In The Service Of: The Hutts Strike Back

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Nal Hutta

"What?!" The globular Hutt on the dias swung his arms in an outraged gesture, knocking the poor protocol droid into a group of Gamorreans. "The great Shadra the Hutt, my parent, was killed in that altercation. And yet the woman that did this was never found?"

"Oh my." The silvery protocol droid was set back on its feet by a helpful, yet slobbery, Gamorrean, and it waved its arms for balance. "The human was called 'De'Ville' and she escaped, with no harm. She has not been back to Hutt space for fifteen years, o Glorious One."

"With good reason, she would have been killed on sight." Yadra the Hutt contemplated the situation as he fished about in his dinner bowl for another nala tree frog. "The bounty on this human's head was never collected, was it."

"Your Excellence is quite correct. It expired five years ago and was not renewed. Some of the older bounties are over looked by new hunters, which might explain the strange absence of - !" The droid eeped, and stood silently as the Hutt glared at it.

"I am quite capable of putting two and two together. So. Hooom. Fifteen years after the fact, and this woman goes free? What of the Ambrelian smuggler who was lost at the same time? My parent was to execute him that day, I cannot believe this is a mere coincidence that her bodyguard would have such exquisite timing." Yadra licked some goo off his tiny fingers, and tugged on the chain attatched to the dias.

The Lorrdian female on the other end squeaked, and hopped onto the dias. She smiled faintly, and settled against his belly, his greenish brown flesh pressing against her. Yadra chuckled. "I will exact revenge for my parent's death. The Ambrelian and the human woman will pay."

"But - but - "

Yadra looked at the sputtering droid with his huge yellow eyes. "You disagree with me?"

The protcol droid managed to look distressed. "No, Lord Yadra, of course not. But it has been fifteen years, I cannot imagine they will be easy to find."

Yadra grunted and motioned his majordormo, the simpering Twi'lek that his parent had employed. "Find them, and bring them to me! I accept no excuses, this travesty against the honor of my house has gone on long enough!"

[Jeseth Cloak]

Nar Shadda, One Week Later

Rain and wind whipped and pounded a small Tydirium class shuttle as it drifted through the murky, smog filled skies of Nar Shadda. From a distance it seemed as if the storm that was raging would knock the ship into the endless abyss below the sky-scrappers. Inside the shuttle Jeseth Cloak looked over from where he sat, his eyes falling upon Lileana De'Ville. She had slept through the last hour of their journey... which for a human being was rather normal, but Jeseth had never become accustom to their excessive sleeping habits.

The winged Dark Jedi ran his hands through his hair, some sweat coming loose onto his hands, and then smearing on the control panel as he brought his fingers to the controls to land the ship. The sudden clang of metal against metal brought De'Ville quickly around, and Jeseth glanced over at her with the same ever-present absence in his eyes. "We've arrived."

Neither of them was sure without a doubt why exactly they had been asked to come, but apparently whoever had sent the messages to them was of some importance, as it was broadcasted to them over one of the most secure channels of the holonet... Jeseth hadn't been on Nar Shadda for a few months, and as soon as he took his first few steps down the loading ramp and took a breath, he remembered why. The place smelled grossly of aliens. Humans didn't smell terrible. They were tolerable and for the most part had a sense of hygiene. Gamorreans, however, were putrid. Nar Shadda reeked of them.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville roused herself, stretching her thirty-five year old body with a grimace. The last time she'd been at Nar Shaddaa had been to retrieve her son from her former student, Darkserpent. In exchange for an amulet given to her by the insane Sith Garrett Blade, Jax had been returned safely to her.

Seven years ago, that was. Jax was a sturdy little boy now, safely with his father. It had been a while since they had all been together, but such times were often very tense. "It is about time." She popped her neck, and grabbed her lightsaber, making sure it was clipped to her belt.

Lilaena drew her dark blue cloak around her shoulders, and followed Jeseth down the ramp. "Ugh, I had forgotten how much I hate the smell here." She resisted the urge to plug her nose, and instead looked around. "It appears our contact is not here -"

She had spoken too soon. The Twi'lek who's face had been on the holomessage appeared behind a glass door, beckoning them inside out of the storm. She shrugged, pulled the hood of her cloak up against the rain, and the two Dark Jedi walked towards the building.

