Shipwreck

[Caligula]

The sudden attack sent Garoosh off his balance and he slammed into the wall of the engine room with a heavy thud. Luckily, he was tough and the hit only stunned him for a moment. As he quickly recovered, his data pad began beeping at him that there was damage on the underside of the hull. From what he could see, the damage wasn't threatening the ship but was more of a mean scratch. Even if he could, Garoosh didn't have the equipment to fix the damage.

Suddenly the ship lurched to one side as it twisted and turned, probably to avoid the enemy fire. Garoosh stabilized himself and bolted down the hallway on all fours, his mind racing to figure out how he could help. He heard the powerful guns of the Anticipation rumble through the ship before punching through space towards their attackers. He refocused on his task as he made his way to the bridge. He didn’t know what to do and he was starting to get worried. He knew in the back of him mind that Data wasn’t going to be far behind.

In the cargo bay, Data had finished taking his inventory of the ship's cargo and sealed the last crate. If he had a mouth he'd be smiling with pride as he hobbled over to the exit. Then the first blast shook the ship and Data fell over. Unfortunately, a crate of rations came loose from its straps and started sliding around with the ship as it moved to avoid the blasts. Data was at the mercy of the ship's artificial gravity as he tumbled around the cargo bay and narrowly avoided colliding with the crate. Eventually the ship stopped moving and Data was able to re-secure the crate as best he could before leaving the cargo bay and hobbling down the hallway towards Garoosh’s position. He was so focused on his task that he didn’t realize where he was going and he accidently ran into the astromech from before. Data fell backwards but quickly recovered, inspecting the droid for any damage he may have caused.

When Garoosh finally made it to the bridge, he slowly entered due to the tense atmosphere that hung in the air. There was an open transmission and apparently the captain and Gedro were talking to the attacking ship. Garoosh stayed quiet and waited in the corner for the captain to say something.

 

[Narsi]

Nagorral stomped into the cockpit as fast as he could before taking a gander at the scene before him. Turning his head , he saw Adan putting his hands on the controls, "Your going to try and help aren't you?" Shoving Riva out of the copilot seat he sat down and proceeded to fasten the straps, "I'm just going to say that this is a horrible idea, but I'll keep in mind that this is YOUR ship and not mine."

Nagorral glanced behind to make sure his axe was strapped down safely and turned back to Adan, " You should at least wait for the best moment, your ship isn't exactly made for combat."

 

[Vi-Stri]

There was a brief silence after Gedro’s response, the only noise coming through being static. Everyone was thinking now, and like a good game off chess, they’d have to make the proper moves to come out of this the victor.

“That sounds like an invitation then.” The woman mused. Though much like last time, the Rodian seemed to be in protest to his partner and whined loudly in his native tongue before switching over to Basic. “It’s not gonna be that easy, you know that. It’s never that easy.”

Suddenly, the lights flickered once more in the cockpit, and then again, and finally the ship fell into complete darkness. Vants cursed loudly, and he had every right to spew that filth from his mouth. No power meant that they were no better than a floating rock, no better than one of the rocket carcasses that they were trying to reach. They had no engines, no guns, nothing.

Garoosh would hear the door open behind him as Nae relocated to the cockpit, and suddenly the area was far more crowded than it should have been. “Sir, they’ve noticed that we’re dead in the air. Their ship is closing in, I think they intend to board.” The captain said nothing, and instead chose to stare down his opposition. As they approached, one could clearly read two words of text plastered on the vessel, the Echo Sunrise. They then heard a loud clunk, signaling that the two ships had connected.

Swiftly turning, Vants looked Garoosh dead in the eyes with a burning passion. “Garoosh, I need you to get this girl running again. Do whatever it takes!” He then turned to Gedro. “I hope you’re as good with those blasters as you are on the controls because we’ll need it. Go with Nae and defend the ship. They’ll be on us like flies any minute now.”

