Ask [Toydaria] No toying around here anymore...

[Hailee Lightwood]

Toydaria...1800 hours

As if she hadn't already pissed off the syndicates, she now found herself BACK in syndicate territory again...Why? Because she had picked up another very interesting and promising lead. Messing around in syndicate territory was definitely not a thing the regular Jedi randomly did, but as always, Hailee was far from regular.

She knew criminal structure because she had been forced to be a part of it for years herself. As soon as she had picked up some rumors about a slave trading ring, she had set course for Toydaria. Her still 'borrowed', crimson bladed lightsaber was obviously hidden from view (and the hilt carried in a casual, black leathered handbag), and the only apparent weapon she was carrying was a regular blaster, which was obviously nothing unusual for the territory.

She sat in a cantina, casually sipping her Corellian wine that reminded her of the planet she had grown up on, wearing a dark, elegant dress and probably seeming like some wealthy woman, just waiting for a handsome stranger to buy her a drink, but it fact she was sitting there, focusing on the Force and even half meditating while waiting for semi-drunk guests to spill some potentially spicy details she could use to figure out the exact location of the apparent trades...A few Toydarians had already tried their luck, but sooner or later she had turned them down in a rather polite way, knowing damn well that they wouldn't be helpful. The right one hadn't crossed her path yet...

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

Tazlen finally did enough community service to be able to go back to picking his own missions. He didn’t know if winning Ailon had freed him or the fact that Councilor Fynn dropped dead, but he suddenly didn’t have the Council breathing down his neck. Maybe it was because he screwed one of them in a closet, who knows. He was on this planet to chase down leads on a slavery ring. It was massive and was part of a bigger ring that fed people into the Core territories. He couldn’t just liberate the one here and call it a day, he had to find out who the kingpin was.

He was in a cantina looking for a Toydorian named Grupko. The Jedi heard enough chitchat to point to him as a potential source of information. Tazlen was wearing pretty casual clothing, having no desire to stick out. He was looking around when he spotted a woman dressed up rather nicely for this establishment. Tazlen checked his chrono. Well, he had time to kill, so why not chat someone up.

He started walking over when he recognized her at once. Padawan Lightwood?! Tazlen’s face scrunched up. These Perpetual Padawans were going to be the death of the Jedi. He glanced around and sure enough she didn’t have a babysitter nearby. Tazlen rubbed his temples briefly before he walked over after she declined a third Toydarian that tried to woo her.

“Fancy seeing you here,” He said with a raised brow, “Aren’t you a little lost?” Tazlen asked, dropping hints that she had no business wandering about in Syndicate territory. What was she gonna do next? Run over the Toydarian Royal family with a speeder?

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

Again and again she contemplated whether this had even been a good idea, but it was A to late too pull out and B, she fucking wanted to help the helpless slaves and kick some fat criminal boss' ass, especially because she had just recently dealt with a slightly similar case that had left her absolutely furious.

Damn sucumbags...Corellia, Nar Shadaa, Ord Mantell, now Toydaria: The list was long and the shit was all the same, but she was absolutely confident to handle that situation on her own. She couldn't fully focus on her own thoughts and on the conversations around her, because the third Native in a row was trying his luck and she was slowly losing patience..."Cherié, come on. Let me buy you a drink", he repeated, but at this point she was just rolling her eyes. "Sorry, I've just said no and I'll say it again. I'm waiting for my date and I just had enough", she lied, because that one was absolutely not the man she was waiting for and just another one that was trying to woo her.

Relatively dejected, the chubby Toydarian went his way, trying his best not to let his head hang and keep up a proud appearance, but it was only mildly successful. She stiffled a chuckle, because she was really not trying to be rude, but their desperate tries were starting to get annoying...and she didn't know how much longer she would be able to take it with a good portion of amusement.

She was just leaning back, taking another sip when another, admittedly more attractive, but obviously much older stranger just walked over to her, addressing her like he actually knew her. Or was that just a clever ploy? Was he maybe even trying to save her from the slightly intrusive Toydarians? "No...actually no. I'm rather fine, thank you for asking though" she flashed him a fake smile, deciding that even if he was just being polite, she had a mission to pursue and there was absolutely no time to chat with a sugar daddy.

