[center] ~| Day 3, 18:01 - 18:05 GST |~ 
~|Location: In orbit of Tatooine|~[/center]

Vebra gave a deep grin as he heard the familiar voice of Lyric on the line. "Well when you only gets shore leave every so often one is inclined to spend as much time with Twi'leks as possible. Besides, they taste better than your cigarras anyways” Vebra had to exert quite a bit of control to not burst into immature laughter. It was good to hear from an old friend, even if the circumstances were less than ideal. He took his right hand out from his robes once again and opened up his own personal datapad on the underside of his forearm. He opened a place to keep notes and quickly input the frequency they were using onto it just in case he had to use it again soon.

“With that much female hormones in the room, I’m surprised you’ve not gotten sore merely by standing in the same room.” Lyric stated, recalling the Zabrak’s ability to sense and use scent as part of their culture. It ended to useful despite his teasing tone toward his friend, his lips curled up into a light smile while he adjusted his footing. He knew he was going to be standing here for a while and aimed to get comfortable. His arms, unable to touch his smoke, crossed over his chest where they rested and stopped from shifting about. “So, you either came to check up on me which is unnecessary or you have another reason. Personally, if it’s the one I’m assuming then we could really use your help. Namely as few have answered the request for aid already.”  

His body leaned over the console with his palms flat and his weight shifted forward. He looked into the screen as if he expected the very answer that Vebra was going to give. 

Fa alternated between keeping watch down the hallway, and leaning in to hear the conversation more clearly. Personally, she still felt like this was a message that Vebra should have sent [i]before[/i] they put themselves on a transport to Tatooine, but it at least seemed like Lyric was open to aid. Of course, now it sounded like they might have trouble getting enough men to pull off this rescue. Regardless, she and Vebra were more than used to dangerous assignments.

“Well, we are in orbit above Tatooine right now, and I can tell you that it’s definitely not for a vacation.” Fa chimed in, making her presence known. Vebra had directly interacted with Lyric more frequently than she had during the war, but she was not a person that could be easily forgotten, particularly for one as well-educated as a Jedi. Tiss’shar were virtually unknown by most in the galaxy, so she tended to attract the curiosity of others. 

“Well…as you can tell I brought the kid along, hope you don’t mind. Though considering that anyone with a transmitter could pick up on us right now I’ll keep it brief. You know I’m not one to sit idly by while..” Vebra paused for a moment, if they were being listened to he had to choose his words now.” The nerfs are being kept in pens. It’s not like either of our companies are going to do much about it. So, we’re here for whatever you need. Where would be a good place for us to meet? We have all the gear we should need for a party but carrying it all could be cumbersome while in action.” Vebra began to hope he wasn’t being too nonspecific for this type of operation.

This type of paranoia from Vebra was due to a particular operation on Ord Mantell going bad because the locals picked up on their comm chatter. Things got very ugly very fast then and he assumed the Empire could repeat that for them with a smile. The imps were most assuredly set up on Tatooine, anywhere the Republic tried to build something they were always following close behind. He almost admired that about them.

“Tattooine, the litter box of the galaxy.” Lyric chuckled, slightly amused before he continued. 

“Best spot to go shit digging, water vapor mining, and more if you don’t mind the slug and pest infestation. At least if you enjoy that for a vacation. As for bring the kid, I don’t mind as right now we are understaffed with only two employees reporting for duty and one loner who seems she does better working by herself due to conflicting methods. The humorous part is that she is a senior employee of almost equal rank to me. the bad part, this means we’re without a manger for hands on events.” Lyric’s tone sounded a bit bitter over the mention of Kinsa, her departure putting Lyric without a field commander and seemed to weaken their power over all. He quickly casted it away for the moment as he redirected his mind and regained his calm in the same fluid moment. He absorbed Vebra’ hidden message and nodded in understanding. He inhaled a moment, taking a breath, then added more.  

“I understand your concern about the wee beasties but we don’t have full details on their habitat conditions or treatment. Not even how many are onboard until the surveillance footage is recovered from the building our competition ended up wiping out in a blind sided tactic. We don’t know how many they officially have or where they are being kept.” He paused a moment, his breathing steady and body leaned upright to face the console more comfortably. “Currently my employee’s are retrieving information over a rare procession used by our competition. You might want to start in Mos Eisely, that’s where my employee had docked and started from. They will likely still be there.”

“ I’m hoping by finding the maker, we could find a trail leading to a successful road. They might’ve ran into trouble through and could use the extra help. As for storage,” Lyric gestured to the nearest staff officer to to check the storage and see how much room they had, “I’m pretty sure we can store anything you want to bring here as we’ve got a lot of space.”     