The doors opened, and she reached up to draw her hood back away from her face. The Twi'lek looked nervous, and was bobbing slightly, its lekku twitching almost involuntarily.

Danger! She felt something flat and round press into the small of her back, and for the moment she left her hands where they were, still holding onto her dripping cloak. "De'Ville and the Ambrellian, together again." The Twi'lek smiled toothily as an assortment of human and Gamorrean guards poured into the lobby.

She blinked, and then felt the blaster muzzle move slightly, as if the human behind her wished for her to move forward. Obligingly she took a step towards the Twi'lek, and then gathered herself, and leapt upwards.

Taken by surprise, the human pulled the trigger, and caught the Twi'lek majordormo in the chest. The alien looked horrified as he slumped to the ground. In an instant it was chaos, as Cloak took advantage of her distraction, and she landed on the ground, facing the human with the blaster. She kicked it out of his hand, and spun around with her momentum, bringing the heel of her foot around again to catch him in the temple. The man fell over and tried to scramble to his feet as two grunting Gamorreans charged her, swinging pikes.

De'Ville faced them, drawing her lightsaber with ease, and ducked underneath the first pike. She used her lightsaber to cut through the second attacker's weapon, and the Gamorrean squealed. Pivoting forwards on one foot, she kicked backwards and sent the first Gamorrean stumbling away, and then straightened and used her saber to cleave the one in front of her from collar to belly.

[Jeseth Cloak]

Jeseth had been alert to the deception since he had locked eyes with the Twi'lek. He pried at the weak creatures mind, attempting to pry out exactly what was in store for De'Ville and himself, but he had found out seconds too late. They were already trapped inside the room, and in another instance surrounded. The scene had without warning erupted into a shower of sparks, blaster fire, and blood.

"Fool," said Jeseth calmly as the Twi'lek met his destiny. "Now you're all going to die." De'Ville had already drawn her weapon, and Jeseth's snapped to life with a flash of crimson and a snake-like hiss. The sound drew several of the pig-creatures' attention. One of the Gamorreans closest to the door took aim at the winged Dark Jedi's back and fired. The hum of Jeseth's saber filled the air, followed by a high-pitched screech as the beam made contact with the blaster bolt, rounding it back on the Gamorrean who had fired it and killing him.

Jeseth tucked his wings in tightly against his back and flipped forward, slicing a human pike-wielder vertically into two pieces. Half-cauterized organs spilled out across the floor, as the dead man's pike fell with a clang. Normally Jeseth could abuse his wings for added maneuverability, but in such close quarters they would only serve to make him a larger target. He turned his head towards the door they had emerged from - it seemed to be the only way in or out of the room.

A human hit the ground, both arms missing, terror in his eyes. De'Ville's handiwork, no doubt. Jeseth swept his hand towards the human and threw him with fatal force into the door's control panel. It shattered, as did the man’s skull, and the door hissed open behind Lilaena.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

There was a breath of fresh air at her back, and De'Ville swung her saber, catching a few blaster bolts and riccoteting them back into the beings in front of her.

Jeseth severed another limb, and pushed his hand out in front of his body, sending two Gamorreans flying backwards into their companions. De'Ville ducked out the door into the rain, deflecting blaster bolts, and trying not to hit Cloak. He backed out of the door as she turned and ran for the ship.

Too late. Her danger sense wouldn't shut up, and De'Ville paused, in the middle of the landing pad. Rain poured around her, and a blaster bolt sizzled on the hull of the ship before her, narrowly missing her back.

"De'Ville!" Jeseth was shouting, running towards her. "Get in the ship!" Her saber hung in her hand, pointed towards the duracrete, rain evaporating as it hit the hot blade. "De'Ville!"

She turned to face him, and behind her the ship exploded. A technician in the employ of the Hutts had planted a class 4 Thermal detonator into the hyperdrive and rigged it for ten minutes. Jeseth threw up his hands to shield his eyes from the blaze, and she tumbled forward, the shockwave knocking her off her feet. Scrambling to her feet, De'Ville tore her cloak, and snatched at her vibroblade. Yanking it from her boot, she threw it with deadly accuracy between the eyes of a human bent on shooting Jeseth in the back.

The winged Dark Jedi whirled, using his lightsaber to protect them both from blaster bolts as De'Ville sought her lightsaber. It had been knocked from her hand and deactivated... Where...?

