Chapter 23: Aggressive Negotiations

Arkunov's lip curled as he stepped into the throne room, or more specifically at the sight of those that sprawled across the thrones. The two Hutts were large, even for their species, and covered themselves in gaudy jewelry and decoration. None of this did anything to enhance their appearance, instead only emphasized the layers of fat and their colossal stature. None of this was meant to intimidate, no this was simple posturing. Any supplicants that kneeled at their thrones would be envious of the vast wealth on display and would do anything to get it. This meant that they would act predictably, something that the Hutts would have no trouble in playing to their advantage.

Around the thrones, stood a large variety of individuals from multiple walks of life. There were mercenaries, pleasure slaves and bounty hunters. All of them from more species than Arkunov dared to count. However, none of these drew Arkunov's attention. For his focus was on the figure who stood before the two Hutts, arrogantly posturing in front of them. He was a Dathomirian Zabrak, his skin was red and black tattoos marked his face. Emphasizing his bright orange eyes. Atop his head sat a small crest of horns. There were four smaller ones at the edges and a single larger horn protruding from the centre of his head. On his right hip he carried a single-bladed lightsaber. This was obviously the apprentice of Lord Rathari. Girik.

"You would be wise to bend to the great Lord Rathari's will," Girik said, making no effort to hide the derision in his voice. "Sign over the specified territories before he loses his patience."

The Hutt's glowered back at the Zabrak apprentice, then turned to each other. The grim nod they shared only lasted an instant, but none could miss the bitterness on their faces. They turned back to face Girik. "Your master is a hard man, Girik. It is not easy to trap a Hutt, let alone the entire Cartel. It seems that that we have no other choice." One of them reluctantly rumbled in Huttese.

It was then that Arkunov made his presence known.

"I am your other choice."

He strode out into the centre of the audience chamber, barging his way through any bodyguard or mercenary who tried to stop him, though few did. It seemed that several of them had thought that he was going to join his fellow sith. They were sadly mistaken. Both Vette and Quinn took their place's next to him, eyes focusing on the crowd. Ensuring that no one was about to try anything.

The Hutt's faces twisted in anger at the sight of Arkunov, though there was something else there. Curiosity perhaps?

"This is a closed session. Who are you?" the Hutt on Arkunov's left said.

At that moment Girik made his presence known once more, "I'll tell you who this is. This is the apprentice of an over-the-hill Sith named Darth Baras," Arkunov's eyes flickered toward Girik, but otherwise payed him little attention. The Zabrak smirked at him. "That's right, my master and I anticipated your arrival."

"I have business with your master, whelp," Arkunov snarled. "Either summon him or remain silent."

Turning his attention back to the Hutts, he said, "My name is Arkunov and I have no quarrel with you. But I cannot allow you to treat with Lord Rathari. Join with him, and you will be little more than pawns."

"There are proper channels to seek our audience, Arkunov. You stack the odds against you by intruding here. Not very smart."

"Indulge me," Arkunov replied. He turned back to Girik, locking the full force of his yellow eyes onto the Zabrak apprentice. "Stand aside and watch me dispatch this pretender. Let me show you that allying with Rathari and those who serve him is a mistake."

The Hutt's bellowed with laughter, their sycophantic followers joining them. Between guffaws, the Hutt on Arkunov's left said, "It would be intriguing if you could back that bravado up. We have seen Rathari's strength firsthand, it is more than impressive any we have ever seen. We know nothing of yours. But go ahead, fight Girik. Prove which one of you is strongest. If you are victorious, we shall consider delaying our treaty with Lord Rathari."

As the Hutts began to make wagers on the upcoming fight, Arkunov turned to face Girik, drawing his lightsaber as he did. The Zabrak already had his weapon drawn, though it was currently deactivated.

"I'll unburden the galaxy of you, dog."

Arkunov laughed, as Girik's yellow blade flickered to life, "You are far from the first to tell me that and you will not be the last."

