Things In The Night

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

Vrak didn't move from his place, there was no need to. The conversation was over as far as he had concerned. They had gleaned a bit of information from each other, though ironically hers had been far more personal than his own. Sera still knew very little about Vrak himself, while he knew quite a bit about what she was. His intention and goals were obvious, every Sith wanted to conquer, though he supposed the small details he ahd given could be valuable if she wanted to stop him.

A shrug rolled over his shoulders.

It was the price that he had to pay in order for things to move on ahead. This little plot needed to succeed for him to take the next step back on Athiss, otherwise he would be set back almost an entire year. He frowned slightly as he considered the prospect, though slowly shook the thought as his eyes once again fell closed. The force rushed through him in an instant, the darkside filling the room even as Sera jumped up from the floor and made her way back to the bedroom.

Hours later Vrak moved through the ship. The cut on his forehead was completely gone, the bruises that she had left on him had returned to their normal crimson shade, and in truth he felt as though he were whole again.

Nearly an entire day of meditation had been enough to heal him, that with the added bacta treatment he'd received back on Coruscant and Vrak once again felt completely whole. He moved quietly through the ship, Eric and the other servants still staying out of the way. He caught sight of one of them scurrying into the kitchen, like preparing some sort of meal before they landed. There would be time to eat once they arrived on his residence on Muunilist, but he wouldn't stop the Servant from doing her job.

That would be poor manners.

His hand came up as she approached Sera's room.

He did as he was told fetching her himself, though not bothering to knock. This was still his ship after all. The door quickly slid open, Vrak stepping inside with not a word spoken.

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

Sera had slept since leaving Vrak's meditation chamber. However many hours that had been exactly she had no idea. Her subconscious heard the door slide open, lekku curving slightly around her neck as the blankets atop her body rose and fell in slow but steady motions. The comfort afforded by the bed had finally overtaken her, allowing her to fall into a deep sleep, even despite the still lingering pain present in her neck, back, arms, thighs and legs.

It was unlikely that his entrance had in any way affected her slumber.

The room itself was obscured in darkness, save for the small light beside the refresher that provided enough to see around the area without being bright enough to distract from sleeping.

Aside from the movement produced by her lungs working to sustain her life, the occasional swivel of a lek, nothing of note changed. She had set her weapons down on the far side of the room away from her, Vrak's book atop the table beside the bed, along with her clothing in a pile on the floor next to where she slept, including the headwrap that encompassed her head and head tails.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

As soon as he saw her asleep he considered for a moment. His eyes brave a brief glance down towards himself, checking the device that was stashed within his robe. Was now the time? His lips thinned as he watched her, chest slowly rising and falling, lekku curling ever so slightly.

No. Not yet.

There was opportunity here, he could likely get it in place before she woke up, but then she wouldn't cooperate on the surface of Muunilist. The dynamic would change between them yes, but not in a way that he wanted or needed it to. She still needed to be cooperative for when they met the banker and after, if he put it in place now she might very well react...negatively. Vrak couldn't have that. He would stand to play the game for just a little bit longer.

Without further hesitation he wandered over to the side of the bed, his eyes glowing slightly within the dark. "Wake up."

The words were not harsh or sudden, but a lower whisper, that same kind voice that he had used earlier.

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

Vrak would see her eyes press tightly shut, as if he had just harmed her. In fact it was just a reaction of being stirred from a particularly deep sleep. A moment later her jaw shifted and a yawn followed, forcing a slightly high pitched noise to echo past her lips before she could clamp her jaw shut again. For another few seconds that was all the woman did. It would almost seem like his call to her was for nothing. The Twi'lek laid where she was. However as if it were somehow timed, before the man ordered her again her eyelids opened, green eyes shifting about her surroundings while she tried to take measure as to what was going on while remembering where she was.

"Hmm?" Another yawn pushed itself out before she rolled onto her back to see Vrak standing beside her. "Yes?" The single word, posed as a question, would be separated by a third yawn before she managed to get herself under control. Her arms and legs extended in opposite directions, stretching the muscles while gauging how sore they were still. Particularly sore still.

"What is it you want?" The assumption was that they had arrived at Muunilist, though she was still half asleep and could be wrong.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

He watched her for a few moments, the blanket falling away from her as she slowly began to stretch herself awake.

Vrak gave no reaction to the display, his eyes still giving off that rather unsettling glow to the darkness of the room. He waited for her to finish stretching, the last of her yawns escaping past her lips just as her arms fell down onto the blankets.

"We are twenty minutes away from Muunilist." He told her simply.

