Episode II: Long Arm of the Hutt (pbp)

Krayt Fang

After hearing the private message from Kane about the bloody cargo hidden on the ship, Zero stumbled the few feet to a nearby crate and sat down. Almost every scenario he could think of ended with an angry Wookie. The pelts obviously belonged to a sentient and after watching Trex calmly and coldly try to gun the whole group down for their treachery, Zero was sure that the previous owners did not die of natural causes. But that didn't mean more sentients had to die. He reopened the private link to Kane. "If we get Trex in a holding cell, could we lock it down to keep him safe? We can try to find and flush the cargo, but I feel much better preparing for worst-case scenarios." Without waiting for a response, Zero got to his feet and strode purposefully toward the main hold, while trying to bring the others up on private comms.

Kane replies over the comms, " I'd have to take a look at the system, but more than likely I can jam the locking mechanism. If Shorrura is angry enough I doubt a lock would do much good. " Zero's purposeful walk doesn't take him long to reach the main hold where Zhar'taa is leading the rescued Twi'lek out of the bay and Rhorhik standing over half a dozen grotesque looking, partly cured Wookie skins. A deck panel has been removed from the floor by the series of crates next to the galley, from which it can be surmised the skins were kept. The older Twi'lek looks pale, though whether from his injuries, his recent treatment or another reason, it would be hard for Zero to guess. He doesn't notice as the med droid walks in.

"Zhar, we need to be on the lookout for some..." Zero trails off as he looks past them. "Some of those." He looks between the two of them, noting the pale face of the older Twi'lek. "Yeah, I've seen some bad things as a doctor, but this is still enough to make me lose my appetite, you know?" He pats him on the shoulder awkwardly to sort of reassure him. "Zhar, we have to make sure this, " He sweeps his arm three times, trying to make the mess poof away. "Doesn't become a big, angry, furry issue." He leans in close to Zhar, conspiratorially. "If you can go convince Shor'rurra to help you carry Trex to the holding cells to lock him up, we may have time to space these..." He waves his arm again with no effect. "Things. Please."

" Friends just occupy Shorrura ", said Rhorhik. " Rhorhik find airlock and toss pelts in space quickly " While saying that, Rhorhik throwed the wookiee hides he was examining back into the compartment and put the hidden trapdoor back in place. He then started looking around the ship for an airlock. Ships were never anything like his native jungles, but this one was messed-up enough that it didn't feel that different from a natural place left to trees and lianas. He finally found a small tubgrav leading to the top of the ship and came back to his friends to check that Shorrura was taken care of so that he could smuggle the pelts past him.

As Rhorhik looks around, the closest thing to an airlock he can find is the freight loading chamber. The trick of course is timing the door release while in flight. Easy enough most likely for someone like Kane. B'ura smiles thinly at the droid and then finding his own feet, speaks to Zhar'taa. " Perhaps you'd better help your companions is dealing with the Trandoshan's... left overs. " he says with some distaste. " I will find the quarters and make myself comfortable there till you have time to talk. I'm interested in hearing the tale of how you all ended up becoming my liberators. " B'ura begins moving away, reaching out a hand to steady himself on the wall as he moves down the hallway in search of the quarters.

"Yeah, I could occupy him myself" Zero said slowly at first. "I'm likeable, we can talk about old times. 'Remember the old days in the arena? And how we escaped? Good times, good times." Zero puffed his chest up a little bit and walked towards the cockpit still talking to himself. "Do you get space sick? Oh yeah, me too. All the time. I know right? That motion sickness medicine doesn't work for me either!" He turned the corner with Zhar staring at his back, mouth agape. Zero raps on the bulkhead when he turns the corner to the cockpit. "Hey guys!" He says cheerfully to Shorrurra and Kane. "The good times, am I right?"

Kane looks out from the cockpit and glances at Shorrurra with a shared look of befuddlement before looking back at Zero. " What good times? " The wookiee makes an agreeable grunt and nudges the Trandoshan. " Have you found somewhere to stick this yet? I think he's starting to get his senses back. " And indeed with Zero's trained eye he can see that the Trandoshan is starting to stir from the forced unconsciousness. Considering the blow to the head he's taken, however, he likely wasn't going to be much of a threat with a severe concussion. Frankly, it was all together surprising the Trandoshan was even waking up this soon.

"Holding cells!" Zero said, triumphantly, secretly amazed that the conversation went right where he wanted. "Let's just pick him up and drag him to the..." Zero stopped and stiffened up. "The patient must not be moved before I check cervical vertebrae for fractures." Zero said, calmly and without emotion. He knelt down next to Trex, putting one hand on the Trandoshan's forehead to keep it from moving and deftly palpating the back of the neck. "Checking C1 through C7..." Zero released his grip and let Trex's skull flop back to the side. "And... he's good. Trandoshan vertebrae are so dense, probably could've hit him with a swoop bike." "I have to treat him before we lock him up though." Zero said thoughtfully. "Prevention of cerebral swelling is paramount to a full re... cove.. er.. y?" He trailed off. "What'chu guys looking at?" (I want to make a Medicine check for his Critical Injury when we get to the cells. 3 yellow and whatever boost dice a liter of bacta will get me. He will remain restrained of course.)

