In The Dark

[Aela Talith]

[member="Shisa Thalvi"]

Elizabeth slowly wandered towards the back of the room, watching as her men pulled those from the upstairs balcony down onto the floor.

Half of them were bound by the time they got to her level, the other were in the process. They all wore the same sour expression of course, though Elizabeth tried to look past that. Most of them had scars on their face or necks, some tattoos, one was even missing an eye. When she spotted him Elizabeth briefly looked up and glanced at Shisa, though refocused herself on the captured men. Slowly The Underlord squatted in front of one of them, grabbing his jaw and twisting his head slightly.

"Idiots." She said before releasing him.

The man scowled and looked as though he was about to spit, but a cold stare from over her glasses cowed him rather quickly. She let out a quiet sniff and slowly stood, glancing over towards Shisa and motioning for her to continue her work.

"Take whoever is inside." She glanced at the others. "Alive."

A small smile touched her lips. "I want to play a little game."

 

[Adder]

[member="Elizabeth Castille"]


The hairs on her neck stood on end as the last of Elizabeth’s words rang in her skull. What game, Liz?

Her heart crawled into her gut as she gave the sign – with a flash of fire and a cloud of gray smoke, they blew out the blast door. For a few breathless seconds, there was nothing. Then laser fire began to stream from the office, cutting down one of her people before everyone scattered back into cover.

Back flush against the overturned metal, Shisa closed her eyes. Listened. There were rhythmic pauses in the auto-fire – the clicking of cooldown.

Counting in her head, the enforcer sprang back up right when he paused again. Cover fire above the head of their attacker. She wasn’t gunning to kill him. Just keep him down so two of her guys could sneak around, sidle up to the door and…

Gotcha.

The leader of the gang seized up as he was hit by two simultaneous stun bolts. Shisa let out a heavy breath.

It was done.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Shisa Thalvi"]

The man was slowly dragged out from the room, his limp body giving no resistance to the men that slowly pulled him along. Elizabeth watched him for a moment, then motioned towards the others and Shisa. The little club was theirs for the taking now, and she intended to remodel the filth into something far more...stylish.

"Take him and the others to the edge of the Promenade." Elizabeth stated.

Getting them back to Circuit would be rather difficult without anyone noticing, but taking the back exit and heading towards the edge of the floating island would be much more simple. The little game that she wanted to play was an important one, and best played with no one else around or watching. "Make sure they're bound."

She frowned for a moment.

"And get blindfolds on them." The men to her side nodded.

Most of them hadn't ever worked for Elizabeth before, but they knew her well enough by reputation. The Underlord motioned for Shisa to come towards her. They would need to have a quick discussion before they went ahead with her plan.

 

[Adder]

[member="Elizabeth Castille"]

Tired, the enforcer leaned on the red cushions of a tattered booth sofa. The stuffing was scattered on the table, on the floor – burnt tears in the fabric like the trace of brushstrokes across a canvas. With a careful eye and enough time, you could tell the story of what happened here just following the destruction.

Shisa holstered her Westar with a sigh and walked over to Elizabeth. “Yeah?”

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Shisa Thalvi"]

Now came part two.

"The Pirates are independent here on Nar Shaddaa." That much they obviously knew. This was little more than a waystation for most of them, someplace to hang out while they were passing through the sector. It was also a place for them to gather information, to learn where to strike next and what trade routes were particularly vulnerable at any given moment. Elizabeth knew that because of her own intelligence contacts, but much much more.

The blaster she'd been holding in her hand slipped back into its holster beneath her coat. "They're connected to various Pirate organizations in the sector though."

Her voice was far more curt than usual.

"We'll need to ask some questions." Ask was a little bit of a euphemism. "Make them talk."

Hence her little game. "Find out exactly where the next few strikes will be."

 

[Adder]

[member="Elizabeth Castille"]

The redhead frowned at her boss, ignoring the assets presented at eye-level. Focus. How Elizabeth didn’t freeze to death dressed in these sheer costumes… oh, well. Needs must.

