They Call It Spice

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Not for the first time, Cedric found himself wishing he'd brought a partner.

Unfortunately, Nar Shaddaa was still a bit too rough for him to feel confident bringing his padawan. That left the rest of the crew, each of which were wrapped up in their own preparations for the coming conflict. Thus, Cedric had taken to this operation all on his own.

The Republic Remnant had succeeded in pacifying many of the Hutts that controlled this region of space, but certainly not all of them. This spice shipment in particular was the property of the general Hutt Cartel, and Cedric was keen to make sure it didn't bring the Hutts any profits.

The spaceport was quiet as the Jedi Knight hoisted himself up atop a gathering of crates. From here, his dark cloak hid his form well from prying eyes, and the majority of the spaceport was open to his purview. Satisfied, Cedric resigned locked his eyes on the handful of dealers awaiting the shipment's arrival, which was due to come in via dropship any second now.

"Did they stop for lunch?" Cedric grumbled to himself as he checked his chrono. The dropship was two minutes late. The dealers seemed to be getting antsy,.

[member="Tan'yill"], [member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Tan'yill Vizsla]

'Ryvius', the YV-929 armed freighter stood waiting on it's spot in the spaceport, occasionally giving away small puffs of remaining heat from it's engines nd hydraulic systems via exhaust ports on the ships belly. A cross the large hall that could host quite a few more ships, a couple of pit-droids worked to fix one of the spaceports service stations. Other than that, the spaceport was rather quiet. At no surprise, though as it was late night. Lights flickered high up in the ceiling and a faint metallic and petroleum smell, pretty standard for a spaceport, filled the air. People was either out enjoying themselves on the nearby promenade or slept tight in their beds, at least the few honest people the so called ''Smuggler's Moon'' inhabitated.

Years ago, she had given herself a promise to never mess with this dirty stuff again. Spice. Afraid that the temptation would be too great to handle. Yet, here she stood, leaning against 'Ryvius' front landing gear and waiting on a darn shipment of it. The decision to accept it had been easy though. The Hutts knew their way to convince people taking their offers. And the amount of credits offered for the job, a small pile of it, had helped. Now was only the question how long she would have to wait for the dropship. With a small sigh, she crossed her arms over her chest and glanced down the floor.

[member="Cedric Grayson"] [member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Ultimatum]

The feasibility of locating a given person in the vastness of any world was a statistical nightmare. To find a person on Nar Shadda was particularly troublesome. Compared to other planets, the moon was actually far smaller and had less ground to hide in comparatively. However, like Coruscant, the moon was densely populated and industrialized to an impressive degree. Ultimatum had taken on the challenge nonetheless. According to a message from his previous version this world was the most likely location to rediscover an old ally. The letter had claimed something akin to, "A world of millions you will see, a golden companion there will be. Under the dark of the Dura Tree, there you will find your next key. A dread trade of evil's powder, but light must remain the louder." It had struck Ultimatum as odd, that it had been almost lyrical, for there was no precedence in previous messages. Perhaps there had been some madness in the older robot, for areas of the verse had lacked much sense. He had been able to determine the world, at least he had guessed from a number of planets that fit the criteria of housing millions of sentients. Ultimatum had no information about his compatriots from before and thusly did not have an idea of who might be this mysterious friend may be. The logical conclusion with the next sentence was the key was to unlock whatever data vault the following message may be in, wherever that may be. As for the Dura Tree, Ultimatum was stumped. The robot was convinced that the old Ultimatum had been aware of the fact that metal did not grow on trees, except for specially created ones. Ultimatum had theorized that he meant buildings, but was uncertain. Evil's powder was pretty simple, one of any number of illegal substances, called spice, could fit the moral description according to most sentients. Why light, Ultimatum assumed it was a representation of the moral good, had to remain 'louder' he did not know.

