Honor among thieves.....sorta.... (PM to join)

[Mark Crassis]

Shulstine V
Location: Twin Moon Cantina

"I'll have another." Mark Crassis said placing his empty glass on the serving droids tray. With a twitter and a whirl, the small, modified astromech scurried off toward the bar. This was Crassis's office. Sure as a senator he had a modest office stationed at the government complex....but that wasn't where his work got done. It was here among the the denizens of the city that Mark was able to learn things and able to meet with many of the citizens of Shulstine V. Most weren't trusting enough of authorities to enter the government complexes, mostly because they had warrants.

"You were saying." Crassis said turning back toward the young Twi'lek in front of him. Crassis's heard broke looking at the young man. He couldn't be more than 14 years of age and here he was, a criminal record as long as Crassis's arm, begging him for help. That was the part about this job that Crassis was having the most trouble with. He was a man who weighed things by gain. Cost/benefit analyses were second nature to Crassis and while this was useful in his work, it made it difficult to weigh the benefit of aiding a young man such as this.....but it was expected of him and it did sometimes pay out.

"There coming for me." The boy said, his voice muffled and his eyes shifting around. The tell-tale hyper-vigilance of someone who was scared. "The bounty hunters!" He said, his hands beginning to shake visibly.

"You're going to leave here with my friend here," Crassis said nodding toward the bodyguard by the door. "He's going to take you down to the courthouse," Crassis said, scribbling out on a peace of paper as he wrote, "and give this note to the head clerk. They are going to take you into custody for the warrants you have and you'll be held overnight." As Crassis said this the young man began to object.

"They are going to kill you if they have to in order to collect that bounty!" Crassis said cutting the young man off. "I'll speak with the judge and we'll work something out that is better than death."

For a long moment Crassis thought the boy would object and then he nodded his head sadly and rose to follow the bodyguard out of the room. Crassis watched as the young man left and he sat back with a sigh. For a moment Crassis felt guilty....felt like he could have done more.

But then his drink arrived and all was well.

[member="Jessica Century"] | [member="Jaster of clan Awaud"] | [member="Jack Sparrow"] | [member="Tmoxin Temi"] | [member="Ahra Martrey"] | [member="Tomas Raynor"]​

 

[Jack Sparrow]

Jack watched the large man escort the younger one from the front of the bar where they'd agreed to meet. Crossing the street, Jack held out his left hand, and the bodyguard reached out with his own. Their fingertips touched, and the cred stick was exchanged. Jack glanced over his shoulder as the bodyguard turned the young Twi'lek away from their original destination and towards a waiting hovercar that would deliver the boy not to the local jail, but to the bounty hunters who sought him.

A Wookiee leaned against the wall of the building next to the cantina, but straightened up and approached the pirate senator. "Hrrrrnnngh," muttered the Wookiee.

Jack nodded. "Aye, mate. Another debt paid." He grinned.

"RooooRRNm."

"Indeed, Dewkazza, indeed."

The pair entered the Twin Moon Cantina, Jack preceding his first mate. Jack spotted Senator Crassis seated comfortably and sipping from a full glass. Dewkazza broke left to take up a position at the bar as Jack picked up a brown drink in a frosted glass from a passing serving droid and weaved his way across the floor.

"Senator Crassis," smiled Jack. "Lovely place. Can I have a seat? May I call you Mark?" He slipped into a chair next to the other man without waiting for a reply, making sure he faced the door.


[member="Mark Crassis"] | Jessica Century | Jaster of clan Awaud | Tmoxin Temi | Ahra Martrey | Tomas Raynor

 

[Mark Crassis]

Pulling the glasses from his head and rubbing the bridge of his nose, Crassis leaned back and let the weariness fade away. Then, just as suddenly as the young man had left, a new figure settled down in front of him. Pressing his glasses back on his face, Crassis blinked to allow his eyes to focus and settled his gaze of the face of the man in front of him.

