Smuggler Archive
Thread: Baggage Smuggler Fiction 2
I've heard some people like hyperspace. That they like the thought of blasting through reality faster than a star's light. That they get a thrill out of watching worlds and systems and constelations blaze by at break neck speeds. Me, I think it's boring as hell. Maybe some people do like it, but I can't fathom it. Even in a freighter like Black Ice the cockpit can seem suffocating, the walls can start to close in. It's no different from a house, really, but the thought of half a meter of hull being the only thing between you and... well I don't know what's out there, but it's unsettling. That's what I was thinking, anyway. Slouching in the cockpit of my ship, feeling sorry for myself.
How did I end up here? Floating back to Corellia, broke, beaten up, broke, and with a passenger. How? A loud crash from the back of the ship stopped my train of thought.
"Hey!" I yelled. "Stop screwin around with my ship!" The sound of bare feet running towards the cockpit announced the entrance of my passenger. For a second I'd thought maybe I was dreaming, back in bed with one of those expensive harlots.
"Hey, Wil!" No, it was real. I wasn't in bed, and I was broke because of all those expensive harlots.
"Dammit, kid, calm down." He was about thirteen, well I guessed he was about thirteen. He didn't tell me much, and I didn't ask.
"Are we really going to Coronet?" He was a grimy little thing I'd found in an alley. Sitting in the rain, just waiting for a group of the local drunkss to beat the hell out of him. I don't know, I guess I got a soft spot for street urchin, but I realized I didn't want to see the kid beaten. I could have just walked away and been almost as satisfied, but I didn't.
They didn't scare easy, I'll give them that. But then they figured four drunks could take one old smuggler. It wasn't a bad fight, they were blasted out of their minds. It just took longer than I'm used to. Drunks tend to not feel pain as much as a sober person would. I took a few hits but they were the ones on the ground in the end. The kid didn't have anywhere to go. I couldn't just leave him there in the streets. So I brought him back, after a made him take a bath before getting on my ship. Maybe Maxi would know what to do with him.
"Yes, for the tenth time, we are really going to Coronet. Plenty of back alleys and dumpsters for you to live in there, and much nicer than what you're used to, kid. These alleyways look like the Hotel Coruscant compared to what you're used to. " The kid hadn't heard me. "Hey, why don't you-"
"What's this do?" The button was almost in pushing reach.
"Hey! Don't touch that!" He jerked his had back at the sound of my voice. "Dammit, kid, why don't you go play in the back or something."
"Ok!" He skipped out of the cockpit. Jeez, nothin seemed to bring the kid down.
It was another few minutes before a heard another loud crash from the back. Maxi had to know what to do with this kid. I slouched again in my chair, and was just about to start feeling sorry for myself again when we got pulled out of hyperspace early.
"Kid! Get up here!" Where the hell were we, why did we drop out earlier than we should have. The world slid into focus. It was a fight. No. It was a battle. An Interdictor Class Imperial Cruiser was present, probably had his grav wells up, no wonder we got pulled.
On the other side there was a near ancient Alderaanian War Cruiser defended by a flight of Incom X-Wing Snubfighters and a few scattered Koensayn Y-Wings, probably a small Rebel convoy that stumbled upon the Indertdictor's gravity wells too. The TIEs they were up against scattered them pretty quick, but they seemed to be scattering in my direction and with them came the TIEs. The kid came skipping back in.
"Are we there, Wil?"
"No, we're not there. Strap your ass in kid, this could get bumpy." I had to get out quick, or the Imps might figure me for one of the rebels. Last thing I needed was to be marked as a terrorist.
"What's happening, Wil? Who are these people?"
"Imperials and Rebels. They're just having a small disagreement and we're about to blast out." But how to do it with those gravity wells up was beyond me. So, I switched my ship's indentifier to that of the Wayward a small merchant ship and hit the comm channels. "Hail, Imperial Interdictor, this is the Wayward. I've gotten caught in your gravity wells and I just want to get out of here in one piece. Copy?"
"How would I know that you're not some Rebel freighter trying to sneak out? Would be just like a rebel to abandon his commrades in a fight." The comm channel clicked and shut off.
"Have it your way, you bastards." I diverted some shield power to weapons and brought the concussion missle battery online.
The kid finally strapped himself in as he piped up again. "What are we going to do?" I put the sarcasm on pretty heavy, hoping someone that young could pick it up.
"Serve our Empire with undying loyalty, kid." Undying... I prayed. I switched the comm channel back on again. "Alright, Interdictor, Wayward is engaging snub fighters. Don't shoot me, ok?" I got no answer.
The first X-Wing never saw it coming, I pulled in along side of him, the battery rotated automatically due to proximity. I got an easy lock on him and fired.I left the explosion behind and headed back into the fight when I took a bolt in the back. The shields flickered but powered back up, no damage from it, and the sensors said it was a TIE fighter on my tail.
