Open A Ploo to a Kill

[Burk]

Burk had never been to Ploo II before, and he had already decided he didn’t like it; at all. A small detachment of heavies had been sent down a few hours ago, at the behest of their paymaster, Nor’baal Desilijic Fa’athra, to ‘restore balance’. Burk had no idea what that even meant, and he didn’t really care. The boss had told him to come here and crack some skulls, and that was just what he intended to do.

Armed with his traditional vibroblade, vibro-ax and an E-11 blaster (which Burk very much disliked having to use) he swaggered down the road and toward a cantina, which intel showed was the erstwhile headquarters of the crime family on this world.

It was a drab and unimpressive affair, no doubt much of the cost of the place had gone into the databases in the basement, where the Zaa Fenn carried out their more traditional crime - cyber. Burk did not understand cybercrime, indeed, Burk did not understand much, but then again, he wasn’t paid for his brains. He squinted at the door, which was open so as to welcome new customers, and waddled forward toward it. With an oink-like noise to his compatriots, Burk signalled that their attack could begin.

@Sreeya

 

[Theo Magna]

He was a long way from Theed.

Every step he took as a member of the ISC took him further and further away from the pristine streets of his homeworld and deeper into terrible places. Ploo II wasn't the worst but it was still bad enough in places that if the people of his homeworld knew about it, it would have featured in many cautionary tales told to misbehaving children.

Be good or mother and father will ship you off to Ploo II.

Still... Theo stepped onto Ploo II as a member of the ISC and was fully equipped as such. Cradling his rifle openly, he marched in step down the street alongside the strangest bedfellow a man could hope to walk alongside, a Gamorrean enforcer of all peoples. But he was adamant he would stand alongside the Gamorrean regardless because even the scum of the Galaxy could see that Zaa Fenn had gone too far.

They had attacked a world, poisoned countless hundreds of thousands, all because they were threatened by the ISC. But rather than trying to actually fight the ISC, they had decided to commit an unspeakable act of terrorism. It lit a fire in Theo's chest that he thought would burn him alive... so instead he was going to use it against them.

"We give them one chance to surrender." he called out to his companions, ever the reasonable law-enforcer, "If they surrender, we stun."

If they didn't...? That didn't need to be said.

@Sreeya @Nor'baal

 

[Gurp]

Where one found Burk, it was common to also find Gurp. The pudgy green soldier was close behind his brother as they approached the cantina. He carried his usual heavy blaster rifle (that he loved so much) in his hands while both of his favorite pistols were at his belt. A comically stretched out blast vest was on his torso. In its pockets were a couple small knives and some snack bars.

From the younger brother's point of view, Ploo II was much nicer than Tatooine. He hated that sand ball. This place was more reasonable even if it wasn't quite paradise. Gurp was sent here to kill enemies of the Hutt and that always made a planet a bit better. A rival crime family that had gone too far or something like that had to die. Details were a bit fuzzy and he really had not listened to the briefing beyond "Go kill them and destroy things".

Once Burk gave the signal, Gurp slapped the power on his rifle and pointed it into the open doorway cautiously. He would follow his brother's lead on what to do next. The sector ranger who was also nearby was largely ignored. Any surrendering enemies could not be trusted and would be shot in the face. He didn't understand basic at all so even if he answered to the ranger, he wouldn't have gotten the message.

 

[Livi Cross]

Livi wasn’t exactly a patriotic person, but the ISC had certainly given her a second chance at life. She was now fully equipped in standard armor, was allowed a rifle, vibroknife and even two grenades! The biggest treasure of all, by far, was the prosthetic arm. Ordalos came through on his end for her community service after all.

She marched alongside Theo, having worked with him before. She wasn’t fussed about working alongside Gamorreans. The only issue was that she couldn’t recall their names. Was it Burp and Fart?

She was up to speed on what prompted all this, and the ISC President doubled down on his efforts to act against Zaa Fenn. Livi fell into place beside Theo, “Excited to be cracking some skulls for your boo?” She chuckled as she elbowed him in the side. The amount of times Theo had fanboyed about the President was beyond measure at this point.

Livi followed the others in through the door, blaster drawn, “On the ground! NOW!” She shouted, fully expecting a fight to break out.

