The Droid You're Looking For

[Tribunal Power]

Outer Rim Territories

Mos Eisley, Tatooine​

Saffron's nose twitched. This job stunk.

It seemed simple enough; find and destroy a droid that went rogue from its intended purpose. It was all the cloak-and-dagger bullshit that put her on edge. She didn't know who the client was-- he spoke anonymously under the name Cese Allell, which was certainly fake-- and all he would state was that he "represented a military interest which (he) did not care to disclose." In fact, if this job hadn't been referred to her by Joban, she probably would have turned it down from the risk; but, knowing Joban like she did, she trusted it, even though they hadn't spoken in nearly a year. Hell, she thought, even that is suspicious.

But Joban had never given her bad intel, not in a decade of knowing him-- and the payout was impressive for the simplicity of the job.

The details of the job were sent in an encrypted packet to her datapad through a proxy unit of some kind. Mr. Allell had informed her that she came highly recommended from a friend (who she can only assume was Joban), and as such, she would have the lead on the mission. Only she would be given the details, and the others that he had selected for this task were to meet her in the abandoned junk shop on the eastern outskirts of Mos Eisley, away from prying eyes. They were to meet at 1300 hours.

Naturally, Xiu took up position in the abandoned Mos Eisley home across the street and a short distance down, giving her a clear view of the meeting place. She took up position at approximately 0830 and had been standing by since, watching the place to ensure it was on the up-and-up. Not a soul had even walked past it since her arrival.

It was now 1250. She stiffened as she watched through the ground-level window of the abandoned home, which was recessed into the ground a few feet and even had a front door to give her warning if anyone entered. While it contained only broken furniture, from a kneeling position in the corner just beside the window she could clearly see the old junk shop's front door, and the front window that provided a respectable view into the small building. She would wait to see if anyone arrived, and then perhaps conduct a quick sweep to see if there were any followers or suspicious persons hanging around.

She didn't like anonymous meetings, and she was taking every precaution to pacify the uneasy feeling in her gut. Best case scenario, the other mercs showed up and she strolled in fashionably late; worst case, she was right and it was some kind of trap, and maybe she could catch them by surprise by not being where she was supposed to be. As the minutes before the meeting dwindled, she stared through the opaque visor of her helm and squeezed the grip of her rifle for reassurance.

Hopefully, this job was more payout than gunfight.

@Maul @Sammothy

 

[Maul]

If Xiu had been paying close attention, she would be able to see a shadow through the window of the junk shop. Ardu had already arrived, but he went through the back entrance and thus Xiu likely wouldn't have seen him. His silhouette was bold on the light colored wall of the junk shop.

Ardu gazed down at his robotic hands. Even after all this time, he wasn't used to the sight of them. They worked fine, and he was comfortable with them, but Ardu had yet to become accustomed to the sight of them. He had been thinking about adding modifications to them. Maybe a small flame thrower, or a small holdout blaster? Either way, he'd need credits for something like that, and at the moment, Ardu was kinda broke.

He had his scarf wrapped up and around his face so only the top of his head and his eyes were visible. The Zabrak wore simple clothing, so he didn't stand out much. Other then the heavy blaster pistol on his hip, he looked like any other resident of Mos Eisley.

 

[Sammothy]

A Karkarodon by the name of Ganthrax was heading his way towards a junk shop. He decided to enter through the front doorway, hoping not to surprise anyone. He lowered his hat and placed on his air filter around his mouth, he always had trouble breathing. It was maybe caused by the amount of tobacco smokers he grew up with.

Ganthrax readied his LMG and flicked the safety off. Better safe than sorry. He also packed a vibrosword instead of his sub-machine gun, he wasn't exactly skilled in sword wielding but hopefully it would be enough to scare his foe(s). As he eventually reached the junk shop he decided to see if it was a sting operation, it had happened before and he was NOT wanting it to happen again. Ganthrax ducked down behind the door and hobbled over to the dirty window, he raised his sleeve and cleaned it before peering in with a thermal camera. You never know, maybe they're hiding. Ganthrax looked around, he could only see two large heat signatures. "Phew." He said, "Its not a setup." As he swiftly entered the building.

