Private We Can't Expect Ashla to do all of the Work

[Sorr Kortu]

Location: D'Qar

"Hey kid!"

Sorr saw a middle-aged man approach him, just recently the young man received a contract a few days ago from a faction called: The Rimward Trade League. They were a mix of businessman, space explorers, and law enforcers. Sorr was a little nervous at first since he is a Smuggler, and this contract could be a possible trap to arrest or something. But then again Sorr allowed to let his feelings take over before assessing the facts. Why would the Trade League out themselves so easily? If they were really out to arrest Sorr, then they would've set an elaborate contract where they offered him a lot of credits for a simple pick up. In other words: A too good to be true offer. The fact that the Rimward's offer was modest placed Sorr at ease ironically. He decided to take the contract despite the pay, Sorr needed to get some legitimate work. Constantly working for Hutts and other scum always made Sorr uncomfortable given the stuff he had to smuggle.

"Hello," Sorr said placing his hands in his jacket pocket. "I assume you're Avil Getchell? The one who provided me the contract?"

"Indeed, I am!" Avil said. "I run the Rimward Rescue Service on D Qar, I've hired you because I need a bold flyboy to send some supplies over to the Asteroid belt. Would use some of my people but they're all occupied. If you do this for me, I can provide ya with some..... legitimate for a privateer such as yourself."

Avil gave Sorr a wink.

"Why do I get the feeling there's a catch?" Sorr asked.

"Well..... the research facility on the Asteroid has gone radio silent for 3 days. Normally I'm not worried because signals on Asteroids can be spotty but there was no communication." Avil explained. "As a precaution, I'll provide you with a hired gun."

He motioned the man to come and meet Sorr.

James Ephraim

 

[James Ephraim]

James traced his hand across the side of the supply crate. Kneeling there, as he had with all the other crates. The employer, Avil, had been quite up front with how protective the man needed to be. There'd been recent problems in the area, thieves and the like would make crates for theft. In the scanning process before a ship's take-off, the marked crates would simply vanish. It was an easy enough problem to circumvent, however, just rub the marking off. Water or other cleaning solutions typically worked.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ephraim noticed the man motioning him forward. Avil seemed cheery, the pilot had arrived. He rose from the ground, wiping the dirt from his knees. James thought well enough of Avil, the work he provided was much more... acceptable than most jobs he and his crew took up. James would send them out, they'd take care of their own jobs. It only made sense for James himself to take something up too. Everyone chipped in, that's what he kept saying.

"The crates are fine. I checked them thoroughly." James said, walking up to the two. His gaze shifted to the younger man. "Hmm," was all that came out as he eyed the boy.

He never ceased to amaze him the age of some of the galaxy contractors. He once met a bounty hunter in his late teens. They worked together on a few hunts, back when James was younger and still wore the beskar. That boy was executed by a small village for killing its elder. James didn't think something like that would happen during this job.

Sorr Kortu

 

[Sorr Kortu]

The mercenary that Avil mentioned looked unsettling his entire body was wrapped around gauzy bandages giving the impression that he was more of a Mummy than a person. Through the small gap, Sorr could see that he had blue eyes but Sorr noticed his skin was charred was he a burned man? It was most likely but the way he looked struck fear into him and that's probably the point behind his appearance. "Hello," Sorr chuckled nervously in front of the man.

"The man's name is James Ephraim," Avil said. "Damn good at his job all you need to do is pay him in extra bandages. Trust me it's the only way the ladies could stare at him."

He gave James another wink while Sorr saw James scanning him. "Is there something the matter sir?" Sorr asked gulping while his arms started to sway back and forth.

James Ephraim

 

[James Ephraim]

"The bandages are the least of my problems." James replied to Avil's remark, half-friendly, half-serious. Although they certainly got itchy sometimes.

His attention was torn from Avil, hearing the boy's question. James hoped he hadn't made him too uncomfortable, although it appeared he had. He hoped he wasn't always this nervous, it could cause a few problems for the mission. If something had gone wrong with the research facility, then he certainly didn't want this youngster losing his cool.

"Nothing, son," He replied, "Just wondering how someone your age got into this profession. Not too often do I see people so... different."

He really was curious how he got into this line of work. James could spot someone at a low point. He had reason to believe that this was his. But he knew better than to assume anything about people he'd only just met.

He turned to Avil. "Have you already told him the specifics? Or do we need to run through them?" James knew a lot about this job, he'd gone over the holopad many times, not missing a bit of the info. Maybe he was being overcautious, but he wanted to make sure everyone knew the situation before take off.

Sorr Kortu

 

[Sorr Kortu]

Sorr felt his ears redden when James mentioned that he was too young to be a Smuggler. It was true but Sorr had already been through a lot of harrowing adventures that earned some decent pay. It was a heck of a lot better than being terminally online slicing into forbidden databases due to boredom. "I wanted more excitement in my life." Sorr said trying to sound cool but no doubt he sounded like a dork. "Just so you know I have over a hundred runs to my name."

