Murder on Manaan

[Nase Talsey]

==[Regal Dining Area]==​

The heir of House Vandron considered his options. He was eager to close the deal and return triumphantly to his friends and inform his father, however it was important to give the man enough time to acquire the best. Furthermore it would serve him well not to seem overeager or desperate for results... "3 months from now? Is this an appropriate amount of time to secure the creme of the crop? And have you ever been as far South as Thull's Shroud? If it is not too presumptuous I would extend to you an invitation to join me as my guest on Malastare for the annual podrace? While an archaic form of entertainment I find there remains some visceral appeal in seeing something slam into a wall at 700 kilometers per hour."

 

[Struggle wagon]

==[Luxury Suites]===​

The two twins followed closely behind the blue alien that was butchering basic and quietly chuckling at the spectacle before them. "All the money these people sunk into this place and they still couldn't hire someone who understood basic." Peter chuckled as the found their room and broke off from the group. "Wow, hey Peter look at that view!" Paige said as the two swiped the key to the door before walking in and setting their weighty gear bags down on the floor. "Yeah, it's quite a view although I still don't see why we had to shell out this much for a room we're not going to be using." Peter said begrudgingly as he began to unzip the bags and carefully lay out their equipment. Peter's shotgun, dissembled and in pieces; Paige's chainsaw, disguised as spare parts for the broken elevator the two have heard rumors about, their sidearms stashed in between piles of clothes, and finally their white and gold swan helmets the two could visibly carry past the guards. So what's the plan? "The plan is to stash our weapons in the desk and go enjoy ourselves for the day, later comes the fun part." the two reconstructed their weapons and hid them in the desk before walking out of the room and placing a small hanger labeled "do not disturb" on the doorknob.

 

[CaptainWolfgang]

==REGAL DINING HALL==​

Gao Zen and Corto found a seat in the dining hall where they wouldn't be disturbed before he started to explain.
"I work in the hotel area, but that's fairly recent. When I overheard your name, I had to see if it was really you. You see, I was an Imperial Intelligence agent at one point, but some of the things I'd seen... well, you know how it goes better than most." his voice was heavy, but he managed to keep it to a rumbling whisper. "Never thought much of it, but I kept track of your movements in order to keep some special eyes off of you for the first few days."

Gao Zen glanced to either side before whispering more quietly. "I need you to trust me when I tell you that I'm on your side. So here goes... Niroh, the guy who owns this place, is backed by the Empire. It's how he manages to keep the jackpots rolling out. His spies at this casino have been tracking rebels for years. I'm here to kill him."

==LUXURY SUITES==​

True to company policy, stashing weapons in the desks was a good idea, as the janitorial staff didn't clean the desks of occupied rooms. Peter and Paige would find their weapons safely stored for the duration of their time.

==OUTSIDE ELEVATOR, ABOVE DINING AREA==​

"I'm here to get Aerena out and about. She hasn't had a break from work in a thousand years." Kalo explained to Eric before looking back at Aerena. "And we intend to party our cold black hearts out in that club. I managed to procure two VIP tickets on my way in. Completely legitimately, of course."

As the download completed, the droid clicked to life.
"LT REPORTING FOR DUTY SIR. THE SITH MAGGOTS WILL SOON BE TO PRAYING TO THEIR HEATHEN GODS IN FEAR BESTOWED BY THE MIGHT OF THE REPUBLIC." it said proudly.

==FIVE THOUSAND FATHOMS CLUB==​

The longer Khelsea stayed in the club, the more she realized that most of the occupants were newcomers. She must have been correct in assuming that the VIP tickets weren't as rare as Shora made them out to be.

Another curious thing about the club was a mysterious back section, covered by a long curtain that changed color with the music. It didn't seem necessarily out of place, but the guests entering there seemed to be more formal and business-focused.

 

[Phoenix]

Corto sat stone-faced, staring at the man in front of him. He was no stranger to death, and any claim that he was would be a bald-faced lie. He and the grim reaper were practically on speed dial, but he had spent enough years killing people with too little information while he worked for the Empire. He didn’t have intention of doing it again. If this guy really was bad, he was going to need substantial proof.

He looked at the man across from him and something made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Something wasn’t right here. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but everything about this conversation felt extremely wrong. He resisted the urge to run his hand up toward his knife again. It was a habit that would get him in trouble, and he had no intention of giving this guy any clue what he was carrying.

Even if he did decide to help this “Gao Zen,” if that was even his real name, he had no plan, no information, and no escape plan. It would be an extraordinarily sloppy kill at best, and he didn’t like sloppy. He hadn’t survived this many years doing sloppy work.

