Ask Nar Shaddaa The Bottom of the Barrel

[Jackie O]

Everybody worked for someone, and Jack was about as low on any totem pole that anyone could possibly be. Currently, he found himself in the employ of a low level thug, Mako Trist. Mako had started a turf war a couple weeks back when he shot a rival gang leader during a game of cards. The streets had been extra bloody since.

Jack had gotten word this morning that he was to hit the rival gang and push them off a corner they had spread to recently. So Jack had put a call out for some helping hands. They had a few credits to throw around, but no one was going to get rich today.

He sat in the smoke filled bar that served as his gang's base. He tapped a finger on his glass as he waited for others to arrive. The alcohol had been watered down so much it hardly tasted like anything and did little to easy the man's jittering nerves. He wore black pants and worn black sports jacket with a white shirt underneath.

Taking another sip from his drink, he grimaced slightly. Maybe after this he would get something real to drink.

 

[Eryn Alenath]

Eryn had only walked the lower levels of the Smugglers Moon a few times, and more often than not it turned into some scrap with a drunken Weequay or argument with a drunken Tourist. This, however, was one of the few times she'd been asked to go out looking for a fight. She pulled the collar of her bomber jacket higher, the familiar scrape of her Q8 Blaster in the underarm a comfort in the lower levels, especially with the recent increase in shootouts.

Her flight boots clattered on the meshed deck beneath as she glanced up, a flickering neon sign with "Brondar Bar" scrawled across it. She sniffed the stale dry air, a waft of bac-smoke and smog clawed at her nose as the Rodian on the door looked her up and down with his bulbous eyes. She didn't bother stopping, and he didn't bother stopping her. As much as Trist had beefed up his security with the recent violence, she didn't exactly look like a tooled-up assassin.

Stalking in she narrowed her eyes in the smoke, the dull throb of the music surrounding her as she straightened and scanned the patrons. A few Weequay sat in a corner booth drinking heavily, a Dathomirian leaned heavily at the far side and stared at her as she walked in, and a lone human toyed with his glass. Would be a good place to start.

She walked over to the bar beside him, swinging her leg over the stool and sitting with a heavy thud. The Aqualish bartender looked at her as he lifted her forearm to lean on the bar, body turned to face the human. "I'll take one of those." She nodded towards Jackie O's drink, turning to him after the server poured a grime-stained glass full.

"You here for Mako's job too?" She asked, twisting in the chair to face him fully. She wore her usual flight boots and combat pants, bomber jacket covering a vest top with her midriff exposed. From this angle the Q8 dangled from under her arm as she flexed the gloved hands with a grimaced smile.

"I hope it's you that we're meant to meet and not them." She nodded towards the drunken Weequay in the corner. "Names Eryn."

@Raydo

 

[Jackie O]

Jack lit a cigarette as the woman sat, leaning back slightly. "Aye." he responded with a nod as the bartender slid the glass towards her. He noted the blaster hanging under her arm before taking another drag from the cigarette, smoke joining the overall haze of the room.

"Them?" he added, following her gesture towards two Weequay in the corner. "I wouldn't trust those idiots to hit the broadside of a star destroyer with a blaster, and thats sober." he said with a chuckle. The bar was loud enough to cover their conversation, even if the pair hadn't been on the verge of passing out.

"Jack." he said responded in greeting. He was hoping for some local guns, but you took what you could get down here.

"What brought you to this particular shit show? I don't think I have seen you around the neighborhood before." he asked as the music changed rhythm and faded into another song, the bar growing slightly quieter for an instance before becoming loud again. He didn't know everyone from here, but he knew most, especially those were worth anything in a gunfight.

@Cybrexian

 

[Eryn Alenath]

Eryn tossed a glance around the room once more as Jack spoke, a fleeting smile given as he spoke about the Weequay. As if on queue, one of them knocked his cup of the table, the acrid yellow booze flooding the floor to the sound of their laughter. The bartender grumbled something she didn't hear as he pressed a button, a small cleaning droid zipping over from its charging dock.

"Everyone's gotta start somewhere, and I hear rumours Mako has some halfway decent connections in the trade." She offered with a shrug, taking a brief swig of the drink before grimacing. She slid the glass away from her, turning her attention back to Jack.

"I was Moonside when he spaced Babrix over the cards, guessed it would heat up fairly quick. The Cranks may not be the smartest of biggest of gangs, but even they know not to let something like that go unpunished." She drummed her fingers on the bar as the music began a particularly obnoxious beat, clearing her voice a little so they could continue the conversation. "I guessed if anyone's going to make a name, might as well be on the right side of a turf war. Even this low on the levels. What about you?"

