Ask Nar Shaddaa Velasco's Legacy

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

Portrait of Jedi Master Innocenti, By Velasco​

Preef Zaa Fenn had been forcing Kara to learn all she could about Marissa Zaa Fenn, the former crimelord of the Zaa Fenn Crime Family that she wanted to replace in the not so distant future. Their early days, running jobs for the Crimson Dawn and Black Sun respectfully, were the most notable. Canto Bight casino heists, breaking people from FWA prison ships, raiding Sector Ranger's evidence rooms and robbing armored corporate trains. It was that last one that made Kara notice something. Marissa had been a fan of the Nabooan painter Velasco and said something about it in her personal log around that time:

"I managed to secure a viewing of Velasco's Portrait of Jedi Master Innocenti, but its current owner Morto the Hutt could scarcely string together a worthwhile sentence about it. More credits than taste."​

That got her thinking. She knew a Hutt that went by Morto here on Nar Shaddaa. He paid tribute to Nor'baal Desilijic, which everyone did in the Hutt Cartel, so she had at some point heard Preef say something about the particular Hutt and his Museum of Greed. Apparently Morto was known to hoard precious art he had no idea what emotional or cultural value they held. A painting by Velasco, to the right buyer, was worth an immeasurable fortune. Perhaps even the Theed Royal Museum on Naboo would lay down a wealth the size of which Kara had never seen.

That's not what she wanted it for, though. No, the Portrait of Jedi Master Innocenti would be a gift to Preef. A surprise. Which meant she couldn't exactly ask him or his for help either. That's where an old associate came in. Crix Dolan. The Devil of Denon. Rumored to be part of the Crimson Dawn now and if there was anything they were good at it was retrieving artefacts.

So right now she sat in the back of her electronics shop 'Rache Robotics' and waited for him to arrive.

@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

How long had it been since he’d set foot on Nar Shadda? The Smuggler sifted through the crowd making his way to Kara’s shop. Memories of a violent swoop race flashed through his mind spreading his frown into a small smirk. That had been his first job for the Zaa Fenn. Unfortunately, that was as far as he’d been able to go with the family. Crow took a drag off his cigarette and blew a plume of smoke into the air.

Easy come, easy go, he mused as the neon glow of Kara’s shop painted him in pastel hues. He took a final drag off his smoke and then stamped it out while entering the shop. The droid behind the counter started.

“Sir, you can’t be in here!” it whined.

Crow shrugged, “I’ve got an appointment.”

By now the Weequay who’d been arguing over what looked like a green wire and a red wire had put their differences to the side in order to size Crow up. One inched toward a droid arm, the other kept glancing down at the hydrospanner in the open toolbox at it’s feet. The Smuggler held his hands up in mock surrender, “Let’s take it, easy fellas, I’m here to see Kara.”

That seemed to put one of the Weequay at ease.

“Wait here,” he grunted in a thickly accented voice. As he left the table he snagged the droid arm for good measure, before disappearing into the back. He returned a short time later and nodded his head in the direction he’d just come from, “Ms. Lok is in the back.”

“Thanks,” Crow replied, before stepping into Kara’s Den.

“It’s been a while, your boys seem protective, that’s nice,” he said with a grin.

@Eccles

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

Crix would find Kara doing what she normally did when she was in the back of 'Rache Robotics', which meant she was sitting on her ass with a continuous loop of the most recent Crime News Network broadcast on display on a screen at the opposite wall. "What can I say, Yetto-" she said just before she spotted Crix walking in and waved him over, "-we're no longer in the spice business. But-" she motioned for Crix to take a seat and help himself to the bottle of Corellian whiskey and one of the empty glasses on the coffee table, "-I'd choose Omega over Tenloss if you'd ask me."

She ended the call and removed the earpiece from her right ear with an apologetic smile towards her guest. "Sorry, Crix-" she turned to face him, sitting sideways on the couch just enough to also recline a bit and make herself comfortable. "-they hear Zaa Fenn is back and my line blows up with requests for synthetic spice." A long time ago her family had been a major player in the intergalactic spice trade and even sold the illegal substances from under the counter at all Coreworld Medical Dispensaries operated by the reputable MorataCorp. These days their supply line had dried up. Crimson Dawn owned Kessel and Covax had somehow bought himself a smuggling fleet off of his one-night success of stunning Gareth Zaa Fenn. Naturally Kara would never suggest they buy from him, but there had been an added bonus by suggesting they go to the Crimson Dawn as their supplier. Crix being an enforcer of that syndicate, after all.

