Post by Vex on Oct 18, 2008 13:48:10 GMT -5
(I know it's long, sorry. Hope it's at least an enjoyable read and makes sense. Just FYI, this is all taking place during the times between Vex's other play and is just prior to my last post in "Rot of the Brain".)
As big as the galaxy was, it really was far smaller than people believed. It all depended on your frame of reference. With the Force as his ally and the Holonet spanning a multitude of stars, it was only a matter of time before Vex found what he desired. The slicer was good...able to manipulate the 'Net the way a Jedi could manipulate the Force.
The slicer's sniffer programs, Net bots, and HNN filters combined with a heavy data-correlation algorithm, mining information and piecing it together piece by piece to make a larger picture. With it, Vex was beginning to formulate a plan.
Even though he'd been personally working to cultivate Major Borgonia of the Republic military, he had learned to never put all of his hopes on one plan. He needed someone else as well...someone very influential, but susceptible to the proper persuasion. That was when his attention had been drawn to the new senator of Naboo, Avirod Sarala.
From all that he had gleaned, the young man had made quite an impression, taking over for two terms as the King of Naboo. Under his rule, the planet had prospered, garnering him many admirers. When he'd been chosen for a senatorial office, he had brought much of that influence with him and somehow managed to expand it. First with the Alderaanians (the man certainly knew which spheres of influence to fall into) and then with the Interspecies Advisory Committee. The multitudes of the masses loved one of the "elite" lowering himself to the commoner's level. Whether he was consciously doing this or not, the young Senator was quickly making himself into a political nexus.
This was why he would be a singularly perfect target. That sort of influence could be used....properly applied, he could even force the Temple to give up the secrets that Vex had longed for: the secret to becoming whole again. All Vex needed was some time, face to face, with the man without interruptions.
So, his next target was to be the perfect kidnappers. They were a bit harder to find, however. After all, if you lived in the Galaxy's underworld and had your information all over the Net, chances were you didn't last in the underworld very long. It had been proving to be quite a hassle, until Vex came up with an idea.
The Sith were known to deal with pirates now and again when it served their purposes. This was especially true when they wanted a certain level of deniability. On Manaan, Vex had all the opportunities he needed to get a hold of Sith secrets. A few of the mind-raped bodies he'd left in the alleys had belonged to moderate-level officers...officers that had enough clearance to merit passwords and decryptions overrides that Vex's pet slicer could use to break into some of the Sith communiqués. Most, Vex had no interest in, quite honestly...but one source had proven very interesting.
There were communiqués between a Gungan Sith Admiral and a civilian vessel. It wasn't hard to learn that the transponder IDs for the vessel were not accurate, leading Vex to assume that the ship wasn't a simple pleasure yacht the good admiral wished to take some R & R on. Vex had the next searches concentrate on that ship.
His roundabout searches eventually led him to an attack on an unallied gas mining platform. Checks on the routine hyperspace jump logs from all the sectors with jump lanes out of the station's area found, unsurprisingly, the faked transponder as a registered.
Using the contacts that he had, Vex was able to get it on fairly good authority that the ship was a pirate vessel by the name of Vengeance. He recorded a message and had the slicer set it up so that they would receive the next time they left hyperspace.
When opened, a hologram of the pale skinned, cloaked figure would appear, arms folded in front of him.
"Vengeance...I have been told by a mutual acquaintance that you are capable and reliable. At least as far as pirates go. I have a task for you and am willing to negotiate lucrative terms for its completion. I will contact you exactly twelve standard hours from the moment you receive this message. If you are interested, we will discuss the tasks and payment then."
After the slicer had finished his job, Vex thanked him with a single word, "Gizka." From half the galaxy away, the word tripped a carefully planted mental compulsion, something so insidiously subtle and vile it had taken Vex the better part of a standard month to properly emplace. From his 321st level balcony, the slicer climbed up, over the railing, and jumped off.
He landed down in the slums thousands of feet below, his body practically liquefying against the scarred permacrete from the force.
