Close, but no Cigar

[Jacob Crawford]

"Quite." He said, taking a moment to wipe away the blood that had leaked from his nose. "I fear it's a consequence of what the Netherworld did to my mind. It might be healed, but it seems some damage has been more enduring than I realised."

It had been a test after all, he had certainly not got to the point of damaging himself when he had tried it on Maena. Here though, it had proved there was something there; beyond just being Force Sense. But it was plainly clear he needed to work on his general finesse and control over that aspect.

With Connor off to recon ahead, Jacob hopped back into the speeder and drove it down towards the entrance. Though he made sure to take it slower, ensuring it was quiet on its approach. It took a few minutes, but Jacob eventually had it correctly angled towards the inside of the cave.

Jacob then stepped out of the vehicle and looked at Connor, and his whole demeanor seemed to shift, preparing to get ready for action.

"During my time scouting these guys out, I took the time to go inside while they were absent. It's an abandoned mining facility, though the tunnels and corridors that lead further in have all but collapsed at this point. There is this bit of cave, that is essentially a straight shot towards a hangar-like enclosure. So as you expect there's some large doors in the way, of which barely work and they've only ever got it open enough for people to walk through and maybe some smaller vehicles."

Jacob walked back over to the speeder they had used, and leaned against it.

"Which is where this comes in, I've rigged it's auto-pilot to send it into a crash course straight for the door, past it and given that the majority of them seem to be nicely grouped together, it should take a number of them out too. After that we can sweep in, take out any stragglers leaving their boss to be interrogated."

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor watched the speeder come forward, glancing to the entrance and the glowing light coming from within.

The plan was outrageous, but they were in too deep to back out or think of a Plan B now. Jacob seemed confident, and that was all that Connor needed.

"Alright,” he nodded. "Kick that thing in, and go for it. I'll be right behind you.”

He shifted from the rock and removed the A180 from his belt, and held onto the hilt with his other hand.

"When you're ready, Mr Crawford.”

Fingers flexed on the butt and the hilt.

[member="Jacob Crawford"]

 

[Jacob Crawford]

Mr. Crawford.

Jacob almost wanted to snap out at being called that. His family name meant nothing to him now. He had finished breaking the chains that were his parents when he saw to the death of his father. Now he was just Jacob, and some day even that name wouldn't mean anything.

But lashing out was pointless right now, especially towards Connor who had zero knowledge of this. Instead, Jacob took his anger and focused it on the situation at hand, sharpening his senses.

He had a look of excitement and anticipation on his face as he double checked the vehicle was lined up properly, then leaned over into the driver's seat and fiddled with the electronics some more. Then with a sudden visible spark, the speeder's engine roared to life and it tore off into the cave. Jacob had to quickly hop back before it could take him with it. His eyes were glued to the cave entrance as the back thrusters of the vehicle began to dissappear ahead, the sounds of its engine dimming slightly.

There was a sudden yell; presumably from the initial guard, then and a crash as the speeder smashed through the hangar doors. Immediately after there was a cacophony of more yells and shouts until they were muffled by another crash and finished with a loud explosion. The energy behind it enough to send a small cloud of dust down through the tunnel.

With a simple nod towards Connor, Jacob was off; jogging through the cave entrance.

He seemed almost too eager as he made the span of the initial tunnel within a minute. He made a stop as he saw the guard was still breathing, but that was quickly resolved as Jacob practically glided over and stabbed a dagger through the man's chest. Then without a blink of an eye he was striding through the hangar doors, there were now blasted open due to the speeder.

The scene that Jacob and Connor were greeted with was five men still standing, all with various minor injuries ranging from bruises to cuts. To their left - closest to Connor, was a Quarren and a female Noghri. To the right - nearest Jacob was Rodian from the cantina, and a Gran. The fifth was a Twi'lek, the group's boss who stood ahead of them, standing before the now wrecked speeder. The remaining six were either dead or on the ground bleeding out from their injuries, either way they weren't going to be getting up to interfere.

