Opportunity (Open)

Rhit nodded without comment on the landlord's passing, moving quickly to the apartment's window and peering through the glass towards the outside with a small line of light managing to illuminate a line on her armor. Whether or not the mercenary believed the police had fallen for their trap, it seemed she wasn't keen on taking to many risks, watching for any sign of activity outside. Typically on a world like Coruscant, police and their droids would swarm a location they thought was dangerous, though that likelihood lessened the lower into Coruscant you traveled. But with a senators killer at large, they might well forego usual operations and plunge right to the lowest level if it meant closing a case.

When Swindon apologized for not knowing she'd been reported missing, Rhit gave a wry laugh, shaking her head and moving away from the window. “That's Blink's job, not yours. She should have noticed the second the report was filed and contacted me, but we can worry about that later.” Rhit gave her another moment to listen at the door, then when there appeared to be no one waiting outside or commenting on their speaking, she pushed by Swindon and opened the door, moving out into the hall with a hand poised on her blaster. Rhit seemed ready to draw at the first sign of danger, but none presented itself, the outer hallway appearing perfectly safe.

“Come on then, maybe we can get to the speeder without running into them again. I doubt they'll leave as easily as that, even if the landlord is dead.” She motioned for Swindon to follow, not exactly running but not quite walking either. Her right hand rested firmly on one of her blasters, and the Mandalorian's movement was quick with purpose. In short order she reached the elevator, and hit the call button. It could be described that she waited here, but she kept scanning the hallway nervously, seeming to expect the officers to appear from nowhere.

When the elevator doors slid open, a superstitous person would have claimed Rhit had jinxed herself and Swindon by speaking about avoiding the officers. Behind the sliding door stood both of the officers, scowls on their faces and blasters in their hands. Rhit and both the officers seemed to hestitate for a moment, a stunned look crossing both of the CSF officers faces. A moment was all that passed though, and a look between themselves then to Rhit and Swindon told them everything they needed to know.

Their blasters were up, and so was Rhit's, with one blaster aimed at Rhit and the other at Swindon. The taller of the two that had spoken to Rhit at the door spoke up first, shouting at them despite their close proximity. “Drop your weapons! Hands in the air! Now!” The officer was clearly in no mood for games, and Rhit stepped back slowly, keeping her blaster trained on the man.

Further surprise came when she glanced at Swindon, then raised her hands slowly, the blaster she'd drawn clattering to the floor. Her movement was slow and deliberate, clearly making an effort not to set the officer off. “Take it easy,” she murmured softly, though the words coming through her helmet did little to soothe the officers nerves. The one with his blaster on Swindon practically jumped where he stood, aim swiveling to rest on Rhit as she held her hands high in the air. The other officer clutched his gun tighter, still staring at the Mandalorian with a mix of hatred and fear painted on his pale face.

Rhithia failed to even flinch when the report of Swindon's new blaster sounded in the hallway. If the round had actually collided with one of the officers the force would have likely killed him by the time it was done sending him across the room. When it was clear they weren't getting up, Rhit bent to pick up her blaster, giving Swindon a glance when the girls excitement seemed to get the better of her. She flipped a switch on her blaster as Swindon failed to finish her question, and Rhithia sighed again. She stepped out of the elevator, looking down both sides of the hallway, though not a soul was in sight on this floor. She crouched over the unconscious officer, putting two fingers to the side of his uncovered neck, then stepped over a piece of broken armor as the second officer coughed, trying to prop himself up on an elbow.

She spoke then, holding up the blaster then as if examining it, rotating it slowly in front of her T-shaped visor. "If these two hadn't called for backup, it'll be on the way now. No one poked their head out I'd wager someone reported the shot fired." Rhit lowered the blaster, looking down at the officer as he returned her gaze with green eyes, his face blackened slightly from the broken bits of armor that had been charred. There was fear on his face as she continued speaking, but he didn't try scrambling for a weapon. "We've got maybe ten minutes before their backup arrives. Maybe half that if their suit's monitors aren't reading flatline to their station right now. They didn't have their helmets on, so they don't have footage of us. Just what they've seen."

What she was implying sunk in quickly, and the officers eyes widened further. He tried crawling back on his elbow slowly, and it seemed now his other arm was broken. "Please," he grunted, coughing again as he tried spluttering out the sentence. Rhit was already moving her gun aiming it towards his face. "My wife. . ." She finished aiming, and he tried to raise his hand to guard his face, but he wasn't fast enough. Three lasers left the pistol and the officer fell back limp, smoke raising from his now charred face. The mixed smell of burnt flesh and hair rose from the now corpse, and Rhit turned away from it without so much as a second glance.