Now all Vex had to do was wait for the signal identifying that the message had been received. In the mean time, he had other things to attend to on Manaan....troubling things.
As big as the galaxy was, it really was far smaller than people believed. It all depended on your frame of reference. With the Force as his ally and the Holonet spanning a multitude of stars, it was only a matter of time before Vex found what he desired. The slicer was good...able to manipulate the 'Net the way a Jedi could manipulate the Force.
The slicer's sniffer programs, Net bots, and HNN filters combined with a heavy data-correlation algorithm, mining information and piecing it together piece by piece to make a larger picture. With it, Vex was beginning to formulate a plan.
Even though he'd been personally working to cultivate Major Borgonia of the Republic military, he had learned to never put all of his hopes on one plan. He needed someone else as well...someone very influential, but susceptible to the proper persuasion. That was when his attention had been drawn to the new senator of Naboo, Avirod Sarala.
From all that he had gleaned, the young man had made quite an impression, taking over for two terms as the King of Naboo. Under his rule, the planet had prospered, garnering him many admirers. When he'd been chosen for a senatorial office, he had brought much of that influence with him and somehow managed to expand it. First with the Alderaanians (the man certainly knew which spheres of influence to fall into) and then with the Interspecies Advisory Committee. The multitudes of the masses loved one of the "elite" lowering himself to the commoner's level. Whether he was consciously doing this or not, the young Senator was quickly making himself into a political nexus.
This was why he would be a singularly perfect target. That sort of influence could be used....properly applied, he could even force the Temple to give up the secrets that Vex had longed for: the secret to becoming whole again. All Vex needed was some time, face to face, with the man without interruptions.
So, his next target was to be the perfect kidnappers. They were a bit harder to find, however. After all, if you lived in the Galaxy's underworld and had your information all over the Net, chances were you didn't last in the underworld very long. It had been proving to be quite a hassle, until Vex came up with an idea.
The Sith were known to deal with pirates now and again when it served their purposes. This was especially true when they wanted a certain level of deniability. On Manaan, Vex had all the opportunities he needed to get a hold of Sith secrets. A few of the mind-raped bodies he'd left in the alleys had belonged to moderate-level officers...officers that had enough clearance to merit passwords and decryptions overrides that Vex's pet slicer could use to break into some of the Sith communiqués. Most, Vex had no interest in, quite honestly...but one source had proven very interesting.
There were communiqués between a Gungan Sith Admiral and a civilian vessel. It wasn't hard to learn that the transponder IDs for the vessel were not accurate, leading Vex to assume that the ship wasn't a simple pleasure yacht the good admiral wished to take some R & R on. Vex had the next searches concentrate on that ship.
His roundabout searches eventually led him to an attack on an unallied gas mining platform. Checks on the routine hyperspace jump logs from all the sectors with jump lanes out of the station's area found, unsurprisingly, the faked transponder as a registered.
Using the contacts that he had, Vex was able to get it on fairly good authority that the ship was a pirate vessel by the name of Vengeance. He recorded a message and had the slicer set it up so that they would receive the next time they left hyperspace.
When opened, a hologram of the pale skinned, cloaked figure would appear, arms folded in front of him.
"Vengeance...I have been told by a mutual acquaintance that you are capable and reliable. At least as far as pirates go. I have a task for you and am willing to negotiate lucrative terms for its completion. I will contact you exactly twelve standard hours from the moment you receive this message. If you are interested, we will discuss the tasks and payment then."
After the slicer had finished his job, Vex thanked him with a single word, "Gizka." From half the galaxy away, the word tripped a carefully planted mental compulsion, something so insidiously subtle and vile it had taken Vex the better part of a standard month to properly emplace. From his 321st level balcony, the slicer climbed up, over the railing, and jumped off.
He landed down in the slums thousands of feet below, his body practically liquefying against the scarred permacrete from the force.
Now all Vex had to do was wait for the signal identifying that the message had been received. In the mean time, he had other things to attend to on Manaan....troubling things.
