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[:: The Noreaster | Cargo Bay ::]

“Wicked...”

The hushed comment slipped through his dark cobalt lips as as slight smirk creased, even though he assumed he had been thinking the word. Funny how the mind words, not that Sai’rys put much stock in the psychological aspects of life, but he also didn’t vocalize his concerns much these days on account of not having much to say. Essentially, he always found it safer to keep his source code hidden from prying eyes, and while he wasn’t much drawn into situations such as what was presenting itself ahead of him, he figured what the hell. The initial darkness of the cargo bay honestly didn’t bother him much, in fact, he preferred low-light conditions as his eyes were significantly more sensitive to certain light exposure, especially the artificial bulbs used in many ships. Naturally, Chiss could see, on average, about twice as far as a human in little to no light, however, over the years, his own vision has increased significantly in darker areas. Perhaps years of adapting to dimmer conditions? Who knows, but the fact of the matter was that he could probably find the swi-

Damn.

Too late. One of the other’s -”Sena”, if he recalled correctly- skipped on by as casual as one could to switch the bay’s lighting system on, immediately illuminating the entire room and causing the Chiss to cringe a bit as his eyes needed to adjust once again. Without saying a word, he simply nodded in the other’s direction as she headed toward where the target of everyone’s attention had been placed. Stowaways. Although, it was no surprise that the mention of a “lightsaber” piqued the attention of Airus.

Sai’rys noticed a few of the other crew members as well, but he decided to hang in the background a little, not wanting to really bring attention to himself, or perhaps targeted by the crimson colored Twi’lek who appears she could most likely slice the Chiss into several bytes of data. Either way, there were plenty of able-bodied fighters aboard the ship willing to lob a head off to protect what they have, and -hopefully- to protect the crew of the Noreaster. For Sai’rys’ part, he certainly wasn’t brought on board for any real combat abilities, but rather, relying on a slicer and holoforger’s skill to clear a way, or make everyone else’s job that much easier. Oddly enough though, in that moment where he stood, the Chiss also wondered how such a breach of security could have taken place? Were they able to cloak their whereabouts with such ease that any attempts at Sai’rys upgrading the system during the first week were circumvented by them? Had they been on the whole time? He scratched his dark hair, as he once again stared across the room at the infiltrators, cursing under his breath in Huttese.

It was at that moment, he knew the Noreaster needed a much larger upgrade than before, closing any system and data loopholes, and running more daily penetration tests. But the tech he had wasn’t good enough for a ship of this size, as longer-ranged sensors would need to be added within the ships mainframe, scanners that could trace even the slightest of biological discrepancies. Sai’rys rubbed his chin, his mind jumping to lightspeed as the massive calculations invaded just about any other thought process at that point. And then, a momentary halt as silence followed…

Could the “datacube” be the answer?

There were so many undiscovered aspects of that alien tech, and yet, it had more information about a great many things than the Chiss had seen in a long time. How could such a small device boast such great knowledge?

The voices of the others ahead of him slowly brought Sai’rys back to the present, as he leaned against one of the cargo stacks, curious as to who these newcomers were.

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The Noreaster | Cargo Bay

Kadroo technically was not a stowaway... technically. He'd just happened to wander onto the ship. Though, it wasn't as if Kadroo really had a concept of what a "stowaway" was, his species hadn't even invented specialized labor yet. So it was that Kadroo wandered onto the deck of the Noreaster, his little spear held tightly in his hands as he waddled down the corridor. He curiously examined the vessel of the spirits, occassionally stopping in the hallway to poke or prod at something or another, usually the panels on the wall that held brightly colored, sometimes flashing, little buttons and lights. Occasionally, he'd mutter something to himself in ewokese, but all in all, it was a pretty uneventful exploration, until he reached the elevator that was.

Kadroo approached the elevator and looked at the panel that held two buttons, one for up and another for down, and then looked up to see the seven lights atop the doorway. The door itself, was made of the same hard stone material that the others were so fond of. Kadroo wondered momentarily why it was the spirits had not brought them the hard stone, but then he remembered he, unliked his kinsmen, had ascended to the realm of the spirits. What would make sense to him as a mortal may not hold up in the realm of the spirits. He picked up the butt end of his spear and poked at the panel with the two buttons, and poked one with the end of it. To his surprise, the button lit up, and Kadroo jumped back, muttering a few curses that the elder ewoks might not have heard before.

Not soon after, the doors opened, considerably less surprising since it was sort of slow, and Kadroo was allowed to board the elevator. Since he was unfamiliar with the concept of the elevator, he went ahead and mashed the buttons on the panel of the interior, delighted with his new ability to poke things that would light up. He squeaked in surprise and mutterred a few more ewokese curses when the metal doors closed and he was brought down in the elevator. When the doors opened again Kadroo scuttled out, muttering to himself in his native language about his luck that the spirits had released him from the hardstone beast inside their ship. He wondered how they had tamed such a thing. Then he toddled off down the deck of the ship to explore some more.

It was several minutes into this journey on a new deck of the Spirit's vessel that Kadroo realized he was hungry. His stomach gurgled for food, and Kadroo reached to the side of his belt where his food bag would have typically been. It was empty though, one of the few things the spirits had taken from his person. So now he'd have to seek out the spirits and offer up some sort of sacrifice for food he figured, perhaps there were some onboard the Spirit's vessel? Kadroo went down the hallway he was in, poking at the panels that seemed to open the hard metal rectangles and looking into the room for spirits, then moving on if he didn't find one. He did this, finding a few empty rooms, until he reached what everyone else knew as the cargo bay. He entered into it and followed the sound of the gibberish that the spirits spoke down a few short alleys of crates, until he was approaching the small group. Politely, Kadroo halted and planted his spear with a small thud, waiting for the spirits to take notice of him. If he was lucky they would, and if he wasn't? Well, he'd have to find a new place to get food he supposed.

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Big. The word seemed to echo in Kabal's mind as he was, indeed, contemplating how to kill such a beast as Viron Jek. The short answer was explosives. It was a relative comparison: the bigger the bad guy, the more bombs you needed. But for Jek, who seemed the size of two men stacked on top each other, well...that'd require a lot of explosives, more than Kabal had on-hand. Solace asserted that no matter how big a threat Jek was, literally or metaphorically, his sights were set on the Empire, not on them.

Kabal inwardly scoffed at mention of the Empire. His relationship with the autocratic regime had somewhat strained in recent months, no doubt due to the nasty business back on Mos Eisley on what-would-be his first day as a Gray Mariner. To any who asked, the finer details of that day escaped him, but Kabal remembered them clear-as-crystal. He did not act without incentive, he assured himself; the Empire would find no groveling wretch in him or any Ubese. Indeed, nearly everyone aboard the Noreaster had slighted the Empire in some way or another; what made Jek so special for it?

"Get what is coming. Bigger man, harder fall." Kabal responded, butchering the old adage. It was uncertain whether his tone relayed one of confidence or simple observance of the fact. Perhaps there was a nugget of wisdom in the plainness of his words: Reavers and pirate lords going all the way back to the Old Republic had their day in the limelight, some lasting months, years, decades even. But as always, someone stronger, tougher, or just plain luckier came along and took their place.

He was about to suggest 'acquiring' an E-Web to deal with Jek when Solace stopped almost mid-sentence to respond to a buzz in her communicator. Kabal was puzzled: his helmet had a built-in comlink tuned to the Noreaster's frequency. If Piff had chewed on it again, so help him...there wouldn't be any atomic trace of Gizka left to find.

Kabal, of course, kept those thoughts to himself. Solace (and especially Requiem's) attachment to the Admiral was nothing short of baffling, which only further exacerbated Kabal's hatred for it. Sadly, the rest of the crew did not seem to share his opinion. Clu, in particular, didn't take too well to finding Kabal in his quarters under cover of darkness attempting to tamper with B-22's targeting system.

It was a ceaseless frustration, an almost perpetual miscommunication between himself and the rest of the crew. They didn't understand him or his customs, and he didn't understand them or their rituals. Even after a year, there was only the resigned acceptance that Kabal's eccentricity was a part of his nature. It was the wisdom of old spacefarers that said your crew was your family. But Kabal had a family once, now no more. What did that make the Gray Mariners?

Unwilling to answer his own question, Solace's part in a one-sided conversation with Sable brought Kabal's wayward mind back to the present. 'Subdue', 'restrain', 'negotiate a travel arrangement', the whole thing screamed 'stowaway'. Probably some alien filth trying to mooch a free ride off port. Solace didn't have to volunteer, Kabal would kill the stowaway, himself the moment he caught sight of them. There was room for only one pest onboard, and that pest was protected. That was the one thing Kabal and Five-Toes could find common ground in, albeit for different reasons. It was perhaps ironic that the only thing the two of them could agree on was what they hated more than each other.

"Stowaway like spider-roaches, best dealt with flamethrower." The metallic edge of his voice carried the slightest hint of glee at the prospect. Of all Kabal's vast and highly-illegal weaponry, his wrist-mounted flamethrower held a special place in his heart. Truth was, there really was no appropriate time to use a flamethrower, but Kabal countered that there really was no appropriate time to not use a flamethrower.

"What next move?" He asked on a final note, tensing his muscles in preparation to stand at a moment's notice. He had been itching for a bit of combat since their last mission, and to be reunited with all his gear back on the ship was an all-too-tempting idea.

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A throbbing headache began to form right along her temples. First it was this whole business with some edgelord reaver who probably didn't even know they existed, then a stowaway and now her sister seemed to take it upon herself to be the official welcoming committee. She could practically feel the enthusiasm from her other half across the spaceport, in fact she literally did. Their bond transcended all other definitions of such, allowing them to know each other's thoughts, share memories and to feel what the other was feeling as things were happening around them. So it was that Solace could feel her sister's unbridled joy at greeting the stowaway, thinking her just a new friend or possible crew-member, without even once thinking that perhaps this person could be dangerous. While she could do little from the cantina except put fingers to her temples to try and dissuade the throbbing pain, one of the things she could do was cull an image of what the girl looked like through her sister's memories.

"Clu." She cut through the idle conversation of the rest of the crew around her, ignoring the gamorrean bouncer attempting to talk down to that K6 droid for killing what was presumably his crew, and the short squeal that announced that the giant pig-men did have some softer bits. A short crump followed and it seemed that was the end of that particular mess, as no one wanted to mess with the droid after that.

"Let me see your datapad, I'm going to upload an image from my cybernetics." A moment to wait for him to comply, her hand sliding along the skin of her face to behind her ear, wincing as she pulled a thin wire from her skull and offered it over to him. In the meantime, Kabal was more focused on their adversary that most of them would prefer not be their adversary. He had the right idea though, as it seemed that one of the few things they agreed on was a singular principle and why she had brought the strange little creature onto her crew to begin with. "That's right Kabal. There is no problem that cannot be solved through the appropriate application of high explosive."

