Loose on the Town

[Just Falcon]

Most comms had some sort of an answering feature. Don't pick up in time, and it shuts up and leaves a message. It was a profoundly useful feature that cost four extra credits a year. Lorena didn't spring for it, and the comm wouldn't shut up.

"Droid!" She was still half asleep, crammed into a spartan hammock at the front of her ship. "Peppy! Mush! Get it."

Grumbles and moans from through the walls, they weren't all that thick. "Delanova Consulting and Investigations," said a droid's world-weary voice. "How may I . . . ah."

Lorena shut her eyes tighter. Maybe if she never opened them and kept perfectly still and stopped breathing entirely -

"Mistress." A cold claw poked her in the skull. Somehow he always seemed to jab the same spot; a drawn out sort of Selkath Water Torture. "It's your new . . . employers."

"Mmm." Probably shouldn't keep them waiting, they always paid very, very well. One bounty and now she was on call for them though, not exactly the most pleasant of thoughts. "Hello, this is - "

"Miss Delanova," said a curt voice on the other end. "I am Smythe. I work dispatch."

"Didn't know you Cartel guys had that."

"It is just a name," said Smythe. "You are listed on our file as having some experience in live captures, is this correct?"

"Yep. That's me. Stun girl." A pair of Model 6 "Quick 6" blasters were almost always on her belt, kept in perpetual stun mode. "This another whisk-away like that Rodian guy, or - "

"One of our clients has lost some pets. He would like them returned."

"Oh. Pets. Great." Sounded easy. That was pretty much always a terrible, terrible sign. "We talkin' gizkas, a katarn, those rat looking things the Hutts always have - "

"Mandalorian wolves," said Smythe. "Are you familiar with the breed?"

"Mmm." That was annoyed for 'yes.' "I know about 'em. Big, nasty, bite through your face sorts of fellas smarter than your average Trando, that about right?"

"Colorful. But not inaccurate," said Smythe. "There is a bar in the Entertainment District known as the Canal Yards Project. Head there. We have cleared out everyone save the wolves breeder and caretaker; he will provide you with any pertinent information. No GPS tracking, unfortunately. The receiver for the wolves transmitters was . . . lost with the original trainer in the breakout."

"Sure I've got no idea what you mean by that," said Lorena. Trainer A was wolf food now. "So, get the wolves, bring them back - "

"Bring them back alive, Miss Delanova. I cannot stress that enough. And do put a preference on protecting our shops if you can. I believe your partner might know which ones those are."

"I -" That last bit finally caught up to her brain. "Partner? Really rather do this alone, if it's all the same - "

"The Cartel thanks you for your service, Miss. Delanova."

The comm clicked and died away, and Lorena started getting her things ready. She grabbed a datapad, some spiked caff for the road, and her hidey-hole boots. All set. Last but not least she slung on her coat, shutting down her droids and locking up the ship.

Wolves and meeting new people. What a fun day this was turning out to be.

 

[TheSilentWind]

It was a bad mission, one that reminded Reylan of his mother. Back when she was alive, she used to go get Mandalorian wolves, as Reylan's father used to work with wolves, especially Mandalorain ones who were known for their ferocity. Reylan knew some guys who could help him, although that would probably be a bad idea considering that they were his father's friends and they hated Reylan.

The prospect knew the location where he could get some information, even if it was usually used by the higher class. He went to the Entertainment District, specifically a bar called Canal Yards Project. Reylan had never been to the bar, and when he entered he saw that it was very high class. It seemed that this bar was usually reserved for the upper class, people who had a lot of money.

When he entered he saw some people that looked oddly suspicious. Reylan however would wait, as he had been told that he would receive a partner. It was more effective to work as a team, as opposed to go around gaining information without meeting the person you were working with. He had only been told that she looked pink. Reylan didn't know who that was and had never had of species that were pink or anyone who looked like that. It was something that would certainly be odd.

