The Putrescent Hutt Cantina

[Markis. D Thatch]

Thatch kept his eyes on the Mon Calamari. He studied his reactions to his questions and then smirked at being scuffed. the fish has got a lot of guts...I know iv'e see him somewhere before...but I can't recall Thatch's ears perked up at the new sound over the commotion and he faintly heard a beep. It was then he saw the Mon Calamari flinch for no more than a half a second, Alright...so this guy has got something up his sleeve...but it looks like he isn't ready to play it... something is off here.... "Well...you see...I came here with the intention of buying some spice and getting some action from the ladies at the bar" Thatch narrowed his eyes at the Mon Calamari as his fingers slid over his pistol grip. "But plans need to be flexible...they seldom work how we want...best plan is to have an escape route" In a flash Thatch pulled his pistol and fired off round after round at the light fixtures in the ceiling. He then dropped his duffel bag, leapt forward while pulling his hood up releasing his visor and activated his night vision. The guards fired randomly in all directions as Thatch shuffled across the floor to the imprisoned smuggler.

[Areku99]

With fifty or so blaster shots going off in every ungodly direction, Aima raised his disrupter and fired blindly around the room, running to find new cover as he did so. He didn't know who to shoot at, so he just fired without looking. Chaos worked, he figured.

It was sudden; as he dashed behind some new cover, he felt pain flare through his leg; he'd been grazed by a blaster.

"Nothing too bad," he thought. "Maybe opening fire was a bad call."

[Finx!]

Finx heard a familiar sound that although as faint as can be, he recognized that sound like a mama womprat recognizes her hatchlings squeaks from 200 meters away.

"What the.. that's MY ship's thrusters!?!"

All of the sudden, flashes of blaster shots in an upward direction appeared as the light panels above shattered one by one. Finx tried to take cover behind anything nearby but the magnetic shackles around his boots kept him up against the wall next to the Carbonite prisoner. Then he heard another blast hit to close for comfort beside him and instantly felt the shackles and wrist cuffs release he free. Electronic sparks and fumes were visible in the darkness where Finx realized there used to be the control panels for the titanium shackles and wrist cuffs. Then with his hands now free Finx pulled his own goggles from his hat's brim down to his eyes, activated the night vision, and saw a the round tip of a blaster barrel coming up to his eyes.

Finx felt and smelled a warm blaster barrel on his forehead, seeing that it was the red haired Mirialan that his buddy Crox was seen with.

"We are gunna need all the help we can get out of the shithole, so are you with us or are you gu ..." In a split second Finx cut Thatch off in mid-sentence and grabbed Thatch's wrist holding the blaster, swung Thatch around and from behind his back squeezed Thatches finger on the blaster trigger toward a huge shadow that was coming toward them both. Both saw the smoldering hole through the Gamoriam guard's left eye as its axe blade stopped and fell in sync with the now motionless body in front of them.


"So uhh... she's coming with us right?" Finx nodded his head toward the Twi'lek dancer Thatch and Crox came in with hiding behind a pillar with protection from Crox, replenishing his toothpick with a fresh one from his coat and putting it in between his smirking smile.

Finx and Thatch then made thier way back to Crox and the girl staying low in the darkness. "This way!" Finx exclaimed as all 4 ran down a corridor where the familiar sound came from.

[Crox Rava]

Under his mask Crox stifled a grin as Finx slipped a signature toothpick between his lips. Things could be much worse. He slapped his left-hand blaster into Finx's hand as his old friend passed into the hallway. He gently nudged Shan'in after Finx and laid down a barrage of suppressing fire to cover Thatch on his way out. "He's a little rash, but he's a friend," Crox murmured to Thatch as he followed down the hall. He assumed Finx knew an alternate route to the hangar. Whether his "shortcut" was to avoid more guards or to catch a last glimpse of Twi'lek flesh on their way out was anyone's guess. Crox thumbed a detonator out of his bandolier and tossed it over his shoulder as the ragtag crew rounded yet another corner.

THOOOOOM!

The dying squeals of the pursuing slavers was sickening.
They deserve worse...

