Ask Goose Chase

[Kaz Tran]

The woman was absolutely hysterical. She was the wife of a Czerka executive and her daughter had been kidnapped. With Rangers being sent to off-world missions to curb AMS or fighting Sith, kidnappings and local murders ended up ranking lower on the totem pole. As a result, the jobs were given to people yanked out of meter maid duties or newer Rangers. There was a staffing shortage in the force and it meant less experienced people were put on the job.

Not that Kaz could let the woman know any of that.

He stood there awkwardly as the lady hysterically screeched at him, going on a tirade about her baby. It hadn’t even been 24 hours. The Ranger force had written it off as a bratty runaway and sent the newbie Rangers there as nothing more than a formality. However, he had a sinking feeling in his gut that perhaps it wasn’t that simple.

Kaz was in the living room of a manor being screeched at by a woman who wore fur and pearls. She had a painted face, and long, colored nails that resembled claws. The woman told the story of her perfect daughter and how she had won countless pageants, and so of course that’s why she was kidnapped.

The Ranger’s jaw tightened as he noted down details in his datapad.

“M’am, can you please tell me a bit more about what happened exactly?”

He looked around, wondering when his partner for the job would be getting here. Kaz was way out of his element.

 

[Rylee Asuchi]

Rylee arrived on the scene holding two cups of caf she had picked up on the way. She had needed one for herself as it was early in the morning and she'd had to respond to the call out as there were too few senior rangers available to pick it up. One ranger was already at the scene, though the Pantoran had not been advised who she would be working with on this case, but the second cup of caf was for them. The former Squadron Leader was shown inside by a protocol droid serving at the household butler. Inside the room, her colleague had already set about interviewing the lady of the house.

"Sorry I'm late. I'm Ranger Asuchi, here to assist with this investigation" she said, announcing herself not only to the woman being interviewed, but to Kaz as well. Rylee held out one of the cups of caf to her fellow Ranger, "Here, you look like you could use it." The Pantoran flashed the young man a friendly smile, waiting for him to take the drink.

"Oh excellent, more help, you must both find my darling daughter. I cannot bare to think what has become of her. I was just about to let your partner here in on the details" explained the fur clad woman.

"Okay, well don't let me stop you, let us have it" replied Rylee. Having handed off the caf to Kaz, the Pantoran took a sip of her own beverage and started pacing the room. It might have appeared she was not listening to the woman once she began explaining, but she was. Rylee was simply examining the lavish decorations.

@Sreeya

 

[Kaz Tran]

Kaz was rubbing his temples by the time Asuchi made her way over. He glanced over and was surprised and pleased to see she had brought him a caf. He gave her a weary smile as he took it, “Please tell me this is spiked,” He muttered under his breath so only she could hear.

“Now then,” The woman began, “She was wearing a necklace that has been in the family for several generations. It is made from 24 karat Aurodium and studded with pure Corsuca gems from-”

“What time did she disappear?”

The woman gave a vicious glare before she continued, “It was yesterday because she did not arrive for dinner. A real shame because Cookie really outdid herself and made wonderful herb crusted bantha st- hey! Don’t touch anything! Those showpieces are worth more than you make in a year!” She practically hissed at Asuchi as the Ranger began to wander around, “Gosh they’re just sending anyone these days.”

Kaz took another sip from his caf, rubbed his face and decided he had collected enough information for now, “Thank you, m’am, we’ll just take a look around.”

He walked closer to Asuchi and gave her a jut of the chin to follow away from the obnoxious woman. Once they were in a hallway, he spoke quietly to her, “No signs of forced entry in the manor. She just abruptly disappeared yesterday and never showed up. Allegedly she went to a lunch with some friends, was on her way home and that’s likely when it happened.”

There were other details like the fact that she was a teenager, popular in social circles and very outgoing. There was also a description of her clothing, but not much beyond that. Kaz shrugged, “What do you think, scope out the restaurant where she was last seen? Her mother is kriffing worthless,” He grumbled, casting a glance back towards the woman in fur that was casually checking her phone.

