Ask [High Chaos] Spice of Life

[Connor Vance]

Spoiler: RULES

1. Each character has three defining skills. These skills do not need to be rolled for. Dice rules found here.
1a. Combat skills such as shooting an additional target can only be selected once.
2. Any attempted skill check that isn’t a defining skill must be rolled for.
2a. Any attacks beyond the current rank of the character (minimum of 1) must be rolled for.
2b. Any rolled skill checks or attacks beyond the first will take a -1 penalty for that posting round. (maximum of -3)
3. All three skills must be clearly defined in each participants OP. Failure to do so will result in no defining skills.
4. Have fun, tell your high chaos story, and enjoy the ride!

Spoiler: Connor Defining Skills

1. Slicing
2. Technomancy
3. Piloting

Umbara l Theme​

To say that Connor had been sulking would have been an understatement. His mind was so focused on his wounded friends that he was unable to plan jobs or heists to ensure an income. With him deciding to help cover medical expenses from the infirmary, it was becoming an issue. However, it seemed rumors of the casino and Kyber mine jobs had gotten around. People were starting to pick up that if you wanted fast cash or needed someone that could get into places, Connor was the guy to call.

That’s likely why Champion Vossari-Fuck You-Khaldun had hit his line. It was a job offer, normally Connor would have told the dude that royally fucked him and his friends over where he could shove this job. But Voss was apparently a friend of Nash and Arak and Connor needed the peggats, he needed them bad. So he hit Vossari back with the address for the dive bar on Umbara he frequented. Choosing a neutral environment made him feel a little easier rather than meeting this dude just anywhere.

While he waited, Connor ordered a pair of Corellian Whiskey shots for the pair of them. He put it on his ever growing tab. Then pulled out a cigarra and lit up. He hoped this shit would go smooth and he’d be able to cover the rest of these medical bills for his friends with his cut.

@Fine Dining Set

 

[Vossari Khaldun]

Spoiler: Vossari Skills

Hydromancy
Lightsaber
Deception

Professor Vossari Khaldun loved his job. It gave him a chance to send people he viewed as lesser on never-ending errands on his behalf. He didn't feel that way about every acolyte, of course, but he wasn't rushing to pay his interns for their help, either. Today was different. Connor was an associate of his apprentice's, a fellow Nar Shaddan, and a wanted criminal. Vossari had to see what kind of trouble he could cause.

He sauntered into the bar in his sneaky sneaky Sorcery Suit, Acridia on his ear and lightsaber on his belt. They were on their way to a terminus for spice manufacturing on a space station, creatively named the Spice Terminus. Vossari was once just looking at a galactic map, saw it, and realized he could take it to have a spice manufactory. How's that for character motivation!

Connor's nascent criminality would play a critical role in this. Connor wanted a simple strong-arm robbery, while Vossari imagined a takeover. Vossari took the shot, toasted Connor, and slid it down the bar, back to him. "I'm only drinking water." Definitely a lie, but Voss had no interest in being poisoned Vossari soon had a tall glass of soda water, which he sipped as he looked the apprentice up and down.

"Gears, right?" Vossari remembered the nickname, among other things, that Nash had told him. "You ready to make some money?"

@Apollyon

 

[Connor Vance]

When Vossari rejected the shot, Connor shrugged. “More for me.” Connor threw one back and then the other. He shook his head from side to side and gave a whew then smacked his lips. “I only know one person who calls me Gears, Nash.” He replied glancing over to the tall Wrean. Part of him was curious what she’d told Vossari about him. But he wouldn’t ask, none of his business “You must be the dude they kept calling Braidz. You know Arak got his bones powdered on that mission right?” He asked.

Connor’s ears dipped, he was annoyed but he didn’t want it to interfere with making cold hard creds. So he took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh. “Yeah, let’s talk business.” He said finally. “You wanna chat here or back at my ship?” He asked.

He wasn’t sure what to expect from Vossari, he'd heard a lot of hype shit from Nash and Arak. But for such a close friend, he didn’t come and visit them in the hospital or help pay for their bills. That was all on Connor. He supposed he’d have to just wait and see.

