Log:Jakku: The Rathtars Arrive
The Rathtars Arrive
OOC Date: December 28, 2017
Location: Jakku Space
Participants: Han Solo - Ebon Guard, Vraag Rengh, Barquo Dentoo, Zandra naMuriel, Jarret Sur
21:40:43 Han Solo
After the Ebon Guard mercenaries had arrived in the Jakku system with the cargo containers of Rathtars, Han had told them over comms to leave the containers just beside the Eravana in space. Once that was done, the Eravana's cargo arms had reached out, connected with each container and drug them into place on the heavy bulk freighter's body, pulling them into place and sealing/locking them.
After checking the cargo through the reinforced hatches, Han and Chewbacca exchanged glances and then contacted the Ebon Guard, told them to meet them in the Eravana's hangar.
"Could've gone worse." Han said to Chewbacca, the Wookiee rrrrrowled back at the Corellia.
"They knew what they were getting into, we're gonna pay their families what they would've earned on this run." He spoke of course, of the first crew that Han had lost on this venture.
The two veteran smugglers made their way to the dark, old, Eravana hangar bay then to meet up with the arriving Ebon Guard.. Han was standing there in the fore of the bay watching them arrive... he'd just recently shaved his beard off after a decade or more of having it, it felt weird to... feel his own face again for the first time in all those years.
21:47:40 Vraag Rengh
The Vraag had watched the transfer with a wary eye from the captain's chair, almost seeming anxious to have the cargo containers holding the dangerous beasts off of his new ship. The catching had been a nightmare, and the prospect of those rathtar getting loose in the cargo hold of the Ebontide was about to cause the big mandalorian to need an equally large drink. So much so was his stress mounting that any watching the mercenary leader would be able to see the man visibly relax as the last container is sucked into the Eravana and locked.
"Alright, you heard them," he says, clearing his throat and mustering up his normal confidence. He looks toward Zandra and gestures ahead, "Take us into their hangar and lets get this done with."
As the ship touched down and the ramp lowered on the Raider-Class corvette, Vraag made his way down the ramp, his helmet free and hanging from a T-vizor on his hip. He is limping heavily on his right leg, having been slammed into a thick tree by one of the tentacled beasts. He scans left to right, spots Han and Chewbacca, then makes his way in their direction. Once he and his crew are near enough, Vraag nods his head to the Corellian and says, "I'm Vraag Rengh. Leader of the Ebon Guard. Nice ship you have here... I hope you know how dangerous those beasts are."
21:52: Zandra
Zan is quiet, probably something to do with the big bruise on her cheek, but at least she didn't get chewed on. She rubs at one shoulder, and then nods to Vraag, the pilot-trader taking the Ebontide in as directed, touching down in a graceful landing. She then locks it, keeping hold of the remote, and follows Vraag, stopping on the ramp. Her gaze goes to the folks she can see, her own helmet attached to her belt, taking a lead from Vraag. "They - don't let them get out," she advises. "Please don't." Her voice is steady though soft-spoken, perhaps a bit rough from recent overuse.
21:52:34 Barquo Dentoo
'The' Barquo follows closely on the heels of Vraag his helmet similarly hanging at his hip. The slicers left is a black eye that seems to correspond with a dent in his t-visor'd helmet. Barq also loosely holds onto his right side, underneath there is a bit of exposed flesh, impressive considering that normally there is a bit of armor plating there. "We still get to blame Zan for getting us into that mess right?" he says under his breath as they walk down the ramp. As they meet Han he gives the man a quick glance saying "Yeah best not to let those beasts out in here. I originally thought that it would be easier to catch them in corridors...I don't even want to think about what that nightmare would be like."
21:59:01 Jarret Sur
Behind the lot of them comes Jarret, who is something of a tall, overly-thin sort of ghoulish creature even while wearing his gilded armor. He says nothing as he descends the ramp, but this horrible image of him is only enhanced by what looks very much like a few buckets of dried...something...splattered and dried over him. Frankly, he smells like a cross between an abbatoir and a mudhole.
22:08:25 Han Solo
'Mandalorians... why'd it have to be Mandalorians.' Han thought to himself as he recognized the familar armor. He had a long and storied past with their types, and he didn't really care to dwell on it. He'd hired mercenaries that had come highly recommended, he hadn't really asked about their heritage.
