"Yes, barbeque would be quite wonderful after all this. Once we're satisfied, we can see if the Wintermourn will have any compensation for us for this hard work. That would be a nice dessert." Akh intones, not particularly hopeful.
Guess? attempts to encourage Jaraduk by naming off various cuts of beef, "Ribeye, sirloin, flank, brisket, tenderloin, picanha, tri tip..."
"Third meal can't come quick enough."
Active, scoundrel metabolism. That's how. Guess?, don't forget burnt-ends.
While salivating a bit, Guess? responds, "Mmmmm... Charred ysok... Errr.. Charred beef burnt ends!"
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Haha, I see what you did there Guess?. Not THIS beef. Legendary minotaurs are not mindless cattle!
"I'm sure it's nothin' personal. Cap'n would devour any one of us, includin' Akh's tongue, if he had nothin' else to turn to."
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While salivating a bit, Guess? responds, "Mmmmm... Charred ysok... Errr.. Charred beef burnt ends!"
" You DO realize thats canibalism right now right?"
"I'm sure it's nothin' personal. Cap'n would devour any one of us, includin' Akh's tongue, if he had nothin' else to turn to."
Or had to get up from the table for seconds and you weren't moving fast enough
" You DO realize thats canibalism right now right?"
"Canibalism? You mean it's time for Seventhday brunch already? Wow! The week went by quick!"
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Del spins the ship into just the right spot, lining up another clear shot at a portion of the enemy fighter with damaged shields. With the rhythm of Guess?'s encouragement in his comms, Jaraduk squeezes the trigger and a flash of lasers usher in the quieting of the Mauler's engines. It floats in space, out of commission.
You take stock; your ship has taken some damage in key systems, but nothing you can't repair with a few days and a delivery of Slurm and miner's tape. You coast by the first fighter, the one that was hit by friendly fire, and see nothing worth saving. Then you make your way to the second ship and run scans. It seems your particle beams were a bit kinder than the nukes, and some of it may be worth saving. Your tech reads no life forms on board, unlike earlier, and you guess that the compromised life support systems took the ship's pilot and the gunner soon after the vessel powered down. With no real deadline hanging over you and nothing but bad news to share with Captain Eshovayo Fireheart - of District 9, the Veskarium's military intelligence branch - you spend a few days salvaging whatever working parts are left. You end up with about 5 BP worth of parts, which you'll be able to install next time you have a few days at a dry dock.
After a few days of hard work, you gather back in the bridge to debate next moves. Agavana has fled with the Wintermourn. You got the crew's contact information when you met up on Gaskar III, but any messages you send will take several days to arrive and be responded to. And then there's Captain Fireheart, who Guess? is still trying to weedle some sort of payment from. And since this job is done, it wouldn't hurt to let Tarika know you're looking for another one.
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Is there any larger bits of vesk left in either ship? Live prisoner would be good, but even dehydrated by the cold void of space lizard might be evidence we don't need tinfoil hats.
Melissa pulls a rather large leaf from her headfur and flops down for a dinner of goop. "Ok, ships back to "normal". I salvaged the extension cord, pulled the tine out about 2 minutes before it would have electrocuted jaraduk. 3 of the slurm cans are welded to the power core, but as far as I can tell they're actually REDUCING our daily rad dossage so I'm just going to leave them there. We had some bit of our hull blasted into our special storage area, and it took me most of the night but I did NOT leave those there... I am not messing with whatever mumbojumbo does our storage space trick. I think I can start slacking off with the 14 hour shifts again. " she scoops the goop into a lickable portion and tilts the bowl up
"guess if you're trying to wheedle something extra out of Fireheart, or at least try to say its not our fault, do note that the three way mercenary bounty hunter pile up that I was worried would happen, did happen. "
"I think somebody needs to know about these adamantine scale guys. Totally a bigger problem than we can handle but hey, if you see something say something. "
"tarika's going to be ticked we tanked this one, but she needs to stop giving us the no win situations. Why not just some simple smuggling past customs or something? No.... we need to arrest st Weyden."
