It's Not the Cargo, It's the Destination

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori was still indebted to [member="Kaine Australis"] . She still needed to pay for her ship, plus it's expenses. And she still needed to earn enough to pay for her crew as well.

So she placed out an advertisment on the holonet which read:

~Hey there! Need something shipped? Need something picked up? How about just a ride to some place? Jaster's Sparrow could be perfect for you! It's a Mantis class vessel with a decent sized cargo hold. There's also extra bunks for sleeping. Our crew is small, and neutral to most governments.

Don't hesitate to reach us!

CaptainLori@holo.net~

Now it was the waiting game. Most of her crew was on leave, but [member="Gray Venasir"] wasn't. She made her way over to the lounge where she expected to find him, speaking as she entered the room. "I put out an ad.
Hopefully we'll get some work soon."

[member="Thraxis"]

 

[Thraxis]

Loadout:

Spoiler

Chassis Slot: Thraxis Armour Helmet Slot: None
Cloak Slot: Phantasm Cloak Greave Slot: Thraxis Armour
Pauldron Slot: Thraxis Armour Foot Slot: Thraxis Armour
Melee: Cruciatus Blade Overcoat: None
Rifle Slot: DEMP Sidearm Slot: Pistolas
Misc: Null Generator Hand-to-Hand Weapon: None

He perused a selection of useless helmets, each one had no story, no purpose and no function. They were all at most Decorative and at their worst they were broken. After a drawn-out process of flipping coins he picked out a small Hazmat Suit helmet, his features distorted and left empty behind the veil of Black. A long tube ran down and connected to a small empty bag that he pretended was an Air Pouch. With that, he pulled off unnecessary complications. Explaining his Greatcoat and Vambraces would put off the wrong idea, and as much as he loved his Bag, he knew it wouldn't serve well for him to drip with dark malice.

Now he was set, dressed to high heavens as someone else as he looked through the holonet. He had heard rumours of some child seemingly taking a lot of jobs. He figured he could take advantage. He ran fingers along a screen, electric blue filtering all around him as he responded to their ad.

Hello there CaptainLori@Holo.net. My Name is Thraxis.

Recently, my line of work has been shut down. I and my crew have recently been hired by a gang of Drug Smugglers, my crew and I weren't aware and have learnt that the drug was highly addictive and fatal. It broke into the Atmosphere of my ship and my crew is now dead. I need help for this. I'm looking to steal all their drugs and dispose of it elsewhere. Can you help me with this? Drug Smugglers have plenty of credits, and I would be happy to let you take every Credit they have stolen. If so, meet me at the Dancing Mollusc Coffee Shop on Roxuli. We can discuss more there.

From, SmugglesForFeels@Holo.net.

He laid the bait. Now to see if he could draw in the fly.
[member="Loreena Arenais"]

 

[Gray Venasir]

While the others went on leave, Gray had decided to stay on the ship. He liked it there, and it was the first place he had felt at home in a long time. He was laying on his bed, watching a holovid, when the captain came in and said she had put up an ad for work. "Great. I've been itching for some work. And Money. As long as it's legi, it's good by me."

It had been some time since they had had a job last, and now that it was only him and Lori on the ship, it wasn't always much to do. It was fun talking With her, and playing Sabacc, but it got tiresome. And he knew Lori needed Money, which he himself also needed. So hopefully, someone would answer the ad soon. And hopefully, it would be some good work, which paid good Money.

After some waiting, Gray thought it might be an idea to check if anyone had answered. He went over to Lori and said, "Hey, maybe we should check if someone has answered Your ad for work? One can get answeres to Things like that quite fast sometimes, in this proffesion."

[member="Loreena Arenais"] | [member="Thraxis"]

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

[member="Gray Venasir"] was good to have around. She hadn't discovered much yet about whether or not he had any family or anything, but maybe one day she would. Right now though he seemed content with working for her. Loyalty was hard to find, but she had to be on the lookout for betrayal as well. That was a hard lesson to learn. To trust someone only to have that trust used against her. Hopefully that wouldn't happen too often.

