Coruscant Tales: Sharp Eyes and Magic Fingers(Opn)

[Pierce Tondry]

(ooc) During the 8 hours Sanis is preparing for his meeting with Tondry, Pierce is making preparations of his own. Anyone who wants to nose their way in to this is welcome to.

(ic)

"That stupid bastitch," Pierce snarled, although there was no emotion behind it. He had a hard time feeling anything these days- but that wasn't important.

What was important was that the tail he'd placed on Sanis Prent had just reported in, and it confirmed that Sanis was indeed going to make some kind of deal with Sasseeri Reeouura for assistance. It didn't necessarily make things more difficult, but it did add entanglements to the matter.

"The idiot should know better than to try and bring his criminal friends into this!" Pierce shook his head. "Doesn't he care about their worthless lives?"

"He's a criminal, boss," one of the twelve men sitting around responded. "You know their type. All they care about is the creds and their own hide- besides, it isn't like you haven't got some trump cards in your sleeve."

"Vadgrin's right," Ken Ludos responded. "Don't worry about whatever connections Sanis is making. You still have leverage over him."

Pierce nodded absently. "Most of them," he said, deep in thought. "I can just trap that little bastitch in his own web of lies. But what I really am going to need to know is his reaction to our meeting."

"Plant bugs in his place, like you did his ship," Vadgrin suggested.

"Better yet, plant something in his girl!" one of the other men suggested raucously.

Eleven of the men there laughed. Pierce was not one of them- in fact, he was staring at Vadgrin with a strange expression on his face. "That's a damn good idea, Vadgrin," he said slowly. "Damn good. Grab some ysalamiri packs and a set of tap equipment."

"Me?" Vadgrin's jaw dropped. "Why me? Weimar's the tap equipment expert!"

"Oh, he's coming," Pierce said, indicating the man who'd told the joke. "But you came up with the idea, which I missed. I want your perspective there just in case I miss something else. Besides, we've still got an hour and a half before the deadline- we've got time to kill."

Weimar laughed again and clapped his comrade on the back, which made Vadgrin shrug uncomfortably. "But I'm not-" he tried again.

Pierce interrupted him. "Come on, 'Magic Fingers'. Between the three of us, we'll be able to set things up in a half an hour. That'll be plenty of time. Besides- I've been meaning to have a talk with you anyway."

[Sumor Rayial]

OOC: This also takes place a couple weeks after Ebb Tide. Dara, Rain and Sumor would have returned to TSE.

IC:
**It had been a couple weeks since their run in with one Mister Sanis Prent. During the meeting he had told Lordess Shadowtide the name of the man who had hired Prent to "beat her to within an inch of her life." That person was supposedly Pierce Tondry, a personal friend of Sumor's. He had fully intended to send out a message to Tondry trying to find out if what Sanis was saying was true or not. He didn't think it would be, why would Tondry put out a hit, when he could just send an Intel puke to do the job. Or for that matter why want her almost, if not dead at all.

Things hadn't gone exactly as he had planned though. As soon as they returned his time was immediately taken by meetings concerning the Hensara III mission, and then by the mission itself.

Now it was weeks later and he wasn't sure if there was any point in sending out the message. Nothing had happened since to make Dara think that there was still a contract out on her, but Sumsor still wanted answers. And there was only one person who could give these ones. Sitting down at his office desk Sums dictated a voice only message to send to Tondry.

<font color=green>
Pierce,

I know this may seem of non-importance now after so much time but I still need affirmative answers.

A few weeks ago, Lordess Dara Shadowtide was invited to dinner by Sanis Prent, who I believe you are familiar with. Anyway she was informed that a contract had been put out on her and he was there to take care of it. After some mild persuasion, Prent was conviced to give up the name of the person who had hired him. That name was yours. At the time, and even now, I can't figure out what reasoning you would have to put a hit out on a Sith, especially a member of TSE, but that doesn't change the fact that I need answers. I hope you can give me the ones I need.

Oh and I know your going after him eventually for what he's pulled with you. You need any back up you know where to find me. The maker knows I owe you more than a few.</font>


Sums encrypted the message in the same coding as Tondry had used to send him a message once and sent it out.

That done, Sums turned back to the pile of work on his desk that never seemed to shrink, only get bigger.**

[Pierce Tondry]

A short while later, the team was out the door and headed for Sanis Prent's apartment. Vadgrin's eyes wandered among shops as they drove their nondescript, aged landspeeder. His eyes lingered briefly on an instrument store as they drove.

They reached the apartment in five minutes, having taken routes that ensure maximum speed. They entered through the front door and, after a short discussion regarding payment of a certain sum of cash, the three of them obtain a master key to the apartment building from its' landlord.

"Apparently, Prent didn't realize the problems regarding living in a building where the landlord doesn't like him," the Vice-Director said as the three men walked into the room. "Be wary as you set up the equipment- there are probably traps."

Vadgrin sighed. He was perfectly capable and competent when it came to field missions, but they weren't his thing. He preferred working with data and managing things- in fact, he would have preferred Ken Ludos' job to his own. Lucious Vadgrin, Chief Operating Officer of Coruscant's Intelligence Branch.

It had an important ring to it.

But at this point, Vadgrin didn't quite have the nerve to go for things he wanted. Not that he figured Vice-Director Tondry would do anything other than encourage him, just that his line of work was somewhat prohibitive in that regard.

The team got to work while Vadgrin mulled things over in his mind.

[Lady DeVille]

De'Ville was bored. She had been stranded on Coruscant for some time now with no transportation off the over populated planet. Not that she didn't like the hustle and bustle of the big city...it just got tiring, keeping the cacophony of voices out of her head all the time.

The last time she had spent so much time among so many people was before she had known about her Force skills. Now if she wasn't careful the surface thoughts and feelings of the sentient around would leak into her own mind.

Needless to say, she was exhausted. And a tired Sith was not someone anyone should mess with.

Speaking of messing with... De'Ville ducked into a niche in the wall as an older model landspeeder passed her. She recognized one of the occupants. Alexander.

Growling under her breath, and almost without thinking, De'Ville hailed a repulsorcab. The cabbie didn't have time to struggle when she pinched a nerve in his brain, taking over the controls and tossing his double jointed body into the back seat. De'Ville flipped a u-turn in the middle of rush hour traffic, air brakes and repulsors squealing as commuters tried to avoid her.

She pulled up to a higher altitude, following the landspeeder. Someone was going to get her off Coruscant, and Alexander was the only contact she had that could help her.