Private Portrait #1

[Avernus]

// DEEP SPACE, BRAXANT SECTOR //
// OUTSKIRTS OF SITH-IMPERIAL REMNANT TERRITORY //
// ABOARD THE TURBO L.O.V.E.R //
// By the grace of gods, go I. //

War was incredible for business. AvCorp™ wasn't started with the intention of war profiteering, but where the money led, Avernus often followed. Now, with the formation of the Trade Federation, AvCorp™'s operations on a galactic scale had exploded violently onto nearly every corporate scene across every nation and protectorate... Besides the Sith Empire, of course. Their policy of doing no business with apostates was nearly airtight, even going so far as to exclude Christophsis in the Sith-Imperial and Confederate trade agreements when Avernus still held the planet as its viceroy.

This didn't eliminate the demand for AvCorp™ products within their iron-chained borders, however. If only to spite the higher echelons of Sith-Imperial authority, he often performed the bold move of 'skirting' along the edges of their territory with the TURBO L.O.V.E.R, AvCorp™'s mobile casino, restaurant menagerie, shopping emporium, and corporate HQ all bundled into a death-dealing star destroyer. Those who wished to sate their demands for AvCorp™ products snuck the permit, secretly stowing themselves aboard the vermillion wedge for forbidden decadence.

Beyond the cold, durasteel corridors of the pragmatic underbelly of the ship lie massive atriums of extravagance. Internal trams carried patrons from district to district within the five-kilometer wedge. Be it dining, shopping, gaming, or another more tangible debauchery, there was a dedicated section just for it. It was very infrequent that Dax Sunreva, the living mask of Avernus' will, absconded from the penthouse in the deepest obscurities of the ship in favor of another locale within.

This was one of those rare occasions.

Before the blonde-haired vessel was served an electrum platter onto ivory, synthsilk tablecloth. Upon the platter was a small, aurodium bowl that held Colo Claw Fish caviar and the yolk of a Nuna egg. With a utensil grasped daintily within the left hand, Avernus Sunreva prepared to partake in one of the Turbo L.O.V.E.R's many decadences. There was no finer dining in the galaxy that was mobile, or at all, really. His anticipation was quelled as a sudden, startling BOOM accosted his eardrums. Glass, wood, and steel flew through the dining space, flung from the force of a sudden explosion. Avernus hardly flinched, still facing forward, blinking quickly in a stunned surprise.

Wonder what's happening this time...

Halketh ​

 

[Halketh]

accoutrement | energy

A QUIET hum suffused the air as the shrapnel ceased its scatter and the ringing in ears subsided.

"Well that was rather unsavory," Seer Halketh cleared his throat with the emergence of his form through the hole blasted in the wall. He ducked through, stepping over the poor staff who had inevitably been caught in the blast. That wasn't his problem now, was it? Perhaps they should have been tending to duties elsewhere. The sorcerer straightened himself up, slowly tucking gloved hands away into the pockets of his cloak and fixed the void of his masked face upon the ruler overseer of this realm. "Good evening." Kezec offered, kicking idling heel at the bludgeoned hand grasping for aid at his ankle. He took a step inward further, distancing himself from the injured, "I took care of the sabotage attempt, though, I shan't say if that was all of it- it would absolutely ruin your suspense."

His hooded head twisted and he aimed the mask he wore backwards, glancing at the improvised entrance. Time was up. A low sigh rolled into a bundled groan of mild irritation and he turned himself promptly with backpedal, keeping hands in his pockets as he poised expectantly for what was to come. "I would advise you overturn your table, lest you ruin your outfit."

And surely, as soon as he had offered the jab of a warning, the rapid rhythm of boots echoed the parallel corridor with erratic shouting as accompaniment. The accosting saboteurs were coming.

"There! It detonated early!" A gruff, accented voice bellowed with some obvious intent.

"Ah yes, by the way...." Kezec's head slowly swiveled back to the other in the room who wasn't on the ground, "Your security team is slacking."

With sight beyond sight at his disposal, he counted three, though the number was unreliable as there was only so much he could see. All the same as the first intruder burst through the yawning gap, The Vulture raised hand with clawed fingers curled towards palm, seizing control. He flicked his wrist forward, sending the armored form scattering back into the group. His second emerged from the opposite pocket and swept over the decimated area, collecting debris to form makeshift barricade over the hole in the wall.

 

[Avernus]

// When I was delievered, I cleared my nostrils and spanked my own ass. //

An eerie, apathetic stillness took over Avernus as the dust bellowed and raged. Palm and fingers rested above the platter in an attempt to preserve the cusine within. As the dust stelled he was met with the image of the masked individual. Lax demeanour and nonchalant carrying niggling his deepest vexation despite the odd humor in the situation.

