Blue Milk Run

[Sal Katarn]

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The power loader reversed before slowing to a stop. Jethro climbed out of the driver's seat and crossed his arms, staring at the crates piled high inside the cargo bay.

"You know, Thrukk," he said to the enormous Houk standing nearby, "When they said it would be a blue milk run I didn't actually think we'd be hauling a bay full of..." he gestured with his chin at the crates, "blue milk."

Shaking his head, the Captain turned toward the port airlock of the Bondara. He touched a finger to his earpiece.

"Aright, Kurt, that's the last of 'em. Let's get her underway."

He pulled out a data pad and glanced at the crew manifest.

Here we go.

Captain - Jethro Wright
XO - [member="Kaileann Vera"]
CHENG - [member="Adder"]
Navigations - [member="Kurt Meyer"]
Communications/Sensors - [member="Kinsey Starchaser"]
Weapon Systems - [member="Thrukk Gulpdar"]

 

[Kaile Vera]

[ Ain't nuthin' wrong with honest work, Capt'n. ]

The amused chortle would crackle through the various comm earpieces. It was Kayleigh Bohannon, the hazel eyed brunette currently up on high reviewing the details of the ship's manifest.

[ Got our clearances. Should help us mosey on down the inspection line without havin' to wait. ] up along the cockpit, the girl adjusted her headset, flicking the small metal mouthpiece closer.

[ Are the rest back with our new provisions? ] she asked, wondering just what the rest of the crew might bring back. They had to resupply here; fuel, food, water... frozen burritos. The daily needs for spacer life.

 

[Adder]

The Bondara was a nice enough ship. For a smuggler. In her first two hours of inspection, Adder discovered five hidden cargo compartments. They were obviously obscure, and suspiciously empty. As the day dragged its lazy ass from morning to sunfall, so did the redhead. Her pace was decidedly more determined, however.

By dinner time, the woman had sniffed out three more, which confirmed her initial hypotheses. A classical case of diversion, combined with a dash of ‘hidden in plain sight’. Kudos to whoever designed the ship.

But Adder was a good detective, and a whiz with a spanner. Those compartments never stood a chance.

Next day was their first crack at working together, properly. Blue milk. She stifled a laugh and shook her head.

“I’ll go have a chat with the backup drive, it was coughing something awful yesterday. Thrukk. Cap’n.”

[member="Jethro Wright"] | [member="Thrukk Gulpdar"] | [member="Kaileann Vera"] | [member="Kurt Meyer"] | [member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

Kurt sat comfortably in the pilots chair, the dashboard before him half taken apart, wires hanging loosely everywhere and the occasional spark jumping out as his hands drifted too close. It was an interesting sight, a work in progress to be sure.

At first the young Pilot hadn't been too thrilled about their current ship, if only because the thing was...well...horrendously ugly.

Oddly enough however the vessel had grown on him, and much like a Mother with an Ugly child Kurt had come to love the old vessel in a rather short amount of time. Of course, that didn't mean that the thing didn't need some work. For instance the controls were just awful, half the time he needed to punch the damn thing just to get it going and the other half a solid kick was needed. That was why the place was in such a state of disrepair, or rather mid-repair.

"Alright." He called as his hand slammed against one of the buttons on the control board.

There was a slight lurch and then the ship took off.

In truth, he wasn't entirely sure where they were going, but that hardly mattered right now. First step was just getting this damned thing out of the atmosphere.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Jethro Wright"] [member="Kaileann Vera"] [member="Adder"] [member="Kurt Meyer"] [member="Thrukk Gulpdar"]


The black nail-polish marred across the flesh of her finger at the slight lurch. "Feth-chit KURT. C'mon. A little warning next time," the teen grumbled from the comms chair. She wasn't really mad at Kurt. She was mad because only fifty people liked her last selfie. That was ridiculous. At least twice that many should've liked...

She picked at the wet nail-polish, clearing it from where it wasn't supposed to be. Index fingers tapped the refresh button to the Spacebook page again.

"Yeah, yeah. We're all clear for take-off." She confirmed what Kayleigh said. "Totally. Tiny Ships is my fav show too. One of them. They need to chill, I mean right?!" She chatted away with the woman at ground-control. Kinsey never met a stranger. Duhey. "No, I did not catch that episode of Real Housewives of Coruscant Level Thirty-Two! Pfff, work and the snarfs......"

The teen continued to yabber, while finishing off the black nail-polish.

