Skip again swivels the laser till it finds its target, as another shot heats the air
But the commotion makes the shot go wide
Inside the vehicle Robyte tries to rectify the change on his rig
Hafipaer looks back at Skip and says "I should remember you don't usually need the help. Nice shot! He then begins climbing over the trailer connection to join his crew once more.
The goblin who hit Ace finds his luck has run out when Ace's next shot penetrates his armor and delivers a lethal wound. Nik-a-Nik is less fortunate, his weapon barely missing the remaining goblin. Skip's laser blast goes far wide of it's mark, possibly distracted by one of the junkcycles tipping over.
That sole goblin looks ready to bolt with his one and only crate when the shadow of a rather large dragon dramatically falls over him. The twin force missiles slam hard into the thief and break several bones. The goblin drops to the ground.
In the distance, the sound of sirens from Qabarat's emergency responders can be heard in the distance. While the crew has done nothing wrong, sitting around and waiting for EMS to check them out means the police will arrive, and the police showing up means they'll be detained for questioning.
Assuming the crew actually agrees to leave and not be detained for questioning, Ace speeds them off very successfully. "I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to have our shipment delayed by questionin'. Let's get outta here!"
From the safety of the inside of the vehicle, Robyte quickly guides Skip back onto the back where he could potentially serve as a rear defense turret
"Go go! Bad berries even worse for business!" he encourages with a slight panic
Xevras hesitates a long moment, staring at the goblin he just took down. When Nik-a-Nik runs in front of him to grab the crate he shakes himself.
"Yeah... yeah, the Company wouldn't understand..." he murmurs vaguely, squeezing back in the truck. He's silent and withdrawn the whole way back to the ship.
Hafipaer waits for everyone to get aboard and then hops in himself. "Let's go Ace! I think we've seen enough local culture for now."
Taking a little a look around at him companions to assess if anyone one is wounded. "No one seems to be screaming. Anyone playing the tough guy but actually need help?"
"Might need a minute to rest, but unless I get assaulted on tha ship I'll be fine since I got a few days ta heal "
Xevras doesn't respond to the question. He simply stares unseeing out a window. While his armor looks a bit scorched, though, he doesn't seem injured.
Ace manages to maneuver the bulky cargo rig around vehicles left abandoned when violence broke out and the crowd of nosey pedestrians pouring into the street now that the violence has ended and off the main drag l9ng enough to evade any legal entanglement.
The crew rushes the cargo aboard knowing they could still be identified by witnesses if they don't get a move on. Sure, it was self-defense, but the street ended up looking like a war zone, so security forces would still want a word.
The berries will need to be transferred off the flat-bed and secured in the cargo holds, but for now BD154's crew is focused on plotting a course to Akiton.
"Xev, you SURE you're okay? At least okay enough that it'll heal within a few days of the drift? Can't have the biggest most frightenin' member here just keel over, eh?" Ace asks Xevras, seeing as the two of them were the ones that got hit. "I should be fine after a few days in the Drift. So, unless we get jumped by somethin', I'm fine on my end."
Xevras starts at Ace's voice. He swings his head around to look down at the "Huh? Oh, I'm fine, I'm fine, just a bit bruised, maybe my scales are a bit singed... it's just..."
He hesitates, then blurts out, "Have you ever shot anyone before?"
He cringes slightly at his own outburst but plows on. "I mean, I've hunted before, and I know they definitely didn't care who they killed given their blatant disregard for collateral damage, and they were shooting at us and all, but still I haven't attacked anyone sapient before and it feels terrible but also not and I'm not a bad person right?"
"I've had to shoot quite a few people before... but I've never killed anyone up until now," Ace says. "It was mostly uh... actually knockin' corpos out who were tryin' to take advantage of Castrovel's wildlife. Dead bodies would leave WAY too many freakin' questions in that line of work, so we usually just knocked 'em out."
"Turns out, both smugglin' and gettin' away with a lotta vigilante shenanigans are fairly easy when you can just turn into a squox an' you're on their natural habitat. Who knew. But... I'm tryin' not to think about it too much, in all honesty. I really didn't even know the supped up noisemaker this thing is could actually freakin' KILL someone." He then hefts his weapon, "Robyte, what the hell kinda nu-crack were your people on when they made this thing?!"
From his chair where he was scanning the nearby system, the small Skitter swivels his chair about three times with a "Wheeeeee!! before he faces Ace properly
"Because we could? Experiments are fun. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. Why else? Besides. It works, doesn't it?
