Gotta Go Fast

[io eyeballs]

"How's business been Loi?" io asked.

"Oh yeah, you know, our stock losses have remained low. No vandals either." The owner of the specialty grocer Rog Imports had come out to meet io personally. He handed io an envelope and smiled.

"Good. I have a few other places to hit today, so...." io took some snacks from the counter and turned to leave before reversing the movement. "Oh, actually, what's your best, most expensive coffee?" He put the snacks back down. The owner paused for a moment then got on a step ladder, retrieving a small package wrapped in red paper from the shelves behind the counter.

"Dathomir mountain blend. Grows wild, so each batch is a little different. Veeeery hard to cultivate on account of attacks by natives. Between me and you, its a bit of a gimmick, but it does have those who swear by it." The owner said. "Here, take it." Loi placed it in io's hands. io smiled, the owner nodded and smiled. They both said their goodbyes and io left for real this time. Protection rackets didn't bring in much money, but they had their perks.

***​

It was late, as late as it could get on a planet without a sunrise, but the Badwazi Bean was open at such hours. It wasn't his kind of joint, as io rarely had reason to use the holonet. He had first started patronizing them because he didn't need to pass through security to have lunch, unlike the Casino across the street. After a few visits he noticed computer nerds were unusually quiet for Antecedents, and it became his go-to spot to get away from the noise of the city and do some reading and writing. Well, it was quiet until they started playing holo-games. io ordered coffee.

jen its eyeballs meet me @ the bean io sent a message to none other than Red Raven mechanic and slicer, [member="Jen"] Phoenix. The message was about a swoop. io realized he was the only person that knew that.

about a swoop

 

[Jen]

It had been a long time since Jennifer had done anything work related, she was pretty set and with various small slicing and mechanic jobs done for the Red Ravens she didn't need a lot else done. When the message from Eyeball had appeared as a pop up on her datapad she was sitting in her, quite luxurious suite within the Dragon Palace Casino, not far from where he wanted her to meet him.

It had been some time since she had been out having a cup of coffee so she guessed it couldn't hurt, his last message - that it was regarding a swoop - did only peek her interest even further. So with that she put on some proper clothes, tied her shoes and made her way towards the Badwazi Bean.


The artificial bell rang through the little HoloNet Café as she entered, the door quickly shutting behind her, muffling the sound of a busy street outside. Yes, this was in some way a safe haven for the one who wished for a good cup of coffee or a good connection to the HoloNet. And a quiet atmosphe- Or well. That thought was sort of cut short by a triumphing cry from some seats further into the Café, coming from a group of younger teens that was probably playing a HoloGame. Interesting. Nevertheless, she was here to meet Eyeball. She removed her round sunglasses from the bridge of her nose, glancing through the Café. It had appeared to her that she had actually never met Eyeball in person, or at least she wasn't sure if they had. Maybe at a party sometime... Or not, who knew.

Her lips twisted in a slight and faint smile as she spotted a possible match by one of the tabels. Yea, it was probably him. Hapan's were cute in their own ways and she was sure she had heard that he was one. From where she had heard such however, she wasn't so sure of. She adjusted her beannie a bit before approaching him, almost instantly sliding into a chair opposite of him, taking a drag from her cigarette and blowing out the cyan smoke before turning towards him, a kind smile seen on her face.

"You wouldn't happen to be Eyeball? Would you?"​

​

[member="io eyeballs"]​

 

[io eyeballs]

At the sound of the door opening io turned slightly to look out of the corner of his eye. Small person, probably a girl. Fiddled with something on her head. He was waiting for a girl. Could be [member="Jen"]. He turned fully. He was right, it was a girl. She sat in front of him. It was probably Jen.

"You wouldn't happen to be Eyeball? Would you?" It was Jen. She had an accent io couldn't place. It emphasized tones, like her words were lyrics to a song with no rhyme or meter.

"Yup that's me." io gave her a smile. He took out a loose cigarette from his jacket. It was bent at the middle. He brought it up for close inspection before deciding it was fine and putting it in his lips. His hands crawled around his jacket for a lighter. "You're Jen then. Been asking around for someone that can work on swoops and they told me to call Jen. Said Jen's prices can't be beat." io's eyes focused on her. "That true?" he raised an eyebrow.

The server put coffee in front of io and a menu in front of Jen. io found his lighter and took a moment to light his cigarette.

 

[Jen]

"Yup that's me." Io had said in response to her question. Jennifer gave a slight nod in a greeting, adjusting herself to sit comfortably in the chair, watching his every move as he continued to talk. "You're Jen then. Been asking around for someone that can work on swoops and they told me to call Jen. Said Jen's prices can't be beat." He had turned his full attention towards her. "That true?" A wonderful compliment she supposed, a smile cracked across her lips as she jauntily replied:

"You got that right. Everything you have heard about me is probably true. Except the thing about the hyperd-.. Oh.. You haven't heard about that? Good.. Soo..~ It is good to meet you as well." Her smile turned a bit slight as they were interrupted by the arrival of Io's brew. As the menu was put down in front of her, she glanced over the menu almost absentmindedly before calmly raising a finger to signal the server that she already wanted to order.