 

[Azula Tindara]

"Beggin' yer pardon captin, but does blue milk actually come wi' a margin greater than th' fuel an' crew cost ay thes maiden voyage?" Thrukk asked, crossing his arms over his chest. The bounty hunter hadn't survived in the business without at least a little business acumen. Also he planned to eat plenty of food and to get an opportunity to shoot some heavy weaponry. Both were expensive activities. His organic hand twitched. He wanted a cigarra. Problem was he had to go and stand in the airlock to have a good smoke without setting the ships alarms off. He didn't like standing in an airlock with a button that would send him to his death on the other side of a bulkhead with a crew he didn't know.

"An' if it needs a wee bit a persuasion gezz a shoot," he called after Adder, carrying on beside the captain towards the bridge. The damnable doors were too narrow, causing him to both duck down and sidle through.

"Aur we gonnae be able tae fly wi' 'at?" he asked, looking at the mess of wires before Kurt.

 

[Sal Katarn]

Jethro nodded to [member="Adder"]. Very competent woman, knew what she was about. Nice to have a professional on board. Didn't know her history, but he hadn't asked. If any of the crew wanted to tell him some day, they would. He figured it was best to judge people by who they are rather than who they were, anyway.

The ship lurched and he nearly stumbled. Shaking his head, the erstwhile miner turned to [member="Thrukk Gulpdar"]. He chuckled.

"Eh, you'd be surprised. Blue milk can go for some steep prices on industrial worlds. Not a lotta livestock there. The cargo we're hauling could like as not pay for three more Bondaras and some change left over."

He started moving toward the airlock, satisfied that everything in the cargo pod was secure. "We'll be getting about a quarter of that."

The Captain knew the exact figures, but he didn't want to bore the Houk with the details. He'd been quick to learn that numbers didn't really matter much to the fellow unless those numbers were cred coins that Thrukk would be earning.

The port airlock was open. They only sealed it in event of a hull breach or in the process of unclamping the cargo pod. Right now it just served as a very large entry way. Big enough for even the Houk, though he'd have to squeeze through the passageway to the bridge.

Jethro briefly stopped at the galley to snag a mug and a thermos.

When they reached the bridge, he could only stare at what Kurt had done to the helm console.

"What the blazes," he grumbled, looking first at Kurt, then at Kinsey's station, where she was merrily scrolling through her space book. He sighed and muttered under his breath, "Damn kids."

Jethro unscrewed the thermos cap and poured himself a cup of caf. He took a long sip of the bitter brew. Better. Much better.

"Kinsey, stop scrolling space book. Kaile, we're fully stocked and ready to go. Kurt, that's a fire hazard. You need the Cheng to help? Also, who wants caf?"

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"] | [member="Kaileann Vera"] | [member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Onith Trill]

I awoke to find myself surrounded by . . . Milk. Of the aquamarine variety. Crate and crates of milk. I'm wondering why I'm here and my memory banks are empty. Darn memory wipes. Might as well do a diagnostic and figure out what's going on.

Hardware Diagnostic - 17% . . . 26% . . . 45% . . . 61% . . . 87% . . . Complete
Sotware Diagnostic - 21% . . . 38% . . . 51% . . . 57% . . . 59% . . . 61% . . . 74% . . . Complete

Targeting and weapons software seems intact. I've also got some non-standard software "Human and Near-Human Stabilization techniques and treatment." Plating had various burns and scratches, which implied I've done my duty in the past. However I also have a restraining bolt, and some sort of paint on my arm. I take a glance down and notice an artistic signature in what appeared to be black nail polish.

✰Kinsey Starchaser✰


I try to sigh, but the restraining bolt won't allow it. Apparently I'm the property of a child.

Kark it all.

[member="Jethro Wright"]
[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

 

[Kaile Vera]

"Just working the wires, Capt'n." Kayleigh Bohanan spoke up when the Captain came in. With her hair up in a messy ponytail and tendrils of loose hair feathering the sides of her face, she almost appeared to be a few years younger than the late twenties double digit she was.

"Should be fine --" another lurch, sending them all forward about a foot and most definitely threatening to teeter any nail polish bottle left unsecured.

A brief glance to her right caught the sight of the youngest of the crew getting the fatherly stare down. That made the corner of Kayleigh's mouth twitch.

"Careful Kins... I saw your holoit account got a few mark downs for your last post." a snicker and then a shake of her head. Crouching down beside Kurt, she handed him the wire stripper.

