Ask You Wouldn't Download a Speeder

[Aster Maris]

Deep Space, Somewhere off the Corellian Run​

Aster Maris was waiting for a certain man to make his arrival. A Davik Lorso she had met during a few meetups of the various Ossein "fleets". The Voidrunner sat in deep space, floating steadily at the coordinates that she had com-linked to the man. Wearing sweatpants and a loose fitting tanktop, a spliff made up of half rankweed and half grey gabaki rested gently on her lips as she sat, bare feet kicked up on the control console of the Voidrunner. She took a deep drag off the joint, exhaling a large puff of blue smoke. Eyes closed as she silently tapped a foot to the beat of the music that floated through the cabin.

She had come up with a scheme to make some quick credits, but she needed someone with a ship that wasn't quite so dirty. Not physically dirty, but the rankweed and grey gabaki that she had growing in a hydroponic garden in her storage bay might not be appreciated by customs on Corellia. She had managed to grab a copy of the brand new Preef Callo: The Good, the Bad and the Rodian Movie off the deep web and currently had her rig copying out a couple hundred bootleg holovids of the movie. It was only in post production right now, which meant that some people might pay extra for an early access copy in the core worlds.

@Eccles

 

[Davik Lorso]

The Catscratch dropped out of of hyperspace and veered off the Corellian Run looking a bit like its old self. Several cheap mechanics had taken a look at her and patched her up somewhat, but on the Outer Rim you just never knew if they had the right credentials to work on a ship this old. Or any credentials, for that matter. Davik sat on his favorite chair and steered the ship casually towards the coordinates provided by Aster. He had met her during one of the Ossein meets, which had been rare and thus precious things these last couple of years. He was born on Corvus to an Ossein spacer and first grew up hearing his mother tell the greatest tales of her space-faring people so he'd accept to run away from his father and join her among the stars. Spending the rest of his childhood on a rundown mothership with all kinds of degenerates didn't quite fit in with the romanticized picture his mother had sold him, but she was happier there... so so was he.

"Arreh you shurre about this?" a girl's voice behind him asked and he swiveled around on his chair to look at the teenage Cathar. She wasn't looking too good. She was beautiful, sure, but the face underneath chipped ears was swollen and her limbs looked brittle after suffering years of abuse. Davik flashed a comforting smile, "I am, Mera-" he turned one of his screens in the cockpit towards her after punching some buttons a picture of Aster at one of the Ossein gatherings appeared. A young girl, only sixteen at the time, but it was clear she had a good heart. "-Aster can get us those papers. You'll be free proper." The Cathar returned his smile, but not as convincing as his was and she was obviously careful not to overextend her swollen cheeks. Davik wanted to go back to Byblos to kill the gang that did this to her, but he wasn't sure he was the killing type. A sudden beep coming from his scanners made him swivel back around on his chair to get visible confirmation of what he hoped the beeped was for..

and sure enough, there was Aster's Voidrunner. "Oi Aster baby-" Davik didn't much care of comms protocols between spacefaring vessels, much to the dismay of traffic controllers near Core worlds, "-tell me where to dock. I got some Iridonian whiskey that will blow your socks off."

The Cathar behind him looked a bit worried. She had considerable difficulties trusting Davik at first, too. He had agreed to bring her to the Hutts on Nar Shaddaa, but once the Catscratch hit hyperspace he had removed her shock-collar, given her the bed to sleep in and did his best to nurse and feed her. He was a terrible cook, by the way, but it was still better than the stuff they give slaves. Him being so easy to trust just felt foolish to her.


@Arclight

 

[Aster Maris]

Aster was chilling, vibing with the tunes when a familiar voice crackled over the comms. She stretched for the receiver, not wanting to abandon her footrest to grab the mic.

Almost, almost. Got it. Leaning back in her seat, she watched the Catscratch idle past her viewport. Girl wasn't looking too good.

"Hey old man Davik. Ya know I ain't no baby, Noy of my own ship now ya hear." She spat back with a grin, her tone lighthearted. She took a puff, the last one, wiggling her toes at the mention of knocking her socks off. She laughed lightly. "Would be if I were wearin' any. You keep goin' steady. Ease around port there's the dock."

She stubbed out the joint as she stood, covering a yawn. Almost dozed off there. A quick scoot around the corner and zoom, she was awake and awaiting at the airlock. Wait, she forgot something. Scurry back into the lounge with one wrapped up Aster and one extra welcome blankets ready to greet her guest with.

