Log:Learning Hex-perience 5: Liars, Guns, and Money

The barter system strikes back.

OOC Date: May 1, 2016
Location: Gimbal's Showroom
Participants: Stavros (as GM), Zhu Yan, Kasia Ciph, Kelnas, Arcadia

Long story short: The team gets the cybernetics despite their stories' near-implosion.

The whole story:

The meeting spot was chosen carefully. The landing pad was at a dinghy-looking private starport referred to in jest as Gimbal's Showroom, leased out through shell companies to Corbel Industries. Unlike many ports, it is several levels below Nar Shaddaa's traditional 'surface.' A light freighter approaching must descend an urban canyon.

The starport's pads are hollowed out of the side of a rust-covered building. Some of the pads have been home to the same burned-out looking ships for years; no one seems to care, though somebody _does_ man the 'control tower' of sorts. The lights come on sometimes.

The site's advantages: it's a traditional exchange spot; no official records; and comm transmissions are sometimes blocked or attenuated due to an anomaly in the starport's construction. It means comm jamming can be written up as a natural phenomenon.

Why does that matter? It matters because the money being offered in trade for the cybernetic prostheses you are here for is accessed by an encrypted data chit - and if communications with the financial clearinghouse are blocked, the pirate sellers can't find out the account isn't real, until you're gone. Easy, right?

Objectives:

• Give the appearance of working for Cepter directly (to cause a rift)
• "Pay" the pirates and get the cybernetics aboard the _Redline_
• Get away before anyone knows there's a deception.

Zhu Yan, once again, wasn't Zhu Yan today. His hair, getting awfully long these days, was tied back and had been streaked with dye in such a way that it looked more grey than brown. A collection of scarring had been added to the right side of his face, along with a glassy contact lens implying that the eye was blind. The beard was gone, replaced with two day stubble. His clothes were the motley collection of a pirate, or smuggler, with a plated shoulder and bandolier over beige clothes that had been worn in by years of supposed combat. In the end, the man looked ten to fifteen years older, all befitting the man today known as Captain Kergin

The Redline wasn't the Redline either. Yan had protested when he discovered he had to paint it, saying it 'lost its appeal as a sleeper gunship, man!' But now, it was a deep crimson red, the colour of blood, with a checkerboard pattern artfully streaming out from the cockpit like some weird sort of fire. The transponder had been changed as well. Not spoofed, changed. The Redline's one was currently unplugged and the ship was now broadcasting as the Three Move Mate.

Kergin flew the Three Move Mate carefully through the canyon of buildings to the assigned location, at the same time talking to himself. "The boss sent me," he said, voice that of Zhu Yan. Then he cleared his throat. "The boss sent me," he said again, this time picking up a bit of a rasp. Perfect. He eased the ship over to the landing pad, slower than he would normally, and set it down carefully. Apparently Captain Kergin wasn't an ace pilot. He left the ship running and turned to the little astromech in his cockpit, putting in an earpiece as he did so. "Showtime," he rumbled.

Kasia isn't exactly herself either, her hair is pulled back into a tight ponytail, it's a severe look, rather than the softer ones she usually goes for. She's also leaned on the artful application of makeup, highlighting features and downplaying others, so she doesn't look entirely different, but not quite herself, either. Her clothing is looser than normal too, trousers relaxed enough to hang on her hips, with heavy boots and a dark colored shirt with a loose enough fit that when layered beneath a jacket, it's enough to help shroud her figure somewhat. As much as one can, anyway.

She's near enough to hear Zhu as he practices, but she does no such thing, she's quiet, tense in the moment, but as the ship lands and it's time to go, she gets to her feet, shaking off nerves and simply focusing on the task at hand.

R2-Z7 beeped an affirmative, rotating his red-striped dome so that his optic sensor watched Zhu Yan, until the man departs. His data transfer interface was already plugged in, spinning occasionally: he was plugged into the ship's sensors, could manage its instruments, and even fly it some.

He calculated the odds were that Zhu Yan would try to break him into scrap if the droid flew his baby for any reason other than saving Yan's life. His feet were magnetically sealed to the deck, just to be on the safe side. Unlike his master Stavros, "Razz" planned ahead.

