[Pre-TL] Just a Rainy Day

[Phoenix]

The rain continued to pour outside, and Talak's mood was not improving. Although he was standing under cover, the gag-inducing smell of spice behind him was enough to nearly make him want to go stand in the rain instead. It had been nearly four hours since the young dark sider had come here and waited for any mistake or slip up in the perimeter security. No one had noticed because everyone nearby had either melted their brain with spice or become completely enthralled with some new augmented-reality headset. It was all the rage right now.

The warehouse he was watching from the shadows belonged to one Regin Nifelhem, a well known "businessman" and "collector." The reality was that he dealt most of the spice in this sector - in fact, his men probably sold the spice that Talak was now nearly choking on - and he liked to collect trophies from his enemies.

Talak didn't like spice dealers, but that minor disdain wasn't enough to draw him out here. He was here because one of the "trophies" the man had collected was said to be an ancient Sith tome. Supposedly imbued with the spirit of the dead Sith Lord, it had caught Talak's attention.

But after a full recon of the area, there was only one entrance that could be passed without heavy security credentials and it was guarded by these two morons. Happily under the cover of their little security booth smoking and playing sabaac, there was no way to slip past without being spotted, and Talak was making every attempt not to draw attention by charging in with lightsabers in hand. So he kept waiting for his opportunity. He could be patient. He had all night. @Sreeya

 

[Sreeya]

“I’ve been around bantha shit that smelled fresher than this,” A drawling voice called out to the two men that were playing sabaac. There was an old timey song playing on the radio next to them as they looked up.

“Buzz off,” One of them said grumpily, “You ain’t supposed to be here,” He began to reach for his gun. Marek held up his hands to show he was unarmed except for a little baggie between his fingers which he jiggled around. The man pointing the blaster lowered it slightly.

“What’s that?”

“Come have a sniff,” Marek said quietly, “Much finer shit than what you’re smoking right now,” He paused.

“Why don’t I just shoot you now and take it?”

“Then where would you get more?” Marek could see the tiny gears spinning behind the man’s piggy little eyes. At last, he lowered his gun, the other man lumbering over to investigate. They were suspicious but they came closer to check out the bag. As they did so, Marek leaned in close. Anyone watching wouldn’t suspect anything, but a blade protruded out from both wrist gauntlets, jamming into the fleshy underside of both men’s faces.

Marek left them both behind appearing as if they were napping. The same song kept going the entire time as he looked over at warehouse. He toyed with the baggie in his hand, thinking about the rosemary, thyme and other cooking spices he might be able to use later. Fooling idiots like these was all too easy.

He stood still as a statue, taking in all the details of the warehouse and pondering to himself, his back facing the man that was hiding in cover. After a moment, Marek’s voice would call out, “Are you going to come out anytime soon or am I going to have to drag you out?” His voice and tone was entirely different than the front he had put up with the men earlier. He didn't even bother turning back.

 

[Phoenix]

He was pushing onto five hours when something finally happened. At first, Talak didn't think anything of it. A single man walking up was abnormal, but not anything to write home about. With the beating of the rain and the tune of the music, he couldn't make out what they were saying, but what he did notice was that two men who were awake and playing cards were suddenly slumped over in a pose that he knew very well.

Everything stiffened up. A move was happening, and that meant this was his opportunity. He pushed himself off from the wall and then the man did something that Talak definitely wasn't expecting. He actually addressed Talak. How long had the man realized that he was here? Was he being sloppy? He wasn't sure if he should be more concerned about his own execution of this job or impressed by the Mandalorian.

He moved forward into the rain, keeping a fair distance from the killer. He already knew this wasn't someone he wanted to mess with, and he was going to be cautious.

Waiting for the right moment, he said, looking up at the building. He knew that neither of them wanted to stay out here in the open for long, but there was an answer that they needed first.

He has something I want, he said. It didn't need explanation. That was why Talak was here: an artifact. Assuming that the Mandalorian wasn't after the same item - unlikely by Talak's estimation - then they might have an unlikely partnership. Otherwise, he had his way in at least, and he was going to take it.

