Shadow of the Crimson Turtle

Sovia raises an eyebrow, saying nothing she reaches out for Vin's emotions once again with one part of her mind, whilst another begins working on loosening the power pack connection in the clip from his gun in his holster. She shifts in her seat but does not stand, seemingly waiting for him to elaborate on his feelings, or perhaps for one of her companions to jump in and explain why they would dare to be seen with a Jedi, or whether they realised or cared that in fact Lebenha was not the only force user in the party.

The cabin's silence hurt his ears, so Vin did the only logical thing in a bargain: talk it off.  "I mean, I can see having one around could be useful if you can get past the preaching.  But seriously, why would you advertise it by wearing something like that."   He motions to Lebenha to indicate her Jedi robes. "Do you want those gear grinders venting your middle?" 'That's why the Empire would have won.  Jedi are not practical.  At least the Sith were pragmatic even if some were complete bastards.'   Vin really wasn't sure where he was going with the lecture; it just seemed to be a complaint he'd harbored for a long time and never felt the opportunity to vent.  Then the next question came, "Wait... they were there for you, weren't they?" Not taking a breath to let an answer in, he turned to Drael.  "Drael, these guys had something to do with shipment goin' south."

"That's enough." Sovia's voice rings out, gentle but authoritative. She feels the soft movement of the power pack coming loose and let's go of her concentration over it. "Nobody here expected their arrival. You would be wise to calm down and assertain your facts before getting so angered. Now we appreciate that this is your shop and we are very grateful that you picked us up rather than allowing us to be sucked into space, but now I must ask that you be a little less confrontational."

Vin sits in stunned silence.  He had expected the Jedi to retort, but this was not where he was going.  That moment of confidence was gone.  So quietly he watched, now feeling dressed down.  It wasn't anger in his eyes, but they burned brightly anyway.

"Guys, we just got away with our lives. We should be celebrating, not fighting!" Ceph tries to quell the tension he immediately feels as he walks into the room. He turns to Vin, "Yeah, we're a ragtag group. Yeah she's a Jedi and... yeah she can be a little preachy," he gives a nervous smile to Leb, hoping the jab would be taken in stride. "But she's good people. And we had nothing to do with any bad shipment. We were investigating the explosion that happened earlier, before the J droids attacked. I don't know if they were connected or what but we were just looking into it. Whoever did that shit must have noticed us sniffing their tracks and sent the station authorities after us, which is why we were already running through the port right as the station got attacked. And that's when we bumped into you, right place at the right time I guess."

Drael gives a quick glance to Vin as Ceph makes the explanation "I don't judge people on what they wear but I do have a healthy distrust of people that are wanted by the security services, unless of course they are me, just saying." the pilot adjusts the autopilot controls and stands "Shall we take this into the crew quarters, it's a little bit pokey in here." He waits until the others have left and with Vin being furthest from the doorway and therefore last one out puts a hand on his shoulder the other making a subtle calm down motion behind the other members of the group. "Stay cool, remember my earlier plan if it goes wrong." he whispers having leaned in first, speaking as quietly as possible.

"Sor-ry," Vincent mouths apologetically.  He start to instinctively grab for his rifle laying against the console, but thinks better of it.  He really needed a blaster or something easier to conceal.  Drael's plan was fine if things went south, and by luck everyone seemed to be more worried about him than Drael.  'So that works fine, I guess.' he thought as he exited the cockpit.

Sovia sits at the table, noting the long style made a very definite head and tail end and takes a little displeasure in choosing a seat in the centre.  When everyone sits down she opens the conversation. "So, we are here, what would you like to know to make you more comfortable with our presence here?"

"Oh I don't know, who are you all?  What are you doing?   And also what were you doing to get yourselves hunted by the base security?  Can we start there please?" Drael smiles at the alien but keeps his distance staying in the doorway leading back towards the cockpit.  "If I seem overly concerned may I point out that my friend here, and I are all suddenly in the company of a group of armed strangers who we have known for next to no time on board a spaceship just because we happened to be in your path as you tried to  escape the station.  It isn't exactly the best way of making friends you know? I mean a few drinks and maybe letting us win a few hands of Sabacc, that would have been greatly  preferable.."

