Kessel Run

[Liona Mikael]

[ The Wheel, Docking Bay ]

Liona let out a soft sigh once she was in the safety of the docking bay for her freighter. Granted, 'safe' was not the word to be used in most spaceports, but at least it didn't have people talking to her all the time. She vaguely wondered if it was time to remove the dye from her hair and try to not stand out. It probably was the purple hair that attracted unsavory attention. Possibly.

The smuggler checked the datapad with her job on it. 'Go to the Tenloss labs on Kessel and retrieve a shipment from the facility. Its a small package of raw materials for medical research that I need Mandal Hypernautics labs to analyze. Deliver it and I can authorize some nice weapons for payment or just pay in credits.' Not in so many works, of course, but it was enough to go on for now. She vaguely recognized the name Tenloss, though more recognized the name Mandal Hypernautics instead.

Whatever. It paid, and that was really all Liona cared about at this point. She wandered up into the ship to run diagnostics and get permission to leave.

[member="Uriel"]

 

[Uriel]

[member="Liona Mikael"]

There was a time, between Here and There, that Uriel needed things to do. In that time he had to acquire funds and keep his combat skills sharp; ergo, the erstwhile Inquisitor found ways to sell his gun for personal reasons. Not for a mercenary corporation, but for something far simpler. He had plenty of money in the bank; this wasn't a high-paying job. Instead, he'd been asked to run as a smuggler's escort considering trouble was expected.

So there he was. Gleaming yellow armour with the sigil of House Tyrae and his personal emblem fierce upon his shoulders. On his left hip, his force sword and his right hip his bolt pistol. His bolter was sitting upon his backpack, of course. Armed to the teeth in clanking powered armour, Uriel was a sight to behold.

As the young lady with the interesting hair walked up into her vessel, the titanic warrior ventured up towards the vessel - and knocked upon the boarding ramp, standing back with his hands behind his back (barely) moments later, waiting for her to permit him aboard.

 

[Liona Mikael]

[member="Uriel"]

BANG BANG

"The gundark was that?" muttered the smuggler as the sound reverberated up the hull of her ship. Great, did that rather intimidating guy show up at her ship this time? Couldn't she get any ruddy peace on this damn space station? No? No. Wondabar. Liona ground her teeth and made her way back to the boarding ramp. Already in a surly mood, she yelled down the ramp before her with the accent she adopted for smuggling, hoping to deter anyone stupid enough to stick around. A hand rested on her right blaster pistol casually. "Oi! What ever yer sellin', I want no part of it. She takes grand 7 fuel or nothin' else!"

She leaned down, her other hand holding the hull of her ship and stared at the giant walking suit of bright kriffing yellow armor standing at her ramp. Liona blinked, strands of purple hair falling into her eyes as she attempted to make some sense of what the heck this dude even was. Mandalorian armor was bulky and overly flaunting sometimes, but this... this was ridiculous.

"... The krif are you?" Liona was nothing if not blunt and straight to the point.

 

[Uriel]

"Your insurance," answered Uriel. "I am here on behalf of Tenloss to ensure your mission succeeds."

Now, to be fair, Uriel had absolutely no idea what the contents of the mission were. He was simply here to ensure the smuggler did not die and that whatever enemies she made along the way did not put a blaster bolt through her skull. Instead, he'd be fighting those enemies clad in his yellowed power armour, fighting his way through... whatever. And if nothing happened along the way, then, good. He understood that this whole thing was suspicious. Even he did not like it. But sometimes pay was pay and a roaming noble needed money to get by every now and then.

With hands heind his back, he looked at least slightly less threatening - he hoped - to the woman with the rather interesting purple hair.

"And no, you will not be the one paying me, so have no fear. I am told your primary concerns include your costs. May I board so that we can depart?"

[member="Liona Mikael"]

 

[Liona Mikael]

She stared at him. A breeze passed through the hanger, bringing the smell of starship fuel and grease, and she stared at him even as her eyes watered. He was her what? She was a little hurt; she'd never screwed up one job before. The one in the Tattoonie bar did not count. Yet here was someone to make sure she got the stuff successfully.

"I don't think my ship is rated for whatever weight yer packin' there, chum." She made a face and mulled it over for a moment. Ah, what the Force. If he did break her ship, she could make him by her a new one if it came down to it.

