Space Van Adventures

[Varien Moxla]

Varien heard the docking clamps lock into place around his ship. The tube that would connect his ship to the now Alliance Space Station had locked into place and he opened the doors to the tube and was already heading off with other members of his crew. Once they reached the other end of the tube and they stepped onto the Station, Varien wasn't listening when he was told to return to the ship within a few hours.

He hadn't been to Sluis Van before and as the small grouping of Kiffar broke apart, Varien remained in the entrance of the tube for a few extra seconds before the the door closed. New places always left him unsure of himself, but his resolute and determined features had always conveyed his confidence. That was the first step. Once he started talking, that was when his attitude changed and his feelings about a new place flipped around to him being comfortable.

He closed his eyes and allowed his fingers to stray along the walls as he walked around the Hangar Level.

He could only guess there were countless floors and places to visit on the Space Station. Wherever the other Kiffarians had gone, presuming they had stuck together, he guessed they were heading to the centre most levels. That was where a Cantina and hundreds of other patrons and people going about their business would be likely.

His shoulders rolled in a shrug as he thought.

No where near as good a pilot as other people in the Galactic Alliance, he was curious about ships. The bigger ones were tolerable... Kind of. He could only imagine what it was like crashing one of those. Shaking his head he stopped in the middle of the hallway.

He stopped in the middle of the hallway as he watched a Sluissi enter a service lift and the door closed.

Immediately after his deep voice projected the words that anyone would naturally say after seeing such a thing.

"What the kark was that?"

[member="Runi Verin"]

 

[Runi Verin]

[member="Varien Moxla"]​

​

“Ten?” The salvager repeated flatly as if she hadn’t heard the dockmaster the first time, making little to no attempt to disguise the indignation that was beginning to filter through her voice. Viewing their trade almost akin to a hallowed form of art work, the Sluissi had an almost legendary reputation for their craftsmanship when it came to starship engineering, being second to none on the outer rim. Yet it seemed they were unfortunately quite content to charge artistic prices for their work. “You’re kidding me, ‘lek? I could buy a whole new manifold from KDY for less than seven.”

The dockmaster simply blinked owlishly in return, his reptilian features forming the quintessential sabacc face that all his species seemed to have either naturally developed or taken pains to perfect over the millennia of dealing with outsiders. There was no warmth behind those sharp, flat eyes. Nor was there even a flicker of anything even remotely resembling emotion at the edge currently forming between them. Cold and dead, much like his dispassionate voice. “If the price quoted is not to your pleasing, Captain Verin, you are most welcome to take your business elsewhere. However, in good conscience, I must express my concerns with regard to how far one would conceivably make it without a properly repaired and aligned thrust manifold at their disposal.”

Fierfek, but the man had a point. It had been a sheer stroke of luck that the Boracyk had managed to limp into the Sluis Van shipyards on her own power. Chancing a journey even a little further afield would require calling on a much higher power than Runi’s own mechanical prowess. The simple truth of the matter was that the scalefaced ge’hutuun had her over a barrel and she’ll be karked if he didn’t know it.

“Chakaaryc slui---” If they weren’t currently subject to Galactic Alliance law… “Fine! You’ll have your ten wired to you by the end of the day. Just get the job done. I don’t want to spend another force-forsaken minute on this station any longer than I need to.”

“A most wise decision, Captain Verin. “ There was a momentary flicker in the façade, a brief flash of something distinctly unpleasant and smug as the dockmaster started to slither into the hallway, the kind of expression that made your fingers itch to wipe it off with a nice right cross. “We at the Sluis Van Shipyards appreciate your patronage. I will task a crew with preforming the necessary repairs within the hour. A representative from my office will coordinate with you further in regards to the timeline.“

She waited until the rasping sounds of his coils, sounding all too much like serpentine laughter to her ears, had faded before she followed him out of the empty hanger. She could only hope for both their sakes that the second part of the Sluissi reputation, the one that famed them for their ponderous and methodical work ethic, was an exaggeration. The last thing she needed was an all-expenses paid say in a jail cell courtesy of the GA.

