Ask Spice Trade.

[Covax]

It was mid morning when the towering mercenary walked into the Bar Bar Drinks cantina. He had chosen this cantina because it was on the edge of town and frequented by his kind of people. Merc, bounty hunters, pirates. Not criminals in the normal sense, rather war profiteers who liked to make money on the chaos. It was the kind of work Covax enjoyed. The kind of work he was returning to, after leave the family. Because in his mind they were anything but.

So it was with that mindset he took a job from @Nyx Vika. She eager to make some waves in the underworld. To rob from the rich and give to the needy, as in her needs. When he heard what the job was he could hardly refuse the opportunity. And for this kind of work he needs a couple more. Ones will similar skill sets as his own but were also not affiliated with any of the power players in the galaxy. His first choice was always @Aska Ryun but she was out of service, and likely on a job or her own. So Covax put the word out and would wait here at a booth in the back to see who would bite.

@Die Shize @Charles

 

[Casany Praxor]

Spoiler: Music IC [Optional]

Mid morning was too early for some to swig ale or chug whisky and on that much Casany could agree. Neither was her go-to drink of choice so the Mandalorian marched to the bar after entering the bar and ordered herself a shot of vodka.

“Guessing you’re gonna slurp it through a straw?” the bartender jested to the red-gold helmet over her head.

“Nope,” Cas assured as the helmet came off. “I’m gonna drink it like a normal person.”

Shrugging as one might do when they didn’t really care if you were Mandalorian or not so long as you were a paying customer, bartender passed over a glass, Mando knocked it back, ordered a taller one and found her quarry at a booth in the back.

Her contact looked mean and mighty, as tall as terrifying to those who scared, though while his newly arrived counterpart couldn’t match him in height her armor had its own way of intimidating. She was dressed head to toe in it, granted the helmet was now on the table and her rear was in the seat.

“Anvil, here for the job,” she thumbed toward herself just to make it clear that she wasn’t calling him an anvil so much as herself. Enough said, it was time to wait on the other, so Cas was content with sipping her vodka until then.

@Taz @Charles

 

[Xol Zaa Fenn]

There wasn't anything Xol was afraid of- except for rats. Xol hated rats, but other than that, he was fearless.

This job was going to be one juicy slice of fruit...or cake- or however that blasted metaphor worked. It was going to be easy and that was all that mattered. Xol was being trained, in secret, as Gram Van Alasdaire to fight Force sensitives, namely the Sith, and as such, his rigorous training had began to mold him into an extremely agile gunslinger. Especially for his size.

When Xol made his way over to the booth where his contact was, a Mandalorian had joined them. Xol wasn't sure what to think- he could get a lot of money off her armor, but he didn't want to accidentally kill a potentially powerful ally. Either way, it would be interesting to see one in action in person. The bounty hunter could always end her later if she proved to be too boring or too eccentric anyway.

"Xol." Was all the Tognath said to Covax, along with the respectful inclination of his head.

@Taz @Die Shize

 

[Covax]

Covax continued to simple sit and wait. The moments ticking by, soon enough his partners for this job would show. Casany was the first. Stilled and ruthless, a prime example of a Mando merc. Unlike the doe eyed young woman he had the pleasure of meeting on his way to this very cantina. He gave the woman a simple nod as she introduced herself, and gestured to a seat across the table from his own.

The two would not have to wait very long for the third member of their party. A Tognath he never met personally but knew of from his brief time in Zaa Fenn. His own introduction was just as odd as the Mando's.

Covax suddenly grew a puzzled look on his face as the looked back and forth to the two mercenaries. "You two are about as friendly as a Sarlacc with a toothache." The merc told them both before showing Xol the other chair. As the two sat, Covax pulled out his smartpad of a pouch on his utility belt. Placing it on the table between the three of them and tapped an icon for project the image of a medium freighter.

