Coruscant Tales: Wakes up in the gutter

[Sanis Prent]

(Sanis groggily opens his eyes, finding himself lying rather-uncomfortably in a gutter, not far from a nearby commercial restaurant and pub area on Coruscant. He had rented out a hotel room the other night, and let Dalee stay there, instead of in the high rent rathole that Younakka was running. He knew that she would appreciate that, and Sanis would also be glad that he wouldn't have to put up with that damnable Wookiee any more than he had to normally.

But how had he gotten in this interesting predicament? That was the question of the day, even as Sanis began to rattle the four-alarm hangover out of his head. Feeling nauseated, Sanis leaned over, vomiting in a way that told him that he had been drinking quite a large amount of bourbon the previous evening. As he sat up, he watched the throngs of people walking to and fro in the busy city, off to whatever errands or jobs they had. Sanis leaned back, staring at the smog-filled sky, and wondering why he was in such a pathetic demeanor. Wiping his mouth slightly, Sanis stood up, and checked himself, to make sure he hadn't been looted in his inebriated state. It was a miracle. Every trinket, every credit, and every little belonging Sanis had carried with him the previous day...was still there. Sanis sighed, and simultaneously grimaced from the stink in his breath. What luck! He was probably the first piss-drunk vagrant in Coruscant's history who wasn't robbed blind in the middle of his stupor.

Sanis walked--stumbled over to the wall of a nearby building. He looked at himself in the reflection of a dirty shop window. He was a frelling mess, and he didn't need to look to know that. Sanis rubbed his hands habitually through his unkept hair. What time was it? Sanis checked his chronometer. Noon....damn. Maybe he should give Dalee a call, to let her know she was okay.

Ah hell, who was he kidding...she wouldn't pick up the comm anyways. Sanis would have to go back...and in a rather bedraggled state. Dalee would give him that "You've been getting yourself in trouble" look, and Sanis didn't like the way guilt trips mixed with hangovers.

He could go back to his apartment, but Younakka would give him even more crap...saying something about trying to run an establishment with morals...BAH! That crooked old hairball was such a walking contradiction. Sanis smiled as he thought about one day exposing every underhanded scheme that living carpet had his paws in. That would settle some old scores, thats for sure.

Suddenly, Sanis recalled that he had no idea what happened last night. His eyes got wide as he considered the possibilities. Oh frell...there's no telling what he might have done. He hoped he simply got drunk, walked outside, and passed out, but things never seemed to work that way. There was always somebody who got cheated, somebody who got punched in the face, or somebody who got tussled with in bed.

Sanis' eyes went wider, exposing the bloodshot whites.

OH NO!

Sanis smelled his clothes, and pulled up his shirt looking at his chest. No gamey scent, and no claw marks. For all intents and purposes, it seemed he had avoided the amorous clutches of Sasseeri Reeouurra yet again. Sanis sighed. Good, that was something he wouldn't have to have Dalee bring up. Yeesh, that lady was on him like fat on a Hutt.

As Sanis weighed his options, he decided he'd rather put up with Dalee's disappointment than Younakka's scheming garbage. As he got his wits together, Sanis began to walk in the direction of the hotel he left her at. Walking into the lobby, he tried to look not-drunk, and patiently waited on the turbolift to arrive.)

[Qourr Mhawat]

She wakes up to glaring sunlight. Flightly hell, who had left the damn shutters open in this frickin place? Someone go up there and shoot the sun down!

Her head is aching dreadfully, and her stomach doesn't feel too nice either. Snatches of last night's entertainment come back to her, and that isn't particularly pleasant. She'd been doing really well, making up for all the rounds of drinks that she and her new-found Devaronian friends had been drinking, when this stupid guy had started taking her on, and won everything off her again. How was she to know that the guy would cheat like that?

Of course, arm wrestling wasn't too safe, but she'd never found anyone with enough guts to cheat her in it. What amazed her most was that she didn't beat the guy to pulp afterwards - people just did not cheat her!

He had looked sorta cute though. Maybe that was why. Still, now she doesn't have a whole lot of money left. Maybe she should just go back to that join t and find the damn bastard again, get her money back in some way. Maybe she could find him and put a bet out to run against him down in the tunnels. That would be fun.

Qourr swings her legs out of the bed, and groans. This isn't good - there are bruises all over her shins, and her head feels like exploding. Groggily, she fumbles for her med-pac, and with shaky fingers, gropes for the little vial the doc had given her before her departure. Hangovers are never nice, but Qourr's hangovers are worse than some.

