Nar Shadda Five-0

[Riz Carter]

[member="Elliot Locke"]

She tipped her hat slightly up. He finished his noodle bowl about two bites before she did. In her line of work and she imagined his too, got you in the habit of eating fast or not eating at all. Times for food weren't guaranteed or consistent. Had to shovel it in when there was opportunity.

"Alright," fingers dug in her pocket for a credchit card which she left on the table as she stood, chair screeching back across that sticky floor. "Got the ship's model number? I've got a contact with landing registration and traffic control that can impound the ship for us so it'll be ready when we get there." Riz waved to Em and slid out her comm, priming it up for the call.

And by 'friend,' she meant loose acquaintance that gave her info one day and wanted to dump her body in hypserspace the next. Depended on the mood and the day. But that seemed to be the 'Shadda way 'round these parts - bribery, corruption, and psychological disorders. All things Riz didn't do or have.

And back-up wasn't really an option because 'the back-up' was always as dirty as the 'Shadda streets.

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Riz Carter"]

"Yeah, little corellian freighter, give me a sec." He started rummaging around, before getting out his little datapad. Touch manipulation a go it took a moment to pin-point the exact data they needed. This case was huge, lots of moving gears and angles, but this particular part was pretty straight-forward. There wasn't much to it and he passed over the datapad for her a few seconds later.

"There ya go. Called the Heavenly Delight, if you can believe it."

Elliot definitely could.

Those people literally had no taste in anything, including ships or the names of ships. They got out easy, but once they started walking... Locke had just that nagging feeling at the back of his head.

Like something just wasn't quite right.

It was the same feeling he got whenever he was being tailed by someone. Just a scratch of his left knee that refused to go away - courtesy of getting it clubbed down when he turned a corner, but that's a life lesson for ya. So, what to do, what to do- could it be she was in on it? As Elly cast a look to the side, she was pretty into her comm and fixing the freighter angle.

Didn't seem to be the case.

Meant she deserved a warning too at the least.

"Got a tail on our end." He mumbled softly, after she was done talking.

 

[Riz Carter]

[member="Elliot Locke"]

She managed a grim smile and nodded her head. At least she could smile. "Yeah. I've heard much worse too. Try, Sticky Wicket," she gripped his datapad and did a quick upload. She was real polite and only scanned the offered information even though it was tempting to do more.

Fingers brushed against his as she handed him the device back, sending along the info to her contact with her own. She didn't look back or change her pace in the slightest as Elliot whispered the warning over. She did see the beat-down speeder van parked in a no parking zone on the corner they were quickly approaching.

Unfortunately, having a badge on Nar Shadda tended to paint a target on your back rather than a shield. Hand slipped casually beneath her jacket. She knew this case would get the attention of one of the crime lords and they might be about to find out which one.

Lovely.

"Maybe more than that," head turned slightly, those long strands of hair blowing over her mouth in the traffic dust and wind. "You wanna fight this out or bust our chops and outrun them?"

In other words, disappear.

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Riz Carter"]

He wrinkled his nose in disgust, but probably shouldn't have been too surprised.

Criminals weren't exactly known for their subtlety or for their class for that matter. She passed back the datapad and their hands brushed briefly, that made Elly look up for a second. Soft hands, for a cop anyway. But then Locke blinked and got his head back in the game, which was figuring out this crap.

Especially with Carter's loyalty still a relatively unknown factor - mostly unknown, he wondered if he was being paranoid for no reason.

"Never been much good at running." Didn't take a genius to figure out the van parked in the wrong spot, which probably meant this wasn't one of the bigger syndicates - not Tenloss, probably not the Exchange nor Helix, any of those would have simply got them into a crossfire with half a dozen snipers.

Just as they passed the van... doors slammed open and four thugs rolled out, already with guns at ready, but the first one - a big rodian got caught in the head by Locke's stun-blaster.

It devolved from there.

 

[Riz Carter]

[member="Elliot Locke"]

Nice draw time, Alliance boy. Seems they did actually teach their agents something. She stepped into naturally cover his six as two of the mooks came around the side. One male twilek. One Zeltron. A stun bolt hit the twilek in the shoulder. She knew how to fire too.

