Shipwreck

Vi-Stri

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Anticipation.

Chalk white letters with the fairest hint of wear sit in deep contrast to the shiny black of the ship. Drifting in the cosmos, the vessel was practically camouflaged. At least it was to the naked eye, save for that blocky, bright text.

Anticipation.

The ship was seeping it from the cockpit to the cargo-hold. But with what had come before, this was expected. Everyone knew what a hunt like this could offer, be it the money that some of them so desperately needed, or a bitter end that would induct the Anticipation into Shipwreck. But Marlow Vants was the last person who wanted the latter, knowing full well that his experiences from last time might not resemble the events that are about to unfold.

Similarly, Gomorrah Ansel felt the suspense as it churned inside her gut, swirling into a thick nervousness making a cocktail that threatened to spew onto the floor of the bunk room where she currently rested. Flying wasn’t a common occurrence for the girl, but neither was air sickness, which made this a case of nerves more than anything.

“You alright kid?” Came the deep bass of the Twi’lek captain. He spoke as a man with experience, like he’d spoken those words time and time again, and his worn features certainly didn’t dispute that.

“Yes sir.” Was all she could stomach. Vants would disagree.

“You say you’re alright, but you look like you might keel over any minute now. Come on, I’m giving a orientation in the cargo bay. We’ve got some bread and water over there, grab some and see if that doesn’t make you feel any better.” Because if they weren’t all in top condition, this mission would be doomed from the start, and it didn’t help that they were few in numbers already.

Adjacent to the bunks, the cargo room lay mostly bare. It had a few boxes and crates here and there, but they were only filled with the most essential equipment. While Gomorrah rifled through those for her snack, Marlow approached an intercom, projecting his voice across the entirety of the Anticipation.

“All crew report to the cargo bay, all crew report to the cargo bay.”
 
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Caligula

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Garoosh couldn't contain himself since the moment he agreed to the job. He found himself constantly questioning his motives. Why was he doing something so dangerous? Was it for the possible riches? The thrill of the adventure? Possibly the interaction with other life forms? But eventually he came to the decision that the reason for his lapse of judgement was that his curiosity for new technology had gotten the best of him. Traveling to a ship graveyard was a field day for any gear-head, and Garoosh was no different.

The Anticipation was a new frontier for him. Since he stepped foot on the ship, he couldn't sit still as he explored everything he could. He was fascinated by the ship's layout and spent a majority of his time wandering the Anticipation. Eventually the Twi'lek captain, one Marlow Vants, had to actually ask the Filvian to calm down and find a bunk. Garoosh, although disappointed, went to his bunk and waited there for the remainder of the trip. While he sat there, he fiddled with his personal datapad. He connected to the ship's wireless systems and ran a few diagnostics on the vessel itself, sneaking through some firewalls on his way in. He felt a little guilty about splicing into someone else's ship only after knowing them for a small amount of time. But he figured that since he wasn't doing any damage to the ship, there was no harm in it. He just wanted to make sure he wasn't entrusting his life to some flying junk heap.

He had brought with him only the essentials; his robe covering his upper body, his personal datapad, his Combat Gloves, and his little pit droid, Data. Data rested on Garoosh's bunk in sleep mode, his little body compressed into a disk shaped mass. Garoosh glanced at Data and smiled. The rust red pit droid had been his companion for a long time and he couldn't think about going anywhere without the little guy.

At some point he heard the captain's voice ring out over the intercom, telling everyone to report to the cargo bay. He put away his data pad and got off the bed. As he did so, he tapped Data's "nose" and activated the droid. Data sprung to life, scanning his surroundings for a moment or two before following Garoosh out of the bunk room and down to the cargo area. He thumped along on his four strong legs until he got to the cargo area. Captain Vants was already there, along with one of his other crew members; a human girl named Gomorrah. She seemed nice enough when they first met and he foolishly agreed to her offer for this mission. However, they hadn't interacted too much besides that point. Not wanting the journey to become uncomfortable because of unfamiliarity, he decided to introduce himself a little further. He started to walk over to where Gomorrah stood, Data wandering over to a crate of supplied and curiously looking it over.

"Hello," Garoosh nervously spoke up. He didn't like one-on-one interaction, but he didn't have any other choice. "I don't believe I've formally introduced myself. I am Garoosh Mephatilis. And that," He pointed over to where Data was lifting a large crate of supplies with little trouble. "Is Data, my pit droid. Are you enjoying the trip so far?"
 