The four that were standing however, all had various ranged weapons aimed at the two. Jacob however made no move to go for his own, not yet anyway.

"Gentlemen, please. There's no need for that."

Everyone, even the boss looked at Jacob as if he had suddenly grown a second head. The four armed smugglers went to fire, but even then Jacob was not fazed.

"Wait, stop!" The boss let out a sharp command, his accent easily slipping out as he spoke Galactic Basic.

Jacob glanced over at Connor, nudging him with the Force ever so slightly to get his attention. When he did, Jacob had a knowing, pleased look in his eye indicating his knowledge of the twi'lek's weakness; his hesistance. And Jacob was going to exploit it.

"What do you want, why did you do this?!"

As the Twi'lek spoke, Jacob slid his arms behind his back acting as though he was crossing them together into a professional stance. In reality he used the motion to subtly grab the daggers he held on the back of his belt.

The moment I make a move, take out the two to your left. He channelled the thought through the Force and towards Connor.

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Following Jacob through the cave, the wisps of smoke swirled around him and swallowed him up to bring him out before the criminals that were to be their targets. He slowed right down and stopped, arms out and palms forward to show no hostility.

There was confusion, surprise and mild fear.

Connor felt the nudge from Jacob, and looked to him with a naïve and innocent expression, still holding his hands out to show he had no weapons – at least not on show.

Looking around the make-shift hideaway, he took in the thugs and the things to be used for explosive means and for cover. He gently lowered his hands and kept them by his side, knowing where the blaster was in relation to his hand.

Jacob had the situation in hand, and his command came through, to which Connor glanced to his left and saw two thugs, burly but looking more interested in their boss trying to defuse the situation than anything else. A drop on bended knee and two shots, one aimed at one head and then the other, should bring them down quick enough.

He played it out in his mind, and didn’t react as he stood waiting for the nod.

He’d have to move fast to avoid any other thug who had his blaster trained on him from afar, but also in making sure Jacob didn’t get a slug in the back.

[member="Jacob Crawford"]

 

[Jacob Crawford]

"I'd think its quite obvious no? You stepped on the toes of some very bad and very wealthy individuals. They hired us to take care of you."

"That ain't in anyway true. I've damn careful with what we do."

"Yeah, you might but you can't say the same for your men, can you?"

"What!" The boss' head snapped back and forth between his remaining men. "What do you do?!"

The smugglers became confused and began to ramble, and it was what Jacob was waiting for. He decied to make no physical indication to move, instead he shifted the Force outwards slightly - like a flare. None of the smugglers would notice it, but he knew Connor would.

Jacob moved his arms from behind his back, and threw one of the daggers towards the boss. The blade went soaring through the air until it lodged itself just above the man's right knee. Before the boss could yell in pain, Jacob had sent the second blade towards the Gand, hitting the alien right in the temple - killing him instantly. The Rodian beside him went to fire, but Jacob deftly fell to one knee, just barely dodging the weapon fire as it zipped over his head. As he went to adjust his aim, Jacob quickly drew his blaster and fired a volley of three shots into the man's chest.

With his two down, Jacob stood up and looked over to see Connor dispatching his. He gave the man a nod, before he walked over to the boss who was now trying to crawl away - after having tried to limb away only to collapse. The only other sounds were the groans of pain from the other smugglers who had been taken out by the speeder and had managed to still remain alive.

"Oh no, you stay right there." Jacob said, as he yanked his dagger out of the man's knee, only to then stab it into the left one. "I'll be with you shortly."

Jacob walked over to the Gand he had killed, retrieved his blade and then proceeded to stroll around the area checking on the remaining smugglers. He quickly tested for a pulse, and those that he found to still be breathing were quickly silenced too.

"And now finally..." Jacob let the words linger in the air, as he returned to the boss who was still trying to crawl away - trails of blood in his wake. Jacob looked over at Connor and nodded to the man, inviting him over.

