Shadows of Bankor

The past weeks had been busy, and today was no exception, though Dove was gratefu she had found a few calm moments to do her own thing. Sitting down with Dak would also be nice, to take her mind of the upcoming trip into Rygor.

It felt strange to walk in a hangar full of different ships now, many of them random freighters and personal ships - it made for such an eclectic collection compared to walking the fly-deck of a CIS battle-cruiser where everything was uniformly the same.

It wasn't hard to find the ship Dak had requisitioned for himself. "Not bad looking," she said, giving an appraising whistle as she stepped up to announce her presence with a firm couple of knocks on the entryway.

The door slid down into a walk way with a hydraulic hiss and at the top of the ramp the Cathar stood wearing some dark pants and a tank top his paws unburdened by shoes. There was still some work to make the ship space worthy but it was certainly a good place to start.

He smiled down at Dove and waved her on to ship, inside the loving quarters were cramped but certainly livable for one person. Things were neat, desk cleaned off with only a couple papers, bed with military corners, no clutter or mess anywhere really. "Hey there partner, take a seat wherever you like." He said the two apparent options were a chair bolted to the floor and a bed against the opposite wall.

He walked to the counter "wine or a small thing of whiskey? I wasnt sure which youd want so I grabbed both from the bistro."

"Oh... hmm... that depends on the whiskey. I take it it's not Corellian?" she asked with piqued curiosity as she took a seat on the bed. It was the comfiest spot after all.

"Seems like you're finding your space here. Didn't feel like staying in the dorms either, huh?"

Dak shook his head regretfully "No unfortunately the resistance hasn't been able to procure anything that fine yet. Though it is....acceptable he said pouring himself a glass of amber colored liquid."

He looked around "Yeah dorms dont sit well with me, surrounded by people, lack of security. I figure I'll be handling a lot of super important info so I'd rather have a space I know I can secure plus" he walks over to a black box and flips a switch waiting for a moment and nodding "just an easier spot to have possibly confidential discusions."

She was impressed, if judging by her eyebrows. "If that's one of those surveillance-scramblers, I'll gladly take a solid shot of whiskey. Damn, I've been looking for one of those."

"Yeah, dorms aren't my thing either. No privacy, and people can just walk in and out easily. So, anything on your mind that warrants this level of privacy, Dak?"

Dak nodded "yup, cost me a pretty penny but I'd say worth every penny." He poured a glass for her and handed it over to her and he moved and sat on the bed.

"Figured we'd probably talk a little business among whatever personal discussions we had. Maybe being back in the biz is making me paranoid again but I'd like to call it cautious." He made a motion "take a load off."

She chuckled and raised her glass. "To paranoia. Good to be back in good habits again."

Taking a sip of the whiskey, there was the small disappointment of it not being Corellian, but it still had a good kick. "So, your impression of the meeting today?"

He leaned back against the wall with a heavy sigh "I've been waiting to hear about what suicide mission we'd be going on next and I still was a little surprised." Then he shrugged "itll be nice to actually be doing something other then working up training procedures and scouting prospects."

"But god they all get caught up on such tiny things, wanting their own name, why do they get their own name, why werent we told this, assassination oh noooo." He said dramatically "Its like none of them have been in a kriffing war before."

Dove snickered and drank some more. "It's rather juvenile, isn't it? That the ones who have been the biggest troublemakers each time the Resistance have been meeting decided to make their own little club - with pazaak and deathsticks." It was rather laughable to her. "Or in this case, with spreadsheets and droids, I wager."

"Anyhow, they seem a little suspect to me. Not suspect as in they'll betray us at first opportunity, but more like they'll be looking out for themselves first, and the rest of the Resistance second."

Dak snorted "yeah the pilot seems the ok sort, at least he realized he was being a pain in the ass but that nemoidian." Dak made a face "never was a fan of those guys seemed to always think they were the smartest ones in any room. This one is no exception." He remarked taking another drink from his own glass.

"Other than the childish, time wasting, petty, bantha-shit? I thought it went pretty well." He finished with a chuckle "The plans not the craziest I've seen, I figure each of us will lead a strike team against each target, Yusandr will likely lead the ground assault against the foundry. Djanik leading the fly boys and girls. It's simple and leaves a lot of room to improvise. Means the plan is less about the soundness of the plan and more about the skill of the people pulling it off."

"It's the hard truth that we were never going to be in an optimal position for an attack such as this. We just gotta work with what we got... Personally I'd love to see the Admiral removed from the board, but well, we work with idealists. And such a job would've been hard to pull off anyway, as we'd have to infiltrate The Dictator."

Dove shrugged. Assassination wasn't always the easiest solution.

"Don't you think it's suspicious how the Worry-wart was so insistent on the Foundry? Makes me wonder what he's truly after in there..."

Dak nodded "yeah it would be better if they didnt have such a smart asset directing things but hey like you said would've been an insane op on it's own, wouldnt be a bad secondary objective for whatever team strikes the dictator." He says tapping his glass against his chin.

He thought about Dove's question for a bit "Yes.....and no...I mean it is the most strategically valuable target that would create the best diversion for the real target but I don't know I think I just dont trust him in general so I think he may have his own game happening."

