(We'll work something out.)


Wolf had gotten to his feet quite a while ago, first making sure to locate and erradicate any security systems that'd escaped the EMP grenade's effects, namely cameras, then went about the task of setting up a little welcome for Salu. That welcome included two fragmentation mines rigged to explode at the slightest vibration, like from that of footsteps, and a plasma cutter he attatched to the door on the inside at waist level, the infared trigger would activate it the second something crossed it...if it worked, Salu would be burned in half.

If he got past that...then Wolf would attempt to converse; maybe strike a deal of some sort. Those few words he'd heard of the Tenloss Syndicate were enough to pique his interest and if Salu survived these little surprises then maybe he'd a snowball's chance of taking them down...

And, if that were the case, Wolf had been hurting for credits recently, mostly because he limited himself when it came to what contracts he would take and which ones he wouldn't, so this appeared to be a worthwhile endeavor. Retaining a strong sense of moral integrity and being a bounty hunter at the same time was quite a difficult feat. Didn't mean he'd give into the temptation to make a quick credit though, and the Tenloss Syndicate was nothing more than a highly organized group of criminals...it was ok to kill a few dozen.

After he'd gotten everything ready, he pulled a seat over so it was just in front of the door and dropped into it, letting himself be clearly seen from the outside. After setting his carbine down, leaning it against the chair, he sighed, and in the blink of an eye produced the pistol from its holster and blew Mesh's skull apart with one lightning fast movement. He flicked it back then forward, returning it from whence it came.

Best to keep the full extent of his capability from Salu until the time was right...at which point, he'd either put a round through that T-shaped visor, or recieve one himself...that is, if things didn't go well during negotiations.

A blink Bantha could tell something was wrong as Salu ran down the corridors of the late Mesh's apartment complex. Halfway down the hall, the door that had once led to his room had been blown in. People were crowding around the area at a safe distance, something was still up or they'd have gotten closer. Maybe a bomb or...

That was it. He was here.

Slung around his shoulder was the deadliest weapon he had, a Concussion Grenade Launcher with a full 6 shots. Slinging it into combat position cradled in his right arm, a gap in the crowd instantly opened up as people noticed his presence. They all knew what was about to happen. Some with too little nerve to watch began walking or even running away from the scene. The remainder, expecting a fight, crowded towards the apartment regardless of the danger to themselves.

Usually he tried not to let anything bug him, but there was one thing that made him uncomfortable. Where was the station security? It had been a good half-hour since he saw the holorecording of it back on his ship, plenty of time for them to move in.

Oh well, he'd deal with them later if they came.

Stepping up to the door he could see the man sitting in a chair at the end of the hall. He couldn't be that stupid. He had something planned. Mines maybe, or even a remote bomb. Maybe both.

He pulled a Stun Grenade off his belt. The Shock Wave it produced would be plenty to set off any mines in the radius. After pressing the red button on the side he threw it in and observed. To his satisfaction two mines in addition to his grenade were set off. The razor sharp fleche they sent flying scraped the paint off his armor, but were unable to penetrate it.

Behind his armor he smiled. "Nice try," he said, so softly that his helmet mike couldn't pick it up. Louder, he then said, "Shield Disrupter Activate." For a moment he just waited. Then he looked down at the device to see the green light blink on, the sign it was working. Boldly stepping forward, he passed through the doorway to see the man still just sitting down the hall. He seemed to be smiling behind his mask, as if Salu had just passed a test. "That Basterd," he muttered.

The Shield Disrupter was supposed to allow him to penetrate security fields without alerting them to his presence. That was how he had been able to get past Mechs security lasers. But had also found that if he reversed the effect to project a field to match an image his holoshroud was projecting, he could get through 99% of security scans in the whole galaxy. However, here the former was just what he needed.

He was halfway down the hall and the man was still sitting there, watching him, and obviously very amused. The fucker. He was the only person who was supposed to screw with other people’s heads.

