The Soldier and Bureaucrat

[Sra-jotun Konu]

Location: Depths of Coruscant

Mission: Help Clear Out the Underworld

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As the subtram sped through the depths of Coruscant Sra-jotun sat on his private tramcar tightening the straps and checking his equipment. Sra-jotun was sporting a grey one-piece jumpsuit, covered by a full-body flak suit. At his waist was his belt with his standard tools on it as well as a holster holding an HG-54 "The Vora" Class Verpine Hand Cannon.

He took the pistol out of the holster and checked over it once, twice, three times. Sra-jotun wasn't the all too great with guns but he knew enough. His noble life had led him to be taught how to hunt with a rifle to kill the big game of the game and he was taught to shoot with a pistol to harm those wishing to harm him. However, he hadn't ever used a weapon quite like the hand cannon. Despite being able to protect himself with a blaster Sra-jotun was much more used to lighter blaster pistols rather than something as powerful as the weapon he was holding now.

As he holstered the weapon once he stared down at his feet. Although this whole thing was mainly to raise public approval for himself Sra-jotun did truly want to help clean out the scum and villainy that plagued the city world. It was an impossible task, he was well aware of that, but any attempt to help out he was sure would be well received by the people of the Imperium. At least he hoped it would be.

He looked back up towards the windows, watching the infinite city fly past at a breakneck speed. Despite being the only two people in that tramcar (he had ordered it so) neither Sra-jotun or his assigned one-man security detail had spoken a single word the entire time. Sra-jotun had no idea why the soldier wasn't speaking he himself wasn't speaking because in all honesty the man scared him a little. With his scars, strong build, and large gun any person Sra-jotun new personally would have been. But, as the "host" it was probably best for him to speak first. He didn't think the soldier wasn't going to speak first anyway.

Sra-jotun crossed legs, turned towards the man, and gave him a hearty, "Why hello there, how have you been recently," followed by a toothy smile.

[member="Dante of Ession"]

 

[Dante of Ession]

Dante, along with much of the Grayson Imperium military personnel had just finished liberating Empress Teta. Immediately after, he was assigned to purge Coruscant of the rampant crime that has been plaguing the world. Dante, who was originally reluctant to accept, decided he would be willing to partake in the mission.

Now, here he was, sitting across this silly little man. Dante said nothing and neither did Sra-jotun, at first. Dante just thought and assessed his partner.

"Could he be trusted?" Dante was skeptical.

Sra-jotun finally spoke: "Why, hello there, how have you been recently?"

This kind jester was followed by an awkward, out of place smile, which made Dante chuckle. Dante was caught off guard, as he seldom, if ever, laughed. Dante had the feeling that his partner was genuine. They had a long journey ahead of them, and it would only continue to grow longer as they arrived.

Dante wondered if Sra-jotun had any previous combat experience or if he could hold his own in a battle.

"No matter", Dante thought, "that's my job."

Dante tried to answer the hilarious question. Nobody had asked him such a question in very many years.

"I've been fine... But I must ask, have you ever killed a man?" "Have you ever seen someone's soul leave their body?" Then, Dante reached for his blade.

Then, sensing his partner's uneasiness, he gave a soft chuckle. Relax, i'm just karkin' with you."

 

[Sra-jotun Konu]

Sra-jotun let out an uneasy breath and gave a weak smile, looking down at the floor. "Oh my oh my, my friend you really did get me there," he said with a slightly strained voice, "I really didn't expect that." He smiled a little bit. "But, uh, no I have not ever killed man, I have seen dead people before, but I've never watched one die, much less kill one myself," he let out another breath, "I am, however, glad to hear that you're ok. I find people who are in good moods perform better. Maybe that's jsut in non-combat scenarios but I assume it will apply in the circumstance somewhat as well."

This man was quite something. Even pretending to pull a knife on a noble in any other circumstance would've gotten him shot. However, he was quite sure it was all in good fun, besides, if he had really wanted to hurt him this would be the perfect place to do it. Completely alone with nothing standing between him and his victim but a hand cannon that would probably never get its trigger pulled. Yes, Sra-jotun was quite sure the soldier wasn't going to hurt him. To do such a thing was sure to get him one of the most brutal deaths in the Imperium anyway, no reason to worry.

However, there was one problem. Sra-jotun didn't know his name. He was sure he had caught it when looking over the message he was sent about the man being assigned to him but for the life of him, he couldn't remember.

This was quite embarrassing. Sra-jotun was quite sure the man wouldn't appreciate him asking for his, he'd probably think he was incompetent, but, in foresight, it'd be much ruder to not ask at all and never know it. It'd be better to show that he cared enough to ask rather than just letting it be and seem like he didn't at all, which he did, very much in fact.