"How is the Devil of Denon?" she asked, her eyes glinstering at the memory of her thinking that Crix must've been a Devaronian due to his nickname. They were simpler and perhaps even better times.

@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

Crow waited as Kara finished her call. Once she hung up she apologized and he waved her off. He could imagine she was being flooded with inquiries right now. No one had expected the Zaa Fenn to come back. The hits put out and executed had been brutal. It had been a real shame to see it happen.

“Please, I’m early,” he said flashing her a smile, one that grew into a laugh as she called him a nickname he hadn’t heard in years. God, he’d been insufferable when he started out. He shook his head still chuckling as he pulled out his ratty pack of smokes and answered, “Somehow still alive. Mind if I smoke?”

He slid into the seat across from her and poured himself a cup of the Corellian Whiskey and took a swig. “It’s good to hear from you Kara, I can see you’re still hustling. You good otherwise?”

Crow wasn’t the kind of guy to indulge in small talk. Aside from Terra, Harkin, and BeeGee, he was basically a walking scowl.

@Eccles

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

Kara smiled and pointed towards the ashtray on the table, "No, go ahead." She hadn't seen him in ages and she wasn't sure if time had actually been good to him, either. "I'm always hustling," her words didn't quite match her face as she looked at her new 'office' with some disappointment.

Last time they met she'd been a VIP -basically a guest of honor- at a podrace organized by the Blackened Jet Empire, a Barabel swoop gang in the bowels of the Coruscant underworld. Back then she still had eight figures in her bank account, lived in lower level luxury and had a gang of protect her and hers. She'd been the de-facto boss of the Zaa Fenn Crime Family, the heir apparent to Marissa herself and perhaps ultimately also the future boss of the entire syndicate.

Now she owned a mere robotics shop under the protection that Nor'baal Desilijic offered her due to her associated with Preef Callo. A lot of her former contacts had refused to answer her calls, had died or had pursuit different career paths than they had been three years ago. Crix was actually one of the few that answered. "Scores aren't as big as they used to be." She took one of her own scented cigarra's, lit it and took a long depressing puf.

"Today's an exception, though-" she winked at Crix, suggesting she made a special play knowing she had a dependable merc to work with, "A painting. Gotta klep it from a local Hutt. He's just a Scion, but better if we don't get noticed." She figured that part would've been obvious, them being on a Hutt-controlled moon and all.

@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

Crow bobbed his head in gratitude before lighting up and offering her one. He could empathize with her. She talked about the grind with a district familiarity that reeked of passion, obsession, and disdain. So, Crow lifted his cup, “Cheers to that.”

Kara lit up a cigarette while warning him about the score size, “I’m more about quality of life than quantity these days.” he quipped flashing her a smile. Only to be caught off guard by her follow-up. “So, we’ve gotta see a Hutt about a painting,” He frowned appraisingly as he considered it, then shrugged, Sounds like fun.”

Crow knew better than to underestimate a hutt regardless of rank. Nor’bal had been less than a blip on the radar when he’d paraded his power around on Tattooine. Mordeth, had been nothing when she’d used Hardlight to smuggle countless kilo’s of spice into a freshly devastated Mon Cala. Hutt’s were dangerous that was a fact. Didn’t really matter what their “rank” was, but that didn’t alter The Smuggler’s decision.

“I’m in,” he said polishing off his whiskey. “You got the plan altogether, or are you looking to collaborate, either way, I trust you.”

Trust was a rare commodity in their line of business. Crow didn’t throw around the word often, but right now it felt pertinent. He remembered when Black Sun took everything from him. The same way the Sith had before them. He knew what it was like to have to start over, but he was also keenly aware Kara Lok wasn’t starting from the bottom. The rumors had been washing over the outer rim black com lines for weeks. So, Crow asked, “Is Peef really back?”

@Eccles

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

Trust wasn't something to be taken lightly and it surprised Kara when Crix decided to throw it around. How had she earned it? Sure, she never faltered on deals and she knew how to value connections, flatter ego's and respect someone's reputation, but she had never been presented with a choice to make credits or save his life. He was lucky that she had so few dependable connections left that she couldn't use a plan that meant burning him -and his employer- to the Hutt Cartel as cover for herself.