In the pouring rain and flaming debris, she could not find it with the Force. De'Ville knelt down, and pushed, both hands outstretched in front of her. The remaining Gamorreans squealed as they found themselves flying off the edge of the landing platform. Her danger sense pricked, and De'Ville stood and turned, catching the traitorous technician as he ran towards her, something bright and silvery in his hand.

She grabbed his wrist as he tried to stab her, and wrenched him to the side. The technician gasped as she snatched his hair with her other hand, and broke his neck with a wicked twist. The body slumped to the ground. A low hum reached her ears...speeders!

"Frell it, Jeseth! We have got to go!" Five well armed speeders came towards the landing pad as they pair stood in the rain, Jeseth's saber shining in the stormy weather.

[Jeseth Cloak]

Losing the ship had been an unexpected turn for the worst. Black smoke began to fill the air, choking them both slowly and effectively. The polluted rain wasn't particularly helping, as the water merely served to excite the highly flammable fuels that were already dripping along the landing pad, erupting into pools of fire and molten steel.

Jeseth scanned the rest of the landing pad, squinting his eyes against the rain and wind. The guards were all but gone... They had mostly retreated, and those that stayed behind were either dead or mortally wounded. The speeder bikes that were on the approach hadn't been unexpected for the Dark Jedi. Jeseth heard them on their way shortly before the ship exploded. At the time they seemed to be of no consequence - now they were something to take into account.

A barrage of rapid shots skimmed by the pair as the speeder bikes circled around the wreckage of the ship. The smoke was preventing them from getting a clear shot for the time being. "I'll be back in a second." Jeseth leapt upwards, his wings spreading as he rose above the smoke, wet and smeated with ash.

Spectators would have seen him emerge from the fiery platform like a phoenix, but the bikers would only know him as death. He decapitated the nearest speeder pilot and seized the handles of his bike in mid-flight, tucking his wings against his back and shoving the useless corpse from the bike's seat. The crimson blade deactivated as Jeseth clipped it back onto his belt and pivoted the speeder down into the cloud of smoke.

Down on the platform, De'Ville noticed a helmeted head hit the ground, and then the sounds of an approaching engine humming. Jeseth hit the break handle and brought the bike to a halt in front of her. The rest of the bikes were trailing around the platform and firing off shots in the dark, hoping to hit something. That's when Jeseth noticed that he was bleeding along his shoulder. Somewhere along the line, he had been hit - but it didn't matter now. He would worry about that when they could afford the time.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville put her right foot on the side of the speeder bike, and swung onto it, seating herself ahead of Cloak as he scooted backwards. A plasma bolt sizzled into the duracrete in front of them, and she stepped on the accelerator, flying into the smoke above the still burning ship.

Using the Force to guide her movements, De'Ville swung the speeder around, and headed towards the bikers. The rain was still pelting them, and she blinked away the water that was dripping into her eyes. She grinned as her thumb found a button on the controls, and pulled back on the handles, gaining altitude and getting out of the cloud of smoke.

De'Ville coughed because of the smoke, and worked her feet on the pedals, feeling the small boned Ambrelian put an arm around her waist for balance. She headed straight for the group of speeders, and thumbed the control, releasing the pair of concussion missiles loaded on the side of the speeder. The group of bogeys scattered, already coming around and focusing their plasma weapons on their speeder. One of the speeders was unlucky enough to be caught in the path of a missile, while the second missile exploded dramatically into the side of the 'scraper they had entered previously.

De'Ville sprayed the speeders with plasma bolts, and then sent her bike into a steep dive, gripping the seat with her thighs as the sudden change in orientation threatened to peel her off the seat. She gritted her teeth, and brought the bike out of the dive, evading traffic, and gunning for a side alley between two buildings. There were crumbling duracrete bridges spanning the buildings, still in use by pedestrians, even at this late hour. She spent the last two missiles taking out a bridge, giving them a clear shot towards the other side.

No! The speeder rocked sharply as they took a hit on the rear engine, and Jeseth moved closer to her. She could feel the emotions coming off of her fellow Dark Jedi...anger...and now a little bit of fear...fear of being blown up on this speeder. She sucked in her breath, and jammed the handles so the bike flew straight, gauging the distance to the ground. Jeseth released her waist as she swung her left leg over the handles, and nodded.

As a second and third shot hit the back of the speeder bike, De'Ville jumped off into the void.

