Sin City

[Joza Perl]

Being a Zeltron had its advantages, no question there. She could weave her way through a crowded dance floor and no one would bat a suspicious eye, or carry a tray of drink in a club without seeming out of place. Anything that had to do with nightlife she could conquer.
For every free roaming women in Nar Shaddaa’s entertainment district, there was another in chains-proverbial or not. It wasn’t often obvious given the use of drugs, alcohol and slave implants—collars seemed to fit in only in certain sectors—but there were subtle signs. Trafficked women were either hesitant or overenthusiastic and pushy. There were variants, sure, but the majority of pleasure and entertainment slaves had tells. Empathy helped to seek them out quickly.

Joza carefully monitored her girls that worked in seedier areas, especially the smuggler’s moon. She’d run into trouble herself here before, but always seemed to find her way back. It was where she’d occasionally meet her former lover, where she’d met her father, and where she’d been spirited away into slavery the first and second time. Certainly, there wouldn’t be a third.

After months of tracking, she’d finally managed to pin down the location of Kwee-Kunee—a female Zabrak slaver who’d adopted the Huttese word for Queen as her moniker. Or perhaps it had been bestowed upon as nicknames often are. One of Joza’s dancers worked at a club—Collars ‘n Legs—where Kwee was discovered to be recently active. Given Kwee’s ruthless nature and penchant for peddling female slaves, the Rogue decided that it would be best not to go in alone this time. There were few she was willing or able to call on for the delicate task, so she settled on sending an encrypted message to Firemane Intelligence. Perhaps Lady Kerrigan could send someone.

“Bring us down, Ivan.” Though she was mildly distracted while typing up her message, she didn’t need to elaborate. The pilot knew to land several miles from Igor’s Tapani Palace where the two would then head on foot. It was a dingy little restaurant with terrible food, but served as a decent front for the secret safe house below the surface. She’d asked for whoever—if anyone—from Firemane to meet at the little restaurant (coordinates enclosed of course) and to be discreet about it.

[member="Nima Tann"]

 

[Nima Tann]

Tygara
Firemane HQ

It had been a long time that Nima didn't leave Tygara for a while. Not only that she didn't have the opportunity to leave, but she was suffering through some headaches after the Omega battle. It was probably because she hurt her lekku as they tried to escape the ship, but she wasn't going to let this little distraction to keep her away from doing things. So, as usual for her, she walked thoughtful, towards the Firemane Intelligence to look through some missions, and maybe take one for a change. She saw some familiar faces along the way, and nodded to them with a smile. Tygara was busy as always, but she liked it that way, since Nima liked to be busy. It helped her forget her problems for a while. And wait... are we forgetting something? Ah, yes. How could we? Ice, her "little" puppy, was there to accompany her towards the building, and his tail never stopped, being the happy mutated wolf he was! "Are you excited to go for a walk today, Ice?" Nima asked with a smile. Ice answered with a goofy bark. Meanwhile the two continued to walk towards their destination with laughs and lots of goofy moments, some time has passed and they arrived .

Tygara
Firemane Intelligence

Maybe the busiest place of the whole HQ, which was normal. In a galaxy of many many planets, systems, stars, criminal lords, Jedi and Sith, there would be a lot of effort to stay updated. She walked towards the main room, where there was a map of the galaxy. One of the agents welcomed the ex-Jedi Master with a simple nod and moved towards her. "Good morning Master Tann. Hey there Ice!" One would think people liked a huge puppy with a goofy face. "Have you come to check the database? Is there anything specific I can help you with?" She asked. Nima smiled. "Good morning. I was just going to check if anything required my assistance." With that, the agent looked at her datapad. "Actually, a message just came in. It's quite well protected and seems urgent. [member="Joza Perl"], one of Firemane's allies, is requesting our help about a crime lord in Nar Shaddaa. She sent some coordinates with the message, and also added to be discreet about it. Would you like me to send the coordinates and the briefing to your datapad?" Well, she came here for a mission, and now she got it. Sadly, there was one little problem. "Sure. And I'll need a stealthy ship to bring me to those coordinates. Would you send them a message for me to prepare one?" Nima asked. The agent nodded and left the scene.

