The Azlanti Scientists

"The Vesk paused, his scaly hand just centimeters from the grimy door's exterior. He wondered what had compelled him to come here, to this bleak world, to this bleak space port, and this dismal, run-down part of the town. Surely nobody of importance actually lived here. And yet, this was the correct address. This is where his potential career might begin. He looked up and down the hallway, at the stained synth-carpet, the walls that likely had never seen a good cleaning. Even the number on the door in front of him, 11, was barely visible. Highly recommended, he recalled. Go see Taviki. He has a job. Do well, and there will be more work. But here? in this place? He knocked on the door, noting as he did so the old security camera on the ceiling, the unblinking eye trained on the door.
The door hissed open to reveal a very well dressed Lashunta man, an easy smile on his face. "Ahh, Azon, welcome. Do come in."
The interior of the room was in stark contrast to the outside. Well appointed furniture and beautiful inlaid wood panels on red walls spoke of wealth and taste. A large wodden desk faced the doorway, with a rich leather chair behind it. A strong but beautiful leather and metal chair face the desk, obviously for clients. The man gestured at the chair. "Sit, please. As you likely guessed, I am Taviki. You were highly recommended by Mozagan, she mentioned you assisted her with a live capture recently. High praise indeed."
He looked Azon up and down as if he were a prized fighter. Or a trophy, Azon wasn't quite sure. "I have a job for you. You'll need to bring some friends, or if you have none, I have a list. Either way, I'll be sending you and your team to Pienope 6 to capture some...important targets. Possibly. Ah, I see your confusion, let me explain. About three weeks ago four Azlanti scientists went...awol from the Star Empire. The Azlantis want them back. Word is, they are looking for them in the Chenus system. But I've heard they may be looking in the wrong place. Pienope 6 has a small garrison of the Star Empire, but it would bring them a certain amount of prestige if they had these...escaped scientists. So that means credits, credits for my pocket and yours. I've already arranged booking for 6 to the Soakfall spaceport. Your job will be simple, go there, find these scienstist, then hand them in to the Azlanti garrison. Once I have confirmation, I'll wire five-hundred credits to your account. For each team member, that is. Do well, and I certainly will have more work for you. If you agreee, I will transfer the information on our wayward scientists, and you can do the rest. If our scientists are not there, if the Empire finds them first...well, I'll still credit you 100 credits for the attempt. And remember, they want them alive. I think we can come to an agreement over this, yes?"
Azon thought about it for a few moments. This was a ticket to steady work, a good reputation, and maybe even some travel to exotic places. He looked at Taviki, and said with a toothy smile "I think we are going to make each other very rich! Let's get started!"
 
Azon met with his contact & received a job to find 4 missing Azlanti Scientists. The Star Empire want them back. He was told to speak with the captain of the Dovetail Exeter. Passage was arranged to get them to Pienope 6, where the hunt would start. Azon headed for the Smoky Glass, the local bounty hunter bar, to see who he could find. He met some others he knew, Kalindra Steel and Larric Albright, there. We were offered 500 credits per team member for live capture of the scientists. Deciding we needed a few more team members we started to ask around for others. We soon found Ruti, Mathias & K'Semri from the list of contacts that was given to Azon. The names of the scientists and their specialization were: Hazlina Izevel (f), a Bioscientist, Asher Ikanon, a Bioscientist, Ophir Mazar, a Geologist & Eldad Prazin, a Chemist. We spent the night drinking and getting to know one another better.
The next day we met up and headed to the Dovetail Exeter, where we were greeted by Captain Zhavy. She welcomed us aboard. We soon got underway, heading towards Soakfall spaceport on Pienope 6. As we hurtled through space we spent time discussing how to proceed once we reached our destination. Pienope 6 is tidal locked to the system's sun. There is a ring around the planet running from north to south about 200km wide that has a temperate zone. As we dropped out of hyperspace and began our approach, alarms started going off. The captain's voice came over the ship's PA system and told us to stay in our quarters. We were being approached by a large ship that may be pirates. It turned out they were indeed pirates, by the name of the Deep Anvil! They took some cargo and left the Dovetail Exeter to continue on. We soon arrived at Soakfall spaceport. After we passed through arrivals at the spaceport we realized that the person checking us through probably sees a lot of people. Kalindra returned and asked him about the 4 we were looking for. It turned out he had seen them and was even able to give us the pseudonyms they had passed through under. He also told us that 2 had gone one way and 2 the other as they left. As we left we noticed a street performer busking nearby. Approaching them, K'Semri asked after the people we were looking for. It turned out he had overheard 2 of them arguing about some place called the Mire's Drain. She got directions & we headed that way! The Mire's Drain turned out to be a rundown building. Inside we found a Halfling woman who did not seem particularly interested in being helpful. However, the universal lubricant of credits got her talking! She recalled the 2 of them had only stayed one night, in separate rooms. She overheard them talking about some place called Pluza. We then stopped to buy a local data map. We learned that Pluza was about 350 miles away. We then headed towards the local cab company. Out front we saw a young man leaning against a hover bike. While he was a conspiracy theorist, right down to his tinfoil covered helmet, he told us he had heard the female scientist say she was going to New Suiladi. Inside, we learned the same information from the cab company employees. The 4th person we had not learned anything about had left for the Sinocorp Emulsions Facility. The closest destination turned out to be New Suiladi, so we chose to head there.