Tuna is Not on the Menu

[Sorin Vanado]

'Why did I take this job?!' Blaster bolts zoomed over head as Sorin evaded as best he could, leaping from one corner to the next in this maze of boxes in this storage room. The sound of a Quarren laughing in the background was the only thing he could hear in-between the sounds of blaster fire...

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Seven hours earlier...

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Sorin gazed out across the vast waters of Dac, otherwise known as Mon Calamari, and breathed a sigh of relief that he could come to a planet like this for a vacation or two. Before, the Sith empire had reduced the population of the planet to zero, but the Republic had saved enough of the species to allow them to repopulate. Now, seven hundred years later, here they were, as many as every and with just as many ships and cities. The smell of fish was heavy in the air, but it didn't matter, this was his day off to relax under the sun, on an island in the middle of sea, and to not be disturbed by anyone.

Then his datapad went off.

It rang...and rang...and rung again. "God damn it," he swore under his breath, and picked up the pad before answering the call. "Daltru, I'm on vacation. Unless I'm in danger of being eaten, killed, shot at, blown to bits, or any other form of harm to my person, what is it?" The human on the other end, Daltru, gulped in his state of nervousness, unsure if he really wanted this job. He was Sorin's contact for the Guild, sending messages on targets that needed dealt with, though by this point, he only sent the jobs tailored to his needs. Essentially, low profile, cash only, and he does not take political targets. Of course, all of the jobs he accepted paid extremely well. What can he say: being the son of the leader of the Assassin's Guild got one first bid on contracts.

"Remember when you said to notify you immediately if anything with a one million bounty comes up?" Sorin blinked, and sat up from where he lay on the beach mat, the wind blowing his hair slightly in the wind as he removed his sunglasses. He did remember that condition he had. Satisfied that he now had Sorin's attention, Daltru pressed a few buttons on his datapad. An image of a Quarren popped on the screen, and the only thing that came to mind was that he was ugly as sh*t. "This is Don Yalivin Monqato, a crime lord that's been getting a lot of attention lately. I know you don't like political targets, but let's say that you won't be getting many points with a party anyway if he's found dead. There's been numerous bounties on him already from multiple sources." The list came up next to the image, and it was a list. Most of the pay from this was coming from a lot of different places from Senator officials to the Sith Empire itself, which promised half the reward by themselves if his death was achieved by any means possible. A total of 27 companies were listed, and some of them governments. This guy made a lot of enemies. "Normally someone this hot doesn't live for very long, but he has evaded capture so far across multiple systems. My latest source says though that he will be exiting hyperspace around Dac in about five hours. I imagine that if I know this, someone else does too." Before Sorin could open his mouth, a map of listed locations for his transactions appeared on the screen. "I know you're routine, Sorin; I'm a few steps ahead of you. The locations in front of you only list where he has been to do business. I can't guarantee he will be there again, but knowing you, you'll be able to follow his movements once you know where he is. Goodluck."

Sorin was already up before the transmission ended.

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Two hours earlier...

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Daltru wasn't kidding about being able to track a ship once he knew where it was, and attention to detail was key. Knowing the time of arrival was the most crucial piece of information he needed, or otherwise he would have to search by hand where the squid face went, which would be counter productive. The Quarren was not easy to follow though. He was a walking fortress with how many bodyguards the guy had, and even worse was that he avoided most of the population, going in back roads and alleys in the rebuilt city of Coral City. Trying not to be caught, however, was not the hard part. Setting up the shot needed to kill the bastard was. Don went into a tall skyscraper, and he lost sight of him afterward.

'Damn it...' Time for plan B. If he couldn't get to the guy like this, he would need to find a way to him.

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There was always one thing you could always count on: a ventilation system. As he moved through the ducts and twists in the structure's metal, he found himself eventually over a storage room. The slits in the panel didn't offer much detail, but as he gazed down, he noticed a particular figure.

"The shipments will be ready by morning. I don't recommend seeing the shipments off though."

"You refer to the bounty, yes? I am fully aware." The conversation seemed to be between a man in tactical armor and the Quarren Sorin was after, who also seemed to be in armor, though it looked far nicer than the other's. The man spoke Basic, though the Quarren of course spoke its own language. Thank goodness for language classes. They seemed to be around a table and the guy hit it with his fists, visibly angry.

"Do you?! Half of it is now coming from the Sith! Do you realize how much trouble you just put us in by stealing one of their ships?!! I knew you were a greedy bastard, but this is suicide!"

