You Meme a Lot to Me Alive: Hunting TR-8R "Hunter"

[Ghorua the Shark]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJztXj2GPfk

LOCATION: NAR SHADDAA, FRIDA'S SPACER BAR
TIME: 21:00
MOOD: UPBEAT, READY TO CRACK SKULLS

Nar Shaddaa had quickly became Ghorua the Fish's favorite stop in the intergalactic scene. The dismal streets, neon signs, and criminal scum reminded him of his homeworld, Courscant, but without all of the Sith unrest. One of the large Hunter's favorite hangouts, Frida's Bar and Grill, was on this planet. It was perhaps the best bar in the entire galaxy. Not for it's garbage, or terrible alcohol, or it's Duros owner, but for the deals that went down here.

Ghorua's first bounty started here, at the very Dejarik table that he now sat at, playing a game against the AI. The artificial intelligence was smart, the Herglic had to give it that, but Ghorua was smarter. With a calm press of a button, his Kirtan Strider moved in front of the his opponents last piece, and demolished the piece into pixels with it's animated club. Ghorua let a smile creep through his lips. Too easy.

Ghorua was waiting for a contact, an old acquaintance he had met on his first job. A slicer, by the name of Lok. Ironic, considering the man's job was all about breaking locks open. The Fish's first bounty, however, was on a Republic Senator. This one was a bit smaller, but presumably much easier. The target was a Stormtrooper. A First Order riot trooper, with an ID of TR-8R. Now that he thought about it, the name was a bit odd, but Ghorua the Fish wasn't the one to judge.

So, the massive Herglic waited for the Mandalorian to show up, calmly drinking a bit of water, starting up a new game of Dejarik against the AI. Perhaps his artificial opponent would have more luck this time. What is the expression? Eighth time's the charm?

- [member="Marcus Lok"] -

 

[Marcus Lok]

Marcus had received the holomessage only a day before, and he had rushed over to the scum ridden planet once again for yet another deal. He had talked at some length with the Herglic over the course of a few months, but hadn't had the chance to work with him since his first job. He was enthusiastic to meet the oversized fish once again to say the least, and it was reflected in his stride up to the glowing sign of Frida's.

He had opted to leave his armor on the ship for this meeting, as some in this part of space were less than friendly to his kind concerning recent events, though he hardly cared what the "Citizens" of this planet thought about him. Everything he would need was in his bag; code scramblers, security spikes, and of course his datapad. What he had heard of the job was pretty minimal. Supposed to be some sort of low risk target, the fee spoke enough for that, but it was credits nonetheless.

Within a few moments he reached the slightly rusted door which quickly slid open with a mechanical hiss revealing the occupants of the bar and their shady dealings, criminal charges not attached. The air hung laden with smokes of an exotic type that were supposed to please the senses though they often caused him to gag at first, just not his thing. A few heavily laden Whiphids had him eyed up as soon as the door shut, but at a quick aversion of his gaze, all was remedied.

Now where is he... I hope i'm not here too early. Wait, is that him?


Of course it hadn't taken long to spot him at all, beings that he took up well over half a booth on his own. No greeting was necessary, and in suit the young Mandalorian simply slid in and nodded to the Duros bartender in the hopes of receiving his regular beverage that he had been ordering ever since he had first arrived on Nar Shaddaa.

"Well, I rushed here all the way from Toydaria. What's the hit?"

/ [member="Ghorua the Fish"] /

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Ghorua looked to Marcus as he walked in, absentmindedly playing another game of Dejarik with the Holotable. It didn't take long for the hacker to notice him, per the norm. The man slid into the booth next to the Herglic, and asked his question.

"It's nothing big." Ghorua lowered his voice a little as he spoke, just in case someone overheard him. "A First Order Soldier. Even got an ID." The Herglic looked down at his own datapad, making sure to get the title right. "TR-8R. Some lowly Riot-Trooper. Shouldn't be too hard, I think. If you have no qualms with poking the Order, I've got 10,000 creds waiting for you."

The Herglic smiled, and turned his eyed to Frida as she came with a drink. "Get another water for me too, will ya?" The Duros nodded, set down Marcus's drink in front of him, and went off again. Ghorua looked back down to his game of Dejarik, and pressed a button. As the machine did it's calculations, Ghorua growled. "Have I piqued your interest? I hope I didn't spoil your vacation or anything." A quick smile, then Ghorua turned back down to the strategy game, thinking.

-[member="Marcus Lok"]-

 

[Marcus Lok]

"I don't have any qualms with poking the order, you're the one who will be hunting one of their soldiers..."

