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May 5, 2018 16:15:32 GMT -5
Post by Talau the Ever-Lurking on May 5, 2018 16:15:32 GMT -5
The city sprawl reminded her a lot of Kuat...in fact, a lot about the planet reminded her of Kuat. This was both a blessing and a curse. While she felt a relative sort of ease in moving about the denizens of the planet and from urban to wild and back again, it also meant that she felt a sort of strange home sickness for the core world and its hidden headquarters for Project Familiar. It was always....strange....when she felt that way about any core world, but there you have it.
She blamed Sender.
...and Sean.
She had been here for several weeks now, watching, listening, learning...playing her part excellently. It wasn't a stretch of the imagination, after all, her being little more than a mercenary...a soldier of fortune. She had been once, after all, this cerulean woman of near feral beauty. It had called for a change in gear...no, a change in appearance.
Black synth-leather coat, black pants of the same material and a deep crimson shirt. Did she stand out? Hell yes. That, however, was the point. A few had tried to approach her in her time there, and while she almost always flirted she always found a reason to send them away for them to come begging back to her at a later date. Even as she waited for her contact, one leg hooked over the other casually, she reclined in her seat with one arm hooked over the back of it, a drink in that hand as it curled back over on the side close to her chest, her 'free' hand occupied by a datapad which she was lazily scrolling through. Her foot that was off the ground moved idly to the beat of the music that played in the dive....and she was seemingly at peace, or at least at rest.
This wasn't to say she was at rest, however. Crimson eyes slid this way and that, silently observing her surroundings in a way that her natural appearance helped to disguise, not to mention the slight tendrils of her senses that twisted and slithered around the patrons of the semi-rowdy dive bar. Her mane of black, silken, hair that spilled around her shoulders shifted as the newest 'begger' sidled up to her with drink in hand looking for a handout made of kisses and passion. He wasn't going to get any, but she found it vaguely adorable how he was going to try for it anyway. The aloof chiss miss tilted her head just slightly as she looked up at him, her angular features forming an almost predatory smirk as she pretended to listen to his attempt at getting close to her, one black brow lifting as he slid into the seat across from her.
".....call such a pretty creature such as you?"
Slowly she uncoiled herself from her relaxed position to settle her golden colored drink on the table as she leaned forward onto it with both forearms.
"They call me 'Devil'....and if you get too close, I'll steal your soul, then eat you whole...so you should probably be afraid..."
In her ear Sender could only chuckle. He never got tired of that line.
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Rugs
The ring-dang-doo, now what is that?
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May 6, 2018 18:51:13 GMT -5
Post by Rugs on May 6, 2018 18:51:13 GMT -5
Nessem was both a familiar and unfamiliar place at once.
On the one hand, Locke had never been to the world, even his his wide dispatches across the Galaxy during the war. On the other, the world was not all that much unlike several others he’d visited. Oh, the shipyards hanging in orbit were unique touch, to be sure, but Nessem was hardly the only place with them.
The city whose streets he currently roamed, likewise, had its own charm to it, but cities were just about as plentiful as populated worlds. Still, Nessem’s sprawl went beyond many other places.
Perhaps he’d return, sometime.
For pleasure, rather than business, such as today.
The Howling Krayt sat at the corner of a block in one of the city’s more middling districts. The sign was every bit as recognizable as he’d been told, but the place, he realized as he stepped in, was otherwise unremarkable.
That suited his needs just fine.
Locke too, was mostly unremarkable in this crowd. He wore something resembling his normal attire--a long coat, pistol at his hips, lightsabers hidden within the coat--but with a normal spacer’s shirt, pants and boots to fit in. He’d let his beard get just the right amount of untrimmed to look like a spacer between jobs.
Where are you — ah there.
His contact wasn’t hard to miss. Locke stuffed his hands in his pockets, fingers brushing on the small data chip he’d brought along. She was blue. A Chiss, as he understood it. That was enough to make her stand out on its own merits--the Chiss weren’t a particularly common folk.