"Your security team is slacking."

Guess you couldn't really expect much after an inordinate pay-cut for the sake of staff expansion.

Olive eyelids fell over sapphire irises once with a final inflection of sudden disbelief. The left hand released the eating utensil to brush shrapnel from his shoulder with a muffled pat. Synthwood chair groaned against the marble tile of the establishment, scooting back to accommodate his sudden upright. A sudden gleam of aurodium shined from behind a lavender cape as hand deftly freed the hilt of his archaic weapon from his concealed coupling. With a click and sharp hiss, radiant plasma burst forth violently, the droning of golden energy contained instantly into a remorseless cylindrical blade of searing malice.

"Overturn my table?" He looked down at the dish he'd been served, miraculously unmolested by the dust and debris. What a terrible waste that would be. Avernus fully intended to sit back down and finish his meal as soon as this inconvenience was taken care of. "Are you blind?" This dolt really must not be aware of who he was speaking to. Shoes clacked against the tile with a steady, measured stride towards the forming barricade. A radiant stroke of golden hues screamed and hissed against the material, sundering a passage beyond.

"Alright, alright," Avernus began with an impatient shout as he cut his way into the dividing corridor that presumably housed the pursuing saboteurs. "Try not to piss yourselves, please. Just tell me who you work for and I'll at the very least spare you the indignity of decapitation." Only the flaxen light of the undulating plasma could guide him through the dense haze of carnage. Where there had just been people, it was now empty and quiet. Only the vaguest inclination of danger clawed the back of his mind, precognition giving him sudden violent images of another eruption. Such subconscious warnings were ignored as usual.

The first one didn't kill him, so why would the next be any different? Laughable to think such a thing was of any threat to him, Darth Avernus, of all people.

Halketh ​

 

[Halketh]

| faceless |

"Are you blind?"

OH, HOW he wished he hadn't been wearing a complete mask for this venture because such a question, truly, had earned only the blankest expression his angular features could have composed. Provided, such a thing was his fault for his choice of mask, but fashion required sacrifice. He sighed heavily, tone deepening into guttural irritation as the man just tore a hole through his barricade. "I don't recommend-"

BOOM!

"-that."

A secondary charge with all the potency of the first had been set already and Avernus's emergence had only inspired the saboteurs to act more hastily. Shrapnel flew internally and blasted down the already shattered wall, flinging itself in a sporadic pattern. Perhaps Kezec's counsel had come from a constructive place after all. All the same, he simply could not find it in his conscience to sit such a conflict out. How long had it been since he had felt the thrill of action? The sorcerer steepled his fingers together before him and rushed out, sliding amongst the shrapnel and glass to carry his momentum further... and he threw himself directly onto the first assailant. "Good speech, very poor execution." He offered over his shoulder to the likely sprawled Avernus.

Naturally, he did not have to look to sense the blaster being charged and fired their direction, however, the rather vicious skull sent crashing into his own did catch him by surprise. "You mother fuc-" The sorcerer slid backward, reaching a hand up reflexively to the pain at the crown of his brow. The smudges across his pulsing vision offered him no distinction between their foes, however, the blaster fire rocketing towards them painted the world very clearly. Both hands snapped to, bracing against an invisible wall that was willed into being. The blast fizzled uselessly against it. "Get up, if you would please, redecoration is rather arduous by oneself." Kezec shoved at the barrier he had formed, unleashing the energy he had conjured to gather the splintered steel and glass, as well slam into all of the assailants and scatter them. "Oh, and there are three-"

The resonate humming of a vibrostaff caught his attention before he finished his thought and his head quickly snapped back forward. "You may spare their dignities, but I shall not." He decided with something of a wicked smirk offered into the inside of his mask. Hands threaded together, deft digits weaving in silent incantation as he prepared his follow-up. The effort was directed towards one of the three obvious, bright smudges of undulating color across his senses, a Force user, and quickly he found purchase.

Promptly, the illuminated blob turned, raising blaster to its own crown and pulled the trigger. The thud of sizzling mass striking the debris across the floor was enough to speak of his success. "Your turn," he offered in playful mock.

 

[Avernus]

// Your money is now our money, and we will spend it on drugs. //

The brunt of the explosion felt like a solid punch from a man-sized fist. His momentarily limp body was slapped flat onto the durasteel flooring of the utility corridor with a distinctive smack. Face flared with disgust through the ringing daze, staring at the ceiling with a sharp annoyance. The clamor and commotion of hostilities drowned beneath the ringing in his ears. For a moment, everything was spinning rapidly, no doubt from having one's brain rattled around so suddenly.

