Let the Games Begin

[Rih Vizsla]

Music
It had only taken a handful of days to track her target, and Rih almost felt bad for him. It was obvious he wasn’t street-smart, which begged the question how he’d gotten this far in the first place. Everything on the dossier indicated this was his first offense on which he’d been detained, but if she had to guess there was a list miles long somewhere that no one would ever know about. That all ended here, if she had her way. The prison system of Canto Bight wanted him alive so he could serve the remainder of his sentence, and they were offering fifteen-thousand five-hundred credits for the trouble.

It was an offer most wouldn’t refuse, and she didn’t expect to be the only one on the job. She did, however, expect to be the best.

After narrowing it down to Zeltros, she’d spent a day or two lounging around one of the most profitable casinos on the planet, figuring it was only a matter of time before he showed his face. From there all that was left was approximating arrival and departure times, and then it was all about making a plan. Being wanted alive made things at once simpler and far more complicated, significantly limiting her options but also allowing her to get in close without drawing the unwanted attention a blaster shot would get.

The first half of the night had been spent waiting for her target to arrive, and she let him get settled in, watching from a distance and confirming his identity. As he moved to another machine she pushed off the wall and began crossing the floor towards him, intending to make this as quick and quiet as possible. Then she caught a glimpse of all-too-familiar armor through the crowd, and the line of her jaw hardened. You’ve gotta be kidding me.

Pushing past the last few patrons, she grabbed the man’s arm and twisted it behind his back, leaning her helmet in close to his ear. “Listen closely: that man,” She nodded her head to the other armored figure, “Is coming to kill you. I’m going to take you alive, and you’re going to spend your next few years in a cell, unless you’d rather be underground in a box. Now move. Quietly.”

[member="Marvik Dathu"]

 

[Darth Vulcanus]

Of course the wanker had to be on his favorite planet. You may think that was a good thing, after all he could use it as the best excuse in the galaxy to kick back and toss a few dice on the job. But no, this poor excuse for a fish fillet had been making a right-mess of things all over the damn universe - at least for the casinos. That meant that the mark was here buggering things up for all the places Marvik liked to waste his credits on. Now he had to go make a mess of him before he made a mess of another casino - else-wise the owners would blame him for not bagging him quick enough.

And Marvik couldn't afford to be ousted from yet another casino. Pretty soon he'd be forced to binge himself in some mudhole on Nar Shadaa - and he hated owing money to Hutts...bastards always resorted to taking hits out on Mandalorians whenever the excuse fancied them.

The crowd of patrons parted aside like blast doors for him, holstered blasters ringing the thigh plates of his beskar'gam like spurs on some Dantooine rustler. His T-visor scanned over the crowd, HUD searching the crowd of faces for the fish he was looking for.

"Come on ya' gilly bastard...come to Marvik." he whispered to himself as he scanned the crowd for the face of- wait.

He stopped and narrowed his eyes on a set of armor in the distance. His visor darkened burning violet lights and just beyond them he saw a set of black and yellow plates of armor moving through the gaudy ocean of colorfully dressed patrons. There was no way...it couldn't be. He squinted harder, pausing only briefly to admire some of the more scantly dressed servers before focusing in on the all-to-familiar comm spikes adorned atop a helm, complete with a T-visor.

"Chakaar! You've got to be karking kidding me" He cursed, again to himself. He could recognize those stupid Vizsla spikes anywhere and of course it'd be one of them here to take the bounty out from under him. He watched the warrior for a second and then his eyes went wide as he saw her heave a Mythrol to his feet from a Paazak table. His HUD instantly flashed red and locked onto his face, the display vomiting a stream of information on the man into his eyes.

It was was his damn mark!

No sooner had he realized this then did the Vizsla take him and start darting through the crowd. "The hell you do! Get your damn, stupid helmeted ass back here!" He pulled his Westar and barreled through the crowd, knocking patrons and their drinks aside as he gave chase...

Musichttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw9l9Vbr8BQ
​

 

[Rih Vizsla]

“Osik.” Rih cursed under her breath, forcing the man along more quickly to the nearest exit that just so happened to be in the exact opposite direction of the other Mandalorian currently barreling his way through the crowd toward her. Instantly her mind began running through dozens of possible scenarios and, deciding she didn’t like the thought of facing down another armored warrior given the circumstances, began doing what she could to intentionally put more and more bodies between her and the other hunter.

