Colt

Victarion sighed. He really didn't like that they had split him and his love up. It made him worry, having her go off with two Republic soldiers he didn't trust and an Imperial operative he most definitely did not want anywhere near her. Making it worse was that she was clearly trying to charm him out of not being upset with her for her actions earlier... and the fact that it would most likely work was just adding insult to injury.

Putting on his mask once again, he addressed Larial and her team. "You know that your republic friends can trust me." He said reassuringly to him. "And that we can leave without quarrel when the mission is complete... however you better tell the rest of your troops that if one hair on her head is out of place..." Victarion looked over his shoulder in the direction that the other team had headed in. "I will kill every single person here, Republic or Imperial." There was no malice in his voice, no tone that made it sound as if this was any sort of emotional outburst. It was nothing more than stating a fact, as if he was merely bringing up that Hoth was cold or that rakghouls were disgusting.

And then the moment passed as quickly as it had come. "Now that I've made that clear, let us keep moving. No sense in getting pinned down."

Victarion looked at his love for a moment. There was so much he wanted to say to her. He wanted to yell at her for putting herself in needless danger, he wanted to run over and hold her, relieved that they had both survived the earlier engagement. But words didn't come to him, instead he simply mouthed 'We'll talk about this later' before turning back to Kota and the other Republic soldiers, his mask still clutched tightly in his left hand. Seeing Kota's outstretched hand, Victarion shook it. "For now, we are allies. And assuming this all goes as planned, we can depart without quarrel."

While he knew that he was breaking a lot of Imperial protocol by making such promises, Victarion was also a man of honor. If he gave his word, he gave his word. So as long as everything went as planned, there would not be further conflict between Imperial and Republic. Not if he had anything to say about it. He turned his shoulders slightly so he could speak to the rest of the Imperial task force. "There will be no bloodshed between Imperial and Republic tonight. I have no interest in ending up rakghoul food." He stated, considering his next words carefully. "As for what we can offer to you..." A soft glare was sent Zed'la's way at this, he intentionally copying her word choice. "A couple of Imperial Intelligence's finest, along with two of the Empire's finest Sith assassins... You will find that we can offer more than one would think given our small number."

"You are always so clumsy apprentice." Victiss sounded annoyed as Victarion helped her up to her feet, but she was smiling. She was glad to see him and his intervention, while reckless and poorly planned, had saved her from the horde of rakghouls that had pinned her down.

"Sorry master." Victarion apologized with a hint of a smile crossing his lips underneath his mask as well. This was quickly replaced with a frown however. He felt a presence, one he recognized. She was a friend, but the others wouldn't know that. And if things got heated without him there to calm tensions... there would be all out war between Empire and Republic. "Sorry Master, but I'm needed elsewhere." Victarion took off running, only pausing to pick up his lightsaber using a slight flick of the wrist, calling it to himself using the power of the force.

It didn't take him long to get back and he was able to hear the tail end of Zed'la's remarks. She wasn't wrong, he was annoyed that she was seemingly making things worse. It would take a gesture of some sort for him to prevent both sides from opening fire. "They are not the enemy." Victarion stared down the Republic forces as he spoke to the Imperials at his back. As he removed his mask, he smiled. "And we are not your enemy." He added, this addressed to the Republic now. He had no doubt that he was putting his life in danger. He didn't recognize the big, powerful trooper in front and he wouldn't have much time to react if he opened fire. He in fact didn't know any of them and was taking a massive risk, counting on the fact that Larial would get them to hold their fire. "Larial sweetheart, what is a Republic task force doing here exactly? Although Republic might be a loose term given who's making up said force."

Summer quickly downed what was left in her glass before following the rest of her troop out of the cantina. It didn't take long for them to arrive at the briefing room. Seeing Kota getting chewed out for putting himself into danger made her frown. It was her fault and hearing her aunt's name come up.

The one saving grace in all this was that she had been lucky to inherit the ability to function at a high level while intoxicated. The only issue was that she would occasionally slip into Huttese instead of basic. Dad was a smuggler, Mom a bounty hunter. It came natural to her. Summer casually sat down in the back, far away from Kota.

((no problem with you skipping, gonna sneak one last post in there before you do though, if you do XD))

"Mind if I join you?" Summer's eyes shot to the source of the voice, one of the members of her unit. It took the lieutenant a moment to place the voice and face to a name... Azura. The Cathar was one of the more green recruits, but she seemed nice. For the moment, Summer wasn't going to judge why her fellow soldier had shown up at the cantina. While she had the smallest bit of suspicion about the timing, Summer also knew that this was a place that was friendly to Republic soldiers and thus it wasn't out of the question that this was just a coincidence.

No matter the reasoning, Summer wasn't going to be rude. So she smiled and motioned with her free hand for Azura to sit down and join her at the bar. "Have a seat." She said cordially, trying her best to mask her inner turmoil. It wasn't working. She sighed, looking away from Azura as she spoke again. "You're probably wondering what I'm doing here instead of being with the rest of the unit or visiting the Captain or the Lieu..." She was cut off by the arrival of yet another of their newer recruits, who had apparently been eavesdropping judging by her comment about basket weaving.

