"There we go. Let's stay quiet, alright? I'd like to have the element of surprise when we run into our kidnappers." Jal draws his blaster and creeps ahead, checking the doors carefully as he moves down the hall.
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"Maybe you should let the professional lock breaker handle this chief." Jal pulls his tools from one of the hidden pockets inside his coat and gets to work on checking the door and releasing it if it seems to be viable.
Jal climbs out of the speeder and absently wishes that he'd grabbed a drink back at the bar. "I'm going to go look for a way inside that's out of sight of the main street and make sure that it's not locked or rigged up with an alarm or some kind of trap. I'll comm if I find something useful."
"Give me five minutes." Jal reaches inside his coat for a few of his tools. "I'll find us something fast and maneuverable, just in case they decide to give us a chance."
"Agreed. If I remember correctly, the warehouse that we're headed to is actually a little beyond Barons' territory in the disputed area where the gangs are always fighting each other. If the Barons took her there, they're either very confident, or they have a plan and it's probably not good for the girl. But we'll need to keep an eye out for the other local gangs in that area too, the Spikes and the Deaders."
"Barons are the local swoop gang. They're mostly crazy and don't like other people muscling in on their territory. They're also about as greedy as you'd expect gangers to be and occasionally very stupid. And they go through leaders like candy because they're more ambitious than they are intelligent, so their agenda can change on a weekly basis."
"Of course it was frakking Barons," Jal mutters under his breath. "You've been real 'upstanding' citizens today boys. Keep up the good work." He tosses another 500 credits to the leader. "I think that's everything I need to know."
"Couldn't care less what you were up to. Your business isn't my business right now. Just don't do anything that might make it out business." He runs a hand back over his bald head. "Did you catch anything about the swoops that might be recognizable?"
Hey guys. Bad news. Loup's laptop just died on him and it looks like he's going to be off the boards for a little bit. Hopefully he'll be able to work something out, but he can't afford to have it fixed right away.
"Not helping," Jal mutters out of the corner of his mouth. He tosses the cred stick to the lead man. "That's five hundred. If you want a credit more out of me, you had better know something I can use."
Hey. Quick heads up. My sister is going away to college for the first time this weekend and the whole family is going with to help her move in. I'm leaving tomorrow morning and I should have internet, but my posting may be slower than usual until Sunday.
Jal fights the urge to roll his eyes. "He's sort of official," the gangster says as he approaches the group. "Yeah, yeah, I know he's swaggering around all big time. You know how the cloudheads up top get. Look, we're just looking for someone who got snatched." He pulls out a credit chip. "We can reward anyone who saw something that pans out."
Jal shrugs. "Bag it and we can examine it at base if it matters. It's probably a sedative to keep her compliant, but it's better to bring it just in case. But sure. Let's finish the search and get moving. Sooner we get to the site, she better chance she'll still be there." As they head outside, he gives the area a once over with the rest of the team.
"Doesn't look like it. Can't say I'm that disappointed. Looks like it's just more troublemakers. Though I'm interested who exactly is behind it. I'm sure there's a great story to tell there."
"Be my guest." Jal nods as Joran goes over the logs.
"I definitely agree with you on that one. Whoever was chatting on the computer was talking about payment, so if the boyfriend is the kidnapper, he's either a plant or opportunist kung."
"They probably loaded her into a speeder through the window according to the logs. We can call in what we're doing, but we're pretty much on our own for this one. So we can get on their tail and run these waistoids to ground without worrying about approval or red tape." The grey-skinned gangster sighs. "I hate to say this, but any of you Jedi able to get a bead on that Dark Side feeling? We don't have a lot of other direction to go on right now."
"Well, isn't that useful. They were nice enough to leave incriminating messages on their terminal for me. Hopefully that means we're not dealing with anyone too competent. Looks like our kidnapper was in this room though. Or communicating with whoever was."
"Seems I'm the dedicated slicer," Jal says as he walks over to the terminal and boots it up. "Let's see if this machine's got anything interesting to hide."
"You're never happy to see anyone," Jal says, pulling his coat collar up. "But maybe I'll stop by for a drink when I'm not working through this mess." He heads out with the rest of the group.
"If there's one thing we agree on, it's the value of discretion," Jal agrees. "And the sooner the girl's safe, the sooner we can stop snooping around and causing a fuss. So let's get this done."
"No, you probably don't want to know," Jal agrees. "I couldn't care less what you think of my boys, so long as you're not picking fights with them. You want to get in the Baron's hair by 'legitimately' buying a business in their territory, I wish you the best of luck." Then he frowns. "But if you're running this place, I know you're keeping an eye out for trouble. And a senator's daughter vanishing on your doorstep is very bad for business."
