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Safely back on Antecedent after a nail-biting rescue from a Black Suns prison, Cryax Bane sat in a HoloNet cafe called The Badawzi Bean, which was situated just a few blocks away from the Dragon Palace Casino. The spot had the best cafs in town so he forgave it for its cheesy name. He sipped on a nonfat soy Bantha latte, browsed the HoloNet and did some paperwork as he waited at a table with his feet, to the displeasure of the wait staff, kicked up on a nearby chair
He was still getting used his cybernetic knee and it helped to rest his legs from time to time.
He was here to meet one of his fellow Red Ravens, [member="Jen"] a young up-and-coming slicer who wanted to pick his brain about some new software she was developing. Before he left his office, he almost commanded one of the Mirari Security Droids to escort him as he never knew just who or what was after him these days. At the last minute he said kark it. They weren't going to be here that long. What was the worst that could happen?
It was always lovely to know that bribery still worked on government officials. My ship had been unregistered, my name never showing up on the docking list. It wasn't that I was here to cause trouble with the Ravens. They'd done a good job for themselves. I was interested in a specific slicer, a guy who'd been the target on the Kessel rescue job. I hadn't been personally present. Being stuck with a wrecked hyperdrive can do that to a guy.
[member="Cryax Bane"] was the man I was looking for. He was rather well-reputed for being very skilled, and knowing how to keep his mouth shut. Qualities I looked for in associates, even if there was no loyalty or even friendship to tie them to me. Seeing him going into the cafe, I followed a few meters behind. Guy seemed a little preoccupied. Post-traumatic stress was a totally normal symptom of prisioner who'd been as damaged as he was.
When I got in, I saw that he was sitting at a table, propping his legs on a chair. I shrugged, and bought a couple coffees, figuring that I might as well get the guy something if I was going to bother him. I walked over and sat down across from the Chiss without a halt.
"Hello there, Mister Bane. I'm your boss' least favorite guy in the galaxy. You wanna coffee?"
Cryax blinked and looked up the redheaded man with a start, spilling his latte, then realizing with relief that he knew the guy. He'd met Admiral Cross Ikon at the Jedi temple after his jailbreak. Thank the Maker it was the Nova Admiral and not a Black Suns bounty hunter. The Chiss moved his legs off the chair, wincing slightly. His hand moved slowly away from his blaster.
"My boss has alot of enemies. So you might wanna get in line." he chuckled. "What can I do for you, Ikon?"
It hadn't been long ago that Jennifer had been messaging Cryax about the program she was developing. Resting in her suite at The Dragon Palace she had for the last couple of days worked on it without much if any of such rest, it was after all quite the blast making the computer, but she cherished the few moments she had now. As always her abilities failed her when it came to this coding nonsense, coding slicing software specifically. It wasn't her speciality and she needed someone much more experienced to give her some advice on what to think about when Slicing. Cryax, or Bug as he had named himself on the CryptNet was one of these experienced people in the Red Ravens.
And now they had agreed to meet up at one of the local HoloNet cafes called The Badawzi Bean, it wasn't too far away from The Dragon Palace, so it suited Jennifer nicely and she needed to get some "fresh air" anyway. Furthermore she had not seen Cryax for quite some time now, after all, he had been captured by the Black Sun and held hostage. Hopefully he was alright and well.
Jennifer took a last glance at her screen where the conversation between the two still stood. ((Screenshots from the faction topic))
((Every post is written as if seen from the characters own computer screen. I'll try to explain every picture in case someone would find it hard to read it. Which it sort of is.))
Jennifer logs onto HoloNet from her computer, scrambles her signal and accesses CryptNet. She is about to type a command but an error occurs and she is forced to login on it. After a loading she is in. She requests the "username/alias" Phoenix which her pc was already registered as. After that she sends a message out which she directs at "Bug".
Cryax too logs onto the CryptNet and answers Jennifer.