@Fine Dining Set

 

[Vossari Khaldun]

He noticed this dude's big-ass ears flop like a puppy at the mention of Arak getting pulverized. Vossari had to suppress a laugh at the thought of Arak with all his bones broken. It was a serious problem. But he figured Arak would be alright - Glee Anslem had free, high-quality universal medical care. Or was that Mon Cala? He had forgotten specifically where he had sent them. It was touching that he cared so much about his friends, though. "Arak's a tough cookie. I'm sure I'll see him back in the saddle sooner than we both would expect."

"Your ship? First acolyte I've known with a ship." Vossari flitted with the straw of his soda water, a devilish glint in his eye. "Lead the way, hot shot." As they exited the bar, Vossari kept sipping his water as he began to recount his plan. "I don't really have a 'contact' there or anything, but Spice Terminus is a huge meeting point. It would be easy enough to do a quick robbery, but I figured your slicing skills could handle something a little more...delicate. Long term." He would wait for the privacy of Connor's ship to discuss the rest of it. He was impressed that Connor could pull this together. "How'd you afford this ship, Gears?"

Vossari brought out a datapad, which began a projection of a slideshow that Vossari had prepared for this plan. It had accompanying music. A layout of the Terminus popped up. "Paid a spice-head two hundo peggats for the layout. Got the whole station's water and ventilation system on here, too." The map zoomed in to a terminal room. "I made a few intergalactic bank accounts on Aargau. You're gonna break into the terminal room, upload some...computer stuff. Software? Virus? You're the programmer." He shrugged. "But you're gonna skim off the transactions. One out of every thousand, you reroute to our accounts. Small enough that they won't notice it on the bottom line." The map transitioned to another zone of the space station, what seemed like a bar and restaurant. "Then, we meet with a contact. Get a foothold into the spice trade there. Then we have two irons in the fire."

Vossari zoomed in to a third source - the water supply. "If either of these fail, we poison everyone on the space station and rob it blind."

Vossari was, as always, completely open to that plan. In fact, he had a slight preference for it. But, more than that, he needed an asset. More money was always great, and was the carrot he would use to bring Connor along, but Vossari was starting to realize he was alone. Alone and broke. They could win big here. Or, they could fuck it up.

Time for Chaos.

@Apollyon

 

[Connor Vance]

Connor blinked in a mixture of shock and disbelief at Vossari's response. Connor was half-Sephi, most people that didn't know him figured he was an emotionally stunted asshole. They were at least half right. But this guy? Connor wasn't sure if he just had ice in his veins or if he was a legitimate sociopath. Maybe it was a bit of both.

"Yeah, I have a ship." Connor didn't bother explaining how he got it, that would be fairly obvious soon enough.

As they walked Connor listened to the Champion's brief overview. He talked about long term returns on investments. Connor assumed that would be for the Champion and not him. He'd seen how most Sith operated, use the Acolytes for the leg work and reap all the benefits for themselves. It was bantha poodoo. Connor had made two things abundantly clear in his escapades. First was that he didn't work for free and second was that he was worth the money.

"Alright, I'm interested in something a little more...long term." Connor replied. He needed a retirement plan after all, what better time to plan than now?

Connor led the pair of them through the bioluminescent fungal woods and to where he had parked his ship. His ears perked up at the sight his ship. She was his, he'd stolen her fair and square after all.

"Welcome to the USS FUCK DALON!" Connor said introducing Vossari to his pride and joy.

He guided them up the boarding ramp and punched in a few numbers on the keypad before the door slid open and let them in. When Vossari walked in, he'd instantly be able to tell a teenager lived in the ship. It was tidy in the sense that clothes were shoved under the couch. Most of the dishes were in the sink dirty and the rest were sitting around the desk that had the holo-terminal or on the coffee table in front of the couch. The entire place was essentially a bachelor's pad but lived in by a Nar Shadda street rat.

"Welcome to my home away from home away from home." Connor told Vossari with his arms spread out.

If Vossari actually looked around, he find items that belong to the previous tenant. Namely a metal tin filled with love letters addressed to Azar. A small box filled with random herbs and spices. And several very dead plants. None of which Connor seemed overly concerned about. In fact, when Vossari asked how he could afford a ship like this, Connor shrugged.

"Can't I stole it from Dalon." It was a simple and honest answer. "Had a job lined up to rob a casino, I needed a ship. So I stole his. I just decided to keep it after." His ears flicked a little at that.