As he strolled up to the table, he found some man who was obviously trying to win some time with the woman at the table with her. The man’s presence felt nearly lewd, while hers seemed to ripple with a sort of amusement. Locke almost shook his head.
Instead, he cleared his throat. The fellow looked at him.
“I, uh,” Locke cleared his throat again, but this time to hide a laugh, “hope I’m not interrupting anything here, eh?” He motioned for the man to shoo.
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May 6, 2018 20:32:46 GMT -5
Post by Talau the Ever-Lurking on May 6, 2018 20:32:46 GMT -5
Rahja's earpiece clicked quietly to herald an incoming feed, Sender's digitized 'voice' sounding over it a moment later as his optics followed the movement of the blue-tinted jedi. Shutting down the overlay he honed in on the figure. <<Rahja, contact is here. Brown hair, shoulder length, beard, coat, blaster. Doesn't look like a jedi, thank the force...>> It was always just slightly strange hearing the tin canary speaking cheunh....but it worked better than most languages for just another level of security. The (almost) matte black paint of the AER had the raven-like droid fairly unnoticed in the shadows of his perch across the street and a few 'doors' down.
The man across from Rah had blinked at her words and slowly started to pull back from her uncertainly as her smirk started to slowly curl into a devilish grin. His lewd presence had slowly, uncertainly, started to shrink back into something considerably more tame as she let her impishly, darkly, amused emotions lap around him. That was, she did until Locke appeared. Poor man. Jedi or no, he was here to meet with her and she was being bothered and so he got to be pulled right into the thick of her little games.
A moment only she had turned the full brunt of her attention onto Locke before that sly grin changed, just slightly, into something less....wicked...and a touch more 'honest'. With a slow, predatory, grace the woman slid out of her chair (leaving her drink on the table, and giving him a warning little prod in the force) before wrapping her arms around Locke's back, pulling herself against him as if she knew him intimately, a whisper of a kiss brushed against his cheek before she pulled back enough to look at him. "I thought you'd never get here, lover. You weren't interrupting anything but this di'kut leaving..." With that she pointedly, and slowly, turned her head to stare at the man sitting at her table.
He practically tripped over himself trying to get up and leave.
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Rugs
The ring-dang-doo, now what is that?
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May 8, 2018 19:03:58 GMT -5
Post by Rugs on May 8, 2018 19:03:58 GMT -5
More than 30 years as a Jedi had taught Locke to expect the unexpected. The Force helped in that way, too, with its precognitive gifts. Yet sometimes, there were situations where all he could do, despite his years of training, was go along with what was happening.
This happened to be exactly one of those.
The Chiss — his contact — at least had the gave a warning through the Force before she was upon him, a kiss on his cheek and arms wrapped around him as she called him her lover. The play was, obviously, to shoo her suitor away from the table, but Locke couldn’t say he’d expected that. He might have blushed, if he hadn’t the experience of being thrown into so many strange situations.
Instead Locke, ever the actor when given the chance, played the part with a self-satisfied, slightly boastful grin at the other man, who scampered off to find better uses for his time.
With their company gone, Locke separated from Rahja with a laugh and shake of his head. “I gotta say that’s a new one,” he said, slipping into the seat the other man had vacated.
“I’m Locke,” he went on casually, but keeping his voice just low enough that it didn’t carry over the din. He smiled wryly. “I doubt you need an introduction, but I made one, so I’ll letcha have your chance.”
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May 8, 2018 20:50:03 GMT -5
Post by Talau the Ever-Lurking on May 8, 2018 20:50:03 GMT -5
<I hope you're satisfied with yourself, whatever you're doing down there to him.>
<Shut it bird...> Rah replied in cheunh to the digitized voice in her ear, surprisingly good naturedly, as she stepped back from Locke with a devious little grin and settled herself into her seat. "Yes, I know who you are...You can call me Nalani." It wasn't her name, obviously, but she didn't seem to be offering another. For a long moment the woman stared at him as if sizing him up. Jedi or not she found it difficult to trust most people...perhaps especially because he was a jedi.
