Ask Meeting with Royals

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

Caerllion was relieved when Arla refused the wine, having thought for a moment that his signal wasn’t clear. The waiter, however, wasn’t relieved. He was very nervous, having exchanged another glance at Elyon. His cousin's smug smile had disappeared, being replaced by a furious look. In a rare moment, the Prince allowed himself to smirk, making his relative even more annoyed.

“I understand.” the servant said, before leaving. Caerllion was sure that he would suffer some retribution from Elyon for his failure. However, it wasn’t his problem.

The rest of the dinner happened without any problems, much for his relief. Usually, after a banquet like this one, there would be some artistic spectacle. However, Caerllion thought that it was the moment for him and Arla to leave. He was sure that his friend would kill Elyon if he tried to do something again.

After the Queen rose from her seat and the other nobles did the same, Caerllion decided that it was the moment. “Ms. Arla told me before dinner that she wanted to sleep early, so she could leave early tomorrow. Isn't it?” he said looking at his friend, expecting her support for the lie. “Unfortunately, I think that she'll not be able to participate in the symphonic event. Neither I'll, because I'm going to accompany her to the ship.”

His grandaunt simply nodded, while some nobles on the opposite side of the table looked with obvious relief. Caerllion felt furious with how they couldn’t even hide their disgust. Without any desire to remain here, the Annfyn said good-bye to his father and turned to leave with Arla.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla spent several more moments contemplating her revenge before finally deciding on it. As the twit raised his wine glass to his mouth, Arla's fingers flicked under the table, splashing a bit so that red wine spilled all down the front of his clothes. To the outside observer it would look like his cousin had just misjudged how full the wine was, though in reality it was just a touch of the Force.

For his part, Caer would likely know better, and Arla - to her credit - kept a stone cold face.

As they rose to leave for the night, Arla was glad to be out of there and also to have gotten just a touch of revenge.

Alright, tomorrow we go hunting. Thank you for the evening, Caer, she said. There was no denying that he had helped her navigate... this, and she was quite appreciative for it.

I'll see you in the morning, then? she said.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

Once they were away from the dining hall, Caerllion burst into laughter. He had felt Arla using the Force, immediately understanding that what had happened with his cousin was her doing it. “Did you see his face? He looked completely ashamed of it. I really should have done it years ago!” this moment was probably the second best part of the night.

The first was their conversation in the garden.

Caerllion accompanied Arla to her ship, bowing playfully while showing the entrance of the ship to her, like how a servant would do. “Here we are, madam.” he smiled at her, feeling happy for being able to be playful. It was difficult to do it while living in the middle of the nobles that wanted to see him fall.

“Of course! I’ll be here early tomorrow.” a part of him couldn’t avoid thinking that tomorrow was his chance of discovering what happened on the day that his mother died. “It’s me who should be thanking you for the evening. You made a meeting with my insufferable relatives brighter. Thank you!” he smiled at her. “Next time that we have dinner together, it’ll be the two of us without all this bullshit.” because he would invite her to eat with him another time.

Friends still had dinner together, right?

“Have a good night!” Caerllion waved at Arla and walked toward his apartment. Tomorrow the two were going to have a busy day.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

---​

As it turned out, Arla got very little sleep the night before. She had spent most of the night tossing and turning as she sometimes did before launching into a high-stakes mission. Ultimately, she had shed the plan for sleep and decided to settle into meditative regeneration, taking the night to rest without having to truly "sleep."

When the morning came, she rose early, made herself food, and prepared all of her gear. She had no idea what the day was going to bring, but she had already received reports that Apex assets were in position, and she hoped that Caer would have reached out to the monks.

She emerged the next day, dressed for business in her usual, practical clothes and her lightsaber and knife tucked away on her belt.

She waited outside for Caer to arrive, scrolling through the billion messages and emails she had received and checking on the status of the rest of the troops.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

__________________

​

Rather than sleeping, Caerllion went to make contact with the Followers of Palawa as soon as he arrived in his apartment. It proved to be difficult, since the monks apparently retired to the mountains after they lost their monastery. However, expending hours tracking them through his family contacts in Bunduki proved to be useful. He was able to exchange messages with them and convinced their leadership of hearing Apex's offer.

