Dunes and Goons (Closed)

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus hated sand. Sirus hated sand because it was difficult to walk in, it got in your eyes on a blowy day and it made places itch that weren't meant to be itched in public. Sirus would have loved Tatooine, if it wasn't for all that damn sand.

He sat in one of the local cantinas, sipping on whiskey. Apparently the syndicate had business somewhere nearby. Allies were somewhere on the planet, and as always, Sirus had no idea who there were or where they were. All he could do was wait.

[Kazia]

:: A Zeltron walked past Sirus, dressed in black leather that almost seemed to be painted on. She wore Twin Seburo 'Frontier' model blaster pistols on a gunslinger's belt, and her crimson hair was cropped short. leaning with an elbow on the bar, she waved to get the bartender's attention ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus' eyes widened for a moment as he spied the Zeltron's figure, before snapping out of it and diverting his gaze. Still, he hadn't met up with his partners yet. He had time to kill.

"It's on me" he croaked up as the bartender came across, giving the girl a grin and lifting his glass.

[Kazia]

:: Kazia turned and raised a brow ::

"Do I know you?"

[Sirus Blackjack]

"Would you like to, sweetheart?" he responded without missing a beat. Oh yes, he still had it. :p

[Kazia]

:: She rolled her eyes at the man, and turned to order two ales. She kept one at the empty seat next to her. Hopefully he would get the hint ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

He didn't.

"You know..." he purred, turning on his seat and leaning his back against the bar, his arms spread along the top. "...I've got a pretty sweet ship parked up at the yard. Hows about we get out of here for a bit and err...". He started drawing circles on the bartop with his index finger. "...I'll show yer around."

[Kazia]

:: Kazia scoffed at the lame pick-up. She'd heard them all a dozen times over. There wasn't a single place in the galaxy she could walk into where the males stopped eating whatever they ordered and wanted to eat her instead. She took a swallow of her ale, wondering what was keeping Corvus ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus rolled his head.

"Aw, listen baby, that's just rude" he whined, taking another sip of his whiskey. "Look, you're gonna love this. I can treat you like no other guy, I promise you that my sweet."

He leant forward again, sitting up on his stool.

[Kazia]

:: Kazia turned again, and there was a sparkle in her eyes ::

"You promise?"

[Corvus]

:: Corvus was standing behind Sirus, listening as he dug his grave a little deeper ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

"I promise you that, and so much more" Sirus grinned, finishing his whiskey in a quick shot. Finally he was getting somewhere. "Why don't we get outta here for a bit? Get some air?" he said, hopping to his feet.

[Kazia]

:: Kazia stood up as if to follow, and laughed as he turned right into Corvus ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus stumbled back a few feet, taken by suprise.

"Wheey, easy there pal" Sirus yelped, looking up at the looming figure of Corvus. His features softened as he recognised the giant, and could guess that he was the one Blackjack was supposed to be meeting with.

"Aha, Corvus! I was starting to wonder when someone would show" he said, his attention completely taken from the Zeltron.

[Corvus]

:: The big Corellian glared down at him in warning, then it turned into a smile as he gave Sirus a friendly slap on the shoulder ::

"I'll give you a pass this time. Come have a seat."

[Kazia]

:: Kazia leapt up as Corvus lifted her by the hips, and wrapped her arms about his neck as she indulged in a passionate kiss. Sitting down again, she drank her ale and listened to the two men ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus' smile quickly turned upside-down.

"You two are...? Oh, geez..."

He rubbed the back of his head.

"Look, I...err...I take it all back darlin'. Wouldn't have worked out anyway" he stuttered, gesturin for he bartender to bring him another drink.

[Corvus]

:: Corvus chuckled ::

"Kazia's been with me four cycles now. She's the best partner I've ever had."

:: There was a gleam in his eye as he looked at her. This girl was his prized possession ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus sat down again, tossing a few credits over to pay for his drink and taking a gulp.

"So what's the job?" he asked, steering his mind back to business.

[Corvus]

"We got some competition in the Old Quarter. A gambling operation. We're gonna shut 'em down."

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus chuckled.

"They been warned?"

[Kazia]

"Frell the warning." Kazia spat. "It's the Zann Consortium. I suppose they didn't think we'd notice."

[Sirus Blackjack]

"That's the nicest thing you've said to me all day" Sirus replied, checking the blaster under his right armpit and draining his glass. "Let's get going then. I wanna get away from this damn sand ASAP."

