Shark bait on Smuggler’s Moon (Open to Hunters)

[Hannibal Oryen]

@[member="Judah Dashiell"]

Hannibal muttered something to himself as Harkin made his exit, cracking his cybernetic knuckles. Oh, man. That had felt good. Therapeutic, almost. There was nothing like a well-placed sucker punch to someone who'd run their mouth for just a little too long. Maybe he ought not to have done that in hindsight. The mermaid didn't seem entirely pleased with it, but Hannibal noted Judah wasn't as tenacious as she had been in waving that shotgun around. Still, it seemed more fuss than he should've made it. The cyclopes did have a point. Better to have a blaster at your side than at your back. No sense getting all mopey over it now, though. Hannibal had a reputation to uphold. A reputation of a smart talkin' bounty hunter who don't take no shavit from nobody.

Yeah.

Maybe his "no friends; only coworkers" policy would pay off at some point. Or not. With the ship looming ever-closer to Void station, Hannibal's impending paycheck dominated his thoughts once more. This would be a nice, tidy profit if he pulled this one off. Last time he had been here, he had been looking for Jorus Merrill. Not in the nice way, either. More in the "kidnap the station manager and stick a gun in an Aqualish's face" kind of deal. Hannibal's armor had undergone an upgrade sometime after that affair, though. They wouldn't recognize him if he kept his mouth shut around strangers... Probably harder for Hannibal than some, now that he thought about it. A bridge to cross when he got to it. For now, there were traps to consider.

"I'mma 'ave ta do some shoppin', dig?" Hannibal announced, reverting back to his usual demeanor. "I'll also finds ourselves a medlab to set the trap up in. Darth Mookus won't know what hit 'im, I promise ya."

 

[Thessa Kai]

@[member="Harkin Kane"] @[member="Judah Dashiell"] @[member="Hannibal Oryen"]

She caught a glimpse of Hannibal as he left the ship but her attention remained on Harkin. "I'll be fine - once this is all over." She gripped her fingers tighter, to keep any sort of trembling from showing. She didn't need to go into personal details with the bounty-hunter, realizing he knew enough already to have found them in the first place. She leaned in closer to Harkin, noting Judah was still in the cockpit.

"You look like you've lost someone you've loved. Knowing that, no matter what happens, can you promise to keep an eye out on Judah? Make sure nothing happens to him. Can you do that for me?" Iced-azure gaze remained intense and focused on Harkin's one good eye.

 

[Harkin Kane]

Harkin matched the volume and tone, "Ma'am if your hinting at what I'm thinking. Losing you will do more to that boy than any Sith could ever dream of. If this is where you heart lies so be it, but you note damn well this is for you. I recognize that look he has about you. He'd walk to hell and back on the hunch it'd make you smile." Harkin smiled warmly and stared the girl hard in the face, "So here is the promise, I will see to it that you, him, and that cynical little protocol droid of yall's make it back on this ship in one piece. Alright? I promise." Harkin tongued at the fresh wound as he thought about what would come next. Getting the drop on Bane was sure to take more than a simple ambush. The fact that Hannibal wouldn't deliver the mermaid directly seemed against his nature. Bane would catch on...

 

[Judah Dashiell]

@[member="Thessa Kai"] , @[member="Harkin Kane"] , @[member="Hannibal Oryen"]

"Shopping? Enjoy. I'll have a look around and see if we can't commandeer a medlab." It would give him something to do. Stretch his legs. Focus nervous energy on something else besides the plan and all its possibilities. Maybe have a smoke or three. So much for quitting.

The Footman droid that had came into his possession lumbered into the cockpit, slipping past the others without a word. One ocular sensor was out, in essence making the rare droid half blind. Judah was finishing up with his tasks at the helm, double checking a few switches. The salvager looked the droid over, thinking about his options. Sparky was letting anyone and everyone on the Siren like it was an open house party. Yet Ferox was less than a day in his possession, completely untested. Judah suspected Old Man Duros had stolen the thing to begin with.

"Keep an eye out on the ship while I'm gone will you Ferox? Don't let anyone aboard that hasn't already caught the ride from Nar Shadda to here."

"Of course Master Dashiell"

Satisfied, Judah raided the medical kit contained in the cockpit. Gaze caught Thessa and Harkin talking and he silently moved behind the mermaid. He pressed several anti-nausea pills into her hand and closed her fingers around the medicine. Kissing her temple and noting how pale she looked to him, Judah kept his concerns private and moved his attention to the bleeding bounty hunter. The salvager had some gauze he offered up to the man, there were no bandages on board for such a wound.