@Nor'baal @Oreus @Nefieslab

 

[Darius Belari]

Truthfully, Darius felt right at home on Ploo II. While it’s less-than-reputable neighborhoods and crime-infested cities were a far cry from the pristine landscapes of Naboo or some ritzy Core World, it was exactly the same kind of backwater, Syndicate-infested scumhole that Darius had traditionally called home back on Lok.

Which, naturally, meant it was the unsurprising location of his next assignment as an ISC Ranger.

From Kessel to Mon Gazza, conflict with the Syndicates had only escalated in the past few months, and the entire incident on Mon Cala most recently had served to thrown Rhydonium onto an already healthy fire. Their President had promised the eradication of Zaa Fenn, and Ploo II was first on a long list of targets.

Darius had arrived on Ploo II in his full capacity as an ISC ranger, and plainly dressed the part. He was donned in his standard-issue ISC Sniper Specalist Armor, blaster pistol secured at his hip and BM-792 Zok-10 Rifle cradled in his arms. Sapphire eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly as he glanced between the two Gammorrean enforcers. Whatever his suspicion, the two pig-men looked to be on their side and Darius wasn’t going to argue with the added muscle. He glanced towards Livi, giving her a cordial nod of his head - recognizing the woman after that whole incident with the haunted mansion from hell.

He lowered the visor of his helmet, walking in lockstep with Theo, Livi and his green-skinned companions. “Whatever you say, boss.” He replied back to Theo. While his rifle was preemptively set to stun, Darius wasn’t exactly confident that anyone would be surrendering today.

While the rest of his companions burst through the door, Darius quickly followed suite - purposefully lingering at the back of the group. He brought his cheek to rest against the butt of his rifle, rapidly snapping the barrel towards any sign of hostile movement.

@Sreeya @Nefieslab @Nor'baal @Oreus

 

[Burk]

With his brother at his side, and these two humanoid creatures, Theo and Livi with them, Burk felt pretty powerful. He followed Livi has she shouted something in basic, which, being unable to understand basic, Burk did not understand. "Urk!" he snorted, puntuating the noise by slamming his hardy left fist into the face of a confused looking waiter, who went crumpling into the ground, now knocked out cold.

His beady little eyes scanned the room, which was eery in its silence.

Burk had been to many a cantina, and many a meeting place for the galaxies scum and villainy. This one seemed like others, drab, boring, but it was missing something. His tiny mind tried to work out what it was, when after a while, it came to him. Where is everyone? <Uba koose panbipa. Koose panbipa bai Burk.> he ordered the barman, pointing at him with his knife, his instruction clear.

They needed to see who was in charge, and make an example of them.

OOC - Will bring NPCs in to murder if we don't have opposition by the end of this round.

 

[Theo Magna]

Theo would have liked to say that he was being entirely high-handed about this whole thing but he would be lying if he said he hadn't gotten a little bit fired up watching Emryc condemn the Zaa Fenn and send the ISC on the warpath after them. Something about seeing him getting so fired up on the holonet never failed to do something to Theo even if he was trying his best to step back from his crush.

It was hard... and not all too successful as he blushed in the middle of their initial assault.

"I-it's not even like that, Livi!"

Kark he wished it was like that but he had a job to do and he needed to do it now with hot cheeks and the sudden urge to try and get the ground to swallow him whole. Of course, he didn't let it slow him down as he filed into the cantina with everyone else, his rifle sweeping over the innocent patrons quickly.

Innocent being a subjective term in this area of the Galaxy of course.

His Huttese was rather dire but he knew enough to kind of figure out what Borking and Gulping would be saying throughout the mission. In case the waitstaff didn't know much Huttese, however, he reiterated.

"We know this place is a front for Zaa Fenn. Give them up or join them." he barked out firmly, "Those who harbor terrorists will face the justice of the ISC!"

