Log:Defiance Guild: Nothing But Treble

Nothin' but Treble

OOC Date: January 3, 2019

Participants: Defiance, Ryo Odessa, Vasani, Rheisa Dirleel, Jehni'va Cihn, Tarion Tavers, Grom, Sajin and Kasia Ashkuri as GM

~Vasani

The mission:

Step 1: Go to a concert. Yes, that really is the first step, but that first step also means that large weapons aren't able to come inside. Instead they are stashed inside of a vehicle that is outside of the arena waiting for you all, and to be used later if needed. Small blasters can come in because honestly security is underpaid and overworked and they just don't care that much.

Step 2: Wait for your signal, once given, take the keycard that was entrusted to someone to the lift, and it should grant you access to the lower floors beneath the arena where only talent, their staff, and arena employees are allowed.

Step 3: Locate crates, and move the correct crates to the loading docks, load them up into the waiting transport, and take them to the indicated location.

Easy, right? It always seems easy on paper, but it never quite goes that way.

In any case, the Deflings are already well into step one of their plan, the group presently located inside of a posh private box that looks down on to the stage, has cushy seating, menus where you can order from the rich peoples kitchen, and lots of tech to give you different angles and close ups of the performance taking place. Today it's a punky-pop type band with a nautolan singer who is maybe a little chunky, but has a lot of sass and tons of points invested into showmanship.

The arena itself isn't stadium sized, it's large enough to hold several thousand, a good concert venue, or a place to have other live performances. The whole place is round, with the stage on one side, and an open floor for concert goers who want to squish together and vie for the best spots in the front. The curved walls have many openings that house more seating, some of them holding dozens of people, other boxes nicer and far more expensive. Like where Defiance is presently located. Maybe this is why they had an easier time bringing in smaller weapons. In any case, that's where we are, watching the show, waiting for the signal to move.

... DING!

There it is.

How did Defiance get into this box? Who paid for it? Why isn't it a much smaller box located very near to a penal colony? These are all very legit questions, but Ryo isn't asking any of them. No, he's wearing his finest cape and nexu-print shirt and having a /blast/. Dude's chomping down on some skrimps right now after taking a few tabs of stuff he was handed as he walked through the crowd. "I'm just saying, some of you should've helped me take these drugs. My system's probably not built to handle all of this," he remarks around a mouthful of shrimp. "I'm probably gonna die."

Vasani says, "When ya said we were goin' ta a concert I thought-" Vasani moves her arms around in a mock punching movement. "Mosh pit kinda concert. So wait- how much a' that did ya take? Ya shoulda' just saved it fer later." She looks over the menu again, oh yes she wants all of that rich people food. "Well this is good too. And hey, they ain't half bad, I like this." She bobs her head to the music, comfortable in the cushy seat. "Oh yes! Of course I'll take seconds!" The Twi'lek turns on her 'fancy' voice when it comes to ordering off that fancy menu."

Rheisa's been picking pickily through that rich people food, eating a sea bug, meticulously scraping the stuffing out of a small poultry, sniffing and snubbing all the herb-tainted diary (cheese) and ignoring all grain products, fruits, and vegetable platters. There are just a few 'skrimps' left now and it's possible she just might fight high Ryo for them. But they're save/doomed by the 'DING'.

Rheisa freezes mid-bite, looking up and around at the noisy, then over to check the others' reactions. Was /that/ the signal? *chew*chew*gulp*

"If I get the Corellian potato wedges, does anyone want any?" Jehn is asking in a whisper, mouth already full of the vegetable dishes Rheisa and Tarion are avoiding and one hand poised over the menu, when the signal goes off. She doesn't react - she forgot what the signal was supposed to be. "If this dress crawls any higher up my - oh, frag, that was it, wasn't it?" She orders the wedges anyway. Perhaps she just looks for excuses to wear her favorite (and only) dress; red, over one shoulder, slit up the opposite thigh - she still wears dark, clunky work boots with it because it's Jehni'va, but at least she looks the part of the classy concert goer. Her hair is even down! "I really wanted those potatoes. Did you guys read what they put in them? That /was/ the signal, right? Was that the signal?"

"This music is crap," Tarion comments to the nearest person or no one, whichever is more likely given the group's propensity or lack thereof to listen to him. "What the krif kind of melody relies on these asynchronous /dings/?" the bounty hunter questions, adjusting the ride of his normal armored jacket, which he's taken the liberty of covering with decals and some cardboard spikes to fit in. It's... an attempt was made. "Unless that was the signal, in which case let's proceed to the escalator." They check bags here so he's not carrying his purse, just strapped with some appendix carry. "TO THE LOWER LEVELS, I need to get a selfie with Madame Googoo. She's my favorite singer, Rheisa!"

"HA," Grom booms in good humor to Ryo. "Silly little Neck-Flag: ALL will probably die," the Houk states cheerfully, about to take a bite out of a platter of finger foods, pausing to add, "You know.. eventually." A sage nod and he crunches into the platter. The attention of others gradually draws Grom's notice to the lift. "AH HA! The hour of dinging destiny is NOW."

Sajin is stealing from Rheisa's plate and arguably enjoying the weird hors devores. "Its good though..." He says roughly munching away. He never owned much other than cover alls so hes got that and his old field jacket. The only thing the king did to alter his appearance was shave. Yes he shaved this day.

The DING was in fact the signal, accompanied with messages to some, or all, of their datapads that says, "Go!" It doesn't say 'Ok Ka' after it so that one probably wasn't sent by Hex. Should the group move on out of the private suite, they'll find it muuuuch quieter out here, several closed doors to different private suites lining the wall, the occasional security person patrolling the hall, but they have passes and are up here legitimately, so security doesn't give them a second look. The lift is several suites down, called by a button. Many of the floors don't require a keycard, but there are some labled L0, L-1, L-2, and so on, but they want L0, which should, if their information is right, take them down to the floor with the crates.

