STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- The Hunted

(Alrighty then.)

"Bugsy is a lightweight, apparently," Retter jokes. "But really, on to business, then, since we're so eager. If you could escort my men to your ship, Eerin, they could grab the payment and that's that. However, I wish to discuss business with Kyle. That okay?"

Kyle speaks up before Eerin can give the answer every knows he'll give. "That's fine, but you can't blame folks like us for being cautious. Especially on this rock. But Eerin's a big bug, he can take care of himself. Not that I'm helpless either, but we're staying in the bar anyway." He looks at Eerin. "No one will try anything in here. At least not anything I can't handle." He looks back to the contact. "And if Eerin isn't back in one standard hour I'll shoot you in the face. That okay?"

Eerin starts to open his mouth to protest, but Kyle cuts him off. Eerin grumbles beneath his breath while Kyle makes the deal.

"Suits me just fine," he replies, then snaps his fingers twice. From the crowd emerge six goons, all very obviously armed with blaster rifles. He speaks a few words in Huttese, basically informing them of the situation.

"Eerin, escort these fine men to your ship, will you?" Retter says, gesturing to two Grans and a Weequay. "They'll handle the payment and won't give you a hint of trouble. They know you're a tough customer."

Kyle looks at the sudden appearance of so many armed guards warily. IT wasn't the picture he had in his head when Retter mentioned 'my men'. But Kyle had stepped in it, so he thought he better follow through. Still, people in this line of work didn't make it far being stupid, so he improvised further.

"You don't take many chances with security either, I see. Well, let's get this over with. We both know how much I'm sticking our necks out doing it this way. But I'm interested in hearing more business, so there you have it." He pulls out his comlink and sets it on the table, active. Eerin'll be alright for a while," he guestures at the live link, "he's a talkative fellow. And so am I." He looks meaningfully at Eerin. It was his way of signaling 'if the link dies, so should the contact and his men'.

He turns back to Retter, "So, let's hear it."

Eerin nods, then leaves the bar to lead Retter's men to the ship.

He turns his comlink on, so as to hear Kyle's conversation with their contact.

Eerin, those three men follow you wordlessly out of the pub. They look unpleasant, but you don't think they'll give you any grief unless you give them reason to.

-

The other three guards stick with you and Retter, seating themselves in a booth nearby.

"Kyle, you DID get the money, right?" Retter asks. "Eerin isn't going to turn my men into fillet of thug?"

"Yeah, we got the payment. Although it was close. We were just finishing unloading the good when snipers opened fire on our contacts there. We grabbed the payment, slammed the door and hit the throttle. Shortly after we took off, weapon fire set off the nukes. A few seconds slower and we would have been atoms." He casts a sideways glance at their guards. "And don't worry about Eerin. He's actually a big softie, unless you make him mad. But you definitely don't want to see him mad."

"I don't doubt it," Retter says. "You might want to check the Last Laugh for radiation damage. You weren't caught in the blast, but you never know. Starship equipment is sensitive stuff."

Such an inspection could take several days.

Eerin does not say anything that might instigate conversation. Especially since most beings don't speak Geonosian. Elites, being unable to speak anything BUT Geonosian, are rarely sensitive about the issue outside of Geonosis, seeing as many of them do not leave their homeworld at any point in their lifetime. For Eerin, it was different.

"[Here]," Eerin mutters, gesturing to the ship when they arrive at the docking bay. He punches in the code to unlock the ship and lowers the ramp, heading in.

"I didn't think about the radiation. We just might have to take a look at that, thanks. Now, what business did you want to talk about?"

They follow you in, Eerin, and ask where they can find the payment.

-

Retter sits up straight, spinning his seat towards you.

"Traleth the Hutt has another shipment she would like you to take," Retter says. "It is very important. Traleth has a contact on Lok, a Feeorin drug baron, that has been rivaling her and threatening warfare for decades. However, they've come to better terms with each other. So what you're going to be carrying is a sort of peace offering..."

-

Roughly at about this time, Eerin, more thugs arrive at the Last Laugh. One of them is pushing a grav-sled, on which there are three crates. Around the grav-sled are five guards, armed with heavy blaster rifles. They come to a halt at the ship's ramp.

"Open your cargo bay!" the human in the lead shouts.

(With the comlinks open, would Kyle have heard that? Not sure how they'd really work in this situation.)

"Sounds fine so far. What's the shipment, and what's the payment?"

"[What for?]" Eerin asks, ducking down the ramp cautiously, halberd in hand. "[Kyle, visitors with crates,]" he mutters into the comlink.

Thanks to Eerin, you have been notified.

"That would be my boys," Retter replies to Eerin's alert. "Or rather, Traleth's boys. They've brought the shipment. See, Traleth isn't going to be charging this drug baron for the shipment. It's an act of good faith and friendship, you see? So we're sending him something that'll sell really well. Are you familiar with Crude?"

(Ummm, would that be Crude as in Oil?)

"First, people don't just walk up to my ship and command my partner to 'open up'. Second, they especially don't do that before we discuss payment and details. So lay out the whole deal, then we'll 'open up'. Maybe."

Far from it. Crude comes in the form of small colorful pills, and is named solely for the way people behave after taking it. It is a psychoactive drug that alters the user's perception of themselves and others, tearing down their insecurities and causing them to react on every selfish impulse they can before the drug wears off. As with most powerful drugs, it can kill the user due to chemicals present in the pill or acts they commit.

That stuff is terrible, Kyle. It's popular amongst youths.

"Hey, I know," Retter replies. "You'll be paid handsomely, about fifty percent of what the drugs are worth, if you'll settle for that. Traleth advises it."

That's quite a lot of money, Kyle, but Retter just brought out the Hutt's 'advisement.' This means that this shipment really IS a big deal, but he's also threatened you.

Kyle narrowed his eyes a little at the implied threat Retter had saved for last. Eerin is NOT going to like this. Kyle thought to himself as he picked up his comlink. Staring hard into Retter's eyes, Kyle commanded Eerin, "Eerin, open the hold and deliver the payment, then let the men load the new cargo. I'll join you shortly."
He sets the comlink down. "I half payment up front. We're going to stop somewhere and check for radiation damage that may have been caused because of the Nukes no one told us we were carrying. Deal?" He extends his hand to Retter.

"[Hold up, Crude?]" Eerin asks, becoming angry. "[You're honestly going to ship that, Captain? Ask him if there's anything else in those crates, too, while we're at it. I want a manifest if he's got one!]"

Kyle ignores his partner's protest. He know what he would say later. Drugs kill people. But so do guns. Heck, in Kyle's opinion drugs were safer to the pulic. Drugs only kill the user, almost always a voluntary thing. The same can't be said about guns.
"Eerin just made a good point. I'd like to see inside the crates. After the nuclear incident, we are no longer shipping anything without verification of contents. I'm sure you won't mind."