He grabbed a security card off of one of the dead guards, now covered in blood, and took one more glance back before sliding it into the security slot. The door snapped open and Talak was inside, probably followed by his new partner.

The first thing Talak noticed inside was that the building was hot. Kept at a stifling temperature for reasons that he had to assume were related to spice production. Most people weren't daring enough to conduct their business in the same building they were producing spice, but Regin was one arrogant scumball. He paid off what few inspectors there were on this world, and he exported enough legitimate droid parts that no one else ever took a closer look.

The sounds of machinery from droid and spice processing alike was the second most notable thing, but it gave the pair an opportunity to cover their own sounds as they snuck around. Talak plucked a small holodevice off the wall that marked the routes for fire escapes and moved to a fresher to take a look at it. By his estimation, Regin and his toys should be on the upper floors.

Here. Turbolifts, he said, pointing to the far side of the building on the holomap. Droids and slaves wouldn't be allowed to use them, and anyone else was important enough to probably warrant access to higher floors. They just needed to get there, gain access, make it to the top floors without being noticed by security cams, and complete their goal. Great. No pressure.

 

[Sreeya]

The Mandalorian didn’t appear to react as the man spoke, nor did he even turn to regard him. If he had any thoughts on the matter, it wasn’t clear. Marek followed the man into the building after he used a keycard. Despite wearing armor, the Mandalorian was surprisingly quiet on his feet, scanning all his surroundings.

His HUD didn’t pick up any heat signatures, detecting no other organic lifeforms nearby. Marek all but strolled up behind the man, taking in all his surroundings and walking in concert with all the surrounding noises to hide his own advance. He glanced up every now and then, timing the approach to ensure that security cameras that panned didn’t pick them up.

They came to a stop when the man paused to remark on the building. Next thing, the man would have a blaster pointed at the back of his head. The man could whip around and start a fight and blow the entire operation, or he could remain calm.

“What does he have that you want?” The man was hilarious if he thought Marek wouldn’t be curious, “And give me that holomap. I think it’s in both of our interests if you cooperate.”


@Phoenix

 

[Phoenix]

Talak felt the pistol pulled as soon as it was, but he didn't turn to attack. He was livid - as much with himself for being caught off guard as with his "partner" - but he didn't want to blow this operation wide open by starting a fight, and did his best to suppress the instinct to lash out.

If he didn't play his cards right then everything he had worked for since his Master died would come to nothing. He had promised himself after those events that he would be careful. Despite his young age he wouldn't be irresponsible, and yet he'd been caught off guard. Kriffing moron, he spat venomously in his mind at himself, cursing his own idiocy.

He knew a gangster - Dommy Relby - who could remain stone cold even with a blaster pointed at his head. Talak had seen him do it once before, and he envied the man's stone cold demeanor, but Talak wasn't there yet. Despite his attempt to keep a neutral face, there was anger etched into it and his eyes seemed to almost glow yellow now instead of their normal dull, pale color.

He put his hands up in a typical surrender gesture and turned slowly toward the man, tossing the map over. He figured the man wouldn't want to get into grapple range, and Talak knew the guy was enough of a professional not to be thrown off by trying to catch something. His hands up, though, did afford Talak something else: he poured the Force into the space between them, letting it solidify into an invisible barrier. He didn't think the man would shoot him, but he also hadn't thought he'd pull a gun on him either. He wasn't going to bet his life on it. If the man fired, the barrier would let him survive long enough to get a saber in hand... hopefully that wouldn't be necessary.

He has an artifact in his collection I want, Talak said. He had been planning to lie to him and say he was after a data chit detailing the man's business, but he realized there was a better chance the Mando was after that than that he was after the artifact. In this case, honesty was hopefully the best policy.

As Talak didn't want to bring the guards down by starting a fight, Talak figured the Mando wouldn't want to bring them down by executing his "partner." The darksider didn't want to force a fight, but if it were going to happen, better now than later. With the barrier he couldn't move anyway, but it did provide him with temporary defense if this was going to be a fight.

I'm guessing you don't want to bring the guards down on us either. So either shoot me or point that somewhere else, he said, trying to keep his voice steady. He knew the man wasn't going to put it away, but hopefully it could at least be pointed away from Talak.