Head in the Clouds

Cloud City was a sharp contrast to Nar Shaddaa. Not only was the air easier to breathe, but Jax quite enjoyed walking around without having the constant feeling that he'd just stepped in something. It was this for this reason that he decided to walk from the spaceport to his destination rather than taking a cab. It certainly didn't have anything to do with his embarrassingly limited budget, at least not in any measure he'd ever admit to. He pulled up a map on his portable communicator double checking that he was going in the right direction before stuffing it back into his jacket pocket. Though his destination wasn't much farther away, he decided to stop and rest his feet at a small open air restaurant. While he predicted that his coming encounter wouldn't be too eventful, he thought it best not to go in on an empty stomach, just in case.

After three nerf burgers and a short walk, Jax found himself staring at the doors of Elysian Acquisitions. The orange eyes of his reflection stared back at his own and he took a moment to give himself a quick once over. If you counted the horns on his head he was just shy of six feet tall and even shyer if you didn't. A light scar trailed down over just over his left eye. He wasn't scrawny by any stretch of the imagination, but he wasn't overly brawny either. He adjusted the collar of his jacket and checked the time before heading inside.

The inside of the building was probably nicer than the outside and for just a moment he was worried that he'd come to the wrong place. The fact that none of the people seemed to give a second glance to his markedly rougher appearance erased that doubt though. He wasn't the first character of questionable morals to grace this lobby.

This was the interesting part. If the person he here to see was as connected as had been suggested to him, there was a good chance she knew his employer and knew exactly who he was. If she wasn't, this whole meeting would turn out much differently than he expected. He walked up to the main desk where a droid was busying itself at a computer terminal. He gave the droid a short nod in lieu of a greeting as he approached.

"I'm here to see Emelie Shadowstar."

The droid made a show of acting confused and started to speak before Jax cut it off.

"Eh, just give her a call. She should be expecting me. I'll wait."

Rather than behind her desk, Emelie sat in one of the two plush seats that occupied the space opposite her usual perch; the two chairs having been moved to slightly face one another. Not an unusual sight within the office, but not one that many outside of the inner circle ever witnessed. As usual, however, a glass occupied one of her hands that rested atop the knee of one leg as it crossed the other.

"So let me get this straight..." She paused ans eyed her associate - her friend if she was feeling nice about it. "You worked out a deal with the Guild. You supply the bounty fobs, you pass them out to members... And, what? You get a cut of the bounty straight from the guild once the asset's either dead or handed over to whoever wants them?"

Her skepticism was running high, but the offhanded shrug and annoying cocky smirk of who used to be her hunter was more than proof enough that he was speaking the truth. He didn't need to reply with the overly satisfied "Yep," but it came anyway.

"So you do frak-all and get paid for it," Emelie paused and shook her head before bringing the glass to her lips, but not quite tipping it back to take a sip. "I'm in the wrong karking business."

That earned a laugh from Vittore Montegue, retired hunter and now agent to the Guild. He was still hers though, not in any untoward way, Force sake no. He was someone else's problem in that area, thank frak.

"You'll have to explain to me again how you're gonna make this work for us, though. That part..." Emelie squinted and raised a leveled hand before shaking it a small gesture.

"Aw, 'cmon boss..." Vittore started before a purple toned protocol droid appeared at the doorway, capturing both of their attention.

"Excuse me, Mistress Shadowstar but there is a Mr. Verrek here to see you."

The easy going and carefree smiles vanished from both ex-hunter and broker alike.

"Never a dull moment. Alright, AC-3, bring him in." Emelie groaned before standing up and slowly returned to her proper place before the desk, she left the chair she had been occupying at it's slightly inward turn. Her attention shifted back to Vittore, who didn't bother to straighten up or hide the cane that rested at his side. All things considered she was glad he was in the room with her, for this little visit could get really interesting or really ugly real fast and if anyone knew how to back her up against what was about to walk in the door, it was Montegue.

As Jax entered the room he paused for just a moment to take in his surroundings, but his attention more or less immediately flew to the two people who were already in the office. Emelie had an air of casualness about her that suggested she'd been in this situation countless times before. Any uncertainty about what sort of person she was faded away in that instant. She definitely knows who I am, and has a pretty good idea of why I'm here. His brain was running full tilt, taking in the slightest details in body language. Emelie was everything he'd expected her to be.

The man sitting in front of her desk was a different story.

That's odd. She's got him here for a reason, but it ain't protection. He doesn't have any clue what's going on and he's doing a damn good job of hiding it. Jax tucked that bit of information away and gave the pair a polite smile. He made the slightest of eye contact with the man before addressing Emelie as if she were the only other person in the room.

"This is a nice place you have here."