"You know me," Kara pressed a button on a nearby datapad and the screens that had been showing the Crime News Network now switched to a layout of the Hutt's so-called museum. "I'm a professional" and she belonged in the major leagues making deals with mega-corporations as she had three years ago before the collapse. Her current position on the foodchain was almost an insult to her skill and experience.

"I've got each of us a personav with the layout and an encrypted com line just in case," she motioned for a pair of personavs laying on a nearby table next to a pair of hold-out blasters, "Rather not use blasters, but we'd be fools to go in without them."

Then Crix asked the question Kara guessed was on his mind since the moment she first called him; Preef. "This is for him," she merely answered, "consider Preef Zaa Fenn," he made the distinction deliberately. Preef was better known as Preef Callo, but she needed him to be the patriarch of the Zaa Fenn Crime Family at least until he was ready to formally adopt her. "-our client." If they managed to get the painting, Crix would probably get to meet the rodian at the gifting ceremony Kara had planned.



@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

Crow leaned back in his chair crossing one leg over the other and taking a drag on his cigarette. His gaze followed her’s across the room to a table with the personav’s on it. There were also a couple of holdout blasters. He frowned. He was wearing two perfectly good guns right now, why would he need a little holdout?

Before he could press her for more information he revealed something he’d not expected. Peef Zaa Fenn was their client. He cocked an eyebrow now intrigued, “Is that so?”

The Smuggler had never had the chance to meet the legendary gunslinger, but his reputation had been confirmed by another legendary individual, Ines. His gaze drifted wistfully as it followed a twisting tendril of smoke until it disappeared. Crow pushed Karina from his mind which took more effort than he’d expected, but he managed it.

He stood and picked up one of the personavs. He turned it on and switched it to holo. The device spilled a blue iridescent light from a little projector and brought Morto the Hutt’s complex to life. “So, what’s the play?” he asked while examining the building.

@Eccles

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

The image shifted to a balcony on the third floor, "This is our entry." It seemed rather easy, perhaps too much so, to pick a balcony as their point of entry. Some fixers would suggest going in through the sewer lines or maintenance shafts that ran the entire skyscraper, but sometimes, especially in Hutt space, less was more. Kara was learning from the best.

"Morto is scheduled to deliver his Champakh -his tribute- to the moon's Lorda personally tonight." that was the fate of a Scion, to have to pay your tributes personally and grovel for the Lorda that lorded over the moon or planet you had your business on. "That means security is light, moreso than usual-" she showed him a couple of images on her datapad. One had clearly visible guards and the other had them going outside together with the Hutt. This was the 'proof' she had for her statement. "So we go in, take the painting and leave-" she flashed her teeth in a smile for having to resort to such a cheap tactic, "-through the maintenance tunnel." Using the ladder to go eight floors down and then exit into a hallway of an apartment she had rented yesterday and had cost her quite a lot for just the one night.

All they had to do was spend the rest of the night in the apartment, celebrating their successful theft over a bottle of Corellian and wait for their speeder ride in the morning. Kara was quite proud of this plan and she showed it, "What do you think?"

@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

Crix’s brow furrowed in concentration as he listed as Kara laid out the plan. He examined their route a handful of times and wasn’t thrilled by the prospect of going through the balcony, but it was a lot more appealing than slogging through the sewers. His finger drummed a crescendo across his bicep as he thought.

“I think I have a couple of questions,” he said cupping his chin as he spoke. He zoomed in on the room they’d be passing through during their initial entry. “What is this room?”

Complex plans were sure to go to shit, but simple plans with dicey info were suicide. In all honestly, he liked what she was laying out, he just wanted to make sure he was prepared for the inevitable surprises.

“Any chance we could infiltrate by posing as a maintenance crew? Or an art restoration company? The less we have to sneak the easier it’ll be to get to the maintenance hatch carrying the painting.”

He asked her to bring back up the security footage and photos. “Any idea what their normal numbers are?” he asked. Crix couldn’t bring himself to ignore the possibility of a logistical error. Sure he trusted Kara Lok not to kill him for nothing, but he didn’t trust her info, not completely, that’d be foolish.

“Other than that,” his smile spread across his face as he lifted his glass, “I look forward to celebrating our success in that apartment.”

