(no subject)

[mercifulsith]

An Imperial of old might call this planet a lawless and chaotic place. Azrael would not. It wasn't the orderly cities of the Sith Empire, with its military presence and carefully maintained control, but it was peaceful. The arguments were over simple, petty things, and fights were rare. Crimes most certainly happened, as they did everywhere where any significant number of people lived, but not with such frequency as to be a problem, and they were most commonly quickly taken care of.

It was peaceful.

That was why the intent to kill stuck out so much. That sense of something being wrong had been persistent throughout the day. Darkness spreading through the light threads of the Force that bound all living things together. His unease had been noted by his employees, and though his cantina had been set to be open until late into the night, he sent everyone home early after telling them all to be careful.

They didn't understand, of course. But they trusted him, which was what mattered.

It was dark outside by the time he could feel a familiar mind as he reached out with the Force to try and determine just what was setting him off. Closed off, but familiar nonetheless. But something was wrong- he could tell. The familiar mind was closed off, but there was a second one- different, but similar enough- and a third that felt open. Human. And that mind was fearful.

The red Sith didn't need to stand around sensing the aggression that hung in the air once he'd zeroed in on the two Chiss minds and the human one. With an easy movement he'd retrieved his lightsaber and was out the door, rushing through mostly empty streets.

By the time he came upon the scene they were surrounded, and as though Azrael needed further prompting, seeing some thug point a blaster at Thrass was more than enough to tell him that he didn't need to show any restraint here. In a split second the blade of his lightsaber flared to life and as he flung it forward, the thug lost both his blaster and his hand, and with Force in his step, the Sith had leapt into the thick of things, pulling his lightsaber back to him- now in between this group of thugs and Thrass and the other Chiss and the human. There was an outcry as two thugs reacted by shooting at the newly arrived opponent- each blaster bolt deflected back at them, hitting them in the thigh and arm respectively. A swipe of his hand sent one large alien aggressor sideways and into a wall with enough force to crack it- and crack some bones too by the sound of it- followed by getting slammed down into the ground hard enough that he wouldn't be getting up for a while.

Two men faltered and ran, one was down and out, three were nursing injuries and scrambling away as quickly as they could, knowing that they had lost any sort of upper hand. Azrael's gaze swept over the battlefield, until his eyes landed upon a final man caught somewhere between contemplating continuing this attack or running. He raised his blaster, and the invisible grip of the Force immediately tightening around his throat likely told him that the correct answer had been to run however good the payday would have been, hoisted into the air, clawing at his throat as he tried to breathe, the wild flail becoming feeble squirms until his entire body went limp- unconscious, not dead. Only then did Azrael let him drop into a heap on the ground. His lightsaber was returned to his side as he immediately turned to the two Chiss and the human man, and his demeanor went from that commanding presence to something much warmer and worried, gaze flicking to the two unfamiliar men briefly to make sure they weren't actually injured and in need of medical attention, before focusing on Thrass as he approached, reaching out to touch his face and brush a few strands of dark hair away gently, looking at him intently.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

He could still feel trouble brewing. Whatever this was, whoever those thugs were, there were likely more of them. But right now, things were calm and he would fret a little.

Comments

timeskip, go!

[mercifulsith]

"I can most certainly do that," Azrael said, with the confidence of someone quite used to situations like these. It had been some time since he was in active combat, but he'd experienced plenty of fights in his own time, and broken up more than his fair share in this time too- so while the stakes were higher than a cantina brawl, he was confident in his ability to pull this off- and equally confident in Thrawn and Eli's abilities.

The knowledge that Thrass was safely away from danger also helped keep him quite confident. Had Thrass insisted on going with them, he'd probably be worried.

---

Thrawn's ability to get the mercenaries to follow him was impressive. Azrael had expected him to be skilled, of course- Thrass only had good things to say about his brother, and Azrael had no reason to doubt- but his plan working flawlessly was a wonderful example of his skill. Their enemies had followed down the path without ever realizing that the trap was springing shut, and that was just delightful, really.