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

Tazlen rolled his eyes so hard, he thought they were going to fall out. There were few things more insufferable than padawans - 1. Stepping on wet floor while wearing socks, 2. Plugging your comlink in all night only to find out next morning it didn’t charge at all, etc. This padawan in particular was starting to rise to the challenge. He pulled out a datapad and had to make sure he had this right. Knights were actually given the roster of padawans and their faces, along with a rating of how likely they were to do something stupid like wander around without a Knight present into dangerous territory. He scrolled through the last names under L and sure enough, Hailee’s happy mug was staring right up at him. There was a red dot next to her name and she was color coded as a ‘repeat offender’.

Taz tilted the datapad so she could see her own profile staring at her, and she would instantly know he was a Knight. The Jedi put the datapad away and crossed his arms over his chest, “So quit looking for an Ember date here and go home,” Tazlen stated flatly. His gaze flicked away from hers briefly as he spotted Grupko finally walking in. Great. Perfect timing, right as he was stuck trying to make the padawan get lost.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

She was assuming that Silverback would just go his way and look for an older lady, but no, he was staying, even possessing the audacity to pull out his data pad and start scrolling. He was probably catching up on some holonet news, because he looked exactly like someone who would do such a thing in a cantina, but what actually annoyed her was how he was preventing her from staying focused. "Don't worry, I can look after myself and no, I don't need a drink" she told him, starting to twirl a strand of loose her while she was already looking right past him, her eyes scanning the crowd that had already changed within seconds.

After a few moments she rolled her eyes again, letting out a sigh as he was still not moving and so apparently she had to be more direct, too. "Do you want me to-" she was forced to stop as she stared at her own picture on the data pad, immediately realizing that this knight had somehow found her. Fuck...had he been sent to babysit? To retrieve the 'rogue' padawan that was just trying to do good?! Why couldn't they just let her handle it...that usually worked well! "I have no idea what you're taking about" she bluffed, her voice rather icy and definitely convincing. She was an excellent liar, but she had no idea why he was here, bugging her. "I'm not looking for a date, I'm working" she explained her voice lowered, but now a hint of annoyance in it. Yes, padawans weren't supposed to do that on their own, but she was not in the mood for any discussions. She noticed that his gaze fell upon someone who had just walked in and so she leaned back, taking yet another sip as she flatly stated:"Seems like you got business, too, anyway". That was when a slight smirk crossed her lips. She was not trying to provoke him - because she had learnt that this was not helpful in most cases when it came to the order- but she really just wanted him...gone. Also, she had skillfully ignored the fact that she was listed as a threat, as she had never done anything to...well threaten anyone. She was just trying to work in peace.

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

Tazlen blankly stared at her. Working? Yeah right. He thought for a moment on his options. He could be a good Knight and insist she leave and protect her. Or he could pretend he never saw her in the first place. He began to rapidly weigh the pros and cons of what would happen if she got herself killed here and it was revealed that he was also on the planet. Was he even in the mood to deal with someone that was likely just as stubborn as him? Wasn’t this his first mission of his choosing? Nowhere on that mission log did it say ‘babysit idiot padawan’. Technically he was undercover, which technically meant he technically didn’t need to technically give a flying fuck.

He threw back his drink and flashed her a grin, the points of his fangs glinting, “Suit yourself,” He stated simply, “And remember, mind tricks don’t work on Toydorian,” He said as he walked right past her and towards Grupko.

The Jedi took a seat near Grupko and his associates, his keen ears picking up conversation. Tazlen was looking for a location. His datapad had vague directions, but he needed some more descriptors.

“Boss is ridin’ my ass,” Grupko complained to the Rodian next to him, “Wants a new shipment.”

“Already?? We just delivered a few,” The Rodian said with a grimace.

“Business is boomin’,” Grupko said, throwing back a drink, “Just need a damn break.”