"Our stowaway problem is being handled, but while we're on the subject I think we could take the opportunity to not only look at some potential crew…" A look in the direction of the K6 Enforcer Droid showed clearly that it was of interest to her, and a few others in the cantina caught her attention as well, including a red-head that seemed to have gotten herself into a little more than she could handle with Natasha. "But to also acquire some specialist ordnance. Take these credits and see about gathering up something suitable. I think I heard something about some Gand in the green ring that have a baradium fission device or three."

Solace slid some of the company's credits towards Kabal and assumed he would take to the task with glee. It wasn't too often that she let him off the leash and with specific instructions to get the good stuff. Hopefully he would be too distracted with the idea of acquiring something exceptionally deadly and illegal that he wouldn't be torching the ship anytime soon in the pursuit of Piff or the latest stowaway…

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Sena on the other hand, was less than worried. Sure, everyone around her seemed to be on high alert and none too pleased with her assistance, but it would all be okay in the end. Both stowaways seemed quite enthusiastic, the smaller droid chirping out all sorts of pleasant messages that prompted her to take a step closer in order to more fully inspect it. Lingering traces of others swirled around it in the form of an aura of past owners, her force-senses picking up something familiar to it but not quite able to place it as of yet… Deeper down she knew what it was, a tilt of her head towards Airus wondering if he could see it as well but he seemed a little distracted in actually doing what Verra had asked of him.

"Nice to meet you Brin!" She repeated back to Brin, a broad smile as a hand came up to hold onto her braided hair and the woman swayed a little back and forth. It would be hard for the more organic members of the crew to ignore the gentle waves of enthusiasm radiating from her, calm washing over them from her innate presence in the force and her desire for everyone to get along regardless of the circumstances. "It's okay, Airus is nice and your stuff will be safe with Sir Elbas. We just want to talk with you a bit first and get to know you~" And then, just as suddenly as she had arrived, another entered. Time would feel as if it was slowing down as her head turned to regard the soft thump that announced the latest unwanted visitor to their ship and while the others might take to the blaster first or try to stop her from what they knew she was about to do, it was already too late.

Soft fur, beady eyes, those fluffy ears… A gentle tremor ran along her body as she saw the creature and almost immediately the force acted as she instinctively used her ability to calm creatures on it and took those few steps to close the distance. Of course she couldn't know that this was in fact a sentient creature, that it was not some kind of over-sized plush or a miniature wookie. No, while the crew saw the ewok for what it was all she could think of was how soft it appeared to her in the force, and how she had the overwhelming urge to pick it up. And that is exactly what she did. All the words of warning in the galaxy couldn't have stopped her as she came right up to the little creature and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him tight against her chest and squeezing him with all the joy of a small child being gifted a life-size plush.

"Fluffy!" And with that exclamation of joy, everyone around would know that unfortunately, the ewok was untouchable. Everything that Sena picked up and took a liking to got that way. Her sister was ever so clear about it, explaining that the last thing anyone wanted was to upset her, because primarily that would upset her as well, but also that bringing the poor girl to tears would end badly for everyone involved. It wasn't her fault of course, clutching the ewok despite whatever flailing he might offer or the protests in a language that she couldn't understand, but would start to decipher soon enough. A thin barrier would flare slightly with the creature's presence so close, a sign that while she may be exceptionally excitable and prone to acting on instinct, there was still some presence of mind deep down that ensured the fragile woman was protected.

When the girl agreed Airus relaxed however at her insult and noting her movements he lifted his heavy Bes'kar staff and thumped it against the hull of the ship. "Gedet'ye, gev."(Please, stop it.) He spoke Mando'a with not even a hint of an accent, he knew the language well thanks to his time spent among the people. Yet he froze a moment when he heard the familiar beeping from the little droid, it made no sense in binary but they were the first few notes to the Republic national anthem, All Stars Burn As One. "Your droid... Seems to be an old friend of mine, a fellow veteran, both of you come along for tea then." He gave a smile to the little astromech a friendly wave to boot.

As Airus stepped back, offering the weapons taken from the Twi'lek girl to Sable he caught sight of something strange... Small but equally confusing appearing more like a Wookie child than anything he recognized. In an instant, Sena was upon the creature hugging it tightly as Airus gave a chuckle. "Well I suppose we will have to wait on Sena joining us Vasani'Brinme, she'll want to greet her new friend for a bit. Sable? Would you make sure Sena is alright while I take our guest, Vasani'Brinme, to the conference room until Sena's sister gets back to discuss what to do with our stowaway?" The doctor gave a chuckle as he slowly stood up straight backing away a moment he turned towards turbo lift and started to walk towards it, stopping by the doorway to wait for Brin.

By all appearances Airus wore bandages over his eyes on his hands, he spoke well and calm even in a situation where emotions would run high. He appeared as an old doctor hiding his face and body due to war ravaging his body it was said that the Confederacy of Independent Systems forces used horrifying weapons and murdered indiscriminately even medical personnel of the Republic. He knew the young Twi'lek's droid which would suggest he was older than her by enough to have served in the Clone Wars. He was force sensitive she knew that much and that could make him something more than the sum of his parts might suggest.

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The twi'lek quietly stood and followed after the seemingly old man, wondering how he knew mando'a. He most certainly did not come across to the girl as a Mandalorian. Things seemed to only get more strange as he mentioned to her about the little droid that traveled with her being an old friend. Along with that, the droid who had found her was telling her to put a muzzle on Sparky. A sense of... disdain in his voice striking the twi'lek as odd. Droid were even capable of racism? Whoever programmed this droid originally certainly had some interesting thoughts about how to have their droid act towards other droids. Then her attention was suddenly drawn by the sound of somebody calling out 'fluffy'! Spinning towards the sound she saw Sena picking up and hugging what the twi'lek could only call a walking teddy bear. The expression on the teddy bear's fluffy little features only looked what she could call completey confused.

This ship seemed to only get stranger by the second, with the two force sensitives and the teddy bear walking around. Not to mention the massive amount of strange others, and the old man's desire to call her by her full name every single time. A bit irritating to the girl, who decided to speak up about the topic. "Oh, uh. Everybody I know calls me Brin. Its less of a mouthful than my full name, sir." Brin added politely, looking at the man then towards her droid as she wondered what exactly this man did. She knew that Sparky was the model of droid that saw fighter combat, but was he owned by a clone or a jedi? To be fair... the man was force sensitive. This ship only got stranger by the second, and Brin was wondering if she had really made the smart deicsion to stowaway on this ship. With her luck, she was expecting to walk into a room here and find a fatass trandoshan and she was fairly certain that species couldn't even get fat.

As it seemed like everybody was not really paying attention, Brin quickly reached over and tapped a single button on the side of her PAC 200. One she had previously set up a command for beforehand, as the device sent a message towards her partner-in-crime. Any moment now, Dak's commlink would be recieving a distress signal with Brin's location attached. A plan she had thought up, knowing the large man would likely be more than willing to come save her. With that done, she deicded it best to learn what she could about the people who currently had her on their ship. Seeing as information was her greatest allies nowadays. "So... you're one of those old monks or whatever. Jedi, or something? They supposedly served in the clone wars, and you know a clone wars era droid. Not to mention I know you're force sensitive. So why are you hiding out on this ship?" She asked quickly, taking a stab in the dark with what seemed most likely and wanting to catch the man off guard.

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Natasha would nod slightly as she slowly seemed to back off just barely as she gave a smile. Bringing her hands to her collar she would let her jacket fall from her shoulders, taking it off so that now all that she had on was a very tight black shirt that stopped right above her abdomen; with thin straps keeping the shirt together.

“I see. Well I can’t say i’ve met you before, Allison, I guess you just have one of those faces. The names Natasha, Natasha Dubrovnik: I live on my own terms and my own rules, well….” she would stop as she lifted the glass up that had been ordered and slammed back the alcohol.

“For the most part at least, I do have to hang with that small group over there.” she would motion to the group of beings sitting at a table in the cantina. “I guess you could say one of them is my ‘boss’; but she really just picks up anyone who asks it seems.” Pausing, Natasha looked up and down Skylar, some of her pheromones seeming to come out while she wasn’t paying attention. “It’s too bad we don’t have someone like you though.” biting her lip she would lean forward, “You are quite…..something I don’t see often.”

Skylar let out a soft sigh in relief as the woman slowly started to back off, taking comfort in the space she had regained no matter how little it was. Her eyes lingered for a moment on the Zeltron as she started to take her jacket off before quickly averting them to her drink instead. ”I guess so… Well, it wouldn’t be the first time someone has said that to me.” She replied, taking a swig of her own drink and finishing it off before taking the drink that was ordered for her in hand.

Skylar looks over at the small group that the woman gestured to, looking them over quickly before finally looking back to the Zeltron herself. The Kuati took a moment to choose her words carefully, though she’d take longer than she’d like as something seemed to wash over her. Skylar bit her lip, crossing her legs as she felt an odd tingling feeling wash over her, one that usually was for a more… private and intimate setting. Skylar leaned back once more as the other woman began to close the distance between them, the pilot’s cheeks starting to flush towards a visible shade of pink.

”I-I see… umm… Thanks. Maybe you can put in a good word for me? I’ve been looking for a crew to join. Otherwise, maybe you can tell me about a group called the Gray Mariners? I’ve heard about them from others I’ve worked with and they sound like a decent fit for me.” Skylar asked, composing herself somewhat before trying to redirect the conversation and take control of the situation. Well, at least to try and feel like she had control anyway.

Natasha would grin as she saw the woman squirming slightly. Looking towards the bartender, she would hold up another two fingers as she reached into the bag with her other hand taking more credits out and dropping them on the counter. Looking back at Skylar she would grin, something about this, it seemed fun… It brought back some old feelings of adventure and excitement.

“Well dear, I have a couple things to tell you; first is.” her hand would move to Skylar’s shoulder as it gently set down on it; “Just, relax.” She seemed to make the final word drawn out and it was almost hypnotizing. It would feel as if she was insisting into Skylar’s brain to relax herself. Her other hand grabbing the next drink that dropped down in front of her, Natasha would grab it and this time just sipping on the glass. Putting it down on the countertop, she would let her hair fall over half her face as she looked down. Her eyes however would remain on Skyler as she moved forward.

“I have another secret for you dear.” She’d move right next to Skylar’s ear with her lips as she gently and quietly spoke, the pheromones releasing off of her as she did: “We are the Gray Mariners. Would you like to see the ship?”

Skylar watched Natasha ordered a couple more drinks, not having even finished the first one that was gifted to her. She looked to the woman curiously, seeing her grin only made her brow quirk in question before looking back to the drink she was thumbing as the woman began to speak again. The Kuati couldn’t help but jump slightly as she felt a hand on her shoulder, quickly turning to face Natasha. As the woman spoke though, Skylar felt a strange sense of relaxation wash over her, even though she felt something was off about this woman.

