Ask Muck.

[Gentis Freem]

Location: Taris, Sewers​

"I know it stinks down here Ortugg." Gentis rolled his eyes. The Gamorrean had done nothing but complain about their meeting location for the past thirty minutes. "It's a bloody sewer, you porcine pillock. What did you expect?"

The Gamorrean snorted and mumbled something obscene under his breath. Gentis ignored him. The pair of them had been standing in front of one of the sewage entrances for the past thirty minutes, having arrived by a speeder truck parked up next to them. They'd emptied the cargo into one of the service rooms down inside the sewer, where a handful of his goons were keeping an eye on them. Gentis stayed true to his word - he'd promised some noble that he'd get her charges off-world, and he intended to.

Not all of them, mind.

But she didn't need to know that just yet.

Gentis intended to sell a handful to some off-world buyer, and then the rest would be transferred as agreed to two other gangs to aid in his business partners 'sting operation' later that evening. The deal would net Gentis a few thousand credits, he reckoned, but more importantly, it would cement a contact with an off-world partner and expand his reach here on Taris.

He'd wait for as long as was needed in the sewers for the payout.

Down here was a great place to do business. Nobody came here, bar other goons and the desperate. For that reason, Gentis had made sure he had his DL-18 Blaster on him - just in case they got jumped by some ambitious street kids. "Where the frak are they?" he cursed, his Gamorrean colleague spitting on the ground and clutching his rifle just that little tighter as he squinted in the early morning light, looking around for signs of danger.

Meanwhile, Toothy, Gentis' trust Corellian Hound had a little lie-down...

@Eccles @Black Noise

 

[Ivarr Bone Breaker]

Ivarr walked with two of her men, her left eye twitching beneath her helmet. There was a strange, questioning sensation in the back of her mind as she moved through the city alleys. She was late, but that wasn't what bothered the Deucalian currently. The question was 'why?' 'Why am I here?' She thought, 'The clan needs strong warriors, but these aren't warriors yet. But we can make them warriors, but I can't spend too much. I made that mistake once, and thankfully I was saved from my own stupidity. It cannot be made again. Get a grip, get a deal, don't get conned.'

Rounding a corner, she spotted the sewage entrance. Standing there was some kind of pig man, a Gammorean, and a Corellian hound. Their seller. Shouldering her bowcaster, Ivarr pulled her helmet off and handed it to one of her companions. She wasn't working right now, it would be best if her seller could look her in the face, and see that she didn't mean harm to him, yet. The smell of the sewer came to her, but she didn't flinch at it. A ship-rat herself, these smells were not unfamiliar to her. Truthfully, she was used to worse.

"You've got my merchandise?" She asked, her accent mangling the last word a bit. She hoped she'd still be understood. Her men kept hands on their own blaster rifles, the one she handed her helmet to set the equipment down in order to keep his hands on his weapons. She trained them well. They did not level their blasters at the pig man, Ivarr had commanded them to contain themselves for this.

Stepping forward so that she was just out of reach, Ivarr held out a hand. If the man wanted to shake, he'd need to step up as well. "Ivarr Ramund, a pleasure to meet you." She stated, hoping to keep their interaction short and productive.

@Nor'baal @Eccles

 

[Gentis Freem]

As the triumvir of human offworlders approached, Gentis turned to face them, Ortugg standing behind him doing his very best to look mean and scary. "Gentis Freem." he replied, introducing himself smartly "Not here, there." he jerked his thumb in the direction of the sewer entrance.

A large set of grimy blast doors stood between them and the sewers. For centuries the undercity had enjoyed its own network of illicit tunnels in the form of the sewers - run down, dangerous, but ideal for doing business. "You look like you've got a strong stomach." he laughed, and gestured for them to follow him, snapping his fingers as his hound and the Gamorrean followed him.

The doors opened slowly, and in they went.

