Private Failed Pursuit

[Mavo Cortuga]

Mavo furrowed her brow and crossed her arms. "Well, there's no way I'm signing up for anything without some information."
"I'd hope so," said Iothen. "I need you to take someone out. No need to take him as a prisoner; dead is better."
"I'm still not sure."
"When you are, call my associate. Her contact information is on this." Iothen tossed a holopuck to Mavo and she caught it. His face still betrayed no emotion, even though he'd just ordered for a man's death. "When we get your word, then his identity will be disclosed."
"If you get my word."
"Of course."
The door on the other side of the room opened on its own, as if anticipating their leave. She looked at it apprehensively, then back at Iothen.
"Worry not--there's no reason for me to kill you yet. You're free to go as you please." He folded his hands neatly, nodding as if giving her permission to leave. Mavo headed out, putting the holopuck in her pocket.

"Weird." Mavo walked out into the bustling city streets. At this point, she didn't bother trying to hide herself from the Mirialans. "Weird," she repeated. She felt angry, somehow. Maybe it was because she'd been so smoothly outwitted by the strange men. Maybe it was that Iothen had so casually brought up the House Eldar in an attempt to persuade her to join him. Blindly join him, as he made no effort to explain his true motives. The guy was seriously paranoid if he couldn't even disclose what he stood for. Not that she'd earned his trust, anyhow. That was another thing that frustrated her: he assumed a great many things about her. Things he wasn't necessarily wrong about, either. Even if you think you don't have morals, the last daughter of Eldar might. The sentence almost made her nauseous. Who was she if she never stood up for anything? To live and die as more street scum, to let her name die with her? She had a hunch about who the guy was really against. Someone who she should be against, too.

As soon as they entered the fluke, Mavo took off her helmet and tossed it onto the nearest table. Without saying anything, she sat down and started researching. She started on the Mirialan college's student body, and sure enough, Iothen's name was on there. His major was political science, and he himself was a minor politician. Too minor to really be worried about his reputation. His was relatively unremarkable, but he didn't only represent himself. In all of the information on him, he only seemed to appear with a Mirialan duchess. Duchess Circe Darr was of much higher reputation; she had more at stake. All this was to carry out his ideals whilst keeping the duchess's slate clean. On the other hand, Badger might as well have been nameless. Despite how close they seemed, he didn't show up in a single picture with Iothen. He showed up in almost no pictures at all. It was probably smart for someone like him. He didn't seem like the diplomatic type. Another thing that stumped Mavo was where they were from. Iothen just seemed to appear in Mirial as of a couple years ago, his citizenship gained not long after he arrived. "Weird," muttered Mavo again. Her head swam and she could feel a migraine creeping into her temples.

Saul Whesai

 

[Saul Whesai]

Saul took a small lollipop out of one of the pockets on his belt and unwrapped it, sucking on it passively as Lothen and Mavo concluded their business. Giving a small wave to their two new unknown contacts, he didn't look phased by their passive threats. He had beaten the odds already coming out of that Lab, why would he fear anything this guy had to say. Even if he did die, it would have someone beside him. At least he hoped so.

Taking his mask off as they left the building, he trailed behind the Mando, noticing immediately how distracted she was. Oh boy... She is turning into a holonet conspiracy theorist... Spying a local coffee shop, he suspected she was going need something to get through this. It was going to be a long night for the both of them, one way or another.

He would silently slip into her room as she stressed over their new potential employer and their values, placing an XL Stormtrooper Frappuccino on the table in front of her as he looked over her shoulder. Pulling up a drawboard on his datapad as he wondered out loud. "Duchess Circe Darr... Huh... She must be the financial backer of the group..." Drawing a circle with her name in it, he connected it to a circle with Iothen's name. "Iothen might be her underworld broker, taking care of political enemies by hiring toughs like Badger and by extension us to get take care of their problems..."

