The Exchange: Leave the Gun, Take the Spice

[The Captain]

Vol was forced to suppress a smirk at the guard's lackadaisical behavior. There was no chance they would suspect he was here to decimate their operation, especially after this.

<<Greetings, my good sir. I am Rokur Geeta, I represent the illustrious Lord Zierra the Hutt of Nar Shadda. My glorious lordship hopes to open a line of trade with you for Sansanna spice.>> Vol gave a deep, respectful bow to the gate guards, trying to make himself seem as harmlessly overbearing as possible. His Huttese was spot on, and he did his best to force an accent, giving him a greater air of authenticity.

 

[Breeso]

Guard with the datapad raised his head and looked at Vol himself now, his eyebrows raised. He glanced into the datapad again and frowned a little. He looked at the other guard and nodded his head slightly. "Very well, mr. Geeta. You may pass. Bob, how about you show mr. Geeta where is the overseer's office? I believe he will find everything in order and enough for the mighty Lord Zierra." The guards clearly knew that something was wrong, but they did not dare to intervene in case a Hutt lord truly sent Vol. Bob, the second guard whose concentration could break continents, simply nodded and stepped aside. "You first." he mumbled.

 

[The Captain]

<<Thank you, gentleman, you will not regret this.>> Continuing his bizarre accent and Huttese language, he strode proudly forward into the camp, heading directly for the building he had been directed to. He wasn't surprised that the guards had bought his act, he'd pulled this same con dozens of times before on other people. The only words that struck more fear into thugs than 'I was sent by a Hutt' are 'You are completely surrounded' and 'You're the father.'

 

[Breeso]

Bob slowly led Vol not inside the warehouse building, but around it and into the mine. As soon as they have entered, the atmosphere has changed. Now it was hard to breathe and one could not hear the chirping of the alien birds. However, the inside of the mine wasn't what mines usually looked like. It was very modern and resembled a big underground complex. Even the "hallway" was strange as it was way bigger than hallways usually are. Bob led Vol into some door on the right side which turned out to be an elevator. He motioned for Vol to come in first, then he entered as well and clicked a button, watching the door close. "We're currently going to the third floor, where is the overseer's office," he said as the elevator descended. "Mining happens in the lower floors, and I'll take you there once you talk to the boss."

 

[The Captain]

Vol marveled at the complexity of the operation within the mine itself, considering how small the external building was and how few security guards there were. He entered the elevator with the ice-cold guard from the gate, paying close attention to every detail.

<<Very good, very good. I am eager to meet the architect of this operation.>> His own Huttese was becoming fairly annoying, and he began eyeing the door with impatience.

 

[Breeso]

The elevator continued to descend further down until it suddenly stopped, doing a silly, unnatural noise. It was sudden but it seemed that Bob worked here long enough to get used to it. Or maybe he was just that badass. Either way, the elevator door opened and Bob led Vol outside inside another hallway, this one even longer and bigger than the entrance one. There were many doors on both sides, each labeled differently, such as "the meeting room", "the kitchen" and, finally, "the overseer's office". Bob gestured for Vol to enter the room without him. Abruptly, the floor shaked a bit and noise could have been heard from the floor above. Bob looked up. "Uh-huh. Don't mind that, someone probably stumbled their toe on something."

Meanwhile, something strange was happening outside. While the sun was falling down, it seemed that there is unnatural chaotic activity outside of the mine. It seemed that more and more guards were either returning or arriving at the camp, some of them with a nervous look on their faces.

@TheHook1 @Maul

 

[The Captain]

<<A toe stub?! That, was no toe stub! If you will not be truthful with an esteemed emissary of the magnificent Lord Zierra, there shall be no business between us!>> Despite his bluster, the suddenly rumbling and the sounds of dozens of boots stomping rapidly throughout the mine had Vol deeply concerned, something had either gone terribly wrong, or there was some unforeseen complication these men were ready for, but the Exchange wasn't. Either way, he needed answers now, and 'blasting new tunnels' was not a viable answer in his book.

 

[Breeso]

Bob sighed and grasped his rifle more firmly, if that was even possible. "Listen, kiddo, we're blastin' new tunnels and, unfortunately, sometimes, accidents happen. Now go in there and talk to the overseer Marker if you want to do your business and not fail your master." he said, staring at Vol. However, as soon as he said that, a short scream could have been heard. Bob sighed again. "Very unfortunate accidents. Someone may have gotten trapped under the debris. Poor souls." he said, but without any sound of remorse in his voice and no change in his facial expression.