Returning to the controls, the captain cracked his fingers. This was gonna be a close one. “I’m getting us out as soon as I can see again. If we can make it to Shipwreck, we can lose them in the wreckage; now go!” That was how they’d advance on this chess board, and all the pieces had their moves. All but one.

Gomorrah fiddled with her rifle, palms sweaty, knees weak, arms heavy, and vomit of some sort of homemade noodle dish on her bunk sheets. She’s nervous, having never been in a combat scenario once in her life. Hell, she never even fired the gun she held so dearly. “Frack me, why did it have to go like this?!” Heart racing, the girl loaded her gun, grabbed the rest of the ammo, and started to the cockpit for some semblance of the others.

At the cargo bay, the exterior door slowly slid open, and multiple figures entered the Anticipation. Leading them was a woman, a blonde human in full Mandalorian gear save the helmet. In hand, she carried a T-21 light repeating blaster. Behind her came two Mon Calamari with scatter guns, and one Nautolan with a heavy blaster pistol. Guns at the ready, they swept the hold to make sure it was safe to move forward.

 

[JollySailorBold]

Gedro nodded solemnly at the captains words. Holding his blasters with care, he would motion for Nae to lead the way to the attackers. He would follow her carefully, ready to "take care" of the invading pirates. With some, he would show mercy, but Gedro had no reservations about killing those who preyed on the weak and powerless. Too many times had he met a downtrodden Ishi Tib merchant ruined by a pirate raid, a drunken corellian wallowing in despair over the loss of his ship, a lonely Bothan telling the story of how marauders killed his crew- it was too much. Too much pain, and too much suffering. And Gedro would put an end to it, atleast, an end to these ones.

Back in the hallway with Data, Essix stopped momentarily to realize that he had just been slammed into a pit droid before beeping an apology in binary and continuing on his way. His destination was the cargo bay, to hide, as Gedro instructed. Occasionally Essix would object to his masters command of hiding while he stayed out in the open danger, but they had learned to trust each other. Essix had been rescued from his droll fate by Gedro, and got to see the galaxy because of him. For that, he was grateful. In return, he would repair whatever Gedro had broken this time, which was usually everything. It was a budding relationship that Essix didn't want to lose.

As the astromech unit barreled down the hallways, remembering their adventures, the power in the ship cut off completely. Lights, doors, everything. Figuring that Gedro had yet again messed up the ship, he searched for the nearest access panel and tried to return power to the systems. When that failed, Essix realized something was wrong. He wheeled around and went to return to the cabin, hoping to gain some insight as to what was keeping the ship powerless and helpless.

 

[Brendan Love]

"Trust me, I have a very useful tactic that I use. You are about to see it." He started moving the Wanderer toward the battle ensuing before them, before, out of nowhere, taking a vertical dip to make sure they'll be below the battle. Once he figured that he was low enough he stopped to tell Nagorall the plan. "Ok, I think we are far enough down. What we are doing is shooting the pirates from below. Damaging there underbelly and making it hard for them to figure out where we are and and to shoot us. We will, hopefully, blow a hole in the bottom and be able to get ourselves inside of the ship, taking it over. Not only will we be helping these people but we can get a good mass of wealth, too. For this to work, though, I need you to get on the cannon. Can you do that?"

 

[Vi-Stri]

From her back, Nae pulled quite the beauty, a modified EE-3 carbine rifle. Gripping the elongated barrel, the girl marched forward. “Stay close and keep those eyes forward. The last thing we want is to be caught with our pants down.” Striding down one of the vessel’s many hallways, the two nearly collided with the youngest member of their crew after turning a corner.

Gomorrah gasped in terror at the sight of those glowing red eyes that the Kel Dor sported. For a moment both of them expected the other to be something far more dastardly, but as Yasser aimed her rifle, she soon realized that this was just their frightened chore girl. “Hey, calm down, it’s us!”

Hearing that somewhat familiar voice, the redhead felt momentary relief and took a moment to recuperate against one of the cold metal walls. “You almost gave me a heart attack…” Panting, she pointed a shaky hand to the ship’s rear. “I was, I was down by the bunks. I could hear them coming in from the cargo hold.” Genuine worry crossed her face. “What do we do?”