Five minutes later, her stomach has stopped making all those growling noises, and the head is getting better, too. Her lousy mood is still there, though. Maybe she should just go back and find those Devaronians again. For a couple of alien scum, they didn't kiss all too bad.

The money wouldn't be too bad either, once she'd convince them to place a few more ridiculous bets.

She gets dressed quickly, sets the tiny security alarm for her room, closes the shutters, grabs her comm-link, and leaves the room.

Now where is that elevator again??? Some hotels are just too big for ordinary people to find their way around them. Usually, she'd just sprint down the stairs, but that doesn't seem like a good idea, considering that the little potion still needs some more time to work properly inside her head.

Two left, 12 doors straight down, two right... there it is. Elevator. Doesn't take too long to arrive either. She's on her merry way down to the ground level.

When the doors swing open on the ground floor, she is fishing out her sun-shades from her poeckt, and therefore doesn't see the guy stepping in her way, and bumps straight into him.

"Drok! What the-- YOU!"

http://www16.brinkster.com/delirion/Qourr2.jpg

[Sanis Prent]

(Sanis tried to walk into the elevator but bumbled into a rather aggressive-looking woman as she marched out. Sanis blinked hard, and tried not to breathe in her direction. That wouldn't help the situation.)

Ugh...huh?

(For the life of him, Sanis couldn't figure out why she looked so angry. Sanis smiled, hoping that would alleviate the situation.)

[Qourr Mhawat]

It was him! It was the cheating guy!

What incredible luck!

He was smiling at her oilily. What was that supposed to accomplish? Make her feel better?

"Where's my money, you stinkin piece of Bantha crap? You cheated me, you drokkin' bastard!"

On second thought, maybe this wasn't the ideal way to get her money back. And he didn't look - or smell - too good either. She'd probably have found a more diplomatic way to address him. Well, it was too late for that now.

[Sanis Prent]

(Sanis scratched his head)

Huh...money?

(In the back of my mind, Sanis began to postulate that maybe this had something to do with the chain of events that occurred last night. Figuring he could rectify the situation even without the hindsight, Sanis reached into his pocket, removing a whole three credits. Three? Yeah...three sounded like a diplomatic number. That should more than take care of whatever loss she might have incurred at his hands.

Smiling graciously, Sanis extended a hand with three credits.)

Here you go, uh...sorry about....that.

(Sanis hoped this would work...he had no frelling idea what this woman was talking about)

[Qourr Mhawat]

Her voice rose a pitch in volume as she yelled at him.

"Three????? What the drokkin hell is that supposed to mean??? I don't need your charity, you bastard!"

Diplomacy would have been wasted on this guy, so much was sure. What the hell did he think she was???

"You owe me, you friggin idiot! You cheated me out of a whole lot more than three credits, with that stupid stunt you pulled."

She watched as he scratched his head again, a somewhat dumb expression on his face. Was he trying to play innocent?

"Listen, sonnyboy, I don't care what excuses you have, but you don't just cheat me like that and pretend you don't know what the frack happened. And I want my money."

She stood in the door of the elevator, hands on her hips, staring venomously at him. She wasn't going to let him go anywhere unless she had her money back.

[Sanis Prent]

(Sanis sighs...obviously things were worse than he optimistically hoped. He nodded slightly, and looked at her.)

Yes, yes, you're right...I shouldn't have done...whatever I did...uh...

(Sanis reaches into his jacket)

Now let me just get you that money you need...

(Sanis suddenly stopped, looking just past Quorr, his face suddenly taking on the visage of sheer terror. He pointed to something behind Quorr, and his voice became frantic)

Oh frell! Look out! Its an Anzati!

[Alik Jerriko]

Alik was sitting in the hotel's lounge, industriously trying to read the print on the datapad of the snoring Human male next to him. He'd been following this particular soup for the last day and a half, and this was the closest he'd ever got to him. The soup was a strange one, and he had come to suspect that there was more to the man than the shabby clothes were telling.

He'd just managed to read the second line - something about a drop point out in the Manarai district - when his ears picked up on someone shouting something about an Anzati.

His head turned into the direction of the voice, and he saw a strange pair standing by the elevator. A woman and a man, the woman being half covered out of sight by the man's bulky stature.

Alik sniffed. The multitude of soups in the large foyer didn't offer him much, but there was one that felt vaguely familiar to him.

