First Reply Down Dark

[Nej Tane]

CORUSCANT

LEVEL 1125
I ain't ever been a good man.
​

The further down you went, the less likely you were to see the sun. It was permanently dark in some places, towering hunks of metal raising from up on high casting such a large shadow, that it rarely even poked through the sun. It made for quite a depressing place. And quite a depressing people, for the most part.

But some people liked the dark. Some aliens preferred it- the sunlight of Coruscant, some more sensitive. But, they all stayed down there, down dark. Down and out of sight. And it was where Nej liked to be. Coruscant was packed with all sorts of do-gooders now. Reconstruction, the war, the threats from around the Alliance- put the whole planet on edge.

Hell, they just survived- barely, an onslaught by the Empire not too long ago.

So, everything was topsy-turvy. But things were also good.

If you were bad.

Nej had no real need of money, anymore. No, he was a billionaire. Literally. Billions. But he was an old soul, a classic career scoundrel. He couldn't resist the temptation anymore, the things he liked to do. So, he had gotten wind of a deal- a deal being made, one that he could intercept. Coruscant was home to a myriad of Empires, governments, groups. They all came, built something great, got worked over by someone else, taken over, then pushed out, or forgotten about and broken apart.

The weapons shipment- and more importantly, scuttlebutt that it was Kyber that was the hot commodity, from possibly the Republic, or First Order- or Sith Order (no. 455151) that controlled the planet at one point or another. But Kyber and weapons could do what money couldn't in Nej's position: favors. Favors bought you what money couldn't, hands shaking over credits wasn't as good as hands shaking over Kyber or weapons. So, Nej wanted to get a little piece of that.

So, Nej, red jacket, helmet ready to go, two disruptors and his enforcer pistol, and a bit of other scoundrel gadgets, walked along 1125... intending to meet up at one of the many older warehouses that lined Coruscant's dirty, disgusting, no-good streets. He turned his head, making sure he wasn't being followed. 1125 was a dangerous place, and he was liable to be ambushed on his way to his ambush just as much.

He didn't know how many were inside, who was inside, and what was going on really- but he knew one thing:

He hadn't met anyone faster on a gun than him, yet.

Yet.

And if there was someone faster-

Well.

That'd be it. Wouldn't have to worry about anything anymore, hm?

​

 

[Edward Ashcard]

Location: Coruscant - Level 1125 - Warehouse A67
Equipment:

• Blaster Carbine
• Durasteel Dirk
• Flight Suit
• Flak Vest (durasteel plate)

Tag: Nej Tane

Edward was on Coruscant as part of his long road back to the Unknown Regions. The road was far from straight and had taken him far away from a series of safe spaceports. He needed safe and secret transport and that came at a much higher price than economy class on the next ship out of the spaceport. He was somewhat of a free agent until he could return home, but his duty remained clear in his mind as he dealt with many who seemed to have no understanding of the concept.

Down on level 1125 he could almost forget that he was at the heart of The Galactic Alliance as their high ideas failed to pierce the darkness of the criminal underworld. Edward might not have had access to the full range of information gathering tools he was used to, but he only required his ears to listen to those too eager to share for their own good, and people were always eager to share their big score.

A patron at one of the local cheap nightclubs with the confidence of a giant had spilled his secrets. The details were poor as the patron could not wait to get to the punchline. He had driven off with a shipment of Kyber crystals and had stashed them. The patron was smart enough not to give the full name of the warehouse, but he had used different halves of its name throughout his announcement. A67. That was good enough for Edward since he knew that even if he was unable to find a buyer for the crystals, the finder's fee from the authorities, while much lower, would still have been worth the effort.

He had found A67 easily enough, and he had slipped in using one of the old broken loading bay doors. He looked down to check his equipment. He was wearing a black and red flight suit with a flak vest. He did not have the credits for armour and plain clothes infiltration had never been his strong suit. Furthermore, he had replaced the anti-radiation plate in the flak vest with a durasteel plate. His weapons were as simple as his clothes; a basic blaster carbine and a simple durasteel dirk. The poor equipment did not bother him too much as he was happy to be back on the Galactic stage, and he was confident that he did not need a powersuit for a warehouse raid.