The only problem is that they wanted to talk with Arla before committing to help them.

With that solved, Caerllion was able to sleep a bit. His dreams were full of images from the day, ending with him and Arla punching his cousin on the face. When he woke up in the morning, the Annfyn dressed in simple clothes that would not give up that he was a Prince and picked a suitcase, which stored his armor and lightsaber. He would wear it once they arrived in Bunduki, not wanting to be identified by the locals. Then, he left to meet Arla.

When he arrived, the half-Sephi was already waiting for him. “Good morning! I hope that you slept well.” he said while approaching her. "I have good news, the monks will help us, but they want to meet you first. They gave the coordinates.” the Annfyn started to climb the ramp of the ship, but stopped in front of her. “Can I leave it somewhere?” he gestured to the suitcase.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla was glad to hear the monks would hear them out, although she was disappointed to hear she was going to have to do more negotiating. It was the part of her job that she didn't enjoy, but rank had its privileges.

I'll send one of our representatives to go talk to them, she said. It was a rarity that she negotiated contracts personally these days, and something like this... yeah, not so much. The company had grown too large for her to take on every meeting personally, but that was why they had office staff to assist with that.

She pulled out her phone and began tapping away a message to get it set up and he waited at the entrance ramp. She was a bit surprised he wasn't taking his own ship, but she supposed it was logical to minimize the number of trips and the amount of fuel.

You can take the second VIP suite, she said, and as he headed inside, he would be met first by a 3PO protocol droid and moments later by a saber wolf that growled at him.

Kabluk, Fenris! Arla shouted up the ramp, reaching out telekinetically to ease the wolf's anxieties as 3PO began to speak.

Ah, welcome aboard the Explorer! Mistress Arla has designated the secondary cabin for your stay, right this way! he said chipperly.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

”Better this way. Yesterday left me tired.” Caerllion wasn't in the mood of doing more diplomatic stuff after dealing with the nobles and spending the night talking with the nobles. Another person would be capable of doing that in his place. Spending most of his life doing diplomacy made this job become boring. Unfortunately, it was the way that he could expand the Sith Order and his own power.

With Arla’s permission, Caerllion entered her ship. “I was going to follow you with my shuttle, but it's in maintenance.” since that was stolen, there wasn’t a seller that he could punish because of it breaking at an inconvenient moment. The only thing that he could do was beg his friend for a ride and complain for himself.

Before he could ask where the second VIP suite was, Caerllion saw the saber wolf growling at him. He immediately remembered that Arla owned one. If his memory from Rakata was right, he was named Fenris. “I'm happy that I didn’t bring Teekl. They wouldn’t get along at all.” the Annfyn felt a bit unprotected without the presence of his familiar. The Loth cat was his eyes, a spy that was very useful.

And a cute company. He loved how the feline would purr with happiness while playing with her toys. It was adorable!

He simply nodded at the droid and followed it. The suite that was lent to him wasn’t much different from the one that he had in his own ship. “I need to think of a name for it.” he thought, while leaving the suitcase in the bed. Everyone called their shuttles with a name and if it wasn't for his laziness, he would have done the same. Perhaps he would do it after this mission.

Opening his suitcase, Caerllion assembled the parts of his armor and put them, leaving only his helmet to wear once they arrived. Finishing it, the Annfyn went to look for Arla. “So, what is your plan for the attack? I sent the map of the region of the monastery to you before going to sleep. Did you receive it?”

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Yes, I took a look at it, she said with a nod, letting Teecee handle the take off while she pulled up the data with Caer on the holotable and took a seat through the jolts and jerks of take off.

I'm hoping that you and I can make an approach here, she said, motioning to an area of the map that showed a steep, mountainous decent to the pirate camp from a much more difficult approach.