The red blade of Arkunov's lightsaber blazed into life, it's crimson glow gleaming against his black armour. Raising the weapon, Arkunov held the blade before him. A moment passed where the two sith stood perfectly still. Their audience roared at them, hurling cheers, insults and mockery at both combatants in equal measure.

Girik charged forward, unleashing an incredibly aggressive Juyo move. Arkunov recognized it in an instance. It was the Vornskr's Ferocity, a technique designed to cut down an opponent in a devastating series of offensive strikes. This was something Arkunov more than familiar with, having studied Juyo extensively. As such, he knew just how to counter such an attack.

Arkunov's red blade met Girik's own weapon. Sparks flying with each clah. As Girik made his final strike, the two Sith's blades locked, but only for an instant.

Arkuno's crimson blade vanished back into his lightsaber; Girik stumbling forward with the sudden loss of pressure. He had no time to correct his balance. For Arkunov's blade flashed back into existence and passed through Girik's neck.

The crowd fell silent as they watched Girik's head fall to the ground, his body following a moment later. Confused mutterings began to spread across the audience, none of them sure what had just happened. Arkunov smirked down at the dead Zabrak. He was rather pleased with himself. This was the first time he had successfully executed the Tràkata technique known as the Unbalancing Block. It wasn't an easy thing to do, especially against an experienced opponent. Fortunately Girik was far from experienced, something that Arkunov had picked up on from the first clash of their blades.

Turning to face the Hutts, Arkunov smirked at them. The Hutt on the left chortled, as a generous stack of credit chips was slid in his direction. "You are clearly the stronger, Arkunov. Great sport, great action."

The other Hutt scowled, as his money was taken from him. Bitterly he spat, "Defeating Girik is one thing, Sith. Lord Rathari is another matter entirely. I have never seen a more vicious animal."

Arkunov, smirk still plastered across his face, replied, "The animal is about to be put down."

Both of the Hutt's laughed good naturedly at Arkunov's words.

"Your petulance is most amusing. And the idea of not having to deal with Rathari is most invigorating. You have our word, we will not agree to Lord Rathari's terms. Unless you fail, of course. Rest assured, we will be watching both of you with great interest."

As they left the Hutt's throne room, Arkunov turned his gaze towards Quinn.

"Tell me, Captain," he asked, "do you understand why I handled that the way I did?"

Quinn paused for a moment before he answered, "I believe so, my lord. Our current goal is to draw out Lord Rathari, and with him agent Dellocon, so you see enraging him as the best way to do that?"

Arkunov nodded, "Continue, Captain."

"Not only have you disrupted his endeavours, you have also killed his apprentice. Taking one of his most valuable tools away from him. Also, I suspect that an apprentice is not something that is easy to replace. My understanding, limited though it is, is that an apprentice takes time to obtain and train. Especially if the lord in question has exacting personal standards."

"That is all correct, Captain." Arkunov said, a small smile appearing at the corners of his mouth for an instant. "Though you missed one thing. The way I defeated Girik. Why would that cause Rathari great anger?"

"I assume because it was very quick. It makes Lord Rathari look bad, if his apprentice is able to be defeated so easily. Others will begin to make assumptions on the quality of his training and of the Lord's own power."

Arkunov nodded, "Yes. Sith, cannot abide any damage to their reputation and as such respond to any perceived slights with the utmost ruthlessness."

It was at that moment that Vette chose to chime in. "Huh. And here I thought you just wanted to show off a new trick."

Quinn spun towards her, ready to rebuke the Twi'lek when Arkunov interrupted, "That may have been part of it. A small part."

There was silence for a short while, as the group made their way towards a group of airspeeders. Shortly, the three of them were aboard and heading to the promenade, Arkunov at the controls.

"We have also gained some small insight into Lord Rathari." Arkunov announced. "Simply from meeting his apprentice."