Brown-orbs narrowed on pinky. Uggh, these guys. She didn't hesitate in firing but he was too quick, dodging behind the other side of the van. Attention stayed on him as she stepped forward to follow. She had to neutralize him before....

The cloud of pheromones hit her like a heady spice kick. They'd trained for stuff like this. She'd gotten her guts punched out in an alley from a Zeltron female but this was something else entirely. Stomach tightened but she felt her shoulders relax against her will.

Relax. RELAX.

Head shook. Blaster loosened in her hand and her vision took on a rosy-hue. "Gorramit," she whispered.

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Riz Carter"]

The Zeltron got clubbed over the head with the stock of his stun gun.

He immediately collapsed and Locke shot him in the back just to be sure. You couldn't ever be too sure with these guys, [member="Joza Perl"] was a perfect one, but the species in general had a tendency to get right back up after being punched in the face. Something about a severe lack of pain receptors in contrast to other species.

"You aight, Cart-" Locke turned the corner and saw the cop inside the pheromone cloud. Ah crap. He immediately pulled her out of it by her shoulder, making sure he didn't get a face full of it himself.

Then he turned her around.

"Carter, you alright?"

He was a gorram SIS agent. What do you do when you get a face full of phermones inside of you?

 

[Riz Carter]

[member="Elliot Locke"]

Everything had a rosy-hue. It made the inner-inner part of her, the part that wasn't being affected by those gorram pheromones want to barf. There was that touch on her shoulder and then a face-full of Elliot. Real close. All rosy too.

She knew that dazed expression was still across those brown eyes of hers' and the track of those eyes kept settling on the man's lips. Moving lips? He smelled nice - in a military, haven't showered for awhile cause 'I'm such a BA' kind of way. That inner-inner self of her was just dying at those thoughts, at the focus and trail of her dazed-gaze and at her slow lean into hi--

Fresh air tingled through her nose and lungs. She saw a blur of movement just over Locke's shoulder. That fourth perp that was playing nexu n' mouse. She embraced Elliot as she leaned into him, half her mind clear and the other half lost in lala land.

But that clear part got the job done as her blaster arm raised, eyes over Locke's shoulder, as she fired two stun bolts into the perp's chest.

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Riz Carter"]

"Woah, Carte-" He responded towards her coming at him with those gooey eyes. But Locke needn't have worried about the situation, because the moment she leaned into him her hand swiftly rose up and caught the last perp between the eyes. That would hurt like a fether, Elly knew from experience.

Short-wire his brain and probably make him sing in garbage language for a few days.

But that was the cost of doing business on 'Shaddaa, as far as Locke figured.

It was better than being hit by a gorram disruptor blaster. That was far more permanent anyway, there was no fun had in being a deader on the streets.

"Glad you still with me, Carter. You alright?"

 

[Riz Carter]

[member="Elliot Locke"]

Head shook. She was still leaning partly against the agent. Free hand curled around his bicep on one arm. Man had muscles. Ugggh, Zeltron clouds.

"Yeahyeah," she took in another deep breath and released her hold on his muscles and stepped away out of that semi-embrace. Hand gripped the blaster. Most of the 'Shadda citizens were used to this kind of crap so they kept walkin.' Just another day.

"Hold up a sec," she fished her comm from her pocket and made the mandatory call-in. Most likely all of these perps would be back out on the streets by the end of the day but at least it'd give them some time. Just adding to her paperwork load. Comm slipped back into her jacket. She wandered over to the van.

"Might be a clue inside," she popped open the driver's door -glove already on one hand. "Nice shooting back there," muffled voice went back to Elliot as she leaned over and began rummaging through the glove compartment. It was said out of respect. That's all.

"See anything in the back?"

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Riz Carter"]

"You too."

He mumbled back, while kneeling down in front of one of the perps.

The zeltron grade-a hole who had dozed Carter with a bunch of pheromones. If this wasn't partially in public, if he had known Riz better than he did, might have done something a bit extra to the choffer. Hit him with about two more stun shots on specific portions, the risk of getting him killed was low, but it did wipe the synaptic connections within his brain.