Ice was pretty excited. Oh, and about that little problem. "I am sorry Ice, I can't bring you there. She says we need to be discreet. Maybe next time?" Obviously, bringing a horse sized mutated wolf wouldn't be so much discreet. Ice whined at first, but that was that, no barking to the highest sound limits, no puppy eyes, which was a surprise. Well, one would say she was proud. "I promise I will bring you the next time, okay?" She said, petting his head with a smile. "Let's get you back to the Villa, and then I am going to leave." One thing the poor Twi'lek didn't realize, or want to think, was Ice was an absolute troll. So she would find her whole room trashed when she came back home. Hopefully, it wasn't one of those days. After bringing him back, and warning him about not doing what she had in mind, she moved towards the hangars. When she arrived, one of the pilots saw her and waved. "Master Tann, we got the message. Your ship is ready to bring you to the coordinates."

And with that, her journey towards Nar Shaddaa started. The planet wasn't one of her favorites, in fact, she didn't like it at all. It reeked of evil, and so many innocent people were treated like they were objects. Some of them even were forced to like it. If she could help one of them, she would be happy.

 

[Joza Perl]

Igor’s Tapani Palace was not a nice place. It was a dingy, unfriendly and always smelled faintly of cigarra smoke. The staff were loud and unconcerned with any carefully coordinated food prep, only wanting to get customers out of the door as quickly as possible. It wasn’t out of place in the crowded Corellian sector where buildings were crammed together like sardines in a can. Like quite a few unsavory establishments on that block, the poorly executed restaurant was a carefully crafted front for something deeper. Literally, beneath the surface. Namely, a safe area that harbored slaves and the abused, serving as a halfway house of sorts until individuals could be reunited with their families or ferried away to someplace safer. It made for tricky work, and was admittedly not as satisfying as one would imagine. The more of the slaver rings she tracked and busted, the more apparent the problem became. Slavery was an epidemic, and Joza was gradually beginning to understand the size and spread of what she was tackling.

It almost seemed fruitless in the face of the grand scheme of things. How many had she freed? Not enough to even make a noticeable dent in the vast slave empire, underground or not. But she was used to working behind the scenes, using facades and manipulation tactics to get the job done. The more she worked like this, the higher the risk she’d be stopped for good one day and her work wiped out.

Joza tried not to think about it so much, but she may as well have been playing with an inferno at this point.

“Twelve? I don’t know if we’ll have enough space by the time you get back.” Joza arched a brow at the nurse, words unnecessary at this point. A few moments passed before the Zeltron nurse sighed, running a hand through her violet hair in mild exasperation. “I’ll see if we can set up some cots in one of the exam rooms. They’re adults, right? Teenagers at least?” Children were more difficult to maintain and sometimes needed different spaces. Adults could often cope better, provided they were not a danger to those around them. “Adults, yes.” Scrolling through her datapad, Joza swiped through a few images, grainy footage taken from a security camera of frightened Twi’lek women being herded onto a ship. They’d been taken from their home world of Ryloth, a fertile hunting ground for slavers given the popularity of the Twi’lek race.

With an exchange of nods, Joza headed for the exit—a pair of blast doors that gave birth to a winding tunnel with many arms and dead ends, created to deter anyone who shouldn’t be there. Navigating her way to the surface, she stepped out of the back room of the kitchen and into the alley behind the building. Lighting up a cigarette, she puffed impatiently while waiting for the help from Firemane to arrive. She’d received a ping earlier that assistance was on the way, but wasn’t overly concerned with when they’d arrive. The nicotine was more to deaden her nerves for the upcoming job. Once [member="Nima Tann"] arrived, she’d be greeted by the sight of an indifferent wait staff.