"Maybe you're right. Heck, I've worked with Neimodians, but I don't find him that trustworthy anymore," she glanced to her glass and its amber liquid. "I can forgive in the moment and carry on, but I won't forget. And I remember how they seem to think they're the only ones who know anything - as if the rest of us sat with our thumbs up our collective asses during the war."

And Dove wouldn't forget her suspicions, but she could play along for the time being until the others tipped their hand.

She offered her glass in a toast again. "Well, here's to hoping that we don't lose Vandil with all this gang-fighting that's going on. At least the meet seemed mostly agreed on keeping her."

Dak would toast to that taking a long pull "Probably going to have to take down the Disciple, get those credits from Vandil and get her to lose interest in Karath, Jenna not Petrus." The younger Karath had been working with both of them training in spy craft for the past few weeks.

"But I trust you and your instincts Dove if you think the nemoidian has some other game afoot I'll keep an eye on him."

"If you can spare an eyeball to do so, please do. I can't always be around to watch him." She gave a grateful smile.

"... Oh? I didn't know Jenna was in deep with Vandil. Think that removing her competition would make her easen up?"

"Consider it done. It's the least I can do for you." He offered his own smile in return.

He nodded at her second question "Yeah shes been in deep with Vandil but shes trying to get out. I assume if we leverage taking care of the disciple as part of why Vandil will want to leave her alone. It's a job she needs done, she likely cant beat the disciple on her own even with her mysterious backer."

Now that was interesting. "Mysterious backer? Vandil has some hidden benefactor?"

This could certainly paint this gang-war in a different light. "My guess is this is something you wouldn't have wanted to bring up at the meeting, Dak."

Dak nodded "I dont know anything but I can see dots and I'm connecting them. Vandil has claimed Crimson Dawn as her allegiance right? Well Dryden Voss leads the Dawn according to public records but the Disciple is one of Voss' lead underbosses. It makes no sense for the two to be at war if they are both working for the same person."

He looks around as if to check the space despite the security in place "Thing is I worked for the Dawn for a while and word of mouth says theres someone above Voss but best I can tell very few people have met him. The best I can figure is hes a zabrak going by the name Maul. But i have nothing else, no history or anything else."

Her expression grew more serious and thoughtful as she listened to Dark, following the lines he had traced between the dots and seeing the same conclusions. The name Maul held no meaning to her, and for all she knew it could've been some 'cute' gangster-nickname. Lots of criminals went by nom-de-plumes in their circles. A name like Maul or Laser-Face or The Machete sounded more intimidating than Petrus, J'onn, and Tomm.

"You're right that it doesn't make sense, but it wouldn't be the first time there's been a civil war in a syndicate. It's a dog-eat-dog world, and there's no honor among that kind of people. Especially not all the shady stuff you hear about the CD."

She took a smaller sip of whiskey. "At least killing one might make things more stable, and Vandil at least has had a presence on Bankor for a while. Trouble is if people try to gun for Vandil as well while we take out the Disciple... then it can become all sorts of chaos around who fills the power vacuum, and it could be a battle royale."

He shook his head "I dont know Dove, I've watched gangsters just kill eachother over turf or rep this doesnt feel the same. The bodies these people are stacking.....this feels like something big to me. I could be wrong but trusting my gut has gotten me this far."

To her second point though he nodded "Yeah if one goes down the whole region stabilizes for the time being. Seeing as how Vandil has at least paid lip service to helping the Resistance shes our best bet."

"I'll take your word for it, Dak," she said with a nod, "you've seen more of that part of the galaxy than I have. But yeah, Vandil isn't the best ally to have, but she is our ally for now and let's try to keep it that way."

Dove emptied the glass. "I'll be heading out with Jabber and Vaya later, do some recon on the Disciple's whereabouts. The three of us combined I think will be able to get some good leads."

"Ahhhh" he said nodding "I was wondering what kind if work you would be getting up to tonight. I'm sure that intel will come in handy tomorrow. How much do you know about the little jawa? I know Vaya she seems like good people for the most part." He said finishing his own glass.

"He's a good shot, and seems to know how to find trouble and stay out of it. Seems he's hanging around with the Worry-Wart though, which is a negative, but I will have to agree with Doc that he's a good sort." Dove shrugged. "At least that's my impression. He's probably not overly attached to the Resistance... but I could say that for many."

Dak nodded "yeah we seem to have a smattering of people here for their own reasons and not just to free Bankor." He shrugged a bit "but I suppose if they are willing to help I wont look a gift bantha in the mouth."

Dak set his glass down and shifted somewhat awkwardly for a moment. There was a bit of a pause "So. Have you thought any more about the thing we talked about a few weeks ago?" He asked, his tone cautious and his eyes very interested in a spot in the corner of the room until he finished, then his eyes moved slowly up to find Dove's.

She carefully placed down her glass, since she couldn't delay her answer by pretending to be drinking. It was empty now after all.

"That I stink?" was the first reply, soon followed by a chuckle to show she was joking.

"I don't know... I've been mostly throwing myself into this new work. I appriciate you as a friend, and ally in this endeavour, but I don't know if I could do a relationship."