On the Fly... Mos Gamos [plot1]

[Latus]

He was sore, cramped, irritable; Axle had NEVER gone this long without flying, even in the research facility. The best thing he could do was stretch his wings ever so slightly against the roof of the canopy but it never felt so pure as the real experience. The hyperdrive had given out days ago and, being that the Destination was too small to house a full astromech, there was nothing he could do but fly sublight to the nearest planet in the system; Tatooine. He was running low on emergency supplies but at least he was sure he could make it to port.

Port... an open sky.

***

The small fighter broke through the thick Tatooine atmosphere on the day side with everything in tact, bearing toward the relatively unknown settlement of Mos Gamos. Axle figured he could at least get a suitable meal, repairs, and some time in the sky there without alerting to much suspicion. As Destination approached the small outpost Axle saw that his assumptions were correct. There were no landing pads and several score of ships were berthed on the plains outside the city... if you could call it that. He sat the small fighter down in the shade of a large rock outcropping a good walk from the city. Though he had just hit system, the outlaw could feel the power of the twin suns burning down on him, even in the shade. Popping the canopy he was met by a rush of warm air, a fitting relief from the cold dank of space. He climbed out and stretched, his wings popping a few times as he worked out the soreness. He smiled slightly, to him this whole planet was a thermal updraft, flying would be simplest during the day. With a small running jump he was in the air and several meters above the sand before truly looking down; he burst out a laugh.

Life doesnt get any better

With that, he circled Destination a few times before turning towards the city. What would have been an hour walk for humans turned into a five minute flight for him. He landed in an alley beside the tavern, folded his wings in as best he could, and entered. The place was as dank as was possible on a planet like this. A few faces turned to stare as he walked in but they averted just as quick. Somehow he felt at home among the scum of the galaxy, he ordered up some jawa juice and took his seat against the wall; observing the comings and goings of the other patrons.

[Jenno]

(You lookin fer an NPC? Or just waiting on the Plot1 group?)

[Kiriin Radd]

If there was one place in the world Alexander Storm didn't want to be right now, it was on the burning sands of Tattooine. He had never been there before, but looking at the data he pulled up from the Holonet, he knew this was no vacation spot. He sat slouched in the pilot's chair checking the local non-existant space lanes as he made his approach to the light side, well most of the planet was sunny, of the ball of rock and sand.

He pulled up the local weather reports and saw alot of sun and winds in the forecast. He checked the drafts and currents and he brought the nose of the ship up for entry into the atmosphere. The ships hull heated as friction built up and the ship streaked through the upper stratosphere.

He pulled the ship level once the initial entry passed and called up a scan of the surrounding area. The monitor next to him highlighted the few and far in between settlements and would-be ports. He noticed one that wasn't too big and rather distant, compared to the topography of the planet, from the other outposts. He tapped the screen over the settlements name and it zoomed in to give the name of Mos Gamos.

It had no actual landing pads or bays and seemed rather out of the way. He zoomed in some more looking to where he would land and noticed a field outside of the outpost with a conglomeration of mishaps and down freighters.

Alex corrected his heading and brought the ship around in a large arc towards their new destination. He reached over and activated the internal comm system with a flick of the wrist.

This is your captain speaking. Well folks welcome to the dust bowl of the galaxy and five star resort world of Tattooine. Please put your trays in an upright and locked position. We will be landing shortly. Boy I've always wanted to say that. Well anyways, we're coming up on Mos Gamos if you want to get a look at sand and more sand.

Alex laughed as he cut the comm off again and looked out over the expanse of rocky outcroppings and dunes of endless sand. He frowned at the sight, wishing he were back on Commenor in the rain. As mush as he hated getting wet, he definitely did not like the heat even more.

He reached down and loosened the strap around his thigh, due to starting to cut circulation off in his leg. He had found the snub nosed heavy blaster pistol in a small compartment here in the control cab earlier while he was snooping around. He had also found some spare power packs as well.

Now when it came to close quarters combat, Alex knew the basics, but he would be down quick enough if he went up against someone more knowledgeable than him in the art. On the other hand, in a firefight, Alex held his own rather well and had scored in the top five in the marksman course at the academy. Most ordinary people would call him deadly, but he was always critiquing himself on his form and rarely missed shots.

