Wind Whisperings ((Open))

[Triune]

~Wind seemed a living voice, it could whisper or howl, murmur or shriek, breathe or sigh. It could hint promiscuously at a sultry evening or threaten with the power of coming tempest. Indeed it seemed the voice of life itself; mercurial and ever changing. The crew that followed N'veris found it particularly chilling on the world she chose to make her base. An icy desolate world amidst the flotsam of the outer rim, only those most generous cartographers would call it 'habitable'. It had a number and designation but N'veris called it 'Caina' and it seemed to suit the windswept sphere. On a good day the wind only howled around every corner and through every crack making even the base a cold place to be but on a bad day the wind keened like a thousand tortured souls causing even the most hardened of the crew to shiver and murmur half-remembered prayers to some god or spirit of their homeworld. N'veris only smiled. She found it comforting she once said. Currently the crew worked to refit the stolen Cruiser Captain N'veris recently obtained. Reg, a Besilisk and her second, pushed the men hard though never too hard. Most respected him for that. In so many ways he was the 'human' face of the Captain. She outright scared the men. She knew way too much, could do things any of them would have thought only a Jedi could do and seemed willing to push the risks beyond any reason of acceptability. None could deny her successes but such a meteoric rise almost always meant an equally spectacular fall. None wanted to be around for that one. For a week the crew had been hard at the refit, changing out the short range lasers for the long shot quads, beefing up the shield generators and letting Quixx, the verpine engineer, tweak the main ion cannons. When Quixx tweaked something, it was a serious bump in effectiveness. As usual the Captain did her best by staying out of people's way. Her skills while formidable did not include ships beyond flying them. Abruptly one afternoon however she emerged from her rooms with a purposeful stride.~

"I'm headed out Reg, Something I need to take care of on Ord Mantell. I'll be back in a week. Have the ship done." That was all she said. Reg gave her his salute and watched her walk up the ramp to that lethal ship she had made for her, she called it strangely enough The Snake. It soon lifted off and men cursed as the main blast doors opened to allow it to exit. The keening wind tore at them all as the Snake vanished into the dead grey sky.

[Triune]

~By the time Ord Mantell came up on the Navcom the ship and its pilot had made some changes. The Snake. a lethal low-slung ship now had a transponder which declared it to be the Sparrowhawk, A light freighter who's name had appeared on more then one Republic smuggler watch-list. Transformed too was N'veris, her long black hair and cold visage gone and in their place the red locks and youthful if 'feisty' image of Victoria 'Vic' Rejellor, a Port rat and smuggler. While N'veris might indeed draw unwanted attention 'Vic' wouldn't even raise an eyebrow. What was one more smuggler?~

"This is the Sparrowhawk requesting landing clearance." Came the softer, more youthful voice over the Comm.

"We read you Sparrowhawk, Land in bay seventeen. Welcome back Vic, thought you got lost out there." Replied the tower. A smile crossed N'veris' false face before she replied.

"Affirmative Tower, Bay Seventeen. They ain't made space big enough that I couldn't find my way back to Mantell, Bixx you know that. Buy me a round at the Cantina when you get off shift and I'll tell you what the other side of the galaxy looks like. Sparrowhawk out."

"You got yourself a date, Vic. See you at shift change. You're clear to land."

~N'veris chuckled to herself, so easy they were to fool, the right words in the right voice and they'd do anything for you. Ord Mantell made for a perfect hidden base for her, allowing her to plumb different sources of information and allowed her to set plans into motion without any chance of them coming back to her. One did not weave a web without solid anchoring points afterall. Even as she brought her ship in for a landing she went over her plans carefully, no slip ups this early in the game. It would be bad form.~

[Triune]