[Jeseth Cloak]

Jeseth could hear the engine grinding down as De'Ville leapt down into the void below. There were still speeders behind him. He reached out with the Force, letting go of the rest of his senses. Three bikes where still in pursuit. The most skilled of the trio was closing the distance between himself and Jeseth, attempting to get a clean lock.

Jeseth's eyes opened to the world again. The rain was still beating against his face, almost painfully since he was attempting to accelerate into the oncomming wind. Only a second had passed since De'Ville had slipped away, but she was already out of sight. The speeder was beginning to trail smoke. Jeseth had only precious seconds left, and made use of them as best he could. Without warning the Dark Jedi leapt upwards, slamming his feet into the speeder and jamming the acceleration handle at maximum.

The angle at which Jeseth had kicked the speeder sent it somersaulting backwards at maximum velocity, a spiral of smoke following behind it. It zoomed past the man who had been attempting to fire at Jeseth and finally detonated in the center of the three bikers. Pieces of steel and flesh filled the air as Jeseth carefully glided downwards towards where De'Ville had fallen. He only had to look a few levels down to find the first sign of her: soot-lined footprints.

A quick pull of his wings sent him flipping onto the platform where he suspected she had taken refuge. "Lilaena?" The rain had stopped washing over his wound, and he felt the sting now more than before. There was some bit of shrapnel imbedded just between his wing and his shoulder.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

As she fell through the air, De'Ville gathered the Force around her, fueling it with her rage, and slowing her descent. Still, she landed heavily on the duracrete platform, going down to one knee, balancing herself with her head bent down and her hands splayed on the duracrete in front of her. She slowly lifted her head, watching the pyrotechnics in the sky, and then got to her feet, running for the shelter of a doorway.

She ripped her sodden and torn cloak from her shoulders, and dropped it off the edge of the platform. De'Ville ducked into the meagre shelter provided by the overhang of the doorway, and watched as Cloak drifted to the platform. He landed, and folded his wings oddly, before walking towards her.

"Lilaena?"

"Here." She whispered, using the Force to project her voice to his ears. He joined her in the doorway, and she probed inside, noting that there were no life signs inside. "It's abandoned." Lilaena stepped back into the rain, and then kicked the door, breaking the lock and sending it banging open.

[Jeseth Cloak]

Jeseth followed her inside the damp little dwelling. The dull gray door that she had broken was swinging slowly back and forth, giving him a slight sense of anxiety. This hadn't turned out as they had planned. The sense of foreboding that he had been experiencing throughout their journey had been more then paranoia... but he had let his curiosity get the better of him. The door continued to squeak - back and forth... back and forth... back and forth.

The door shut without warning, letting out a thunderous clap. There was a deep indentation in its center, as if some unseen force had nearly punctured through it. Jeseth was glaring at the door, aggravation visible in his face. He was thinking now, the pain of his wounds obscured in his mind. Blood continued to flow onto the ground from within his body, but he was oblivious to it. There were too many pieces to fit together.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"What!?" Yadra bellowed, his great belly shaking in rage. "How could they get away!" His tiny arms flailed, and the enormous Hutt upset his snack dish, splashing putrid swamp water down the front of the dias. The droid tried to step out of the way, but slipped and fell down with a clatter, further enraging its master.

"I want them found!" Yadra now wished he hadn't already knocked over his dish, because it would have been satisfactory to throw his snacks at the incompetant beings around him. Instead he glowered at them, his globular yellow eyes baleful. Tak Baroona, his new Twi'lek majordomo, was one of the few survivors of the encounter on Nar Shaddaa with De'Ville and the Ambrellian. They had a name now, 'Jeseth Cloak.'

Yadra blinked as Tak advanced timidly, holding something smallish and white in his hands. "The female dropped this, O Most Excellent and Gracious One." The Hutt snorted impatiently at the title, and reached for the object. The Twi'lek kept it out of reach, and explained, "It is a lightsaber, the weapon favored by Jedi Knights."

The Hutt on the dias bellowed again. "Jedi?!" He fumed, the end of his tapered body flipping around in anger.

