Counterforce: Myrkyr

[Sanis Prent]

(The Freighter Nyen's Gambit was leased out to the Sector Rangers for various company deliveries. It wasn't the Layla, but it did its job. Simply a workhorse, plying the space lanes on various and unending shipping jobs.

I reclined in a chair in the passenger's compartment, watching the starlines streak past. We'd be heading to Myrkyr to do business with the closest thing to competition this side of Coruscant: Trioptimum. I didn't care who it was that I dealt with, as long as they had what I was looking for. Of course, Sasseeri might be more hot and bothered than a boiling-over pressure cooker to know that I outsourced to her competition. There were worse crimes in the world, like me not keeping up with the joneses. I drummed my fingers on the armwrests...and waited for the flight to end. Soon, we'd be down to business. The pricetag wouldn't be cheap, but I knew exactly what I was shopping for.)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville walked the streets of the small town, and saw a ship coming into the spaceport. It was unusual enough that she took notice of the occurance.

After Jax had been born, she had brought him here to Myrkyr for a few weeks. Until she could decide where she wanted to raise him. The Sith Order had finally gotten word of where she was after his birth, and Isard hadn't been doing anything but make life miserable. The Black Hand was secretive, but she didn't want anyone tracing her back to there.

Of course, Cloak was part of both groups, as was Darkserpent. De'Ville scowled and rubbed her forehead. Neither had bothered to explain anything to her either.

She walked into a dusty bar, and ordered a vodka shot. It was great to be able to drink again. Little Jax was in her room with the modified nanny droid, and would be fine for the next few hours. De'Ville rubbed the end of her nose. It was hard to live here without the Force, but doable. As long as it wasn't permanent.

[Sanis Prent]

Bang. You're dead, Lilaena De'Ville.

(I let the words linger in the lonely bar, watching the lady's ebony eyes dart to the business end of my weapon. I smirked through a haze of glitterstim smoke. In a pragmatic sense, she had nothing to worry about from my extended index finger and outstretched thumb. It was a gun only in name. But underneath that pretty, glossy surface lay the cold and ugly truth.

She was dead.

Or at least...only alive because I wasn't ready for her to be otherwise. Even if her reflexes and powers weren't dampened by the ysalimir on the planet, I still had enough neurotoxin-laden nanites in her system to keep the solution far from in doubt. It was as wholly damning as if she were hanging by marionette wires.

I ran a hand through my hair, flashing a reassuring smile to her...pure honey. She had nothing to worry about, but it never hurt to remind her that she was a yellow canary, and smack in the catbird seat. It was the ace in my hand that I never dealt out.

I took a seat, ordering a bourbon and namana, glancing ponderously in her direction.)

Miss De'Ville...I wasn't expecting to see you for another...well, lets just say, our meeting is early.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena scowled unpleasantly at Prent, and downed her shot, slamming the glass face down on the bar. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and turned to him, straddling her bar stool. "Didn't expect to see you here either." I was hoping for 'never again' but with my luck this just figures. De'Ville hated him with every fiber of her being. He was just lucky she hadn't gotten all of the nanites out of her system yet. She had been able to remove a few hundred while she had been sequestered at the Black Hand during her pregnancy.

But that was a drop in the bucket. As far as she knew, even one nanite left in her system could kill her. And that left her under his thumb. Or, rather, their thumbs. Prent, and the one who had hired him. She was beginning to doubt that there had been another. It was simply to convinent for Prent to have her as his personal Sith slave...and this mysterious third party never showed. Which was good for her, because that meant she was still alive.

If nothing else, it lent a little more excitement to her life. "Hiding from your feline mistress again?" She knew how much he hated Sasseeri being brought up. Which is why she brought her up.

[Sanis Prent]

(I winced, and she dashed salt in a particuarly rancid wound. So Sasseeri Reeouurra was the bane of my existence. We were coming to an understanding of sorts.)

