Moemoea Kaiwhai

[Kopaka]

Deliah McCommon slowly made her way down the hall, already dreading talking to the Prime who had claimed briefing room 6B as his personal office. The young cadet's heels clicked softly on the matte surface of Precinct One's upper floors, and the bright lights shined smartly off of the polished brass of her rank pads and blazer buttons. Kopaka had just returned from a scouting mission in the Nexus a few hours ago. She had seen the clunking droid stomp straight up to Brath's office, still covered in blood and snow. The Toa had asked not to be disturbed after debriefing with the Lieutenant, but a matter had come up that required his direct attention.

Steeling herself, Cadet McCommon took a sharp breath and tapped lightly on the pressurized door. A moment passed before it whooshed open, letting a startling gale of snow and ice out into the already chilly and sterile hallway. The lights in the room were off, and the Cadet could only make out vague suggestions of shapes. Then she heard his voice, cold and crackling, echoing softly from within.

"Speak."

Deliah took another small breath, and tried not to shiver.

"Ahem, yes. Sorry to disturb you, Kopaka. I was told to inform you that there was someone waiting for you in the lobby-

"Send them away, then." the dark room buzzed. Deliah tried to maintain a pleasant tone in response.

"Ah but, sir, it's someone here in response to your ad for assistance in apprehending EPD targets."

There was a long pause.

"Fetch them."

With that, the door to the biomech's room slammed shut. It blasted a final puff of glittering ice in the Cadet's face as she turned on her heel and trotted off to the precinct lobby. By the time she returned to the receiving area, the other Prime had set up camp on the solitary, black-leather couch. Head phones on, legs propped up and with a face full of a datavice, Dawnika Snow didn't even glance at the squirrely woman who was approaching.

Out of a mixture of fear and begrudging respect for Kopaka, the EPD guards had allowed Miss Snow to keep her high-power firearms, and a large rifle was cradled along the lounging girl's frame like a beloved pet. Deliah shook her head slightly.

Primes.

"Ehem. Excuse me Miss Snow."

There was a long pause before Dawn replied, failing to change posture or even remove her headphones.

"Mm?"

Deliah chose to interpret this as an acknowledgement and not what might be interpreted as a suppressed burp.

"Kopaka will see you now. I'll show you to his uh...chambers." Cadet McCommon chirped, gesturing towards the elevator.

"...Mm."

Dawn abruptly stood up and grabbed the rifle along its rack before following the Cadet to the lift. It was a quiet elevator ride, or rather, would have if Deliah had not been forced to listen to the souns blaring from behind Dawn's headphones. After another minute or so, the pair was standing outside of briefing that Kopaka had taken residence.

"Good luck!" Deliah whispered as she hustled away. Dawnika got the feeling this wasn't just about bounty hunting...

[Dawnika Snow]

The vigilante watched as her lead showed herself away as quickly as possible. She seemed rushed, or even somewhat skittish, about something. She wondered if the loaded arsenal that decorated her body did the trick, or was this ‘Kopaka’ more than she had anticipated? In either case, she could feel the cold radiating off the metal, pressurized door from where she stood. She clicked the headphones onto silent and moved closer to the door. This should be interesting.

She took a moment to summon a cloak that would cover most of her body, still leaving the sniper and assault rifle viewable but everything else hidden. The cloak did not cover her head, but her hair already had much of that covered. After fully summoning the cloak, Dawn raised hand and pounded on the door, once, twice. The door sped open, flashing the assassins bare skin with a cold wind.

The room was dark, as before, but it didn’t seem to bother the raven-haired girl who walked right in to what could be her impending doom. The door whirred to a shut and the only thing that could be heard in the next three seconds were soft foot falls from female boots and a short sound of a seat being scuffed as someone sat in it. There was silence for some time before the girl’s voice finally came through the blackness between them.

“I’m no stranger to the darkness, Kopaka. I welcome it as my shield.” She said in a tone filled with bravado. “But, I didn’t come here to make empty statements. I’m rather curious as to why one prime wants to annihilate the bounty board on this side of the Omniverse. Reasons aren’t meaning to me, I’ll shoot at whatever you want as long as I’m getting the payment, but you motives are still an enigma to me. Even after hours of thinking on it, I’m oblivious. What can you tell me?”

