Erinyes

[Q. Samus Dage]

ALECTO
unceasing

Kitten,

Gonna be in your neck of the woods in a week's time. Nothing too important, just a routine stopover and a touch of maintenance. I'll have a few days to burn, figured you wouldn't mind the company.

Dage



It'd been a message sent without fanfare, and one that was painfully to-the-point. Still though, a part of him had to wonder if she would actually be there to greet him when he debarked. Burying his hands into the front pockets of his grey uniform trousers, Samus Dage let out a long breath as he waited for the airlock to equalize. Khera'Va'ss'io was pretty decently plug-and-play, and the ship was more than capable of dealing with docking procedures all by his lonesome. Dage more often than not wondered if the crotchety old droid preferred it that way.

The wall panel dinged, and with a pneumatic hiss, the thick durasteel panels of the blast doors of upper docking pylon 4 rumbled open.

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

Waiting for Commander Dage wasn't a five-foot-seven Cizerack K'ohta'rrou, but rather a six-foot-six Herglic Lieutenant. Wearing an inscrutably affable grin on her beak, Lieutenant Gradoona clasped her meaty hands in front of her as Commander Dage prepared to debark, letting an awed whistle past as she looked over the human's shoulder to the very distinct and alien lines of the ship corridor beyond. Snapping back to reality with a blink, Gradoona's smile narrowed from giddy to merely polite.

"Helloo there Commander Dage. I'm Lieutenant Gradoona, assistant engineer here at Jovan. How ya doo?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

Stepping onto Jovan proper, Dage rolled his shoulders just a little bit, and as the blast door rumbled itself shut, he turned a curious look to the massive Herglic.

"Lieutenant Gradoona," he politely replied in greeting.

'How ya doo' wasn't exactly the sort of question he was used to hearing, but he wasn't about to not answer.

"I'm fine, I suppose," There was certainly no looking around the hefty gal to see if any others had come with her, so Dage simply angled his head upward; thankfully she wasn't that much taller. His hands remained in his pockets, but he certainly had no qualms with flashing a wide grin.

"And you?"

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Ooh I'm swell now!" Gradoona near click-cackled, bobbing her head slightly as her small eyes nearly glinted lasciviously. A short puff blasted from her blowhole as she shifted weight on her trunk-like legs.

"Not too aaften I see such a handsome lean sip of water sidle into port, yaknoo."

[Q. Samus Dage]

There was a moment of confusion, but it passed quickly as a hand came up to scratch an itch at the back of his neck. His grin remained; in fact it seemed to grow wider.

"Well, I... "

And then a thought occurred to him. He'd heard stories about Lieutenant Gradoona from Kes. The grin wilted just a little bit, he blinked, then gave the tiniest of pivots to send a quick look back to where he'd come from. When he turned back, there was a crafty gleam to his eyes.

"... you talkin' about me, or the ship... "

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

The big Herglic parted her beak to speak, then nearly choked on her tongue as her blowhole whistled in embarassment. Tiny eyes squinted into awkward half moons as she tilted back her head in the cetacean sign of d'oh.

"Oh...ooh geepers, I stepped in that one but good, din't I?"

Leveling her gaze at the human again, Gradoona's eyes widened a little as she stammered.

"I mean...naat that you're naat easy on the peepers I think? Yaknoo I doon't really have a reference level for humans."

An alarm was rising rapidly in Gradoona's brain that she probably didn't even want to have this conversation with a superior officer.

"Oh penguins, can I get a mulligan here? Ya kiinda caught me gawkin at your ship's pretty lines and now I'm gabbin like a goober here."

Pausing momentarily for a breathy huff from her blowhole, the Herglic engineers wrung her hands before willing them to fall to her sides.

"Sooo...ya puttin' in for repair work? Doon't suppose you need a hand? Yaknoo a ship with non-standard hardware like that, ya might need a re-tooled machine shaap at the ready!"

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Ha!"

It was reflex, and giving a casual shake of his head, Dage delivered a reassuring few pats to the Lieutenant's arm.

"No worries, Lieutenant," a last chuckle escaped his lips, "... a mulligan it is."

Stepping around her, he turned about on his heel so that he could still face her while walking backwards.

"As for the ship, you'd have to ask the Captain. Watch out though," he winked, though his voice held a somewhat undecipherable tone that could've been either caution or encouragement. It was up to her interpretation.

"... she's been in a mood lately."

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

~squeee~

Gradoona waved a hand dismissively.

"Bad moods change like stormy weather! Yaknoo I'm naat exactly a shiny midshipman anymore. I mean penguins, I'd still be swabbin deck if I couldn't handle grumpy brass. Uuusually for a spanner jockey like yours truly, thaat invaalves never lettin' 'em know exactly how long a jaab'll take, so's they think you're a little bit magic."

The Herglic blew a little raspberry and winked.

"Besides, she can't be a bigger battleaxe than K'ohta'rrou Meorrrei. If she was any more of an ice queen, she'd have a snowball on her tail."

