Robbers

[Seiryoku]

TOYDARIA​

​

Hutt space. Forever lawless with smuggles and other type of criminal scum roaming around, minding their own business to survive their environment. Despite being lawless it was not at the verge of being a chaotic place. That would not be good business for the Hutts and what other crime lords that had invested their assets in Hutt Space. There was fiefdoms of criminal syndicates always competing with others, establishing their own sets of laws in order for the cogs to make the clock working. Bounty Hunters, mercenaries, smugglers, and thugs knew when to defuse any kind of trouble on their turf.

It was surprising to say that Catya had become one of these rogue outlaws.

She had become the very thing she swore to destroy.

She wasn't part of any criminal empire. She worked on her own account, being another paid mercenary to do the bidding for some scum. It wouldn't have made any sense for people in why she turned this route, but here she was now. Just surviving and doing things people from normal society would consider immoral and illegal.

Her employer had given her task, providing every delicate detail that would help her on this mission. Something related bio-organic weaponry, a virus or bacteria of some sort developed by a pharmaceutical company that disguised itself as a front end to give out medical supplies to the public. A device to hide away its true intentions and affiliation. Wasn't just about slugthrowers, blasters, and what other devices to throw at each other. Was small, yet silent and deadly to weed out people through biological and chemical warfare.

She brought along the necessary gear and equipment for this mission, all provided by her employer. The catch? She was going in alone. No other muscle besides her. No wonder the pay was high and the contact would provide what gear was needed. There Catya was at the docking bays, waiting in her freighter with her probe droids out there gathering intel for her. Toydaria was not its glorious self back in the Clone Wars with the Toydarians ruling the vast swamp planet. Rather it was the Hutts only using a puppet monarch so that the majority of the Toydarians wouldn't realize their actual overlords. The same overlords she worked for.

[member="Amea Virou"]​

 

[Amea Virou]

[member="Catya Delarn"]

The vast and dark emptiness of space and the occasional flicker of white light as the stars sparkled against the backdrop. Amea let her stare linger up at the stars for a little while longer before they inevitably shifted attention back to the hollowed out husk of scum and villainy that was the Toydarian back alleys. A fog lingered on the air accompanied by the putrid smell of swamp fever and alcohol. She could almost feel the way the fog left its humid trail along the skin of her bare arms as she leant against the wall trying to get a clue on who was who that entered the alley before her. She was hidden but hidden in plain sight just like any other mercenary on the block would be. This was just another pit stop along the road before she went to find better paid work, or something of the sort.

The marketplace around the corner was to be a hotspot of activity. A plot picked up on the road was rarely one worth investigating, but when the rumors of pirates working with Hutts in relation to bio-weapons it even made someone like Amea think twice about not stepping in. But to that end she didn’t know what the package looked like or who was going to receive it. This marketplace was active and most likely a hotspot of activity. It was most likely nothing but illegal fronts either for that matter. It was hard not to notice the lockboxes and sealed crates that merchants seemed almost overly protective of.

Without uttering a word she moved to a better position overlooking the marketplace, grabbed a canteen and started to take a few errant swigs to give off the idea that she wasn’t looking at anything in particular as much as just resting.

… It was peculiar how the man right next to her seemed to do the same thing.

 

[Seiryoku]

The best thing, and perhaps the only aspect from this assignment, was that her employer granted everything she requested in order to to tackle whatever she was up against. Everything was military and state of the art when she wrote down her list. Not a single detail went missing, otherwise it would have been a detriment against Catya and possibly compromise this mission. She only wondered exactly how her employer managed to get a hand on all of this. Obviously through illegal means. Everyone was corrupt in some fashion, and that included the sellers that was marketing the equipment she was using. Just as long they were paid off for whatever value the items cost they were content and pretend like nothing happened.

It's why she stopped doing her previous occupation and joined its antithesis. It was only a matter of time that she realized she, too, was corrupted and was no better than her opposites. Only thing she could do was survive. Survive and make every day count until her last breath.

"Voila," the slicer exclaimed in excitement and content when her probe droids where searching about the marketplace when their sensors picked up some cargo containing exactly what she was looking for. Vials of biological material that would soon be used for weapons of terror. It also didn't help when the marketplace was scattered with thugs, the heavy muscle type, with ludicrous weaponry.

"Tale up strategic positions when chit goes down. I'm on my way," and picked up the necessary gear before leaving her freighter and sprint for the marketplace. A submachine blaster pistol, one heavy blaster pistol, and a Verpine shatter pistol. Some handheld grenades, various ones, were strapped on her utility belt along with other munitions and miscellaneous items. Her armor was light and flexible, yet had some degree of protection. Some degree? No, this was high calibre; asheran armorweave. A personal shield was another layer of protection, one capable of stopping energy and kinetic threats. The best part was that this suit carried stealth technology.