"At least I didn't try to punch a battle droid and break both my hands." Summer shot back, actually smiling a bit now. She appreciated the other girl's toughness, even if she acted like quite the schutta at times. Most of the time really. "Must have really cut into your drinking time." She joked. "More importantly you better be ready to get back into the field, no rest for the weary."

"Another round, just keep them coming." The way this demand sounded, it did not sound like it was coming from a lieutenant, a lieutenant who by all accounts had handled herself incredibly under fire just hours before. Instead she sounded depressed, exhausted and emotionally fried. All of which was true.

Summer knew she could have done better, that the injuries to both Captain Rudder and Sergeant Terress were both avoidable. The latter of these was what stung the most. The others hadn't seen it, but he had dove in front of her, knocking her out of harms way... something which caused Kotaa to take the brunt of an explosion. Looking at the now empty glass of Whyrren's Reserve in her hand, she frowned. He didn't have to say it (and even if he denied it, she wouldn't have believed him), but she knew that he wouldn't have put himself in such danger if it had been anyone else. He only did it because he felt that he owed her late father a favor.

Lately, everything had come back to her father. Speaking with the people who knew him best, she realized that she could no longer deny the influence he had on her life. From her fashion choices (like her father she rarely wore anything but a trusty trenchcoat and she always had a toothpick or a cigara between her teeth), to her choice in liquors (Whyrren's just like him) she had come to realize that she was her father's daughter. And being here... on the planet where he had tried to run away and do things right, only to be ambushed in the spaceport by Imperials and Hutts and... 

"Your drink miss." The bartender interrupted her train of thought, replacing her empty glass with a full one.

"Just put it on my tab." She muttered, and this was yet another sick joke. The first night they had arrived on Alderaan, she had stumbled into this cantina not far from the Organa palace only to find that her father had frequented the place. Not only that, but her father had been a friend of the owner, to the point that a tab with the surname 'Gamble' would be cancelled at the end of the night, with compliments of the kindly lady who ran the place.

Her thoughts drifted next to her mother... if her father was complicated, her mother was just as bad. She had been a bounty hunter once, then done some work for the SIS... her mother had warned Summer to stay out of the military and now she was starting to understand why. She had done the research on her father, finding out that 'Gamble' wasn't his (or technically her) actual name. But she didn't want to take her father's real name and she didn't like her mother's... so Gamble it was. His actual name had been Cantarus and he had dropped it after his court-martial. Her father had been a major once but she held no thoughts about ascending that high, she was not officer material. She had joined up to live up to her father's legacy, the good parts where he had been known as a war hero and one of the finest young wing commanders in the republic. Not only that, she wanted to surpass him, to avoid suffering the same crushing fate.

Which brought her back to the present once again. Summer felt as if she wasn't cut out for this job, being the acting XO of an elite cavalry unit. She knew she was a crack shot, great with explosives and decent enough as a slicer... but at the same time she knew that something was missing, when she was in charge things always just seemed to go wrong. The events of the past couple of missions had proven that to her. And even now, instead of being with the troops or visiting their injured, she found herself drinking alone. Deep down, Summer knew it was because she couldn't steel herself to face them right now because she blamed herself for the injuries their team had faced and for the fact that they had failed to stop the weapon. Thousands of civilians were dying, and it was her fault.

"Victarion, if I don't make it out of this. I want you to know my real name, the name I had before the Imperial Agency purged it." Her voice was shaky. "It is... it is... It's---"

Victarion shook his head just as she stopped talking. "We will make it out of this because when we do I have something that I need to say as well." He muttered as the hordes were upon them. Unlike last time where Victarion had restrained himself, with his lover in danger he didn't hold back.

His lightsaber hummed with the sounds of the damned as he leaped into the fray, the orange and black blade rotating so fast it looked like a single circular blur to the naked eye. The explosions that rocked the battlefield and sent people flying in all directions did nothing to stop Victarion from continuing to execute the Rakghouls with trained precision. It was now apparent to the others why he was a rapidly ascending Sith Lord despite his personality and tendencies, he was peerless with a blade. 

Five rakghouls leaped at him as one and they didn't even get within striking range. Four were felled by a single upward slash of his blade and the fifth was shocked by a bolt powerful enough to singe the corpse black. At this point, Victarion spun around as he felt a disturbance, something was wrong. His heart skipped a beat, but then his eyes locked with Zed'la, telling him that she was still alright. The disturbance in the force was his master. She was in danger. "Victiss." He breathed out for her benefit before taking off down the hall, following the force.

The force had never betrayed him and it didn't lead him astray this time. Sprinting towards her, he broke into the room labeled CR-12 just as the rakghouls redoubled their efforts to kill his master. "Master!" He shouted, closing the gap between himself and Victiss with reckless abandon. The raghouls heard the noise and they tried to get away from the two Sith, but they were cut down by the combined efforts of master and apprentice. However, Victarion had not thought through his flying approach and he slammed into Victiss, sending the pair flying into the wall hard enough to knock Victarion's lightsaber out of his hand, deactivating the blade. But most importantly, they were safe. For now.