"Senator Sparrow, you may indeed!" Crassis said raising his the red Menkooro whiskey up in a salute to the senator from Kashyyyk. "I have to admit I was surprised to hear you were on Shulstine and glad you agreed to meet." Crassis said and leaned forward, tapping the his cane on the floor and smiling. He cast a glance around the cantina. He was sure that Senator Sparrow hadn't come alone....there were three new individuals at the bar, a Wookie and two chummy humans. Crassis's bet was on the Wookie, but he made a note of all three before turning his attention back to the Senator before him......he was getting a bit paranoid perhaps.

"Mind if I call you Senator Sparrow?" Crassis asked with a crooked smile and taking a healthy gulp of the drink before him, leaning back and resting the cane across his legs.

"What brings you to Shulstine V, Senator?" Crassis asked running a hand over the raven that was carved into the end of the Wroshyr bark cane. "It certainly can't be for sight seeing.....and I'm certainly not important enough to warrant the visit!" Crassis chuckled as he eyed the man before him curiously. Crassis liked to think he read people fairly well, but he knew little about the Senator from Kashyyyk and there was nothing Crassis liked less than a lack of information.

[member="Jack Sparrow"]​

 

[Tmoxin Temi]

A heavily armored, enclosed speeder pulled up about a block away from the Twin Moon Cantina. Commander Temi had been in the Colonies region on some business, mostly re-investing the funds she embezzled from Cryax Bane into a few lucrative ventures but her visit was cut short by yet another attempt on her life. By the eternal core, this bounty hunter situation is getting out of hand, she thought. They were like... a Swokes Swokes and if you cut off its tail, another one grew right back into its place.

On a tip from her criminal defense lawyer Max Rumor, she decided to make a stop on Shulstine V to a place called the Twin Moon Cantina where she heard a certain man may be able to take care of her problem. See bounties were not just about the credits, although that was the driving force behind collection of one. But bounties were also about disruption and retribution. And her life was certainly being disrupted right now. Tmoxin couldn’t go anywhere without being shot at, lunged after, dropped on and well sometimes even spit if she happened to be in the vicinity as her protection droid was snapping someone's neck.

The Hapan Officer wore a disguise that night, making herself up to resemble a grungy little slicer like the ones she spent time with in the Red Ravens. She straightened out her hair, put a black, wool cap on her head and lined her eyes with a thick kohl pencil.

Spoiler

Commander Temi was accompanied by two bodyguard droids but she had them wait in the speeder. A dirty, street waif with Mirari droids would certainly cause too much attention. She smoked a quick cigarette outside of the cantina, crushed it out with her worn leather boots and made her way inside the club, slipping into a empty booth in the darkest corner of the room.

[member="Mark Crassis"] [member="Jack Sparrow"]

 

[Jack Sparrow]

"Oh, you'd be surprised," said Jack, the corner of his mouth quirking up into a wry grin. "We've a lot in common, you and I. We both harbor a love for places like this," he waved a hand effeminately to indicate the pair's admittedly sordid surroundings and took a long pull from the glass in his other hand. Upon swallowing, the pirate started into the glass and made a face as if he'd just seen a dead rat floating at the bottom of it. "This is horrible," he grimaced before taking another sip. "Really awful." With a long third swallow he emptied the glass and shook his head rapidly from side to side, his hat falling askew and his dreadlocks shaking violently.

Removing the hat entirely and setting it on the table, Jack steepled his fingers and regarded the senator. "And you, Mark? What brings a well-dressed, well-connected, well-meaning man such as yourself to a sodasport like Sulshtine V?" Jack blinked and swallowed hard. "That's not right. You. What brings you to a shadowport like Shulstine V?" The pirate felt a warmth coursing through his body, and wondered just was in that drink he'd downed, and whether he might like another.

[member="Mark Crassis"]

 

[Mark Crassis]

Over a lifetime of watching people, there were subtle cues you learned to look for. Little signs that they weren't all they appeared to be. Crassis had learned to look for these cues in people and when he came to a place such as this, he always sat within view of the entrance. When [member="Tmoxin Temi"] entered the cantina, Crassis almost missed her, almost didn't bother to pay her a second thought.

