Mission Desire

[Darth Osano]

BASTION
TELANAG

Telanag was a cozy little city tucked up in one of Bastion's more temperate, rainy regions. Bastion was a large importer of commercial goods, as the planet's military focus left little room for civilian manufacturing. Foreign goods dominated their markets, particularly Santhe-brand air and landspeeders. Telanag was not a large city by any means and so air traffic was relatively rare, but landspeeders were practically a necessity. Public transport on Bastion, from what Pollux understood, was about as reliable as a Rodian with a bladder infection. That was the analogy he had been given. He did not have the time or the patience to question it.

What he did have time for was collecting debts. The Santhe Corporation was missing quite the pretty penny thanks to some incompetent dealers they had sold their stock to. On one hand they wanted their promised returns, and on the other they didn't want to be seen dirtying their hands wringing debt out of those innocent, maligned landspeeder dealers. This was where people like Pollux and his associated outfit, the Helix Syndicate, came in.

Abrahap Gimble owed Santhe a lot of money. He was behind on his payments, his sales were were flat-lining, and through it all he was still living like a king. A vicious, vain, idiot king. This was Pollux's first stop in reminding an assortment of similar delinquents of their obligations. Gimble was not a subtle man. Not when he had Santhe money to spend. He had one speeder-truck waiting outside Gimble's lavish home, just around the corner and out of sight. They were waiting for Gimble's similarly extravagant (custom-made and decidedly not Santhe) landspeeder to pull out of the drive way. Pollux himself was farther down the road in a similar speeder-truck. He was intending to corner Gimble on the road. It usually terrified people like him to wind up surrounded by a bunch of armed Guavians.

In the first truck was [member="Nyra Mazul"]. An unknown hireling that Pollux could not remember why he had employed. Her comlink would crackle to life as the Givin checked in on her watch. "Any activity?"

Pollux was famously terse.

 

[Nyra Mazul]

The truth was there was how many hundred, thousand, dealers of speeders in the galaxy? For a company like Santhe this job was far under the radar and yet had to be done. Credit leveraged against sales was still money owned regardless of sales being complete. Nyra hated that sort of stuff. She was a simple thief and if she had her way about this little scenario being played out would have simply stolen something of value, fenced it, and settled her debt to Santhe Corporation. Then again she wouldn't be foolish enough to incur such a debt and so the galaxy continues to moves.

[member="Pollux"] was a bizarre sort. A givin, something of a galactic abnormality in their rather sunken and skeletal feature and yet Sasha herself was a changing and in her true form far from the human norm. Not that the woman rarely ever took her true form, her neurosis having consumed her mind long ago and human forms being of more use in the galaxy anyways.

The little merry band had set up on the street outside the ostentatious manor of Abrahap Gimble. He certainly seemed to be able to pay the debt and Nyra grew in confidence at the collecting. Pollux asked through the com if she saw anything. "Patients is a virtue they say," Nyra replied. The little Sith Thief was itching for confrontation. With the force she could sense movement before she saw it and knew through some preternatural warning sense that he was about to leave his home. "Hold on," she communicated through the device. "There is movement in the garage, I believe he's about to leave." Excitement filled Nyra's being as they readied for their task.

 

[Darth Osano]

Patients. Pollux had not been aware that [member="Nyra Mazul"] was moonlighting as a doctor in her spare time. Either that or amateur nerves were getting the better of her. In any event, Pollux was more focused on Abrahap's movements than Nyra's misspeaks. Sure enough, the Thief would see the garage blastdoors slid open and Abrahap's landspeeder began to reverse out of it. You didn't need to be a mechanic to figure out how that this was not a fuel efficient landspeeder. Being that this was a highly connected galaxy, nobody really had to worry about fuel efficiency any more... But there's still the principle of the matter. Wastefulness. Neglectfulness. Ego. Abrahap was quite visible in the front seat. This landspeeder was one of those convertible sorts- the roof could retract at the discretion of the driver.

Because everyone needed to see what Abrahap looked like as he drove to and from work.

