World As We Know It

[Ethan Korvik]

What happens when the war ends? Blood on his hands, no home to return to, and the galaxy moves on. For Ethan it meant continuing to do what he knew best, be a soldier. A soldier with no war to fight became a soldier for whoever paid the best. That was what brought Ethan to Kwenn Space Station, not to look for a job but to meet the partner assigned to him for a job. He knew nothing of his partner except their name, Seybria, and that they too did not work reliable for their current employer but was a mercenary like himself.

Ethan sat at a booth on the left wall from the entrance, chosen for its relative distance from the band playing in Matio’s Cantina. Condensation ran the exterior of his metal cup, which he nursed just frequently enough to not draw attention to himself. He didn’t have secrets to hide presently, but he also didn’t feel like attracting unwanted attention when his companion arrived, and they began discussing the mission ahead of them. The interesting thing about this job was that the datapad that had the mission parameters required a dual code to unlock, one half he had and the other Seybria had. It was what stopped him from running off to just get the job done, and get paid, or from making plans ahead of time.

Green eyes made a casual pass over the crowd, ending on the band, before sweeping back the other direction to move over the entrance. A grey long sleeve with frayed cuffs bunched around his forearms hugged him snugly, with a Y of brown leather straps that ran over each shoulder and ducked back beneath his left shoulder to meet in the back. Attached just under that shoulder to the strapping was an empty holster, left behind per space station policy. Olive green pants with a slew of pockets bunched up at the calf, tucking into tightly cinched brown boots. A rough beard and dirt beneath the fingernails spoke volumes for a man who didn’t put too much emphasis in putting on a front to appease someone’s standards.

His left hand turned over, showing the underside of his wrist where a chrono lay atop a leather binding. Soon. He turned his hand back over and set the datapad atop the table, then took up his cup with that same hand to take his usual nursing sip of his drink.

[Seybria]

The doors to the Cantina flew open as a beefy figure came flying through them, landing at the threshold with enough force to rattle the nearby tables. Blood oozed from the human's nose and a bruise was already beginning to spread across the unconscious man's face. Thick footfalls were the next sounds to be heard, the patrons and activities having lapsed into silence at the sudden display of violence. Seybria stepped inside the establishment, coming to stand beside the man she had just hurled through the door. She bent, her incredibly tall frame stooping low as she wrenched the credit pouch from the man's belt and measured its weight in her hand.

She gave the man's supine mass a kick and then turned her cold, silver gaze upon the customers staring at the interaction in a mixture of horror, shock, and awe. At 6'3, she wasn't the tallest creature in the galaxy but she was certainly large for a human female. That, coupled with the solid muscles exposed between the gaps of her exo-armor made her an intimidating sight as far as mercenaries went.

"What do you look at?" She growled in a thickly accented voice to the crowd. Activity immediately resumed in the business. She moved away from the man she'd downed and approached the bar, snagging a bottle of liquor on her own and dropping the pouch she'd stolen off the man into the bartender's hand. "It's on him." She stated matter of factly, angling her thumb toward entryway. The man behind the bar merely nodded, staring up at her, and she turned in the direction of Ethan.

Her brow arched and she approached, prying the cork from the bottle with her teeth and spitting it off to the side.

"You are Korvik, yes?" She pulled back the chair across from him, the legs scraping along the floorboards. No one batted an eye, preferring to keep to their own conversations. She sat, taking a deep pull from the neck of the bottle and then setting it down next to the datapad. Her fingers idly swiped the screen, punching her own half of the code in.

[Ethan Korvik]

That is a tall woman. He couldn’t keep the placid expression he would have hoped for, his brow raising upwards in surprise at seeing the large man that was so soundly handled, and the towering feminine frame that was responsible. Feminine was an odd term to associate, because by normal standards he might have associated feminine with something different. She had all the qualities of a female, but she was very obviously someone that took care of themselves.

His assessment of her was time not wasted, as she strode up to him and addressed him by name. “Seybria, I take it.” He replied in a drawn-out sort of manner that suggested he was not as surprised as most might have been, which would have been a downright lie. His eyes cut to the side, the sharp movement of the cork stimulating that combat ready part of his brain, ever on edge even for the smallest things. His hand, beneath the table, had reached for a sidearm that wasn’t there and hadn’t even been strapped for readiness but was one that might have been present in earlier days.

“Do you want to take this somewhere more private?” He considered his words for a moment. Spoken to another man, it wouldn’t have had any double meaning. Spoken to her though, even if she was a bit intimidating, he did suddenly find a second meaning that could have been interpreted. “Nevermind.” He keyed his code in, bringing the datapad screen to life. A brief narrative of the mission popped up, though a holo attachment was available to view if desired. Ethan chose not to play the holo, which wouldn’t be safe from prying eyes.

Target: Jinsa Morrilon
Instructions: Acquisition
Last Known Location: Aeris Tech, Coruscant

“Great, Coruscant.” He stopped reading the details from the pad after the core three were given. “You good if I finish my drink?” He was sizing her up, though not necessarily in the physical threat sense but to get a feel for her character. His eyes held this near tired sort of quality, bags beneath accompanying that rough beard suggesting an individual who’d seen a lot and had little time for the bullshit of life.