@Eccles

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

Kara shook her head, "Trust me, sneaking in or out is best. Besides-" she tapped the Holowatch on her wrist, "-we don't have the spare time to prep any theatrics." Kara was eager to get this done. This painting could get her name back in the game. A Fixer of her calibre, attached to names like that of Preef Callo, Gareth Gin and Crix Dolan? Kriff, that's worth the credits up front.

She ignored the questions about the number of guards inside and the makeup of the rooms. Why? She didn't really know. This was a ballsy job. More intel would be nigh impossible, but with the right crew, the right duo, it should be possible. Kara believed Crix was her man. Together they could pull this off and she needed him to believe it. In fact, she needed him, period. She couldn't afford, nor wanted to, keep playing these minor jobs as if she was a scoundrel in any ordinary underworld gang. She was the heir apparent of the Zaa Fenn Crime Family, damnit. She got her jobs from the kriffing Proletariat Bounty Board for Hutt's sake. That meant she'd been bonafide coreworld merc royalty. Or about to be, anyway. Before Covax kriffed everything up.

She needed this job to put her back on track. To show Preef what she was capable of. That she was worth it. All of that banked on Crix, so she put on the charm with a seductive smile, her eyes meeting his with a certain playfulness to them. "You better. We got the honeymoon suite." she winked before grabbing one of the personavs and a blaster from the table.

-- LATER --​

One-time use jetboots landed Kara safely on the balcony, where she crouched down to pull off the hefty mini-rockets from her feet. "Seems to be clear," she whispered into the commline she shared with Crix as she grabbed the boots in one hand and threw them off the balcony streetlevel a good four-hundred feet below. Bold move, too bold perhaps, but she wasn't a big fan of leaving evidence behind.

@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

As Kara tapped her chorno a wry grin spread across Crix’s face, “There’s the catch.”

He chuckled derisively, throwing back the rest of his whiskey. He should have left right then, but there was something in her hunger that he found compelling. It reminded him of Ines and that wasn’t fucking fair. He didn’t miss the fact that she conveniently skipped the rest of his questions. If this had been anyone else, Crow would have put a bolt in their gut and pulled the job in a cycle after the appropriate research had been done, but maybe that was his problem. He wasn’t used to just throwing himself at things anymore.

Crow gave Kara credit for playing the game. He figured she was just trying to get him to do the job, he wasn’t dumb, but he was good at pretending to be. “I’ll hold you to it,” he said, his own coy smile flitting across his lips.

⌬⌬⌬​

Crow landed next to Kara with practiced ease. He was outfitted in his usual gear, but had added the holdout blaster Kara offered to his arsenal out of respect. The Devil from Denon was armed to the teeth. His two dueling pistols were holstered in their shoulder mounts, his carbine was on his thigh, at least three vibroknife hilts could be seen, and a couple were completely out of sight. He ran a quick diagnostic on his shield, and noted how much power his boots still had.

“Always does,” he muttered, switching his helmet into thermal to check for heat signatures. Their entry way was clear, so he took point, popped the door and made entry. The room he stepped into wreaked of Hutt opulence. Crow’s expression soured as he judged the decor, why did Hutt’s like the ugliest shit, he thought as he stepped toward the door leading further into Morto’s.

He’d linked the personav she’d supplied to his helm’s HUD, his thermal wasn’t picking anything up, which honestly, made him nervous. There should be someone around a sentry, something. He looked back and Kara and at her insistence pressed the panel opening the door into the hallway. Crow peered through the opening and into the hallway, clear.

He didn’t say anything, just motioned with his hand for her to follow, as he rounded the corner and plunged deeper into Morto’s “Palace.”

@Eccles

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

Gold wallpaper, gaudy paintings showing the Hutt's dominion over other species. The Hutts all seemed to share a familiarity to Morto himself, as if he had commissioned them personally. Needless to say, Kara shared Crix' sense of disgust as she followed him into the hallways and kept one eye on the personav in her left hand. "I think Marissa said it to be somewhere around-" Kara stopped abruptly and pulled Crix to a halt by his sleeve. "-Kriff me."

In the middle of the hallway. No, not even in the middle. Just next to paintings of Hutt pirates displaying their booty on what appeared to be Naboo and a surrealistic painting of Theed in a style that could only come from before Palpatine's Empire, just right smack between them with a light layer of dust covering it, was their prize. The eyes of Jedi Master Innocenti looked at Kara as if the ancient jedi wanted to convey his immense boredom, embarrassment and disgust of hanging on the wall in a Hutt's palace. Not just any Hutt palace, but one whose interior decoration would have had Velasco himself turn around in his grave.