Pudgy and oafish. He was in an ill-fitting business suit and his sunglasses were expensive, but had somehow gotten crooked. Only slightly, though. Just enough that he would never notice but everyone who looked at him did. The sneer on his face gave the impression that he was trying to fulfill the common young, bigshot, new money corporate executive stereotype. Trying. He could not fulfill this stereotype because he was forty-seven years old. Abrahap had been too poor growing up to insert himself into that stereotype when it would have been appropriate to him and now he was trying to make up for lost time. The landspeeder swerved backwards out of the driveway, straightened itself on the road, and started making its way down.

The driver in Myra's speeder-truck required no further verification. He slowly pulled out from their inconspicuous position and drove after Abrahap. They started off slow, then gradually picked up speed as Abrahap did. Then, without warning, an identical speeder lurched out into the middle of the road, blocking Abrahap. The salesman yanked off his sunglasses indignantly and started cursing, apparently not paying attention to the fact that the second speeder-truck had just pulled up behind him. The doors to Pollux's truck opened, and out came the Givin and a pair of Guavians. Abrahap saw this and it dawned on him that this was not going to go in his favor. He fumbled with the gear shift, switched into reverse, and floored it.

Of course his speeder slammed right into the front of the truck that had been parked behind him. He would, naturally, be paying for that in addition to his other debts.

 

[Nyra Mazul]

Smirking as she saw the plump little man jump into his speeder and start to leave Nyra knew it was on. What exactly they were doing she wasn't sure, but hoped it involved beating on a man until he was able to pay his debt. Then again that was only a tertiary reason for her riding along on the job. The truth was [member="Velok the Younger"] wanted her to examine this Givin and get a feel for him. He was useful, or so the Whiphid thought.

Nyra smiled as her speeder was struck... "Oooo you're gunna pay for that!" she yelled transforming into the form of a Wookiee flexing her fingers in their crushgaunts. Stepping out of the the speeder van Nyra aproached the door of the fat mans speeder and ripped it from its hinges throwing the door onto the ground next to to the motionless speeder. "We need to exchange insurance information!" So what if wookiees couldn't speak basic, people who might be watching wouldn't hear her, they would only see an angry wookiee pulling a man out of a speeder. No trace back to her or @Pollux.

 

[Darth Osano]

[member="Nyra Mazul"] was also a Shi'ido. Fascinating. Pollux had almost forgotten, which was especially strange considering... Well, that wasn't important. What was important that there was no threat of anything be traced back to anyone, considering this was all perfectly legal. State and federal legislation had been passed under the guises of other, inconspicuous bills that allowed Pollux and other debt buying corporations to use "enhanced" collection methods. Like angry Wookies. Pollux, hands in his pockets, watched passively as Wookie!Nyra ripped open the driver's side door (had it been locked? Would it have mattered?) and dragged a quivering, urinating Abrahap Gimble from his seat.

He was placed before Pollux and his Guavian ensemble. One of them handed the Givin a datapad that had a stylus attached to it. "Mr. Gimble?"

Abrahap nodded dumbly.

Pollux flicked through the pad's contents to make sure everything was there. Unscrupulous business or not, sometimes you still needed signatures. When he got to the window asking for Abrahap's signature, he detached the stylus and held out both instruments for the salesman to take. "Sign here."

Abrahap stared. Rather unsurprisingly, he was too spooked to function properly. Silence carried on for a few moments. The only cure for someone who was terrified beyond function, Pollux found, was to terrify them even further until they regained the ability to function. It was just one of those things you pick up in this kind of business. For aid in this endeavor, Pollux diverted his gaze from Gimble and instead to his Wookie-ified employee. "Mr. Gimble seems to require some encouragement." In some cases, but not all, Pollux could be described as a laissez-faire employer. Whatever methods Mrytle decided to employ would be left up to her.

 

[Nyra Mazul]

Nyra heard [member="Pollux"] say that Gimble required a bit of encouragement she smiled a toothy wookiee smile and growled a little. It was low and guttural growl emphasizing teeth that had the appearance of being filed to a point. Although they had claws wookiees never used them preferring instead to use brute strength. Picking up the speeder door which had previously been on the ground Nyra started to pull and rip the metal, strength enhanced by the Crushgaunts she wore. Metal crunched, buckled, bent, and broke before Nyra, in a show of strength, tore it asunder.