 

[Nima Tann]

Speak of the purple Twi'lek, and she shall appear. The highly stealth upgraded ship continued to move towards the given coordinates, as Nima looked at the view from above the city. If she didn't know anything about Nar Shaddaa, she would think that this planet was full of joy and excitement from the outside view, full of colors, a slight voice of music even heard from this distance and all that stuff that looked good at the first glance. However, even a person that never heard about this place could feel the darkness going on at the backstage when they spent enough time. The thought of it disgusted her. She hated slavers, and even though hate was a strong word and she didn't like to use it a lot, she really did. After all, her sister was a slave to a Hutt before their paths crossed again and she saved her from that fate, however she was missing yet again. She wondered where she was for a second, hoping that she was okay, letting the flying thoughts invade her mind until she heard the pilot's voice which pushed her back to reality. "We are approaching our destination. Your orders?"

Nima collected her thoughts for a second, and then answered. "We don't want to bring unnecessary attention, so land a little further. I will continue on foot from here." The pilot nodded to her words, and then started her preparations to land. No more room to sit and think, she also stood up and started preparing her equipment as the ship started to descend slowly towards an opening a few miles away from the destination. Everything looked good, and the ship was about to land, so Nima walked towards the exit with a sigh, hopefully everything was going to go as she hoped. "Should I wait for you here?" The pilot asked as Nima was about to leave the ship. "That is going to look suspicious, so you may leave, but stay in contact." Nima answered, and started to move with a nod. She felt the wind of the ship hitting her calmly from behind as it started to ascend once again, then it completely vanished into thin air. Walking for a couple of minutes, she arrived to a very old looking restaurant, which, according to the datapad, was her destination.

Also from the information that has been sent to her by Firemane Intelligence afterwards about this place, she knew that this restaurant was just the tip of the iceberg, and it was a gateway to a much larger safehouse for those who needed it. However, it didn't say anything about how to get to the safehouse, so she needed some help for that. When she entered the restaurant, a very unpleasant smell hit her first and she gagged, almost causing her to puke at that spot. However, she held herself together. Never smoked once in her life, she didn't like this toxic aura, at all and wanted to leave this place as soon as possible. Looking for the Zeltron, she was nowhere to be found. Deciding that it would be awkward for her to stand around and look for her herself meanwhile everyone acted like she didn't exist at all, she moved towards a Twi'lek who looked like she was working here to ask about her. "Hello." The Twi'lek pretended she didn't hear that and continued bringing plates of food to the customers, in her expression one could clearly see the annoyance. Well, that wasn't something she expected. "Uhmm... Yeah.... I was looking for [member="Joza Perl"], we were supposed to meet here?" She tried again, it was after hearing Joza's name then the Twi'lek looked at her, finally accepting her existence. "Who's asking?" She said in a calm tone. "I am coming from Firemane." Nima said, not giving any details, but enough for the Twi'lek to understand it wasn't a usual meeting.

"Follow me." The Twi'lek said once again with a nod, and after cleaning her hands to the table sheet, she quickly moved towarsd the back and pointed at her to follow. Leading her to the blast doors, she opened them and then walked inside, which Nima followed her quickly. When everyone was in, she closed and locked the doors tight with the security panel. So, that's how you enter to the safehouse, she thought. This whole tunnel was like a maze, a carefully done maze to keep the unwanted people away. She was quite impressed, to say the least. With her guide in the front, they continued moving through the maze, and after a while she could see the exit. "She's there." The Twi'lek said, and then without saying anything, turned back to return to the restaurant. "Thank you." She said, however, no response was heard back. Well, that was awkward, she thought with an internal sigh as she moved towards the exit.

She arrived at what it seemed to be the back alley of the building, where the Zeltron was waiting. They met each other at the party back then, however didn't have the chance to speak that much. So she felt the need to introduce herself once again. "Nima Tann, from Firemane." She said with a nod.