Once inside the scent of cities worth of muck struck them. Gentis was used to it, and it showed. He walked inside, and a maintenance shaft opened up before them, large enough for five to walk abreast. Gentis had never understood why the sewers where so large here on Taris, but they always had been.

"It's a bit down this way. We can't operate up top, for fear of being snatched by the ISB - they're twitchy of late." he reassured Ivarr, forgetting to mention that a less twitchy officer would be joining them later. "I've got a range for you - you can't take them all, I need to hold the majority back for another client. But, you can have your pick, up to five I can sell you. All good?" he asked, discussing the transaction as cooly as one would discuss selling a speeder, as they continued to walk down the dank sewers to their destination.

 

[Ivarr Bone Breaker]

Ivarr started to like this guy. Straight to business, no mucking about. Picking up her helm, relying on the hands of her warriors to guard her for the moment, Ivarr followed Gentis down into the sewers. "You as well," She responded as he laughed, "You and us, I feel we are similar. The sweetness of the rich is more sickening than this to us, though I would not mind their spreads of food." Her mind drifted for but a moment, but she pulled herself back together after that.

Her eyes widened a little as they entered the maintenance shaft. It fascinated her that these sewers were so huge, and the metal seemed to hold it's own in the muck and mire. 'Good for scavenging for starship metal, maybe? Interiors at minimum, this would work for,' she thought. Watching Gentis as he walked, Ivarr decided to ask a few more questions about her purchases and business at the local level.

"ISB more active, as of late? How do you work under those conditions? And five will work, what are you looking for on prices for each? The merchandise isn't damaged, is it?" Her tone was flat as she spoke- as if the questions she asked were all of equal worth. Just as coldly as Gentis spoke, Ivarr replied. His products would not be 'people' to Ivarr until they were offworld, until they were renamed and assigned families amongst the clan.

 

[Gentis Freem]

Perhaps they where, in a way, similar? Gentis gave that some thought as they slummed along in the doldrums of Taris. Either way, both were looking to get ahead in a galaxy, the odds stacked against them in an unforgiving pyramid where those at the top hoarded the wealth for themselves. They sought to change that in their small ways - and reverse the polarity of the credits flow.

"It's in as good condition as you'll find, given the circumstances." he came back to her question "As for Imperial entanglements, we've ways around them - but they need careful management." Gentis replied, hoping to avoid going into much detail about his relationship with some elements of the ISB.

As for the cost? Gentis had a good figure in mind but wanted to start a little above that. "I'm looking for eight thousand per item." he found referring to them as 'other' made the whole deal much more playable. He rounded the corner, another, smaller, blast door in their path. With a punch of the button, it flew open - revealing a store room.

Sat against the rear wall, a cluster of three dozen youngsters could be seen. Around the room another Gamorrean, a Rodian and two Klatooinians kept watch, rifles in hand, stun batons on their wrists in case one of the other gangs tried to butt in.

"Outside." he instructed quickly, leaving only Ivarr and her compatriots, as well as Ortugg and Gentis. "So?" he gestured to the youths.

 

[Ivarr Bone Breaker]

Ivarr kept quiet until they actually saw the merchandise, it was all she could do not to laugh when the Klatooinian suggested eight thousand per piece. Was he smoking death sticks? Stepping through yet another blast door with Gentis and coming face to face with the youngsters, it was all Ivarr could do not to growl.

"So?" He asked, gesturing about the room as his guards left. Ivarr crooked two fingers, indicating that her men should stay by the door, and she stepped further into the room. Her eyes scanned their young faces, not one could've been older than twelve—a good age to start, as she well knew. After a few seconds, she turned back to Gentis and gave him a look of disbelief, "Really? Eight thousand each? You'd be lucky to get eighty a piece of these filthy, pathetic things on the open market."

Shaking her head, she walked back towards Gentis, turning her back to the children. "Extenuating circumstances is all that's upped the value of these kids. I can't pay more than two hundred each in good conscience." Of course, she could, but she wanted to really drag down Gentis's expectations first. He would balk and demand more, that was the game of haggling they were about to play.

