Private Blue Milk Run

[Levi]

The Outrider II, Space
Jacen Nimdok - Judd​

---

With a few rather explosive outings under their belt, the crew of the Outrider II had finally found a chance to breathe. The career route of a pirate was a grind, but even for Levi the antics had left him wanting for a bit of peace and quiet. Sure there was always the looming threat of bounties over their head— from the Alliance as a whole and now more specifically, Ukatis, after being ousted as accomplices in the crown jewel heist— But today, things were simple.

The Outrider II had taken a smuggling job from a new client that would lead them through a quiet hyperspace route. Minimal traffic. Minimal chance for interference. The pay was good too, the only stipulation being that the client refused to say what the contraband actually was. It was just two unmarked, heavy duty crates left at the meeting spot for the crew to retrieve. Normally this caveat would be a no-go for Levi, but the client assured them up and down that the contents would be in no way explosive, poisonous, or otherwise lethal to the crew. As long as the crew didn't open the containers, and brought them to their destination, they would get paid. And to ensure their compliance, the client already gave them half-pay in advance. Levi was happy to take the offer.

So it was some time into their trip, when any and all calibrations or diagnostics or other boring ship-work related terms were taken care of, that Levi— in his boredom— came to a revelation. "You know Jacen, it never occurred to me until just now…" He suddenly said, sitting in a plush chair in the ship's lounge, juggling a chance cube in his palm, "Do you have a ah… a sister or something?"

 

[Jacen Nimdok]

The holo table in the lounge was a positively ancient device with only three games on it. One of them was dejarik, which Jacen was playing with Judd (or trying to convince Judd to play) when Levi walked in.

"You know Jacen, it never occurred to me until just now… Do you have a ah… a sister or something?"

Jacen looked up, his brow furrowing. Since joining the pirate crew, he had undergone a number of costume changes. Whether he was struggling to look the part of a pirate, or undergoing some kind of identity crisis, or both, the outfits were becoming increasingly flamboyant—mostly because they consisted of articles pilfered from Levi’s closet.

“Yeah, I have an older sister, Miri.” Jacen made an awkward shrugging gesture, as though contemplating whether he should launch into the whole complicated backstory. Ultimately he decided not to share the strange tale of his father's corporeal antics. “Why do you ask?”

Judd Levi​

 

[Judd]

Judd had just sat down at the holochess table to check on his bandages. It hadn't been an invitation for the kid to start talking to him. Much less, start a game of dejarik. Judd hated games. It hadn't just been an edgy line he fed to A'ti.

So the Dowutin was left to wonder how he had gotten here, with three of his little guys dead, all five of Jacen's menacing his remaining two, and worst of all, Levi came in to watch it. He couldn't even lie about the results later!

Fittingly, Judd was in a grumpy mood.

"Do you have a ah… a sister or something?"

Judd arched an eyebrow, but waited until Jacen responded before giving him the appropriate lip. "Weird thing to ask, Levi. Weird thing to ask..."

- Levi - Jacen Nimdok -

 

[Levi]

Jacen's response proved far-fetched, but as Levi suspected. Judd seemed less than pleased with the captain's question, "N-no! No, it's not weird! I-" Levi tried to defend himself, and sighed before explaining, "I had a run with a Miri Nimdok on Empress Teta, who took it upon herself to try and spoil a nice B&E. She was unpleasant." He then pointed towards the Dowutin with an open hand, "See, Judd?! Context!"

Satisfied with his testimony, Levi set down the chance cube and crossed his arms, "What are the odds I run into two separate Nimdoks on two separate planets, on completely opposite sides of the law?" He mused aloud, then glanced over at the dejarik game to offer Judd some unsolicited hints, "…K'lor'slug, diagonal left." A smirk grew.

Jacen Nimdok - Judd​

 

[Jacen Nimdok]

Jacen cracked a smile at Judd’s remark about it being a weird question, though he hadn’t gone that far with it himself. Levi was quick to defend himself, explaining why he asked.