"Just a normal coffee, please." She nodded a few times at her own remark, her amber, almost golden eyes turning back towards Io, cyan smoke seen rising elegantly towards the ceiling from the cigarette between her fingers in her left hand. Her eyes peeked towards the cigarette in Io's mouth, a brow raising on her face. Only hint of a teasing expression seen on her face:


"You know, Eyeball. It's not good for your health. Smoking, that is."

[member="io eyeballs"]

 

[io eyeballs]

Despite focusing on [member="Jen"] io couldn't make her out very well. The Bean might as well have been a dim bar to him. A smoky one. As she looked over the menu io was drawn to what looked like spots around her eye. It was hard to make out, but it may have been a design. He put it off for the moment and attended to his coffee.

There were many ways to cool a cup of coffee. You could put a spoon in it. The metal absorbed its heat quickly. You could blow on it. A hassle when smoking. Or you could put cream in it. This was io's preferred method, he puffed away as he tipped several little tubs of cream into this coffee. He discarded the empty containers off to the side, leaving them tipped at all angles.

"You know, Eyeball. It's not good for your health. Smoking, that is." io looked up from his work.

"Oh, we should be careful then." He took a drag from his cigarette. "Wouldn't want my bad habits rubbing off on you." he blew smoke to the side. He had asked Jen here for a reason. What was it. He remembered. A swoop. A fast one.

"Speaking of bad habits, do you ride?" io stirred his coffee. It changed color and steam stopped rising from it. It was ready to drink. He downed it one go.

 

[Jen]

It was odd how he seemingly struggled to see in the dimly lit Café, or maybe he wasn't struggling, maybe he was just inspecting his surroundings very thoroughly. Jennifer didn't know of his Hapan origins, something like that was hard to tell unless you had extensive knowledge of all the species in the galaxy, or had just lived with a whole lot of "ordinary" humans. Jennifer for one wasn't a normal human being, no, she was half ryn as Eyeball had maybe already noticed.

This was heard in the melodious accent he had already noted, her nose which had tiny curves in it and of course her tail. Perhaps if one were to touch her, currently unlikely, it would seem as if her skin was a bit rougher in structure than most others. Looked very soft though, anyway....!

She took a drag from the cigarette in her hand, blowing out a cloud of cyan smoke to her left almost synchronized with Io.
"Careful indeed, hmm.. I think they already have." She smiled slightly, leaning a bit over the table with her elbows resting on the table infront of her. The tattoo around her golden eye would come in better view with this, showing off the coporal like symbol around it.

"Do I ride? I hope you are talking about Swoopers or Speeders.." She smiled slightly, glancing briefly towards the bar to see if her coffee would be there soon: "If.. You are, then yes. Every now and then. Mostly however I make them. I suppose you for one does. Ride, that is." She looked over his outfit: "So what do you want from the mechanic with the best quality for the best prices?"

[member="io eyeballs"]​

 

[io eyeballs]

"Do I ride? I hope you are talking about Swoopers or Speeders.. If.. You are, then yes. Every now and then. Mostly however I make them. I suppose you for one does. Ride, that is."

"Hmm, oh yeah." io looked at his own jacket. "With the Rat Eaters." He thought about what other kinds of riding she meant, and smirked when he realized it. It hadn't occured of him to think of that as a bad habit. His kind of swoop riding certainly was, and just as unhealthy. The Rat Eaters were a Raven affiliated gang that had origins from the Makeb takeover and had seen action on Teth and Barab I. They also caused trouble on Antecedent from time to time. They didn't have a patch yet, just a name and the color red.

"So what do you want from the mechanic with the best quality for the best prices?" io leaned in after [member="Jen"] did. He couldn't help but notice the tattoo again. It pointed at her eye like a landing pad. He imagined it told you which eye your own was supposed to go to. Question for a later time. For now io's face hardened and his voice lowered.

"The casino's been attacked several times before. Swoop gang can help. It wouldn't do anything security doesn't already, like defend the casino, but they'd catch an attacker trying to run away." He hadn't bothered leaving his cigarette to the side, it hung lax as he spoke.

"Sometimes you just have to make something harder for an enemy, not prevent it." He mused for a moment before continuing. "Small problem though. The Suns have the fastest swoop on the market right now. Tough to catch. We need a faster one. One that could catch any speeder. One so fast they won't even try to outrun. They'll think we're crazy." He returned from his reverie as Jen's coffee arrived. He put his hand over his own cup and shook his head no as the server went to refill his own.

