The Hive of Scum and Villany

[Jinan B]

Nar Shaddaa... Braedon doubted that a more retched place could possibly exist in the entire galaxy. From the Blaster toting gangsters that infested just about every nook and cranny of the world, to the Hutts themselves that encouraged such a state. As the Vallen entered yet another of the downtrodden bars in the area, the only thing on his mind was how much he wanted to finally get off this forsaken rock.

The Pazaak tournament had been a good distraction, but it had also been a waste of time. As Braedon only realized later, the ship that he had hoped would be able to finally take him to the Jedi had departed whilst he was busy gambling his life away. Evidently, the smuggler had found a better employer than he was. In hindsight the man shouldn't have been surprised, but that didn't stop him from being in a significantly frustrated mood that day.

This was the 5th bar that he had entered, looking in each one for someone who could possibly be his ticket off-world, or even better, be his ticket to the world that he needed to get to. Tython, Dantooine, Lothal. It didn't matter to him, so long as there were Jedi on the other end of the Journey. He made his way towards the bar itself, as he ordered a drink and caught the bartenders attention.

"I'm looking for someone who can get me off-world. Without attracting attention from the wrong people." He asked the man tending to the drinks, and was answered only by a pointing finger. Braedon turned his head, looking at the smuggler that the barman had indicated. He'll have to do.

After ordering a second drink for the person that he was to be hiring, as well as handing over a substantial tip to the man who gave him the information that he needed, Braedon made his way over to the smuggler, before sitting down next to him.

"I hear you're the man I need to talk to if I want to get off this rock." He would say to the stranger, handing over the spare drink in an attempt to at least hold his attention for the moment.

@Nor'baal

 

[Jedan Ridan]

"You can tell Druupa, he'll get his money." growled Jedan as the collector snarled back at him something about him having to pay now. It wasn't the first time some two bit crime lord had tried to ask for more than they deserved, and it almost certainly would not be the last. Leaning back in his chair to grant quicker access to his blaster, he pulled the trigger and shot the collectors gun out of his hand, sending him scurrying off calling for help.

Settling back into his chair, he gratefully took the drink from the man, and placed it down in front of him. Gesturing for the newcomer to take a seat, he briefly looked him over. He was a tough looking fellow, not to out of place in a bar like this, and clearly the type who could look after himself in a scrape.

"Let me guess, you want to go some place you shouldn't?" Jedan asked, demonstrating the standard of client he was clearly quite used to.

 

[Jinan B]

"Not quite." Braedon would respond to the smuggler. Though the man might have been correct under most circumstances, today he was ever so slightly off. Even still, the Thrysian couldn't help but feel ever so slightly glad that the person he was dealing with would be willing to go down such a route as that. It made it more likely that he would be able to help, after all.

"I need to move... Discreetly." He would continue, resistant to mention why it was that he was being hunter, nor what his goals were. This was a smuggler after all, presumably someone who would sell him out to the highest bidder. Even if that bidder happened to be a Sith that wanted him dead. "Suffice to say, there are some dangerous people coming after me. Can you get me to where I need to go without them knowing about it?" The man was being vague, he knew, but in this situation he wasn't sure how much information he could freely entrust to his potential way off Nar Shaddaa. Better to see how he reacted to what the Force User was saying now, and then move forward.

 

[Jedan Ridan]

There would be many lines of work in which the supplier would balk at such demands, but in the smuggling profession such requests as this are seen as commonplace. It was clear the man was seeking to avoid any entanglements of an investigatory nature, and was surprisingly common aspect of his line of work. Naturally, after the job was done Jedan would have no qualms about telling anyone with the correct amount of credits who he had carried in his ship, but for the jobs itself - discretion would be the name of the game.

Ensuring to mark up his price so that it was costly, yet for his customer, affordable, Jedan slid a Datapad over the table, the price displayed - half now, half on delivery. "Name the location, Sith fortress worlds will come at a little extra, for obvious reasons." he added, clarifying that he would need addition credits if the danger linked to the job demanded it.

Taking his hand of the Datapad, he waited to see how the man would respond. Bet you its Coruscant, he thought to himself. After all, what a great place to lose yourself in, almost nobody could find you once you dropped below level 1313 anyway!

 

[Jinan B]

"You don't come cheap, do you? I hope that's a show of competence, as opposed to greed." The man mused when he saw the numbers displayed on the datapad. It was nothing he couldn't afford, of course, seeing as his father had been thoughtful enough to leave a substantial amount of money stashed away for Braedon to find back on Raxus. Regardless, at this point the man would probably have paid anything if it meant he could finally make his way out of the constant danger that he had been in for the past decade.

The location, on the other hand, was something that Braedon could perhaps have put more thought into. The obvious location would have been Tython, but why would any Jedi possibly just let him into the most sacred location of the order. That left Lothal and Dantooine as far as Braedon was aware. Out of the two, he figured he's be more likely to get out of danger in Dantooine, so he supposed that was where he would be heading.