"You always this lucky, Crix?" Kara smiled as she motioned for him to help her remove the painting from the wall and its frame. "Because if so, we gotta discuss retainers."

It wouldn't hurt to have the 'Devil of Denon' at your side, after all. Not with his skills flying, swooping and shooting. Him being good looking and apparently a good luck charm -correction: Great luck charm- there was a whole lot of credits the Zaa Fenn would pay him to get exclusive rights. A whole lot that Kara would pay him to stay near her, anyway.

@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

Crix followed behind Kara as they made their move through Morta’s palace toward the painting. His partner’s excitement was palpable as she closed the space between them and a painting of a stoic jedi coated in dust. Crow glanced over his shoulder while Kara verified the piece.

“Luck’s fickle,” he grunted, helping her lift the painting from the wall, “But, play your cards right tonight and we’ll see,” he said with a shit eating grin plastered across his face. The painting wasn’t heavy but it was awkward. He couldn’t really get a good hold on the frame, but he figured the escape wouldn’t be far, well he hoped it was close.

The duo shambled as quickly and inconspicuously as you could carrying a painting between them. To his surprise she’d been right about the lack of security. It was almost laughable how easy this had been, and that fact made him nervous. At the end of the hall on the right, he could see the entrance to the maintenance tunnel. Just past that however at the end of the hall was a turbo lift.

All they had to do was get to that door. They were so close. Two meters and they were there. Of course that’s when the elevator doors opened, and four armed thugs sauntered out heading right for them.

“So much for good luck,” he muttered, immediately filling her in on what he could see as discreetly as possible.

@Eccles

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

Crix was up for way more banter than Kara had guessed, but any reliable merc could shoot banter in the middle of a job. He didn't get stressed and antsy quick. Kriff, mentally she further increased the retainer she'd have to pay. She'd have a play a mean game of cards in that honeymoon suite to get him down to a level she could actually afford him. Kara knew she wasn't Lanris-level of rich and powerful, so there had to be something else she could offer him to make up for the difference.

Her mental gymnastics, which at this point involved her recollecting that HoloNet stripper movie and whether or not she'd be agile enough for a Catharese love-knot, were rudely interupted by the arrival of a weequay foursome.

"This way," she whispered back to Crix as she pulled him, and the painting, through the door to their right. An audible gasp preceded rattling of chains and as Kara turned to look into the room proper she realized this was the love-nest of a more humanoid species than a Hutt. Chained to the bed was a Cathar girl, barely twenty, and bruised and cut on random parts of her body. It seemed whoever owned her had also -for fun- shaved some of her fur from her stomach.

Stunned by the view, Kara only managed to place her finger against her lips to signal silence. "Sssh" he gaze followed that of the Cathar, who looked from Kara to Crix and then to the painting. She wasn't stupid.. she knew what the two were in the middle of doing.

Meanwhile behind the door the four weequays walked passed. "You think the Majordomo would mind if we did a train on her?" a gruff voice suggested, but the others didn't seem too interested as Kara didn't hear any laughter. "You're joking, right? Last week that Catharese scoundrel, the one who thought his work for the Mogul made him untouchable? The Majordomo cut off his tail, shaved all his fur and had him-" the voice trailed off and Kara could see that the bedslave had heard it as well.

This was no way to live, but.. it also wasn't their problem. Kara turned back to the door, looking at Crix as she did, "Let's get out of here before anyone else shows up."

@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

Crix followed Kara’s lead and they slipped through the nearest door on their right. The Smuggler was about to make a joke about the incoming weequay but he was stopped before he could start. Confused horror stampeded across his face, basically mirroring the expressions of the three scantily clad occupants. Before anyone could begin to get a word out, Kara shushed them.

Crow could feel a bead of sweat slide down his back as the anxiety of incoming conflict plagued his body. The hutt’s BDSM get-up included a black mask and the humanoid squeaked as they looked over. Crix squinted trying to ascertain where that noise had come from when he realized the humanoid, who he was pretty sure was just a super ugly twi’lek, had a bright red ball gag stuffed in his mouth. For the first time in his life Crix Dolan was speechless.