Putting the pad aside for the moment and standing against the wall, Saul made sure he was delicate as he tried to touch on something he had been thinking about since he had first seen Iothen. "We still don't know motive though... Which we won't know till we take the job. If we take the job." The way she is searching for information he guessed the answer was yes. If they did, he knew they would be stepping into a grand plot whose depths they might come out of. "We don't have to, you know. Sure, we will have people looking the back of our shoulders but I'm going to choose to believe him when he said he wouldn't come after us. Too much work for a genius like himself to worry about. He will just go after some other hunters and draw them in the same way." Sighing, he closed his eyes as he tried to think through any other possibilities but he didn't see any. There were still too many puzzle pieces missing to figure out a grand plan. Opening his eyes and looking at his companion with some concern, he only said. "You are the only one who knows the Last Daughter of Eldar part means and I won't pry into it, but I do have one question. Why does Iothen carry a resemblance to you?" He left the question open-ended, waiting for her answer. He knew she probably didn't want to talk about her past to someone who qualified as a complete stranger but looking into her family history might help them find more puzzle pieces to put this case together.

Mavo Cortuga

 

[Mavo Cortuga]

"He didn't draw us in," corrected Mavo, "he caught wind of the bounty and killed my employer. You didn't see it, but he had someone disrupt his flying podium. He was a politician, one who asked a relatively unknown bounty hunter to do his work." She gestured to herself. "I guess he was a bit too careless about it." The image of the man's bent corpse flashed through her head again, and she just sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I don't think he'll kill us, either. We're not worth his time, and we're not really threats, either."

"Any resemblance between me and him is a coincidence." Mavo was kind of confused by that last statement. That's not what she expected Saul to take from this. "I've never met him before in my life. If you think there are some familial ties, I'll tell you now that what they were speaking was definitely not Mando'a. Nothing I ever heard before." She hung her head and ran a hand through her hair with a huff. "Maybe it had something to do with that tattoo."

"Darr shouldn't be very hard to come into contact with, you know. Though, he seems to be acting as a middleman. Cutting right through the mediator could be as bad in his eyes as outing him." On the other hand, mafiosos tended to take a liking to ballsiness. Not that she was totally in on it. But those kinds of stupid ideas were her trademark. And meeting up with someone like that could be an opening to some better information.

Saul Whesai

 

[Saul Whesai]

Saul went mute as the redhead Mando refuted his evidence. He guessed she didn't take into the account the whole "Badger has been watching you and taking notes" part of Iothen's rant. And without out a doubt, they did walk into a setup that was the end of their final test before Iothen deemed they were fit for use. Either way, he wasn't up to arguing with her on that or the coincide of both Iothen's and Mavo's looks. He only said this as he bounced off the wall. "Only so many people in the galaxy have rust red hair, the same red-brown eyes and the same skintone. As for what they were speaking in, my best guess is Umbaran because that's my best guess on what Badger is. And for all we know, you will be talking to Darr as soon as you enter the contact info from that puck into your comm." Maybe that's why Iothen said would be talking to a "she" about the final details of this job. "Either way, I can't get dinner prepared going over these details over and over in my mind. Give me an hour or two to get it ready and please do something with yourself other than research away on that console. Being cramped up in your room isn't going to do you any good either. " His last comment came from general concern for her. If she lost sleep over this decision and started spiraling, it wasn't going to end well for anyone. Plus, the last thing he wanted near him was a person with a very short fuse who could draw on him at any moment.

Having hauled in bags of groceries from outside, Saul headed into the kitchen, he got his apron on and a large pot out. Getting out his ingredients, he started to make a nerf stew. Dethawing the nerf steak out and preparing the base sauce for the stew, he took a break and brought his datapad out, turning on his favorite downloaded music playlist. Mavo would probably hear his music and humming if she kept her door opening chopping away at various veggies as he tried to make this stew good for them both.

