Ensign Newbie, reporting for duty! [Nar/Ethan/Ask]

[0bserver]

Today was a day full of events indeed, at least, for some people.

For Nar, it was exactly such, if not more. In less than 24 hours, he managed to meed two very attractive women, eat some soup at their expense, and they were even generous enough to lend him money and a contact to get a new pilot's license! The day was getting better and better.

The person who helped out with the pilot's license, however... was not something the man expected. He thought it would be some officer or teacher from the local starship academy, but instead, he was being lead into a shady alleyway and an even shadier office - a hard thing to imagine on Manaan! A sleazy-looking fish-man was at the table. And he did indeed sell the license to him! But with one condition...

Maybe he wasn't so sleazy at all... Fish-folks look all the same to me anyway...

But anyway, let's get back to reality, and the 'Now'. Nar found himself standing in a middle of Manaan's pub, surrounded by a contingent regular to this sort of establishment. His republican, or... ex-republican, to be exact, uniform did not make him stand out of the crowd - since the place was crammed with off-worlders, their outfits various, and in many ways, alike Nar's own - he could have sworn to have seen a few wearing similar cloaks to his. That was rather sad, in his opinion. Eh, and here I thought cloaks were 'original'...

And in this place, where no sunlight was allowed, the dim darkness lit up only by weird projectors, which kept swirling constantly, and low beat hammering at the eardrums, it was increasingly difficult to find a certain person. The reason Nar was being here! The person the shady selkath told him to find...

- Oops! Excuse me! Coming through... Uh, apologies... - the man was making his way through the crowds, accidentally bumping into an occasional alien, be that rodian or twi'lek, who gave the clumsy person unkind glares, and a few words under their breath, from which Nar could only make out 'Shutta'. What that even meant? His goal, however, was the barstand. And the barkeep. When in doubt - always ask the barkeep. Nar learned that from hologames. The barkeep, surprisingly, was not a smelly fish, but instead a...uh... Zabrak? Yeah, the horny guy. Aka the guy with horns. Nar knocked a few times at the table to get the attention, and the lean figure moved closer.

- Anything you'd like to order? - his voice sounded suave like that. Heh, he must be a real kicker with the ladies...

- Err... no. I'm looking for a guy, who's told to be somewhere around here. He looks like this big armored dude, with guns and such. His name's... uh... curse my fragile memory... like an alcoholic solution... Was it Methanol? Ethanol? - he tried to remember it, when the barkeep suddenly started laughing at his feeble attempts. Nar frowned comically at that.

- Hey, what's so funny?

But the barkeep did not answer, and only pointed with a finger to... the man's left? Nar blinked, not understanding what was going on, his brain computing it for a few moments, before he finally figured what the zabrak tried to convey.

And looked at the person next to him.

[Ghostie]

Ethan sat slumped over at the bar, nursing a large drink. It was one of the regulars he attended while he was on Manaan, though that wasn't often. He had been on the planet a few times during his time with the Republic Navy, and then a couple of times afterwards. It wasn't his most favorite stop, he didn't care for the ocean.

But he was here on business. The Mandalorian was buying up kolto, in bulk. The healing agent was for his band of pirates, Spearpoint as they were now calling themselves. Ethan didn't whole-heartily approve of the name, but he also didn't think they were going to still be alive at this point either. He let them name the group.

And Ethan had also come along for the supply run to get away from Oatara for awhile. He was feeling a little stir crazy, especially with all the events that had just happened. His fight with Horst, getting shot out of the sky, and so on.

Ethan and Horst were taking lengths to fix their relationship. While things weren't as they once were before, it was getting better. And Ethan had made sure to let the rest of Spearpoint know that. After all, they had all heard of their brawl.

So Ethan had hopped on the The Verada, which was heading on a supply run. A couple of weeks cruising around the galaxy, away from Oatara. It had been pleasant so far. He liked getting to know the crew a bit more. Now they were all out having a little rest and relaxation time before hitting Space again.

So now Ethan sat at the bar, in a cantina, by himself. He was wearing his bomber-style jacket and some regular denim pants, Ethan blended right in. While he couldn't say it was fun, it was relaxing. But there was something missing. Something like a big, grizzly man. A man with a Corellian accent and an old military jacket that had a rancor patch on it.

The bartender shuffled down the bar to a newcomer. Exchanging some words with the man and laughing, The bartender pointed to Ethan.

Oh, this'll be good.

Ethan took a sideways look at the man and then went back to his drink. It was a younger man, with a grey Republic flight uniform on. And it seemed he had a cybernetic replacement or so. What someone was doing here in a bar, looking for Ethan was beyond him. The Mandalorian took a sip from his drink before starting on the newcomer.