@Bex

 

[Rylee Asuchi]

Rylee had given a small smile when Kaz asked if the caf was spiked. Clearly the woman he was talking to was giving him a headache. It wasn't long before the Pantoran found out exactly what her comrade had been having to handle whilst she was grabbing drinks. The woman started talking but placed far more importance on irrelevant details than actually providing useful information to start with. Rylee mentally commended Kaz for cutting through the rubbish and getting right to the point.

So the girl vanished the day before and hadn't returned home. This was the only useful thing the woman managed to get out before she tailed off again. Rylee rolled her eyes and took a sip of her caf, before suddenly the wife of the Czerka executive screamed at her not to touch anything. The Pantoran turned on her heels to face the lady of the house again with a face like thunder, but before she could say anything Kaz had excused them both.

Once they reached the hallway, Ranger Tran explained the information he had managed to gather. "On face value it sounds as if the girl just ran away. Can't say I blame her; I would if that obnoxious harpy was my mother" she said, taking another mouthful of warm caf and swallowing it before continuing, "But, there's no way we'll know for sure unless we investigate. We need to establish if we are dealing with a run away child or something worse. Let's check out the restaurant."

Rylee snapped her fingers at the protocol droid that had let her in, who was now busying itself with some light dusting in the hallway, and gestured for it to come over.

"Yes madam? How may I be of service" the droid asked politely.

"Tell the lady of the house we're leaving. We'll be conducting our investigation starting with the restaurant where the girl was last seen" instructed Rylee, "Oh, and don't forget to tell her that I've seen restroom cubicles with better interior design than her lounge." She glanced away from the droid to give Kaz a smirk before gesturing to him to come with her. Rylee then head towards the front door. "So do we have her name? An ID?" asked the Pantoran as they walked.

@Sreeya

 

[Kaz Tran]

Kaz had to fight to keep a straight face as Asuchi casually told the droid to deliver a rather poignant message. The droid, being a droid, would of course pass on the message, predictive analytics suggesting it wouldn’t go well.

He couldn’t blame Asuchi for also thinking this was a runaway, and he wouldn’t be able to blame the girl either. Kaz led the way to the cruiser he was given. Unfortunately, it was only a larger version of the egg that allowed a maximum of two people. She would have to squeeze in next to him and get a taste of that poor Ranger life. Kaz quickly moved cheeseburger wrappings and a cup of old soda out of the way, face turning a bit pink from embarrassment. Thankfully there was a minty air freshener hanging from the mirror to make it always smell new and clean.

Kaz revved up the engines and began heading towards the restaurant, pondering her questions, “Her name is...Princess. Princess Kovan,” He gave Asuchi a vacant look that said ‘you can’t make this shit up’. Of course her name was kriffing Princess. He handed her his datapad of all the information he had collected thus far. There was a picture of her - teen, red hair, green eyes and the necklace her mother described around her neck. She had a confident smirk on her face that was similar to her mother.

They arrived at the restaurant a while later and Kaz approached one of the waitresses. Initial questioning revealed nothing, but Kaz commed into HQ get feed from local traffic cameras.

“The friends she had lunch with all went their separate ways so no one saw anything,” Kaz explained to Asuchi as they continued to pull up dead ends. One of the waitresses recalled the group of girls, but only regarding how badly they behaved and how poorly they tipped.

After a moment, there was a ping on his datapad. He looked down and played footage from nearby cameras. His eyes widened, “Asuchi! Get over here!” He called out, showing her the datapad.

In it, they could see Princess standing off in a corner alley ducked out of sight. She was smoking a cigarra and looking around nervously, clearly not a habit her parents approved of. Moments later, a masked man rushed over and bodily grabbed her before she went off screen. A black speeder was seen fleeing the scene, but there were no markings on the back of it to identify it.

Kaz clutched at his hair, “Kriff...Oh kriff….”