Needless to say she didn't enjoy jedi, even if she had been one of their number before.
Sort of.
Seeming to come to some sort of conclusion, the woman continued, her finger working across her datapad to slide information aside and bring up other information. "Sorry about that, by the way. Since I got here those horny dogs have been begging for scraps. Your arrival was fortuitous at that exact moment."
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Rugs
The ring-dang-doo, now what is that?
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May 11, 2018 16:07:53 GMT -5
Post by Rugs on May 11, 2018 16:07:53 GMT -5
“I am glad my reputation precedes me,” Locke said. He stopped, looking momentarily askance, as if thinking. “Well, I hope it’s in a good way, anyway.” He shrugged as if it was of no important and set about half-eyeing a small holographic drink menu.
Locke didn’t miss of course, the distinction in the woman’s name. There was a difference, after all in saying a your name was something and that you could be called something. Locke wasn’t unfamiliar with the practice himself, and chuckled a little. “Very well,” he said. “Nice to meet you, Nalani.”
Some sort of concoction with whiskey and some local specialty drinks caught Locke’s eye. He tabbed the order in on the menu, which buzzed over to the bartender. He’d have it in a few minutes.
“Oh don’t worry about it,” he said with a dismissive wave. “Gotta do what you have to to clear the crowd out and all that.
“Anyway,” he went on, reaching to the encrypted data disc in his pocket, but not yet pulling it out. “I’ve got some information from some mutual friends of ours that I was told would be of interest to you. About a cleaning job they want us to take care of.”
Locke, and he assumed his new companion, was there to deal with the leadership of the so-called Nessem Liberation Front. On the surface, they were a small, but dangerous advocating that Nessem seek independence from the Republic.
Under the surface, they were being funded and advised by the Sith Empire. That was dangerous.
Locke nodded as his drink was dropped off at the table and tipped the server a few extra credits. When she was gone, he looked to Nalani again. “Sound like the kind of job you’re good for?”
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May 11, 2018 17:05:52 GMT -5
Post by Talau the Ever-Lurking on May 11, 2018 17:05:52 GMT -5
Rahja smiled at his pseudo question, crimson eyes following his movements before tracking the movement of someone behind him. It likely wouldn't be visible to him that she was doing it, but she allowed that particular bit of information to float from her out into the force for him to catch...the latter part, anyway. After a moment, however, her interest in the movement seemed to wane slightly as if giving a mental shoulder shrug, and more of it returned to him...where she gave an actual shoulder shrug.
"Good enough, though it wasn't your reputation that preceded you," she replied with a huff and a smirk. He was an astute jedi, anyway, his half moment of hesitation not lost on her. It was more than she could say for some of the temple-fed and bred who were better off knocking their heads into bricks to prove they could. Slowly she took a sip of her drink, eying the liquid left in her glass and finding it nearly gone.
A shame, that.
"I'm good for all kinds of jobs, lover...." she stated as she reached her free hand across the table to take his. Her attention had swayed from him once more just moments before she had spoken. It had flickered here and there, seemingly at random, with a sensation of warning in the force (small though it was), and a growing sensation of awareness in their direction. "We should wait to talk business until we're back on the ship, though....you did bring her back in one piece, I hope?"
Rahja was rarely anywhere casually.
Her whole life was one big game of cloak and dagger.
Idly she let her thumb brush against his knuckles and the tops of his fingers. Her eyes slowly shifted around her field of vision to make it less noticeable that she was looking. She had already pinpointed several of the empire's lackies in her time spent on the planet, but this was the most that had gathered in one place that she knew of. It was to them that she looked now, that her attention flitted about.
Something was happening, but what?
"You know, lover....I was thinking about that last dejarik game we played....I knew you were up to something, but I just couldn't figure out what..." Rahja let that hang in the air for a moment as she smiled a bit. "I thought I had you beat, even with the warnings you were giving me....did you know something I didn't?" One or two of them were moving, slowly, casually, but not as if they were trying to avoid suspicion. Where the hell were they off to....it sure wasn't the door out...
