Well... that hadn't gone as expected.

It was a considerably less cheerful looking Manny that made his way back to The Cave. No longer was he in the mood for sharing table appetizers! Instead, he looked around, perhaps a touch nervously, and eyes narrowed as he scanned the crowd, looking for trouble. Or Jarvis. Maybe it was both.

He did touch his hidden blaster, seeking its reassurance, just in case.

Sholua was already there, propping up the bar somewhat although she didn't have a drink in hand. Tonight was for working, not drinking.

"Yo, Cutey! Over here."

Manny relaxed a little, spotting his companion. He made his way slickly through the crowd over to her.

"Hey, Sholua." He said, giving her a more subdued smile than usual. "Anyone else here yet?"

Manny knew the best way to get the attention of a cool action star like Nara was a cool head nod. So he gave her one. "Sup." He added to it as well.

"Ah you spotted Crayzee. No sign of Ms. S.R.S. yet."

She smiled a very not friendly smile.

"Or our employer . . . "

Manny Donos wrote: ↑

Sun May 23, 2021 11:12 pm

Manny knew the best way to get the attention of a cool action star like Nara was a cool head nod. So he gave her one. "Sup." He added to it as well.

“Look, I’m just asking you to change the lyrics to ‘Some of those who fly jet packs are the same that knife Chiss...es’ it would be really powerful and-“

Nara turns and gives Manny an upwards head tilt followed by finger guns with added sound effects.

“- I gotta go. But you think about it, okay. There’s like 50 credits in it for you if you do.”

Nara bounds over to Manny and Shoula and returns the greeting with an upbeat
“Sup.”

Jyrvess arrived, a bit worse for the wear but still alive.

"That...was not what I expected, but I suppose these things rarely are. Good work team."

"Everything still working right, Ms. S.R.S. ? No fits or anything? That was what our departed doc mentioned, yes?"

She hadn't really been listening.

Jarvis finally come walking into the scene. The cool breeze of the evening felt refreshing, as well as a reminder that there was a storm coming.

"Manny!" Jarvis waved him down as he entered the establishment again. "Glad to see you are all back in one piece." He smiled warmly at him until he approached and saw his demeanor. His look was a bit less curious. "Everything alright, Manny? Seem a bit less like yourself this evening."

"Had a few complications Mr Jarvis. The recovery crew killed the hostage before dragging us out." Jyrvess frowned, and waved off Shoula's question, "Manny and me took a mine hit but seems to not have been lethal ordnance. Or they were incompetent planting it."

She looks to the other two, "Nimble and observant, you two...I am not much of a field operative. So please excuse my laxity out there."

“That’s alright, I only know one other librarian who was and that was after his psychotic break.”

Nara smiles encouragingly

“But yeah, those bucket heads rolled up and gutted our guy like a fish. And then they were all ‘what are you gonna do about it?’ And I was ‘Maybe I will do something about it’ and then they were all ‘Well we can’t right now we have to burn down an orphanage at 10’ and they left.”

Manny nodded. "That's exactly how it happened." He said, nodding at both Jyr and Nara's accounts. "And the lady Mando was super mean about it." He added. "And Jyr did great, by the way."

"So... yeah." Manny spread his hands. "The guy's dead." He looked at Jarvis, his expression slightly more thoughtfully blank than usual.

The look upon Jarvis' face as you describe what happened, trying to process everything you described was a look of confusion, followed by sigh. "Well, I did get a sense that something was off when I first got the job. Why I wanted to make sure you were better equipped; I honestly thought someone would try something on you all." Jarvis looks over at Jyrvess for a few moments before looking to Manny. "Doesn't make much sense, though. Said they hired some Mandalorians to kill the Chiss guy and escort you out. Why let you live when you're witnesses?" He stops himself for a moment and chuckles. "Not that I'm not glad they didn't, of course. I'm just saying that's usually standard procedure when you kill a guy."

He stood there a few moments longer thinking. "Also, if you hired Mandalorians, why not just raid the base when the objective is to kill that one guy?" He shook his head. "Why spend this amount of credits just to drag one guy out of a place he would likely die, just to off him yourself."

