Cloud City

Dante's eyes widened and his mouth hung agape as the woman's composure broke. Emotion! Dante and Liya had been more or less sparring for information, each behind carefully sculpted walls, for essentially the entire time they had known each other. Her reaction floored Dante, sending him several steps backward mentally, and he froze, not really knowing what to do. Not knowing what to do, because this was completely new territory for him. Emotions, more specifically, acknowledging emotions, was a completely new and foreign concept to him. The old Dante would have stored the moment of anguish away for a later, crucial, moment. To bring out for when he needed to break her down psychologically. This other Dante, well, had a different sort of reaction. "Baltan is a firrerreo word that means you have been adopted into my clan. Besides Jace, no one else has ever earned the right to that. No one else has earned the right to use my full name, either. Because clan, and the use of ones proper name, are the two single most important things to my species." Nictitating membranes swept across golden eyes once, then twice, and skin turned slowly from gold, and then to silver - indicating extreme emotion. Dante smiled wanly, and, if the pair were aware of it, they would perhaps realize that as far as Dante was concerned, he was in a room of his only surviving family members.

"Baltan, you are a good solider. You are a good soldier because you don't send soldiers to their deaths without feeling something; you don't not feel the weight of death on your shoulders. You have anguish and sadness because of death in your service. This is sad, it is true; it is always a sadness when a good soldier dies. But they did not die in vain if they died under your command; because when soldiers die under the watch of a commander who feels the weight of death, it means they were sent with the full attention and care of their commander. It means they died an honorable and worthy death, under a commander who weighed the risks." Dante paused at that, and smiled a bitter smile. "I am, was, a man who enjoyed killing. I killed without passion, without emotion, and flung soldiers to their deaths without thought. I, not you, have dishonored my men. Because I sent men into battle, without regard to their success or care; this makes me guilty of being a dishonorable commander, of being blamable for their deaths, and for assuming the debt of their deaths." Dante leveled a finger at Liya, his eyes wide, his skin silver, his voice a harsh whisper. "Do not assume the guilt of death, Baltan Liya. Because that guilt is for people like me. People like me who must pay recompense, through battle, through selflessness, to pay for their crimes. Do not presume to assume the weight, not ever; not until you have killed tens of thousands, those you would call brothers in arms, comrades, with whom you have laughed, dined, and bonded with - all sent to their graves without so much a tear. When you have done that...then you may join in damnation. Only then."

Dante was quiet then, and slowly shook his head, an unsteady breath whispering out between silver lips. Slowly, skin faded back to gold, and he smiled widely at both Jace and Liya. "We have...a chance for redemption. Let us not waste it. Sister Liya."

So ‘Baltan’ meant sister. That was one mystery solved, and I was moved by the word choice. I had known something of Firrerreo culture prior to this job, or at least I thought I had, but living and working alongside Dante had taught me just how important families and names were to their people. An importance that had no doubt been further enhanced by their tragic status as an endangered species. But more than just being a token of acceptance and adoption, the term also meant that we were equals, which was certainly not the normal interpretation for the Basic words he had attempted to use, such as ‘captain’ or ‘master.’ All in all, I was very pleased with the choice, and the full meaning of the honor brought some calmer, more collected thoughts into my head.

I lowered my head, glancing down at the floor. “Thank you, but I did not send them out to die alone. They died all around me, and I failed my attempts to save them.” I replied quietly. I could still see one of the blood-streaked faces staring rigidly upward at me, as I cradled his broken form in my arms. “But you are right, the far greater evil is to send men and women to their deaths without thought or care, and the one who left us to die has already paid dearly for his arrogance.” I sighed. “I only wish that I had been able to save more of the survivors.” I glanced up once more, but my vision was still unfocused, and distant. “Redemption can never change the past or bring back our dead, but we can prevent future losses if we act now, and act decisively.”

My internal struggle for control would have been obvious to everyone in the room. After a moment, I continued. “Jace’s suggestion is logical. I have no talent in managing a fleet battle, so I recommend that we allow that to go as planned --- as a diversion. An adversary who has placed so much effort into preparing for every eventuality and learning your tactics so well is likely to have two weaknesses: He may let down his guard if his predictions start to come true, and he may not be confident in his ability to react to unexpected challenges in real time. So our real focus will be on a smaller infiltration while Gideon Warr’s attention is divided, and hopefully he will make a mistake, either because he does not see us, or because he does see us, and he panics.” I grinned, now visibly more relaxed as the carefully composed and collected Liya reappeared. “Breaking into secure facilities is one of my favorite pastimes, after all.”

