First Reply Liars and Thieves

[Nej Tane]

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Coruscant.

It had changed hands so many times it might as well have been a ball thrown between kids.

But that was the appeal. The center of the galaxy. Biggest city, biggest planet, most people-

The most money.

From the seats of power in the Alliance on Coruscant, the Alliance had control of dozens of planets, billions of people, and trillions upon trillions of tax payer funds flowing through. Improvements had been made, sure, but Coruscant- would always still be, Coruscant. No matter if it was the Sith, the Jedi, the Alliance, the Empire, the other Sith, the Republic... It always would still be that big city. Some people hadn't even noticed the Republic left the planet. It'd been a while since all that, in fact.

For some people.

But Nej got a line on something funky. Something icky to him, but valuable to the right people. The Sith had burned the planet, scoured the Jedi a long time ago. A long, long time ago. Burned the temples, burned the libraries. But not everything. What he knew about Sith was limited and what he knew about the force was even less so. But he knew that they were interested in knowledge and the pursuit of it.

Nej wasn't a fan. But neither was most of the galaxy, at least, the ones that suffered under them.

It was through another job, another data-mining sort of deal that he came upon this place. Buried underneath a lot of other developments, it wasn't apparently a Jedi archive that was supposed to be part of a subsidary temple or alcove or something like that, a place where the Jedi could go if they were on a different part of the planet. Train more pupils, get more Jedi, spread more good. Or whatever it was that Jedi did nowadays.

He took a deep breath, pushing thoughts of old Jedi he knew away, and looked at the door. Fairly complicated lock and would take a bit to slice it, but not too crazy. An independent power source and a battery meant that he could power the door without lighting up the whole place. The door slid open, guard posts still inside the main atrium, unattended for decades. Decay and ruin, and the stress of warping metal groaned with each passing speeder above them. He couldn't see the skyline- buildings sprouted up like trees around them, swallowing up the place.

Maybe they didn't want to build over it.

Maybe something kept them out.

He clicked on his flashlight, heading deeper into the Jedi's forgotten place.... and ignorant of the danger inside. Whatever was mentioned that he found, was valuable, guarded, and worth a lot of money to the right people. But also-

To the wrong people, it was worth taking Nej's life.

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[Enki Rak]

Nej Tane
​

Captain Rak didn't much like Coruscant. Despite his life being one of danger, credits, and extremely illegal weaponry, the Core had always been an area of space he avoided -- the underworld was too established there, the Marshals and Jedi too keen, and even the lowest-level disruptors could get you sentenced. Sure, the credits were flowing, and more illegal weapons meant more sales, but it was rarely worth the heat.

But this... was different.

Same as the Core, Enki tended to avoid Jedi and Sith; the galaxy was big enough without them, and when even the average one could tear through a crew no problem, just another thing to avoid. If there was any sniff of a Forcer, it was usually safer to bolt.

He'd found a few old data cores floating around in a mostly-abandoned system in the Mid Rim. Had them run through his usuals, plus parts of it contracted out, before he got the whole package back. Most of it was survey data from an old Alliance -- old Alliance -- scout ship, but it held some communications between the captain and some Jedi.

It wasn't clear exactly what had been found, only that it was important to the Jedi, and that they didn't want to keep it at their main temple. A secret facility, on their very own world -- and now, it was completely abandoned. Enki had to see it himself.

They traveled discreetly, as usual, running a fake transponder and saying they were there for a family visit. All the while, a half-dozen ex-marines suited up alongside a few specialists he'd brought to get into the place. They cut their burn in atmosphere, landed on a quiet pad in the underworld off a favour, took a back-route all the way to-

"Cap'n, the door-"

"I can fuckin' see the door, Trex."

It'd clearly been opened. Recently. Enki chewed his lip.

"Pair up and earn your pay. Gin, Pegla, with me. You find anything valuable, comm it. And keep it locked in, I don't want anyone listening."

His men fanned out and began to search.

 

[Nej Tane]

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It awakens​

Nej heard them enter before they got too much further in. It wasn't the voices. It was the moving of gear, the steps, the disturbing of ancient dust and forgotten rocks. He pressed himself against a nearby pillar, weighing his options. They weren't Marshals, maybe Jedi.

He took stock of what he had in his possession. Two disruptors, a backup six-shooter slugthrower, his jetboots, his facemask that collapsed behind his ears... Jacket, knuckle dusters, grappling hook, a few lockpicking and a small explosive charge.

Nothing that would be able to take on a team.

But who were they?

They were both looking for the same thing, potentially. Nej wasn't above splitting a reward. It was a smuggler's choice, really. And it made more sense sometimes. Besides, they might know something that he didn't. And if they were cops, or Jedi- it wouldn't be the first Rep- Alliance prison he broke out of.

Nej turned a corner, his swift, enhanced levels of thievery catching the merc off-guard after he button-hooked around a pillar after a few moments of tense sneaking.