 

[Just Falcon]

Humans. Bars were always full of them, even on the Smuggler's Moon. Little less than a dozen within the meeting place, heavily armed men and women clearly a part of some security force or another. Didn't take a genius to figure out who they were working for, only one woman in the place was old, crotchety, and dressed entirely in fur. Next to her was an exasperated man, put-upon, sweaty, and nursing his head with half a drink. Off to the side of it all was another; probably her contact by the looks of him.

"You! Cartel girl!" Miss crotchedy pants snapped her fingers the moment Lorena stepped in. A guard or two propped up their gaze, but most had that deadeye look that comes after more than a month protecting someone as nasty useless as her. "I want my wolves, girl! They're out in the wild, alone, lost, needing their mommy . . . oh lords!" She collapsed into hysterics against the chest of one of her bodyguards. He did not look happy. "My poor babies!"

"Mrs. Astor, please," said the put-upon man at the bar. "Let me deal with this." He drained the last of his glass. Third round of the day, going by all the empties. "Sorry for her," he mumbled. "I'm Boyd. I was Mimsy and Biff's caretaker."

"Mimsy and Biff?" Lorena raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Yes." Boyd's lip twitched when he glanced back at his boss. This close, she could make out a harsh, crooked gash running from his neck to just below the left eye. "You are working with him, I suppose?"

Lorena glanced over at her partner, the other one sent by the Cartel. Same boring skin as every other human, she had trouble telling the lot of them apart sometimes. He looked capable enough, at least.

"I suppose," she said. "So. These wolves -"

"Right. First things first," said Boyd. "They won't be hungry for . . . awhile." He shifted uncomfortably, and Lorena remembered Trainer A's gruesome fate. "Just had a meal, so you're good for an hour or two. That's not what you need to worry about. What you need to concern yourself with is them being generally . . . disagreeable. Biting people. Tearing things up. See, the thing is . . ." He sighed. "Their hearing, yeah? Thousand times better than yours. Decibel ranges higher and lower than anything a humanoid can her, decibels that . . ." he trailed off again, seemed to do that a lot.

"Didn't catch that last part," said Lorena.

"The wolves don't exactly . . . like . . . certain chords. Anything bass played on a string, they hate that. Really, really hate that. And I don't know if you've ever been to a club round these parts, but - "

"They love bass," Lorena finished. "So. Basic gist. Pair of horny wolves, couple hundred packed people and a never ending sound that drives 'em crazy . . . that about it?"

"More or less, yep," said Boyd.

"Why aren't you getting my wolves?" Missus Astor wailed from the bar. Wonder how much she payed to the Cartel to make them give a crap about her piddly-ass problems. "Poor Mimsy and Biff! Poor, lonely, fluffy Mimsy and - "

"Still handling it, Missus Astor," Boyd said with a sigh. He brought out a datapad, showing it to Lorena and her partner. "Stun only, I believe you have both been made aware of that already. If either of the wolves are harmed, your money is forfeit. Hail this frequency," he tapped the datapad, "When you have them and we'll send in a transport. That should be just about it." He set down the datapad, and turned to head back towards his boss.

"Oh . . . one more thing." He turned around, rubbing the jagged gash that ran down his cheek. "The female. Never take your eyes off her."

 

[TheSilentWind]

Reylan was in the bar when he saw a lady who had a large amount of men with her. More importantly, he saw some pink skinned human, or maybe near human with her. Reylan stood up and prepared himself. He walked toward the human. "The name is Reylan." he stated, his tone had to distinguish.

As Reylan listened to the conversation between his partner and some man, he felt slightly bad for the woman who had lost her pets. That feeling was quickly relinquished by the fact that she kept crying . This made Reylan quite mad, and to be honest, his anger was quickly rising. It took some will to keep his anger down which he eventually did.

"Do you where they are or at least the last time you saw them?" Reylan asked. It was a good idea to start the search at where they last were as that would probably be a good idea. He awaited the man's response while wondering how Mandalorians wolves of all animals were easily lost.