"I have taken the time to do an extensive search. If we were on Coruscant I would have been able to give you the unfortunate news before we set out to avenge Shadra, your beloved parent." Yadra's eyes narrowed as the Twi'lek blathered on, but he let him continue. Apparently he had a point coming. "De'Ville, as she was known to your parent, had been linked to a Sith organization known as ...well as the Sith Order. It has military jurisdiction and a small garrison on both Nal Hutta and -"

"I am perfectly aware the Beautiful Jewel's repression under the Sith dogs. You are telling me that this 'De'Ville' is one of them?" Yadra sighed. That would put a kink in his plans for the woman. The Order would not be forgiving if one of their own was brought to justice on Nal Hutta. Or anywhere else, for that matter.

Tak swallowed, but continued bravely on, still clutching the saber hilt in his hand. "As far as I can gather, she was banished from the order seven years ago for treason. Information is sketchy after that, but she has been seen in the company of one Mr. Sanis Prent, the Spice Baron of Kessel. It was rumored that she was working for him, but..."

Yadra held out his small hand, demanding the lightsaber. The Twi'lek reluctantly handed it over. "Be carefu - !" The saber ignited, and a greenish purple blade lanced out, catching the majordomo in the chest. The Hutt ho ho ho-ed and the servant gasped one last time before sliding off the blade and crumpling to the ground.

"These Jedi magicians, find them! They cannot go far, they have no friends, and no ship. They are on Nar Shaddaa!" Yadra almost cackled as he waved the laser sword about, upsetting his protocol droid. "De'Ville and Jeseth Cloak will finally pay for what they did."

[Jeseth Cloak]

Time had passed quickly, and the rain continued on. It had been almost a full day now since Jeseth and De'Ville had been forced into hiding. They were both at a disadvantage: Jeseth had lost considerable blood before tending to his wound and De'Ville had lost her lightsaber.

The wound had been easy enough to mend... a basic Dark Healing incantation had filled the laceration with infectious puss and scar tissue, stopping the flow of blood. Jeseth's shoulder was still tingling with cold and painful pinpricks, but such pain was the price of using the Dark Side to prolong ones own life.

"We've been here before, Lilaena - before The Black Hand. Now I know why your presence seemed familiar to me when we first crossed paths... Fifteen years ago we were both here. That is what the Twi'lek meant when he said we were together again." Jeseth's words were spoken calmly as he ripped the sleeve off his coat, tying it around his shoulder.

"The Force can show us visions of the past, present, and the future. I've seen this in your past..." His eyes narrowed as he gazed upon her. He had seen something else as well... but had this been in her past, or in her future?

Uncertain was the nature of his second vision, but he had seen her bowing in supplication. She was atoning for something... Her mind was tranquil, her emotions reigned in. The Lilaena of this vision was not the same as the one that sat before him now. The woman's mind was difficult to penetrate. Nothing would be gained by divulging what he had seen. In time he would know... he would merely need to watch her.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville snapped her head around to look at her formerly silent companion. She had been sitting, staring at the wall, and trying to figure out who wanted them both dead. "About fifteen years ago I was here." She paused, and walked over to the Ambrelian, helping him tie the makeshift bandage.

"Shadra the Hutt double crossed me, and for her crimes, the Hutt died at my inexperienced hands." De'Ville looked at Cloak. "You were there too...a prisioner. I can see it in my mind now. I...I hit you when you were taken." She grinned at the memory. "Upstarts we both were, back then. I had barely won my life in a duel with most of the Hutt's guardsmen, and you were..."

"A ship-jacker." Jeseth made a face as she adjusted the bandage. De'Ville placed her hand over his shoulder, and probed the wound with the Force. He'd gotten all the shrapnel out, but it seemed to be getting infected.

"I am going to have to get bacta for you." She stood to her feet, and walked back to the wall, pounding it with her fist. "And my lightsaber! Bloody ashes, all that smoke, I could not see it or sense it in the confusion. I feel like a foolish apprentice with a lost toy." De'Ville fumed with frustration and rage at their situation, barely keeping herself in check.

"I will go out, I will locate a ship, and I will return for you. Unless you have a better idea?" The woman was already walking towards the bent door, her pent up energy was making her too antsy.

[Jeseth Cloak]

“I do have a better idea: I’ll acquire us a ship.” He stood up and moved his arm around, checking that the bandage would hold securely. "I don't need to use the walkways and lifts to get around, and they'd expect us to be on foot." He tossed her his lightsaber. "I won't be needing it." His empty hand sparked with a sudden ripple of blue and purple energy. He was more than capable of keeping himself alive with or without a lightsaber.

