SithLore

Nal Hutta, a vile excuse for an inhabitable planet. That slimey hunk of trash and swamp sediment hovering through space, stinking of gas and garbage, wasn’t earning any brownie points with the shivering crow. It’d started pouring down a filthy, greasy rain about ten minutes prior that pitter pattered and oozed down the hood of her black leather belted trench coat. Her boots were sloshing their way across a piss colored puddle in the road before she crossed her arms, turning into an alley between two run down apartment buildings. She split from her partner after a mission went south, the plan being for either of them to find suitable lodgings away from the city’s hotspots, then ping their location to the other and wait out the night. A storm was rolling in over the city of filth and the rain that pelted Kressara Thryn was only just the beginning.

These structures were made with theft protection in mind decades ago, not actually possessing windows on the first and second floors. The entryways were welded shut and it wouldn’t be wise to disturb them. A tampered with door might draw attention which was the last thing they needed after botching their directive so horribly. Oh well, not everything could go smoothly. Sometimes the poodoo hit the fan.

“These walls are covered in algae...but that window could work. Covered from sight...high up...yeah.” Muttering to herself as plumes of fog from her lungs coiled around her stained lips and fled her nose, Kress set herself to work on breaking into the complex. She pushed back coattails to unhook a grappling hook from her hip, swinging the apparatus a few good times before lobbing it up around a window grate. Two test tugs later and the rogish sith was fitting her boot toes with a set of articulating metal talons made for just such occasions. The cable creaked and settled with her weight, special black grip enhancing gloves allowing the sith to cling onto her lifeline while clawed attachments gripped mortar. She was up the wall and at the window when she produced a handheld cutting tool with a super heated blade, using it to weaken bars so she could quietly pull them off one by one. Soon a sizable hole in the grate had been made and then a second gap in the board over the window was burned. Kress was in.

Done with the shoddy weather outside, the scowling, trembling sith hoisted herself into the building and let the cable remain for her partner to eventually use as well. If anyone happened to come across it and climb in, they’d be dealing with a very unhappy trespasser.

A hallway. Looks like the doors on the farside of the wall were electronic and lacking power supplies. Kress wandered the hall until a door plate reading ‘Home Sweet Home’ in common caught her eye. Emic would probably get a kick out of the irony of that one, so the crow snagged one of the metal bars from the window and pried the door open just enough to squeeze inside, pushing it a bit further still after considering her companion’s slightly larger build.

The inside of the apartment was dingy, dusty, and the only light inside spilled from algae covered windows so caked it was almost impossible to see out or in. As much as the view left to be desired, it was perfect for hiding out. There was a couch facing a wall where once an entertainment center stood, a space heater in the corner that may or may not still work, a small open kitchen in the same room with a dining table to separate the two spaces. A small hallway off the living area led into a cramped bedroom with a musty old bed in the center of the space and a bathroom next to the closet. It wasn’t much of anything, but something about the place just felt alright. After so many years of making it her business to vanish from multiple factions at any given moment, Kress had developed a sixth sense for what places were right and which were wrong. A five star hotel it was not, but it had that feeling about it that told Kressara they’d been safe laying their heads down there for a while.

Shaking hands peeled away greasy gloves before stripping off her trench, throwing it over a chair at the table to reveal a reinforced bodysuit beneath it. Kress unhooked the climbing gear from her boots and pulled her comlink free, punching in her location to it’s sister device.


If Emic wasn’t caught up with any of the Hutt mercenaries on their tail when everything blew up in their faces and the two were forced to scatter, she’d get an encoded ping from the crow telling her exactly where to meet up.

Kressara wasn’t stressing it. Emic was a smart cookie laced with rat poison. That woman was capable enough to handle herself and if this was where their mission had them parting, they’d both meet up again somewhere else to embark on another insane task. What could she say? Working with the zabrak was as much fun as it was exhilarating and their dynamic for teamwork only got better with every excursion. Removing the pin from her bundled hair to let it fall, Kress’s long platinum locks dropped to the middle of her back in messy, rain-dampened waves. Next came her utility belt and weapons, laying them out on the floor beside the couch for easy access. Lastly, she wandered into the bathroom to test for running water, pleased to discover that the shower was indeed working. She’d be using that later after Emic arrived, or she was certain her partner wasn’t coming.

In from the disgusting rain, climbing with a grunt through the window, was the soaked face of the Zabrak. The first thing she did was take off her combat suit, down to her undergarments. The second thing she did was try to find any way to wash the Hutta goo off of herself. She found that there was enough water left in the pipes to flush the stink from her.

“Disgusting planet,” she muttered to herself before looking down the hall to an open door. She stepped down, slipping through it and waving briefly to Kressara as she took in the surroundings.

A poster, of a Theelin with vibrant blue hair, posing against a neon background. She would recognize that face anywhere. “Remember Alexis? My rifle?” she asked the Sith, as she took the poster down and handed it to her. “This was her namesake. Alexis Chekeri. My cousin was so in love with her as a teenager that she might as well have been the only person in the world.” She took the poster back and filed it into her pack, a memento from the battlefield.

“Course, like most, she was replaced by someone younger on the galactic stage. But old Zeth kept buying all her records. I think she got better after she quit being famous.”

Emic kicked a faded and rusted jukebox in the corner, starting it up into a slow and relaxed groove. Then, she plopped down onto the squeaky couch, and lit up a cigarra.

Emic’s arrival came as a relief to the dainty blonde who’d been rummaging through the barren kitchen, though she wasn’t too surprised the zabrak made it unscathed to the safehouse. She waved and dipped her head down into a cupboard while her partner hosed off in the shower. By the time Emic emerged, Kressara had started plotting their escape from the planet, looking up from her holonet display with a warm curl of her lips.

“Oh? Yeah. Never shot a better rifle since.” Crow examined the poster, listening with an ever growing curiosity. So Emic had a family member she was close to? Handing it back, Kress admitted, “I’ve listened to her music before. Nice voice. My mom was a big fan...actually. I’d forgotten that until now. Were you terribly close with this cousin of yours?”

Surprisingly enough, that wondrous trench coat of Kressara’s kept her clean from the rain save for her face and hair, which she washed in the kitchen sink with the remainder of the water and some dried up hand soap. Horrible for the skin, but it would do for a night. Wet hair slicked back to show off more of her face (now makeup free to show off the glitterstim dark circles beneath her eyes) than she usually did, Kress slipped off her boots and joined Emic in the living room with a sway in her step to the music. Letting her knees go slack, the tiny blonde dropped down onto the sofa with a small giggle at the dust that rose to mix with Emic’s cigarra smoke.

“You ever just realize how long it’s been since you cried about something you never thought you’d stop crying over?” The relaxed sith lifted her hand to reveal a half full bottle of something strong she’d found in the cupboards, shaking it playfully.

“I found dinner~”