Nae ran a clawed hand across her bald head. They’d continue forward and kill as many of them as they could. However, this girl that stood before her wasn’t a warrior. It’d be best to send her off away from the action. “Go to the cockpit. Better yet, follow Garoosh when you get there. Stopping these fools won’t mean anything if we can’t get the Anticipation going again!”

With a nod, Gomorrah scurried in the direction that Gedro and Nae came from, and intercepted the Filvian. “Hey, I was told to follow you. Something about getting the power back on.”

Meanwhile, in the hold, the invaders concluded their search of the room. “It’s all clear ma’am.” Stated the larger of the Mon Calamari, standing taller than the rest of his compatriots. “I can see that Wamuu; this place is Fracking empty!” The woman yelled, almost sounding as annoyed as her Rodian friend that was still aboard the Echo Sunrise. She kicked one of the crates, spilling a few enviro-suits to the ground.

Their ignorance to what lied beyond the cargo would allow Nae and Gedro to sneak into the bunks and position themselves at the door to the hold. “When I count to three, we strike.” She whispered. “One, two, three!” Mashing the controls to the door caused it to slide open, and the defenders were greeted by a group of confused oddballs who did everything they could to scramble to some form of cover.

 

[Caligula]

As the captain barked his orders at Garoosh, the Filvian instinctively paused for a moment as he ran the three questions in his mind that he always asked when presented with a problem; what’s wrong, why is it happening, and how can it be fixed? It didn’t take him long to answer the first question. The power was offline for the entire ship. On to the next question; why was it happening? He ran the options through his mind as quick as he could. Judging from the fact that his data pad and other personal electronics seemed to work ruled out an EMP blast. The next logical step was that the ship’s main power core had been damaged somehow. Possibly during the first exchange of cannon fire between ships. After deciding that the power core was his first choice, he got up and started to hurry towards the core. However on his way out he almost knocked over the human girl, Gomorrah. Apparently she was there to help him.

“We need to get to the main power core, assess the damage, and see if there’s anything we can do. All while avoiding the pirates.” He said as they hurried down the hallways. As they ran, Garoosh contacted Data. “Go to the bunk and bring me my combat gloves as soon as possible, understand?” He waited until the droid’s response rolled across the data pad. “Affirmative. Retrieving item: Combat Gloves.” Garoosh nodded and put away his data pad, then dropped to his natural quadrupedal stance and his speed increased dramatically.

As he and Gomorrah ran along, Garoosh was surprised to see Gedro’s astromech rolling towards them. Garoosh stopped in front of the droid. “Woah woah, where are you going?” The droid beeped and whistled it’s response. “Concerned about the power huh? Well that’s where we’re going. Follow us.” He said quickly as the three of them started to make their way to the core. They took a few turns until they was at the entrance to the power room. Unfortunately, the doors were jammed shut from the lack of power. There was a small gap near the bottom where the doors had been thrown off their track. Garoosh wasn’t strong enough to open them, and Gomorrah had even less of a chance. The astromech didn’t have any hands or the necessary strength. The terminal that usually controlled the door was dead as a door bolt.

“Damn!” He growled as he hit the door. Inside he could hear the sound of sparks from exposed wires; they needed to get inside now. To his surprise, the little clinking of metal feet became apparent as Data was seen hobbling down the hallways towards them, Garoosh’s Combat Gloves in his little hands. The Filvian began to beam with excitement. “Data! Come here, quick!” The pit droid broke into a run and stopped in front of the group. As Garoosh took his gloves and began to put them on, he spoke to Data.

“Okay buddy. I need your strength here. Open these doors.” He said clearly and slowly, making sure the droid understood everything. Data registered the command and nodded with a little buzzing sound. Then he stepped up to the jammed doors, took his two little claw hands, and jammed them into the small gap. Then in a feat of amazing strength, he simply pushed the doors back along their designated tracks as a shrill scream of metal scrapping metal was heard from probably every part of the Anticipation. The needed to hurry.

