Mercenary Crew: Age of the Rebellion

[JasraLantill]

In her quarters, Raze sat down at her desk and held the Krayt Dragon pearl in her hands. It was a very large specimen, but there was something about it that gave it a quality above the other two she had seen. She was not an expert on jems, especially pearls, but she wasn't going to just punt this one off to the first jem dealer she came across. She'd keep it for a while.

 

She took one last look at it, then put it in her safe (a hidden safe that only Zam and she knew where it was or how to access it). Then she started on a log entry.

 

The date and time were announced and she started to record.

 

"We've picked up a paying passenger in addition to our cargo. The alien that had attacked us and that we had restrained in the sick bay. Turns out that Bif and Ulim could understand him a little bit and he just wanted a ride to Utapau. He's called Otaktay, and he's paid for his passage with a...." She paused. Probably not a good idea to actually say she had a Krayt Dragon pearl on board, in the unlikely case they got boarded by hostiles. "...trinket he had acquired. Tried to give us some polished animal skulls, too, but I told him that wouldn't be necessary. Fortunately, Otaktay understands Basic, he just can't speak it. Guess his vocal cords are sort of like a Wookiee's, but his language is a lot harder to understand that Shyriiwook. So I asked Travis if he could come up with some sort of portable translator for Otaktay, so he wouldn't have to keep typing everything he wanted to say on that wrist translator device he has. Asked John to set him up in one of the two rooms we had..."

 

She paused and closed her eyes. "Crap. Flick. Damn girl's so quiet and invisible most of the time... Sure hope John didn't forget like I did that we only have one free room available. 'Cause that could be a real mess."

 

She shook her head. "Anyway, Ulim's contacts came through with some Imperial hotspots, so Zam's plotted our course to avoid them. We only have to drop out of hyperspace three times, he tells me, and we should be arriving in Coruscant in two days."

 

She took a deep breath. "Can't say I'm looking forward to going there. Especially to the Invisec where we're supposed to drop the cargo. We need to get a permit somehow so we can land there. I'll have to give that some more thought." She snorted. "Sure would be handy to know how to do those Jedi mind tricks about now," she joked. "That would be one way to get our permit without any...."

 

"Hear me...." said a soft whispery voice from behind.

 

Raze whipped her head around to see who had said it. But there was no one. "Who's there?" She listened a moment more, but heard nothing further. She shrugged, and went back to her log.

 

"That reminds me," she continued her log entry. "Zam said he had a weird feeling about our 'special' cargo. A feeling of doom, I think he said. John and Rita agreed, too, that it was... odd. But it's just a plain, sealed crate. Nothing too spectacular to look at. I certainly don't see any problem with it, but I had them separate it from the rest of the cargo and place it closer to the airlock, just in case. If it does turn out to be something 'bad', at least it won't take much to jetison it. Would mean we'd lose out on our payment, but... the crew's more important to me."

 

Zam's message came over the intercom. They were underway.

 

"End log," Raze said.

 

She stretched her arms over her head. "I'm hungry. Time for a snack."

 

Opening the door to her cabin, she was greeted with the sight of Travis fleeing from flying ice cubes. She shook her head. "I don't even want to know," she murmured as she went to make herself a snack from the galley in the common room.

[Rexraptor2000]

Ulim ignored Sage's sarcastic comment, partly because he wasn't good with sarcasm, and asked Flack "Are you going to make Gizak soup anytime soon, Flack?"

[starmark2k]

Zam stood up from his seat, When the ship was in hyperspace it didn't need a pilot, it was just going in a strait line. Zam stretched out and pushed a few buttons to lock out the console, Normally he wouldn't do it but with a passenger on board it was best not to take a risk. Zam turned and walked out of the Cockpit and into the common room, Raze was by the Gally station making somthing to eat. Zam walked over to the table just behind her and sat down at it. "So what's happnin' Cap'n."

[JasraLantill]

Raze looked down at the salad she was attempting to put together, then frowned. "I'm not entirely sure," she said, as she slowly lifted the fork so that it hovered above the bowl. A glob of something that used to be crisp dropped from the end of the fork. "Think it got frozen?" she asked him. Then she realised it probably wasn't the salad Zam was asking about.

 

"Oh. Things. Happening things. Well...." She pushed the salad bowl aside, deciding that it was better to leave any food preparation to Flick, who was good at it. "I need to think of a way to get a permit so we can land in the Invisec without hassle. You got any ideas?"

[ForceFightWMe12]

"Hey hey! Easy with the ice! This stuff is sharp -- don't wanna punch a hole in my pretty face, do you?" Travis exclaimed as he caught the first ice chunk. In answer to his question, another handful of ice was sent flying at him.

 

"Alright, I'm leaving! Jeeze!" he dashed off down the hall, brushing small bits of ice off his jacket, mumbling to himself. "Must be her special time of the month..."