Ultimatum had been forced to make a deal with a, particularly grisly information broker to try and locate a person with golden complexion who worked on Nar Shadda in the spice trade. The man had stated that there was a somewhat important spice trade that would take place in a few hours. With the location and time, Ultimatum had decided to prepare himself as best as possible. It was a spaceport, and therefore the droid assumed that maintenance and related robots would be commonplace. He realized that his suit would remain quite conspicuous if he appeared to be new and clean. Upari, the Shard inhabitant of his suit had suggested they take on the aspects of the other droids. While he could not change the body's physical measurements and overall appearance, he could and did scrape up the metal surfaces and smeared oil and garbage across himself to take on a more run down appearance. Suitably disguised, or so Ultimatum hoped, the joined some other droids in building sanitation some distance from the trade.

Thus Ultimatum was picking through piles of garbage that sat rotting along the walls of the interior. If he were an organic, he might have been absolutely horrified at the conditions of the building. As it was, Ultimatum was surprised that a spaceport could be so filthy and still be in use. Then again, it was being used as a trade-off position in controlled substances so there might be a positive side to the conditions. While Ultimatum worked, Upari continued to feel gently with the Force. It appeared that the other ship was taking its time and there was agitation in those who waited. Upari wondered if any of those people present were Force users, if they were able to detect the Shard. Perhaps if they did, the fact that only droids were nearby would calm any suspicions. It was the risk of getting caught that kept Upari most cautious. They were only here for one thing, and Ultimatum had promised Upari that they would not get involved in any potential politics or conflicts that may arise.

[member="Cedric Grayson"] [member="Tan'yill"]

 

[Tan'yill Vizsla]

The quiet atmosphere in the landing hall of the starport was broken by the sound of a B-7 light freighter approaching. Break thrusters activated to not completely overshoot the hall. Its pilot turned on the landing lights which helped the ship guide itself to the spot next to the YV-929 freighter. Late arrivals and departures on a planet like Nar Shaddaa was not uncommon by any means, so the landing would not caught any attention. If you didn't know about the deal that was about to be made, that was.

Tan straightened herself up and placed her thumbs on the inside of her belt buckle. Her green-yellowish gaze took a look around to made sure no one was observing them. It was only the busy droids on the other side of the hall that was present, or so she thought. It was time for the contraband to change ships.

As the dropship settled itself down in its spot and began lower its cargo ramp she walked over to be greeted by a male rodian in a long black cloak. They exchanged some short sentences in basic before the rodian hurried back up aboard his ship. The cargo ramp of 'Ryvius' was already down so the only thing they would need to do was to unload and load the valuable cargo. After a while the alien smuggler returned with a hovering cargo platform loaded with, which from the outside, looked like regular cargo boxes. One of three that would be loaded onto 'Ryvius' for further transport through the sector.

[member="Cedric Grayson"] [member="Ultimatum"]

 

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Cedric waited like a silent predator, his body entirely still.

He reached out into the empyrean searching for anything that might have been awry, but felt nothing save for the spice trade going down right in front of him. Had he not been suppressing his presence within the force, he might have sensed [member="Ultimatum"]'s approach. As things were, the Jedi Knight was utterly blind to the presence of other force users - a problem that might comeback to bite him, were he not careful. He watched the exchange begin patiently, a brow lofting with interest as he caught sight of a blue skinned Twi'lek moving shipments.

Now's better than ever.

Despite the line of work he now found himself in, Cedric was no Jedi Shadows. He was built for all out war, and though his ability to hide whilst sitting still was impressive, he was about as stealthy as a repulsor tank when moving. With that in mind, he opted for a rather obvious approach.

With a grunt, Cedric lowered himself down from the crates from an angle where the entirety of the hanger might see him. The knight began to calmly walk toward [member="Tan'yill"]. He was clad in his war-gear, his visage hidden beneath the helmet and cowl he always wore into any sort of combat situation.

The two-handed Blade of Ruusan called out to Cedric, informing him of its own personal confidence. The knight took the unlit blade in hand, and continued to walk toward the Twi'lek until he either reached her, or he was stopped.

