Cheers! [Siobhan, Rekha, Jenna]

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"], [member="Rekha Kaarde"], [member="Jenna Templar"],

Bespin,

Where everybody knows your naaaaame, and they're always glad you caaaaame,

Protectorate Territory,


It was time to expand the mining operation on Bespin, the Outpost under control of both Firemane and Abregado, their primary source of Cortosis, material viable for their long and fearsome campaign against the Sith.

And this time the expansion would start in a bar out of all places, or would-be bar, depends how quick Rekha was to set up her operation. Either way, this meeting would take place a couple of days since she was allowed to buy out a quarter on one of the circular platforms of the outpost and set up her business there.

Knock-knock,

She would hear on the door to her bar, presumably the tavern would be closed, either not set up yet or HK and company chose to visit her off of business hours.


Accompanying HK would be Siobhan, the Lady who headed Firemane and part of the Outpost, the droid promised Rekha a meeting with her, plus he needed her for the expansion. And perhaps Jenna was with them as well, the young agent in service of Protectorate who the Exarch hired to help Rekha get her credits back from Sith-occupied Coruscant, if she was not already there she would surely meet with them shortly.


Either way, HK and Siobhan were at Rekha's door for sure.

 

[Tanalth]

By the time [member="HK-36"] and [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] would arrive to the bar on Bespin they would see the only patron present was in-fact Jenna herself. She'd arrived an hour ealier and, knowing what was needed for this little get together, had already reached the bar with a drink already served to her. She sat at one of the tables with a large pair of sunglasses on just to add the more casual look she was trying to keep while they were meeting with [member="Rekha Kaarde"] .

Having been breif on the outlines of the mission Jenna knew that her part was half of a large assignment at work. Even if she wasn't a skilled slicer on her own a few hack tools and the like would help out enough for getting this woman's money. Still she wondered what sort of opposition would be at work if it meant going into Sith occupied territoy. The one major advantage they had over her was the force abilites, and she knew she'd need more than her blasters to take on someone with a lightsaber. Either way she wanted to hear it all out first before making decision.

Once the others had arrived she rasied her glass to get thier attention and called "Evening, guys. Pull up a chair. Maybe order a drink." After sipping hers she noted "Hopefully something not as flat as this....whatever minok it was milked out of."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"], [member="Jenna Templar"], [member="Rekha Kaarde"]



And so Siobhan was on Bespin again. It was truly a fun planet, for Cloud City was a sight to behold. Well, Countess Kerrigan was not here for sightseeing, at least not as far as this thread is concerned. Firemane Industries and the Abregado-Rae Guild of Hammers had maintained an outpost in the gasuous layers of Bespin to mine cortosis for some time. It was high time to expand the facilities and increase production output. Granted, cortosis was weaker and less durable when compared to say phrik, but still it was useful for constructing weapons and armour in the light of the Sith wars.


Moreover, since they already had an outpost on the planet it was a good deal cheaper for them to acquire, refine and use for weaponry. But first they were visiting a bar, which was supposed to serve their minions who toiled in the outpost day and night. After all, it was best to give your serfs...err workers a place to blow off steam after a long day in the mines. It should keep their minds away from rebellious thoughts so that they could keep labouring for their corporate masters.


At least until Abregado-Rae's mechanical overlord decided to his Ropo shows to spread subliminal messages if he was not already doing that. And it seemed the bar's owner needed to get her credits back from Sith-occupied Coruscant, at least based on what Siobhan had heard. As the saying goes, one does not simply walk into Coruscant! At least it was Vong-formed yet.


Siobhan was obviously not personally familiar with Jenna, though presumably she had heard about her being an agent with MICO. Its former director, Moira Skaldi, was someone Siobhan knew rather well...and really wanted to kill these days. Years ago when Siobhan had been Exarch of Eriadu and second in command of the Protectorate, its intelligence service had been one of the many organisations that made up the elephantine bureaucracy she commanded. Hopefully MICO's new director, whoever that was, would not turn out to be another sociopathic assassin droid.


