Post by Bobbi on Sept 17, 2018 16:31:21 GMT -5
Sadhric has a chat with Tou Nix
Tou:
Tou Nix was a man who was barely breaking into the middle of his life. His hair was a dark blonde, very dirty in color and cut so close to his scalp that it might as well have been shaved completely off. There was a line there, where no hair grew. It was a roll of a scar that stood barely one millimeter off of his scalp and ran from the crown of his head forward, crossing from left to right, ending in a point just above his right eye as a slash into that eyebrow. They'd patched him up, all of his bruises had been seen to, and all of them had since faded. Waking up in the cell had Tou under the watchful eyes of some medical personnel. And the moment he was coherent Sadhric had been called. Fed and watered, Tou hadn't taken anything they'd given him. The dry crusted bread and ounce of water remained untouched and collected just prior to Sadhric arriving. The Mechanic would find Tou Nix sitting on the floor of the cell. There was a modest little cot that seemed to have been built directly into the wall of his cell but not much more than that. He was straight backed, expression blank, eyes locked onto the wall across from him. His hands were draped over his knees.
The walls of the cell were tight, making the room he had on the smaller side. There was room for himself and perhaps two more people in the cell. The invisible walls known only by where the emitters could be seen in the ceiling above and on the floor where a metallic track accepted the pulse given off through receptacles to create the field that would prevent Tou from leaving with a hard and nasty shock should he try. Beyond the space he occupied was a more open room with space for as many as ten people to fit comfortably. There were no windows, but there was a singular door that had a tempered duraglass window which was reinforced with another field just in case. The door that led into the room was solid, made of a strong metallic material with a panel that boasted the latest technologies known to security -- all of which were non-functioning at the moment.
Sadhric:
The hum of the force field ceased.
Tou Nix's small subset of the cell was as of that instant one with the larger cell around it.
The door opened to admit one man.
The Mand'alor's shirt was a sharp bright green and an electric dark blue. Over it he wore an open coat. The one he'd worn earlier in the day. Anyone might be forgiven for not recognizing it as such: dust and ash had turned the black to an uneven grey, and the copper plates dingy.
Tou:
The ceasing of the force field caused Tou to blink. It wasn't really a blink, more just a flinch of his eyelids as the light in his cell shifted minutely. The emitters and receptors that made the field possible were no longer running, that drew his eyes toward the door where someone was just stepping through. Sadhric was looked up and down, Tou sitting very still aside from that movement and his breathing. This guy didn't look like any medic he'd seen so far. "Who the hell are you?"
Sadhric:
Sadhric Tlin wore his Lenses, but they gave a clear view of his eyes just then. "Not the sort you were expecting to see?"
Tou:
"That implies I was expecting anyone." Tou's hands didn't move, his fingers curled slightly, relaxed as much as they could be. Sadhric held his attention.
Sadhric:
"Oh. So naturally you assumed you would be left alone until you rotted to nothing." Sadhric shrugged as if to say how foolish of me.
Tou:
Nix would say nothing to that. His head returned to a neutral position, he was back to looking at the wall directly opposite him.
Sadhric:
"Mm." Sadhric nodded. "That was your neighborhood. Did you know all those young ones you crippled?"
Tou:
"You've got the wrong man." Flat faced, he continued in that posture.
Sadhric:
"Who's the right man?"
Tou:
"I don't know."
Sadhric:
"Then why don't you tell me what happened." Sadhric had stopped three strides from where Tou Nix sat.
Tou:
Once more, Tou was looking Sadhric's way. The movement was very slight, "It was a party. Such a blast."
Sadhric:
Sadhric's eyes slowly closed.
Tou:
"Heh." Tou's lips broke into a limp smile, something near a sneer before he returned to watching the wall.
Sadhric:
Eyes opening again, they fixed on the prisoner. "You laugh like you meant to blow yourself up and wind up here. Like you meant to hurt your neighbors’ children. Were they just casualties of war? An idiot's war, if so."
Tou:
"Nah," Tou's Mando’a was thick, his accent heavy, "That was all very poor timing. The party started before it was supposed to."
Sadhric:
"That much was evident. You weren't very good at your job." Or... Or a thousand things. The Mechanic was not going to feed the man ideas.
Tou:
"Wasn't my job. I was only there keeping an the place." Tou's head tilted to the left just slightly, his view of Sadhric shifting just a bit to catch a slightly different angle of The Mechanic.
Sadhric:
"Then your comrades aren't good at their jobs." He shrugged.
Tou:
"You got that right." His chin jutted out for a moment, Nix tilting his head backward in acknowledgement of that.
