Saving the Common Man

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori snickered as [member="Daiya"] ran off to go tell her wookie guardian about the sleeping arrangements. Oh how much fun they were going to have chatting the hours away and sharing stories of their short lives. It was MUCH better than school ever was. Life was a better teacher anyways.

The knocking was heard straight away. She turned around as she heard the voice of [member="Gray Venasir"] asking if he had found the right place. "Yup! You found it! And right on time too! It'll be a little squishy in here sleepwise, so we'll sleep in shifts. Come on in and store your stuff. We should be underway shortly."

One more peek down the ramp was given before Lori turned and hurried into the ship. This was going to be so exciting! Hopefully she'd do everyone proud. The ship was certainly good enough. It was all up to the crew and her own leadership skilled. Lori made her way up to the cockpit, spotting @Luthor Ando first before seeing [member="Orrico Wayke"] sitting there looking far too comfortable. "All ready to go. Everything's loaded. Fire up the engines and once we've got clearance, let's get this mission underway."

 

[Luther Lewis]

Luther looks up in confusion as [member="Orrico Wayke"] informs him that the route is already plotted. He looked back at the console, only finally noticing the blinking light at the edge of the screen. He pressed it to find the route Wayke mentioned. It was a good path, nice and straightforward. They would pass by Pendari, a First Order shipyard, but wouldn’t encounter any issues until they entered FO territory proper. “Ahhh good, you’ve saved me a headache” Luther said, with a smile.

He turned to face the man as the topic turned much more serious. Wayke expressed some of his doubts about Luther’s backstory. Luther listened impassively, keeping his face still even as panic fluttered in his stomach. The man was no idiot, and Luther’s rush to get on the ship left holes in his cover that the man had picked apart easily. Luther thought carefully on his response. The man was looking for an admission of guilt and Luther needed to give him something, else the man might jump to radical conclusions.

“Alright yeah, maybe I wasn’t a hundred percent truthful” Luther said, a nervous smile on his face. He leaned in, lowering his voice. “Look, I had to get off-planet quick. It was true I used to serve the Galactic Alliance, just as a soldier not SIS. After the Alliance collapsed, I wasn’t in a great head space” Luther forced himself to swallow and hesitated before continuing. “I drank, and I gambled” he continued. “Pretty soon I had some serious debt, and some rough types knocking on my door. I didn’t have chit, so I decided to get as far from the outer rim as possible. Commenor seemed like a good option”. He pulled back his shirt to show the vicious burns on his shoulders. “I didn’t get these wounds from defending the palace”. Moving the shirt over the raw skin made him hiss in pain. “I got them from a bounty hunter after the battle. There isn’t anywhere safe from these guys”.

He straightened his shirt and looked Wayke dead in the eye. “Look, you’ve got me by the throat here, but you seem like a decent sort. I really need the money, so please keep this quiet”. It was a gamble, but a fairly safe one. If they thought he was just a regular penniless wastrel, they’d probably just dump him off somewhere. Better than what they’d do if they realized what he truly was.

[member="Loreena Arenais"] entered the cockpit and ordered take-off. “Affirmative Captain” Luther said. “Wayke’s got a route planned out, if you want to take a look”. Luther enlarged the map and moved back to give her a better view.

| [member="Tirtus Vex"] | [member="Neo Calix"] | [member="Daiya"] | [member="Gray Venasir"] |​

 

[Kyyrk]

Orrico's eyes narrowed at Luther as he offered a..."more accurate" story. He was about to press the man further, this new story was even less believable than the last one. Serious debt? Serious enough to incur a bounty? And he was heading for the First Order. That made him a hell of a liability. He sighed quietly, and pushed his weight forward to stop leaning on the control console as [member="Loreena Arenais"] walked in. He offered her a grim smile, and walked past as [member="Luther Ando"] called her over to inspect their route. He stepped up to the communication console and pulled a headset to his ear. He thumbed a button, sending a shipwide broadcast. ~Attention all hands, prepare for launch. Strap yourselves in.~

He hung the headset back on the peg he had gotten it from, and stepped over to the door to the rest of the ship, shutting and locking it. He reached behind him, checking to see that his pistol was still there. It was. He turned, deciding not to draw it yet. "Lil Lady, before we lift off there's something we need to discuss." He focused his gaze on Xavier. "Our new hire here was just telling me how he's got a good bit of debt to his name. Enough to get bounty hunters after him. And if we're going to First Order space...Well, them folk are real popular over there." Orrico set his hands on his hips, as he turned his attention to Lori. "That could be a risk to the rest of the crew, especially if one of them finds us, and thinks we're helping him. Which, I suppose we are. Mighty big risk to be taking for someone that we don't know all that well. So, I'll make it your call. You wanna leave him here and be done with it, or you wanna take him along, and risk it?"

