The Firefly and the Falcon

[Solaris]

(I apologize for the shoddy quality of this post. I normally like to do a lot more scenery porn, but time is of the essence with my battery being what it is. My intent here is to set up some RP - in a PbP game, I like to take a lot of cues from the players and do a halfway sandbox game. I'll provide storyline and adventure arcs, but I'll also make an effort at letting you guys direct the story too.)

The little Gallofree GR-65 Firefly-class had seen better days, but ships like that never dropped out of the sky. The starport traffic controller tracking the Serenity as she flew through the fluffy white clouds of Bespin contemplated siccing the Wing Guard on her, but he wasn't detecting any weapon systems when he did a scan.
"Serenity, your berthing is Dock 775. Welcome to Cloud City. Cause trouble and we'll throw you out."

[Tackyhillbillu]

Gavin sighed from the pilots chair, tapping the controls easily, picking up the comms to acknowledge the comms. Didn't look like it was time for him to start talking fast.

"Aye, Traffic Control. We'll make sure to make sure any trouble stays firmly onboard."

Great skies, we have enough of it.

With that, Gavin flipped the switch, going from External Comms to internal, alerting the crew of their incipent arrival.

"Ladies and Gentleman, this is your pilot speaking. We've arrived at our destination, so your presence is requested. It's time for us to go ahead and plan how we are getting thrown out today. Bar fights are getting so boring."

Gavin didn't broadcast that to the Passenger Cabins, or the common areas. He figured eventually everybody needed would make their way up.

[Dervag]

Konrad is in the infirmary; he hears Gavin's voice echoing around the cargo bay. He carefully stows the bottle he was looking over as part of an inventory of the ship's onboard medical supplies.

Then he heads for the bridge, planning to stay out of the way at first. He needs to speak to Captain Tamrin after the captain has finished any critical business with the crew.

[SteveUnicorn]

Brecht had just finished holstering his pistol when he heard Gavin's announcement. With a grunt, he picked up his frag grenades and clipped them to his bandoleer. Proudly.

He grabbed his jacket and stormed up to the deck, keeping quiet, and looking stern.

[A'den]

The view of an endless skyline became a hangar on the lower levels of Cloud City, with the shape the Serenity was in John Tamrin didn't blame the ATC for assuming they couldn't pay the docking fee for a real landing pad reserved for VIPs and the wealthy on the topside of the city. Gavin's satire drew his attention from his worries and threatened to break the Captain's perpetual frown with the hint of a smile.

"Let's just hope this isn't Tatooine again."

John let the smile fade and sat back in the faux-nerf leather chair of the captain's chair if he had enough credits for real leather he wouldn't be hauling scrap runs into Bespin's Cloud City. He hoped this run would prove a bit more profitable than what they had been pulling lately. With nothing but Tibanna Gas and a fall that went on forever Cloud City usually paid good for consumables, scrap metal, and whatever else folk could normally dig up on terrestrial planet.


"I know a guy who knows a guy, from back in the day, who sometimes barters out here on Bespin, the Empire hasn't made much of a move out in the Rim yet so we should be pretty much in the clear to unload our haul. Once everyone is up here we can get moving, on unloading this haul. Probably have to go crawl through a few bars to find my contact though."

Captain Tamrin stood up looking around the bridge he noticed a few loose wires, the gunnery station was still dark he hadn't bothered to put any teeth on the Serenity since he'd been forced to sell the forward linked lasers for fuel.

He tapped his foot idly waiting for his crew and pack of free loaders to rouse themselves.

[Connington]

Olivia quietly pads her way in during the middle of the captain's monologue, announcing her presence with a quiet cough after he finishes.

"Sometimes I think we could find these old friends in half the time if we skipped the bar crawl."

She waged a valiant war to keep any hint of a smile off her face as she perched herself on the dusty arm of the gunner's chair.

"Well, I was just a little shy of certain that we had given that Navy ship's sensors the slip, but it looks like we got away clean."

[Tackyhillbillu]

Gavin smiled softly as the crew drifted in, giving his wife a rather rougish wink that he always saved for her. He cared very little what plan John had now. Bespin was beautiful, and that was what he was out here for. To see beauty, and enjoy himself.

"Oh come on now, Tatooine was fun. I'd never have found out what color a Rodian turns when it is utterly furious if Brecht hadn't decided to go out drinking."

Gavin gave a laugh, and then looked over at his wife, adopting a hurt look.

"You doubt my abilities to give the Imperials the slip? That cuts deep. That cuts real deep."

Gavin turned back, the hurt look replaced by that amused twinkle.

"And tell Olivia why she is wrong, Capn. I'm sure there is a need for all the drinking, and fighting, and sometimes even the passing out. Maybe even the vomitting, but I'm not sure about that. I really think we could do without the vommiting."

