Setting Sail

[Aleksandyr Gaillard]

[member="Micheal"] [member="Faye Terrik"] [member="Valiah Narati"] [member="Zandra Tal'verda"]

Location: Ord Mantell
Objective: Find a crew, steal a ship, hightail.

Ord Mantell. A world known for its ships; home of the Blockade Runners' Derby and amongst the most famous breeding grounds for smugglers and bounty hunters. So naturally it's not unusual for pirates to come looking here to find a crew, a ship, and the pathway to riches. If they know that then surely the authority does too. Piracy is and always has been a dangerous game. Klay landed in a public shuttle with his two favourite men: Rax and Barb. Identical Lorrdian twins. The three of them have been in the business for nearly half a decade and saw them rise from scrubs to pros and then back down all over again.

WORLDPORT

The Capital of Ord Mantell was the notorious city known as Worldport. One of its most iconic buildings was Lady Fate Casino, nearly untouched since the plague and one of the most infamous casinos this side of the rim; rivaling even that of The Wheel in its own respects. The trio sat in wait, approaching a small cantina outside the casino. This far lesser and unattractive gambling den was for those too poor, too stupid, or too dangerous to get into the big times at Lady Fate; the perfect spot to scout a potential crew. The last time Klay was on Ord Mantell he was doing a job for one of the Hutt Lords -- since dead -- and ran into some trouble when his crew's slicer was caught cheating the system and forcing jackpots in each slot. So it wouldn't be too unusual to suspect that they'd know his face if he ever set foot back in there. This cantina, The Musty Wamprat , was his next best bet.

"Rax, Barb. You two set up at the archway.", the pirate ordered his two sidekicks to keep guard outside of a booth that indented itself into a small bowl-like intrusion into the cantina's wall, effectively turning it into a private booth. Here was where it all began, klay took out his datapad and began running numbers and loaded his background checking software. He was a bit of a technophobe and found it infuriating when the device prompted him with many questions but it was simple enough for him to get through it. Sitting down he kicked his feet up and rested them on the booth table. A few weeks ago on private channels a notice was set out that Mad Klay -- a somewhat wellknown pirate in this sector of the galaxy -- was in search of a new crew and intended to pay well. Although his last job didn't exactly go as planned and left him marooned on Obreddaan; he was confident that his luck would finally turn around here. Nonetheless his mind was still haunted by those people who slaughtered those loyal who were marooned with him. Of course this meant there was a score to settle but he knew nothing about them. Not their names, not anything, just the face of that woman who he bumped into.

A serving droid came by and offered the pirate a bottle of whiskey but instead of taking one of the cups in the droid's tray he stole the bottle right from the astromech unit and took a hard guzzle of the liquid-- it going down dry. "Twisted. I like it!", he said cheerfully. It was almost the time he said he'd be signing up new crew members. Toasting the bottle to Rax and Barb at the archway, he gave a small speech.

"Today's the day we get ourselves a crew, a ship, and if the stories are true, every damn treasure this side of the galaxy!", he downed more of the alcohol; some of it dribbling down his chin which he wiped off with his back and and continued to wipe that on his pants. All that's left is to wait and see who shows up.

 

[Asuk Lot]

Micheal could be found in a corner of the The Musty Womprat, he was drinking a watered down corellian ale, nothing was happening until some random guy yelled something about trying to find a crew. Walking up to the Trio he asked "What sort of crew are you searching for?"

[member="Mad Klay Grubber"]

 

[Aleksandyr Gaillard]

The pirate snickered as his first potential recruit approached. "Let's just call it high-risk trading, and leave it at that.", he said to [member="Micheal"] giving a glance at the man.

After sizing him up a bit, "And why do you ask?", he added.

A few patrons gave a look here and there but for the most part they were busy gambling away stolen money, ships, and their loved ones.

 

[Asuk Lot]

"High-risk Trading?, I my friend prefer the term, reliving people's burdens however I guess there the same thing, now I must ask you a question, any force users in your crew?" If so they might just vanish at Micheal's command.

[member="Mad Klay Grubber"]

 

[Aleksandyr Gaillard]

Klay seemed entirely confused at the question and tried to compile an answer as best he could in the situation, "What?", okay not the best answer but the best he could come up with. To say the least.

"Look around, kid.", he pointed every which way -- attracting the unwanted (un)affection of patrons ready to pull a blaster just for pointing at them. "None of those people are in my crew.", if [member="Micheal"] could follow he may have noticed that Klay never pointed to Rax and Barb. "Do you see any Jedi around here?", of course he referred to all force users as Jedi. He wasn't exactly interested in the whole concept so he never knew much about it. He did indeed know of Sith but that wasn't the same to him. When he heard force, the first thing to come to mind was a Jedi.

