Log:SMASH: Eyeball
It was supposed to just be a meeting.
OOC Date: June 05, 2022
Location: Nar Shaddaa
Participants: SMASH: Caius Sentari, Aiden Cruxis, Azamu; Hahtavi Kora, Cora Das
[Caius]
Twi'Lick is /bumping/ this time of night. The music slaps, the women (and men) are hot, and the drinks and credits are flowing. The club itself is Hutt turf - no surprise - and anything goes…unless you're disrupting said flow. Good thing Caius and company are doing neither.
A whole private booth has been set aside for Caius, Azamu, Nazamine and Aiden - with him at the head. Being a Cartel affiliate has perks, and nobody's who's /sane/ is gonna be bothering them or even attempt to listen in. And usually, Cai would be taking full advantage of these perks with dancers and drinks (and probably spice), but nope! All biz today, surprisingly.
"So let's call this drek to order.", Caius vocalizes in that rough Coreward Imperial accent of his, loud enough to be heard in this quiet(er than usual) corner of theirs. "First off, I wanted to inform you all of recent developments. So far, SMASH has stopped terrorists in Coruscant attempting to create a blazing sinkhole several under-levels deep. If you didn't already know, our Mandate is to suppress and counter these sorts of incidents - and we've been given Special powers to do so." He looks over to the nearby wall where Hahtavi has chosen to hitch himself against, nodding as if to confirm something.
"Hence the name, right? S, M, A, S, H. The Special Mandate Against Street Hoodlums. We counter terrorism and any of the other assorted threats to law and order, wherever they may lead, /by whatever means necessary/. Now, that being said. We've also been chasing after a rather nasty gang called /Atrox/." At this, Caius leans over. "They're producing a tainted drug that, ideally, turns people into super-soldiers, but all they've done is produce legions of ferals. On Coruscant, yes, but it all started /here/." He taps a finger down on the table, to emphasise 'here'.
"So they're here. Specifically, the Undercity, where I've been attacked by their left-overs. So you all have no excuses. Whether you are here or at the Core, I expect you to be doing your part rooting Atrox out. Locations, names, supply lines. Let me know and we will find a way to take 'em out." Caius then lights a cigarette as he reclines. "…any questions?"
[Cora Das]
"Ah. That kind of work. Well, I'm afraid to say that it is not exactly the sort that I was looking for," Cora Das says to the rather skeezy-looking Hutt Cartel manager across from her. He seems entirely confused by her rebuttal of the work offer. Dancers do, after all, very seldom get to dance at Twi'licks on their own accord. But Cora checks a lot of boxes. Pretty. Blonde. Young. Fit. And, apparently, completely off the menu. "I don't understand," he says plainly, "What did you think the job was for?"
"I don't know. A cook, or something less…" she gestures up towards the stage where a VERY enthusiastic Twi'lek is shaking it like her life is on the line. Because it is! She's a slave! "That," Cora adds.
"Listen, honey. Not much for a girl like you to do on Nar Shaddaa but dance or turn tricks," he replies, and is met with a rather cold and frosty expression from the young woman across from him. The shimmering black top that hangs over her torso is adjusted, and she simply stands up. Without a word, she begins to depart. "Ayo, your loss sweetcheeks. I'm sure I'll see vou up on that stage sooner or later with an attitude like that. Bit of extra jewelry on ya," he adds.
"Hmmmh," Cora murmurs as she begins to depart.
As she makes her way towards the exit, fate brings her near towards where the Special Mandate Against Street Hoodlums has set up for their meet and greet and ice cream social. The young woman's keen hearing picks up on the last few sentences that Caius says and, a moment or two later, it's a strange woman in a shiny leather jacket that asks the first question.
"Does it pay well?"
[Aiden Cruxis]
"I do have one question" A hand raises is raised at chest level as this was said. "You said leftovers? How many or how big are these 'leftovers sir?" The young man's face was expressionless until they were interrupted by an uninvited guest, a woman wearing a shiny leather jacket, his blue eyes dart over the direction of where the voice came from, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.
[Hahtavi Kora]
A Mandalorian in full heavy battle armor, jetpack, and various weapons is indeed leaning against the wall right beside those who are seated in the booth. The Kora is keeping an eye on things going on around them as he listens in. No one can see his face scowling. Hahtavi /hates/ nightclubs. Loud, noisy, crowded places with flashing lights. Too much like being in a fire fight and makes him twitchy, wanting to hop behind cover and blow things up. Not to mention people NOT respecting his personal space.
