~| Day 3, 20:05-20:25 GST |~
~|Location: Mos Eisley, Tatooine within Karlie’s shop|~
While Kennith and Melloch engaged in conversation with a contact Avix was outside making sure that nobody was watching them. He much didn’t care for conversation with criminals as his patience often would wane and gave way to more liberal ways of extracting information. He had observed a few enter but didn’t feel the need to raise the alarm as they appeared to be allies or not a threat to his comrades.
All of this waiting is putting me a little on edge… Something doesn’t feel right and this mission feels like a waste… Why divert resources to rescue a few, I know times are desperate but this just seems a little desperate and the chances are that most will fall if we don’t get to them in a timely manner. Then this will turn more into containment rather than a rescue. he reflected as he awaited for his comrades to finish and hoped they found some sort of lead as time was of the essence.
Inside the shop, Fa and Vebra were ushered indoors by the oversized Jedi. Once the massive sentient was not blocking her view, Fa noticed a veritable sea of droid and other machine parts haphazardly arranged in a way that would likely only make sense to the one who placed them. All-in-all, it was a shop that seemed right at home on this planet. Immediately, they were berated by one who Fa assumed to be the shopkeeper. While Lyric had indeed informed his Jedi that they were coming, it seemed that they had neglected to actually inform their contact. Nevertheless, Fa decided to do what she could to placate whatever fears he had.
Fa held up her hands non-threateningly. “Easy, easy, we were careful that we weren’t followed. You’re not dealing with amateurs here, I assure you. Though, I did catch the scent of someone close outside on the way in, if that concerns you.” She explained.
While Fa elected to play peace keeper Vebra decided to try and glean information about the trader off of what he was selling. Seeing as it was mostly junk and that the Jedi had decided to come to this place meant the owner had either dealt with the Jedi before or happened to be selling something a little more up to their standards. Sometimes he wished he could just simply reach out with the force and take what information he needed, but alas his abilities didn’t get anything close to that level of power. He supposed the Jedi should be the ones to handle the talking for the time being considering they seemed to have a rapport already. Vebra then turned his gaze back to the strewn about parts looking for escape routes in the chance they were in fact followed.
Karlie’s face was becoming redder by the moment as he struggled to calm down. He was fidgeting and irritated while he tried to ease this tension away, realizing they weren’t supposed to be here this long. “Amateurs or not, you’re wearing out your welcome in my shop. I didn’t know aiding Jedi would be so troublesome!”
Melloch turned around, holding his hands up placatingly. “If I recall correctly, we aided you. The thugs weren’t going to leave without causing you some harm, and you know it.” He spoke gently. “Regardless, we only have a few questions that need answered and we’ll be out of your shop and stop causing you trouble. We’ll even take our two companions with us.”
“So far, you’ve not asked many questions. Instead, your presence put my family in danger the longer you stay. If you want to know where to find Janglor, seek out Jiek or another messenger. They deliver directly to him and would know his location.” Karlie went on, his body pressing into hustling out his unwanted guests. “Now please, I’m expecting someone to arrive for package. Seeing you here will only result in more questions.”
Melloch didn’t budge, concern evident on his scarred face. They needed to move quickly, but they couldn’t leave without information. “From what you said earlier, it sounds like Jiek isn’t around. You gave her money and she never delivered. Where would we find her or another messenger of Janglor’s? Preferably one closeby.”
Not seeing a sign of the behemoth moving or seeing any possible way he could haul the alien out, Karlie scowled then submitted for the moment. “I only know of three places.”
He turned his back around, his hand scratching his head back as he thought carefully about what he knew. Trying not to deliver false information at last, he started to relay what he was positive about. “A local bar called the Fel’kaw, a local desert hole where anyone from bounty hunters to messagers wet their whistles. Her favorite hunting ground is the docking area, namely in sector five where the wealthier merchants and street urchins tend to roam. And finally, there’s Gjallor. A pawnshop where she barter her goods for credits and the shopkeeper sells them off on the blackmarket.”
