Riptide

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

A sonic and a PowerBar to eat to keep her tummy settled, Kaile trotted out of the Mesa and into the bright light of the hanger. Her nose gave a slight scrunch. What was that smell?? A grimace of distaste went forming over her face, her olfactory senses seemingly overpowered but the medley of scents.

"Ugh." a hand came up to cover her nose and mouth. Did someone leave trash out? And was that Rodian rosemary? There were so many different aromas and scents. Her stomach gave another roll, and Kaile had to breathe in through her mouth to quell it.

Once she felt better, Kaile set to securing the Mesa. A brief tap on her wrist comm brought up Kurt's information. She gave him a quick call.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

While Belinda shifted through the files, each of which were actually kept on hard copies instead of Digital, Kurt answered his comm.

"Yes?" He said as he shot the older woman a smile.

Belinda had been good to him. She had been the one that had actually given him his interview here at Sif. The woman had once been Sif's primary HR lady, though her...loose hiring practices had eventually forced the higher ups to bump her down to a simple clerk. She was a nice lady, though a bit too nice. Belinda had a tendency to give almost anyone and everyone who walked through the doors a job. It didn't particularly matter to her who they were or what their background was, but if she thought they were good...they always got hired.

Kurt was thankful for that of course, it had netted him a good opportunity and a beautiful ship.

He had a soft spot for the old woman, and for the first few months of working for Sif he had always made sure to bring Belinda back something whenever he'd come home to Headquarters. She was nice, and he wanted to make sure she knew she was appreciated.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Hearing Kurt's voice brought a small smile to Kaile's face.

"Hey!" she began her voice crackling through to his comm. "Sorry I slept in...I don't know what I have but it really hit me hard." especially if she was sleeping as much as she did.

"Can't keep anything down." another grimace. "Reckon while you are off to Sif ach-que I'll stop by a med clinic to get checked over. Shouldn't be long." the lorrdian said, moving out from the hanger into the starport.

"How's it going?"

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

“Okay.” Kurt said, knowing that the clinic was likely the best idea. “Just a warning though, the med-center here isn’t exactly the best. The Doc usually just hands you some pills and sends you out the door.”

Sif was great for many things, but medical care was not one of them. When you dealt with freighter captains and crew for the better part of a day you started to become rather callous and insensitive. The clinic here wasn’t exactly designed for long periods of stay, but rather to get people flying as fast as possible. They wouldn’t let anyone die but… “If you want we can head to an actual hospital.”

It would take more time, and cost money, but he wasn’t about to let his friend be sick for all eternity.

“I’m just waiting for Belinda to sift through all the files.” Kurt said as he glanced towards the elderly woman.

She was hung up in the back of the clerk’s office now, digging through half a dozen different filing cabinets to retrieve the folders for big jobs that had come in during the last two weeks. Kurt never really understood why they had to all be hard copies, but he also knew better than to question the system that Belinda and the other clerks used.

He was only a Pilot after all.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

[ You sure? ] Kaile didn't want to be a bother. And if it was more money...

[ I don't know... It will cost more. ] she came to a stop, looking at the holo directory. Sif headquarters wasn't too far away. She could go meet up with Kurt.

[ I mean, we could go to Sullust and it will be free... But that's out of the way. ] not to mention it would be a wait. It would take a bit for her to be seen.

[ And I'll need to take a number. ]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt shrugged, though of course Kaile wouldn’t be able to see that.

“Are you worried about it?” Kaile was the one that was sick, so if she wanted to go to the hospital, they would go to the hospital. Kurt wasn’t exactly the expert on sickness, his immune system was robust enough to fight off the Gulag Plague, so it wasn’t often that he had to go see a doctor of any sort.

Well...aside from incidents like Spira.

“If you think you need it, we’ll go.” Kurt said. “We can always make more money to cover the cost, but if you don’t think it’s that big of a deal go to the Clinc, get some Belly-pills and we’ll head out.”

He thought for a moment. “And if you still feel bad in a few days, then we go to the hospital.”

A quick glance towards Belinda and he continued on.

“But.” He stressed the word. “Only if you think you’re well enough.”

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Her fingers would thrum along her thigh. Well, that made a bit of sense, Kaile supposed. Anxiety ran down her spine, and her belly gave another small lurch.

Well...

[ Yeah, let me get something here. See how it goes. If it gets worse, then we can always go somewhere. ]

That would be easier to do honestly.

[ Shouldn't take long. ] even if it was a quick pack of meds and all.

[ Any good job reqs? ] she asked.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

“Alright.” He said turning towards Belinda again to see how far she had come. There were a total of six documents now on her desk, or rather, folders. She looked at Kurt with a happy smile on her face and beckoned him to come back towards the window.