[member="Daiya"] [member="Gray Venasir"]

 

[Gray Venasir]

According to Lori, Gray had arrived just on time. And it looked that way too, as the ship took of right after he came aboard. He wasn't told much before Lori went to the cockpit. Since he didn't know anything about the ship or where he was to sleep, he followed her. When he arrived near the cockpit, he heard talking inside. It didn't sound too hostile, but nevertheless, Gray decided to eavesdrop. It sounded like they were talking about one of the others in the crew, and the one talking apparantly wasn't too happy about having him With. Gray understood that the one who was talked about was there too. He checked the door, and found it locked. In the past, he had had some basic slicing training, mostly self taught. He dicided to try it, if it didn't work, he'd cover it up With being clumsy or some other story, and if it did work, it would be a show of what he could do.

After a very short while, it worked and Gray stepped in and walked to he middle of the room. The others in the room were surprised, but it didn't bother him. "Is that how you do things in this crew? If someone keeps a few Secrets, or don't want to tell their Whole background they are just thrown out?", he asked, a little frusteration in his voice. He knew that at least "Lori" wasn't completly honest, With him at least, With her name. And he guessed more on the crew had Secrets too. "What can og sowrong if he isn't completly honest With his background? Don't any of the others have Secrets? It's Your Call , Lori, but I think we should give him a chance." He said Lori in a little different way, to show that he wasn't completly fooled, but not enough to alarm anybody. He turned around and said in a low voice so only Xavier could hear it "I vouched for you, if you double-cross me, it'll be Your last regret."

[member="Orrico Wayke"] | [member="Luther Ando"] |[member="Loreena Arenais"] | [member="Daiya"]

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori looked at the map that [member="Luther Ando"] had provided. As far as she could tell, it looked straight forward with what seemed liked the appropriate stops for refueling and a chance for everyone to stretch their legs. "That's awesome, thank you."

She was going to say more, but then [member="Orrico Wayke"] brushed past her. The look on his face spoke volumes. There was something on his mind and it could be bad. Lori listened to him make his announcement and then furrowed her brows as he began to speak about Xavier. His stature and demeanor gave her every indication that he was not entirely comfortable with what was going on. The mention of bounty hunters made her look the young man's way, but she didn't falter in her stance. She was the leader of this crew and had to act like it.

[member="Gray Venasir"] stepped in on the conversation. It was okay for him to do so, but his assumptions weren't right. And of course she caught the way in which he spoke her name. He knew that she was hiding something. But it wasn't anything bad. Her reason for hiding was a personal one. "I didn't say that I was throwing anyone out, Gray." Once again she looked to Xavier before turning to Orrico. He was both her pilot and her most trusted friend. "My parents have had bounties on them too. Even I had been hunted and caught for a short while before I had escaped. Bounties are easy to get put on and if Xavier is going to be judged badly because he has one on him, then I should be judged badly too. But you know that I'm not deserving of that and he probably isn't either. We've got a long journey ahead of us and it'll be better if we are all on the same page. We've all got our reasons for being here, our reasons for wanting to get away for a while....I wouldn't want someone to take that away from me so quickly. So let's not do the same for others. I'm responsible for everyone and if something bad happens, it'll all fall on me. I'm well aware of that. But we've got an important job to do, so let's get it done. Alright?"

[member="Daiya"]

 

[Luther Lewis]

Wayke pulled himself out of his chair to inspect the route before pulling the headset down to tell the crew to prepare to launch. Luther strapped himself in, looking up to see the man close the door. “Well this bodes well” Luther muttered. He leaned back in chair as Wayke laid out his doubts to the Captain. "Keep your mouth shut indeed" Luther said in a low voice. He didn't really appreciate someone who asked something in confidence then immediately ratted him out. Though he supposed it was partly his fault for roughing it with spacers. Luther opened his mouth to give another retort, but the Captain gave him a fierce look and Luther closed his mouth.