"By the stars, /please/," is Ryo's answer to Jehni. Ryo turns and peers at Grom, saying, "Aw man, now you've got me thinking about my death. I'm gonna die /way/ faster than you, Grom. Look at me! I'm frail!" The Festian man pinches the bridge of his nose and shakes his head. "Alright. Ding. Ding-ding-ding-ding. Let's /GO/."

"Alright. Elevator. I know elevators. Right?" Ryo asks of himself, stepping into the lift and holding the door for everyone. "Who's got the keycard? Did we lose the keycard?"

Vasani follows the lead of the others, hopping up once the signal is signaled. "I really wanted ta see how it was gonna end..." She pouts as she 'sneakily' follows the others toward the lift. Sneakily meaning, they have no reason really to sneak, but she still makes her way down the hall with the others hoping not to draw any attention to the group. "I don't gots the card, d'you got the card?" Vasani asks to no one in particular, but hoping the person who has the card will speak up and do the card thing with it.

"Is good voice," Rheisa concedes to Tarion's admiration of Madame Googoo. Is it for the same reason? *Shrug* "But you want her to your self? Might be a lot of mens to wait behind." Because girl's got curves. She can recognize. It's some awkward few moments of silence after the call for the key card goes out, but Rheisa finally remembers that SHE has a keycard. "I have," she volunteers with a sudden beam of pride and responsibility and feels around pockets of her jumpsuit thing. Once it's pulled, she shuffles around the inside of the lift to wave it ignorantly at the array of buttons and whathaveyou. She might have been deemed trustworthy of the keycard, but she definitely isn't the techie one.

"Get hiiiiigh, get loooow." Jehn hums under her breath, filing out with the rest of Defiance. She grabs whatever finger foods she can on the way out, and because they won't make the potatoes, she tosses a pastry Ryo's way. It gets stuck on one of Tarion's disguise spikes. "Get hiiiiigh, get low." She has, in fact, been muttering that sing-song little diddy ever since being told that the crates were on floor L0. "Looooow, low, L0." See, she remembers! Though, by the red in her eyes, it would seem that she also took the first part of her little song very seriously as well. "Who has the card? Kriff, is it me? No, Kasia is smarter than that. It's L0 - whoever has the card." ...It isn't her, is it? This dress doesn't have pockets - but it does have... Jehni'va is chancing a feel into the black hole of possibility in her bra when Rheisa steps forward with the card. "Riiiiight. Right. L0." She grins and steps forward to assist Rheisa, righting herself once more. "This one - may I?" If allowed, the pilot swipes. "L - 1. No, 0! Low, low, L0."

"Can't take your, can't take your, can't take your burnin' love no MORE," Tarion hums along as he dances out of the box to the walkway, "LOVE THIS FIRE SUCH DESIRE," the bounty hunter abruptly belts as they pass a security guard, causing the other to recoil away from them. "Where's the men's room? HEY! I'm walkin here!" Is this part of the disguise? Or just who he is? "Googoo is mine and she always will be. I sent her fan mail and she wrote back to me, Rheisa. She said 'Thank you for writing. Tickets can be purchased to the following shows near your system for the next 2 weeks for a 10% discount!' That's true love, ok ka."

Grom rumbles curiously as he bends down to peer at the numbers on the lift, "Do mammals begin numbers at the top or the bottom?" Having ditched his armor for the festivities, the hulking Houk is decked out in a loose red robe (the sleeves didnt make it). Grom thought it looked 'kingly' When the call for the keycard goes up, grom pats at his pockets, finding only a small knife and a set of punching knuckles. "Grom does not have card." After a moment of thought, he slips the knuckle bars onto his left hand. "Heee. Grom likes rings." He takes a moment to admire the look of the bludgeoning instrument on his hand, at arm's length. Jehni's brief search for the keycard, causes a dawning look of comprehension on the big reptile's face. "Ohhh.. THAT is why mammals have soft bits, there. For storage." A narrowing of yellow eyes and a slow nod. "Perhaps not so useless as Grom had thought." Level 0, here comes Defiance.

Sajin looks around as others seem to have trouble finding the Key Card. Why... why did you all give it to the dumbest member of Defiance, even dumber then Hex. IT was bound to get lost or forgotton... or memories are completely concoted out of nothing as Rheisa produces the Keycard. Sajin, baby face, Kovo Kah purces those lush lips of his, hands stopping on his buttox as he was checking those back pockets. "Oh..." He clears his throat and simply moves along quietly.

The lift doors hiss shut, and once the key card is swiped, and button pressed, dooooooooown they go. It appears there was a reason for the particular private booth, first because it had a lift that goes down here, where as other lesser floors don't, it provides access to the kitchen, which is indicated with arrows that point ---> that way. The loading docks are <--- that way. Which is the direction you want to go, away from the people who are working for the band, away from the kitchen, from most of the prying eyes down here. Most. The crates are, in fact, just inside the loading docks, several of them loaded up with equipment that has markings on them for some upcoming show. It's a good thing that in the information provided, you have the number for the crates you're meant to take with you. There are a lot of crates to look at, but also a lot of people.

In fact, there are a couple of extra people here, a Zabrak with brownish skin, and jagged face tattoos, and a human man, beefy dad bod but with a thick neck so you know he's stronk.

These guys being here wasn't mentioned at any point. HOW DO YOU PROCEED DEFIANCE?

"Sajin, you're so pretty; I hate you. Kiss me," babbles Ryo as he watches the Happenin' Hapan. Ryo sighs loudly and leans against the wall of the lift, saying, "You know; they say Madame Googoo's got a wang. Which, y'know...like good for her." He nods idly, eyes staring off into nothing. "You hear she got her name from the King song? Stereo Googoo?" He pauses. "Y'know, good for her." A hand comes up to lightly stroke at his moustache. "S-s-s-sabacc mouth, s-s-sabacc moouuth...can't read my...can't.../kriff/ me, when did you guys get here?" he asks, his limbs jerking a bit as he stands up straight and looks around at everyone in the /very/ packed elevator.

