You Have What I Want

[Xevek Nekonis]

Stood silently outside of one of the many spaceports that were scattered across Nar Shaddaa, covered by the shadows that seemed to stretch across the moon forever, only broken by the flashing neon lights of signs that advertised everything from Dancers to Casinos, Xavka patiently waited. Swathed in a dark robe, almost black in colour, Xavka blended easily into the background, his outline only just visible to those that looked his way rather than hurrying about their business with their eyes facing forwards.

Xavka had come to the scum covered moon for a simple reason. Success and completion of a contract.

Kalor Tech, a company affiliated with the group he served, had suffered the blight of a traitor. A low level employee, a woman of great beauty that was only matched by her greed for wealth above her pay grade, had decided that instead of working hard to earn the luxurious life she desire to instead seduce and charm an employee of greater standing and, more importantly, greater access to company secrets.

Stealing those secrets, the woman had fled as quickly as her traitorous legs could move and had placed an advertisement within the criminal underbelly of the galaxy for the information she now held. Sure enough, someone had bitten at the bait she had set, a male Rodian who lived on Nar Shaddaa.

The woman, now dead to poison, had sent the information to the buyer, who was now also dead due to poison. The information was being held with a datachip that had been hidden within the cheap crystal of a cheap necklace that looked like it was worth more than it actually was. All his data had come from loyal spies who had sliced into a variety of security recording to track the woman's action.

All that was left of the mess to clean up was the recovery of the secrets. Hence, Xavka's presence on Nar Shaddaa. The necklace had been sent before it could be intercepted, couriered by a pilot. A pilot, named Kurt Meyer, who had seemed to follow regulations that time, keeping everything above book, and submitted a fight plan, even noting the spaceport that he would be docking at.

It was outside that spaceport that Xavka waited, anticipating his time to strike. Orders were to recover the information while attempting to terminate the courier to prevent loose ends, however the death of Meyer was a secondary objective and was not to be considered relevant if he managed to escape. The Sith Zabrak eagerly waited for his chance to achieve success and completion of the contract.


[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Xavka Duquo"]

Nar Shaddaa. The guilt ridden, refugee hating, criminal cesspit of the galaxy.

Most people hated this planet, most people thought it was a poor mans Coruscant. Kurt was much of the same mind usually. There wasn't much good to be found on the world, and even less to be found in its underworld. Nar Shaddaa was wholly unpleasant to visit, and even more unpleasant to live on. He had been a part of a few operations on Nar Shaddaa, particularly when the Republic had invaded the world to save a couple of Jedi from the Black Sun. That had been fun, mostly because he had never had to step foot on the world.

Apart from that, most of the time he had come here for a job.

Those jobs had always turned out rather bloody, if only because eventually either bandits or refugees tried to take him down for whatever he was delivering. There was a small hope in him that this time that wouldn't happen, that maybe this time, everything would be okay. It was foolish probably, but lately Kaile had given him a certain sense of optimism about the rest of the galaxy, she did that, infectious little thing. Of course she had been told to stay on the new ship, keep watch and relax a bit.

Hopefully this little trek wouldn't take too long.

Kurt shouldered the backpack in which he had stuck the package he had delivered, hefting its weight before heading out of the starport.

 

[Xevek Nekonis]

A feral smile crossed Xavka's face as a male matching the image of Kurt Meyer exit the spaceport, a backpack on his back. 'Finally. May the hunt begin!' Finally moving, Xavka slipped from where he had been standing, the cowl of his cloak pulled up and covering his face, leaving only the lower half of his face visible.

His unseen, yellow eyes glinting with a vicious light, Xavka leapt onto a nearby rooftop. Keeping within the shadows still, Xavka slipped across the roof with a soundless grace, his eyes still locked onto his target. He was waiting. Waiting for the perfect time to strike, when the least amount of people surrounded his targets. People that could try to attack him or his target and disrupt them, letting the parcel be removed.

A few minuets later the area around Kurt was derived of beings, giving Xavka the best possible time to attack.

Reaching into his robes, Xavka withdrew three throwing needles and chucked them towards Kurt. These needles were not his poison coated ones but his plain one. This was because he was using them as nothing more than a distraction. As soon as he had thrown the needles, he leaped through the air, jumping to the other side of the street and dropping silently to the ground, still hidden in the shadows.


[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Xavka Duquo"]

The needles struck home, though perhaps not their intended target.

They dug into the shoulder strap of his bag, piercing through the thick leather and sticking into Kurt's shoulder about a milimeter. The Pilots eyes popped wide open, surprise pushing on his face as he suddenly turned around and pulled the blaster from his holster. There was no target, no one to shoot, at least not yet, but he couldn't help but feel rather...assaulted. There were needles sticking out of his shoulder, and he was more than willing to bet that whoever threw them didn't have his best interest at heart.

"Alright!" He called out, his voice booming through the alleyway. "Here's the deal. Clearly you think I'm someone you can mess with."