To say that dust kicked up as the repulsors brought the ship to land almost snuggly in a space between a rundown bulk freighter and a group of illegally outfitted yachts, was an understatement. The ship landed gently, the hydraulics taking most of the shock. Alex unbuckled his seat restraints and stretched the extra tension out of his body. He was still miffed at the wreck he had been behind the wheel of.

Making his way back to the small lounge area he grabbed a pair of well worn black goggles and a neck wrap. He definitely didn't want to be breathing in sand, even though that was near impossible on this world. He snatched up the spare cloak he had found with the blaster and threw it over his shoulders letting it fall across his wiry frame. He shifted it to fit comfortably and slid the goggles on his head to sit on his forehead.

Well my current companions and fellow ship thieves. Lets see about getting back off of this rock in a different vessel. And maybe part ways and go back to where ever.

The man stepped over to the side hatches control panel and palmed the button to lower the ramp. As it broke the seal heat poured in and made Alex take a step back from its intensity. He looked over at the Tusken and shook his head at the thought of how people could live on this desolate rock. He slid the goggles over his eyes and with the wind whipping the cloak about him, stalked down to the bottom of the ramp. He winced even through the black lenses at the brilliant display of the twin suns.

[Jenno]

The landing was gentle enough. For a Gamorrean. Emmira, who had been lying down on a small cot asleep was jostled enough by the impact that she was actually flung off of her bed and onto the floor. She pushed herself off of the floor and looked down. She could see her relfection. Emmira then turned to her left. In the corner of the room, scraping at a small bit of filth, was BO-4R. Furiously, Emmira stood and took hold of the tiny annoyance, flinging it again out of her side of the ship and towards the loading ramp.

Turning back around, she sighed and took a step forward. Suddenly, she realized that her side still hurt. But not the same way it had before. She lifted up her shirt on the wounded side and looked down at the bandage. It seemed fine. It should be holding alright. From what she knew about medicine, she had a feeling what the problem was. The bandage used on her had been an older one. One of those bandages that actually needed to breathe. So, seeing as how the lower portion of her shirt was still stained with blood, she figured it would do her no good. And so, in one swift motion, she tore off the lower three and a half inches of her shirt, and, since it was probably hot out, she tossed off her jacket onto her bed before heading out.

Stretching her muscles, she walked out into the main bay and towards the ramp. Facing her unwitting pilot, she raised her eyebrows.

"Great idea. What do you say we head off to the cantina first, though? I don't know about you, but I never got the drink that sluf promised us."

She stated as simply as she would anything and skirted down the ramp down to the sandy ground. Immediately, the heat struck her. Like walking into a furnace. Well, not eactly like a furnace. She had been in one of those once before. This was hotter. She brushed the hair from her eyes before taking off for the cantina door. When one of the men working the port approached her, she pointed to Alex.

"His ship, talk to him."

She said, raising her palms and continuing inside.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

BO-4R smacked into the wall, hit the ground, then rolled down the ramp and out into the sand. Upon righitng himself and looking around, his sensors went insane. Sand. He turned to his left. Sand. His right. Sand. Up. Well, alright, so there was no sand up. But there was sand behind him. And a lot of it. He guessed that the WM droid who was supposed to clean this area wasn't doing their job. So he began buzzing around, vaccuming up as much sand as he could, filling up before taking it towards the nearest receptacle and going back for another trip. One droid against a world of sand.

Though, to be fair, as long as his power cell didn't die out, BO would most likely have won out in the end.


(Ok, so Axel, Emmira just walked in the door, and BO is outside trying to clean up all the sand. Finally it is your turn.)

[Kiriin Radd]

Alex crossed his arms and shot Emmira a deathly look as she shuffled the dock worker in his direction. He he stood with his feet shoulder width apart and tried to look menacing, a thing that for others may have worked, but Alex always had that lopsided grin that would just throw things off.

He reached up and adjusted the goggles to seat better around his eyes. He looked down at the man from the top of the ramp and walked down to offer his hand. The man, knowing what type of people always ended up here flinched and dropped his hand to his own blaster pistol. Alex stopped and held his hands out to show he was not hostile. The man narrowed his eyes at him and brought his hand slowly away. The two approached each other carefully and suspiscously and shook hands.

What can I do for you? There isn't any docking fees or anything now are there?

Alex spread his arms out in a gesture to encompass the field the ships were in. He grinned the smile of Hutt almost.