Sadhric:
"Or they set you up."
Tou:
"Tar'o's not -that- dumb." His posture still very much the same through his shoulders and back, Tou had brought his head back to rights, his nose wrinkling as if something horrible had passed beneath it, his lips rolling into a small grimace, "But I'll tell you what, Por'tue probably is."
Sadhric:
"Did Por'tue ever handle the munitions?"
Tou:
"Yeah, he said he knew how to handle them."
Sadhric:
Sadhric's body moved with a curt, contained, soundless laugh that did not leave him with much of a smile. "Por'tue just got a lot of people killed."
Tou:
"That is.... unfortunate." Tou's expression set around the word, his fingers curling against the round of his knees, "It was only meant to be a 'pop'."
Sadhric:
"I regret it also."
Tou:
Nix let himself get swallowed by that thought for a moment. The words he spoke were faint, a thought that escaped into form, "I was right there with it. My beskar'gam must have taken the brunt. You said it got some children?"
Sadhric:
"They were playing in the street."
Tou:
"How many?"
Sadhric:
Sadhric told him.
Tou:
"Fracking hell." When he looked at Sadhric this time it was a full range of motion. His head moved, his eyes moved, and then he was looking toward the door, "Tell them I take responsibility for those deaths."
Sadhric:
"What does that mean? 'Take responsibility'? Didn't you just suggest it might be Por'tue?"
Tou:
"It probably was, but if the place is gone Por'tue's probably headed out of town. Him and Tar'o. I was there, I knew what they had. I did nothing but hide in my armor."
Sadhric:
"If so, the Force was with you. Small pop or not, your armor saved your life. What was the 'pop' meant for?" That 'if' was an important one.
Tou:
"It was just supposed to be noise. Tar'o got it in his head that things weren't going the way he wanted. He said he needed the damn thing to turn some heads. Por'tue said he could provide, and I drew the damn short straw to sit on the thing once it had been made."
Sadhric:
"Why involve yourself at all if the protest was Tar'o's?"
Tou:
"I've known Tar'o for a long time, I believed he was right but going about it wrong."
Sadhric:
"Right about what? Tell me his grievances."
Tou:
"It's all fodder," Tou told him, "The occupation, the Chiss -- all of it. It's not undeserved, mind you, but where in the hell is Ker'dan Akir through all of this? We follow him down a road to war, and once its over and it's time to pay due he vanishes? It doesn't sound right. It doesn't settle well. Tar'o believes that he's here, and hiding. It's either that or he's still out there making deals that we won't be able to pay up on."
Sadhric:
"And Tar'o's attempt to flush him out was a 'small pop'? I think you were lied to, Nix."
That dead space inside of him was turning very black.
Tou:
"It is looking that way, isn't it?" The fingers of Tou's left hand tapped against his knee cap there in a quick rhythm for a second, and then stopped as if he'd done some quick counting and come to an internal answer.
Sadhric:
"I need to know what happened, Nix, and what led up to it," Sadhric told him. "And you need for me to know. I'm not sure how you could think there was honor waiting for you after what you described."
Tou:
The man sitting on the floor was focused fully on the man standing over him in the dusty black coat with the dingy bronze plates, "I don't think there's anything for me after this. A couple days ago Tar'o and I were talking. It was after the burning outside the Aud. He told me he heard something interesting, that he was talking to some 'like minds' he called them. I don't know who they were, he wouldn't tell me. He told me that they were planning things though, and needed hands. The next day, I met Por'tue, and they told me what they were planning. They said they needed a place to hold up, so I got them one. Por'tue started bringing in what he needed to make the thing, little bits at a time. None of it looked bad, but I didn't know what the hell any of it was." He shook his head, "They told me they needed to go find more," He paused, working on remembering a specific word that just wouldn't come, "-I don't remember what they called it -- but they needed it to finish the pop off. I wasn't comfortable being there with that thing in the house, it just didn't look right so I put my armor on and I waited for them to come back. They didn't come back. Not in time."
Sadhric:
"Ardium?" Sadhric asked it blandly. "Was that the word?"
Tou:
The word echoed from Tou's lips before he was nodding, "Yeah, sounds right."
Sadhric:
The Mechanic studied the man before him.
Tou Nix seemed small. He seemed hollow. He seemed passionless in a way that Sadhric couldn't quite blame on his recent injuries.
Many people looked like that to him these days.
Soulless.
If Nix was acting, he was superb.
Rather than asking about Briem Tar and Ta'am Du'ier right then, Sadhric made a little gesture for Nix to move over a bit. Nix sat on the floor; Sadhric would sit on the cot.
