Gone Audi Five Thousand

[Jsc]

The All-Thunder Expo
This years wealthiest car show on Coruscant

The building was massive. The rooms, were massive. Heck, the cars were even massive! Everything about the All-Thunder Expo screamed, massive. The crowds, the ticket prices, the celebrity names, and the all VIP party rooms. Everything about this car show was tremendous in scale and even larger in proportion. To a little Jedi girl who had just gotten back from Tython? It was almost overwhelming.

Sam Jhovna, Jedi Padawan, was speechless just standing in the entrance-way auditorium. It was like going to a basketball game at the Coliseum. There were people and aliens everywhere. Well-dressed aliens. Glamorous couples and beautiful singles too. It was like a holiday had been declared and all the party favors were about fast cars. Air Speeders to be more precise, but you get the point. Sam was blown away.

She looked down at her pamphlet and opened up the map. There were showings all around the Circular Floor Map. She was hesitant with just where to start.

"The Five Thousand Thunder Room. Sponsored by Audi-Benz-Ordodge of Marz. Prototype racers for a new generation. There is no technology greater on the road way."

She nodded as she said it. It was a good tag line.

"Well okay then. Sounds like a good time to me. I'll start there. ...Ha! I hope they have some tight security. Everybody and their dog will want to see those bad boys! Let's go ladies."

Skipping along in her bright summer blouse and snug amber jeans, Sam was eager to begin.

[member="Ben Trasker"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Slinking his hands into his tan cargo trouser pockets, Ben Trasker was thankful to be out of his Coruscant Security Force uniform, although he did miss the pleasant feel of the blast-vest protecting his torso. Wearing a plain grey t-shirt and loose checked shirt, his sleeves were rolled up and he was thankfully feeling relaxed, casually taking in his day off from patrol at the All-Thunder Expo.

He'd been here a couple of times before, and it was safe to say he wasn't overly excited about the array of speeders, cruisers and racers on show BUT it was nice to see the latest technology and design on show in his city. Maybe one day he could afford one....no, let's not run before we walk Ben!

The problem he faced was even though this was a day off, he was always alert and watching for trouble. Sure, he still carried his CSF ID just in case, but he was without his usual DC-15s sidearm, which he felt naked without. Still, this wouldn't be the place to need his weapon. Usually trouble free and populated with their own security, the Expo was a celebration of all things fast, stylish and current on Coruscant.

Walking around the lower Circular Floor, Trasker was happy to stand back from the crowds and take in the atmosphere; the excitement of new buyers, the smell of tasty food from the food halls and the general positive vibe.

Coming across something that made him slow his pace, it seemed the law enforcement had managed to display a prospective new cruiser in development. He came to a stop before the gleaming, hulking mass of metal and power, embossed with the CSF logo, flashing red and blue lights and spinning slowly on the turntable. It was an impressive machine to say the least, and he couldn't take his eyes of it with a small smile as he read the specs.


[member="Sam Jhovna"]

 

[Jsc]

As [member="Ben Trasker"] was reading up about the new cars a little astromech droid came zipping by and bumped into his leg with a start. The whistling little robot was painted in yellow and black checkers and had a number of sponser logos stickered all over him. However this little guy seemed to show a rather moody interest in making Ben get out of his way. He kept beeping and whistling and twirling his top.

"Oh dear! Hold onto that little droid please! He's trying to escape."

Sam Jhovna came dashing through the crowd at a hustling pace. Her exotic shoes were not for running and it appeared she was chasing the astromech too.

"Excuse me! Can you stop that droid! He was stealing raffle balls."

The astromech seemed to lose it's temper and looked back to see Sam chasing after him. Uh oh. The little droid spun around and tried to wheel itself past Ben's legs.

 

[Connor Harrison]

The droid caught him off guard, a heavy thud against his legs, actually making him laugh a little.

"Woah little fella, they're not sending you to the scrapheap just yet!"

It was then the shout alerted him; the word "escape", "stop" and "steal". It seemed an excitable woman was having droid issues. A little bewildered at the theft, Trasker simply held onto the astromech's dome, pushing back as the unit darted left and right trying to evade him.

He'd held tougher prisoners than this, but none as slippery!

"Stop it!" Trasker shouted, pushing harder to hold him back, glancing up as the young woman approached, tottering and looking flustered. "This thing yours?"