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Rugs
The ring-dang-doo, now what is that?
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May 15, 2018 14:36:36 GMT -5
Post by Rugs on May 15, 2018 14:36:36 GMT -5
“Barely,” Locke said, wry smile still present on his face. “Ol’ girl flies like shit, but I got her down without crackin’ her in two.” The ship he’d come in was actually a fairly standard transport, but he knew the game that was at play.
So too, did he recognize that something was going on in the cantina. Rah’s silent warnings through the Force certainly helped, but even without, his senses stretched wide across the cantina as they settled into their talk. Even if the strange characters were acting in such a way as to avoid visible suspicion, the Force was a totally different animal.
Strange enough, though, the oddest feelings in the Force seemed to come not from whoever stalked through the cantina behind him, but from the bar itself. From the bartender who’d served him his drink.
Hmmm... Locke glanced at her from the corner of his eye. She glanced at him, periodically. Over and over. It was subtle, but not quite enough to escape his own notice. That’s a weird amount of attention to be paying to someone, he though. He looked at his drink.
Is that the game, then? Better safe than sorry.
“Ah, well, can’t go tellin’ my secrets,” he said coyly in answer to Nalani’s question. “Sometimes it’s just good to have pure, dumb luck.” As he said ‘luck,’ he made a grab at his drink. It was a deliberately clumsy one, so that his fingers fumbled against the edge of the glass as he tried to grab it.
The end result was that the drink spilled off the side of the table. Locke, giving a surprised shout, managed to catch the glass before it crashed to the ground, but the drink was loss.
A server came rushing over, but he waved them off. “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “It’s fine. Had one before I came in anyway.”
Once the server finally left him along, Locke offered a little half-smile to his blue companion. “How embarrassing,” he said. “Might be we should get outta here before I make a bigger fool of myself.”
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May 16, 2018 17:25:46 GMT -5
Post by Talau the Ever-Lurking on May 16, 2018 17:25:46 GMT -5
Well! For once a jedi she could tolerate! Where were the likes of him when she'd needed a master? Of course, by the look of him the answer was 'not born yet', a thought that earned a singular chuckle despite herself. Luckily it didn't seem out of place given his replies to her. Of course, Rahja hadn't quite caught on that it was the barkeep causing all of...okay most of...her senses to tingle, so when he fumbled his drink across the table and onto the floor, splashing a tiny bit of it onto her, she jumped and gasped, surprised.
For a moment only she was off balance, long enough to wonder what the hell had just happened before catching sight of the barkeep muttering to the man Locke had displaced. So...they were probing her out also, hmm? But enough to do something to the drink of someone meeting with her? Better safe than sorry...it was a good thing he'd spilled that drink, and probably not an accident. "You hit the sauce too hard sometimes..." she chided him with a deep sigh.
"Think you're right, though. Ought to get you sobered up before you break something..." With a tsk, she tapped a message into her datapad and sent it, the cheunh language not an easy one for anyone to decipher. Sliding it into it's place on her belt, she stood and settled a hand on her hip. "Think you can manage walking out like you walked in? ....without tripping over yourself?"
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Rugs
The ring-dang-doo, now what is that?
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May 20, 2018 10:42:10 GMT -5
Post by Rugs on May 20, 2018 10:42:10 GMT -5
“Hitting the sauce happens to be a favorite pastime of mine,” Locke said proudly as he stood. “Sometimes I just uh, get a little carried away is all. First time here. Always gotta try out the local hooch and see what’s like, y’know?”
He cleared his throat over-loudly as he picked up his glass, looking at it as if mourning the lost opportunity. With a shrug, he returned it to the table. “Sometimes it’s just stronger’n expected, is all.”
At her final question, he snorted through his nose. “Why yes. As a matter of fact I think I can.”
As if to prove it, he started sauntering off, putting just enough of a buzzed stagger into his step to play the part of a man who’d just loudly spilled his drink on the floor. It was, of course, an act, but Locke Nemsee was often an actor.
