Log:Intel and Alleyways
A simple dead drop collection in Dawnrise goes sideways...
OOC Date: April 30, 2023
Location: Nar Shaddaa
Participants: Aria Voss, Bazine Netal, Saito, Juria Nexum
- --< Dark Alley - Dawnrise District, Nar Shaddaa >*---**---**---**---**---**---*
Beside the Auction House is a dark and damp alley which most sane people would not tread into. The alley is littered with trash and abandoned junk as well as vermants of a strange rodent like species. The sounds of the city are muffled by the tall walls within here and every now and then a white spotlight waves through from high up above illuminating the area for but a few seconds.
Strange sounds and the unpredictable are common here. Watch your step. At the end of the alley, past all the garbage and behind two old, and unused, trash cans is a single metal door.
There are currently 7 sketchy-looking shadows in the alley.
When you're recognizable enough that the HoloNet tabloids following you around on a semi-regular basis and your company (really, your /father's/ company) is so engaged in a gang-style turf war that you're getting regular death threats, leading a Rebel cell can be, at times, problematic.
But that doesn't mean it doesn't still need to be done.
Lady Aria Voss, heiress of the Voss Galactic Corporation, used to be like Bazine. She used to keep herself so distant from the Rebellion that her involvement could never have been traced back to her. To everyone in the galaxy, she was some spoiled, rich party girl -- not someone that was secretly using those parties and seedy clubs to pass information back to the rebels about the Sith Empire officials she was (at times literally) rubbing shoulders with. Not a daughter that had set up back-channel accounts to siphon money from the company's assets from her position as Vice President of External Affairs.
But that time had passed for Aria. Having established Voss Galactic as a player on Nar Shaddaa and started making rim-world connections, she'd managed to find herself a Corellian Corvette and enough allies to get it flying again. She was, in short, working on starting her own little Rebellion -- a pocket of like-minded individuals that were becoming known as the Starlight Vanguard.
And it's Aria that's scheduled to receive this drop. Somehow, she worried that getting 'into disguise' was something she was going to have to be doing more and more, given how frequently and aggressively Black Nova Corporation was targeting her. She was going to have to do something about them sooner rather than later.
So instead of her fancy, corporate clothes, Aria Voss is dressed down in Nar Shaddaa streetwear -- a worn leather jacket, ripped pants, a hood pulled up over her head that helps her blend in with the rest of the sketchy-looking shadows. She's got a blaster pistol strapped to her thigh, but her hands are tucked into her pockets. It's dark, and there's the sounds of swoop bikes and haggling merchants in the distance. But this alley is pretty quiet except for a few bums at the periphery -- even most of them seem to be passed out.
Bazine Netal used to be on the First Order's payroll at one time. Kylo Ren had her holo frequency on speed-dial, even. But then came the Sith Empire, and everything changed when worlds started getting destroyed. Rumors of a Rebellion cropped up, and in a little while intelligence reports started filtering in. Anonymously. Good, confirmed intel. Always delivered to a dead-drop, with no ties to the source.
That was all going to change, and soon.
Covered head to toe in a Shadowsuit, including goggles, the spy waits motionless in the shadows of the alleyway. She waits and she watches, her attention focused on anyone who approaches the small, beat up cargo container.
Juria was nobody important as far as Nar Shaddaa was concerned. Just another face in a sea of them. Dressed in a swoop racer suit with the arms tied around her, revealing the black tanktop beneath. Juria, being a nobody, was not good at spy stuff. That's not what her job was here.. she didn't know how to put on disguises or have fancy spy suits. There was not a tuxedo anywhere in her wardrobe.
And only one gown.
Which she wore to her wedding.
And it wasn't even cute! It was the ugliest thing. Evie said it was adorable and 'perfectly Juria', but she's like... seventy five percent sure that means 'you looked like a trailer park hooker, but I love you anyways'.
"Krrrrk.. I'm hungry, over. Krrrrrk." Standing with her shoulders against a wall, trying to appear like someone who belongs somewhere like this, and not succeeding even remotely.
