As Dex was approaching the hangar where the speeder was, Liora appeared from an alley and motioned Dex to follow her. Wondering why Nei wasn't with her, Dex followed.
Around the corner when Liora felt safe enough to talk she'd related all the information of Nei's abduction to Dex. Liora then told him that they were members of the Black Sun.
"And why didn't you two drive off? I gave you the keys for a reason." Dex said irritated.
"Oops! I forgot about them," shrieked Liora as she reached into her pouch and felt the keys. "I was sitting in the back," she stated in her defense.
Dex slapped his forehead and sighed, "So now we can't just tip toe around the Black Sun while investigating, we have to go knock on their front door and ask 'Hello! You kidnapped our friend earlier. Is there any chance you haven't killed or sold her yet? And, if she's still safe, could we have her back?' I have a feeling this won't end well."
"Well, I'm just not sure how to fix this. Don't you have someone you can contact to try to get her back?" asked Liora.
"I may be able to convince someone, but most of the people I used to know aren't overjoyed with me," Dex replied.
"Anything is worth a try to get Nei back, since Malik will be very upset that we let the best slicer at the office be person-napped," Liora reminded Dex.
Dex grunted, and if his eyes weren't a solid color, they would have rolled. He started walking down the street, "Follow me. Zhar'sara may be able to help."
"Jerk....Let's just try to retrieve her!" Liora slightly shouted at him. Liora followed without another word to Dex.
Dex hailed an air taxi and gave the pilot the destination for Zhar'sara's neighborhood.
Nei awoke in a dark room. Dim, purple light filtered in from panels at the base of the walls. She wasn't sure how long she'd been out or where she was. She remembered Khrad grabbing her and injecting her with a hypo-syringe. The last thing she saw as she lost consciousness was Liora jumping out of the speeder and running.
"Ugh...Where am I?" She wondered aloud as she sat up and her head swam a bit. She took inventory of her belongings and found that her datapad and her emergency communicator were there, but there was a security field keeping them from connecting to the holonet. "Well, can't call out, then."
As her eyes focused and adjusted to the odd color, she could tell that the room was about 3 meters by 2 meters. There was a disposer and a hover-buffer. It appeared she was in a janitorial locker. The door at the end was sealed, but it did not seem like the room was meant to hold someone for an extended period of time.
I wonder, would it be more prudent to attempt escape and hope for the best or to wait and not antagonize my captors. A wise decision requires more information. Who could the boss be? She pulled out her datapad and began searching through the data stored on there for any clue as to the identities of either Khrad or Odon. The data on Deell's gambling debt that her search had returned had come from a highly secured datastore. When she checked her logs to see where that data had come from. It was definitely a secret Black Sun datastore that she had compromised, and someone had noticed.
"Oh, bother." Well, that explains it. I should have been more careful with the camouflage program. Maybe I can calmly explain that I was not after them...Yes, of course that will work. Wait, now my inner thoughts sound as sarcastic as Liora and Dex. I've been around them too long... Nei began probing the security field for weaknesses, looking for a backdoor or a way to forge an access code, but to no avail. They must have an extremely competent slicer. Hat's off to you, sir. She then turned her attention to the physical door, first pressing her ear to the door listening for any sounds without.
Nei heard footsteps getting louder and then stop just outside the door. She quickly and silently returned to the position in which she awoke, replacing her datapad in her pouch.
The door opened and revealed Odon standing at the door.
The air taxi came to a rest in a very busy district. Even though it was night, the light from the curbside stores was so bright you couldn't tell. Zhar'sara's bar was called "The Silver Swoop" and was about half a block down the street.
"Alright, this time stay close, I don't need two missing persons," Dex said as he paid the taxi and started walking towards the bar.
"Okay." was Liora's response and the only word she had spoken to Dex since getting into the air taxi. She then walked behind him very closely.
Once inside Dex saw the bar was still as busy as it had been when he worked there. Over in the corner there were the gambling tables where Dex had made and lost a couple of fortunes. There were screens showing up with various sporting events throughout the galaxy. One was the Boonta Eve Classic that had the interesting twist this year that a human boy was participating. This, of course, was a pirated signal from Hutt space, but Zhar'sara had ways of getting around that.
In an effort to seem at least some what inconspicuous, Dex went to the bar and ordered a Selonian Black Hole. The bartender turned to make the drink. Liora followed Dex's lead, took a seat and ordered the same drink to keep from looking out of place. The bartender looked up from Dex's drink and nodded.