"I had a run with a Miri Nimdok on Empress Teta, who took it upon herself to try and spoil a nice B&E. She was unpleasant."

The vampire boy flashed a tight-lipped grin at the Devaronian, baring his sharp teeth in warning. Nobody could talk chit about his sister but him. “Did she have pointy ears, RBF, and a thing for the color purple? Then yeah, it must’ve been her.” At Levi’s next rhetorical question, he shrugged. “We Nimdoks are an eclectic clan. Each of us tend to go our own way rather than follow the others…”

He turned his attention back to the dejarik game, shooting a glare at Levi when he offered Judd some unsolicited advice. “If this table turns out to be rigged, I swear—”

Judd Levi​

 

[Judd]

"Yeah, okay." Judd rolled his eyes as the conversation continued, making everything fall into place. Had he actually thought that Levi was trying to hit on a theoretical sister of Jacen's?

...Yes, actually. He did.

But it definitely made more sense this way. Judd turned his attention back to the table, growling his own warning as Levi told him the best move. He hated that, too. Though now, Judd had his own questions.

"So, you've got a big family of vampires across the galaxy? And you're still slumming it in this piece of work with us? Why didn't you go to one of them?"

"And which one is the fethin'... whatever-slug?"

- Levi - Jacen Nimdok -

 

[Levi]

Levi nodded to each detail Jacen offered. That was her alright. The Nimdoks being an 'eclectic clan' seemed an understatement, "Indeed." He replied. Judd describing them all as vampires brought to mind that which Levi didn't consider, "She wasn't a vamp too, was she?" Miri hadn't done anything particularly spooky, unless one considered her dogged pursuit of a criminal spooky. But that wasn't really a vampire thing. The dowutin raised a point about Jacen's lack of reliance on his family though.

"And which one is the fethin'... whatever-slug?"

Levi smirked, "The unpleasant tube of teeth and legs," He pointed in the piece's direction, then laid a palm on his heart in mock insult to Jacen's accusation, "Of course not. Frankly I don't know how one would even rig a dejarik table without it being blatantly obvious." He liked dejarik because it wasn't a game of chance. It was of skill. Meaning he could take control of a game, and he didn't even have to cheat to do it.

Jacen Nimdok - Judd​

 

[Jacen Nimdok]

"So, you've got a big family of vampires across the galaxy? And you're still slumming it in this piece of work with us? Why didn't you go to one of them?"

"I... don't know." Jacen raised a hand to rub his forehead, conveniently covering his downcast eyes in the process. He could ask them to drop him off on or near Atrisia and find sanctuary at his great-grandma's fortress until the whole fugitive criminal thing blew over. "It seems like every energy vampire goes on to become an evil dark lord who either gets killed by some goody-two-shoes Jedi or spends eternity holed up in a crumbling castle. Sounds lame to me. I'd rather try something different than follow the crowd."

"She wasn't a vamp too, was she?"

Jacen snorted at the thought. "No. We're half-siblings, sort of." Well, now he had to explain the complicated backstory. "We have different Moms and the same Dad. But Dad, uh... died and came back to life in a different body between the time each of us was born. He started out a Nagai, so Miri wound up with pointed ears and pale skin and funny eyebrows. Then when I was born, Dad was a Shi'ido. So really, Miri and I aren't half-siblings at all, because we aren't genetically related." He waved a hand dismissively. "Anyway, Miri isn't a vampire."

"Of course not. Frankly I don't know how one would even rig a dejarik table without it being blatantly obvious."

Jacen made a face, but relented. He didn't think the slug would beat him, but then he wasn't all that skilled a dejarik player.

Levi Judd​

 

[Judd]

"You're here 'cause it's fun." Judd frowned at that. Not in an 'I hate everything, it's my thing' kind of way. No, that answer had hit something in the Dowutin. "If I had the option of being a dark broody Force-flingin' bloodsucker somewhere, I'm living that life over... this." He gestured vaguely around them.