Vincent leans against the wall near his room, arms cross looking, but not speaking.  Trying to come off more relaxed than anything.  'Maybe this wasn't such a great idea.  One stranger on board was fine; two was risky, but this was more than he had agreed to.'  Vincent nod a polite thanks to one of the strangers inviting him to a chair, but didn't take any effort to move, 'Let Drael do the talking.'

Sovia smiles, her pointed sharp teeth exposed make it a lot less friendly than intended.  "All fair questions. We shall do our best to answer them." She leans back into her chair and closes her eyes as she thinks carefully on where to begin. After a few moments she speaks, her voice echoes softly like a story being told as she visualises the events that led her here.  "My name is Sovia-Keti. I have been away from society a long time, I was forced back into the galaxy when those droids attacked the planet I was hiding on, I have been asking to try to find out what they are and what they are after but have made very little progress so far, beyond that they have been given the designation J and seem not to be restricted as normal droids are in their behaviour. I am coming to the conclusion that I must fight them, or at least someone must, and when someone must, if you do not, who are you to say that someone else should? So now what I am doing, is not going back into the wilds as I had planned, but looking for a path to prevent their spread, and then in the long term, to destroy them at their source.  For now that is not possible though, I am still weak and will need to rediscover my former strength if I am to be successful. As to base security, I do not quite know, we were working with them, helping them to find those responsible for an explosion, the next thing we know, we are being surrounded and shot at. There seemed to be some mind control in play, perhaps a powerful force user, or a parasite. We did not have time to see." She opens her eyes. "Is there something else you would know?"

Leb slowly opens her eyes after the meditative state that had helped Sovia with the fight. She had heard of that manipulation of the Force before, even saw a Master do it once, but she had never done it before. She smiled back at Sovia and nods to her. She had to be very skilled before severing her own connection to the Force. Perhaps they could help each other.  For the moment it seems that they had more pressing concerns.  "We... thank you for letting us stop on your ship to get away of the station. By your words mayne we can turn back the favor to you. Do you need something disabled in the ship? As I said my nasme is Lebenha, my friend is Sovia, Ceph was manning the gun and the engineerering genius is Nils " she says weaving towards him to approach them. 

Under his breath, not intended, but in the sudden silence after Leb's introductions of her compatriots, Vin's mutters are audible whispers over the hum of hyperspace, "So that's two jedi then." Unaware that he could be heard, he goes over a mental checklist in his head; his head nods with the counting of each items and his eyes tug with the memory of each line. 'That checks out.'   What he was considering was ambitious, but an opportunity like this had never dropped in his lap before. Drael's plan suddenly had far more merit than before.

Nils waves at Drael and Vin, pleased at the chance to introduce himself. "Yes! I am Nils," says Nils. "I don't know them that well, but Ceph offered to pay me to help them investigate that bomb that went off in the hangar. Since it's now looking unlikely we'll get paid for that because of a minor misunderstanding with the security forces and also because of all those droids that just attacked, I'd be very happy to help with any mechanical or computational requirements you might have!" Then, adopting a more hushed tone, he looking around slyly and asks, "So are you guys secretly space pirates?"

"Pirates! I like you already Nils, I think we'll get along great but no, we are not space pirates.  There is a small issue over the exact ownership of this crate we are currently aboard if I'm being totally honest but that has only come about due to the disruption to our trading plans that the bomb on the station caused." Drael doesn't move closer to the group. "Your story is interesting, it seems you are a bunch of souls thrown together yourselves, in a strange way that makes me warm to you more.  If you were a well established group who had found their way aboard our ship then maybe I'd be feeling a little more threatened than I do."  Looking over at Vin he pauses for a moment, not wanting to go further without his partner's agreement. "You want us to go talk this through back in the cockpit?" he says nodding back towards the door.

"Yeah."   It's blunt and plain, but lacking of disdain or derision.  Vin looks at Drael and starts to head for the cockpit doorway.  He musters his old training, trying to maintain a health respect toward these stranger in a similar manner when dealing the the Imperial brass.   "Give us a minute, would ya please?" he says looking at Nils and Ceph. 'Just pretend they're sith, and you can do this right.'   A breath for discipline and the deep-seated intolerance waned.   " Ladies ," he says nodding to Sovia and Leb with an almost uncharacteristic decorum and a spark of charm. 