<"From what I have gathered, Atrox operated here on Nar Shaddaa before. The Waywards shut their facility down a few years ago. Their recent resurfacing on Nar Shaddaa proves that they have backing - money trails from shell companies, deeds that let them set up under the radar - but I'm still looking into that.">
[Azamu]
"Hear hear," Azamu says at the to call the Dreck to order. He sips his drink and listens to the others, still keeping a watchful eye out.
[Caius]
Caius chose a noisy, bumping nightclub for a reason - very, very little can be overheard from this corner booth by any prospects hoping to listen in to the uniformed and armoured group. So when this pretty-random bystander steps up to them and asks if the work pays, Caius can be forgiven if he matches Aiden's expression - one of suspicion, as he does a double-take at Cora.
"And you are…?", the man in black asks, clad in his uniform and an aura of officiousness, however ridiculous that is in a titty bar. He continues eyeing the woman appraisingly as he answers Aiden, "They're big. The common feral is just your typical human or near-human or humanoid, only emaciated, hunched-over, blood poring out of their eyes and any other relevant orifice. They'll charge at you with no regard for their own health, to get a bite out of ya'. Yeah, they're nasty." Almost like he's warning off the seeming non-combatant who asked for a paying job. He does turn his attention to Aiden in full, though. "The bigger ones, I call 'brutes'. Real big frakkers, modicum of weapon knowledge - usually melee - leads packs. Honestly our first targets, since they seem to be able to endow groups of ferals with tactics."
To Hahtavi, he nods. "Haven't heard that before. We'll be sure to dig into their pasts at our next meet, maybe something will show that can lead us to whoever's funding 'em, and take 'em out, too." Heavy stuff. And he was just about to turn his attentions back to Cora, in an apparent attempt to watch her reaction to everything that was said so far… but hey, well, if you wanted to test someone's mettle, the best way is through actual fire, right?
A big CRASH sounds off the beaded entranceway. A big scuffle. One could be forgiven to think that, perhaps, it was a couple of drunks being rowdy while being dragged away and outside. But nope, there was an inhuman roar that followed. The ferals rush in - seemingly dragged along by a couple of Brutes - and power their way past bouncers and guards and feasting on them. At this point, pandemonium ensues, as sentients flee towards any exit they can find.%r%rCaius immediately darts upwards from his seat, toting an E-11. Apparently, he's held it below the table this entire time. Just to be safe, after all… "Well, looks like we're gettin' a closer look after all.", he tells his entourage as he activates his weapon.
[Cora]
Cora is plainly dressed and pretty. Big blue eyes and street clothes. How it is, exactly, that she heard the conversation in the corner booth will likely remain a mystery. Blame strange acoustics or fancy Human Replica Droid sensory suites. In either case, she's standing there now, curiosity on her expression more than anything else. When met with suspicion and incredulity, Cora remains fairly neutral in her expression.
"Someone who likes money," she says simply, but there isn't time for much more. A loud crash through the beaded entry causes her attention to shift in its direction and her hand to drop to a small little vibro-blade that she'd been securing on her person. The draw and activation of the blade is a single sweeping motion. She flicks it from her thigh to the edge of the table, tapping its blade on the surface to activate an internal micro-vibration engine invisible to the naked eye. But very, very visible to flesh, skin, blood and bone. The blade hums in her palm, and she gives it a backwards flip, and then a forwards flip to check for weight and balance.
The charging brutes are what Cora hones in on, and she steps towards one of then and delivers a series of three rapid strikes. The first slashes high, but the second two? Lethal. The second plunges between a ribcage, and the third rips its way through the belly. She steps coldly to the side when Hahtavi's shot finishes off the second brute, and her eyes turn towards the smaller ferals still surrounding the area.
[Aiden]
You never really know how your day is gonna turn out in Nar Shaddaa, especially at the Shady places, Who or what you're going to meet, Aiden was reminded of this fact when sounds of crashing came off the entranceway and then ferals and brutes appear as if they were given life by Caius' words. He pulls out his "Persuader" as the partying immediately switched to chaos and fighting. He immediately shoots without aiming first to try and deter the ferals from attacking their group, it unfortunately misses as it was an unaimed shot, however by the second time, Aiden has already adjusted his aim and fired a second shot, the blaster shot whizzing past the woman who had begun to fight alongside them.
