Alyse Saul
Character
Ord Mantell
The bustling little city was a mess. Not in the sense that it was dirty, but the place seemed to have grown from one settlement and sprouted a new one until they all merged together. It made the walking roads hell and the skyline quite crowded. The place was a trading post and industrial yard and wrapped up into one and so it meant a great spot to sell junk and get a few pieces to keep messing with the efficiency of the freighter.
In the pilot’s chair, legs kicked up on the console, surrounded by a few odds and ends of scraps, trash, and dust, Alyse had managed to dock somewhere not entirely overcrowded, but the place was a madhouse. She hadn’t meant to fly that close to the banking building but it was a little fun to see the sparks fly over the reinforced glass.
She’d spent a good few hours wandering around the city a bit, but it had been far too early for any real exchanges. She knew the type that wandered a bit out here and their best hour was late afternoon with a drink in their hand.
Alyse rolled her neck and leaned deeply back into the pilot’s seat. She crossed her arms tightly and sighed, closing her eyes. She was so darn tired, though that was kind of the norm when she was this aimless. It had been two weeks since she’d had a job and hopping form planet to planet meant wandering the deck between the console and her tiny quarters, hoping to hear from a few feelers she had put out to pay for the next round of rations or materials to play with.
BEEP BEEP
Alyse jumped and promptly knocked herself out of the chair as her personal line blared through the speakers in the room. Groaning, she picked herself up off the floor and slapped the button that pulled the message up. she quickly smoothed her hair and ran a hand over her face, no need for a potential money source to see what a mess she was.
“Hey, Saul, heard you were docked here” Came the deep voice over the line, and a holo of a scruffy looking man, spectacles perched on his hook-like nose popped up.
“Qeran, I thought you were Deep Core bound,” She said with a raise of her brown. The man, Qeran, laughed. She had run with his crew for a few jobs here and there making sure their engines worked and their gear was up to snuff when needed.
Called themselves the Lion’s Teeth, way too flashy for Alyse’s taste, but catchy. They were decent guys who did a little low brow work here and there. They were good and she had a feeling that the jobs she wasn’t to know about were more dangerous than they let on.
“Yeah, meant to be but we swung by here for some better pay. Actually, it’s why I’ve called. We’ve got some goods were going to move to the Outer-Rim and we wanted to know if you’d come and take a look at reinforcing our containment.”
That peaked Alyse’s interest. Containment meant either live specimens, not Qeran’s usual merchandise, or locking something up extra tight.
“You know I’m not a locksmith, Qeran,” She said, rubbing the back of her neck to work out some kinks.
“Yeah, but you know you metals, we just want you to swing by and reinforce weak points so no one gets funny ideas about blowing the safe up around the damn lock,” Qeran informed her. Alyse chewed on her bottom lip for a moment before inhaling deeply. It’d pay for her trip here at least.
“Give me an hour, I’ll be by with my tools.”
---
Two Hour Later
“That’s as good as I’ve got for you, darling,” Alyse said, lifting the protective visor and wiping sweat from her hairline. The safe wasn’t too large, but it definitely not near deadlocked, she could see why they wanted the reinforcement. It was a patchwork but at least they couldn’t blow the sides off the thing, they’d have to go through the lock or use the damn key. She had made it easily to where the Lion’s Teeth ship was docked in a dark corner of the busy dock near the back of the trading posts.
Qeran was sitting at one of rickety desks in the back of the room, watching her work. There was a blaster rifle or two stashed about so she was sure there were more guards usually posted here. That made her very curious about what they were transporting...and for whom?
“It’s not as pretty as it could be, but it should stand up to a few knocks,” She said, standing and wiping her hands on her pants.
“It’s better than before, so thanks. Wanna have a drink for old times’ sake before you go?” Qeran asked. Alyse blinked and tugged on an end of her ponytail. She and Qeran had been friendly, but she didn’t like the vibe of whatever it was they had stored in that safe.
“Maybe in a bit? I’ve got a few things to tie up here, but save me a bottle of something nice,” She said with a dazzling smile she knew worked well. Trust it to men like Qeran to get flushed at a girl’s smile.
He offered to escort her back out, but she declined, gathering her satchel and stuffing her told back in. She knew her way out; it hadn’t been that long since she’d worked for them. Besides, she desperately wanted to poke around. If they had something they were willing to protect that much, she wondered what else they had gotten into on this big hunk of a freighter.
It took her twenty minutes of wandering on the Lion’s Teeth freighter to understand that whatever that safe was holding onto, it was their only job and that the rest of the ship was wiped clean and the men all seemed to be on edge.
She trudged her way out with a huff. So much for intrigue.
She pulled out her datapad on her way across the docking hangar. The notification of the credit transfer had gone through. It made her turn heel and jog back towards the ship. Damn Qeran had underpaid her for materials, like they always tried doing at least once on a job.
“Yo, assholes, I need the full amount, you always do thi-“ She had nearly made it p the ramp into the ship when she heard the blaster shot and a person barreled right into her, knocking her nearly off the ramp and onto her rear.
“Hey!”