Vi-Stri

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Contained in various flimsy boxes with the word “edibles” hastily scribbled along the side, Gomorrah found that most of their eating on this trip would be simple rations made to last long periods. Sensible? Yes. Tasty? Not so much. Thankfully the captain wasn’t a lying man; they did have bread here.

Concentrating on gnawing on the hard crust of one of the tiny rolls, the girl’s blue eyes went wide coming face to face with their Filvian crewmate. “Oh! Hey. Nice meeting you. I’m Gomorrah.”

Looking from Garoosh to the droid, Gomorrah gravitated more to the small robot, kneeling to get a better look at the little guy. “Nice, just like the one’s from…”

Yes, they were called pit droids for a reason. Gomorrah’s father would talk about how human work could outperform these little rust-buckets any day out on the racetracks. She could practically see his face looking at the impish automaton.

“My trip’s been fine.” Only now it wasn’t, and you could read it by the way she carried herself. Arms crossed, gaze downward, and a longing expression of somebody who’s lost something.

“What’re you here for? The money’s supposed to be good anyway.”
 

JollySailorBold

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His two pistols swinging on his sides and a bright green astromech droid rolling behind him, scoundrel Gedro Valaan saunters into the cargo bay with casual ease, a calm aura emanating from him. With a datapad in hand, he distractedly finds a box to sit on. After doing some quick typing and sealing his datapad away, Gedro looks up at the others in the bay with him. He'd offer a cool smile as he retrieved a few sealed packets of what looked like foreign sweets to them.

"The name's Gedro. Gedro Valaan."

His motives were very simple- credits. Gedro loved to make money and figured that joining the Anticipation was a good way to make a quick buck. All he needed to do was co-pilot, and maybe save the day. Nothing too alien to him. Oh the other hand, he had heard certain...rumors about this place. What happens to ships that come here...and he was a little worried, admittedly. Gedro didn't like to admit to being anything less than confident, even to himself, but now was just one of those moments where he could sense something was wrong, that something bad would happen here.

"Oh well," he thought to himself, "what's the worst that could happen?"
 

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Adan put the Wanderer on auto-pilot and went in the recreational part of his ship to check on Nagorall. It's been a little while since they first met and he's gotten to know the Wookie a little more. This is the closest he's had to a friend in a long time. They haven't been able to find work or anything to do so they have just been cruising for a couple of days. He sits down next to Nagorral and starts petting Riva, his akk dog. "Are you having fun roaming the Galaxy with nothing to do?" Adan asks Nagorral with a chuckle.
 

Caligula

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Garoosh had been around people long enough to pick up social cues, however subtle. Something was bothering her and somehow it was connected to Data. Data had set down the crate of supplies and was now looking at the girl with his one big lens of an eye. Data wasn't a shy pit droid and he, like his master, was always open for social interaction. However Garoosh had taught Data about his immense strength and the dangers that something like that could present. With that in his memory files, Data was always cautious when interacting physically with organic lifeforms. Garoosh decided not to pry into someone else's business and didn't ask why Gomorrah was now troubled. Instead, he answered her question as if nothing had changed.

"I'm here for the possible parts I can salvage. A ship graveyard like this is a great place to find rare and unused parts. I could do a lot of things with this scrap." He said, almost getting lost in his plans. He had a plan for every possible piece he could find; power converters, weapon designs, droid parts for a new addition to his little metal family. But he cleared his head when he felt the presence of another life form and another droid enter the cargo bay. He turned his head and instantly focused on the green astromech droid. He noted every detail he could see and made mental notes. He noted the make and model of the droid, the possible attachments, and the compartments that lined the droid's canister body. But eventually he calmed down and nodded to the droid's owner.

"Hello, name's Garoosh Mephatilis." He said with a wave. The increase of population in the cargo bay had melted away a little of his nervousness and he was feeling a little more comfortable.

He decided to find a seat and wait for the captain to say what he needed to say. Data hovered near the astromech, his big eye scanning every inch of the droid like a satellite. Only when the droid or it's owner had an objection did Data run back to Garoosh's side and wait by his master.
 

JollySailorBold

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R2-S6 would roll away from the pit droid as it approached him, not trusting it very much. Gedro had also noticed how intensely Garoosh had focused on his little astromech droid before finally responding. It was very odd to him, understandably so. Almost instinctively, Gedro rested his left hand on its respective blaster pistol before glancing at the pit droid scurry away. He didn't trust these two much, and was starting to get an odd feeling about them.

"Looks like somethin' bout my droid has got ya a little worked up there, Garoosh. Any particular reason?"