If she had to fight she would, but that also meant making it as difficult for her quarry to escape as possible. As they moved she pulled a pair of stun cuffs from a pouch on her belt, binding his hands together behind him. On the off-chance he managed to escape it would allow her to stun him with the press of a button, giving her some kind of security in the quite possibly upcoming engagement.

At the last possible moment she made a split-second decision, cutting sideways into the kitchen and shooting the control panel behind her, effectively jamming the doors so he’d have to work to get through. Regaining her bearings, she shoved tables and rolling carts out of her way, weaving through the chaos created by her presence to the back room, where presumably there would be some sort of loading dock that would grant immediate access to the outside, allowing her to escape unseen.

Barging into the back, she pointed to the nearest worker and gestured with her pistol to the control panel on the wall. “Open that. Now.” With the rumble of an explosion behind her she cursed, glancing around the room for suitable cover if it came to that, more concerned about keeping her mark alive than anything. When shouting came from down the hall she turned and aimed, using the thermal vision of her HUD to send a handful of precisely aimed rounds downrange.

[member="Marvik Dathu"]

 

[Darth Vulcanus]

"Can't we talk about this! I mean, if they don't want me hacking their slots they should just fix th- AH!"

Marvik could hear the fish-head trying to con his way out of the other Mandos hands as he got closer to the pair. But as Marvik elbowed, shoved and kicked people out of his way and tried to line up a shot - the fish suddenly screamed as he was pulled into a side door that promptly shut behind the two. "Oh no you don't!" Marvik screamed after them, sprinting at full speed for the door. He hit the manual open on the door controls, only to be met with a teeth gritting clank as the two sides of the door rocked against one another but refused to pull apart.

"Oh you son of a-"

"Stop right there! Hands up!" Marvik spun to see a gold and black-clad Weequay, his chest-plate stamped with the Zeltrosian word for security. He stood, legs spread and hands outstretched - a small blaster pistol cupped in his hands.

"Piss-off, di'kut, can't you see I'm bloody busy?" Marvik waved him off, turning back to the door and reaching into his utility belt - pulling out a thermal detonator and brandishing it.

The air suddenly cracked and Marvik's shoulder lurched forward and he stumbled with it, a dull pain shooting into his back like a hard punch. There was a gasp from the crowd..silence...then Marvik slowly turned around. He looked at the guard straight in the eyes, which wasn't hard as they'd gone wide as saucers.

"You just shot me, you shabuir" With a deviant raise of his hand, he clicked the detonator's primer and the ball suddenly came to life with a red glow. The guard's eyes nearly popped out of his head and the crowd began screaming, people pushing and running over one another in a rush to get away from the crazed Mandalorian who'd just burst their time. Marvik casually threw the detonator over his shoulder and it clattered to the ground beside the door, the beeping growing louder - which sent the security officer running with crowd.

"Ahhhh! Oh no! Run away!" Marvik waved his arms mockingly, sarcastically screaming at the top of his lungs as he sauntered over to a safe distance from the blast. Then, as he spun to turn at the door, he was suddenly thrown back as the detonator exploded - shredding the door and knocking him onto his ass. The waved off the smoke pouring from the door, ignoring the scrambling kitchen staff running through it as he groaned to his feet.

"Alright then..." He muttered, picking up his Westar and drawing his second into his off-hand, "I'm coming for ya'!"

He barreled through the smoke and shredded pieces of door and then. Unfortunately for him, bullet have the right of way. He threw himself to the ground as the first snap went past his head, "Oh kark! Oh no!"

He clattered to the ground and scrambled for the cover of a cabinet as rounds ripped through the steel. He tried to look over the cabinet, only to be almost nailed by a round again. "Stop trying to kill me!" he shouted over the gunfire, popping over the cabinet briefly to put a blaster bolt into the light fixture above the other mando's head and sending it crashing toward them.