For a moment Kurt trailed off, knowing that he wasn't very threatening. "Let me dissuade you of that notion. You come at me. I shoot you. I don't know how many there are of you, but I know if you take me down, at least one of you is going with me."

That was generally more than enough to ward off most thugs. They wanted easy pickings, not someone who would fight back.

 

[Xevek Nekonis]

Xavka kept silent and perfectly still, waiting for his target to turn his back to him completely. As he waited a new weapon was placed into his hand. This one was longer than the needles as well as being much thicker and having two barbed ends. At the centre of the weapon was a small ring that was slipped over the Zabrak's middle finger. The shaft of the weapon rested along his palm, the barbs sticking out of the sides of his loosely clenched fists. His Emeici was a thing of pride for Xavka, capable of severing tendons and puncturing organs, it was one of his favourite weapons.

As soon as Kurt's back was turned to him, Xavka rushed out on near soundless feet, his body low as his cloak trailed behind him slightly. Once he had gotten close, Xavka slashed at the back of Kurt's right ankle with the Emeici, aiming to server the tendons there.

If the attack hit, Xavka planned to channel the Force through his whole body and jump back into the shadows with a speed that none but those also augmented with the Force could match. He knew that this would strain is muscles, but he had no intention of making this a long fight so he paid the consequence no mind.


[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Xavka Duquo"]

It was a reflection that tipped him off.

Perhaps if the alleyway had been cleaner, perhaps if someone had bothered to actually look over this place that wouldn't have happened. Yet a broken mirror at the end of the alley propped up against the side of a dumpster alerted Kurt of someone coming from his rear. It was a shadowy figure, obscured in the darkness and hidden within rust and muck upon the reflective surface. He gasped slightly, his body twisting in almost an instant.

He was no force user, but he was a pilot.

His reaction times had been some of the top scores ever seen at the flight academy, and years of podracing back on Tatooine meant that Kurt was quick to react to sudden changes. So as soon as he spotted the figure within the reflection he whirled about, his pistol coming up and his body shifting to move away from the figure.

Kurt half fell, but pulled the trigger on his WESTAR-34 three times, aiming directly at the black cloak.

 

[Xevek Nekonis]

A growl rang out into the quiet of the alleyway as Xavka was forced to abort his attack as Kurt span away from him and fired his firearm at him three times. Throwing himself to the side, Xavka let all of the shots hit along his cloak where it billowed out from the fast movement.

Settling where he stood, crouched over so that his cloak fell around him and obscured his form from view, Xavka made the quick decision to not retreat back into the shadows. What ever advantage that had once held no longer existed as he had been seem and, now, Kurt Meyer would be able to follow him. This meant the lack of surprise in attacks, this meant that it would be a waste of energy.

Chuckling darkly, Xavka stared at Kurt intensely, his yellow eyes staring out of the darkness of the hood. "Very good little mouse." Despite his mocking tone, Xavka was impressed with his prey. His experienced eye and senses had picked up no use of the Force to enhance reaction time and movement speed. That meant that the speed at which Kurt had moved had been from practice and skill.

Still chuckling, Xavka through his arm out, releasing six throwing needles at the man before him after replacing his Emeici. Instead of the plain needles he had thrown before, these ones were topped with a paralytic poison, a poison that caught the feint light that illuminated the alleyway.


[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Xavka Duquo"]

He saw the needles, but barely.

There was a glint that alerted him, a certain shift over the small black needles that caught his eye. His body twisted again, and he tried to get away from the attack. His dodge was more of a stumble than anything else, a clumsy fall to the side that saw him tumble onto the ground. Three of the needles missed outright, two stuck in his backpack, and last hit home. It pierced through his skin and his eyes opened slightly. Surprisingly, there was little pain, and Kurt quickly raised his arm.

"Kark." He uttered the curse, firing three shots before turning away from the dark figure...and bolting.

The Pilot knew that he would never win a straight up fight, knew that any engagement on his part would likely end with death. There was no shame in running from a fight, not when you were this heavily outmatched against a foe that was clearly better and stronger than you were. If they had been flying Starfighters...it might have been a different story, but for now Kurt simply sprinted in the other direction, feeling an odd numbness spreading in his shoulder.

 

[Xevek Nekonis]

Xavka growled in both happiness and frustration, an odd sound to any being but a Zabrak, the only species that could instinctively understand the sounds that were currently being emitted by the one armed Iridonia born Zabrak. His happiness came from the fact that one of his needles had hit home, introducing the poison to Kurt's blood stream. His frustration though was caused by the pain currently originating from his hand.

While Kurt's shots had been wild, that meant that Xavka, for all his training, couldn't predict where they would land correctly. As such, one bolt had caught his hand and while the glove he wore had protected his hand enough that he wouldn't loose it, he could feel the muscles spasm periodically. Cursing sharply in Zabrak, Xavka pushed himself to his feet and leapt to the roof. He would give chase, as eventually the poison would spread enough to completely immobilise Kurt. Xavka could not say how long it would take, the time differed for every being, but unless the poison was purged from the blood stream, it would eventually work.

