First, We Make the Plan

[Ezri Quinten]

____________

Over the recent weeks Ezri had been wracking her brain trying to figure out a breakthrough technology she could develop for Blackwell. You would think given the nearly limitless possibilities of what that question could entail it would be somewhat easy to come up with an idea. Turns out, most of the good ideas already existed out there. Coming up with something entirely new and awesome proved to be just too broad of a task to take on.

Not to be defeated, though, Ezri turned her gaze onto something else: stealing someone's technology, making it better, and then putting Blackwell's name on it and flooding the market. Something that had always caught her fancy was the AI that went into droid brains.. and what better item to push onto the black market than super aggressive, hunter killer droid brains. After some initial digging, Ezri found out that Czerka had such technology.. though they kept it highly hidden, and in very, very low quantities.

Through some of her slicer friends on the holonet, Ezri had been able to come into contact with a man named @Elix Lorso. As luck would have it, Elix knew exactly where Czerka was hiding some of their hunter-killer matrices.. and he was willing to not only sell that information, but help Ezri steal it. A mitzvah to be sure.

Currently, Ezri was sitting in a small, isolated bar on Nar Shaddaa sipping at some clear liquor and occasionally checking her chrono. She was waiting for her two associates to show up, the aforementioned Elix and someone else Ezri'd met online, some guy named @Louis Daele. She couldn't find any information on Daele that would lend the idea that he was untrustworthy - or worse, lying about working for Czerka - and Ezri figured an extra pair of hands would probably help the overall mission's success.

She had told them both to meet her here around a certain time, and if her chrono was accurate, that time was fast approaching. Ezri was a patient woman all things considered, and was content for now sipping her drink and thinking about the potential payout the near future could bring for both her, and more importantly, her career at Blackwell.

@Faster Than Light @Ecclessey

 

[Elix Lorso]

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Elix was on Nar Shaddaa again after drawing from his rapidly declining pool of vacation days. He had done it again. Some spice-dealer had supplied him with enough Glitterryll that Elix foolishly injected so he wouldn't remember his three-day spice and furry binge after the fact. Kriff he was such a fool.

It had ofcourse left him considerably in debt and after his success with the dart pistol he figured he could steal from his employer, Czerka, again, but this time for a much larger heap of black market credits. His decision to support the theft was in part because he was seriously considering accepting Tasha Blackwell's offer to come work for her at Blackwell Independent Technologies, but he had to make up for their first impression where he made an outright fool of himself. Thus, what better way to get in the Pantoran (or was it Cathar?) good graces to get her exlusive matrices and a ship?

To try and not make habit of creating bad first impressions, Elix had decided against getting spiced or wearing his mud-faced weequay disguise for this meeting. Ofcourse, when he stepped into the bar looking for a slicer named Ezri he felt awfully naked. Maybe that was largely due to the fact that his Cathar lady-friend of the night before had shredded his underpants and thus he wasn't wearing any now.

Coming up to Ezri, somehow recognizing her and trying his hardest not to be a pervert, Elix sat down. "Hullo."

@Faster Than Light @Logan

 

[Louis Daele]

Safe assured to Ezri that Louis Daele didn't work for Czerka and he was trust worthy. Anyways, Louis Daele came in contact with Ezri Quinten online. And she had a job. Louis was always looking for work, this was an intriguing job because this involved Czerka and getting their hands on some hunter-killer matrices. Those same hunter-killer matrices that alter a droid's personality and turns them into killers and are super illegal? Sure, why not. And as a recent addition to BIT, he is also eager to lend a hand to help the business. He didn't care about the legalities and it the company doesn't seem to mind either.

Louis Daele arrived to the the small bar on the 'Smuggler's Moon' Nar Shaddaa where he would be having the meetig with Ezri. He would go in, see Ezri at the designated table, sipping clear liquor and appearing to be checking her chrono. With that and her distinctive look, there is no mistake that he is indeed in the right place.

He would sit at the table shortly after Elix sat down. He's a part of this as well it seems, Louis doesn't recognize him however, never having met him. Louis smoothly sat down and nodded at both of them "Evening" he simply said. It seems with everyone here, everyone can get started.

