The Noisy Cricket

[Orick T'ane]

Attahox

The seedy cantina had been half empty all day, but it was shift change at the factory complex down the street, so it was about to get loud. Orick had been wandering through the seedy cantinas looking for anything interesting that may pop up. Attahox had been a member planet of the Republic for hundreds of years, until recent history it had been a peaceful planet, but the Sith changed that, bringing in change and an iron fist ot rule. The mass disappearance had further plunged the world into chaos, with no outside control or support, Attahox had become insular, and it had decided that being self sufficient wasn't a bad idea. That idea translated into an independent government, one that refuted the right of outside forces to interfere.

That decision is why Orick was here today, it was why he had been here with the Republic fleet those few years ago. Attahox had decided to be independent, but rather than be peaceful about it they had fought, and they had lost. The Republic had smashed their forces and recreated the government, a government that was more pro peace. Holdouts were always a given in a situation like that, and it proved no different here. The 'Attahox Liberation Army' had started out as a few malcontents in a dark room, but it was becoming a danger to the stability of the planet.

Orick, in his usual guise of for hire smuggler, sat in the shabby cantina hoping that maybe he could attract the attention of one of the members of this group. His mission, if he could call this a mission, was to locate and supply intel on the 'ALA' for Republic defense forces. He had 'convinced' one of the supply sergeants he knew to arrange for him to borrow a few crates of standard issue thermal detonators as well as a crate of VRL-5 assault plasters. He was hoping to use these crates, and the tracking devices he had secretly planted inside them, to get close to a cell of ALA under the premise of being a supporter.

He had spent almost half of his day in this specific cantina and was about ready to leave when the influx of factory workers changed his mind, he just needed to find the right guy. there was always one loud drunk in the group, the one that seemed to spew nothing but information out of his pie hole when he was plastered, and Orick would find him. He was just about to order another bottle of Corellian ale when the kark hit the fan, the 'kark' in this case being a the untimely arrival of a patrol of Republic security forces. He looked over the small patrol and then at the large group of worked and did the math. Six dead soldiers and one hell of a riot in the works. Well kriff me, I wonder who the stupid officer is that would even think it was a good idea to be in this part of town is. He shook his head and decided that the empty bottle in front of him was going to be much more useful than a full bottle.



[member="Valo Porkins"]

 

[Via Dolorosa]

Her life was nothing more than one big drift here and one massive drift there since she turned her back on the group she had once believed in. She had been naive allowing herself to be tricked into thinking they were heroes. They had claimed they wanted to change the galaxy, to make a difference where the Republic had failed and where the Sith was haphazardly trying to stake their claim in change, which she viewed as propaganda. She supported that group, ready to lie down her life for their cause until the day she saw them for what they truly were. Murders. The sight of watching them kill innocents had made her stomach churn and flip with disgust. She felt not only betrayed but crushed both mentally and emotionally. They were her family in a manner of speaking and now they were her sworn enemy. The day she fled, more lives were lost that day when she decided to leave them a parting gift behind. With love, from Cricket.

Now, here she was sitting in a rancid smelling, run-down cantina on a planet she never heard of nor properly pronounce. The name sounded like a joke, or hoax to her. But her she was, sitting alone drinking water-downed ale that cost twice as much as a drink back on Tatooine. She pondered where she would go, what she will do, and how to achieve both. She was smart, holding two separate Master degrees, and still she only drew blanks in regards to her life. She could return home but in truth, that really wasn't an option. Her parents would see their little girl had grown up but they wouldn't recognize her; not anymore. She had changed so much that even at times she didn't know who she was. She needed a purpose in life.

Then the doors to the cantina opened and a group of Republic soldiers strolled in. She had heard the rumours and whispers about how the citizens felt about the Republic and knew at once trouble was brewing. Slowly she moved her left hand down to her holster and released the fasten strip so she could gain access to her small hold-out blaster. She had no allegiances to either side really and the only ally she had was the weapon. Then like a blind-sided punch out of right field connected an idea to her. Perhaps the Republic had something for her. The other side of that coin surely did not.

Slowly she pushed her self away from her lonely table, her eyes darting back and forth between the two opposing groups. In her mind's eye, she began to calculate the best course of action for her and how the others would move into action. She was more than skilled with her weapon to drop at least four before their comrades could react. But she was not here to cause more problems for herself; she was here seeking solutions to the ones she already possessed. So there she sat, watching and waiting for the events to unfold. Then she would decide where her life would go from there.