"...A'right, c'mon. Ya touch anythin' and break it, ya buy me a new one," said the smuggler, turning and disappearing up back into her ship.

[member="Uriel"]

 

[Uriel]

"Your ship is a freighter - believe me, it will carry my meagre weight. Fear not. I will not damage a thing," he said wryly, knowing full well he could at least control his power armour by now. He practically lived in it, after all.

Slowly the noble strode his way up the boarding ramp of the ship, every step loud and powerful as he boarded Liona's ship. He didn't know much about their mission, truth told; only that this woman's life was likely in danger. Their ship could be caught, they could be boarded by pirates, they could be attacked in either facility. There was a lot riding on this mission and someone willing to pay big credits for this box. A small cut as a bodyguard wasn't a big ask.

"Allow me to introduce myself," he said, the magnetic environmental seal on his helmet hissing then clicking as he removed the helmet from his armour. It revealed a man with short-kept brown hair and a few metal studs in his forehead, creases around them from furrowing his brown one or two too many times. "My name is Uriel of House Tyrae, of the planet Adax. And you are?"

[member="Liona Mikael"]

 

[Liona Mikael]

He was the oddest bounty hunter, body guard, walking suit of armor --- and apparent noble she'd ever met. Liona punched the button to close the hatched and settled herself into the captains chair. The smuggler powered up the engines, guiding the freighter out of the Wheel with fluid precision. While clearly not a star fighter pilot in any fashion, she did have a knack for maneuvering her giant lug-nut of a ship out of relatively small spaces. Once out in space, she punched in the coordinates and leaned back into her chair.

"Phymi Tide, smuggler, of my ship. Specialize in slicin' and hackin', but I'll smuggle weapons for ya if paid enough," she said, propping her feet up on the dashboard. She liked the techy stuff much more, but credits were credits and the ship didn't fueling itself.

[member="Uriel"]

 

[Uriel]

"A pleasure, Miss Tide," Uriel chimed in return, nodding his head out of deference to the ship's captain. He took a passenger seat - never a pilot or cop-pilot's seat, of course. Uriel was not rated on flight, having never tried it before. He relied primarily on military trnsports... mostly drop-pods and dropships and the occasional large troop transport, when not aboard a capital ship with his battle-brothers.

His helmet, bolter and force sword were drawn aside and left at his feet, disarming him while he was aboard the vessel. The noble knew that not only was it safe here, but the fact remained that he would not need his weapons just yet. Besides, it was far easier to sit without a sword resting at your side.

He paused a moment, rubbing his chin as the ship drifted away from the Wheel and towards open space, preparing for a hyperjump out to the Tenloss facility. "Did they warn you about any potential hostile activity before they gave you the job?" he asked, genuinely curious. Did she know something he did not?

[member="Liona Mikael"]

 

[Liona Mikael]

She eyed the sword. Dude a giant suit of armor had a sword. The krif was that about? The only people she knew to have 'swords' were the kriffin' Jedi and their 'sabers. Otherwise, blasters, pistols, railguns and long range explosives were incredibly common. Besides, armor that heavy had to have the maneuverability of a obese kyratt dragon: unwieldy, slow, and ultimately hindering. Mando armor, sure she understood the point of it all, but a walking tank? Might as well be inside an actual tank or AT-AT for all it really mattered in the end. 'Phymi' raised a brow at it and shook her head.

Yeh, he wouldn't last long against a 'saber. Or AT-AT fire for that matter.

"If yer askin' if I'm goin' in thinkin' it'll be easy... ya clearly never dealt with a smuggler. A'course there's bound ta be angries," she said with another roll of her eyes. 'Phymi' punched in the hyper space coordinates and made the jump in almost one fluid motion. She expected some rather angry people, but then she always expected some rather angry people. While the ship cruised through hyperspace, she brought up a datapad and started tapping the screen with quick fingers. First off, scramble her ship to match Tenloss supplier ships on their sensors. Second... maybe slice into their defense grid and see what she was up against.

After all, they had at least two standard hours before they'd come out of hyperspace. The smuggler had plenty of time to do what she needed to.

[member="Uriel"]