Private Among The Clouds

[Delila Castillon]

Bespin, Cloud City | Saegassum | Xin Boa ​

Delila wasn't sure how she felt about being back in the real world. Realistically, she had known she couldn't have stayed on Wroona forever. It had been a thought, albeit a brief one. Long stretches of beaches, warm breezy weather and a private shack with her favorite Nautolan had been a dream. Yet being in the hyperlanes held appeal as well. They had been flying for so long and the Saegassum was their home - plus what would become of Skreech and Brak? Credits were also an issue, it wasn't as if their crew was wealthy - what were they, Jedi?! Well, Xin had some mystical powers but that hadn't seem to help with anything monetary. Didn't seem to help with much if you asked her but she wasn't about to rain on his parade.

Cloud City swung into view from her perch behind Xin and Brak in the cockpit. Skreech was behind her on the chair, his claws digging into the seat rest as always. Mind racked if she had even been to Bespin and Cloud City before. Possibly? If she had it had been very brief, nothing where she had been take in the sights. Not that this was some pleasure cruise. Work was on the agenda, even if they weren't sure what that work was yet.

"Looks pretty. Not like some of the slummy stations we normally stop at. Although I will say it looks far too good to be the headquarters for mining operations."

The monkey-lizard near her shoulder merely chirped a non-committal response, as if he was already bored with the entire crew being together once again.

"Going to have to watch our backs for a bit though. We're a bit of an oddball crew - someone might remember us from our exploits several months ago."

 

[Xin Boa]

"I don't think the imperials actively manage the mining," Xin said, "but best not take any risks."

He looked Skreech square in the eyes.

"No stealing!"

"Bleh!"

"No!"

This was no an argument that was going to go anywhere. The last thing he wanted was the attention of a squad of troopers because Skreech was light fingered around a junk shop.

A security cloud car did a close pass, but they were authorised to land. Xin let Brak bring them around the landing pad. Despite the risk, Xin was feeling quite relaxed. Relaxed and pleasantly achy.

"Amazing they've lasted so long."

 

[Delila Castillon]

Xin Boa

Delila resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the entire Xin and Skreech exchange. Every port Skreech was warned not to steal. Yet what happened every port? Skreech stole. While it was realistically at the bottom on the list of their problems, it somehow lead to more trouble for them. She had tried to teach the concept of pocket money to Skreech but the monkey-lizard would rather just steal than hand over any credits that came his way.

The stupid monkey-lizard probably had more retirement savings then herself.

"Surprised the galaxy at large hasn't blown this place up, I agree. With our luck maybe so will Cloud City's."

Brak snorted back a bit of laughter as he brought the ship down in the berth directed by the authorities. Eager to stretch her legs, Delila was the first down the ramp, followed very closely by Skreech.

It was busy, bustling, and a bit grand. Dells hadn't been in a port this clean in a long,long time. Perhaps it was because their crew was often dealing in a bit of shady business. Maybe it had been a monetary thing, dirty seedy ports were typically the cheapest.

Dells stretched a bit, lingering at the base of the ramp.

"Where to first?"

 

[Xin Boa]

"I wouldn't have thought it would look like this inside...from the outside," Xin said. "Doesn't really look like a mining colony. Suppose it does look like a Cloud City."

It was quite busy, curved corridors and sweeping windows that offered a view of the cloudscape.

"Well, got a few hours before meeting our contact so not sure what we do," Xin replied.

He eyed Skreech. One thing he would do is make sure the lizard didn't cause trouble. The site had security, but there was no sign of any troopers.

"As long as we stick to the public areas, go see if there is a trading hub with any spare parts?"

 

[Delila Castillon]

Xin Boa


"You really know how to show a girl a good time Xin Boa."

Their intrepid little group had made their way to a type of 'alleyway' within Cloud City, filled to the brim on either side with various parts for trade or sale. Ship parts, droid parts, various components for heavy machinery. It reminded her a bit of various other spacer ports but only very sanitized. It had an airy, bright quality despite the condition of some of the parts.

Brow furrowed as she picked up a power damper for inspection. Hand dug around in her pocket for a small took to take off some of the scoring. Their part backstock was a little low and if it looked as if the damper was in good working condition and price then they couldn't be too choosy. Especially with their luck and propensity to take jobs out in the furthest reaches.