Tou:
The shift was made. Tou lifting his hands from his knees to help in getting the man in the dirty black coat some room to get to the cot. In the process, Nix turned himself just a little so he could see Sadhric as they talked.
Sadhric:
The Mechanic had arrived afraid that he might lose it and beat the shit out of the man. That was no longer a concern--the 'losing it' part, anyway. "They told you what they were planning. Let's start there."
Tou:
"Por'tue was going to have it ready to be set up the day after tomorrow. Tar'o was planning on getting it past the peacekeepers' checkpoints somehow -- that he didn't tell me. 'It's in the works', he'd say when I asked him about it."
Sadhric:
"Target?"
Tou:
"Just the Aud," Freely, Tou reached up to scratch his neck behind his left ear, "They didn't want to hit anyone or anything in particular. It wasn't -meant for someone- or anything like that. Por'tue was supposed to be working on a secondary device, much smaller than the pop that they were going to stuff full of flimsy with pictures on it or something. I don't know what that one was about." His hand returned to rest, "I didn’t hear much on that one. When Tar'o and I talked it was about the pop."
Sadhric:
"'Just... the... Aud.'" Sadhric Tlin's voice was very low as he repeated the statement. "I'm sorry. Could you tell me again what the goal was?"
Tou:
"To turn some heads. Tar'o's big idea was to make a lot of noise, give it some flash and shake the walls a bit. Like I said, I think he was going about it the wrong way."
Sadhric:
"To turn whose heads? Make a lot of noise to achieve what?"
Tou:
"The Mand'alor's, the Peacekeepers, Akir's -- he said to me once, while we were talking, that he thought it was too quiet. With it looking like clans were lining up to shake hands and be diplomatic, Tar'o said the people he'd met weren't going to settle for that."
Sadhric:
"Tell me."
Tou:
"I can't tell you much about them beyond what Tar'o told me. The only one I met was Por'tue. Tar'o said the burning and the pop were just the beginning. They have other demonstrations planned, but I have no details. Tar'o told me that this is just the start, though. He said eventually I might get to meet his other friends, but they needed to get organized before that happened."
Sadhric:
"'Demonstrations.' And you call yourselves warriors?" Sadhric smiled faintly. Not a nice smile. "You've lost your beskar'gam, but I think I'm going to let you go alive."
Tou:
Tou Nix's head drew back, his eyes roving over Sadhric's face and clothing. "Mand'alor?"
Sadhric:
"Not the sharpest blade in the arsenal," he muttered wryly, subtly ready for a fight.
Tou:
"Apparently not." Tou was still sitting on his legs, but now his left eye twitched, the sweep of his eyes becoming more careful, slowing down. His shoulders tensed, belaying the lack of tension elsewhere in his body. He was controlling that, planning something. -Thinking- about it.
Sadhric:
It was to be expected.
Very expected.
"You see, this belly crawling you've described from Tar'o and whomever else has decided to buddy up with him, will anger the clans more than me. And more than the Hapans. Because it makes all of you look like spineless cretins who can't take your licks."
Tou:
Could he do it? As Sadhric sat there talking, Tou was weighing that out. Sadhric didn't look puny to him. He wasn't as big as a Mandal, but there was something about the way that The Mechanic was sitting that held that edge of danger to him. It was something in the way the Mand'alor moved. By the time that 'licks' had left Sadhric's lips, Tou had made up his mind. He lunged forward, using his position below The Mechanic to aim for an upward punch to Sadhric's jaw with his right hand. The fingers there balled into a tight fist, and would come up from between himself and The Mechanic, going for the other man's chin. His legs were the power behind it, the momentum there full and forward. With that motion came the easy release and movement of fabric. The bland detention suit he was wearing creased and moved well with him. There was no physical restriction offered by his clothing.
Sadhric:
Sadhric saw. With his better position he twisted enough to get his left arm up and over the incoming right fist so that he could wrap Tou Nix's arm and snap his elbow straight in a painful lock.
It helped that Tou Nix was on the floor. It helped that his momentum there was not instantly "full and forward," but came with the necessity to rock up some to get some power behind the blow. It helped immensely that the strike came at such a predictable moment.
Before the lock took fully, his cleated boot was up to press down into Nix's throat, his own weight coming down behind it, Nix prevented from evading by that hold on his striking arm, and prevented from using his legs by virtue of the fact that he'd been seated on the floor before he'd tried anything in the first place. Sadhric's right hand was free to ward off anything Nix could try with his left, but honestly if Nix did try Sadhric was going to snap his right arm backwards.