Sra-jotun gave a short cough, lounged back in his chair casually and began speaking again. "Well after the very entertaining moment and can't help but apologize. See, when I received the notification of your assignment to my security detail it listed your name, however, I can't for the life of me remember what it was. I know it seems incredibly rude and I'm quite sorry but I want to make it up to you by asking you now. It'd be no good for me not to know while we're on the assignment together now, would it? Please if you could remind me it'd be much appreciated, I promise I mean no offense."

Sra-jotun had stumbled a bit over his words because he was speaking a bit too fast but hopefully he got his point across, hopefully he hadn't angered the man.

[member="Dante of Ession"]

 

[Dante of Ession]

Dante sighed and in his usual, harsh tone, he spoke.

"I'm Dante... There's no need to be worried, you've never wronged me." He paused; the room fell silent.

"And you're Sra-jotun. I've heard you're quite the politician. Look, I got a job and while i'd love to sit in this little tramcar of your's and enjoy pointless small-talk, we got a job to do."

As Dante uttered his last few words, the tramcar arrived at its destination. Their awkward ride had come to an end and the room fell silent for a moment. Dante arose and as they began to exit the tramcar, he turned toward his partner, awaiting a response.

Dante suddenly felt bad. His partner was attempting to form a connection, something that might have frightened Dante. It was clear his partner had never experienced combat and Dante began to think he had never even seen a soldier. Of course, Dante knew what he was getting into before he accepted the mission. And somewhere within himself, he was excited work with his new partner.

"This should be interesting", He thought, as he made his first step off the tramcar and onto the pavement of Coruscant's underground.

 

[Sra-jotun Konu]

"Ah, well, happy to hear that," he said with a smile before it faded away with Dante's next words. "But yes, we do have a job to do, a very dangerous one. And, to be perfectly honest, I'm not very experienced with this kind of thing... but that's why you're here," he said, producing another smile.

As the tram car floated to a stop and the door hissed open Sra-jotun stood up as well, dusting himself off, tightening his straps, and making sure his gun was easy to pull out of the holster. "Well let's get going then."

And with that Sra-jotun stepped out of the tramcar along with Dante.

Dante of Essionhttps://starwarsrp.net/user/22411-dante-of-ession/

 

[Justin Beka]

Outside the tram, waiting in the station was a man in uniform. Upon seeing Sra-jotun stepping out of the tramcar, he saluted.

"Sir, Private First Class Justin Beka reporting for duty. Im with the Sons of Ession. I was assigned to essentially be your escort, just encase something goes haywire. Like a backup thing, since I believe this man here could look after you himself but more manpower will help raise the guarantee of your safety however I dont think youll need it but Im just following orders"

He had an old clone wars blaster on his back, it had engravings on it. It looked like a family heirloom, the DC-15A was all scratched as well.

 

[Sra-jotun Konu]

As Sra-jotun stepped out of the tramcar with Dante he was suddenly made aware of Justin in front of him. As soon as the man started talking Sra-jotun got a ping on his personal communication device and sure enough it was about the late assignment of another Son of Ession to the underworld mission.

"Well, uhm, Private Beka we're glad to have you. This is very unexpected but I wouldn't think for a second to turn down an extra blaster when it comes to a situation like the one we're about to get ourselves in. Your arrival can only mean good things for us, any extra firepower we can get will make this that much easier." He said this all with a small, toothless smile, hoping not to offput the recently arrived soldier. A reclusive strongman and talkative grasshopper, this was truly going to be a great time.

[member="Justin Beka"]
[member="Dante of Ession"]

 

[Dante of Ession]

Dante said nothing as he began to analyze the newly arrived soldier. He stood for a moment, taking in his features.

The new recruit seemed to be full of energy. Dante wasn't too fond of this trait, however, he also seemed to be somewhat trained and in Dante's eyes, that meant he should be respected. Unlike the conscripts he had fought on Empress Teta, Justin seemed to have training. Of course, this differs from experience, something Dante could already tell he had none of.

"Recruit, for now, you take my orders."

Dante felt both happy to have extra backup (not that he thought he required one) and burdened. He usually tended to use unorthodox methods to complete his tasks and he would be unable to do so with a witness. However, he kept these thoughts to himself. Besides, he was ultimately glad to have a new recruit.

 

[Justin Beka]

"Thank you, for accepting me, Sra-jotun,"

he turned to Dante

"Yes sir, tell me what to do and Ill do it,"

 

[Sra-jotun Konu]

He understood the exchange between Dante and Justin like he would understand any exchange between military personnel. Absolutely not at all. He didn't really understand why Dante was being so tough with Justin but he just assumed it was rank or something like that.

"Well then, now that we all know each other let's talk about the mission." He began walking towards the ship docking area of the level they were on. "We've been tasked with taking down a smuggling operation happening out of a privately owned docking area. A large company affiliated with a gang from Coruscant underworld is aiding their scummy brethren but letting them use the docking port they own here. We go in, we take it out, the job's done. Did you both get that?" He looked back at them while walking towards said dock, waiting for a response.

