Ask War Droids Are Still Droids

[Hokaan Veren]

Spoiler: Briefing

"The Crusade made use of many traditional ways of Mandalorian Warfare, one of which were Basilisk War Droids. Crude yet highly effective, they transformed a Mandalorian into a force of Nature. Word is a storage facility on Garos still houses unused models left behind during a failed attempt of liberation. It is very likely that the Locals will not want anything to do with the Mandalorians, so a discreet approach would be advisable."

Those Droids remain on that planet, returning them to the Mandalorians would mean that we are one step closer to our goals of building a foundation.

Hokaan was curious about the state of the neighboring planet of Sundari even as he sat on a rooftop of Garos IV. Sundari shared its name with the capital of Mandalore while the planet’s surface mirrored that of Mandalore as well. It would not surprise the Veren to learn of Mandalorians on either of these worlds. It was from Sundari that the slicer had first staged the planning of this mission. Now it was being set into motion.

Orders from the Solus Rally Master Van’Aria were clear, be as covert as possible when acquiring the basilisk war droids. The machines of war have little place on Garos IV since only Mandalorians are the type to harness their might. Their power and association were the kind only suited for a warrior culture and Hokaan was happy to reclaim them for the Mandalorian people.

The phoenix badger was following another on this mission. Outranking him was Krowholde’alor Reiel. The woman had been present in the Citadel during the latest festivities. However he had heard she was also a reliable warrior and deserving of her title and position. He expected no less from someone he was taking orders from.

Garos IV’s capital city of Ariana was a beautiful place much like the rest of the world which made it a far cry from present day Mandalore or Sundari. Garos was renowned for its academic community and scholarly achievements. But every moon has a dark side and so did the city. The industrial sector had become a popular and economical place for breweries and distilleries to start up. Some of Ariana’s night life visited this area but it was seldom patrolled by law enforcement. Instead property owners relied on private security which mostly took the form of surveillance equipment, alarms and maybe a turret or droid.

Their target warehouse was down the block from the Mandalorian duo, however it had slightly increased security than any nearby facility. Roughly half a dozen goons in blast vests, sporting westar blaster pistols and stun batons appeared to be trivial defenses that both of the Mandalorians could deal with on their own. But one of the figures standing outside of the warehouse was set apart because they were wearing a suit of Mandalorian armor. They were packing a Galaar-35. Hokaan gritted his teeth, wondering if it was actually a Mandalorian or someone who stole the skin from a brother or sister. Judging by the way they took off the helmet and joked with their fellow guards, Hokaan would bet on the later being the case. "I count six guards and a seventh wearing a set of second-skin. Thoughts, Alor?" He would offer a pair of macrobinoculars to his cohort.

Spoiler: Dice

Rolled 1d100 for security level, rousing success 96/100

@Forsythe Crowholde

 

[Xan Solus]

Xan Solus was lightly armored, as always, and clad with only his beskad and blaster. Suffice to say, he was overconfident and underprepared. "I'm ready for the challenge ahead. OYA!" He pumped a fist into the air, heroically, putting his free hand to his beskad's scabbard. "But, uh, maybe we should consider a diversion. I've got the perfect plan." He tuned his commlink to a local pizza delivery place.

"Hello, Garosija Wood-Fired Delight? I'm placing an order for delivery to the corner of Lockard and Xangoviske...yeah, the warehouse. The name? Uh..." He snapped his fingers, thinking on his feet. "Hugh'Ge Hans." Huge Hands. The Mandalorian resisted the base urge to shout OYA at his most recent act of tactical genius. "Gonna take four large Corellian pies with Toydarian cheese. Oh really? Just sub it with Loth-Goat then. Yeah, a drink would be great. Maybe a side of fries too, medium? Uh, I'm gonna pay in credits to the driver. Thanks." He hung up the call, turning to his companion with a feeling of manic glee.

"You see, armorer? In just 15 minutes or less, that driver will arrive at the warehouse door. They'll start to argue about who ordered the pies. We use that as an opportunity to strike, swiftly and decisively, amidst their chaos. OYA!" He pumped his fist again, reflexively.

