SENATOR'S HEAD BAR
THE WHITEDRIFT EXCHANGE
ORBIT OF KARAZAK
SOMETIME BEFORE THE SHOWDOWN ON NEVARRO…
The bar was like so many others in the outer rim, it was dark, seedy, overcrowded with all manner of scum and villainy, raucous and above all it stank, both of alcohol and of things best left quiet, such as a plan to get fabulously rich a group of enterprising ne'er-do-wells were plotting in a particularly dark cubicle of the bar.
"They're late" The Mandalorian stated matter-of-factly
"Yeah, why can't you show us the plan now, so we can get rich quicker?" Qin asked, impatiently
"Come on, give it to us!" Xi'an hissed, continuing to fiddle with her dagger
"Patience, they'll be here soon, and we can begin plotting in earnest" Ran replied
"What do we even need 'em for? Mando's the best pilot I know" Xi'an asked
"Appreciated" The Mandalorian replied curtly, which Xi'an returned with a sharp grin
"Well, Mando's an equally good triggerman and trust me, we're gonna need every one of those we can get, besides, the pilot comes highly recommended from my contacts in all of the major cartels" Ran answered
"well, I hope it wasn't for their sense of timing" Xi'an replied, checking her chronometer. At that moment, 2 figures walked into the bar, their features obscured by the bright light of Karazak's sun behind them, and to the silent confusion of the party, walked up to their cubicle and both sat down.
"Which one of you is the pilot?" Qin asked trying to hide his confusion
"Both of us" said the two figures, a tall human male with reddish-blonde hair and pale white skin wearing a non-descript flight jacket over a white shirt and grey trousers and a short human female with curly black hair and brown skin wearing an imperial uniform, tattered and modified but unmistakable with a captain's insignia hanging around her neck.
"what?" Qin asked, no less confused
"we are the pilot your friend there," the woman said, pointing to Ran," has hired to be the pilot on some job your planning"
"we still haven't gotten to that yet and also there are two of you" Qin stated
"flexibility of two, synchronisation of one" the man answered
"you still taking a cut as two people?" Qin asked
"hope so" the man replied
"I've got a bad feeling about this" Qin said
"trust" Ran replied
"care to tell us your names so we can move on with this?" The Mandalorian asked
"yeah, and who'd ya kill to get that uniform?" Xi'an interceded
"well, that second one is a loaded question, but in the sense of unlawful acquisition, no I didn't kill anyone for it, I got it from my service. As for our names…" the woman replied pausing to look at the man for a second
"Martyr" the woman answered
"Ivory" the man replied
"how very self-aware of you" the woman commented, to which the man replied with a kind smile and a small laugh
"not your real names, why?" the Mandalorian asked
"well, one, we don't trust any of you to not come for us if this goes sideways, no offence," Martyr started
"none taken, jus' good business sense" Ran replied
"thank you, second, I'm, as you may or may not have implied from the scruffy state of my uniform, an escaped "criminal" and wanted on charges of war crimes and Ivory here is a two-time defector, so if anyone listening in during the job heard our names, it would likely cause the New Republic to bring down all manner of heat on us, that none of us need" Martyr finished
"surely that would apply to any of us, save Mando 'course, he don't share his name with anybody" Xi'an asked
"well, did any of you commit the heinous crime of serving The Enemy?" no one spoke up "didn't think so" Martyr retorted
"Now that we're all introduced, can we please get on with this?" Qin asked, impatiently
"of course," Ran replied, producing a holoprojector from his backpack and placing on the table and activating it to show a 3D map of some kind of angular skyscraper, "say hello to The Bastion Tower on Alzoc III, an old Imperial vault filled all kinds of treasures, artefacts and other such valuables now occupied by a particularly nasty gang of pirates who call themselves the Spikesharks"
"what do we want with it?" The Mandalorian asked, to which Ran shifted the image to that of a golden crown set with 7 ethereal, glowing crystals of different colours, "this is the Mantle of Xu'Vian VII and an… unfortunate friend of mine is willing to pay us all 2 million credits each for its acquisition" Ran answered, to which everyone responded to with sharp whistles
"where is it located?" The Mandalorian asked
"that I don't know, but there should be a database located halfway up that should help you locate it" Ran answered, gesturing to the hologram, now back to showing The Bastion Tower
"whats the plan for getting it?" Qin asked
"well, first you'll land at Alzoc III's only major city, its capital of Thessima to get the lay of the land," Ran started shifting the hologram to show a respectably large and tall city, but one that would have still have been put to shame by any city more corewards, "then, if everything seems clear, you'll set off for The Bastion Tower, navigating through the winding service trenches around it to avoid it's large compliment of Anti-Air batteries," he shifted the hologram to show the network of trenches,
"those are very tight; we'll be blown to pieces the moment we enter them" Qin protested
"why do you think he hired us?" Ivory replied, to which Qin responded with a grumble
"Anyway, once Martyr and Ivory have navigated their way through it, they'll pull up and drop you off as close to the database as they can manage, you'll then navigate your way to the database and find out where the Mantle is being stored, grab it, then find and disable the AA batteries so Ivory and Martyr can come pick you up from whichever floor you've ended up on, head to the coordinates the client will send you, hand the Mantle over and get stupid rich" Ran finished
"easy" Xi'an said
"seems that way" The Mandalorian cautioned
"well, let's get rich, shall we?" Ran said, getting up and gesturing for everyone to follow him to the hangars.