"Try not to have us explode so early on in the flight, eh?" she told him then, a small tease in her voice.

 

[Azula Tindara]

"Weel 'en eh'd best nae drink tay much ay it oan th' way!" Thrukk exclaimed regarding the blue milk. It was of course a complete lie. He had every intention of drinking gallons of the stuff whenever the captain wasn't looking. That said, he meandered towards his station. His perfect station where he could sit and not lift a finger for the entire journey. Hopefully.

"What's thes 'en an' hoo diz it wark?" he asked Kinsey, distracted by her spacebook page. Thrukk's idea of social media was a pole with a naked twilek dancing around it whilst another girl brought him and his friends food. He did know how it worked however. In the bounty hunting business one used every took available and there were some very stupid people with bounties to their name. As well as profiles with location tagging.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Jethro Wright"] [member="Kaileann Vera"] [member="Adder"] [member="Kurt Meyer"] Thrukk Gulpdar [member="Tal"]

Busted.

She tapped the headset by her ear, finishing off the convo with the traffic-controller. "Yeah, boss's back. I gotta go."

She paused.

"I know. Totes for real."

Starchaser-blues rolled.

"Cap. It's Spacebook. Not Space. Book. You are totally worse than my dad." But to her credit, she minimized the page. "And Kay I know. It's tragic." She bemoaned as the large shadow of Thrukk loomed from behind. He caught the window before it minimized but he may or may not have caught on that she used a different last name.

Not too long ago a malevolent Sith Lord set a bounty on her head. If the teen had known he was a bounty hunter she might've been a bit more worried. But that was neither here nor there.

Swiveling in her seat, she turned and with her neck craned back she found Thrukk's eyes. "That's even more tragic! Thrukk I solemnly swear to show you everything about Spacebook. And Twizer. And Instaholo. And Snapcomm."

He was just adopted by a teenager.

"Oh and I almost forgot! I got everyone a present." The teen beamed and pressed a small button on her chrono that would signal Sal to come up. He was totes adorable. They would love him. They better. Because she was pretty sure there was no return policy.

 

[Sal Katarn]

Jethro fought the sudden urge to bury his face in a hand while simultaneously struggling to keep a smile in check. Pulled in two directions at once, he settled for taking a sip of his caf and wincing at the superbly bitter brew.

Twizi? Instasnap? He hadn't heard of half of these new fangled platforms. Once upon a time, meeting people face to face for a cold one had been the norm. Now the kids were all hooking up over the holonet and what not. What was the galaxy coming to? Imagining the antics of Thrukk on social media under Kinsey's direction caused him to take another sip.

Why do I get the feeling the Houk is worried more about how to put the blue milk in his breakfast without me noticing than getting it to its final destination?


"Kurt let's keep us at minimum burn for now."

Didn't want to be wasting fuel reserves.

"Adder," he held up a finger to his earpiece. "How's the backup?"

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"] | [member="Adder"] | [member="Tal"] | [member="Thrukk Gulpdar"] | [member="Kurt Meyer"] | [member="Kaileann Vera"] | [member="Pollux"]

 

[Onith Trill]

You need to come here.

The signal wasn't quite that blatant, but it was pretty close. Probably this "Kinsey Starchaser" who defaced my forearm plating. I try to ignore it, but the restraining bolt isn't having any of that. With an internal sigh I spring up to a stand and start walking. The signal's to my right, but I keep going forward to the door. Pretty sure I can't get there that way. I navigate through the cargo hold, engineering, the barracks, and finally to the CIC. I take a look around and can guess instantly the one that purchased me.

Maybe I could get her to trade me with the Houk or scruffles or mohawk. Am I that lucky? I've been memory wiped, probably not.

"Hello."

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"] [member="Jethro Wright"] [member="Kurt Meyer"] [member="Pollux"] [member="Thrukk Gulpdar"] [member="Adder"] [member="Kaileann Vera"]

OOC: Short post on my 15 min break. I'll be lurkin.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

Kurt sat quietly at the console, it was a bit of a mess but that was okay.

He bristled slightly as the captain told him what to do. There was a part of him, the wild streak, that simply didn't like being told how he should fly a ship, especially considering that was what he'd been hired to do in the first place. A frowned pulled at his lips, but a quick reminder to himself about who he was supposed to be erased that quickly. "Aye aye Cap'."

The words were almost a tad too cheerful.