"Good evening," his tone was pleasant, "Is that spice?" He asked, gesturing toward the crate.

 

[Ultimatum]

"It appears there may be complications."

"The golden one isn't there."

"Someone else is though. Looks ready for war."

Ultimatum watched intently as another person arrived. The droid had hoped that the ally would be someone out in the open during the deal. He could have then have attempted to get the person's attention and hopefully find retreat before any of the people involved in the spice deal were aware of the trickery. He realized though that there was no way to be sure of the exact nature of this companion. Ultimatum hardly believed that the sentient was literally golden in skin color, though on a world like Nar Shadda it was possible that the person would wear a lot of golden tones. How then would they identify him? Or her? The previous version seemed to have some form of predictive nature, how did he expect to accomplish this mission.

"Remember the promise. It might get ugly."

"Alright, but we will need to get closer. Perhaps from a different view, we will identify our target."

With a little coaxing and manipulation, Ultimatum was able to convince the other cleaner droids that a high priority cleaning area was nearer to the sentients. Of course, this was in contrast with their commands, but Ultimatum knew enough about droid psychology to be able to use that to his advantage. Now the small flock of droids lumbered down towards a pile of garbage near the meeting. Ultimatum hoped that the criminals taking part in the deal would pay no attention to the crew of cleaning droids.

[member="Tan'yill"] [member="Cedric Grayson"]

 

[Tan'yill Vizsla]

Just as always, the deal seemed to go smoothly. Having been doing this for a couple of years, Tan had grown herself a reputation through Hutt Space to deliver exactly what her customers had hired her for. She always stuck to the agreement and fiercely fought off pirates and rival crime lords that tried to intercept 'Ryvius'. This was her first cargo of spice, though. A mission that she had accepted with great reluctance, after careful consideration and the hutts means of convincing. In the underworld, credits talk.

The first hover platform of crates was hoisted onto 'Ryvius' through its cargo lift and secured in the cargo hold. She lowered herself down again to walk over to the dropships boarding ramp. Before the rodian smuggler rolled down the next load of contraband she picked up a noise and in the corner of her eye noticed a dark figure approaching them. Damn it, this landing bay should be empty!

She discreetly placed her hand over the grip of the KYD-21 blaster and turned to the approaching figure, still at safe distance. One could tell she was bothered with his presence as her intensively glowing hazel eyes would pierce the man if they could. A man clad like that, in this situation, clearly knew something about the deal that was in progress.

''I think that's none of your business, stranger. I'd suggest you back off and go about your own business.'' she said in a menacing voice and tightened the grip around the blaster.

Just then the rodian came down with the second stack of boxes. When he saw what was going on he draw his own blaster, swearing and mentioning something in his own tongue.

Tan looked at him and then back at the man again. ''The odds ain't on your side, stranger. So, how do you want it?''

[member="Cedric Grayson"] [member="Ultimatum"]

 

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The sidearms were reached for. Cedric did not flinch.

"That confirms the theory then," the knight mused. He thoroughly enjoyed the attitude of aloofness that he could afford to adopt on missions such as this, though he would never admit that to a living soul. "Still, you all don't need to pull your weapons. It'd be wiser to negotiate," the knight's gaze flickered from the Twi'lek girl to her companion. There was a possibility that he could simply influence their minds, but then that was not a guarantee. Nar Shaddaa tended to house some of the galaxy's more intelligent denizens, or at least those with a strong enough will to resist the mental persuasions of a Jedi.

Deciding that attempting such a thing would only prove to be problematic, Cedric extended his senses. He reached out into the empyrean, searching for anything that felt amiss with the crates they were hauling. Though Cedric could not sense a non-living organism directly, he could make out focal points of importance within his mind's eye.

A quiet sigh fell from the knight's lips.

"You're working for the Hutts I presume?" He asked curiously, his tone holding no form of malice. "They're not the most reliable employers."

Stall.