The droid warbled a warning into Yan and Kasia's earpieces two seconds before the distinctive silhouette of a HWK-290 raced by the Redline in the canyon, slewing around one hundred and eighty degrees mere feet away with its maneuvering jets before it strobed its engines, killing its momentum just over the other half of this landing platform, lowered its landing gear, and settled down less than a meter onto the durocrete. The maneuver took mere seconds. It is not happenstance that its fixed mount weapons are now staring into the Redline. Razz beeps: the ship's transponder says it's the 'Thrill Seeker'. http://www.swaoa-mush.com/wiki/CEC_HWK-290_Maccrow

The rear hatch folds down, and the subtle clanks of a few beings coming down it can be heard before they can be seen. It's not a coincidence that they're exiting in such a way they're covered by the ship, either. There's a yellow circle, partially scrubbed out, with a red V and A side-by-side, superimposed. It's the symbol of L'Esdir pirate gang. It's not well-known why, and they shoot people who ask.

The first to round the ship's wing is a red twi'lek in heavy armor with a comically oversized dome helmet, large enough for his lekku to move without discomfort. He has a carbine over his shoulder and a medium pistol at his belt. The other is a human female with brown eyes lacking any emotion, wearing only a jumpsuit with a variety of knives, vibroknives, stun batons, and a sword strapped all over her. It's the twi'lek who speaks, once anyone comes out to meet them.

Twilek says gruffly, "You know the drill." (in Huttese)

Kergin didn't miss any of it. He was watching from the cockpit, waiting. "Razz," he said. "Do a shield-sit as soon as I give the signal." The Three Move Mate was still running hot, which was normal for a touch and go like they were doing, so the shields could be brought up at a moment's notice. Doing so while landed would play merry hell on the shield generator as the ship was suddenly separated from the ground by the sudden protective layer, not to mention tear up the decking, but it would protect them for whatever was coming. And it would give the little astro droid time to bring the quads around.

Captain Kergin was the first to head down the ramp, sniffing dismissively as he looked at the assembled array. "Nice little party you got going here," he rasped out to them, voice stained by death stick use. He flipped an encrypted credit chit over in his hands, completely casually. "We make the exchange, then your boss and my boss can go back to having their little tea parties."

The Captain heads down the ramp first, and then Kasia follows a few steps behind, and to the side slightly, eyes going first to the Twi'lek in his oversized helmet, and then the woman with the dead eyes. "It's all about parties to you, isn't it?" she remarks to not-Zhu. Her accent is slightly changed, a little more street rat inflection in it, rather than that of someone who mingles with upper crust types. She hooks a thumb in her belt and looks around to the strangers, giving them a cheery smile. "Not that I've got a problem with parties, mind."

Kelnas had arrived a day or so earlier. Head freshly shaved, the man is dressed not in his usual Fibre armor, but in Flowing robes of bright saffron orange and Light blue. The Monastic robes of his old order. Moving in silence on the adjacent landing pad, the Wroonian smiles quietly at the drunk guys that have taken respite there, offering them each food and water as is the want of the Wayists, kelnas stands where he can keep an eye on his teammates out of the corner of his eye. Someone should maybe have reminded him abou the steel toed boots though.

R2-Z7 trills a confirmation of "Captain Kergin's" order. He makes little nervous sounds to himself, but he doesn't transmit them.

The twi'lek looks Kasia over and shakes his head, continuing to speak in Huttese. He says "Tell her to wear less makeup. Do it right or don't do it at all." Back to Captain Kergin, he continues"I'll show you ours if you show us yours," and gestures to the expressionless brunette. She reaches behind her back, unclips a few fasteners- and pulls a hand that looks entirely human-natural, except for the wrist having metal around it. He raises his eyebrow. His lekku are very still. Then he says "Go on, then." All this Huttese!

The drunks on the adjacent platform are happy to have any attention paid to them at all. If they were the lucky ones, they wouldn't have ended up hungover at Gimbal's. None seem to notice the incongruity of the boots. Over at the hatch at the back of the HWK-290, though, there is a figure visible to Kelnas who might have noticed the boots, herself.

Privately, to Kelnas: GM: At the back of the HWK-290 is a short Mikkian: red-skinned, with head tentacles drawn back into a clump. She's got a bit of a figure along with her muscle, and wears custom-fitted battle armor that ensures you know that even while she's protected. You recognize her: this is Tidara, leader of the L'Esdir pirates. It's hard to say if it's bad that she's here; maybe she's always here for the handoffs? There's no records indicating either way that the team has discovered.

