First Reply Drift Away | Coruscant

[Tamami]

Drift Away
Coruscant Underbelly
Tags: Open

​

Tamami followed behind her current handler, the Weequay slicer Otar Ginns. He was a squat, rotund fellow that was a bit of a weasel. Unfortunately for her, the criminal also accidentally helped free her from the jaws of a Nexu. Lucky her. So, in compliance with her neural programming, she was following the slicer to his next big haul. It was a warehouse in the underbelly, level 1327, where an old cache had been left behind by a older criminal organization. Supposedly the cache had been sitting there for a few hundred years. Tama stood lazily off to the side and leaned against a pillar as Otar got to work with the access terminal.

"I think I almost got the blasted thing open," the Weequay muttered. "I'll get this door open and I'll be-"

There was a click in the mechanism, causing a large electrical current to be released. It surged into the criminal and seemingly fried him in an instant. No screaming ever left the man, only the chattering of his teeth as he jittered and twitched uncontrollably. When the electrical light faded only a charred body was left behind. The terminal had clearly been trapped. Tamami stepped forward, prodding the man for a moment with her mechanical finger.

"Huh," she frowned. "Neat."

Free once again. The life debt was gone and she could go find somewhere to lie low, hopefully to avoid being forced to work for whatever loser wound up accidentally helping her again. The cyborg moved to step away, only for her to hear a click below her boot. A net of all things dropped down from above, magnetically locking into place around her and hoisting her into the air. She didn't struggle. Tama didn't have the energy for that. All she could do was let out a tired exhale, sinking into the mesh as she hung suspended helplessly.

"Sure..." the cyborg muttered. "Of course... why not..."

Because her luck needed to get worse.

 

[Kaelen Varrin]

Not because he was a Weequay, but because his mark was, at best lucky and at the most realistic just incomptent, Kaelen had been shadowing Otar. The cyborg Tamami had given him pause. He wasn't half bad as a slicer or the like, but far from a tech-jockey, so insofar as evaluating them as any sort of threat or interference, he was coming up desperately short.

Then the damned fool went and fried himself, and Kaelen thought he was in the clear to approach Tamami and maybe do a little negotiating. He wasn't after the whole cache. There was just a few crates with specific things he wanted. He was even authorized to maybe wheel and deal in various illicit black market goods for securing such things. Sort of.

Before he could even approach and break the ice, a net fell out of nowhere, and almost without thinking the scruffy looking man had a very customized heavy blaster pistol that couldn't even be identified as far as a base model. The gun hummed to life with an angry rasp like an exceptionally large cloud of wasps, and Kaelen stepped forward,

 

[Tamami]

Coruscant
Tags: Kaelen Varrin

​

Tama audibly groaned when the scruffy individual came into view, sinking a little more into the net. The last thing she needed was for some dope to accidentally help her and rope her into another adventure.

"Don't bother," the cyborg sighed. "I don't care about the stupid cache. Do me a favor and ignore me... The code to the door is 899274."

She didn't express any fear, more so indifference. All she really wanted was for the man to take the free hint and shove off. The Weequay was a bit of a bumbling moron, his memory clearly faulty. Tamami, unfortunately, had a chip in her brain that let her remember everything. It truly was a shame that he never once asked for her assistance. She'd never do anything she wasn't asked to after all.

Hopefully, if she was lucky, the man would simply accept the code and head off to get his score. She didn't want to be stuck helping someone else try to break into this place.

 

[Kaelen Varrin]

He nodded to her, checked the mag on his blaster, and acted as if to holster it. At the last moment, a hissing bolt of green burned into the ground where he was. Despite looking like little more than your average street thug, somehow Kaelen wasn't where the bolt hit. Somehow, he was several feet forward from there, spinning, his Corellian style longcoat flaring almost like a holovid as the custom piece from before seemed to almost float up with his hand in slow motion, the rasping hiss sawing through the air as a trio of bolts streaked out from it whilst he continued the spin.

Far from purely dramatics, the spin was honestly the most economical way to avoid being shot. Even if he had wanted to ignore Tamami , the sniper Rodian who suddenly dropped from the roof with a triplet of smoke snaking from holes that went straight through his chest and belly and punched out his back had forced his hand otherwise.

Though not squeamish about killing in any way, a dead body in this situation brought questions. Brought unwanted attention. And so with a rather callous grunt and a rough shod thumping kick that seemed more suited for a crushed can or a piece of trash, Kaelen booted the body over the lip it had landed next to and into the voids of the city. There was no audible sound of impact as the corpse fluttered on down to it's eventual destination.

"Well, that was eventful. I don't think anyone has tried to kill me in at last a few day cycles. Almost as refreshing as a good stim or strong caff. Now, let me get this electroknife out of my pocket... There we go... You'll be out in a jiff. I don't want any thanks. Just give me a few crates I'll know on sight, I can even pay or trade, and i'll be on my way and you can have the rest. Sell it all, burn it, donate it to an orphanage. I don't care..."

As he wisecracked and rambled, he had pulled a battered, simple, vaguely military issue looking electroknife made for just this task almost and began sawing the net to free Tamami. When the hole he was cutting was large enough, he stepped back.

"Look, I can see the hardware. I know sometimes you folks have weird programming. I'm not here for that. Just here for some goods and to be on my way, got it?"

 

[Tamami]

Coruscant
Tags: Kaelen Varrin

​

"Well, that was eventful. I don't think anyone has tried to kill me in at last a few day cycles. Almost as refreshing as a good stim or strong caff. Now, let me get this electroknife out of my pocket... There we go... You'll be out in a jiff. I don't want any thanks. Just give me a few crates I'll know on sight, I can even pay or trade, and i'll be on my way and you can have the rest. Sell it all, burn it, donate it to an orphanage. I don't care..."

"Wait, don't-"

Tama felt the net open up, and she slipped out. For a moment, she stood there in a daze. The man's words seemed to fall on deaf ears as the young woman bristled with irritation, feeling the deep-seeded effects of her programing take effect.

"I told you to ignore me!" she snapped, now becoming frustrated. "I.... URHHHGAH! Are you kidding me!?"

Deep breaths.

The cyborg turned away and gave herself a moment to breath. Simple payment wasn't going to do it, of course. She needed a very specific condition set for the life debt to be paid. It was frustrating, but she needed to collect herself and get this over with. Fortunately, an opportunity had presented itself. That would be that and she could be on her way.

"Look, listen to me," Tamami stated. "I don't know what you think you understand about my programming, but because you just assisted me I am debilitatingly in your debt. I'm going to help you get into that cache, and I need you to tell me that is a satisfactory repayment for my debt so I can get the feth out of here. Can you do that for me?"

Usually she wouldn't be so expressive, but her day had so far been absolutely awful. She just wanted to get this over with so she could go home.