The man that walks into the halley couldn't be more out of place. He looks around the halley for a moment and cilently shakes his head to Juria. He wears an armored flightsuit, a pocible hint to his profession. He sighs under his breath, the halley giving him a sense of unease. He had been to this sort of place before. Once again he looks around and again, doesn't notice the person that theyy are looking for.
"You're both going to get me killed. I hope you know that. Like.. at my funeral, I want someone /else/ to stand up and explain that the reason we're there is because you don't own street clothes."
There's humor in Aria's eyes, but also a little frustration. The point of bringing them, after all, was so that she didn't have to bring her personal guards. Between her own personal death threats, the Sith Empire breathing down her neck, getting randomly shanked in a dark alley by some bum that couldn't get his nose out of her pheromones, and /whatever/ might jump out of the cargo container when she got there, the pink-skinned Zeltron was (maybe) understandably on edge.
"Look.. just hang back, okay?" Her violet eyes are on Saito, but she nods towards Juria. "Let's not turn this into a circus. I'll be fine. If I need you, I'll yell."
And with a little shrug, she ventured farther into the darkness of the alley, a little slump to her shoulders, her head tucked down closer to her chest. It was at least a semi-convincing act -- the core-world, highly educated, normally sophisticated and poised heiress instead blending into the dregs that prowled these alleys, themselves often trying to stay unnoticed.
But ahead of her was the cargo container she'd seen in the picture. She was walking towards it, but not running. Her eyes flicked up and around, watching. She stepped around the legs of a bum that was mostly drunk, bottle still in his hand, grinning mostly toothlessly up at her as she passed.
Yeah. This was going to go fine. What could possibly go wrong.
Bazine Netal watches the exchange from her spot in the shadows. Watches and listens. Aria approaches the container, and then there is movement. No sound, but movement, as a figure steps out of the shadows.
This isn't according to plan.
The figure is slender and feminine, clad all in black shadowsilk from head to toe. Even goggles cover her eyes. No weapons, at least none that are obvious, and for a moment she simply regards Aria.
"Call your guards if you must, but my intention is not to harm you."
Juria slid her hands into the leg pockets of her swoopsuit and frowned at Aria, "You should probably get more clandestine people if you're going to be conducting business in dark alleyways." She comments helpfully while rutting around her pockets until she comes back with a protein bar. Which she peels open with a pensive expression. She takes a bit and glances at Saito, at her protein bar, and then down the alleyway where Aria has gone off by herself.
"Fine... but you knew I wasn't very sneaky when you br- oh look!" Swatting Saito ont he arm, since Aria has headed down the alley way by herself despite leaving guards behind to bring two people who she leaves behind.
"It's a seven two'd toad.." She points at the orange Undercity native amphibian.. Grinning ear to ear, "If you lick one of those you'll be hallucinating for days. So don't do that.. definitely don't collect that toad and lick it."
A double take back down the alley and there's a black clad figure leaping out at Aria..
"Oh, my bad.. Perhaps I should have brought my -other- clothes, I'll remember that next time," Saito offers a playful wink to the Zeltron, as if she should know what clothes he's talking about. "Stuborn girl.." he sighs as Aria leaves him and Juria to walk into the halley by herself. It is then that his ateniton goes to the corellian and to her toad. "Seriously? Well, now you make me want to really like the toad.. I wonder if I can find another aorund here?" he muses, seeming to really reflect about this. Before he slowly shakes his head, completley changing the subject. "Aria will be fine," he says with some sertainty after a glance to the halley, believing that the other Jedi can sense what he just did.
Aria freezes cold when the entirely unidentifiable figure steps out of the shadows. Her hands jerk out of her pockets, but there's not a flurry of movement, either. The left just lifts up to about waist level, showing a delicate pink palm and manicured nails. The right drops down near her blaster, thumb hooking onto the grip, but she wasn't grabbing -- she was just startled.
"Well, that's good," comes her voice, the highly accented lilt of core-world aristocracy. "/My/ intention is for you not to harm me, either." It's just a hint of humor, and a less-than-subtle acknowledgement that she was already conceding the victory.
