Below Zero

[Jen]

​

Antecedant, a world of vibrant lights and upstanding citizens. The first still held true, it could be witnessed every second ones eyes were open, from the large commercial billboards to the simple in-fashion lamps that almost every person who lived here owned. The second mentioned quality however, that thing about the upstanding citizens, that had changed quite a lot over the past many months. Ever since the Red Ravens had arrived and snuck their way into every possible position of power on the wild space world the very nature of Antecedant had changed quite a bit. The lower levels had been filled with more gangs and more crime in general had started to spread like a sickness with center in The Dragon Palace Casino to the nearby city hubs.

However, this worlds upper levels still had quite a lot of law enforcement patrolling the streets, a fact that had made the most petty of newly arrived or formed criminals seek into environments more fitting their stature, a place where such activities was a lot easier to commit to. This place was known as Below Zero, the city below the city. Of course there had been crime and poverty long before The Ravens had arrived on Antecendant, they alone couldn't be the reason for all the evil on the planet, matter of factly this gigantic maze like district was formed during the first waves of settlers on Antecedant when the mining industry here still had work to offer for those who would work for the least. And even now, years upon years after the very last mining machinery was last active this underworld continues to be the smog filled metropolis of poverty it have always been.

Along these narrow streets the shoes of Jennifer Phoenix would be heard walking down the rough roads, trying to evade the occasional puddle of either piss or some sort of acid that had been produced from the badly managed, if managed at all atmosphere of Below Zero. It was unusual for her to be down here, first of all due to her age along with the fact that she was, at least judging from her appearance, not poor. She wasn't a grunt or some sort of protection money enforcer either, so her presence here Below Zero was rather odd.

Jennifer was however smart enough to not go alone, in formation behind her three standard DD-S1 walked with assault rifles in hand towering 1,95 meters into the air, tall in comparison to Jennifer. And as the group of four walked along the cybernetic eyes of the droids would be seen scanning their surroundings as they navigated this dangerous maze, their presence in themselves making people get out of the way as they marched forward. Their finely lacquered red paint shined whenever light from the uncountable numbers of different sorts of lights hit them, it was certain that these three models were new, maybe they had never even seen action.

It mattered not though, they silenced out the occasional yell from a drunk and actually made the trip somewhat comfortable as Jennifer had little need for being overly careful whenever she went around a corner. The final destination for Jennifer's trip was to one of the old ore refineries that were spread throughout the city, now seen only as a broken down, destroyed and rotten shadow of their former selves. The refineries now only provided for large open spaces in the halls of the factory, allowing those who lived here Below Zero to have a few places to breath, have a bit more room than usual between them. Sadly for those who enjoyed these places it seemed that most of them had been taken over by gangs, using them as headquarters of sorts, warehouses or simply a place to run their illegal businesses. One of these businesses were street racing, an activity that had become more and more attractive to the criminals as more and more bikergangs had appeared, wanting to show off their latest speeders they believed to be fast.

Tonight was sort of special though, a few outer world racers had showed up accompanied by their sponsors. This meant that for a change a whole lot of credits was on the line for the first place in tonights race, a fact that made it lucrative for the ravens to show up. A team had been assembled and made ready to take care of just that. But usually when a whole lot of criminals, including hutts from outer worlds suddenly appeared in another groups turf there were usually another intention behind it all than what one could see from the surface. Right? ((Lets help eachother out with improvising the plot))

The not-so-great loud music from some lowly DJ became louder and louder as Jennifer neared the old factory joined by her three droid security guards. The masses of people slowly grew tighter and more chaotic. A party Below Zero could to some with finer cultures be considered a savages party. Death sticks, smoking and other forms of drugs were openly seen sold and used. She glanced down towards the datapad in her hand, sending a message to the rest of the group via the CryptNet:

<//>"Where r u guys? I'm @ the entrance. -Jen."​

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[member="Cryax Bane"] / [member="Dasha the Hutt"] (?) :: [member="io eyeballs"] :: [member="Frederick King"]​

 

[Cryax Bane]