“Make them talk.” Shisa snorted, parroting the Underlord as they headed towards the edge of the Promenade after a short delay. Always better to split these groups – obscure the fact that you were working together. Especially when you were dragging a couple of rather unwilling folks with you. Folks that looked mighty pissed, mighty scared, or a healthy mix of both.

Not that many people cared, out here.

“You wanna steal the cargo from under their nose?” the enforcer asked as they weaved through the crowd. Keeping a green eye on their men ahead, Shisa glanced up at the blonde. “Paint us on the map in big, bold letters?”

Easiest way to gain new recruits. And boy, did they need them.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Shisa Thalvi"]

They were headed not back towards Circuit, but towards the edge of the Promenade.

It was a location that was located right behind most of the clubs, casinos, and other establishments on the floating island. The section was isolated and generally used for parking of speeders and other things. Elizabeth had purchased the plot of land not too long ago, and although it was useless for most anything, for her current purposes it would do more than well. As the two of them walked through the crowd Elizabeth lead the way towards where they would find the edge.

"No." She said simply.

"I want to take the pirates." They had more than enough support for that, even out here. "Silence them and make a big statement of who to go to next time when they're looking for a proper target."

In other words, Elizabeth wanted to become the central booking agency for piracy around Nar Shaddaa.

 

[Adder]

[member="Elizabeth Castille"]

“Silence them?” The enforcer quirked a skeptic brow as they rounded a corner, disappearing off the main broadway and into the back alleys. The glamour of the Promenade evaporated right quick, the stink of piss and garbage invading her nostrils.

Shisa scowled and stepped over a pile of trash.

As they neared the plot, the sounds of fists smacking flesh filled her ears. The captured pirates were bound and lined up against a row of speeders. One of their men was working over the first one in line, knuckles smeared red – though with whose blood, she didn’t know.

Ugly world, ugly methods.

Thalvi frowned.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Shisa Thalvi"]

"STOP!" Elizabeth's voice boomed out across the empty parking lot, her lips thin with a scowl and her eyes glaring over her sunglasses.

The force ripped out from her in an instant, hand scrunching and yanking back. She pulled the man standing in front of the beaten pirate away, throwing him into a nearby speeder with a loud crash. In an instant the speeders alarm ripped into being, sounding out over and over again as the group surrounding the pirates gave Elizabeth and Shisa startled looks.

Anger rippled across her form and she wandered towards the thrown man.

"I did not tell you to put a single hand on them." She pulled the thug up from the floor, lifting him with uncommon strength. She glared at him, then glanced towards the others who were now watching her all the more carefully. She frowned for just a moment, then quietly offered an explanation. "A beaten man gives you anything you want as long as the beating stops."

She tossed the thug to the floor, letting out a breath. "I'm not interested in lies."

 

[Adder]

[member="Elizabeth Castille"]

Wasn’t hard to react as surprised as everyone else – Shisa’d never seen Elizabeth this angry. Passionate, yes, but nothing like this. She watched The Underlord yank an adult rodian into the air like a toy, jaw set beneath those oversized shades.

Nothing ridiculous about them anymore.

The enforcer barely spared him a glance as he hit the ground, cutting past her to stop in front of the pirate.

Silence followed after the display, filled only with the distant chatter of the Promenade and the whistle of traffic below. Thalvi made a show of reaching into the inner pocket of her jacket.

“You heard the boss.”

Slowly, she produced a pair of black gloves. Shisa snapped them on one by one, punctuating her words.

“Better start talking.”

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Shisa Thalvi"]

To their credit, the pirates didn't say anything.

These men weren't the type to just give everything up easily, but then again Elizabeth had expected that much.

Still within her rage the Underlord shifted her weight and motioned to her men, walking over towards the edge of The Promenade. She glanced down for a moment, looking down at the massive drop before her. In the distance she saw a few passing speeder cars rushing to and fro, below them were the massive expansive of Nar Shaddaa's under-level. They were thousands of feet in the air, more than far enough to do what she wanted. A sigh escaped her and slowly she waved to her men again.

"Line them up." She pointed to the ground.