All of that was assuming that this guy was even telling the truth! Imperial Intelligence had been hunting him for some time now after his abrupt disappearance, and for all he knew, this guy was still on the Imp payroll and simply pretending to be a Rebel in order to assassinate Corto, himself. Alternative number two was that this guy was just trying to trick him into killing this resort owner for one of any number of reasons, not the least of which could have been some sort of business rivalry.

Option three was that this was actually a Rebel, and this guy he was after was actually keeping tabs on Rebels and selling it to the Sith. If that was the case, Corto would gladly put Nirho in the ground himself, but not like this.

He considered all of this in about 5 seconds and sat silently as he did. Then he leaned forward and met Zen’s gaze unflinchingly. “Here’s the problem: I don’t know you and I didn’t make it this far by giving people the benefit of the doubt,” he said in a flat tone.

“If you want my help, I’m going to need some extremely substantial information to even prove that you are who you say you are. Now if this is for real, I’ll help you, but not without planning and significant proof that convinces me of what you’re saying. If you can’t provide that, I’m walking away right now and I will do everything within my power to stop you because my assumption will have to be that you are still working with Imperial Intelligence.”

He let the words hang in the air for a moment and then leaned back. He honestly didn’t know if this guy was who he said he was, but he couldn’t shake that nagging feeling that something was wrong. If this guy turned out to be Imperial Intelligence then he was going to have to kill him, here in this resort. If he wasn’t, well that was certainly what he hoped.

 

[Struggle wagon]

===Sofujid Spa===​

The Twins stepped off of the flight of stairs after wandering around the resort attempting to find somewhere they both could relax and iron out the finer details of their plan. "This place is huge, its unsettling. Peter I'm not entirely sure this is a good idea, there are guards are everywhere and we don't have a clue where the vault is." "You're lucky there's no rooms on this floor or we'd already be busted Paige, keep your voice down. Said Peter as they made their way to two large double doors, above them in gilded gold letters read "Sofujid Spa". "Look sis, lets just loosen up a little and we'll drop enough credits to be left alone in a steam room or something, We'll go over the plan then." Peter stated as the two siblings pushed open the doors and entered the spa.

The room had a gentle floral scent flowing through the warm and comfortable room, in front of them were two massage tables facing a transparent wall which gave a beautiful view of the ocean and sitting behind a counter was a rather attractive blue Twi'lek masseuse which Peter couldn't stop starring at. Paige gave him a hard slap upside the back of his head which broke his concentration. "Keep it in your pants and pay her please." Peter rubbed the back of his head and read the menu, digging out enough credits for a 15 minute massage and a private steam room before the two of them changed into bathrobes and laid down on the tables.

The next 15 minutes melted away a lifetime's worth of stress for the two thieves as Sif and Torya went to work and weaved magic across Paige and Peter's tight muscles. The massage was well worth the credits they both thought as Torya escorted them to their private steam room and left them alone. Paige shut the door making sure it was well secured before they both sat down and discussed their plan.

"So the way I see it, Its going to be next to imposable to secure the entire resort if it's just the two of us theres just to many people and I'm sure more than a few are packing, you better have a kickass plan Peter." Peter nodded his head and pulled out a resort pamphlet, flipping threw it and pointing at a section labeled "Wild Nights AquaRave!" "This is our ticket Paige just listen to this, Bring your swimwear! The DJ is playing the latest hits and remixes from across the Galaxy, and you're invited to experience the party of a lifetime every Friday night! Note: Please wear swimwear, regular clothes get stuck on the water slide too often. Gamorrean guards will be present at all entrances and clear you for entry. It's perfect, most of the guards will be preoccupied at the rave and almost all of the patrons will be buzzed or having fun. That gives us time to contain a small crowd by the vault and make off with the cash!" Peter ecstatically explained. "All we have to do now is find out when they open the vault and find out exactly where it is and we're golden, It is Friday though right?" "Yeah I'm pretty sure It's Friday." The two high fived each other and continued to study the map on the backside of the pamphlet, checking and double checking their route from the rooms to the casino and finally out the lobby where their ship was parked. After about a half hour the twins exited the steam room, collected their clothes and belongings and exited the Spa heading towards the casino.

===Five Thousand Fathoms Casino===​

The twins entered the casino and looked around, seeing that most of the tables where filled with sharply dressed men and women quickly earning and loosing chips effortlessly. "I'd like a couple chips please." Paige said as she dropped a loose bag containing 500 credits on the cashier's counter. The cashier hit a button and slid 50 brightly colored casino chips each labeled $10 towards the twins. "Enjoy your game!" the cashier said with a smile as Paige and Peter divided up the chips and walked around the casino, looking for a decent game to play as they scouted out the area looking for clues on where the vault might be.

