Revenge is a Dish best served Hot

[James Justice]

James was coming out of his exile. Stardust had convinced him to move forward with his life--or as close to it as James could at this point. There was no moving forward without blood. There was no moving past what happened without making Theta pay. He had messed up when he stole the Nestis Cora from their shipwrights, James would be the first to tell you that now in hind sight. But that hadn't merited the full-scale assault Theta had on Dal'Bor. They destroyed the seat of civilization on his planet, they murdered his people en mass.They turned each person against him. And now--now the Arch Prince would know his pain.

They were a planet full of cyborgs and technology worshipers. When it came to cunning and skill or tech ability, they outpaced anything James could throw at them. His only chance was to cut them off at the knees. He was going to fight dirty, and that meant starting with a slicer. James pulled a battered cigarette from his pocket to his lips. The twilight of night was punctured by the orange-red glow of its flame and the gray haze of the cigarette's smoke.

He had come to Nal Hutta, a seat of vice and crime, looking for a slicer. Before Dal'Bor was reduce to crap and slag, he would have had a team of expert slicers just a handwave away. But now--well they were all dead, damn it.

He flicked the ash off the end of his cigarette, tossing the idea out. There would be time to mourn later.

He heard that there was a slicer here good enough to help steal a Kilometer long heavy freighter. He needed someone that damn reckless and good. Getting into Theta would be hellish, but he could make that happen.

@Aren D'Shade

 

[Aren D'Shade]

The young woman did not a place she could truly call home and moved around. She was almost a nomad, but every place she stopped, she put her code on the market and calls usually came in for jobs. Not hurting for credits, she was able to take care of herself and her companions. Quite often though she left them in the rooms she rented for her stays on these worlds.

A call came in and it was answered. Help was needed for a mission that could prove dangerous and Aren was totally game for it. She set the meeting location near to her rented rooms and dressed the part of a slicer.

Pants that were very well worn and could have probably been replaced a couple years ago. They had almost lost their color, but they were perfect on the woman. Her top was sleeveless and showed off the tattoo on her shoulder. A bag was slung across her torso and inside of it were all the tools she had ever needed to accomplish her various jobs.

Sitting in the corner of the cantina, her dark hair gleamed in the dim light and she waited with a drink sitting in front of her.

[member="James Justice"]

 

[James Justice]

[member="Aren D'Shade"]

The spacer left a trail of smoke behind him as he walked through the dark streets. He found his way into a small cantina called the Neon Dragon, their meeting point. He stepped inside, flicking the used cigarette away. James' eyes perused the patrons, lighting on a young woman by herself in the back. It was a little cliche, but it worked. His mind flashed for a moment, he hadn't realized this was who he would be working with. She was so--young. She was about the age Jessica would be.

He had to look away quickly, clearing his throat to keep from crying. His paternal instinct, warped as it was, was still incredibly strong. He put both his hands in his coat pockets and made his way to the table, getting a seat next to her.

"James Justice," he said giving her one of his winsome smiles. Even through the itchy, painful feeling of being reminded of his second daughter, he could still be the charming sweet-talker. "Ye be Aren, me thinks?"

He tossed a credit chip on the table, ordering a bottle of the strongest liquor on the shelves. He put enough out there to cover Aren's drink too. When his order arrived, he took a few gulps before turning to the young girl. "Is it true ye helped nab the 1 kilo long freighter?"

 

[Aren D'Shade]

As she looked around, when James approached her, she nodded silently when he asked her name. Motioning to the table in front of her, she invited him to take a seat across from her. His facial features and internal pain was pretty much lost on her. She was used to working with electronics and droids, not yet entirely in touch with humanity around her.

"I am Aren D'Shade. Pleased to meet you, James."

That theft had been early on in her career and she nodded when he asked if she had helped accomplish stealing it.

"I did. It was mostly manned by droids and they are easy to control."