[member="Tan'yill"], [member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Ultimatum]

As the small band of droids moved closer, Ultimatum momentarily stopped. To those uninitiated in droid concepts, it may have appeared the robot was caught off guard by something. Those whose knowledge of the droid mind might have guessed that the robot was overcoming a fundamental conflict of orders, the first being to avoid contact with other sentients unless directly addressed, and the second being the command to maintain cleanliness of the facility in those areas most frequented by sentients. A roboticist might have surmised that the droid had a programmed perimeter from organics that it attempted to maintain, and that in moving towards the garbage it had violated that boundary and the potentials of the two orders in its mind were brought to measure. Finally, it may be concluded that the droid's order to cleanliness had been stronger than that of distance and thus the droid had continued onto its work. If Ultimatum had contemplated such possibilities, he might have found it amusing that uninitiated were closer to the truth. That pause had been a conversation between Ultimatum and Upari.

As he had stepped towards the group, the droid had felt Upari's mind warn him. "There is a Force here."

"Which one?"

"Assumption, antagonist."

Ultimatum wondered if it were safe to trust any of the people here. Then another message came through, "Confirmed, antagonist."

"Contact?"

"Attempting."

And then Ultimatum continued on; there was no point in stopping or trying to help Upari. The Shard was the sole commander of their Force powers, and thusly Ultimatum could not aid him in any way. Instead, the robot would have to act normal and try to keep up appearances while Upari attempted to speak to [member="Cedric Grayson"] through the Force. When the droids reached the garbage, Ultimatum began cleaning with them. Still new to the Force capabilities, but reasonably well suited to it, Upari's grasp of Telepathy was sturdy, but not extraordinary. Upari constructed the message he had in mind, short and hopefully easy to send across the distance. With one of Ultimatum's side processors, the Shard was able to calculate the amount of Force power required to accomplish the feat and then with a final effort sent it across the open air. A direct message intended for only Cedric.

"Force user, are you in need of assistance?"

Perhaps it was an ill-conceived message, given the scenario and the potentials for violence to break out. However, this was proving to be Upari's first near combat situation. It was a stress the Shard would need to grow accustomed to in the time ahead. Upari did not even know if he would actually aid if asked, the Shard wished to avoid a confrontation as most sentients did. He had left himself with that option by avoiding identifying himself or Ultimatum, but that was little protection in regards to the Force. With no knowledge in suppressing their Force appearance, it would be reasonably comfortable for Grayson to locate the two if he felt out. Though, the question arose whether the sentient would recognize a Shard in droid body, or if he would make some other assumption.

[member="Tan'yill"]

 

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(Quick post. Doesn't affect Tan.)

In that brief moment after Cedric had spoken of hutts and negotiations, something else spoke too.

He felt its voice whispering in the back of his skull. It was not cold, neither was it warm, but simply there. He knew the words were spoken too clearly within his mind's eye to have been simple hallucinations, and the shift of the empyrean's energies around him indicated that a stranger had indeed contacted him telepathically.

The knight's reply was near-instant.

"Possibly. Spice shipment. Intercepting. Not safe." The knight transmitted out into the void in hopes that the speaker might hear it. His own thoughts were short and to the point - he could not hold a mental and physical conversation at the same time. Hopefully this stranger would get his meaning, as if it were not obvious enough.

[member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Tan'yill Vizsla]

She eyed the man up and down. Negotiate, huh? Again she fixed her gaze upon him and met his gaze thru the visor of his helmet.

''You don't look like much of a negotiator...'' she said with a chuckle. There was no doubt in her mind that the man was a warrior of some sort.

While they all were like frozen in their steps, Tan glanced over to the rodian who took a few slow steps to the side and closer to the dropship. By extending their distance they made sure the warrior would have a harder time focusing on the both of them. The interaction also made clear that of the two of them, she was the one in a leading position.

So this man knew about her employers? As if she didn't already know about their lack of reliability?

''They pay well. If you do your job, that is. I always do and I don't intend to stop because of a lone ranger in a mask.'' she answered shortly.