Captain Kergin let out a short laugh, then said a couple of sentences in Huttese to the Twi'lek, this time looking at Little Miss Expressionless. In response to the additional Huttese prompting, he held out the encrypted data chip. "Straight from the man himself," he said proudly, back in Basic. "Once you're back in comm range, you can claim your cash, as agreed."

He paused, and looked over at the HWK gunship. "Now, you gonna load up my ship or what?"

Zhu Yan says, "Only if your girl smiles more. Bland isn't fetching."

Kasia gets the look of a person that has a feeling she's being talked about, even if she's got no idea what's being said. She slides a look over to 'Kergin' then back to the Twi'lek, but doesn't pursue that curiosity just now. She'll pester Zhu about it later, when he's back to being Zhu again. For the moment, she simply remains quiet, watchful, hoping that they'll cooperate and load up the ship.

Other ship out of the corner of his eye. Bowing to each of the men, he lets a silver Wayists pendant drop from his robes to catch the sun as he straightens up once more. hands folded behind his back, the Wroonian continues to watch the drunks eat while keeping an eye on his own flock nearby.

The twi'lek looks down at the encrypted data chip like it just dropped out the tail end of a Talz, then his gaze snaps back up to "Captain Kergin's", eyes hard, and puts his hand within reach of his blaster pistol. Instead of drawing, he taps a button on the chest of his armor suit. In Basic, now, he says, "We have a complication, ma'am," not addressing any of the other three next to him. He listens, then nods. "Yes, ma'am."

Then the twi'lek glares back at "Captin Kergin." In Basic, again, he says harshly, "You get to sort this out with the boss-lady herself. Consider yourselves honored. If you try to hurt her, you die. If you try to cheat her, you die. Maybe we'll die too," he acknowledges, "But you know we're crazy enough to make sure we don't die alone." He clears his throat. "Show some respect."

Then another figure comes around from the back of the HWK-290. A short female Mikkian, red-skinned, with head tentacles rising from the side and top of her head, drawing together into a clump at the base of her neck. Lips, fingernails, and the tips of the tentacles are dark blue. With her full lips, large eyes, and toned figure, she's a beauty by most standards - if you don't mind head-tentacles. Her battle-armor is custom-fitted and a electronic targeting monocle stays in front of her right eye. A heavily-modified DL-44 blaster pistol rests in a quick-draw holster on a belt slung over her hips. Her smile is unpleasant, a one-sided expression conveying her enjoyment of others' confusion, discomfort, and fear.

She glances at Zhu Yan's hand, which recently showed off a credit data chip, then up, around at the 'Three Move Mate', at Kasia, and then up to Zhu Yan's face. "Where are the weapons?" She raises an eyebrow.

Sithspit. Weapons. Yan didn't have weapons. What he had was a ship and a rigged credit chit and no weapons whatsoever. He didn't know what she thought. He didn't know what the others were doing. For all intents and purposes, he'd been set up. And that, ladies and gentlemen, worked out BEAUTIFULLY.

He looked at the pirate Captain in confusion, gears visibly turning, then back at Kasia, then at Kelnas on the ramp, then back to the Mikkian. His expression had morphed from confusion into anger. It was a very familiar sort of anger. He had the face of a man that'd just been sold out. "R2, get me a direct line to the boss NOW!" he snarled into his earpiece, turning away from the Mikkian enough to show her that, yes, he was wearing an earpiece.

Then, he turned back to the Pirate Queen and addressed her in a tone that conveyed a very difficult time holding back outright fury. "We've been set up," he hissed. Oh he mad. "This?" he said, holding up the chip on full display, "was the payment I was given by our good old buddy Anton Cepter to pay you. Not weapons. Do you why he'd set us up to fail?"

Kasia's expression screws up slightly as she hears the demand from the Mikkian woman, but she doesn't make any effort to offer up any further bullshit. Zhu has that covered, and laying it on too thick at this point would likely raise more red flags than help. So she simply keeps back and to the side of the 'captain' while she waits and watches.

Looking up as the Yelling starts, Kelnas folds his hands behind his back and begins to move along the walkway, making his way towards the group at an only slightly hurried pace. Looking like a floating ghost in his voluminous robes, he mutters into the comms. "Moving to flank. thats high grade bullshit. I can smell it from here."