"Excuse me!" shouts Ryo as he steps out of the lift, hands on his hips, and just looking like a weirdo pop star. Dude's got a cape, y'all. "I was /promised/ that my glitterstim would be delivered on time. I /refuse/ to go out there sober. The very thought. Huddled masses of gross, grabby hands, angling for me..." He grumbles, full of content for his fans, like Bruce Willis the 4000th time somebody calls him 'That Guy From Die Hard'. "You!" he points to the Zabrak. "Out of my way!" He waggles his fingers, informing the rest of his entourage to follow behind him as he wanders down the hallway they're supposed to be going down. Probably.

Vasani watches as Jehn searches her top and Sajin searches his bottom. "Would you guys stop gropin' yerselves and get in the elevator?" She says from inside the lift. And then oh- yeah. She's got it. Good job. "Nice." Vasani gives Jehn a thumbs up as she hits the L0 button on the lift. "Have I told you guys how much I LOVE Magame GooGoo? But ya'know people always want her to do stuff like her early work, her new stuff's really underrated." Vasani secretly knows a lot about Madame GooGoo. Upon exiting the lift Vasani stares for just a moment too long at that kitchen arrow. But we're not here for food (well that's not the main reason we're here) and Vasani moves on. But then there's other people and Vasani's brief moment of panic just decides to go with whatever it is Ryo is trying to do. She jumps right in to pretending to be this up and coming new pop star's body guard. "Excuse me Sir, we're gonna need this room." She attempts to add. "So- uh. You're gonna have ta leave now. Bye bye." She waves her hand up and down in an attempt to shoo the men away.

Rheisa follows along with the pack, plenty content to let someone else to the bulk of the lying while she hides her terribly truthful self behind by simply standing around and studying a weird stain on the back of Ryo's cape. Is it food? A little whisper aside goes to Jehn. "Is not /really/ drugs......right?" She doesn't look like she knows anymore, following Ryo's convincing performance.

"But I don't have pockets." Jehn pouts at Vasani's chiding of herself and Sajin. It's true - why did she wear this at all? She could have blended in wearing a jumpsuit... Right? But gods - this elevator is cramped. "Grom - maybe you could - no, no - ack, sorry." She bats at one of Tarion's spikes, a pastry falls on her boot. It's a miracle when the doors finally open.

"Aren't we here for crates?" Jehn whispers to Rheisa beside her, bemused at Ryo's performance as he disengages from the too-cramped elevator. "What is he talking about?" She doesn't know much about Madame Googoo, nor this plot that whizzes over her head. It isn't until Vasani rushes in that she gets that it's a lie. "Oooh. Right." She takes a step forward, and then (wisely) stops, her gaze lingering on the directional sign for the Kitchen. Uh oh. "I dunno, it might be drugs." She whispers back, her line of sight not wavering.

"For krif's sake, you idiots," Tarion suddenly announces, bursting to the front of the group to stand next to Ryo. "Madame Googoo is going to- no, /I/ am going to personally peel the thumbs from your fingers if you don't clear out of here now. These crates are needed, like, YESTERDAY for the performance, and she- no, /I/ am personally infuriated, no, livid by this oversight." By coincidence, a line of blood dribbles down out of one nostril. Those damn smoke machines, do weird things to a man's sinuses, but it makes the bounty hunter with his spiky armor look a bit unhinged. "GET OUT and don't come back until you've got me some Gand-friendly confections for the backup dancers! GET OUT!"

Grom tromps out of the lift, and is struck for a moment alongside Vasani, the two blue Deflings (and Rheisa) staring at the arrow pointed toward the kitchen. Grom may be drooling slightly. It's the shouting of Ryo that snaps the Houk out of his visions of many foods, as he peers after the others. "Hurm! Yes.." he stares hard at the kitchen arrow, adding in a whisper (not a whisper), "Later." What are these? Feeble little guards? Looming behind Ryo and Vasani as the others do their talking, Grom shifts his narrowed yellow eyes from spikey guard (Zabrak) to the thicker guard (Human), visibly trying to decide which might be more worthy, in case talking fails. He opens his mouth to order them out of Grom's way- but he remembers they are being sneaky. And he should not speak as Grom. This results in a slightly dazed look of indecision as the Houk's mouth hangs open, a trail of kitchen-dreaming drool falls from his lip in a slimy trail as he wonders, dumbstruck, "If not Grom... who am I?"

Sajin just kind of stares at Ryo for a few moments in the elevator. He doesn't know what to say, Well, actually he did, but he didn't want to be rude. He was used to every man and woman looking him over and wanting him. It happened, he had gotten used to it. So he just shrugs it off as the odd suave man being suave. "I prefer her Winter Fete Album with Lomi Minet, you know... the famous Jizz Wailer." Cultured much, Sajin? Nah, he just really like Winter Fete as everyone knows with all the inappropriate gift giving he likes to do. He looks to Vasani, "Groping? What?" Now the poor man is just confused. "I just want to get back to painting my models..." He says, moving down the hallways with the others. Hazel eyes spy the two near the crates, gun hand moving to hover over the quick-draw grip of his 44 tucked inside his jacket. He glares at the two, assisting Tarion in the more terrorizing aspect of convincing these two to bugger off. Though, his look is more 'Blue Steel' than screaming to get out. He completes it with the whole head twist and everything. "Yeah.... Krif off... Dad." Then he just looks confused. Someone may have had daddy issues. He glances to Grom, a raised eyebrow... "I know that look... I know..." A hand moves to the Houk's shoulder. Pat, pat. It's okay.

Whatever these guys are here for -- and it's doesn't seem like it's anything to do with the show taking place right now -- they look awfully surprised and deeply confused by the appearance of Ryo and his demand for drugs. "Ay man, we got no drugs for you," insists the Zabrak, standing up from his perch on one of the crates. "Don't know nothing about no drugs. You all-- you all need to move along, this ain't the place for you. Performers over there." The human grunts and points back in the direction of the kitchen. They're telling you to get food, Vasani, Jeeehhhnnn, Rheisa, Groooommmmm, those potato wedges are calling your naaaaaaames.