At his suggestion, Lori decided to check her messages. "Do you think that someone would answer this quickly?" No sooner did the words pass her lips that she found a reply had come. "Wow...look at this." She let Gray read the message over her shoulder, all the while imagining the different scenarios that could happen with such a job. "Stealing from drug smugglers. And his crew all died?! If we're going to take this job, we'll have to be extra careful...Whatcha think? Should we at least meet with this [member="Thraxis"] guy and see how much it's worth?"

There was another contact that she could take advantage of. Someone that might have more experience with this sort of thing. On the holo-net she had come across a [member="Niklaas Azthal"] that was looking for work. She just wasn't sure if she had a mission good enough for his talents. But maybe this one could be.

 

[Gray Venasir]

When he heard the shocked statement come from Lori, Gray came to see as a reflex, wether she had told him to or not. He read the messege at the same time as she, and actually getting a bit surprised himself that an answer had come so fast. Job replies could come fast in this proffesion, but he hadn't really believed it would this time. The name [member="Thraxis"] seemed somewhat familiar to him, but he couldn't remember from where.

"Yeah, I think we should meet him," he said as an answer to Lori's question. It was an interesting job, and it was also a bit unusual. Someone wanting to steal drugs from smugglers, just to dispose of it, and letting someone else take all the Money. But it could prove to be good work. And how could it hurt to meet him? Gray had come out of harder situations by himself before. While thinking about this, he put in the coordinates to the Meeting Place.

But these thoughts made him remember his life before becoming a smuggler himself. He never talked about where he came from, or who he really was. Trusting People usually came hard for him. But he had worked for [member="Loreena Arenais"] for some time now, and learnt that she could be trusted. So for some time, Gray had considered telling her about his background. It wasn't too long to travel to the Place they'd meet Thraxis, so he decided to at least wait to after the job, or when they got time, to maybe tell her. It wasn't a story he thought about With a light heart.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

"Alright. I'll send this [member="Thraxis"] person a reply." Without further ado, she typed one up.

~Thraxis,

I'm sorry to hear about your crew. That's just awful. Those drug dealers sure need to get what's coming to them!

We'll see you there. Thank you!

CaptainLori@holo.net~

Soon afterwards she plotted the course for Roxuli and got herself comfortable in her seat, letting [member="Gray Venasir"] pilot them on this venture. "I wonder what kinds of drugs these are...Do you think he'd be getting us to steal the same kind? If so we'll have to take precautions as I don't want us to be going through the same kind of fate as his crew." Oh no they wouldn't. She couldn't imagine how horrible Thraxis was feeling over the loss of his crew.

"Thanks for sticking around. It's probably safer for me not to do this by myself." But she needed the credits.

 

[Gray Venasir]

They had arrived on Roxulli, a planet Gray had never been on. Nevertheless, he and Lori had managed to find the best Place to land the ship to get to this coffee shop they were to meet [member="Thraxis"] in. Gray had dressed like he normally would when going to discuss jobs With potential employers. That was a white shirt, With a Brown leather jacket over it. This leather jacket had short sleeves, ending at the elbows, and was unbuttoned. The pants were Brown, With a belt With his blaster-holster on it. It was only one of his blasters he had in the belt, hiding his other blaster in his boot, in case Things went South. And he always decided to not use his broad-brimmed hat on these Meetings.

As they neared the Meeting Place, Gray looked at Lori and said "Let's hope this is not a trap. Anyway, keep Your guard up." It probably was not need to say this, as Lori had most likley thought off that already. And she wasn't a newbie to this game, and knew to keep her guard up. He had just said it to make sure. They were nearing the shop, and the fact that Thraxis had chosen this Place was an indication that it wasn't a trap. It would be too many People. Then they entered.