The Mikkian hums to herself, looking back to Kasia, the ship, then back to Zhu Yan. "Maybe you know too much," she says airily. Then her tone drops, almost husky and she takes swaying step closer. "Maybe you had your hand in the candy jar?" She smiles again, and it is crueler than before: an 'I know something you don't know' expression. "But Anton knows that if he wanted me to kill you, he only needed to ask." Her voice is very gentle; a teacher patiently educating a slow student. "So this isn't that kind of set-up. Maybe you think to sell the weapons yourself and pass off your payment, there-" Her fingers flicks to point towards Zhu Yan's data chit. "As your payment to me. If I looked in that ship's hold, what wonders might I find? Armaments, perhaps?"

"Call off your R2: we're jamming your transmissions, anyway." She smirks, then rolls her eyes. "And please, call off that terrible excuse for a backup man. He can join us- while we all take a little stroll into your no-doubt lovely vessel." She gestures towards the Redline, posing at the "Three Move Mate." "After you, captain....?"

Yan was thinking astonishingly fast now. The fun thing about lies is that they're usually backed up by the truth. In this case, the truth worked beautifully. "Red, come back in," he messaged Kelnas over the comm, still holding that furious edge. It was funny because Kelnas is blue. "Legs, head inside and grab a datapad, a clean one, please, then meet me in the cargo hold. I want to check this data chip." That one to Kasia, still almost furious. He didn't need to say 'and if it's false, I'm going to kill Anton Cepter'. Hopefully that was carried in the tone.

Kergin turned back to the Pirate lady and spoke again. "Come with me," he instructed, and turned to follow wherever Kasia was going. He never let go of the false credit stick. He needed to build trust right now. Yan. Building trust. When did THAT ever happen?

"No need to be killin' anyone," Kasia remarks, both hands lifting in that general 'woah, hold on there' gesture. Both hands drop after a few moments, glancing over at Zhu at the order, then nodding and turning on her heel to head back up the ramp and into the ship to dig out that specific, 'clean' datapad that's needed. She holds it up for all to see, then moves toward Zhu with the device held out for the taking.

Hands still folded behind his back in those robes, Kelnas continues on towards the group. Hand slipping fromthe robes now, he manifests a cigarette between his fingers as if by magic and places it between his lips before patting himself down for a cigarette and muttering. "The lack of pockets in this thing is still distressing." Moving up the ramp with Zhu, he quietly places himself between Yan and the Red skinned Power armor woman.

The Mikkian continues the conversation as they walk onto the ship towards the cargo hold. "You never did say your name. I'm Tidara, and I rarely say mine." Behind her, the twi'lek in heavy armor has his carbine out now, though not at the ready or pointed at anyone, and the expressionless woman has a knife held casually in her hand. She flips it periodically.

"But I thought I would share it with you now. Either I'm right, I receive my weapons, and we discuss what to do with you. At length. You won't be telling anyone who matters, then," Tidara says melodiously.

"Or you're telling the truth," she says. "In which case, Anton is getting sloppy. There are people invested in him who would love to know that, lest his stock - start dropping." When Kasia meets them with the datapad, she stops, holding up her hand. "Let's see, then - is it good? If so, how much? And then-" She grins, showing her teeth. "The cargo hold."

The brunette with empty brown eyes and a large quantity of sharp and pointy weapons dangling from belts, bandoliers, and hooks is watching Kelnas more closely than the others. The red twi'lek in heavy armor is mostly watching Zhu Yan for any sign of betrayal. Tidara looks here and there as though she's never been in a YT-2000 before.

"Kergin. Under different circumstances I'd say it's a pleasure to meet you," rumbled out Kergin, his face impassive as he led the motley crew through the ship to the cargo hold, which, surprise surprise, was completely empty. Except for the loader droids, entirely reasonable when you're picking up a hefty amount of cargo. But now he had a choice.

Option A: Make the thing look real. Use the special datapad that they had, confirm the omgwtfhuge amount, and fly away with a load of cybernetics. Primary objective complete. Then they try to cash it in. Doesn't work. Anger directed at them instead of Anton, and secondary objective goes unfulfilled. Maybe.

Option B: Get another datapad, confirm it as a fake, come up with another plan. Hella risky, potentially compromises the primary objective, guarantees the secondary. And puts them in danger.

Screw it. Option A. Kergin plugged the chit into the datapad and let it run. "This is what Anton gave me to pay you," he explained quietly. There was a bing. There was an amount on the screen. An exceptionally large amount for an exceptionally large amount of cybernetics. "And that's the number he told me was on here." Now he actively sounded confused, as opposed to fuming. "I smell a rat."

