Ikia says, "Then lead the way." and begins following.

Mits chuckles at Matt's answer and follows along.  "I wonder what it is about us that is so scary."

The guide offers no explanation.  The group is taken to an empty apartment where a technician is plugging a clunky looking holo projector into a battery droid.  http://vignette3.wikia.nocooki...st?cb=20071013152305

Buttons are pressed and a holo image of an overweight sullustan appears.  http://wiki.starsidergalaxy.com/images/8/83/Chiggs.jpg

"I'm Nod Byngull," he wheezes, "Welcome to the 5th District."

  Maybe it's the competence?  Having more than a single hitpoint?

  Also what is it with overweight slumlords?  Maybe they are taking it for disadvantage points towards all the black market stuff?

  "Hello, Mister Byngull."

OOC: One gimmick I've heard of is people bolting the SW blaster equivalent of amounted machinegun turret onto those battery droids.

Ikia says, "Greetings. I am Ikia. This is Matt and Mittens. I was informed you wish to assure your people that we mean no harm. It is true that we do not take pleasure in harming people."

"We need code names," Mits muses, "And why are people so scared of us?"

Byngull sweatdrops.  "Nice to meet you all too.  Thank you for your assurances.  The people of my community are mostly 'alien' so they are nervous about the change in government.  Will they be hiring alien provocateurs to defame the community with blatant and public acts of rebellion to give all aliens a bad name?  Who are these newcomers who carry themselves so fearlessly?

"You can see how easy it is to jump to conclusions in times such as these."

  "They might hire such if they have a specific reason to, but they are more likely to just declare 'they totally did something, open fire!' on anyone who happens to be nearby.  Keeping up appearances isn't a concern for the empire."

OOC: I'm remembering Red Faction: Gurilla.  As loudspeakers proclaim from the military leader "You have the right to peaceful demonstration. You will not be harmed. We will reach an acceptable compromise to your demands", the military is busy gunning down unarmed protestors in plain view.

Ikia thumbs to Matt. "What he said. The empire would sooner hire a human to mow down aliens or glass a planet than to bother hiring an non-human to frame alien kind. I would caution any non-human against working for the empire; once they are done their job, their payment won't be credits, but death."

Mits nods.  "I can attest to this.  Seen it first hand.  But even humans don't have it much better.  Sneeze at the wrong moment and get your head lopped off kinda thing."

"It's worse than the rumors, then.  Force preserve us.

"You all must be well traveled.  What advise would you have for the poor people who live here?  Escape isn't an option.  Even if the whole community pulled together, there wouldn't be enough to relocate even one family."

  "Unfortunately, comforting wisdom was skipped on my lesson plan.  Though despite that display of guilty if convenient mindset earlier today, you are still potentially safer from the Empire on their doorstep.  It's harder to wipe a piece of coursant's infrastructure off the map no questions asked, than it would be to torch an offworld settlment."

Ikia says, "When there is no escape, the only option left is to fight. The smarter, the better."

Mits thumbs at her allies.  "What they said.  There's much to be said about fighting smart.  Never go to the authorities for help with problems you can solve yourselves.  Aid any rebel spies that hide here.  Expel Empire boot-lickers quietly.  Do not riot.  If troopers come looking for trouble, have some young man get caught breaking some minor law like spray-painting a dumpster.  Being too squeaky clean is suspicious."

Dudeface rubs his chin in thought.  "What you all say makes a lot of sense.  I would like to extend you my hospitality so I can ask you more.  My assistant can show you the way."

  Matt hopes said hospitality doesn't result in heavy explosives to dudeface's face.  That would be unfortunate.

  "Thank you, for the offer." At least it would be people ordered to be shot for reasons not made up entirely?  Hard to think of a bright side when it comes to the Empire.

"Thank you." Ikia says as she follows along. She looks to Mittens and gives a small smile. "Those were all very good suggestions, Mittens. Sounds like either you have been at this a while, or your master was thorough..."

Techie gets to work un-hooking the holo-projector as the humble secretary guy leads the way for the group.  Mits smiles and bow to Ikea.  "Yay!  I'd like to think my time as a dark jedi's slave can be turned around to spite the Empire.  Both your guesses are close.  'Thorough' is a very kind way of putting it.  More like obsessive paranoid."


The group is led to a slumish bar then to the back room behind said bar.  Looks like a dingy office that has been tidied up as much as possible, very much similar to the one the bothan gangster from earlier had.  Dudeface is seated behind a desk.  In front of the desk are set three chairs for the guests.

