Collect Call

[Barton Henning]

It was a strange and rare kind of day in Cloud 9 - a quiet one. In the kitchen, the chef lazily slapped another nerf steak onto the grill, as with another of his four arms he took a messy bite of the sandwich he'd made from the previous unsold steak. Whatever the people of Cloud City were up to today, it didn't seem to involve dining out, with the clientele comprised mostly of spacers who needed a few gallons of stim-caff to keep their frayed nerves alive.

It was into this stillness, this calm, that a ringing sounded. Loud and boisterous, it was coming from the communication panel behind the bar...

[Molly Black]

Molly was just getting ready to send one of the newer girls home early, it was that slow today. The employee in question found her shift prolonged as Molly was distracted by the sudden ringing of the comm panel. Dropping the edge of her apron, that she had been using to polish the same corner of the bar into a lustrous sheen for the last twenty minutes, she leaned over and lifted the receiver to her ear. Habit demanded that she treat each caller, incoming or outgoing with some discretion. She had not been hired for her long legs, though they did help on occasion..

"Cloud 9, Molly speaking."

[Barton Henning]

“Molly?”

The voice on the other end of the line sounded tense, yet familiar.

“I need to speak to your boss, right away. It's urgent.”

[Molly Black]

Yeah, it was always urgent when someone had some business with Mu.

Leaning forward onto her elbows, affording those on the opposite side of the bar a tantalizing view of her famed legs, and upturned backside, Molly scratched the back of her left leg with the toe of her right heeled shoe, while trying to place the callers voice.

Definitely someone she knew..

"Sorry. Mu's not in. She's taken off for a while. Anything I can help you with?"

[Barton Henning]

“When will she be back?”

On second thoughts, he couldn't wait. Whilst he trusted Mu, there was no guarantee that she'd be port-side again anytime soon. Just what had happened to her, after he had left, was a mystery...

“Look, Molly – it's the Doctor. I need you to do something for me. There isn't much time.”

[Molly Black]

Dr. Henning was one of the patrons that Molly genuinely liked. He was a good guy, and Mu liked him. That told Molly quite a bit. Besides, he had this whole 'world weary, badly in need of a hug' thing that Molly found incredibly charming, and if nothing else, she trusted him. The fact that he sounded distressed, made her distressed.

"Sure.. Whatever you need.", she refrained from saying his name, or Doc, or anything else that would give away the identity of the caller.

Instinct.

Damn good instincts for a waitress...

Molly was already clocking out, and writing a note to Spenny about how she had to jet outta there early on personal business.

[Barton Henning]

“There are some things in my apartment that I need.. but I can't come back to the City anytime soon.”

Nevermind the fact that his apartment was being monitored frequently by covert Imperial agents who were aware that he was a Force User and wished to ask him a few questions.

“Could you get them to me some how? Even just... this wooden box I have. It's about a foot long, the lid is engraved. There should be an emergency access key to my place somewhere in Mu's office.”

[Molly Black]

"Mhmm..", she straightened and looked toward the office.

"So, when your order is ready, where would you like it delivered, sir?", she asked.

Damn, when did life get so complicated?

[Barton Henning]

Silently, Barton was relieved that it had been Molly who had answered the call instead of, for instance, Spenny. She had the disinterested attitude down to an art-form. Part of him wondered how she was so good at that, but he pushed the thought aside for now.

“The Refugee Sector of the Smuggler's Moon. It's important that-”

click - the line went dead.

[Molly Black]

"Uhh.. It's important that, what...?", Molly pulled the reciever away from her ear and looked like she might shake it, in the hopes of making the sentence fall out the other end.

"Right.. important that your fillet is extra rare, got it..", she sighed and replaced the receiver, stepping away from the bar. She made her way to Mu's office. It took her a few minutes of looking around, because.. Mu was cagey like that. Nothing was in the place you expected to find it, especially not something like a hidden key. Closing the door so no one would she her up to her antics, Molly wound up climbing on the desk, standing on tip toe and sticking her fingers into an air filtration vent, and then...she felt the key, and nearly fell off the desk in her excitement that she was on the right track.

Hopping down, she straighten Mu's desk, leaving her a note that read:

I'll bring it back. Needed to borrow it for our friend.
~Molly~

"Well, that it girls. I'm out for the day. Make some money huh? Push the special..", and without further ado, she was out the door of the Cloud Nine.


*****



Arriving at level 115, Molly walked the short distance to the residential corridor where Dr. Henning's apartment was located. As she was warned, she saw for herself that not only were there more people lurking around than was necessary. Outside his door, two of them were Imperial troopers, clad in white and looking ready to shoot the news delivery boy if he came too close.

Ok, Doctor.. You are going to owe me big time. Free medical for life at the very least.

