Fandom Way in the Past... Somewhere Else [main]

[noil]

The frenzy of activity in Valor Station was jarring as always as Sef struggled their way through the jostling crowd. In busy ports like this such things as day-night cycles and operating hours were nothing more than myth, and the diminutive Rishii clicked their beak nervously as they glanced about. For what, they didn't know truly. Sef had been the perfect law-abiding citizen since their hatch day. They didn't know how any of this shady underside of things operated. How did one go about finding help with defying the Empire itself? All they knew was that the seeping dread that had been settling itself over their shoulders over the past 5 years had built to the point they could no longer sit still with it. They had transferred the research on their latest project onto a datapad and slipped onto a transport off Coruscant.

They were approaching the lounge section of the station, evidenced by the increasing crowd present in the hallways. It was largely an unappealing mix of and substandard foodstuffs and overpriced spirits, but it never failed to draw in an assortment of stir-crazy travelers as they sought out caf and a break in the monotony of their route while they waited for their ships to finish refueling.

A flash of bright color moving through the mess of dingy spacers caught Sef's eye at the entrance to Valor's cantina. Was that- yes, there was no mistaking the glimpses of the distinctive armor Sef spied through the crowd, there was a pair of Mandalorians making their way into the bar. It was becoming increasingly rare to see one of their kind out in the galaxy, let alone two decked out in full beskar. Sef paused for a moment in their course, prompting a string of curses in their direction from the being behind them forced to alter his trajectory. Mandalorians had gained a reputation lately for taking on less than savory jobs. Sef didn't have much in the way of credits, but Mandalore surely had no love for the Empire. Maybe...

Kriff it. They had already thrown all caution and sense to the wind in cutting loose with no plan, why not continue barreling forward on this doomed track.

 

[noil]

Karine & Kohvee ^{- - - - - - - - - - - - - >}

Kohvee could practically taste the irritation steaming off Karine's back as she bodily shoved her way through the crowded spaceport. Clan Talyll were farmers after all, not spacers, and what little mechanical knowledge Karine had learned from their equipment didn't seem to translate at any useful level to ship repair. As for Kohvee, he had only managed to pick up enough mechanical aptitude from the GAR to be more of a hazard than a help. Whatever had gone wrong with their nav system and forced their ship out of hyperspace was beyond the skills of their combined ineptitude, so they here they were, effectively at the mercy of Valor Station's repairmen.

All the posturing and threats Karine hurled at the repairmen had left them unmoved. In fact if anything, the estimate was longer and more expensive than it had been before she'd laid into them. Kohvee had finally been able to convince her to cut their losses and let it shake out how it would, and Karine had wasted no time in making for the station's lounge floor, grumbling something about needing a drink. Despite it all, Kohvee couldn't find it in him to be concerned with their unplanned delay. In contrast to the anxiety setting off on this trip had caused, this felt... right, somehow, that they were here now.

Kohvee found himself apologizing quietly to a Duros who'd caught a particularly vicious elbow to the ribs as Karine forced her way up to the bar. She'd just raised her hand to catch the attention of the server-droid when an obviously nervous but nonetheless assertive "Excuse me!" squeaked out from behind them had the pair turning to look. Kohvee barely had time to cringe at the crisp lines of the Rishii's COMPNOR uniform before Karine had maneuvered herself in front of him, crossing her arms and facing down the avian.

"What do you want."

"Please I-" the Rishii's feathered crest drooped, "I need your help."

Karine opened her mouth to start in on another stress-induced tirade, but was stopped by a hand on her elbow. "We need to hear them out," Kohvee said softly.

Karine turned to look at her shorter companion, pausing for a moment before sighing and acquiescing, motioning with a hand for the Rishii to lead the way to a table at the side of the bar. It wasn't like they were in any hurry to get anywhere. Maybe this would be entertained at least. Karine popped her bucket as the three of them took seats, setting it on the table between them so she could look the Rishii in the eye.

They waited in silence as the Rishii, whose name was Sef apparently, explained their problem. The long and short of it was, they had reached their limit of helping the Empire destroy or alter valuable historical artifacts and needed help throwing a wrench in operations. Karine's face betrayed nothing but a stony, vague dissatisfaction at the whole situation up until the end, when Sef began to stumble over their explanation of why they'd singled out the two Mandalorians for help specifically.

"Right," Karine stopped Sef's stammering, shifting to stand, "That's a great story, but-"

"We'll help." Kohvee spoke up suddenly, cutting her off. He could feel it. Even through the iron grip he had on walling off the Force within himself, he could sense that this was right. "We will help you." He repeated, even though he could feel the glare Karine had turned his way burning a hole in the side of his helmet.

