Eclipse Ch. 08

The plan was a terrible plan, but Quentin couldn't come up with a better one. So he let Kaydia begin scoping out the warehouse and pulling the strings to get him in place. For his own part, he tended to the modified skimmer. Which meant talking to Meryik Tann. The Zeltron loved a lot of things. Men. Women. Men and women together. Gambling. Drinking. But the one thing he loved above all else was vehicles. And for all his flippant airs, he was a consummate professional. So when Quentin approached him, the only questions he asked were related to the specific requirements of the scrambler.

Their first break came two days after the meeting with Linora.

***

"One of Zerrik An's boys, hey?" The speaker was a bulky near-human, with skin like leather and faceted orange eyes. He looked Quentin over.

"Yep," Quentin drawled. He'd spent a little time modifying his appearance. Chemical tablets and ultraviolet treatments to darken his skin to the color of mahogany. Hormone injections to change the color of his eyes from blue-grey to brown. Inserts in his shoes to change his height and gait a little, and nose plugs and cheek pads to alter the contours of his face subtly. He's also shaved his head.

The speaker glanced over the details on his datapad. "Hmmm... driver, mainly. And a little bodyguard work." A bark of laughter. "Didn't do Zerrik much good, did you?"

Quentin shrugged. "Ain't my fault. An liked him a bit o' bein' choked out while he was gettin' laid." He snorted a little bitter laughter. "Always warned him he'd go a little far. Weren't much I could do, though. Not like he wanted an audience or nothin', not when he was having him a whore."

"What happened?" the near-human asked, curious now.

"You ain't heard?"

"Nope."

Quentin made a show of looking around, then leaned in conspiratorially. "You didn't hear this from me, got it? But he, ah... he kinda burst a blood vessel. Seems the whore didn't even notice, until she was finished."

"She didn't notice?"

"Nope. Guess he wasn't as good as he thought."

Both men laughed, and the nonhuman waved the datapad. "Yeah, well, Miss Sunfell says you check out. So you're hired. Boss needs a good driver." He offered Quentin a hand. "Name's Bronn Tallet. You'll be reporting to me, unless the boss gives you orders directly."

Quentin shook the man's hand. "Lazlo Jamis. A pleasure."

***

It took nearly a week to put all the pieces in place. Quentin was in position to drive Tuzza to the location, be outnumbersKaydia had the warehouse set up to her benefitbe outnumbered, three to two, but Tuzza wouldn't be expecting his driver to be in on the plot to take him out. She would have one of his bodyguards dead before he knew what was up and Quentin could have the other dead in an instant.

Based on the intel Quentin sent her this morning, she reviewed who was guarding him today. Mythosha Phun, the cathar and Oongol Furukt, a trandoshan. Mythosha was an expert at close quarters combat and Oongol was a master marksman, a potent combination that covered Tuzza from any and all attacks.

Kaydia set up the warehouse with substantial cover in preparation for a firefight. Blasters weren't her preferred weapon, but she was decent. Besides, she wasn't sure she was ready for Quentin to know about her connection to the force, and her past. She liked him, quite a bit, but it was hard to bring up the difficult memories. Maybe, once this job and part of her life were behind her, she could leave it behind and travel the galaxy with Quentin, and become a mercenary, like him. Partners, in business and maybe even something more.

***

Lazlo - Quentin - pulled the modified speeder into the warehouse right on time. "We're here, Mister Drezzix," he said over the intercom. The back of the limo was a separate compartment from the driver's seat.

"Good," the response came. "Kill the engine. We don't want anyone thinking we're in a hurry to get in and out."

Quentin powered the speeder down, letting it settle on its skids. Taking a deep breath to settle jangled nerves - he was always nervous at the start of an operation - he glanced upwards at where he knew Kaydia would be lurking, and nodded once. Then he opened the door. First to emerge was Oongol Furukt, long pistol in one hand, slitted eyes scanning the interior of the building. Mythosha Phun was next, moving with a feline grace as she seemed to focus on everything at once. "Now?" she purred, a question Quentin wasn't prepared for.

"Yes," Tuzza agreed, still sitting within the passenger compartment.

Quentin felt the surge of adrenaline in the Cathar's blood and felt her aggression suddenly directed at him. He had a fraction of a second for his nerves to scream we've been made! before Kaydia's blaster bolts hammered into Oongol in rapid succession, putting him down before he could raise his pistol. Mythosha's attention flicked to the dead Trandoshan for that same fraction of a second, and Quentin acted. Faster than the Cathar could believe possible a small vibro-knife dropped from his sleeve into his hand, and the humming weapon slammed into her throat and severed her spine before she realized fully what happened. She hit the ground, living just long enough to disbelieve his speed.

"Shit!" Quentin called out as he tore open the limo door. "He's on to us!" And then he slammed the door shut as he saw the disruptor in Tuzza's hand, spinning and dropping before he could fire. The action saved his life but also saved the Vigo's as Kaydia's blaster bolts deflected from the armored body of the speeder. Hand pressed against the metal, he could feel the vibrations of Tuzza as he called urgently for backup.

