Coruscant Gauntlet [Open]

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck sat quietly in the spaceport at Masterra. It had been awhile since the last ship had launched. This spaceport was very much a dump, he could still smell the blaster burns in the walls. It wasn't well kept, but the place was very much popular... for the kind of people that Corruck had gotten out of the habit of associating with. However, he had made an exception for this time. He knew that there was supposed to be a man who was willing to take Corruck to Coruscant. He assumed that whatever the man was going to hall along with carrying Corruck was something that would be contraband or otherwise not appreciated by the One Sith.

He expected that the man would arrive soon, even smugglers and other such scum had schedules to keep. Corruck had enough money to pay for his passage, so long as the man did not try to make Corruck pay more than twice the standard smuggling rates. He was looking forward to Coruscant, he had some information to collect, and this would be his chance. The Sith couldn't stop him, hopefully.

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Corruck Kazen"]

From a side door emerged a spacer just as battered and odiferous as the hangar bay itself, and for similar reasons. "Kazen? Our mutual friend got a tipoff that they'd be looking for him on Coruscant, so he sent me. I'm Rekali, captain of the Role Model."

Not that she was exactly top-tier Underground, but she'd made a successful gun run to Asahi on their behalf, despite being hauled before a Lord of the Sith. She could keep her cool and think when things got hot.

She gestured at the eighty-metre mining barge in the next bay over. "That's her. You got any cargo you need brought aboard, or is it just you?"

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck smiled as he the lady introduced herself. He took a single glance at the ship and then let his gaze fall back to Rekali. It wasn't a bad ship, it actually looked quite comfortable and would serve the purpose of transportation more than sufficiently he assumed.

When she asked whether he had any cargo, he shook his head saying, "Just me and what I have on me." He paused for a moment before asking, "Shall we be off then?"

He turned to look at the ship again, he looked forward to seeing it on the inside, and in flight. Seemed solid and trustworthy. He liked it already.

[member="Alec Rekali"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Corruck Kazen"]

"Sounds good to me. We're all gassed up and good to go." She led him toward the next bay over, the one that held the modified Jo'henry-class. "She's got about six, seven times the bulk of a standard tramp freighter -- there's a yo'mama joke in there somewhere -- but she's all muscle. Moves as fast as any of'em, plus a couple of three-hundred-metre plasma-jets for punching through what needs punching through, if you get my drift."

And thin sensor-stealthed smuggling compartments inside various structural elements -- perfect for smuggling, say, a few gross of guns, plus some odds and ends. But compartmentalization of information was a thing.

"The plan's to pass ourselves off as what we are -- an independent freighter looking to sell ore to Titan Industries. We've got seven hundred fifty tons of ionite, which only comes from Mandalorian space. Very valuable, very dangerous once it's refined. I turn a profit and buy a little place in 1313, you get your ride to Coruscant, our mutual friends get some assets transferred to a place where they'll do some good."

She cracked the battered construction-equipment-yellow hatch and ascended into the guts of the ship she called home.

"Passenger cabin's that way. Mine's off-limits -- the full-service ride is extra." As she ran through preflight, she waggled her eyebrows vigorously enough to convey the joke, and her absolute comfort with making that joke. Passengers that got handsy lost hands.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck's eyebrows rose at her joke. He had not expected such humor from this kind of a person. Though he probably should have seen it coming, with a bunch of people who were called the Underground. Humor like that was not uncommon in the galaxy, he just didn't expect to have found it already it. He should have seen it coming, for one other reason, because of the way this place looked. It was nowhere near as clean as the Recalcitrant but it was certainly cleaner than garbage ships he had been on.

"I guess you don't get a lot guests then." He said casually as she walked off.

He moved to the cabin to find out what condition it was in. He had not brought much with him, not even any of his usual weapons. Partly it was simply a security idea, if he was searched, he would have no illegal or otherwise incriminating evidence on him. One of the few things he had brought was a datapad, with extended memory for the data he was hoping to get hold of.

He looked around the room, it appeared to be a little clean. At least it smelled better than the starport they were leaving, not that that was saying much. He pulled out his kit of shaving tools and got to work on the stubble he been letting grow on his face during his time to the space port. He had figured a system of timing based on how long his hair had grown. Now he would shave and let it begin growing again. It would both give a basic idea of how long he was gone and make his face a little more difficult to distinguish.

[member="Alec Rekali"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Corruck Kazen"]

A Jo'henry took a bit to get running. A mining ship might not be the most complex craft in the 'verse, but the dang thing massed as much as a small corvette, and was automated to the point where Alec and a handful of droids could run it alone. She and that handful of droids finally powered up the repulsors just as her guest was finishing his shave, though she couldn't have known it, and the dull yellow mining barge lifted off.

