Ask A Hammer and a Scalpel

[Vako Yizok]

​

Six long years had passed since Vako had found himself on Coruscant. Six trudging years of chaos that had seen the might of the Five Syndicates fluctuate from a well known galactic powerhouse, to a sideshow of scattered pirates that were fighting over the scraps of unclaimed territory. That was the gift that Preef Callo had given the galaxy. That nightmare that saw the Syndicates fleeing from, or worse, working with Rangers and other local authorities just to get by. Of course not all was lost, but the once proud dream of having any sort of galactic, albiet loose, authority was utterly dashed when the Rodian gunslinger got himself killed and his rats ran back to their nests.

Vako had avoided Coruscant ever since he had an unfortunate run in with a Jedi on a job. A Jedi that by some great mystery had later saved him from an Imperial Prison cell. Adding insult to injury Vako found himself acting as an arms dealer on behalf of the Black Sun, which had him selling weapons to the very Sith that had put him in that prison cell. The Sith had not been able to pay for those weapons however... as he had been unceremoniously killed before the payment was made.

Were Vako in a better position he may not have found himself back on Coruscant, in the nest of scum known as 1313. But desperate times called for desperate measures, and the mighty wealthy upstarts @Covax was offering financial incentive for Vako to get back on his wings. Of course Vako would take a firm percentage of the take to rebuild his own operation, but that was to be expected.

He was called because he was dangerous and thorough enough to ensure a mission was a success, no matter how badly it went.

But @Pidge Batana was called because she was precise, direct, and delicate to turn a mission that was going badly into one that never looked in danger in the first place.

He was a hammer, she was the scalpel.

Vako had not seen Pidge in seven years. Not since they were both crew of a dinky vessel called the Black Swift under the command of a rogue named Kel. And that would be Vako's first question.... because he's heard he was dead.

Vako sat at an outdoor cantina that overlooked the dock, waiting for the slicer, sucking down drinks that his metabolism was too fast to feel the effects of. On the table he had a series of droid brain processors. They were the model they needed, but @Pidge Batana had the skill to fill their heads with what was required.

@Kestrel

 

[Pidge Batana]

Pidge was tired. Every new opportunity promised a rise in the ranks, a chance at redemption. She had jumped in head first at every hint of family or belonging. Kriff, even Vako, who she would shortly be meeting with stood as witness to the fact. He had been there for her short stint with the Black Swift and her crew. But they had never become anything. Neither had the Mothkari. Or the Zaa Fenn, it seemed. At most, all were bright but brief flashes of short-lived stars in the galaxy. The Sith, the Jedi, the Senate were now what the public eye was turned to as she was left grasping for credits and notoriety.

The reason the twi’lek now disembarked from a broken-down hoverbus was because, in optimism or foolishness, she knew this time would be different. She had been let down, forgotten before, but surely the once powerful Five Syndicates would not fall so quickly, so quietly. Crymorah‘s heart was still beating, even if the rhythm could only be heard a thousand levels underground. It had to be. It was her last chance.

Despite the oppressive atmosphere of crammed together buildings sloping up and the choking smog that permanently plagued the lower levels, Pidge smiled as she nimbly dodged a rickety droid barreling down the walkway. It was going to be a reunion of sorts with her old friend and respected muscle for hire. Perhaps the average citizen would be mildly intimidated by the gruff toydarian and his stock of weapons, but she was looking forward to the meeting. Not only would there be drinks, there would also be some good, old-fashioned crime.

Soon enough, she arrived at the agreed-upon coordinates. The place was some dock-side cantina which smelled of burning grease. The view up, however, was nothing to wrinkle her nose at. It was impossible to see up to the next level because of the distance and pesky interfering buildings, but exhaust from speeders hung in the air, dissipating the light from the level above in an ethereal glow. Or, at least, that what it probably looked like. Ducts and wires from the port gave only a small glimpse. No matter, a familiar face had been spotted. Running towards her old acquaintance, Pidge beamed. “Vako, How have you been? Let’s get some drinks!” Then, seeing his several empty glasses, “or more drinks, I guess.”