 

[Joza Perl]

If Nima thought that Igor’s Palace with it’s rude, uncaring employees were depressing—because they were and it was—then she might be happy for a little pop of emotional and actual color. Upon seeing the purple Twi’lek, Joza’s face lit up. “Oh! You’re Nima, right? Nima Tann?” The other woman had been apart of the Silver Sanctum Coalition if memory served her, but seemed to gravitate more towards Tygara nowadays. For all Joza knew, Nima still could have been with the Silvers…and that unfortunately showed just how far removed from the Order the Zeltron had become. “Welcome to the unhappiest place that I own.” She jerked a thumb towards the back of her building before extinguishing her cigarette between her fingers, suddenly mindful of the company. “Sorry if they were rude to you, by the way. But this is Nar Shaddaa, and if I had them act any other way, well…it would arouse suspicion.” She gave Nima an apologetic grin before brushing her hands off on her pants to remove any stray ash. Not like she could get any of them to act all bubbly and friendly, anyhow. She may have owned the joint, but that wasn’t public knowledge and she didn’t conduct the restaurant’s day to day business.

“Anyways, let me formally introduce myself. Joza Perl, at your service.” She offered her hand for Nima to shake. She seemed like a nice girl, and if Siobhan was to be believed, a talented warrior. When introductions came to an end, Joza straightened out as her face firmed up. “I’m sure you’ve been briefed on the mission, but I just want to impress upon you how important it is that this place remains a secret. Don’t need to have angry crime lords barging in if we can help it, right?”

Giving Nima a confident smile, she moved to punch the security code into the door and lead them back inside. “How was your journey? Not too bad I hope.”

[member="Nima Tann"]

 

[Nima Tann]

It was a nice change from completely being ignored to being welcomed with a warm smile. So seeing the Zeltron like that put a warm smile on her face as well, however her social awkwardness still showed. It was unfortunate that the two has never met before even though they were in the same environment for a long time, and only knew each other from other people. To be honest, she didn't even know her name until she met her in the party on Tygara weeks ago, and felt bad about that since it seemed Joza at least knew her name. It showed how distant she was from people until she met Sio. She made many regretful decisions in her life, but leaving the Jedi was not one of them. "I have been in worse situtations, don't worry." She said, with a smile. She could endure a little bit awkwardness and existential crisis! "I think you've done a good job with that. The place definitely smells of Nar Shaddaa." Both methaphorically and literally.

And when the time has come for a formal introductions, Nima offered her hand as well for the shake, a little bit hesitant at first since hand contact was something she still needed to work on. "I am glad to finally make your acquaintance, Joza Perl." She said, a sincere smile forming on her lips, and took a relaxed breath when introductions came to an end and the hand contact was broken. That went well, she thought, went well indeed. And now that the introductions came to an end, it was the time to talk about the mission. Nima started to talk, with a more serious tone this time. "I have read the information you sent on the way here, and yes, I have the basic knowledge about the mission. However, you'll need to provide me with the details." She said, and then added with another smile. "Your secret is safe with me." Her mental shields were quite strong after all, and one needed to be a very, very skilled mentalist to get past them.

She followed Joza inside after she put the security code in and the doors opened, meanwhile she answered her question. "Quite well, thank you. Change of scenery is always refreshing, even if your destination is Nar Shaddaa."

[member="Joza Perl"]

 

[Joza Perl]

“…The smells, yeah. Not so much my doing, eheh.” She wrinkled her nose at the thought of the actual smell of Igor’s before grinning a little sheepishly. Grease and smoke. Didn’t take much to make that smell legitimate around here.

Though she sensed hints of shyness around the purple Twi’lek, Joza thankfully had enough tact not to draw attention to it. Being shy was simply something the Zeltron was not used to. “Good to meet you at last, Miss Tann.” After a brief but firm handshake, the pair entered the tunnels that would take them down and around and down to the safe house. It had taken Joza ages to memorize all of the different pathways, which ones were dead ends and which ones lead to the area beneath the restaurant and to the front of the store itself. Unfortunately, she’d been shocked once or twice when turning down a wrong tunnel. For Nima’s sake though, she’d take extra care not to lead them into the shock netting.