They exchanged a quick glance as he walked past her and opened the door. It took effort to dislodge it from the position he had jammed it into, but it finally gave way. Rain and wind instantly filled the small, dilapidated room they were occupying. "Any objections?"

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"Yes. But they are so many and so diverse, I will not waste your time with it now." She pushed her hair out of her eyes as the wind howled into their little hideaway. "Take me with you. It is the only sensible thing to do." De'Ville walked up towards Cloak, and handed him his lightsaber back, their hands brushing barely.

She walked past him and out the door, standing on the windswept causeway.

[Jeseth Cloak]

He didn't enjoy being told what to do - he never had. He had left the Greater Jedi Order years past due to their insistence that he steer away from studying the Sith. Now he had no choice but to do as De'Ville wished. "Very well then, if you wish to come with me, make sure you hold on." He grabbed her wrist and turned her around quickly to face him, staring into her eyes with what seemed like a hint of malice. "The rain makes it difficult to keep a firm grip... and it's so many miles to the bottom. You wouldn’t want to fall."

He knew she would see through his veiled threat, but he didn't give her enough time to think about it. With a burst of inhuman speed he shoved her off the platform, wrapping his arms around her waist and falling with her. She couldn't see or hear anything at the speed Jeseth was flying. Wind threatened to crush her eardrums, and rain pounded against her tender human flesh like tiny frozen needles.

His wound was aching as he pushed himself to his limits. Any faster and his wings would snap - but time was the key now. They needed to arrive at a docking platform quickly. An occasional ship would zoom by, reflecting its lights at them and blinding Jeseth. He would dive below the vessel in an attempt to avoid being crushed, feeling its exhaust vents jetting down against him. Flying in this sort of weather was more risk than it was art. Within minutes he had found what seemed like a suitable landing pad. There were several ships loading and unloading. In all likeliness it was a spice deal being sealed.

“There below us. I’m letting you down.” He swooped low and let her go, watching her land with ease. Jeseth circled high and then dove downward, vanishing below the landing pad. He would need to remove the locks that were keeping the ships docked.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville caught her breath as Cloak scooped her up, and bit her lips as together they plummeted off the edge of the causeway. Her eyes involuntarily squeezed shut against the inertia of the fall, and as his wings unfolded they caught in the wind currents, turning their fall into a graceful glide. The velocities were still incredible, and De'Ville felt the sting of the rain as it hammered into her skin through her clothing.

She was facing him, her head turned to the side and her arms wrapped tightly around him, as he was holding onto her as well. His warning rang in her ears that seemed like they would burst from the pressures changing around her. Hold on tight. So she did, and felt each tremendous pull of his wings against the wind. There was pain in his sense, his wound bothered him, but her concentration was broken as they jinked around a ship. Exhaust vents pummeled the pair, but Cloak kept going.

“There below us. I’m letting you down.” Lilaena felt him letting go, and she released him, casting about and sensing the platform below her. As she fell towards it, their collective momentum caused it to come up quickly, and she gathered herself, using the Force to cushion her fall, slowing her descent. Cloak had dropped her under the cover of one of the two ships on the platform, the beings on the other side not seeing her land.

De'Ville crouched, her hands on the slick duracrete as she looked up into the pouring rain to catch a glimpse of Cloak as he looped up high and then dove beneath the platform. She turned her head towards the other beings on the deck with her, under the belly of the ship she was hidden behind. She could see a few pairs of legs, and felt the emotions attached to the sentients. Tense, watchful, and aware. Yet they were not as aware as they might have hoped. The speed of her arrival and the silence of Cloak's flying had caught them out.

She rose to her feet, wiping her soaking hair out of her eyes, and walked around the hull of the ship, a light freighter. Lilaena let her hand trail along the side of it, tracing lines from her fingers in the dampness. As she rounded the last corners she caught sight of the four beings she had sensed. A Weequay, two humans, and Rodian, all armed with blasters and other weapons she was sure, even though she couldn't see their armaments.

"Hello boys." They were all male. The human pair swiveled to stare at her, bedraggled in the rain, her clothing clinging to her slim body. They were angry, and then bemused, wondering where she had come from. It was their undoing.

