Into the Mists [Free Worlds Dominion of Hapes Hex]

[Faith Organa]

Location: Hapes

Faith was ready to do a battle of words with the Hapan Noblewoman but a quick tap from Bekka told her of a message coming in. Faith nodded to Lucienne, "Excuse me" She stepped away to listen.

"The Alliance is here Mam." The alliance part of the agreement she had made with Allana through messages to bring assistance to Hapes. The GA was part of that assistance. "Very well..."

She looked to Lucienne who had said nothing in retort Faith was certain this encounter was not over but merely placed on hold. "Until our next meeting" She began walking with Bekka, "let them send a ship by time I get to ours and dock with them I could already be there"

Trade rights, military support in exchange for.....what could they want that Faith could give, or at least bring to the table with her audience with Allana.

Bekka contacted the Officer who offered a ship and within moments the Alliance ship was settling onto a pad near the palace. Faith contemplated the upcoming meeting ensuring she kept her thoughts clear, and the intent focused. She had made promises to the Coalition members, and to Allana regarding what would be done. This..she hoped..would appease everyone. If not it would create tensions on all sides and that would be hard to deal with.

Their shuttle docked with the Alliance ship and Faith made her way to to meet with their representative.

[member="Duxil Rylver"]

 

[Theo Vereen]

[member="Laira Vereen"]

"Colds suck. Do you starve it or feed it? And then what do you feed a cold? It's always been confusing to me." He watched his sister walk down the hall to the refresher.

"Yeah abduction tonight bad news. We have some solid leads though, walking around talking to everyone that's just us crossing the t's and dotting the i's." Theo looked hard at Mr. Mairts not smiling. This was his best I got something on you look. Mr. Mairts looked at Theo like he needed some tea.

"Anyone connected with the abduction you can be sure the strictest punishment allowable under the law will be applied." He smiled then trying to take the edge off of the harsh unfeeling tone he was using, "they'll rot in jail." He looked down the hall as Laira returned she didn't have the look but she found something. hmm.

Mr. Mairts nodded giving it some thought, "yeah, well...I heard the noise."

"You heard a noise?" Theo moved a bit closer, "What did you hear?"

Mr. Mairts brow furrowed as his emotions twisted internally. "A couple voices..."

"Voices..what kind?"

Mr. Mairts looked towards Laira nervously, shaking his head and pursing his lips as much as he didn't want to go to jail, he didn't want Raiders on his doorstep either. He looked back at Theo...swallowing hard, "I said enough"

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Laira came back with a soft, reassuring smile. "Thank you Debbin." She said, using his first name in the hopes of being a little more familiar and a little flirty inflection. People were more relaxed around others when they felt familiar with them, and that was exactly what she needed. "Yeah, I'm sure they were too far away to make anything out anyway." She said, giving him an out that she could circle back to later.

"Hey, I couldn't help but notice you had an owner's manual for a swoop bike in your refresher. You got the u r one ninety-eight from GSI or is that just a download." She asked, changing the subject, giving Theo a look to follow her lead while sauntered into the living toom.

"Yeah I got it, its down in my parking spot while I work on it." Debbin responded quietly, glad to be talking about something else, happy to be chatting with a pretty girl about something he enjoyed. "I've been changing out the fuel injectors for a different type, boost acceleration."

"Oh, I'm not much of a mechanic but I used to have a SoroSuub ex four before I crashed it. Had to sell it for parts." She brushed her hair back and sat down beside the man, "I bet people ask you to fix their speeders all the time around here. Its always good to know someone who knows there way around an engine. Girls just love a mechanic." She batted her eyes as she spoke, trying her best to get him to relax and just talk for a moment.

"Yeah, I do a little work here or there for the neighbors. Sometimes for parts, sometimes for money. Sometimes just as a favor." He responded, "But I haven't had a lot of time these days with work and all."

"Ever help out our vic?" Debbin froze, his eyes darted away and to the left before he could answer. Laira knew enough about body language to suspect something even without the Force telling her he was trying to hide something. Sometimes talking was all you needed to do and they would answer your question without ever saying a word. "How about Marta Keins. Or Sasha Lorn. Maybe Deidra Halloway." She listed off the other victims, all taken nearby at night, while supposedly messing with their transport while it was suffering some kind of trouble. Then all the cameras would flash and both girl and speeder would be gone.

[member="Theo Vereen"]

 

[Theo Vereen]

Theo watched his sister she had a practiced hand at batting her eyes to get what she wanted. Course he tried desperately not to roll his eyes when she did he had to look away quick outside at anything to keep from smiling for either of them to see.

He rubbed his chin as if thinking when in truth he was trying to rub out the smile that wouldn't fade away. Feth!! Finally taking a breath he turned back investing himself to the conversation at hand. It was obvious from the men's posture how he stiffened at the names he knew them that much was certain. Was he the one they were looking for though?

"Helping them out isn't a crime Mr. Mairts but they could be in real trouble. We need to find them, anything you saw could help." Theo saw the side board with a few holos didn't know if they were his daughter, granddaughter, nieces or just some kids he knew. "If it was one them you would want someone to help if they could right?"

