Pre-TL: First Introductions

[Darasuum]

✜ THEME ✜

Edge of the Dune Sea, Tatooine​

Tatooine was a sparsely populated planet compared to others. There was an even smaller settlement towards the outer edge of the Dune Sea where miners, merchants and others had built up some small infrastructure. It probably had a population no larger than a few hundred people at best. But they had a cantina and they could refuel Wesk's ship. There was a large number of Jawas present. That much was obvious from the moment she landed. The town definitely was heavily influenced and likely even founded by a Jawa presence in the first place.

She had just dropped off some excavation equipment for a group of scholars and scientists. They were there to pursue the lead that the Dune Sea had once been an ocean. Fossils and rocks would tell them more information but of course they had need of machines and gear to accomplish the task. With the job done with Wesk had some free time on her hands.

The red headed teenager looked around the cantina. It was not a large town and only had the one. Even a the rare kid from a local family was seen among the patrons. At least the seventeen year old delivery girl would not be asked to leave. Wesk had found that some drinking establishments with held services when it came to younger looking members of society. There were a number of factors to this. But the same reasoning did not always apply to each location clearly.

"Morality seems to not be universal. Interesting." She spoke softly to herself as she tapped the menu puck in the center of the table. It displayed a limited number of available dishes. Some were the most basic and probably not even on par with galactic franchise quality. But this was a fairly isolated location. Maybe I should inquire with the owner of the establishment to see if they would desire better ingredients. Then again if they could afford that then they would have already done so.

Wesk sat there for a moment until a server droid came up. It did not ask for her identity or anything but the teenager did not order any drink. Instead just a simple bowl of soup was her choice. After the droid left the freelance delivery girl the music would continue to play in the background while she pulled out a datapad and began tapping away at logistics planning for her next delivery. Occasionally she would look up to curiously observe the other customers.

@Killa Ree @Nefieslab @AutoFox @Insalius

 

[Killa Ree]

So. She hadn't really counted on being caught up with so soon... and on this shitehole in particular.

Ilana had been minding her own business. She had been stopping by Tatooine for fuel and for repairs, even catching an odd mechanic along the way( @Insalius ).

What she hadn't counted on was that her former client's 'help' would have tracked her to this dust bowl. The cantina was about to get a rude awakening, that was for sure.

Through the doorway, a tall, slender body sailed through the air, landing on the hard ground and slumping against a particularly ragged-looking Rodian, who didn't even give a look before kicking her away. She gave a ragged cough and a low muttered curse, long white-blonde hair a ragged mess matted in rusty red and white coat covered in... ugh, she didn't even want to think of it.

A large, beefy humanoid came barreling in after her as she struggled upright, grabbing her by the collar and slamming her into a wall as she let out a wet grunt.

His foul breath washed over her, and she struggled to not vomit, struggling with one hand against a thick arm that pinned her shoulders to the wall... and the other in her coat.

<<You're gonna go back there and you're gonna fix the boss,>> he hissed, and she scowled, head ringing. She was about to speak, but blood coated the back of her throat. So instead she spat in his face.

When he stumbled back she proceeded with a headbutt, then something flashed in her hand. It stuck into his side, and he snarled, wiping his face and muttering curses, then groaned at the blade in his side. Should she be surprised no one intervened?

...No. This was lawless stuff. But at the moment, the crowd didn't matter. And this was only a side business, nothing to do with her main work. But even she had standards... treating galactic filth wasn't one of them.

"Tell your boss to go kark a Bantha," she snarled, slamming her own boot into his side.

It wouldn't take too much longer for the guy to leave, but she hoped the mechanic type she was doing business with earlier wasn't dragged into this ridiculous mess. She limped over to the bar, attempting to smooth her hair back into some semblance of decorum. But the smells, the unwashed bodies... her lips curled, and she tried to straighten herself up further.

It was then her eyes landed on a young-looking woman... odd. Was she a minor? Not that it was any of her business.... and speaking of, she had unfinished business. With a groan, the woman slumped over, waving weakly to a server droid. And perhaps the guy... Renard, was it? Her head rang woodenly, making memory hard... made it out alive.

"Whisky. Leave bottle and glass," she rasped, feeling the room spin slightly.

No beefy con was gonna run her down today, but she really needed something to dull the pain digging into her ribs. The bacta could be applied later.