Gripping the Grenade Launcher, he thought about squeezing the trigger. A single grenade could fix all of this. It wouldn't bring Mesh back, but it would make him feel a whole lot better. However, if he used the ammo right now, then he wouldn't have it later.

He chose to wait. Instead, he dropped to one knee and popped a couple of blaster bolts his way with a blaster pistol. All of them impacted half a decimeter above his head within 3 cm of each other, right where he had intended. A warning shot to tell him that he was in control here, not him.

Salu stopped at the doorway to the wrecked lounge. Mesh's body lay in the corner on an overturned table. Now that he was in the room, the black armored man stood up. He was of imposing stature, somewhat bigger than than Salu, though that gave him no clue just how good he was with a blaster. As he stepped in front of the Fett he said, “Salu, how nice of you to show up.”

Wolf watched with silent amusement as Salu made his way through the traps, tripping or otherwise disarming them with relative ease. Perhaps the little test he'd prepared wasn't all that dangerous, but it proved to him that the crimson Mandalorian, who was rapidly approaching, was at least in tune with his instincts. That'd come in handy during his possible confrontation with the Tenloss.

Suddenly, the Fett dropped to one knee and fired. His first thought was to duck, but he restrained himself, noting, as any gun fighter would, that the trajectory of each blast was a bit off. Warning shots, nothing more. "Nice grouping..." He thought. Wolf's hand, which had shot to his pistol's grip, left it to absently slide back to a resting position. The other hunter continued toward him. Salu looked tense, very tense. Evidently, he'd struck a chord when he burned Mesh alive before cutting the cameras; As was intended.

Hopefully, security would be delayed long enough by his...distractions...to allow them to conclude their business. Who knew that a simple fire alarm in the Security Officer barracks could lead to so much trouble. Then again, those fire-fighting countermeasures were hell to get deactivated, especially when the building ends up filled to brimming with oxygen-less foam.

He stood when his peer arrived, actually having to look down on him, and voiced his greeting.

Salu didn't appear too interested in conversation, so he got right to the point, "I believe I overheard you and your late companion discussing the criminal organization known as the Tenloss Syndicate. I'm aware of a rather large sum being on their leader's head, yet curious as to what a bounty hunter and his contact are doing talking so privately about them...maybe you'd like to enlighten me? My apologies for imposing, of course."

Time to test his patience...

Wolf paused before continuing, "I'd of asked Mesh you see, but chatting with him wasn't part of the job and I'm not sure I would have gotten much more out of him than pathetic whimpering anyway," a grim smile parted his lips behind the helmet, "He seemed quite incapable of forming words once his limbs were gone..."

His tone rapidly changed from obvious mockery to consolation, "I hate to use that method of killing...but...well, it was what my contractor requested," The last part was more to temper the blaze of anger he felt emanating from Salu than anything else...he didn't want the man to snap and end up sniffing out both of their lives as a consequence. That concussion grenade launcher looked.....less than pleasant.

Wolf would get a shot off, he was sure of it, and he'd make it count...but he wouldn't survive the damage that thing could dish out.

Xavier left the Shockwave , arming his blaster rifle as he did so. He had to go and prepare for the job. He turned, and dropped a small homing beacon on the floor, so that Fett would unwittingly stick it on his feet as he came past. He thought he was a reliable type, but he couldn't be sure. He had been screwed over in this buisness before. He went to the Eagle and hired two mercinaries. They met him in the hangar. Dumb hulks of muscle, but they would do. His beacon detector started to beep. Salu was in a dangerous situation. "Let's go." He muttered to the mercenairies. The men burst in, followed by Xavier and caught the two bounty hunters by surprise. Xavier fired two warning shots towards Wolf. The man didn't move. A cool customer. Xavier leveled his E-11 at him and said calmly, "Let's try and speak peacefully about this, hmm?" The two pistol-wielding mercinaries backed him up, covering the entrances to the apartments. Xavier turned to Wolf and Salu. "Now, can we talk?"

