I Don't Speak a Word of Apostrophe

[Laguz Vald]

Putting on a skin that blended easily with the local crowd had been remarkably easy, in hindsight. Laguz had used a few online editions of Mr. Galaxy and Badass weekly for reference, toning down the muscles just a little bit so that xe was actually still capable of the full range of motions that humanoid joints were designed to perform. With a properly rugged five o'clock shadow gracing xir angular jaw and a few scars to boot, the merc well and truly looked the part.

Flashing a final roguish grin at his decidedly manly reflection, the assassin marched out of the small bathroom on his ship and shouldered what little gear he'd brought with for this particular trip.

His usual — his favorite — was safely stored somewhere inside that bulky body forged in the fires of testosterone, but for all intents and purposes, Laguz Vald set foot onto Mandalore looking every bit like the next mandalorian.

Lively green eyes strolled across his surroundings, noting the exits, entrances, and all other related details that might come handy later should things go south, and then the tower of muscle headed through the side doors and out of the hangar, where his newly rendered thoughness was fast exposed to the howling winds ruling the planet's north.

Laguz frowned, rather un-mandalorianly.

Then he put on the cheap durasteel buy'ce he'd 'borrowed' on his way to Cold Iron city an, stuck his thumbs behind his belt and headed for the cantina where he was slated to meet with one [member="Elijah Rekali"].

He hoped the other guy would do the ordering for both of them, because gods knew that Laguz didn't speak a word of apostrophe.

 

[Hira Mitsae]

Home.

In a lot of ways it was just a manner of speech. A figural representation different and dependant on whose opinion you asked at the time. Mandalore had never been his home, he might have spend a few months of every year here with his father and uncle back in the day... but it was Yavin and Clan Rekali where his real home was.

His personal feelings were irrelevant though. Any bounty hunter worth his credits managed to secure a certain level of contacts and the sort throughout his career, and it was no different for Elijah.

After he had left his clan in pursuit of experience, glory and reputation in the Outer Rim... well he had kept some ties here and there. Mostly family though, but having friends in Cold Iron City was never a bad thing for your rep sheet - especially after your ship and everything on it went up in flames after a mission gone wrong.

His contact touched base with him about a need needing fulfillment. Beskar ore, small supply but a steady one.

Realistic request and considering his own need in the matter... a highly motivated one.

"Drink for the new guy." Elijah requested in fluent Mando'a, before gesturing for Laguz to join him in the corner of the bar. His own position had a good angle on the entrance and possible exits - can't ever hurt to be careful.

"Trip was agreeable with you?"

Switch to Basic was instantaneous. Most Mandalorians didn't really care these days anymore, few things really... mattered these days, it seemed.

 

[Laguz Vald]

Locating the guy was easy enough — 'Look for the one guy without a T on his face' was pretty good advice — and with some creative meandering among the mandalorians and tables who unsurprisingly occupied the same amount of space, Laguz plopped himself down into a chair opposite [member="Elijah Rekali"] with a relieved sigh.

"Average," the merc was curt as he offered his meaty paw for the other man to shake.

Before he could say anything more, however, the bartender returned to place a generously filled tumbler in front of the faux mandalorian. Laguz eyed the drink, then let out an easy chuckle and slipped off his helmet again, revealing the face he'd spent some minutes crafting in front of a mirror eariler that same day.

You couldn't tell even if you knew.

"Alright," the shifter spoke after a long sip of the undiluted liquor, "let's get down to business, shall we?"

"I don't need a lot of the stuff, really, but I trust Cat already told you that. Think… Oh, I don't know. Maybe a few kilos the first month, but I reckon progressively less each time unless something super weird happens."

"How's that sound?"

Names were… a commodity in their trade, and something not given out as lightly as it was among those who led more gullible lives. Should any unwelcome ears be listening in on their conversation, they would find it woefully devoid of any incriminating details they could exploit.

Laguz suppressed the urge to giggle like a little girl and covered it up with another sip of his drink.

