Gadgets and Gizmos a'Broken (open)

[Spark Finn]

Maybe if she just....

ZzzzZZZzzztzzaaaaaap!

A jolt sizzled through her small frame. A spark popped out of her hand. With a disoriented blink, she straightened and shook out her digits, giving the fried control panel wiring a critical look.

Nope. The circuits would need to be replaced. With a huff, she looked out the shuttle's viewport. There was a whole lot of nowhere between her and the next spaceport.

Gorram emergency landings.

The blond would have to walk it - old school-style. Good thing she wore her extra-comfortable converse for this trip. She would need them to cross that bit of wilderness to get to the urban jungle beyond. Several puffs of steam littered the landscape. Looks like she had landed in the middle of a hot-spring zone.

And the worst of it all? Her datapad battery was at 6%! And her comm was about to go, too, with the next recharging terminal fifty or more clicks away.

Hopefully Lialic wouldn't kill her.

 

[Holden Tark]

Jumping from spaceport to spaceport wasn't exactly the dream for a lot of people, but it was Holden's life. Most of the work he picked up, he got on the move. Like the job he had just finished. The item wasn't worth the trouble he went through to get it though, so he got a thirty percent hazard fee at the back end. What was he doing with it, blowing it on a nice room with a large comfortable bed, as opposed to the bunk he had on his ship. Oh and he was going right to the bar for some incredibly unhealthy bar food, and couple of ales to wash it down with. Too bad Corellian ale was so expensive too. Most of the bonus would be spent on that.

Naturally Holden was also lurking around for extra work. Just because he had the credits to blow, didn't mean he wouldn't take a job if it was there. The man was a workaholic, but that was because he enjoyed the job he had made for himself since the rapture event. The former CorSec officer had put his skills to good use, and it was paying off. All he needed to do now was get his name out there as a reputable salvager, and relic hunter.

"Gonna need a basket of deep fried green beans, a burnt end sandwich, and a Corellian ale or two... Oh and can you open me a tab."

Holden flashed a smile at the Twi'lek waitress behind the counter. She was pink, an interesting color as Holden rarely saw Twi'leks of that variety. His stool had him facing the door, just where he liked to sit. It allowed him to see whoever walked in, and what they were up to. Usually Holden could spot a potential employer that way. Enough credits to open a tab were pulled out of his brown work vest. The denim shirt he wore was underneath that, sleeves rolled up. The pants were a comfortable brown work pant and brown boots to finish off the outfit. He looked llike a salvager, and that was what helped get him work.

[member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Isaiah Dashiell]

A bit of blood from a scratch on his head mixed with a cold sweat pasted Izzy's dark hair to his forehead in a sloppy mess as he struggled to kick the cargo container's hinges off. Stowing away could never go so wrong as it had just now. Sucking in another lung full of air he struck the plastoid surface with his boot again. He wasn't going to die in this cramped space, not before he had given his brother one hell of a knuckle sandwich. This was supposed to have been easy to do.

"Yet here I am," a grunt and another kick, "Stuck in this karking box!" Another grunt, another kick. However, the container, unknown to Izzy had been sitting on the edge of a raised part of the ship and his last kick caused the plastoid shipping container to tumble and fall into the earth. He tumbled around inside and shouted in frustration and pain, landing with a thump.

"Oof!"

[member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Spark Finn]

Sadly for [member="Holden Tark"], the slicer was nowhere near anything. Any sign of civilization. Not even a fair trade cup of caf. What she wouldn't do right now to be sitting in a wi-fi zone at Starcredits sipping on an iced-skinny bean latte.

A thumping-crash sound quickly interrupted her wistful thinking.

Stuffing some electronics and supplies for the trek across the wilderness into her bag, she made her way cautiously outside and eyed the talking cargo-box suspiciously. She kicked the side with her toe to get the being's attention inside.

"Hey, freeloader," voice tried to lower and sound as menacing and important as she could muster. Least nervous squeaks as possible. "Identify yourself and come out slowly," she pushed the spectacles further up her nose, "hands up and unarmed!"

Meanwhile, she reached out with the force, trying to garner if he had any electronics she could use against him on his person...if he proved dangerous. [member="Isaiah Dashiell"]

 

[Hodari Turbo]

As [member=Spark Finn] made her way back into her crashlanded ship to check on whatever or whoever it was she had managed to haul with her, A noise started to swell from the distance. Only a few seconds later, the noise had already grown to almost ear splitting levels, and could now be heard unmistakably to be the sound of some kind of engine. From the direction of the noise, it was soon accompanies by a trail of spraying water, and a vague, dim figure. Then, as it grew closer, it formed into someone riding a speeder bike a breakneck speeds, throwing up trails of water from the hot springs behind him like a vapor trail. The speeder passed by the crashed ship like a comet, zipping by at speeds that were way past safety protocols on any sane planet, accompanied by a deep, guttural cry of "YAAAHOOOOOOOO!" that trailed off as the speeder moved on.