“I’ll find out in a sec.” He said as he stepped towards the window. “Going to check em out now, I’ll call you back.”

Kurt couldn’t very well hang around on the phone while talking to Belinda, that would be incredibly rude. “Alright, beautiful, what have you got for me?”

The old woman let out a raucous chuckle and waved at the young man. Kurt knew that it paid to be nice, and more than likely it had already paid off. Belinda was known for being kind, but she would only bend the rules for people she really liked. Rules that dictated who got what jobs and what they could qualify for.

Kurt knew that at least one of those folders was filled with a job he technically wasn’t supposed to get.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]


[ Okay. ] the line cut and Kaile gave a small tap of the holographic screen over her wrist. A scrunch of her features and the Lorrdian tried her best to keep on breathing through her mouth. It was the only way from having her belly not try and be ornery again.

The clinic shouldn't be far. There was actually a small one here at the spaceport. Maybe I could grab something bland to eat. Along with a fizzy Abregado-Rae lime drink. The combination of salted crackers and the carbonated bubbles seemed to soothe her belly whenever she'd been sick before.

Now it was becoming a bit more crowded. Kaile had to weave her way through the spacers and travelers moving to and fro. There were quite a number of couriers, this being a Hub for deliveries and exports. Not just with Sif either. Big names like Arceneau Trade and Intergalactic Solutions.

Following the signs led her towards the clinic. Hopefully there wasn't a long line.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Belinda went through the files quickly, sorting them all out in front of Kurt and telling him what each job entailed. Most of them were simple pick up and delivery jobs, go to this one world, knock on the door, get the box and deliver it here.

Easy.

That was the exact same kind of job that had landed Kurt on Naboo...and gotten him arrested before meeting Jamie. The difference here was that the jobs seemed a little bit more dangerous, especially considering the locations. “Crusader space?”

He balked.

“No thanks.” Mandalorians were crazy enough, but Kurt figured if they called themselves ‘crusaders’ it would be better to stay away.

“I’ll take this one.” Kurt said plucking the last file off the counter. It was in territory formerly controlled by the One Sith, but that was the key word; formerly. There shouldn’t be any huge problems there. “Thanks, Belinda.”

Kurt gave the woman a wave then headed off to go find Kaile.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

There was a line.

Kaile gave a sigh, but went in anyways. Her tummy was still feeling a bit gurgly so the Lorrdian figured she might as well. A quick check in - using a different alias of course - and Kaile was given a number.

She sat down in the small waiting area. A bulk of the patrons were spacers, looking to get a quick check in while they had the time planet side. Bringing up her wrist, Kaile quickly tapped out a message to Kurt.

[ At the clinic. Sending you cords.] a push of a button and Kurt would have her coordinates so he could find her.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Sith space was quickly collapsing, so quickly in fact that Kurt was pretty sure by the time he and Kaile got there the planet would be mostly chaos. They would have to pick up the package first of course, but that wouldn't be that much of an issue since the pick up was on Elrood. The Courier shifted slightly as he popped open the file and quickly read up on everything.

There were names, addresses, and of course; pay.

Twenty thousand credits.

That was more than enough for what he needed right now. It would give him and Kaile a bit of breathing room, let them get some parts for The Messa and chip back into his savings. There was a reason for the price of course, the relatively small package that they were delivering was apparently a highly esteemed family heirloom, and the person who would be receiving it was paying many times over the delivery price in order to purchase it for their own collection.

That meant whomever bought it was rich, but worse, they were rich and lived in Sith space. That meant said person likely wasn't the kindest fellow, or at the very least he was rather exploitative of the environment around him. Either way though, Kurt couldn't say no to twenty thousand credits, and since he got a quarter of that upon taking the job...well it was an easy argument.

[On my way] Kurt quickly sent her back as he went walking down the hall.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Kaile comm gave a small buzz in an alert. Glancing down at it, the Lorrdian gave a slight smile.

Quickly, her fingers flew over the holographic keyboard.

[ Okay. It will be a bit of a wait. So no need to rush. If you want after this we can go grab some food to restock? ]

Fresh food was expensive, but they rarely had any chance to actually make it planetside when doing runs. With her per diem, they would be able to at least get enough for this trip.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

He didn't fancy buying expensive food when they were already strapped for cash, but he wouldn't argue with Kaile spending her own money. Kurt himself had spent pretty much every dime he'd had on the trip with Jamie, leaving little or no breathing room.

The Courier had about enough for fuel, some rations, and maybe a new set of coasters.

