Expanding Business (Corran)

[Raphael Xandir]

Raphael moved through the shadows of the cities alleyways. He had seen more of those same observer droids floating about the city; he didn’t want to be seen by another. He had a hard time navigating the back of the city to get to this storefront. It was an easy find when they were up on the tower, but now that he was in the thick of everything, every turn was an unsure choice.

Following closely to the wall, his robe covered him from every citizen that walked past him. Once he finally made it to a main street in the city, he could see exactly where he was. The storefront was directly ahead of him, a massive one at that. Yet there was a problem, like there had already been many times before on this trip. A group of civilians gathered in the streets around the storefront. What was supposed to be a routine business meeting had now turned into Raphael facing anti-Sith rallies.

The young Sith stood there, peering around the corner at the group. He wondered what his best course of action was. It would be an easy escape if he would just move towards the docking bay, but then his assignment wouldn’t fully be completed. The citizens could always be forced to comply with the Shade Corps and the Sith’s watchful eye. The young man had to try and see if he could turn this around, this had been the most promising offer he had received.

His boots moved at a faster pace as he raced down the back alleyways of the city. Once he made it to the storefront he moved to the backdoor, hoping it would grant his entry. The door was already slightly opened, as the Sith forced it fully open. He stalked the inside of the building, careful of anyone else who might be in there.

Around the front of the store, the windows that overlook the street were heavily tinted. A human male stood at the front of the door, fixated on the lock. He too had broken in and was trying to break the door open to allow the group out front to see what was inside. Infuriated by the lack of respect the citizens were having towards him, he moved closer to the front of the store.

As his footsteps grew closer, the man became paranoid as he heard noises. The citizen turned around to see the Sith standing a couple feet away from him. He opened his mouth the begin shouting but before he could let anything out, Raphael reacted. He brought the blast up to his hip and fired away a green blast deep into his chest.

The group outside of the building became suspicious of the noise and began getting louder and louder. They shook the door uncontrollably as they looked like they were on the brink of going mad. Raphael focused his rifle on the door, realizing he had made a split second decision that probably was a mistake. The crowd would truly want his head after they saw that. He now knew that he had to find a way off of this planet and fast, this was a dead deal.

[Corran Vellar]

Ryder's hovercraft weaved through the streets of the city heading straight for the expected Sith location. The man prepared himself for the potentiality of a fight with the same Sith he had run into on Tatooine many months back. Ryder wasn't properly equipped to face such a dangerous threat but he knew he had to try in order to protect the citizens of this world.

"Master," CE broke into Ryder's silence. "There seems to be a protest occurring at our destination, apparently anti-Sith in origin."

Ryder looked at the crimson droid and immediately cursed. It was clear to him that the contact who had informed Black Star of potential Sith presence here probably also decide to leak some information to the public. He let out a few choice Huttese words, the influx of innocent bystanders complicated things.

The car shot down the street straight towards the angry crown. "Try to break them up, we need to get as many people out of here before this Sith decides to go full dark side on everything!" With those orderers Ryder opened the side door, allowing the Force to flow around he leapt out and into a side alley. Quickly getting his bearings he darted down the alley to find the back door of the establishment and Force willing, the Sith.

[Raphael Xandir]

Frantically tapping away at his holowatch, Raphael signaled for his headhunter to leave the planet on autopilot before the locals got to it. Next came the signal to a transport ship he had floating in the system awaiting his arrival. Soon his protocol droid he so thoughtfully named, “Peasant”, would make sure that a bacta tank was prepped by a medical droid on arrival. This had the looks of it to be getting ugly fairly soon. The ship would send a shuttle close to his location soon for immediate escape.

Just outside of the shop the crowd has reached an all time manic high as the droid approached them. As the droid attempted to break the crowd up a few listened, making a beeline directly to the star port to riot near the supposed location of his ship. The others retreated a few feet to watch the events unfold. They would truly peak if the Sith could be spotted.

Inside the storefront, Raphael had just finished his escape preparations before he heard someone nearby. Feeling the force around him, he could feel someone nearby. The young Sith had to hide fast, as he reached out within the force yet again. Draining the energy from the lights that had illuminated the store, covering it in almost complete darkness. Raphael waited in the shadows for someone to approach before striking.

