Meeting the Crew Loronar Joining the Crew As Alu entered Docking Bay 37, the scene looked more like the set up for a gladitorial exhibition than a job meet. He saw the human captain, a black-skinned woman, older enough than Alu that it was noticeable. She was sitting on the boarding ramp to her ship, a nice one too... YT-1930... clean... lots of pride. Alu noticed the other human crew member, a dark-haired woman who looked like she harmed insects as a child for amusement. The rodian was shirtless, warming up, like for a fight, by throwing punches at the air in quick succession. Alu thought that the air looked like it was brusing from the onslaught. He pitied that air. He turned and looked around, but he didn't see anyone who might be stupid enough to fight such a creature. He certainly wasn't going to. He was just here to connive his way onto a starship so he could escape this planet, a planet that had been his home for long enough for enough people here to want him dead or worse. "Is that all your gear, mechanic? Backpack and a pistol?" The black woman asked. "Sure is, Captain. I travel light." "Good then. We'll get going shortly... just one thing. You gotta earn your spot." "Uh..." "You're going to fight my rodian here," the captain said. "If you beat him, you're on the team, and we'll get you out of here." Leaving the alternative hanging in the air didn't help his quickly dropping mood. They knew he needed them more than they needed him. This was getting worse by the moment. "I've never actually ever hit anyone before," Alu said, trying to sound a little flippant while looking at the meanest, green killer he'd ever seen. "I usually try to avoid conflict. I'm more of an idea man." "Bad idea," the insect abuser chided. "Beat him up," the black human said casually to her rodian commrade. "...a lot." The other human woman giggled in the way that let anyone who knows humans know that she was anticipating some amusement in the near future. Alu knew he was her amusement. He really needed to get off this world, but he knew he couldn't win against this monster without revealing way too much... All he could do was trust that things would work out somehow. The fight started with Alu running out of the way of the big rodian, trying to keep him at bay. But when the dark-haired woman said, "Not gonna work, human. Teepu here can run for days in search of prey when he's on a hunt. You're just gonna die tired, and we don't have time for that, funny as it'd be to watch." "How badly do you need this job, whatever your name really is," asked the captain of the ship, and it was these words that gave Alu an excuse to stop avoiding the rodian. He turned and squared up to his opponent. He knew he was in for a rough time, but what could he do... he really needed to get off this planet. That's when the green-skinned monster let out soul-pirecing scream of primal aggression that would've shaken any sane being. Alu's training held, the fear response passed through him, and he barely flinched. Also because of his training, he sensed rather than saw an opening. The rodian had expected (completely reasonably) a fear reaction in his opponent, so he dropped his guard just a bit. Teepu was commenting to the captain on how impressed he was with Alu's bravery when Alu sunk a massive punch into the rodian's lower ribs, cutting his words off with an expulsion of air and spittal. "Hey now!" the dark-haired woman suddenly sat bolt upright and yelled, "This. Just. Got. Interesting!" The captain was paying closer attention too. Teepu fixed his eyes on Alu and crouched. It wasn't until that point that Alu understood that the rodian had been treating this fight as a show... with a mostly complete lack of respect for the human... Now there was respect, and with it... danger. The fight didn't last another five seconds. In short order, the rodian beat Alu senseless with three swift blows to the mid-section and jaw, followed by a kick to the man's head while he was on the ground, stunned. Then the rodian kicked the unconscious human in the guts for good measure, then kicked at his thigh twice for no reason other than he was pissed at how badly his ribs hurt. When Alu realized he was conscious again, the dark-haired bug torturer was standing over him. "Easy," she said. "You've got a bit of swelling in your neck I'm worried about." His head pounded and where he could feel his body, it hurt. When his vision came back into focus, Alu was able to clearly see her face. He noticed that the make up he'd seen on her before was actually a series of tattoos, making her most likely a kiffar rather than a human. Alu filed that information away. "Can you wiggle your fingers and toes for me," she asked. "Good," she answered as he wiggled his extremities. "I'm Cheni, Cheni Loure, gunner, co-pilot, tinkerer, and right now, ship's doctor. Welcome aboard the Amirite. You're currently in your bunk. Your gear is safe and