Ask Naboo Depths

[Kalis - Bad Eyes]

​

The sound of electricity and mechanical devices could be heard humming and drumming throughout the entire facility as it stood in stark contrast of the aches and groans of its scaffolding never being swayed by the crushing pressure of the ocean that condensed all around them. If you were claustrophobic, being this far down would probably drive anyone mad. Kalis wasn't one of those people even if he was stuck inside that which could resemble a coffin but no, it was a diving insertion pod that bore the initials J.G. on the inside of the sliding door panel that kept him locked away from the crushing ocean pressure. He had fallen asleep but had awaken to the vibration on his wrist link, a specialized little communication device provided by his employer. He stretched as much as he could before bringing the link over his chest and activated it. A bright green schematic of the facility he was headed toward was displayed with directives.

"Identify and acquire Researcher Rix Pavon.
Target must be alive upon arrival.
All other personnel are expendable."​

A dossier was included alongside the schematics as he fingered over through the air against the 3D display of information. Only a couple years younger than Kalis and is considered an incredibly bright mind that assisted in combating the Rakghoul plague through his own research. The more he read the more it became clear why the company was interested in in this gifted researcher.

The dossier annotated several times a team that had been conducting surveillance on Rix but it seemed they couldn't continue their work once he went to this facility. It was too far down to remain hidden for long but it seemed there was a mole. Someone fed information to the company about Rix's research and that seemed to be the reason why Kalis was being sent in for retrieval, at least that's what he guesstimated to himself.

A screen built into the sliding cover door of the pod lit up with a live visual feed. Kalis was close to his intended destination and he readied himself for what was about to be a rough arrival. He felt the pod accelerate, pushing faster and faster through the water as he heard the humming of lasers being burned through the water.

The lasers were cutting through a singular point on what appeared to be an airlock. He readied himself and braced as the pod dove straight into the airlock, bursting through the already cut layers of the steel doors and at a split second the pod reversed its acceleration as it crashed. It bounced around for a moment inside the now submersed airlock but several small spherical drones dislodged themselves from hidden chambers on the outside of the pod. They fluttered through the water quickly, spraying a gel of some kind around the hole the pod had just broken through while also using small lasers to quickly seal whatever seams they could. Eventually the drones were hacking into the airlock's controls before they managed to bypass whatever security measures were in place.

This wasn't a military complex so it didn't take long. The chamber was decompressed and the water was filtered out and with that Kalis kicked open the pod door as it had become damaged during his entry. The metal plopped to the ground and out came the lone mercenary. Garbed in equipment specially designed for this mission he had taken, of course provided by his employer with the expressed interest of being able to keep it should he finish the mission according to the set parameters.

His helmet was feeding him live information that the drones were giving as they spliced through the network. Doors unlocked, codes given and camera feeds throughout the facility. One option peaked his interest. The comms were free for him to tap into and so he did.

"Good evening friends. I would like to see this go as smoothly as possible for everyone involved right now and that starts with handing over a man by the name of Rix Pavon." Kalis watched as several live feeds displayed some of the personnel chattering amongst one another in a panic. Some appeared to be already mulling over what Kalis was soon to actually suggest. "Mr. Pavon if you know what's good for you, you'll proceed to my airlock effective immediately. Otherwise people are going to start getting hurt." Some of the personnel, mostly the women began to cry but there was already a detachment of armed guards funneling there way down the halls to his location. That was to be expected but for now Kalis kept the airlock sealed tight for the time being.

Kalis was vicious but he tried his best to be a man of his word and this was his way of giving some agency to the researcher's decisions he would soon have to make. Was it that he had some gold still left in his heart? No. If anything it was just a way to curry some good favor with the universe. Killing people never really bothered him but if he could do things without bloodshed that was the preferred option. Though the twisted part of Kalis was that he actually always wanted them to make the decision that would lead to him getting violent with everyone else in his way.

It's what he was good at and this was his playground.

Whatever happened now depended on Rix.

 

[Rix Pavon]

Routine, the root of everything that was good and holy. Rix had deviated from that today; what with him practically obsessed with the Dashta eels he managed to obtain. Though he didn’t own the research facility his work was housed in, there were a few discreet benefactors funding him, and he preferred the secrecy the depths an ocean provided. Or at least, that’s what he told himself; there was a high chance that he simply preferred the ominous ambiance that being hidden beneath a planet’s ocean provided him. The submarinal vehicles stationed there provided enough cover for him that, so long as they were used often enough, any reporting to the government would simply default to the facility studying Naboo’s nautical fauna. Prying eyes typically failed to notice the oversized tanks of Dashta eels taking up entire walls in the complex, lest they were inside.