"Get up, if you would please, redecoration is rather arduous by oneself."

Avernus sat up rather quickly, regarding the commotion beyond with a haggard stare. "Well you d-" suddenly Avernus fell flat on his back once again, heeding the warning of precognition. A red streak of condense tibanna flew directly over his horizontal form in a near-miss. Throwing his shoulders to the right he rolled several feet before popping up to his feet. Through the force his mind felt around for the humming kyber crystal, pulling it towards his left grip once located.

Resplendent plasma escaped, once again violently extending from the emitter. He shot the stranger a suspicious glance before stepping out into the open. "Nope," Avernus called out as he batted away a shot, sending it right back into the eyes of the assailant. Wrist rotated and hips oscillated for the next stroke. "Should have brought a slugthrower, you reprobate," he taunted, snuffing out another with their own bolt. Something pulled at his attention, causing him to turn just in time to see the large crates flying through the air towards him. Their trajectory reeked of force-manipulation. A screaming hiss saw the gleaming plasma sunder a safe split through the objects, leaving him unscathed.

"Oh?" He articulated his sudden realization with a vague condescent. "Wait- Waitwaitwait, WAIT!" Avernus shouted with feigned desperation, holding his hands out defensively. For some reason or another, it worked well enough to force a temporary stillness to the strife. His eyes scanned around his assailants with an exaggerated back-and-forth craning of his neck. One hand held out in a questioning fashion as he made the theatric motions with his guard seemingly down.

A finger held up, lips parted, and lungs began to inhale. One would think he was about to speak, but just as soon as the words were expected, none came. Instead, big money's form collapsed on itself with an odd warp. Light twisted and vacated certain space, leaving an odd black distortion for only the briefest of moments where he once stood. It was as if every visual part of himself was sucked into a pinhole leaving only a short-lived black cloud behind him. A loud VWOOMP sounded fanfare for his sudden disappearance.

The saboteurs looked at each other with flabbergastment.

Halketh
​

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[Halketh]

| pulse |

KEZEC SIGHED with all the enthusiasm one with his versed air had earned. What else had he expected, really? Of course, he wasn't quite aware of just how many foes were stacked against him, and now that he was alone, his lip could only twitch. That was, however, until the Force bent and warped the air around them. Those blanketing hues lit up his vision perfectly, as though someone had just beamed a spotlight down the hazy corridor. And just in time for him to see the lumbering form of a cloaked attacker rushing forth.

A skillful pivot flowed into twirl with the muffled rustle of his drop-tail cloak and he avoided the charge entirely. This was a tricky engagement perhaps, to handle by himself. Melee assailants combined with the ranged capabilities of a trio of Force users however minor their skill may have been. Such was not to be marginalized and the seer had long since learned not to underestimate the reckless power which came with unrefined talent.

He would have to make this quick. A hand slipped into his pocket with the redistribution of his weight and righting of poise, clutching for something concealed within. Unlike their blaster-toting foils, he always had an answer for the inevitable whoosh of saber lighting up the opposite side of the confrontation. But he would not draw, not yet. Instead, his freehand swung around in practiced path, steadying before him as his will manifested and crackled the air. Durasteel flooring, was it? Beautiful. He hadn't his friendly to worry about now.

Kezec shuffled backward another step, leaning far to avoid the lash of vibrostaff and promptly squatted, slamming his open palm upon the floor. Electricity crackled in wicked, webbing spread, surging through the metal of the floor towards those it was directed for. One of the illuminated blobs gyrating through his muddied vision shrieked, scrambling away before legs seized with the electrical surge and she toppled. The others were far quicker to react and exploited the rather vulnerable position Kezec had thrust himself into.

The air around him surged and he gasped softly upon realizing where his mistake had been made, though it was a bit too late to do much to correct. Glass flew at him in an ungodly wave, tearing through his outerwear and slicing the flesh of his arms beneath. He was sent sliding backward on heel, barely managing to keep himself upright amidst the spray.

"Rush him!"

Well now, this was slightly more problematic.

The Vulture snapped himself upright, ignoring the glass poking out of his hide for the moment, and finally drew the weapon he typically concealed. Such was aimed towards the second blob of light and he squeezed the trigger.

POP!

The sound thundered in the narrow space, echoing and layering upon itself to deafen those closeby.

The miraluka had a gun.

And it seemed he didn't have trouble in aiming it.

His intended target raised blinding saber upon instinct, seeking to deflect, but one simply did not reflect a shot from an Adjudicator, oh no. The slug tore through his chest and he buckled with a rasped wheeze, clutching at the hole fate had punched through him.