[starmark2k]

"I don't know, but hey if worse comes to the worse you could always charm the Space traffic controller, Obviously if it's a lady i could try... then again if it's a lady you could still try." Zam suggested. "It didn't stop you before."

[JasraLantill]

Raze arched an eyebrow as she fondly recalled the incident Zam was referring to. "True," she said absently. Coming back to her senses, she shook off the thought and cleared her throat. "But, I think this will require a bit more than just 'charm'. We're talking Stormtroopers here, Zam, not your run of the mill Imps. They use that sector for 'practice,' and I don't want to end up as one of their targets."

 

She brightened as an idea suddenly coming to her. "What we need to do is try to get someone else's permit, then customise it to match our ship." She turned to Zam. "When we get closer to Coruscant, scan the area for any other freighters. There's bound to be one going to that area, or at least close to it. Maybe we can 'charm' them into letting us 'borrow' their permit for a while."

[Dark_Lady]

Ulim ignored Sage's sarcastic comment, partly because he wasn't good with sarcasm, and asked Flack "Are you going to make Gizak soup anytime soon, Flack?"

 

"Yeah, sure," she said absent-mindedly. "By the way, do you know how we picked up that big guy back there?"

[ForceFightWMe12]

Travis went over a list in his head.

 

Flick - hates me. Ulim - doesn't like me. Zam - hates me. Bugman - wants to kill me. Raze - hates me, but won't admit it. Rita - hates me. Not a bad job on my part.

 

He ran a hand through his hair as he paused in the corridor, leaning against the locked door behind him; the locked door to his room. Pulling a cigarette from his pocket (any clue what those are in SW? <.<) he lit it and stuck it between his lips, taking a deep pull. Holding the smoke for a moment, he allowed his mind to wander.

 

No one had ever gotten close to him -- he would never allow it. Why? Who the hell knows? Sure, he didn't mind having a one night stand now and then, but to get himself into any kind of attachments that weren't of the buisness nature was unacceptable.

 

The smoke blew slowly through his lips, and the back of his fist collided with the keypad next to his door. The lock clicked open, and he stepped inside, closing it behind him.

 

He collapsed into the make-shift hover chair he kept near the door, skidding himself across the floor and pulling over to the workbench stationed against the wall. Pulling his blaster from the holster at his hip, he clicked the safety off and tossed it on the bruised, marked surface. The hydrospanner whirred to life in his hands.

 

Beginning to pull apart the outer shell of the weapon, he put magnifying goggles on, switched on the power, and swung the lenses over his eyes.

 

Machines and electronics were so simple to deal with. If you connected a wire here, such and such a result would occur. Replace a power coupling there, and a different reaction happened. Completely predictable. And completely different from any sentinet being he had ever met.

 

You never knew what the reaction to a set of words might be. Admittedly, he was fairly good at...persuading people -- whether it was a girl in a cantina or a junk-dealing duros -- but actually communicating with them was completely different and increasingly more difficult.

 

Take Raze, for example. Round an hour ago, he had saved her life, knocked out the bugman, restrained said bugman, and built a working translator for aformentioned bug man. Here he was now, and she still hated him. Alright, maybe that was a bad comparison. Maybe Raze had known him too long -- maybe everyone on the Eclipse had known him too long.

 

His plans began unfolding in his head, taking shape as his fingers nimbly teased the guts of the blaster to take the form he wanted. Blue wire here, green there. Transfer power to these, re-weld this. Clean nozzle here, sharpen concentration there. Easy. Understandable. Logical.

 

Just the way he liked it.

[steven]

Pulling a cigarette from his pocket (any clue what those are in SW? <.<) .

 

(Death sticks. Merry Chrismas everyone)

 

John returned to his room which was, like always, in a complete state. John had cans, parts and other useless objects which complete covered most of the floor. Although it was mesy, John had sorted the piles of rubbish into groups (Cans in one section, parts in another,ect.) and had a path leading from his door to his bed.

[starmark2k]

"Well i can say that probably wouldn't work as getting authorrization to land on coruscat from a dealer would probably cost 50k, or goods and servises equal, and we ain't got the goods and unless you want to hand over a crew mem..." Zam stopped himself as a grim came across his face. "Hey you could give them Travis!"

 

((Merry christmas from the comical Zabrak))

[JasraLantill]

Raze stared at Zam. “They’d likely open fire on us if we did that,” she said to him. “Besides, we need Travis. I think his skills will come in handy for what I’m thinking of doing. I don’t want to buy someone’s permit. Just ‘borrow’ one for a few hours. Travis could make a copy of it, then alter it to reflect our ident code and a fake cargo of… I don't know, Trandoshan food packs or something. Then when the Imps make contact with us, we could get Ulim to play ‘captain’. Even if they think there is something wrong with the permit, I’m sure, with a little behind the scenes coaching from you and me, we could convince them that he’s just some trader from a backwater planet that got his permit application mixed up. And since he doesn’t look remotely human, they’d believe him.” She grinned. “You know how biased the Empire is against non-humans. They think we’re all stupid and incapable.” She snorted with amusement. “Remember how that Imp on Nubia reacted when I cut my hand during that fight in the cantina and he suddenly realised I had green blood?” She chuckled at the thought. “I thought only Falleen could change their skin that colour that quickly!”