”Yeah… Yeah, maybe I should, after all, there is a festival going on right?” Skylar replied with a small smile to the woman, her cheeks a light pink in color while her body visibly relaxed. After simply just holding on to the drink she was offered, Skylar finally began to nurse it as she listened to Natasha. When the woman moved forward again, Skylar didn’t bother to move back, instead, letting the woman close the distance between them. A shiver went down the Kuati’s spine as the Zeltron whispered into her ear before her eyes grew wide when she processed what the woman said.

”Y-You’re the Gray Mariners? Well, so much for me making a good first impression then... “ Skylar replied with a nervous giggle, her cheeks now a deeper shade of red from both the pheromones she was unknowingly being subjected to and from the recent close proximity she had with the woman. ”I umm… My name is actually Skylar. Skylar Fosslan. You kind of freaked me out at first so I ended up giving you a different name… Sorry haha.” Skylar then downed the rest of her drink before starting to nurse the next one, tracing her thumb around the rim of the glass. ”As for a little tour of the ship… well, I wouldn’t mind if you’d still have me.”

Natasha’s brain seemed to send off a bit of a signal at the name of Skylar Fosslan, she knew that name… she knew that face.. That’s when it hit her, she had seen this woman on posters at some of her associate’s ships. This woman was wanted. If Skylar could see inside Natasha’s head she would be seeing a much different grin than what was currently being shown.

Natasha was still so close to her as she spoke, her free hand picking up the glass as she took a sip of it again. This time letting a small noise of enjoyment leave her throat before looking back to Skylar. “My, oh my. You lied to me.” she would begin to tease speaking gently into Skylar’s ear, “I mean, can I trust you now though? Am I able to truly… truly, trust you to board the ship and..” she would take a short breath right before she spoke into Skylar’s ear again, “And see everything?.” Natasha was absolutely dominating Skylar’s space now as she spoke.

“Why you were so worried, I don’t know, my dear. But I can give everyone another chance: but it’s like you said. We are at a festival you need to just relax.” Once again the final word seemed to have something else behind it that would push itself out as she said it. Natasha’s hand would leave the glass and try to place itself on Skylar’s leg. “Come on, let’s go back to the ship.” She would begin to stand up but she would be pressing her body now slightly against skylar as she put her jacket on and grabbed the bag of credits, waiting to see what Skylar did.

Skylar’s cheeks were quite red as she downed another drink, eyes flicking between Natasha and her now empty glass as the woman remained close to her. The Kuati looked off to the side bashfully as the Zeltron teased her, one of her hands going to the back of her neck as she gave a little smile. She was thinking of a response, only to be left hanging on every last word that Natasha spoke. Her cheeks would now be a deep shade of red as she bit her lip, heart racing from this… predator, taking her space. “W-Well um… N-Normally I’m pretty trustworthy, I like to stay on the good side of whatever moral spectrum we have left but um… Well, when I’m greeted like how you did earlier… I uh, I’m just not used to it, so I was a bit on edge.” She replied with a soft chuckle.

Once again, another wave of relaxation made it through Skylar as Natasha spoke, the former not really minding it and figuring the alcohol was finally taking an effect on her. ”Mm… Thanks, and yeah, I think I’m finally starting to loosen up a bit.” She gave a little smile before jumping a little in surprise as Natasha’s hand was placed on her leg. The pilot simply just giggled it off and left the woman’s hand there, even feeling a little bold, thanks to the alcohol, and placing her hand on top of the Zeltron’s.

Skylar nodded to the woman and slowly stood up with her, biting her lip a bit harder than before as Natasha pressed up against her. After taking a moment to collect herself, the pilot then picked up her pack and the rest of her things. She checked around once more to make sure she got everything before looking up to Natasha and smiling, a silent single that she was ready to go.

Natasha would take Skylar by the hand a grin on her face as she began to walk out the door to lead Skylar, only to stop right before to look at Solace with a grin, “This one is coming back with me.” A wink showing from her at Solace before a chuckle, an almost not so kind type of chuckle; but a chuckle nonetheless. She would begin to walk back to the door with all of her things in one hand but pulling Skylar with her other.

They would head out the door as Natasha walked swiftly towards the ship; as long as Skylar was following Natasha would speak with her, “The ship is great, don’t even worry though, everyone is… somewhat nice. ” She’d shrug at the words turning to make sure Skylar was feeling okay. “But don’t even worry… just… relax.” she’d say calmly as she moved more and more swiftly.

Skylar could feel her cheeks burning as Natasha led her by the hand, only to be shown off to another member, presumably the captain, of the crew. ”U-Umm.. hi.” She said awkwardly, giving a little wave, before being whisked away by the Zeltron. The pilot would stumble a bit as she was led out of the cantina, though she’d be quick to regain her composure and keep pace with the other woman. ”Somewhat nice huh?... I’m sure it’ll be fine, what’s the worst that could happen right?” She replied, completely relaxed and comfortable with the current situation. She’d give a little smile as Natasha looked back to check on her, her cheeks still a burning shade of red from being under the influence of both alcohol and Natasha.

Natasha would finally get to the ship, activating the door and walking right in as if she had no care in the world. She looked around, the ship was rather quiet other than some talking somewhere off in the distance. She turned to the left though and instantly headed to her room. She was talking the entire time, pointing out the different areas on the massive ship. But when they got to her room and the door opened Natasha led Skylar in there and looked at her, “Well.. what do you think?” she’d ask. If Skylar paid attention she’d see a massive chest at the foot of the bed that had a handprint locking system on it. There was a locker off to the side as well, that itself had a lock on it. Scattered on the bed were various pieces of paper.

On the walls though there were clippings of papers and fliers that talked about someone called: ‘The Siren’. Each one talking about multiple kills and deaths of influential people, rebels, drug lords, and even a few rumors that she had killed a few politicians and influential people in the Empire.

Natasha would stretch as she walked over to the cabinet and lean against it. “Well, what do you think? Is it a bit much for you?.” She’d ask with a grin, if Skylar was paying attention to her surroundings she’d see that on the wall next to the door was a picture of Natasha over a person’s body with a sniper aiming it at the the person’s head.

Skylar would glance around at her surroundings curiously as she was led to the ship, expressing a little surprise upon finding out that the ship was a CR-90. ”Impressive… so this is the Noreaster I’ve heard about… I didn’t expect it to be a CR-90 but nevertheless, impressive.” The pilot said idly as she followed Natasha into the ship. She’d look around the halls of the ship inquisitively before entering into Natasha’s room and pausing.

Skylar started to sober up a little as her eyes slowly traveled across the room, carefully taking in the details despite her inebriated state. Everywhere she saw the name ‘The Siren’ it was accompanied by a rather gruesome headline to tell of her deeds. She’d recognize a name here and there from the bounties they had accrued and which someone subsequently collected on. A little bit of worry started to creep into the back of Skylar’s head as she looked through each paper, wondering if this woman knew of the bounty on her own head from the Empire. With all of the papers and fliers around her, she hardly even took the furniture in the room into account.

“I uh… Well, it’s definitely umm… utilitarian… You’ve been around quite a bit haven’t you Miss Siren? As for if it’s a bit much for me… I guess that remains to be seen.” Skylar replied cautiously, a bit wary and alerted to what Natasha’s true intentions were. For the most part, she was still relaxed, just starting to worry as she looked over to Natasha.

Natasha's entire posture seemed to change as she straightened up, no longer looking like the relaxed and calmed Zeltron she was acting like. “Skylar.. Are you afraid of me?” she'd ask her eyebrow raising. “And please, I already told you. It's Natasha.” shed say gently now acting like everything was fine.

Walking up to Skylar she gave her a smile, “Calm down, everything will be fine. You were looking for us after all, right? So don't be so anxious around some pictures. Okay? We all have things that we hide, or don't tend to share, or that we are known for. This is just one of mine, I hunt people im contracted to… Now I see that look on your face, I've seen it a thousand times. You are worried that I'm going to bring people after us that will put the ship in danger. But It's not a big deal, I promise you, on this ship, with me. With everyone else, you are safe; we protect one another. And I'll.” she'd move somewhat close now, she would walk over to a couch that leaned against the wall near the door, “I'll protect you.”

Skylar noticed as the woman’s posture change, her eyes narrowing slightly in suspicion as her own posture shifted towards a more defensive one. ”No… Unless I have a reason to be… Do I Natasha?” She replied, looking up to the Zeltron with a firm expression.

The pilot couldn’t help but take a step back as the woman came closer, her hands balling up into fists as her heart started to pump a little faster out of nervousness. ”That may be so, but still… And even if we all have things that we may hide or are known for, there is still the occasion where it attracts… unsavory attention… And yes, I’m worried, why wouldn’t I be? I’m looking to join a crew and make some credits, not to get killed soon after I join. I didn’t come this far to be bantha fodder.” She replied, slowly backing up until she hit the wall behind her as Natasha approached. She looked into Natasha’s eyes, looking into it to try and see if she was really telling the truth. After a moment, she let out a sigh, casting her gaze downwards before looking up to Natasha once more, this time, calmer and more relaxed. ”...Alright.”

Natasha would laugh out loud. “Now dear, don’t sound too bummed out. We all do things that pull attention to us. I mean hell, half the crew is probably wanted in some way or another.” she’d say with a grin as she tilted her head. “So relax, it’ll be okay. I promise you, I won’t let...anyone, hurt you. Besides, you are far too valuable to me… you are… fun…” she’d say flipping her hair as she finished her words.

“I couldn’t let someone who is as awkward and nervous as you get hurt, or killed. At least not while i’m around.” She would wink and then chuckle before she leaned against the couch her eyebrows raising. “I mean, you can handle yourself despite everything. Right?”

Skylar glared at the woman as Natasha laughed at her, crossing her arms over her chest and looking off to the side. Just when she was starting to relax though, her eyes flicked back to the Zeltron as she made a that promise to the pilot. Her cheeks flushed a deep red as the Zeltron went on before looking away bashfully once more, unsure whether to feel gratitude or to be unsettled. ”O-Of course I can! Especially in a star-fighter, you’ll be hard pressed to find someone that can go toe to toe with me!” She said in a huff, taking the collar of her shirt and pulling it open to fan some cooler air onto her body.

Natasha grinned at the affirmation “I see, but how can you fight you know….” she shot to her feet and held up her hands into fists. “ hand to hand. You can’t expect to stay inside a ship every time. How are you planning to fight once you’ve gotten out.” she would jump towards Skylar as she landed right in front of her she gave her a grin.

“Maybe… I can help teach you some hand to hand combat, and teach you how to properly hold a blaster.” she’d turn and walk away slowly as she seemed to put her hand up against the chest at her bed and then typed in a code. After that she opened it and pulled out a heavy blaster chuckling it at Skylar. “What do you say? All you have to do in return… is well, join me on my adventures here..”