Seems were both hiding from somebody...although I prefer to consider my personal predicament one of "outsourcing". Judging by the nature of this particular resort, I'd say you're laying low from a gaggle of force users.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville waved for a tequila shot, and favored Prent with a venemous glare. I wonder how quickly I could cut his throat? She was fast, even without the Force, but she had no idea how long it would take him to utter the phrase that would kill her. It was too much to risk. But she thought about it every day.

Salting her wrist, and sucking on a lime slice, she took her second shot, and gasped as she set the glass down. "Judging from our current relationship, I'd say its none of your frelling business." She smiled sweetly at him, her true emotions making it a deadly expression.

[Sanis Prent]

(I grinned, shrugging off the venom in her words. Sticks and stones, after all. She was all bark, and I was the guy who took out her bite.)

Ah, no matter. Don't get your hopes up. I didn't come to this frelling dirt clod to meet with you...

(I downed half my glass)

...though I admit, you really are a little ray of sunshine.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena licked her lips, and scowled again. She didn't have the patience to deal with Prent right now, and doing something reckless would probably end up leaving Jax Ivanrue motherless. "I try my best, Prent, don't push me."

She pushed the lime peel down into the shot glass and mashed it. "So, why are you here? Meeting with a contract?" De'Ville leaned her elbows on the bar, and waved the bartender over. She needed some water.

[Sanis Prent]

Why does anybody come to this godforsaken womprat hole in the first place?

(No sense beating around the bush...the blatant truth of the matter was in everything on Myrkyr...it permeated the planet, like a grease-soaked rag)

I'm taking the time to become a wildlife connoisseur.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

So Prent was here to get either yslamiri...or vornskyrs. De'Ville got her water from the 'tender, and kept her thoughts to herself. Either one of the two most famous wildlife from Myrkyr, or perhaps one of the lesser known species. Whichever it was, it didn't bode well for Force users. Prent was notorious for finding a way to take down his contracts... she had even heard rumor that one of the secretive Coven, Saurron himself, had been given a run for his money.

Lilaena had never heard anything to substantiate it to more than just a rumor, although rumors were often more true than one supposed. She sipped her water, and cleared her throat.

"TriOptium then, I suppose? Karrde is usually around here someplace, although I haven't taken the time to track him down yet. Their headquarters aren't far, although heavily guarded." She idly stirred the ice with her pinky and licked off the droplets. "I could show you where they are..." De'Ville looked up at Prent from underneath her dark lashes.

[Sanis Prent]

(For a cup of vinegar, she'd suddenly gotten sweet as sugar. Made me wonder why...and what she wanted in return.)

Alright. Sounds good.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She tucked a longer strand of hair behind an ear, and raised an eyebrow. "Whenever you want to go treking, let me know. I'm sure you can figure out how to contact me." Of course he could, he'd had one of her private comm channels for a long time.

De'Ville scratched her neck, and stood to her feet. "Now, if you'll excuse me..."

[Sanis Prent]

(I quaffed down the rest of my drink. No sense in wasting time.)

Alright...lets go then.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She raised an eyebrow, and nodded, "Very well. Try and keep up." De'Ville exited the bar, and walked straight down the side of the street, heading for the end of town, and the road that stretched out into the jungle. On the other end of the road was another small dusty town with light stone buildings ...much the same as the one they were in now. De'Ville looked up as they passed under a large stone arch, and looked to the right, as if checking her room window.

In reality her rooms were on the other side of town. Little Jax was fine with the modified nanny/assasin droid. The droid would feed him when he was hungry and put him to bed when he needed to sleep. There was nothing to worry about. Except for Prent. And I can handle him. She looked over her shoulder, and saw him walking nonchalantly behind her, taking in the view.

Lilaena knew better than to believe all of his relaxed posing. He was scoping the town, and keeping an eye on her all at the same time. Just as well. Not that it would help him.

She stopped at a greasy garage, and made Prent rent two speeders, while she talked to a mechanic about the weather. Prent frowned as they stood outside waiting for the vehicles to be brought out. Lilaena shrugged, "Weather is going to be fine, but they're expecting a storm tomorrow. Shouldn't affect us unless it comes early. Ah, here we are." The speeders were brought out, hovering over the ground, by the mechanic and his junior assistant.

