Backroom Politics: Agressive Negotiations

The Colonel knew exactly what happened even before Threhad came to his senses and called for help, and when he did, Falke was already on the move. He immediately let go of the Togruta, almost dropping her, and forced his way through the crowd, pushing anyone who stood in his way aside without ceremony.

“Form up on the Senators location!” Conrad barked into the communicator, drawing his blaster pistol from the holster. “Look sharp and be ready for anything!”

The other guards were quick to follow suit and soon Senator Threhad was surrounded by a wall of bodies. Weapons at the ready, his security was prepared to fire at the first sign of danger. Albeit they had no intention to stay here and wait for the assassin or assassins to strike again, instead Falke ordered:
“We are getting the Senator to the exit. Dorvin, Kymeri, cover our asses!”

Nighthawk wasn't entirely sure how to react. Halfway between cursing and laughing, Nighthawk did neither. Knowing he would not get another chance to kill the Senator, he stood up, pushing aside the waiter. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out 3 grenades, tossing each one to make it so that whichever way the senator turned, he would be boxed in by grenades.

Knowing of course that some of those guards may well survive the explosion, Nighthawk overturned the table in front of him to block any shots.

Drawing his Heavy Repeater Rifle, Nighthawk loaded it up while he waited for the grenades to explode (they were on a short timer).

Fey'ira Tal

Fey'ira gave a small yelp as she was unceremoniously dumped by Conrade. A flash of annoyance streaked across her mind, but she didn't dwell on it, knowing what this reaction from him must have meant. She didn't bother to make any move to stop him, but instead rose quickly to her feet so as to get a look at the senator. Someone yelled about someone being dead. Was it the senator?

As she craned her neck and stood on her toes to see over the people in front of her, she caught sight of the senator being led away from the battle. She swore silently and began to push he way towards the back exit. Her movement was hidden by the similar movements of the rest of the patrons who were just starting to enter that first stage of mob panic. At the current moment, she had no weapons on her besides a small knife strapped to her inner thigh which would only serve for her getting killed. Outside, however, hidden away down one of the alleyways was a set of standard civilian clothing and her blaster rifle.

Cool night air embraced her as she burst from the Ivory Manor and began walking quickly down the alleyway. She made a right into the correct cross-section and found the package she was looking for. Thankfully, no one had dared to steal her supplies. Glancing around and even up to ensure no one was around, she stripped off the fancy dress and re-clothed herself in the casual outfit. While certainly just as unprotected as the dress, at least her new outfit afforded her much more freedom and comfort to perform physical tasks.

Reaching down and hefting the rifle, she jogged back to the exit of the Ivory Manor where only a few straggling staff were attempting to clear the building. Upon catching sight of her and her rifle, they cowered before her and ran down side streets in order to get clear. Pressing her back against the entrance frame, she listened for sounds of what was going on inside.

One glance at the assassin was enough to understand that the time for subtlety has passed. By all account he was dead serious on finishing the Senator off here and now, but thankfully it looked like he still regarded Nyx as just a pretty face. That would be more than enough for her to thwart the attempt on Threhad’s life. A glint of metal in the mercenary’s hand caused her to curse silently – grenades! This guy clearly didn’t care much about civilian casualties. The Republic must’ve been really desperate to hire a psycho like that.

However this time Nyx wouldn’t be caught off guard. Even as the assassin prepared to throw his deadly weapon, she reached out to the Force and pushed the grenades off course. With a crowd like that trying to get away, this would probably kill a lot of people, but if their lives had to be sacrifices in order to save Threhad and his men, then it had to be done. Not much movement was required on Nyx’s part, so she hoped the assassin didn’t notice her involvement. He was far too preoccupied anyway…

The next thing Nyx knew, he overturned the table knocking her on the floor in the process. “Oh, it’s personal now!” She hissed through clenched teeth, her voice drowning in the sound of three subsequent explosions and horrified screams of the crowd. She correctly guessed that her enemy will try to take cover behind the table, in fact she was counting on it. And as soon as he did, Nyx pushed the heavy piece of furniture right at him in hopes of knocking the merc down. This seemed like a good idea at the time: regardless of the initial result, she basically forced her enemy to lose balance and that gave the Senator’s guards a better fighting chance.

