Of Heirs And Hunters; Vol. I

[Tiberius Semper]

NAR SHADDAA, Y’TOUB SYSTEM GROUND LEVEL, UNDERCITY​

AN ABANDONED SHIPYARD​

The Vosadii Kajidic was long known for it's stranglehold over the Hutt Cartel, and as its power grew steadily over the years, they had managed nearly to a man to create a chain of event's that culminated in the rise of Borga Vosadii Pronda to the head of the Cartel. As Granee Lorda, Borga oversaw one of the Cartel greatest resurgence in its power, as he successfully halted the Imperial gains that had long plagued the reign of Vero and ushered in a new age of prosperity and growth that saw increased revenue, as well as startling and innovative changes to the Cartel and it's leadership - even going as much as to place a human!!! on the Throne of one of the Council's seat. However these changes were not as well received as he would have liked, and as his power and control over the Cartel grew - so did his enemies. The Kormtha Kajidic in particular was incensed that a puny little human was elevated to lead them, and blindly refused to accept his leadership until after a clever and brilliant stratagem by the notorious Jack Tamblyn kept them in line. In addition, the criminal organization's that dotted the galaxy raised their head as they saw the troubles that plagued the Cartel - the Black Sun stepped up its campaign of reclamation, the Exchange started to solidify its stranglehold over the slave trade in Imperial Space, the GenoHaradan even reared their head in an attempt to steer the fate of several planets outside Imperial control and even the Bounty Hunters Guild made some moves to secure its own freedom. All this was just the catalyst for something greater, and with the disappearance and startling silence that was coming from the office of the great Granee Lorda, those elements were coming together to form a dastardly plot to undermine and divide the once mighty Cartel and one Hutt stood out among the others as the prime target. Arok Vosadii Pronda. As the vanished heir to the Vosadii Kajidic, as well as Borga's own son, Arok was a high profile target for the destabilization and the division that was wanted by the shadowy figure that sat inside the abandoned shipyard. Already his minions had started reclaiming the old shipyards that dotted the surface of the moon-world, and had rebuilt and repurposed a few for his own needs - leaving the crumbling outside as a cunning facade to conceal their endeavors. Inside the broken down shipyard, the rooms were shockingly modern with the best technology that money could buy, and some that couldn't be furnishing the sprawling complex and turning it into one of the most effective intelligence gathering and central planing hub on the moon. Rows of computer-banks lined entire sections, cameras jutted around from nearly every conceivable hole capturing everything and sending its signals to a complex A.I brain tasked solely with monitoring and defending the complex from wandering eyes. a massive room was equipped as a command and control room where numerous sentients rushed around purposefully, obeying whatever commands they had been issued with alacrity and zeal. Inside a private room that was lit by a menacing and slightly off putting red glow the figure looked through the Intel gathered on Arok and his activities and began to formulate a plan. Plans would need to be adjusted, time-tables switched, personnel moved about and the right equipment requisitioned if this operation was going to be pulled off without a hitch. And although the shadow's hid it, the figure grinned with pleasure as he imagined the future without the vile presence of Arok the Hutt. But there was also one other issue - who was going to do the deed. It wouldn't do for someone of their own to be questioned in the small chance that the mission might fail and thus give everything away. They would need an independent Hunter, someone who's motivations were all about the job and not about any form of ideology, someone who would be strong enough to complete the assignment, someone who wouldn't break under questioning. The figure looked through the information packages given to him by his aide and sifted through profiles from the various organizatoins in the galaxy. There were top level Bounty Hunters from the Guild, incredibly lethal assassin's from the GenoHaradan, Hunter-Trackers from Kushar, criminal masterminds from Black Sun and even a few talented Bounty Hunters from the Cartel itself. The figure dismissed those first, as he didn't want word of the impending strike reaching the wrong ears at the wrong time, and proceeded to winnow down the candidates. Opening up an pilfered and heavily bribed for ISB case file he looked at the contents and settled down to read. Dreedo Intan was a Rodian terrorist who had caused the deaths of over 100 people in a blast. A demolitions expert and a skilled marksman Dreedo was known to have sucessfully assassinated over 6 targets in addition to successfully arranging for more then two dozen terrorist attacks. Moving on to the next file, the figure tapped a few buttons and a spinning Holographic image snapped into being, slowly transforming into a perfect replica and the splitting image of a towering Kushari, Kholvar Varaxes. According to his NATORI file, as well the ISB file that they had on him, Kholvar was a skilled tracker, hunter and assassin. He has a perfect record, never failing a contract; was a member of the team that had created so much mayhem and destruction on Zonju V as well as coming in 3rd place in the Grand Hunt; and most imperssive was the bringing in of Cartel Champios - Tylas Zel, alive and unharmed picking up a nice bargain in the meantime with the prize money from not only the Grand Hunt but also from his successful career as a Bounty Hunter. The shadowy figure paused, and picked up the giant Kushari's dossier once more. Here seemed to be a likely candidate, and one who was surely skilled and powerful enough to complete the assignment. He tossed the other dossier's onto his desk for further reading and then sent a cyptic message to a certain individual who would know how to contact the massive Cat. Pleased with his decision as well as the way things were going, he settled down to wait for a reply to his message.