@Darasaurus @AutoFox @Nefieslab

 

[Insalius]

When he had been grabbed by the strange woman, Renard had almost panicked and activated one of the grenades he kept on his person just like how his parents had done. It was a strange fear of death, though, that stopped him from activating the orb of destruction, instead being dragged along just as he had finished getting some parts for a refined scattergun that he'd had a flash of inspiration to make recently. He'd been just short of the parts, bringing the mostly-assembled weapon under his coat, and in the surprise at being touched he'd almost dropped everything he'd brought with him. He stood to the side as the men accosted the woman who had dragged him along, hearing what they were saying but not fully understanding. He could have left...but something about how they treated her stirred something deep inside, something buried and what he'd hopefully had forgotten. He sat next to her on the bar, staring at her wounds.

"Are you going to fix that? It seems to be bleeding quite bad." He took out his scattergun, placing it on the bar to start putting in the parts as he talked. Working helped him deal with other people better. "Is that knife all you had? You should at least carry a blaster in places. Sometimes a knife isn't enough to really tell people not to bother with you. Then again, I was going to blow us up with a grenade, so I guess I don't have any place to talk." The pieces were fitting in just as he had wanted, again proving he was a genius. This scattergun would have a narrower spread but have slightly increased range, something that most thugs wouldn't expect the first time they were hit by it. "Do you want a grenade? I have a few extra. This is the only blaster I have, though. I haven't tested it yet, so I'm not sure if it'll work as planned or blow up in my face. Were those people anyone you cared about? Can I use them as test dummies?" He didn't bat an eye at the thought of killing other living beings just to test his weapon.

 

[AutoFox]

Helen Holcomb, ace pilot, had never expected a rocket ship to look like a piece of formal dress attire, but then she had been disabused of a lot of previously held notions since the war against the aliens had begun.

Helen's day, of course, had not begun like any other. Today had been the day of the Big Push, or Operation Bottleneck as the brass called it. 5,000 troops, 1,000 tanks, over 500 aircraft, the best men, minds and equipment from seven nations, all brought together on a single set of coordinates deep in the Tovarin wilderness. They had come together to drive the kidnappers from beyond the stars back from whence they came, and in the process, rescue hundreds of men, women and children taken by them for some unknown purpose. The taiga had rumbled with the tramp of boots, the rattle of tracks, the roar of aero engines overhead.

Helen wondered just how many of the poor bastards who had gone in with her actually came back out.

The young Lepi had been the pilot of pursuit ship, proudly representing the United States of Hemispheria in this great endeavor. Her plane was state of the art, a sleek, all-metal monoplane driven by 12-cylinder, turbo-supercharged monster of an engine that could propel it at speeds up to 650 kilometers per hour. She had flown in an international squadron with pilots from the TUSR, Cipang, the Ebran Empire, even the Greater Tolvic Realm.

The star-slime had been waiting for them.

Helen had no idea what happened to the men on the ground, but the air battle had been intense and brief. The first indication anyone had that something was wrong was when a Tovarin biplane had slammed into an invisible barrier at about 400 kph. The rest had managed to pull up, but then the squadron started taking ground fire, the incandescent raygun bolts sending two more pursuit ships down in flames. Moments later, a 4th got it from something that looked like a fireworks rocket, trailing a plume of smoke.

And then the alien pursuit ships had made their appearance.

The coalition forces had only minimal information on the enemy's "Bowties," as they had been dubbed. They appeared only rarely, and though they looked fragile to Helen, they were impossibly fast. The young pilot couldn't hope to keep up, and no matter what she did to lead them it seemed like her tracers never found their mark. Ultimately it was one of them that got her, stitching her engine with raygun fire and sending her ship spiraling toward a forest clearing with what looked like prefabricated buildings set up in it.

She hardly remembered the crash; she had lost consciousness almost immediately. She had vague recollections of being pulled from her cockpit by someone, and then she had awoken in a cage...

Helen was shaken from her recollections when something in the rocket ship started beeping.

The Lepi still wasn't sure quite where she was, but after escaping the aliens - the slavers, she reminded herself - she had managed to steal one of their craft. Once, what seemed a lifetime ago, a Bowtie had been brought down by a lucky shot from an air defense battery in the Ebran Isles, and Helen, along with every other Coalition pilot, had gone to see the reconstructed wreck. The cockpit had been remarkably similar to the craft she was used to, even if almost nothing else about the alien ship was the same; this gave her a starting point for learning to control the one she had stolen.

