Ask Plot We’re the Cargo

[Marissa Hesse]

When the Alliance wanted to get rid of people, they had a few ways of doing it rather surreptitiously, a few locations they used to ferry those folks they considered less than model citizens away for a long, long time.

Junkfort Station was one such place.

Though not operated by the Alliance, it took a neutral stance to the comings and goings of all those who traded within. That included not only the undercover Alliance personnel, but Marissa and Preef also. She had to say, she had a good deal of respect for the Rodian since Canto Bight. And as soon as another score presented itself, she could think of no one better,

“So how did you spend all that money in the end?” She asked casually to him as she leant nonchalantly on the side of the concourse, looking out from beneath her dark glasses at the people coming and going. Though she would admit what Preef had to say did indeed interest her. Despite the success of the operation she didn’t quite know how the frogs mind ticked over in many ways.

Through it all though she kept her eyes on the traffic, they were on the lookout for a particular ship, one they needed to get aboard if they were to get this show on the road.

@Ecclessey

 

[Preef Callo]

-Ssslluuuuurrrruuupp-

Almost half the contents of Preef's packet of noodle soup was now stuffed into his face as he tried -with visible difficulty- to chew it up and swallow it. "Di-" he finally managed to swallow and clear his mouth, "-dn't, figured I should save it up for, yeknow." Preef was referring to every criminal's pursuit: having enough credits saved to get out and go legit. Especially with all the things happening in the galaxy... Sector Rangers were rumored to be looking for better equipment and weapons, Jedi were actively getting involved in fighting crime and then there was this other unnamed group that went around committing hutticide on a Hutt world. If there was any a good time to get out of dodge then Preef figured it was really kriffing close.

Makes one wonder why he agreed to break into a prison ship, right? Truth be told, he liked Marissa. She was turning out to be more reliable company than the big Trianii and Preef really needed a new strong character to follow around. She fit the bill, so here he was. "Did you spend it all already?" He asked, wondering suddenly if he was wrong to try and save it up and Marissa, who was no doubt smarter than him, knew something he didn't.

The young rodian had his doubts about taking on the FWA and one of their more heavily guarded prison ships yet Marissa would never hear him challenging her. She was the bosslady and he just a gunslinging frog. The sure would've benefitted from having a Mandalorian on their team, though... or come to think of it, Kholvar.

@Nightfall

 

[Marissa Hesse]

”No, no” she replied to Preef as she wiped a splash of noodle juice from her temple “You and me are of one mind there, it’s all safely locked away, hopefully making a little more credits on its own” Marissa had managed to throw a number of their earnings into what she had been told were surefire investments. And, fitting entirely to her suspicions of them, it hasn’t been hard or find a banker who wouldn’t ask questions about where the money came from,

“Still, can’t but think I might have enjoyed a little luxury or two...” she said slightly wistfully. Always clawing your way up to breathe left little time to actually enjoy it when things went well overall.

That said, get this job done and she and Preef both would have a more secure position in the Syndicate, and that could let them breathe somewhat, knowing they weren’t the bottom of the proverbial ladder. But they needed to find what they were looking for first,

“There, you see it?” She nodded her head toward the window as a freighter shot past the glass, slowing as it came into land. It bore no logo, no number, and in reality that was what gave it away, if you were looking for it,

“That’s our ticket” Marissa pushed herself off the wall and began to head to the landing pad where the ship came down. They’d need to get the ship into their hands, one way or another.

@Ecclessey

 

[Preef Callo]

"Actually-" Preef had begun but was interrupted by Marissa's sudden head movement and then his own eyes fixed on the nondescript freighter making its approach. "-I was thinking about buying a-" His voice trailed off as he figured Marissa didn't really want to hear about him dreaming of his own patch of land on some remote Outer Rim world. All he needed was a small herd of banthas and a pretty lass and he'd be content even without the 'luxuries'. Unfortunately he not only needed multiple fortunes for the land, the herd and the buildings, but he also needed to buy himself free of the Five Syndicates. Well, buy or shoot.. the latter was painfully unrealistic for a gunslinger of his caliber.

Snapping out of his melancholy so he could focus on the job, Preef nodded to Marissa and started walking towards the landing platform, "Let's hope there's not any rangers."