"Back in the elevator and to the ground floor. We know our timeline now." Her words were followed by another two shots, laser fire burning a hole in the unconscious officers head. The tone was flat, devoid of remorse, as though this was just another day for her. Any grimace or facial expressions were obscured by Rhithia's helmet, as usual, and she stepped over the second officers corpse to enter the elevator. Once the two of them were both inside, she hit the button for the ground floor, slipping her blaster back into it's holster, waiting patiently and silently for the doors to slide open again.

Rhithia turned to Swindon as they stepped into the elevator, a level look hidden behind the T-shaped visor of the Mandalorian's helmet. “Shootings may be common at that. But they've got two officers who's equipment has either malfunctioned, or who have flatlined. Officers investigating a missing person connected to a senator's murder.” She held her tongue for a moment to let that sink in as the elevator seemed to descend to the ground floor at a snail's pace. “They'll be here. Even if no one called in a shooting, they'll be here.”

When the elevator doors opened, Rhit walked out without especially hurrying. A single person was waiting to get into the elevator, carrying a sack of groceries, but she paid the man no mind as she brushed past him, and he offered no greeting either. Aside from him, the lobby was empty, and the two of them were able to pass through without any hindrance. Once they were out of the front door, the same sound Swindon had heard while meeting Homicide resounded from Rhithia's helmet, indicating she was receiving a call.

“A bit link late on the update Blink,” Rhit said, before waiting while the Mandalorian on the other side responded. “Hold on, we're almost to the speeder.” In the distance, the sound of far off sirens buzzed, but Rhit hurried no more then usual as they continued to the speeder. Once there, Rhit hopped in the driver's side of the XJ-2, turning the vehicle on. She pressed a few buttons on the speeder's console, after a moment told Blink to go ahead with her report. When the other woman spoke, her filtered voice came through speakers in the speeder now, so that Swindon could hear her as well.

“Sorry I didn't contact you sooner. Was busy trying to secure a way off planet.”

Rhit shook her head, waiting for Swindon to get settled in the speeder. “It's fine, we handled it.”

There was a muffled scoff on the other end of the line, though judging by Blink's immediate reply it had not come from her. “Handled. Sure. If that's want you want to call it. Apparently her apartment buildings security cameras aren't on a closed line. They've got both of you in the hall executing those officers. Bounty will probably be up in half an hour. News will be on it in half that. You're both as high on the wanted list now as Homicide. Well done.”

Rhit sighed, shaking her head again. “Copy that Blink. We'll be back in a bit.”

“Make it quick. Homicide's hungry.”

Rhit touched the speeder's console, ending the call, before looking over to Swindon. “Well, suppose we better get moving then,” she said, half in question. In the distance the sirens were getting closer, and she set the autopilot on the speeder again. In a few moments the vehicle was out in the air again, sweeping around in the opposite direction of the approaching CSF.

The water poured from the polished tap as Detective Buhel cooled his bruised knuckles under it. His knuckles here sore after he’d punched out a nefarious Devaronian during a chase the night previous. He’d been surprised at how hard the guy’s face was… not that it had been a match for the Duros’s battle hardened fist. Now he was listening to the news as he got read for the work ahead. He quickly washed his face with water, and glanced at his appearance in the mirror, but looked past himself to the reflection of the holoscreen as the news played in the background.

“Urgh… a senator,” he rasped, padding over bare footed into his bedroom. Quickly he pulled on the rest of his clothing, namely his somewhat casual outfit, rather than the usual CSF uniforms they wore on the surface. Those kinds of uniforms didn’t work down in the cesspit he lived in. It closed doors and made the CSF a laughing stock to some of the underworld. His chosen outfit however… it was dark. It allowed him to skulk in the shadows and go unnoticed. The only thing that would give him away was the badge that sat on his belt.

As he examined his appearance in the mirror, making sure that everything was in order, he heard the bell to his door go off. He turned his head, grumbling slightly and then he walked over. The door opened and in hovered an old ASN courier droid. Whilst it made no sound over than the faint humming of its repulsor engines, it beeped as it dropped a heavy holopad on his table. “You dropped your letter off, scram droid.” Buhel commanded, to which the droid beeped an expletive, before shooting out of his home. Buhel quietly marched over to the table and scooped up the holopad and read it. “I told them to leave me alone.” He snapped, placing the holopad into his jacket, seemingly knowing immediately what the holopad was about.

