Shadow of the Crimson Turtle

"He's the flyboy." Vin smiled, "I just think and I shoot things."   His body language relaxes from her diffusing the whole room situation. "You be better off learning from him.  I have perfected crash landings several times."  Vin admits, although omitting not with Drael.  That was a lifetime ago.

Half an hour later Nils' ID is ready, and once Jerome has been paid he quickly hurries the trio out of his home. After a short ride back across the city, Habib's cab finally pulls back up outside the spaceport.

"I think we should all know the basics, and I'm happy to show you the flight controls, Vin will probably be better at showing you how the gun works, and I think Nils is more knowledgeable than either of us about how the engines work, but I can do most things to keep her ticking over if needed." Drael, happy to talk about flying seems ready to start the lesson then and there as he beckons the jedi towards the cockpit. "I know your kind has excellent reactions but try and leave the serious flying to me, it does take some practice, I'm sure you'll pick up the basics easily though. The is one thing I'm going to have to insist on though, nobody and I mean nobody adjusts that chair. I took me months to get it just how I like it, and if you fiddle around with it we are going to fall out in a big way." The wink he adds lessening the impact of his tough guy routine

“Habib, you’ve been a lifesaver. Next time we’re around you’ll be the first person we hit up!” Ceph transfers the 55 credits, plus 15 more as a tip for the driver’s exceptional help as a tour guide. With that, Ceph and the others exit the speeder and walk back to the ship. “We’re back!” He proclaims to Drael, Vin, and Leb once he’s on board.”

"Yeah... I can show you the guns." Vin conceded. It was that moment, Vin realized with Drael's tone and demeanor that he was lying.  'Not to her, of course, but to him.  That was the tone a master addresses a prized cathhound.  He had already adopted her.'   And for some reason that was okay for... Ceph's barging into the ship through alarms into Vin's head.  'He'd left the damn ramp down while they were sitting?  He was letting this Jedi throw him off.'   While this was going in his head, he relaxed his arm that was reaching for his blaster and nodded in recognition of man. 'This must be the new order to things, we're now pirates. We're allying with Jedi.  And we have a bunch of aliens for the ride.' Vin mused as the others board the ramp.  'You either adapt or you die. He'd specifically tried to limit his time with them to avoid bonding.  Guess that was over.  Bloody hell.'

Nils heads straight to the maintenance bay to examine the work that was done on the transponder. "Did you give the ship a name yet? What did you call it?" he calls to Drael, Vin and Leb.

Sovia walks onto the ship a few feet behind her companions, less excitable than Nils, there is no bounce to her step. She waits quietly a few moments before asking, "And where do we go next? I should like to find the crashed J ship on Endor before looters take it all for parts."

Lebenha nods and happily leans on the controls to learn what Drael is saying to her, not touching the chair, and asssuring Vin that she would love to learn all about the guns.  When the rest of the gang rejoins them she smiles at them and nods to Sovia.  "I am glad that you all made it. Well I think we named it " The Khyber Kraken" , didn't we I would love to had named it Jedi's Hope but for some reason they thought that would be too obvious? And I agree with Sovia. I would love to go back to Endor, Even if we can't make it back to the Station it would be easier for me to try and contact the kids. I need to know how they are..." 

"Could be some credits in that, if we are fast, or slow but willing to take someone else's salvage..." Drael leans in close to Vin speaking quietly. "I wasnt planning on going back to Endor so soon though, might end up having to test the ship's new id a bit sooner than expected." He says louder addressing the whole group.

"I'm also not so into heading back to Endor. At least not yet. Plus, I have a job opportunity for everyone! My boss, Edovan Axos, wants us to head to Jehda. He traced these Grey Dawn people back to there. Says there's money for us when we get there." he emphasizes with a nod. "Khyber Kraken, I like the sound of that." Ceph puts a hand up to the wall and gives it a loving pat.

"Jehda?  Where's that? the Mid Rim?"  Vin looks puzzled to Drael.  Turning back to the others, his eyes rest on Sovia looking for any potential insight.  "I mean its better than back into the frakkin' sarlacc's mouth.  I appreciate you all have questions, but this ship has to make money to keep fuel to keep flying."  He left off the bit about not having a boss to cover the expenses.  'It was obvious enough,' he figured.  