He shrugged inwardly, keeping his emotion hidden as he pressed the vessel forward. His mind began to drift towards other things as he piloted the craft. Flying this particular ship wasn't exactly a challenge, especially when he normally flew things like The Coil or The Messa. This thing was like flying around in a slug compared to those two. He probably could have done it with his eyes closed if he'd wanted to, though for some reason he thought that the others might have frowned upon that.

Kurt smirked to himself, the idea of suddenly bucking the heavy ship to the side and turning them upside down...

It was appealing.

 

[Azula Tindara]

A brow like a mountain ridgeline lowered. One eyebrow then arched curiously. Thrukk wasn’t the brightest individual in the ‘verse, but he was observant. Back in his youth in the slave fighting pits his size hadn’t mattered. Not when the masters brought breasts from across the outer rim to fight. Watching, leaning and being faster than his opponent’s had expected had kept him alive. The odd surname hadn’t passed him by. After all, he’d checked the ship’s manifest when no one was looking to see if there were any simple bounties to collect. A nice quiet trip and an easy pay packet at the other end would have made this a simple diversion.

Spacebook, Twizer and Instaholo he was familiar with. His bothan associate had given him some software to trawl it for geotagged status from individuals with bounties. Snapcomm sounded familiar…oh.

“Ah snapcomm is 'at hin' whaur fowk send each other nuddie picters!” Thrukk exclaimed. He gave the teenager a wink as he sat back down at his station. “Yoo'll hae tae try harder than 'at lass,” he chortled.

Thrukk pressed a few buttons. “Captain! Ah can confirm 'at th' weapons ur still attached tae th' ship.”

Having done his work for the day, he turned back to Kinsey. His next words were perhaps a little deeper than anyone would expect from the houk. “So serioosly, Ah've ne'er got why ye shoods spend time sharin' yer life insteid ay gettin' oan wi' livin' it. Picture ay a guid cigarra is still jist a picture, cannae smoke it!”

[member="Tal"] [member="Kinsey Starchaser"] [member="Jethro Wright"] [member="Kurt Meyer"] [member="Pollux"] Thrukk Gulpdar [member="Adder"] [member="Kaileann Vera"]

 

[Sal Katarn]

"Thanks, Thrukk, Mr. Reach."

He took another sip of the caf, still coming awake after the early dock departure and electing not to comment on Mr. Gulpdar's astute observation on the singular uses of snapcomm. The kid'd brought it on herself.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

Jethro turned toward the noise, frowning, to meet the dead-eyed stare of two unblinking photoreceptors. A class IV droid, looked like, with a peculiar forearm paint job and what was clearly a restraining bolt.

"Hello," it said tonelessly.

Jethro's caf nearly shot out his nose. He coughed, beating his chest with a free hand.

"Uh, hello there," He wheezed once he'd regained some composure. Wright shot Kinsey a stern 'we'll talk about this later' look. "Who are you?"

[member="Thrukk Gulpdar"] | [member="Kinsey Starchaser"] | [member="Kurt Meyer"] | [member="Kaileann Vera"] | [member="Adder"] | [member="Tal"]

 

[Adder]

“So… you wanna talk about it?”

“I mean, I get it. It’s difficult, being out here all alone like this. Who are we kidding? It fething sucks Sith balls. But it’s what we got, right?”

“You’re dealt a lot in life, good or bad, and you gotta handle it the best you can. Me? I grew up alright. Mom and dad never fought much, and the neighborhood was okay. For Coruscant, more than okay. Had a couple of friends, but nothing ever stuck. I was just the wandering type, you know? Heh. ‘Course you know.”

“Anyway, I really got nothing to complain about. I’ve seen people living on dirt and sewer water since I’ve left the force… let me tell ya, the galaxy can get a lot, lot worse than this.”

“So why don’t you get off your rusty ass and FETHING WORK, YOU PIECE OF TOYDORIAN JUNK!”

Her hyrospanner hit the uncooperative drive a second later with the vicious accuracy of a trained marksman.

CLANG

The backup shuddered for a moment, wheezing and grinding, then started up again. The red light on the side panel – disemboweled with all its wires hanging out, courtesy of Adder – stopped blinking, and a row of happy greens flashed back at her.

“Well I’ll be... Frakking machines, I tell you what.”

The CHENG shook her head and started gathering up her tools.

"You guys got any caf upstairs?"