 

[Asuk Lot]

"Force users can hide, but I guess it has little importance, I'll join your crew," Micheal said, "I'm fairly good with repairing" he added, a mechanic was key to every ship. he had noticed that the other two people sitting next to the recruiter were apart of the crew.


[member="Mad Klay Grubber"]

 

[Faye Terrik]

Location: Ord Mantell
Objective: Observations


It was a different planet, but the concept of the region was identical to her upbringing. Surrounding the casino were the shadier, slummier cantinas and homes. On the holonet footage and even at certain angles, the casino looked pristine and perfectly in harmony with it's environment, but that wasn't the case. The holograms opted out of showing the surroundings just a few blocks away from the casino and it's luxurious hotels. She lived in a similar place on Nar Shaddaa. Living here likely had it's benefits though. At least there was consistent sunlight.

Faye regularly kept up with the holonet boards that had dealt with a possible lead for her to make a couple credits, or to cause some mayhem. Truthfully, Faye preferred the challenge of slicing into a complicated firewall for the pure curiosity of what was behind it. If she could make a few credits doing it, then so be it. But credits was why she was on Ord Mantell. She was a bit out of her way, but even if the deal did fall through, and she had nothing to gain, she could always scout the casino.

The Musty Womprat. Trashy. Perfect. While the name didn't bear her any interest, someone had once told her; "The vulgarity of a cantina's name is important. The more vile it is, the cheaper the drinks. and the more valuable the bounties." She couldn't remember who had told her that, but it stuck with her. Today, she hoped it to be true.

Inhaling as she pushed the door open, she could already smell the odor that deathsticks and cigarettes gave off. With her datapad in hand, she made her way to one of the open tables, hoping to scout out the contact from the holonet. She noticed a pair of Lorrdian twins protecting a booth, where she could partially see the occupants. A middle-aged man and a short-haired boy, probably close to her age. The late teens and early twenties was an unlikely age to be captaining a crew, so she presumed the other man to be the aspiring captain.

Idly, she set her datapad on the table and began to skim random information. She didn't hold too much interest in it, though. Just something to keep her busy until she could figure out who was who. Faye had no interest in committing to a long term deal with pirates, but if they had a bigger heist, they'd probably need a slicer. She wanted to be that slicer.

[member="Mad Klay Grubber"] [member="Micheal"]

 

[Aleksandyr Gaillard]

The pirate smiled at [member="Micheal"] , "Great. Excellent.", he pushed his datapad near him. On the screen was a rather complicated agreement.

CONTRACT​

​

By signing the dotted line below you agree that you understand the following:
You are responsible for your own safety, you will not receive any special treatment -​

or favour. You may not become the 'First Mate' just because you're better than everyone else.
All bounties, acquisitions, treasures, credits, and valuables gained will be split -​

evenly amongst the crew except for 20% which goes to the ship's trust. You understand that -​

mutinies, treason, cowardliness, laziness, and otherwise failure to be productive -​

will result in your instant removal. Finally but by far not least -​

you consent to having all funeral arrangements in the event of -​

death on the job to be handled by the Captain.
​

Signature: _________________​

​

Again the pirate smiled, looking at the man. "Sign here."

His attention then turned to a rather newcomer -- the woman caught his attention almost immediately. Klay let out a sharp whistle towards her general vicinity. "Hey, you!", he waved in as friendly a manner as possible. Rax simply shook his head whilst Barb remained as stonewalling as ever. [member="Faye Terrik"]

 

[Asuk Lot]

Micheal looked to the contract, seemed fair enough. "Sounds good" he muttered as he signed the datapad with a finger written, messy signature. He looked up to see who the captain was calling over, looked like a slicer, but something else was with her. Micheal had a bad feeling however he swallowed it down best he could.

[member="Mad Klay Grubber"]
[member="Faye Terrik"]

 

[Faye Terrik]

Whistling was not uncommon to hear in an establishment that is best known for selling alcohol and liquors, so Faye didn't pay attention to it immediately. A moment later though, she looked up to see that the older of the two men was waving her over as they fumbled a datapad back to each other. Perhaps this man has better intel than expected, Faye thought as she stood up. Or maybe it was purely because she was a female. There was a reason why often the male to female ratio of these types of places were horribly distorted, and it usually had something to do with smooth talking 'gentlemen'. She took the risk though.

In a swift movement, she clipped her datapad onto her utility belt as she passed by the two Lorrdian men. To have two, what she assumed to be, bodyguards typically meant that this man commanded some form of respect. Whatever the man had to say, it was worth at least listening to. She nodded her head first to the boy her age, [member="Micheal"] and then to [member="Mad Klay Grubber"] . "Need something?" she asked as she sat down in one of the seats.