He decided to investigate.

If he was wrong... well, there was always dinner to sort out, and the man's soup didn't feel too bad. A little bit under the weather, perhaps.

Alik the Anzati assassin took another look at the snoring man next to him, and decided that there was little chance the man would actually wake up in the next 10 minutes, and slowly made his way through the foyer, in the directio of the elevators.

[Qourr Mhawat]

She looked at him in disbelief and scoffed.

"Yeah, suuuuure. Nice try, you rotten, rark-eating solvler! Don't think you can fool me that easily. I won't let you out of my sight until I get my money back!"

Still, she was a little concerned. Something nasty like an Anzati at her back wasn't something to be trifled with. There was one in Intel, and he was way too creepy for her taste.

Flitghly hell, she wasn't going to let herself be distracted when she was so close to getting her money back. Whatever the guy was, or whatever reeking hole he preferred to spend his nights in, he didn't look like he couldn't afford to pay her back.

Then her eyes widened. Over his shoulder, that was... there was... the man approaching was...

"Anzati!"

Qourr's voice was a low, snarling hiss.

[Sanis Prent]

(Sanis used the diversion for what it was worth, and ran like hell, bolting out of the hotel lobby and down the street.)

[Qourr Mhawat]

The shock lasted only seconds, then her reflexes took over. She let the guy run off, but she'd go after him in a second. First, though, she'd have to talk a word with the Anzati.

Because this was that creepy one from Intel. And she'd need his help.

Qourr ran towards him, as recognition dawned in his eyes about her identity. Running past him, she grabbed him by his sleeve, and dragged him along, yelling at him over her shoulder.

"We've got to catch that guy - he stole my money!"

She didn't check for his reaction - it was enough to hear the sound of his running feet behind her.

She'd never thought she'd team up with that creep for anything, but better to have him with her than against her.

[Sanis Prent]

(The running certainly didn't fix the hangover, that much was for sure. Sanis' head reeled, and he felt like stopping to puke again. However, now was definitely not the time. Approaching one of the busy streets, Sanis began to wildly flail his arms in an attempt to hail down a taxi. Normally renound for their quickness to respond, today the taxis of Coruscant were rather...aloof to Sanis' predicament. Sanis watched with wide eyes as taxi after taxi passed him by. He turned around to see the angry woman and the anzati following.)

Oh Krasst!

[Alik Jerriko]

He didn't quite know why he was following the girl. The man's soup wasn't special enough for all that fuss, but he had certain obligations as a member of Intel.

As he was fleet-footedly running behind her, he pondered on the strange odds of actually running into a fellow Intel member on a planet as large as Coruscant. Well, maybe not large, but rather massively populated.

He wished to know exactly for which reason he was running after this badly smelling person, but he dreaded trying to take a closer look into Qourr's own soup, because he had attempted that before the other soup had run away, and something in her soup, or maybe her blood, made him feel decidedly sick.

He grunted, as they ran towards the man staggering along trying to stop one of the taxis.

[Sanis Prent]

(Sanis was panting and wheezing as he ran down the street, struggling for air and control of his stomach alike. As he turned back, he could just make out the blond woman rounding the corner of a building, with the Anzati right behind her. Okay...time to get desperate!

Sanis ran out into the middle of the street, and pulled a gun on the next taxi to cross his path. The taxi ground to a halt, and the Rodian driver began to shower loud curses in Sanis' direction. pulling out a blaster of his own. He bellowed something in the Rodian tongue that equated to, "What, you think you're special because you have a blaster? Don't waste my frelling time! Outta my way, buddy!"

Sanis sighed, and shot the blaster out of the Rodian's hand, opened the back door, and jumped in.)

Yeah, buddy...but I know how to use it. Now put your damn foot on the accelerator and get me the hell outta here!

(The Rodian attempted a smartass comment, but Sanis was 2 inches away from picking the alien's nose with the barrel of his gun. The Rodian gave the equivalent of a smile, and accelerated his taxi again.)

[Qourr Mhawat]

Qourr heard a grunting noise behind her as they reached the spot where that guy's taxi had taken off from. The Anzati didn't seem very happy that the guy had gotten away, but then again, she wasn't very happy about it either.

But this was Coruscant, and she had some advantages she wouldn't have anywhere else. Especially as she had managed to see the registration number of the taxi before it could take off.

A sly grin on her face, she looked around at the Anzati.