I put out a call to one of my armorers who is going to be bringing us several compact, high yield detonators that we can stow aboard the ship. If we can load them up and get them inside, then the next time the pirates take off, we can get rid of them in one fell swoop, she said.

Failing that, I have a much larger team on standby for a more direct assault, she said. She didn't want to use that team, however. A mixture of ground assault forces that could be used if this part of the operation failed. She saw them as more of a QRF if things went south, but the bulk of the pressure for this job would fall on them. That was just fine with Arla.

I'd prefer not to have to rely on that. If we do, though, the team is on standby at the edge of neutral space. We'll dock there to pick up the detonators and then we can head on, she said, pausing to see if he had any questions or concerns. He would quickly realize that he had, in fact, signed up for the whole nine yards on this one.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

Caerllion paid close attention to Arla’s plan, leaning in the holotable to give a better look at the map. His friend’s plan was well made and it became obvious to the Annfyn that she had spent a long time making it. He wondered if the half-Sephi had slept last night.

“I agree. Our Force abilities can help in the infiltration. Together we can make a camouflage spell that can allow us to pass without being noticed.” Caerllion doubted that there would be anyone among the pirates that could see through their abilities. Even if there were Epicanthix among them, their resistance was only to telepathic powers.

The other reason why Caerllion agreed so easily with her plan was the possibility of him entering the ship and finding the leader of the pirates. He only needed the opportunity to leave Arla and came back without jeopardizing the mission. The Annfyn was confident that he would be capable of doing it.

He only needed to make his own plan.

“I have only one question. How are we sure that all the pirates will be there?” they slipped from his hands one time and it can happen again. “If they come back, my uncle will question Apex’s capacities. Although, I don’t believe that he’ll live long enough for it, but it’s a possibility.” his supporters would still do it. “If we have time, I can take control of one of them and send a message, calling them to come back to the ship. What do you think?”

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

We can't guarantee that all of them will be there, but we know that the ship won't fly without most of its people on board. It requires a full crew. If we have to come back and clean up the others later, we can do that on foot, she started off. There was no guarantee they would clean up every single rat, but they would at the very least remove the majority and all of the leadership. The ship wouldn't fly without its Captain, First Mate, and Quartermaster.

If they rebuilt with the remaining crew, it would take years, she said. Either way, they would be without equipment, supplies, or the manpower to be a real threat. It was the danger of everyone flying aboard a single, large ship. It was also just to Arla's likings to only have to focus on one, large target rather than try to chase 100 small ones.

I was planning to wait until they took off again. We won't detonate on the ground, we'll wait for the crew to be aboard and detonate as soon as they exit atmosphere, she said. It was clear that she had done things like this before. She was an assassin by trade now, and executing tactical strikes was her specialty.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

”True. Without the ship they’ll not go too far.” finding the pirates by foot would be easier. It would be like a hunt, and having searched about other jobs made by the Apex, Caerllion was certain that Arla and her people would be even more pleased by chasing them through the forest.

After all, she was the Apex Huntress.

“In this case, we are prepared to deal with them.” Caerllion said, turning away from the map and looking at Arla. Only now the Annfyn noticed her tired appearance and he immediately understood that she spent the entire night planning rather than resting. “We could leave for Bunduki now, don’t you think?”

“Maybe while we are in hyperspace, you could rest a bit. It’ll take some time until we arrive here.” Annwfyn and Bunduki could be located in the same sector, but there was a considerable distance between them. “You look tired.”

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Yes, and if all goes well, we won't even have to do that, she said. She doubted anyone would want to miss out on whatever their next score was, which would mean people would end up getting blown up.

She waved him off as he brought up concern about her sleep. I meditated, I'm fine, she said, knowing she was as refreshed as she was going to be. Like father like daughter in that regard: they preferred a time to dive into the Force over a night of sleep when need be.

Eh, maybe I will sleep, she finally relented.

Let's head now, she agreed.

---​

The pickup of the explosives went without a hitch, and they were setting down in system within hours. For obvious reasons, they had had to come in low and land a fair bit off, but ultimately, they were on the ground and on the approach to the pirate base in short order.