"Blanket?" She'd ask as the door opened, holding the blanket out, before noticing the furry being behind him. Who's the friend," She'd begin before zoning in more on the poor girl's face, "Yo he treatin' you alright girlie?" She'd ask the lothcat-like woman with a more serious tone cutting into her voice, shooting a wary glance at Davik.

@Eccles

 

[Davik Lorso]

Davik laughed off-comms, "Sure thing, baby Noy" he replied before steering the Catscratch over to the Voidrunner's port, punching some buttons on his own console and engaging the docking procedure. Davik was careful with his own ship and made sure his engines were stalled, proximity alarms set and climate control made extra comfortable. He was in no rush and considered spending the night at these coordinates. "Alright," he swiveled back around and got up out of the chair. He wore his usual sweatpants and a long sleeve sweater and cast another comforting look at the wary Cathar. "Aster's good people." Not truly convinced yet, only knowing her benefactor for about a week now, Mera fell back to her Catharese instincts and seemed almost prowling as she followed Davik towards the docking tube.

Upon entering the voidrunner they were met with a wave of cold, hardening nipples and giving Davik goosebumps everywhere as his spine shook. "What the kriff is wrong with your climate control?" he cried, taking the blanket in hands before seeing Aster's sudden shift in tone. Kriff, he forgot to tell her about Mera..

The Cathar in her turn looked warily at Aster, her prowling stance unchanged, making it a toss-up whether she was trying to blend in with her environment or suddenly lunge at her. She didn't reply either, further putting pressure on Davik to explain himself. "This is Mera, she-" he looked at Aster and then back at the Cathar, "-oi I told her she is good people." He tossed the blanket over her face, startling the young cathar as she snapped out of her primal state. "She needs papers."

He wanted to walk on, give them the opportunity to introduce themselves without having an adult nearby, but then he realized he forgot something. "And no, I didn't do that to her."



@Arclight

 

[Aster Maris]

She looked scared, feral almost. Girl had seen some shit. She looked like an animal backed into a corner and ready to fight. Then she looked like a blanket.

And apparently she needed papers.

"Well why didn't ya say so." She eyed him, a little bit annoyed. He could have at least warned her that he was gonna be bringing in a half starved half feral cat being aboard who needed to start a new life. Literally the least he could do, besides what he had done. Typical Davik.

"You tell me, he do anythin' to ya or does, I'll beat his ass." She told the cat girl as she fixed the blanket over her shoulders, shooting a sharp glare at Davik who she knew would hear her. She'd spoken loud enough for him to hear on purpose.

"I believe ya." She shot at Davik as he doubled back after scrutinizing his face. She didn't feel like he was lying, and she could usually tell when someone was lying to her. Felt it in her gut.

"You'll have ta tell me about it sometime, and why the Catscratch ain't purrin' like it used to." She eased back into a less reactionary mood. She wrapped her arm around Mera, gently, trying to be supportive but without invading her space too much.

"Ya can call me Aster. Pleased to meet ya." She said, properly introducing herself. Leading her into the ship, she grabbed a blanket from a shelf on her way in and tossed it at David's back. "Everyone gets a blanket. I'm growin' space chilled grey gabaki an' it needs ta stay cold for anotha hou'a. I can't be held liable for any holy shirts or pointy eyes."

Inside was the "main lounge" area. It was the main lounge and the only lounge. Lots of lounging to be had. A wide and low wrapping couch filled the left rear corner, next to the cockpit portal. To the right of that was a small corner kitchen. Left of the cockpit entrance the room kinda wrapped inwards, and a strange flimsiplast construction of some sort kept most of the contents from view. A strong herbal smell exuded from the construction, giving a pretty good idea of what lay inside. The rest of the room was clean. It was clean, totally clean. Except a pile of laundry next to the couch. The low table at the bend in the couch was, well it had some stuff on it.

Her computer rig was set up on the corner of the table, running copies of holovid chips and spitting one out every few seconds into a contraption that was jury-rigged to the couch leg, it kept them in a neat stack. A tall stack. There was also various junk, a bong, and a little bit of her dinner leftover from earlier.

And her socks.

@Eccles

 

[Davik Lorso]

Mera nodded as if to say she'd tell her immediately. Somehow she trusted Aster already, which wasn't that easy with Davik if she truly trusted him at all. She also knew Davik well enough by now that mentioning the Catscratch in anything other than utterly complimenting didn't sit too well with him and yet he simply waved a hand over his shoulder and let it be, which was weird to Mera as she remembered how he argued with the engineers on Byblos to a point they simply admitted that yes, they were wrong to call that Lethisk-class Armed Freighter 'outdated'. There was something about Aster that just had a relaxing affect on her benefactor.

