The Crew of the Pretio in This Week's Episode
Ne'vets Aharo - an exotic animal broker, both legal and otherwise, majority owner in the Pretio.
Duk'k - Sipsk'ud Bounty Hunter, recently rescued by the crew. Offering his services in order to get off this barely existing hunk of mud. His warning shots are dead center mass kill shots.
"Sid" - A peculiar woman who has shown to be a better pilot than the previous one. Possible Imperial ties, but a far better shot.
R2-H8(r) - Astromech with a confusing history, and harsh attitude towards most of the crew.
Evus - Twi'lek male, former slave, then former associate of Ne'vets, who has found his way back to the Pretio but caught back up in the nonsense of the Pretio. Former lover and boy-toy to the feared Rebel terrorist (and former Pretio crewmember), Latorna Savvn.
Sqarl Prugguk - Quarren ex-whaladon hunter, recently hired onto the crew.
The Fury of the Furry
Having spent a few days resting on the
Planet Bestine, the crew of the Pretio,
Has hired the services of ex-whaladon hunter,
The Quarren known as Sqarl.
Back to an adequate crew,
Exotic Animal Broker Ne'vet Aharo
Has been pouring over his limited messages
Looking for profitable options.
But what happens when the best deal
Is a mythical beast?
"I've got a request here for a werewolf, mixed in with all the animal notary documents and continuing education credits to renew his license. Twenty-K for a werewolf on some obscure planet Belkin... alive."
"Cause if we kill it, it reverts back to it's original form, and we have to kill it again. Bad luck," Duk'k interjected.
"Only for your legend, Duk'k. Every planet has there own version. None of them are exactly truthful."
Belkain confused Ne'vets' usual encyclopedic knowledge. It was a barren, arid planet, with the Imperials and corporations trying to set up a foothold, but never successfully establishing one over the years.
"This is vague and misleading. There's no way these legends should be coming from this planet."
Duk'k seemed confused, "Is that the only offer we've gotten?"
"I do have another boilerplate offer from a scrubbed corporation. Something about relocating animals for a timber project. It sounds like a version of that Imperial offer we checked out back on Botajef, and I can't even find the planet Ranther on the navigation maps. A planet with huge old-growth trees would have great wildlife potential, but I have no idea where it is... Sqarl.... Sid will take you to your quarters. Make yourself at home. Welcome aboard!"
Sid led the Quarren down the hallway to his quarters. They had enough time to pick up some humidifiers and a large, sealed poster of a pair of whaladons.
Sid left Sqarl to his own devices, and after the door shut, it might have been the humidifier on high, or it might have been a tear coming down the Quarren's cheek.
 |
| The Whaladon poster in Sqarl's quarters. |
Finally left alone again, Ne'vets reached out to the contact information on the werewolf inquiry.
His message appeared to immediately connect and immediately placed on hold. After a few moments, a stunning blonde female human lounging under the shade at some exotic resort.
 |
| Amber Kitzen |
"It is, Who am I speaking with?"
"My name is Amber Kitzen. I'm the one who sent you a request for the werewolf. I'm happy that you're responding and are taking part of this seriously, I appreciated that. No one else did when I sent out my initial inquiries."
"You sent out multiple inquiries?"
"Of course, *spoilers* I tried to low-ball an amount with professional folk much closer to the system than your operation. You know, you never want to spend the money you need to spend to do the job right. But, I mean, werewolves are so cool, right?"
"Sure... sure..."
"I mean, they're furry, they're deadly... I mean, it's just trying to figure out what their weaknesses are, and how much more powerful they are when all seven moons of Belkain go full."
"Sure... sure.. and what makes you so sure there are werewolves on Belkain?"
"I mean... the holo-vids are everywhere, if you search for them. There's plenty of lupine anthropomorphs, but there's definitely a whole community of them there. Why do think no one else is on that planet?
"Um.... yeah, makes perfect sense to me. And... how did you get my name?"
"Like I said, I didn't necessarily want to spend the money, but after I talked to these others, and no one took me serious, even with the credits I offered, I figured I had to got straight to the top!"
"And you think you can get the best for 20,000 credits?"
"I mean, like, Mister Aharo, you aren't going in their like those 'Monster Survival vids' , dropped into the wilderness with no equipment, no plan, and no clue. You're, like... professionals. And it's only one werewolf."
"It's going to take some tracking, it's going to take some time in the field. If we had real, credible information, the risk to me and my crew will force us to do it for no less than 40,000 credits."
"I'm disappointed. This doesn't fly with the number I went with Abel Norrum when he contacted me again this morning."
"Oh, you've been in contact with Abel?"
"Of course, he was willing to do it for 15K, a case of Spotchka, and an afternoon at a Twi'lek massage parlor. When he was around, but he's stuck on some client's expedition. He's been helping me out get the most value. Nice guy."
"I'm sure he's just been golden. Alright, I will drop it down to thirty, plus fuel and specialized equipment to trap and transport this creature ALIVE. If we could bring them back dead, our expenses drop considerably. You want them alive, right."
"Of course, I want them alive. If you kill them, they revert back to their original form, everybody knows that! I don't know, when I talked to Abel, all he needed was a bottle of space Qualudes in tranquilizer form, and reinforced canine crate... plus the 15,000 credits."
"Hey, if this can turn into a snatch-and-grab operation, your share of expenses go down considerably."
"I figure you sound like an older dude than Abel. You're welcome to check everything out. I can contact you in two days if we can get closer to an agreement.... I promised my parents before they passed away that I wouldn't get any of the lupine augmentation surgery to change myself, but keeping a werewolf is fair game. I appreciate you responding to my inquiry."
"I'm happy to look into things. Talk to you in two days."
"Peace out - Love and Spacecats!!!"
After dinner, Ne'vets assembled the crew and explained the Werewolf Offer.
Sqarl was the first with a question.
"This is a sentient being. Do we get involved with kidnapping if we do this?"
Duk'k was nonplussed, "If they do come out as sentient, we can consider this a bounty hunting job, retroactively."
Ne'vets smirked, "Werewolves are not considered Imperial citizens. I don't think we can be charged with kidnapping."
"Fair enough", Sqarl conceded, "but it sounds like our activities are going to be public knowledge across the galaxy hours after delivery.
Everyone nodded in agreement. Ne'vets followed up, "Well, that's no votes against. I guess we have a mission..."
