Logged Sept. 21, 2001
Logged by Joshua
Titled: Suspicious Minds
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Characters: 
Joshua 
Marcus 
Tenguin 
Anola 
Talor 
Borealis 
Simon 
Davros
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Chance's Cantina -- Trade City Arkania 
The metallic music of a quartet band is the first thing you notice when 
you enter the Cantina. The interior is circular, and the floor is crowded 
with round tables and chairs. Along one wall is the bar, complete with 
stools and a pudgy, disgruntled looking bartender. Aliens, humans, and 
creatures of every stripe imaginable mill about the Cantina, which is 
crowded at all hours, day or night. Indeed, it is dimly lighted in here, 
and once inside, it is hard to tell what time of day the outside world is 
experiencing. The din of conversation is all around, as people speak in 
dozens of different languages and drink all manner of exotic beverages.

At this point, the game is almost over. There is little Anola could do 
even if she would. She awkwardly walks with the woman toward the door. 
It's a scene that happens in a bar often. Someone having to carry another 
out. Most wouldn't think twice about it. As they reach the door she smiles 
at the would-be-bouncer (Simon), "Excuse us." She says and tilts her head 
to the door-release he's blocking.

Talor steps up behind Anola and looks over the pair of women. "Excuse us, 
she isn't feeling well."

A bit of snow comes in the door as Marcus steps in from off the street. 
He brushes the remaining snow off his vest and then blinks at all the 
people near the door, "Gee, big crowd tonight." He says mainly to himself, 
"Excuse me." He says to the others as he steps by them, on his way to the 
bar.

Anola drops her jaw and gapes at Simon. "She's not heavy at all. What a 
rude thing to say! She's just sick not deaf." Her tone is indignant and 
fits with the games that women have a tendency to play. With that said 
she moves away with the woman in tow, who seems to have no problem 
going with Anola. Her problem is merely keeping up with her as Anola 
presses by the people entering.

Joshua has turned around and faced the bar, drink in hand as he notices 
Kryllen's quick exit. Now where is the hotshot off to now? He better be 
getting that Beta prepped. Especially if he planned to fly her on their 
next trip. As he monitors the door, taking in Simon and the trio as they 
exit, he sees Marcus enter. After lifting his drink to signal his friend 
over, he takes a drink.

Talor follows the women out giving Simon a sideways glance.

Simon was already keeping out of the way of the door, and doesn't really 
recognize Marcus as he enters. Smiling to Anola with a nod, he says, 
"Well, all of my friends collapse around about the doorway whenever they 
get sick in a bar." Then he follows Talor out onto the street, holding 
his hands close to his sides.

Borealis smiles as it seems his optimal skill of blending and becoming 
unseen in a crowd was working against him tonight Joshua gets distracted 
too. He quaffs rest of his oily ale and puts a credit tip on the counter. 
"The special was good." He compliments the tender, "Though not as good as 
I'd heard a crashed corpse was." He gives a two-finger salute and turns to 
depart.

Marcus changes his course to where Joshua is sitting after he spots his 
friend. His sits down next to him, "The usual, thanks Agave." He then 
turns to Joshua, "Believe it or not, you are just the man I wanted to 
see." Marcus says with a slight grin.

The door opens just as Borealis turns to depart, a few seconds after the 
departure of the others. His head down in his warm robes for the climate, 
not noticing those that he knows as he's distracted, walking in and 
looking around for a moment as he throws his hood back.

Joshua' face goes from one of neutrality to one of 'uh-oh'. "Well, I'm 
glad I didn't make you walk too far..." he says, somewhat amiably. 
Taking another drink, he gestures Marcus to the bar itself. "What's up?" 
The gunner turns partially towards the bar, careful to keep an eye on 
the rest of the patrons of the bar.

Borealis slides past Davros and out the door into the frigid air just 
like his harem at home.

Marcus grins, "Well I figured you were either here or lying in the 
gutter outside." He takes a sip of his drink as it arrives, "Remember 
that Twi'lek I was talking to the other day? I need your input on the 
situation."

Davros walks into the Cantina, and moves to the bar, dropping a few 
credits onto the counter, "Hey, hook me up with a Corellian Ale would 
ya?" He grins and nods to the bartender as the drink arrives, speaking 
casually, "Hey, you don't happen to know any shipping companies 
around here do ya?"

