Private A to B to C

[Kairon Rees]

"Mai, try and be nice?" Kairon asked. He stood on the ramp of the Quintessence. The bustling spaceport was really just a wide open field in the middle of the city. People trampling all over the area had killed off any grass.

The cathar flashed him a toothy smile.

Kairon sighed. Mai was a a stowaway who had now lived on the ship for an entire decade. She did enough work around the ship that he didn't try too hard - any more - to abandon her every time they landed.

She didn't like other passengers and she didn't give a kark about Kairon's bank balance. It made her terrible at convincing people the pay for a ride.

"Go...do whatever you had planned. I'll hang around and see if we have any potential passengers."

She turned into an orange streak and vanish into the crowd. He couldn't trust his loading droids with literally half a brain each, Jarrick despised talking to strangers and his charismatic nephew, Asmus, had left them to join the Alliance as a pilot.

The air headed kid had actually been good at convincing people to pay them for transport. It had been about the only job Kairon could trust him to do.

---

"I'm picking up movement out there."

The naval frigate had come to a stop relative to the abandoned vessel and debris field. Within minutes they had established that the freighter had been attacked, disabled and the atmosphere vented from several decks.

They had also realised that the entire crew had been vented into the vaccum of space too. No one had answered their signals.

"Outside the ship?" Captain Kyrion asked. He stepped up to the glasteel viewport, knowing he wouldn't be able to see it. He could make out the freighter from here, but the debris field and bodies around the ship were barely a twinkle.

"Yes sir, the rescue droids are closing in. We might have a survivor out there..."

---

"You looking for transport?" Kairon asked the young man looking up at the ship.

"Where you headed?" he asked. He wore a fairly neat outfit for where they were. He adjusted his bronze-rimmed glasses as he gave the ship a longer glance. Kairon thought he looked too well off to be taking a freighter. His case was too nice too.

"Rimward down the Rimma route," Kairon said. The phrase always sounded strange out loud, no matter how many times he said it.

"That works for me. I need to go as far as..." There was a strange pause. "...Elrood. I am Davis by the way."

Kairon offered a hand. They negotiated the price and he had one passenger at least. He needed the credits with the cargo hold only half full.

Loxa Visl

 

[Loxa Visl]

Making her way down the line of transports and shuttles sitting at ready, a lone woman of unassuming build and questionable appearance moved from ship to ship. Some conversations were shorter than others - ending abruptly when communication couldn't be made. Others lasted with difficulty, getting to a point where she would produce a small satchel from one of her coat pockets and show it to the person in question only to be turned away.

Loxa Visl was not having a good day.

Kairon's ship wasn't the last one of her options, but it was getting pretty close. She'd been at this venture for two days now without luck and was starting to show her weariness. She approached, hood drawn and staff in hand, waiting patiently further back until the man who seemed to be in charge finished speaking with another before lifting her golden gaze to the Captain.

"Please ... This One goes to Kashibbol?"

 

[Kairon Rees]

"It does," Kairon replied, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder towards the Quintessence.

"That one is too," he added, pointing at a worn out old 1200 class across the landing area. There was actually a third ship he knew to be going that way, but it looks much cleaner so Kairon chose not to point that out.

Next to the old 1200 class, his looked like a luxury yacht. She had been doing quite a sweep of the area, so he was glad his was the first ship she reached going in her direction.

Kairon had on his cleanest shirt and nicest pair of braces. Even his cleanest pants were marred by engine oil stains that refused to wash out.

"We got spare rooms, not just bunks and cargo bay is only half full so you got space to stretch ya legs. Won't get that offer elsewhere."

 

[Loxa Visl]

The woman's gaze followed his gestures, back to the Quintessence, then over to the ship across the bay. She'd stopped at that one the day prior and the Captain had spat at her when she'd revealed -

"This One no credit," she looked back to Kairon with a level frown. For what felt like the hundredth time that day, Loxa reached into her coat pocket and withdrew the small pouch within, pulling open the ties and showing it to him on her flattened palm, "A Man will take?"

Within the pouch sat a various few things; crystals, gemstones from Felucia, two marble-sized krayt dragon pearls, and curiously enough a few small bars of cortosis. To the untrained eye, it may have simply looked like a satchel of grandmother's herilooms.

 

[Kairon Rees]

Kairon didn't make the best smuggler in the galaxy. He had a few advantages that kept him in the game. The first was a set of maps stolen from the family business, along with the ship. They were his treasures, detailing short cuts through various tightly packed systems that avoided patrols.

The second came from his previous life. He was very good at appraising the worth of things. When you had to steal to keep eating and flying, it paid to recognise what you carried first.

"Who's this one now?" he asked, "You me on the ship?"

He smiled as he looked down at what was on her hand. His humours had taken a knock at the idea of a free flight, but he had no qualms about alternative currency. Some people still tried to use credit chits from the One Sith era with ID tags notched into the microscopic structure for tracking.