"Our target"

@Die Shize @Charles

 

[Casany Praxor]

Cas greeted the third point of this unholy triangle with a nod of approval at his simple name. One-syllable names was something that a bounty hunter could come to appreciate over the years.

As sure as shiny shins on account of being broken and bloody, however, Cas had not come to this booth to make friends. This was yet one more job in a string of uncounted ones. “You want friendly?” She tilted her head to Covax. “She’s the waitress over there. Over here sits a hungry merc debating whether to order a steak at a cantina that sounds like a strip club.”

She washed all those words away with a healthy swig of liquor. Cas hadn’t come here to eat either but it might just be on the menu. Walking into back bar booths to meet guys like this could make a mercenary hungry over the years.

Whatever that meant slid backward as a smartpad slid forward. Cas studied the GR-75 as though her hand might reach out and snatch it. “What’s the haul?”

Those freighters were old but not out of commission. If this one was commercial then the market might just take a hit, criminal and that’s why the black market existed, but whatever the haul the ship could be ready to squirt laser bolts at whoever came to snatch it.

@Taz @Charles

 

[Xol Zaa Fenn]

Xol chuckled at Casany's spunk. She had the right attitude, anyway. The Tognath was anything but nice, and if Covax paid any attention to Xol's background, he wouldn't find anything resembling a "Lovin' Pup" as Crix Dolan liked to tease him about.

If Xol was to have any nickname, it would be "Lovin' Pup" just out of the shrewd irony.

"Ritke toupee mi coo Dobra keepuna hee Jee cha gee bai doth vehpe mee neyoha che bom bom janse." <Just tell me who I'm shooting so I don't have to be around your faces for too long.> He grumbled. Then the Mando asked about the haul. Wasn't it obvious? An old freighter flying solo with a bounty the mighty Covax was interested in.

Xol chuckled darkly, "Spice." He slurred in basic.

"Haku doth bu wamma, Neonu Boa?" <What's the pay, Meat Bag?> Xol asked in a very bored tone. He wasn't sure what to think of Covax just yet- he used to be apart of Zaa Fenn, but then he left for reason's unknown. Xol strongly disliked disloyalty, no matter how many Hutts you've killed.

@Taz @Die Shize

 

[Covax]

Covax smiled with slight amusement. These two were more like his kind a people. The kind him and Aska could have made a crew with in another life. Ready to make credits, damn the fallout. The merc mused a moment while the two took in the view of the ship and shard their opinions. Then spoke.

"Credit for the ugly one. Our target is indeed a shipment of unrefined spice. The spice is the property of the ISC and the ship is the property of @Nor'baal Desilijic, Ringleader for the Hutt cartel and Governor of Kessel. My employer wants as many crates as we can fit onto my freighter. As for the rest, well."

He took a moment of pause to let the idea sink in. A move like this could make enemies or friends to many sides within the Galaxy. It was a bolt statement Nyx wanted to make, and a bold move by these two if they took the job. But the payout would be massive. Just a fraction of the possible could set each person up for months.

@Die Shize @Charles

 

[Casany Praxor]

Background checks had run dry ever since her useless droid had decided to vent his frustration on some circuits so Cas had no idea who this Covax was. The last Covax she met was her broken refrigerator manufactured by Covax Refrigeration. ‘Keep your ship warm and your beer cold!’ And keep your false advertising back in your butt.

There could have been anything in that fridge and that freighter, from Sith to slaves, sandwiches to seasoning, but spice made just as much sense in retrospect so whatever. It was the pay that really mattered and Xol had moved along to that so Cas just stole a look at the MMA fight on the holo.

So the job was to steal from both the Consortium and the Hutt of Kessel. Cas didn’t let it show but there might have been a gold goblet in her hand instead of a vodka glass. It wasn’t empty air that a fist squeezed beneath the table but the prospect of fortune and the promise of forging her own. Hammer and anvil.