When her companion expressed that her secret was safe, Joza half-turned as they walked and gave her a grateful smile. It wasn’t as if she didn’t trust an operative that Firemane would send, but paranoia often trickled in when it came to her underground operations. “I’m glad to hear that. Maybe if this job goes well and we’re not too exhausted I can show you some of the nightlife here on Nar Shaddaa.” Joza smirked to herself for a few moments as she always enjoyed exposing someone to the grittier, more energetic neon lifestyle she was accustomed to. Of course, she had to remind herself that not everybody like to party like a Zeltron.

After a few more minutes of chatting and walking, they’d come to another blast door with a security panel. One security code, palm print and retina scan later, the doors opened and they moved through the threshold to reveal what appeared to be a remarkably plain living area. “Welcome to the safehouse. It’s nothing much to look at, but it usually smells nicer than upstairs. Come, I’ll show you around.” Motioning for Nima to follow, she brought her towards the first long corridor with many doors on each side resembling a hotel hallway. “This is part of the dormitory area. Typically four to a room, same gender unless we’ve got families. There are rooms for two as well as private rooms and…special rooms for those who are considered ‘high risk’.” She used air quotes for the last part of her sentence. Often times, escaped slaves had emotional issues to deal with. Occasionally, they would put others and themselves at risk, hence the need for partitioning them off until they could rejoin the general populace.

[member="Nima Tann"]

 

[Nima Tann]

She laughed in an awkward way after she heard her offer, while they continued walking through the maze with the Zeltron leading the way. Luckily, they haven't been shocked yet, considering Nima didn't like electricity since it was the reason she needed Force to walk and otherwise wasn't able to. "Well... uhh... haha... Nightlife is probably too fast for me. But, I mean, I can stay for a blue milk or two... in a less, uhh, loud environment?" She said with a smile, trying to conceal the awkward part and probably failing miserably. At this point, the Zeltron probably understood that the Twi'lek was the embodiment of shyness and awkwardness when it came to social activities. Parties. Too awkward and overwhelming for the Twi'lek. However, it would be rude to directly reject her offer, so she made another one instead, in a calmer place.

And after a few turns to right and left, they have finally arrived to the safehouse, of course, after a few more scans for security. It was impressive that she established such a place by herself, in a galaxy where enemies could just infiltrate the capital planets with no security ever. Anyway, enough salt, like Joza said, it wasn't that much to look at, however if it provided for those poor souls protection and the help they needed, then it was enough. And for the smells, well, Nima definitely recognized the difference. At least she didn't need a gas mask to breathe properly in here. When she motioned for her to follow, she simply nodded and started to follow her as the Zeltron gave her a quick tour of the place. As she continued explaining her how things worked around here, Nima has become more thoughtful. Poor, innocent souls pushed into such horrible life. And when she said 'high risk', even though there was not enough explanation she could understand what she meant from her tone. That made Nima sigh, thinking about her little sister once again. "I appreciate the things you are doing for them. This place is definitely a good start to get them some help." She said, then added. "Though, I wish we didn't need such places to begin with. Wish we could just... save them all. You know..." Sensitive subjects. Sighing once again, she gently rubbed her forehead and took a deep breath. "But that's not how the galaxy works, is it?" Well, sadly, that wasn't. You couldn't just save them all. However, saving some was a good step forward.

"So, where next?" She said, there was enough depression here already, no need to add yet another layer. However, there was one thing she was curious about. The safehouse was awfully quiet. Hopefully, that was a good thing. "Do you have people here right now?"

