Kathol Business

[Ganner Groundrunner]

Sitting at the controls, and ignoring most of the local traffic rules, Ganner pushed the Baudo faster as he sped in front of a slower cargo hauler that was angling down towards the surface. Some may have said he was taking unnecessary risks, and was out of control, but Ganner, of course, knew better. He took risks at times sure, but they were calculated risks, and he was rarely not in some kind of control. Precautions were taken as much as possible to ensure this.

Without so much as a sound, Kalamahk showed up in the back of the cockpit. Ganner startled slightly as he noticed him breathing over his shoulder. Kalamahk, a Noghri, had been the personal body guard for the smuggler a few years now. Ganner had found and saved the small, grey-skinned fellow from a hunters trap while on a job one day. They then escaped together while the enraged hunter chased them both like prey. From that day on, Kalamack had sworn an oath to protect and obey Ganner to pay off his life debt, much like that of the Wookiee’s culture. He had served as co-pilot, protector, and even friend these past few years, and they had gone on many missions together. Ganner had, on several occasions, insisted that the Noghri had more than repaid his debt, as he had lost count how many times his little companion had saved his hide. Throughout it all though, Kalamahk has been there for any encounter without complaint, and vowed to never cut their bond.

“Kal, how many times do I have to tell you, let me know when you are coming. You are going to give me a heart attack… and then who would you hang around with?” Ganner said. “So what’s going on out there?”

“Sorry.” Kalamahk said in a deep, raspy voice. “There has been some trouble. It appears that two rival groups, the Tarvian Syndicate and V’Kora Industrial Supplies are having a skirmish. Intel from our contacts is that the Tarvians may have sent an assassin to kill a V’Kora informant who had a meeting set up for today. They found him apparently poisoned at a bar minutes before the meeting was to take place. Witnesses have provided little information as of now. There was surveillance pulled of a woman in a headdress leaving the vicinity pulled up, but she was lost to the network not far outside the complex.”

“Wait, where was this?”

“V’Kora Industrial’s main skyscraper.”

Ganner instantly banked out of the skylane, and pushed the throttle harder. The ship lurched forward with its running lights piercing a new path directly towards the building. “That’s where Jools had her meeting. Get back on the comms and see if you can dig anything else up. Get on the security channels as well and let them know im coming in hot, and not going to be obeying any protocols whether they like it or not.”

“Of course.” Kalamahk said as he disappeared back into the ship.

“I’m coming Jools” Ganner whispered to himself.

[Malnot Oheagra]

"Lets see how well I can blend into this crowd", she said half bent over, looking at Carn. Leaning against the wall she fastened the straps of her shoes.

"Bye guys!"

And with that Jools had left the hololift disappearing into the crowd that filled the lobby in front of Malnot. Looking down at the business card the picture of the young Nautolan stood out to him straight away. Reading the text he suddenly realised where he knew her from. Though the card advertised Club Bozsychnik he noticed again the name Noctru. She is a member of the family of Noctru, a group Malnot had dealt with plenty of times. A slight smile crossed his face.

Pocketing the card he turned to Carn. “Right, let’s go, no time to waste!” Malnot jumped back into action and stormed out into the lobby himself. Walking as quick as he could through the mass of people Malnot turned to Carn, “Where is Shauna parked?”

“Three pads away sir” Carn said looking at the information on his data pad. He looked up as something took his attention. “Sir...”

“Not now Carn we need to leave, now which will be the best way out?” Malnot spoke to himself trying to look over the crowds for a quick exit.

“No sir you need to look!” Carn now adamant about what he had seen.

“What Carn?!” Malnot now annoyed at yet another delay.

“Look!” Carn said pointing back towards the hololifts.

“What? I just see a Pau’an, admittedly odd to see them as far out as this but what’s your point?”
But as the Pau’an moved to the left slightly Malnot saw exactly what Carn had. “Uthar?” Malnot whispered under his breath not sure about whether he was seeing right. There just about to enter one of the elevators was a well built Barabel.

It suddenly dawned on Malnot, it certainly was Uthar. Malnot shot towards the hololift pushing people out of his way to try and get there in time to stop him. “Come on, come on. Uthar will be able to give me full clearance, this is perfect!”