In addition to her usual weapons, Arla had a backpack filled with detonators and had handed one over to Caerllion as well.

Ready to go? she asked.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

Caerllion raised an eyebrow when Arla said that she had meditated. “Okay, but it doesn’t replace the sleep.” while meditating could help alleviate the tiredness, the Annfyn believed that his friend would need real sleep to be prepared for their mission. Even more with the fact that his uncle had some plan that they still didn’t discover what it was.

He was prepared to argue with Arla, but she soon agreed to take some time to sleep. “Excellent! I’ll also rest a bit until we arrive.” it would also be an opportunity for him to prepare his own plan. He still needed to find a way of approaching the leader of the pirates without causing trouble to their mission.

With that in mind, Caerllion went to his room.

—-----------------------------​

The first steps of their mission had been fulfilled without any problems. Now, Arla’s ship was approaching the surface of Bunduki. It would be a matter of minutes until they landed. In preparation for that, Caerllion had put on his helmet. It covered his head completely and modulated his voice.

“Yes.” he said to Arla, while carefully putting his own backpack on his back. Like that of his friend, it was also filled with explosives. “Did you receive any answer from the monks?”

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

They agreed to hire Apex. It's a drop in the bucket compared to our normal rates, but it's only for political coverage, so it's not important, she said. The real charges would be to the Queen and company.

She brought along climbing gear and headed out of her ship, locking it down and turning down all the lights under an outcropping and began the hike down to the pirate base. It wasn't far to the ridge where they could look down below, although the hard part was the actual climb.

Well, there's the ship. Right where it should be, she said. To be honest, I'm hoping that your uncle won't expect such a small team, and whatever trap he has planned won't even spring, she said. That was the thing about Apex: they operated in ways that no one else did.

Time to start the descent, she said. This was their strength: they were Force-users, and simple pirates weren't prepared for that.

She took a running start and leapt off the side of the cliff and into the darkness of the night, plunging toward the ground and only slowing her descent as she approached the ground, floating down as if levitating until she alighted lightly on the ground, betraying both her skill in the Force and her Nightsister heritage and their tendency toward levitation.

She glanced back to await Caer's descent before heading toward the ship. It was massive and obvious out here, which meant making it through the perimeter and to the shadows of the ship before finding a maintenance hatch or something to get inside, though it occurred to her now that perhaps they didn't even need to plant the charges inside, though it might be a bit less obvious than creeping around outside.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

”Good. It’ll be difficult for the government to pester us now.” if his uncle had tried to use the locals to disturb their mission, then it wasn’t going to work now. Now Apex could say that the monks had hired them to deal with pirates and even cause some guilt by accusing the authorities for not dealing with this problem by themselves.

Caerllion followed Arla out of the ship. To reach the pirates, the two would need to use climbing gear to hike down toward the place where the criminals were hiding. The frigate was in the place that Annfyn intelligence had told them. He would risk saying that everything seemed going to be easy.

“We shouldn’t underestimate him. He has more cards under his sleeve than we can even think.” his father had described his uncle this way some years ago, while telling him that he should be careful when dealing with him. Caerllion took this advice to his heart. “We should still be careful.”

Under the cover of the night, Caerllion followed Arla. He watched her use the Force to slowly levitate down and decided to do the same. The Annfyn couldn’t be a Dothomirian, but his magick could replicate some of her abilities. Including this one, which he used to land next to his friend.

The Annfyn followed Arla toward the ship, hoping that the leader of the pirates would be there and he would be able to access his thoughts.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla was, unfortunately, more occupied with destroying the ship and wiping out the pirates than she was with interrogating the captain. In fact, the thought of the man as anything more than her next target had almost left her mind entirely, and it would likely require Caerllion's prompting to trigger her to remember.

She crept through the halls of the ship, using the Force to reach out around halls before she took them and sense with Force Sight if there was the presence of any threats nearby.