 

[Logan]

A minute sliver of silver floated lazily in the vastness of space, almost impossible to notice set on the backdrop of an infinite number of twinkling stars and far off planets. Inside slept a lone sentient, the same solitary man who'd let his ship drift endlessly through nothingness for the past week or so now. It wasn't that his ship was damaged or otherwise not operating correctly, in fact there wasn't a single thing wrong with it at all. It was more the fact that, every once in awhile, Kholvar Varaxes liked to disappear for a few weeks and rest. It was down time the great Kushari desperately needed, his dealings under his Sith guise were becoming ever more frequent and time consuming. Not that he was complaining, almost all of the work he'd been doing he'd done willingly, but Kholvar still wasn't quite used to not being a completely free spirit. The Sith had been pulling the reigns on the old work horse a little too tightly lately and he just needed to take a step back.

There was more too it than that of course, Kholvar was having more than one internal crisis because of his affiliation with the Sith. That fact was something he'd worked very hard to keep secret, but he was beginning to lose sight of where Vecna started and Kholvar Varaxes ended. His two personalities were beginning to unravel as separate entities, weaving themselves back together as a singular tapestry - except Kholvar Varaxes took a major backseat to Vecna. He had goals, plans that were just beginning to set forth and all of them required his involvement with the Sith to be fulfilled. Part of him thought it would just be easier to leave the Kholvar part of him behind, insert himself fully into the Imperium and never look back. He had contacts, though, and acquaintances that he did not want to lose still tied to that part of his life. If he made his current affiliations known he'd surely lose them all, and that just wasn't something he was willing to do. Not yet, anyway. There was one person in particular that he did not want to lose. Not that he'd ever told anyone of her existence, though.

Not like he knew anyone who'dve cared, anyway.

Kholvar heard the small beep of a message arriving at his terminal before the AI in his ship announced it and roused him fully from his slumber. Rubbing sleep from his eye, Kholvar growled with irritation as he swung his legs off the side of the bed."I thought I told you to hold all messages until I said otherwise. Do I need to replace my AI?"

"No sir, but after a preliminary scan of its contents i thought it might interest you enough to break that protocol."

"For your sake I hope you're right."

Walking over to the terminal and sitting down, Kholvar lit the thick stub of a cigar he'd left sitting near the keyboard before he'd gone to bed. He typed a few keystrokes and brought up his inbox, inside lay waiting the cryptic message from a mystery benefactor. Something about utilizing his "services" to dispatch a "particular problem." A small grin creased the corners of Kholvar's mouth as he came across the offered payout, and with a few more keystrokes he sent back a message that couldn't possibly be misconstrued.

Yes.

 

[Tiberius Semper]

One of the junior aids in charge of monitoring a few of the computer screens, and organizing the information flow into coherent and useful data streams was lazily scanning the boards, and occasionally checking the news on his personal datapad or playing the newest game from Gungan Innovations when his supervisor wasn't looking. Suddenly the console beeped and a new item flashed onto the holographic screen. The aid looked up from his datapad and quickly opened up the file that had been sent, it looked to be an Alpha Code I, and with growing excitement he initiated the decryption sequence. It took quite a while for the heavily coded and encrypted file to download and open in its unshielded form, but eventually it did and when the aid sent the file onto his supervisor's mainframe, he couldn't help but sneak a quick peek into it.