Han and Chewbacca walked toward them to close the distance, they both seemed a bit off-put, but no more than any deal that had come to the payment part.
"Oh yeah." Han replied to Vraag. "We've heard things, about their dangers." Chewbacca looked over at Han, made a little noise... Han disregarded it and didn't pay attention.
In fact, he stepped on step ahead of Chewie so they weren't directly side by side. His hand touched the freshly shaven jawline of his face once more and then he glanced back over his shoulder, motioned in the directio nof the cargo corridors.
"Reinforced blastdoors, automated feeding tanks... they'll be fine in their pens until they get to their roayl futures."
He looked back to the Mercs and smirked. "Your work is appreciated here, lemme tell ya."
Han then reached into his new black leather jacket and pulled out a pouch, he aimed it at Vraag and tossed it to him. It had twenty thousand credits in it.
"So here's the deal. I know we agreed to 150,000. I wasn't able to come up with it--" Han raised his right hand and his pointer finger extended. "There's 20,000 in there, and..." He pointed at the Pure Sabacc. "Thats all yours... its worth at -least- two hundred."
22:15:23 Vraag Rengh
Vraag lifts a hand to catch the tossed pouch of credits, but the collision with the tree and the strain of hunting down rathtars have obviously taken their toll on the man. The pouch sails just past his hand, the drawcords brushing the side of his palm as the bag continues on and smacks him right in the face. The big man curses shaking his head as the bag falls to the floor, then bends slowly to pick it up. He seems a bit put out by the fact that this joker apparently hasn't come up with the money they had agreed on, following his gesture back toward the Pure Sabaac and saying, "A Gambit? Aren't those things only fetching about ninety thousand new?"
He extends an arm out toward Barquo, passing the credits back to the slicer without taking his eyes off of Han. Frowning thoughtfully he says, "You look familiar. Where do I know you from?"
22:16:40 Jarret Sur
"It would depend on the degree to which it is modified," Jarret the apparent axe murderer says to Vraag. "I would inspect it before we agree to this offer."
22:17:29 Barquo Dentoo
As the number of credits in the pouch is stated the slicer raises his left eyebrow and then winces at the pain. He just looks over at his boss to see what he would say. As the bag is tossed his way he reaches out with his right hand and catches the bag wincing as he takes a hand away from his wounded side. He takes a look at the ship that Han is pointing to and then shrugs "We can at least sell it for parts if we don't like it bossman. Course Zan could always run cargo with it."
22:22:26 Zandra
Zan dunno who this Han guy is, or the Wookiee with him. She does grin at what Chewie says, perhaps understanding some of it. "Is it modified?" she asks, with a nod towards Jarret, in agreement with his comment. "Because well modified ships can sell for a lot more than fresh off the builder's docks." She steps forward a bit, as if she could see it, just by looking at the Sabacc. "Might be worth taking, all things considered. Ship that nobody knows we got is not a bad thing."
22:27:00 Han Solo
Honestly, this was Han's last ditch hope for the year to pull in enough credits to start fresh and get going again for real. He wanted to get another Balleen freighter, he wanted to hire a permanent crew for it and he wanted to get a real business going... a side dream he'd always had that had been waylaid by an... unexpected detour into rebellous behavior, that had lasted a lot longer than he originally anticipated.
Han's pointer finger wobbled up and down a bit as it was aimed at the ship on the offering board. "Thats the kicker here." He told the mercs. "Its got sone real 'choice' modifications on it. The kinds I think you... fine people, are really going to enjoy."
At Vraag specifically, Han looked, He then lwoered his hand and shrugged his shoulders. "I did some modeling when I was younger, thats probably what you're thinking of."
Back to business.
Han started to swagger toward the Pure Sabacc and he made his way between the Mercs and to the ultra-Light freighter. He turned about... pointed back at it. "This baby has my speciality installed in it. It'll get ya point-five past lightspeed. It is -the- fastest ship of its type, in the entire galaxy."
The aging smuggler with the greying hair gave them all a cocky half-grin then and there.
22:33:00 Vraag Rengh
Vraag glances aside to each of his men as they speak, one to the other, and it is clear enough that he trusts what they have to say. Looking back around toward the aging smuggler and the apparent buyer turned trader, Vraag finally shrugs his shoulders before he says, "Well something is better than nothing, whether he's telling us the truth or not. Either way, I'm not loading those damn ratters back on my new ship. It isn't worth risking it getting damaged or the rest of the men." The modeling comment is apparently let go for what it is, and the big man looks toward Zandra and says, "If you're happy with it I am. Check the ship out and make sure it meets your fancy."