It certainly paid off to be criminal scum.

[member="Amea Virou"]​

 

[Amea Virou]

[member="Catya Delarn"]

Then there was the smell. To some greater extent Amea felt sick with each sip she took from her canteen despite knowing fully well that the liquids within it were as clean as they got. Hell, they weren’t even from this planet so that probably said something as well. Keeping her eye out it was hard not to notice the increase in drone traffic. Amea gave them a glance before she shook her head and went back to looking at the stalls down below. The man to her right did the same except pushed from the wall and headed towards the cantina at the far corner of the ledge they had both been on.

The more Amea looked the more the patterns of one particular drone group began to grow apparent. They were wide sweeping movements, reconnaissance movement almost. Amea let her eyes wander around the marketplace to inspect the most strategic spots that she could find and sure enough there seemed to be something or someone in that very spot keeping an eye out. Under normal circumstances she wouldn’t have minded it but this was Toydaria. Mercenary groups with a budget didn’t operate out of these quarters.

She glanced over at one of the patrolling drones as it came closer. It was most likely now or never, and as long as she held the plausible deniability she would have all the excuses in the world, and to that extent there was only one good way to bring the wolf out of hiding.

Taking a bigger sip from her canteen Amea proceeded to close her eyes. Tendrils waved through the force yet they seemed unusually muted. She slumped forward and caught her forehead in her hand with a feigned heavy sigh to play it off as if she was tired of the waiting. It wasn’t too far from the truth. In the end she was instigating something that she could come to regret, but something told her it would be worthwhile to do so.

It took some forcing but not too soon after she took a seat on a nearby bench she found herself overcoming the well-designed equipment. Now that in itself spoke leagues about what kind of thing this was. A mercenary group with a budget that also included this kind of equipment did most certainly not belong here unless something was about to go down.

Much like as if a metaphysical had been flicked, the drone abruptly stop its runtime and fell to the floor. People shrieked from down below and as it hit the ground Amea twitched in fright to look at what was going on down below and the mess that the droid had created. In no small part of her own, of course, but she had to play the part.

She craned her neck trying to look at the droid.

Now who was going to take ownership of this thing?

 

[Seiryoku]

Weaving across the dirty streets, her noise quite inaudible thanks to the sound baffling layer integrated on her armor and her sight invincible to the eye. Well, unless eyes that could see infrared managed to spot her, then almost. Could they? Now that was a fascinating question she cared less about after a second. She was no scientist to answer questions about physics and she didn't care. All she had eyes for was the credits, that's all that mattered now. She did have eyes for a particular person she met some time ago, but she had gone pass that prior her criminal profession.

Oh, what could ever had happen to her?

"What the-" as the mercenary noticed that one of her drones was acting...unusual. Enough for her to ponder if this employer was walking her into a death trap on purpose, and given her defected equipment. So far the suit was working and the other drone hadn't crashed. She had the general location of the drone and from the intel being delivered to her from the other drone, it had drawn attention with people inspecting it from a distance. Catya was sure not going to claim ownership of it, blow her cover and this entire operation. She did have a kill switch in case the drones were captured or were infected with a virus. It carried a small punch of explosive that had a radius similar to a thermal detonator, but now wasn't the time to be trigger happy. Send the place in a frenzy and just complicate more for her.

Maybe a few moments she'd trigger it off once she came close to the group of mercenaries she was after. Send confusion into their ranks which meant weak links that could be taken advantage of. Right now they were heading out of the market district and entering territory of one of the most notorious syndicates on Toydaria. As long as it didn't leave this rock, she could manage it.

Somewhat manage it.

[member="Amea Virou"]​

 

[Amea Virou]

[member="Catya Delarn"]

Silence. In the midst of the chaos there was a tense, lingering sense of quiet that tore at the ears of those in the crowd like a steed dropping from a height. A vacuum where sound refused to exist as everyone tried to still themselves. From her vantage point Amea could see one person in the crowd, one person whose stride reminded her of a time long gone. Droids, chases, there was a familiarity to the way she walked.

The way Catya walked.

Her attention zeroed in on the mercenary, locking onto her with a precision that would be hard to miss. As Amea disappeared into the crowd she held her glance on the mercenary for as long as she could until the shapes and silhouettes of strangers enveloped her in full.

This was no coincidence.

Answers were about to be had. Amea began to traverse through the crowd towards her former, temporary companion.