Unexpected Encounter [Ask]

[Aussie Legend]

The man entered the room, watching as an exotic dancer began continuuing which was more then likely all she knew how to do. The man moved before the underbosses desk and took a seat. The underboss looked hungover, at best. Judging by his question, his memory was not serving correctly.

"My name is James, and I am here on business."

It was strange how well his helmet masked his voice, the suit concealed his whole body, making his identity impossible to confirm.

"This is an impressive headquarters, having one way out must create a great tactical advantage in defence."

 

[Gambler]

Strange emotions washed over Feron. He felt oddly.. touched by Samanya's show of kindness and respect. It was a foreign sensation to the aging cathar. Normally, people would either give him false sympathy or just bland apathy and meet whatever he was feeling with such uncaring nonchalance that it infuriated him. But Samanya's show was different. It wasn't false sympathy, but rather genuine caring. And that confused the dark warrior. He looked down into her deep azure eyes with a look of confusion and almost bafflement at her kindness.

"It is nothing," He said when he was finally able to speak. In truth, those words burned his throat with the lie, but he didn't want Samanya to feel as if she needed to help him with this. He could handle his own problems. "Nadiyya wasn't just Kam's mother to me. She was like a mother to me as well. Villam Foran wasn't a father to me though. Even if he found me in the forest on one of his hunts. A true father does not blame his son for why he was unable to support them. A true father wouldn't beat his son in drunken rage just because he was in a bad mood," Feron growled lowly. His deep voice was pitched so low that Samanya would probably have to struggle to hear it past the growling in his throat.

And then, as if he hadn't just growled at one memory, the dark feline laughed. "I guess that was what drew me and Kam together. We were both fatherless and Nadiyya was the only one who ever supported or cared for me. Probably why we were inseparable. At least until that one night..." He stopped, unable to continue. But that is enough about me. More than enough. Tell me, how did you come to be part of a gang? What drove you to seek out the comfort of a crime boss rather than an honest freighter captain to take you back to Balmorra?"

 

[Jiang Winters]

"To be honest, it... Wasn't really my choice, not at first." Samanya replied, as she rubbed the back of her neck with one hand for a moment. "While I was still a slave, the Sontrebren Crew attacked a group of criminals who had purchased me. They took me and several other slaves back to the hideout to work for them. After about a year of working as a servant for them, rather than a plaything, I managed to get myself into a fight with one of the guards. I beat him into a pulp, and then got dragged off to the former leader of the Crew. I must have done something right, because I impressed him enough that he set me free, on one condition: I had to work in the crew as a soldier."

She folded her arms across her chest as she shrugged. "It was an offer I couldn't pass up. I accepted, and I've been working for the Crew ever since. I know I could've easily escaped back to Balmorra by now, and be reunited with my family, but... I feel kind of like I'm at home here. And I always dreamed of a life of adventure while I was on Balmorra, and here, I can finally live that life. I just... I don't know. I guess I feel kind of like I've found a place for myself here, in the Crew."

 

[Viggy]

"James, you say… here on ‘business’..."

For a moment the feline alien tilted his head in confusion, closing his eyes and trying to remember who the kriff this guy was. He knew he remembered the name of James. We he supposed to sell this guy spice, or what? Gods, how his head hurt! But eventually the memory came to him and his brown eyes shot open again.

"James! Right! You’re wanting to join us as a soldier, eh?”

He looked at the human from head to toe, nodding a bit with apparent approval.

“Well, you look like you’ve got the gear for it. But take your helmet off, I want to look you in the eyes.”

 

[Gambler]

"So that's how you became a member of this gang? You were sold into it like a slave and somehow worked your way up to being a full time member? That must have hurt your pride a bit," Feron said, listening to Samanya as she told him her story. "But it would explain why you stayed rather than going back to your dad when you got out of slavery, He continued, not really listening. A yawn bubbled up past his muzzle, stretching his jaw with the expulsion and intake of breath, revealing his tiredness. "Yeah, it must have been hard for th-" He yawned again, breaking up his words.

"You know, it is getting kind of late and I suppose we both have a busy schedule tomorrow with getting me situated. Until we find your father, I will look out for you, I promise. Good night, little one. Sleep well and wake," He said unceremoniously, moving to kiss the top of Samanya's head in a father like motion. He turned around, back into his room and closed the door. The flick of a light was the only sound before the quiet noise of a body plopping down onto a bed.

 

[Jiang Winters]

Sam couldn't help but laugh softly as Feron started yawning. She smiled up at him as he spoke, her smile softening as he took on a fatherly tone. She wrapped her arms around the older cathar and gave him a hug as he kissed the top of her head. The gesture greatly reminded her of the way her own father used to bid her good-night. The girl released Feron and stepped back before he turned around.

"Good night, Fa... Feron." She said, just before the door shut. She smiled at herself and shook her head, then made her way to her quarters, popped inside, and locked the door behind her to take a shower and then retire for the night. She was looking forward to tomorrow, even though it was likely she'd be busy all day.

 

[Aussie Legend]

James smiled beneath his helmet, it would not be removed from his head, no matter what.

"I'm afraid the atmosphere around us is not suitable for my species, thus removing my helmet would no doubt kill me."


He examined the room, it was quite small, the desk before him was easily the largest thing in the room.

"So, what business do you have for a smuggler like myself?"