The odd functioning droid in the corner of her eye caught her attention for a brief moment, it's appearance quite different than the other ones in the pack, mostly consisting of short DUM-series pit droids. Suposing they were all controlled by a central computer in the spaceport there was not much she could do about them, yet they were at a comfortable distance not to interupt this little discussion.

[member="Cedric Grayson"] [member="Ultimatum"]

 

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"You'd be surprised," though the man's visage was hidden by his mask, one could tell from the tone of his voice that he was smiling. The knight ran through a dozen different options in the handful of seconds between speaking, but only one really stuck out to him.

Initially, he had intended to simply incapacitate the Twi'lek and her Rodian companion via the empyrean's energies. It would certainly keep this spice off of Nar Shaddaa's streets, but then he had not come here solely to play the hero. Cedric had taken this personal mission not only to beleaguer the hutts, but also to find individuals with particular skill sets that he needed.

The Twi'lek and the Rodian seemed to be those sort of people.

"I'll be very brief with you," the knight nodded toward [member="Tan'yill"]. "There are two of you. I am a Jedi Guardian: I have trained to master the lightsaber since I was four. Even if you both had fully automatic rifles, it's doubtful you could stop me from pressing forward if you're both shooting at me from the same direction, which you would be."

Sometimes subtle threats made for good diplomacy.

"Be that as it may, I'd rather avoid a fight. I am here to stop the spice, but I'm not here to rob your of your income. There is another path."

[member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum bent continued picking at the garbage; it was mostly refuse that had little other use than to be destroyed or recycled. The robot wondered if it were normal for organics to be so wasteful, and messy. Certainly, the concepts of bacteria build up and limited physical workloads. At the rate of waste dump compared to the droid cleaning rate, this task was impossible to complete. The sentients dropped too much garbage for the droids to be able to ever completely clean the spaceport. It was a statistical impossibility. Which upset Ultimatum, surely the sentients in charge had realized this. Why then was no action taken? These droids were working diligently, giving as much effort was physically possible, for a task that they could never complete.

It appeared that the situation was continuing to deteriorate. The Force user was at a disadvantage, at least as far as numbers were concerned. Though, to his advantage was the powers at his disposal. If he was superior to Upari in regards to the Force, a very high probability, then it was likely that he could handle himself in a fight.

Upari was puzzled by the simple trust. Perhaps it was the stresses of the situation that forced [member="Cedric Grayson"] to accept whatever may be perceived as aid at face value. The Shard did not know if he could come to the aid of the sentient if it was required. Too far away for Ultimatum's audio receptors to pick up their voices, Upari was unable to tell how the situation was developing. The Shard hoped that there would be no fighting this day, at least as best they could avoid.

[member="Tan'yill"]

 

[Tan'yill Vizsla]

''Hmpf! You could say you're a Jedi, but what if I don't believe you?'' she exclaimed, clearly having her doubts about the mans claims. What would the Jedi want to do with a single shipment of spice when there was a war going on?

If the man realy was a Jedi, he would be right; the chances of walking winning out of a battle would be limited, to say the least. He could simply be a fool but she was not sure she wanted to take that risk.

''Prove it, Jedi.''

[member="Cedric Grayson"] [member="Ultimatum"]

 

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The knight made a noise of derision.

"As you wish." He reached out to the empyrean, though he did not attempt to draw his lightsaber. Instead, his attentions fell to the Rodian that stood at the Twi'lek's back. With a gesture of mental will, he influenced the slight flow of fluids within his body to move out of tune. The shift in pressure was not harmful to the Rodian in any way, but it would likely leave him debilitated and confused. Malacia was famous for its ability to incapacitate opponents without actually hurting them.

"Take a look at your friend," he gestured toward the alien. "Besides, there are more force sensitives than just myself here. Something is amiss."

