Shadow Slicing [Ask]

[Cryax Bane]

You weren't paranoid unless everyone was really out to get you. At least that was Cryax Bane's creedo these days. The Chiss President of the Red Ravens Criminal Syndicate had made quite a few enemies across the galaxy and it was only natural that at some point a reaping would begin. In the last few months, he'd blown up a Jedi ship on Nar Shaddaa, delivered a Mandalorian Field Marshall to a Yuuzhan Vong overlord, and broken up with his girlfriend over text message. The latter surprisingly seemed to be the most heinous crime in the galaxy for the amount of flak he'd gotten for it. With the issue of his safety the Red Ravens and their planets in mind, Cryax needed information and he wasn't going to leave any planet or network un-scoured until he knew who was coming for him and when.

He'd heard that a group called the Shadow Dynasty was making a land grab for planets over in the Tingel Arm of space. Power plays such as that deserved further watching. So for this particular mission, he'd sent a message calling on one of his new slicers, Dakita Calfur, to come to his office at once. Word among the ranks was that she was an up-and-comer. At least she thought she was anyway, and he was going to let the Zeltron party girl put her credits where her mouth was, and send her off digging for the intel he craved.

[member="Dakita Calfur"] [member="The Shadow King"]

 

[Armand Temi]

Dak was surprised when she got the call to visit [member="Cryax Bane"] at his headquarters and she sorted through her foggy memories to figure out why the Chiss wanted to see her. Must have been that recent night at the Dragon Palace Casino. She wasn't there to gamble, having lost most of her credits in a Lower Coruscant casino a few days back but was playing video games that were set up on the perimeter to draw patrons in.
She had just run out of credits for Swoop Bike Speed Junkie, had jumped off her bike and proceed to slice into the game terminal in order to restart the game again when she caught the attention of one of Bane's cronies. Crink me, she thought as he hauled her up by the back collar and pushed her into a side room off of the Casino floor. She began unbuttoning her blouse, thinking that if he copped a feel he might just let her go but he only frowned and shook his head. Long story short, he had witnessed her slicing into every single one of the Dragon's video games and wanted to know if she could slice into specialized computers, mainframes, ship control systems... things like that.

"Sure," Dak said. Technically it was a lie, but a computer was just like one big video game, right?

And now here she was entering the office of Bane himself. She had parked her B-7 again at the Casino, leaving a criminally attractive Balosar in her bunk and headed through the labyrinthian Casino where Bane was likely to be. She had heard about the Chiss-boss's legendary temper and was a little more guarded than usual.

"You have a job for me?" she asked after she had knocked and was permitted entry.

[member="Cryax Bane"] [member="The Shadow King"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

Cryax answered the Zeltron's question with a nod and gestured with a blue-skinned hand for her to have a seat opposite him. "Dakita, I know that you're a smuggler by trade, but your skills as a slicer have been noticed in the organization. Those games. They aren't easy to slice into. If any script kiddie could code break 'em, well, the casino could lose alot of money." Cryax crossed to a liquor cabinet and poured two glasses of whiskey, handing one to Dakita. He flicked on his Datapad as he sipped his drink, his glowing red eyes scanning the screen. "I'm sending you a dossier of a man that I'd like to get information on. HIs name is Romeo Sin but he is otherwise known as [member="The Shadow King"]. He's been nabbing up planets like nobody's business out there in the Tingel Arm. Get whatever information you can. The more encrypted the files, the better. What planets he's going to hit. What his military looks like. Who he's planning to attack. Find out if we're on his radar as well. The more information you get, the fatter your credit account gets."

He drew up a Holomap of the galaxy and pointed to a destination, a large planet near the Dalonbian Sector. "You'll have to fly to their captial on Eclipstica and slice from there. You might be able to slice in through the Holonet, but more likely you're looking at a government building or Romeo's stronghold. You'll want backup." Here, Cryax smirked. The casino had security Holocameras everwhere and Cryax knew what the Zeltron was like. "Find some strapping young Twi'lek mercs or something and tell them the boss said you need a bodyguard."