"Don't worry - he can't get away that easily. There's always ways to track down someone."

She took out her datapad, and entered a small bit of memorized code. Seconds later, a list of numbers appeared on the screen, and she fumbled with her comm-link. Having set the comm-channel for the one given on her datapad, she activated the comm and spoke a short phrase into it.

"The water is boiling."



A few blocks away from where Qourr and Alik were standing, Ken Ludos, Chief of operations on Coruscant, received the call with a bored frown. If this was the General again with some instructions he'd previously forgotten to tell him, his day would shortly turn unpleasant. Then again, anything was better than sitting around on his behind playing holochess against the Base's Protocol Droid all day long. The computer was bad, and Ludos had the terrible suspicion that it had picked up some knowledge about cheating from somewhere and re-programmed itself. Droids shouldn't be able to cheat, but this one won all too often for it to be normal.

He picked up the comm and listened to a female voice giving the code phrase of the day. A woman??? Now that was something entirely unexpected.

Ludos asked her for an additional ID, and she gave it to him with something like amusement in her voice.

"Bug-Squash."

Holy Frack! He'd heard about her - there were some ugly stories going around about this woman. How she liked to take out a hoard of those mutant beasts in the sewers as a warm-up exercise before breakfast, before they had moved her off the planet. Definately not his type of woman - he prefered them quiet and docile.

"What do you want?"

Her voice came over the comm-link in a pleasant bubbly tone, not exactly what he had expected of her.

"There's someone I'm following. He jumped into a taxi, and took off, but I got the registration number. You think you can track it down for me? I'm transfering the number over to you now. I'll keep in touch - just let me know when you know its final destination."

She was off the comm before he could respond, and instead, he got the number coming through. Grumbling and muttering something about the unfairness of it all, he got to work on it.

Seconds later, he had Coruscant Air Traffic Control up on the monitor, and it was only a matter of time before he found the taxi in question.

When he finally saw it stop not much more than 5 blocks down the street from where he was located himself, he re-activated the line to "Bug-Squash", and let her know.

"Nice doing business with you. I'll be around later - maybe we can have some fun together, eh?"

The thought wasn't very pleasant to Ludos, and it was a very disturbed Operations Chief that went back to his holochess game afterwards, pondering the dangers of a job like this.


Qourr turned to the Anzati, and grinned at him.

"Told you it wouldn't be any problem!"

He just nodded at her, gravely, and then proceeded to stop a taxi.

[Sanis Prent]

Here, stop here!!

(The taxi landspeeder lurches to a halt, as Sanis quickly opens up the passenger door. As Sanis begins to run for the apartment complex, he is stopped by a string of choice Rodian profanities coming from the driver. Sanis turns around, smiles, and tosses the man a credit chit. The driver snatches the chit in the air, scowling at Sanis, who in turn smiles, and waves to the cabbie. The yellow speeder peels away, the driver angrily throttling the engines.

Sanis wastes no time, running into the lobby. Hmmm...from a sign on the door, Sanis learned that Younakka was away on a "business trip". Bah! More like checking out another shipment of Stim. Sanis wondered how such an obvious, bumbling, and moronic thug such as Younakka managed to make any money. Then again, with the threat of broken kneecaps hanging in the air, Sanis could appreciate the Wookiee's ability to draw in chump change, although Sanis was determined for larger things.

Instead of Younakka, his weasely little Bothan toadie, N'yehn, was running the landlord's office. The annoying little middle man scurried up to Sanis, and sneered)

N'yehn: Saaanis, where's your payment for this month?

(Sanis rolled his eyes)

Sanis: Ah, dammit N'yehn...you know damn well I don't have payments due for another two weeks. Quit trying to strong-arm my credits away from me, and see about fixing my HoloView. I can't get channel 34533.

(The beady-eyed Bothan was chewing on his words, trying to think of something to say. Finally, he simply sneered and scurried off, back to the rat-hole from which he came. Sanis made a disgusted face, and made an obscene gesture in the little talking rat's direction. With that taken care of, Sanis quickly went up several flights of stairs, until he arrived at his apartment. Realizing it had been a few days since he had even dropped by, Sanis drew his blaster as he opened the door, expecting any trouble. As he gave the living room a sweep, he saw no such trouble waiting for him, and holstered his weapon, locking the door behind him, and going to the refrigerator, pulling out a Sapporo.

Sanis flopped down on his old couch, and flipped on the HoloView to channel 34533...