"I'll make sure not to order than then," she responded after the woman had spoken. Jenna was certainly...easy on the eyes! If Jenna was wearing the knee-high boots her bio mentions, since this writer is not sure, Siobhan would like those as well! After all, she always appreciated good fashion sense. "Siobhan Kerrigan. Nice meeting you. HK spoke of you."

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"], [member="Jenna Templar"],

"More like ranted about you, rookie."

The droid quipped, coming up to Jenna's table,

"Kerrigan here used to be the Exarch of Eriadu, before she retired, she worked with the previous MICO director and her agents' giving them some patronage. Now it is my turn I suppose."

He would look about the bar then,

"Have you seen Rekha around here by the way?"

He would ask the agent about the bar's owner but without tagging her in as to not spam her with notifications.

 

[Tanalth]

As both of them mentioned HK's talk about her, Jenna gave a modest blush and said "Oh come on. I'm nothing that special. Just, you know, another girl with a gun and a few decent tricks up her sleeve to get her by in the galaxy." She taken another sip of her drink before noticing [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] eyeing her up and down. She cleared her throat before asking "You looking at the boots or what?" an almost offended tone in her voice. After that she overheard Hk talk about how Kerrigan was in-fact a former member of MICO, and had a little more authority over Jenna than she realized. With that she gave an awkward giggle to what she'd said before and tried to rebuttle it with "So about the boots. Got them Courascant if you're interested." Despite whatever remark Kerrigan gave Jenna was sip more of her drink down before answering HK with "Nope. Haven't seen her yet. Just ordered this from the tender and then you guys showed up."

[member="HK-36"]

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"], [member="Jenna Templar"]


To clarify, Siobhan had never been a member of MICO. Rather she had been an officer in Omega Pyre since its foundation as a paramilitary mercenary outfit and eventually become its commander, before being elected Exarch during the reign of her wife as Lady Protector. Back in the day Exarch had been a sort of super-governor who controlled about a quarter of Protectorate space. The vicious scars etched into Siobhan's face showed just how she had earned her rank, namely on the battlefield. Hence why she was called Butcher Kerrigan.



"Hopefully whoever heads MICO now doesn't turn out to be another Skaldi," Siobhan said with clear revulsion in her tone. To say that she hated Moira Skaldi was an understatement. What with her carrying out Madeline Kahoshi's genocide against all force-users on Atrisia, though that led to Siobhan meeting her Force bond sister [member="Mirien Valdier"], and her conspiring with Darth Shadow to murder Siobhan. Well, Siobhan did not have solid proof for the latter, but suspicions...which as a matter of fact were well-justified. Suffice to say, she'd fry the queen with force lightning if she ever met her.


However, she managed to turn her mind to more pleasurable topics. After all, Jenna was a looker and her reaction was quite cute. "A girl with a gun, tricks up her sleeve and good fashion sense. I'd ask you at which shop on Coruscant you got those wicked boots, but it's crawling with too many Sith scum for a fun shopping tour," she joked. Yes, she liked the boots. Among other things. The generous bosom was something her eyes appreciated as well. Undoubtedly HK's writer would use this moment to make a lame quip about Sio's supposedly ever-expanding bust.

"As HK said, I used to help run the Protectorate. My wife was Lady Protector, actually. We run Firemane Industries these days."

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

[SIZE=12pt]Outside the abode of our sleep
Somewhere a dream burns
Somewhere tears sparkle
Somewhere a moon smoulders

Outside the abode of our sleep
Somewhere the sun rises
Somewhere the black beauty - night
Street walks
Somewhere an earthen lamp
Hides behind a facade[/SIZE]​

​

[SIZE=12pt]Rekha rolled in her sleep the words of the ancient poem echoed through her dreams. Dreams all hidden behind facades of reluctant smiles and hard work.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Her dreamed changed she could hear the steady beat of a heart, strong and loud. She moved slightly to her left looking for a comfortable spot. A song began to play[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]And now you're knocking on my door
I hear you knocking
But you can't come in
I hear you knocking[/SIZE]​

