should be sufficient to hold it for now.” She waved her hand dismissively, then reopened communications with Dagon and Malen. “I am sending a ship to pick the creature up. You may hitch a ride if you wish. Once it is secured, your money will be transferred directly into your accounts.”

In all, she was rather surprised by how quickly and relatively easily this matter had been dealt with, but she wasn’t one to question good fortune when it came her way. That is, assuming nothing more went wrong in the future...

Dagon Kaze | Malen​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

A look of irritation furrowed his brow at the mercenary's hostile attitude but the Jedi opted to reply to Amelia over the comms.

"The creature is not just a beast as you initially thought--it's a newborn. Trapped, somehow, in this body." Dagon explained his own understanding. His voice grew coarser, "He should be sent back to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. The seers there could help him and figure out this dormant connection to the Force he exhibits."

Malen Kai Bamarri

 

[Malen]

The slicer's instinctive thought was to reply back at Kai Bamarri , but even if she gave him 1 credit, he could get it back with his investments in digital currencies. That, and he was still getting paid. Credits were still credits, even if it was less so.

"It was still a pleasure. doing business with you. You to kid."

The slicer simply waited for the ship to come. He wanted to move on from the assignment. Whatever they did with the beast was not his business.

 

[Kai Bamarri]

Amelia was startled by what Dagon told her about the creature, but her surprise quickly morphed into a possessive curiosity. She did not want to give the Jedi, especially the ones on Coruscant, any grounds to think they could take what they pleased from her world. Give them an inch and they'd take a mile. Ironically, it seemed the careless slicer would be less of an issue for her to deal with.

"You will do no such thing," Amelia replied to Dagon, her tone icy. "This newborn was found on Dahrtag, therefore he is one of our own. It may be difficult for you to comprehend, Jedi, but just because you claim the moral high ground does not mean you are above the law. The newborn is under my protection, he will remain here."

Conveniently, the fluttercraft came into view a few seconds after she spoke, landing in the midst of a nearby field. Medics bearing a stretcher sprinted to the scene (a short walk away) and began loading up the still-stunned Doppelganger.

Dagon Kaze | Malen​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

A mental sigh of relief for the mercenary's decision to depart as he curtly nodded back at the slicer.

<"My apologies, Lady Ardal, if I have my reasons to doubt your protection."> he replied coldly, sarcasm leaking into his words. After all she could not protect a patch of farms, no?

As the fluttercraft arrived and the medics set the creature on the stretcher, the Jedi would follow them upon the vessel.

<"Think me and you will need to talk face to face, Lady.">

Kai Bamarri Malen (u exit i assume?)

 

[Malen]

Where Dagon Kaze and Kai Bamarri would go on to meet, the young slicer hoped on another ship provided by the crime lord to go back to Darkwire space.

Waving toward Dagon, seconds later, Malen would appear as a distant site. He'd come here and done his job. What they did with the creature was not his business, nor his concern.

(Thanks for the lovely thread <3)

 

[Kai Bamarri]

Amelia glared at the live drone footage, her fingers curling around the armrests of her chair. She had refused to hire Mandalorians due to their unruly warlike tendencies, but she had forgotten how deep and irritating a thorn Jedi could be. At least the slicer was gone. Turning to her aide again, she spoke quietly, then contacted the medical team tending to the newborn. It was still strange to think of the creature as a sentient being rather than a mindless beast.

"How is the... patient?" she asked.

"Some ionization trauma," a gruff voice, clearly focused on something else, replied. "Wounds are regenerating rapidly, but it looks like this thing is severely underweight and malnourished. We've got it hooked up to an IV. It'll need constant monitoring for the next couple of days, at least, just to be safe."

"I've prepared a place for him."

"It's a him? I didn't see any visible sexual organs."

"The Jedi referred to it as a 'him'." She rolled her eyes. "He used his sorcery to read the creature's thoughts, claims it has the mind of a newborn trapped inside a foreign body. My plans for it have not changed. I will meet the Jedi at Atys. He's unlikely to interfere while we tend to the creature's injuries, at least."

***​

The Isle of Atys held an old fortress built into a mountain, its towers and parapets shrouded in Dahrtag's perpetual mist. As the fluttercraft landed on the pad and the medics carried Kai inside, one of Amelia's servants arrived to escort Dagon to meet with the voivode.

