Open to 1 Nar Shaddaa Grime and Pollution

[Vander]

Per my OP template, thread is death enabled​

Nar Shaddaa was a strange place, and Vander just couldn't decide how he felt about it. It had been through the grinder over the last few decades, and although it had mostly recovered from the AMS infections, the deepest depths of the planet were still said to be prowled by unspeakable horrors.

Vander was happy to let those rumors remain rumors as far as he was concerned. The Maverick set down on a small landing platform jutting out from one of the upper levels of the moon and he couldn't help himself wandering over to peek over the edge of the platform at the hundreds of feet drop far below.

No safety railing. Stay classy, he thought to himself as he moved away from the edge of the platform and back in the direction of the path leading into the main market area, double checking that he had locked his ship before heading on his way.

He gave a brush of his hand along the lightsaber holstered out of sight just to make sure that it was in place. If all went well, he wouldn't need it, but... things never went well.

He glanced down at his EZphone to check his directions before sliding it away. He had never been to Nar Shaddaa before, and the thing that lingered in his mind was the smell. It was all just... stale. It was like he couldn't get a single breath of fresh air no matter where he went. The scent of sewage or smoke or spice filled almost every free inch of air. It was just... not great.

The flow of the Force was a cold chill, the winds of darkness seeming to wrap around him as he moved, and it surprised him in some way that the Sith weren't more... involved here. The desperation and darkness that lingered her that had nothing to do with the Sith could be amplified all the further with the proper stoking.

Ultimately, though, Vander decided to stop wasting time puttering around and start heading down the street past the myriad people who were lost in the desperation of their every day lives, eyes flicking around from person to person as he looked for the address. Of course, nothing here is actually well marked... he internally grumbled.

 

[Garr Mettrok]

Nar Shaddaa, it had been a long time since Garr had set foot in that filthy place. The great Dowutin felt a kind of nostalgia upon returning to that place where he began his career as a mercenary and assassin several years ago. An evil smile formed on Dowutin's face, when he got off his ship he stopped to contemplate the buildings ahead. The smell of rot, smoke and garbage was still the same. People were crowded one under the other in the streets and markets, in the various dark alleys a little of everything was happening: shady negotiations, trafficking, trading in carnal pleasures and all kinds of other illicit activities... Nothing had changed.

Garr looked at the message on the datapad, there wasn't much information, just an address and a brief instruction to find someone. I would receive more information later. He left the port and continued walking down the street. People stared at him, some were scared by the big man and moved away, others who were braver just followed him with their eyes, but no one dared to come closer. Garr Mettrok was not just a frightening brute, he exuded hatred, anger and madness. When he was there last time he was already a very dangerous guy, but now as a Sith he was even worse.

He walked for almost an hour and didn't find the address, Nar Shaddaa was a big place and was constantly changing and moving. Even having lived there it was impossible to fully know the place. Garr was already starting to get angry, so he approached a skinny twi'lek who was selling spice at the entrance to an alley, grabbed him by the neck, lifted him off the ground and pressed him against the wall. -This place, how do I get there? The datapad with the address almost touched the twi'lek's nose, which shook in fright. -Do not lie! Dowutin's loud, hoarse voice was full of threats. -A... a... there. He pointed to the end of the street. -At the end of that street. Turn right and go straight... Er er... He choked on the tightness around his neck. -Er... There's a symbol on the door... There's no way to miss it.

Garr, got your face very close to the dealer. -It would be better for you if I really think so... If I have to come back here, I won't be so nice. The hand opened and the twi'lek fell to the ground coughing and lay there as the sith walked away in the indicated direction.

The twi'lek didn't lie and Garr had no trouble finding the place. He stopped and watched, but did not enter. He chose to lean against a tent a few meters away from the door and wait. The person he had to meet would probably arrive soon. Garr leaned against the tent and crossed his arms. His eyes had a good view of the street and especially the door.

@Phoenix

 

[Vander]

It was really hard to miss the giant of an alien that was leaning against a tent just outside of the building they were supposed to meet at. Add to that that the man exuded a latent rage was a pretty dead giveaway.

The two of them were almost a hilarious contrast to each other. Vander was all agility and although he wasn't short, he was dwarfed by the other Sith. Where Garr seemed to be all fiery rage, Vander was a cold and unfeeling darkness.