Tou:
Knowing that it wasn't going to work deterred him little. When his arm snapped into the lock, Nix had time enough to grunt before the pressure of Sadhric's boot hit his neck. Having his arm locked the way it was, and sitting the way he was, meant that he could move very little. He was held into place with his arm locked against Sadhric's ribs that joint, and the pressure on it, feeling as if it were on the brink of its limit as part of human anatomy. The boot against his throat meant that his head was tipped backward a bit, chin tipped upward as the break between the tread in the forefoot and the heel of Sadhric's boot bore down on his throat. There was no moving from that. If he shifted, that lock on his arm was going to get even more painful, and he'd likely feel it snap rather roughly. He did have his left hand and he put it to use, because what was pain really? Hard knuckles moved, aiming for the soft underside of Sadhric's extended knee, which meant he had to lean in a bit against that boot, the edges of the lugs pushing in against his skin. His breathing was robbed of its capacity a bit, Nix shortening his own breath to make the hit count.
Sadhric:
The grim-faced Mechanic loosed the auxiliary hold he had on the lock with his right hand enough just to smack Nix's awkward strike aside. He was leaning against that boot, after all, and his thigh was therefore protecting the back of that knee.
"No," he rough-whispered the word, expression set, unimpressed. He was no warrior, but apparently neither was Tou Nix. Sadhric had seen better in bar fights.
Tou:
Tou was not a warrior. Not on any level that would have had him surviving being in the armada. He never quite made it that far. His hand was swatted aside, Nix forced to let the idea go in favor of taking a breath, sucking it down against the shape of the boot pressing against his neck. The hand that was swatted away flew out to the side, hand open and empty of any threat. "Alright," croaked out of Tou's mouth dryly, the noise coarse and nasally.
Sadhric:
"No," came the hiss again, this time through bared teeth as the man above him leaned in. Leather creaked. Ash smeared. "You will face not me, but the clans. Do you understand? They will see the cowardice with which this was done. And it is their right to say what should become of so-called Mando'ade so honorless that their victims are children."
Tou:
The boot pushed him backward, the arm held him in place. Nix's head nodded just as much as it was able to while his lips moved with no sound coming from them. It was an affirmative answer, an acceptance of the situation he had put himself in. With the need, though, came movement. Tou's free hand drifted to Sadhric's boot, fingers curled around The Mechanic's protected ankle with some effort going into getting just -a little- more space to inhale with. He'd take what he could get right at that moment.
Sadhric:
"You'd better say something useful to me."
The Mand'alor, The Mechanic, and Sadhric Tlin bristled with an aura of contempt, spiked and unforgiving. He didn't have to--his weight was more than enough--but he eased a fraction.
Tou:
The breath he drew in a was little wheezy, the act of it drawing against the bulk of Sadhric's weight even as it eased. Every movement Sadhric made was felt with a slight twist of Tou's fully extended elbow. When Sadhric moved this time, Tou's grunt was mixed with a very faint "Aye Mand'alor."
Sadhric:
Tou Nix was not released. The weight on his throat eased a little more.
The ferocity in the brown eyes eased not at all.
With the easing of pressure against his throat, Nix's pulling at Sadhric's ankle lessened. A little more breath flowed freely. There was no fear to Tou Nix's face as Sadhric bore down on him. There was remorse, and acceptance that ghosted in his eyes. "As you wish it, Mand'alor. As the clans decree." He was able to get that out, more volume and less strain to his voice than his previous reply.
Sadhric:
A deep rumble of a growl came through gritted teeth.
Sadhric leaned in sharply before using the foot on Nix's throat to shove off from him. He backed off, releasing the man.
Tou:
His air was suddenly gone, the pressure on his arm well into the danger zone of causing the joint to pop. Sadhric came in close, the weight behind the foot against Nix's throat cutting off all of his ability to drag a breath in. There was no whimper, no cry. Nix's face was trembling, his left eye twitching, his right eye focused just off the center of Sadhric's face as The Mechanic leaned in. The suffocating sensation increased, and then was gone. Nix fell backward with the shove, his arm free and aching, his throat feeling like an expanding balloon with a rush of air.
Sadhric:
I know this game. No little maggot like you is going to force me to play it.
That he should ask more questions, he knew. That Kel'dan would see this as justification for Sadhric doing what Sadhric was known to do--he knew that, too.
It would not be.
With jerky motions he pulled his coat to rights but didn't fasten it shut. He turned to leave Tou Nix on the floor.
Tou:
Tou had moved, but only to roll onto his right side, that arm extended and laying motionless against the floor while his left grasped at his throat and the ache that was felt when he drew in a lung full of air. He'd been beaten. The challenge was over.
