First Reply The Next Job

[Juniper Jett]

Juniper might've appeared all calm and sensible, but beneath the surface lay a roiling storm of anger, frustration and disappointment. Mixed in with about three-hundred different swear words in various languages. She kept them from her lips though, because it wasn't fair on the guy. Guiding into a busy star lane was not exactly the easiest thing to do when you weren't that experienced, especially on a new ship.

That, and she was trying to swear less now she was doing her own thing.

"How about we do this?" she suggested, pulling on the pad and guiding the ship further up. The Snicket coasted up out of the lane carefully, Juniper's eyes watching the screens to check nothing was approaching. They lifted out of the busier part of the sky, floating above the mass of it all. Peeking down, they could both see the rush of space traffic closer to the ports and the cities.

"Right, why don't you try it now? I've got control too so I'm not going to let you crash but.... just guide it up," she said, showing the movement on her own controls. Pulling the pad gently towards herself and a little down.

"Just aim us towards the outer orbit and then accelerate gently. Keep your eyes on the screens to make sure we're not about to hit anything. And if something happens, I'll just lock you out and take over."

Seriously, that includes the bridge as well. I will charge you extra if you scratch my baby.

Illian Dragos

 

[Illian Dragos]

"Gotcha." he said, somewhat regretting the joke that came out of his mouth.

Maybe another time. If I ever meet her again, that is.

He then took over whatever was the Star Wars equivalent of a steering wheel. For some odd reason, he was somewhat calmer. Maybe it was the fact that there wasn't any ships nearby, or maybe it was Juniper could control the ship. Either way, the young squire's fear had somewhat gone away. It was still there though, and he still hated riding on the ship.

You'll pay for the ship if you destroy it. You'll pay for the ship if you destroy it.

Again and again, the thought repeated in his head. Maybe, just maybe he could get someone to bail him out. But he didn't have enough credits to pay for the ship. Remembering what he'd survived, he had a small hint of belief that he could do this.

Remember your toy car. It's just like that.

He grabbed the steering wheel, and moved forward. And it went up.

I'm actually doing it. I'm actually doing it!

Illian was going toward the outer orbit. That was, until he saw a bunch of ships come toward him. And he panicked again. But this time, he didn't do anything. He knew she had his back... or maybe she didn't want the ship to crash. Well, it felt nice believing he had his back, so he went with that.
Juniper Jett

 

[Juniper Jett]

Juniper watched as Illian held his nerve and tried again. The ship rose slowly, the familiar feel of the inertia and movement dampeners kicking in beneath her feet, watching carefully through the cockpit window. Fingers still firmly on her pad, loose but ready to tighten and take control if she needed to.

She didn't, though. He raised it up. The ship rose. And rose. Slowly, the stars came into more focus, growing slightly closer. The horizon curved, then disappeared, along with the cloud cover. Sure enough, he was approaching orbit when the other ships appeared. She looked over and saw him just holding his controls without doing much, so Juniper waiting until the last minute when-

Got it.

She tilted her controls a little to the side and moved them out of the way gently, guiding them up and out of the planet's atmosphere. There they were, in space, off-world. Juniper leaned over the console, keying in the hyperdrive commands.

"There you go, you did it! Better the second time," she said happily as her fingers danced over the keys. With a shove of a chunky-looking level, the console beeped with their destination and the stars began to melt in front of them. The darkness of space smeared into a blue-white mix as they entered hyperspace.

"Well, there you go. A flying lesson and a trip back home. You wouldn't get that on a commerical shuttle now, would ya!" she enthused, smiling at him as she relaxed in her seat.

Illian Dragos

Spoiler: OOC

Sorry about the wait! I got super behind due to work and RL stuff. I don't mind if you want us to end the thread here, it's been super!

 

[Illian Dragos]

"I promise to give you a tip." he said, as he jumped to hyperspace. It was a genuine gift and a ploy for him to do something else. He had noticed something odd about Juniper Jett from the moment he had entered his ship. And he knew the perfect way to confirm his suspicions.

Feeling some form of regret, he began to reflect on his previous actions. There were many mistakes the Epicanthix Warrior had made during his journey, chief of all being the near destruction of her ship. He had a feeling she may have kept her anger down: coming from a background where he had to ignore many slights for a greater purpose, Illian felt it was his duty to apologize for what he'd done.

"I'm sorry. For crashing your ship. For not greeting you earlier. For my questions." he said. Even in his deep tone, there was still a genuine sense of some regret.

Although he was still mad she trashed his food.

 

[Juniper Jett]

Well hey, a tip. Lucky me! Almost worth smashing my pride and joy in the side of a garbage freighter over Terminus.

It was probably a little harsh to think that, but Juniper could do that in the secrecy of her own mind. Besides, wasn't totally his fault he couldn't fly a ship very well. Probably never been taught anything useful at whatever training academy they had in the Confederacy. She knew little of the inner-workings of the military or the weird religious Orders they had, but maybe it was just the ship too. Little freighters weren't exactly standard issue for an advanced, powerful and wealthy state.

