Open Nar Shaddaa Help Wanted

[Vara Dramm]

Drakkett's Droids
Lower City, Nar Shaddaa
​

Zap! Vara cursed in Huttese as she felt the light electrical discharge from a capacitor on the protocol droid she was working on shock her. There must have been a secondary power source installed in this model, she tossed down the wrench she was using onto the weathered workbench and shouted in the direction of the backroom. "I'm taking a smoke break!"

Drakkett didn't respond, but that wasn't out of the ordinary. She knew him most her life and knew he never cared for her smoking habits, but he never let it get in the way of the work. Despite Vara's run-in with the law on more than a few occasions, she was an excellent worker and excelled in the general field of electronics. The underworld nature of Vara's upbringing also helped with procurement of inventory. While Drakkett didn't deal in stolen items, being an honest businessman on the Smuggler's Moon was difficult. Shipments would get 'lost', and end up on competitor's shelves, and that was what had happened in the most recent shipment from Tatooine.

Vara lit a cigarette up as she made her way to the front of the building. There was no fresh air on Nar Shaddaa, but leaving the droid shop at least got the smell of oil and rust out of her nose. She took this opportunity to unlock her datapad, checking any missed messages and hoping to see if there was any response to an ad she placed the other day on the holonet. It read;

"Seeking 1+ individual to assist in transit and moving of inventory. Must be strong and willing to get hands dirty. Temp Job at Drakkett's Droids on Nar Shaddaa. Apply in person."

It was vague enough as to not arouse too much suspicion, while hopefully still catching one of the more morally grey-types on the Moon. It was simple work, and the description wasn't too dishonest. Drakkett's most recent shipment went missing, and Vara was able to track down where it was lost in transit. It seemed it never made it past customs despite all of the paperwork being proper. It was not uncommon for Officers at the spaceports to withhold shipments until they received a cut, but Vara hoped the she may find someone who could help her in changing their mind.

 

[Casany Praxor]

Ambience IC

Spoiler

​

It was never for pleasure that Casany Praxor came to Smuggler’s Moon. The streets of Nar Shaddaa were a sprawling mess on an urban sprawl of an ecumenopolis. The moon was a polluted pit that dangled in space beside a planet that was just a more natural version of the former when it came to marshes and mud pits. Little Slugland, some liked to call good old Nar, and there were plenty of slugs who wiggled their slime across the pavement besides the Hutts themselves.

It was only business that had brought one Mandalorian bounty hunter here, though while the bounty was forced to wait her own pockets were not. They needed some lining, and a recent ad sounded good enough to get that done. Escort, transporter, bodyguard, mercenary—such odd jobs were all for bounties in the end, in the sense of payments, and Cass was on the hunt.

She spotted the neon sign of Drakkett’s Droids across the street, along with a woman standing outside it with a cigarette in one hand and a datapad in the other. Pausing to let a speeder zoom by with the passing nonsense of foreign lyrics and booming beats, Cass crossed the street and approached the store. A Mandalorian had come for this transit job, but it wasn’t exactly a Mandalorian that an employer would see.

Her telltale armor was back in her speeder, leaving her to walk forward with head held high to the not so fresh air, her long brown hair draping over a shoulder in a single braid. Her outfit was dark green cargo pants and brown boots, with a red-gold poncho over her torso. She halted herself just outside the droid store, looking it up and down and then turning her attention to the woman just outside.

“Hey,” Cass called candidly. “You work this shop? I'm here about an ad."


@Bear

 

[Vara Dramm]

Despite living on the moon her entire life, the ambient volume of speeders and pedestrians could still drown out one's thoughts. This was why Vara had come to accept she spent more time with some form of headphones on than without, especially when she was at work. This time, she was listening to some local radio, not too focused on what was playing.

In her peripheral vision, she saw movement and plucked the earbud out from her dominant ear after realizing the woman was making her way to the store. She glanced at her as she slid her datapad into her messenger bag, listening to the stranger state her intention. Vara grinned, surprised that someone actually took up the offer. She had started to suspect she would have to do this job herself.

Vara took one last drag of her mostly finished cigarette before snuffing it out on the bottom of her black synthetic bantha hide boot. She exhaled smoke out the side of her mouth before using the same foot to help kick herself away and upright from the wall she had been slouching against. "Yea," she responded in the distinct accent found on Nar Shaddaa that combined the tones of both Huttese and Galactic Basic to form a unique tone. "Name's Vara. Technician's apprentice of the shop. You?"