He had never seen a Alpha Code I message in the three years of his employment in the shadowy and powerful organization, and he had thought that they were nearly a myth told to the rookie's as a way of teasing them. Utilizing the formidable and highly professional slicing skills that were one of the reasons he was hired for this outfit, he delicately ran a program that would enable him to access the file without it alerting anyone that he was inside as well as erasing all traces of his illegal foray and after a few seconds his datapad notified him silently that he was in. Opening up the file he was disappointed and extremely confused - the message contained one word. Yes.

The aide raised an eyebrow at that and deleted the message from his datapad while he pondered the significance of that one word. All that heavy inscription for one measly word? that was a little overkill..., the aide thought and he was mightily intrigued by the puzzle presented to him. So engrossed was he in pondering this, that he didn't notice the two dangerously competent and burly security agents silently walk up to his position and without any ceremony tag him with a stun baton. He crumpled in a smoking heap of twitching and jerking limbs, his body so shocked that he hadn't even had time to let out a shout. Without any more words one of the agent's drew a small handgun and promptly executed him on the spot before they dragged his inert carcass outside the room and down to the incinerator.

The dark figure smiled gleefully when he opened the message that had been forwarded to him, and reading the one word on his screen gave him a warm glow in his heart, and his grin broadened even more when he saw that his other play had also met with success. It seemed that even inside the House of Pronda there were snakes and worms twisting silently through the cracks, slowly borrowing through the very defenses of the once great family, and this made his job so much easier.

He clasped his fingers together pensively as he thought about what his next move would be, and then smiling to himself he called in his top lieutenant and explained to him what they would need. Nodding to his boss, the Aqualish lieutenant bowed deeply before exiting and then went on to organize his boss wishes - there was a foolproof identity to be manufactured and bought, there was a safe house to arrange, and equipment to requisition so that when the time came and the massive cat arrived he would have everything available to him to complete his mission.

Soon enough with the efficiency borne of a large amount of bribes, and a healthy dose of fear everything was arranged and when the Kushari would arrive on Nar Shadda he would find a lavish villa assigned to him from the rental company that he had been directed to locate, paid for already by the "Hartman & Son's Tourism" company for the duration of three months, a luxury speeder speeder that from the outside oozed wealth but from the inside was all power, speed, and lethal weaponry hidden in the guise of a corporate speeder. As a newly hired CEO and board member, the company was sparing no expenses to make the Kushari at home and feel welcome to his new job as the head of the company that was aiming to build a market in Kushar.

Once he would arrive in the villa proper, he would find that given a certain unique code phrases the beautifully appointed and richly furnished house would turn into a veritable armory, with nearly every sort of weapon - laser, plasma, slugthrower, dart, melee and explosive - at his disposal as well as a bewildering array of protection devices lying there ready for his use. After more then two dozen decades of planning and scheming, this opening gambit in a grand and terrible game was about to be put into motion and nothing was being spared for its success.

 

[The Kyzer]

"Madam, we've received word from Calico."

Mjolla Varneslan, Champion of Clan Anjiliac, put down her datapad calmly before turning toward her personal aide. It wasn't often that Gina interrupted her, which meant that it was clearly of the utmost importance. Calico was the name of one of Mjolla's old contacts, one which had served her well for years. Only the Champion herself knew the old man's identity, and had been very careful over the years to keep his cover intact. Publicly, he was a low-ranking member of Natori Security Corporation, and that's precisely what he was. He just happened to also be one of Natori's talented computer technicians and spent the majority of his day monitoring NSC's database. While some might view that as a menial task and a rather limited source, especially considering the fact that Mjolla herself had access to the NSC's databanks these days, the Champion herself treasured the old man now more than ever. He alone could report on database inquiries which had been key in solving previous situational dilemmas.

"Hand it over," Mjolla ordered before noticing that Gina had already placed the tiny heavily-encrypted datapad before her employer.

