Past Debts: Payment Tendered [Complete]

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

She sat in her gilded cage impatiently, tail flicking back and forth. Its tufted end tickled the smooth light cocoa skin of her arm. Kal Olorin had finally come through, securing a -

There was a light scratching sound in the walls. Sasseeri's ears swiveled around and she smiled. jI wonderrr what Tearrr wjill do when he fjinds out he's got a sajoi jinfestatjion jin the walls.

Anyway. The terrorist Lilaena De'Ville had been located. Sort of. The Grand Inquisitor Tear (not to be confused with the Grand Inquisitor Valten, and it was confusing) was coming to visit her so she could tell him the good news.

Such as it was. Sasseeri needed to get out of her prison on his Star Destroyer, comfy though it might be. And she needed to get back to Coruscant and her business dealings. There were plenty of new deals to make, now that Tear had given her insider information.

[Tear]

On board the Star Destroyer 'Faceless'

Black and polished, Tear's shoes shined like the business man he had dressed to imitate. But even his white suit, made from the wool of an extremely rare albino Surepp, couldn't hide the sinister creature that wrapped himself in the trappings of a civilized man. In one hand Tear carried a large black box, held by a black handle, its side were worn and scuffed. In the other hand he held a smaller box, shiny and new, able to fit within his very palm. The rhythmic clicks of his shoes came to a stop at Sasseeri's door.

"Open." Voice authorization acknowledged.

The locks on the doors whirred back and with the clunk of metal sliding back, Tear entered the room. Sasseeri was sitting several feet from the door. No doubt waiting for his arrival. The Inquisitor paused in silence, giving Reeouurra a look of indifference, a far cry from the gentlemen he had portrayed at his dinner event. On a nearby table, he twisted about to set both boxes onto its surface then turned back to the half breed.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Tear entered, set some things down on the table, and then looked at her. She didn't bother getting up. "jI have found the woman you arrre lookjing forrr. Mostly."

Before he could ask her what 'mostly' meant, she added, "My people uncoverrred a comm numberrr that she has used rrrecently. jIt jis stjill actjive. Also she majintajins a drrropbox on Rrryloth underrr an assumed name, but she has not vjisjited jit sjince we found jit."

[Tear]

Mostly.

Tear's features kept the stern look of indifference in the face of Sasseeri's 'news', If it could be called that. Her Cizerack half was clearly enjoying the teasing prospects of dangling the information like a mouse with its tail caught between a cat's teeth, right in front of his face. Perhaps she had, in her languishing stay, forgotten who she was being kept by. The room despite its posh luster was for all intents a room of no privacy.

The half breed was kept under constant surveillance, from camera's recording her every tail twitching movement, to microphones sensitive enough to record her every mewling sound. From the electronics at Reeouurras hands even her communications were all traced and bugged, if they couldn't be hacked, her keyboard recorded each key stroke and the microphones picked up any audio queues they missed. Even down to her very luxurious and appetizing meals, injected with nano probes meant to analyze and record everything from emotional state to biologic status. Everything that was within, came or went, from Sasseeri's room was in some way weighed, measured and recorded.

To assume the Grand Inquisitor did not know what she did since her incarceration would have been naive. Then again, Tear was not without a sense of humor and he did so love to dance.

"Ryloth?" Tear feigned interest turning his back to the saucy cizerack. His hands moved over the large black case he had earlier placed onto the table. Two simultaneous clicks echoed off the singing Dal'nir crystal above them. Once opened he reached one hand slowly into the case and removed a syringe, then gently placed it down between the two boxes."I'll make a point to visit it."

Tear turned again to face her. A pair of black gloves in his grasp. "Where is she?"

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

She raised an eyebrow, not quite as perfectly plucked as usual. "Perrrhaps jI wasn't clearrr. The woman you arrre seekjing jis a ghost." She chose to ignore the ominous signs of the syringe and the gloves that Tear hadn't put on yet. Sasseeri didn't scare easily, though she had a healthy respect for the danger she was in, and had been in every day she was a 'guest' of the almost certainly insane Grand Inquisitor.

"A ghost that leaves ljittle trrrace of herrrself. Whjich jis why you 'jinvjited' me herrre jin the fjirrrst place." Her ears laid back a bit, a display of her displeasure. "We don't know wherrre she jis. But jI have a good jidea wherrre she wjill be."

[Tear]

Tear sneered, toothy and vicious, a look that could inspire even the most pure blooded Cizerack. He slid the gloves snugly over each hand, entwining his fingers to settle the tight leather into place, then once again, turned his back to Sasseeri. The glass barrel of the syringe dragged across the table surface sounding just a little louder then it rightfully should. The Inquisitor held the syringe against the light, his thumb easing the plunger forward, while his other hand gave the needle hub a gentle flick, forcing out any air.