"I mean I expected it from Chip -- that thing looks designed ta kill," Ace says. "Didn't expected it from a supped up noisemaker with a strobelight attached."
The Skitter jumps off from his chair and laughs "It is rather deceiving, I agree on that, but it fits our size and easy to conceal. So again, it works. he smiles wide showing his many teeth
"Yeah. Dens used these to make sure every one of us knew if the other was in danger. LOUD and most of our size. Not uh. Not me. Feels more like a heavy weapon to my scrawny self."
Xevras sighs. "It doesn't help, but I appreciate the thought," he replies to Nik-a-Nik. "My parents are retired Skyfire Legionnaires, so it's not like I'm unfamiliar with the idea of killing in defense of yourself or others... it's just... you know..."
He spreads his hands and wings out as much as he can in the enclosed space without whacking anything (or anyone). "It's one thing to think about it, entirely something different to have it suddenly... shoved in your face because a bunch of goblins set a trap. I'm sure I'll get over it after a bit, just... I hope we don't have to do anything like that again soon."
Halipaer reaches up to pat Xevras on the shoulder but has to settle for his forearm as he realizes the height difference. "Life is sacred, but it is also competitive and violent. Almost every being survives at the cost of another in some way. Those goblins simply chose a poor survival strategy."
Sitting at one of the computers on the bridge he smiles. "Besides, think about all the beings those goblins can no longer prey on. Your parents likely would say it was an honorable thing, Hero."
"Isn't being honorable supposed to make you feel good about yourself?" Xevras complains.
"Supposed to? Yeah. But not much ever works out how it's supposed ta, in all honesty, Ace says to Xevras.
The three days flying through the swirling, colorful, strange Drift space passes without much incident. The cargo is unloaded on the move, and the holds have their life support tweaked to extend the berries' freshness. Most of the time in the Drift is boring. Occassionally, some interesting object pulled into the other-space passes by or some swirl of color creates a fascinating pattern.
Finally, the ship's console beeps to alert the crew that BD514 is about to return to normal space. The colorful patterns give way to a starry field with a seemingly dead planet. Another beep tells Ace that the ship has made contact with the local nav beacon for Akiton. Moments later the ship's infosphere connections are restored. A flashing red light indicates an incoming message encoded an with EJ Corp ID. It is a recorded message waiting for you while you were in the Drift.
The screen lights up to show a brenneri with sleek brown fur appears on-screen, wearing an olive-green flight suit emblazoned with the EJ Corp logo and fidgeting with a worn wrench. You recognize her immediately as Tarika, your Company dispatcher and, for some of you, an old friend. She’s based on Absalom Station, so this transmission must have been sent days ago.
Tarika looks anxious, and her image is barely visible before she blurts out, “Howdy team! I’m just checkin’ in on y’all. If you’re receivin’ this, you must have arrived at Akiton. Your drop-off site is in Hivemarket. Now, you can’t miss that place—just look for the biggest damn mountain on the entire planet. That’ll be Ka, the Pillar of the Sky, and Hivemarket is around its bottom. There’s a business there called Ka Imports, and Siski, the manager, is your contact. You can collect payment from her and maybe get a nice little bonus for rapid delivery. Be careful on that dust bowl of a world, though; there’s no real law on Akiton, and the desert is no place to go explorin’. I’m lookin’ for your next job, and I’ll send a transmission when I have somethin’ for ya. If you haven’t heard from me by the time you’re done on Akiton, come on in to Absalom Station.”
Tarika reaches to cut the recording and hesitates. "Oh, Xevras? Shan wanted me to say, 'hey big guy!' She took a new job in the company working some big project she's excited about. She might be slow to reply to any wave you send her way. Okay, take care gang!"
LN marketplace
Population 12,480 (27% Hylki, 16% ysoki, 5% ikeshti, 54% other)
Government council (business interests)
Qualities financial center, notorious
Maximum Item Level 18th
Robyte listens carefully, nods a few times, when the transmission ends he rubs his claws together
"Made it safe. So go deliver the cargo and get paid. Sounds easy. But best keep weapons close, don't want to get mugged or stolen from. Like last time. Good thing we handled that well"
"Dunno who Shan is, got any info, big guy? REgardless, yeah, good idea to keep yer weapons close. Always got mine on me."
Xevras perks up at the message. "Oh, Shan was a friend of mine back on the terraforming project. It's good to hear he got out of that wet hole of a planet, too."
