A Diamond in the Rough [Jenno, Jewel crew]

[Mara]

((Haha...get it? Jewel, diamond... ))


Trevil walked along easily next to the man Lash as he led him to where his ship was berthed. He knew next to nothing about this transport, the man beside him and its pilot, Palas. Well, he knew a little bit more about her from their conversation over alcohol in the Dragon's Back cantina. Trevil's former workplace; he hadn't had time to give notice, nor did he care. He was finally leaving! And he could continue his search.

He looked up at the man next to him (Trevil had to look up to almost any being because of his species' short stature). This Lash was being pretty quiet, almost anathema to his rambling just before they left the cantina. He had seemed pretty excited to show Trevil around this ship.

The Bothan searched his mind for some small talk. "So... uh... is she a fast ship?" He knew it was stupid, but he wasn't about to get too personal with the man. Nor ask about this buyer or shipment, not yet anyway. He figured the less he knew the better for now. Trevil just wanted to get himself on the ship, strapped in and away from the Tatoo system. Forever.

[Jenno]

Tatooine was certainly an uncomfortable world, as if avoiding the glances of the shady figures spread thickly across the streets wasn’t enough, the suns made sure your experience was even more distasteful. It got to the point during their walk that Lash almost swore he could feel his head pulsating in unison with the solar flares emitted from the gigantic spheres.

The heat was something he hadn’t experienced before and the sensations it brought along would not be missed by the pilot. Space wasn’t warm, even within the ships it wasn’t known to be the cosiest of environments, but he’d become used to that after years on ships, so now he felt even more out of his depth. Hopefully Palas would be returning soon with the new parts so they could get the off this desolate ball of sand.

Evidence of Lash’s inability to converse plainly surfaced rather quickly on their little walk; he had yet to say a word to Yunas since they’d left the cantina. But then, what did once say to a bothan slicer you’d only exchanged a few words. Well, pretty much anything I want, since I still know nothing about him Lash thought in response to his own shyness. But still no words surfaced, his voice box didn’t even stir.

It seemed as though Lash wasn’t the only one who felt the tension and awkwardness between them during the trip to the ship as Yunas boldly spoke up. His question was amusing though, to Lash at least, and he couldn’t contain the smile which rolled across his lips. He looked to the bothan as they walked, and chuckled quietly before speaking. “I think it’s best if you get the bad news before the good, that way it won’t seem so bad, hopefully. Anyway, we’re docked just around here.” He said as they turned the corner and headed into one of the docking bays which were spread throughout the city. After passing a number of different enclosed areas all with different ships in them they finally descended upon the Jewel of the bunch.

Lash stepped before it, stopped and checked to see that Yunas was still behind him before raising his arms, gesturing towards the roughly assembled pile of metal. “And here she is, the Nui’s Jewel.” He turned to Yunas bearing his grin again. “I know what you’re thinking; looks like a pile of metal not even worth being called scrap don’t it? Yea,” he chuckled, “I thought the same thing when I first set my eyes upon it. Course, it looked much prettier to me at the time, but then again a rancor would have looked pretty state I was in.” It was an odd chain of events that led the pilot to where he was now; it still seemed somewhat of a blur.

After a brief pause he continued. “However, you’ll be surprised how good she is when it’s time to perform. I mean, I haven’t flown the ship that much but I can already tell you it has great manoeuvrability and speed, managed to avoid the fire of some flashy ship for quite a time whilst Palas repaired the hyperdrive. Plus, since I’m still getting used to it there’s a lot of potential there that’s still untapped.” Walking over to the console on the wall of landing area he viewed a few different screens. No visitors had been reported, which meant that the package was still on board. A few more options later and the loading ramp was slowly opening for them. Walking over to Yunas he smiled, trying to be as friendly as he could. “So, anything you wanna ask before I show you on board?” It would only be a quick tour but it was important to Palas for some reason so he guessed he best comply, if he valued his face.