Opting to think up some kind of plan before getting herself arrested, Molly turned back the way she came, retreating. Making her way down another hall, she spotted a cleaning droid using an access key to enter a different apartment, and that's when brilliance struck! She practically ran back to the turbolifts to the shopping level. She made her way to a very special boutique, where customers could be outfitted with uniforms in a variety of fantastical themes. She went with the sultry maid look, of course. Frilly black skirts, little lacy white apron. Storm troopers, after all, were men beneath all that armor, and men she could handle..

She returned, ready for action, striding right up to the troopers, who's expressions were concealed beneath their helmets, but she could only imagine. "Hello there.. Something wrong with the Doc?"

They recovered long enough to inform her that Dr. Henning was wanted for questioning, and she would have to leave.

"Oh, well.. I'm Molly. I work at the Cloud 9? You boys get over there much?", she smiled sweetly.

"Anyways...", she continued. "A couple times a month I come over and pick up for the doctor. He bought me this uniform, I think it's a bit too much, but he pays well. You know for such a sanitary man, he sure can't put his own socks in the laundry, the lazy sod. I have a key.. You want to pop inside and have a look around?"

She was in.

[Molly Black]

As they escorted her in, she caught sight of some other men in suits, trying to blend into the scenery further down the hall. Instinct told her that she would have more to worry about from them than later, than from the obviously placed Imperial troops now. They had a sharp, subtle look about them that spoke of interrogations and false charges. Molly knew their kind well..

No sooner had she crossed the threshold into the Doc's apartment than she was stopped short, two white gloved hands closing around her arms. The door shut behind them ominously and Molly wanted to groan at her own stupidity. They could do just about anything with her now and no one would ever know what had become of little miss Molly Black..

"Security measure, ma'am. You'll have to submit to a contraband check."

Which equated to, she had a cute backside and he couldn't wait to frisk her, but she said nothing to that effect. She was not armed and he would find nothing on her.

"If I must.", she sighed and held her arms out. Almost instantly she was patted down starting at her shoulders. Her face betrayed no hint of the nervousness she felt. Instead, she tried to settle into the idea that she was Doctor Henning's saucy maid and used to this sort of thing..

As the trooper's hands moved over her ribs, brushing carelessly close to areas he had no business looking for stashed weapons, she got a little irritated. He was onto her hips now, and circling around the back of her thighs moving down her legs, and...

"Ok, ok.. Enough is enough. Anything more I can provide you with a list of my prices.", she winked and moved to the cart of cleaning supplies, picking up a bag. Satisified that she was exactly what she appreaed to be, a waitress with some questionable side jobs, but nothing more, the troopers separated, one remained watching her, the other stole into the doc's bedroom.

Uncomfortable, she moved around the apartment humming softly, wishing that the doctor could at least have been a little more messy, backing up her claim that he was a slob in need of a housekeeper. She did manage to find a castoff pair of shoes on the floor under the couch, and a bowl on the table. Picking them up she busied herself with putting them into their proper places while looking for an engraved wooden box.

She spotted it on a low table not far from where the remaining trooper was now and gulped. Dropping the bowl in the kitchen and tucking the shoes under her arm, she made a showing of flouncing around in the bouncy black skirt as she tidied up. Moving closer to him, she grinned and grabbed the box.

"'Oh! 'S'cuse me...", she laughed and shoved it under her other arm. "Always leaving things were they don't go.. Naughty doctor.", she chided.

"I'm almost done boys. Looks like he wasn't here much after the last time I cleaned. I'll just stick these things in the closet and be out of your way.", passing the other trooper who was busy going through a chest of drawers with little finese.

She ducked into the closet quickly, knowing she had prescious few seconds before one of them appeared. She lay the box on a shelf, and with no small amount of suspense lifted the lid. She wasn't sure what she expected to find, but surely something more exciting than a...whetever it was. Some one of his medical tools, she guessed. Removing the cylindrical object from the box, she hoped it was a damn pricy one for all the trouble she had gone through to get it for him. She lifted a leg, stepping her beribboned toes onto the lowest shelf, shoving the instrument into the band of the lacy garter against her inner thigh, then without further delay decided it was time to get the hell out of there.

"Ok boys.. I'm out of here!", she went back out into the main living quarters and began pushing the cart toward the front door. "Stop by the Cloud 9 and see me huh? Let me know if you find the doc.."

One of them was already moving to stop her. "Just a minute, miss.."

"She was only out of my sight for a second.", the second tropper assured the first.

Molly's heart slammed against her chest. If they searched her again she was done for. She turned and smiled, naming a price if they wanted to have another go and search her again? As she suspected.. they couldn't afford her and she left, pulling the door closed.

Doc, you are in some kind of trouble..

Pushing her stolen cart along, Molly tried to mentally navigate the fastest route to her ship, and the wisdom of taking it. She needed to get out of here fast. The only person that would likely have her ship tracked would be Kasajian, and she was ok with that, she might even need her help at some point if she got into a scrape she couldn't get herself out of, but right now..? The situation called for subtlety.

Peeking over her shoulder as she pressed the lift buttons once more, she saw that indeed, the suits were following her.

"Great..", she muttered..