That was his opening. Tazlen walked towards the group of men and made a show of looking over his shoulder and around himself suspiciously, “You gents look like you do well for yourselves,” He said before reaching into his pocket and drawing out a bag of spice and quickly stashing it away, “My little friend here could use a new home,” Tazlen smiled.

“Whoa…that’s offworld,” The Rodian said excitedly.

“Lemme try it,” Grupko said eagerly.

“Not here,” Tazlen said, “How about we go somewhere private?”

The men all looked at each other and gave murmurs of agreements before they got up to leave.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

There was an undeniable tension in the air while he stood there, watching her watch him, obviously contemplating whether this was his his point to intervene or whatever. Had she been too feisty again? Normally, she got along rather well with other knights and she had recently worked with a handful of completely different Jedi, so why she Eben being so spiteful right now? It was potentially her own inner tension, because the recent events had shown that you could never be careful enough, however she was also considering the possibility that he just...meant well. Their was still that fiery spark in her emerald eyes when she relaxed her tense muscles, however the smile on her lips was turning into a more genuine, friendly one. "I'll be alright" she ensured him once again, but then he suddenly mentioned a denial she had totally forgotten.

Kriff...

Together with her cover, Hailee had planned on relying on some good old Jedi mind tricks, however now that he mentioned that, her smile immediately faded. Her emerald gaze followed him, almost all the color being wiped from her pale face while she still processed his words. This was indeed a problem, a problem she hadn't considered and a problem that could potentially interfere with her plans. How could she have forgotten about that simple, but absolutely vital detail?!

Maybe that was why a babysitter wasn't always a bad idea...Hailee was admittedly experienced in that business and she had been able to collect plenty of experience in previous mission, but again, she hadn't fully thought this out. And now she said there, emptying the last parts of her drink while a thousand thoughts rushed through her mind...

And then there was this other Jedi who pursued some interesting business that piqued her curiosity, too. She casually got up and moved towards the war that was fortunately closer to the group of men he was apparently spying on, too. She pulled out her data pad and went through some notes, quickly figuring out that the one Toydarian doing pretty much all of the talking while casually smiling details was apparently her man, too, as he fitted the descriptions perfectly. How could it have been any different though? Obviously, this slightly bossy knight was on the same trail and so instead of going home, it seemed like they were going in the same direction for a while..

Hailee started some meaningless smalltalk with the bartender, focusing on the conversations between the criminals enough to pick up some details, but still being far enough off in order to avoid raising suspicions. What she didn't miss was how the other Jedi offered the group some spice and she couldn't help but to roll her eyes as this as obviously one of the oldest tricks in the book of deception. Was he planning on interrogating them and knocking them out afterwards or what? One way or another, it seemed like they were after the same guy and so she figured he'd need help anyway and so after quickly paying the pill, she hurried after them. Obviously she was keeping a good distance and was careful in order not to get spotted, but she was definitely not letting them escape.

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

Perhaps if Taz wasn’t a Firrerreo and Annfyn mix, he wouldn’t have heard someone following. But as they walked, he was keenly aware of someone trailing a respectable distance behind them. The Jedi took a few steps to the side as he walked to pass by a speeder, his gaze flicking to the rearview mirror attached to it. From there he could make out the outline of that girl from the cantina. So she was likely pursuing the same thing and still in that fancy dress that’d get her nowhere. With a sigh, he took a moment to reach for his comlink and send a quick message back to Jedi HQ, dropping a pin on her location. No Jedi would arrive on the planet anytime soon, but at least Taz did his duty of notifying someone that a padawan was out of bounds.

His journey took him into what looked like a generic textile factory. He could hear the machines whirring and rows upon rows of cloth and yarn being woven. Tazlen walked with the others and was led to a side room where he took a seat. There was a window facing the outside of the building that Hailee could attempt to eavesdrop from, or she could pretend to look for fabric inside the factory though the machines were loud.

“Okay let’s see the stuff,” Grupko said excitedly.

Tazlen brought out the spice again, letting the Toydarian and the others snort it. He leaned back in his seat and observed, smiling at them.

“What do we think, gents?”