Xan clung to the shadows, watching the block like a hawk until a teenaged Rodian delivery driver arrives, completely unaware of the situation. The guards are momentarily puzzled by the unexpected delivery, and a few of them gather around the driver, trying to figure out who placed the order.

However, it's not a perfect diversion. The would-be Mandalorian in this motley crew of guards remains skeptical and stays closer to the entrance. It's impossible to read his expression under the mask, but it is clear that he knows that something is not right. He becomes vigilant while the other, lightly clad guards have become distracted.

@Darasuum

Roll for diversion: 6/20

 

[Hokaan Veren]

Hokaan was tense as he watched the dar'manda through the macrobinoculars. But the building stress seemed to recede as Xan called for a food delivery as a distraction. The Veren began to smile and chuckled softly, barely audible through his muffling helmet. The Veren shook his head in disbelief at the unconventional method but also at himself for expecting any less from a Solus clan member.

It seemed as good of a plan as any. Hokaan did not have any better ideas and it was better than staying on the rooftop all night. Moving out from their position they drew close to the warehouse before the delivery driver arrived.

Unhitching a G-20 glop grenade and a PL-50 stun grenade in either hand, the Mandalorian primed them both. Gauging the distance he chucked one and then the other. Tink, tink, they both landed around the feet of the guards. The security guard wearing beskar'gam noticed it first and yelled a warning. "Grenade!" and kicked one grenade further away. The stun grenade however rolled passed the group and fell down a drainage pipe before exploding harmlessly under the street somewhere. The glop grenade similarly burst its contents on the surrounding area and not hitting or affecting the guards.

"Kark!" Hokaan gritted his teeth and swore under his breath. The guards definitely knew they were under attack now and started to retreat from the delivery driver. The young Rodian was wide eyed and was laying on the ground next to their vehicle while trying to not get shot. "I don't get paid enough for this!" The phoenix badger debated on drawing his grenade launcher but with a civilian present he chose to unsling his Westar carbine.

@Fine Dining Set

Spoiler: Dice

Roll for double non-lethal grenade: 13/100

 

[Xan Solus]

The pizza ploy had not gone according to plan. The different stakes required a more direct approach. "OYAAAAAAAAAAA!" Xan leapt from the his perch, beskad in hand. He landed into the fray with a dramatic pose, fist placed against the ground as he stared forwards. He took his saber and leapt into the fray, flourishing and spinning it around with the passion of a Mandalorian solider unbound.

He spent more time spinning his sword than he did swinging it, though, and his attack failed to do much of anything besides distracting his enemies. He continued to twirl like a dervish, though; his movements were so erratic and imprecise that he managed not to take major damage. A cut here, a graze there, but as of yet, no power strikes.

@Darasuum

Roll to Charge!: 6/20 [/abox]

 

[Hokaan Veren]

The two grenades were a bust but Hokaan could not waste time regretting his mistakes. He charged forward to close the distance whilst his finger flicked the weapon in his hands to stun. The broad figure of the aspiring armorer aimed his trusted westar at the hip and proceed to fire with precise trigger pulls amidst the chaos. The shear fact that he was moving into the middle of combat baffled all of the security guards except one, the dar'manda. Their aim overshot and otherwise missed the Lieutenant and distracted from his comrade and the civilian.

With bolt fired from his blaster carbine the phoenix badger dropped another security guard. One, two, three, four, soon there would be no more. The heavily armed slicer used his weight and push kicked the fifth security guard into the sixth before firing into the fifth's chest and dealing enough damage to punch through the blast vest that would have otherwise protected against a weaker weapon. Thankfully the Mandalorian was being gentle despite his frustration and did not want to kill people unnecessarily.

The sixth and last rank and file guard was recovering from the push kick still when Hokaan used the butt of his weapon to crack his jaw sending him to the ground. Knocked out cold, there was only a single defender remaining. A blaster bolt from the dar'manda wizzed passed as if Hokaan had almost effortlessly leaned out of the way.