@Morse

 

[Vako Yizok]

It was certainly a strange, but happy, reunion between the two. Here on what was considered a human homeworld these two outer rim aliens had met for the first time, and it seemed had favored them for a time and taken that favor away just as swiftly. Though neither of them were out, just more experienced in that time. Pidge looked a bit older, and Vako had a few more weathered wrinkles in his wings, but they were not so different than they were before they left Coruscant on an idiots freighter headed to no where.

Conversation flowed well and easy, aided in part by drinking of several more of the green colored glasses that Vako ordered. The drinks were cheap, as well they should be. It was difficult for Toydarians to become intoxicated from drinks that weren't from Toydar, so it took a lot to get the job done.

They told each other of their successes and tried to dance around their failures. Eventually the line circled back to some degree of the business at hand.

"I never liked the Cymorah." Vako stated. "Too hard to get a read on them. One second their dealing the Alliance, the next Preef and his idiots are dive bombing a Hutt palace and putting me in a pretty bad spot." Vako's loyalty to the Hutts had been known. He'd jumped a few Syndicates since then, but he still had a soft spot for the worm-like masters. "Now that the skeez hole Callo is dead though, they're a bit more palatable."

Vako took another drink. He was not concerned about who heard them there. Local criminals did not intimidate him anymore. Unless they had intergalactic reach, they were just a big fish in a small pond asking for a blaster bolt in their hand.

"So I'm wondering if you have a great slicers plan for how to handle this dock situation, and I'm curious what you could do with these." Vako tapped on the droid brain processors. They were in fairly good condition and there were several dozen of the small chips sitting in a bag on the table. Vako himself was not adept in such things, but he did take the time to make sure they were the same model as the droids that ran the port.

@Kestrel

 

[Pidge Batana]

Pidge listened patiently as her associate went on, nodding in agreement while sipping her Jawa Juice. Her brows furrowed unconsciously, a gesture that had become habit. The main goal was to make herself appear concerned, interested, and open to withdraw information. For some reason, she couldn’t turn it off like she could her winning smile or seductive wink. Perhaps because there was some truth to her interest. Vako had experience, likely more than most people she knew. His opinion, while clearly biased, was still valuable.

“Crymorah…” she paused. They had been family, then enemy extremists, and now were something more distant, in-between. They had launched her into the world of professional crime, but at the cost of a stable home and support network. “I liked how they kept their cards close to their chest. It was all a big game, and one they were winning, too. Then Preef died and it all went to gizka kark. At this point, I would do the favor for any syndicate who paid me what Covax is.“ She ended her reflection with a brief, carefree smile that alluded to the Pidge of the past with notably lighter circles under her eyes.

“As for the plan, we- or Crymorah, that is- needs a reliable and secure port to ship and receive goods. They haven’t told me exactly what goods yet, but I would wager my loaded dice that it wouldn’t pass CFS inspection. Most of the ports are automated and run by droids, meaning bribery at the port level is unnecessary. Instead, I have this.” On cue, the twi’lek took out a small computer chip with a flourish.

”It’s a design of my own. There are a few layers. The first masks all shipments by analyzing their chemical makeup from droid scans and selecting a perfectly legal good with a similar structure. The droid makes this switch before anything is processed in the mainframe, so when the information is uploaded, there are no traceable changes. Secondly, if something from there goes awry, sending and receiving addresses are all encrypted with private keys.“ Hopefully the two layers of protection would be enough. Vako didn’t need to know this was an untested prototype. “I’ll transfer the data over to some of the chips you so graciously got me and then attach them to the brain processors. Then comes the hard part, we need to kidnap the droids or get CSF clearance to modify them under some sort of cover. Any ideas?”