"We have anything ELSE between us and all the credits in the universe? "
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"Not even a whole missile launcher... What a scam." Akh bemoans the meager salvage. "As for your mods Melissa, I think of the new reactor shielding as enhancing the Slurm rather than shielding the reactor, though both work."
"As for Fireheart, going to him now with the news that Agavana got pinched by some mercenaries is admitting we failed. Guess? would have to be a genius to get money out of that situation. The only way I see us getting something here is if we have something concrete on the adamantine claw in exchange. So, we bully the Wintermourn for it! They owe us right?"
After the battle concludes, Guess? says to the rest of the crew, "I think we owe Fireheart a status report. We didn't produce the results he wanted but better to let him know what has happened so far rather than take his advance payment and ghost him. Granted the report will be mixed with some truths and some... lack of truths. And technically, we're still on the job so I think we can keep the advance.
"My first thought would be to tell him in person but on second thought, travelling there is probably just a waste of time that we could spend working our next job, so a recorded message will probably be good enough.
"Overall, I think we just wanna avoid gettin on the Veskarium's bad side if possible. Any objections?"
Guess? will definitely send a message over to Tarika letting her know we're ready for another job.
"I wonder if they have a trench coat in my size..."
"Welcome to my life."
"Fair enough. We can go speak with Fireheart in person while Tarika finds our next job."
If we bring him BBQ and let him eat it before we give our report he'll be too subdued to react too strongly.
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"Yeah, let's not just ghost the Veskarium. We can at least update them about the Adamant Claw. Maybe that some of the evidence we found here indicated Agavana's innocence or something? I... We... You do the talking, Guess? You'll find something to say."
Del sighs heavily. "I'll be in the kitchen. Nothing like a little barbecue to brighten the spirit." At all this talk of eating people, Del gives her crewmates a suspicious look. "Well, I'm sleeping with my door locked from now on."
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As Del heads to the kitchen to make some delicious food to raise everyone's spirits, Melissa heads to the wreck one final time. She comes back dragging a freeze-dried and flash-frozen vesk body. The corpse is uniformed in a non-descript gray jumpsuit, with no logos or identification. The lack of personal touches across the clothing and the ship is so significant that it is suspicious.
You send a message to the Wintermourn and Tarika before spending a few days pulling the fighter apart.
You don't hear anything back from your partners, so you head back to the Veskarium.
As you pop out of the Drift, a message from Tarika rings on your systems. The benneri's smiling face is unchanged, and she claps her paws. "Look at my li’l den of kittens, all grown up into tough-as-nails bounty hunters!" She purses her lips, thinking. "You gotta be tough in the world of bounty huntin'! Or so I hear. I guess it makes sense that your first job didn't go so well, there's a reason these dirty criminals have such a sweet bounty on them in the first place." She shrugs, typing. "No commission for me this time then, I suppose my deposit on the solar yacht will have to wait." She winks, and both Jaraduk and Guess? recall the times their friend would hold a lottery ticket in her fingers and dream of buying a huge solar sailboat and go on a journey around the sun. "That's alright, I'll get right on finding you another job. To be honest, I was thinking this one might take a bit longer so I haven't lined anything up yet." Her smile broadens again. "And maybe we'll get back to hauling cargo with this one. I'll try to find something that's a good fit for you real soon. I mean, y'all gotta bring some credits in to mama!" Her laughter rings throughout the bridge, even after the communication ends.
You set up an appointment with Captain Fireheart, and soon find yourself standing in a small group outside his office in a nondescript square building with the Veskarium logo above the door.
Akh stretches his coils, agitated. "Do we have the 7500 credits we got as an advance ready? Maybe on the same credstick? Just in case Guess?'s negotiations go south and we need to mollify some angry vesk. Maybe we should have gotten a local delicacy from Gaskar as a 'thinking of you' gift. My old boss used to do that, if the news was particularly bad. I think it worked. He never got sawed in half, unlike some other people that didn't bring gifts." He frets.
"What do we do if Fireheart is in on it? On the whole A.C. business?"