"Any questions Dakita?"

[member="Dakita Calfur"]

 

[Armand Temi]

For some reason she thought Cryax Bane would look and sound more like her adopted dad (with blue skin instead of pink) but he didn't. He was much younger in person than he was in pictures and on HNN reports.

He was also kind of a dreamboat so much that all she really heard from the conversation was "Dakita I know..." and then "strapping young Twi'lek mercs." For some reason she always pictured slicing as some nerdly pursuit, performed in a darkened room surrounded by glowing screens and Republic neck-beards eating piles of chuba chips. If someone told her it involved beautiful Chiss-boys and muscular Twi'leks she would have been slicing a long time ago!

"I do have a question. Why is he called The Shadow King?"

[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

He had to admit, the petite Zeltron had a far away expression that told him she wasn't fully listening to the briefing. Regardless, Cryax endeavored to answer her question. "Good question, Dakita," said the Chiss as he took another sip of whiskey. "From what I've heard, Sin is called the Shadow King because so little is known about his personal life, where he was born, his parents, and the like." Then he shrugged a shoulder. "Perhaps there is another reason. Maybe you could find it out. Either way, let's bring all of Romeo's little shadows into the light, shall we?"

"Remember, bring back-up with you. If Sin is smart, he'll have counter-slicing measures. They won't just lock you out of the network, they'll track your location and send their goons after you. It's nothing like a game, Calfur. Take it from me, I started out as a slicer, and trust me, when it goes wrong. It really goes wrong."

He stood up and put his drink down as if to suggest that they were done. Then he smiled at her, although there was a hard edge in his red alien orbs. "Don't dissappoint me, Dakita."

[member="Dakita Calfur"]

 

[Armand Temi]

"You got it, Sarge," Dak said, giving him a mock-salute. She went out to the Casino to pick up a Twi'lek and a sturdy Duros pilot who could help her navigate to Eclipsta as well as flank her wherever she went.

"You can take a different ship if you want," the Chiss-boss had said. "In case your freighter needs repairs." He was basically implying that her B-7 was a hunk of junk which it was. But as tempting as it was to select a Dragon luxury yacht from the dry dock and ride to The Shadow King's home planet in style, she didn't want to attract attention or end up with the bill for damage to the wing. The B-7 would make the journey. Maybe in pieces but it would get them there at least.

"Scram!" she said, kicking at the Balosar who was still lounging in her ship. Eyeing the Duros and Twi'lek armed to the lekku with weapons, he scurried away. Her new bodyguards eyed all of her belongings with a critical eye so she moved piles of clothing and accessories around, trying to make room for them. She wasn't used to company in her ship unless it was in the bed.

Dak didn't know any Durese but luckily the Duros had a limited grasp of Basic so she stumbled through the coordinates with him and they were soon on their way, the lights of Antecedent glittering behind them. The ride would take a while so with the Duros at the helm, she settled besides the yellow-colored Twi'lek. The temptation to flirt with her leather-bound bodyguard was strong, but she tucked her feet under her instead, leaned against him and pulled out her datapad to do run some preliminary scripts before the three of them arrived on Eclipsta.

[member="Cryax Bane"]
[member="The Shadow King"]

 

[Armand Temi]

Dak pulled away from making out with her Twi'lek bodyguard (whose name was Krevin) and shook the Duros awake. He had nodded off through the last thirty minutes of the trip when they'd been on autopilot.
Dak had the Duros pilot dock at a public space docking station in the Eclipsta capital. Before they left for the streets of Eclipsta, they ran through their weapons. Dak had her normal vibroknuckes and electrowhip, plus a fanny pack full of poisons and venoms. The Duros and Krevin had an assortment of blasters and small vibroblades. She looked up at the tall Duros pilot and said, "Please don't fall asleep when you're trying to protect me." He muttered in Durese back to her - probably a string of curses. "Both of you stay a little ways behind me so we don't attract attention," she added.