The rest of the journey would likely go a lot faster than the previous hours. They had to do some quick preparation to make sure that everything was in the right place. Seraphina had to get dressed, don the proper demeanor, and memorize a quick burst of information that she might be asked about when landing. They would head to his estate first, a large condo in one of the high rises, but there was a chance the authorities would stop them on the way.

It was unlikely, but he wanted to be prepared.

"I thought you would time to prepare." Vrak said as his eyes briefly flicked over her. "Perhaps eat."

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

Hands raised to rub the tiredness from her eyes. It was one of those naps where waking up actually gave a headache. Her legs pulled up towards her chest, dragging her feet along in tow, until she were able to push the blankets away using the pads of her toes. She stretched one final time before draping her legs over the edge of the bed. Dryness overwhelmed her throat, causing her voice to come off sounding scratchy. Nothing a small glass of water wouldn't be able to fix.

"Okay." She said, briefly standing from the spot she had just been sleeping at, before kneeling down to pick up her clothing with which she would begin to dress with. It hardly mattered to her that Vrak was standing inches apart. After all there were worse things. The woman could be chained to a wall, back exposed to a constant barrage of whipping for hours on end. That hadn't been pleasant. Or the persistent prevention of sleep, where each time she was nearly passed out she was violently torn from that rest. And those were the more tame methods.

No, standing beside the Sith, bare, was hardly a concern.

"I would like to eat. Give me what I need to know at the same time."

Sleep was one part of the equation. For her body to continue the process of healing she would need to eat as well.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

That at the very least would be easy to fulfill. The servant was already cooking something, though Vrak wasn't entirely sure what. At the very least it would be more than enough to fill Seraphina's stomach twice over. Though Vrak didn't eat often his servants still insisted on cooking rather fine meals, perhaps it was because most of them were eaten by the servants themselves after he waved them off.

He smiled at the thought of that, for some reason it amused him. "Very well."

The Pureblood watched her dress, not with any sort of leering stare, but more a scrutinizing eye. Vrak was still incredibly weary of her, bordering on paranoid. She had lightsabers of course, but those were the expected weapons. There were a dozen object that she could use to kill him, ones that he wouldn't see coming. Blades, needles, even lengths of wire that she could slip around his throat.

That was what he looked for as she slowly slipped on her clothing.

When she was finally finished he waved her forward.

"This way." As soon as they exited her room she would be able to smell it, the subtle aroma of cooking nerf meat. "I will give you my meal."

As a matter of practice the servants would not have made anything for her, nor for themselves. They usually ate much later, generally when Vrak wasn't around.

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

While she dressed her eyes caught glimpses of the suspicious glare he gave to her throughout the process. It was as if he expected her to try something then, despite having been the one to wake her up, while having nowhere to hide any kind of weapon or utensil to strike at him with. Sure she could likely hurl whatever loose objects around the room at him, or electrocute him some more, but that would hardly accomplish much of anything, given that she was now slightly curious as to the information that could be gathered by this trip.

If it turned out a waste of effort, or if Vrak mistreated her, then perhaps she would remind him again the lesson she had taught him earlier.

Having dressed, and no threat to his life made, Sera followed Vrak from the room towards wherever it was he was leading her. To the servant's credit, whatever they were making did smell delightful.

"It seems your servants have a number of talents."

Twenty minutes wasn't much time, but thankfully she could read whatever information necessary quick enough, while she ate. All she needed was to read it once. It would burn itself like a page of a history book into her mind from that point forward. The gift of an eidetic memory.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

"They do." He made sure of it in fact. It was one of the things he prided himself on. While many purebloods treated their slaves like...well slaves, Vrak didn't. They were all servants of course, lesser beings, but all of them had their uses. He allowed them each to pick their role within his house, allowed them to learn and study, even gave them a measure of freedom. One could argue that Vrak did it to manipulate them, and that might even have been correct, but the truth was he also saw them as more beneficial this way.

"The data you need to memorize is simple." He told her. "The name of a few of my corporations, account numbers, simple aspects of my supposed business."

As they reached the dining hall Sera would be able to spot a plate already on the table. Upon it was an ornately put together meal consisting of roasted nerf, rice, and several unidentifiable vegetables which had been thinly sliced and cooked. "I doubt they'll ask anything of you, but I like to be prepared."

Muunns were known to be a bit paranoid.

"As soon as we make it into the mans office things will change quickly." That much should already have been more than obvious to Sera. Vrak had stated early on that he didn't intend to outright kidnap the man, instead interrogate him within his own building to keep things more...contained. "Ryal, fetch the datapad."