Vander didn't like people like this one. They were unpredictable and dangerous and while Vander was quite used to brushing shoulders with people like them, he never trusted them.

He didn't waste time in approaching the man, though his lightsaber was still hidden, he pulled back part of his robe and lifted part of the hilt so it was visible outside of its sheathe, identifying himself without stating it aloud.

Are you the one I'm meeting? he asked. Corax, he went on to give his name, eyes making the slow pan around the area. The slow swivel of someone used to hunting and being hunted.

@Victor Ryder

 

[Garr Mettrok]

Patience was never a virtue of Garr's, and with each passing minute he grew more impatient. His breathing was getting heavier and heavier and he was almost huffing and puffing now.
In fact, he didn't have to wait long. Any normal person would find the waiting time quite short, but Garr Mettrok was far from normal. He was too unstable.

A few minutes (which to the Dowutin seemed like an eternity) after touching the tent, the Sith's eyes landed on an approaching man. The man disguised it well, but it was obvious that he was far superior to the scum that roamed the place. Garr scanned him as he approached and identified himself.

-Garr Mettrok. Dowutin's hoarse voice came out heavy and heavy. -And you're late.

The brute looked away from the man and focused on the door. -The address must be wrong... There's nothing in that place.

@Phoenix

 

[Vander]

Recon, he said, jutting a finger back toward the building behind him that indicated where they were going to be going. The fact that he had been watching his partner as well - and observing his impatient gesturing and huffing - didn't need to be said out loud.

There doesn't appear to be anything there, he corrected. At first glance that was true enough: no one was coming in or out, but there were cameras around the outside, and the address was right. Or at least, if it wasn't right then Vander was going to be going back to pay his informant a visit.

See the cameras up there at the tops. In this neighborhood? No one else has those. Almost like they've got something good inside, right? he said. He had gathered just outside the panning range of the cameras, making sure not to be caught in their view. The information he had been given was that there were artifacts inside.

His eyes swept up and down the gargantuan alien and... hadn't really planned for this. Sure, there were people who weren't exactly stealth as primary, but this guy probably wasn't even capable of stealth.

I'm guessing stealth isn't your strong suit... he said flatly. He wasn't even sure the guy could fit through the upper windows he'd been planning to go through.

I was going to go up through there, he said, pointing to one of the windows and glancing back to the other man again.

@Victor Ryder

 

[Garr Mettrok]

"See the cameras up there at the tops. In this neighborhood? No one else has those. Almost like they've got something good inside, right?"

Garr wasn't what you might call a smart guy. He had noticed the cameras before, but didn't give them any importance. Now, after the other's speeches, the dowutin looked with different eyes. Corax, you were right. Maybe there was something there.

"I'm guessing stealth isn't your strong suit..."

Garr was big, rough, heavy, and clumsy. I couldn't be stealthy even if I wanted to. -Hurm. He grumbled. -Why don't we just knock down the door and walk in? Garr knew it probably wouldn't work out, but he didn't want to try too hard to think.

The dowutin looked at the window that the other man indicated. It was clearly impossible for him to pass through there, so he was going to need another option. Garr looked again at the building for an alternative solution. -Maybe you can come in and put me in... Unless you have a better plan.

@Phoenix

 

[Vander]

Why couldn't they just walk in the front door? Well, largely because Vander liked being alive. It was hard to accomplish all of his life goals when he was dead in the ground, and while he was a good fighter, he wasn't interested in having a dozen blasters cut him down.

He thought briefly back to Talia and how her life was cut short or his Master. He wondered if it was inevitable that his number would come up too. Eventually, he supposed, though he pushed the thought aside for the moment. He wasn't a quitter.

You're welcome to try if you want to, he said, motioning back toward the front door. He had absolutely no intention of trying something so direct. He preferred to cut his enemies down without ever being seen. Or at least... not seen until the last moment.

He turned and walked further down the street, checking the angles of the cameras until he found what he was looking for. Garr would have to simply wait and watch for several more minutes while Vander worked his craft.

]Proper preparation prevents pathetically poor performance, he muttered to himself. Not in the target building, but in the building next door was a fire exit, and that was what he would use.

He pulled the Force into himself, gripping his own body and leaping upward to catch hold of a fire railing ladder no less than fifteen feet off the ground, hoisting himself up and climbing two flights of stairs before looking across at the open window. It would be a tight fit, but he was... pretty sure he could make it.