They walked quickly following the coordinates to a small library. Dak didn't want to bust right into The Shadow King's headquarters because well... that would just be suicide despite what her Chiss-boss thought. She'd try the Holonet at the library first and see if she could slice into their system first and see how far she could get. Her bodyguards stood watch outside, while Dak entered the quiet library, dashed up the stairs to the second floor and chose a computer terminal that was remote and not too near to anyone else. She quickly looked around her and was relieved to see that the few citizens nearby were nearly all academic-looking types more interested in their own computer terminals and books. When they spoke it was in hushed tones. She pushed her sunglasses up onto her forehead so she could better see what she was doing, slowly and quietly drew out her datapad and connected it to the back of the computer. She tapped on the datapad keys and after fifteen minutes she was able to access a ctiy comms systems. She narrowed down her data search to anything involving Romeo Sin and finally found some credit purchases under the name - mostly food and a couple of bar tabs. It wasn't much but it was a start.

[member="The Shadow King"]
[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[The Red of Sinner]

[member="Dakita Calfur"] [member="Cryax Bane"]

The Raven would have to understand, this did not get very close to the Shadow Keep, but something would pop that could catch her eyes if she was paying attention.

Hey, did you here about the latest news?
No, what does the news say?
The Shadow King is planning on attacking Primevil.
Thats not news here on Eclipstica idiot!
Hey I just got back from the Crown's patrol around Korriban, grabbed a Sith Shuttle.
Was it a god catch?
Yeah, Shadow King did a number on the girl we found.
Girl?
Yeah, she was pretty young to. Ripped the hatch off the shuttle, and started tossing her like a ragdoll.


The chat ends. The person left in shock.

 

[Armand Temi]

Now we're getting somewhere thought Dak, locating a random chat mentioning The Shadow King. Old news it seemed on this planet, but new to her. Enemy number one: The Primevil - a crazy, techno-witch cult. Enemy number two: The Sith. But this scuttlebutt appeared to be common knowledge. No mention of The Ravens at all. She needed to dig deeper. Which meant getting closer to the source.

Dak unconnected her datapad and threw it back into her bag. As she went back down to find her bodyguards, her heart pounded out an anxious beat. Out on the street, she saw Krevin leaning against a street lamp, looking alert and adorable. She wondered if [member="Cryax Bane"] would let her keep him after the mission was over. The Duros was across the street reading the HoloNews from a street vendor's monitor. Sweet Bantha balls, the bloody Duros wasn't paying attention again! She started to doubt he would be any good for protection and made a note to tell Cryax about his performance later. But maybe she could use him as a distraction so she could infiltrate a higher security building. She whistled to the both of them to follow behind her a few paces as they headed towards the government sector of Eclipstica.

[member="The Shadow King"]

 

[The Red of Sinner]

[member="Dakita Calfur"] [member="Cryax Bane"]

She would notice as she went deeper into the more government parts the planet, which was called Yelsia, was filled with people wearing expensive clothing, and obviously important people of some sorts. They were royals, politicians, and famous people of different cultures.
She would also notice the increase of police forces, and some extra military forces that were stationed at a certain area, or patrolling city blocks.
Speeders flew over head, ans skyscrapers reached up high. There was a clock near the middle of the city though the time it was telling was not normal. It was the time till the eclipse would be once more upon them.

 

[Armand Temi]

Yelsia, the government sector of Eclipstra was well-heeled and clean. The citizens in this part of the city were dressed in nicer fabrics with shiny leather boots. Of course, no one had quite the style of a Zeltron but Dak was still impressed at the visible display of wealth.

She suddenly remembered she hadn't sent [member="Cryax Bane"] any of the information she had found and however insignificant, Dak figured she should check in. The three Ravens made a detour to a coffee shop to access the HoloNet. After seating themselves, Dak ordered stimcafs for the table. The Duros still looked extremely distracted and bored.

Once she had connected her datapad, she typed out a message to Cryax's assistant, a Bothan named Frab and included the chat message and any receipts she had found that were connected to [member="The Shadow King"]. Then in another message she typed:

pilot louk is useless. is there on-planet backup you can provide?

