Spies Like You [PM for Invite]

[thegreatbeyonder]

The entourage moved on once again -- this time to another boring location to talk with another boring person. Chen kept her rather straight-posture brisk walking going and they turned around a corner. It was like an alley, but only not, in fact it was used for employees and transports to easily cut through the rather large complex.

"One more stop and we can finally get some rest.", she sighed the words towards their rather uneventful day.

Just as if she was asking for something eventful to happen, it did. Two modified droids wielding blasters came out from behind a small archway and pointing the guns in their direction. It took the Chiss only a few seconds to process what was happening when the sound of a blaster activating clicked and whirred from behind them.

"Turn around... Slowly.", the voice was scrambled to make it inaudible towards what gender they were. As she did turn around it was revealed to be the armoured individual from earlier. How about that?

The alleyway was just them. Well, a small astromech droid patrolled on the far side but it was doing a route, not reporting crimes. That left them quite isolated but even still it wasn't like getting away with a crime would be easy here. There must've been another objective than a simple mugging. She had no bounties, at least. So what was it?

"Alright. I've done what you asked, would you tell me your demands?", she asked rather calmly. It might've seemed strikingly like a routine; almost as if she had been in this situation more times than one.

 

[Emery Kerenski]

Emery slowly turned around, upon request. Huh, he'd been right to be suspicious of that weird armoured guy.

Every playful aspect of Emery's appearance had vanished in the wake of this 'mugging'. Yet the world still spun slightly as he moved. Damnit, this was no way to act as an agent. If he had to shoot a moving target, they were fucked. He kept his hands at his sides, though at any sudden movements he knew that he'd go for his pistol, and that would be that.

Nonetheless, he made sure that he stood right by Chen's side, and if worst came to worst, he could take a bullet.

 

[thegreatbeyonder]

If worse came to worse, Chen would use Emery -- and probably the droid as a shield. Two birds with one stone. She would have an excuse to give to her benefactors and a reason for new upgraded droids. Of course this was wishful thinking; it would still be beneficial for them to make it out of this cleanly. Less paper work and more time to relax.

"That datapad.", he gestured to the one that his aid held. That was curious -- he couldn't have known, could he? Unless... If low had set her up she would make sure he was sent off to mine spice for the rest of his life.

"Why the datapad?", she asked curiously.

It as exceptionally odd to request something like that. I mean sure, most people's datapads were connected to bank accounts but that would be blocked upon request or frozen if she suddenly went missing. So whatever motive this person had it would have to be ulterior to make any sense. Unless he was crazy, there was always that.

"No more questions.", they responded, "And you... drop the gun.", was stated towards Emery.

As if to make things worse it seems their droid decided to chime in right on time.

"Observation: Our survival chances are low if we do not comply."

 

[Emery Kerenski]

Emery shot a glare towards their muggers and wondered if they would be killed anyway, no matter what they did. The probability was high. He'd been taught how to deal with the typical muggers by his mother. If they want something of yours, you throw the thing they want out of their reach, away from you, and take off running while they go and get it. Chances were, these people cared more about the datapad than Chen and co.

His hand slowly reached down to retrieve the gun from it's holster. The skin beneath his shirt slowly turned to rock. He took the pistol in his hand and wished he had an Emergy Drink.

He held the pistol gingerly, holding up the other hand in a defensive 'Don't shoot me' kind of gesture. And with that, he shot.

He repeatedly squeezed the trigger, not specifically aiming at anything, but made sure to get in front of Chen. One thing he'd always loved about his pistol, it was loud. It was loud and clunky as all hell. The shots and obnoxiously terrible noise would surely alert anybody within a ten mile radius, as well as the guttural screams that escaped his mouth, he could see the shapes of a couple people on the street looking over at the commotion.

He just hoped that maybe the Aid would have the sense to not stand in the line of fire, and that she'd maybe move behind him and let him take most of the shots.

 

[thegreatbeyonder]

The sudden blaster fire was a shock. Mostly because it didn't come from the droids behind or the man up front; it came from the agent. There was no time to complain; only to react.

Her companion droid opened up a compartment and took out a small blaster, handing it to Chen. The Chiss turned around and fired two ionized shots at the droids; slow-witted as expected. Mostly because they were modified for combat, not born for it -- they lacked targeting computers and reaction times. The armoured man on the other hand was hit by Emery's sudden movements but managed to release a shot of his own. Thankfully it went over their heads as he was hit first, falling to the ground with a grunt.

"Is he dead?", she asked Emery.

With the droids down and the armoured man laying there, it seemed they narrowly escaped trouble.

 

[Emery Kerenski]

Emery kept a tight hold on his gun, and shot the armoured man a couple more times, just to be sure. "If he's not dead by now, then he's mortally wounded, and we need to start moving and get to somewhere safer than this" he stated simply. "Keep a tight hold on the datapad thing, as well as a weapon. For now we should probably keep to the streets or public places."