" Guy need bigger guy watch over him a while ", said Rhorhik to Shorrura. He points a hand to Uuh-Zero: " Friend doctor need protection from bad guy. Rhorhik need look over ship and check supplies " That said, he goes back to touring the ship, checking from time to time if his friend have started moving the Trandoshan.

Resuming from Session Eight: B'ura B'an: “Well, I’ll try to keep my long story short. For some time now the rulers of Ryloth have been, in my opinion, remiss about who they allow in on the planet’s Ryll mining industry, which you must understand is only barely legitimate in these days of Imperial dominance. For some time, bands of Aqualish thugs terrorized mining communities, forcing Twi’leks to work for scant reward and extorting all sorts of favors and resources from mines that might otherwise have prospered. I banded together with some associates in order to protect New Meen, our most profitable mine, from the thugs. For a while we held them off. B'ura B'an pauses for an almost dramatic effect before continuing. B'ura B'an: “Then they simply disappeared. We were relieved at first, but soon learned that they had been killed in the process of some underworld takeover. Shortly after that, bands of outsiders began to purchase land near the mines. They claimed they were developing it, though we could tell they were there merely to spy on us and make life difficult. A short while later, during a journey to Nabat, I was attacked by a band of rogues, including the Trandoshan who maimed and branded me before sealing me up in the cell.” UUH-Zero: "Who else was with him? Anyone I may have seen while working in the palace? B'ura B'an: "I'm afraid I don't know. They could have been local rogues, hired for such a purpose." Zhar’Taa: "That sounds horrible. Think back. Maybe you've left something out. Alll information would be usefull" B'ura B'an shakes his head. " I'm afraid there's not much more I can tell you. It does seem likely, however, the reason I was taken has to do with my work with the movement. " His lekku twitches slightly as he thinks. " When we reach Nabat, you should get to know my friends. If you were to save the mine from Teemo then you would be no undoubtedly be offered an opportunity to smuggle ryll spice. " With a slight pause he adds, " A rather lucrative venture. "

"Why do we want to make the Hutt even angrier?" Zero waved his arms. "Why does no one get the concept of 'laying low'?" He sat down and crossed his arms. "Guys like Trex are mercenaries... I'm a doctor," He moved his claw like he was jerking his thumb toward Zhar'taa "Why don't you just ask the Angel O' Death, here? He's all about meting out justice."

(Maybe if we delivered these guys and their mine to Teemo... He might call off our bounties.) Zero thought to himself. He spoke to B'an. "Let me just talk about this with the other people on the ship. If they want to help you I'd have to go along with it." Zero headed out of the room to talk to Rhorhik and help him move the rest of the 'extra cargo' to the airlock.

Zero bumped into Rhorhik coming back from the holds. The blue-furred humanoid raised two thumbs up, silently telling the skins were taken care of. "What about twi'lek guy ?", he asked. "Help him or not ?" Rhorhik lifted his weight from one foot to the other. "What else to do ? Friends and Rhorhik need do something about Teemo affairs ?"

"Well..." Zero said delicately. "Teemo might be less mad if we help HIS interests with the mine on Ryloth." Zero leaned against the bulkhead "I have nothing against B'an either way, but if we get there and it doesn't look like they have much of a chance, we could probably prevent a lot of bloodshed by stopping this before the Hutts come down on these miners, and they will come down HARD. " Zero raised up one claw. "BUT on the other hand, if this looks favorable then the amount of money to be made from smuggling a load of spice would be considerable." He crossed his arms for emphasis "No matter what we do, the only thing we can't afford is to fail. We HAVE to land on Ryloth for fuel and I'd like to have a plan for when Teemo tracks us down." "Tracks us!" Zero says suddenly remembering. "We need to land elsewhere on the planet to get fuel and ditch that tracking device!" (If we get a full load of fuel and kindly "inform" those working there we plan on running far away, we could throw off Teemo's hounds.) Zero thought to himself. When it came to the preservation of life, especially saving his own skin, Zero thought with steely logic.

Zero, initially feeling horrified that his gambit didn't pay off, starts feeling a mix of shock and anger that the lifeform they pledged to help, AGAINST Zero's better judgement, had vanished. His mind raced with the possibilities. (If he did manage to escape, I hope he feels some sort of loyalty to us. At least it's probably not a setup since I don't see how B'an gains by setting us up like this, there's no way Teemo would trade his interests in their spice mine just for delivering us.) Feeling pretty dismal about the probable outlook from here, Zero plods toward Rhor's unconscious form to carry out the orders from these armed men. Zero, while picking up Rhorhik from where he collapsed, attempts to surreptitiously conceal Rhor's dropped vibroknife in his internal storage among the other medical equipment.