She vaulted into the seat of the one the assistant stood by, and waited for Prent to get on his speeder. "Shall we? Its a short jaunt down the road, about ten kilometers, and then we have to follow a trail through the jungle. Not far, really." De'Ville gunned her engine, waiting for his reaction.

[Sanis Prent]

(Ten clicks might as well have been ten parsecs. Distance didn't matter to me. Traveling company was a bit peculiar though. A nagging feeling lingered like a scratch on the roof of my mouth. De'Ville had too much baggage to be this chipper. I'd played sabacc with too many cutthroat bastards to know that a grinner was probably holding a blaster under the table. Not that I expected anything. She knew the score just as I did. But it never hurt to sprinkle in a little paranoia for flavor.

I sidled over to the two speeders, and casually reached under her frame, unplugging the tibanna valve on her speeder's blaster. With a smile and a shrug, I hopped on my bike.)

Ladies first.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville didn't wait for a second opinion, and opened up the throttle on the speeder, tearing out of the garage area and down the street. It was almost amusing the way Prent had sabotaged the valve underneath her speeder for the side mounted blaster. If she hadn't been keeping both eyes on him, she might have missed it entirely. If she had been on any other planet Lilaena would have fixed the problem while they were in motion, and Prent would never have been the wiser.

Myrkyr, however, put a damper on those plans. Quite literally. Not that it mattered anyway, Prent was in no direct danger from the speeder. Not hers, anyway.

She bent over the handlebars, and picked up some more speed as they left the last of the town behind them. The wind whipped through her hair, and adrenaline filled her as she looked over he shoulder. Sanis was still behind her, but was pulling up to her right, drawing even with her speeder. She narrowed her eyes at him, treating him to the evil eye he was familiar with, and returned her attention to her driving.

The turn into the jungle would be coming up soon. De'Ville throttled again, pulling away from Prent, almost subconsciously asserting herself as top dog in this little arrangement. She made a hard left, inserting the speeder between two trees, and ducking a branch, nearly losing Prent in the process. The high density of foilage made speed dangerous, and without the Force, De'Ville couldn't handle as much danger as usual. She deaccellerated a bit, and looked behind to see if Prent was following still.

[Sanis Prent]

(I'd ran spice through the Kessel Run in 12.02 parsecs. Outran Imperial invasion squadrons, New Republic blockade fleets, Cizerack pirate hunters, and the rest. Navigating an asteroid belt at full sublight was only marginally different than slamming a speeder full-out through the jungles of Myrkyr.

But I let De'Ville have her lead. After all, she knew the way. If she wanted a race, she'd have to ask. I had other fish to fry. The sound of full-tilt repulsordrives screamed in my ears like rabid banshees, the sting of humid wind blasted my hair back as I accelerated. The jungle became a kaliedoscope of green, flying past like starfields in a hyperacceleration.

De'Ville increased her lead, and I smirked, letting her accelerate a bit further. Once she was nearly out of sight, I laughed.)

I feel the need...the need...for speed!

(I buried the accelerator, and the flora and fauna of Myrkyr rushed past in a dizzying blur. In no time, I brought myself parallel to De'Ville again.)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville glanced sideways as Prent drew even, the cocky grin on his face telling her more than she needed to know about his attitude. Not that there had ever been any doubt. She ducked a low branch, and kept the pace up, leading Prent further into the jungle.

After a few more minutes, she looked down, gauging the fuel left in her speeder. Near the point of no return. De'Ville let a look of satisfaction cross her face, and she laughed out loud, the wind catching her voice and tossing it behind her. She looked around her, not recognizing a single thing, but imprinting as much as she could into her memories. Prent was foolish to trust me. Lilaena had never been to TriOptium's headquarters. They could be on the other side of the planet for all she knew.