Palming the credit chip in my left hand, I slapped it expertly against the back of my right hand, then drew away my left hand. The chip had landed lucky side up, with the cryptographic striping clearly visible. It was a sign, if you believed in such things.

“But first, there is a more personal opportunity for redemption.” I motioned to the chronometer in the cockpit. “We have two goals left to achieve here on Bespin: rescue Kim Zawadi, and pinch a Syndicate thug for intel. The hour is approaching for our raid, and the sooner we get done with this, the sooner we can go knock on Mr. Warr’s front door.”

I glanced at Jace out of the corner of my eye. Dante was turning into someone with a much larger and more complicated history, not to mention more assets and wealth, than anyone I had ever met, and it seemed that he would continue to astonish me on a regular basis. At least Jace was a pretty normal spacer. I mean, he had some mercenary connections that ran deep enough to afford to outfit The Red Cred with a top notch armory, but beyond that, he was just a regular guy. Or so I hoped. I wasn't sure what I would do if I found myself surrounded by a crew full of Dantes.

“Here is everything I’ve collected on the Black Bantha, and everything I’ve planned so far.” Reaching into my pocket, I offered each of them a datacard very similar to the one I had given Tim earlier in the day at Crusher’s restaurant. There were blue prints, a full summary of the security procedures at the front gate, and detailed descriptions of the bag check area and the second floor cantina where Kim's meeting/potential kidnapping was supposed to take place.

Jace watched patiently as Liya slowly began to regain her composure. Interrupting her may prove to be detrimental, as prying questions when one is vulnerable could create insecurities and lose the bonding trust they have built up. The best way to approach this was to let her find her voice and slowly rebuild themselves, offering your support as they did. Dante and Jace silently standing by her side and listening was all the help she needed, and they knew it. Jace glanced at Dante and then back to Liya, still rattled by the fact that his friend didn't jump in and seize the opportunity.

As Liya delved into a plan to take out Warr, Jace shifted his position so he could get a clear view out to the city of Bespin. He was clearly still listening, but somewhat lost in thought as he pondered what she said. It was going to be rough, but he knew she would be able to handle the task. Smart and with a military background, she would have no problem leading an insertion team. Jace wasn't worried about getting in however. He was more worried about what Dante would do once they reached Warr. This new Dante was unpredictable, added with the fact that he wants to take on his nemesis in a one-on-one. There was no telling what would happen within Dante under that kind of pressure.

The plan itself would need work, but there was plenty of time for that later. Time was running short and they had people to save and people to wallop right here on Cloud City. Jace turned to catch Liya'a glance, spotting her reaching into her pocket to fish out the datapads. As he walked from his spot to her, he heard what Dante mentioned about gambling. If there was any indication that Dante still had his serious gambling problem, then this whole operation was about to be thrown for a loop. But he couldn't be sure with this new Dante, so he decided to keep his mouth shut and take the datapad. Maybe the mission details would prevent him from getting too deep into the gambling scene. Maybe... Hopefully.

Dante was a little quicker and beat Jace to reading the mission details, which caught him off guard when he complimented Liya. He was going to poke fun of Dante and tell him that since Liya was the only sister then she would have been the favored sister by default, but never got the chance. The words got caught in his throat once Dante patted him on the shoulder and mentioned Dante's Folly. "Yeah... wait, what?" Just the mention of that meant that he had the full capability to ruin everything. Utterly. Everything. "Now hold on a second..." Dante was already skipping down the hallway when Jace started to blink rapidly to break himself out of the mental shock. He took a few swift steps to the door of the cockpit and watched Dante's form disappear around the corner. "The Red Cred is NOT yours to gamble! You hear me?!" And with that, Dante was gone.

He stared at the empty doorway for a moment before turning slowly, moving himself to the nearest seat in the cockpit. He slumped into the chair, glancing at the datapad in his hand before looking up to Liya. A sense of defeat lingered in his eyes as he slowly shook his head. "I just... I don't know, Liya. I can't get a read on him anymore. He's Dante alright, just not the one I've always known. There's new mental barriers up, and there are others that have been torn down. He's more manageable, more like an actual sentient now... But he's still a wild card. I..." Jace's voice faltered as he tried to wrap his head around this new being with the likeness of Dante that had inhabited his comrade's body.