~The early part of N'veris' evening was spent shoring up 'Vic's' friends. To all that might have watched the ever-changing group of people around the charismatic red-head would have noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Port rats and spacers all sharing a moment of peace before having to ship out again. What they didn't see, what they couldn't see was N'veris crawling through their minds one at a time like a vole finding the memories implanted long ago and enlivening them, renewing them if you will. These people, old hands and staples of Ord Mantell, thought Vic as one of them which was as N'veris desired. Pawns were so much easier to control when they thought themselves allies. As the night crawled on 'Vic' eventually excused herself from her 'friends'. She walked along the narrow alleys of the city finding an all-but invisible warehouse and hangar. This was for the real smugglers, those with large prices on their heads. She rapped her knuckles on the door twice and after a moment it opened. Slipping inside the cocky almost defiant strut that fit Vic so well vanished to be replaced by the sensual commanding stride of N'veris. The people here were all aware of her dual identity and were quick to defer to her. A one-eyed Zabrak male approached her and bowed his head.~

"All is in readiness, Master." He intoned with deep abiding reverence.

"Excellent, Kristos. You have finished many weeks a head of schedule, this pleases me greatly." She patted him on the shoulder stepping past him "Now show me the Weapon." Kristos turned and walked beside her. a place of honor to be sure. He lead her to a part of this warehouse that resembled a lab. Beyond a window there were cages of large rats milling around.

"There they are Master, The Vermin of Corruption. Their bite brings disease and death just as you desired leaving the corpses tainted and the survivors weakened. It has taken five years of clandestine bio-engineering but it is a success." His pride in his work was obvious to any. She nodded for a moment, considering before looking at him.

"And their effect on Force users?" This was the telling point, making rats carriers of custom diseases was one thing but tailoring the disease to have greater effects on Force Users was another thing entirely. The Zabrak grinned.

"The effect is two-fold. Firstly it amplifies their senses making it more and more difficult for them to shut out the thoughts of those around them and secondly it prevents them from entering REM sleep, thus they can gain no true rest... Between the two effects it drove our test subjects mad in three to five days." The Zabrak scientist almost bounced with glee as he spoke. This was the very reason he was wanted across most of known space, his wanton amorality and unethical practices... plus the fact he murdered nearly three hundred people in the name of science on his home world of Iridonia. N'veris smiled

"You have done well Kristos. Your former colleagues in the scientific community will regret the day they laughed at your theories. See the little darlings are put into stasis tubs then into the proper crates...." She turned to look at the milling rats , a malevolent gleam in her eye. "They have a date with destiny on Alderaan." The Zabrak nodded and began to order his men to their task.

[Triune]

~Within the hidden warehouse/hangar work went unabated through the night and well into the next day. Rats were put into stasis tubs then boxed up for the trip to Alderaan. The crates were then loaded into the hold of a Heavy freighter, one with a clean record. The Ghtroc Bulk Freighter was as common as thruster exhaust around busy port worlds like Alderaan and one more wouldn't raise an eyebrow. It's transponder would indicate it was from Essles carrying Prozeline Ore, just one of the many alloys that went into making Durasteel and the Alderaan Engineering Corps used megatons of the stuff daily. This freighter however had differences like the cockpit was in fact a detachable Zh-88 star-fighter. Though light in armament the Zh's made up for it with speed and maneuverability. Oh Alderaan wouldn't know what hit it.~

*N'veris did not remain idle during this loading period. No indeed. Refraining from her usual practices did bring on frustration and that always distracted her. For now she needed all her attention on the matters at hand thusly all this past night she slept Deep beneath the hangar undisguised. The layers of rock would keep a passing Jedi from sensing her. It was a heavenly night for her curled up in that large pile of silks. When day came she lingered as long as she dared before slithering out of the nest to don another alias. Joara Honew, the real one anyway had been a promising young padawan being mentored by Jedi Master Kael Caivera but the girl proved to be too wild and washed out. Since then she'd been a 'bad girl' getting into problems across the core worlds. N'veris was about to add to her reputation. The cocky smirk riding under the pair of sunglasses, the Alderaan guardsman style breastplate, (She washed out of their training program too) a pair of blaster pistols and a lightsaber made the ensemble complete. Some of the crew were shaken by the appearance of what seemed to be a stranger but Kristos calmed them.*

"Got the ship ready Kristos?" N'veris asked, looking up at the Zabrak. He nodded to her, unphased by her change in appearance.

"Yes Master. Everything is as you desired. One of your agents is now the lone operator in the launch facility and no one will record your departure. All is in readiness." He bowed to her. She smiled and patted his shoulder.