But as the left, Locke spread his senses wide across the bar. The bartender in particular, he reached out to. She wasn’t Force sensitive and wouldn’t detect his probing, and in truth, he didn’t seek to do anything more than to get a feel for her presence—to “tag” it, so to speak — for easy identification later. He repeated the process with the other suspicious presences as they left the bar.
“I’ve got a ship just ‘round the way,” he muttered low enough for only the Chiss to hear as they stepped into the street. “We can go over the work at hand there.”
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Jun 6, 2018 11:43:27 GMT -5
Post by Talau the Ever-Lurking on Jun 6, 2018 11:43:27 GMT -5
"Sure, hot-stuff...whatever you say," she replied with a smirk and a shake of her head as she started following him out of the dim interior, one hand giving him a light swat to the rump, goosed him a little and then hooked her arm around his waist as she came up along side him, perfectly playing the part of the feisty lover. The blue-skinned imp grinned widely at her own play, fully mirthful (in the most devilish way) at her ability to poke, prod and swat a jedi in the name of the Republic.
It was the best sort of pay back for the trouble they'd given her, even if poor Locke was the unwitting recipient of it.
Rahja wasn't remorseful.
At all.
As they stepped out onto the sidewalk, she gave a little nod, not bothering to unlatch herself from him and mindful of the windows (few as they were) along the wall of the dive bar. "Sounds good. Lead on," she murmured in reply, that impish smirk still on her face as Sender practically had a conniption in her ear. "Shut up, bird, and watch the door here. He and I are headed out to have a chat without risk of poisoned drinks. Trace is on," she muttered after a moment, her free hand lifting to thumb at one of her necklaces.
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Rugs
The ring-dang-doo, now what is that?
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Jun 20, 2018 13:10:08 GMT -5
Post by Rugs on Jun 20, 2018 13:10:08 GMT -5
The walk back to the ship was, thankfully, uneventful and, blessedly short. Locke separated himself from the Chiss with a grunt and led the way up the boarding ramp. Once it was closed behind them, he led her to a small briefing room where a holo projector whirred to life after he pressed a coded button sequence to start it up. “Before we begin, let’s cool it on the touching, alright?” He smiled as he pressed at the buttons and shrugged. “I know, I know, call me a stodgy old Jedi, but I think we can stop with that.”
An image of Nessem, blue and flickering, sprang to life in the air before him. “Alright, so here’s what I’ve got,” he said. It zoomed in on the region around the city they were in, with the city itself highlighted in red.
“We’re in Illustra City,” he said, motioning to the city. “It also happens to be the home region for our friends, the Nessem Liberation Front. To most, they’re a civic group, small but growing, that seeks independence for Nessem from the Galactic Republic. You know how it is.” Locke motioned exasperatedly with his hand. Independence movements had sprung up on several worlds with the armistice ending the war. Some fizzled out. Others stubbornly persisted.
“Look closer, and that’s not the case, though.” The map dissolved into mist, replaced by a blurry image of a man in an imperial officer’s uniform. He was handing something to a figure whose back hid their face.
“This is Imperial intelligence officer Alfonse Fyderra, to the best of my intel’s knowledge,” he said. “He’s got a history of stirring shit up on worlds where its not wanted. We’ve reason to believe he’s involved with the Liberation Front, and if he is, we need to put a stop to it.”
Locke sat, looking at the Chiss woman. “We’ve also got reports that he’s scheduled to be on world tomorrow, in this very city. That’s probably why our friends at the bar were so on edge if I had to guess. If that’s the case, we need to stop him. Capture, preferably. But it’s got to be subtle. We’re not officially here as agents of the Republic.”
That said, Locke spread his hands and leaned back, expression thoughtful. “That’s all I’ve got, for the most part. We know a bit of where he might be when he comes, but details are spotty. Your folks happen to have anything, or were you able to suss out any clues in the time you’ve been here?”
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