[member="Rih Vizsla"]

 

[Rih Vizsla]

As the fixture came careening down toward her Rih stumbled backwards and into cover, pulling the Mythrol down with her. Back pressed against the crate, she could feel the vibrations through her whole body as the blaster bolts thrummed against her makeshift cover, and she glanced over to see that the worker had abandoned opening the loading dock in favor of not getting shot. That left one way out, which was back in the same direction the blaster-fire was currently coming from. It all boiled down to decidedly few options, none of which she particularly liked.

“Stop shooting and then we can talk!” Her demand echoed against the high ceilings of the room, breathing still heavy as adrenaline coursed through her body. As the gunfire dwindled into silence she took a moment just to breathe, closing her eyes briefly to curse her luck that of course there was another Mandalorian about, and they just had to be on the same hunt she was. The galaxy wouldn’t have it any other way, and she’d like to have a few choice words with the other warrior when it was all said and done.

His voice had some kind of familiarity to it that she hadn’t been able to pin down before, but now that she had this moment to process things… “Marvik, is that you?”

That fact alone doubled the chances that she would kick his ass for this once it was over, especially if he insisted on sticking around, which he almost always did when it came to women. Doubly so for Mandalorian women, of which she could count herself among. They were an outcasted clan much like the Vizslas, she reminded herself. The difference being, well, just about everything else other than that fact. Ven had never liked the Dathus much, but she’d always been neutral on them. Something told her that was about to change.

[member="Marvik Dathu"]

 

[Darth Vulcanus]

Marvik ran over the voice in his head, trying to place where in hell he knew it from. It was definitely female, which did more to broaden the possibilities of who it could be to him than it did to narrow it down. Wait...Vizsla armor...female voice? No, it couldn't have been. The hunter screwed his face tighter, wading his blasters in thought as the screams of the casino crowd faded away outside the kitchen. Already the extinguishers had kicked on and filled the doorway with globs of extinguisher gel, which would make it hard as hell to get back out of.

Which meant that his only way out was likely out the door that his old friend was nearest to. If this was Rih, then she hadn't lost the knack for being a pain in the ass like her uncle. "Depends on who is asking, mesh'la" he called back in Mando'a, looking around for anything he could use to get an edge - which he couldn't find unless he planned on making her an omelet to set the mood.

"Why you here cramping my game, huh? Can't you just let me dice up this fishy and get on with it? Hell, you can help!"

[member="Rih Vizsla"]

 

[Rih Vizsla]

No, he definitely hadn’t changed in the years since they’d last seen each other, and Rih couldn’t decide if that was a blessing or a curse just yet. Still the same smartass remarks, and of course the incessant flirting that apparently hadn’t left him. It would have almost been easier if this was anyone else she was dealing with, any other hunter she could have shot and not felt bad about later. But he was someone she knew, meaning she cared about him to some degree, which took that option off the table. Whoever called bounty hunting a simple profession had lied.

“Because the Canto Bight prisons are paying over fifteen-thousand to get him back. Alive.” Numbers were a language every hunter spoke, Marvik above all, that much she knew for certain. Splitting the reward wasn’t ideal, but it was far less hellish than having to face down another Mandalorian on the battlefield. As much as he liked to talk, she’d seen him fight, and didn’t fancy being on the wrong end of his blasters any more than she had already.

Running over the numbers in her head, she sighed. “Why don’t we split it, ‘lek? Half for you, half for me, end it here. Be a helluva lot easier than trying to shoot you, anyway.”

[member="Marvik Dathu"]

 

[Darth Vulcanus]

"Fifteen!?" Those cheap bastards at the Canto Gaming Cartel were only paying him six-thousand to take this guy out...well that and VIP passes to play at their casinos for life, but that was next to worthless next to fifteen-thousand credits. Even after the split he would be making a killing over the peanuts they were paying him. He sighed, knowing he should have negotiated more when they first called. Figures, cheap bastards always lived on the nicest of the mudholes in the galaxy and Canto Bight ranked pretty high on the list of nice mudholes.

"Like you could shoot me, love. Even if you could I don't think you would - you women always have the eyes for me." he cooed back, still not daring to poke his head out. Yeah, this was Rih alright. He remembered her from before even the Empire days, though they never said more than passing words to one another. Most of his were sexual in nature but that was easy come, easy go for the likes of Marvik Dathu.

"How about we split sixty-forty seeing as you started shooting at me first!"