@Sreeya @Nor'baal @Oreus @Altaris

 

[Salbecca]

It was a shitty day to be a Syndicates member. While Salbecca did his tour through the Syndicates, the Zaa Fenn had called in the criminal mercenary forces of the Black Suns to serve as extra muscle for their holdings. After the self-important ramblings of Gareth Gin made every person with two braincells and a blaster rifle want to unload on their local drug dealer, the situation on Ploo II had gotten....tense. It was supposed to be a cybercrime ring, and a rather innocuous one - just some local dregs who needed cash calling pensioners, trying to scam their way into some fast credits. It had been that way until the reprisals started.

At first, it seemed like a lone vigilante with a grudge. A Zaa Fenn had been executed in broad daylight, strung up by his entrails on a lamp post. It was a gruesome sight, but the criminals of the syndicates (even the 'champions') played a dangerous game where innocent, oppressed, poor people were often their victims. These reprisals grew in number, though; protests had started in effort to evict the genocidal faction from the planet. It didn't help that Nor'baal the Hutt saw this as an opportunity to gain some turf. In response, the local chapter of the Fenn's issued a mandatory curfew that they relied on the least scrupulous and most heavily armed criminals they could find to enforce. It didn't feel good, breaking skulls of unarmed civilians, of children, who simply wanted to live. But, it was them or him.

Now, Salbecca was receiving word that off world operatives were beginning to touch down. Could this be the Free Worlds reprisal? A strike from the ISC? Maybe the Empress was making good on her war against Preef Callo? Time would tell. The Wookiee ordered the Zaa Fenn grunts to clear the canteen before it was raided, scattering them to whatever holes they crawled out of. Shortly after, the door had been kicked in. Fuck. He pressed a silent alarm under the bars doors, signaling to his fellow scum that it was time to back him up. Hopefully they would return in time. Hopefully, they would return at all. Any sentient with brains would get as far away from Zaa Fenn as galactically possible right now.

He heard Gammoreans chattering. Good - they can be killed without reprisal. But then - was that an ISC ranger?

Salbecca took a moment to appreciate just how fucked he was. He left his rifle in the back room he had hidden in, approaching with his hands up.

"Officers," he chortled through his translator mask. "There's no need for such a..." Five of them, heavily armed. FUCK. "Heavy-handed response. Let's talk, and see if I can't steer you in the direction you'd like to go."

@Nor'baal @Altaris @Sreeya @Oreus @Nefieslab

 

[Gurp]

A Wookiee was here. Gurp hated those big smelly creatures. So much hair and no one could ever understand them. He certainly did not understand it or the basic translated from its mask. The Gamorrean was disgusted. His rifle quickly pointed at the Wookiee's center of mass, around the chest, and kept it there for the moment. Blaster bolts didn't fly out of his rifle quite yet due to the surrendering motion and speech. Perhaps there was something useful from this Wookiee or it wasn't a target.

<< Wooky settah choy?>> he demanded to the room, not looking at anyone else besides Selbacca himself. There was little that Gurp wanted more than to shoot the Wookiee. Luckily, for the Wookiee, one of those things was smelling burnt fur. He would let Burk decide on what they would do to the fuzzball. Maybe the rangers would want it. In the end, it didn't matter as long as he got to smash SOMEONE'S head in eventually during this operation. More enemies were sure to be at the headquarters for a big crime group. Somewhere... but where?

At that thought, he wondered if it was a trap and more were coming out to attack them. He squinted just behind the Wookiee towards the back just in case more appeared, while also being able to see any sudden movements from the big smelly thing. The rifle was still trained on him and his fat finger was just begging to pull the trigger.

@Sreeya @Fine Dining Set @Nor'baal @Nefieslab @Altaria

 

[Livi Cross]

Livi turned to regard Burp as he punched a rando. Or was that Fart? Who knew. She focused back on the Wookiee that appeared with his hands up. Livi looked around at the Gamorreans.

“Burp, Fart, search him!” She hoped they would understand. But in case they didn’t, she made the motions to appear as if patting someone down and pointed at the Wookiee. Either they would get it or take it to mean petting the Wookiee's fur for no reason. In any case, she hoped they understood…

“We want Zaa Fenn,” Livi stated flatly, “Make yourself useful and give up intel or count yourself among the arrested,” She kept her weapon trained on him. She was wholly aware of her surroundings. If anyone else budged or arrived, there would be a fight.