​

[SIZE=12pt]The knocking got louder, Rekha rolled and fell to the floor. Startled awake she found herself laying on the floor of the bar. She had worked long into the night to finish up the stocking rather than walk up the stairs to a warm bed, she had laid down on the bar, Owwwww she laid there her cheek against the wood. She looked at the door, who was coming this early? Was it early?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The green eyed brunette struggled to her feet, stretching, yawning, wiping her face, streaking dirt across her brow, and down the side of her face. She wore black cargo pants with something stuck in every pocket if it wasn’t a tool of some kind it was a fastner, her black short sleeved t-shirt matched with dust imprints from falling off the bar. She had on black work boots to protect her feet while she worked, she didn’t always look like this. After all the grand opening of the bar wasn’t for a few days.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She hoped whoever this was brought her stimcaf. She unlocked the door, and stopped she could hear voices. Odd….two women and….Rekha laughed as she pulled the door open.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Well look who it is Beskar.” He had called himself Iron on the day they met, he had also called her Rwanda, she stuck with Beskar for him. It was all done in good faith a little teasing never hurt anyone. She would go back to calling him HK after this initial greeting.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She looked over to the women, “Hello” She remembered HK’s description of Siobahn, and he was right she was a looker. It was too bad Rekha had given up playing for the other team, but it didn't keep her from smiling at Siobahn. The other woman a complete surprise not bad looking no one would be tossing her out of bed for eating crackers anytime soon.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Come on in, watch your step, wipe anything off you want to sit on dust everywhere. I didn’t expect you today, tomorrow or the next. For those I don’t know, I’m Rekha, resident chief cook, and bottle washer. Welcome to the Underground”[/SIZE]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Jenna Templar"] | [member="HK-36"]​

 

[HK-36]

[member="Rekha Kaarde"], [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"], [member="Jenna Templar"],

"Ah, Rwanda,"

Apparently he called her after an African country now,

"I hope you do not mind letting ourselves in, apparently there was a barkeep here already. And Underground? Fancy name for a bar in the clouds."

The machine quipped as the bar's owner joined them from her personal quarters attached to the bar apparently, or the writers were confusing each other as to how big the bar is who was asleep where who entered where through which door and this writer was just trying to make sense out of it, anyway, HK would motion to Siobhan,

"This is the deviant pervert with pronounced blob like bust I told you about."

Sounds about accurate, then motioned to Jenna,

"And this is Junior Agent Templar, also known as Jenna, one of our better looking and most promising MICO agents."

He would look back to Rekha,

"She will be helping you get your credits back from the Sith, so if you have any details about your account she should know, I need to ask you to give them to her."


HK would tilt his head to her then,

"So, tell me, how has been setting up your bar here going?"


He would look around the place,

"Maybe in the end you should call it-"

Then he would look to her,

"Hotel Rwanda"


Yeah, he made that reference.

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

[member="HK-36"]​

She held up a single finger "Oh old Beskar you are a sly one" She looked over to Jenna and Siobahn, "Bet he just kept you guys in stitches the whole time, right?" She smiled broadly, then looked intently to Jenna, so she would be the one to break through the red tape. Rekha had been waiting months to get to the money, who knew if it was all still there.

"I have the old account number, and the last balance available of 40,000 credits, the name of the banking system....." Rekha thought for a bit what else would the slicer need, "I don't know if you need anything else except skill to get through the firewalls to the bank." The balance was a bit high as she had just made a deposit and she had not paid the monthly bills for stock, and other associated fees. And then there were the fees received for services rendered, the amount small to some but to others it was a life time of saving.

Rekha's writer is all for confusion but the most likely explanation for the differences in posts was she did not read it well enough, said writer will accept lashings with a wet noodle

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Jenna Templar"].​

 

[Tanalth]

With the arrival of [member="Rekha Kaarde"] Jenna herslef perked up, obviously a little relieved that she'd arrived in time to take the subject off from her little awkward moment. She sat and waited until HK had introduced her, at which point Jenna only gave a little wave and a polite "Hello" before letting him continue talking. At the mention of her part in the assignment Jenna had perked up again, taking a big gulp of her drink that was already in her mouth when he'd said something.

