"...I promise that all will be explained in due time..."
The man staggered once, clutching at the podium, sturggling to stay standing. Two aides at once ran from the corners, but by the time they reached the man he was already dead on the floor. A trickle of crimson blood ran down the front of his black suit from a bullet wound in his heart.
As soon as Seti had seen the man jerk back, as he had a hundred times seeing men shot, his head whipped around, scanning the ceiling impossibly for the telltale flash of light that would already have passed, looking for any evidence that someone or something had been there.
Panic was growing in the crowd around him, and he moved swiftly away from the centre, towards the exit, as he knew the others would soon be doing. Half way towards his goal, however, a burly man stopped him, a sinister smile on his face.
"...Mr. Ashar..." he said, placing a massive hand on the LFX CEO's shoulder,
"...it's a real pleasure to, ah... meet you..."
Seti shrugged the man's hand away and turned to leave, reaching towards his belt as he did so. A hand around his wrist stopped him, yanking Seti around and pulling him towards the big man.
"...the boss wants to see you, Ashar... been real eager to see you..."
Seti had no choice but to follow his 'guide' towards the darkened back of the room. But his comlink, the one he had had implanted in place of one of his crowns, picked up every word and relayed them not only to the LFX ship in orbit, but to the ground team nearby as well.
He was led through a set of double doors that he knew to be the main entrace, or what had been in the old days, and into the darkened reception centre/administrative office of the facility.
Those lights that were on seemed to lead to one hallway in particular, and indeed it was that one that the man now led Seti down. He knew that, if his memory served him correctly and nothing had changed in the building's layout, this hallway led to the office of the owner and that of his secretary, both of which were one level lower than the announcer's booth.
He was proven correct when they entered a large lift, and immediatly began their ascent. He stood between two large men now, both of which looked so close they may have been brothers. A second man had met them at the lift and said something into his comlink before they entered.
He hummed for a moment, then caught the eye of each man in turn and stopped with a sheepish smile. The men turned away slightly, and he ran his tounge over the hidden transmitter, carefully making sure it was still working properly. If it was, the moment he gave the code word, a Strike Team would track the signal and rescue him on the spot. He was hesitant to do so, since such an action would mean bringing a military presence into the city and perhaps causing unjust civilian deaths.
The lift stopped with a slight jolt, unusual among lifts in this part of the city... at least, it had been, and the three got out. This part of the building was bright with light, and a Twi'lek secretary in a slight outfit motioned them inside the inner office.
Seti was placed on a small chair, and the two men retreated to flank the doorway. The chair in front of the CEO, a tall-backed spinning model from an old holodrama, turned slowly to face him. As it did so, Seti burst out laughing, and did not stop until the man asked harshly,
"...what is it...?
Seti, still chuckling, looked at him and said,
"...what, no cat...?
The man uttered a string of profanities aimed at the Corporate Executive and glared at him.
"...Lance..."
One of the two men stepped forward and hit Seti across the face, a tooth-splitting punch that would send a burst of static across the comlink and turn the device off.
"...now... Mr. Ashar... do you know who I am...?
Seti, his mouth numbed from the blow and brain frenzied over the device therein, simply shook his head.
"...I am Bror Hatta..."
Seti recognized the name, but from where he did not know. He gave the man a blank look, inviting further explanation.
"...Brob Hatta... I was responsible for the Eriadu Subway Bombing..."
Something in Seti's brain clicked, and he got it. Bror Hatta, otherwise known as Hatchet, was a terrorist mastermind responsible for, among other things, the destruction of one of Eriadu's subway terminals during the Great War. He was also suspected to have encouraged the raiding of Eriadu and the suicide bombing of two Coprorate warships.
"...I know you... what do you want, Hatta...?
The criminal smiled for the first time and rose, picking up a book from the desk as he did so.
"...what I want, Mr. Ashar, is to finish what I started..."
He slammed the book down and his smile grew wider.
"...the destruction of LFX Industrial..."
He nodded to the two men, who advanced and cracked their huge knuckles menacingly.
"...any last words...?"
Seti nodded, and raised one arm to rub his sore mouth.
"...yeah... why'd you kill Yono...?"
The criminal laughed and turned to the office's window, where below the medics were hauling away the body of Wes Yono.
"...we had to get you up here somehow, Mr. Ashar... it seemed as good a way as any... now then, anything else...?"
Seti, still rubbing his mouth, nodded slowly.
"...Arch Angel..."
The first man slammed his fist into Seti's mouth again, and he fell from the chair and yelled again,
"...Arch Angel..."
A kick to the stomach.
"...Arch Angel...!"
"...Arch Angel...!"
"...Arch Angel...!"
