Ask Coruscant Poison

Nick Shaw

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CSF had asked the Sector Rangers for help dealing with a situation that was quickly getting out of hand. The body count was starting to pile up quickly and if it wasn't stopped soon, who knew how far it might go.

Nick Shaw stepped out of the speeder at the crime scene. Coruscant was his territory and he had received several similar reports this morning. He walked past the yellow halo-tape line and into the crime scene. "What do you have?" he asked one of the local cops who had been involved. The young cop look shaken up, his eyes were distant and he trembled slightly. "H...He...wouldn't stop. I told him stop...but he wouldn't.." the man trailed off.

He looked past the young man and saw the body. It had been riddled with blaster shots, way more than it would take to bring down someone. "What happened?" he said turning back to the cop, placing a hand on his shoulder. "He wouldn't stop so we had to shot, but he didn't go down. He damn near threw my partner across the street. I nearly had to use the entire energy cell before he stopped." the man said.

Nick had a puzzled look on his face. He had been wrapped up with the whole Jedi investigation. First, it was reclusive magic sorcerors, and now crazed lunatics. What was going on? He scratched as his beard as he saw a familiar face step into the scene. "Duke" he said with a grin walking over to the man. "Its about time you got off that slum world." he joked.
 

Duke Winters

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Last time, Duke was the one had called for help but the situation was in reverse now. He was on Coruscant, his first time actually as before he spent most of his time on Nar Shaddaa and that was enough of the city life for anyone. But Nick had contacted him, so strange cases popping up here and there about men and women with unmatched strength and a sort of animalistic craze to them. It was an interesting case and he couldn't refuse.

When he arrived on the scene, he heard Nick call out to him and he couldn't help the smirk that came to his lips. "Home is home, what can I say." Duke gave him a firm shake as he remembered the last time they worked together and how well it went. "I hope you still don't have a hole in you." Well, it went good until the very end until Nick got a healthy shot right into the gut. "So, what do we have here?" The young man retold what he said to the first Ranger.

Duke walked over towards the body, glancing down both directions of the alley before staring down at the body. "Any cameras or other witnesses?" It would be better to have a clear account of what actually happened instead of the young man. He was still terrified and it meant that he was leaving out details and he couldn't help it. The two Rangers would most likely question him again soon when he calmed down. Duke crouched down next to the body as he stared at it before he glanced over to Nick, "We got permission to touch the body yet? You know how forensics are." If they didn't check, the two would get an earful that would most likely last hours.
 

Nick Shaw

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"I'm good as new." he said with a chuckle. With that, they moved into the business at hand. Nick turned back towards the crime scene and they made their way over to the body. "This is the third incident I have gotten reports about in the last 24 hours." he said as they stopped in front of the body.

"I have some of the locals looking for any footage in the area, so far no other witnesses have come forward other than the two officers who shot the man. One was transported to a nearby hospital and the other one...isn't taking too good."
he said as he squatted down next to the corpse. The smell of burned flesh filled his smell, several blaster shots still smoldering.

"Better to ask forgiveness than permission.,"
he said with a shrug as he pulled on two gloves. He then tilted the man's face towards them. Even in death, the man had a crazed, almost panicked expression on his face. "Huh." Nick noted as he pointed to the eyes. The eyes were completely bloodshot, almost entirely red. "You ever see anything like this before" he asked the other Ranger.
 

Duke Winters

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"The third incident? Goddamn, it's spreading then." When Nick revealed that the officer was mostly going to be their only account of what actually happened, it made him sigh softly and accept it for what it was. Footage makes everything better, there is no way to refute it, it was just a recording of what transpired and it cut through a lot of the side details that made their job harder. "If the one from the hospital makes it, we can check in on him later tonight." The smell was terrible but he was used to it by now. That's what happens when someone becomes a Ranger.

Duke slipped on two gloves as well, letting Nick go first in taking his examination as he pointed something out to him. He flicked his flashlight and turned it on as it revealed the bloodshot eyes in full detail. That was interesting. He had seen the symptoms of certain drugs that he couldn't recall off the top of his head. "Yeah, from certain drugs on Shaddaa. A lot of gangs like to do their home-cooking and mix shit." He glanced over at the other Ranger, "Maybe one of them produced a version that's actually sellable." That would be a scary thought if it gave people unnatural strength and speed.