One of Jal's eyebrows pops up when they see the manager. That was a face he hadn't been expecting to see. "You don't like lawmen hanging around at all, do you? What the hell are you doing in Baron's territory, Karva? Last time I checked, they didn't take kindly to rivals hanging around." He lets Joran go over the footage first, more interested in trying to chat with Ando. She might know significantly more than her footage could give them.
Joran & GM: Jal actually chuckles. "You know who you're talking to, right? Jal takes the pad and quickly types out a couple of lines. "I've faked almost every kind of document on this planet at least once."
Jal actually slams his head against the table in frustration. "I didn't realize that banthas could be trained to program computers, because I've seen children build better systems. There's no way I'm going to get anything out of this in any reasonable amount of time. I could rebuild the entire OS faster than I could get the security footage." He sighs and rubs his temples, silently reminding himself that even if unloading his blaster into the terminal would feel good, it's not going to help anything. "Let's just go talk to the manager and show off our fancy Republic credentials and see if he'll give us what we need."
"Yeah, I'll give the security feed a once over, if I can get access. Unless they managed to slice the cameras before they made their move, we might be able to get a face, or faces, and have some more to go on." He reactivates the terminal and spends a bit seeing if he can access the club's other systems from it, or if he's going to have to go ask the manager for access. Which would probably mean flashing the whole 'Republic Ops' thing unless he transferred a chunk of credits. Not that he didn't have some leftover creds to burn, but he never trusted anyone who took bribes.
Jal shrugs. "I'm always in favor of having some extra fire power along." And a few extra bodies to take blaster bolts. "Besides, this was you job to begin with. We're just here to clean up the mess."
Jal shakes his head. "Of course I'm not that lucky. Looks like two bit kids with tattoos are a cred a dozen down here. I'm finding anyone who stands out." He stays on the computer long enough to wipe everything from it's memory that happened since they came in then closes it down again. "Looks like we're doing this the old fashioned way."
Jal opens up the terminal and quickly starts running a few search gimmicks that he worked up ages ago to track where any of his boys that got caught or disappeared into the undercity. Finding one street punk on Coruscant shouldn't be that hard.
"So whoever grabbed her was smart enough to ditch it. Which means they were either lucky or this was planned in advance rather than an attack of opportunity. Fantastic. That probably means they're going to be ready for pursuit too." He sighs and rubs his eyes. "I'll run a trace on the kid. A description and a name is at least a start. If we're lucky, he'll have a record too and I'll be able to pull something useful from the police database."
Jal considers the bodyguard's words carefully. "I'm guessing this tracker isn't working anymore then. Otherwise you wouldn't need our help. And what about this Jerris? Ever actually get a good look at the kid? I might be able to dig something up with a few details. Even if he's not involved in her little vanishing act, he might know something useful, especially if he was with her when she decided she was in trouble."
Jal does what he does best and sticks to the shadows. His normal outfit is hardly going to stand out in this kind of place, aside from it being a bit cleaner than most of the people hanging around. Once they move off to speak with their contact, he stays behind long enough to see if anyone follows them, then follows the group.
Jal takes a deep breath as they arrive in the undercity. It's good to be back on his own turf. The grimy air of greed and desperation is surprisingly comforting, if only because it's so familiar. "Subtle," he mutters as they enter the bar and see the bodyguard lurking around in full combat gear. "Why not just strap on a full suit of Mando armor while you're at it? He might draw less attention that way." His eyes flick over to a group of other patrons. "And it seems like we're not the only ones who noticed."
GM: "Yeah, not my first choice, but it's working out so far. I'm not asking you or the boys to like it or to start smiling at security and paying your taxes. I've just got to do what I can here and I might call in for info from time to time. Nothing compromising, but having underworld contacts is handy."
He shakes his head, even though his friend can't actually see him right now. "No, I understand. Keeping things running smoothly and stopping anyone from thinking they can walk all over you is more important than sending a couple of the boys in to spy on some spiced up swoop racers with more blasters than sense." He considers the offer for an instant. "No, it's more important that you stay where you are. As long as I'm tied up with this black ops kriff, you're the one who has to run the gang. I appreciate the offer, but I don't want to risk losing my best man to a bunch of psychos when I can use these government jackboots as fodder instead. I'll try to keep in touch and you can get me on my old frequency if you need anything. I don't know how often I'll be able to help, but maybe the other gangs will fall back in line if they know I'm still working behind the scenes. Or at least think twice before they openly move against you."
