Log:Free Enterprise: Stalking the Convoy

Free Enterprise learns of a pilgrim convoy planning to head to Jedha from Tanaab, and moves to find out more information.

Location: Tanaab
Participants: Aliraet, Grishk, Redjak, Asiir Cuul, Vido Nurn, Free Enterprise

Tanaab. An Inner Rim world, not quite a Core world. Mostly because unlike most Core Worlds, it's the exception to the built up ecumenopoli, the city worlds, that often result.

Instead, the world has focused on agricultural products, a green, growing world, with miles and miles of growing fields year round, and industrial-sized greenhouses for the mild winter. It is a peaceful, silent place, possessed of endless breeze and swept clean of the dangers that plagued it in recent years. Life seems to last forever, here - not because of any special property of the planet, but because of the pace; indeed, it's long been said that if one wished to be immortal one need only live on Taanab...because every day is an eternity.

Not surprisingly, the people of Tanaab tend to be the types who like the day to day connection with the earth and the crops they grow. Or they really, really look to something to believe in that will get them off planet.

The spaceport here is a medium-sized complex set next to a wide, flat pad of parmacite built on an equally flat plain of grassy earth, small in comparison to its urbanized brethren - it's of a size best conductive of the bulk freighters that carry food to other Core ad Inner Rim worlds, though there are some facilities for the small transports that do come in from the cold night to roost here. Picketed by flashing marker posts and thoroughly unimpressive there is nothing really between the landing fields and the spaceport itself but a simple paved road. What does stand out is the large group of medium transports, all painted in traditional Republic/Jedi red and white, that are being fueled and taking on a variety of cargo. Those ARE guarded well, and pilgrims are slowly boarding as they make ready to get underway.

This means security is nice and lax, more intended to keep animals off the pads and to discourage kids from causing issues. Which brings us to Aliraet, who's looking over all of you as some labor droids load a small cargo of food into the Heartbreaker's holds to give it some cover. "Okay, you scurvy dogs..." she says with amusement, before her eyes sharpen. "We're here. You can see the convoy over there. We're not going to mess with them here...Tanaab is fat and happy, but they do have a defense force that can hurt us if we alert them." She thumbs towards the spaceport. "That's the port. Somewhere in there is the portmaster's office, and the offworld trade office. They'll have the specifics of the cargos they're loading aboard those ships."

She grins. "We need to know which ships have the best cargos...we don't have enough to take the whole convoy, especially with those defenses, but I know how these people think...if we give the rest a chance to run, their security will run with them to protect them, and they'll let a disabled ship fall behind. Very pirate of them." She straightens up, hand on her sword. "We need to know that information. WE need them to not realize we went looking for it or that we have it so they don't change their course or hire even more security we'll need to blow the frell out of to get to our loot."

She glances at Asiir. "This time, it's your game, captain. You've got the skills to get to the computers and find out." She motions to the others. "And you've got the brute force to help you intimidate and bribe and just plain sneak as needed. I'll be here on overwatch in case you need a rapid dustoff. Any questions?"

Grishk stands amongst the group, helmet attached as his large, though not as large as Redjak's figure is covered tip to toe in dark grey heavy armor. The thick helmeted head nods at Aliraet's comment, his visor shifting in the direction of Asiir. "Will follow your lead. Don't want to screw this up, otherwise Redjak and I would just storm in and start mowing people down until we get an answer, you got the little typey fingers, Captain Asiir" The Trandoshan says, perhaps a bit overdressed, but he is pretty heavily armed and armored at this point, the cargo runs having proved useful.

Redjak the pirate is in identical grey heavy armor. Look at the pair of them, lean mean meat-eating machines. "Been a while since we've had a good fight." He had in fact spent some time getting patched up after trying inadvisably to suplex a robot, which had rendered him out of action, but he was back now and ready to kick ass and eat sapient species. Not necessarily in that order. "Hey, lizardman, I'll hold 'em down while you punch 'em. And then we can swap. Could be some real good stress relief!"

Asiir is leaned against the inner wall of the cargo hold, clad in the jet black robes that he has been seen in as of late. He watches Aliraet as she goes through the mission details, then sweeps his gaze out to look at the spaceport itself. Glancing around to Redjak and Grishk, the black Cathar nods his head before saying, "Should be easy enough. Let's make for the trade office. That will let us know exactly what they bought and put on which ship. Should help us figure out which ship should be our target." With that, he turns toward the ramp and lifts his hands to begin pulling his hood up.