"Come Vicky dear, I really hate leaving our suspected republic friends to wait out there in cold..." Victarion nodded, wondering how he was going to keep things civil. He didn't want violence between his friends and his comrades, but given that Republic and Imperial were who they were... the desired outcome was unlikely. 

He cautiously approached the hole that his master was making in the side of the ship, curious as to what she had planned. â€œVictarion, would you stop fooling around and get down here!  You too agents!” Victarion sighed at this. He really didn't want to go in there... he felt a presence that chilled him to the bone. Even more chilling than Hoth's natural climate. He looked at the small hole... he'd have to dive in head first rather than being cautious. Looking over at Zed'la, he decided to throw caution to the wind.

Slipping his mask off and shaking his hood aside, revealing his spiked and carefully maintained black hair and ice blue eyes, he dipped his lover into a passionate kiss, holding onto the peaceful moment for as long as he could. Having Zed'la in his arms made things that much better... it didn't matter that they were on such a bleak and lifeless planet, having her there with him made it alright. "See you on the other side darling." He muttered, sliding his mask back on before leaping into the air and backflipping gracefully through the hole that Victiss had made.

Backflipping through the hole was not the best idea as he barely made it through the gap without injuring himself, but by trusting in the Force to guide him Victarion landed on his feet without incident. Inside the ship, it was dark and the smell was... horrid. If he had time to think about it, the only other smell that was comparable was the beast pens at the Sith Academy on Korriban all those years ago.

Frowning at the disgusting odor, Victarion held out his hand and summoned a small amount of lightning, providing the ship's cavernous interior with some much needed lighting. This however had a rather negative side effect. It woke up the ship's natives, natives that it would have been much better to have left alone and undistrubed. Victarion looked at the group of beasts that was charging him, snarling and howling, and he tried to remember where he had seen the beasts before.

It hit him as the first beast leaped up to attack. Rakghouls. Vicious, feral beasts... death would be a mercy for them. Ducking down and sliding away, Victarion managed to avoid the group of beasts for the moment, allowing him to draw and ignite his lightsaber. He held the double-bladed weapon in one hand, spinning it deftly in his fingers and slashing upwards, cutting his first attacker in half. The other rakghouls saw the fate of their peer and growled louder, charging as one. The Sith lord cut two of them down with one spinning slash of his lightsaber, following it up with a blast of lightning from his fingertips that caught the other two rakghouls in mid-air, shocking them to death. 

Sighing, Victarion deactivated his blade just as he heard a squawking from behind him. He was just about to reactivate his blade when he saw that it wasn't another rakghoul but the orobird, his master's new pet. "I swear..." Victarion muttered as he crouched down and picked up Chloe. "You are going to be the death of me little bird." He added to himself as an afterthought as he adjusted his grip on the bird so he could hold it in one hand, allowing him to summon some more lightning to look around the ship. The condition of the interior was horrid and it was clear that having rakghouls on board made the ship's hull a disaster zone.

"Shame I left my power tools back at Kaas." Victarion rolled his eyes at this remark. He hated when she brought up the power tools... and she knew as much. He was also frowning at the fact that her co-worker had to bring such an attitude into things. It would make things difficult.

"Your friend does know that he wouldn't be able to hit me right. And that there's a part of me that thinks I have to kill him to keep up appearances, you know respect for the Sith Lord and all." He muttered under his breath. Victarion wasn't one to kill unless it was strictly necessary but he also realized that he had a role to play and if he didn't play it correctly... people would ask questions. He sighed, realizing that the dinner party joke was likely a sly reminder about the conversation she had overheard earlier on the ship. Victarion hated the fact that she knew just how to push his buttons... but then he realized that was likely one of the reasons he cared for her so deeply.

"I would tell your friend that he's not going to last much longer in this business if he threatens a Sith lord to his face. Especially one that could shock the life out of him before he even pulled the trigger." He looked straight at Debid and waved slightly, knowing that the non-verbal message he was getting across was clear. In a different circumstance he would have shrouded himself in the force and closed on Debid's position and cut the sniper down before he felt a thing, but such behavior would have likely gotten him exiled to the couch for a week, maybe even two. And that was a fate worse than death. 

His musings were interrupted by a holocall, this one coming in on his own communicator, not hers. "Apprentice, I'm coming to Hoth." Underneath the mask, Victarion was smiling brightly. His master was alright and she was on the way. He had no idea how she knew where he was headed, but that would be a question for later.

 "Oh, I had no idea, when do you think you will arrive? I will send you our coordinates!" Victarion asked and as soon as the words slipped out of his mouth he knew adding 'our' to them was a mistake.

"You! I see it's your friend the fiendish woman!" Victarion sighed. It was old news that his master didn't like his lover, but he never really understood why. Such outbursts really didn't help but Victarion also knew that he wasn't in a position to stop them from occurring.