Then Tarion is talking, and both men, who were already confused, only become MORE confused by the demands the bounty hunter is making. One starts to speak, but then Grom is there drooling, and Sajin is looking scary. But hot. But also really scary, and the human puts his hands up. "Fine, ain't no cause for trouble here, you get for Madam GoulGoul," he has no idea what the name is, does this guy even work here? "And then you go." The human shoots a look over at the Zabrak, nods his head toward the kitchens, and then wanders off that way to eat the food that at least half the Defiance group is lusting after.

Now you just have to find the right crates.

"Yeah thats right, scram." Vasani says, as if she had ANY part in getting those guys to step aside for the moment. She didn't, but she likes to feel like she helped. "Wait what'd you say?" She turns quickly toward Sajin and gives him a questioning look. She waits only for a moment before speaking up again. "Okay so uh- what numbers was it again?" Vasani asks the group, but she starts making her way checking the crates before hearing an answer from anyone. Basically everything she's doing right now is completely useless because she doesn't even know what she's looking for and she's just walking in circles.

"Mmm. On Shili, never would think 'lie' is helpful. Here....is all new game." Rheisa may as well have tipped her invisible hat to those who've demonstrated such successful fibs and intimidating fronts. She remains frozen in place until the Zabrak and Human's mov't trails are no longer discernable in the hall space behind. And then? "Numbers we have on datapads!" she answers Vasani. "Or had. I have, still." She cues up the memo, then flashes the screen to the Twi'lek. (insert randomw numbers here) And then she's off.

"Wonder if some of these crates /do/ have drrrugs," she thoughtshares aloud while slinking between stacks and hunting for the three symbols, aka numbers. "I hear lots of music peoples do these things." She disappears for a moment, then the tips of montrals poke up back into view as she reads "8..8..2. I FIND! Is one."

It's miraculous that the goons traipse away, but Jehn appreciates the advice given to them before they do. Specifically in regards to going 'that way' - towards the kitchen. The pilot tries to stay focused - she really does - but Defiance seems to have the crate situation more or less covered, and she would really just be one more body... It certainly has nothing to do with whatever the pilot smoked before this mission. "I'm... Going to keep a look out. Y'know, scout a bit." She nods towards the kitchen. "Make sure they stay gone." Right. Riiiiight.

They've got this handled.

"Yeah, you better leave," Tarion calls to the dudes as they leave. "I'm gonna be straight with you guys, I have no idea what's in these boxes or even what we're here to do. But like. Let's just open 'em or whatever," the bounty hunter decides, marching up to one and beginning to pry and bang on the sides with his fists. Nothing seems to work, and he finally falls to his knees in front of it with an "Ahhhh!" When his forehead thumps against the box, it hits a button that he somehow missed and opens with a click. "Oh." WHAT'S INSIDE THO.

"Grom distrusts numbers," the Houk rumbles, peering suspiciously at the list. "These might be the same numbers that betrayed Gun Minstrel." A low growl of warning at the serial number printed on one crate as he passes. Until crates are located and require moving, Grom won't be of much help. When the first crate is found, Grom abandons the search, and trots over noting quietly (bellowing), "Grom can help, now!"

Sajin saunters over towards one of the other boxes and squints at the number on one. He reaches into his jacket and pulls out a pair of glasses. He fumbles and drops them to the ground and the slide under the pallet. "Drek..." He whispers in a hiss. He bends over and then gets on his knees, reaching for them. It's a moment of struggle before he gets them, getting back to his feet with a grunt of two. Placing the glasses on his nose, his mouth hangs open, eyes squint, and he pulls out a folded piece of paper with serial numbers on it. Eyes go to the paper, then the number on the crate several time. "Okay... this is one." He clears his throat, putting his glasses away. "Okay Grom... open her up." He points to his crate.

No part of the plan involved opening up the boxes, however, no one ever explicitly said don't open them either. Which might have been a strategic risk, because explicitly telling them not to do something is a sure way to make that thing happen. The risk shall offer no reward, at least on Kasia's part, the reward for the Deflings is that they see inside the crates. The one Tarion opens contains many smaller boxes, several of them with their own locks that have keypads and require a code to open. One does not. It contains a tome, an actual ancient looking tome written by hand and bound in some sort of animal skin. It's in a strange language, and the words are faded. It's not drugs, or weapons, it's... artifacts? Is this hella rich people crime? It sure seems to be.

The loading dock doors are right there, beyond them is the transport that's there waiting for Defiance. Calling to them. But maybe not loudly, because right now Defiance is snooping. All of the crates, if they're opened, contain similar styled boxes that require codes of different sizes. Did someone rob a museum? Maybe.

Jehn is raiding the kitchen. The staff give her funny looks, but it's not the first time a wealthy person has wandered down here high during a concert to request food. "You order from the menu," a waiter type informs her in slow spoken basic, assuming she's too high to actually understand how this all works. But Jehn, there is a plate of those potato wedges right there, the Corellian Wedges with extra sauce and crispy oniony bits. Riiiiight there.

REEEEEETCH. Ryo's throwing up in the corner. He shouldn't have swallowed the brown tab. REEEEEEEEEEEEEETCH. "By the stars...oh, this is bad..." remarks the Festian, shuffling back towards the group. He dabs sophisticatedly at his mouth with his scarf. "Did we....did we win? Are we okay? Aaaaargh! Look out! There's a liza-wait, no; that's Grom." He pulls out a pack of cigarettes and lights one, steadying himself against one of the crates as he concentrates on not throwing up again.