Vido Nurn is a bit more decked out this mission, having followed suit and armored up along with the big guys. Not in the same heavy armor, though, but a lighter version more fit for his shorter, leaner stature. Held in one hand is his spear, while a new Mandalorian bow and quiver set rests against his back. "Show me some manifests and I'll spot the goods," he says, looking eager for some action, wince he's so recently cooped himself up with studies.

Aliraet hops down from her perch on the box, sauntering over to reach up and cup the back of Asiir's head, smiling lazily. "Make me happy, kitty." she purrs, then leans in for a firm kiss, before she pulls away. "For luck..." she murmurs, then motions towards a flatbed speedertruck that's parked just outside. "There's your ride. Have fun boys...but remember. Loot, THEN burn. We need that info to do this right." And with that, the Devaronian heads down the ramp to go oversee the loading, though she slides a com over her ear and flips it on. <I'll hear you here if you need anything I can help with.>

The Trandoshan hisses shortly in laughter at Redjak’s comment and nods. "The Trade Office guys if they resist, at least" he remarks, Vizor shifting to Vido and giving a nod. "Sounds good, can wait to see what throats you slit this time around, killer." adding before waving his arm for everyone to follow Asiir forward towards the Trade office."

"Loot! Love me some looting. It's like a souvenir of mayhem done right!" Redjak was smiling as much as a Feeorin could smile. It was far too toothy to be pleasant. He fell into step behind the dark robed Asiir, looking every bit like a really big bodyguard of some description. That, or a common hired thug. Which, to be fair, was exactly what he was.

Asiir stalls in pulling his hood up as Ali moves over to lay one on him. He seems a tad surprised at the display, but dips his head into a nod and says, "I think I am easily qualified for that task." As Ali turns away from him to head down the ramp, Asiir pulls the hood the rest of the way up over his head and begins to walk down the ramp. He climbs easily up into the bed of the speeder truck, and moves over to take a seat. Looking toward the others he says, "So this should be an easy in and out. Once we get to the office, I should be able to slice the database and retrieve the cargo log quickly enough."

Nurn cuts a quick glance to Grishk and nods at the killer comment. Yes, we'll see about that. Then, following Asiir up into the bed of the truck, he says, "This really is a lovely planet. It's a shame we'll be leaving behind such a scar on its ecosystem." He, apparently, has held tight to the idea of burning wherever they've been to the ground. "Though perhaps it will allow the local population the opportunity to advance in some way." He muses, considering the ramifications of their actions, but certainly not in a moral way.

Piling into the speedertruck, it's a short, simple trip to the spaceport yourself. It's hardly a bustling port like a major trade hub, but it's definitely an active world...this is a planet that may be farmers who rise with the sun and rest at night, but shipping happens all hours. The offworld trade office is a three-story building set near the commerce area of the port. A pair of guards in armor, peacekeepers, with pistols on their hips, are walking through the crowd nearby, apparently making a sweep, pausing to chat with people they know. The office doesn't seem to have obvious security, but it does have a pretty secure door...a lot of credits go through here paying for cargos as they arrive, after all. Most likely there's some sort of security inside...but perhaps not on all the floor.

There's also people coming and going, and since it's getting close to twilight, the shift change is happening, with people in semi-formal tunics and trousers with ID badges are coming in and out.

As the speedertruck ends its' journey, Grishk hops out and looks around at the crowd for a moment before turning back to the truck. "So much green and farms. Seems nice." he states aloud, though the Trandoshan honestly would prefer more heat and less humidity. The guards are noted, their lax relation also so. He smirks a bit while awaiting the rest to unload and continue into the complex with their slicer, Asiir.

"Farms. Great. Last thing I need is food that my food eats." Redjak knew nothing about farming. He only knew that vegetables came from farms, and this was the primary source of disgust. Of course, that statement would remain the same if it were a cattle ranch of sorts. He followed along with the crowd, maintaining his armed bodyguard demeanor.

Asiir hops down from the speeder truck, glancing around quickly to get a read on their situation. "Door looks tough..." he says quietly to the trio of his teammates. Looking to the off duty workers heading into the building, Asiir says, "We need one of those ID badges... That should let us bypass the security of that door without me having to jack into the system in front of the guards. We need to acquire one of them."

Scanning over the building, Vido's sharp eyes note that the alley leading to behind the facility goes to a larger road big enough for heavier speedertrucks..it's likely there's a shipping entrance, and a service door at least that won't be closely watched save when trucks are being unloaded. As for IDs, several people are exiting the building...an older looking Zabrak man, a younger Human female, and a younger Male Human.