[Hahtavi]
As soon as all drek starts to break out, the Mandalorian pulls a rifle and calmly clips it to his tactical rig to hang down the front of his armor. Both armored gauntlets gripping his weapon, the Kora smiles behind his helmet, <"Looks like your guests have arrived, Caius. Try not to shoot the bystanders."> With that, the Guild bounty hunter steps out of their nook and starts to make his way through the screaming clients of the establishment and the Twi'lek girls who work there.
Hahtavi doesn't pull any grenades to huck. He doesn't even raise his rifle to take aim until he's got a fairly clear shot of one of the Brutes that grabs a screaming woman. His modified Galaar opens up, the first bolt nailing the Brute soundly!
The second shot goes for another but Cora's already dropping that one and the Mando's shot nails the wall instead.
[Azamu]
Azamu quickly grabs up his ax and rushes forth to attack two to the ferals, killing one of them and readying himself for further battle.
[Caius]
Like one of those heroic monuments, Caius climbs up on his seat and hitches a foot on the table, affecting an elevated crouched position as he looses his first two shots. He barely injures the feral he hits, missing his second shot too - but at least he looks nice doing it.
"Here we go, boys! … and girl…", he voices afterwards, though he does allow himself the leisure of watching the action. At Cora's immediate jump into the fray, he fashions an impressed grin. "Maybe ya got in in ya' after all!", he shouts out at her, while Hahtavi gets an affirming nod. He probably doesn't mean it, as he didn't even give much thought aiming beyond at the general direction of the invaders, no matter who was in the way, but at least he tries this time. Weaving his barrel about to avoid some blobs running about, he lines up his next shot.
The scene is a mess, but way less so of a mess than when it began. The dancefloor is now a battleground - the injured bouncers laying there missing chunks of their flesh - with all four remaining ferals now bringing their full attentions to bear at Caius' entourage. They charge, scratch, bite and claw at the nearest, biggest target - in their eyes, Hahtavi - but luckily, all that footwork and armour does him wonders, and he's only ever nicked in the arm. One of the ferals show a modicum of intelligence and attempts to charge at Aiden, but Cora stepped in and side-swept the frakker. They're mad, that's clear, and losing steam - but they regroup and charge all the same, even without their Brute commanders. Perhaps there is a deeper intelligence present? We'll see…
[Cora]
Cora elegantly sidesteps one of the charging ferals and twirls her blade around in her palm. The blade facing down, it's just a matter of quickly plunging it backwards and into the root of the skull of the feral. Through the spine. The motion is hard and loud, a painful-sounding crack and cut as it severs bone and flesh alike. With that same maneuver, Cora rips it forward and twirls it in her hand again. The arc slings the blade to be front facing, the tiny vibrations within its core causing the blood to roll off like water atop a skillet. Little beads fall harmlessly to the floor.
Two quick strikes to the chest of a second feral see the creature lurch, spasm, and fall to the floor. Cora, to her credit, shows little to no emotion at all. It's as if she's doing a job.
[Aiden]
The Ferals and brutes numbers dwindle as their group make quick work of them no sooner than they came in. Thoughts raced in the mind of the Young Detective, was the attack deliberate or were they simply in the right place at the right time? If it was serendipity it was far too generous to them. Aiden's eyes scan the club for more targets, he leans back to avoid hitting both the Mandalorian and the woman fighting at the forefront before letting loose two almost simultaenous shots at the remaining ferals.
[Hahtavi]
The Mandalorian doesn't mind AT ALL that three of them come at him at once. Hahtavi's a tank and he's used to it. He does indeed dodge or deflect blows left and right, one snagging his arm between the plates just right and ripping his fibreweave bodysuit the plates are attached to, the pauldron on his upper right arm slightly loosened as the attachment point right there is torn free.
Through his vocoder, adrenaline up, Hahtavi doesn't even /feel/ the minor injury. But he brutally shoves his rifle around, trying to get that one off of him with point blank shots. The first bolt blasts the floor as the feral keeps moving, but the Kora's second shot burns the feral down.
All around them the dance floor is mostly wide open now. People are fleeing, still screaming, but trying to get the hell out. Or dropped to the floor and scurrying behind tables or booths for cover. People on Nar Shaddaa aren't stupid. They are used to this drek.
[Azamu]
Azamu is facing the ferals with the others, dodging their attacks and landing his own on another with a hefty swing of his ax, decapitating them as their head rolls a short distance from their body.