Dante's reaction was ... no, not just unexpected, but also somewhat worrisome. That look in his eyes. It was clear that I had begun to earn a real kinship with him, but something else was there, too. It might have been greed or lust, but it also almost held the look of one who has a sickness or an addition, and has just been properly doped. What had I just awakened? And whatever was 'Dante's Folly'? I mean, besides the obvious details (that it belong to Dante, and that it was, apparently, 'folly'). Add to that, Dante's recent transformation and his new instabilities (or were they ongoing instabilities? Sometimes I couldn't tell the difference) and this all seemed like a very bad mix. At a loss for words to stop Dante's departure or to question his motives, I instead looked at Jace helplessly, and slowly shook my head as Dante rushed from the cockpit. It seemed my attempt to re-focus us on the task at hand had been too successful.

Jace's words were not entirely comforting, nor was the defeated look in his eyes. "What, precisely, is or was Dante's Folly?" I asked at last. "And can we count on him to play his part at the casino, or do we need a contingency plan?" It wasn't stated, but the real question was, just how bad is his gambling problem, and how much trouble are we going to have dragging him away from that place once everything goes boom? I supposed if we reminded him that we were taking him to kill Gideon Warr, that would break through whatever fog he had entered. We still had that as a bargaining chip, and, if necessary, a carrot to dangle before his nose. But Jace was the 'Dante expert' --- it would have to be his call, and not mine. I had a job to do, and I was going to do it, and nothing was going to get in my way tonight. Nothing.

I motioned to Jace to follow me, and exited the cockpit, heading for the lift. We could walk and talk. Descending to the passenger deck, we made our way forward to the crew bunks. "I just need to grab a few things, then we should head down to the armory." Keying the door for my cabin, I left it open. On the bunk was the briefcase that Crusher's people had delivered to me hours earlier. I opened it just wide enough for one hand to reach inside, and took out a datacard, which I immediately slid into my datapad. After double-checking the contents, I nodded, and grinned, clearly pleased with the results. "Every rooftop access point in the entire quadrant of the city is now mine." I commented, then took off my gun belt and left it atop the briefcase on my bunk. Opening the footlocker at the end of the room, I removed a long, thin black bag and unzipped it. Inside was a shiny E-5s sniper rifle with a large scope, to which I added an armload of climbing gear and ropes, and a matte black full body suit with a hood. Closing and locking the storage locker, I glanced around the cabin for a moment as I consulted a mental checklist, before zipping the bag shut.

The bag had shoulder straps, but I tucked those out of sight, and instead carried it by its short and not entirely practical handles. It looked innocent enough, with the sniper rifle collapsed inside, and other items piled on top. Exiting my cabin, I waited for Jace to finish anything he may have still been doing, then led the way aft once once more, toward the armory. "Let's go pick out some new toys." I smirked, my eyes twinkling. "I'll let you choose something nice and lethal for Dante, but nothing too heavy, remember, I have to carry all this poodoo across a gorram roof. So no tank missiles." As we reached the well-stocked armory, I once again marveled at the vast array of weaponry present, and how well maintained it all seemed to be. Jace had told us his role in refurbishing the ship and calling in favors for supplies, but he had been more vague about the origins of the armory, and it hadn't occurred to me that he might have provided the entire flipping thing. Nobody had contacts like that, well, nobody I knew except Dante, I guess. Dante was proving to be the exception to every calculation lately.

"Our friends from the Ryloth caper really picked the right ship to steal, didn't they? I'd hate to be the poor chap that had all this stolen from him. It's worth a small fortune."

Between my sniper rifle and my holdout blaster, I was reasonably well equipped, but I picked out a pair of DL-22s as lightweight backups for whomever might need them, and waited while Jace decided on weapons for himself and for Dante. There were almost too many choices, and I saw three or four pieces that I would have taken in a heartbeat if my role had been different. The whole compartment was basically a criminal's candy store.

The sound of the floor 40 Cloud City casino resonated as Asollan stepped into it's vibrance. As far as the eye could see there were people gambling; there was poker, hold'em and 5 draw, roulette, money burning machines, and the rest of it. It was almost like a dream come true to him. Asollan was a renown crook, or at least in the eyes who knew him. No one could handle being cleaned out by a 'kid' and it caused amusement every time, or to him at least. It wasn't like he wanted to cause strife to those who he claimed dominance over, but if they weren't prepared to lose then they shouldn't have been gambling in the first place. Granted however, it may be underhanded to cheat, but he didn't see slight of hand cheating, clearly it took a profusion of skill. Rather a unique power.