Meanwhile Davik was caught by surprise when the blanket hit his back and his reflexes and agility was definitely not good enough to pick it up before it fell to the ground. And yet he tried, sucker. "Oh come on," he sighed and picked up the blanket before turning towards Aster with a stern look, "You call yourself a Noy?" his tone of voice was chastising. "Your ship, your responsibility," he continued and gestured towards the laundry, the leftovers and the plastic contraption. "This place is a mess."

Davik shook his head in disappointment. He knew Aster was chill, but for a Noy she was a bit too chill. The state of your ship was a reflection of yourself. The catscratch was a bit beat up, sure, Davik had a streak of bad luck out in the Outer Rim, but the inside was well taken care off. He expected Aster to have at least cleaned up a bit...

@Arclight

 

[Aster Maris]

Aster let out a small snort and giggle as Davik struggle caught the blanket, clawing at it behind his back before bending to pick it up. She didn't appreciate the stern look as he berated her over the state of her ship. It wasn't that messy. It didn't help that the main lounge was also the only living space. The engineering room was spotless and in tip top shape, engine purring like a happy lothcat.

"Oh shove off and jump in'a star." She waved off his criticisms, who was he to tell her how to run her ship anyhow, she certainly didn't go around telling him how to run his ship. "I just moved in, still gettin' situated. Ain't even had time to tinker wit' her yet. " It was true, the Voidrunner was fast, but with the right modifications she would really fly.

"All tha's goin' behin' a compartment afta' harvest, once I got the bread." She said as she waved at the grow op tucked under its temporary shelter. Guiding Mera over to the couch, she gently encouraged her to get comfortable before shuffling over to the kitchen. "Take a sit, I'll get ya somethin' ta drink. Beer? Tea? Ayo Davik, where's that Iridonian whisky's suppose to bare my feet?"

Meanwhile the computer continued to spit out the bootleg holovid chips, each little plastic clack of a fresh one falling on the stack was the sound of money being printed to Aster. Money they could both use by the looks of things. "Callin' my home a mess why I oughta'," She mumbled to herself as she started a pot of tea, she needed a cup of tea after dealing with Davik. "You need help wit' tha old girl? Fix her up proper once we got the creds."

@Eccles

 

[Davik Lorso]

Mera seemed to enjoy the interaction between the two Ossein spacers and she relaxed a bit on Aster's couch in a way she hadn't done in Davik's lounge area. Too bad it was kriffing cold. "Here take this," Davik said as he gave Mera his blanket, "I'm just gonna get my jacket-" he turned towards the kitchenette, "-cuz it's cold in here!" and then Aster reminded him he was being a terrible guest. "Oh right the whiskey," he immediately went over to the boarding tube and crossed over to his own ship where he first grabbed his track jacket, zipping it all the way up to his turtleneck collar, and the went over to one of his smuggling compartments and started rummaging about. He pilfered the bottle from a bar on Nar Shaddaa and hid it just in case the Hutts decided to run inspections.

Finding it, he waited for another few seconds to enjoy the warmth of his own ship before getting through the docking tube again. "Oi, fetch three glasses!"

Mera looked at him funny. She had the two blankets wrapped around her with his feet up on the couch, but her gaze shifted towards the bottle. "Three glasses?"



@Arclight

 

[Aster Maris]

Aster rolled her eyes as Davik continued to complain about it being cold. Still, her eyes caught Mera shivering and her heart felt a pang of sympathy. She supposed turning up the heat a little early wouldn't hurt.

"Ayo, Eminem, ya awake in there?" She shouted out from the kitchen. She waited a moment before a binary warble echoed out from behind the flimsiplast construct.

//Am now. Not happy about it. What?// The NM-series circuit being grumped from behind the curtain. She had told him to watch the grey gabaki in the dark, growing it in darkness made it grow differently for some reason. Plants were whack.

"Turn tha heat on and show yaself. We got guests." She shot back at her grumpy metal friend, not sorry one bit that she had interrupted his nap. He was supposed to be watching the gabaki grow.

Fetching down three glasses, she gave Mera a wink. "Minii bol ger chinii ger" She said cheerfully to her new feline friend in Ossein as she brought the glasses over. It was a saying likely as old as her people, a promise of hospitality. "My home is your home." She explained as she sat down next to Mera, setting the glasses down on the table. "Long as ya here, my food, my drink, its yours. Unless ya don' wanna drink then, I won' force ya." She said with a smile.