It was a good thing Cryax had his Datapad on vibrate. The current din from the terrible DJ at the unmarked Below Zero club had forced him to shove a couple wads of tissues in his ears, and he otherwise would have missed Jen's message. The Chiss slicer was currently arguing with a drunken Ithorian over a table he was trying to score for he and his friends, one with the best view of the racing action on the Holoscreens. He was this close to playing the "don't-you-know-who-I-am" card when the Ithorian suddenly lost interest. A sexy Zeltron starlet had stumbled onto the scene amid flashes of paparazzi Holocams, and took a nearby table. The Ithorian sauntered over to mack on the actress or at least catch a glimpse of a wardrobe malfunction, and Cryax quickly moved in. The slicer flopped down in a chair and put his feet up on the table, staking his claim. Then he sent a message back to the group.

From: bug <//>"Inside. Scored us a table next 2 bad actress in backless dress. About 2 open up tab."

The Chiss grabbed his Datapad and started typing. He was currently sending an encrypted message to one of the racers, a Devaronian named Huff Sega, who was ripe for buy-off. He'd cased Huff out already and had discovered that not only was the racer a spice addict, but had multiple gambling debts from being hopelessly addicted to the sabaac tables at various Hutt casinos. The man was also first pick in the race according to many odds makers. If he could buy-off Huff and bet on pick two, he figured the Ravens stood to win pretty big. And Huff wouldn't make out so badly either. After all if the Devaronian swoop biker agreed, Cryax was ready to help make some of those debts miraculously disappear from Hutt networks.

[member="Jen"] [member="io eyeballs"] [member="Frederick King"] [member="Jalek Sathora"]

 

[Jalek Sathora]

If there was one thing that Jalek was used to, it was navigating anything even remotely close to the criminal underworld the sprawled the Lower City of Taris, the city-world that had been home for him for as long as he could remember. Well, until he took up slicing as his primary job. It still came as easily as breathing, which was how he'd talked his way into the club that was in the undercity known only as Below Zero on Antecedent, one of the most notorious planets for criminal activity ever since it had been taken over by some group that went by the moniker the Red Ravens. Who they were didn't concern him. As long as he was able to continue doing what it was he had come here to do, they could continue on controlling the planet. And what he had come to do was what he did best: raising mischief.

Currently he was slouching in his chair with his booted feet up on the table, datapad in his lap and currently booting up. A cigarette dangled from his lips, unlit as of yet, though he would most likely end up smoking later in the night, and more than just once. For the time being he maneuvered his way into the network of the club, keeping a close eye on the betting in one window while having another pulled up that kept tabs on whomever might be digging around as well. So far nothing had raised any eyebrows, beyond the usual activity on the HoloNet. But the Chiss that had recently walked in definitely caught his eye, and if that wasn't enough, the datapad in his hands certainly did.

A few quick lines of code and he was deeper in the network, wading his way slowly through the encryptions to try and work his way into just what the other man was up to, though his progress was admittedly slower than he would have liked. A quiet sigh and a muttered curse accompanied any slipups, his brows furrowed thoughtfully as he worked.

[member="Cryax Bane"], [member="Jen"], [member="io eyeballs"], [member="Frederick King"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

Having become somewhat of a minor celebrity on Antecedent in his own right, the Chiss slicer had started to feel untouchable in his position with the Red Ravens, especially since he was generally surrounded by henchmen and security droids. Currently alone with his Datapad, Cryax was blissfully unaware that he was being watched. In person anyway.

The Holonet was another story, however, and after he had gotten Huff to agree to throw the swoop race, the Chiss slicer took a quick peek behind the firewall of the club's betting networks. As he was typing to Huff, his assistant Thunderscar, another slicer that he had trained himself, had sent him a message about some suspicious activity going on in the betting networks, with one simple clue as to a possible identity. "Pr0xy". It could have been the name of a virus or just a software glitch, but Cryax was doubtful. He had a feeling that perhaps Pr0xy was some new slicer trying to make some waves on the Antecedent slicing scene. With a smirk Cryax plugged a small piece of firmware into his Datapad which once connected, sent a digital tracer into the network.