Once the datapad is taken, Kasia retreats a few steps, gaze sweeping around to the armed people accompanying Tidara, watching who is watching who, and what weapons are out. Her own hands are empty, though she shifts her stance so that her hands go to her hips, but it's just on her hips that they rest, observing and listening with some degree of visible impatience as they go through this whole 'mess that was supposed to be a mess but maybe not this kind of mess' out.

Watching the interlopers quietly, Kelnas notes the girl with the knives eyeing him. offering her a wink and a cheeky smile, the Wroonian shifts his position ot lean on a bulkhead quietly, back to something solid as Yan does his thing.

Tidara surveys the empty cargo hold. She doesn't even look for smuggling compartments: clearly she was expecting more than any smuggling compartments on this ship could conceal. Then she looks at the amount on the screen, raising her carefully-shaped eyebrows. Her head tentacles curl at their ends as she considers the possibilities. Communications compromised? A mole picking holes in their operation? Anton Cepter losing his touch?

Her smile at "Captain Kergin" is genuine, though it holds no warmth aimed his way. She reaches out a hand, pinches his cheek, and says, "Thank you. An honest man is hard to find. She plucks the credit chit from Yan's datapad and makes it disappear in what must be a concealed compartment in the armor. "But this is way over your paygrade, honey. Let's do the exchange, she announces, as she walks back out of the ship.

Her people do the same, but by turns - one retreats, then watches as the other retreats. Paranoia really is endemic in this profession. By the time they make it back to the ramp, the HWK-290's cargo lift is descending from the bottom of its bay. A rectangular cargo box, just like any other - heavier than even multiple men could lift. But that's why there are loader droids, who commence their assigned task when instructed to. Their business concluded, the Mikkian disappears into the back of the HWK-290. The twi'lek and the woman with a penchant for cutting people stand at the bottom of the lift only until the cargo plat is removed, and then they ride it up, still watching the 'Three Move Mate' until they disappear.

R2-Z7 trills uncertainly, transmitting across the earbud comlinks what is clearly a question of some kind, as the other ship waits before departing - a courtesy, it seems, since they already have what _they_ want. Mostly.

Kergin's earbud trilled but he ignored it until he was back in the ship, and the others were inside. After a few long moments, he made sure everyone was onboard and closed the ramp. "I think so, but we're not out of the woods yet," he said, still in the Kergin voice as he headed to the cockpit. "I don't want any unexpected surprises. Legs, Red, scan the cargo for surprises. R2, scan and see if we've picked up any bugs."

Paranoia really is endemic in this profession. Kergin pretty much fell into the pilot's seat once he reached the cockpit. The ship was still running warm, and he started going through pre-flight. "If anything's gonna happen, it'll be now..."

Legs, a.k.a. Kasia, keeps back as the cargo is loaded into the ship, trying not to let the absolute relief show on her face as it is. She'll save that and any sort of celebration for when they're gone, hidden away somewhere marginally safer than their current position. Though you're can only be so safe while still being on Nar. "Gotcha," is her reply to the paranoid Kergin, and she immediately sets to work checking over the cargo as best she can.

Watching the process with a much more casual approach to life, Kelnas finally lights his cigarette and moves to scan the cargo with Legs. "At least he doesn't call you "The Ass."

R2-Z7 beeps once and then gets to work, scanning the ship with his onboard sensor suite.

Kasia's scans reveal nothing but various appendages, motors, and lifelike hands and feet, in varieties suited to many species. If there's a bomb, it's a very, very subtle one. It reads as clear.

A complicated series of chirps and then a harsh buzzing sound come from 'Razz' after a few minutes. Anyone who understands Binary doesn't need it, but on consoles aboard the ship, the translation appears: "No active intrusion detected. More scanning recommended. Ship is too irregular to be certain that anomalies will be found."

The ship is still powered up, and review shows that systems are green across the grid.

"Thanks buddy," said Kergin, as the repulsors kicked in and Yan carefully eased the ship away from the landing pad and into the narrow canyons. "Alright ladies and gentlemen, strap yourselves in, and thank you for flying Air Zhu." Zhu Yan was back, and for once, they were in the clear. All the while, his free hand hovered over the Shields button. Could never be too careful.