[member="Orick T'ane"]

 

[Orick T'ane]

The tension inside of the cantina was so think it was almost visible, the off duty workers were glaring at the Republic security forces. The silence inside the room was broken by the leader of the security detail, a lieutenant, who stepped forward and pulled out a small holoprojector from his pocket. " We are looking for this man, Vogle Slan," he said as a holo of a man's head appeared. The man could have been any of the workers inside of the cantina, his face was hard from years of work and his eyes were weary and tired looking. "There is a twenty-five thousand credit reward for information leading to the capture and arrest of this person."

Orick shook his head as he listened, the lieutenant was making matters worse for himself. the group of workers had seemed to compact itself as if waiting for the word to surge forward and overwhelm the Republic forces. Orick knew that he had to do something before things got out of hand. He stood and grabbed the empty bottle on the table, sighing deeply he took one step, and then another towards the security team, his steps were intended to look wobbly and unsure, like those of a man that was way past his limit of alcohol tolerance. As he approached one of the workers stepped forward and placed a hand on his chest, " Easy friend, I would have for you to have an accident when this is all over."

Orick looked up at him and tilted his head, " Wanna tell the Pub bastards where to shove their credits" His words would sound slurred to anyone that could hear them Orick pushed past the man and continued forward, but he hadn't expected the crowd of workers to be so enthusiastic about hearing his words, as most of the workers moved forward with him. He had to change his plan because any hint of violence from either side would spark the kind of riot he hoped to avoid. As he got hear the lieutenant, Orick smiled and intentionally stumbled into the man, hoping that he would get close enough that his words wouldn't be hear by anyone else. " You're a kriffing fool, get your men out of here before you get them killed." He said quietly as he gripped the shoulders of the Cathar.

Not to be dissuaded from his job the lieutenant pushed Orick off of him and on to the floor, " Filthy mongrel, don't touch me." His words held a venom that could only come from too many months of peacekeeping duties. The crowd of workers reacted as one, surging forward until they formed a small semi circle around the troopers. " Stand down, or we will be forced to arrest all of you!" His voice still held it's contempt but for the first time, the lieutenant finally noticed they were outnumbered 4 to 1.

" You think you're better than us, is that it you Republic rat?" One of the workers said. Orick knew that violence was unavoidable at this point, as he stood, he shrugged off all pretense of being drunk. He tapped the angry worker on the shoulder.

" I was trying to avoid this, do us all a favor and sit down." He expected the man to turn his way, and away from the security team, and he never saw the fist that connected with his jaw from the other side. It was at this moment that the cantina erupted.

[member="Valo Porkins"]

 

[Via Dolorosa]

Her ears perked up at the mention of a twenty-five thousand credit reward for information to leading to the capture of a man she never heard of. The face that appeared in hologram form was also unfamiliar to her. She could really use the credits but she was no informant and even if she was; where would she begin to look for this man. She was a foreigner on this planet so her resources were sorely limited but she could find a way. Then to her surprise she watched in silence as a man arose from his seat, grabbed an empty bottle, and began to stumble toward the Republic forces. She watched his movements and could tell at once he was putting on a show, but for whom?

One of the workers had decided to interject himself between the faux drunk man and the security forces, but failed in his attempt as the "drunk" man spoke something she didn't quite catch; watching him closely as he moved toward the security team. She had seen enough cantina brawls to know one was shaping up to take place, so she stood up from her seat and slowly moved toward the far wall on her right; keeping everyone in her line of sight.

The man fell into the one that appeared to be in charge of the security forces and she laughed to herself. This man was good, real good. Perhaps he was trying to diffuse the situation himself but like the worker who failed, so did this man when the furry officer shouted at the man then turned his voice to the rest of the patrons in the cantina. Yep, a brawl was coming. To add more injury to the wounded scene, one of the workers returned with a few choice words himself, prompting the "drunk" man to once again diffuse the situation and was rewarded with a quick jab to his jaw. Yep, it was go time.

She pushed herself off the wall and charged toward the worker that threw the first punch, catching him by surprise when she kicked his left knee on the outer side with her right foot and delivered a blow to the left side of his jaw, dropping him. In that instance, she had made her choice to fight with and for the Republic. Another worker rushed to his friend's aid then stopped short when he realized his friend had been floored by a girl.

"What's the matter sunshine," she mocked, "Afraid to fight a girl. Unfortunately for you I'm not that typical gal."