"Oh you guys, got them? Okay." Vasani shrugs and stops her search for the box she thought she maybe was supposed to be looking for. She hops her way over to Grom. Not that she can help lift anything, but she can oversee the lifting and carrying and once again pretend to be helpful. "Wait what are those?" Vasani takes a moment to look at the artefacts and boxes that come out of the larger boxes. "Maybe we should just like... put those back in-" the sound of vomiting echoes in her ears. "Yeah lets just put those back in, don't want anything... ew... getting on them" Vasani is still not one for vomit, especially after that whole pod racing event.

Rheisa cranes her neck a bit, trying to see into Tarion's crate from afar without success. She crouches down, gives hers a shove like maybe it'll budge from the one beneath it, but it's a little more solid than she is. The sound of retching taking place doesn't exactly turn her own stomach, but she does send a briefly pitying look poor Ryo's way. "How we move all this? Is loader on ship?" Once more, her bare feet slide/squeak over the floor in place as she puts her shoulder into the fruitless effort.

"Right... Right. Sorry." Jehn drawls, imitating the slow tone that the kitchen staff uses with her. But she isn't one to disobey - she is one to... Look, though. She can't help but spy those Corellian wedges, and with surprising grace, she swipes them as she turns to leave.

"Wha' we go'?" Jehni'va asks her compatriots, returning, with a full mouth. She holds the plate out in a general offering. "Need a hand wif da'?" She nods to the crate.

"We lift it!" Tarion replies, getting his fingers just barely under the bottom edge of his big box and heaving. The thing budges about half an inch. "We drag it!" he changes his mind abruptly, starting to push the thing towards where the ship is meant to be waiting according to the information they've received already, or more aptly the nearest place that looks like a ship is waiting. He's not great at briefings.

"NO," Grom scolds Sajin and Tarion. "We must move boxes into flying transport box, quickly. Or else GROM'S GUN WILL GET LONELY." Something about leaving his ridiculous blaster cannon on that escape vehicle has disturbed the big reptile. "Stupid box of smaller boxes and-" he peers at the weird ancient tome. "STUPID DESPOTICA go onto loading truck to have tea and cakes with Grom's gun!" Lifting the massive crate onto his shoulder with an indignant sniff, the Houk stalks promptly over to deposit the HUGE AND HEAVY crate daintily onto the transport.

"Well it ant slaves." Sajin says, "Or they're all in like little pieces. I think Kasia's been had or is using us to make some money on the side. Which is fine. She pays me enough to kiss her feet, so." Wait, did Sajin get paid more than everyone else? LETS START DRAMA! J/K He dosn't get anything but that sweet sweet paycheck. He dosn't even run Cargo on the side though he's been thinking about it. He watches Grom take the crate, "Well... okay. Solves that issue..."

Lifting, or dragging, or using the hoverlift thing that's just around the corner over there, however they do it, the crates of a book and a bunch of locked boxes is moved out onto the transport that awaits them. It's a decent sized air speeder, rather than a ship, large enough to fit the crates through the rear hatch, and all the Deflings in the seats, because there are seats. And safety harnesses. There are even safety harnesses, also their weapons are all still there safe and sound.

In the information they were originally given, there are coordinates that aren't TOO far away by air speeder, half an hour provided traffic cooperates. That leaves the question of, who is going to drive this thing?

"Aaaaaaah," remarks Ryo as he flops his way into the driver's seat of the air speeder. "Alright, gals and germs. /Saddle/ up," he remarks, running through the pre-flight checks. Has Ryo ever flown before? He has a ship, but like...has anyone ever seen him use it? He limply slaps at a few buttons and the engines spin to life. "Y'all ready to party?" Once everyone's seated, that throttles gettin' jammed forward, son. Put your foot hard on the pedal. Son, nevermind them brakes. Let it all hang out, cuz we got a run to make.

"You got that Grom?" Yes, Grom Very Much Has Got That. But Vasani still follows along in case she can help with anything. "It's not slaves but it's still neat! But like.. Should we call Kasia and check that this is the right stuff?" Vasani wonders out loud to Sajin. "Eh" She shrugs it off and hops into the air speeder, buckling in to her seat. Gotta be safe! And apparently that was right thing to do as Ryo is driving. But things seem to me okay... mostly. "Uh, should we be lettin' him do that?" She asks, but the question comes too late.

Tarion's dragged his crate, Grom's plucked Sajin's up like a feather, and Rheisa...turned to mechanical aid. How difficult can operating this hoverlift be? She managed to get Raim around in his hoverchair without major incident the three times he'd needed her help in doing so, so like....she's got this.

She doesn't.

By the end of the crate's content-jarring trip to the bay door, several others have been knocked asunder, one making terribly FRAGILE sounds when it stops rolling. Oops. Her hop into the speeder's a hasty one, having no desire to stick around and witness the discovery of her mess. "Yes, party is good!" she breathlessly agrees while struggling into the safety harness. Is this her buckle? No. Is that one? Why are they crossed?? HALP.

"Oh, you've got it. Cool." Jehn observes from the sidelines, still snacking and dodging out of Rheisa's way. "Maybe we're just stealing stuff from bad people." She reasons, following the group out. She's taking that plate with her, but she polishes it off and leaves its empty bones on a different crate in passing. "I'll dri- oh. O-Okaaaaaay." She doesn't sound so sure as she straps in beside her... Jehn, what the hell - is that a flamethrower? When did she get that? WHY did she get that? She straps in. "Good form, good form!" She compliments Ryo, but out of the side of her mouth leans over to Vasani to ask: "how drunk /is/ he?"

"Just get in everyone," Tarion instructs as he plops his crate down in the back and climbs in next to the crate, letting his legs swing off the back like a child at the big people table, or Mujiji at even a small person table. "Let's do this thing, I'm like, ready to shoot people," he announces, reaching into the crotch of his pants and pulling out his gun. A real gun, don't freak out.

Grom props his four and a half foot long rifle up alongside one crate, securing it upright with a safety strap, and repeating the process with his axe alongside another crate, before plotting into a creaking seat of his own. "GROM IS READY," he announces.

