(Star Wars d6) #102 - Back on the Pretio

Meanwhile, Duk'k, the Sipsk'ud Bounty Hunter, was relaxing in the pilot's seat of the Pretio.  The maintenance droids at the Ubrikkia starport seemed a little slow in work-speed and processing power, but they were wrapping up diagnostics on the ship's hyper drive and landing gear.    The first been lost in space due to a erratic departure from hyperspace near Kwenn, then barely recovered and re-engaged while the crew was fighting a deadly infestation.  The second had fallen off during a previous crash landing by a non-pilot crew member.  Both were now operational enough to get off this forsaken industrial planet and the whole gang could attend to a number of issues.  

Duk'k: The Bounty Hunter

A crackling from his com woke him from his half-slumber.  

"Duk'k?  DUK'K!!!   Get the droids off the ship, pay off the port fees, and lower the lift, we're coming in hot!!!"

It was good to see that the crew's boss, exotic animal broker Ne'vet Aharo, was on top of things.  They had landed on this planet for the ship repairs, as well emergency surgery for holo-vid social media star Cousin Rancor, and a replacement leg for the Pretio's main pilot, Sid.  Both had brushes with a creatures suffering from a serious, deadly, and violent infection with other creatures and animals.    Routine surgery shouldn't have created such a hasty retreat, 

Ne'vets Aharo

Duk'k switched on the Pretio's engines, lowered the lift from the cargo bay, and was escorting the maintenance droids down the ramp of the ship with the Piscopo, a repulsorlift cargo van, came barreling down the concourse and slid onto the lift.  Duk'k hit the button for the ramp and dashed back to the cargo hold to ensure the lift worked appropriately. 

The Piscopo

He was met by the rest of the crew, tumbling out of the vehicle.  The aquatic animal expert, the Quarren Sqarl,  was carrying the pilot, Sid, in his arms.  She was still in a hospital surgical gown, dazed and confused,  but certainly had a brand new metal leg attached. 

Sqarl

"What happened???"

Sqarl spitted out at him, "Rancor's dead, the xeno parasite got into the hospital, probably from him.  Whole things on lockdown.  We gotta GO NOW!"

"Sid"

Sqarl took Sid to the crew lounge and laid her on one of the cushioned benches with seat belts and strapped her in. 

The astromech droid, R2-H8(r) rolled into the lounge and questioned Squarl.

"You know, nothing ever goes wrong in the crew lounge.  We still have Cousin Rancor's blood on the floor."

R2-H8(r)

"She's been jostled around enough to get here.  Come up to the cockpit with me.  We need to jump ANYWHERE ASAP!"

Back in the cargo bay, Ne'vets emerged from the Piscopo and made his way to the cockpit, motioning to Duk'k, "C'mon, we need you to pilot... for now..."

Duk'k followed his boss and returned to the pilot's chair.  The Pretio lifted off without issue, and without clearance, he accelerated full throttle out of the starport and out of the atmosphere.  

As everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief,  Evus popped his head up into the cockpit, "Hey guys, everyone is accounted for, we're good to go!.... There, there, everything's going to be find."

Evus

Duk'k was a pit perturbed, "Did we take another rando with us," he said, turning around, "Is that a child???"

Evus had only climbed the ladder up to the cockpit so his torso was above the floor, but wrapped around his body was a small human girl, no older than four years old.

"Yes, she was the only person we could rescue during our escape.  The rest might all be D-E-A-D.  She hasn't spoken yet, but I think we can name her Terrie!"

"Were her parents in the hospital."

The little girl's lip quivered even more.

"Okay, we'll talk later.  Take her down to the lounge and feed her some space salisbury steak...."

With the hour, little Terri was chowing down on brownies and cobbler,  Sid was coherent enough to return to the cockpit, and H8(r) calculated a reasonable jump to a safe location so the crew could regain their focus.

GM Notes:  I ran this little bit two weeks after session #101.  Hoyce, Duk'k's player had returned from some unfortunate events, so we tried to tie him into the end of that session.  Duk'k had originally been part of the field trip on Ubrikkia, but his absence (and some questionable acts by the others) required me to rewrite him to the stay on the ship, rather than Evus.   As might be noticed, this whole session was twelve minutes long. 

Next: #103 - In Media Res