[member="Jethro Wright"] | [member="Kinsey Starchaser"] | [member="Thrukk Gulpdar"] | [member="Kaileann Vera"] | [member="Tal"] | [member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Onith Trill]

[member="Adder"] [member="Jethro Wright"] [member="Kinsey Starchaser"] [member="Thrukk Gulpdar"] [member="Kaileann Vera"] [member="Kurt Meyer"]

The chipper pilot. The blunt Houk. The socially adept perhaps risque teenage girl. And scruffles, who seemed to be annoyed at every surprise. He was probably the Captain, or at least the XO. Hmm. My programming has a desire for efficiency and organization, yet I'm not sure how much of that will be here. Ship politics seem to be compartmentalized to how the individual sees the others, which means they haven't formed inner-cliques yet. A new crew perhaps? I plot out possibilities until scruffles asks me who I am.

"I assume either my name is Kinsey Starchaser or hers is." I say while gesturing at the young woman Scruffles had glanced at moments ago. "Regardless of personal designation am a Talos-1 Battle Droid. Serial Number Besh-Four-One-Five-Six-Qek-Eight-Seven-Two. I don't have any recent memory but my weapons handling and targeting software is operating at peak efficiency. My hardware could use some maintenance, but it is suitable for combat. I will prove useful in a combat given a firearm. Captain" I guessed, perhaps too soon for a recently memory wiped droid. But there was on point in wasting time. If he was the captain he wouldn't care, if he wasn't I could see if he was vying for a captain role or happy as XO.

But before he could respond there was a sudden rush forward as the vessel was ripped out of hyperspace. Alarms began to go off. There was a 63% chance we the victim of pirates using interdiction. A 37% chance that the hyperdrive on this cheap vehicle had malfunctioned. If I could hope I would hope for the former. It's been too long since I've logged some action.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

"No, Thrukk," she laughed but her cheeks blushed. "That's Sinder." Of course there was a 90% chance that some drunken pictures had ended up on some account somewhere of Kinsey half-clothed. Teenage wild years. She obviously un-tagged herself and/or didn't know about them. But really made herself forget.

"Wait a minute, Thrukk. You telling me you got a cigarra somewhere? I totes wanna try one. Please. Please. Please?" Of course she knew that wasn't what he was saying but you, know. Teenager. She wouldn't break out into some existential speech about the pros of social media. That would come later. After she was a little drunk. Okay, buzzed.

Blue-eyes widened and she shrugged, offering the Captain an innocent smile. She was beginning to wonder if Jethro's face was permanently glued into a scowl. Luckily, her bunkmate's voice broke some of the tension.

"Yeah Adder, we got some caf! Need me to bring....OOoommph."

A violent lurch and she was thrown from her seat and to the deck-plated floor.

Black nail polish spilled everywhere. Her knee banged hard. "FETHCHIT."

It was more a bemoaning of losing her fav polish.

[member="[URL="http://starwarsrp.net/user/8100-jethro-wright/"]Jethro Wright[/URL]"] [member="[/FONT][URL="http://starwarsrp.net/user/797-kaileann-vera/"]Kaileann Vera[/URL]"] [member="[/FONT][URL="http://starwarsrp.net/user/8721-adder/"]Adder[/URL]"] [member="[/FONT][URL="http://starwarsrp.net/user/7892-kurt-meyer/"]Kurt Meyer[/URL]"] [member="Thrukk Gulpdar"] [member="[/FONT][URL="http://starwarsrp.net/user/1198-tal/"]Tal[/URL]"]

 

[Kaile Vera]

A present?

Kurt and Kaile shared a private look. Amusement glittered in her eyes for a moment, shaking her head. Kins was young. Barely at the edge of her teens.

She had a ways to go.

Captain Wright had taken to 'father' role with the younger woman, and it was a continuous comedic duo with those two. Half the time Jethro wasn't quite sure how to handle Kinsey and the other half he spent it not wanting to picture whatever the girl was insinuating.

However, whatever Kayleigh was going to toss in for her two credits worth went out the viewport when the massive lurch sent them all tumbling. She slid port, unable to stop the sudden thrust as her skull gave a heavy crack against the durasteel bulkhead.

"Gorram it!" the Lorrdian yelped out, stars erupting at the back of her eyes as pain shot through the side of her head.

"KURT!" she cried out, a kaleidoscope of colors burning her eyes as she struggled to her feet. What the feth was going on?

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"] @Tal @Adder @Jethro Wright [member="Thrukk Gulpdar"] [member="Kurt Meyer"]