As it turned out, he could not make it (2/20 roll).

He leapt across, but rather than sailing through the window he clipped part of the wall, falling the ten or so feet to the ground without really... catching himself with the Force.

He slammed into the ground below and felt the wind knocked out of him, landing on his ankle in such a way that - although not broken - pain shot up his left leg.

Kriiiifffffffffff, he hissed, breath catching slightly as he winced in pain. That did not go as planned. In fact, it was going so badly that part of him said he'd be better off just leaving.

Things only got worse as the door slid open and a pair of thugs came out, hands on their holstered pistols to investigate the sound outside.

@Victor Ryder

 

[Garr Mettrok]

A sneak intrusion. Garr hated that kind of mission. Life was so much simpler when you could just get away with breaking things, but unfortunately that mission seemed to require a little more delicacy and that wasn't one of Garr's qualities.

He remained leaning against the tent and contented himself with watching his companion as he put his plan into practice. Corax was the total opposite of Garr, he seemed very intelligent and methodical, the kind who likes unnecessarily elaborate and complicated plans. Garr, on the other hand, was a cannonball. All you had to do was charge it, point it in one direction, and fire. No complicated plans.

The dowutin waited and watched.A look of surprise came over his face as he saw the other jump, miss, and fall. An expression that soon turned into a mocking laugh. -Ops! It seems that the plan failed. Garr had a broad smile on his face, and it widened when he saw the two guards walking out the door. He leaned back from the tent and straightened his body and waited as they approached his fallen companion.

The dowutin waited for a while and then walked calmly behind them. It was a very different behavior than usual, anyone who looked at it saw a totally different Garr Mettrok, it was a predator hunting and waiting for the right time to pounce. A garbage can, which was next to him in the tent, was thrown in order to block the door and prevent it from closing if necessary.

The guards approached Corax. -What the hell is... The words were interrupted when the hands of the dowutin brute closed on the heads of the two men and slammed them against each other, almost crushing their skulls. Even though he was a big guy, Garr benefited from a Force-enhanced agility, something common to all users trained in the Force, and although Dwutin was still quite deficient in this field and inferior to other smaller users, he was superior to those two bandits and they didn't have time to react.

Heads wept and bodies were dumped on the ground. Garr looked around, saw almost no one. The few people who passed by seemed to be unaware of what had happened, after all that was Nar Shaddaa and that was quite common. People knew that this was common and that in these cases it was always better to pretend that you were not seeing anything.

The only problem was whether the cameras had caught anything, but Garr didn't care much about that. He looked and saw that the door was still open. He looked at Corax and made an unnecessarily exaggerated gesture pointing toward the door. -You first. Garr had a sinister, mocking smile on his face.

(OOC Note: Sorry, I'm still learning how to deal with dices. Feel free to determine the success or failure of any Garr action.)

@Phoenix

 

[Vander]

Vander ran his hands and mind over his own body, checking for injuries. Besides his ankle which was hurting with each step - but probably not broken - the only other thing that seemed injured was his pride.

He no doubt would brood over that in the days to come if he made it out of here, but for now, he needed to get back to the mission, trying not to let himself get angry or embarrassed about his little... mishap.

He pushed himself back up and his annoyance with Garr and his laughing... well, he had to give credit to the massive Sith: he knew how to kill people.

In short order, he'd snapped the two guards into ways their bodies were never meant to twist, and Vander... glanced up at the cameras.

Kriff, he grumbled, knowing that they'd been spotted and their element of surprise was gone. Or at least mostly gone. Still... that didn't mean Vander would just walk through their front door.

Not yet, he said.

Grabbing a blaster off one of the dead guards, he started moving around the building, shooting the exposed cameras to blind their enemy.

This is not how I wanted today to go, he grumbled to himself as he limped around the building, something he found himself muttering more and more these days.

When he was content their enemy was blinded, he motioned for Garr to come to the back of the building, pulling out his lightsaber now that they were away from the streets.

See, they'll look at the front door, but we've got another way in, he said, igniting his saber and carving a "doorway" inside. A piece of the wall fell away and Vander slipped inside, finding himself surrounded by rows on rows on rows of crates.

A good sign, he thought to himself, knowing that they were looking for artifact smugglers, and where they smuggled one thing, they probably shipped and smuggled others as well.