Republic civilians, as always, have proven themselves to be an unorganized, selfish drove. There was no orderly evacuation, rather a stampede. People pushed and trampled each other, trying to claw their way out of the deathtrap that Ivory Manor has become. Conrad and his fellow guards continued to wade through the crowd, two of them – Dorvin and Kymeri – moving behind the main group, as their commander ordered. Falke’s eyes darted from one terrified face to another, his senses stretched to the limit to detect any signs of danger. Being an experienced combatant, he still possessed a good measure of control over the situation even amidst this chaos. A familiar tingling feeling of danger in the back of his head forced the Colonel to turn sharply. He was just in time to see a large, burly man in a formal suit pushing the waiter out of his way. That detonator he pulled out of his pocket left no room for doubt.

“Take cover!” Conrad barked, literally throwing Irlav’s hunched form under the nearest table before bringing the said table crushing down to the side so it would protect the horrified senator from the shrapnel. Catching sight of yet another grenade being launched their way, Falke vaulted over the improvised obstacle and landed right on top of his charge, using his own body as a shield. Sporadic blaster fire erupted as the other guards retaliated against the attack, but several explosions rang out from different directions, and Conrad felt the pressure of the distant shockwaves, several splinters clang against the table top, but no serious damage was sustained. At least at the first glance.

“Sith’s blood!” Falke muttered. This was just like the bloody war! “Sir, we are going to leave through the back doors. Follow my orders to the letter, and we might just come out of this in one piece.” Sparring but one second to glance back at his companions, he ordered. “Zhet, get the Security Force on the radio! We need support and quickly! Kymeri, Dorvin, your orders stand – take that hostile down and cover our retreat. The others are with me! Go!”

To say Nighthawk was surprised was an understatement. His jaw was mentally dropping onto the ground, but long, long years of experience had already taken over when he saw his grenades fly far away from the Senator. His aim hadn't even been that bad as a kid, and that left no room for doubt in his mind that there was a force user in this room with him, and he/she sure wasn't on his side. The table that fell on his head was yet another sign of that. Fortunately Nighthawk was made of sterner stuff then to get knocked down by the table. Forgetting the table, Nighthawk let it stay on him for a second or two, scanning his surroundings for options. The person who must have pushed the table was the pretty singer he had seen earlier since she was the one standing directly in front of him. Mentally cursing himself for believing she was just a pretty face, Nighthawk saw another cover spot, the bar. Exploding out of the table with impressive amounts of force, Nighthawk directed his explosion so the table would fall right back on the girl, in the meantime doing a dive and roll to the corner of the bar. Immediately coming up with the heavy repeater already pointed at the guards, Nighthawk started firing away, gunning down whoever was making their way to the exit including civilians. He kept up a steady stream of fire as he kept one eye on the girl ready to switch to her from the most minuscule of movements. Assumably a Sith, he wasn't about to let her get anything on him.

Manhandling the heavy repeater into one arm, Nighthawk grunted with effort as he pulled out some more grenades. By now the civilians moving towards the exit where the senator was were all dead, though he wasn't entirely sure if he had got the guards as well. In any case some grenades would liven things up, Nighthawk knew, as he made his profile low against the bar and shifted his aim to the girl, still keeping up a steady stream of fire. Taking this chance to throw the grenades once again at the senator, he hoped the girl wouldn't be able to deflect them and protect herself at the same time.