"I'm afraid you won't be getting any extra pay this run." He would say to the smuggler, putting in the necessary details to make the first half of his payment. "Dantooine." He would say, finishing his drink and otherwise being all but ready to move.

 

[Jedan Ridan]

It was somewhat painful to admit at this stage that the additional bonus that often correlated with the danger of the task at hand - would have been useful, however Jedan could hardly justify charging the man extra for a trip to Dantooine.

As one of the safest places in the Galaxy, Jedan could only imagine why this man wanted to go there unnoticed, however his duty was not to ask questions of his customers motives.

"Sounds good. Just you I assume?" he asked, clarifying if they would be traveling alone.

 

[Jinan B]

"Just me." Braedon confirmed, casting a suspicious eye over his shoulder at the rest of the establishment. Nar Shaddaa was a dangerous place, he knew that much full well, and he didn't want to wind up in danger just when he was so close to finally being free. Nothing seemed overtly out of the ordinary, at least considering what was to be expected in a place such as this.

"How long will you need before you're ready to go?" He would say to the man, hoping that the answer would be sooner rather than later.

 

[Jedan Ridan]

After what seemed like all to long a time, the smuggler responded. "Give me an hour, docking back 4.B." he stipulated, as he worked out the length of time it would take for him and his droid, SR-33 to get everything in order.

Rising from his chair, he offered a curt nod to his new client and walked out of the bar, to prepare his ship.

 

[Jinan B]

Braedon said nothing as his new contact left the area, hopefully with the intention of preparing for his imminent departure. Instead he waited in the booth for a while longer. 1 hour, and he would be gone. He would be off the hive that was Nar Shaddaa, and on his way to Dantooine itself. Before long, he would be in contact with the Jedi order, just as his father wanted.

He hoped that he wasn't making some kind of mistake.

After about 5 minutes, the man returned to where he was staying. A small room which apparently counted as a residence in these parts of the galaxy. The Thrysian rarely needed more than what he could fit in some kind of small backpack, and so it was that he found himself entirely ready to leave just a few short minutes after he had entered his temporary home. At that point, he began to meditate in front of the open window that he had been lucky enough to have as a part of the deal.

10 minutes passed, then 30, and finally 50. All the while Braedon allowed his mind to empty and become blank as a sheet of fresh canvas. Slowly he began to repaint it. Who was he? Braedon Vallen, son of Cin Vallen. Why was he here? He had to make his way to Dantooine, and where better to hide from the Sith before that than a place like Nar Shaddaa.

And so it went, until the man heard a disturbance by the door. Instantly suspicious, he rose from his position on the floor, hand instinctively drawn to the lightsaber that lay clicked onto his belt. He walked to the door, slowly and carefully, all the while trying to hear more in order to confirm his suspicions. Then everything seemed to happen at once. The door swung open, propelled by the kick of a brutish man with blaster in hand. There was no time to think, and so Braedon withdrew into his instinct. Lamentation appeared in his hand, deflecting the one shot that the hunter had time to fire before taking his arm off at the elbow. Braedon paused for a moment.

But then he saw that the man had not come alone. Far from it, in fact.

Mentally cursing himself for having allowed himself to be found, he ran back across the small expanse that he had called home. Grabbing his pack with his free hand before diving through the window. He landed hard, to be sure, but that was still preferable to death by bounty hunter. Leaving the shouts of the assembled hunters behind him, and the screams of the one unfortunate enough to have been the first through his door. Braedon made his way straight for the docking bays. His contact would just have to have used the past hour well enough to be ready to leave when he got there.

When he finally arrived at docking bay 4B, he had left the hunters far behind. Of course, that didn't mean that they would stay that way for long. "We need to go, now." He said to the smuggler once he had found him.

Only then did he realize that his deactivated lightsaber was still, very obviously, in his hand

 

[Jedan Ridan]

When you have been in the Smuggling game for as long as Jedan has, you know when is best to ask questions, and when is best to keep you head down and get on with the task at hand. Currently, the situation was evidently one that required the latter. Ducking into the ship he passed his droid at full speed, spiriting toward the cockpit he bellowed ''Get us in the air SR-33!'' before ramming into the navigation room and smacking himself into his chair.

''Get yourself on one of those turrets.'' he shouted to his guest, as his scanners showed an unusualy amount of activity coming from the neighboring docks. It look as if they wouldn't be the only people trying to take off. Slowly, the ship lifted itself off the ground, and with the course plotted in, Jedan settled into his piloting chair....

 

[Jinan B]

To think that he had gotten so close. After 11 years on the run, 3 since he had last had an encounter with one of the small time hunter's who seemed to think that a former Sith could possibly be an acceptable target, Braedon had never been so close to finally being free of them once and for all. No hunter would ever come for him if he was with the Jedi after all. But now it seemed that in order for him to get to that sanctity, he'd have to deal with the men who thought they could present his head to the Sith one more time.

