There's No Place I Can Be

K loiters around the central console in the common area aboard the Blackfish, watching where they have dumped the strange statue-man slumped on a chair. He seems to be asleep. 'Meatbags...' he thinks, 'flesh is weak.' He glances over at Psycho. "Proposal: ...we could just just dump him in the storage compartment until Jaina returns."

Jaina strides aboard the ship, eying the slumped form of gold. "Right, somebody get that out of my sight, keep him alive though. Turns out he could be worth a fortune. Somebody get this computer core hooked up, I need to know whats on it within the standard hour. Then I want options for possible j-core purchases, starting with mandalorian commanders."

"Quick work," comments Psycho, lifting the unconscious body by his collar. "The med-bay's got a lock on it right? I'll stick him there. Not like there's much he can break in there anyway." One-handed, she drags him round the corner and hauls him onto the med-bay table. Peering down at him, she gives him a couple of slaps to the face. "Hey, anyone in there? If you're gonna wake up, this might be a good time to do it. Right now. When someone's interacting with you directly. Which I'm currently doing."

As Psycho drags the body of Gold away Carlos watches on ''Be careful, he's very sick, and needs to live.'' He looks around the ship, ''I could have a go at the core, but i'll need some help, not a programmer by profession''

In the cockpit a little red light starts flashing on the dash. Quietly beeping to itself.

"I'd rather K and Leslie handle the core. You can start by listing me some of the people that would like to pay me for information on the location of that man."

"I would but first maybe see to that beeping"

In the dark and dusty medbay, Psycho finds that Gold's skin is clammy to the touch and his breathing seems shallow. She has little knowledge of medicine, but it seems likely that he should see a doctor.

Jaina runs to the cockpit, and looks for the cause of the alarm.

It's a proximity alarm. An unidentified incoming vessel has dropped out of hyperspace near these coordinates. It is scanning the asteroids and space junk of the area searching for something.

"Shit, Psycho, K, get on the guns. We've got company. Carlos, get up here." Jaina immediately begins punching in the co-ordinates back to the safety of hutt space. "They are probably here for that damned man. Prepare to make the jump back into hyperspace"

"you don't know that. But it's not good. We had a distress signal on, maybe help, maybe more vultures."

"Tell me I get to slag something proper this time," Psycho's voice crackles through the internal comms.

"Observation: The Blackfish is unlikely to be jumping anywhere with the cofferdam still attached. Suggestion: Refrain from powering up secondary systems until we are in a position to run." While Psycho heads for the ship's single gun, K goes for the computers to try and interface with the frigate again and disconnect. "Request: It would be advantageous if our course were already plotted once disengagement completes."

Upon Jaina's silent compliance, K plugs into the ship's computer and begins the process of telling it to communicate with the ghost ship. It's slower work than Leslie is capable of, but sometimes she just goes to sleep, leaving no other option. Gradually, the docking mechanisms groan into action and latches begin to depressurise. The other ship also seems to be acting more slowly without its primary computer core. In the cockpit, Jaina and Carlos can see the sensor blip of the foreign ship gradually grow nearer as it sweeps the debris field. The energy signature is unusually intense, but without active scanning they don't yet have any more specific information about its physical configuration.

"Well get us unattached then. I'm not an idiot k. Just get us ready to go so I can power this thing up and go. Does anyone have a visual, we need to know what we're dealing with."

''Energy signature looks intense, sensor sweep will give our position away.'' Carlos hurries to various windows to tries to catch a visual of the ship, using his electro binoculars.

In the dim light of the distant stars, Carlos sees a dark, arrow-like profile glide forwards from behind a large asteroid, still some distance away. Its centre is thicker than the thin points of its triangular hull and behind it two large grav engines protrude on longer struts. Finally the cofferdam releases the Blackfish's hatch and begins to retract into the wreck.

Jaina tries to drift slowly in a roll underneath the wreck to the otherside of the ship, to shield them from view. "Hopefully we can stay close enough that our power signiture will look like its coming from the wreck until we are ready to jump."

Carlos relays the information he gets from his eyes to Jaina, ''Triangular hull, arrow like, two long struts wiht what looks like grav engines? Any idea?Perhaps a drone ship? I don't know much about starship design.''

Jaina engages the thrusters for a brief burst and the ship floats down and around the ventral side of the cargo frigate. As the Blackfish comes around a single word drifts into view from the cockpit, emblazoned on the bottom of the ship. "Zebrina" The incoming vessel is no longer visible behind the wreck, but sensors indicate the energy signature is drawing nearer. It seems far too strong for a ship of the size that Carlos saw. Its course is more direct now though, heading towards the drifting frigate.

''I'd plot a hyperspace course and get ready to jump, but not too yet, why not play this scenario out, see what this ship is and why it's here.''

"Or even better, we hull this ship, we've doubled our take!" , Psycho suggests from the gun turret.