[Markis. D Thatch]

Thatch scooped up his duffel bag on the way out and holstered his pistol. He swung the duffel bag to his back and produced a sawed off slug thrower from under his jacket. He smirked to Crox as he pumped the first round into its chamber. As Crox threw the grenade Thatch spun quickly steadied his aim and fired causing the massive explosion. He landed in stride and pumped the shotgun ejecting the smoldering shell and loading the next one as the sprinted down the hall. "Saved my ass back there...he's good in my book..." Thatch could feel the weight of his duffel bag starting to wear him down but he gritted his teeth and ran on. Boss is dead...but that doesn't mean all his Peggats go to waste...this treasure trove is staying right here....but what was in that Karking box at the bottom? Thatch turned again and fired a second round full into the chest of a chasing guard. "My ship is on the other side of Nar Shaddaa....we have an escape plan? " He fired off a third round as they rounded a corner.

[Finx!]

As they all rounded the corner down corridor, Finx ran faster with the thought of someone infiltrating his ship. "I knew there was something strange about that docking crew's stares after landing in that docking bay up ahead!"

They reached a sliding door of the dock discreetly connected to the cantina that was used for smuggling in all kinds of cargo for Orta the Hutt's profits. Finx looked through the plate window toward his ship as he watched dissembled ship parts being unloaded down the ramp by those same docking crew womprat scumbags. Finx griped the borrowed blaster in his hand and eagerly lunged at the door almost breaking it off its hinges, but both Crox and Thatch grabbed him before anyone heard them. He looked at them both as he whispered loudly, "Someone is a hairsbreadth from getting dead really fast! They touched my ship so violence is going to ensue and I aim to misbehave. So, let's have no undue fussing..."

Crox gave Finx a look back and nodded to Finx to look again through the window..

Further down he saw a sight that made both his heart beat faster and his stomach turn in disgust at the same time. A prison chain of eight young shackled Twi'lek women were waiting to be boarded onto a different ship. Enslaved from other planets, taken from their families and ripped from their youth. They weren't here voluntarily to make a good living from semi-hard working folk's credits like Finx's, they were lost and afraid. Finx bit the toothpick in half cutting his lip but he noticed not the pain mumbling to himself.."Skrag me sideways."

In the meantime the ship looked familiar to Crox. Not familiar.. he knew damn well who's ship that was...

[Areku99]

Disoriented, Aima ran over to the slavers, unaware they were such. They were dead, and he knew not as to what he should make of that. One of their eyes fluttered open, and he rushed to the dying man.

"Who are those people?" Aima asked.
"Why...who are you?"
"Aima."
"J-Jedi?"
"Somewhat, yes."
"They're...Sith..."

With that, the slaver breathed his bloody last. Aima stood up, enraged at what he thought was Sith killing innocents, and took out a small comlink.

"Ready my ship."

[Clusterfact]

Alkhet threw his binoculars into a small satchel and primed his speeder. The young Zabrak had forgone the traditional Jedi garb for this mission. Though discretion wasn't his area of expertise, he was good at getting things done, no matter the cost. Several hours earlier, the Zabrak would have looked like any other Jedi, but his wardrobe now reflected the Smuggler's Moon in every facet. Brown Jedi robes had now been replaced with the outfit of a thug or criminal. Alkhet's battle-scarred face only added to the facade. He pulled up the sleeve of his leather jacket and opened his holocom. The ghostly blue image of an older Nautolan crackled to life.

"Alkhet Noth," the Nautolan took a shallow bow. "what is your status report?" A heavy look of concern strained his brow.

"Master Otai, the situation has taken a turn. Someone in the cantina has stirred up trouble and I fear our informant may be in danger - I'm going in for an extraction."

The Nautolan gave another bow and the holocom fizzled out. Alkhet had been observing the Putrescent Hutt for several hours looking for a specific individual who was wanted for crimes against the Republic. He studied under the best Jedi for years, but this chase had lasted almost as long, always leaving Alkhet just a few steps behind. Alkhet jumped onto his speeder, pulled down a pair of worn goggles and sped off toward the cantina, hoping he could save his informant and catch his criminal.

Upon entering the now deserted cantina, Alkhet grimaced at the state of the establishment. The dark environment looked like blaster fire was a common occurance. Tables and chairs had been tossed over as the last patrons scrambled to escape the chaos. Alkhet watched as the events in his mind began to unfold. Every scorch mark a clue, every object out of place another piece of the puzzle. His brow furrowed as he looked around the room. Alkhet pulled up his holocom, switched the channel, and began to speak.

"Shay'lin, this is Alkhet, I nee-.." Alkhet stopped short. He could hear his own voice, faint in the other room. He sprinted into the kitchen to see the dim glow of a holocom, lost to the corner in some struggle. Upon examining the area, he noticed a panel of the kitchen wall sticking out from the rest. He drew near to the dislodged panel and held his ear to the crack just in time to hear the sound of a detonator going off tinged with dying screams. Alkhet ripped the panel away and made his way down the stairs, determined more than ever.