Another shootout would be...well, it wouldn't be preferable, but Gedro wasn't about to let anyone try to take his buddy Essix away from him. Hopefully Garoosh had a logical explanation and Gedro wouldn't need to take out his blasters.
 
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Nagorral sighed heavily as he pondered Adan's question. In truth, the big Wookiee was surprised he had decided to stick with the man and his bad smelling dog. He had meant to only get passage to another planet but the unavailability of work and his injuries had put that idea to rest. Nagorral slowly ran a gaze down his fur covered body, the laser wounds to his chest and sides were all but healed and his leg was also healing quickly. In fact, he was almost up to his full range of movement again and it could be time for him to go his own way again.

Raising his head to make eye contact with the human in front of him, he flipped the on switch to the translator on his shoulder, " In truth I didn't do anything much different than this before I first met you. Besides, until now even if there was something to do I wouldn't have been able to do it." Looking away and suppressing a violent urge as Rika sauntered over to him he continued, " Where are we headed next anyway?"
 

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Garoosh noticed Gedro's tone and his keen eyes noticed his body language quite clearly. He realized how it must have looked and to avoid confrontation, he quickly tried to explain.

"Oh, please don't misunderstand! My people are always curious about technology. Its a force of habit to observe and note robotics that I see. Your astromech is a wonderful creation. I can tell it's been well taken care of." It was true. The astromech had seen plenty in it's time but that hadn't compromised it in any way. Garoosh mentally added some imaginary modifications to the droid as his gaze lingered for a second or two longer. It was a habit, and one that had saved him a few times. Most people saw droids as just pieces of metal. But Garoosh and gear heads like him could see the finer points. They could notice the little details that anyone else would dismiss; a stiff joint, a hesitation in a movement, the pause before an answer. Every droid had this and that meant something or another. Data for example didn't have a very fast processor unit and therefore was slow when registering orders or outside stimuli, like a sudden command or danger. Garoosh knew this and therefore made sure that the droid had time to adapt. If a different droid had this same problem, then Garoosh could exploit it for his own gain.

So far, he hadn't figured out the astromech completely; only by disassembling the droid could he possibly know more. But that clearly wasn't an option so he put the idea out of his mind. He decided it was best to leave the astromech alone for the remainder of the trip. He quietly nibbled on a piece of bread, his eyes low to the floor to limit temptation. Data was now standing quietly next to Garoosh, his eye matching the direction of his master and watching the floor intensely. "I meant no disrespect by it. Just admiring from afar." He said quietly.
 

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Adan tried thinking of an answer to Nagorall's question. "I don't really know. Wherever this ship takes is is where we'll end up, I suppose. I'll probably find a couple of small jobs around the system that we end up in and we can part ways there." He looked down at Riva and nudged her to get her attention. "Get away from him!" Riva walked past Adan and with her head hung down in a sulking manner. Adan sat down on one of the seats on the other side of the room from Nagorral. "Come here, Riva." He said. She turned and went from sulky to happy in a second, as he started petting her again.
 

Vi-Stri

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The captain gave a slight nod as everyone entered the room. Each of them was here for their own reasons, but all of them had to work as one unit to survive out here. Ships didn’t get far with fragmented crews and making this an open job only put the cards in the favor of the house. It’d take these people some time to warm up to each other, Marlow understood that. Truth be told, he wasn’t sure if he trusted a single one of them either.

“Alright, settle down. You’ll all have plenty of time to kill each other once we’re done here, but first we’ve got work ahead. You know why you’re here.” Pacing around the room, Vants waves his hands in a grandiose fashion while he speaks, clearly taking joy in the act.

“Shipwreck is home to vessels that predate the Imperium, and that means big money in rare parts. We go in, grab what we can, and get out before anything or anyone takes notice.” He stops, bringing his dominant hand up to his chiseled chin as if to consider the next words carefully. The gleam of metallic false fingers presented themselves, each one sharpened like talons.

“We also have to locate the Vizier, my old ship. She went down when one of my own sabotaged the engines so it’d be easy pickings for pirates. They may still be in the area.”

That’s when she walked in. Through the door, one Kel Dor strode up beside Captain Vants. “The guns are calibrated and ready for action sir.” Spoken through her breathing mask, the voice was far more delicate than she appeared to be; especially with the visor she wore, which glowed a fiendish red where the alien woman’s eyes should have been.