The atmosphere was already tense when Venasir approached, deciding to weigh in on the matter. The man quietly whispered a veiled threat to Luther about betrayal, which he didn’t know how to interpret. Just as things seemed to be reaching its most heated, Arenais stepped in to assure them that no one would be removed from the ship. "Thank you Captain" Luther replied. "My apologies for lying, I was scared this exact situation might occur". Externally he appeared humbled, but internally he was fuming. They hadn't even taken off from Commenor and already he'd run into difficulties.

“Wayke’s got a good route planned out, so I doubt you’ll need me up here” Luther continued. “Perhaps it would ease tensions if I left the cockpit? I’ll go to the cargo hold, try and get an idea of how much stock needs to be moved when we reach our destination”. He didn’t wait for permission to leave, instead moving past Gray towards the back of the ship.

He made his way towards the cargo hold, finding a seat where he could strap himself in for take-off. He couldn’t believe how much of a mess he was in already. ‘All I have to do is get off Commenor’ he thought. ‘Then I can make my own way’. He would jump ship at their first stop, assuming he wasn’t forced out by the rest of the crew.

| [member="Tirtus Vex"] | [member="Neo Calix"] | [member="Daiya"] | [member="Gray Venasir"] |​

 

[Daiya]

Having stowed her things in Lori's captain quarters, which was spartan by Daiya's imagination of what a princess' room should look like, Daiya wandered out to the main conference area, datapad she used as a holojournal in hand. The girl was itching to find out if Tawrro was still aboard, the little girl inside of her longed to rush downstairs to check, to be comforted by the presence of her surrogate father. But the older, perhaps wiser, part of her forced herself to ignore the urge. Instead, she seated herself in a chair, gazing about the industrialized interior of the starship, a look that reminded her of the mid-hundreds levels of Denon where she grew up. The interior exposed the shape of the hull, hiding little from the vessel's occupants, including cables and wiring that were mounted in bare, but clean, strips between the starship's components.

Opening up her holojournal, the girl swiped to a new page in the sketchbook app. Pulling out the stylus, she activated it and drew it across the screen. A line appeared, and then another. Daiya worked in this manner, her hand moving as much as possible, trying not to stop even when she glanced up to take another peek at the scenery about her. The critic in her felt the drawing was inadequate, but she kept at it anyway. It didn't matter if it wasn't perfect. The moment wasn't perfect either, and that's what she was trying to capture. A bit of stress, a bit of relief, and a lot of bare metal somehow funneled its way onto the screen through the stylus in her hand.

In the end, what she produced was hardly something to be proud of. It was a sketch, certainly, but not one she'd want displayed on a food cooler. The girl held it out at arm's length, examining it one way and then another. A smile crossed her face as she reveled in the creation. Her lines were crooked, the shading was off, and the shapes were a little distorted, and that made it just perfect. Still grinning, Daiya tucked the stylus back into the datapad, glancing up just as she heard voices from the cockpit in front of her.

Lori was speaking to the rest of the crewmembers, save Tawrro, who were conferencing quietly about something. Whatever it was, after a few exchanges, she saw one of them leave the cockpit and head down the stairs. The girl followed the man with her eyes, frustration playing heavily across his face. Her curiosity ignited as he passed out of sight. What was so serious? She wanted to ask Lori, but the older girl seemed busy with whatever preparations were necessary, and Daiya knew enough not to bother important people when they were busy. Instead, she got up and headed down the steps herself.

She passed Tawrro, who was strapped into a seat on the opposite side of the cargo hold. Delighted as she was to see he was staying, especially now that the ramp was up and the door was shut, the teen tried to play it cool. Picking a seat near, but not immediately next to, the man, she glanced at him first out of the corner of her eye. He had introduced himself earlier —was it Xavier?— but the girl hadn't been paying as much attention as she should have been. Now, though, she gave Xavier her full attention.

"So, I guess we're both in for this trip, huh?" Daiya said cheerily, trying to ignore the glare she was getting from the other side of the room. To most people, Wookiees always seemed to be angry, but she knew better than most. And right now, Tawrro was definitely angry. Mostly at her, she suspected. Playing innocent was usually her best defense, and so the girl turned back to Xavier. "I've never been outside the Inner Rim, what about you? Actually, this is only like my third time on a starship."

