Ask The Undercover Op

[Jaron Reeves]

Eriadu City, Eriadu

Jaron had never been to Eriadu before. The city was bustling with tourists and a rich nightlife of neon, music, and the unmistakeable cacaphony of sounds that made up the lyrical theme song of casinos everywhere. It reminded him of Canto Bight, where he had done a few missions, but vastly different.

The meeting was set to take place in one of the casinos in the city, the Bouncing Bantha. It was a massive building with long and not very steep stairs that led up to three sets of sizeable double doors that must have been designed for rancors with a gambling problem, judging by the size of them. As soon as Jaron stepped out of the taxi, his ears were met by the unmistakeable sounds of slot machines and laughter.

The Rangers had picked him for this very specific mission because he looked nothing like other rangers; while the suit, tie and dress shirt covered most of them (excluding the ones crawling up the side of his neck), his arms were covered with prison tattoos from his days in Begamore Bay. His swarthy face and frown, his eyes, which a fellow ranger had once described as having "a bad look in them" all helped contribute to the picture of a rather unsavory indidual.

That along with his suit, and the confidence that came with the combination of prison time served and military training made him a perfect candidate to infiltrate the crime syndicate that he was now tasked with bringing down from within. He blended right in with the many criminal locals that were visiting the casino that night. He knew their type, and had seen them many times in and out of prison; small time crooks who used the setting they were in to try and make themselves look like big shots. It was all a bluff for most of them, and one with very little in the way of rewards.

Jaron walked through the doors, opened to him by the tuxedo dressed greeters, and straight into the den of corruption and entertainment. It was as glamorous as he had expected; rich men in suits, women in expensive dresses and jewelry, crap dealers in the casino's uniforms, and slot machines hitting the jackpot and spewing out credits like a puking batha. There were five bars scattered in every corner and the center of the casino floor, and servers walked around the huge hall making sure no guests were thirsty.

Jaron made a casual, though fairly swift walk through the casino floor and over to one of the many many bars scattered in the casino's main hall. He sat down on one of the stools to wait for his contact, and ordered a drink from the bith bartender. While waiting for the drink his eyes scanned the floor and noted the location of several of the surveillance cameras hidden in the ceiling. The ceiling was mirrors, which told him that there was also a one-way mirrored floor above him, over which Security could walk around and study the guests, keeping their eyes out for cheaters and troublemakers.

As he got his drink, he sipped it, and then pulled out a cigarette from a package in his suit. He placed it in the side of his mouth, and searched his pockets for his ever elusive lighter.

@Eccles

 

[Darmus Onn]

Darmus, what the kriff did you just get yourself into? He was seated not too far from his fellow Sector Ranger, Jaron Reeves, and nursed a glass of Iridonian whiskey. The only reason he agreed to this operation was that he knew it to be important. The attack on the ranger HQ wasn't just the Sith, after all. Some prisoners they recaptured had clearly stated that they had 'the Black Sun' to thank for their release.. but most damning, someone had recognized Preef Callo and Marissa Hesse. They had both been big players in their respective syndicates before striking out and buying a Crymorah Crime Family to lord over. Darmus was searching for the people responsible for the attack on his home, those responsible for the massacre of his friends.. that search lead him here. Jaron Reeves was the perfect undercover. His record was longer than most of the criminals Darmus had locked up and he hated the fact the ranger service had such shoddy recruiters. Still, their ranks had been decimated and rangers with a spotted past were preferred over no rangers at all.

He had even tried to dress according to local custom. Well, aside from the wide-brimmed hat. Darmus was an information security specialist, so naturally he wanted to avoid whoever owned this casino from getting a clear image of his face. With most camera's being on the ceilings or at least above your head, a wide-brimmed head did wonders.

It took barely ten seconds before they made contact, with Darmus holding up a lighter as agreed beforehand. "Here you go," he said as he slid of his stool and set to the one next to Jaron, flipping the lighter open and igniting the little flame. It was an old custom for informants and undercovers to exchange information with their respective handlers, but while old it was also the most successful.. for as long as smoking was popular habit anyway. While Darmus didn't really smoke, he decided to lit up a cigarette of his own to complete the ruse and held up a finger to the bartender to show he wanted a new drink. Best they didn't get too close asking whether the want a refill later on.



@Livgardist

 

[Jaron Reeves]

Jaron nodded a thank you to the ranger, took a breath on the tabacc stick, and then exhaled a small cloud of smoke. It left a familiar burning sensation in his center mass. He dropped some of the ash into an ash tray before sticking his hand in his pocket again, taking out a piece of paper folded down to the size of his thumb nail, and tossing it casually, though not in an unfriendly or arrogant manner, to the other ranger.

Looking around to make sure nobody else was nearby, he then spoke:
"List of syndicate contacts I have made so far. Names, descriptions, possible roles in the syndicate, known locations. Anything I could think of. It's not much. I'm sorry. They don't trust me yet. I'm going to have to work a bit harder on that bit." He squinted a bit in a grimace, and then added; "I've got a job on Nar Shaddaa in a couple of days. Blow some yacht out of the sky. It belongs to a slicer named Gori Xaa. It's a big job. If we can pull it off, I'll be able to get deeper inside their ranks."

He frowned, and added;
"It's not much. Next time we meet, I'll have more for you." He frowned, and then added; "They're planning something big. I'm not sure what, but whatever it is, it's going to be trouble. I'll dig deeper. As soon as I know, you'll know."

He wanted nothing more than to up and leave, feeling exposed and as if a thousand hidden Faa Zenn eyes were watching him consort with a ranger, but he pushed the urge back, and waited to see if his handler had any further instructions for him before they ended the meeting.

