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Futuristic Crew Wanted, Pirates Preferred [CLOSED]






"A Kepten?" Her eyes trailed over the armor, trying to remember what a Kepten looked like. "Interesting. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Baxely." For the life of her, she couldn't remember much about Keptens -- other than the fact that they were warriors. "The armor is to keep your identity hidden, then?"



Before Baxely could answer, a feminine voice rang out in the quiet alleyway behind them all. Vasanna turned slightly, looking back to see none other than a Jynan before her. "A Jynan? That's rather surprising." She muttered. She, unlike the others, didn't jump into a fighting stance like the others had. If the girl had wanted to attack, someone would already be dead.



As she passed back, it seemed she was scoping out the competition. Vasanna received no more than a stray glance from her, which made her smirk. It seemed their new Jynan friend deemed her unworthy of her time. Vasanna hoped that one day she'd be able to show the girl, seemingly named 'K', how very, very wrong she was about the team's navigator.



The tension in the air was heavy, but Kvillir managed to push through it. He said something to Kivak in their native language, and Kivak took the lead once more. He seemed extremely on edge, more so since K showed up. They were led through more twisting streets and dirty alleys until they reached what seemed like a junkyard, or perhaps an industrial complex. "This is where they left their ship?" She thought, glancing around. "I'd be surprised if it hasn't been stolen yet."




 
Smiling kindly at A'uns response, she listen to the conversation between them and Kviller. Wile listening to the conversation between the two, she looked at the scenery around her. She hadn't gotten to see much of the winding streets of the city, and part of her wished she could see more. But, with the excitement of the soon to come mission, and the threat of the police that may or may not know they are there, she really wanted to get off this planet.


Hearing that A'un was blind, she furrowed her brow, having never guessed it. They seemed to walk like person that could see, perhaps they could sense the world around them somehow? Her thoughts were interrupted as she had to stop suddenly to avoid running into the person in front of her, it seemed as though they were being threatened. Though, she couldn't see how the person could think they could win in a fight against a group of their proportions. The more Cyrilla thought about it, the more unlikely it seemed that they were in any danger. When "K" admitted she wanted to join the crew, Cyrilla was once again perplexed by her motives. First she seemingly wanted to fight them, next she wanted to join them? It was an odd first impression to say the least.


As they approached the dusty industrial region, she noticed that they were noticeably slowing down. This made her nervous, as the world around them showed many places where things could go very wrong very quickly. More than anything, it simply looked like the kind of place where less than pleasant people would be. Biting her cheek, she kept her eyes and ears open for any quick movements, or subtle noises that may alert them to a dangerous presence.
 
Cel was not a stranger to Kaenian Orbital Air Traffic Control and over his years working on, piloting, and captaining various merchant ships, legitimate and otherwise, he also knew how to deal with Customs Officers. It wasn't long before he had the information he needed. Exiting the hostel, he jacked a personal speeder from a secure parking terminal nearby and sped off.
 
When Baxely saw the stranger, he almost immediately recognized her as a Jynan. The last one he'd met had nearly slit his throat after he'd tried to talk them into relinquishing an especially shiny necklace of theirs. Needless to say, it wasn't exactly an encounter he wanted to experience again. As he listened, though, he relaxed his fighting stance. It seemed that the Jynan, whose name was apparently K, was just looking to join them, although she could've been a little less misleading about it.


As the group walked, they found themselves in one of the shadier industrial areas. Baxely wasn't too fazed by it, though. If anything, it felt nostalgic, in some bizarre way.
 
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K? A much more pronounceable name than half of the ones A'un already knew, their own included. The apostrophe had tripped up a lot of people that she'd met, they couldn't get the break right or just completely left it out. They hadn't really been friends with those latter people. Those people hadn't had many friends that A'un knew of. The listened to K's request, and Kvillir's civil response. It seemed that though K had startled them, they seemed like a nice enough person, for now at least.


A'un moved after the others after not understanding what Kvillir had said to his friend, who she had yet to hear speak. The friend, she'd heard someone call them Kivak back in the pub, began to lead them away, on a twisting path through streets and alleys. They listened to the fall of feet, several rhythms all integrating with each other, overlapping and syncing up and falling out of time again. They had always liked music, it being one of the few art forms that Ealiv could enjoy properly as it didn't have a visual aspect. Unfortunately, they hadn't been much chance for them to enjoy it on a pirate ship. As they slowed down a little A'un tried to locate Kvillir in the group, they started walking beside him.