@Bex

 

[Rylee Asuchi]

Rylee was both fascinated and repulsed by the two-seater egg vehicle that Kaz had been given as transport. It was such an interesting concept for a speeder but so... hideous. The Pantoran decided then and there she wouldn't be caught dead owning one herself. She had a keen interest in vehicles, specifically starfighters, and was a capable mechanic as well as a soldier. After all, what good was it to end up crash landing your ship in a battle and not knowing how to repair it? Before she got inside, the Pantoran did a lap around the speeder to take in exactly what it was they would be travelling in. Kaz had hastily tidied up the interior and looked a little flushed, presumably he was embarrassed about the state of the vehicle. Being ex-military, Rylee generally expected high levels of discipline and cleanliness, however she had to accept that not everyone she worked with since joining the rangers would have the same standards. The Pantoran squeezed into the egg next to Kaz and they set off.

On their journey to the restaurant, Kaz explained that the girl they were searching for was named Princess Kovan. Rylee gave an amused smile at Kaz's expression. He seemed like he'd almost lost the will to live after speaking with Mrs. Kovan. The Pantoran examined the datapad. The girl would have looked prettier if it weren't for the same pompous look on her face that her mother had. When the pair arrived at the restaurant, Kaz went off to speak to one of the waitresses and Rylee asked to speak with the owner. Other than ascertaining that Princess had indeed been to the restaurant the previous day, she returned to Kaz without any useful info. It appeared her colleague had been having the same luck.

Rylee went to use the restroom, but in the meantime, Kaz had received camera footage on his datapad. On her way back, she heard the ranger call out to her. The Pantoran's golden eyes looked intently at the video as Kaz played it. The teenager had been smoking in an alley before being abducted by a masked individual who bundled her onto a black speeder before leaving the scene. Kaz was visibly worried about what they had just witnessed, but Rylee was more calm. She would not have made a very good soldier had she lost her head too easily.

"Relax Kaz, we need to get used to this sort of thing happening in this line of work" she said, trying to reassure him, "I know it looks bad, but on the bright side, we've got a couple of leads. We should head to this alleyway and look around, see if her abductor left any traces behind at the scene. When we're there, we can also put a call out for any unmarked, black speeders. They're bound to have been spotted elsewhere in the city."

@Sreeya

 

[Kaz Tran]

Kaz, unlike his partner, was fresh out of Ranger academy. He couldn’t be cool as a cucumber as he watched live footage of someone being snatched up like a sack of potatoes. Who knew where she was or what was happening to her!

“Relax? I was writing parking tickets before this!” He stated, exasperated. However, he knew that panicking was helping no one and he finally exhaled slowly. He closed his eyes and opened them again, focusing on any detail he could see with the speeder. Kaz nodded in response to Asuchi’s suggestions, immediately bringing up his comlink to get other Rangers surveying for black, unmarked speeders.

Within moments, they were back in the egg and speeding over to the alley. When Kaz needed to book it, he booked it. The egg zoomed through traffic easily, cutting in and out jerkily enough to send anyone’s head spinning. He had a feeling Asuchi wouldn’t be too bothered by it, and he didn’t bother looking to see if she was covered in cheeseburger wrappers or not.

Kaz arrived at the scene and popped out of his speeder, reaching for his blaster preemptively. At first glance the alley looked completely empty. He hadn’t expected to actually find anything here, but they didn’t have any other leads.

That was when a grumpy old lady was pushing around a cart with an assortment of random junk items in it. She was muttering to herself as she moved along, casually running the cart slowly right into Asuchi’s rear. Granny looked up at glared menacingly, shaking her fist.

“This ain’t your alley, you little rainbow hussy! For five years I live here and these past few days everyone and their cousin wants to show up in this alley-” She continued going off on an endless rant while gesturing very animatedly with her hands and making some very crude gestures with her fingers.

Kaz ignored all that because his focus was on her cart and the very expensive and familiar necklace gleaming there.

