Ask To Be A Bad Guy

[Hannibal Grayza]

Bonadan sure was busy these days. A mixed and assisted campaign against the workings of Zygerian slaver networks on several worlds was in the works, and it wasn't terribly surprising to Hannibal that a planet that runs off of corporatism featured laws banning slavery but enabling 'not-technically-slavery'. From the briefing files Hannibal had read through it appeared Max had been handling some of the more overt and straight forward training of the this joint operation, training the PMC contractors in how to take out assigned targets properly. So far so good. Hannibal on the other hand was more geared toward covert action, setting aside his penchant for flashy clothing and behavior.

The young Jedi Master had certainly been busy lately, but at least this time he wasn't working in the wilderness again. They were back in the kinds of urban areas with which he was most familiar. While he was sure he could disappear into some trees or bushes, he did find it much easier to slip through crowds unnoticed. He'd been doing it since he was a kid, after all. With all that in mind, Hannibal was here to teach a squad of The Untold Sums how to handle dealing with a problem quietly. Hannibal was one of the few Jedi with that sort of skillset, though he'd have to keep in mind some of his tactics wouldn't work for those not utilizing the Force.

Doubtless also there for the experience and an opportunity for further learning, Hannibal was joined also by a Padawan by the name of Fiach Dubh. They'd met before, but not for this kind of work. But as far as Hannibal was concerned, getting a Padawan or two at least familiar with sneaky stuff was a positive. The Sith surely wouldn't shy away from general underhandedness and the Jedi Order would always have it's major share of self-righteous honorable types. Perhaps something the Padawan learned would save them from getting stabbed in the back someday.

Hannibal had opted for practical working attire instead of his usual robes, stuff that would let him blend in better than bright yellows and purples. His belt contained the usual variety of Jedi goodies, joined by a stun glowrod, a combat fusioncutter, belt-mounted slicing equipment concealed inside a rearward pouch, and his RSKF heavy blaster pistol. He had two lightsabers with him as usual, though they were on something akin to magnetic clip underarm holsters hidden beneath his poncho. Easy to draw without being terribly obvious. He hoped the little bird joining him would not be dressed as an obvious Jedi, and had sent a memo to that effect, but she wasn't his Padawan in the end.

Frankly, Hannibal was more concerned about the PMC contractors in question. Bad habits had to be unlearned, and training from one situation did not always translate well to another. A front line combatant was not a commando was not an assassin was not a spy, and so on. Eight of them had volunteered or been volunteered, and Hannibal had spent the last half hour double checking equipment and going over general guidelines related to not looking like a soldier trying really hard to look like an ordinary civilian. Blending in was a complicated concept. Hannibal was presently trying to explain one particular point.

"Blending in isn't just about looking like any old guy. It's more about being beneath notice or suspicion, for any reason at all. Trying too hard not to be suspicious makes one suspicious, see? If one does it right, one could walk around with a rifle and not be bothered in the correct circumstances." Some of them seemed to get it, while others looked more bemused than anything else. At least they asked questions afterward.

@Corbeau

 

[Fiach Dubh]

Fiach was getting used to running multiple missions as part of a campaign, and so her time on Boandan was not her first. This time, she was working with a Jedi Master – and although she’d worked with him before, it was in a large group and so she’d spent virtually zero one-on-one time with him.

She always enjoyed working with new people – it was a chance to learn different approaches and other than her own Masters (both of whom had now effectively disappeared on long-term missions) she’d not worked with anyone of that rank other than being trained at the Academy.

She wore her usual muted Jedi garb, but a set she kept for such missions. It was not pristine – although it was relatively clean. It was…nondescript, as was her hair which she’d tied up in a messy bun. Given she wore no jewellery or make-up, she looked plain from head to toe and given her upbringing – knew how to walk around without drawing attention to herself. The art, as she saw it, was not to try to blend in, or be inconspicuous, but to act as if you had every right to be wherever it was. She’d done enough undercover operations now to have a good understanding, although she was always ready to pick up pointers.

Her utility belt and saber were not visible with her cloak fastened and she carried no other weapons. Of course, to another Force-sensitive, it didn’t matter what you wore – you sensed the presence of another Jedi, but she hoped the current mission would not lead them to confront anyone who might question why two such individuals were together.

Fiach gave general advice where she could. Pointing out that brand new boots were a giveaway when you wore old clothing. If it were all new, that was OK, but it was the incongruities that gave you away. Like a brand new blaster if you were dressed as a down and out. And cleanliness and manners had their place, but not if you were going to infiltrate a pirate clan or a slaver network where every available credit was spent on alcohol or drugs – not designer dental work.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

So far, giving mercenaries advice on how to blend in wasn't going too poorly. They had mostly been civilians at some point or other, and the ones who had volunteered weren't so much the tacticool type. Which made sense, but Hannibal was still surprised. Of course there were still many more opportunities for the young Jedi to be disappointed, but that was something to deal with later. For the moment all was well and set up, the Padawan was here, and they needed to get to work sometime before the heat death of the universe.

"Now then. Unless someone smuggling slaves is an idiot, they will mix them in with otherwise legal cargo. It's far less likely to be found out by standard spaceport scrutiny than just hauling bodies. However, there are some things that can give it away. Inconsistent or unlikely cargo weight reports or power signatures for instance. Irregular density from scans, or movement where there shouldn't be. They may have internal cant, which you should endeavor to learn." Hannibal personally also used a mix of scanning equipment and the Force to find discrepancies, but only one of those was available to the mercenaries. This did make things more difficult, but not too much.

"Today, we're going to be bait. We're going to find out who may potentially moving slaves, and then pose as a buyer to set the trap. Double-check all your equipment and make sure you look like someone who could be working for a Hutt," he instructed the group before moving off to speak to the Padawan.