[member="Loreena Arenais"] | [member="Orrico Wayke"] | [member="Tirtus Vex"] | [member="Luther Ando"] | [member="Gray Venasir"]​

 

[Gray Venasir]

After [member="Luther Ando"] had left the cockpit, Gray turned to the two others present. "Sorry if I seemed a bit impulsive, captain. Or spoke out of my Place. I just don't like betrayal, and to my understanding, he had been welcomed to the crew." He was sencere when he said this. The hate of betrayal had come from events in his past. But he had no intention of telling anyone of them. At least not before he got to know the rest of them well. Now, he turned his attention towards the man sitting there, who had been addressed as Wayke. "I'm pretty sure we haven't been introduced. I'm Gray Venasir." He extended a hand for the man to shake.

After that, he turned around to leave, not sure if he was supposed to remain in the cockpit, or if [member="Orrico Wayke"] wanted anyone there. He excused himself by saying he'd strap up in the cargo hold and introduce himself to the rest of the crew. Then he apologized for sliceing open the door. Down in the cargo hold sat the man who Gray had defended, then threatened, in the cockpit. There were also a wookie, and a very Young girl there. Interesting bunch of People she has in her crew, he thought. He strapped himself up, not Close but neither far away from the others. The wookie looked angry,but then again it was easy to mistake any feeling for anger in a wookie.

"Hi, I'm Gray," he introduced himself to the others. He didn't understand shyriiwook to well, so he hoped one of the other present could translate. When he came Down, he heard the girl say she had never been outside the inner rim. Gray thought she was Lucky. When he was her age, he lived on a planet in the Outer rim. It was as bad as it was told. But he usually prefered it above the inner rim. "Well if you've never been outside the inner rim, then you're in for an adventure, miss..."

[member="Daiya"] | [member="Loreena Arenais"] | [member="Tirtus Vex"]

 

[Kyyrk]

Orrico stood with arms folded over his chest, glaring at [member="Gray Venasir"] as he extended a hand. "You make a habit of poking your nose where it doesn't belong, you're going to get shot." He waved towards the door, indicating that Gray was dismissed, and turned without shaking the man's hand. ​"Get out. Xavier too. And shove your apology, kid. Locked door means stay out. Most decent beings learn that at a young age."

He plopped down in the pilots chair with a short sigh. He was mad, that much he was sure [member="Loreena Arenais"] could see. "For the record, Lil' Lady, that kid and her Wookiee are bout the only two I trust." He pulled his headset on, and his fingers began to dance across the control panel. "Control, this is Jaster's Sparrow, requesting permission to depart." He paused as he waited for confirmation, turning to look at Lori. "I'd make sure we're ready for a fight if it comes to that." The confirmation arrived. The sparrow was cleared to depart. "Roger that control, Sparrow out."

He flipped a switch. ~All hands, strap in and prepare for departure.~ He flipped a couple more switches, and smiled as the engines of the Sparrow roared to life. No matter what kind of mood he was in, he always loved the feeling when he connected with a ship. Particularly one as powerful as the Sparrow. Within moments, they were airborne, streaking through the atmosphere towards the starry black...

@Daiya @Luther Ando

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

"We're all trying to avoid trouble, Xavier. Some of us just do it wrong." Lori watched [member="Luther Ando"] take his leave and then watched [member="Gray Venasir"] as he tried to lower the tension that was still in the air while he introduced himself to [member="Orrico Wayke"] . Of course the older man didn't want any part of it and instead had dismissed him.

It seemed as though everyone was going to the cargo hold. All except for herself and Orrico.

Lori plopped herself down into the co-pilot's chair and strapped herself in as Orrico spoke with traffic control. His opinions were well noted and hung heavy on her. He was, of course, a man with the most experience and she trusted him completely. Well....almost completely. There were still certain aspects of her life that she hadn't told him about. Although she was well aware that he suspected them. The looks that he gave her sometimes told her plenty.

It wasn't until they were in the air and out into orbit that she decided to speak up. "We're going into dangerous territory. We'd be stupid if we didn't expect there to be a fight. It'd be a miracle if there wasn't." A big, fat, bloody miracle. "Let's just give them a chance...please? You gave me one." Lori was always the optimistic one. And naive too. Traits of her mother, more than likely.

[member="Daiya"]

 

[Luther Lewis]

He closed his eyes, debating whether he should nap or not. His life had been tumultuous lately; getting caught entwined in a rebellion, hunted by a merciless mandolorian, his capture and escape... He still hurt from that battle. The burns on his arms and shoulders were healing well, but the wound at his side caused slight stabs of pain as his breathed. But all of those concerns were secondary at the moment.

