Faction Corellia bound and down (LAW)

[Eaton Waters]

Pamarthe, the homeworld wasn’t so far away from here, but just the same, it felt a bit odd being this close to home and not taking a swing by. Sure, his folks were gone, and Brooke was off doing her… was it a hero thing? He never understood all of that. Not once she was taken off to the Jedi for training and he was left behind. Eaton wasn’t even on the ship when Brooke and their folks ran afoul of the situation that lost them.

But that just meant he had the freedom to get credits however he saw fit, and with the folks Brooke fell in with once upon a time, Bright Star Entertainment? Well, Eaton learned a lot of new tricks. Like this one, listen to all jobs that come you way.

His blue and orange modified A-Wing was docked at the office on Roon, his BB unit, that was part of how the A-Wing was modified included the use of a BB unit, even if Bouncer wasn’t your typical BB unit. Designed to hold a few jumps, but primarily to hack and slice its way through whatever door Eaton needed. The droid was at his heel as he was making his way down through the offices.

A call had gone out to crack pilots. Job offered. Collect product, deliver down the Corellian Run to the planet with its name sake. Various cargo for various pilots. Meet on Bright Star offices on Roon. Contact is Humbree.

A date and time followed.

As Eaton entered the room, he learned that Humbree was a Rodian. And that there were quite a few pilots that signed up for the job.

“Before we begin, we’ll be meeting your ships in the hangars to outfit with proper IFF, give you at least that head start. And pair you with your cargo. Crates for the larger ships, datachips for the smaller ships. Pretty simple run. Get through Alliance border patrols, land on Corellia, drop off. Collect on delivery.”

Eaton looked at his droid.

“And what type of data and cargo is it?”

“Does that really matter?” Retorted Humbree.

 

[Pal Veda]

“What‘s on Roon?”

”A job. You might even call it an easy job compared to your last one.”

Veda rubbed his forehead, then swept his hand back over his hair, thinking back to a few weeks earlier when he had been held up at gunpoint by a misinformed broker on Nal Hutta. “Easy, huh? What’s the haul?”

”You know, a little bit of this, a little bit of that.” The Devaronian grinned, his perfect teeth glowing even on the hologram. “It’s just a quick run to Corellia.”

”Through Alliance space.”

”Through Alliance space,” Radix repeated in agreement. “You’ve done it a hundred times.”

”More than that. What’s the catch?”

”Ah, Pal, there’s no catch.” There was always a catch. “Except the issue of timing.” There it is. “You’ll be on the clock.”

”Usually am.” He chomped on the toothpick between his teeth, pretending to give second thoughts to what was a foregone conclusion. “Alright, I‘ll head to Roon. Send me the details.”

”That’s my boy,” Radix smiled again. “I’ll let Humbree know to expect you.”

”Humbree?!” Veda exclaimed, his expression turning to frustration as he straightened in the chair. But the image was gone. Radix had preemptively cut the call in expectation of such a reaction. “You son of a —“

———

Veda listened to the Rodian with annoyance. Humbree was a smug little alien that had somehow managed to dodge every blaster bolt fired at him up until this point. Veda had worked with him before, but not recently. Radix knew the two men didn’t care for each other, but they were both good at what they did.

He held his tongue as Humbree gave a typical “know your role” response to the new kid on the block. But the Rodian wasn’t wrong. Illegal was illegal in Alliance space. The patrols would treat them the same whether it was bootleg liquor, spice, or guns. Don’t get caught was the name of the game.

“Nothin‘s that simple,” Veda finally spoke up.

”Ahh, Pal! I’m glad you made it!” He lied through his reptilian snout. “I thought I recognized that piece of junk YT-2400 in the hangar!” Yep, that’s more like it.

”That piece of junk is about to haul your lot to Corellia, so you may want to think twice about how you talk about my ship.”