His voice was gracious enough, but there was an edge of amusement in his tone. He glanced slightly toward her associate.

"I hope I haven't caught you at a bad time."

Things were changing for Vittore. Was the nature of the beast, really. Everything in the galaxy had consequences from small actions to big ones and well, when it came to the big one, Vittore wouldn't change a force damned thing. Sadie's demon was in the dirt, she'd made sure of that herself, but Vittore? Well, he'd bought her the time and some would have considered it a deal with the Darkside. Girl lived and he ended up... Well, there were worse things in the galaxy than having a bum leg and needing a hand or a cane to get around. That consequence had taken a hell of a lot of getting used to, but time passed and in the end? Well, it weren't so dark and bad after all. True, his heart was halfway across the galaxy doing Force knew what most of the time without him, but the best part of that was that meant it always found it's way back home. Was a simple word, but it meant more than all the credits in the galaxy could ever imagine to someone like him.

Life like that, though? Well, that didn't mean Vittore just sat around doing nothing, hells no, that was a one-way trip to madness that he had no desire to be a part of. So when he wasn't picking up a shift at Elysium, or helping Sadie work some finer details of her next job, Vittore had been reconnecting with old friends at the Guild, and wouldn't you just know it? They had a handy little job for him. Which, truth be told, was part of the reason he was here. See, handing out jobs and fobs and making deals with active Hunters was nice, collecting the occasional bounty on his own was even nicer, but getting to watch some fool's face when they went outside of Guild jurisdiction and stepped all over their toes? Well... that was just an extra shot in your glass, wasn't it?

Not that he was letting on about that part of it, and truth be told, he had no desire to even bring that up. See? Emelie had gone and told him he should be here and welp, when a lady asks, who was he to say no? Did help she still signed a lot of his paychecks. Also helped that she could be considered a friend. Also didn't take two credits to rub together to figure out why it was that the bossy lady would choose him rather than one of her rougher looking boy toys to stand around looking mean. No, she chose Vittore kriffin Montegue, bounty hunter with one very particular list of specialties.

So he let the boss address the asshat in the room while Vittore only barely looked up from a datapad that was perched on a crossed leg, putting on a stupid and rather uninterested face. Vittore didn't care if Emelie's guest saw that he was reviewing all sorts of footage of the guy from his wanderings around Cloud City. It was only to confirm things he already knew, anyhow.

"Of course not," She replied, keeping the neutral smile on her lips. "Mr. Montegue here is one of my acquisition specialists, we were merely running through some current objectives."

With glass in hand she motioned towards the empty seat next to Vittore. "Please, there's no need to stand."

Some part of her genuinely loved the idea of verbal dejarik match, the tactical way that words could be wielded as weapons to draw out your opponent before skewering them when they least expected. Another part of her, though? Well that side of her found it to be rather tiresome, annoying, and yes - even pointless. Sometimes just getting to the heart of the matter was important.

Trouble was, she hadn't quite figured out which was the best method here.

"I hope you have some good news for me?" The smile turned a twinge venomous as her eyes focused squarely on the Zabrak.

Jax's face lit up at her question. The way she moved from niceties to threats was a nice touch, and the message wasn't lost on him. This meeting could either go really well or really not well for Jax, and his fate was entirely in her hands. He glanced over at her "acquisition specialist" who seemed to be off in his own little world. It was an act to be sure, but one that Jax could appreciate. He gave Emelie a look of amused curiosity.

"Well, unless I miss my mark, I doubt there's much I could say that would actually be news to you. Maybe to him..." He glanced over and lazily pointed over toward her friend before turning his attention back to her. "...but not too you."

Jax sat up a little straighter in his chair then leaned forward.

"You know who I am, you know who my boss is, and you have a pretty good idea of why he sent me..."

He cocked his head to the side and smiled.

"...Am I three for three?"

"Something like that."

So, tooka and vrelt it was going to be. How delightful. He wasn't wrong, even without her expansive resources Emelie could have pieced together what brought the Zabrak into her offices that day. As it was, however, she had far more than just a vague idea. The truth was ugly, but wasn't it always? Just another person out there trying to end her life for someone or something or other. She wasn't mad about it, hells it almost was becoming routine where she might have felt offended if someone wasn't trying to pull the trigger. The rest of the Elysian family seemed to feel the same way, enough that even Atton had jested they come up with a drink and give it a pun name referring to it all. The drink part was easy - the catchy name was proving illusive, though.

Still, just because something was routine didn't mean it was any less or more serious than it should have been. She even should have seen this coming ever since she started her own personal little war on some of the so-called citizens of Cloud City that she would rather weren't considered as such. Emelie had expected rather swift retribution or threats in response to her meeting with the Baroness. And now, finally, in it walked? Maybe she wasn't doing as good of a job as she had wanted in making them feel unwelcome.