Joshua lifts an eyebrow, turning away from the door as the last stranger 
in his immediate site disappears from the bar room. He takes another drink 
and sets the glass down. "Fire away..." the gunner says in invitation to 
Marcus.

"You probably won't like it, but here goes." Marcus pauses for a bit as he 
decides the best way to approach this. Marcus does speak quietly so that 
only Joshua may hear him, "As you know he was after info on the pirates 
that went through here a while ago. I agreed to try to help him contact 
them, I lied. I wanted to try to find out some info about it all, figured 
it might be something we might be interested in. So I made up a fake 
recording, saying that they are not interested, it didn't go as planned. He 
wants me to contact them again, try to talk them into it by the means of 
credits. I have 4 or 5 days left before I need to meet with this guy again. 
I have 2 ideas. Either blow him off completely and give him his credits 
back. Or hire a couple of locals to pretend to be the pirates for the 
meeting and get some info on these guys."

Davros nods his head and continues drinking, apparently getting 
information on local shipping companies and yards, finding out who owns 
what ships, what they do, and who might be able to help him fix up a 
ship.

Joshua shrugs lightly at what Marcus has just told him at the bar. The two 
speak among themselves, well enough away from any strangers to keep their 
conversation to themselves. The gunner shakes his head. "I don't know who 
the Twi'lek is...but if he paid to meet the pirates, it's best to send 
him on toward Nar Belsa. Last I heard, they were heading that way..." This 
would undoubtedly be news to Marcus, but it was just too likely that there 
were ears listening, despite the low level of their voices. "Send him that 
way... We don't need anyone else poking around here on Arkania..."

Marcus says, "That is all well and good, but what happens if he does meet 
up with them and finds out that I never contacted them at all?" He shrugs 
a little, "Though if I know my contact they will be keeping a low profile 
so there is probably little chance that will happen. I guess it is worth a 
shot."

A newcomer enters the cantina, and is quickly swallowed up by the 
crowd. This is made more so possible by the fact that this newcomer is 
not very tall, nor is he in any way large, and the tiny Sullustan is 
easily lost in the throng of beings around him. He nudges his way towards 
the bar and eyes Marcus and Joshua, sitting one seat off from them, but 
not speaking to them yet. His beady black eyes glance at them once and 
then he turns to the bar, saying in his slurred Basic, "Miner's Dusty. 
Extra'n dust." 

Davros nods and gives his thank to his bartender, nodding his head as he 
pays his tab, and moving for the door...

Nodding to Tenguin as he finds a seat nearby the bar, Josh arches an 
eyebrow as he turns back toward Marcus. He grunts lightly, "So don't tell 
him you arranged the appointment... just tell him you found where they 
are and he can go find em himself." Joshua reaches out and smacks 
Marcus on the shoulder. "Cost of business for dealing in our town... you 
should've told him that... even if he got the info from someone else, he 
would've owed you for doing business here."

As Joshua and Marcus continue to talk, Tenguin sips his drink slowly, the
Sullustan's beady black eyes glancing at the two occasionally. After 
taking several sips, and waiting for a break in their conversation, the 
little alien turns to them and asks, "How's the weather'n been?" An odd 
glint is in his eye; perhaps hinting there is more to his words than the 
mere face value. 

"I still would have liked to know what he wants with them, and who his so 
called 'master' is." Marcus shrugs again and nods to Tenguin, "Ah well. 
You win some, you lose some." He smirks at Tenguin's question, "The way 
it always is, cold and miserable."

The Sullustan nods slowly and takes another sip of the clear liquid in his 
glass, wiping a bit of golden foam from his face with the sleeve of his 
flightsuit. He grins a bit, but the smile is suddenly wiped away as he 
speaks again to the two beside him. "Is there'n any warmer weather'n 
forecast?"

Joshua rises from his seat and grabs his glass. "Let talk business..." He 
says, gesturing to the two to follow him away from the bar and then turns 
to make his way back towards a booth near the back door. As he reaches it, 
he grins when he notes that the booth is roped off, as if reserved. Taking 
another glance around the bar, he undoes the rope and slides into his 
normal seat against the back wall. "It's about time the tourists went back 
to Perave," he says with some disgust.