Beyond that Kurt was entirely tapped out when it came to money of any sort. It was his own fault of course, he'd splurged a bit too much while on his vacation and now he was paying the consequences for it. One couldn't really blame him of course, it had been a happy time, and during happy times one generally tended to forget about the constraints of money and other things. This job would be able to keep his funds up anyway, and the five thousand credits he got once they actually retrieved the package would let them sit a little more comfortably.

So he hoped anyway.

A yawn passed his lips as he wandered through the halls, quickly making his way towards the clinic.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"Miz Bari Torin?" it took a second to realize that the medical droid was asking for the alias Kaile registered under.

"I'm here!" she cried out, coming to her feet. Well, that went by faster than she'd thought. A quick reply over to Kurt sent the following message.

[ I'm going in! Under Bari Torin. ]

That she used aliases might be a bit confusing or amusing to the pilot, but it assured the espion that little trace of her would remain.

Coming into the back, Kaile followed the medical droid into a small room.

[Greetings Miss Torin. I am CV-MD12. I will begin by taking your vitals. ]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt found the clinic just a few minutes after Kaile went in.

He didn't go inside, thinking that it was better to wait where it was less crowded.

His thoughts tended most towards what they would have to do in the coming weeks, or more accurately what he would have to do. Kaile couldn't really come out on any of the deliveries, or at least not to the actual spots where the delivery was supposed to me. He tried to figure out the exact places that he would land. On Elrood he knew there were several dozen spaceports and he knew that the closest one was named...well he couldn't remember the name but he knew where he had to go.

On his destination planet though...

The Courier frowned slightly as he pulled out his datapad, checking the information of his delivery planet and trying to scroll through a list of available spaceports. They were surprisingly few and far in between, and most of them seemed to be privately held.

A sigh escaped his lips. Not having a space port to land at made things a bit more difficult. In theory you could really just land a ship anywhere and most people wouldn't argue, but there were certain planets where doing that was highly illegal. He was concerned that if they threw The Messa onto some random field of grass and then left they would come back to find the ship not only stripped for parts, but with half a dozen parking tickets on the side of it.

That would be something they couldn't afford, literally.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Kurt wouldn't have to worry too much about which stops. Asmus had given her a map that would indicate little-known hyperlanes routes and also mark out lanes that were monitored less. She'll have to tell him about it once they were on their way and he would reveal where the next package delivery would be.

A small remote would begin to scan Kaile from head to toe. There were a few cybernetics that wouldn't come up in those monitors, thankfully only the most advanced would be able to pick up on them.

[ I will go down a series of questions to update your medical record. ]

Kaile knew the drill, and she began to answer the typical ones. Was she using any medication right now? Any family history of particular condition? Last menstruation period? The works.

"Just feeling a bit under the weather that is all. "

[ What symptoms have you've experienced? ] the droid would ask.

"Nausea. Can't keep much food down. A bit achy. Feels like a cold."

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt drummed his fingers against the side of the datapad.

He wasn't all too concerned about getting to places, it was more about where to put The Messa once they got there. With the One Sith now quickly collapsing things were going to grow more and more chaotic in the core of the Galaxy.

The Alliance was doing a great job in keeping the peace, but Kurt knew that once the government which had been formerly run by Sith officially collapsed...well dozens of planets and systems would be vying for control of themselves and each other. Things would break out into wars, civil wars, armed revolutions. Not was the best time to do illegal things, when a former government fell into pieces and broke down. He'd seen it happen before, and he was confident he'd see it again.

There was no doubt this job was dangerous.

Kurt looked down at the datapad and quickly ran a search, his eyes flicking over the data as he began to look for news reports from systems around or adjacent to where they were going. It paid to be informed when running jobs like this.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Getting scanned wasn't anything new for Kaile. They regularly would do so back at the Alliance. Checked vitals, current status, and typically would bring up anything abnormal. For the Lorrdian, she figured that the scanner would at least pick up and confirm that she had some sort of flu.

[ We will require some bloodwork to confirm the result, Miss Torin. ]

A sigh came from Kaile.

"Alright," thankfully, much could be processed from a drop of blood. She outstretched her finger and allowed the Medical Droid to puncture the tip of it.

[ Just a moment. ]

If only Kaile had known she was getting more than just a simple diagnosis for the flu.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt began to search other things.

Maps were all well and good, but sometimes they got really boring.

Kurt had never been the glowing example of someone who knew their way around technology. He could operate a computer or datapad at a pretty minimum level. The farm back on Tatooine had really never called for that sort of knowledge, and his pod had been entirely mechanical.

The most training he’d had on tech was during his stint in the navy, and even then it had been mostly basic stuff. Still, he knew enough to type in a few words in Hoogle and click through the right results.

“Lets see…” Kurt said to himself as he began to type in ‘Kurt Meyer, Tatooine’.

Everyone had a little bit of an ego.

He just wanted to see what others said about him.