The Cathar chained to the bed was young… painfully young. She looked at Kara, then the painting, then Crix. It became immediately clear she was much smarter than the other two participants. Opportunity rarely showed it’s face in moments of great despair and unfortunately for the girl, Kara and Crow were anything but heroes. Crix’s expression hardened and he kept his ear to the door listening to the weeqay just on the other side of the door.

It was Crow’s turn to put the pieces together. This girl had been affiliated to the scoundrel the Majordomo had shamed. Their relationship was the only thing he couldn’t be sure of, not that it mattered. She was condemned to this life because of her affiliation. It was a stark reminder how cruel the galaxy could be. She started to cry and strain against her bonds. Crow followed Kara. The ugly twi’lek smacked her in the face. The door hissed closed behind them.

Crix wasn’t thrilled by the prospect of being caught by a majordomo with a power complex, so when Kara suggested the get the hell out of there before others showed up Crow simply said, “Agreed.”

Finally, they made it to the maintenance hatch. Just as they got down the second flight of stairs, the sharp blare of klaxon sirens rang out in the tunnel. They had to move. If they got caught in the tunnel they’d be totally compromised.

“You just had to call me lucky, didn’t you!” he grunted nearly stumbling backward down the stairs as they raced toward safety.

@Eccles

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

Two down, only six more to go. They got this. The difficult part was done and all there was left was pretending to be on a honeymoon together. Kara could just smell the bath salts and taste the champagne as she..

**BLER*** ***BLER*** ***BLER***​

"Kriff you!" she shot back at the grunting Crix as she kicked the nearby ventilator shaft. It budged only slightly, so she kicked it again with a little more aggression. "You're-" she kicked it againt, "-just-" the shaft's cover was denting and its bouts were coming loose, "-the Devil-" a final angry kick and the bolts broke off, dropping the shaft's cover down the ladder and thirty floors down to a loud echoing noise. "-of Kriffing it!"

Crix was above her on the ladder, so she went into the shaft first. "Follow!" Kara barked at him, "and don't damage my painting!" The shaft was barely large enough to fit a grown man like Crix and the painting would only be able to pass diagonally as they hadn't ripped it from its frame. That wasn't the worst part, however..

..because Kara had no kriffing idea what would be on this floor. She took out her blaster by the time they'd crawled their way through the dusty ventilator shaft and used it to pummel open the cover on the other side. By this time shouts were audible two floors up the maintenaince ladder and that meant Morto's thugs had probably realized one of his master's priceless paitings had been stolen.

The cover broke free and Kara crawled out, stretching her lower back as she rose up to her feet and looked around. This didn't seem too bad.. Surely they'd just gotten lucky and found the one floor that wasn't patrolled by..

"Drop that blaster, missy" a Quarren gunslinger aimed his pistol at Kara with a satisfied grin on his face. "You don't happen to know why the alarm at Morto's palace is going off, do you?"

With any luck Crix would be able to get the drop on him...

@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

Crow chuckled as Kara navigated the stress of their situation. His smile widened as she punctuated each portion of her fury with a solid kick into a ventilation shaft’s grate. Crix waited patiently as she explained just what kind of devil he was and he couldn’t help himself, so he said, “That’s what I’ve been told.”

Kara wasn’t amused, but she was incredibly cute given the current situation. She barked instructions at him and he replied with a sly, “Yes, Ma’am.”

The vent was tight. Really tight. Crow’s shoulders were pressed against the metal walls as he slithered down the vent after Kara. The painting fit, but just barely. Luckily, they’d managed to angle it just right. As they came to a stop, Crix swore under his breath. Between holding the painting, slithering through the vent, and the adrenal dump of impending conflict, he was more than ready to get this job done with. Then they stopped. He frowned then the tap-tap-bang! Let him know they were at the end of the vent.

Crow breathed a sigh of relief as he edged the painting forward. His view of Kara was initially obscured by the diagonal painting and the opening of the vent, but when he heard an unfamiliar voice he froze. Carefully, he edged his blaster out of it’s hiding spot and turned from his back on to his stomach.

Gently he wedged the painting against the thin metal walls and slid under the frame getting a better view of two pairs of legs standing at the vents opening.

Casually, because what was the rush, he took aim at the newcomer's left knee. Kara’s legs shifted away instinctively from the new guy, which was great because now he had a direct shot. Crix’s finger eased on to the trigger.

“Hey, I’m talk–BLAM– Herk!?”

The Quarren’s body crumpled as his right knee was ruined in a flash of light. Before the goon could register what was happening, Crix pulled the trigger again. The second shot pierced the top of the Quarren’s head and silenced him before he could cry out.