 

[Just Falcon]

"Hmm?" Boyd said to Reylan. "Oh. Last place. Well, they broke out four, five hours ago? Something like that. Previous trainer . . . forgot to latch the cage." He scratched his other cheek, the one without the ugly jagged gash, and Lorena smirked. When the collar peeked out you could see what was unmistakably a hickie on his neck. "Last visual we had," said Boyd, "Was at a Twi'Lek hangout on the south side, Mission's Veranda. I'd start there. They're traveling as a pair for now, which might or might not be good. On the plus side, they're both together. On the bad, death flavoured side . . . they're both together." He plucked his fourth drink of the morning off of a passing waiter's tray. "Don't kid yourself. They're not animals. They're smart, they're free, and they don't want it to stop anytime soon. Treat 'em like they're any other dog and you'll end up dead."

Boyd went back to his thoroughly unpleasant boss, draining his alcohol on the way. There went the mystery of how he tolerated the obnoxious woman. Lorena trailed her partner out the door, taking a nip of her own from the spiked caff on her way out.

"Reylan, huh?" she said. "Well. Hey. Guess we're working together." She took another nip of drink. "Two options, way I see it. Either pick up their trail at the Twi'Lek bar and track the mangy lot down, or find some way to bring them to us. Don't actually know how to do that, though." Lorena watched a bunch of Weequay gangbangers pass by, bobbing their heads to some terrible music. "Not gonna lie. First time hunting Mando wolves; so if you've got any better ideas I'm pretty sanguine followin' 'em."

 

[TheSilentWind]

”We should srtart at the Twi’Lek hangout. It only makes more sense to start their and I just wanted to get out of this ghetto place. Reylan replied. This bar wasn’t his thing. He knew this place wasn’t terrible, but it was the area they were in which was terrible, and had a lot of crime.

”Thank you for your time.” Reylan told Mr. Boyd noticing it was too late for him to state it as the guy had already returned to his boss. He walked up and left getting out of the bar and waiting for his partner.


”So how do we scare the Mando wolves into coming here” he stated. To Reylan, the question he asked was important mostly because even if they didn’t have an exact location on the wolves, Reylan was confident they would get them. It also made sense to plan ahead as that made people finish faster.

"You coming?" he asked, continuing to wait for Lorena

 

[Just Falcon]

"Gotcha. I'll get the first cab," said Lorena, following her partner. She held up her hand and whistled, short and sharp. An air taxi pulled up to the curb and the doors in back popped, beckoning the pair inside. "Mission's Veranda," she said to the Rodian driver. "Get there in five and I'll double your pay."

Money. That's all you needed to get what you want on the Smuggler's Moon.

The speeder roared to life and jerked down the street. It was an old model, old enough that the dampeners were starting to die and the G's bled through. "I'm thinking noise," Lorena said to Reylan. "If they hate it, we can use it. Slice into some speakers and blanket the district with irritation, it'll drive the wolves right out. Trick'll be getting 'em to go where we want and being there ahead of time though. Live bait, maybe?" She fidgeted in her seat, pulling out her guns and double checking the charges. Half full on one, three fourths on the other. Better than usual, at least. No idea how many shots it took to stun a wolf though, hopefully this'd be enough. "Don't suppose you play bass?"

 

[TheSilentWind]

Reylan found his fellow Hutt Cartel Prospect somewhat weird, but he did do his best to hide it though. As they entered the cab, he could see how worn out it is. So much for Nar Shadaa being called Little Coruscant he thought idly in his mind. He could see that the cab driver was a Rodian. It wasn't surprising, as their were many alien races that usually worked in Nar Shadaa in one occupation and another.

As he listened to Lorena's plan, he had a smile on him. If their was anything Reylan could do is to make noise. His pyrokenisis ability allowed him to make a lot of noise, and seeing that fire made a lot of noise, this was a perfect mission for him, and he wanted the credits. "I can definitely make a lot of noise, good enough not to harm the Mandalorian wolves." he stated. He could then see that she had already formulated a plan, and Reylan not being the headstrong kind of guy made it seem like his statement was a lot of noise. "I never heard of a Hutt Cartel member playing bass."[/B he replied, as he wasn't in to jokes.