Nils nods knowingly at Drael's response and probes no further. As the two men leave the room, Nils leans back in his chair with an air of vindicated confidence and mutters under his breath to Leb, Sovia and Ceph, "You hear that? An issue over the ownership of the crate . Definitely pirates. We should try and join their crew."

Sovia smiles at Nils. "You want to be a pirate?" The man was stranger by the minute, but she couldn't help but like him. "For now we are certainly stuck here. Friends with a ship would certainly be useful to keep around. Now what can you all tell me about these droids? I have seen them lay waste to two places now, does nobody try to stop them? Let me guess, the Jedi order is taking a wait and see approach?"

"Well piracy was Derrab's suggestion," said Nils, stroking his beard thoughtfully, "But I think he got blown out of the hanger, so maybe we shouldn't be taking his advice. I didn't really have any other plans though so maybe I will stick around if they've got work. Handy to have a ship to get away from those droids at least! What are the rest of you planning to do now?" "And as for the droids, like I said earlier, they just sort of came out of the Unknown Regions. So I don't think anybody knows their exact origin. I guess that's what makes the Unknown Regions Unknown, hey? But RBS are pretty good at stopping them. I guess all that finance money buys a lot of guns, which means they can charge a lot of rent in their cities which buys more guns. Did you see those beam-lasers they had focused on the battlecruiser? Very cool, they're RBS proprietary technology. The station was still holding them off when we jumped out. I don't know about the Jedi though. I didn't think there was many of them left actually. Besides Leb here."

In the cockpit, Vin waits as the door shuts before asking, "So what do you think?" betraying some of his enthusiasm.

Leb's mood get somber at Sovia's words.  "Those droids look to control everything. They spread from system to system, conquering all and destroying anything that they cannot conquer, control or understand. And they... they can't control neither understand the Force. So... " she looks up to Sovia despite her training and her effort to hide it, emotions struggling to came out " We are almost wiped out. The Jedi Council did take its time to act, but this time I think they acted fast enough. It was just... we were not ready for them. There are few of us now, scattered and lost across the galaxy. The childings that reached the station under my care... " she looks over her shoulder, as if the station were in that direction. " By the Force I hope they are alright. If this whole thing with the authorities wasn't bad enough. " she clenches her fists a couple of times and closes her eyes not to break crying. " As soon as it's safe I should call back to the RBS station to check on them. They are the future. They must be kept safe..." 

The hiss of the door creating a conspiratorial sound as it shuts them back inside the cockpit Drael pauses and then replies to Vin "Is it me, or is your trigger finger a bit twitchy?" The pilot looks back through the tiny reinforced window into the cockpit in the direction of the rest of the group "Yes this is all sorts of crazy but to be honest, I'm not convinced they need flushing out into space - and also I don't think we can do it while the hyperdrive is engaged anyway..." Looking back at his larger companion the small man smiles "Sometimes it's just about dealing with the hand the dealer gives you.  We could do well out of this, even if we don't end up sticking around we might be able ot convince that engineer to stick with us, he was really handy when we were getting clear of those J-droids, we could do with those skills, especially if we do decide to keep the ship..." Drael raises his hand to stop the inevitable protest. "Just saying, if, I know you are overburdened with scruples, and you are probably too old and set in your ways to change." he adds the last with a wink and a playful slap on the shoulder. "So tell me what you think, if you want to go with the airlock method tell me, but if those force users can read minds we might be in trouble carrying that around in our brains for the next 40 something hours, personally I'd leave it to fate, at least I don't think they are going to knife us in our sleep.."

