Kat Nargal Memorial Resort

[Brina Thalin]

As soon as the E-wings began to patrol the area behind her, Brina's hand went to the hyperspace button. Another ten seconds and she'd be clear. But in those ten seconds, two things happened.

 

The first was that a flashing warning light appeared on her board. She frowned. What did that light mean again? She remembered it coming on a few times before, but that was back in her smuggling days. She knew it had been bad, and that the ship had a method of dealing with the situation, but couldn't remember what it meant. She'd have to check it later. She knew it couldn't be very important right now, since it hadn't gone off in years.

 

The second thing that happened was right when Brina was about to jump into hyperspace. Spiders erupted out of every nook and cranny of her ship. She yelled in fright and jerked forward. The jerk caused her elbow to bump into the control panel, which jabbed her fingers forward onto the hyperspace trigger. Starlines formed and the ship flickered and disappeared into hyperspace.

 

Meanwhile, Brina had stood up on her chair, firmly trying to get ahold of herself. There was no way that these things could be real, she repeated over and over. She took amazingly good care of the Crazy Mynock, and there was no way that she wouldn't have noticed nesting critters.

 

But a moment later, the spiders vanished as quickly as they had come as the ship got far enough away from the Resort to break Brina free from Slicer's interference. She heaved a sigh of relief and slumped down in her chair. Must have been a bloody Force user. She shivered. At least I know one is on my tail now other than Faust.

[Slicer]

Slicer raised an eyebrow.... he had been felt out by one, no wait two different persons. Neither had been what he had expected but both had been annoying. The first one had seemed focused, as if he was dedicated to finding the bounty hunter in the vast expanse of space.

 

He hadn't even had the time to think good luck with that buddy before it seemed action took the place of stealth. He gave a sigh. It seemed that these days even the smallest trace of energy could be detected. Unlike times past when sensors couldn't notice things that were not the size of a missile and or relying on fuel to reach a destination. Not that he was one to talk with advanced sensors of his own.

 

Still it felt like with in moments his ship had been located via the Force alone. That and some lightbeams, that in the three dimensional realm of space, had located his general area and acted similar to radio or perhaps an SEM. A sigh escaped him.

 

Fighting it was always with the fighting.

 

He broke his concentration and began speaking to the AI flying his ship. The use of more than one AI had its purposes, yet it was still odd at times to allow some one else to fly your ship, even if you did build it yourself. He knew what was coming next, and made sure the AI knew it as well. The second AI told him of the recent achievement that it had finished gleaning the location right before the Yt-2400 had jumped. However, a different AI had attempted to hold up its progress. At least there had been some good news.

 

As the E-wings moved to a position to fire Slicer prepared himself in the Force. Their beams lanced out across space, and before the eyes of both pilots, a large explosion played out as the stealth ship seem to be destroyed upon impact. Of course this was an illusion but they would be hard pressed to figure such out. After all the stealth ship wouldn't have had its shields activated, though they had been, and no matter what read out they looked at, everything would point to a sudden burst of energy and then nothing in that location. Though a log looked through after the influence of the bounty hunter was gone would reveal the truth.

 

Yet the Hashasheen emissary had not been destroyed in the preemptive attack of two murderous pilots. Instead of being destroyed outside of a resort of civilians, the AI had waited until the last possible second to make its own move. Working in tandem with its master, it had fired up the engines, made sure the shields were raised and, had high tailed it out of there. The burst of energy that the enemy AI would read would at first be assumed to be the explosion of the ship. Though out of the group only it would not be fooled for long. Still it was long enough, as instead of fighting the Hashasheen emissary made the jump to hyperspace. Time was money, and dealing with two thug pilots in E-wings shooting at everything in system was not on Slicer's to do list.

 

( I rather not take on two ships if I can help it)

[Cyrus Knight]

Hanging out in space and waiting for the YT-2400 to leave, Cyrus was sure to get the jump vector when it finally did. During the wait, he'd had to endure a curious attempt to make him think there were spiders aboard his ship. He concluded very quickly that there was a Sith Master in the area, apparently attempting to discourage people from leaving.

 

He didn't apparently count on trying to trick people that had Cyrus' skill set. Without going into too much detail, he had the mental training to resist a dark side Force attack, learned from the Sith Order's most historical enemies.