Being a pirate hadn't been Judd's first choice. If he had another, he'd probably take it.

Jacen's continued explanation caused the medic to shake his head, giving up trying to reconcile everything he just heard. Instead, he just moved the k'lor'slug diagonal left, and let the calculations whirr in the machine. "Are you here for a good time, Levi? That your motivation too?"

Judd smirked chit-facedly as his little monster wrapped around one of Jacen's, constricting it into a grisly, holographic death. Okay, maybe the game was a little fun.

- Levi - Jacen Nimdok -

 

[Levi]

Levi didn't fully buy Jacen's explanation that he was doing this to be 'different', but he shot Judd a smirk, knowing he might not like the Devonian's answer either. "Actually, I am," He looked out the lounge's viewport, and sighed, "I'm an adventurer at heart. The life of a sailor, a pirate, it calls to me. Going straight never worked." Levi looked to Judd, "So let's say we'd actually gotten five million credits from lady A'ti. Split it three ways. You've got roughly a million and a half credits to your name. Think you'd have just taken it and gone off to live somewhere quietly?" His tone betrayed simple curiosity, rather than judgement.

Jacen's explanation of his kind of sort of sibling relation to Miri, which was filled with more obnoxious sounding tales that even a con-artist like Levi would have a hard time selling to a stranger. "Are you sure dad wasn't just a Shi'ido disguised as a Nagai the whole time?" He teased.

Jacen Nimdok - Judd​

 

[Jacen Nimdok]

"If I had the option of being a dark broody Force-flingin' bloodsucker somewhere, I'm living that life over... this."

“Different strokes for different folks,” Jacen muttered, his expression souring as he watched Judd’s slug creature throttle Grimtaash the Molator, one of his favorite monsters.

Levi seemed to agree, citing simple enjoyment of piracy as his motivation. But then he asked them a curious question. If A’ti had given them a boatload of money for the Cask, would they have stayed together?

Jacen thought about it, then shook his head. “I wouldn’t know what to do with the money if I had it, and if I did know then I’d probably run out of it quickly.”

"Are you sure dad wasn't just a Shi'ido disguised as a Nagai the whole time?"

Shooting Levi an unamused look, Jacen sighed but did not respond. It didn’t really matter if they believed him or not. He turned back to the game, sending a ng'ok after Judd’s k’lor’slug.

Judd Levi​

 

[Judd]

They were both here for a good time.

Judd just shook his head, having no qualms about being judgmental. They were both delusional. Being pirates because they liked it. Idiots.

"So let's say we'd actually gotten five million credits from lady A'ti. Split it three ways. You've got roughly a million and a half credits to your name. Think you'd have just taken it and gone off to live somewhere quietly?"

The Dowutin let Jacen answer first, before speaking. "Yeah. Pretty much." Being a pirate, especially on a crew such as theirs, was beyond dangerous. Judd was of the opinion that the longer he lived, the better. Pirates don't lead long lives. Glorious lives, sure. Stinky lives, definitely. But long? No.

The calcs of the machine whirred, and the k'lor'slug lived by a small margin. Judd snorted a puff of air out of his nose. Whattaya know? The Devaronian was right. He paused, to let Levi offer any more unsolicited dejarik-themed advice, before building on his statement. "Second something better shows up, I'm out. You guys are... alright... But I don't wanna spend my life as a plasma-sponge for hire."

His pride couldn't let him admit he... more than tolerated the crew of the Outrider II.

"Where would you two be, if you weren't pirates? Besides, y'know, in jail."

- Levi - Jacen Nimdok

 

[Levi]

"Hm," Levi grunted bemusedly, "Your introspection is impressive, given your youth." Jacen seemed an old soul of sorts, then again, he said his dad was a Shi'ido, "Er… how old are you, exactly?"