The Pureblood servant inclined her head and wandered off.

As they approached the table Vrak pulled out the chair in front of the plate, offering it to the Twi'lek.

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

"Oh." That was it? Simple. "That will take all of a minute. I only need to see it once."

Her mind was something she was quite proud of. It was a vault of information, which is why it infuriated her to no end that she could not figure out what it was that was wrong with her. If she remembered every minuscule detail of her childhood how could she not remember or identify something that bothered her so much? It was bizarre.

The other Sith wandered away for only a minute, returning as Sera opted to accept the seat from Vrak and therefore setting the datapad down in front of her.

Food was more the focus of her attention for the moment. The woman lifted the utensils and set to work on putting a bit of the nerf meat and rice into her mouth while her thumb and index finger lifted the datapad in her spare hand, eyes falling to the information as she chewed quietly.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

He still watched her.

Vrak doubted that she would try to kill him again soon, at least not until after Muunilist. By now she had probably realized that it was better to work with him than against him, and he'd shown a great deal of tact and care when dealing with her. Perhaps that meant her guards was slowly coming down, perhaps it didn't. The Pureblood didn't care either way, he just need her to cooperate through this investigation.

He hoped his earlier trepidation paid off, the device in his robes would have forced her to be compliant, but perhaps free will was not bad here.

"The Muun will likely be suspicious at first." Vrak said simply, his eyes following her as she slowly moved the fork through the nerf on the table and began to eat. "It isn't often that someone of my wealth wishes to change bankers."

Not often at all. "I believe greed will overcome such things however."

From the documents in front of her Sera would be able to see the mass amount of wealth that he had managed to hoard here on Muunilist. It wasn't a complete picture of his finances, just a piece, but enough that it would raise eyebrow.

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

There were several screens worth of information to read, however each one was locked away within the information vault inside of her head. Like a droid's data banks, nothing was ever truly lost on her. Rarely did she ever forget a detail, and in those circumstances she had only to think about it for a few moments before the information returned to her.

"He'll be suspicious from the get go. You're a Sith. Hardly known for your shining example of honesty."

Only foolish people trusted Sith at face value.

"But you are likely right. Greed breeds greed. Hard to imagine the Muun passing the opportunity for more wealth."

Greed and credits were essentially pillars of the galaxy. They went hand in hand.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

"You wound me." Vrak said in reply to her accusation of dishonesty. She was right of course, he'd told more lies by the time he was twelve than most people did their entire lives. It was how they lived. Manipulation, lies, everything they could do to get ahead. Speech was just as important as fighting on Athiss, and Vrak had always found himself to be one of the best speakers in the room. That often meant he had also been one of the best liars.

He frowned slightly.

He'd never liked Muuns. They were, by nature, an incredibly cowardly species. They had no warriors to speak of, preferring to hide behind the veil of others. Until recently they had coward behind the Mandalorian Crusaders, but now they were once again independent. He wondered how long it would be before someone else conquered them.

"Do you have any questions?" He asked. "Something I can help you with?"

The information was relatively straight forward.

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

She paused mid-bite for a moment, her hand setting down the fork as her eye shifted upwards to Vrak.

"Don't be coy." She said simply, before continuing to finish the bit of food waiting for her. Both of them knew he was hardly a good and honest person. Neither was she. How many people had she killed prior to this job? A great many. Many lives were stolen by her hand, whether for personal need, benefit, or at the behest of her former masters.

She was free now though. At least in part. She did what she needed to survive.

"No." She said quietly, pushing the datapad off to the side when she finished. "I've got it all."

The Twi'lek ate a few more helpings of the rice before pushing the plate away from her, content with what she had, though the servants had made far too much even if she were completely starved and on death's doorstep to finish all of it.

"I'm ready to go."

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

Vrak glanced towards the chrono. They still had about another ten minutes before they exited hyperspace. He frowned for a moment and stood from his place, glancing towards the plate of half eaten food. Briefly he wondered who had taught Sera manners, after all it wasn't polite not to finish your meal.

Oh well.

"Come along then." He told her as he wandered out of the small dining room. They had a bit of time to waste, but Vrak decided it would likely be best if they situated themselves within the conference chamber. There was a large holo-terminal there, it's bright glow already displaying an image of the banker that they would be meeting. The man didn't look threatening in the least, though there was a large scar that ran across his brow.

Vrak spent the next few minutes telling Sera a little bit more about the banker. What company he worked for, what he actually did, and of course his name. The time went by quickly, and before he knew it Eric was issuing a call for them to sit down. Vrak slipped into one of the seats on one side of the conference table, sitting himself down just as a slight lurch carried through the ship.