 

[Viggy]

“Ah, that’s okay then. As for what business we have, well, that depends on how much involvement you’re seeking with our Crew. If you just want to do some smuggling runs for us as an independant contractor, there’s always more slaves and spice that need to be shipped and sold. But if that’s what you want, then you will return all the credits to us after every load of goods you sell, and then we will decide how much is handed back over as your cut. That is non-negotiable, and if you screw around with us on that you will die.”

He paused to let that sink in, his right ear (the one without a piercing) twitching a bit before he went on.

“Now if you want a more permanent and steady line of work, I can fit you into one of the Crew's crews, so to speak, as a soldier. You’ll have to answer to a Capo and do exactly as he says, but the benefits are great and the jobs are usually, eh… exciting. So. Interested?”

 

[Aussie Legend]

James kept his eyes fixed on the Underboss before him as the creature rambled on about the possible jobs for him. Not that it mattered, no work would be undertaken by James for this crew, he simply needed the Underboss to think he was in.

"Independant Contractor sounds best, and I have no intention of screwing with your Crew, I have witnessed enough to know it would essentially be suicide."

It was at that point James seemingly clasped his hands behind his back, looking at the slave girl who had returned to her position next to the Underboss, she didn't seem to have the brainpower to understand what James was doing let alone see what he was doing. James then glanced at the Underboss, who seemed too sick to focus let alone understand what James' intention was, the cat-like creatures absent mindedness earlier had proven that.

But of course, this meeting's real purpose was unknown to both the Underboss and his slave.

Being careful not to make too much movement, James withdrew a small, yet powerfull explosive device from under what seemed to be breathing tanks on the back of his armour. The device had enough power to destroy a building in the open, James could only imagine the destructive power it would behold within a confined space. He then slowly reached back with his left arm, once again being careful as not to raise suspicion, and nestled it out of sight under the chair, pushing down on the 'standby for detonation' button as he slowly withdrew his hand. James then clasped his hands behind his back and awaited the Underboss' reply.

 

[Viggy]

"Alright then, you're in, I'll give you a job right now. Go ahead out of my office, and tell the guard waiting outside to lead you to the processing room, a human with a lot of burns on the left side of his face is in charge there. Talk to him, I believe his boys just finished packaging a small load of glitterstim, disguising it as a shipment of toothpaste. They'll have people load it in your ship - I'm assuming you've got a ship, right? - and you can take it to Corellia, it goes for the best prices there. Then bring the payload back here, to. See you then."

Giving him a nod, Poknor closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat again. "Now go."

 

[Aussie Legend]

James nodded, rising from his seat calmly and pushing it back into place under the desk. He then moved out the door and closed it behind him.

The guard waiting for him outside the door began walking down a dark hallway, motioning for James to follow.

He had other plans.

Swiftly, James gripped the guards head and twisted it sharply to the right, hearing a sickening snap as the mans spine was severed, sending his body to the ground motionless.

He didn't have much time.

James sprinted off in the direction he had entered from, sticking to the shadows of the dimly lit underground base as much as possible. Not many people were in his way to the exit, and those who were didn't catch a glimpse of James' black armour in the shadows.

Eventually, the site of the closed manhole gave James a sigh of relief before he quickly made his way to the hole, pulling up a small detonator as he sprinted up the staircase.

But somebody had to make it difficult.

A guard appeared from the right suddenly, and, after shouting for James to stop, opened fire at the staircase. James didn't have time to shoot back, he pushed down on the small switch attatched to the detonator as he pushed the manhole open, throwing himself outward as the explosion within the base sent shockwaves through the ground, a fireball engulfing the hallway James had sprinted through moments before, erupting their way from the office the bomb had no doubt incinerated immediately. The ground continued shaking violently as it collapsed into the former Sontrebran crew base, burying the remains in a tomb beneath the surface.

James simply smiled, watching flames licking at the oxygen in the air from their place within manhole he had escaped from moments before.

 

[Viggy]

Immediately after “James” left and the door was shut behind him, Poknor was just raising the bottle to his lips for a swig of booze when his slave girl grabbed his arm. The Underboss opened his eyes in surprise to see the Twi’lek with a very urgent look on her face.

“That man who was in here, he planted something under his chair… It looked like a bomb.”

Poknor was immediately on his feet, stumbling a bit and steadying himself by putting one hand on the wall as he looked under the chair the armoured man had sat in. Sure enough, there was a bomb there.

“Holy kriff!" he cursed loudly, opening a control panel on his desk and slamming a large red button with his palm. This set off an alarm, which every Crew member who had remembered their training would know meant to report immediately to the blast shelter with all speed. Poknor himself dashed out of his office to go to the blast shelter, joining many jostling gangsters in the tunnels headed to the same place. Not everyone would be able to make it, inevitably the Underboss knew that they were about to take a hell of a hard hit. But he hoped his trusted soldiers and capos would survive, luckily most of them were off on various errands right now. If Samanya didn’t survive… Well, he didn’t want to think about it.

He had only just reached the blast shelter when he heard the loud explosion coming from his office, and the doors of the shelter were shut on anyone who remained in the tunnels. He grimaced as he could hear the tortured screams of people being simultaneously burned and buried alive. But he didn’t waste a moment more on those he could not save. He began looking frantically around the room, hoping to see Samanya and her friend Feron in there.