"Hey would you knock it off, I'm busy here doing your damned job!"
"Piss off, Wayward, we've got this handled."
"You know, I'd love to, but you Imps have your gravity wells up! I can't move until this fight is over, so get out of my way. The quicker they're dead the faster I'm back home!" I punched the commlink shut. Literally, I slammed the button with my fist.
The second target, a Y-Wing gave me a bit of a chase before he finally caught a missle in the cockpit. Shattering the frame and sending the pilot's chair hurtling through space.
Now, I'd tell you some great fighter story here, about how I outflew some of the rebellion's best pilots and barely came out alive. But it would be a lie. With a freighter, your only real hope is to be able to outgun and outlast them. Better shields and bigger ordnance is the only real way to go. Blockade running is all fine and dandy, but if your shields are subpar, you're in for a short trip and a rude awakening with and Impstar Deuce as your alarm chrono.
The fight lasted roundabouts three minutes all said and done. The TIEs took out most of the snubs, and the Interdictor made short work of their Alderaanian Cruiser, so no trouble there, but they sustained enough losses I thought. At least six or seven floating hulls out there with nothing or no one to salvage from them.
"You guys thinking about powering down those wells so I can limp back home?" I was irritated.
"Alright, Wayward, get out of here. And remove that missle battery, it's too big for that class of freighter." Just like an Imp. Aid in ridding the galaxy of profit killing terrorists and they threaten to haul you in with the weapon used to kill said terrorist. Just like an Imp.
"Quiet? Right? Silent, like a friggin' mouse, or else I'll toss you out in the middle of hyperspace." The kid just smiled and saluted me. His helmet fell over his eyes when he did, and I just chuckled. With my blaster pistol strapped to my thigh and a carbine in hand, I lowered the cargo doors. You can never be careful with insurgents, they tended to be rather surly and sometimes just triggerhappy. As I walked down the plank, I saw lift-truck pull up to the ship. Five men of a few assorted species exited the cab of the truck while a very small lifter droid made it's way out of the bed. I wondered how the thing carried crates, it looked very topheavy with sinewy little legs supporting a large torso and very large arms. Looked ready to topple with a ghust of wind. One guy, a Twi'lek, motioned for the droid to move into my ship.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." I said, "Hold it. Where's the money, jack?" The Twi'lek tossed me a credit chip and I ran it through a datapad I'd had fixed to the cargo bay controls. It had the right amount, four hundred and fifty thousand. Four fity for one damn bomb. Seemed like an awful lot for one blast, but I'm just a smuggler, it probably makes sense to a zealot. I let the droid pass and it picked up the bomb case with little problem, it still looked unsteady, but managed to make its way back to the lift truck and deposite the bomb.
"Well, I guess that's about it." But it wasn't. They couldn't have waited ten minutes for me to take off. A Royal Security Forces Flash Speeder pulled up, it's rear mounted turret gleaming in the warm naboo sunlight, its five occupants gleaming with the anticipation of bringing in the insurgents.
"RSF!!" They shouted. "Nobody move! You're all under arrest." And for a second, nobody did move. But the zealots were getting antsy. They looked at each other while the RSF advanced slowly. After a very long moment, one reached for his blaster. Then the shooting started.
"Ah hell," I groaned and started squeezing of blind shots from the carbine. The blaster turret from the speeder let loose a hail of bolts towards the lift-truck and Black Ice. "Hey!" I shouted as one bolt, barely missing me, planted itself firmly in the hull. "Stop that!" I swung out from cover and brought the carbine to my shoulder, took just a moment to aim, and pulled trigger. The gunman on the turret went down and I realized it was the only thing that had been shooting. The rest had actually killed each other off. Handy, I thought and went down to check the bodies. None of the zealots were alive, I couldn't have helped them if I'd wanted to. Same with the RSF, all dead. In the lift-truck I saw the bomb and its case were still completely intact, but more than that I saw three other crates holding assorted weapons. They must have been on their way to a base or a storehouse and decided to meet me on the way. Not very smart, but decidely fortunate for me.
"What happened?" The kid had popped out of the hold, still with his helmet and empty carbine.
"Bad happened, kid, that's what." I sat down in the lift-truck and backed it up to the cargo hold. The droid was blasted to bits, I'd have to haul it up myself.
"They tried to hurt you?" He looked confused. He hadn't been this way in the fight with the Imperials, but then those were just ships, there were faces on these ships. Bent, twisted faces branded with death and pain.