He made his way to the ship's turret, remembering his way from the last time that he had been on a YG-300. Of course, that time he had never had to actually use the turret. I guess there's never been a better time to learn... It very much was a do or die situation after all. He felt the ship rise slowly as he glanced over the controls, quickly figuring out that there wasn't anything very complex about them at all. Aim with the seat itself, fire with the trigger, apparently whoever manufactured these ships knew that their buyers would be incompetent.

What definitely unsettled him more than the fact that he barely knew how to use ranged weaponry, however, was the sight of the ships taking off practically alongside their own ship. "Please don't tell me those are all coming after us!" He yelled down at the pilot's cockpit, as he mentally prepared himself for the dogfight that now seemed all but inevitable.

 

[Jedan Ridan]

''Knowing our luck, I reckon so pal!'' shouted Jedan back at his passenger, as he lifted the ship up into the air and punched the engines into action. ''You used one of these before?'' he shouted at the man, who appeared ton be somewhat of a learner in the world of turret use. Kicking the ship up and bursting toward the atmosphere, three additional ships took off, firing a few short blasts at them in an attempt to disable the engines of the 'Aces High'.

Flipping the ship in a high loop to avoid the incoming fire, he desperately tried to pull up the atmosphere, only hoping that his ally would fire back in time.

 

[Jinan B]

"I'm, uh... I can't say I have!" Braedon yelled as he tried to maintain some small semblance of control over the turret. The Smuggler seemed to be a talented flier, or at least he was if the worth of a man's flying skill was determined by the turbulence of the trip. Even if the movements avoided the fire of the now 3 ships coming after them, it sure as hell didn't make it easy for Braedon to fire back.

He forced the turret back into position, before letting loose a short barrage of fire back at the assailants. The shots clipped the wing of one of the fighters, but even though it began to fall behind the other 2, he hadn't scored a decisive blow. He fired off another salvo at the group, trying his damnedest to make sure that he wouldn't end up bringing the man who he had hired with him to the afterlife.

 

[Jedan Ridan]

OOC - Sorry for the delay here, been a busy couple of weeks at work, and in general!​

Finally puncturing through the atmosphere, the 'Aces High' didn't take to kindly to the incoming fire, shuddering slightly as a glancing hit nearly took out the engines. Ignoring it, Jedan punched in the light speed co-ordinates, hell bent on getting out of this place as soon as physically possible. However it was somewhat dangerous to try and jump into hyperspace given the assailants tenacity to destroy them, and so he fell short of launching the main hyperspace engines, focusing instead on dealing with the incoming attackers.

Firing q short burst at the lead vessel, which erupted into flame, he flipped the ship in a wide arch and faced the attackers head on. ''Open up!'' he shouted to his compatriot ''Give them everything we've got!'' he shouted, knowing that they had the attackers by surprise now, ready to unload their full fire power at the in coming ships.

 

[Jinan B]

Braedon flinched as the ship rocked from the impacts of the incoming fire, wishing that he was in a position where he would be fully in control of his own destiny. He would have welcomed the Bounty Hunters if he had been on the ground, Lightsaber in hand. Even if it had led to his death, at least it would have been a result of his own lack of skill.

Not here, though. Here he lay his fate as much into the hands of his pilot, someone who's name he didn't even know, as into his own hands. Even with the small amount of comfort afforded by the fact that he had control over the Ship's turrets didn't make up for it. No matter how good of a shot he was (and he wasn't even a very good shot), they would still die if the Smuggler wasn't a capable pilot.

"What are y--" Braedon's yelling was interrupted by the man ordering him to fire on the enemy. Why it was that he had decided to turn the ship around the Thrysian had no idea, but now that the deed was done he knew that he would have to go with his instincts and take the opportunity as it came. He slammed on the trigger of the turret, firing a small grouping of shots at the only ship that was as of yet unscarred by the encounter, before letting off another at the ship that he had hindered at the beginning of the encounter.

 

[Jedan Ridan]

OOC - One whole month waiting for a reply. #RPPro​

Juddering, the ships internal energy stores strained under the volume of sustained blaster fire it was working to put out, but fortunately, it was made of sterner stuff (than perhaps even its owner new), and it pulled through. As the final assailant collapsed into nothingness, what remained of it left to be dispersed around the void of space - Jedan punched them into hyperspace. The ship lurched forwards, it's Hyperspace Engine responding with uncanny ease as it pulled away, the stars merging into streak like lines, as finally they made their exit.

''Everything is fine.'' he voice came over the intercomm ''Thank you for flying Air Ridan?'' he laughed over the intercomm, trying to make light of the rather drastic fight they had just scraped through.