Helen tracked the beeping to a blinking light on the control board, which was labeled in a script she recognized from various alien artifacts, but was still learning to actually read; the spoken language, gleaned from alien prisoners, was somehow almost identical to old Tolvese. What the script - and the flashing light - indicated, Helen could only guess, but she had a feeling it was nothing good.

Abruptly, the stolen Bowtie shuddered.

"Oh no. Ohhh nononono NO. I don't know how to land you yet, don't you dare!"

The Bowtie dared.

The roof of the little cantina rattled, and a distinctive hissing scream dopplered by overhead. The sound stuttered as it got a bit further away, and out of the doorway or grimy windows, anyone watching would have seen a battered TIE/LN starfighter skimming low over the desert, one of it thrust nozzles trailing a plume of black smoke.

The TIE began a lazy circle, the distinctive noise of its engine sounding increasingly ragged with each pass. Eventually, it began to slow down, and seemed to be coming in for a landing of sorts. After a few attempts, it managed to come to a rough halt, hovering on its repulsors and slowly lowering itself to the ground. It seemed about to make it, before there was an abrupt pop, a fresh billow of smoke, and the ship came down hard. As it did, one of its side panels buckled, and it collapsed onto its side.

It was a few moments before the cockpit top hatch banged open, and a figure in what looked like an almost prehistoric leather-and-fur flying jumpsuit clambered awkwardly down from the stricken craft. Dusting themselves off, they looked around, and evidently spotted the cantina, turning and marching toward it.

About halfway to the door, the figure paused, and reached up to pull at something around their neck. They pulled off a sparking collar, evidently some damaged piece of technology, and tossed it aside with apparent contempt before resuming their march toward the cantina.

When they arrived, they turned out to be a disheveled-looking Lepi female. Looking around apprehensively at the few patrons, she cleared her throat, and spoke in slightly accented Basic.

"Ah... hello. Does this place have a... telephone, I could use?"

 

[Darasuum]

A rumble came soon enough as a ship passed over outside of standard flight paths. The sound was specific and every spacer knew it if they had ever heard it once before. It was in enough media these days even everyday galactic citizens could know what it was. It was a TIE fighter if she had to guess. But nothing worth getting up from her seat and investigating. Wesk still had her soup to consume.

The food came back soon enough. The bowl of soup was simple enough to pour and then deliver. They did not have a lot of options here anyways. It came with disposable utensils though judging by the stain marks they had been reused like actual silverware. I don't think I have actually ever seen any silverware made of silver. It is outdated nomenclature. The disposable spoon was still clean, probably. It helped that the bowl had a covering. It was necessary in such a sandy environment unless one wanted to consume sand with each meal.

A few slurped mouth fulls in and she heard commotion going on towards the front of the establishment. One exceptionally pale woman entered with some struggle. Her beautiful appearance did increase Wesk's calculations that she was less inclined to violence. But these estimates were reevaluated as the freckle-faced teenager watched her brutalize the male that had been harassing her. A brief moment later the golden eyes of the doctor met hers and the girl smiled. That was what she had learned nice people did when they made eye contact even with strangers. But soon after Wesk took in another bite of her mediocre soup. It was nourishment and nothing else.

The hazel eyes of the young woman watched Doc make her way to the bar and was joined by a canine who seemed both anxious as well as more well armed than she was. It was hard to hear what they said but Wesk caught small parts. Mostly because the spectacle wearing male asked most of the questions. From Wesk's point of view that showed he was nervous about being in this kind of environment.

A moment later a newcomer entered. This one looking more disheveled than any other. Wesk did the same smile to them as she had done to the other woman. But she said nothing. She was asking for a phone and judging by the environment they might have a one of the more archaic or simple communication devices. Then again the young engineer doubted that this town had the infrastructure to make that form of communication a likely possability. "You may use my commlink if you need to." She pulled out her commlink and placed it across the small table for them to take. "No long distance calls though please." It was just a cheap disposable commlink and paying additional fees was not ideal given that she did not have an excess amount of funds at the current time.

@Killa Ree @Nefieslab @AutoFox @Insalius

 

[Nefieslab]

Of the many places Flynn saw his journey as an intergalactic smuggler and dashingly handsome rogue starting, a cantina on Tatooine seemed ideal in as many ways as the place itself seemed repulsive. It was hot, it was sweaty, everyone there looked like they would murder someone over a tiny little slight and that all just made it perfect.

You weren't going to get the good stuff like this on bloody Alderaan that was for damn sure!

