Mon Calamari
Foamwander City
The rusted speeder moved through the streets at a canter, one side dipped slightly due to the increased weight of the Wookiee that sat on the right side. Han, on the other hand, wrestled with the controls, keeping the vehicle from pulling in that direction on its unstable hover wells; that would teach him for trying to save a cred, and hiring from a sleazy looking Mon Cal.
“You see anyone, Chewie?” The old smuggler asked, glancing in the rear-view mirror, wondering if his hairy companion had managed to catch a glimpse of anyone where he couldn’t. The other shook his head, hunched forward as he was under the speeder roof.
Han felt relieved. So far they hadn’t managed to attract unwanted attention, and their attempts at shaking any shadows had proved pointless – yet, it was never reason to become careless, especially not in their profession. As it was, the two were running a little late for their meeting, though Han was certain the other guy would be willing to forgive and forget, even if only just to feel secure in the deal.
From the seat beside him, Han listened to Chewie’s low grumble.
“Couldn’t tell ya,” Han replied, shrugging as he pulled in behind a hover-taxi, following the directions he had been given en route to the planet. Either way, the smuggler hoped their vehicle would make the distance, especially given the rattling coming from the rear right side. “All I know is that we’re meetin’ our guy in some building room, so we’ll need to set up some sort of escape route just in case. I want you guardin’ the corridor, while I go inside… I can handle whatever they throw at me, as long as they don’t bring in any reinforcements.”
Chewie grunted agreement, nodding his head as he looked behind to check the way – the Wookiee saw a blue speeder zip behind another vehicle in traffic, the window tinted from what he could tell. Seemed the pair had gained a shadow, after all…
As soon as the furball mentioned the potential follower, Han began shifting lanes. He wanted to see if the vehicle would swap as well, in order to chase them onto whatever lane they turned down – to which it did. Clucking his tongue, Han furrowed his brow as he thought; he had to get rid of the tail, because they were pretty close to their rendezvous. Then, glancing to his left, Han got an idea…
Turning sharply into the far left lane, the smuggler brought his near-broken down speeder into a drive-through line. Turning down the window, the pair waited patiently as the line began to move forward, watching as the shadow pulled in behind them – the windows were dark enough that Han couldn’t see who was inside, but clearly the other guys were hesitant to be so close. As the line moved again, Han pulled up to the ordering holo and was greeted with a young Mon Cal’s voice – or he assumed it was young, as it cracked with certain words through it’s Basic:
“Hello, gentle sir, welcome to Fast Dine; what can I get for you today?”
Han looked at the menu, squinting as he thought. He turned to Chewie, raising his eyebrows; the other replied with a series of growls, before giving a hearty smile, leaning back as best he could in his chair.
“I’ll have one medium Skywalker meal, two large Mon Cal specials and…” Han scanned the boards, about to put his plan into motion. “I need to order for the car behind, too. They’ll be picking up the check. I think… we’ll have six large Tauntaun deals, with extra Tauntaun sauce. The patties need to be cooked well-done.”
As the Mon Cal repeated the order, Han gave a smirk to Chewie, who in turn gave a throaty chuckle. As he moved forward, to the window that would produce his meal, Han tapped his thumb on the wheel. As he expected, a young Mon Cal leaned out the window, offering the three serves for the first speeder.
“Thanks,” Han said, nodding as he passed the bags toward the Wookiee. “The guys behind will grab the tab.”
Chewie suddenly nudged Han, motioning to the window, giving a pleading whine.
“…and can we add the toy of the day,” Han added, rolling his eyes. The Mon Cal dipped back, grabbed something, then returned and offered it to the smuggler. Han blinked, looking at the plasi-cast bust of Emperor Hyfe; for a minute he considered not bothering, but then decided that was about the credibility of the old Emperor these days, anyways.
“Thanks,” Han muttered, taking the toy and throwing it into Chewie’s lap. “Gnaw on this or somethin’… I don’t want to see it in the Falcon’s cockpit, either.”
