Gathering a Crew

[Idriss Mako]

Jewel of the bloody core, Idriss laughed to himself as he sidestepped a man puking in the street ...don't make me laugh. Alderaan was just as bad as everywhere else, all you had to do was look deeper and the filth could be found. It was barely past seven in the morning - and the bars of the orbital station operated by 'Alderaan Shipping’ would be getting ready for the morning rush, parched crews flocking to them the moment customs finished their inspections of new arrivals. As such, the bars would be the easiest place for him to get his morning work done - ironically they also are the reason Idriss was rushing around at this time in the morning.


His pilot had been cut up in a bar fight, some three hours back, and the company was refusing to budge on his departure time - instead sending him a list of contractors that they used, and that happened to be open to new work. Idriss Mako had until mid afternoon to get this new pilot to sign on, for little pay, great risk and poor reward. If he didn't, he had to fly with a skeleton crew, and void his bonus.


Checking his datapad, as he waved his company ID at the doors Houk Bouncer, who merely grunted and waved him in, he read through the candidates dossier. It was sparse to say the least, little information about her previous work and very outdated picture taken some years back. He rolled his eyes as the datapad took it upon itself to remind him that the company was waiting for confirmation that he'd secured a new pilot.


Such was the life of a Freighter Captain, always at the mercy of the company bosses. He stepped into the bar, his Scout Armor helmet popping off with a hiss, his pistol at his side and stun baton on his hip. Quickly he looked around the room, poorly lit though it was, and made his way to the booth he had arranged to meet his contractor at. Grabbing one of the waiting droids as he walked to his booth he called for a tab to be opened, for there was nothing better than strong liquor on tap to please a pilot.

@jamessour @Swedish Guy

 

[William Prescott]

Captain Stark to Hanger Deck 37B, Captain Stark to Hanger Deck 37B.

Willi Prescott frowned at the announcement.

Whenever the Zeltron found himself in a place where announcements were made over the loudspeaker, he usually was not happy. Hospitals. Spaceports. Sporting Events. He did not care for any of these things, and the orbital station operated by 'Alderaan Shopping' in the orbit of Alderaan was no exception. The planet itself was fine - beautiful women, rich culture, free flowing alcohol if you could get to the right parties. That kind of life was the good life, and at the present moment Willi yearned to take a few weeks and enjoy all that Alderaan had to offer.

Mr. Bosktht to Room 392-A, Floor 18, Mr. Bosktht.

Willi winced at the shrill, unfeeling voice.

He wasn't welcome on Alderaan any more. Their government had a no enter designation attached to the flyboy's name. Such was life. But here in the orbital station, the young sentient could get just enough of a glimpse of the planet below to make skin crawl to be there again. Alas, his old junk freighter - the HWK - was out of juice. He could go exactly nowhere but here, dead broke and without means for transportation. And so he returned again to Alderaan Shipping, a company he had worked for many times in the past when he was dead broke, and they welcomed him back with a taunt and decent pay.

"Well I'll be!" exclaimed a rather plump, sweaty Zabrek as Willi entered Room 29-CC, Floor 4. Willi grimaced and shook his head, no doubt in his mind the sort of greeting he would receive from Sipph Tino. "Sharpen my horns and bleach my skin," the sentient continued, "if it isn't Captain Will Prescott!" The Zabrek let out a hearty belly laugh as Willi grabbed a datapad from a shelf on the opposite side of the room and begrudgingly brought it over to the Zabrek.

"What can I say, Sipph, I'm a company man." The Zeltron placed the datapad on the desk and pushed it across to the Zabrek. Sipph was still chortling to himself, his belly visibly up and down dramatically, and he sniffed a few times in attempt to further highlight the humor he saw in the moment. He took the datapad and clicked on his holocomputer several times, entering in the settings required. When he needed it, William served as a first officer to one the contracted captains and crews working for Alderaan Shipping. While the company found it easier to work through these contractors, they sent a "company man" aboard each of the ships to keep track of the crew, logs, and ensure the Captain and crew were keeping up with the appropriate regulations. It was easy money, and it paid decently if you had the proper credentials, which of course William did. He wasn't sure how or when he had them, but he was in the system, at least.

