People don't know when to give up

[GhostOfProtocol]

He sat slumped in a corner booth in a small cantina. Kei Garnik was happy, slightly drunk but happy. He had his third correllian ale in front of him, feet up on the table, happy. He'd spent time taking in the information he'd learned over a few weeks, his natural ability with the force, his family including Jack and Gray Raxis. He'd learned all of those good things, yet he'd also learned that The Ebon Hawk's navicomputer was useless and required his droid, T3-J8 to operate.

T3 was a great droid, currently sat on The Hawk while Kei scouted out some work. That was the theory anyway, in reality he was slumped in a corner with an ale getting very slightly tipsy. He didn't know why, it was a way to get rid of everything he'd learned perhaps? Perhaps it was the fact ale was the greatest drink in the galaxy?

Either way, he had finished his third.

The cantina wasn't very good, not much to it. Bare, dull metal walls, thin and rattling lightly in the Nal Hutta wind. The booths were nothing more than old wooden benches with a bit of padding and a really old, boring table in the center. To Kei, it reminded him of home. He laughed lightly, a female Twi-Lek dancer eyeing him and smiling.

He closed his eyes, leaned back, and smiled.

[member="Evelyn Yara"]

 

[Evelyn Yara]

She had only been to Nal Hutta once before, several years ago. She was just a child back then but vividly remembered the distinct smell in the air. Not much could bring her back. However, the pay would be good, the pay would make it worthwhile. The details came to her via encrypted transmission aboard her ship. A name, a hologram, and coordinates. Not much in the way of details. Evelyn liked the details, liked to know as much as she could before heading in. Normally this case wouldn't be for her, but good work had not been easy too find. Fuel was beginning to run low.

She caught herself studying the hologram compulsively.

The bar was a short speeder ride from the port. Not wanting to attract too much attention to herself, she left most of her armor and weapons behind at the ship. Just a regular spacer. Surveillance came first - just as she was taught. If Kei Garnik was here, like the transmission said he would be, it was important not to be pinned as bounty hunter right away.

Walking up to the bar she was pleased to see the Corellian ale. Little reminders of home stretch all over the galaxy. She ordered her first and casually started scanning the room... That's him. That has to be him. This shouldn't be this easy. Accidently, they made quick eye contact and the beginner's nerves set it.

[member="Kei Garnik"]

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

He yawned after making eye contact with the female who'd just made her way into the cantina. Clearly too armed to be a local, too grimy to be a rich fella who needed the protection. The way she was looking at him said it all, she was a rookie, a bounty hunter of some sorts. After who, he wasn't sure, but she was a total bounty hunter. Normal people don't sweat after making eye contact, unless there are nerves or love in the air, the main two reasons.

He smiled, waving the woman over, sliding his feet from the table. His fingers traced the DL-44 at his side, hidden from sight by his body and the table. He would offer the woman the seat opposite him, yawning again. He sipped his fourth drink the waiter had brought him, Kei explaining to the waiter to bring another ale for the woman.

"Can I help you? You appeared to have noticed something over here, just wondered what it was and if I could help"

[member="Evelyn Yara"]

 

[Evelyn Yara]

Well... that was quick, she thought to herself. She shook her head, disappointed at herself for being picked up so early, and moved over to sit across from him. Her fingers traced the small blaster at her hip as she sat down. Okay, well how am I going to play this now.

"You could help me by buying me another drink," she replied, trying to put on a cool, slightly flirtatious smile.

[member="Kei Garnik"]

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Kei chuckled, paying attention to every little detail. She was totally stroking a gun, which meant she was planning a quick draw. He flashed a cocky, flirty smile, nodding lightly as the waiter brought the female her Correllian Ale. Kei would slide it across the table to her, the DL-44 bouncing off his leg slightly. He wasn't sure if it was the ale making him paranoid, but he was on high alert, hiding it with the flirty smile. In fairness, it wasn't hard. The girl was near enough perfect.

"There's your ale darlin'. You got a name, or you gonna make me use my droid to find it?"

[member="Evelyn Yara"]

 

[Evelyn Yara]

"Evie," she said looking down at the table, playing bashful, and running a finger along the rim of the glass. "My name's Evie."

She was sizing him up, noticing the DL-44, and trying to guess how many drinks deep this guy was. Might be an quick snag if he was drowsy enough. She herself was a little too easy to get drunk, and so hesitated drinking the ale.

"And what's your name, then? You don't look like much of a local. Or you just a Hutt on a good diet and exercise program?"

[member="Kei Garnik"]

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

He smirked, DL-44 still rattling at his side. Slightly drunk, but not drunk enough. She was sizing him up, making it obvious that she was looking for weapons.