Mavo Cortuga

 

[Mavo Cortuga]

"If you think you're onto something, you're not." Mavo stood up. When he suggested she stay out of her room, she raised an eyebrow. "I'll do what I want on my ship," she grumbled. By the time he was out of the ship to get groceries, she was already back in her room. She sat against her bed and flipped through the data pad, but she didn't know what else to check. If anything, she needed to go around town and get some information from the locals. Mavo stood up and started sifting through her clothes. It was pretty cold out, since they were on a freezing desert planet. Plus, it wouldn't serve her to walk around in her armor. She changed out of her armor and into two long, layered tunic dresses; an old embroidered sash; a windbreaker jacket; and a thick scarf that she wrapped around her head and warmed her ears. She hadn't planned on it, but the ensemble made her look rather bookish--if she was lucky, then one might mistake her for a student. She leaned in to look in her mirror and rubbed the area between her brows--she'd been furrowing them for so long it'd started to leave lines. The feeling of normal, unarmored clothes felt strange at this point. It was more comfortable, less bulky. But being without her jetpack almost made her feel like she was going out without a limb. Mavo walked out of the ship right as Saul was walking back in. "We didn't need more groceries. We had a few eggs left over, and I think I had some sauce packets lying around." She helped him out by taking one of the bags and setting it on the kitchen counter. "Hey, I'm headed out. Crazy night out on the town, can you tell?" she gestured to her grandma outfit as she walked backwards out the hangar door. "I'm gonna go meet the locals, ask about the political scene. Don't wait up."

At this point, the evening started to settle in. The streets reflected warm lights from different restaurants and homes. Mavo walked for a little longer than she'd meant to. As she perused the mostly empty college town, she could feel her brain relax. No one to fight or argue with to, no datapad to scroll through, no one to worry about. Some peace and quiet. She didn't think about anything as she walked, not about the mission or mafiosos. When she was out and about like this, which she rarely was, she sometimes liked to pretend that she wasn't a Mando or a bounty hunter or anything. That she was just walking around and killing time before her mom had dinner ready. That the air never smelled like spice or piss, and instead it was always refreshingly cold and clear. Finally, she ran across a cocktail bar filled with young Mirialans, likely college students.

Mavo made her way inside and slowly wormed her way into a conversation. She introduced herself as a scholarship student from Coruscant, nervously explained that she wanted to make friends. The Mirialans were friendly and welcoming, which made her feel kind of guilty about her deception. Easily enough, she switched the conversation to politics. Circe Darr seemed to be generally well-liked as a politician, if not slightly ineffective. She was very neutral in her opinions, but she was charitable and friendly. Charitable enough that she'd harbored some refugees from another planet, one of which she took on as an apprentice. The apprentice was her favored guest as well as a student at the college.
"I met him a couple times, I think. Human guy, like you."
"Dolvesya?"
"Yeah, that's his name. Are you guys friends? Wait, are you his sister or something? You two look so much alike."
"Issia, just because they're humans doesn't mean they're related."
"Oh, shit, was that offensive?"

Saul Whesai

 

[Saul Whesai]

Saul didn't expect Mavo to be out of her room based on her response to him when he had left her room. He defiantly didn't expect her to be in a dress, the sight of her in her new outfit nearly making him drop both bags of groceries. It took him awhile to register it was really her and find his voice, finally responding. "We can't survive on just eggs alone you know. Besides I have to build up some muscle so you can't tease me." As she turned to leave, he said one last thing. "You look great by the way Mav. You really do." He wasn't lying either, she really did look wonderful, at least in his eyes.

Leaving Mavo to her outing, Saul focused on cooking dinner which took up a lot of his time this evening. Still, he enough time to himself to go exploring along the city streets, getting to the city underneath the desert planet's surface. Walking around in his usual cargo pants with his hood up, he pretended to be on his data pad, mapping out points of interest. There were some glances his way but for the most part, people went about their daily lives as they came home from work to their families. Saul glanced at one small Mirialan boy run down the steps of his home to meet his Father, laughing as the father swung him around, leaving Saul to faintly smile in their wake. "Maybe in another life Saul, maybe in another life..."

Walking back to the ship, he spied a small arcade that was still open. Pushing open the door, he grinned at the sound of old arcade machines making noise and little kids laughing as they fought each other in battles of the joysticks. And then he spied the claw machine, beckoning to him to win a prize. Don't mind if I do. Walking up to it, he put a credit in and grab ahold of the joystick. While these games were easier for someone like him with his advanced limbs, they still had enough challenge that he had to focus, gently urging the hook over to the stuffed Kiros bird he thought would be a nice gift for Mav when she got home. Lining the hook up just right with his electronic eyes, he slowly lowered it down, picking it up and slowly... slowly moved it over to the chute, finally dropping it into the chute. Picking the toy up and starting to walk home, he hoped he could bring Mavo here one day soon.