"Ahhh... Ryo you sure you don't want me to Drive?" Asks Sajin as he hops in, having been the winnder of the Defiance Contest. He probably just had a chip on his shoulder from it. He hops in and opens up a panel where his bowcaster was stored, taking it out and setting it in his lap. "Aright, here we go." He pets his bowcaster like a cat on the lap of an evil mastermind.

GROM IS READY. And so are the rest of them. They'll never know the mess that was created as broken instruments are discovered later, someone is getting fired, but no one here needs to worry about that. What they DO need to worry about, probably, is Ryo's driving. It's fast, he pulls out and jostles the people and crates, but they don't crash into anything yet, so that's a good start to this. Everything is going fine for a few minutes, but the rear window of the transport reveals another airspeeder coming up fast, faster, getting flying dangerously close, and though it's night and the people inside aren't obvious at first, flash of some neon sign that they pass reveals one of them is a Zabrak. COULD IT BE THEIR FRIENDS? Uh oh. Their airspeeder has no weapons, but it does have a hatch in the top that's sliding back so the human beefy dad-bod man can climb up and try to fire at them with a blaster. PEW. The bolt goes wiiiiiiide of the transport.

Now that guns are being drawn for whatever reason, Ryo's joining in. He's just not one hundred percent where he left it. So he slaps around in the cup holder. Nope. Streeeetch to look in the glove compartment. Nope (But it does throw the airspeeder dangerously close to a building for a second) In Sajin's lap? Nope. He reaches up and flips down the visor, his DG-29 falling into his lap before bouncing down into the floorboard. "Hold on. Krif it," he grunts, bending his head under the controls to dig around under his seat. "Got it!" he says, lifting his head back up and jerking the stick so that they don't collide with an incoming freighter. "Hey! Watch where you're going!" he shouts, looking away from the controls once more to offer a rude hand gesture toward the freighter pilot. Turning back around, Ryo spots too slowly that there's an office building in front of them. CRASH.

Tearing straight through Human Resources, Ryo absolutely decimates a whole floor of Janets. The speeder now caked in a rainbow coalition of blood, now bursts through the opposite window, sending a shower of glass down to the streets below. "Oh! Krif!" Ryo shouts, looking back at the group. He waggles his gun, laughing. "I left the safety on!" Click. Turning back around, Ryo screams! Right before the speeder spirals through a neon sign, which explodes but looks really pretty when it's doing that. "Hey, guys, what does it mean when it says control surfaces broken, prepare for impact?" Ryo asks, over his shoulder, pointing to a blinking warning on the screen.

"I dunno if its drunk or drugs, but either way this probably is not a good idea." Vasani whispers back to Jehn. But the time for chatting doesn't last long, there's enemies- and more importantly they're crashing. Vasani's stomach gets a little bit jumbled by the quick movements. "We gotta-" She doesn't know what they gotta do. She fumbles from her seat wondering if its safter to stay buckled or to do something and she decides to shoot out of the back toward their pursuers. She fumbles getting her blaster out and pops off two shots at the transport trailing behind them. Luckily it looks like one of those blasts hit, but she pulls herself back into her seat to safety before she can see if the second shot did anything.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH is Rheisa on the inside, whereas her face remains frozen in a silent grimace of fear and discomfort, eyes stuck WIDE open, much as she'd wish they'd close and spare her the image of her own death. Ryo's driving skills are not appreciated in this moment. Especially by the Janets. Talon-like nails are dug into whatever/whomever is nearest to grasp. She'd be sorry if she weren't literally clinging for her life because that harness wasn't buckled like she thought it was.

The final explosion of color, in neon form, is enough to hiccup whatever fear lump was blocking her airway OUT of the way, so the inner scream becomes very much audible, and shrill. Like, call across the grasslands cuz-you-been-et-by-akul shrill. It pairs nicely with the eruption of fire out the backend, courtesy of Vasani.

Vasani is very right. And... Now they are being chased - great. Realizing this takes Jehni'va, perhaps, a moment or two longer than it should have - but she does realize it (the sounds of blasters are a good indicator) but she doesn't have much time to consider this fact. They are, likely, dying. Jehn throws her hands over her head as they go crashing through the store, shouting "I CAN DRIVE, LET ME DRIVE!" The whole time, punctuated by: "Ouch, Rheisa!" As nails dig into her leg.

"Ryo - I - uh - you're doing /lovely/!" Jehni'va calls up as they are righted, fussing with the massive, terrifying weapon in her lap and chancing glances out the window behind them. "But if - uh - if you get tired, I can, uh, take over?" She offers, before - like an idiot - unbuckling her seatbelt and leaning out the window with her /kriffing flamethrower/. "GO AWAY!" She shouts, and lets loose at the pursuing speeder.

"Oh yeah did I mention that this gun" SMASH "doesn't really kill things?" CRASH "Yeah I feel like" SCREAMS "on a mission like this" SPLATTERS "maybe we'd like a nonlethal option!" Tarion is explaining to Grom as the speeder they're riding in obliterates whole floors and multiple civilians under Ryo's steady hand. "It just seemed like" BOOSH "the sensible thing to do!"

They're being pursued? "WHAT?" Grom shouts as a blaster bolt sails wide. "TO ME, MY GUN-" he is interrupted by the rough ride through an office building. He shouts (at his gun?), "No, there is no time for more cakes! TO ARMS, MY ARMS." The A280 is painstakingly unbuckled and powered up. "Grom requires another charioteer!" He looks at Jehni.

Sajin looks back as the two previously thwarted baddies are now hot on their trail. "Ryo are you sure you-" And then they go crashing through the department store. "RYO What the HELL?!" And then he's asking the question about Control Surfaces inoperable. "It means EVERYONE BAIL THE KRIF OUT." Though Sajin pauses, "Unless someone can fix it... can you fix it?!" Please, smart person, fix it. He takes aim, head poping out on of the windows. "DAD!" He growls, "I HATE YOU!" Anikan Skywalker would be proud as he lets a caster colt fly towards his target and it just hits off a wall.