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Melissa gives the body a heavy metal coffin in both senses of the word. Welded shut, sheet metal from their own ship, with lots of cool spikes on it. And some ice. Should keep them from coming back from the dead, and in case they do should keep them there....
"I'm pretty sure we're running anyway but if he's in on it we're doing a full on ysoki charge. "
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"You know that if'n he comes back as undead, it's gonna be something incorporeal just to spite your precautions.."
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You knock on the door, and enter Captain Fireheart's office. The officer looks just how he did last time you saw him, dressed in a crisp blue uniform. He does not smile, though he looks happy to see you. "Ah, my favorite band of mercenaries. You know, I've been getting a lot of flack from my superiors for hiring you." He sets aside the paper he was working on, giving you his full attention. "They said you'd just take the creds and run. But I know Baron Karm would never recommend someone untrustworthy. And from his wine-drunk stories, it sounded like you were more than up for the task." He looks past you, confusion in his eyes. "So... should I call up the Office of Expenditures? Where is the Oathbreaker?"
Eshovayo smiles and stands, fingers pressed into the desk. His eyes travel slowly up and down the welded metal coffin. "Ah, there she is. Your doshko struck true, that is good." He closes his eyes to savor the moment. "The Butcher of Burandamana, finally brought to justice. The Grim Commander is dutiful indeed." Del recognizes this as a common term for Damoritosh, one of the primary vesk deities. "Well, don't be shy! Open it up, let's get the auditors in here to verify your victory!"
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Melissa curls her tail in her paws like a horseshoe and fidgets with it, trying not to flash back to that time she helped her litbrother with a chemistry experiment that's still on the kitchen ceiling...
"Yeah.. the auditors are gonna need a long lunch and then stay late...Hey. have you heard the new star sugar heart love album.. its great on maximum volume.. " hint hint ear flicker flit flit whiskertwitch.
Akh side-eyes the rest of the group, bracing himself for the incoming disaster. "Yes, well, we certainly would not take a whole load of credits and run with them. We have a reputation to maintain. Don't we? A reputation for never stealing anything that wasn't ours. Yes. Absolutely."
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"They said you'd just take the creds and run. But I know Baron Karm would never recommend someone untrustworthy."
"Captain! So good to see you! But of course we're trustworthy? In fact, 'Trustworthy' is my middle name!!!"
"Before we open this coffin up, I've got some good news, some REALLY GREAT news, and just a small, tiny, itty-bitty smudge of neutral-to-slightly-negative news.
"So, first! Just a slight bit of the downside news. We don't have Agavana - a crew of mercenaries helped her escape. But let's not dwell on that because this is a small, minor, insignificant detail. And in fact, the fact that we don't have her SAVES you and the empire money at the moment. So hey, that's good for both you AND the empire! You're so very welcome!!!"
Guess? quickly presses on before the captain can interject with a protest, "Okay, on to the good news. We know who that crew is and we're continuing to use every resource at our disposal to track them down. And once we do, we'll force them to reveal Agavana's location. On that note, if you can leverage your vast, extensive intelligence network to locate this honorless band of outlaw mercenaries, do let us know and we'll be on their tail, posthaste!! These mercenaries operate on a ship named the Wintermourn and is captained by a ysoki named Niva Rovo. We don't know the names or number of her crew, but the ship and captain name should be enough to locate some leads, amirite?!?!"
And without waiting for Fireheart to respond, Guess? manages to continue without having to pause and take a breath - probably because he's got pressurized lungs. If these lungs allows him to hold his breath for an hour, imagine how long he can talk without stopping!
"And here's the REALLY GREAT news!! We've identified a huge, horrible existential threat to the Veskarium itself!!! If we hadn't done so, the Veskarium would've surely fallen due to corruption from within. But because we have this information, you - and there's no one better equiped and better suited than you - can mobilize and take on this threat to the empire! What better news than identifying such an enormous threat so that it can be eliminated and thereby preserving the Veskarium in all its magnificent glory?!?!?
"So what is the nature of this threat? Well, before Agavana slipped away, we had a chance to confront her. And you know what? She's DEAD!! Or rather, undead. She actually died from the hellfire attack! Believe you me, we were as surprised as you are right now. But she came back from the dead as a borai - determined to work against such an attack again. She even started up facilities to treat those injured from hellfire and began researching ways to counteract hellfire."
