All you had to do was follow the damn convoy!

[Maani]

“Sorry, miss. Can’t help ya with that.”

Maani sighed, inaudibly. This man… he was actually managing to get on her nerves. This happened on occasion; some criminal in a bar thought he’d play hard to get by keeping information from her, even when offered credits or a favour from the bounty hunter. She honestly had no idea why they did this – he didn’t work for the people in question, he had turned down any offer of credits or favours, so why!?

Gah, this was so annoying! She should just-!

“Okay, calm down, Maani. Breathe… no man has ever resisted a little show, after all.” She thought, a small smirk slowly making its way onto her face.

She leaned over onto the table a bit, striking a bit of a pose and letting the man get a generous view of her cleavage, “Oh, but that’s so cruel! Surely, a fine gentleman like you could do a lady a favour, no?” She laced her words with a honeyed tone that she knew men just loved to hear, and just as she thought, the man instantly took a change in disposition.

“W-Well, I really shouldn’t…” The man began, but Maani was quicker, gracefully moving her way over to the man, sitting on his lap with a sultry grin. Her hand was on his chest, and the man stopped immediately. No words were necessary; that simple gesture was enough to make him crack.

Heh. So simple.

“Okay, so, my contact says…”

---

Maani was in her body armour, decked out in her full equipment in the underbelly of Coruscant. Though she may have looked a bit small, she was otherwise rather unremarkable in the sea of other shady figures among the criminal underworld. As far as they were concerned, she was just another bounty hunter on the job, and the tacit agreement to stay out of each other’s way when hunting a target continued.

All was as normal as normal could be in this place.

Of course, they didn’t need to know that she had seduced a man for his information. She didn’t even need to have sex with him, he was already wrapped ‘round her finger as soon as she put on her charm. The illegal weaponry was to be transported between several checkpoints in the cramped alleyways of the local area, guarded by mercenaries every step of the way and at each checkpoint. The average soldier may struggle, but Maani was not the average soldier. She was sure she’d manage. Somehow.

It always went her way, in the end.

Maani had no plans. Making plans just confused her and gave her a headache, so she preferred to analyse the situation when she got there. She was sure there was some hole in their defence; mercenaries generally didn’t care to cover all avenues, after all.

The first checkpoint was in sight, down an alleyway where two armed men stood. It was just wide enough for the convoy of weapons she was tasked with either retrieving or destroying by the local authorities. Whatever she did, they absolutely were *not* allowed to stay in the hands of criminals who would further worsen the situation here. If she were honest with herself, she would’ve done it anyway, but the credits were a good incentive.

Maani paused. She couldn’t just charge in there, or else the cargo would just go elsewhere. No, she needed to bide her time and not look suspicious doing it. So, she decided to scout out the area, pretending to just walk around. It was not a heavily trafficked area, thank the stars, and there were a lot of tight passages. It would normally be difficult for a convoy to transport itself here, but it would be simple enough to have carrier droids rather than proper vehicles.

This meant an advantage for Maani. She was a mid to close range specialist with honed twitch-aiming skills, likely a lot faster than these lazy bastards. She highly doubted these guys were any more dangerous than the ones on Tatooine.

Of course, she didn’t account for someone else interrupting the party. She could hear the sound of men just around the corner; the convoy, she was sure. Maani subtly walked to a better position, a few ways away from the alleyway that was to act as a checkpoint and in cover. She wondered if she should just start shooting…

---

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

[member="Maani"]​

Coruscant was a smelly planet. There was little to argue on that point; the moment you stepped off the ramp, it hit you like a ton of bricks, announcing we don't have a shred of greenery here into your face like you were lower than last night's moist socks. But despite the stink and the fumes of the city-world, there was one place where the smell was just right. That was, of course, the Underground.

Unlike the rest of the planet, the Underground did not pretend to be what it was not; it was a den oכ stinkin' evil and wretched creatures that would sell their grandmother for credit chip that would grant them 15 minutes of entrance to a chitty gambling den, and they didn't hide it. Their grandmothers, however, were somewhere in hiding.

Still, here she was. An old contact had tipped the Sithling off about a case of severally illegal weapons that was going to make its way though the Undercity before being smuggled off planet. Something about new nanotech that the galaxy had not seen in wide usage yet, these weapons promised to be the perfect prototype of that, and who would say no to testing them out in the Unknown Regions, where nobody cared about what happened to the population of many a-planet, and unlike with more central regions of the Galaxy, didn't even bother to hide or lie about it?

The last time she'd been on Coruscant, only fabric covered her. Normal denim, that offered no protection of any kind, and no weapons. This time though, she had her full gear on, the green armor and more than fifteen blades that made her impossible to impossible to miss, especially when accompanied by the glow of her eyes. And she went through the first check point with all of them remaining in their place. Oh, certainly, the guard had tried to get her to leave them behind. But the Blood Hound had called his blood from within his body and once the coppery taste entered his mouth, she got to keep it, but not before giving her word that she wouldn’t pull any of them out.

It was adorable, how he wanted to believe her.

There was a seating area slightly after the check point. Scherezade sat her butt down in one of the less uncomfortable looking chairs and put her boots on the table. She had an air about her of someone who was used to being in charge, who wouldn't flinch for a second if they sent their goons after her.

"Tell your boss he has two minutes," she said with the sweetest smiles to one of the guards. She had the Unknown Regions to return to shortly.