"My lord, she was summoned on this same mission along with several others. Please play nice."  Victarion knew that asking Victiss to be civil for his personal sake wasn't going to go anywhere. It never did. But perhaps asking because it was business would help. The huff of a reply indicated that it did not.

It was at this point that Victarion felt a disturbance in the force. His master was approaching far too rapidly for her to be arriving in a normal fashion. His thoughts were confirmed moments later when he saw the ship making its final descent into Hoth's atmosphere.

"Your master?" Zed'la asked, clearly amused by her boyfriend's embarrassment at the whole situation.

"I don't want to talk about it." Victarion muttered under his breath, looking out at the icy plains. The crash was violent, but he didn't worry about his master. She had survived far worse. He never understood just how she did the things she did (and he would never even attempt to understand the why) but he just accepted it as a fact of life. 

"Ah, apprentice I see you're ready to go! Good and--oh, it's you again." Victarion ignored the dig at Zed'la for a moment as he was too busy staring at his master's new... pet he supposed.

"It's good to see you master." Victarion said politely, bowing his head slightly in respect for his superior. "I do have to ask why you have an orobird with you and whether it is wise to bring such a being into a frozen climate... Orobirds are from tropical planets after all, the poor thing is probably rather cold..." He trailed off, realizing that it was out of character for a Sith to show compassion for a random animal like that. "Anyways, welcome to Hoth. Still cold. Still horrid."

IMPERIAL

Ever since a previous incident involving a certain someone attempting to bring power tools into a situation where they were clearly not welcome, Victarion was a little squeamish around such things. Not that he would admit it, being a Sith lord and all. The few times he had to use torture, he preferred using lightning and his control of the force because it was cleaner and made much less of a mess.

With these thoughts in his mind, Victarion boarded his ship and quickly sat down in the captain's chair to set the autopilot for Hoth. He was a decent pilot but he would much rather tinker with his ship than actually fly it. 

Right after take off, he received a holocall. He was about to hurry to put on his mask and pull up his hood when he saw who it was.

"Hello mother." Victarion said with an easygoing smile, staring at his mother. She resembled him closely, sharing his dark hair and green eyes. She was wearing the clothing of an upper class member of Kaas City, a status that had only come with her son's ascent through Sith politics. She and her husband had been day laborers before her son's strong affinity for the Force had revealed itself.

"Just calling to remind you about that dinner we're hosting next week." Another one of his mother's social functions. He always made sure to attend because it made her happy. "Will you be there?" She asked hopefully.

"Yes mother." Victarion said quietly, mulling over something in his head. Something felt off, as if he wasn't alone on his ship.

"And will you bring that girl? The one you don't stop talking about?" She added knowingly. Victarion blushed deeply, now realizing why he wasn't alone. In fact, the one person he didn't want to hear that remark was stowed away on his ship at this very moment.

"If she can make it. She's very busy you know... just like me." Victarion said dryly. "I'd love to chat Mum, but I have to go. Business calls." He said quickly, terminating the connection just as his ship made the jump into hyperspace. "I know you're there darling." He said loudly, allowing his voice to carry throughout the vessel. "And you better not comment on what my mother just said." He added as an afterthought, still embarrassed by what had just happened.

His instincts were not wrong. A few moments later Zed'la appeared in the cockpit, giggling quietly to herself. Victarion did his best to glare at her, but he had never been able to stay mad at her for very long. And any chance he had of even attempting to rebuke her was ended when she greeted him with a gentle, tender kiss.

"You really must love me if you're coming to Hoth just for me." He quipped when they broke apart. "Nothing here but ice, pirates and misery."

"And the mission." She added, sounding a bit annoyed by this twist.

"So you received the same message." Victarion stated rather than asked. Zed'la simply nodded, taking a seat on Victarion's lap. He began idly playing with her hair. The pair sat contentedly for a time, their brief respite enjoying each other's company interrupted when the ship dropped out of hyperspace, Hoth taking up most of their current view. "It's moments like this when I wish that hyperspeed travel had never been invented." He said mostly to himself as the pair got ready. Hoods and cloaks were donned and soon the pair was as ready as they would ever be for the harsh conditions.

It didn't take terribly long for them to reach the co-ordinates that they were headed for. As both of them were shifty, masters of staying in the shadows, this is what they did. Victarion was also keenly aware of the fact they were not alone in the area, as cold and desolate as their current location seemed. He was frowning behind the mask, he hated the cold... it made him miserable. "Let's simply watch. I am curious as to who else is here and why the powers that be sent us here in the first place." He muttered, his breath appearing as an icy cloud from underneath his white mask.

Contrary to what his master believed, Victarion was not off with 'that dreadful woman' even though he would complain about that characterization of his... well he wasn't exactly sure what he and... well he also had no idea what her real name was (just one of the occupational hazards of dating a woman in Imperial intelligence), but he cared for her deeply. She understood him, the real him and he never had to wear a mask around her.