With a nodding motion towards the door, she gestured for the girl to come inside. The bell on the door chimed as she made her way back to the counter. It was a fairly messy establishment, and without the signage outside, one may think this was more of a workshop than an actual vendor. A few deactivated droid models lined the walls, and a few high demand items were visible, but most of the loose droid parts and accessories were stored in the back as they weren't as marketable as the knick-knacks scattered across the 'sales floor'.

"So," Vara spoke as she rested her elbows on the counter, "About the job. It should be a simple job. Customs is holding onto a shipment and we need to talk to them about it." Vara looked to the woman, curious if her street smarts knew what that meant. Certainly they were holding onto the shipment, but most of the time encounters like this ended in intimidation or bribery. The applicant's appearance suggested to Vara that they were posssibly a bit more rugged and possibly had seen combat at some point, but that was not uncommon on Nar Shaddaa.

She pondered how to ask this for a moment before outright saying it, "You got a blaster?" Vara assumed it wouldn't come to that, but on the Smuggler's Moon, one would never know how something like this may end. "If so, and you don't have any more questions, I'm ready to roll out."

@Die Shize

 

[Casany Praxor]

“Anvil.” Cass introduced herself simply before following Vara into the store, or whatever it was. It seemed to be as much of a retail shop as a workshop, with either so much business going on or so little that resulted in the jumble and clutter. Organized chaos, I bet the shopkeep calls it. That appeared to be the Ugnaught who was tinkering with this and that, paying the newcomer about as much attention as she paid him. Any other wandering gazes were thankfully broken as Vara spoke up and Cass listened.

“Talk to them about it.” The words bounced around her skull, needing little imagination to figure out the meaning behind them. This was sounding more and more like a routine job and she was thankful for that too. Cass looked at Vara with lips barely above a frown, more out of a weariness for not so concealed shadiness than any concern for getting her hands dirty. When the question came about a blaster, all was said and done.

Cass pulled back one side of her poncho to reveal a holster by her right hip and the pistol tucked inside it, letting the gesture speak for itself before straightening her garment. “Yeah, I have a question,” she paused, thinking back to the ad in case she might have missed something. She didn’t recall any figures. “What’s the pay?”


@Bear

 

[Vara Dramm]

Vara grinned slightly at the question, knowing it was going to come up sooner than later. "two-fifty," she responded bluntly. "five hundred if it gets complicated." Vara didn't want to throw out a huge number yet in the event that it truly was just a case of talking to the customs officer. She had high hopes that'd be the case, but the back of her mind picked at the idea of it turning violent against her best wishes.

The Ugnaught grunted as he lifted a worn down crate and carrying it into the backroom. Vara glanced in the direction of Drakkett for a brief second then spoke again in an attempt to offer further incentive. "Plus, a heavy discount on any droids stuff you need and access to the greatest slicer in Hutt Space." She didn't try to keep a straight face on the latter half of that. She was experienced in the line at work, but was certain there was someone better than her.

Vara lifted her elbows off the country and picked up the protocol droid arm she was previously working on, setting it behind the counter to either be worked on later or be lost for a fortnight. She also took this opportunity to grab her own blaster from under the counter and tuck it into a holster within her jacket. "Still sound like a deal? Should be easy."

@Die Shize

 

[Casany Praxor]

Cass listened to the offer with her hands on her hips, tapping a finger in thought. It sounded reasonable enough, and just vague enough to offer room for negotiation depending on how things went down. In certain ways, that was better than a fixed rate. Droid discount on top? Wait till I tell Rawl about that one. She smiled at the thought and Vara’s slicer statement. The girl sounded like she knew her way around the bartering table, and how much of that was a result of her apprenticeship at this shop or of shady dealings with shady characters was anyone’s guess.

“Not too easy, I hope. Five hundred with complications might be the way to go.” She shrugged in submission to taking things whatever way they would come. “All right. You’ve got a deal.”

Cass took a moment to take another look around the store, suddenly finding herself interested in the history behind all these parts and pieces and the walls, ceiling and floor she stood on. It took a deal of commitment to run a droid shop, even in a universe that wouldn’t know what to do with itself without droids, but the maintenance was never low. Speaking of maintenance…

“I should probably warn you that my blaster tends to talk better than my mouth but I’ll do my best. On that note, lead the way.”


@Bear

 

[Vara Dramm]

"We'll see how it goes," Vara responded to Anvil's first remark. She started to suspect that the way she offered payment may result in blasters being drawn after all. Even if it came to that, Vara didn't mind too much. One less corrupt official on the Smuggler's Moon wouldn't lose her any sleep. "Like I said, right now your job is just to look scary," Vara chuckled.

