1.0 - Acquisition: The Hyperdrive Specialist

Night has fallen, and the heavy, polluted air of Eriadu feels like it too is falling onto your skin, leaving behind who knows what -- a refresher when this job is done is not only mandatory, you’re convinced it will feel great. Not since her time on Nar Shaddaa has Mala been in this compact and urban an environment -- and the others haven’t seen such for even longer. Nonetheless, the job -- and your quarry is here.

It’s not long after the Battle of Yavin, and the planet of Eriadu still appears to be in official mourning for its Moff, and favored son -- Tarkin. During the short time you’ve been on this rock, you’ve heard talk about a memorial for the Grand Moff from all sorts of sources. It’s a given they’ll build something. Hopefully something more tasteful than the statues of Palpatine that now dot Coruscant and many of the Core Worlds.

Arrayed around a bar -- The Lucky Wampa -- some of you with your scanner goggles on, you look around for one Garven Polis. The job, as it came down, seemed straightforward enough: Find Garven Polis and abduct him for a handover on Tatooine. Eriadu’s not far from your home base of Sorocco, and Tatooine is just around the galactic corner -- an easy snatch and grab. No problem. Garven is reportedly an expert in hyperdrive physics or mechanics or some such.

You’ve been on-planet for about five days, scoping out the terrain and getting the lay of the land. The FTY is safely berthed at a moderately respectable star port that charges only slightly scandalous docking fees in return for less than your usual array of questions. Ahkrirar received an encrypted message on his datapad with the name of the Lucky Wampa a few hours ago -- and here you are, outside the Wampa, waiting for your target.

The Wampa is, it appears, something of a military bar. There’s a lot of obvious off-duty Imperial types waltzing into the place and the night is early, so you haven’t seen many come back out again. Zym catches a human matching Garven’s description entering the bar...

Mala has been feeling a little nervous lately -- her searches of the HoloNet have shown some disturbing, to her, queries that seem to suggest someone is taking more than a casual interest in the bounty she knows is on her head. When Mala has the jitters -- the rest of you feel it: you feel less prepared to handle the unexpected; you start watching more for rival bounty hunters; or you begin to worry about whether or not someone is going to plant a tracker -- or worse, explosives -- on the FTY.

The Trandoshans stand out a bit at the bar, which is heavy on Imperials who have swung by after duty hours to blow off some steam. Zym is able to maneuver carefully though the bar, keeping herself somewhat hidden in the shadows of the bar -- and her cloak -- to avoid calling attention to another nonhuman in the vicinity. Outside of Lin, you will all stand out like a pulsar in this place.

Just as the target begins to look her way, Zym slips behind a man who cuts across Garven's line of sight -- and he looks to be headed that way (we will call this man "Bespin" for now). Bespin stands near Garven for a few moments, before sliding himself into a seat opposite the scientist, and the light reveals that he's wearing the uniform of the Czerka Corporation. Bespin leans in closely to Garven, thoroughly distracting him from all that is around him -- allowing Zym to move about the Wampa freely.

Lin is served a drink by a skeptical, human, bartender. "3 credits" are demanded from the hotshot in exchange for the whiskey that's not that terrible by a long shot. A few of the other patrons -- especially those nearby to Lin glance at him or linger for a longer review. He's clearly new and seems a little loud and brash for this bar at this time of night. The off-duty troops appear to mark him and size him up.

Mala ups the alien-count in the bar by one -- it's now slightly above a handful and she cautiously finds a seat. Distracted, as she is, by the threat of a bounty hunter, she's under more stress than usual and feels distinctly out of place in a bar full of human off-duty Imperials, a handful of Trandoshans and her friends. (Mala takes 1 strain)

Ahkrirar's circuit of the bar is impeded by a couple of humans, "What you looking at buddy?" asks the taller one. They appear to have noticed that he's casing the joint. "Yah. Nice teeth." adds the second one.

Fuzil -- distracted from his tasty meal at the corner of the bar by Ahkrirar's request easily spots the front entrance, and then a door back to the back of the bar -- perhaps for offices or storage or whatnot. Fuzil's pretty suspicious that there will be a rear entrance for deliveries out that way, since the front door looks crowded by tables -- and more and more crowded by people as each minute rolls by.

Lastly, Lin exclaims about something he stepped in and he gets a couple of irate looks thrown his way. Someone nearby says, "Perhaps you stepped in something left behind by those Trandoshans. Why don't you ask them?" It's a transparent bid to let the Trandoshans step on the new guy and leave the regulars alone.

Lin drops off his liquor and sets up the bar fight -- but isn't quite on his game. Fretting about whether or not he's slurring sufficiently, or too much, he takes a couple of strain (2 to be precise) as he tries to serve up a table full of Trandoshan's to the bar on Imperials.

The Trandoshan replies to Lin in his own gutteral language, "Back off pink-skin, we've said nothing about the Grand Moff -- who paid for more than one bounty which we have brought to him. The Scorekeeper knows this." The mood around the Trandoshans is mixed at this response. The Imperials to Lin's back stand up and back him up. "Yah, what's that you're saying about the Grand Moff there, scaley?" Tensions have raised, but Lin's acting hasn't quite pushed the bar over the edge.

Mala, meanwhile, makes a safe exit to the back and has an eye on the speeder. She's pretty certain she can here Akhrirar chatting up someone around the corner. The tone seems lightweight -- but, then, they always do for Akhrirar. In this particular case, the Noghri manages to be sufficiently intimidating that the two humans don't even respond to his chatter -- they look at one another and keep walking right around the bounty hunter and on their way, towards the front entrance.

Fuzil enjoys his soup.

Looking at the backs of the two humans he audibly bites down a few times to remind before Mala came up voicing concerns. Rolling his eyes at the thought of Lin in danger he pursed his lips and his shoulders slumped and he groaned at the mention of Naboo.

"Lin is always almost getting himself killed, that's one of his shticks. Remember the soup last week? Who pours soup in a mug since they don't want to clean the dishes and 'forgets' it's soup and drinks it and damn near chokes to death... while parking the ship. And you can't compare this to Naboo there's no animals to set on fire and send in there... I admit that was a bad idea though and we shouldn't have listened to Lin but we got a free meal out of it since we had to pay for the animal..." Akhrirar mentioned licking his lips... It had been pretty tasty.

"Tot Imma need you to keep an eye or the back area and the Doc she's got the Landspeeder ready to go so pay for your meal and get the rest to go if you can. Coming in through the front, if we need an extract through the front, Mala we'll let you know, you and Tot pick us up on the run. Lin keep your limbs close to your body if you actually get under the Trandoshan's skin and make him mad." Akhrirar states over comms before moving back to the front of the bar with purpose.

Staring at the front he moves in Green Mamba: Stealth Mode he thinks to himself.