"It is but one ship, something they will hardly prioritize to find."

"One ship? ONE ship?! You stole a f*cking cruiser!" Holy crap...this wasn't in the intel Sorin was given. Now that it occurred to him, it was probably intentionally left out of the bounty all together. A cruiser was worth more than ten of his heads, much less what they offered for him to be dead. There were only two reasons he could think of for why they didn't offer a bigger bounty: either they wanted it to be secretive about something being stolen right from under their noses, or someone was already sent to go get it back. This was so not worth one million credits.

"Time to get out of here." Before he could make a move to get out, the vent shook forcefully as a grenade went off below him. Blaster fire erupted and suddenly Sorin wasn't staying still as the entire vent fell, holes ripped into it as the blaster fire continued. The fall to the floor was slowed by the vent's body colliding with boxes, but it was still very much an uncomfortable ride down. With his hands and legs, he crawled out one of the holes made by the carnage, and proceeded to get the hell out of the cross fire.

'Why did I take this job?!' Blaster bolts zoomed over head as Sorin evaded as best he could, leaping from one corner to the next in this maze of boxes in this storage room. The sound of a Quarren laughing in the background was the only thing he could hear in-between the sounds of blaster fire.

"I already have plans to disappear. It seems betrayal is the first list of tasks to take care of before I do!" Egotistical bastard. With his back against a box, the blaster fire continued nearby, and the only thing he could think of to do was wait it out. Why waste blaster shots and grenades when they're doing a reasonable job trying to kill themselves on their own? Still...someone was going to end up the winner...argh...why couldn't he have stayed on the beach?

 

[Sebastian Santelli]

Mon Calamari, Marketplace - Outskirts​

Midday​

The dark-uniformed figure slipped past the crowd of bustling activity with expected ease. The flanking Stormtroopers and support personnel made quite the buffer between himself and the rest of the commoners. It wasn't that he disliked the middle and lower classes of society, he just despised being on the ground. The skies and space were his natural habitats, his elements of survival and success. Ships of any kinds were to be at his fingertips, be they massive Star Destroyer or little Interceptors fielded by his Empire.

This Empire was not so glorious lately, however. Their recent coups, enslavement policies, and genocidal ideals made Davin want to just leave. These tactics held no honor nor courage within them. Only those pathetic Moffs, Admirals, and Generals who sat behind desks moving their pawns were the worst. They weren't suited to lead anything, even if they were strategic geniuses. True leaders fought alongside their men, sharing their hardships and succeeding and losing as a unit. That's exactly what he was doing today.

This particular Chiss Captain had his Tulak Hord-class Star Destroyer, the Honorable sat in orbit on a routine patrol. They'd only recently got shore leave for the majority of the crew, sections of the Stormtrooper Battalion stationed aboard hadn't got orders to take leave. The 122nd Stormtrooper Battalion already had leave a while back so they were shifting with the other unit stationed here to maintain a military presence and perform law enforcement missions and the like. Since he had nothing else better to do that laze around the Honorable and do boring maintenance stuff, he figured he'd tag along with some of the patrols trooping throughout the city.

Vad'avi'nuruodo of the Nuruodo house, a descendant of Thrawn, was moving throughout the city on a routine ground patrol. Who would have thought it possible? Davin didn't really mind, though it was exceedingly boring watching civilians go about their lives and buy things from the vendors lining the pristine Mon Cal streets. The little squad and he, only armed with a blaster pistol, began to near the outskirts of the floating city. Warehouses and storage facilities lined the area. "Feth this is boring." The Captain mused to himself, heaving a sigh and stretching his arms as he walked. "Got that right, sir. But it's needed." One of the Stormtroopers replied to his right, craning his neck to check the alleyway the team was passing. "Got that right." He said, repeating the trooper's earlier words.

The squad moved forward about another dozen meters, coming up upon a rather large storage building. Actually, the thing dwarfed almost every single other building around it. Davin frowned, wondering what was so big that needed to be stored in it. Then it hit him: starships. The Mon Cals were expert shipbuilders so one was probably stored in there. He nodded in satisfaction of his assumption until a distant noise rang out. Blaster shots and explosions. The squad immediately kicked into high gear, scouring the area with a precise sweep and zeroing the sounds to a point. The warehouse.

"Let's go!" Davin barked, his pistol already in hand.