Hodari Turbo was having a wonderful time seeing how much speed he could coax out of his favorite toy, the Aratech speeder bike. This place was great for it. No one was ever here to get in Hodari's way, and the hot springs made for a spray of water behind him that only enhanced the fun he was having by adding a spot of theatrics that no one would even notice anyway. As he sped along, a shape passed by in a blur, and Hodari scratched the cap that covered his head with his toe, seeing as he used his hands and feet and vice versa in the usual Dug manner. Seemed like a ship, he thought, a slow, sly grin spreading on his features. Maybe money to be made...

Hodari turned his speeder around in a wide arc and sped back, reluctantly slowing down as he approached the ship. Now that he was closer, he could see that the ship had probably been forced to make an emergency landing. Even better. As he made his approach, speeder's engines revving theatrically all the way, he looked around for any signs of life. He spotted the Human girl off the loading bay off the ship, standing by a box for some reason. "Heyo!" Hodari called as he waved his foot at her in the same manner a Human would've waved his hand. "What is bringing you down so low to the ground with that thing? Is meant to fly high," he said.

 

[Holden Tark]

Holden's datapad beeped at him. He kept it connected to the ship scanners at all times, and got a notice of a downed ship. This was a break. He had to get out there before any of the other salvagers could. NValuable items always went to the first person there, and the cost of certain metals were up these days. While Holden was usually after relics of a mystic nature, he could cash in some metal for a quick pick up. It could buy him a decent upgrade to his ship.

He had the tab, paid for what he was about to eat. He had it boxed up, and ran back to his ship. He'd eat on the way. Jumping into his speeder, Holden dialed into the signal and tracked it way out in the middle of nowhere. This was convenient. All he could hope now was that his speeder didn't crash or break down.

Upon his arrival, there were three individuals there already. Frak! He was too late, unless they were the ones on the ship when it crashed and had mannaged to survive it. Holden could always play the happening by hero. Anything to get work, or something to crash in. That's what he decided to. He pulled out in to the clearing and up to the wreakage.

"Pretty unlucky there huh? Need any help?"

[member="Hodari Turbo"] [member="Spark Finn"] [member="Isaiah Dashiell"]

 

[Isaiah Dashiell]

"What is this, a robbery?" retorted the con-artist before sitting back and heaving a heavy sigh. He wasn't too threatened. Now that he knew that someone was out there to let him out he was less afraid of dying in the box and even less afraid by the glasses wearing blonde he had spied when he originally sneaked into the cargo hold and the container he was now trapped in. But...From the sound of her voice it was obvious to the professional con that she was puffing herself up, simply bluffing...At least, he hoped she was, because if not then his next few words might be the difference between freedom, death in a box by suffocation, or a blaster bolt to the head.

"Listen here blondie, there's food, water and some tech in here that could get us back to civilization. This box is locked shut so if you could open it...That'd be great, and hey," he played with some plastic flimsi composite stuff to imitate the sound of prepackaged food as loudly as possible, "Food!" He hoped that worked. He hoped she was at least a little bit hungry, he knew he was.

The sound of a couple speeders and some muffled voices, one sounded like a Dug, and the other spoke perfect Basic, though guessing what planet he called home or if he was even human...Or male for that matter was nearly impossible to guess from inside this crate.

[member="Holden Tark"] [member="Hodari Turbo"] [member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Isaiah Dashiell"] [member="Holden Tark"] [member="Hodari Turbo"]

There were NO manuals for how to deal with situations like these. No cliff-notes. No datapad wav. files. She checked.

She turned, hearing and seeing the Dug first. She offered a stiff wave. Everyone's a comedian. "Yeah," she said grudgingly. "Just a little mishap, that's all." Didn't need to give the stranger all the details.

Then a second speeder and the box spoke again.

"Well free-rider, looks like you have me at a disadvantage. You already know what I look like. Luckily for you, we aren't going to be stranded in the wilderness for much longer. Company." She seriously thought about leaving that no-good lying free-loader in the box, especially because this situation could quickly turn into 3 vs 1. But she had her reasons.

Blaster remained holstered at her side.

Without taking her eyes off the newcomers, she punched in a code in the side of the crate. With a beep-whir, the box hissed as one side opened. Speckled-face turned to Holden.

"Yeah. A ride into town would be great and some navigation to a good repair shop." Bony-shoulders remained tense as she looked between each stranger and warily watched for the stowaway to come out of the opened-crate.

 

[Hodari Turbo]

[member="Spark Finn"] | [member="Holden Tark"] | [member="Isaiah Dashiell"]

Hodari Grinned broadly at the response, of course taking immediate notice of the Human. "Hodari Turbo," he introduced himself, and made a finger-gun with his toes at the Human as he presented a cheesy grin. "Turbo for the ladies."

