The Last Ossein

[Triter Zone]

[member="Mayumi Kochi"]
[member="Lord Tarantula"]

Triter, at that moment, was trying to figure out if the man who claimed his name was Paven Starline was really as good as he thought, or if he were just another puffed-up crime boss used to getting his own way. Looking at the cyborg, the young Amaran was inclined to think the latter; Starline did not look like a fighter, and his bodyguards had been defeated easily.
He watched the human's jaw work as the cyborg brushed past him, rage building in his eyes as he stared after the Arkanian...
Abruptly, the rage faded, and the cool, calculating gaze Triter had seen before returned.
"Perhaps another time, then." He said simply.
Triter knocked back the remainder of his drink as the old man and his bodyguards left the cantina. The pirate had no illusions that he had seen the last of them, but for the moment he felt cool relief wash over his mind.
The cyborg had taken a seat to the Amaran's right, and Triter figured it was too late for him and Mayumi to leave at this point. He chastised himself; he was trying to set himself up as the next Krayd Hasperre! The Admiral had never shown fear as openly as he was now; his species wasn't helping his case already...
Get a hold of yourself, Triter! What was so scary about that old guy anyway? You've taken whole crews tougher than him and his goons!
Looking over at the Cyborg, who had introduced himself as Tarantula, Triter gave what he hoped was a friendly - if slightly tipsy - smile.
"Pleased to meet you." He replied, raising his glass slightly, the ice clinking inside. "You can call me Triter... thanks for getting rid of that guy. You wouldn't happen to know anything about him, would you?"
He glanced over at Mayumi, shaking his head.
"I got the sense that I know him from somewhere, but I just can't place him. I agree with you, Starline can't be his real name..."

 

[Lord Tarantula]

Kyale had a large piece of his bacon sandwich in his mouth when he looked back at the fox, and he grinned as he munched on it. That Caarite on Chroma Zed had been working for Starline. Jak Luje. An old enemy. The cognac bottle came down to his lips and he took a long swallow before talking again, "I've never met the man before today. However, an old foe of mine identified him for me, and sent me here. That was on Chroma Zed, of all places."

The Lord Tarantula gulped down another bite of the sandwich, his grin fading a little as he thought about the incident four years ago that had injured his lungs beyond medical repair. That had most likely been under Starline's orders. It was good that the crime lord had never really seen Kyale's face before, because he probably would have said something that could've provoked the cyborg to kill him rather violently.

He continued, "Coincidentally, that same Caarite I interrogated on Chroma Zed is the one who caused me to need the cybernetic lungs that I have. One day, I'll find out if that was a direct order, or simply a whim on the little pig's part. Either way, Triter, Starline will die sometime."

[member="Triter Zone"] [member='Mayumi Kochi']

 

[Mayumi Kochi]

Even though [member="Lord Tarantula"] was intimidating at least he wasn't trying to kill them.

She sipped on the whiskey in her hand and looked to [member="Triter Zone"]. "I didn't like the man anyway, he was very rude," she said thinking back to how Starline had interrupted their conversation. Then again she hadn't been nice either.

 

[Triter Zone]

[member="Mayumi Kochi"]
[member="Lord Tarantula"]

Triter licked his muzzle at the sight of Tarantula's thick sandwich, and glanced down at the menu himself. Indicating the coin-crab basket with sauce to the bartender droid, he nodded to the cyborg.
"Seemed like he has it coming if you ask me." The Amaran replied, looking sullenly down at his empty tumbler, but waving off the bartender when the droid offered to refill it. "Nobody else felt... afraid of that guy? Dunno what it was, but I swear I'm usually more collected than that."
Triter was fairly certain he had no Force sensitivity; he had known beings who had it, enough to know his was not to be the path of a Jedi or Sith; that was a rare thing for his species anyway, as he understood it. Even so, he had felt what had to have been instinctual fear at the sight and mannerisms of Paven Starline, and it both confused and angered him that this had been so.
He looked to Mayumi, and managed a smile.
"I suppose I have to ask, though... I mean, I know what I've heard about you being a ferocious pirate, but what's this about a reputation nobody can confirm?"
Briefly, the Amaran considered holding back one of the stories he had heard, but decided it might at least get a chuckle to help relieve the tension.
"I mean, I've heard some pretty outlandish tales; there's a rumor going around that you and your crew are even from some kind of alternate universe where there's still an Empire. You can see why I take said rumors with a grain of salt."

 

[Mayumi Kochi]

"Oh yeah, all of that is true," she replied with a shrug. It had been tempting to lie but one look at the ship Juniper and anyone could see it was outdated. Modifactions were taking place rapidly, what the crew couldn't do the engineers she was paying were.

"The Empire was a pain in my side. I stole one of their star destroyers, they tried to kill me for five years, you know the usual stuff. Then I ended up here and well have to make the best of it I suppose. Most of the rumors about me are true," she smiled slightly with a far off look. "Though I wouldn't call myself ferocious, 'vicious' is more like it."

"Anyway," she cleared throat and looked at the two. "What's next my darlings?"