He looked at Enki Rak while he had a slugthrower to one of his men's heads.

"Gentlemen. Nej Tane."

He looked around, and to diffuse the situation, and to show that he didn't really want to shoot anyone, he de-cocked the hammer and placed the pistol back into it's resting place, near his belt buckle in a cross-draw fashion.

"I believe we're after the sam-"

And all at once, a rush of wind came from within the temple, and a voice, distorted as if bouncing off every wall and whispering in every ear, helmeted or not- came rushing in. Nej covered his face as the wind increased, pushing them back. The door that they came in groaned, ancient metal coming to life again- before slowly sliding on it's rails, without power. Then, as if a hand grasped both sides and gripped it tightly, the metal contorting and bending to an unseen force, it slammed shut.

Nej looked further into the temple, before back to the newcomers.

"Uh-oh. That wasn't uh... you guys, was it?"



Enki Rak

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[Enki Rak]

Nej Tane
​

"Unlikely," he said. Enki and his crew already had their blasters in hand, pointing at the apparent Nej Tane, but he was the first to lower his (well, second, counting Nej's).

"Well, go on, give me your pitch. Don't let a few Jedi ghosts scare you now, you've come this far.

"And, don't skip the part about how you found this place." He gestured with his blaster barrel.

 

[Nej Tane]

​

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"The usual. This map, this map, this artifact, something about a Sith holocron or something. Said it was worth quite a bit on the open market. Apparently the Jedi built this whole place to guard it."

Nej dropped the hard-pack he was carrying, a farraday-style mesh on the inside. Enough to house and contain just about any signal.

"Do you know what a Sith Holocron does? Beats me."

In retrospect, if Nej had known anything about what they were looking for, he would've blasted open the doors right then and there and ran to find the nearest Jedi to destroy it for good.
​

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[Enki Rak]

Nej Tane
​

Enki's eyes narrowed. Tane's name was bouncing around in his brain -- he assumed he had some connection to someone who had some connection to someone who knew Tane, but he met a lot of people, and couldn't place it. Not knowing anything about each other put them on even ground. Though, Enki did have a bit more muscle to back him up.

But it was... unnecessary.

"I don't," he said. It didn't quite beat him, but he couldn't say for sure. That category of items were usually the type that would get scooped up quick off the market, for some secret buyer or distant Sith Lord. Or they'd get someone killed.

He placed a finger against his ear, his teams checking in. He tapped the comm twice.

"Gin," he motioned, getting the ex-marine to step away.

"Alright, Tane. You've got specifics and an angle, I respect it. I don't mind a little collaboration. I've got a good crew here, and they'll do the heavy lifting, so we'll make a split. Sixty-forty on this holocron thing. I've got mouths to feed. Everything else is up to what you can carry. If you nab something nice it's all yours. Deal?"

As a sign of peace, he holstered his weapon.

 

[Nej Tane]

​

​

Nej appreciated the lack of hostility, and it was an honest split. Nej was a lot of things, but he wasn't entirely selfish. He turned his head up to the ceiling, then looked back down at Enki. He held up seven fingers.

"You got people. I don't. Seventy-thirty."

Thirty percent of this take was still good. Real good.

He looked down at the temple walls, walking along, the groaning continuing. Whispers bounced off of the walls, some encouraging, some hostile, all the same voice. It scratched at his head, as if they were next to him, and across from him all at the same time.

Nej entered a corridor, where two large statues lay, with three hallways. Nej stopped, grabbing one of the men that was with Enki before they stepped another foot into the corridor- onto a pressure plate that Nej's helmet picked up as having an abnormal texture compared to the other surfaces.

"I smell booby traps. But nothing harmful, Jedi after all. Probably designed to hold people until the Jedi got here. No telling what does, or doesn't work..."

Nej reached down, breaking off a piece of the aging stone and throwing to the center of the room. Sure enough, a pressure plate activated- on some reserve power source or otherwise, and a large laser barrier came up, in about two cubic meters worth of space. Enough to hold one sneaky plunderer or intruder until the guards got there.

Nej let out a sigh, crouching down and started to think.

The whispers went quiet for a moment- as if they were watching, too.

"Brute force is an option, since I don't think any Jedi are showing up now."


Enki Rak

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[Enki Rak]

Nej Tane
​

"Ha!" Enki laughed. "Smart, I won't kill you then." A winning smile.

The crew followed along, the rest eventually joining at their captain's order. Tane quickly paid dividends, spotting a containment trap of some kind. Enki squatted, eyes aglow for a moment... and stole a glance at Tane's boots. A picture of the man was forming in his mind.

"Doable." He reached down to his belt and produced... an extendable walking stick. He started forward, poking and prodding at each tile. A few more laser traps popped up, but in time they made it across, all waddling-along single file.