He looked downright uncomfortable even ashamed as his eyes stared at the floor, "I might have saw something earlier..maybe" Mr. Mairts looked at Laira Theo could see he was studying her face. Maybe there was something in Laira's face that made the old man think twice about what he saw, or it was the gentle words they used to coax him to talk to them.

"I help when I can. They just...well they didn't seem to have anyone to help them. So I did... ya know" He kept looking at Laira. Maybe for once Theo should let Laira talk. Work her magic little eyelash batting.

[member="Laira Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"Might have?" Laira cocked an eyebrow, looking over to Theo, "You buy that?" They had a few pieces of information about the crime that left a handful of inconsistencies in what he was saying. "Alright, I'm going to be honest with you mister Mairts, we know something is up. We know whoever is taking these girls has help. Someone is helping them pick targets and cause issues with their speeders. The locals think they are using a kill-switch of sorts."

She paused, careful about revealing to much, or not enough. "They're having their evidence shipped to the Sector House to be analyzed by the Rangers, you know the best investigators CorSec, KDY, and Balmorra have to offer." Not exactly true, the locals hadn't given them permission to assist with the investigation officially. So far all that had been talked about was letting Laira and Theo conduct their own investigation alongside theirs.

"So whoever's doing that might be good enough that the locals can't find traces, but the Rangers. They're gonna. And when they do, they are gonna come down on that person like a Star Destroyer." She didn't know or need to list off the possible charges, she also didn't need to point out that the Rangers didn't have jurisdiction in the Hapes Cluster yet.

"But," Her voice became soft and with a touch of honey in her tone. "If that person was forced to help them, and came forward as soon as he could. Well then, they'd be protected." Her voice lowered and became almost breathy, "And I'd be really, really grateful."

[member="Theo Vereen"]

 

[Delila Castillon]

With Myles left in charge of the Queen's safety, Delila got the task of fanning out and checking for more intruders into the palace and diplomatic talks. There had been one - a woman that had seemed enamored with Myles, but so far Delila hadn't seen -- well rather heard, much from the security crews that were under her control. Chatter picked up in her ear, announcements of rooms being clear or reports of stopping to check security badges on staff.


Dells had been thinking of requesting a different assignment. Her time spent outside the FWC on personal work helping [member="Xin Boa"] monitor arms dealers had been thrilling despite not going to plan. Perhaps it was time to do something different. Be out in the field once again? The redhead didn't know if she was ready to be responsible for a group once again. Being in charge of Embassy Security was one thing. The field was different.


Something to bring up to Myles soon.

 

[Xin Boa]

“Brak?” Xin whispered. The door to the room was open. Lights out as they had been for Dells’ surveillance shift. There was no sign of the barabel. Xin swore.

Dells only had a small blaster in her hands but that was still a much better option than a lampstick. He wasn't fussy about weapons, though he used an Glie44 or an E22 when he had a choice. Now he didn't even have his blaster resistant muscle lizard to go and fetch him a blaster if they got into trouble.

Giving Dells a nod Xin moved cautiously for the open door. Laser fire erupted from a point several levels above them. Repeater fire. It splashed across the section of the building their target had been in.

“I tink we need to get outta here!” he shouted back. There was a flash from the other tower and before he realised what was going on a missile streaked towards them. The tower shook once again and this time the blaster fire stopped.

They needed to not be on this edge of the tower. The walkway outside his door looked precarious but it was intact. Little burning scraps floated down past their rooms from above. Xin stepped out and looked up. Fire. The last thing a wooden tower this size needed.

The planks beneath him creaked and started to give. He felt something slam against his back and suddenly he was suspended in the air. Brak had a hold of him.

“Careful,” The barabel hissed.

 

[Theo Vereen]

Dear god his sister was flirting with the guy! It took every bit of restraint in him to keep from walking over grabbing her by the arm and hauling her out of there. But then the man seemed to like the attention.

Oh feth.

Theo clenched his jaw and waited for her to finish. He wasn't about to volunteer to leave either who knows what the guy would try. Not that Laira couldn't take him he just wasn't that kind of brother. "We would remember someone who helped us." He wasn't about to lower his voice and get all breathy, man his parents would have a conniption if they saw this.

Mr. Mairts smiled at Laira he liked her red hair and the way she said grateful. She had lips that....well gave any man indecent thoughts. "I could like at the bikes and tell you how it was done, and if the switch is manmade. Well let's say everyone leaves a unique signature on the unit, I can tell you whose it is." He put his chin in his hand and looked at Laira seeming to forget Theo was even in the room.

[member="Laira Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"Well, that is much appreciated Debbin. How about you come to the station in the morning." Laira asked, paying close attention to how frustrated her brother was. It was adorable that he was still so protective of her even though technically he was the younger sibling. She appreciated the thought, even if it was a little unnecessary. She was still a good girl at heart and wasn't about to shack up with the man or run off to the bedroom to get information out of him.

"I'll be there," The man responded, taking her card that she offered in one hand and watching her intently as she stood up to leave.