[member="Sam Jhovna"]

 

[Jsc]

Sam came hustling over with a rough stop. Chasing this little droid across the convention in two inch heels, was not a fun experience.

"Oh my gosh. Thank you. That little guy is faster than he looks. Woo."

She brushed her hair away from her face and stopped to take off her shoes. She didn't need to be six foot tall standing next to Ben. And her ankles were killing her.

"No. He's not mine. He's the Five Thousand corporations. I just signed up to be one of their raffle girls? And wouldn't you know it. This little guy was supposed to be my helper. But I caught him stealing the raffle balls and trying to make off with them. Only three of them too."

She shook her head and took a deep breath,

"Why would anyone steal raffle balls?"

~ *tink tonk* ~

...The droid did not seemed amused. At all. If robots could curse, Ben was probably being called a few choice words right now. Sadly, Sam did not speak 'beep boop' or 'tonk tonk' or whatever that little thief was whining about.

[member="Ben Trasker"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Trasker held onto the droid as the pretty girl spoke, smiling at her frustration and hidden enthusiasm.

"Well I imagine whoever owns this little one is going to be disappointed you were one of the raffle girls. No raffle balls for him."

Looking down at the whirring, beeping astromech, Trasker frowned.

"If you don't want to be taken to a CSF detention centre and melted down for scrap in the junkyards of Denon I suggest you drop those balls. Now."

His eyes flicked up to the girl, slightly embarrassed at the fact he was now demanding a suspect, a droid, release raffle balls. Raffle balls! A few choice beeps and ticks came from the astromech, his dome spinning left to right slightly, before the sound of a motor whirred and what looked like 3 orange numbered balls dropped from the underside of his body, bouncing onto the floor.

Traskser pulled back his head to see them.

"Are these your balls, Miss?"

[member="Sam Jhovna"]

 

[Jsc]

She pursed her lips and nodded to his choice of words. Sam was just immature enough to contemplate saying 'balls' in just such a sentence.

"Not just mine, I'm afraid." Sam leaned down and recovered them. "...These might have been the winning numbers?"

The blond slipped back on her shoes and touched her chin in thought. She wasn't much of detective. With a glance she looked to the police cruiser and nodded sagely.

"I think we should notify security of this little droids theft." She looked back down at the droid. "...I'm no prophet, but I suspect there are other droids running around the convention, up to no good. I don't think our friend here could be working alone."

It was then that the little droid spat up a pair of car keys too. Right at [member="Ben Trasker"] 's feet.

~ ...Bonk? ~

I think that was a droids way of saying, Oops.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Trasker held the droid, listening to the girl speak, and she was obviously onto something, but for one as bubbly as her, this probably wasn't her area, and he wouldn't want to drag her into the seriousness of the day when she was clearly enjoying herself.

"Miss, I appreciate your assistance. However I'll take it from here, don't worry."

He used a leg to block the droid as he raised his hand.

"Ben Trasker, Coruscant Security Force operative."

Smiling, he patted the droid on the head.

"Your efforts have been invaluable, and I'll make sure this little guy comes with me to the Expo surveillance team. They'll take what they can from this if he's working with, or for, anyone."

He looked over her shoulder back to the raffle stand.

"Be sure to let me know if these balls come into a win, ok? I could use a bit of luck!"


[member="Sam Jhovna"]

 

[Jsc]

Sam smiled. She liked it when a man took charge and did the hard stuff. Maybe a reward was in order after all,

"Here then." The blond smiled as she tossed [member="Ben Trasker"] one of the raffle balls, "...For luck."

Little did Sam know, that raffle ball was going to be more trouble than good.

"Stop by the Audi raffle in an hour if you can. You might just win yourself a lifetime supply of Five Thousand Brand synthetic turbo oil. Hehe."

Sam slipped back on her high heels and waved her goodbyes. Ben could book the thief while she went back to being a Car Show Girl. She'd look for him at the raffle later today.

 

[Connor Harrison]

50 minutes later...

Trasker sat on the side of a large artificial potted plant, a strange emerald queen and orange plant that reached up a good 8ft high. The hall was still busy, still noisy and still alive with excitement, discussion and good spirits.

He rolled the lucky raffle ball handed to him by the mysterious blond girl nearly an hour ago, his little astromech droid now safely detained with the Expo security team. Trasker knew despite what he had advised nothing would be done, they would just use a restraining bolt until after the event and put out an announcement for the owner. They wouldn't take the droid's theft seriously...but why should they? Raffle balls? Not exactly genocide.