The statement was true enough. He could hide his signature from imperial records as it was easy to create and endless amount of fake identities that would log into the system simultaneously and root out the information of this trooper. The fact that he had the ID helped, well, rather immensely. There were hundreds of thousands of troopers under the watch of the First Order and it would be next to impossible to locate one simply based on a nickname or other small tidbit of information.

He took a sip from the glass that was placed in front of him and the sudden sting of the alcohol against his throat seemed to wake his senses. He blinked and regained himself before looking back at his datapad which was already being prepared to hack into the First Order's holonet databanks and informational feeds. Any communique concerning this trooper would be found here, and it would be quite simply a cake walk to find him after they hacked into the system. It would take several minutes, however, and in that time he might as well relax. The Herglic's comment about his trip was hardly true, the only easy part was turning that damned smuggler over to the toydarian lord.

"My "Vacation" was over anyways... So what have you been doing then? Still scouring the galaxy for anyone that throws some meat on the table?"


/ [member="Ghorua the Fish"] /

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Ghorua smiled oily at Marcus's first comment. "This is true, but the poor soldier won't be too difficult to apprehend, and I doubt the Order would miss a single Riot Trooper."

The Herglic thanked Frida as she put another glass of water down on the Holotable, and he took a sip. Cool and refreshing. Of course, Ghorua enjoyed a good stiff drink every now and again, but sobriety before a Hunt was a tradition, going back... Only a few months. "Good to hear that I did not interrupt anything. From what I hear, Toydaria is wonderful this time of year." Another smirk. "Yeah, you could say I'm on a quest of... self-betterment. Sure, I'm big and scary," he said, sitting up a bit taller, and flexing, "But I have a few deals going on that might make me a bit bigger and scarier. As for meat... Who doesn't like a slab of Nerf steak every once in a while?"

With a flick of his hand, he moved one of his pieces along the holotable. "I assume you have been treating yourself well?"

-[member="Marcus Lok"]-

 

[Marcus Lok]

"About as well as always, I have dedicated myself to... My people once again. Cleaner and more dedicated work, if you get my meaning."

Marcus of course meant his returning to the Mandalorians to rejoin his vod in their never ending crusade to win honor for the clans. Before, he had been a criminal, doing odd jobs nearly constantly to sustain himself throughout the galaxy. Now, he had a nice place in Keldabe, and it suited him just fine to be working with a bigger picture in mind. These odd jobs had become less frequent, but the credits they brought it were always welcome, and that is why he found himself here drinking with the Herglic.

The datapad continued to let off a subtle whirr as it began to code-crack its way into the First Order's system. All that could be seen on the dim blue screen were lines and lines of numbers and different codes that were being endlessly fired off at the mainframe to gain some sort of access. Soon it would be done, and then there would be little more to speak of besides how he planned to obtain this trooper.

"So where is this guy?.. I imagine you aren't going to raid a barracks for one trooper, you're a bit of a big target."

He gave the larger being a smile and took another sip of his drink before looking back down at the pad and inputting a few more commands that would hopefully speed up the process.

/ [member="Ghorua the Fish"] /

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Ghorua nodded, and returned the gesture. "Yeah, I've been told I'm more of a tank than a speeder-bike. I was hoping he was out on assignment. It would be easy enough to ambush his squad then, considering my armor almost nullifies a stun baton. Then, maybe I blame the whole thing on the Republic, get the First Order angry at them too. They've been in a lot of chit lately."

Ghorua laughed, sending his guttural joviality throughout the bar. A few heads turned, but Frida was used to it by now. The Herglic was perhaps one of her best customers, he was here so often. Ghorua had grown quite attached to the place. Taking a gulp of water, Ghorua turned his attention to Marc.

"Would you be able to tell me where this guy is on assignment, if he is at all. If not, we'll have to wait for him to get on-assignment, because, as you said, I would get shot up pretty badly if I tried to get him out of a base. Unless..." Ghorua started thinking again. "No, no, that's a pretty dumb idea. Just give me what you can get, and I'll work out the details." Ghorua gazed down at his Dejarik game again, and thought hard. He had all the right pieces, he just needed his opponent to make a mistake.

-[member="Marcus Lok"]-

 

[Marcus Lok]

Marcus nodded and smiled as he presented his own knowledge of the Republic. He knew all too well of the Republic's situation in dealing with their soldiers... Spineless bunch. The only odd thing about the Republic was that it had once been the beacon of hope and light throughout the galaxy, and now it appeared to be full of weak cowards who would do anything to survive, regardless of innocent life. It was almost as if they were a starving and desperate beast that was being surrounded on all sides... Which in actuality, they were.