With just a tinge of regret, he stopped himself from thinking of his lover and opened his eyes. He was sitting in his library, which was one of his hideaways from the rest of the world. The ornate wooden holo-archives and small reading lounge area served to calm him down when he was stressed, which at the moment he was. Not only was his girlfriend out on a mission again (and he had no idea where she was, who she was with and how long she'd be away... which again was due to her profession, not that his was any better), his master was missing. She had dropped out of all communication while on a mission, which was very odd for her.

Victarion wasn't concerned for his master even though she was on a dangerous assassination mission, but he didn't like that she had dropped out of contact for as long as she had. So he had retreated to his library to meditate, to attempt to reach out to her with the force. But he kept getting distracted, some of which was his own doing and some of which was not his fault.

It didn't take long for another distraction to ruin his focus.

"Victarion darling." The voice over the holocom brought a smile to his face. The redhead sniper on the other end, another member of Intelligence, was grinning as she spoke. "I intercepted your mail while you were sealing yourself away from me and I must say it's rather interesting." Her sly grin was flirtatious as per their usual. She and Victarion shared a very playful relationship, one that they both seemed to understand wasn't destined to go anywhere deep. "You're wanted for a mission that sounds rather... daring."

At this, Victarion raised an eyebrow, not knowing where she was taking this. "Care to elaborate?" He asked pensively. "After all, it is my mail you're rooting through." He pointed out dryly.

"Just the rights of Intelligence darling." She joked before playing back the recording. Victarion frowned at what he heard. Hoth. He hated the cold, couldn't stand it. Not only that, it would delay his search for Victiss. But it was his duty to serve and as a loyal citizen of the Empire, he couldn't refuse.

"You make service sound oh so appealing." He joked before standing up and grabbing his robes and white mask from the hook by the door. "Do me a favor and if she gets back, tell her to call me. That and to dress warmly." He hung up before he could see the look of jealousy and anger in the eyes of his confidant. He had no idea the game he was playing. He was a Sith, not a romantic, he really didn't understand women.

"Never... I wasn't mad, I just didn't know how to approach this." Kenway admitted quietly. "I didn't hold any anger towards you, never." He stressed before sighing once more. "There is nothing for me to forgive because the only thing I regret was dying so soon." He whispered. "Everything that my former master told me from the grave made perfect sense once I got here... it's just a shame that the mortal condition means that such awareness always comes too late."

"My cousin." Kenway said softly, appearing to her for the first time as a force ghost. He had never been able to bring himself to do so before, even if he had spoken to his cousin over the years as well as his son as well as Colt's children. "After that night, he came back just once. He wanted to leave things as they were so he paid some locals to maintain the place and not touch a thing... I suppose that deep down he might have known you'd come back someday. When you were ready." Kenway walked over to a small collection of souvenirs, things that he knew Larial wouldn't recognize. "This was my favorite toy speeder growing up." He explained, pointing at a small blue speeder whose paint was chipped and worn. "Artemis added some little modifications to it, made it so it used to sound like it had an actual engine." He smiled fondly, next gesturing to a small emerald. "And this... he wasn't always the best influence. Got me into a bit of a trouble with the Hutts a few years after the end of the first war. He made off with an untold fortune in Hutt jewels and I think that's one of them." He chuckled before seeing the third item, one that hit him harder than he had thought.

"That's..." He sighed, the final item being two simple gold bands. "Those were their wedding rings. Artemis and... actually you probably don't know about his first wife." He said quietly. "My former master... we were supposed to be a happy family the three of us." He said softly. "And I had wanted to give you one of those rings someday..." Kenway was unable to finish. "I am sorry I let myself go that night, that I was blinded by anger and let my guard slip."

The assignment seemed straight forward enough to Cipher Twelve. Get in, knock out the communications, and get out. And if there was time and opportunity there was opportunities to knock out the ship's maintenance and medical capabilities. If it was helpful to accomplishing the mission, he had no problem with knocking out the med bay. But if it was needless, he wouldn't do such a thing. To kill or maim innocent medics for no reason at all was dishonorable. 

Upon realizing that he would be assigned to the squad with the rather... questionable Sith lord, Cipher Twelve sighed deeply, considering his reservations on working with such a volatile person. And the mercenary... he couldn't be sure how that would go. It was up to him to ensure the success of the mission. For country. For empire. For duty. For honor.

Their small team was rapidly filling out and things started to fall into place. There was the Sith apprentice, the second Sith who was definitely a higher ranking member of that sect, there was the mercenary, and most interestingly... There was another Cipher Agent. He had overheard the Cathar introduce herself to Officer Farnel as Cipher Seventeen. He hadn't needed the number as soon as he had seen her appearance (read the fact she was a Cathar) due to the fact that there weren't exactly all that many Cipher agents who were also female Cathar. Unfortunately, it had been some time since he had scanned through some of the more restricted files in Intelligence archives so he didn't know anything about his fellow Cipher. He would fish for something. 

"Officer Farnell." He nodded to the attache. "Cipher Twelve reporting for duty." He added, glancing slightly towards Cipher Seventeen, a cordial smile on his face. At the very least, he would be assured that someone in their squad stood for country, duty and honor. He couldn't say the same about the two Sith and the mercenary. Such people were always variables that could cause trouble. 