Depending on how late she stayed out, Mavo would either find him waiting in the mess waiting for her or actually in his bed. Either way, she would find the plush of the Kiros Bird on her bed.

Mavo Cortuga

 

[Mavo Cortuga]

Mavo returned not too late. The others didn't want to talk about politics for very long, so shortly thereafter she returned to the Fluke. As soon as she walked into the hangar, she took her scarf off and tossed it onto a table. She walked into the mess and sat down promptly, giving a 'thanks' as she started shoveling food into her mouth.
Something still bothered her, whispering in the back of her mind. It was all so... domestic. A hot, carefully prepped meal. Comfortable clothes and a peaceful atmosphere. Someone across from her who cared and wanted to know her, or so she thought. A sober, clean night. Mavo felt like she always had a tightness in the front of her head, an ache that seemed constant. It wasn't there tonight. She stared at her food, thinking about this, then the tightness returned. The bird who lands is shot down first. There was no time to slow down. There never was.

"Dolvesya's a refugee, along with some others. They came here and the duchess took them in. Him, especially--he's her apprentice and 'favored guest,' so the students say. Darr herself isn't anything remarkable, but people like her. Charitable and all that. They don't know where he's from." She was getting bored of the topic. What she'd heard from the students wasn't very mind-blowing, only general information that just made sense. It felt like they were just going in circles at this point. Mavo still wanted to meet the duchess. Circe Darr could definitely be some sort of underground mafia boss, but from what Mavo heard, she didn't seem like the type. Straight edge, old money. Obviously, she could just be putting on a front, but she wouldn't harbor refugees if she had a top-secret crime empire.

"Where to next?" she asked. Not just to Saul, but to herself. "I'm gonna go after the target. I need cash." She reached up and adjusted the knobs on her implants without thinking much about it, lowering her visual processing speed to give her head a break. Instantly, her eyes unfocused. "I can drop you off somewhere, if you want. You'll be out of this stupid political mess."

Saul Whesai

 

[Saul Whesai]

Saul was half dozing off as Mavo came into the ship, his head leaned back against the mess's metal wall as the humming of the ship's engine lulled him to sleep. Only the clanking of the red headed Mandalorian coming up the ship's ladder. He looked over her as she got sat down, trying to see what kind of mood she was in. At least she seemed okay as she ate the stew. Listening to her briefing, he still thought something was strange about this whole thing. There were too many weird coincidences that told this job would be straight forward. But even if they were walking into a Sith led Cult, he still wanted to be by her side. Was he a sucker for staying beside someone that would never repay his affections, yes. But yet, he still didn't want to abandon Mavo to whatever faced her.

When she asked if he wanted to leave, all he replied with as he looked into her eyes was "Do you want me too?" If she said yes, he would get up and start to pack. If she didn't want him along, he wouldn't protest. He didn't want to hold her back after all even if it meant the two parting ways. He hoped though that she said yes. All he could do was hold his breath as he waited for her answer.

Mavo Cortuga

 

[Mavo Cortuga]

Mavo rubbed her chin and pondered. “You’ve been useful so far. If you don’t have any business anywhere else, you can stick around for the time being. Though, I need you to start asking me before you mess with my ship or launch yourself through any more windows.” She didn’t know how long it’d last, especially since she was bound to get at least one of them killed or just drive him off with her winning personality. “And I get the better cut from bounties.“

Eventually, Mavo called the associate. A low, drawling female voice answered and gave her the coordinates. She also sent a file on the bounty. An older guy, a retired officer of the Sith. The ex-officer specialized in conquering uncharted planets on behalf of the Sith. Almost impressively immoral. “So, just dead? You don’t want him carbon frozen or anything?” “Dead will do. Make sure the body’s hard to find to give yourself some time, then bug his data from his apartment.” Mavo grimaced slightly as she started entering the coordinates into her ship. She much preferred to have the option to leave someone alive. Murder was a harder pill to swallow. Not that she had killed many people—only a select few times had she been left with no choice. “Okay,” she said. She turned off the comms and sat in the dark cockpit for a minute whilst the coordinates finished processing. After a few minutes, the Fluke entered hyperspace and she left for bed,

Saul Whesai

 

[Saul Whesai]

The Android tried to keep a straight face while she talked about him more like a pet allowed to roam around the house as long it didn't get on any of the furniture. In the end, they both knew she had him over a barrel with this deal in exchange for her "trust". At the end of speech though, all he could do was nod and let her go about her business, hoping she knew what she was doing.