Skylar watched the woman curiously as jumped to her feet, only to let out a little squeak when Natasha jumped towards her. She backed up out of instinct, only to hit the wall behind her before blushing out of embarrassment. She puffed her cheeks at Natasha when she grinned before watching as she opened up the chest near her bed. With another squeak, she barely caught the blaster when it was thrown to her, inspecting it before looking back to Natasha.

“Well, I think you’ll find that I know how to use a blaster and that I’m a crack shot with my rifle.” She replied with a confident grin. ”As for hand to hand though… Well, I can’t say that I’m effective at that range. I usually like to keep my distance, hit them where they can’t see me. If they get too close, then I’ve got my blaster pistol so they don’t get any closer. I guess I could use the help though… Well, if you’re offering, I don’t see why not, especially since we’re going to be travelling together on this ship anyway.” She replied with a small smile, holding the blaster to her side.

Natasha smiled at Skylar as she tried to talk about her effectiveness with weapons as Natasha would nod gently as she reached into the box petting a sniper rifle. “ My dear, being effective and being the best are two different things. ” She’d smile and wink at Skylar once more. “You see, I am one of the best when it comes to warfare, when it comes to killing; especially killing from a distance or not being there when it happens.” Pulling from the chest now she pulled out some strange liquid and winked at Skylar before putting it back in.

“Now; then; I’m glad you are willing to take the offer, but I need a bit more than just an ‘I guess’ no offense to you, kid. But, I don’t know you that well. I don’t even know where you really came from or if Skylar is your real name. I’m going to need something else. Not to mention.” Her eyebrows now raised as she stood up the chest closing as she did. “You are quite sure about you being able to join this crew, aren’t you?.” she would ask walking over to Skylar and reaching for the blaster to take it back from her as peacefully as possible.

Skylar looked over towards the sniper rifle that Natasha pulled out, clearly interested and looking over every detail with the limited time she’d see it. She couldn’t help but give a wry smile as Natasa spoke, rolling her eyes playfully as the woman winked at her again. She could tell that the woman was definitely experienced if her room and all the papers on the walls were something to judge by.

”Alright, I’m definitely interested in learning something I don’t know. I’ve never really been good with close quarters combat but if you’re as good as you seem then I’m sure you can get me into shape on that matter.” She replied with a confident grin, hand on her hip while the other would move to hand back the blaster to the woman. ”Yes, my name is actually Skylar, though I don’t blame you for questioning that after what I did earlier. Either way, you seem like the type to be able to find out that information, so I’m sure you’ll check later if you haven’t already. As for joining the crew, I’m pretty confident I’d be useful enough to make it in, especially with a ship of this size. I’d say that I’m one of the best pilots in the galaxy but I’m sure you’ve already heard that plenty of times. Either way, I know how to fly this ship should anything happen, and I can fly anything this ship has in its hangar.”

“Oh, dear, I have heard people who said they are the best at multiple things. Many tend to… fall short though.” she’d give a wink before walking back over to her bed and sitting down, raising an eyebrow “Don’t worry I don’t need to look anyone up. If you cross me.” she would shrug once more as she patted the blaster she had taken. “ I’ll kill ya. And when I do, you won’t realize it’s me until it’s too late. Then when you realize you are going to die.. You will see my eyes as I stare into them smiling as your eyes slowly close.”

Skylar couldn’t help but grin as Natasha confirmed her suspicions on how often the woman was exposed to the inflated egos of others. ”I figured. I try to be modest but when you’re applying for employment then you’ve got to sell yourself right? Regardless, I’ll try do to my best to impress.” She replied with a small chuckle before looking over to Natasha as the woman sat down. Skylar quirked a brow when Natasha said she didn’t need to look her up, only to bite her lip nervously as the Zeltron explained. ”I-I see… I’ll make sure not to get on your bad side then.” She replied with an awkward chuckle.

“Good it’s best to not get in my way: especially when I’m on a mission…. I mean, unless you want to join me.” She would offer holding a hand out as if she had an offer for her. “In fact I am always down for help, you know. You get 15, the ship gets 10 and I get 75%. What do you say?”

Skylar quirked a brow in curiosity as Natasha offered her spot in the woman’s mission. She looked to the offered hand but held off for now, wanting to know what the job is first before agreeing to anything. ”Well, pay seems fine enough, what’s the job though?”

“Ah ah ah, my dear, not all things can be told. The job will have help available if you want it: but you won’t get the details until much later: I’ll put it like this. Who we are hunting is going to make us so rich we won’t have to ever do anything but sit on our asses all day if we’d like…. Well if you are into that I will probably keep doing what I do.” she would say with another wink.

The pilot held her chin in thought, tilting her head back and forth as she weighed the pros and cons. ”Hmmm…. As tempting as it sounds Natasha, I’m afraid I’m going to have to turn down the offer. I don’t like taking jobs without knowing what I’m in for. If there is still an open spot when the details come in, ask me again and I’ll give it another thought.”

”I mean I have the details but the client is secretive. Come now though, Skylar…” she would say as she stood up a bit of a pout in her lip and voice. ”Are you going to just say no? Are you afraid you will get in trouble? Just...relax. ” She would say with emphasis: ”I promise you… it’ll all be worth it, and you will feel really… happy… if you accept. ” she winked at her as she put more emphasis on her words trying to coerce the woman.

Skylar ran her hand through her hair as she looked off to the side, her cheeks flushing with each suggestion the Zeltron put on her. “That’s the thing though, I can’t tell if I’m afraid that I’ll get in trouble or not with so little details. Don’t get me wrong, I love credits as much as the next person but I think I care for my life a little more. I made a few rules for myself when I started doing this, and one of them is to never take a job without knowing what I’m getting in to.”

”Very well.. Then you can go ahead and leave: I do have things to do after all... ” Natasha would sit back down and grin as she took the blaster and spun it in her hand.

”Alright, I’ll see you around then Natasha.” With that, Skylar leaned down to pick up her bags, shrugging the straps onto her shoulder and giving the Zeltron a small smile before turning her back to the woman. She noticed Natasha spinning her blaster in her hand but didn’t think much of it as she made her way to the door, pausing for a moment to wait for the door to slide open.

“322585 credits... ” she would say blandly and without any emotion in her voice suddenly.

Skylar froze on the spot, gritting her teeth as she discreetly reached for the blaster at her hip, only turning her head to look at the woman behind her. The pilot’s demeanor would change completely as she glared at the Zeltron, posturing herself in such a way to act quickly if things were to go south. ”We all have our pasts right? Besides, I’m sure there’s bigger fish for you to catch or threaten later rather than a small fry like me.”

“Oh? Whatever do you mean dear?” she’d ask looking innocently. But if Skylar looked when she had turned around, Natasha’s finger was already ready and on the trigger of the blaster that was on the bed, and it was directed in Skylar’s direction, despite it still resting flat. “ I just figured i’d let you know one of my… favorite numbers.” she’d say with another wink. “If that number means something to you, then please speak up… Or, you can remember who helped you out today as well, helped you find the ship. Just remember that; because life is full of tough choices. ” she’d raise her hand off the blaster and wave at Skylar before blowing her a kiss.

Skylar simply scowled at Natasha, her hand shifting from her blaster pistol to one of the sonic grenades on her belt. She silently pulled the small sphere from her belt and readied to prime it should she find it necessary. ”Threats now? So much for making a friend and wanting to protect me… She scoffed before cautioning a step out of the room.

“Ah, ah, ah, dear. I never once threatened you. A threat would be like so..” she’d stand up and look at a poster that had a man with his throat slit; on the ground. “ See i told him I would open his world to all new and wonderful things… That was a threat, if you think you are the only one with a bounty on this ship, you’d be wrong. The only time I’ll threaten someone is if I know I’m going to collect on them, dear. We are still friends though, hence why I wanted to remind you.” she would say still acting as if she was innocent.

“ You are indeed too much fun. I will see you around. 322. ” she’d say before laughing heartily and almost maniacally for a moment before moving her hair behind her ears as she grinned. “Don’t worry you are right though. I have… MUCH bigger fish to fry.” she’d then wink at her, “ I’ll let you know when I’m ready for that help.”

Skylar grit her teeth harder, her hand squeezing around the sonic detonator in her hand before taking a deep breath and clipping back onto her belt, deeming the Zeltron not worth a waste of supplies. The pilot would turn around and give Natasha a spiteful smile before it quickly turned into frown as she turned away and walked out of the room.

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It had been hours since the young man had seen his partner, which wasn't unusual for the pair. He wasn't at all worried. He knew the girl could take care of herself. Hell, their first meet had consisted of her decking him straight in the face which ended with him looking up at her from the flat of his back. He made a comment about her rather small lekku, so he had it coming. In his defense, he didn't understand the extent of his comment and how offensive it may have sounded to a Twi'lek. With the kind of skills she had up her sleeve, he's lucky he got let off as easy as he did. It didn't take long for the pair to connect, they worked well together, and continued to do so over some time. Dak considered her somewhat of a sister. She reminded him much of someone he'd been very fond of back home. He took it upon himself to make sure she was safe. Again, not that she needed it. It was just something to give him piece of mind.

To pass the time, Dakry had wandered into a cantina where he sat at a lone table until a someone approached him to ask what he'd be having. The young man stared at the woman a moment before pointing to a drink she already had on her tray, giving her a charming smile. A bit confused as to why he couldn't have just spoken his order, the girl turned away with a half smile to get him his drink. Dak's eyes scanned the crowded place, eyeing a particularly shady pair sitting at the bar who kept giving him glances over their shoulders. One of Dakry's hands rested on his blaster at his hip, the other holding his mask. It was at the same moment Dak spotted the waitress making her rounds around the tables to deliver drinks that his commlink went off, quickly silencing it before reading the message. Brin was in trouble.

Dak tossed a few credits on the table for the waitress and slipped into the crowd of people, pulling his fingers up to whistle before slipping his mask on over his face. As the young man dipped out of the front door onto the even busier streets, he could feel Tarrok rub his head against his leg to let him know he had heard and obeyed Dak's call. With the anooba at his side, Dakry stalked off towards the location Brin had pinged herself at. The boy pulled his blaster rifle from his back, carrying it aimed at the ground with his finger ready to slip to the trigger at the slightest show of trouble. The boy's pace picked up from a determined walk to a light jog as he dipped between people, even roughly pushing past a few. If he could've, he'd have said sorry for pushing past the way he did, but he couldn't. Kinda hard to be polite when you don't have the ability to speak.