 

[Just Falcon]

Lorena chuckled, just finishing up her handgun inspection. "You've never been to open-stage at The Drowning Selkath, then. All enforcer band of Weequay's do some pretty good covers, for a bunch of half-drunk gangsters. Bassist's got some chops." She slammed the magazine back into it's chamber, savoring the tiny little click. "So. You make the noise, flush out the mutts and I shoot 'em in the face. Simple as all get-out."

The cabbie was true to his word; he got them there in less than three minutes. Lorena grudgingly paid the man. Irritating. She wanted the guy to fail, that way she could've held onto her credits. A vendor or two dotted the street, intersperced with food carts and a "Genuine 100% All-Corusca'' gem dealer. She had her shop set up on a rug though, kind of hurt the Twi'Lek girl's credibility.

Mission's Veranda, the Twi'Lek bar, was behind it all. Pretty clear the wolves had been here, and not too long ago. The doors had all been ripped from their hinges, windows were shattered on the ground and half a wall, somehow, had been torn down to the ground. No one looked dead though, that was at least something. Cartel probably wouldn't like the publicity that came with hordes of slaughtered civilians. Still, there were at least a half dozen moaning, freshly clawed people on the ground in varying states of shock and discontent. Seeing them all, for some strange reason, seemed to make the cabbie nervous, and he sped away as soon as the credits touched his palm.

Pfft. Coward.

Lorena was just about to talk to one of the wolve's victims when a loud, panicked scream caught her attention! "Help!" It came from an alley to the right, and an arm-flailing Arkanian dashed out, tripping over his legs. "Giant fluffy man eating monsters!" He stumbled, fell, and collapsed in a heap at their feet. Lorena glanced back at the empty alley. Nothing. "Uh . . . where now?"

"They're there! I know they were! Giant evil hell-hounds, out to rip off my head - "

She glanced back again. "Don't see 'em."

'Well." The Arkanian stood up and dusted himself off. "They were there. Probably went that way," he pointed south, "There are, come to think of it, a lot of butcher shops that way . . ."

"Hmm." Lorena turned to Reylan. "Guess we're going south, then."

 

[TheSilentWind]

"That seems simplistic and effective enough. Not a bad plan to be honest although I do hope they aren't any gangs that would want to sell the wolves for their own purposes, as we need this money, and considering we are going to the ghetto, we need to be aware of our surroundings." Reylan stated respectfully. He was impressed by the Zeltron's thinking, but he felt that his input was needed, if only slightly.

The cab driver drove fast, and Reylan came of after Lorena did. It was their that he saw a Twi'Lek bar. This was a logical place for the wolves to be in That thought was quickly destroyed by Reylan seeing the amount of people on the floor. It was here that he moved along with the Zeltron prospect when someone yelled to the two of them. He seemed uneasy, and he judging by his state of mind, he wasn't thinking logically. He pointed South at the location the wolves went, and Reylan nodded at the Zeltron as he also agreed with her decision.

He positioned himself in a south position, his guns ready to make a sound, as he walked southward, where the wolves were there apparently.

 

[Just Falcon]

It didn't take long to hear them. Angry creatures were doing their angry thing inside a tattoo parlor just a block south, trailed by shattered glass, a busted door, and four seperate overturned street food vendors. They apparently didn't like the veggies, that one was still intact. Lorena unlatched the leather strap keeping her blaster in check and felt it's reassuring weight drop into her palm. She stopped a few steps short of the hole where the door used to be, and caught her first glimpse of the preoccupied wolves. They were lying down on the floor for now, gorging themselves on an entire kart's worth of pilfered meats. And condiments, apparently. Biff, the male, seemed to be enjoying gnawing on the tubes those came in. He was the smaller of the two, and the thing was still at least three feet tall and five from snout to tail. Hair bristled around his nostril and there was a notch in one ear.

