Futuristic The Flying Aces

[Jagson]

"Don't have the exact itinerary but." Drake said as he handed a holopad to Archie. "This is what I have."
30000 liters of hydrogen oxygen mix.
30000 pounds of synthetic edibles
1000 Azlo statues
4 defense shields
To be negotiated

He swung left heading for the Tiki Bar. Once inside he saw a woman with with a scar across her face and tribal marking along her eyes looking at them. At the table was a human like man with braided blonde hair. He wore glasses that distorted his eyes. "Drakie old buddy old pal. Come in order yourself a drink." He said and saw the other two his stupid grin became wider. Are you two like his guards. Didn't know my boy was making a name for himself." He said like there wasn't a problem in the world.

 

[Axty]

Archie took the holopad analyzing the resources being supplied. There was quite a bit and frankly if something unexpected happened he didn't know if the ship could handle to load. But the supply run was possible, there just needed to be some precautions taken place.

As the possibly drunk woman asked her question Archie didn't dare open his mouth. He knew better than to say something dumb and get Vitoria annoyed by getting into a fight. Instead he waited to let Victoria answer.

 

[Keeperoftheghosts]

Victoria immediately switched modes almost becoming a completely different person and offered the man and woman a sugary sweet smile stepping forward into a friendly stance. She offered out her hand to shake with a soft airy laugh
"Oh, I could hardly consider myself a guard. You could call me more so his representative if anything, but that's too formal isn't it?" She winked the pink of her cybernetic eye glowing slightly.
"I'm Victoria Plath, Ambassador of the Aces. Our lovely friend Archie over there is first mate, and you are my good ma'am and sir?" She asked, it was a very convincing act for anyone that didn't know her. One that she practiced constantly and was particularly useful in friendly negotiations.

 

[Jagson]

"An Ambassador. Drake man you've gone official" The man said. His voice was between a stoner and drunkard. Almost too much like one.
"I'm Bart like the liason for the S...." He sees Drake shaking his head. "My organization. This is Qria the protection. Don't let her looks fool you she could like easily put anyone down."
"Let's get down to business." Bart said.

"Along with that ternary we gave Drake there's a few more things." He said. "He moved the pad towards the smugglers. " Look it over and give me a price."

 

[Axty]

Archie took the holopas since he was the one in charge of logistics and money handeling. He reviewed the supplies they had just added on. At this point they would be over loading there piece of junk they called a ship. Though he wanted to reject the proposal it was still technically possible for the supply run to be successful as long as the trip ran perfectly.

"Your asking for a sizeable drop off. I doubt you two don't already know that only medium sized ships would be able to safety carry this in an out of that region. We can make it work that's not the issue, the issue is wether or not it'll be worth our time." Archie said knowing there was probably going to be some negotiation on the price.

 

[Keeperoftheghosts]

"I can respect a woman like that. " she said looking over to Qria and giving her a two-fingered salute, before glancing over at the holopad. She let out a hum before turning back to Bart.
"As Archie said, it's possible, and you're in luck that it's us. Any lesser ship or crew wouldn't be able to. But that's why you contacted us yes?" She said flicking back a strand of her silvery hair.
"Let's see, last minute add ons and maxing out our supply ship. Normally I would say that's an extra 40,000 for the supplies, plus 20,000 for the fuel strain that will put on our ship, plus 15,000 for inconvenience." She paused the pink glow of her eye landing on Bart.
"That would make the cost 175,000 typically but since we're all friends here I think we can make an exception. 150,000 credits I can lower it to."

 

[Jagson]

Bart let out a hearty laugh at that. "Like dang I thought you all would go cheap." He said letting out a small chuckle making it clear he had no problem with it. "We can do 125. 70 now 55 upon completion." He said. He looked at Drake before sliding him another thing. "Adding this for our continual friendship and partnership. Our men are installing it now"

Drake looked at the pad and his mouth dropped open. It was a military grade next gen cloaking field. "We take care of our friends." Bart said his stoner persona slipping a little.

 

[Axty]

Archie was about to speak up before Bart gave Drake the cloaking field. He immediately analyzed it. Low ball it was at least 40k. Archie leaned into Victoria's ears discreetly whispering. "Victoria that's at least 40k and military grade, if you ask me the 25 drop is more than worth it for that sort of accessory"

 

[phantomness]

Meanwhile, Brutus had nodded to Vah'Ra. "Right then, let's go see what sort of setup they have here." He said. He was not particularly confident they would be able to obtain legitimate supplies here, but one never knew what the markets were like. They definitely varied across systems. The last thing they needed was to wind up with counterfeits. The food, at least, should be easy to find. He didn't recall anyone on the ship having particular dietary restrictions. As for the rest, well, they would see.