Kopaka hears the seat adjust, as if Dawn was getting more comfortable in the chair.

“And, please don’t waste my time.”

[Kopaka]

There was silence for a moment more, and then a sudden wash of light bloomed from the far side of the room. The sickly pus-light of the Toa's dark eyes shone forth, casting the threadbare interior of his office into sharp relief. Honestly he didn't care if the female thought the darkness was meant to be imposing or not; he was done trying to make facile considerations for weak-hearted guttersnipes. Kopaka dismissed her bravado with a lack of response, and elected to start his own conversation instead.

"The only reason you are here, Dawninka Snow, is because you have a proven record of being able to track, fight, and vanquish a majority of the Primes you encounter. I am more than happy to make our time together productive, provided you extend me the same courtesy and squelch your curiosity about motives and other irrelevant aspects. You came for money and you shall have it." Kopaka droned in his frosty, buzzing voice. Though he heard the human inhale in an attempt to respond, the EPD enforcer cut her off by holding out a holocomm device. A small button click produced a rotating image of several Primes on the EPD bounty board. Dawnika was familiar with them; she had done her homework on the way here. The hologram finally cycled through to a close-up on the face of the Prime known as Luci.

"I elect that we pursue this quarry first. She is still within Empire territory and therefore takes priority over other targets. EPD will support us wherever possible, but we can expect less help as we descend through the tiers. If you are prepared, I suggest we depart immediately and get a sense for our hunting grounds." Kopaka finished, leaving the buzzing holocomm on a side table. His unblinking eyes stared at the female's face intently, assessing her every twitch...

[Dawnika Snow]

The raven-haired assassin grinned behind the thick black curtain that covered the top half of her face. The thought that her name was not only respected, but possibly feared, was the best feeling she could have at this point in her career. She felt like Grim Reaper was a suiting title, yet those were just names.

On the matter of Kopaka’s unwillingness to provide a reason for such carnage he wished to pursue, Dawn just shrugged.

“Your reasons are your own, I guess.” She states looking at the hologram as it appeared before her. “Ah, Luci. I’m familiar with her, but I had not the privilege to hunt her. My, let us say, higher-up accepted that job, but from what I hear he struck a deal with her and he got some OM to work for her or something. However, my affairs are completely unconnected to his and since I won’t interfere with his hunts, I am allowed to kill her mercilessly.”

Dawn sat back in her chair and crossed her leg with her other one, trying to get more comfortable in the cheap chair provided to her.

“I only have a few questions:” She held up her fingers with corresponding numbers. “One, what information do you have on the mark so far; two, how soon can we start. I’m ready when you are. Three, what are your rules. I need to not what I’m allowed to do and what I’m not. Do you want her alive or dead? Can other die if they get in my way, or is that taboo? Those kinds of things. Four, let’s get something to eat. I’m never hungry, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting a sandwich and a drink every so often.”

[Kopaka]

Kopaka listened to his partner patiently, now that she had forgone any pursuit of prying into the biomech's motives. Though he preferred to work alone, and had a deep hatred of anyone other than him, he would never fail to contribute to a team he was part of. Call it intuition or instincts, but it was the way of the Toa to cooperate and plan with others.

"Aside from the pertinent data listed in her bounty profile, we know that she has been trying to coordinate gang efforts on Tier Five with moderate success. Her recent idea to target EPD officials demonstrates a burgeoning overconfidence, which I believe could be used against Luci. If we follow the trails of her subordinates, it is likely they will unwittingly lead us to their mistress. Details are unknown at this time, but I can look into recent news items while you partake in nutritional exercises. I have no need of such...maintenance." Kopaka droned, rolling his hand around dismissively. That wasn't entirely true, but for the time being, he would endeavor to keep the exact workings of his unique biological structure to himself.