 

[Sorin Vanado]

'When I get out of here, I better be paid for this sh*t.' In between the constant shouting, blaster fire, and grenades going off, the only thing Sorin knew to do was lay low and hope that this was going to sort itself out. With a sigh, he waited, but his wait didn't last long, as a grenade landed to his left where he sat. 'F******CK!!!' In about three seconds, he was up, gone, and diving behind another box when the plasma grenade went off, taking the boxes around, and a few others with it, causing the collapse of several that were stacked atop the ones now ash. Sorin, lying on the cold floor, looked up from where he lay, and saw the remains of ashes of a box next to him, only one side not burnt to a crisp. 'And this is why I didn't want this job...'

Between the cursing and slipping between the storage containers, the noise began to lessen in the room. Unsure if they were killing each other off or moving, he risked a glance around the corner. Squid man shouted something about retreating, getting into an elevator nearby, and shutting it behind him with some of his men. The rest were probably dead, because the firing stopped the moment the elevator door was shut. "Damn it!" The man from before in battle armor cursed his annoyance, doing something beyond Sorin's range of vision around the corner of a storage box. Thank goodness they didn't see him. "Let's get our sh*t and get out of here! If we don't have Troopers on our ass already, someone will be telling them! Yain, get the shipment to the Icon. I don't want the Sith Empire thinking we have their damn cruiser."

"Where is the cruiser anyway?"

"In the damn ocean!"

Well...that explains a few things. Mon was a water world, with very few islands on it, and submerging a cruiser wouldn't be a problem. It was making sure it wasn't found. The immense water would make it undetectable from space, and almost near impossible if trying to find it manually by scanning the ocean bit by bit. With how active the planet was, however, someone would find it eventually, considering how big it is, either by accident or months of scanning. This gave Sorin an idea. If the Sith were after the cruiser and Don for stealing it, find one of them and you find both of them. Time to do a little bit of research. Waiting until they were moving and had gone into the elevator, Sorin moved out of his hiding place and made his way to one of the other operating elevators. The room was...for lack of a better word...now filled with boxes, smoking holes, and black stains on the floor, not to mention the few dead bounty hunters around on both sides of the room. The less time he spent up here, the better.

~~~~~~~

"Pictures...bounties...notes...ah! Deleted documents." After finding Don's office and locating his computer, hacking it wasn't a problem, especially against Sorin. He had already found the document detailing the location of the cruiser, despite the Squid man's best efforts to delete the files. You can delete files forever, but you can't delete emails forever, not with the net in place. What's even better is that the hacking was done through Don's computer, meaning Sorin didn't do anything, except maybe get rid of evidence of him being there. Stuffing the tiny datapad away, it was time to get out of here.

~~~~~~~

The doors of the elevator opened up, but no sooner had they than did he have three guns pointing at his face. He should have known better. He raised his arms, palms out, and hoped that this wasn't going to be a bad day...correction, more of a bad day. "Who came down?" The voice of the Squid man was heard sickeningly clear through the room. Sorin cringed at the thought of having to face the man. Already breaking one of his clan's rules...best make sure this doesn't happen again...or this job for that matter.

"Some red head guy I don't recognize. Should I kill him?"

"No, bring him here." The assassin was now going to be under the scope this time, it seemed. Reluctant, but without much choice in the matter, the bounty hunter motioned for him to step forward and walk where he told him. Once out of the elevator, Sorin could now see that they were on the bottom floor, a big large room with two equally large starships. Though what he saw as he walked he didn't much expect. Both the squid man and the battle armored guy, the same one who was angry, were standing side by side, no weapons drawn at all at each others throats.

"And here I thought you two had been fighting," said Sorin, reaching the middle of the room, and now flanked by about twenty bounty hunters on each side, including the two leaders in front of him. He dared not lower his hands, just in case they were going to take any action he took as offensive.

"We settle our difference fairly." Snide Don, chuckling with satisfaction as the other man smiled.

"While true I wanted him dead, once I discovered who was after him..." Sorin's stomach seemed to sink dramatically, a feeling of nervousness overtaking him. "...we talked. The son of the great Michael Vanado would make an excellent bargaining chip." Several booms went off as something seemed to pound against the entrance to the building. Sorin glanced over to see that someone was trying to get in, several dents in the door. Reinforcements, he hoped...

"My father will not give any money to you," he said confidently, though his voice did not portray the subtle twitch in his eyes. This was annoying to no end, a disgrace to his name for being mocked like this.

"Oh but he will, once we send him DNA to prove we have you. A finger...a toe...maybe a whole hand." Twitch. Sorin really wasn't liking where this was going. A few more explosive booms from the door placed a few more dents into it.