There was a small ticking noise coming from the underside of Prent's speeder, the sound completely lost in the twin whines of the engines. And then the ticking stopped, and a vital connection was suddenly lost as a tiny charge exploded with a pop. Prent lost steering and throttle capabilities, and found himself struggling to keep from hitting a tree.

De'Ville flew ahead slightly as the speeder crashed in a ball of fire and smoke, parking the speeder, and walking back to where the rubble was, a cautious look of concern pasted on her face.

[Sanis Prent]

(As soon as I'd heard the pop, I knew the truth. Sabotage. But she hadn't been around the speeder more than a few seconds. How did she manage it? It took everything I had to keep control and decelerate at the same time...the bike started shaking underneath me like a nasty fault line. I dropped it to 65 kph, and had to bail, jumping off the wounded duck and rolling with the momentum, the fireball of the crashing bike in my peripheral vision.)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena pulled herself over a log, and walked quickly to the crash site. It had been a small matter for her to bribe the mechanic at the small garage. All she had done was engage him in small talk, then when Prent was busy in the office signing papers, she had slipped him the minicharge and a sizeable credit chit, one worth more than he made in a week of greasy work. He was more than willing to assist her, and had placed the charge 'just so.'

It had been connected to the fuel gauge, so that when the indicator reached a certain spot it triggered the tiny device to charge and then blow. De'Ville looked around quickly, thinking that she had seen something, an animal or some other creature. It was just a branch. She walked the last ten feet to the wreck, climbing through very dense foliage. To ensure the silence of the mechanic, De'Ville had already planned his death for when she returned to town. The chit would be recovered, although no price was too high for her freedom.

She reached the flaming wreck and immediately saw that Prent's body was not twisted in with the wreckage. She looked around quickly, scanning the surrounding area, knowing that her life depended on her speed. If he was unconscious, she could still kill him....but only if she found him in time.

Lilaena drew her lightsaber, and ignighted it, slashing though an over hanging branch as she traced back over the speeder bike's flight path, alert and ready for anything.

[Sanis Prent]

(The hum of a lightsaber caught my attention, disoriented as I might be. I drew my twin blasters, keeping my eyes peeled from behind a patch of foliage. Lo and behold, the good Samaritan herself had made it to the crash site, to offer her charitable help. This accident was anything but, and right now, I didn't need to be a Jedi to know that in her mind, she was a bit on the edge of anxious. I wasn't dead or incapacitated, and she could guess I wasn't naive enough to buy the "accident" story.

I stood up, blasters at my hip, with a smirk on my face)

The speeders these days...deathtraps, I tell you.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena saw him just before he stood up, but Prent was too far away to kill quickly enough. She kept her lightsaber in her hand, knowing that without the Force, chances were that a blaster bolt or two would get through her defences. From the self assurred smirk on his face, she knew he knew what she had tried to do. Her blood boiled. Why can't you just die and get it over with?

She stayed where she was, and refused to play his game anymore. She wasn't a frelling lap dog, she was a woman, a Dark Jedi, and not someone people trifled with, as Prent continued to trifle with her.

"Death traps? I should be so lucky. But as I see it, you're just a few klicks too far away from anyone who cares. How will you get back to the road? Its too dangerous to hike on foot, I don't care if you have a blaster or two." She motioned to the burning speeder with her left hand, "And it appears you don't have a bike anymore." De'Ville paused, tracking a movement behind Prent with her eyes.

Too late. Her Force signature had been sensed by the wildlife, and there were at least two vornskyrs closing in from her right, behind Prent.

[Sanis Prent]

Actually, I do.

(I glanced off to the left)

Yours.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville shook her head slowly, and focused her eyes back on Prent, before looking to the right again. Frell. She'd lost the pair of vornskyrs when she had shifted her gaze. Looking back at Prent, she tightened her grip on her saber.

"It may take you too long to find it. Blasters or not, this is not exactly a friendly place." De'Ville thought she heard a rustle in the undergrowth to the left of her. She saw nothing in her peripheral vision, and carefully looked left.