“Taking on the ISC and Norbs sounds like some serious business,” Cas stated the obvious even if the employer’s identity was not. “Not sure how the ugly one feels about it but that’s like sex for a Mandalorian so here we are, here I am and here's some vodka for my throat.”

She pushed the empty glass aside lest it tempt her further. "Do we have a plan of approach? I imagine we're taking it during transit versus being harbored given the owners."

Any background check done on Casany Praxor wouldn't have amounted to much outside of her smiling avatar and track record but it would definitely have included the specifications of her ship, for what it was worth.

@Taz @Charles

 

[Xol Zaa Fenn]

Xol was right! The job was a spice heist- one that would anger a greedy Hutt and potentially the ISC as well. Xol didn't like Hutts but he also didn't really like anyone for that matter- including the entirety of the ISC who put up bounties on Xol's family to be put to death.

Xol began going deep in thought about all the different methods of torture he could use on one of those big blathering slugs when Cas mentioned...Sex? Whatthefuck?! Xol jumped a bit and scooted away from the Mando while glaring at her. Was that apart of the plan? Xol was out if these two thought the Tognath would get laid.

"No...sex." He slurred seriously in basic. Then, the bounty hunter realized it was a metaphor, but still felt uneasy. "Ahem... Dobra du. Whao Jee yoieu bai keepuna kaee, da doth." <I'm in. If I get to shoot someone, that is.> Xol said irritably. Could they just please get to the hiest info? Who was on the ship? Where was the spice held? Was there an escort? Did Xol need to turn everything to shit after they got the cargo?

@Taz @Die Shize

 

[Covax]

Covax gave Cas a look of confusion at first. She was something of a hard read. However her suddenly statement of sex was a nice surprise, giving the towering human an evil grin. It also explained a great deal about the woman's demeanor. He thought for a moment to make an equally sexual comment and test the waters, but the woman's arms were as big or perhaps slightly bigger than his own. He liked it rough, but not that rough.

His mouth opened to say something to Cas but was suddenly dumb struck. His jaw dropped a little and a sudden look of confusion toward Xol. "wha..huh? I don't think you have to worry about sex, EVER." He told the alien bluntly.

Quickly moving on, and returning to the task. "No, my ship is better suited for what I have planned. The freighter will leave Kessel space and make ready for an escort ship. That ship will be mine, once confirmed they'll set the jump to hyper space. That's our window. The crew will be three on the bridge, and three more support. Along with security droids that double as labor.

We get aboard and take the ship from the crew. Drop it out of hyperspace in the middle of no where and dump as much cargo into space. My ship will grab the cargo with the mag claps on the outside for easy pickup. Jump out before the ISC sends in the cavalry."

@Die Shize @Charles

 

[Casany Praxor]

Spoiler: Music IC [Recurring]

Trying to blink away whatever the hell had just happened was like trying to wear your helmet backwards while surviving a Mandalorian mosh pit. Whatever the hell that meant was equally lost on Cas so she washed all the sex away with a swig of reunited vodka.

Back to the topic at hand, Covax’s plan with his own freighter was sound. Cas might have still been flying hers were it not for the Y-Wing replacement. Rawl, you short circuit of a droid, you better not lose me that one too.

“I can keep us covered, keep security in check, and keep you both alive if it comes to it.” She shrugged off any doubt in that department. “Being the only Mandalorian at the table and all.”

Kidding or not, the three of them would need one of them prioritizing crowd control and staying on the lookout for any tangos wanting to dance. Either way, knowing their functions would be especially pivotal on the bridge.

“Where is our drop-off point?” It would be good to know where the crates were being delivered to measure expectations. Last thing any of them wanted was one of them to betray the other, but especially the only Anvil at the table.

@Taz @Charles

 

[Xol Zaa Fenn]

Xol nodded after Covax assured him there would be no mingling of the gentiles. Then he shivered again and thought he needed to puke. The only creature in this galaxy Xol ever wished to procreate with was his beloved- but she was gone, so now no one could fill in that lonely gap that Akka once filled.