The dar'manda charged him, using his jetpack to close the distance dynamically but ultimatly without success. Their wrist flame projector engulfed Hokaan and for a moment it seemed like he was caught in an inferno. But they did not realize that phoenix badger wore a thermal undrsuit. The Veren let go of his carbine, allowing it to go taught against the sling it was attached to. But the moment his hand let go of the weapon they reached out and grabbed the throat of the dar'manda and pulled with his entire strength and focus to headbutt them into submission. Immediately their flame projector went off and they reeled back, or at least would have if the true Mandalorian's grasp was not holding strong. Again he pulled him towards his forehead for a brutal keldabe kiss and stunning his target. Now he let go.

The man before Hokaan stumbled back and without ceremony he fired two stun bolts into them. The wearer of likely stolen beskar'gam crumpled into a pile. The Lieutenant looked around but everything seemed calm. The exception being the delivery driver still cowering beside their damaged vehicle. Hokaan patted out the embers on his armor though his entire upper torso was blackened on the front side and had smoke rising from it. Now the man began to feel the heat.

@Fine Dining Set

Roll for disrespect: 92/100 "rousing success"

 

[Zaia Krodas]

When Zaia heard a call for reinforcements, she tried to get there as fast as she could. While it would have been easy to simply fly there on her jetpack, that would ruin the whole purpose of a stealth approach, so she decided to take the bus.

Unfortunately, today had to be the day where traffic was slow. Apparently there had been some kind of accident up ahead and some of the roads were closed. Upon hearing that news, Zaia immediately asked the driver to be let off, and she went the rest of the way on foot. Her beskar’gam turned some heads, but no one stopped her and soon the warehouse was in view.

Upon arrival, she saw that the guards were already down and the way inside was practically clear. She quickly made her way over to the man who had done the work.

“Sorry I’m late,” she said, followed by a sigh. “Traffic.” But when she got a better at him now, she noticed that his armor was practically smoking. She could see a few embers too. That made her brow go up. “You okay?” Though slightly disappointed to have missed the fight, there might be more guards inside, and Zaia didn’t want to risk barging in just yet if the lieutenant was hurt.

@Darasuum

 

[Hokaan Veren]

Hokaan was glad to know that if things got hairy there was more of Rancor Squadron on standby. But the phoenix badger was hoping to have done this without assistance. That being said he was pleased as ever to get some backup in the form of Zaia Krodas. It was the first time he had met the fellow Mandalorian but reinforcements were better late than never.

"Toasty." He answered nonchallantly as smoke drifted off of his armor. He had not sustained any injury and the flames had not cooked enough of his armor to compromise its integrity very much. Hokaan's gloved hands patted a few areas to make sure there were no remaining embers that ran the risk of creating more flames. The Veren definitely felt he had earned the callsign Phoenix Badger now. Maybe "fire badger" was simpler but he would see about getting it made official when this mission was over.

The aspiring armorer turned his head to Xan. "You mind staying out here? Let us know if authorities come. We'll head inside and check out the rest." There was still the chance police would come and with someone on watch the Mandalorians would be able to have at least some form of early warning. The Solus swordsman was probably fine twirling their saber a bit more. Maybe he could try and console the traumatized pizza delivery Rodian.

The warehouse was open to them, or at least it was in a few seconds after Hokaan grabbed the keycard off of the guard. It would save them the time and trouble of slicing into the access panel.

As Hokaan stepped into the warehouse he was taken in by the sheer number of basilisk war droids laying dormant on either side in long rows. They were like so many sleeping beasts waiting to be roused. The Veren took a few more steps in but was sent flying the other way as something slammed into him, sending him clattering to the ground.

The strike had really rung his bell. Hokaan rolled in time to avoid a follow up stomp from an "unarmed" KX-series security droid. "Intruder." It stated flatly in with its vocabulator. It clearly had identified Hokaan and Zaia as enemies. Apparently it was good enough to tell Mandalorians apart that it had not mistaken either of them for the dar'manda. Maybe Hokaan had been too distracted to give it time to make that distinction.