“I don’t get paid enough.” Carn just shrugged before picking up his things and running after his boss.

[Uthar Ridian]

The group shuffled together inside the turbolift, the security guards making a visible effort to keep their weapons available should the imposing lizard try anything foolish. Uthar and Ellia were the last to enter, ensuring they were visible and at a disadvantage in case a fight broke out. Just as the group was getting settled in and the lead officer was about to input the floor number, Uthar eyes were drawn to the regal blue streak bowling his way through the crowd.

Uthar groaned to his Pau'an companion, "How's a lizard suppose to maintain command when he can't sneak up on his own pilots?" Ellia looked at Uthar quizzically, then understanding dawned on her as her gaze followed his.

He recognized his quarry immediately, as he knew very few other sentients with such a stark blue and white contrasting appearance. Disappointed as he was at the realization that his cover was about to be blown, he was relieved that his search had ended substantially faster.

"STOP," Uthar barked sharply to the officer, who jumped in surprise and glared menacingly at the reptilian annoyance.

"Look, do you want your doctor to be of use or not?" he retorted, his anger visibly rising.

Uthar laughed to himself and explained, "I just thought you might like to know we have an important visitor.." trailing off as he nodded towards the well decorated military officer that now stood before them. "Good day Lieutenant Commander Oheagra, what brings you to this part of town?"

[Jools Noctru]

Originally posted by Asydian Kir

With so many lights in this part of the city you sometimes had to wonder whether it really was night time. How could anyone sleep here? Asydian thought. He looked closer at the ornate offices on the upper floors and noticed the many beings still working. Maybe no-one ever does.


Consular-class Cruiser Dark Rogue

The Dark Rogue swerved slowly through the traffic on its way to the V'Kora district, light beacons flashing in the darkness. The older-class vessel was well protected for a small freighter, but handled like a runaway Bantha. Its crew were just thankful it hadn't crashed into a moon since it began its service with them. As they approached the V'Kora buildings, Galven slowed and looked to his commander. "Land her by those gawkers over there," Asydian motioned to a large group of civilians pushing each other around just to get the best view of what was going on. "Make sure they know its dangerous to impede an investigation." Flipping the comm switch to the hanger the Togrutan issued a warning to its crew. "Watch yourselves, we're dropping now. Formation after landing, secure line. Kay-Tee, take point and wait until we get there." A sharp affirmative came in reply.

The ship dropped sharply, making a bee-line for the congregation below. Looking up to the sky the packed civilians reacted with panic as the ship seemingly careered out of control towards them, its thrusters firing in short bursts to steady the approach somewhat. Galven grinned widely as he slapped a fresh cigar in his mouth. "COMIN THROUGH SLACKJAWS!! AHAHAHAAAA!!" The ship shuddered abruptly as its descent ended and its landing claws crunched onto the pavement. The crowd had dispersed before the boarding ramp opened, but many were still loosely floating around the area, stunned as to how the ship had seemingly averted danger and landed safely. Those few were greeted with the metallic grating of metal on metal as a dozen Mark I Assault Droids came marching down the ramp, headed by a matte black Destroyer Droid. The whirring of metal gearing and circuitry echoed off the ships hull, sending more panicked civilians running in the opposite direction.

The droids began clearing a line to the V'Koro building as their master made his way down the ships ramp. Glancing at the civilians still to either side of his droids, he made his way to the ground officer flashing his ID as he began to speak. "If you don't mind Sergeant I'm gonna take a look around. Feel free to make use of the droids." At his side Kay-Tee pivoted to look at the Sergeant, obviously unimpressed with the idea of taking orders from someone not familiar to her. Although she would do so if asked, her personality chip decreed that she would do so with utmost spite towards the man. Asydian noticed the Sergeants apprehension, "Don't worry, she'll be coming with me."

Gathering his senses the man replied "Yes sir, we appreciate your assistance. If there is anything I can do not hesitate to ask."

"I will take that into consideration, thank you Sergeant Valz."

As the crowds began to file back into the crime scene area, the local security forces went back to work, keeping aggression to a minimum and making sure all were behind the lines. Asydian smiled to himself and made his way through V'Kora's entranceway, Kay-Tee following close behind.