Guess? provides to Fireheart the location of the temple we found with the treatment facility and the automated medbots as well as the hellfire antidote research received from Agavana.
"During the course of her efforts, she discovered a secret faction within the Veskarium known as the Adamant Scale. These guys are bad, bad news. They're operating above the law, illegaly influencing and controling the actions of the Veskarium. It's just a matter of time before they corrupt the Veskarium into something beyond all recognition and without a shred of honor. In fact, they initiated the hellfire attack. Such mass destruction without facing your enemy in combat is absolutely honorless, amirite?!?! This secret organization must be stopped!!
"We were going to bring Agavana in, quietly and alive, to you in order to discuss this threeat to the Veskarium. But alas, she felt she could trust no one in the Veskarium, even you - fearing that even you can be a member of the Adamant Scale. Her band of honorless mercs ambushed us and they escaped.
"Of course we gave chase in our starship and while we did, a couple of ships with no transponders and no markings but of Vesk make and crewed by vesk appeared, attempting to destroy the Wintermourn. Knowing that we MUST bring Agavana in alive to you so that you can gather more information in order to counter the Adamant Scale, we engaged those hostile Adamant Scale ships. Unfortunately, Agavana escaped but at least we know she's alive.
"We crippled one ship and once that happened, the other ship launched a nuke to destroy all evidence of the crippled ship. This lends credence to the assertion that the Adamant Scale are fanatics and are going to great lengths to remain secret and covered up. Here's the flight recording of the battle. It shows the Wintermourn turning tail and running while we engaged and defeated those attacking ships - as well as their lack of transponders."[/b]
Guess? provides the flight recorder to Fireheart. Guess? then provides recordings of the wreckage taken during the salvage operation.
"During our salvage operation, we found that the ships had no logos, no markings, no identifying information and no personal effects. Check out this recording. It's crazy suspicious, right? And we located one more item for you..."
Guess? points over his shoulder at the coffin, "We were able to collect one body from the ship we salvaged. It's a vesk, uniformed with (you guessed it!) no identifying marks. These guys are GOOD at hiding themselves and their identies, trust you me!"
At this point, Guess? will help open up the coffin to show Fireheart the recovered body. Guess? adds, "I suggest you do NOT use normal channels to identify this corpse because if you do, it will surely flag the Adamant Scale and they'll set their assassins on you. You're going to have to find some way to identify this body discretely, very discretely. And only with people you truly trust.
"So yah. GREAT NEWS amirite?!?!? You get to save the empire and be a big damn hero!!! You're very welcome!!! Bullseye Shipping is always happy to be of service to our customers!!!
"So if you'll be so kind as to provide us with the standard cash bonus for providing information regarding massive, empire-ending conspiracies involving secret government cabals, we'll then take our leave and get out of your hair. That's gotta be somewhere north of 10 thousand creds, amirite?!?
"And of course we'll continue our hunt for Agavana and get right back to you once we have an update!!! And like I said, if your intelligence network catches wind of Niva's location, let us know and we'll track her down, get Agavana's location, then bring her in to you, alive - your satisfaction is guaranteed!!!"
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"I'm pretty sure veskarium secret cabals pay you in a suitcase, at midnight, and then everyone so paid goes to a "Farm on the surface" to retire... "
"I know you TECHNICALLY contracted for Agavna, but what you were really after was the *chitters* that painfully murdered a city full of innocent civilians. Pretty sure this guy isn't the head honcho, but he was involved. We didn't knock it out of the park, but its a solid single. Maybe a double if her notes on a cure and the people responsible are any good. "
Minimum +2
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The captain's eyes get wider and wider as Guess? continues onward. When Guess? finally stops to breathe admire his own persuasiveness, Eshovayo sighs. "My commander said that working with outsiders was never simple... he sure was right." He picks a bit of lunch out of his fangs, thinking. "Well, you're not getting a bounty. No head, no bread. However, this proof of the Butcher's location is worth something. Any information leading to the arrest of a fugitive is worth some credits." He accepts the video footage of the battle and the temple, noting down the Wintermourn's information. "Upon her arrest or death, of course." He types on his terminal and your comm units ding.