Her mocking words prompted the man to take a swing at her that she quickly dodged by stepping to her right then returned his attack with one of her own, connecting her fist to the man's chin. Unfortunately for her, it didn't phase or budge the man but only made him more determined to pummel her.


[member="Orick T'ane"]

 

[Orick T'ane]

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anyuoECT4jc

The punch wasn't the hardest he had ever been hit, nor had it done any real damage, but it was unexpected and it took him to one knee. He was about to respond when a figure appeared out of nowhere and dismantled his attacker with two effective strikes. He was just about to give his thanks to the man when he rose and realized it was a woman. The fact that it was a woman isn't what stopped him for a second, it was the fact that her initial attack was way too advanced for just a barroom brawler, she was trained and that bothered him. He was sure that he was the only agent in this entire sector of space. He would need to find out, but surviving the fight was all that mattered for the moment.

He watched as one of the other workers hesitated for just a second before her mocking tone pushed him into action. Her initial attack was a well thrown right cross to the man's chin, but that only seemed to amuse him. Before he could react, Orick was in action. He delivered a strong firm plan strike to the man's sternum and was rewarded with a loud gasp as the air in the man's chest came rushing out. He followed the palm strike up with hard knife hand chop to the man's throat. the man stumbled back his hands clutching his throat as he gasped for air. If he was lucky he would only end up with a severe bruise, but it was possible that his larynx was smashed. He turned to the woman standing next to him, " If we survive this, the next round is on me."

He quickly grabbed her by both shoulders and pulled her to the left, as a bar stool slammed into the ground where she had just been standing. He pushed past her and delivered a swift kick to the kneecap of the worked that had swung with the stool, as he fell, Orick delivered a quick knee to the face. He looked around the cantina, trying to gauge the status of the fight and was surprised that some of the workers had decided that fighting wasn't as exciting as they hads originally thought it would be. His reward for checking on the fight was a firm punch to the left side of his head. And for the second time since the fight began, he was back on one knee, this time he could feel his head ringing. He had no time to wonder about anything else as he focused solely on getting back up before his position got worse.

[member="Valo Porkins"]

 

[Via Dolorosa]

"I'm going to hold you to that drink, mate," she said to the unknown man.

The man, acting quickly, grabbed her by her shoulders pulling her to the left to avoid the bar stool aimed at her; the metal stool crashing into the ground. Before she could thank him, he moved into action subduing the worker before he could do some serious damage with that stool. She looked around the cantina and saw that the fight was dying down. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a shadow and turned in time to see her ally in all this dealt another blow sending him to one knee. The worker quickly produced a vibrodagger, pulling his arm back to load up a powerful jab. That was not going to happen. In blinding speed, she removed one of her blasters and jammed the barrel of her weapon into the nose of the worker.

"You brought a dagger and I brought a blaster," she said locking her eyes onto his.

The worker grunted and was still content on using his weapon when his eyes went wide with shock when he felt the barrel of her second blaster poke him in the stomach. He looked down at the blaster then at the girl reading her facial expression that she meant business.

"Two blasters," she amended, "Drop your weapon and back away!" She looked over at the other workers, most of whom had halted their fist fight with the Republic security forces. To them she said, "This fight is over. We shall call this a tie."

She looked down at the man and flashed him a smile. However, her smile was short lived when she heard the furry Republic officer say to her from behind, "Citizen drop your weapons and place your hands on the top of your head and move to your knees at once!. Under Republic code 66-643 you are hereby under arrest for possession of illegal weapons." She lowered her head and gave a soft sigh. She had just helped them and in the process prevented the fight from escalating and how was she rewarded; a trip to the pokey. She dropped her dual blasters, both clanking on the cantina floor, and placed her hands on the top of her head.

"Perhaps another time for that drink, mate," she said to the unknown man as she lowered herself to a kneeling position.


[member="Orick T'ane"]

 

[Orick T'ane]

He didn't even have time to think and she had acted, the worker that had attacked was standing still, even with a vibrodagger in his hands he wasn't willing to test his luck against her two pistols. He stood and shook his head, the spots playing around the edge of his vision starting to clear. " quick thinking." He said to her with a nod.

He turned and frowned as the officer rattled off the code numbers and infraction she had committed. She had dropped to her knees and Orick saw one of the security officers quick step forward, and after roughly grabbing her arms, place stun cuffs on her. He stepped forward towards the lieutenant and smiled, " Lieutenant, this has all been a misunderstanding. If you would just call ..."

