Kai's Journal #8
[Holojournal data entry, BBY 2]
Well, lesson learned. Never trust a Crime Lord, and at least hold him for ransom or something. But I'll get there in a minute.
After we dropped off Hosk, we foolishly decided to follow along with his plan to bid for a job with Trykin. We followed his instructions and ended up at the “Photon Dash” - a nice enough cantina with some decent tunes. Belderone City is a definite upgrade from the backwaters of Keyorin.
We sat around the table discussing our next move, and waiting for our contacts, whomever they were, to give us some info on the job bid. We didn't wait long, and a group of scuffy bounty hunters pranced in, acting tough.
One of them tripped near our table, nearly ending up in Keva's tiny lap. “Hey - why did you trip me you little punk?” he snarled at my little friend, and Keva looked at the rest of us nervously. “You wanna start something?”
Before things got too tense, a guttural voice called out from across the cantina, “Verbek, you're causing trouble again. Get outa here!” A dangerous-looking Defel stood behind the group, arms crossed.
I helped the bounty hunter up off the table, trying to be polite while Keva complimented the Defel on his luxurious coat. The Defel nodded, then growled again at the bounty hunters who quickly scattered away. As he too turned away, and I sat down, Keva picked up a datapad that had been conveniently dropped on the table.
Keva's eyes glittered, “Excellent - time to hack! Slee, come on over here.” The two cosied up and did their electronic geeky thing, rigging up cables and whatnot, while 87 and I scanned the room. Everyone else seemed to be minding their own business.
Slee looked over Keva's shoulder. “Lookss like shipping manifestos for an ag businesss. A tender requesst… interesssting numbers though. Thisss looks like Trykin's job alright.”
“Says we gotta go to a metro station to place our bids,” added Keva. “Now, let's trace this pad and see who's on the other end.”
“Hey, what's that blinking light?” asked AD-87. “Trouble?” He started fingering his blaster rifle.
“Someone's tracking us, I think,” answered Keva, and he started sweating. I didn't have a clue what he was doing, so I gave a nod to 87 and we stood up to check out the perimeter. Who knows when an ambush shows up.
“Fyr!” Keva called out. I still had no clue what he was doing or talking about, but he seemed to be having a fun time, though was still nervous. I headed to the back alley, and just caught a glimpse of a standard Imperial patrol marching by.
“Come on guys, let's head to the back, I'll flag down a taxi,” I called through our comms, and after a moment the rest of the party emerged from the cantina.
Off to the metro, which was all quiet, shut down for night. We headed down the stairs and entered a large room with a few kiosks near the main underground tracks. Slee and Keva followed the instructions, tapped a code into one of the kiosks, and started the bidding process. At one point Keva started giggling, and so I assume he did some kind of slicer trick. “We're gonna win this for sure!”
And we did. The screen flickered on, and I stepped forward. Moff Trykin. I surreptitiously started recording the video stream with my datapad - got him.
“Ah, the winners of the bid. So, please tell me, what are you really here for?” This Trykin guy didn't beat around the bush. Slee and I looked at each other.
“Uh, we have a ship, and need a job to keep her running,” I stated. He laughed.
“My sources tell me you are spies. Do you have anything to say for yourselves?” While we were trying to defend ourselves, Hosk's visage peered over Trykin's shoulder, clearly enjoying himself. Another mistake on his part - if we get out of this alive. Stormtrooper boots clanking on the stairs made me turn - uh oh.
Figuring I had enough recorded for at least some evidence against Trykin and his dealings with the underworld, I turned away from the kiosk only to see Imperial officers entering the Metro station from both stairwells - ambushed!
AD-87 was already firing, so I decided to join his attempts at aggressive negotiations. The air quickly filled with blaster bolts and my stun blaster was getting a workout. Thankfully the kiosks provided a bit of cover, but we were outnumbered with more troops pouring in through the stairwell. Apparently Trykin wasn't taking any chances.
I was eyeing the subway tunnel, but that seemed risky; and then a side door opened, and Crim appeared, quickly motioning us over. We didn't have much choice, since the Imperial weapons were not set to stun.
I provided some cover while the others all ran ahead of me into the room beyond the door, but one of the troopers pulled out a grenade and tossed it into the enclosed space. Thankfully our faithful droid jumped on it, and his armor prevented any splash damage. 87 did look a little worse for wear, but he kept going.
As I dove into the room a stray blaster bolt nicked my finger. I might have trouble dealing cards for a while, not that anyone plays sabacc with me anyway these days. I really should visit my U of A friends sometime.
Anyway, we salmmed the door shut, locked it and piled some scrap metal and heavy crates in front, and then ran down the tunnel. “I have a speeder, let's go before they break down the door!” Crim called out, leading us to an alley.
We burst out into the cool night air, and it was surprisingly quiet. Along the way back to the Trap, Crim updated us about his activities. “T9-81 gave me the same talk as you guys - I'm here to infiltrate Moff Trykin's smuggling ring. I can give you a bit more info on Hosk as we travel to Bespin.”
Bespin? Well, one thing about the Outer Rim, it certainly isn't boring.