[member="Rih Vizsla"]

 

[Rih Vizsla]

Stifling a begrudged sigh, the safety of her pistol clicked on and she holstered the weapon, and while it may have seemed like she was considering his offer, the prospect had been thrown out the window almost immediately after he spoke. There was no way in hell Rih was walking away without at least half, especially considering she’d done the work of catching the mark in the first place. All he’d done was follow her, something anyone with more than half a brain cell could manage. Hardly deserving of a sixty-forty split.

The sound of distant sirens reminded her of the fact that they would need to be leaving soon if they didn’t want to contend with local law enforcement, and she didn’t want this to get any messier than it had already. The last thing she needed was a bounty on her own head by Zeltros authorities for getting in a shootout. That might have been his cup of tea, but she preferred to stay under the radar. Which begged the question of why they always ended up stuck together somehow.

“Fifty-fifty, final offer. We’re going to have the cops to deal with pretty soon, and I’m not in the mood for another firefight. We can talk about the details later, but right now let’s get the hell out of here. My ship’s docked nearby, and we can leave.” Taking a breath, she poked her head out just barely to glimpse at the cover he’d positioned himself behind. “Now if I stand up, are you going to shoot me?”

[member="Marvik Dathu"]

 

[Darth Vulcanus]

"No, but I don't have to shoot you - I just have to shoot him and take the whole cut myself. Sixty-forty sounds like a sweet deal to me with those odds!" He poked his head around the cover he'd taken, looking into the woman's t-visor through the safety of his own. The sirens were getting closer and soon enough they'd have a mountain of attractive Zeltron police officers trying to kill them. There were probably worse ways to go but he didn't quite like the idea, but he wasn't about to let Rih know that - he wanted his cut after all.

"Now what do you say? You owe me for your uncle being an ass all these years anyway." He grinned through his helmet and though she couldn't see it, he was sure that she'd know the exact look, "agree to that and then maybe I'll let you walk me home, love"

[member="Rih Vizsla"]

 

[Rih Vizsla]

Persistence was a trait to be admired in most people, unless those people were Marvik, in which case it made you want to smack him upside the head after the first few times. It was a feeling Rih had become all too familiar with, and she was starting to remember it the longer they kept talking. Okay, so maybe this was why her uncle didn’t like him. She could see it now. Another sigh, this one far more audible, and she stood, keeping her quarry behind her to deprive him of any kind of clear shot.

“Let’s talk about this after getting the hell out of dodge, or neither of us will be getting anything and you can answer for that.” The control panel to the door was still in their way, but she had a feeling he was the right man for the job. “Why don’t you rig us an exit, if you’re half as smart as I remember it shouldn’t be hard for you.” One hand still rested on her pistol, not that she needed a weapon to be deadly.

"Besides, I caught him first. You can thank me later."

[member="Marvik Dathu"]

 

[Darth Vulcanus]

Marvik slowly returned the favor, standing and holstering his weapons before approaching the woman with a casual saunter. He eyed the query for a second and the alien shrunk into himself, trying to hide his head behind Rih's armor plates. For a second Marvik was still, then he lurched forward in a mock lunge that send the fish-man diving for cover behind the woman.

"Oh gods, don't let him kill me!" the alien screamed, his face buried in the plates of the woman was had just captured him. Marvik chuckled to himself, taking the opportunity to re-admire the very admirable stance that Rih had taken up. His visor rose up her feet to her face in a characteristically slow manner for the bastard that everyone loved to hate.

"Glad to see you still keep in shape" he flaunted with an obnoxious grin, "those damn spikes are still stupid as hell, though" he tapped his fingers on the comm spikes and walked for the door as the sirens got so close that Marvik figured they had to be out front by now.

With one last glance at Rih, he mockingly sighed and tapped the doors control console. Like magic, the blast doors to the loading dock slid aside with no more worry than if he'd been an employee. "By the way the extinguishers are on, 'member? Doors aren't locked in emergencies."

With a self-righteous confidence, he strolled out into the mass of crates and hover-trucks - waiting for her to follow.