Now standing upright, Vara took one last opportunity to adjuster her DC-17 blaster within her jacket before grabbing her pack of cigarettes and stuffing it into a side pocket of the same jacket. She hollered out in Huttese to Drakkett, indicating they were heading to the holding docks. The Ugnaught responded to Vara in Huttese before glancing at Anvil and nodding, "Be safe," he said in Basic this time before resuming his work.

Vara headed out of the shop, making her way into the marketplace that surrounded the store. There was an assortment of vendors and shops, it was a popular shopping area within this district. Occasionally as they passed by a kiosk or bodega, some merchant would try to get their attention to sell them food, or clothing, or other various knick-knacks. Each time, Vara waved them off. She had seen just about everything this marketplace had to offer and she wanted to get this done as soon as possible.

After a couple minutes of walking in silence, they were out of the market and in a more traditionally residential area of Nar Shaddaa. She knew it was still a little ways to go, Vara took an opportunity to try and help break the ice. "Another five or ten minute walk and we'll be there," she said as she fidgeted with the cigarette pack in her pocket, contemplating if she should light one before getting to the docks. "Ain't from around here I assume? What's got you in such a rundown part of the Galaxy?"

@Die Shize

 

[Casany Praxor]

Ambience IC

Spoiler

​

Cass had picked up on the Huttese exchange but didn’t make too much of it. It made a bout of sense that any droid shop employee would be at least somewhat versed in another language or two, and how much more fitting for said language to be Huttese on Nar Shaddaa. However, it wasn’t until two words came forth in Basic that Cass could understand and it was all she could do to nod back.

Outside in the open air of smog, Cass walked side by side with Vara, if a little behind to follow the woman's lead. She kept her gait casual, naturally eyeing passersby and shop-callers. An Ithorian at his stand held up a pack of cigarettes, but Cass didn’t smoke and had spotted Vara retrieve her own before they left. On the other side of the street, a Rodian held up his hands with a holler but the writhing squid-thing didn’t look all that appealing. When a black-jacket figure turned in front of Cass to whisper something about buying death sticks, she pushed him aside with a "kriff off" and heard nothing further. Ugh. Drukhole of a moon. Nothing changes.

Cass was content that her employer was content with keeping her tongue in her mouth as they walked. There was little need for trivial conversation, but when it came she didn’t dismiss Vara like she had the drug dealer. She gave a simple nod at the timeframe then shrugged at the questions.

“Not quite, but I’ve been here before. This time, I was looking for someone, but they’ll have to wait and so will I.” A day. Two. Three at most. Nah, I won’t give him that long. “And you? What provoked you to take up an apprenticeship on Smuggler’s Moon of all places?” The question was, admittedly, spoken for the sake of conversation, but Cass might yet find interest in the answer.


@Bear

 

[Vara Dramm]

"Well," Vara remarked quickly to Anvil's answer. "Love finds a way, I guess?" she chuckled briefly under her breath, knowing that wasn't the somebody that this woman was looking for. Vara slid her hands back into her pockets, idly fidgeting with a loose bolt that she, until now, unknowingly had in there. "Born and raised here," the young slicer shrugged as she answered, "Drakkett is a bit of a father figure to me. Took me in and gave me something that kept me off the streets." Vara was uncertain of where she'd be now if it weren't for the Ugnaught's intervention in her life, but she knew that it would've been worse had he not took her in.

Another pause of silence occurred after, and Vara took no time to fill the silence among them with answering another question she hadn't even been asked yet. "Plus, Nar Shaddaa is the best place I've found so far. Plenty of good company and stuff to do." Truthfully, Vara had only been off world once, and that was to a trip to Tatooine on her employer's behalf. A radically different world, but much of the criminal element was the same, just scattered among the desert.

The transition of the urban environment changed greatly as they traveled another block. The buildings gave a much more industrial look than the residential area they had just crossed through. Pedestrians were growing less common, but more of them looked like manual laborers, pilots, and general 'tough guys'.

Vara glanced at the buildings as they passed, looking for the specific storage building that the cargo was being withheld in. Up ahead, she noticed building 22-03. "Twenty second planetary dock, third warehouse," she remarked, taking a moment to pause as a large freighter took off from the spaceport a block over. No point in trying to yell over it. "There should be some scrawny Pantoran named Doxlar in here. No blasters yet, ok?"

@Die Shize