whoops

(Xavier, I suggest you edit that so the mercenaries came in first, because the first person to enter would get cut in half by the plasma-beam wolf set, I used a shield disrupter so I didn't set it off, but I doubt your "dumb hunks of muscle" could afford one, and no EMP grenades were thrown in case of such things)
__________________________________

Face to face with Wolf, he realized that he had let his anger take over him, a big no-no in this business. With a deep breath, he slowly let it seep out of him. This time had been a rare exception. Normally, he maintained good control over such things, but this really had made him angry. Besides a contact, he had been a good friend. But what was done was done.

The man was asking questions in a mocking, sarcastic tone. He wasn't even paying attention. He only really listened to the last part, " hate to use that method of killing...but...well, it was what my contractor requested." Not really that interesting.

Salu pushed the grenade launcher a little closer to his belly. Long ago he had learned that a weapon spoke louder than words. Behind him came a high pitched whistle followed by a scream... the sound of a Plasma drill.

Plasma Drill! That thought rang a bell, he had seen one latched onto the inside of the door after he had entered; though his equipment had kept him from activating it.

Spinning around and whipping out his blaster, he saw a man getting chopped in half by it. A pair of quick blaster shots followed him, shutting the drill down, and then two more came in. The second to enter was Xavier.

What he felt when he realized that wasn't purely anger at the fact he was doublecrossed? There was also some amusement in there in the fact someone was dumb enough to do it. But Xavier... he had thought him smarter than that. It would be a shame to have to kill him.

The remaining mercenary covered the door while Xavier calmly walked down the hall, obviously feeling he was in control of the situation. Setting himself a few meters away from the two, pistol at the second hunter, he said, "Now, can we talk?"

Of course, the answer was no, but he didn't say it. Nobody doublecrosses a Fett and survives. He looked at Xavier, giving him a look of death behind his T-visor, and then nodded at Wolf. Xavier was still standing there in his silver armor, looking impatient.

Fingering his Concussion Grenade Launchers trigger, he aimed it at the floor roughly between the three men and pulled the trigger.

The grenade hit the floor right between the Bounty Hunters, taking the other two by suprise. With a massive explosion, all three were hurled away from the blast, though Salu, who had known it was coming and braced himself, was the only one still on his feet. Xavier had been thrown across the room and into an ottoman and was lying on the floor. The third man had been hurled into the wall and made a fair dent in it. Whipping out his DL-44, he sent a pair of Stun blasts into the mercenary down the hall, causing the man to fall over, twitching from muscle spasms.

A cable shot out from each wrist, latching on to his opponent’s weapons and reeling them back to him. Deconecting them from the tow lines, he separated them from their power packs and threw them to opposite corners of the room.

The whole scene took less than 2 seconds. A moment after that, both were on their feet again, shaking angry fists at him. While the man he had come to visit was neutralized as a threat, the silver armored Mandalorian had his armor on, and therefore he was still a thread. Pointing the Grenade launcher on Xavier, he said, "Now Xavier, be rational. I could send you to hell with the pull of a trigger. Take off your armor around your arms."

This was the place where most of the hidden weaponry was, at least on his armor. Apparently Xavier knew this too, but any rational being would be crazy not to recognize Salu had the upperhand here, and after a moments hesitation he removed them.

"Now, gentlemen," he said, "We are going to have a little talk. And you," he said, looking at the black armored man, "It would be nice to have a name."

(I thought about this for a moment and decided it was a perfectly feasible idea, but if you think I was being unfair I'd be happy to change it.)

When the third bounty hunter, this one in silver Mandalorian attire, burst through the front door...after destroying his one remaining trap, which he only found out about due to the error of a merc traveling with him (Said merc was now laying in two seperate pieces on the floor, toes twitching.) and leveled a high-powered E-11 blaster rifle his way, squeezing off a few more warning shots...Wolf was beginning to get a little agitated again. One too many people were shooting at him today.