"They tried to do more than that, but this kind of stuff happens." I knelt down beside him. "Look. The guys over there," I pointed to the Flash Speeder, "they wanted to kill the guys down here" I pointed to the zealots. "I was just here, caught up in the middle, but that happens. I get caught up in the middle a lot, like back in space, with those Rebels and those Imps. I do what I have to to survive, kid." He didn't look satisfied. "You'll see this as you get older, but the galaxy ain't perfect, and neither are we. We do what have to to get by, alright."
He would just have to deal with this on his own. I shouldn't have brought him, I thought, kid shouldn't see this. But what could I have done, left him on the streets? Let those drunks have him? No, this was better, it would just take some getting used to.
"Hey, you hungry? Of course you are, you're a kid you're always hungry. Right?" I turned back to the lift-truck. "Help me get this loaded up and we'll go grab a bite to eat." The bomb, the credit chip, and some extra weapons, not a bad days work. Ten people dead, but still, not a bad day's work.
Bostawi Anin Bon Ryloth, which translates roughly into "Taste of Ryloth", is the best Twi'lek food this side of the rim. Well, unless you count Ryloth, which I don't. Not cheap, but worth it. So we sat, the kid and I, at their best table, in new suits, planning to order the most expensive things on the menu. We had cash to blow, why not enjoy ourselves. Wait, we? Screw it. It sounded right.
The waitress came over, a cute tan skinned twi'lek with blue tattoos on her lekku. She smiled at the kid and asked us what we would like.
"Sauteed Mynock, please, and the Best Corellian Whiskey you can dig out of the bar."
"And for you, little man?" The kid sat up straight in his chair, stiffened up, and got his voice as deep as he could.
"Sauteed Mynock, please, and the Best Corellian Whiskey you can dig out of the bar." He was waving his arms in what I assumed was an immitation of myself. The waitress just laughed. I yanked his menu away from him and showed him some teeth, but without the smile.
"He'll have the same, but blue milk for him."
It was a little while before she brought the food, but the drinks came. I didn't want to know the price of the whiskey, but it was very very good.
"So, kid, what's your name? Unless you like me calling you kid all the time." He looked at his feet under the table, clicking his shoes together.
"I don't have one." That's rough, growing up with only "Get out of here, kid" as your only name...
"Hell, I know lots of guys don't have names, well not any a mother would give you. Let's see..." I mocked deep thought, "there's Reulsorlift Laffe, Hardhead Herrod..." the kid laughed, but I went on. "I knew a Knuckles when I was your age, knuckles as big as your head, kid, I swear." The food finally came and as we ate I asked him, "So, say you had to pick a name for yourself. What would it be?" He stopped chewing and really thought.
"How 'bout Wil?"
"No, no, we already got a Wil. Gotta be something different." Wil? Kid's crazy wants a name after an old grifter. "I got it, how about Grimes. We can call ya Grimey!" The kid laughed. "Ok, I got it. I knew a guy once, name of Jess, how do you like it?" He chewed, tossing it around in his head.
"I can live with Jess."
"Jess it is then! Well here," I held my Whiskey up and he touched his glass of bleu milk to mine, "To Wil and Jess. Partners?" The kid smiled that big, ugly, toothy grin of his. And I smiled back and nodded. "Partners, then."
Message Edited by Tych on 08-02-2004 01:08 PM
Good dialog. Good flow. Amusing setup, the softhearted smuggler and the goofy kid. Why is it I can see the kid cutting loose with blasterfire when another deal goes south?
Also amusing that the smuggler pockets the big bomb and the cash, and a little more for his efforts!
Good work, and I expect more!
Maxi and Sala were there to meet me at the starport. I docked Ice and headed down the ramp towards them.
"Hey, Maxi. How's the bad cop business?" Maxi smiled at me, Sala looked like he did right after he shot at me. White. Very white.
"Better when you're in town, Wil. Speaking of..." He didn't look hopeful, so I tossed him the credit chip and Sala flinched when I brought my hands up.
"Hundred large, as promised. Come on Max, you ever known me to welch out before?"
"Well, no, Wil, I haven't, but as they say, there's a first time for-"
"Can it, would ya? And savor that cash, I'm now officially broke. I had to fight off an angry harlot to save that last hundred."
"Well, we've got some work for you. Don't we, Sala?" the squat little Zabrak nodded with equal enthusiasm and nervousness.
"That's good, real good. I need to get some done repairs on the Ice." As if to emphasize my point, another loud crash came from the hold and I cringed, thinking about what had been broken this time.
"You pick up a pet? Or is that one of your harlots?" Maxi and Sala both leaned to look over my shoulder.
"You might say a pet..." That's when the kid came darting out. Once he looked up, he froze, eyes locked on the skyline.
"Where the hell did you get that?" Maxi shied away from him like he would a diseased animal. Sala kind of smiled, but just a little.