“Fuuuuck this is good shit,” They all nodded in agreement, gleeful. Grupko reached for his credits.

“How much do I owe you?”

“Free of charge,” Tazlen said. The Toydarian looked surprised and taken aback. Contrary to what Hailee may have expected, this wasn’t going to go the route of a simple drugging and interrogating.

“Really, I want a job,” He said as he leaned forward in his seat, “Was talking to my buddy Six over by the Corner Store -” Six and Corner Store were both code names he had learned from staking out the surroundings. Tazlen came prepared, “- and he said 'Grupko’s your guy for a new gig'. Heard you were looking for some new muscle.”

Grupko thought for a moment, looking around. The Rodian shrugged, “We could use an extra set of hands. And this guy's clearly got nice connections if he got this spice."

“Gonna have to test you out,” Grupko said, snorting more of the spice, “You help take down Yav’s gang and let me take over his spice house, and you got yourself a permanent job.”

Tazlen simply flashed him a grin, reaching for a cigarra to light it, “You've got yourself a deal.”

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

She followed the group of men with fast steps, however trying to appear as casual as possible for bystanders. It seemed like no one was paying particular attention to her, even though she received a few hungry eyes and even someone cat-calling her, which she skillfully ignored though, and the distance between her and the group of criminals plus the Jedi knight was still long enough for them not to notice any of that.

She waited for them to round corners and only did the same after some time, thereby almost risking to lose them once but she luckily caught glimpse of the Rodian in the group soon enough, and so after a while they suddenly reached a larger factory building which the group entered.

Admittedly, that move made her nervous because it really looked like the Jedi knight was a bit suicidal...or maybe just overly confident, but one way or another she did not want anything to happen to him and so she followed them inside, not knowing what would expect her, but as her gaze soon landed on the machines and the fabric all around, she was at least relieved to see that this was an actual factory and no shady, deserted ware house.

Still, she was still rather on edge as she moved inside and immediately started to take an interest in the produced textiles while trying to figure out where the other Jedi went and whether he was in trouble already. "May I assist you, Miss?", a Togruta woman in a white uniform asked her and it wasn't hard to tell that she was working here. "Oh thank you, that's really kind. I'm just taking a look around for now", she politely replied, throwing her a warm smile which she answered with a neutral smile. She returned to the machine she was apparently supervising but her gaze repeatedly flicked onto Hailee who was pretending to check on fabric while she was actually in desperate pursuit of the group.

After moving in further, she suddenly walked past a half closed door and immediately spotted the Toydarian from earlier, so she immediately stopped and searched through a pile of soft, silken scarves while eavesdropped on the rest of the conversation. She usually played her games, but it soon got obvious that he played an interesting game of his own. "Test you out...Help take down...house...got yourself a permanent job". While she had assumed that he might get into trouble, he somehow skillfully managed to even get himself some sort of a job and with a raised eyebrow she realized that reinforcement was obviously not needed.

Before the group got the chance to leave, she herself hurried to get out of there in order not to be spotted, but this was only after she felt safe enough to leave him alone with them. Back outside, she elegantly leaned against a wall while she pretended to be in a call on her NalPhone, waiting for the other Jedi to reappear. She had still decided for herself that if he wouldn't appear soon, she'd go check on him again, worried that their little deal was potentially already threatened and he might need help after all...

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

Tazlen worked out the logistics of when and where to show up and the men cleared out of the room. The Jedi was the last to walk out, hands in his pockets and a cigarra dangling from the corner of his lips. He spotted the padawan from earlier standing around as if she just happened to be in the area. She would notice him giving her an amused look as he inhaled from his cigarra before blowing out a cloud of smoke.

Instead of greeting her, he simply gave her a grin. The Jedi shook his head and turned to keep walking. The other men had cleared out and it was just the factory droids or workers milling about here and there. Right away, Tazlen could tell that Grupko and the ring he was attached to covered their tracks well. There were no hints of anything suspicious at the factory. He wouldn’t discover anything unless he got into Grupko’s inner circle.