 

[Maul]

Ardu watched as more guards swarmed to the compound like bees swarm their hive. He doubted Vol would be able to fight his way out of that. The rumbling from within the mine could be heard, even by Ardu, from the outside. Ardu wasn't sure whether or not Vol had caused the rumbles. Maybe Vol blew something up? Ardu set his sights on one of the guards, his finger lightly squeezing the trigger. He wasn't sure whether he should fire this soon. Vol hadn't been in their long...

 

[The Captain]

'And there's the banthas**t answer I was waiting for.' The monotone and callousness of the guard were just icing on the cake at this point, not that Vol cared about the lives of the workers here, but still.

<<Very well then, take me to your leader.>> Andor subtly adjusted his belt, making sure his blaster was still there before following the guard around the tunnels toward the manager's office. 'Ardu better start firing soon, I've got any army between me and the door now.'

((@Law abiding heretic))

 

[Breeso]

"Hmpf." Bob rolled his eyes and touched a button next to the door that opened it. They opened slowly and after Vol stepped through them, they have closed again. Vol found himself in a big, very comfortable room. It felt very unnatural as the rest of the base felt very mundane, this room's floor and walls were made out of wood. There was also a red carpet that covered the whole floor and a big wooden desk with a comfortable chair behind it. However, the room was empty, there was no overseer. Just a mechanism in the shape of a box was put on the desk, which turned out to be some sort of recording-keeper. (@Law abiding heretic )

The guards outside formed into smaller groups and one after another went inside, except one group which was supposed to be guarding outside. However, these three nervous men were looking at the mine's exit more often than actually guarding anything.

 

[The Captain]

Vol was caught a bit off guard at the lavish décor of the overseer's office, which looked like it belonged to an upscale bar owner rather than the head of a small spice mine. Imagine his surprise then, when there was nothing more than a recording device sitting on the desk.

<<What manner of joke is this? Where is your overseer?>> Vol was starting to get extremely antsy, he could here larger numbers of troops closing in, and now it turned out there was no organic overseer on site for him to blast.

 

[Breeso]

The troops were, in fact, not closing in, but they could be heard in the upper floor, running, yelling and screaming. There were a few shots heard, some monstrous roaring and, suddenly, the whole hill rumbled, including the room Vol was in. A bookshelf fell down with a big thump, causing another shake, which moved the recording device off the table on the floor, activating it. (@Law abiding heretic )

 

[Law abiding heretic]

The recording device landed on the floor with a metallic thud as it's holoprojector materialized, showing the frozen image of the overseer holding a Datapad and a crippled scientist who held himself up with a cane. The audio static ceased and the projection started playing.

Dr. Rhaid: Mathius, what's going on here?
Mathius: Well sir, it seems-
Dr. Rhaid: No no no no, it's Doctor to you, not sir. I didn't spend 8 years in medical school to be called 'mr' like a kriffing simpleton.
Mathius: Sorry sir- err... Doctor Rhaid, but we have a slight problem with the experiments. Some of the miners got a little overzealous with their explosives and a the run off contaminated the water supply we use to feed the Falleen test subjects.
Dr. Rhaid: And? Just filter it, you don't need to contact me for that.
Mathius: Well... There's more.
Dr. Rhaid: Define more?
Mathius: Well the spiked water made the Falleen go crazy, they've flooded the lower labs and killed most of my scientists. I'm not entirely sure how to flush out a hive of metal bugs from my *urk*

The holograph buffers as Doctor Rhaid hits Mathius with his head. The image goes blank as the words "file corrupted" are spoken from the machine's speaker. The Holograph returns a few moments later with Mathius on the ground bleeding and crawling toward the holorecorder.

Mathius: God I hate him.

End transmission

 

[The Captain]

"...what is this?" Vol was done with his shtick for the time being, having been thoroughly startled by this turn of events. Drawing his blaster pistol, he moved back from the mercenary standing next to him so he could not disarm him. This was sheer madness, something out of an old holovid, mutant Falleen overrunning some backwater mining facility. It certainly would explain the commotion throughout the mine, and the shellshocked expression of the man in front of him. Activating his commlink, he hoped his associate outside could hear him.

"We have a complication, the entire facility is overrun with some breed of...mutant Falleen. That's why security is being deployed so heavily." He prayed to anything that was listening that the Zabrak outside got the message.

((@Maul))

 

[The Captain]

((@Maul @Breeso))