He could already feel the burn in his muscles, particularly the leg. He required very specific medication, meds to prevent rejection of certain augments. He couldn’t exactly explain why he needed expensive medication while he was imprisoned, and he doubted he’d get the chance to now. The pain was bearable, at the moment, but would only get worse as time passed.

He shook himself out of his depressed reverie as he heard approaching footsteps. The youngest crew member was approaching, ‘Daiya’. She sits a few seats over and engages him in conversation. “Aye seems like we are” Luther replied. Her wookie friend was sitting opposite, brooding. He could speak a little bit of Shyriiwook, but not enough to have a meaningful conversation. The newcomer joined them in the cargo hold, introducing himself. “Good to meet you Gray” Luther said. “I’m Xaiver. I appreciate you standing up for me”.

The girl said she’d never been past the inner rim, which didn’t surprise Luther. He was confused as to why she was a part of the crew at all. He wouldn’t say anything though. The rest of the galaxy was very different form First Order space, and he had to remember that many were just struggling to get by. “Indeed” Luther said, continuing on from Gray. “And Dosuun is almost as far as you can get; in the Outer Rim near the edge of mapped space”.

He felt the floor underneath him shudder to life as the starship came to life. The familiar feeling of inertia’s pull settled in the pit of his stomach of his stomach, but soon they were high enough for Luther’s queasiness to settle.

The talk of Dosuun had made him nervous about the destination. “What do you think of the First Order?” he said casually. “I fought them for years, but it is good to have a different perspective”.

| [member="Loreena Arenais"] | [member="Orrico Wayke"] | [member="Gray Venasir"] | [member="Daiya"] |​

 

[Kyyrk]

Orrico glanced lifelong at Lori. "Yeah, I did. And you gave me a paycheck, princess." Orrico had placed some emphasis on the title, but it felt like it stuck out more than he had intended. Probably such a contrast to his usual nickname for her. He sighed quietly, leaning back in his seat. "And the answer to your next question is yes, I know. Arenais sticks out like a sore thumb."

Orrico glanced over at her. "I've been around the galaxy a time or two. And no matter how things change, some stuff's just always the same. I don't trust Xavier, and I don't trust Gray. Xavier, he's just a passenger, I'll keep an eye on him but let it slide. Gray...kid like him could cause trouble. You do work like this long enough, you learn to respect boundaries. If he aint learned that yet...well..."

Orrico left the thought unfinished. He flipped a couple switches, engaging the auto-pilot system. The his feet were up on the control console as he leaned back in his chair. "Whole lot of galaxy out there, lil' lady. Big, scary place. And a whole lot to learn."

[member="Luther Ando"] [member="Loreena Arenais"] [member="Gray Venasir"] [member="Daiya"]

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori just clenched her jaw as he called her out on what she was, her eyes never leaving the viewport. And he admitted to being there for the paycheque. This was exactly why she refrained from telling people. All they cared about was how much credits that they think that she had or her parents had. Their friendship was to be bought instead of being more normal. Either that or they could try to hold her hostage or something and get her parents to buy her back. Being a Princess wasn't all about fancy dresses and parties.

Once the autopilot was set and [member="Orrico Wayke"] kicked back, she drew her knees up to her chest after planting her feet on the edge of the chair and wrapped her arms around her knees, in effect closing herself off from him. "We always learning. Every day. That's what my mentors have taught me. We'll just have to keep our eye on them and make sure nothing gets stolen or anything. Right now they don't have far to go."

She sighed a little, resting her chin on top of her knees. "I'm sorry that I haven't told you everything about me. Or at least what you'd want to know. It's just that....I don't want to be treated any differently than other people. I was going to tell you in time, once I figured out how...I should have known that you'd be smart enough to figure it out though."

 

[Gray Venasir]

It seemed Xavier was also known in the Outer Rim, or at least parts of it. Gray was glad there was one on the ship that was a bit like himself. Going so far as to Call Xavier a spacer or smuggler was probably a bit far, but he knew the Galaxy. And from what he had heard, he was trouble, or in trouble. Being in trouble was always fun, as long as you had a way to get out of it. But it didn't matter if he was in trouble or not, he was With them on this trip. And Gray was glad that Xavier wasn't angry about what had happened in the cockpit.