When Vossari booted up his power point and started explaining his plan, with accompanying music. Connor did a little dance to the tunes while listening to what Voss had to say. It seemed like a solid plan, easy enough to pull off, at least on paper. A lot of shit could go wrong and they'd probably end up just poisoning the station and robbing them blind. But maybe just maybe they could make it out big!

"Aight Voss, Braidz, whatever you want me to call you." Connor started. "I'm in." He gave him a nod. "Hit me with the coords and I'll get us into hyperspace." Connor would get up to head to the cockpit of his ship. "Oh, what's my cut?"

"There's beer and pizza rolls in the fridge if you're hungry by the way!" Connor called out as he disappeared to get the lift off rolling.

@Fine Dining Set

 

[Vossari Khaldun]

He stole Dalon's ship? Well, at least this mission had a built-in patsy. "Master Dalon's..." Not the sharpest crayon in the box, that was for damn sure. Vossari just trailed off as Connor went to the ship's navicomputer. "Just make sure to return it in one piece." Someday, far after their mission. Vossari still didn't have a ship of his own, so he wasn't in any position to complain.

"Spice Terminus is in the Outer Rim, P-18." Not too far from his homeworld, Wrea. "Wake me up when we're there." Vossari strode into Dalon's ship's refresher and turned on the the sink and the shower, steam filling the room. He stuffed a towel in the doorframe so him flooding the room didn't spill out into the halls. Inside, Vossari slumped into the bathtub, letting the warm waters lull him to a long rest.

When eventually they arrived, Vossari stumbled back out of the bathroom into the halls of the ship itself. "Let's rock, Gears." Acridia lay on his ear, and his lightsaber on his hip.

​

The Spice Terminus itself was a makeshift station. Formed from a hollowed out asteroid, it was once little more than a podunk mining outpost in the middle of the Outer Rim. After the drug lords, shipping conglomerates, mining corps, and spice heads moved in, the station grew rapidly to accommodate it. It now bustled with life and activity, as a neutral ground for business under the watch of heavily armed guard droids.

This being a spice den, Voss and Connor weren't the first who came here to rob it. They would have to tread carefully as the cybernetic security system analyzed their every step....

Vossari was like a kid in a candy shop, looking at the exotic and delicate arrays of spice all available for purchase and perusal. "Purple Spice, Spice XL, Spice on spice...Too many options. You wanna...sample some?" He shot a knowing grin as he flicked out a thumb into a giant bag of spice sold by a droid merchant, digging for the peggats to cover the equivalent of one hit.

@Apollyon

 

[Connor Vance]

Vossari had said something about returning the ship? As if. This was Connor’s ship now. He’d stolen it fair and square. Plus, it had sentimental value. He couldn’t just give it back now.

Connor punched in the coordinates, popped in his earphones, and started listening to an appropriate song. When he got back Vossari had disappeared, he looked around for the champion for a while before giving up and just making some bagel bites. Connor ended up passing out on the couch watching Way of the Rancor. He only woke up when the claxxons for exiting hyperspace went off in the shop.

He stumbled into the cockpit to guide the ship in as he heard sloshing come from his refresher. Connor wondered about that for about half a minute before shrugging and deciding to deal with that problem later.

When Vossari came out and told him to get ready, Connor was already putting together his F-11D. He put on the rifle stock, and a “red dot” optics, double checked his energy cells, and holstered his Peacemaker heavy blaster pistol. Connor was more than ready for this job. He glanced over to Vossari as he slung the carbine over his shoulder and jutted his chin.

“Time to make some peggats.” Connor muttered in reply before follow Vossari into the corridor.

Once out Connor would gawk in amazement at this facility. This shit was fucking wild, this place had more security than the casino he and Nash had robbed. And they were gonna knock it over? Vossari had a bigger vision than even he did. He liked it.

When Vossari asked if he wanted to sample some of the spice Connor’s ears perked. “Does an Akk Dog shit in the alley?” He asked rhetorically. “Fuck yeah I do.” He replied. “You know, you ain’t half bad.” Connor told him with a shrug, excited to get a little fucked up before a heist.

“Aight, so we need to get to the terminal room.” Connor whispered while he waited for Vossari to get the blunt set up. “If you have a map, I can do the rest. I’ll just need some cover.” He explained. “Shouldn’t be too hard.” He said with a shrug.