@Bex

 

[Rylee Asuchi]

Though she was more calm than her fellow ranger now that they knew they were dealing with a kidnapping, Rylee was less relaxed shooting across town in the EGG with Kaz on the way to the alley. His speed and general driving was not the problem, it was the trash he'd hurried to move out the way when she first got into the speeder at the Czerka executive's manor. Cheeseburger wrappers fluttered about everywhere inside the metal egg and after a particularly sudden cornering maneuver, some previously opened ketchup packets managed to slide up the inside wall and splatter both Rylee and Kaz with the leftovers. Rylee's new ranger coat took the brunt of it. She rolled her eyes and hastily tried to remove it by licking her tongue and rubbing off the splatter with her thumb.

By the time they reached the alley, Rylee had managed to cleanse most of the ketchup but it had still left a dark stain on her coat that would have to be washed out. Noticing that there were dumpsters in the alleyway, Rylee took it upon herself to gather up the garbage in the speeder and throw it away, believing she was doing Kaz, and herself, a favour for their next journey. Unlike Ranger Tran, the Pantoran did not produce her blaster, it remained strapped to her leg. It was possible they'd bump into some shady characters here but Rylee was confident that if they did find anyone, she'd be able to handle them with some of her military taught hand-to-hand combat skills in the first instance. The blaster was always there as back up.

After throwing the trash away, Ranger Asuchi felt something broad push into her backside. Turning her head, she saw a grumpy old woman with a cart full of junk. She did not look happy at the Pantoran's presence, and clearly felt she was getting in the way. "Rainbow hussy" was a new one, but Rylee had been called similar or worse before. That tended to happen when you worked with soldiers. Reaching inside her coat, the Pantoran produced her Sector Ranger's badge, identifying herself to the woman.

"Rainbow hussy? Only when I'm off duty, love" she said sarcastically, giving her a cheeky wink for full effect, "Listen lady, I'm investigating a crime scene here, not looking for my next pay cheque. A girl was abducted here yesterday afternoon." Turning to face the woman and Kaz, Rylee's golden eyes settled upon the trolley. Quickly glancing at Kaz, she had to do a slight double-take. Was that...?

"Where did you find this?" said Rylee, her tone more serious and more direct as she fished the necklace out of the cart, "You said people keep showing up here. Does that mean you were here yesterday afternoon?"

@Sreeya

 

[Kaz Tran]

Kaz was about to ask some questions when Asuchi beat him to the punch. He busied himself briefly by removing ketchup from his outfit that he didn’t notice first. His face turned hot as he realized both Rangers were casualties to his terrible food habits. He made a mental note to apologize to the other Ranger later. As far as first impressions went, he was quite sure Asuchi would go out of her way to avoid assignments with him in the future.

“Claws off!” The lady hissed, “Finders keepers!’ She screeched at the female Ranger before turning to glare at Kaz, “Damn youngins’ coming here for my things. That’ll fetch me a nice sum of credits that will. I don’t give a rat’s ass about your crime scene, you're not taking my things!”

With that, she pulled out a pepper spray and attempted to fire it right at Asuchi's face.

Kaz acted out of instinct and shoved the lady back to throw off the trajectory. As a result, the lady collided into the side of the alley wall, screaming at the top of her lungs. She immediately went to grab a frying pan that was in her cart to beat Kaz.

“Calm down lady!” Kaz dodged the incoming pan. He moved quick and came in from around the woman, bearhugging her from behind to subdue her. She screamed and struggled but he had her trapped.

@Bex

 

[Rylee Asuchi]

Nothing Rylee had said appeared to have gotten through to the woman. She was more concerned about making credits from the things she found in the alley than cooperating with the rangers. Unfortunately, the Pantoran picking up the necklace caused the lady to snap. A puff of pepper spray erupted from the end of the can she had produced, but thankfully missed Rylee's face due to the quick reactions of Kaz. The purple haired woman pulled her ketchup stained jacket up to shield her eyes from the rest of the mist as it descended.

From behind her coat, Rylee could hear a fight breaking out between Kaz and the old woman. Reaching out with her foot, she forced the trolley away from her so she could move away from the dumpsters and the cloud of pepper spray. Opening her eyes again she now saw Kaz had the woman in a bear hug. She was wielding a frying pan and flailing around wildly but her fellow ranger had her in a tight grip. The Pantoran scowled at the woman and made a beeline for the struggling pair. The second she got within an arm's width, the old woman took a swing with the pan. Rylee had anticipated this, so ducked, ensuring she didn't get bonked on the head, and grabbed the lady's arm on her way back up, just as she attempted to have another shot with the backhand swing.