More aliens here than he'd ever actually met before in his entire life too. Thankfully that should mean that he was less likely to stick out. The cantina wasn't his first stop on this dustball of a planet after all and, as was kind of the norm for him, it seemed that he had gotten into a little bit of trouble.

Striding into the cantina as if he belonged there, Flynn stepped up beside a pale woman and a large wolf man alien person. He waved to grab the attention of the bartender,

"I'll have a brandy." He paused before glancing around a little bit before adding, "One of the good ones, you know? I don't want to catch anything around here..."

Turning to the wolf man, he tapped him on the shoulder a few times to get his attention,

"Hey, could you do me a big favour? Can you pretend I've been here for an hour or so? I've kind of... um... got an angry wife wanting to 'talk' to me, you know?"

That the woman in question wasn't his wife didn't need mentioning in his opinion.

@Darasaurus @Insalius @Killa Ree @AutoFox

 

[Killa Ree]

She blinked as the girl smiled.

Perhaps she took one too many thumps to the head. Maybe the stupid humanoid that was roughing her earlier actually broke more than just a rib, but... her attention snapped back to her partner, wincing as she slowly straightened. A small sticky pool of red came from the cut just to the left of her eyebrow; she gingerly touched it, and scowled, swallowing and grimacing at the thick feeling in her throat.

She spat off to one side; hardly proper etiquette, she knew, but this damned thick feeling was making it hard to talk. And with the throbbing in her skull and the sharp pain still radiating up her side, she knew she'd have to repair somewhere soon, and she doubted this dustbowl had a proper medic clinic. Or wanted one. Most of these thirsty backwoods types didn't trust her type.

Just look at the dirty looks tossed her way from the other patrons at her less-than-smooth entrance. She scowled at them all, snapping the bottle from the server droid and the glass before pouring herself a measure, and downing it quickly to wash away the taste. And also give herself some time to answer.

"Been through worse, actually," she rasped, fingers clenching around the bottle. "I'm surprised they just left me with a few broken bones... he was a soft, fleshy meatbag. He's lucky I let him keep his throat." That thought brought up a bitter smile, but there was no warmth in her eyes. The smile vanished the moment two things happened; the distinct whine of.. a TIE?

And then an obnoxious human male type.

She immediately felt her hackles raise. Her last human male interaction ended with them pressing a blaster to her temple. Oh, and him ordering his goons to beat her to death because she refused him treatment. She suppressed the scowl, however, and simply poured another shot, bringing the other glass to Renard and tilting the bottle in silent offering of a shot. "Sorry to drag you into my mess; I'll pay you what I owe, when I can. But," she shifted her lab coat to reveal her own blaster, "I'm aware. I just wanted him to return a failure. Next time, he's not going to be so lucky. I'm tired and sick of being thrown about... again."

Amber eyes slowly dragged up and down this... new male character that arrived, hardly helping the cold voice that fell from her lips.

"If you wanted a catchable disease from the residents, you wouldn't have to marry them to get it." Her gaze flickered over him once, twice, before clearly dismissing him, hopefully her parting words would be taken to heart, but she doubted it. "But you seem to have a clean bill of health. Lucky you."

Perhaps this Renard fellow would help him, but her bigger concern was the Lepi that seemed to have survived a crash landing. She looked a lot less of a mess than Ilana no doubt did, but a trained doctor always showed where she needed to.

And the gal looked like she had an interesting story to tell. Ilana was a sucker for a good glory story. She strode over, catching the younger woman... girl? mentioning she had a commlink. She tilted her head once... then spoke.

"I'll take any long-distance charges for you..." she addressed to both of them, then to the Lepi, "but let me examine you. Looks like it was a bit of a rough landing. Anything bothering you?" And then she glanced at the fur around her neck... and her eyes narrowed.

There was an idea... and she was already itching to shoot something. Probably the original owners of the TIE.

@Darasaurus @AutoFox @Nefieslab @Insalius

 

[Insalius]

Renard was about to reply to the woman, noting how plain and uninteresting her blaster was, when the human male next to him spoke. He blinked at the request, confused as he had thought that the man had always been there. "Haven't you been? I know all you humans look alike, but I could have sworn you've been drinking that..." He peered at the bottle the drink had come from. "...Whiskey? I've used liquid like that to polish metal." He shook his head, unsure how any of these furless beings could survive to this age. "I mean, sure, you've been there the whole time, haven't you?" He wasn't lying because he legitimately didn't know, but assumed that was the case. He actually didn't lie to people, though he did know how to twist the truth to suit his needs.