Lilaena didn't have her lightsaber, but one was never defenceless when one had the Force. She outstretched her right arm, and knocked the two humans over with the Force. The Rodian shrieked and ran for his ship, the Weequay grabbing its blaster and pointing it at her. With another flick of her wrist, De'Ville yanked the baster from the hotheaded Weequay, and it smacked butt first into her open palm. She checked the power pack, full, and then opened fire on the alien, sending it spinning to the duracrete.

The humans had scrambled up to their feet, and she shoot them as well. The Rodian has gotten into the ship, and she ran towards it, feet pounding the wet duracrete as she dashed for the steadily closing ramp. The rear turrets targeted towards her, but she was running too fast for them to get a lock on her. Lilaena leapt for the hatch, landing feet first on it as it continued to rise. Inside she could feel the frantic fear of the nobby-skinned alien, and she quickly made her way to the cockpit where it was reaching for the comm. She put a blaster bolt in the back of its head, and then made sure the comm was switched off.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"'ey! Watch your hands Grobin!" Harvey slapped his partner's hand away from his blaster, haphazardly hidden under his jacket. "Just be cool until this is over, okay?" His stocky friend, Grobin, slouched and grumbled, and Harvey hit the ramp controls for the frieghter.

"All I'm sayin' is that this stinks. Since when does the roddy -"

"Rodian, and his name is Freeg Zafe, and I wish you'd jus' calm down!" The ramp continued to lower, the pair of human males arguing at the top of it.

Grobin glared at his friend, not missing a beat. "-Since when does this Rodian need a Weequay with him? Never 'ad him before. All I'm sayin' is that a little extra caution never killed anyone."

"Point, Grobin. Can we get this over with now?" Harvey started down the walkway as it settled on the wet duracrete. Rain...I hate rain. Makes the spice all...wet. The men walked down the ramp and turned right, looking towards where Zafe and the Weequay were waiting. They walked towards the aliens, and Grobin continued to slouch. Harvey wanted to elbow him, but didn't dare to appear to be sending signals. They paused in front of the Rodian dealer, and stood easy...or at least, as easy as they could in the pouring rain.

"I trust you have the credits." Freeg looked, bedraggled, as only a Rodian could.

"Of course we do." Harvey held out his hand, and the Weequay jerked, reaching for his blaster. "Woah! Hold it big guy, it's only the chit." Beside him, Grobin seemed to be turning purple from holding in a string of profanity.

Freeg waved the Weequay down, and held out his suction-fingered hand. "It's all there?"

Harvey decided saying "of course" again was too redundant, and so simply nodded. Grobin glared at the Weequay as the green skinned alien took the chit from Harvey and then slipped it into a datapad for verification.

The Weequay's head snapped up, and looked over the heads of the two human men. Grobin turned around and cursed. "Where the frell did she come from?"

"Hello boys." Her voice was smooth, and sweet. Harvey was angry at the interruption, but found himself smiling at the sight of a pretty woman, soaked through to the bone in a rainstorm. Her clothing appeared to be torn in places... His imagination began to get the better of him, when all hell broke loose.

An invisible hand slammed into the two men, sending them flying to the ground and skittering across the rough duracrete. There was a highpitched squeal from the Rodian, who turned an ran towards his ship. Grobin spat blood from his mouth, and saw the Weequay leveling its blaster at the unknown woman. Frelling hells of Corellia... He didn't manage to finish his thought as the blaster flew from the alien's hand. In another second the Weequay was on the ground, smoking from two well placed shots, one in the chest, one in the side of the head, as the alien had turned from the first hit.

Harvey was scrambling to his feet, yanking on that blaster than always seemed to get hung up in the holster. A flast of blaster fire and he went down without a sound. Grobin managed to get a shot off before taking two sizzling bolts in the chest, and the last thing he remebered was the woman stepping over his inert body as the world went dark around him. It was cold...so cold... He choked on the rain, and sighed one last time.

Freeg was frantic. His deal had gone wrong, and the Besadii Hutts would not be pleased. Yadra in paticular. He slammed his suckered hand on the controls for the boarding ramp and dashed for the cockpit. Opening a secure channel to Nal Hutta, he wished to inform his employer of the failure of the spice deal. Opening a spice lane into Corellia had been a daring move, and now, thanks to a woman... Wait...a woman...

"Yadra, the deal is off, the Corellians are dead. There is a Jedi here, she has ruined it. They are dead! Please advise!"