Taking his half-empty glass up, and tapping the bar annoyingly in an order 
for another drink, the Sullustan follows Joshua slowly, his beady black eyes 
adjusting to the darkness in the back corner. He slides all the way into the 
booth and cranes his head to look behind in an effort to check on his 
order. "Darned slow'n service," he mumbles.

Marcus follows Joshua and gets comfortable before saying, "Ohh? And 
just how do you propose we go about doing that?" It appears as if Marcus 
is the only Shadow Dragon Agave likes, he has never had a problem with 
the service at all, "I could hack into the spaceport terminal and say 
Arkania is quarantined, but it wouldn't take long for them to reverse that, 
and it would cause suspicion."

The small alien chuckles, a nasally sound that fills the air, and says, "But 
this'n place is as good'n as quarantined already'n people still come'n!" He 
takes a last sip of his drink and gazes mournfully into the empty glass, 
putting it down rather hard on the tabletop in annoyance at the service.

"No," Joshua says, grinning at Marcus as he mixed the way Joshua says it. 
"I mean /it's about time/ ... finally, they're gone." He looks across at 
Tenguin. "We're going to need to get the Lair underway. We've been here 
way too long, Wouldn't hurt us to get her back into space and get the 
new crewers into shape... I think the Cap'n has some targets lined up for 
us and I am tired of sitting on this ice ball." Now that the place was quite 
and without eavesdroppers, it's time to talk business without the fear of 
being found out. It was nice having the locals on your side.

The Sullustan nearly jumps out of his seat, his black, mousy eyes widening 
in excitement. "Finally!" he almost yells, then remembers the sensitive 
nature of their conversation and settles down some. He whispers across 
the table, "I am eager'n to take'n the bird on a real'n flight!" A smile 
blossoms across his face, lifting his jowls immensely and he adds, "I have'n 
tested her thouroughly'n on the ground'n."

Marcus looks a bit embarrassed about the mix up. He has a lot on his mind, 
so that is his excuse, "This iceball has been profitable, but ya right, it 
is time to move on. There isn't much around here for a person with my skills. 
Hell, a 5-year old could slice into half the systems on this planet."

Joshua arches an eyebrow at his long-time friend. "Good... I have an idea 
to run by you. But first..." he pauses, giving the area a once-over. No one 
anywhere near them. Good. He leans in a bit closer to the center of the 
table. "That's one of the reasons I want to get the Lair into space before 
the Cap'n gets back... He's the only one who would've known where to 
send hunters to seek the Dragons out..."

Tenguin feels a little left out of the conversation, but listens intently, 
picking up all the details he can decipher, and filing them into his highly 
retentive memory. His beady black eyes are still wide open, as he is excited 
by the prospect of some action at last. He says nothing, and tries to remain 
out of the way while still listening.

Marcus' eyes go wide at Joshua's words, "Are you saying what I think you 
are saying?" Surely Joshua could not mean the captain has set us up, 
ratted us out to the highest bidder...could he?

Joshua shrugs lightly, letting Marcus draw his own conclusions. "Check it 
out... I doubt we'll find anything on the ship, but it wouldn't hurt to check 
it out." The gunner turns his head to Tenguin, "In short, Tenguin, our last 
navigator was mysteriously arrested on Corellia. She was a good pilot but 
she told me she was worried that the old man's heart wasn't in this 
anymore. Next thing you know, she's thrown into a CorSec prison." He 
shrugs again. "Which is why Marc and I wanted to meet you before we let 
you meet the old man... To make sure you were joining us, and not just 
joining /him/."

Tenguin shifts uneasily in his seat and looks back and forth between 
Joshua and Marcus. He clasps his hands tightly in front of him and says, 
his lip almost quivering. "I just'n want to fly. I only kill'n if there is 
no other'n way." He gulps loudly and finishes, "Money and flying is good'n 
enough for me, but I've no loyalty'n to this Cap'n of yours."

Marcus just stares at Joshua for a few seconds, Marcus can not believe 
Joshua is actually serious. But he thinks over what he says, and realizes 
there is cause for suspicion, "I doubt he would of been stupid enough to 
keep anything on the Lair's computers, it would more than likely be on his 
personal datapad. 

But he might have had to store something on the Lair until he could 
transfer it to his datapad. Of course it would have been deleted right 
away. However restoring deleted files is something I have had a lit of 
practice at."