"Sasseeri."

Tear moved in front of the half breed. Slowly lowering himself into a kneeling position at her feet. Eyes of molten gold looking up at her with a practiced face of apathy. "Please, give me your hand."

Several decks above the resident ensign on shift to monitor the Vigo's bio readings leaned forward at his console. His fingers tapping down the time of the anomalous reading.

- 1900 hours. Subject heart rate has increased significantly -

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Living for a few weeks as a captive, albeit a well kept captive, had not frayed Sasseeri's nerves completely, but she couldn't help her hesitation. "jI am gjivjing you what you want."

She was almost more afraid of what would happen to her if she refused to put her hand out than about what was in the syringe. The urge to simply divulge everything about everything to Tear was great, but other than a slight facial twitch Sasseeri managed to keep herself under control. After only a few seconds, she lifted her hand off her lap and held it out.

jIf anythjing happens to me... She left the threat unsaid. He would only laugh at her.

[Tear]

"jI am gjivjing you what you want."

Tear took a slow deep breath in and held it. His eyes lingering on Sasseeri's even though her hand was held gifted out toward him, just like he had asked. His eerie silence was contagious, giving the room an air of stillness with only the checked breathes of Sasseeri to break the building tension. And still his eyes, deep and burning, stared at her, searching. Finally he released a long reluctant sigh out through his nose, his jaw clenching tightly as he reached up to delicately hold Sasseeri by the wrist. In his other hand he raised the syringe into clear view.

"Yes." He replied finally, his voice soft and almost mournful. "You are." Tear pressed his lips together, a flash of his pink tongue wetting them, he then leaned forward and planted a warm kiss on the underside of Sasseeri forearm just beneath her wrist. The spot on her skin were Tears lips smoothly came away was left moist, the still air settling over it caused goose bumps to pimple up along her arm. The Cizeracks tail whipped back and forth agitatedly, a precursor to Sasseeri parting her own lips in order to find an answer to the confusing scene, but she wouldn't get the chance. Her voice caught in her throat, her breathing fluttering suddenly as her buddy shuddered under the sting of the needle piercing through her skin. To Tear's credit it, the moment was over just as fast as it had occurred.

The Inquisitor stood, then turned and walked back to the table, setting down the now empty syringe.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri grabbed her arm back, cradling the violated flesh to her chest. There were any number of unpleasant drugs that he could have just injected her with. OV600, Skirtopanol, Lotiramine... Black Hole.

And then there were the pleasant substances. A-Vrassa. Any variety of hypnocane, and/or all the illegal spices that if used incorrectly could scramble her brain and make her a blubbering vegetable.

She tracked his every move, mentally going over her symptoms and discovering that she had none. Not yet, she thought grimly. Sasseeri turned her mind to more pleasant things, like how very much she would enjoy seeing Tear in the middle of a feeding pit in the Carshoulis Cluster.

[Tear]

"Sasseeri." Tear turned once again to face her. He pulled back his sleeve revealing a small watch fastened around his wrist. Untying it, he tossed the watch toward the still sitting Vigo.

"In about two minutes you will begin to feel a sensation. Once this happens you will be..." The Inquisitor paused, sucking back on his bottom lip as if to chew the most appropriate word from it. "unavailable to answer some questions I have. So bare in mind you don't have time to dance about lies."

"How many people have you told about my existence?"

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

The wrist chrono landed on the bed beside her, and she slanted her blue eyes towards it, noting the time. How many people had she told? Her bodyguard knew. If he was still alive. She hadn't seen the tall white skinned Twi'lek since she'd been... welcomed here. She certainly hadn't told Tick, but she had talked to Vigo Olorin several times.

"One. Though you djid not specjify that jI was not to." She raised an eyebrow.

[Tear]

"I didn't think it was necessary to spell things out for such an intelligent woman as yourself." Tear folded his arms across his chest. "I hope for your sake that my name has not traveled beyond your man. If my existence suddenly becomes fact to the galaxy I will know who has caused it and I will not be pleased."

The Inquisitor paused, casually running down the seconds until Sasseeri's time would be up. "What can you tell me about the Carshoulis sector, the Cizerack and your relationship with them?"