 

[Aleksandyr Gaillard]

Klay squinted his eyes slightly before nodding, "I believe you need something.", he said.

A brief pause happened but he continued, "You seem quite young; that tells me one thing. You're either here because you're stupid or because you can handle yourself.", he toasted the bottle to her before taking another hard sip.

The whiskey was rather dry but that's how he liked it. Klay truly had no idea who she was or what she did but he had an intuition that said she was worth his time and of course his credits.

"Now, before you say no: I'm willing to offer you a position in my crew. You'll be able to make tenfold what a Hutt pays for dinner.", he winked and smiled. Sliding the whiskey bottle to her side of the table. "Well?"

[member="Faye Terrik"]

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

"Sabaac, suckers!"

The laughter of a young woman could be heard from the corner of the cantina, followed closely by groans from men who had just lost a fair bit of credits to her. The Echani woman stuck her cig between her smiling lips and collected her winnings with one hand.

"Sorry boys. Best 6/10?"

But the men at the table, one by one threw their cards onto the table and left. The woman shrugged, took a long drag from her cig and slouched in her chair. Zandra was doing what she did best now. Looking for suckers to beat in card games and looking for work doing any kinda crime she could get her hands on. Her husband wouldn't approve, sure, but Cal wasn't here. Cal was back on Mandalore with the baby. The poor man needed time to recover. A blaster to the shoulder wasn't something to laugh about. Cal weren't no space wizard who could just cure everything with a wave of their magic hands. No. He was human, a strong human, but human none the less. And someone in the family had to make credits to feed the kids.
Of course, Calico never said how she should do it.

[member="Mad Klay Grubber"] [member="Faye Terrik"] [member="Micheal"]

 

[Faye Terrik]

[member="Mad Klay Grubber"] [member="Micheal"] [member="Zandra Tal'verda"]

"I believe you need something."

Certainly, there were plenty of things Faye needed. A break was one of them. The teenage girl had become so occupied after leaving Nar Shaddaa, with her recruitment of both a criminal organization and a Force sect. Esoteric knowledge and the criminal minded very rarely could be seen in the same person, but Faye was one of them. A fresh member of the Red Ravens and a secret apprentice to a Sith Lord had kept her busy, but trips like this, to Ord Mantell, gave her a bit of free time. Her allegiances were still completely unknown, and she had to enjoy it while the opportunity still lasted.

"Both men and my jobs are the same to me," she chuckled, wishing that she had grabbed a drink before coming over. "I keep it short-term." Neither of those were true, in all reality. So far, after leaving Nar Shaddaa, her jobs have been long term investments, and the men part.. well that was just a flat out fib. It was a saying she had always found funny though, something she remembered hearing in an obscure holonet film a couple of years back.

Faye sighed, forgetting about her lack of drink as she leaned her elbows onto the table, and spoke in a slightly quieter tone. One that would allow only the two to hear her; "Spaceport records haven't shown a pirate-worthy ship land in well over a week, except for one. But you hardly seem like the Mon Calamari that it is registered to." She knew that what she said was a mediocre bluff, but she had done a little research before meeting this contact. The ship had a skeleton crew and seemed to have no relation to the man. As far as she could tell, he either took public transit or was flying something not worth a pirate's time.


[OOC: This may be my only post today. If we're just conversing, feel free to skip over my dialogue and I'll catch up tonight/tomorrow]

 

[Aleksandyr Gaillard]

Klay smirked at her response, "No no. I prefer to procure my ships on location, besides pirate is a strong word.", he relaxed himself further into the booth. In reality he was in a somewhat desperate position; finding a crew before one even has a ship isn't exactly the most reliable course of action but if he wanted to get one this would be the time and way. It just required the proper people to get the job done.

"Now, are you going to take the job or not?", he took the datapad back from [member="Micheal"] -- looking over the contract -- before pulling up a new unsigned contract and sliding the datapad to her.

The cantina was alive in a sudden uproar when a bunch of men left a gambling table leaving the only person in site left. "Call me a rancor and feed me bantha fodder.", he said to himself in surprise. Once more his 'intuition' had gotten the better of him. [member="Zandra Tal'verda"] peaked his interests; he hasn't seen anyone clear a table that way before. Looking to Faye and Micheal he gave an expression of 'pardon me' and sat up in his boot seat to call over to her. "Ma'am!", he exclaimed over the sound of drunkards and music. His face was bright with a smile like someone who had just won the lottery -- or at least something -- and was about to pay out.

Things were looking up. He had one signature, now here he was hoping for at least two more.