He looked on quizzically during her interaction with whatever it was in that box. But his attention sharpened at the arrival of a second speeder. Competition... There was only so many things a convenient passerby could be after, and either way Hodari didn't care if he was speaking the truth. "You go with pretty boy alone, you never come back here alive," he said. "You and boxy friend can go with Hodari instead. Pretty boy can come too, keep each other honest. Maybe not steal stuff from ship while you away, yeah?" he offered in Galactic Basic with somewhat flawed grammar. "Hodari is good help. Very cheap. Not like pretty boy. Rob you blind!"

 

[Holden Tark]

"Rob them blind, why you lying piece of bantha poodoo..." Holden was about to go after the dug, but thought better of it. He really wasn't here to pick a fight with the ugly looking alien. "I heard of the crash yes, and I came to check it out. I might be a salvager, but I'm into the expensive stuff, force relics and such. The kind you have to dig for."

Pretty boy... he shook his head... the dug was funny he'd give him that, but right now he didn't want to deal with it. In a few minutes he'd calm down, and likely be trying to make friends with the dug. Holden looked to the blonde, she was pretty, but flustered looking. Who wouldn't be after a crash.

"If a ride is what you need, I can take care of that. Though the closest place is pretty far from here, and other slavagers will be on their way. I can comm in a tow if you need? Make your freeloader there stay behind to protect the ship he tried stowing away on."

Holden pulled out his comm and did just that. The ship wasn't moving anyway. Knowing a repair had been called in would send all the salvagers away. They didn't like dealing with survivors. Besides, there didn't seem to be much to salvage by way of value anyway.

"Hop in whenever you're ready. I'm sure Turbo here is gonna follow anyway. Name is Holden by the way. Holden Tark."

[member="Hodari Turbo"], [member="Spark Finn"], [member="Isaiah Dashiell"]

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Isaiah Dashiell"] [member="Hodari Turbo"] [member="Holden Tark"]

Eyes widened beneath spectacles as she looked back and forth between Holden and Turbo like watching a smashball match. Box-boy was still in there. Somewhere.

Grabbing her pack, she slung it over her shoulder. A tow was a good idea. Why hadn't she thought of that??? Too much stress being flung into a social situation.

"Spark Finn," she spoke, missing an awkward beat. "Holden. Turbo. What exactly are your going rates...for, you know, a ride to the spaceport?"

Might as well negotiate! She had two vendors, unfortunately without any references.

 

[Isaiah Dashiell]

The box rustled and the box grunted a few times as the spacer got comfortable inside the plastoid container. It had been cramped in there and with the lock finally disengaged, there was no need to conserve space. The box opened with a short hiss and its shaggy haired contents tumbled out, gasping for air. Spark Finn, Holden Tark, Hodari Turbo. Two males; one human, one Dug along with one human female. Two speeders, one demolished freighter, none of them looking very friendly. As his brother would say,

He'd just run up a Strill's backside.

But it looked like blondie was having a dilemma of her own. Trust was a big thing to give out, especially for a spacer to a couple of would be scavengers. Even the con had a hard time discerning their true motives, but for now he would stay silent and watch from his box.

[member="Spark Finn"] [member="Holden Tark"] [member="Hodari Turbo"]​

 

[Hodari Turbo]

[member="Holden Tark"] | [member="Spark Finn"] | [member="Isaiah Dashiell"]

At the mention of 'going rates', Hodari's cheesy grin widened, and he ran two toes along the fold of skin that fell about his face like a faux fu manchu. "How much you got on you? But seems to Hodari we gots problem," he said, stabbing an accusatory toe at the boy from the box. "Rate is cheap, Hodari very cheap! But Hodari's Groovy Fast Flying Machine only seat two." They would have to cooperate, it seemed. No matter. Hodari find a way to take money, the Dug decided. "How abouts we takes box-friend too, and we split rates sixty-forty?" he offered to the Human with his own speeder, pointing at himself at the mention of 'sixty' and to the Human when he said 'forty'. He narrowed his eyes and grinned again, maliciously. "You can take box-friend, Hodari takes the lady."

 

[Sareen Zar]

The scope was very generous to Sareen today, he could see all four of the participants of this event. Maybe they were of value, maybe they weren't didn't matter to Sareen. He had to begin again and here was the best way to strike, four nobodies with unknown assets, beside the wrecked ship and speeders of course. But the Trandoshan waited for a moment giving him time to talk with himself, a valued activity during hunts,

"It ssseemss I have a few unlucky sssouls here, well today will be interesssting and entertaining compared to sssome passs experiencesss."

His CD-36 Rifle was primed for firing a hypothetically fatal shot. And Sareen could not wait to pull the trigger.