But there was something in the walk. Something that spoke of more than a simple street girl. She didn't have the cocky walk of a thug or the diminutive walk of someone use to keeping themselves under the radar. When she walked into the cantina, Crassis's older, tired eyes picked up the walk of someone who was confident.....someone who was use to being in charge.

But that thought was quickly pushed away as he heard [member="Jack Sparrow"] pose a question to him. Crassis's eyes fell back on the rather unkempt Senator from Kashyyyk. Crassis chuckled softly and waved his hand to the serving droid to come over. "Menkooro whiskey?" Crassis asked, unsure of what the man liked to drink. Crassis took another sip of his drink and considered how he felt, how his mind was functioning. Satisfied that he was ok, he ordered another. Crassis was always cautious when it came to drinking with those he didn't know. The key was to never drink too much and leave yourself at a disadvantage, but to drink enough that his drinking partners didn't suspect he was trying to get them inebriated and and more pliable.

"I go where I'm needed, and I was needed here." Crassis said taping his cane on the ground and smiling with half his face. "I'm not the sort of man to inspiring the vast populaces of more important worlds, nor am I a military savant who should be in charge of worlds that represent a key military value." Crassis said, his voice not indicating disappointment but rather the sort of resolve of a person who had spent a great deal of time coming to understand his nature.

"My only value is in collecting information and bartering favors." Crassis said shrugging. "And I find I'm far better at that," he said and tapped his ruined leg with the wooden cane, "then I ever was a soldiering!"

"How did you find yourself as the Senator of Kashyyyk?"

 

[Tmoxin Temi]

So I guess they haven’t heard of waitresses in this part of the galaxy, Tmoxin thought when no one brought her a drink, not even a serving droid. She sighed, rose out of the booth and went over to the bar to order.

“A glass of Smuggler’s Red… actually, make it a Corellian whiskey instead.” She was supposed to be tough street urchin and here she was ordering wine?!? But when she looked at herself in the cracked mirror behind the bar, she thought her disguise wasn’t half bad. She turned around with her back to the bar, leaning on her elbows to look for the man that could help her with her problem. She quickly scanned the room and noticed a familiar figure from the HoloNewsNetwork. Was that the Senator from Kashyyyk? In this crummy, bumblekark cantina?!? Mother of Kwath, what was he doing here?

She assessed his companion, a man in his fifties or even early sixties. The way he held himself, his clothing, his wooden cane all painted a picture of someone who had not only credits but a fine upbringing and established career – distinguished even. He also resembled the description she was given by her lawyer Max Rumor. The Commander wasn’t one to interrupt a conversation between gentlemen. Hapan or not, her strict adherence to etiquette wouldn’t allow it.

But “Eva” would, she thought, giving herself a makeshift pseudonym. Still just walking over wasn’t something she was wholly comfortable with. She turned back to the bar.

“Two shots of whiskey. For those men over there,” she said nodding her head at the unkempt senator and his friend. She watched and waited as the belabored bartender brought over the shots, plunked them down on the table unceremoniously and muttered, “From the broad at the bar.”

[member="Mark Crassis"] [member="Jack Sparrow"]

 

[Mark Crassis]

Crassis was awaiting a reply from [member="Jack Sparrow"] when the bartender brought over two shots of whiskey and placed them on the table in front of them.

“From the broad at the bar.”

The bartender said and wondered off back to his post. Crassis eyed the drink before him and glanced in the direction of the woman at the bar. She was the one he'd seen come in earlier. It seemed she was one to be watching after all. Glancing at the Senator ahead of him and then back to the girl, Crassis smiled and tipped his head, lifting the drink to his mouth and took a sip of it before sitting it back down on the table. Waving a hand at the empty chair to his right, Crassis signaled for the girl to join them.

"You have any idea who this is?" Crassis asked Jack as he waved the girl over. He wasn't sure if she was here to see him or perhaps the Senator from Kashyyyk, but either way....she had an agenda.