Letting her get on with her call, he went into his room and closed the door behind him. Striping and laying down in his hammock, he put some soft music on via his datapad, he slowly but surely started to fall asleep. When he opened his eyes again, he was in the middle carving out one of his old guard's throats in his dreams. Sirens blared as the blast doors around him started to lock down and realized he had no time left. He needed to run and run he did, escaping under the door in front of him by the skin of his teeth. More guards awaited him on the other side, holding stun batons and riot shields compared to his knife. This would be a one-sided fight if he wasn't himself, something made the kill. He ran at them, screaming incoherently like someone who had been buried alive and was finally coming back to the surface to take his revenge. Planting a flying kick against one of the guard's shields and bouncing off of it, he managed to break their line. From then on, it was a wild melee with Saul taking the guards one by one, covering the floor in their blood. He reveled in the feeling of finally being able to prove these people wrong, that he wasn't just an enslaved organic machine. No, he was the devil that would lead to their demise.

Saul woke up as morning came, or whatever you called "morning" where there was no sun. Plopping to the metal floor, he dressed in a ragged tank top and jeans before walking of his room to greet the day. He would continue to make meals for Mav but didn't try to engage with her. She had made her position at the top of totem pole between the two quite clear the day before and the Android thought it would be best to leave her to preparations. If he didn't, she might pull the collar tight enough till he let go of his last breath.

Mavo Cortuga

 

[Mavo Cortuga]

Mavo dreamt that she had found Iothen and Badger at the same time as Saul. Iothen threw his ion grenade and shut down her cybernetics, instantly frying the machinery implanted into her skull and killing her on the spot. She dreamt that her carcass was thrown onto the streets of Nar Shaddaa. Her brain melted orange and green, sliding out of her ears and through a sewer grate into swarming filth. She felt too lethargic to move, to collect herself. She couldn’t even bring herself to cry or beg for forgiveness. Her blood, Clan Eldar’s blood, liquid gold to her, dripped through and dissolved in a river excrement and waste. It felt like she was there for days, so slowly breaking down and wasting away. When the very last drop of her soul vanished, Mavo woke up with a start. The migraine returned with her consciousness, the pain doubled. She grabbed her head and ran to the bathroom, retching into the toilet. Last night’s dinner went down the drain and was promptly launched into space. Her headache slowly dissipated after she finished vomiting, and she was shortly thereafter able to return to sleep.

Mavo didn’t try too hard to interact with her guest, either. She wasn’t normally so gloomy or ‘surly,’ but their circumstances and differences in temperament made her keep her distance. He seemed far too eager to settle in for her liking. Such a trusting person was suspicious to her. Not even when Iothen mentioned that she was bad news did he seem to falter. Mavo didn’t mean to or like that she was pushing him away. He seemed nice enough. But she wasn’t in the business for friends, and life didn’t seem to be very forgiving for someone like him, either. She thought of her other friends, her old friends from Nar Shaddaa. She thought of Jada, and her stomach churned. Just another opportunity that she’d let slip through her fingers. It felt like everyone she’d loved had fallen by the wayside, dead or out of touch. In fact, she had no reliable contacts at this point except for Saul, who was also iffy.

A day and a half passed before they reached the next planet: Lothal. The target was retired and lived in moderate luxury. Not hard to find, not heavily guarded. Mavo just needed to murk him, bug his devices, and get out. Normally, as soon as they’d arrive, Mavo would get going as soon as she could. She was normally antsy after a long ride, eager to get moving as soon as possible. Today, she felt weirdly apathetic. The afternoon they made it there, she didn’t even bother to get her armor on. She sat on her hangar ramp and pulled her windbreaker on. They’d landed not in a shipyard but in a field of long grass, with the nearest civilization way off in the distance. Mavo could lie to herself and say that she needed to so she wouldn’t be traced or whatever, but she really just wanted everything to shut up for a while. She’d take the guy out at night, she decided.