Tou:
Tou Nix was a man who was barely breaking into the middle of his life. His hair was a dark blonde, very dirty in color and cut so close to his scalp that it might as well have been shaved completely off. There was a line there, where no hair grew. It was a roll of a scar that stood barely one millimeter off of his scalp and ran from the crown of his head forward, crossing from left to right, ending in a point just above his right eye as a slash into that eyebrow. They'd patched him up, all of his bruises had been seen to, and all of them had since faded. Waking up in the cell had Tou under the watchful eyes of some medical personnel. And the moment he was coherent Sadhric had been called. Fed and watered, Tou hadn't taken anything they'd given him. The dry crusted bread and ounce of water remained untouched and collected just prior to Sadhric arriving. The Mechanic would find Tou Nix sitting on the floor of the cell. There was a modest little cot that seemed to have been built directly into the wall of his cell but not much more than that. He was straight backed, expression blank, eyes locked onto the wall across from him. His hands were draped over his knees.
The walls of the cell were tight, making the room he had on the smaller side. There was room for himself and perhaps two more people in the cell. The invisible walls known only by where the emitters could be seen in the ceiling above and on the floor where a metallic track accepted the pulse given off through receptacles to create the field that would prevent Tou from leaving with a hard and nasty shock should he try. Beyond the space he occupied was a more open room with space for as many as ten people to fit comfortably. There were no windows, but there was a singular door that had a tempered duraglass window which was reinforced with another field just in case. The door that led into the room was solid, made of a strong metallic material with a panel that boasted the latest technologies known to security -- all of which were non-functioning at the moment.
Sadhric:
The hum of the force field ceased.
Tou Nix's small subset of the cell was as of that instant one with the larger cell around it.
The door opened to admit one man.
The Mand'alor's shirt was a sharp bright green and an electric dark blue. Over it he wore an open coat. The one he'd worn earlier in the day. Anyone might be forgiven for not recognizing it as such: dust and ash had turned the black to an uneven grey, and the copper plates dingy.
Tou:
The ceasing of the force field caused Tou to blink. It wasn't really a blink, more just a flinch of his eyelids as the light in his cell shifted minutely. The emitters and receptors that made the field possible were no longer running, that drew his eyes toward the door where someone was just stepping through. Sadhric was looked up and down, Tou sitting very still aside from that movement and his breathing. This guy didn't look like any medic he'd seen so far. "Who the hell are you?"
Sadhric:
Sadhric Tlin wore his Lenses, but they gave a clear view of his eyes just then. "Not the sort you were expecting to see?"
Tou:
"That implies I was expecting anyone." Tou's hands didn't move, his fingers curled slightly, relaxed as much as they could be. Sadhric held his attention.
Sadhric:
"Oh. So naturally you assumed you would be left alone until you rotted to nothing." Sadhric shrugged as if to say how foolish of me.
Tou:
Nix would say nothing to that. His head returned to a neutral position, he was back to looking at the wall directly opposite him.
Sadhric:
"Mm." Sadhric nodded. "That was your neighborhood. Did you know all those young ones you crippled?"
Tou:
"You've got the wrong man." Flat faced, he continued in that posture.
Sadhric:
"Who's the right man?"
Tou:
"I don't know."
Sadhric:
"Then why don't you tell me what happened." Sadhric had stopped three strides from where Tou Nix sat.
Tou:
Once more, Tou was looking Sadhric's way. The movement was very slight, "It was a party. Such a blast."
Sadhric:
Sadhric's eyes slowly closed.
Tou:
"Heh." Tou's lips broke into a limp smile, something near a sneer before he returned to watching the wall.
Sadhric:
Eyes opening again, they fixed on the prisoner. "You laugh like you meant to blow yourself up and wind up here. Like you meant to hurt your neighbors’ children. Were they just casualties of war? An idiot's war, if so."
Tou:
"Nah," Tou's Mando’a was thick, his accent heavy, "That was all very poor timing. The party started before it was supposed to."
Sadhric:
"That much was evident. You weren't very good at your job." Or... Or a thousand things. The Mechanic was not going to feed the man ideas.
Tou:
"Wasn't my job. I was only there keeping an the place." Tou's head tilted to the left just slightly, his view of Sadhric shifting just a bit to catch a slightly different angle of The Mechanic.
Sadhric:
"Then your comrades aren't good at their jobs." He shrugged.
Tou:
"You got that right." His chin jutted out for a moment, Nix tilting his head backward in acknowledgement of that.
Sadhric:
"Or they set you up."