@Sicadorito
21/100 for automated defenses of the warehouse. Moderate, fail with some moderate consequence

 

[Zaia Krodas]

Zaia snorted in amusement at Hokaan’s response. “I can see that.” Despite looking like he’d just stepped off a grill, at least her would-be partner’s sense of humor had stayed intact. He didn’t appear to be injured either, which was good. She figured that the real challenge would be dealing with whatever security was inside.

Once the badger had asked Xan to stay outside to watch their backs, Zaia waited by the warehouse door. From there, she watched as Hokaan grabbed the keycard to let them in. She didn’t immediately step in as the door opened though, electing to see what was inside first. The sight that greeted them was extraordinary, and from here it looked like the whole room was packed with rows of war droids.

However, she didn’t get much time to marvel at the discovery before Hokaan was suddenly sent flying backwards. Zaia pulled out her blasters as soon as she saw him in the air, and it wasn’t long after that she saw the KX-series security droid responsible for it. She fired two shots, one from each blaster, aimed at the droid’s torso and head as it moved to stomp on Hokaan.

While the first bolt struck, the shot didn’t affect it much more than directing its attention to her instead. However, the second bolt to its head struck home and caused it to stagger back, and it began to lumber around looking for its targets.

“Intruder. Intruder,” it repeated, but it wouldn’t have to look for long before Zaia fired two more shots into its already-damaged head. Then, it folded on itself and fell to the ground.

“Let’s hope there aren’t more of them,” she muttered to Hokaan, finally stepping into the warehouse beside him and looking around for any more threats.

@Darasuum

 

[Hokaan Veren]

Hokaan remained on the ground as he brought his carbine to bear. He fired twice with his Westar-17. Two yellow heavy blaster bolts slammed into the body of the KX-series droid, adding to the firepower already hurled at it. By then it had lost its head thanks to the superior accuracy of the Krodas. It was definitely down and out.

The Veren grunted as he stood up. He seemed to have the worst luck when entering rooms. Mostly it was because he did not take the time to check his corners or open doors carefully. Maybe he would be a bit more cautious going forward.

"Thanks." he said to Zaia. Before he could compliment her shooting though the sounds of metallic feet came echoed through the warehouse. Coming around the corner was another pair of KX series security droids. They carried stun-clubs in their hands unlike the earlier one, improving their reach.

"You just had to say something." He quipped. Hokaan hoped these were the last two. Before they could get in melee range he shouldered his carbine and fired into the one on the right with three heavy bolts. The droids were hardy so he wanted to make sure they went down and stayed down. Their armored chest took the brunt of the first shot but the second stopped it in its tracks. The third sent it staggering back before falling flat on the ground.

Hokaan liked droids. Usually he gave them the benefit of the doubt where most people were wary of them. But these were out to get his partner and him. From what he had been told it was KX droids that had also been used on the Night of a Thousand Tears that lead to many Mandalorian deaths. There was no hesitation from the burnt Mandalorian as he shot the security droids.

@Sicadorito

 

[Zaia Krodas]

“Of course.” Zaia nodded at Hokaan. They were a team, so she would have his back.

Before she could say anything else though, two more droids, this time with stun clubs, made themselves known. Dank farrik! She glanced at Hokaan with her arms slightly spread. Somehow things always tended to work out this way.

“Hey, I didn’t know!” she protested lightly before refocusing on the droids. When Hokaan fired at one, Zaia sent two bolts at the head of the second like she had done earlier. These droids seemed clumsy, likely due to their age. While her shots, coming from pistols, weren’t as heavy as Hokaan’s, they did damage the head enough to stop its advance. After that, a few more blaster bolts into its chest were enough to knock the droid down for good.

Once she was sure that both droids were incapacitated, Zaia would approach them to get a better look. They didn’t look like they were going to get up anytime soon. At that, she turned to Hokaan again.