When the ship took of, Gray felt a little wierd. Not sick or anything like that, he just thought it felt wierd sitting in the cargo hold when it took of. He was usually in the cockpit, flying the ship, or on a bigger ship that was carrying many People. But this is the way it was.

The question about the First Order came a bit unexpectable. But nevertheless, it was easy to answer. "The First Order? I hate them. And fighting them is foolish. They are too big, and too strict." He didn't have a personnal relation to the Order, bit everything he had heard had made him hate them. "Hopefully, this mission won't have too many complications With them. I'm happy it's just a small rescue, annoying them a little. It's like they say; it's fun poking a killik-hive."

[member="Loreena Arenais"] | [member="Orrico Wayke"] | [member="Luther Ando"] | @Daiya

 

[Kyyrk]

Orrico stared out the viewscreen as well, not saying anything. He sighed quietly after a moment, rubbing his face with his hands. "Listen, lil' lady, I didn't...mean it like that." He turned to look at her, knees curled up to her chest. He certainly didn't know everything about women, but he knew enough to know that Lori was hurt by his comment. "I don't give a Gundark's backside what you are. Or who you are. You're the captain. My captain."

He pulled his datapad out of its pocket, and checked the display. "And that's all that matters. Don't give a damn about the money, don't give a damn about the people. You didn't tell me you were royalty, and thats exactly how it should have been. Not something you want to go around sharing."

He stood, his own mood sinking. He was tired, and in desperate need of sleep. He'd upset Lori, and frankly that bothered him. But he was too tired to be able to make a proper apology now. "I'm gonna go catch some sleep while I can. Call me if you need me."

[member="Gray Venasir"] [member="Loreena Arenais"] [member="Luther Ando"] [member="Daiya"]

 

[Daiya]

From across the cargo hold, Daiya heard the familiar growls of her guardian. So he was speaking with her? Her question was quickly answered by the tone of the Wookiee's conversation, calm and polite, with little hint of their earlier argument. But given the looks of the others in the cargo hold, they didn't understand Tawrro, leaving it up to her to be translator again. She grumbled a bit to herself, and maybe a little aloud as well. "Of course it's dangerous, Tawrro. They wouldn't need a bunch of people good with weapons if it wasn't."

She rolled her eyes as she turned away, back towards the others. Tawrro could be so one-track minded sometimes. He was always so quick to hold her back from situations he felt were too dangerous, or too risky, or too...whatever. It's not like Daiya just jumped in! She had her visions to help her. Not to mention her blaster.

Daiya fingered the small holdout pistol in her pocket. She had left her main gun upstairs, tucked away in a hiding place behind a piece of furniture in Lori's room —the girl hoped that Lori wouldn't mind, one could never be too careful about keeping her weapons handy. Fingers wrapped around the pistol's durasteel grip, its sturdiness reinforcing her own confidence.

Glancing at Xavier a few seats over from her, the girl asked in a bright-eyed voice, "So, what happened upstairs? Is there a problem?" Sweet and high, Daiya pushed the dulcet tones of her words as far as they would go. She overheard mere fragments of the argument in the cockpit, due to its distance and her inattentiveness, but whatever was going on seemed rather contentious. She had felt that from more than one person upstairs, and even now watching and feeling the moods of Xavier and Gray, it was clear nothing had really been resolved.

Having been on the receiving end of that more than enough times from Tawrro, Daiya was well practiced in those emotions. As much as she felt for Xavier, the girl was partly glad it wasn't her being chastised this time. Her honeyed grin devolved into an impish one for a moment, before her face lit up with genuine curiosity this time. "Wait, what? A rescue?"

[member="Loreena Arenais"] | [member="Orrico Wayke"] | [member="Tirtus Vex"] | [member="Luther Ando"] | [member="Gray Venasir"]​

 

[Luther Lewis]

“Some outlaws from the Outer-rim have taken…a disliking to me” Luther explained to Daiya. “I was explaining that upstairs, which worried our pilot”. He done excellently in alienating himself with Wayke already, but that was just the cards he was dealt. “It is all sorted now, they can’t reach me on Dosuun”. While it was a lie, it did have a grain of truth; Bounty Hunters were frowned upon on First Order Space and were often encouraged to seek employment elsewhere, such as the ORC.