A faint click echoed through the chamber as the climate control kicked on, followed by a gentle blowing of heat that began to warm the room. A small flap opened up in the shield that kept light from the gabaki and Eminem rolled out. He ignored them, rolling over to a small screen in the corner, plugging into it. The screen lit up with a title screen Clone Duty: Black Operations.

"What ya not even gonna say hello?" Aster called out from the couch, "Jus' gon' go straight to blastin' other metal bein's huh?" She shook her head, disappointed. Eminem's head turned towards the couch. //Hello.// He said before turning his photoreceptor back to the screen, intent on gunning down wave after wave of B1s.

"See what I gotta deal with, sorry excuse for a crew." She shot at Davik as he sat down, hooking her thumb at Eminem, a light grin on her face. She loved that grumpy little roller, but he could be a real pain sometime.

@Eccles

 

[Davik Lorso]

As Davik returned he overheard the droid saying hello and looked at Aster, "Is he-" he looked at the unopened bottle of Iridonian whiskey, did he? "-is he playing a videogame?" Did Davik get high from the mere smell of whatever Aster was growing? Blinking a few times, he refocused on the bottle in his hand, "glasses? Where are the glasses?"

"He's cute," Mera said, smiling at the little droid as if it was some cute kid. It felt good that she wasn't the centerpiece of attention. Davik was too caring and since she had also been his only company on the ship he'd been giving her more attention that she knew what to do with. Are you comfortable? Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Tired? Do the bruises hurt? What about the swelling? Honestly, it was refreshing to just side on the sidelines for once.

Meanwhile the warm air spread through the ship, wrapping itself around Davik like a perfectly comfortable blanket. "Aaah, yes. Warmth, how I missed thee." he opened the bottle of Iridonian whiskey and poured three shots, put the bottle down on the pretty messy table and sat down on the couch next to Aster. "So what's in that noisy machine, anyway?" that computer spitting out chips had him intrigued.

@Arclight

 

[Aster Maris]

"Yes!" Aster exclaimed, tossing her arms up in exasperated surrender before flopping back onto the couch. "I swear he's like a kid, doesn' eva' wanna take his eye off tha screen."

She eyed the liquor greedily as Davik poured, taking her glass up when he was done but sitting on it for the moment. "Nothin' a blanket wouldn'a fixed." She shot at Davik before tossing back the shot of liquor. It burned like the good stuff and she fanned her face and gasped after it went down. "Oof. You weren' kiddin', that woulda peeled my socks off if I were wearin' any. Oh!" She exclaimed as Davik asked about her rig.

Grabbing a holovid case off the table she tossed it to Davik. "Check it. Someone got a copy of tha new Preef Callo vid, pre-release, and uploaded it to the deep web." The cover art on the vid case was an artfully edited mashup of different fan art of the famous gunslinger that she had found online. The cover read Preef Callo: The Good, the Bad and the Rodian. "Anyway, I sliced myself a piece o' that pie and you can see I got my money printer goin' brrrr there." she laughed a she gestured to the stack of holovid chips. There had to be several hundred of the things.

//It's good, 8/10.// Eminem tweeted from his corner, not taking an eye of the screen.

"Was hopin' you'd want in on this." She said as she watched him, wobbling her shot glass absentmindedly on the table in front of her.

@Eccles

 

[Davik Lorso]

Davik watched Aster take the shot with a grin on his face and emptied his own glass right after. Mera was more careful, only taking a sip, but maybe she'd catch up later on. Eager for another, Davik grabbed the bottle and refilled both his own and Aster's glass while she grabbed the holovid case. "A new Preef Callo?" he looked at the case, seeing the legendary syndicate gunslinger on the cover in one of his signature poses, well.. according to the HoloNet anyway. "I heard he and his partner more or less rule Eriadu now," Davik should've delivered a painting to Marissa Zaa Fenn, after all, and when the catscratch got stolen on Kessel his biggest fear was what Preef would do to him for losing that painting. "early copy you say?" He eyed the computer as he wanted to had the copy over to Mera, but she refused and pretended to need both hands for her small shot glass. "Prreef gets a bad rep," she said, utterly surprising Davik who fully turned towards he, "Say what now? That guy killed I don't know how many people, he-" but this was apparently something Mera was passionate about, "-frreed slaves, killed slaverrs and the lieutenants of Hutts."

That shut Davik up and he slowly emptied his glass. Mera did too and handed him her glass, before looking at Aster, "He wants in." Davik had forgotten that it was the Hutt Cartel that was responsible for all her pain and that according to the movies and comics Preef had been a slave of the Hutt Cartel as well. Of the Crimson Dawn, too, for that matter.