He was about to show these guys what the term "quick draw" meant, but Salu drew his attention...the man nodded, and in one quick movement, he shot a grenade directly in the middle of the three hunters. Wolf was taken by surprise, his eyes widening as the concussion blew him from his feet and slammed him into the wall. He winced, looking up to see Fett dispatch the remaining merc.

His carbine was in his hands in an instant and he'd just started to aim at the back of Salu's helmet when the hunter rapidly turned about, shooting an odd grappling cable at the weapon. It wrapped around the muzzle and his immediate means of self defense was ripped from his grasp. Granted, he still had his projectile pistol which was well hidden within the armor at his thigh, but at the moment he thought it wise to keep that asset's existence to himself. Best to see where this was going before killing needlessly...

Then, Salu said, with what he could have sworn was a smirk of self satisfaction, "Now, gentlemen, we are going to have a little talk. And you," he looked squarely at Wolf, "It would be nice to have a name."

After grumbling something unintelligible, Salu recieved his answer, "Revar 'Wolf' Vralax, at your service," He couldn't help but grin, "Brilliant handiwork, by the way, lack of lethality aside."

Xavier found himself in a constricting situation. Bound bu Salu's ropes, he tried to get the message across that he had been trying to help. He spoke to Salu, ignoring the other hunter for the time being. "Goddamn it, Fett, I was trying to help! Not try to kill you!" The hunter looked skeptical. "Look, I have no reason to try to kill you or your friend there, you were going to help me! Do I really look that stupid?" The look that Salu seemed to give him wanted to say "yes", but Xavier spoke even faster. "Come on! I thought you were in a spot of trouble, and to help." The merc was stirring. Xavier spoke to Salu again. "Come on, Salu, get me out of these things!" Salu shifted his concussion launcher on his chest, thinking. As a show of sincerity, Xavier disconnected his armour's hidden weapons and threw the arms on the floor. Talk about a misunderstanding!

Listening to Xavier rant about trying to help him out, he couldn't decide if it was the truth or a sob story to get him out of trouble. Of course, knowing his passionate feelings about slavery and the operation they were going to be working on in two days, it was likely he really was trying to help and this was all just a big misunderstanding.

"Alright," he said to Xavier, "I trust you on this." Fumbling with his belt, he pulled off and threw him a decent sized blaster pistol, which Xavier caught with one had and then swung around towards Wolf.

"Now, you," he said, looking Wolf straight in the eye. "You are going to tell me just what you want with me." The black scout trooper just sat their, unmoving, trying to project from himself that somehow he was still in control of this situation. "Come on," he shouted softly, getting a little impatient, "You aren't in a postition to bargan for anything."

Wolf was growing weary the Fett's attitude, he was growing weary of being ordered around by a fellow bounty hunters, and he most definitely was growing weary of everyone having guns pointed at him. What, had he left his ship with a big bullseye painted on his ass? Why not...may as well play the ace, even though a two would probably do.

He took a nice deep breath, smiled up at the two other hunters, and flicked his wrist.

In a flash, Salu's grenade launcher, pistol, and Xavier's newly recieved blaster suddenly aquired a new smoldering hole, directly through the firing mechanism. Each round fragmented upon impact, erradicating every part of it, effectively rendering them useless. Smoke drifted from his gun's muzzle as he deftly returned it to its place of origin.

He got to his feet and brushed himself off, cracking his neck and knuckles, "Four hours a day, every day, for sixteen years. Now, where were we?"

With a grin at the surprised looks, he continued, "Alright, Salu, guess what? You've got something coming up with the Tenloss Syndicate...there's a massive bounty involved, I can feel it...and these guys aren't exactly upstanding citizens. So how about a cut? I can sure as hell provide some measure of assistance...and sorry about the guns...I'm sure replacing them won't be an issue with the amount of wealth you'll be coming into in the near future."