That definitely could have gone terribly, but, he counted himself lucky that his body wasn't riddled with holes and lying on the ground. He also noted that apparently the droid had blasters in it's compartment? Very nice.

 

[thegreatbeyonder]

"Move? Yes. We're leaving this world; Corellia is our destination.", she stated.

"Ma'am, we have to report this to the authorities; if they conclude their investigation beforehand...", her assistant chimed in.

The Chiss knew this very well. Chen wasn't oblivious, "That's why we need to leave. I hate paperwork, besides i know a certain Quarren who has a brother on Corellia.", she retorted and waved for the others to follow. The entourage moved their way to the spaceport. Already there were cops asking questions about this 'incident', thankfully there were no cameras present or things could get bad. The Chiss with her rather special passcard was able to bypass most security, 'passcard' means credits: A bribe.

Boarding their ship, "Lets get a move on, shall we?"

 

[Emery Kerenski]

Emery placed the gun back in the holster as they boarded the ship. Thank gods that ordeal was over, at least for now. This is definitely the last thing he signed up for. He'd expected himself to simply be standing around and watching as the Chiss woman conducted her relations. He definitely should have requested a different job, but he hadn't expected this to be genuinely violent.

He shoved his hands into his pockets and hummed to himself before speaking again, "So... that was fun, huh?"

 

[thegreatbeyonder]

Their ship in and out of hyperspace finally made its way to Corellia. Roughly three billion or soul people live here and it's home to one of the most important shipwrights in the galaxy. That's not why they arrived, however, they intended to meet with their Quarren betrayers brother and strike a deal with him. She still had the list, but she needed to make sure that Low knew not to backstab this Chiss. Chen was determined to teach a lesson.

"Come along. Droid, stay.", she said to the group. The droid was going to stay behind on this run. Mostly because it blabbed too much; for now it was just Emery and her aid.

"Ma'am, we should've returned --", the aid was cut off.

"Not until we get what we came for. I want to know who put Low up to this, that Quarren isn't smart enough, or in this case dumb enough, to mess with me on his own. Someone paid him.", she was sure of it. There's now way after what she saw, that he would do that on a whim. It was planned and quite carefully, too.

The starport was far smaller than the one on Balmorra, and no one greeted them. The only people around were spacers, freighter pilots, and CorSec officers.

 

[Emery Kerenski]

Emery was completely done. That was it for him. From here on out he'd follow the three S's of Agency: Sit Down, Shut up, and Suffer.

He followed close behind Chen, the Aid, and the Droid. Chen was going to strike up some deal with Magister Suction Cup's brother, and he just hoped that he wouldn't come close to being used as a Collateral again.

"Er, Ma'am. You're absolutely sure that Low's brother will be completely alright with you accusing his brother of attempted mugging, right?" The last thing they needed was someone getting sensitive.

 

[thegreatbeyonder]

Why wouldn't it be alright? I suppose sentiment is sometimes felt but it wasn't by her; she was an only child, her father worked, her mother worked, so she too works. What's wrong with that? Nothing, absolutely nothing.

"Don't worry about it. That's my job.", she said. It was true though -- this was her job, his was to follow along and pretend he's not up to no good.

"I still think we should reconsider, Ma'am.", her aid wouldn't drop the subject. What was wrong with being on Corellia?

Without a word, Chen marched out of the starport with aid en tow. Emery too, hopefully. Coronet was filled with towering skyscrapers and large silver-grey coloured buildings; mostly made out of steelcete.

 

[Emery Kerenski]

"I will worry about it. Because it's my job to keep an eye on you, ma'am, and to do my best to protect you. I'd really like to make sure that Magister Tentacle's brother wouldn't go apeshit when you confront him about all this."

Emery frowned to himself. The Aid seemed hellbent on getting off of Corellia, and it bothered him somewhat. If they managed to get themselves into another situation like the last, then it was the Aid's turn to do something idiotic. He just wanted this day to be over, he wanted to sleep for a couple light years and be free of this mess.

 

[thegreatbeyonder]

"Sure.", just sure. Was she really paying attention? Well she was walking; walking towards her destination.

Coronet was filled with slums and highrises, cantinas and clubs. It wasn't too upscale nor too much the opposite. Nonetheless the main streets were filled, and the side streets were either crowed or empty. It really just depended on the location.

The three of them made their way through one of the latter side streets. Perhaps Chen was crazy, or perhaps the Chiss just didn't care; this is exactly the worst place for them to be after what happened on Balmorra. Nonetheless, she continued to walk onward in her straight-posture and with a hint of authority.