"<I'm good with infiltration. Punchee and I can get us in and out fast. I'm probably not a better shot than the Mando, but I don't think anything will stop us.>" Xol said confidently, folding his arms. The Tognath had never fought alongside a Mandalorian before- so this could prove to be a very interesting mission. Usually, Xol would've put up more of a fuss if someone thought Calypso II wasn't efficient enough to be used, but the Bounty Hunter was consulting with the great Covax. Someone Xol wouldn't dare to cross.

"<Let's get going. The sooner we get started, the sooner we get finished.>"

@Taz @Die Shize

 

[Covax]

"Good. Then lets get moving." he said firmly. For the moment ignoring the Mando's quetion about where the drop would take place. Because it truth he hasn't completely sure yet. The woman was a new player in the crime game, wanted to make waves but also played things close to the vest. Payment was based on outcome, location of drop to follow on completion of the job. Payment like this was not abnormal for syndicate jobs, as they were often risk vs reward gigs.

Taking the lead, he tossed a couple credits on the bar as they walked out. Taking the rear exit to the junkyard behind the cantina for which the spot was best know for. A short walk inside the yard and the trio would come a pawn a VCX shuttle, hidden among the junk.

Covax walked up to the craft and pressed a couple buttons, lowering the rear hatch. Then walked inside and headed for the pilot's seat. Looking back at the other two, "strap in." Soon as his companions did so, he launched the small craft and quickly headed for open space. Moments later they jumped to hyperspace.

It was a short jump, and moments later they were dropping out of hyperspace at the edge of an asteroid belt that itself was at the edge of the Kessel system. Then they docked with the VCX light freighter. Once inside the shuttle became part of the ship, opening the hatch once more.

"A10, We're on board. launch the ship and set course to meet with the other ship." Covax commanded to the HUD of the shuttle. Droid basic confirming over the speakers of the ship. Stepping out of the shuttle and down toward the hold of the ship, Covax readied himself. Putting on the rest of his armor and checking his weapons. "10 mintues, Once we connect with the ship we'll have about 10 more to reach the bridge. Less if the alerts go out before hand. Once we have control, we move the spice. Then boom!"

@Die Shize @Charles

 

[Casany Praxor]

Spoiler: Music OOC

Anvil sat snug in the shuttle in full Mandalorian armor, rapping knuckles against beskar and the heart hiding behind. Her heart was the anvil and her fist was the hammer. Here we go. The shuttle took off and bad company came with it.

The Mandalorian had never fought beside these two individuals before but that was going to change real soon. They hit hyperspace like this was a ride in a theme park. Though the other two couldn’t see it through the visor, their third was smiling.

It had been a minute since Anvil had taken on a job like this with two other ver’verds. They would make friends and enemies before the job was over and that just might include one another. Such was the life of a mercenary.

In the hold there were three of them securing arms and armor. Blaster: Check. Dagger: Check. Sword: Check. Grenades: Check. Bubblegum: Check. It was a cliche but it made her day. Raspberry tasted as sweet as the bad business they were about to do.

“And bang for buck,” Anvil finished after Covax, rubbing thumb against fingers. “Hope you can keep up, hot stuff,” she nodded her helm toward Xol. “And I hope you don’t slow us down.” Toward Covax. They couldn’t see her grinning but she was.

-Bump!- The shuttle connected with the freighter and Anvil’s hand connected with the hatch. Time to mosey.

@Taz @Charles

 

[Xol Zaa Fenn]

Punchee sat quietly in Xol's lap as he sat across from Anvil just before the shuttle took off. He was intrigued to be working with not only a Mandalorian but the infamous Covax. This would surely give him a better rep with the family- something he'd need if wanted to get Zaa Fenn back on their feet again.

Xol already had some good connections with the great Gram Van Alasdaire, who had been teaching the Tognath to combat Force users, so maybe this job would open new windows to more good connections.