It was at times like these that Cipher Twelve was thankful for the red and black optical implants that had replaced his natural eyes all those years ago. Adjusting the settings on the implants, he activated a zoom function and began scanning the room casually. Just in case. A bit of healthy paranoia never hurt anyone.

A man in the back of the room simply sat quietly, not saying a word. It simply wasn't his prerogative to do so until he had fully surveyed the occupants of the room. What made them tick? What were their strengths? What were their weaknesses? Could they be trusted? The cyborg with the glowing red eye implants always had to ask himself the last question when dealing with the Sith.

As a member of Imperial Intelligence, and being ranked so highly that he was in fact known under the designation of Cipher Twelve, he knew far too much about Sith internal politics and their power plays. More than once an assignment of his had been compromised by the actions of a rogue Sith apprentice, lord or darth. To someone who put the mission, country and duty above all else, such internal friction was intolerable.

Adjusting the collar of his Imperial officer's uniform slightly, the operative who had formerly gone by the code name of Scoop before his promotion allowed himself to observe his potential allies impartially. The young man with two lightsabers, clearly an apprentice. He had the look in his eyes of someone who was dedicated and would follow orders to the letter. The question as always of course was whose orders. As for the other sith... he would be dangerous. A possible liability. Such passion for destruction, pain and power... it had no place in a covert operation.

Cipher Twelve was forced to conclude that this mission would have a low probability of success given the current variables. But he had faced worse odds before and he would not fail his country, his empire. He simply could not fathom doing so.

There was a moment where Kenway looked unsure of what to do. His own son had been brainwashed and was currently attacking him. But he was a mere boy, his training far from complete. So his attacks were undisciplined and inaccurate. Thankfully for everyone involved, Kenway had enough presence of mind to not strike back but to merely dodge his boy's blows. He could not figure out a solution.

At hearing Kenlar, Colt's eyes shot up. He instantly knew what was going on. What he didn't know how to solve however was the dilemma in front of him. "I'm going to do something I should have done a long time ago." He muttered under his breath, flipping a thermal detonator towards Delbranto, the explosive primed to go off upon contact with the Hutt. While the explosive flew, he drew his blasters and with six precise shots all three hunters were slain. It was like shooting fish in a barrel for the captain.

Kenway continued to dodge, desperately calling for his son to stop. But it was to no avail. Colt sighed, he knew Kenway would hate him for what he was about to do. But he had no choice. Stepping forward, he caught Kenlar in the chin with a well placed elbow strike. The boy, being nothing more than a boy, crumpled to the floor, knocked unconscious. Kenway turned to Colt, eyes glowing red. The captain was calm however, simply pointing to the Sith. "Remember who the real enemy is cousin." Colt said, gently putting Kenlar behind a column, out of harm's way. Kenway simply growled, leaping once more at the Sith, continuing on the attack with both of Tavalla's lightsabers.

"My scattergun!" Colt shouted to Kenway before the Jedi lost all control of his emotions. Shockingly, Kenway actually listened and tossed the shotgun in the air before eyeing the Sith.

"You're dead!" Kenway roared as he leaped at the Sith and drew two lightsabers. Once they were lit, Colt noticed that they weren't his normal blade, but they were in fact Tavalla's lightsabers. Kenway had taken his master's weapons, perhaps in some subconscious attempt to channel her offensive dueling style rather than his defensive style. Colt recognized that his cousin had abandoned his usual Soresu form for Tavalla's favored Ataru form.

"Pschutta took her lightsabers from my room." Colt hissed as he drew both of his blasters and stared down the bounty hunters that had entered the room. Pointing one pistol at two seperate hunters, he took both down with precise shots to the head before tossing the blaster in his left hand up into the air which allowed him to catch the scattergun that Kenway had thrown moments earlier. Two booming shots from the scattergun rang out and two more hunters went down. Reacting quickly, he holstered the shotgun and caught the pistol in his now empty left hand. "Go get Lari!" He shouted to Niilah as he took aim at the rest of the mercenaries.

The trio were closing in on the palace, so Colt stopped them to talk tactics. "Kenny, remember the plan." He said quietly as he looked out over the horizon. The place, as most Hutt strongholds were, was extremely well guarded. "We can't just be rushing in... we have to get inside before we start shooting."

This didn't appear to be what Kenway wanted however. He was getting impatient, and Colt couldn't blame him for doing so. He'd been in his cousin's situation before and he'd done exactly what Kenway wanted to do. That being charge in, blow the place up and not take chances. But things were different back then, Colt hadn't had anyone he needed to protect with him. And he didn't have anyone waiting for him to come home safe. "Cousin we need to get in there now." Kenway hissed as he charged towards the front door.

"Karking wermo." Colt muttered, looking at Niilah. "Well it appears that there's no need for these..." He said, sliding the handcuffs he had been wearing off and tossing them aside. "Toss me my blasters, looks like we're just charging the front door."