[Corvus]

:: Corvus held up a hand and took his time, sipping the ale as though it were a vintage wine. Then he wiped the draft from his mustache for comedic effect before slapping some coins on the countertop ::

[Kazia]

:: Kazia laughed at his antics ::

"Alright, now we go!"

:: She scampered to the door, grinning like a devil ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus scowled, following Kazia outside. Mos Eisley was it's normal busy self, and the trio paced through the crowds towards the gambling outfit.

"Sirus, by the way" he directed at the girl, introducing himself properly.

[Kraleil 'Alekeg' Schous]

He didn't really know what they were doing there but Alekeg had come to see the wisdom of this visit as soon as they'd set foot inside the "den" and saw the row of bottles lining the wall behind the makeshift bar. Now completely ignoring his comrade, he moved past a bunch of sabacc and other gambling tables completely oblivious to anything other than what he'd spied from other side of the room already: two bottles of Mezzanine Gold.

Without further ado, he sat down at the bar, and bellowed at the barkeep - a sour-looking Dug - to get him what he wanted.

[You want a shot of Mezzanine? That'll be 500 a shot. You sure you can afford it?], the Dug asked in Huttese. It wasn't one of Kraleil's favorite languages but he had a passable understanding of it - at least when he was sober.

"A shot? Scragit, was I sayin' anything 'bout a shot? Gimme da frellin' bottle!"

And with that he threw down a credit chip. "Ya gotta be jokin', 500 fer a shot! I'll give ya 2000 for th' bottle, no more. If ya miserable piece of krolp think ya can cheat me yar making the last mistake of yar life!"

He glowered at the Dug until the barkeep was sufficiently convinced that he wasn't going to back down a bit, and, muttering to himself, got down the bottle, took a glass from the shelf and slammed them both down on the bar in front of Kraleil's face.

"Tak-koh tee womprat e'nachu," the Dug grumbled, and went to stand as far away from Alekeg as he could.

[Rylard 'Lardo' Tenf]

Similarly excited as Alekeg was about the bar, Lardo found himself in the nearest empty seat of a sabacc table. He reached a hand into his heavy duster, which had kept much of the blowing sand off his good clothes, and pulled out a handful of cred sticks. He threw one to the dealer and received a number of chips equal to the value of 50,000 credits. He returned the remaining sticks to his pocket and withdrew a cigar. He pierced it and lit it.

The others around the table, two Humans, a Jawa, and a Bith shared a laugh thinking Lardo was some big time bluff, and an easy mark. He'd clean them out no problem. The large Zabrak threw in the first bet of two thousand credits. The other met it and the first two cards were delt.

Two of Coins, and a Nine of Sabres.

The Jawa raised four thousand and called for another card. Lardo bumped it up to five thousand and also called for another card. As the pot grew the cards were dealt, everyone was still in.


Demise.

Damnit!

[Muuulv 'Muzzle' H'neh]

Muuulv got to the bar just in time to hear the barkeep's last statement, and his Huttese was good enough to understand the threat. It made him grin. Looked like the Dug and he had a common dislike for his Defel comrade.

He sat down at the bar close to where the Dug was standing, and with sufficient distance between himself and that sodden fool Alekeg. His dislike for the Defel was legendary, and ran almost as deep as his dislike of white shells or metal men.

He'd come along to this joint because Lardo had asked him to scout out the potentials, and that's what he was going to do.

"Mroov?" he asked the barkeep, hopefully.

[Tarn Ardsul]

Tarn was slouched in his chair, picking at his tooth with a toothpick, completely sabbac faced. The only thing that broke his concentration and afforded a smile was the lovely lady that was draped around his neck, ogling his cards. Jhena had actually washed her face for their little outing today, otherwise she was always covered in some sort of grime. Such is the life of a mechanic.

The bet was back to him and he surveyed his opponents, a Twi'lek, a Dug and an Ithorian. So far the Dug was the only one putting up a fight. The other two were basically giving up their credits evenly between them both. Another few hands, and this table would be done.

He threw 1000 credits into the pot to match the bid and put down the 3 of sabers next to his 2 of coins and ace of coins. 20 was a good number but he was doing some mental notes as to how to cards had been falling for the last 6 hands. There was a good chance that the Idiot was going to pop up and he was hoping that it was going to land in his hot little fingers. Because if it did, and Idiot's Array would win him the money on the table and the sabbac pot. A nice little 24,000 credits to walk away with ...