[member="Loreena Arenais"]

 

[Thraxis]

Loadout:

Spoiler

Chassis Slot: Thraxis Armour Helmet Slot: None
Cloak Slot: Phantasm Cloak Greave Slot: Thraxis Armour
Pauldron Slot: Thraxis Armour Foot Slot: Thraxis Armour
Melee: Cruciatus Blade Overcoat: None
Rifle Slot: DEMP Sidearm Slot: Pistolas
Misc: Null Generator Hand-to-Hand Weapon: None

He sat at the coffee table, a seat pulled up. He wasn't sure the size of Loreena's crew, and further wasn't sure how she treated them and wasn't willing to fork over on the biggest table. No, instead he bought the cheapest cup of coffee and a Scone. Without care he dipped the scone into the Jam and Whipped cream, pulling up his gas mask as the smell of burnt liquor rolled in gorged fumes as the scone was consumed. before locking the mask back down.

As they rocked up his words were scorned and mournful, spoken with a heart that had anchors pulling it to a briny deep, "Welcome." His words cut abruptly as the duo arrived. A smaller crew than he expected, most people choose to either fly solo or run about with five or more. He waved a hand over to another table, "Please, grab a seat, I didn't know how many to expect." He continued, letting the duo take their seats before continuing. "Thank you, Loreena and..." He motioned a hand over to her friend, letting him fill int he blanks before continuing, "I know this might seem like short notice, but I needed a crew quickly for this and you were the first to respond." He paused, a hand ran down the length of his gas mask as if trying to break past the layer of plastic and metal to wipe away a tear. "We only have a short opportunity to get this done. So let's get started."

He pulled from a small pouch a tiny Holoprojector, putting it at the table as the screen popped into life with a blue haze, imagery and iconography passing between Thraxis fingertips as he strolled along the list, running through previous fictitious jobs and the sort before coming to their current objective. "Ah, here we are." He spoke flatly, the picture of a hardened criminal laced in deep running scars and a small Prisoner Tag tattooed onto his forehead appeared. "This is Ka-Aver. Weequay, he commands the Purple Rejects." He continued, it was all lies, Ka-Aver was the name of an old Friend and the Purple Rejects was Thraxis current cannon-fodder. "He and his crooners have been found flying around Roxuli recently, I believe they are getting supplies from around the region and sending it to their Explorer Scout Ship." He continued, before flipping a page of the Holoprojector, "And if I'm correct, the Supplier wants more Smugglers to expedite transportation." He continued, letting the duo ask any questions they may have so far.
@Loreena Arenais [member="Gray Venasir"]

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori was dressed casually too; a mid-length jacket, trousers and shirt. All that allowed a freedom of movement. Her boots came to her mid thigh, one hiding a dagger within it, while a small holdout pistol was tucked into the left sleeve of her jacket.

She nodded to [member="Gray Venasir"] as he gave his warning, just before they stepped inside. There was always a chance that it could be a trap. Meetings organized among strangers on the holonet wasn't exactly a safe thing to do. That was why she was sure to not be alone.

[member="Thraxis"] greeted them almost as soon as they stepped into the cafe. Lori raised a brow as he called her by her full first name. How did he know? Was it a guess? She was sure that she signed all of her messages as Captain Lori...

Her brows furrowed as he almost seemed to try to brish away some tears. She sat right down across from him and fully listened to the instructions. "That's our in, right? To pretend to be some smugglers that want in on it? Do you know what the payout is? And what happened that got your crew exposed?
Did they open one of the crates?" Lori had a lot more questions. But she didn't want to ask them all at once.

 

[Gray Venasir]

As they were sitting Down at the table With [member="Thraxis"], Gray got a feeling he had seen this man somewhere before. But where that was, he couldn't remember. Anyway, it probably didn't matter. "Gray," he said short to Thraxis. He got a bit surprised that this man knew Lori's real name. She didn't normally use it, and he himself always called her Lori. That was the name he got to know her by, so that is who she was to him.