While Jennifer was waiting for Cryax she started some music and started playing "Hutt Smashers" after a while she gets notified about a message and she quits Huttsmashers and reads the message from Cryax. After that she responds and decideds to upload the program files she was talking about.
(This is just Lysle being silly ) Spook activates CryptNet and tries to search for a communication line and record it, but after a while he figures out he's recording the conversation between the wrong people and apologizes.)
She grinned as turned off the Leap Jump music that was swinging through her headphones, something people at her age listened to during the Clone Wars, old but good nonetheless. Shutting down the machine and uncoupling it from the stationary second screen and power supply that stood in her room, she found a backpack which she tossed it into. It was time to get to Badawzi Bean.
Arriving at the HolotNet Cafe Jennifer made her way inside with the backpack containing her datapad swung over her shoulder. She was dressed normally with the leather jacket, mechanic trousers, a simple tanktop and her "converse" inspired sneakers. As she stepped into the dully lit place her eyes scanned the few people who sat inside, making her way to the counter where she ordered a coffee. Why was it so hard to spot a lone blue chiss? Oh... As she had been handed the coffee she spotted him. What had probably confused her eyes was the contrast between the red headed person who sat by the table with him.
Cautious she moved towards the two, walking from behind of Cross, trying to get eye-contact with Cryax. Maybe something she shouldn't get involved with was up. They seemed relaxed enough though. But you never knew.
My ears perked up at the sound of footsteps directly behind me. I grinned nonchalantly, and drank the rest of my coffee in one shot. I spoke over my shoulder, grinning even wider.
"I can hear you, you know. I might be old and doddering, but I'm not so old I can't hear somebody who walks as loudly or slowly as you are."
I spun in the chair, my smirk back on my face. I stuck out my hand to shake, and spun the empty coffee cup on the index finger of my other hand.
"Cross Ikon. Lysle's least favorite guy in the galaxy."
"Hey Jen," Cryax smiled as he greeted the young slicer. "Cross here apparently pissed off our boss. To be honest, I don't know the whole story, and since it was Mr. Ikon's fleet that helped save my life on Kessel, I don't really think it matters."
He looked at Cross. "I'm sure whatever you did Mr. Rigger will get over it." Then he realized he was curious. "But, um, what did you do to Lysle?"
He patted the seat next to him at the table. "Come join us. I can't wait to hear all about your project."
So the pure red haired and bearded man was awfully good at listening. Interesting. Jennifer frowned as he passively insulted her for being slow, well it didn't seem too far off that he had angered Lysle if he had also made such remarks at him.. Wary she approached the two, her eyes studying Cross with slight suspicion. Or at least until it as revealed that his fleet had helped in the release of Cryax.
"Fair 'nough.."
It made her relax considerably. An enemy of my enemy is my friend, or however that went. Right? That was probably what had happened here, anyhow. She hadn't come here to think about such things. Or well not all the time at least. Sliding into a chair by the table she carefully dumped her backpack infront of her seat, opening to take up her heavy-duty laptop kind of datapad which she placed on the table, not turning it on right away.
Taking a sip from the coffee she had carefully pushed to the side to make space for her computer she looked between the two, offering Cryax a wide smile before studying him closer. He looked somewhat beat up. It was to be expected... The Black Suns wasn't some of the nicest folks in the galaxy, not that they were any better... But still.
"Good to see you. The leg suits you actually." She gestured briefly towards his bad leg, a kind smile seen on her face as she slowly went to open her computer, facing it so the screen was currently not visible for either of them. Her eyes were mostly on Cross though, that was who she was still careful around.
A few bubbling noises was heard from the inside as it booted, the liquid cooling system starting up on max settings as the screen flashed up pure green, lighting up Jennifer's face.
Cryax winced, giving his bullet-ravaged knee a rub, "I always thought cybernetics were supposed to make your limbs feel 'good as new' but I'm suspecting that's a bit of false advertising." The Chiss smiled, but there was an edge of pain in his eyes. He nodded his head towards the younger slicer.
