Reuss. An acidic spitball of a planet. Once a lush and verdant Agriworld, imperial occupation had turned it into a polluted industrial planet. Over a century later and it remains a stark metallic landscape, pockmarked by quarries and fabrication plants. Thick acrid clouds rising from blackened exhaust vents, turning the air into a toxic chemical cocktail. The kind of gaseous slurry that leave you with a permanent cough and a shortened life span. Masks, rebreathers, aspirators and full face helmets with vac seals were a common sight. You'd even see low-alkali creams and unguents for sale out of hangar bays for those foolhardy enough to bear their skin to the caustic atmosphere. But even in a dive bar on planet practically made of corrosion, where nearly everyone covers up completely, a Mandlorian's iconic t-visor helmet stands out.
It had taken nearly a standard hour for Hiro to prepare for the surface of Reuss. She had been to a difficult climates before, but none as harsh as Reuss. She'd vacuum sealed her bucket helm and run an air line down her front to a canister strapped on the thigh opposite her vibro-machete holster. It was a small canister, only good fro a few hours, but for the most part she planned to be in sealed buildings so it should've been more than required for the short swoop trip down. She'd also had to install heavy duty filters over her precious swoop bike's intake filters to protect it's inner workings from damage. She knew she was going to have to go back to Mon Gazza after this trip and see her mechanic for a re-paint.
She'd initially come here on the heels of a bounty. She'd tracked them to the Portmoak sector and was trying to narrow her search before they moved on. The second she'd gotten into Reuss's orbit she'd known that they wouldn't be there, but that kind of assumption had cost her bounties in the past and she wasn't about to make that mistake again. After a bumpier than usual flight on her beloved bike, she put it a way in a speeder dock and started making the rounds on the likely spots for her target. By the tenth seedy grimy establishment and no sign of him, he was either a ghost, loaded or not on Reuss. It was disappointing, but not unexpected. Frustratingly for Hiro, what she'd normally do to blow off steam was to go for a high altitude swoop ride, but Reuss's atmosphere made that an uninviting prospect. However as fortune would have it, a chance to blow off steam her second favourite way fell into her lap. As she sat in a booth in some rancid bar, Hiro was approached by several people. From the look of them they were gas miners. They had the right kind of heavy duty breathers and synthweave overalls, the arms and legs of which were caked to the joints in oily grime.
"You Mando? right" asked the taller of the miners. Hiro did not answer but focussed her T-visor in his direction to show she was listening. "Uuuh, well..." Stammered the large humanoid, his voice, muffled as it was had the hard accent of a natural Huttese speaker rolling their way through Galactic base as best they could. "Got work, you fight?" He finally managed. Hiro cocked her head to one side, patiently waiting. "Hrrm, Uh, We got big gas pump," He pulled a wax-skin out and unwrapped it, inside was a dinged and old-fashioned data slate, the thing must have been republic era. He gave it a few prods and he pulled up a flickering holo of the local refinery city. Jabbing at the diagram he proceeded to explain the job. "Here us," jab went the finger "Our pump." The finger circled emphatically. "We find big new pump," A jab near the other side of the holo, "Claim by scavenge rights, Get rerun permit, when we do...Pirates." a meaty, oily rubberised synthweave glove pounded the table for effect. Hiro let a hollow silence roll out for an uncomfortable second or to as she did her best to think before saying yes. She wanted to put a beat down on someone, and pirates vs miners was pretty clear cut. But she needed a plan. She needed info.
"How many, How are they armed, Where are they based, How much is the pay?" Hiro blasted out four question in quick succession without pausing to hear answers. The Miners, flustered, quickly huddled for a brief discussion in Huttese. After a jabbering for a frantic moment the largest turned with answers. "This", he held up his plump wrapped digits indicating the number eight "Porko Wanga", He mimed dual finger blasters and what appears to be a repeater of some kind "Here" jabbing and circling the second pump tower from the diagram "And this" his fat fingers tapped away at the decrepit slate and cycled through diagrams of various old Imperial tech. Hiro watched as design after design went by. Something about the breadth of what they seemed to be able to offer put up a tiny red flag in the back of her mind. Miners don't have this kind of old Imp tech. But as a specific ship rolled through over the slate she held up a hand.
"Da wanga" she stated in Huttese 'That one', "Aaaah, Da wanga, eniki murashani, chupa cripsa hoohah?" 'Okay bounty hunter, you kill them?'. Hiro stood and patted her blade and blasters. "Tagwa" 'yes' she said and took the comm number from his dataslate before striding from the bar. This was going to be a very different kind of hunt. These weren't odds to be sniffed at and she'd have to do some proper recon before she made a real move. Well nothing like a couple of weeks in the acid rain to get you fired up. Hiro headed back down to the speeder docks and got ready to find a cheap place to stay on the target pump side of town to use as a stakeout spot and forward base. As the first threads of a plan started to weave in her mind a smile curled onto her lips, hidden from all by the violet painted helm she wore.
@Song Wren