[member="Joza Perl"]

 

[Joza Perl]

Joza made a mental note of Nima’s preferences for a night out on the town…it was unfortunate that she wasn’t much of a partygoer, because tonight they had to infiltrate a sleazy nightclub. The Zeltron had done her research, tracking the pirates to their slaver connections—a group known as the Husk Lizards, a growing presence in the slaver circle here on Nar Shaddaa. Joza had tangled with them before, so she wasn’t surprised that they were behind this. They dealt mostly in entertainment and the adult industry.

As she gave Nima the tour, Joza took another mental note, this one concerning her reaction to the safe house. When she expressed her appreciation, Joza turned and smiled, though it was a little worn. “Thank you. I…try. I just hope that after they leave here, they can go on to live safe, healthy lives.” It was almost like a pipe dream, though. The more she’d helped free, the more she realized that she probably wasn’t making much of a dent in the slaver circuit.

“It’s not, no. Sad as it may be, slavery is an integral part of the galaxy. While I’d love to see it dismantled, it’s the backbone of several worlds.” She shook her head, a sigh loosely escaping her lips. “Take the Zygerrians, for example. Take away their slave trade, and you destroy their economy. They’d fall into ruin, perhaps.” A strong part of her was fine with that, but she had to consciously stop the malicious thoughts before they went any further. Zygerria was a world that depended on such a barbaric practice, but there were many innocents among them. Simple people who were just trying to making a living and didn’t have a hand in slave trade. Sure, they technically profited from it, but they were civilians. And civilians were often caught in the crossfire of warring ideologies.

“But that’s why I built this place.” She raised her head out of the metaphorical dark cloud, eyes bright and a barely perceptible smile tilting her lips. “I was lucky. When I escaped, I had a safe place to go and people that would protect me. A lot of freed slaves don’t have any of that—no home, no family. Either lost to the galaxy, or they were born into slavery and don’t know anything else. Don’t know what to do with their freedom.” As she explained, she held out her hands, palms up. “So we do what we can here. Feed, clothe and treat them. We try to assign them jobs—cleaning, administrative assistance, kitchen duty—to give them something to work off of and build up a bit of a portfolio. It’s not much, just the basics for now, but…” She trailed, lowering her hands and staring off into the distance for a moment before livening up.

I wish I could do more.

She had to remind herself that she couldn’t save everyone. Sometimes busts like the one they were about to do went bad.

“Yeah, we’ve got some here now.” She nodded. “Managed to place a good chunk of them within the past week, which was good. A lot of tearful family reunions, heh.” The last group to go out was a group of young women captured from a village on some desert world she’d forgotten the name of by now. It made things easier when they were from the same place, at least.

“Before we continue, I should let you know some of the finer details of the mission. The slaves have been tracked to a nightclub in the Corellian Sector called The Needle. Gonna be honest, not the nicest place. We’ll need to dress…appropriately.” And by appropriately, she meant completely inappropriate for any place that didn’t have a terrible nightclub name.

[member="Nima Tann"]

 

[Nima Tann]

“I hope so too.” She said, returning a sincere smile to hers. She could feel the tired tone in her voice, but considering the circumstances, it was the new normal for those who tried to do things right. There were too many wrongs in this galaxy, after all.

Nima’s face dropped when she heard Joza talked about economy of some planets depended on slavery. “Maybe they should fall into ruin.” She said, coldly. No one that used slavery to gain wealth would be innocent in her eyes. “They can always find different ways. I can’t sympathise with people using weaker people for their own wealth.” She added. Normally, she was the person who always overanalyzed things and thought of the both sides before talking her piece, however she had her red lines for some subjects. Surprisingly, this subject was one of those.

It was quite ironic that the former Zygerrian queen was now a servant of Sio’s, after getting brainwashed. Nima learnt about her a while ago and saw her from time to time, difficult to imagine a person with such a bad history was now a totally different person, likeable even. However, it didn’t erase the pain she has caused for those poor souls. Though, that was a different story.