After five minutes, she received a reply from the Bothan: no. just have louk sit in the ship and wait if he's a burden

Irritation sparked through her body like a bolt of Force lightning. She typed again:

how about i just shoot him in the head. you won't miss him right?

Dak received a quicker reply this time.

hold, please. will check on additional backup.

The reply came back in twenty minutes, enough time for Dak and her crew to get fully amped up on the stimcaf.

the only contact we have in the area is [member="Mordecai Zambrano"]
we've put a message out to him to see if he can assist.

kewl

Dak packed everything up again and looked at the Duros. "You're fired as of right now." Both the Duros and the Twi'lek looked momentarily surprised. Immediately the Twi'lek moved to Dak's side of the table as if he may have needed to get involved in ejecting the Duros from the coffee shop. Pilot Louk rose and cursed loudly in Durese, gesticulating wildly. He turned to go and flipped over a chair on his way out.

Dak smirked. Now was the perfect time to put her plan in place to use the inept pilot. She ran after Pilot Louk, shouting, "That Duros stole my credits! He's a pickpocket! POLICE! POLICE!" A group of police and armed guards ran their way to find out what was going on. Dak whispered to the Twi'lek who had followed her out to the street: "Keep the police busy and meet me on the roof of that building in fifteen minutes." She nodded up at a formal-looking building. She pushed the Twi'lek forward in the police's direction and ran back into the coffee shop, out the back door and crept into an alleyway with a view of the chaotic scene she had just caused. Dak waited until most of the focus was on Pilot Louk and her Twi'lek bodyguard and she darted into a side door of the nearby building she had targeted for infiltration.

[member="The Shadow King"]
[member="Mordecai Zambrano"]

 

[Armand Temi]

There wasn't anyone in the hallway but Dak needed to move quickly. She scouted out all of the rooms on either side but there were only two restrooms - human and nonhuman - and a janitorial closet. But after making a left and going deeper into the building she finally located an office with computer terminals. The two government workers typing away in the room stopped and looked up as she entered.

"Oh don't mind me... I'm the new intern," she said. She pulled her datapad out and plugged it into the nearest terminal, laughing nervously. "Just getting some files from Fred, who's like working from home today."

"There is no Fred that works for the EEA." said one of the workers, a male Mere.

She stammered, "What's the EEA?"

"The Eclipstica Environmental Agency." And then he muttered under his breath, "Stupid interns."

Then both government workers went back to typing because well... they were government workers after all. She had a little time now but couldn't get too complacent. Using her datapad she quickly bypassed the security prompts and submerged inside the network. So far the only thing she found were EEA Contracts which made her eyes glaze over. There were too many to download so she kept moving and searching.

[member="The Shadow King"]

 

[The Red of Sinner]

[member="Dakita Calfur"]

While doing this, she would find some very interesting files.

Battle Lizards - Warfare Use

Terra-forming - Rebuilding

Black Gate - Rainfall Measurements

 

[Armand Temi]

Three titles caught her eye out of all of this environmental mumbo-jumbo. Dak sent these files to [member="Cryax Bane"]: Battle Lizards & Warfare, Terra-forming and Black Gate Rainfall Measurements.

"Hey sweet thing, can you get me some coffee?" asked the Mere salivating at her.

Dak rolled her eyes and in a pretend-sweet voice said, "Just a minute... almost done with Fred's files."

Come to mama, she thought typing furiously on her datapad, trying to break into some darker corners of the network.

[member="The Shadow King"]

 

[The Red of Sinner]

[member="Dakita Calfur"]

The woman was trying her best, and it was amazing, somehow this woman broke away from the EEA (Something I didnt even know I had), and went into the government policies, and plans.

Possible Enemies/Threats - Primevil, One Sith, Mandalorians

Possible Alliances/Contracts - Levantine Sanctum, Red Ravens, Imperial Remnant

Crusade Era - The Beginnings

 

[Armand Temi]

Dak needed to talk to Cryax and soon. She was finding more information now and even though these lazy government workers posed no threat, she was worried about hanging around too long. Plus, she had no idea how Krevin was handling the disruption she had caused outside.

