A Gran walks into a bar....

[Davin Jusik]

Mos Espa
Tatooine

Smoke filled the shady backroom cantina, creating a hazy atmosphere for the variety of scum who currently inhabited it. Ross sat in the far back corner reading through the local holonews while occasionally glancing at his wristwatch and scanning the cantina. His mark should be arriving shortly. The local sector authorities had paid him a relatively fair price of a thousand credits to track a Gran who'd evaded capture for roughly a year. The charge was the murder of a planetary banker. Motives currently unknown, believed to be political. That wasn't really his concern but Ross had a knack for giving a crap when it wasn't his turn.

It'd taken the PI two days to narrow down the being's location to one city, another two to a specific area, and a final one of talking to and bribing a few of the area's vagrants. Apparently the Gran came into this particular establishment once a day, at roughly the same time. Underneath his jacket he wore a blaster vest, and a heavy blaster pistol on his hip. A smaller holdout blaster sat above his ankle.

He had absolutely no idea whether the mark was meeting someone or if he simply enjoyed the food. Depending on whether the guy was alone or not would depend on if Ross apprehended him or called the local PD in. It wasn't his job to take them in, but Rus often worked in a nice bit of extra creds in for a hazard fee.

Soon he'd find out.

 

[Mayumi Kochi]

It had been more difficult than expected to return to Tatooine. In the other dimension it had been Mayumi's original home, housing the orphanage she had grown up in. It had only been six years since she left but it felt like a lifetime.

Now though, this Tatooine was different. There was no orphanage and those she had known did not exist here. The cantina she was in was new to her as well but it was still a good place to meet the new client. It was a cantina as cantinas go and it would serve its purpose.

The pirate sat off to the side waiting for the person. A glass lay in her hand but she didn't drink any. Considering every time she walked into a cantina lately bad things happened it was best to stay on her toes.

[member="Ross Jusik"]

 

[Beowoof]

Things were different these days. Previously, Malin had never traveled much beyond Corellia. But, with what she knew of Corellia obliterated, there was not much to anchor her to her home, was there? Actually, the more time she spent in the sector, the more she felt repelled by what was left of her homeworld; unnerved. Being a cop had made her numb to a lot of things, but losing all sense of reality--that was completely different.

She had never realized a more surreal feeling than when she had been aboard that freighter, surveying the unpredicted destruction of Corellia while trying to evacuate people for an entirely different reason. Suddenly she was an orphan of sorts and no officer of the peace. Malin was a vagabond and practically a gun-for-hire, though she had yet to find much in the way of a job. All she wanted to do was get away. Tatooine seemed like the most viable planet to do just that.

Here she was now, leaning over a bar counter in some baked Mos Espa cantina and roasting. Her fair skin did not take kindly to the desert climate, and she could just feel the sunburned complexion of her face and the gradual cracking of her parched skin. Another drink.

Malin had never been a drinker before. This was a relatively new habit of hers that she had acquired in the wake of her world disintegrating. Alcohol seemed to make things go away. That was what she wanted--absence of memories; absence of responsibility; absence of giving a care. So the tall blonde just remained at the counter, drinking down another bottle of cheap gin to keep her mind and her dignity floating in orbit somewhere.

If it were biologically possible for her to grow a beard, she would have fit in perfectly with the rest of life's rejects in this joint. "Another. Please," Malin moaned as she held out her near-empty liquor bottle. Drinking away.

[member="Ross Jusik"], [member="Mayumi Kochi"]

 

[Davin Jusik]

The Gran entered the cantina with the confidence of someone that had evaded his hunters. Which would have certainly been a completely reasonable explanation given the state of the local departments, if outside help hadn't been brought in. The Gran approached [member="Mayumi Kochi"] as he passed [member="Malin Spritejägare"] and took a seat across from her.

Ross raised an eyebrow and clicked his screen over from news to the messaging feature on his datapad, sending a quick message which included his location to the contact he had within MEPD. A conformation was returned. A tactical team would be arriving shortly. Rus gave a sly grin and chuckled as he pretended to flip through his datapad. This was his favorite part of the job.

Especially when the prey wasn't expecting it and just so happened to give a probable accomplice up at the same time. Regardless of how it panned out now Ross's reputation would grow, the establishment's cameras would confirm that he was right.

 

[Mayumi Kochi]

"Have a seat," was all she said when the Gran approached her. Business was business and at the moment Mayumi was just happy to be off the ship. It had been a long few months.

Her eyes flicked over to [member="Malin Spritejägare"] drinking away her problems and then around the rest of the cantina. Hopefully no one should pose a problem. With a casual move Mayumi pulled out her blaster under the table through the Gran's knee. The Gran gave out a surprised cry and fell off his chair. Business was business.

Getting up, she grabbed the Gran by the hair and pulled. "You have someone offering a large bounty on your head. too large to ignore," she said with a smile. She may be a pirate but she did do many side jobs. She tied the Gran's hands and began hit the silver bracelet on her wrist which contained a com link, "Got him, send in the crew."

[member="Ross Jusik"]

 

[Beowoof]

Now, here was something to stir her out of her half-slumber at the bar. An altercation of some sort was taking place to her left, a Gran male and a human female seeming to be less than friends at this point in their conversation. It was only a few seconds later that the blonde noticed how the dark-haired woman had the other bound by the wrists and intent on taking him somewhere. Malin had no idea what to make of this scene, but her cop instincts kicked in and she awkwardly turned about on her stool to set off for the pair.

All sixty-five kilograms of her tall body smacked against the floor as she stumbled on her first step. The former CorSec officer was still getting used to this whole drinking thing, and finding her balance was almost impossible yet. Humiliation was not something she could realize at this moment. Nothing really existed to her except the two individuals who were her targets. As she pushed herself dizzily to her feet, the drunk pointed at the Gran with a limp arm.

"Under what authoriz--" Her voice trailed off, mind banging around while she tried and failed to conjure up the words. Now she felt a little embarrassed.

[member="Ross Jusik"], [member="Mayumi Kochi"]

 

[Davin Jusik]

Ross watched with a raised eyebrow as the supposed partner of the being he was tracking grabbed the Gran. Then one of the establishments drunker patrons spoke like a drunken police officer. The whole scene was playing out like something from a holovid. Ross gave a sigh and stood before moving towards the trio.

He flashed his badge to the woman who grabbed his mark "Excuse me miss, I believe you've got my mark. Been tracking him for a while, tact team's on the way. It'll be better for all of us if you just walked away." He flashed and held a smile. His hand rested near his blaster, and eyes held her gaze.

[member="Mayumi Kochi"] [member="Malin Spritejägare"]