Probably would reduce him back to a toddler.

But in the end all Locke did was go through his pockets, before pulling out a datapad. Still active too - dude was probably in direct contact a few seconds before they entered the alleyway and forgot to disengage, being caught off guard at their timing.

"Got a datapad, you?"

He was playing with it already.

The screen was a bit slick with grease, but nothing a wipe from his sleeve didn't fix... mostly. There wasn't much on it, well relatively speaking there wasn't much on it. Last few contacts, a few text messages that seemed to be written mostly in code and a map. A blueprint of some kind of building farther in the sector.

Interesting.

 

[Riz Carter]

[member="Elliot Locke"]

"Better than me," muffled voice called out. Weapon was holstered. Vision wasn't so dreamy around the edges. Looked like those pheromones had finally worn off.

Her form climbed back out of the van. "Mostly burnt cigarettes, some credits, and this," gloved fingers held out a business card stuck between her index and middle finger. Sloppy handwriting scrawled across the back. The front was too faded to make out what it once was. But the writing, "says warehouse forty-seven."

Those lips of her pursed.

"Most storage centers are further in the district. We could check it out." Chin tipped toward the device he held. "Anything on that?"

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Riz Carter"]

A warehouse?

Locke looked down to the datapad again and studied the blueprints in more detail. Only after another moment did he see 47 in the corner of the digitized files. The layout of the blueprint also implied certain things. But why? What was the point of this warehouse and why did they have blueprints to it?

Was it a robbery?

"Got a blueprint on the datapad... seems to match your card." Used to be Elliot would say that you could never have too many leads, but right now?

Right now they were being pulled into several different directions.

"We could divert to the warehouse now or pursue the ship - either way, if we take too long? One of the leads is gonna go cold."

If they left the ship for now, the crew would realize and scatter, it would be very difficult to find them out. If they went for the ship and left the warehouse, whoever had send these goons would realize they were compromised. More than likely they would only encounter an empty building with nothing to it.

"What do you think?"

 

[Riz Carter]

[member="Elliot Locke"]

She peeled off her gloves and stuffed them into her back pocket. Eyes locked with Elliot's. "Ship. Let's go to the ship. That's a known lead. This might not even be related to the shootout."

It probably was but they didn't know enough for her to risk letting those perps and that lead get away.

"I called this in. Chances are the station can checkout the warehouse location." 'Course, she and Locke knew that probably meant absolutely nothing if one of the gangs were involved and bought off the cops that went out there. Stepping a bit in the street, she stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled, waving a taxi down.

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Riz Carter"]

Locke snorted.

If anything those cops checking out the warehouse would help the boys bug out. Maybe carry a few crates in exchange for some extra pieces of credits. That was his experience with the rent-a-cops running around in these kind of neighborhoods, they were only a few missing paperworks away from being criminals themselves. Dirty to the bone and always in to make an extra buck on the side, if it was even on the side.

More often than not the police work was on the side.

"Doubt we will get anything from that warehouse, but you are right." He mumbled, before stepping into the taxi after her and closing the door.

"Ship's more important right now."

He gave directions to the driver and then settled himself into the seat. It was grimy one, the leather half torn and ripped to shreds, which made you wonder what had done the damage in the first place. There was almost an opaque layer of smoke cloud hanging lazily in the taxi cabin as well.

Helped that Locke was a chain smoker though.

 

[Riz Carter]

[member="Elliot Locke"]

Finger punched down to lower the window on her side. It wasn't that she couldn't handle the ash tray in there. She'd smelled worse. Urine. Puke. Yeah. Still, it felt good to get some kind of moving air on her face.

She turned to Locke, leaning forward slightly. "So we've got the ship. How many did your reports say there were?" There would be a weapons cache somewhere. She just wondered if they were already on the ship or in the warehouse. Depending on how big the ship was they'd just have the two of them to take it. She doubted any of the perps would come quietly if it was who she thought was involved.

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Riz Carter"]

The reports were conflicted.