Her men did as she commanded, lining up the five prisoners one by one on the very edge of the Promenade. Each of them was put onto their knees, blindfolded and with their hands tied behind their backs. Elizabeth looked at them for a moment, then slowly grabbed a length of cord from her belt. She tied it silently to a small anchor on the promenade itself, keeping the hook at the end at the ready. "Now. You all have one chance."

Elizabeth's voice remained even.

"Tell me what routes are to be hit." She walked up behind the first man. "Or you'll be taking a little fall."

"Go kark yourself."

The voice rang out and Elizabeth perked her eyebrow. "Very well."

Without another word Elizabeth snapped the cord around the mans waist and then pushed him off the edge. A loud scream erupted from him as he was pushed off into the abyss, his blindfolded friends unaware that he would be saved by the length of cord that had been wrapped around his form.

 

[Adder]

[member="Elizabeth Castille"]

The enforcer enforced kark all in the minutes that followed. The Underlord took the stage, and Shisa stepped back to light the tip of a cigarette.

And if her fingers shivered, well… that was the gunfight. Hadn’t quite drained from her blood, yet.

Stuffing those traitorous hands into pockets and steered her green gaze skyward. Elizabeth threatened. The pirate mouthed off.

Elizabeth pushed him off the Promenade.

Shisa traced the scream as it plummeted into the white noise of Nar Shaddaa. Thankful for the stink of the smoke – it hid the stench of warm piss that assaulted her nostrils a moment later.

Everyone was tough until they weren’t.

Thalvi leaned forward and breathed the blue plumes against his neck. “Let’s try that again – what routes?”

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Shisa Thalvi"]

Elizabeth waited in silence, watching the three remaining men with a stoic expression.

As far as they were aware their comrade had just been killed, swiftly and without a beating or anything else coming. It was a cruel sort of tactic, one that got the heart racing far faster than any beating ever could. Elizabeth knew this because it had been done to her, save it's effect had been far less underlined thanks to the force. "No beatings."

She said coldly.

"No torture." Elizabeth slowly leaned into one of the men still on his knees. "You'll just be gone."

One of them stammered. "Tell me what I want to know."

For a long moment there was silence, then slowly Elizabeth placed her heeled boot on the back of one of the other men. He stammered, screamed, and then began to blurt out the words Elizabeth had been looking for.

"The Rishi Route! Some Cartel is sending drugs to the Hutt's...we're going to ambush them!"

 

[Adder]

[member="Elizabeth Castille"]

The cig danced in her mouth as it curled up in a wry grin. She gave Elizabeth a pleased nod.

Could shove them all off, of course. Somewhere deep down, Shisa couldn’t lie she was tempted to do just that – swift kick to the arse, and they’d be gone in the frantic traffic of Nar Shaddaa.

Smeared like so much red mist across someone’s windshield.

‘Course, they were unarmed and bound and she liked to think herself a cut above the average thug.

Glancing down, the enforcer considered the handle of her Westar, worn to a matte finish by long years of use. Seemed foolish, leaving a couple crooked criminals alive so they could foster hate and fear. Could bite them in the ass, hard.

“Yer not doing shet,” Shisa spoke matter-of-factly as she crouched next to the man. “Your Captain’s in Castille’s gentle hands now, kid. You wanna ambush that cartel…” she took one last drag of the cigarette before sticking it between the pirate’s trembling lips.

“Come work for us instead.”

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Shisa Thalvi"]

The men all remained quiet, and in truth Elizabeth didn't give a single kark if they joined or not.

What she had wanted, what she had needed was information. She wasn't a broker, didn't want to be, but she did want to place herself on the central stage of the criminal underworld. She wanted others to look to her, to ask her what was happening and where they could go. It was important to her, it was her ultimate goal.

She didn't want to control any of it, simply guide it.

Elizabeth motioned to Shisa, turning away from the bound men and pulling a datapad from beneath her coat. She glanced slowly over the the device and began to enter the information that the pirate had given her, pushing the glasses on the bridge of her nose up as she did so. Hitting a cartel was dangerous, even for pirates, but Elizabeth had no doubt that their attack likely would have been successful. She frowned for a moment and then shrugged her shoulders.

It didn't matter anymore.

There would be no attack, at least not this time.