An Intellectual Exchange

[The Captain]

CORELLIA, ROLLICKING RANCOR BAR, 20:42
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And yet again, Vol found himself in some shady back-alley cantina, waist deep in the dregs of society, doing dirty work for the Exchange. Surveying the local bar scene, nothing in particular stood out, aside from the usual spectacle of inebriated patrons making utter fools of themselves. The Chagrian was waiting for a specific individual to arrive, some human data-junkie who the Exchange had hired to help him with a certain...issue. The issue in question was an inactive protocol droid, positioned so that it would seem to be functional to any passers-by and covered in a large cloak. Taking a sip of the watered-down grog the bartender adamantly claimed was Corellian whiskey, Vol sat pondering his situation. How he was still relegated to simple tasks like this, how conspicuous it was to be sitting with a protocol droid in a cape, and how ironic it was that a bar on Corellia didn't have Corellian whiskey. Seriously, he'd been drinking all over the galaxy and couldn't find the stuff anywhere.

((@Dameon Shikyo))

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[Dameon Shikyo]

Dameon would check the time momentarily as he preceded his walk through the city looking for the cantina in question. His droid Waizu walking next to him much like a body guard would. Sure Dameon could more than handle himself if this turned out to be something unexpected but the added protection was never something he would turn down. A few moments later he would locate the cantina and walk in lowering the hood to his cloak which was customary and respectful of most business establishments in the galaxy these days. It wouldn’t take long before he could see the individual he was supposed to be meeting and with a fairly obvious busted protocol droid. Waizu would walk in another direction staying on the other side of the room and posting up away from the table his contact was to be meeting at.

Dameon would approach the table and give a simple and short bow as he took his seat across from the man. “You must be who I am supposed to be meeting here. I wasn’t given many details regarding the…situation or what I was expected to be assisting you with. Though I would assume it has something to do with this protocol droid,” Dameon said as he sat up right in the seat formally as a drink was delivered to him though he would not be drinking it. “I also don’t imagine your…employers relayed to you the type of payment I customarily receive. After all it is something difficult to come by,” He stated one again.

 

[The Captain]

Once his contact entered the bar, Vol knew he was in for an interesting night. A combination of an outlandish cloak and a personal bodyguard droid meant that every low-life and thug in the room had his eyes on them both. And odds were at least one of those pairs of eyes belonged to someone who worked for the droid's owner. Moving a hand under the table, Vol inched the small metal case containing the slicer's mystery payment closer to where he would sit. Returning his bow with an acknowledging nod, Vol took another sip of his garbage booze and spoke.

"An astute observation, this droid is the reason we are both sitting in this...lovely establishment. The previous owner of this protocol droid has installed some very strong cyber security, which seems to randomly change itself every few hours. We usually go to one of our own on these matters, but the higher ups have heard good things about you and are looking to test those claims. The case beneath the table has the arranged payment, but you must perform the operation here to receive it." The hand that was still under the table slipped over to his blaster pistol, inching the guard off the holster. He wasn't prepared to fire just yet, but he wanted to draw first.

Meanwhile, in the corner of the bar, in a booth across from their own, sat two rather inposing Ithorian mercenaries. At least one member of the duo kept his eyes locked on them at all times, each one reaching under the bar occasionally, and muttering among themselves.

 

[Dameon Shikyo]

“Interesting that your employers would have heard of me and that you would take this protocol droid to me for something so simple. A real test would be asking me to shut down the electrical grid for a city or disabling a frigate. No matter though I rather do enjoy me rewards for these tasks. After all information is always a good currency. That said I know you won’t be needing that blaster for me. I do detest violence but if I wanted you dead you would have been dead already. Needless to say you can’t get information as a reward from a corpse…well at least not conventionally,” Dameon said as his droid Waizu moved closer to their table but faced away from them to keep an eye on the mercenaries. Dameon could sense them as well but paid them no mind as he looked over the protocol droid.

“Would you prefer I unlock this droid here or somewhere with less eyes and ears? I didn’t bring my tools with me since I wasn’t entirely sure what the job would entail. I have another way to unlock it but I fear it would attract much unwanted attention. After all people do get scared when they see things they do not entirely understand,” He stated again as Dameon leaned back in the seat he was in and glanced over at the two at the bar. Dameon really wasn’t looking for a fight as he very seldom wanted to, not because of his inability but because he found it pointless when things could be solved other ways. Though he remained cautious about the man across the table as well as the others that were looking his way.

 

[The Captain]

"Well, as I said the security measures for this droid are extensive, and my employers are always looking for new associates." Vol visibly tensed when Dameon mentioned he was holding a blaster. 'How could he..?' Stranger still he seemed totally convinced he could murder him right here and now if he wanted. Shaking this off, his gaze returned to the slicer. "I was hoping you had come prepared for this, but if we must move the droid, we must."

The two Ithorians at the bar looked visibly angered, as if something happening at their table was upsetting them somehow. It was understandable, in a way, if you knew who had hired them. The droid's previous owner was a local slicer of some renown, who's protocol droid had the last year of his activity stored in his memory banks, valuable information in anyone's hands.

 

[Dameon Shikyo]

“I was just gauging your response. Waizu my datapad please,” Dameon said looking up to his droid that began to move over to the table and handed his owner the datapad that had been heavily modified. It was a unique skeleton key of sorts and highly encrypted by Dameon himself. He took the cord from the top and dragged it to the protocol droid and plugged it in. “Thanks Waizu now keep an eye on those two. I have a feeling this will be a longer day than we had first anticipated,” The droid would nod in response as Dameon began to use his hacking tool with both his hands but not after placing a small metal ball bearing on the table.

“This code is familiar to me. It shouldn’t take but a minute or so. If I hit any dead ends the protocol droid will guide me to the answer itself. That’s the problem with security if you store it on something with A.I. it can always just tell the answers to the person hacking it.” Dameon stated as he went through the code on his data pad expertly as his fingers and eyes whizzed by all the details seemingly to understand and calculate it with very little time needed. “So if you don’t mind me asking. Why are we doing this in a public setting? The odds of being attacked by a rival faction are just as likely in a secretive place. If a faction wants to attack badly enough do you think they care about the general public?”

 

[The Captain]

Finally, perhaps now they could get some results. The plan had been for Dameon to come in, crack the droid from his seat, Vol takes the intel, and they let the droid walk as a decoy, simple and straight forward. But not only was Dameon apparently toying with Vol, the two Ithorians across the bar did not look content to sit idly by and watch them hack their boss's prized protocol droid.

"My friend, the only concern of your should be slicing into that droid's memory banks before-" Suddenly, Dameon's datapad would light up with warning signs. The droid's firewalls had all changed themselves, and however they did it was unknown to the droid's A.I. It was some subroutine built into the droid itself, not apart of its programming, but still. To make matters worse the Ithorians were now moving across the bar, weapons drawn and loaded. Patrons began ducking out the doors, hiding behind tables, and crouching beneath the bar, knowing a shootout was likely coming.

 

[The Captain]

@Dameon Shikyo