After that she cleard her throat and said "Oh yeah. Nothing to worry about. I know what I'm doing." When Kaarde asked about her skills she said "Well maybe not on my own, but with this little guy it shouldn't be too hard." pulling out a little device, obviously a slicing tool, and showing it in full sight. At the mention of how much she would be taking Jenna gave a low whistle and commented "Wish I could walk away with that kind of pay every year."

[member="HK-36"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Jenna Templar"], [member="Rekha Kaarde"],


HK nodded at Rekha's explanation of her account's state before looking over to Jenna,

"If as much as centi-credit of that sum will be missing from her account, take the difference out from one of the Sith accounts, we will make sure they paid the whole Galaxy what they owed, one righted wrong at a time."

Looking back to Rekha he nodded to her then,

"You will have your money back."

He assured her, hoping that someday, sometime in the future that will fruit in some woman finally rubbing up against him.. again.


"Do you think it would be possible for her to slice the account from here or will she have to go to Coruscant? How secure was your account?"

The droid asked Rekha, letting her writer determine how difficult Jenna's mission would be.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"], [member="Jenna Templar"], [member="Rekha Kaarde"]


This writer finally caught up on all the new posts. Siobhan would be quite unhappy if she found out that Rekha had once enjoyed the company of women, but these days liked men. This writer shall not even try to open a debate about whether sexuality is a preference or inherent because that's a can of worms best left unopened.


In any case, she looked pretty and Siobhan always appreciated eye candy. "You're just jealous because you're an eunuch and never get any," she snarked at HK. The droid clearly was a pervert, given how kept staring at her boobs or tried to poke them!


"It's a pleasure meeting you, Rekha. HK told me about you...he didn't say you'd be this pretty though! I'm happy to see you move your business here. As HK said, how difficult will getting your credits be?" In Siobhan's opinion, sending a junior agent on a trial by fire to Sith-occupied Coruscant to retrieve a sum of credits for a private investment...was not the thing to do, if that was what necessary.

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

[SIZE=12pt]Rekha’s writer gives [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] writer a hug.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=12pt]Rekha shook her head, “yeah I know but believe me you don’t get to keep much of it when there are bills to pay” She smiled at [member="Jenna Templar"]. Thinking about the distance they were from Coruscant and the number of bounces that Jenna would have to make in order to disguise her entry.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“I think she can do it from here” Rekha thought for a moment, “there’s an access point behind the bar. As for how secure she’ll need a password, and an image to get in. Image is that of a stuffed Ewok, and the password is calypso.” And if anyone wanted to know why those things, they’d have to ask.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Now looking over to Sio, “He told me how lovely you are, and that you were a pleasure to work for” Thinking for just a moment and having that moment of regret, as for her account “Should be easy, if she knows what she’s doing, it shouldn’t be too difficult. But. If the Sith have put in blocks, she’ll have to be creative” Now how creative that would be determined by Jenna.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Rekha was all for what would be easy and being out here on Bespin, yes this was easy so far.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“So…what else can do for all of you?” Rekha looked from face to face. These were her new partners. She missed [member="Dekkan Fray"] "Beskar, you seen Dekkan?" [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt][member="HK-36"][/SIZE]​

 

[Tanalth]

Hearing how it would be an easy job from the bar Jenna nodded with a bit of relief. At least it meant not risking herself by being caught in the lions den of Courascant itself. She'd even smirked a little huff when it was told the image was a stuffed ewok with the password "calypso". If she was in a better mind set she'd have a joke for it.Though it did leave one little problem.

"If I'll be doing it from here there's a risk they'll be able to trace. I may need to modd my device before I can do anything else."

After hearing whatever their response was to that Jenna only leaned back and let the others try to figure things out. She did, however, raise an eyebrow to the remark made between both [member="Rekha Kaarde"] and [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] about how it was 'a pleasure' and how 'lovely' [member="HK-36"] had said she was. All of it seemed a bit awkward to Jenna, that was all. Though it was enough to make her sip her drink awkwardly.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Jenna Templar"],

"Very well,"

The droid answered Jenna's response with a nod, looking to her,

"If you need any tools let me know and I will get them for you from workshops here. Otherwise, you have your assignment, you can begin. Once that is done you can take a couple of days of R&R here or Cloud City, it will be sponsored by Abregado's Guild of Hammer, should you succeed."