“I’m not saying anything more.” She made a sliding motion across her mouth before gesturing toward a door at the side of the warehouse. “That might take us to an office. Give us the activation codes and whatnot. Want to take a look?”

@Darasuum

 

[Hokaan Veren]

Hokaan was ready to put more energy bolts down range but it seemed like Zaia got the other one. There did not seem to be any more security droids which was a relief. The Mandalorian lowered his carbine and cautiously approached the smoldering remains of the two droids. He confirmed they were both out of commission with a series of prods from his boot.

The young Veren was glad to hear his Krodas counterpart was not going to tempt fate anymore. But he did not say anything more on the subject. His visor turned to look at the walls and door that likely contained an office of some sort. "I'll get the door." He brandished the access key card again.

When they approached he motioned for her to stand off to one side. After a job on Bandomeer he had been blown up by an explosive device set on a door. That event combined with him now getting walloped by a droid made him want to be more cautious when checking out new rooms. Hokaan stacked himself on the opposite side and keyed the door to unlock.

The door hissed open, sliding into the wall and revealing, as Zaia predicted, an empty office inside. There were a few desks with terminals at them which possibly held the activation codes. Some shelves with safety manuals or other irrelevant items lined the walls. There was also a sizeable combination safe on the far end of the room that could fit a whole wookiee inside it probably.

Hokaan did not spot any boobytraps or any other dangers. Cautiously he entered the room, scanning it with his weapon at the ready. But in the end it seemed clear. "I bet the activation codes are on a terminal or in that safe. Maybe the combination is recorded there too. Which one do you want? I'm decent at slicing." For emphasis he caused a computer spike to extend from his left gauntlet.

@Sicadorito

 

[Zaia Krodas]

As Hokaan approached the door from one side, Zaia went across from him to the opposite side. They had no idea what would be behind it, so she kept her blasters up and ready as her partner put in the keycard. She was half expecting more security droids, and who knew if they would have more than stun clubs this time?

Once the door slid open, she listened for any sign of activity inside before she moved. Hearing nothing, Zaia moved in right after Hokaan. Fortunately, the room was empty of droids, and she lowered her blasters. Then her gaze shifted to the safe at the back of the room.

When Hokaan brought up the potential codes being in the terminals or the safe, Zaia was more inclined to the latter. If her companion was volunteering to do the slicing, she was all for it because she would probably just end up smashing the terminals if they refused to cooperate. That wouldn’t get them anywhere.

“I’ll try my luck with the safe,” she said, gesturing over to it. “Good luck with the slicing.” With that, she would make her way over to the safe. Zaia got down to one knee, examining the combination lock to see if there was any way she might be able to get it open without actually having the combination. A knife might fit, she mused. With a flick of her wrist, she activated her concealed blade, doing her best to cut the lock. Unfortunately, nothing happened, and the blade did nothing more than scratch the safe.

Maybe it was best just to wait for Hokaan.

“Any luck with the terminal?” she asked, turning over to him.

Spoiler: Dice

Rolled 8 for lock opening attempt

@Darasuum

 

[Hokaan Veren]

Hokaan nodded as Zira volunteered too check out the safe. He circled around the desk and plugged in his wrist computer spike and began working on breaching the terminal's defenses. It was going to take some time and focus since the cyber security was definitely above what the Veren was expecting. He audibly cursed as he came upon one obstacle after another. "Son of a-"

" Yeah gimme a minute." He did not end up finding the access codes for the basilisk war droids on the computer. The device was clean and what's more it took some digging to find where the vault combination was. Whomever had designed the security of this place had done a pretty good job. It took everything Hokaan had to extract that data needed to open up the safe. Hopefully the access codes were inside.

"Are you kidding me?" The tone of frustration was clear in his voice as he shook his head. Hokaan had hoped to find some extra information on the dar'manda that he had fought but there was no such luck. There was no extra intelligence that he could gather from the terminal and ended up being a waste of time to search every corner of the terminal's files. But at least they had the combination to the safe.