This network was Cryax's turf and, as he ordered a few bottles of expensive champagne from the waiter in anticipation of the other Ravens' arrivals, he was going to be farkled if some young upstart spoiled their night.

[member="Jalek Sathora"] [member="Jen"] [member="io eyeballs"] [member="Frederick King"]

 

[Jalek Sathora]

Opposition had been expected, and Jalek would have been more surprised if the other slicer hadn't reacted in some way to his probing. But the man was mistaken if he thought that getting him to give up would be easy. Being independent in his own right, he had to work harder to stake his own claim in the HoloNet than any slicer that was affiliated with the factions in the galaxy, whether they be minor or major in nature. But make his name he would, whether it was by necessarily fair means or not. If he had to play dirty to get his way, then he wouldn't hesitate to do so.

Once his own software detected the tracer he backed out of the network for the time being, keeping his insight into the betting and the other window up, though he did his best to lower his own signature with the strategies he was aware of and had exploited before. Regardless of whether it had been successful or not he came in from another angle this time, still keeping his activity to a fairly low level lest he draw any undue attention to himself this early. It would be unwise to get caught right away, and this definitely wasn't his first time in a similar situation. If anything it would only make it more interesting, as they were both experienced slicers, or so it seemed. That would just mean more unorthodox and underhanded tactics put to the test, whether they were to one end or another.

Having made his moves, however defensive they were, he sat back to watch the show play out, glancing through the crowd to the Chiss that he was currently playing against. A small smile found his lips, and he looked away after a moment, not wanting to catch the man's attention that way either.

[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

When it came to slicing, Cryax was one of the most tenacious this side of the Outer Rim, and the more another slicer tried to hide, the more Cryax became obssessed with hunting them down. The young Chiss was a man who had waged an epic battle over the networks of two of the hugest criminal networks using a literal monster made of code. Finding one script kiddie should be a piece of cake. Plus his friends hadn't arrived yet so he had lots of time to kill before the race started. Cryax monitored his Datapad's custom IDS unit and sure enough it showed some enough positive signs of foreign malicious activity, but he still couldn't find the source. Somehow this Pr0xy continued to be evasive.

With a furrowed brow, the Chiss kept typing, looking deeply into the network to see if he could find a trace of a slip-up. Even Cryax himself tended to get sloppy with code sometimes. That happened when you were slicing at lightspeed.

He didn't know what made him finally notice the man watching him. Perhaps it was the combination of the blue glow of the Datapad and the way the other man's eyes scanned its surface. Tell-tale signs of a slicer were staring Cryax right in the face. Literally. When he saw the man glance in his direction, Cryax in turn averted his eyes, but his suspicions were confirmed. The Chiss grabbed a drink from a serving Droid and promptly carried it to the table of the young red-haired man who was covered in gang tattoos. He set it down on the other man's table and grinned.

Cryax gestured to the glass of whiskey on the table with a blue-skinned hand. "I think this one's for you, Pr0xy," he said, his red glowing eyes narrowed in a steely glare.

[member="Jalek Sathora"]

 

[Jalek Sathora]

Taking his time, Jalek didn't make any move to quicken his activity or even greet the man, instead finishing with what he was doing before letting the screen of his datapad fade to black, finally moving his jade gaze from the screen to the Chiss in front of him, not bothering to feign ignorance. From the way the man spoke it was already evident he'd been located, and besides, he didn't look to be working with authorities of any sort, especially if he fit in so well to a place like this. So it was another criminal he had the pleasure of addressing. That wasn't something he'd done in quite awhile. But getting back into the swing of things was already proving to come as easy to the Morellian as breathing. Or in his case, slicing.

Finally he reached forward to take the glass in hand, holding his cigarette between the thumb and forefinger of his left hand and taking a drink of the whiskey with his right, setting it back down on the table and putting the cigarette in his lips once more, this time lighting it and blowing smoke rings into the air, perching it at the corner of his mouth. "Only my friends call me that, and I don't think we've met before, Bug." He returned the use of his alias with that of the other man's, having picked up on it in his short time slicing just moments ago.