Crow pulled himself and the painting from the vent, then looked over to Kara with a cocky grin, “What was I the Devil of again?”

A comm on the Quarren went off, “Devo, you good? I thought I just heard blaster fire!”

Without thinking Crix snatched the comm. He started coughing and hit the button, “Yeah, dropped my blaster and it hit a pipe, there’s nothing here. They must have gone up.”

The voice on the other end came back mid laugh, “You fucking idiot! Alright, we’ll move up you stay down there and keep an eye out... And Devo, try not to shoot yourself!” the other voice burst into laughter just before they cut the com.

Without waiting to be told, Crix set the painting down and picked up the dead goon. He dropped him into the vent they’d come out of and pushed the grate closed. It wasn’t perfect, but it would have to do.

Crix gestured toward their escape, “Ladies first.”

@Eccles

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

Crix the life-saver, but she'd never call him that. "The Devil of that guy's kneecap," Kara winked in reply to Crix' cocky grin. She brought him along as a reliable blaster in case she needed one. Turned out she needed one. No big deal. Not like he earned a paid rump, eh payhump or anything.

The sudden voice over the Quarren's comms surprised her, but Crix was faster to react than she had given him credit for and she couldn't help but grin as he spun the tale of the accidental misfire and caught herself hoping that he wouldn't misfire by accident. Surely he was as reliable elsewhere as he was when being paid. "Yeah, Devo, try not to shoot yourself next time." She watched how he placed the grate back on the shaft, so Kara picked up the painting and waited for him to be ready. "The Devil really is in the details, Crow" this was the first time she had actually called him by his new nomicker and it didn't even carry the same kind of tone or respect that he probably did when the Crimson Dawn called him that.

She made sure to seem extra ladylike as she started walking upon his suggestion, swinging her hips from one side to the other with all the exaggeration of a woman who wasn't used to be feminine at all. Three steps was all she was able to do before she hurried along to the nearest elevator. They needed six more floors while the alarms at Morto's palace roared, but they were lucky that the goon protecting the nearby elevator was the same Quarren that Crix had just shot.

It took them only two minutes to go down five floors and for Kara to place the keytoken on the doorpanel of their so-called 'honeymoon-suite'. They were in. The door slid open and revealed a small apartment with a king size bed and a clean-scrubbed bathroom. Kara let go a sigh of relief as she walked over to the bed and put the painting on it. "Remind me of the next step of our plan, Crix?" she teased as she turned towards him and sat down on the bed next to the painting to undo her shoes.

@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

Crix snapped his fingers as if her joke was the perfect reminder, “Ah, that’s right.”

By the time he was done, stowing the body Kara was ready to go, “That’s what they tell me, sounds weird when you say it,” sly smirk playing on his expression as he watched her saunter for a few steps then she dropped the act and Crix mourned it’s loss as they moved for safety.

They rounded the corner and a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding escaped. Dead ahead was an elevator. They slid in and dropped the remaining floors. The door hissed open, Kara pulled the key and they were into their hideout. The door slid closed behind him and they finally laid the painting to rest.

It was Crix’s turn to stretch. He reached for the ceiling while taking a look around the quaint little hide away. “I like it,” he murmured, eyes roving the space for… Bingo!

A bottle of champagne was propped up in a wine cooler. Condensation covered the glass container and as he picked it up. Two glasses rested next to the bottle. He unzipped the uniform she’d provided, stripping the coveralls to his waist and tying them off. His torso was littered with lean muscle and blaster burns. He wanted a shower. He pulled a ratty pack from his back pocket, pulled out a cigarette, then tossed Kara the pack.

By that time she was sitting on the bed making herself comfortable. He let himself admire her a moment when she asked him to remind her what the next step in the mission was. He chuckled lighting up his vice without looking away from her. He took a drag considering the play. This was normally the time hidden guns came out. It’s the reason he hadn’t taken his gunbelt off. He slowly released the smoke, then smiled.

He arranged the glasses on the counter then pulled the pulled bottle from the cylindrical cooler, “Hmm,” he mused pretending to forget, “I can’t quite put my finger on it—” he snatched the cork from the bottle and the suds sprayed from the bottles mouth, “—but I think it’s similar to that.”

He filled the two glasses and set them both on the counter. “Care to celebrate?”

@Eccles