Saul Whesai

 

[Saul Whesai]

A pair of electronic blue eyes slowly opened to the sound of retching down the hall. Quietly getting to his feet, he made his way down the hall, wondering if this was the right decision. He could just stay in his room and probably save both of them whole lot of trouble and awkwardness. But at the end of the day, he might as well be a decent human and check on her, even if they hadn't gotten along recently. Holding back a wince as he saw the dinner he made go into straight into the human waste chute, he decided to nerf it and help her, praying that he wouldn't be shot when he tried. Stepping behind her through the one refresher door in just boxers and a very worn tank top, he pulled her hair back away from her face and gently rubbed her back till her space sickness was through. If he could do so without being pushed away, he left her where she was, knowing if asking if she was alright probably going to get him a favorable response.

Climbing down the ship's ramp and leaning against one of the ship's landing struts, Saul glanced at the person in the windbreaker as they looked out on the landscape beyond them which was... plains... a lot of plains. In the distant, the capital's white spires shone brightly against the setting sun. He guessed it was where their target resided. Like Mavo, he didn't feel the best about this job. If this was just dealing with a pirate gang then this would be easier, but he didn't know what the target was. Only Mavo knew who that was and she hadn't decided to tell him that information yet. Now it was time for her to spill. "So... What's the plan?"

Mavo Cortuga

 

[Mavo Cortuga]

"I called the associate," Mavo said, rubbing the back of her neck. "They prefer him dead. He's a bad guy—used to be the Sith's head colonizer. But... I dunno. Killing's messy." She shrugged. "You don't have to come along. I'll get it done tonight." She looked up at him with tired eyes, then back at the city off in the distance. There wasn't much else to say. The only sound was wind hissing through the tall grass, some distant birdsong. The sun crept towards the horizon, though she wished it would just stop for a minute. It all moved so fast.

Her mind was blank—not because she was at peace, but because she felt numb. This happened every once in a while. One day, she was ready to go, maybe even taking on multiple bounties a day, and the next, she was feeling almost catatonically depressed. Some spice might do the trick, but she wasn't quite in the mood. Mavo stood up and faced Saul. "Sorry if I've been, uh... unwelcoming. Or 'surly,' as you put it." She clenched her brow and looked down. "You're looking for a friend in me, but I'm not a good person. I'm-I'm mean, you know? I almost shot you the other night. 'Cuz I'm stupid, and I did this to myself." She gestured to her implants. "What I mean to say—well, I'm not sure what I'm meaning to say. Sorry."

Saul Whesai

 

[Saul Whesai]

Saul listened, glancing at her as she told him who the target was. Giving a hearty sigh as she shrugged, he ran his fingers through his hair. Given where they were in Imperial Territory, he could guess why their employers wanted to use deniable assets to get their target. Seeing just how tired Mavo was despite her saying otherwise, he shook his head when she said she didn't need help. Maybe she didn't but she also wasn't in the best condition to do this alone. All her bravado didn't convince him after what had happened during their travel here. Whether she needed help or not, he didn't care because it meant he had a choice in keeping her safe.

The Android raised an eyebrow as Mavo stood up and spewed forth an apology. He let her ramblings sink in for a couple minutes, looking at the view and listening to the sounds that came from the nature around as he tried to pick his words carefully. "It's okay, you aren't used to someone trying to interact with you, so I get it. You also aren't in the best place right now... I never really thought I would get the chance to be your friend, I... just wanted to help make your daily life a little bit better. Because if I knew I was in that hole, I would like someone to help guide me out. Even when you act like Emperor Palpatine sometimes, I still want to help because at the end of the day, I know what it means to feel all alone. It's up to you if you want me to let you." Popping off the land strut, he walked up to her with a gentle smile, trying to get what he needed to off his chest. " Implants or no implants, I think you are amazing when doing the thing that really makes you happy, tinkering with machines. You are just a diamond who needs to have all the dirt washed off is all. Now come on, let's get our gear ready. Unless you have a speeder, it's going to be a long walk in." He started to walk back up the landing ramp, he looked as happy as he had ever been since they had been together. It was good that he gotten what he had really thought about her off his chest. Hopefully she took his pep talk to heart and had less of an adverse view of him for the rest of this job.