Rix’s routine was fairly simple. Wake up, followed by a round of cardio while checking his emails and surfing the holonet, a shower coupled with a vigorous skincare routine, and a trip to work. Today, that routine had been completed two hours earlier. Had it not been such, snatching Rix up off the streets would have been rather easy. Though something told the Lorrdian that whoever was after him meant to get under his skin, to make him fearful, to let them know what kind of wealth, power, and influence they had. A simple psychological deduction made it clear that he was wanted alive, at least for the time being.

The alarms signifying the breach, however, minute their blaring was due to the swift slicing of the droids, did not account for security protocols in place. Though there was a backup hidden offsite, and with a few outdated ones in some cases offplanet, the security protocol for a research breach was of the immediate destruction of all files. It wasn’t so easily stopped, and Rix watched the programs clash against the slicers attempting to gain access to the cameras in his office before a large screen indicated to him that all files had been deleted. Content with this knowledge, Rix produced a holocommunicator and tuned into the aggressor’s frequency.

He appeared well put together, hair coiffed neatly, while wearing a box lab coat meant to disguise his body language, as was customary of many Lorrdians. He stood, arms folded behind his back. “Quite the team, you have behind you. Excessive, mind you; I planned to go home in about two hours; it would have been much simpler to abduct me then, but I suppose your employer has his reasons. You help cure a plague one time, and everyone’s wanting you to make bioweapons for them right after. But very well; I’ll humor you, at the very least so that my colleagues don’t die.” In a monotone voice, he spoke to no one in particular. “One of, or at least one of you privy enough to know where I live, do me a favor and feed my ollopom. I doubt our sellsword here was kind enough to know I prefer to travel with my emotional support rodent.” A tinge of sarcasm dripped from his voice, but he shrugged before the communicator cut out. From the camera feed visible to the assailant, it was clear that Rix was making his way towards the airlock, though utterly lacking a sense of urgency or fear.

@Kalis - Bad Eyes

 

[Kalis - Bad Eyes]

Sarcasm? Insults? All the way down here below fathoms away from any real safety and here the pompous researcher thought it prudent to give him a hard time. Verbally that is.

Kalis wanted to say something snarky in return. But what would that say about him? That he was easily goaded into verbal conflicts with a man who was about to placed in the most precarious position of his life? No. That wouldn't be the course of action he'd take for this succulent moment that deserved to be cherished in both the mind of the hunter and the prey.

Then came the bad news.. All the files related to the pertinent research that the company was interested in was gone. That was a huge bonus gone in the matter of seconds. That mother fucker. Unbelievable. That could have bought so much new equipment. Hell, that was his vacation flushed down the toilet by this prick's protocols. It was apparent that it was worth something to the researcher to have been deleted in such an event like this.

So there it was. Out thousands of credits due to this little shithead deciding his research was too precious to keep out of the hands of others and he was essentially talking shit. It was decided. Kalis wanted make a point. They were going to spend some time together on the way out to meet the company and he wanted him to remember their precious quality time. He reached underneath his polymer military grade poncho and removed a six chambered revolver. This weapon was straight from the labs back at the company. A prototype to the eyes of those who understood these kinds of things. Kalis was told to brace for the kick and he was eager to know how powerful it was.

With a motion of his hand, he halted the drones and directed to them to follow. The door whisked open, parting straight down the middle where a hail of blaster fire was poured into his chamber. The security personnel were doing diligent work in putting down this mysterious mercenary but Kalis wasn't very amused by it all. Once the dust settled there were sizzling pocks all over his poncho with one mark being placed dead center in his chest.

"Nice shot."

Kalis whipped his arm out extended, one pull of the trigger and the revolver unleashed a slug round designated for the sorry son of a bitch who might've hit him in his chest. Kalis was a better shot. The man's head exploded in a visceral display of gore with bits, pieces and chunks spraying over his comrades. The men panicked and in that instance Kalis expertly shot the rest of them, six in total with the place becoming a slaughterhouse. Blood and guts strewn all over the floor. His gun smoking with anticipation for the next set of rounds to be fed into his mechanical belly.

Though there was one man left. He was whimpering. Cowering behind a crate. Looked to be just out of school. Young, brave and stupid to end up in a situation like this. Though bravery wasn't exactly brimming off the lad before Kalis jerked him up by the collar and told him very gently that he would lead the two of them to wherever the rest of the personnel have themselves sequestered away for safety.