She headed for the rear of the ship first, setting charges within the engine room and stashed behind the fuel tanks where they were not only out of sight, but would cause a chain reaction to likely completely decimate the ship outright. Of course, she wasn't going to bank on that, and continued forward toward the other portions of the ship.

They started creeping closer to the front of the ship, and Arla was thankful that it seemed to be only minimals beings on board when the ship wasn't in the air. It made sense, though, and the plan they were executing exploited human nature: people wanted to be comfortable when they could which meant not living on their ship, but they were also greedy and wouldn't miss out on the ability to cash in on the next attack.

At the midway point of the ship, things became more tricky: there were fewer exploitable items to set explosives on, but Arla sought out the life support systems and communication equipment. If the engines were gone and they were stranded out here then cutting off any chance of calling for help or keeping themselves alive would be critical.

It was at this time, that Caer would have his best opportunity to separate and find the Captain, though Arla had her concerns about that as well.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

They entered the ship without any problem. For some reason the pirates seemed to be busy elsewhere. This made their infiltration easier than Caerllion had expected and he thought that it wasn’t a good signal. He would be extra careful while walking through these halls, having learnt that nothing was so easy.

He carefully followed Arla through the halls, counting on her ability to guide them without being seen. It allowed them to settle the explosives in different parts of the ship. To each bomb that they planted, Caerllion got more nervous. He needed to find the leader of the pirates as soon as possible.

When they reached the middle of the ship, Caerllion decided that was now or never. “I’ll put explosives in other parts of the ship. We meet outside.” he said, before turning and walking toward another corridor. Like his friend, the Annfyn had also studied the map of the ship and had an idea of where the leader could be.

Using the Force to create an illusion around himself, Caerllion was able to move through the halls. He also used it to track Varitan, focusing on how his presence seemed to command the respect of the others. His target was alone at the bridge and he beelined there, only taking some time to place bombs in places that no one would see.

The slipped through the open door and saw his target reading something on a monitor. Taking a deep breath, Caerllion entered his mind.

What he saw there made him want to scream with pure hatred.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla continued moving through the ship as Caer decided to split up, and she remembered what it was about.

Be careful. We can't raise an alarm or have them scour the ship, she said. If he turned up dead, who knew what would happen? She didn't want to rob him of his answers, but she feared what might happen if he didn't play things just perfectly.

She went through the rest of the ship, planting charges in hidden places all over including the bridge before heading back to the exit. Even from here, she could sense Caer's rage. She knew that rage. She knew it when she had killed the ISC governor who ordered her mother's death.

She didn't stop him... though she considered it. She knew he needed answers, so she waited and hoped that he didn't blow this contract wide open.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

What he saw inside Varitan's mind made Caerllion be consumed by rage. He wanted to kill the pirate, erase him from existence and leave nothing to be found. The opportunity to avenge his mother was in front of him, and it would be sweet to torture one jf her assassins before striking him down.

However, the words from Arla echoed in his mind. They couldn’t raise an alarm to their presence, or their entire plan would be ruined. It was his opportunity to finally impress the nobles and win new support for his cause to the throne. The Annfyn refrained from acting and turned to leave.

With the bombs around, Varitan was going to die anyway.

He would meet with Arla outside, having taken some time to put the last explosives in strategic places. Caerllion was still shocked and furious when he approached his friend. “I found him.” he whispered to her, while the two went to hide behind some large rocks. “I saw all the memories, everything. I finally know what happened.”

“My uncle paid for my death, my mom was only a ‘collateral damage’”

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla took no pleasure in what she heard from Caerllion. She had lost her mother, but she couldn't imagine if it had been because of an attack aimed at her.

She placed a hand lightly on his shoulder. I'm sorry, Caer, she said. She knew it was an empty platitude, but she said it anyway. Even after all these years, Arla was sure that this reopened the wound in a way that was quite painful.

Come on, let's get to a safe distance, she said, pausing a moment before handing over the detonator.

When the time comes, you should do it, she said.

And come it did. It was many hours of alternating recon teams, but after nearly 36 hours, the pirates all loaded up for their next strike, and the time came.

@LouJoVi