However, there was one problem with this ordeal of his, which was why Xol brought the droid Akka had gifted him on his hatching day. Xol had good connections with Norbaal, which made this a little awkward for him as he wasn't planning on betraying the Hutt now but later. Punchee had the special mission of cutting off any and all security cameras while wiping the memories of any droids that lingered after their coming destruction.

For Covax and Anvil, this probably was just another job- but Xol needed this to go perfectly. Xol's head depended on it.

<"Don't worry about me, Mando. It'll get you killed. I appreciate the sentiment, however."> Xol chuckled as they awaited for the job to officially begin.

 

[Covax]

"IF you two love birds are done....pull the damn hatch." Covax groaned to Anvil, or Cas, whatever she was. When she did they would take the docking tube to an outer hatch of the heavy freighter. Pop that and they were in. Once inside, the three mercs would find themselves in a maintenance corridor. One of several that ran along the port, starboard, and lower hull of the ship. The spaces were just tall enough of the average man, and seemed to run the length of the boat with seal-able hatched about every hundred feet.

Covax would let the two go first and follow quickly after. They were now on the clock. " Xol, two sections down should get you to an access point into a main corridor. Work your way toward the engine room. Cas secure crew cabins, I'll head for the bridge. Shoot to kill, living or droid. We can't have witnesses to this."

Once the other two acknowledged the order, Covax broke from the group and headed upward from their point of entry. Popping the door with the puddy he liked to keep on hand. As the stepped out into the corridor there were two KX driods were patrolling.

"Shit!" He said in surprise, quickly raising his rifle to shot the first one before the second turned a pulled a heavy blaster of it's own. Covax quickly jumped back into the hatch he opened as the droid started to pepper the doorway.

@Die Shize @Charles

 

[Casany Praxor]

Spoiler: Music OOC

Casanvil didn’t know what the delay was. Maybe the hatch was stuck? Xol could have helped with that but finally she managed to open it all by herself. ‘Mosey’ indeed. Beyond that hatch, the hatch beyond that one, and all the hatches in between this hatch fest, the Mandalorian moved fast.

Ten minutes wasn’t much but enough. Shoot to kill was the way because raising the alarms was not. There was something unsavory about murdering people in their quarters but a job was a job.

The corridor that Cas climbed out of took her to another one where the crew cabins were. Knock-knock. The marauder allowed the door to open, hugging the wall as some sleepy head looked left and right and then lost it.

A blade cut through the neck like walnut pie, the corpse kicked forward as its creator came in. There was an instant stir: Someone rushed for the body as though to ask if its owner was okay; someone else went for a blaster; another ran for the alarm. Di’kuts.

The first person was taken care of already, his headless friend smacking into him. Meanwhile a dart flew from a Mandalorian vambrace, impaling a throat before a blaster could go off. Before that alarm sounded, a sword took off the hand. There was a yelp that did not last long as a length of steel filled a heart.

"Nothing personal," Cas admitted to the man with a body atop his own. He died too. That entire ordeal took a matter of measly seconds. Cas exited that cabin. One done, onto the next one. She opened its door. Oh…shit.

@Taz @Charles

 

[Xol Zaa Fenn]

There was nothing better for Xol to do than to watch the murdering unfold by Anvil's hand. The Tognath folded his arms as he watched, like a teacher making notes on a student's test. She was good...really good...but Xol thought he had a quicker draw time than the Mandalorian.

While Anvil was proving herself and admirable warrior, Xol had sent Punchee into the ventilation shafts to screw with security. By now, the alarms were all but ineffective and this ship wouldn't be able to make as much as a distress beacon to call for help. These losers were screwed, earning a dark chuckle from the Tognath.