 

[Hiuly of Starmoon]

Zola made her way to the Valor's cantina. She needed to get some food for herself and Onyx, her best friend and companion. She walked inside and walked over to some guests in a heated argument at the bar. Those were perfect. She stood around for a bit trying to figure out where they had something of value and how to get it. She watched how the human in the middle reached into his pocket and took out some credits to pay for the next round. It would be rather difficult as the pocket was on the inside of the jacket, but that was nothing that would stop her. She just had to come up with an idea on how to be able to reach into the pocket.

After thinking about it for a bit, she decided that "accidentally" walking into him would work the best. She moved over to the other side of the room and started to think of a story. She saw a different human, around her age and had the perfect idea for a distraction. She walked over and slapped the person. Yes, it was risky, but hopefully that person was going to be too stunned from the hit to do anything. "How could you", she yelled and started crying. Zola glanced over to her next victim. He was watching. She turned around and stormed off into the opposite direction, bumping right into the person, grabbing a few of the credits with a swift movement. "Oh I'm sorry", she said and walked away. That's when she heard the other guy yell. "Schutta" and the next moment, she felt the cold feeling of a blaster against her neck.

The question now was, how to get out of there alive. She didnt' know just yet. But if that was it, she hoped someone would find Onyx and take good care of them. She sensed that the trigger was about to be pulled. She actually hated using her force powers, but she had no other choice right now. Right as he was starting to pull the trigger, Zola dove out of the way and started running out of the cantina. She had to find a hiding place and fast, because now all hell broke loose, as her victim noticed that his credits were missing.

She ran down the hall, tightly followed by the two gangs she upset with the scene. Luckily they were refueling the ship right now, so she ran off into the crowd of the space port, where she successfully was able to shake everyone. She bought some food there and some new clothes, and made her way back onto the ship. It was risky but she had a place to go. Zola went over to the place a few stow aways like her had built together to hide from the authorities as well as other passengers. "This is for you", she said and gave Onyx some of the food she got.

Silver_Moon

 

[lohlunat]

X0-42 was a lost droid. Well, not lost, exactly; but disoriented, banged-up, and purposeless. But the recently-freed Explorer droid had somehow found his way to Valor Station, and now a whole galaxy of opportunities lay before him. He had never seen so many people in one place. His old jobs had placed him at the outer reaches of civilization, where few organics dared to tread. Now he found himself in a space port full of life and bustling activity, with all kinds of beings--creatures and droids alike--coming and going as they pleased. His circuits whirred with delight as he ambled through the corridors, taking it all in.

His first order of business was to locate the oil baths. He desperately needed a cleaning and a tune-up, due to his recent... misadventure, which abruptly ended his last employment. His chassis was still intact (more or less) but considerably scorched and dented by the explosive forces he had incurred. In short, he was a mess--but nothing that couldn't be fixed soon enough.

The droid ran into trouble at the baths, though. He had a problem.

"No credits, no service," the diminutive Anzellan repair tech had told him sharply, turning him away despite his pleas. What was he going to do without a master, without any money? As a free droid, he would have to find his own job soon in order to get himself back on track. Something, anything. With metal feet dragging the floor dejectedly, X0-42 left the baths and started searching. Scanning over a station directory, he decided to head towards the entertainment section where all the bars and lounges were located. There were plenty of people there, and possibly a crew he could join.

He was almost bowled over by a purple-haired girl being pursued by an angry mob, but he managed to dodge out of the way just in time as they went clamoring past. "So primitive," he mused to himself, and if he could shake his head, he would have. Turning around, he found himself facing a bar that seemed to be full of organics. The perfect place to start. Among the patrons, he noticed two armored humanoids and a Rishii who seemed to be discussing business details, the latter of whom seemed to be desperate. They might have an opportunity for him.

Awkwardly, X0-42 strode up to their table. "Greetings. I could not help but overhear that you are in need of assistance. I would like to offer my services." Not the worst he could have done, but clearly not the best, either. Oh, well. He wasn't a protocol droid.

 

[Silver_Moon]

Onyx’s ears twitched as they heard their best friend Zola come back from what she had called a “short trip without much trouble”. Sure. Onyx sensed that something had happened and slowly got up to stretch and also greet her.