Doors were beginning to close shut behind Rix. Some would even begin to cut him off entirely from his intended destination. It was time for a lesson. A lesson in humility. Today Kalis would humble the young man about minding his fucking mouth.

 

[Rix Pavon]

Rix was no slicer, though he was afforded a certain set of technological privileges when it came to this laboratory. It came with barebones security; no turrets, or anything of the like; after all, who could afford that these days? Regardless, held a skeleton key of sorts; primitive, sure, but it allowed him free reign here, at the very least. He hadn’t had high hopes for the extinguishing of life from the security company employed by the laboratory; Naboo wasn’t exactly known for rivaling the Mandalorians in their warrior-like nature. In fact, the most the security group had done in his studies thus far had been minimal, mostly being the settling of lover’s disputes between various breeds of scalefish. For the most part, Rix followed the intended path, at least until he came across the various scattered bodies across the floor. He took a moment to study the bounty hunter’s handy work before turning towards a camera and mimicking something akin to him being “aghast” before sliding the key card against an alternate terminal. He knew from the bodies that there was a captive and a more efficient route to where the rest of his staff rested. Though he was no supervillain, a general rule of thumb was not to kill the most experienced member of security; fear made the mind fumbled, particularly when it came to new recruits.

When the assailant entered the main congregant area, the only one still there was Rix, standing directly in front of a turbolift, holding out a deactivated holocommunicator in front of him. Despite the prevalent lack of Dashta eels in the lobby, there was one small tank of what appeared to be recent hatchlings swarming around one another. Despite being masked, Rix clicked his tongue at him in a matter-of-fact way.

“Sorry, Mom. I’ve got to go. Thanks again for getting that Nanny Droid to look after things for me.”

He gestured towards the captive with his own outstretched blaster.

“Let that kid go; he’s studying to do the same thing I am, just using this to pay bills. He even helps feed the eels; strange how they trust him. Almost like they can sense what’s going on throughout the lab, at any given time.” There was an odd hum in the air as he smiled towards the man. “I can’t stop you from killing him, but I’m afraid if you were to kill a ‘feeder,’ well, the eels wouldn’t like that. These don’t exactly have a sentience of their own, you see, but… Each has their favorite. And each is Force-sensitive. There’s, what would you say, Hadspin? Fifty-ish of them here? Maybe there’s a reason their favorite of the security crew is still alive, unless whatever you are under that mask can resist the Force. But by all means, do try it.”

He discarded his blaster, kicking it towards the bounty hunter.

“Are you ready to go? You can beat me up once we get on the vessel; though I’m afraid I bruise easily and have a sensitivity to bacta. Judging by your posturing, I’m assuming at least three to six months of recovery; I’d hate to see a dock in your kidnapping pay because of it, when you’ve so willingly recorded everything. A live feed, if I’m guessing? Your kind tends to appreciate that kind of insurance when it comes to employers, but I may be wrong!”

 

[Kalis - Bad Eyes]

The terrified faces staring back from the crowd of innocent people was something that Kalis had grown accustomed to ever since he helped his now deceased clan of tusken raiders, well, raid groups of traders traveling across the scorching dunes of Tattooine. The begging and pleading was something that went in one ear and out the other. Just a cold mask staring right back at them with the barrel of his gun pressed firmly to the temple of the young man who had chosen the wrong line of work. It was just business.

This pompous prick was still talking shit and it was only aggravating Kalis further. He pressed the barrel against the boy's head even harder with his trigger finger now curling itself more and more. This researcher was rambling on about eels for god's sake and yet there was something to what he was saying. Kalis wanted to pull the trigger. In fact he was actually trying to at this point and yet there was a compulsion making him do exactly the opposite. Whatever these eels were doing, he could feel it actively trying to pull his finger off the trigger. He was losing the mental fight to do so. Things had taken a turn in a direction he hadn't anticipated.

Kalis took the weapon from the boy's head and kicked him in the small of his back to shove him into the crowd of innocent scientist. Rix's move saved their lives this day.

"After you Mr. Pavon."

The two of them would leave together with Rix's words still fumbling around inside his skull. The extraction crew would be here soon to clean up the mess that had been made. The remaining personnel would be escorted to safety with clear instructions to not go to the authorities less the risk a visit from the so called "company men" that were just like Kalis. All of them on the company's payroll to silence and clean up things like this. When they had finally gotten a ways from the rest of the group Kalis promptly slammed his gun against Rix's dainty little head with enough force to knock him unconscious. He didn't need to see anything after this point.