"Are you gonna drop the pan or am I gonna have to make you? Your choice lady" growled the Pantoran.

"First you want my necklace, now you want my pan?! You got some nerve you blue bimbo" shrieked the woman, violently shaking her arm to try and free it from Rylee's grip.

"Right..." was all the Pantoran said in response before taking her other hand, grabbing the woman's forearm tightly and then starting to twist. Back home, they called this move a "Pantoran Burn", but it was probably recognised by various different names, depending on who you asked and what world you lived on. The woman wailed and continued her struggle but eventually the trick Ranger Asuchi had learned from her older brother did the job and the lady dropped the pan. It fell to the floor with a loud clang.

"Okay, now that's out of the way, let me make this clear to you. This is a crime scene. We are Sector Rangers. It isn't up to you whether you 'give a rat's ass' about the crime scene" said Rylee, staring intensely at the old woman with her piercing gold eyes, "We care about the girl who got abducted here yesterday. That necklace belonged to her. Now are you going to cooperate and tell us if you were here yesterday afternoon, or am I going to have to arrest you for obstructing a criminal investigation and attempting to assault two officers of the law?"

@Sreeya

 

[Kaz Tran]

“Oww oww oww you bitch!!” The old lady shrieked as Kaz watched with wide eyes. He reminded himself never to mess with Asuchi, that arm burn move looked brutal. The pan clattered to the floor and the old lady hissed. She stared grumpily at Asuchi for a moment but had no witty comeback for getting arrested.

“I was here,” The lady grumbled, relaxing in Kaz’s grip. He still didn’t release her just yet.

“Rudely behaved girl. Stood here like she owned the place, yea? When I told her to buzz off she BLEW SMOKE IN MY FACE!” The lady screeched, Kaz gripping her tighter. The old lady calmed down again, “I started leaving and this black speeder came up. A guy with a mask on jumped out and nabbed her. There was a bit of a fight and the necklace flew off her and that’s all I know. She deserved what she got."

“Could you describe what the masked individual looked like?”

“Ugh, it looked like a trandoshan. That’s all I know now let me go!”

“What was he wearing?”

“A blue jacket and black pants with a black mask on the face!!”

The old lady lifted her foot and stomped harshly on Kaz’s toes. The Ranger’s jaw tightened but he didn’t budge from where he stood, resisting the urge to whimper. He didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of Asuchi any more than he already had.

Kaz finally released the woman who elbowed him harshly in the ribs at once. He coughed a bit as she angrily cursed them both and walked towards her cart. Kaz walked over and snatched the necklace with a gloved hand.

Both Rangers had their datapads beep. It was from HQ and it mentioned that the black speeder had been last seen heading towards some of the lower districts on the planet. Unfortunately the trace was lost since then. Kaz quickly put in the description of Trandoshan and called for backup. Other Rangers would need to take the old lady back to the station to log her testimony.

Kaz sighed and began walking back to the egg, “This is starting to look more like a trafficking situation, Asuchi,” He said gravely. He paused as he glanced down and sniffed himself after hugging the old lady, grimacing, "Ugh..I smell like shit."

@Bex

 

[Rylee Asuchi]

Finally they seemed to be getting somewhere with the old crone. She had seen Princess in the alley the day before, though they had no more insight as to why she had been there to begin with. After all, the restaurant she had visited had been in another part of town, it seemed odd that she would come all this way to just hang out here. Ranger Asuchi had to assume that the girl had intended to meet someone, though who and why were anyone's guess.