"What the kark was that?"

A baritone voice cut across Runi’s reverie, the comment so innocent and innocuous that it couldn’t help but elicit a soft snort of amusement from the young Mandalorian.

“That? That there was the biggest pile of osik the galaxy to ever crawl, slither or gouge a spacer out of a hard earned cred.” A ghost of a smirk graced her features as she turned to face the source of the remark, giving the man an appraising once over before she continued. “You must’ve led a pretty privileged and sheltered life if you ain’t never seen a Sluissi up close. That or just plain lucky. Either or, really. ”

 

[Varien Moxla]

He took a few more steps down the hallway until he saw the girl come out from around the corner. He had begun to hear the voices a few steps ago, but he hadn't been listening to them. One didn't need the Force to tell that she was irritated, annoyed even as the Sluissi headed away from the area. Varien's amethyst gaze settled on the woman in front of him, and he clasped his arms over his chest as she spoke. She gave him a once over, appraising him, and he had done the same.

A slight drop of the eyes to her feet and then sliding back over her form until it settled on the yellow line just underneath her eyes. He was surprised to see that line there and he seemed confused for the briefest of moments before he cleared his throat.

"If you ask me, it belongs in some really tall grass," he said. Naturally, he thought he was the most clever person in the Galaxy. 'Snake in the grass' right? "Privileged? Sheltered?" He repeated the words as if he were either stupid, or hadn't heard them before. "No... Just haven't been to Slews Van before," the accidental mispronunciation of the word making his claim credible. "S'pose I was lucky," he said with a roll of his shoulders. Turning his head to look at the closed door that the Sluissi had gone through, his gaze flickered back to the other Kiffar.

On the left side of his face were the black tattoos that designated him as a member of Clan Moxla. They went along his face to along the nape of his neck and down his spine.

"Something specific I should call you?"

[member="Runi Verin"]

 

[Runi Verin]

[member="Varien Moxla"]

The smirk the woman solidified a little, taking on actual shape and form as the he continued. Her gaze lingering for a second on the man’s tattoos for a moment before returning to meet his own purple hues. From the artistic styling she recognised the Kiffar origin of the tattoos if not the clan, there simply too many running around out there for her to keep track of. Especially given that her actual exposure to the culture was extremely limited, with Jacaro being the only member of the species she had any real extended contact with. He was also the source of the tattoos she now bore, the burnt orange line bisecting her face just below the eyes and the second, smaller vertical line on her chin.

“I’d be careful. They have sharper hearing than you’d think.” Advice she could perhaps stand to have listened to a few minutes ago. If nothing else, it might have shaved off a few credits from the quote. “You’re a little far from Kiffu, aren’t you, pateesa?”

“And it’s Verin,” She offered with a curt nod of her head, the closest she would come to respect for a practical stranger. His remark might have amused her a little, but even a Kowakian Monkey-Lizard was entertaining at first, and he was the very definition of an unknown quantity at the moment. Whether he proved to be friend, foe or an interesting distraction while her ship was worked on was still to be seen. “Runi Verin.”

 

[Varien Moxla]

He chuckled at her suggestion on account of the Sluissi's hearing. The young Kiffar had little cares in the world. Caring about what people thought of him? Usually never. If a Sluissi had come around the corner and had happened to overhear him and attempted to berate him, he would've already been down the hallway walking off. Someone had to discipline him, but he didn't see that happening soon. "I should've expected them to be closer to the ground," he shrugs. "Or grass on the Station." He flashed a grin her way.

A single brow raised after she had said he was a little far from home. "Pateesa? But, er, suppose I am." His gaze dropped down t the yellow tattoos on her face and he twisted his head. "You are as well, aren't you?" What was a pateesa anyway? Him? It sounded oddly feminine. Like... Some line you'd use on someone you were trying to pick up...

Was she trying to pick him up?

He smirked around the time she gave her full name.

"Varien of Clan Moxla," he said with a mock bow to her before he straightened with an amused look crossing his features. "Tend to get into arguments with Space Station officials?"