Amelia was in the throne room, a rectangle-shaped chamber with wings on either side meant to hold courtiers and guests. Now these areas were empty. A faded but clean rug led the way from the door to the dais where she reclined, flanked by guards. She gazed down at Dagon with amber eyes, her voice even in tone. She no longer appeared annoyed.

"You wished to talk face to face. Well, here we are, Mr. Kaze."

Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Dagon glanced quickly at each of the guards flanking the Lady, there was no visible intent of hostility emanating from neither. Not even from her, but the Jedi wasn't confident enough in his abilities to read her. Surely, his protest against her taking 'custody' over the creature had strung some cord; he wasn't oblivious to the existence of a general anti-Jedi sentiment, even, or especially, in the Core.

He locked eyes with the raven-haired noble as she sat comfortably on her throne, "You can call me Dagon, or Dag." the Jedi faintly shrugged.

"The creature--the boy is a Force-sensitive and needs help beyond the standard medical care you can provide him." he crossed his arms and continued, "Frankly speaking, Lady, I think you know more about it than you say. It has to have come from somewhere and this is your domain. Anything out of the ordinary and you're bound to know about it."

A small frown appeared on his face, "So let's cut to the chase."

Kai Bamarri

 

[Kai Bamarri]

“I appreciate your faith in me, and I hate to disappoint, but I’ve already told you everything I know about this boy."

She was not lying, and though she leaned forward slightly, she was still maintaining her composure. “Dagon, I think you haven't told me everything you discovered during your encounter with him. So far, you've said that he is a male—though I’ve been told it exhibits no sexually dimorphic traits—with the mind of a newborn, as you understand it, and that he is Force sensitive, but you've said nothing about where he came from or why he is here. If you don't know the answers to these questions, how could you have already come to the conclusion that the Jedi ought to take him? Simply because he is Force sensitive?” She smiled. “Or is it because you are yourself a Jedi, and believe it is what would be best for him?”

Resting her chin on her hand, she added, “As for what I intend to do, my objective has not changed much. I hired you to capture this boy so that I could study him and find out more about him. But since you have so obviously become attached, I certainly wouldn’t forbid you from returning to visit him in due time. I simply don’t want your entire Order involved.”

Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

"No one is involving the entire Order, Lady, but the fact remains that any Force-sensitive - especially a troubled one - is best left to the Jedi." Dagon explained calmly, then gestured with his hand, "Unless you have a Jedi-in-hiding here, I don't see how he can be helped here."

"I can't tell you where he came from or why he is here but the seers on Coruscant would be able to. He needs help beyond that of a white room."

If the newborn was a malfunctioning Sithspawn, by some chance, then leaving him to the care of non-Jedi would most likely backfire. Dagon's growing suspicion of the enigmatic Lady further solidified his own stance on the matter.

Kai Bamarri

 

[Kai Bamarri]

Amelia laughed.

“How does the old phrase go—‘there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy’? The Jedi don’t have a monopoly on space magic, Dagon—and I don’t necessarily need your Force to get what I want.”

She inclined her head. Anyone else might simply assume Dagon was arrogant and blindly loyal to the Jedi way of thinking, but she detected something else as well. Fear.

“What are you afraid of?” she asked. “That I am in league with the Sith? I couldn’t care less about your ongoing religious squabbles. Or… do you think this boy is somehow connected to them?”

Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

An uneasy feeling crawled down his spine in reaction to her laugh.

He frowned, "Only afraid that you do not know what you're getting into."

Kai Bamarri

 

[Kai Bamarri]

As distrustful of her as he was, Dagon still seemed motivated by a desire to be helpful. He truly believed he was protecting lives. Protecting her, even. Perhaps he felt useless, unable to conclusively uncover more of this mystery, and so he was deferring to his elders within the Order. Or maybe it wasn’t that deep. Still, no doubt he had noble intentions in that warm, beating heart of his.

“Tell you what,” she began. Rising from her throne, she descended the dais until she was on level ground with Dagon... who was over a foot taller than her. “Let’s compromise, you and I.”

She started to idly pace around him as she spoke. Oh, she knew that he found her unnerving—that suppressed shudder hadn’t gone unnoticed. But if he was going to be this stubborn, she might as well have a little fun with him. She felt like a cat playing with a mouse. A Jedi mouse… and not a bad looking one, she thought, getting a good view of his backside. It really was a pity she could only see humans as food these days.

