Ne'vets Aharo - an exotic animal broker, both legal and otherwise, majority owner in the Pretio.
Evus - Twi'lek free mercenary, Ne'vets' armed muscle with a keen eye and a tendency to shoot first.Tarrie - Human pilot "under contract" to fly the Pretio. Brother of potential terrorist, rebel Latorna Savvn.
Frokazza - Wookie co-pilot, mechanic, and unarmed muscle. Very distrustful.
Downtime!
In between jobs, the crew of Pretio
Relax and recharge on the Aharo Ranch
On the planet Takodana.
The Pretio has just been upgraded with a
Quad-Laser Turret and the group was in
Festive debate as to who is to man
The gun, when two visitors
Interupted them....
Tarrie Prolek, pilot "Under Contract," was quite indignant.
"I'm quite capable of flying the 720..."
"It's the Pretio..." Ne'vets quickly retorted.
"I know it's the Pretio. I'm saying I can fly any Ghtroc 720 solo, but to man the peashooters upfront, and astrogate, Frokazza has his hands full in any crisis. One of you needs to be full time on the new quads."
"No problem, I'm on it." Ne'vets Number Two, the Twi'lek Evus answered matter-of-factly.
"But that's the thing, not only do you have to be 'on it' but you have be 'on it' immediately and at all times. Those guns aren't going to discourage pirates and scummy locals unless the turret is moving and..."
The conversation stopped with a droid walking up the road to the ranch. The model of droid was immaterial, the body it was carrying was of greater concern.
Evus jumped up to go meet these uninvited guests, and Frokazza was in quick pursuit behind him. Tarrie ran inside to grab a medical kit.
Meeting the crew a safe distance apart. The droid spoke, "This Rodian came off a recent freighter landing at Andui. He was barely conscious then but offered 100 credits to arrive here."
The Rodian awoke, still in the droid's arms.
"Who is Ne'vets Aharo?"
Getting the Rodian into a chair on the porch, Tarrie began to tend to his horrible case of exhaustion. The Rodian pulled out a mini-holodisc from his pockets and handed it to Tarrie. "My name is Teefor. I was paid to hand Ne'vets this disc. The droid can play it."
Inserting the disc into a previously unknown port in the droid, that Holo-vid projected on the nearby table. A younger adult human male, bedecked in fine robes, with numerous rows of wooden beads around his neck. A pair of goggles sat on his receding hairline. Upon the table he was sitting behind were stacks upon stacks of credits.
"Is this thing working.... Hello, this message is for Ne'vets Aharo. My name Kafla Thingvellir, a very rich man who was interested in searching for a new creature. There is a trapper (spider) on a documented but uninhabited planet. I'd like to find the item, and return it to the Imperial Zoological society in just under two months."
 |
| Kafla Thingvellir |
He continued "I had an interesting review from a man named Abel Norrum. I had inquired about his services first, but he told me that you were, 'The kriffin' right man for the job.'"
I offer you this, travel to the planet Par and find me at the bar of the Hotel Amdas and heart the details of my proposal. If you say no to it, but are willing to transport me to the planet Mora, I will pay you 5,000 credits. If you agree, we have an opportunity to become rich and famous.
Information on Takodana was slow and inconsistent, but Kafia Thingvellir was revealed to be an executive for the company for a medical supply company, Sterilon. It had been recently purchased to the Naasirka Corporation for a ridiculous sum of credits, leaving Kafia wealthy and bored.
To further verify the story, Evus adjusted the satellite dish and antennas to try to catch Abel for additional intel on Kafla. Unfortunately, they were successful in catching a vid of a shirtless, Abel, fumbling for the communicator.
"Ne'vets, you dumb kark, what are you doing?"
Inquiring about the millionaires' offer and Abel's referral, the big game hunter sighed, "It's probably good. This is the first time in six days that I'm wearing some form of pants. I don't even know the names of these alien races I've been with. I'm not sure if they're female or male. With everything I've been through, you could be a kriffing hallucination right now..."
"Again, I'm sorry for disturbing you.
"Kriff, you are real. You're apologizing. Of course, you're apologizing. Stop it."
With that disturbing confirmation, they assembled supplies and departed the next day. They left Rumo and Poonk to care for the Ranch, a good call, as they also left a convalescing Teefor on the front porch.
As the ship lifted off, Ne'vets was sitting in the cockpit and thought out loud, "Let's help him, for good credits, perhaps we can design a device to hold these Trappers, a Keeper for them."
He was quickly escorted out of the cockpit.
 |
| Leaving Takodana... for now.... |
Three days later, the Pretio came out of hyperspace and arrived at the planet Par. Finding Kafla in the hotel bar a bit more disheveled than before,
"Aharo Ne'vets I presume?" the businessman asked, immediately tossing a stack of credits their way.
They inquired about the job.
Kafla admitted to being a very rich but stranded businessman. He had assembled an expedition to acquire a new species of "trapper." However, his entire crew had stolen his fully-stocked ship and stranded him on the planet. He has plenty of credits to get off-planet, and assemble a second safari ship from step one, but his time was limited and extremely valuable. Using a few contacts, he eventually got ahold of Abel, and ultimately Aharo. There were sixty-three days before the Galactic Zoological Association Annual Reunion at Alderaan. There, he hoped to present the discovery of a new breed of spider, and hopefully have it named after him.
He offered each member of the crew 1,000 credits a week for up to eight weeks to travel to the planet 576-908 and search for this elusive creature. On top of that, he pulled out a velvet bag. and poured its contents onto the table. They were purple crystals, which by some means appear to have been burnt out from the inside.
"I'm paying you sons of bitches that flat rate, but the planet with these trappers is allegedly filled with Denulli Crystals. You can use a handful of them to purchase starships! You find my pretty little Trapper, you can get a good share. They're one of me and they're eight of you?"
The crew didn't want to argue mathematics with their new client.
He started repeating himself, "I left my home planet of Mora four months ago with my custom ship, the Leaping Snowcat, and a small crew, in order to come here and pick up the remaining crew for the expedition. Those bastards left me!"
"Don't worry, I put substantial bounties on their heads before I even contacted Abel. Alive was unnecessary. Dead is perfectly fine by me."
"We will also need to get to any planet along the way to resupply. I will pay for the resupply, but also for 3,000 credits in personal supplies for you four."
"He appeared to reset himself again, "There are a LOT of trappers on the island but I'm just looking one new one. A translucent chromatic about the size of my fist." He stared at his fist, "Maybe a little smaller."
"I learned of this breed of spider from a traveling merchant that had been stranded on 576-908. The Denuli Crystals he had were damaged and ruined, but I purchased them cheaply to learn the location of the planet.... Maybe he didn't tell me the Explorer Corps designation until after I paid him. Anyway, if the planet has 1% of the good crystals the merchant claimed, everyone could be well off. I'll still be extremely rich..."
Realizing the Rodian messenger didn't return with them, he became more empathic, "Poor guy, I'll leave payment to the poor Rodian, at the hotel main desk, if he ever gets back to the hotel."
Departing the planet, the sobering Kafla was beside himself.
"They won't like the consequences."
Next: #28 Surface Safari
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