Private Places

[Rinea]

It had been a while since Rinea had done honest field work. It felt a little silly now, given her position, but this had to be off the record.

The Chiss sauntered into a busy spaceport on Druckenwell, the oh-so-infamous corporate world. She traded her usual uniform for a set of typical spacers' digs. A thin jacket, tight black undershirt, pilot's trousers, and work boots.

What she needed? A pilot, their ship, and 5,000 credits worth of discretion. Her hand fondled the precious chits in her pants pocket. Red eyes glanced around at the gathering in the spaceport cantina. Holographic dancers, gamblers, live jizz, and crowded tables full of drunken space rats.


She reached into a jacket pocket and plucked a cigarra, brought it to her lips. "Anyone got a light?" She spoke up but didn't yell.

Sana Kinree

 

[Sana Kinree]

"Over here, Darlin'."

A nearby voice rang out, coming from an obviously armed and somewhat flashily dressed merc sitting in a booth and nursing a glass of cheap whiskey. In her gloved hand was a lighter, shaped like a slugthrower round with the tip on a hinge, and a steady blue flame coming from the center of the cylinder.

The woman was staring lazily at the chiss, having no qualms about whether the woman saw her looking. A cigarette hung lazily in her mouth, the ash leaving a long trail on the end of it as if Sana had forgotten it was in her mouth.

 

[Rinea]

"Over here, Darlin'."

The words trickled into Rinea's ear. She glanced over to the table immediately and put on a performative smile as she walked over.

"Thanks," she said while leaning in to catch the end on fire. She inhaled before the flame could rise and took a long drag.

Just like that, she slipped into the empty seat across and offered the smoke. "Do you partake?" It smelled of spices and something sweet.

 

[Sana Kinree]

Sana flicked the lighter closed once Rinea had lit her cigarette, before stowing the trinket away into a pocket. Taking a drag of her own, she blew the smoke out into the air above the table between the two women.

"You got eyes, don't'cha?"

A humorless smile reaches her lips, before she reaches for the smoke offered by the other woman and takes a short puff. Closing her eyes, Sana savored the taste for just a moment extra before she blew out the smoke, and offered the cigarra back to the woman.

"Don't know what fancy smokes y'got, but that one's nice'n smooth. What brings you to a place like this?"

 

[Rinea]

"You got eyes, don't'cha?"

"People have all opinions about them," she quipped.

Rinea leaned a little bit forward to reclaim the smoke and held it idly between her fingers as she leaned back again.

"Fancy?" She chuckled. "The only ones I've smoked my whole life." As for why she was here, "I'm actually in the market for a pilot--with a ship." Her brow furrowed as she scanned the room like a sensory droid.

"Wouldn't know the first place to look, so I tried the spaceport cantina." She feigned a city girl's sense of the world.

 

[Sana Kinree]

Ah. She's got money. Chuckling, Sana finally takes her smoke out of her mouth to ash it, and takes a sip of her whiskey. This ought to be interesting.

"Most people here've got a ship. Question should be what you want 'em to do with it. Followed by what your budget is."

Tilting her head, Sana scans the woman briefly before simply shrugging. She didn't have enough worldliness to figure out whether the city girl routine was an act, but knowing that the woman had money seemed more important to her in the moment.

"Y'must have something going on to be offerin' jobs to random strangers in cantinas. Humor me. What is it?"

 

[Rinea]

"Figured me out that easily, huh?" She smiled coyly and laughed. "Well..." Her words trailed off, and she took another drag.

A server droid rolled on by and stopped at their table. It looked at Rinea expectantly.

"Oh, no thanks! I wouldn't want someone to take advantage of me," she dismissed the droid with a wave.

Then, the Chiss brought the cigarra back to her lips and took another drag. She exhaled the smoke so gently that it lingered by her mouth before gently trailing up. "I need transport and protection. Nothing crazy," she insisted, "but as you may be aware, the war in the Deep Core has made some worlds less safe to travel these days." Rinea sighed.

She paused and blinked a few times, as if collecting her thoughts. When she stopped spacing out, her red eyes slowly spanned the table to the whiskey glass, and followed Sana's grip up her arm, until finally their eyes met again.

"Say... You look like you can hold your own. You don't happen to have a ship, do you?"

Sana Kinree

 

[Sana Kinree]

Sana rolled her eyes at the words to the droid, before sipping her whiskey expectantly. She waited not-so-patiently for Rinea to speak, drumming her fingers on the table with her cigarette dancing precariously between them and trailing smoke upward as she listened.