...all he got was static.

Angrily, Sanis turned it to another station. Dammit, why did nothing around here work when he needed it?!?)

[xOnslaughtx]

*On the roof across from Younakka's apartment lies Onslaught, who is watching Younakka through an open window in his living room. Onslaught had followed Younakka from down town earlier this morning from a glitterstim deal he had made, He would have busted him right there, but he had a different mission...

Younakka seemed very upset with something, Onslaught had watched him walk back and forth almost all day. Younakka walks to a desk and picks up a data pad he reads it and growls, he reads it once more and throws it into a wll shattering it, he walks to his bedroom and comes out with a small blaster, He walks out of his apartment and slams the door behind him...

Onslaught reaches into his black duffle back and pulls out a blaster with a grabbling line, he shoots the line just above the open window and ties the other end to a near by pole, Onslaught slids to the open window and climes in, he looks around making sure no one else was home, he walks to where the data pad lies shuttered on the ground, he leans down and picks up the biggest piece pn it says one word Sanis*

Oh No

*Onslaught mutters to himself, he places the piece of data pad in his pocket and hurrys across the line back to the roof. He cuts the line and puts the blaster back in his bag, he runs down the fire escape to his speeder bike thats waiting in the allie, Onslaught turns it on and floors it. He rips out of the allie way and down the street not letting off the gas for even a moment. He reaches Sanis's apartment just as Younakka was getting there. Onslaught walks up behind him and shots him with his blaster set on stun, Younakka drops to the ground and start to convulse, Onslaught drags him dehind the apartment complex and just below Sanis's window. Onslaught takes out a small vile of Amonia and puts it under Younakka's nose*

Wakey, Wakey little one

*Onslaught smiles as Younakka wakes up*

"Howaarw are you?"

That is not important, but what is, is what we must disscues. Now if you reach for that blaster behind your back I'll kill ya alright?

*Younakka nodes his head*

Good. Its has came to the attention of The Sector Rangers that you are a glitterstim dealer, which as you know is illeagal. It is our swarn duty to protect the galaxy from scum like you, if we ever find out that you are still dealin I will personaly come down here and kick your head in. Also there is a man by the name of Sanis Prest who lives here, you are not to ever again make contact with him, if you see him you better run for your life is that understood?

"Howaarw do I get the rent?"

You come to use

[Sanis Prent]

(A blaster shot!

Sanis jerked away from his computer terminal, snatching up one of his Corellian blasters, holding still for a moment as he listened. He heard a thump, almost like somebody hitting the floor. He waited a few seconds more, and heard nothing. Slowly, Sanis tiptoed towards the door, deftly maneuvering his feet as to not cause any of the old floorboards to squeak. He arrived in front of the door, placing his eye to the peephole. He saw nobody. Slowly, Sanis reached for the door opening switch...ready for action. As he pressed the switch, the door sprung open, and Sanis moved into the hall, waving his blaster around, expecting trouble. The only opposition he encountered was a protocol droid, who proceeded to scream and run away. Sanis shrugged, holstering his weapon. He knew he wasn't just hearing things. That was a blaster shot, and he knew it. Somebody just got popped, and now that somebody was nowhere to be seen. Sighing, Sanis closed his door, locking it. He went back to his computer terminal, continuing his search for weapon vendors.)

[Kal Olorin]

**Kal takes a sip of his drink, and wipes his eyes. He had been staking out Sanis place for a fair while, in case Younakka showed early.

Moments later, the Wookiee in question appeared. slowly, Kal slid out of the speeder, and un-safetyed his blaster. When he looked up, he saw that the target had already been taken down. He smiled. Onslaught sure has style...

Kal walked down the road to where Younakka had been taken, and leaned against a wall

"You come to use" said Onslaught

Olorin breathed a laugh, which turned Onslaught's head to see who it was. They both then look back at the Wookiee**

[xOnslaughtx]

*Onslaught helps Younakka to his feet, then punches him in the gut*

Understand?

*Younakka coughs up a bit of blood, and nods his head. Outta the corner of his eye Onslaught catches a glimps of something, he turns his head to see what it was, he sees a shadow of someone about to turn the corner to where they were. Onslaught lets go of Younakka, Younakka slids to the ground where Onslaught kicks him. He looks at Kal then back at the shadow. Whispering he says*

Lets go Kal

*Onslaught and Olorin jet around the corner and hop on Onslaught's bike, where they take off*