One hand rested on the holdout blaster he had stowed away while the other unsheathed a shiv from his boot. He awaited the next daring civilian to waltz into here thinking they can take the Sith student in a fight.

[Corran Vellar]

Ryder approached the open back door slowly, the sound of the riot barely muffled by the structure. He peered in to see nothing but pitch black, almost unnaturally so. The business man took a deep breath and opened himself up to the Force. Immediate he felt the darkside’s presence within the shop. With a flick of his right wrist he holdout blaster slid down his arm and into the waiting robotic hand.

With several careful steps Ryder entered into the back of the empty store. His grey eyes scanning the darkness for any movement when suddenly the Force gave him a warning a split second before a muffled blaster shot emanated from a dark corner. Ryder dived for cover behind one of the display cases as the green bolt made contacted with the back flap of his trench coat. It burned through the initial cloth layer to be scatter by the armor weave underneath.

Ryder’s crouched, putting his back to the case before calling out. “So we meet again Sith,” Ryder spoke just loud enough for the acolyte to hear. “I had hoped you’d remain buried on Tatooine, guess it’s good I caught up with you here, I’ll have to make sure I finish the job this time.” These word would truly be lost on Raphael as Ryder didn’t know that this man was in fact the clone son of the Sith he last encountered in the canyons of Tatooine.

He looked to the back exit and felt for the Sith’s presence in the Force. If he moved in that direction Ryder would make sure to stop him.

Meanwhile out side the crowd spotted the green glow as the blaster shot streaked through the room. Most took this as a warning, the person in there was armed and they weren’t . Some immediately ran while others looked for their commlinks to call the local authorities. Even if they got the call off they knew that any response would take time to arrive.

[Raphael Xandir]

The presence grew closer and closer by the second; the sudden feeling of life within the storefront was shocking to the young man. Whichever citizen was coming was either confident or stupid based on what should have been heard from the outside; Raphael hoped it was the ladder. He could now hear whomever it was approaching slowly in the darkness of this store. The young Sith knew he had to take his chance at the perfect time, there would be no second shot if the intruder had weapons as well.

Silver eyes watched as he could see a dark figure appearing before him in the back of the store. Raphael kept himself tucked away in the shadows, so the figure wouldn’t notice when he made his attack. His gloved hand directed the holdout blast towards the figure, making sure to maintain a line of sight that wouldn’t be interrupted by anything within the store. With a finger on the trigger, Raphael’s heart began to race. Sweat beat down his head forehead as he waited for the perfect moment, a slight pull of his finger would do.

Green illuminated the darkness as the fire raced through the store, directly at him. A calculated shot, dead center on target would soon find the intruder dead. The darkness set its warm and cozy blanket over the store again; he couldn’t tell where the body had fallen.

His eyebrows scrunched in confusion as he heard noise across the store again; maybe the intruder was still alive. Raphael didn’t know for sure if he hit the figure in a vital spot or not, let alone anywhere at all. Holding the blaster firm again, he heard an unfamiliar voice call out.

It was a man from the sound of him and it looked like he was apart of the group outside, as he knew he was a Sith. But what came next seemed to lose Raphael completely. He had hardly ventured out to Tatooine during his time as a Sith and he for sure couldn’t remember any conflict from there. This man clearly had him mistaken for someone else.

His eyes wandered towards the door, he wondered if he could make the quick exit out of here before this man “finished the job”. Raphael began to move toward that way but he heard the man moving as well. Quickly, he retreated back to his spot; the young Sith would have to deal with this man head on.

“And your name is? I can’t seem to recall such an irrelevant meeting…” he replied. It was a calculated response. Raphael wanted to know the name of the man in the storefront with him but he thought it better if his foe overestimated him, he would play the part.

[Corran Vellar]

Ryder noted something odd, the voice was slightly off. Was CE right that this might not actually be the Sith from Tatooine? Maybe but at this point there was no time to debate with himself about the identity of the Sith.

“Insignificant,” Ryder scoffed. “I’m glad being buried alive is insignificant.” His eyes scanned the space he could see while the Force felt out the rest of the space. His left hand reach over to his right robotic arm and started to power up his stun gauntlet. “The names Ryder, since we didn’t get our introductions last time in those canyons, yours?”