[Caius]
It's a damn well-oiled machine, and Cora ain't even hired yet. Caius lets loose his shots, and while he missed his first, his second rings true and vaporizes the head of a charging Feral. Cora's even faster, taking out two of them on her lonesome. Hahtavi eradicates one and drops one to the floor in short order, and Azamu, for all his bulk, coup-de-graces the one attempting to crawl its way to attacking whatever's in reach with a deafening head-chop. It happens quick, it happens smooth - and Caius is just about ready to drop it and make a little quick, when the beaded entranceway outright explodes into splinters, rubble, and, well, beads.
Ah, here is the actual intelligence leading this particular pack. If it can be called that, since it's just a big mass of flesh. And I mean /big/. It's about eight feet, wrong proportions, tumors all over, bleeding from the eyes and roaring inhumanly as it swings a makeshift sledgehammer about. All this being said, it looks vaguely feminine. And it rears up for a charge.
Caius sighs loudly. "Frak."
[Aiden]
Aiden looks around for any other Ferals and Brutes that they may have missed, as they still need to protect the people inside the club--his blue eyes quickly scan the area from top to bottom when the entranceway explodes, the young detective raises his free arm to shield his face and eyes from any splinter or debris that may fly in towards him. When a massive hulk of flesh enters. Aiden's eyes widen a bit, the others they were dispatching before were big sure, but this one? It was literally head and shoulders above them taking the initiative while his allies finish off the others he rushes in towards the jumbling mess of flesh and jams his pistol on it's stomach before pressing the trigger, firing two sizzling blaster shots point blank
[Hahtavi]
No sooner than it looks like they are done and the last feral thing goes down like a two bit hooker, than the Mando is turning and SOMETHING even larger than him bursts in through the bead dra... the /formerly/ bead draped doorway.
<"I hate nightclubs and beads...">
Hahtavi's rifle comes back up and he blasts a bolt right for the big tumor covered son of a Hutt, but the thing can dodge! The shot misses and the Kora follows up by continuing to blast away! The second bolt burns him some MEAT even as others like Cora close in and start slicing.
That woman's got some moves. Maybe nobody would blame the Mando for taking a second to just watch. It's kind of like performing art. And by the time the Kora might get another shot off, the others take the huge beast down and Hahtavi doesn't need to.
The bounty hunter lowers his rifle and looks around. <"Caius. You are going to have a hell of a tab to pay."> Hutts don't like their clubs being torn to drek. Heh.
[Azamu]
Azamu swings his ax at the big creature, not really able to land a solid hit at all. He seems more focused on trying to to get hit by the thing himself.
[Caius]
The well-oiled machine continues to operate with frightening efficiency, and Haht ain't even /part of the damn team at all/. Must be something universal to all warriors, moving as one unit - and move they do, taking their time chopping down BIG BERTHA like it was nothing. The beads have not even finished rolling across the floor when Cora starts stabbing at the Tank (we'll call these things that, now), and Aiden narrowly avoids slipping on them as he runs forth and flourishes point-blank shots at the thing. The mass of flesh shows some dexterity, as it slides over to avoid Hahtavi's shot! But it's no match for a Mandalorian's aim and prowess - the Lord of War blows a neat chunk of tumour off Bertha on his second shot.
And then it ends. Caius, of course, has to take the hero's part and take (read: steal) the kill, letting loose two shots from where he's at and hitting Bertha dead center - with a mass of tumors that big, how hard would it be to miss? - blowing two holes straight through it. It roars, flails about. Grasps at its sledgehammer by two hands, as if still attempting to swing, but it just slides all the way down, and expires. A fitting enough ending for one that missed its first swing at Caius. Just desserts, as it were.
"Yeah, yeah! How much do I owe you.", Caius asks of Hahtavi as he finally lets his carbine drop, flashing a razor-sharp grin at the Mando. "Damn, that was fun though, huh? You see now what we have ta' deal with!? Chaos! Disorder! Monsters! Goodness.", he says in general as he hops off the table.
[Hahtavi]
There's a laugh from the Mandalorian, <"How about 100k?"> He's /joking/, right? RIGHT?
Hahtavi waits just long enough to give Caius a heart attack or something, then rumbles to add, <"Pay your damages here, first. We can discuss /my/ payment later."> Nice guy. Maybe... maybe not.
His rifle's charge is checked and then Hahtavi shoulders it to snap it into it's maglock spot along one side of his jetpack. <"Time to go. Hutt Lords get annoyed when you shoot up their clubs."> Exit's right there and he wanders off to use it.
