Seeing Red Again

[Delila Castillon]

Ord Janon | Touring the Ordnance Depot | [member="Aver Brand"]



Shoulders squared as she stepped foot inside the Ordnance Depot on Ord Janon. A younger embassy worker made a joke about not lighting any cigarettes at the moment. A few others chuckled as the group hailing from Alderaan fanned out. Today was a fairly run of the mill day : guarding a mid-level politician touting the benefits of buying raw materials from the system to produce their ordnance. From all accounts Ord Janon's government was neutral and was dealing ordnance to several groups at the moment. Alderaan had mining contracts, used the money to improve system. Rumblings had reached her that Alderaan didn't want to be involved in such deals but then again there were heated arguments that if their raw materials went elsewhere the same thing could happen.


Delila wasn't concerned with such things. She had been pulled from her daily duties at various Embassies to come and run security for the politician. Between her duties, dipping her toes in the Explorer Corps and carving out time to spend with [member="Xin Boa"] and Brak she barely had time to breathe let alone pay attention to the latest dramas playing out across the system.


"Cover all the exits and entrances, ID everyone coming in." Coming out of her musings, it was time to bark orders. "I'm going to need four on the roof of this place, team up with facility security to get access. Keep any non-essential chatter off my comm."


It was going to be a long day and they had only just started.

 

[Aver Brand]

Twenty years ago, when she’d first got into this dirty business, Aver hadn’t thought there would be quite so much waiting involved. Or playing nice with fellows from the other side of the galactic disk. In the underworld, she couldn’t call upon vast armies and fleets to make her point.

She could only call upon moderately-sized armies and fleets.

Sadness.

The purpose of this preface is, of course, to illustrate why Aver was here. Playing nice.

Hell, she wasn’t even Aver – Miss Var Nabba cut a mighty fine form in her bulletproof suit as she turned up at one of the doors. Raw materials for ordnance? Yes please. As one of the bigger arms manufacturers on the black market, they burned through the stuff like a Hutt through snacks.

“ID, please.”

She leveled a disinterested stare at the guard at the door. The scan was over in a few moments – turned up squeaky clean. Everything about that identity had been wiped down ‘till it was so shiny you could see your own reflection in it.

Metaphorically speaking, of course.

Aver strolled inside and tugged a wayward worker aside to find out where the politician was in his tour.

A little birdie had told her that Alderaan was looking to wash their hands of the whole business. Comet Industries would just so happen to swoop in with the bleach.

Not so metaphorical, perhaps.

[member="Delila Castillon"]​

 

[Delila Castillon]

Personal security detail always sounded interesting to the younger guards - until one realized it was actually boring. There wasn't gossip often, nothing worth repeating in her opinion anyways. Most days it was standing around and watching the asset to make sure nothing was trying to kill them. Hardest part on the job was not falling asleep most days.


It wasn't long into the meeting when another person appeared. Redhead, slightly older, female.


Della raised an eyebrow. She was thinking mistress or ordnance worker. Bored, she had her bets on mistress. It was something she had seen time and time again. Wasn't her business, she was here to stop blaster bolts not save marriages.


Hand came to rest near the blaster at her hip. Delila would intercept the redhead, the politician chatting away with a representative.


“I’m sorry Miss. Governor Edo is in a meeting at the moment.”


[member="Aver Brand"]

 

[Xin Boa]

.

 

[Aver Brand]

Her once-over was quick, if not particularly subtle.

She didn’t care.

“I’m aware,” she replied with a lick of that Coruscanti upper-class clinging to her accent like a widow to her inheritance. Her smile was thin, and so transparent you could practically see the teeth behind blood-tinted lips.

Aver wasn’t a woman usually made to wait – then again, she was here as Miss Var Nabba. Less gunpoint negotiations and more tongues shaped like knives.

Tilting her head, the executive slid her blue gaze like a snake from [member="[/FONT]Delila Castillon"] to the governor in the back.

“Remind Mr. Edo of our impending meeting at his earliest convenience,” she said after a beat, still assessing the older Alderaanian. “I’m here on the part of Comet Industries. Dren Var Nabba.”