"Which we are." io got up from the table and fished in his jacket for a piece of flimsiplast and put it in front of Jen. He sat back down next to her and pointed at the poorly drawn flimsi. "Can you make that?"

(io's flimsi)​

 

[Jen]

"The casino's been attacked several times before. Swoop gang can help. It wouldn't do anything security doesn't already, like defend the casino, but they'd catch an attacker trying to run away."

Io had explained, resulting in a few understanding nods from Jennifer as she took a last drag from her cigarette before slowly starting to press it into the table, doing that absentmindedly while maintaining eye contact with him, listening.

"Sometimes you just have to make something harder for an enemy, not prevent it." He stopped for a second or two, where was that coffee? It should be here soon anyway, but Io, or Eyeball seemed to have thought a lot about this, so he continued his monologue soon to be dialogue: "Small problem though. The Suns have the fastest swoop on the market right now. Tough to catch. We need a faster one. One that could catch any speeder. One so fast they won't even try to outrun. They'll think we're crazy." And just as he finished his sentence the barista or whatever these people were came over with her coffee. Offering a quick smile to the server she grabbed the cup, stirring it.

"Well we ar-.." Jennifer started with her usual slight grin, only to be interrupted by Io "Which we are." She let out a quiet laugh in response, nodding a few times before taking a careful sip from the scolding hot coffee, her eyes turning back towards him. As the flimsi was shown Jennifer squinted her eyes a bit to take a better look at it, adjusting it with a free hand.

"Ermm.." She chuckled. It wasn't because it was badly drawn, but it was just so simply explained. Or at least it seemed like it, who knew: "So what you want to is attach an ion engine to a normal craft? Making it faster or am I completely missing the point here. Because that I can do the first mentioned. Wonderful sketch by the way."

[member="io eyeballs"]​

 

[io eyeballs]

io smiled at [member="Jen"] when their agreement on the sanity of their gang collided midair.

"So what you want to is attach an ion engine to a normal craft?" io nodded. "Wonderful sketch by the way." He took the cigarette out and let it rest on the ash tray.

"Keep it, but burn it when you're done." io let a grin grow slowly. "We can't let secret swoop plans fall into the wrong hands." He said in a hush and then paused before returning to negotiations. "About payment, I can offer credits, and..." he sheepishly looked at the ceiling for a moment.

"Well, sometimes when riding around things fall off of speeder trucks. I pick them up. Swoop parts, tools. You know, whatever you're looking for." io lied about how often things fell off speeder trucks, and would stick to his story about the origins of any such goods if interrogated by Antecedent authorities, assuming such goods could in fact be proved to exist.

 

[Jen]

"Ah of course. Your secret master plan is too perfect to be shared." She grinned, taking another sip from the coffee cup she was holding. As he went to talk on about payment Jennifer nodded a few times in response, payment was a good thing and spare parts she could use. Yea it was funny how such things was always just.. Randomly falling trucks, how odd..

"That sounds good, how many credits are we talking about here? I'll try to do my best, but I can't buy the best of the best without the credits for it. You understand."

She seemed a bit more serious, as if pondering deeply on the concept of the speeder so as she waited for Io to reply she took the flimsi and put it into one of the many pockets in her trousers.

[member="io eyeballs"]​

 

[io eyeballs]

"We need 15 swoops. Feel free to hire whichever mechanics you'll need for that. 50 thousand up front for the prototype, and another 10 upon completion. 10 thousand up front and 5 upon completion for the rest." io said. He had done more reasearch into swoop prices than how swoops worked and figured the first one would need plenty of testing. He'd planned to negotiate as if he wanted a competitive price, then give a higher one. A good relationship with Antecedent swoop mechanics would be worth it for the Rat Eaters. And [member="Jen"] had made negotiations easy for io, beyond the teasing, which he'd found amusing to get through. He got up and went back to his side of the table, he could just see the outline of the coffee from Loi.

"And this is for meeting me so late. Not really my brand. Fell off a truck." He offered it to Jen. He'd wanted to give it to her regardless of the outcome of negotiations.

 

[Jen]

She counted the numbers in her head, went over the procedures that would be needed to be taken in order to craft the required number.. This was one large order, Jennifer knew that. The prototype deal seemed fair enough, however, simply the risk of working with ion engines, the per price of the 14 other swoops was too low, at least if she wanted some decent mechanics to finish up the rest. Unless of course..

"Hmmm!" Jennifer said with a grin as she thought it over, her eyes turning towards coffee pack as he brought it to her attention, offering it to her. That was a nice gesture, certainly. Hmm.. She wasn't sure if her suite back at the Dragon Palace had a coffee machine. It could get one though if it hadn't.

"Ah? Feel off your truck?" She looked it over in her hand before turning her gaze back towards Io "I think that we got us a deal, Eyeball."

[member="io eyeballs"]​