Hours later...

There was a new kind of humming to fill their ears. It was the sound of a ship's hyperdrive fluctuating between different levels of power as they sped through hyperspace to their destination. Kalis didn't bother cuffing the young man sitting behind him. He had even bothered to strap him in to the seat for safety reasons. When Rix would finally awaken Kalis spun around in his chair slowly with his helmet still being the only thing visible with his voice still being filtered through the comm device nestled inside its design.

"Nice trick back there. You saved their lives through whatever you did. They were expendable and wouldn't cut into my profit from this job but I can appreciate someone who sticks their neck out for others when it really doesn't even benefit them." Kalis had leaned over with elbows propped on his knees, letting his arms drape between his legs.

"I wish you the best Mr. Rix."

With his final words spoken they slipped out of hyperdrive in front of a massive space station that was under construction. The likes of which many will never see in this day and age. It was truly a marvel to behold with its spire like design and a massive ring slowly rotating around the outside. The white exterior was almost blinding due to the system's sun shining against it though there was green accent markings here and there. They flew past several ships carrying building materials to and from barges. This was a huge undertaking with its scope hard to grasp. Eventually they pulled into one of the countless hangar bays where they would disembark together. Dotting the interior were men and women who looked to be mercenaries. More the company men waiting around for their contracts as well as providing security to the operation.

Eventually they'd board an elevator in the central spire that would take them all the way to the top where Rix was being brought to for his audience with the man responsible for this whole affair.

The doors slid open with a hiss and Kalis stood back, nodding for him to step off.

Inside was a man sitting with his back turned to them, the room was dark with only the light of the sun coming through a tinted window. It was eerily silent with the only thing of note now being the burning end of a cigara held in the stranger's hand occasionally being brought to their mouth to take a deep drag and promptly exhaling the smoke into the air.

"Please Mr. Pavon, take a seat. We have a few things to discuss about your place here."

A cryptic delivery of what was to come.

"Tell me. Do you prefer the tropics?"

It seemed like a node to where Rix had previously resided.

 

[Rix Pavon]

Normally, the lives of his colleagues would have been trivial; the security forces as a whole were, anyway. Maybe the years had softened him, but more likely, there were further protocols in place; Rix was used to dealing with morally bankrupt billionaires and benefactors – in a way, he was doing his captor a favor. After all, so long as business appeared to continue as usual no one would be trying to attempt to rescue Rix. Had the scientist’s “mole” actually been a double agent? Unlikely, but Rix was a planner, and when he saw an opportunity, he knew when to take it. Playing into another’s hand came second nature to him, and he had an uncanny way of letting others lead him to water, so to speak.

This time, however, it was to a ship. He trailed behind his assailant, making no attempt to hide a chuckle as he overtook him in steps as the man slowed, even holding an arm behind him as the man closed in behind him, as if to give him something to grab when he toppled over. He assumed he would have been shot point blank with a stun round, but he managed to give one final eyeroll as he felt the butt of the blast bite into the back of his skull. Concussing the goods?! Down right rude; he’d have to lodge a formal complaint, at least once he made sure his cognitive functions were back in check once he awoke.

“Yeah, yeah.” He waved his hand dismissively at the completely covered man, the only thing giving away his gender being the filtered voice and what little physiology Rix had been able to make out underneath the full set of body armor. His once limp posture shifted to a more composed one as he moved his dismissing hand to caress the back of his head, letting out a sigh as he crossed his legs, shifting his ankles to overlap and tuck them back behind his chair, almost under the guise of submissiveness. His words weren’t anything but. “I can appreciate your skill when it comes to abductions, but for your next target, remember that concussions can cause brain damage and amnesia. I considered toying with your employers after we arrive, but our time together has been oh so thrilling; I couldn’t possibly deduct any further pay from you.”

They exited hyperspace and Rix truly felt the need to throw up, but he managed to stifle any desire to gag his injury combined with the rapid halting motion. Despite the obvious queasiness in his voice, he managed one final quip before leaning over and emptying the contents of his stomach out on the ship’s floor. “I haven’t been knocked out and carried around by a man in a mask since my fraternity days; good times.”

After regaining his bearings and dealing with whatever quips the nameless bounty hunter had to throw back at him, the two exited the ship and in one final act of what Rix very well thought was the most grandiose comedic moment of this otherwise moderately terrifying episode of a space opera, he brought his hand up to his ear and made an archaic gesture before mouthing the words, “Call me.”