I mean look at all this unclaimed land. I could park anywhere around here.

The man quickly glanced at the field and back again with the look of not having seen it a thousand times. He shook his head a little and looped his thumbs through his belt loops.

Well you see here. There ain't no docking bays or nothing like that around here. You seem to already noticed that, but the man that runs this here outpost likes us to collect taxes per say. So that'll be a berthing tax for landing your ship on his front lawn. Fee will be two hundred and fifty creds.

Alex winced at the price, but didn't take any mind or time to argue the point. He fished around in his vest pocket for a cred chip and started to hand it to the man, but stopped as he was about to drop it into his hand.

Say, you wouldn't by any chance know if your boss is looking to buy another ship now would you? See I've had this one for a little bit and it doesn't suit my taste. I'm looking for something sleeker and that has more of a shell and punch to it. If he isn't looking could you point me in the direction of someone who might?

The man shook his head no and snatching the cred chip out of Alex's hand threw his thumb back over his shoulder pointing to the entrance to the dank, dark cantina. Alex's smile whithered at the thought of another bar, especially one on a world like this.

He tried to brighten his mood up some as he stalked through the sandy wind to the bar. He tried to think up of a list of drinks that a hole like this would have and remembered who he was with. She would definitely put even more of a hamper on his mood. He followed in the foot steps of Emmira and stepped into the darkness of the cantina.

[Xaojii]

(Yeah, not much to say here...but then again, Tusken aren't ones for words...)

Xaojii felt the ship touch down onto the ground, went out into the lounge, and watched as all the others pile out of the craft. He followed. The hot air hit him fast, and he knew exactly where he was; right back on his home planet of Tatooine. As long as he wasn't at his home village he thought he would be alright. The warmth felt good, it had felt like a very long time since he had been here, he took a good look around, and knew where he was in relative location to other landmarks. If he got into trouble, he knew where the nearest cistern was. Xaojii looked back at the Outlanders who were headed into one of the buildings, he caught up to them and headed inside with them.

(it's a little hard to keep up, but I'm still here even if it doesn't seem like it. I can only get on every other day.)

[Fro' Phantom]

Jaj was the least of the ship of course. He had waited till all of them had left. He then checked to make sure the tracking device on the ship was still off. It was. He smiled. His plan was going accordingly. He much time to think of a proposition. One that would help both of them out. He checked his blaster and headed out.

Tatooine. He hated this place, not just because it was...well...Tatooine but because Horda has no good contacts here. None of the Hutts like him because of his power over Commenor and other planets. He always had to follow him here to make deals with scum trying to get a good relation here. It didn't work out so well. He try to forget the embarrassing times had snuck into the cantina slowly. Thank goodness it was dark.

[Latus]

Axel had nodded off, weary after his long flight to Tatooine. Within the confines of his mind he dreampt of the horrible research lab that had changed him to what he is now. He saw the other test subjects and the scientists in white coats test on the others... those blasted scientists "testing", heh, more like torturing. A whitecoat approached him with a needle full of a green liquid and Axel awoke.

He found himself still sitting over a half full cup of jawa juice sweating lightly.

I dont suppose I will ever forget those times.

He thought. Now that he was awake, he took another look around the small tavern, a yound woman just walked in, quite attractive as far as he could tell. Stretching he took another drink of his jawa juice, keeping his wings well folded behind him. Her stride was hurried, and a little to one side, most likely injured; as far as Axel could tell, she was on the run... not surprising in a city like this. One could stay hidden until danger came to... them.

Speak of the devil.

Somone entered immediately behind the young woman who walked through the door, his stride was more relaxed and he had one hand inside his jacket. He looked around and, upon spotting the woman, changed his stance entirely.

Looks like trouble...

He kept his sight on the man as he slowly sipped at his jawa juice, the muscles in his back and legs tensing ever so slightly.

[Kiriin Radd]

Alex reached into his jacket as he walked in Emmira's wake towards the bar. He needed a good stiff drink, unfortunately he wouldn't be able to drink right now. His first concern was to find another way off this rock. He would try anything and everything to get off this rock. Where he would go, he had no idea. He fished around in his jacket pocket for his cred chip. He was parched, not having anything to eat or drink other than ship rations. Which were by his standards, worse than the Republic's rations. He would know.