It was time to head to the station and pick up his next case. Quickly he put his Model 434 into his holster. Before too long he was stomping into his garage, and hopping on his speeder. As the door opened, there was the sound of running water, to which Buhel grumbled. Slowly he pushed forward on the speeder to ease it out of the garage. Once he was out of the house, the sensors locked the house down.

“Ah Buhel, there ya are. When are you gonna come helm me move my furniture around?” asked an elderly human woman who stood watering her flowers in her balcony next to his house.

“Later, Herrid, I have work to do. Keep an eye on my place for me.” He called up to her, powering on the speeder to the full capacity. As he did so, he glanced up at the passing speeders. He was waiting for a moment of clear traffic, of which there weren’t many. When he spotted one coming, he gave the old woman Herrid a wave, before pushing hard on the acceleration to join the lane. Living next to an air tunnel down to the lower levels had its perks. The air was cleaner there than anywhere else, and whilst the traffic was usually constant, it kept moving regardless of what happened.

A little while later, Buhel was shooting up the lane that revolved around the air tunnel, which was used by starships. Buhel was getting closer to his work place, but it wasn’t until a bleeping from his holocom that he knew he was about to be sent elsewhere. Quickly he answered and engaged the autopilot. He quickly placed the holocom on the bike in front of him, to which it stuck like glue. “Commissioner, what honour do I owe? Where is dispatch?”

“Busy,” told the pale Zabrak on the other end. “You are to redirect from your current route to an apartment building located at these coordinates. Shots have been heard, the situation may be linked to the shooting of the senator, so this is a top priority. Commissioner Pa’tow out.”

Immediately the sirens went on, Buhel pulled out of his lane and shot off in the direction of the shooting.


By the time Buhel arrived at the scene, forensics and other CSF officers had arrived. The sirens went off immediately as he pulled up behind the CSF’s morgue van. “Must’ve took longer than I thought.” He told himself as he stepped off his speeder and watches and droids carried the dead out to the van. It took but a moment to confirm that he was CSF, with the flash of his badge.

When he had confirmed two officers had been killed with the CSF officers guarding the entrance, he headed inside accompanied by a police probe droid that had been hovering about the scene. Once inside he glanced over at the floating cam droid. “You’ve got a holocam in there aint ya? Play me back the feed in reverse starting from here.” Buhel ordered in his flanging voice. The droid beeped and moved up to an out of sight holocam and lit up the room in a faint blue flow. Though it fuzzed somewhat, Buhel stood watching the two women leave the apartment building, passing by a third party, who had seemingly no idea what the two had committed. “No sound… The girl said something to him… They know each other. Not well by the looks of it. I assume he’s already been taken in for questioning.” Buhel told, stepping into the elevator. “Come along droid.”

The droid obediently shot across the room, into the elevator and up the two went.

On the floor to Swindon’s apartment, the droid moved over to the now destroyed holocam. “Play in reverse.” He told as the droid once again began playing the holofeed backwards, starting with Swindon destroying the camera. “Pause.” Buhel ordered, moving so he could glance at the woman’s face right before she destroyed the camera. Buhel growled low, gazing at her face with his red eyes. “Continue and pause at the last death.”

Buhel continued to go back through the scene, noting the deaths of the two CSF officers at the hands Rhit. All the while he watched he analysed what he could see before him. The woman shot the officers whilst they were down. It looked as though the woman was making an effort to silence them, to keep them from telling their story… Had they seen something they shouldn’t have? Or did she really believe the holocam footage would not get out? Buhel circled the woman’s hologram, projected by the floating droid. If nothing else, he knew this woman was certainly Mandalorian.

Further back in the recording, the two officers got hit by a concussion blast set off by the young woman, named Swindon. “Rewind back to the women she fired.”

The droid complied, and now Buhel circled her, examining her posture. “Loop the next few seconds until she lets off the blast,” again the droid complied. “She’s never fired at a live target before.” He grumbled, remembering back to his days as a soldier. He examined her features. “This is linked to the senator’s assassination... This progression… If I was not able to look her in the eyes, I would have said they had her family hostage.” He stated motioning for the droid to continue rewind the scene. After the droid replayed the initial scene with the CSF, Buhel headed into the apartment building and stomped on through.