[Actana]

Joki sits on her bed with her head tilted slightly to the left. Her long black hair is in the way of her face - again. On a further examination she's not really sitting, but crouching on top of the bed. Her room wasn't exactly large. It was a place which had been cleared out and refitted to pose as a small room. It wasn't as bad as it looked.

When Gavin announces their arrival, she slides her legs down the bed and sits there for a while. She raises from her seat slowly and takes a few steps forward, opening her door with a tiny wave of her hand. Once outside her room, she walks a while around the ship in the hopes of stumbling upon any crewmember.

[A'den]

John turned around as Olivia spoke he flashes a quick grin at his second in command.

"Everybody likes to drink, I'd rather only check a few secluded spots than have to go trawling all over the City to find my contact." His grin took on a rueful note.

"Besides the man I know is more amicable to price with a couple drinks in him."

[Tackyhillbillu]

Gavin looked back over at his Wife, smiling widely.

"See Dear, I knew he'd have a reason. Not a very good, or convincing reason, but it still counts."

Gavin turned back to the Captain, shrugging.

"Who do you want to come along on this adventure to all the lovely dilipated cantina's you frequent?"

[Elves-as-People]

Sammi wakes up, rolling ungracefully out of bed and hitting the comm.

"Why can't we at least get thrown out of somewhere nice this time? Maybe find a fancy place we can't pay for and escape the bill instead of blaster bolts?"

[A'den]

Captain Tamrin shook his head as the comm beeped and Sammi's voice crackled over it. He grinned ruefully because nicer places had tougher guards with faster ships and bigger guns but the Captain sure as hell wasn't going to say that to his Engineer.

Looking up at Gavin Tamrin's lips twisted in a sardonic grin. "Well someone's gotta keep this thing ready to drag us out of the fire if be. So I'll bring Olivia..."

He trailed off, a tell tale sign he was open to suggestion.

[Dervag]

The pause runs on a bit longer than John intended.

Konrad is still a bit nervous approaching the captain, as if he's not quite sure Tamrin won't decide to kill him after all, but as the silence drags out he decides to fill it.

"Ah, excuse me. I've been going over the ship's medical inventory; we have a problem. We're down to the last container of bacta, and it's been cut with a low-cost substitute called 'kolto.' The substitute would work by itself, though you do get what you pay for..."

He makes a visible effort to cut himself off in mid-technical explanation.

"... anyway, it doesn't work well with bacta; it causes a sort of full-body allergic reaction. I'll have to get a replacement, but I don't know the port. How likely am I to run into an ISB* agent on the way to the nearest medical supply store?"

*(Imperial Security Bureau)

[A'den]

Tamrin shrugged, ISB were spooks could be anyone anywhere, but pretty unlikely here.

"As far as I can say you should be fine Doc, though you might want to think about a hair cut and a skin graft eventually. This is the Outer Rim Imp Law doesn't run far out here unless a Star Destroyer drops out into your lap, in which case you can kiss your engines goodbye, but bounty hunters are another story and don't care usual how the bounties are collected as long as they get paid." Tamrin says nonchalantly.

"Olivia, myself, the Doc, and our mercenary friend if he ever wakes up, will trawl through some of the spots I know. The rest of you don't stray to far, there should be entertainment and good eats closer to the hangar for other spacers like us but don't entangle yourself in anything that won't let you get back aboard if we have to blur lines. And don't go anywhere alone."

Tamrin's voice took on just the hint of his old self. "Always have somebody that can watch your back, and for us that's everyone else on this ship. Anyone out there can't be trusted."

He shrugged the new Tamrin back as he adjusted the webbing of his blaster. "Lower the hatch Gavin, lets go see what sort of prick they have working customs."

[Connington]

Olivia lifted herself up from her perch, eying the skinny doctor from the core, one eyebrow raised at his jumping at shadows. She gave a brief thought to maintaining her piece before stepping out, but dismissed it. Not like she had the proper permits for it in case some officer chose to take an interest.

Instead, she loped quickly over to the cabins, kicking the door of the cabin belonging to the ship's "security expert". "Brecht! We're going out the door! You can go out now, and then come back in with us, or wait a bit, get thrown out, and not let back in. Either way's just fine by me!"

[Dervag]

Konrad pauses for a moment, then his eyes go wide. For a moment his face reads I've forgotten something!

He says "Need to get something downstairs. I'll be right back.". He rushes down to the infirmary to grab a small item from his medical kit, then turns around and heads back up to the bridge. As he walks out the medical room door and turns left, he nearly stumbles over Joki, who just left her room in the passenger quarters.

[Solaris]

((You know Cloud City is a fairly safe haven for the underbelly, so pretty much anything not seriously illegal flies under the radar unless the customs official feels like causing trouble. Bribes start at 50 creds.)

