Eclipse

"Sure you don't wanna join in?" Meryik - a Zeltron with skin so pake he was pink - asked, shuffling. "Cards are hot tonight..."

"Naw," Sharn laughed, throat-crest rippling with the sound. "You so don't want old Quinn there in the game. He's a wizard, he is."

Quinn Hale laughed as well. He was a man who seemed to have been designed to blend into a crowd. Handsome, but not distinctively so, with hair too dark to be called blonde and to light to be called brown, and eyes that were either blue or green depending on the light. He wore a khaki jumpsuit, well- laundered but still marked with faded oil stains, and scarred black boots, and a utility belt with a blaster and a vibro-knife and the hilt of a mass-produced lightsaber. "Hardly a wizard," he chuckled.

"God-damned luckiest merc I've ever met," Sharn replied, waving at the saber. "And there's that thing..."

"What, my saber?" Quinn rolled his eyes. "Yeah, 'cause I'm clearly a Jedi, slumming it on Mustafar with my AdascaTek L322 'Cutmaster' here." He patted the weapon. "Just like I was a Jedi last night, over at the Velvet Spire, and..."

"Why do you pack a saber?" Meriyk asked, dealing the cards. "It's a bit... eccentric, after all."

Quinn shrugged. "I'm good with a blade, ain't I. And it cuts through damn near everything." He smiled thinly. "And I never cared much for a fair fight." Just then, his wrist beeped, and he checked the display. "And I gotta go, boys. Have a drink on me." He tossed a fistful of dactaries on the table as he rose.

"Business?"Meriyk asked, idly curious.

"Depends on how you define it," Quinn laughed, tossing down the last of his drink. "Remember that blonde from last night?"

Meriyk frowned, then nodded hesitantly. "Shade. No, Shadi. The gymnast with the rack?" He grinned as the memory returned. "Business then? Or pleasure?"

"Bit of both," Quinn laughed, heading for the door. "Bit of both."

In truth, it was very much going to be business. He was playing driver and bodyguard for 'Shadi' - Scarlet, if you wanted to be professional - both for a fat stack of credits and an introduction to the Black Sun because freelancing was a dead-end career path for a merc. He didn't know what she was doing. He hadn't asked, although he had an idea - he knew Scarlet by reputation, after all. All he was worried about was meeting her at the rendevouz in ten minutes.

Whistling a merry little tune, he climbed into the seat of his speeder and kicked it into gear.

***

Kaydia wore deceit like a second skin. Deceit took the form of Shadi, the blonde escort, for a bit longer, as she made her way to the Velvet Spire, to meet her contact. The Velvet Spire was a high-end brothel in the Capital City of Mustafar. It was also one of the holdings of the Black Sun, a legitimate business front for the syndicate. It was used for various cartel business, such as, in this instance, a place for Shadi to conduct her affairs. Management knew the deal, knew better than to ask questions, and provided the cartel's assassin with a cover for her escort persona. She was free to come and go as she pleased.

Kaydia was surprised to find herself back here. It had been three years since she left the life since she kicked drug habit that had kept her enslaved to their demands. She had tried to move on, but the reach of the Black Sun was far and wide, in the outer rim. Life would never be simple for her, so long as the Black Sun held power out here. What else could a former junkie assassin do but turn her skills on the people who had turned her into a killer?

So she made a contact within the Black Sun, someone who had infiltrated the organization from the inside. A Jedi. Just like she had been before they took her. Before they twisted her into their tool. Before she succumbed to her own darkness. For now, she was cleaning house, taking out those who had betrayed the syndicate, but in time, she would have those that were responsible for what she had become.

To move forward, however, meant she needed some more muscle. She was a damn good assassin, but that didn't mean much to a criminal organization as big as the government on a smaller planet. So she waited at the bar on the first floor of the Velvet Spire for her contact to arrive.

