Shai pulled her hood up as she stepped out of the spaceport and into the bay. She had to be honest, the ship she was looking at was kind of a junker. Although she had flown in worse (the escape pod she was trapped in for two days came to mind) this ship, The Phoenix, didn't inspire confidence. The captain Shai had met with earlier, Varen Kray, did however inspire some confidence. She just hoped the journey offworld would go smoothly enough to get her to the next planet. Unfortunately, one doesn't hire protection if one doesn't expect trouble, that was one thing she had learned in her relatively short stint as a mercenary. Shai did hope someone had a blaster they would loan her because hers had been stolen recently and she really did not have the credits for a nice one. While thinking of weapons, Shai's hand went to the tunic pocket, where she felt the remains of her lightsaber through the worn cloth. Feeling the weapon that had once been an extension of herself in such a state was still unnerving to Shairi'velia.
The loading ramp to the ship was open and Shai observed three other figures (four if you counted the Captain.) One was obviously a wookiee. They towered over the other figures, and were covered in grey-streaked brown fur. Another was-- a droid? Shai couldn't help but wonder if the droid was crew or cargo. This one had obviously traveled quite the distance as it was dirty, scratched up, and wearing a scarf. Curious to say the least. The last figure was a reptilian creature, a trandoshan most likely, but it wasn't dressed like a slaver or a mercenary like most of the reptile species' Shai had dealt with in the past. The exile generally disliked the scaled creatures because of their tendency to come back from severed limbs (and no species is happy about losing a limb) but she had to respect their tenacity. Tenacity was one facet of strength after all.
The last figure of course was Captain Varen. He was an older human male, who looked grizzled, although grizzled might not cover all of it. He reminded Shai of the instructors back in the Academy on Korriban. They had the same air of boredom mixed with impatience, although in that case it was usually tempered with anger. Shai had received many beatings for lateness when she was much younger, and those painful lessons remembered made her show up a few minutes before the time the Captain had given her during their first meeting. Upon closer inspection of the wookiee, who had sat down by the time Shai had closed the distance, it appeared to be polishing a large club. Or if nothing else, something that could be used as a large club. However there was another reason why Shairi'velia was drawn towards the wookiee; when she had instinctively reached out to sense the other beings' force presence, she noticed that the Wookiee had an extremely strong connection to the force (possibly stronger than Shai's) but they didn't look like a Jedi and Shai had never heard of a wookiee Sith before. This was concerning to the Exile for a number of reasons. Not the least of which was an immediate concern for her life; if this was a Jedi and could sense Shai's connection to the dark side.. well things could get messy without a lightsaber. She would play it cool for now, no reason to 'show her whole pazaak hand' as she heard some smugglers say once.
The droid obviously didn't have an force aura, or if it did it was so miniscule Shai couldn't sense it. The trandoshan had a small aura but it wasn't negative as she might have guessed. It was, for lack of detail, fairly neutral. Captain Varen Kray was.. too complicated to sense. Perhaps it was her own troubled connection with the Force, or his own aura but she couldn't sense anything about him, really. Peering behind her, Shai noticed a skittish looking Bith lurking a few paces behind her as she took her place with the group of aliens. Another passenger or crew member? Shai couldn't say. They didn't appear to be malicious, even as she reached out with the Force and felt their aura.
Shai took a seat on a cargo crate and ran her fingers over the edges of the hilt of her lightsaber nestled in her pocket (it was an idle habit, one long deprived of meaning.) The Bith she had observed behind her had apparently had second thoughts upon sight of the ship, and to be honest, Shai couldn't blame them. It was a cowardly act to be sure, but who wouldn't run at the sight of this junker. Shai grit her teeth at that thought. Her, apparently. Was it desperation or bravery that brought her here and forced her to not turn away in disgust at the sight of the ship? Shai didn't know. Unfortunately that was an answer that was becoming more and more common in her travels. Doubt is the surest path to defeat her masters used to tell her. It seemed like doubt was the only thing Shai was sure of in recent days.
Soft clanking broke Shai Rivelia out of her thoughts.
A Dug engineer or something close to it approached the group, their toolbelt clanking the whole way. Unlike the Bith, this one seemed very self-assured. Almost too self-assured for a creature that looked like it could have all its limbs separated from its body by almost any alien here. Maybe not the Trando-- he looked a little pudgy for that. Maybe not the droid either. Regardless, this Dug must be an excellent engineer to keep this rustbucket running.
The Captain cleared his throat. Shai turned back to look at him as he began to speak.
It was a fairly basic speech. He went over rules and guidelines and that sort of thing before inviting anyone who had cold feet to leave. Cold feet on a cargo run? This was looking less and less like an average job with every word. With that thought, the Captain entered the ship and the others fell in line behind him.
Not in a particularly adventurous mood, Shai was the last to get up and follow the others into The Phoenix. The Trando and the Dug stopped to exchange words and Shai flipped down her hood as she passed by, exposing her tightly wrapped tchun-tchin or lekku. She rolled her eyes as the Exile caught the tail end of a boastful statement by the Dug. Typical. She squeezed by them and ended up in the central area of the ship, where the Captain and the Wookiee were idling. Shairi'velia took her time to memorise the entrance and exits to the room and to adjacent rooms, as well as likely areas for contraband storage. She wasn't exactly a smuggler but she had raided enough ships to be suspicious of any nook or knob. She poked and prodded at some handles and panels but nothing gave way. She also looked at likely areas for cover and ambush in the event of boarding actions. Boarding actions! Shai twitched involuntarily as the painful memory burst forth from the dark corners of her mind. She shook the thought away and hoped no one noticed.
Shai settled in to a lean against the wall, adjacent from the wookiee and made a mental note to find a weapon.
AlteredTundra,
Lemons,
Spoopy Scary,
Ivar,
Sadu,
Bugman,
Noctis,
RogueFox,
Citrus,
Tim the Yeti