[member="Triter Zone"] [member="Lord Tarantula"]

 

[Triter Zone]

[member="Mayumi Kochi"]
[member="Lord Tarantula"]

Triter stared at Mayumi, barely noticing when the basket of coin-crabs was set down in front of him by the droid. Shaking his head, he turned back to the bar and, seeing his meal, popped one of the soft-shelled fried crustaceans into his mouth.
He was surprised at the big cyborg's lack of response, but filled the silence himself after a few moments. He finished chewing, and looked back to the human pirate.
"...kriff, I suppose I've heard of weirder things. Star Destroyer, you say?"
The young Amaran crossed his arms on the table, giving a short sigh.
"Well, my original plan was to try and find a place to crash for a few days; been cooped up in a starfighter for the better part of the last week. That said, I think Starline may have convinced me to alter those plans. Strikes me that if he figures out I'm staying on the station alone, I might not get much sleep, what with the hitbeings and all."
He munched another crab, looking contemplative as he ate.
"Seems to me that he wouldn't bother trying to grill us unless he had something going on he thinks we could derail. I'm up for finding out what that might be, how about you?"

 

[Mayumi Kochi]

"It's true, something is going on with that Starline guy. My business here had nothing to do with him or at least I don't think it did. The problem is I have been trying to learn everything about this dimension. It is the same but different from the one I came from," she finished off her drink and smiled at [member="Triter Zone"].

"I would be happy to find out what Starline is doing. knowledge is power as they say."

 

[Triter Zone]

[member="Mayumi Kochi"]

Triter smiled, nodding to Mayumi and glancing around the bar. The various other patrons, silent during the confrontation with Starline, had begun muttering again, and the young Amaran didn't fancy he liked what they were saying.
"Your universe, I presume, had something approximating law and order. The Empire may have been brutal, but you knew who was in charge."
Triter narrowed his eyes as he watched a slender human male come in the door, taking an empty booth near the back and trying not to look like he was observing the two pirates.
"You'll find no such thing in this place. The top position is almost always up for grabs; you just have to want to take it."
Triter turned to face the newly arrived human, bared his teeth in a way which might have been more intimidating on a larger species, and watched the observer shrink back a bit.
"And this Starline fellow is in my spot."
Hopping down from his bar-stool, crab basket tucked under his arm, Triter grinned over at Mayumi.
"How about a tour of the station? I hear it's an interesting place."
It was funny, Triter thought, how he didn't feel so tired anymore.

 

[Lord Tarantula]

Kyale smiled as he finished his sandwich. Silent observation could be helpful for a mad scientist... Especially when one was trying to judge others. Tarantula got stranger things than alternate universes in his breakfast cereal, but he'd at least want to hear more of that story later. One of his arms chittered gently at him, notifying him that Jak Luje was now awake in the cargo hold where he was shackled and bleeding. The smile grew by a large fraction, and he put his shades back on before turning to Triter and the pirate lady.

With the air of somebody planning a surprise, he interrupted, "And, if during that tour, I were to introduce you both to the dear Caarite friend of mine who brought me here... I think the results would be... fascinating to hear."

[member="Triter Zone"] [member="Mayumi Kochi"]

 

[Mayumi Kochi]

The Empire in her dimension had been brutal but law and order were something else. Mayumi hadn't dealt much with the Republic and the Jedi, they weren't her concern. But now it seemed people from all walks of life were everywhere. She had met Jedi, Sith, Witches, and an assortment of government officials. The chaos of this dimension was leaving a huge gap in their defenses a gap she was just looking to exploit.

Getting up with the fox and man, she smiled. "I'm sure that will be lovely," she replied to both of them. When she got up so did her crew members in the cantina got up as well. With a flick of wrist she signaled them, though it wouldn't be clear to her company what she had commanded.

[member="Lord Tarantula"] [member="Triter Zone"]

 

[Triter Zone]

[member="Mayumi Kochi"]
[member="Lord Tarantula"]

Triter looked over at Tarantula, raising an eyebrow. He'd done his fair share of interrogation; he was generally gentler than most pirates he knew, but he tended to get what he needed. It would be interesting to see what he could wring out of this Caarite that Tarantula had captured that the big cyborg had not already. And of course, learn what Tarantula knew already.
"That sounds like a worthwhile stop to me." Triter replied, stretching himself. Turning, he smiled to Mayumi; despite his small stature and animal features, which made him "cute" to most species, the young vulpinoid was a charming sort; with a courteous bow, he gestured forward toward the door, barely catching the female pirate's subtle hand motion as he glanced back at her. It was an old trick, but Triter had already figured a canny pirate captain would not really have gone out drinking alone.
He did give up trying to spot her associates, though; obviously, they knew how to blend in.

The party exited the way they had come in, down the curving staircase to the busy concourse below. Triter looked around; the presence of the Picaroon's Rest seemed to have made the area into a kind of street bazaar, the same as could be found on any world or station with negligible law enforcement. Tents, awnings, plasboard booths and plain tables lined the corridor walls between the entrances to more permanent businesses, heaped with goods mundane, exotic and illicit. As they passed, Triter's eye traveled over a street hawker presiding over a dirty blanket spread with cheap comlinks, wrist chronos and hand blasters. Next to him was a grounded repulsortruck, out of which another being was selling hydroponically grown fruits and vegetables.
It was like any space station of this nature which Triter had been on, he mused to himself. He recalled that it technically belonged to the Parneauvian government, but they seemed either unwilling or unable to properly administrate the place.
It's too bad. He thought to himself. If the Ossein had managed to take over even a piece of Blackrow's old shipping empire, they would be much better off now... no taking this place back now, though.
Idly, Triter thought about Dreadnaught Station, the system's original outlaw hangout during the Blackrow years. The place had been mostly abandoned by its original clientele, but Triter thought it might be worth a look eventually. It was only a short hop away.
He looked over at Mayumi and Tarantula as the small group walked.
"So... either of you ever been here before?"