The woman's eyes shift back to the opening of the alley, glancing towards the Jedi, and then back again without a word to them. Whoever the shadowsuited figure was, she was observant enough to know that she had guards. And she wasn't afraid to face them.
"Let's just stay calm. What do you want?"
Bazine Netal doesn't move, at least not at first. Slowly the goggles are removed, leaving the rest of her face masked. Black brows are thick and angular, her eyes large and deep brown with dark liner. Definitely a woman.
The head wrap is removed slowly, showing the woman's slender face inside a black cowl. Her lips are black, curled up into a wry smile.
"It is my desire to make myself known to your... organization. I have supported you from the shadows for years, but now I wish to work with you more directly."
She pauses, looking towards the other two before continuing. "Is this amenable to you?"
Juria glances back at Aria talking to the black clad figure, certainly this sort of thing is totally okay right? It's Nar Shaddaa, everyone wears black. Even people who leap out of shadows, which was more metaphorical leaping than actual leaping, but it's fine, this is fine everything is fine.
"huh?" She asks Saito, "Oh... they're fairly common down in the lower levels, just kind of rare up here." She motions around, still paying some attention to the goings on down the alleyway, even if she can't hear it. Fat lot of good she'd be as a security guard. Good thing she works for the REDACTED
"I'll keep them in mind.. I'll probably like one osme day, just to see what happens," Saito replies to Juria. "I'm still trying to convince Aria to go check out the Ewook tunnels on Tatooine." he sighs as Aria disappears into the dark halley. "She shouldn't havee gone there all by herself. Come on, lets go." He doesn't run into the halley. He closes his eyes, feeling as the force boosts his hand eye coordenation. Then he simply jumps into the halley. He flies over all the distance, before landingg infront of the Zeltron with a *thud*. "What were you thinking? You should have come here alongside us, not by yourself!" He glances at the open container and then his eyes go to the still unknown woman. He approaches and offers her a gentle, polite smile. "Good day to you.. Would I be right to assume that you are our intel?" he asks, motioning with his otehr hand for Juria to approach.
Aria watched the other woman as the goggles were removed, the head wrap. It was the closest anyone in the Rebellion had ever gotten to identifying who this particular asset was, and able to see the slenderness of her face, she nodded from within the hood that still covered her own head.
"I would be happy to--"
And then a man falls out of the sky. A pilot. Had he just ejected from a ship? Had he superman-leaped across the alley? Did it matter? He landed without so much as a stagger, and it caused even Aria to take a sudden step back in surprise. The situation had been tense enough as it was.
"What the hell is WRONG with you?" she demands.
Bazine Netal takes a step back as well, stance shifting with left foot a little back. Her gaze narrows a little, shifting from Aria to Saito as he leaps and lands between them. No weapons are drawn, but she keeps her attention more on him now.
"Your intel is in the designated container." she declares, simply. "I am the one who has been providing it, and I wish for a larger role in your endeavor."
Bazine lifts a gloved hand slowly, palm outward. "You may call me Bazine."
Woooooooosh. Off goes Saito, leaping through the air with the power of the Force. Juria follows his arc with a turn of her head, then blows out a sigh and shakes hers. With her hands sliding back into her pockets, she casually walks down the alley with a pleasant enough expression on her face as she approaches.
She doesn't add anything because what would she add?
She, too, is looking at Saito. Now, to him? To him she'll add something. "You didn't pick up a whole lot of discretion, huh? Skipped that day? We need to work on that."
Saito offers a nod to Juria as she joins them on the dark halley. Next, his atention goes to Bazine. He offers her a handshake. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Bazine. My name is Saito," he introduces himself politely. "Well, we are always looking for more help, so any info that you have will be appreciated." then he steps back and turns to Juria and sighs. He movess closer to the Corellian and murmurs something to her, letting Aria continue to talk with their new aquaintance.
...except Aria isn't there, anymore. Hands back into pockets, Aria had already turned and was trotting towards the other side of the alley at a clip, pulling her hood a little farther up around her face and apparently putting as much distance between herself and the situation as she could.