“Whadda want, kid?”

[0bserver]

That awkward moment when the person you're looking for ends up right next to you. Nar was experiencing one of those at this very moment. Well, it was safe to say he has been having one large awkward moment ever since he stepped on Manaan. Eh... I guess I should just get used to it... I miss my barracks...

- Oh, hello there... I did not recognize you without the... erm, armor. - Nar laughed a bit, scratching behind his head sheepishly, as he turned to the burly, unfriendly-looking man. Or... rather, a man who did not take goofing around and joking too well. Besides... I don't think I know his name very well...

- My name's Nar, and I have been sent by Khar-rul... Yes, I think that was the name of the selkath, or it could've been just... gurgling noises. I was told you were looking for pilots for some sort of tasks that not many are fit for... So here I am. He-he. - he chuckled awkwardly, eyes running about left, right, then at the man again. He felt a bit nervous - the guy reminded him of one of the officers he served under during his time in the Fleet. In appearance, mostly, though. There was a hope that personalities were different, at least...

- So... if there's anything you wish to ask, or test me, or stuff like that... Go ahead, I will try to answer to the best of my ability... sir. - Nar said, and almost bit his tongue at the last word. Been a while since he used it towards anyone, but the habits died hard, and from time to time he kept calling people who were some sort of authority with the honorific.

Because two days of toilet-cleaning duty if I didn't... Ugh...

[Ghostie]

The young man mentioned something about Ethan's armor. That meant that they had met before, under fire or fighting each other. Or someone had given a general description of Ethan to the man. It didn't matter, but Ethan was going to have to find out what going around and telling people to look for him. It wasn't good for business.

Then the kid mentioned Khar-Rul. The magic words, or name rather. Khar-Rul was one of Ethan's contacts on Manaan. He was able to sniff out Republic and Sith deserters, who usually ended up on the ocean planet. Then the Selkath sent them Ethan's way. Quite a few of the pilots had been recruited through Khar-Rul.

The young man was nervous, that much Ethan could tell. With his own drink forgotten, he motioned of the man, a Nar or something, to sit down. Ethan motioned the bartender over.

“Get me a refill, and one for the kid.”

As the bartender dealt out the drinks, Ethan gave Nar another once over. Republic flight uniform. It was obvious where he got his training to fly. Didn't mean he was any good though. Ethan had dealt with a lot of hotshots in the Navy, and then they usually crashed. And then he never had to deal with them again.

Nar looked familiar, but so many faces were blended together in Ethan's mind from that time, it was impossible to pick out more than a few.

“What squadron were you with? Were you based on a ship or a planet?”

Ethan let Nar answer before he asked the most important question though.

“How do you feel about pirates?”

[0bserver]

Oh, another free drink? I must be spending all my karma points in one day.

But hey, Nar wasn't one to refuse, after all, it was free, and he did not have a credit to his name in his pocket. The zabrak bartender soon brought two drinks, giving one to the pilot, and another to the correlian. Nar sniffed it, before taking a sip, and shuddering the very next moment, before putting it back down.

Good grief! No wonder his name sounded like an alcoholic solution. What did they put in this thing? Whoa... - he thought to himself, but figured it would be disrespectful to not drink it, after all, it was this guy's treat... Taking one more sip, and feeling his jaw steadily move towards the back of his own head, he nodded, and muttered:

- Ehh... thanks. Very... refreshing. And... I was a wingman of Squadron number 243 "Relentless", under command of Norak Shterb. Our carrier's name was 'Valiant', and we were orbiting one of the moons of Bogden. - Nar said easily, knowing these names and numbers by heart. He did not expect the man in front of him to know much about the ship, the squadron, or Bogden for that matter. It was on one of those pages in Republic's military history that remained away from holoscreens.

- We were tasked to stop an illegal trade route the crime-lords were trying to press through that place, and... that's what we've been doing during the decade I served on the ship, prior to my unfortunate accident... - Nar chuckled light-heartedly, hiding his eyes in shadow at the last part, looking a bit away.

- Not that we made too much of a difference there, criminals, pirates and smugglers were coming more and more, and without manpower to clear their hideouts on the moons, we served the prestigious role of being a thorn in the ass. Metaphorically speaking of course... - he described the situation in general, and took another sip of the drink, cringing, shuddering and coughing a bit at its toughness.

- So... I met a lot of pirates, most of them through the riticule of my targeting computer... Why? - Nar asked, and looked at Ethan, a bit of haziness in his eyes.

Gee... I wonder where this is going...