Unhappy Coincidence

[Maur]

[SIZE=11pt]Maur checked her weapons again then checked her suit for the third time as the pilot pulled the transport alongside the ruins of a freighter hanging in space. She hated space walks, but their client was paying for them to track down the slavers that took his child. So walk along a dead freighter she would. The other merc along for the ride, a human male, had been fairly silent the entire time. Hopefully, this would be a spice run—smooth all the way.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]“Eyes up,” the pilot said. “Unknown ship anchored to freighter. IFF scan came back unknown. You are weapons free. Remember, no civilian kills.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]The Togorian bared a fang silently. Not a spice run then. The airlock sealed behind the two mercs and she flicked the safety off her blaster. An unknown variable made this infinitely stickier. Mercs, she could always trust to be—and stay—professional. She propelled herself through a hole in the freighter’s hull, her maglock boots anchoring to the deck. Hopefully, whoever this was would either help or get out of their way. Maur began clearing the front half of the freighter, senses straining for the unknown person.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt][member="Gherron Dragonsflame"] | [member="Gray Venasir"][/SIZE]

 

[Gherron Dragovalor]

Gherron might have been getting closer to being an actual Jedi again recently, but that didn't cull his absolute hatred of slavery. When he heard a small band was coming together to do a few jobs taking out slavers and releasing their charges, he was more than happy to sign up, though under an alias that very few people knew: Rylan Thatcher. Thankfully Josh didn't spend too much time on the dark side of the holonet, at least as far as he knew. He'd never hear the end of it. His hair dyed black to fit the persona, he donned his Nexu armor, and strapped pistol to his side and rifle to his back. He wouldn't be using much force powers here, unless the situation really called for it. Here, he was just another mercenary. Both his ships were registered to Gherron Dragonsflame, so he was forced to take the same transport as the other two on the job. It made sense anyway; then they could put together a decent plan.

He studied his two partners carefully. One was another human, a little younger than himself. Decent build, likely had some combat training under his belt. The other was what he almost mistook for a cathar. No... She must have been a togorian. He'd never seen one in real life before, but now that he thought of it, the difference between her and the cathar he had met in the past was pretty significant. She had much more body mass, as if she was an actual humanoid tigress. As a result, she was very impressive to behold, especially since she didn't seem to be one much for words... His thoughts were cut short as the airlock opened. The trio stepped out, and like the togorian, Rylan switched on his own maglock boots. He loved this suit. Grabbing the rifle from its resting place, he powered it up as his helmet began feeding him information. The pilot was right, nothing was showing up yet. They needed to get inside. Following Maur into the derelict freighter, he kept his head on a swivel, his HUD finally giving some much needed statistics of the area.

"I'm reading three lifeforms nearby. Down this hallway... Should be a hatch on the left."

[member="Maur"]

 

[Gray Venasir]

Gray hated slavers. Had done so most of his life, and would do until he died. His reason for hating them was something he told very few, and even fewer really understood what was behind the reason. But it involved a slave his family had had when he was a child. To say the least, she was not alive anymore, and that was a big part of why he hated slavers. So when he heard news of someone wanting to attack a group of them, he quickly signed up for it.

Well, a group wasn't appropriate to call it. More like some people with the same goal. It was only Gray himself, another man who looked like some kind of soldier, and a feline woman of species Gray couldn't recognize. She kind of resembled a cathar, but one could easily tel she was not. But Gray didn't care about that, what was important was that the Three of them wanted to take these slavers Down.

They had arrived at the freighter they were going to Board, but the way they would do it was not the most ideal. Flying through Space in suits inside a hole in it. IT would certainly be interesting, if nothing else. Gray had doned a spacesuit, and went With the two others out the airlock, in the direction of the hole. This mission would probably not be easy, as if any mission ever was. Inside the ship, it would only be them and the weapons they had brought, With no chance of backup. Again, not the most ideal, but it would have to work. The only weapons Gray had brought was his two pistols, and a vibroknife. That had to be enough. "Roger that," was his reply to the other mans statement.

[member="Gherron Dragonsflame"] | [member="Maur"]

 

[Maur]

The Togorian held up a fist as she took point: Understood. As quiet as her maglock boots would let her, she moved up to the hatch the first human male indicated. Positioning herself to one side, she waited for the other two to take up their positions. She held up three fingers and removed one as she counted down to breach.