"You'll be the First for a real son of a bitch," Sipph commented, handing the datapad back to Willi. "Idriss Mako is his name. Human. Rather ugly. Thinks he's tough. Taking a Nerf Herder out by midafternoon." The Zabrek slammed on his SPACEboard a few more times before allowing a toothy grin to spread across his face. "Lost his pilot, sounds like it, got dropped from the manifest. He's in the blue cantina on deck 5. Happy flying, flyboy."

"You're a saint as always, Sipph. Tell Jan I said hi." The smiling Zabrek's facial expression turned sour as Willi sauntered out the door. "Yeah, well, watch out fr the pirates in sector 12!" Sipph yelled as the Zeltron excited, but the comeback was weak, and Willi simply paid no attention. He walked quickly to the nearest turbolift and punched in the right keys to take him to where he needed to go. The blue cantina on floor on deck 5 was not his favorite, he had only been there a few times. Full of angry, gruff, and rugged spacemen. The red on deck 18 was of course his favorite, and the silver cantina on deck 11 was obviously great for the free drinks, but there were still another half dozen better than blue on 5.

Still, a drink was a drink, and a job was a job.

The bouncer at the door of the cantina didn't even look at Willi when he walked up. "I don't seem to have my tag," he announced, walking up and feeling around to check his pockets, even though he well knew his ID was 10 kilometers under the surface of Kuat. The being snarled a bit at Willi, who smiled wildly back, before the Houk handed him a datapad hanging on the wall. Willi entered his name, his picture came up, and the screen blinked green. Without waiting for permission, Willi continued on into the bar.

The room was dark, smelled faintly of bantha leather, and there was no Jizz music. The general din of such a busy place helped, but it was beyond Willi why any bar would be lacking even a pre-recorded set. The Zelton walked over, ordered a drink, and plopped down to nurse it. He flopped the datapad onto the bar side and flicked it in, quickly glancing through the manifest. He mostly looked at the pictures of the other crew members, including Idriss. Sipph was right, ugly bastard.

"Eye-druh-iss. Eye-der-uhs. Eh-dre-ess." he said aloud, mostly to himself, trying to decide how the human pronounced his name. It hadn't even occurred to him to pay attention when Sipph had mentioned it earlier. He never really listened to Sipph.

 

[Nujina Trilaet]

Alderaan, beautiful world, not so beautiful space station. It was a shame how poorly Aldreaan Shipping portrayed the world below it, the vast open fields was truly a sight to behold. But alas, it was not time for Nujina to walk around the open fields and dream away the day, instead she was walking through the ugly space station above it. Being a Freelancer had its pros and cons, one of the cons was that the hours tended to be the worst, but one of the pros was that the hours could also be the best anyone ever had. This was not one of the pro-times.

As the Twi'lek walked through the station she reached into her backpack which hung over her shoulder, bringing out a datapad she scrolled through the various job offers that had been sent her way, most of them offered better hours than the one she was currently on, but this one offered.... she didn't really know what it offered, she hadn't been sober when she had accepted it and now she was paying the price.

Looking through her pad she found the job file she had been sent after accepting the offer. "Let's see... A nerf herder? Disgusting. Leaving in the afternoon... why am I here now then?" She thought to herself as she continued along her made up route in her head. "Where where where... Ah, Blue Cantina, Deck 5..."[ Looking up around her she spotted a turbolift a ways down, it must have the level information next to it. With her free hand she reached into her jacket and felt the reassuring leather covered grip, pulling out her hand she swapped hands holding the datapad and reached into her jacket with her other hand, there was the other grip.

When she next looked up she realized the Turbolift was gone, blinking a few times she stepped to the side and into the flow of people going in the direction she had just come from, spotting the lift a few meters back she broke out and stood in front of it. "Deck 2? Blast..." Groaning she slammed the call button to the turbolift and now had to wait. She wasn't sure how many levels Alderaan Shipping had, but she knew that she was at one of the station's ends.