 

The attack withstood, Cyrus hit the hyperspace levers, following Brina's vector toward her destination and using his navicomputer to make the necessary calculations to figure out where it was she was going.

[Gren Sairdonga]

As everything around them flashed into hyperspace or exploded Gren sighed. Party over. He hadn't even got a real fight out of anyone. It made send though, he wasn't the target, wasting time fighting him was dangerous and pointless. But still, a little bit of a knuckle dust would have been fun. As it was he arrowed down to inspect the stealth craft they'd detonated. He'd been told stories of the first Death Star the Empire had ever built. How an untrained force sensitive farmboy had shot proton torpedoes down a two meter shaft flying full pelt down a trench with a Sith Lord on his tail and a dead droid. Seeing as droids were those older X-Wings targeting computers that made the feat even greater. But the greatest thing of all. He'd done it with his eyes closed and no guidance control help. If some farmboy could do that then it wasn't so surprising he could locate another force user out in the depths of space and put beams on him.

 

Speaking of, Gren frowned. I should be flying through ship debris by now. Then it hit him. He did another mind trick! Then jumped out Swearing Gren tailed around. He wasn't worried about the second ship. It by all appearances had tried to simply follow her vector. A feat which had proven to be nigh impossible for even a fleet, much less a lone ship. Besides it was easy to shuck. A blind jump to space then a series of counter jumps. Still it was the AI that had tried to slice into the nav computer he was concerned with. That was Mother's domain.

 

With the enemy threat all gone the need for TacComm procedures went out the window.

 

"Mother talk to me. What happened with that AI slicer."

 

"It got into the computer."

 

"... So its following her? Are you serious? What kind of Electronic Warfare suite did the Antarian's load into you?"

 

"Quite a good one. Let me clarify old bean. It got in. I fed it a set of co-ordinates it took to be the real set. So with any luck they should chase her all the way to Ryloth before they realize they've been had. As long as she stops and removes the pair of signals from her ships surface she'll avoid him in future. Also I performed a counter-slice whilst I was at work I got good deal of interesting info out of the threats computer. I'll brief you on it later."

 

"Nice work Mother. I think that deserves an oil bath! Tell the rest of the squadron we're going to Coruscant and they're to take a weeks furlough then meet us there. Follow on at best speed. Col same goes to you."

 

"Mate I AM Corellian. Where else am I going to go but where the fight is? And it seems to orbit around you for some odd reason."

 

"Alright well lets do it then. See you there."

 

Hitting the lever Gren watched the stars stretch to infinity.

[The Mouth of Ar-Pharazon]

Leaning forward, the Mouth of Ar-Pharazon relaxed, resting his aging arms along the sides of the luxurious hot tub, safely away from the dangers outside. A professional masseuse, employed by the Link's premier resort, rubbed his uptight back and shoulders. The Mouth was seemingly in heaven, sitting cozily in warm, bubbly water that was now scented with floral oil from the gift basket he received on arrival. It was tantalizing.

 

”œCould you turn on the news?”

[Quintus Song]

Quintus, after a brief pit-stop to fight the eternal battle against delerium tremens with the power of vodka, strolled over to an information kiosk. He was pretty new at this bounty hunting thing, so he figured he'd just play it straight.

 

"Hey," he said to the receptionist. "I'm here to abduct an, er, Miss Brina Thalin and deliver her to an unknown malefactor who quite possibly wants to rape, mutilate or murder her. Or all three. Any idea where I can find her?"

[Brina Thalin]

The receptionist, a blue female Twi'lek, looked at Quintus curiously, then chuckled. "Come on, tell the truth, what can I help you with?"

 

Her coworker, a human female with blond hair, overheard the conversation and glanced critically at Quintus for a moment. "I think he is telling the truth," she told the Twi'lek.

 

"If he was telling the truth, he wouldn't have told us!" the Twi'lek replied.

 

"Unless he knew that you wouldn't believe the truth even if he told you," the woman replied. It was clear she thought little of the Twi'lek. She turned to the bounty hunter. "Sorry, but information on Director Thalin's whereabouts is classified at this time. Is there anything else we can help you with?"