Dakry was nearing the pinged position, coming up on a large freighter in the port. Checking his commlink to be sure of the exact location, the young man pushed forward and advanced right up to the ramp into the cargo hold, spotting a... clone trooper? Dakry pulled his rifle up to aim at the man, breathing two sharp breathes through his teeth at Tarrok who stood at his side with his teeth bared and fur on end, snarling at the trooper. Dak's eyes scanned the cargo hold and luckily spotted Brin not too far away, thinking to himself, 'Sure don't seem to be in trouble, B.' But maybe they wanted it to look that way. If he and Tarrok hadn't been noticed yet, they were going to be. In one swift movement, Dak held his rifle in one hand and with his free one snagged a pistol from his hip and took aim at the people standing around Brin. He quickly pulled the trigger, shooting a round off above their heads. He kept the rifle trained on the trooper while Tarrok kept his eyes on him as well, Dak's own watching the group of people carefully.

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The Noreaster | Cargo Bay

The spirit who spotted him first was unthreatening by all accounts. She had no weapons visible on her, her body language was gentle and swaying, and she radiated happiness. She looked like Chok’ra, the Ewok god of happiness. Though he doubted that such a powerful being would associate themselves with lowly spirits, so perhaps this was an acolyte of hers? Another acolyte of Chok’ra had visited long ago to protect the ewoks, though she had skin of a blue hue and wielded two fire-axes, and defeating a great beast in the mountains that had served Denlett. The calming effects hit him even as he wondered why the spirit was approaching him. Perhaps she wished to make contact with him as a shaman, to enlighten and raise him up in ewok society, and send him back to his home as a new acolyte of Chok’ra, though obviously not as powerful as the spirits.

Kadroo was a dignified and diligent apprentice to one of the most powerful shamans of his home world. He had trained for years to learn each and every ritual that the clans of his culture performed, he was widely considered to be a powerful shaman himself, even though he had not earned his skull yet. Which was why exactly he could not figure out why this spirit was picking him up, seemingly squealing with delight about his existence as his spear clattered to the deck, forgotten. Perhaps she was happy that he had solved their puzzle? Perhaps they liked the fact that he had been curious enough to explore the heaven he had been brought to? He struggled naturally, Kadroo did not like being picked up, even if the person picking him up was one of the spirits. ”Esa weechu uhree kna?!?” Kadroo squealed back at the spirit in his ewok voice, even as she squeezed him as if he was one of the straw toy bears given to woklings on endor. A thought crossed his mind that there were likely adolescent spirits just like their were woklings. Perhaps this was one of those spirits? If so, Kadroo figured it was his duty as a shaman to indulge her and not upset her. Children could be so fussy after all. ”Nude-la toma jeerota, bont kna!” He followed up as the child-spirit squeezed him tight.

The little ewok had already resigned himself to his fate of entertaining this child. Perhaps he would have an opportunity later to escape and go elsewhere, but he knew children could be terribly insistent about keeping around their playmates. He figured for at least an hour or three he’d be stuck with this spirit. The blaster bolt going overhead interrupted his thoughts. "Siz Klektuhkuh! Siz Klektuhkuh! Siz Klektuhkuh!" He yelled as he wriggled free, no longer worried about entertaining the child, only about ducking behind something and getting his spear. He knew the noise, it was the sound the magic spears made that the white-devils had used on the tree hunters of his tribe. "Ehda kna thek!" Kadroo shouted as he found a nearby empty crate and crawled inside, tucking his little body into it and holding his spear pointed at the opening.

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The Noreaster | Cargo Bay

Lucien had been happy to start sweeping the cargo hold for more stowaways, he doubted that they’d really find anyone else in the cargo hold, after all, who else could possibly stowaway? Then the ewok wandered out of hiding, and before he could shoot the little rat bear, Sena grabbed a hold of him and picked him up, squeezing him like the most realistic teddy in existence. Lucien knew well enough not to upset Sena, it was one of the few things Solace had made very clear in the course of his time with the Noreaster. If Sena picks something up, you don’t touch it, and you don’t try and take it away from her. Her tone hadn’t been threatening, more like a warning given by someone with firsthand knowledge of what terrible vengeance would be brought upon him for attempting it. So Lucien didn’t attempt it, he just watched with distrust and warriness.

This was interrupted by a blaster bolt zinging over his head, and on instinct Lucien shot back, several blaster bolts echoing in reply in rapid succession even as he was ducking into cover behind one of the large stacks of metal crates that were in the cargo bay. ”Shootout in the cargo bay!” He shouted into his comlink even as he poked his blaster and head around the corner to fire at the unknown hostile who had started firing at him. Hopefully, Sharps and Sable were doing the same.

Jarak sat at the desk in his room a dim light from his lamp being the only light source illuminating him. In his hand was a datapad with what information Imperial Intelligence had on the crew of the Noreaster. Considering how long the crew had been active for and how long Imperial Intelligence appeared to have been after them, there really wasn't a lot for Jarak to review. Some of the crew barely had a paragraph or two, some had photos but no names and some had names but no photos. Perhaps the file Iesha had given him before he left on what he hoped would be his last tour would shed light where normal Intelligence had failed. He opened the file and placed its contents out in front of him, a photo and a note reminding him of "What he's doing this for" which he quickly put into his shirt pocket. The main content of the file was by far the most interesting part. She had called in a few favours she still had with her old superiors and managed to pull some of the more classified information that I.I had on the crew. This was a file that definitely wasn't meant for his eyes or anyone else's for that matter, what kind of things had Iesha done to be able to call in favours like this? A thought that was quickly dispelled from his mind as he read through the file, it seemed he wasn't the first Imperial to have to infiltrate the ship. The file mentioned an agent sent to acquire the Captain and her sister for I.I and the Inquisitorious respectively. The reading only worsened as he went further through the document. The agent's last contact was before they arrived on Balmorra and then he went silent. His body was later recovered with a lightsaber wound through his chest. He was filled with an awful sense of dread over what he was getting himself into here.

A knock on his door startled him slightly and brought him out of his concentration on the files in front of him. "Come in." The door gave a slight hiss as it opened and a soldier stepped in. "Sir, a CR90 has been sighted docking on the far side of the port." "Thank you, Lieutenant. prepare the ship to depart, it's best if the Atlas isn't here longer than necessary." The soldier nodded before spinning on her heels and exiting the room leaving Jarak to his thoughts and deliberations. After a few more moments of pondering and worrying while resting his chin on clasped hands, Jarak stood up and picked up the duffle bag next to him and put it across his back. Was it wise to take his equipment him, probably not but it was a risk he couldn't afford to take. He left his room and headed to the bridge to say his goodbyes. The bridge of the Corvette was sparsely populated most of the crew being given leave since they wouldn't be required for a while. "What do you think guys?" Jarak said in a sarcastic tone giving his squad a twirl. "You look like the people we shoot at for a living so I'd say you look pretty good Captain." Nez his Lieutenant responded. "Perfect, that's exactly the look I was going for. Nez, you have the conn until I return. "If you return." She said in a hushed tone "Yes thank you, Nez, I'm aware. Now get the Atlas out of here, and if you so much as scratch her paint while I'm gone I'm taking it out your pay cheque." He said, giving the Lieutenant a half smile. Jarak turned and exited the bridge passing a few remaining crew on his way off the ship. A few technicians on the landing pad gave him rather murderous looks as he exited the pad and headed into the port proper. The sound of the Raider I Corvette's engines powering up behind him let him know that he was now truly alone in one of the most dangerous places he could possibly find himself.

The walk through the port towards the CR90s landing pad was one of sheer terror for Jarak. He was surrounded by the scum of the galaxy, most if not all of them were wanted by the Empire for one reason or another and every single one of them would kill him in a heartbeat if they knew what he was but here he was blending in as if he belonged here. The sound of a scream from a nearby bar caught his attention and he turned to head towards it and as he walked in the door he saw what he was after. A quick glance at his datapad confirmed it, the woman, the Muun and what he assumed was the Ubese that were all shown on the pad. As he approached the three he overheard the woman talking about looking for new crew, surely it couldn't be this easy he thought to himself as he pushed his nerves aside and approached the woman. "Excuse me miss, I overheard you were looking for crew. The name's Jarak, can I apply now or do I have to buy you a drink first?"



A noise from behind him caught his attention what looked like a small Wookie had suddenly appeared in the cargo hold. it took a minute for what he was seeing to actually compute surely one of those things couldn't be here. Sena, however, would leap into action as she usually did when she saw something she liked and appeared to smother the poor thing while screaming about how soft and fluffy it was. God only knows what diseases or parasites the stupid animal had on it but now that Sena had touched it and proclaimed her love for it no one could touch it. "Is that really what I think it is, is that... is that an Ewok. How in the galaxy is an Ewok here?" This was going to be an interesting day Sable thought to himself as he watched Sena continue to cuddle the life out of the Ewok, a fitting end for such an annoying creature. The strange girl who identified herself as Brin stood up and began to head off with Airus. Though whatever ideas of going back to his room quickly disappeared when out of nowhere a blaster round sailed over his and the rest of the crews' heads.

With a reaction time that could put some force users to shame Sable spun on his heels and pulled his blaster from his back pointing it in the direction the shot came from, his sensors saw a young boy and an Anooba standing at the ramp to the bay. "I could have sworn the loaders said they closed the bay door." Sable thought as he drew his blaster and activated his combat protocols. "I'm activating boarding protocol, recommend switching to night-vision and ready yourselves for combat." The main lighting around the crew shut off and the emergency red lighting came on above, the sounds of bulkheads and hatches closing could be heard around the ship, and the cargo ramp began to close. The room went dark around Sable, a flash of red light appeared where his eyes were as his NV turned on. IFF tags began to appear on his display. There was an inhumanly quick dash as Sable entered protection mode and jumped in front of Sena and fired off a few shots from his blaster in the direction of the boy and his dog.

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'Specialist ordnance.' seemed to Kabal a roundabout way of saying 'big explosives.' Basic was a frustrating language that seemed to have ten different ways to say the exact same thing. Ubese was a far superior dialect, one that Kabal missed speaking greatly. He tried where he could, of course, but slurs and curses aimed towards his fellow crew members just couldn't compare. Planets like Anchorage served as a grim reminder of just how isolated he was. Even on Tatooine, the rolling dunes and desert plains felt much closer to home than desolate ice caps and frozen fields.

His initial confusion regarding Solace's words was quickly alleviated by her elaboration of acquiring a baradium fission device. Those weren't just explosives, they were planet-busters - superweapons; banned even by the Empire after enough bellyaching by the gutless pacifists on Alderaan. Kabal inclined his head down towards the table as Solace slid the handful of credits towards him. There was a pause as he seemed to process the exciting task assigned to him. Almost warily outstretching his glove-less hand, thin chalk-white fingers closed around the credits, drawing them into one of the compartments on his woefully light bandoliers.

With a lone nod, Kabal was off, swiftly departing from his seat and out the door, pushing past a few displeased spacers trying to come in. Kabal gave no quarter and offered no mercy; anyone in his way would move or be moved. How one as small as he could shove with the strength of a larger man was puzzling--and shocking to those on the receiving end, but Kabal had disappeared into the streets long before anyone had the chance to find out.