For now, Tazlen would ask around people on the streets and learn more about the opposite gang.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

She waited..and she waited...and she waited...Patience had never her strong suit and even if I had gotten much better, she was absolutely antsy and nervous and was already pushing herself off the wall as the Jedi with the silver stripes in his hair finally reemerged. She let out a breath of relief, immediately regaining composure which she had almost lost there for a few seconds and suddenly their eyes met. She expected him to go her way after he had just stopped to puff on his cigarra, but all he did was to smirk and turn.

He walked away. And she could already feel her cheeks getting hot. Was he being serious?! She had no idea whether he had realized she had followed him earlier, but wasn't it obvious for him that this had been the man she was looking for as well?! And why the kriff was he obviously provoking her like this?! He knew what he was doing, didn't he?

'Breathe Hailee', she reminded herself. The words of her master echoed through her head and she knew that being fed up was not an option. Actually, it was quite good that she wasn't alone. He had been right. This place was definitely dangerous and so was there potentially shared objective, so working together was actually a great chance. She started walking in her heels, her steps still a bit too aggressive for a fee steps until she was back to relatively graceful and inconspicuous. Stupid shoes though. Stupid impractical attire...It really seemed as though the knight was ahead of her without that kind of a show. And why was he walking so fast? She let out a slightly frustrated sigh before she started collecting her emotions again.

It wasn't too hard to catch up with him, but it did take a while and once she had finally reached him, she put on a slightly apologetic smile. Despite their bumpy start, she felt like she owed him some sort of an explanation and so she swallowed her pride and ignored the previous provocation as best as she could. "Okay listen...I think back in that bar you were just trying to caution me and I get that. Sorry if I came off brusque...that wasn't intended". And I hope you didn't just intend to taunt me with that grin..."It seems like you've picked up the same rumors I did" she pointed out, lowering her voice while she glanced up at him with her emerald eyes.

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

Tazlen put the padawan entirely out of his mind as he walked, focusing solely on the task at hand. When she slid up near him, he turned and quirked a brow. At first, he said nothing, puffing on his cigarra. It would almost appear as if he didn’t hear her, which was hilarious considering his very pronounced Annfyn ears.

Without a word, he turned into a nearby clothing store, his body language suggesting that she follow him inside. Once she did, he finally turned to look at her, his eyes piercing into her own, “I’ll let you be a part of this on the condition that you actually listen to me when I ask it,” Tazlen stated flatly. He would wait for her agreement before he continued.

“Being a pretty girl in a dress will help in many missions,” He said, his gaze flicking down her body and then back up, “In this case, it’ll just be a fucking distraction and risk the lives of those we need to save,” His tone was cold as ice, making it clear this was serious. This was a slave ring and she was exactly the kind of person that was trafficked, “So you’re going to swallow your ego, change into men’s clothes, hide your hair in a hat, and come back out as Hal.”
Tazlen jutted his chin towards the rows of men’s clothes all around them. He crossed his arms over his chest, waiting to see what she would do. This was her one and only shot at being involved in this.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

Of course he let her wait before he finally decided to react in any way. There was a tense silence between them, both green eyes meeting mid-air while she could already feel her emotions getting stirred up again. While she frustratedly bit the insides of her tongue she kept staring up at him until he started moving again, immediately turning into a clothing story.

Her facial expressions immediately changed into a rather confused looked and her raised eyebrow told him that she was really starting to question what he was doing, but that was when he finally replied to her. "Yes...I'll follow your orders" she replied with a sigh, obviously not fully enthusiastic and amused, but honest agreeing nonetheless and the smile that followed was much more genuine, but she could have never imagined what was about to come next...

He started by explaining how her attire wasn't helpful in his eyes and she was about to throw in"'okay, I'll go for something more casual', but as he kept outlining a plan, she was assuming he was joking at first. "Yeah, should I draw myself a mustache with a sharpie, too?" she sarcastically asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she was assuming he was trying to be funny, but that was when she suddenly realized that he was dead serious about that.