You know things aren't good with whatever you're in when there's the warning 'BEEP BEEP BEEP' happening, and that's precisely what this transport is doing now. BEEP BEEP DANGER BEEP GUYS BEEP OMG DO SOMETHING BEEP. The ground is getting steadily closer as the trajectory of the ship is angled ever so slightly toward the ground, it's not an outright crash yet, but after hitting the sign, and the whole floor of Janets, things are looking grim for the Defiance transport. BEEP BEEP BEEP. It's hard to say what causes the guys in the pursuing transport more dismay, that they are literally being attacked by a flamethrower, or that they just watched the transport smash through a building. That building was definitely not up to code though, had the architects not been so cheap, the Janets might still be alive today. The transport that follows swerved off to avoid following in the very Janet fate, going around the building so that it has to accelerate to catch up, and though the human fires, it's too far and the shot misses. Probably hitting another Janet somewhere.

"Yeah! Let's trade!" Ryo shouts to Jehni, releasing the controls, standing up from the driver's seat and wandering his way further back so he can hang out of a window, too. Waving a hand in Jehni's direction, Ryo says, "Honey, you're serving up some major looks right now, and I'm loving it. Scoot." He waves her away and unclasps his cape, tossing it over to...well, somebody. "SOMEBODY GRAB MY LEGS," Ryo shouts, the high-ass Festian hanging himself out of the window with his space revolver. Pew-pew! Bolts go flying! Bolts go missing!

"Uhhhh..." Vasani's voice wavers as she tries to shoot off a few more blasts. They don't hit the big man though, going off into who knows where. Vasani's eyes dart around from the transport behind them, Ryo flopping around out of the driver's seat, the impending ground. "I'm gonna be real with you guys I'm havin' a hard time findin' the postitive outlook here. SOMEBODY TAKE CONTROL OF THIS THING BEFORE WE DIE PLEASE" At least she can be polite.

With Jehn wriggling away to turn this chariot of death into a flaming disaster, Rheisa's lost one of her handholds. Fortunately, Ryo is here to take her place. *SHANK* goes her deathgrip, into his pantsleg, and the cape is saved by snaring up on her montrals to become a flappyflappy veil/deathshroud. At least it's stylish. Her scream's petered out and lungs draw in a hoarse breath for a moment's recovery. Quick, mumbly prayers are offered to various deities and Shili'neh and such remains her pretty useless state for the remainder of this crazy train, because her player is overdue sleeps.

Don't worry Grom, a slightly less incompetent charioteer is on the way! Jehni'va, with immense difficulty, pulls her unnecessary flamethrower back inside and drops it, perhaps dangerously, to the speeder floor. It thunks and burps out some flame juice. She strugglecrawls through the chaos, her leg getting tangled in something or someone, probably Ryo's cape, and she is stuck behind the front seat, craning over to, one-handed, try to steer them to safety, one leg still stuck back behind her, trapped.

Instead, they spin into an alleyway and bounce unceremoniously from wall to wall. "SORRY!" She calls out, still trying to steer from her position pinned behind the front seat. "ARE THEY STILL CHASING US?" Her hair whips every which way - this is why she pulls it back at all times. She tries to spit the whipping strands out of her mouth.

"It's NON LETHAL, OK KA," Tarion yells at Jehni'va as they go ping-ponging down the alleyway, spitting blue shots down the passage behind them at the pursuers. "That means it stuns not kills! That's what non-lethal means, John! I thought you'd be for this with your... general vibe." It's loud, he's yelling the whole time, there's blood all over the place from all the Janets, they're totally not killing anyone tonight. "Subtlety! I'm gonna get a bonus!"

Grom struggles toward the front of the vehicle, thudding into everything on the way as the cabin is slammed back and forth. Finally reaching the front, a frustrated Grom roars wordlessly and rips the driver's seat off the frame and throwing it out the nearest window (no doubt taking snow of the window with it- was that window even rolled down?) to make room for himself to crouch and grab the wheel in one hand, pulling it down and- no doubt through luck- averting a collision with the ground. "KING GROM HAS TAKEN THE REINS. Now.. which button makes droid horse jump?" He might still need some help.

"Krif, Jehn, do you want me to take over?! That Juicy Butt of yours is getting in the way or something!" He takes another shot at Dad-cake. "Shut up Dad! I'll do what ever I want!" And this time that bolt explodes the Beef Cakes entire body. "Woah... Yeah, take that Dad." He looks over to See Grom. "Can you even Drive Grom, the hell?"

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP ... beep ... beep ... beep. The speeder is partially corrected by Jehn, or at least it's not crashing as badly as it was. Then Grom -- the KING that he is -- slides into the seat and the intense level of beeping subsides. It's still beeping, but it's a less panicked 'we're all going to die!!' sort of beeping. The transport is damaged, it needs service, the communication systems are offline, there's flashy bits about fuel leaking somewhere. Also it's wobbling a bit, so maybe it's gyroscopic doodads are off kilter. It's not crashing right now though, so it's progress.

The enemy speeder, still being driven by the Zabrak, speeds to catch up with the Defiance crew again, only to be met once again with being fired at. This should shock no one, but this time they didn't start it. I mean, they sort of did, but they didn't start the shooting, so... progress? Beefy man is about to take a shot when Tarion's shots hit him, pew pew, and though they don't kill him, they do stun him pretty hardcore, enough that the weapon slips out of his hands and he slumps forward. Which makes him a great target for Sajin's bolts, which slice through part of his head, sending the speeder careening off briefly so that it clips a sign *PING* and then swerves back. His buddy is dead, and he can't shoot at anyone at the moment, but he's going to pursue them! HE IS!

Since nobody's grabbed his legs, Ryo Odessa is flailing wildly as he attempts to keep himself from flying out of the window. I hope his cape is okay. Anyway, the Festian continues firing at the pursuing transport, his heavy blaster doing its share in bringing the ol' bird down.