 

[LilyNion]

==REGAL DINING HALL==
​

While Kheera took her last bite - which tasted stunningly well -, she decided that it was time to check the two out. Her stomach feelings kept acting weird when she saw the guy where she sensed the Force with. He didn't look like a Jedi, nor a Sith. Something just felt off. After cleaning her peach pink lips with a napkin, she pushed her comfortable chair backward and stood up. For a second, she almost lost her balance on her heels. As the tall Diathim she is, she of course gained more attention than needed. Once she catches her balance back, she shoved her chair back against the table and placed a generous tip on the table for the waiter. He treated her as if she was royal and that tip was very well deserved. Luckily enough, Jedi weren't that poor which allowed her to do these types of things from time to time.

On her black heels and thigh red dress, Kheera stepped over to the two gentleman's. The closer she came to the two, the stronger she sensed and felt a Force source. It made her very sure of it, one of the two mans was Force sensitive. And it didn't doubt her that the man could've felt her too.

As Kheera passed the man's table, she knocked over one of the two glasses on purpose. As the glass fell and the liquid spilled over the table, she directly turned her body around to the table. "Oh! I'm so very sorry! Please, let me fix this!" Kheera grabbed one of the napkins - causing the silverware to drop on the ground as they were laying on it- and began to rub the liquid away with that little napkin. "I'm such a clumsy one. Did one of you two get hit by the liquid?! I'll clean the suit myself if it's that case. Oh I'm so sorry." The rubbing motion against the table made her cheeks rose up, she wasn't used to working out so much with her arms. But for them, it could've looked as if she was ashamed. With her big pearl blue eyes, she looked up at the youngest one of the two with brown hair.

 

[JessieTaylor]

Aerena smiled slightly and gave a nod. "Likewise. I'm Aerena Rann." When Eric asked what they were doing there, Aerena smiled inwardly at Kalo's answer. Little did the stranger know, that was quite literal. Well, from a point of view. From hers... Well, it had still been a while. She raised an eyebrow when Kalo mentioned the VIP tickets. Nice. She wondered passingly how one got VIP tickets.

Then the droid came to life and Aerena listened to his first words, amused. It could talk. In her day, they just blooped and bleeped. And apparently, it thought it was a battle droid. Must have a battle droid's behavior core. Well, that would be interesting if Kalo kept him that way. And it thought it was a Republic battle droid. Wow. The Republic had become the Galactic Empire when she was about ten years old. They were still trying to make a comeback? The Empire must certainly be strong to have held the galaxy for this long. But so must the Republic, to still be fighting back. Well, the droid could be old... Nah, probably not that old. Well.. It was possible, but that didn't matter right now. Someday she would try and dig up some of the galaxy's history, but for now it didn't matter too much.

 

[Nase Talsey]

Silas had been conscious of the beautiful diatom woman since he had caught his friend Gio Abra staring at her. There was a feeling he couldn't shake. He had the distinct feeling she was watching them and as he casually glanced in her direction more than once he saw her blue eyes flick away and towards her plate. However, he had more important things such as business, so he repressed the feeling and directed his attention towards his potentially lucrative deal.

Through the course of the business deal he could not help but make a furtive glance or two in her direction. He happened to notice her stumble as she rose from her chair, he almost rolled his eyes. But soon became concerned as she began to approach, while he was not opposed to the purposeful approach of exotic women, there was something about this one. An aura that she seemed to exude… While he was barely considered adept at the force he possessed enough intuition to sense the light side of the force becoming stronger as she grew closer. Was she a jedi? She had no authority here… Silas turned his attention back to Mr. Jones and extended his gracious offer to meet in a short time on Malastare for their annual podrace.

She kept getting closer… The light side of the force, unconcealed, washing over him with each step of her approach. Silas intentionally kept his focus on Mr. Jones, waiting expectantly for his reply. For a moment he thought that perhaps she would not notice him and it was simply anxiety that caused him to assume she was interested in their conversation, she walked steadily and was about to pass their table when she knocked over Silas' glass, spilling it's burgundy liquor across the table and onto the floor. Fortunately none of it spilled on Mr. Jones or Silas, though the latter moved back instinctively from the spreading pool of liquid. The woman quickly tried to remedy her error but inadvertently knocked silverware to the floor in her attempt the clean the spill.