Garoosh wasted no time in rushing in to inspect the core. Gedro’s astromech lit up the room with his flashlight and Garoosh saw what he was dealing with. The core had sustained minor outer damage from the blast, but the main problem was in the circuitry. The Filvian knelt by a panel in the main control pad and removed it, releasing a wave of black smoke. He coughed and looked at what needed fixing. He had a lot of work ahead of him but it wasn’t anything new to him. He pulled his head out and looked around at Gomorrah and the two droids with him.

“Gomorrah, cover the door with that rifle. I don’t want any pirates sneaking in while I’m working. Data, we’ve got an important project to work on and you know what that means. And you,” he looked at the astromech. “Help where you can. If you're able, update Gedro on the situation. Tell him, it’s going to take a while to fix this.” With that said, Garoosh ducked his head back into the panel and went to work. Hopefully the message would somehow reach the captain and he'd be aware of the situation.

 

[JollySailorBold]

Wasting no time, Essix whistled an okay before rolling off back into the hall. He hadn't originally wanted to accompany them, but Garoosh apparently knew what was happening, and that had convinced him to go. It was impressive, really, and almost made Essix want to stay. He wasn't accustomed to accompanying anyone with actual knowledge of the situation at hand- Gedro's style was much more "shoot first, shoot again later", which often involved lots of fighting and not a lot of...well, not fighting. Regardless, Essix had a mission, and an inclination to keep Gedro alive. He rolled down the halls yet again, and barreled straight into the cockpit, beeping rapidly about the damages to the ship and the situation. Without waiting for a response, or even noticing Gedro wasn't there, Essix starting going back to Garoosh and the others, hoping to be of more assistance.

Gedro laughed maliciously as he started his barrage of blaster fire, firing repeatedly at the invaders. The air around him burned with blaster fire, and Gedro liked it. He managed to hit the Nautolan in the chest before he himself had to dive out of the way, forced to reload his guns and avoid the armed resistance. His show seemed to work wonders on the enemies rage, as the two Mon Cala started to shoot at him, leaving only the Mandalorian to focus on Nae. Unfortunately, with two scatterguns trained on his position, Gedro was helpless- if he even moved slightly towards the door way, he would be sure to lose an arm. He gestured to his Kel Dor companion, hoping she could take out one of the Mon Cala. He kept his mouth shut after that, reloading his guns and waiting for Nae to waste some fools.

 

[Narsi]

Nagorral growled as he clambered into the control seat for the upper turret hearing the seat . Taking several moments to fiddle with the confusing buttons, he finally managed to make the turret swivel to point at the other ships belly. First he took a moment to shout back to Adan, " The shooting part is fine, but there is no way we'll be able to board safelty even if there is a huge hole."

Nagorral turned back to the controls and pulled what he assumed was the trigger. Gratifyingly, the laser cannons responded and several shots were sent flying towards the enemy ship's belly. Nagorral continued pulling the trigger growling in joy as he sent shot after shot screaming forward. Hopefully this would be enough to ensure victory, he didn't understand how they could board the ship and had no desire to face another pistol wielding mob.

 

[Vi-Stri]

She clutched her rifle so hard that her knuckles turned white. Pirates, that’s what they’d called them. Synonymous to criminals, gangsters, and scumbags. Whatever they happened to go by, Gomorrah was sure she didn’t want to see them. That’s why she kept a wary eye out following Garoosh’s lead. There was no telling where these people could crawl out from; and if Garoosh was killed, then that was it. Game over.

It was fortunate that they were able to reach the power core with little trouble, except for the jammed door. The girl looked to Garoosh expectantly, seemingly believing that he’d be able to jigger the door open under a misconception that he’d be strong enough due to his size. But he couldn’t, and that was scary. Scarier still, there was a sound of crackling emitting from the room. Heavy beads of sweat rolled down Gomorrah’s forehead; was it possible for the ship to explode?