Tou:
"Tar'o's not -that- dumb." His posture still very much the same through his shoulders and back, Tou had brought his head back to rights, his nose wrinkling as if something horrible had passed beneath it, his lips rolling into a small grimace, "But I'll tell you what, Por'tue probably is."
Sadhric:
"Did Por'tue ever handle the munitions?"
Tou:
"Yeah, he said he knew how to handle them."
Sadhric:
Sadhric's body moved with a curt, contained, soundless laugh that did not leave him with much of a smile. "Por'tue just got a lot of people killed."
Tou:
"That is.... unfortunate." Tou's expression set around the word, his fingers curling against the round of his knees, "It was only meant to be a 'pop'."
Sadhric:
"I regret it also."
Tou:
Nix let himself get swallowed by that thought for a moment. The words he spoke were faint, a thought that escaped into form, "I was right there with it. My beskar'gam must have taken the brunt. You said it got some children?"
Sadhric:
"They were playing in the street."
Tou:
"How many?"
Sadhric:
Sadhric told him.
Tou:
"Fracking hell." When he looked at Sadhric this time it was a full range of motion. His head moved, his eyes moved, and then he was looking toward the door, "Tell them I take responsibility for those deaths."
Sadhric:
"What does that mean? 'Take responsibility'? Didn't you just suggest it might be Por'tue?"
Tou:
"It probably was, but if the place is gone Por'tue's probably headed out of town. Him and Tar'o. I was there, I knew what they had. I did nothing but hide in my armor."
Sadhric:
"If so, the Force was with you. Small pop or not, your armor saved your life. What was the 'pop' meant for?" That 'if' was an important one.
Tou:
"It was just supposed to be noise. Tar'o got it in his head that things weren't going the way he wanted. He said he needed the damn thing to turn some heads. Por'tue said he could provide, and I drew the damn short straw to sit on the thing once it had been made."
Sadhric:
"Why involve yourself at all if the protest was Tar'o's?"
Tou:
"I've known Tar'o for a long time, I believed he was right but going about it wrong."
Sadhric:
"Right about what? Tell me his grievances."
Tou:
"It's all fodder," Tou told him, "The occupation, the Chiss -- all of it. It's not undeserved, mind you, but where in the hell is Ker'dan Akir through all of this? We follow him down a road to war, and once its over and it's time to pay due he vanishes? It doesn't sound right. It doesn't settle well. Tar'o believes that he's here, and hiding. It's either that or he's still out there making deals that we won't be able to pay up on."
Sadhric:
"And Tar'o's attempt to flush him out was a 'small pop'? I think you were lied to, Nix."
That dead space inside of him was turning very black.
Tou:
"It is looking that way, isn't it?" The fingers of Tou's left hand tapped against his knee cap there in a quick rhythm for a second, and then stopped as if he'd done some quick counting and come to an internal answer.
Sadhric:
"I need to know what happened, Nix, and what led up to it," Sadhric told him. "And you need for me to know. I'm not sure how you could think there was honor waiting for you after what you described."
Tou:
The man sitting on the floor was focused fully on the man standing over him in the dusty black coat with the dingy bronze plates, "I don't think there's anything for me after this. A couple days ago Tar'o and I were talking. It was after the burning outside the Aud. He told me he heard something interesting, that he was talking to some 'like minds' he called them. I don't know who they were, he wouldn't tell me. He told me that they were planning things though, and needed hands. The next day, I met Por'tue, and they told me what they were planning. They said they needed a place to hold up, so I got them one. Por'tue started bringing in what he needed to make the thing, little bits at a time. None of it looked bad, but I didn't know what the hell any of it was." He shook his head, "They told me they needed to go find more," He paused, working on remembering a specific word that just wouldn't come, "-I don't remember what they called it -- but they needed it to finish the pop off. I wasn't comfortable being there with that thing in the house, it just didn't look right so I put my armor on and I waited for them to come back. They didn't come back. Not in time."
Sadhric:
"Ardium?" Sadhric asked it blandly. "Was that the word?"
Tou:
The word echoed from Tou's lips before he was nodding, "Yeah, sounds right."
Sadhric:
The Mechanic studied the man before him.
Tou Nix seemed small. He seemed hollow. He seemed passionless in a way that Sadhric couldn't quite blame on his recent injuries.
Many people looked like that to him these days.
Soulless.
If Nix was acting, he was superb.
Rather than asking about Briem Tar and Ta'am Du'ier right then, Sadhric made a little gesture for Nix to move over a bit. Nix sat on the floor; Sadhric would sit on the cot.