 

[Gentis Freem]

Gentis scoffed as the insulting lowl offer was made. There was a negotiation, and then there was just straight-up low-balling. ”They’re worth more than that, by some degree. Here, let me show you why.” the Klatooinian walked over to one of the children and knelt in front of them. His voice dropped, a softer edge creeping into his tone.

”Your guardian asked me to get you away from here, remember.” they nodded timidly back at him. It was true - this deal had ‘fallen’ into his lap due to the widespread restrictions against force users and their guardian's desperation to take her charges away. ”This lady may seem a bit tough, but she’s going to look after some of you. But, you need to show her why.” he added, gesturing for Ortugg to step forward.

One of the children stepped forward, extended their hand, and with minimal effort, elevated the Gamorrean off of the mucky floor, using the dark force magics that Gentis had long mistrusted.

The hair on the back of his neck stood up as he felt the power flowing from the youngster. Ortugg crashed back into the ground after a few seconds, the child's hand dropping as well. ”Good job.” he invited them to sit back down. Next, he turned to Ivarr, and tossed a datapad toward her.

”Medichlorian count for each child, plus evidence of them in action - lifting things, you know.” he chuckled, hoping he had reaffirmed the value of the products. ”So, eight-thousand each.”

 

[Ivarr Bone Breaker]

Ivarr couldn't contain the subtle eyebrow raise as the young kid lifted the Gamorrean as easily as lifting a stone. Smiling, she looked over to Gentis as he tossed the datapad her way, glancing at it for a minute before looking back up to him. "Alright," She said, a defeated look overtaking her stance and voice, "I can see they're not any ordinary cargo. However, what you ask for is still too much. I will pay fifteen thousand total, and you will give me seven, not five."

She tried her best to maintain the mindset that 'I can walk away at any time,' but the value in these kids had just been clearly demonstrated. She needed force users for her next venture, and these kids would be perfect. Truly, she wished she could have them all. But Ivarr knew she could not take Gentis's high individual cost. He needed to drop his prices to entice Ivarr. Having listened to the way Gentis talked to the kids, she suspected he also wasn't getting nearly as much as he was charging individually for the rest of the lot.

Smiling, she folded her arms and waited for the counteroffer.

@Nor'baal

 

[Gentis Freem]

”Pah!” Gentis slapped his thigh as he laughed, a guttural sound that smacked of a man who’d had one too many smokes. He had done the mathematics quickly in his head - Ivarr had counter-offered by asking for a price that was more than five thousand credits a head less than what has initially been offered.

Perhaps they didn’t teach maths on the Hutt worlds?

Shaking his head, he mulled over how best to approach what seemed to be a deal that could bottom out without resolution. ”You can have seven, but you pay seven-thousand per unit.” he retorted, a colder tone entering his voice, whilst he made sure to keep his posture non-threatening. ”Look, if you don’t have the credits for it - that’s fine, we can draw a line under it and move on. But I can’t basically give them away, there are others who will pay good credits to get them off-world, or pay more for them for other uses.” Gentis added.

”Plus, there are costs to me here, to ensure you’d even get them off-world anyway.” he continued, reminding Ivarr as best he could, that there was still the matter of actually getting these kids past a zealous ISB.

 

[Levik Karn]

Meanwhile outside the sewer entrance an Imperial peacekeeper patrol marched by. Their armor polished and their rifles of the newest make and model as was Imperial custom. Highly trained men and women -mostly human- that functioned both as soldiers and sector rangers within Imperial space. They marched two by two, rifles on the outside and eyes scanning their surroundings.

Somehow they had missed the unlocked sewer entrance and as they passed Levik let out a sigh of relief from the other side of the door. That was a close call. He could afford being seen here right now, not if whoever Gentis was planning to sell some of those kids to would cause a ruckus on their way offplanet later on.