@Logan @Ecclessey

 

[Ezri Quinten]

____________

Ezri remained somewhat aloof as both of her compatriots finally showed up and joined her at the bar. Her drink was almost gone now resulting in a barely noticeable grimace on Ezri's face. She hailed over one of the serving droids, holding her glass up to indicate that she was out and was still thirsty. Turning her attention back to Elix and Louis, the young BIT scientist flashed them a smile before sliding each of them a small datapad.

"Just some info on the target tech," she said idly, not bothering to open her own datapad to go over the information she'd given the others. Ezri was already entirely familiar with the matrices they were seeking, she'd made a point to familiarize herself to the point of obsession long before she'd worked up the gall to attempt to steal one from Czerka.

The droid finally arrived with her refill and Ezri turned her attention towards the most important person in the cantina at the moment - Elix. "So," she started, taking a sip from her glass. "You're the star of the show here, mister Lorso. We can't much proceed without your intel on the Czerka facility." A small pang hit the back of Ezri's brain, a familiar craving feeling suddenly coming to the front. Interfacing with strangers face-to-face wasn't something the young Wrean particularly liked to do, and the anxiety of doing it made her want to smoke. Cigarras or death sticks or spice - it didn't really matter. She ignored it for now, wanting to appear as professional as possible. For how long she could manage to do that, she wasn't entirely sure.

"So I'll let you take the lead from here. Where are we going - maybe more importantly, what kind of resistance should we expect?"

@Faster Than Light @Ecclessey

 

[Elix Lorso]

____________

For a short moment after sitting down, Elix realized he was effectively dealing with children. Both of them looked barely into their twenties and the boy especially, seeing as he couldn't even grow a beard yet. There was some regret brewing about not getting spiced for this meeting now that his partners-in-crime were about the same age as his very own and very spoiled xenophobic children. Suppressing a sigh, therefore, he motioned for the droid to get him a glass of whatever Ezri was drinking, and the same for the boy.

"More resistance than you'd like-" he began with a small wave of his hand as if to say all of this wasn't worth the trouble. "-as most Czerka facilities aren't unlike the other ordinary corporate cutting-costs-to-gain-profits factories you see." As he'd demonstrated during his theft of the dart pistol schematics on Balmorra, where a man who knew what he was doing could go in and get out without a soul noticing he stole something.

He then shook his head and paused, looking at Louis, and then shook his head again dismissively. Only after the droid arrived and handed them their drinks before scurrying off did Elix find it appropriate to continue. "This place has security as tight as a Catharese love-knot and any and all alarms are forwarded to the barracks on Excarga as well." he looked at the young girl without his usual creepy old man seizing up her flexibility look, "Those guys shoot to kill, no matter how cute you are."

Allowing them some time to take that in, weigh the risks to the potential reward and walk away if they didn't want to go through with it, Elix decided to take a slow few sips of his drink.

@Faster Than Light @Logan

 

[Louis Daele]

Louis nodded as Ezri slid the two guys a datapad, Louis took this opportunity to skim over the information on it about the Matrices, Whenever Ezri and Elix were speaking he'd look in their direction and follow along. He was sure to be paying attention to what Mr. Lorso was saying. After the drinks came, Louis took his glass of gin and started sipping it and was still following along.

With what Mr. Lorso said, he painted a picture of how difficult and deadly this job can be. As Lorso ended where he ended, Louis's stoic expression didn't change. He thought about it just to make sure after Lorso stopped speaking, but as the young slicer figured he won't shy away from this. Louis understands what he may be getting into and is fine with it, he won't be walking away from this job. So far he's onboard still. He would look towards Ezri, who Louis doubts would give up on the idea on something as potentially lucrative as those matrices because Czerka goons won't make easy to take them.

Louis didn't have anything to say at the moment, he would let the meeting roll forward.

@Logan @Ecclessey

 

[Ezri Quinten]

____________

Ezri listened to Lorso intently as he spoke, though it may not have seemed like it since she was typing into her datapad at the same time. She figured Czerka would have adequate security but if she were being honest, hearing how heavy it would be directly from someone experienced in their outfits was mildly disheartening. Ezri knew she was no warrior, fighting through scores of guards wasn't really something she'd say was in her wheelhouse.