"Starting immediately was my plan as well. We can leave for Tier Five once you have feasted. On the upper tiers, you will obviously be required to obey Imperial Law, but on Tier Five, I don't anticipate being under the kind of scrutiny that would warrant such diligence. Killing anyone necessary will be perfectly acceptable, short of causing more problems than those we're trying to quell. Luci needs to be killed outright; it's the only way to ensure she is removed from the City." Kopaka said as he abruptly rose to his feet. A shower of glimmering snow whirled around his cloak as he trudged towards the hissing, sliding door. The lights in the room came on briefly as the bionicle stood towering in the doorway.

"All business then. All right; whatever gets my guns shooting the fastest." Dawn said, rising in kind and walking lightly out into the hallway. In spite of his gloomy demeanor, Kopaka was excited. He hadn't been able to work alongside such a dedicated killer in a very long time. It would be refreshing to work on a team with such an utter professional.

"Your lunch can be applied to my own EPD dispensation, so eat wherever you like, as long as we do not linger. I will be looking into active leads in the meantime..."

And with that, Dawnika and the Toa, walked out the front door of the precinct, piled into an Imperial government shuttle, and flew off into the Tier 1 entertainment district...

[Kopaka]

As Dawnika exited the Joonelerie Diner with a satisfied smirk. The bizarre fusion style restaurant had piqued her interest when she had spied the advertisement of ‘eat what you kill’ on the establishment’s dataverse page. Indeed, the diner featured a discount price if customers were willing to enter single-combat with their lunch for the entertainment of other patrons. Being that she was eating on Kopaka’s dime, it wasn’t really necessary, but how could she have passed up the opportunity to show off her combat prowess against a giant octopus? Besides, the sushi had been delightful.

As the merc was pondering the sort of licenses Joonelerie needed to operate on Tier-1, she felt a cold breeze and knew that her hunting partner was near. Kopaka stalked up to her, datavice in hand, and showed Dawn a picture of a half-human Twi’lek girl designated as Chi-Owo.

“Who’s this?” Dawn asked, sipping down the remainder of a water bottle. The pictured female was skinny and haunted looking, and had apparently been employed at some sort of research facility on Coruscant’s niche pharmaceutical circuit. Being that they were headed for the city’s armpit, Dawn could already see where this was going.

“Lemme guess. Tail-head sampled some of the product a few too many times and got kicked down four Tiers.” Dawn snorted, passing the datavice back to her stalwart companion. Kopaka tucked the screen into his robes silently and gazed out at the buzzing aerial traffic patterns beyond the ledge they currently occupied.

“A near-enough guess. More importantly, she has been found to be working in one of the gangs pledged to Luci’s coalition.” Kopaka started. Dawn cut him off.

“I had always thought the EPD tries to keep out of Five. Let the rabble do their thing.” she mused. Kopaka nodded slowly.

“In so many words. But that does not mean we let them go unmonitored. It is tedious business, especially considering the gangs’ interference, but we do maintain a passable intelligence operation on the more noisome factions.” Kopaka droned. The mercenary woman nodded and let the Toa continue.

“The Twi’lek girl has not been part of Westside for very long. Reports indicate that Luci’s army of ingrates has an almost hypnotic loyalty to her. Owo will be easy to track, and may lead to other members more closely linked to Luci.” The biomech said, keeping his gaze turned outwards. Dawn moved up to lean against the banister of the sky-high balcony, the gleaming natural sunlight pouring warmth onto her pale skin. She mulled over the information, and decided she needed to know more.

“What about cons? Can we use any Westsiders currently in custody as resources?” Dawn asked, fiddling around with her empty water bottle. Kopaka smiled internally; this human female certainly knew how to pool potential resources.

“We do have a few prominent Westsiders in EPD facilities. Koloth of the Mighty Klingons and Shadowkill of the Deathblades…” the biomech said slowly, pausing to give Dawn a moment to snort derisively at the latter name.

“Koloth’s gang was a Westside affiliate, but the klingon himself had few direct dealings with Luci. He described pursuing Luci as ‘attempting to hit a moving target concealed behind a forest’. A boast, perhaps, but the bottom line is that he can do very little in providing active targeting data.”