The noise level in the bar increased noticeably as a spectacular crash appeared in the podrace on the screen. Suddenly all the screens replayed the crash, and the bartender motioned for Dex and Liora into a door. The duo quickly and quietly moved through the doorway.
The hallway on the other side of the door was a stark contrast to the room they had just been in. Where everything was bright and promoted an jovial atmosphere in the the bar, the hallway was dim, and sparsely decorated. Dex knew that the bar was a facade. The real business was done back here. He made his way to the end of the hall and the door swooshed open revealing Zhar'sara's personal office.
Her office was starkly decorated just as the hallway had been. As long as he knew her, Zhar'sara had been all about business.
"Dex, old friend, what brings you to the Swoop today?" she asked as she looked up from a pile of datapads sitting on her desk and rested her elbows on the desk with her hands folded underneath her chin. Her lekku fell gracefully down her back. "Did you come to ask for your job back? I always have a few people that are a little behind on their bills."
"you dont need me, im sure if you just asked politely, they would give you more than they owed. But what i'm here for has to do with your friends.. and one of mine. she was taken earlier, along with my speeder. I don't suppose you've heard anything about this?" Dex explained.
Zhar'sara nodded her head. "I haven't heard anything about it, but if my friends are involved, I would suggest you tread carefully. They make mistakes sometimes and pick up the wrong person, but they do not like those mistakes pointed out. Those mistakes have a tendency to be erased," she said.
"That's why i came to you. I was hoping you could help me handle this quietly. No one needs to get hurt. You know me. I don't have any friends that could do any damage, so the whole ordeal could be easily forgotten by both sides."
The orange Twi'lek sighed, dropped her hands to her desk, and said, "I'll look into it for you, but only because I like you, Dex. I'm not going to promise you anything, and I'm not going to stick my neck out for you too much if it comes to that. So, who is it that was taken?"
"Her name is Nei Sobri. She's an Omwati. Two goons took her outside of a tavern while I was inside."
"A Trandoshan female named Khrad and a Devaronian male named Odon," chimed in Liora.
Nei let Odon shake her just long enough for it to appear that she had been asleep.
"Ugh, my head...where am I?" Nei reenacted her original waking moments.
"That's not important right now. Here. Drink this," the Devaronian said as he handed Nei a cup filled with a sweet smelling liquid.
"What is it? Not to be rude, but I am not in the habit of ingesting unknown substances."
"It's a little serum to relieve the effects of the drugs we had to inject into you."
"Indeed. In that case, thank you," Nei replied as she took the drink and tasted the sweet beverage before draining the cup. "Now what happens? I assume I have been brought here to meet your boss who wishes to remain anonymous. Should I expect a brief interview and dismissal or a more eventual release?"
"The Boss never told me why he wants to meet you. He just told me to pick you up and bring you here," said Odon.
"Indeed. When, then, will I be so privileged with his acquaintance?"
"Now that you're awake, he's ready to see you now," Odon gestured towards the door.
Nei stood up. "Lead the way, then, Odon. I must admit I am rather intrigued." I also want to meet your slicer! To see through my camouflage and create such an effective barrier... As Nei followed Odon out of the closet, her mind became somewhat giddily preoccupied.
Outside the hallway was a very expensive looking apartment. Odon led Nei down the hallway to a lift and pressed a button to call the lift. When it appeared, he ushered her in and keyed a code into the security pad on the inside. The lift began moving upwards. After several minutes, the lift came to a stop and the door opened. The suite outside the lift was about half a mile above the nominal surface of Coruscant and a wide vista of buildings could be seen out the windows. An older human with short cropped hair sat behind a large desk. It was Darro Orden, a wealthy noble from Corellia.
"Ms. Sobri, so glad you could join me today. I've been looking forward to meeting you. Please have a seat," Darro said as he gestured to one of the seats in front of his desk.
"Thank you," Nei replied as she did so. "I am afraid I cannot return the sentiment - I had no plans to make your acquaintance, this evening, Mr. Orden. My only assumption is that perhaps this is related to the investigation I and my partners have been conducting. Perhaps you were a business partner of Mr. Pell?"
"I never met the late Mr. Pell," responded Darro. "I invited you here to address the matter of a breach in my security system. I thought you might have some insight into how I might keep it from recurring." The old man flashed a very devious smile that reminded Nei of a street cat when it had cornered a small rodent.
No comments:
Post a Comment