Under Her Thumb

Posted on Tue Apr 28th, 2020 @ 5:32am by Amare & Bomoor Thort

3,899 words; about a 19 minute read

Chapter: Chapter VI: The Last Bastion
Location: Undervos Holdings Factory, Wastes, Sleheyron
Timeline: Week Three (Immediately after "Blue Sugar")

OLD

Amare sighed with deep annoyance at the delay to the next part of the mission. "Fine," she agreed upon noticing the blaster pistol at his side. "Not in there," she clarified with a tilt of her head towards the office from which she came. "Client's asleep. I know a place down the hall. Nobody will know."

She led the guard back towards the locker room where her gear was stored. A few minutes later, she emerged fully dressed again in her sage green outfit, shoto hooked by her left hip, blaster pistol with leather holster strapped to her right hip, and one more dead guard to add to her tally. Amare delighted in having placed the Weequay's severed head on the lap of the still-unconscious Twi'lek girl she left in the locker room just to make the memory of the night that much more unforgettable when the girl woke up. Amare had discarded the skimpy outfit, but kept on the faux gold metal bands for her head tendrils as parting gifts. She cautiously peered out to assess the hallway, and slipped quietly back into the maintenance closet where the water tube hatch was. With Gatill's comlink and her handheld computer, she began to slice for the late businessman's contact info. When she found the data she needed, she produced her own comlink and programmed in the contact she needed.

"Don't cut the line, Miss Yaxley," Amare said when the call was answered. "Your life is in danger."

NEW

Gatill had been absent for some time now, leaving Yaxley to watch the largely untouched desert table going to waste. She did not have a sweet tooth, so shad not been planning on indulging herself, but the uncomfortable amount she knew had been spent on this banquet made it hard for her to see it going to waste. She could almost picture one of those GalactaWerks bureaucrats auditing her and noting her poor predictions for food consumption. Then again, it was mostly for show.

She slid along and picked up a small meringue between her fingers and her jet black-painted nails, "Oh well," she sighed, tossing it into her mouth to find it about as satisfying as she had expected. As the honoured party guest was still absent and the Muun still hovering on the upper level, she felt the urge to begin tapping on her datapad again to fill the time.

However, before she could reach for her personalised pad, her communicator chimed subtly.

Thank goodness, Yaxley thought, Something to do

She pulled out the small device and, pressing the button, stated, "Yaxley speaking."

"Don't cut the line, Miss Yaxley," Amare said when the call was answered. "Your life is in danger."

The Arkanian's white eyes instinctively looked about her, but nobody was looking her way. The two Gamorreans guards her Hutt benefactor, Zorbo, had provided for her protection were grunting away in the corner. She turned away towards the table, burying the communicator closer to her as she commanded in a hushed tone, "Who is this? What are you talking about?"

"Listen to me carefully," Amare stated with a bit more intensity in her voice to emphasize the seriousness of the situation she was inventing. "Time is not on our side. I can't give my name over an open signal, but I've been hired by a concerned third party associated with your company to track an operative that is targeting you. That person is here on-site as we speak with full security clearance. He's likely disguised as one of the guards stationed here. Did you hire personal protection for tonight?"

The businesswoman felt an icy cold fear gripping her heart; she had gotten used to having personal security but had never had any incidents of note and usually thought of the silent company as an inconvenience. She had not been particularly keen on Zorbo's offer of Gamorrean security, but she had accepted the offer out of what she thought was courtesy but now seemed to somewhat hammer home the threat of danger.

"Now... now listen," Yaxley stammered slightly into the device, using all her energy to keep her body from shaking, "For your information, I have some of the strongest Gamorreans you have ever seen protecting me this evening. No... nobody is going to get anywhere near me."

"If you feel your guards can protect you from a rogue ex-Jedi who can snap necks with a thought," Amare remarked, "then it's your life to risk. I wish you good luck, Ms. Yaxley."

"A Jedi!" Yaxley's voice squeaked above a whisper, but not quite enough to attract attention, "What...why?"

Her mind raced as she tried to piece together what was happening. Perhaps the deal with the Hutt had gone sour and Zorbo thought he could bump her off. But then why offer the protection and when had the Jedi employed former Jedi? They usually preferred their own brand of assassin. Then who else would be targeting her? Gatill would lose everything if this deal fell through so it wasn't going to be him. Something clicked into place and she slowly and carefully raised her eyes to the upper level where Hesk Scivo seemed to be doing a good job of staying just far enough way from everyone else at the party.

You, thought Yaxley, her white eyes burning into his large cranium with fury and fear, Only your twisted mind would resent this merger so much it would turn to assassination.

"Okay," the businesswoman grasped the comlink firmly, trying to take charge of the situation, "If what you say is true, what do you suggest I do? Where is this ex-Jedi?"

