March of the Pigs

[Zenya]

"I did," she said, tilting her head to the side to crack her neck. She actually hadn't slept much, but she didn't think Kalan wanted to hear a diary log of her sleeping habits.

Lanna said her final words and goodbyes, then the two left the Singh household. The girl didn't think much of it. In fact, she didn't want to think about it for fear that it would bring down her spirits. She was never bombarded with feelings of homesickness, and she didn't want this visit to create any of those dreaded thoughts.

When she got inside the speeder and shut the door, she was almost relieved. Back to the life she knew and loved. Though she was thankful for closure, she was also nervous about the spice she had discovered. That seemed to open a whole new box of curiosities that would gnaw away at her mind. What could they have it for? Did they use it? Unlikely. Maybe they sold it. There was a lot there, and it must have cost an obscene amount. Either way, she didn't need to know. Or it would surely cause issues for them.

They rode in silence. Which wasn't an issue because Lanna had a lot to think about, anyway. She rubbed her temples as the pesky headache continued to persist.

"Do you think spice is even that bad?" She said, continuing to observe the scenery out her side of the speeder. "It just seems like we have bigger issues to worry about." She didn't know if she believed it either way. In fact, she didn't particularly care. The way she saw it, law was inescapable, and if you chose to break the law, you had to deal with it's consequences.

Eventually they reached the building. There it was. An adobe structure with a painted green looking, domed room. What were they going to do, knock on the door? Could they do that? Just ask to have a look around, then start persisting, even when they inevitably tell them to leave.

She brushed her hair back, and made sure her hood was positioned neatly, as Kalan stepped out. Standing, her robes fell down around her. It was then, to her dread, that a red papered roll of spice fell out from between the fabric.

She picked it up, looking Kalan in the eyes. Hesitating, she opened her mouth to speak. The girl certainly didn't want to make him angry, but she did not have another scenario fabricated in her head to use as an excuse for why the drugs were in her possession.

"I... I found it." She put her hands down into her pockets, "And I found these." Bringing them back out, she held several red cigs between her knuckles. "Just so we are on the same page."

@Prudence

 

[Prudence]

Their ride had been relatively silent, as Kalan had been content to fly in silence, as had Lanna. She finally broke the silence, turning to him and asking him what he thought. "Well if we're being entirely honest, I've smoked my fair share. I don't particularly care about the spice trade, but orders are orders."

He shrugged, turning his helmeted head to face her somewhat, "I can get behind that. A romp around Tatooine does definitely feel small when there is a war going on, but a small reprieve from action isn't so bad." The rest of their ride was in silence, as Lanna seemed to just absorb his words, without letting loose any of her own. He'd been perfectly honest with her about his feelings on the mission, he didn't really want to be here, but it didn't bother him so much either. He was more or less indifferent. On the earlier leg of the mission she'd been a huge pain in the ass, so he had minded, but now she'd seemed to mellow out somewhat.

He could see the tall domed building on the horizon and he began to slow the speeder, until they came to a stop, and readied his weapons. A small part of him, a part he didn't particularly like to admit to, was hoping that this would end in a firefight, so that he could get a little action. Most of him was just hoping it would get over with quickly.

In a swift motion Kalan vaulted over the side of the speeder, and he noticed as Lanna gracefully exited that something fell from her robes. He spun to investigate and found her scooping up spice. She looked like a kid that'd just been caught in a lie, and her face went red. A sputtering explanation came out, and his mind drifted to the night before when he'd confronted her about what she'd swiped.

"Ah. Glad to know the depth of your honesty, partner." His voice was hard with sarcasm, and he turned to walk towards the building. "I'm assuming you found them at your parents house, yes? That would've been nice to know, considering no one keeps that much spice on hand for personal use."

He reached the door and placed a hand on the control pad, and found it was locked. "I could've questioned them, but instead I'm going to assume they're in on this, and they've tipped off whoever is in here." Kalan jerked his head towards the door, "Thanks for that." He brought his leg up, and then kicked out hard with his boot. His foot connected with the door, and ripped the cheap metal hinges out of the sandstone. He pushed forward quickly, his ACR raised and ready for hostilities.

 

[Zenya]

"I had my reaons," she said, feeling a sting of hurt, when he commented on her honesty. "Obviously it's not ideal to bust your own parents for carrying so much spice in their household. You can't blame me for wanting to cover it up. And you said it yourself!" She walked forward, at a determined, steady pace. "You've used the stuff. It's not a big deal, and you probably want nothing to do with this child's business anyway."