Fa had found a spot near the wall to lean against as the Jedi had been questioning the shopkeeper. From what she gathered, the Jedi had some reason to find someone named Janglor, and one of his messengers was the key to finding him. She still had no clue why Janglor was important, or how he related to rescuing Jedi from the Sith, but this shopkeeper did not need to know of her ignorance. It just happened to be that the very first task she would be undertaking with this group of Jedi was actually her speciality: tracking. She waited until there was a break in the conversation before she chimed in. “So we need to find this Jiek, then? You said she’s a messenger, and gave us a few places to look, but do you have any other details? Identifying information. Height, weight, appearance, style of dress, that sort of thing. Personality too. About how would you say she acts?”
“She’s a green Twi’lek and about five foot and ten or nine inches. It’s not an exact science. She often wears dark clothing which is rather simple, trying to blend in. Over top is a ragged and patched cloak over it.” He paused a moment, Karlie’s mind ticking over his thoughts. Quickly he moved toward where Vebra was standing and stopped long enough to wave the Zabrak away before he took hold of a droid head. “I didn’t have this on when she arrived, but it will likely have an image of her past visits. That is if you can splice into it.”
He turned back to the ancient looking alien, his figure reminding him of some sort of reptile and predator mix. “Unless you need me to? Then it might take some time. As for personality, she was raised from the streets around here so she’s smart. Puzzler, greedy, and rather selfish. The dock urchins might know to be honest. She only collected from me this week and this is the first time I’ve had an issue with her.”
Vebra paused for a moment as the human motioned for him to move. While the revelation of the droid’s head was a good one it didn’t do them much good for the time being. “You wouldn’t happen to have something that she’s had on her or been in contact with her for a decent amount of time would you? If I can get a good smell of her it would make this a lot faster.” Vebra made a quick gesture of tapping his nose.
“I might have a towel she wiped her hands off but any belongings she kept a pretty close grip on. Even that choker she wore around her neck. Interesting design, through hard to describe. It had several floral and delicate markings, each woven into each other with a bright blue gem at the neck front.” Karlie stated simply as he placed down the droid for the Jedi to examine then headed toward the back. There was sounds of shuffling and rummaging around, his body moving through the piled up junk out of sight and hearing overwhelmed by his task. “It’s in here somewhere…”
While the shopkeeper was searching through his mess of a store, Fa approached the oversized Jedi. Context clues had given her some understanding of the situation, but she felt it would be best to be filled in properly before they actually started to do anything important. She subtly motioned for Vebra to join her, mostly so she wouldn’t have to repeat back to him everything the Jedi said. “So while we have a chance, we should probably get introduced. My name is Fa-Val-Kuul, and this is my CO, Vebra Mirthios. What’s the situation here?” She asked quietly.
Melloch glanced down at the raptor, a smile in greeting on his face. “I’m Melloch. Jedi Knight. Healer of this expedition. The one with the hood outside is Kennith Rhan. The angry looking large human is Avix. Lyric, as I assume you know, is on the ship. We need to find out what the Sith did on this planet. Janglor, the local criminal lord, is our best bet. We just stopped three of his thugs from roughing up our contact. Apparently this Twi’lek, Jiek, didn’t deliver Karlie’s money. We have to find her and she’ll take us to Janglor, as apparently every other messenger is gone.”
“Hmm, makes sense.” Fa answered. “Well, as it happens, one of my best talents lies in tracking. Once we have her scent, we may be able to start helping you all out right away. It would probably be best to try to get her without a fight, but the situation doesn’t sound good. If every other messenger is suddenly gone, then what’s this one going to be thinking? It might end up being a challenge.” She reasoned. Tracking down a single person in a city tended to be difficult, but it wasn’t as if she had not done so before. Given that they had a few leads, finding her might not actually be difficult, but keeping her around could be more difficult.”
An abrupt curse followed by a shout of “HERE!”, Karlie suddenly was pulling himself out of the massive junkyard he called his shop. His feet moved carefully as he held his opposite hand to his body, staining his tunic with red. It was clear he had cut himself pretty well after shoving the broken parts aside though he dared not use the towel to staunch the bleeding. As he closed the gap between him and the Jedi, he held out a dirty, oily towel that had seen better days. He passed it to Vebra, the one who made the request recently. When the Zabrak took it, they would notice a vivid gash running from his thumb down his first finger which curled in. Among the fresh injury were several burn scars, none which were recent or seemed born from his work.