Shrugging her shoulders, she made it seem like such a small feat and something she didn't think of it very much any longer. It had been a different life for her then. Young girl just making her start in the Galaxy and she had needed transportation. She and a friend had worked together and taken that ship with only the loss of two lives. Their blood was not on her hands and her then companion had that on his.

"What can I do for you?"

She knew some information but certainly not everything. Putting it all out in messages was foolish, this was now the time and lay it out on the table.

[member="James Justice"]

 

[James Justice]

[member="Aren D'Shade"]

"Good, fair enough," he said with a nod. "I need someone with the guts and skills to do that, cause what we gon do is frankly insane."

Out of his pocket he pulled a roll of paper and tossed it on the table. It was archaic, but old school. He knew that right now he didn't have the ability to trust technology with their given enemy. There was virtually nothing that was safe for them against these cyborgs. On the paper were printed illustrations to supplement his statements.

"Thar be a planet named Theta, full of cyborgs," he began, "They be in the Soceras system, a planet with the crime planet o' the same name. I be fresh off the circuit from there. Them hard skins bombed out the capital, Dal'Bor over a small disagreement."

He paused, giving her time to look over some of the images of Dal'Bor's glassed remains. Out of 2 million people, only 5,000 had survived the assault, and James not only had witnessed it, he was the cause of it. He was about to make an entire planet pay for the choices of their leader--just like his people had.

"The planet have some of the most advanced engineering I e'er seen with their ships, soldiers, and all," he continued, "In a matter of a few hundred years no assault has e'er manged to get through, but we be goin' to bring them to their knees."

He waited for her to turn to the next page, a barren white moon named The Skull that orbited the planet. "That be our target. Deep in that small rock there be a base that hold the mating matrix. We gon' get in there, and ye gon' destroy it." He paused for her, "Any questions?"

 

[Aren D'Shade]

Picking up the papers when James tossed them on the table, she looked through them as she listened to his pitch. A planet that was full of cyborgs sounded like it would be paradise to Aren. She took a drink as she leafed through the diagrams and images he had given her. Setting them down, she looked across at him as he finished speaking.

"What do you mean, mating matrix?"

She could fully understand the technology aspect of things but when it came to somethings, like mating, she was lost.

"I think I get why you want it destroyed. Why did they do this?"

Taking a drink out of the glass in front of her, she was going to help him. This was an opportunity to witness higher technology and see if she could alter them as well. Slicing wasn't her only skill and her ability with the Force would be of great use when dealing with these cyborgs.

[member="James Justice"]

 

[James Justice]

[member="Aren D'Shade"]

James quirked a brow at her question. He didn't know if she was just naive in general or just about this cultural context. He was going to go with the second one, but he had a feeling he would have to tell her more about the details of mating at this rate. The spacer grabbed his bottle of liquor and took a quick pull from it.

"Thetan's dun't mate for love," he began, "They mate for species survival. These monsters be as close to machine as ye can get without bein' all the way there. The Mating matrix lets 'em know who should and shouldn't mate and with who based on genetic samples and," he waved his hand, "Some other weird science."

Why did it matter? Sure there was the revenge thing that was his main desire. But how destroying the mating matrix played into his grand scheme of bringing down the Thetans was somewhat obscure. But James was running the long game. This was step one in a multi-phased plan that would end with the Arch Prince begging to die, just like James had.

"They leader had a personal disagreement with me," he answered, there wasn't much about the situation he wanted to share but she had a right to know as much as he could divulge, "And it kilt almost 2 million people. Me people. Takin' down the Mating Matrix be the first step to makin' em pay and they'll pay dearly."

 

[Aren D'Shade]

Her parents had given her the talk about the birds and the bees, so mating in that aspect was understood by her. Not that she'd ever done anything...well maybe kissed a guy, but nothing more than that. Love was still a foreign concept to her, but not entirely misunderstood.

"Here I was thinking that was where they created more cyborgs."

Mother nature might still need to take its course and she had no idea how long it actually took for these guys to reproduce. Her face grew grim as she attempted to understand the technicalities of the information James had given her.

