Contract 027: Celevon Edraven

Contract Bureau Offices
Arcona Citadel, Selen

"Ah, brother, come in, come in!" Talos Erinos said as the mag-sealed doors to the Contract Bureau's office suite "whooshed" open and admitted the figure of Celevon Edraven. Clad in his Dar'Verd Combat Environmental Suit (DV-CES), sans helmet, Edraven looked every bit the part of the cold-hearted killer that Talos knew he was.

"Aedile" Celevon replied, bowing from the waist.

Talos chuckled and leaned back in his chair, propping his feet up on the desk: "Not here, my friend. The office is a lot bigger"

Celevon let a ghost of a smile cross his features before his visage hardened again and he got down to business.

"You know why I'm here, I'm sure?"

"Straight to business...typical of an apprentice of Sashar's, especially when Soulfire's honor is in danger" the co-Commissioner thought ruefully.

On the exterior however, the Erinos indulged his bloodd-brother's directness;

"I do...and I have just the thing for you" he said and with a quick tug on the Force, summoned a holo-file to his outstretched hand and passed it to the waiting Soulfire sniper. "Take a look"

:: Contract 027 ::
Assassination
~~~
*Name (L, F): Bregan Dedguro
*Race: Twi'lek (Rutian stock)
*Gender: M
*Age: 31
*Characteristics/Advantages:
-Physically strong
-Expert hand-to-hand combatant (Teras Kasi master/Stava adherent)
-Some skill with large vibro-weapons
-Guarded (position as a Slaver-Baron affords Target a cadre [6] of guards; while trained with blasters, none exceed your skill level)

Bregan Dedguro is worth less than the dirt on the bottom of your boots...but to tell him that would be to have your jaw broken by his massive fists. For the past 13 years, Mr. Dedguro has been a slaver in the employ of the Antler Men, a ridiculously-named but deadly slaving organization. Their deadliness and effectiveness was proven one year ago when it was discovered by DIA agents that the Antler Men were responsible for capturing and selling over 500 sentients to the Death Walker cult, which has proven to be a recurring threat to Clan Arcona.

It is strongly believed that Mr. Dedguro, who holds the rank of Slaver-Baron, was involved in the innerworkings of the Death Walker deal and apparently was told of the location of Selen in addition to credit payment as an Operations Team from the Agency has confirmed that he has taken up residence at one of the outlying farms near Estle City's outer walls. And while it cannot be proven, Mr. Dedguro's arrival is highly coincidental with an increased number of kidnappings throughout the capital.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to locate Bregan Dedguro at his farm estate and kill him, thereby sending yet another message to the Antler Men to not mess with Clan Arcona.

:: End Dossier::

"Another message to the Antler Men?" Celevon asked after he had finished reading the file.

"Indeed" said Talos, straightening up in his chair. "Proconsul Entar is on another..more 'overt' assignment directly involving the Antler Men. These two contracts combined should send a sufficient message to those blasted slavers."

Edraven nodded. "I'll take the contract. Any advice?"

"Yes. As you read, Dedguro knows what he's doing in the field of hand-to-hand combat. And while your training with Sashar has been extensive, he could probably kill you if you let him get to close. Keep him at a saber's length, brother" Talos explained, genuine concern scrawled over his features.

Celevon was silent for a second. Then, with a simple smile and bow, he turned on his heel and walked out of the office.

"I'll get it done, brother. You can count on me" he said as the door slid shut behind him.

Alone in the office, Talos let out a loud laugh.

"Like master, like apprentice" he muttered as he pulled a new stack of pending contracts towards him.

Arcona Citadel, Selen, Dajorra System, Unknown Regions
1247 Hours

As Celevon walked towards his quarters within Arcona’s Citadel, he mentally went over everything contained in the holo-file within his grasp, which he rechecked the information therein two or three times until he was entirely sure that it was memorized accurately. As he stalked the nearly empty halls (almost every member of the Clan was out on a mission of some sort), he ran into Apophis Undomiel, who he had recruited before the reclanning of Arcona and now fellow member of House Galeres. Just as he was about to pass Apophis, the Protector stopped him with a raised hand.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes, Edraven. Where the hell is everyone? This place seems deserted.” Apophis’ tone was friendly and light, but there was a strong hint of concern lurking within the depths of both his eyes and vocal inflection.