"You let me worry about that," Amare assured her. "Right now, I need you to be calm, take a deep breath, and act casual. Now, if you want to survive, listen carefully: Go to your guards and have them escort you from the room. If anyone asks, you're heading to the refresher. Go down the hall and take your first left. You'll pass a rec room that the hired girls are using as a dressing chamber, then a locker room just past that. At the end of the corridor, you'll see on the wall in big yellow letters, 'Aurek-Two'. Right next to that is a maintenance room with an emergency exit hatch inside. I will give you further instructions when you reach the door. Do you understand?"

Yaxley burned the instructions into her memory. She was good with details, even when her mind was racing with what she was hearing.

"Yes, I understand," the Arkanian agreed, "I'll be there right away."

She clicked the comlink off and made a beeline for her guards, "You two, look alive. I'm heading out for a moment so stay close and keep your eyes open for..."

She didn't want to say 'someone with a lightsaber' as it just seemed too absurd, "...trouble," she settled on.

Departing the room, she eyed Scivo raising his gaze slightly to follow her. She knew she was right about him and it strengthened her resolve as she walked with defiance towards where the mysterious caller had indicated. She passed a couple of the young girls conversing in the corridor and they straightened up and put on their standard flirtatious air as she and her guards wandered by. Eventually, she came across the room labelled 'Aurek-Two'. It was, as the voice had indicated, next to a maintenance room and appeared to be just some kind of storage closet.

Not exactly the sort of place to have an escape hatch, thought Yaxley, But this is the right room.

She reached out a hand to the door panel and hesitated. What if it was a trap? She looked over her shoulder to the guards.

"You there. Charrk, was it?" she gestured in his direction, "Check in here for me. I want to make sure it's safe."

The Gamorrean grunted in an agreeable-enough way to indicate his obedience and stepped forward, opening the door.

The room was pitch dark as Charrk stepped inside with blaster at the ready. Just as he crossed the threshold, the door slid shut behind him, and a small green diode light on the access panel changed to orange indicating the door was locked. A second later, Yaxley and her remaining escort heard a squeal followed by a loud blunt sound, as if there had been a heavy collision inside. Not even a few seconds later. The door unlocked, slid open, and immediately, the other Gamorrean was struck with an invisible application of physical force causing him to stagger back against the opposite wall. The guard did not lose his footing and had the resolve to fire into the dark maintenance room...

Elsewhere in the factory complex, one of the technical advisers for the hired security staff picked an alert from his monitor in a makeshift "central command" room where the protection teams were coordinated.

"Sarge," the tech turned to his unit commander, "I have an unauthorised energy discharge detected over in section Aurek-Two near the hydro-cooling maintenance access."

The bald, fit, dark-brown skinned man of average height dressed in a black business suit who was known to his staff simply as Sarge was calmly stroking his neatly trimmed goatee beard when he received the report. Unperturbed, he didn't turn to the tech and kept his eyes fixed on his status monitor.

"Fine, send Team Ventrue to investigate," he ordered with the refined accent of an elite surface dweller of Coruscant. "Set our status to guarded. Let's not spook the guests just yet. Probably just another poorly insulated power conduit burning out." Then he added to himself under his breath, "I swear, half this place must've been wired by unlicensed amateurs."

In that same moment, Yaxley's second Gamorrean guard had dropped his weapon, a thrown short-hilt lightsaber buried into his chest. When his bulk, the weapon deactivated and spontaneously flew into the hand of its Nautolan owner who emerged from the gloom of the room behind her.

"Don't scream or run; it's me," Amare said soothingly in an attempt to keep the Arkanian from bursting into full panic. "My name's Sendai Marr, Jedi Knight. The Republic sent me to rescue you."

Arms frigidly held in a pleading gesture before her, datapad having fallen to the floor with the fall of her first guard, Yaxley was too frightened to scream.

"You... you killed my guards..." she barely managed to breathe out.

For several years now, on the advice of a GalactaWerks superior who she respected and envied, she had carried a small, concealed hold-out blaster. She had never thought she would have need of it until now. It was concealed in a nondescript pouch on her belt but she dare not make a move for it while this so-called Jedi was within striking range.

"Jedi do not kill innocents," she continued, "Those men: Charrk and the other one. They were just here to protect me and you cut them down."

"These men were anything but innocent, I assure you," Amare said as she pressed her on-the-fly con game with the Arkanian businesswoman. Her plan was to play the role of a Jedi sent to protect Yaxley from an imaginary ex-Knight. Improvising from moment to moment, Amare's goal was to gain her target's trust long enough so they could go to Yaxley's shuttle where Amare would finish her brutal job for Scivo. "The same group that issued your protection detail is the same one that hired Borton Tort to come after you. He was a former Jedi trained as a Shadow; a stealth specialist. Do you know who might be motivated enough to pay someone like that to have you killed?"