When they arrived at the spaceport's "arrival gate" it wasn't that difficult to spot the FWA-operators from the crowd, but it became immediately clear that they had a big problem: There were six of them and they were splitting up. The fact they were still free in their movements meant that whoever they were supposed to transport to the prison ship hadn't arrived yet in their respective shuttle. Marissa and Preef couldn't afford to wait it out, though, because if it took six operators to transport the prisoner from the spaceport to the prison, then it probably meant it also took at least six to transport it from a prison planetside to the spaceport. Preef reckoned he was a good shot, but he wasn't that good.

Taking Marissa by the arm, the young rodian steered her towards the nearest corner for some much-needed privacy. "We got no choice," he began, "We need stowaway on that shuttle and ambush the operators during flight." Preef bit the corner of his underlip as his dark eyes scanned their surroundings. He was clearly a bit nervous about all of this and he had good reason to be. If they got spotted getting on the shuttle they'd have missed their shot at breaking out Mallek Karn, if they didn't end up dead to boot, and then their odds at overpowering the operators mid-flight was a slim two to six. Still, both options were better than getting caught in a shoot-out against twelve trained alliance operators.


@Nightfall

 

[Marissa Hesse]

Moving through to the arrival gate made it easy to keep a low profile, there were throngs of people pushing and prodding this way and that as they tried to make their transport flights off the station. And understandably enough, having been here scarcely an afternoon Marissa wasn't exactly keen on staying any longer. Not that her short term itinerary put her anywhere nicer in the near future.

Though when Preef managed to point out the amount of FWA officers coming off the ship, she simply let him pull her aside as he spoke. Becoming stowaways was certainly their best bet. They'd managed to sneak into a docking bay back on Cantonica, why would it be any different now?

"In which case we're going to need another entrance onto that dock" she replied, breathing deep as she looked about the hall. With six folks nearby there was too much heat this time, it wasn't worth risking another distraction like last time. They'd need their weapons aboard too so passing through a scanner wasn't an option either. This was becoming quite a conundrum, and she could see Preef's quiet nervousness as he bit his lip. Marissa wasn't exactly filling up with confidence, not when they were under the clock,

"Are vents too traditional?" she knew the answer to that one and shook her head before noticing something.

She gestured over with her head to a gantry way above, somewhere inspectors might come and oversee a ship docking to test crew performance. It wouldn't be monitored by the FWA, but they'd need to find a subtle way back down,

"We can't go under, can't go through, we'll have to go over" and fingers crossed none of those officers hadn't gotten to close to them already.

@Ecclessey

 

[Preef Callo]

Preef was impressed at the speed in which Marissa considered their options, since he was still stuck on imagining vents by the time she had not only dismissed it, but also thought of something else. Something better. Poor Preef, however, didn't have the foggiest. "I can't jump that high," the rodian said, confused as he was on what Marissa was exactly proposing. He'd seen Jedi jump really high on the HoloNet and that weequay Atem Tring had fallen pretty far without hurting himself, but so far all he ever jumped was a table and even then his foot often got caught against the edge and he'd smack awkwardly on the cantina floor.

Finally just assuming Marissa meant something else, Preef put up his serious and determined face and nodded. "I'll follow your lead, boss." He found that he liked calling her boss.

Meanwhile the FWA-operators even seemed to scatter. Two human men seemed to follow a sign that would eventually lead them to a strip club and another went in the direction of the local spaceport-market. Apparently it would take a while before the other transport shuttle arrived with the prisoner. How else could they have so much free time to visit a strip club? Preef knew from experience that you needed at least four minutes of watching a Twi'lek dance, two if they accepted a dance in private, but they'd been too picky on Nar Shaddaa to ever take Preef for a private dance, so he wasn't sure about that number.

@Nightfall

 

[Marissa Hesse]

"We'll find another way up I'm sure" Marissa said, stifling a little laugh as she looked at him, he could certainly get the job done but sometimes she did have to wonder. Looking back up at the gantry above she followed its course back from the docking bay, running down above the length of the hallway, before crossing over to the interior of the complex, a security door allowing access to it from the floor above.

That was where they needed to go,

"In which case, we're going up there" she gestured to the door above, before nodding her head to the side and exiting the corner Preef had pulled them into. The crowd was thinning by this point, and as Preef had noted the FWA operators were scattering about the place while they waited. They'd need to keep an eye out for those faces, just in case.

Rounding a corner, A staircase led them up to the concourse's overlook. A few shops were strung out across its left side like travel goods, holo-readers, and an boisterous Aqualish trying to hawk what they promised was a delicacy. It did not look appetising. Across from it all was the lone security door, a flickering sign reading 'maintenance only' strung above it. Through there was the walkway that would run above the docking bay they needed to get to.