[Q. Samus Dage]

The blonde gave another laugh at the mention of T'yeellaa, but was mindful to temper his mirth. His backwards motion halted, and he fixed the Herglic engineer with a strange look.

"How much do you know about the Captain."

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Whaddya take me for, a gossip?"

An indignant puff snorted from Gradoona's blowhole, but she stayed right where she was, almost glancing to the side conspiratorially. If there was something the assistant engineer enjoyed more than prawns, penguins, and cheap lager, it was juicy scuttlebutt.

"Well yaknoo her name's Meorrrei an all. Yeeaah. Thooose Meorrrei's. She's richer than Gunray's what I hear, though ya'd never know it to see her. Naat exactly a silver spoon type. She's suure a haard customer on the clock, but yaknoo I don't see her much carousin on the concourse after quittin' time. Not even at the ol' meat market."

Gradoona paused, suddenly curious at the question itself.

"Why ya ask? Gotcha a case of Syragor Fever?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Not that Captain," though it was certainly an interesting bit of spillage that'd just fallen from the Lieutenant's mouth. Something he'd have to look into, certainly.

A hand came up, and Dage shook a single finger casually at the now-closed airlock doorway.

"The one on the other side of that door."

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Oh ~haauuuum~."

Gradoona's mouth did something it rarely ever did. It closed.

"Yaknoo I don't even rightly knoow who your Captain is, now that you mention it."

The engineer scratched an itch on her beak as she shifted weight a little. She'd been smitten by ship porn and never even bothered to look into who the skipper was.

"I guess it's not Maan Maathma's smaarter sister."

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Well, maybe not smarter, but certainly tetchier."

His grin returned with full force, and Dage let a silence hang in the air before finally going on.

"If you've got aims to have a gander about the 'old man' across the way there, talk to Captain s'Ilancy."

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Unless she's literally a rancor, we'll get aan like two penguins aan a slip and slide!"

With a wink and a shoulder clap, Gradoona trundled past to board Khera'va'ssio. She paused as an afterthought and turned back.

"Ooh befoore I forget, doon't take turbo tube three, it's on the blink."

[Q. Samus Dage]

A genial salute, and Dage turned on his heel to depart, but a second later he half-turned back around. Khera's airlock hatch had opened to allow the Herglic engineer entrance, and with a raised eyebrow, he waited until the familiar hydraulic clicks began before offering a final few wors.

"Well, there's a rumor going about the other line captains that she was raised by Rancors on Dathomir, but... well... "

A noncommittal shrug, and the Commander let his words hang in the air as the airlock door slid shut between them.

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

Spire Six primary cargo warehouse

There was a direct correlation between the heaps of scrap and floatsam currently littering the spacious cargo bay and K'ohta'rrou Meorrrei's ascending headache. Even her staid expression was beginning to slip beyond the confines of a sabacc face into something outright dour. At least some of the components were in some form of orderly array. However, the greater balance of space salvage lay in a heap of utter squalor - having not been picked through or cataloged an instead dumped where it lay to become T'yeellaa's albatross. Sixteen thousand eight hundred and seventy two tons of 'serviceable starship salvage', liberated from the Gordian Star Wreck by a contractor under the aegis of the Alliance Defense Ministry. But somewhere along the way a stink had been made of the salvaging operation on Carshoulis Prime, and now the fine ladies of the Baroness Oligarchy insisted that the Cizerack ought to tax every single ton of junk.

It was a protectionist ploy, but a loud one. The salvage company wasn't about to pay for their galactic dumpster dive to a municipal government, and the Cizerack insisted on accounting for every last ton of it on the off chance they changed their mind. The asinine stop gap was that now the salvage crew simply decided to dump their catch at Jovan until the politicians and lawyers figured it out. Commander Akiena was only too happy to place the drudgery in her lap as he fried bigger fish.

"Ma'am, exactly how are we supposed to inventory all this?"

Chief Corban had his dander up even more than T'yeellaa. While Cizeracks wore their emotions on their ears, Humans tended to wear it on their cheeks, their moods reflected in various degrees of flush. And right now, Corban's cheeks were nearly red as he pinched his mouth tight to keep from saying what he really wanted to say. He clenched the mostly-blank inventory datapad like he wanted to break it, and K'ohta'rrou Meorrrei simply glanced over his shoulder as her tail flicked and snapped with shared irritation.

"We'rre not dojing thesse foolss jobss forr them, jI don't carre who thejy worrk forr. Wejigh each pallet and take a photo."

"That's it?" Corban liked what he heard, but he was tentative. As a Chief, he above anyone liked his inventory done in a particular correct way. He'd have a crewman's ass for a missing stem bolt. The lack of inventory control suggested here made him itchy.

T'yeellaa could almost feel the discomfort coming off the Chief. They'd gotten complete bantha poodoo dropped in their laps, but he still felt compelled in some way to shovel it. The Cizerack officer put a firm hand on her chief's shoulder, claws extending slightly for emphasis.