"It's... it's Scivo, isn't it?" Yaxley still had her suspicions set firmly on the Muun, "He's never been happy with this deal and only his calculating mind would bring Jedi into this. But, if this Tort was hired by Hesk, then who hired you?"

The instant Amare heard the name Scivo had all but assured Yaxley's death. Even if Yaxley had no evidence of Scivo's involvement in the murder-for-hire plot, her suspicion of the Muun alone would potentially jeopardize Lord Serus' underworld plans before they even took shape. The Sith's first instinct was to end the executive where she stood, but realized she still needed the Arkanian alive if she had any hope of a smooth extraction.

Amare parted her lips to answer, but was instead interrupted from further down the corridor.

"Miss Yaxley!" one of the two dark blue armoured guards with open-faced helmets called out, a tall female human accompanied by a young male Bith. "Are you alright? We detected weapons fire and--"

"The blue one's got a gun!" the Bith cried and immediately aimed his sidearm at Amare. The human swiftly followed suit. "And that Gamorrean behind them looks dead."

"Drop the weapon, now!" the human demanded, one hand on her blaster pistol, the other pointing her index finger to the floor.

"I'm a Jedi on Republic business you idiots!" Amare snapped at them as she ignited the chartreuse blade, a hand clutching tight on her shoto's hilt, the other free and ready to draw her own sidearm. "Yaxley's life is in danger. There's an assassin nearby in this facility hunting for her as we speak!"

The human widened her eyes at the bright green plasma beam the Nautolan held, blinking at it with recognition, never having seen the fabled weapon of a Jedi in person, let alone one with its business end active.

"Uh, Central," the human female nervous reported to her wrist-mounted comlink, pistol still leveled at a combat-ready Amare, but her grip was starting to tremble, "we--we um...you're not gonna believe this, but we've got a bloody Jedi here. She's got one of them fancy laser swords out. Says there's a killer on the loose looking for Miss Yaxley."

"Let me talk to them," came a smooth Coruscanti male voice on the other end.

The human guard held out her hand palm-up, and a hologram of the Sarge appeared projected from an emitter built into the guard's high-tech tactical glove.

"Madam Yaxley, my sincerest apologies," Sarge said with professional aplomb. "Have you been harmed? Do you believe what this so-called Jedi says to be true?"

"I don't know quite what to think," Yaxley eyed the man under her command; one of the GalactaWerks faithfuls now occupying key roles within the facility, "But I have not been hurt. Not yet. This Jedi Marr here tells me there is another one of her kind here to kill me. Have any other security breaches been reported on the facility?"

She decided to keep her suspicions about the Muun to herself for now, lest it cause a conflict of interest for some of the original staff here. For all she knew, some old Undervos employees might be in on the plan. She could trust no one but her proven faithful, such as the Sergeant here.

"None whatsoev--" Sarge started to say, but turned his head slightly in order to hear an unheard voice from behind him. "Until now that is. It seems our perimeter patrolman has vanished; failed his comm checks twice. Even if that was a sign of a hostile actor on-site, there's still the matter of the departed swine on the floor o'er yonder. Gruush, although uncouth like most of his kind, was a valuable asset. I don't suppose you dispatched his cohort, Charrk, as well, Jedi?"

"I regret their deaths," Amare lied with as much feigned sympathy in her voice as she would allow herself without feeling embarrassed as she masked the pleasure she felt in slaughtering those snout-faced brutes, "And the Jedi Council will hold me accountable for their loss, but I must see my mission through. Yaxley's life is all that matters right now, and time is running out. I can feel the stalker's approach. He knows I'm here now, and he will cut through every last one of you if necessary to end her life." She turned slightly to Yaxley whilst keeping her eyes on the guards, "This all depends on you. Do you hope that your hired help can defend you from someone you can't see until it's too late, or do you trust me in delivering you to safety? I can provide one, but if you deny me, I won't save you from the other. It's your choice."

There was an unspoken emphasis in the Nautolan's tone that gave Yaxley some confidence. She had not done business with Jedi before, but she knew they were renowned negotiators and she could certainly believe that right now. Her eyes passed over the bodies of her deceased body guards and then over to the security team.

"I will go with the Jedi, but I want Sarge here to come along too," the Arkanian demanded firmly, "I trust him to keep me safe."

Amare didn't like that proposal, but she relented for the sake of her dark agenda, "Of course," she said as she disabled her shoto. Then to Sarge, "Can you get the others to safety?"