Spike of inquiries regarding bounty hunters. Specifically independent killers with a dispensation for working inside of Cartel space.

Anjiliac's top killer sighed and hit the purge-button on the datapad. The old man had thought this little bit of information important. Well, he'd always pulled through for her in the past, but she failed to see how it could be relevant. It was the Hutt Cartel, after all. Everyone was plotting to kill everyone else and that's just how things worked. Naturally, there were certain unspoken rules that kept the peace, but Mjolla personally worried that the peace was coming to an end. Borga's inaction and seclusion were beginning to be noted by people who might use it to their advantage. Naturally, it was Mjolla's job to keep that from happening.

"What are your thoughts on the matter, Gina?"

"I suspect that Calico believes an attack is imminent," the cyborg replied with a shrug, "and with the search parameters, he thinks that it's to be directed toward a member of the Cartel."

"And do you concur?"

"Yes, I do," Gina answered matter-of-factly, "though I think it's more than that. Many have begun to take note of Borga's seclusion and the growing power of the individual Clans. I hypothesize an attack on Borga to complete the growing divide in the Cartel."

"I'm not so sure on the target, but the goal is clear. We must learn more. Respond to Calico. Ask him to keep us apprised of any possible developments."

The human replica droid merely nodded. Her employer's logic was cold and sound, which was something that Gina actually admired about her. Most organics were too heavily influenced by emotion to come to a decision. However, Gina was irritated by the lack of knowledge around this particular situation, and she was sure that her boss was equally angered. She didn't know that Mjolla was actually positively furious. Someone even thinking of attempting a destabilizing attack on the Cartel was enough to warrant a death sentence for one's entire genetic line and familiars.

We must learn more.

And when we do? the Other One asked from the depths of Mjolla's subconsciousness.

You and I will deal with them.

 

[Logan]

The ship Kholvar had been provided with slipped into the private dock of a lavish villa, pulling up and landing with little more than a swoosh of wind and a silent whisper. The Kushari made a mental note to look into buying one of them for himself, though from the looks of the amenities on the inside it would probably cost much, much more than the frugal kitten was willing to pay for the simple luxury of stealth and silence. Sliding his massive frame out of the vehicle, Kholvar walked slowly towards the villa, eyes taking it in the entire way. His mysterious benefactor had provided the information about this place, making sure to indicate that this little foray was all inclusive and if there were anything he needed all Kholvar need do is ask.

Crossing the threshold into the villa proper, Kholvar gave the place a quick once over but didn't find himself too impressed by the grandiose furnishings and state-of-the-art everything else. Material possessions were something far below Kholvar's radar when it came to things he cared about, but that wasn't to say that he couldn't appreciate what a couple dozen thousand credits could afford a person. But a ridiculously nice hotel stay wasn't the reason he found himself here, and reaching into his pocket to retrieve a code he'd been given Kholvar decided it was time to get down to business. Speaking the code out loud, a simple string of seven random digits that'd have a snowball's chance in hell of being said in succession under normal circumstances, Kholvar watched in delight as his bachelor's villa quickly transformed into what could only be described as a fully armed command center. Firearms of every shape, size and calibur lined his walls and all of the end tables morphed into glass cases housing bladed weapons that made Kholvar's typical daggers look like a child's plaything. Everything about this place was a fucking playground and he couldn't get enough.

Kholvar's benefactor had also informed him that he had full access to this villa and all of it's contents for the better part of three months, but he wasn't really looking to make this whole thing take any longer than it needed to. Saddling down in front of a very sleek computer taking up the entirety of one of the far walls, Kholvar typed in a few commands and began the most important part of any hunt, bounty or otherwise: the research. He was going to learn every single fact that he could about his quarry, all of his routines, his haunts, his vices - if the information were available. And Kholvar had learned long ago that all information was available, you just needed to know how far to dig.