"Destroy the matrix and they can't reproduce? I hardly think it would work in the long run. They wouldn't have the technology to make the optimal matches, but that could still happen. Right?"

Picking up her drink, she pretty much downed it and ordered another. Giving him a small upturn of a lip, she nodded in understanding of what he meant by personal disagreements.

"There are probably a few that have those with me."

[member="James Justice"]

 

[James Justice]

[member="Aren D'Shade"]

James smirked. In a way, it was. However, the actual surgical units where the implants were done were more decentralized. Each settlement had their own, and for now--well he didn't have the means to get past their defenses yet. That would be a blow struck in due time. For now he had to work on de-settling the people just enough to make unrest happen. From there, everything else would be easy.

"It ain't about actually stoppin' em," James explained, "The matrix is an important part of their culture, their identity. If we destroy it, it'd be like--like," he tried to think of any sort of relevant equivalent, but he drew a blank. "It'd be like in the days of old when the Emperor fell and the entire galactic empire crumbled. He were the figure head. Without him, they had nothing."

It was a super rough estimate, but it was the best he could think of. James watched as this kid took another drink down. He was mildly impressed. They almost drank as much as he did at this rate. He was glad she didn't ask for more details on the disagreements that lead to Dal'Bor falling. He wanted to move forward. He wanted the Arch Prince's blood dripping from his fingers and blade. He wanted to see their cities burn. He wanted them to know his pain. Only then, when he had leveled all they had, would the souls be laid to rest. He couldn't go back and save them, but he could make the Thetans regret the day they attacked.

"Often it be a good idea to settle those quickly and decidedly," James said with a nod towards Aren.

He took a pull from his bottle again. "If ye can help me with this, I'll give ye more credits than ye could know what to do with."

And for that, he wasn't exaggerating.

 

[Aren D'Shade]

She did not have faith any supreme being, but she did understand the point he was trying to get across to her. Nodding her understanding of it, she let the new drink just sit there when it arrived. Aren had every intention of drinking it, but just not yet.

"Of course, I will help you. As for payment, well that can figured out as I learn more of what exactly I will doing."

From the sounds of things, this was going to be difficult. She knew she was good and would do her best to accomplish what was needed. Her job was going into technological areas others couldn't. The young woman was not a fighter and rarely put herself in danger. This task was going to do that and they would have to travel there.

"Where do we start?"

Taking out a datapad, she pulled up a screen to take notes on. This one device was not attached to anything unless she wanted it to be and hacking it would mean bypassing any walls she had placed on it.

[member="James Justice"]

 

[James Justice]

James knew that no matter what happened, no matter her price, he would agree to it. She was skilled, plucky, and she was willing to put it all out there. More than that, the spacer was full of a furry that the gods themselves could not quell. Nothing, nothing in this galaxy, but the blood of Thetans running down his hands would satisfy the man.

Now to plan on how to get there.

"I have a ship, one that be top of the line with stealth," James began, "We be usin' it to get by their system and scanners," the man said as he tapped the table.

He drained his glass, the fiery liquid burned down his throat with several gulps. When he was done, his eyes bore the intense sorrow of someone who knew first hand, it was the first time since they met that something besides despair or rage had glowed through his dark brown eyes, "The whole planet be clad in all but iron. Any vessel that not be expected be shot down immediately. Smugglin' in or out be all but impossible with the hold the nobles have on the planet." He waved his hand, "Their scanners are air tight, able to pick up most anythin' and their fighters are able to scramble and swarm with the best of em. At all times, a fleet of at least a dozen capital ships be in orbit, just as a deterrent to prevent any would-be fools," James cleared his throat, "If we screw up even a tad, we be deader than could be. We gotta land on Skull tight, I can punch ye through, just ye and me, to get into their base. The walls are made of reinforced quadranium steel and alusteel. There be flack turrets on the surface to keep any troops who manage to land dead too. And as fer inside? Well, even the Force Dunno that."

[member="Aren D'Shade"]