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Shot up with unknown drugs or no, Sasseeri wasn't about to let Tear's abrupt change of subject derail her. "Well, jI am half Cjizerrrack. So my rrrelatjionshjip wjith Carrrshouljis jis strrrajined, at best. Most half brrreeds arrre aborrrted or kjilled when they arrre jinfants, jif they arrre unlucky enough to be borrrn jinsjide the Clusterrr."

She caught herself rubbing the injection point on her arm, and slowly stopped. "The Clusterrr jis jinsularrr and the only use they have forrr the rrrest of the galaxy and those jin jit arrre crrredjits. Otherrr than Carrrshouljis Prrrjime, most of the planets jin the Clusterrr arrre rrrurrral and coverrred wjith farrrms. Grrrajin jis the majin exporrrt... they don't call jit the brrreadbasket of the galaxy forrr nothjing.

"The Cjizerrrack people arrre matrrrjiarrrcal and xenophobjic. To a pojint. Most of the successful bujisnesswomen arrre ljiberrral enough to accept crrredjits frrrom any sourrrce. But jif you arrren't Cjizerrrack and you wanderrr arrround wjithout an escorrrt or an jinvjitatjion you'rrre ljikely to end up jin a feedjing pjit, or collarrred as some female's manserrrvant."

[Tear]

Sasseeri seemed to be oddly disconnected when she began to profile the Cizerack. Even when referring to her strained relationship with them and how they generally aborted half breeds. Did she genuinely have no bond with them? Or was she more attached to her human side? Or perhaps it was just the practiced face of indifference the Vigo could slip on at a moments notice?

"Interesting," Tear mused openly, thumbing the thin line of stubble that had grown along his jawline and chin. "Do you still hold any interest on the Cizerack worlds? Family or duty? Or is the latter even possible with your status of a half breed?"

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

"Draa'guurra'naatarr," Sasseeri replied. "My casjino on Carshouljis Prrrjime. jI do not go therrre - jit jis managed entjirrrely by suborrrdjinates."

She sniffed, "My motherrr was a human serrrvant jin the Meorrrei household. My fatherrr went to herrr durrrjing hjis Kree-Arr, and jI was the mjistake that followed. jIf jI had rrremajined therrre jI could have become a serrrvant to the household as my motherrr was."

Sasseeri lifted her blue eyes and met his unnerving red ones. "The only bejing lowerrr than a half-brrreed jis a non-Cjizerrrack. jIt jis not unhearrrd of, even jin these so-called 'enljightened' days, for sentjient aljiens to fjind themselves jin a famjily's feedjing pjit. Thejirrr name for aljiens jis forrda, whjich jis trrranslated as 'food.'"

[Tear]

"Feeding pits." Tear whispered, sliding from his seated position on the tables edge. He started toward Sasseeri. His foot steps slow, and deliberately placed in a single creeping line, one after the other.

A flick of his eyes as he glanced toward the chrono laying next to her on the bed, taking note of the time she had left. "The taste of flesh." His last step stopped him at at her pointed toes. "Tell me Sasseeri, what is the worst decision you have ever made?"

Tear leaned down onto his knees so his eyes were level with her blue ones. "Strip away any emotion that might cloud your answer. Reach back as far as you can remember then tell me truthfully, what has the option of choice cost you?"

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Gettjing jin the shuttle to come herrre. Sasseeri closed her eyes for a moment, miming that she was thinking and considering his question thoughtfully. What a frrrelljing nutjob. And to thjink that jI thought that a trrjip to meet wjith hjim would just take a few hourrrs. jI've been herrre for weeks!

"That's easy. jI put a grrreat deal of money jinto a 'surrre thjing' bet on Tatoojine on a pod rrrace ten yearrrs ago. Lost jit all. jIf not forrr that jI would prrrobably have been able to step rrrjight jinto Xjizorrr's shoes afterrr he djied, jinstead of bejing forrrced to spjit the orrrganjizatjion." She looked slightly upwards, pondering. "Yes, jif jI hadn't lost those crrredjits jI could have jojined the company wjith grrreaterrr assets. Been morrre powerrrful soonerrr."

[Tear]

"You entire life has lead you to this moment and your biggest regret is a miscalculated pod race?" The answer had surprised the Inquisitor. He knew Sasseeri was a criminal. He knew she was shallow. But an entire life hinged on missed credits? Somehow he figured Sasseeri to have a more eventful interesting life wrought with heart breaking choices but apparently she was just exactly who she appeared to be, simple.

"I'm going to give you a choice. Another one Sasseeri. This one is special because what comes after it is entirely up to you." Tear stayed bent over, taking one hand off his knee and pointing to the table behind him. "There are your choices."