[Mara]

Bad news, and good news? Trevil wasn't sure what to think about that particular statement as Lash finally spoke up during their walk to the ship. He dearly hope he wasn't being played here; if there was not ship, and they were actually bounty hunters hired by the bank in Bothawui... He shook his head, his fur rippling slightly. No, he couldn't think like that. Palas didn't appear to be any more than a smuggler, but she had initiated contact with the Bothan. And this human male he was with, seemed even less likely to be one. Trevil didn't know humans as an expert, but this Lash fellow appeared to be too inept to do anything but talk.

Shaking off the feeling of unease and focusing on what was ahead: his trip off planet, he followed the human into on of the docking bays. The man was right, as the Bothan surveyed the ship. It did look a bit rough. But in Trevil's experience, appearances could be deceiving, whether it was with ships or other beings. What was inside this ship mattered to him. It didn't have to be pretty; it had to be fast.

The Nui's Jewel, huh? Trevil briefly wondered who this Nui was, and why Palas had his ship. But as that was no concern to him, he came back to the present to listen to what Lash was saying about the ship. The Bothan nodded his head, a purely human gesture, in acceptance of what the scruffy man was saying. This ship would be all right, at least to get him to another planet to continue his search. After he helped Palas out with her problem, working his slicing magic. He was used to bartering for his passages to various star systems, and he felt this would be no different. The important thing would be to find out where they were headed next, and if it was a planet he suspected his traitorous friends to be located on.

His violet eyes snapped back to look up at Lash as he spoke again, asking a question. Getting lost in his thoughts again; Trevil knew he had to stop that. But it was hard when he thought about getting his revenge and his earned credits from the bank job. The Bothan forced a smile on his face and shook his head. "No, I believe you about her speed. It's obvious there are some hidden modifications." He had noticed one or two non-stock options on the ship as he had earlier glanced at her outer shell. "Lead the way," he added, gesturing to the ramp.

[Jenno]

“Right you are” replied Lash as soon as Trevil had avoided asking any questions. It was probably a good thing, Lash was still pretty new himself so any in-depth questions about the Nui’s Jewel would have left him with no reply and that wouldn’t have been much of an encouragement to his furry friend. Palas was the one to see about technical queries regarding the ship; Lash didn’t even know its history, or the captains for that matter. Then again, considering his own past he could understand why some people might not want to talk about it, he most certainly didn’t.

Walking up the loading ramp and seeing the inside of the ship was starting to feel somewhat comforting for the pilot now, it was an odd feeling and one that he was not very familiar with. Stepping into the of the first, and possibly the largest, part of the ship, Lash raised his arms and gestured around him. “This here’s the loading bay, as you can probably tell by the storage crates. I’m going to assume you’ve been on ships before since I’d prefer not to explain what a loading bay is.” Of course, this little tour was going to be explained as well as Lash thought it should be and it would also be accompanied by his own less-than-helpful comments and opinions. Now the pilot made an irregular move, he headed to one corned of the room, where the hull of the ship began to round around to the back. There he put his hand up against a portion of the wall and slid it back and to the side. “Hidden compartment,” he said with a little smile, “a must have for every smuggling ship, there are a few dotted about the place. One thing, I’d recommend staying out of them,” he slid the compartment shut again, “not too comfortable.”

Now Lash followed the wall along until he came to an opening at the back of the loading bay, he stepped into the currently quite room and nodded with his head to the main attraction. “Engine room. As you can tell from all the wiring about the place, not the most contemporary of things, but she holds together.” Heading past the bothan, Lash headed back into the loading bay and then through the only other doorway they had yet to go through. Briefly he signalled to his right, “that’s the med bay; don’t know what kind of condition it’s in and I hope neither of us have to find out either.” Moving on a few paces, Lash pointed out an approaching door. “This is one of the refresher units we’ve got on board, pretty standard but it does what it says on the durasteel.”