The whirring and clicking of the datapad continued in the dull atmosphere of the bar rather normally until it suddenly stopped mere moments after the Herglic expressed his concern on the bounty's location. It was really quite a coincidence, but Marcus immediately went to work filtering through the endless lists of the Order's personnel. Hundreds of thousands of names were on the pad, and it would only be filters that would save them from hours of mindless searching.

"I'll be able to tell you... Got it!.. Alright, i've got something here."

Marcus scooted closer to the massive being without averting his eyes from the screen and did his best to show him the display which contained an image of a man's face. Multiple aisles of personal information were provided alongside the picture and it was clear that this was the one they were looking for. Suddenly, Marcus turned off the screen before they got the assignment registration.

"I trust you have the fee with you..?"

He offered a smirk to Ghorua, knowing full well that if he disappointed he would be at his own leisure to leave with the information. Such were the perks of being a man with intelligence.

/ [member="Ghorua the Fish"] /

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Ghorua smiled, feigning a hurt ego. "Mr. Lok, I had hoped you had more faith in me!" The Herglic pulled out his own datapad, revealing a ready credit transaction. A simple press of the button, and the slicer was 10,000 creds richer. Which, all considering, wasn't much, but Ghorua wasn't doing the job for much either.

Crossing his arms, the Herglic stared down the Dejarik game. A few more moves, and it would be his. Pressing a few buttons, Ghorua's deep voice resonated in the human's skull. "There you are. Now you can buy yourself a new hat. That helmet you wear must be really stuffy." A quick chuckle. "I trust you'll give me what I need now. Would hate to break your back if you stab mine." Another laugh, but this one had a darker tone. Ghorua had been feeling quite paranoid lately, and for good reason. Lady Kay had threatened that she had big friends, and the Herglic had laughed it off. Now, he felt the pressure. It seemed as if hungry eyes stared at him in the alleys. Which happened before too, considering where they are, and what he was.

-[member="Marcus Lok"]-

 

[Marcus Lok]

Marcus nodded and smiled as the man made the credit transfer, he would put it to good use. It was really not a huge some of money, but it would pay for fuel and food... And whatever else he karking needed to survive without making another withdrawal. At the reference to the hat, he offered a laugh as well, but in truth he preferred to have the helmet on as opposed to exposing that handsome mug.

"It will be one nice hat, I'll tell you that."

The next threat was one that Marcus would never have taken lightly. The business was stressful, and one day's friends could turn into tomorrow's enemies very quickly while you roamed the stars. He certainly had no intention of crossing a Herglic in such a small area, hell, he doubted he would get very far if he did. With this knowledge, he quickly pulled his own datapad back out and revealed the assignment log of the trooper in question.

Current Assignment: Patrol And Reconnaissance Duty, Endor

The text was bright and clear, and it could not be mistaken. After he was sure that Ghorua at least had seen which planet he needed to go to, he ran a quick uplink through his device and the larger man's and transferred the exact base coordinates. It was a simple action, and one that only took a matter of seconds, and he was certainly glad to help. The 10,000 Creds were a nice bonus as well...

"Everything you'll need is on your pad... Looks like you might want to buy some hiking boots, Endor is all forest."

He gave a smirk to the towering creature. He could almost hear the amount of noise that he would make on that Planet. Branches snapping, boughs creaking, they'd probably mistake him for an armored walker! With his business concluded, he powered down the pad and slipped it back into his flight bag and gulped down the last of his drink. It would be back to Mandalore after this one... He stood and patted the Herglic on the shoulder before exiting the booth.


"Pleasure doing business with you, as always."


/ [member="Ghorua the Fish"] /

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

- [member="Marcus Lok"] -

Ghorua smiled as he saw where he was headed. "Endor, eh? Sounds like fun. First, I have to meet a new acquaintance." He was excited for the Hunt to come. He had been a bit stagnant in his career, and wanted for the thrill of the chase. Plus, he had a deal with a certain Genetic Engineering Hutt that wanted to make him more of a monster than he already was.

With a quick quip of a chuckle, the Herglic won his game of Dejarik. One of his quickest yet. Glancing at the Human as he stood up, Ghorua nodded. "Of course. And many more successful partnerships, Lok."

With a content sigh, the Herglic went back to his water, sipping obnoxiously. He was in no rush. Slow and steady catches the Trooper. He had the strangest feeling that this "TR-8R" was someone famous. Shaking off the weird feeling, Ghorua went to start another game on the holotable. One doesn't stay good at a game without constant practice.

- EL FIN -