[The Mouth of Ar-Pharazon]

The Mouth of Ar-Pharazon was anxious to get out of his room for a while. Completely uncovered except for his large resort beach towel, that was wrapped around his swim trunks; he made his way through a long hallway, toward the swimming facility. He had waited until later at night, with the hope that it would be less crowded. It seemed like a good idea. Making his way inside, his hunch proved worthwhile. There were several swimming pools, and only a handful of people were using one of them.

 

”œPerfect,”

[Qaela]

The Resort was far more expensive than anything Qaela had been in before. She was disgusted by the opulence and plain wastefulness the technology and luxury addicted Galaxy could come up with. Nobody needed all of this, nobody.

 

She was queried about staying here, but said she was not here to rent, just to conduct some business. The receptionist wasn't too thrilled, but Qaela mentioned she was a personal aide to the Dark Lord and was here to meet with another Sith. That didn't exactly make them happy to see her, but they did let her land, but not before warning her that weapons were not allowed and any violence would meet with very painful repercussions. Clearly, they knew what happened when Sith met up.

 

Qaela didn't bother to bring even her wooden knife. If she needed weapons on this mission, she had already failed. The security forces at the station scanned her multiple times before letting her on board, but the only thing she had was a low cut black dress, a simple datapad, and a commlink. After convincing themselves that she wasn't a threat, she requested to speak with the Mouth of Ar-Pharazon and was taken only to a general wing of the station.

 

She sensed the deadness before even entering it. As with the times she went to the Last Call, she didn't enjoy losing her connection to her spellcraft. Still, it was what was needed at this moment. Those who escorted her didn't bother helping her in her search, clearly they had something against her, the Mouth, Sith, or some combination of the three.

 

She began combing the area asking whatever employees she came across about the Mouth. Without being able to use the Force, it would be difficult to find him, especially if he was in his room. She couldn't make an announcement over the intercoms, but she could make it well known that she was searching for the Mouth and hope he would come to her.

[The Mouth of Ar-Pharazon]

The Mouth of Ar-Pharazon climbed up and out of the swimming pool. He was exhausted. It had proven to be an intense, yet enjoyable work out. Too long had it been since the last time he could just cut loose in the pool, do some laps, dive for rings, and even just practice his various swim strokes. He was also satsified with the pool's low urine content. Some of the less glamorous pools on Coruscant were over 70-75% pee, yet the pools at the Kat Nargal Resort were no higher than 35%-40% pee. That was a nice change of pace. Though, the Mouth would not admit it, the waters might have increased by a percentage point or two, from when he dove in initially, to when he climbed out. Luckily, anything under 62% pee was still considered completely safe and swimmable.

 

To punctuate his aquatic experience, the Mouth made his way back to his room, in order to grab his cigarettes. As easy as it would have been to just smoke in his room, he decided not to. The Kat Nargal Resort had been more than accommodating for his visit, so he had no intention of breaking their no-smoking policy, even though he strongly disagreed with it. Hurrying, in order to get his fix, he changed back into his normal clothes, with the black garb and cape. He crowned himself with his signature gigantic helm, covering his dead eyes. He also brushed his teeth, because it added a fun sting to the menthols. Then, once ready, he made his way to the designated smoking area near the entrance.

 

Once there, he sat in a large glass chamber. There were loud fans spinning and various air filters, circulating air in and out of the room. He turned on a Holonet sphere and glanced at the news. Without wasting another moment he lit one of his cigarettes and took a long drag. It was a friggin' godsend.

[Qaela]

After searching a significant portion of the hub she had been led to, Qaela saw something that caught her eye. It was a glint of metal, but not like what she was used to seeing with helmets. It was older looking more rough around the edges.

 

She changed course to investigate and entered an area that reeked of smoke. It wasn't a natural, wholesome wood smoke, but something else, something she didn't like at all. As she got closer, she saw the being that wore it and recognized him from the various holos she brought with her from the Sith Temple. It was her target, one whom she wished to speak with.

 

She approached the man and sat near him. She waited a couple of moments before speaking, "You are the Mouth. I am Zemosa and I wish to get into contact with Sith Master Ar-Pharazon in order to relay some information he will most likely find of great interest."

[The Mouth of Ar-Pharazon]

”œWhoa kid!”