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Laguz Vald"]

Elijah took the hand offered, and behind his visor it was really hard to keep a neutral expression, because without trying Laguz was already sending the wrong signals to those attending.

Not that anyone was really paying attention to two guys sharing a drink and talking, but it was all about the details for Rekali and it seemed that his contact hadn’t done his homework.

Ain’t a smart idea to offer a bare hand to a Mandalorian wearing crushgaunts.

“Not a problem.” Didn’t seem like the man was wanting some beskar armor or a weapon, not enough ore to be able to forge such a thing… so probably ammunition.

Would explain the request for a more steady supply… and with the fall of Echoy’la, Elijah doubted that reforging the ore into the metal would be a very hard job. The Mandalorians liked to pretend like only they knew the secrets of Beskar - but the honest truth? With so many years passed, with so much knowledge being disseminated and so many worlds lost to them already?

Almost impossible to keep something like that a secret for forever.

“Where’s it supposed to go?”

 

[Laguz Vald]

Laguz could've secured a steady supply line from Echoy'la, of course. In fact, it would've been far easier than diving head-first into the depths of mando territory to find a guy who supposedly didn't really care as much for the guys as most of them did. He was taking a risk here, he knew, but it had its benefits; going with Echoy'la would've meant easy tracking, and an obvious target, when someone, somewhere, finally figured out where the beskar was coming from.

But grabbing it directly from Mandalore? Hoooboy, that carried some unpleasant implications for the proud mandalorian peoples when it cam back around. Mando-killing rounds hailing from their own backyard? Awk-ward.

"I'm glad," he spoke, in that gruff voice of his, and took another sip of his drink while the man behind the helmet pondered.

"Mm. Drop point on Dressel, in the interest of..." he gestured with his hand as if he were struggling to find the proper term, "privacy." Yes, privacy was good. You wanted privacy when you were about to embark on a high-risk-high-gain venture such as this.

"I have to ask, though; do you deliver yourself, or do you employ middle-men?


[member="Elijah Rekali"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

“Middle-men.” the Mandalorian replied while leaning into the back of his seat. From here he could easily see the entrance and various exit points of the bar, also gave him a view of the barman who was currently giving him a curious look.

But he disregarded it as nothing out of the ordinary, the design of his suit wasn’t exactly… standard.

People got curious all the time, and most of the time it helped his reputation along. Mandalorians were nothing new in the Galaxy, but ones without the T-visor?

Well that was certainly an oddity worth mentioning whenever gossip came up.

“I only handle things personally when it is something critical or sensitive, which this is not.” It wasn’t a nuclear device, codes to the security of the Coruscanti Galactic Bank or a VIP that needed to be moved. A bunch of ore could easily be missed, moved without any much problems.

Rekali tapped a button on his wrist and a short-burst of information would be received by Laguz.

“Everything you need to know is on that data. Means of contact and the sort. We value our privacy as much as you do.”

[member="Laguz Vald"]

 

[Laguz Vald]

He nodded slowly in reply, making a mental note that his appearance at the pickup will matter very little, since the middle-man would only be apprised of his general looks in contrast to [member="Elijah Rekali"]'s memory. Especially considering the man opposite was a bounty hunter. The bastards had a notoriously good eye for faces, simply because it was part of their job description to remember those very well.

Showing up to the second date wearing a different face was karking awkward; believe you Laguz.

"No, it's not," the faux mandalorian confirmed and downed the rest of his drink. His attention shifted momentarily to the flashing on the screen of his datapad, and once he'd skimmed the information transferred to him by the other man, the merc set it back down on the counter.

"I can see why Cat recommended you. Looks to be in good order, and so I believe our business here is done," he said and slowly stood up again, hand pausing mid-air as he reached for the buy'ce he'd set down before.

"Unless… unless you want to get on that job that Cat mentioned when we talked."

Laguz leaned back against the bar stool and leveled the red transparisteel of his visor with his keen, bright green eyes.