Still he didn't move his booted feet off of the table, completely at ease with the situation, having been in those of more of a dangerous sort plenty of times in his career. "Is there something I can help you with, or was this just a courtesy visit? Because I can assure you that all's well and good, so you can go back to what you were doing." He nodded towards where he'd been sitting mere seconds ago. "But something tells me you're here for something else. I might advise finding a better tracer, or at least better software to improve the one you already have. There are plenty of tricks to avoid them, and shut them down with a few more lines of code. That's your first mistake."

Here he shrugged, blowing smoke from his mouth, not particularly caring in which direction it drifted. He had to admit, the other slicer wasn't hard to look at, but he'd concern himself with the other man's looks later. The bit of a distracted was appreciated, however. "Your second would be coming over here without a weapon, because you don't know who it is you're talking to. Thankfully for you I don't have anything more dangerous on me than just a datapad, and I'm not inclined towards violence tonight. Now." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Why don't you tell me what it is you want?"

[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

Waving away the smoke away from his face as the other man talked, the lanky Chiss felt his red eyes narrow even more. Who did this chuff-sucker think he was anyway? Cryax usually wasn't one to flaunt his position in the Red Ravens, but at this point he felt like he'd almost be doing the man a favor. After all, if the other slicer did make a move to physically threaten one of the top Ravens, the man would quickly be staring up at the blaster barrells of an unknown number of henchmen who were peppered around the club for protection.

In fact, Cryax could see that his defensive posture around the other slicer was raising a few eyebrows here and there in the crowd and he didn't want any Raven thugs with itchy trigger fingers to escalate the situation, so the Chiss grabbed a chair and calmly took a seat at Pr0xy's table.

"Look, man," he said, roughly moving Jalek's boots off the table with one blue-skinned hand. "I'll be the one asking the questions around here. What do you think you're doing slicing into Red Raven betting networks, eh? I coded those networks myself so if you thought you were going to get away with a little rig and run, you are sadly mistaken my friend."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't have you thrown out of this club. Because if I wanted to I could." With that, he sat back in his chair with his arms folded as if to say "your move."

[member="Jalek Sathora"]

 

[Jalek Sathora]

Again he shrugged, smoke snaking from between his lips as he spoke, his tone nonchalant. "Is that supposed to mean something to me? I couldn't care less who it is you run with, what organization you're the head of, anything. Because at the end of the day, that doesn't mean anything if your slicing isn't up to par with whatever titles you carry. You say you coded those networks yourself? I almost believe you." Sure, he was likely crossing multiple lines with his comments, but that had never stopped him before. If anything, it only made him more bold, as he wanted to see just how far he could push things with the new arrival. This was his chance to test his bounds with yet another, and see whether he would make good on his threats.

"The answer to your questions are simple. I was slicing because I could, not for anything in particular. And yours happened to be the nearest network, and one that proved to be the most challenge, so I did what I do best and got into a place I didn't belong." Taking the cigarette from his mouth once more, he took another pull of his drink, keeping it in hand this time, his cigarette between the fingers of the same hand that held the glass. "I don't much care if you boot me, either, and you can put me in a cell for all I care. But then, I'll either slice back in from a distance or escape and cause even more trouble, neither of which you much want, from the way you're acting."

He leaned forward, resting his arms on the table, studying the other man intently. "Oh, by the way, the name's Jalek. Figure it's only customary, if you're going to interrogate me like this. Now, is that really all you wanted to know? Pretty simple, coming from someone who likes to talk like he's a big shot. And you haven't tried to haul me away either. All in all, I'm pretty disappointed. I thought someone as good-looking as you would put on a better show." At his last jibe, admittedly very flirtatious in nature, he raised an eyebrow with a teasing smirk.

[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

Cryax ran his fingers through his blue-black hair and exhaled deeply. The other slicer was getting him all riled up and he'd been trying not to give into his anger so quickly. The last time he did, he got head-butted by an angry Mandalorian, so the Chiss internally counted backwards from ten until he was calmer.

Cryax understood the slicer creed that Jalek spoke of. He often sliced into networks himself just for fun, especially out of boredom, so he could hardly fault the other man for that. As he finished his spiel, Jalek although still testy seemed to loosen up a little bit and the fact that he gave Cryax what might have been his real name showed a modicum of trust. Unless it was just another alias the man used.

