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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3405882" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 444: Information Gathering[You’re going out like that?]    Marix rolled her eyes. Neither of her parents had ever said that to her, mainly because they wouldn’t have ever had to, but that was besides the point. Loki, on the other hand...that seemed to be his favourite question through the years. She looked up and said flatly, “Yes, thankyou.”    Loki only took a few seconds to consider this. [But you always say its best not to get noticed...]    “This is Nar Shaada,” Marix nearly snapped as she headed for the hatch, “People know to keep to themselves or they’re likely to be killed,” she waved a hand idly, “Besides, if I stay human any longer I may start to like it. I’m tired of being so short...”    The last part was muttered, but Loki still heard it. He help back the comment that immediately came to mind, mainly because it was that she was still short compared to Jyren...that would have been a bad idea, for obvious reasons, to say. So instead, he double checked the surrounding area, which was a rather dismal little hangar that he could barely fit in, and decided on another sentence. [Be careful out there.]    Now at the hatch, Marix actually stopped. She reached over and gently patted the bulkhead next to her and managed a smile, “I will be, Loki. Just make sure you’re here when I get back.”    [Right.] he would have grinned if he could have. [I’ll do my racing through the sky lanes when you aren’t looking and be back before you!]    Again, Marix rolled her eyes, and said quietly as she exited the ship, “I know you, Loki...you’d crash.”    If he said anything back, and he probably did, Marix didn’t hear it. She specifically blocked out any response, knowing it was time to get to business and focus. Nar Shaada was...the same as it always was. So much like Coruscant with its huge, towering buildings and endless canyons between them, but a thousand times dirtier and dingier than Coruscant could dream to be.    The polluted, grey sky above was dominated by the equally-horrid looking sphere that was the planet Nal Hutta. They were on the other side of the Smuggler’s Moon, no where near the tower that had once been Halpak’s. So now, instead of a simple view of space...the horizon just showed something no one wanted to see, and so everyone looked down at their feet and around them, just in case they were being followed.    Marix knew the streets fairly well. She’d spent enough time with smugglers to know where she needed to be to find out pretty much anything. Those kind of places didn’t disappear over the years. They were kept running, be they bars, cafes, or just beat-up looking buildings, by the people who used them more than the owners as a safe haven from whoever was trying to enforce the ‘law’. Of course, said ‘law’ rarely made it anywhere near Hutt Space, and when it did it was in the form of bounty hunters who knew where they could and couldn’t go. Most of them did, at least.    It took an hour of walking down the not-so-crowded walkways high above the surface of the moon, which couldn’t be seen from this elevation, before Marix found what she was looking for. It was a tavern without a name as far as she knew. Everyone always just called it Soff’s Place after the grungy looking, pale-skinned Trandoshan that ran the place.    Marix was forced to duck slightly to not hit her head on the entrance, but thankfully the ceiling to the dark tavern was higher once she was inside. It was, like most taverns, dark, compact, and smelling of a thousand different things that were best left unidentified. There were circular tables in a seemingly random placing across the bulk of the main room, with a bar against the left wall that dominated most of the side. Beyond tiny, very dim lamps at the tables, the bar itself had the only collection of lights.    Approaching the bar, Marix slipped a small amount of credits onto the counter and took a seat with her back to Soff. She gave him a careful look before ordering a Corellian Ale, then let her eyes scan over the occupants of the place without looking like she was actually paying attention to any of them at all. She’d handed the Trandoshan a good twenty extra credits than the drink cost, and he would have been smart enough to know why.    She didn’t want any questions or to be bothered. With the extra money, she could sit where she was and simply not be bothered at all. It also meant she could use her sensitive ears and skill in the Force to take in the various hushed conversations within the place...and Soff wouldn’t throw her out like he might someone who didn’t give him a generous tip.    A hard sound on the counter caused Marix to turn and see her ale there. Soff, a big, grey-scaled lized, essentially, simply gave her a nod before tapping the bar with a clawed finger and moving off to server others. He said nothing. She also kept quiet, not even offering a nod of thanks. Now satisfied that she wouldn’t be stabbed in the back, Marix turned around to face the bar, leaned forward and began to take slow sips of her ale while she focused on the sounds around her.    First, she let the Force guide her attention. Anxiety permeated the entire building...that wasn’t a surprise. Most everyone came here to hide out from something. There was fear, anger, hatred...all around in pockets here and there. It wasn’t long before she realized that it was going to take more than just feeling out the place. It was hard to get any information at all when she really didn’t know what she was looking for...so, she turned to her ears.    “I don’t trust that Varith! Slimy little Hutt will vape us in a second if we so much as turn our backs on—“ the voice was hushed but frantic, and it sounded to be in the back of the room.    ”Twenty thousand or I walk,” this one was stronger, harder...definitely not human. There was an accent that Marix couldn’t pinpoint but she didn’t bother to turn around and look.    “Kee chai chai cun kuta?,” another was saying, in Huttese, this one more nasally but managing to keep at a quiet level so as not to be picked up by many others. Sadly, it was just idle questioning and nothing of interest.    “I hear they made a good deal...” that was a Corellian accent if she’d ever heard one.    “Hwen dorix bijunize?” someone speaking Bocce. Something about traveling...that was one of the few languages Marix didn’t have a firm grasp on. However, she had enough of a knowledge to pass it off as more idle conversation.    “...haven’t seen them in months. Probably lost to da Vong like da rest,” a quieter voice, but while it was closer to what she was listening for, Marix still passed it by and continued to listen to the mess of conversations around her.    Wait.    Marix quickly filtered through the voices she was hearing and latched onto one from before. It was the Corellian. Gruff sounding...and now quieter, but she could definitely hear it, “With the Vong. Somethin’ about lettin’ em go straight through ‘ere without a fight. Stayin’ neutral.”    There was a second voice nearest to this one, and it was definitely a response. This one was gravely, and it had a certain tone to it that told Marix the speaker’s vocal cords weren’t designed for Basic, “Like thee guud old dayz. But Vong are no Empiire.”    “Hutts are comfy with it, though,” the Corellian responded, “Old Gorla sounded like he got the advantage in the deal, even.”    “And you beeelieeeved hem?”    “Not a bit,” the Corellian lowered his voice, “But they’re sounding pretty smug. Sounds to me like there’s lots of money to be made from Gorla now that he’s playin’ both sides.”    That was all Marix needed.    By now, she’d finished the ale. She looked up to meet the eyes of Soff, who caught the look. Marix gave him a nod of thanks, then, as she placed the empty mug back onto the bar, dropped another pair of cred chips down with it. She then turned, glanced around in a way that anyone would have when leaving a place like Soff’s, and then was out.    She did not, however, walk far. Instead, Marix simply went across the walkway to a small alley, that looked like it had once been a cut-through to shorten pedestrian’s paths but was abandoned years ago, stopped in a sufficiently dark spot and waited, her sense alert and eyes focused on through the grey, misty air on Soff’s.    On the way out, Marix had identified the two speakers. A human and an insectoid Verpine. Now she just had to wait for them to leave, tail whichever one let their guard down first, and see where this trail let her go. Hopefully to this Gorla...though Marix knew she’d get to that Hutt one way or another before she was done digging.</blockquote>

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