The man hurriedly made his way to the bar twisting and sidestepping around the various tables and patrons of the cantina. He had to duck a few times from random pieces of junk hanging from the ceiling. He approached Emmira from behind when he found his cred chip. He slid onto the grimy stool next to where she stood and slammed it down.

Start me a tab and this pretty little lady's drinks are on me. By the way, do you have anything around here that could pass for food? I could use an undercooked assortment of random animal parts.

Alex grinned at his sarcastic comment about the bad food that was probably served here. He then realize his hand was resting in a puddle of who knows what. He quickly wiped it off on his cloak near his blaster pistol. As he did this he glanced throughout the room to notice if anyone had really taken notice to them.

Sure enough he caught out of a corner of his eye someone ducking into the cantina from outside. A very familiar figure, but then he stopped and looked harder through the dim light of the room. He could have sworn he saw someone who looked vaguely like one of their previous captors. He paid no mind to the man sipping his drink in the corner.

Alex bent down to act like he was adjusting the fit of his blaster and whispered towards Emmira.

Don't look now, but it seems that our ragged shipmate has followed us. Not only that, but I could have sworn I saw the man with the goggles trying to sneak in after him. Keep alert and be ready for anything.

He straightened back up with a smile on his face as the bartender still stood there wiping down a dirty mug looking at him with a disdained look.

What?? Oh! Yeah, I'll take what ever the house special is. Make it a double.

[Jenno]

Emmira rolled her eyes and made certain to sidestep her pilot as he approached. If he thought that buying her some drinks was going to make her dislike him any less, he was certainly mistaken. Emmira had been in many a cantina in her life. Though, she had noticed somewhat more attention from patrons in this bar. Probably because there wasn't a trio of Twi'lek dancers in the corner and the fact that the torn top she was wearing could only barely qualify as a shirt anymore.

At the alert from Alex, Emmira sighed.

"I'll let you handle that. After all, I'm unarmed..."

She said, facing the bartneder.

"You know what? I'll take the most epensive drink you have here. And make THAT a double."

She said, grining smugly to Alex before taking her drink and seating herself further down the bar, near the far wall.

[Xaojii]

(OOOH!!! BURN!!!!)

Xaojii walked into the cantina and sat down beside Alex, after looking at Emmira and decided who looked more inviting. He looked around at the other patrons, alot of the locals were eyeing him carefully. He turned to Alex and shrugged. There wasn't much he could say, and a whole lot of it Alex probably wouldn't understand anyway. He didn't even know if Alex spoke the only other languages he knew besides his native Tusken. He sat there quietly waiting for anything and thinking about what had just happened in the last few days; the droid, the Hutt, the Outlanders. Xaojii reached onto his back and pulled his rifle out of his holster, played with some of the knobs, tweaked the sights, and adjusted the scope, then placed it back in the holster.

(yup, those fine moments when you get the chance to sit down, take a breath, get something to eat and drink, and wait to collect some more pitiful beings through dangerous encounters. Love it.)

[Kiriin Radd]

Alex's grin at Emmira faltered as he winced at the outrageously steep price of watered down ale the bartender gave her. He did it all the while with a smug grin of satisfaction on his face. Then the native of this horrid planet slumped into the seat next to him. Alex turned to look at the creature, fore he didn't even know if it was a man. Not much was known about Tuskens and it was better that way for both sides.

Alex didn't speak Huttese at all, he had no need to, but on the off chance his companion knew it, Rodese. Now most would ask what a Republic pilot would need to know Rodese for, well it just so happened that his wingmate was a Rodian. Alex was intelligent enough he picked up on it quite easily and if he had any context to go with he would probably pick up on Huttese too. So he spoke to his shipmate in Rodese hoping he understood.

I tell you friend. Women these days are too much of a hassle. I can't wait to get back off of this rock, but I bet you're happy to be home.

Alex took a long sip of his drink and made a soured look at the terrible taste. If he even knew what Bantha urine tasted like he would probably have said that this drink tasted like it. He set the drink down quickly and pushed it away from him. He slid the other glass of it to the Tusken.

[Fro' Phantom]

As the ex-prisoners talked Jaj made a decision. He knew how to handle this. Nice and cool. He walked over to the seat next to Emmira. He stayed as calm as possible.

"Why hello there missy. Long time no see."

He pulled out a blaster and had it under the table and pointed it at Emmira's side.

"Don't try to run you'll be taken down withing seconds. I have a proposition to make if your willing to listen."