Data’s sudden appearance and incredible feats of strength were increasingly surprising to the girl, and she couldn’t help but flash a momentary smile when the small droid came to their aid. “That’s so rad!” With that out of the way and Garoosh fixing the core, Gomorrah headed his words, standing in the doorway and checking to the left and right periodically. She’d shoot if she had to, right? But what if the next person down the hallway wasn’t a pirate? What if she accidentally killed one of her own? No, don’t dwell on that. I’m sure everything will end fine.

Aboard the Echo Sunrise, Captain Messina twitched nervously. His bulbous eyes scanned his monitors, and he made careful notice to keep his ears on the frequencies of his men. The constant blaster fire that came through wasn’t supportive; this was a mistake. And when the Wanderer laid fire upon the already damaged underside, the man knew he had to get out while he still had the chance.

“Are we gonna be okay Messina? Is my mom gonna be back soon?” The Rodian looked upon his human godchild. The girl was only 13 and yet she was already witnessing such depravity. “Don’t worry Elisabeth, I’m getting us out of here.”

The boarding party was in deep poodoo. Loggins had blaster burns in his chest and was stuck clutching his guts on the floor, and then Messina came over their commlink babbling about the retreat. How could this be happening? They outnumbered them two to one!

You couldn’t see it, but Nae was smiling under her breathing mask. Even she knew that the odds were against them, but they were still coming out on top. She had been in a private shootout with the Mandalorian and neither of them managed to connect any hits. She thought the next one would end it, but no, the human was too fast. She barely noticed Gedro’s plea but switched targets as soon as she could. It was a good thing that the Mon Calamari were not as agile and the smaller of the aquatic individuals quickly fell, clutching his neck, dead.

“Esi, no!” His brother cried, withdrawing from the fight and kneeling over his corpse. When he looked to Loggins, the Nautolan had suffered similarly, his body still. Messina was right. They had to leave, now. Wamuu barreled to the door, screaming for his life.

That left one. Lisa was the farthest from escape, and with the fire of two trained on her position, there was no chance of her making it out without getting cooked in the process. When the external door slid to a close and the Echo Sunrise disconnected, it was clear that this was over. The mercenary threw her gun out in the open, and her ship jumped to lightspeed, fleeing. “I surrender! You hear me!? I’m giving up!”

 

[Caligula]

The next few minutes rolled by rather quickly for Garoosh. His focus was completely captured by the mechanics and circuitry that made the Anticipation work. His hands were constantly moving as he replaced dozens of damaged wires, replaced entire circuit boards, and created makeshift fixes from his custom design list. Data stood nearby and always handed Garoosh the proper tool at the right time. Essix the astromech was nearby and provided a constant light while also helping with tools.

Garoosh hoped to get the power back online in about 3 minutes or less. He worked fast and he worked effectively. However, his job was clear to him; he needed to get the power back online. His work was only going to contribute to that goal for now. His repairs were only temporary and would need more time for more permanent results. After a short time, he decided to test his work. He attached a wireless transmitter to the main line and crawled out from underneath the control panel. He pulled out his data pad and activated the transmitter, which in turn restarted the core. The core started up with a low hum, followed by the lights flickering back on. Garoosh watched on his screen as the ship’s various systems came back online. He smiled as he checked the time. 2 minutes 39 seconds. “With time to spare.” He said with the same smile. He wiped his hands off on his tunic and turned to his droid assistants. “Thank you for your help. Now let’s head to the bridge and check on the captain.” He walked towards the doorway where Gomorrah stood like a guard, her rifle aimed and ready for anything. Garoosh tapped her on the shoulder.

“Come on. Let’s head back to the bridge.” The fur around his face was singed and the white hair around his eyes was blackened into a solid color. Other than that, he seemed uninjured and unfazed. With that the four of them began to make their way to the bridge.