"We should get out of here. They'll get through eventually."

"Do not worry. A mere Storm Trooper squad cannot breach those doors."

BOOM! The giant reinforced doors were blown apart, scattering to the floor as Storm Troopers swarmed inside by the dozen. So much for the doors. All of the bounty hunters turned their weapons on the Troopers and as they piled in, everyone suddenly stopped moving, all weapons now aimed at someone.

"We are the 122nd Storm Trooper Battalion; you will lay down your weapons, or we will open fire." Sorin glanced back and forth between the squad and the men around. Tension was high, thick in the air as dust particles settled down around them from the explosion. He felt very naked where he stood, with no cover, and nothing between himself and blaster fire should it erupt. What to do...what to do...ah!

"We will not answer to scum!"

"Wrong answer." If this was going to be a fight, might as well help the Storm Troopers. With two quick motions, a grenade was thrown to either side of Sorin, quickly taken out from a concealed location on his body, and each was now in the middle of one group of bounty hunters on either side. Before they could react, the smoke grenades went off, obstructing their vision. That's when the blaster bolts started going off, and Sorin was already lying on the ground, weapon drawn, and firing at will at any of the bastards around him, hoping that any of them don't decide to shoot down at the floor.

@[member="Davin"]

 

[Sebastian Santelli]

Mon Calamari, Warehouse District - Outskirts​

Midday​

With pistol in hand, the Chiss officer and his team trooped backwards away from the door. A few minutes prior, the lead pair had tried prying the main doors open, but to no avail. So, with clears streets and equally clear minds, they retrieved their squad's heavy weapon. The rocket launcher. Rather than knocking nicely to see what fools were blasting away with what sounded like heavy weaponry in Sith space, they'd just kick the front door in instead. It was more fun that way anyways.

"There y'go, Vince." The Captain nodded to the man armed with the launcher as it was loaded. "Aim for the hinges first, it'll weaken that industrial-grade durasteel." The Stormtrooper heaved the ordnance up onto his shoulder and dropped to a knee, training the barrel of a monstrosity towards the massive slab of metal. "Ready when you are, sir."

"Fire." And it blasted off, barely a nanosecond behind Davin's command. Smoke a little bits of embers peppered the ground as the projectile ripped through the atmosphere to pierce into the plating and explode, completely obliterating that support of the door's frame. "Next one." Davin was surprised, Vince and his partner had already loaded the thing again and were already taking aim. "Round two." And the same blast destroyed the left side of the entrance. The only thing left missing was dessert.

"Sir, this should be our last one." Vince coughed as he shifted to aim at the center. "I'm aware. The rest of you, prepare for close quarters combat! I want a standard breach, split and stack on the warehouse!" His orders were carried out with nothing but enthusiasm. The 122nd Battalion boys felt invincible sometimes. Their armor was top of the line and their training paid off in many a situation. Plus, today was pretty boring and this little charade going on in here offered a few hours of entertainment. Though only the beginning was the truly fun part, cleaning up and debriefing was loathsome but necessary.

"Let's roll boys, time to lock 'n load!" One of the troopers cried out as he slammed his frame against the walls of the front of the warehouse. The squad had already split into two groups and stacked up, waiting anxiously for the explosion to crescendo into a perfect breaching motion.

"Fire."

Seconds passed with the speed of Jell-O. Slow motion was Davin's entirety in this moment. The shattered durasteel doors crumbling inwards, the Stormtroopers screaming "Breach, breach, breach!" and moving in with the precision fit for a brain surgeon. By the time Davin collected himself, the squad was already inside and Vince was packing up his launcher to move in as well. "Let's go, cap'n!"

The Chiss nodded, sprinting as fast as he could in his duty uniform. He was too late, things had already erupted as he got there. White smoke blanketed the entire inside of the warehouse with a caking of pristine mist.

@[member="Sorin Vanado"]

 

[Sorin Vanado]

Mon Calamari - Midday - Storage Building getting the Sh*t Beat out of it by Storm Troopers​

'Where is that damn squid?' Blaster bolt to the left, to the right, and up down center, and hits a target he can see. Still on the floor, the smoke screen made it almost impossible to see five feet in front of you, but their movements would disperse it with time. Sorin instead relied on his quick wits to target anyone foolish enough to come within those five feet of him. Three down...two to the chest and one to the head...an unknown amount left to go. A figure came into focus to his left, a bounty hunter, and he raised his rifle to fire wildly into the air. First bolt from Sorin's blaster went for the gun, turn its side black, and caused the man to recoil, unsure who just shot at him. He didn't have time to think, for Sorin's second bolt went for his throat, severing his spinal column. 'Time to get out of here.' The Troopers were most likely going to kill them all anyway, and it would be best if Sorin wasn't on that list of the dead. He rolled to his feet quickly, and made a dash for the elevator. At least from elsewhere, he could find other ways out of here.