Looking around the raffle stand, he felt a little out of his depth as he never took place in this sort of organised chaos, the luck of a ball being pulled out to grant you a prize amongst a horde of eager other competitors. Still, she'd given it to him and so he'd see what luck she could bring him.

She wasn't to be seen, but Trasker was in no rush and had a bit of time. If nothing came of it, he'd easily carry on with his afternoon before heading back to his isolated life.


[member="Sam Jhovna"]

 

[Jsc]

*smash!*

Suddenly a nearby wall burst open. Launching a large man in a black business suit through the opening and slamming him down right onto his back. The drywall was in ribbons across the showroom floor and people stood by stunned. The man on his back seemed to growl with pain and was almost unable to move. As others gathered around a very familiar woman stepped through the broken wall and tossed a dissembled blaster upon the unconscious male figure,

"...Tsk tsk. And here I thought it was you who was supposed to be intimidating me? ...You're not a very good thug Mr Black. Getting thrown about by little ol' me. It's so... Distasteful."

Sam Jhovna leaned down and began to pick the man's pockets.

"Now. Let's see what we have here, hm?"

The area was an utter mess. Through the broken hole behind Sam was a break room for Show Room employees. It appeared Sam and this mystery thug had been scuffling behind the scenes.

[member="Ben Trasker"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

The carnage of the wall being put through was enough to make Trasker sit upright, alert and notice the chaos ahead of him. Standing upright, he dropped the raffle ball from his fingers and started towards the confusion; gently moving aside the onlookers and passers by moving along slowly to take a look.

As he arrived forward, there was a small sliver of dust creeping across the floor as large and small chunks of debris rested on the once cleanly polished floor. Thankfully none of the speeders had been damaged. Looking to the Expo security team approaching from his right, stun batons and blasters ready, Trasker noticed the familiar face of the raffle girl standing over the suited man.

Not knowing what to make of a bad situation, he decided to get her to one side before the Expo security team did. Trasker pushed through and hopped over the debris, leaning down to take the girl by the arm.

"I don't think you'll find a raffle ball in there."

The Expo team were on them.

"Come with me and don't put up a fight."

Trasker held his hand out to the security team and removed his CSF ID holopad from his backpocket, thankful he carried it at all times. He thumbed it on and held it up for the masked guards.

"Ben Trasker, Coruscant Security Force. She's my responsibility. See to the man. He's armed."

Trasker looked back to the pretty blonde and indicated with his head for her to get away.


[member="Sam Jhovna"]

 

[Jsc]

Sam troubled a look over her shoulder but remained rather optimistic. It was the first time she had ever overcome an opponent by blasting him through the drywall. It felt like quite the achievement.

"Well. Look who it is? ...I suppose this wasn't the raffle you were expecting? Hehe. ...Maybe. But it still yields fruit."

The girl held up a pair of car keys with an encryption disk attached,

"Look'y what I found in our thugs pocket. No ID, but rather... His car keys and parking stub."

She smiled and tossed the keys to Ben.

"Well sheriff? You wouldn't happen to looking for a new deputy, now would you? ...Because I believe we have a case that needs solving. And I have a hunch that somebody wants that raffle ball I gave you. I think somebody is trying to steal a few cars around here."

[member="Ben Trasker"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Trasker was confused to say the least. This girl seemed to know more than she initially let on. She wasn't her by accident and it wasn't a coincidence.

The keys flew to him, his right hand reaching out and caught them mid-flight, cold and firm in his clenched fist.

Looking at the keys and then to the girl, he moved to the side away from the Expo team and took the girl with him.

"Who the hell are you, and why shouldn't I take you into the station for questioning right now?" Trasker hissed at her.


[member="Sam Jhovna"]

 

[Jsc]

Good. He was asking questions, wanting answers. That was exactly what they needed right now. Solutions.

"I'm Samantha. Raffle girl and amateur detective extraordinaire. Recently a thug attempted to get me to give him that raffle ball I gave you. He was convinced it was a clear winner and desperately demanded it's return. I have a feeling our little droid friend knew that too."

She shrugged and seem never intimidated,

"So perhaps the question we should be asking is not, who am I? But rather? ...Just what was that raffle ball going to win our thieves?"