[ForceFightWMe12]

"Damn!" Travis hissed to himself as a spark caught the edge of his fingertip, searing the skin. He finished putting the blaster back together, made sure it was in proper working order again, then pulled the goggles from his head to examine the burn. It was small, but didn't look so good. He growled profanities to himself for a moment before replacing his gloves on his hands and striding out the door.

 

He moved out into the common room, glowering at Zam when he entered. The pilot cracked one wise remark and, in his current mood, Travis would be sure he recieved a nice slug across the face for it. The gunner grabbed a cup of caffa.

 

When he noticed that the other two had dropped silent upon his arrival, he eyed them both. "What?"

 

((Maybe it's a bit late, but...Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone ^.^))

[JasraLantill]

Raze looked at Travis, then shrugged. "Nothing," she said. "Just taking a little break...." She paused for a moment. "So, making up a translator, saving the captain's life... it's been a busy day for you, Ace." She reached in her pocket and pulled out a credit chip which she tossed to him. "Here. Your share of the cut for our 'extra special' cargo."

 

(It'll be more than he was expecting, as Raze has given him a bit extra for saving her life.)

[ForceFightWMe12]

Travis snatched the chip out of the air, studying it. He looked to Raze, back to the chip, and then back to Raze again. Raising an eyebrow he took a sip of caffa before speaking.

 

"Was the seventeen-thousand just an estimate, or is our gracious captain feeling especially generous today?" he asked, a slight hint of sarcasm underlying his tone.

 

He was surprised, to say the least. This was a lot of credits he held in his hand -- far more than he had expected.

[JasraLantill]

Raze shrugged nonchalantly. She wasn't about to go all mushy and grateful to Travis in front of Zam. That would just boost Travis' already over-inflated ego to new and unmanageable heights.

 

"Travis," she said to him, "you should know by now that I never pay more than what something's worth, and that I always pay my debts. Just think of it as a back payment for 'services rendered.' Of course," she added, tongue in cheek, "if you think you've been overpaid, I'll be quite happy to go over my figures again...."

[ForceFightWMe12]

"Oh no, no need to do that! Really! It's quite sufficient, thank you. I'm so glad we have such a generous and noble captain, it really makes things easier and a lot more pleasant around here..." he interjected quickly, slipping the credits into his pocket.

[JasraLantill]

“Travis?” Raze gave him a deadpan stare. “I believe that’s enough ingratiation for one day.” She turned to Zam and gave him his credit chip, then she looked around.

 

“Ok, guys, so we’re in hyperspace. We’ve got a galley, we’ve got supplies and food…” She stared down at the salad in the bowl in front of her (which wasn’t looking too great.) “…sort of. We’ve got a table, and chairs, and utensils. So, theoretically, all the raw materials are present to gather the crew for dinner so I can pay the rest of them.” She looked at Zam, then at Travis. “All we're missing is our cook. Anyone seen Flick?”

[steven]

"I would say she's in her room but I'm not sure which one that is," replied John, due to his good nature he would offer to cook something but he knew he was a terrible cook.

[JasraLantill]

"Erm...John? Did you know which one it was when you showed our guest Otaktay to his quarters?" Raze asked tentatively. "Oh please say 'yes'," she added in a whisper, looking with pleading eyes upwards for any of the multitudinal divities she'd heard mention of to step in and intervene.

[steven]

"Well she changes her room like I find myself fixing Rita's simulator." John said sitting down "However Sepertist quarters were never designed to be comfy."

[ForceFightWMe12]

"So then that's why the bugman was in her room..." Travis murmured, as if thinking out loud.

[JasraLantill]

Raze blanched. "Oh kriffin' hell...." she swore under her breath. "What happened?" She looked at Travis. "And what did you do?"

[steven]

Not wanting to be involved in the arguement which could go on, John quickly darted to the Kitchen area to get himself a beer.

[ForceFightWMe12]

Travis looked apalled. "Wha - what did I do?? I'm insulted that you could even insinuate that I had--"

 

He broke off as he caught Raze's glare.

 

"Alright, first off, I'm swearing under pain of starvation that I did absolutely nothing." he said, holding up a guarding hand, "Alls I did was go in there and give the bugman his translator. He wigged out, fired off this ice grenade thing, and got himself frozen to the wall. Next thing I know, I'm running down the corridor, dodging ice chunks."

 

Leaning in conspiritorally, he continued in a murmur, "I hope he's been 'fixed' 'cause he seemed pretty...interested in our cook."