Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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A Sociph's Bliss

Drugs had always and will forever be a problem on the streets of Coruscant. At any point in time the cartels and crime lords were most likely develop six or seven new and harder hitting variants to existing spice or the more archaic injected or snorted variety. The local authorities were always playing catch-up. They dropped out of the race completely when something new hit the streets. The street name was Abyss after a common hallucination that the user was falling into a literal abyss where all manner of demonic and infernal creatures screeched and howled at them as they fell. This was, of course, only one of the hallucinations that were present and a fairly horrific one at that. The more pleasant experiences were enough to keep the users chasing the visions as they grew more and more faint with each use. To say nothing of the extremely addictive nature of the drug and the near instant dependency it created.

Nicair really didn't bother himself with things like this, if he were to go after a criminal it would be someone interesting such as a murderer. But the symbol he found on a vial of the liquid was enough to pique his interest. He couldn't place it and he had never seen it before, but the style was familiar and he could do little but speculate about its origin. He had his ideas and would pursue the leads where they would take him. His first goal, naturally, was the find the supplier. Only, none of the users were lucid or even living long enough to tell him where they got it. It was a devious concoction. It wasn't the dosage that the users built tolerance to, it was the hallucinations themselves. It was believed the more of Abyss they took they greater chance they would get a pleasant hallucination. The results were.. less than pretty.

Such a thing could be used to describe the body of the junky he currently stood over. At some point the young man had vomited what appeared to be a sickly form of blood and because he was lying on his back, had choked on it. His eyes were what really completed the picture. The vomit was common in overdoses, the color was a bit concerning but nothing extended use couldn't explain. But the eyes, it was as if they had burned from the inside out. The iris looked completely fried, he didn't know of anything to compare it to. Drugs had never been his strong suit, but he would look into it all the same.

[member="Keira Ticon"]
 
This took going back to her roots to a whole new level, and it hit harder and closer to home than Keira was willing to admit. Unbeknownst to most of the vode, she'd been born and raised within one of most formerly notorious crime families in Coronet City. In their glory days the Ticon family had controlled the majority of the Blue Sector, and as a child she'd known nothing other than that way of life, intimately familiar with the underworld in a way no young teenager should have been. That had followed her into young adulthood, and she'd joined up with a criminal syndicate her older brother had had a hand in founding. She'd finally broken out in her late twenties, and had mostly been on the straight and narrow since then.

Aside from the regular, such as soldiering and mercenary work.

And now she could add criminal investigation to that list, although it was still tied to being a gun-for-hire. Wordlessly she stood over the body next to [member="Nicair Claden"], examining the corpse with a practiced detachment that could be attributed to seeing too much death and causing more than enough of it herself. After another moment of silence, she finally spoke, "Local crime lords and drug rings would be the place to start. From there I'd bet it goes off-planet, or to the undercity." There wasn't much the Ticon family wouldn't deal in, back in the day, but drugs were one of those things. Her father had sworn them off from the beginning, and it that had started the ongoing feud with a rival family that had ultimately led to his and his wife's death.

"Dossiers would help, too. Anybody else have any leads, so far?"

[member="Nicair Claden"]
 
He usually worked alone. It helped him think and he had enjoyed solitude from the moment he lost anything he'd rather have around. The woman, this Keira, was somewhat familiar to him. A memory of a time past and warriors spread to the wind. Better her than a stranger.

"None that I know of. I can meet with the locals to see if they have anything. Caught a few serial killers here, they owe me what they know. Don't have the best reputation with the bosses in the area but if you want an extra gun I'll be there." The look in her eye. He'd seen it before. It usually inhabited the eyes of old warriors looking for their final stand. He saw it when he gazed into a mirror, to each their own. Turning around with his back to the corpse he scanned the area. Hypervigilance had kept him alive for many years, and he wasn't about to let his guard down now. The alley was mostly abandoned, the street-dwellers know to stay away from a body for fear of being question. Most didn't live their lives legitimately. His gaze came to a rest on his companion as he waited for her answer.

[member="Keira Ticon"]
 
"An extra gun wouldn't hurt." It was doubtful anyone of importance here remembered, knew, or cared about her family's name in the first place, and Keira wasn't betting on it. It had been decades since the name Ticon had meant anything, and their legacy was long dead, even on Corellia. Especially on Corellia. "Don't wanna slow up your end of things either, though. I'm not too worried about things going sideways. Don't think I'm that out of practice." Sure, it had been just about a decade since she'd had any dealings in the criminal underworld, but that wasn't something one forgot easily. It was a careful balance between deferring to their strength while demonstrating your own, and it was something a Mandalorian typically all but perfected.

Her handed rested idly on the grip of her pistol, and she looked to him. "We can divide and conquer, meet up somewhere else later and compare notes. Hopefully nobody takes us looking into this too personally." That was a hit or a miss, especially on a planet like Coruscant, which was a self-contained society all on its own. Crime was a thriving part of the economy here, and all it took was one step in the wrong direction to start a fight. "Try not to get shot and I'll do the same, 'lek?"

[member="Nicair Claden"]
 
He gave her a nod and departed the scene. By his guess the place would be relatively untouched for at least a day before someone reported it or found it by mistake. The real threat was curious children who want to see a dead body and know what the scent of death is. Wasn't his concern at the moment. He got most of anything he'd need from the corpse and surrounding area. The local station was a few minutes of a brisk walk. He kept his head on a swivel and his hand on his blaster the entire way there.

The authorities in the station had a begrudging respect for Nicair. They didn't much like his ability to figure out things that they either lacked the resources, connections, or knowledge to do themselves. The young Twi'lek working the front desk had seen him but once without his helmet and had taken a fancy to the scars over his face. It made him slightly uncomfortable but it was something he could use to his advantage.

"Laora, I need to speak to whoever's heading up the investigation on the new drugs being found in the area." She looked at him, her small smile quickly falling off her face.

"Actually, I'm not supposed to give that information out, even to you." She could be influenced but she was headstrong when she was being told to do so from someone high enough up. There was a certain card he didn't want to have to play, but he was fairly certain he would need to. He delicately removed his helmet and placed in on her desk, the T visor meeting her eyeline. He did everything he could to make his face seem sympathetic.

"Do you remember the Slum City Strangler a few months ago, Laora?" Her face grimaced at the thought. She couldn't meet his eyes and deferred to the cold stare of his helmet. "How many had he already killed before I arrived? Five? Six? One of his victims was your sister, weren't they? You and I both know nobody was even close to finding him, he knew the area too well, knew where all the cameras and the patrol routes were. How many other sisters do you think he would have killed had I not stepped in? How many more victims were there after I showed up?"

"Only one." She kept her eyes down in shame. Playing on the memory of a murdered sibling was not something he enjoyed doing, but the game was afoot, and he wanted to play.

"He actually slowed down. Serial killers don't do that. People are dying from this drug, Laora. I know things the officers here don't. Let me help them, let me keep another sister from dying. Would you do that for me?" His face was getting sore.

"Detective Waleer is lead. The same one that you helped with the Ravager, right?" The smile came back, he gave her a small one in return. He held the position until he had his helmet back on before he let his face revert to the blank expression he usually had.

"Right. Is he at his desk?" She nodded, he returned. The detective wasn't going to like what he had to say, much less his presence.

[member="Keira Ticon"]
 

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