Tou:
The shift was made. Tou lifting his hands from his knees to help in getting the man in the dirty black coat some room to get to the cot. In the process, Nix turned himself just a little so he could see Sadhric as they talked.
Sadhric:
The Mechanic had arrived afraid that he might lose it and beat the shit out of the man. That was no longer a concern--the 'losing it' part, anyway. "They told you what they were planning. Let's start there."
Tou:
"Por'tue was going to have it ready to be set up the day after tomorrow. Tar'o was planning on getting it past the peacekeepers' checkpoints somehow -- that he didn't tell me. 'It's in the works', he'd say when I asked him about it."
Sadhric:
"Target?"
Tou:
"Just the Aud," Freely, Tou reached up to scratch his neck behind his left ear, "They didn't want to hit anyone or anything in particular. It wasn't -meant for someone- or anything like that. Por'tue was supposed to be working on a secondary device, much smaller than the pop that they were going to stuff full of flimsy with pictures on it or something. I don't know what that one was about." His hand returned to rest, "I didn’t hear much on that one. When Tar'o and I talked it was about the pop."
Sadhric:
"'Just... the... Aud.'" Sadhric Tlin's voice was very low as he repeated the statement. "I'm sorry. Could you tell me again what the goal was?"
Tou:
"To turn some heads. Tar'o's big idea was to make a lot of noise, give it some flash and shake the walls a bit. Like I said, I think he was going about it the wrong way."
Sadhric:
"To turn whose heads? Make a lot of noise to achieve what?"
Tou:
"The Mand'alor's, the Peacekeepers, Akir's -- he said to me once, while we were talking, that he thought it was too quiet. With it looking like clans were lining up to shake hands and be diplomatic, Tar'o said the people he'd met weren't going to settle for that."
Sadhric:
"Tell me."
Tou:
"I can't tell you much about them beyond what Tar'o told me. The only one I met was Por'tue. Tar'o said the burning and the pop were just the beginning. They have other demonstrations planned, but I have no details. Tar'o told me that this is just the start, though. He said eventually I might get to meet his other friends, but they needed to get organized before that happened."
Sadhric:
"'Demonstrations.' And you call yourselves warriors?" Sadhric smiled faintly. Not a nice smile. "You've lost your beskar'gam, but I think I'm going to let you go alive."
Tou:
Tou Nix's head drew back, his eyes roving over Sadhric's face and clothing. "Mand'alor?"
Sadhric:
"Not the sharpest blade in the arsenal," he muttered wryly, subtly ready for a fight.
Tou:
"Apparently not." Tou was still sitting on his legs, but now his left eye twitched, the sweep of his eyes becoming more careful, slowing down. His shoulders tensed, belaying the lack of tension elsewhere in his body. He was controlling that, planning something. -Thinking- about it.
Sadhric:
It was to be expected.
Very expected.
"You see, this belly crawling you've described from Tar'o and whomever else has decided to buddy up with him, will anger the clans more than me. And more than the Hapans. Because it makes all of you look like spineless cretins who can't take your licks."
Tou:
Could he do it? As Sadhric sat there talking, Tou was weighing that out. Sadhric didn't look puny to him. He wasn't as big as a Mandal, but there was something about the way that The Mechanic was sitting that held that edge of danger to him. It was something in the way the Mand'alor moved. By the time that 'licks' had left Sadhric's lips, Tou had made up his mind. He lunged forward, using his position below The Mechanic to aim for an upward punch to Sadhric's jaw with his right hand. The fingers there balled into a tight fist, and would come up from between himself and The Mechanic, going for the other man's chin. His legs were the power behind it, the momentum there full and forward. With that motion came the easy release and movement of fabric. The bland detention suit he was wearing creased and moved well with him. There was no physical restriction offered by his clothing.
Sadhric:
Sadhric saw. With his better position he twisted enough to get his left arm up and over the incoming right fist so that he could wrap Tou Nix's arm and snap his elbow straight in a painful lock.
It helped that Tou Nix was on the floor. It helped that his momentum there was not instantly "full and forward," but came with the necessity to rock up some to get some power behind the blow. It helped immensely that the strike came at such a predictable moment.
Before the lock took fully, his cleated boot was up to press down into Nix's throat, his own weight coming down behind it, Nix prevented from evading by that hold on his striking arm, and prevented from using his legs by virtue of the fact that he'd been seated on the floor before he'd tried anything in the first place. Sadhric's right hand was free to ward off anything Nix could try with his left, but honestly if Nix did try Sadhric was going to snap his right arm backwards.