When the hatch opened, she tossed in a flashbang and waited for the vibrations of confused lifeforms. The durasteel thumped beneath boots and bodies. Idiots. Maur turned the corner and swept the room with her blaster. No combatants. At least, none still standing and able. Two of the intruders were on the floor, holding their visors. One was still standing but pointing his blaster erratically at every corner in the room. Maur plucked the rifle from his hand and relaxed.

Scavengers, by the looks of them. Idiots, by her estimation. Didn't even post their guard outside the hatch. And probably didn't leave a guard in their ship.

She'd have to let the other two mercs question them. Datapad translations didn't work with these suits.

[member="Gherron Dragonsflame"] | [member="Gray Venasir"]

 

[Gherron Dragovalor]

When the togorian raised her fist in reply, Rylan nodded and fell back to provide fire support. Shouldering his rifle, he readied himself to take down any immediate threats that would jump out at the group. As silently as they could, they reached the hatch, after which he and the other human took up positions on either side of it. The pointman (pointwoman?) opened it up and sent a flashbang in, and the sweet sound of collapsing bodies and confused yelling rang out in the air. Rylan followed the togarian in and sweeped the room as well, verifying there were no other threats, before slinging his rifle to his back and grabbing the first man he saw by the collar, forcing him back.

”You guys aren’t so smart, it seems. Do you think you wanna probe me wrong by telling us where the captives are? And while you’re at it, where’s the boss man?”


[member="Maur"] [member="Gray Venasir"]

 

[Gray Venasir]

Just as the other human, Gray took up position at the side of the feline as she threw a flashbang inside. As soon as it exploded, Gray turned to face those inside, holding his blaster in front of him. He could see no threats, as all had been blended or neutralized by the flashbang, so he followed to other two inside. While to other human tried to interrogate one of the enemies, Gray held both his blasters pointed at the enemies lying on the ground, but also following up in the interrogation. Sometimes, he aimed his main blaster at the man held against the wall to make himmore prone to talk.

"Don't be a fool now. Tell my friend what he wants to know, and we won't kill you," Gray said while looking at the man. Then he looked back to the People on the floor. "Probably," he added un der his breath. These People were not to blame, they probably knew little of the Whole situation. But they had become part of it, and if they couldn't provide good answers, there was no guarantee they would leave alive. Such was the life of this Galaxy.

[member="Gherron Dragonsflame"] | [member="Maur"]

 

[Maur]

Between the man grabbing the collar of the spacesuit and the pointed rifle, the suited being threw his hands up. Maur figured her companions had this handled and went to watch the door for others.

:: P-please, you've got it wrong!:: the being stammered over open comms. A Rodian accent colored his words. ::We just wanted scrap to sell. We don't know nothing about captives or nothin'.::

From the floor, another scavenger said ::Ain't got a boss man. We're all scrappers. Thought we could cut costs by joinin' up.::

::Hey, ain't our astro ping somethin' leavin' this space when we jumped outta hyper?::

The second scrapper got to his knees and clapped a hand on the third still cringing on the floor. ::Gettup Dak. Yeah, pinged somethin' and said it was nothin'. Y'all can ask him for coordinates or whatever. Hells, I'll even find that black-box-thingamajig we pulled out earlier.::

The Rodian in the grip of [member="Gherron Dragonsflame"] pointed at the scrapper that talked last. ::See? Ask our astro! He could tell ya more! Don't kill us please!::

::I knew I should've stayed home today.:: Dak grumbled from the floor.

[member="Gray Venasir"]

 

[Gherron Dragovalor]

They were afraid. Good. Rylan and Gray would use that against them, and failing that, Rylan knew the giant cat would be more than enough to put them back in their place should they step out of line. Picking the man in his grip up, he brushed him off and stepped back a foot or so, giving him a mock smile.

”Ah good, so you won’t mind showing us right?” looking to Maur, then back to the other two scavengers, he had a quick idea. ”Alright, so here’s what we’re gonna do. You are going to bring myself and my partner here to your astromech. Your two buddies over there are going to lead the togorian to this black box. Any funny business, and we stop being nice. Now, are there any more of you aboard?” He spoke all of this in an even, steely tone.

”N-no! I mean, yeah, there’s a couple guys back in storage, that’s where the astro’s at. They won’t be any trouble, promise!”

