[June Pilot] Contract 007: Lexiconus - Assassination, A-Class

ACB Contract Offices
Lower Levels, Arcona Citadel
Estle City, Selen

Valtiere sat behind the featureless desk, datapad in hand. His face remained unchanged as he rapidly scrolled thorough the data, eyes flicking up as his apprentice entered. He looked back down at the pad, his apprentice stood in front of him. He pushed a holodisk forward without preamble.

Mission: Assassination, A-Class
Target: Sach ‘The Maid’ RIvas. Human female, 28-32 years of age galactic standard.
Specifics: Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to eliminate an enforcer for a minor Ol’Val swoop gang. Use your own initiative to kill her. Send a message to the leader. He’s begun to become too confident.
Resistance: Little to Nil. She enjoys drinking alone at a local cantina, ‘the slippery sarlaac’.

Lexiconus looked up as he shut off the unit, eyebrow arched.

“You should have everything you need there, Hunter Lexiconus. She is a rather…raucous lady. Not difficult to track. Now, off with you. Hunt well, apprentice.” He waved a metal hand dismissively, shooing his apprentice away.

Lexiconus wandered into the Commissioner office with some pride on his stride, having been lead to success the past few weeks he feels positively motivated. Once he saw the calm face and illuminating blue eye of his master, the hidden smile arrived but only for a millisecond.

With a puzzling look as to why his master was here, he scooped up the holodisk and warmed up the unit.

Target: Sach ‘The Maid’ Rlvas, Human female
Specifics: Eliminate the enforcer for the Ol’Val Swoop gang. Leave a message for the gang.
Resistance: Little to none, depending if the gang resides in the slippery sarlaac.

After receiving motivating words from his master, Lex strided out the office with holodisk clutched in his hand.

It was a dreadful, rainy and dark day, the paved alleys were draining with water from the over-spilling roofs above and the local urban mammals thrived and cuddled together near the gutters. Today was a perfect day to die, or more specifically to kill. The Togruta sat on his soaked, cold Swoop just 2 blocks away from the Slippery Sarlaac, a cantina that thrived with swoop gang members and the rare elderly who want to re-live past memories. His thoughts turned towards the feelings of his own elders, and whether they too enjoyed this type of interaction. His leather hide coat kept the rain off him for now, but the heavy water spiralled down his montrals and down his back and chest, and soaked all of his dry and covered torso. His Togruta headgear were certainly useless in the rain.

As he turned off the engine and stepped from the cold metallic seat, another 3 swoops speeded and soared towards him from behind. His montrals sensed their intense speed quickly and he jumped over his swoop, placing his back against the wall. The roaring metallic pack raced towards the cantina and skidded into parking, where a half-naked human female gracefully stepped off with her black, shiny boots and kissed the driver with her ruby red lips. The red stain on his cheek gave him a blush that even Lex could see from 2 blocks away. “This must be Sach,” he calmly stated to himself. His lips curled softly as he twitched his hand slightly. The nerves of being around a seductive female often intrigued him, but also made him shudder.

Lex was a young Togruta, who grew up under his parent’s tutoring, and then through the academic process of Valtiere, so he has never had the interaction of seduction. Whether it was a pleasure or pain developed entirely from rumors of his elders in the Shadow Academy. But there was always a certain curiosity for Lex, as to whether he would like a female’s company. He has often been told that there is hard work, which he is used to. Lex also understands that there are responsibilities to uphold, or if it’s just a spontaneous relationship, that protection and thinking first is always the best bet. Whichever the decisions he would make in romance, Lex was certain that he wanted it to last, he was afraid that some female would walk out of his life as quickly as she came in. His hands twitched more in nerves and he tried to calm them by clenching his hands, lowering his head so the rain does not flood his eyes. The prospect of wooing a female for himself felt daunting, but someday it had to be done. Today, he felt like this was a good trial, and for a better cause to eradicate a swoop gang from the area. ‘Justice is my romance,’ Lex thought, and with a nod of approval by himself, he walked over to the Cantina and headed inside.

The warm, gushing smoke of death-sticks and heating immersed Lex’s face and made his skin rise in temperature rapidly, a very purple flush began to fill his blue cheeks as he tried to cool himself down. He slowly walked further inside, Lex saw rows of circular tables against the walls with the odd metal stools scattered randomly around them and a long leather bench against the walls. There were clear signs of groups sticking to certain tables, or claiming a couple of tables for themselves, a strange music was coming from the Bith band on the stage that stood as a podium for all to see. In front of that stage was the bar, a rounded rectangle with a green top that lit the drinks and glasses up with a neon tint. There, in the very corner of the rectangular bar sat Sach, her soaking but shining thighs crossed and softly swinging between the bar and the stool, all elements could touch them thighs up to the very groin where a pair of black leather shorts covered anything valuable. The woman who sat there was no sloth either, the muscles in her legs and the abs on her stomach were on show all night, as was the tiny but firm cleavage that a leather swoop jacket neatly held. Her face was deep in thought as her palm cupped her chin, lightly rested the elbow onto the bar with her other hand around her drink and softly tapped her fingers on the glass in a wave fashion. Lex then without feeling the effects of her seduction, approached her.

