"Not at all." Trychon reiterated. "None of this is a reflection on you or your performance. If anything, our desire to bring your operation in closer with our own goals is due to the level of trust you have dutifully earned."
Tocar, Black Phoenix's second in command, was having his usual hard time keeping his temper in check. "You can put bows on a ronto all you'd like. It still stinks like a ronto. We've earned your trust operating a certain way, and what we get for it is jettisoned off our base into the outer regions to do your direct bidding and run completely legitimate courier operations." He folded his arms and glared at the Sith. "Every one of us, even the Cyborg here..." He gestured to Haley, who rounded out the small group meeting. "We all got into this either for the money or because we were already on the wrong side of the law, and it was the only way to do any business at all."
Raezyr held out his hand to his brother, indicating that he'd respond to the belligerent pirate. Tocar would likely back down to the larger Sith more quickly, not wanting to lose another body part. "We don't take business lightly, Tocar. We may not bow to credits, but we don't toss aside our best investments lightly either." He made eye contact with all three of their servants one by one. "I promise that all will be well taken care of." He could tell they were reassured, despite his normal gruff tone.
Falka looked to his two advisors. "You'll have to excuse us for having our concerns. We mean no disrespect." He waited for a response and got a dismissal gesture from Trychon. "We will of course prepare for the move whenever you tell us to go forward."
"The concerns are understandable." Trychon reassured him. "We fully expected as much, as well as your acquiescence. You will begin to pack essential gear in the morning, and I trust you'll be fully prepared to withdraw in three days."
"We still have contracts to take care of!" Tocar objected. "We'll become outlaws among outlaws, never safe to return beyond the outer reaches." He took a breath after an understanding glance from Falka and tried to calm himself. "I fear that what you ask is... unreasonable and puts our entire crew at risk of reprisal from our clients, which our competition will be all to eager to jump on."
"Again, your objections were easy to predict." Trychon nodded. "We don't expect blind loyalty from you while also putting you in unnecessary danger." He allowed the confusion to spread across the man's face. "I already had Ms. Stargazer subcontract out your upcoming contracts. You have nothing else left on your ledger."
"Permission to speak frankly?" Tocar growled, waiting only momentarily for an objection. "That's a load of bantha droppings. I'm sick of her being your not so secret puppet in the room."
"That's exactly what she was always meant for, regardless of how you feel about it. We needed some direct access that we could trust." Trychon held up his hand to cut off any further complaint. "You've earned our trust now, and Haley will be transferred to working with us directly. She will still serve at times as a contact for your group, but she will no longer be a part of Black Phoenix."
Haley simply nodded, not seemingly disturbed or surprised by the news.
The doors opened, letting in a diminutive shape in intimidating dark armor.
"Everything is secured for our meeting?" Raezyr asked.
The armor showed only a slight nod.
"This is Darth Invictus, our new protege." Raezyr noted as he picked up his saber and placed it back on his belt. He had placed it on the table to remove any doubt as to who was in charge. "He is a man of few words, but if he should ever need anything from you now or in the future, I strongly recommend you cooperate."
With that, the three Sith left the board room.
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Trychon, Raezyr, and their new apprentice settled into a private room in the back of a very seedy cantina. Invictus had already assured them in his own silent way that the room was clear of any danger.
They had just received their first order of drinks when their contact showed. He walked into the room with his face obscured by his cloak, which clung to him like a wet cloth.
"Nice outfit." Raezyr spoke under his breath. Wannabe, he thought at Trychon, who grinned briefly.
"I assume no introductions will be necessary." The dark man spoke, his voice echoed eerily.
"We're not ones to waste time." Raezyr took a drink. "You have all the information you need. We're not going to give you a tour of the property in question. We'll be vacated within a day and you can collect assuming you can transfer the money. Now."
"All is in order."
"Good." Trychon slid a miniature datapad across the table. "That will disable all the defense systems and allow you access, once I've received the funds. You won't be able to slice the code you need out of it, so don't try. If the money does not come through, we will find you. We'll take it and more."
"I can be quite resourceful myself." The man's voice echoed again.
"Yeah yeah." Raezyr stood to leave. "Obviously, you can pay us, and that's what mattered. We're not going to sit here and compare the size of our tauntauns."
"Uh.... nevermind?" The thing laughed. "I'll let you get back to your secret meeting now. Carry on."
"Daxter?!" The dark man exclaimed, with a tinge of fear in his voice.
"Heh." Daxter shrugged. "I really do have to go now."
"Who sent you?" Raezyr asked forcefully.
"I can't tell you that. What kind of assassin would I be if I told you that? I'll tell you what kind... the bad kind. Or the dead kind. That's what kind."
"I can find out." The man's voice echoed emotionlessly again. "He was a junior assassin in our group. I can get his contract details and hand them over to you... if you hand the runt over to me."
"No dice." Trychon said as he wiped the blood from his cheek. "You can find out for us, and then come with us. After all is done, we'll decide if you get what you want. For all we know, you brought him here." He nodded to indicate that the man look to his left, where he noticed the business end of a dual bladed lightsaber hovering inches from his face. "Cooperate, and you may get everything you want. Don't cooperate, and we'll still find a way to get what we want."