Faster than it should have taken -assuming the jammer had worked- a second skimmer arrived. He had time enough to see Kaydia coming from one direction, and the doors open from the other, and then something clattered and bumped across the fusion formed floor of the warehouse. Reflexively he covered his eyes with his arm, just managing to block the worst of the glare as the flashbang detonated. Three of the reinforcements cursed loudly, staggering blind from the grenade, and Kaydia gunned one of them down with a triple-burst from her blaster.

"Take him alive!" Tuzza screamed. "Both of them! I want to make an example of them!" In response, the guards that could see drew shockstaves and nervesticks, moving to encircle the lone knifeman their boss wanted. Quentin watched them come and tossed his vibroknife aside.

"Surrendering?" one of the guards laughed. "It won't..."

"Nope," Quentin answered, his words almost drowned out by the snap-hiss and hum of his igniting lightsaber. "Just evening the odds." He grinned. "But you boys can walk away now, if you want."

***

They might have just been doing their jobs, and might not have aimed to kill her outright, but Kaydia had no intention of sparing any of these men. She had killed dozens on Tuzza's word, so what were a few more dead bodies to her name? The men surrounded Quentin, snickering at the show of his lightsaber.

For a Zabrak with a shockstaff, it was his last act, as Kaydia hit him in the face with the heel of her palm, driving with enough force to push his nose into his brain. She tore the shock staff from his dying hands and stood with her back brushing against Quentin's. She struck at the nervestick that darted out to strike her, knocking it out of his hands. A follow up roundhouse kick had him on the floor.

Tapping into the force, Kaydia connected with Quentin mentally, sensing his movements and adjusting her own to move complementary to his own. The two of them moved with a fluid grace, as if they had practiced together for years, instead of having met a little over a week ago. Between the two of them, they are were offense and defense, creating opening for the other's strikes. Despite being the odds being against them, they laid waste to their remaining foes.

Tuzza moved behind the cover she had set up, pinning them down as he moved towards the skimmer parked outside. "We need to split up," Kaydia suggested, moving along one side of the warehouse, as Quentin made for the other side. With his lightsaber acting as a beacon, he drew Tuzza's fire, but he did fine, ducking and dodging behind cover to avoid blasts. She was within striking distance now; one last sprint would have him in her clutches.

Quentin came from the other side, wield his lightsaber. Tuzza got off a couple shots, and Quentin had nowhere to hide this time. If he were a Jedi, he could have deflected the bolts away from himself, but a normal human couldn't move that fast. With a desperate cry Kaydia force pushed him, slamming him against the wall just in time to avoid the blasts to his chest.

Tuzza turned just in time to see Kaydia's foot hook behind his ear. He drew a vibro-knife as he went down, stabbing wildly as Kaydia followed up her attack. She disarmed him, and, using his his own knife, wielded by his own assassin, she opened his throat, green blood spilling out in quick spurts. He lived just long enough to recognize her.

It took a moment, but she began to realize that killing Tuzza did nothing. No relief from the years of shame and pain he inflicted upon her. Killing him didn't bring back Master Bry-Ta, or return her life to its original trajectory. It was...empty. Revenge couldn't give her peace in this life, but there was something else. Someone else, she thought, as she rushed to Quentin's side.

She let out a sigh of relief as Quentin began breathing normally again. She couldn't remember the last time she used a force push without intending to hurt her target, and it was possible that in trying to save him, she injured him.

"Are you okay?" Kaydia called as she rushed over to Quentin.

"Uuuh..." Quentin gasped. For an instant his heart was in his thrat as he saw the blood on her clothes, before he realized that it was green. "Haaaah..." he managed, drawing a deep breath. "Yuh... yeah." Time to play dumb for the moment, he decided. "What... what hit me?"

Kaydia opened her mouth but nothing came out. She still wasn't sure if she should open up to him, if she was ready to share that part of her life with someone else. And yet, at the same time, she wanted someone to confide in, and Quentin felt like he could be that person. Even more now, after everything that happened, and after they fight together as one. She hadn't even managed that level of connection with Master Bry-Ta, even after training with her for years.

"I'll tell, you, but not right now. Let's get out of here, get on our situation."

"And, more importantly, who the fuck set us up?"

The words stunned her. Objectively he was right; the timing of reinforcements was too perfect. Yet, the list of people who could have set them up was slim. Linora knew they were going to hit Tuzza, but that was because she had hired them. Hiring them to kill a man, only to betray them seemed a roundabout way to kill them. It didn't make much sense. Besides...

I know what they did to you, Scarlet. I want to help you.

No, Linora wouldn't betray her. Linora was her only ally, well, until Quentin came along.

"Let's get out of here, back to my place," Kaydia offered, helping him to his feet, unable to resist taking his hand in her own.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? We were set up, after all. Someone could be watching your place right now." He gestured around the warehouse. "I mean, sure. They probably didn't expect us to survive this. But still..."

She realized as he spoke that he was still holding her hand. Or was it that she was still holding his? Didn't matter. They'd just made an enemy of the Black Sun cartel; it was nice to have an ally in him.

"We could head for my place, instead," he suggested. "Well, my ship actually. I did rent a small place when I arrived, but that's likely to be watched. But... I don't think The Scrapper would be." He grinned. "I rarely visit it, so it shouldn't have attracted attention."

Still holding Kaydia's hand, he headed for the back of the warehouse and her skimmer. "Regardless of where we go, we should get out of here. Lie low for a day or two and work out who set us up and why. And then do something about it."