Smuggler's Gambit

2 years prior to The Force Awakens...
A persistent and interactive galaxy set shortly before the events of Episode VII

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Pryde
Pryngles
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Joined: Sat May 10, 2003 2:11 am
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Smuggler's Gambit

Post by Pryde »

He awoke into darkness. From somewhere behind him he could hear the sounds of machinery, men and women going about their duties. Somewhere off in the distance a voice over the PA was calling for a lieutenant colonel, or something. There was a new sound now as he could hear someone's boots lightly scuff against the floor. The door to his room closed behind the newcomer, drowning out the sounds of the hangar beyond. A second later the boots crossed the room over towards him and the bag around his head was removed. Gabriel Raines blinked his eyes several times before focusing on an older gentleman wearing the insignia of a Republic Colonel.

"Gabriel Raines, self proclaimed 'recovery specialist.' List of charges include assault, defacing of Republic monuments, theft of Republic vehicles and... And this one is my personal favorite, impersonating a Republic Senator."

The man sat down across from him, the datapad he held clattering onto the surface of the table between them. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Gabriel nodded, "Uh, yeah. As a matter of fact I do."

He paused a moment to clear his throat. "That's self proclaimed 'treasure hunter', thank you very much."

The other man gave him a hard look. "Do you know how much trouble you're in?"

"I get a phone call," Gabriel told him, "I know my rights."

The other man seemed to smile. "You're not in a Republic prison, boy. This is the Resistance and we're not in the habit of granting prisoners a phone call."

The Resistance? That sent a shiver down Gabriel's spine. "What do you want from me?"

"Well," the other man said with a non-chalant wave of his hand, "I would like nothing more than to throw your behind into a tiny ten by eight box for the rest of your life, but my superiors have other ideas. We have a mission for you and your crew."

The mention of his crew perked his ears up. "My crew? Where are they?"

"They're here, safe and sound, and they'll remain that way if you accept our terms. Otherwise we'll be sending the lot of you to the closest Republic prison colony."

Gabriel ground his teeth together in frustration. He never liked negotiating with his back to a wall. Still, there was one thing that bothered him. "Why us," he asked.

The man just shrugged, "You have skills we need. That and we've been monitoring your progress on the Outer Rim. You've bloodied the nose of the First Order and we can appreciate that. Now we need you to recover some data for us."

"That doesn't seem too hard, why come to us?"

"The data was lost in the Unknown Regions, deep in the territory of the First Order. Our ship was attacked by pirates, they probably don't even know what was on board. You and your crew know the region better than anybody. We need you to go in, recover the data and get out."

"What exactly is this 'data' for," Gabriel asked pointedly.

The other man's expression hardened. "That is not your concern, Mr. Raines. Just get in, recover the data and get out. Upon successful completion of this mission you and your crew will be free to go. Now what do you say?"

Gabriel stared at him for a long moment then past him towards the door. He had no idea how many soldiers were between him and his crew, let alone between him and his ship. He could fight his way out, maybe make it a few meters before someone gunned him down and then executed all his crew or he could just cooperate. It sure didn't seem like he had much of a choice. "Fine, alright. We'll do it."

The other man extended a hand to him with a smile. "Colonel Kal Novar," he said, shaking Gabriel's hand, "Welcome to the Resistance..."
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