There was nothing there. She turned back to Prent, anger overwhelming the fear she might have felt at one time.

[Sanis Prent]

LOOK OUT!

(A huge dog-like creature burst from the undergrowth, drawing a bead on De'Ville. It was fast as hell, and from the look of things, was ready to take her out. On reflex, I snapped my blasters up, drawing a bead on the creature, and pumping blast after blast into it until it stumbled down on its head, stone dead, 2 meters from De'Ville.

Slowly, I approached the animal, my eyes on the bushes for any others like it. I glanced back at De'Ville, suddenly aware of what she was saying.)

...Yeah, I'm starting to believe you.

Lets go.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville crouched as the beast flew at her, bringing her lightsaber up to strike the vornskyr, but Prent was already shooting it before it reached her. The smoking carcass lay on the ground two meters away, venemous tail twitching in its death throes. She stood to her feet, doubly alert, knowing there was at least one more out there. Probably the mate of the one Prent had slagged.

To Prent's comment, she looked directly at him, and shook her head. "No. I will not go with you." He frowned, and was about to speak when the second snarling beast launched out of the undergrowth behind him. It knocked him down before he knew it was there, and ripped at the back of his leather jacket.

She ran forward and deftly speared the female vornskyr through the rib cage with her saber. Snapping and yelping, the beast's claws ripped at Prent's back, and the tail whipped back and forth. Lilaena heaved, and threw the animal off the man, and stepped over him, swiftly decapitating the beast with her second slice.

De'Ville crouched over Prent's prone body, and saw some blood in the ripped leather. He wasn't badly injured, they just appeared to be minor scratches. She let him get up, and crossed her arms in front of her, saber deactivated but still in her hand.

"The way I see it, you do not want to die out here. And you have information I require."

[Sanis Prent]

(I was shaken but alright. Popping to my feet, I twirled a blaster in my right hand until the barrel rested against De'Ville's chest.)

Are you trying to bargain me down?

(She was holding a hand full of jokers, and they weren't wild in this game. I was rolling everything on her, aces high. And she kept raising the stakes. Bluffing was dangerous, but it was plain stupid when the other guy could see your cards)

Get to the speeder. Now.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She looked down at the blaster between her breasts, and then back at Prent. Keeping her face emotionless, she felt the adrenaline pump into her system even more than it had during the vornskyr attack.

Was Prent bluffing or not? When it came down to it, all of life was a gamble. He held the cards, but perhaps he needed her more than he let her think.

Call the bluff or not? She teetered on the brink of decision, and ended up wallowing in indecision. A moment of silence stretched into almost a minute. Lilaena made her decision.

Raising one eyebrow, she looked fully into Sanis' eyes. "Are you going to shoot me, then?"

[Sanis Prent]

If it comes down to you or me, yeah, I'll shoot you.

(I grabbed her by the arm, heading through the thickets, and toward the last position I remembered her speeder's location)

But I'd rather keep you alive...I wasn't paid to kill you.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She let him drag her through the bushes, and considered thrusting her saber into his rib cage and taking her chances with the verbal command.

As a branch whipped back behind them, she reconsidered. He alone knew who had hired him to poison her. And he kept the secret a little too well for her tastes. She watched him brush some foliage away from his path with the hand holding the blaster, and opened her mouth...

...and then shut it again. She watched silently as the branch whipped back and struck his face, as he grabbed for it again with his gloved hand. Lilaena waited, watching his face for the reaction that was sure to come. He'd just been struck by some pretty nasty vegetation, which would be stinging and swelling up impressively in seconds.

[Sanis Prent]

Agh....aah....frell!

(I shut my left eye...something was stinging like salt in an open wound. Happened when that vine slapped in my face. Stung like fire.)

FRELL!!