 

[Tmoxin Temi]

Tmoxin watched the man take a sip of the Corellian whiskey, satisfied with the results when he beckoned her over. As rudimentary as it was, fine alcohol and the companionship of an attractive woman… well, the galaxy hadn’t changed that much that those two things didn’t get a man’s attention, she thought.
Glancing around one last time, she finally approached their table and sat down in the empty seat, nodding at both men. She leaned back and crossed her legs in a way that signaled she spent more time at well-heeled charity functions than slumming in a cantina like the Twin Moon.

“Hello, my name is Eva,” Tmoxin said. She looked closely at the Senator but then feigned ignorance of his position and addressed them both in a soft voice: “You two look like you know your way around Shulstine V. Enough to help out a girl in trouble.”

She sipped her own glass of whiskey – on the rocks. Turning the older man in the glasses she asked, “Have you heard of Rumor, Wolf & Funk?"

[member="Mark Crassis"] [member="Jack Sparrow"]

 

[Jack Sparrow]

Jack watched as a blur wove its way in the direction of his new friend and the darkness that had begun to creep around the edges of his vision. He had just begun gathering his thoughts, preparing to tell [member="Mark Crassis"] just how he'd found himself elected senator of a planet dominated by much larger, stronger, and more hirsute than himself, when a glass of something was deposited in front of him and a warped face moaned something unintelligible.

"I don't wish to alarm the six of you," Jack said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table, his head lolling somewhat to the side, "but I believe the...drink, is what it was, that I had taken from a passing droid...was." He stopped and took a long look at [member="Tmoxin Temi"], who was asking him a question about wolves. "Was," Jack continued. "Was something. Mmmmmmeant for someone else. Because." Jack felt his chest tighten and realized he was both cold and sweating. The senator and pirate slapped himself across the face.

"Ah yes, there you are. It appears that I've been poisoned."

 

[Tmoxin Temi]

But Tmoxin was alarmed at the behavior the Kashyyyk Senator displayed. She looked over at Jack Sparrow and then back at the person she thought to be Mark Crassis, although he hadn't confirmed it yet. But he certainly matched the description sent to her by her criminal defense lawyer.

"Um, Sena... sir, I think we should call a medical shuttle or get you to a hospital," she said worriedly. Turning again to Crassis she said, "Don't you think? Unless he's always this drunk and then well, perhaps we can continue on with our business while he is... sleeping it off."

[member="Jack Sparrow"] [member="Mark Crassis"]

 

[Jaster Awaud]

[member="Tmoxin Temi"] [member="Jack Sparrow"] [member="Mark Crassis"]

Jasters trips into the core worlds never turned out nicely for him, he always wound up in trouble and stuck with police. This time though he needed this trip to be quick, his ships were costing him too much to travel so far. He was looking for the planets senator, and after being redirected by seven diffrent Goverment building, yet a smuggler he threatened told him where he needed to go. The smuggler was being held by his guards in case he was lieing, he hated killing people, but it was needed sometimes.

Finally he reached some backside bar, yet for being a hole in a wall, it did seem oddly busy. Here was where the senator was to be, taking help to the streets, 'what a wonderful guy.' Jaster thought with a grin.

He entered the bar, the literal discription of the man that was given to him was a older male, with glasses. Jaster thoughts he would have a hard time finding this man. Yet there he was, sitting with what Jaster could only guess was a pirate and some women. Jaster had to set up a meeting before hand, yet that meeting was missed and possibly forgotten by the lovely senator, this was a courtesy call.

Jaster walked himself to the bar and ordered himself a Rylothian Rum, the bitterness quelled Jaster anger for being forgotten. He continued to sit there until their conversation seemed less important to interupt.

 

[Mark Crassis]

"Interesting." Crassis said watching the odd behavior being exhibited by Senator Sparrow. "Your guess is as good as mine, my dear, I only just met him today." Crassis said shrugging apologetically and pulling his comm from his belt.

"This is Senator Crassis....I'm going to need a medic to Twin Moon immediately." Crassis said, his voice not raised or rushed. Crassis was too busy calculating...too busy trying to recall who had placed the drink on the serving tray. He pulled his glasses off as he waited for the medics to arrive and began to clean them on his tie.