“Good work.” The captain proclaimed with a grin. He was clearly happy with his companion though it was unclear if his exuberance was for her work or just the sight of the girl. “This is Nae Yasser. Not only is she the gunner for this operation, but she’s also second in command, and the one responsible for procuring the Anticipation. You’ll be taking orders from her when and if I’m unable to give them. ”

It was then that Marlow began discussing ship duties. Gedro would join him up in the cockpit as copilot, Garoosh would take care of inventory and general handy-work, and Gomorrah… well, she was the chore girl. With the ETA to Shipwreck being around twenty minutes, the group separated to prepare. Things seemed relatively normal at first though it became quite clear that a ship had been tailing the Anticipation and it only now made itself known…
 
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JollySailorBold

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As soon as the captain entered the cargo bay, Gedro relaxed his stance and moved his hand away from his gun. He still didn't want to kill anyone, but sometimes you have to make that choice. Sometimes that choice is made for you. Gedro remained silent and was leaning back as he listened to Vants give his little speech. It was basically any other scavenge job- look for expensive parts, and recover someone's old ship. Quick and easy- no complications.

Gedro was about to say something before he noticed a Kel Dor enter the room- and a female one at that. He'd never seen a Kel Dor up close before, and it was...strange? They didn't look much like Zabraks or Humans, that was for sure. Remembering the one time he saw a picture of a Kel Dor without a mask on, Gedro quickly shook his head and focused on what was being said. Something about guns, so thankfully nothing he needed to worry about.

After Vants explained who she was and what everyone's job was, Gedro broke off from the group and led R2-S6 through the hallways to the cockpit, where they'd be making their money- co-piloting.

"I don't know, Essix. Something doesn't feel right. And Vants said something about pirates? Gah, never mind. Nows not the time for doubt and fear. Like I said, the job'll be easy. You could do it alone, but you don't have the good looks to secure a deal like me. Ha!"

 

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During the speech, Garoosh kept still except for the hint of interest he showed about the rare parts. That was his reason for coming on the trip after all. But he refocused on the captain when the second in command, a Kel Dor female, entered the cargo bay. The Kel Dor breathing apparatus was something he'd heard about but never seen before. However, instead of starring, he learned from his encounter with Gedro and kept his eyes to himself. He refocused on the captain as he gave Garoosh his job. General handy work wasn't new to him and he was glad for something simple. As everyone began to file out to complete their jobs, Garoosh hopped down to all fours and looked at Data.

"Okay buddy. I need you to stay here and take inventory alright? You've done this before so I know you can handle this. Just carefully go through these crates and record everything you see on this." He said while handing the little droid a blank data pad used for general notes. Data had done inventory for Garoosh back on Tatooine and the droid hadn't failed him yet, so he had faith. "I'm gonna do a quick sweep of the ship, make sure everything's in working order alright? If there's a problem then contact me with your antenna, okay?" He spoke slow so that Data could keep up and when the pit droid nodded Garoosh knew that he would be fine. Data went to work; he hobbled over to the nearest crate and opened it with the push of a button. While it opened, he pushed a smaller box in front of the crate. When that was done, Data jumped onto the box and peered into the crate while recording everything he saw on the data pad.

Garoosh left the little droid alone in the cargo bay with faith that nothing bad would happen. Pit droids were known to be hazardous when left alone or malfunctioning, but Data was different. Garoosh could trust Data.

He started walking down the hallway towards the engine room; he had decided that the engines would be the most important function of the ship next to life support systems. As he walked, he stood up on his hind legs and walked bipedal so that he could use his data pad as he walked. Sure he was slower on two legs but he didn't need to be fast right now. As he connected to the ship's wireless network, he noted that there were no alerts anywhere. He quickly established a more secure connection and made a link between the ship's systems and his data pad. Whatever happened to the ship that the bridge could see, he could see. However, he had no control over the ship whatsoever. He could only see, not interact. He'd need a more detailed code for something like that.

He reached the engine room with little trouble and began his sweep, looking for anything that needed tuning or patching and fixing it accordingly.
 

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Nagorral nodded at Adan's answer, " Yes, I suppose we should separate eventually. If only because of the dog. She's a nice animal but the smell is aggravating." Eyeing Riva for a few moments he turned away and looked out the viewport into the whirling of space.

Feeling tiredness and boredom pull at him he tilted his head back to rest on the wall, Nagorral closed his eyes and began to let the ships gentle rocking motions lull him to sleep. " Wake me up if anything happens."
 

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Adan made a half hearted salute. "Will do, come on Riva." He then got up and walked back to the cockpit.
 

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The ships triple boosters pushed the craft along in excellent performance. The same could be said for the rest of its innards; the lights, guns, and computers all ran dreamily. So well in fact that most of the crew would find little trouble in their duties. However, the vessel’s cleanliness would not be so grand, and the chore girl soon found that she’d have the displeasure of cleaning a muddy hallway that somebody tracked in. Mop and bucket in hand, Gomorrah began to swab, all while racking her brain to figure out who’s humanoid footprints these tracks belonged to.