He would dismiss her, apparently not too keen on the Junior Agent finishing her drink without a hurry.


HK would look back to [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] and [member="Rekha Kaarde"],

"Keep the flirting to minimum, ladies, we are to do business here. We stopped by to check how your set up here is going, we will begin installing additional mining and refinery platforms today to increase our Cortosis output, which means more miners working here, more miners that are looking to grab a drink and rest after work."

The droid folded his arms looking to her,

"If you think you could start your business here before we get the platforms installed then it would be great."


At her question he shook his head,

"Not yet but I was planning or getting in touch with him for a few things."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

Siobhan's writer happily accepts the hug from [member="Rekha Kaarde"]'s!



[member="HK-36"] being his usual self just amused Siobhan. She still thought he was being sulky because he was an eternal eunuch! Hence his obsessive belief that all Jedi should be castrated. "Don't be such a sourpuss, HK. Nice making your acquaintance, Rekha. Hope you get your money back. If you need anything, here's my card," at that she slipped a card with her number over to the woman, giving her a smile before giving [member="Jenna Templar"] a nod.


"Good luck with your assignment, now that you don't have to sneak into a Sith capital crawling with monsters." Cloud City had some good clubs, Siobhan could give Jenna some tips if she needed them!


Then her attention turned back to HK. She was not being self-centred at all. "Right, mining outpost expansion. And we have some plans to make for new cortosis products to manufacture. And check over security. What with One Sith infiltrators somehow popping up everywhere." Another thing Siobhan wanted to do in the long-term was start mining phrik, perhaps on Seltos. According to her information Saelari Mining and Minerals, a company owned by Aurelia Saelari, was already setting up operations there, but there should still be room for Firemane and ARGH to stake their claim.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],

"You just said I was a eunuch."

The droid responded to Siobhan,

"Eunuchs do not have genitals, how can I be a sourpuss if nothing can go sour because I do not have a pus-"

HK stopped himself as he calculated,

"That is not what that means, is it?"

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

[member="HK-36"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="Jenna Templar"]

"Things are good. Got a couple ladies that I use to work with to come and waitress. Miners should like them a lot.." she listened to the banter and laughed. It was good to hear laughter.

"It mighhhttt" Rekha chimed in. So there were some saying or slang he didn't understand. Interesting.

 

[Tanalth]

When [member="HK-36"] had offered more tools Jenna said "Good. I'll just need something to help bounce the signal off a few relays. Hopefully that'll keep the Sith from knowing where the hack originated from. Otherwise it should be easy to get done within a few hours." She then looked to [member="Rekha Kaarde"] and assured her "Don't worry. You'll get your money. Everyone will be happy, and hopefully some free drinks will come as part of the reward." After that she leaned back and let her and [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] speak before yet another odd remark about the two having some sort of sexual attraction come up entered into the conversation. She had to ask at this point "I'm sorry but is there something I'm missing here? Because to me it sounds like the both of you are...uh...well..."

 

[HK-36]

Looking from [member="Jenna Templar"] to [member="Rekha Kaarde"] and especially [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] the droid muttered,

"I do not think she knows."

Looking back to Agent Templar he asked,

"You do not know?"

Then he would look back to Rekha and Sio,

"She does not know, we have to have that talk with her."


And adjusting himself on his seat he would look straight at Jenna, his hands setting on the table,

"Agent Templar.."

He would begin,

"There is something you need to know about the Protectorate, about our females."

HK folded his fingers into a little finger tent/pyramid,

"The Protectorate has the highest rate of homosexual females as its members than any other military that accepts both sexes into the same divisions to date. As such any female you will meet in Protectorate will most likely be homosexual or bisexual, of course there are exceptions like you, but trend is otherwise. It is because, our males, well"

The droid would shrug,

"Our males look like Noah and Sarge. You will get that joke one day, it will make sense."

And like a week later it did!

"Of course so far our leaders were either asexual or in love with a hat. One exception was Siobhan's wife."