Oh well. It was what it was and if they were going to get the tech they were after, then dealing with the security force was just going to be a small part of the equation. "They have an offsite barracks, then?" Ezri asked, moving her eyes from the screen of her datapad back to Lorso. "Seems the logical course would be to eliminate as many of the forces in that barracks before infiltrating the main facility then. They can't call for backup if there is none one to answer."

Ezri finished the rest of her glass but opted to not get a refill this time. Instead, she pulled a pack of smokes out of her jacket and lit one. Professionalism be damned, after the recent revelations of suspected resistance she needed a freaking smoke. "So looks like the plan is arrived planetside, remove the ability of the barracks to provide backup, infiltrate the facility to get what we need and then get the kriff out of there. Pretty straight forward I suppose. I guess it goes without saying that if you aren't good with that, you should probably back out now so you don't get yourself and the rest of us killed. Sound good?"

@Faster Than Light @Ecclessey

 

[Elix Lorso]

____________

There was a moment there when Elix thought he had a glimpse of life coming from the young man next to him, but then it faded and without him uttering a word, leaving nothing for the elder Czerka rep to measure the young man's worth with. Oblivious to the skills of one, he was more so impressed with the ability of the young girl to come up with a good plan. Well, good was a relative word. It was a plan, that much was sure, but whether or not it was realistic was still very much up for debate.

Kriff, he did need the credits, though.

For a moment Elix' shoulders dropped as he sighed, but then they rose again as he emptied his glass and straightened up in his seat. "We'll need disguises for the first part-" he added, wanting to make sure that whoever would be investigating the theft wouldn't be able to put employee number whatever-ending-in-Lorso at the barracks. He would probably need to smuggle the others into the factory with some inspection ruse or something, which might just put him in deep personal shit, but these matrices were worth a kriffluck gigantic many spiced up Catharese love-knots, so it'd be worth it. "-but suppose if we give you Lusty Lekku's-" he grinned at Ezri, "-and him a paper bag-" he nodded his heard towards the mute boy, "-we'll be good."

@Faster Than Light @Logan

 

[Louis Daele]

Ezri's general plan sounds good to Louis. He was silent when given the chance to back out by her and still sat in his place, affirming he's still good for the job. There is only a manner of getting to where they can get to the barracks to carry out the rest of the plan. Lorso suggested disguises and then quiped and smiled at Ezri. It's obvious that Elix looks like he's in his middile ages and he's talking like that to someone who looks half his age.

Louis would just roll his eyes with the paper bag remark. Louis would chime in after on the topic, speaking softly. "If getting disguises is an issue; we can sneak in under the cover of night and take care of the barracks." he nodded, wasn't sure if Lorso would be able to provide Czerka uniforms or something suitable or not. Going in under the veil of darkness is the old-fashion choice, but not often a bad one. Once they get in and disable communications, then the offsite barracks would be useless, then the team can attempt to steal the matrices and the people in the barracks would be stolen with them none-the-wiser.

Or they can blow it up if that's what is preferred.

Still, as long as the plan is clear and doesn't sound like out-right suicide he's in this. As things lay out, this job's risk could be very well worth the reward.

@Logan @Ecclessey

 

[Elix Lorso]

____________

Elix pretended to be surprised that the boy could speak as he turned his head to look at him with raised eyebrows and an open mouth. "Already able to form coherent sentences?" he said with a smile before tapping the table impatiently with his fingers, "They'll be a bit loose on her, but I own more than one Czerka uniform-" his face now showed a more pensive expression, -but I suppose it would be best to arrive just before the night shift arrives and benefit from the temporary lapse of watchfulness." Like everywhere else, Czerka guards were least watchful when they were counting down the last thirty minutes of their shift and their replacements always spend their first thirty minutes getting coffee and chatting with colleagues about their off-time shenanigans. That provided a decent window to strike by disabling their vehicles and prevent them flying out to incoming alarms. Maybe, if they were lucky, the little girl could slice into the barracks' system and disable all incoming alarms.

Comfortable with the plan that was forming in his head, Elix moved to stand up. "Bring slicing gear and an easily concealed hold-out blaster with a stun setting-" he cautioned, they didn't want people to die if they did have to blast their way out of the barracks. That would trigger a manhunt they were ill-prepared for. "-and meet me at the ship in two hours."

/endthread

@Faster Than Light @Logan