Sighing as he leapt from shadow to shadow, Xavka spared a quick look to his hand. The lack of precision meant that most of his weapons were not useless and that he would have to drastically improvise. It was already bad enough that he only had one arm, now the only hand he had was compromised. Sighing again, Xavka continued his hunt, using his advanced sense of smell and sensing through the Force to follow Kurt.


[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Xavka Duquo"]

Kurt ran.

He rushed through the alleyway as fast as he possibly could, taking every corner, every path, every single avenue that he could possibly think of to get away from whomever was attacking him. Sweat began to bead on his brow, his skin began to crawl, and slowly he began to notice the numbness growing within his body. His eyes pulled open, his breath pushed at his chest, and suddenly he let himself half drop against one of the walls.

"What the-" Kurt reached back and pressed against his shoulder where the needle had landed, his face contorting as he realized he couldn't feel a thing. "Kark."

His lips turned down into a scowl, his head shaking. "Okay, okay okay okay."

He felt the sensation spread, the numbness reaching out over him as he stood still. His head felt as though it were floating, his eyes drooped slightly. A violent shake of his body and Kurt pressed himself into action. He was on Nar Shaddaa, the planet of skins, stims, and sin. He knew what he had to do. He knew how to get out of this. His eyes scanned the nearby buildings, and then he saw it. Graffiti and covered with wooden planks. A final curse, and Kurt broke into a sprint, rushing towards the building.

 

[Xevek Nekonis]

Xavka grunted as he landed from a jump onto a grimy roof that showed the state of Nar Shaddaa. A city mood covered in blood and muck as much as it was with cantinas, casinos with a strong underworld presence that dealt in bodies, slaves and gladiators, as well as spice of all potencies and other narcotics and deals of the less than legal type. Nar Shaddaa was a moon of grime and dirt and that was why Xavka was lost.

The Force presence of Kurt was relatively small and, despite his skill in sensing through the Force, Xavka would sometimes loose track of Kurt, forcing him to rely on the scent trail the target left behind as he ran. Now, though, he had lost the trail. Bellow him a trash dump sat innocently, unknowing that it was causing the current strife of a Sith. The strong and foul smell being emitted was blocking Xavka's nose and causing his stomach to churn as bile threatened to rise in his throat.

The obstacle that created greatly frustrated Xavka as, before heKut's nger, proving that he was closing the gap between them, however, now that gap would grow again as he had no idea as to how long it would take him to return to the chase.

Growling, Xavka dropped to the street bellow, even as the increased smell due to proximity increased the turning of his stomach. Turning around in a slow circle, Xavka, looking fro some clue as to which side of the dividing alley his target had taken. It took him a few minuets due to the smell getting to him, but eventually he noticed a marker on which to follow and leapt back onto the roof tops again, back on Kurt's trail.

A minuet later, the scent trail retuned and Xavka doubled down on his pace, eventually managing to catch sight of Kurt, a few hundred meters ahead of him entering a graffiti covered and boarded up building. A growl of content escaped Xavka at the sight he being glad that the job would soon be over.


[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Xavka Duquo"]

His chest heaved, his brow beaded with sweat, and his grip on the pistol began to loosen. He could feel the paralytic do its work, he could feel himself slowing down. His head began to swim, his eyes became heavy and lidded. Kurt knew that he didn't have long, knew that if he was going to do something, it would have to be within the next few minutes.

That was why he burst into the run down building, his blaster already up and his voice booming. "Nobody move!"

As it turned out, no one was capable of moving.

The building that he had rushed into was a spice den, a collective hovel for addicts and drugs. There were about half a dozen people inside this one, most of them laying around on couches or sofa's. All of them seemed to be passed out, likely sleeping off the latest round of drug taking. On the table in the center of the room was a collection of different spices and a few unused stims that seemed to have been piled into place. Kurt looked at them wearily, then around the room, then at his own shoulder.

"Kark it." He said and took a few step forward. "Can't complain if I don't live."

The pilot scooped up a handful of stims, three injectors that had been unused. His other hand dropped the pistol and pulled down his shirt where he had been stabbed by the needle, removing the backpack strap and clearing away the skin. He closed his eyes and jabbed himself in the shoulder with the three stims, marking over where the needle had entered his flesh. His eyes burst open and a tick ran through his entire body as the drugs almost immediately took effect, purging through his blood and causing his heart to beat faster and faster. His breaths shortened, his chest beginning to spasm. He let out a deep breath, then bent down and inhaled a massive line of spice.

Almost immediately his entire body began to shake, his eyes popping open, his pupils dilating, and his muscles seemingly beginning to grow and seize at the same time. Veins began to pop out across his skin, his eyes becoming bloodshot almost immediately. The feeling of numbness completely disappeared from his body, and instead he was left with an overbearing feeling that he needed to do things.

The world around him seemed to slow, and for a moment, Kurt wondered if he had made the right decision.