Asollan took a seat at one of the tables, gazing over the competition. "And the gentleman in blue takes the pot with cowboys". Asollan smirked "Pair of pocket Kings, devastating." The man looked over at him with cold eyes. Who let this kid in He could hear his voice boom in his head. Asollan tilted his head slightly to the side and raised an eyebrow at him. "Playing sir? You must first buy in" "Yeah yeah Im buying." The boy threw in 100k Credits, showing the rest of the table what he was worth. Most only had a good 20k. He could hear their thoughts, just like always, not pleased with his sudden appearance.

The dealer went around the table once. A king. Twice. An Ace. It wasn't a bad hand at all, one of the best, but the thoughts of some of the others put him off. He threw in a 1k blind, hoping to weed out weaker hands that could get lucky and raise the stakes in the process. Fold, fold, call, call, call. The man in 'blue' also called. "Looking juicy boys" He said with a crooked smile. "Here comes the flop!" the dealer called. Three cards appeared on the table; a king, an ace, and a queen. He could hear them as they spoke in their minds Yes... a straight. Ten to ace, this kid is going down. Pair of aces!, the others didn't seem to have anything. Asollan fidgeted, trying to signal nervousness to the rest of the group and reluctantly threw in 5k. Call, fold, fold, and.. "I see your 5k, and i raise you to 10k. Asollan licked the inside of his mouth and stared at his cards, then over at the deck. The next two... he concentrated on the deck hard. A seven... and... a king!. He shied from facing the mans bet straight away as not give to much away. He scratched the back of his head and simultaneously raised the man another 5k. Without a thought the man called it after the pair of aces matched it. "Here comes the turn" The dealer placed the 7 on the field, as expected. He concentrated, still getting a feel for a king on the next card. "You sweating boy? You seem nervous." Asollan cracked a smile and laughed "Me? Nah..Just wait and see". The man didn't buy it, but thats what he wanted. The pair of aces raised 500 after Asollan checked, in order to reinforce his 'bluff'. The man in 'blue', the straight, called and raised another 1k. Asollan matched it and so did the other man raising the pot to a height of 51k credits. "Very juicy..". "Here comes the river!" Asollan watched intently as the dealer turned the last card over, revealing the king. He sighed a mental sigh of relief and looked over at the faces of the two men. Asollan checked, once again 'bluffing' that he had something worse than he actually did. The pair of aces raised another 1k, menial. The straight however raised another 10k. He smirked and went all in, the pair of aces couldn't go any higher and simply put in his last 5k and the man in blue matched it. "Cocky son of a bitch. Im going to enjoy the look of distraught on your face" The pair of aces revealed himself and the dealer looked impressed and watched the other two "All remaining players are all in. Please reveal your hands" The man in blue turned them over with a sly smile and revealed his straight. Asollan smiled crookedly and tilted his head the other way and let out a short breath of air "Well uhm, I guess you won" He then proceeded to turn over his hand, revealing a full house. "Until I got that 3rd king" placing the cards gently on the table one by one face up he stared down the man as an expression of disdain washed over his face.

Asollan swept the credits to his side of the table with open arms, cradling them as the two participants stared in disbelief, unable to fathom that he played them so well. "Well i'd love to stay and chat but I gotta run and cash these in, happy gambling!" He stored the credits and turned from the table ready to leave when the man in blue shouted out to him. "What's your name, boy" Asollan turned and faced him, still smiling. "Call me Asollan". With that he made his way out, pleased with how his powers have developed so far and have become this reliable to use. He thought maybe he might get a drink first, and instead headed towards the bar of the casino. 

Life rested his head against the counter as he began to feel the men approaching. He gripped the hilt of his knife, preparing for close range engagement. He started to wonder if the life he was living was worth the trouble, but it was all he knew. He shut his eyes and felt for the movement of the men, they were close. He remembered the type of training the members of this particular mafia were accustomed. It reminded him of traditional Ninjustu which he himself practiced at his home planet Malastare under the guidance of an old Japanese master who's father, an original practitioner of the martial art, originated from Earth. It was that same teacher that raised him as a child, but ultimately it was his greed for material items and power that caused him to run away from him. His train of thought was disrupted as more blaster shots fired, the barkeeper had been shot and fell to the ground beside him. His eye's widened as he noticed the barkeeper had in his palm a stingbeam blaster pistol probably hidden for situations like his. Asollan frantically grabbed it and searched his body for any others and found a holdout pistol. He hid both inside his cloth for a quick draw later on.