Celevon stared at Apophis for a moment, before he made a motion for Apophis to follow him, where he explained the situation as he walked. “The situation is FUBAR: The Consul has been captured. All units are on edge, waiting for the shock to die down, while individual members are trying to decide what to do. Half want to leave the Consul to his fate, more than likely in order to gain power for themselves. The other half (which includes me) wants to prepare a mission to retrieve him immediately. As you are no doubt aware, I am a man of action. There are still some individual missions that need to be done, and I’m not one to sit around when there’s work to be done. If you really want to help, go speak to Talos…”

At Apophis’ blank look, Celevon barely held back a snarl before he elaborated, “He’s our Aedile: Talos Erinos. If you weren’t aware, he is the Commissioner of the Arcona Contract Bureau as well. And if you don’t know where that is...”

Celevon looked around for a moment before pointing out a nearby computer terminal as he spat out his final instructions. “Use that and it will provide directions as well as give you general knowledge of the Bureau. Now, if you will kindly excuse me, I have urgent business to attend to.”

Without waiting for a reply (which is quite unusual for the normally well-mannered Jedi Hunter), he stalked off at a quicker pace towards his quarters which was less than two minutes from his current position. The speed at which he walked had been causing his cloak to billow out behind him. Less than a minute later he finally entered his quarters, muttering under his breath about annoyances and liabilities. As he shrugged off his cloak, Celevon gazed at his Custom Armour (which was an intensely modified black Mark II Clone Trooper Armour) in silent contemplation, before he decided against wearing it. While it would offer more protection, its drawbacks were that it hindered his mobility more than the Dar’Verd armour he was currently wearing as well as the fact that he could more far more silently in his current armour. Added to that was the fact that he hadn’t had time to properly test it, while he planned to further upgrade and modify it when he had the time. While he had been thinking of this, he had put all of his varied weapons in their appropriate places: His VibroCombat Knife in his boot; the Silenced SSK-7 Heavy Blaster Pistol in his tactical thigh holster; the multiple daggers in hidden sheaths throughout his body, which could be reached easily; His newest acquisition, which were a pair of black push daggers, which had a single sheath on either side of his torso, in the area of his lower ribs, which could be grabbed with minimal movement. After a quick moment of thought, he grabbed two extra clips for his SSK-7. Finally, he grabbed his Primary Lightsaber, which he had made in his final Knighthood Trial and attached it to the clip on his belt. His secondary lightsaber was gently picked up, held almost reverently, before he carefully slid it into a hidden holster on his left shoulder. Celevon tossed his over-cloak on before he grabbed his helmet (which was placed under his right arm) and left his quarters, headed towards the outskirts of Estle City, nearby where the deader and his cannon fodder (guards) had taken up residence.

The Roof of a Building, Near the Outskirts of Estle City
Selen, Dajorra System, Unknown Regions
2019 Hours

Celevon had been crouched in this exact position for more than seven hours now (save the precious few seconds now and again where he stretched his sore limbs) watching the deader’s place of residence. Only the top of his helmet could be seen, though not from the distance or by the naked eye, which was under his over cloak and its hood. The software and utilities built into the helmet made this possible, as the target area was 1.25 kilometers away. Over the period of time where he had studied the target area, Celevon had noticed a slight pattern. Of the six guards, three were outside at all times. A fourth came out to relieve the others roughly every two and a half hours. There was now (Celevon takes a moment to read the time, before he shifted his focus back to the target area) roughly forty-three minutes until the shift change. With that thought in mind he wrapped his cloak around him, silently dropped from the roof and took off at a jog towards the farm house.

~()~

As Celevon approached the building, he idly wondered just how idiotic these people were. The grass was knee high and it was almost pitch black in the darkness of the night. The situation was almost too perfect: thick clouds blocked out what little light the new moon had to offer; the ground was dry; and mild winds blocked what little sound he made as he moved towards his first target. He sighed at the ignorance of these guards, and mentally snarled about making such an amateur mistake. While Celevon felt the thrill as he carefully approached his first victim, as he pulled out one of his concealed daggers, he made sure not to be overconfident and make simple mistakes. One sound that could be heard would have the entire six man team of guards on alert, which would have this relatively simple mission FUBAR. It would also ruin the element of surprise, which Celevon hoped to keep until the perfect moment.