 

[Tiberius Semper]

The figure watched as the giant Kushari slowly made his way into the Villa that had been assigned to him, and slowly investigate the house. It seemed that this Hunter was not so attached to material comforts, and his mouth curled into a sneer as he saw the cat ignore the priceless artifacts that he had labored to assemble over the years of his dark exile. The hidden cameras placed inside the grand palace showed him everything that the Hunter was doing, and he smiled with amusement as the house worked it's magic and transformed into a veritable armory that wouldn't have shamed the Imperial Army on Bastion. As he wandered the house checking out all the weapons and assorted gadgets, a mottled hand emerged into the light, covered in great sheets of durasteel and oozing with slime, oil and muck. It slowly typed in a few commands on the keyboard at its arm and then the hand retreated back into the darkness, once more becoming just a massive shapeless shadow inside the dark room. The mysterious person watched as the cameras shifted to a different palace, this one his mortal enemy and the target of this hunt. The Weequay that paced angrily inside the room turned this way and that, constantly brooding and nervously looking at his chrono. As the computer on his desk beeped suddenly he nearly jumped with alarm, cursing in Huttese and holding a hand to his heart as he fought to control his racing heart. Opening up the beeping console, he read the message contained in it and then quickly erased the message, employing the techniques taught to him by his new master as well as then taking out his blaster and reducing the commlink to a charred hulk. He quickly grabbed his personal weapons and then went to the armory where he donned his own personal set of armor and then headed out into the night. Shijo stepped out of the speeder, and then turned towards the taxi pilot who had flown him here. He made as if to take out his wallet, but instead swiftly drew his customized blaster pistol and fired two rounds into the Yuzzum's head. He pushed him towards the other seat and cumbersomely got into the awkwardly sized seat and moved the speeder towards a shadowy alley where it wouldn't be missed and it would be virtually guaranteed that the speeder would be stripped for parts and anything remotely useful would be scavenged by the wild street gangs that roamed the planet. He made his way back towards the Villa, and then slowly eased in making sure to make as much noise as possible so as to not surprise the house's lethal occupant. He knew from his past experience, both as a Bounty Hunter as well as a former soldier that it was never a good thing to surprise someone in his home turf, and even more so a trained and lethal assassin. Looking around the Villa Shijo sneered as he checked out the furnishing and the decorations, his own room in Arok's villa was at least as well appointed as this - but wealth wasn't what he desired. It was Freedom. As Shijo finally found the assassin in one of the rooms, he saw that he was engrossed in the Villa's holoterminal and apparently sifting through the HoloNet on the mainframe. Shijo coughed slightly to make his presence known and he waited for the giant catlike being to acknowledge him.

 

[The Kyzer]

"Madam, we've a possible development."

Mjolla took a deep breath and let it out slowly before speaking to her aid.

"With what?"

"The affair Calico possibly uncovered."

"What's your possible development about a possible plot against an unknown member of the Cartel?" the Champion asked flatly.

"There was a spike in activity an hour ago in regards to Clan Vosadii," the human-replica droid answered.

"So there is a potential plot against Borga after all?"

"No, I don't think it's against the Grand Lord himself, but rather his son."

Arok. Enforcer-level. Currently hanging about Clan Besadii. Loyal to his father and the Cartel, or at least enough to warrant his current level of power within the organization. Mjolla had met him a few times and found him...well...disgusting but decent for a Hutt.

Why would someone want Arok dead?

"Madam?"

"Hmmm? Sorry, I was just trying to figure out why someone would choose to kill Arok over his father."

"Unsure, ma'am, but I do know that their security was less watertight than their previous activity. We're working on tracing it now."

"How long until we've got a source?"

"Could be a few minutes, could be a few days. Depends on how much security we run into."

"Keep at it. Also gather my guards. We may need a quick-response team."

Gina nodded before leaving the Champion's office. Mjolla reclined in her chair to think and plan. Her guards had been personally picked and trained by her to double as a military unit in her pocket. Plus it was good to have her new armor. That would probably come in handy against whatever she ran into. Still, she didn't like being on this side of an assassination attempt. Being defense and reactive wasn't exactly her style.

So someone wants Arok dead. Unsurprising and uninteresting.

He's Borga's son.

Only the strong survive.

You'll get to test yourself against a worthy foe.

You don't know that for certain.

You really think they'd go through all of this trouble for some street trash?

Mjolla could feel the Other One begrudgingly accept that logic, and felt a warm glow of satisfaction.