"So, is this the part where you expect me to start throwing around numbers in hopes you'll think I have a better offer? Because if I'm honest with you, I'm not really feeling that spendy today."

Jax leaned forward and nodded as he spoke, as if he were imparting some great wisdom upon Emelie.

"I've found that when I'm not feeling very spendy, that's normally when I do the most spending."

He finished the statement with one more nod just to flavor his statement with a bit of finality before casually slapping his palm on the edge of her desk and leaning back in his chair again.

“But since we’re being honest with each other, it was me who had an offer for you. I just wanted to make certain you were the type who could recognize a bargain...”

Emelie let out a slight chuckle but it wasn't the sort that would give any hint of actual amusement. He had her attention though, and that was enough.

“50,000 credits, and I never darken your doorstep again.”

He could see a look of incredulity beginning to creep across her face and casually tacked on one more detail, almost as if it were an afterthought.

“Also, I'll toss in one dead hutt, just to sweeten the pot a bit.”

He spit out a drink that wasn't there. Quite an impressive feat, honestly. Chalk another first up for him, Vittore supposed. Granted, it came like a laugh, or not quite a laugh so much as a rude outburst. Em would glare at him sooner or later, but frak it, it was warranted.

This bastard thought he had all the cards at play when he couldn't see the damn Idiot's Array set down before him. Bosslady knew his number, so did all of her crew, and here was this shleb trying to negotiate... with a dead slug? It was insulting. More so was the fact that the guy had the nerve to pass off one of Elisium's most valued assets. Okay, granted, Vittore was far more impressive before the incident with the damn robo Zabrak that his girl had taken down, back when skrag made sense and everything was grand... but that was then and this was now and oh boy howdie did Vittore long to go and tell the creep that he was a rep for the Hunters' Guild and whatever prize this boy thought he'd had in his hands had to go through good 'ol Vitt here... but nah, that was gonna show his end of the cards. And worse, show off the bosslady's bullshit.

He didn't say nothing though, just let that dirty laugh hang in the air between the three of them and tapped the end of the cane that sat at his side.

Vitt lifted his head a bit and glanced towards Emelie, she weren't quite used to the looks he could give off, not like his partner, but she was getting used to it enough that the good ol' boss would catch his drift in all it's meanings.

A fraction of an instant. That was all it was between Vittore's amused chuckle and the man's demand for... what was it? 50,000 credits? The glances that passed afterward were mere blinks of an eye, quicker still. Emelie and her cohort didn't have The Force behind them, but she'd learned to read her man well enough. Not that she needed his help. This was banthaskriff as best as any that had been presented to her. The lead this guest could do was at least polish the damn thing.

Didn't matter. Her fingers and those of her associate were already punching in information that'd lead to the optimal conclusion of this business dealing.

Emelie straightened in her chair and managed that all important shock and awe look; one hand to the apex of her breasts and all.

"Fifty-thousand and a dead Hutt? My goodness, such a thing...It's hard to think..."

The facade fell once more and Emelie turned a cold gaze upon the outsider.

"So hard to decide why I'd let you ever leave here alive and not take this information all for myself..."

The whirring of turrets turned on the man were entirely unnecessary, even if it'd be damn near impossible to spot the end of their barrels in the walls, the light fixtures, or wherever the damn else she had pleased them to be hidden within her office. Still, sound was such a powerful motivator. There was something to be said for home security with the clack of a shot-blaster after all.

The innocent horrified look in her eyes held though, and so came the deep out-breath afterwards. It may have drawn another laugh from her associate, or maybe it wouldn't. Didn't matter, the show wasn't for Vittore.

"What's a girl to do?"

Her eyes locked on those of the outsider, cold and merciless in a way that was utterly at war with the half-Zeltron's body language.

"You bring me such distressing news. The kind of thing a girl would just... want to make... vanish."
It all came together in that last word. Venom, ice, and all the hells of Corellia. Boy was in a bad way; best he recognize it.

"If you think doin me in right here in your office is going to make your problems vanish then you ain't half as sharp as I figured you'd be."

A grin cracked at the side of his mouth, but he decided to show a bit more restraint this time. He didn't know exactly how much firepower it would take to actually kill him, but he had a pretty decent measure of how much she planned to use.

"I ain't exactly the root of your problem, I'm just the guy looking to profit off it. You hit the big red button and punch my ticket, then the next guy Ongro sends ain't gonna be half so polite."

He offered her a slight shrug.

"But it ain't my choice. Take my offer and all your problems with Ongro the Hutt quietly disappear in a few days. Or refuse and, well, they won't."