[member="Isaiah Dashiell"] [member="Spark Finn"] [member="Holden Tark"] [member="Hodari Turbo"]

 

[Holden Tark]

"I charge nothing, for a ride so need to split. If you want to make some money off of doing the right thing, go ahead, but I make all my money off of what I salvage."

This was the cop in Holden of course. He wasn't a lowlife crook like most salvagers were because he hadn't always been one. Yes, he broke the law when he had to, more like bent it a bit, but not when it came to helping people. He wasn't into extortion. Holden looked around.

"Hey I got a bad feeling about this if we stick around here much longer. Like I said there was a report of a crash and other salvagers could be on their way, or worse than that. So Turbo, you grab box boy, because he needs to be taught a lesson for stowing away, and I'll take Miss Finn here while we arrange a tow."

He looked to Spark.

"Is this agreeable to you?"

[member="Sareen Zar"] [member="Hodari Turbo"] [member="Isaiah Dashiell"] [member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Sareen Zar]

Sareen watched them quietly before deciding on what he would do. He took aim at Holden's speeder, no one was on it so he determined it would be a warning shot. As the crosshairs rested upon the engines of the swoop he remarked,

"Looksss like nobody'sss going anywhere."

Then he pulled the trigger. Immediately after the shot, assuming it blew up the speeder, Sareen released the three of his Seeker Droids. He programed them to, "Attempt to maim and distract, do not kill." Satisfied with their orders he sent them off, then making his way to his Kybuck Speeder. It was time to pay them a visit in person.

[member="Holden Tark"] [member="Hodari Turbo"] [member="Isaiah Dashiell"] [member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Hodari Turbo]

[member="Sareen Zar"] | [member="Holden Tark"] | [member="Isaiah Dashiell"] | [member="Spark Finn"]

"Yes, money! Hodari need money! Pretty boy can eat shoes if he likes," Hodari spat back. He smooth pretty boy. Hodari no like smooth pretty boy, the Dug thought. Perhaps he ought to level out the playing field later. "Hodari no cart box-friend! Hodari shove you in box!" he grumbled. He revved his engines threateningly, lowering his racing goggles over his eyes.

Just then, his bickering was interrupted by blaster fire. "Woh!" Hodari exclaimed as he instinctively gunned the engines of his Z-74 speeder. He was not about to sit still and be an easy target. He never was.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Hodari Turbo"] [member="Sareen Zar"] [member="Holden Tark"] [member="Isaiah Dashiell"]

The stowaway stayed in the box. The Dug threw out some insults. Holden named the right price: free. And shots were fired as she was about to make her way to one Mister Holden Tark.

All of her gangly appendages dove behind the free-loader's crates.

"Your feeling was right!" She squeaked from the other side and cautiously peeked out. "Incoming!" Unfortunately for their assailant, Spark Finn wasn't just a nerd, she was a technopath. With a resilient set to her jaw, she pushed her thoughts forward in the force and into the circuiting of the droids.

Their ability to fly/hover was the first to go.

 

[Isaiah Dashiell]

Blaster fire flew by his face, close enough to illuminate his pale skin with its colored glow. Dirt and debris exploded to his left and all he could do was cover his face from the dirt.

"Karking kark kark!" Why did things like this always go south? Always when there's a woman involved, though more so with his brother. He kept cursing as he hopped back behind his crate next to the snarky four-eyed blonde. "Why did you even entertain the idea that they were a good idea?!" He shouted over the sudden near battlefield-like cacophony of repulsors and blaster fire.

She was ignoring him, it looked like she was concentrating on something, but he needed her to not be concentrating on the inside of her eyelids. "Hey! Spark! I'm talking to y-!" Aaaand then one of the seeker droids sputtered over head and crashed behind them. He sat, his back against the crate with sweat pasting his black locks against his dirty forehead and gawked at the young girl.

Space Magic, err, the Force?

"Was that you?!" He slumped back even further against the crate, "Holy fething Hell that was cool..."

Inappropriate levels of excitement for the situation they were in.

[member="Spark Finn"] [member="Hodari Turbo"] [member="Sareen Zar"] [member="Holden Tark"]​

 

[Sareen Zar]

The seeker droids failure disappointed Sareen. With that part of the plan failed he called them back using their rolling abilities. As his speeder approached them his infrared vision revealed more to him. It seemed he had riled them up, perfect. He added a remark before he let loose the laser cannon on the speeder, "It isss time to give thessse people, a proper greeting." Sareen sprayed the area with laser fire, mostly hitting the wreckage. Sareen knew the probability of hitting a target was low, but provided him with a means of protection of any counter fire.


[member="Spark Finn"] [member="Hodari Turbo"] [member="Holden Tark"] [member="Isaiah Dashiell"]