[member="Runi Verin"]

 

[Runi Verin]

[member="Varien Moxla"]

“Well, some of them definitely sink to that level.” Runi replied with a twitch of that smirk, holding few reservations towards insulting their hosts now that business had been agreed upon and credits were soon to exchange hands. Barring an act of violence or outright aggression towards them or another guest of the station, the Sluissi were too concerned with their reputation to renege on a deal once it had been struck. Even after earning the dockmaster’s ire, they would still see to her repairs with the best of the ability, incapable of settling for anything less. It was the one aspect of their nature she could respect, no matter how begrudgingly.

She blinked as he repeated pateesa back at her with an obvious question behind it, mirroring his arched brow with one of her own. Having spent the better part of her entire life on the fringe, it was a rare occasion for the salvager to come across someone that didn’t speak even a hint of Huttese anymore. “Fierfek, you really were sheltered… Pateesa. It’s Huttese – You know who the Hutts are, right? The fat, greasy slugs that can manage to make even the Sluissi look downright attractive by comparison?"

The Mandalorian shook her head disparagingly. The man couldn’t be less than a year, maybe two, younger than her if that. While she couldn’t expect everyone to be as wide travelled as she had been long before even reaching such an age, it was still kind of sobering to meet someone that seemed to have barely been past his own system. Kark, he almost sounded fresh off the boat.

“Kiffu? I’ve only been there once. I’m from Kol Atorn originally.” A simple lie, yet one easily told. One even she had spent most of her life believing. Her real planet of origin was just as much mystery to her as it was to everyone else. Save for one, perhaps… She gave another shake of those messy loose locks, covering her momentary pause by expanding a little for his benefit. “That’s in the Outer Rim, ‘fore you ask. Ain’t a huge tragedy if you’ve never heard of it. Butting heads with officials is practically a pastime there. Or would be, if we had any.” ​

 

[Varien Moxla]

Raising a hand to brush over his head, it was relatively bald compared to what it had been pre-slavery at the hands of the One Sith. Humming silently to himself he dropped his hand after her agreement to his statement about the Sluissi and grass. But soon after he was raising a brow in question as he retorted.

"Hutt are scum," he concluded. "People don't tend to speak on this side of the Galaxy." Much of the planets within the Galactic Alliance had been apart of the Omega Protectorate before it disbanded. From what the Kiffar knew of the Protectorate, he figured the influence of the Hutts wouldn't have made it this far to this side of the Galaxy. As of recently the Hutt Cartel that had existed no longer did, and it had been nowhere close to the planet Sluis Van. "Besides, I don't deal with scum," he said.

He could've been sheltered, but he'd always argue against it. Besides, being sheltered likely would've stopped him from travelling all willy nilly as he was.

His head tilted questioningly however when she said that she had only been to Kiffu once.

"So you're of the Vos Clan?" He assumed, mostly because of the horizontal line underneath her eyes.

 

[Runi Verin]

[member="Varien Moxla"]

A sound with passing resemblance to a laugh escaped her at that, the smirk momentarily blossoming into a rare smile before she schooled her features back to something a little more reserved and neutral. The man had definitely a sheltered life, maybe not in the conventional sense, but it seemed he really wasn’t exposed to much of the galaxy if he’d managed to develop such a monochromatic view.

Far from a simple case of black and white, life in her experience tended to be caught between varying shades of grey. The further you got out from civilisation, the less the concepts of right and wrong seemed to matter, being defined by whatever tinpot despot or crime lord had set up shop in that neck of the woods for that particular week.

“Hate to break it to you, pateesa, but scum like the Hutts are found on every side of the galaxy,” Runi responded with a faint rolling shrug of her shoulders. “Even here, I bet I could find someone willing to sell me a quarter pound of spice and a genuine ion disrupter rifle without too much trouble. Some osik is just plain universal.”

Kark, depending on his definition of scum, it was very likely she quite neatly fell under the heading herself, too.