Lieutenant Karn wore his brown civilian jacket over the black shirt that had his nametag and the Imperial peacekeeper logo, his uniform shirt. He hadn't changed his pants of his polished black boots. The latter he regretted as he made his way through the sewers to the appointed rendezvous point.

As he got closer he took his DA-34 blaster pistol from underneath his jacket and held it in his right hand just to be sure in case he encountered some malcontents. An imperial lieutenant wasn't a popular sight on lower taris, but as he rounded the last corner he was lucky that Gentis' men could vouch for him.. for he didn't quite like the look of the two offworlders. "They're still inside?" he asked the rodian, "Our kriffing window is closing."

The rodian was kind enough to press the button and open the last door, which Levik used to silently enter the room with the kids, his business partner, Ortugg and the buyer. He made sure not to be facing the children so they wouldn't be able to recognize him later on and simply waited in the shadows, "Window is closing if you want to get them offplanet tonight." There was no way Levik could arrange for them to skip the patrols and get waived through if he wasn't on planet himself. The Expulsion orders for the Sith Order had been giving and he had to be on the ISS Intrepid in five hours. All of that would have to be finished by then.


@Nor'baal @Black Noise

 

[Ivarr Bone Breaker]

Ivarr sighed deeply at the new price. It was close to the equivalent of 'buy 6 get one free' on Gentis's original price. The Klaatooian wanted to get as much as possible squeezed out of her, and unfortunately, he held too many of the cards in this scenario. He had what she wanted, and while Ivarr didn't believe he had more buyers or anyone that would pay more, she didn't want to push too hard to find out. 'Still,' Ivarr thought, 'Surely I can get him to go a little lower?'

She was about to start arguing further when the next man entered the sewer behind her. Listening to him, she groaned and rolled her eyes. Looking to Gentis, she finally responded, "You twist my arm so hard it nearly breaks, little man. But you are assisting me in getting them off-world. Fine, Seven-thousand a head, let's not waste any more time." Walking over to Gentis, she handed the datapad back to him and indicated which items she desired. Mostly the higher midi-chlorian count older ones.

Pointing at the datapad, she added, "I will wire half to you now, half when I get out of the atmosphere. You and your guards are welcome to accompany us on our vessel if you do not trust me. But I can see us doing more business after this." And at that, she ordered her men to start gathering up the cargo she selected.

@Nor'baal @Eccles

 

[Gentis Freem]

With time of the essence, Gentis spat on his hand and extended it to shake Ivarrs - sealing the deal. "Agreed. Ortugg will show you the best route; it'll bring you out near your landing bay at the western-third exit of the network." he added, gesturing to the Gamorrean to help their new client with their new purchases. Levik would have furnished Gentis with the patrol routes for that evening, and the western third was the best route for them to take - no patrols, no coverage.

"Pleasure doing business with you." Gentis added, for indeed - it was.

Now, they had another matter to take care of, one he and Levik needed to see before the night was done. Wiping his hand down on his shirt, credits would be exchanged, the 'cargo' handed over, and the rest of them moved out of the sewer and away to the speeders outside. Levik and Gentis had to move fast, so, with his hand subconsciously dropping to his weapon, he headed outside with his charges, to the next stage of the mission.

 

[Levik Karn]

It seemed his presence had hasted things along and Lieutenant Karn only had to watch how Gentis secured the deal and the buyer began moving the children he just bought down the sewer pipelines that lead to their safe departure. Good, phase one was now complete.

"I pulled patrols away from that district," he affirmed to Gentis in regard to the buyer's safety when returning and leaving on his ship, "they're suiting up and preparing for a raid now. One that cannot be delayed for much longer-" he warned the Klatoonian as they both rushed towards their speeders. Imperial hierarchy was strict and the longer this operation took the more likely it would attract the attention from higher ups like Commander Venn. He would no doubt force himself in as the leading officer and claim all the credit.