"I can fight. Gotta ship, too." She began, confirming before she took another drag of her cigarette. She blew the smoke out harshly before she smothered the butt of the cigarette in an ashtray, "But I like t'know who I'm fighting for. And your price."

The human couldn't put her finger on why, but she suspected there was more to this than the chiss was letting on. Something about the other woman was just too clean to be in a place like this.

 

[Rinea]

I can fight. Gotta ship, too." She began, confirming before she took another drag of her cigarette. She blew the smoke out harshly before she smothered the butt of the cigarette in an ashtray, "But I like t'know who I'm fighting for. And your price."

"Well," Rinea smirked, "it's my lucky day, then."

The follow-up didn't surprise her, but the Chiss still leaned into some faux puzzlement.

Her lips parted once, then closed, as if she had to really think about it before she finally answered. "I'm just a woman who needs a ride to Carida, and from there I need someone who can stand around and look positively not to be fucked with while I meet with someone." She paused and took a long drag. Ash collapsed onto the table.

Rinea leaned forward, "As for the price... How does 1,500 credits sound? 500 up front and the rest when the job is done."

Sana Kinree

 

[Sana Kinree]

Sana narrowed her eyes as she watched the woman consider the price. If she was as rich as she made herself out to be, why was she hesitating so much? When the Chiss continued her wants, Sana scoffed and took another drink of her whiskey, downing it.

"Lady, even I know you're full'a shit. If you just wanted a taxi service, you could get that anywhere. And bouncers're a dime'a dozen."

She gestured for a bar droid to come over, depositing her empty glass onto a tray before she waited for a refill. She only spoke again once the amber liquid had crested over the round ice in the glass.

"Now either you're just trying to get somethin' done cheap, which I can respect, or you're tryin' to get some poor local sucker to be your body shield in case whatever meetin' you're goin' to goes south. In which case, my price is much higher."

Grinning, Sana follows up with a counter offer, "3,000. 1,000 up front. Fuel ain't cheap nowadays. Still cheaper than the... Goin' rate a protection racket normally pays but I'm a little curious as to where this'll lead me."

 

[Rinea]

"Alright, alright!" She held a hand slightly up.

Rinea fished into her pants pocket and threw two 500-credit chits onto the table. "I thought I was pretty up-front when I said I needed protection, too... The way you talk, you some kinda Merc?"

The officer was a bit surprised by the sudden pushback. She could tell the woman wasn't your average spacer, but quick with the negotiations? Well, hopefully she was even quicker with the punches should it come to that.

She put out her cig in the ashtray and left it there.

 

[Sana Kinree]

Sana takes the time to count the two chits before pocketing them and answering Rinea's question. She'd expected the chiss to haggle a bit more, but... No matter. She was getting paid, that was the important part. She eyes the cig in the ash tray, making a judgement based on how much was left of it as she spoke.

"Suppose since you're technically my employer, ya got the right t'ask. Story ain't anything special. Grew up in a shithole, learned to fight. Got in with some gangs, then back out 'fore I ended up in trouble."

She pulls up the sleeve of her jacket, revealing more of her tattoo before continuing, "Nowadays I take odd jobs like this one to pay for food and fuel to go wherever, do whatever."

Waving a hand dismissively, she takes a sip of her whiskey before she holds the other out to shake, "Name's Sana. Ya got a name ya wanna share, darlin'?"

 

[Rinea]

She listened as Sana gave the short-short of it all.

It wasn't exactly a common story in the backwater, but the Chiss imagined there was more to that tale than the merc let on. Though she didn't press for details now.

"Rinea," She extended her own hand and shook on it. The officer wasted little time. "If you're good to fly, I'm admittedly eager to see what kind of ship you fly." Her way of saying 'let's get out of here.'

 

[Sana Kinree]

"Rinea," She repeated, nodding, "Pleasure. Don't get too excited 'bout the ship. It ain't anything special. Not 'less you got some 'special cargo' that needs moved from one place to another on the downlow."

Trusting that the chiss knew what she meant, Sana finished her glass of whiskey and tossed a chit to the nearby serving droid. Standing, she stretches her arms for a moment before beginning to walk through the cantina, sending an appreciative grin towards the jizz players as she passed them. She hung a harsh left down an alleyway, not seeming to care about any undesirables in her way to the spaceport. If she got stopped, it'd be their funeral.

 

[Rinea]

Rinea followed after, just glad to be on her way.

