The Rebel Faction

A crappy morning indeed.

Janyo "Crispy" Orderone's first sight as he woke up from a comatic night was the cold and humid cement that paved the Nar Shadaa platform.He could feel the condensation forming upon his too oftenly broken nose.A trail of blood had coagulated upon his upper lip, a taste of horror assaulting his gustative buttons. He tried to move around a bit without success,his hands being solidly tied into his back.The iced barrel of a blaster rilfle had been thrusted into his soft neck skin, a good way of saying "dont get up".

Looking around from his prone position he managed to see a pair of shinny leather shoes slowly advancing towards him, kicking grub on his way.A cigarette fell and the right foot extenguished it, a trail of smoke expelling from the cushed paper.The owner of the shoes knelt and grabbe some of Janyo's hair in an iron grip. Pulling them with somewhat anger he palced his own face exactly in front of Janyo's.Blast...it was his his shylock.

"You're late for your last payment...", the shylock said with a small negligent lateral shake of his head,"seems like i was not clear enough last time."

He placed his hand upon Janyo's cheek and made a smile impregnated with false condescendance.

"I'm not a bad guy you know...in fact i rather like you Crispy but i am fed up with your lack of punctuality..."

He grabbed a pistol from his pocket.Clicking the safety off he thruted it hard into his interlocutor's nose and said:

"I'd really enjoy squeezing the trigger... but you owe me more then your miserable life will ever worth...if i dont see my money on by desk b monday i'm selling you to the hutts.I heard they find it...interesting to see humans suffer.Goodbye Crispy.

On these words he snaped his finger and rose to a standing position.The mercenary who held Janyo at bay followed and both flew off the platform into a small landspeeder, leaving Janyo alone in his most agreable situation.

Ah...a lone speeder crossing the sector, obviously lost...

The small hovering craft sped down as it approached our soaked hero.A rodian exited the closed cockpit and made his way to meet the poor man under the rain.It had intensified since a few minutes, the water falling hard on the cement platform.The driver had palced the collar of his coat over his head to keep it as dry as possible. He stared at Janyo who was standing alone, the water falling massing around him in a somewhat pond.

"What is one like you doing around here?" the driver asked anxiously "One with clothes like that should be living at the top of a massive skyscrapper.Ah what the hell, i need some directions.I'm Kurt by the way what do they call you?"

"Directions to where exactly?"Janyo asked, ignoring the previous question of his interlocutor.The rodian blinked,visibly offensed by that lack of politeness.

"Some bar in the duros sector, the Rancor's desire."Kurt finally said after an instant.Janyo smilled.That bar had the reputation to be an illicit zone where lonely singles could go and enjoy half-naked twi'leks.A wonderful opportunity to kill two birsds with a stone.

"Dont be fooled by the reputation man, its not worth the shot."Janyo said with a friendly tap on the rodian's shoulder"I know some better place trust me.I can give you directions to there at least."

Kurt seemed to reflect for an instant on the matter.He glared at Janyo and finally emmited a grunt.

"It really isnt that good?" he asked, doubtful.

Janyo nodded.

"I guess i could give it a try then...i can trust you right?"

Janyo held the rodian's glare.

"Of course...."

After some research with Underground Contacts Janyo managed to get a fix on the apartment's position, somewhere in the Corellian sector...Maybe getting rid of that Rodian would prove to be a great idea after all.The area was reputated to be a zone of merchants and middle-calss men, that rodian must had been relativatly rich to fit in...

Dropping from the cab he had caught to reach the area Janyo paid the bill and gave an exaggerated tip to the driver.The building in front of him was somewhat of classic architecture yet in an horrible way...there were too many fioritures and useless add-ons that the structure looked overloaded.Janyo climbed the small staircase and reached for the door.He inserted the key and turned, the door opening in front of him,nearly telling him to come in.A trap perhaps...

Reaching for his jacket's inner pocket he grabbed the handle of the small holdout pistol and switched the safety off.He walked with reserve until he was inside the turbolift.The Rodian's paper showed he lived in apartment 24-G,somewhere on the fifth floor.He pressed the circular button bearing the number 5 and he felt the rumble of the turbolift raising into its cage.A beeping sound was heard each time the lift passed a stair, the wait seeming endless as the floors passed.The door finally opened, a big five painted on the wall indicating Janyo had reached his goal.He slowly paced the circular hallway, the numbers climbing as he advanced further.

"21...22...23...Ah...24."