"Maybe, I dont think I k now it." Drael replies to Vin "Vin's right the ship doesn't fly on hopes and dreams, we need credits to get us up and about, we can cover some of the costs but if your boss is fronting you then you can chip in too." Drael says looking over at Ceph. "Jedha, is fine by me if we stand to make enough credits to make it worthwhile." He turns to Leb last of all "I'm not without sympathy, I understand you wanting to return, but we might be painting a giant bullseye on ourselves if we do, from more than one interested party."

"And one too many if I'm honest."   Vin draws his hand along the side of his face  "This whole ... thing is new, but no matter how we paint the ship or whatever name she flies under.  We have to watch our backs more than ever." He omitted the word 'piracy'.

"The station may be a stretch too far, you are right. But the surface should be fine. I should like to know where these droids came from. But I am patient, if you wish to go to Jedha first then so be it. The force will guide me to the J-Base when I am ready."

"Yes! The surface of Endor, to take salvage from the J-Star that crashed there! The sooner we get there, the better salvage we could collect! Rare and valuable technologies, maybe even more valuable information?"

"The J-droids aren't going anywhere, and the best parts have probably already been scavenged from that wreck. Besides, RBS is already doing all they can to fight and defend against them. This Grey Dawn could pose a much bigger problem, the enemy you don't know is way more dangerous than the one you do. Do you wanna leave them to their own devices so they can blow up another spaceport, leaving the survivors ripe for the picking by the J-droids?" His moral argument is clearly aimed more at Sovia and Leb.

Sovia gives Ceph a look of surprise. "Destiny has a way of leading you to where you are meant to be, and so the force will take me to the J-Base when I am ready. Helping the weak can sometimes deny them the chance to be strong though, so beware of this motive, one of my teachers taught me that. We do not want to do more harm than good. I will go to Jedha though if the group decides so, perhaps if these droids follow Grey Dawn, we could be led to them just as easily from there."

Leb hears everyone's arguments and adds after Sovia. "Following a lead on those terrorist is good. Although I would like to learn about the younglings, clearing our names and stop those murderers would be good and is what I need to get back to their side. Plus... I always wanted to go to Jedah system... and the Khyber doesn't run on hopes so...  " 

"I'm hearin' a lot of end goals. That's nice.  Fine even. But we got too many irons in the fire 'ere." His Imperial accent comes seeping through again.  This time, he doesn't surpress it . 'Maybe it'll give some credence and make them see sense.' "Drael an' I are currently flexible within reason.  It's got t' be lucrative enough to keep us flying," he reaffirmed.   Thinks about their piracy and the sentence that entailed he begrudgingly admitted, "Clearing our names... isn't something that may be possible." He looks sullenly toward Drael.  Getting his composure back he continues, "Infiltrating a J-Base?" Looking between Nils, Ceph, and Sovia, "Ehhh, I'm assuming you're talking J-Droids.  That's suicide.  That's a hard no.  Ain't getting involved with that shenanigan." The inside of head was screaming at him 'You just told a fucking Sith no?  Have you just gone gorram loony?'   It didn't matter; he'd die on his own terms even it was at the Dark Lady's hand, so he continued with some of the strongest words he'd said in the past ten years, "Stopping murderers may be good and all, and I'm for it... to a point, but again doesn't fill the tank unless you know of a... boun-ty..." his rant broke mid stride as he was about to address the Lady Jedi's youngling complications, but then the thought struck him. He paused thinking about the connections.  This was almost as intricate as some of the assignments for the Imperial Navy and he was connecting dots, "WAIT," he was excited, and angry that he'd almost forgot. What was the name of that ship those two were talking about... " The Covenant ," he said with authority. He holds up his hands to pause the response from everyone he just blew off, "Let me explain. While everyone else was off gallivanting across the city I just so happened to stop by a nice little cafe."   His confidence returns, "I overheard a Cerean and a human talking about a great victory and the J-Droid attack distracting from their message.  Now, they sounded like they were on a ship called The Covenant .  If these guys were the Gray Dawn terrorists from Endor Station which is literally... a... jump... away."   Vin spread his hands to demonstrate the distance for emphasis, and then pointed out,  "We chose this little backwater to lay low, right? Whose to say they di'n't do the same?  Nils might be able to do his computer magic and get us some information about the ship moorings and we can get a nice bit of intel out of the deal."   With a smile, he asks, "Thoughts?"

Sovia ignores the start of the rant, but her head lifts when she hears the covenant mentioned. "Sounds like we could track them in that case. This could be a good start indeed."

"Oh, and there is somet'ing else afoot also.  They mentioned the RBS controlling the holonet, so they'd have to get their message out with more finesse.  Not so sure on that one."  Vin relays after Sovia's confirmation.