Their deal had been simple enough. The remaining kids would be shipped to the Mynocks and once Levik had confirmation on their arrival he would move in to arrest them and eviscerate the gang in name of the Empire that their actions had been disloyal to. At the same time he would signal Gentis to make his play on the Wanderers.

"Be alert to my signal," he said as he reached one of the speeders, "I'll only signal once."

Levik sped off on the speeder without another word. It would take him several minutes to get back to his Imperial-issued speeder, stuff away the jacket and redon the armored vest and helmet of the Imperial peacekeepers. Once he did he got behind the wheel and started up the engines with a nervous hand. This move could either make his career, or utterly destroy him personally. Selling out Gentis wouldn't even be able to save him.

"This is Lieutenant Karn-" he said over the radio to the men and women under his command tonight, "-I need all three units to meet me here-" he send them the location over their personavs, "I've received intel on Sith activity nearby. Mission briefing on location."

One unit consisted of twelve peacekeepers. He was using 36 of them for this job.

@Nor'baal

 

[Gentis Freem]

There was nothing quite like zooming through Taris in a speeder. Gentis didn’t think he would ever be able to move beyond the street-level crime he so enjoyed, if it meant giving up the freedom to get out and about, as the Gods had intended, in his favourite speeder-car. He lit a stim as he drove, his second of the day, and – refusing to accept he had a problem – continue down the causeway to their location. The plan had been agreed, and it was a reasonably simple one.

”Yo’ Pallo.” he spoke to one of his ‘boys’ down the commlink as he went ahead with his part of the operation ”You got them over to the buyer, yeah?” he asked. Pallo replied over the line, confirming he had moved the ‘refugees’ into position, so Levik could get the sting operation up and running.

Naturally, the other shipment of ‘refugees’ would not be moved into place, to enable, Gentis to ‘save the day’ and win the loyalty of the other gang in the process. He continued down the causeway, stopping at a checkpoint which he was swiftly allowed through by a bored looking security guard and a protesting droid.

Briefly, he wondered what would happen if Levik ratted on him.

He wouldn’t, would he? Gentis worried. Technically Levik had nothing to gain from doing it, he could lose a lot of credits, a lot of punch, and ultimately would only be able to bag a ganger, who could just as easily spill the beans of Leviks involvement. Hopefully Levik wasn’t one of these zealots the Empire so loved to hire – hell bent on some mutually assured destruction. He sighed, took a drag on his stim as he rounded the corner and parked up.

Stepping out of the speeder, he leant on the bonnet and rested his hand on the butt of his blaster while waiting for Leviks to call to confirm the sting was done.

 

[Levik Karn]

"So that's the plan, any questions now is the moment," Levik concluded his tactical briefing to the lead-officers of the three units. There were two detectives present 'to ensure protocol was being followed' and to write up a report to command, but Levik wasn't worried about them. This is a good op. They'd take out a gang and prevent the escape of Force-sensitive children that would otherwise be smuggled offplanet, outside Imperial notices, free to potentially join up with the Sith Order.

Their parents would quite possibly be electrocuted for their role in all this. Indentured servitude wasn't out of the question and their top level penthouses might soon become available, too.

"Primary objective is the children?" one of the officers asked and Levik confirmed it with a nod, "The gang's illicit goods are secondary?" again, Levik nodded. "We're doing this the proper way. Blasters on stun, children and goods are retrieved as evidence in their trials." Thanks to Gentis, Levik already knew that the evidence would be overwhelming. This could very well be the operation that could earn him his promotion. Commander Karn did have a nice ring to it.

Now that the questions were out of the way they returned to their units and readied their blasters, armor and the armored speeders they'd use to block off the Mynock's escape. It was time. Levik nodded to his second in command to give the signal while he grabbed the comm in his pocked. Two clicks.

"Now now now!"

@Nor'baal

 

[Gentis Freem]

Click. Click.