"What's the bet it's locked?" she whispered to Preef as they walked closer. For now at least it didn't look guarded, but Marissa kept her head on a swivel, just in case.

@Ecclessey

 

[Preef Callo]

Preef followed suit as Marissa started moving and eventually rounded a corner and up a staircase. It was here that the rodian got distracted. "Wait, Marissa. Is that-" his mouth opened as he swas clearly starin at the Aqualish' stall. "-that fish is squishy, but tastes great." Preef was clearly enthusiastic about the delicacy despite, and to the annoyance of the Aqualish, walking passed his stall. "Don't even have to cook it, just sprinkle with spices and throw it in your noodle soup." he kissed his fingers with an audible smack to demonstrate the deliciousness of the meal. It was no secret by now that the rodian thoroughly enjoyed his noodles. But he also just ate, so maybe that was the main reason he managed to pass up on what seemed to be a dish that was comfortably in his top five favorites.

As they reached the door, Preef casually tried the open the door. "It's locked," he shrugged and took the security spike from his pocket and without pause plugged it into the console, "Cover me for a moment, will you?" The spike made quick work of the lock, which meant it was low-grade and definitely not military-issue, which made sense for a lowly station named Junkfort station.

A moment later the spike ejected itself back into Preef's hand and the door slid open. Stuffing the spike back into his pocket, Preef grinned at Marissa, "It's not the Force, but its its own kind of magic eh?" Then he stretched his left arm through the door, motioning for Marissa to go first, and cast one last look down and about. There wasn't anyone even remotely interested in them and that felt really good, for a change.


@Nightfall

 

[Marissa Hesse]

Marissa had to roll her eyes as Preef salivated over the fish, though when he pulled out a security spike and got to work Marissa made sure to keep an eye out as he did. With a swish and flick the door opened and Preef gestured for her to go through,

"You do have a few tricks up your sleeve" she replied, pleased. Things were going well. As he'd worked she hadn't noticed any eyes on them. The Aqualish was too busy trying to sell his fish, and the top deck was otherwise comparatively quiet, not too many eyes to keep track of. And as she moved in, that wasn't any different.

The gantry snaked its way across the concourse and over the docking bays along the other side. From their new point of view up above it all, it was easy to keep track of the FWA operators down below. Like Preef said, two had gone off to a club, while a group of three were off trying to haggle with some sad looking street vendor for a bite to eat. Only one had remained by the entrance door to the docking bay, and they were walking right above him.

She put a finger to her mouth to signal 'quiet' to Preef as they went across, taking each footstep slowly so as not to draw attention. Marissa was even keeping her breath held, but as they crossed over the wall and found themselves inside the bay with the ship, she let out a small sigh.

Now they just needed a way down.

@Ecclessey

 

[Preef Callo]

Preef snuck after Marissa and like her, observed the going ons down below. It struck him as a stroke of genius to use this walkway right up until he realized there wasn't a staircase down and into the landing bay. He blinked a couple of times and looked at Marissa in a confused way as if he wanted to accuse her of the fact that she should've known beforehand.

Regardless, they were standing on that walkway now and the transport ship was only twenty or so meters away. Leaning against the hull was only a single human smoking a cigarra and Preef could even look into the cockpit from their position. It was empty for the moment, which meant whoever piloted the ship was either outside or somewhere else inside the ship. That it was empty did allow them an option to get down from the walkway, however, as it extended all the way to the side of the ship and out of few of that human, who was looking the other way.

Trying his best to explain his idea to Marissa in sign language, Preef pointed to the far end of the walkway and made a hoisting motion, unclenched his fists and ducked his head with a smile. He wasn't sure if Marissa understood, but she would once she saw him do it, so he just motioned for her to follow his lead.

Arriving at the end of the walkway, Preef grabbed the railing and pushed himself over it. It took him a moment, hanging from it with about three meters of air between him and the floor below, to find a good grip and steady his body so he wouldn't twist and turn in his fall. Then, pretty much without warning, he let go.

His landing wasn't perfect and his ankles cursed him with jolts of pain before he bend through his knees and absorbed the impact on all fours. Once recovered, Preef immediately unholstered his blaster and listened... but there wasn't any indication that the guard had heard his landing, so he motioned for Marissa to follow suit.

