Linora Sunfell stood in the suite of the now deceased Zerrid An, examining the scene of the crime.
"What does it look like happened?" A gruff voice came from the communicator. Linora examined the body causally, already pretty confident of what she would find.
"Looks like he succumbed to his favorite past time. Autoerotic asphyxiation with a side of Inertia overdose," she reported coolly as if her employer shouldn't be surprised to hear such a thing.
"So, an accident?" the voice queried.
"Possibly, let me just check his data..."Linora spoke into her communicator, as she glanced through the files on his datapad."So, that vacation he took last month? Turns out he was on Nar Shaddaa."
"The Hutts were trying to poach my scientist?" Xomit Grunseit growled in response.
"Didn't have to try hard..." she murmured. "He sent them a shipment of his latest batch of Inertia."
"That rat!" the falleen exploded into his communication device.
"It's fine, sir. He only sent them a shipment, not his recipe. Which we still have." Linora explained, confidently. "Once the Hutts get their population addicted to Inertia, they will have to come to us for more supply."
"That is...solid reasoning, Sunfell. You may have a Vigo position in your future. If such a thing ever opens up."
Linora bent over at the side table, examining the broken vial on the floor. She smiled to herself as the cloying scent filled her nostril. "Oh, I wouldn't be surprised if it did."
*****
"Discrete, but with no witnesses. Got it." Quinn pursed his lips at her final question. "And yeah, I do. Since I'm the discrete backup, do you want me sitting out in the speeder? Or do I need to get a nice suit and tag along?" He gave a small shrug and rummaged around in his belt pouches. "Again, either one's fine. But you'll want this if I'm staying outside." With that, he tossed her a small package. Opened, it revealed two small lozenges.
"Well, I don't usually travel with a bodyguard, so it's going to look suspicious if you came up with me," Scarlet reasoned.
"Those are passive transmitters," he explained. "Designed to be swallowed - souvenirs of a discrete job I took a while back. Top secret Republic stuff, very hush hush. Keyword and voiceprint coded so they won't broadcast unless you trigger them. And then it's a compressed burst on a randomized cycle - once every three to ten seconds." He leaned back, watching her reaction. "They digest or pass through, so I wouldn't swallow one until you're getting ready tomorrow." Another moment's pause as he watched her face - not a difficult thing, really. She was easy to watch.
"Also," he added with a wink, "plenty of time to have it checked for poison. You don't know me from Chancellor Valorum, after all. I'm not gunning for you, but I'd be disappointed if you didn't take the precaution."
"Sounds good. And yes, I will have these checked for poison or drugs or things I am allergic to. Hell, you might kill me by accident, without even meaning to. And have the Black Sun come down on your ass."
With that, he turned his attention back to the copied files. "In the meantime, I'll see about committing the blueprints here to memory. And scope out the site. Discretely. Figure out the best approaches, things like that. I really don't like surprises, unless I'm the one doing the surprising."
He tucked the datapad away. "But that'll have to wait. I'm supposed to have retained your services for a couple of hours. It'll do bad things to my reputation if I'm out of here in fifteen minutes. You got anything else you want to go over? You're the one on the sharp end, after all."
"Stay awhile. My, well, Shadi's reputation on the line too, if she can't keep her clients occupied and enthralled for more than fifteen minutes," Scarlet offered, standing up to stretch now. She put the package he gave her down on with on the vanity, mixed among the various makeup and perfumes.
"I am pretty set on my end of things. It's not anything I haven't done before..." She started, looking through her wardrobe and picking out potential outfits for tomorrow. Pleasant tension filled the silence until she broke it by giggling.
"There's, uh, nothing stopping us from fucking, at least nothing I know of. It would pass the time." She said turning now with a wink. "You could be one of the lucky few I fuck and don't kill after or during." She picked a strappy black dress with high slits and a low neckline. Holding up against her body she turned towards him.
"I could fuck and not get murdered?" Quinn laughed. "What a generous offer!" It was tempting, though. Even in prosaic slacks and tank top, she was stunning. And in that leather dress she'd worn in the bar..? She was an erotic dream come to life. And then she picked up a dress - could you call that black assemblage of straps and spaces by that word? - and held it up to her body.
"What do you think? Would this make you stupid enough to lower your guard?" She asked, with a teasing glimmer in her gaze.
He licked his lips, visualizing her in that outfit. And then out of it. "I think it would," he said returning her frank gaze. "I can feel the thought of it draining the blood from my brain."
"Why don't you tell me about that lightsaber. Every bounty hunter I come across with one has an epic story to tell about how he wrenched it from his opponents hands."
That drew a chuckle from him. "An epic tale?" He shook his head, laughing. "Not really, and I'm convinced that the majority of the people who do have one are lying their balls off."
"Oh, I am sure too. Doesn't make their fantastic accounts any less entertaining," Scarlet clarified, hanging the straps passing for a dress on the inside of the wardrobe, "So you have about ten years' worth of bragging and tall tales to compete with. I've heard all nature of them, from men and women trying to get between my sheets and legs."
Watching her reaction carefully, he drew the saber and turned the gunmetal hilt in his hands. "See, not all lightsabers are Jedi weapons. This one, for instance, was manufactured on an AdascaTek production line in the Arkania system. They manufacture a few thousand a year, catering to a select market." He flipped the hilt in the air and caught it. "Wanna-be's, mostly. And a few people like me, swordsmen who don't want the bulk of a vibroblade and who see the practical utility of a tool that cuts through most anything."
Another grin. "So my epic story? I headed over to Arkania IV and dropped a couple of grand in a factory. Pricey, but it doesn't come with the recurring costs of killing a Jedi and waving one of their swords around." He clipped it back to his belt. "I don't mind that kind of heat from business, mind. But not because I'm trying to save some money."
*****
"Oh, my dear Quinn," Kaydia started, meeting his gaze with one of her own. "the truth? Never go with the truth!" She took up a firing stance now, holding her hands in a mock gun formation. "No, no, you were tracking a daring Jedi." She pantomimed a run motion, hiding behind the chair in a dramatic fashion. "They had you pinned, every shot you took, reflected back." She made a few firing motions, followed by exaggerated dodging motions. "So you had to outsmart them. You managed to get behind them and..." She flicked her wrist with flair, making the blaster sound with her mouth.