@Fine Dining Set @Nor'baal @Nefieslab @Altaris

 

[Burk]

A Wookiee! Burk snarled as the walking carpet made his precense known, and his anger at the sight of opposition only grew as the Wookiee said something he didn't understand. In fact, Burk had not understood anything anyone had been saying since he arrived, so he was thankful when Livi made her instructions a little clearer.

“Burp, Fart, search him!” Livi shouted in a language Burk knew was probably basic, one of the many languages he did not speak. She backed up her instruction by making the gesture of someone stroking the Wookiees fur. Of course, she wants his hide, his soft wookiee hide for her own! - it made so much sense, he was shocked it had taken him so long to work it out.

<Bpous Wooky- datka, koose wai che Livi- Kotkhen> Burk grunted in Huttese, as he waddled toward the Wookiee with cruel intent. The creature had his hands up, which was quite helpful, as he entered into a steady charge - "BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRKKKKKKK" he screamed, lowering his head and throwing his arms wide. His tusked head would slam into the Wookies stomach, his tree-trunk-like arms clasping around the creatures mid-drift, his powerful legs tensing as he shunted the Wookiee back into the cantina, seeking to topple him to the ground.

 

[Salbecca]

What the fuck was going on? Salbecca was left speechless, not only because the Gammorean's headbutt took the air out of his lungs. As he fell, a holdout blaster tumbled out of his thick, matted fur; his only backup outside of his considerable personal strength. Once he hit the ground, he changed the language of his translator mask to Huttese, hands still free although the pig man pinned him down on his waist. "<Uba gaggalak kriffs jee saee jee seel heppo!>"

Unfortunately, many of his Black Suns hired hands had turned tail - those that would come would be quite, quite late to the party. Salbecca sighed into his vocoder. Had he ever had a successful mission? Is that why he kept getting dumped on different parts of the galaxy?

He turned his mask back to Basic, for the benefit of the rangers, before yelling something to distract the Gammorean guards.

"Rangers! I'll tell you whatever you want to hear, these Gammoreans are trying to scalp me!" He hoped that the general commotion and implied stupidity of Burk and Gurp would distract Burk enough that Salbecca could swing at his face. Even if it didn't distract the Gammorean, Salbecca would still throw a hairy fist into his snout with the remainder of his power.

There was little room for other plays, though. Provided he wasn't shot on the spot for this insolent behavior, he would try to rise to his feet and speak to the Rangers.

"Okay, okay, hear me out. You want the Fenns, yeah? Maybe I know a place. Provided you let me and my cohort continue our business." The tides were changing quickly, and there was little room for loyalty within the Syndicate. While Salbecca didn't know much, he had worked Ploo enough to know where some of the Fenn thugs were when they weren't drinking themselves themselves half to death. Sprinkle enough misinformation in there, and Salbecca hoped he could send them on a long enough hunt that he could leave the world before anyone became the wiser. Now, to see if they would bite.

@Eccles @Nor'baal @Oreus @Nefieslab @Sreeya @Altaris

 

[Darius Belari]

Well, things had certainly escalated quickly.

Darius kept the butt of his rifle pressed against his cheek - his eyes rapidly flicking behind the bar, the side entrances and any hallway that led towards back rooms in the cantina - carefully watching for anyone attempting to enter the scene, and was prepared to pick off any hostile movement.

Luckily, it seemed that most of the Wookiee’s allies - if he had any whatsoever - had up and ditched at the first sign of a crackdown.

While he kept his rifle trained on the Wookiee, Darius briefly glanced to his left - spotting the random cantina-goer that Burp or Fart - whichever one - had decided to knock out cold. There was probably some Ranger Ethical Code violation written somewhere against punching random, drunk patrons, but Darius was markedly unconcerned with the entire situation.

None of my business..

He simply shook his head, focusing back on the Wookiee as Livi barked out her commands to one of the Gamorrean and demanded intel from their sole arrestee. Of course, his attention was once more drawn away by the Huttese mumbling of one of the pig twins.

“Bring fur..?” Darius muttered quietly under his breath, blinking a few times beneath his visor.