"It's a date then. Come on Theo, lets not waste anymore of his time." Laira said with a kind smile as she ushered Theo out of the house, quite pleased with herself at how well they had done to someone who had initially been very resistant to helping them. "So, what'd you think?" She asked after the door closed behind them and they got far enough to not be heard easily. She more or less didn't pay much heed to her flirting in there, she did that all the time, granted not normally so thick, but it was her nature to bat her eye lashes and try to look cute to get her way.

"I feel like we got a ton of information. The guy, he's not just a mechanic, he's an engineer. He had a workshop with all kinds of electronics." The redhead was pretty sure she was the inside man the kidnappers were using to help them. "I say we set up and use a shotgun microphone to watch his house."

[member="Theo Vereen"]

 

[Theo Vereen]

"I think we got more than we were planning or that he was willing to give." They walked along talking briefly about what they found. "An engineer. So...what's an engineer need with pretty young girls. Unless it's all about credits. Slave market?"

He looked at Laira questioning was it possible that this was bigger than they thought. Sometimes things fell into their laps when they were least expecting it Mr. Mairts was just one of those things. Not really expecting the man to give them anything it was quite possible he just gave them half of what they needed, "Yeah let's watch and listen see if he reveals anything else."

They would have no problems getting equipment he and Laira had been Alderaan scouts, 'be prepared' they were usually always prepared. "Let's get stocked up for a night of listening and get back here and set up..." He paused, "ya know maybe one of us should stay and watch while the other goes and gets everything." Theo shrugged, "we don't want him leaving without us knowing, ya know."

It wasn't a question.


[member="Laira Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Laira smirked, "He was hoping to get something else," her voice devious and her grin equally mischeivous. A little touch of the Force here, a little added pheromones there. It all added up to get them the info they wanted and then some. "Well, slave trade was what I was thinking. We are near where the pirates have been raiding the cluster. Not that far fetched to think they paid a local to pick targets for them."

The redhead pointed at a building subtly, "Fine, you go grab us supplies, I'll head up to the roof of that building and watch him." She started to walk towards the building, stopping to turn and talk to him some more, "Oh, get me some chips. Sour-cream and onion. Oh and a roast nerf sandwich. With a Jawa Juice. Snacks are super important on stake outs Theo, the second most important part." She grinned at him, rubbing her flattened yet muscular stomach.

[member="Theo Vereen"]

 

[Theo Vereen]

[member="Laira Darkhold"]

"yeah, likely cause if there's no bodies that means a few things one they are alive, or two they are dead and buried so deep we won't see a body for years." That was a chilling thought, "pirates. I think I can deal with pirates Laira. Cold blooded killers that look like everyone else they get to be harder and harder to find" He had probably watched too many holo movies but the news was full of disappearing citizens.

There had to be an explanation and pirates suited him.

As Laira began listing off all the things she wanted to eat Theo had one thought. My sister the bottomless pit. He even thought at one time she had a tape worm later realized no she just at a lot. "Snacks...right...I thought it was stimcaf." He watched her for a few moments more before turning to go find the necessities needed for a proper stake out.

He nodded and waved, "I'll be back"

And he would be in about an hour, "if you move let me know" He didn't yell it too many would hear him.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Laira didn't move. She would occasionally pace around on the roof top, careful to stay mostly out of view where only her head might be visible form Debbin Mairts apartment if he was being very paranoid. She doubted he would be too concerned with where they had gone. He had his appointment in the morning, it was more just watching the apartment to make sure he didn't leave.

About forty five minutes after Theo had gone, Laira's stomach began to rumble and she began frowning in anticipation. She was used to long flights and being stuck in a cockpit, unable to move around or get up and walk. It was the mixture of hunger and the openness of her surroundings mixed with the knowledge she couldn't leave. It felt like an odd twist in her gut that she was able to move and run anywhere, but couldn't because of her mission. She peered over the edge to see a large black transport pull up to the apartment building.

Two Nikto exited the back of the transport to go and bang on Debbin's door, piquing her curiosity as she sat watching. Debbin answered, dressed still even though the lights had been off and looking a little bothered to being approached at this hour. Laira couldn't hear, she needed to be able to hear. This was it. This was the evidence they needed. Her danger sense warned her, but the princess decided she needed to move closer anyway.

She'd give Theo a couple minutes and then she was leaving for a better look.

[member="Theo Vereen"]

 

[Theo Vereen]

[member="Laira Darkhold"]

Theo had haggled for a few extra things to go with their 'snacks' he got what his sister wanted. Not that it was bad food it just well..wasn't what he was in the mood for. He got a little sidetracked on the way back by a cute little brunette with big doe eyes. Then he thought about two things she could be next and his sister waiting on him.

He gave the girl the standard excuse got to go give ya call . He would probably call after this was all done but first catch up with Laira. As he turned the corner to head to the roof he saw the Nikto standing on the front stoop of Mr. Mairta. He immediately stopped and laid flat against the building didn't want to attract attention. He wondered if Laira had seen, well of course she had.

Slowly he moved down the wall to the next step and with all the elegance of a rancor he sat down and pulled a drink from the container. He pushed his body down slumping while he drank, maybe no one would notice. Maybe they'd think him homeless. As he tried to listen. He could hear the grunts of them all but their words weren't clear. He realized he'd have to get closer.