As they listened to Thraxis telling about the situation, he tried to listen if anything seemed off. But nothing sounded wierd. He didn't know how Things were on this planet, Roxulli, so he couldn't know for sure. [member="Loreena Arenais"] started questioning about the mission, and all of them was good. Gray let her do that, while he was just trying to listen, get every detail.

But after a short while, he had to ask a question of his own. "This Ka-Aver. How much do you know about him?"

 

[Thraxis]

Loadout:

Spoiler

Chassis Slot: Thraxis Armour Helmet Slot: None
Cloak Slot: Phantasm Cloak Greave Slot: Thraxis Armour
Pauldron Slot: Thraxis Armour Foot Slot: Thraxis Armour
Melee: Cruciatus Blade Overcoat: None
Rifle Slot: DEMP Sidearm Slot: Pistolas
Misc: Null Generator Hand-to-Hand Weapon: None

He took a heavy pause, fingers caught at the nose bridge of his Gas Mask as he exhaled, "Always to the money." He replied at the flurry of questions, deciding to break the question down into more mouth sized bits. "From what I know, Ka-Aver is offering big bucks. Like. Thousands of Credits for a couple pounds." He replied, "As for its effects. Spasms were the big ones. Muscle tensions. It's like a Stroke got high." He replied, pulling out a smaller holoprojector and passing it to Gray. "This might be more for your stomach." He left the Holoprojector there, a single contorted image was placed, but no miracle of Photoshopping was at play. This was all real.

The body was mangled, the flesh was torn and turned, guts of muscle oozed from the stitchless wounds, eyes gouged and wrought in pain, the body still twitching in what could only be called dazed agony, tongues stuck out like engorged bananas. That was the face. That was all the picture was. "By all technicality. It's a drug. New tot he market but with what it does... It's a hidden Bio-Weapon." He continued, a dark tone brought to his words as he spoke in solemn voices. "But only when it's introduced to Alcohol does it turn Vaporuos. And then it does... That." His fingers darted along the table as a Waitress approached, Thraxis put a hand to deter her. "This thing, this is Ka-Aver's ticket. Imagine parties. This drug, it's clear, you don't see it. Someone spills a few drops of Spilt alcohol and boom." He continued, he momentarily forgot that Loreena had a heavier line of questioning, trying to get the importance of this drug into their minds. "This thing will kill Sith, Jedi, Hutt's it just doesn't care." He pulled back the holoprojector and stuck it back in his coat.

"So if you didn't figure it. My crew were drinking around the payload, a bottle broke and boom." He said, turning towards Gray to answer his arguably easier question, "As for Ka-Aver? He's new. Like, a couple months new." He stated, running a finger against the gas mask where the Temple would've been, "But the guy's seemingly struck gold with this Drug. He's the only man with the recipe. Which is good. We take him out and we can stop this thing from spreading." He looked around, seeing if he had piqued any more questions.
[member="Gray Venasir"] | [member="Loreena Arenais"]

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori had a debt to repay. And her time was running out. So of course she had the payout on the top of her mind. She was surprised as to how much was being offered though. But then again she wasn't very fluent on the spice dealing market.

She folded her arms across her chest as [member="Thraxis"] decided that she was too delicate to witness the effects of the bad spice, instead choosing to hand the images over to [member="Gray Venasir"] instead. Did she really need to see it? No. What she had heard was bad enough.

"So we take this spice and bring it to you for destruction?
Or should we destroy it on our own? We could always just send it into a star or something." No risk of alcohol there. Just fire. "Should we try to capture Ka-Aver too? Or leave him to you?" Lori wanted to complete this mission correctly, afterall.

 

[Gray Venasir]

Gray looked at the image on the holoprojactor [member="Thraxis"] had put in front of him. When he looked at it, he tried to Block the view of Lori. She wasn't a child, and could probably stomach it, but it was nevertheless a grotesque image. He had never seen anything Close to this before, and it made him a bit sick. And he was used to seeing ugly stuff like that. Scanning the Picture made him lose a concentraition of what Thraxis said, but the Picture told him what he needed about this drug.