[Tirsa]

:: Tirsa had been watching Tarn like a hawk from her end of the bar. It looked like the flyboy was going to own these frellniks. Then it would be her turn to own him. :yum and his cutie too. :D

She reached for her drink as she oogled the humans, not realizing it was the same glass she'd emptied a moment ago. Annoyed, she slapped her gloved hand on the table and shouted at the Dug bartender ::

"Hey Horseface!!! :p Fetch me another raslak!!! Please." :D

[Muuulv 'Muzzle' H'neh]

Muzzle stared at the bluefaced female for a long moment, trying to decide if it was worth disliking her. She was loud, blueish white and had an interesting sense of fashion. He had no idea what sort of a species she came from. The skintone reminded him of white shells, for some reason.

He decided that he wasn't going to decide on her just yet.

"Hey you! It's my turhrrrn firhrrrzzzt. You wait!"

[Tirsa]

"Well, I wouldn't have to wait if old Horsey here would get his eema in gear."

:: The Dug grumbled, sliding another glass down the bar towards Tirsa. She caught it and winked at Muzzle ::

"Thank you." :D

[Kraleil 'Alekeg' Schous]

Alekeg knocked back his third shot of the Mezzanine, then decided it would be better to slow down. This stuff was too expensive to be treated in such a disrespectful manner. Therefore he filled the glass one more time and only took a small sip afterwards. Put the glass down. Counted to five in basic, which was shorter than his native tongue. Then took another, bigger sip. This he repeated.

Tedious maybe, but at least respectful of the value of the drink.

[Muuulv 'Muzzle' H'neh]

He decided that she wasn't as bad as a white shell but maybe annoying enough to warrant a classification as blue shell. Which was a paradox as she was wearing no armor. Didn't matter. He generally disliked females. Mentally, he added the weird blue one to his list.

"Cheaterhrr..., " he grumbled. "I azzzk'd firhrrzzzt."

[Corvus]

"We have a hidden gun inside the place. A Nebari. She's the one who tipped us off. Anyone else inside who shoots back when things cut loose, fry'em."

[Kazia]

:: Kazia gave her lover a wink and led the group down a backstreet. They were less than a block away from the gambling house, and a few businesses sighed in relief as they passed by ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

"A Nebari? Got it" Sirus confirmed, checking the blaster by his armpit as they closed in on the destination. "What's the plan? Big and nasty? Or sneaky sneaky?"

[Kazia]

:: The Zeltron's eyes danced as she drew one of her pistols and twirled it expertly. For a girl of 18 years, her skill and dexterity was unreal ::

"We do whatever we frelling want, whenever we want to do it."

:: She aimed at a passing toydarian and the alien froze, panic-stricken. The fear made her smile, and she let him live ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus raised a brow.

"Riiiiight..."

He nudged Corvus gently.

"She always like this?"

[Corvus]

:: Corvus smiled ::

"I saw this girl fight a rattlesnake once. She got in the first two bites."

:: He gave her a wink and she made a kissy face in return for the compliment. They reached the door and Corvus pulled a hand cannon from the holster beneath his duster. He nodded for Sirus to go first ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus drew his own blaster, checking it over. With his right hand, he pushed open the door, his left wielding the weapon. Stepping inside, he scanned the large room with the blaster as Corvus and Kazia followed him inside.

"Everyone stay calm and no-one gets hurt!" he announced boldly.

[Corvus]

:: Corvus and Kazia traded a brief look and Corvus pistol-whipped the doorman ::

"Correction." He growled deeply. "This is a Black Sun House Call, we're shutting you down!!!"

[Jhena Belitski]

:: Jhena gave a yelp as the trio burst into the room. She nudged Tarn in the side and whispered in his ear ::

"let's get out of here ..." :uhoh

[Kraleil 'Alekeg' Schous]

When the doors slammed open and the Black Sun goons started yelling around, Alekeg decided it was time to get moving. Taking a quick look around if anyone had an eye on him, he took the momentary confusion that reigned all over the place as cover for his own action - and with a fluid motion that totally belied his otherwise drunken behavior, he grabbed the bar and threw himself over it, landing on the floor behind the drinks tap.

The Dug barkeep was still rooted to the spot on the other end of the bar, and hadn't noticed him yet since he was rather busy looking frightened and watching was what happening to his customers.