Nodding, Davik refilled all three glasses again. "Alright, I'll do it. What's my cut?"



@Arclight

 

[Aster Maris]

Aster accepted the second glass of Iridonian whiskey, this time nursing it slowly, savoring the flavor a bit as she watched the exchange between Davik and Mera, her eyes bouncing back and forth between the two as they each spoke in turn.

"Well, if he's freein' slaves an' killin' slavers then that Preef Callo is alright in my book." Aster said before shooting back the rest of her drink and setting it down for a refill. Her face lit with a grin as Davik nodded and agreed to help.

"Let's say, hmm... sixty-forty split." She said, pointing to herself first then at Davik. She had intended to split it even down the middle, but that was before he had so rudely not warned her that she would be needing to run up some fake identification for Mera.

"Ta business!" She shouted as she raised her once again full glass in a toast, knocking it back and slamming it down on the table. The first two shots were just starting to burn in her belly as she downed the third and she expected to be good and drunk by the time they were done. They had smuggling to do but there was no rush, she lived on her own time and made her own schedule now.

"O' course we'll be usin' yah ship, no way the Voidrunner's gettin' through customs tha way she is now." She said, waving her hand at the "mess" of her little garden, not to mention the herbal reek that permeated the cabin.

@Eccles

 

[Davik Lorso]

For a moment Davik stared at the holodisk of Preef Callo's new movie wondering why people were so quick to forgive and forget. Ah who was he kidding, he didn't dislike the rodian.. he was a bit jealous, maybe. No one ever made movies about him, Davik wasn't swimming in credits like Preef probably was and perhaps most importantly: no one had ever stood up for him the way Mera had just done. Kriff, maybe Davik really was a sorry excuse for a-

"sixty-forty?" he quickly knocked back his fourth shot and this time he was definitely a bit less coordinated putting the empty glass back on the table, "You want me to smuggle, what-" he cast a glance at the computer spitting out disks "-hundreds of bootleg movies featuring the baddest gunslinger in the galaxy for-" he picked up the sample disk and waved it around, "-however much you sell these things for, ten credits?"

Mera suddenly laughed, "Haha, ten credits!?" Davik was stunned by the fact that the person that had just defended a known mass murderer now made fun of him. Mera's laugh was followed by a muffled cry of pain as he hands went for her swollen face. She recovered in a moment and continued, "A pre-release flick of Preef Callo? That's more like five times that." Davik quickly did the math.. hundreds of disks, fifty credits a disk. Could be an easy ten thousand credits for a shipment that fit inside his hidden compartment. "Forty, plus papers for Mera."

Refilling his glass again, Davik raised it to join Aster's toast. "Ta business!" This time, however, he only wanted to take a sip but then reflex kicked in and he knocked it back anyway. He blinked a few times and looked around, "If we're using my ship," he began, looking at the tent and then the unmistakable folded-up hammock in the corner, "we might as well finish the bottle there. Saves us a crawl of shame!" he smacked Mera's knee and then nudged Aster to her feet, "Come on, I'll let you watch my holo-logs. Explains why the Catscratch isn't purring like it used to."



@Arclight

 

[Aster Maris]

Aster kept her mouth shut and let Mera do the talking. The woman seemed to have a way of convincing Davik and that was fine by her. She mentally thanked Mera for bumping up the price. She hadn't really been planning on selling the discs for much, maybe she needed to get better in touch with the current market for such things.

"Ha, ya worried a might drink ya under tha table?" She laughed as he nudged her to get up. The ship swayed a little bit as she stood and she wondered if maybe she shouldn't be worried about ending up under the table herself by the end of the night.

"Don' ya polish off that bottle without me." She warned Davik as she gathered up her hammock, trying to keep the blanket wrapped around her shoulders while doing so. The result was... uninspired. Shuffling through the airlock after Davik and Mera, she managed to appear like some strange dreadlocked blanket-net monster.

"Where do I hang my beddin'?" She asked, looking around the interior of the Catscratch for a suitable nook.

@Eccles

 

[Davik Lorso]

"Hang your bedding?" Davik asked, confusedly, as he looked at the plethora of cushions that made out the living area onboard the Catscratch. "Just drop, let them surprise you." He'd be finding his own spot somewhere between them as well, seeing as Mera slept in the only bedroom.

They'd drink some more, have some food, maybe throw up and then have a long rest in those cushions. Next day they'd be stuffing bootleg disks in all of the Catscratch hidden compartment and head off towards the Core for the biggest payday in Davik's life. It'd be a piece of cake.

/end thread


@Arclight