THANK YOU, CONCERNED CITIZEN OF the pact worlds. THE INFORMATION YOU HAVE PROVIDED WILL BE VALUABLE IN BRINGING DOWN THE DANGEROUS AND VILE agavana oathbreaker. YOUR three PIECES OF INFORMATION WILL BE EACH WORTH five thousand credits IF SUCCESSFULLY USED IN THE HUNT AND PROSECUTION OF THE CRIMINAL. PLEASE KEEP THIS MESSAGE AS RECEIPT OF THIS OBLIGATION. YOU WILL BE NOTIFIED AT THIS ADDRESS IF YOUR INFORMATION HAS BEEN VALUABLE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE.
He coughs, to get your attention again. "I'm sorry that I do not have any payment for you today, but I'm more sorry you failed to capture her. As for these claims of the Butcher's innocence, I am grieved to hear that you were persuaded by her lies." He shakes his head. "Just like her follower, Mr. Beskask. It seems we'll need to extradite him from Gaskar III after all. We need all the information we can get to capture her." His eyes are steely with determination. "As for this secret cabal, I refuse to believe it. Such dishonorable tactics are unthinkable for our great empire. Believe me, we test our horrible weapons of war right out in the open and on our enemies - not our faithful citizens." He stands, looking down at the body. "As for your attackers, they were likely just other mercenaries or pirates looking for a quick payday." He shakes his head, disappointed. He then looks up at you, swayed by the earnestness in Guess? and Melissa's words. "But... I'll log these in. If only to humor you." He taps at his terminal for another minute, then your comms ping again.
THANK YOU, CONCERNED CITIZEN OF the pact worlds. THE INFORMATION YOU HAVE PROVIDED WILL BE VALUABLE IN BRINGING DOWN THE DANGEROUS AND VILE adamant scale. YOUR two PIECES OF INFORMATION WILL BE EACH WORTH two naval bond print vouchers IF SUCCESSFULLY USED IN THE HUNT AND PROSECUTION OF THE CRIMINAL. PLEASE KEEP THIS MESSAGE AS RECEIPT OF THIS OBLIGATION. YOU WILL BE NOTIFIED AT THIS ADDRESS IF YOUR INFORMATION HAS BEEN VALUABLE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE.
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Fidget fidget fidget Melissa is going to need to splint her tail if this keeps up. "Mr. Beslask is an idiot. No one that could make a bioweapon would be dumb enough to tell him where they're going. uhm...Someone that knows might pass through his shop though. Whynotputa stakeout on him and follow the folks coming in? Come on Saranrae I don't mind saving people from other stuff but why do I keep having to save them from themselves...." Melissa is still getting used to there NOT being mining equipment in the background to hide their mutterings.
So we don't get fooled again, I don't suppose you have the evidence on Agava? The.. uhm. trial in abstentia? Investigation? Reason people thought it was her?
"As for this secret cabal, I refuse to believe it. Such dishonorable tactics are unthinkable for our great empire."
"Uh, we know. We're not blamin' tha Empire. It's probably some other enemy operatin' in secret. You saw the firefight. There's at least somethin' goin' on there."
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Fireheart squints and stares down Melissa. "Yes... you might be on to something there. These terrorist cells, they're insidious. Perhaps we can use this one to find the others..." He chuckles darkly. "After all, I doubt they're building bioweapons in a music shop." He returns to his terminal, looking for something. "Aye, it's in the public record of her trial. She wasn't there, of course. But they've got video of the Oathbreaker leaving her post, right by the center of the blast, minutes before the explosion." He nods, finding the right files. "Sending them your way now. I forgot the other video, showing her sneaking out of a hospital the next day. It seems she hid inside the body of one of her victims to elude capture. Despicable. As if that wasn't enough, Internal Affairs uncovered a manifesto written on her government email demanding the empire free hundreds of imprisoned criminals she claimed had been unjustly incarcerated." He waves the idea away. "The fool left it in her Outbox. It never even sent."