 

[Brendan Love]

Adan thought about what Nagorral told him. "Good point, we WON'T board the ship. We can still blast it into little pieces though, and that's enough for me." He said as he raced forward to get closer to the pirate ship. Nagorral was shooting the main turret, but he had some front ones that will put a couple of dents into their body. Why not? He started firing and howled gloriously. He loves space battles, especially when it means taking down some pirates. After firing a few shots, though, the pirates fled into hyperspace. "Dang, just when it was getting fun."

 

[JollySailorBold]

Gedro had a choice to make- let the woman live, potentially as a prisoner, or kill her. The second option both disgusted him and pleased him at the same time. He didn't want to kill anyone he didn't have to, but on the other hand, she was ready to kill them...and his predator/prey instincts demanded he kill her now. He wondered if the captain or the others might want her alive, and if they did, it would be better to please them then take part in his own murderous desires. Setting his blasters to stun, he spun around the door way and fired two quick shots before holstering his pistols and grabbing the light repeating blaster. Looking to Nae, he said,

"Feel free to do with her what you wish- I'm going to tell the captain we have a guest on board. If she gives you any trouble, yell for me. She should remain stunned for a few minutes."

Now that that was over, Gedro walked out of the bunk room towards the cockpit. He figured he might even get bonus pay for bagging a prisoner from that god-awful pirate ship. Whistling as he sauntered down the halls, he wondered what Essix was up to- or really, what anyone else on board was up to.

As he entered the cockpit, Gedro slung the rifle over his back and looked to the Captain. Not waiting for a response, he told him;

"Hey, those pirates left one of their own here on board. I left her stunned with Nae, the other two that were left here will have to get cleaned up...though I suppose the droids can handle that. I miss anything important?"

 

[Vi-Stri]

Lisa went down in a spasm, unconscious. It was a gamble letting her live at all, but if they did, this was preferable. Nae would hoist her dead weight and carry the human to an isolated storage room where she’d be able to do no harm to the crew if she decided to get rowdy again. Quickly locking the door behind her, the Kel Dor then set back out to the cargo hold to assess the damages caused in their shootout.

Convening back at the cockpit, the group would find their leader laid back in his chair with a glass and bottle, solemnly drinking while looking over various readings on his monitors. The good news was that the ship made it out with only light damage. The bad news? Well, Garoosh was correct in that his repairs were only temporary. His work was good, but it wouldn’t be a permanent fix, and so they would need to locate the proper parts in Shipwreck if they hoped to fix the core.

Rotating his chair to face the crew, Vants listened to what they had to report. Taking a prisoner was… interesting. “I suppose we’ll have to keep them secure while I decide how exactly to handle the situation. Nevertheless, I’m proud of all of you. Good Work!” Reaching into a cabinet under his seat, the captain pulled out a rather large bottle of some sort of unmarked alcohol and lightly tossed it to Garoosh. “You’re all dismissed, feel free to relax before we reach out destination.”

Though before Gedro got the chance to exit, the old Twi’lek clasped his arm around the shoulder of the Zabrak. “Except for you. I need to make a call to our saviors on the other ship. Plot the course, will you boy?” As payment, Vants held out his bottle to his copilot, a very expensive flagon of whiskey.

Opening communications with the Wanderer, Vants relayed; “This is the Anticipation, led by Captain Marlow Vants. I’d like to thank you for intervening when you did; that ship could have destroyed us if you didn’t send them off with their tails between their legs. We’re currently heading off to Shipwreck for a scavenging mission. If you’d like to join us, then you’d be rewarded handsomely on our return to civilization.”

 

[Caligula]

Garoosh failed to hide his smile when the captain praised his work. Unfortunately the core still needed work. He had rushed a little due to the pirate attack and he knew there were things he could improve on now that they had more time, but the big picture hadn't changed; his repairs wouldn't last for long. The parts in Shipwreck were their only shot at this point for any real solutions.