Jaina bites her lip and frowns. "Sounds like a J-ship to me, probably came here after their drones went quiet. We don't want a bounty on our heads, if we can keep from being seen we will, keep the ship between us and them. Psycho you are weapons free if it comes into sight, hopefully the glare of the guns will keep us from being identified, keep the rate high. If you can hit the fuel line on the Zebrina and give us an explosion for cover even better" Jaina engages the engines and gets ready to hit the jump button as soon as they are clear, doing her best to keep the wreck between the Blackfish and the new ship.

The Blackfish accelerates rapidly through the debris field away from the Zebrina, and Jaina has to work hard to steer around the various hazardous lumps of space junk in their path. As soon as the engines fire up the approaching ship adjusts course to pursue their energy signature, rising up out of the wreck's shadow. At this distance the markings on the new vessel's hull become clear - the symbols of a J6 chieftain. The reason for the massive energy signature quickly becomes clear. The J6 happily operate without core containment with no ill effects. By now they're far enough from the frigate to avoid its grav-shadow and Jaina makes the jump... only to hear a heart-sinking wine like a failed starter-motor as the hyperdrive chooses this moment to refuse to cooperate. Behind them the ship enters the limits of their weapons range.

"Fire up the backup hyperdrive, get us out of here" Jaina yells as she hurridly repunches in the coordinates

Carlos looks over Jaina as she programs the hyperspace coordinates. He um and ars as he hesitates to do anything. ''That needs to be a seven.'' He interjects as he could contain himself no longer. ''Unless you want the gravitational shear to rip us in two, in which case 164 point 854 is fine.'' He points at other various components of the computer adding his insight where applicable.

"I have managed to avoid ripping my ship in half so far thank you mr janitor. How about you go flick that switch? Lets make the jump now."

Carlos shrugs ''Meh, just a hunch, don't say i didn't warn you.'' He flicks the switch he was instructed to do so.

The minute Carlos turns his back, Jaina rechecks her calculations, ensuring her input is within the safe limits

The shadow of the J6 frigate falls over the Zebrina and another sensor alarm flashes yellow indicating a build up of gravitational energy on its port bow. From the turret, Psycho can see a tiny aquamarine star flash into existence at this point, steadily growing in brightness. Jaina glances over her calculations. There's no real time for a thorough check. They seem safe, but so do Carlos' and they may indeed present a more elegant course. Then again hyperspace efficiency always comes with increased risk. Speed is the price you pay for a good safety margin. It's a call she has to make, and fast.

With speed in mind, Jaina pushes the button on the currently implimented calculations. She screems "brace" probably already a little late.

The star is almost blindingly bright as Jaina thumps the console on the dash. The whirring drops in tone for moment, stops outright, and then picks backup, the frequency climbing ever higher until it reaches a crescendo and the Blackfish jumps to lightspeed with low whump . Where the ship was a moment before the J6 tractor beam engages, freezing space junk where it floats. Onboard the Blackfish the star trails stretch out to infinity as the vessel leaps into the whirling blue-grey of hyperspace. For now they are safe. T-15 Hours to Smuggler's Run

"let's hope they didn't get an id on us before we got out. Don't wanna be in pursuit by j droids. Especially with that controller"

"We'll stick out of J6 space for a few months at least. I try to avoid it anyway." Jaina bites a finger nail, "Lets get these lists together then. I want options in 5 minutes, people after the sick man and people interested in paying for a j-controller"

''The sick man needs medical attention, carbonite sickness can be lethal if he wasn't properly stored originally, and the symptoms worsen depending on how long he's been in there, as far as i know, he's at least several centuries old, if not older. This is unprecedented, we need to take him to a medical facility to keep an eye on him, if not he could die, and then it's all for nothing.''

"Centuries? hmm. Not for nothing though, we still have the j-controller, though I'd rather not put all my eggs in that rather explosive basket. We don't have a doctor right now though, maybe we can pick up a medical droid somewhere. First we need to sell our less valuable cargo though, otherwise I'm afraid we can't afford anything"

"With no other suggestions, I would float the idea of the mandolorians as a good option for selling the j-tech. Any counter suggestions?"

The Mandalorians are fearsome, I would relish to be with those people again, at there prime nothing could stop them. Carlos nods, ''Sounds good, now do i get a room or something?''

Jaina's eyes glint sadistically for just a second. "Absolutely, you will share the men's dorm with K. She gestures at a door off of the main meeting room. That reminds me, I need to prepare your pay contract if you are going to be working for us." She turns and reaches for a data pad and begins tapping away.

Carlos smiles, ''sharing with the droid that pointed a gun at me straight away, sounds like fun...'' He looks over the data pad, ''So let's discuss my contract, what you expect from me in terms of my skills and what my cut is.''

Psycho swings down from the turret deftly and strolls into the bridge, ignoring Carlos entirely. "You got moves, J. Wish I could see the look on their faces when they find their toys are gone. You know, if they had faces. Where we off to then?"