Being without his twin blasters made Colt feel almost naked. They had been a gift from his wife and he had spent countless hours turning them into the perfect firearms. But Niilah was right of course. He couldn't just walk into a Huttese palace as a 'bounty' and not expect them to wonder why he as a captive was still armed. Especially not one that had as dangerous of a reputation as he did. Still, he almost wanted to ask for the weapons back... He was that attached. "Just keep them safe." Colt said softly to her, gaining a tangible amount of comfort from Niilah's presence. He would never be able to articulate how much he had missed that during his time in what could be called self-imposed exile.

"It's not me we have to worry about..." Colt whispered as he methodically removed the rest of his weapons, these being his scattergun, his holdout blaster and his combat knife. The only armaments he kept were two vibroblades concealed in shoulder holsters under his black trench coat. "He doesn't know how to deal with such things and his emotions will make him a liability." Colt pointed out about Kenway, who was no longer the stoic Jedi master.

Kenway was seething and he was unable to rein in his anger. Not that he wanted to. His eyes were shining red instead of their usual pale gold because he wanted blood. The kidnappers would pay dearly. Not wanting to wait anymore, he stormed over to Colt and Niilah and grabbed the rest of his cousin's discarded weaponry. "They took my son. I'm going to kill them all." He spat. "Artemis. The Hutt who held Larial captive once before. His name. We start there. I will make him bleed." Colt was taken aback by Kenway's unbridled rage. Where had it come from?

"Delbranto." Colt eventually muttered. He had no idea how to calm Kenway down. It was supposed to be the other way, Colt rushing into danger and Kenway providing the voice of reason. "I know the way. But cousin..." He wanted to say something to soothe Kenway's anger... But he didn't know how. "Let's go." This was all he could think to say. Having no options, he led the trio out of the spaceport and towards Delbranto's estate. All the while Colt was mulling over the possibilities in his mind. Where could Larial and Kenlar be? Who had them? What resistance would they face?

Colt cringed when he figured out who was talking to Kenway on the comm unit. His cousin had never been a good liar, and in the emotional state he was in... he'd be even worse at it.

"Grand Master..." Kenway said quietly. "I will..." The Jedi looked up, catching Colt's eye from behind the comm unit. Colt made the universally known hand motion for money, trying to convey a message of what to say. "Charter a ship..." Colt sighed. His cousin's delivery was all off. So wooden and dull and... he had to bail him out. Colt made a crashing hand motion with his hand, then an explosion, then pointed at himself. "Because my idiot cousin managed to crash my ship and..." Colt motioned for Kenway to toss the comm unit over, which the Jedi reluctantly did.

"I didn't crash his ship, I saved his life. Big difference." Colt quipped, figuring that he might as well look good in their lie. After saying this, he got a good look at the figure on the other side of the comm unit and grinned. "Now if I had known you were Kenny's boss... I would have considered coming to 'visit your cousin at work day' quite more often..." He couldn't resist seeing Kenway's reaction, and it didn't dissapoint. "But as for his transportation, I'm currently working on repairing his vessel. Busted hyperdrive and nav unit. Won't be more than a day of repairs, but we'll get him to you sometime in the next 24 hours." Colt said before ending the call.

"Bought you a day cousin." Colt said before flipping the comm unit back to Kenway. "So we better work fast."

Colt hadn't said a word when they dropped Khaalee off, due to the simple fact that he didn't want to increase the tension in the room. From the moment they arrived, he could feel the hatred and anger coming from Sanj in waves. He couldn't blame her after everything that had happened, but at the same time it upset him. He didn't show it however, and he smiled gratefully at Gear. He had always liked the kid, reminded him a bit of his younger self back in the days when he had worked in his uncle's garage with Kenny, before the military, before the war, before everything else. He was brought out of his thoughts by the voice of his daughter.

"I want to go too..." Hearing the pain in her voice almost broke Colt's heart yet again. "I want to go with you." He was forced to close his eyes as he picked his daughter up. If he looked into her eyes he knew he would not be able to tell her no. 

"I'm sorry sweetie... you can't come with us this time." He said softly, opening his eyes as he looked over at Gear. "I promise Mom and I will be home soon..." He said softly, handing her over to Gear, mouthing 'Thank you.' as he did so.

"Goodbye little wing. Daddy loves you very much." Colt said softly before turning and walking away. He couldn't take it any longer and if he was near his daughter any longer he wouldn't be able to leave.

The flight to the Huttese moon had been quick due to the fact that Colt had let the engines loose. He knew that Kenway would have beaten them planetside and he would be stewing. Colt couldn't blame him, he knew how he'd react if someone took Niilah and Khaalee from him... He knew what it was like to lose the woman he loved, he more than anyone else understood.

After docking, Colt made sure he was fully armed before hopping off of the ship. Sure enough Kenway was waiting in the hangar for their arrival.

"Artemis... I..." Kenway walked over slowly and Colt could see that the Jedi's composure was slipping.