In due course, they shuddered into hyperspace, and Alec appeared in the door of Kazen's quarters, leaning on the lintel with thumbs hooked in the low belt of her shipsuit trousers. "We just made the jump," she said. "Down the Corellian Run to start, then a hop down the Perlemian. Coruscant's the endpoint of hundreds of hyperroutes, and there's thousands ships our size making their way in from all directions, looking for work with Titan Industries, supplying the new Coruscant yards with raw materials. It's a mess, really. We'll be one of dozens or hundreds headed for the undercity, for level 1313. I've futzed our drive efflux -- we'll burn a bit dirty, but our drive signatures won't match what they've got on record for me, and we're running under a false telesponder. We're now the Starlight Millar, out of Corulag."

 

[Corruck Kazen]

"Smart. I assume then you have a false identity or something like that so that you are not identified with this ship?" He asked. He thought this was incredibly smart. He looked forward to this journey. He wondered how well this adventure would go. He trusted that this would work out well, he questioned the sort of weaponry that was being taken, and the kind of person that was his current host. She seemed alright, and he assumed that she was trustworthy, however he still questioned those who he did not know.

[member="Alec Rekali"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Corruck Kazen"]

"Handful of'em. Pricey things, too. For this trip I'm Captain Alex Caleigh. Close enough to 'Alec Rekali' that I'll respond to it naturally, far enough that it won't raise flags." Still leaning against the doorframe, she shrugged. "I've been Alex Caleigh of the Starlight Millar often enough that I've got backstory, if they choose to dig. How about you? You've got false identities squared away? If you don't, I know a guy on Corellia who can hook you up, right on our way."

 

[Corruck Kazen]

"That would probably be a good idea. I do not normally have the resources to fake an identity beyond a simple name change and false papers." These people were certainly quite capable. He would have to learn move about them in the future. People with these resources tended to be good associates, from Corruck's opinion. "What sort of information would this acquaintance of yours require?"

[member="Alec Rekali"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Corruck Kazen"]

"Nothing but a holoscan, your fingerprints, a voiceprint and a blood test. Then they find a good alternate identity that fits the sectors and antibody profiles your voice resembles. Out of my depth a little. Wish I could do it, but I get the feeling it'd take me a serious investment in time, medical gear, infochant contacts, and not being around to mine asteroids. And I do love mining asteroids.

"Speaking of resources, though, my contact isn't cheap. I can spot you, but no offense, I'd rather not."

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck let a smile cross his face as she spoke. He tended to wish he could learn more of that sort of thing as well, but most of the time he would realize that it was simply not possible to learn everything he wanted. Instead he stuck with what he enjoyed and let others learn the things that he did not know. When [member="Alec Rekali"] spoke about payment the smile vanished. Not because he couldn't pay, or that he would prefer not to, but instead that he realized that he had not brought all the money he had intended on. He had a good enough amount, almost two hundred thousand credits in standard currency, however he had intended on bringing another fifty thousand in case he had come across unexpected expenditures. This specific payment had been anticipated.

"I think I could pay. How much is it normally?"

[member="Alec Rekali"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Corruck Kazen"]

"For the full serve, about forty thousand. Cheap-starfighter territory. That gonna be a problem for the wallet, or you gonna have to use the company card?"

 

[Corruck Kazen]

"I can pull that. Do you have a name to transfer the credits to?" Corruck asked, pulling out a datapad. Of course he wouldn't carry the credits physically around, that would be incredibly heavy and a big risk. Instead it was in the form of transfers that would be carried out immediately on his datapad.

[member="Alec Rekali"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Corruck Kazen"]

"Mmmm...that's gonna be a little problem. Any electronic transfer can be traced if the slicer's good enough. My contact takes cash only, but I mean, we're going to Corellia -- people take out cash from their credits all the time on Corellia. Eh, don't worry about it. We'll get you squared away once we make landfall."

***​

​

The hyperlane was one of several that intercepted the Corellian system, and after reversion the Role Model became just another disreputable private ship in the complex flows of sublight traffic. A quick touchdown on Corellia proper, a couple of purposely sketchy transactions, and they were on their way once more. Alec made sure to check the local market for the ore she carried, just to verify that Coruscant had marginally better buy prices than Corellia, or their story wouldn't hold up.

Jump by jump, they made their way around the Core, out of Protectorate territory, through the Republic and into the land of the Sith. In due course, hold empty, searched casually, papers and backstory inspected, they wound up on Coruscant, in level 1313. The ultimate hive of scum and villainy. The Role Model-slash-Starlight Millar rattled as it settled into the docking berth.