Maybe it was that Gedro guy, the hotshot ace pilot who looked like he walked right out of a Holovid. Those types usually have devil may care attitudes, right? Nah, better not test it. “Guys like that eat people like me for breakfast.” Zabrak are carnivorous after all. But even if he did bring in this mud, this thick flarg that stuck to the floor no matter how hard she scrubbed-

Even if he did, it’d be unwise to form a grudge on a man that could potentially save the lives of everyone here. Garoosh though, he seemed nice enough, even if he looked like somebody who could go toe to toe with a Wookiee. “I wonder who would win in that fight?”

Playing that out in her head did wonders in passing time and pretty soon Gomorrah was looking at a slick, shiny floor; even if she decided that it’d have to be a tie. “Great, now I just have to…” Looking at a list given by the captain, the only other objective stated to “Polish the captain’s boots”. With the most exuberated sigh, the redhead walked over to the captain’s bunk to find… muddy boots.

“Mother f-“

BOOM

The Anticipation shook like the belly of a hungry rancor as the heavy guns of another ship of equal size fired upon it. From the cockpit, Vants brought a heavy fist onto his dashboard. “It’s those schutta, I know it! Filthy pirates!” The lights flickered ominously as the old Twi’lek looked over to his co-pilot. “It’s go time now, son. Show me why I hired you!”
 
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Gedro hopped in front of the console before him and began his work. He isolated his mind from the rest of his surroundings- the droid, the sounds, the flashing lights, everything. He cracked his fingers and started evasive maneuvers. His hands were a blur of Zabraki Magic, flying and whipping around over the controls, flipping levers and pressing buttons. If all went according to plan, Gedro would be able to turn the ship to face the enemy pirates directly, while also avoiding the incoming fire.

He said nothing while he worked- his face showed cold determination, but inside he slightly concerned. The Pirates had come out of seemingly no where, and had caught them unawares. Gedro hadn't actually been in a ship to ship firefight in a while, but it was good to be back in action. After slowing the ship and turning it to face the pirates, he remembered R2-S6 was in the cabin with them. Briefly gesturing to Essix, the droid would turn around and wheel down the hallways towards the cargo bay, beeping shrilly.

"We're in position, that's your gunner's cue!"

It was a tense moment- that calm before your ship blows another ship up with its massive guns. Gedro waited, hands ready, for something to happen.
 

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Marlow was taken aback at the raw skill this young man possessed as their ship whipped about avoiding volley after volley. “So that’s why I hired you!” He reached for the intercom, but Yasser was already in position. “Nae, fire!”

There was only a brief silence before the Anticipation’s gun sparked to life, bellowing a heavy dose of death at the vessel it stared down. But this opposing ship was quick, and it pulled up just in the nick of time, gliding over the Anticipation with only light damage and a ruined paint job on the underbelly. Gedro was good, but so was whoever piloted on the other side.

Around they went, circling Vants and the gang like some sort of hungry bird; at least they had stopped firing. Instead, the communicator lit up. A parlay was in order. The captain begrudgingly opened the call. He’d let them have their say.

Through the static came a jumbled mess of voices. “-estroy it, you dirty wampa! That thing’s expensive!” Yelled a woman. An equally loud voice responded, only this one in Rodian. Whatever it was that he said sounded annoyed in tone. After a brief silence, a heavily accented voice spoke, this time to the crew of the Anticipation. “Surrender now and you live. We just want the ship!”
 

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Gedro sat back and listened begrudgingly to the conversation. If he had it his way, they'd be blasting the pirates to bits right now, not listening to their demands. After the message concluded, Gedro laughed and cocked both of his guns, inspecting them gleefully.

"I'd love to see the look on your faces after you eat blaster bolts, so go ahead- make my day. All ya gotta do is fly on over."
 

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Adan sat down and turned the auto-pilot off. Riva sat in the copilot's chair. "It looks like we're around Shipwreck." Heads said to himself. He flew for about 5 minutes until he heard a distant boom. "What was that?" He slowed down and looked to the right, where he saw a ship trying to board another ship. From the way the balding ship looked, they were pirates. "Oh, no." He had to make a decision, go on his way and let what never happens happen, or help the people and kill some pirates. He was hesitant at first and was about to turn away, but decided to help. "Nagorall, things are about to get loud and you might want to get in here!!!"
 
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