Quinn Hale, a for-hire merc who was smart enough not to ask many questions, as long as he got paid. She watched him walk into the bar, the confident gait, with a tune on his lips and a lightsaber at his side. It still caught her breath, had her wondering if The Order was finally getting around to eliminating her, over a decade since they abandoned her to her fate. But it didn't mean anything, way out here on the outer rim. Lightsabers were a thing of pride among the hitmen and bounty hunters out here, and every decent killer boasted at least one.

You have a Jedi among your kills, don't you Scarlet?

She drank down the voice, the last vestiges of a conscious beaten down by years of contract killing and drug use. His eyes meet hers, as he made his way to her. "Right on time, Mr. Hale. Shall we adjourn to my room, or are you buying me a drink first?" She asked coyly as he got within ear range. He was rather handsome, in the dark lighting of the brothel bar. Handsome in an unremarkable way, in a way that nagged at the back of her head, as if she had seen him somewhere before.

***

Security at the Velvet Spire didn't hassle him too much, this time. After all, he'd been here yesterday and hadn't torn the place up. So they welcomed him by name and reminded him that this was a peaceful establishment while looking pointedly at his weapons. And he assured them that he was just there for a good time and that he only started trouble if he was getting paid to start it, and then offered to check his weapons as a sign of his good faith. They let him keep them.

The downstairs three levels of the Spire could have easily passed for a high-end nightclub, because that's exactly what they were. Subdued lighting, tastefully expensive decor, and a layout that mixed dance floors and dining areas and private little alcoves for conversation. The staff were all gorgeous women and handsome men of various species, and all were available fir the right price. Quinn, with his jumpsuit and weapons, stuck out among the other patrons like a Gammorean.

"Right on time, Mr. Hale," 'Shadi' remarked as he joined her at the bar. "Shall we adjourn to my room, or are you buying me a drink first?"

The question earned him a dirty look from a Correlian in a dark suit, who'd clearly been planning on approaching her himself. Quinn didn't blame him. The leather dress she wore fitted her like a second skin, displaying a supple dancer's body, and it was all too easy to imagine that dress sliding down her curves. What a pity that it was an assassin's body, and that he was here on business. "A drink first, I think," he replied, glancing at the Correlian. "We've got all night, after all."

It ended up being two drinks, actually, for the sake of appearances. And then she clung to his arm with an easy grace as they made their way through the club and up the elevator, chatting and flirting until the door of her suite locked behind them. And then the persona vanished along with the posture and wig, and a tall, confident woman with a mass of shockingly red hair vanished behind a privacy screen. Scarlet emerged a few minutes later, casually dressed in a black tank top and slacks.

"Our first target is Vouru Kiash, mid-level Black Sun Officer. Meeting with a representative of a rival syndicate. It's low key, they weren't trying to attract attention with this one," Scarlet explained, pulling up images and surveillance on her datapad. "'Shadi' is providing entertainment for the meeting, your job is to back me up if something goes wrong."

"Discreet backup, or flashy?" he asked. "That is if things go ploin shaped, do I just pull you out? Or do I spread a whole lot of pain and misery around in the process?" He grinned. "I'm good with either. I just want to make sure I'm prepared."

Scarlet narrowed eyes at him as he asked about the plan. "Discrete."

He took the datapad, ignoring the electric sensation as his fingers brushed hers. "Oh, and are we just hitting Kiash? Or are we taking care of this... ah..." He consulted the information on the screen. "Balish Klynt?" With a few deft strokes, he copied the file to his pad and then slid it back. "Again, I don't care either way. Just want to make sure."

"We are hitting all of them. Kiash, Klynt, and the bodyguard a piece they will probably have there," She explained, transitioning back into the professional. "Since Xomit Grunseit took command of the Black Sun, all the other syndicates have been pushing into their territory. Trying to strike at perceived weakness. A swift, decisive hit is the message they want to send other cartels and the disloyalty within their own ranks." Scarlet explained, leaning back on her elbows.

"Any further questions?"