"Hutt on a diet, I need to steal that line. Name's Kei"

He casually skirted sideways, shoulder connecting with two switches on a panel. One switch would close the shutter in the arch in front of the booth, nothing out of the normal for this cantina. The other would soundproof the booth completely, again, nothing out of the normal. Many shady dealings went down in this cantina, the bartenders were used to it, they gave up trying to report it to the hutts and authorities.

Kei looked at the closed shutter doors, instantly DL-44 connecting with his hands. He slid it up onto the table, the auto loop disconnecting it from his belt easy enough. He slid his feet back up on the table, DL-44 pointed right in the direction of Evie. This was going to be easy, he noted that much lightly. He kept his finger round the trigger, hoping and praying that the soundproofing on the room worked.

"Evie, huh? Lemme guess, sent by a rich guy from the desert hole of Tatooine? Yeah, I know that, you made it look obvious from the start you were a bounty hunter dearie. You also didn't hide your eyes as you searched me for weapons just then. I may be drunk but my eyes and brain are in mostly working order, know what I mean? This is how this will work, because I promise you one shot with this and I will kill you. Slide any weapons you have onto the table here, yeah? I won't kill you if you do, smugglers promise"

[member="Evelyn Yara"]

 

[Evelyn Yara]

Evelyn wasn't surprised by this turn of events, she just wished she had a bit more time. Straightening her back, she glanced at the blaster and looked back up at Kei. She had to be careful, play everything a bit slowly, but she wasn't about to give up her weapons.

"You may be right, you may not be right. But I'm not giving up any weapons. And the fact is, while you're keen to whip out your blaster in lieu of having a nice conversation, I have my own blaster - under this table, running down my leg - and at this range I don't have to be sharpshooter to ruin your nights from here on out. So, let's have that talk... and maybe we can find some mutually beneficial agreement that let's us leave here without a matching pair of smoking blaster holes."

[member="Kei Garnik"]

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Spoiler

Sorry for not posting sooner, been catching up on WWE Raw. Shane O-Mac is Shane O-Back

Kei smiled, almost glad that the bounty hunter wasn't stupid. Kei knew she had a gun however, that much didn't really bother him. So long as she didn't use the gun, they'd both be alright. Kei was easily the better shot here, he'd prove it day in and day out against anyone. He cackled lightly, gun resting against his leg. He was willing to talk, talking was good.

"I don't really wanna kill you, you know that right? A good bounty hunter is rare, you appear to be a good one dearie. You woulda got the drop on me if I didn't look at you and we didn't make eye contact. I can't pay you double what the rich guy is payin, but I can offer you a family aboard the Ebon Hawk and whatever riches you can get from a dead guy if you help me.

Also, I have a stocked armory, know what i'm sayin?"

[member="Evelyn Yara"]

 

[Evelyn Yara]

Furrowing at the brow, Evelyn knew it didn't make a lot of business sense to turn down the bounty and go after the employer, but at this point what choice did she have? Sitting here gridlocked in a stand-off, she was running out of viable options. She had no desire to kill Kei either, and really didn't have any loyalty to this employer - it was an open bounty after all. She was just following a lead. Kei didn't seem the type of violent criminal she first imagined. Why should he be turned over to some wealthy snob on Tatooine just because he had enough credits to make it happen? Evelyn smiled. She still wasn't quite used to having a blaster pointed in her direction, her heart was fluttering, but she knew well enough how to disguise that. She had been travelling alone for a long time, maybe too long... While she scoffed at the idea of gaining a family, making good connections was never a bad idea.

"Okay, I'm listening... But first, as a show of good faith, let's go easy with the weapons, yeah? Look, I'll go first..." she slowly raised her hands, palms forward in front of her face, and set them both down on the table. "See, nothing to worry about... Now, tell me about this man on Tatooine. Tell me why you have a bounty on your head?"

[member="Kei Garnik"]

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

He slid the gun down, not away but down. The gun butt would slide against the table, a scrape coming from it lightly. He would cross his arms, gun pointing at the wall instead of at Evie. It was safer, less chance of accidentally shooting her. He didn't want to kill her, not really. She was nice enough, clearly cared for herself, which was fair.

"I robbed fift... no wait, thirty thousand credits from him. None of the money was spent on me though, most of it was spent on a senator who I tried to keep alive on Dromund-Kaas, simple as. I'm not a bad guy really, just strugglin' at times if you know what I mean, it makes sense to take from the rich and give to the poor"

[member="Evelyn Yara"]

 

[Evelyn Yara]

She smiled again. Quite the charming story, she thought. He wasn't so bad. Certainly not the character she was led to believe. More capable than she thought, more appealing than the hologram gave him credit. And if his story was true, all the better. But how could she know she wasn't being manipulated? She just had to trust her gut with this one. She'd do her best to keep her guard up.

Trying to remain casual, she took another long drink of the ale. She leaned forward in the booth and met his eyes.

"And what do you want? ...With, with this Man on Tatooine, I mean? You want to rob him? Kill him? I'm no assassin. If I'm going along with this, there better be a plan."

