Mercenary Crew: Bounty Hunters

[JasraLantill]

Jyot's eyes went wide and he held his hands up in surrender while he shrugged his shoulders. "How the hell should I know?" he said to Latch, as he reached inside the hatch and tweaked the inertial compensator setting to 95 as Ali had requested. "She's a woman. Does she need a reason to be mad?"

 

Latch cocked his head to one side. "Well, no, but... she seems like a reasonable sort of person to me."

 

Jyot's eyes narrowed. "Reasonable! Ali? Reasonable?" As he replaced the panel in the deck, he shook his head. "That woman isn't reasonable. She's crazy--completely and beautifully insane. She's an awesome pilot, intelligent, adventurous, witty, has a fantastic body, and a great... " He paused uncomfortably, rethinking what he was going to say. "... erm, sense of balance. But reasonable?" He flashed a grin, shaking his head side to side as he did so. "Never reasonable. That's probably why I was attracted to her in the first place."

 

"So why does she have it in for you now?" Latch asked. "You must have done something."

 

Jyot shrugged. "I just lost touch. I left the CEC, took a job in Bespin, and that's the last I ever heard of her." He let out a sigh. "Yeah, I meant to call her. But, you know how things go. You get a new job, you get busy, you're making new contacts...." He sighed. "But she never called me either," he added, wagging a defensive finger. "I mean, I wouldn't say we parted on 'bad' terms, but... well...." He rubbed his chin where Ali had hit him hours earlier. It still smarted.

 

He picked up his tool kit, intending to head to Arelyn's turret to finish the repairs. "She's already decked me once today, Latch. I'm staying well out of her way." He hit his comlink. "Ok, pilot," he said to Ali, deliberately remaining impersonal with her. "Engines are a go. Scimmy's all yours."

[Rogue Nine]

Latch chuckled again at his friend. This wasn't the first time Jyot had run into an old flame and gotten burned and he was pretty sure it wouldn't be the last. It was more amusing this time around, since Jyot and Ali would be in close proximity and would more than likely be forced to work with each other. Latch wondered how long it would take for Ali to deliver another beatdown on the womanizing engineer. "Alec's put you in a real pickle, hasn't he?" Latch remarked as Jyot was heading out.

 

"Tell me about it," the blonde Corellian muttered as he made his way down the corridor.

 

Latch shook his head, then jogged down the opposite corridor towards the front of the ship, making a beeline for the cockpit. Ali was in there, fiddling with the controls, adjusting them to her liking. Latch plopped himself down into the co-pilot seat and swiveled to face her. "I think we might've gotten off on the wrong foot," he told her, putting his hand out. "I'm Lachlan Vax, but call me 'Latch'."

[starmark2k]

((OCC- OK as we don’t want to do the whole journey as it’ll drag on I’m going to skip us forward a few hours. I’veput all owr characters around the dinner table as they are having a meal, hope no one minds.))

 

Alec sat in the common room with his crew around the dinner table, Stitcher had made the meal and served it up few minuets ago. The group were enjoying the food that had been bought on Nar Shaddaa as the crew had been on basic Rations for he past couple of weeks due to the cash flow problem.

 

Some how the conversation got cantered around Alec telling old stories about past bounties and some of Jyot’s more embarrassing moments with female crewmembers. He poured himself another glass of Corellian ale from the large bottle that kept getting passed around the table.

 

Alec was telling the story of his first Job of captain of the ship just after he employed Jyot, they had been hired to find a Twi’lek and bring him to Nar Shaddaa. The finding part on the job wasn’t difficult, it was the transportation as the Twi’lek weighed a colossal 400 stone.

 

“It took me, Jyot and for other guys to get him in the ship….” Alec told taking another sip of his drink. “…and that was just one of his Lekku.”

[JasraLantill]

Jyot absently rubbed his shoulder. "Yeah, I still remember that bounty.... You know, I had to construct a hydraulic sling out of towels, bedsheets, and use part of a speeder motor to lift that Twi'lek slug into a makeshift holding cell, which, incidentally, took up nearly half the cargo bay."

 

He frowned slightly, as he thought about their next job. "Suppose that's a good thing about our next quarry," he said. "Jedi are not usually overweight."

 

"No, they're extremely fit," Ali commented dryly. "And that's why they are so difficult to find and bring in."