Luther quietened down as Gray replied to his earlier question, his eyes narrowing to a squint as the man spoke. Realising his mistake, Luther started rubbing his eyes, and played it off like he was tired. “I’m glad we agree” Luther said, with a smile. “Let’s keep this quick and professional”. He would have left it at that, but the kid started asking about the ‘rescue’. “Hold on” Luther said, his heart fluttering. “I can barely keep my eyes open, let me grab a cup o’ caf”. He rose from his seat with a yawn, the craft having levelled out enough for him to move about the cargo bay.

He moved over to the machine and started gathering supplies. Moving away seemed a bit unnatural, but he needed to distance himself from the group before his heart exploded. He always had terrifically bad luck, and it was typical of him to stumble across some sort of hidden scheme. As far as Luther knew they were supposed to only be transporting cargo, he was unsure what this ‘rescue’ was supposed to mean. He didn’t like it. He put some water on to boil, outwardly calm except for his hands, which were tightly gripping the mug.

Like an abstract puzzle, Luther was slowly putting the pieces together. Loreena’s story had seemed likely back on Commenor, but he had wanted off the planet and was prepared to believe anything. Now that he was out of danger, it was easy to see the holes in the plot. Why were they moving cargo to First Order space? To Dosuun of all places? He was locked up after the battle, and didn’t hear any news, but he figured tensions between Commenor and the First Order must be high. Was this really the best time for a visit?

Distracted, he spilled the beans across the countertop, letting out a frustrated sigh as he did so. He finished making the beverages in silence, placing them all on a tray. Moving back to the others, he passed out a cup of caf to Gray and Tawrro, placing another cup next to his seat. Sitting back down he gave Daiya the final cup. “Here’s some hot chocolate” he said. “Caf isn’t good for kids”. He settled down and took a long sip from his drink. His favourite beverage; it helped ease his nerves a little.

“Sorry, Gray” Luther said, with a small smile. “Please continue”. He would need to be careful from here, they already thought he was a flight risk. Things would go poorly if they knew where his true allegiances lay.

| [member="Loreena Arenais"] | [member="Orrico Wayke"] | [member="Daiya"] | [member="Gray Venasir"] |​

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori was normally the happy-go-lucky sort. But this time she was down. The moment that [member="Orrico Wayke"] spoke though, she kept her eyes forward. She even held her breath just so that she was sure that she had heard every word. The last thing that she nedded was to misunderstand him even further.

"I will..." She didn't try to stop him from leaving. Instead she dropped her feet back down to the floor and sat up properly. Now that she was the only one in there, she needed to be focused. Or at least focused enough to be able to react if something went wrong.

Her mind drifted though. One of these days she was going to have a heart to heart with Orrico. She liked having him around because he treated her with respect and didn't think it beneath himself to teach her a thing or two. She wasn't handled like a delicate flower. Instead she was encouraged to grow. It was far better than being stuck in the Estate or Palace forever.

The stream of stars was almost hypnotic. Maybe a little too hypnotic. Lori got up from her chair and stepped over to Communications. There she tapped into the holo-net and selected one of her rocker playlists. Yeah. Hard rock will help keep her awake.

Minutes later she was in the pilot's chair, with her feet up on the dash. Now thus was nice. Already she was feeling a bit better. Hopefully the rest of their trip would turn out good as well.

[member="Daiya"] [member="Luther Ando"] [member="Gray Venasir"]

 

[Gray Venasir]

It seemed like the others on the crew wasn't as well informed about the mission as Gray was. At least it seemed like the youngest member of the crew, [member="Daiya"], was surprised about this, but he guessed Xavier didn't know much about it either. As to how much the wookiee knew, it was hard to Guess. Gray hadn't spoken With many wookiees in his life, but from the few he had, he had learnt they seemed expresionless, or angry, to those that did not know them. But based on what the girl had translated, Gray concluded that this Tawrro didn't know much more than the others.

When Xavier said he'd get coffee, Gray suddenly felt some kind of tiredness fall over him. The day hadn't been very exhausting, but he presumed it was evening, or late day, on Commenor from which time he had recently gotten used to. "Bring some for us too," he said after Xavier as he went to get the coffee.