@Morse

 

[Vako Yizok]

It was apparent that the experience that Pidge had with the Cymorah was different than his own, but that was to be expected. She had a specialized skillset, as did he. These were valuable in different times and places, so the types of people that one was surrounded with could vary. The pleasantness of those experiences likely left Vako on the shorter end of the stick, but that was not something he was ill suited for. It was good to see the Pidge had her own range of experience, and that her mind was set on the pay the same as Vako's was. It meant that when things got too tough they might mutually agree it was time to bug out, before they got too hot.

Vako looked at chip that Pidge had created, smiled and gave a gravelly chuckle. It seemed that she had only gotten better in the years apart.

"You're a smart one, Pidge." Vako noted with a tusky smile. "Very smart." He took a quick drink. "If that works like that we could probably take some spice on the side if you support the skimmers tax." Vako took another drink. Skimmers tax was about as close to "politics" as the Syndicates got. Whether you believed that every level of the scam or organization was entitled to take a little off the top since the one on top was getting the vornskers share anyway for doing the least.

Vako put his drink down. "Hard part for some. Not for us." Vako pulled up a data pad from his belt. "I got the chips from a repair man with a spice problem. That was fortunate circumstance. What I was discussing with him in the first place was the maintenance schedule." Vake put down the data pad and brought up a repair facility location, specifications, and a rotation schedule. "The droids get a recharge and system updates every two days. They are rotated on two shift. One is on duty, one is off. They are dropped off at the port in a bulk transport. The new shift steps on duty, the next shift steps onto to the transport."

Vako put the datapad away. "I'm thinking we hit that transport when their dropping off the new shift, you slap the droids with the new chips while their sleeping before they go on shift, and when the next group gets off do the same on their way to repair and recharge facility."

There had been consideration for just holding the recharge facility hostage, but that would be noisy and not well suited to their needs at the moment.

@Kestrel

 

[Pidge Batana]

Before the Toydarian responded to her offer, Pidge began fiddling around with the chips. Her prototype was slightly too large for the processors. While others may have been discouraged by the slight hitch in the plan, she was thriving on it. Really, it was all one big puzzle. A puzzle where millions of credits and possibly several lives were on the line, but a puzzle nonetheless and the twi’lek knew what she was doing. Hidden behind the confident facade was also the nervousness that built up before each mission. This was another chance to make it big, to save the syndicates. It seemed more doable when she had something tangible to modify.

Pidge raised her eyebrows at Vako’s compliment. It was nothing she didn’t know, but it was nice to know there was some faith placed in her abilities. “I’m all for taking our fair share, don’t worry. If you’d like, I can calculate how much can be skimmed off the top without drawing too much attention. That being said, you frankly don’t seem like the type to care if people notice your spice habits. As for the man who tipped you off, we can give him ten percent of our first smuggled batch.”

Pidge listed carefully as she sipped her drink. “Are you planning for this to be a two-day event?” The scoundrel didn’t care much either way, but she wanted to be sure the plan was clear before any major risks were taken. “I think hitting the transport shipments is a good idea” she mused, reading over the rotation schedule, “but we gotta get going, the next rotation is in an hour.”

@Morse

 

[Vako Yizok]

Vako cackled a harsh and gruff cackle of a creature that was ready to do an evil thing. He knew well what he was to the people of the Core. An outer rim predator that was brought in to prey on the weak and unsuspecting soft belly of the Core. Even at their most dangerous, individuals here were not prepared for the unhinged and unpredictable movements of the outer rim. Certainly they were a dominant force culturally, but there was a reason that they had never been able to bring the outer worlds to heel. And it was because skilled opportunists like Pidge and himself were all that could be found out there.

"We can pay him whatever you want." Vako smiled. "He'll be happy to have a nose full to get him through to the next morning." Vako knew these spice addicts well, and liked to use them as it was a vulnerability he exploited well.