When the captain produced a bottle of alcohol, Garoosh instantly perked up. He needed a good drink after the attack and was glad that the captain had given him something. He nodded his thanks to Vants and turned to find some kind of lounge area where he could rest. However, he noticed Gomorrah and decided that he would have gladly preferred a drinking partner that wasn't a rusty pit droid. "Hey kid, care to join me for a drink?" He asked with a crooked smile as he led the human girl along. While they walked, he popped the cap off of the bottle and sniffed the drink. It was very blunt with how much liquor was in the drink, but he had had worse and could handle his alcohol well enough.

When they found the kitchen area, Garoosh took a seat at one of the table's and poured himself a glass. He raised the bottle towards Gomorrah. "Would you like a taste? It'll calm you down." He asked with a little shake of the bottle. The girl didn't look old enough to drink but he didn't really know her background on the subject; plus she looked like she needed something to settle her nerves. In the back of him mind, he was slightly worried about the power core. If it didn't hold up until they got to Shipwreck or if they got damaged again, they may be out of power again. But if that happened, he'd fix it again. If Gomorrah accepted the drink, he'd pour her a glass and engage in whatever conversation she came up with. If she didn't then he'd drink alone and stare at his data pad, watching for any alerts.

 

[Vi-Stri]

The ship had an air of tranquility now that things were back to normal. Of course, they’d still be in that mess if it hadn't been for the superior shooting skills of Gedro and Nae. No matter what Gomorrah had assumed of the Zabrak, in the end, he had saved their lives, and so the girl would need to give her thanks the next time she got the chance.

For now, Gomorrah followed in Garoosh’s footsteps, intent on joining him in a bit of R&R while the option was available. She wasn’t usually one to drink, if only because she’d been relatively green to alcohol. Though that didn’t mean that she’d be adverse to trying… whatever it was in the bottle.

Grabbing a seat across the table from her large companion, Gomorrah took the bottle and poured a bit into a glass. She gave it a long glance before committing, unsure if she’d even be able to stomach the stuff. It’s scent drifted to her nose even as it sat on the table, this stuff was strong. And when she took a sip? It was like fire going down. But down it went, leaving behind a coughing fit that was fit for sickness. “That’s, that’s, oh jeez, how do you drink that?!”

Pushing the glass back, the girl reflected on what brought her here in the first place. “You know, I’m only on this ship for the money.” Traveling all around the rim was killer on the wallet after all. “I gotta send most of what I get here back home to my family. We’re in a tight spot right now, but this job should set us up good.”

Thinking back to what had occurred at the core, it only dawned on the girl now that Garoosh had fixed what he needed to in record time. “So you must be really good at fixing things, eh? How’s the core doing anyway?”

 

[Narsi]

Nagorral sighed in relief as the enemy ship jumped into hyperspace. The odds had been good but he was still glad to have come out unscathed from his unwilling participation in these idiotic heroics. Grabbing the chair for support, he heaved himself out of the chair and headed towards the cockpit.

Hearing Adan's disappointed response to the enemies flight, Nagorral yelled forward, " Your ship isn't made for this, if you enjoy it you should get a better ship."

The big Wookiee got to the cockpit just in time to hear the message come through from the Anticipation. Listening to the message, he turned to Adan and noticed the human almost longingly fingering the blaster trigger. Shoving Riva out of the copilot seat, he smacked a paw down and stopped Adan from responding to the Anticipation. Lowering his head to Adan, he started talking in a low tone, " Keep that off. Did you hear what they said? They essentially said their ship was in bad shape. I bet that ship, the Anticipation, is badly damaged."

Nagorral nodded towards the ships controls, " I saw how disappointed you looked when that other ship got away and neither of us have had any work lately or any other source of cash. The Wanderer has Torpedos right? Well, that ship over there trusts us too be on their side and I know a place that could give good cash for good spaceship parts. Why bother going to shipwreck when their good scrap right here?"

Nagorral slowly lowered himself back into his chair and eyed Adan carefully, " You see where I'm going with this? You can respond favorably to their summons and get us closer and I'll go back to that turret, I know how to work it now, we can do it before they even know what's happening."