 

Jyot flashed his ex a quick but wry grin. "Thanks for pointing that out, Ali. I would have never guessed that."

 

"Just trying to remind you of the dangers," Ali said, as she took a sip of her ale. "You're so reckless sometimes."

 

"Me?" Jyot said incredulously. "Reckless? Hey, need I remind you that I'm not the one who went and played 'Dodgem' in a band of meteors with her test ship and then tried to land with only half a forward stabliser?"

 

Ali stared at him. "I landed it though, didn't I?"

 

"That's not the point."

 

"That's entirely the point. Reckless is when you ignore the risks and consequences. Daring is when you know the risks and know how to deal with the consequences."

 

"Oh, so you're 'daring', and I'm 'reckless'?" He gave Ali a doubtful look, then turned to the rest of the crew. "Do you guys think I'm 'reckless'?"

[Rogue Nine]

Latch looked up from his dinner, stuffing a slice of vegetable into his mouth and being only partially successful in disguising his smile. "You?" he addressed Jyot. "Reckless?" A stifled snort. "Let's just say there's a reason we don't let you fly the ship."

[starmark2k]

“Of course you’re not reckless Jyot.” Alec said with a sarcastic grin. “It’s not like you put a sadistic trigger happy assassin droid’s brain inside a little recon droid… then gave it a tranquilliser dart launcher which it fired at you seconds after activation.”

 

Alec laughed as he remembered finding Jyot on the floor as the whole left half had become paralysed by Zip’s dart. “and you don’t recklessly seduce three sisters at the same time only to have them find out and chase you halfway across Cloud city.” Alec continued laughing at the expense of his first mate.

[Rogue Nine]

"To be fair, seducing those three sisters wasn't so much reckless as it was stupid, boss," Latch told Alec. "Though it's funny how often those two traits coincide."

[JasraLantill]

"Ha, ha." Jyot gave a deadpan look in Latch's direction, before grinning and pouring himself another ale. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," he said waving a dismissive hand. "I admit the tranq dart was a mistake on my part. It was supposed to be just saline in the dart for the test." He raised an eyebrow at Stitcher, who snickered softly at the silent accusation.

 

"Sorry, I just couldn't resist, Jyot. It was just too good of an opportunity to pass up."

 

Jyot merely gave the doc a friendly eyeroll. "Uh-huh...." He took a sip of ale. "Nevermind, I promised to get you back one day, and I will," he said, wagging a finger at the doctor. "Now, the three sisters thing..." He rubbed his chin. "Yeah, I admit that was probably both reckless and stupid." Jyot smiled, a cross between slightly embarrassed and definitely mischievous, and then he sighed reminiscently. "But, a blond, a brunette, and a redhead all in one day? Boy, that was...." He suddenly became aware that they were in mixed company, with Ali and Arelyn both giving him hard stares from across the table.

 

"Fun?" Ali offered.

 

"Erm... educational," Jyot settled on, trying his best to look believable. "One of them had a degree in Integrated Circuitry."

 

"Uh-huh." Ali crossed her arms over her chest. "And what did the other two have degrees in? Biology and Physical Therapy?"

 

Aerlyn grinned, while Jyot looked flustered.

 

"C'mon, Jay," Ali said. "It's me you're talking to. I know exactly what you look for first in a woman." Her eyes flicked down to her chest, and then she stared back at the engineer. "And it ain't her degrees."

 

Jyot's forehead wrinkled. "So, what, you're saying that my only concern is for the beauty of the physical female form and I can't appreciate personality or brains?"

 

Ali grinned. "I don't believe you can, no. In fact...." She exchanged a secretive look with Arelyn. "I'd bet you 500 credits that you couldn't go six weeks without 'appreciating' female physical forms."

 

Jyot raised his brow. "Oh, ho! You think I'll fall for that one, do you?" He eyed both Arelyn and Ali dubiously. "Get me to bet 500 creds and then the first time I even look at either of you, wham! You'll hit me up to collect." He shook his head, then took another sip of ale. "Even I'm not that stupid."

 

"Oh, we wouldn't count," Ali said, and Arelyn nodded in kind. "Only women other than the two of us would count. I mean," she again exchanged a knowing look with Arelyn, "we work with you. You see us everyday. It wouldn't be fair if we penalized you for looking at us, now would it?"