As the man began to raise his hand to his face, Celevon grabbed him from behind (a hand over the first guard’s mouth) and shoved the dagger into the base of his skull, severing both the spinal column and the brain stem which killed the man instantly. Celevon took a second to peek around the corner. Once he was sure that the second guard was facing away from him, he gently placed the body beside a stack of crates (pulling his dagger free, making blood quickly begin to spill out of the body), in the pitch black shaded area both under what little canopy there was and the shade offered by the crates.

Still crouched, Celevon walked towards the corner that led to the right side of the house, where he knew the second guard was about to turn the corner. Moments later, the guard turned the corner to catch a powerful blow straight to the throat. As tears began to fill the guard’s eyes and he began to reach for his damaged throat, heedless of the danger that Celevon presented. Celevon grabbed the man and knocked him to the ground, where he held his left hand over the guard’s mouth. Judging by what he saw as he was moving to put the blade in the guard’s right carotid artery, he had likely crushed both the guard’s voicebox and windpipe with that blow. The guards’ lips were blue. Celevon could see the panic in his eyes as he suffocated. While the man quickly approached death’s threshold, Celevon drug him towards the corpse of the first guard and dropped his ankles just as he twitched several times before going completely still. Celevon stalked towards the third guard, who (by all appearances) appeared to be completely unaware of his friend’s fates. As Celevon approached the third guard, prepared to use his knife, the guard began to turn. Celevon quickly dropped his knife, kicked the man’s legs out from beneath him, and, using a maneuver he had learned at Camp Soul which had been so deeply engrained that he didn’t even need to think about what he was doing. He just let his instincts and muscle memory take over. As the third guard began to inhale deeply from getting the wind knocked out of him, Celevon covered the man’s mouth with his left hand and gripped, while putting all of his weight onto the man’s abdomen. As he lifted the man’s head with his left hand, his right slid to press tightly to the back of the man’s head. Less than a second later (this whole sequence, from the point where the man hits the ground to his death, takes less than ten seconds), while keeping his hands tightly against the man’s head, he savagely pulled his hands apart with a sharp jerk.

Celevon took a deep breath as he grabbed his dagger from the ground and cleaned the blood off by using the third guard’s shirt. After a quick moment to draw lightly on the force, Celevon evaporated any lingering fatigue in his mind and body. He grabbed the corpse under the arms and drug it behind the house, before taking a look at the time. Ten to eleven minutes until the guard shift switched. Celevon chuckled to himself before whispering, “Damn, I’m good.”

After a moment of thought, Celevon went to check and move the bodies. He hissed a triumphant “Yess!” as he found that each of them carried a frag grenade each, in addition to their blaster pistols and rifles. They were the variety that exploded upon impact. He took the weapons and ammo off of their bodies and placed them in the grass several yards away from the left side of the house. As he placed the weapons and ammo on one of the jackets he had removed from the body of the man whose throat he had crushed, an idea bloomed in his mind. He grabbed all three of the grenades and moved quickly to put the things the way he wanted them. The first destination was the front door, where he quickly took off one of the hair ties keeping his long hair braided to stay out of his way and broke it in one spot. He chuckled to himself as he noticed that the door had a handle, rather than a knob or one of the more advanced choices offered. He gently placed the first grenade atop the handle, where the rounded end fit just enough that it would fall as soon as the handle was released and detonate. Celevon carefully pulled the pin out, and rushed to the nearest window to see that the deader was about to enter the bathroom. After a second of thought, he moved back from the rear of the house, and took the pins out of both grenades. Celevon used the force for both sense and to augment his physical abilities. The first grenade was thrown to about forty feet outside of the front door, with the other being thrown roughly thirty-two feet to the right of the house. The timing was essential. The first grenade exploded, which made the three guards within the house turn towards the door. The second detonated less than three seconds later. The life-force he could sense of the deader stood just as the three remaining guards ran towards the door. The biggest of the three kicked the door dead center just as the one of the others yelled ‘NO!’ immediately followed by an explosion that made the wall of the house shake. When they moved towards the front door, Celevon had ignited his primary lightsaber and sliced a rectangular shape roughly his size in three quick slices, and moved away from that portion of wall quickly while simultaneously deactivating his lightsaber. A second after the initial explosion, the portion of wall that Celevon had cut away was thrown from the pressure of the blast itself. Celevon waited a second and heard moans from within.