This was one of the rare occasions Nyx wasn’t fully prepared to face the complications in her initial plan. Not quite counting on direct confrontation, she’d come to the party weaponless and now found herself in a tight spot. Sure, she could use the Force in more obvious and spectacular ways (a barrage or two of Force Lightning would be most useful right now) but she preferred not to blow her cover in front of the Senator just yet. Fortunately the guard whom this assassin accidentally killed with his poisoned dart was not far, what’s more important: he had a blaster holster still strapped to his belt.

Nyx darted from behind the table just after she pushed it at the assassin and made a run for it. She heard ivory grinding against the floor behind her and surmised that her opponent was also on the move. A quick glance back confirmed it, though he the young Sith had a small headstart and already reached her goal by the time he emerged from behind the bar stand, weapons primed. With barely a few instants to spare, Nyx grabbed the balster pistol of the guard’s dead body and darted aside to get clear from the line of fire. Blaster bolts whizzed past, but she wasn’t the intended target yet. The assassin has likely engaged himself in a short firefight with the bodyguards. More screams followed as some unfortunate patrons were cut down by the blaster fire. Even though she was a Sith and no stranger to death, Nyx still felt sick at the sight of such wanton slaughter. Still, so much death and raw emotion in one place strengthened the Dark Side of the Force, and she could certainly tap its resources.

The only real cover here could be found behind the furniture, so naturally Nyx chose yet another as her next destination. Using the momentum, she launched herself in to the air, skimming barely an inch above the table top, and then kicked it down just in time to stop a burst of blaster bolts coming her way. Thankfully the table held for now. Meanwhile the assassin stopped for a brief moment, just enough to throw another grenade at the Senator.
“Kriff that!” Nyx exclaimed, pushing the damn thing off target with the Force again from her position of relative safety. Though a low cracking that followed sound didn’t bode well for her. Cursing again, Nyx erected an invisible Force barrier in front of the overturned table to provide additional protection. She couldn’t hold off the blaster fire forever, but she didn’t need to. With so many enemies, the assassin couldn’t allow to concentrate on one target for too long unless he wanted to be killed. And as soon as Senator’s men returned fire again, Nyx peeped out of her cover and used the Force to tear down a large chandelier that hung above the bar stand and dropped it on the assassin.

To his utter bewilderment, Conrad noticed the girl, the same girl who performed on the stage some ten minutes ago, dash towards them. It was surprising that she did not flee with the others, and not only that – she, presumably, attacked a heavily armed mercenary just a moment before. A bold move, and a timely one at that! Falke was more than willing to return the favour, and as the would-be murderer rushed for cover behind the bar, he and his fellows opened fire. Thick wood of the stand absorbed most of the charges, however, and their enemy was quick to retaliate. Colonel dove back into cover, trusting Kymeri, Dorvin and the others to do the same.

From behind the table Conrad saw the singer girl stopping by the corpse of Threhad’s bodyguards. Once again surprising the old officer with her recklessness, she grabbed a blaster from the body and vaulted over another table, dropping it one the side in the process. The way she moved… This was not her first combat, and she was no simple cabaret performer either, of that Conrad was sure. Another agent, sent by the Empire? If so, he’d have a few questions for her later on. For now, however, it was sufficient to know that the girl was on his side.

Another explosion rent the air, again too far from its intended target to make any actual damage. Their enemy has also shifted his attention to another target – that same singer. Falke seized that opportunity immediately, popped above the table and fired away with his heavy blaster pistol. That would force the mercenary to make a choice between risking a substantial chance of getting shot or hiding behind cover, thus easing the pressure on Conrad’s newfound ally. On his part, Falke chose the latter, and after discharging three shots, disappeared behind the table again to avoid return fire. Their enemy might have been better armed, but he was also outnumbered. That advantage Conrad would not waste.

“Zhet, progress?” He inquired crisply before glancing from behind his cover to assess the situation.

“Security Force already know about the shoot-out.” The other guard replied. “Shouldn’t be long until we’re relieved.”

“Good.” Conrad nodded. “Keep an eye on the entrance. I want no surprises.”