"Yo, Dove. Hope you're ready. This isn't the usual kind of Jedi work, y'know. Make sure you're centered before we leave, yeah?"

@Corbeau

 

[Fiach Dubh]

Fiach now gave her attention to Hannibal. She had plenty of views on slavers, based on personal experience, but always had an open mind that she could learn more. She nodded at the comment about slaves being hidden. Sometimes it was in plain view – it often paid to check the crew manifest and compare it to the standard compliment for a ship. Greed was common amongst slavers and they regularly carried more slaves than was easy to disguise. Or else, they would pass them off as passengers, which did not always tally with the type of ship they were transported in.

And that didn’t even begin to take into account the numerous places bodies could be hidden on a ship – often near power or heat sources, in an attempt to disguise their presence. Relying on just one means of detecting them was a sure-fire way of missing their presence. As such, she found herself nodding regularly at what Hannibal said.

She glanced around at the faces when he mentioned they would be bait. Thankfully, few blanched at the idea, but more worrying was that nobody seemed apprehensive. Such missions were fraught with danger and at least some concern would be appropriate. They were either eager to engage or underestimated the ask. Neither was, in her opinion, a recipe for success.

She nodded even more vigorously when he spoke to her. “Thankfully, I’ve done a fair share of missions and some have involved going undercover – and even dealing with slavers. But that means I’ll be extra vigilant, so don’t worry – you can focus on the civilians and not have to worry about baby-sitting me.”

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

Well, a good enough answer for the moment. The little dove's response was less worrying than Hannibal had expected, but from what he'd soon of her and heard in rumor she was a relatively calm sort. Time to move on, then. The group needed to function as bait for slavers in the form of prospective buyers, which meant they had to attract slavers somehow or other. As it happened, Hannibal had done a bit of pre-mission intel gathering using Ego and some other seeker droids, gathering data on who was landing and where. A particular Wayfarer with a predominantly Zygerrian crew drew his attention.

He explained to the group as to why it was a potential slaver ship. The crew aside, what actually did it was the weight. Import manifests available by questionable means indicated shipments of mostly foodstuffs, all bound for this planet. But looking into it, notably less had been unloaded than was to be delivered, and the ship was still on the planet after most of a day. Generally weapons smuggling and the like unloaded rapidly, whereas slaves needed to be properly moved into the right channels to escape scrutiny. It could be unrelated, of course, but there was no reason not to find out for sure.

"We will be mercenaries representing an anonymous off-world buyer. Should it come to price, we will offer premium without overshooting it. It's also important to haggle, and to be aware of the general price range attributed to slaves. With that in mind, suit up, we need to get going in ten minutes," he instructed the group, checking his datapad to be sure of the time. So long as they could confirm suspicion and get close enough to the ship things should go smoothly. Should being the operative word, here.

@Corbeau

 

[Fiach Dubh]

Fiach was pleased she’d taken up Max’s offer of learning how to use a blaster. Her last time on this planet ended with her shooting a hole in her boot as she didn’t know a gun’s safety was off. But she was now a half-decent shot. Not that she focused too much on using one as a weapon – but she knew enough to hit a reasonable target and more than enough not to accidentally kill anyone (or ruin another pair of boots).

Being a mercenary of any description meant being armed and looking comfortable with the weapon. Yes, her saber was hidden, but without at least a blaster for show, she would look distinctly out of place. As would her robes – so she changed into something the Order had provided. It was predominantly muted shades of synth-leather and chafed alarmingly, but she wriggled about in it for long enough to at least feel comfortable. She added a dark brown cape to the outfit, which gave her ample hiding places for her saber, shoto and useful things – like cuffs.

She listened to the briefing intently – although she already knew it – and nodded in all of the right places.

“Can’t imagine why people wear this stuff through choice,” she said to the Jedi Master as the ten minutes was almost up. “Give me my robes any day.”

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

Hannibal briefly looked over the group's general get-up. Rag-tag enough to not be given away as a hyper-organized military, but not too stereotypical. It'd do for the job at hand. The really troublesome part was the quiet takedown once they'd gotten into position. The timing on starting the actual attack had an ideal window of opportunity, but there was usually a reasonable margin of error. Determining how much wiggle room they had was tricky, but experience should help.

"Some people have a fondness for leather goods," the young Jedi replied simply in response to the Padawan's comment. He personally preferred his own cut of robes over the Order's standard, but to each their own. Ten minutes was up, which meant it was time to get going. Hannibal motioned to the group of PMC-turned-mercenaries and began to lead them out of the old warehouse they'd stationed themselves in lately.

"Remember to keep an eye out. There's a difference between drawing attention and drawing suspicion, remember that," he advised quietly as they headed into a series of curving back alleys, taking the side streets toward the spaceport. It wasn't far and he didn't expect a group of apparent mercenaries to draw zero eyes their way once they got back to a proper street, but what Hannibal was wary of was being followed or excessively watched.

@Corbeau

 

[Fiach Dubh]

Fiach did her best not to squirm, and wished she’d packed some talcum for the mission. She made a mental note – not to ensure she brought some next time, but to avoid this ridiculous garb!

She allowed Hannibal to lead and she fell in with the general group, to be the eyes and ears towards the rear of the unit.

Fortunately, she’d performed enough undercover operations to know how to behave. It was a fine line between looking paranoid and completely disinterested – neither of which was appropriate for mercenaries. So, she kept a watchful eye, whilst engaging in small talk. She spotted plenty of prying eyes, but no more than she’d expect given they did look an intimidating sight.

Once confident they were not being followed, she moved closer to the Jedi Master. “OK, what’s the plan?” It was a question she often asked – and belied the fact that she rarely planned herself.

@Mr. Teatime