On the subject of what she had seen, the woman was at least able to colour in a little more of the picture for the two rangers. The black speeder of course, they were already aware of, but now they had an eye witness who had seen a Trandoshan in a blue jacket and black mask abduct the Czerka Executive's daughter. The old lady was unkind in her words towards the teenager, but then, she hadn't exactly been friendly towards the rangers either. They were effectively having to rough her up to get any information out of her, which Rylee realised was not going to go down too well if it got back to HQ. Nevertheless, the words drew her ire.

"Look lady, I don't know if you can remember being young - I doubt it judging by the look of you - but that girl is just a teenager, she's practically still a child and you're telling us she has been abducted by a Trandoshan, an intimidating bunch even at the best of times. You cannot possibly believe that she deserves this" she snarled. There was no real need to impart moral judgement on this witness, but the Pantoran simply couldn't stop herself. She could only imagine it being her, or her little sister, and just how scared they would be.

Kaz ended the woman's capture once the exchange was over. The old hag cursed them as she returned to her cart, whilst Ranger Tran set about logging their new information into his datapad. Rylee took some small pleasure knowing that soon enough some more rangers would arrive to disrupt the rude old woman's day as she'd be torn away from her cart and taken to the station for witness statements.

As they walked back to the speeder, Kaz highlighted that this abduction was showing all the signs of trafficking. Ranger Asuchi couldn't fault him on that. Everything they'd learned from the homeless woman pointed towards this crime being almost opportunistic in nature. But how had the Trandoshan known to find someone there? The Pantoran had so many questions. The only thing that broke her thought pattern was Kaz and the smell emanating from his clothes.

"Oh yeah... your jacket has started to smell like vintage Chateau Nerf-de-Piss" she said, pinching her nose and wafting her hand to try and wave away the smell, "So where do we go from here? Do we try and track down this speeder?"

@Sreeya

 

[Kaz Tran]

Kaz quirked an eyebrow as he looked at her, “Aren’t you some tough military chick? I’m sure you’ve smelled worse in army barracks,” He said breezily before making his way over to the egg, “Yeah, we have to do a bit of a stakeout to see where the operations are taking place. If we’re too overt, it’ll spook them.”

They got back in the egg and Kaz put up a new air freshener to give a nice burst of pine and mint in the speeder. This would hopefully help with the smell, though he wasn’t banking on it. Kaz drove towards the shady district but came to a stop at the mouth of the street that led deeper into it. He parked the speeder and got out, glancing over at Asuchi, “Everyone recognizes the egg as a Ranger cruiser. Have to continue on foot from here,” He eyed her for a moment, “Put your badge away somewhere discreet,” He grabbed his own and put it inside his shoe.

The two walked towards the last known location of the black speeder. Kaz had ditched his jacket in the speeder, not intent on smelling like piss the entire way. This district had prostitutes and drunks wandering about in every direction and it was clear the area had been ignored by Rangers.

Kaz kept his focus ahead, spotting the black speeder in question after they walked past a few alleys. He came to a stop behind a dumpster to keep himself concealed. The two Rangers could already see a few people walking in and out of what looked like an unmarked warehouse.

“That might be our target,” Kaz said quietly, “Looks like it has underground levels,” He observed with a grimace. He rubbed his chin in thought.

“Calling in a raid will take forever,” Kaz wasn’t sure about how by the book Asuchi was. He quietly turned to look at her for a moment, “Or we could pose as slaver and asset to walk in.”

@Bex

 

[Rylee Asuchi]

At Kaz's comment about the army barracks, Rylee had remarked, "We didn't make a habit of pissing ourselves in the military. Those that did, didn't last very long." The pair had then departed for the place the black speeder had gone missing. The journey this time was ketchup free but the pine and mint air freshener was having to work overtime to combat the pungent smell wafting from Ranger Tran's jacket. The Pantoran pinched her nose regardless, trying to avoid the vapors drifting into her nostrils any more than they already had.

Soon enough they arrived and had to ditch the egg because it gave them away as law enforcement. On Kaz's advice, Rylee took off her badge and stuffed it in her jacket pocket. Fortunately hers only smelled faintly of the vinegar from the ketchup staining, and not like someone's homemade supply. They wandered over to the location of the speeder, passing all kinds of unscrupulous people on the way. "I reckon we could solve half the open investigations if we just directed headquarters to this place..." muttered Rylee, just loud enough so Kaz could hear her as they walked past a man who had clearly been selling drugs to one of the prostitutes near by.