 

The corner of Jyot's mouth twisted a bit as he thought about the offer. They were on the way to an ice planet in the middle of nowhere to capture a Jedi. How many beautiful humanoid women could be on an ice planet in the middle of nowhere? One? Two, maybe? And wouldn't they be bundled up most of the time due to the cold? "Six weeks, huh?" he asked Ali. "And humanoids only, right? I mean, you're not going to try and trick me into giving a compliment to someone's pet kath hound or something, right?"

 

"Oh, no. Humanoids only." She paused a moment. "So that means, no ogling, no wry comments, no chatting up, and definitely no physical contact with any humanoid female." She grinned. "For six. Whole. Weeks."

 

"Make it six hundred credits total," Jyot offered. "Payable as one hundred credits per week."

 

It was Ali's turn to think. She whispered something in Arelyn's ear, to which Arelyn grinned, then nodded. Ali reached across the table, sticking out her hand for Jyot to shake. "Ok. Six hundred total, but payable as only two installments. Fail before three weeks, and we get the entire six hundred. Fail after three weeks, and we'll call it even. Stick it out for the whole six, and you'll get the second payment. Deal?"

 

Jyot sensed that there was something fishy about this deal, but.... "Ok, you're on." He shook Ali's hand. "Deal. No womanizing for six whole weeks. Starting today."

[Quist]

"I'm sure you'll manage quite admirably," Arelyn told Jyot. Her voice was level and sincere, but her eyes twinkled with barely concealed amusement. Having another woman on the ship was certainly turning out better than she had expected. Ali clearly knew how to press the lusty engineer's buttons.

 

She held out her hand for Jyot to shake as well, but as she gripped his, she squeezed tight and pulled him close. "Oh, and just because we don't count doesn't give you free rein to ogle us," she told him sweetly, her flashing blue eyes inches away from his own. "Got it, Tyrell?"

[JasraLantill]

"Ogling? Who's ogling?" Nevertheless, Jyot found Arelyn entrancing, especially having never been this close to her. He swallowed hard, and was about to make a remark to her, when a memory flickered across his mind. He looked at Latch askance. "Erm, Latch, you did say she broke some guy's arms for cutting in line at the med station, right?"

 

Latch nodded, and Jyot reassessed his situation.

 

"Yeah, okay, I'll do my best not to ogle," he said to Arelyn. Still he couldn't seem to help himself and his eyes flicked quickly downwards over her chest. Then he grinned sheepishly at Aerlyn. "Much." He held up his free hand in rapid surrender. "But before you pull my arm out of its socket, may I remind you that I still have some adjustments and repairs to do in your turret? It would be best to think about hurting me after I did the repairs."

[starmark2k]

The Scimitar flew over the icy plains of the backwater planet of Bryndar, the only two settlements were a small imperial Listening post and an old abandoned mining outpost that had been converted to a smuggling post. The Imperials were on the payroll of the Hutts to turn a blind eye to all that was happening on the planet.

 

As the ship approached the settlement it’s size showed how unimportant it was, two landing pads and four buildings is all that remained from the former mining station. The Scimitar didn’t even need landing clearance for a place like this as they rarely had one ship land here let alone more than two.

 

Not long after the touchdown the main airlock loading ramp began to lower and the whole crew stepped to together.

 

“I forgot how cold this place was.” Alec stated as he finished fastening the buttons on his jacket. “Spanner, Latch, Arelyn and myself are going to check out the Cantina, If Polcyc is anywhere he’ll be where the drink is.”

 

“Does that mean we can stay in the warn ship?” Ray Blink asked jogging on the spot to keep warn.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Thank the force, a Twi’lek could freeze their Lekku out here.” Ray exaggerated running back into the ship.

 

“Come on let’s move.” Alec said walking towards the cantina.

[ForceFightWMe12]

The news of any ship landing on the desolate planet always brought a flurry of activity and excitement. Since the ice age had taken hold of Bryndar, the planet had more or less turned into one big ball of ice, interrupted only by the small settlements that had become the equivalent of ghost towns over the years. Hardly any ships came by now-a-days, leaving what was left of the economy in a dead-end crawl. However, a new ship brought off-worlders - and off-worlders brought off-world credits. The minute the ship had been sighted, almost every merchant and business man's eyes lit up with dollar signs. Cha-ching.