He grabbed his SSK-7 in his left hand as he entered. Two of the guards had been shredded from the shrapnel. The final guard had had his arms blown off, and had somehow been eviscerated by the blast. He emptied a clip into the walls and door to the bathroom. Celevon placed his SSK-7 back into its holster just as the Twi’lek deader burst out of the bathroom wielding a Vibrosword. The stance alone showed that the man didn’t have all that much skill with a blade. He appeared to have been hit twice by the bullets Celevon had shot through the wall and door: once in the left leg, and once in the lower abdomen. Dedguro gave a wild diagonal swing, which Celevon leaned away from, though not quick enough, as it tore through the armour just enough to slice into his right shoulder. Using the momentum gained, while he ignited the cobalt blue blade of his lightsaber at the same time, Celevon swung his blade and body as one. One second Dedguro had been pulling his blade back to likely attempt a block, and the other, with the sound of meat being grilled, Dedguro was staring in horror at the cauterized stump of his left arm, cut off just beneath his elbow. Dedguro looked into Celevon’s eyes and yelled in a hoarse voice dulled by pain, “What the [Expletive Deleted] are you?”

Celevon deadpanned in an artic tone, “Your worst nightmare.”

He appeared to attempt to take a punch at Celevon with his right arm, or just stumbled. Either way, Celevon wasn’t taking any chances, and with a deft swipe, Dedguro was beheaded. Once the body fell forward, Celevon exited the building through the back door he had made several minutes before. He bathed in healing energies, which, though it mended the slice that had been ripped open, depleted his force reserves. After a moment to calm his breathing, Celevon activated the internal comlink within the helmet, choosing Talos’ frequency.

After a moment of silence, Talos began to speak at a quick pace, though he was cut off by Celevon before he could get into a rant. He didn’t even get finished with the word ‘what’, before Celevon spoke over him. “Vod, calm the [Expletive Deleted] down. I’m fine. I only had one injury, which I just healed. I have to admit the guards were sort of easy, though there was one that interrupted my move.” He heard what sounded like Talos was taking a sip of a drink, and added with a smirk appearing on his face, “I’m doing loads better than Dedguro, however. He lost his head.”

Celevon heard Talos spray something and curse while he spluttered for a moment, before he asked, “What?”

The smirk grew as he replied, “Shall I bring it to your office for you to see, vod? It would likely add some color to that office of yours. I’ll be there shortly, mate. Edraven out.”

Contract Review

Technical -- All in all, the contract was very well put together. There was a few cases of tense confusion, which I noticed in Celevon's previous contract with Sashar (see Contract 005). However, like in Contract 005, it deterred my attention only slightly from the story itself. However, something that did catch my attention was when you used paranthetical marks in your dialogue; while this only occured once, I did find it "story-disruptive". I'm all for paranthetical use when describing a situation, as you did in the rest of the contract, but in the future, abstain from using it in dialogue. Other than those two items, nicely done!

Story -- I liked the story a lot; it was pretty original and it really showed Celevon as a character, displaying his quirks and behaviors. Another positive point was using Apophis in your fiction, as he has just returned from an AWOL/LoA and, as you wrote, wouldn't know what's going on "In-Universe".

Finally, the action was very well written, with one teensy error. I know you're on the cusp of Knighthood, Celevon, but according to Brotherhood rules (both IC and OOC), you wouldn't be able to use your lightsaber...much less have two of them. Now, as one of the proofreaders of your lightsaber fiction, I know the importance of that secondary lightsaber, but my advice to you is that until your ID Line shows "DJK Celevon Edraven", leave your lightsabers in your quarters.

Style -- Just a reiteration of what was said above; watch the tense confusion in your future writings and don't use parathenticals in active dialogue. Other than that, the contract really flowed from start to finish and also the speed with which you got it up was much appreciated.

Conclusion -- All in all, a great contract! It was well done, both from a story standpoint and technical standpoint, and your haste in getting it done is admired. Therefore, the Arcona Contract Bureau gives the following Grade to Celevon Edraven:

Excellent

Which, in combination with the Difficulty Class of the Contract requested, awards a total of:

10 Points