"Twitchy, yeah, a bit."   Vin walks over to his rifle sitting near his co-pilots chair and instinctive sights down it.  'Oh the comfort of being armed sometimes.'   Then the mag slipped out of the breach and clattered to the ground. "She... is.. good." He chuckles for a moment admiringly to cover his moment of anger.  'It was genuinely amusing to have a Jedi on edge.'   As Vin recovers the magazine and points it out to Drael, he smiles. "I'm kinda grateful though, getting told off out there sort got me to thinking."   He took a breath and relaxingly let out it.   "I've been going about this wrong the whole way.  First off.." Vincent deftly reinserts the mag, checks that the breach is clear and arms the safety. "... I am too old fashioned.  I'll admit to that.  You do things a certain way because it's proper." He gives a side-long glance toward the door. "Sort of like the Jedi I'd hate to say.  I'm set in my ways.  I hate that alien thing in the other room just cause it ain't human.  That's what we were taught.  Jedi, senator, or stripper.  Wouldn't fucking matter."   He inspects the rifle while standing, keeping a rhythm while continuing to speak.  "It may be wrong... but it's how I'm geared, you know?"   His rifle sways in Drael's general direction with the question and then rapidly adjusts bring it nearer to Vin's face. "It's why I'm not getting ahead.  I see that now.  These J-Droids..." he examines the muzzle emitters, and slides the rifle down toward the ground "...are changing the game..." only to kick it higher into his hands as he checks the trigger assembly. Still breathing regularly he continues to speak  "...and the galaxy along with it.  If you can't change, you just die."  Finishing his inspection and satisfied with its quality, he rolls the rifle in his hand like a flourish in one of his cadet training drills. "See I answered my own question.."   A quick palm strike flips the rifle vertical as he swaps between grips, "...about endgames, and those two Jedi are our tickets out of this mess." and finishes his statement simultaneously as he snaps the rifle stock to the deck with a dull thwack .   "Call it insurance if Obrim gets on our tail.  Jedi seem to want to dole out their form of 'justice' any time they are around.  I'm sure they can be manipulated into making the right choices, I think."   Vincent almost has an evil bemused grin, "That's your strength I believe."   He sets the rifle against the wedge corner between the console and the wall. "So, no, we're not their friends, but we aren't gonna be vacc-ing them just yet either."   Vincent sits down in the co-pilot's seat getting comfortable, waiting for Drael to reply. 'I'm sure he wasn't expecting that.'   To be fair Vin hadn't expected that, but it was true all of it.  As he saw it, there's no way out of this mess aside from breaking the contract with Obrim, and as much as it ached at him; they were backed into a bloody corner.  So he braced himself for the repeated question, he knew Drael was about to ask for the third time.

Sovia smirks a little at Leb's explanation of the Jedi acting 'fast enough' making no attempt to hide what she thought of the likelihood of that. The rest of the information gave her something to think about though and she falls back into meditation as she considers her actions, after a few moments she speaks. "We will need numbers and strength. Are you going to fight them with me or scatter and hide as your tradition has before? I know it can be hard to turn your back on the ways of the order, but sometimes things cannot wait on the deliberation of the council."

Drael is quiet for a few moments, then moves to the pilot's chair grimacing as it groans ominously despite his slight build.  He looks at Vin, his head slightly tilted to one side as he smiles at the older man. "You surprise me, you know that. Don't take offense but there is more to you than I'd thought, there is a lot more going on in there" he points at Vin's head "than I gave you credit for.  We seem to be in agreement about our guests, I'm glad, but safety first - we don't need to be reckless about this. Let's not drop our guard too much, but at least we can be civil. Of course if it all goes to hell, we try and kill the jedi first, we may manage to get the others but that pair will wipe the floor with us if we aren't decisive. But, if I'm honest, I don't think it's going to go that way." Drael looks back at the door and rises up out of the chair "Let's go and play nicely with our new friends, shall we? Oh and by the way don't think I haven't noticed how you've changed your tune about Obrim and the ship.  Let's see what Nils can do for us with that transponder my space pirate friend." the pilot calls over his shoulder as he heads for the crew quarters, the door hissing open just before he passes through.

Vincent shuttered from being called a space pirate, but gives a sigh. He uses an armrest as a brace and half-heartedly gets out of the chair.  Taking a half-step to think on it more, Vin brushes his melancholy moment away and heads for the open doorway to follow Drael back to the others.  'Civil... We'll see how long that lasts.'