Freeg flicked the comm over, and awaited a response, hearing footsteps already in the corridors behind him. "Thank you for calling Yadra the Hutt. Your call is important to us. Please -" He reached up and flicked the comm off completely, not even having enough time to cry out as a blaster bolt sheared off his spinal column as it entered the back of his head at the base of his green neck.

De'Ville grabbed his body, and shoved it off the chair, sitting down carefully and checking the systems. Everything seemed to be in order. Now all that was left was to wait for Jeseth.

[Jeseth Cloak]

Below the walkway Jeseth heard nothing of what was going on. Rain was streaming along the metal planks above him as he ripped apart several control levers, and used the Force to sever other ones. It took him a few minutes to manually disengage the docking locks. The last one gave way as he grabbed onto a thick cable and gave it a quick tug. Oil poured out, and the ship was free to go. He wiped water out of his eyes and let go of a beam he had been holding onto it, using his wings to support himself against the wind and rain.

As he came up and landed on the docking platform he could see the remains of Lilaena's opposition. She's fast. He made his way to the vessel and keyed the control panel beside the loading ramp. Blood was washing up against his shoes, pushed by the wind and water. The sight of it sent him into pangs of hunger... The ramp came down slowly, and Jeseth walked into the ship with water following behind him, dripping from his hair and clothes.

"Ignore the computer. I disengaged the docking clamps - we're free to go." He walked into the cockpit and settle into the co-pilots seat, taking in the stale air.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Nal Hutta

Yadra jerked as he was awakened from his slumber. His first thought was that it was the middle of the night, and that he would have fun roasting whoever it was disturbing him over a fire in the morning. His large yellowish eyes rolled around to locate the source of the disturbance, as his tiny arms assisted his muscular body in sitting upright. "Hoom. What is it?"

His newest majordormo, a slackeyed and inbred fool of a creature who's ancestry was best not thought about, was in the Hutt's bedroom. "Massster, the Rodian sssent a broken transsssmisssion." He bowed and scraped his way towards the blinking Hutt, and pressed a hard copy of the transmission into Yadra's hand. The Hutt petulantly flung it away, not even looking at it.

"You expect me to read in the middle of the night? What did the Rodian smuggler say that is so important as to warrant waking me up?" Yadra was furious, and tired, and also upset because he really didn't want to go through three majordormo's in two days.

Splatt'ar, or whatever it's name was stooped to pick up the flimsy, and read it off in a now shaking voice. "'Yadra, the deal isss off, the Corellianssss are dead. There issss a Jedi here, sssshe hasss ruined it. They are dead! Pleassse advissse!'" He looked up, hesitating. "The transssmisssssion was accidentally ssshunted to an office number which wasss busy, by the time they realized he had called, there wassss no one at the comm. We have been trying to get back in tou-"

A female? A Jedi? "Fool! This is more serious than a spice deal! Send all available fighting units to Nar Shaddaa, and that docking platform! It is the Ambrillian and that woman, De'Ville!"

[Jeseth Cloak]

They had only been off the ground for a few minutes, flying low and hoping to evade detection long enough to make a clean break from the gravity that surrounded the planet. Jeseth was still hungry, and now he was letting his eyes wander to the Rodian corpse on the ship's floor. It was beginning to seem rather appetizing, though Jeseth believed Rodian's to taste extremely sour...

Humans on the other hand were perfect; just the right amount of natural salt to make them completely mouthwatering. He began to let his eyes wander over Lilaena's body, his tongue briefly darting across his fangs and pale lips. She was too busy glancing at the control panel to notice hat Jeseth was longingly gazing at her neck. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed a red light flash, and allowed himself to be taken out of the trance.

There were several ships approaching. Twin-pod cloud cars... and somehow Jeseth didn't think they would be the standard type. They already know we're here..." The four ships above them were making a slow descent, and established a comm-link without any hesitation.

“YT-2400 Light Freighter, land and prepare to be boarded.”

Jeseth looked over at De’Ville and smirked, then responded to the transmission. “I think not.” With the flick of a switch, heavy double laser cannons emerged from the top of the YT-2400, rotating in place as they aligned themselves to their new targets. The flock of approaching pods had already begun to scatter for an attack, but out of the four only two managed to escape the initial barrage of laser fire. The other vessels seemed vanished, but they would likely be returning with friends given enough time.