Ne'vets Aharo - an exotic animal broker, both legal and otherwise, majority owner in the Pretio.
Tarrie Prolek - Human pilot "under contract" to fly the Pretio, and drive the Piscopo. Brother of potential terrorist, rebel Latorna Savvn. His climbing skills are suspect, but his dance moves are above par. Edging a dangerous lifestyle of drugs, booze, and loose women.
Day 4 of the self-imposed exile of the Pretio, and there was surprise as the crew woke up. They had originally shared the small starport with a decommissioned gunship, owned by Rinni's Rangers. Over the next couple days, a freighter and a personal craft arrived. Day 4 was notable, as the personal craft appeared hastily painted in camouflage, with numerous shades of green.
Sid actually admitted running into some person buying paint on the general store when she bought more Frozen Lac, but couldn't provide anymore details.
It took very little leg work on a small planet with nothing to do, but the personal craft was the "Pioneer" owned by Pammi Linso, a traveling biologist.
Duk'k was the first to encounter Dr Pammi properly disposing of her various paint cans. After discovering she focused on primates, especially some odd races on Quellor.
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| Doctor Pammi with a Beaked Monkey |
Tarrie and Sid came out of first to meet Dr Pammi. After pleasantries and a comparison of credentials and knowledge base, Tarrie took Sid and Duk'k aside.
"So, this broad, are we helping her tag some monkeys and take a couple with us?"
"It's one old lady, so long as these monkeys aren't a credit a dozen and we're wasting Ne'vets' time. We get a couple monkeys and it's worth our time."
Ne'vets finally stumbled down the ramp to see the crew, sitting on crates, surrounding a single older woman in a green jumpsuit with a cravat tied around her neck, and dated insignia on her shoulders.
Duk'k did the introductions, "Pammi, this is our boss, Ne'vets Aharo. Ne'vets, this is Pammi Linso. She knows something about horny monkeys in the woods."
"Beaked, not horny, or even billed monkey. Just beaked." she corrected the Sipsk'ud.
"Charmed, regardless," said an unimpressed Ne'vets.
Pammi explained that the planet had a sizable and undocumented beaked monkey population and although she's retired, she continues to travel to tag and research various lifeforms.
Ne'vets wasn't seeing massive profits, but with the right shots and veterinary care, they could be turned over rather quickly.
Using their recent escapades at the Imperial Zoological Symposium, including Duk'k reciting his portion of the presentation from memory, and a quick education on the Tree Kraken to smooth things over, the biologist and the animal broker reached a simple arrangement. For the use of the Piscopo speeder to carry her supplies and let her capture and tag the population, she's be happy to let them into the territory and take a few.
After handshakes were made, Tarrie pulled them aside in the Pretio.
"Are we getting a mating pair? How many can we steal? Should we just kill her in the woods?"
"Woah, woah, woah! No killing old ladies! Worst case, they're probably a delicacy, like those rabbits. If we find a research facility that needs them in bulk, it might be worth a few return trips."
With Pammi's years of experience, and the crew's penchant for tangler grenades, it appeared that the trapping and tagging of the monkeys would go relatively quick. The tangler grenades weren't as effective as initially thought, as the monkeys were able to escape the contracting nettings before it shrank to the proper size. A shirtless Tarrie shepherded the monkeys back to the main group and Dr Pammi just lured them over for tagging with food.
Duk'k named one Goss
Tarrie named one Something Awesome
Sid named one Typhon
Ne'vets named his Avon
With all the tags used, and data collected, they packed up and Piscopo. Dr Pammi and her equipment were unloaded into the Pioneer, and they went their separate ways.
The following morning, the Pioneer had left the planet.
With six new beaked monkeys in their possession, the crew decided it best to chalk their losses with the Tree Kraken and return to Takodano, stopping at the "home office" for messages.
Space holograms and messages were sparse and odd. Abel Norrum sent a number of drunk (and wildly inappopriate) messages to the office, instead of directly the Ne'vets. Two other odd messages without contact info arrived. Two individuals, Orshan Pindanya and Kergam Franza both followed very similar scripts, inquiring whether Ne'vets and his crew were interested in full-time paid positions in research.
Finally, the Pretio arrived at Takodana, the crew broke off to do their respective duties, and settled back into some relaxation before the next mission could be determined.
Three days home, Sid reported to Ne'vets that the Tree Kraken was missing. It was nowhere in its habitat on board or anywhere else on board the Pretio.
Ne'vets appeared non-plussed. "That's fine, let bygones be bygones, go take care of the monkeys."
GM Notes: At some point there was a reference to Duk'k wearing a trenchcoat full of monkeys. If only one of us could draw.
Another thing that has hamstrung a merchant campaign thus far, actual price rangers for animals.
Beaked Monkeys first appear in The Journal of the Traveller's Aid Society #3.
Next: #59 - Monkey Pants!
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