His attention snapped back when he heard the mention of hutts. But even they did not deserve this. The details about Ka-Aver were good News. New in the game, and stupid enough to keep the formula to himself alone. Things like that was what Gray liked to hear. Then Lori began asking a couple more questions. Honestly, Gray had heard what he needed. He saw no reason to not destroy the drug when they found it, and if Thraxis didn't have a personnal problem With Ka-Aver, they should kill him too at once.

He slid the holoprojector back. He had seen enough. Now, he just waited for the details to be cleared out, and for [member="Loreena Arenais"] to learn what she wanted about this mission.

 

[Thraxis]

Loadout:

Spoiler

Chassis Slot: Thraxis Armour Helmet Slot: None
Cloak Slot: Phantasm Cloak Greave Slot: Thraxis Armour
Pauldron Slot: Thraxis Armour Foot Slot: Thraxis Armour
Melee: Cruciatus Blade Overcoat: None
Rifle Slot: DEMP Sidearm Slot: Pistolas
Misc: Null Generator Hand-to-Hand Weapon: None

It's aligned... Perfectly.​

​

Beneath the veil of a mask, a twisted smile spread like a majestic eagle's wings. It was massive, attractive in the right eyes, and terrifying to the others. But alas, the splendour and malice were hidden beneath the soft-spoken grey of his phoney mask. All he could do was keep the tingling joy from spreading from his lips to his words. "You bring up a good point. Bring me the drugs. I've got the tools to destroy it." Thraxis replied with a cough, pulling his body down with it to give the air of ailment and to help cover the jubilation that spread from ear to ear. "It might be small time, but I want to know it's destroyed. Tossing these things into Stars... Well. I've heard rumours of some Smugglers being able to intercept a spider attacking a fly. Even if that is gross hyperbole. We have a real chance to stop this. I don't think you should take any risks." He continued, fingers running along the desk with a soft pitter patter.

"As for Ka-Aver..." He had to think that one through. There was that pause not too dissimilar to that of a great philosophical question. Great questions like, if a Tree falls down and no one is there to hear it, did it really exist? Lot's of existentialism for such a simple question before a darkened tone sunk into an otherwise salted mouth. "If you take him alive. I'll give you any riches I can muster. Every coin I get from smuggling runs, from every Great Relic to the smallest of antique coins. If you bring him to me bound and gagged. All that and anything more I can will be yours." It was complete overkill, but movie quotes tended to be just that. All pomp no punch.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori nodded as she listened to [member="Thraxis"] . He was the one in charge of this mission, more or less. So she had to listen to him. And besides, the concern in his voice, the guilt he had over what had happened with his crew; it was all too real.

She looked to [member="Gray Venasir"] as the request to bring Ka-Aver in alive was mentioned. Lori gave him a nod as if to confirm that that was supposed to be done. She then turned her attention back to Thraxis. "We'll do what we can.
If he's very new, then he could be easy to trap. As long as he doesn't have too many goons around him, we should be fine."

Lori took in a deep breath and let it out. "When shall we start? Tomorrow?" She wanted to scope out the warehouse first and get some plans in place. There was no point in going in there blind and unprepared.

 

[Gray Venasir]

Well, the answers weren't what Gray had hoped for, but it didn't matter that much. The drugs would be destroyed, and Ka-Aver would be dead. How any of those things happened could be the same, as long as it happened.

He listened to [member="Loreena Arenais"] say what she thought about it, but decided to join in. "But we can handle a few goons. At least. Would be boring if we didn't shoot anything" What he really menat was that he wanted to let out the anger, of what he had seen this drug do, on someone. And since [member="Thraxis"] wanted Ka-Aver for himself, Gray would just have to make do With the goons.