Edit: Edited to spur the story.

[Crox Rava]

"Finx..." Crox pointed to the nose of the other ship, an uncommonly common model, particularly in the "unmarked crate" crowd. There, painted lower and slightly aft of the window, was an unusual sigil. There was a red and yellow planet encircled by three moons, one of which was exploding. No, not exploding. Popping.

Like a bubble.

Crox turned to face Finx again. "She flyin' a Stock now?" "Doesn't everybody?" His black eyes slid back to the slave women. His teeth ground audibly. His grip on the pistol tightened. "She don't deal in skin, Crox. Not never." "No, she doesn't." Crox's nostrils flared slightly. Fear and anguish from the slaves. Exasperation and rising anger from Finx (which Crox shared). Bacon from the ravaged corridor behind them. Then he found it. Boredom. Antsy, angsty boredom from inside the ship. His friend's ship. Bubbles' ship.

He fumed for a moment. His mind spun. His large eyes blinked once, agonizingly slow. Then he turned back to the others. "Shan'in, you will go and break the bonds off of those women. Blast the chains, not the cuffs. We can cut them off later. Finx, you head in there and clean out your ship. See if she'll still fly. Thatch..." Crox slapped a detonator into Thatch's palm, "Cover us. If you have to use this thing, you come running right after because we will have two legs off the ground the second we hear it. I'm going in there after Bubbles." Crox flicked his blaster to full power. He'd had enough.

"All right. On three..."

[Areku99]

Aima smirked as he looked at the closed hangar door. Beyond it were what he thught were Sith. Plenty of Sith.

"3...2...1."

The hangar door exploded as his detonator did the trick, and he whipped out his blaster as he took five steps forward.

"It's over, you Sith bastards!" he yelled as he fired a shot into the air, destroying an overhead light. He then pointed it straight at the Nautolan.

"For Kara," he said coldly.

OOC: Notice how I DID NOT pull the trigger.

[Markis. D Thatch]

Thatch shook his head and was about to object when the door behind them exploded. Thatch ducked his head down and used his duffel bag to shield as many of the group as he could. "Its over you Sith bastards" Once the debris had cleared he saw the man step forward and level his weapon with Crox's head. "For Kara".

With no time to think Thatch depressed the thermal detonator and rolled it towards the figure. As the detonator rolled and bleeped Thatch drew his knife and sliced into Shan'ins robes causing parts of her flesh to be revealed. Shan'in looked to Thatch confused and horrified as the detonator exploded and rang out between both parties. Thatch pulled her head close so he could comminicate with her through the explosion and the debris cloud. "They will have heard that explosion and this one...I want you to run out of the hanger door with my pistol hidden in your robes. Run toward the slavers...once you are within two meters...fall and be ready to kill them when we catch up..." Thatch pulled his pistol and spun flipped it so that the grip faced Shan'in. As the debris began to settle Thatch turned to regard Finx and Crox, "Once Shan'in busts through the hanger door...we chase her...play it cool...she is going to be our runaway slave" Thatch looked from smuggler to smuggler narrowing his eyes. "Slave trade isn't something I dare take part in...but saving my ass is a full time job... " Thatch turned to look at Shan'in and held the pistol up to her. "This will only work if you play the part...this way we ensure that we don't endanger the other Twi'leks and kill those son's of shuttas..."

[Finx!]

Shan'in led everyone out the hangar door. At his first chance Finx crouched down and shoulder rolled over to a couple of cargo crates to hide behind. He peeked over the side to make sure no one can see him inch closer to his ship. After glancing over to everyone else to make sure they were ok, Finx made his move, crouch strafing to a panel underneath his ship that seemed regular. It was all but regular to Finx as he pulled out some wires from a hidden plate next to it and the panel slid in then sideways to reveal an opening just big enough to crawl through.

Finx made it inside and through a supply room. Quietly he moved toward the main corridor and just inside his sleeping chambers he found himself on the other side of a panel where one of the Hutt's henchmen was looting through Finx's personal trunk, lock busted open. The goon held up to the light a miniature metal statue of a human woman..rusty and worthless to the scrounger. A flash of rage shot through Finx's blood ...that rusty figure was all that Finx had from his past, unknown to him who it was but priceless nonetheless.