A few alleyways later they had eyes on the black speeder from the recording. It was parked up outside what appeared to be a warehouse. The two rangers hid behind a dumpster to keep out of sight. Kaz then let Rylee in on what he was thinking. A raid would take too long to call in, but the Pantoran raised an eyebrow at the suggestion they pose as a slaver and asset.

"You volunteering to be the slave then, Ranger Tran?" she said, "Because I'd hate to have to tell internal complaints that someone suggested the female, non-human ranger should be the slave..."

@Sreeya

 

[Kaz Tran]

Kaz shrugged vaguely as Asuchi commented on the illicit activities they walked past, “Some folks have hungry mouths to feed,” He muttered. While he was a rule follower, he wasn’t the type to only see things in black and white. As he glanced over at some of the prostitutes, he noticed some were just skin and bones, their eyes looking as if they hadn’t slept in days. He couldn’t help but wonder if they had children at home without any way to take care of them.

His thoughts were cut short when Asuchi commented next. He looked suddenly flustered, but he couldn’t exactly refute that he had been thinking about her playing the slave role. Kaz’s expression went from flustered to a dull, narrow eyed look. He began to reach for his comlink to begin the longer process of calling in a raid. Because fuck playing slave.

That was when he saw a slaver drag someone towards the door. A slot opened to reveal some eyes, some words were exchanged and the slot was closed to open the door. The two disappeared and Kaz caught some muttering about ‘moving all the assets off world’.

“God damn it,” Kaz grumbled under his breath as he looked over at his partner, “Not a word about this to anyone back at HQ.”

With that, he took his outer jacket off, along with the shirt underneath. He was left in a black tanktop that revealed his slim and athletic build. He had a tattoo on his left bicep that extended down towards his forearm. Kaz looked grumpy as he messed up his hair a bit to look more disheveled.

He stared at Asuchi as if daring her to say something about this, “All right, let’s see you do talking, chief.”

@Bex

 

[Rylee Asuchi]

Rylee watched Kaz's reaction to her comment. She was amused by the initial flustered look he had on his face and even more so when he started to go for his commlink to call headquarters. Her attention was drawn away when Ranger Tran noticed someone approaching the warehouse. The Pantoran's golden eyes looked off in the direction of his gaze to see a slaver dragging some unfortunate soul towards the entrance. The eyes behind the slot in the door ran a quick check on the visitor and their captive before the two disappeared inside. Kaz's resolve seemed to solidify on catching part of their conversation, because although he did not seem happy to play the part of a slave, he reluctantly decided to go along with it.

"Your secret is safe with me" said Rylee mischievously. There was no way she was going to bring it up to anybody at headquarters - she would have felt the same if it were her - but the Pantoran had a penchant for teasing colleagues from her days in the military and figured there would be no harm in joking about it with Ranger Tran once their investigation was over.

To make himself look more disheveled and slave-like, Kaz stripped down to his vest and ruffled up his hair. He had a face like thunder when he looked at Rylee, clearly very frustrated and annoyed with the whole situation. The purple haired ranger simply raised her eyebrows and smiled at her colleague. It seemed he was expecting some sort of mockery, which normally may have been forthcoming, but they did not have the time. Instead, Rylee grabbed Ranger Tran by the front of his tank top and forcefully dragged him out with her from behind the dumpster. To make his "capture" look a little more realistic, Rylee had produced her combat fusion cutter to use as a threat. "Enough talking skug, get walking" she commanded, using the commonly used Zygerrian phrase to add another layer of legitimacy to their charade.

Rylee dragged Kaz over to the warehouse entrance and kicked the door with the side of her foot to make their presence known. The slot in the door slid open, revealing the same pair of eyes as before.

"Whadda you want?" growled the voice from behind the door.

"Was told this was the place to drop off assets. Got this piece of slime for you" she said disparagingly, before roughly shoving Ranger Tran into view of the gatekeeper.