"So, Jen, I know you're here because of your software, and we'll definitely get to that today, but I also have something else to talk with you about." At this Cryax started to get more animated. "Lysle has something big planned for the Ravens. Super big. And you and I are going to be on the, um, front lines of it so-to-speak." He grinned widely. Then his eyes briefly flickered to Cross with the realization that the Chiss should zip it for the time being.
"Stop by my office later and I can brief you." He tapped the monitor of her computer. "We're going to have to give you a crash course in some advanced slicing techniques. But don't worry, I know you're whip smart. And I have no doubt you'll be killing it in no time."
He grinned at the red-haired admiral. "Hope we don't bore you too much with computer talk, Cross."
Uhl needed coffee. Bad. Why? The Orrananan had no clue whatsoever. But lately, as he was reviewing his notes on the Clone Wars (ah, the good ol' days), this peculiar craving kept bothering him. For days, he had tried to figure out what it was, eating almost everything under the sun. Finally, after a particularly weird combination of t'bacc, nerf steak, and passionfruit, Uhl figured out what he needed. Coffee.
So, here he was, at an unfamiliar, dreadfully decorated cafe, about to go in and get coffee. "Coffee, coffee, coffee," he said sort of quietly. He let the word roll off of his tongue. "Coooooooffeeeeeee. What a dreadful word," Uhl added cantankerously.
Marching up to the counter, he looked at the worker. "I need coffee," Uhl ordered. "But not just any coffee. I need the good coffee. Not too bitter, but not too icky-sweet. Tell me, have you had icky-sweet coffee? Probably not, you're too young." There was something else that was needed.... "Oh! Right! And put that fluffy white edible cream on it, with the drizzly stuff. But not too much. Find equilibrium, that's what you need. What are you standing there looking at me for?"
The worker, looking like he'd eaten something strange, commented that it would cost money.
"Oh, fine, here's your cursed coin." Uhl set his payment down before looking sternly at the worker. "Now, go! I need coffee, yes! Coffee!"
While waiting for his coffee to be prepared, Uhl turned around and scanned the other customers. Every now and then it was entertaining to watch the different beings scurry around, not realizing just how short their lives truly were. It was then that Uhl's eyes settled on --
"A Chiss, a redhead, and a lovely young lady walk into the bar. The beginnings of a bad joke!" Url chuckled at his observation. "Which reminds me, I need to reorganize my Chiss Ascendancy notes..."
It was a saddening sight to see a friend in pain, but at least he tried to seem happy, be it even. That was a good sign which undoubtedly cheered Jennifer up. Actually, with Cryax mentioning the whole Lysle secret plan deal, Jennifer realized she hadn't seen the man for quite a while. This at least gave her some sort of explanation, one could suppose. But knowing she was going to have a job soon was comforting, it had been a long time since she had been out on a task, and her money were running, not short, but at least at a number she wanted higher.
"Sure I'll be there. When will you be available?" She looked towards Cryax questioningly, nodding a few times afterwards as he continued to speak. Hopefully he could teach her a thing or two regarding this slicing nonsense. It would be needed to knowledge if she wanted to protect her software from others. Hopefully he could run Little Brother on it or something at some point. After all, he had recieved the files on his own computer. She had to remind herself about this on a later date.
Her gaze turned briefly towards Cross as he answered, her eyes seeming to look past him for a moment as she spotted someone by the counter which were looking their way. Raising a brow she stared right back, lowering her voice a bit, speaking to those at the table without looking away. "You guys know that man over there...?"
Location: Dragon Palace Casino
OOC: Yes i know that everyone else is just down the road.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGx6K90TmCI
A lone speeder bike roared up to the only entrance to the Dragon Palace Casino. The mountain of a rider was not the only occupant upon the vehicle. Straddled between the thighs of Xar was a voluptuous zeltron with curves in all the right places. Once the bike fully depowered she twisted about on the seat to be face on with the mercenary. She would lunge at his face with her own in an aggressive but sensually exotic kiss and prolonging the embrace into a full on make out session.