He made sure the other two were busy talking so he could concentrate on Emmira. He ordered a class of the best they had. He would need it.

[Latus]

Axel watched as the darker man of the now sizable company sit down and mutter something to the young woman... all the while keeping one hand under the table.

Hive of scum and villany, this place...

He thought. Downing the rest of his jawa juice he almost stands to approach them but stops. No one ever stuck their neck out for him, why should he for them. His thoughts once again returned to the lab as he sunk back into the chair. Not only was he disinclined to get involved but he was unarmed. They had taught him melee combat at the facility but he was still no match for a sharp blaster jockey.

How to pull this off without losing feathers...

[Xaojii]

Xaojii sat at the bar quietly next to the Outlander, for some odd reason, he had sorta grown attached to them, like they weren't that bad since they hadn't blasted his head off when they had the chance. The Outlander slid a drink in front of his face after saying something that clearly wasn't the dialect he was speaking earlier. Xaojii thought maybe he was trying to communicate with him. Though he hadn't a clue what he was saying, whatever it was that he was speaking, Xaojii had never come into contact with it during his, until now, sheltered life on the dismal sands of Tatooine. He thought it couldn't hurt to try and find some common ground with his "friends" - if that's what you could call them now.

"Are you trying to speak with me? Do you know Jawaese?" he said cooly with a few stutters in Jawaese.

(oh yeah!!! the Tusken knows foreign language!!!)

[Kiriin Radd]

He heard a bunch of gibberish emit from the Tusken sitting next to him not paying any attention to the rest of the cantina. His back was turned on Emmira as she sat in the corner. He didn't understand the tongue that the Tusken was speaking now and knew is attempt at using Rodese had failed. He racked his brain for the other languages he had learned. Most of them from species that were allies with the Republic or part of the Republic. It then hit him that Bocce would probably be the best choice. It was, after all, the galaxies trade language and he was rather confident that it was spoken around here quite a bit.

I'm sorry my friend, but I do not understand this gibberish you speak. Although, it sounds Jawanese like. I hope you know Boche, because this is my last idea I can come up with to communicate with you. That is shy of going and purchasing a translator droid. And we all know that they are annoying as hell.

[Xaojii]

(umm...what's Boche? I looked on Wookie and it came up with nothing.)

[Kiriin Radd]

(Sorry I misspelled that. Fixed it too. It's Bocce, which is known throughout the galaxy as the spacer's language or universal trade language. Its comprised of several languages thrown together. Here's the definition from Wookieepedia.

Bocce was an interplanetary trade language comprised of parts of multiple languages. It was created by the Baobab Merchant Fleet to allow communication between starcraft pilots, crews, and support personnel of various species. Though not commonly used by most, any experienced pilots or spacers would know a few Bocce phrases in case they came across those that did not speak the pilot's native language.
--wookieepedia)

[Jenno]

Emmira groaned. This past day had gotten on her nerves. At this point, she was upset enough that, if it weren't for the fact that the man in red goggles had her at blaster point, she would have beat him to the point where the rest of him would match his goggles. But, alas, it was not a perfect galaxy. Emmira had figured that out long ago, and these past twenty-four hours were more than enough of a testament to the fact. It seemed pretty obvious that she wasn't going to get any peace anytime soon.

She listened to what he had to say, but only because he held her life in his disgusting hands. Taking a casual sip of her drink, she spoke without ever facing him.

"A proposal, eh? Hmmm... I might listen, except for the fact that if you fire off a blaster in a Tatooine cantina, neither one of us is coming out of here alive. You're not the only one here with a blaster, and folks here love a firefight. Besides, you look like you have a few bounties on you, too. So what do you say we drop this for now? "

She faced him.

"Not saying it has to end forever, because I know that's not going to happen. I've wronged you, and you sure as hell wronged me. But we can pick up on this later. Maybe after I get a good night's sleep and you think up a halfway decent plan aside from stowing away on our ship."

She finished, standing up and turning away. She was not in the mood to be fragged with.

[Fro' Phantom]

As she left he turned to her. He yelled to her.

"Come back here at this time tomorrow. Bring your friends or come alone. I will discuss a way we both can get off this rock and get back to our somewhat normal lives."

He turned back and finished off his drink in one gulp. He paid the bartender and left a separate way. He held on to his blaster. Someone was still watching him...