Chapter 2 - Gringet the Hutt
The ship lurched hard as it entered the atmosphere of Nar Shaddaa, the cityscape glinting like a tremendous chromatic sculpture before them. Upon landing they were met by their contact, who was very evidentally Sith himself. "Good ..good. I'm pleased to see you all." he said with a dazzling smile. Zan was a refined older gent and there was no mistaking his power, all the group sensed it - even the bounty hunters. "You'll find everything in order. Gringet will meet with you this afternoon. I have set things up for you to enter his compound as mercenaries who desire to serve." As they walked, details were given and background made known to facilitate what ease could be had on this dangerous mission.
Later that day the group took the transport to the hanger of the Exchange compound, a sprawling monument of criminal power from which Gringet the Hutt rules a large portion of the city. As they walked down the platform, they were met by HK-43 - an assassin droid which now served the Hutt as his majordomo. "Salutation - Good day. My master bids you welcome to his palace. Please, follow me." The group was lead into the central portion of the compound where they were given rooms to change into formal attire and clean up from the long journey. Shortly after they were lead by security to the audience chamber of Gringet the Hutt.
The meeting went smoothly enough, save for a minor breach of etiquette by the brash Gozarian. Gringet spoke through the HK droid to the group and agreed they may serve him, their first assignment to be given immediately. An individual named Ran Vendar, a spice smuggler that owed The Hutt a considerable amount of credits and a space vessel - was to be brought in alive if possible. The group had very little information to go on, but felt confident they could carry out the mission easily. Once the preliminary meeting was done, the Hutt went on to invite the group to a battle arena event later that evening as his guests. Gringet was notorious for his love of gladiator combat and Ali decided that she would take the initiative by speaking to Gringet of her desire to enter the arena. This pleased him greatly and she immediately gained his favor.
That night, Ali participated in the arena against several opponents, each more powerful than the last. With her Sith training, she easily destroyed her foes, becoming wildly popular with the crowd and the Hutt himself. The others in the group also came away from the nights event rather pleased, having made a tidy sum of credits by wagering on their compatriot. Upon leaving the arena to retire, Ali was given to the full capacity of her wins when she was interviewed by planetary news services, asked for autographs, and made to feel like a celebrity by adoring fans. Ray'chish also participated in duals within the arena, but his more brutal methods were not as popular with the masses. He enjoyed a few wins and the Hutt was pleased, but Ali's victories overshadowed everything else.
The next day, the group began their mission to track down the spice smuggler Ran. Raef spent his time searching through computer databases, while Ali went among her new fans to try and find information. The rest of the group went about other methods, but Ali proved to be successful and summoned a select few among the others to join her in his apprehension. Meanwhile, Memo decided the best means to find the individual would be to ask around at the local cantinas. Unfortunately, he managed to offend a few individuals in the process and ended up in a desperate fight. After being stabbed repeatedly, he was forced to destroy his attacker with a vulgar display of power - Force lightning. It's a wonder city security did not get ahold of him before he was able to flee the scene in a stolen air-speeder.
The rest of the group were pursuing the leads given to Ali and found themselves high above the city in a hotel - they had at last tracked down the room where Ran was staying. A slightly delayed entry gave Ran and his partner the time they need to escape via the balcony and a waiting air-speeder. Desperate to keep him from escaping, Ali and Ray'chish both lept to try and reach the vehicle before it could fully accelerate away. Ali made it, but the bounty hunter found himself plumeting to certain death. However, Valek reached out with the Force and pushed him toward a safe but rough landing on one of the balconies below. No point is wasting resources thought the Sith Acolyte. In the speeder, the scene was chaos - Ran trying to keep the vehicle moving quickly yet safely while his partner had pulled a blaster and was attempting to shoot Ali, while she invoked the Force repeatedly amidst saber use.
The chase was on. Across the city the vehicle flew with the other Sith and the bounty hunters chasing along behind their quarry. Whether fortune or fate, Memo fell in behind the lead vehicle through chance and began to move to catch up. However, soon the two pursuing airspeeders were side by side and Valek saw the wounded driver of the opposite car. Memo was still quite bloodied from his earlier encounter at the cantina and this coupled with his brash attempt to beat the others to the capture was enough to bring Valek to a cruel decision. Leaning over to Ray'chish he nodded toward the vehicle and spoke softly, "Kill him. I will compensate you." That was all it took. A moment later the barrel of a rifle was pointed into the cockpit of Memo's airspeeder and a clean blaster shot to the head gave him to the darkness of oblivion. Such is the way of the Sith.
In the end, Ali was able to subdue the two men in the lead vehicle through use of the Force, but not before almost losing her lightsaber. Valek though managed to reach out with the Force and pull it into his grip during the chase. As they landed at the Hutt's hanger, the mood was one of celebration between the group. They had acquired a new airspeeder, their mission objective yet lived to face the wrath of the Hutt, they had interrogated them to find the stolen spacecraft, and only one casualty had occured in the whole process. The Sith of the group knew that only one among their number would be able to return to Korriban and claim the great prize of apprenticeship under Darth Severus. The loss of Memo was given no further thought, but the truth of that fact was solidified among them all hence.
HK-43 lead them back before the Hutt to speak on the success of the mission and they were given praise for the capture. Once the dealings were done on that matter, Gringet moved on to instruct the assassin droid to inform the group of the new task at hand. A well known individual of the republic army stationed on the planet, General De'Shota, had borrowed a massive amount of credits from the Hutt and then refused repayment. When Gringet sent his brute squad to collect, the General had his men destroy them and leave their remains on the Hutt's very doorstep. The group knew this would be an even more difficult mission than the first, but accepted the task of tracking down De'Shota ....dead or alive, he would be dealt with. That evening each member of the group went about collecting what information they could. In the process, the group met Felynish, a Hutt soldier who had grown disillusioned with the gangster and sought to find adventure. He felt he would find this with the group and so fell in with the team by promising vital information about the layout of the compound. The group accepted and the next morning, they set out to begin the search...