And the next things she heard made her frown. From the wording, she could understand that Joza was a slave once. Even though she heard that Joza had a troubling past, she didn’t imagine something like that. She sighed, and didn’t ask any more. Past was in the past, and the woman in front of her was now freed from her shackles, and strong enough to free somebody else’s. It was admirable. “You are doing whatever you can. And that’s what matters.” She said reassuringly, as she saw her thoughtful, and a little sad maybe. Well, and as a bad habit, she read thoughts sometimes. It came with the whole mentalism thing. Normally, she wouldn't say anything about it, however she felt something needed to be said in this situation. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to.” An awkward smile followed.

It was nice to hear the last mission to save more was a success. She liked reunions, even though she was bad at it herself. (cough cough she reunited with her sister like 2-3 times now, each leading to a less than a happy ending every time) Anyway, she smiled and nodded. And now, back to business! Since she only knew the basics of the mission, it would be good to know more, so she started listening to her carefully. The Needle. Sounds just like a hideout for some criminals. And then...

We’ll need to dress…appropriate​ly.

Oh Force... For a second there, the thoughts filled her head like a loop, each saying “I am not going to like this at all.”

“How inappropriate?” She asked, with a sigh.

[member="Joza Perl"]

 

[Joza Perl]

When Nima’s voice turned cold, Joza meant her deadpan with a tired smile and reached for her hand. If she were allowed, she would squeeze it softly, hoping to provide some measure of comfort to the Twi’lek woman. This was obviously a sensitive subject for them both, so she would tread carefully. “Perhaps. But what of the people? The farmers, the merchants who live everyday life with their hands relatively clean? Sure, they unknowingly benefit from it—but there’s two sides to this very difficult equation.” She paused, having to stop herself there before she backpedaled a bit. “To be clear, I’d wipe slavery from the galaxy in a heartbeat if I could. But the repercussions would be severe for so many lives—both slave and civilian. Those are the lives I have sympathy for. I’ve no issue with using any means to take out the slavers and those in their circle,” She arched a brow as if to imply that there was very little moral objection in her mind on how to deal with slavers. Innocents withheld, of course.

“It’s a complicated problem with no easy answer, I’m afraid. The best we can do is all that we can do.”

The best, she’d imagined, would be to slowly transition slaving words into something else. It was painful to think about, and she had no idea if it would even work. But it wasn’t her decision to make. Still, she smiled when Nima apologized? “Thank you. And nothing to be sorry for, hun. You’re among friends here. Now onto business…”

It was Joza’s turn to smile awkwardly. “Well…how about you get to be the cute one, while I’ll be the slutty one? Sound fair? C’mon, we need to pick out your outfit.” Taking Nima’s hand again, she led the purple skinned Twi’lek down one of the halls, entering the room at the end which served as her makeshift office. It was small and…honestly crappy, messy but not dirty. It served its purpose just fine. “We’re about the same size, so you can wear something of mine.” Throwing open the creaky door to the small closet in the corner, she revealed a selection of outfits worthy of a night out on Zeltros. Unfortunately for Nima, they were all brightly colored, skin tight and laden with rhinestones, glitter and sparkles. “Pick whichever one you’d like. Try on them all, even!” She seemed a bit too excited at the prospect of playing dress up with the poor woman.

[member="Nima Tann"]

 

[Nima Tann]

When Joza held her hand to calm her down a little, added with her smile, her frown turned into a more relaxed one and she sighed, now thinking a little more clearly. Perhaps she was right. Nothing was as easy as one would like anyway, it never has been. There were always innocent people in the way, caught in the crossfire of the the opposing sides. Well, at least they had similar feelings against slavers. She nodded at her, and added an apologetic smile after. One would understand by now that the Twi’lek liked to apologise a lot!