“And the Deathblade runt?” Dawn followed up, beginning to absorb the omnilium out of the empty bottle. Waste not, want not.

“Much the same, though we did learn that he was the one who requested Luci apply bounties on EPD officials after his younger sister was killed in a raid on the Hutts…” Kopaka stated flatly.

“Stupid kids…” Dawnika breathed softly, crushing the half-evaporated plastic in her hands. The Toa could detect a hint of anger in her tone, potentially borne out of the cruel reality presented here. It was fairly straightforward to Dawnika Snow: Luci was perfectly happy to play the shadow puppet master while putting anyone and everyone in front of her, abusing their gang loyalties. Even kids, if it suited her. This alone may have been motivation enough to track the bitch down and tear her apart with high caliber rifle fire, but the fact she was being paid to do so made it even better.

“Alright, so what’s the play here? This is your turf.” the huntress snapped, tossing the remaining scraps over the ledge. Normally Kopaka would have been furious at these kinds of litterbug tendencies, but Coruscant was about as far as the Toa could get from a natural environment. There was no use in someone throwing a speck of refuse on what he already considered a trash heap.

“The first step is to install ourselves in Tier Five without attracting too much attention. To that end, it would be better if you handled most of the face to face interactions while I support from a distance. We’ll travel down by public air-tram, with me riding in the freight car. ” Kopaka said. He could sense Dawn’s body tense up slightly, and he couldn’t blame her. Neither of them were what might have been considered ‘social’ creatures, but for the sake of a solid kill, the bounty huntress would be willing to suck it up.

“Fair enough...and then?” she murmured.

“We’ll have to try multiple approaches at once. Five’s gangs are savvy; they will mark you as an outsider very quickly, but if you are able to ingratiate yourself with a few of their front-liners, that might be a good first step. Meanwhile, I can try to track down Chi-Owo and see if I can encourage some more...direct feedback from her.” the biomech said with a barely registered note of glee. Dawn smirked to herself; she had no pity for any of these lowlifes.

“Alright, it’s a start. Who else is in play here? Neutral parties? Enemies we might be able to get help from?” the human asked, thumbing the optics on her rifle absentmindedly. A particularly large trash-hauler blew past them on their perch, causing the Toa’s cloak and Dawn’s hair to flutter wildly for a second. The both seemed to take it as a non-verbal queue to begin moving to the nearest public tram station. Kopaka’s loud, metallic footfalls mirrored the small clapping bootsteps of Dawn in perfect rhythm. It was a sunny, bright day up on Tier One. Dawn wondered if such would be the case in just a few short minutes from now, when they would be beneath the artificial sky of Five.

“A few. The only two the EPD considers notable are the Gentleman Jacks and the Orc Mafia. The Jacks are a relatively new gang run by the Prime the EPD has identified as Victor Hendy, though we believe this to be a pseudonym. We also have reason to believe they were approached by Luci to join Westside, but are deliberating on the matter.” Kopaka said, speaking softly.

“Hendy? From Dante’s Abyss?” Dawn asked, perking up.

“The same.”

“Hm. Well the Jacks sound like they may as well already be in Westside’s pocket. At the very least they won’t want to make waves. What about the Orks?” the mercenary asked, glancing up at her frigid teammate. Kopaka went silent for approximately a minute, turning the possibilities over in his mind.

“I would not think so. The Orks would love to see Luci dead, but sources indicate that they’re making renewed efforts to take over Tier Five. Westside’s member factions have been able to keep them at bay in the past, and it is a balance the EPD is interested in maintaining. Giving the Orks freedom to dominate and grow in power would be just as foul as letting Luci run amok.” Kopaka murmured. Normally the Toa would have been forced to speak much more loudly, but Dawn had consistently proven that her physical senses were far above normal median levels for humans. The heavily armed young lady nodded thoughtfully.