Cryax was in the middle of reaching for his drink when Jalek made his last remark, and in the split second that he processed the statement, the Chiss's hand slipped, almost tipping over his glass. Was the other slicer flirting with him? He wasn't really sure he heard him correctly so he just rescued his glass and sipped his drink, averting his eyes momentarily.

"Cryax Bane," he said with a guarded nod. "And you don't need to put on a show when you're one of the top brass of the Red Ravens criminal syndicate." He smirked and raised his eyebrow at Jalek. "I'm guessing by your tattoos that you're from a rival gang. Please don't tell me it's the Black Sun because then I might really have to hurt you," he added with a growl.

[member="Jalek Sathora"]

 

[Jalek Sathora]

The relatively sudden change of demeanor caused him to blink, though his easy smile just as quickly returned. "You overestimate me in the slicing game. I'm flattered, I really am. So unless you've gotten deep in the swoop racing business, we don't have any rivalries to worry about. No, I'm more or less a former member of the Lower City Renegades, based out of Taris. Whether you've heard of them or not doesn't matter to me, but I can assure you that we don't have anything with your Ravens, whether it's good or bad." A slow grin spread across his face. "Hurt me, really? I'm wounded, Cryax. I thought we'd gotten off on a better foot than that. Unless you're so upset that I actually managed to hack into your little betting network. I'd apologize, but I try not to lie to handsome men." Again with the flirtatious comments, though he pretended to have no notice of them.

"Oh, yeah, and again, I don't care how high up you are. In the end it just causes more trouble, because the more well-known you are, the harder it is to go unnoticed in places like this." Here Jalek gestured to the club around them. "I have the benefit of being a good slicer and not having any affiliation with any criminal group. Freelancing is so much more fun. Besides, when I can talk myself into places like this just as easily as I can crack into an encrypted network, I really don't have much to worry about."

He made a show as if to study what he could see of the other man's arms, as if looking for any tattoos on his body. "It's a bit rude to assume someone's a member of a gang by their appearance, by the way, wouldn't you think? But I can't tell you you're wrong. Though I never would have pinned you as any kind of criminal. You're too easy around the edges. New to the scene, or just not one that likes to get into the thick of things? I'd place credits on both."

It was obvious that his first bout of flirting had caught the man off guard, so it was going to be interesting to see how the rest of the night would progress. If this Chiss was so eager to continue speaking with him, then he would have to pay the price. And that was, inevitably, his own comments, however sarcastic or flirtatious they were in nature.

[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

Having grown up as that skinny geeky kid in his small village on Bakura in the Outer Rim, Cryax had never broken the habit of considering himself an unattractive guy. And even if he were an ugly duckling, the Chiss had never been hit on by another guy. So Jalek's second flirtatious comment definitely got a bigger response. The Chiss slicer blushed considerably, his blue cheeks turning purple. He quickly gulped down his drink and grabbed another one from a rolling bar droid.

As quickly as the other slicer flattered him, Jalek even more quickly followed his compliments with insults, and the Chiss slicer found himself growing irritated. Despite his testiness, Cryax was quite enjoying the slicer trash-talking. It was a nice change to have a war of words instead of getting beaten up or shot at. He didn't know why he continued to feel like he had something to prove to the other slicer. Perhaps the guy just knew how to push his buttons.

He smirked at the other man and put his hands up in a mock conciliatory gesture. "Sorry if I don't have the same pretty decorations as you do, Jalek. I do happen to have quite a few scars that you can't see." At the memory of Kessel, a red eye involuntarily twitched. "The Lower City Renegades, eh? I thought they were dead. That's what the word on the street is anyway." He waved his hand at the slicer dismissively.