Stepping away from the terminal he walked towards the safe where Zaia was patiently waiting. "Alright, got it. The combination is 1 1 3 8 6 9. Try that."

Spoiler: Dice

Decided not to roll for slicing for main objective cuz that's hokaan's specialty. Instead rolled rolled for bonus data.
11/100
11-25: Moderate, fail with some moderate consequence

@Sicadorito

 

[Zaia Krodas]

At first, it didn’t seem like Hokaan was having any luck with his terminal either. Zaia couldn’t help but crack a smile beneath her helmet as he made his frustration clear. That was exactly why she hadn’t elected to take the computers, so she didn’t make any move to rush him.

Eventually, though, he did end up getting the combination. Once Hokaan relayed the numbers over to her, Zaia repeated after him as she turned the lock.

“1… 1… 3… 8… 6… 9!” With that, the safe popped open, revealing a datapad, some papers, and a box of restraining bolts inside.

Reaching for the datapad, it appeared to be some kind of control pad for the droids, if the label of “control” at the top wasn’t enough to give it away. The restraining bolts were exactly what they looked like, and the papers, lo and behold, had the activation codes on them for each individual droid.

“Jackpot!” Zaia grinned before clapping Hokaan on his pauldron. “Nice work, vod.”

@Darasuum

 

[Hokaan Veren]

Hokaan was glad to not be pressured to deal with the terminal. It would have been even harder to do if they were under fire. But thankfully the access code was correct and opened the safe.

"Wizard!" The slicer exclaimed happily. They had what they had come for.

"I'll call it in so we can get these basilisks loaded onto a transport. There's a lot of them. We probably should wait until we have some help before we get them moving again." Hokaan was positively excited to examine the basilisk war droids.

"What do you think we should we do with the dar'manda outside?" He hooked a thumb over his shoulder while pulling out a commlink with the other hand. There was going to be hell to pay for someone taking Mandalorian armor if it was not earned. Zaia was more seasoned than Hokaan so he would defer to her opinion when it came to the subject.

@Sicadorito

 

[Zaia Krodas]

“Sounds like a plan.” A transport would make the most sense since there were so many of these droids. It was better to activate them in a more controlled setting anyway, since these were war droids after all and were dangerous even if they might not look like it at the moment.

As for the dar’manda, Zaia wanted to be sure that they were actually a dar’manda before they took any action against them. After all, she’d been labeled with that before, and if this were someone who was tricked or simply had a difference of opinion, she didn’t want to take their armor away without a second thought.

Unfortunately, they were unconscious for the moment.

“We could tie them up. Take them with us and question them on the way back to make certain of their identity.” It was only a suggestion. Having only been with Rancor Squad for a little while, Zaia wasn’t sure how they normally dealt with these things. “Worst comes to worst, we take him back to Hauron and ask him what we should do.”

@Darasuum

 

[Hokaan Veren]

"Sounds like a plan to me." Hokaan brought a fist into his palm and then proceeded to crack the joints in all of his knuckles. The man did not have any particular hatred towards typical dar'manda but the one incapacitated outside had definitly pissed him off. Then again, the Veren had already made him pay for giving him a fire bath with a keldabe kiss in return. Actually, it had been two.

Hokaan wondered if Hauron was the type to torture people. The Group Leader was usually pretty busy so the Lieutenant had not had many occasions to work with him personally. Many would be surprised to learn that Hokaan had actually been raised by droids in an isolated community on Belsavis. Until he left the planet he had never really met other Mandalorians. Since then a lot had changed.

It would take a few minutes for the transports to arrive before they would be able to load them up with the basilisk war droids in due time. Until then the Mandalorians had time to secure the remainder of the warehouse. No dangerous reinforcements came along to try and reclaim the warehouse. It was probably for the best or else Hokaan would have probably thought about activating one of the war droids and turning it against the culture thieves.