“Right. So let the Orks and Westside exhaust each other. Eliminate Luci to prevent any consistent power shift. I gotcha.” Dawn said as the pair waited at the brightly lit tram stop. It was a large aluminum and transparisteel structure with flickering holo-ads and ONN playing over the loudspeakers. The air became even more cool than usual as Dawn and Kopaka walked into the shadow of one of the top tier’s mega skyscrapers, giving the entire area a shaded navy tint. A few rows of mulched planters hosted a wide range of leafy plants that whispered softly in the consistent winds of the open cityscape.

A few other Tier One residents were milling around, and now stared at the odd couple who walked under the awning. Despite the constant thrum of air traffic and buzzing electronics, things became very quiet for the next fifteen minutes until the immense flying bus pulled to a stop at the platform. Dawn took the EPD pass that Kopaka handed to her and discussed the arrangements with the driver, who obligingly opened the cargo doors at the back of the long transport ship. Two more minutes passed as everyone boarded and the tram was on its way down into the darkest reaches of the endless city...

[Kopaka]

Approximately 25 minutes later, somewhere on the back streets of Tier 2, the hover tram came to an abrupt stop. It wasn't at a planned transit station, so Dawnika was immediately on guard. She thumbed the trigger of her rifle slightly, but jumped when a loud buzz came from her headphones. Kopaka was sending her a message.

Exit the tram

The wary teenage gunwoman stood up swiftly, gathered her things, and silently trotted out into the metallic roadway. The entire urban cityscape was soaked in a fiery orange glow from the artificial sunset. Kopaka stormed out of the cargo bay a moment later, and a cloud of glittering haze followed him. It was impossible to discern any real emotions from behind the corroded Kanohi, but the human could tell Kopaka was pissed.

"Situation?" she murmured, moving to the sidewalk. Kopaka did not respond immediately, opting to tap their coordinates into his EPD datavice for pickup.

"Word from command. We are not to pursue Luci at this time." the Toa said flatly. Now it was Dawnika's turn for a stunned silence. She found her words, eventually.

"What the hell...are you serious? Don't tell me you didn't clear this before running off to kill this bitch." Dawnika snapped, shouldering her rifle and sitting down on the curb in a huff. Kopaka glanced down at the sulking mercenary.

"The situation has become complicated in the past few hours. Luci is leading an active war against the orc mafia. EPD wants Westside to win that fight. We are not to interfere." Kopaka said, maintaining his flat tone. Dawnika opened her mouth to respond, but the biomech cut her off.

"You will be compensated for your time thus far. Until we can acquire a different target, however, we should return to the Nexus to maximize our striking range." the EPD agent huffed, remaining standing. His timer indicated that it would be another ten minutes before the AI driven EPD transport arrived. Normal people would have considered the time that passed to be an awkward silence, but Kopaka welcomed it. So did Dawn for that matter. They both were aware that the other was disappointed that their prey had been snatched out from under them. They didn't need to dwell on it.

Twelve minutes later, the sleek, armored EPD drop shuttle was entering Tier 1 airspace, and the hunters were reviewing their options.

"What about Doomguy? He's a big fish; shouldn't be hard to find where he's splashing." Dawnika said. Kopaka could almost see her salivating over the offered OM bounty. He was a tempting target for the Toa as well; a big name to elevate Kopaka's status quickly. Still, it didn't overcome the inherent problem.

"Doomguy is the most elusive out of all these assembled targets. I may be able to get in contact with some of my fellow EPD Primes, however. They might be wary of good prey." Kopaka said, glancing out the plexisteel window as the shuttle approached the landing platforms near the Gate Plaza.

The brushed metal wings folded upwards as jets of mist blasted down towards the landing zone. Heavy landing struts deployed from the fuselage, and the boarding ramp hadn't even fully lowered before Kopaka and Dawn Snow hopped out into the deepening twilight. Despite the fact she was working for a bunch of bureaucratic stiffs, the human had to admit that she could get used to this kind of cushy treatment.

In mutually respected silence, the EPD agent and his subcontractor marched passed the security queue and out into the blinding brilliance of the Nexus...

Dawnika Snow and Kopaka have entered the Nexus