”Fair enough.“ Humbree let it rest for now, turning back to the original question. “You’re right. It isn’t that simple. There’s an expiration date on this contract. And I’m sure you already know the Alliance has increased patrols in the core because of the recent Sith attacks.” Of course they all knew that, but Humbree wanted to be the smartest in the room. “But if you complete the contract, on time, you’ll find the credits are well worth the risk.”



Eaton Waters

 

[Eaton Waters]

Looking around at the others gathered, with a bit of intent. His job was always easy, typically data, or a droid brain, or some sort of key to get someone who was more better at their job into what they needed. One time he did smuggle a recipe for a cocktail that used fresh fruit into a prince’s chambers. Apparently the family wasn’t too kind to the drink.

But more than running things, Eaton got himself into places in order to get something set free. He was a thief and a damned good one. Forgeries, stealing from high end places, as long as it could be carried on his person, or being held by his droid, he could move it. If not? He was known to fence it off to someone else to carry, and just hope he could carry the difference if the item didn’t end up where it needed to be.

But did the cargo, matter? No.

Eaton shrugged over at Humbree and offered a non committal nod.

“What we’re going to do is make it so you carry what we give you, deliver it, and you’ll be paid.” The Rodian looked at the gathered. “On the table behind you is a keycard with your name on it. You’re taking that to our hanger, getting your cargo, and moving.” The Rodian clapped his hands.

“Well? Get moving. On the clock.”

With that Eaton got up, quickly and ran to the table. Looking through the cards, he saw his name. And he and a few others were already running down the hall to the hangar. As he was running, he definitely grabbed at another smuggler’s card and tossed that to the floor before opening his.

“Cargo slip…” He nodded and kept moving. “Good, lets go!” Another circle of the hall and he found himself in the hangar, looking to match the card he had to the droid he was looking for. Did it have one arm? He could almost hear a record scratch and the brass stop.

“Looking for my cargo.”

The droid looked back to him and maybe one of its eyes were working as it hobbled over, tried to collect the card with the missing right arm, and grabbed with the left arm.

“Ah. Ethan Waters…”

Well, this was going be that kind of day?

Maybe the YT pilot was getting a few crates of booze or spice. That'd take a bit of time to load up.

Pal Veda

 

[Pal Veda]

”They think makin’ up a few seconds here is gonna save them later,” Veda chuckled to the older man next to him.

His remark was met with a weathered smile. The elder smuggler swept his long white hair behind his ears and limped forward, Veda slowing his pace to match his companion’s. “That used to be us.”

”Maybe. Not that long ago for me. A little longer for you, though, eh, Laith?” He punched Veda in the shoulder, showing he still had some power despite the wear and tear on his aging body. Veda laughed and stepped in front to grab their cards, holding onto his and passing the other back. “See you on Corellia?”

”See you there, Pal. Good luck.”

Veda headed toward the hangar, in search of the droid he was looking for. “Hey, you,” he called, flashing his card, “We ready to go?”

The droid took too long analyzing the card then finally responded, “Captain Veda. Your ship is being loaded now. Unfortunately, we met some resistance that delayed the process.”

”Resistance? What do you—“ before he could finish, his BB unit came rolling toward them, beep booping the whole way. “Oh, no.”

The astromech was using every binary curse in the book, covering the full range of metallic emotions.

“You were in charge! Why didn’t you shut him down?” Seems the old B1 he kept on board to guard his ship did not take kindly to Hembree‘s crew coming in unannounced with unmarked containers. ”Where is he now?”

Beep boop! Whirrrr!

”Okay, get back on the ship and wait for me. Prep the engines. I’m right behind you.”

Veda turned back to the cargo droid. “You tell Hembree that if I find a scratch on my droid when I get to my ship, I’m holding him personally responsible.”

”Yes, Captain,” the droid said, handing the card back to Veda. He quickly shuffled away, eager to put space between himself and the angry smuggler.

Veda straightened his jacket and huffed in frustration. “It’s always somethin’,” he muttered as he walked toward his ship.

——
Eaton Waters