The knight gestured behind him. "Better to surrender to me than someone with more violent intentions. Truthfully, I'm only here to disrupt the Hutt's trade, and to find a smuggler to employ," he tilted his head at the woman, "You seem to fit the bill."

[member="Tan'yill"], [member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Tan'yill Vizsla]

With a loud thump behind her she swiftly turned her head to see what was going on with the rodian smuggler. The mind trick had made the alien drop his blaster to the gound and go to his knees, dizzy and confused. Unharmful as it looked but temporarily disarmed.

Turning her intense hazel eyes back to the man. Convinced. Taking a moment to think, options were few but the fact to live for today clearly overweight the risk of later being hunted. After all, it would not be the first time yet for another reason.

''First you threat me and then you offer me a job, is that what you're doin'?'' she said doubtingly. Shoulders and posture slowly relaxing from the tension that had been built up before. Still suspicious about the figure, she continued.

''Take off that mask, and maybe we could talk.''

[member="Cedric Grayson"] [member="Ultimatum"]

 

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(Quick Post)

"I like to keep things interesting." Cedric replied quietly as he reached up to remove his helm. It came away with a quiet pressure pop, and the cowl fell back shortly thereafter.

He was a young man, perhaps in his mid twenties, though his visage had been scarred in such a way that he looked older. "I'm Cedric."

[member="Tan'yill"], [member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Ultimatum]

There was a moment where Ultimatum felt the situation had tipped. Still unable to hear the distinct words, Ultimatum based his guess on the body language. Up until [member="Cedric Grayson"] had shown his Force capacity, the situation had been escalating towards the undesirable end of a physical conflict. It was fortunate that the Force user had managed to defuse the possibilities. However, the droid was still concerned about his lack of seeing the person he was searching for. There was no sign of a golden individual, though perhaps it was not a physical color that had been spoken of.

With the fragile calm that appeared to have been attained, Ultimatum did not wish to disclose himself yet. He would wait until the potentials for violence dropped further, and the peace became more definite. Acting too quickly could unbalance and lead to a collapse that he was attempting to avoid. If violence could be avoided, then it was ideal to maintain that avoidance. Combat was an inefficient method of problem-solving, at least to the droid. It used resources that could be better used elsewhere and therefore combat should be avoided.

[member="Tan'yill"]

 

[Tan'yill Vizsla]

''Well, you sure are doing a great job with that!'' she exclaimed and crossed her arms over the chest while behind her the rodian slowly regained enough strenght to come to his feet.

It looked like the man had been through quite a lot and Tan had some difficulties guessing his age. She came to the conclusion that if the man had wanted to kill them and in that way disrupt the Hutts business, he would have done so long ago. Sill, that definately not meant that she trusted the guy. The only beings she trusted was a select few like her brother and her two droid companions aboard the ship.

''I'm Tan.'' she said and tilted her head slightly, her hazel eyes carefully examined the mans visage.

''So, tell me Cedric; how do I fit your bill? You seem to have a plan laid out already...?''

[member="Cedric Grayson"] [member="Ultimatum"]

 

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The knight was painfully aware of the force sensitive within the hanger. It was a presence unlike that of a usual Jedi or Sith; it was still unrefined, yet not entirely organic in its nature. It felt as if someone had created a synthetic being within the force; a replication of life that was not actually living.

Like a machine.

"I do," he replied quietly, his thought drifting from the rogue force sensitive to the situation at hand. "I've got a pitch for you. I can offer you the same pay the hutts provide for better cargo. You wouldn't be moving spice any longer, but food to refugees, weapons to rebel cells, and interesting individuals like me to worlds they really shouldn't be on." The knight flashed Tan a wide smile. "I'm looking for smugglers to help my people in the Rebel Alliance. We can't get onto Sith worlds undetected alone. We need people with experience getting things places where they aren't allowed."

His gaze flickered from the Rodian and back to Tan. "And in the process, perhaps we can deal with the Hutts before they get angry at your leaving. Which one hired you?"

[member="Tan'yill"], [member="Ultimatum"]