Walking across to the other side of the small corridor, Lash leaned on the cool surface before the clear view screen. “If the cockpit’s full or just closed off then you can get a decent look at the outside from here.” Continuing down the corridor, the pilot turned right where a flurry of doors awaited them. “Quarters, the captain’s is this one on the right and the rest are for crew or guests, there’s a little place for storage dead ahead and then another refresher unit down on the right there” he said pointing to where the floor branched off to the right, he couldn’t really be that bothered to walk down there just to point out some more quarters and so he headed back and carried on to the end of the hallway. Walking through the last doorway the pilot and his sidekick entered the common area. “This is probably where you’ll spend a lot of your time; you’ve got comfy chairs, a table for pazaak or whatever else you want to use it for. This,” he said pointing over to a section of the room filled with cupboards and various machines, “is the closest thing we’ve got to a kitchen I suppose. We haven’t got any fantastic chefs on board so it might not rate too high in your standards.”

Finally, Lash led the bothan into the cockpit, where he sat down in his own preferred seat and signalled for the fuzz ball to sit down in the co-pilot and navigator seat. “This is the cockpit,” he said with a booming smile, “if you ever need me for anything, most likely you’ll find me here. The hatch to the guns below us is over there” he continued gesturing to the corner of the cockpit with his thumb. “But this is where it all happens,” Lash said, still smiling as he looked over the consoles before him, “this stuff’s pretty decent,” he added running his hand over the machines, “but some of it could do with working on and getting an upgrade.” He looked over to Yunas as smiled, “so if you ever want to exercise those skills of yours then there’s stuff in here or the engine that you might be able to work on. Though I don’t know too well how you go about doing the things you do.” He finished with an honest stupidity. “Palas is the best one to talk to about anything you might be able to do whilst you’re with us. Now, is there anything you’re uncertain of or want to ask or talk about?” Lash rounded up the little tour with his question, hoping in turn that if he got any they’d be ones he knew how to answer.

[Mara]

The smaller humanoid followed Lash up into the ship, remaining quiet as the human continued on with his tour. Trevil almost wanted to laugh a couple of times; the way the human was rambling on, he would have thought he was touring a museum, not a freighter. But nevertheless, the Bothan made a mental note of everything that was pointed out to him. It wouldn't do to get lost on this ship. He would want to know where everything was.

This was the main reason he didn't tune the man out as he was droning on and on. Of course, he knew what a loading bay was. Who didn't? The Bothan's fur rippled slightly at this annoyance, but he remained quiet, keeping his face neutral, his eyes flickering to everything around the space, noting details. Especially that little secret compartment, Trevil made a special note of that little item, almost completely missing Lash's offhand remark about the lack of spaciousness within it. Did this scruff of a man think that the captain would put sentient beings in there? Absurd. It was obviously for hiding things of more questionable value and origin.

If he had had pockets in his trousers that would fit his large hands, Trevil would have placed them inside. This tour was almost making him sleepy and relaxed, so maybe it was a good thing his arms were to his sides. The motion would help to keep him awake. Plus, he ran a pointed finger over the hull every so often, trying to show his interest in the Jewel, when in fact, he couldn't care less. The Bothan just wanted to get off this planet, the quicker the better.

He made a brief note of the engine room, the medbay, but didn't really focus on those areas. Trevil was more concerned with the sleeping quarters, the living area of the ship. So his ears perked up a bit when they finally made it to that part of the tour. He couldn't quite see how many rooms or cabins there were; the Bothan just hoped that he wouldn't have to share his room with this dirty human. No offense to him but Trevil just preferred sleeping alone. Humans tended to have weird habits, nasty ones, in his experience. He knew it was just a difference in culture, but he would rather sleep on a cold metal floor than be stuck with a sleeping human.

Trevil's violet eyes brightened even further as they made their way into the lounge area. He eyed the pazaak table, wondering to himself if there was a modification for sabacc with it. If he didn't have to go with this human to deal with this cargo issue, he would love to waste some time there taking the human's money while they waited for Palas to return. The Bothan almost rubbed his hands together in excitement, another human gesture he had picked up. They weren't all bad, as a species. Humans had some things to offer to galactic society. And one of them was credits.

But he tore his gaze away from the table and surveyed the rest of the room quickly, not wanting to seem too eager about the lounge. He would be a part of this crew, even if just during the passage to another planet. Trevil didn't want to appear the lazy one. Though this human seemed to have it covered.