The Lokkian couldn’t help but go wide-eyed when Burp bellowed like a maniac and proceeded to tackle the Wookiee, both of their bodies tangled together as they crashed to the ground. While Livi did say to search him, Darius couldn’t help but deduce that that pulling a full Bom Tardy and tackling the Wookiee like a pissed off Huttball player wasn’t what she meant.

Darius kept his rifle pointed at the Gamorrean. "Howdunga! Ghamekee..? Pee bagn bu kark mee peekasa doth - bkoha joniu! Da doth ba ahban." He yelled out in Huttese without missing a beat, fluent in the language by virtue of growing up in the Outer Rim. While it wasn’t what he wanted, if the Gamorrean didn’t follow orders, Darius was prepared to pepper the pig-man with stun bolts before any scalping could commence.

While he clearly heard what the Wookiee said, Darius didn’t verbalize a response. Instead, he merely glanced back to his fellow Rangers - giving them the opportunity to negotiate with the man themselves.

@Nefieslab @Sreeya @Oreus @Nor'baal @Fine Dining Set

 

[Gurp]

The younger of the two Gamorreans had been keeping his rifle on the Wookiee when Burk made the charge. He had no desire to shoot his brother in the back so he moved the barrel towards the floor as he watched the charge. A gleeful oink escaped but was quickly stifled when he noticed one of the rangers point a rifle at Burk. This unknown person screamed at them to stop and called it an order. Gurp wasn't the brightest one in the room but he was fairly certain Nor`baal the Hutt wouldn't fit in that armor set. Therefore, this was not someone to be giving the Gamorrean Guards orders. Nor were they told to follow this person's orders that he could remember.

<<Nopa lorda. Hasa blastoh mo mee killya u.>> the pudgy soldier said plainly towards Darius as he moved his blaster to point at the man's chest. At this range with this powerful rifle, it would certainly achieve the stun affect, just in a more painful way. This heavy rifle had no stun setting and armor wouldn't save his target from extreme pain as the bolt destroyed whatever plating existed. If Gurp fired, Darius would likely wake up the next day very aware of his mistake to mess with the Gamorrean brothers.

Out of the corner of his eye, Gurp noticed that a blaster fell out of the Wookiee's pockets when Burk tackled him. Proof that the Wookiee deserved to be turned into a nice pelt. It was planning to betray them! Dirty Wookiees could never be trusted as far as the Gamorrean was concerned. The scuffle between the two did not concern Gurp as he knew Burk could hold his own from a punch. Gurp kept the rifle on Darius waiting for a response.

@Sreeya @Fine Dining Set @Nor'baal @Nefieslab @Altaris

 

[Livi Cross]

Livi glared at the Wookiee, but she was also aware the Gamorreans were being absolutely worthless. One of them was pointing a gun at Darius who said some crap in another language she didn’t understand. Briefly, she looked over at Burp and made some quick hand motions and interpretive gestures that basically said “lower your weapon and you will get a snack later” which ended with pointing to her mouth and then rubbing her belly as if after a satisfying meal.

Developing a migraine from the stupidity all around her, she focused back on the Wookiee, “Look, we don’t know you’re not one of them. You need to come with us until we can validate that your intel is good.”

With that, she began to slowly lower her weapon, “I’m not going to shoot, but I need you to cooperate,” Livi said sternly.

“You’ve seen what Zaa Fenn has done on Mon Cala, right?” She asked, for a moment seemingly like she was going to pull the sympathy card, “Having Zaa Fenn affiliated with your business will tank it. You really think the tabloids and Holos won’t bury you and this establishment if it gets out you harbored terrorists? So you need to not only lead us to rooting these people out, but it needs to be credible.”

@Fine Dining Set @Oreus @Nor'baal @Altaris @Nefieslab

 

[Burk]

With the Wookiee well and truly disarmed, Burk saw little reason to object to not scalping him when the instruction came in. After all, Ms. Livi could always ask them to scalp him later, no? His limited focus never left the Wookiee as the commotion around him grew, Burk safe in the knowledge that - as ever - his brother would have his back. As such, when the walking carpet threw his punch, Burk simply rolled off the Wookiee and stood, his blade in hand.