[member="Rih Vizsla"]

 

[Rih Vizsla]

"Y'know, I'm beginning to see what Ven was talking about." While he may not have been able to see her rolling her eyes, it would certainly be more than evident in her tone. Now wasn't the time and place, Rih reminded herself, though at any other point she would have knocked him on his ass a second time for his trouble. He could never be like this at opportune times, it always had to be out on a mission or somewhere equally inappropriate, and he didn't seem to have an off switch that she could find. Not that she wouldn't have time, seeing as how he was back in her life now, it seemed. How quiet the past few years had been.

In lieu of any further retort she hauled her mark - because this was hers, he hadn't put in any real work for it - out the blast doors, following him out into the maze of crates and vessels parked behind the casino. By her guess the officers were still sweeping the common area of the establishment, and she estimated they had roughly five or so minutes before they made their way to the back and found the doors wide open. She hadn't docked in the spaceport directly attached to the casino, not wanting to be conspicuous, but thankfully for them both it was within walking distance, something he'd probably find a way to complain about along the way.

With a sideways glance she passed him, leading him to her ship and making it a point to ignore any commentary he decided to add along the way. A series of eye movements lowered the ramp, and she didn't wait for him to follow as she boarded, securing the mark in the hold before doing anything else. Locking the door behind her, she made the short walk to the cockpit, falling back into the pilot's chair with a sigh. "If you still remember how, you can copilot. Try not to do anything to crash us."

Soon enough they'd taken off, and she had them in hyperspace en route to Canto Bight. Only then did she reach up to pull off her helmet, pushing strands of sweat-dampened hair off her forehead, the rest of her blonde locks braided and pinned back. "So. What else have you been up to, other than losing bounties?"

[member="Marvik Dathu"]

 

[Darth Vulcanus]

Marvik had no problem following Rih into the ship - which should have not been a surprise to either of them. As he crested the ramp, the Mandalorian turned and took a final look at the casino he'd probably ruined for quite a few people for a very long time. Not the worst thing he'd ever managed to do on a job. Stepping inside, the ramp closed behind him and he took it upon himself to briefly browse the ship while Rih took care of the bounty he'd been kind enough not to kill.

Maybe he should have. He'd thought about it ever so briefly by the door in the kitchen, but women had a way on Marvik that he would never admit - as obvious as he may have been to everyone else.

Eventually, Rih returned and silently strode into the cockpit of the craft and he followed suit. After he'd taken a seat, he watched her remove her helmet and admired her locks of golden hair for a moment. He may have hated most of Vizsla, okay more than just most, but he had to give it to that shabuir Ven - his genes could cook when they wanted to.

He took the que and lifted his own helmet off and the stale musk of old whiskey came pouring out. He scratched at his beard and ran a quick hand through his hair, then set the helmet to the side.

"Crash us? And ruin that pretty face of yours? I'd never dream of it." He didn't even bother to crack his slimy grin at her this time, she'd know it was there in spirit. Instead, he went about engaging the few systems needed for navigation, "And as for me, I've been having wacky misadventures with my pet dog - oh which reminds me, after we drop this fillet off we need to come back 'ere. Kote is all by himself on my ship and I don't need him chewing through the hydraulic pumps again."

 

[Rih Vizsla]

For a moment Rih looked him over. “Keep the beard. Looks better.” He’d aged since they last met, but far from in a bad way. Looked more mature too, or maybe that was just the facial hair doing its job. Either way she couldn’t really complain, not that she’d ever let him know that. The last thing he needed was a boost to his ego, and besides, she’d been able to feel his eyes on her since they left the casino. That was a bridge that would get crossed eventually whether she liked it or not.

“Sounds like you just need to teach him better. He’s how old, now? Should be house-trained.” Flashing a smile with a raised eyebrow, she unholstered her pistol and ejected the magazine, methodically going through the process of field-stripping the weapon. It was something her uncle had drilled her on for weeks after first putting a gun into her hands, and now she could do it in a matter of seconds. Rippers didn’t need cleaned often, having been made to be a reliable field weapon by and for Mandalorians, but routine maintenance was another thing she’d been hard-pressed on.

Turning each component over in her hands, she made idle conversation as she worked. “My clan are mostly nomadic. It’s been mercenary work, mostly. Lots of odd jobs like this one, sometimes something more interesting comes along, but a lot of it’s routine. Get in, kill the target, get out. You know how it goes.” For a moment she was silent, working over the magnets to make sure they were as clean as possible so that it would fire smoothly. If there was one thing their people prized almost as much as family, it would have to be their arsenal.