 

[Tribunal Power]

A lone visage moved toward the front door of the junk shop, cautiously entering. He didn't have the look of any kind of official, much to Xiu's comfort. She wasn't familiar with whatever race he was; he looked like some kind of giant fish, from a distance, with skin that looked white in the front and blue-grey like a gravestone in the back. She bit her lip as she watched him enter, before catching movement within the shop through the window she had eyes on; she zoomed in through her helm's optics, but couldn't make out any details of the figure. After a few more minutes of observation, she grew confident these were just the other participants, and decided to give up her roost.

Departing through the front door into the street, she moved several buildings down and entered an alley, sweeping around the rear of the junk shop. It was a quick and dirty perimeter sweep, but it was good enough to put her at ease for now, and so she moved past the rear of the shop, several doors down, through another alley and into the street again. Finally satisfied, she approached the front door at her own pace.

As she pressed open the door, the rifle in her right hand tucked into her hip in case she needed to fire quickly, she peered in to find two individuals. One, the fish-man she'd identified before, and the other was a male Zabrak with a scarf covering his face. The Zabrak looked like another Tatooine spacer, perhaps a small-time bounty hunter-- but looks could be deceiving, she reminded herself. She nudged the door closed behind her, and the opacity of her helm's visor faded to translucent, showing her almond eyes and caramel skin. She hoped the Zabrak would follow in suit and reveal his face; she'd never done good business with anyone that refused to show their face.

That was why the employer's anonymity made her so uneasy.

"You're here for the job?" she asked vaguely, assuming they would know what she meant if they were indeed the allies with whom she would soon be working.

 

[Maul]

Ardu was already feeling kinda frustrated. He expected the others to be here on time. He simply nodded. If he were to talk, he'd probably be quite offensive. After all, he wasn't in a very good mood.

Ardu kept his scarf up around his face, with his hand resting on his blaster pistol. A passive aggressive stance? Maybe? Did Ardu care about how these people thought of him? Absolutely not. Ardu was here for credits, not much else. He already had plenty of contacts in The Exchange. He didn't need any more.

 

[Sammothy]

Ganthrax kept his head lowered, hoping not to scare the others with his hideous face. He just kept half-nodding whenever they spoke. Abraham also took the time to fit in a voice changer to his air filter. As he spoke it was in a robotic voice, you could hear a short mechanical growl after every sentence. "Hello there, you guys are here for the job? I damn well hope so or this was a waste of my time." He said, choosing his words carefully. The Zabrak looked ready to hurt someone and Ganthrax didn't know a lot about Zabrak culture but they always seemed to look angry or unimpressed.

Ganthrax walked over to a chair and slung his LMG around his back, while doing this he kicked the chair forward so it was back to front facing the two others. He decided to sit on it whilst it was back to front, looking 'cool' as the kids would call it. He looked around the junk shop, Ganthrax was still confused as to why they decided to meet up in such a place, it wasn't exactly a looker, was it? He dismissed this thought and waited for someone to break the silence, Ganthrax prayed someone would start speaking as he only liked speaking when he needed to.

 

[Tribunal Power]

Stepping to the table in the center of the room, covered in dust and small debris, she laid her rifle against the edge and tossed her datapad down. It clattered and slid to the center of the table, at which point a hologram flicked on and displayed above it. It was an image of a droid with angular features appearing brand new; the background appeared to what one would expect to see from a manufacturing plant. It seemed likely the image was from the time of the droid's creation.

This is Unit 5," Xiu said, folding her arms. "The droid was commissioned under a new design and intended for the purpose of navigation and exploration for the client's agency. Apparently, the droid broke parameters and took off on its own. The client isn't sure why, or how, the droid was capable of doing this, but doesn't want to take any chances. We're going to hunt it down and destroy it."

Retrieving her datapad, she glanced from the individuals, lingering on the quiet and menacing-looking zabrak. "The client said they hand-picked the people for this job, and only took individual referrals-- so you all knew someone who recommended you for this. That means you're good at what you do. So, let's be professional and be just as good as a unit. We'll start with introductions, then once we know who we're talking to, we'll voice any questions or concerns with this job."