It had to have quite a few decks at least, because it took the damn thing at least five minutes to show up, she and several others stepped in and the lift kicked into motion, stopping on the fifth deck to let her out. Reaching for her datapad again she read the note again. "Alright, Blue cantina, Deck 5, Idriss Mako." The image on the note stood out as a face that she recognized, rough looking human male, probably on the older side, it was so hard for her to judge Humans but it didn't matter right now.

Pressing on she looked around, eventually she came across the 'Blue' Cantina of Deck 5. There was a guard outside, either it was a higher level cantina, well, as high as it got around here, or the guard was there to keep trouble makers out because there was usually too much trouble. Either way, Nujina knew that she would stand out. Reaching into her backpack she pulled out her ID, showing it to the bouncer who grunted something before letting her inside.

To say that she was disappointed was an understatement, a rundown Cantina, weird smell and no music? But she was aware that she was here for work and not for pleasure, though she would prefer to never return here for either. Walking up to the bar she leaned against the counter and got herself a cup of Caf, hearing someone trying to pronounce the name Idriss she looked to her right towards the man, whether he was human or not she didn't know, but he was probably one of the others this Idriss had recruited for the crew. Or he could be a bounty-hunter, nevertheless, she sipped her Caf and kept silent, no good talking if you didn't need to.

​

 

[Rune Graeff]

Rune scratched the back of his head and gazed out the view finder that showed the beautiful planet below. Alderaan looked like many other worlds from here, and to Rune that's all that he had to go off of. He had never made it down to the surface of Alderaan - he never needed to. His business (if you could call it that) almost always took place in orbit. Sure, some journeys had brought him down to the surface, but rarely did he ever stray outside of the spaceport. To leave the spaceport meant that he wasn't working, and if he wasn't working, he wasn't making money. That is something he coudn't even think about. Whenever he felt laziness growing inside of him he cast his mind back to the projects on Corellia. Back to his family - his younger sisters mainly. He didn't want them to have to crawl around engines in order to afford basic luxuries. No, they deserved better.

He had gone three days without a job, and was stuck on the station waiting for work. He had worked for Alderaan Shipping before, however, work was scarce. However, he had found out that there might be a ship that needed a engineer leaving today. So Rune found himself in a Cantina, staring out the view finder, and waiting.

He looked down and checked his datapad. It was almost time, just a bit passed seven in the morning. He pulled up the information that the Office gave him. Idriss Mako... Human male... captain of a small freighter. This could be perfect. Rune had last found work dealing with some shady individuals who were transporting creatures from Duros to "collectors" on Alderaan. Although they claimed everything was above board, Rune knew they didn't have the right documentation. Nor did he like cleaning up after animals. He ditched them as soon as he had gotten his small share of the profit. This work, though it may not pay the best, was honest, and if the fates were with him, Rune would get to be by the engine again.

Rune looked up as Idriss walked in. Sizing up the man quickly, it was clear to Rune that Idriss looked a rather imposing man. Perhaps it was the helmet. Rune thought people who wore helmets were rather silly. Unless you're in space, in war, or need some air filtration, why walk around with a helmet?

Now was the hard part for Idriss, who although he desperately needed the cash, knew that to appear desperate wasn't a good way to get a job. Standing straight he cleared his throat and looked down at his plain and worn clothes. Running his hands down them, he did his best to smooth out the wrinkles, which proved to be a foolish errand.

Nevertheless, Rune walked forward briskly and soon found himself standing directly next to the booth where the captain was seated. "Captain Mako?" Rune asked, extending his hand as to shake, "Rune Graeff. The Office said you needed a Engine Chief." Rune was, as always, straight to the point.

 

[William Prescott]

Willi nursed his drink, whisking through the datapad. He was aware of what was happening around him, and he was very aware of the Twi'lek that sat next to him. He had many twi'lek lovers in his time, of both genders. But his very straight forward, honest advances had also been spurned by many a Twi'lek, gracefully and otherwise. As a species, he had frequently admired their tenacity and strength. They were a graceful alien race to the Zeltron. And so releasing his pheromones, he could not help but at least a try.