As she apologized and began to clean, Silas could not help but appreciate the woman's exotic appeal and the red dress that was certainly flattering for her figure. Silas quickly adopted a smile and bent to retrieve some of the falling silverware. He was confused as to why she had approached and wary that perhaps she was trying to break up their deal. He shot a quick glance at Mr. Jones, hoping to convey warning, however the slaver was probably ignorant of the women's force sensitivity. Silas met the woman's blue eyes and was stunned despite himself, they were compelling to say the least and hard to look away from. Adopting a cheerful persona Silas continued to smile "Oh it's quite alright. No harm done, it seems almost a shame that none of the liquor spilt on me, your offer to get me out of this suit is most appealing." He said to the woman with a wink. Perhaps his overt flirtation would unsettle the young woman.

 

[Veloster Turbo]

==[Five Thousand Fathoms Club]==​

Having been observing her surroundings for the last minute or so, Khelsea noticed that there was a long curtain which covered an unknown area. The curtain changed colors depending on the mood of the music, and it felt both gimmicky and classy at the same time. Careful observation showed that the guests who went behind the curtain seemed to be older and less casual. Perhaps there was something exciting happening behind the curtain that the younger crowd didn't care for? Having nothing to do, Khelsea moved towards the curtain and once she reached it she stepped through the curtain where she had seen the guests going into.

 

[LilyNion]

==REGAL DINING HALL==​

With an innocent and ashamed act, she thanked the man as he bent down to retrieve the fallen silverware. Her eyes ran over his body, the source felt the strongest around him. Without a doubt, he was the source of Force that she felt. Yet still, she couldn't place it. His Force didn't feel light side, yet it was neither dark side. With a doubting gaze, she stared into the man's eyes as their eyes met. For a second, she was lost in the man's green eyes. It reminded her of a meadow that was showered in golden sun rays. She broke the gaze as the man winked quite charmingly at her. She didn't quite expect for this situation to happen. Speechless she continued with rubbing the liquid of the table, but it didn't take too long before a waiter placed his hand on Kheera's shoulder and moved gently her to the left. "Don't you worry miss, it's our job to clean it!" It was the waiter who also served her earlier

This gave her a moment to rethink through it all. The older man seemed less important to her, so Kheera decided that she shouldn't give the man too many attention. While he had an amazing gray mustache that many men would be jealous of, he didn't feel too special. The same counted for the subject they were discussing, she just didn't care. But the younger one? He was interesting. He was the first natural Force user Kheera ever met and she wanted to know him better. It took her a couple of minutes before she responded on the man's flirt. "You see, I only talked about the cleaning part, didn't I? The suit.. well you take 'em off yourself!" She laughed at the man. Her laugh was a bit lighter than usual, it sounded slightly like little bells that swung in the wind.

Kheera straightened up her back and gave the young man her hand, showing that she wanted to shake the man's hand. "The name's Kheera, Kheera Fii. It's a pleasure to meet you two." After shaking the man's hand, she released his hand and leaned a bit towards the more elder looking man. She also handed her hand to him, shaking his hand gently. It wasn't hard to notice that she was less enthusiastic with the handshake. None the less, she smiled at the elder man for a second, just to contain her friendly and innocent look. "I must say, you two are looking quite handsome and like real gentlemen." She pointed at the suits and cigars.

 

[Ral]

Ral still had no idea what was going on, and after several seconds of awkward silence from him as he let Tala think in peace, he finally spoke up. Just as he did so the snooty woman from earlier exited her room with man, Ral guessed it was her husband. They seemed to have some kind of dispute about where to go, Ral didn't listen to hard, but he wasn't surprised considering the woman's demeanor hadn't changed from earlier. "Well, Tala, if you've made up your mind why don't we put those tickets of yours to use and hit the club? I'm sure it would be fun, might even meet someone useful, a contact or a even a possible future recruit?" Placing his arm through Tala's, Ral smiled and pulled the female Twi'lek along.

 

[Outlander]

Tala shrugged, nodding. "Perhapse. Lets not forget to pick up some diving gear later. We are hear for a job, not to get wasted at an undersea club." Despite her reply, she smiled, walking with Ral to the lift. She didn't particularly enjoy the kind of high their social gatherings that expensive places like this entailed, but she might as well try it out. Especially with Ral as backup. "Lead the way."

 

[Chask274]

Eric nodded, "Was going to head in that direction myself, nothing like some good booze to help you relax after a tough week." As the droid finally booted up, Eric unplugged his datapad and put it away. Grinning at the droid's first words, Eric turned to Kalo with a chuckle, "Told ya he'd have a few quirks."

Spoiler: OOC

my sincerest apologies for the delay and short post, RL has gotten pretty hectic in the past week or so. Will return to normal posting in a week.