Akh's a little relieved that at least the vesk captain isn't about to order the team's beheadings, but it rapidly becomes clear that even the smooth talking Guess? isn't going to turn him around on Agavana. He nods along with Melissa's statements and suggestions as he saves the audio message entitling the group to some compensation in the event things suddenly and inexplicably break in the their favor.
When the group gets the supposed footage of Agavana's crimes, he brings them up and takes a close look. He's particularly trying to tell if Agavana already looks undead when she is spotted sneaking out of the hospital. As he examines the evidence, he speaks up to say "Inside the body of a victim? How very horrible. And challenging. Vesk aren't exactly small." and adds "But that is radical Weydanists for you. Always hiding inside corpses and trying to free hundreds of imprisoned criminals. I've never read their divine texts, but I'm sure these things are in there."
Ultimately however, it looks like the party's not going to be able to make any further progress with Fireheart. So Akh just says "We will keep at it and hopefully cross paths with Agavana again. In the mean time, if you hear of any excellent jobs that don't involve tracking down a mass-murdering war criminal infamous in the Veskarium, we'd be happy to take them on. We're a shipping company when we're not solving crimes and fighting for our lives."
Seeing Fireheart punch Adamant Scale information directly into the government systems, Guess? sighs.
"Welp, that wasn't the wisest thing to do. I suggest checking and double-checking your personal security protocols and of those close to you. Just in case. I sincerely hope it won't be necessary but better safe than sorry.
"And seeing as nothing else we say or provide will make a difference, I believe it is time we take our leave. We'll certainly stay on the job and let you know when we make more progress.
"One more thing. If this Adamant Scale does happen to emerge and you need backup to investigate or fend off the threat, you can certainly call on us! In the meantime, good hunting, Captain!"
Unless Fireheart or the rest of the crew have anything else to say, Guess? is ready to spend some time looking for side trading deals then return to the ship.
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Melissa GULPS under that stare, and will probably have an interesting time retrieving her fire extinguisher later. She's glad the nice old man won't be vesked for information. She'll probably figure out she's slated some other poor sods for it latter though....
"He'll probably be fine. Bigwigs.. Bigtails? BigHorns? Draw more trouble than they eliminating them. Us on the other hand....Guess, we might be better off making that deal elsewhere. If he's tipped them off we're talking to authories, the surest way to set up an ambush would be to offer us a sweet shipping contract and either off us there, or have it explode like the cattle in the drift, or become undead like the fish salvage, or .... lets just say its surprising we're still alive so its not gonna be hard to fake our accidental deaths. "
"Yeah I'm starting to view our logo as redundant."
As the captain dismisses the possibility of rogue factions within the Vesk ranks, Jaraduk wonders if he wouldn't be hiding something... Otherwise the nuar averts his eyes the entire time, not feeling up to facing a confident fascist in his element.
He's likewise happy when it's time to leave his presence and slink back off to their ship.
Maybe we take a pause from Veskarium government jobs...
"Yeah I'm starting to view our logo as redundant."
"Always was. I think."
Once out of Fireheart's earshot, Guess? says, "I'm not really all that worried about the Adamant Scale coming after us. Who are we? A shipping company consisting of a single ship and 6 employee-owners. I get the feeling the Adamant Scale only bothers with real threats and I doubt we even register. In other words, on the scale of secret, empire-spanning, covert, corrupt cabals, we're insignificant!
"Of course I could be wrong and we are in fact, unknowingly, the most important beings on this side of the universe - and so as a result, there are a dozen Adamant Scale ships waiting to blow us into our component atoms the moment we break orbit...
"But nah! Trust me! Who's got a realistic, self-aware sense of their own worth? Guess????"
Guess? grins.