“I’m of no clan, but Verin…” She gave a two fingered swipe at the qukuuf running vertically down her chin, the burnt yellow marking the only thing separating her from most of the Vos tribe. “Was a branch of Vos at some point, yeah. No idea if it still is. As I said, I don’t really hang around Kiffar that much and Kiffu ain’t exactly a tourist destination, ‘lek?”

 

[Varien Moxla]

Varien normally wasn't one to debate. Or argue for that matter. Going back and forth with a person tended to have the conversation doing the same. Going around in a circle to the point that one of them realized they had already gotten to that point. Usually that ended with an outburst or them walking away in anger.

Sometimes.

Either way he wasn't about to keep on talking about it.

So he did the universal thing for humanoids that got bored of a certain subject.

His shoulders went up.

And then his shoulders went down.

"Suppose so," he surrendered a moment after he had shrugged.

When she started to speak, he listened curiously.

Verin? Sure it's not some random name?

"Don't think it matters much if you don't hang around many Kiffar. Stick with me, and you'll do fine kid." he said with a grin. He was certain he was mis-quoting some holofilm with those words. "Kiffu not so much, but moreso than Kiffex anyway." The latter was the prison planet, but they both housed the sister planet's Guardians of Kiffu. "It could be good for you, if you're not a criminal." If she was, she wouldn't be the first he met. She looked more of a greasemonkey than someone you'd find in the Kiffex Prison.

"You live on your ship, don't you?"

A random question, one that just sprung to his mind.

[member="Runi Verin"]

 

[Runi Verin]

[member="Varien Moxla"]

“Guess that depends on how you plan on defining ‘criminal’.” Runi responded with a flash of that damnable smile, loose strands of brunette hair swaying past her dark hued eyes as she shook her head once more. It might have been while since she had overtly broken the law, but the title would have still easily settled on her shoulders by most stretches of the imagination. Enough to scratch Kiffex off the list of possible holiday prospects. Not unless she wanted to be fitted for a wholly unflattering jumpsuit and prison tattoo. “But there ain’t much for me there to really warrant a visit anyway. Never held much interest in the clan thing, truth be told. Seem to be doing fine just on my own.”

And that was half true, too. Things hadn’t been going too bad as of late, provided you ignored the all the sithspawn and space terrors that seemed to lurk in the dark corners of every salvaging venture. For the first time in what seemed an age she had credits in her pocket. Now if she could just keep them that way.

“And if I did, what of it?” The smile froze on her lips, an unmistakable, sudden heat filtering through her voice. An instinctual reaction to the perceived criticism of his query. She would be the first to admit that her lifestyle was far from idea or even conventional. Kark, she would be the first to admit that the Boracyk was a steaming pile of osik, but that didn’t mean she was about to let someone else insult it or the way she lived.

Especially not some green-horn that had probably only seen the blue miasma of hyperspace a handful of times.

“In case you haven’t noticed, pateesa, the whole galaxy ain’t exactly what you’d call friendly. Fierfek, can’t even name a planet or rock from here to the core worth putting roots down on. Way I see it, only sane way to live right now it to keep on moving from place to place, never over staying your welcome.”

She took a step forward, ignoring the fact it might have been taken as a challenge. Knowing her, she might have even welcomed it.

“Advice some might consider taking to heart, ‘lek?”

 

[Varien Moxla]

How you defined criminal...

Well, that was easy.

A crime made you a criminal. Whether you were caught and convicted was a different story, but a criminal nonetheless. Of course, that title could be dropped on any soldier, and so he decided to forget that exact part. Especially if he intended to continue his training as a Jedi Padawan. Which he currently did at this exact moment in time.

As pointless as it seemed.

"Suppose you are doing fine on your own," he said curiously. But to Varien, anyone alive was doing fine compared to others, depending on their circumstances. And seeing as how she was in this part of Space instead of say, in the part of Space that was controlled by the Sith, she was doing fine.

It hardly mattered at this point because someone was caught up in their feelings by his innocent question. Oh well. Seems their friendly banter couldn't last. Twitching visibly, his visage turned to one of exasperation as his nostrils flared, displaying his short patience with confrontation, but instead of walking off and ignoring her, when she stepped up to him, he did the same. Much taller than her, he looked down at her, not condescendingly as his amethyst gaze just blinked at her blankly.

