Swoop Coup

[io eyeballs]

io woke up on Nar Shaddaa. Eyes still closed he walked to the cupboards and fished around for a can of stimcaf. The first can he fished out was empty. Second can too. In fact, all the cans were empty. io opened his eyes. He opened them all again, this time faster. The cans had stayed empty in the interval. He did it again, faster, tossing checked cans on the floor. All of the cans ended up on the floor. The cupboard was now empty. Io's brow furrowed. His credit can. The can with his credits in it. Where was it? He turned around to look at the rest of the studio. Where was the furry creature? His roommate. His furry roommate. Jenk. Where was Jenk? Jenk would know. He didn't see Jenk. The studio looked empty. Not just of Jenk. Things were gone. Jenk's things.

io started tossing the studio. Half the things in the apartment had moved to a place they hadn't been a moment ago before he noticed it. On Jenk's bed. A bright yellow datacard. A bright yellow datacard on Jenk's bed. It has IOH scrawled. He grabbed it, fished around for his datapad, and jammed it in. It was a text file.

eyeballs
i had to leave town
less you know
the better
but dont worry
going to be back soon

io frowned at the likelihood of this.

dont worry
about the credits
you know me
im good for it

io's frown deepened.

if you need sum money
just ask mommy and daddy eyeball

io hadn't spoken with either in years. He suspected the rat knew this.

if they drank it all away too

Little rat turd.

ask zang at the cantina
and
and
and
remember everything ive taught you
always look at peoples faces
if someone is eyeballin u on the street
u look em in the eye back
check ur pockets
after sumone bumps into u
check ur fuel
before u swoop
dont swoop in sewers
dont swoop in turf that aint ur own
and dont ever ever ever
swoop in sewers that aint ur turf

Wasn't that last piece of advice covered by the two previous ones? Yes, it was. And that karkking little rat had the nerve to give him advice after leaving with all his money. Worry about him. Little bastard. Typical. Jenk was so devious, so evil, he was nice when io was furious with him. And he did it all without allowing any sort of response.

io left the studio on his swoop and headed to the local biker cantina. Zang, leader of the swoop gang Jenk used to ride with, told him they didn't have any jobs. Things were quiet after the Ravens went off world. But if he could get to Ascension he heard they were looking for swoop riders. Entry level stuff. They needed everyone they could get, cause they were at war, Zang told io. War. He heard about some kerfuffle involving the Ravens a while back. On all other days he would of asked more about it. But he hadn't had his stimcaf yet. He left without a word.

After asking around the spaceport, Io managed to hitch a ride on a freighter. Turned out the pilot was a swoop racing fan. Friendly. This however was the only pilot in the galaxy to not have caf on board his ship. After they landed io gave him a ride on his swoop on the understanding a paid meal would be waiting at the end of it. They ended up at an eatery and gambling establishment. Big place. He got his meal, and 16 hours after waking up, io had some coffee.

He bid his new friend farewell, and asked the waitress where he could find the Ravens. She cocked an eyebrow and asked him why. Io told her he needed money and heard they were looking for people like him. He mentioned it was a casino, but he didn't know where it was. Io had forgotten to ask Zang for an address. Or a name. The waitress looked at io like he was insane. They were in the Dragon Palace Casino. She went to talk to her manager.

 

[Lysle of the Hydian Way]

From down the spiralling stairs came a well suited man. Hair combed, facial hair trimmed. His hands set to work buttoning up the last few buttons on his coat jacket, recently pressed and dry-cleaned. To say he was dressed sharply was an understatement. Remarkably well-dressed and handsome was his signature in the criminal world, a place few had the time, patience or care to nurture their physical appearance.

A waitress, of little consequence, had come to his office personally. He was not too happy about that, he rather his two behemoth Herglics flanking on either side of him enacted as messenger pigeons. The titan orca's strode beside him as he crossed the distance between himself and Io. In a matter of seconds, he was standing beside the table, looking down at him with a raised brow in wonder. "You rang?"​

[member="io eyeballs"]

 

[io eyeballs]

Patrons' turned to look at something outside of io's field of view. It was the kind of look people give to the powerful, the kind most don't want to get back. The kind that produces a room full of people looking at things they weren't interested in a moment ago. The staff knew the drill, and most had simply skipped to the second stage. io noticed that others noticed, and turned right when the vice president of the Ravens and his bouncers were already looking in his direction.

"You rang?"

io's eyebrows raised, realizing he was in front of a Raven. An important one. He got up quickly and wiped his hands on his pants.

"I hear you're looking for swoop riders?" Feeling and looking like a thug that had suddenly found himself at a corporate board meeting, all Huttese inflection io had been using for the past several months left him in an instant, replaced by a proper Coruscanti.

"My name is io. I stare death in the face when I ride, and I'm your man." He smiled and offered his hand in greeting.

[member=Lysle of the Hydian Way]