@Nightfall

 

[Marissa Hesse]

Preef's hand motions were... interesting to say the least. But as soon as the Rodian vaulted over the railing and onto the ship, their path forward seemed evident. Following his moves, she stepped over the railing a little slower, and lowered herself down onto the ships roof. It would take more time, but she didn't want to test fate now that they were so close.

Setting herself down on the roof of the ship, her arms felt sore from the strain of lowering herself down. Whatever her skillset, she reflected that such scandalous moves weren't ones she was particularly adept at. That would need to be remedied in future. Though for this little job it was a tad late. Not that she had to worry too much about it now, for a shot of adrenaline suddnely started pumping in her as she heard the pneumatic slides of the main door shoot open, the voices of some jar-head FWA operator coming back to greet his friend at the ship.

She looked at Preef with a shot of concern, their position wasn't one they could explain away anymore. Not that up where they were would have been easy to anyhow.

Her eyes darted quickly across the roof of the ship, there needed to be a way in up here somehow. And toward the ships rear she would find just that. A small access hatch that was typically used to send astro-droids up for repairs mid flight. If they could pry that thing open somehow they'd be in the clear and onboard. She pointed it out to her ally and slid down the hull toward it.

They needed to figure this out, and quick.

@Ecclessey

 

[Preef Callo]

Preef startled upon hearing the voices, "There's nothing to do on this station." His panicky eyes moved to Marissa, who in her turn was already pointing at an access hatch. "What did you expect when it's called Junkfort station?" Preef could almost hear the two operators shrug when he snuck as low and quiet as possible towards the access hatch. There was manual override to it, but that would make a light in the cockpit pop up. Preef figured that since the cockpit was empty mere seconds before that they could turn it off before anyone noticed. It was their only shot.

Pulling the handle, the hatch opened with a slight hush and the rodian slid in the second there was enough space for him to do so. Quickly descending down a short ladder he found himself in the main hallway of the shuttle, revealing both an easy route to the cargo bay as the cockpit. There he waited for a few seconds until Marissa closed the hatch and joined him. They weren't sure whether or not there were operators inside the ship, so Preef whispered "Split up. Find a good hiding space in cargo. I'll join you there." and without waiting for her reply he turned and headed for the cockpit.

The interior of the shuttle was well-maintained and didn't reek, which confirmed to the two scoundrels that it belonged to a planetary or interplanetary government. No private owner would take this meticulous care of a shuttle's interior.


@Nightfall

 

[Marissa Hesse]

Sliding on inside after Preef, she closed the hatch after her and joined Preef below. This was the belly of the beast, so to speak anyhow. Even if nothing went to plan from now, they had a shot at competing the job. Still, as Preef directed her to find somewhere to stowaway, she had faith in his gunslinging to deal with any of those who might still be aboard even now.

She simply nodded and turned back toward the cargo bay. The entire place was sparse, it’s not as if they were hauling cargo in truth, and their real prize hadn’t arrived yet. That meant looking out desperately already for somewhere to stick two bodies where they wouldn’t be seen, at least not for a little while.

She could still hear the voices echoing in from outside. And if Preef was doing anything he’d have to be quiet too not to break it.

That said, the freighter seemed like it could store plenty if it needed to. While there weren’t any boxes to hide in, there was storage built into the walls of the thing.

That, Marissa considered, would be their best bet,

Slinking across hold, she opened the sliding door to the wall cupboard, though happily it was well oiled and didn’t make a sound as she did so. With both of them inside it would be cramped, but they didn’t exactly have a choice now did they?

Marissa kept the door held just open so she could wave the rodian in when he made it down, but she damn well hoped it was before anyone else showed up.

@Ecclessey

 

[Preef Callo]

Preef had reached the cockpit and cancelled the hatch alarm by pressing a single button. All good so far, right? Preef casually turned around. All he had to do now was join Marissa in the cargo bay and they'd hide it out until the ship took off again. Then, when they reached the prison ship they'd disembark, shoot their way through to Mallek Karn, open his cell and then shoot their way back. Commandeering this very ship on their way out seemed the most viable option.