After searching through her apartment building, he headed into her bedroom and scanned the open drawers, most with clothing hanging out of them. He stepped up to them and pulled the drawer out. “She doesn’t plan on returning.” He spoke aloud at what his gut told, him, whipping out his communicator. After dialling headquarters, he went to leave the Swindon’s apartment. “They’re taking the girl with them that brings the count to three at least. Unless they’re gonna wait and smuggle everyone out one at a time, we’re looking for a decently sized ship.” He told the dispatch droid on the other end of the call. “Yes, I know that is a countless number of classes of ships… wait.” Buhel stopped as he moved through the apartment building, as he passed something oddly coloured. He turned slightly spotting some fur on one of the couch cushions. “One moment. Droid analyse this.” He ordered waving for the probe to come over. As it scanned the cushion below it beeped several times. Buhel quickly moved into the kitchen and began rooting through the cupboards. “The girl… she has a cat with her. Order all ships to be scanned for felines. Who was the detective assigned to the senator’s case? Detective…. Stormrider. Got it. Forward his location to my speeder. It’s time we compared notes.”

Detective Buhel was about to leave the apartment building, before he turned to look at the droid. “Continue scanning the building… Perhaps they left something behind. Relay anything to the CSF.” He told the probe, before heading out into the hall where the officers had been executed only hours before.

Once he was out of the building, he ran over to his speeder, and ignored the CSF officers when they made a comment to him. Without stopping he turned on the engine as well as the sirens before shooting off to follow the coordinates relayed to him. Perhaps with his new knowledge and Stormrider’s information, he might well catch up to the Mandalorians and their accomplice.

"Do you sell 'Hungry Hutt' sandwichs?" Swindon asked innocently. Oh the beauty of a simple Coruscant girl- mind and soul devoted to the urban living, effected by the events of the universe in small ways such the economics of a sandwich. "And a cup of caf please." If there was such a thing as an innocent murderer, Swindon was that person- despite having been (partly.. or rather, mainly) responsible for the murder of two officer less than ten minutes ago, she didn't seem bothered by it. For a first murder- that's a good sign to other murderers, at least.
Swindon didn't question how they knew one another- she was more wary of the fact she was on the news.
She sat back, cheerfully, content.

Meanwhile, somewhere next door, a cat flicked it's ears, sat upright, tail flicking as it watched intently at what Blink was doing. Even if the cat was unable to understand what Blink was doing, the cat was quite content on staring, curious. Maybe he was waiting- or he heard Swindon's voice- or just hungry- either way, Cuddles was staring intently, barely blinking while watching Blink, silently.

(Sorry this isn't much. Not much I can write in this scene x3)

“Reckon I can manage that,” Brax said, before removing himself from the window and closing it behind him. It was unlikely he'd have the authentic ingredients for Swindon's order, but then who on Coruscant was to say what that would actually taste like anyway? Rhit reclined in her speeder seat, relaxing while they waited for the food. She spoke idly, seeming amused by Swindon's choice of food.

“I suppose it is breakfast time. We're up and down in shifts usually, so we almost never eat a day cycle's proper meals. Especially when we're on the go, we just eat what we can.
Still, cup of caf? I'd have thought you'd want to sleep when we got back. You've been up for quite a time now.”

Before Swindon had a chance to answer, Brax was already opening the window again. Rhit sat up in surprise, reaching over towards to the window to tale the plastene tray of four drinks and hand them to Swindon, before taking a clear plastene bag with four white boxes inside as well. She sat the bag between the two of them and reached onto her belt, pulling out a credit chit. Brax took it from her and disappeared for a moment from their sight before returning the chit to Rhithia. He leaned out the window, giving them a smile and a small wave. “You two stay safe now, ya hear?”

Rhithia barked a laugh at that and bid Brax farewell, the speeder pulling away from the window as the grizzled old Mandalorian watched them depart. In a moment they were back on the airway, with Rhithia keeping a hand on the food to ensure it didn't go anywhere. The speeder pulled away from the populated areas once more, back into the maze of the abandoned factory district.

In short order, they were pulling back into the garage and the Mandalorians safehouse. The overhang door shut behind them this time, sealing them off from the rest of the Coruscanti underworld. Inside the hangar, Homicide was carrying one of the team's storage boxes into the Mantis. It seemed he had chosen to start packing some of the items that wouldn't serve a use away, now that they had completed their contracts.

The XJ-2 settled down gently next to the spaceship as it came to a rest, and Rhit held up the bag as she hopped out of the speeder. “Take a break Homicide, food time,” she announced, and he nodded, quickly putting the box where it belonged in the ship. The two of them headed into the main room where the table was located, expecting Swindon to follow with the drinks. As they headed in however, Rhithia added almost as an afterthought, “We'll talk about it after we eat,” she told him, likely referring to events that had transpired back at Swindon's apartment. Homicide simply nodded again, staying quiet as they went to have a seat.

