Private Which side are you on?

[Avin Starfire]

System: Jazbina
Location: Tesavin Cantine

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The bar seemed to hold onto that clinging scent of smoke and dirt even five miles from the nearest mine transport hub. If it wasn't for the greasy fried foods and booze-soaked seats the whole place would smell no different to the rest of the settlement. The occupants of the place didn't give the place much of a better thrill to the nose either, the largely human groups of off-duty and tired-looking workers gave off a tinge of body odour that no amount of decontamination showers would likely ever shift. Such was the life of Tesavin workers commune 16 and to pretty much all of them there this place was a little slice of light in a life of gruelling labour and long hours.

Tonight the bar was very much in full swing if how much noise the punters were making gave anything away. Even so, the largest collection of customers this evening sat on the far side of the establishment and surrounded two of the larger tables that had been pushed together to make something of a conference. This group seemed not to be in the mood for hollering or shouting at each other but instead spoke with serious faces and measured tones. To the uninitiated, it would have been rather odd of course but to those in the know, they understood their place among the others. This table happened to be the favoured meeting place of the union leaders for each of the work teams on mines 3,6,8 and 4. The conversation there seemed rather tense and the congregation of so many of the union men in one place was no doubt due to recent news regarding local legislation threatening not just the working rights on the planet but the function of these unions altogether.

Sat by himself on the end of the bar and with his back to the group was a man of no particular remark. His hair seemed to grey at the edges of his scalp and a loosely shaved stubble clung messily around his face and jaw. He seemed quite content staring down into the cup in his slightly dirty hands. He wore a dark-flowing outer robe and some kind of basic cloth vest underneath.

Crix Maden

 

[Crix Maden]

Crix meditated. He could feel the steady pump of energy being produced by the engines, and the vibrations that was drawn from it as a result. He sat in the back of the state-of-the-art land cruiser, a shuttle that brought them to the interior of the modest town. Their target was the cantina where many of the miners and those who represented them mingled to drink after a long day's work. It was a simple contract of pushing the town and its small mining operation into submission so that they could be married into a larger and more fruitful organization and thereafter sucked dry of credits.

Crix didn't care about the people in the shuttle, those who hired him or the indigenous they were to take advantage of. He didn't know any of it existed until the last minute when his contact sent him a holo-message of the opportunity. Nevertheless, something about this time and place seemed to seem significant and that became more evident as they neared their destination. He didn't know what, but something was telling him that he was getting more than he bargained for. And so the shuttle door opened, whereupon those that accompanied him departed from the vessel.

Alongside Crix, there were five of varying alien species just outside the shuttle. They were of the usual mercenary type, equipped with basic clothing and armor as well as blaster rifles and pistols. They weren't the type you'd dispatch in any situation that wasn't criminal-level bullying. As for the one human among them, Crix, he remained in the back and tailed them as they entered the establishment.

The room fell even more silent when they did. Crix leaned against the frame of the door, scrunched up his features as both the visage and aroma of the room were taken into his senses. His amber eyes moved over the faces of the room, taking in the sight of broken-down men - hunched over from years of manual labor. It was obvious they had come to the cantina as soon as their shuttles brought them in from the mines. The smell was of sweat and unwashed flesh.

The dark jedi remained where he was, stepping once inward so that the automated door could shut while he allowed the adjacent wall to become the support of his lean. As for the five men, they followed their leader as he glanced at a screen on his wrist, confirming the union leaders before standing just before their table.

"Sandrys Corp is done kriffing with you low-life union leaders," the mercenary said with one hand on his blaster gun and then the other on his utility belt.

"They sent us here to make sure your union stays quiet," he said as he motioned with the tilt of his head as those behind him began to encircle the table and union delegates. As they did so completely, one of them stepped in between two of the union men and flipped the table they sat at - sending their cups and contents across the ground.

As all this went down, Crix remained where he was. He donned a black robe with the hood pulled back to hang on his back. Beneath that robe was a tunic and similarly black clothing with a lightsaber on one side of his belt and a blaster pistol on the other. His amber eyes moved across the room, looking for any froggy miners who were packing a pistol, though his eyes eventually set upon the man at the bar. He found him to stand out noticably from the rest of the patrons of the bar //I'm assuming Crix would sense the force flowing through them though I don't want to assume this without permission//.

As the situation escalated, Crix's awareness would blanket the catina as a whole yet his eyes would remain on the older man.

Was he a force-user himself? And if so, why was he on a piss-smelling place like this?

(I'm not sure of the etiquette on controlling the NPC's so I don't really want to control the union folk. That being said, if you want to control the mercenaries you can.)

Avin Starfire

 

[Avin Starfire]

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The atmosphere became rather icy as the group entered. Punters from along the bar and at the side tables stopped eating or drinking, many of them looking first at the gang of thugs and then at each other. Some tucked themselves further into the edges of the bar, others going as far as to quickly pick up their coats and shuffle out at the sight of weapons. Others seemed less phased by the group's presence, measuring their size with grizzled scowls. A couple of the younger and more courageous of them even seemed to stretch their hands with the slight clicking of knuckles although they were the minority. The whole place seemed almost to freeze before the mercenary broke the silence.


The unionist who seemed to be the ring leader amongst the others seemed almost to speak up when the table was flipped over only to find the words in his mouth cut short by the crashing of plates and glasses. A couple of the others thrust themselves upright and took a step toward the gangers. Wiry frames tensed as they held themselves back trying not to show the fear that now pumped adrenaline into the system of each man. The leader stood up next. His demeanour was more relaxed and self-assured than the others, waving a hand to the others to calm down before giving a reassuring nod to those now frozen up under the intimidation of a blaster.
He coughed a throaty mucus to clear his throat before spitting it down onto the ground in front of them.

"Now boys I always thought Sandrys had a little more manners and respect. Such things don't get passed down to their dogs."

His eyes darted to the one with his hand on the blaster and let out a long breath through his nostrils.

"Yall really think your gonna come down here to these parts and try to threaten us out of what we're owed? What our ancestors have worked for generations? We've been over this a hundred times with your bosses we just want a fair slice of the pie, just the same as everyone else. Is that all too much to ask?"
His eyes darted again to the bartender whose arms had now sunken under the bar then back to the aliens.
"Come on with ya, you really just gonna gun us down if we don't do what you say? Use your brain, what do you think is gonna happen when all the other teams find out huh?"
Another of the union leaders chimed in. "This is outrageous! This is illegal!"

The tension continued to build as the miners retorted and yet it was clear that their lack of any real weapons kept them locked in place by the innate drive to keep themselves alive.


Crix's attentions were not entirely unwarranted it seemed. While before the figure at the bar had seemed nothing particularly out of the ordinary with a little focus he would indeed sense something that the others could not. It was like an echo or a shadow of something in the force that seemed to barely register upon first inspection but existed when focused upon even if very slight. The man seemed to spare the group a glance and all but ignored the other force user, instead going back and drinking down the rest of whatever it was within his cup before placing it on the bar then dropping his hands down to rest upon his knees as his feet moved from the stool's perch and onto the ground.

Crix Maden