[member="Jalek Sathora"]

 

[Jalek Sathora]

The blush from the other slicer earned a grin from him, and he leaned back, setting his glass down and putting his cigarette between his lips again, exhaling smoke, this time to the side. It was his own way to show his marginal respect for another, however rocky their relationship might have been at the moment. "The blushing only improves the view, by the way." That would be his last comment of the nature for awhile, if only to give the man a chance to relax from them before making yet another, which would make his next reaction all the more amusing to the Morellian. This was turning out to be less of a confrontation and more of a mind game, at least on is part. Mentally toying with others wasn't something he considered his speciality, but it was a well enough pastime when there was no slicing to be had.

However much he didn't like to admit it, the comment about the Renegades didn't sit well with the slicer, being a member of the gang himself. Sure, the group might have been ragtag and drifting apart, but they were much more closely knit than this group of the Chiss' seemed to be, and, at least in his opinion, more effective at getting the job done. "You'd better be careful how loud you say something like that, Bane. Otherwise you might be the one on the wrong end of a blaster. With a few more, ah, visible scars." The threat, just like his earlier comments of a marginally kinder nature, were easily spoken, as if no harm could come to him.

"Besides, you don't strike me as the type of person to know much about anything, when it comes to gangs. Or swoop racing. Or anything regarding illegality for that matter, however good your coding might be." He flashed a crooked grin, a bit teasing in nature. "Too bad this isn't a slicing contest, hm? Then you might actually stand a chance. Too bad these are bikers that you know next to nothing about, while it's somewhat of my speciality."

[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

With a chuckle, Cryax grinned widely. The Chiss had really touched a nerve with the other slicer, and he was thoroughly enjoying seeing the man get revved up. He decided to crank it up a few more notches to see what the swoop biker would do.

"What are you gonna do? Shoot me for insulting your little band of pretty boy bikers?" He gestured to the red-haired slicer across the table. "Go ahead and pull a blaster on me in this place. I karking dare you, Jalek," Cryax growled. Then he shook his head and gestured to his Datapad. "Seems like the quality of slicers has really degraded over the years. You used to need intelligence to do this."

"Besides, I thought my face was too pretty to shoot," he said, looking squarely at Jalek with a raised brow.

[member="Jalek Sathora"]

 

[Jalek Sathora]

Maybe he'd underestimated the other man, after all. It was true that Jalek was more than a little irritated at his remarks, and in his world, you only returned them with more of your own. Jalek found himself wishing his old friend Diego were there. The Chiss would be flat on his back faster than he could call his guards over to protect him. The thought caused the corners of his mouth to turn up in an amused smile, though he still remained decidedly silent, a number of witty comments coming to mind. "You used to need to be a little wiser to get into the criminal world, but they must be taking anyone these days, if the Ravens are letting you boss them around. I hate to see the rest of them, if you're the best slicer they have to offer."

Another idea had come to mind, this one not violent in nature, though it did involve contact with the man that he wasn't sure the guards that were most likely planted around the club would appreciate. But doing the smart thing had never been one of his talents, especially when he used to run with the Renegades. His most recent exploits with Diego could attest to that, as could the numerous brawls he'd found himself in over the years. This idea was something new to him, but he decided he didn't mind it in the least.

"Your face might be too pretty to shoot, but it isn't too pretty to do this." Making as if to stand Jalek reached across the table to pull the other man closer, pressing their lips together in an almost hungry kiss before releasing him with his trademark crooked smile. "And that's how we do things in the Renegades."

[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

At Jalek's taunting, the Chiss merely sat back in his chair with an amused expression. He had to give it to the red-haired slicer. The kid had a whole karkload of bluster, especially talking about the Red Ravens like that on their own turf. After a while, Cryax felt like maybe he should just buy him another drink and see if his skills were being underutilized in the Lower City Renegades. After all, he was mighty defensive about his gang and the other slicer had shown some talent slicing into the encrypted betting network. The Ravens could use slicing chops such as Jalek's. Then it seemed that he'd pushed the kid too far, because all of a sudden, Jalek was out of his seat.

At first when Jalek came towards him, Cryax tensed up, readying himself for a punch. When the man kissed him instead, it was thoroughly unexpected. He was sure it had probably raised a few eyebrows at nearby tables, but for the most part it didn't seem to cause much of a ripple in the club. Besides, the swoop race was finally starting and most of the patrons had their eyes glued to the Holos.