Burk did not even look at Darius, staying focused on his target - in case they were not entirely receptive to Livis suggestions. In a way this was what he was used to. Looking mean whilst the smarter ones, Nor’baal, his underbosses, etc - did the talking. Then, if that didn’t work, the large knife in Burks hand, normally got the message across.

 

[Theo Magna]

Theo knew enough about Huttese to know that, by default, it all kind of sounded like the speaker was angry or being disrespectful. But there was just something about how their Gammorean allies that told him that they were being just as hard-headed as their reputation suggested that they would be. Already he could feel a headache coming on even as the Wookiee started trying to tell them some information about the Fenn in order to, literally, save his own skin.

Honestly?

It looked like the biggest threat they were going to be facing on this arsehole of a planet today was the 'backup' that their Hutt 'ally' had provided for them, all over a Wookiee who may or may not actually be willing to help them. He knew some Huttese but it wasn't his strong language - still... he thought he knew just the right word.

Interrogate had just such lovely connotations in the underground of the Galaxy after all.

"We interrogate Wookiee. Ask much" he declared in accented Huttese before switching back to Basic, "Cross, take the Wookiee out back and interrogate him properly. Belari, you stick with me and the brothers - we can search the premises."

 

[Salbecca]

There was a moment of unease, but the group seemed to pull it together. Salbecca was out of options - he could either cooperate or wind up in a Ranger prison. Again. Fate had never smiled on him, had it?

“Okay, okay, listen. You Rangers don’t know how bad the situation has gotten here. After the Syndicates moved in here, local boss got brutal. Got greedy. The local Zaa Fenn’s have started a crackdown, anyone who doesn’t blindly follow get-”

He cut his words short. Outside the cantina, the clamoring of footsteps could be heard. Silent, methodical; well-organized, almost robotic.

“They’re here. Keep me alive, and I’ll tell you whatever you want to hear.”

@Nefieslab @Sreeya @Altaris @Nor'baal @Oreus

 

[The Storyteller]

A robotic voice blared in through the cantina, a deep bass offering the unnerving monotone voice. “Salbecca, you no-good son of a Wampa. Rock Maninoff sends his regards.” Salbecca’s eyes widened as his own name was called out, and he took a long gulp at the mention of a ‘Rock Maninoff.’


“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” He scurried to the back room he had just scurried out of before the realization dawned on him. He had been betrayed, cut out by his fellow mercenaries who left him to die.

Anyone who was looking outside the cantina could see a small force of battle droids, the archaic B1 and B2 designs, taking positions out front the door of the cantina. Rather than their characteristic colors, these units have all repainted into a garish combination of a bright marigold and crimson design, haphazardly. Locals would recognize these as the colors of the local Zaa Fenn enforcer’s crew.

The robotic voice chimed once more. “Cantina customers. You have one minute to surrender the Wookiee, before it is burned to the ground.” The droid contingent pointed their blasters at the ground-level windows and doorways. It seemed like they didn’t realize that there was already an armed confrontation happening inside. B-series droids never were the smartest.

“Give him up quickly, and your worthless meatbag lives will be spared.”

@Nefieslab @Sreeya @Altaris @Nor'baal @Oreus

 

[Livi Cross]

Livi looked over at Theo and her eyes narrowed at the orders. Was removing her from the situation a smart call? Oh well, not her problem figuring out calls. She put an arm on the Wookiee’s bicep, which really was her grasping onto some clumps of fur since the man was way the fuck bigger than her. All hell broke loose within seconds as voices and footsteps could be heard outside.

“Shit!” She hissed as she spotted the droids. Their insignia matched what they had been briefed on what to look out for. The influence was strong for them to display it so boldly.

“Burp! Fart! DROID SMASH!” She frantically pointed at the droids outside. Livi hooked her foot underneath the blaster that fell off the Wookiee, kicking it up and snatching it from the air before thrusting it back into the Wookiee’s arms.

“Don’t make me regret this,” She said before she charged towards the side of a window. Livi spun and fired off a few shots towards the front row droids, targeting one in particular, before popping back into cover in the panel adjacent to the window. The glass was shattered and it was the beginning of a shootout.

@Nefieslab @Oreus @Altaris @Fine Dining Set @Nor'baal