"It would be best to reconsider what led you to this point and ponder if attempted murder truly is worth actual murder." He advised less-than-enthusiastically, already shifting the sizzling barrel of his pistol towards the one who had rushed him. Were his efforts in creating stalemate truly with their benefit in mind or his own? The lumbering smudge froze, earning a smirk which went as unseen as the rest. "Is that a no?"

 

[Avernus]

The aimless black sea of nothingness that existed just beyond tangible reality caused great discomfort to persist within. Avernus' observed remotely as he strained to maintain his full form within the strange void. Every motion and happening was blurry, but his supernatural inclinations allowed him to comprehend the distant watercolors that the scene manifested itself as. Every inch of him felt fluid, swaying, and undulating gently in a pocket space. It was exquisitely painful to occupy this un-space, but it was all part of the show.

"It would be best to reconsider what led you to this point and ponder if attempted murder truly is worth actual murder."

Violently he ejected himself from that curious void betwixt reality and comprehension. Physical form inflated into solidity, shooting up and dowin his entire body was an explosive pain that announced his arrival to his synapses. "It isn't-" he whispered in the ear of the lumbering figure whom he'd materialized behind. Flesh sizzled with instant cauterization as the golden plasma plunged through the spine and out of the ribcage of the assailant. A sudden flick of the wrist freed it from the torso with a sharp hiss.

An accomplice to the immediate left clamored with surprise, eyes widening at the sudden sight of the Sith. "Forget me already?" he asked with a malicious condescent. He articulated his question with another stroke of the saber, plasma freeing vertebrae from vertebrae. As the saboteurs scattered, Avernus hit the second emitter release, freeing the second blade from the back end of the hilt. Deftly in the same motion, he flung the saber forwards, sending flying in a wide arc with a horrific, juddering drone.

Cries and grunts sounded of with every screech of the blade against flesh and armor. Dark side of the force carrying its trajectory to an unnatural curve. "No reconsidering! You're all committed now!" Avernus shouted, sending loud, thunderous cracks reverberating off the walls as he sent lighting in several directions. Erratic tipping of his demeanor now inflected in full swing, accentuated by the erratic jolting of electricity.

Halketh ​

 

[Halketh]

| blood |

THE FORCE blazing across his vision nearly blinded him as Avernus made his rather dramatic re-entry into the fray and it was all Kezec could do as the Sith displayed his recklessness, to will another barrier into being to protect himself from the arcing lightning. "Firstly, that was rhetorical." He groaned, feeling the vein in his temple twitch with irritation. "Second, my objective was to minimize the damage to your ship. Pardon my propensity for being a modest guest in a world of such opulent abandon."

POP! Once more that ear-splitting thunder cracked out in the narrow space, echoing upon itself and resounding down the hall with judgment cast a second time.

Sure, modest was a word for it. The last remaining figure left standing behind a flickering shield was felled with another well-timed shot from his Adjudicator and thusly, at least as far as Lord Halketh was concerned, this engagement was over. His head swiveled and he listened intently down the spanning corridor at their flank. More erratic footsteps. Someone was in a hurry. He hesitated for a moment in his twist to aim and was glad he did.

"Someone once told me screaming into the void was pointless." Kezec started with a sigh as he finally tucked his weapon neatly back into his pocket and straightened himself up, dragging fingers down the outstretched arm with the occasional wince as his collected adrenaline began to wear out and he found himself pained by the shards bedded deeply into his flesh. He turned his head out of courtesy towards Avernus, nothing more, and continued as his barrier held in lingering effort to shield him. "I have the strangest feeling this is one of those times. Do your thing sunshine, I shall scold your security team for you."

And with nothing more offered, Kezec turned on his heel, redirecting his will to shield his flank, and started through the destruction with casual stride, stepping over the debris and between the bodies with unbothered ego carrying his weight. Bloodied hands and arms were tucked into the small of his back, sending a few looser shards of glass clattering to the floor beneath, and he straightened his posture to retain the veneer so carefully constructed. "You know..." he hummed aloud, halting the approaching disorganized formation in their tracks, "Someone must clean all of this rubble up."

"Right, we'll send word fo-" The armored form at the front of the group started, tone betraying the obvious confusion such a remark garnered.

"No no, I was implying it was you and your team. Mmhm. Go get some brooms." He busied himself in partial then, focusing on the hall around them in some aim to recall precisely where the medical bay was relative to his current position. It was something of a struggle. His brows furrowed harshly together beneath the thin veil of his mask and the darkness cast by his hood. Would he actually go there, or would he steal away to his temporary quarters and heal himself up? A pause and lift of his head yet still: "Oh and, you should likely send for medical as well. I'm afraid there was quite a deal of collateral damage."