As the crew of the Serenity trotted down the ramp, a businesslike man with four guards, all in Cloud City's blue-uniformed security forces walked up to them. "Welcome to Cloud City," he said curtly. "Anything to declare before we inspect your ship?"

[A'den]

As John strode down the ship he could already feel the prickle of irritation running his spine at seeing the customs official. They were a necessary evil just like always carrying open credit chips. He pulled a chip out worth a hundred.

"Nothing other than some old junk sitting in the cargo bay." He palmed the chip into the man's hand as he shook it with a smile.

Persuasion: [roll0]

[Solaris]

((Ahh, the famous Captain's Luck.))

The official pocketed the chip with a smile that seemed so lubricated it was about to slide off his face. "We'll see about that, Captain." He glanced at one of his men. "Search the ship, and let me know if there's anything not, ah, 'old junk in the cargo bay' that we should know about." He looked back at John. "I'm sure there isn't. Just a formality, you understand."

[Actana]

Joki looks up at Konrad. "Why the hurry?" she asks in a reserved voice. "Where are you going?" she follows him as he returns to the bridge, rather oblivious of anything that had been happening. She matches Konrad's speed if he starts running, and slows down when he does, never straying far from him.

[A'den]

"This is all really just a pointless formality, right? I'm just a small time spacer with more passengers than fuel. Perhaps we can skip wasting everybody's time so you can get back to looking at the things that really matter."

John grins and casually flips a cred chip in the air with his off hand, this one worth another hundred credits. There was a strong itch beginning in his trigger finger.


Deception: [roll0]
Persuasion: [roll1] Retry

[Dervag]

Konrad does not break into a run. As he hears the voices echoing from the cargo bay, he instead turns around and walks at a normal pace toward the passenger quarters, away from the cargo bay.

"I need to go off the ship to buy a few things, but there's no hurry. I just didn't want to hold up the captain. Since he looks to be tied up with the port authority right now,"
(this last is said with a slight quirk at the corner of his mouth)
"I... don't think we should bother him until he's finished. Is there something you'd like to talk about?"

[Solaris]

"If it's really so pointless," the customs official said, "then why are you so eager to skip it?"
As he said this, the two men dispatched to search the ship came back down the ramp. "Clean," one of them said, obviously not having given anything more than a perfunctory check of the cargo hold to ensure that yes, it was in fact a cargo hold.
"Have a nice day," the official said with an irritating smirk as he and his men walked back into the walls of Cloud City.

[Elves-as-People]

Sammi continues to get ready sluggishly, changing into more stylish, less grease-stained clothing. She heads down into the cargo bay to see what's going on.

I sure hope I'm not stuck on ship again the whole time... I wonder if there's a good restaurant here...

[Actana]

Joki raised her head slightly to look at her brother. "We're at Cloud City right? We should be safe here, right? Or at least relatively so", she said. "I don't know", she answered herself before Konrad had a chance. "What do you think?"

[Dervag]

"The captain seems to think so. It sounds like he's been here before, so he ought to know. If no one comes here looking for us in particular, we should be OK."

((Makes untrained Knowledge: Galactic Lore check to dredge for anything he can remember about Bespin.))

[Dervag]

((Here goes with the dice rolling))
[roll0]

[Dervag]

As far as he can remember, Konrad's never heard of this planet in his life before Captain Tamrin decided to go there. That's probably a good sign, though it's a bit alarming to be on such an utterly strange planet.

"...I'm glad to see you up and about. How are you feeling?"

[Actana]

"Dull", Joki answers nonchalantly. "Less dull than usual I guess. Maybe it's the landing. Or the people who were inspecting the ship. Something is going to happen today, isn't it? The captain is going to pick someone or something up, right?" she says calmly while looking at Konrad. "Is something wrong with you? You seem uneasy." she changes the subject from herself to her brother.

[Dervag]

A salvo of noncommittal replies flash through Konrad's head: "I'm well enough," "It's been a long week..."

No; for better and worse, she's not a child anymore. We're in this together; she deserves a straight answer.

"I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. Part of me thinks we're lucky to be on this ship; the rest of me wishes I could believe it.

He sighs a little. "And I think it's both: he's picking someone up and dropping something off."

"As for where I come in, we're out of bacta." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a clip holding an eyedropper and several transparent vials."This is what I came down here for; it's the closest to a test kit I could throw together. He wants me to come with him, but I should be able to get the bacta on the way. And with any luck, I'll be able to tell you more about the rest of what's going on when I get back."

[A'den]

Captain Tamrin simply watched the infernal prick stride off this his money his right hand stroked the pommel of his blaster a moment before he rounded on the crew behind him.

"Let's go." He spoke a little more harshly than he intended too.

At the last moment he heard someone speaking within the confines beyond the hatch.

"And someone tell Sammie to inspect the lateral controls and see what sort of prices they have on spare parts."

In a lower tone he added, "Force knows we'll need them."