She typed a message to Cryax Bane, sending him the latest batch of information and again, Frab replied:

what now?

i need to know if this information is valuable. Have Cryax respond NOW

She could hear Frab sigh over the HoloNet. In the meantime, she kept digging.

[member="Cryax Bane"]
[member="The Shadow King"]

 

[The Red of Sinner]

[member="Dakita Calfur"]

As she dug deeper, she would find nothing relevant, ship designs that were already public, weapons that were also public. She would have to move closer to the Shadow Keep if she wanted to get more juicer stuff.

 

[Armand Temi]

She waited and waited. Frab didn't come back on the line. She suddenly felt very expendable.

Packing up her datapad, she exited the room, hearing protests behind from the Mere wanting his coffee. Dak went back out the way she came in and circled around where she had left Krevin and the Duros. She looked left and right but didn't see any sign of them. Maybe both of them got picked up by the city police. There was really only one place to go to get better information: the source.

She checked her datapad for coordinates of the Shadow Keep and noticed she was fairly close, less than a mile away. The police presence was very heavy in this part of the capital so she tried to formulate a plan on how she was going to get through multiple layers of security alone.

As she finally got closer she could see the Shadow Keep now with her own eyes, looming over the city like a hulking giant.

[member="The Shadow King"]

 

[The Red of Sinner]

[member="Dakita Calfur"]

What was funny was this, there police presence was gone around the Keep, there was literally no one there outside the gates, and walls. It probably looked empty, as it usually did, Romeo didnt keep guards posted everywhere like some arrogant, and rich fool who feared for their lives. She would find the gates would open up if she went to them, and that around her inside the walls, if she went in, would be gardens of beautiful plants, and trees, all bearing fruit.
If she went inside, she would see that it too would open freely, and four guards would stand there, like manikins with armor on them. If she knew anything about the Old Republic era she would notice the armor was very, very similar to Revan's Sith Soldiers in design. She would notice that Dark Jedi apprentices, maids, and scholars were roaming about, some reading datapads, other discussing stuff irrelevant, unless she was curious about how the force was taught here.

 

[Armand Temi]

The Shadow Keep looked more like an idyllic estate than a fortified lair of darkness. As she approached the gates, she half expected a butler to come out and offer her a cup of tea while she waited to have a friendly chat with [member="The Shadow King"]. Red flags were going off like fireworks in Dak's brain. She checked her datapad once more for a reply back from Frab. Nothing.

A tap on her shoulder made her leap higher than a Dagobian jumping star. She whirled around and grabbed her electrowhip in one fluid motion but sighed with relief when she saw it was her Twi'lek bodyguard, Krevin.

"Bantha balls, are you trying to give me a heart-attack?" asked Dak breathing heavily.

"I was hiding from the police but I finally found you," replied the Twi'lek.

He was a keeper this one, she thought. He had so many positive qualities: his good looks, his loyalty, his good looks, his strength, his good looks, his quickness. The list went on and on and ended with his good looks. But still, he wasn't the sharpest tool in the harness as evidenced by the fact that he just strolled right through the front gate of the Shadow Keep.

"Stupid tail head, what are you doing?" Dak hissed.

"There is literally no one here. We can waltz right in," he said spreading his arms wide.

"Even if we did waltz right in every Holonet port will be encrypted out the wazoo," she rebutted.

"Pateesa," he said, sweet-talking her. "It's worth a look around. If there was resistance we'd see it from a mile away."

Dak considered this. "Okay but stay alert and be ready to blag your lekku off about why we're here if we're caught."

They both went through the unguarded entrance. The Shadow Keep on the inside was like a mini-city with residents walking to and fro on whatever business they had in the Keep. Four armed guards stood still on either side of the pathway but didn't appear to be moving or approaching them.

[member="The Shadow King"]