Gentis leapt into action, practically wrenching the door of his speeder open as he hastened to carry out his side of the deal. He floored the accelerator, throwing his stim over the door and onto the damp street as he careened off, maxing his speed in moments. As if in a panic, he called his contact in the gang they where to ‘save’, and a gruff voice answered.

”What? You aren’t getting cold feet on us now are you - you’ve been paid.”

”Yeah? And you’ve been made pal, I dunno who but someone ratted.”

Silence came back down the communicator, followed by the tell-tale sound of a drink being poured. After a few moments, his contact came back down the communicator. ”Go on.” there was steely edge in the mans voice. Gentis didn’t care, he had him right where he wanted him – the vice was already closed.

”It’s the Empire. I’ve already told my boys to hold your shipment, so you’ll have nothing on you. But I need you to move any other gear you’ve got. Look, I’m helping a brother here, you need to listen to me.” Gentis said, appealing to the other Klatooinians sense of species-brotherhood. The ‘cargo’ wasn’t there, but no doubt the gang had other materials they wouldn’t want falling into Imperial hands.

”I want my money back, that finders fee we paid you found us nothing but trouble.”

”Fine – just hide your shit and get out of there. We need to stick together, my contact did us a favour, hell – I did you a favour by telling you. Keep your credits, but get out of there and fast.” he shouted down the comm, a smile on his face as the man agreed, before ending the call.

Gentis rounded the corner, and pulled over – a vantage point over the docks.
As if one que he saw the Klatoonians running, a few trucks speeding away, leaving the location of the ISB raid devoid of criminality.

He’d upheld his part of the bargain. Now he just needed to hear if Levik had succeeded on his end.

 

[Levik Karn]

Lieutenant Karn entered the Mynocks hideout with the third unit. Loud music was still playing, bottles of booze were scattered across the floor just like the stunned bodies of gangsters and the riff-raff that had come to party with them. No peacekeepers had died thanks to the swiftness of the operation, although there was a tally of injured. The armor they wore didn't always offer the best protection against heavy bolts.

"Status report," he commanded as he met with the leader of the first unit, "Your intel was correct, Lieutenant-" underneath his helmet, Levik sighed out of relief. Seemed like Gentis had come through in time. "We found thirteen upper class citizens, kids, who all appear to be Force-sensitive," the officer continued as he handed Levik the datapad that showed their midichlorian count, "Apparently on their way to join the exiled Sith Order." Perfect. That Klatoonian gotra really did deliver. "Anything else?" Levik referenced the secondary target he mentioned and his question was immediately answered with an enthusiastic nod, "Loads. Illegal blasters, illegal Hutt currency, ISB crowns and spice. A lot of spice."

Content, Levik took off his helmet and shot his officer a satisfied smile. "Good work. Let's bag it all up and call in transports from command. The Mynocks Gang is history, but there's plenty of these scoundrels left."

Ten minutes later three armored Imperial peacekeeper speeders came to a halt in front of the Wanderer's hideout. The ISB had confirmed the sudden departures and send a few peacekeeper squads to investigate. Their lead detective, a sullen human man in his fifties, pulled the comm to his lips; "Commander Venn, this is Detective Warren. Seems the intel was correct. They cleaned it." he was silent for a moment as someone yelled into the comm from the other line, "Yes, sir. Lieutenant Karn must've gotten lucky, sir. No, no sign of the Force-sensitive children, sir."

By taking command on the first raid, Levik had managed to assign operational responsibility of the second raid to his superior, Commander Venn, who hadn't been in the office at the time and thus showed up a tad too late to coordinate and assemble the necessary men. Thus, he was late, with all evidence from the other raid pointing towards future Sith having been transported offworld due to his incompetence. Ofcourse, these kids had gone towards Hutt Space to serve as enforcers to the Hutt Cartel, but that's something the Empire nor the Sith Order would ever find out.

Not bad for a day's work.

@Nor'baal

/endthread