Satisfied that the barkeep's attention was diverted, Alekeg slowly raised his head up to peek over the bar. It wasn't that he couldn't use the advantage his race had over humans anyway, but he'd found that there were other species equipped with the necessary senses to see him, and he didn't know if any of the Black Sunners could do that. Slowly, he grabbed his precious bottle of Mezzanine and the half-filled glass, and rescued them, then crouched down on the ground with his back to the bar and started drinking the rest of the bottle, one glass-ful after another.

[Muuulv 'Muzzle' H'neh]

"Black Zzzzun, eh?" Muzzle said with a low growl, then gave an equally low wolf-whistle. He'd never had any dealing with them before - at least not directly - but had heard enough to know that someone was in serious trouble.

Not bothering to get up from his chair, he stuck his arms halfway up into the air in a lazy fashion to show he wasn't an enemy. He was wasn't quite sure who they had come for, but was almost certain they hadn't come for the Black Bloods. But nevertheless he tried to make eyecontact with Lardo, who was nominal leader of their gang as long as they were on this planet.

[Rylard 'Lardo' Tenf]

Lardo laid his cards face down and got a sight of Muzzle while checking his peripherals, he gave the slightest of nods before raising his own hands high. The shortsleeve shirt he chose to wear free of his t-shirt stretched and tore slightly under his arm, the sound was unmistakable and drew some of the shocked crowds attention.

Damnit, he thought, flashed a smile and then said aloud, "Wonderful timing, was just gonna clean house."

The Iridonian glanced around for his crewmates and gestured for them to all do the same in raising their hands. He didn't need to land them into trouble. Slowly he stood up and turned to face the Black Sun. Maybe some talk would let them slip outta the situation.

[Tarn Ardsul]

Tarn threw a serious stare at Jhena, holding up one finger to shush her. "Just do what the boss says and we'll be ok."

He threw his cards down and held up his hands, encouraging his girl to do the same.

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus narrowed his eyes, his gaze locking onto Iridonian as he stood. The Black Sun employee turned on him, the barrel of his blaster aimed firmly at the red-skinned being.

"Not so fast, pal. What's the idea?" Blackjack growled.

[Rylard 'Lardo' Tenf]

Looking down at the barrel made Lardo sick, he didn't let it show. He'd stared at them before, and over the years built up a tolerance that at least allowed him to mask his fear of death.

"Just want to get my crewmates outta here is all." Lardo said, "No need to catch a shot-"

Lardo dropped without a thought onto his stomach. Pain, big and large did not mean cushioned. Shots rang out and he reached into his jacket to grip the pistol in his shoulder rig. He rolled onto his back and popped a shot off at the humans who'd opened up, they kept firing.

[Kazia]

:: The two humans got froggy, and decided to go for their guns ::

"GET THE FRAK DOWN!!!"

:: Kazia leapt though the air, knocking Sirus out of the way as blastershots criss-crossed where he was standing. She returned fire, shooting past the fat zabrak as she rolled up into a crouch ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus slid down, tipping up a nearby table and taking cover behind it.

"Get your crew out then!" he called back to the Zabrak. "Just don't get in the way!"

Peeking out, he took a few pot-shots at where fire was coming from.

[Muuulv 'Muzzle' H'neh]

Muzzle decided this wasn't a good time to play target-boy to a bunch of Tatooine farmboys, and took the most prudent course out of the blasterlines: he leapt over the bar.

But there he found several surprises waiting for him: a Gran barkeep clutching a concussion rifle who had just soiled himself and there was a puddle of stinking poodoo an inch away from where he had just landed - and there was a dark blob at the far end of the bar, right about where Alekeg had been sitting earlier. It didn't take two guesses to know what that dark blob was. But what in karking space was he doing?

Ripping the concussion rifle out of the Gran's hands - not a problem - he slid around the pile of poodoo as well as he could while trying to keep his head down and out of the way of any stray blasterbolts that were crisscrossing the cantina.

But when he reached his crewmate he almost forgot everything else. The Defel appeared to be speed-drinking a bottle of something yellowish, by the glassful. "What in krhrrriffing Hutt-zzzpace arhrrre you doing?!?"

His raised voice almost caused him his death as a not-too-well-aimed blasterbolt went his way and zapped against the mirror on the wall behind him, ricocheting off into the cantina again a millisecond later.