" That's enough!" The officer said loudly. " You are responsible for this entire debacle, you're under arrest as well. Republic code 29-888, civil disobedience in an attempt to incite a riot."

Orick frowned as his shoulders slumped. One of the other officers stepped forward and spun him around. He felt the stun cuffs bite into his wrists as he was pushed towards the door. He turned to see [member="Valo Porkins"] being lead out of the cantina and he was quickly escorted out behind her. " Looks like that drink may end up being just water." He was still managing to make jokes even as they were put into the back of an official security hover truck. " This actually works much better for me, an arrest will help with my cred." He didn't seem phased by the way the fight ended at all. Even with his hands behind his back he managed to lean back into a comfortable position, the thin smile never leaving his lips.

 

[Via Dolorosa]

She looked over at the man and flashed him a smile, the cuffed duo walking in tandem, as the security officers led them off to be processed and caged like animals. This wasn't the first time she had been arrested by the Republic but it would be the last. Her opinion of Republic law was limited but she understood they were just doing their jobs. She broke the law and she will face the consequences with her head held high. But when the man mentioned something about his arrest adding to his cred, she was more than just curious.

"What did you mean by 'adding to your cred'," she inquired once the transport shuttle's back doors were shut, locking the two together.

Who is this man? She knew scum, criminals, and all sorts of nasties that lived throughout the galaxy and this man didn't strike her as one that fit that bill. Add to this equation that he was well versed in fighting and knew how to 'act' when he feigned his drunken state. Most, if not all, criminal minded types couldn't rub two brain cells together to make a functioning sentence; complete with proper word usage and punctuation. So who is this man?

The shuttle rumbled and shook slightly as it shot toward the sky and to their apparent destination. Again she looked the unknown man up and down, taking notice how calm he was. Who is this man?


[member="Orick T'ane"]

 

[Orick T'ane]

The trip to the sector security office was a short one, the shuttle had precedence above all vehicles as it moved. Orick looked over at [member="Valo Porkins"] as she asked her question and he just gave her a 'thousand watt smile' and said nothing, he was acting way too smug considering the amount of trouble they were in. As shuttle landed they were pushed into a rather large building and down a flight of stairs into a basement sublevel, that upon seeing it they would notice that it doubled as a holding area. She was pushed to one side of the large room and she was taken to a small holding cell with an archaic durasteel door on it, and a small cot ands toilet. She would seem him only for a moment longer before he was pushed towards another part of the holding area

Once he was alone Orick turned to the security officer that was escorting him, " I wish to speak to your commanding officer." He hoped that he got the chance to get his point across before it was too late.

" Everyone want to see him when they are brought down here, scum." The reply was followed by a not so friendly push in the back.

Orick sighed and wanted to be mad, but the poor guy was only doing his job, so He let it go, " Fine. Under Republic military order from Grand Admiral Gir Quee, I would like to speak to Commander Golan as soon as he is able to see me, and that should be as soon as you go tell him. I have operational freedom and if you look in my left inner breast pocket you will find my security code." He said as he kept walking. He knew that the officer would likely just push him again but at least he would get somewhere.

He walked slowly into his small cell and turned so that the officer could get his code out if he wanted to. " Take the code to commander Golan right now. If i have to sit in here for days before I get to explain this, I'm not going to be happy"
With little fanfare the officer reached into the pocket and pulled out a small data card. It only took him a few seconds to recognize the symbol on the card and to quickly close the door.

the time would seem to drag on forever, hours seemed like days as she sat in her cell, there was a little break when she was given food through a small hatch in the door but other than that she was completely alone. After hours alone in her cell she would hear a small knock on the door, " Move to the back of the cell." As soon as she complied the door would open and two officers would cuff her and take her towards another small room in the back of the holding area. This room had two chairs and a table, all bolted to the floor, but otherwise ti was barren.

She was pushed into the chair and her cuffs were removed just long enough for her hands to be cuffed to the chair. Once she was secure they would leave her alone again. it would be almost another hour before the door opened again and this time Orick would walk in, he would be wearing the exact same clothing he had on before and his lip would be visibly split and he would have a large welt across the left side of his face.

" Think about this before you answer, because I already know you're not one of my people." He said as he closed the door and sat down across from her. " Who are you and why were you at that cantina this evening?"