As the flashlight shone over the body, Duke noticed something that poked out from the space between the victim's fingers, "That's interesting." He opened the man's hand before pulling out the item, it a stark black card with a symbol of a rainbow-colored swan on one side of it. There was no other inscription or signs and he held it up in the air between the two of them as he continued looking at the body, "This mean anything to you at all? I'm guessing he's a resident of your district, so I don't know it."
 

Nick Shaw

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A new drug on the street would explain the sudden rash of similar incidents. That also meant this could and probably would get bad fast. He looked over the body, trying to piece together anything.

He looked up at the card Duke was holding. He shook his head. "Nothing I have seen before. We can check for any record of it in the system, but if I had to guess this is going to be an entirely new player. The current powers that run the street are old school gangsters, and this just seems a bit to...flashy for them." he said. "I know a guy who keeps a pretty close ear to the ground about these things. We can pay him a visit later." he said.

Nick turned back to their dead body and patted the man's pockets carefully. He was searching to see if the man still had any type of drugs still on him, but there was nothing here. "Hopefully we can get some more information on what exactly we are dealing with from a toxicology report." he said with a bit of a sigh.

Someone coughed as to get their attention behind them. Nick sighed and turned around to see a short woman who carried herself like she was a giant. She starred down the two Rangers with an icy stare. "Shaw." she said with a small amount of venom in her voice. "I should have known you would go poking your nose around before it was your turn. Hopefully you didn't ruin any of the evidence." she said looking around the scene. "If both of you will be so kind as to let my team examine the body before you ruin anything else. You will have access to our reports." she said, her tone implying she wasn't ready to wait a second longer.

Nick sighed again. "Fine. Corin, you know we are all the same time, right?" he said standing up. "We are. That doesn't mean I want a pair of bumbling cowboys ruining my crime scene." she said.

"Lets go."
he said to Duke as he started making his way towards his speeder.
 

Duke Winters

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There was a cough behind them and Duke was familiar with that type of cough in the force. He stood up and slipped the card he found from the victim nonchalantly into his pocket before turning around to face the woman. She barely reached his chest but he could tell the amount of authority she had made up for her size. Thankfully, she seemed to ignore Duke all together and just tear into Nick. She "asked" them to leave the body alone and he gave her a nod before departing the scene with Nick.

When they were out of earshot, he glanced over at Nick, "Trouble at home?" He was used to that type of treatment. On Nar Shaddaa, a lot of inspectors and captains weren't pleased with Duke as he realized he was actually trying to solve the case while they just wanted to let it burn out and be forgotten. When they got into the speeder, he pulled out the black metal card again and stared into it. "That's a pretty obvious calling card. Hopefully, your man has something about them that we don't know yet."

When Nick started the vehicle to meet his contact, Duke pulled out his own datapad before scrolling through it. "With the resemblance to Shaddaa product. I'll ask one of my few friends still there if they know anything about this colored swan." After he sent the message, the datapad was put away and he stared out the window for a second. "So, what's the deal with this Corin? You do something to her?"
 

Nick Shaw

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He glanced over as Duke pulled out the card. "It's not exactly very subtle. If the person who is putting out this card is setting up shop on Coruscant, my contact should atleast know something." he said as they left the crime scene and made their way to less civilized areas of the planet.

Nick grew somewhat uncomfortable when the topic of conversation drifted back to Corin. "Well.." he said trailing off. "We dated for a while a year or so back. I'll let you guess how it ended up." he said with a bit of a grimace. "If you can believe it, she used to be worse," he said with a half-hearted laugh.

He pulled the speeder onto a landing pad for level 1343 and climbed out. "We are meeting with Gleb, a Rodian who runs a couple of illegal gambling rings. We have a bit of an agreement, he gives me information and I turn a bit of a blind eye." he said, figuring the Ranger from Nar Shaddaa would understand the system. Sometimes you had to play the underworld's game to get anywhere and as far as criminals went, Gleb was far from the worst.