"Come here cousin." Colt held out his arms and pulled Kenway into a tight hug and held him close for a long moment. 

"I feel so stupid, that I let them down..." Kenway whispered. "And now my boy is..." He stopped, not wanting to think about it.

"We'll get them back." Colt told him resolutely. "I've been mulling it over and I have a plan."

"I... trust you." Kenway said reluctantly. The Jedi had been unable to think rationally due to the emotions he was unable to suppress any longer.

"You and Niilah are going to claim me as a bounty." Colt said with a grin. "Put the word out to the right people, I'll point them out as we go... and well, let's just say I have a theory."

"What does this have to do with..." Kenway started to say.

"I have a lot of enemies here, enemies that will pay millions of credits for my capture." Colt explained. "And these same enemies are the types to... they're the types who are going to know where they've been taken." He pointed out slyly. "So we're going to get the bit underworld players to tell us which big fish to hit... and we're going to hit them hard." He hissed. Kenway, rather than protesting this brutal force of action as he normally would, simply nodded.
 

"They will talk, or they will die." Kenway stated bluntly and Colt nodded in agreement. 

Colt snickered quietly to himself at Gear's reaction at seeing Niilah's current outfit. He had been tempted to comment but he decided he would save that for later on. Especially if Niilah hadn't filled Gear and Sanj in on the fact that he had come home. If she hadn't, he was in for an awkward conversation when they dropped off Khaalee. He liked Gear, the kid reminded him a bit of himself, but Sanj... he wasn't looking forward to seeing her given how that had gone last time. But he would worry about that when the time came. And most likely she'd hold her tongue for the sake of Khaalee. He could only hope.

And then the suggestion to get his daughter dressed came, and the choice of words made it so he couldn't resist making a wisecrack. "When you say little angel, do you mean Khaalee or yourself?" He asked with a knowing grin, glancing meaningfully at Niilah's current attire, or lack thereof. Looking quite pleased with himself, Colt methodically picked his weapons up off of the side table and armed himself. His pistols in their hip holsters, his scattergun on his back, his combat knife and holdout blasters into his boots, his vibroblades went into shoulder holsters and his emergency pack of kolto, adrenal and stim injections went into his pocket. Throwing a worn black trenchcoat over his armory, he swept out of the room to get his daughter ready.

"Hey little wing." Colt whispered softly, kneeling by his daughter's bedside a few moments later. "You and Mommy and I are going to go for a little flight." He explained, choosing to say this first because he knew how much his daughter loved flying on his ship. "And you're going to see Auntie Sanj and Uncle Gear too."

The fact that Niilah had looked remotely excited about the mission, even for just the shortest of moments, told Colt that she had no idea what he had in mind. They weren't just going on a rescue mission: they were going to war. If it was the Hutts that had taken Larial and Kenlar... the crime lords wouldn't let their prizes go without a fight. Especially not ones worth as much as two imprisoned force users. And if it was the Sith... that would only make things more complicated. The simple truth was that with no time and too few allies, there was only one course of action to take. Colt was going to burn the whole moon down until someone gave him what he wanted. And then he was going to tear the place apart out of spite.

At Niilah's choice of babysitter he nodded and handed her his comm unit. "Considering my two best options were my father who I haven't seen in six years and a force ghost, I like your choices for babysitter better..." He quipped, before a thought struck him. "When we get back home, we really need to find someone local to watch her for date night." He pointed out with a sly smile.

It wasn't hard for Colt to realize that Niilah wanted to come along. He was about to protest, to say that it was too dangerous when he realized something. If he told her that she couldn't join him... that he would have to go it alone... He realized that she would fear that he was never coming back. That he was leaving. Again. And after everything that had happened, this was the last thing that he wanted to make her think. "I think she'd be an excellent addition to the crew..." Colt started to say before realizing something else. And this was actually something that did need to bring up. "But what about Khaalee?" He asked softly, again not wanting to wake their daughter up. "Who's going to watch her... because the list of people I'd trust with such a thing is very short and I don't think..." He trailed off, smiling at the thought. Considering the fact that two of the four people he would trust with such a thing were women from the past, the third was still active military and the fourth... well the fourth was his own father but that was not a can of worms that he wanted to open unless there was no other option. "We can't even consider putting our little one in danger while we do this. If it were to come to that... It can't come to that." He whispered.

Hearing his son's cries was a surprise. He was shocked that the little one had such keen skill with the Force. He knew that his own son would have much ability given his own power, but even he hadn't had such control at such a young age. But hearing him also broke his heart. He couldn't be there to comfort the boy, to tell him that everything was going to be okay. "I'll be there soon son."  He promised. "I want you to do two things. The first is if one of those men tells you to do something, you do it." Kenway realized that his captors were likely sadistic and disobedience would be punished. It was both the Hutt way and the Sith way. "The second thing is that you cannot forget all the things I have taught you. Remember them and keep them close." He was referring to the beginnings of his son's training as a Jedi. He hoped young Kenlar would remember the code and that belief in the Jedi way would shield him from Sith poison long enough to be rescued.