Demon Dance

[Hira Mitsae]

Rishi, Abrion Sector.
Outer Rim
[member="Taeli Raaf"]

“You need some escorts, boss?”

Sardun snorted. “Do I look like I need a babysitter?”

Ugg looked up from his stick. The big knife in his hand started waving around in an attempt to point towards the Dark Jedi’s face.

“Dunno, you do seem to have some of that baby fat lingering around the cheeks.”

Michael rolled his eyes. “Funny guy. Go back to your woodcutting, I will be back soon.”

With that the former Jedi stepped out of the shadow of their shuttle and into the bustling crowd of the Rishi Starport. It was one of the few shadowports still left in the Union Space, even with the nation crumbling… they were still pretty tough on criminal enterprises and the sort.

Now to find his destination in this mess.

It was almost impossible to navigate your way through the hundreds of people mingling and milling about. Pirates, thieves, bounty hunters and others - years ago he would have been disgusted, but these days?

Just his crowd.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Rishi Shadowport

It wasn't everyday that Taeli would visit Rishi, even if her company had a limited operation here. Its claim to fame was the shadowport that was infested with bounty hunters, scifters, smugglers, black market traders, and so on. If it was something that might be elicit, the Rishi shadowport probably had either someone peddling it or someone who knew someone that could get a job done.

Dressed inconspicuously in what some would call normal smuggler attire, she had come to the shadowport to track down information on a supposed new bioweapon that was in development. No one knew what it was exactly, but when the Grand Marshall heard about it, she had volunteered to track it down and eliminate it. The rumor was it was a group of dissident Techno Union scientists that were working on it, and its effects sounded very much like Trihexalon... except even stronger.

"You sure about this information?" she asked her contact, looking over the datapad provided to her while they sat in the dingiest cantina she had ever had the misfortune to sit in.

"As sure as I can be," the contact, an old Arkanian male, said. "Some sort of shipment of ore from Maramere passed through here not long ago, heading for the Outer Rim.

"The Alliance thanks you," she said, sliding him the credits she had promised. "Now I at least have something to look for."

[member="Michael Sardun"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

Sardun cut a straight path through the crowd.Some might have tried to go around or maybe gracefully slip through the openings, but the Dark Jedi hadn’t been anything remotely graceful in years.

No real need, really.

Soon enough - after many pushes, prods and two counts of throwing a man through a window - did Michael arrive at his destination: The Carrion’s Rest. One of the many cantinas scattered around the Rishi shadowport, and amusingly enough the same cantina Raaf was currently in.

But that didn’t concern Sardun, well, yet.

The cantina was like any other. Noisy filler music, a thick layer of husky smoke lingering in the air and a whole lot of nasties sitting about, doing their proverbial thang.

Most people would have been fooled by Taeli’s act: Incognito clothes, no lightsaber and even the holier-than-thou air was entirely extinguished.

Check, check and check.

Sardun had been a Jedi himself though, so he knew what to look for. Hell, he thought he even recognized her… somewhat, but all of that was irrelevant. That part of his life was gone and buried.

So he just passed her by and wandered up to the counter.

“Yup?”
“Ale, dirty.”
“Coming up.”

And now the wait.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Michael Sardun"]

With a stretch, Taeli started to get up from the table she had been at. As soon as the credits hit his hand, the Arkanian had scampered off. probably to bet on a Podrace or throw this new windfall away on a game of sabacc or pazaak. It didn't truly matter to her what he did with them, she had... a shiver ran down her spine. Casually scanning the crowd, she could feel it in the air now.

Not the smoke, which was poignant enough as it was, but a miasma she was all too familiar with. There was a dark sider about, trained... but not of the feeling of a Sith... there at the bar. Her senses spiked as her gaze fell on the man getting an ale from the bartender. Hmm he seemed to be alone for the most part, and she didn't feel a fight coming but she did have her lightsaber on her. Don't ask her where, but it was readily accessible as all good concealed weapons were.

Moving to the bar, she took the stool next to him and slouched in it. All the world looking like a normal smuggler, but to them, they knew who the other was.

"Water please," she said to the scruffy bartender, earning a raised eyebrow at the request for a non-alcoholic drink.

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[ [member="Taeli Raaf"] ]

"Not sure you will blend in like that, lass." Sardun remarked while nursing his own drink. He didn’t out her as a Jedi. There wasn’t really any point to that game, other than petty satisfaction and this particular Jedi had never really done anything to earn his ire.

Finally a sip of the ale.

Gah, I have tasted sewer water that tasted sweeter.

Long story chasing an oversized mutant rat on Etti back when the Levantines were the Levantines and not the Silver Sanctum.

Good times.

"So what’s your kind doing here? Doesn’t seem to be your scene."

She was incognito too.

Maybe a secret mission then or a vacation, but with that stern an expression he doubted the latter.

Sardun wondered if he shouldn’t just walk away now. Jedi usually meant trouble and he wasn’t sure he wanted trouble right now.

Ah… the eternal dilemma.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Michael Sardun"]

"I thought I was doing quite a good job," she responded, tipping her glass of water at the man ever so slightly before taking a sip. It was with an effort that she didn't spit right back over the counter onto the bartender. Did he ever clean the tap? She had probably had more iron and sulfur in that sip than water.