Jacob knelt down, intending to collect his remaining dagger. But it was gone from the man's left knee, within seconds he realised where it had gone and at the same time the boss had rolled onto his back and lashed out with it. Jacob raised his right hand to block it, letting the blade make a large gash through the glove. But instead of it cutting through flesh, there was just the sound of metal scraping across metal.

"Wh-what?" The man let out a strained gasp as he spoke, the dagger falling out of his hand. Jacob simply sighed as what remained of his glove slipped off revealing the cybernetics beneath it. He said nothing, and just wrapped cold fingers around the boss' throat and hoisted him up onto his feet. It was the only thing that allowed the man to stand up given the damage done to his knees.

Jacob kept his mechanical hand around the man's throat, slowly beginning to apply pressure.

"Talk."

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor watched, and was ready. He knew what to do - and in his head he already had done it. Two actions. One. Two. Blinking, he looked at Jacob all the while and felt the siren inside his head, the tug of the Force as Jacob shifted.

Then, it was all over before it began.

With lightning fast reflexes, Connor drew the A180 with his right hand and pointed it at the goon with the blaster on him. One accurate shot jolted his head back in a red mist. At the same time, his left hand came out in a claw, pulling on the Force of the thug across the other side.

As the blaster pistol rang out, amidst the chaos Jacob was inflicting in seconds, the second goon was pulled into Connors waiting hand. He didn't look as he squeezed and popped the bone with his bare hand, a wave of the Dark Side taking over for a violent but swift kill.

The body dropped. Two down and he hadn't even left the spot he had stood moments before.

Looking up at a plea, Jacob was in charge and had his hand - cybernetic, how interesting - around the target. He walked over casually to join him, standing behind a few feet in silence but making it clear he had his back.

[member="Jacob Crawford"]

 

[Jacob Crawford]

"Wh-what do want?"

"You have in your possession an item I want - a lightsaber, where is it?"

"I...I don't know what you're on about."

That was the wrong answer as Jacob's darkened aura suddenly churned with anger. He lifted the Twi'lek off his feet and tightened his grip around the man's throat. He began to flail, his feet kicking about trying to find solid ground again. But just as it was getting worse, Jacob loosened it and glared at the smuggler.

"Okay, okay! Look, it was like two weeks ago or something. One of my men ran into a kid - like a kid. Apparently someone was using him as a courier, asked for my group to take on an item for a period of time, said someone would come to collect it. Whoever wanted this, paid very well for us to do it."

"I want it. Now." Jacob's words were laced with venom, his grip flexing just a bit more tighter to get the severity of the request across. The palpable sense of fear that was rolling off the Twi'lek increased within seconds.

"W-we don't have it anymore..."

Jacob enclosed his cyberneric hand, almost to the point of crushing the man's throat. His eyes widened, feet flailing around and hands trying to pry Jacob's own away. It wasn't until he could see the pleading look in the smuggler's eyes, that Jacob eased his grip.

"A...about a week a ago someone came to us - a woman. She specifically asked for the lightsaber."

Jacob's eyes narrowed in suspicion, a million thoughts running through his mind until something dawned on him. With his free hand he began sifting through his pockets until he pulled out a small holoprojector. He fiddled with it briefly, before activating it and the bust profile of a female Togruta appeared.

"Was this the woman?" He asked with bated breath. The man didn't say anything for a few seconds, but then nodded his head.

The tension in Jacob's body seemed to just disperse in one go, the revelation stunning him. But the dark, angry aura that was swirling around him didn't go. Instead it got steadily worse as all the pieces began to fall into place.

He was being played for a fool. All this perfect timing was too much of a coincidence. The one who had been feeding him information was playing a game with him. When he had been on Nar Shaddaa still, Jacob knew he had sensed a familiar presence on Nal Hutta. He had literally been a short ship journey away from finding her.

That pissed Jacob off. And to vent the frustration, he crushed the man's throat in his cybernetic grip.

As the man's body crumpled to the floor, Jacob's eyes were fixed on the holoprojector. Staring at the image of the woman.

[member="Connor Harrison"]