He looks decidely uncomfortable at the mention of keeping weapons close, but he does check his axe and pistol as the ship gets ready for its approach.
The crew realizes quickly that Akiton is lacking in structured traffic control systems. This is a result of the disparate governments and corporate powers that all claim a piece of the pie without contributing anything to a centralized system of infrastructure. Fortunately, Hivemarket has it's own beacon that makes navigating to it a breeze.
Barren sand flies by and gradually gives way to a small settlement that is more libertarian marketplace than a community. Outside of the market-town's sandstone walls are hundreds of spacecraft from all over the Pact Worlds, Veskarium, Gideron Authority, and even parts unknown.
A landing site is selected and directions to Ka Imports called up via the local infosphere. However, they aren't answering their comms. It's only a few miles from the edge of the city to the three-story sandstone building. Outside of it, several Hylki laborers are lowering a blue neon sign for Ka Imports to the ground and getting ready to install one that reads, "Ichihara Holdings."
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Nik-a-Nik frowns.
"Well, *that* doesn't bode well... Ichihara is a weapons manufacturing company, whose presence extends beyond the Pact Worlds, thanks to their easy-to-use-and-modify stock. They are also supposed to have some rather... unsavory... connections, although those have never been proven."
"Can confirm. Absolutely no good. golden league ties, too, but no proof. but let's be real here. Also what's even worse is that Ka Imports is out. "
The Hylki shrug at Nik-a-Nik and keep at their task. When the Ysoki tries the door he finds it is locked. Moments later it is opened from inside by a massive, four-armed gray behemoth known as a Shobhad and native to the planet. "What?" It demands in the Common tongue, hissing through its stained tusks.
Xevras gets out and does his best to loom in the background as Nik-a-Nik tries to negotiate. His intimidating size is somewhat spoiled when he pulls out his datapad and starts searching the local infosphere for information on what happened to Ka Imports.
Robyte stands just a little away from NikNak. He fidgets with his rig, seemingly oblivious to what was going on around him. Skip on the other hand keeps swiveling his top part of his body in every which way, as if scanning the surroundings at a deliberate slow pace
Hafipaer looks between the large gray creature and Nik-a-Nik, noting the size difference. He has an uneasy feeling given how simple the job was supposed to be. I knew it was too much to assume just one job could go smooth.
Ace just stares up at the Shobhad, silent.
The Shobhad stares at the Ysoki for a long time then snorts and turns around calling out, "Boss! Yous gots bidness!" He moves into the building, allowing the crew access. He points to the back of the building and walks everyone in that direction without turning around again.
The rear of the darkened Ka Imports warehouse is filled with crates and boxes stacked over ten feet high. The shobhad leads you to a rear office, its large windows the only source of light in the whole building. A second shobhad stands outside the door, glowering and brandishing his twelve-foot pike.
Inside the office, a crimson-skinned human woman reclines in a chair with her boots perched on the edge of a large desk cluttered with stacks of paper, unopened mail, and some empty coffee mugs. She looks up from a printed spreadsheet and exhales an exaggerated sigh of relief. “Thank you, Grandmother! I am bored out of my mind and could use a distraction. What is it?”
The woman holds her hands up, palms facing outward. "Whoa, slow down there, I'm not signing anything!" she laughs. "This might have been the address you were given, but as of three days ago this is an Ichihara-owned business, not Ka Imports, and per Abadaran contract law that makes all pre-existing contracts null and void."
The Hylki woman looks thoughtful for a moment. "You said Yaro Berries?" she drums her hands on the desk while chewing on her lip. With a sudden grunt the woman gives the desk one last slap before grabbing a slip of paper. She jots down a number and slides it across the table. "Best I can do, with my availabile liquid funds, so take it or leave it.
The figure on the paper is half the agreed upon price, which means if accepted, someone isn't getting paid. Either EJ does not get their share, or small business owner Runo Prat is getting stiffed and needs to put off retirement.
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"I will acknowledge that yaro berries are somewhat time-sensitive, being fresh produce and all, but they *are* popular around here - I am sure you will be able to recoup your investment, and then some! Going a little higher would help us to meet the requirements of our own overlords, without significantly impacting your profit-margin..."
The Hylki stabs her index finger down onto the desk. "Take. It. Or. Leave. It."
"I'm for taking it. What we do with the money will have ta do with what we could do if EJ cans us."
Robyte leans over to look over Niniks shoulder,
"That or nothing. And boss man will not like nothing" he offers his own conclusion