Asollan smirked and kept both pistols in each hand. The thugs began to speak, causing him to hesitate in making a move "Come out Asollan and we won't kill you. Don Al'Tibus wants to see you in person and have a word with you. He didn't exactly take to kindly to you running off with his speeder and credits." Asollan smirked and shouted back to him "Oh! That old thing? I thought It belonged to a wookie!" "The Don will have your head for that!" The thug yelled and reached into his pocket revealing a small stun grenade and threw it towards the bar counter. Asollan smirked perfect opportunity He stood up from behind the counter with both hands outstretched and tried to grab it with his mind like he did with the stone. The grenade however was moving much to fast for him to grab with his mind and quickly jumped over the counter, just barely escaping the explosion. He tumbled forward and withdrew both blasters from his clothing pointing each to both men before they processed what had happened. Without another moments notice he fired both, effectively hitting both targets chests and causing them to fall backwards onto the floor.

He spun both guns on his fingers and re-hid them back inside his cloths and looked around quickly looking for an exit. "Heh.. you're doomed now" The thug whispered before slipping away from the world of the living. Suddenly there was a bright flash as he tried to fathom what was happening "A heart rate monitor bomb?" Asollan quickly ran for cover, flipping forwards and knocking over a table for protection. Within seconds after the flash the explosion went off blowing the whole casino apart. The table was pushed back by the force of the explosion and he was sent flying towards the wall before the table slammed against his body and knocking him unconscious.

The next thing he knew he was awake, more importantly alive, and in a cell. He tried to make sense of his surroundings and realised he was stuck in prison. His back wearily leant against the wall and his wrists were bound in shackles. His eyes reseted on one figure however, staring at him behind the bars of his cell. The man in blue. "I knew you were trouble the minute you stepped into my casino" Asollan buried his face in his hands unable to comprehend his misfortune. "You have been charged with the destruction of property, the destruction of life, and the misconduct and use of the force"He couldn't believe what he was hearing, how could it be that this was all happening to him, it wasn't even his fault. And what the hell was the force?!! "The what? I didn't do anything! Let me go!" Asollan pleaded the man in blue to open the doors and let him go but soon discovered that was as useful as trying to drown a goldfish. "You will be given a fair trial, don't worry. However as it stands you are the soul survivor and key instigator of the loss of 5 lives and 12 injuries. Most of the people made it out before you could bomb the place" Asollan thought of trying to respond, but realised how useless it was going to be. "Are you just mad I took your credits? If you want, I can give back everything I won just let me out! I didn't do anything!" The walls of the cell shook as his rage built up inside him, he thirsted to make the man in front of him suffer. The man in blue simply smirked "What a pity. If only you had lived another life" The man walked away, two guards trailing behind him and Asollan was left with his brooding.

Silently, Sylvia watched as several sentients entered the bar. All dressed as she, in leathers with hooded cloaks, the trio of men came to sat at her table - each careful not to obstruct her view. Lowering their hoods from their heads, two young men and an elderly man were revealed, all with black hair, all with glowing red eyes; kinsmen to the young woman no doubt. Silently, they stared at her wordlessly, and, eventually, her gaze flicked to them, whereupon she only offered a small shrug. "What do you want." She asked, more like demanded abruptly and rudely. The men only stared, the two younger ones, obviously guards to the elder, putting their hands on their blasters in their holsters. The elder waved the words away, though, and the guards relaxed. "You've spoken to the others?" The elder asked, quietly. The woman shrugged once again, as if reluctant to commit to a concrete answer. "I've spoken with them - and we are in agreement." She spoke after a long while. The elder snorted, almost disdainfully, and gestured to her ship below. "Then you're meeting one of them? As if they, in their right minds, would rebuild the Mercers?" The elder asked in disbelief. Now it was the woman's turn to snort disdainfully. "As if they will know they're rebuilding the Mercers. After all, once a Quincy..." The woman drifted off, and a knowing look came across the elder's face. "Always a Quincy." Finished the elder, standing up from his spot at the table. Seemingly appeased, he gestured for the two guards to follow him - and, as quickly as they came, the trio departed.

Sylvia looked up from her spot in the bar, the bar's various patrons going quiet at the sight of the red clothed figure. A wave from Sylvia's hand had the patrons filing out one by one - and, from the back, a Samuac guard put a black box - a signal and sensor jammer - down on the table next to her. Flipping it on, the man eyed the red clothed being briefly before leaving - leaving only Sylvia and the Voice in the bar. "You've come. Faster than expected. Are you ready to negotiate?"