Now, it was time to deal with the big boys. As the man with his back turned to him, came into view, Rix’s demeanor utterly changed. He had been wanted alive up until this point, and he had to be serious because given the nature of live abductions, protocols were quick to change, and he didn’t have the defense like he did back at the laboratory. One wrong move, and the masked vigilante might as well stroll back in on the cigar smoking man’s whim and bash his skull in, leaving him with more than a concussion, if he left him with a head at all.

The urge to comment about his smoking and it being bad for him, did not go unnoticed, given how Rix assumed a seated position akin to him on the ship.

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance. Truthfully, no. I prefer being around water in general, ideally in a liquid state. Naboo does hold happy childhood memories for me.”

@Kalis - Bad Eyes

 

[Kalis - Bad Eyes]

"Naboo is a beautiful place. One of the few locations left in this galaxy that can still hold such a title."

Now that Rix was much closer it would soon become all the more apparent that his benefactor was not a mere man. But rather a machine. At least in the sense that all visible tissue was no longer flesh but instead of metal and wiring kept covered by plating. The strange robotic man's voice was also being filtered through some kind of speech program. Similar to Kalis but this one was from a deeper place, not just a synthesizer. Could it be that this was never the benefactor's original voice and simply what was being heard was his own design and choice? Hard to say when it came to the likes of those who owned multi-trillion credit corporations that operated on such a grand scale such as this.

With a snap of his robotic fingers there was a dimming of the window in front of them before it began to create a view just for them. It was Naboo of all places. In fact it was a perfect replication of one of the many shore lines that dotted its surface. It was if they were simply sitting on a balcony together and watching the tides come and go as they pleased.

"We'll compromise on this then." As the words left his robotic mouth there was a woman who quietly arrived behind them with a mug before handing it over to this nameless benefactor. She asked if Rix wanted anything to drink as well before she would turn to leave them with his response.

"It's been a while since I've had to resort to such abrasive tactics. You weren't easy to find and you guard your secrets well enough to be indicative of the fact that you might destroy your research.. Which you absolutely did." The robotic voice seemed unpleased with that event before he moved on.

"Your work on the virus that plagued us for so long was something to admire. Altruism is worth its respect though the mutually assured annihilation of all species across the galaxy I'm sure didn't hurt your motivations." The robotic voice took another deep inhale of his cigara before puffing out another plume of smoke in front of him.

"From one galaxy wide crisis to the next. Do you think it would be a shame if Naboo was bombarded by orbital lasers or a fleet bombing? I've heard when a planet is glassed that it truly does ruin its future in terms of its ability to recover."

And just like that the holographic display gave way to showing the surface of Naboo being glassed by an orbital laser bombardment from unseen ships. The destruction was something the eyes could barely comprehend in all actuality. Destruction on such a level was often hard for many to stomach ever since the long bygone days of atomic weapons being developed. Those very same weapons were now miniscule on the scale of destruction that could be achieved with the advancements of technology.

"The galaxy is brimming with a danger that I want to say is unprecedented but in the reality this is simply our generation's turn to deal with such dire circumstances and I believe that is why you're the perfect candidate to head a project that could mean the difference between a peaceful co-existence amongst all beings and the mutually assured destruction of all life." Then the hologram display flickered again but this time displaying a video of the very eels that Rix had been devoting his time to study.

"I read your notes the best I could. I'm not a scientist and even with my implants I can only go so far in understanding matters that escape my wheelhouse. But you gave me quite the display when my company man tried to shoot those bystanders. To put things simply, I want to see where your research can truly go when it's being directed very lightly. After all, I have to ensure that this project is a success as it will be funded with little to no questions asked. Government interference gets in the way of real discoveries and I need to see if you can discover what I'm looking for."

The woman returned and she seemed almost mesmerized by the eels even now with them just being on a holographic display.

"Jade Galactic stands to premier itself at the forefront of many great advances that we will be releasing in short time. This space station is one of them. It'll be under partial ownership by the Republic as a part of a deal that will ensure its safety with a garrison from their military as I still have to play the part of a patriot. After all, I do love freedom but sometimes even I have to bend the rules just a bit and credits go a long way when you're having to persuade others but I wonder just how much persuasion will be needed with the likes of these eels."

The mysterious benefactor awaited his new associate's response as he was eager to see what the bright mind had to say.