"They're both boxes. One is bigger, the other is smaller. One is old," Tear held the last syllable making him sound elderly, "the other is new. Their contrasts make up the vastly different ending you will have when you've picked, one or the other."

"Both fulfill my promises to you and both will change your life."

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri bristled at his words, ignoring the last part and focusing on the first. "You jinject me wjith an unknown substance, hold me herrre agajinst my wjill and gjive me thjirrrty seconds to come up wjith the bjiggest rrregrrret of my ljife?" She scowled, "jI panjicked. Saanjarrra!"

What was truly her biggest regret? Not that she'd tell this... this... forrrda. He did not deserve to know her innermost secrets. But her treatment of her own mother, when they both still lived on the Meorrrei estate on Carshoulis Prime. Yes... Sasseeri still harbored that secret shame in her heart.

She waved her hand at the boxes at the table. "jI won't play yourrr games any morrre, Tearrr. You exhaust me."

[Tear]

"Calm yourself Sasseeri. Do not concern yourself with the injection. I promised no harm would come to you, didn't I?" However consoling he tried to sound, Tear honestly couldn't remember if he had made the promise, or not.

The taste of her anger, however suppressed she kept it, was like licking the topping off a melting pastry. Delicious.

"You are wrong. This life of yours is all one large amusement park of fateful threads." Tear reached toward Sasseeri plucking at an imaginary thread and pulled. Drawing it out of her like some bad magic trick. "I believe if you started at any one end and followed them through their twisting paths you would always and eventually end up in this moment."

Again, Tear reached behind him, pointing two the two boxes that laid black and plain for her to see.

"I cannot make the choice for you. That would be unfair. Pick one." The lightest hint of annoyance brimmed in his voice. She would play the game. Playing the game meant you stayed alive long enough to win or lose. Not playing always meant one thing and Sasseeri was no quitter.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

"Fjine." Sasseeri took a moment then, contemplating the choice. The larger, handled box was old and looked as though it had taken a beating. The new box was small and shiny. Perhaps the old was to indicate how long she would live, or maybe Tear would have his Inquisitors scuff her up to match it. And if she picked the small box it might tell Tear that her heart was too small, or wrapped up in how things looked as opposed to how things were.

In the end it was no choice at all, like a choice between not living and dying. Sasseeri chose the larger of the two boxes, rubbing the injection point on her arm and wondering when Tear would tire of his games. The madness in his eyes told her never.

[Tear]

Tears cold demeanor changed little when Sasseeri pointed to the larger box. His eyes following the point of her finger, lingering on the box for a moment and then, without moving, his eyes flicked back to hers.

"Wrong one." With several slow steps back the former Grand Inquisitor placed a hand on top of the worn leather casing. The sound of his skin sliding against it's surface like the scales of a snake, coiling around sandpaper. A flick of his wrist and he opened it, then tipped the box over and several glints of metal fell from its belly. It was his interrogation kit. Something he had been carrying with him for a very long time.

"Your choice, not mine." The watch in Sasseeri's lap beeped. Her time had run out. It was alarmingly instant, the sensation that built up from her toes, thighs, stomach, and up through her chest to her limbs ending in her finger tips. She could even feel it in her cheeks and ears. Quickly looking to her hands for any clue to what was happening. It felt like tiny fireworks beneath her skin. It was warm, tingling, and like a tide that continued to build over her body, it brought waves of ecstasy with each lapping breath. Her body shivered in pleasure, her toes curling and her arms bending as she fell back into a fetal position on the bed.

Even though her dilating eyes explored the wonders of the now suddenly dazzling ceiling lights, the Cizerack caught the hint of movement at her peripherals. She tried to track Tear's body as it shimmered unnaturally across the room. The Vigo wasn't sure if it was the drugs doing or some trick, but his body seemed to stop and start in time, moving faster at some points while slowing at others. His dark form stepped up onto the bed and then in an instant seemingly blinked out of existence. Only to reappear right in front of her with the glint of a scalpel's edge at the corner of her eye.

"Do you believe in god?" He asked calmly. While delicately drawing the bladed instrument across her cheek leaving a faint white line that gradually filled with red. "If you do, you might be able to blame this on him, or her. That this fate wasn't in your control at all. That your hand was guided by something...all knowing."

Sasseeri squirmed beneath his body but it wasn't to free herself. The Vigo was mewling in pleasure, even the cut had felt delicious, though she knew it shouldn't. Tear only smiled, leaned low, and slowly licked the blood off her cheek.