"So what is this ship of your like?" They asked, trying to imagine it. Given the size of the crew right now, it would probably be big, and cold. Spaceships were always cold.
 
When they got into the less populated areas of town, Kvillir relaxed a bit. It was dangerous, but a type of danger he was more familiar with, and he had a good rapport with the family that..."managed" much of the area. As they traveled, A'un fell back to walk next to him, and he glanced at them as they spoke.


"It's not huge, just a 10-person courier that was modified a bit," he answered. "It has an upper and lower deck and good storage space. There's even seperate rooms, but they're really small, just a bunk and a shelf." Compared to some of the ships that docked in official spaceports, the Corona was tiny, but it was plenty large enough for a small crew and a load of contraband. He could see the warehouse where it was stored in the distance, just few minutes away. If he was lucky, the last load of illicit material should be waiting in the makeshift hangar to be loaded--30 crates of dormant Keesen seedpods. Everything else had been loaded over the course of several days, including 150 bales of Pylnish fur and 45 Haamia tusks.


"So, you're blind?" he asked. "I thought you were going to say something else before we were... Interrupted."
 
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Cel arrived at the warehouse. Where were they? He parked the bike and found a concealed vantage point to spot them when they arrived, if they arrived.
 
A'un nodded. It sounded nice enough since they didn't really care about space. Smaller spaces were actually better for them, less chance to trip over things or get lost in the middle of an empty space. Not to mention that they reminded them of some parts of the caves of Ealian. There were big, open spaces there, but a lot of it was barely above head height. A'un sometimes got homesick, and a nice cosy space would most likely help with that. A'un snapped out of their thoughts as they heard Kvillir ask another question.


"I'm not blind exactly." A'un said, and tapped the screen of their helmet. It was there to let others see their expression and basically no other reason. "My species evolved in caves, so we don't have eyes. Technically blind is the correct term for that, I think, but I like to make sure that people know the difference." They shrugged again, acting as though they didn't really care about it, which they mainly didn't but it was good to make sure that people understood.
 
Kvillir nodded, understanding the distinction they were trying to make, however nonchalant they seemed about it. Then he realized that they couldn't see him nodding, and said "Yeah, I get it." They walked for another few moments in silence before finally reaching the building where the ship was stored. Kivak fell back to allow him to unlock the door, and the crew filed in after him. Just as he had hoped, there was a load of Keesan seedpods ready to be loaded into the Corona.


He walked around the deep blue hull of the ship to the loading ramp, opened the key panel, and punched in the code. With a hiss of hydraulics, the ramp lowered itself to the ground, clanging as it hit the hard floor. The storage area was already almost completely full, but there was enough room to cram the seeds in.


"Well, here she is!" he declared proudly to the group. "We've just gotta load up these crates and that's it! We don't have to leave until tomorrow night, though, in case you have anything you need to get before we go," he added.
 
With that, Cel stepped out of the shadows and nonchalantly walked over to Kvillir, making a show of looking at the crates.


"Hmm, well, look at that. Remind me, are Keesan seedpods on the restricted transport list, or not? I could be confused."


He smirks at Kvillir roguishly.
 
Kvillir stared at the man blankly for a moment before pulling his hand down his face and sighing. Great, more trouble, just what they needed.


"Well? What is it?" Kvillir asked, patience wearing thin and the edge of a chittering growl lacing his voice. He wasn't one for confrontation, but he was wavering dangerously close to the line. "You're obviously not a cop, because you warned us about the officer at the bar. You waited for us, and you're outnumbered, so you didn't want to steal our stuff, unless you're just a terrible criminal. So. What is it?" he repeated. "What do you want?" He was fairly certain he had never seen the man before today, so it shouldn't be an old debt come back to bite him in the ass. He had seen the kind of easy, controlled confidence the man put on a hundred times before, so he probably wasn't the type to do anything stupidly reckless. But what did this guy want?

___




Kivak was going to kill someone before they got out of the stupid Kaenia system if people kept emerging mysteriously from the shadows with shitty one-liners. God, it was like they rehearsed it. He bared his teeth in irritation and maybe just a little bit of fear, but the man didn't seem like a real threat. Still, he flattened his ears and narrowed his eyes, ready to give him a run for his money if he tried anything.


@Cadenach
 
Cel's face took on a serious note as he stepped closer to Kvillir.