---

Detective Stormrider sighed audibly as Buhel apologized for his lack of introduction, and rubbed his temples. His helmet sat upturned on his desk, with a signed order from the commissioner pulled up on his holoscreen. It was a few seconds before he finally turned, standing and leaving the helmet where it lie. The human stared at the duros for another second with tired brown eyes, likely attempting to size him up. “This way,” he said, sighing again, before turning and heading down one of the precinct's areas towards the briefing rooms.

“I'll be upfront with you. Most likely we've all been given this case because Senior Command won't mind tossing us to the Akk Dogs if things go bad and the Senate Guard comes to take over. You need to understand right away this is as much a political case as a criminal one.”

Stromrider led Buhel into a room with a six label, where two other's waited. One was a human woman with green hair, tattoos up her left arm, with black shorts and a black tank top that left her stomach exposed. She was leaning back in her chair, with her feet propped on one of the rooms tables and hands behind her head. The other was a pale skinned male Zabrak with orange eyes in CSF issue armor, leaning against the far wall with what seemed a permanent scowl set in his face.

“Detectives Aria and Ralak. Detective Buhel,” Stormrider said, getting the introductions out of the way. He scooped up a holopad from one of the tables, sighing again as the holodisplay at the front of the room flickered to life. “Save your questions until after we make it through the basics, as I doubt any of you bothered reading the case file since you're all already here.”

Senator Omigrapgh's picture flickered above the holodisplay, replaying the scene fro where he'd been assassinated. Stormrider continued speaking as the images played, the senator stepping from his ship and down a ramp, before a flash of light from a blaster distorted the scene. As the clip ended, all that remained was a smoking pile of ash where the senator had been standing a moment before.

“This is our primary concern, Senator Omigrapgh's assassination. If you've paid attention to the news, this was three days ago. The weapon in use is an unidentified model of a disruptor weapon, from the effect of the blast. What's more important is that we were unable to locate where the shot was fired from, but the closest vantage point we could narrow it down to was three kilometers away. If you hadn't reasoned it out already, that implies these are professionals we're after here.”

The holodisplay image changed to a side by side of two more individuals one in smuggler's attire and the other a technician of some sort. “So far, we believe the killer assassinated these two as well. The smuggler had multiple priors, but we haven't been able to link anything definitive there. The other was an electrician who from what we could gather, was trying to sell information to a private information firm. They either couldn't, or wouldn't, tell us what it was he was trying to sell. The only thing we have linking these three together is that they were all killed from over two kilometers away, with witnesses present, and were reduced to a pile of ash.”

The holodisplay changed from the scene to an image of a Mandalorian with a rifle across his back as long as the man was tall, crouched over a speeder bike with a hail of laser fire frozen in time around him. Unfortunately, it was taken from too far away to make out any defining details. “This is our killer. It was blind luck that one of our patrolspeeders responding to the scene passed over him while he was fleeing the scene. He was shot out of the air into an apartment complex, but when the crash site was located he and the speeder were nowhere to be located.”

“Which brings us to these two,” Stormrider announced, touching his holopad and the display at the front changed to the image of a girl with a blaster pointed up and a smile on her face, while a female Mandalorian stepped over the body of a CSF officer.

“The girl in this is image is named Swindon, no last name. I personally interviewed her while she was repairing one of three similar models to our perp's swoop in differing repair shops across the lower levels. At the time, she appeared to check out,” it didn't seem the detective was happy admitting this, but he moved on. “Shortly after, she was reported missing, and the repair shop in question had significant interior damage. We now suspect that was to cover her tracks and keep her out of suspicion. She has no priors, and her file is exceptionally dull compared to most of our suspects.”

“Two men were sent to check her apartment, and were subsequently executed in the still you see above. Detective Buhel had a look at that himself. According to his report, he doesn't believe she's fired at a target before. Based on the footage I concur with that assessment, though the whole scene is a mess anyway. Regardless, Swindon is now known to have a pet feline, so every ship leaving Coruscant with feline's aboard is being detained. We'll have a PR nightmare with Cathar, but if we manage to catch our killer and his accomplices, it'll be easy to handle that.”

“One last thing, before anyone gets the idea, is that talking with other senators is already off limits. I've already gotten orders to keep them out of it to avoid someone trying to implicate a senator, so unless we find hard evidence on something all our requests for information on the political front have to go through the Senate Guard.”