[Qaela]

Qaela was not moved. While a name had power, it didn't have that much power. Perhaps this being””she hesitated to call him a male””before her was so twisted and warped by this Sith that he could think of nothing else. Either way, she didn't think that the Sith would have any anger over hearing what she had to say. "Only a fool would speak of what I wish to tell him in a place where our very words could be monitored. I can assure you that he will be most interested, if not pleased, with my offer. We should go to your ship where we can discuss this away from prying eyes."

[The Mouth of Ar-Pharazon]

The Mouth was not born yesterday. He was born some 1,500,000 days ago. If there was advantage to be reaped, he would sow his ensorcelled seed carefully. ”œBefore we continue discussions, I'd like to know where you'll be sleeping tonight? It's a big, dangerous galaxy out there, and these discussions could take us very late into night.”

[Qaela]

Qaela was not amused. She knew precisely what he was asking and had often insinuated it herself in various forms, but this was not an option. Though, to completely refuse would invite insult that may not be the best idea, even in a place such as this where the Force was removed. She would have to phrase things carefully. "I have come from a short stop on Coruscant and before that, other places. To me, it is just past lunchtime, so I am not tired. My business will not take long and when it is over, I will need to depart so that the Sith whom I previously referenced will be able to collect. You are kind to be concerned for my wellbeing, but I am most well taken care of by my slaves."

[The Mouth of Ar-Pharazon]

”œAll right,”

[Qaela]

Qaela shook her head, "No, not here where people can listen. Once on your ship, I will talk."

 

((Not much more I can do, it is up to you to get them on your ship should you choose to.))

[The Mouth of Ar-Pharazon]

”œAlright,”

[Qaela]

Qaela was surprised at the ship they went to. She expected something more flashy, something better suited for the typical Sith vanity. Perhaps minions did deserve that much.

 

"As promised, my name is Qaela Zemosa. At the moment, the Dark Lord Haphaestus believes me to be merely his apprentice, though I would beg to differ in that I am not a Sith nor have any desire to be one. Despite that, I do share the Sith's love for darkness, hatred for the light and Jedi, and a thirst for power.

 

"I am coming to you because I believe that, unlike Haphaestus, the Sith Master whose name I mentioned earlier is willing to strike out at the Jedi instead of playing nice with them. While Haphaestus is able to teach me some interesting things, he is either too wrapped up in complex plans of his own or he is unwilling to actually fight the Jedi.

 

"I offer the precise, real time location of the Grandmaster wherever he may go and the information that, at least as of a week and a half ago, he was nearly alone in his present location with few if any Jedi or soldiers with him. If the Sith Master whose name I mentioned earlier is anything like what others say of him and what history has recorded, he will be most interested in that information."

[The Mouth of Ar-Pharazon]

”œOh, you can say his name in my ship. Ar-Pharazon! Say it all you want. I just don't want to mention it inside the resort. Master Ar-Pharazon has, let's just say”¦ defiled the owner. It was quite the mess. So”¦ understandably, they hate him here. I'm actually surprised they even let me in. I had to take a few oaths not to screw with anything. But what you say does sound very important. Therefore, I am willing to give you his whereabouts; however I would once again like you to reconsider sharing my bed, at least for a night.”

[Qaela]

Qaela sighed in exasperation. Sometimes, youth and beauty were a curse more than a benefit. Now that they were in his own ship, he was a threat."I must be departing immediately. If you try to force the issue, I probably can't stop you, but I can guarantee that you will hurt in places where males really don't want to hurt and afterwards, Ar-Pharazon will not receive the information he desires. No amount of torture can force my hand, either, because to inflict pain of the magnitude required to break my will will make it impossible for me to track the Grandmaster. With or without your help, I will eventually find Ar-Pharazon, all I need to do is follow the greatest amount of carnage. The problem is that by then, the Grandmaster could have moved to a better protected location or my ability to track him will no longer be present.

 

"So choose, what is more important to you? A moment of probably less than pleasurable lust at the risk of angering your master and losing your ability to ever sing a bass, or helping me give him the opportunity to strike at the leader of the Jedi when he is vulnerable?"