As Lex slowly sat down on the rickety stool next to her, a huff of desperate air escaped her parted lips and she slowly turned her head from him. “What’s yer poison, mate?” The Toydarian said as he levitated behind the bar, and scrubbed a glass with a light brown cloth. “Just some blue milkshake please…” Lex whispered to the tender, as he looked for his credits. The floating Toydarian chuckled and placed his free hand on the bar, and stared into Lex’s eyes. “Listen kid, I know you’re a youngin, but I can get yer a Gamorrean Hoch.” The tender chuckled to himself and continued. “Hey! I won’t tell if you don’t, it’ll burn the mouth off ya so take sips and knock it back lad.” The male then floated off to a slim but tall bottle he kept in the refrigerator and grabbed a wide but short glass, returning and he placed them both by Lex. The Togruta nodded in thanks and tossed a bag of credits onto the bar, to which the tender snatched without hesitation, then grinned as he disappeared.

“Careful kid, stuff’ll kill ya,” the woman ushered out her lips, not caring for a response. Lex slowly took the glass, and raised it to his lips and took a small drop. The misty liquid burst into his mouth and spread around his cheeks like wildfire, it scarred every nerve with sensation as Lex forcefully knocked his head back to try and swallow it and his gushing saliva. Panting in desperation, Lex coughed and licked his lips from the burning taste. He turned to the now laughing woman, with his eyes tearing up. “Here, let me.” Sach said, as she slowly pulled a white cloth from the only pocket on her restricting leather jacket, then patted Lex’s blue eye lids from tears. Lex, now with dry eyes smiled and nodded in thanks, to which she smiled only a little, then returned to deep thought.

“Say, you don’t mind if I light up here, right?” Lex said, as he pulled out a black leather pouch from his pocket. The pouch did not hold death-sticks, and Lex did not even smoke, it was a from a grounded but nerve-attacking plant that was lethal to humans. “Sure, light away,” The woman answered, as she waved her hand at him. With a quick few seconds, Lex made the stick rather quickly after practicing many hours before coming to the cantina. “I like mine without a filter, gives a better kick,” Lex confidently said, the conversation with Sach turned into his favour as she was interested somewhat in him. With a soft sigh in curiosity, Sach turned her head back to him and opened her palm. “Let me try, kid, I can handle a drawback,” the human chanced her safety by taking the death-stick from Lex’s hands. He lit up a lighter and helped her light the stick, with a couple of big inhales, she coughed and grinned, looking at the ashes. “Nice taste, where did you…” She coughed again, this time more violently as green slime launched into her already open hand. With that, she rushed from her seat and into the bathroom. Sach dropped the stick onto the floor and a customer quickly stamped the ashes out. With a worried expression on his face, Lex slowly stood from his stool and approached the bathroom. After hearing a loud choking and thud, he looked around and noticed no one was paying attention, apart from an elderly human near the door.

“I better check her,” The male nodded in agreement and shooed me inside. With that, Lex slowly opened the door to the females side, only to see the two legs of the woman, laid wide and sticking out the cubicle, very still and awkwardly positioned. He slowly walked further inside, peeking inside to see her head placed against the cold floor, and a puddle of green slime near her mouth, with some gushed forward still. Sach was certainly dead. With that, he walked out the bathroom only to see everyone now stared at him. In a state of panic, Lex softly looked down and rubbed his neck in tension. “She’s…just cleaning herself up,” Then, like nothing happened, the crowds went back to talking, as the tender chuckled.

“You were a lucky boy today huh?” He huskily said, as he winked to signify Lex had wooed the woman, but instead the situation was the opposite. He smiled nervously, as if to give nothing away and slowly walked towards the door, exiting the cantina. With an odd confused expression coming from the Toydarian, Lex left for his swoop and returned to the office to report his work.

**

[Satisfactory] - 2 points

**

This contract shows a major improvement over previous work, however, there are some areas you still need work on. The use of a poisoned cigarette as an assassination tool was a good plan, and an interesting way to kill your mark.

You still have problems with spelling and grammar, though those are far less common than before:

…Lex thought, and with a nod of approval by himself, he walked over to the Cantina and headed inside…

…it was a from a grounded but nerve-attacking plant that was lethal to humans…

…“I better check her,” The male nodded in agreement and shooed me inside…

So, here are some examples of grammatical errors, ‘by’ instead of ‘to’; ‘Grounded but’ instead of ‘ground and’, and a view change mid sentence, respectively. If you were missing such inconsistencies, you would be able to score those higher points.

The second main criticism is the lack of challenge to your character through the contract. She talks to you straight away, she takes the cigarette without question, she’s trusting. I know it’s only an A-class contract, but a bit of challenge would make for a better story.

I liked the plan, the execution needed work. You have very good plans, always fun to see how you work within the contract, you just need to tighten up that spelling and grammar.