August 12, 2011

713. Hoth: King's Lair - Raezyr

Rhox and Dianna slid into a booth in a small alcove in the back of the club while Trychon took the seat opposite. Raezyr stood by the entrance to the alcove and surveyed the room. A music engineer stood at a booth in the corner just off the dance floor, mixing songs so the dance beats flowed effortlessly. Strobes and lasers lit up the smoke-filled room while scantily-clad bodies writhed and clung to each other in time to the hard bass as it thumped.

A server approached and Raezyr held him up with one hand. He then made a show of patting him down for weapons before he allowed the club employee to take drink orders. The pat down had been unnecessary for the big Sith warrior as he could sense no ill-intent when the man approached, but he knew they were being scrutinized and appearances must be kept and roles must be played. His was the hulking, meat-head to provide physical security in close quarters, a role he was happy to play as it would give him the edge if hostilities broke out.

After an hour a young Rodian female wearing a skimpy clubbing outfit and bobbing to the rythym, bounced up to Raezyr. He held up his hand, indicating she should approach no further, but instead she moved closer and began to dance against him. He expected to feel some emotion from Dianna, anger, jealously, anything, but instead there was nothing. It surprised him for the briefest of moments, realizing that she knew this was a job, and it wasn't as if Raezyr had gone looking for this female.

He grabbed the Rodian roughly by the shoulder and was about to push her away when she slid her hands down his torso and tucked something in the waistband of his trousers. She then danced her way back into the crowd. Raezyr reached down and pulled out a folded napkin with something scrawled on it. At first he assumed it was probably just her private comm channel and he was about to crumple it up and throw it on the floor when he took a second look.

The big Sith turned to the table he was guarding. Dianna was trying hard to look disinterested in what had just taken place, Rhox looked disgusted, and his brother had a grin on his face from ear to ear. He could tell Trychon was about to make some comment so he spoke first. "You better take a look at this," Raezyr said, tossing the napkin on the table in front of Rhox.

"Eww," she said in disgust, holding her hands up and away from the disposable paper product in front of her. "I'm not touching that. I saw where she put it."

Dianna reached over, snatched it up and read the note. "Let's go," she said and slid out of the booth. Raezyr led the way to a side hallway, the entrance to which was marked with the universal restroom signs. The four walked past the doors there and to the end of the hallway where three more doors were located. One was to a storage room, one was an emergency fire exit, and the other revealed a set of stairs going up.

They took the stairs quickly despite the poor lighting. One of the glow rods was flickering and they could see where others were missing, leaving just enough light to see the stairs. They reached a landing, turned and went up a second flight, coming to a halt at a small landing just big enough for the four of them.

A heavy security door marked with a sign that read 'Office' stood in their way. Raezyr knocked, his gauntleted fist rapping loudly on the steel door.

A slot in the door and a camera eye slid out to examine them. "Haku uba naga?" a voice asked in Huttese.

Raezyr, who was standing closest, answered. "We're here to see Dailo."

"Bolla neechu. Hees nopa tah baatu baatu," the voice said.

Dianna pushed forward. "Tell Dailo that if he wants his shipment he better stop playing games."

The camera eye studied moved it's focus from Raezyr to Dianna and studied her for a moment. "Wanga tee-tocky," the voice said. Several moments went by before it spoke again."Dailo stuka chuba ateema." The camera retracted and the door slid open.

A male Weequay stood there with a wide stance, his hand on the hilt a very large vibro-sword sheathed at his waist. "Bolla wata," he said and turned, leading them down a hallway. They passed several doors, some of which stood open revealing supply closets and offices. The alien tapped in a sequence into the key pad at the door at the end of the hall and it swooshed open.

Inside was a large office. Behind the desk was a large wall-sized window showing the entire club. Raezyr assumed it was a one-way mirror or they would have noticed it when they came in. The occupants of the room all sat around a sabacc table. Five beings were playing cards while three ladies seemed to have the appearance of groupies, but all four pirates noticed they didn't move like civilians. They were tensed and ready and it was clear to the trained eye that they were body guards, despite how they were dressed and acting.

"Con tah stuka chuba, Lorda," the Weequay said.

A middle-aged human male with a black vest and gray shirt on the far side of the table put down his cards and gave the guard a rather irritated look. "Ak-sev! What have I told you about the Huttese?" he asked. "This is Alderaan, for Lor's sake. Speak Basic."