He took a deep breath, conversation was going to get him nowhere but if Ryder moved he’d be an open target. It also was the same for the Sith so for the moment it was a stale mate. Remembering back to Tatooine he knew that this man was an expert in melee combat, that meant trying to keep him at range or distracted. With a outstretched in the Force Ryder flicked his open hand and sent several loose items in the room flying towards the Siths location.

[Raphael Xandir]

His eyes tried to cut through the warm blanket of darkness. To no avail was he able to find his target; the man was hiding. Still, his blaster held true as it scanned the room looking for any sign of movement.

The Acolyte’s interest was severely peaked, he now knew this man was insane. Raphael could count of one his hands how many times he had been to Tatooine and even worse, being buried alive wasn’t one of the few activities that he had been apart of on the sand planet. Raphael had to act carefully, picking and choosing his words with precisely. He did not know what this insane man was truly capable of.

“My name is of no concern. What is concerning is what you are doing inside my place of business stranger,” he replied, probing for some more answers.

As he awaited a response, the holdout blaster still continued to examine the darkness. His nerves were on edge as his heart began to pound faster and faster. In the blink of an eye, he saw something move from the counter. As quickly as he could react, he sent another blast towards the counter. A loud metallic thud sounded through the room as a cup was sent flying.

The young Sith was too anxious, he needed to calm himself. He needed to pick his next few moves very carefully.

[Corran Vellar]

The metal cup flew from the counter and with superb accuracy the Sith blasted it out of the air. That was all Ryder needed though and he popped out of cover and unleashed two quick bolts of crimson energy from his holdout blaster. As quickly as he popped out he dropped back, the blaster bolts being his only response to the inquiry.

Pulling his comlink hooked to his collar close to his lips, Ryder whispered, “CE, if you’re done out there I need you in here.” Ryder once again closed his eyes and reached out with the Force, his mind calming preparing for the Siths next move.

[Raphael Xandir]

Raphael had to react quick as his sudden outburst of fire allowed the other man to follow suit. His ability through the force allowed him to feel the oncoming danger as he leapt sideways as the crimson blasts nearby took off his head. His left hand moved over to his shoulder as he could feel the heat from the blaster had skimmed the shoulder plate of his armor.

The young Sith kept low as he stalked through the room, holdout blaster in his right hand and now a vibroshiv in his left. His movements were slow as he attempted to see past the darkness.

A shot from his hip rang out as he heard the man whispering in the distance of the store. He knew the shot was off target, but hopefully it would be enough to scare him off.

Moving slowly he tried to get as close as he could to this insane man, with the path proving to be difficult as the store was cluttered. He would need to get in close with him to get away from that blaster fire.

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Gear in use:

Vibroshiv
Holdout Blaster
Bone Plate Armor
Protocol Droid

[Corran Vellar]

More blaster fire seared parts of the storefront as the Sith reacted to Ryder’s voice, luckily he was still behind cover. He felt the dark presence begin to move but it kept to the shadows to avoid being an easy target. The next thought that ran through Ryder’s mind were calculations. A basic holdout blaster had roughly six shot to it, Ryder knew the Sith has used one to take out his observer droid, one of the bodies in the hover car also had blaster scorching and then the Sith has fire now twice at the businessman. That left him with about two shots, though Ryder didn’t know the Sith had used one on the dead civilian in the room they were currently in.

“He’s got two, I’ve got four,” Ryder thought to himself. “He probably also has blades like on Tatooine.” That meant the Sith was probably trying to close the distance to prevent it from becoming a shoot off. Ryder had to take the initiative, he couldn’t just wait. With a deep breath, his muscles tensed and relaxed as he rapidly exhaled, his mind and body recalling the Mandalorian and Echani martial art training he’d received back in his Rebel Special Forces days. A low beep signaled the stun gauntlet had reached maximum charge, it was time for Ryder to make his move.

With his mind open to the Force he concentrated on an area in the middle of the room and caused it to flash with bright light. With the sudden luminescent change, Ryder dashed from his cover in hopes of catching the Sith off guard. He could only hope that at the end of this he’d be dragging the Sith out—in chains or otherwise.