Vido is mostly silent for a moment, though his cypernetic goggles whizz and whirr as he scopes the place out. He confirms everything about the possible service entrance out loud, then points to the group exiting the building. "They look weak. Let's take them." He says it quickly and easily, looking to the rest for approval.

Grishk looks as Vido makes his comment smiling behind his visor and turning to nod to the smaller being as he pats him on the shoulder before moving forward, his hand sliding off the shoulder as he approaches the younger man of the exiting group. Leaning in. "Give me your badge or I’m gonna feed you to that guy" he says quietly, a thumb pointing towards Redjak. "And keep your mouth shut or everyone you know will be fertilizer on the fields." Adding just before the ID badge is quickly handed over. He holds a finger to the mouth part of his helmet and pats the man on the head before shoving him along.

Redjak added to the scene by idly picking a long claw with his sharp teeth. Human eating teeth. And human tearing claws. Redjak was definitely a man who looked like he was about to eat someone. Honestly breakfast was already like an hour ago.

Asiir's eyes scan the crowd as Vido speaks out regarding the group. He looks toward Grishk and Redjak, then nods his head in the direction of the group with the ID cards, then begins to head in their direction. He keeps his hood pulled low over his head, watching and trying to remain as discreet as possible.

Not wanting to be left behind be his 'friends,' Vido also jumps off the truck to join Grishk and Redjack. Although he's not able to move quite so fast, he comes at the trio of workers with his spear raised high overhead. The sharp horn on his forehead, his scarred face, and the maniacal maneuverings of his goggles are perhaps enough to strike a bit of fear into them, albeit fear mixed with confusion.

The young man blinks, quailing a bit as the trio loom up around him. "W-what?" he stammers, then reaches up with a shaking hand. "S-sure, take it, just take it!" he says, almost tossing it at Grishk as the most scary person he wants to go away! It looks like it incorporates a security card function too. Probably could open some doors. "Just let me go, okay? Here, here, take my credstick...it's all I got..." he says, tosses a credstick over as well!"

Grishk grabs the card. Looking to the pair at either side of him. "Reminder, keep your mouth shut or else." He looks down at the card to see the name on it and reads it back. "A name is all that's needed." Adding before looking in the direction of the others and canting his helmet to head into the building. Grishk slips the card to Asiir, assuming he moves up to accept it.

Redjak gave the man one more beady-eyed no-nosed Look before taking the credstick and going to rejoin his merry band of reprobate thugs. Free money. It was like Life Day. "Let's hit the service entrance. Fun's fun, but let's do the job first."

Asiir nods his head, gesturing toward Redjak before he begins to sweep along down the service road toward the rear service entrance that Vido had noticed earlier. His stride is quick, trying to make up all the ground that he can, in case the person they just got the security card from decides to tell off on them.

Vido seems pleased that the intimidation tactic worked so well. He doesn't seem to worry about the ID card once it's taken, and the cred stick is basically ignored. He does, however, step in close to man. "And if you try to raise an alarm," he whispers, "I'll use this spear here to separate yourself from those little pieces of you that you likely love so much." The tip of his spear dips low to indicate just what he's talking about. With that threat made, he moves after the others.

The thoroughly terrified young man moves off quickly as you head around back into the service area. Here, this is definitely the more utilitarian area of an already pretty utilitarian spaceport. A large speeder truck configured as a garbage truck goes rumbling by as you make your way over to the back of the building. There's a loading dock, and next to it, a small service door with a keycard slot next to it. However, there's also a camera above the door...pointed down at the door itself, so it hasn't recorded you yet.

As the keycard is obtained, Grishk heads down the alley with the rest of the group, stopping as he sees the camera. An armored arm reaching out to point at the thing. "Perhaps I can just block the view and not be identified as the rest of you go in, or one of us just push it to face out of the way?" he asks looking to the rest. The card should work, no reason for them to focus on it for now"

None of them were in disguises. That was super annoying, because then they could just walk straight on in. Ah frack it. Redjak stalked up to the door, attempting futilely to stay out of the camera's sight range. They may have gotten good glimpses of him. It didn't matter if they caught his face, because how many Feeorins have you seen around here? With his omgwtf height, he reached up and placed his palm over the lens of the camera, completely covering it and hopefully preventing any alerts from triggering as they would if the camera was destroyed. "C'mon!" he quietly beckoned the rest of them, calling them towards the now-not-surveilled door.