Pointedly, Levi did not offer Judd any more tips on the dejarik game. When the expectant pause came, he just shot him a knowing smirk, and meandered over to the galley. "Aw, you're more than a plasma sponge, friend. Where would we be without your medical know-how?" The captain crouched down and opened up a cabinet beneath the bar, from which he retrieved a bottle, on which was a profile silhouette of a bantha: Jawa Juice. "I tell you where I'd be— I'd be short a liver," It was right where he'd been shot in the firefight on Batuu. A bacta patch worked as a temporary solution, but eventually he needed some intervention from Judd. Levi pinched a few shot glasses between his fingers and set them down on the counter, leaving two of them there in case his comrades were interested in imbibing themselves. He snorted, "Course, I have two livers as is— But I'm going to relish in their continued function anyway."

"Where would you two be, if you weren't pirates? Besides, y'know, in jail."

"Probably making change by fooling fools on the street. That's what I was doing between now and my last pirating career," Levi shrugged, filled his shot glass, then took a swig. It was strong and bitter, making him grimacing slightly, but he went right back in for another shot. Devaronian biology meant it was harder to get drunk than it was for your average humanoid— Both a blessing and a curse, depending on your goals at any given time. "Before that? I was a stevedore."

Jacen Nimdok - Judd​

 

[Jacen Nimdok]

"Er… how old are you, exactly?"

“Thirty-two,” he answered.

Against all odds, the k’lor’slug lived. Jacen huffed exasperatedly and ran a hand through his hair, not sure what to do next.

"Second something better shows up, I'm out. You guys are... alright... But I don't wanna spend my life as a plasma-sponge for hire."

“You’re not a—” Jacen began, talking at nearly the same time as Levi. Only the boy broke off first, falling silent as he stared down at the dejarik table.

"Where would you two be, if you weren't pirates? Besides, y'know, in jail."

“I’d be in my great-grandmother’s basement, learning the ways of the Dark Side.” Like many youths, he hadn’t known what to do with himself. He wasn’t interested in conquering planets or killing billions, but he was curious, especially about things that were forbidden. Most teenagers were. Besides, what other opportunities did he have with a dead father, a reclusive mother, and a sister who had ended her adventuring days to become the housewife of a Jedi? It was all so... lame.

Being a pirate was way cooler.

"Before that? I was a stevedore."

“A what?”

Judd Levi​

 

[Judd]

Jacen being thirty-two was entirely unsurprising for Judd. He was a Dowutin, they lived long lives too. Maybe longer lives than Shi'ido, though no Dowutin had ever lived that long without being killed by somebody for something. Regardless, he was still the youngest on the crew.

It seemed both pirates were quick to disparage his comment about being a target for blaster fire. Judd shook his head disparagingly, a thin smirk sticking itself to his face. "Livers always heal up well. Done plenty like it." Though, usually, he had to use bottles of kolto, rather than state-of-the-art bacta patches.

Weirdly enough, Jacen's alternate history was the less surprising to him. It followed that a vampire teen would be doing vampire teen things, but Levi's oldest job seemed a little... plain, for him.

"A crate-pusher," the medic clarified, smirking. "Didn't take you for a salt-of-the-earth kinda guy, Levi."

Judd brought up another of his guys to flank Jacen's other guy.

What? He didn't know their dumb little names.

- Levi - Jacen Nimdok -

 

[Levi]

"Ah, right," Levi scratched his chin and looked away unassumingly. He had asked this question before in the prison, only now remember so after he heard the answer a second time. Things were a bit too hectic back on Montitia to really compartmentalize that information, but if Jacen wasn't going to take offsite to his forgetting (or had even forgotten himself), Levi wasn't going to bring it back up.

At the end of the day, Jacen was still the youngest of the three. Unless Judd was secretly more youthful than he appeared.

“A what?”

"A crate-pusher. Didn't take you for a salt-of-the-earth kinda guy, Levi."