When Lori asked when they should start, he turned to the side and took a coffee standign nearby while no one was watching. He would have preffered something stronger, but it would have to do. He needed something to drink now, and he always did when discussing missions like this. It had become some kind of ritual for him, even though he wasn't superstitious in any way. He just thouht it felt Nice. "Guess we'll see you when we hand over Ka-Aver? Cheers."

 

[Thraxis]

Loadout:

Spoiler

Chassis Slot: Thraxis Armour Helmet Slot: None
Cloak Slot: Phantasm Cloak Greave Slot: Thraxis Armour
Pauldron Slot: Thraxis Armour Foot Slot: Thraxis Armour
Melee: Cruciatus Blade Overcoat: None
Rifle Slot: DEMP Sidearm Slot: Pistolas
Misc: Null Generator Hand-to-Hand Weapon: None

He ran his hand along the table, absent-mindedly going fora coffee cup that had been swiped, he looked at Gray, narrowed eyes and a hidden smile of respect he turned to Loreena, "Tomorrow would be ideal. I've got your contact setup and everything. Meet her there." He passed along a datapad, street address, job information and name of the contact. "And a few goons shouldn't be an issue at all if this goes according to plan. Which..." He mulled over his words, like some war veteran of a hundred past experience took over his voice, "It never does..." His words a shuddered mess as he spoke.
[member="Gray Venasir"] [member="Loreena Arenais"]

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori smirked a little as [member="Gray Venasir"] butt in with his own two cents on their ability to handle some goons. Of course they could! But not if there was like...a hundred of them! Or even a thousand!! She'd need her own personal army for that.

It wasn't until seconds after Gray had swiped the drink that she noticed that it wasn't even his to begin with. She hadn't recognized his ritual at all, moreso as they tended to be occupied while on their missions or cargo jobs.

Lori took the datapad from [member="Thraxis"] and took a look at the information. Of course she couldn't memorize it all right then and there, but studying it for a few minites or so would help. She looked to the man, all full of concern and compassion for the traumatic experience that he had gone through. "We'll see that this does go according to plan. Don't you worry. We'll be back with that cargo before you know it."

She reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him a reassuring squeeze like her Dad always did with her. Then she looked to Gray, tilting her head as a signal to depart before she handed back the datapad to Thraxis. She then turned on her heel and went to the exit.

Tomorrow. There was much to prepare for tomorrow. But first...they had to scope out that warehouse.

 

[Gray Venasir]

Gray followed as Lori walked out. It was a littl wierd seeing Lori hold and squeeze the shoulder of @Thraxis. It wasn't normal to do Things like that on Meetings like this, but it honestly didn't matter. If it meant something to her, then Gray wouldn't think anything more about it.

When they were out of the coffee shop, they went towards the Warehouse. It would be smart to check it out. On the way, he began thinking about the last thing Thraxis said, that Things never goes according to the plan. Usually it was true, but it kind of sounded like he knew something. But that was probably just paranioa thinking.

While walking, Gray decided to strike up a conversation. "So any thoughts about this?" He honestly didn't know what to ask. Some of the Things he heard, and seen, had struck hard. The holopicture wasn't pretty, to say the least, and it made him think about some of his past. And he still thought the name Thraxis sounded familiar. "This Whole thing reminds me of Nar Shaddaa," he said mostly to himself, without realising that he said it out loud. Hopefully they would arrive soon.

[member="Loreena Arenais"]

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori had carried some concerns as well. There was much that they didn't know. Yet that was why they were going to scope things out first.

She kept her hands in her pockets as she walked casually with [member="Gray Venasir"] down the street towards the warehouse. "Well hopefully this place has windows so that we can get some kind of sense of how many people there are for us to deal with. Then we can go back to the ship and grab some supplies. I think that just before dawn is a good time to strike."

When he commented on Nar Shaddaa, Lori raised a brow. "What happened there?
Did they have bad spice there too?" Maybe it was the same kind? Hopefully not.

[member="Thraxis"]