Xan Solus was still outside keeping watch so even if the man in question woke up he would have to deal with the badger swordsman. Sufficed to say he was knocked out cold still. His armor was removed piece by piece and his weapons were secured as well. Eventually it would become clear he was not a dar'manda. It was more accurate to call him an aruetii or "outsider" simply wearing mandalorian armor.

The man was not particularly happy, but he was willing to answer their questions. He was wise enough to know when he had been beat and was not looking to be on the receiving end of any advanced interrogation techniques. "Look, I know when I'm beat. I was paid to watch over this warehouse but that's it. My employers have...had a stockpile of Mando weapons and gear as you can see. That's what they paid me with. I don't know much aside from that."

@Sicadorito

 

[Zaia Krodas]

Once they had all the necessary materials for the droids secured, Zaia would go out of the warehouse with Hokaan. As he’d promised, Xan was still stationed outside at his post, and she gave him a nod of appreciation as she passed by. Her attention, however, was on the supposed dar’manda sitting outside.

Stripped of his armor, he was just another man. Soon he revealed that he wasn’t even Mandalorian. Standing on the other side of Hokaan, Zaia crossed her arms, frowning down at the man. Though the aruetii wasn’t able to see it, he would be able to hear it in her voice.

“You should never have taken on the job,” she chided him. “Who are your employers?” Maybe that would give them a clue as to who was stealing from the Mandalorians. “Tell us and my partner and I might let you go.” She'd taken on those types of criminal organizations before— and if they were going to take them out, they would have to strike at the top. This man was nothing.

As for why they wanted Mandalorian equipment, that was no surprise. But if there was something larger going on here, then she wanted to find out what it was before it got out of hand.

@Darasuum

 

[Hokaan Veren]

Hokaan stood by, looking menacing and reminding the bound aruetii of what had happened the last time the two of them had tangled. He crossed his arms and stared down at the prisoner. Hokaan's face looked mean if it had been visible but would otherwise be hidden by he expressionless helmet. The rest was up to the prisoner's imagination who no longer had a helmet of his own.

"You don't need to tell me twice. I should have asked for more credits at least." The prisoner's eyes looked between Hokaan and Zaia before settling on the woman doing the talking. "Falleens, Black Sun I think. They didn't give names."

Hokaan's visor remained centered on the man before them for awhile but he recalled what he knew about the criminal organization. They were rumored to be one of the strongest of the criminal syndicates operating at large in the galaxy. But even if the arms dealers were not as mighty as they were made out to be it still made sense that they held onto a cache of weapons like these. Hopefully they were not still in possession of more Mandalorian gear.

The Veren turned his helmet away from the aruetii and addressed his Krodas partner. <"What do you want to do?"> He spoke in Mando'a, hoping that the outsider would not understand them. They could still bring the man to Hauron or decide his fate themselves. Maybe he even had a bounty on his head worth turning in.

@Sicadorito

 

[Zaia Krodas]

Zaia wasn’t surprised at his answer. Credits. Of course it was credits. But he had chosen the wrong job this time, and they couldn’t let him go unpunished. Especially if he was working with the Black Sun. That was on a scale she hadn’t been expecting.

Zaia remained looking at him the same way that Hokaan did, thinking about the options they had. She didn’t want to kill him— that would be cruel and unnecessary for a pawn that this man was. However, now that he mentioned the Black Sun, she and Hokaan couldn’t exactly let him go off scot free.

So, when she and her partner met gazes and he asked the question out loud, she came to a decision.

<“I think we should bring him back to Hauron for further questioning. Just to be safe.”> Zaia looked at Hokaan for confirmation. Even if he had already given them some information, this man might know more than he was letting on. And she didn’t want to let a criminal run free, however low in the chain he might be.

Then, in impeccable timing, the transports arrived, and soon few other Mandalorians began to disembark.

“You’re coming with us, di’kut.” With that, Zaia would lift the man up by his arm. To Hokaan, she gestured toward the new arrivals. “Would you mind helping them with the droids? I’ll join you in a second.” She just had to get the aruetii secure on a ship.

@Darasuum