7-25 YC114 0127
Villore System
Inys Senchelle's Penthouse
Inys Senchelle had survived, a cutthroat amongst cutthroats, for nearly thirty years, by being paranoid. Everyone was a threat. Everyone was a potential betrayal. He paid generously and widely in hopes of creating a network of failsafes to ensure his survival. If he had the physical and mental ability to become a capsuleer, he would have. Unfortunately for him, he was of average mental aptitude and subpar physicality. His paranoia, it had been speculated, might have stemmed from underlying psychological disorders and social dysfunction.
This evening, Inys was even more paranoid than usual. He had requested a hit be put out on the information broker he had used almost exclusively for the past decade. He hadn't even known her name until a few days ago, when he had hired a different broker, known to him only as the Query, to gather information on Ms. Yttria, formerly Mrs. Krennel. She had never told Inys her name. She had always been Codex Red to him. Now, she was a target. Query was handling the contract through a series of associates who, he assured Mr. Senchelle, would be able to permanently kill a capsuleer. Senchelle suspected these associates were either Raiders or Sansha's. Senchelle shuddered at the thought of either one of those groups hunting him.
Inys sat down on his luxurious sofa in his massive penthouse apartment. The apartment was lavishly decorated in Gallentean fashion. Plants and fountains and works of Gallentean sculpture adorned the living room where he sat. He felt safe here in his home, high above the riff-raff. No one could touch him here. He finally was able to relax. He leaned his head back to rest it on the top of the sofa, his arms stretched out to each side. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly and allowed himself to smile. The Leela girl would be gone soon, and with her death, a large risk to his safety and security would disappear. He could rest easy. He opened his eyes slowly, staring up at the mirrored ceiling. He had splurged to make the entire ceiling of his apartment one giant mirror a few years ago and had always enjoyed looking at himself, the illusion of staring down at himself was irresistible. He smiled now at the effect. He was about to look away when he saw something that made his blood run cold, and the smile fade from his face. There, in the mirror, he saw his doom. A tall man, a Civire by the looks of him, was crouched behind his sofa staring up at the mirror ceiling. Their eyes met in the mirror and Ryven smiled and winked. Inys screamed as Ryven, faster than Inys thought possible, stood, drew a large blade from his jacket, and plunged it directly into Inys's heart. The pain was beyond anything Inys ever could have imagined and he gasped as Ryven jerked the blade out of his chest, blood spurting after it. Inys's eyes drooped as his lifeblood poured out of him in a torrent. Ryven simply walked away, wiping the bloody blade on the finest artwork he could find on the way out.
One down. Two to go.
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