SNAP .. the henchman's neck did a 180 with the help of Finx's grip and before he fell to the floor, Finx grabbed the figurine, put it in his coat pocket, and jolted down the corridor toward the bridge.


Once on the bridge Finx looked out toward his companions... and the approaching hoard.

"T-7! Diagnostics check on all ship programs and ship "innards" ... NOW!"

"T-7!! Where the hell is my.." Finx looked across the hangar to find his T7-01 droid in pieces on a mech table. "Awww FRAK! I paid good credits for that hunk-a-bantha-dung!"

In what seemed like only a few seconds, Finx manually entered a sequence of calculations on the controls panel... "Whew, this baby is still good to go" ... then he aimed the forward turret blasters at the slavers at the lowest setting as to have precise range and to prevent any harm to the slaves.

With one hand on the turrets trigger button and the other hand on the engines ignite switch, Finx waited for Thatch and Crox's signal.

[Crox Rava]

Meanwhile, Shan'in sprinted across the hangar, apparently panicked and hysterical. The two guards near the slave women started and stared, not noticing as Finx made his way onto the frigate. Crox counted to three, then rounded the corner after her. "Stop her! Stop her!" he yelled at the guards and waved his hands in the air. The Gamoreans lowered their rifles and moved to intercept the "defenseless slave". Shan'in halted and dropped to her knees, expertly playing the cornered rabbit. "Quickly! Get her aboard!" Crox gestured impatiently at Bubble's ship and pumped out the last of his pheromone glands to ensure compliance.

One Gamorean grunted and nudged the other, and his comrade roughly pulled Shan'in to her feet and pushed her toward the ship's bay doors. "Go ahead, get them all aboard. There's trouble downstairs and the boss wants them safe." The Gamorean nodded fervently, the poor creature not understanding why he wanted so badly to please the blue skinned stranger. He set about the other slaves, prodding them with the butt of his rifle and snorting loudly. The women obeyed, and as they regarded Crox some of them noticed as he spoke in lekku. Everything will be fine. Just play along. Don't stare... he put in, noticing the barely veiled batting of eyelashes from two of the younger girls.

As they vanished into the ship, Crox spared a glance back to Finx's vessel. The main turret turned briskly from side to side as though the ship were waving at him. Finx was on the guns.

Crox took cover behind the bay doors of Bubble's frigate and waited for either Thatch or the mysterious gunman - the one who had called them all "Sith" - to emerge. He feared this was all going to happen too quickly...

[Areku99]

Aima saw the Twi'lek herded onto the ship, to his horror. He looked back at Thatch, who he figured was a bounty hunter. He wanted to keep his identity as a Jedi secret--there were many people on this planet who hunted Jedi--but he knew he couldn't save that Twi'lek, whoever she was, unless he took action.

He stared the enemy in the eye. "Move aside," he said. "Don't make me kill you."

[Clusterfact]

The echos of another detonator filled the cramped passages as Alkhet hurried through the darkness. He had been chasing this "problem" for too long. After months of searching and several close-encounters with his quarry, he had finally backed his prey into a corner with no escape. This time, he would not walk away empty handed.

His sight was limited and time was short, but as he sped to his goal his focus was sharpened as the Force guided him to the hanger level. The world and its worries melted away with each second passed. All Alkhet would remember of these moments was the sound of each footstep, crashing violently on cold duracrete. Slower the world became. The low droning hum of the hanger bay was reduced to a persistent whisper, You're running short on time, friend. The dimly lit corridors grew even darker as the world slowed to a crawl. All the world but Alkhet.

He slowed as he drew near to the hanger. "Stop her! Stop her!" a voice echoed in the hanger, barely audible over the sound of the engines. "Quickly! Get her aboard!" Alkhet slid to a halt and pressed his body up against the door frame which had been blasted open. The man's voice was unfamiliar, but soothing all the same. Unusual for a slaver. As Alkhet peered around the corner, he first saw the blue Nautolan who was now speaking with two Gamoreans - the muscle. Alkhet watched as three Twi'leks were loaded aboard the ship, his informant not among them. "Move aside, don't make me kill you." This voice was so close that Alkhet retracted from the frame expecting a confrontation, but the command wasn't directed toward him. He returned to the frame and saw a man dressed in black standing over someone.

He peered further around the door frame and what he saw next nearly caused his hearts to jump from his chest. Just meters away was the reason for his being in the Putrescent Hutt at all. Alkhet's pupils swelled as to take in as much of the sight as they could and his brow furrowed deeply.

Justice was palpable.