Once Jalek broke away, Cryax was speechless, and he simply blinked his glowing red eyes, then quickly took a swig of his drink. After a few long seconds, somewhat breathlessly, Cryax finally spoke. "As flattered as I am, Jalek, I'm taken."

He smirked at the slicer and added. "You didn't have to slice through the betting networks to get my attention, Jalek. You could have just bought me a couple of drinks." He hoped his joke would diffuse the tension between them, otherwise it was going to be a very long night.

[member="Jalek Sathora"]

 

[Jen]

"Aaah, what the fuck." A relieved and melodious voice sounded a few meters away, loud enough for the two to hear through the loud music: "There you are, I've been looking for you everywhere."

The voice very obviously belonged to Jennifer, a girl who couldn't be much older than eightteen or seventeen judging from her looks. At first glance one would mistake her for an ordinary Human being, which she was in some ways, however half of her appeared to be of another race entirely. At closer inspection one would perhaps notice a few hints to this other race, her nose with small curves in it, her marble white hair which appeared harder in structure than that of an ordinary persons. Hard structures like that could of course also come from over usage of hairspray, so that was a very common thing to presume. But perhaps the biggest tell off was her tail which swung around behind her as she walked towards the two at the table. Yes indeed, if one knew a bit about the races of the galaxy they could probably place her as half ryn and human. Tonight she was dressed quite ordinarily to her these days, from her fancy black mechanical trousers who also seemed to possess some sort of oil stain on them, a white tanktop and her fashionably leather jacket.

She continued to talk as she approached the two, not really seeming to take notice of Jalek at first, obviously oblivious to the little scene the two had played out just a moment ago: "You know Cryax. When I am directed to a table somewhere close to someone with a backless dress it is a bit hard to find you, especially when you have seated yourself where there are no such dresses." A laugh escaped over her lips as she now finally stood by the table, three tall humanoid structured droids following closely behind her, their pure crimson coating shining in the nightclubs lights. Her gaze turned away from Cryax to inspect the man who sat at the table with him as she was finished grinning, the three DD-S1 units seen splitting up to stand guard around the table in a triangle structure with their assault rifles in hand: "And who's this? Cause he ain't a Raven." She pronounced, pointing to the cigarette in Jalek's hand, probably indicating that it was the wrong brand he was smoking, or at least something similar to that.

It didn't seem to bother her terribly much though, for with that she quickly went to push herself down by the table, letting out a deep sigh as she leant back into the cushioned seats: "I'm growing curious, who is this? A friend of yours?"

[member="Cryax Bane"] :: [member="Jalek Sathora"]​

 

[Jalek Sathora]

The first comment, though he'd somewhat expected a similar response, only caused him to shrug. The second, however, earned a smile and a quiet laugh on his part. "I could have just as easily sat down at your table instead, but you beat me to it. Besides, the best way to get the attention of another slicer is, you guessed it, slicing. But I've probably been doing this for a bit longer than you think. I'm not quite as young and reckless as you think I am, but I appreciate the compliment." As a Morellian, he appeared far younger than his sixty-seven years of age, and his inexperienced appearance was something that caught others off guard. And by the way [member="Cryax Bane"] had been talking to him, he already had a pretty good idea that he'd labeled him as just another street kid who didn't know any better. Granted, he had to give him the first part of that equation.

Before he could get another word out they were joined by a woman who looked a bit young to know anything about this sort of business, but then again, as he knew best, appearances could be deceiving. Instead he moved on to answering her questions. "Friend, huh?" At that he glanced to the other slicer with a half smile. "You could say that. Name's Jalek. And before you ask, no, I don't work with or for the Black Suns, though I'm beginning to wish I did, just to see what everyone would do."

Now he leaned back in his chair, studying the three droids that had surrounded the table before turning back to the two in front of him. He'd garnered quite a bit of attention for just being another slicer that wanted to have a bit of fun, but he supposed it was unavoidable, at least given how they liked to talk about themselves. Apparently they were as big a name as they made themselves out to be, but he still couldn't make himself care all that much. Names weren't an important thing, at least where he was from. If you didn't have the skill necessary to back up your remarks, no matter how popular your gang was, it didn't do you any good in the end.