Most of them laid incapacitated, while the last few were zeroing in on their location. Azrael could sense them, and when they were near enough to the open area that laid at the end of the back roads Azrael had pointed out to Thrawn earlier, the Sith nodded to his allies to get ready before igniting his lightsaber and holding it as if it was a beacon, to draw attention to himself and away from Thrawn and Eli.

"All of you," He called to the mercenaries, a touch of Force in his voice ensuring that their attention would be on him- he spoke in basic, accent perfectly Core World Imperial- certain now that their enemies were native speakers and thus more easily led by it, "Focus on my voice. I'll keep talking, and you lot will keep focusing on me as you step out from the shadows, and lay your weapons down. Keep following here-"

He gave a slight jerk of his head toward the last of the stragglers, to let Thrawn and Eli incapacitate them while they were under the effects of his voice and docile.

[admiralchiss]

Mercenaries such as these were not hard to manipulate. He and the others had correctly deduced that they would focus on Thrawn, with him being their main target. That further confirmed that it was one of his enemies, someone who was mainly out to get him.

Once everyone was in place, Thrawn and Eli both signaled Azrael that they were prepared to spring the trap. By the look in the mercenaries' faces, they hadn't expected to be facing the power of a Sith again. Thrawn had no doubt that Azrael could cut them down in no time, and rather appreciated that he was taking the non-lethal approach. A look of surprised passed over Eli's features as Azrael spoke Basic, but it quickly passed. With the mercenaries all lined up and out in the open, Thrawn and Eli let their blasters fly, their weapons set to stun, and knocking the stragglers out.

With the mercenaries incapacitated, Eli and Thrawn emerged. As Thrawn gathered up their weapons, Eli looked at Azrael. "You speak Basic. And you have a Core world accent."

[mercifulsith]

"I do, yes. My mother was a very proper lady of the Sith, and taught me how to speak accordingly. I do try to avoid sounding pretentiously posh, but... Mm, hard to avoid, you know?" He smiled and made a vague motion with his hand that very much suggested he was joking- it was probably clear that Basic was his native language though, along with the Core world accent, as it came easier to him than the trade language that they had been speaking, even though he was more than adept at speaking that too.

"Sounding pretentiously posh might just be an unavoidable side-effect of the accent, I'm afraid."

Of course, back in his time, all Imperials had that accent, regardless of the walk of life they were from. He knew very well that it was different in this time, and that his particular accent tended to belong to a certain sort of people who often thought themselves more than what they actually were.

"That aside... What do we do with this lot now, then?"

They needed to be questioned, of course, but it wasn't like they could just keep them tied up out in the open. They would likely need to be transported back to the Empire, too, as their going after Thrawn was very much Imperial business, and that would take time to arrange.

"Both my cantina and my ship are short on places to contain prisoners, unfortunately. I've got a few friends who work for the local law enforcement, though. I'm certain I could convince them to let us borrow a holding cell or two for a while?"

[admiralchiss]

"I suppose," Eli replied. "It's just, usually people with your accent would make fun of mine. Not that I think you'd do that. You've been a good egg." Though, something was nagging at Eli now. He didn't think that Azrael had picked up Basic as a second language the way Thrawn and Thrass had. But then, if Basic with a Core accent was his first language, then that implied he'd been raised somewhere around there. So then what was he doing out here? And why had Eli never even gotten wind of a Sith belonging to a near-extinct species of Sith Purebloods until today?

Thrawn was thinking the same thing. He walked over to the others, still keeping his eyes on their prisoners. "A jail cell would be preferable, as my shuttle doesn't have a place to put them either. I will wish to interrogate them, so that I may apprehend the person who hired them upon my return."

"You also want to salvage this visit, admit it," Eli pressed.

"Perhaps. This was meant to be a time of relaxation and introductions, after all, and it would be a shame if that all went to waste." They still had at least a week off, plenty of time for recreation, but Thrawn regretted that it had gotten off to such a perilous start.