Fa thought briefly on how to go about saying what she intended to convey while Lyric spoke. She supposed it would not be suspicious to mention armor, as long as she did not specify that it was Republic armor. This far from the core, it would attract even more attention to her than her species. She could always go without it, though she would have to hope there were no sandstorms, as the sand would be quite harsh on her scales. 

“Good, good. I don’t think I prepared enough coming here, honestly. I’d rather not wear my armor around the city; it doesn’t seem appropriate for the place. Perhaps I can pick up a robe somewhere? Perfect attire for the desert. Anyway, I’m here to help however I can; I’m sure you know that I have ‘leadership experience.’ Should we stop by your current location first and offload supplies, or seek out your employees once we land?” Fa asked. Given that they did not actually know what Lyric’s Jedi were specifically doing on Tatooine, they could use a more detailed briefing, but if Lyric’s rescue mission was indeed understaffed, then he might just allow his Jedi on the surface to fill them in on the specifics. 


Vebra muted the microphone for a moment. “They already have a ship, well it’s likely where Lyric is sitting right now. As far as cloaks go I’ll nab you one on our way out. Maybe we’ll even match!” Vebra said making sure to accentuate his brow when he said they would match. Unmuting the microphone Vebra continued. “If I give you some coordinates could you do a meet up? While I’m fine hoofing it dropping our things off at the apartment would be ideal.” Vebra actually had a place in mind already that he had used on his first mission to the desert world years ago. I was close enough to the space port to be only a few minutes walk but discrete enough to not draw too much suspicion of a Republic dropship moving in and out fast enough. 

He didn’t like how vague they were having to be to keep a reasonably secure line of communication. Though it was still better than some of the jargon that used on Republic battle comms, so it had that going for it. “When we meet up I’ll have you tell me all about the surprise party your friends threw the other day. I heard it was killer party, sorry I missed it.” He began to wonder how much he would actually be able to get from the holorecordings that they likely had of the sacking. At the very least though he needed to see it for himself. 

“Again, I won’t look a gift Bantha in the mouth if I can help it.” Lyric stated then smirked at Fa’s offering to help, his thoughts for a moment lingered on the encounters with her. There was something off about her but he never pried. It could’ve been her truthful conversations on the force, the rare neutral, which he found to be a slight shame. He at least relieved it wasn’t negative or like the Sith ,a fact that would’ve caused serious issues later on down the road. Then again, the galaxy was filled with different sorts. That much was for sure. ”Fa, your skills in that area my staff requires would help greatly appreciated and as for your gear, that’s your judgement call. However, I will admit it might be rather… rough down there. Tatooine, isn’t a tourist attraction just because it’s a waterless wasteland.” 

At Vebra’s jump in request, Lyric frowned at being interrupted then resisted the name on the tip of his tongue to call the Zabrak. Something in Ul’Zabrak and even Vebra would’ve found offensive, enough to know Lyric didn’t like being cut off in conversation. He shifted to answer the comment about creating a meet up and paused to think. His teeth had bitten through the dark wrap, scattering a bit of spice into his mouth and tongue, making him fight not to spit it out. It was clear he was in deep thought over the request before he spoke. “I think it might be better if I tell them to stay put then give you coordinates to meet them. Namely if they are already collecting information or having trouble, making that date might be rather hard. I hate to make you wait too long after all. Coming back to the ship would be wasted energy the company might not appreciate us using carelessly.” 

Lyric’s fingers flew over the console, not allowing either to stop him, while he wrote the message into a format that looked relatively...normal. It would appear over Vebra’s datapad as a simple, ancient shipping receipt of a legit business, one often seen being used by multiple sources. There was no secret encryption to decode or anything to make it suspicious. It was by all accounts a forged receipt with the Jedi’s location at a place known for metal scrapping things from ship parts to droids, the address highlight for convenience. 

“Merely arrive there to meet my employees. I’ll inform them of your arrival so they aren’t assuming you’ve come to cheat them out of their job. Work for you Vebra?”       

As Vebra received the receipt for droid salvage he thought for a second that the Jedi had lost his mind and had sent him the wrong thing. But he quickly picked up on the information that he would need to get them to the Jedis on the ground already. He briefly remembered that the Jedi had given him fire over interrupting him before but this just made Vebra grin. Anything he could do to make that cigarra chomping mug do a double take and him not be able to do a single thing about it was amusing to him. His mind drifted back to the idea of captured Jedi for just another moment and the thought of what they were more than likely doing to them. Fighting each other to the death was always a favorite, then again so was alchemical experimentation. While Vebra’s smile was replaced with a neutral face he was very careful to not allow the facade of a cool headed leader crack.