"That'ss. jIt."

Each word spoken with purpose as she glanced towards the heap with barely constrained disgust.

Corban nodded along, buoyed a little, but still not quite there.

"Ma'am that is absolutely fine by me, but they're...on Carshoulis...they're blowing up my comm."

T'yeellaa's blue eyes narrowed. Now someone had truly fucked up. And she was going to punish them.

"Who?"

Corban attempted recollection in a frustrated shake of his head.

"I don't remember her name, but it's got the Royal Cana'daari Ministry of Auditors all over it. They're riding me rough over demands for itemized inventory. I..."

"Chjief, don't ljift anotherr fjingerr jin thjiss warrehousse, do jyou hearr me? jYou get me that woman'ss name, and that'ss all jyou do herre. Don't even pjick up a sscrrew!"

Now it was T'yeellaa's turn to broadcast her rage as her ears swung back. She let go of Corbin before she could dig into something that would bleed, and stood silent for a moment with flaring nostrils.

"Thesse people thjink thejy can end rrun arround me and pussh arround mjy crrew. Good. Good. jI've been lookjing forr a fjight anjywajy."

K'ohta'rrou Meorrrei's index finger jabbed at Corbin's chest.

"Herr name, and copjiess of jyourr corresspondencess on mjy dessk jin an hourr. Perrssonalljy, Chjief. jI want thjiss dessk jockejy to rrememberr both ourr facess, becausse the next tjime thjiss happenss, ssomeone wjill wearr herr own cljitorrjiss asss a hat."

T'yeellaa's voice peeled away in a low rumbled growl as she pushed off from Corbin, but not before kicking a salvaged crate over.

"Don't jyou fuckjing touch jit, Chjief, that'ss how we found jit!"

And with that, T'yeellaa left the cargo warehouse, hotter and more angry than ever. She needed to find something soon and kill it.

[Q. Samus Dage]

The main concourse that held the majority of Jovan's merchants hadn't really changed all that much since he'd been here last. Oh, there were a few shops he'd not seen before, but by and large things looked much the same. Meandering at a comfortable pace, Dage moved with ease through the crowds, passing through clusters of bodies and around stall patrons who'd stopped to look at seller's wares.

Ahead, a small kiosk caught his eye, and slowing, sidled up to the small overhanging counter.

"You want drink, yeh?"

The Gran lifted a hand, tapping a thick finger against a laminated paper that'd been taped down to the pre-formed counter.

"Make choice, yeh?"

Wordlessly the blonde gave a glance down to the menu; all the same fair, really. Bottom shelf drinks that only the most desperate would want to ingest. It'd occured to him as well, that there always seemed to be some sort of a bar that was visited whenever there was a stopover. It was like everything was the same routine, just on a different day and in a different locale. Still though, habit was habit and sometimes if something worked, you didn't go changing it.

Making a face that made him seem as though he was having a hard time deciding, the Alliance officer finally stepped away, a hand going up to give a wave.

"Too soon off ship, friend. Maybe next time."

"Whateva, 'Liance man. Come back when you is feelin' like a reals drink."

A hapless shrug accompanied a nod of the head. "I'll be sure to."

Both knew he had no intentions of returning.

Striking off once more, Dage continued on. He'd not gone far though, when a voice spoke to him from behind.

[Kes Akiena]

"Why can't you just come to my office like you know you're supposed to?"

As Dage turned around, Kes gave the taller man a frustrated look, a mild scowl pulling down the corners of his lips.

"I mean, it's not that difficult to do."

[Q. Samus Dage]

There was a moment of surprise as Dage looked down to the shorter redhead, but it was a bare moment that passed before his features lit up into an overly jubilant smile.

"Hey hey there, Squirt!"

He gave Kes a healthy clap on the upper arm despite the station Commander's dour expression and own crossed arms.

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

Three fat Dantooine hares at five credits a pop. Highway robbery, but sufficiently bloody with a chance of screaming. T'yeellaa paid the Bith for the takeout and took possession of the transplex animal taxi, full of dark thoughts and hunger-driven anger. Then she spotted an immediately familiar figure across the concourse. It wasn't easy to miss Samus for his height, nearly a head over most humans. What was he doing here? And without letting her know he was coming? Skulking like a thief in the night?

Suddenly diverted, T'yeellaa locked on to Dage's well-coiffed hair. She was nearly close enough to call out Gai'tou when the person he was talking to became immediately visible. K'ohta'rrou Meorrrei slammed the brakes on her tongue, and diverted to the more professional choice.

"Commanderr Dage."

Now pressed into company with her lover and her commanding officer, T'yeellaa's angst didn't retreat, it simply adapted.

"What a pleassant ssurrprrjisse."

Perhaps spoken too pointedly, but the K'ohta'rrou didn't display any outward remorse. The only thing that broke her fixation on her paramour's eyes was Kes Akiena in the periphery, and she belatedly nodded with a neutral posture.

"Commanderr."