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Valek kicked a charred lump that used to be wood of some sort. He couldn't figure for the life of him what it used to be. The blackened husk of carbon fell over, kicking up a cloud of black-gray soot. Well, this sucked. He looked over to one end of the burned-out plot and spied tarnished and warped fermentation vessels. They had cost a pretty credit and were now ruined. He balled his fists in the pockets of his stolen swoop gang jacket and sighed.
"...Mr. Naa? Hello?" came the voice for a second time as an older man snapped his fingers to gain Valek's attention. "I'm ah...I'm really at a loss. We found something under your furnace and-"
Valek's eyes grew wide. "WOAH! I can explain! Those had nothing to do with the fire!"
The fire chief took a deep breath, as if working up the courage to face some terrible fear. "Honestly, in all my years I...it defies...I know it didn't. The entire neighborhood would have been torched if they had. But why would you store fire grenades beneath an active furnace?"
He shrugged, never really having had a good reason for it. But then, there hadn't been a good reason not to. "I figured nobody would look for explosives below a furnace, so they'd be safe there." Valek couldn't tell if the fire chief was going to laugh or cry, so he decided to quickly change topics to something less awkward. So anyway man! What caused the fire, why is my bar burned down?"
The fire chief pinched the bridge of his nose and inhaled. "Right. It was an accelerant neat the bar area. There was a tremendous amount of chemical residue. I think someone tried to mask it with the large amount of alcohol you had there, but we found traces of a synthetic compound usually used in plasma bombs."
Valek stared, almost lost for words. A rare event indeed. "My bar was bombed?" he asked weakly. Who would bomb his bar? Everyone loved it, even the criminals. Valek was an equal opportunity bartender. This was almost too much. "Any idea who did it?"
"No, we looked for security footage but your computer was melted to slag. We've found tibanna residue where the camera was supposed to be. Someone shot it."
"I'm not drunk enough for this," Valek muttered as he turned around and stared down the street. "Do I need to do anything else here? I've not had a building burn down on me before."
If the fire chief was surprised to hear that, or didn't believe that in the slightest, he didn't show it. "No. Go home, file an insurance report. And for the love of everyone, if you have grenades in your home, move them somewhere safe."
Valek nodded, already not paying attention. There was nothing he could do. Damn it all to hells, whoever did this deserved to get punched in the gut by a feral wookiee on stims. He left the burned bar behind him and made his way in a somewhat aimless manner through the neighborhood, not really picking a set path. He simply meandered in the general direction of where he needed to go. Valek fought back tears. His bar was gone. Hundreds of hours of work, possibly thousands had gone into it. And it had been done on purpose.
He dipped a hand into one pocket and pulled out a commlink. He didn't know what time it was on Mandalore, or if Talia would even be around. But she would know a good person to find who did this. Valek also wanted to talk to her again, it'd been some time and he missed her. Lightyears of distance meant he was only going to be able to send a voice message, since he didn't have access to a comm dish. "Hey Tal it's uh, me, I guess. Some frakking bastard burned down my bar on purpose. I uh, I don't know who. It...it sucks. Look, like,-" he cursed and abruptly backpedaled hard as a hovervan shot out in front of him and came to a jerking halt. One panel door flew open to reveal a swarthy man with a blaster pointed at Valek. "Woah shi-" Valek managed, hands flying up and comm dropping to the pavement before a blast of blue energy flew the short distance from the stun blaster to his chest.
The man hopped out of the van with surprising nimbleness given his mass. A heavy boot came crunching down on the dropped commlink. A handful of seconds later, Valek had been thrown unceremoniously in the van, the door slammed shut, and it sped off down another side street. The man raised his own commlink to his ear and spoke a few brief words. "Yah, bohss, ah got 'im." There was barely an acknowledgement on the other end before the line went dead. He stared at the communicator for a second or two, unused to taking orders from someone so young. "Get to ah 'arehouse, an 'urry. Tha' girl gives me the creeps," he told the driver.
"...Mr. Naa? Hello?" came the voice for a second time as an older man snapped his fingers to gain Valek's attention. "I'm ah...I'm really at a loss. We found something under your furnace and-"
Valek's eyes grew wide. "WOAH! I can explain! Those had nothing to do with the fire!"
The fire chief took a deep breath, as if working up the courage to face some terrible fear. "Honestly, in all my years I...it defies...I know it didn't. The entire neighborhood would have been torched if they had. But why would you store fire grenades beneath an active furnace?"
He shrugged, never really having had a good reason for it. But then, there hadn't been a good reason not to. "I figured nobody would look for explosives below a furnace, so they'd be safe there." Valek couldn't tell if the fire chief was going to laugh or cry, so he decided to quickly change topics to something less awkward. So anyway man! What caused the fire, why is my bar burned down?"
The fire chief pinched the bridge of his nose and inhaled. "Right. It was an accelerant neat the bar area. There was a tremendous amount of chemical residue. I think someone tried to mask it with the large amount of alcohol you had there, but we found traces of a synthetic compound usually used in plasma bombs."
Valek stared, almost lost for words. A rare event indeed. "My bar was bombed?" he asked weakly. Who would bomb his bar? Everyone loved it, even the criminals. Valek was an equal opportunity bartender. This was almost too much. "Any idea who did it?"
"No, we looked for security footage but your computer was melted to slag. We've found tibanna residue where the camera was supposed to be. Someone shot it."
"I'm not drunk enough for this," Valek muttered as he turned around and stared down the street. "Do I need to do anything else here? I've not had a building burn down on me before."
If the fire chief was surprised to hear that, or didn't believe that in the slightest, he didn't show it. "No. Go home, file an insurance report. And for the love of everyone, if you have grenades in your home, move them somewhere safe."
Valek nodded, already not paying attention. There was nothing he could do. Damn it all to hells, whoever did this deserved to get punched in the gut by a feral wookiee on stims. He left the burned bar behind him and made his way in a somewhat aimless manner through the neighborhood, not really picking a set path. He simply meandered in the general direction of where he needed to go. Valek fought back tears. His bar was gone. Hundreds of hours of work, possibly thousands had gone into it. And it had been done on purpose.
He dipped a hand into one pocket and pulled out a commlink. He didn't know what time it was on Mandalore, or if Talia would even be around. But she would know a good person to find who did this. Valek also wanted to talk to her again, it'd been some time and he missed her. Lightyears of distance meant he was only going to be able to send a voice message, since he didn't have access to a comm dish. "Hey Tal it's uh, me, I guess. Some frakking bastard burned down my bar on purpose. I uh, I don't know who. It...it sucks. Look, like,-" he cursed and abruptly backpedaled hard as a hovervan shot out in front of him and came to a jerking halt. One panel door flew open to reveal a swarthy man with a blaster pointed at Valek. "Woah shi-" Valek managed, hands flying up and comm dropping to the pavement before a blast of blue energy flew the short distance from the stun blaster to his chest.
The man hopped out of the van with surprising nimbleness given his mass. A heavy boot came crunching down on the dropped commlink. A handful of seconds later, Valek had been thrown unceremoniously in the van, the door slammed shut, and it sped off down another side street. The man raised his own commlink to his ear and spoke a few brief words. "Yah, bohss, ah got 'im." There was barely an acknowledgement on the other end before the line went dead. He stared at the communicator for a second or two, unused to taking orders from someone so young. "Get to ah 'arehouse, an 'urry. Tha' girl gives me the creeps," he told the driver.