"I-" she began, shaking her head. "You know how cheap that'll look?" she asked, throwing in her doubts, now already a little desperate as she was processing that he really wanted her to do this. Yes, he had a point. While dressing up nicely often helped when it came to gaining information, blowing up a slave ring was a different story. She didn't quite know how, but he had been oddly successful with his ploy so far, and most importantly, she knee that she shouldn't argue...

Regardless of how much she loved or argue, she could hear it in his tone. He wouldn't let her help if she didn't comply and even though her insides bristled, she reluctantly nodded. "If you think that is necessary...fine. I'll do it...Prepare to meet...Hal" she shook her head, now truly resigning. She wasn't fully convinced but he was in charge and she was...complying. so despite being everything but amused, she grabbed a shirt that looked large enough to hide her breasts, a dark jeans that would also by anything but a tight fit and obviously a damn, black hat...

She then dutifully marched into a dressing room, letting out a final sigh before she pulled the curtain close and started to change into the clothes she had chosen. She had never felt so out of place and getting all of her hairs into that head was a struggle, but after a few moments she finally reemerged, her face not actually happy but even if the complaints where written in her face, she didn't say another word. "Do you want me to adjust my voice or can I just pretend I'm mute?"

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

Tazlen nodded in approval as she came out wearing men’s clothing. It looked a little ridiculous, but only because he knew what she looked like normally. Anyone else glancing her way wouldn’t think much of it and simply consider her a late teens boy. He rubbed his chin in thought as she asked her question.

“Try adjusting your voice and say something,” He said. Once she tried, Tazlen immediately grimaced, “You’re mute. Use a datapad to talk,” He stated flatly. He liked this anyway - based on all the expressions she wore, he would probably have peace without her complaining the entire time. He started walking out of the clothing store.

“You and I are going to bust a gang for Grupko,” Tazlen explained as they walked, “We can’t reveal what we are, so no tricks or sabers,” He looked around to ensure no one was listening, “If we succeed, we’ll both get into Grupko’s inner circle. Only then will we be led to where the ring operates. We can’t be hasty - if we give ourselves away, it’s the girls that’ll get hurt.”

As they kept walking, Tazlen came to a pause, staring at a warehouse. There were mercenaries positioned all around it. He turned to look at Hailee, “Do you know how to use a blaster, Hal?” He asked.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

Once she was out, she put her hands in her hips, her expression still a witness of her strong displeasure, but she soon realized that this was not the most masculine body language. She rolled her shoulders and took a more casual posture, thumbs placed into the front pockets of her jeans. Pockets! They had actual, big pockets!! That was obviously something positive at least...And hiding her lightsaber underneath the oversized shirt wasn't a problem either. Her usual tight fits were problematic for such things.

When he urged her to adjust her voice, she chose the sentence "I appreciate working like this", expressed in a very sarcastical way, but even though she was trying hard to darken her voice, it didn't even come close to a boy undergoing puberty vocal change, so that was a rather good call of him...and actually a relief, because Hailee was truly afraid of some remarks that might have just slipped out of her mouth otherwise.

They then started walking and as soon as they had left the shop, she chose to use telepathy in order to answer him to keep it safe. 'Sounds fun...' The remark about them not being able to use their sabers or the Force was rather unnecessary though...'Don't worry. I grew up in similar circumstances', she jutted her chin towards a group of rather shady teens loitering about in front of a supermarket. 'Yes...keeping the victims safe is our highest priority. I would expect this Grupko to be more suspicious...perhaps it even takes days' she interposed, glancing up at him.

Lastly, when he mentioned the used of the blaster she curtly nodded. 'Blaster, hand to hand, daggers. I can handle myself the old school way too', a slightly mischievously grin crossed her lips while she used the halt to practice her masculine, relaxed stance again. From his point of view, it still probably looked like he was watching a semi-confident boy trying to act all manly and like an adult, but it should have been enough for her cover nonetheless.

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

Tazlen stared blankly as she excitedly explored her pockets. As a man, he never experienced the absurdity that was the universal trend of women’s pants having no pockets. Even toddler boys had pockets in their pants, but the convenience, for whatever reason, was habitually denied for women. He chalked it up to Hailee generally being strange, as he had no clue otherwise.

