Galatea again approaches her new friends singly or in small groups to give each a quiet message, being "The man I mentioned with the Ortolon nose. I got a closer look at him and he is wearing an outfit similar to the ones the informants on the Promenade were wearing. I think that makes him an informant. If that is so, if he gets to, well, inform, which is what informants are for, I think we will soon be up to our eyes in Stormtroopers. That could get quite inconvenient. If he were to suffer a slight but fatal accident..."
Sebbik looks up from his datapad, startled at Galatea's idea. "But... we don't even know if he IS an informant - much less if he's got anything to do with us. And you want us to just kill him?" He glances around to make sure nobody is close by when he whispers. "That's murder. I've never even killed anyone in self-defense until today." The Duros seems to stare blankly into the distance for a long moment, then shakes his head. "Why uh... why don't you just talk to him? He ran off earlier when the stormtroopers came at us, remember? Maybe he knows something."
Having been rebuffed, Winter rejoins the others just in time to pick up the tail end of the conversation. "Are we trying to scare someone? I can do that."
"Trying something other than outright killing the man is preferable, yes," Callum agrees with the duros, giving Galatea a strange look. 'Force-sensitive and rather quick to resort to murder,' he thinks to himself, a sigh escaping his lips. 'What a wonderful combination...'
"Look guys, I don't really want to kill him. But you do understand the consequences if we are captured by the Empire? And by his dress he does look like another informant. Nevertheless you are right, I will go and talk to him, see what he has to say. Is there someone who is particularly perceptive who could come with me, to see if they can read his responses?"
"Um. Just going to say, hard no to murder for me. We need to be better than them, not stoop to their level."
I'm going to have to stand firmly on the non-murder side, here, Jek said. It's bad enough that we've got the Empire on our tail, killing another of their agents would just have them gunning at us harder,
He crossed his arms. I'm not particularly perceptive, but I'm still pretty good with people. You might want to take me along, Jek said to Galatea.
While the group debated the ethics of murder under the rule of Imperial law, Winter did not hesitate, he walked directly up to the man and said "Hello friend. I'd like to have a word with you."
"Me? Oh, I don't see why. I don't think we've met. I really must be going. Have a pleasant day."
He tries to slip past you and walk away.
Winter steps in his path and says "No, I would say that you don't know me yet. If you did, you wouldn't be so rude, especially when I just want to have a chat with you. I'd like to know who you're planning on selling information regarding myself and my associates to, and I'd like the chance to make an offer on said information." says Winter with a predatory smile.
"Ahem," Callum mutters in an attempt to catch the others' attentions. "I think someone beat you to it." There is a smile on his face as he points towards where a rather threatening Winter appears to be... chatting with the supposed informant. "If someone is going to play good cop to our friend's decidedly bad cop, now might be a good time."
Having spoken, the Corellian once again turns his eyes to their surroundings. After all, one never knows when people, especially the wrong kind of people, may take an interest in them, especially now that one of his newfound companions is talking to someone probably getting paid to pass along information to agents of the Empire.
Jek nods. Good cop it is, then, He said as he got moving, getting his story together as he moved.
Jek moves in between Winter and the man, putting on a similarly sharp, pointed smile, but contrasting Winter with a smooth, deceptively friendly tone of voice.
'Ello, there, He began, looking from Winter to the man. I see you've met my good friend and colleague. He seems to think that you've been following us. Absurd, hm? I mean, if you were, you'd want to be forthright about it, because I'm known to be quite understanding and merciful, and my friend, hmm... Well, he has the death sentence in twelve systems. He said, clapping one hand softly on the mark's shoulder, his other pointing to Winter as if giving him a cue.
Sebbik watches uneasily, wondering if they're going to attract attention. But mainly he starts looking around to see if he can maybe find the shipments they're seeking. The Duros thinks that the sooner they get out of here, the better.
Lacking social skill, Jordis glanced about, keeping an eye on her surroundings.
Galatea moves behind the man, but at some distance, her hands on her blaster carbine under her clothing.
You know the crates would be in the docking bay, not the main area you are in. The fastest route to the docking bay looks to be to the left.
The weasely man looks alarmed at the group hemming in. Putting an ingratiating smile on his face, he says, "I assure you, I am just a simple merchant making my way through Blue Deck. I'm sure I don't know anything you might be looking to know."
Everyone who heard him talk can tell he's lying.
Winter lowers his voice and says "And I can assure you, friend, that we do not like being spied on. So I ask you again, merchant, who were you planning on selling information about us to?"
As the merchant begins looking around for an exit, Winter says "by all means, you should definitely call for help." Winter looks at the closest group of stormtroopers or guards on the deck and says "You should wave them over. They won't get here in time to save you, but you can die knowing that you'll have forced us to kill some stormtroopers."
As the threat begins to sink in, Winter finishes by saying "Or, you can tell me who you are gathering information for and where we can find them, and then we become their problem, not yours. Feel free to choose now."
Jordis palms her snap baton, ready to extend it at a moment's notice. This was not going well.
The man seems positively cowed by Winter's threat - and maybe something else.
He's just as scared of the Empire as he is of you.
"Look, alright, I was there, but I'm not going to tell anyone anything about you honest. Just don't kill me. Look, I can be helpful. I know that the Empire recently got a tip off about contraband in the main docking bay. I saw three stormtroopers and an officer headed there, but I think there's more inside. I also saw a repuslor sled, so there may be some heavier weapons, too. See? I heard you ask about picking up cargo. Isn't that helpful? Now, please let me go. I won't tell the Empire about you, honest!"