"He was sitting under the boots of four drunks on my last stop. He just followed me onto the ship, I swear."
"Well," Maxi looked scared for the first time since I'd known him, "what are you going to do with him?"
"I was hoping that you-"
"No way!" Maxi cut me off, throwing his hands in there. "No way in the Maw I'm taking that little... thing!"
"I'm not asking you to adopt him, Max! I just need a place to... uh... store him. That's it."
"What is he, a crate of spice? No way, you don't store kids, Wil. At least, I don't think you do." Maxi looked drained, tired. Sala was looking at the kid, who had come to stand in front of me, my hands on his shoulders.
"I know," I said, "Sala can take him." I achieved brilliance for a short moment there. I pushed the kid towards Sala.
"What? Ah- no. Hehe. You see, I don't... um.... I don't really like children, you see." Sala pushed the boy back towards me.
"Hey," I poked him in the shoulder. "Need I remind you that you tried to kill me?" Back to Sala.
"I thought that was all in the past!" Back to me.
"Past nothin', Sala. You shot at me. You get the kid." He just groaned and took the boy by the hand. "Well, what kind of work do you have for me, Maxi?"
"Oh you'll like this, Wil. I know you've always had a thing for heavy artillery."
"A thing? I hate moving weapons, you know that, Max."
"You want me to give it to someone else? Say the word, Wil and it's out of sight, out of mind."
I sighed and thought about just how broke I was. "Ah hell, Maxi. Where is it?"
"Atta boy. In Sala's warehouse, might as well take the Ice out there now. Unless you plan on visiting the old neighborhood that is."
"That's the biggest damn bomb I've ever seen, Maxi." I said it flatly. It was the truth.
"She's a beauty, isn't she?" Maxi lowered the case's lid and instructed the lifter to haul it into the bay of Ice. "She's headed to Naboo. Small group of insurgents there with a pension for tactical nukes. Well, close enough. That's a proton grenade times a thousand if you ask me, but I'm just a crooked cop. What do I know about explosives?" I really didn't like running weapons. It always made me feel like I was taking a side in something I wanted no part in. I suppose you could say killing alliance pilots is the same, but that was pure self preservation.
"Just couldn't be another load of spice, could it? That would be just too easy, wouldn't it?"
"Hey, I don't pick these jobs, Wil. They just come to me." We heard Sala in the warehouse's office shouting at the kid to stop screwing with his office. I chuckled. Served him right.
"Alright, Maxi, I'm gone. I'll be back in a few days. And make sure Sala takes care of that kid."
"How the hell would I know if he's taking care of the kid ok or not?"
"I don't know. Just... just keep an eye on him. Would you?" I started for the ship when the kid came running out to follow me. I caught him by the shoulder. "Hey, hey, hey. You're gonna stay with... ah... Uncle Sala for a while. Ok?" I swear the kid looked like I'd just sucker punched him.
"I don't want to stay with him. He's uptight." I had to chuckle at that one. When the kid's right...
"Yeah, he is. But you've still got to stay with him. I got a job now, it's too dangerous for me to have to look out for a little kid. Alright? Now go play with Uncle Sala's datapad." I stood up and turned towards the ship and didn't look back to see if he was crying or not. For some reason, I just really didn't want to see him cry.
Hyperspace was still boring I'd decided one I'd gotten far enough from Corellia to punch out. I lounged in the cockpit and thought about opening some rations, but figured it could wait until Naboo to eat. There was this great Twi'lek place in Kadaara I always went to when I was in-system, had the very best mynock. So I just leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes. The ship seemed empty. Quiet. Could I have actually missed the little... Nah. My imagination, that was it. He wasn't so bad, I thought, not really. A little dirty, and loud, and annoying sometimes. Most of the time. But all in all, probably a good kid. My train of thought was cut short by a loud crash from the cargo hold.
"You gotta be kiddin' me," I said aloud.
"Hey take those off!" The kid had been hiding in my weapons locker. He'd appropriated a blaster carbine and a bandolier of powerpacks he had strung over his shoulders. But he didn't take them off, he continued to bounce around the hold making blaster noises with his mouth, pretending he was an Imperial Stormtrooper. "Oh alright, give me that." I took the powerpack out of the carbine and lifted the bandolier over his head. I handed him the empty carbine back and slapped a helmet on his head. "There, now you're a soldier." He smiled. It was the biggest, toothiest, uggliest grin I'd ever seen, but it made me smile too. "Alright Sergeant Small Fry, listen up. I've got a job to do down there, I can't turn around to take you back, so you're going to have to sit in here and be very quiet, ok. Can you do that for me? Quiet?" He nodded furiously, still wearing that smile, but somehow I was still doubtful.
Message Edited by Tych on 08-02-2004 11:53 AM