@Fine Dining Set

 

[Vossari Khaldun]

"Not half bad? Bruh, I'm the greatest to do it." No one moved like Vossari did. He was one of a kind, in his own lane, and entirely unique. And he loved that about himself.

They needed to sneak through the terminal room. Vossari had the perfect idea. Reopening the map, he charted the route of the sewer system. A station as active as this one needed constantly important, recycled, and moving water. Vossari could feel it beneath their feet - the rivers of the space station that flowed all around them. "We're going through the sewer." He fixed his helmet back on. He was very glad he had his suit to get dirty instead of himself.

Vossari locked the doors to the refresher behind them, plunging his lightsaber into the console to ensure no one could open it up. It would take a while before auxiliary power kicked in for the doors, giving him a time to operate. In the meantime, Vossari plucked off a giant grate in the floor of the refresher and hydromancy'd the poop-water so it wouldn't touch them. They could crawl through the sewage tunnels with ease, as long as Vossari kept it up.

It was gross but necessary. Vossari realized he wanted this space station. A spice manufacturing plant would be a worthy jewel that he could carry in his pocket, slowly working in tandem with his other operations. It was, also, strategically located next to his homeworld, Wrea. He needed to get this done.

@Apollyon

 

[Connor Vance]

Connor glanced at Vossari when he said something about sewers. It was probably just the spice right? No way he meant actual sewers. Connor was wrong. Vossari meant actual sewers.

Connor meant to protest, but he was way too high for that now. Instead, he just blinked dumbly as he watched Vossari pull the grating up and drop into the sewer to start crawling through. Connor on the other hand, immediately threw up when the smell hit him. Something he did three more times as he crawled through the sewer pipes, poopy water kept off him from
behind and in front.

That didn’t mean his hand or knee didn’t squish into the occasional turd or soggy piece of toilet paper. Thus the three additional times of vomiting. “Who’s fucked enough to use just URRP one piece of wadded toilet paper?” Connor asked between dry heaves. “Everyone knows you fold a minimum of three sheets.” He continued. “That way you don’t poke a hole through and end u-”

SQUELCH

Connor immediately hurled as his palm pressed into a pile.

Eventually the pair would come to their designated exit point. In the data room. Connor was more than eager to get out of this literal shit hole. He’d clamber out after Vossari, turn, and vomit one more time into the now rushing poop water.

“I’m definitely getting pink eye…” Connor muttered as he walked towards the data vault. “So I need to get to work, just keep an eye out.” He told Vossari before plugging in his computer spike.

Connor would use the spike to begin skimming one out of every one thousand accounts. He’d send two accounts total value to Vossari’s accounts and then one to his own. It’d take several minutes but hopefully they’d have an easy pay day.

“So what’s after this?” Connor asked as he worked. “Where is your contact?” He presses.

@Fine Dining Set

 

[Vossari Khaldun]

It was a really nasty crawl, but they survived. Vossari, ever glad he wore a suit of armor to everything these days, hydromancy'd the shit water off of himself and Connor once they reached the other side of the tunnel. "You think you can get access to the security cameras from here? Control the droid terminals?" Obviously an escalation in his plan - from just skimming to straight-up control - but now was the time to infiltrate.

Vossari forgot he had mentioned a contact. It had been a lie to make this plan sound more concrete than it was. Luckily, deception was one of the skills he didn't have to roll for! "Uh....Contact is in the main admin building. I'll go back through the poop tunnel." Vossari waved to Connor, letting him work his magic on the terminals as he slid back through the bathroom shaft.

Once he was on the other side, he activated his telecomm to speak to Connor. "I'm back in the terminal. Got eyes on the station yet?" Vossari tried to identify who the person in charge could be, and if there would be a straightforward way to make them give him the space station. Could they just like...buy it? Didn't seem like it'd be that simple, but they didn't have the firepower for a shootout and takeover, either.

Maybe that was the first step. Vossari shared camera feed from his helm to Connor's datapad, allowing him to see what Vossari saw. A gang of trandoshans, hopped up on spice, patrolled hungrily across the ship. "Hey, Connor, can you get a read on these guys? Scan em' for weapons, IDs?"

Trandoshan's loyalties could often be bought. Maybe these spice heads would trade a shootout for unlimited access to their favorite substance?

@Apollyon