The small galley did not concern the Bothan. He was used to eating in that dive of a cantina in Mos Espa. Despite his boastings, Maso wasn't that amazing of a cook. But the food had been filling enough and sustaining. Trevil couldn't ask for much more, really. So the Jewel's galley would suffice for him.

The Bothan followed Lash into the cockpit, obviously the last spot of their tour. He couldn't think of any nook or cranny that they hadn't gone into. Trevil was glad for the relief and sat down in the copilot's seat, just to rest his legs. If only the human would rest his tongue. His mind wandered a bit as he looked through the viewscreen out towards the horizon, if he could see it without some of the spaceport's buildings in the way. The horizon lead away to his future, to his bags of credits. To getting what was rightfully his. To--

Did the human just say something about his skills? Trevil snapped to the present and focused his violet eyes on Lash just in time to hear him mention working on the engine. The Bothan suppressed a smile and a laugh; it was completely obvious the human knew nothing about slicing. How or why would he want to slice into an engine for? Into the ship's computer systems, yes, but the engine? He kept his fur silent and still, keeping a neutral expression and merely smiled back at Lash with a nod. "I suppose we all have our different... skills." Trevil said, ostensibly referring to Lash's rambling on about the ship's weapons and controls. "Or, a gift, really," he added. He tended to think of his talent with electronics as more of a gift that he was born with, than a skill he worked on and improved.

He nodded again when Lash mentioned Palas, the captain. Yes, he would have to figure out exactly what kind of trouble she was in and what she wanted changed or hidden or encrypted about her activities. But it would be best to do that after they had lifted off the planet. After the Twi'lek had returned to her ship, of course, after finishing her business.

Trevil focused back on Lash. Though the tour was long and boring, it had been comprehensive, and the Bothan had no questions about the ship itself. And, though he had questions about its passengers, those were not important and could wait another time. He was keeping his own secrets, anyway. "No, your tour was excellent." It almost pained the Bothan to say so. "What's next? Just waiting for Palas to return?"

[Jenno]

Fighting back the urge to throw out a victory ‘whoop’ after the verdict of his apparently ‘excellent’ tour Lash felt a bit more settled in his seat now. He glanced to his present company, the bothan was a little odd, tough to read and, it seemed, a little rough around the edges, though that could have just been due to the brutal environment of Tatooine.

From a psycho-analyst’s perspective this crew would be getting more exciting with every addition, so many hard shells to crack, so much mystery. Perhaps it was the pilot’s hazy past two years which made him think this was original and unique. For all he knew every crew out there could be the same, although a nagging disagreement at the back of his head signified he didn’t believe that was the case.

The question hit his ears and in truth Lash had no real idea how to respond for a few minutes. Was he just over thinking things or did this bothan seem really eager to be leaving as soon as possible? In retrospect the pilot of this finely crafted pile of scrap was more than willing to simply sit back in his chair, kick up his feet and just wait for Palas to get back. Wait… no, there was something else that was meant to happen before then. His mind had gone blank and his eyes whizzed around in their sockets, seemingly crazed, as he searched for an answer. This wasn’t a good start, Palas had been putting her cautiously spent faith in him and now he’d gone and forgotten what it was he was meant to do. He’d taken Yunas back to the ship, showed him around and then… oh right, the job, their entire reason for coming to this planet in the first place. The water that sat in the ship needed to change hands in order to complete the deal, Palas had already been paid and unless he wanted to be chased off another planet it was probably in Lash’s best interest that he actually remember to see to them when they arrived.

“Well, waiting for Palas is one thing, the other’s waiting for us to hand over some cargo, a little job to help pay for some nifty repairs” Lash replied eventually as he idly came to face out of the cockpit rather lazily. When he said ‘nifty’ what he actually meant was ‘necessary’, he seriously didn’t know how long this bucket of bolts would be able to hold together in its current state. When they returned to their base on Kuras IV he’d likely be spending a lot of time with Palas trying to make sure the ship was up to a good running standard.