Kairon didn't recognise cortosis, it was too rare, but he saw felucia gemstones.

"One of those would buy you more than a man," Kairon muttered. "Come on, you got any backs or cases you need packing?"

 

[Loxa Visl]

"Who's this one now?" he asked, "You me on the ship?"

The witch did not respond, but continued to watch him. She did not understand what he was asking. To her, it sounded like he was asking her if she wanted to be on the ship with him. The answer was yes, but of course it depended on if he'd accept her payment.

He looked, she knew the furrowed brow of someone seeing nothing of worth and for a moment felt her luck sinking again. Then his eyes seemed to recognize something, but he didn't point to what. Loxa looked in her pouch, perplexed, then back up at him. Didn't he want ... whatever it was he saw of worth? Apparently not.

But he was going to let her on! She thought that he was, anyway.

A few quick blinks, another glance between man and pouch, the woman quietly withdrew her hand and closed it back up. Uncertain, she looked down at herself and then back to the man. She had not but the phrik staff in her hand, the scars on her face, the clothes on her back, and a shoulder bag hung by her hip. Loxa shook her head. There was nothing else.

She traveled light.

"This One may go? ...yes?"

 

[Kairon Rees]

"Erm..."

Kairon wasn't entirely sure what was happening. He wished he had another passenger like the perfectly normal man who had just boarded.

"This one... " he said, pointing at the woman.

"May go if she gives...A man..." he pointed at himself.

"...one of the gemstones," he continued, pointing at the bag.

"When we arrive at Kashibbol."

Kairon sighed. With someone who spoke such broken Galactic Basic he was regretting introducing future tense into the conversation.

 

[Loxa Visl]

Loxa followed along, grateful for his slower speech and gestures, though she had to stop herself from correcting him when he called her This One. She was A Woman. Either way her eyes widened and a faint smile touched her expression. She nodded.

"Ahh, yes," said the witch as she opened her pouch again and rummaged through carefully for one of the gemstones. She did know that word at least.

Producing the largest one from the bag, she offered it to him, "A Man takes now. Please?"

 

[Kairon Rees]

Kairon opened his mouth, but his brain tripped over trying to say something in the same speech pattern again.

Instead he gave a single, firm nod.

"Ye-es," Kairon said, reaching to take the gemstone. It went into a pocket on the front of his shirt. Probably the most value he'd risked protecting with a single button.

"Come on, I'll show you to your room," he said, leading her up the ramp into the ship.

The ramp took them under the saucer section of the ship and between the two cargo holds.

"That cargo bay is empty, you can't go in that one," he said, pointing to each in turn. "The aft...the back of the ship...That way is off limits to passengers. To you," Kairon continued to explain.

 

[Loxa Visl]

Well this was going swell!

She'd found a ride on what appeared to be a decent ship with a decent Captain, and he'd agreed to her non-traditional form of payment. It was if the stars had all aligned and for once in the past ten months, Loxa's path seemed relatively clear.

<<Sante,>> said the witch to the man as he offered to show her around. He seemed to understand her lack of understanding, which was about as much as she could hope for. His slower and more simple words were a bit more easy to follow. The parts of a ship she knew well enough. Cargo bay - got it. Can't go in there. Back of ship was auff limis.

"Limis ... auff limis, limiz. What is?"

 

[Kairon Rees]

"Uba spacka Huttese?" Kairon tried. When that didn't seem to prompt a reaction of any kind, he returned to basic along with some serious arm waving.

"Engineering is down there," he said, pointing down the corridor that ran between the two cargo bays. "Off limits means you..."

He pointed at her.

"Cannot..."

He shook his head.

"...go back there."

He didn't wait for understanding, but carried on forwards into the living space.

"This is all open to you, kitchen at the back. You can have as much portion bread and water as you want but we'll cook the meals."

This, he reflected, would have been the perfect job for Asmus. The kid always had infinite patience for showing passengers around, especially because of the energy he spent trying to kark any of them. The boy - now a young man - had been in hiding from First Order spies raising a child.

Kairon pointed to the cockpit at the front.

"Also off limits. Not for you."

He took the ladder down to a corridor around the deck below that formed a ring.

"Sonic showers at the back and this can be your room," he said, opening a door to a very small space. The bed was set recessed into the wall, from which you could reach out and touch the next bulkhead.

 

[Loxa Visl]

No huttese.

Can't go there. Or there.

A kitchen! She knew this space well and cooked often with her sisters when traveling with them. Seemed a nice kitchen, too. Quite a bit bigger than their own.

Can't go there either.

Loxa followed him down the ladder, hooking her boots along the outside rungs and sliding down with one hand guiding while the other held her staff. She landed with a deft thunk and the ting of the phrik staff against the metal of the walkway. In looking in to the room that would be hers, the woman smiled gratefully.

"It is good," she nodded to him, "sante. Sante nam."

Then before he could walk away, she lifted her free hand in the gesture of a hanging question, "Is long to Ka'shebbol?"