If it wasn't for his reflexes, the sword that came lashing out would have connected with Sorin's head. Instead, he leaned back, craning his body back and narrowly ducked under the blade. It's wielder? The battle armor dude. He swung with reckless abandon, but all he hit was air, for Sorin evaded the strikes of a man who didn't know how to properly swing a sword. "YOU DID THIS! I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Get some perspective! I didn't do anything!" The man's yelling was annoying, and advertising their location. This needed to end now. With a duck under one swing, Sorin drove an uppercut into the man's jaw, disrupting his balance, and gave him enough time to grab his wrist, twist, and let loose from his grip the sword. With a flick and turn, Sorin had the sword in hand, did a full body turn around him, and the moment he finished, the man's head was on the floor. With a blaster in one hand, and a sword in his right, he resumed his march toward the elevator.

Unfortunately...Storm Troopers were in his way, gunning down some of the other men as the fog began to lift. 'Plan A is out...time for Plan B.' What was his Plan B? Run the other damn direction, that's his Plan B, as he began sprinting in the other direction. Shouts from the Troopers encased the air around, and he couldn't tell where exactly they came from, but the fog was still thick enough to obscure everything. He leaped across bodies on the ground as he ran, some hunters and some not. He was running out of time. The fog didn't have much longer to stay, and then he'd be a sitting duck. Within moments, his salvation came to light.

He was not far now from Don, who fired a blaster till it went out on him, forcing him to throw it to the ground before drawing a sword. Now this game Sorin could play. If he couldn't escape, might as well get into the good graces of the Troopers by killing the man who they're going to be after. It was better than his other ideas. It would be best to kill him with a sword, than a blaster. Made it more likely the Troopers would see Sorin do the deed, rather than just some stray blaster bolt. Holstering his blaster quickly, he kept his blade in hand and continued his pace toward the Quarren. It was time to introduce himself more fully to his assassination target.

"You!" Don screamed, taking notice of Sorin and beginning to charge him. What was it with these guys and not knowing how to wield a blade? A twist and turn, Sorin side stepped the Quarren, and thrusted his sword right into the squid's head. A gargle and hiss, it sank to the floor, and fell backwards, the light having already gone out. He sighed, looking down at his work, and he moved toward the sword sticking up, one hand outstretched toward it to withdraw it from the Quarren's corpse.

Sorin stopped short, his eyes going wide as a nagging, sickening, and horrible feeling suddenly rose from the pit of his stomach. He swiftly evaded to the side as a blaster bolt shot past where he last was, and a Storm Trooper now stood barely two feet in front of him. The Trooper was quick, but distance was on Sorin's side. Knocking the rifle aside with a kick, he immediately landed another straight for the man's helmet, disorienting his balance. Without a moment to lose, he switched legs, kicked the side of the man's knee, bringing him down upon it, and Sorin elbowed the side of his head, driving him to the ground, effectively knocking him out. He quickly drew his blaster and was about to let off a shot into the man's skull when a shout rang out.

"Drop your weapon!" Sorin froze, blaster already pointing down at the Troop. Giving the barest of glances to his sides, he was surrounded by seven Storm Troopers, and all of their weapons were raised, their sights right on Sorin. The fog was already clear. With a gulp and knowing he wasn't going to get out of this one, he uncurled his fingers from around the blaster, signaling his decision to not fire. He raised both of his arms up, one blaster in hand, straightened his stance, and hoped that whatever happened now, he was going to live to tell this to someone someday. Almost as an after thought, Sorin suddenly remembered that he had his blaster, and the sniper rifle in the bag on his back, and both were outfitted with parts from the black market, not to mention all of the explosives he had with him too, enough to turn this entire building to rubble. Why did he bring them???

'Why did I choose this job again?' He thought to himself, gulping. Of all the measures he could take, not one came to mind that would not end with him dead. Let's hope nothing terribly bad happens...and if needed, Sorin does know the location of the cruiser. His one redeeming factor, and his only bargaining chip.

@[member=Davin]