She span on the stool, leaning her back on the bar and propping her elbows on the top as she glanced him up and down, sizing him up just as much as he was probably doing to her. He looked like he could handle himself, even if he was a bit over-dressed for what was to come. Looks can be deceiving though.

"We the only two going in, or are we expecting more?" She asked, glancing towards the door.

@Raydo

 

[Jackie O]

He shrugged in agreement. Mako wasn't better or worse than countless other low level hitters. Live was cheap in the lower levels, you hitched your bantha to someone and either worked or it didn't.

He tapped the cigarette on an ash tray on the bar top as he listened. "..and if it goes sideways we will all be too dead to care much we chose the wrong side." he said with a chuckle, throwing the rest of his drink back. "Not born here, but raised for the most part. Cards just kind of landed me here" he answered. This place was nothing to get excited over, but he would choose it 10 out of 10 times compared to his childhood in the mines. He had found a sort of backwards family in the criminal underground.

"A couple of lads are already out back getting the speeder together." he said, looking around to make sure no one else was joining them. "Suppose we should get it over with." he said. Jack pushed himself to his feet before tossing a couple of credits on the bar top, giving a nod to the familiar Aqualish bartender. "Catch ya next time, Urag." he said before walking towards the back of the bar.

The wound through a couple of short, cramped hallways before stepping out into the grime-filled alley behind the building. There was a speeder van out with several eccentric looking individuals preparing themselves or the coming fight.

Jack gestured to a tall, yellow skinned Twi'lek, arms covered in tattoos. "This is Leshel." he said moving on to a short, mangy looking Chadra-Fan with an eye patch. "Then we got Smokey." he said before pointing to a beat up looking combat droid. "And last we got Sparks." he said. He finally gestured towards the woman. "This is Eyrn?" he said questioningly. He was bad at names, and it had been loud inside the bar. Each other gang exchanged their greetings with the woman as the finished preparing,

"Here ya' go, Jackie boy." the Twi'lek spoke as he handed him two vests. Jack tossed one to Eryn. "Won't do much, but might save your life..." he said as he slipped his jacket off and tossed it van before pulling the blaster vest on, securing it in place.

"Let's load up." he said climbing in the back of the van.

@Cybrexian

 

[Eryn Alenath]

Eryn rolled her shoulders when Jack told them there would be a few more, standing to follow him from the bar. These were low level turf wars, the thugs they were about to barely worthy of the name, but a blaster shot was still a blaster shot; would be nice to have a few extra hands. She turned the corner as they were loading up the speeder van, Jack introducing each as she gave a firm nod, arms folded across her chest. She wasn't one for small talk, but she knew when the time called for it.

"Evening, boys. We ready to cause some mischief tonight?" She broke into a brief grin as their response, a chorus of "Yeaah!" and patting one another on the back. Sparks, or so he was introduced, even joined in. "Never thought I'd be hitting a gang side by side with a bucket of bolts." She clapped him on the shoulder as she caught the vest from Jack, slipping it over her head and strapping it tight.

"Rather take it and not need it, than need it and not take it, eh?" She clambered into the back of the van with them, the stubby Q8's pulled from their holsters and rested on her lap, to make sure they didn't get in the way of the vest. "You pull this type of job often then, or you just here to make up for a loss on the cards?" She looked over to Jack as the engine spooled and spluttered under them. The rear door was slammed shut by Leshel who hopped in the front beside Sparks, the driver.

The speeder set off, fast but not too fast. The back wasn't exactly the most comfortable place to be and Eryn found herself holding on to a handy strap dangling from the ceiling in the tighter corners. "Hey, Leshel! Put some music on would you? Get us in the mood." She leaned back into the makeshift seats that they all sat on, the Twi'lek obliging with a worryingly similar song to what was on in the bar. Must be all the rage these days.

Veering left and right, this way and that, the speeder lurched to a halt after a few minutes, parked up behind what looked like a restaurant tagged up with The Cranks symbol - a droids faceplate broken inside a gear, bright orange.. Through the windscreen at the front was a building, a run-down old speeder rental shop across the road with what looked like a garage tacked on to the side. It was in your typical lower Nar Shaddaa fashion; fully of shady folk, tagged with spray and run down as hell. Two Rodian's lounged on a speeder bike parked directly on the corner and seemed to be chatting away. A particularly good looking Twi'lek stood arguing with a Lasat in front of the garage was a nasty looking Trandoshan watched the streets, alert, from the wall beside the shop.

"How you wanna handle this?" She asked, looked back to Jack and shifting out of the view so he could see clearer.

@Raydo