Jaina smiles at Psycho over the top of her data pad, acknowledging the compliment with a nod. "Right now, we are going to try and sell this ore, then we can head into Mandolorian space and try to sell the more select pieces we acquired." She gives Carlos a look "Cut? Never heard of a handyman working for cuts of the profit before. I'll put you on a wage, whilst you are working as a janitor. I believe you described it as a trial period. If you prove yourself to be valuable beyond that, then we can discuss giving you a share of the profit in the jobs we take on." She slides the data pad across to him: Daily balance +Wages: 50cr/day - travel away from perilous situation (25cr/day) - food (10cr/day) - Care of friend in medical room and not selling him to J-droids (10cr/day) balance: +5cr/day Carried over from previous standing -Freedom (500cr) -clothes and personal effects (not including weapons) (10cr) -Damage done to company property on board the Zebrina (2000cr) balance: -2510cr Misc Fine for work not completed -1 days wages. new balance: -2560cr "Sign at the bottom if you would" She smirks

Carlos scoffs. ''You don't take slaves, I might as well be with this contract'' He says angrily as he reads over the terms of the data pad. ''What do you mean company property? Those J-droids self destructed.'' He pauses ''I won't pay for damage, I'll not accept the 'travel away from peril, considering it's a time rate and if you listened to my advice with hyperspace coordinates you'll have saved several hours, I will begrudgingly pay 5cr/day into a fund that I will get back once the man regains conciousness, as then you'll realise his nature. Finally, you've seen I'm not just a janitor, I'll accept 15% of takings on my trial period and we'll renegotiate after you get yourself into a situation you need my help to resolve...And trust me it'll happen, I got a feeling about that...''

Jaina raises an eyebrow. Her voice is barely above a whisper "you will pay for your transport aboard this vessel. You have no share of ownership of her, or this company. A trial period does not come with a part owners cut." She stands and turns to leave. "I consent to delaying collection of payment for the sick man, until such time as you wish to purchase him back for me. Other than that I will give you until we drop out of hyperspace to reconsider your position." She leaves the room, walking slowly with her back to Carlos. Beneath her cool demeanor all her senses are tuned, looking for any unusual feedback. Anger? Pride? Unusual. Play the -5 and take the hand. Gamble it all on the final play.

Carlos clenches his fist and closes his eyes opening them in a sudden gaze. I know what you're thinking, don't, she's important. Calm down find your centre Carlos exhales his muscles relaxing. ''Wait...'' His eyes drop as he sighs. ''I'll be a caretaker, a janitor, on those terms. I'm used to that, I thought this the chance to move up in the world. I took a chance, I see you're clever.'' Carlos looks at Jaina and his inner self reaches out with his mind looking into her. ''You seem troubled, constantly, working the next job to keep on flying, you're running from something, or towards something.Even if you don't know now, you have secrets and i won't pry, I'll do my duty.'' He continues in a stern tone ''But I'm not willing to put myself in danger to solve problems you generate, unless there's credits coming my way.'' He reaches out for his mop and grips it tight. ''Now unless you have anything to say about that, i'll do my new job, by sorting out the cargo bay'' He gives her new captain a rigid salute. ''With the backup hyperdrive, we'll be in hyperspace for the majority of a galactic day, I can get this place spik and span in that time.''

"Forget the cargo bay, its locked. You can clean up the rest though." Jaina feels the thoughts wash over her. I knew it, no its not enough. Too much of a gamble, keep the final card in your hand, accept the draw and win the next. " K prepare The Equaliser. We may need it. Psycho, keep an eye on our newest recruit, make sure he truly does feel as humble as he should about joining this crew."

Carlos begins mopping out the floors in various parts of the ship, dusting corners out. ''Dust in a space ship ain't good.'' He says as he holds a dirty cloth to Psycho, you get particulates in any key systems and they lose their efficiency.'' He disposes of his dirty rags and looks up to a flashing over head light. He pulls off the ceiling cover and opens a conduit tinkering round with his screwdriver standing on tip toes. ''Mind if you pass me that hyrdospanner'' he says to Psycho. ''I been told to watch you not help you'' she says leaning back against the bulk heads blowing smoke rings. Carlos sighs and gets it himself. ''So, I can understand you not helping me, considering the one good arm you have left is currently taking a drag.But what have i done that you hate me so much'' He smiles ''Or is it coz i'm a guy on a ship, has someone broke your heart'' He laughs to himself as the room becomes brighter and the lights stop flickering. ''There, that was beginning to bug me'' ''Care to say anything, or are you just gonna sit there being in the way''

"I don't hate you, mop-boy. Just don't give a toss 'bout you one way or the other. Don't trust you either. Simple, huh?"

Carlos snorts with laughter ''Pretty sure indifference is worse than hate, especially when at some point we're gonna have to rely on each other in a firefight''

"You get in a lot of firefights cleaning spaceships, Carlo? Nah, didn't think so." She drops the smouldering end of her cigarette to the deck and grinds it under a boot. "Now if you're done screwing in lightbulbs or whatever, how 'bout you find something to clean in the common room? 'Cause I'm bored as fuck, and at least there I can get a drink or something while I keep an eye on you."