"Bartender," he said, waiving two fingers at the gentlebeing, who came over, "I'll have another, if you please. And-" he paused, his datapad catching his eye. What luck, he realized. On the screen was the face of a Nujina Trilaet. Pilot. While most professionals had rules about hitting on coworkers, the Zeltrons had a different rule: you have to at least try once. "And one for the most lovely female in this fine establishment, the most skilled and daring of pilots in this sector, and my newest acquaintance." The bartender gave him an inquisitive look, although he seemed too humored to be annoyed. Willi let it set for a minute, the barkeep's reactions playing perfectly into his hand.

"My god, man. Do you not know?" The bartender did not answer, although there was not ample time to do so. Willi now indicated the Twi'lek sitting next to him, his most devilishly handsome smile spread across his face, "It's Nujina Trilaet. Bards sing of her beauty, fellow pilots salute at their controls, and the hopes of crews everywhere rest on her shoulders." Quite smoothly, Willi took both drinks from the bartender, setting one in front of Nujina and keeping one for himself as he faced her for the first time."And if we are going to be serving aboard the Antilles together, my love, we might as well allow the drinks to start flowing now." He leaned into the bar, facing the Twi'lek pilot. "Willi Prescott, at your service."

His pheromones were roaring.

William might have even impressed himself.

 

[Zusk'anosh'ouzu]

It was time for change. Skan had been telling himself that for a month now. The Chiss had lost track of how long he'd been on Alderaan now but he was tired of it. The beautiful scenery had lost it's flair and the people had lost their charm. At least to him. They stared at him wherever he went and their barely sheltered whispers followed him.

Oh look its that blue human again.
Is that guy a Pantoran?
Whats with his eyes? Does he even have pupils?

Things like this didn't really bother him per se. Words were just words at the end of the day and he took no offense. It just irritated him to some extent that these people were so captivated by his appearance when they lived in a Galaxy full of different species. His people were classified as near human, so he didn't understand how they found his physical attributes so fascinating but paid no mind to the fact that he'd been offering free medical assistance to those that couldn't afford a doctor or well... just needed it in the moment. In his mind, exploits in life were far more interesting to judge a person on rather than traits that they were born with. And Alderaan was full of humans and other species who only focused on face value.

That morning he'd decided to finally do something about it, got up early and made his way up to the orbital station owned by Alderaan Shipping. According to a man who's broken arm he'd set three weeks ago, it was one of the best places to find rides off world as long as you were willing to do some labor along the way. The thought of finally getting off the planet had his heart beating faster than usual. He did not have enough credits left over to actually buy passage so it was really his only hope.

Finding that his nervous excitement was getting the best of him, he stopped a passerby and if there was a place on the station where he could purchase alcohol. Thankfully, the female pointed him in the direction of a 'Blue Cantina' on Deck Five which brought a short lived smirk to his face. A short trip later and he was approaching the Cantina. It really didn't look like much from his experience of Cantinas, which due to his accelerated aging process he'd been able to get in for ages without ever flashing any form of ID. This place was no different and he sauntered past the Houk bouncer who eyed him curiously but did not protest.

His crimson eyes scanned the inside of the bar and he raised an eyebrow. It seemed that there were quite a few people there on that day. He walked over to the bar, reaching into his black jacket to make sure his lacking credit pouch was still there and reminding himself of the Stinger housed there as well. He arrived just in time to hear what appeared to be a Zeltron's form of pick up line.

"Such charm..." Skan muttered under his breath before drawing the attention of the bartender. "Could I please have something to take the edge off?"

Within moments he had what he'd requested and looked down at the clear liquid in the glass, pondering what it could be before shrugging and downing the entire thing in one go. It burned all the way down and tasted cheap but whatever it was, it definitely would cut down his nervousness to a more manageable size. He'd generally avoided unnecessary socialization for his entire life and felt that if he was going to be asking somebody he didn't know for a ride...

"Whatever that was, I'll take another one." He said to the Bartender before glancing around the room one more time. Perhaps one of these people could help him? Not before another drink of course.​

 

[Nujina Trilaet]

The bitterness of the Caf made it so much better, she could feel energy returning to her veins, her mind growing clearer like Kamino's sun piercing the cloud layer and bringing life to the oceanic world. It was a personal cup of heaven. She took another sip of the dark liquid and closed her eyes, bringing herself back to her last flight over Serenno before she had resigned and took on the life of a Courier. But something brought her back just like the one and only crash she had ever experienced.