Quinn frowned in confusion, while Vette just shrugged and waited for the sith to elaborate. Eventually he said, "We can assume that Lord Rathari is a believer in the 'Evolving Sith Paradigm'. For not only did he choose an alien as an apprentice, he trusted an alien apprentice with a highly important negotiation. One that could potentially be of great import to the Empire's endeavours on this world."

"Forgive me, my lord, but I have never heard of this 'Evolving Sith Paradigm'. What is it?" Quinn asked.

Arkunov paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts and eventually said, "It is a informal political movement. A number of younger Sith and a few senior lords believe in it. There are even rumors that members of the Dark Council support the paradigm. The basic tenants call for the Empire to make more alliances with aliens and to stop the obsession with blood purity within our ranks. In the long run, it could bring great benefit to the Empire."

Quinn raised a quizzical eyebrow, "I take it that you support it, my Lord?"

"Of course. If there is a way that it can strengthen the Empire, then I will support it."

Arkunov shut off his holocom, he had just contacted Setsyn. She had seemed surprised that he was calling in already, though she hid it well, and was now looking into anything else that Lord Rathari had going on. Arkunov expected her to call back within the hour.

In the meantime, he, Vette and Quinn had stopped at the promenade to wait. They were surrounded by shops and stalls, vendors yelling about their latest offers. There was an incredibly wide variety of items for sale, most were legal throughout the galaxy, but if you looked closely there was a large range of merchandise that would be illegal on any civilized world. Nar Shaddaa was many things, but it was far from civilized.

Arkunov idly browsed the stalls, though nothing caught his interest. Until he stopped in front of one particular shop. In its windows were a pair of battle droids. Both were covered in heavy durasteel plating, though one was painted blue and the other red. In their mechanical hands, they carried vibroblades. The blue one carried a single massive weapon, while the red held two shorter blades.

Calling Quinn over Arkunov said, "Captain, have those droids delivered to the Ruination. I could use some new sparring partners." As he spoke, Arkunov reached into his pocket and passed Quinn a credit chip. "That should have all the necessary funds."

"Of course, my lord," Quinn said. However, before he could turn to enter the shop Vette stopped him.

"Hold on! Don't let captain grumpy go by himself. Trust me, these guys will eat him alive. I'll go with him, I can guarantee you a discount."

Quinn, who looked more than a little offended, was about to protest but stopped as Arkunov replied, "Fine. But I shall be... displeased if you do not succeed, Vette. Am I clear?"

"You got it boss," Vette answered cheerfully, completely ignoring Arkunov's threat. She ran off, leaving Quinn to follow after her.

Arkunov waited for a moment, making sure that both were well out of earshot, before saying, "I didn't expect to see you so soon, Windrral."

"I must say the same, Arkunov," the Chiss chuckled. He was standing behind the Sith. Hiding amongst the crowd, his blue skin concealed by a hood and his glowing red eyes covered by a pair of dark glasses. However, none of this had prevented Arkunov from sensing him. The flat, paranoid aura the Chiss gave off was familiar to him at this point. "An unexpected coincidence running into you once again."

"Are you minding me, Cipher?" Arkunov snarled, his voice dropping to a threatening whisper.

"Not at all. When I said this was a coincidence, I meant it. I have my own assignment to attend to. So as pleasant as this diversion was, I shall have to get going."

"No," Arkunov said. Interposing himself in front of the Cipher agent, his hand resting on the hilt of his lightsaber. He smirked down at the Chiss, "I am calling in that favour you owe me."

"What do you want?" Winndral sighed.

Arkunov grinned as he told the Chiss what he needed. Frowning Winndral replied, "I can do it. When do you need it?"

"I'll signal you. You'll have the where and when a few hours in advance. Be ready."

So that's it for this chapter.

Mostly to set up further points in the story. Honestly I think this was one of the more boring ones, the most fun I had with it was writing the duel at the beginning and having Winndral appear again. Though I have to admit I did enjoy expanding on the Evolving Sith Paradigm.

Don't worry there is a point to his appearance and I am not just going to cameo my characters for the sake of it. Hopefully I made that clear for everyone.