 

[Keeperoftheghosts]

She glanced over at him skeptically taking a second to think it over and gave a slight nod in acknowledgement and agreement to his words.
"Trust me our prices are quite fair with the quality of service we provide. Normally I would have to reject such an offer but....With such a generous gift I suppose we can accept, it's a pleasure doing business with you. Only for such dear friends of our captain of course. Lady luck seems to smile upon you today." She smiled offering out her hand to seal the deal pulling out a pen to get it in writing.

 

[Eidomancer]

"Oooh, do you think they'll have those spicy orange things? Or the sour yellow ones?!" Vah'ra trails after Brutus, tail swaying swiftly as she looked across the backwater planet's market streets. The concept of 'legitimate goods' probably didn't even register to the Katari - as long as she owned it, she considered it to be hers - even if no money changed hands. That had certainly caused a few problems in the past, but they were thankfully minor.

She didn't have any visible weapons but half of the tools that hung from her belt might be lethal to mere flesh and blood, considering they were designed to repair starships. It wouldn't have been the first time that a mining drill or a titanium hand-saw was used in combat...hopefully there wouldn't be any combat, though.

 

[phantomness]

"Hmm, I'm not sure." Brutus replied. "Which ones do you prefer? Was it the sour yellow ones?" He eyed a snaggle-toothed woman in a dirty apron stirring a greasy, bubbly stew dubiously. While he sometimes enjoyed sampling the local cuisine, the subsequent diarrhea that often followed was never worth it. However, the fruit stall next to her looked promising. There were stacks of fresh fruits that actually looked to be quite viable, and the listed prices were surprisingly reasonable.

"See anything you like, Vah'ra?" He asked, heading towards the fruit stall.

 

[Jagson]

Outside of the Rishi system. The United Galaxy Flotilla emerged staying out of system away from any sensors.

A Grey skinned bald human like male with golden eyes walks in. He was wearing the standard red and black uniform of the UG security force. "Commodore my kill squads are ready." He said. "We can get in and wipe those terrorists out." Vickers nods.
"No one makes it out if you even have a hint of involvement end them. We are peace keepers after all. Wouldn't help to let terrorists get out." He sat down at his seat.
"Ensign when I give the word I want you to jump in orbit of Rishi-2 shoot down any ships that try to escape. "
"Yes sir."
.....

Bart smiles. "Than we have a....." He frowns as if hearing something. "We have a deal. Qria get these people back to their ship." He said. "Leave as soon as you get on." He signs the paper work

Qria looked at them. "Right this way." She said

 

[Eidomancer]

"Thaaaat's a hard question, doc." She pauses to place two fingers on her cheek, tilting her head with the most over-dramatic thinking expression possible. This process is swiftly interrupted, however, as she sees some bright red fruit at the back of the stand. "Oooh! Let's try those!" She points up at them, glancing at Brutus as if expecting the much larger man to actually obtain them.

"Oh! And we need some scrap to fix that thing. Aaaaand maybe some more vodka, and..." At this point the Katari has already started to wander off into the thicker part of the market, peering at the stalls with the curiosity of a cat.

 

[phantomness]

Brutus nodded, buying several of the bright red fruits, as well as a variety of others - fresh fruit was important to the crew's health, after all - from the woman, and bagging it swiftly, before following quickly after Vah'ra, hurrying as not to lose her in the crowded marketplace. Sometimes the Katari would turn up in the oddest and most unexpected places if he 'misplaced' her, and he didn't wish to play hide and go seek so early in the day.

 

[Eidomancer]

Thankfully Vah'ra was not too far away this time: She could be found only a few stalls down, leaning over a counter with her legs dangling beneath her. She had a tail, after all, and this helped to balanced her as her palms held her up to look at a shelf full of random electronic components. Apparently this vendor sold all kinds of salvage and scrap. Surprisingly, the majority of it was in very good condition (for salvage) but this raised some questions about the legitimacy of it. Not that the Katari cared about any of that.

"Yeaaaah but I need one rated for at least six. Maaaaybe eight. You got that?" Vah'ra lifts her ears briefly, asking the...man?...thing? that ran the stall. A lanky, lithe creature that was nearly as tall as Brutus but was literally as thin as a pole, the alien had pallid grey skin and seemed almost like a stick-figure-statue brought to life. It didn't speak. It simply reached into a crate and produced another bundle of wires and components to display. "Uhh...that'll work, sure! Oh, hey Doc - I found the R-T-J-...you know that burnt thing? This'll probably fix it. Mostly."