[The Mouth of Ar-Pharazon]

”œAll right, Al Qaela, I believe my master has plans to be on Bespin sometime soon. Compared to an entire planet, finding one man in Cloud City should be a relatively simple exercise. I trust you can handle it.”

[Qaela]

With another sigh and a shake of her head, Qaela left the ship. She did want to get moving before the Grandmaster moved to a more secure location and didn't know how long it would take to locate Ar-Pharazon. She hadn't been to Bespin before, but it would be an interesting time. At least the planet was extremely limited in where people lived as opposed to a highly populated planet like Coruscant or a spread out population like Dathomir. She returned to her ship and gave the directions to Gorgeni to get them to Cloud City.

[The Mouth of Ar-Pharazon]

Feeling considerably ”œblocked,”

[Exavior Correl]

Like hundreds of ships before it had done, a rather unassuming small shuttle popped out of hyperspace, and immediately began moving towards the Resort. The ship would be identified as one belonging to the Black Sun, but given that the ship had no real name of its own, as well as it being unarmed, there would hopefully not be a problem. As the ship approached, it went through all the necessary scans, sweeps, re-scans, re-sweeps that the tower deemed necessary. The scans and sweeps would reveal nothing out of the ordinary about the shuttle, having just two life signs aboard. Soon enough, the request to land came. There would no need to break the rules at such a resort.

 

"This is Exavior Correl, aboard shuttle VX7-W3, requesting a landing berth at the Kat Nargal Resort."

[Brina Thalin]

Exavior was granted clearance to land after several longer checks and scans. The Link had always been cautious with members of the Black Sun, and their suspicions had only increased since their director had been forced on the run by an unknown force. Many employees had no doubt that Black Sun was after Ms. Thalin, and so security was quite tight.

 

Once the shuttle landed, security guards greeted the two passengers to escort them through security and confiscate their weapons.

[Exavior Correl]

The shuttle landed without incident, and was immediately greeted by security guards, much to the chagrin of Exavior.

 

"I suppose using a Black Sun shuttle could have something to do with that..." He said to himself with a chuckle. But the security was a bit on the 'overkill' side, considering that only one man, a tall man with silver-gray, salt and peppered hair, exited the shuttle. He wore his usual casual attire when he wasnt in a combat situation, along with a small earpeice for communication purposes. He looked around at the security guards and greeted them all individually with nods. 'No reason not to be civil' he thought. He then explained to the guards, as they walked towards the security check station, that it would just be him entering the resort, as his pilot was to remain with the ship until further notice.

 

After having his person checked once more, and all weapons turned over in the most cooperative and civil way possible, he then requested a room. This was to be his vacation, even if he was expecting someone to come find him here. No reason not to enjoy all that the resort had to offer. If nothing else, the aged man wanted the security to truly believe that not all of those who were employed by the Black Sun were lacking in respect and civility.

[Brina Thalin]

Given the man's cooperation through the procedures, once he had passed through he was granted a room in Alpha Wing. "Enjoy your stay," the woman behind the desk told him. "And if there is anything you need, don't hesitate to ask."

[Exavior Correl]

He nodded respectfully and took the key to his room, as well as a map to the entire complex from the receptionist and made his way towards Alpha Wing, glancing at the map every so often to make sure he was on the right path. Once at the room, it took him four tries to get the keycard to work right, each time resulting in a whispered curse emanating from his aged face. He liked things much better when they were locked with actual keys rather than electronics. He didnt trust this newer technology really. But eventually the door opened, and in he walked with his small luggage bag, and began settling in.

[Karys Narat iv-Adas]

A Highly secure and encrypted mysterious com message arrives for The Mouth of Ar-Pharazon that reads:

 

---------------------------------------------------------------

 

Greetings, you are the one many call the Mouth are you not. I hear you are the one to speak to if I wish to contact Lord Ar-Pharazon. You are a hard man to find as is your master.

 

Tell your master that I wish to meet with him if possible as soon as he is able on a matter of great importance, that I have information relating to the Dark Lord that he will be very interested in hearing...information that could possibly rock the foundations of the Sith Order itself.

 

If he asks whom asked for this meeting tell him it is a mutual acquitance who has a interesting proposition for him if he is willing to meet and if so to meet somewhere neutral and free of the force...for my safety and to ensure we are both on equal footing. That is all.

 

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