Vasani sighs with relief with the transport getting under control finally. "Thank you Grom Cakes!" She chimes out to the unlikely pilot before she sticks herself out there and lands another shot on the pursuing ship. "Why. Won't. You. Give. Up." She grits her teeth at the Zabrak pilot.

"Thanks Grom!" Jehn groans, still trying to crane her way over and into the seat. She still has one leg stuck out behind her, the other wedged dangerously close to the flamethrower. "You got this? Okay - just - you got this, okay." She settles back and pulls the flamethrower back into her lap. "Okay. He's got this and -" her voice lowers. "So are you." She's talking to herself. And then she is back out the window, hair streaming wildly behind her, her favorite dress now ripped and streaming a bit from the crash. There's a burn mark on it, too - and she's pointing that flamethrower back behind them once more.

She needs two hands, or else she would totally grab those legs, Ryo.

"SUCK ON THIS, HOTROD!" She shouts with a grimace as, once again, flames spew from the weapon. "Man they are /persistent/ - what did we just steal?" She asks as flames engulf the front of the vehicle.

"DON'T DIE," Tarion shouts at the driver of the enemy transport, aptly named. "And don't call in backup either! Put the commlink down! Do it now! Put your hands where I can see them! And your handsfree! All things that have hands involved at any time!"

"The Despotica is an ancient and lyric poem of A GREAT CONQUEROR," Grom answers Jehn's rhetorical question. "It us about a FAMOUS HOUK named Xim, who Humans claim was a Human-" because he very clearly WAS a Human. "ALSO IT IS OLD. The other box was only full of smaller boxes," he states, as if everyone didnt already know that part.

"OH! Ohhhhh! He's calling back up. That guy needs do..." Zoom in on Sajin's face as his eyes narrow and twinkle in a red anime glow. "DIE." His Bowcaster explodes with a brilliant light as the bolt slams into the speeder. "Xim? You man the pirate Lord who was gifted Drik? Then gave it to some shmuch when he got board of it. Yeah. I know that guy. Krif him and his beg leg, come at me bro."

Chances are good that the Xims in question are different given the extreme age of the book, or the fact that it IS a book, rather than something more advanced. Writing by hand is soooooo a few thousand years ago, amirite?

The speeder is still chugging along, but it's showing some serious signs of damage here now, but even faced with the possibility of crashing, and the demands -- that he probably can't hear -- coming from Tarion, the Zabrak pursues closer, leaning to the side to reach for... something. SOMETHING. A weapon. OH NO! But he doesn't fire yet because he has to get the window down, and he's only got so many hands. He's not cool like Dosk, with four hands to work with, there are no Side-Jis for this Zabrak.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH," screams Ryo, as he slides further and further out of the window; his legs woefully unsecured. (Thanks a lot, Jehni) The gambler rolls the dice on a couple more shots and they both come up aces, plunking harshly into the transport's hull.

Vasani shoots off two blasts before finally diving back in to the speeder and grabbing ahold of one of Ryo's feet. "I GOT YA BUDDY!!" She yells out toward him. "Where we bringin' these ancient books to anyway? We almost there??" Vasani shouts toward Grom, not really expecting him to know but he's the one who'se driving so he gets the yelling in this moment.

"Are they driving a kriffing /tank/?" Jehn shouts over the wind, still hanging out the window of the speeder. She doesn't look back inside their vehicle, mostly because she isn't sure whether she heard someone pull out a bomb and she wants to live in ignorance of that. "I'm literally lighting it on fire and running out of ideas!" But, for once, she looks good doing it.

"I don't know!" Tarion yells back to Jehn as he reaches into a box and pulls out a giant gun to replace his nonlethal pistol. "But I'm sick of this subtlety! I'm going for the big time here!" Only he doesn't, he totally misses. Embarrassing.

"Okay Grom, I'm guna use my BALLS" Sajin says pulling around his fanny pack. It's a quick action, his fanny pack unzipping and pulling out a thermal detanator. "This will do. Yes." He presses the button and the tips open and it's starts counting down. Sajin nods his head in the timing of the count down before tossing it out the window. Of course, he's out of time as it skips way past the transport and bounces down the street ready to murder some more Janets when it finally explodes.

The dangerous thing about using explosives around things that are flying, is that there's always a chance that the exploding will make it stop flying, which is good when it's the enemy, and bad when it's you. The explosive doesn't detonate either vehicle, but it explodes a little ways behind the enemy transport, sending the Zabrak and his transport hurtling into the back of the Defiance's transport. It's... not a good sound. Explosion, followed by CRASH, followed by twisted, protesting metal, and then BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP as the transport protests. There's not much coming back from this, the only saving grace here is that they're outside of the major part of the city. The landing is... rough. Not as rough as it could be, because the transport was flying lower than it normally might, but pieces break off and go flying, one of the crates goes tumbling out of the back, hopefully whatever is inside is secured WELL. They leave a gouge through a field, but it's the field where they were meant to land anyway. How's that for ... luck? Luck-ish. Somehow, both Grom and Ryo come out of it entirely unscathed. Sajin, Jehn, Vasani, and Tarion are all less fortunate, suffering a myriad of contusions, bruises, broken bones, it's a buffet of injuries that mean what comes next is going to be a real blur for more than half the group.

Grom and Ryo will know, at least, that the items that remained in the airspeeder, and the crate that flew out, were all given over to the owner of the property, who in return, gave a back of credits. It's... a lot lighter than it might have been. Among the credits is a datastick, which is meant for Kasia.

Everyone is treated /without/ going to a hospital -- because hospitals bring questions and no one here wants that -- but they are at least treated enough that they won't die immediately, and then they're sent away, to lick their wounds and tell the tale of the night Ryo slew an army of Janets.

The enemy transport crashed, but no body was found. Is he dead? Will he haunt you later? ONLY TIME WILL TELL.