"Oh just information trawling," she said airily, pushing her drink away from herself ever so subtly. "Eggheads got a load of Hex and hoping to get it off their hands. Trust me, if I hadn't volunteered, I wouldn't be in this dive of a bar."

That earned a glare from the bartender, but she merely gave him a blank stare until he turned away. He couldn't really refute that the place was a complete dive.

"Here for the view or fun?" she asked.

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

“Could do with some work, but then again.” Sardun shrugged. “Ain’t like I am mister covert over here.”

Michael had never been much of a ‘stealther’ or whatever they called being sneakily these days. Overt action was always more his forte: back when he was a Jedi he would have led his troops from the front, wading into the thick of the battle and jump into the highest contested fields.

Things hadn’t changed much since those ‘glory days’, really.

Scarred face, different set of eyes, the whole sha-bang. The One Sith was fairly thorough when they tortured and converted their prisoners, and with the help of their former Yuuzhan Vong allies…

Well, there’s little they couldn’t do.

“Hex, huh?” That was ugly business. Somewhere in the deepest recesses of Sardun’s psyche something started to scratch at him, perhaps a desire to help.

He ignored it.

“And what a view it is.” Sardun responded in a deadpan voice while leveling his gaze at the hairy currently sticking out towards them while the bartender was trying to grab a few bottles from the bottom planks of his cabinet.

“Who are the eggheads?”

The question came before he could grind it down.

Feth, don’t get yourself involved, idiot.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Michael Sardun"]

"It was a rush job I admit," she chuckled. "Usually I put a bit more effort into my appearance, but didn't think I would run into someone such as yourself."

Being this close now, he felt... odd to her. Definitely corrupted and dark sided, she would always know that feeling... but there was something off about it. Scarred... weary... weary was a good word for it. This man, quite clearly judging by the long scar on his face, had seen and endured plenty. She certainly couldn't blame him for turning to the dark side for some measure of security at least.

"Some former TU scientists who didn't take the pink slips well," she said in response to his question. "A shipment of ore from Maramere came through here not long ago, according to my source, so I thought it might be the best place to start on the trail of these guys."

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[ [member="Taeli Raaf"] ]

Sardun snorted in reply.

“Not sure, lass. I think the real problem is that you didn’t downplay your… appearance.”

First he was getting concerned about the hex, now he was flirting with a Jedi? What was this Galaxy coming to. But even with that indignation in his mind Sardun couldn’t help but think about the Trihexalon. Supposedly it had all been destroyed by the Omega Protectorate years ago.

But Michael knew how these things went. Someone ‘lost’ a few specimens here and there, it got caught up in the wilds and now the Union got their hands on it. The remnants of the Union or just rogue scientists, it didn’t matter.

What mattered was that… hmpf.

“Trihex causes quite the mess.”

Random statement.

It wasn’t even addressed to her, more a musing to himself about what he was thinking of doing.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Michael Sardun"]

"Can't help genetics," she chuckled. "Though now that you mention it, I probably could have done something else. Food for thought later."

If she was still a Sith, she could have easily placed a Mask over her features to shift them to what she wanted... but those days were in the past. Now she had to make due with other methods, but she had been rushed admittedly. This man was interesting to say the least, it was almost like he was trying not to get involved... but he couldn't help being somewhat concerned by the potential danger that was being worked on in some lab.

"So I've been told," Taeli said, looking into the murky water of her glass. "Dangerous, volatile. Sounds like a fun time."

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

"Fun, huh?" That wasn’t exactly the word he had expected coming from a Jedi, though this one felt a bit… different from the usual Jedi he met. Little of the uptight nonsense, none of the self-righteousness and an actual sense of humor, somewhat.

Gallow humor.

His favorite.

"Need a hand with this, Jedi?"

Part of him hoped she would say no. It would mean he could disengage from the situation without feeling too bad about it: just another arrogant Jedi thinking she got everything in hand, right? And to get involved at that point would just lead to lock-up in a magma chamber or whatever the hell those Galactic Alliance nutjobs did to dissidents.

Trihex was a menace though. Life was cheap, yes, and Sardun had seen a lot of death throughout his life.

But Tri was something else entirely. A whole new level of destruction that had little to no purpose behind it.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Michael Sardun"]

"If you're offering, I'm not about to turn down help," Taeli said with a shrug, sliding her water away from her. She could get a better drink later on. "Those scientists probably took some of the Techno Union droids that were deactivated in the wake of their collapse. I could maybe take care of them myself, but it would just be such a pain. Better the odds be more in my favor."

He was a dark sider. Everything about her should be screaming that she should refuse his help and arrest him... but... she was going to need help on this mission, and he was right here offering it. If she waited for another Jedi or operative from the Alliance, lives could be at stake. The call was easy for her. Plus, it was Rishi. Who in their right minds would she even turn him over to if she did arrest him? She probably would get shot by the locals if they thought she was some sort of law enforcement.

Taking out a datapad, she slid it over to her temporary associate.