Tou:
Knowing that it wasn't going to work deterred him little. When his arm snapped into the lock, Nix had time enough to grunt before the pressure of Sadhric's boot hit his neck. Having his arm locked the way it was, and sitting the way he was, meant that he could move very little. He was held into place with his arm locked against Sadhric's ribs that joint, and the pressure on it, feeling as if it were on the brink of its limit as part of human anatomy. The boot against his throat meant that his head was tipped backward a bit, chin tipped upward as the break between the tread in the forefoot and the heel of Sadhric's boot bore down on his throat. There was no moving from that. If he shifted, that lock on his arm was going to get even more painful, and he'd likely feel it snap rather roughly. He did have his left hand and he put it to use, because what was pain really? Hard knuckles moved, aiming for the soft underside of Sadhric's extended knee, which meant he had to lean in a bit against that boot, the edges of the lugs pushing in against his skin. His breathing was robbed of its capacity a bit, Nix shortening his own breath to make the hit count.
Sadhric:
The grim-faced Mechanic loosed the auxiliary hold he had on the lock with his right hand enough just to smack Nix's awkward strike aside. He was leaning against that boot, after all, and his thigh was therefore protecting the back of that knee.
"No," he rough-whispered the word, expression set, unimpressed. He was no warrior, but apparently neither was Tou Nix. Sadhric had seen better in bar fights.
Tou:
Tou was not a warrior. Not on any level that would have had him surviving being in the armada. He never quite made it that far. His hand was swatted aside, Nix forced to let the idea go in favor of taking a breath, sucking it down against the shape of the boot pressing against his neck. The hand that was swatted away flew out to the side, hand open and empty of any threat. "Alright," croaked out of Tou's mouth dryly, the noise coarse and nasally.
Sadhric:
"No," came the hiss again, this time through bared teeth as the man above him leaned in. Leather creaked. Ash smeared. "You will face not me, but the clans. Do you understand? They will see the cowardice with which this was done. And it is their right to say what should become of so-called Mando'ade so honorless that their victims are children."
Tou:
The boot pushed him backward, the arm held him in place. Nix's head nodded just as much as it was able to while his lips moved with no sound coming from them. It was an affirmative answer, an acceptance of the situation he had put himself in. With the need, though, came movement. Tou's free hand drifted to Sadhric's boot, fingers curled around The Mechanic's protected ankle with some effort going into getting just -a little- more space to inhale with. He'd take what he could get right at that moment.
Sadhric:
"You'd better say something useful to me."
The Mand'alor, The Mechanic, and Sadhric Tlin bristled with an aura of contempt, spiked and unforgiving. He didn't have to--his weight was more than enough--but he eased a fraction.
Tou:
The breath he drew in a was little wheezy, the act of it drawing against the bulk of Sadhric's weight even as it eased. Every movement Sadhric made was felt with a slight twist of Tou's fully extended elbow. When Sadhric moved this time, Tou's grunt was mixed with a very faint "Aye Mand'alor."
Sadhric:
Tou Nix was not released. The weight on his throat eased a little more.
The ferocity in the brown eyes eased not at all.
With the easing of pressure against his throat, Nix's pulling at Sadhric's ankle lessened. A little more breath flowed freely. There was no fear to Tou Nix's face as Sadhric bore down on him. There was remorse, and acceptance that ghosted in his eyes. "As you wish it, Mand'alor. As the clans decree." He was able to get that out, more volume and less strain to his voice than his previous reply.
Sadhric:
A deep rumble of a growl came through gritted teeth.
Sadhric leaned in sharply before using the foot on Nix's throat to shove off from him. He backed off, releasing the man.
Tou:
His air was suddenly gone, the pressure on his arm well into the danger zone of causing the joint to pop. Sadhric came in close, the weight behind the foot against Nix's throat cutting off all of his ability to drag a breath in. There was no whimper, no cry. Nix's face was trembling, his left eye twitching, his right eye focused just off the center of Sadhric's face as The Mechanic leaned in. The suffocating sensation increased, and then was gone. Nix fell backward with the shove, his arm free and aching, his throat feeling like an expanding balloon with a rush of air.
Sadhric:
I know this game. No little maggot like you is going to force me to play it.
That he should ask more questions, he knew. That Kel'dan would see this as justification for Sadhric doing what Sadhric was known to do--he knew that, too.
It would not be.
With jerky motions he pulled his coat to rights but didn't fasten it shut. He turned to leave Tou Nix on the floor.
Tou:
Tou had moved, but only to roll onto his right side, that arm extended and laying motionless against the floor while his left grasped at his throat and the ache that was felt when he drew in a lung full of air. He'd been beaten. The challenge was over.