[mercifulsith]

From Eli, Azrael could pick up on a little of that suspicion. From Thrawn, there was nothing, but then, that was also what he expected. Chiss were exceptional at keeping people out of their minds, which was true for Thrass, and Thrawn, and any other Chiss, Azrael imagined. He honestly didn't mind it all that much, as picking up on stray thoughts and moods from others could be a bit exhausting, as important as they could also be.

"I find that mocking people for their accent is an awful way to make friends. Besides, if any accent is to be mocked, it should be mine. Makes me sound like a self-righteous prick however much it's not my intention to sound like one," He said, with a grin that showed off those sharp teeth, which could have been intimidating, had it not looked so absolutely cheeky, and had it not been accompanied by a low rumbling purr too.

"And I'll give my friends a call then. I might have to bribe them with a few free drinks to make sure you can interrogate and drag this lot back with you when the time comes, but that's fine with me- and I assume you two, too."

On a planet like this, those sorts of bribes might as well be another part of the local language. Azrael had made many a friend with a free drink or ten here and there since opening his cantina, and tended to carefully budget around the knowledge that they might be necessary at some point or other.

"I'm eager to salvage this visit too. And eager to get back to the cantina. Thrass must be worried about us."

[admiralchiss]

"Actually, that accent doesn't sound half bad when it's coming from you," Eli replied, his voice lighthearted. He'd already accepted that Azrael was some progenitor species of Sith, what was a little Core accent? Even the teeth didn't put him on edge, when Azrael had such a nice smile and made that noise. He could certainly see why Thrass found him attractive.

"That is fine with us, yes," Thrawn said. "If we must, we can leave them to you to extract the information."

"He says that, but I've seen this guy play people like a fiddle," Eli said. "He once got some pirates talking and telling him all he needed to know in just a few minutes."

Thrawn regarded Azrael. "Had I known about these men ahead of time, I would have postponed my visit."

[mercifulsith]

"Good to know," Azrael said, with a friendly smile. He didn't often have reason to speak Basic any more, of course, considering where he'd decided to settle down, but it was still his native language and sounding self-righteous or no, it was actually nice to get to speak it again. Most people on the planet- at least most of the people who frequented his cantina- tended to speak in some trade language or other, which he supposed was to be expected this far out. He supposed he should be grateful for his thorough education as a child- though even while speaking trade languages, when he'd first arrived in this time, he'd been told his manner of speaking had been rather archaic. Old forms and odd words.

All of that had been long since ironed out though.

"And I don't think there'll be any problems dragging them back to the Core when the time comes. I wouldn't call the law enforcement here particularly advanced, so they tend to prefer for outside problems to stay outside anyways. I say bribe, but it's really just how things work here and I prefer not having undefined debt to anyone lest I find myself roped into something I'd rather not be."

Favor for a favor, best when he was in control of what he'd owe. This place was mostly a lawless hive of chaos with some interesting culture interspersed- the sort of society the Sith Empire had hated- but Azrael was fine with it. Life was more interesting when rules could disregarded- and he'd hated being on the straight and narrow ever since he was a child.

"And really now? I'd like to see that, actually. As a Sith I could force answers from them- minds like theirs can't exactly be called resilient- but it's not my preference to do so."

Mind tricks had their uses. Even getting everyone focused on him had been a mind trick, overwriting wills for just a moment. But Azrael had always liked seeing clever minds at work, and he could tell that Thrawn's was more clever than his own.

As for Thrawn's words, he shrugged a shoulder, "Unless Thrass has failed to inform me that you happen to be omniscient on top of being a genius, you can't expect to always see everything coming. No one- besides our very idiotic friends here- got hurt. That's what matters, no?"

[admiralchiss]

"It is merely a matter of saying the right things, and making them think that they have you fooled." Especially if they assumed that an alien like him wouldn't know any obscure trade languages. He saw Eli give an amused shake of his head at his modesty. "Yes, I suppose I cannot be expected to predict every single possibility, and you, Eli, and my brother remain unhurt, which I am glad for."

"His enemies just think he's omniscient," Eli quipped. "Anyway, we should probably haul these guys off, before Thrass thinks that we got ourselves in trouble."