Ignoring the oily smell in the air, Edward looked over to the lit gathering from his hiding place in the otherwise dark warehouse. It looked like two groups of gangsters had made it to the warehouse and while they were speaking softly, Edward thought it was clear they were working a deal over the locked crate on the ground between them. Both groups were armed with blasters at their sides, but he thought the group wearing thick jackets with their backs to Edward looked more serious.

Edward was confident. There were only eight of them in total, and they were sure to turn on each other once one of them had been picked off. He was going to keep to the shadows, fire a burst from his carbine before ducking behind the network of crates and containers.

He opened fire on the would be deal brokers but just as the first bolt left his carbine, he heard the sound of movement on the far side of the warehouse. Perhaps a door being opened or perhaps something else, but either way it was bad news. The situation was growing more complex and he had already pulled the trigger.

 

[Nej Tane]

Nej fired fir-

No, he didn't this time.

No, it wasn't him. But not him, not inside, not one of the many interested people coming to stake a claim in the leftovers of bygone Empires and bygone wars-

And then all hell broke loose.

Each side accused the other, and rightfully so, or perhaps wrongly, of getting ready to betray them. So, when the shot went off- the entire warehouse became a shooting gallery. Problem was, these weren't professionals. No, these were.... well, gangsters. And most gangsters didn't clock any time to practice or at the range- so....

The laser-light-show/blaster-bolt-extravaganza.... was not an accurate affair. That, and the noise was going to cause another problem: everyone down here, this far down on Coruscant.... well, they weren't well-off. And they were curious. And even worse, the more curious of the bunch would be the scoundrels and criminal types. That all wanted a piece of the action, wanted to see what was going on- and by Nej's guess, there'd be speederfulls of crooks and cronies.

Eventually, too, CorSec.

Eventually.

He primed his Disruptor pistols, advancing from his cover above, his rocket-boots and his helmet forming over his face. He was a blur of motion- in the span of less than two seconds, he engaged, accurately, rapidly, and quickly four targets- soaring across the ceiling of the warehouse, four thugs laying sprawled out, dead before they hit the ground. He floated across to the other walkway- quick and in a hurry.

And he looked up, his helmet and HUD registering someone else. As well as the other guy being five feet away from him. But he was alone, and not that well armed. One Disruptor pistol went in the new guy's face, the other returned fire at a few wide, inaccurate shots coming towards them. This guy wasn't them, but this guy also wasn't... not with them. Somebody, with somebody, or someone part of something.

"Hi there. Nej Tane, nice to meetcha."

Edward Ashcard

​

 

[Edward Ashcard]

Location: Coruscant - Level 1125 - Warehouse A67
Equipment:

• Blaster Carbine
• Durasteel Dirk
• Flight Suit
• Flak Vest (durasteel plate)

Tag: Nej Tane

"Greetings, Edward Ashcard. You appear to be put together much better than the fools here," Edward fired a suppressive burst from his blaster carbine across the warehouse, and as he spoke his voice was firm and undisturbed by the disrupter pistol so close to his face.

It seemed like the gunslinger had killed most of them, but he was not going to stand around during a combat he had started. He was well aware that it would be over for him if the gunslinger pulled the trigger on his disrupter pistol, but they were close and Edward was not out of options. A duck and a lunge with his durasteel dirk or a swing with his blaster carbine were very real possibilities, even if both still ended with Edward's disintegration.

A few of the remaining gangsters ran out of cover, only to be met by bursts of bluster fire. It was unclear if they had lost their minds or simply had decided to do everything in their power to avoid being disintegrated, but either way, none of them had made to the doors. Some of them had even died reaching towards them as they fell onto the uncaring metal floor.

He looked directly into the eyes of the gunslinger's helmets as he tried to work out what kind of person was standing before him. The smell of burnt flesh mixed with the oil in the air in the way that only increased the sense of unease.

"Whatever your motives are, I'm certain you agree that those gangsters would only waste what's in the crate. Our allegiances can come later, but for now, let us fight together in the name of competence?"