Black Magic

[Eddard Thul Drast]

Eddard nodded to Reina upon meeting her outside the spaceport. The two of them were going to be working together to get something he needed for the fighters they had ordered to be ready for modification - specially one of said modifications it had to be said. Onderon was an odd place to meet up but it actually had something of a good black market, if such thing were not a contradiction of terms.

He had never worked with Reina before this but this would be a good chance for the two of them to get to know each other and see if they might very well be working together in the future. Some of the best working relationships started when you were just randomly selected and put together after all.

He hoped that she was a good operative.

"Reina - are you ready?" He asked her simply as they began to make their way down the streets of the city, "The man we are meeting is known to the local police to be a black market seller - we know he is already."

As they moved they were beginning to approach the run down elements of the city. Things were looking more and more shady, run down and dilapidated.

"Remember - we don't want to spook him if we can help it."

And there he was, working a market stall.

Go time.

@MatureContentWarningx

 

[Reina A Crowlin]

Onderon was rather an odd place to meet, she had to admit, but it was exactly where the two of them needed to be. It had been mentioned prior to their meeting that it held a decent black market and the item they were after wouldn't have been found anywhere but here- an item required for the modification of fighters, if she recalled correctly the message that had been sent in regards to their mission here. Though, Reina wondered what was so unique about this item that it could only be purchased here. She really hadn't thought to ask him and was at least half sure that it wouldn't matter so long as she was able to help him obtain it.

"Yes, of course I'm ready." She turned her eyes to Eddard, returning a casual nod as she walked beside him, and not a step behind. Reina had spent too much time as a victim of instruction at the Academy, that she refused to be anything less than an equal today even if it seemed to be a rather simple task. The bright eye'd woman was too proud to continue to follow, but she was more than content to be civil in this matter.

"I presume you plan to purchase this item from him first, before resorting to intimidation?" Reina asked, having clearly missed the opportunity to fully understand how Eddard had planned to take what he needed. While she had no reserves about frightening criminals into submission, she wouldn't pretend to know this individual, beyond his clear occupation, or whether or not his life might be of importance to the Empires continued war efforts. It was quite possible that he was the only man who knew how to obtain this specific item and she was sure if they needed one now, they would need more in the future.

 

[Eddard Thul Drast]

Eddard glanced to the side, noting how Reina increased the length of her stride in an effort to keep in step with him. It was interesting that she felt the need to walk alongside him rather than behind him but he declined to comment on it at all. Instead he just focused on the mission and if she was going to be an issue with said mission. She didn't seem to be, although she did ask for more information.

Which just made sense.

"Not exactly." he admitted simply, "The parts we're looking for here are too big for him to sell - he will have a line on where we can go to 'buy' them however."

And by buy he meant that they would raid where the black market had their stock and take them as rewards while helping to relax the tensions on Onderon for the local forces by removing the black market. As they approached the man at his stall, Eddard was the first to speak.

"Good afternoon... I understand that you're a man to speak to if I need to get my hands on something that isn't usually found in most people's stock."

The stall owner smiled open and wide.

"Ah my friend you know your stuff! Indeed, I can get you things that no one else can get! NO ONE, you understand?" he declared with a wink at Reina, "So! What are you in the market for?"

Well this was easy so far.

@MatureContentWarningx

 

[Reina A Crowlin]

It was best that she had decided to hold her tongue, because what she had wanted to say in response to his comment would have startled the vendor beyond words. Still, the look that she gave him would likely dissuade him from making further advances as they weren't particularly in his best interests. He was a vermin, far too below her to even be considered worthy of words to begin with, but their only chance at finding the parts they were seeking. So, she allowed him to continue and remained still at Eddards side, arms folded over her chest.

"I believe you have made yourself clear, sir." She near choked on that last word, but continued in a friendly tone. "If the part we were seeking could be found anywhere else, I'm not sure we'd be stood here." Reina offered the man a hint of a smile, leaning against the side of the stand as she waited for Eddard to tell them exactly what it was he was looking for. Parts for a fighter, she knew that much... but which part and why did it seem to be some kind of holy secret?

The woman took in a sharp breath, careful that she didn't stand too close to either of them for fear this vendor might get the wrong impression. Sure, she was small in stature, but she'd have him out in two seconds if the situation turned. Reina could tell by just watching him that he was corpulent and sluggish- not exactly the kind of man who fierce women found intimidating.

 

[Eddard Thul Drast]

Seemed that the vendor was enthused about what they wanted and neither himself nor Reina had done anything to get the man to be cautious yet. They just needed to keep this up and they would get the information they needed as soon as possible. Eddard wanted to be done speaking to this disgusting little man and they would only get to be done if the man was convinced to tell them where they needed to go to 'buy' what they were looking for.

Eddard leaned in close and spoke quietly so that only Reina and the vendor could hear what he actually said.

"We are looking for a batch of XXX Sublight Boosters for a batch of Imperial fighters we have happened to..." he shrugged slightly, "Acquire."