 

[Keeperoftheghosts]

She glanced over at him as she collected the papers. Her eye narrowing ever so slightly glancing around for the source of the seemingly sudden change of tone.
"The deal is the deal. We won't be able to leave immediately however as we will have to wait for the remaining crew members. Rest assured though we will get to the delivery promptly once we have everyone. Unless there's a reason you're sending your protection with us?" She asked her voice kept calm and even as her mechanical eye rotated in it's socket scanning the room and the body language of the other people in the Tiki bar.
"....We are quite capable of seeing ourselves to the ship after all." She left the question of why his sudden urgency unsaid but implied in the cold tone of her voice. She had dropped her friendly act at this point.

 

[phantomness]

Brutus was somewhat used to Vah'ra's antics at this point, so he nodded politely to the alien running the stall. "That is wonderful that you found what you needed so quickly. How much is it?" He turned to the alien, hoping he wouldn't have to haggle. The doctor was not particularly charismatic and haggling never seemed to work well for him. For some reason, he couldn't quite tell whether the intimidating act or the polite act seemed to work better and could be awkward when trying to balance the two. He was also carrying his bounty of fruit, which did not help with the intimidation factor.

 

[Axty]

As the three of them were seeing themselves out, Archie felt a sudden and unsettling prickle at the back of his neck. His fur bristled involuntarily, a sure sign that his instincts were sounding an alarm. Something was off, and he couldn't shake the feeling that danger was looming.
He watched the shadows closely, straining to see if anyone was watching them. The street, normally bustling, seemed eerily quiet. Every creak and rustle seemed amplified, making his heart race even faster. Archie's senses were on high alert, every nerve in his body tuned to detect the slightest hint of danger.
"Captain, Victoria, somethings off. We should get the other two and leave as soon as possible"

 

[Jagson]

Bart looks at the Ambassador and takes of his distorting glasses to look her in the eyes. They showed worry and urgency as if to say shit was about to go down and you didn't want to be in the cross hairs.

Qria let out a laugh. "I don't protect him cyborg. I protect people from him." She said before fallowing behind us at a decent distance.
.....
Something was wrong and Archie confirmed it. Drake slowly looked around and drew his revolver. Everything seemed fine but he couldn't shake it. It felt like that day. Looking in the sky he saw transport vessels exiting subspace too close to the planet. Like a surprise attack "Brutus, Va'har head back to Aces." He said in his communicator. "Let's pick up the pace"

 

[Keeperoftheghosts]

Victoria tucked the signed papers in her sleeve tucked between the fabric of the fine black jacket and her blouse in a discreet fluid motion almost as if making them vanish to sheer air. She cast a quick glance around them and turned tail leaving Bart at the tiki bar. She followed just behind Archi and the captain unbuttoning her jacket so she had easy access to the numerous hidden pockets inside and her side arm in case they were needed.
"Archie, Captain, are there any possible short cuts we could take to the ship. Preferably ones that get us out of sight and off the main roads?" She questioned her mechanical eye darting around to look at all possible angles.

 

[Axty]

Archie thought about it for a second. "We shouldn't. Private areas make it easier for someone to attack us. On top of that if we are in a public area it makes it harder for someone to go through the trouble of attacking us. Worst comes to worse captain's 'friends' can help us. Now we should get moving."

 

[Jagson]

"I have to agree with Archie. We don't know the layout of this area and if we get stuck in an alleyway that would be a kill spot." He said as he started to jog. In the distance and behind them he heard Blaster fire. He looks behind them and sees three men wearing the red and black of the United Galaxy Peace Corp. He had to laugh at that Irony.
"Keep moving." He said as he started to fire at them. Making them have to get behind cover.
......
In the Tiki Bar kill squad 1 lead by captain Ugala walks in. All they see is some stoner drunk downing a drink and waving. "Sup dudes." Bart said without a care in the world.

 

[Axty]

Archie pulled out his blaster pistol, finger tightening on the trigger. He knew if he hurt a member of the Unities Galaxy Peace Corp he would be opening a whole can on worms that they couldn't deal with, but he needed to do something. Archie saw a gas tank, making it blow up with other merchandise falling to create a wall in the somewhat small alley. "Move we don't have time!"