"Hello again, we needed to have a few words, we've had them and we are happy to welcome you aboard the Yarithian Cut, to get the important stuff out of the way first the larger two crew quarters are already taken there are four left, conveniently, make yourselves at home!"  Drael throws himself down into one of the chairs, sitting near Nils and smiling over at him "You and I need to talk about transponders later, but that can wait, let's all have a drink and get to know each other.  We aren't necessarily out of the woods, regarding the J-droids, although I suppose it is unlikely they would have tried to follow us, I'm sure they have bigger fish to fry. Although, they may have thought that the exceptional piloting skills they witnessed must have been performed by a force-sensitive.." he trails off beaming at Sovia. "We don't really know what we are going to run into in Bakura either, I guess, unless you have anything to share. Nils you mentioned that your friend, Ceph, was paying you for assistance, but who is paying you Ceph, and will they be able to help us out in anyway once we get to Bakura?"

Sovia breathes deeply. "The future remains shrouded in the force, beyond my vision for now. Perhaps when we are closer I shall be able to see further to what will await us."

"I always thought that Jedi preached about prophecy being dangerous."  Vincent said as he walked into the cabin.  Following his partner's cue, he grabs two bottles of liquor from the cabinet and sets them on the table.  "Something about the here and now..."  He turns back and grabs a few glasses and ushers them to the table.  He hands one to Drael and another to Ceph.  "I know you all are different though..." as if to cast a doubt on what he was referring, he beckons to Sovia, "Drink?" He turns back without waiting for a response to grab another set of glasses.

Ceph seems to have a sudden realization, and his mottled skin momentarily flashes fluorescent white in reaction. He pulls out his datapad and begins typing furiously: URGENT Mr. Axos,  I'm sure you're hearing about Endor Station. I managed to survive the attack, and am currently fleeing on a cargo ship. You also may have heard about my brief and unfortunate infamy on the station right before the J-droids showed up. Whoever executed the initial bombing was manipulating the authorities somehow. They noticed us following their trail and sent station security after us. The timing of all of that and the droids can't be coincidental. We're currently pursuing the only scrap of a lead we have, that the rigged ship came from the Bakura system.  Please respond with any insight or updates on Endor Station. Advice on how to proceed would also be greatly apreciated. At last he looks up as Vin and Drael return. "Hopefully. I'll let you know as soon as they get back to me," he says, gesturing with the pad. "I'm sort of an independent contractor for an RBS executive. A personal operative. My employer is interested in breaking news and information, like who just set off a bomb in Endor Station. But who knows, after having my face blasted all over the holonet I might be out of a job. Either way, I still want to get to the bottom of this story. Clear my name, all our names. I don't... exactly know how to do that though. Might need to lie low for a bit. Take on a little freelance work." he looks up and around at the group of survivors. Quite the capable bunch. He eagerly takes the glass from Vincent and pours himself a glass.

As Vin makes his comment about Jedi, Sovia's alien features contort in what might be a scowl, or perhaps amusement, it's hard to tell. "I am no Jedi. And if I were, the hypocracy should not surprise you." 

"That just makes you smarter, and more dangerous."   Vin replied setting the second pair of glasses down. 'Two assets to our team hopefully.  That explains the unnerving feeling earlier.'  He'd have to be a little more cautious; sith had fewer moral qualms. "Nils, you want a glass?" Vin turns back to grab one more glass and a bottle of his caffe from the conservator.

Drael takes the proffered glass from Vin with a nod of gratitude and then pauses glass halfway to his mouth as the exchange between Vin and Sovia  takes place, after quickly digesting the information he flicks a glance over to Lebenha to see how the actual jedi responds to the slight from both of the others, eyebrow raised in anticipation.