 

[JollySailorBold]

Gedro nodded and set the liquor down next to him, and started to plot the course. He just wanted to get out of here and back on task, so he could get paid for the job and go home. He paused himself when he heard the captain start his call, however. After listening in and hearing Vants offer them a reward for their work, he quickly leapt over and shut the comms off. With a concerned look on his face, he turned towards the captain and said,

"Are you out of your mind? We don't know these people! For all we know they could be more pirates! We need to get out of here, not just randomly invite every ship that comes our way to join us, especially when you're talking about handsome rewards! Tell Nae to keep her eye on that ship, you get us out of here whenever you're ready. I need to find my droid. The course is set for you. Just please, please do not invite them over. We can't take another risk in this state."

With that, Gedro walked out of the cockpit and into the halls, wandering around searching for his droid. After being unable to find Essix, he made his way to the lounge area and found a comfy chair to rest in. Truthfully, he didn't think they should invite the ship over for multiple reasons, the most prominent one being that with them tagging along the loot would be split even more. The other reason was that he had enough of other people for the day and just wanted to get going.

 

[Caligula]

Garoosh laughed a low but still hearty laugh when he saw the girl struggle to process the drink. Granted it was some pretty strong stuff, her reaction was to be expected. Apparently she wasn't an experienced drinker. Garoosh had easily finished his glass and was already pouring another one. He shook his head while he laughed before putting the cap on the bottle again. "I think that's enough for you. Maybe we should start you off with something, less intense."

With the matter of drinks aside, Garoosh registered what Gomorrah said. He had never had a family before; except for the other slaves at his camp. He didn't really know what a parent was, only lots of siblings. "You must be close to your family to do something like this for them." He said quietly to himself, almost in a whisper. He quickly downed his drink and prepared a third glass. He wasn't a fan of thinking about his past unless his helped him somehow. This wasn't one of those moments.

"You could say my people have a certain, finesse, when it comes to electronics. I am no exception." He managed a smile now that he was on a different subject. Technology was something he was very comfortable talking about. "I can fix just about anything. In case you need something specific that is." He leaned back and sighed a little. "The core, could be better. It's still in rough shape. I'll need some more parts and more time if we hope to go anywhere too far. I made it possible for us to get to Shipwreck and cruise around a while. Nothing extensive like light speed or moving to the nearest planet." He finished his third, and for now his final, drink and settled back. If anyone was paying close attention, they'd notice his fingers twitching slightly. However focused he seemed on the conversation, his mind was still focused on the core. It was now his responsibility and he would treat it as if it were his own. In his mind, the ship was part of his technological family.

On the other side of the room, Data was in his passive 'sleep mode' where he sat on the ground in a tight disk shape. Only when someone activated him would he wake up again.

 

[Vi-Stri]

Vants shook his head. “If they wanted us dead, they would have shot at both ships!” He proclaimed, watching Gedro leave the cockpit. Maybe the kid was right. More people meant smaller shares, but maybe it was worth it in exchange for extra protection. Well, they got the message; Joining their expedition would be up to the crew of the Wanderer. The captain put the ship in motion, and the engines fired up, advancing forward.

Back in the kitchen, Gomorrah had settled for a glass of water instead. Listening to Garoosh talk about his work was interesting, and the alcohol seemed like it was working on chipping away any unease. The condition of the core was troubling, but they’d figure out a way to fix it. “Well, with as many ships in that place as they say, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find something that fits.”

Suddenly, the intercom came to life, the Captain's voice echoing through the Anticipation once more. “Nae, I’d like you to report to the guns and keep an eye on that ship.” It seemed like the old man heeded Gedro’s words after all. From the cargo hold, the gunner had just finished dragging the two bodies of their enemies into an airlock, where she ejected them into open space. There, the Mon Calamari and Nautolan would float, serving as a testament to the violence of space travel. Yasser then swiftly arrived at the guns, ready to fire if the Wanderer decided to get violent. “I should just fry them now while I have the chance…” She mumbled. The situation could elevate at any time. Would it? And who would throw the first stone should things go sour?