[member="Kei Garnik"]

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

He shrugged. He did have a plan, not much of a plan but it was a plan anyway. The idea was going to be to walk in, shoot the guards and murder the annoying rich guy. Kei made things up on the spot, it's how he worked. It was the easiest way to live life, on the spot and just see what happened. He chuckled, nodding to Evie as he did.

"I have a plan, trust me. We arm ourselves with guns and armor from The Hawk, one sniper. Sniper takes out the guards, we march in and loot out his buildings on Tatooine. He'll hide back in his mansion. What we do is march on in, take everything and kill the bloke if we need to. It's me versus him basically, one of us is going to die anyway, think about it as it is"

A thud hit across the metal shutter, the voice of a thug calling of Kei.

"Time to go"

[member="Evelyn Yara"]

 

[Evelyn Yara]

The loud thud across the metal shutter startled her and instinctively she grabbed for her blaster pistol at her hip.

She looked over a Kei, "Is this going to be something I'm going to have to worry about?"

They had been sitting her for some time now, and if Evie was able to find Kei in the bar, certainly other hunters would eventually be able to as well.

[member="Kei Garnik"]

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

He cackled, blaster pistol, DL-44 in hand. He kept the gun trained on the shutters, eyeing Evie with a smile on his face. The thugs pounded again, the shutters shaking lightly as the fist pounded. Kei would reach forward, hand hovering above the switches. His mind was forming a basic plan, a very basic plan. Evie would need to be a perfect actor to make it appear as if it worked, otherwise it wouldn't work at all.

"Shoot the table. I'll slump, make it look like you shot me. Open the door, let the thugs in. Looks like two of them. I'll get the drop on the one, you shoot the other. The Ebon Hawk is in hanger bay eighty two eighty in case things kick off, back door of the cantina. If the utility droid whistles, it's T3-J8. If I don't make it, tell him I sent you, tell him I told him to get you out of here, loop back round for me okay.

Hopefully it shouldn't come to that, we should both be able to fly out of here happily"

[member="Evelyn Yara"]

 

[Evelyn Yara]

"Eighty-two Eighty. Got it." She took a breath to still her nerves, and then with a half-smile and wink said, "You ready?"

Without waiting for an answer, she shot at the table. And then for show, squeezed off two more stun shots into the ceiling. She waited for Kei to appear dead or unconscious and then opened up the metal shudder.

A Rodian and a Twi'lek stood at the table in shock. The smell of plasma filled the air around the table. They attracted the attention of the rest of the bar. Evelyn stood up, straightening her back and keeping her pistol at her side.

"Alright, boys. No more fun here. This one has already been claimed. And I'm going to need you to back up and walk away. I'm invoking the full rights of the Guild over this one."

[member="Kei Garnik"]

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

If he wasn't playing dead, Kei would of smiled. Evie was a great actor, trying to make out that she'd claimed the bounty. However, it wasn't over because the thugs regained their senses and two more joined them from booths to the side. Kei felt a thug poke him, and in turn did his best dead impression, stopping breathing until the thugs backed off. One more thug stepped forward, Kei's fingers closing around his glass. The thug looked over, Kei bouncing up, glass across the head of the thug.

The three thugs ran forward, each reaching for weapons, Kei quicker. He took a quick shot, a thug falling. The bartender was going mental, the whole cantina silent. Kei eyed Evie, then the door, a hint to get to The Ebon Hawk and get airborne before circling back. Another three thugs run forward, weapons drawn, shooting. A civilian was hit, the friend getting in on the action, more men shooting. A cantina brawl underway.

[member="Evelyn Yara"]

 

[Evelyn Yara]

"Yeah, alright. Go! Go!"

For a minute there, she thought the ruse was going to work. Now, the blasters came out. A crackle of plasma whiffed right by her ear as she darted to the other side of the bar, leaping over a table and kicking over a chair in the process. More shots, and she clutched her own blaster at her side. Kei was just ahead of her. She fired a few blasts behind her, not really at anything, but slowing the pursuers down, when a hard thud crashed in on her chest and sent her into the ground. A snarling Quarren fell on top of her, chocking her with a long staff.

They struggled, the staff slowly collapsing her throat, until she was able to get her knees in between them and kick him off. They were both quick to recover, but Evelyn drew her pistol in a flurry of movement and squeezed off two shots into the thugs's torso.

Yet now the other thugs were closing in on her. Evelyn pulled a table down over her and hurriedly crawled back to her feet. She twisted around and dropped one more assailant, putting a smoldering hole into his leg. Kei reached the back exit and turned around with just enough time to provide a few shots of covering fire to let Evelyn slip through the door behind him. She grabbed him by the arm, pulling him away from the the door.

"I'm following you," she said with a tired smile. And together they sprinted away until they were safely aboard the Ebon Hawk.

[member="Kei Garnik"]