Speaking of the difficulty of life, Nima was having difficulties of registering the plan of infiltrating a club in Nar Shaddaa,dressing appropriately, meanwhile she was dragged through the halls by a very excited Zeltron! Her heart was beating as fast, but probably not for the same reasons. Well, at least she had a choice for the outfits, even though she was somewhat hopeless. “Uhmm...” She said, then an awkward laugh followed. “I think I can... endure ‘cute’?” She said as she quickened her steps to keep up with her. After a little journey of excited walking, they have arrived to a office like room, her perfectionist side immediately wanted to redecorate the room and some designs appeared in her mind already, however they had other important things to do. And the moment of truth! They walked towards the closet, and Joza opened the door, inside, a nightmare awaited the already nervous Twi’lek.

A closet full of shiny, tight-looking clothes with LOTS of stones and sparkles. “Oh Force...” She said, with a low, shivering voice. Now, the clothes looked absolutely beautiful but not something she would wear even if someone gave her a million credits. And thinking about their plan, in which they were going to go around with those clothes in a club full of criminals and slavers, she felt like she was going to have a panic attack. “Uhmm... okay... You’ve fought in a crashing ship, and you survived... You can handle shiny clothes... I guess?” She talked to herself in a very low voice, and turned to Joza, giving a smile which looked more like a “Help me, I don’t know what I am doing”. It was then she started to search through the clothes one by one, imagining how she would look. In each scenario, chance for a panic attack was almost a hundred percent.

She took one of the clothes from the closet and brought it towards her body. “So...” She said to Joza, as she put the rather revealing dress back to the closet. “What’s our plan after we get in? This clothes aren't exactly protective and, well, we need weapons.” She took another one, and brought it towards her body once again to see how it looked. Seemed a little better than the last one, looked a little less panic attack triggering, if you don’t count the same shiny nature and tightness. At least it didn’t reveal much. Or did it? Ughh... More difficulties! She left it back to the closet once again. This wasn't going to work.

Then suddenly, she thought of something. It involved less painful memories and panic attacks. "I just had an idea. What about we go in as criminals trying to buy slaves? This way, we can bring weapons in and catch them by surprise. No one will suspect a thing. I can conceal our auras if they can even sense it. Unless you had a better plan?"

[member="Joza Perl"]

 

[Joza Perl]

Joza’s momentary girlish dress-up fantasy shattered, though it wasn’t enough to sour her mood. As silly as she could get on the outside, the Zeltron was focused and attentive, especially on the eve of a particularly sensitive mission. Combine that with natural empathy, and it didn’t take much for her to sense Nima’s nerves over parading around in skimpy clothing.

Her head cocked to the side as she heard the anxious Twi’lek out. “We go in looking to make a purchase?” A hand rose up, thumb and forefinger cupping her chin as her eyes sharpened in thought. “I’ve never done that before, but I’m willing to give it a try.” The contemplative look melted away and she gave Nima an encouraging smile. It would be dangerous regardless, but Nima had a reputation for being reliable with a solid set of skills that would help them today.

“Alright, so change of plans then. We pose as the mistresses of a brothel looking for some new meat—sound good? We probably shouldn’t pack too heavily. Blaster pistols and the like, no…assault weapons.”

[member="Nima Tann"]

 

[Nima Tann]

"I've impersonated people once or twice, not a fun experience to think like them for a while, but I think we can manage." She nodded to the woman, her voice calmed down a bit as she didn't need to wear those clothes, no offense, she just didn't like shiny things and they were going in the enemy territory. Anyway, since the clothing disaster was avoided, now moving on with the new plan.

"Yeah, sounds good for me. We go in, find information about their leader, get her, and then if we're lucky, find out more about their operation and find the ones deeper in this." It, of course, sounded easier when she said like that. Hopefully, it was going to work.

It was not a well thought plan, but a plan nonetheless. She didn't like improvising, especially when other lives were at stake, but there was no other choice, at least not that she knew of. And also, she was more confident as they at least had protection if things went wrong. Luckily, Joza seemed to be in this plan as well, the encouraging smile helped Nima to think positively.

"Let's get ready." She said with a nod. It was going to be a long night.

[member="Joza Perl"]

P.S: It has been months, I know. Please don't kill me