 

Though the excitement wasn't evident on her face, Ellie could feel her heart quicken slightly as another swipe of hope took hold of her. This ship could be in need of a pilot, or...or...well, they could need something. She didn't care - she would be the ship's maid if it meant that she could get back to civilization without the aid of the scumbag Empire soldiers that were stationed at the outpost a few minutes' walk from her current position near the docks. She leaned against the wall, looking out on of the large, picture windows that looked out on both the ice land desolation and the two landing pads that were outside. The toothpick between her lips twitched slightly as she watched the crew disembark. There sure were a lot of them...but she wouldn't let that squash her hope. They would need someone, wouldn't they? Of course they would!

 

In order to get into the main settlement, Ellie was fully aware that they would have to pass through this very hallway - and she was currently debating whether or not she wanted to give them a chance to notice her as they passed, or if she should return to the settlement for a while and await them there. Perhaps in the cantina?

 

The toothpick swiveled again as her tongue moved against it, her lips readjusting around the wood as she watched the crew make their way up into the building. Decisions decisions.

[Rogue Nine]

Latch strode next to Jyot on the engineer's right as they all walked into the settlement. Arelyn flanked Jyot on the left, not too close, but enough to keep his head in her peripheral vision. She was on the lookout to try and catch Jyot with his 'wandering eyes' and Latch could tell that this made his friend a little uneasy. The dark-haired Corellian couldn't help feeling a little bit bad for his womanizing compatriot, but he also couldn't help but be amused at Jyot's predicament.

 

Following Alec into the cantina, the three of them made their way towards the bar where Latch ordered up a round of Corellian whiskey for all of them. As Jyot took his glass, he looked over at Latch and whispered, "Why so generous all of a sudden?"

 

Latch smirked and tossed his hair back. "Someone's got to cut you some slack," he responded with a quick glance at Arelyn.

 

Jyot nodded as he could feel the Mistryl's eyes boring into the back of his head. "Truer words never spoken," he muttered as he downed his whiskey.

[Grace]

Ali stared at Jyot for a moment before going over to Alec.

 

"I thought I could do this," she told him quietly. "I didn't think being around Jyot would be a problem. It's not working. Sorry for the short notice, but I'm only staying on until you can get another pilot... and it better be damn soon."

[Corinthian]

Kadis' endless stream of expletives was interrupted by a beeping from the sensors. Something with a fusion reactor was coming from orbit, he could see the blip on long-range sensors.

 

"A ship..."

 

He could finally get off this wretched hellhole. The ships hull had been buckling over the past few days, and his scavenged cold-weather gear would only last for so long. They had a speeder in the cargo hold, too. Time to get out of here.

 

He grabbed some food and other supplies, hauling the dead captain's blaster out of it's holster and shoving it under his appropriated coat. He shrugged.

 

"Sorry, boss."

 

No sense hanging around here. I need to get out of here or I'm gonna lose it. Kadis opened the door to the cargo hold, hissing curses as the icy air hit him. This was where the brunt of the impact had taken place. He pulled his coat up and wrapped a scarf over his mouth, covering the thermal breather. It was lucky they had been shipping cold weather gear, too. He switched the speeder bike on and began mumbling quiet prayers to anything that might be listening that it would start.

[Writer]

"A new ship landed today," the girl said impatiently. Her brother rolled over with a grunt.

 

"So?" he mumbled, only half coherent. He'd been sleeping and though he loved his sister dearly, he wasn't entirely pleased to be roused from dreamland.

 

"A new ship, Cole," Raelyn Lark answered, bouncing impatiently on her brother's bed. The information more than the bouncing was what finally woke Colin up.

 

"New?" he exclaimed, bolting upright. "Not been here before? Go scout! Tell me who they are and what they do. I'll be along in a minute."

 

Raelyn grinned eagerly and bounded away to do as her brother had ordered. For his part, Colin was hurrying to get dressed also. Maybe they could finally get off this hell-hole.

[ForceFightWMe12]

Alright, so maybe face-to-face meetings weren't exactly her thing - especially when she had no other reason to be there in that hallway than her desperate hope that maybe this new ship could get her off this damnable backwater planet. Being desperate was not a good way to get a position on the crew - and showing just how desperate she was would only put her in a position that she really didn't want to be in.