Taking the initiative, Xiu started things off. "I'm Saffron," she said, holding out her hand to shake with the zabrak. It was an attempt to break down the wall of silence, and hopefully starting them on the road to trusting each other at least enough to get the job done.

 

[Maul]

Yeah. No. Ardu wasn't up for making friends. When Saffron extended her hand, the young Zabrak shook his head slowly. As this meeting went on, Ardu was probably looking like more and more egotistical. He did however pull his scarf down, revealing the scar that covered the left side of his head.

(So sorry for shortness. Really swamped.)

 

[Sammothy]

Ganthrax stepped back slightly as the Zabrak revealed his scar, it wasn't exactly the prettiest of things. But it made him look more lifelike - His hands being mechanical and all. Ganthrax nodded towards the Zabrak then turned to Saffron and shook her hand for Ardu, making it look a bit awkward in the process but if they were going to have to work together they'd at least HAVE to like them. Team chemistry is important for this job, using all of their skills and abilities to the max. But maybe it wouldn't be that hard finding a bloody droid. "We'll see."

 

[Tribunal Power]

Xiu's hand lingered in the air, and she eyed the zabrak, who decided to lower his scarf. Still, he refused to speak and refused to shake her hand, instead showing his grim scar. The scar didn't scar her, even though she figured he probably meant to show it as an intimidation tactic, and even when the other applicant shook her hand, she continued to watch the zabrak. After their hands parted, Xiu took a step back and picked up her rifle, clipping the mounts back to her shoulder to let it hang lax by the single-point sling over her chest. There was an uncomfortable pause.

"Thank you," she said to Ganthrax, giving him a nod before returning attention to the zabrak. It wasn't the disrespect that bothered her-- it was the attitude. If he thought he could make it through the job this way, he was sorely incorrect. She wasn't going to have it on her op, and it was time to make that clear.

"Since there seems to be some confusion," she said, her tone stern but not belying her annoyance, "let me set the tone. We are flying mostly blind into some shit that may or may not be seriously phucked-up, and I need to have some reason in my head to remind me why you won't just shoot me in the back for shits and giggles. If you are not willing to work with me on something as simple and pedestrian as kriffing introductions, then I don't trust you in a fight, and I don't care who you are or where you've been-- if I don't trust you next to me, then you'll always be in front of me, and I can't work with that. So, go ahead-- give me something to work with here, or there's the door."

 

[Maul]

Ardu found her obvious annoyance not only amusing, but highly unprofessional. He smirked lightly. "Introductions don't mean shit, neither does your opinion of me." He spoke. Ardu paused for a moment to let that sink in. "I ain't here to be your friend. I'm here to get paid then get out. You don't need to trust me, you just need to realize that the credits are worth more to me then watching the life leave your body. Besides, if I was going to shoot you, I would have already."
If Ardu wasn't pissed before, he certainly was now. He didn't like being called out. So what if he had an attitude? That wouldn't change his performance. In his opinion, Xiu needed to grow up a little bit. This business isn't about making friends, it's about getting paid.

 

[Sammothy]

Ganthrax rolled his eyes, it was like baby sitting two wound up kids. Ganthrax sat back into the small wooden chair and spoke through his air filter. "Bloody hell, this isn't going to go well with you two bitching. Ardu, we've got to work together, you moaning about just getting paid is going to end up with none of us getting paid. Xiu, its almost true what the Zabrak's saying. We don't exactly need to introduce ourselves but we still need to work together." He said, leaning back in his chair. Ganthrax pulled a decently sized table towards the centre of the room, then he placed a large duffel bag in the far left hand side of it and started unloading weapons and etc. He first pulled out an LMG with both of his hands before dropping it onto the table. He then unloaded one more heavy gun and then finally just emptied the whole bag onto the table. The table was now scattered with small firearms, a small array of blades and his two light machine guns.

"Lets saddle up."

(( OOC - Sorry for lack of posting, been away for a while. ))