"No need for all of us to act dumb brutes. My voice was the only one they heard. I can play the dumb, aggressive type for us. As long as Garrett feels comfortable doing the talking, I don't mind. Besides, I did get a bit fanciful with the new decorations on my armor.
Saying this Rennah displayed a piece of her bracers. Now decorated with skull-images of some pretty fanciful creatures, and a standard camo-scheme of greys, whites and blacks.
A voice crackles back in response. "Popara the Hutt is not resident at this station at this time..." The transmission cuts off.
A moment later a new voice takes the comm, "Shuttle, an envoy of Popara will greet you. Land in bay X23".
"Not present? That can't be good. I doubt he'd leave this sort of thing to an envoy.... Better head in."
Rennah got up from her station, went to her quarters and geared up. Having done so, she keyed the commlink:
"I'll be at the airlock.
"Better be prepared for anything ... just because your emperor thought he had the beginnings of a deal going, doesn't mean someone didn't slip in with a double-cross between then and now," Errin says, locking her helmet into place and shouldering her carbine.
"And if you see a Sith, start shooting. We can apologize later."
"That sounded like an automated message to me," Garrett remarks, slinging his rifle over his shoulder. "I could be wrong, but it seems our Hutt is trying to make sure we're really on the up and up. We all remember our pass phrase, right?" Garrett nods to the rest of the group, waiting for the verbal confirmation. He keys in his own commlink, following Rennah to the airlock.
"You don't look half bad all painted up like that, actually," Garrett quips, smirking. "You ever think about leaving it that way? For an Imperial Knight you don't do a terrible job at playing the dumb brute."
Kaldo makes a last-minute systems check, looks to see if he docked correctly, and heads to the airlock
As you exit the airlock standing before you is a Hutt. This Hutt appears younger and smaller then the description you received of Popara. A short Rodian bows to you all as you exit. The most noticeable sight are two Droideka's flanking on either side of the Hutt.
The Hutt speaks,
He laughs, the throaty mocking laugh as only a Hutt can manage.
The Rodian speaks, "You address Vago the Hutt, majordodmo of the Mighty Popara, What business do you have here?"
"I won't need a translator," Garrett says to the Rodian. "I have knowledge of his language, conversing should not be any trouble." Garrett gives a small bow to the Hutt before him, then gives a small nod to the Rodian before taking a step forward.
For the moment Rennah just focuses on the conversation and looking tough, all the while trying to take in the surroundings.
Errin remains silent, not letting on that she, too, understands the Hutt.
She leans over to Rennah, whispering:
"You get any bad feelings about this? With the Force, I mean. Specifically, anything of the Sith variety?"
She tried to clear her own mind, ignoring the rumbling Hutt for a moment as she reached out in the way the Imperial Knight had instructed her during their brief lessons on board the ship. She'd been focused on control at first - shutting out the voices of her dead sisters - but now tried to open herself to other presences around her.
The Hutt dismisses the Rodian with a wave of his hand
I would bet that the interested party has reached Popara by now and is probably underway with the mission.
Still, all is not lost, when I learned of this treachery, I decided to come here myself as I too have something I want from this assignment. Would you be interested in working for me?"
Garrett stretches his neck, working on a kink in his "muscles". He folds his arms across his chest, making an effort to look disinterested.
Have I piqued your interest, Dengar?"
Errin taps Garrett's shoulder, then whispers into his ear.
"If he can get us the coordinates, nothing's stopping us from grabbing Popara's son and delivering him to the Hutt, too. I expect he'd be grateful, whether or not he hired us in the first place. We could also let him know about his majordomo going rogue, if we don't trust this Vago to follow through with his end of the bargain."
Kaldo stays silent the whole time, except for a few mutterings in Rodese, all while maintaining a hand near his blaster rifle
"That's what I'm thinking. I'm still not convinced this isn't some sort of test they've cooked up to see if we're trustworthy. But even if it is, this doesn't smell fishy. We can pick up the cargo and fetch his little brat."
You have the right of it Bounty Hunter, the cargo is something that Popara does not know about nor does he approve of me dealing in so Mika's crash has created a great problem for me. I cannot use the Master's resources to retrieve it, so when I heard of this rumor I knew I would have a chance to meet with enterprising beings such as yourselves so to this space station I have come. Would you have this trip be in vain?"
The Hutt laughs,
The cargo is spice. A rare spice very valuable especially in the quantities which were stowed on Mika's ship. The credits will certainly entice you, 1,000,000 is the number. Should you rescue Mika as well, you can claim the prize that Popara will grant to you but this is a side deal to which he should have no knowledge, is that understood?"
Speaking of plans, credits aren't the only thing we're after. We were hired by an anonymous benefactor, hoping we might retrieve infomration Popara was willing to part with for the right price. I have a feeling Mika is that price; in exchange for discretion, I ask that you provide us an... alternate means of gaining Popara's good graces if Mika has already been retrieved. I'm not going back to my employer without than information, even if alternative channels are needed to secure it. Do we understand each other?"