 

[Kairon Rees]

Curious, that she struck him as a seasoned spacer but that she had been happy to overpay. Kairon had been keen to go and get the gem locked in one of the ship’s hidden safes. They would be passing close to Sith Empire territory and it was just the kind of thing a corrupt inspector would pocket.

"It's a tricky hyperspace route," he explained. "Seven days."

Even if she didn't understand the explanation, he felt he had to offer one. Especially given what he had in his pocket. Kairon had years of experience sifting through cargo bays and picking out commodities by price to weight and volume.

"We take off in an hour. Sometimes it is worth strapping in on takeoff."

Kairon grinned and run his thumb under his brace up to his shoulder.

"I'm flying today so...yeah...do not be on your feet as we take off. Once we're clear we'll set the table."

 

[Loxa Visl]

She did not know what tricky meant, but seven days she understood. They would be aloft long enough to make friends ... or enemies on the ship.

The witch offered the man a faint smile as he plainly prescribed security for take off, "Ah - A Man is eager pilot."

Eager might not have been the best word choice, but it was what she had.

"A Sister is same. This One wear two belts when A Sister fly ship."

 

[Kairon Rees]

"Yeah, eager, that works," Kairon said. The typically stern smuggler actually chuckled quietly.

"Just be ready to hold onto something," he said, stepping back.

There was still enough time that he probably had to step outside and see if there were any more possible passengers. He really did hate talking to strangers,

"Oh that's Davis who is..." Kairon said, pointing to the half open door two rooms down. The man closed the door as Kairon started speaking, so he trailed off.

"Never mind. Didn't catch your name? Erm...this one is called?" he tried.

 

[Loxa Visl]

The witch nodded. She would be ready to brace for takeoff and was glad for the warning. Her golden eyes trailed to the one he spoke of, Davis, and a frown fell across her lips as the doorway abruptly snapped shut. Davis must not be in the mood for socializing...

Loxa shifted her hold of her staff, the palm of her hand moving to cold metal as her attention returned to the Captain and her smile did as well. He was catching on!

"This One is called Loxa Visl," Loxa placed her free hand to her chest and bowed her head in greeting, "A Man is called?"

 

[Kairon Rees]

"Kairon," he said.

"Glad to have you aboard," he added.

He wasn't. Not really. He was glad to have her payment in his pocket, but Kairon would have gladly flown the ship alone and in silence if he could have managed it.

His demeanour had softened when he had been travelling with his nephew. When Asmus had smuggled aboard it had changed the direction of his life completely. His plan had been to take the ship from his family's trading business and use it to do bad things. Instead he had used the fuel and cargo to start smuggling.

"We'll do food round the table once we're in hyperspace."

---

It was noisy around the table. Not a loud, lively conversation. Jarrick, the shaved headed soldier who Kairon had hired first - and last - one his crew was telling an old story he had told before and Mai - the cathar that had never been hired - was cackling. She was perched on her chair as usual, lording over the meal.

Kairon was bringing out small plates from the kitchen. Some portion breads and dips, along with protein substitute in a baked dish and several real meats they could get when they landed.

Davis sat beside the soldier, nodding along to the story and pretending to be interested.

 

[Loxa Visl]

Loxa left her staff and traveling bag back in her little dorm and moved to curiously and quietly join the others in the dining hall. Though she could not especially understand most of the story being told, it was a welcome change of pace and atmosphere from her last few weeks of struggle. The witch had managed to barter passage on supply freighters, which meant traveling back in the cargo holds with the freight. Very little interaction with others.

Witches were social creatures, and the loneliness of space was the one thing she disliked the most more than anything. Loxa would deal with the difficulties of lost-in-translation or irate/grumpy ship pilots any day over sleeping among shifting crates if she had the choice.

Seated off to the side and quietly listening to the amiable chatter between the others, but her gaze kept slipping back to Kairon as he ferried food and plates to the table.

"This One can help?" she asked him when he leaned to place the latest small dishes down.

 

[Kairon Rees]

Kairon was clearly taken aback by this. People rarely offered to help out unless they were trying to get transport for less credits. Loxa had already overpaid.

The look of surprise turned to a shrug. Then he offered a brief smile. There were a lot of lines on his face, smiling managed to deepened them all at the same time.

"There are a few beers in the fridge if you want to help yourself and take some out for people?" he asked. He waited to see if she fully understood.

 

[Loxa Visl]

For a moment she thought she perhaps had stumbled into some unknown social faux pas. It was hard, tracking all the cultures across the galaxy, and harder still when she struggled with the one language known by most. But she knew the word beer and fridge and others and nodded in return. Being helpful was better than idleness, so off to the kitchen area she went to collect beers from the fridge.

Loxa returned shortly to make her way around the back of each chair, gently tapping on shoulders and offering a can to each person. When she got near Jarrick, however, he came to a sudden excitable point of his story and flew out his arms in a broad gesture, smacking several cans out of Loxa's grasp - some of which fell onto Davis.