She swept her gaze back over the redhead. The boys at the door were green behind the ears, but this woman was clearly built of seasoned stuff. Had the look of someone who’d taken plenty of lives and kicks in the teeth.

“If I reach into my suit, am I gonna get shot?”

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Aver Brand"]



Delila didn't miss the not so subtle appraisal. It took great effort to be professional and not roll her eyes. If she was working for any other government there might have been a chance to get away with such a thing. Royal House of Alderaan and its politicians? Wasn't going to fly.


"I will remind Mr. Edo of your presence at my earliest convenience, yes."


The woman's gaze kept flicking back to Mr.Edo as he spoke to company officials. A fine eyebrow was raised, her mind coming to the conclusion this Var Nabba was his mistress or was perhaps a middle woman in shady dealings. Perhaps both, why not combine the two?


There was a smile and short laugh.


"Possibly, I've had a slow week. Always itching for a bit of action."

 

[Aver Brand]

Always with the games. Her fingers itched, more than willing to convince the bodyguard that the convenience was now.

A steadying breath left her lips.

“Of course.”

Var Nabba turned fully to the woman now – from the bits of conversation that she could catch, Mr. Edo was nowhere near done. With slow, transparent motions, she undid the two buttons of her suit and opened the flap to show she was reaching for a cigarra.

Not that Aver wouldn’t have enjoyed her look of shock when the bolt didn’t pierce the jacket. The thought cast shadow of a smile over her features before she clipped the tip of the Black Label and lit it with the blue flame of her lighter.

Silver smoke curled from her parted lips as she smiled down at the redhead. “I’m sure that could be arranged.”

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Aver Brand"]



Eyes watched the woman with all the interest of someone itching to take the days boredom out on the nearest object. Delila wasn't sure how many brain cells the woman actually had left. Most, when confronted with a person holding a blaster and the finger near the trigger, would high tail it the the opposite direction and only come back when Mr.Edo was free. Not this one. This one was either dumb or had testicles the size of melons.


"Arranged? So you're volunteering for firing squad practice?" Delila shrugged slightly. "Admirable of you."


Blaster motioned to the cigarette.


"Not a bright one are you? Smoking in an ordnance facility."

 

[Aver Brand]

“Calling what you have here a squad would be a bit of wishful thinking, wouldn’t it now?” She gestured to the pair of guards further down the corridor, smoke curling in an arc behind the cherry tip of her cigarra. “If someone walked armed through that door, they’d be dead in their boots before they hit the floor.”

The couple in question – a human and a bith – were huddled around a datalogger, grinning at whatever funny holovid they were watching at the moment. They’d been like that when she’d walked in, doubtless at it for half an hour at least.

Her eyes flickered back to the redhead, something akin to a smile tugging at her lips. “What is this? Gulag era?” Aver blew a smoke ring at the shorter woman. “If this place is really such crap that it’d blow at the slightest spark, I guess it’ll just save me a massive investment.”

She glanced over at the governor, who was now in the ‘enthusiastic waving’ politician mode. A while still, then.

“So are you just that bored or do you threaten every visitor Edo gets?”

 

[Delila Castillon]

There was a snort of laughter at the mention of the sad state of her fellow guards. Whoever this was -Narbia whatever- wasn't aware Delila was speaking of her own personal firing squad. There was no need to dignify a response though. Types like these were more or less trying to goad her into a response.


Of course the woman was already on to another topic, more concerned about an investment and profits than actually getting blown to pieces. More ignoring of the womans comments. Dells wondered if it was a tactic to get to the politician sooner. Get under her skin, get in faster.


Wasn't going to happen.


"Got to have fun on the job, keeps morale high."

 

[Aver Brand]

Var Nabba snorted and puffed another smoke ring at the guard. Fan the flames. Kark if this whole legal gig wasn’t as dry as a Hapan spinster on her eightieth birthday.

“Fun on the job? Ya look like you’d rather be blowing a Hutt.” And, well, if her spit ‘n’ polish Coruscanti slipped, it hardly mattered, ‘cause that was the instant a passing worker blew Edo’s brains all over the factory representative.