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"I think its a matter of how much trouble is that vein to mine vs. what happens when you hit the motherload. We don't know whats in it for them , so lets not make ourselves hard to pick? I swear I feel more like my mother every month... Just avoid any jobs posted in the last few days and double check that they were posted in the last few days ok? Even.. ESPECIALLY, anything looking too good to be true? "
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As Akh looks at the grainy black and white footage of Agavana escaping, he does think her scales look a bit lighter than the other vesk in the video. Perhaps she had that white undead skin, or perhaps it is just a poor capture. Jaraduk has a hard time getting a read on the Captain, and really isn't sure.
The group leaves the office, unhappy about the results and ready to move on. When you return to the Last Chance, a new message awaits you. A familiar white furry ysoki face appears. Captain Rovu is smiling softly. "Well, you'll be happy to hear that we made it to our destination safely. I'm bouncing this message across a few rerouting servers, not cause I don't trust you, but because that zombie lizard is more paranoid than an anacite in the jungles of Castrovel." You hear a woman's loud laugh from the background. "She insisted. Anywho, I just wanted to send you a message with out deepest thanks. We were outgunned and outmatched by those fighter jets, and they were going to take us out in no time. Without your help, we would have been goners."[b] The verthani, Jinx, walks into the background of the frame, signing something earnestly into the camera. Rovu spins around in her chair and signs as she speaks. [b]"Yes, you told me so, I get it. It's time to upgrade this old bucket of bolts. ANYWAYS, before I was so RUDELY interrupted..." She spins back and her smile widens. "Somehow it's the quietest crew member who interrupts me the most. So, I just wanted to say thanks. It's a pitiful payment for our lives, but I've sent you a quarter of our take for this job. I figure you've earned it, partners!" The feed cuts and you check the message's attachments. Sure enough, there's 4 Eoxian Body Part vouchers with your names on them.
"I suggest using those particular vouchers for upgrading, like, our Shield generators, and not our luxurious quarters. I'm not much a fan of the goth skull motif."
"Upgrading the ship sounds good! In the meantime, I'm gunna look for something to haul!"
Guess? hits up leads and contacts looking for some lucrative cargo to transport and/or smuggle!
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Guess? finds a few cargo opportunities for the team in some back alleys of Command-3. Still waiting for a response from Tarika, you commit to keeping one of your two holds reserved for whatever job she scrounges up.
In a corner store, the goblin overhears the store owner berating an employee. The older vesk man stands over a skittermander, yelling. "YOU DUMB LITTLE FLUFFBALL! BACK IN MY DAY, A MISTAKE LIKE THIS WOULD BE DESERVING OF A HUNDRED LASHES THEN A NOTICE OF TERMINATION!" The small blue citizen cowers. "Sir, I'm so sorry. I was just trying to help! You said you were tired and not able to sleep, that it was impacting your work!" The vesk sighs, then continues at full volume. "FIFTY TONS OF STAY-AWAKES? FIFTY?!" He collapses onto a stool behind the counter. "I'm never going to be able to offload these before their expiration date."
In the Veskarium, distributing medicine requires a special license and permit. Which... you do not have. These restrictions are looser in most of the Pact Worlds and nonexistent in several. But that would require getting the product out of the system...
Just a few blocks later, a vesk man standing in an alleyway calls out in a stage whisper. "HEY! I hear your crew is looking for cargo. Come here." Only a little sketched out, you take a few steps closer. "I've got a load of Roentgenium that needs to be taken to Vesk-7. There's five Veskarium Naval Block Prints for you, upon delivery." He looks around nervously. "Sorry about the circumstances. People 'round here get weird about Vesk-7. Superstitious, they think the planet is for a punishment for the dishonourable. Lots of folks don't do business there. But you look like you're not from around here. No prejudices for you." He stands up straight. "You've got an empty hold, right? There's not a lot of the metal in this package, but the container is enormous. Lots of padding and techno-gadgets to keep everybody safe."
Roentgenium is a highly radioactive metal. It is safe when properly stored, and legal to trade.
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A lifetime of taking medicines with "re issued" use by dates and subsequent pink elephant episodes have left melissa wary of the practice.
maybe melissa shouldn't be handling radioactive material the way her dice are rolling...
A radioactive box we can't open? Really? Why not just say that's a cuckooclock duct taped to the outside counting down to our departure...