@Victor Ryder

 

[Garr Mettrok]

The dowutin's patience was getting shorter and shorter. He already knew they were there, so there was no reason to hide anymore. Why don't you just break in, kill everyone, and then look for what they came for, without having to worry about bad guys bothering them? It would be so much easier and simpler. Garr was fond of simple things and was almost certain that the two Sith together would be able to exterminate some bandits without too much difficulty. Unfortunately for him, not everyone liked the simple things.

Garr followed Corax's directions and joined him at the back of the building. He waited while someone else "opened a door" and squeezed through the passage right behind the man.

Inside, they found several rows of boxes, and Garr smiled. In the old days, when he was just a bandit and a mercenary, that would have meant good money. But he wasn't after money now. I was there on a mission and I had a goal.

-What exactly are we looking for? He asked, trying hard to make his voice as low as possible.

@Phoenix

 

[Vander]

Indeed, Vander didn't like to make things simple. Or maybe it was better to say he didn't usually trust the "simple" plan if he felt it had too many holes in it. He was in the business of giving himself as many advantages as he could to finish a job because he knew he was playing a game against the clock.

Artifacts, he whispered back, glancing back at his partner and... oh kriff this guy's big (he realized again, the size just impacting him all over again).

These guys smuggle Sith and Jedi artifacts all over the galaxy, he said, motioning up toward a symbol burned into one of the crates nearby.

Watch your back, though. These guys aren't known for being very friendly, he said. He had no doubt that Garr would be thrilled about that. He could practically feel the man's anger and anticipation.

Fortunately for him, he wouldn't have to wait long. Vander reached out with the Force to the next room, getting a vague sense of life within though he couldn't tell who or how many.

He reached back and grabbed the lightsaber off of his belt, gripping the hilt tightly in his hand in preparation for what came next.

Here's your chance. Get ready, he said, waiting to make sure the gargantuan Sith was ready before slamming his fist into the door control.

It leapt open and inside were five armed thugs who were - thankfully - not quite prepared for a pair of Sith to come busting through the door.

@Victor Ryder

 

[Garr Mettrok]

"Artifacts". The dowutin frowned. -Artifacts. He repeated. But what kind of artifacts? Some of these could be highly powerful, while others were mere embellishments for some rich and foolish collector. Garr was more interested in the first type, but pushed his thoughts away and decided it wasn't important. He had a mission, and he had to fulfill it. The artifacts weren't for him, so it didn't matter what it was. All that mattered was finishing the mission and with a bit of luck killing a few people in the process.

"Here's your chance. Get ready"

Finally some real action. A smile formed on the dowutin's face. An evil, cruel smile. Every fiber of his body stirred in excitement.

-Fun finally. The words were accompanied by the glow of the red blade.

He braced himself and with his free hand grabbed one of the unmarked crates. When the door opened, the crate was thrown in the direction of the bandits. Before the Dowutin moves forward.

(OOC Note: Sorry I haven't learned how to roll the dice yet. I followed the scrolling thread step-by-step, but it didn't work. I'll try to check where I'm going wrong. Any tips will be welcome.)

@Phoenix

 

[Vander]

Vander weighed the situation quickly, knowing that he wasn't as quick on his feet as he normally was. The ankle injury would slow him down and hamper his normally agile fighting style. He would have to fall back on actual blade work more which was less ideal and... well, maybe that meant he needed two blades.

He reached up and popped his saber into its two components as his partner blazed through the door. Both of Vander's sabers burst to life in either hand, swirling in front of him with practiced precision as they batted blaster bolts out of the air.

Five against two weren't actually terrible odds when two of those people were Sith, and Vander opened himself up to the guidance of the Force, falling into that comfortable rhythm that was almost like meditation.

One... two... three... and here comes... the chance, he "spotted" the fourth incoming blaster bolt in the Force before it came, maneuvering his saber and slashing down on the bolt as it came in, sending it directly back toward its source while he continued to close in on one of the other thugs.

And that was about where the panic settled in. Garr smashed one with a box and one was "shot" by his own gun, which meant it was now 2v3, and with whirling sabers closing in and a gargantuan alien coming at them from the other direction, it was only natural for them to start to get scared.

One of them - a Weequay - started trying to scramble backwards while the other two kept firing at the incoming Sith.

@Victor Ryder