He inserted the small key again and pushed the door.It opened, revealing a badly decorated apartment.It looked like an indigestion of pink and purple, leopard seats completing the heteroclit arrangement.Maybe that Kurt tought such decorating made girls flip...the only thing Janyo could see them do was throw up.

"So as i'm telling you,i need you to crack open the PIN of these cards.I'm giving you 10% of whatever is on it.Deal?"

Janyo was sitting in front of Holari Gaska,a Twi'lek working as a janitor during the day and a slicer during his free times.Holari scratched his chin, thinking about the proposition.Janyo could understand his dilemna, he had dropped at his house without warning and gave him a tasty offer, a bait that could lead to a line where he'd find himself stuck upon a hook. Janyo was decided to give him a few more seconds then he'd do the classic "I'm leaving" scene.

Tick tack....

The numbers on Janyo's watch passed from 12:45:32 to 12:46:15.He rose from his seat and made hsi way towards the door.There were three rules for the scene to succeed: Dont look back,Dont speak and look cool.So far he filled two of the categories, his clothing being way out of date...

"Janyo..."Holari said,hesitating,as his interlocutor's hand touched the doorknob.

Janyo feinted not to hear.Hesistation was not enough commitement for him to turn back.He turned the knob and opened the door.His right foot was ourt of the room when Holari finally rose.

"Crispy...Wait!"

He was using Janyo's nickname,he sounded determined.Two points in his favor.Janyo turned upon his heels and looked at the Twi'lek.

"What is it?" he asked,containning an uncontrolable laughter.He was to emotive to do too long scenes.

"I'm in..." Holari replied,sweat falling from his lekkus.The beads of water rivelled upon his chin and vanished into the warmth of his neck.

Cull Faine drew his starfreighter low over the factory roof. Deep scanning the building below, the only substancial reading he could get were that of ion, bearing the configuration of a turrent. He marked the location he estimated the generators would be then opened a comm channel. He flicked a switch, quickly relaying the secondary command codes and drew his vessel behind a small tower, out of range from the ion cannon.

Once his codes were excepted a large panel slid open from the factory wall and he was given the coordinates to enter.

Touching down on the third story of the seemingly abandoned building, Faine waited by his laser cannon for signs of trouble. Nothing came, not even a vibration lit up on his radar.

Slinging his long barrelled blaster rifle over his shoulder, Cull proceeded down the boarding ramp with his sight trained on the R8 astromech droid below.

"Cull Faine." He spoke with a dull but strong voice.
The robot seemed to identify him, the ground infront of it lit up with a projected hologram.

It was of Saeone, the consigliere for his employer.
The Kian'thar folded his arms and addressed the smuggler.

"Faine, this astromech droid with outfit your ship with a tracking device, but also upgrade your sublight engines for the trouble. I need not remind you that you have entered the maw of the beast. There is no backing out. You agreed to the contract, now we are changing the terms. If this is not to your liking, try blasting your way out and see how far that gets you. I can guarantee you, you'll only get six feet. Now, you are to take this astromech droid and the precious cargo stored here across planet to a safe house. From there we will negotiate further terms involving the off-planet run we initially agreed upon. While you have been watching this, a inciderary has been planted on your ship. Do as we say and you will be paid hansomely."

The hologram flickered off, but nothing could remove the sour taste in the smuggler's mouth.

Faine then drove a hovercart containing his new cargo into ship's hold, scanning it for any sign of trouble. He found his old ion gun shooting the droid without hesitation. Then he deactivated it and locked the R8 in his storage closest; before it could cause any trouble.

"Blow up my damn ship then, you slimey silkworm. We'll see how fast your cargo gets cross planet that way."

He uttered to himself, lifting the landing pad and edging the ship towards the exit.

Over the comm he belted an order to his ancient T3 mech.
"T3, scan the ship for any explosives, or detonators. Look for anything suspicious, gas, organic, electronic, etc. After that check the programming of the R8 unit in the storage closet. T3. This is not a new friend. Make the scan thoroughly, upload the data to a remote unit and do not fraternize ."

For all the trouble that Saeone was going through, this cargo must be very, very hot goods. There was a very good chance whatever was in those crates, two dozen or so Hutt crimelords would kill hansomely for.

Passing through the "maw of the beast" Cull Faine's ship, The Cunning Pawn's sub light engine flaired to life and he sped towards his destination, ignoring traffic lanes while weaving in and out of skyscrapers and metal towers. When his anger hardened into something cold and sharp, he eased back into designated traffic lanes not to arouse suspicion.