[Elves-as-People]

"Spare parts?" Sammi says, coming out of the cargo hold. "I really hope the start of that sentence was 'We have enough money to get some really good...'" she adds, more ornery than usual. "I can only jury-rig things in emergencies so much before something just gives, Cap."

[A'den]

Tamrin jingled his pocket a bit feeling the weight of his creds. He frowned not as much as he'd like.

"We'll see what I can get for that scrap in cargo hold, maybe a pazzak game or two will pad out my pockets." He spoke with an easy smile, he had a penchant for bad habits but won more often that not.

[Actana]

"Okay", Joki says. "I'll wait here with the others then. I'll try to keep myself occupied. Take care while you're there", she finishes with a smile and walks away, but still keeping her head towards her brother until he is out of sight. Without much to do, she starts walking around the ship, trying to bump into some other person or people on board.

[Dervag]

Konrad lets out a faint sigh of relief; she's tracking as well as I'd dared to hope, thank the stars.... Then he heads to the cargo bay to wait for the others.

[A'den]

The Captain eying the part of the crew with them gathers them around with a quick nod and turns towards the innards of Cloud City it wasn't his first time on the station but it had been a while since his travels had brought him back here. He rather hoped a few people he wasn't on so good terms with had the decency to have spaced themselves by now or moved off the floating city.

The first thing he had to do was get his bearings and that meant chatting up some of the local cantina owners and bartenders who would know the layout of the station best since they were one of the small slices of the transient population that didn't spend all day gathering tibana gas in the clouds. It was also a good chance to get caught back up on current events in the locality.


Gather Information: [roll0]
Knowledge Galactic Lore: [roll1]

[Solaris]

The Captain and his crew found themselves chatting up a reasonably agreeable bartender, a Twi'lek by the name of Olutu. A passing acquaintance, Olutu was often a reliable source of information for certain Republic-friendly elements in the underbelly of society. His bar was a smelly little dive in the lower city, often frequented by Ugnauts and Human laborers.
"Word is," Olutu said grimly to the Captain, "that this new Baron-Administrator is having trouble bucking the Imperials. I'd be careful about whose face you punch in, Tamrin. He might be somebody important, ya know?"

[A'den]

Tamrin snorted, the only Imperial that would get him to walk small had a cape.

"Do they actually have a presence here yet or are the Baron's security goons still in charge? I didn't see much on the way into the system it seemed like."

He took a sip of his drink, Olutu was one of the only holes in the station you could not expect to get watered down Ugnaut piss for beer.

"My old contacts still work the low levels?"

[Solaris]

"It's mostly just token, for now," Olutu said. "'Course, that's how it always starts. It's not the guys in the uniforms you gotta be concerned about, y'know? It's the guy who talks to the guy in uniform."

"Most of 'em. The Imps know better than to try clearing that hole out."

[A'den]

Tamrin nods frustrated a moment then through the smoke of crowd sees a shape he recognizes. A triangle shaped head parts the crowd moving towards the Captain a blaster carbine in his hands.

"Didn'zz thinkzz youss come back here again did ya, Tamrinzzz?" The Trandoshan's accent is horrible and barely passable basic.

"Boss wants to see ya."

Trak a Trandoshan mercenary ran as muscle for the local crime lord. Arlen Fisk a Bothan who ran the underhanded things people sought on the lower levels of Cloud City.

"Huh, good." The Captain speaks up confident for having a gun pointed at him. "I got some cargo that hes been squawking about."

[Solaris]

"You know the rules here, Lizard Lips." Olutu bared his teeth - it couldn't quite be called a smile - as he looked at Trak. "Put the blaster away and play nice, or we start to have us some problems here."
Trak glared at Olutu, then lowered his carbine. "Bosszz wantszz him in one pieze, anywayszz."

(I'm only specifying Sammi, but anybody else interested can tag along too.)

Meanwhile, Sammi was in substantially nicer parts of Cloud City. She was meeting with a travel broker, someone who put people looking to get out of a system in contact with people who were looking to get people out of systems. It wasn't always legal, but this broker almost never worked with fugitives.
Almost.
The broker slid into the chair opposite Sammi in his office, sitting behind his desk and immediately went to work with the computer terminal. He was an odd-looking humanoid (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Selkath), obviously aquatic with a face something like an anthropomorphic stingray and mottled blue skin. "Sorry I'm late," he said in a gravelly, burbling voice. He had an odd accent, like his vocal cords weren't quite designed for Basic. "You're with the Brutus, right?"

[Elves-as-People]

"Oh no, we're with the Serenity. She's a much smoother ship." Sammi announces proudly, smiling and chipper.

[Solaris]

"Serenity, right. Like the name of that." The broker called up a couple of dockets on his computer, flickering images popping up in the holo-display. "How many passengers were you looking for, and where are you going?"