Nils nods enthusiastically. "Yes, The Covenant , that was why we came to Bakura instead of anywhere else. We should try and find out about it whilst we're here. I could try running a search in the docking records, but that didn't go so well back on Endor Station..."

"You do realize had you not left us in the dark about your plan, I could 'ave commed you all in and then tailed them..."  Vin looks a Nils.

"I mean hey, to be fair we didn't really have a plan up until this point. Now we do! We can get some intel on The Covenant here, I betcha something we dig up will point us to Jedha too. And look, I understand your concerns about profits and keepin the Kraken running, but like I said there's creds in it for us if we follow this! I did get an advance already but... most of it went to getting Nils his ID and me something a little more discreet than my rifle." he punctuates this by patting the blaster on his hip. "I can't promise exactly how much we'll get on Jedha, but if we're doing this as a team then I'm sure Mr. Axos will reword us accordingly."

Vin looks up, "Or kill us all for knowing too much... getting too many people involved. That's what I'd have done in his position.  That's what I've had to do."   Vin looks on with regret, but continues, "Look who does this Axos work with or for?  Answer that question please.  Do you even know, Ceph?" Vin actually calls him by the correct name.

"Vin raises a good point, it's all very well us following your lead here but if getting vacced or getting paid with the wrong end of a blaster is where this ends up then I'm not doing it for all the credits in the galaxy." Drael moves closer to Vin presenting a united front with the only one of the group he has known more than a few days. "There needs to be a little more openness about things here too, any other secret leads you haven't mentioned to us yet?"

The offense taken is evident in the incredulous glare that Ceph sets upon Vin. "I don't know what you've had to do, but Mr. Axos saved my life. He had this body built, with money out of his own pocket, because he saw potential in me. He's a good guy, and he trusts me. If I say I need a team, then I'mma have a team and he's gonna trust my judgement." his skin begins to flare a vibrant red and his tentacles writhe slightly as he gets worked up, but he takes a breath to calm himself and the visible effects subside. He addresses Drael now as well  "I wouldn't expect you to basically be a contracted agent without any information. I work for Mr. Axos, and he works for the RBSSA. It's a security agency, we monitor and collect information. That's why he wants us to follow this Grey Dawn thread."

Hopes were rising on Leb as she hears the news of a more closer lead to the attacks than going all the way to Jedah following Ceph's employeer blindly, despite she wants to go the Jedah of course.  When tension seems to raise she interceeds. "Listen. That's a really good lead and we certanly should follow it. Despite the fact that Ceph hasn't given us much of his employeer either, its leads and help were useful back at the station, and it seems determined to find out who was behind the bombing of the Covenant so, I don't think we are in danger for playing along. I am sure that Ceph could tell us more while we are moving trying to tail those you talked about. Is that ok? "

" So you're a synth.  Owing someone your life is hard, and you are naturally grateful." Vin actually manages to drop his tone in reply remembering how much he owed that old Chiss.  "There is nothing wrong with being in that situation... but you still have a responsibility to never stop asking questions."   He says imploringly as his accent fades again.  He ignores Leb's plea for blind faith. "I appreciate your confidence. That now reveals another problem: when money gets involved, things tend to get complicated.  If Mr Axos has spent so much money, then he values you as an asset.   Militarily, you have to maintained as an asset to be useful, so whose to say you don't have a kill switch or at the very least a tracker in that body of yours?" Vin raises an eyebrow in question.  "I've heard of worse things that Imperial Intelligence did to its agents before they were disbanded.  If they were disbanded.  But any intelligence network is going to have its darker elements.  And they were after terrorists, too, if I may remind you."   The old soldier realizes he's revealing too much of what he knows and decides to stop his justification there.  He can tell Ceph is getting angry.  "Look, I'm not says your Axos is a bad guy; I'm asking you to avoid being a blind patriot and be sure that you keep evaluating your situation."   He asks with some worry in his voice,  "Have you had Mr. Axos run our credentials yet?  I mean, two shipping brokers" as he omits their new title, "two people without valid IDs, and Sovia with an ID so old they had to use a datacred to look it up." Vin sighs, "Look, I don't operate blind, here.  It's kept me alive.  I'm starting to understand that most of you have a 'good' motivation for wanting to do what you do."   He looks to Leb and Ceph. "But your stoic optimism and desire to do good makes you vulnerable."   He concedes and stares at those gathered around the room, "I'm in.. for now .  I've seen the horrors of the Eagle's message and its destruction on innocent people.  I can't have letting that pass on my conscious."