Outside, the frigid cold met him like a punch to the gut, freezing the air in his weak lungs. Furiously planting bare hands in the folds of his clothing, Kabal pressed on, eyes peeled for any diminutive insects running around carting a nuke. The assortment of alien features all seemed to blend together into a repulsive kaleidoscope of too-many-limbs, enormous eyes, unnatural colors, and foul odors that only enhanced Kabal's biases. He had no point of direction other than the green ring, but with a baradium fission device on the line? Kabal would find it.

After painstaking minutes of wandering, refusing to ask for any aid or directions, Kabal spotted one of the Gand in the distance: a diminutive sort, smaller even than he was, lugging around a cart-full of miscellaneous blaster parts and ammo casings in a hand-pulled wagon. Increasing his pace to harass the insect into telling him where the fission devices were, the Gand, unaware, turned a corner and disappeared into the crowded sea.

His frustration only growing in the meantime, Kabal was about to break in a full-on sprint when a guttural voice called out from behind him, slicing through the muddled chats and conversations of everyone else around: "Come for th' baradium, have you, Stranger?"

Kabal froze, turning around on his heels to look up at a tall, imposing sort, garbed in enough layers to draw uncertainty whether he was human or not. The man was arrayed in a long, heavy cloak that draped down to boot-clad ankles, hood-and-cowl obscuring all but his eyes and the bridge of his nose. Hunched over with the weight of a backpack upon his shoulders, the man met Kabal's blank visor with a gaze piercing enough to make even the unflappable Ubese mildly uncomfortable.

Taking Kabal's silence as answer, the man laughed heartily: a raspy, gurgling sound that wheezed and popped like a machine booting up after decades of disuse. Recovering after one last chortle, the man spoke once more: "My little Beetles have done a fine job in rounding up prospective customers, and you seem a discerning one, at that!" With a sweeping theatrical motion, the man opened up his cloak, revealing a baffling assortment of holsters and ammo pouches, all full to the brim. Hold-out blasters, heavy pistols, carbines, grenades, bombs, slugthrowers, the merchant carried enough on his person to arm a sizable militia, and that didn't even take into account what he carried at his stall. Rifles, light-and-heavy repeaters, flamethrowers, grenade rifles, portable rocket launchers, and, above the rest like a deity enshrined: a baradium fission device, dwarfing most grown men in size. Despite the array of outlawed and invaluable weaponry that'd make even the Empire blush, no one else around seemed to look at or even take notice of the merchant and his stall.

”Lot of good things on sale, Stranger.” The merchant acknowledged in what was the greatest understatement of the era. Beneath the frozen expression of Kabal's mask was pure, unadulterated desire. His own stash, carefully acquired over months of scavenging and hoarding, couldn't begin to scratch the surface of what the merchant had before him.

”How much?” Kabal asked, pointing up at the baradium bomb in hushed reverence.

”No set price, Stranger. Show me what credits you're willing to part with, and we'll see from there.” The merchant's tone was the growl of a seasoned businessman, keenly aware of any tricks of the trade. Even Kabal, for all his lowly opinion of humans, knew there'd be no lowballing this one.

Reaching into one of his pouches, Kabal procured the full amount of credits Solace had given to him, holding them out for the merchant to take.

Shoveling the whole pile in one hand, the merchant held up a single credit to his eyes, appraising the quality. After a moment or two more, he nodded decisively. ”This'll do, Stranger. Bomb's yours.” With a snap of his fingers and a command issued in an alien tongue, two Gand mysteriously appeared from the swell of the crowd, hopping up on the stall to carefully load the bomb onto a cart.

”My Beetles'll help carry the weapon to your ship, Stranger. A pleasure doing business with ya -- thank you.” Once more securing his cloak, the merchant humbly bowed. Kabal, not saying a word, turned to leave, leading the Gand back towards port. Then he stopped. Somewhere in the deepest pits of his shriveled heart was a small shred of decency urging him to, for one of the first times in his life, thank another creature. But by the time he turned around to respond to the merchant, he, and his stall, had disappeared, leaving nary a trace but a single wanted holo-poster against the wall, with the biggest bounty Kabal had ever seen: ten billion credits.

Only taken out of his surprise by one of the Gand gently tugging against his sleeve, Kabal, after slapping the bug's hand away, continued on back to the ship, carrying with him the most valuable haul of his career.

---

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Conversation continued around her as the situation on the ship was being handled. All around her she could see the patrons working through their own problems, winding down afterwards or just about to make decisions they would likely regret later. One such regret was making her way towards her even as she sent another on their way. Natasha. Narrowed eyes communicated clearly her feelings on the matter towards the Zeltron, suppressing through willpower alone the gentle drift of pheromones that seemed to always waft from her kind. As troublesome as they were though, this one had been useful so far and despite her reservations towards exactly why the woman was on her crew she allowed it under a few of the usual restrictions. One it seemed that had perhaps not been communicated quite clear enough.

"Always be aware of who or what you bring onto the ship."

Doubtless Natasha had an inkling of who the girl was, and though they were close to the same age this one was most certainly just a girl out on the rim in the grand scheme of things. Her name wasn't familiar to her, or if she even was the one she was thinking of, but people like her were hard to miss. Someone who looked every bit like they were so far out of their depth they should have already drowned, and more than that she didn't have the usual look of desperation that most who found themselves in such a position had. No, she was here by choice and it wasn't hard to tell either. Solace locked eyes with the girl, a more stern expression meeting the demure wave as her mind worked to think back on some of the more recent wanted posters they had reviewed for possible crew candidates. A Kuati girl had come up not too long ago, though the reasons for the posting were strangely vague and seemed a bit high considering the charges.

Either way, the hapless pair was off and likely on their way back to the ship. She would merely have to lecture one or both of them later, especially if the girl intended to stay with them. For now though… Another person was starting to approach her, a man making his way through the crowd and once more she felt as if there was something strangely familiar about him. Exactly what could really only be determined if she used her force-sight, but to do so in the middle of the cantina like this on a whim would be irresponsible to say the least. Better Jedi than her had been caught doing just that in "safer" places and paid the price of their lives. Any number of bounty hunters would be more than eager to capture someone assumed to be a former Jedi and cash in on the bounty, nevermind that she didn't even carry a lightsaber anymore or that they would have to go off the word of someone claiming to "have a bad feeling". It was the Empire though, and it was best to play it safe on such things. So she merely offered a smirk, lipstick glistening in the half-light of the cantina as she turned to face the newcomer and offer a greeting in return.

At least she would have if not for the strange tingle along her spine, a sudden sense of danger looming nearby that had only been felt twice before. It was not the usual forewarning that force-users tended to have before imminent danger, such as the split-second before a blaster bolt screamed overhead. No, this was quite different. This was a more primal instinct, feeling the ripples of fate around her and the coming of a potentially life-changing moment. That the first time she felt such a sensation was moments before her clone-commander received the order to kill her and her sister, and the second was that night when they killed a moff was not lost on her. Immediately adrenaline flooded her body, muscles tensing as she went into a combat state and in a blink stood with a fluid motion that had her facing the man with her hand on the concealed vibro-blade at her hip.

There would be precious few seconds, already eyes were turning towards her and the man before her, the crew at the table and seeing others around the bar reacting in their own way. Without knowing his ability and armament it was impossible to fully judge how those next few seconds would go but… Almost as soon as her grip tightened on the pommel of the vibro-blade another more distinct sensation cut across every other thought. Fear. Realization struck her like a blaster in the chest. It wasn't him, and it wasn't here that the danger was. Sena's emotions flooded across their telepathic bond and almost as an afterthought she turned to the gathered crew and they would know even before the hurried messages came across the commlink.

"I should go. Jarak, CR-90 at the port."

Without even waiting for his response, she was gone. Solace wove the force around her as her body was in motion, first disclosing her presence even further in the force until she looked every bit like any other person even to the more observant of force-users. Step by step, more and more she blended in with the crowd and even though she hurried to the door and out into Anchorage beyond, it was as if she simply evaporated…

---

Just a moment prior...

Entirely consumed with the creature within her arms, Sena was oblivious for the one moment where it had mattered most to not just herself but to the crew as well. It made such wonderful and strange sounds as she squeezed it, like nothing she had heard from the other plushies that her sister gifted to her. Perhaps it was something new and rare, one of those more lifelike droid toys she had heard of on the holonet recordings… Or maybe an actual teddy-bear from some far off world she had never heard of before. No matter where it had come from, she was simply infatuated with the creature that Sir Elbas seemed to call an "Ewok". It as a strange name, but she gave him a curious look from behind the veil across her face and gave a nod. Ewok it was, but that was such a silly name and didn't seem suitable to just a singular one.

A few thoughts floated around in her head as something else started to gently press in from the periphery. Just as Verra was sensing danger, so too was she but it was ignored as she looked down at the "ewok" in her arms. Mr Cuddleton? No… Beary? Not that either… Hmmmm~ Her thoughts swirled around an appropriate name for someone so fluffy and adorable, the stick in his hand seeming less like the threat he likely intended it to be and more like a toy. Oh! Sudden inspiration struck as a shadow loomed beyond the collected group in the hangar bay. There again was a more insistent press from her deeper consciousness, a voice cutting through the chaos of bright colors, fluffy things and sweet candies.

"Get down."

It ripped through and disrupted her train of thought, in that instant her expression slipping from that of joy and cheer to one more serious. For a split-second it seemed another person entirely was holding the ewok in her arms, lips pulling into a scowl as her gaze turned towards the man standing at the base of the cargo ramp. That was all it took for the image of danger to be sent across the telepathic bond linking the sisters. Man. Tall and lean. Armed. Control was slipping, panic rising. She had but the scantest moment to gauge fully the situation before it was no longer her's to guide. Canine. Anooba. Hostile. The man breathed through his teeth twice in slow motion, her senses finely attuned to the subtle world around her as she was entirely focused on that singular moment. Once. Before her the animal seemed to respond, body lowering just that slightest fraction that told her of a predator preparing battle. Twice. Eyes narrowing, ears flattening. Sure enough the man was the master of the creature and had given it an order of some kind but… A thousand simulations swirled about her of how this encounter would go-

The blaster bolt shattered what little control the other held as Sena was once more everything the crew knew her to be. Such a drastic action provided the expected results as everyone around her sprang into combat without even thinking. Her panicked cry echoed around the cargo bay as she fell to the deck, huddling up in a ball where she had stood while her newest friend abandoned her for the safety of a nearby crate, the only hint of him being there the spear sticking out and menacing anything that might dare to come close. Tears pattered across durasteel as her fear emanated from the woman in waves, afflicting most of all her sister as she rushed across the short distance to the port, but doubtless having just the same effect as her joy from before. The return fire of everyone around her only intensified her fear, crying out for her sister to come help even as Sir Elbas stepped before her protectively…

---

Solace wove through people as if they weren't even there, pushing some aside and leaping over others without even the barest of reactions to her presence. The force wrapped about her body like a cloak, disguising her fully and not even the press of her shoes against the duracrete steps up towards the port made the softest whisper of a sound. It was her greatest gift, one that had earned her a thorough scolding back in the Temple when she was younger and discovered it, of course using it to her advantage quite eagerly. With training and focus she had found she had an aptitude for simply disappearing to all the senses of those around her, able to slip by even some of the masters who had been actively looking for her. Up until now it had only been used here and there to get by some stormtroopers or play jokes on new crew members. This would be the first time she had purposefully cloaked herself for what was clearly a battle situation.