"I'm headed out to look for a medlab we can use, if anyone wants to come along."

 

[Thessa Kai]

@[member="Harkin Kane"] @[member="Judah Dashiell"] @[member="Hannibal Oryen"]

She sighed, looking hard at Harkin as Judah came up from behind them. Why did men have to be so gorram stubborn? She appreciated Harkin's promise but she knew even a bounty-hunter had limits. The man better keep his good eye more closely on Judah. Leaning slightly into Judah, she quickly took the pill, a silent exchange meaning more between herself and the salvager than anything said.

"Looks like I won't have trouble acting like I'm in critical condition," a weak-smile flashed briefly across aqua-lips. "I'll go with you. I want to see if they have any of those force lizards or anti-force grenades that I can keep in the room with me. I won't take any chances with that Zabrak." Disappearing back in the cockpit, she gripped the shot-gun again, armed as much as she was on Smuggler's moon.

"Let's go."

 

[Harkin Kane]

"Wait, do we have coms? It would probably be wise to keep up communication in case things go South." Harkin took the gauze with a smile and nod of appreciation as he spoke. He wouldn't use them, but @[member="Judah Dashiell"] was kind enough to offer.

"Your ship is also logged as being docked here. I dunno how smart this Daxton guy is, but we might oughta cover are tracks, and if someone could wipe docking history then that someone could maintain surveillance of all docking vessels." Harkin looked down towards Sparky "We'd know when he got here."

Harkin had been a recognized tracker since his youth. This was all simply step one of routine protocols, but the situation did feel a bit different this time around. The man looked between Judah and @[member="Thessa Kai"] , "Ideas on your part?" Harkin had wished Hannibal had stuck around a bit longer. One to talk strategy and two because now would be the pristine time for the hunter to stab them all in the back...

 

[Hannibal Oryen]

"These is some ugly lookin' lizards." Hannibal commented, perusing the smuggler's selection of unconscious Ysalamiri, strapped to nutrient cages.

There were probably some animal-rights violations going on in this private, innocuous storage bay on the far side of the station, but that didn't interest Hannibal. The things were alive, they were doing their whole "anti-Force bubble" spiel. If it ended up bothering him, he could always throw them back on whatever planet they came from and call it a day. After he was done with them of course. The Fondorian wasn't entirely familiar with how the lizards or their associated nutrient cages worked, but that didn't matter so much as the fact that they worked. Droids he could understand, but he wasn't so good in the biology department.

"Lucky I ain't buyin' the things to stare at 'em all day. How much per lizard?"
"Five thousand."
"Five thousand? Geez, mac. Ya crushin' my balls here."

The Gran, now to be identified as Mack, did not sympathize. "Five thousand. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get these sorry things off of their trees?"

"Judgin' from ya little chicken arms, pretty hard."
"Watch it, bud." Mack's bulky, Rodian sidekick warned from a corner close by.

Scuffling with these two now in the middle of a possibly-hostile space station was not a good idea. Besides, Hannibal had already fulfilled his scrape quota for the day. No sense blowing the current op and ruining his chances for a nice paycheck by getting his sorry, cybernetic kiester kicked into the unforgiving vacuum of space. Hannibal acquiesced, seeing as he still had his bounty-money from capturing that green-plant-chick-thing-whatever on Bakura. More than enough for what he needed to do here.

"Alight, alright. Five thousand."
"Good. How many do you need?"
"How many will it take to, ah, I 'unno, blot out an' entire medlab?"

Mack thought for a few moments, taking into account his overwhelming knowledge of Ysalamiri biology. "Five, or thereabouts."

"I'll take ten. Oh, and, ah, throw' in the right stuff so's I can wake 'em up remotely."
"Done deal. We'll prep them now. Where do you want them delivered?"
Hannibal was already on his way out, "I'll come back and tells ya when I gots a spot. An' pay ya, while I'm at it."

His transaction concluded, Hannibal exited the storage bay and re-integrated himself into the crowds milling about the station. Now that he knew where his Ysalamiri were coming from, he just had to find the right place to set them up. This was going to involve a decent amount of construction work, as Hannibal was either going to hide his new-found Ysalamiri collection under the floor or the ceiling of whatever room they decided to spring their trap in. Whichever proved more convenient.