Ceph crosses his arms, no longer angry but still defensive. He turns to Drael again "Did he grill you like this when you guys first met? Question every person you had worked with prior?" his eyes cut back to Vin. "The RBS is not the Empire. Obviously there's druk I don't know, obviously I feel a lil' indebted to Axos, but quit assuming I'm operating on 'blind faith'. I've worked with him for a while. I trust him. You don't have to, but for skrog's sake try and trust us. These people have done nothin' but help me -and you- out, and I've had more important druk to worry about than runnin' their cards. Sure, maybe givin' people the benefit of the doubt is risky, but in my experience you gotta have friends if you wanna get anywhere in life. Growing up in station slums I got pretty good at making friends, and that means reading people. It's a useful skill." he concedes as well and moves to go to pour himself a drink. Before he leaves the room he turns back and adds with a shrug and a cheeky grin "I'll take your advice if you take mine."

"Fair enough," he says to the departing Ceph.  It wasn't the answer he was wanting, but it was one he'd settle for.  He knew enough to watch the man's back and to keep watching his own.

If he had blood in his veins (or indeed if he had veins at all), Nils would have blanched at learning Ceph's employer was none other than the RBSSA. He only knew enough about the organisation to know that them finding out about him would be a Very Bad Thing. Still, he considered after a moment, perhaps being on the 'inside' wasn't the worst place to be? So long as Ceph's employer didn't discover that Nils didn't actually exist on paper (with the exception of his new ID) or insist on detailed medical checks, he was probably safe. And having a line into the organisation could prove useful if he ever needed to reveal himself and perhaps claim asylum? Either way, he probably wasn't in any more immediate danger now than he had been a second ago, and given that he was now penniless, it made sense to try and solve the task at hand. "So, if everyone is friends and trusts everyone else now, we've got a couple of leads to follow, hey? I can do some initial probing of the port authority's networks, see how tough they'd be to crack. If we don't want a repeat of last time, I might need some money for hardware. And we probably shouldn't do it from here either, find somewhere I can connect that doesn't link us to the Kraken . In the meantime, maybe Vin could go back to the cafe, see if anyone there knows who those fellows he heard were? They might even still be there! And we could look at other options too. Hmmmm... maybe Leb or Drael should seduce a port authority worker and see what they know. I saw that work in a holonet show once?"

"Drael could do what now?" the pilot looks incredulously at Nils, shaking his head, with a wide grin playing out on his face. "You've got some interesting ideas, I'll give you that. You probably watch too much holonet too". Looking at his partner Drael muses to himself for a second. "Dont know if he should go alone, we still dont know many people and one wrong move could be game over, better to move around with a few people to watch you back." He turns back to Nils afterwards "I'm not sold on the seduction angle but I'm not bad at making friends, I bet I'm not the only one who can be sociable here either, we could check out whether or not the are hangouts they frequent and see what we can see, but it seems like it would take a long time. Probably more than we have. Wouldn't it be easier to just...." he waves his hands in a vague manner that shows he knows very little about the force. "Well, you two know what I mean, can't you get inside people's heads and find out what we need to know? He asks Leb and Sovia.

Sovia's lipless mouth curls back in an amused grin. "Perhaps you watch too much holonet too. Some force users are gifted in such skills yes, but they are unreliable, some are more easily manipulated than others. I had a mentor who was certainly skilled in such manipulation, the same one I mentioned earlier infact. She could live in your head and you would never know if your actions were dictated by yourself or by her. I for one though am not gifted in such things. I merely read the emotions of others."

"Still pretty useful I guess, would have been handy if your mentor had taught you the get in your head powers too..." Drael  says with a little sigh. "Oh well, it might just take a little longer to get it done but I'm sure we've got the skills between us."

Sovia shakes her head. "You wish me to be in your head at all times? Shaping your thoughts? Never sure if a decision you make is yours or mine? Be careful what you wish for. Travelling with one like her taught me much. But it was no easy ride."

Nils nods in agreement. "Hm, yes, invading other people's thoughts is very irresponsible, and scary. I'm glad to hear you don't do that Sovia. But if you read emotions, maybe you should try seducing somebody? Anyway, I need to find a good place to try and access the Port Authority from. Maybe look for an empty docking bay, yes? I think I'll just go for a walk around the spaceport to see if there's anywhere convenient I might be able to connect from. Would anyone else like to come?"