Xar would pull back with a confident and arrogant grin upon his face His right hand would dig deep into one of his pockets and pull out a Dilnlexan Cigar pre cut prior to the ride and ready to be lit. Taking a ancient fire starter known as a match, the soldier of fortune would light the flame and toke upon the cigar till it was adequately lit. Taking a few tokes as he kept the female zeltron with in his embrace, he would glace upon the heavily guarded entrance and study the security measures. Only one way in or out for this forty plus story tourist trap with over a thousand bodyguards and security officers.
He took another puff before bringing his attention back to his female passenger. "I like good cigars and bad women. Give me some sugar, sweetheart!" The warrior would command and she obeyed once again sucking upon his face. A speeder behind them was getting very impatient for the front entrance parking spot and began to honk his horn.
Xar ignored the ignorance of the impatient patron and slowly got off the bike lifting his date off. He would giver her a long embrace and cheap grab of her assets. Then he would take another long toke of the cigar before handing it to the zeltron female. "Take this darling and make yourself scarce"
"What.....?" She was confused "But Mr X! thought we were going to hit the casino hard like you promised....." She whined in protest
"I am...... Your not!" He smiled and gave her a few credits and and slap on the arse to send her off in the opposite direction of the casino.
"Sir......." The dragon's valet came up to greet the massive Firrerreon who stood at six feet eight and sported a heavy build. What alarmed the valet was the ignorant patron who was previously honking was now scrambling out of his speeder in such a panic that it stunned the poor fella before Xar. His eyes now focused on the walking armory, he had many weapons, satchels and bandolier of many fun things. "Ffffe........FEKKK!!!!!!" The valet screamed as he dove off to the side.
"SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!" Xar roared his taunt, his deep voice sounded like thunder to the security personal at the entrance who now were fully aware of the danger coming their way. The mercenary had a vicious looking grenade launcher drawn from the speeder bike and sported a devilsh smile upon his face as he began to unload the weapon's contents into the entrance of the Dragon.
The grenades would explode on contact quickly annihilating the security personal at the entrance with many loud and brilliant explosions. "CHA CHING!" the brute would gloat in the destruction he had just brought upon the beautiful entrance and more importantly the Red Raven's associates. The heavily armed warrior would not waste time though, he would rush through the debris and aftermath kicking into the partially destroyed door of the main lobby.
The initiative was on Xar's side, it would take a few moments for anyone to react for surprise and shock was still amongst them all. Xar now standing between them and the entrance, Grenade launcher tossed away and an old pulse cannon at the ready. Now to top of this quick moment the mercenary decided to introduce himself with his infamous one liner "HAIL TO THE KING, BABY!"
With that he would begin the collect upon the Red Raven bounties, lacing into the crowded room with heavy rate of fire that dug plasma bolts into all that crossed the weapon's path. Xar was recording the attempted mass killing via micro cam attached to the side of his head to confirm targets later and collect said bounties placed by the Black Sun.......... If he survived that was. Now the main question; Is Xar a lone gunmen or does he have accomplices?
Xalus stood happily directly in the middle of the lobby, sucking voraciously through a bendy straw sticking through the retractable face guard of his helmet. The bounty hunter craned his head down slightly to take a gander at this tiny little glass filled with...something rather tangy and citrusy flavored. Whatever it was, it was good and the Gen'Dai rather liked to be sipping a drink rather than crushing a skull in. It was nice, pleasant, peaceful. Nobody had even tried to shoot up his beloved casino.
Welp, he thought too soon.
In an instant, screaming, gunfire, and explosions resounded throughout the front lobby as both guards and bystanders went down in shattered and bloodied heaps. Xalus growled, breaking the glass in his gauntlet and moving to grab his assault rifle. A grenade launcher exploded nearby and some of the shrapnel actually chinked and plinked against his beskar'gam.