The the TIE fighter fell, the lapine woman coming through the door soon after. He moved over to where she had dropped the broken collar while the others spoke to her, examining it with a trained eye. A slaver's shock collar, which meant that the fighter that had crashed was probably independently owned. It wasn't often he could get his hands on parts from one of those, though before he moved off he realized that it would be rude not to ask the woman first. He assumed she had come in on it and he didn't want to have her call the intergalactic police on him for theft of property. He walked over to her, not noticing others trying to giver her their commlinks to make a call. "Is that TIE fighter yours? Are you still using it? Can I scavenge from it? I can pay you, if you want, or maybe trade..." He started rummaging around in his pockets, pulling from his coat a stun rod, two collapsible vibro-blades, two hold-out blasters with one capable of stunning, four fragmentation grenades, and his modified scattershot rifle. "I still need to test the scattershot...Did you come from slavers? If they come to get you, can I test this out on them? They tend to vary with protection, so it would be a good array of armored and unarmored targets..."

@AutoFox @Killa Ree @Nefieslab @Darasaurus

 

[AutoFox]

Helen, when Wesk replied to her request and handed the Lepi a comlink, blinked slightly in surprise and confusion. A what? She thought to herself? Out loud, she said, "Um-"

It was all at once that the young pilot realized that she was not, in fact, surrounded by her fellow Tolvites, as her slightly stunned mind had assumed. Blinking, she looked around at the roomful of aliens that surrounded her, her eyes widening slightly as she took a step back. The creature offering the strange device was pale, utterly without fur except for the hair on her head, with a flat muzzle and - to Lepi thinking - a pronounced nose. She looked like some of the slavers Helen had escaped from earlier in the day.

"W-Wait a second, what-!"

Another of the aliens had approached, this one looking a little worse for wear; the blood and bruising indicated she had been in some sort of fight. She said something about paying for long distance charges, but the Lepi's fight-or-flight mode was already kicking in. Her hand dove for the holster at her hip, and she came up with an antique-looking blaster pistol.

"Alright BACK! BACK star-slime! I'm not letting you take me back to that-... that..."

Someone spoke behind her, and Helen spun around, aiming and reflexively jerking the trigger of the little blaster. It sputtered and popped, a thin plume of smoke rising from the barrel, but nothing more. The Lepi, meanwhile, stared in shock at the giant bipedal wolf that stood before her, excitedly asking questions and pulling weapons from his pockets. Helen blinked, stumbled back a few paces, and collapsed down onto a bar-stool. The blaster tumbled from her hand, clattering on the floor.

"I'm not even on Tolvis anymore, am I..."

@Darasaurus @Killa Ree @Nefieslab @Insalius

 

[Darasuum]

After she had offered her communication device everyone suddenly seemed to focus their attention on the newest arrival. The white haired yet young looking woman was offering compensation but she seemed curious. Why are they all interested in her? She wondered as her hazel eyes darted from the white skinned woman to the oddly perfect looking man. She was not one to study attractiveness or fashion but he stood out and seemed too clean and well groomed compared to everyone else.

There was the canine male who kept spouting questions non stop. Wesk was able to track each of them but it seemed like the rabbit female was overwhelmed with the amount of attention. She began to panic and produced a blaster, swinging it around wildly. Wesk's eyes widened a little, her pupils dilating as she subconsciously did not want to miss a moment. But her predictions counted that she was unlikely to get hit by a blaster bolt from the freaking out lepi.

The young redhead just sat their quietly looking between each of them sipping her soup. Its level dropped and caused her to slurp audibly while staring at the array of company that had suddenly come very close to her table. Eventually the young Helen stumbled and fell, sending her own table to the side. Thankfully Wesk was drinking from the bowl directly at this point and forgoing the use of one of the disposable utensils.

Standing up she set the bowl down on her now empty seat and picked up her commlink that had fallen to the ground. If the rabbit-woman was still on the ground then Wesk would offer her a hand. "It's dangerous to swing a blaster around. I estimate a ninety five...er...eight percent chance that everyone in this establishment is carrying lethal weapons." It was not a threat from the teenager, merely a statement. "Welcome to Tatooine."


@Killa Ree @Nefieslab @AutoFox @Insalius

 

[Nefieslab]

Who wanted a catchable disease? Seriously what was that woman talking about? If she was talking about sexual diseases then he didn't know what the hell she was on about even more than before! Seriously, who wished that kind of stuff on someone?

That last bit caught his attention though.