[member="Ben Trasker"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Trasker nodded slowly, taking her in.

"Ok, well, at least you're alright."

Patting down his pocket, he suddenly realised the raffle ball in question was on the floor probably, dropped from his fingers at the sound of the chaos.

"Do you mind if we just step back over here, your raffle ball could be on the way out unless I find it!"

He started walking back over to the bench by the huge potted plant where he was sat.

"Did you know the thug, or who he was working for?"

Dropping to his knee, Trasker peered under the bench and saw nothing but a couple of leaflets, some old food wrappers and a ball. The raffle ball.

He sighed softly in relief. Reaching out, he batted away a wrapper and took the ball back in his hand, returning to stand by Samantha.


[member="Sam Jhovna"]

 

[Jsc]

"I have no idea who he was working for. He carried no ID. Only these keys I managed to grab. We might find more clues in his car? This ticket gives it's parking location in the southern underground lot."

Sam stood nearby and noted the ball upon it's appearance.

"Yes! Perfect! Here. Let me see the number. ...Okay. 65. Good. Now? I can probably go back to the office and take a look at all the prizes we still have left to give away. With luck, a clue will present itself."

The blond played with her hair before continuing,

"What should we do? Split up, or tackle one problem at a time. The car. ...Or the raffle office? Your call? You're the specialist here."

[member="Ben Trasker"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Trasker looked around as Samantha spoke, listening to her and jiggling the keys in his hand as he thought of the best step.

"You go to the office, use your guise as the raffle girl to get in. If I'm there, it'd look too suspicious."

He held up the keys.

I'll go down and scope out the car. I'll use the South exit down and up, so if you finish before me come down that way. Same with me, I'll come back up to you in the office. Hopefully you'll have something before me."

Trasker smiled and held out his hand to her.

"Be careful. Partner. Just scream if you need me."


[member="Sam Jhovna"]

 

[Jsc]

She winked,

"Will do! See you soon."

...

Sam scampered off to the raffle office down the hall. It was empty already as most of the employees were migrating around the showrooms. The blond took a few moments to search the room for anything of interest to her plot. The administrator's computer was password locked and Sam had no skills with computers either. However, in her search of his desk she did find a few interesting papers.

"Oh my?"

Raffles often gave away great prizes though in Sam's experience it was mostly just T-shirts, flashlights, and other small baubles. Brand name equipment that was often just a plug or publicity stunt. Never in a million years did Sam expect to see a multi-million credit-chit prototype vehicle on the list. Truthfully, it stood out glaringly.

The Audi-Benz Protector 5000. A military prototype vehicle was listed as the final prize of the day. The funny part was that it was a change of schedule too. Originally the final prize had been a Raceway Vending Machine full of Specialized Energy Bars. Nothing even close to this mammoth.

"Bingo."

Sam smiled and tore the pages out from the notebook. Making sure to close the office door behind her, she smiled with glee. This must have been what the thugs were looking to win. No wonder they wanted that raffle ball so ball.

[member="Ben Trasker"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Watching Samantha go, he smiled at her excitability. Whoever she was, her heart was in the right place. She was a sweet girl with a fire in her belly. Admirable.

Pushing through the crowds, the keys gripped in his hand, Trasker moved his way through towards the Southern exit of the Expo hall and down to the parking lot. A few stragglers were leaving, some arriving, nothing out the ordinary. No security, no visible threat.

Looking at the keys, there were for a model LUX-3 Landspeeder. Eyes casting over the various speeders, he came across it, parked up and devoid of activity. Checking his surroundings, he thumbed the lock button and with a low chime, the LUX-3 flashed it's front lights and the roof pulled back to the cockpit. Very stylish indeed.

Moving over and vaulting inside, every present of someone watching him, Trasker began to rifle through under the seats and in the glove compartments of the speeder. A few credits and not much else.

However behind a stack of notes, there was a cutting from a news article dated yesterday.

AUDI-BENZ 5000: Coruscant Firm Launches The Speeder Of Tomorrow

Smiling to himself, this would match the reason why there was activity at the Expo. A simple theft was on the cards. All this for the Audi-Benz 5000?

Trasker was distracted by reading the clipping and taking note of the location and date of the launch, which was that very night after the Expo, that he didn't see the figure walking towards the LUX.


[member="Sam Jhovna"]