"You're like... Right up here," his hand purposefully rose a few inches above her head. "You need to be down here," he said, lowering his hand so that it was on level with her chest. "It was a question, pateeeeeesa," He said, mocking her previous words. "I'm not judging you, I got better things to do than that," he said. Force knew why he wasn't doing them now. "Rather that than staying around in one place, get me?" His gaze took on a surprisingly impassive look after the grinning and joking one he had had nearly a minute ago.

"Oh... And some advice? Stop assuming everyone's out to get you, you're cute, but that doesn't mean you've got to be a queen about it."

[member="Runi Verin"]

 

[Runi Verin]

[member="Varien Moxla"]

She didn’t shy away as he loomed over her. He might have had a good sixty or so pounds on her, and maybe a foot in height, but that didn’t seem to faze her in the slightest judging from the way she met his gaze defiantly. Most people in this ‘verse seemed to be taller, heavier or just plain meaner looking the salvager. A painful fact, but one she couldn’t change. Nor one she was about to let get in-between her and handling her osik.

“Oh, I’m the queen?” Her head flicked to the side, brows schooching to form an expression that might have been one of amusement if it wasn’t for the hard glint in her eyes. The distance between them closed with one half-step, her chest butting up against his hand. “Jag, you’re barely off the rock you grew up on, and you think you know it all, ‘lek?”

A soft, mirthless laugh echoed the hall.

“Everyone is out to get everyone else. That’s just how life is. Here, the outer rim, the core. Don’t really matter where you’re standing, someone will try to screw you over for their own gain. Think any different and you’re more of a di’kut than I imagined; which is saying something, believe me.”

She gave a soft hiss of her breath and a shake of her head, “I mean, seriously, how far apart where your parents related, pateesa? I get the feeling if you were any more inbred you’d be a karkin’ sandwich. ”

 

[Varien Moxla]

Even if he was partially annoyed with her, she did look sorta cute with her brows like that.

But he shook his head at her nonetheless. "Know it all? The only it that I know at all is what a Sith labour camp looks like from the inside, and myself." If it wasn't clear enough, he prodded himself in the chest as he looked her dead in the eyes. Neither of them were going to be backing down from this one then, huh?

"You think everyone is out to get you? You think I'm out to get you? Some person you just met?" He tilts his head at her, his amethyst orbs looking her up and down. Slowly. As if he were trying to make it seem how pointless and unlikely that was. Or, he was checking her out. She'd probably think the latter if anything. There was a vigorous shaking of his head as he decided to answer his own line of questioning. "I ain't here for you, pretty. Probably no one on this station is." But then she wanted to insult him and he blinked...

Then his serious visage tightened for a moment as if it were straining, before it cracked, shattering into a million of pieces as his lips curved upwards, white teeth flashing between his lips as he chuckled.

But as the moments passed, he just started to laugh harder.

[member="Runi Verin"]

 

[Runi Verin]

[member="Varien Moxla"]

[member="Varien Moxla"]​

“Yeah? My credit balance seems to think otherwise.” Runi huffed, her expression becoming lopsided as she bit the side of her cheek. Did he just call her Pretty? Boy, he really must have been karked in the head. She had been called a lot of things over the years, in a lot of tongues, but the word ‘pretty’ was rarely one of them. “Look, I ain’t under the impression that they’re all trying to kill me or anything like that, pateesa. I ain’t crazy. I just know that, if I had something they wanted, they’d do what they could to relieve me of it, ‘lek?”

She rolled her shoulders in a close approximation of a shrug. “At the end of the day, you better believe the people on this station put themselves and their own interests first. Me and mine? The people who live like I do? We don’t even rank. We’re sentient refuse to them.”

She stepped back as he broke into almost hysterical laughter, her attitude momentary dispelled by a look of confusion as she tried to work out just how crazy this guy really was. Kark, that was all she needed. Jacaro had always warned her about getting into arguments with crazy people. “You ain’t exactly dispelling my point here.”