Sovia laughs deeply. "Oh Nils, I am over 350 years old. I think my days of seductions are long behind me. Even when I was younger, I do not think many of your kind would find me their type." She looks at him curiously, intently focusing again. "Your emotions remain a mystery to me still though young Nils. I cannot see into your mind at all, the force does not seem to touch you. Who trained you to keep me out?"

Oh. Right. She knows something's different about me. She mentioned that when we first met, I assumed she'd forgotten about it... "Nobody trained me to do anything, I don't think. Maybe you're just getting old? Anyway, is anyone coming? Oh, by the way, I found out my datapad does have a comm function built in, so you should be able to get hold of me."

Sovia shrugs and waves him off, ignoring that the point was an obvious deflection. " It's OK. You keep mine you'll get far more use of it than I ever could."

Eventually Ceph returns holding a glass of whatever booze he could scrounge up. "So Vin, where did you say that cantina was? I'd be down to swing by and check it out. Might not find much, but it's worth a shot if we're gonna pursue that lead before we head off."

"Sure, but I think I'll go with."   Vin seems to chipper from his usually dour self.  "I know one of the waitresses there.  Might give us a small edge as well."  Vin leans into his room and grabs a jacket to cover his blaster sidearm.  "If I see them again, we can let you as the fresh face follow them."

Ceph nods and smiles, happy to see Vin in a more positive demeanor so quickly. "Sounds like a plan. Anyone else wanna come with?"

"Clearly I will be coming along, I think we all should. Strength in numbers you know? We could sit in smaller groups, spread out, cover more ground but I think we'll have more chance if we work as a team." Drael looks ready to leave as soon as possible "Besides i want to see who Vin has been making friends with when I'm not there to keep him out of trouble."

Sovia nods. "Perhaps Nils and I will go look for what he needs whilst you all go in search of these people. Don't get in trouble without us though, call before you do anything rash."

The scowl on Vin's face begins to grow and harden again.  "We don't all need to be on grid with one another.  That's just gonna blow any element of surprise we might have."   Vin speaks with confidence in the strategy.  "We're gonna need some outside of the cafe to overwatch and be set to follow.  I can go in; get an order to go and do a sweep."   He points to Ceph.  "If I spike anyone, I can still leave and then you can come in for surveillence."   Vin says pointing to Ceph.  He was repeating parts from a briefing from the better half of two decades ago, but Vin was fairly certain he was hitting the highlights correctly.  "They're thinking that they are clear ... at least by thier relaxed conversation.  Let's not get thier hackles up."   He pauses for a moment, begrudgingly acknowledging. "We're gonna need to follow Ceph's lead out there in the field if anything goes sideways.  He's probably got the most recent intelligence field experience.  Sound good?"  He looks to the others and then to Ceph, only now realizing that for the first time since the fall of the Empire that his expertise may actually be of use here.  Bounty hunting for its brief stint had felt different; kind of twisted to soldiering.  This was almost in line.  He thought himself, 'We all do heroic things for our own reasons; guess mine is to feel validated.'

Ceph's mouth curls into a look that's is surprised but impressed. "Sir, yes sir." he says as the look turns into a smile. Even though Ceph had been taking a lot of initiative lately, he had never really been comfortable as a leader. Vin here was clearly very intelligent, and as long as he listened to everyone else's advice, Ceph had no problem following the soldier's orders.

"OK, good! Well, I'll see you later then!" , says Nils with a wave, walking towards the ramp, adding, "Oh, the transponder looks good by the way! Very neat!" as he leaves.

Sovia heads out with Nils.  "Nice try Nils, I'm coming with you. Need to keep you out of trouble."

"Well, let's hope for no trouble, but we've not had much luck on that front yet, hey?" replies Nils with a smile. Internally, he was worried that she was apparently still suspicious of him, and she'd demonstrated back on Endor Station how dangerous she could be, but... she hadn't demonstrated any ill-intent towards him yet. And if there was trouble he'd rather have her on his side. "Oh, before we go - Ceph, can I get a few hundred credits? I'll probably need to buy some Computer Spikes." Before leaving, Nils heads by the maintenance bay to pick up a few potentially-useful cables, then heads down the ramp, Sovia in tow, and looks around, deciding where to go. "So I think we could just have a wander around the spaceport first, keep our eyes open for anywhere that looks like it might have an unmonitored network terminal? And also just because I've not been here before. Keep a look out for souvenir shops and anywhere that looks like it might sell networking tools."