[member="Jen"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

As he heard Jen's familiar lilting tone, Cryax was instantly relieved. "Kteh!" he said, cursing in Cheunh when Jen called him out for switching tables. "Sorry about that, Jen. I forgot to tell you that I made a small detour." He eyed Jalek very briefly and then averted his gaze, finding it more comfortable to look away from the other slicer. When she neared him, Cryax stood up and gave her a brotherly hug, quickly pecking her on the cheek. He was protective of the half Ryn girl, although with a small army of security droids prompting flanking their table, there was absolutely no need to be. "You look nice." he said, smoothing out her jacket.

Now seated, the Chiss grinned at Jen when she astutely noted that the other slicer was an outsider. He sat back in his chair, his arms crossed over his chest, as Jalek introduced himself. Then he finally looked at Jalek squarely in the face. "Jalek, this is Jen. She's also a slicer and one of our best mechanics. Jen, Jalek is a swoop ganger with the Lower City Renegades of the planet Taris." With introductions out of the way, he gestured to the bottles of champagne that were now waiting on ice next to the table. "Help yourself, folks. The race has started," he said.

The Chiss absently rubbed his cybernetic knee, not fond of the memories brought on by the name of the Black Sun. Cryax leveled his eyes at Jalek and said, "If you had told me you were with the Black Sun, you really don't wanna know what I'd do to you. I'll just let you use your imagination, but trust me, it wouldn't be pretty."

[member="Jen"] [member="Jalek Sathora"]

 

[Jen]

"Awwh, good to see you as well. And thanks." Jennifer had responded to the hug and comment on her jacket, a hand going to rub her cheek as she sat down by the table, not really commenting on her cheek being pecked. It was Cryax and he was just trying to be polite and compassionate as always. At least he wasn't her grandmother or something. So one could easily argue that it wasn't embarrassing.

As she was introduced and Jalek, Cryax's 'friend', was introduced as well, Jennifer flashed a wide smile from where she was seen leaning back in the cushioning, she appreciated that title. One of the best mechanics of the Red Ravens. She had actually never really seen herself as that, but it was probably true. Mostly because there wasn't a lot of other people who had mechanical work as their specialty. And even then she was mostly focused on working with speeders and crafts alike, at least making her suitable for environments such as this one. Surrounded by speeders of a lot of different types and classes. A lovely place, to some extend.

"A swoop gang? Eh? Of what?" She asked if not having heard the full name, responding to her own question just a second afterwards: "The Lower City Renegades? Of Taris.. Hmm.. Never heard of them, but cool." She said not bothering to terribly much about the gang as it was not controlled by the Ravens nor the Black Suns, at least Taris wasn't placed in any of the two crime syndicates territory. It was some time ago she had looked at a proper map so she couldn't be sure, but still. Now there were other things to take care of.

She gave Jalek an absentminded wave in a sort of hello as the two was finished being introduced. Her attention however had now been turned to the bottles of champagne by the table, making her lean a bit forward to look down into the bucket they were placed in to attempt to read the names of the bottles, being unable to in the darkness of the nightclub. "Ermm, just a glass of whatever is best, that would be amazing. Someone needs to open the bottle after all. And I'm not really good at that stuff." She said rather rapidly, slowly leaning back into the couch. Furthermore it was also a sort of honor to open a champagne bottle, the drink of victory some claimed it to be. She wouldn't take such an honor away either of the two others by the table. Perhaps it was also her lazy self that spoke a tiny bit. Or the fact that she wasn't sure of the brands.

Hmmm, it seemed like the race was about to begin. She wondered were the rest of the raven crew were. Hopefully they would be here on time. She smiled at the black sun comment directed at Jalek: "Yea, this blue fellow may look very calm and proper, but when things get heated he's fucking insane." She grinned, a thick layer of sarcasm heard in her voice, she was just joking. It was probably true that Crayx was able to deliver a proper punch, but he was definitely not -at least from what Jen had seen so far- a terribly violent person.

[member="Cryax Bane"] :: [member="Jalek Sathora"]​