Asiir pulls his hood closer to is head, ensuring that his face is hidden, and as Redjak blocks the side of the camera with his bulk, Asiir charges out, running to the door and slipping the keycard into the slot. He waits only so long as it takes for the electronic lock to disengage, then he's pulling the door open and stepping inside.

Vido is close behind the hooded Cathar, having watched with amusement as Redjack handled the camera. He holds his spear at the ready and will poke anyone who tries to stop them. Without hesitation.

There's a soft buzz and a click as the door slides open, giving you all time to pile inside quickly to let it close behind you. If an alarm was raised, it isn't obvious. You're in a small employees-only area of the office, with plain permacrete floors and some Aurabesh posters on worker safety and such. There are a couple ASP-7 labor droids recharging in stands against one wall, and a R4 droid that's rolling around some pallets piled to a side. There's a stairway that leads upwards, and a computer terminal here.

The droid, upon seeing you, chirps inquisitively, stopping what it’s doing as its bucket head rotates to bring its optic to face you.

Grishk hoists the bulky form of his Vibro-Ax up to bear!

Redjak raises his fists, ready to fight, the glint of Metal Knuckles can be seen on his hand.

Vido Nurn releases the strap holding his Obsidian Spear against his back and in a swift motion he brings the weapon up to bear!

As Grishk and the others rush in to see the room basically vacant, he stops at the sight of the droid, reaching back to grab his vibro ax and swing at the thing before it can potentially alert anyone to their entry." He swings the vibroweapon down as hard as he can. May as well try to slice it directly in half.

As Redjak and Grishk move toward the astromech droid, Asiir ignores the droid and moves directly for the computer terminal. His fingers begin tapping away at the terminal, attempting to figure out what can be discovered from this location, and hopefully to see if they can get what they need from right here. SPEAR! REDJAK OUTTA NOWHERE WITH THE SPEAR! Not the actual spear that Vido was holding, but a flying spear tackle that took the droid to the ground. When Grishk had missed, Redjak was there for the rebound. There was a shattering, crashing noise. But wait! Wait! What was he doing? Oh no! No you don't Redjak! He lifted the droid up in a bear hug, little legs squirming in the air, and promptly dropped into a TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER! HE'S KILLED HIM, KING. AS GOD AS MY WITNESS HE IS BROKEN IN HALF!

Well actually the droid's cranium was crushed but whatever.

Asiir's fingers fly across the computer terminal that he has gained access to. As the others deal with the droid, a string of computer characters fly across the screen, the Cathar's eyes watching and taking in the information quickly while he nods his head. A short while later and a backup is being downloaded while Asiir checks something else and then finally steps away from the system. "Let's get back to the ship. We have what we need, and as long as nothing goes wrong, we should have a shipment of droid parts being delivered to the ship as we speak, free of charge." he says.

With a pair of chirps, the two recharging ASP droids come online, their skeletal vaguely humanoid forms straightening as their optics turn on, before they begin marching into the pallet area to select a larger box, lifting it up, then starting to move towards the loading dock exit. The terminal chirps as it runs what ASiir wants...but you've got the records. Now you just need to get back.

Grishk nods and slings his ax back over his shoulder, looking down at the droid and over at Redjak. "Jesus" saying a bit embarrassed of his miss. Asiir's comment leading him to run back towards the exit. "Drinks on me this time Redjak, let’s roll!"

Redjak dusted mechanical blood and robotic detritus off his arms as he stood up. Finally, a droid he could crush. It was a rare change. "Better have the coin, Lizardman. You know how much I drink." Over seven feet tall. It would take a lot for the Feeorin to make merry. He made sure to grab the camera on his way out of the exit again, covering their view of things. Better than being spotted!

It's not the most low-key job...there's certainly going to be questions about the smashed R5 droid. The labor droids obediently take the box of droid processors out to set on your speeder truck before returning inside, and you can all hop aboard, zooming away just in time to miss a patrol speeder coming the other way, lights flashing...but they seem to not notice you in the general transport traffic...I mean, you HAVE an obvious box you're moving around, right? And back to the Heartbreaker, where the cargo is added to the agricultural products...and by that, I mean Aliraet just bought a puudu-ton of booze, saying she needed to restock the bar on Kessel. And wanted something to celebrate. And with that...you have what you need to take what you want from the convoy. Now it's time to lie in wait...