GM: "Yeah Jared, it's me. I'm gonne be blunt. I made a little deal with the g-men. Nothing that will screw you guys, I promise. I get out no strings attached in exchange for helping them out with some shady jobs. The daughter of a big time senator was clubbing in Barons' territory and she got grabbed by someone. Don't know if it was the Barons or if it just happened to be in their territory. They're basically running blind up here and I need intel if I'm going to rescue the little princess from whoever grabbed her. I need anything you know about them. Their boss, tactics, gear, whatever. If you know anyone in the area who can do a little recon without getting a blaster bolt to the head, that would be useful."
Jal nods. "I'll be right back." He steps outside and hits the button. "Kath? Kath, can you hear me? It's Raxis. Pick up the kriffing com. This is important. A senator's brat managed to get herself snatched down in Baron's territory and I need your help."
"Lovely. So there's a gang in the area but this isn't their MO, she slipped away from her bodyguard so he knows jack, and the senator has plenty of enemies but nobody has made any demands. So we really don't know very much at all. I suppose that should be expected given how quickly we got the job. Excuse me for a moment. I believe I need to make a call." He pulls out his comlink and enters the frequency for his old lieutenant. "I'll see if I can get a couple of old friends to run some recon in the area before we get down there. I might give us something to go on."
GM:
Jal stops at the door when he hears someone inside his room. He discreetly pops his holster, ready to draw if there's someone who's not supposed to be there inside. His eyes narrow as the tech blabbers. "Fine. You can go now." He lets the man leave and heads over to the terminal. As the machine starts up, he cracks his knuckles and starts typing, checking all the systems to make sure that the tech wasn't just lying to him.
Jal is bored by the time they're called in for another mission. There's very little to do in the base that actually interests him. And there's only so many times someone can go to a shooting range or obstacle course before it's more frustrating than relaxing. He actually smiles a little as Quel Doran describes the situation. A mission actually in his element. Perfect. "What region is the signal originating from? Which gang controls the territory? Do we know anything about what she was doing out that night?"
"I'm just going to get some sleep," Jal says. "Wake me up if something important happens."
"If these two are going to be like this on every mission, I would like to request to be sent back to prison so I don't have to deal with them bickering like old women all of the time," Jal tells their bosses dryly. "Because there's only so often that you can listen to someone beating a dead bantha before you start wanting to strange them and I'd like to keep my record clean for at least a couple of days while I have the chance."
Jal relaxes in the back of the ship during the ride back to Coruscant, absently checking something over the holonet. He doesn't really talk much, clearly not that interested in the rest of the group at the moment. "Yeah, yeah, we got 'im," he says as they're contacted by their handler. "He probably could use a doctor though." He heads inside with the rest of the team, his eyes darting around like he's examining the entire base for weak spots. However, he immediately focuses when they meet the Senator. "Short version? Pretty much everything went exactly to plan. Only bump was when a group of mercs showed up looking for the same thing we were. They claimed they were hired by an intermediary that they believed was working for a Hutt."
"I advise you, in the least polite manner possible, to go kiss a Hutt." Jal reaches out and shuts the communicator off. "Punch it Callum. And power up the guns. We're about to have company."
Jal drops into his seat. "Let's get out of here before we find out who they are. We already got what we need out of this nonsense." He doesn't move to stop the sniper from checking who the hell is contacting them when they're supposed to be radio silent.
"Hutts." Jal absently spits to the side. "Well, that can't possibly be anything good. Alright, I've held us up long enough. Let's get moving and finish up any questions when we're not in danger of having the Empire come down on our heads. Though I have a feeling that the duros middleman is the only one who has the answers we probably need."
"Yeah, that's not going to work for me." Jal can respect a bounty hunter with standards and loyalty, but this is too much of a coincidence for him to let it go. He walks up to the mercenary and waves two fingers in front of his face. "You will tell us who hired you to bring them Kaul Wren."
"You had your chance." Jal just shrugs and aims at the nearest rifleman, opening fire on him with his blaster pistol. He feints left, looking like he's about to dive out of cover for a better shot, then suddenly rights himself and fires straight for the man's center of mass. He seems to fall into a strange focus as he aims, blasting the man's torso with exceptional accuracy.
Jal's more likely to go back to Black Sun than actually join the Sith.
I'm a vicious criminal who abandoned the Jedi Order before this guy even showed up. Do I get a signing bonus?
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