"I'm not sure if I should be concerned with the lack of someone watching us or not. I think I've gotten a little paranoid."

 

[Xin Boa]

"Makes a pleasant change!" Xin replied.

His pleasant mood was quickly interrupted by a tight-knit group of ugnauts pushing past him.

"Oi!" went Xin.

They didn't even respond to him.

"Wonder where they're going in such a hurry," he muttered.

Once they'd collected some part that seemed safe enough to use - even if for only a short term in an emergency - it took them time to find someone to pay. They didn't seem particularly interested in negotiating down.

"Something is a little off," Xin said, as they gathered to take the parts back to the ship. He couldn't quite put a finger on what it was. "Probably just the lack of assassins coming out of the walls for once."

 

[Delila Castillon]

Xin Boa

"You know whats off? The fact we just spend an arm and a leg on parts that should have been left out in a scrap heap. Speaking of, maybe we do need to take a field trip to a scrap yard.Cut out the middle man type of thing."

Dells adjusted the bag of smaller parts flung across her shoulder. It was clearly much louder than when they had first set foot in the parts shop. Lots of commotion and bustle that wasn't there before. Was it the end of shifts here? People going home to their families for the day? Seemed an odd time but she wasn't quite sure what time it was exactly.

Then she saw signs. And it sounded suspiciously like chanting up ahead.

"Protest or political rally?"

 

[Xin Boa]

"Ugnaut rights...ugnaut rights?" went Xin as he read one of the signs.

"Looks like a protest. We might want to get back and make contact to see if the original meeting spot is still a good idea," he said.

They pushed towards the left edge of the corridor. Xin was as amused as he was irritated by the inconvenience.

"Probably just a minor scuffle about..."

There was a loud bang in the distance. An angry cry followed and then was sounded like a distant stun blast being fired. The crowd came alive, rushing of four directions at once.

With purchases in one hand, a grip on Dells with the other, Xin pressed forwards towards the docking bay.

 

[Delila Castillon]

Xin Boa

Oh boy.

Delila expected the rally to go south quick. However, she didn't expect herself to be caught up in the mix so soon with things going bad so quickly. Which seemed like their luck. Constantly in the wrong place at the wrong time it seemed.

As Xin kept a grip on her, Dells reached down to her thigh and unholstered her blaster. In reality, in a situation like this she couldn't shoot until absolutely necessary. Shooting at this point would cause extreme chaos rather than just the crush that was occurring now.

"The ship."

She was stating the obvious, they were already moving in that direction.

"Skreech, get through the crowd and move ahead to get the ramp down. We're going to try to get out of here, this contact will have to understand..."

 

[Xin Boa]

Skreech made a small noise and hopped down to the ground. He darted through the legs of the crowd and vanished ahead of them.

Xin and dells had a much more difficult route through to the hangar. There were no more distant cries and blaster shots, but there was a panic in the air. Some of the ugnauts ran, but others had doubled down on the chants and marching.

Xin felt guilty about using his size to barge through the ugnauts. He heard them calling out something about a blockade.

There was no sign of the crackdown yet. They weren't to know who was in the right between security forces and the workers. The last thing Xin wanted was to end up caught in the middle of it.

They turned into the hangar bay, finding it had become a refuge for the workers.

"I'm not sure getting the ramp down is working for us?" Xin remarked.

The ugnauts hadn't just filtered into the hangar bays, they had filtered into every ship to stop them taking off and taken over the controls to stop anything from landing.

 

[Delila Castillon]

Dells was appreciating the size of Xin as he pushed through the crowds. She was certain they may have accidentally pushed or stepped on a few of the ugnauts as they pushed forward to the hangar. Workers were everywhere - the sound of blaster fire concerned her the most. If just a handful of the group lost their resolve, panic would quickly set in.

"Let's not have Skreech put down the ramp then. We will climb through our emergency hatch. Tight squeeze for you but its better than fighting them to put down our ramp."

Dells pulled out her comm.

"Skreech, don't put down the ramp. Unlock our emergency hatch, we're coming on in. Start warming up systems on the ship, even if we're stuck here we'll need to secure the Saegassum."