She flinched at the sound of him knocking open the door. Cautiously, she grabbed her light saber and braced herself for oncoming projectiles. But there were none. Everything was silent.

Quietly, they slid into the open room. Somewhere between observing their surroundings, and and walking, Lanna grabbed Kalan's upper arm, intending for him to stop where he was.

"Whatever happens, my family stays out of this. Not that I have some crazy devotion to them, I barely know them, but it's an obligation that I'm living up to whether you are with me or not." She took care to ignore any actions of annoyance drifting off the man. Her voice was low, and she spoke clearly as to help him understand. "I assure you this is not an empty threat, when I say that family stays out of this, or I will test you."

She knew she probably didn't look the least bit intimidating to Kalan. But the thing was, she didn't need to look threatening. He would make the decision, and she would follow through depending on whichever he chose.

After their little exchange, they began to climb the stairs. Nothing. The building was empty. They want back down, and observed closer. At one point, Lanna felt a squeaking of wood underneath her feet. She continued to lightly bob up and down on it, until it inevitably broke.

She screeched, and grabbed onto the splintery wood above her. "Dammit!" She hissed, clutching on as hard as she could. The bottom didnt look that far down, but she certainly didn't want to find out for sure.

@Prudence

 

[Prudence]

Kalan actually barked a little laugh when she talked about how her family was to stay out of this no matter what, and went so far as to threaten him. He actually imagined the fight, a reckless angered Jedi girl lunging at him, saber in hand. He turned to look down at her, "Look kid, I'm not the cops. I don't care if mom and pops are smoking a joint to stay relaxed. I can assure you that's a bad idea though. You should stop making threats you can't back up, suicidal doesn't look good on you."

He turned away from her and began to trudge up the stairs. This mission was back to being bullshit after he realized that she was still going to be bratty. He didn't care what happened to her parents, or if the spice was even busted, he just wanted to be done. If that meant interrogating her parents, it meant interrogating her parents. Right now, due to her dishonesty, it meant trudging up stairs in a hot desert building. To add on that, it would seem the building was completely deserted, void of even a trace of spice.

He was unamused, but that was fine, they'd return to her family's house and he'd get the rest of the spice and call it a day. As they headed back downstairs he noticed that Lanna seemed to be particularly interested in a section of the floor. He tilted his head at her as she bounced up and down like a bored child. He was about to turn away and head back outdoors, until he heard the snap and crash as she fell through the floor.

It was pure instinct as his arm shot out, while he dropped to a knee. Before she even caught the floor, his hand was gripping her forearm and holding her up. He could feel the floor giving way under him, and after a moment the wooden boards splintered. He tightened his grip on her, and kicked his jetpack on. The air was lit ablaze as the jets roared to life, casting an eerie orange glow across the room. The pack caught the two of them mid air, and slowed their dissent as Kalan pulled her upward to him, wrapping his arm under her armpit to better support her.

"Well, looks like this just got more interesting."

 

[Zenya]

Her right hand scraped down on the splintering wood, as Kalan grabbed her left, upper arm. She felt her light saber slip out of her fingers, and she tensed up. Instinctively, she reached out her hand, and grabbed it with the force, to stop it mid fall. She wasn't going to let it go, so the metalic weapon floated back up, very slowly into her grasp.

They flew off to the side of the floor, and Kalan let go of Lanna. She fell down, boots stomping on the floor. Regaining her composure, she spun on her heels to look back at the gaping hole.

"It looks like someone was covering it up." She said, creeping cautiously closer to the hole. She could tell that down in the shadowy place, there were enormous boxes stacked on top of each other. Spice, maybe?

Throughout the quiet building, Lanna heard a person push the door of the place, a ways across the door, with his foot. She turned to look, surprised.

"What do you think you're doing here?" he yelled.

Her eyes widened, and she raised her light saber out a ways, as the man reached for something inside his jacket.

A spark of adrenaline lit a fire inside of her, and she ignighted the blade. The man pulled out his gun, shot, and the girl swiped the blade up, deflecting a bolt.

It flew back, somewhere into the man's torso. He fell against the wall, and the Lanna lunged forward, wrenching up on his collar, and then shoved him back down into the wall.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"

No answer. She let go of him, pulled her arms back, and then extended them again. She pushed a huge wash of force over him, which would probably debilitate him at least a little.

"Are you delivering the spice?"

@Prudence