To the Edge of the Fringe and Back- Ra

[Brent Smith]

When Ra came close to him, Brent could once again feel every fiber of her being. But this time it was more pleasurable than before, because he had more control over his gift, thanks to the meditation session. It was far from perfect, but it was a start, after all. And something about having control over it made feeling her curves not only more intense, but more enjoyable.

"I was hoping you would," he growled back.

Soon she was leading them down the streets to the White Rabbit. The Torrential rain of Jabiim poured out on them like some ancient god was trying to make a statement about his power and ability to flex his rage. If it wasn't for his ShadowZal, Brent would have been soaked to the bone in minutes. But he was thankfully, mostly dry.



You want to do the talking?"

"I can handle this, don't worry," he offered her a reassuring smirk before stepping into the club.

If the regular day to day had been almost a sensory overload for Brent, then stepping into this club

was deafening and blinding. Flashing strobes and laser lights to the beat of heavy synthetic drums pulsed erratically in a myriad of colors. Smells of dozens of beings drug fueled sweaty massive, crowd dancing. Brent instinctively grabbed at Ra's hand, seizing it so that he wouldn't be swept away in the massive exposure. She was anchoring him, keeping Brent from being lost into the nothing.

He made his way through the sea of bodies to the bar. A young barkeep with a strange modern hair cut and a variety of odd piercings through his face stood there in a groomed, gothic state behind the bar. When the couple came to the bar, he gave them both a once over.

Brent reached into his coat pocket and retrieved a high denomination credit chip, sliding it across the bar. “I am looking for the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar.”

The barkeep quickly pocketed the funds and shook his head, “Never heard of them.”

Brent gave the young man a long hard look before reaching into his pocket once more and retrieving another chip, “How about now?”

The young man pondered the chip for several more moments before pocketing it slowly. He jerked his head back to a door on the far wall, “In there, second door on the left. If you can get past the guards, then go right ahead.”

Brent eyed both surly guards on either side of the door. Killing them, despite their size, wouldn’t have bene a problem. But they were trying to keep a low profile, and had already amassed more attention than he would have liked. It was time to go subtler.

“You distract the guards and I will get the door,” Brent whispered in Ra’s ear as he led her away from the bar, “Then I will find a second way through for you, there has to be a back entrance.”

 

[Riamah]

The rain did not bother Ra at all, but her cloak kept most of it off of her. The mud on the other hand covered her boots. Just something that would be cleaned when they got back to the ship.

Even though they might have been huddled against the rain, each of them walked with a sense of surety that wouldn't be missed. Stopping to ask if he would do the talking, Brent assured her he would handle it with a smirk.

She didn't have the same sensitivity he did to stimuli, in her own way, she did comprehend what he went through. Not one being used to crowded places, the noise, clamber, smells and other things in here did hit her. When he took a hold of her hand to help keep him anchored, Ra gave him a squeeze of support and they walked in together. The water from the rain leaving a trail of drops falling off of them.

Casually leaning against the counter, Ra kept her opinion of how Brent got their question answered to herself. He really did have some things to learn...When he told her to distract the guards, Ra just blinked at him with a bit of a blank stare for a moment.

"I'm an assassin not a seducer!"

Not entirely sure what ​he had in mind when he made that suggestion, she excused herself to claim she needed to use the girl's room. Entering that, she would go into one of the stalls and cloak herself. Went invisible and buried her Force presence. Reaching out though, she had taught Brent how to communicate through the Force.

I will stealth past them and draw their attention to the other side of the hallway. Unless you have a better idea.​

[member="Brent Smith"]

 

[Brent Smith]

Certainly if Brent had more Force training he could have used a cheaper, faster acting mind trick, but sadly at this point all he had were bribes, threats, and promises. There was no doubt that he could certainly use tips in that department.

"I'm an assassin not a seducer!"

“Could have fooled me,” he said with a smirk. Then he became a little more serious, “I have full faith in you. I know you can think of something creatively. I just need to get to that door panel long enough to slice in.”

He gave her hand a comforting squeeze. He had meant every word. Ra wasn’t just more skilled in the Force than him, she was at least his equal in the skills of espionage. Her creativity made her more than just a composition of skills, but someone who knew how and when to use them to their best purpose. He let her step away and felt along the inner pocket of his Shadowzal, prepping a splicing chip to plug into the door’s panel and quickly get in. He got her message and gave her a subtle nod, he stretched out as best he could, concentrating on her presence. In this hazy, thick club filled with noise it was all but impossible for him to focus or center himself. Alright. I trust you.

Trust. He didn’t even realize he had trusted her at this point. But he had all the marks of trusting her by now. She knew of his family, his greatest weakness. She knew of him as a person, his extreme sensory skills and that they could be deeply exploited. She knew how to hurt him if she wanted to. They had intense passion together, and intense chemistry. The last time he had trusted a woman had resulted in nothing but pain for him. She had left him, and he was still paying her medical bills. Brent let out a sigh and repeated the words to himself, “I trust you.”

When Ra made her move, Brent slipped from the edge of the crowd into the otherwise empty hall. He plugged the chip into the door console. There was a quick spark as the chip did its work, then the door opened without a hitch. It closed behind him. The room was completely dark, and infuriatingly quiet. Brent’s ears, eyes, and nose were still recovering from the previous room, but he could smell four distinct beings in this room.

“We’ve been waiting a long time for you, Brent,” said a deep voice. “You’ve taken the long route but you finally have found your way home.”