Speaking the wookiee language she growled out a few words stepping forward to appear just before the man. Her hands found his shoulders and with a vice grip she clamped on and began to pull. Shoulders popped from joints and the man's collar bone broke under the pressure. Pay up now, Nyra growled in the wookiee's language.

She thought for another moment and made sure to leave one arm unscathed so he could sign. Looking over at Pollux she nodded.

 

[Darth Osano]

This was what Pollux liked to call "excessive force." The Givin gave no indication of being bothered despite finding it somewhat distasteful. In fact, he gave a curt nod of approval to Wookie Mazul as if to approve. He knelt down in front of Gimble, who was now alternating between gasps and whimpers of what was now unbearable pain. "This is all perfectly legal, Gimble." Pollux said. "Remember that." It absolutely wasn't. The legislation had approved "enhanced payment encouragement methods." Not "tear their bloody arms out." Perhaps a seedy lawyer could argue otherwise, though unless the presiding judge was equally seedy then it would be for nothing. But if Pollux actually made a whole fuss about it towards [member="Nyra Mazul"] in front of Gimble, broken collar bone or not, the sleazebag was probably going to go to the cops.

Or maybe he would anyway. Wouldn't end well for him either way, and Pollux was sure he was aware of that.

Recovering the car intact would have also been helpful to Gimble, but Pollux supposed they could just weld the door back on and scam someone with it if they made the vehicle look passable enough. Oh well. Gimble had other, more expensive assets still laying around, ripe for collection regardless. "Sign here or your legs go next." Gimble whimpered incoherently and groped for the datapad and stylus, scrawling a ramshackle approximation of his signature. Good enough. Pollux looked over the datapad, stood up, and nodded at the Guavians standing behind him. One of them took up the task of dragging Gimble onto the sidewalk (wouldn't be professional to leave him in the street) and the other assumed control of Gimble's vehicle.

Nyra would notice the Guavians that had been riding with her were packing back into the vehicle and getting ready to leave without her. At which point, Pollux would say, "My van. They're going elsewhere."

 

[Nyra Mazul]

Nyra went with [member="Pollux"] into his van. She had to admit the way he commanded her into his van was rather creepy, Something about him though seemed rather... nonthreatening. Maybe it was their similarities, of which Nyra found they had enough of, that made her trust him. Maybe it was some sort of gas or chemical agent. It didn't really matter though, she had a job to do. Not the job Pollux was doing, but something else.

"So," she said looking over at the 'Givin' "You noticed the ring on his finger right? The one marking him as a syndicate hireling." Nyra shrugged a bit and thought about it. There was more going on here than met the eye, and that in and of itself was precisely why she was here. Well that and to recruit Pollux. Okay primarily to recruit Pollux. "So where are we going?"

 

[Darth Osano]

Being that he was a spooky, terse-talking skeleton, there were few things Pollux could do without being creepy. He did not frequently invite Wookies into company vehicles, so he was also would not know how to do so without being creepy, if that were all possible. Once the two of them were back in the van with another pair of Guavians, the engine rumbled back to life and they lurched forward. Nyra had apparently noticed Gimble's ring, indicating him as a Syndicate hireling. Fascinating. He had not expected Nyra to notice such a minute detail or even understand what it meant. The right corner of Pollux's mouth twitched. That might have become a smile if Pollux were at all the smiling type.

"Naturally." He replied. "Waylon does not care for us."

Waylon were a rival crime syndicate. They were primarily drug pushers as opposed to extortionists like Helix. Despite the different venues, Waylon had decided to react with hostility towards the Helix Syndicate's operations. It was irrational. They had no reason to. Perhaps someone else was giving them the orders to do so. It wouldn't matter until Pollux's probes turned up something. In the meantime, it seemed that this hostility being the current state of things was inevitable. So Pollux decided he might as well give them a real reason to detest him. He started buying the debts of some of their more productive drug smugglers, most of whom were simultaneously scamming Santhe. It was bizarre how it all linked together, but in a galaxy this big there was bound to be just a little overlap somewhere.

Pollux checked his watch, then looked back at [member="Nyra Mazul"]. "Another salesman. Might be at work already."