First Blush

Posted on Mon Sep 7th, 2020 @ 4:47am by Spacer Ariadne Azanni
Edited on on Mon Sep 7th, 2020 @ 6:55am

Mission: Episode 1 - All Roads Lead to Nowhere
Location: Port Nowhere
Timeline: After "Taking a Chance on a Shadow"

Jedi.

Why the Kel Dor wanted to affiliate with them was anyone's guess. Ariadne held respect for them as capable warriors and canny opponents, but their whole Force shtick made them stodgy and impure in the eyes of her culture. Anyone can win a battle with the right advantage. Knowledge of the force did not equate to martial prowess.

Oh well. Contacting the voluptuous Twi'lek was not the weirdest thing Ariadne had done in the service of Hud Ubar. She had met a few Kel Dors before, but that one was unique. From what she knew, he was not a Jedi, yet he was still one of those Force types. What he was doing was anyone's guess. Between the war that had wracked the galaxy to the shifting undercurrents in the criminal black markets, the winds of change could not be blowing any harder. If Ubar had a plan, then why not see where it went? Ariadne need not look far for worse lieges.

There was also the matter of the favor.

Ariadne let a shudder flow through her body at the thought of it and followed it up by a wry smirk.

Things were different now. Evidently Ubar had deep pockets, or was pilfering someone who did. Such a patron was a dangerous game. But life was risk, just like war. For Ariadne's part, if she was in for a penny, she was in for a pound.

That was what set her on the tail of pale Umbaran man clad in black battle armor. It was nondescript save for a dull symbol of an alternating circle on a half disc. Her target had arrived.

Walking in an even stride, she kept her eyes forward as she kept pace with him. When he stopped, she kept walking until the next opportunity to change pace presented itself. Waiting, smiling, engaging in pseudo-interactions, Ariadne kept a weather eye on her charge. Eventually he made his move, and so did she.

The Umbaran walked into what appeared to be an abandoned quarter, and so Ariadne darted after him. Only an idiot would go through the same door as he did. Searching along the side, Ariadne found a handily loose grate for the air exchange to the internal structure. Evidently it had been a climate controlled storage unit.

Ariadne pried it free, slid inside, and then returned the cover to its position. No point in advertising her ingress. The air exchange vent slowly wound its way deep into the storage unit's interior. How big was this thing anyway? Eventually Ariadne began to hear voices, which made her slow her crawl and listen.

While she had never heard the Umbaran's voice before, it seemed reasonable that he was one of the speakers. Another voice sounded filtered, perhaps digitally so. Maybe a Skakoan? Ubar had said nothing about that. Most Skakoans were connected to the Techno Union. Techno Union reps were ubiquitously flanked by battle droids.

Reaching the interior vent grate, Ariadne couldn't see or hear much of anything. The voices sounded distant enough that Ariadne risked slipping out of the vent. The room was dark and, to her other senses, confined on three sides. She crept to the edge of the dividing wall and peeked around to view the larger expanse. What had been a small warehouse was now a vacant space where the armored Umbaran faced a...

Holographic Zabrak.

And it seemed their conversation was over. The hologram dropped, revealing another party on the other side. It was indeed a Skakoan and he was flanked by half a dozen battle droids, just as Ariadne expected. Their conversation seemed at a close.

"I will be waiting, Deputy Foreman," the Umbaran said before taking his leave.

Ariadne watched him walk out of sight and waited for the sound of a door closing before she made her move. She pulled the handle of her ritual brand from her back and sprinted straight for the Skakoan. Her orders from Ubar were to assassinate the Umbaran's contact, whomever they would be, and that's what she would do.

First she would have to cut through his droid guards, which she did with ease. The dual blades popped from either end of her brand as she fell into a spin. Her family's ritual brand was a blurred whirlwind that dropped half the droids in seconds. Three remaining droids rallied enough to turn their blasters on her, but Ariadne ducked into a roll that allowed her to attack low on the nearest droid, sweep the mid-range droid, and then leap in the air to dodge the farthest one. She landed halfway to it, which was just right. She took an inverted step, pivoted on one foot, and thrust her brand to full extension. The droid didn't even get off another round, nor did the one on the ground. She severed its head with a swift stab as she fell into a closing kata stance.

With the guards defeated, she expected the Skakoan Techno Union rep to run, fight, or do something, but he just stood there motionless. Well, not completely. He... was flickering.

Ariadne's battle sense flared, compelling her to spin around with her brand upraised in a defensive position out of pure reflex. The clang of the vibrosword that nearly took her head off resounded in her ears. The Umbaran had returned. How had he gotten the drop on her?

"Deputy Foreman Ondar has already taken his leave," the Umbaran said. "I knew I had a tail. What I didn't know--"

The ritual brand parried the vibrosword aside as Ariadne went for a swift counterstroke. But the Umbaran wasn't where he had been a moment ago.

"E chu ta," Ariadne gasped. This guy was quick.

She took a step back and twirled her brand about in a figure eight windmill just to fend off his pressed attack. Once she'd regained her footing, though, she riposted with a glancing blow to the epaulet of his battle armor that would've disabled a regular thug. Instead, the Umbaran just smiled.

"Did you even know who you were tasked with following?" he asked, his tone smug and glib. "I presume not. Nobody knowingly pursues Mun Zuir."

Ariadne's face twisted into a snarl. She became resolved to wipe that smug look off his face. Rather than another slash, she merely feinted before smashing her brand's hilt up to his face and spinning around for an impalement. The technique would have worked, except that her brand became locked in place. Not with all her might could she move it one way or another.

The blood ran from her already pale face. This Mun Zuir was more than she had presumed. She needed an immediate change of tactics. Reaching for curved daggers at her belt, Ariadne barely cleared them from their sheaths before her throat began to close in on itself. Her silver eyes shot wide as she found herself unable to breathe. Her hands grasped at her collar, but it was no fabric choking her.

Mun Zuir of the Crimson Dawn held his hand outstretched, his fingers clenching empty air. "As I was saying, I knew I was being followed, but I did not know by whom or for what purpose. You will tell me who sent you, and then you will die. However long that takes is entirely up to you."

Whatever retort was on Ariadne's tongue only came out as a garble.