That way it sounded like they'd stolen the ships as well - in reality they were being given the ships themselves but the vendor absolutely didn't have to know that. Hopefully they would go from strength to strength and the man would be more than happy to tell them what they wanted to know - where the sublight boosters and other contraband technology would be kept.

And it worked swimmingly.

"Of course! I can tell you two will be good customers but I do not keep such things here." he jotted down an address on a piece of paper and handed it over, "This is the warehouse you should meet me at."

Eddard smiled very faintly.

"Oh we'll be there tonight." he assured the vendor as he began to walk away, glancing at Reina as he did so, "Stock up on grenades. We're going in loud tonight. Any questions?"

@MatureContentWarningx

 

[Reina A Crowlin]

Reina had no reserves about the murder of this man in order to obtain the parts they had come for, but wondered if going in loud was truly their best option. The vendor alone would be no trouble for the two of them, but what if there were others? She was more than capable of handling a few criminals on her own, but where there was a large profit involved, such as the selling of valuable ship parts, more often than not there happened to be more than a few of them. Grenades would only draw attention to them and, dependent upon the size of the parts they needed to move, provide them with less of an opportunity to steal them away before they would be caught. Besides, they weren't even sure of the location in which they were to meet him- perhaps it would have been smarter to scope the place out before making a decision as to how they would approach it.

"I have nothing against the use of heavy weapons to make a loud statement, but is it possible that there could be more than a few of them waiting for us? Would it not be more practical to consider approaching this in a quieter fashion, if only to allow us more opportunity to move the parts before we raise alarms?" Reina kept her voice lowered as they made their way through the streets, so as not to draw attention to their conversation. Of course, given the opportunity it wouldn't hurt to wipe out some more of the parasites that called this place home.

Keeping pace with Eddard, she crossed her arms over her chest and awaited his response. Had he made the decision to walk into this with grenades, she had more than a few ideas on how to obtain them before their meeting. They did happen to be in a market for uncommon items, things the Empire would have rather monitored or restricted to common individuals- it was the perfect place to find what they needed.

"I suppose I have other questions as well. How big are these boosters? How many do we need and how are you planning on transporting them once we've gotten them?" She supposed she sounded rather stupid given she'd accepted this mission without knowing much about it, but as someone who'd had no experience with the maintenance or building of ships- it wasn't too far off to assume that she hadn't any experience in working with the parts that made them.

 

[Eddard Thul Drast]

He could understand what she meant by going in quietly but he feared she may have misunderstood the situation a little bit so he would make sure to correct her.

"He will get us inside, past their heavy defences, which means we won't need to deal with those defences. Once we're inside, we won't have any need to be quiet anymore because we are charged with the destruction of his smuggling ring on this planet regardless." he reasoned, "I say to bring grenades because the element of surprise, while powerful, won't last for long and we shall need to make sure that we can take them all down - or at least keep them busy before reinforcements arrive."

In his experience waiting for local reinforcements to arrive was a... poor decision. The damned locals tended to show up late to any mission that wasn't going to result in themselves getting the majority of the credit for the battle and for the take down. Eddard had claimed to the locals that he didn't care who got the credit for the take down but he really didn't think that the local officers had believed him.

"Expect the locals reinforcements for ourselves to be late - dress in armour so we don't stand out as Sith."

Better to be prepared and then pleasantly surprised than about to get themselves killed because they had relied on others. Her other questions were sensible however.

"Roughly the size of my head, box shaped. No heavier than a kilo or two each." he reported bluntly, "We will locate them, hold against the enemies until the reinforcements arrive and then we shall take them with us on my shuttle off of this planet. They will be taken to the shipyard we are using to have the additions made. Acceptable?"

@MatureContentWarningx

 

[Reina A Crowlin]

Now that Eddard had explained his reasoning behind wanting to use the grenades, Reina felt a bit stupid for having questioned him. However, she didn't show it in her expression and instead kept quiet about the rest of their mission. It seemed Eddard knew what he was doing and wouldn't be the worst person to have to follow behind, though it did mean having to swallow a bit of her pride. Reina didn't like to be a follower, but in this scenario it seemed her partner was far more prepared than she had hoped to be. Perhaps she'd learn something from him, though she'd never admit it out loud.

Reina listened as he explained the rest of his plan including how they would transport the boosters off of Onderon for use. It made sense that it wouldn't take more than the two of them to load them onto his ship, though she had anticipated that they'd be much larger than he described.

"Yes, I suppose that will be acceptable." She agreed, folding her arms across her chest as the two of them walked. "Send me a copy of the coordinates and I'll be sure that we have plenty of grenades for tonight. Enough to lay his warehouse flat before reinforcements arrive." Reina gave him a nod of her head before the two of them parted ways. There was only a few hours left of sunlight before they'd need to be ready to move which didn't leave her a lot of time to gather the weapons Eddard had requested.

/end thread.