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"Not like we needed to keep them alive to know that it was Jama the hutt was behind this." Raezyr noted as they reached their final destination. Jama'Rukus Rus'El was a local hutt who had crossed their paths before. The Sith had responded by nearly destroying his entire base on their way out of the system.
"I've told you. I'm not going to help you get in..." The strange creature they'd come to know as only 'Daxter' squeaked.
"Look at it this way." Raezyr held up the creature to meet his own eye level. "Every time you obey us allows you another minute and another chance where you may be able to kill us."
Daxter seemed to consider this for only a brief moment before scurrying up the wall and through a barely noticeable vent above the entrance.
"A motivational speech unlike any I've ever heard before." Trychon laughed.
"Just wait and see if it..." Raezyr started, just before the doors began grinding open. "Works."
"You two are reckless." The dark man noted in as grumbling a tone as an emotionless voice can have.
"Your observation is noted." Raezyr glared at him, as though the man needed a reminder as to their relationship.
The group wandered into the Hutt's lair and followed Daxter, who was being uncharacteristically quiet. Finally they came to Jama's main chamber, and met the scowl of the obese alien, as well as the welcoming barrels of half a dozen blasters.
The Hutt voiced his displeasure with the visit and particularly his hired assassin allowing his enemies in. Several obscenities were mixed into his commentary in his native huttese. Daxter scurried over to the disgruntled alien and whispered in his ear, presumably about how it was the only way to stay alive long enough to kill them, and how he wasn't under a mind trick of some sort.... he promised.
The Hutt tossed a few more obscenities around the room, then admitted that it was true that if the Sith had wanted to attack him, they probably would have done it from the cowardice of their ship as they had the previous time. Then the Hutt welcomed his guests with exaggerated grandeur and hospitality. Then he ordered one of his servants to bring them all drinks so they could discuss their differences like civilized folk.
Then he winked at the server, and then to Daxter.
It took all of the Siths' willpower to keep their snide remarks to themselves. If the dark assassin's face was visible, they imagined his jaw would be hanging wide open. This was one of the most obtuse criminal organizations perhaps in the history of the galaxy.
The Hutt went on to talk about how everything had been a big misunderstanding up to this point, and how he was sure that they could all get along. The brothers said nothing as they waited and allowed the Hutt to think himself clever.
After a while, when the server had taken too long to return with their drinks, Jama ordered his newest slave Daxter to go fetch the drinks. He winked again, and this time, Raezyr thought he heard the dark assassin cough, covering a laugh of sorts.
They waited several more minutes, and just when it seemed the crime lord was getting ready to explode with impatience, and having to keep up his charade of kindness, Daxter returned, with a tray full of drinks.
One of Jama's servants grabbed the tray hastily and handed a drink to Jama as well as one to each of the Sith.
Daxter hurried over to Jama and began tugging at his arm nervously, but the annoyed hutt only swatted him away.
Jama raised his glass and took a drink, as did the Sith. Afterwards, the host began to give one of the famous hutt chuckles.
Fools, he called them... then after another chuckling fit, he told them that their drinks had been poisoned, and that they would die within seconds.
"Actually..." Daxter started to explain, though it was already too late for the now choking hutt. "I spilled the poison into all the drinks on accident."
The two Sith were not paying attention, however. The second that Jama had begun to lose his breath, they had each turned to face each other and placed their right hand on their opposite's left shoulder and closed their eyes.
The entire room watched with baited breath waiting for them to keel over, though it became apparent after several moments that they intended to disappoint everyone.
The dark assassin had already rushed to Daxter, and was taking great pains to avoid touching the creature as he attempted to smother him with a seat cushion.
"Not so fast." Trychon said, holding out his hand and halting the assassin through the Force. The various henchmen around the room opened fire on the two intruders, but Raezyr was faster, quickly downing half of them with blocked blaster bolts, and the other half through lightning quick movement through the room, slicing them all with his humming blade.
Daxter took a moment to grasp what was transpiring, but he took no time to react once it struck him. A few quick movements later, and an odd set of attacks of a sort, and the strange assassin laid dead.
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"You want to keep him, don't you." Raezyr stated more than he asked.
"It could be... interesting. you never know." Trychon smiled.
"Just explain to me what happened between you and that creepy guy... and why I should let go of the fact that we need to find a new buyer for our base."
Daxter took a deep breath and then began to explain furiously.
"Well, you see I was working for this group as an assassin obviously, and it was going alright but it was really weird, I'm sure you could guess, well eventually I figured out that really the leaders of the group weren't a bunch of dark cloaked guys but really a bunch of clones of the one dark cloaked guy who really was really bad, but I also figured out how to kill him and I was the only one who knew how, but he knew I was the only one who knew how to kill him, so he ordered other assassins to kill me, but still I managed to sneak in and kill him, which killed all of his clones too, except for the one who was left behind, who you met, and he shouldn't have survived, but somehow he did, and he wanted me dead obviously because he knew I knew what he was and how to kill him you see, and so I..."
"I retract the question. Welcome aboard." Raezyr laughed.
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