[member="Justin Beka"]
[member="Dante of Ession"]

 

[Dante of Ession]

"Loud and clear." said Dante, in response to Sra-jotun.

Despite his initial hesitance in working with his new partners, he was fairly excited for the job. After all, he would be doing what he was best at, what he was trained to be best at.

Dante thought for a moment after this extremely brief debriefing. He stood, silent, for a few minutes and then began to ask, "At what time is this operation going to occur?"

Dante always felt the need to know the details of every situation, often repeating "The job is wholly in the details...", when asked about how he succeeded on Empress Teta. In all truth, he did feel this way, however his success came from his pure and utter, nondiscriminatory ruthlessness.

 

[Justin Beka]

Justin, not knowing what to expect is walking at a ready position. His eyes wondering over every shadow, every window they end up talking past, looking for signs of a ambush. He walks towards the back of the group but still close to the diplomat if things go haywire.

 

[Sra-jotun Konu]

After hearing Dante matching vaguely about details and their importance remembered that he, in fact, had not mentioned anything about the details of the operation. How silly of him. Sra-jotun knew quite well that an uninformed soldier is a dead one. Any random book about any random war and any random soldier could have told you that very important fact.

"Ah, yes, details. The operation will occur in roughly..." he checked his holo-watch, "two hours almost exactly. We'll be entering into the docking area via an employee-only entrance. Obviously, since this is a government operation we have complete access to the docking areas of this level," Sra-jotun held up a security keycard marked with the level number they were on and the words "Docking Area Access Key", "and will have not a single trouble getting into the place. The employee-only entrance enters into the main loading area. The fly-in entrance will be to our right with the cargo loading area not far to our left. The main entrance where one would go through customs and whatnot will be directly opposite of us, about 200 feet directly in front of us when we enter. The criminals should be transporting various illicit goods and there should be too many of them, just a small smuggling crew full of goons. Our main target is an officer of the criminal enterprise we're after. He's relatively low-ranking but he's quite infamous on the level so catching him will still net us a lot of goodwill."

As Sra-jotun was going on his long explanantion they neared closer and closer to the docking areas which were surrounded by markets and hagglers looking for a few coins and a bit of your time. He stopped and turned to the two soldiers. "Do you both understand what's going on? Any questions? Because if not we have 2 hours to kill."

[member="Dante of Ession"]
[member="Justin Beka"]

 

[Justin Beka]

“What is the likely hood we will be ambushed? There a lot of openings here and I feel like we should take a detour in order to.. You know, not get ambushed?“

 

[Dante of Ession]

Dante faced his partners; "Well, we got some time to kill... may as well check the place out." He turned and headed toward a shriveled up homeless man, lying on the street.

"Where's the nearest bar?", Dante abruptly asked.

The man pointed toward a sharp, narrow alleyway and replied "Down the alley, make a left."

As Dante quickly thanked the man and began toward the alley, the man uttered, "Be Careful..."

Dante knew where he was headed. He knew what types of people would be at a bar, during this hour. However, Dante was slightly bored and wanted to have some brief alone time.

The alley was dark, and barren. There were no people in sight and garbage lined the passage. He began to inhale, smelling the scent of cheap booze and various other "street drugs". He smelt men, men armed with blades, blasters, and of course, glass bottles; It was necessary for these men to be armed in such a place. Such a place where there were no police, no military, no law, no women, no authority; The closest thing to authority there had ever been in such a place was Dante's mere presence. Dante knew that these men cared only for themselves, and themselves alone.

He turned left, into the entrance of the bar, a perplexingly bright variety of neon pink and purple immediately illuminating his skin. He walked up a fairly steep set of stairs and onward, toward the entrance of the bar.


[member="Justin Beka"] [member="Sra-jotun Konu"]

 

[Yijun Tung]

[SIZE=10pt][member="Sra-jotun Konu"] | [member="Dante of Ession"] | [member="Justin Beka"][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10pt]No matter what banner flew at the Palace crime had always flowed beneath the surface of the Jewel. Coruscant was the perfect hub for illegal activities. Here it was almost just as easy to hide in plain sight among the immense population as it was to seclude yourself deep within the labyrinthine lower levels. But the most successful operations transcended all social castes the ecumenopolis had to offer, from the narcos on the streets in the depths to the high-balling bureaucrats of Galactic City.

The Gokudo was a prime example of such an achievement.