If he remembered correctly, Sparrow had entered and taken the drink off a serving droid tray without order.....no one could have suspected he'd done that....unless they knew his propensity for drinking. Could it be that the Senator stumbled into an attempt on another's life. How very coincidental that would be.

"Eva," Crassis said pulling a pen from his breast pocket and smiling a charming, yet fatherly smile, "would you be so good as to shove this down his throat?" Crassis asked, figuring they might as well try and purge the poison out of the Senator before the medics arrived.

[member="Tmoxin Temi"] | [member="Jaster of clan Awaud"] | [member="Jack Sparrow"]​

 

[Tmoxin Temi]

She blinked down at the pen as Mark Crassis handed it to her as though he expected her to sign her name to a greeting card and not shove it into someone's flesh. Her brother was a doctor but she was woefully unprepared to deal with anything resembling a medical crisis. "Eva" had however had extensive training with knives so it couldn’t be that much different. Just don’t stab the Senator too hard, she thought.

She grabbed the pen in her fist and swiftly stabbed the wobbling man in the neck, trying to puncture the artery enough so that someone – certainly not her – could extract the poison but not hard enough to kill him. This better not be a set up, she thought, looking at the door to make the Shulstine V authorities weren't suddenly storming into the cantina to arrest her for attempted murder of the Kashyyyyk politician. When that didn’t seem to be happening, she turned back towards Crassis and frustration began to seep into her voice, “I don’t have much time here,” she said her eyes darting around. “I need your help, Mr. Crassis," Tmoxin added finally admitting she knew who he was. She inspected his distinguished face for signs of surprise then continued.

“I hear you are a problem-solver. And I happen to have a herculean problem which is also quite costly to me so I will pay handsomely if it's eliminated."

She leaned into to Mr. Crassis and whispered, “Do you know how to make bounties go away?”

[member="Jack Sparrow"] [member="Mark Crassis"] [member="Jaster of clan Awaud"]

 

[Jack Sparrow]

"Ahhhhhhh!" shouted Jack, swatting furiously at [member="Tmoxin Temi"] 's hand with both of his own. "Down, woman! He said down, not into! Poisoned, not choking!" Flailing his arms, he finally was able to locate the one pen from the half dozen or so that seemed to be swimming before his eyes. Snatching it from Tmoxin, the pirate narrowed his eyes, striving to focus his gaze. "Yes," he said to the newly-arrived woman, "do continue. With your. Thing. Hrm. Hercules. Eh. Don't mind me." Gripping the pen tightly in both hands, the pirate stuck it quickly into his mouth as far as he was able, miraculously managing to not stab the inside of his mouth or swallowing the expensive-looking pen. Feeling the drink and everything he'd eaten for the past ten hours rushing back to re-introduce itself, Jack tossed the pen deftly back to Mark Crassis and turned his head, not wanting to vomit all over the table or pair he sat with. Rising quickly, he instead found himself chundering across the top of a passing Chadra Fan. As the bat-like fellow shrieked in disgust and tried to run, Jack followed, his legs moving as if possessed, his stomach regurgitating its contents as the pair moved in some unholy ballroom dance.

Perhaps fifteen seconds later, Jack fell to his knees and the unfortunate Chadra Fan bolted through the door of the Twin Moon Cantina, weeping openly.

"Better," breathed Jack. "Still poisoned, but better." He rose unsteadily to his feet and began making his way back to the Mark Crassis' table, pausing only long enough to gran another drink from a passing serving droid. This one was in a smaller glass, so the senator drained it all in one swig, swished it around his mouth to help wash it clean, and swallowed. Collapsing back into his chair, he wiped sweat from his brow with a sleeve and said, "Medic called, yes? Good. Maybe dying. Don't want to. Where were we?"

Jaster of clan Awaud

 

[Mark Crassis]

Crassis glanced at the girl, his eyes wide. He certainly hadn't meant for her to try and puncture his windpipe. But more interesting than that was the idea of making a bounty go away. Crassis's eyes were drawn to a commotion at the entrance which delayed that thought.