As she went about oiling the barrel and finer components, the corners of her mouth tightened, and she glanced up to meet his eyes briefly. “Did you give up on the Empire before or after it fell apart?” She held his gaze for a few more seconds before returning to her work, an edge of bitterness surrounding the question, though it wasn’t entirely directed at him. Only the gentle clicks of her pistol being reassembled filled the silence, and with a sort of finality she slid the magazine back into place, holstering it again and looking to him expectantly.

[member="Marvik Dathu"]

 

[Darth Vulcanus]

"Tickles too" he replied without missing a beat, cocky grin spread like butter over his face. He had never shaved for the sake of looking presentable, it was always for practicality. Fact was that beards just got in the way of the helmet - or worse, they got stuck in the helmet. Somewhere along the line though, maybe after he had left Mandalorian space yet again, he just stopped caring about it. Hell, he'd stopped caring about a lot after that damn Empire fell apart.

After all, it only brought him a one-night stand he hadn't wanted to end - but did just like all the rest.

"He is...most of the time" Marvik responded to her quip about Kote, watching her strip down her Ripper. She was damn good at it and he'd chalk that up to her upbringing if the guy who taught her wasn't an bucket full of ass.

He watched her until she mentioned how she'd been living. "So we haven't been living so differently, you and I. 'Course I'm damn-well better at being a bastard than you are - so I'm guessing my check is bigger on most occasions." He paused briefly, then the same cocky smile slid onto his face, "though you do strip that weapon well, probably better than I could do it. Anything else you can strip-down that fast?"

He had to get his kicks one way or another....then the silenced past and she just had to bring it up. Yasha's little "Empire". He recoiled back into himself. A flash of Yasha sitting on that throne filled him with disgust at how long he'd stayed. A flash of Keira filled him with disgust that he hadn't stayed long enough.

He returned the silence for a long time, eyes distant and glossy...then he worked up to his usual self and chuckled, "When was it not falling apart?"

[member="Rih Vizsla"]

 

[Rih Vizsla]

An exasperated sigh was the only proper response to his banter, and Rih rolled her eyes. “Not on your life.” He’d always been a flirt, this was no different. And, like always, she wouldn’t let herself fall into his trap, knowing full well he played this game with every woman and not wanting to open that can of worms. Besides, he’d been gone for years before this. If he wanted it that bad, she’d damn well make him stick around and work at it. She knew full well the sort of women he was used to, and she was here to remind him Mandalorian women were anything but.

“If you pick your contracts like this one? Bet I’m the one getting paid more. No wonder they were only dropping you six, all you had to do was kill him. Takes more finesse to bring in a target alive.” Her grin was just as crooked as anything he could manage, sharp in a different way but just as teasing all the same. “Gotta say, this is one of the more interesting hunts I’ve been on. Most rival hunters don’t have the gettse to stick around once they see the armor. Something about a reputation.” Feigned innocence, something he was an expert on. She knew full well why other hunters avoided her: the Mandalorians still had a reputation, and no one was quite brave enough to test that.

Well, they’d had one. The so-called 'Empire' had put it to the test, something she could see in his eyes and hear in his voice when he finally broke the silence. There was a past he was returning to unwillingly, one she had no place intruding on, and she gave him the time he needed to return to the present, forced as his smile was.

“It’s okay. I don’t really blame you for going back. Almost everyone did, at first.” She looked down at her hands, brow furrowing. “Except Vizsla. Our Alor denied her place on the throne before she first sat it. We were exiled before it ever really began. Munin too.” It wasn’t something that really bothered her, chances were she wouldn’t have followed anyway. The Infernal had done nothing to earn the title, and less to prove she deserved it. “Never bothered me any. Didn’t pay attention to anything they were doing, until they started getting close to the Sith. Then it all fell apart, and, well.” She gestured to their surroundings. “Here we are.”

[member="Marvik Dathu"]

 

[Darth Vulcanus]

Marvik rolled his tongue into his cheek, let out a short chuckle and then stared at the navigation charts. "Vizsla being banished isn't exactly news, ya'know? You lot get exiled every few centuries - yet you all still bend yourselves over for the same bloody ideals." His clan wasn't exactly more or less liked than the Vizslas were, but at least Clan Dathu wasn't always trying to insert themselves into all the idiocy the rest of the clans always got themselves into.