The Jedi had to resist rolling his eyes as she rattled off all her expertise. Oh well, at least her overconfidence matched her appearance of a teen boy. As they walked, he noticed she was trying to match her gait to that of a man’s, and he couldn’t help but grin, “You look like you have a lightsaber up your ass,” He snickered, shaking his head as he gazed ahead.

Grupko’s men were waiting near the warehouse, one of them scoping it out. The Rodian from earlier was there, along with two other burly men. The Rodian stared at Hailee for a moment, squinting as if she looked familiar. However, he had done spice and was likely misremembering. He glanced over at Tazlen.

“Who’s this boy?” He pointed at Hailee.

“Hal,” Tazlen explained effortlessly, “He’s done a few jobs with me and would be great for this. Also mute, so he won’t leak anything.”

“Looks like he hasn’t even learned to piss standin’ up yet,” One of the other men said while smoking a cigarra. Tazlen answered before Hailee could get riled up and ruin things.

“He counts on people underestimating him, you see,” Tazlen said with a smile. The man glared at the Jedi for that comment, but left it alone. The Rodian handed them each some blasters and smoke grenades.

“Remember, we gotta beat the guards and then the gang leader inside without ruining the spice,” The Rodian said, “The leader is the type to set his own spice on fire and destroy it so no one else can get it.”

“Perhaps we can split up where some of us take on the gang members, and another sneaks in to lock down the spice so it can’t be touched?” Tazlen suggested.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

She wondered whether he'd comment on anything else she was saying, maybe something like 'oh, good, this mission will be a piece of a cake' or caution her like 'well, we should be careful and don't try to provoke any fights', but as he only threw a passive aggressive, overly mocking remark her way she immediately shot him a glare. 'Sorry, I haven't been a man before' she telepathically replied, a slight snappy hint underlying her inner voice as his remark was somehow...neither helping nor encouraging. She quit trying hard to walk like a man though and simply tried to loosen her muscles while simultaneously deciding that it wouldn't even be too bad if her movement was a bit effeminate. After all, her female facial features made her look like a pretty young boy anyway and a slight female touch to her movement wouldn't be too bad...She was still everything amused with that unconventional way to start a mission but she had absolutely no choice...so she complied. At least she wasn't forced to speak...

She kept following him until they were approaching the group of men the knight had already met earlier. For a brief moment there was a hint if nervousity flaring up as she realized that if someone would blow her cover, question, that could threaten their mission, would probably be asked, but her uncertainty faded as soon they came to a halt. When Taz introduced her, she gave a curt nod, obviously not opening her mouth, but the comment of another man made her even grumpier indeed. Taz, however, effortlessly defused the situation and soon she -well Hal- was already handed a blaster and so everything worked according to plan for now, which was good. Still, she pulled out her datapad in case she needed to reply and just a few moments later she indeed wanted to throw in a remark. She eagerly typed into her holopad, so that a few moments later a masculine robotic voice said 'Can't risk to lose the goods, so makes sense'. She was deliberately choosing a language that deviated from her own and she decided that Hal wasn't very talkative through a pad either, so she would stick to elliptical replies. Still she knew that it was those criminals' call in the end anyway. If they didn't trust them enough, they wouldn't let them split up.



@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

“Diego can get us in from the back,” The Rodian said, pointing a thumb at the burly human man, “Hal can beeline right to the spice when we clear out the guards. Let's go.”

With that, the group ventured around the warehouse for the back entry. Diego walked over and used his size and strength to kick open the door. There was a flurry of motion inside as the guards became alert. Blaster bolts erupted and Tazlen and the others burst in, ducking for cover. He knew he couldn’t overtly use the Force here, so he played his part. They were in a long hallway and there were boxes and other cargo to provide cover on the way up. Tazlen leveled his blaster and shot one of the thugs, glancing over at Hailee.