Jarvis turned his head around to look at you. "Did he say anything that was strange? Like, give a hint as to what he was doing there or something he may have known?"

“Yeah yeah, who knows why madmen do what they do? When I did something like this last time it was to make a point or whatever. Stupid taxi drivers union got in line real quick after that.

We’re still getting paid, right? And then maybe some kind of follow up job where we go trash these guys for dissing you?”

Getting into it
“Yeah, we wait until they’re rescuing someone and then Sholua can come up behind ‘em and just decapitate the mark with a spork.”

He turned to her, giving a good thought. "A point. Yes, that would make the most sense...but then, you do that in the open in front of witnesses who will get the message. Only people out there are scavengers and that Gonk gang, from what I understand. From what I gathered, they're not the brightest people who could take that sort of message." He just stares, giving it a few more thoughts before shaking his head. "Well, whatever. Job's over with and I can't say this is not the first time I was involved with jobs such as this. Could tell you one story about this Tunroth that hired me that was all too similar in his thinking. People who aren't good at these sort of things make really complicated plans when there are simpler solutions."

He looks over at Nara with a smile, reaching into his pocket, and placed down 4 silver cred sticks. "Payment's all there. Cleared too. Be taking back that rifle, though, Nara, if you'll be so kind." He looked around the establishment before smiling. "Not right here, of course."

After a few moments, Manny shook his head. "He said he was some kind of doctor. The Mandos said it was an Imperial." Manny made a face. "I didn't want to work for an Imperial, and I really didn't want to help kill a guy. Even if he was kinda a jerk."

He shook his head again. "I don't get why they didn't kill us, either. I thought we were all dead once she recognized me. But it turns out it was just him."

“You can have the rifle back... didn’t event get to shoot anyone with it. Super cool model though, maybe I can own one one day.”
Nara lapses into a peasant blaster filled daydreaming before Manny’s words bring her back

“They didn’t kill us because they want us to hate them. Which like, they could have done by cutting in line or correcting a figure of speech. But they went the murder route and now it’s personal... or like vaguely personal. I still got paid so it’s not business. Maybe it’s a hobby now? Passing fancy? And yeah, Dr Doctor was a typical snooty lame Chiss... but it wasn’t cool to kill him even if they wanted to. I want to kill tonnes of people all the time but you don’t see me knifing strangers. I’m considerably more subtle.”

His face turns as Manny mentions the Imperials and stares for a few moments, shaking his head. "Of course it was them." He looked . "Wouldn't have given you the job if I knew; I know they're not your preferred clients, Manny. Just didn't think that they would do something this damn confusing. Swear, this is like one of your bad Holovids. Rescuing the scientist captured by the savage natives, a betrayal in the middle, surprise twists and turns." He scoffs at the thought of the comparison. "Can't believe my luck."

Grunting, he looks over at the lot of you. "Well, got the wife's contact info, if you have some sort of curiosity to explore it more. Maybe let her know her husband's dead if nothing else. Your choice, since the matter is closed. Wouldn't look too much into it beyond that, if you want my advice. Much as I hate the bastards, those Imperials are quite good at dealing with people who start to delve their nose into their business. Last thing I want to hear is one of you getting off by a Mando."

Turning his head to Nara. "Your story, Nara, has a few holes, but it's the best explanation I can think of. If that is the case, and the Imperial client did want you all to be dead and they ignored that order, that may mean there might be another clean-up crew heading towards you all." Jarvis gives a long pause and a deep sigh, staring at Nara while he tries desperately to push out his next sentence. It was a good, long moment before he finally uttered his next words. "...Tell you what, hold onto it a little bit longer. At least until I'm ready to leave. Manny is under me, and therefore, I want to make sure he's well protected. Just, please be careful with it; that damn thing nearly cost me 10,000. Ammo costs nearly a grand to boot!"

“Jarvis you’re the best! I’ll take your name off the list.”

Whatever that means

“I promise to love and cherish it like he was one of my own. And I’ll make sure to clean and fire him every day. Hopefully several times a day if those Imp loving bucket wearing posers turn up! But several times is probably the max given how slow it fires.”