"Shame you weren't around for that Hutt-slime of an Empire - might have kept me from making a few mistakes..." he trailed off again. That woman had stuck with him worse than he thought.

"...speaking of Hutt-slime, how is your delightful uncle Ven doin'?"

[member="Rih Vizsla"]

 

[Rih Vizsla]

It would have been easy to rise to his quips about her clan, and maybe that was what he wanted, something to take his mind off things and prevent him from wearing himself down with whatever was bothering him. And Rih almost took him up on it, having a retort already half thought up. But his question ultimately put a damper on things, and she tried not to let him see her face fall. With her reply all but forgotten she exhaled a sigh through her nose, staring into the distance for a moment as she willed her hands to loosen from their fists, tongue running over her teeth as the silence weighed down once more.

Now it was her turn to remember, though these were decidedly more happy memories, ones of family and childhood, and her maternal uncle. He was one of the earliest parental figures she remembered having. He'd helped her through her father's death much like the rest of kin and clan had, raised her alongside her mother and paternal uncle, the four of them forming an odd but cohesive family unit. She'd wanted to be like him when she was younger, maybe still did now, but it was hard to tell with how long it had been.

"He, uh, hasn't been seen in five years. Maybe more." Her voice was quieter, then. Subdued. "No one's really sure where he went, only that he hasn't turned up in a long time. We've already done the funeral rites. No matter what, he's bound to the manda." She looked up at him then, not offering much other than her presence in that moment.

[member="Marvik Dathu"]

 

[Isaac Iden]

Cold white eyes stared across the lower floor of The Jive, one of the favourites amongst those in the know on Zeltros. Ceros was hunched over a table, resting his chin on one forearm as he watched the people below dance without interest. The upper floors were kept purposefully dark, with little more than the reflections of the vibrant red hues illuminating the dance floor to serve as light sources. The blaring synthetic noise made it hard to think, one of the upsides of this locale. He took a sip of his drink through an extended straw and let the ambience just seep in, content with simply existing in the moment. Eventually, he unconsciously began tapping his foot in synch with the rhythm of the music. He wasn't sure if it was the overpowering air of concentrated alcohol and pheromones or just the interplay of light and music which gave this place its entrancing quality, but it was one of the few places where he could get lost in nothingness.

A long while passed until a shadow blocked his light. He'd closed his eyes by now, passively absorbing the music, but the change in light drew his attention. Through half-lidded eyes, he could see the familiar orange spacer jacket of his second in command. The towering Aqualish sat down opposite of Ceros and slid something across the table. The Umbaran lazily lifted his head in order free his arm to catch the object.

"Whado I need a datapad for?" He said, half slurring his speech as the muscles in his face broke their numbness.

"Security footage from one of the casinos. Our contact sent it over as soon as he saw. Looks like Tarlson's gambling debts finally caught up to him."

Half-heartedly he tapped the datapad's surface, which began playing a video of an armoured warrior shooting off-screen with the familiar figure of his crewman in tow, then cutting to two armoured warriors leading him out of one of the more popular casinos here on Zeltros.

"Mandos. Hate those guys. Never fun to deal with, but we need the blue guy. Any idea where they're taking him?"

"Our man said he'd shadow them. He expects compensation, I told him he'd get double the usual."

Ceros gave him a look halfway between disgust and relief in response.

---

Cantonica System

The two large doors leading to the bridge of the Eibon Spear opened and Ceros, its captain, stepped through. His second-in-command was already waiting near the bridge's centre. He turned briefly to acknowledge his captain as he approached, then returned his attention to the datapad he held.

"Any sign of their ship?"

"Negative, captain, but our contact is certain this was their destination."

Ceros sighed. "Keep scanning then, I want to know about every ship that comes into the system. Make sure our crew is aware they are not to shoot the ship while you're at it. I want tractor beams only."

He reclined in his chair, swinging his leg over an armrest and began tapping the other with his fingers, trying to find a way to content himself with just waiting.

[member="Rih Vizsla"] [member="Marvik Dathu"]