"We'll be landing in three minutes, My lord."

The Servant updated him over the Com, the Pureblood simply smiling at his Twi'lek companion.

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

The woman stood from where she sat, scooping up the datapad in her hand for little more than appearances in the conference. If it looked like she was busy jotting down notes and listening to the two speak it would seem more believable than simply standing idly by looking at the Muun awkwardly. Vrak wanted her to play a role, and thus she would.

When they arrived to the chamber Sera remained standing, slightly behind and to the side of Vrak to appear both a proper servant and assistant to the man. She listened to the Sith speak of the Muun and the bank shortly before Eric relayed their arrival over the comm. The Twi'lek stood up straight and proper now.

In her head Sera wondered if that smile Vrak was making was one of appearance, one of smugness, or one of genuine sincerity. The latter of the three being the least likely. Still, it was interesting to think about while she waited out those three minutes.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

Eventually the ship came in for a landing, cutting through the atmosphere of Muunilist and coming down on a landing pad attached to a large tower. The ship struck down with the slightest shake, Vrak standing up almost as soon as the landing struts had touched the ground.

When he and Sera made it to the boarding ramp a woman was standing there. She appeared Humanoid, though more gaunt and somehow thin, streaks of green ran through her hair and her eyes were an odd neon color that were distinctly inhuman. The robes that she wore marked her as one of his servants, something that Sera would very likely be able to tell almost instantly. The Servant bowed her head politely as Vrak approached, glancing towards Sera for only a moment.

"My Lord."

Vrak smiled at the woman. "Miril, It's good to see you."

Perhaps those words would be surprising to Sera, it wasn't often that a master said it was good to see a slave.

"The estate is being watched, My Lord. It began early this morning. Constant surveillance from one of the towers opposite us."

The Pureblood nodded, it made sense. If the banker was being controlled by this syndicate...or whatever Sera's employers were then they would likely keep a watch on things, or perhaps it was the banker himself doing this, assessing Vrak's intention. He frowned for a moment and glanced towards Sera, thinking that perhaps disguising her would be a better alternative. Maybe they would have to change her color, the pink was rather distinctive.

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

Perhaps the greeting would have been odd to hear, however her focus was on what the servant said, more so than Vrak greeting her.

It could be simple coincidence that because Vrak requested this meeting that the Muun was suspicious of him, thus called for a watch, or it could have been the more likely scenario that her handler or employer learned of the events that unfolded on Coruscant, and were now beginning the process of handling the problem that now posed.

While she spoke not a word, her eyes drifted towards Vrak, lips pressing tightly against one another. He would know why.

It was as if there were eyes all over, always watching her. What information they had of her she wasn't entirely certain. But if they suspected she was trying to reach them then this might just be the beginning. They had been gracious enough to warn her once. She worried that perhaps they knew that Vrak was searching for them, that she was helping in some regard.

That would be problematic. She wouldn't know for sure however for another few days. If no job came through, she was likely in some trouble.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

"They are not watching the landing pad, my Lord."

That meant they were situated in the building directly opposite the apartments. They would likely be able to view through the windows of the living room, their objective being to see inside. The Sith Pureblood nodded for a moment. "Draw the blinds and make sure no one can see inside."

He glanced towards Sera. He could see the slight twitch of nerves to her, the odd little curl of her Lekku. Vrak thought that perhaps he was starting to learn how those interesting little things 'spoke'.

"Send a team to the building across." He highly doubted that they would find anyone by the time they got there, but that wasn't the point. "See what you can find."

The servant nodded her head and slowly wandered off the ship.

Vrak stood in place for a moment, then looked towards Sera. For a moment he just assessed her, trying to see if she was actually up to this. The Twi'lek had shown her nerves once before when it came to these people, and a part of him couldn't help but wonder if she was a bit too scared of moving forward. His lips thinned, and then he quietly motioned for her to follow him. For now at least it wouldn't be a problem, they had another day before meeting the Banker.

After that? They would have to see.

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

"If it is them, and not just this Muun's suspicions of you, then they are already aware of you, of me."

She never understood how. Where they amassed resources to watch everything, everywhere, a network of eyes all over the galaxy. That was the problem.

They would see soon enough.

"If it is them, this will be a trap. They'll kill me. I assume you as well."

They'd have to wait and see what Vrak's servants found when they entered the building on the opposite side of the street. Hopefully they would turn something up that they could use to figure out who it was exactly that was watching them before they even arrived on Muunilist. Still, this wasn't a good start.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]