“Weeeeell.”

Aver dropped the cigarra and the remains of her accent. More blue collar boys and girls and aliens were beginning to crawl out of the woodwork, waving holdouts and old-school slugthrowers inherited from their grand-grand-grand-pappy.

“Guess ya got your wish, red. Hope you’re as good a shot as you’re a jowl-flapper.” Said redhead #2, already flush against the nearest cover like she was gonna ask it out on a date. She’d pulled a sidearm out of kark-knows-where, going through the practiced motions of pre-combat prep.

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Aver Brand"]


Silence had stretched through the earpiece. Clearly the group she had been with was ambushed, most likely all at once and from unexpected place.A number of the thugs looked they were wearing worker uniforms, suggesting that they had infiltrated in various numbers. Would have been near impossible to know before hand, especially with a company so large.


Brains scattered all the way towards her, landing on her boots. Couldn't say she was going to miss Edo but there was going to be a mountain of paperwork and investigation. If she survived. No way she was but they probably on plans on killing her anyways. Might as well go out swinging.


Heavy blaster came up to fire at various tanks full of explosives first, hoping to at least ignite one. Big explosions always created enough chaos to help sway things in her favor. Standing in the open wasn't going to help either, Dells had to make it to the offices to escape.

 

[Aver Brand]

The sonic boom hit her a split-second before the heat-wave – a split-second in which Aver shoved off the wall and down the corridor into a desperate roll. Ain’t no way she was ending up as a smear of black char. Not here, not anywhere else.

Hard to see anything through the flames. She heard the shrieks alright, though. The guard was a good shot after all.

Go figure.

Another worker swung round the corner, blaster held high. Too high. His bolt burrowed into the pipe above her head, and Aver brought her own weapon to bear. It barked three times – two to center mass, one to the head.

She didn’t miss.

The fire was spreading quickly, hissing along the spilled fuel. The merc made a beeline for the door the attacker had come through. She checked the corridor beyond in a crouch – saved her faceful of slugs – and put a bolt through the dead guy’s buddy.

Aver lifted a spare powercell off the corpse and took off.

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Aver Brand"]


Delila expected to be outnumbered but she hadn't expected a good number to actually scatter once she started to fire at the explosives. Typically hired goons weren't overly bright and didn't think like a soldier or seasoned merc. These were different, well trained and possibly ex-military or something similar. The redhead had escaped to the offices, working on busting out through a window while watching her back.


She hadn't seen the other redhead, the leader. Scrambling away while using hired hands as shields? Probably. Windows broken, Dells crawled out, crunching on broken glass.Chaos was still scattered around, blaster bolts echoing inside and outside of the facility. There weren't many of the facility guards left, perhaps local enforcement had already arrived.


Delila kept her body close to the facility, blaster rifle at the ready as she crept around. Had to see if the woman who started it all was still around.

 

[Aver Brand]

The woman was, in fact, still around. She had not, however, started it all.

Not that either of the redheads had the time or inclination to explain and/or listen to said explanation. An ordnance factory was burning, for kark’s sake. Anyone whose brain hadn’t melted or been shot full of holes was getting out of there.

By the time Aver reached the steps, the flames were already licking up along the stairwell. Cursing, she changed direction mid-stride and shot to the top. Smoke was rising out of cracking windows now, clogging her throat and biting her eyes.

She shoved the latch hard enough to tear it clean off the hinges. Rolling onto the roof, Aver dragged a fresh gulp of air into her lungs. The merc coughed out the soot and sprang back to her feet. A quick assessment of her position came back none too rosy – hundred foot fall on either side and a fire lit right under her ass.

As if on cue a red mop of hair crept around the corner far below. Aver frowned. Glanced back to the open latch. Plumes of black smoke were already curling out.

Kark this karking job.

She exhaled, then pulled the Force around her body and stepped over the edge.

Make one hell of an entrance, right? (Or go out with a bang.)

[member="Delila Castillon"]