[member="Faye Terrik"]

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

The word 'Ma'am" made the Echani raise a thin white eyebrow. Couldn;t be her they were talkin' to. Everyone knew that a Ma'am was an old lady. Z wasn;t old. Nobody would ever be that dumb. She took a long drag of her cig, finished collecting her winning into her bag, then looked up to where the voice came from.
...Nope. Guess the 'Ma'am!' was intended for her. She stood up, cig crushed between her teeth, slung her bag over her shoulder, and burried one hand deep in Cals leather jacket. She always insisted on wearing the old thing. It still kinda smelled like him. Like the kind of cigars he smoked, mixed with sweat. She liked to breathe it in. Made her feel like she was right next to him.

"Names Zandra," she said, leaning on the table with one hand, while the other snuffed the cig out right on the tables dirty surface, "Not Ma'am. Wha'cha want?"

[member="Mad Klay Grubber"]

 

[Aleksandyr Gaillard]

The booth was beginning to gt crowded, much to Klay's liking. "Pardon my offense, ma--uh, *Ahem* You --", noticing the colour of her hair and eyes, "Echani, huh? This is even better!", he exclaimed cheerfully like it was someone's birthday. He had been very interested in finding a good assortment for his crew and the Echani were known for their legendary fighting skills, said to be on pair with -- if not superior to -- Mandalorians. Either way it'd be good to have an Echani on the crew -- assuming she did know the art.

"I'm looking to put together a crew. You seem like someone people shouldn't mess with.", he declared in a very open fashion as if he was trying to make a statement to the other patrons.

Placing his hand out he went for an introduction, "Call me Klay."

[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

While this 'Klay' guy was gabbing, Zandra had fished another cig from her coat pocket and twirled it between her fingers. Echani. So he wanted an Echani. Someone that 'people shouldn't mess with'. Well, he certainly came to the right Echani for that. She had a reputation. She'd managed to hold her own, even living with the Mando's. They had their armor and fancy guns. She had her blades and her fists. She had luck and skill. She had the love of meeting a man before she skilled him.

"A crew, eh?" she stuck the cig between her lips, hand running though her short messy white hair, "What kinda crew, Klay, my man? Ya lookin' ta do a lil business?"

She leaned forward, tilting the unlit cig in his direction, as if asking him to light it for her.

[member="Mad Klay Grubber"]

 

[Aleksandyr Gaillard]

Klay took out his offhand pistol, the tweaked device had a charged shot setting that when hit began charging the energy projectile inside -- the heat being enough to light the cigarette just by placing the barrel of his gun at the tip. When it lit he disengaged the charge, it whirring down before holstering the pistol again. "As I told my first recruit here," he said looking at [member="Micheal"], "I'm into high risk trading or so you might call it.", perhaps not the most discrete term for piracy but it did have a more professional ring to it.

He leaned back further into his seat to relax. [member="Zandra Tal'verda"]

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

The Echani snorted as he pulled out his pistol. A show off. She approved. She inhaled, lighting the end of the cig on the barrel of his gun, then let out a slow stream of smoke right into his face.

"So yer a pirate," she smirked, lowering her voice and leaning in, "I got it. I know how it is. Yer talkin' to one, Sunshine. Used to have my own crew n' ev'rythin'. Then I got married, had kids."

She sighed, taking a seat. The Echani then looked around at those gathered, sucking in more smoke before blowing it all out through her nose. Judging. This was a gamble. She had to weigh her odds here.

"Point is, I'm lookin' fer work anyways. The hubby got 'imself a nice lil' injury an' we could use the credits. 'Sides, theivin's what I know. Best stick to what I'm good at, right? Count me in."

And just like that, Zandra, the ex pirate captain, joined a new crew.

[member="Mad Klay Grubber"]

 

[Faye Terrik]

While the Echani and the man identified as 'Klay' spoke, Faye skimmed the contract. It was a courtesy, really. She had no long term investment in the group, but if needed she would be willing to place her loyalties to them temporarily. While the illicit dealings she had in the past were not on the scale of piracy, or high-risk trading as Klay called it, she maintained a trust to maintain whatever previous dealings a secret. Truthfully, she had little to gain in losing returning costumers, anyways.

There was a brief break in the newcomer and the host's conversation, and Faye took advantage of the split second of silence. She passed the contract over to [member="Zandra Tal'verda"] for her viewing of the unsigned copy. "High-risk trading," she chuckled as she set it infront of the smoking Echani.

"I'm more of a temp worker. I'll be plenty willing to help in the... acquisition of the ship, though." While she was killing time before the meet-up, she had looked into the hanger that held the vessel she had mentioned earlier. Faye didn't have a set in stone plan, but if this Klay lad was willing to pay-by-the-job, Faye was willing to work. Besides, what was a Pirate without a ship?

[member="Mad Klay Grubber"]