"It's not really fair. Is it?" Tear asked, to which Sasseeri only nodded. Her mind lost between the boarders of bliss and the depths of unconsciousness. "When it all comes to end because of one. Bad. Choice." He put the flat of the blade to her lips. "Do not betray me Sasseeri Reeouurra. Do not make that choice. This will be your only warning."

Sasseeri flinched, a small sting to her thigh. It was stinging, the sharp contrast of pleasure to pain washing away the euphoria, sobering the half breed almost instantly. Tear stepped back, a small needle half-hidden in his other hand.

"You may feel a powerful need to throw up." On queue, the Vigo twisted over the side of the bed and emptied her stomach in several gut wrenching heaves. When it was over a light film of cold sweat beaded over her body. Leaving her feeling sickly and shivering. However the blinding bliss that had wrapped itself around her brain had faded, leaving her clear headed once more.

"I have a proposition for you. Several actually. The first," Tear turned about swiping the smaller box from the table and tossing it onto the bed. Inside were several small capsules filled with a turquoise liquid. "Inside that box are several capsules containing the drug I injected you with. It's something I've created. It stimulates every nerve ending in your body before triggering a constant stream of Opioid peptides that overwhelm the users receptors giving them a feeling of...rapture."

Tear turned his back once more to the Black Sun Vigo and gathered his tools into his old case.

"I want you to sell it. Place on it whatever price you wish but make sure it sells. You of course will receive a very healthy cut of the profits." He felt his own cheek where he had cut into Sasseeri's flesh. "And I will handle the synthesis and production. What do you say?"

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri shuddered, wiping her mouth and finding blood on her hand from the cut on her cheek. It was starting to sting. "Rrrapturrre."

He was insane. But that stuff... sentients would queue for miles for a taste of that bliss. And do anything to taste it again. The Vigo could see the credits piling up already.

"jI would neverrr betrrray you," she said flatly, already calculating what price the market might uphold for this Rapture. "Black Sun would be happy to djistrrrjibute jit."

[Tear]

She thinks it was a request. Tear let a curling smile form at the thought. "Good."

"There is something else I wanted to discuss with you as well." The sudden snap of the interrogation kit being locked bit into the air. The Inquisitor glanced over his shoulder catching the bed settling from what must have been a flinch from Sasseeri.

"The creation of a monopoly. It's my understanding that there is a branch, or a splinter group, a rival of yours called Black Nebula. I think it's time we consolidated both groups, don't you think?"

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri's lip curled almost involuntarily at the mention of Black Nebula. "Consoljidate? jI'd rrratherrr see them destrrroyed."

She tilted her head to the side a bit, "But brrrought back to the fold... jit has a cerrrtajin appeal." She raised an eyebrow. "What djid you have jin mjind?"

[Tear]

"No Sasseeri. It's not what I've got in mind." Tear turned around. This time, instead of a needle, he held a clear glass of water. He took a small sip to show the Black Sun Vigo it wasn't spiked then held it out for her to take. "It's what you want. Consider this one benefit of many to come."

Sasseeri was tentative to take the glass of water. She was thirsty, her throat felt sore and somewhat swollen. The taste of bile still stuck to the roof of her mouth. With an agitated flick of her tail she reluctantly took the glass and sipped. It tasted fine.

Tear's face remained neutral, pausing briefly to let the half breed enjoy the small solace.

"Give them an ultimatum. Make them a deal. Be as pleasant as a death stick or as harsh as a Squill's scream. Either way you let them know Black Nebula will not survive a war with you. If they wish to test that theory. You pick an example to be made." In the Inquisitors other hand was a Nerf hide towel. He held it up. "And I will make it for you."

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Her eyes glittered over the edge of the water glass, and she brought it down to hold it between both hands in her lap. "And as a rrresult? jI sell jyourrr new spjice and jyou prrrovjide thjis... leverrrage..."

Sasseeri took another sip of water, her mind straying back to the Rapture. She was in deep, and Tear thought that he was buttoning her into his pocket. He was, too. But she would get out - get away from his influence - if it was the last thing she did.

First, however, there was a lot of credits to be made. "jI thjink thjis wjill worrrk out verrry well."

Rapture was a long name though - maybe bliss would be better for selling on the street.

[Tear]

"Good." Tear dropped the nerf hide towel next to Sasseeri's thigh. "When you are ready there are men outside your door who will escort you to a shuttle. That shuttle will take you wherever you wish."

The former Inquisitor turned away, once again, retrieving his tools from the table and sorting everything back into place until all the remained was the small sample of drugs and a black suitcase in his hand.

"I will be in touch Sasseeri." And with that Tear turned and left the room. Leaving the half breed Cizerack with half a cup of water and a full head of thoughts.