"Honestly, I haven't decided. I recently lost my ship and am currently unemployed. I saw your rather...indiscreet add and was curious abut what kind of person openly advertises piracy. For a while, I figured you were some sort of young jokester. No cop would use such an obvious ruse after all. Imagine my surprise to find a burgeoning operation."


He gestures to the various assembled aliens, the ship, and the cargo.


"Seems to me though, that you lack a certain...experience with these things. Piracy is a dangerous business for beginners and unforgiving of amateurs. It's not like the space operas make it out to be. So, consider me an interested party. I want to know however, if my time is worth throwing my hat into this circus ring."
 
A'un tried to sense the items in the warehouse. They could sense the general items, where they were, how much space they took up and the walls of the warehouse. Since they were using all their sense to try and get a sense of the area, they heard Cel before he announced his presence to the group. They kept quiet, waiting for Kvillir to respond. It was his ship and his crew, so he could deal with it, but as Cel replied she started to like him less and less. They cleared their throat and beamed at him.


"Excuse me, sir," They started in an upbeat voice, "But if you don't know if this job is 'worth' your time, then I suggest you find something that you are sure about." They grinned again, flashing their teeth as they did so.


@Cadenach
 
Cel raised an eyebrow and smirked at the cheeky alien. Neither amused nor offended, and looked back at Kvillir, waiting on an answer.
 
Kvillir's ears snapped against his head in irritation as the man stepped closer. He appreciated A'un's comment, but Cel didn't respond to them. Instead, he just kept staring at him, presumably waiting on a response. Kvillir didn't feel like explaining his extensive history of smuggling, from when he got booted off-planet barely past adolescence and dove into the grunt work of loading and cleaning on a freebooter ship up to his past few years coding and programming and keeping his name scrubbed off planetary and intergalactic criminal records.


"Nothing above Class C, I'm an independent operator and I'm not stupid. I know what I'm doing," he replied shortly. "What about you?" He asked, half a challenge. "What can you do for us?"


___


Kivak slowly stalked around the group until he was 14 paces diagonal to the interloper (regulation distance, he thought half-bitterly), visible in his peripheral vision but far enough that he would have to turn his head to see him clearly. He kept his head low and ears back--fighting stance--and stood fast, waiting for him to make a wrong move.


@Cadenach
 
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Noticing the flanking movements of the other Svikk, Cel couldn't help but smile at its quiet competence. Focusing on Kvillir, he made sure to keep Kivak in his peripherals.


"Well, I have some familiarity with privateering work. I was a Seid Tokar Battle-Captain for several years before...joining the private sector, yeh?"


He adopts a more relaxed seeming stance while subtley (but not so much so that it wouldn't be easily recognized by someone with even basic close combat training) shifting his feet to place his body in a better position to react to an attack on the part of the other Svikk.


"I earned that, by the way. I've worked every position a marine can work in both legitimate and illegitimate spacework operations, and I've been an Executive Officer on two independent starships and Captain of my own for the past three years. If you need someone with experience and the balls to cut it out here, I'm your man and then some. What positions do you currently have accounted for on this merry crew of misfits?"


Cel's face changes from an expression of sardonic condescension to cheeky joviality.
 
Kvillir listened to him speak, making note of how he shifted slightly. If nothing else, the man seemed... ridiculously qualified. He would be useful.


"We've got a pilot, a navigator, communication, maintenance, tech, and..." he paused, still not quite sure what K and A'un would be doing. "Various others," he finished. "Operations manager would be handy to have," he added. He knew from experience that most military-types were fond of things being well-organized, but he had never been too successful at the endeavor himself. Maybe this newcomer could change that.


___


Kivak immediately recognized the man's subtle movement as a preparatory motion, getting him into a better position for countering his attacks. He moved like he had been taught well; Kivak could respect that. He had been well-trained, too. Kvillir seemed to be diffusing the situation, though, and he was glad. He didn't want to start out the first run with the new crew on a violent note.


@Cadenach
 
Cel nodded and moved a hand to his bottom lip as he chewed it over. Looking up he smiled slightly.


"Well, I actually have an idea about that. If you're serious about this that is. I assume you're the captain of this crew and ship?"
 
Baxely had been silent for a while, letting everyone else try talking to the man that seemingly came from the shadows. At least he wasn't being outright malevolent towards the group. The man definitely looked human, but it was always hard to tell.


Under most circumstances, he would have tried to start a conversation, but now really didn't seem like the time. In fact, Baxely was starting to feel impatient.
 

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