You can tell he's scared enough of Winter that he's telling the truth, even about not telling the Empire about you. You also know that the main docking bay is where you need to go to get your cargo.
Sebbik shrugs and goes back to tinkering with his datapad.
"See, everything worked out alright for everyone. Off you pop, and remember that we are friends now, and friends don't stab each other in the back."
"Always nice when violence can be avoided," Callum remarks with a smile, looking at Galatea pointedly.
The guy moves away from you as quickly as possible, repeatedly glancing over his shoulder to make sure you aren't following him.
"Given what we just learned, I think we should see if we can hire someone to go try and claim the cargo and then see what happens. If they get it without any problems, fine. If not, then we can go from there."
"Is there a droid we could send? I don't have one, sadly."
I'm willing to chip in, if we choose to hire someone, He said. Or their droid. But if that's not going to happen, I suggest that the more... human members of our group lead point. To avoid any unpleasant prejudices, of course.
"We need a rally point in case everything goes to hell. I would suggest the area that we first hid in after the firefight near the casino. Oh, I guess we should resolve this now: Does anyone have a problem with killing stormtroopers?"
"Yes...but not as much as the problem I have with them killing us. The rally point sounds sensible, but we should try not to get separated."
"Well, it is not like I will be looking forward to it, especially considering the potential repercussions," Callum says with a shrug after a moment's thought, "and there is always the choice of stunning them if we catch them by surprise instead of going to talk to them -maybe cover our faces in some way?- but if it comes down to us or them..."
He leaves the sentence unfinished, his meaning clear enough.
Sebbik speaks tentatively. "A uh... diversion, maybe? Something uh... to distract the uh... the stormtroopers in the loading dock? I've hacked into the central computer once already, I can umm... I can probably do it a second time. Probably even be a little easier, but umm.. there will still be some risk." The Duros shrugs uncertainly. "Maybe a uh... fake fire alarm? Umm... I might even be able to trigger an alarm in a uh... another part of the station. Close enough to uh... to send the nearest squad to check it out, maybe?"
"That seems like very good thinking to me Sebbik. Likely an improved version of my idea of sending a droid to get the cargo. We will have to solve this problem indirectly, as I think we have no chance of doing so by main force."
"I'm fine with your plan, Sebbik. Just know it's a decent possibility that we'll have to still fight some troopers, as they likely won't leave with all of their forces. At least, I wouldn't."
Sebbik smiles tentatively at the praise, then finds a place to plug his datapad into the network. With a deep breath, the Duros gets to work. He tries to access the schematics to find an area near the loading docks that seems to be well-protected, and then hacks into it, creating a false 'alarm' that indicates an unauthorized entrance. Hopefully that will clear the loading docks of whatever troopers might be there, or at least maybe a few of them...
Diversion, I like a good diversion, Jek said. Let's go with that, He said. Less Stormtroopers is still better than more Stormtroopers, in my opinion.
As Sebbik works, Jak tries to, unobtrusively, watch over his shoulder.
Sebbik exhales and nods. "Alright. I'm in. Be uh... be ready to move. I'll let you know. Or, uh... well you might be able to uh... figure it out on your own." Again the Duros manipulates his datapad, oblivious to any attention that others might be showing him...
If anyone starts showing any interest in Sebbik, or even looks in his direction more than fleetingly, Galatea will approach them and begin a conversation. Galatea has become incredibly talkative and will quiz any such unfortunate individual about the stormtroopers moving around the space station, there location, intentions, how dangerous they might be, their possible orders and future destination. And so on and on, without allowing time for replies.
Not particularly adept at subterfuge or deception, Callum keeps a healthy distance from those helping Sebbik, though not healthy enough to be unable to help in case things go awry. Letting the duros do his thing, the Corellian is content to keep watch, leaning against a nearby wall.
Sebbik sets up his alert, and shortly thereafter, an automated voice begins to repeatedly say via intercom, "Warning. Please avoid Section B13 due to hazard." A moment after that, four stormtroopers march by from the direction of the docking bay, heading in what you assume is the direction of Section B13. Galatea is able to distract a couple of nosy rich people who seem eager to be away from her.
Sebbik avoids looking at the stormtroopers until they are well past. Then he puts away his datapad and stands up. "Uhh... I think we'd better... umm... hurry up with this. Before they uh... before they come back."
Jek clapped his hands together. Right. Movement. Now. He said, following Sebbik's lead and not making eye-mask contact until the troopers are past. Let's wrap this up.
As soon as the stormtroopers pass out of sight, Winter begins moving towards the docking bay where their cargo awaits.
Having driven away some unwanted nosy individuals Galatea follows the others, pleased to see the groups plans working.
Not needing to be told twice, Callum follows the others towards the docking bay. "Well, this actually went as planned," he quips. "Who knew?"
You move to the docking bay. The guards out front seem to have gone with the patrol, allowing you to easily enter. Within, you can see two stormtroopers and an Imperial officer looking at one of the storage rooms. The door to the room is open.
Sebbik draws his blaster pistol and eases into the docking bay, looking for cover from where he can snipe at the imperial guards. It occurs to the Duros that he is now officially an outlaw, and he smiles grimly at what his adoptive parents would think. Perhaps they wouldn't be surprised, given their knowledge of his birth parents. Maybe this new life will lead him to them.
Not needing to be told twice, Callum follows the others towards the docking bay. "Well, this actually went as planned," he quips. "Who knew?"
"Sebbik."replies Galatea instantly.