"I'll warn you, he smells like a Hutt on a warm afternoon." he spoke quietly. Nick led them in a small cantina, walls lined with halo-screens showing every type of sporting event imaginable. If you could gamble on it, Gleb likely had his fingers in it.

Nick sat down at the bar and the bartender approached. "What can I get you, two fine gentlemen, today?" the man spoke, accent much more affluent than what one would expect in a slum like this. "Tell your boss that Nick is here to meet with him."
 

Duke Winters

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When Nick revealed he had a relationship with the stark woman, Duke couldn't help but glance over with a wide smirk on his lips. "If she used to be worse, you got an interesting taste, my friend." He wasn't going to press further about it, that would be for another time when they weren't on a case. They finally parked the speeder and he was informed of who they were finally meeting, a Rodian named Gleb. He knew all too well the type of relationships that Rangers would need to make in order for the greater good and he held no qualms against it.

"This should be a pleasant experience then," Duke responded back with a slight scoff as he entered the establishment with his partner. It was a small cantina but decked out with screens, providing a view for most likely every high rolling sport that was happening on the planet. He had to arch his eyebrows as he stared at the screens. This was different from Nar Shaddaa, he was used to gangbangers and drug dealers. It made sense on Coruscant, a lot more credits would most likely be involved.

When they sat down at the bar and told the man they wanted to meet Gleb, the man stiffened slightly before walking away to go warn him. After a few minutes, the bartender returned and he nodded at the two of them, telling them to follow without saying it. He would push aside a silk curtain that acted as a doorway to let them through and when they walked past, one bodyguard would fall in behind them. At the end of the hallway was a red door and the bartender gave a quick knock before opening the door and entering. Gleb's office wasn't too shabby, it quite big for the Rhodian as the desk stretched out then the man's arm spam. There were more screens on the desk and the walls around him. Gleb glanced from one screen before turning to face them and pointedly stared at Nick, "What the hell I tell you about bringing new faces man?"

Duke glanced between the two before taking a few slow steps forward so the bodyguard didn't act up. He pulled out the metal calling card from his pocket and tossed it on Gleb's massive desk. "New problem, new face. Do you know anything about these people?" Gleb gave him a skeptical look before looking down at the card and using one finger to slide it over to him. It only took him a second before he started chucking, "Ooh, you dealing with these party animals, huh." Gleb looked up at both of them,
"They're new to the fold but they're taking the market by storm."
 

Nick Shaw

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They were led back into the Rodian's office. The criminal was rarely happy to see Nick, but today his scowl was even deeper than normal. As Nick sat down, he caught a whiff of the low-level gangster. It was hard not to cough but he held it together.

"Gleb, don't forget who makes the rules in this relationship." Nick said with a serious look. It was a constant back and forth game with Gleb, but Nick had found it was best to play strong. In the end, Gleb cared more about running his small time operation than causing any serious trouble. "The quicker you answer our questions, the sooner we will be out of way." he said as Duke placed the card down.

The Rodian studied it for a moment before looking back up. He played cool, but Nick knew he was spooked. "No shit." Nick responded. "Know where we can have a chat with these "newcomers"?" he asked.

Gleb looked towards his bodyguard and then back to the two Rangers. "Look..I...I don't really want to get involved." he said. Nick sprung forward, grabbing the man by the collar. He trusted Duke would make sure the bodyguard stayed in line. Nick slammed the Rodian's face against the desk. "Don't give me that. Tell me what you know or I'll burn this whole thing you got going on here to the ground." he said.

"Alright alright alright." the Rodian replied, blood coming from his nose. "I don't know his name, but it was a tall sickly looking guy, white hair. He came by the other day asking if I wanted to push this new product of his. You know, I don't play with drugs, gambling is my game." he said. "The guy said I could contact him if I changed my mind." he said, clearly frightened. Nick took note of it, Gleb usually wasn't one to spook easily. "He had some serious hardware, two droids armed to the teeth. Whoever is backing this guy is serious." the criminal responded before Nick let go of him.

"Set up the meeting." he told the Rodian, no hint of a choice in his tone.
 
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