"Um... clean bill of health huh? You can tell just by looking? You some kind of doctor or something?"

Or maybe she just had a really good diagonostic kit in her... contact lenses? Was that a thing? Flynn honestly wasn't even sure, there was technology that let people blow up planets so who even knew what made sense and what didn't anymore, right?

The arrival of the small alien woman (he could just tell that she was a woman) was loud, brash and utterly spectacular in that it looked cool as hell.

"Points for the landing!" He called out to the Lepi with thumbs up, "The judges give it an eight out of ten - first time flying or something?"

To the wolf man who seemed okay with just forgetting his arrival, Flynn gave an exaggerated wink to. This guy got it! Or... wolf-guy.. he was going to need to find out people's names or this conversation was going to get confusing in his head. The red head pointed out that everyone was likely armed and Flynn waved at the bunny-eared person brightly.

"She's right you know - everyone here is hiding weapons in places you really don't want to think about. Or, you know, holsters if they can afford them."

 

[Killa Ree]

She glanced briefly over her shoulder at the human male, perking a white brow.

"..Yes. Top of my class, yet here I am as an unemployed Doc. Long story."

She glanced at the Lepi as she began to wildly wave her blaster. Some other patrons ducked, but she simply stood there, arms crossed. The girl was probably in shock, and the younger woman also seemed as unwavering as Ilana felt. To be honest... several things added up odd here. The Lepi mentioned telephones instead of commlinks. Had a blaster that looked like it should belong in a museum, crash landed a ship that probably hadn't flown in anyone knew how long...

She sighed, slumping into the barstool next to her. "Watch your itchy trigger finger there, this place is rougher than a Gamorrean's backside." She snagged her bottle back and her glass as well as a second empty one, filling up both. She didn't know her name anyways; the only one she knew was Renard, and he was only met a mere hour and a half ago. Or was it two hours?

​

"Easy, kid." She downed the second shot, exhaling as soon as it went down and holding the other glass out at her. "Looks like you're far from home. Have a drink, you'll feel better." She knew she was being soft, but something about the girl poked that one spot in her that she suspected most called having a heart. She didn't like it much... but then she whistled low at Renard's various pulling of weapons, giving him a bemused amber-eyed stare.

"...I want some grenades. And whatever fancy tech you can throw at me. I want out of this ugly backside planet, and I want some sweet tech while I'm at it." She glanced briefly back at the younger woman drinking her soup... and gave a one-shoulder shrug. "Eh. Sling a blaster, nobody bats an eye. Heft a grenade, and everyone loses their mind. At least it's never boring here. But you're right."

@Nefieslab @AutoFox @Insalius @Darasaurus

 

[Insalius]

When the Lepi pulled her antique blaster to waive around, Renard wasn't threatened at all. In fact, he had seen that it was going to malfunction if fired anyway, noting cracks and dents on the weapon that would cause it to not work correctly. He legitimately thought that she had pulled it to show him, wanting it to be fixed and showing him how it didn't fire correctly. She even seemed so distraught over her weapon's state that she started to cry, dropping it on the floor in dismay. Perhaps that was the price she was asking for, to sell him the rights to scavenge from the TIE fighter. Well, if it was do be a deal, he'd give his part the best he could.

As the others were talking to her, Renard had picked up the old blaster and had taken out his tools to start working. Using a nearby table he quickly repaired what damage he could find, luckily the older style of blaster one that he had plenty of parts to fix. His hands moved with a blur, his eyes darting around as he focused on his task. It didn't take long at all, maybe a couple minutes, and the blaster was now not only good as new but was more efficient, allowing for an extra few shots for every reload. Could surprise an enemy that wasn't expecting the extra shots. "Here you go, should be working now. Is this enough for the salvage of the Fighter?" He seemed actually excited to root around and discover what sweet tech he could.

@Nefieslab @AutoFox @Killa Ree @Darasaurus

 

[AutoFox]

Helen blinked as the blaster was handed back to her. She took the weapon gingerly, hesitating a few moments as she stared down the wolf-man before holstering it. It took her a moment to realize one of the other beings was holding a drink out to her, which she stared at warily before taking.

The Lepi looked around at the small group of beings surrounding her. If they planned to hurt her, or if they were associated with the slavers, they had had her dead to rights a moment before. None of them were Tolvites, that much was obvious, but they didn't seem so bad.

She eyed all the weapons on show. They didn't seem so bad, but that didn't mean they weren't dangerous. Perhaps they could be useful.

"Uh... thank you."