Lebenha touches her foreheads at Sovia's words.  "Sovia... you don't understand. There is no Council anymore. There is no Order anymore. Most of the galaxy doubt if there is a Republic anymore, the Company Stations the only ones able to whitstand an attack of the J-droids.  I've heard that there are still small groups trying to mount a counterattack, but they are hunted, chased and destroyed by the J-droids, their sheer numbers and their heartless brutality. Me and... " she swallows "... my Master were fighting back in one of such groups. We even destroyed one of their bases, and discovered the children. Then their reinforcements came and... "  She is interrupted, and seemed relieved by that, by the reenntrance of the captain and his copilot.  " The Jedi can look into the Force to see but one of the possible futures, but one must be always mindful of the living Force. " she stands and moves a little bit closer to Drael. When he is about to drop his glass when it slips from his hand.she takes it in mid-air, the alcochol still inside . " Thought it is helpful sometimes " she grins to them and takes a sip of the glass before handing it back to Drael. She turns to Sovia  "You are not. But you could be one again. The J-droids, much like the Force itself, doesn't make difference based on labels. You are a Force-user, your connection with the Force is strong. They will not tolerate that. They will hunt you down as they had done with the rest of us. Together we still have a chance, Together we can fight. " she calmy walks back towards Sovia. " You still have a grudge against a Council and the Order that it once was. They were wrong, and even if it was late, they corrected their ways. It was the example of Jedi like you, or my Master, who make them reconsider and change, adapt. You need to see the Order under a new light, please allow me to show you how we have changed, and grow, and perhaps you will rejoin us " she puts a hand on her shoulder " perhaps you will forgive us..."  Leb walks towards the door, the black socorran tailring flpaing his wings to perch on her shoulder " Thanks again for the rescue Captain, and for the cabin" and she walks away to pick one cabin for herself. 

Nils declines Vin's offer with a polite gesture, and replies, "No thanks. I don't drink."

"Neither do I, Caffe?" Vin replies to Nils, and offers some of the chilled beverage from its jug.  The glass he finished pouring has a thick brownish-tan liquid. "Good to keep you awake."  

Sovia takes a deep breath, carefully considering her response to Leb, but is surprised to see she doesn't wait for one. She will understand. She wants to fight them. Thinking more on the best way to show Leb, she settles back down to observe the conversation. 

I just said I don't drink, why would he just offer me a different type of drink?,  wonders Nils. Instead of saying that, he instead replies,  "Ah, no thank you. But I appreciate the offer!" "So. What's everyone planning to do when we get to Bakura?"

Ceph takes a long sip of his drink. “Try and salvage my career. Maybe that will involve looking into where exactly that ship came from. Maybe it won’t. Probably look for odd jobs in the mean time. I’m sneaky as fuck and a good talker. And a good shot when I’m not in a damn ship. I’m sure I can find work.” He looks around at the assembled group. “Anyone’s welcome to tag along if they want.” The offer is genuine but lacks Ceph’s occasional optimism.

"My interests lie in fighting those droids, and I'm sure hers will be the same." Sovia nods to where Leb has just left the room . "But we are not ready yet, and often the force lays a meandering path before us. Perhaps mine has not finished with intersecting yours yet."

"At some point we need to sell the cargo on this ship, moving a 100 tonnes of durasteel might take a little work, but I normally manage to get to know the right people quickly enough, we do need to do a few things to the ship, and if we make enough selling the durasteel we might want to look at upgrading her too." Drael looks across at Vin and Nils "There are a few things we need to do with the ship before we come out of hyperspace or we might give ourselves a problem down the line.  If we can't get the tracking disabled we might as well start running as soon as we shift the durasteel and even then we might be pushing our luck." The pilot looks over at Nils winking at him "The life of a space pirate! Thrill a minute, you'll enjoy it". "Do you think the jedi will try and stop us?  They are supposed to be a bit overly fond of law and order, even if they aren't allowed to have things themselves." Drael asks the group, looking at Sovia when he speaks.  "I don't speak for Vin but I'm curious as to what you'll find and if I can help without the risk of getting killed, harmed, incarcerated or in any way risking myself then I'll be happy to help.  I'm pretty good at getting what I want and I know how to network, not much of a fan of these" he says patting the blaster at his hip "but I can shoot straight enough if needed.  And I've never met anything I couldn't drive or fly so there's that too."  

"You can barely hit a bottle at a hundred paces... if you're lucky."   Vin chuckled at Drael teasingly.  "But then again you probably wouldn't need me around, would you?"   Vin takes a sip of caffe, and sets it back on the table.  "I think I've fought in one too many wars, though, and that's what you're talkin' about, right?"   He looked around at the hodgepodge of people gathered around the table.  "Takin' the fight to 'em?" He pauses as his Imperial accent begins to creep through.  "That takes strategy and intelligence, and I am not referring to the kind in your head.  What do any of you know about the J-Droids?"