 

[Emery Kerenski]

Emery seethed. His fists clenched and unclenched themselves with pure frustration. This woman was such an nerf herder. He continued walking, bitterly, with a bitter expression. This place wasn't even crowded. Who's to say that Magister Plunger's brother wasn't in on it? Maybe he was going to have them mugged as well.

The shape shifter reached into his vest pocket, pulling out a small flask of Emergy Drink that he knew he'd need. He took a long and lovely drink and almost immediately felt himself relax a little more. He licked his lips, and hummed to himself, placing his hand over his gun holster. Once again, just in case.

 

[thegreatbeyonder]

As Emery placed the hand over his gun, a shot came from behind; it was aimed at his gun. The red blaster bolt was intended to prevent a similar mistake being made on Balmorra. The culprit? None other than Chen's pretty assistant.

"Turn around, and this time don't think about trying anything funny.", she had finally lost the 'ma'am' at the end of every sentence.

"What do you think you're doing?", the Chiss asked, her voice was playfully polite to mask her venomous distaste for the girl.

Seriously. The board didn't hire incompetent assistants, she was good -- very good, so why did she plot any of this? It didn't make much sense, not at all. She was being paid exceptionally well. Of course the answers would probably come soon in a cliche mannerism; every criminal reveals their intentions.

"Simple enough. I wanted to kill you sooner.", she chortled before going back to her "I'm about to kill you" face.

"What could you possible get out of this; and killing me?", this time the words were plain, stale even. It wasn't worth pretending over but Chen didn't seem particularly fearful but rather wanting to know what was going on. Why not pull this off on Balmorra? Oh, but she did. Finally it was becoming clearer. She wanted to get away clean, and coming to Corellia threw off a potential plan B. A light smile of confidence brewed.

"Stop smiling! And start walking.", the blaster was held more firmly in their direction.

Perhaps leaving the droid behind was a mistake.

 

[Emery Kerenski]

The shot blasted the gun out of Emery's holster, and it skidded a couple feet down the road. "God... fucking... damnit." he hissed, marching along with Chen as they were held up a second time.

"Well. This has been fun. And by 'This' I mean you ignoring me for the most part. But either way, I'm sure it's been fun"

Emery had all but given up, even if he or Chen managed to do something to save them, he knew that within the hour there'd be another nerf herder to threaten murder. Yet even so, his skin slowly turned to rock once again beneath his clothes. If he couldn't save Chen, he'd at least save himself.

 

[thegreatbeyonder]

"If I'm going to die anyway, you might as well tell me.", she didn't care what situation they were in. She had to know what was going on.

"Move! Now.", the gun-wielding aid commanded.

Of course Chen, being who she was, decided to not do that and instead pursued the conversation.

"Not interested. Now, tell me.", she responded just as commanding. A little bit of fire in her red eyes.

The assistant merely charged a shot, the gun whirred as it was prepared at the press of the trigger to unleash a red blast directly at the Chiss' head or alternatively Emery if he tried anything. One could assume that, at least.

"Can't you see? I don't work for you anymore.", she said angrily.

Deducing the tone it only took Chen a few seconds to process that. So someone paid her?, well obvious. It seemed that she intended to make it off without any suspicion her way. Framing the Quarren was good enough. She had the datapad, so it wasn't like she needed that information. The idea was to get rid of Chen. Who, though... Who would put her up to this?

 

[Emery Kerenski]

Emery and Chen had picked up a similar vibe pertaining to the Aid's employment. He tried to think of something to do. He could try attacking the Aid, but that was a bad idea, she'd most definitely blast him to bits. He could try just running and wishing Chen good luck, but the Primeval would have his ass on a platter if he just abandoned her. Not to mention, that would go against his most basic morals.

He sighed to himself and took another sip of the Emergy Drink. "Great, so there's yet another puppet trying to kill us. What's next? The droid?"

 

[thegreatbeyonder]

"Probably not the droid.", she was being serious. Although that seriousness was still enough piss off her former aid.

"Ugh, just do what I ask!", the gunwoman was becoming quite impatient.

Chen knew when someone was becoming impatient, but she also knew that the woman wouldn't shoot unless required; it seemed as if she really had no intention of doing the dirty work. But then again desperate times call for desperate measures...

With that, the Chiss looked to Emery and started walking down a corner into a more narrow alleyway off the side street. This time it was darker and clearly the kind used for dumping waste and drunks.

 

[Emery Kerenski]

Emery was internally panicking. His gun was on the ground, probably jammed. The only other weapon he had with him was the knife he kept in his arm sheath. He would have brought more, but he didn't think this job would have been nearly as life threatening as it is. Any sudden movements would probably result in him being shot, the Aid seemed desperate, and that was never, ever good.

He gulped and slowly followed after Chen.