"Over here." Crassis said raising his hand and waving at the medics that had entered. They shuffled over to the table and immediately set to work on Senator Sparrow. Crassis, relieved that help had arrived, turned his attention back to the young lady.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure...." Crassis admitted. He was just now beginning to reap the benefits of his time as an intelligence operative and he didn't necessarily have the pull needed.

"It would depend on who is issuing the bounty I suppose." Crassis said. "How much is on your head?"

[member="Tmoxin Temi"] | [member="Jack Sparrow"]​

 

[Tmoxin Temi]

Tmoxin was momentarily distracted by her medical faux pas with the pen as well as the Senator basically turning the cantina into a vomitorium. She put a hand to her clavicle and swallowed back her own nausea but continued on.

"Eva's bounty is high. Very high. Like the price of a nice ranch in a gated community on Shulstine V high."

Commander Temi inspected him again and her air of desperation began to disappear as she spoke. "For example if I set a trap for the bounty hunter using a decoy. And then the decoy was turned in and executed instead of me. I mean Eva. Well, I would certainly expect whoever helped me with a clever trap such as that would be able to split my bounty with the hunter."

She sighed exasperated and then sipped her whiskey. "Look Mr. Crassis. I need this problem to go away. If you have better ideas, I'm all game. But is setting a trap with a decoy something you can help me with? If not, I'm sorry to have wasted your time."

[member="Mark Crassis"] [member="Jack Sparrow"]

 

[Mark Crassis]

"I suppose that would work." Crassis said considering the plan. Assuming those that took her in bought the decoy, she would be able to clear her name at much more reasonable price than the one that was on her head. However, the question Crassis wasn't sure about was why should he help her. She wasn't Republic.....that he knew....but he didn't know who she was with, or who she really was.

"You'd have to have a bounty hunter who is willing to play game....and a good one. Too many of them would double cross you for both payouts." Crassis said pulling his glasses off and cleaning them.

"But I suppose the real question is, why should I help you?" Crassis asked raising an eyebrow. "I am a Senator of the Republic....and I have no idea who you are. I don't need money, so what is it you could offer me that would make this worth my while?"

[member="Tmoxin Temi"]
[member="Jack Sparrow"]

 

[Tmoxin Temi]

At this point perhaps I should just reveal who I am, Tmoxin thought. Crassis was a Senator after all and maybe if she wasn't using an alias it may put them on more equal footing. Because he was right. Commander Temi had much more to lose than a vaguely corrupt Republic Senator did in this whole mess of hers. She spoke next in the softest of whispers.

"My name is Tmoxin Temi. I'm a Stormtrooper Commander of the 182nd in the Imperial Army. I'm well protected when I'm on duty, but the minute I go on leave, I find myself hunted again. I would like some respite from this and I think the decoy will at least afford me some time to hide my whereabouts better or change my appearance. Or perhaps the organization I've angered will just forget about me after vengeance is had."

Trouble was, she he had nothing to offer the Senator, figuring that the credits alone would interest him. She quickly checked her datapad and a quite innocent message from Max Rumor offering Tmoxin use of his droid assistant gave her an idea.

"I can provide you something better than credits - a loyal assistant, a runner, jack-of-all trades to help you do your work." Tmoxin's silver tongue went to work now. "Your time is valuable, Mr. Crassis and perhaps you need someone to help you organize it."

She showed him a picture of Morgan Redeaux, a pretty HRD.

"I will grant you use of this protocol droid and she will do just about anything you want. Business, diplomatic arrangements, whatever you see fit. Does that interest you at all?

[member="Mark Crassis"]

 

[Jack Sparrow]

From a table nearby which had been swept clear and upon which Jack had been laid, the pirate turned his head as blood was drawn from his arm in an effort to identify the toxin coursing through his system.

"Whispering?" he asked in a voice raspy from chundering. "Why are you--ow, mate, a sample, not the whole bloody arm!--whispering? Are you talking about me? Are you saying anything good?"

[member="Tmoxin Temi"] Mark Crassis