The man stood up from the card table and crossed to the desk. He looked back over at the card table. "I fold this hand, boys." He opened an ornate box on the desk and pulled out a big cigarra. "Any of you want one?" he asked the new arrivals. When they declined he lit his own and came around the front of the desk, then sat on the very edge.

He motioned to the Weequay. "Get back to the door," he told the guard. When he had gone he finally turned his full attention to the pirates. "Dianna Kingsdoom," he said and grinned. "I've hear a lot of things about you." Dailo scanned the red-headed woman up and down with a gaze that said he was looking for more than just weapons. "And they clearly didn't do you justice."

Trychon could feel Raezyr's ire starting to rise, and for a moment he wondered whether he'd have to restrain his brother.

"You know, a gorgeous, enterprising woman such as yourself could do pretty well for herself here on Alderaan," Dailo said. "What do you say that the two of us discuss some business plans over dinner... with out the riff-raff," he suggested, motioning to the others in the room.

Dianna spoke quickly. Even she could feel the heat coming off Raezyr and wondered it had been a good idea to bring him along. "I'm here to make this deal, Dailo," she said. "Let's do it so my crew and I can get the kriff off this rock."

Dailo looked a bit sad. "I heard that about you too... all business and no play. If you ever change your mind..."

"Just transfer the creds and give me the drop coordinates," Dianna said, rolling her eyes at the lame pick-up attempts. She'd received better offers from much better people and it hadn't worked before. These kinds of offers might work on regular girls, but she was no regular girl.

"Well, not so fast," the man said. "I think first I need a demonstration. I want to make sure that I'm not paying for a load of junk."

"You're far to naive," Dianna retorted. "Alderaan is much too populated for an effective demonstration... if you'd like a test, a test on a remote planet, then name the system."

Dailo just looked at her for a moment then gave her a mischievous grin. "I'm sorry then. I guess you've come all this way for nothing... unless you could persuade me otherwise." He took a step forward and stroked the tips of her red hair that hung by her neck with his fingers.

Raezyr had had enough. "Get your damn hands off her, scum bag," said reaching for Dailo's throat.

Dailo didn't move, but instantly all his people had blasters out and pointed at Raezyr. Raezyr's hand paused just inches away. Trychon could almost hear his brother's thoughts, but Rhox and Dianna didn't need a Force connection to guess that he was calculating... not whether or not to attack, but how fast he needed to move to be successful.

"Ray! That's enough out of you!" Dianna reprimanded him. They decided previously to use aliases for the Sith. "Step back and stand down until you're ordered to do otherwise, got it?" She knew she had to step in before her lover did something foolish.

The big Sith didn't move. He was tired of this fool's insolence and disrespect. Every ounce of his being was telling him to teach this big fish in a little pond just exactly who he was dealing with and who as in charge. 

"Remember. Your. Place," she told him through clenched teeth. The tension in the room was so strong it was almost alive. She knew if he didn't back down that it would snap like synth-rubber and people would die. Dianna knew Trychon and Raezyr probably had a good chance of surviving, but Rhox and herself didn't have the benefit of the Force.

Finally Raezyr slowly dropped his hand to his side and stepped back and guns around the room were lowered. "Yes, Captain," calm a quiet but tense voice from the helm.

"Looks like you need to keep your hounds on a shorter leash, Di," the middle aged man said. She noticed that he had dropped his hand away from her though.

"Look," Dianna said, ignoring the jab. "I've got a holo right here," she pulled out a small disc. "It shows the sealed crates being opened, random weapons pulled out, tested, replaced, and the crates resealed. The data is all here. When we make the drop, you'll be able to see that the seals have not been tampered with since the holo was created." She dropped the disc in his outstretched hand.

Dailo smiled. "I see this is not your first trip into the black, so to speak." Dianna didn't answer, just crossed her arms while the man crossed to the holoprojector and watched the recording.

"Fine," he said when it was over. "We'll begin the transaction, but I'll give you the final code at the drop point after I have inspected the crates."

Dianna stood there for a few moments, pondering. "Agreed," she said and turned to her crew. "You three get back to the Spectre and make her ready. I think I'll take Dailo up on his offer for dinner." She let that sink in for a minute. "Any questions?" she asked, although the glare she gave the helmed Sith told him there better not be any.

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