"I've got this week free still, and the beskar will take some time to get a hold of. Might as well, no?"

 

[Hira Mitsae]

Elijah leaned back against his seat. It wasn’t an unreasonable request all things considered. Cata’s money had been good up until now, his jobs were not always simple, but in the grand scheme of things the man was up front about his intentions and didn’t try to overly obfuscate details that might be relevant to the job - all of which gave the Primeval a firm plus in his rating book.

“Sure.” the Mandalorian eventually said, before standing up and taking another wide look over the bar. Some people were looking at him without hiding their curiosity - the Rekali scion hadn’t been seen in this part of the Galaxy for a long time.

Ember had been a big dog in the past. A Field Marshal, the Warlock of Yavin. So the Rekali name held a lot of weight in these parts, they were probably wondering what kind of man Elijah would be.

If he would take to his uncle or… if there was a different route for him.

“My ship, though. Meet me there in thirty, I will need to sort out some of the gear for this one.”

After which he threw some credits on the bar, gave a nod to the bartender and left the establishment.

[member="Laguz Vald"]

 

[Laguz Vald]

It wasn't Bleeding Sun business. That much was obvious, because if it were, Cata wouldn't try and outsource it to other people. Not that Laguz had a thing against 'other people' — he hardly classified as the most loyal of agents, really — but there were certain manners one had to maintain in this particular business niche they occupied. Like cleaning up your own mess, for example.

It would just look bad if Cata and his people were to start contracting outsiders for taking care of internal matters. Laguz, say, could play both sides of that fence by virtue of being, well… hard to track down would be one way to put it.

Plus, playing both was just so much fun.

And then sometimes, it had the unpleasant potential of becoming less fun real fast, like right now. Laguz narrowed his green eyes ever so slightly at the reflective red visor, and hopelessly remained ignorant about the expression that might or might not be residing on the face of the mandalorian. Damn helmets.

"Alright," he conceded after a small pause, still wary of the stipulation. If worst came to worst, he could always plant one of those fun little charges on his face and get the Nether out of dodge.

With that, the faux mando stood up as well, smoothly passing his hand past the credits on the bar as he did. The bartender could never tell — the shapeshifter was just too fast for that — but he would later find out that some of the money he'd been paid with was counterfeit. How… unfortunate.

Whoops.


[member="Elijah Rekali"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

Catalys had told him about the mission a few weeks ago - didn't ask him for immediate assistance though, probably thought that if he left some bait in the open that the Mandalorian would jump at the chance of earning some pay: and immediately make his bargaining position less favorable.

But when one of them offers you the job directly? Different story all together. It might be that Elijah was over thinking the concept of taking and accepting jobs, but he had been in this business for a long time now.

Don't fix what ain't broken.

It was a heist of a sort. Apparently Catalys and Laguz caught wind of an ancient treasure buried deep, deep down somewhere on a planet in the Tion Cluster. Apparently it was quite the legend amongst the Tionese - he didn’t have any useful details at this point, mostly because he hadn’t jumped at the chance.

But suffice it to say that a despot’s treasure… could mean one hell of a payday. Maybe enough to start doing some investments himself, maybe help out on Yavin instead of running around the Outer Rim and trying to add to a reputation.

Point was. Apparently the Exemplars weren’t the only ones who were interested. Some kid of archaeological operation was happening there right now and that meant that there would probably be security.

Heavy security if it was sponsored by the Tion Hegemony.

[member="Laguz Vald"]

 

[Laguz Vald]

Laguz rarely waited this long to follow up on a good lead — especially if it was a fresh one — but sometimes other errands came in between the merc and xir profit. It was deeply tragic when it happened, but even the shapeshifter couldn't weasel xir way out of every sticky situation. Especially when planetary invasions, mandalorians, and ancient weapons of mass destruction were involved. Nasty business, that one, and not something Laguz would get xemself into ever again if xe had any say in it.