Now there was just himself, the Young girl and the wookiee left there. Gray was surprised about how Young the girl was, she couldn't be more than in her early teens. But sometimes the situation demanded that one took what one could get to a crew. And besides, appearances could decieve. "You're Young to be on this trip, lil'un. Guessing you're pretty New to the glorious spacer business, from what you said earlier about never having left the Inner Rim?" Gray was trying to pass the time With some idle chat while they waited for Xavier. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't been outside the Inner Rim himself when he was around her age. The first time was when he had to flee to Nar Shaddaa. He hoped her first Journey outside would be better than his. But it had made him who he was today, both the good and bad about him.

Xavier returned With the coffee, giving one to Tawrro, one to Gray and placing on by his own seat. Then he gave a cup of hot chocolate to Daiya, saying caf wasn't good for her. "Who says it ain't good for kids? Let her drink what whe wants. In a few years she can drink stronger stuff, and if she sticks With spacers like this crew, she will too." He said this in a joking tone, not sure how either Xavier nor the wookiee would react. Therefore, he added a small laugh at the end, to imply it was a joke, though he was serious when he said it. "But anyway, back to what I was saying. I'm not sure if the captain wants me to tell you what I've been told about this. But it can't hurt for you to know that we are going to rescue some People that was taken from Commenor"

[member="Loreena Arenais"] | [member="Luther Ando"] | [member="Orrico Wayke"]

 

[Daiya]

"Young?" Gray's words stung a little bit, even though she was used to hearing them from just about anyone. What did her age have to do with anything, anyway? The mock hurt she showed on her face was a practiced act, however, as was the retort she blurted out, "I'm thirteen! And I've been told I look at least fourteen."

Okay, that was a lie, she'd never been told that. But that wasn't something Gray, or anyone aboard besides Tawrro, really needed to know. She was perfectly happy with painting a facade for them right now. None of them had done much to earn such trust, excepting maybe Lori for her willingness to hire on Tawrro and herself.

Yet, if Gray's words before had upset her at all, what he said next redeemed him.

He was interesting, that was for certain. Most everyone acted as if she shouldn't be where she was, as if she belonged imprisoned in a school or some other nonsense place. But could school teach her any of the things she had learned in her time with Eiko? Or with Tawrro? Could school have taught her how to figure out if someone was willing to haggle prices over a deal? Would she have learned to shoot a target 50 meters away with a blaster? She beamed at the man for a moment, before admitting, "Oh, I don't mind, I like hot chocolate."

Gray continued talking as Daiya accepted the cup of hot chocolate from Xavier, but the words were lost on her. As her hands brushed his as she took hold of the drink, she felt a sharp pain behind her eyes. The girl winced, thanking Xavier with as little pain in her voice as she could, but she held the drink in front of her, not drinking. She stared past the cup, her eyes growing unfocused as a different image began to take form in front of her. Daiya shut her eyes tight, blocking out the world, letting the vision subsume her senses and overtake her.

A bloody hand, purpled beneath the red stains with bruises, fingers grasping around a comlink. Ragged breath issues forth from lips, cracked and swollen upon the face of man known as Xavier. His voice is a whisper, faint and almost inaudible but for one, single word. "Arenais."

The sharp crack of the cup shattering on the cargo hold's decking brought Daiya back to herself, the vision already fading from her mind's eye as it always did. She drew in breath in a quick gasp at the shock of it, the vision, the shattered cup, the witnesses. She stared wildly at the others in the cargo hold, realizing what they had just seen, her eyes growing moist from the tears welling inside them. She pulled quickly on her seat's restraints, freeing herself in the next moment, and grabbing her holojournal before quickly rushing out of sight, back toward the crew cabin she had found earlier.

Tawrro arrived in the middle of her furious sketching, trying to get the memory down before it left her, to get it out from inside of her. The visions lived there, coiled within her somehow, leeching off her life. She could feel them lurking in moments of quiet, threatening to rear up once more in their vicious assault. In the sketchbook, they were contained, and she was safe from their immediate harm.

But nobody was safe from their lasting harm.

What she saw, what she drew, it almost always came true. These visions haunted her, plagued her with their curse, but in the end it felt like it was as if they needed her. As if she was supposed to see them, to know what would happen so it could be avoided. Or perhaps, since as try as she might the girl could rarely avoid the vision's outcomes, they simply needed to be understood. Yet still, the question always lingered on her mind after one of them...

Why her?

[member="Loreena Arenais"] | [member="Orrico Wayke"] | [member="Tirtus Vex"] | [member="Luther Ando"] | [member="Gray Venasir"]​