"We can do it all in one if we can stall the transport route long enough." Vako said. "But you leave that part to me."

His wings fluttered to life as she called the time move. She was right. They would need to act quickly if they wanted to shorten their stay on Coruscant and execute the mission in that day.

"We'll head to the repair depot then before they lift off. They won't have much in the way of security. Just cameras and a fence. We get to the transport, and I'll handle the crew. You take care of the first round of droids while I take us on a little joy ride. Once you're ready I'll take us in. We do the same play on the new droids on the way to drop them off... then I just make it look like a mugging gone wrong."

The plan was so simple it was almost.... criminal.

@Kestrel

 

[Pidge Batana]

It certainly appeared as if Vako had the whole situation in hand. He exuded enough confidence that she had no doubt he would easily be able to take out any security, which was reassuring, especially since she herself was shaky with a blaster at best. Unfortunately, she did not possess the skills of the rogue gunslinger in the holo-films, which was why she was the brains and not the brawn.

The repair depot was a few blocks south of their meeting location. The centralization of all aspects of the mission was extremely convenient, especially since the twi’lek was not an enormous proponent of public transport. There were always speeder taxis, but the drivers new the locals and overcharged any new faces. Hence, since walking was the cheapest and most discreet option, Pidge considered it lucky that the lower levels were so economically laid out.

Kicking half-heartedly at a rat, Pidge meandered along the road towards their destination.
“Any interesting business acquisitions lately?” She asked in an attempt to spark conversation. They were getting close now and she didn’t want to be questioned for suspiciously walking silently and intently towards a restricted zone. Casual chatter increased the plausibility of the pair being stupid tourists who had gotten lost as well as decreased their apparent threat level. Sneaky hijackers didn’t go about loudly discussing their business, after all.

A few moments later, the pair arrived at a fenced in yard with several decommissioned cargo floats, lifts, and an assortment of crates, all in varying states of being scrapped.

@Morse

 

[Vako Yizok]

The natural instinct for many people seemed to be that the behind the scenes, semi essential, places were always guarded. That patrol droids roamed the grounds with the most diligent of computer services reading changes in air density to set alarms off and contact authorities to arrest the wrong doers that attempted to undermine good order. It helped your average person get through the day believing that everything was set up properly and that they were doing their part so that others could theirs.

That ignored the basic logic that there simply was not enough to go around. Not enough man power. Not enough resources. Not enough money, and most importantly not enough interest to care.

Vako looked through the fence. It was dark in the lower levels where the sun never struck, only lit by the lights around. Vako eyed up this dock. It was certainly sizable, and there were workers that moved about. But not nearly enough to notice that Pidge and he stood out.

The greatest element of security here was essentially a sign that read "See Something, Say Something" in Arubesh and Hutteese.

Vako's wings lifted him over the high fence. This was a unique advantage of Toydarians. Upon being on the other side of the fence he smiled and looked at Pidge.

There were realistically three options. One she could hop the fence. Two they could cut through. And finally they could imitate keycard access through an access gate... but Vako did not have the capacity to imitate that.

Whatever what action was taken, the job was on.

@Kestrel

 

[Pidge Batana]

Wings a-buzzing, Vako bravely led the way. He seemed slightly more knowledgeable about the way things worked in the lower levels than she was, given most of her early experience had been infiltration with the rich elite. While recording devices and security personnel were abound where there was much to lose, clearly this location lacked resources, will, or both.

The toydarian scaled the tall fence with no issue, leaving Pidge momentarily stuck on the other side. Still slightly nervous, she scanned the area, then began climbing the fence. It was made up of a combination of chain-link and vertical bars, slightly too small for her feet to fit it. Therefore, it took a fair amount of loud sliding, mild cursing, and quite a few minutes for her to get atop the fence. The twi’lek swung her feet, contemplating her decent. It seemed the way up had actually been the easier part. Despite her dancer’s agility, she was in the midst of awkwardly trying to turn herself around when a loud voice interrupted.