Joshua allows a smile to cross his face as Marcus speaks. He nods in 
agreement with the slicer, "I was counting on that... I haven't mentioned 
this to anyone else though. It's going to seem like mutiny to some unless 
we can prove it. Which is why I want to know how good Tenguin here 
really is. I have a feeling we're going to have to put ourselves in harms 
way to force him into the open. The Cap'n, that is..." So that was it. They 
were going to have to let the Captain betray them before they'd be able 
to overthrow him.
As Joshua speaks of Tenguin's talents, the Sullustan slips his hand up above 
the table, his fingers locked in that eternal grip of the pilot's controls and 
he says confidently, "I can fly'n you out of any trouble'n. I long to being 
tested'n." A smile crosses his face, and despite the dire consequences of 
failure, the Sullustan seems willing to face this challenge head on.

Marcus finishes off his drink. "Well I guess that is it. We either flush out 
a rat, or end up in space without spacesuits." He chuckles softly, "Y'know I 
think I preferred it back in the Hellion's. If people thought you were 
betraying them, then you weren't seen anymore. A lot safer than having to put 
ourselves in harms way just to prove the captain is a double crossing rat."

Joshua grins, "Well, now that just depends. If they think the Cap'n is just 
going to turn us over to the ship, they'll show up under-gunned. At least for 
me." And there is his arrogance again. Nice thing he could back it up. 
"Most likely he'll have weapons powered down, so I'll need you to route 
some power to our ion cannons at just the right time, Marc." That should 
be easy enough for the slicer. And the bridge probably wouldn't even 
know the deed had been done. "I think he plans on turning us over to the 
Republic... but it could be CorSec." The gunner shrugs. "Not sure..."

"I too know'n nothing of this'n betrayal. Sullustan's rarely forget'n though," 
Tenguin says resolutely, obviously warming to this idea and to the two men 
he is seated with. He gazes again into his empty glass and considers 
ordering another drink, but remembers the delicate privacy they require 
and stops his fist in mid-air from pounding on the tabletop. He grins 
sheepishly and says, "Do you expect'n any problems'n for flying?"

Marcus grins at Joshua, "Hell, I could re-route all the navigation controls 
to my datapad and they would not be any wiser. Giving you some power to 
the weapons will be no problem at all." He ponders something, "It might 
be a good idea to talk to Kryllen about this, we might need a fighter pilot 
on our side if things do go bad."

Joshua furrows his brow, but nods at the slicer. "If you think you can trust 
him ... but I'm pretty certain the captain will have the landing bay locked 
down too. He'll have to be sitting in the cockpit waiting for any window of 
opportunity you can give him to get out of the bay." Good, this plan was 
coming together. The only variable they didn't know was when the 
Captain was going to play his hand, but Joshua had an idea. "He won't 
do this when we are carrying anything of value... would be too easy for 
him to look guilty that way... I figure the next legal cargo we pick up in 
the Core will be the trigger event..."

Raising his hand just slight, in fact, barely coming off the table, Tenguin 
says uneasily, "Why would'n this Cap'n be after'n us?" He looks genuinely 
concerned, and his fingers flex, jerking a little as he fights off a combat 
reflex. He instead wraps his dexterous fingers around his empty glass and 
tries not to get too stressed out.

Marcus shrugs a little. "While the captain is still away I can install a few 
little fail safe devices in the major systems. If I am right, I could have 
control over the whole ship if need be. I won't lie, it is risky, never 
actually done anything like this before, but I could give it a shot." 

Hating to interrupt the two as they scheme and plot, Tenguin timidly 
interjects, "I shall leave'n you two alone to plan'n. Do you have'n any 
orders for'n me?" His jowls quiver a bit as he realizes what he is getting 
into, but he offers no complaints to his situation.

Marcus nods lightly, "Just one, watch your back and don't talk about this 
to anyone."

The tiny Sullustan nods as he exits the booth, taking one last look over his 
shoulder at the two before he leaves.

Joshua nods as the Sullustan leaves, then turns to Marcus again. "Sounds 
good. I'd like to help the re-wire on the ion cannons. I think we can 
improve the power output by bypassing the secondary conduit." He 
pauses long enough to finish his drink and then he rises from the table. 
"I'll meet you back at the ship..."

Marcus nods lightly, "I'll be back shortly. I wanna double check a few 
things and picks some stuff up."


END OF LOG