@Eccles

 

[Darmus Onn]

With a sleight of hand the piece of paper disappeared into Darmus' pocket. "Gori Xaa Hafven," the older ranger replied with a sigh. kriff, if the Zaa Fenn were involved in the attack on Coruscant and they're already directly challenging the leader of the Crymorah Syndicate... well, Darmus didn't want to imagine what they were capable of.. or indeed, in what kind of Krayt Dragon Lair he was sending a fellow ranger into. Regardless of personal sentiment, however, he slid a datacard across the bar. "This needs to be plugged into the Zaa Fenn headquarters." It was risky, Darmus knew that, but it would speed up the investigation and shorten the undercover op from five years to maybe just two months. It was a risk that was worth taking.

"My datapad," Darmus took it out and it started showing a local podrace to make it seem like that was the topic of their conversation, "there's a contact for encrypted messaging. We use Preef Callo movies as code, that way if found you merely look like the rodian's biggest fan."

Darmus worried for the ranger's safety as going undercover was never a risk he was willing to take in his long career in the ranger service. He just hoped it would get them something useful. Once they'd part ways he'd casually leave the datapad behind and it'd look like the device belong to Jaron all along, with no one the wiser about the exchange. Even if it didn't work, if the bartender or someone else would remind Darmus that he'd forgotten his datapad, well no harm done.. the most important thing to exchange had been that datacard.

For now, though, they needed to draw out this casual chat for as long as this partuclar short-circuit podrace dragged on. It was weird to leave in the middle of a race, after all. "How are you holding up?"


@Livgardist

 

[Jaron Reeves]

Jaron shrugged.
"I make do." He replied. He wasn't sure what else to say. Jaron was not one to share his feelings. The stress of the job, the constant concern of being exposed, the watching innocent people get hurt in front of him by his "fellow criminals" and not being able to stop it, it was all hard on the mind - but there was nothing his handler could do about that, and Jaron had no plans of sharing those burdens with him.

Already, his mind was distracting him from it by trying to figure out how he could plug the datacard into the Zaa Fenn headquarters without being caught. He was not yet trusted so much that he could wander freely in the HQ, so doing so recklessly would bring down more trouble on him than he was prepared for. Maybe if the operation against Gori Xaa Hafven went well he'd be trusted enough.

"I'll get it plugged in." He said. "But it might take a while. I have to move slowly and carefully to not risk being exposed. Zaa Fenn is careful, especially lately. Everybody is watching everybody. Like they're expecting some kind of trouble." He killed his cigarette, and sighed, waving a finger for the bartender to finally get him a drink. Once he got it, he drank some of it, and then added; "Give me a couple of weeks. I'll have it done within that time frame."

There was something else he had worried about for a while, and he dedcided now was as good a time as any to voice it;
"One more thing. At the end of this, when the Rangers start rounding up these criminals... Make sure they round me up with them. I don't need Zaa Fenn to wonder why one of their newest recruits escaped arrest, or why the rest of the cartel accidentally walked face first into a door when arrested, and I didn't." He thought about it for a moment, then added; "In fact, it might be best if I go out in a blaze of glory."

Faking his own death at the hands of the Rangers would ensure that he could move on and keep working as a ranger after this investigation was all wrapped up. At the end of the day, the longer he worked undercover the less he could see himself go back to the life of a mercenary. He was a ranger now.

@Eccles

 

[Darmus Onn]

Darmus wasn't surprised by the time frame. He knew undercover work was tricky and moved slow, pushing your men to make risky moves could only result in them getting burned or worse; dying horribly. "I don't care if it's not fast, but update me regularly." he assured Jaron that he was allowed some leeway in how he did things, for no one knew the Zaa Fenn better than him and no one could make a better judgment of the risks he'd be running.

The next request was a bit odd. Sure, it made sense Jaron had this on his mind, but it also wasn't the first time the ranger service had run undercover ops. "Don't worry about the exfil. You'll get out of it clean as a whistle." he promised, but they both knew that if his cover got blown there was no way Darmus could arrange an exfil inside Sith space fast enough to avoid the criminals hunting Jaron down. If his cover got blown unexpectedly, then he'd be on his own trying to get back into FWA space.

Darmus killed his cigarette and knocked back his newly arrived drink after one of the racers displayed on the datapad crashed. "What a load of crap! He just kriffing crashed!" he made an angry gesture towards the small screen and tore up some paper that people around them could presume to be a betting slip. "Last time I bet on him. I hope he burns!" Their exchange had been successful, so it was time for Darmus not to linger and get back to FWA space himself. There were other operations and investigations on his desk waiting for action.

Sliding off his stool he made a small gesture of goodbye by tapping his head in Jaron's direction before striding out of the place.

[OOC: Figured we'd keep it short as these things are meant to be]

@Livgardist

 

[Jaron Reeves]

"Better luck next time." Jaron smirked at his handler's outburst as he sweapt up the databad and placed it in his pocket. It was time to split up. He nodded to his handler as Darmus stood up and got ready to leave. They were both busy men, and the longer the meeting lasted the higher the risk of exposure.

"Until next time." He said, emptying his glass as Darmus left.

He waited a few more minutes in the bar, finishing a second cigarette, before he stood up to follow the ranger out the door. Darmus was long gone when he left. Jaron hailed a cab, and had the driver take him to the spaceport to catch the next shuttle to Nar Shaddaa.

The meeting had gone well. He was getting used to life undercover, but the risks were always there weighing on his mind. But the meeting had left him with confidence in his handler's competence, which helped calm his nerves and allowed him to focus completely on the job. Between his experience and skills, his handler's ditto, and the influence and resources of the Rangers, things would work out.

Or at least, he hoped so.

@Eccles

[OOC: I agree. I guess that's a wrap? Until next time!]