(I pulled out my flask, washing bourbon over the shut eye. It was cool, but that was about the only help. The alcohol certainly didn't stop the stinging. I blotted a few times, cursing under my breath. I could feel it getting warm, swelling up. I could barely open it, and I knew that soon it would get swollen shut)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena wrested her arm from his grasp as he shouted, and snapped her lightsaber on, ready to decapitate him. She stopped short, and sighed, switching the damn weapon off. If only he was dead already.

She grabbed his hand to keep him from scratching the pistules on the left side of his face and spreading the plant's affects to his whole face. Taking the back of his head inher other hand, she forced him to his knees. "Hold still, you -" De'Ville didn't finish her comment, instead grabbing the canteen of water off her belt and dousing his left eye with a small amount. "Quit whining. The affects are only temporary."

If only there were a way to pull the information I need out of his mind. She cursed again, grabbing the two blasters away from him and getting ready to toss one of them into the jungle.

[Sanis Prent]

Gah frell, that burns!

(I felt my movement at my chest, and even with my eyes squinted shut, I didn't have to see what was going on. I felt the weight lifted away)

Put em' back. They're worth more than your corpse.

(I gritted my teeth)

Gah!

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She dropped the guns behind her on the ground, and grabbed his neck with her left hand. De'Ville placed the business end of her lightsaber against his temple, and laid her finger on the activation switch.

"I need to know the name of the person who hired you. And I need to know now. I'm not going to play games with you anymore. And if you utter even one more syllable I'll push this button and you won't have to worry about the value of your blasters anymore.

"Write the name in the dirt. You have one good eye, I suggest you use it." Her fingers dug into the skin on the back of his neck.

[Sanis Prent]

(I had to smile at it all. It was so premeditated, and so desperate, and she'd gotten my number. Glancing down, I pressed my finger into the mud.)

S O R S H A

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"Frell that woman!" De'Ville's blood rushed hot in her veins, and she unconsciously tightened her finger on the activation switch. Remembering herself in time, she eased her finger back, and cursed again.

Now that she had a name, her anger ran red hot. Lilaena snatched at the hair on the top of Prent's head, and brought his face down savagely on her knee. The man clung to consciousness as his nose bled, and she hissed, "If I ever find out you've lied..."

De'Ville left the threat open ended, and hit him in the temple with her lightsaber hilt. Prent crumpled to the ground, his face a swollen and bloody mess. She ran to her speeder, lightfooted in her rage.

A minute later the whine of the speeder was dissapating in the distance.

[Sanis Prent]

One Hour Later

(My nose ached. My left eye burned, swollen shut. My entire head throbbed like a ringing brass bell, swelling up and down with an annoying buzz. I felt sick to my stomach...

...but I felt like a winner.

She'd swallowed the bait. If she was obsessed enough to go after me, there was no telling how far she'd go for my employer. She'd hunt Sorsha Kasajian down from one side of the galaxy to the other.

And she'd do it for free. It was the best solution I could have ever thought of. And if she ever got the wiser, I could simply pull the plug. Despite the pain I was in, I laughed....laughed good and long.

My luck was coming back.

Glancing back, I tried to find my fix on where I needed to go. We'd gone a ways into the woods, and I'd lost my bearings.

Reaching into my jacket pocket, I removed a small cyllinder...)

[Marcus v4]

The pink cyllinder came to life upon being removed from the pocket.

Its about time, Sanis. I was beginning to load my dormancy program in a recursive loop. You should really consider having this jacket washed. I detected traces of 7 types of pollen spores, two of which could cause potential allergic reactions to 13.84 percent of people. That is untidy, unhealthy, and unacceptable.

The droid stopped, its optical sensors refocusing.

Oh my. Your face. You seem to have developed an adverse reaction to the local flora and fauna. You should seek medical attention soon. It is a classic sign of a subcutaneously-invasive herbal toxin. Mild irritation, but nothing a cortizone shot and an analgesic cream won't fix...

[Sanis Prent]

(I sighed audibly as the droid module prattled on)

Marcus...

[Marcus v4]

Oh my, and your nose too. Sanis, judging from the inflammation around the general area of the cranial ostial interface, there is a 67.32% chance that you have broken your nose...