"It's far less than that son," Avil chuckled. "I checked with your A.I."

"What?!" Sorr yelled. "I'm going to get M.O.M......"

"All I said was to deliver the supplies to Asteroid X-26," Avil said to James. "There was no contact though for three days, we're a little worried though power outages are common in Asteroid fields, they usually have backups."

"We'll see what's going on," Sorr said.

"If you help them reestablish contact," Avil replied. "I'll pay ya extra."

"Got it," Sorr nodded checking his Holoprojectpor. "Looks like the cargo has been loaded. Ready to go James?"

James Ephraim

 

[James Ephraim]

James nodded. "Might as well get going, if there is something wrong with the facility, we shouldn't keep it waiting." He strode next to the boy, arms crossed over one another.

There was still something worrying about this one, something subtle. It didn't expect ambush or anything like that, but jobs that involve quiet bases on lonely rocks had a pension for harboring trouble. If not trouble, then people who would cause it. The average person didn't quite like mercenaries sticking their foot on their ground. It didn't matter how much that mercenary planned on bothering them, there was always aggression. At least James wasn't a bounty hunter anymore, they got the worst of it.

"Quite a nice ship you have," James said to Sorr, "More competent than I gave you credit for. Lead the way." He gave a small chuckle.

Sorr Kortu

 

[Sorr Kortu]

"Thanks, I guess," Sorr said wondering if James was actually sincere with his praise of his ship or he was being patronizing. He decided to give James the benefit of the doubt. There was no need to start a working relationship with tension.

They were in the cockpit of the Tiaza's Purr with Sorr making the final adjustments for lift off. He entered the coordinates of X-26 into the Navicomputer frowning on what Avil said about what the researchers intended to do with the Asteroid. "I can't believe that the researchers are planning to terraform an Asteroid." Sorr said detaching the landing claw. "An asteroid doesn't hold enough gravity to hold an atmosphere let alone oceans. Maybe if you could hollow out the Asteroid and put an Earth like environment inside? I dunno."

As soon as the ship gained enough momentum, Tiaza's Purr streaked through the atmosphere. Sorr began to prepare the calculations for the jump to Lightspeed while he glanced at James. Might as well form a decent conversation, get to know the guy at least. "So, James," Sorr asked double checking his equations. "Where are you from and if you don't mind me asking: Why are you covered in bandages?"

 

[James Ephraim]

That really was quite peculiar, terraforming an asteroid. It wasn't the oddest thing he'd heard. As technology progressed and people knew more about this galaxy, they were bound to get involved in a plethora of crazy projects. Long ago, slugthrowers and things like it were seen as savage and brutal. Nowadays, it seemed everyone had one. Not to mention how advanced they'd gotten. It's strange, how the galaxy picks a road and diverts just as quickly. Jedi that don't use lightsabers, entirely new species of beast coming from wild space, and young smugglers.

Then a question from the young man pulled James from his trance. "Where you from? Why the bandages?" it wasn't one he was uncommon with. Knew recruits of his crew where plenty curious. Neither were a sore spot of his life either, but it was something quite near and dear to him. He could have just brushed the question off, but as the old saying goes, 'curiousity killed the womp rat, but satisifaction brought it back'.

He leaned back in the seat, looking out of the cockpit. "I'm from Zeltros," He said, calmly, "Well, I was born there. I've never had a solid home, though. Me and my... Family... traveled a lot. We saw a lot of places. As for the bandages, I was bounty hunter once a long time ago. Me and a small militia were hired to hunt down a krayt dragon on Tatooine. If didn't know, those things spit acid, massive amounts too. I was left for dead, the dragon lived, and eventually a small tribe of Tuskens found me. Lived with them for a while, good people, Tuskens are. What about you, boy?"

He should have died, the beskar was the only thing that kept that from happening. Likewise, it was the last time he wore it.

Sorr Kortu

 

[Sorr Kortu]

Sorr made the final calculations for Lightspeed, angling the Tiaza's Purr to the right coordinates. All the while he was listening to James' story on how he was born and raised in Zeltros. It sounded like he was close to his family, Sorr wished he could say the same but his Dad was always on his case for not living up to the Kortu family name and Markus..... ugh Markus and his smug attitude. Thankfully Sorr was closer to his older brother: Dagmar and his mother but they didn't like Sorr's dreams of being a great Smuggler like Han Solo. "Sorr, you know Han was a criminal," His Mom would tell Sorr. "You should have focused on a more honest job like being a pilot."

He wanted to, but unfortunately his Dad had other plans for him. "So about the bandages," Sorr said as the ship began to jump into Lightspeed. "Do you need to replace them every now and then? And are you a Zeltron considering that you've been raised on Zeltros."

James Ephraim