The human she had seen earlier when she had entered was starting to speak, not to her, but to the bartender, and rather loudly. Again she raised her cup to her lips and slowly sipped the Caf as she listened to him, hearing him babble on about the lovliest female in the establishment, by the Force he was hitting on her. She sat down the cup and decided to just listen, staring down into the pitch-black Caf while he painted out an image of her which was incredibly over played. Keeping her gaze forward and down she decided on what to reply when he eventually turned his attention directly to her.

She could hit him, but with the guard outside she'd probably spend a few hours in a holding cell before getting let out of it and having missed her job opportunity. Shouting was an option, a very distasteful and rude option which would probably get the attention of the entire establishment, which she very much preferred not to do. Before she could fully decide on a way to shut him down a glass, containing... something, was slid in front of her. She looked from her Caf to it and then up at the human next to her, who was now looking and talking directly to her.

One thing she could do was just play ignorance, but she was aware that he knew that she had heard him, so it was out of the picture and it might even entice him into trying harder. She took her cup of Caf and took a sip from it while looking him up, raising a brow. "Nice speech, William." Putting down the cup she looked down at the glass and slid it towards him. "If it happens to be so that the 'hopes of crews everywhere' rests on my shoulders, I think staying sober would be the way to go. Though I appreciate the effort you put in, briefly looking over my file you were sent by the Captain, buuut..." her right hand softly rested atop his left. "I have a Fiance, and she would not be happy if I let the 'drinks start flowing.'" She said and shook her head softly.

There was many things that Nujina had, a fiance was not one of them, she had been close at one point, but nothing had come out of that, but the file didn't say that. She moved her hand away from his again and finished her cup of Caf, looking to the Bartender. "I'll have another cup please." Sliding the empty cup to him and turned back to Sir Charming. "But hey, nice speech."

 

[William Prescott]

The Twi'lek slid the glass of cheap alcohol back over to Willi. He set his hand on top of it, accepting it back, listening to what she had to say. His grin spread even wider as she put her hand atop his own, indicating he might have hell to pay with her fiance should the drinks start to flow. Nonetheless, at the end of her reply, he rose the glass to her in salute and then promptly kicked back the rest of the clear liquid. His eye twitched a bit as he set the empty glass back on the counter.

"My love, on Zeltros we do not let fiances stand in the way of such things - usually, we are more included to invite them as well." The Zeltron let out an infection and hearty laugh. His accent was thick, perhaps because of the drink, but even more likely because of the pheromones he was naturally excreting. He took the glass he had ordered for himself and rose it in salute to her again. "Nonetheless, I drink to you, this undoubtedly lovely fiance - and I drink so that you and she may continue to find love eternal. Salute." Willi kicked back that drink as well, bringing the glass down with a pleasant thud. He nodded to the bartender, pursuing his lips, and the sentient poured him another glass.

Willi turned now to a newcomer, a Chiss next to him who had muttered a comment under his breath about his charm. The Zeltron believed it to be sarcasm. "And what about you, my Chiss friend. I don't suppose I could use the same line twice and try it on you, huh? Although your comment might mean your heart is too cold for even Zeltros to melt?" Willi chuckled to himself, more poking fun at the Chiss than being rude or mean. "And besides, I recognize you, too. Zusk'anosh'ouzu." The pronunciation was not perfect, the second apostrophe was not correctly blended, but it was quite a bit closer than most non-Chiss could do.

The Zeltron shrugged at his two new companions. He grabbed the glass and kicked back another of the tall shots. Willi could drink a lot, but this level of sustained drinking he reserved only for his most miserable days. Even this fun-loving young man had miserable days while working for this company. After shaking his head a bit to clear the odd sensation of his throat being on fire, Willi set his hands on the counter and turned his head back and forth, indicating he was speaking to both of his companions. "Now. Lets get something straight. The Captain didn't give me this manifest with you two beautiful sentients on it. The company did. Because I work for the company, not the Captain, whoever or what he is. You do his bidding, and I say 'aye, sir' and do the company's dirty work of watching you do his bidding."