His day had been quite uneventful, with the biggest attraction being another loth cat that had passed by their home in search for food. Of course, Onyx had successfully scared away the enemy, so nothing more had happened. The rest of the day had been filled with naps, walking around and waiting for Zola. It was pretty boring, but Onyx didn’t mind waiting, as it meant that they didn’t have to run around.

The cat trotted to their friend and immediately smelled the food she had brought with her. Zola had crouched down, so Onyx happily greeted her with bumping their noses together. He sat down as Zola gave him some food that she had acquired. The cat looked at its friend and tilted its head as if to say: “So how did you get this? Did something happen?” before crouching down and starting to eat.

 

[Neuro Vampire]

The Matukai are nomads and can be found wherever there is space faring. Sicarius in a very much Matukai fashion was skulking around a spaceport, Valor station. He didn’t wear a cloak or anything because that’s very Jedi like and serves to look more suspicious. Most don’t even know what a Matukai is or how to even identify one. Especially one dressed in simple metallic spaulders and a skintight jumpsuit. He looks more like a bounty hunter or mercenary than anything else.

He found himself paused before a spaceship he recognizes. He has studied up on certain talented martial artist groups or warrior groups in the galaxy. The Yovshin Swordsmen of Atrisia, the Kage warriors of Quarzite, and the Mandalorians of Mandalore. He recognized the well made Kom’rk Class ship. It looked like it was having repairs being made to it, expensive ones at that. He wondered how such a masterpiece of a ship became damaged. He found himself loitering in awe of the spaceship that can carry around 30 combatants. He wondered if the Matukai ever recruited from Mandalorians and if so what were they like compared to other Matukai. Or perhaps the mandalorian have an aversion to everything Force related after their war with the Jedi.

 

[noil]

Karine & Kohvee & X0 ^{- - collab post with lohlunat - - - - - - - - - - - >}

Kari's incoming argument was interrupted by commotion at the bar, as no less than two full crews went suddenly chasing out after someone. Nothing unheard of for this kind of location, but something about the girl they were chasing seemed to have arrested Kohvi's attention away from the conversation at hand.

"While I appreciate where both of you are coming from, you're not in charge here," Kari pointed at Kohvee as she spoke, then to Sef, "And you're going to have to do better than that to convince me."

"Please, just look at my data. I-"

"Greetings. I could not help but overhear that you are in need of assistance. I would like to offer my services."

Sef choked off a startled squawk and scrambled to gather their datapad back out of view.

"Sorry to have startled you. I mean no harm," X0-42 assured Sef, raising his hands in a calming gesture. "I am merely in search of... a crew."

"Where did you even come from?" Sef squeaked, clutching their datapad defensively. "Whose droid are you, anyway?!"

X0-42's actuators let out a noise that sounded distinctly like a sigh. He had anticipated this difficulty. "I am a free droid," he explained, placing his metal hand on his front chassis. "I understand that my abrupt arrival may seem... suspect. But I assure you, I could be of great help to your mission." At least, he hoped. He really hadn't overheard much at all of what their mission entailed, but he was willing to take a gamble here that he couldn't afford to lose.

Sef was still highly suspicious, but they looked to their new Mandalorian acquaintances for any sign that they wanted to go along with this random droid's offer.

"An explorer droid, that's just what we'd need for this kind of thing!" Kohvee remarked, re-engaging with the conversation as he leaned forward, placing a hand on Kari's arm. "This has to be why we're here."

Oh. Kari swore under her breath. This was jetti bathashit. She should have known better than to bring the kid along and not expect that to happen. Not to mention she never had learned to actually say no to the foundling.

"Ffffine," Kari snapped a hand out to accept the pad, a bit of a growl underlining her reluctant voice, her eyes lifted to look over Sef's shoulder as the device slid into her palm, "But, we're taking this discussion to my ship. Things are getting a little too noisy in here."

At the entrance, the offended crews had made a reappearance, now with a very bereaved-looking station guard in tow. They were making some very loud accusations about there having to have been accomplices on the scene, demanding that the guard find and arrest the culprit.

---

Their odd menagerie made quick time back to the docks, Sef's talons clicking frantically against the durasteel floors to keep up with the pace Kari's wide Mandalorian stride had set. As they approached the dock housing her Kom'rk, Kari's speed picked up even more as she stormed forward, startled mechanics scattering at her approach.

"You have GOT to be kidding me."

"Oh dear," Kohvee rescued the datapad from its precarious location in Kari's hands as her gestures became animated.

"You were supposed to be recalibrating the nav systems. Why am I seeing the wiring harness to my weapons array on the floor? And why is he torch-cutting something?!"