“The boy will stay here long enough for any family, friends, or anyone who knows anything about him to come forward,” she continued. “If nobody does, I will contact you, and we can make whatever arrangements are necessary. If he must be sent to Coruscant, I will send him—though it may be better to send your Jedi seers here instead. We go from there.” She paused by his right shoulder, peering up at his face. “What do you say to that, Dagon?”

Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

His hands dropped to his hips but he remained static, only following her circling around him like a vulture with his eyes. Up close under the lights of the throne room, the Lady seemed--felt different. She carried herself with both a dangerous and hedonistic air to her; her alluring features surprisingly far more noticeable.

Thoughtful, Dagon narrowed his eyes at her as she halted on his right. He was near-certain a better offer would not be put on the table. Not by the look in her eyes. Both of his choices were risky with unpredictable outcomes to the point the Jedi wondered whether he really had more than one choice to make.

"I can work with that, Lady." he replied and sighed mentally, then, "Do not treat him as a prisoner - he...seemed to have escaped from something similar from what I saw."

Kai Bamarri

 

[Kai Bamarri]

“Rest assured, he won’t be a prisoner. Provided he isn’t a danger to anyone.”

She took a step to the left, facing him directly. Though they weren’t that close in proximity, the heat radiating from him was a sharp contrast to the coldness of her body. All that warm blood pumping…

“What exactly did you see?” she asked. “Something happened between you in the forest, I picked up on that much. A sharing of minds, thoughts, feelings—is that how you know these things about him?” For that matter, why would they need a seer to tell them more if Dagon could peer into the child’s mind?

Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Dagon's eyes locked with hers trying to subtly figure the Lady out, alas to no avail. The warmth of her tempting lure - only a decoy to a cold, cold embrace; a siren's call, he had heard some call it. Interesting.

"Through the Force, yes." Dagon confirmed with a curt nod of his head, "I couldn't discern a specific location but he seems to hail from a snowy place..." the Jedi briefly rubbed his chin trying to recall his connection with the boy, "A...facility? I am not sure. But he...seems trapped in that body; almost as if it isn't his."

"Anything ringing familiar to you?"

Kai Bamarri

 

[Kai Bamarri]

“He could have arrived on this planet during the winter snows,” she theorized. “Or somewhere near the arctic poles…”

As vague as snow was on its own, a facility in a snowy place did ring a bell. She frowned, her brow furrowing as she followed this new train of thought. “I think you may be onto something,” she said. “Walk with me.”

She led the way out of the throne room, through several winding halls and down a flight of steps before they finally reached their destination: a subterranean chamber harboring a very large, very complex computer system with an array of screens and holograms. It appeared to be monitoring the whole planet, with sensors ranging from seismic activity and space traffic to localized surveillance footage and satellite images.

Unlocking the system, she narrowed down its nigh-omniscient sights to the planet’s southern pole, zooming in on a hidden facility built into a snow-capped canyon wall.

“Is this what you saw?” she asked, gesturing to the image.

Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Dagon allowed her a slight headstart before he followed, a slight reluctance tugging at the back of his mind. He threw a glance at the guards surrounding her throne but none moved an inch leaving the two to head to wherever the Lady him to.

A chamber underground housing a large computer system Dagon did not expect to find in such a place. It reminded him off both a Coruscanti Security Force precinct's surveillance room and a planetarium. She tapped a few keys and the Jedi's eyes widened as memories resurfaced to match what the screens produced.

"Yeah." he replied, a frown materializing once more on his face, "What exactly is that place?"

Kai Bamarri

 

[Kai Bamarri]

“A private research facility.” She observed Dagon’s reaction with a raised eyebrow. He sure did a lot of frowning. “They have a grant and all the appropriate legal certifications. Apparently, they’re studying plant life in sub-zero temperatures.”

She flicked her wrist, a motion which caused another image to appear beside the photo of the facility: that of a hideously deformed satyr. It appeared to be a mugshot, taken very recently; his face bore fresh cuts and bruises from a vicious fight.

“The reason why I thought of it is because of this individual,” she explained. “Messala. He came to Dahrtag claiming to be a refugee from the Bryn’adul horde. A few months after his arrival, he was arrested at that facility. Two people were involved in the arrest. One of them was an agent of the Silver Jedi, the other a woman working for… Interpol, I believe? A strange pair. They didn’t stay long, and they took Messala with them.” She gave Dagon a sidelong glance. “But if any of them are connected to this child... perhaps it would be something worth looking into.”

Dagon Kaze​