"Yeah, exacty-" the operator suddenly sounded a lot closer, startling Preef as he dashed back, but to where? "-I'll tell Jaeger that the we'll need to take off in twenty minutes." Kriff, Kriff, Kriff the sound of footsteps approaching through the well-maintained ship's corridor was painfully obvious. Preef saw no other option than to climb the ladder again and press himself against the hatch, hoping they wouldn't hear or see the knee that protruded from the ceiling. "JAEGER!" the sound was now right below him and Preef saw the human FWA-operator, the one that had been smoking against the hull, make his way to the cockpit. Normally this would be the moment where Preef descended and headed for the cargo, but it was a straight corridor and he knew the cockpit to be empty. It would only be a matter of time before, "Huh, he's not here-" Preef's heart stopped and the footsteps came closer again, "-must be doing some maintenance, I guess"

This time he footsteps were followed by the opening of a door and then they stopped abruptly. Preef waited two seconds, not longer, and finally descended down the ladder again. The young rodian sighed in relief and swiped his forehead of perspiration as he walked quietly over to the cargo room. He didn't meet any more of the operators and once inside he was quick to spot Marissa only to find out that she was right; they were cramped in there. "They said twenty minutes to takeoff," he whispered.

This was going to be a long twenty minutes.

@Nightfall

 

[Marissa Hesse]

”Twenty minutes?!” Marissa whispered harshly through gritted teeth. This was not an ideal space to be holed up that long. But, she accepted, it was only twenty minutes, and then they could burst out, guns blazing. Not that she exactly fancied herself a guns blazing kind of character a lot of the time, but with Preef alongside and the element of surprise she figured they’d have a solid chance of taking this place nice and clean.

For the moment she just had to contend with the smell of noodles on Preef, a task she considered just as tough, though at this point she’d become reasonably accustomed to it all.

Locking the space from the inside, she tried to turn it ever so slowly to minimise the little ‘click’ that came with the lock. No use in getting spotted now. Offering Preef a weak smile as she shifted slightly, one could hear the sounds of FWA-operators slowly trickling back onto the ship, and the cruel way they shuffled on their intended prisoner, a lanky looking Pau’an by the looks of it. With a sigh she offered her rodian ally the best shrug she could muster, and tried to steel herself for the moment they could finally burst out.

@Ecclessey

 

[Preef Callo]

Ofcourse they were unlucky.. the FWA-operators decided to keep the Pau'an detained and under guard in the cargo bay during their two hour flight. That meant the pair of scoundrels had to stay hidden for a lot longer than they had initially intended and could not, under any circumstance, communicate with each other. They had planned to just blast them, but then the operator on guard decided he was going to spill some trade-secrets with the prisoner. "Your little terrorist cell on Corellia won't be able to rescue you now,-" he had begun snickering, "-without Jaeger's codes the ship will blast even fellow FWA ships to pieces.

The Pau'an couldn't respond, for he was gagged and bagged, but that didn't really stop this overenthusiastic guard. "And even if they do breach the ship like a couple of pirates, my friend in the control room will just send an alarm out into the cold black space and FWA strike-fighters will blow you to pieces anyway." He was laughing now and Preef could feel his anger for this "good guy" rise by the second. It took all of him to just sit idle and remain hidden. At least they knew they couldn't come out of cover until they reached the prison.

|| Two Hours Later ||​

"Come one you sorry excuse for a terrorist," it was the same guard and he was laughing again as he violently dragged the Pau'an from his chair and pushed him out of the cargo bay. "Time to spend thirty years in a spartan cell." A lot of footsteps on the hallway betrayed that everyone was leaving and that prompted for the window the two scoundrels had so patiently been waiting for.

Preef pushed open the cabinet and lunged out. "No offense, Marissa-" he began as he stretched his arms, back and legs, "-but lets never do that again."

@Nightfall

 

[Marissa Hesse]

Well if nothing else it helped that the operatives were chatty, undoubtedly they'd need just that sort of information once they were onboard anyhow. How exactly they'd use it would remain to be seen. And remain for some time, apparently. With the operators staying inside the hold She and Preef found themselves in awfully close proximity for a far extended period than they had ever been so before. Would this be a bonding moment or just another strange happenstance on the way to pay like other time?

|| Two Hours Later ||
​

"None taken" Marissa replied with a grunt, the answer to her own internal question clearly being the latter after the trip. brushing herself off as she fell out from the storage cupboard and out into the cargo hold. The ship was docked now, they had arrived at their destination. The first step of the plan was completed. It was the next two that worried her slightly more though.

They had a whole ship to scour, just to blast their way in and out of at each end. Perhaps they could follow the FWA Operators, perhaps they could get some of the other folks locked up here to do some of the work for them. As long as they got Mallek, she didn't much worry what happened to the others, though she would admit the nastiness of the guards inside did let her sympathies out a little more than perhaps they might otherwise would have been,

"Now, where do you think the detainment area is?"

@Ecclessey

/EndThread