Which either meant that someone was lying, that they had a mole or a more reasonable assessment... that they simply couldn't know at this time. Criminals did their best to obfuscate their movements and identities. They used tech to beat facial recognition, paid off corruption or sliced into systems to remove their bio-metric feeds, they had a code of silence that was followed until death.

Literally.

At the best of times it was difficult to pin-point who was an actual member and who was a simple associate.

"Six to eight, margin of two, so it could be four or ten. You know how it is." His hands itched for a cigarette, but Locke was on the job right now. Even with his throat dried dead for that hunger... he needed to focus. The cigarro would make him relaxed. But that wasn't his aim here. Relaxation could kill on the job, could slow your reflexes for two seconds and.... pow.

Sleeping with the banthas.

"We don't have the surprise anymore, so we can't rush in the front door and expect everything to go fine."

A thought entered his mind and Locke started to smirk.

"You ever used a fusioncutter?"

 

[Riz Carter]

[member="Elliot Locke"]

He was right. There was a good chance who was at the hangar already knew they were coming. More than a good chance. "Feth. Ten?!" She breathed and took off her hat, running fingers through those silky strands of brown hair.

A funny look crossed her face at his question. "Course, use one all the time to work on my rig." The taxi slowed to a stop as they arrived at the spaceport. "Watcha got in mind? Is this some fancy-pants Alliance stuff?" She smirked in good natured fun.

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Riz Carter"]

A smirk pulled at the edge of his mouth.

"Yeah, you can say that again." This time it was Locke who passed along a credit chit to pay for the ride. Last time it had been her for the food - instincts wanted to pay for it himself, but they were already on the way out. There hadn't been enough reason to make it awkward. Now they were even though. Especially considering the taxi fare was about twice as expensive.

Money wasn't a huge issue when you were working for the SIS though.

Locke just didn't like to have too much of it. Made a man forget how it was for the little folk, made a man complacent and maybe even hungry for more than he already had in his pocket.

That wasn't a route he was prepared to go.

They stepped out of the taxi. Behind them it spun back into the shadows, leaving them mostly alone and with a good view of the spaceport some distance ahead. It was busy, even at this time a day, but that was to be expected. Commerce didn't exactly sleep or wait for any of them. He got out his datapad and started making some connects in the neighborhood.

"We will have a fusioncutter in about ten, dropped off in a nearby garbage bin. Front door isn't an option, but we can cut a hole big enough for us to go in through the back and catch them off-guard."

 

[Riz Carter]

[member="Elliot Locke"]

Chocolate orbs widened. Super secret on demand drop. She'd underestimated the amount of resources the Alliance had. And she knew they had a feth ton.

Well kriff.

Lips pursed in mild jealousy. If it had just been her, she would've had to go in front door balls to the walls or tracked down a fancy tool in twice the time and most likely lost her perps. That was Nar Shadda for yah. All day. Every day. She stashed her hat in her back pocket and quickly tied her hair back. Couldn't die cause of loose long hair. That would've been a rookie mistake.

"I like it. Less civie casualties too. I'm in." She checked her stun gun on her hip. About 90% charged. Good enough. A homeless guy walked down the street and paused at a non-lit rubbish bin. Chin tipped that way.

"I bet that's the drop or he was just taking a piss."

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Riz Carter"]

Locke looked at her stungun and then at his, before grunting.

If it weren't for the fact that he needed these kriffers alive he probably would have smoked them. But that was staying on the good side of morality for ya, sometimes you couldn't just do what you wanted, sometimes you needed to follow regulations... be a good man. With a good moral fiber. He really hated it. It allowed for bad people to get out and simply do what they always did over and over again.

Until someone offed them, of course.

"Yeah, looks like it. Go around back and see if everything's alright, I will fetch the thing in the meantime." Elly blinked three times in quick succession and the cybernetics in his head engaged.

With a quick thought they pinged Carter's comms, so they could continue conversation on a private, encrypted channel.

Already Locke could feel the drain the cybernetics were putting on his systems. The noodles were already being burned in quick succession to accommodate the rapid increase of glucose intake.