His eyes and mind sharpened as he caught some movement out in the dock yard. Lash leaned forward just in time to catch the sight of men hauling through a number of containers through whilst one man sat on a small vehicle, most likely the larger transports were outside the dockyard. In truth this ‘smuggling’ job didn’t require much secrecy, the guy these thugs worked must have either known who was on duty or simply had them distracted, but this was pretty much a walk in the park. “Oh look, here are our finely dressed business partners” Lash said with a sense of joy and sarcasm. He eased himself up off the chair and made his way out of the cockpit before freezing in his tracks and gazing behind in order to address the bothan. “You might want to stay away from them and grab a bit to eat or something, these guys are usually used to a moderately attractive and highly sour-mouthed twi’lek completing the trade, I think my own fine self might be a lot for their eyes. And if your furry features were to show themselves I don’t think… well, it could prove to be an overly awkward working environment, if you catch my meaning. I shouldn’t be too long.” He finished as he walked off to meet with the every day slime of Tatooine.

They were fairly decent folk actually; a bit down trodden by the heat but that was expected on a world like this. Lash would mind to these guys being regulars, wouldn’t be a far cry to think he might start really chatting to them soon, not just a few exchanges. But the fact that there weren’t any threats was good enough for Mr. Faintheart. After the water had all been taken by the collaboration of thugs, Lash returned to the ship, somewhat content with the smoothness with which the exchange had gone down. He knew Palas would be pleased to know he hadn’t got on the wrong side of another powerful enemy.

“Phhffffttt” came the crackle from the cockpit as Lash was walking towards the common area. He froze for a moment, unsure of what he’d just heard. Then when it came again he ran the rest of the way to the cockpit and past Yunas who had been getting to know the place. He launched himself into his chair, flicked one of the many switches nearby and looked about the console until he found a particular nozzle and turned it. That’s when he heard the sounds from the other side of the communicator.

*Moving Lash to 'An evening of Work' (link)*

[Mara]

The Bothan remained quiet just as the human across from him did after he asked his question. Was the man really so dense that he didn't know what was going on? Or perhaps just too new to the entire process just as Trevil himself was new to this ship and the crew. But he waited the silence out patiently, knowing that humans generally weren't as eloquent as his species were and had to resort to their minds a lot more before speaking. He tried to sit back in his chair, slouching slightly, trying to relax and be casual about everything. If they realized he might have various planetary authorities after him... Trevil pushed the thoughts from his mind just as Lash began speaking, finally.

Trevil nodded at the man's words, understanding. He had thought it likely with a ship such as the Jewel and with a hardened captain like Palas that some kind of illicit shipment might be involved. Why else did people come to this desert wasteland of a planet anyway? It wasn't for fun, that was for sure. It was a place for the scum of the galaxy not sightseers. The Bothan himself was only there because he was dropped off and thought it would be a good place to search out his Rodian, Zeltron and two human partners. Ex partners.

He noticed Lash learning forward to look through the viewport in front of him and, curious, Trevil turned his gaze that way as well, his violet eyes flickering around the area around them. Not seeing anything out of place, he was about to lean back in his chair until the man pointed out that they were the ones coming for the shipment. The Bothan held back a sigh of relief; hopefully the transaction would go smoothly and Palas would be back soon. And then they could be on their way, to wherever the next destination was. Perhaps Subterrel would be a good place to start...

Trevil nodded again at Lash, agreeing. Though he had gotten used to his new rough lifestyle, he still preferred to stay in the shadows when at all possible. Especially if these thugs happened to know him, his old friends or had seen the posters... And he really didn't want to screw up any deals for his new captain. If anything went wrong, she could blame the human. That's what humans were good for anyway. Showering blame on. A moment after Lash let the cockpit, Trevil slide out of the copilot's chair, glad to be back on his feet. Obviously the seats weren't meant for someone of his short stature, and his large paws hadn't been touching the metal surface of the ship for the entirety he was sitting there.

The Bothan made his way back through the ship into the lounge area, deciding to get a better look at that pazaak table and see if it had any other settings. He wasn't a big fan of the game, preferring sabaac and other games of chance where gambling was present. However, it would do, if he couldn't find the settings. He sat down on one of the benches before it, again his feet rising in the air mere centimeters from the floor. Perhaps one day he could invest in a ship that met his species' standards.

[to An Evening of Work...]