Helen raised the drink, raised her eyebrows, shrugged, and downed it. The flavor was unfamiliar, aside from being highly alcoholic. After finishing it, she looked out at the wrecked Bowtie, and looked back at the wolf-man.

"Uh, yeah, go for it! Thank you for the... you called it a blaster? I kind of took off an al-... off somebody."

Turning, the Lepi looked at one of the other fur-less aliens. She looked younger than the other two, and was probably female, if Helen's own biology was any good comparison. She seemed... well, utterly un-phased by the proceedings.

"Uh, Tatooine, huh? Is that the name of the planet? I am on another planet, right? Before I lost consciousness that first time I was coming in hot over frozen taiga..."

She shook her head, setting the empty glass on the bar.

"Listen to me. First peaceful contact anyone from my world has had with space aliens and I'm rambling all over the place."

Helen straighten, reaching up to adjust the collar of her pilot jumpsuit. She tried to bring back some of her military baring, but suspected she looked slightly ridiculous.

"My name is Lieutenant Helen Holcomb, United States of Hemispheria Naval Air Service." She glanced at the empty glass. "Thank you for the drink. Frankly, I don't know if I'm still considered on duty or not, but after the day I've had, I needed that. And I'm sorry for waving a raygu- er, a blaster at you all."

She sighed, and sagged a bit once more.

"Just wish I hadn't left the slaver camp with so little to show for it..."

@Darasaurus @Killa Ree @Nefieslab @Insalius

 

[Nefieslab]

Well damn - a real doctor in a sector of space like this? Dad had always said that Flynn had the luck of the devil but this was probably better than he likely could have hoped for. He grinned a little bit.

"So... you looking for work at all?" He urged the doctor, "Because I've got myself a ship and I really could do with a medic on board, you know?"

And a pilot.

And an Engineer.

And a navigator.

And a gunner.

Okay so maybe Flynn needed quite a bit before he would be able to really fly his ship away from this rock come to think of it. He looked at the two aliens for a moment before an idea came to mind. If Flynn were anywhere near more self-conscious or, even, slightly more humble, he would be able to tell that neither the wolf-man nor the little alien woman had any reason to care about him and his ship.

He just naturally assumed they would jump at this thought because they wanted adventure like him.

"Hey so... you're a pilot right?" he asked the alien girl, Helen, before looking to the wolf-man, "And you're good with weapons I see. So! I need a pilot and a gunner-type for my ship as well - what's say we all sign up together? Head out into the stars for glory and adventure and credits!"

Here he paused for literally a second before adding.

"Oh and we can go beat up those slavers Ears was talking about too."

There was literally no moral reasoning in his decision. His thought process was actually very simple.

Slavers had credits.

Credits Flynn did not personally own.

This was bad.

This could be rectified by stabbing slavers repeatedly until loot fell out.

Flynn would then have loot.

And that was the greatest good.

@Darasaurus @Killa Ree @AutoFox @Insalius

 

[Darasuum]

"Eight out of ten what?" Wesk did not know what the man meant. Where were the judges that were observing the apparent crash landing. Perhaps the Lepi was a performer of some kind. That would explain a lot of the wild behavior. The young woman would need to re-evaluate what passed for entertainment on Tatooine.

The pale woman was a doctor of some sort. The type that was in the medical field judging by the circumstances and references to health. The teenager took back her commlink since it did not seem like anyone actually needed it, stowing it in her hip pack.

The others continued on their way to the bar. They seemed to leave Wesk's table though her soup was cool now. Most of it had been consumed and an ample amount of the sustenance was now inside her stomach so the rest was unneeded. She left it there and began to pay for the food when there was mention of getting off planet by the same Doctor as before. "If you require transport I can provide my services. If your ship is in need of repairs I can assist as well." Her young voice rising over what din the establishment may have had.

The Lepi had crashed her ship so the invitation was open to anybody present, even other members of the cantina if they had heard. Wesk was not angling for passengers. But it seemed like it was appropriate to capitalize on the opportunity. Her she always needed fuel and upgrading her vessel with acquired funds was an obvious necessity. Being hired for a job was a means to an end. The 'too pretty' looking male seemed to have the nuances in his facial expressions that indicated he was imagining something, likely a personal agenda.

@Killa Ree @Nefieslab @AutoFox @Insalius

 

[Killa Ree]

She touched the tender portion of her jaw where a lovely bruise was no doubt purpling up nicely, and then over the cut over her eyebrow. The bleeding had stemmed somewhat, so... that wasn't so bad. She shrugged at the Lepi's words, sighing a little and wincing as it twinged the pain already radiating down her side.