Levi shrugged, and sipped on his now third glass more leisurely, "Everybody starts somewhere," He looked back and forth between his two crewmates with curious golden eyes, "We already know how Mr. Nimdok got his start in the pirate life," They had been there to witness it, after all, "But how about you, Judd?" Notably, Levi had yet to explain his own origins, either, beyond mention of a mundane job.

Judd - Jacen Nimdok​

 

[Jacen Nimdok]

“Oh.” Jacen was only mildly embarrassed by his ignorance. “Is that like the spacer equivalent of working retail?”

He sent another Grimtaash after Judd’s strider, giving the Dowutin a chit-eating grin when the Alderaanian mythic monster devoured its opponent.

“Yeah, how did you get mixed up in all this? Were you a regular doc that got kidnapped and pressed into service by a pirate crew?” That was usually how medics wound up in such situations. Victims of circumstance.

Judd Levi

 

[Judd]

"But how about you, Judd?"

Judd stopped moving. He was generally pretty still, but he became motionless. One wouldn't be amiss for thinking Jacen was playing against an orange boulder. The only change in his appearance was the lowering of his brow, and the slightest grinding of his jaw. It was all fun and games talking about the other's pasts. He really should've expected it to turn back to him.

“Yeah, how did you get mixed up in all this? Were you a regular doc that got kidnapped and pressed into service by a pirate crew?”

The Dowutin levied his hellfire orange eyes Jacen's way, forgetting about the game for a moment. He was a different person, for all of two breaths. Boisterous and bitingly sassy no more, instead the medic was serious. Some unquenched rage sat deep within him, buried under layers of carefully curated grouchiness.

"I was in the army. Then I wasn't. Now I'm here."

He didn't make a move to counter-attack with his half-dead k'lor'slug.

His last piece, hanging on with a sliver of life.

He turned his head towards Levi, not all of his intense rage quite burnt away yet. "Where are we going next?" His tone suggested that he was done talking about himself.

- Levi - Jacen Nimdok -

 

[Levi]

"No, it's the spacer equivalent of... working in a warehouse." Levi corrected, finding the comparison a little silly in the first place. Did this kid not know what dockworkers did? Perhaps he should have just said 'dockworker'.

Unfortunately, the easy vibes came crashing down with Judd's mood. He shot his crewmates a deathly glare that was immediately picked up on. A minimal explanation was given, and left at that, "Alrighty…" Levi hummed aloud, "Noted. Let sleeping akk dogs lie." Fair enough, if Judd didn't want to talk about his past, Levi ultimately wasn't going to make him. The pirate life was all about leaving that behind, in his eyes. So long as his men were loyal, he rarely pressed on shut matters.

"Where are we going next?"

Levi took another drink, then put the bottle of Jawa Juice away. "We're still mid-transit to Stewjon," There was an unspoken duh to his tone, "That's where the client asked us to drop off this cargo." He gestured back toward the bay doors, "I suggest you just relax and settle in. It's not every day it gets to be this quiet."

…There was a dull thump from the hold. Levi stood at attention, twirling his mustache curiously. He looked to the others, and touched a hand to his holster just in case.

Judd - Jacen Nimdok​

 

[Jacen Nimdok]

"No, it's the spacer equivalent of... working in a warehouse."

“Mmm. Sounds boring.”

Jacen noticed the sudden shift in mood, and initially thought it was because he was winning the game. His smile disappeared when he saw the stony look on Judd’s face. The Dowutin made it abundantly clear that he didn’t want to discuss his past. Still, he did give them an answer. It was vague, but it was something.

Judd asked a question which he should’ve already known the answer to. While Levi answered, Jacen quietly excused himself to get a drink. He couldn’t guzzle booze like the others (nor did he have much desire to—alcohol was nasty) but he had picked up a pack of soda at their last rest stop. Popping the tab on a can of Fizzyglug, he took a long drink—only to nearly choke at the sound of a thump from the cargo hold. His eyes flicked toward his mates, gaze questioning.

Judd Levi​