22:39:12 Barquo Dentoo
The modeling comment ears Han a look from the slicer who seems to let it go pretty quick but isn't really buying it, not worth it. "Leaving with twenty thousand credits and a ship is better than leaving with those damn Rathtars still on our ship." he looks over at Han and then asks "Why the hell do you want those things anyway. They do nothing but eat, eat, and eat some more."
22:40:01 Zandra
Zan listens to the whole conversation thoughtfully. She doesn't even realize she's rubbing at her cheek. She nods to Vraag, easily enough at his suggestion. She steps forward, glancing at Han. "Is it okay if I board and take a look? I can fly it as well." No doubt in her head that she can, even if it's as fast as the old guy says. And that shows in her direct gaze, as well as her squared shoulders and eager smile. "And that way, I can take it to our ship, or even back home." A pause, "And Bark, you forgot the bit about eating."
22:47:36 Han Solo
Han walked over to the Pure Sabacc and he tapped in its open hatch proceedure and subsequently the ramp on the back of the freighter came down to lightly touch upon the hangar's deckplating. He turned back around to look at the four of them.
"Its all yours." He'd say to Zandra then. "There's a few items left aboard, you can do whatever you want with them... uh... the sink over the refresher... I think, has some shaving cream and, probably a lot of hair still i nit." Han quietly cleared his throat. "Sorry about that."
He turned back toward Vraag then and nodded in he and the other two's direction.
"I won a card game back on Canto Bight, I have a warehouse full of 'Munchobrazens'. You ever heard of those things?" He asked them, looking around from one to the other. "No?" Probably not, he just made it up. "Anyway, its more food than I know what to do with. So I'm going to feed it to these guys, fatten'em up, then sell'em to the pit fighters guild."
That was completely a lie. He didn't want them to know he was going to a million per Rathtar by taking them to this crazy Mad King fella.
22:51:28 Vraag Rengh
Vraag nods his head, looking around toward Barquo and Jarret, then moving over to the Pure Sabacc and looking the thing over. "Zandra, you can fly it back to Nar Shaddaa if you want. Take one of the others aboard the Ebontide with you. Test it out and make sure that it does what this guy says it'll do," he says, not that they would be able to find the man again in any kind of a hurry if it doesn't. "Hey, you need any more work done, or that you can tip us off on. Keep us in mind, okay?"
22:56:35 Barquo Dentoo
"Munchobrazens..." barquo says quietly and then says "Huh." he shakes his head and looks at the ship "That thing should be a good addition to our little fleet O' ships." he smiles before wincing and frowning because of his eye "We like to keep busy. The more credits that flow our way the better... I'm sure you can understand."
22:58:00 Zandra
"Munchobrawhat?" Zan didn't quite catch that, but it doesn't matter. She nods to Vraag, before her attention goes back to the old guy. "I - right, we'll take care of that. Somehow. Not that difficult, just a little ... hairy." She takes a breath, and then looks oer to her team. "Who wants to come with me?" she asks, curiously. Then she turns to look at old guy, giving him a nod. "Thank you - it's good to deal with folks who play straight," she says. "And of course, if you do run into any business that could use our assistance, as my associates have said, do feel free to give us a call."
23:07:57 Han Solo
When the Mandalorians appeared to be appeased with this deal, Han put his hands together and started to back away back toward Chewbacca who stood there as the everpresent stalwart to Han Solo's legacy. "Right then." Han said.
"It was a... pleasure doing business with you." He'd raise a hand up to give them all a little faint salute, a ghost of a brief life in the Imperial Navy another lifetime ago showing through there a little.
"I'll look you up if I need some more reliable guns and muscle. Fly safe now, and hey..." He looked to Zandra. "Treat her good. She's a great little ship."
An alarm went off near the back of the hangar, a quiet little alarm.
"I'll let yo---" Han's words were cut off, his attention drawn back to the alarm from that computer terminal. He did a double take at it and then glanced back to Chewbacca...
Han looked back to the mercs then. "Got a call, I gotta take. Thanks again, really." He told them and then turned to go investigate that computer terminal... words appearing on the screen. -Beacon Detected-Beacon Detected-
A smile crossed over Han's visage.
END