“Does that help?” He asked, trying to stop his tone from showing his emotions. He was clearly wanting them to be on their way even if the answer wasn’t no.
Vebra took the towel from the man but noticed something strange about his hands. It looked like they were almost blaster burns on his hands. Nothing in this place looked like it would have done that recently. They looked like the burns he had on his own body actually, which meant they weren't new. “Thank you, looks like you banged up your hand pretty bad getting this thing. Even looks like you burned it a little. I can wrap that up for you if you want.” In reality Vebra was a horrible medic but he knew how to stop bleeding. But he did want to get a closer look at the scarring on his hands, something just didn’t feel right about it.
Karlie’s spine straightened immediately as he noted Vebra’s comment. His hand jerked back, shoving it behind his back and out of sight, and stepped back a moment. His eyes sized the Zabrak up, mentally debating, before finally sighing. “I just cut myself over a spare droid part as for the burns, old wounds. I’m not perfect after all when it comes to my work. Besides, don’t you need to be going before you lose the trail? I’ll have Hellia patch me up when you’re gone.”
It was true, he was lying and if the Jedi pressed, he would submit, through it would be grudgingly.
Fa had taken a moment to observe the scent on the towel as well. The only scents she could detect were Vebra’s, the shopkeeper’s, and a third, unknown scent, so it was obvious which one they would need to track. However, the shopkeeper’s behavior couldn’t have been more suspicious. He hid the wound on reflex, hesitated long enough in his answer to be awkward, and was acting like he wanted to rush them out of the door. “A scent trail can last for weeks. We just need to make sure we have all the information we can get right now. Personally, I just find it strange that you say those burns are from your work, since there’s nothing around here that could burn you like that. Electrocute, maybe, and while a fusioncutter can burn, those are always a lot thinner.” She observed.
The shopkeeper sighed. “I never knew Jedi were so nosy. Since you’re so observant, you’re correct. Janglor doesn’t take kindly to being cheated of his cash so when I first tried to postpone a payment, he had a few thugs come and correct my behavior.”
Karlie gently adjusted to a chair where he sat, his mind drifted to the memory and continued. It was clear he was suffering the ache from the past but he swallowed it, his words stumbling onward. “They gave me a choice: me or my wife. I choose myself, through they were given strict orders not to damage my fingers. Else I couldn’t work. When they were done, they left with their money.”
Holding his wounded hand out, it was clear it had gotten sliced on loose scraps. “So you now understand why I’m not too fond of cross him for a third time? Janglor discovers I helped you, it won’t be my hands he damages this time. So, I hope when you do find the bastard… he doesn’t breathe when you leave.”
Vebra looked to Fa for a moment with a look of amusement “I suppose I never did teach you much tact did I?” Vebra then turned back to the shopkeeper “Well if the situation calls for it, you can expect him to leave you alone… forever.” Vebra took in the smells of the rag much the same as Fa had done before him and it gave him a bad taste in his mouth. The oil was quick enough to sort through in the cocktail of odors inhabiting the rag but getting such a direct smell of something usually put the taste in his throat. He quickly found the smell in question, or at least the smell he hoped that was the girl’s. Turning back to Fa and Melloch “Me and Fa might wanna split up for this one. Seeing as we’re the ones that will be able to pick her up the furthest away.”
Melloch, his eyes narrowed at Karlie’s wounds, turned back to the two people next to him. “I’d suggest one of you go to the Bar and the other head to the docks then. I’ll head to the shop, as my bulk will prevent her from bolting out the door.” He gave the two of them a toothy grin. “You two will be able to sniff her out in those open places, whereas we won’t need your noses in the shop. It’s small enough and I’ve got enough of a description that I can spot and attempt to stop her. Sound like a plan?”
Fa nodded to Melloch. “Agreed. I’ll head to the docks; it’s more open, and if she isn’t there, I’ll have a better chance of at least finding a scent trail. If anyone wants to come with me, let’s go.”
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