"Please, make yourselves comfortable.  Would you like snacks or a drink?"

  "We just ate on the way here, but thank you for the offer."  Hey, Mittens is the one who just brought up paranoia.

Ikia says, "What he said. Thanks for the hospitality." doesn't stop her from being seated as offered. "So why meet us in person? Just being polite, or is there more you wanted to discuss?"

Mits takes a seat and thumbs at her allies.  "What they said."

Big boss nods then looks to his assistant.  "Take notes, please."

The humble secretary nods and takes a seat behind a beat-up computer.  Big boss nods to Ikea.  "Discussing how to resist the Empire publicly is not prudent, I imagine."

To Mits he asks, "Can you give me some examples of what you've seen that led you to say, 'Don't be too clean?'"

Mits rubs behind her head.  "That's a principal I made up from what I've seen earns people a thorough inquisition.  So while it won't keep the low level Empire bullies from harassing you, you'll at least improve your chances of avoiding the notice of the high-level monsters who'd sooner bomb your neighborhood than bother proving that there's a rebel cell in it.  So there may as well be one anyway.

"Example.  Back when I was the slave of a dark jedi, we came upon a vacation planet..."

She recounts a horror story about an entire town being destroyed for being "too perfect," "They're obviously hiding something," etc.

The Sullistans look nervous.

Mits concludes, "I'll bet had they simply had a punk do something mildly illegal, my former master would have been satisfied with killing one or two townsfolk and moved on.  It's like those sea slugs that spew guts at their predators in order to distract them with a small meal so they can get away."

  Somewhere, somebody is spray painting 'Bane Rulz' on an alley wall.

  "Not exactly the most comforting advice, to be fair.  But there really isn't much to go with comfort wise when 'eh, less of a hassle to just kill em all' is A Thing"

Ikia says, "The only way such a plan would work is if you have someone willing to every once in s while do some minor crime and get caught. Someone human. After all, aliens will simply be killed on sight for so much as looking ugly in the eyes of an empire soldier."

"Your friend here is the only human in the neighborhood that I know of."

Mits chimes, "Bright side is that while bullies are common, genocidal type xenophobes are not the norm in the rank-and-file."

"What of the new Moff?"

"Erm... Yeah, he strikes me as the murderface type."

Big man looks grim.  "I have a serious problem, then.  About the only source of income for this community is the black market trade that passes through.  The old government overlooked this because of the sizable bribes they were given.  How are we to survive if he'll kill a person just for approaching, let alone offering a bribe."

Mits recalls, "Yeah.  He didn't react favorably to Big Shoe's holo call."

  Uh... I'd like to buy a vowel?  I mean, Matt searches his feelings.  Because that always helps right?

Ikia says, "Human or no, the black market does not react well to interference. Big Shoes insinuated he was going to make this guy's life more trouble than its worth. But the Empire's power and influence is such that I doubt such annoyances to the Empire will last long. Just be prepared for the fact that some times, the only option is to die while putting a dent in the enemy. That said, I just had a thought... the Empire is occupying this world for a reason. Find out why they are occupying instead of destroying you and you may have a foot in the doorway to survival."

Matt gets the feeling that the neighborhood will do just fine so long as they don't do anything majorly stupid - like let it slip that three Jedi passed through.  Or hire three Jedi to do their dirty work...

"So you've met Big Shoes.  I know him by reputation.  I hear he's even-handed.  Unlike the crime lord terrorizing my neighborhood.  Extortion, kidnapping, slave trade, murder... the works.  Now I'm worried what'll happen when he tries to bribe the Moff.  Between him and the Empire, my neighborhood could sure use the ongoing advice of brave experts such as yourself.  Would 50 creds each per day on top of room and board be enough to convince you to help?"

Mits shrugs.  "I didn't really have any other plans, and it sounds like it'd be more fun than just laying about doing nothing.  I'm game."

   Thanks, feelings!  You're pretty okay.  "That would really depend on what you want us to do.  I'm sure there is plenty we could help with, but anything that could attract attention by getting 'solved' should probably be avoided.  Even if we were gone, somebody finally getting around to investigating who chopped a moff's head off could lead back to who asked for it to happen."

Ikia says, "Although... thinning numbers will lead to just hand-waving that it is the natural consequence of gang activity." she looks back to the guy. "50 creds coupled with room and board is quite generous, considering your circumstances. I assure you we will be doing as thorough a job as possible so as you won't be paying us long."

It's true because at the moment, the trio are just biding time until contacted by the alliance.