Prakith's Terrain

Vermeil toyed with his rifle a bit while answering her question. By now the 69th Battalion had been completely loaded aboard the Dominatrix, and now soldiers were being sent down to the surface to make the trip to Darth Aneddu’s Keep to serve with the WHAP Legion. While it was likely that Neith thought Vermeil preferred to simply travel around in a large ship to seem impressive, in reality he hated the ship, and the cadre of officers it brought with it, preferring to simply travel by shuttle. However that was not possible at the moment, as a shuttle likely didn’t have room for several thousand men aboard it.

Making a brief bow to his superior officer, he spoke in a similarly mechanical voice, sounding as though he was speaking through a speaker system, which he was, in all fairness.

“I think so. You’d have to ask the officers though, if you wanted to know the exact exact status of every last crate being loaded. That is, if you can muster the courage to brave their assault of numbers, statistics, and other piles of... garbage information...”

The last few words were said with an extremely aggressive tone, making no secret of his disdain towards the officer corps, in spite of the fact that there were quite a few officers on the bridge of the vessel.

Blaze snorted at the officers, oblivious to their disdainful looks. Still, it was unlikely that any of them would attack him, as he would likely shred them to bits with repeating laser fire. Turning back to Neith, he couldn't help but smirk at her comment about Azria. He had originally been sent here due to his making of what she considered to be the heinous offense of making, in her mind, an inappropriate comment. Perhaps it had been slightly out of turn, but he did not regret it.

"I do. Unlike most postings in the galaxy, Lord Ren seems to at least know what he's doing, and its unlikely I'd be able to use my skills to their fullest extent under anyone else anyway."

“Your brother has earned my praise - not an easy thing to do.”

Pressing a button on the comlink built into the forearm guard of his armor, he called up one of his technical officers, who gave him a datapad with all sorts of data in the Purge Troopers, from what training they had received to their equipment to their survival rates and kill to death ratios, the datapad had it all. Not bothering to read it, he tossed the datapad to Neith.

“Since you seem to put such stock in all of the numbers then, read away. Here are your numbers, if you feel like wasting some time.”

He then walked closer to Neith, still observing her curiously through his helmet.

“Or... if you want to get down to brass tacks, I’ll give you my thoughts.”

He stopped in his tracks once he was a few feet from Neith. She was different from her brother, and he wasn’t sure if he liked that difference all too much. Even so, though, she was a Knight of Ren, so she likely wouldn’t hold his troops back, which was, at the end of the day, mostly what he cared about.

“Each of these troopers has been trained exactly to my specifications. You can rest assured knowing that I did not hold back when training them. They are loyal to the Empire and the Ren unto death, and will follow your every command without question. They will gladly take their own life, or the life of one of their comrades, if it means not disobeying your orders. And they will have no qualms about civilian property and individuals, as they are razor focused on the mission. Many thanks to your brother, once again, for allowing me to follow my methods of training, as they will produce far superior soldiers. Overall, I think you’ll find them highly superior to the troops produced by that softie Erhard or that clown Sterling, parading around like he’s some knight of yore. And if any troops disobey, feel free to execute them. You save me the blaster bolt.”

Katsumi's meandering search of the city for a shop suiting her purposes wound up taking her out of the city and into its outskirts, where her quest for a place to borrow things was rewarded when she stumbled across a large emporium boasting a wide assortment of military surplus gear. Defeating the emporium's security systems after she ensures there are no security cameras anywhere near enough to capture her borrowing expedition proves easy enough for Katsumi, but reminds her that she might want to look into borrowing some basic slicing gear while she is out and about.

Once inside the emporium, after determining that she was alone and need not worry about interruption or being recorded as the emporium makes no use of security cameras, Katsumi had wandered about the shelves and racks of clothing, occasionally grabbing this or that; armorweave wrappings here, a reinforced armor mesh body suit there, here an electronic lock breaker and there a handful of anti-security blades and scramble keys. Discarding her borrowed hooded cloak and military styled jacket to exchange them instead for an ankle length tactical hooded jacket, Katsumi is about to start undressing to put on the body suit and armorweave wrappings over it on her arms, chest and upper legs when she hears her borrowed datapad vibrating. As the only one that knows she has the datapad in her possession is the Purge Trooper she had sent a request to earlier, Katsumi is eager to learn what he has learned for her. Taking the datapad from the shelf she had set it upon, Katsumi reads the message after running it through a decryption program.



The fact that the structure Darkstar will be setting up in has yet to be constructed gives her some time, Katsumi thinks as she sets the datapad aside and goes about rearranging her attire, though she has begun to have the niggling feeling that oft means she will soon be called away to adventure on behalf of the Shadow that often whispers to her of where she should go to best serve the needs of the Ren. Options, muses Katsumi as she pulls on the body suit and begins wrapping the armorweave around her torso. Take steps to have surveillance devices put in place as the cathedral is constructed? No. Too easy to detect with routine sensor sweeps. Surveillance from afar, while offering less intel, seems the best choice. Agent or agents to do the surveillance? Lone agent. More responsibility, but less exposure. Bounty hunter? The job will be long term, expensive, and also risks exposure as Darkstar's claim of the scope of his spy network could both be true and enable him to keep tabs on individual hunters or even job offers. Purge Trooper set up as resident of the city? No. Too risky considering the possibility Darkstar's little birds are thorough enough to watch for such an attempt. Actual city resident turned asset? Possibly the best option, but who? As in real estate, location of the resident's residence or place of employment will be the deciding factor.

After wrapping the armorweave around an arm, Katsumi uses her datapad to call up a map of the Imperial Control Sector to see what existing buildings or residences are situated to provide an ideal nest for an agent. Referring back to the schematic the Purge Trooper had provided as she searches for a perch for her own little bird, Katsumi finds an industrial tower and a high rise apartment complex that both provide suitable perches. Intel will be limited, at best to photo-surveillance that will allow for a limited account of the comings and goings of Darkstar and his people or those visiting them, but such data could prove useful. The industrial tower meas a less secure perch, too difficult to avoid notice with all the security and other mice scampering about. High rise apartment it is then. The number of units with ideal vantage points narrows her search, and so Katsumi uses her datapad to contact the helpful Purge Trooper once more, sending an encrypted message requesting files on the citizens occupying the units in question, The helpful Purge Trooper proves his efficiency and alacrity once more, sending the requested information as Katsumi, finished redressing after the armorweave wrappings have been arranged to her satisfaction, is putting on the hooded jacket.

Reviewing the names, occupations and other information available on the residents occupying the apartment units best suited for her purposes, Katsumi finds her prospective asset, a widowed, retired tailor with no children. Approach? Credits? The widower is well off enough to afford the high rise apartments rather ridiculous cost, and his banking records show he will be able to live out his life quite comfortably. Seduction? No. Blackmail? Nothing in the tailor's file lends itself to that approach. Use her mental talents with the Force to turn him into her very own watchful little bird? Best option. When? Looking outside of the emporium's windows, Katsumi sees that dark will soon give way to light, Later, but soon.  It does not feel to her that the time for a journey to Byss has yet come, the niggling feeling in the back of her head seems to whisper that she is needed here, for now.

Placing the bits and bobs of slicing gear she had assembled into pockets of her coat and pants, Katsumi grabs a few additional bits of surveillance gear to give to her bird when the time comes, cleans up her mess for a change to avoid the remote possibility her borrowing expedition will be noticed or reported, adjusts the inventory on the dataterminal she determines the owner records it on after a quick search, and then flits from the emporium, restores its security systems to operational order, and then begins to make her way back to the Citadel.