"Oh, of course," she caught Sana's drift. "Sadly, I won't be making use of those features this time."

The spaceport was one of many on Druckenwell, and all of them were exceptionally busy on the bustling corpo-world. This one catered more to freelancers, passersby, and others who saw the planet as more of a quick stop than a destination. Fewer cargo--more interesting faces. That sorta thing.

Perhaps the most interesting sight was the 9-foot Herglic getting shaken down by a cargo inspector. Herglics got big, but usually not that big. Though he was about as wide as one would expect. Poor guy, it was clear by his posture and tone that he really wanted to get a move on.

The Chiss just kept on walking in Sana's wake, still wondering what kind of ship she had.

 

[Sana Kinree]

Sana didn't pay any mind to the other beings in the spaceport, deciding that getting into other people's business was just inviting trouble. Technically, the ship wasn't hers, but the papers she had made it seem that way. While she was sure that the papers passed the sniff test, she didn't make a habit of inviting more eyes to look at them if she could help it.

Once the two got into view of the ship, Sana finally spoke up, "Here she is. I ain't gonna bore you with its specs 'less you ask."

If Rinea knew anything about ships, she'd know that this was a stock-standard light cargo-freighter. It had guns, yes, and it had chaff launchers, yes, but it clearly wasn't a fighter. The engines looked big enough to give the ship a good punch if it needed rapid acceleration, and it was clear that the ship had a hyperdrive, but otherwise it was nothing special. The cargo ramp lowered down to meet them, and Sana unceremoniously began to walk up it.

The inside wasn't anything special. The ship seemed devoid of personal belongings, the interior rather spartan when it came to luxuries. The biggest part of the ship was the cargo bay, which sat empty for the time being. Other than that, it had all the normal amenities- A mess, a lavatory, and the works. For Sana, that was good enough.

"Make yourself at home. I'll get started on the pre-flight checks, assumin' you wanna hit the stars sooner rather'n later."

 

[Rinea]

She eyed the freighter with some interest as soon as they entered the hangar.

A familiar model, but one she had not actually set foot on before. Rinea giggled, "Oh, I wouldn't know the first thing about it." Not entirely wrong. She was far from a starship expert. However, she was still leaning into the city girl act.

The interior of the ship seemed routine. Comfortable enough for a small crew. "So do you fly alone, then?" She asked out of curiosity.

Rinea took a seat in the rec area while Sana performed those pre-flight checks.

 

[Sana Kinree]

Sana nods, flicking various switches and checking various readouts on her dash before entering Carida on the navigation console. Reaching in her pocket, she flicks out a smoke and lights it before responding sucking in and letting her words exhale the smoke for her as she spoke.

"For now, yeah. All on my lonesome. Back in the day I ran with a crew, but skipped out when the law started lookin' a little too hungrily at us. Seemed like a matter'a time 'fore they cracked down. Not sure if they're active anymore."

She shrugs, not seeming to care as she takes another drag of her smoke, "You? Won't pry too much. Bad for business, but I'm curious if you're running solo or doin' this as a part of your work."

The captain's chair swivels around, the engines of the ship slowly beginning to roar to life as the human locks eyes with the Chiss.

 

[Rinea]

"Oh, you're a criminal?" She asked rather rhetorically, given the aforementioned 'special cargo,' but leaned into the act.

Then, her tone shifted. A bit less dumb city girl, and more of the woman underneath the disguise. "I don't have the luxury of running solo, not even on days like today."

Rinea sauntered into the cockpit and took a seat behind and to the right of Sana. Their eyes met, and the Chiss' face was nigh unreadable. Somewhere between soft and empty.

She decided to add a little clarity. "If you stick to your end of the bargain, there will be plenty of answers to sate your curiosity... And more credits down the road, if you don't mind a repeat customer."

 

[Sana Kinree]

Confusion was written plain on Sana's face as Rinea's tone shifted. While Rinea was calculating and able to manage the way she expressed her emotions, Sana's brows knitted and her mouth pursed slightly as she tried to make sense of it.

Something was obviously off about this woman from the start, but the way she grew more interested when she spoke of her criminal history was ringing alarm bells for the human.

"Y'ain't with the law, are ya?"

Her hand trailed closer to the blaster on her hip, before she stopped herself. She takes a long drag of her smoke, before she frowns and watches her, "We'll see how this job goes 'fore I commit t'anything."

Ashing the smoke into a nearby ashtray, Sana watched the woman closely. Just who the kriff was she getting involved with here?