Rylan looked over to Maur again. ”You can handle these two guys if they get out of control, right? Myself and Venasir are gonna have a nice chat with this droid of theirs.” He pulled out his own pistol and turned the rodian around, shoving it against his back. ”Okay, we’re moving. Venasir? Let’s go see this little droid.” He marched the rodian out of the room, leaving the oversized kitty to take the other two. It probably wasn’t the wisest move to split up, but this would be the quickest way to get results. Besides, if there were others along Maur’s path, Rylan has no doubt she could dispatch them as easily as one might swat a mosquito.

[member="Maur"] [member="Gray Venasir"]

 

[Gray Venasir]

Rylan was apparantly quite good at interrogations. The answers they sought were acquired fast, and without too much violence. And Gray also learned that the species the feline lady they were allied with was Togorian, a species he had never heard off. But nevertheless, it was good to know.

"Alright, coming. Comm us if you run into trouble, alright?" he said to [member="Maur"] . Though he was sure she could handle herself, it was polite to reassure like that. Then he followed beside [member="Gherron Dragonsflame"] and the rodian. The walk to the Storage wasn't long, and it seemed the rodian had spoken the truth about there being no one else on the ship than in the Storage.

Having reached the Storage, Gray looked inside. He could only see Three persons in there, plus the astromech. Giving a signal for Rylan to follow right behind With the rodian, he walked in With his blasters in hand. "Alright everyone, lay Down Your weapons and step away from the astromech. One sudden move and we open fire, killing Your friend here first," he motioned to the rodian. Then he walked over to the astromech, crouching Down. "Hey there buddy. My friend here have some questions for you, and we would be gratefull if you could answer them." Gray stepped away, giving Rylan Space. He kept holding his blasters pointed at the scavangers. "And I'm sure Your masters would appriciate not ending up dead."

 

[Maur]

Like any normal civvie, the scavengers spilled their guts almost as fast as they could breathe. Maur couldn't say she was surprised. Scrappers like these would've seized the opportunity an abandoned, damaged freighter provided without any thought as to the cause. And whether or not there other invested parties.

”You can handle these two guys if they get out of control, right? Myself and Venasir are gonna have a nice chat with this droid of theirs.”

Maur raised a fist again: Understood. She brought her hands near each other and extended the first two digits of each hand, bumping one hand on top of the other while holding the rifle: Use caution.

"Alright, coming. Comm us if you run into trouble, alright?"

Well, she could activate it and use Galactic morse code, certainly. Maur did an exaggerated nod, knowing that the suits protecting them from the vacuum of space obfuscated motions. As [member="Gray Venasir"] and [member="Gherron Dragonsflame"] left, she turned to the remaining scrappers. She gestured at the door with her blaster, keeping her eyes on them at all times.

:: Alright, alright, keep your suit on. We'll take ya there. Let's go Dak.::

:: This day just keeps getting worse all the time.:: the scrapper muttered.



Storage Hold

This mission was going quite smoothly. R9-O5, more commonly known as "Boss," allowed himself a moment of recognition. It wasn't ever easy, running an operation through an organic, but most scrappers, smugglers, and spacers wouldn't ever take orders from a droid. He'd been lucky he found this hunk of junk when he did: the scrap electronics would bring in a sizable amount of creds. Now if only the three idiots separated from the group could get their act together. That would make his circuits run smoothly.

Then the blast door to the rest of the freighter opened.

Three organics entered in those ridiculous but necessary suits. One was one of the three stooges he'd nicknamed Curly. For no good reason. Boss rocked from side to side on his legs. This was just . . . the organics used peachy. This was just peachy, then.

"Alright everyone, lay Down Your weapons and step away from the astromech. One sudden move and we open fire, killing Your friend here first."

Well they were hostile creatures to be sure. Despite only one of his organics holding a blaster pistol, all three laid down whatever they had in their hands, hydrospanner included. Boss made a mental note to find organics with vertebrae for his next job.

"Hey there buddy. My friend here have some questions for you, and we would be gratefull if you could answer them. And I'm sure Your masters would appriciate not ending up dead."

Boss emitted a series of short "blats." This one had vertebrae and intestines. A subroutine queried if this organic could be found on a mercenary database. A primary routine pinged local frequencies to check if the interlopers had datapads. Most organics found reading less troublesome than learning his language. If the ping came back true, he'd hijack their datapads to communicate while he spoke. Otherwise, no harm in trying out his native language right? The scuffed and travel-worn black astromech rolled on his magnetized treads to look the organic at optic level.

He whistled and beeped, adding another series of short "blats" at the end. [[Ask and I'll answer. And while I'm sure they would . . .]]

He beeped again, this time in a much lower tone. [[ . . . I don't much care about my current employees.]]