“Hey! What are you doing up there?” Wheeling to find the startling source of the noise, she made a less-than-graceful accidental decent. Below waited a man in a florescent orange vest with a clipboard and large circles under his eyes. Pidge sent a meaningful look for Vako to look unaffiliated with her for the moment of they might both be in trouble.


“I uh… forgot my key card.” Pidge furrowed her eyebrows and did her best to give an embarrassed smile, then tentatively extended a hand. “I’m new here, you see. My name is Ilana. I went out for my dinner break and must’ve forgotten my key on the table. By the time I got here, I was running late, and I was hoping to sneak in so the boss wouldn’t notice.” The twi’lek sincerely hoped the individual who had stopped her wasn’t said boss. “I would, um, appreciate if you didn’t tell.“ The worker looked only partially convinced. Perhaps she had embellished a tad too much. The teal hand previously offered retreated back to a pocket and returned with a couple of credits, likely more than the man made over his entire shift. That seemed to do the trick. He shrugged and turned to head inside from the courtyard.

”Sorry, Vako. We probably should have just forged a keycard. Maybe keep an eye on that guy, though? He doesn’t seem completely convinced.“


@Morse

 

[Vako Yizok]

Remaining quiet and to the side when the interaction between the worker and Pidge occurred, Vako kept watch. If he had to start blasting people immediately then the plan would completely unravel. Rather he watched with his blaster rifle at the ready. He watched as Pidge handled the situation, and the man moved off. Whatever she said or did worked. Vako and she linked up shortly thereafter and she noted her concerns about the man.

"Hmmmmm." Vako groaned considering their options. "If we catch him watching us we'll remove him from the equation. For now we'll let him go."

It was not Vako's preference. On other worlds he would just likely murder him. But here there was no homefield advantage to utilize.

Vako's eyes peered around the facility. It was the workday, but not so busy that they would be spotted or stand out. He was seeking the transport. It was due to arrive soon, but he did not see any transports that appeared to be coming in. He was not sure why, and fluttered up a bit higher, keeping out of lights to avoid being noticed.

That was when his eyes caught the transport, already at dock and set up right where it was supposed to be. Either it had arrived early or they had arrived late. Either way their time was shorter than he preferred.

"Pidge!" Vako stated as he came down from the air. "Transport is already here. I'm going to go around to the side and wait for you there. I'll wait for you to arrive. If they start taking off early, I'll handle the pilot and keep the engines hot until you get there."

The time was limited, and so Vako moved around the flood lights, rifle in hand. If need be he would take the pilot and whatever crew was there alone. But if possible he'd avoid it to the last moment.

@Kestrel

 

[Pidge Batana]

The twi’lek did her best to look natural, not that it mattered much. She could have painted herself bright orange and danced a jig and none of the workers would have blinked. She had strolled up to a computerized control center for the docking area to see if she could locate the ship by area code. Someone had already left the log open, so access proved extremely simple.

Just as the slicer had begun okaying a shipment of five hundred gallons of bantha milk for fun, she heard Vako. She had not yet gotten to the delivery schedule, but it seemed it was running ahead.

“Oh! Right away.” She responded, then waltzed off towards the transport.

In an attempt to not suffocate on the fumes, Pidge pulled a scarf over her face. The engine was still running, and given the cost of fuel, it was a likely indication that the stop was going to be short. Smiling at the fun she was about to have, the twi’lek pulled on her gloves, grabbed her model, and hopped onto the back of the transport with ease. Moments later she was inside. Naturally, it was completely dark. After all, the droids did not need to see. The compartment was purely for storage on the journey. Signing, Pidge removed her gloves to better work by feel. Hopefully, no one would check for fingerprints.

Before she began disassembling the first droid, Pidge switched her comm to Vako’s frequency. “It’s darker than the inside of a sarlac in here, I’m gonna need more time.”

@Morse