Still, that was all behind xem now, thankfully, and more 'free time', as it were, meant that xe could finally get around to utilizing the piece of information gained after a very enjoyable escapade in the back room of the palace on Bastion. Save for a small interruption by a cephalopod with an ego bigger than its swollen, slimy body. Laguz shuddered at that particular mental image and shoved it back into the abyss of xir mind, taking another deep drink from the bottle on the table.

Playing the waiting game was sort of hit-or-miss for the merc. Some times, the play turned out to be fun enough, or the sniper found something else to entertain xemself with while xe waited.

This time around, xe had enough on xir mind to pass the time easily enough, pondering on the details of the job as xe laid out all the intel xe'd gathered about it. Tion wasn't going to be happy about their presence there, that was certain, but if xe had any say in it, Tion would never know they were even there.

Shouldn't be too hard, when you had a shapeshifter on hand. Sneaking in, at least for Laguz, would be the easy part. The difficult thing would be getting all the stuff out without getting caught, and then shipping it off-planet somehow. That… now that was going to be a challenge and a half, what with the excavation going on.

Hopefully, the [member="Elijah Rekali"] guy would live up to his rep.

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[SIZE=10.6667px]Elijah had a few ideas about that one.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]Most of it came down to simply having [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px]them[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px] to all the digging, categorizing and handling the transportation from the planet proper - then, it was as [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px]simple[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px] as commandeering the transports that were used to bring out the goods themselves. Well, simple for some people, it was a good idea on the written word, but the Mandalorian would need more information before he could give a good estimate on how easy it was really going to be.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]Walk amongst the workers and their security detail, check out what kind of freighters they would be using for the eventual passing and what the escorts would be for the ships themselves. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]All of these variables could make it either the simplest run & gun operation in history or as impossible as breaking into the Bank of Coruscant and getting away with the entire vault in your backpocket. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]Most of the gear was the simple things. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]They would probably have to watch for the body count, because as an extended infiltration op it would only raise suspicion if people suddenly came up dead - stun guns, he had a few left over from his time with the Underground that could be used probably. Some light armor that could be easily hidden behind clothing: there was some replicated Asheran Armorweave coming from back alley shops. They weren’t as good as the original thing, but they would do the job and wouldn’t be as easily tracked as the exclusive and expensive original.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]Took him about ten to sort out the different parts in the plan, and with that done he settled himself down in a comfortable chair, a glass filled with amber and ice in hand, helmet resting against the chair. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]It gave him about twenty to wind down, before Laguz would get here.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px][member="Laguz Vald"][/SIZE]

 

[Laguz Vald]

Commandeering the transports themselves… yes, that could work. That could work quite nicely, but it would require exquisite planning, to say the least. And it was in this area that Laguz lacked the most. Some of xir greatest undertakings had been completely spur-of-the moment, without a single shred of forethought, preparation, or common sense. The merc was just that awesome an improviser.

Still, even all the luck in the Galaxy couldn't make this heist suceed. If there was one thing Laguz had learned in all xir years in the business, it was that sometimes, one must make up for their failings with others' strengths. In this case, that was — hopefully — [member="Elijah Rekali"]'s brilliant capability to plan weeks in advance, coordinating time schedules and setting up their tactical battle plan ahead of time. And then, once they were already neck deep in poodoo and all their plans had been dashed by some twist of fate or another; that's when Laguz's skillest would truly shine, even through all the crap they would inevitably sink into.

It was the nature of such grand, ambitious exploits, to go wrong, and it was when they went wrong where the shifter kicked into gear and hauled ass until the profit had been secured, or everyone was dead. And seeing how the merc was still alive, it was pretty self-evident which outcome was the more likely of the two.

With a small, self-satisfied smirk, the sniper in question uncrossed xir legs and slipped from xir chair with a soft thud, landing on xir feet with the smallest of noises. After grabbing a coat and xir fake buy'ce, the shifter headed out once more, intent on joining the mandalorian bounty hunter on his ship.

Wherever this deal intended to take them, it was bound to be exciting.

That, or they would both die. Either way, funtimes!