Mavo Cortuga

 

[Mavo Cortuga]

Mavo nodded, steeling her resolve.She walked up the ramp inside. “Let’s head out in an hour,” she said. As she donned her armor, she kept glancing at the bounty’s details as well as the price of the bounty, as if the handsome reward would invigorate her. It did, slightly. She shook her head, bouncing on either foot. It wouldn't do anyone any good if she just loafed around feeling bad for herself—well, maybe it would do her bounty some good to not be killed.

In a few minutes she emerged from her room, hopping on one leg as she pulled her other boot on. She immediately sat down and got to work researching the man and his home’s infastructure. Mavo also pulled up a hologram of one of Circe Darry’s recent speeches. She listened intently whilst messing with her rangefinder. The two females she had spoken two didn’t sound very similar. Circe’s voice was younger and more… optimistic, maybe? The associate‘s voice and inflections were scratchy, drawn out. Lower. As she watched the hologram she saw, in a seat behind the duchess, Iothen. He watched her with the same intent stare. Not that his presence was unexpected—he was an apprentice, after all—but just the sight of him made her feel uneasy.

As an hour rolled by, Mavo got her speeder out of the cargo hold. It was janky at best, but it could probably hold two people. She lifted some plating and scanned some of the inner workings. It had certainly been a while. The last person to have messed with it was probably… Mavo swallowed and closed it back up. “Let’s go!” she called into the ship.

Saul Whesai

 

[Saul Whesai]

Saul quietly followed her back inside, gathering his supplies and making any last-minute tweaks to his gear he needed to. He even took a little spare time to draw a familiar redhead in various poses and scenes to pass the time. Given that Mavo had kept all the details to herself, he had no idea on what to prep for. He decided to go with the more...

Mavo would see him rolling out what looked like a strange "Tire" like contraption and start strapping it to the back of her bike, hoping that this delipidated thing's engine was strong enough to carry the added load. "So... Are you going to tell me anything about what we are facing before we get there?"

Mavo Cortuga

 

[Mavo Cortuga]

Oh, yeah. It would probably be best not to keep him in the dark about the mission. She pulled out a holopuck and a gentleman's face whirred to life, rotating slowly in blue light. An older guy, slightly worn, but he had the militaristic, guarded expression of a Sith general. Cold, uncaring. "He's got a villa on the edge of the city. Guarded, but not well so." She pulled up a map of the building's layout and the worker schedules. If he paid for bodyguards, then he must have known that there were people out for him. Rich, but not rich enough to be completely covered. "I figured we could get up to the roof, then lower ourselves into his bedroom window on the top floor. Get in a closet or something, then wait 'till he's home. We'll take him out quickly and quietly, then bug his data." Mavo held up a small chip to be inserted into his devices. "Not hard, pays well." She put the chip into a pouch on her belt before swinging her leg over the speeder seat. "Sound good?"

Saul Whesai

 

[Saul Whesai]

Saul nodded as he looked the images over, trying to take them in as best as he could with his electronic eyes. It seemed like a standard hit, get in, and get out but a standard hit could go sideways really quickly as they both had already experienced. Glancing at the worker's schedule he looked at where the shift mergered, suggesting. "You want to hit during the beginning of the night shift? That way we at least have the darkness on our side?"

As she got onto her bike, an idea brewed into his head as he wondered where she wanted him to sit. The only thing he could down is sit behind her and do the thing the female hero would do in the action movies he watched, hold on as tight as he can. Well, he guessed he couldn't stop now... He gingering stepping over and straddling on the end of the bike. As the engine coughed to life that soon turned into a distressed hum as the engine struggled to keep up with their combined weights and that of their cargo, his hands slipped around her waist as he said. "Well, isn't this romantic?"

Mavo Cortuga