Lorena got what the trainer meant about the female the moment she clapped eyes on Mimsy. The wolf's fur was black as coal and thick as spines, and her snout perked up the moment Lorena and Reylan came within distance. Not much time to plan, then.

"Think you can flush 'em out? Busted door's the only way in or out, seems a good choke point." Something growled on the other side - ten to one the wolves picked up their scent on the wind. "Time seems to be an issue . . ."

 

[TheSilentWind]

"You want me to flash them out." he stated excitedly. "As you wish mam." Suddenly, fire appeared in Reylan's hand. He had rubbed and heated up air molecules that allowed him to make fire. While Reylan used knew the knows hows of how to use the ability, he was still far from being a master, and perfecting the art. Reylan envisioned himself some day of being a master, and he certainly would learn the ability. This was a perfect time to display how lethal he was.

Reylan used a variation of pyrokenisis that allowed him to use more control and precision over brute force and strength. It was something that was certainly better as Reylan preferred using precision over brute strength. He snapped his fingers, and sent a focused attack on two boxes, blowing them up and creating fire.Luckily for them, this was far from the door that allowed them to enter and exit, and it would certainly make them get out.

"That should annoy them." he stated confidently.

 

[Just Falcon]

For such stupid-named creatures, there was an almost mournful echo to their howl. It was creepy. Lorena leveled her her blaster on the doorway, narrowing one eye and sticking out her tongue a tiny bit. Didn't know if it actually helped her aim, but she'd gotten used to the ritual.

The wall thudded, loud enough to shake the steel and send dust into the air. Something big was ramming into it from the other side. And since there were only two somethings big enough to do that . . .

"Clever." Shadows from the flame danced against the doorway, and a hulking mound of bristling fur filled the space. Lorena fired fast as she could, but the shattering wall on her left threw off her aim. A shock bolt screamed and thudded into the threshold edging, and the wolf in the door presses back. The female one probably, because of course the universe wouldn't make things easy for her and Reylan.

Biff was the dumb one using his head to break through a wall. His snarling form bounded back into the streets, between her and Reylan. This time she was more than fast enough, letting loose half a round at or around his head. The wolf wobbled on his legs for a second than dropped, already drooling around his long tongue.

Her back to the window, Lorena only caught the stealthy exit of Mimsy the Mandalorian wolf from the corner of her eye. Blacker than a shadow she slipped out of sight, fading into the network of alleys surrounding the bar. A low, sibilant hiss echoed from all sides a second later.

"Ass-hat wolf," Lorena muttered. Another growl, this time vaguely from the left. The alleys and bacstreets were all connected around here though, so that didnt really mean much of anything. She palmed and reloaded her blaster, drawing the second just to be sure and ready to head into the dark and check it out. "Need a stunner? Not lookin' to get my money burnt up, no offense."

 

[TheSilentWind]

"Don't worry." he chuckled, not hurt by the comment. "I personally don't blame you." he replied. "I have my own though." Reylan couldn't blame her for the comment. If he was in her shoes, he would have said the exact same thing. Reylan set his pistol on a stun setting, and some wolves came at him, as they weren't aware of the direction to go.

As one of them jumped, he fired a blaster bolts. A mini storm of blaster bolts came at the wolves, as all of them had chosen to use this route. Each one of them fell on the ground, and with each wolf falling on the floor, it was clear that they finished their mission.

"So I since we are done." he stated, his tone showing that he was happy they had finished the mission. "I think we should call the guys to come pick us up" he uttered, looking at her.

 

[Just Falcon]

"That," said Lorena as she lit up her commlink. "Is an excellent idea." The faint flickering hologram of a bawling rich woman sputtered to life in her palm. "Missus Astor? I think we've got your mutts."

She cut the link before the sound of frantic weeping could make it through. Today had been annoying enough already. She took a seat, pulled out a canteen and glanced up at Reylan."Oh. Nice shot."

And that was the only compliment she gave out that month.