[Malnot Oheagra]

Malnot reached the elevator with his friend inside. Just behind him was a tall Pau`an he had never seen before but he guessed that the tall grey figure was with Uthar by the way they were both smiling. The guards in the lift suddenly jumped to attention as they noticed the officer appear in front of them. Their faces gave away how nervous they were to be in the pressence of a fleet commander as Uthar hissed, "Good day Lieutenant Commander Oheagra, what brings you to this part of town?"

Malnot smiled as the guards reacted before turning his attention to the Barabel. "Good evening Admiral." Malnot greeted his superior with a slight tone of sarcasm as he knew how the guards would react. Sure enough the guard nearest the control pannel quickly turned a pale shade, "A... Ad... Admiral? Oh my..... I am very sorry sir, if I had of realised, well, you know, I am so sorry for any disrespect I may have shown you. Had you have been in uniform...."

Malnot quickly cut in so as to save the guard any more embarasment, "Had he have been in uniform, life would have been so much more boring for him." Malnot laughed slightly as he played on the fact that he knew how Uthar disliked to be recognised by his dress code.

"Well my friend, I think it s more a question of what brings you here? I Its clearly not official business," Malnot refered to the lack of uniform, "So I'm assuming its either a little trip out for the day or you were trying to check up on me... Oh Uthar when will you learn?" Malnot grinned at the memories of how many times Uthar had failed to sneak up on him. "Well if you must know, I was meeting a... friend... he had some rather interesting information for me. But now that you're here and you've clearly got yourself into something, mind if I and Carn tag along? Speaking of which, where is that Chiss?"

Malnot turned to see his body guard pushing his way trhough the crowds having to move cautiously as to avoid knowcking out any of the passers by with his large amount of equipment. In the distance Malnot could see something that caught his eye. 'Droids?' He was very confused by this as it wasn't the usual sight to see so many assult droids on Kathol.

He returned his focus on Uthar, "There's obviously something going on around here, seems my errand will have to wait," he shrugged and reluctatly moved towards the lift, "Come on Carn we're going back up."

Carn looked on at his master and just rolled his eyes sarcastically.

[Uthar Ridian]

Having finally had his psuedo-cover blown, Uthar dropped his act of ruthless body guard and put forth the composure that might be expected of an admiral.Taking the glare out of his eyes, maintaining a strait and authoritative posture, and dropping the heavy Barabel accent, he gave a curt nod and smile to Malnot before turning to the security guards.

"Yes, yes.We all have time for being surprised at the 'revelation' when I'm not around.Right now you need to tell me everything you know about the situation in the building and continue to the injured party as before.I may have been putting on a show, but the good doctor here is very much still needed if a citizen of Krath requires medical attention."

Uthar paused enough to allow the security guards to regain their composure.

"Let's be quick about it, my patience is not unlimited"

The leading officer, face still struck with surprise, looked to his comrades and shook his head clear."Of course sir, right away!"He quickly re-keyed the turbolift panel, shutting the doors and shooting the lift up into the tower, then turned back the the admiral.

"I'm afraid I know few details.Only that a man was found incapacitated near one of the board rooms.I have not heard word of exactly what happened, but the building's lifts have been locked down to prevent the escape of a suspected attacker.We've been given a very sketchy description.All we know is that a woman wearing a dress and a rather noticeable headpiece was seen talking to the man shortly before he was seen on the ground.The witnesses were apparently shaken up and were unsure of her race."

The officer stopped and looked expectantly between the Uthar and Malnot, hoping that the information he had given would be sufficient.

"There you have it old friend, that's why I'm here and now you as well." Uthar spoke while still maintaining a gaze on the security team. "First thing will be to ascertain the status of the victim.I trust Carn is up to speed on his crime scene investigation skills?", he said with a bit of humor, full well knowing Malnot's frequent use of his aid's assets."Because we'll need to get a better idea of what exactly happened before we can go after this woman."

Uthar stopped and began thinking about how best to approach the situation when they reached their destination.Knowing that the suspect was not yet caught, despite attacking a businessman in public, in V'Kora skyscraper no less, Uthar understood that the suspect was highly skilled and more than likely long gone.He simply hoped that something at the scene might give a better clue about the identity or purpose of the attacker.