"That has the coordinates of a warehouse my contact gave me where a shipment of ore from Maramere is currently at or passed through," she said, getting off her stool.

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

"I ain't what ya might call a subtle person." He responded while looking over the datapad. Took in account the area - he knew that part of the town, it was one of the harbors down the river. Most of it was owned by the Black Vipers, heavily fortified and they even had their own supply line through a little landing pad in the middle of their place.

"So I think it would be best if I drew their attention, while you circle around, aye?"

He grabbed hold of the glass which had just been refilled, before gulping it down again. It was a good drink, burned straight through his mouth and left him with something akin to clarity.

"If you uh... need to know where I am, just follow the explosions."

Glass put down, he turned around to leave and head for the place on his own.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Michael Sardun"]

"That's one way to do it," she said as the dark sider departed. She hadn't expected him to be a subtle man when it came to such a... mission. His whole demeanor said he enjoyed making a big scene when it was called for. Although part of that demeanor may have been the alcohol talking since he had downed two of whatever he had ordered. Leaving a small tip with her half finished water, she left the cantina herself. Instead of taking the direct approach, she meandered about the shadowport in the general direction of where she was going.

Along the way, she slipped down a side alley to a small discarded vendor cart. She had guessed she would need a nearby storage spot for anything she might not want people to see, so she had commandeered the cart by paying off the previous owner. Popping the lid open, she reached inside and pulled out her lightsaber. Clipping that into a concealed holster for it in her jacket, she reached back inside again to pull out something she usually didn't carry with her at all.

An AI-321m BurstStreak emerged, primed and ready to go. She didn't usually go with a blaster weapon, but she wasn't about to reveal she was a Jedi unless she absolutely needed to to these scientists and the criminals working with them.

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

He passed the road and entered the cacophony of the jungle.

With Rishi it was two sides of the same coin - you had your jungle here and your little glance of civilization right next to it, it was why he liked the place. It didn't pretend to be anything other than it was. Civilization here was rough, tumbling and it made no excuses for what it was all about.

The walk was short and he didn't meet any other people. Just a few animals here and there - a bird with rich and shiny colors on its feathers, a monkey with a beak and a barbered tail, two crustaceans of undisclosed species to his far, far left. The jungle was rich with diversity, if anything else.

Ah, there we go. Short walk down the river and he could already see the gleaming steel shimmering through the forest line, they had put up a watchtower since he had last been here.

Hmm.

They hadn't spotted him yet. Too far away and they weren't expecting any trouble - not out of the direction of the town, at least. The Vipers owned this portion of Rishi, ruled it as their own... maybe a part of Sardun wasn't all that concerned about the Tri, maybe a part of him had just been itching for a fight and was now finding an outlet. Maybe.

He looked around, before seeing a mid-sized to large boulder, half collapsed in the river. The water was circling around it, some of the bedrock had already been grounded away by erosion.

Perfect. He clapped his hands, let the blood flow and then started paying attention towards his breathing. In and out, in and out, he could feel it now - just a tinsy tiny bit, the strength that was usually hidden in pockets around his body, just waiting to be tapped and used.

Now. Sardun jerked the boulder up with one great heave, it was difficult; not because of its weight, no. Because there was little purchase to be had, but it was just enough for the split-second he needed it for. One step, two step and then he broke into a half-run, the boulder jerked away by sudden kinetic energy pushed it from him towards the Watchtower.

It flew true and Sardun was right behind it.

By now Taeli would hear one big explosion as the bedrock crashed against the watchtower, the watchtower crashed against the ground and it all initiated a chain reaction of booms, implosions and explosions all around.

This was just the beginning, though.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Michael Sardun"]

Moving out of the shadowport's crammed streets, Taeli moved into the humid, and to her, unpleasant jungle. She had grown up on a world that was mostly ice and snow, so she liked cooler worlds... not ones that made her clothes stick to her or made her battle the occasional swarm of insects. Although, if she wasn't in a hurry, she might actually be interested in the wildlife that populated this section of the jungle. It was unique to this world in the Outer Rim and would keep an academic happy for quite some time.

'Oh there it is,' she thought, seeing the watchtower up ahead. No alarms were going off and no explosions so her erstwhile ally had most likely not begun his attack yet. Slipping into the deeper foliage of the jungle, she tapped into the Force. Letting it flow through and around her, she began bending and twisting the light around her. To the normal eye, it would appear she had simply vanished as she placed a Force Cloak around herself. It was a draining technique if used too long, but she just needed it to last until she got through this section of the jungle and reached the flank of the complex.

It didn't seem all that protected from what she could tell, but then again, the jungle would keep most people away... and she spoke too soon. Several armed guards wandered around the perimeter, spotlights and a few out-of-date security droids. Not too much trouble... and the majority were clustered around the building at the center of the compound that either held the shipment or the scientists she was seeking themselves. There was a small landing pad with a freighter and that was about it. Low-key... isolated...

And then the watchtower was slammed with a boulder and the whole thing came crashing down, explosions and dust clouds billowing out everywhere. Yes... her ally was not a subtle man, she thought as she brought her blaster rifle up and peered down the scope.