As they began to pull away, Han stalled the speeder purposefully. This brought the shadows right up to the ordering window as they attempted to slip through after their charges. The Mon Cal began handing out bags, which the driver reluctantly accepted after a series of taps on his window…
Han, in the meanwhile, had started the speeder and was pulling around the building corner. As soon as they were out of sight, the smuggler put his foot down on the throttle pedal and cut across the garden bed, out onto the main road and across through traffic into the next right turn. Chewie growled as he bumped his head, but otherwise was preoccupied with stuffing a number of nexu-rings into his waiting mouth…
***
About ten minutes after the Fast Dine ordeal, Han pulled the speeder to a stop. The pair had reached their meeting point, and now it was time to get down to business. As the two stepped out, Han finished off the burger he had been eating and tossed the wrapper. Motioning with his head, the smuggler began leading the way into a rundown apartment complex, the front of which looked like it had been without decent upkeep since it had been constructed.
“Keep your eyes peeled, Chewie,” Han said, glancing over his shoulder. “We don’t want to be taken by--”
Han stopped short, blinking as he turned back forward to look down at the blaster muzzle pressed against his chest.
“…surprise?”
The man holding the weapon gave a short smile, looking up as the Wookiee let out an angry roar, clearly about to charge into action to save his comrade.
“Indeed, but before your friend can start attracting unwanted attention,” The other man started, his voice somewhat calm. “I suggest you follow my associates and I… you have a meeting with someone who doesn’t take no for an answer.”
Without a word, Han turned full about and pushed Chewie back the way they had come. The speeder van that pulled up opened its side door, and another three men – dressed the same as the thug with the blaster – peered out, motioning for the pair to enter.
“Come on… just move it, furball,” Han muttered, ducking as he followed the Wookiee into the van. “Good one, Chewie. You would have made a blind Jawa look-out proud...”
The van door slammed closed and the speeder began moving out into the traffic, the men inside with weapons clearly intent on ensuring the smugglers remained under control and cooperative.
After a time in the confines of the speeder van, Han began to become restless. He didn’t know what was happening, but he had an idea; perhaps his contact wasn’t as forgiving as he had first thought? Either way, the men holding the smuggling pair hostage were extremely tight-lipped, and nothing was really getting past their nonchalance demeanours other than ‘soon’.
Around the time that Han was considering trying an escape, the driver motioned and pulled up into a parking spot. The men with blasters toward Han and Chewie withdrew their aims, shouldering their weapons, while one opened the van door.
“Alright, we’re here,” One of the thugs said, seemingly taking charge. He had been the one who had snuck up on Han back at the apartment. “Just get out, follow us, and don’t do anything stupid. We don’t want to hurt you, the location for the meeting has changed somewhat… don’t worry, we just had to make sure you two weren’t complete mynocks by overreacting.”
Han snorted as he stepped out into the fresh air, taking a deep breath. It was good not to smell contained Wookiee. The talker of the thugs followed in the smuggler’s wake, before moving ahead and motioning for them to come along; but what really surprised Han was the large building before them all – it looked as though they had reached some kind of complex.
“Well… guess we don’t have to worry about blasting our way out,” Han muttered to Chewie, leaning toward his tall companion; to which the Wookiee let out a grumbled chuckle, before giving his own comments on their situation.
As they pair were led through the security area, relieved of Han’s weapon much to his annoyance, and taken into the complex, the smuggler couldn’t help but feel his curiosity grow. He had been calm, he had been following orders – despite his belief – and he had been more than willing to follow the men sent by their contact; however, Han soon felt that it had almost come to that time to demand answers, or get the heck out of the proverbial maw’s range.
“So who are we meetin’ with?” Han asked the man leading the two. The Corellian narrowed his eyes, watching the thug as best he could, trying to discern if he replied with the truth or not.
“Maklo,” The other said simply, giving a slight glance toward a pair of doors the group passed. “He’s currently in a meeting, so we’ll head to a waiting area until he’s ready to see you…”
Han, however, having caught the subtle response to the thug’s thought concerning his leader, knew that they had just passed the supposed meeting room. Pulling up short, the smuggler nodded to Chewie, and began stalking toward the pair of doors; while, at the same time, the Wookiee turned and grasped the two men following closely behind, picking them up clean off their feet, one in each arm.
“I think we’ll see Maklo now, really,” Ignoring the rushed shout and response of the lead thug, Han glanced over his shoulder and gave a shrug. “I just don’t feel like waiting any more, kid…”
Bursting through the doors of the conference room, Han looked about at the various beings congregated within, giving a lop-sided grin…