 

As such, Ellie had disappeared from the hallway by the time the crew came by, slipping away into the dimly lit cantina that bordered the docking area. The place wasn't exactly active, but it was far from sleepy. Half of those that still worked in the mine, salvaging whatever they could from the planet's core and the deserted buildings and stations that were left beneath the surface, were currently mingling in soft tones at the various table, one or two waitresses sprinkling themselves around the place. Knowing that no ship's crew immediately ordered a table, she took a seat at the bar and ordered herself a martini to wait.

 

Soon enough, she was rewarded. The group that had disembarked the freighter filed into the cantina, taking up spots at the bar. One of the men hardly seemed to notice that he took a seat only one over from where she was sitting, but she would change that.

 

"Offworlders, huh?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked at him. "We don't get too many of those around here."

[starmark2k]

Alec took the whiskey from the bar and took it all in his mouth in one go, his face began to look like hehad justsuckedon the bitter Nula fruit of Naboo and spat the liquid back into glass.

 

“How can an alcoholic beverage in this cold whether go off?” Alec asked as he sat at the bar. “Got any corellian ale in a bottle?”

 

The bartender brought the bottle over and placed it on the bar surface in front of Alec as he looked around the room. As expected there was virtually no one there save for a couple of waitresses and a small group of spacers gambling their sad lives away.

 

"Offworlders, huh?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked at him. "We don't get too many of those around here."

 

Tannis turned his head and noticed another women in the room speaking to him, his first thought was ‘Spanner is going to lose his bet’ as he noticed she was quite young and attractive, Jyot’s type… well one of them.

 

“I thought everyone on the ice ball was an offworlder.” Alec replied taking a gulp of his ale. “Only two kinds of people on a place like this; people who are hiding and people who are stranded.”

[ForceFightWMe12]

A faint, wry smile came to her lips as the man turned and spoke, moving her shoulders in a small shrug. She looked at him as she took a quick drink of her martini, her green eyes - almost catlike in their appearance - flicked from his face to the bottle of ale he had ordered, and back to him again. Corellian, huh? This guy took his liquor seriously.

 

"Eh, true." she conceded, "But even so...most of us have been stuck here for such a long time, we don't even bother to distinguish who was really born here and who just happened in, hoping to make a fortune in the mines. Obviously..." she cast a sweeping glance around the cantina, "Not many of us are exactly living on fortunes."

[starmark2k]

Alec chuckled at the comment made by the young women and took another gulp of his drink. "I guess you guys are looking for money and would risk alot to get some."

 

"From what i hear most of you guys got killed out in the icy weilderness a few weeks back." Alec turning his body to face the women and look her in the eyes. "Heard they went after a Jedi, that's why we're here, don't suppose you've seen an Abyssian by the name of Polcyc around or anything about this Jedi?"

[JasraLantill]

His whiskey done, Jyot had ordered a round of ales and as Alec chatted to the female at the end of the bar, Jyot kept his eyes on his drink. Finally, though, he nudged Latch with his elbow. "So?"

 

Latch grinned at his friend. Jyot had demonstrated an incredible amount of control (for him) up to this point by not looking at the clearly attractive female talking to Alec at the end of the bar. Of course, Arelyn being so close probably put the pressure on him a bit more, but Latch couldn't help by admire Jyot's resolve. That didn't mean he was going to make it easy for his fellow Corellian, however. "Why don't you look for yourself?" he replied, hiding his lips behind his glass of whiskey.

 

"What, you think I'm that I'm that much of a bantha brain that I'd....?" he started to say to his friend. Then realizing that Latch was playing with him, Jyot gave his friend a derogatory frown and added, "Oh, you really are a son of a murglak, you know?" He took a sip of ale. "Just tell me," he whispered, "is... is she pretty?"

 

"Oh, I don't know if she's your type," Latch said, masking the glee in his voice. "But let me tell you, I know I'm enjoying the view."

 

Jyot groaned. "Aw...." He took a long swig of ale this time. "Long or short hair?"

 

"Short," Latch informed him. "With bangs that fall into her eyes, just the way you like."

 

Another disappointed groan from Jyot, and a self-satisfying sigh from Arelyn, who was leaning in closer to listen in. "Blonde, brunette or redhead?"