"Looks like he's in decent shape, healthy too..." came the voice as it started to look Kaz up and down, evaluating his possible worth.

"Sure is. He's a very recent catch" said Rylee, continuing the small talk, "Owes a ton of gambling debt, can't pay it back, so he'll pay this way..."

"Yeah... that's good work that is. Looks like he could do hard labour... and if not, maybe some Bantha fodder for the fighting pits... bring him in" was the final verdict from the gatekeeper before the slot in the door was shut. There was just enough time before the door opened for Rylee to whisper to Kaz. "Seems they like you. Let's keep calm and stay focused."

@Sreeya

 

[Kaz Tran]

Kaz’s eyes widened as he was hastily pulled by his tank and - holy shit where did that fusion cutter come from?! He didn’t have to act to look perplex and disturbed, trying not to glance over at her while they walked towards the building.

“You’re suspiciously convincing at this..” He muttered under his breath just loud enough for her to hear. He played his role, avoiding eye contact and keeping his gaze low as they arrived at the door. Kaz had to go along with being roughly pulled in front of the door and he could feel eyes on him. He felt practically naked as he was assessed by some creepo. He kept silent, giving a moody scowl towards Asuchi’s comments as they stepped in.

The door opened to reveal that the speaker was a giant Gammorrean. The smell was awful and he stared at Asuchi a bit too much.

“You don’t look half bad yourself,” The pig said with a sick grin, “Never seen you ‘round before. Boss might like you.”

He began to extend his grubby fingers towards her but Kaz pretended to trip and stumble, which would force Asuchi to address him and keep moving forward.

The Gammorrean was left at the door and the two walked down the length of the hallway. Kaz was entirely unsettled about being here and they had no sense of direction or how to find the girl. His jaw tightened as he kept walking, a row of doors on either side of the hallway. Many of them were quiet, but some had girls banging on them from the other side screaming for anyone that could hear.

“We can’t leave them here…” Kaz muttered quietly, “How has this operation existed so long? Rangers should have busted this a long time ago,” He began to have a sick feeling at the pit of his stomach. Was there corruption within the Rangers?

@Bex

 

[Rylee Asuchi]

At Kaz's muttered comment about her portrayal of a slaver, the Pantoran had smirked. As fun as it was to pull Ranger Tran's leg by playing the role, the truth was that she hated slavers more than most of the villainous scum in the galaxy. She was not smirking the second they walked through the door. When the Gammorrean commented on her appearance and suitability as a slave, Rylee just glared at him with a look of disgust on her face. Had she not got a job to do there, finding the kidnapped girl, and were she not a sector ranger, she would have been tempted to shoot the ugly pigman dead where he stood. The Gammorrean then seemed to make a move for her, but Kaz's intentional stumble forced her to keep moving, which she was grateful for. Another second putting up with the guard and she probably would have tried to kill him.

As the two rangers made their way further inside, they saw the doors lining both sides of the corridor. Though not every room was full, each one that was appeared to have a girl inside. Each one frightened, distressed, desperate to be freed. Without meaning to, Rylee's grip on Kaz tightened until it was likely to cause him a bit of pain. "These fucking bastards are going to pay for this..." she swore under her breath, just loud enough for Kaz to hear. Ranger Tran's questions were spot on. This operation seemed to have been well established, the Gammorrean on the door even said that he hadn't seen Rylee's face around here before. They would need to call this in at their earliest opportunity, but whenever that was, was unclear.

Rylee led Kaz further down the hallway. Looking around to assess whether they were being followed, Rylee dragged her colleague down a side passage. "Kaz, we need to find out where this girl is, and if possible shut this entire operation down. Knowing that they're here, I can't in good conscience let the others get taken away as well..." she said. For the first time, Kaz would notice that she was particularly bothered by what she had seen so far, and though not afraid, was deeply upset by what was happening in this place. Ranger Tran being accepted inside seemed to be an anomaly, because every other captive they had seen was young and female so far.

@Sreeya