Taking hold of his CZ-836, the Gen'Dai gave an sigh of anger as he spotted the attacker: Mr X. Xalus knew him, but was only by sight and literally had no other information on this man besides the fact that he was shooting up his casino filled with civilians.
"Hey," Xalus snarled, "Mind not shooting my patrons?"
He was a fellow bounty hunter and all and Xalus attempted to live by the creed, but if this guy didn't stop shooting up his clientele, then he would return the favor.
Attacks always seemed to come just as Colap was about to pour himself a drink. In fact he was right in the middle of pouring one when the explosion made him jump and drop his bottle. It shattered on the floor with broken shards of glass flying everywhere and a CLINK noise.
How unfortunate.
"Got a problem boss."
"Yea I hear it. Power up them fancy droids we just got, and get the first floor sealed off from everywhere else."
Seconds later thousands of security guards moved through the hallways, clad in durasteel and armorweave that was black as night. Colap moved towards the atrium, his cigar blazing away in the corner of his mouth and hair a mess. He had his silver armor on and westar-35 hung at his side.
As he made his way calm down the stairs flanked by two squads of mercenaries he beheld the brutish man and laughed.
Then he pulled his Westar, taking care to aim right between the man's eyes as he laced the civilian crowds with fire.
"I'm the big bambino bud. Now cease an' get lost, or I'll smoke ya!"
Cryax was about to tell Cross Ikon that he had never actually answered his question, when suddenly, Cryax's DataPad started pinging like crazy. He blinked his red eyes with a furrowed brow, while scanned his computer. He immediately sprang into action, his fingers flying over the screen excitedly.
"The Casino's under attack again. I'm not sure how these guys are getting past the guards and droids, but somehow they are." He turned up the sound on his Datapad so that he could hear the security team rally their teams over the CryptNet. He then put the place on lockdown and deployed a group of eight Mirari Bodyguard Droids to go looking for the target.
"Once I get the location of this guy, the Mirari's will do their thing. I just hope he didn't take down too many civvies with him."
And then their peaceful coffee pause were broken. Jennifer's computer had finally booted up and a warning had flashed onto the screen, pinging like it had never pinged before, oddly enough Cryax's Datapad did as well. It could only mean one thing, perhaps two, but one fell closest to mind, especially when Cryax explained the situation and confirmed her suspicion.
Uhl's coffee finally arrived. Grumpily, the old man grabbed it walked a bit away when he heard the Chiss mention some casino under attack....again? History in the making!
Despite being a pacifist, the old Orrananan never turned down an opportunity to record something he thought might be important to the future. Gripping his drink, Uhl hurried over to the table where the three sat. "Ah! Yes, The Bad Joke Band!" He took a large mouthful of his coffee before turning and spitting it out. "Oh, disgusting! And no edible white fluffy cream stuff! Horrid, just horrid!"
He sat his cup down in front of the young woman. "Here. Have some disgusting coffee. You can throw it at a maniac." That task done, he turned abruptly to the Chiss man with a datapad. "You there, techno man! You said there was a casino being attacked! Which casino? And do you have some sort of sweetmeat? I just had the misfortune to drink something that smells like it came from the backend of a bantha and my mouth is a little off."
As Uhl spoke, his eyes changed from grey to a brilliant emerald green, getting greener the more he was excited. He did not want to waste this opportunity.
A loud noise came out of both computers, and I winced slightly. I shrugged, and spun my blaster out of its holster.
"Well, my trigger finger could use some exercise. We can work out my fee later."
With that, I got up and loaded the weapon, as well as checking the exact positions of all my knives in their sheathes. An odd old man stood before me ranting about his coffee. Holstering my gun again, now sure that I was ready, I shook my head at him.
"It's the Dragon Palace, Green-eyes. Aaaaaaaaaaaand, no. No sweetmeat here."
) Spook activates CryptNet and tries to search for a communication line and record it, but after a while he figures out he's recording the conversation between the wrong people and apologizes.)