Errin starts salivating at the mention of a 1 million credit payoff. Grateful that her helmet masks her expression, she reminds herself that there's more at stake on this job. The deal with the Empire was clear - help advance their interests in exchange for the training that would keep the voices at bay.
"Credits are nice, but information is the real currency. Can you give us what we want? Or is Popara the only source?"
Rennah feels the excitement coming off Errin and when Vago is distracted she learns over and whispers:
"Calm yourself, remember your training. Don't let your emotions run away with you."
Kaldo leans over to Garrett, and whispers binary.
I suggest we dig up some information on this... Vago It may help us in the future. What do you say?
Vago considers Garrett's proposition,
Mindful of Rennah's chiding, Errin opted to stay silent, and put the credits out of mind. Garrett seemed to have the negotiations well in hand, anyway -- he was a slick one, to be sure.
Glad he's on our side ..., she thought, the thrill of the upcoming hunt already starting starting to bubble up within.
The Hutt begins to move towards his ship and the ramp lowers, the destroyers pivot to follow your group tracking you as you follow the Hutt...
Rennah stops for a moment and reaches out to the force, trying to get a sense of their immediate surroundings as well as any warning signs from the Force.
[dice=Use the Force "Search your feelings"]1d20+12[/dice]
[dice=Use the Force "Sense surroundings"]1d20+12[/dice]
Garrett shoots a look to Rennah, waiting for the sign from her this doesn't smell like a trap. He feels wary of it himself, still not sure the Hutt isn't a test, and he figures the Knight has already reached out through the Force searching for danger. While he waits for the signal, he tries to stall for time with the Hutt.
Errin looks confused for a moment, unsure if she understood correctly or if her Huttese is rusty.
"Wait ... did he say 'inoculations?' I've got a bad feeling about this ..."
You feel there is some level of deceit stemming form dealings with this Hutt but then he IS a Hutt.
The Hutt waddles his way up the ship without looking back at your group again.
Something's not quite right, but I sense no immediate danger. Think I'll skip on the inoculations though.
With that Rennah follows the fat one to his ship.
Errin falls in behind Rennah as they follow the Hutt onto his ship. But she keeps up with the questioning:
Rennah leans over and whispers to Errin: "I was thinking more in line of an insurance policy... Like a disease or miniature explosive devices. He is not being entirely honest about something."
Kaldo inches forward, one hand on his blaster carbine, another ready to activate his jet pack, though he has no idea what good that will do. He whispers in Rodese to the translator "Whatever you boss is going to do...."
The Hutt does not respond until you reach a small medical bay on his ship. Standing in the bay with ready needles is a medical droid.
Popara has some sort of arrangement with his group of mercenaries to get planetside, whatever it is, it does not have any ties back to him. So you see I cannot use any of our agents either. You will not have the luxury that Popara's mercenaries will have. I will need you to run their blockade to retrieve my wares.
These shots will immunize you for 30 days. If you do not wish to receive them, that is your choice of course..."
Kaldo whispers in binary to Garett.
"He says that if we want to live, we must take the innoculations"
"As I said, I'm not too worried. The rest of my crew will take them--" he says, giving a knowing nod to Rennah and Errin "--but I don't think I'll be needing it. What can you tell us about the blockade, or Mika's crash site?"
Rennah grudgingly presents an arm for the innoculation and looks at the medical droid and in a dead-pan voice goes: "If this turns out to be some sort of hoax or treachery, I'm coming back, and I'll be taking you apart with a hydrospanner and a hammer."
Kaldo holds out one arm, and nods at Rennah "What she said"
Errin offers her arm, as well, before turning and whispering to the droid:
"I won't bother with the hydrospanner."
"And I won't stop with the medical droid," Garrett quips, smiling with faux amusement as the rest of the party is stuck with the needles. "But that's not what we need to be concerned with now. I need details if we're going to retrieve this cargo for you. Where on the planet, the blockade's defenses, anything you can tell us about Popara's mercenaries, the more you can give me the better."
The Droid ignores the threats against it as it administers the inoculations.
The Rodian and Hutt make no comment on them.
I know nothing about Popara's mercenaries as I left before they arrived. No doubt they are Scoundrels like yourselves. Could be Dark Sun or another Crime Syndicate or a small group like yourselves looking to make their own names. Doing business with Popara is good for ones credit account".[/b]
"It's a good thing we made those upgrades to the Emissary -- if the disguised transponder doesn't fool 'em, we can either out-run or out-gun the blockade."
Errin waits to see if Vago can provide any additional information about Mika's ship but is ready to head back to the Emissary otherwise.
With that Rennah inclines her head, to see if anyone else has any questions.