"If they are that far away why would I be trying to shoot them?" Drael looks curious at Vin's comment "Probably about right though, I've got steady hands and a low resting pulse, but I'm not a stone cold killer like you."

Unsurprising to Drael, Vin cracks a half smile and nods. "Been around fightin' and dying all my life.  There were few training wheels growing up.  And I jest, Drael, for a nerf herder, you are a fine shot.  But then again, so am I."  Vincent chuckles about the antics of the nerf scurrying around the ship getting into all sorts of mischief.  He was pretty sure Drael had been happy to get them off the ship after the run, though.  Hadn't really bugged him.  He'd relish quietly sneaking off into the hold and petting them.  Of his hand would be covered in the musk, when he went back to the cabin.  Vincent had had to clean a ton of scat from the hold - but that smell from their musk had lingered for several weeks.  Vin had enjoyed most of the experience, but the warm reminiscence quick snapped back to the reality at to the sound of someone talking.

"She has more to worry about and will likely leave you to your business." Sovia answers the earlier question, having waited to see where the inside joke would take them . "A nd I will likely have need of a shop, as your friend rightly says, this will need subtlety and decisiveness, not needing to wait to find passage on a refugee shuttle. I would be glad to have you work with me."

"Well I had been hoping to make some modifications in order to get this ship a little more suited to slipping in and out of places a little more covertly, if it looks like we'll be staying on Bakura for any length of time we might be able to look into that." Drael nods thoughtfully at Sovia's reply.

"Anyone, have any contacts of Bakura?"

"I don't but I speak all the main languages there, and I'm good at winging it." Drael looks over the table and then walks around it sitting with Nils "OK, time enough to have not had anything to drink let's get to work shall we.  There is a transponder with added fun bits that will be actively tracking us.  I'm hoping it won't work here in hyperspace and if we can get rid of it before we reach Bakura, then Obrim, the previous owner of this ship, will hopefully think we went down in flames during the attack.  So all we need to do, as I understand it, is remove the tracking unit without damaging the transponder and  then once it is off change the transponder signature so that they won't ever be able to recognise us.  Maybe one day we could give the old girl a coat of paint and you'd never be able to prove it had ever had another owner.  Sounds like a challenging and yet fun project doesn't it?"   Drael sits back waiting for a reaction from Nils an eager grin on his face "I think you've got more skills in this type of area than I do but if you need any help - let me know, I've been flying her for long enough to know a fair bit about how she works."

'Oh this was gonna get boring.  I am not staying in here and playing nice with these two jedi...sith... whatever.'   A yawn crept over him, despite just taking some caffe.  'Weird' he thought, but as a second yawn hit him he decided not to fight it. "Well, I suppose that's gonna take some time and we're gonna be inverted for more than a day.  I think I'm gonna catch a few Zs."   Vin stood and placed the Caffe bottle and his cup in the conservator.  As he walked toward the door, he thought absently and turn back to the group.  He looked at Leb and Sovia and the other strangers and changed his path to the cockpit - ducking in for only a second.  Returning with his rifle in just a basic carry trying to be non-threatening as he could.  He started to say 'stay out of trouble' as a joke, but decided against saying anything and hit the panel to open his cabin door.  As the door shut, he thought to himself, 'How long have I been up for?'   If anyone had said something to him, he'd have to apologize later cause his mind had just become so hazy he never heard them.  He didn't even hear himself hit the bunk or the rifle clattering to the ground..

As Vin stands up, Nils thinks for a moment on Drael's question. "OK, transponders. So I can disable the whole transponder, that's easy enough. Just a case of hitting it hard enough, really. But getting rid of a tracking unit without damaging the rest of the transponder might be difficult. They're normally designed to be almost impossible to tamper with, for obvious reasons, you know? The parts are all mixed in together. Like trying to unscramble an egg. But I can give it a go! The question is just... if I can't, would you rather have a working transponder that lets Obrim know where you are, or a non-working transponder that means probably no one will let you land. And also maybe make people think that you're pirates. Not that you are, of course," he finishes with a wink.