Vebra quickly checked the rust bucket of a ship they were on itinerary. They were scheduled to land down in the port in about an hour and from there Vebra would most likely need to procure Ronto just to speed up their travel time. “Hmm, looks like this salvage is a bit far from the port. We’ll grab some local transport over there and could be there before the GST day is over. I do suppose the company was always a cheapskate.”

A hilarious image came to Vebra’s head involving local transportation and Twi’leks which brought a smile to his face again but this one was much more of self satisfaction. “Make sure you tell your employees to not be afraid of matching robes. Last thing we need is another incident corporate on corporate violence. We know how you like to keep em all riled up for a sale. Oh and Lyric, I’ll try to save some of the local women for you.” Vebra laughed albeit a stifled snicker would be a more appropriate description. He waited a few more moments awaiting a response from the Jedi before disconnecting him and the datapad. Then he heard a loud banging noise down the corridor on his right. The side that Fa wasn’t watching.

Fa believed she understood well enough the plan once they landed. They could not exactly control where this ship was going to land, but it was at least not prohibitively far from the address she leaned in to see on Vebra’s datapad. Mos Eisley was the largest settlement on the planet, and while that was certainly not saying much, it at least meant that it was the first destination for most ships coming from off-world. There was still the matter of figuring out what exactly they were supposed to be doing once they met Lyric’s Jedi, but the unsecured line prevented them from learning that. She supposed it would just have to be a surprise. Until then, she would need to keep as low of a profile as possible for a heavily armed and entirely unique reptilian in Republic armor obscured only by a thin layer of cloth. 

Smiling, Fa directed a laugh at Vebra before he cut off the call. “Local women? I suppose Jawas need affection as well, though I don’t think Lyric will mind if you keep them all for yourself.” She began before the loud banging from the other side of the corridor immediately captured her attention. Cutting out the jokes, she quickly grabbed the panel and motioned for Vebra to get out of her way. “Quick, unplug that thing and move.” She whispered. 

Lyric listened to Vebra, and nodded, his face not revealing much about his inner thoughts. Through on the inside he was relieved to have more assistance in the aid effort through part of him wonder if it was enough and what condition the Jedi would be in when they did arrive. How many would they have to put down during the rescue when they got there? Lyric shuddered, inwardly, at the thought of what they might find. He couldn’t help but wonder if Vebra and Fa were prepared to killed allies now turned enemies.
Lyric was enjoying the banter before a banging was heard over the communications.The master’s face became serious, his voice become immediately silent as he waited for the extra ears to pass. Last thing he wanted was sensitive information being passed while an untrusting source was lurking about, Fa lowering her voice to  say something inaudible.


Vebra knowing that their time was at an end flashed Lyric a smile and disconnected the datapad from the antenna. He quickly covered up his own pad and handed Fa back her’s, then reaching into the side where he had kept the panel. He began to hear footsteps on the metal walks far down the corridor. He pulled the metal covering up and forced it into place as quietly as he could. Without looking knowing that there were people coming towards them put his hood up and turned left and attempted to herd Fa out of the area with him. The footsteps steadily growing louder.

He managed to find an exit and quickly opened it which slid to the sides with quick action by the servomotors. He poked his hooded head out the door and was pleased to find that it opened into an empty hallway. “Everyone must still be at dinner.” He whispered just loud enough for Fa to hear.  Checking left and right once more he stepped out into the much less cramped space and thumbed the door control behind them. He turned one last time to Fa and said. “Meet me in the loading bay in 15 minutes with your gear. I should have a robe of some sort worked out for you by then.” He glanced at the door again for a moment. “Grab some food too if you want but make sure it’s to go. We should be landing soon.” With that Vebra turned on his heels and began making a fast walk away from the area and towards the rest of his gear, hoping the locker hadn’t been cracked by the refugees.

Although they had to cut their conversation with Lyric short, Fa supposed they had learned all they needed to for the moment. They had a destination, and some direction of what to do once they arrived. All there was to do now was to wait until the ship landed, preferably without causing any problems with its owner for hijacking its communications array. The pair made it out into the hallway safely, and as Fa would expect, Vebra suggested splitting up for the moment and meeting up again shortly. She nodded in agreement, then headed off in the opposite direction. 

Following Vebra’s suggestion, Fa decided to grab something for dinner before gathering her belongings, mostly because her bunk was in the same room as his. Meat was a premium meal aboard a ship with barely enough supplies to sustain the refugees on board for the duration of the journey, but as her species were strictly carnivores, they had actually set aside enough for her and any others with the same dietary restrictions. She only had a small amount of the raw meat remaining, but it was enough to last her for a while. Afterwards, she headed back to her bunk to gather her equipment, most of which she would keep in its crate until she could get a cloak from Vebra.