It’s upper echelon were white-collar business moguls by day and ruthless criminal under-lords by night. The Oyabun, their leader, ruled with an iron fist from his corporate tower in the heart of Galactic City – a testament to both their success and ego. No one could deny that the Gokudo’s assets and connections on Coruscant ran deep. Founded by Atrisian refugees after the One Sith devastated their home, the Gokudo originally served to protect their vagabond people from the hardships of poverty on the streets of a foreign world. Because of this, they remain unspoken heroes to many who grew up under their shelter. To this day, whether through hushed admiration or fear, the Gokudo have continued to thrive.[/SIZE]

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Galactic City < Coruscant
Level 452, Dock AG24-D
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[SIZE=10pt]It was business as usual. The thousands of ports that lined the massive ventilation shafts for the deeper layers were some of the busiest places to be on the planet. With such dense traffic, monitoring shipments in and out had become virtually impossible since the fall of any sort of stable planet-wide government centuries ago. Sure, there had been peaks in authority now and then, but nothing that couldn’t be accommodated over time.

Dock 452-AG24-D had served as a shipping point for the Tsukasa Auto Corporation for almost 9 years. The TAC was a legitimate company and a decently known brand locally who produced a small selection of civilian speedercraft. What most did not know, however, is that the company had been founded by the original Oyabun of the Gokudo and still served as a medium for some of their illicit activities – most notably at this location; the supply and trade of weaponized speeder variants, weapons, and drugs. Unfortunately, it seemed their operations this night had been uncovered by hounds of the Imperium.

Though most of their dockyard space was bustling with labourers, heavy machinery and the occasional security personnel, one of the vehicle warehouses would stick out with notably higher security. Two sharpshooters patrolled the angled rooftop, one on either side of its length, vigilantly watching the perimeter from their vantage points. Below, five teams of Watchmen security droids patrolled the shipping containers and surrounding lot in groups of three. Occasional probe droids could be sighted performing routine searches from higher above.

At the center of the maze of containers and machinery, the warehouse itself had only two guards. Toned Atrisian goons, each riddled with scars and tattoos, stood watch casually on either side of the personnel entrance next to a much larger loading door. The two of them wore loosely kept formal outfits, but it was clear from their rugged demeanors that this was not the usual for them – it must be a special occasion.

An armoured transport speeder could be seen parked close to the door, and several other landspeeders were parked out front as well, though on the opposite side. But aside from the guards, there was no one else to be seen nearby. The civilian dockyard workers appeared to be completely absent of this area, and those working close to the perimeter did their best to ignore the Watchmen if they came into view.

Something was certainly going down here.[/SIZE]

 

[Dante of Ession]

As he swung the door open and stepped into the bright, surprisingly large bar, Dante sensed a certain intensity in the room. The chattering and lively noise of the bar, which Dante had heard before he entered, had completely died down to a sudden silence.

Nevertheless, Dante walked toward the bar, itself and approached the bartender. However as Dante approached, the bartender trembled as he said "I'm very sorry sir but we're closed."

"I just want a quick drink, I wont waste your time", Dante shot back it him.

Nervous, the man began to explain, "You don't understand, I can't serve you here..."

"How the **** is everybody else drinking if you're closed? I just want one goddamn drink! and why the **** are you so goddamn nervous?" Dante stopped dead in his tracks. His senses were instantaneously restored and he realized what he had done. He was NOT welcome there. Nevertheless, it was too late. And soon, they were upon him.




He quickly counted their numbers, there were fourty-seven men approaching him at once. The bartender, not included, nervously hid behind the bar. The room, despite its size, was full of hostiles and Dante knew that a ranged weapon would not be as effective as his blade. He quickly unsheathed the weapon and drove it into the man in front of him, blood squirting from the side of his neck, upon removal. He quickly grabbed the body, positioning it in front of him. After absorbing several bullets, it was dropped and Dante hurled the blade toward the owner of the cheap slug gun. The blade connected with the man's skull, sending his body toward the floor, lifeless. Dante quickly slid toward the body and retrieved the gun. Upon retrieval, he sent several shots into the craniums of his assailants. Sixteen men were dropped to the floor in a rather crude, sloppy manner, of which slug weapons produce.

Blaster shots now began to fire toward the entire room, Dante dodging each shot, retrieved his blaster pistol. He quickly fired toward each man in the room, killing twenty-one and wounding three of them. The remainder of his foes began to panic, two of them bolting for the door of the establishment. Dante quickly fired two shots in rapid succession, each one melting a hole in the skull the targets. There were five men remaining, each one reluctantly preparing to meet their ends.

Suddenly, Dante purposefully dropped his blaster, sparking hope in the eyes of his foes. However, this hope was soon shattered when Dante, already approaching them, reached for an old, rusty bottle of liquor.

Each one of them begged for their lives, for Dante's mercy. Unfortunately, they were begging for something that simply did not exist. Their pleas were quickly proven to be futile. And soon, Dante was upon them.

[member="Sra-jotun Konu"]
[member="Justin Beka"]