"All right, here's where it gets tricky," she said, leaning back in the shock couch. Outside the viewport, the nightscape was half neon holograms and half grime. Close enough to Nar Shaddaa to feel friendly. "Getting to the surface on Coruscant isn't too hard. What matters is avoiding attention from Sith or Sith-connected folks while we're here. Low profile, but not so low that we look like we're trying. Covert ops is the art of doing kark all, convincingly. What you gotta get done, and where?"

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck was truly surprised at the abilities of this...smuggler? He realized that he had not truly questioned this woman's past. He had assumed that she was trustworthy simply because he trusted the people he had contacted. He reprimanded himself on that oversight, however so far it did not seem to have been a mistake... "You've spent to much time in that Rebel Alliance. You're getting soft and foolish." He had thought to himself many a time during the voyage.

-------------------------------------

Coruscant, his target information was here. He had to think when [member="Alec Rekali"] asked what he needed. He had planned for it, however he had expected to have some type of guide to an information terminal, preferably within one of the larger libraries on planet. Unfortunately, in the outer rim he did not get quite as much information on Coruscant as he would have preferred. "To start I need a terminal, preferably one with deep historical access. Probably one of Coruscant's Libraries. How easy do you think that will be? Keeping in mind that we will try to avoid garnering too much attention."

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Corruck Kazen"]

"There's more than one way to skin a Felacat. Infochants -- information brokers -- are pretty common in 1313, and more than one's got a terminal with good access squirreled away. I've got zero doubt you could just pay through the nose, give an infochant a list of what you're after, and get a decent bit of data. But I've done enough research myself to know that you don't know what you don't know." She squinted out through the viewport. "I think that Ranat owes me money. Uh, but yeah. Might be a way to get you half an hour with an infochant's terminal. If we get caught, we've ticked off someone who's the definition of well-connected. But it's probably still safer than trying to sneak into the library."

Three knocks, then two, then three on the hatch. She unfolded herself from her chair. "Stay in the cockpit for ten minutes; my contacts are skittish, don't like new faces. Docking-protection fee's paid, but keep watch anyway."

She spent the next while getting guns out of the thin, sensor-stealthed smuggling compartments throughout the Role Model's superstructure. The contact, an Ishi Tib, loaded them into crates he'd brought along, then left on a hovercart, at which point Alec headed back to the cockpit.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck understood completely about clients and/or customers being jumpy with new people. He had had to deal with those kinds before, so he willingly stayed in the cockpit. While he waited, he spent some time calculating the possible time requirements to get his needed data. The information he was looking for would probably be buried quite deeply underneath lots of other historical data. Hence he would need a lot of time to dig through history banks and similar things.

That was only for the first five minutes, he soon became bored. He used his datapad to find the current fashion and economic trends. He used most of time to simply make calculations as to what the future would be in those two areas. He always assumed that he got more than fifty-percent incorrect, however most of the time he was fairly accurate. While it kept his mind working, it was still monotonous and he lost interest quickly. He forced himself, however, to continue as it was a good mental exercise.

For the last bit of time before [member="Alec Rekali"] returned, he looked around the cockpit. He was trying to recognize controls, simply to keep himself occupied. When she came in, she would find Corruck standing over one of the control boards intently looking from part to part, as it he were trying to move it with the Force. Of course, he was not Force sensitive and knew no practical knowledge on the Force. He was so intent that he didn't even notice Alec come in. His mind was trying very hard to figure out the controls, which he could get some of.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Corruck Kazen"]

"Careful there," she said, no less a warning for being good-natured. "Wouldn't want me thinking you were putting some technoForcewhammy on the Role Model.". She slouched into her seat. " Ahh. Good to sit down. Took a bit longer than expected, and that dren got heavy. But my business here's all done. Let's look to yours. There's an infochant named Duke a couple levels down. I'm fairly sure he's got a terminal hidden away, with the kind of access you're after."

 

[Corruck Kazen]

"Well let's get to it then. I doubt you want to stay here any longer than we have to." He moved away from the controls, giving a mock wave of his hand over them while smiling. He could empathize with [member="Alec Rekali"] he was sometimes tired after deals. He realized that he should probably first ask, "Actually, if you're tired you can take a rest. If you give me directions I can make it on my own." He wasn't a complete novice on criminal activities, but he was a new face in the area and that may or may not be a hindrance with these people.

[member="Alec Rekali"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Corruck Kazen"]

"Hey, if you've got stuff you need to do alone, I just spent ten minutes locking you in the closet while I did my stuff, so it'd be Silver Jedi-level hypocrisy to whine. Go for it. I'll turn on the perimeter alarms; just put in the guest code when you get back to the hatch. That's three knocks, two knocks, three knocks. Very high-tech. I...am going to take a sonic shower. There's taking a shower alone in your home, and there's taking a shower when you've got company. I'm aiming for the former."