He could not help but let a wide smile creep across his face. "I am William Prescott. I'm your first mate. And it is a warm pleasure to meet you both - you, Nujina, who has no fiance - and you, Skan, who has the potential to cure a hundred hangovers in the next three and a half months." Willi stood, abruptly, and steadied himself with a hand on each of their shoulders as he tried not to fall over. He closed one eye and appeared to focus very intently.

Clearing his throat, he sat down.

"I would like to be drunk, my dearly beloved friends, when we disembark. But I think I am not quite ready to meet the captain, and he is somewhere over there." He took his hands and placed them carefully on the bar. He struggled to both stay right and focus on what was happening around him. Three shots within 10 minutes was tough even for a Zeltron.

He knew he could and would drink more than that several times over their long journey.

 

[Zusk'anosh'ouzu]

Skan had finished his second drink by the time the male turned to him and began talking. As much as he wanted to simply ignore this person, the Chiss's interest was completely snatched when he mentioned his name. And not just the abbreviation that almost everybody used. No this was the full version, near correct pronunciation and everything. His eyes narrowed with suspicion and he turned his full profile towards the humanoid male ad he continued to spout off. How could he possibly have known that information? He somewhat rationalized it by the fact that everything could be found somewhere on the Holonet but why would somebody like Skan garner enough interest to learn his full name?

Suspicion gave way to confusion when William Prescott introduced himself and the woman Nujina. 'Your First Mate'. The words rang in Skans' mind but what really caught his attention was the fact that he mentioned them being together for the next three and a half months. It seemed that William was completely convinced that Skan was a part of his crew or something along those lines. Despite the fact he was drinking faster than perhaps was advisable, each word was spoken with confidence and conviction and Skan wasn't sure that he should correct him. If this person thought he was supposed to be on a journey with them, then that meant he wouldn't have to go around asking people for rides. He somehow already had one. Oh, how the Galaxy worked in the strangest ways.

"I can heal more than just a hangover." Skan commented dryly, before glancing towards Nujina and nodding a greeting. "Its... ahem nice to meet the two of you. I look forward to working with you both."

He did his best to not stumble over his words. Skan was not a very good liar. He preferred honesty. It was just easier to be up front about things in life rather than try to fool people. But in this instance he felt it was best to carry on. If William thought he was supposed to be working with him, then he was damn sure going to play along. It might provide him with some credits along the way, maybe enough to properly replenish his medical supplies. Though still uncertain about how this had all happened, Skan let a relieved smile cross his face and decided to celebrate. He signaled the Bartender for a refill and quickly downed his third drink. His mind was beginning to go fuzzy and he was almost certain his eyes were glazing over but he didn't care. He seemed to have passage off of Alderaan AND a job as well. It was a good day.

He turned back to his new comrades and spoke again. This time his words were a little slurred around the edges. "So where are we headed? Do we know yet? Or is this something our Captain will tell us?"​

 

[Idriss Mako]

I should introduce a bunk sharing ban, Idriss scowled as he watched the Zeltron first mate hitting on just under 20% of his crew. Typical fething Zeltros, he thought to himself as he waved the server over ”Have their drinks sent to this table,” he instructed, the server all to happy to follow Company instructions in a company bar ”...and cut their service four hours before flight. I'll pay for any anti-inebriates they need.” Idriss added, after all he wouldn't make bonus if the crew turned up Oliver Twist.

He continued to sit at his table, watching as the engineer for his ship approached. Rune Gaff was his name, or at least that was what the manifest said in front of him. "Rune, good to meet you, names Idriss." he said, gesturing for the man to take a seat "At least one of the crew is focused on the mission, rather than the crewmates eh?" he added, gesturing to his first mate and the pilot. Laughing to himself dryly, Idriss buzzed the First Mates comms unit (@TAC) with a simple message.

'When you have finished inspecting the crew, hop on over to the table.'

PS - I've moved your tab here, so don't get thirsty.​

@Swedish Guy