Something tingled through the air- the instinctual feeling Xol got when he was about to be in danger- and as the Tognath reacted with drawn blasters as a pair of KX security droids opened fire with heavy blasters, but Xol was ready to dance. A single blue bolt from the Bounty Hunter hit the wrist of one of the droids, precisely rendering it's trigger finger. After nimbly avoiding getting shot, Xol peppered the second droid in the shoulders, aiming for it's gears and sockets. Instead, one of his bolts nailed the droid in one of it's photoreceptors, partially blinding it.

The Tognath rushed the two droids who were now preoccupied with there latest injuries, holstering his blasters and drawing his vibro machete instead. He slid on his knees in between the two, and slashed at their legs before quickly getting back to his feet to stab the first droid in the back of the neck. What prevented Xol from doing so was the second droid's clasped hands around Xol's own neck. He felt his feet lift off the ground before a second metallic hand struck him in the back.

<"PUNCHEE! On my mark!"> Xol screamed into his com before getting slammed into the ground. The EX-Pirate rolled out of the way from another assualt before almost getting stomped on by the first droid. He kept crawling back, making his way to a blast door, avoiding getting grabbed and narrowly staying out of reach from any melee assaults until finally, the first droid grabbed Xol by the collar like a high school bully, raising the dual-tubed alien into the air for a facial beating.

<"NOW!"> Screamed Xol, and as he flinched from the metal fist about to bash his face into a pulp, the blast door slammed downward onto both of the droids. The one holding Xol was crunched and mangled but the second one was using it's arms to stop the door from completely rendering it. So, Punchee, who was screwing with a security control panel violently pressed the button to shut the doors over and over again, causing the door to act like a jack hammer as it slowly battered the remaining droid into scrap.

Xol rolled his shoulders after the violence ended and walked over the batches of bolts and scrap after Punchee stopped his relentless assault. <"Where's the damn spice..."> Grumbled the Tognath, who wanted this job to be over more than anything.

@Taz @Die Shize

 

[Covax]

The bolts around the doorway would suddenly stop, as the KX droid then appeared in the door. Rifle first. Covax slammed his armored forearm down on the barrel of the weapon then put his own barrel to the chin of the droid and fired. Punching a fist sized hole through the skull of the robot man.

Pushing the now lifeless droid out of the way, the merc then marched toward the bridge. Rifle forward, ready to shoot anything that moved. Covax had expected an alarm by now. But none filled the corridors. The job was going better than expected.

Two more droids appeared from a tubolift, these two apparently didn't get the memo about an attack. Allowing Covax to light them both up with a hail of blaster fire. Up that lift would be the bridge. Secure it and they might have the ship, just in case he checked on the others. "Hows it going with you two ?"

@Die Shize @Charles

 

[Casany Praxor]

Spoiler: Music OOC [Recurring]

The next crew cabin that Cas barged into had been a little more prepared. Sitting adjacent from the doorway was a crewman checking his blaster, while beside him a figure was getting armored and another slipping helmet over head. Maybe guards due for a shift change.

The Mandalorian didn’t have much more time to think. All four figures exchanged a look and then it was time to let their blasters speak. Cas’ was out and firing while she darted back behind the doorway. Bolts hammered the wall beside her. Dank farrik.

Trusting her armor, Cas tossed a smoke grenade and whipped back into view with both pistols. The center gunman pummeled iron but could not pierce it. He died first. Bolts soared for his buddies. They died too. No sirens blaring. I’m good.

A bolt struck her helmet just then. It might have done worse. Cas had not seen the woman hiding in the corner. The Mandalorian shot twice, the first on reflex and the second guaranteeing a spot in her enemy’s skull.

With that, she headed back into the corridor. She looked left, coast was clear, looked right, spotted a security droid at the end. It looked at her, moved its hand, then the whole ship was alive with alarms. Kriff.

“I’m…I’m good here…all good… Took out some tangos. Heading toward the bridge.” Cas relayed over comm, leaving a broken droid and its buddies behind while sirens blared. “And I think I might have triggered that. How are you?”

[Crew cabin resistance roll result: 9/20]
[Alarm trip roll result: 2/20]

@Taz @Charles