Up ahead she heard blaster-fire, those first return shots at the boarder who had so foolishly chosen to brazenly attack their cargo-hold. That almost gave her pause, but she only slowed enough to give a cursory glance around her. No one except the port authority seemed to be concerned about what was unfolding just beyond the open blast door to port-35. Battle-droids rumbled to life in their charging stations, red eyes lighting up as they activated to remove the threat to Anchorage that cropped up in their port. Shit. Need to take care of this quick. If they got to the ship first, then it was likely they would take the return fire from her crew as a hostile act and that would only end poorly for them.

Solace leapt over a barrier, sensors unable to pick her up as anything more than a light breeze and the shouts around her showed ever more that time was not on her side. It didn't matter though, because she could see the man and his dog there before her standing boldly at the ramp. He actually was alone… No one else was in the port except for him and the dog, her crew shooting back at him in that instant after his first shot. Time to end this. She thought, a glance up seeing the shield barrier erected above the ship and blocking any attempt to lift off. With a slide around the corner and one foot pressing against the back of the Anooba to give her a launching point, she was there behind the man and in a fluid motion one hand pressed a vibro-blade taught against his throat with the field off, and the other force-pushed the thermal detonator bouncing down the ramp off into a grenade pit.

Twenty-five seconds passed, a heavy breath passing through her lips as she pressed against the man's back and allowed the force-cloak to slip from her, now fully able to be sensed by everyone around her. At the very least it would mean that the crew still aboard the ship wouldn't open fire on her and the man in front of her just yet… Well, she could at least depend on Sable and Sharp not to. First though… Her sister was behind the commando-droid sobbing on the floor, her fear paralyzing her for the moment, but she was safe enough unless someone made an exceptional effort to target her specifically. "Make your next choice count." Her tone was sharp and unflinching as a soft crump sounded from the detonation of the thermal detonator off to the side. Whoever threw that was also going to get a serious lecture later on, and might even force her to amend the few rules of her ship she bothered to have written down. For now though… All she could do was wait to see how this guy reacted.

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Alyra was fighting off the tunnel vision that wanted ever so much to creep onto her. Vaulting from roof-top to roof-top over alleys and through openings in the fences. While running like this it was too easy to focus on just what was in front of you, the next jump, the next point of contact, but when you are running for you life, not paying attention to your surroundings could get you into a very bad position. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her breath was coming out in quick huffs. She had been running since her escape pod touched down outside of the city. Unluckily for her, her crew mates had the shuttle and had managed to make it into the city. They had already spread out and prepared to intercept her, not doubt spreading some story of disloyalty among the crew and fabricating crimes against her. After narrowly escaping two of the crew in a marketplace she'd had to evaluate her plan, it seemed getting off this rock was going to be a bit harder than stealing a star fighter.

She stopped at an opening on the rooftop. Looking out she could see the vastness of the planet expanding out around her. She took a deep breath of cold air. Had she been one of the frailer pink folks she might have even thought this was an unpleasant atmosphere but to her it was just a reminder of home. She could look out and see the mountains in the distance with their icy peaks and the wind whipping snow around as it wound through the valleys. She loved the spectacles of nature; each planet was unique in the sounds, smells, and sights but even here on this planet in its frozen wastes it was still beautiful. She looked further up into the sky and she could see the shapes of all the ships in orbit for the festival. Wiping the drying purple blood off the corner of her mouth she spoke out loud "Come on Alyra, Think of a plan. You can’t just keep running through the city. You are going to run out of steam soon and they are going to catch you." She closed her eyes and took another breath and slowly exhaled. "Alright you have to get to a safe place, and there is no safe place on this planet for you, therefore you have to get off-world, to get off world you need a ship. The space port...." Opening her eyes, she slowly breathed out again. Somehow she needed to get onto a ship, preferably through official channels. Out of time she pulled her hood up and dropped from the roof into the street below and began to make her way towards the center of the city.

She did what she could to conceal herself. Nothing stuck out more than a young girl with blue skin and Purple hair. Especially when her face looked like it got into a fight with a rancor and lost. She smiled behind the scarf the has wrapped around her face. But by the stars she was thankful that her pursuers had the same hindrances as she did: no blasters. Of course, they had them, she could feel her own under her backpack in the small of her back but using it would bring hell down upon you, so they were reduced to using their hands. That put them at the disadvantage, because while she could hold her own in a shootout it was just not her skill set. Still she was in over her head here, she wasn't sure how she would get on board a ship, or even if she could join a crew that wouldn't turn her over to Tegran and his crew. Risking it wasn't a great option but then again, she was out of choices.

Gritting her teeth Alyra turned down an alley and began to make her way to the docks. She would check the board for job postings and just risk being out in the open. Walking now she could feel the limp as the adrenaline wore off her knee was beginning to have a hard time holding her up and she knew her left eye was swelling shut, but on the bright side she couldn't taste blood in her mouth anymore.

Just as she moved out of the alley into the main road with a boisterous bunch moving through she heard someone call out "Over there! She's over there!" "Fuck" she let out under her breath and leapt up to a window-seal and then again to the roof and began to run. That run didn't last long as she came to another cross road and jumped into the street, without losing momentum she rolled and kept moving. Feeling the adrenaline pulsing through her body again the pain was almost gone. Vaulting down another alley now trying to stay aware of her pursuers as she heard one call out "Cut her off ahead!" . This is why she liked being up high, she could see where the streets went. That was the last thought that went through her head before she rounded a corner and suddenly saw a large device blocking her path, right in the middle of the road. Instinct took over as she jumped, back turning she cleared six feet as she could now see that this appeared to some sort Baradium Fission Device. She hit the ground with a thud and quickly scrambled up as she saw two Gand on either side of the device and an Ubese walking closely to the deice itself.

Before she could even come up with an escape plan a figure rounded the corner and ran right into the device knocking it off its repulsor lift and it clattered to the ground with a sickening crunch and began to hiss as coolant leaked out of one its various hoses. Then just after another figure emerged from around the corner this one jumping over the device and grabbing Alyra by the hair. He pulled her close as the words dripped from his mouth like venom,"I've got you now, bitch". Alyra recognized this voice even if the mask hid his face. Gareth: the Filthy pig. Alyra struggled against the hold he had on her as she looked around. A third member of the chase came running down the alley towards them and the first one to stumble into the device who she recognized as Ahln was standing up. She was really not liking these odds and trying to think of any move that would free her when her hand began itching behind her back to her blaster when suddenly the Ubese jumped on Ahln with a startling ferocity, but no matter it was just enough of a distraction. She grabbed Gareths hand and twisted it back to release her hair then pulled him back towards the wall of the alley. It only took a moment for her to push off the wall with her foot, wrap her arm around his neck, and drop with a sickening crack as his body went limp and she dropped it to the ground.

Alyra looked down the alley and raised her fists as the other figure came sprinting out of the darkness. This time she was ready and a few blows later her attacker was unconscious on the ground however, she was sure her nose was broken this time. as she tasted the blood in her mouth again she turned to look for the third and there she saw the Ubese with rock over their head bringing it down repeatedly on what remained of Ahln's head. After a moment he dropped the rock and stood up looking over at her and the hissing device. Suddenly a thought occurred to her. She wracked her brain for any knowledge she had tucked away and managed to say in Ubese "Hello, I can fix this of you have somewhere safe?" She was exhausted and this might be her only chance she looked down at the device and back up at this Ubese against expectantly, hoping with every fiber of her being that this would work. It had too she was out of other options. She couldn't keep running eventually her luck would run out.

---

[:: The Noreaster | Cargo Bay ::]

The events unfolded in the cargo bay not exactly as Sai'rys had expected, but was glad things didn't escalate to the point that he would have had to pull his blaster. Such things weren't always necessary, but at the same time, he could count on one hand the number of times he'd actually needed to use -or brandish- his sidearm. While growing up in a fairly rough environment for most of his life, violence was never his resolution, but he often allowed things like this to bother him nonetheless. Anxiety wasn't a foreign concept, as it seemed he worried quite often about things that were essentially out of his control. *Control.* Living the life of a slicer, the Chiss felt he could manage all the variables that presented themselves each day. Because we are all really just chunks of data living within a great mainframe, streaming from one waypoint to another, gathering, exchanging, redistributing, and perhaps even altering our path to better ourselves. There is no destiny. No fate. Only infinite lines of shifting source code that eventually settles on a path determined by just how one lives their life. We aren't gods of our future, but drones.

“What the?...” He muttered, snapping out of the self-imposed reverie.

Sai'rys initially caught the furry creatures presence in the corner of his eye, and turned his attention toward that direction. He'd never seen anything like that, -not unlike the Ewok anyway- and while cute as the Kushiban was, it was no doubt vicious enough. The young Chiss held little trust in most known species, but more so in those foreign to him.

His attention snapped back to Brin, who appeared to be going quietly with Airus. In this relatively short experience, Sai’rys had never actually met a Jedi or Sith, and while the Twi’lek carried the lightsaber indicative of their kind, who was to say she was either of those? Could it have been found laying around, or perhaps stolen from one, if that was even possible? Either way, it wasn’t worth pondering over even while his mind continued to cycle through one conspiracy theory after another. The red-skinned female didn’t kill anyone, so there was that at least.

Allowing a sigh to escape, he was about to turn on one heel and head back out into the corridor, thinking again about the ongoing diagnostics work that was being auto-run on the mysterious datacube in his quarters. Obsessing over such tech wasn’t unusual for the young slicer, but this particular artifact had way more questions than answers, which was -in and of itself- fascinating. He wondered though, if a few extra data spikes and/or breakers might do the trick, but he knew he would need a great level of penetration as well. From what he gathered about the planet. There were plenty of underground markets which meant plenty of hard-to-find tech to break just about security protocols.

Then...the shots were heard out of nowhere, and instinctively Sai'rys ducked behind one of the stacks of storage containers, fumbling to pull his blaster from it's holster strapped to his leg. He could hear the commotion of the others, but wasn't sure where the hell the original blaster fire came from. A few moments passed, and an explosion was heard in the distance, Sai'rys throwing his hands up to his ears as the blast verbertated off the durasteel walls and echoed back.

This was definitely not how he planned to spend the day. At all.