"It's all good, kid, you didn't shoot anyone. And you think this motley group is weird," she gestured a slender white hand limply around their general group that was seemingly beginning to come together, "you should see some of the other backend planets around here. Much more colorful, trust me."

She gave a long side eye to the male... she never did catch his name. But she'd bet twenty credits this guy couldn't afford her regular quoted prices for her skills. But then again... what choice did she have? She was out of a job, beaten up five shades to hell, and spending some of the last dregs of her creds on bad whiskey rather than a jaunt out of here.

She then glanced at the young girl, and shrugged. Her voice rasped slightly in a flat Basic accent, dry and calm.

"I didn't come with a ship... the guy that roughed me's boss brought me here. I don't treat trash, and he reeked."

She tilted her head back to the male, staring at him a couple seconds longer. "And what did you have in mind for such a crew? I'm sure I can give you a full exam without being hired on."

Perhaps, though... her luck was starting to turn up aces. Perhaps at long last, she could finally get steady work, a decent place to sleep... and even a shower. She resisted the urge to shuck off her lab coat, though. Even though it was horrifically filthy from being dragged and beaten up through the dusty streets of Tatooine, she had to maintain her image.

"But if it's about beating up slavers..."

She slowly stood, stretching. Her spine popped and cracked, then arms crossed, features left nonchalant. "Count me in."

@Darasaurus @Insalius @AutoFox @Nefieslab

 

[Insalius]

Ah, good! He finally had the permission to start salvaging. He almost went there immediately, though the offer from the human made him stop. He was forced to think of his actual situation: Out of fuel, out of credits, unable to continue his work and, more importantly, escape if someone was looking for him. That thought...terrified him. Perhaps he came to the decision a bit quickly because of that, but as his mind weighed all the options at hyper speed he found that this was the least bad of anything else he could come up with. That made the salvage take second place too, as he didn't have a place to use or store anything he received.

"Oh dear...that's a deal I don't think I can turn away. I'm out of credits and fuel...Do you have space enough for my things? And a proper work area? I have SOME tools, but if I had a bigger work area I could do more...Do you know someone who would want to buy my ship, then? Maybe some extra credits..." He was thinking deep about this, not a topic he actually liked but something he was being forced to handle. He'd been running for years, now. Now he couldn't. He could either try to keep running and endanger himself or try to be something more. Then there was the line about the slavers. He knew they were something people didn't like, so they wouldn't be missed if they were killed brutally. "Can I help with the slavers? I need to test my scattergun on live bodies."

@Darasaurus @Killa Ree @AutoFox @Nefieslab

 

[AutoFox]

Helen blinked. Things were going very quickly; a moment before she had been on the run from alien slavers, and now she wasn't just being offered help, but a job as well! Not only that, but the little group of beings around her seemed all-in to help take down the slavers.

The xenopologists are going to have a field day with this. She thought to herself. The whole 'slavery is inherent to their culture' camp will have to change their tune, at least.

Helen's long ears perked up in cautious optimism.

"Really? You folks would help me with that??" She beamed. "Yes, yes I would love your help! I escaped, but they have dozens of civilians from my world in their camp; if we hurry, we might catch them before they get shipped out!"

She hopped to her feet, made for the door, and paused. She turned to Flynn.

"Oh, um, and I accept your offer! I'm almost certainly going to need some instruction on the controls, but... if it's got wings, or I guess even if it doesn't, I can fly it."

@Darasaurus @Killa Ree @Nefieslab @Insalius

 

[Nefieslab]

Oh this was going well so far! So far none of them had gotten annoyed at him and tried to attack him - which was actually kind of a feat. For some reason people kind of thought he had a punch able face.

Which was just rude.

He grinned wide at the new person to approach. An engineer?

"Well I would never dare to say no to such an offer from someone so talented!" He agreed with a wide grin, "I would be delighted to have you as a mechanic aboard my ship!"

And then?

Then everyone else was suddenly signing up as well! Flynn laughed happily at his good fortune.

"Then its settled! We shall journey forth together as a collective!" He declared brightly, "My name is Flynn! And what shall we do with ourselves...?"

Stepping away from the others, Flynn drew his sword and held it up, pointing it to the ceiling.

"We shall take on these slavers! For truth! Justice!" He grinned as he added his main motivation, "And to rob them of every past credit they have!"