"Already have my people locking down this strut," Sarge replied. His eyes lowered ever so slightly for just a second, long enough to recognize the blaster at the Nautolan's side, but he kept his cool and his sabacc face unreadable. He wasn't sure if it was coincidence, or a sign of something sinister, but he knew he'd have to see it up close to be since a holoimage didn't provide enough visual detail to confirm his suspicion. "They'll be safe behind our battle droids and turrets, don't you worry." He turned to the guards that had lowered their pistols. "You two: escort the Jedi and Miss Yaxley to the connecting bridge leading to Strut Besh. I'll meet you there."

Sarge's holoimage winked out just as both guards said "Yes sir" in tandem. The Bith gestured irritably as they walked past, "This way."

Amare nodded as she looked back the way they came, pretending to be concerned about a threat sneaking up on them. "I'll watch our backs, ma'am," Amare assured the captain of business, but then her curiosity got the best of her. "Forgive me if this sounds intrusive, but what is it about your company that would bring this kind of trouble to you? What could someone hope to gain by removing you from the picture?"

Yaxley kept up the pace towards the bridge, her eyes alert for danger but not so distracted not to notice the line of questioning, "I would have thought my Jedi protector would have a bit more knowledge," she commented, "But let me tell you this: there are more than two interested parties in any business merger. Some parties take it upon themselves to rig the result in their favour. I have seen it many times, but I have never been the target of assassination before."

And after today, you won't be ever again... Amare thought with homicidal intent.

It was in that moment when the female guard put a hand up to touch the comlink earpiece she wore.

"...Sir...?.......Y-yes sir..." she responded followed by a nervous swallow, the parting words laced with heavy dread; the Bith heard it too.

Amare felt a sudden shift in the guards' emotional states, and it gave her an extremely sudden sense of trepidation. If she had red alert klaxons built into her brain, they would have been blaring loudly now.

"Right through this door," the Bith gestured to it as he mustered a false sense of calm betrayed by his radiating fear pulsing rapidly from within his chest. The human was equally as nervous as her hand gradually started tightening on her blaster pistol's grip. Both guards stopped a few steps away from the door, parting aide to permit their guests to pass by them.

"Thank you," Amare said with a gracious tone and curt nod as Yaxley approached the door. The Arkanian whirled around the instant she heard the ignition hiss of the Jedi's lightsaber behind her. She turned just in time to see the Bith's hands slashed off leaving him screaming in agony whilst the shining green blade cut the opposite way in the same motion leaving a fatal burning cleft of vaporized flesh clean across the female guard's abdomen. The false Jedi reversed her blade without stopping and stabbed the Bith in the chest to finish him off just as the human dropped to floor. As the Bith crumbled, Amare drew her blaster with her free hand and aimed it squarely at Yaxley's head with eyes still trained on the Bith before the Arkanian could make a move for her own hidden sidearm.

"Don't be a hero," Amare warned her in a low icy voice as she slowly turned her gaze on her quarry, "and listen carefully."

Yaxley's heart rocketed to her throat as she gazed down at the digit-less Bith and then turned to face the attacker. This time, she knew these guards were faithful and her true enemy was the so-called Jedi pointing the gun barrel at her forehead.

She managed to stumble out the words, "You... you're the assassin..."

"We find ourselves in a complicated situation," Amare said with a sharp iron focus. "So I'm going to make this simple: We're going to step outside, act like nothing has happened, and meet this Sarge bastard. Tell him you want me to escort you to your ship. If you fail to convince him, you die." A rolling thunderclap from a approaching storm rumbled through the bulkheads and metal ceiling plates as Amare added, "If he wants to come along, so be it; I'll deal with him accordingly. If you attempt to warn him or his people about me in any way, shape, or form, you die. If you raise your voice or irritate me in any way, you die. If we manage to escape on your ship, I may be merciful and you may yet live to go home in safety and plush comfort. Do you understand?"

Yaxley was still terrified, but the Arkanian's sharp mind continued to work in the background. If she complied and made it to her ship, there was a slim chance she would have an opening to fire her concealed holdout blaster. It was a long shot, but she had taken riskier gambles in the business world.

"I understand," she kept her voice as plain and unemotional as she could.

The Nautolan retracted her plasma blade and kept her blaster low at her hip and trained on Yaxley. "After you," she said with a gesture to the door leading to the high bridge connecting the two major struts of the factory complex.

When Yaxley walked past and caused the armor blast door to part open with her approach, Amare holstered her pistol, glanced at the fallen guards with certainty that they were no longer potential threats, and cautiously followed her mark from behind. She had a subtle feeling there was something duplicitous about the target, something Yaxley was hiding, but couldn't divine what it was. Between that and what was to occur next out on the rain soaked connecting bridge filled the fledgling Sith apprentice with an all-too-familiar bad feeling of deep, life-threatening dread...

TBC

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