 

Latch put a finger to his lips in thought. "Hmm, light brownish, like ryshcate," he declared after a few seconds' deliberation.

 

Jyot bit his lip, and a whimper almost escaped his lips. He wanted to look so very badly, to take it all in. "Oh, you really are a mean little mudcrutch, aren't you? Do you have to be so descriptive?"

 

"Well fine, if you don't like the way I describe her," Latch huffed, acting affronted. He glanced down at Arelyn and caught her gaze. "Help me out here, Arelyn. What do you think?"

[Corinthian]

Kadis had never been a lucky man. But some unlucky men just lose their money in casinos. When Kadis walks into casinos, it means there's a bomb under the Sabacc table.

 

The speeder bike had apparently gotten cannibalized without his knowledge at some point. Great. Black smoke was pouring out of the repulsorlifts and covering him. The speeder sounded like it was choking on it's own radiator fluid, and it was definitely slowing, two hundred clicks from the settlement.

 

Always look on the bright side of life, Kadis.

 

A lesson his grandma had drilled into him. He rolled his eyes. On the bright side, he hadn't died instantly in the crash, and all this smoke around him maybe would rise high enough to be seen from the settlement. Other than that, he wasn't being chased by Cyborrean Battle Dogs or a platoon of Battle Droids.

 

The speeder died.

 

And it looks like I'm going to be getting some exercise, too.

 

He dismounted the bike and started walking, holding his datapad in front of him. The ship was transmitting it's sensor readings to it, allowing him to track the ship, hopefully to the settlement where he could negotiate passage off this rock...

 

Kadis patted his blaster. One way, or another.

[Writer]

Raelyn entered the cantina mere seconds after the crew of the new ship. She fell back a little and moved aside to a small booth at the back of the room. There, she could still see all the crew of the... she paused and angled her head. "Scimitar?" she asked softly. At that moment, Colin entered, paused, and located his sister.

 

"Give me details," he prompted, sliding into the booth across the table from her.

 

"Black Hair McDark-Eye there's the captain," Raelyn answered, nodding toward Alec. "Captain feel just sorta radiates off him. Blondie-Boy who's looking down and not at the pretty girls is mechanic and first mate. Sittin' next to him, head long hair brown..." She frowned. "That didn't come out right..." A shrug. "Brown hair, long head... long brown hair he... no head..."

 

"Yes?" Colin urged.

 

"Right," Raelyn agreed, snapping out of her wordfest. "Turret gunner number one and on the other side of him, pretty girl amused with Blondie Boy's determination not to look at all the pretty girls... that's turret gunner number two."

 

"And the girl talking to the captain?" Colin wondered.

 

"Wants to get off Bryndar as bad as we do," Raelyn finished. "I'd have picked up more if you hadn't been so fast... ship's called the Scimitar..." She let her words trail off. Then, she muttered a few rather colorful strings of words.

 

"Rae, what is it?" Colin demanded urgently. Raelyn shuddered ever so slightly.

 

"Cole, they're bounty hunters," she whispered. Colin nodded, seeming to take the information at face value, as the new crew's occupation and nothing more.

 

"I'm going to talk to him," Colin said finally. He stood and approached Alec, and Raelyn followed.

 

"Excuse us, Captain," Colin said. "We're looking for a ship to take us off Bryndar. So long as we don't end on an even more backwater planet, we don't particularly care as to the destination." As if sensing a moment's hesitation coming, Raelyn tapped her brother's shoulder and whispered in his ear.

 

"Payment is not an issue," Colin added.

[starmark2k]

“My ship isn’t a passenger liner, we’re here for a job and once that’s done our ship will be full and not a safe place for you and your friend there.” Alec replied to the man referring to the women behind him.

 

"Payment is not an issue."

 

“No, it really isn’t . There is no amount of scratch you can offer that will change my mind.” Alec added. “We’re here to bring in that Jedi and nothing more!”

[Writer]

Colin didn't even flinch. "Everyone's got a price at which they'll do anything," he said coolly. "What's yours?"

 

Raelyn seemed to be focusing intently on Alec's forehead. In the back of her mind, she heard, Find me the Jedi...

 

"I could find your Jedi, Captain," she announced boldly. She cocked her head to one side and added with unreserved confidence, "That's what you want."