Brent’s hand went inside his trenchcoat, reaching for one of his pistols. As he gripped the cold durasteel, a stun round knocked him flat. A tremor of surprise would fling out through the force towards Ra, then nothing.

 

[Riamah]

She had successfully distracted the guards that had been at the door and incapacitated them. They would wake up eventually, but not until she and Brent had found what they were after hopefully. As she lowered the second form down and moved out of the room where she had put them, closing the door behind her and messing up the opening mechanism so they couldn't just walk out, she felt the surprise of Brent. Then nothing, he was still alive, but that was all she felt.

Knowing which door he had gone into and the lock already being sliced she would be able enter easily. However, whoever was inside had got him by surprise so it was possible they were expecting more. Cloaking herself again and got invisible, she approached the door from the rear of the hallway.

Listening, there was the sound of a body being moved away from the door. Ra could only assume it was Brent's. If she opened the door, invisible or not, they would know somebody was there, possibly firing randomly to get her. One of the most useful skills she knew was that of the barrier. It could be used defensively or offensively. It would also take a few blaster hits and she knew it would be perfect to use and get her inside that room. From there she could take care of the others in there and get Brent out.

Placing that barrier around her. Ra tucked down low, hit the door panel and slid inside. It was no longer dark in the room, two men looked up but were clearly confused since they couldn't see that anybody had actually entered. The two others were trussing Brent up like a stuffed pig and tying his feet and hands together.

Being low to the ground as she came in, gave her access to her boot knives. Many people that could use the Force relied only weapons like sabers or their own skills. Not Ra though, having had these knives many years, she had never parted with them. Both came out in the blink of an eye and found their targets right between theirs. The two thugs holding Brent fell to the floor. However, her actions had revealed where she was in stealth and the other two reacted as she thought they would.

Both held blasters and fired at her. The barrier held long enough for her to get to her feet and drop the stealth act. Now able to focus on the combat, she reached out with the Force and one of the guns started smoking. The other man, not the one that had been sitting, but standing next to him fell down. No outward sign of anything wrong, he was now lifeless.

As she gripped the Force, Ra held the man still alive and walked over to him. She didn't have the ability to kill with a look like some people did, but if hers could, this man would be dead.

"What do you want with him?"

[member="Brent Smith"]

 

[Brent Smith]

To say the attackers were caught unawares was an understatement. It didn’t take much to bring them down, especially for a woman of Ra’s skillset. When the sole survivor saw that he was the last one alive, he felt no small amount of fear. And when he tried to move but was unable to, his fear only grew. There was only one explanation for what he was in store for, and it was certainly not good. His only hope for survival was to barter with the information he had.

"What do you want with him?"

“We’re lookin’ for the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar. I was hired out by a broker out of Nal Hutta. We were just told to find and bring the crew in. Word was some pale lackey in shades and a black coat had the beat on them. We’ve been tryin’ too get our mits on him to get to them,” he gave a nod to Brent’s half bound form on the ground, “That one matches the guy’s description. We barely missed the Crew here.” He tried to raise his hands in submission and deference, if she would allow him, “Look, its nothin’ personal, I swear. Just a job. We’s gotta make a livin’ same as anybody. After wars, guys like us gots nowhere to go, nothin’ to do but fight for the highest bidder. Please, lady, c’mon, don’t lemme die like this. Not here.”

When Ra decided what she would do with this man, let him live, die, or a fate worse than either of them, Brent could feel himself return to consciousness. His body ached from the stun round that had overloaded his nervous system and sent him into that state. Brent rubbed his eyes and struggled to sit up, “Ugh, damn.” His shades had been knocked from his face in the fight, he squinted as he took in Ra’s handywork. He shook his head, but said nothing. That was part of the job after all. But he could see it in all of its grizzly detail, without the filter that he had come to rely on as a barrier to all the carnage he faced.

“Help me up,” Brent said struggling to his feet. He took a long whiff of the air. “This room smells of three different beings. They were here before these four. We can’t be more than an hour behind. My bet is they’ll be at the private docking bay,” establishments of this rapport always had at least one of those. Brent pulled his blaster pistol from the folds of his trench coat. His body still hurt too much for him to take point on this just yet, “Want to take the lead on this one?”

 

[Riamah]

Giving the man the opportunity to answer, Ra judged his reaction, words and emotions as best she could. As he spoke, attempting to raise his hands and failing due to her hold, she decided he was telling the truth. Holding a hand out, one of her knives flew into it. She caught it and looked at the man as if she was debating using it on him.

"Leave him alone from now on. Am I clear? He is mine."

With the weight of that knife in her hand, she decided to clock him with a punch and attempt to knock him out. Word would move fast, but her message needed to get to others. Brent was off limits. When he woke up, hopefully he would pass along what she meant and they would be free from further trouble.
​
She was leaning over Brent and freeing him from his bonds when he woke up. Giving him a hand to steady him as he sat up and looked around. He remained silent until he asked for a hand up for the most part. Once he was up, as steady as he could be, Brent smelled the air around them and stated a few others had been here before this group.

Accepting what he said with a nod, Ra opened the door for them. Luckily the sounds of the guns and struggle inside had gone unnoticed and the guards were still contained in the other room. Looking at him as the door closed, she would place a hand on the panel he had sliced earlier and zap it with a small amount of electricity. It would prevent people from getting in there easily to see the carnage of three dead and keep that one locked up a little longer.

"I'll take lead, which direction though?"

[member="Brent Smith"]