Particularly not one with a souped-up engine like this.

"It's fine, seriously. I get worse when I renew my trade licence, that's more like probing your entire history. Down to what you had for breakfast the day before."

"And don't worry about the ship. It happens. I'm okay with it," she lied. She could've gone on a rant about crashing and explosions and being summarily banned from the airspace of a busy Outer Rim port but the poor guy seemed genuinely regretful. It'd be like kicking a puppy. Unfair and a waste of energy.

"I'm sorry for trashing your food," she said in reply, meeting apology with apology, "even if it did stink." She could only hold back the honesty for so long before it came rushing out, after all. With an awkward smirk, she turned her attention back to her console.

"Shouldn't be more than a few hours to Eriadu, anyway."

Illian Dragos

 

[Illian Dragos]

"Sure." he said.

Illian wondered if there was anything he could do to make it up to her. He had never met someone who was so generous as to forgive him for crashing such a valued item, although he wondered if she was being sincere.

"No worries." Remembering the food, it was the list of his concerns now. No point getting into an argument of if it was good food or not, he had bigger problems to deal with.

"Could I ask you for a favor?" he said, a mixture of firmness and uncertainty in his tone, wondering if she said yes.

"When we get to Eriadu, come with me. I want you to come to a Knights Obsidian training facility on the planet. I want to show you something."

Well, the cat was out of the bag. He'd just revealed who he was, but it was all for nothing if she didn't come with him.

Juniper Jett

 

[Juniper Jett]

That seemed to be the end of it. No worries. Just to Eriadu. She thought about going to grab some less local food from the mess, or just find a vid to zone out too, hoping that it'd pass the time quicker.

"Huh? Sure, ask away," she replied, folding her arms loosely round herself as she looked at him. When he mentioned the Knights Obsidian, she frowned for a moment as she tried to recall what she knew about them. Well, they were Knights, obviously, and some kind of Force-based order. She had little experience of them, being more familiar with the Jedi based around the Core Worlds.

She pulled a face. "Seriously? Do they need living target dummies or something?" she asked him, frowning. "You're not handing me over to be judged or something, are you? Your food wasn't that expensive, was it?" The very idea of her being taken to something as serious as a 'training facility' seemed obscene. Insane.

"I mean, if you're going to show me a vault full of gold bars, or a new hyperdrive, I'm down. Can't think of why else you'd want me there though." In Juniper's mind, people like the Knights Obsidian, the Jedi, the Sith, they were some whole other kind of people. Completely separate from the reality of her life.

"Are you one of them, then? Y'know, a knight?" she asked him.

Illian Dragos

 

[Illian Dragos]

"If you really want a new hyperdrive, I can have someone get it for you, but that's not important."

Chuckling, he continued.

"Don't worry. Your not getting arrested, and yes, I'm a Knight. Also, " he said, instantly thinking of an idea. "I'll have the Confederacy pay you triple the rate you have. That should be a motivating factor right." Illian smiled, attempting to reassure her. He didn't blame her for not trust him. After all, they'd just met. But he needed to confirm something. And he knew the only way he could do it was over there.

Sighing, he made a plea.

"I know you don't trust me. I probably wouldn't being in your situation. If you don't want to come in, you can just stay outside. It's not that far from the spaceport anyway. But I want to confirm something about you, and trust me, you'll be interested."

She probably would have an idea of what he meant, and that was what he was hoping for.

Juniper Jett

 

[Juniper Jett]

Mental note, follow up on the hyperdrive comment. Always room for improvement.

Juniper's face furrowed even more as he mentioned her getting paid triple. Her eyes flashed with a little greed, desperately wanting more credits. However, that wasn't quite enough to remove the suspicion. It probably added to it, after all. Her fees were cheap, but paying triple just for an extra trip stank of someone who wasn't intending to pay at all. Especially if he didn't haggle.

Juniper didn't know much about Confederacy laws (aside from what materials you shouldn't declare at a spaceport) but could one of their Knights just seize her stuff like that? Maybe Illian was planning on taking her ship for himself, crashing it in his own time. All sorts of scenarios played through her mind, from the simple to the outlandish.

The money would be good. It wouldn't take long. But, in the end, she didn't trust it.

"Sorry, but nah. I'm grabbing some fuel and then I'm heading off world pretty quickly. I've got a contact on Frego who needs some help moving things." As little detail as possible. It wasn't Frego she was heading to, but Dentaal. Even now, light-years away from her old home, she still couldn't shake the feeling that they were lurking around every single corner. She doubted that Illian knew, but her family's money would probably get them some contacts in the Confederacy...

"Sorry. Too much work, not enough time, you know how it is," she said with a shrug.

Illian Dragos