---

Skylar let out an exasperated sigh as she finally managed to free herself from the Zeltron. Taking a moment to sort out her thoughts in the hallway, the pilot contemplated what her next course of action would be. She honestly just came along with Natasha to see about having a good time, being led to the Grey Mariners being a definite plus, though now she wasn't so sure if she wanted to stay anymore. On one hand, she could stay and see about joining the crew she had been seeking out, but she'd have to deal with Natasha. On the other hand, she could leave, and hopefully never have to see the Zeltron again, but then she'd be back to square one on joining a crew. Pondering her next move, Skylar walked slowly down the hallway of the crew quarters until the lights suddenly shut off.

The pilot's brow furrowed in confusion and slight annoyance as her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the change of her environment. Out of instinct, Skylar pressed her body up against the closest wall and whipped out her blaster rifle from its bag. She decided against turning her flashlight on in the event that all of this was happening due to a certain woman she had escaped from not too long ago. Skylar readied her blaster rifle for whatever might come, only to hear the blast doors at each of the hallway close with a metallic thunk.

"Fuck... I swear if this is because of who I think it is or if this is just some sick joke, then I'm going to leave a hole in this ship before I get out... if I get out." Skylar muttered the last part to herself as she scanned the hallways for anything moving. Even with her eyes adjusted to the dim red lighting of the hallway, it was still incredibly dark, and she was definitely not comfortable with having such a limited view range in a somewhat confined space. She tried to rely on her other senses as best as she could, the adrenaline pumping through her system somewhat heightening her senses while her heart pumped faster. Though she tried to remain calm, Skylar couldn't help but twitch at every little noise she heard while biting her lip to keep her voice from escaping. Needless to say, Skylar was stressed in her new predicament, and although she didn't know it, that stress would cause her presence to leak out to any other force sensitives nearby.

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Location: Noreaster Cargo Bay
Interactions: Solace

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Oh, right. Shooting at people, whether at or near someone... especially a large group of someones, tends to put everyone in a panic. Whoops. Not exactly what Dak had in mind. Then again, the boy hardly thought before he did anything no matter what the situation. Emotion-driven, the boy only knew two things. One, his partner had sent him a distress signal over comms. And two, he was going to do what it took to make sure she was safe.

So many voices echoed out through the cargo bay, as well as several blaster shots fired back at Dakry's one. The young man shot off a few in response and quickly tried to duck for cover, growling to himself as he felt the searing pain in his shoulder from a blaster bolt burning a hole through it. Taking sharp breaths through his teeth, Dakry pushes himself to stand but doesn't get far before a thermal detonator lands right beside him. His eyes wide, the boy turns away to get as far from the grenade as possible, immediately stops when he feels hands wrap around him from behind, feeling something pressed to his neck. The thermal detonator in the corner of his eye seemingly pushed away, exploding in a pit nearby. Dak swallowed nervously, taking a glance over into the direction of where he last saw Brin, gritting his teeth out of frustration because he didn't have eyes on her. The whole cargo bay was dark except for two red eyes staring back at him inside.

It was then a woman's voice spoke to him, causing an eyebrow to raise slightly. 'A girl? Hmm,' he thought to himself. Tarrok, snarling ferociously, bounded straight for the girl and his boy but not before Dak could breath out a sharp breathy whistle between his teeth, holding a firm fist out at Tarrok. The anooba quickly ceased, sitting back on his haunches with his eyes trained on the girl behind his boy, teeth bared. Slowly, Dak reached his blaster down as close to the floor as he could manage with the knife still at his throat and let it drop to the ground. The young man pushed it off to the side with his foot before standing back up again with his hands up, palms facing outward. 'If we don't die, she better at least appreciate the effort,' he thought to himself sarcastically.

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The Noreaster | Cargo Bay

Kadroo was not overly fond of the noise that kept blazing past his hard-stone crate. His first instinct had been to duck and find cover of course, even as fire-spears whizzed back and forth nearby, which is what lead him to be in the hard-stone crate in the first place. He instantly regretted this though, as he poked his head out to see what had happened once no more fire-spears were being shot. The child-spirit was on the floor, curled into a ball, and tears were dripping to the floor even as fear rolled off her in waves. The short tree-bear wanted to continue hiding in the crate from the feeling alone. However, before that was his sense of duty to the spirits. He had hidden instead of staying like any good shamen might have and fighting as an acolyte for the safety of the tree-spirit and representative of Chok’ra. The bear shaman slipped out of his crate and moved himself over to the she-spirit on the floor, temporarily ignoring the hard-stone golem that stood over her like a protector. He set his spear down on the floor halfway from her, so as not to catch the attention of the Hardstone golem, and then waddled over to her, bending down to pat her on the shoulder comfortingly. ”Weechu zeekee kna da Chok’ra.” He said soothingly, attempting to comfort the young tree-spirit. ”Nub x’ekra kla kna ehda!” Then waddled over to pick up his spear before grabbing his spear and standing beside the metal thing, leveling it towards the direction the fire-spears came from originally.

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The Noreaster | Cargo Bay

Lucien’s day was turning into a bit of a mess, but at least it was a mess he could handle. Over the blaster fire he had heard the shout of sharps, crying out that he was throwing a thermal detonator. Lucien didn’t have time to argue with him, but he did make a mental note to go after the clone’s ass later. Thermal detonators were just about the last thing you wanted rolling around in an enclosed space, much less one that you wanted to take into space. It was literally just a contained fission reaction, and typically one was all it took to put a nice hole in a wall. The kind of damage it could do to the ship was unthinkable, and seeing as only one blaster bolt had come down range, suggesting one hostile, there was very little reason to use such a weapon, blasters did the same job just fine after all. A small thought distracted him as he wondered if the mechanism to lock the loading bay ramp had been broken, as this hostile had seemingly come from there. Thankfully he could count on Sable in this situation, as the robot activated the boarding protocol, sending the ship into darkness, and drew his own blaster to return fire.

Overwhelming firepower seemed to carry the day as the boy was forced into cover, and the returning fire from him was inaccurate at best, the shots snapped off. The grenade, oddly but thankfully enough, rolled down the ramp rather than blowing up in the ship, Lucien thought that perhaps it landed in one of the specially made pits for explosives nearby as he heard the sonic blast in the distance. The consequences that could have arisen from such an explosion could have been drastic. ”Hold fire, the captain is down there!” Lucien shouted as he watched the boy, moving to another piece of cover to get a better sight on the pair. He had almost forgotten about the dog, only remembering as the creature bounded across his field of vision as he was moving. He would have shot the creature, save for the fact that the boy held out a fist and the creature instantly stopped where it was, still he couldn’t let it just run around. Flipping his blaster to stun, he’d fire a bolt at the creature, the blue ring heading for it as fast as a regular blaster bolt. He figured since it was stood still by warning of it’s master, and relatively short range, he’d be able to do that to knock it out for now, just until the creature could be restrained.

Dear god what had he just said "Excuse me miss! Well done Jarak, you sound like a real grizzled mercenary with that language, no way in hell I'm getting on that ship now." His face remained pleasant smile as the thoughts of his own stupidity ran wild in his mind. Would she just tell him to do one or possibly worse? A Smirk as she turned to face the Captain was the only response offered. The pad identified this woman as 'Solace' but that was more than likely just a cover name. There was something enchanting about the way she conducted herself, a constantly alluring aura seemed to surround her which made Jarak uncomfortable to no end. For a few seconds, there was nothing, no other response as if she was formulating what to say in response to his offer. The silence was deafening to Jarak as the questions of whether or not he had fallen at the first hurdle began to creep back in. But as she opened her mouth to respond she seemed to tense for a moment before standing up before him, a hand gripped tightly on the pommel of one of her Vibro-blades. Two words "Oh shit." went through his mind and time seemed to slow for him. He'd survived blaster fire, airstrikes and being blown up, only for fate to decide that he would finally bite the bullet or sword in this case, in a repugnant bar surrounded by the scum and villainy of the galaxy. His eyes closed and his body tensed waiting for the blow that would never come, instead, the woman spoke frankly "I should go. Jarak, CR-90 at the port."

Before he could even open his eyes again she was gone, a heavy sigh followed as he turned to see the direction the woman had disappeared off in. But there was nothing, no trace that she was even moving through the crowd outside. Luckily he knew which dock the CR-90 was at or he'd be completely lost trying to find this Solace again. Jarak spent the rather pacey walk over to the dock wondering how in the galaxy had she disappeared like that, was it some trick that a force user could do? Or was he just going blind? As he neared the dock there was the distinct sound of blaster fire coming from his destination, what was going on, this had to be why the woman disappeared as she did, but there must be something very important on that ship for her to react as she did, and how did she know whatever was happening was happening before the loud mumbling from the commlink became audible. Jarak had a good number of questions going through his mind as he approached a security barrier which opened for him after a small exchange of credits with the guard.

As Jarak walked into the dock itself there was an explosion in front him, a very familiar sounding explosion as well. Now Jarak was starting to figure out the people he would hopefully be dealing with for the next few months. Idiots, it was the only word that seemed to suit the situation, what kind of fool would throw a Thermal Det here, inside a ships hold no less. Whichever idiot had thrown it clearly needed a little more than a basic tutorial of how to use grenades. It was then that he spotted Solace holding someone from behind with her Vibro-Sword to their neck while an Anooba sat uneasily to the side. Jarak put his head into his palm as he walked towards the bottom of the cargo ramp."There's no way I'm making it back alive am I?" he mumbled.



Sable had been too concerned with keeping Sena safe to notice Sharp throw the Thermal Detonator, but when it went off the realisation of the danger he'd just put Sena and the rest of them it became all too apparent to the droid. "Either he needs some sense beaten into him or that chip's finally driven him insane. Either way, I'm gonna chew his damned ear off when this is over." Normally Sable was fairly emotionless and uncaring towards the safety of squishy meat bags, but Sena was one of only a few in the last few years to actively make him enter protective mode. He wasn't sure what was actually wrong with the girl but with her childish nature, she reminded him a lot of the children he used to watch over for the Blasaw family and the last person to hurt one of those ended up begging for it to be over quickly. As he stood there returning fire at the person foolish enough to attack them he noticed a friendly tag appear next to the boy. "I hate it when she does that, I could have shot her. He thought to himself as he lowered his blaster, now that the captain had returned that should put an end to this little incident.

It was then that he felt something bump into his leg, If only he could have facial expressions because the sight he saw truly baffled him, that disease ridden fur ball was standing next to him spear raised towards the cargo bay entrance, for a split second there was a desire to raise his leg back and punt it off the ship but Sena would probably crush him with her mind if he did. He looked back to see if Sena was ok and she was still just crying in a ball on the floor, was the Ewok trying to protect Sena, perhaps since it didn't know the fate that awaited it in Sena' room. Shaking his head in disbelief at what he was witnessing next to him he turned and took a knee next to Sena before placing a hand that while a little cold and metallic was one meant to reassure the terrified girl. "Are you ok my lady? The danger should be over Mistress Solace has returned, you should be safe now.