"Excellent my young pupil, Soon the Republic will tremble in fear and strike at shadows like a maddened beast. They will know what it is to wriggle on the end of my thresherhook." She walked past him and headed for the ship's ramp. She had a destiny to keep.

[Triune]

~The better part of a week passed as the bulk freighter slowly made its way through hyperspace towards Alderaan. During the trip N'veris spent time focusing on her new alias, to appear as someone else was not difficult but to fool the nosy Jedi, that was another thing entirely, it mean subsuming much of her aura, folding it away within the shell of her Joara alias. For those days she ate, slept, walked and talked as Joara. She had to be ready just incase jedi were around. The days passed and soon the nav-com beeped alerting her of the arrival in Alderaan. Coming out of Hyperspace she immediately contacted the port control~

"This is the Midnight Mallard, Freighter from Esseles requesting permission to land, Over." The tower soon responded on the same channel

"Roger, Mallard You are seventh in the landing pattern, change course to point oh seven seven and await instructions."

"Affirmative, Alderaan... Changing to course oh seven seven and awaiting instructions, Mallard Out." She brought the ship around to the proper heading and leaned back in the pilot's chair. The smirk on her face widened into a knowing grin. Soon her plague rats would infest Alderaan... Soon stage one of her plan would be complete.

[Triune]

~As the minutes clicked by and the freighter grew closer and closer to landing, N'veris made ready for the dispersal. She shut down the stasis units and opened the containers. The few maintenance droids aided her in this but the task did not take long. She walked back up to the cockpit and only after the droids joined her did she seal the airlock. The atmosphere of Alderaan howled past the cockpit window as she settled down into the pilot seat picking up the headset to hear the port control yelling from it.~

"Damnit Mallard You are out of your flight path! Return to descent vector immediately or I'll report this and you'll get your flight certification revoked!! Respond!" This brought a smile to her lips.

"Our load's shifted when we hit the atmosphere, Control We've been trying to get everything balanced out back there. Do you read me?"

"Don't give me that crap! You're coming in smooth as glass I'm reporting you!" N'veris hid her chuckle as she spoke to the agitated controller.

"Go ahead and report me you anal little turd!" She growled with anger she did not truly feel. "This was beginning to suck anyway!" She shut off the comm and fired the retros to slow the vessel down. She could hear the chittering of the rats, anxious to find something to eat. Grinning she pulled back on the yoke bringing the nose of the ship up as the aft touched down sending sparks along the far northern edge of the landing area. Just as she planned the large bulk carrier skidded through the barrier easily and the ship finally landed in the maintenance area of the starport. As the big ship slammed into the ground she hit the release vents, firing off gasses to hide the rats as they all but bled from the vents. She laughed and disengaged the small cockpit and put full burn on the hidden fighter's thrusters. The cylindrical ship shot free of the husk of a freighter and past the surprised port cruisers that were there to take the ship into custody. She laughed as the souped up engines of her fighter carried her up into the sky. Even as the last of the rats vacated the ship the charges within the husk detonated, making for a moderate explosion though nothing as devastating as it could be. The goal of those explosives were to destroy any evidence that remained inside the vessel. It also drew the attention of the cruisers for another crucial few minutes letting N'veris put important distance between her and the would-be pursuers. She picked up the comm, keying it to the open channel.

"Now I stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth."

*After her prophetic statement she focused her efforts on escape.*

[Triune]

~The sleek cylindrical starfighter raced out into space. The alert to capture it came far too late to catch it in the thick air of the atmosphere. Once free the true maneuverability of the ship could be seen. Within the vessel N'veris laughed as she avoided the haphazard cannon fire from the dwindling pursuit as they struggled to reach space. The nav com worked to come up with a jump solution even as the droids returned fire from the aft cannon. Her escape just like her attack was well planned and left little risk of capture, this her pursuers learned as her ship rocketed into hyperspace.~

*Plague... The very word was enough to cause panic but would they figure out her true goal for infecting the world? Unlikely, they were only human afterall.*

"..... The more Cunning the Rat."