“Move up!” He said, “We’ll cover you,” He jutted his chin towards the next crate. She would have to quickly run and duck for cover while the rest of the group kept the enemies at bay. Tazlen also moved up, but opposite to her. The hallway was drawing a lot of attention and Hailee needed to find a way to sneak past the action and towards the spice room.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

Hailee could feel how her heartbeat was accelerating, not because she was nervous about the mission but rather concerned about keeping up her admittedly inconvenient cover. In order not to walk like she had crapped into her oversize pants she trier to walk as normal as possible while keeping in mind that due to her mute status, she was not allowed to talk at all.

She nodded as the Rodian gave them the orders, her gaze still lowered to prevent all of them from examining her feminine facial features any further before the group was already busy moving in on the warehouse. She wasn't exactly pleased with the fact that she had to rely on her physical powers only because they were literally entering the predators' den, but they hadnto win their trust...so good old running in was.

Hailee - Hal - got her -his- blaster ready and stormed in after the rest. While the majority of the group was busy firing back, she concentrated on the task she was given and so she waited for orders. When Taz urged her to run, she ran. She didn't like blindly following orders at all and if they wouldn't have been on that mission with those others, she would have acted differently, but she had no choice now and so as soon as Taz raised his voice, she darted forward and slid behind the next crate. She leaned out and fired as well to give Taz some cover while he ran as well, but she still had to reach the spice room and now that was the tricky part.

Peeking out every now and then, she fired whenever she could, however when there was finally and opening and a short fire break, she stormed forward. There was an open door at the left and she was dearly hoping that this would lead her into the spice room, but as soon as she raced through the door, she landed in an apparent anteroom with two rather young, scrawny looking men who looked rather frightened. Without wasting any time she tackled the first to the ground in order to use the moment of surprise before she pushed herself from the ground and fired her fist into his face.

She hissed in pain when her knuckles collided with the man's face, but he seemed indeed knocked out, which was good. She wanted to scream, but let out nothing but an agonized hiss, but she had to get up as quickly as possible as the second one was approaching her with a part of a metal pipe raised above his head. She had to roll in order to avoid the blow that came crushing down, but thanks to her position on the ground, she could bring up her leg and kick him right in the nuts, sending him to his knees, crying in pain. With that, she pushed herself back to her own feet, just to sent her knee against his temple so that the second man was knocked out cold as well, before she starting running towards the next room with blaster bolts still echoing from the hallway.

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

Hal disappeared out of sight and Taz felt a pang of concern. He started running after her, but he stopped himself. He decided instead to place faith in her and trust that she would find her way. He focused on the mercenaries that were clogging the hallway. Tazlen leveled his blaster and kept fighting. After a few of the thugs were dropped, Diego whirled around to look at Tazlen.

“Why do you have your weapon set to stun?” He growled.

“Not trying to get a criminal record, you imbecile,” Tazlen snapped back. Internally he despised being put in this spot. He refused to gun anyone down to murder them, but he would do enough to play the part, “Don’t need a spotlight on me if I wanna work for Grupko.”

It appeared to be a satisfactory answer. In fact, Diego stood there with his jaw slightly slack, eyes slightly glazed over. No doubt he was wondering why he didn’t have the intelligence to consider not having an obvious criminal record. His brain was working too hard and he took a blaster bolt to the side of the head, dropping like a log.

Tazlen grimaced but kept moving, shaking his head. He rounded a corner to face to face with a big guy that was surprised to see him. Tazlen paused and then slammed him in the face with the blaster, the man howling in pain. As he took steps back, Tazlen swept the leg to make him land on his back.

“Have you found the spice room?” He spoke into the shared comlink channel. Wait, what was he doing? Hailee was pretending to be mute. Fuck. This was poorly planned, “Ugh, breathe heavily twice like Vader into the comlink if you found the spice room. Once for no.”

Tazlen was still engaging people on his path. He had to find the gang leader before he could start heading towards the spice room. The Rodian in the group shot down a few more men before pointing at a big Feeorin that was running towards them. That had to be the boss.

Meanwhile, Hailee would come across a door that led to the spice production area. It was guarded by droids, both of them raising their blasters to shoot her. However, it was just her and the droids in here, no one to witness any Force use. She would simply have to remember to destroy the heads.

@LadyRen