onboard. We're in hyperspace for another couple days, so we've got time. I'm going to give you a sedative now so you'll heal faster. Either Teepu or I 'll check on you before chow to see if you're up for it. No worries if you're not." She injected him with something, then closed up her medical bag, and got up to go. "Thanks. I owe you," Alu said, feeling his head already swimming from the drug she'd given him. She turned before leaving the cabin, "No worrires, you're on the crew..." Then she smiled, "and you broke one of Teepu's ribs, so it's all worth it. Rest now. I'll go report to the captain." As he drifted off under the effects of the drugs, Alu opened himself up to the Force and felt a calming goodness flow through him. When the rodian came to check on him, Alu was feeling much better. "You're awake," the rodian said in his native tongue. "Good. It's meal time, and Captain Harlo's curious to see what she's bought. But you're not required to attend if your injuries are sufficient." "No," Alu answered in Basic, remembering to feign more injury then he felt, "I could use some chow," and slowly got out of his bunk. He noticed that Teepu wasn't wearing a shirt and had thick bandages around his torso. "Sorry about the ribs," Alu said, "I didn't know the fight was a joke until just after I hit you." "Not a joke," Teepu said, "a test... slow ramp up to see where you'd break... something the captain needed to know." The two of them made their way from the crew cabin to the ship's lounge where Captain Harlo and Cheni were just sitting down to eat. "Glad you could joing us, crewman," Harlo said. "Welcome aboard... offically. Teepu, show the man where the galley is and get yourselves some chow." Teepu nodded and showed Alu the galley, across from the lounge near the central core of the ship. They quickly dished up food and went back to the lounge to eat. A conversation started up, and it lasted through the whole meal. Alu was mostly quiet as he learned long ago that talking was only useful if what you were saying wasn't true. At one point, the captain was talking about the need they had for a mechanic, which is why they brought him on. "Cheni's been serving as our mechanic in a pinch," she said, "but we've mostly been having to pay to get her serviced properly in ports. That's more expensive than we'd like. Also, since we installed the second turret, I'd rather have Cheni in the gunwell than managing the ship systems when it comes to that." "Comes to that a lot?" Alu asked. Cheni answered, "More often than we'd like, but the captain's a wiz pilot, and Teepu and I are fair gunners." She and the rodian high-fived each other. Captain Harlo added, "Space is a mostly lawless expanse, and what law there is isn't usually on the side of independent merchants such as ourselves." Then Teepu joined in, "Especially when we independently haul contraband cargo." Harlo shot him a wicked look to which the rodian just shrugged. "You may get a chance to find out," Captain Harlo said. "We're currently delivering cargo to Chedley Prime, which has an unofficial quarrantine in place." Bubble Gum and Duct Tape The Rail Guns "That... weapon... it's too big to mount on my ship, crewman" Captain Harlo said when she saw the electromagnetic rail cannon that Alu had acquired. "No, Captain, not at all," Alu said. "I found room for 'em under the deck work. They fit in fine with lots of room to spare." One of the two cargo droids made a negatively chirping series of tones that drew a glare from the ship's mechanic. "They?" the captain's look said far more than her one-word question. "Uh... yeah... the droids and me already have the port gun roughly in place. It's bein' synced up with the targeting array software right now. See how you didn't notice? This gun'll mount to the starboard frame span the same way." "It's half the length of the ship!" She clapped back. Alu insisted, "But Cap'n, these mass drivers shoot really far and hit really really hard. They fire darts of super-hardened durasteel wrapped around a hyperdense core, and with the amount of energy used to sling 'em, they're traveling five-percent of light speed when they leave the linear acceleration chamber. They'll be a hell of a surprise for anyone who doesn't know we got 'em. And the only thing anyone'll see when we get inspected is the retracting port covers that look like domed instrument guards." Cheni, watching from a nearby deck chair, sunglasses on and drink in hand, said, "I bet him 25 credits he couldn't make it work. Looks like I'm gonna lose the bet." "Which's why I'm doin' the fitting in this nowhere port. These people don't know us, we're not registered here. We were never here. These cannon were never here. And certainly the pristine, still-in-the-original-cases ammo was never here. " "The only issue is that these things take a lot of power, so I had to acquire some heavy duty capacitors too. Did that the last time we were at "