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Topic: TRF:Astral Astoria Post - Onboard the Big Hunk of Metal in Space (Read 4104 times) previous topic - next topic

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TRF:Astral Astoria Post - Onboard the Big Hunk of Metal in Space
It didn't seem like it had any importance. According to the barkeep on Telos, though, this was the place. Reportedly, he'd been hiding out here for a while, laying low while he enjoyed the station's pleasantries, based on the barkeep's commentary. She hadn't questioned him about the word's meaning, the concept wasn't strange to her. Not after growing up in the place she had, with her primary caretakers being the women of Jabrukka's palace. Had she been anywhere else, the girl would have made an awful face and accompanied it with "yuck," or another similar exclamation. But her face had remained still, her voice silent; the girl had simply nodded and appeared to digest the information the barkeep relayed.

She was on a mission, and the most important part was that she not betray the fact. The girl had asked about him in reference to being a friend of her father's whom the pair was looking for. When the barkeep had asked where he was, she simply motioned across the dimly-lit room to the far side, where, shrouded in darkness, she hoped some patrons were conversing. The barkeep nodded, and the girl took it as a sign of understanding and pressed on. After she left the counter, she mad a point of walking in the direction she had gestured to pretend as if she was conferring with her "father." It only took a few seconds of talking with a complete stranger, but it was enough, and she had skipped out of the dusty tavern gleefully as if freed to run and play. Once outside, however, she had made her way to the spaceport to retrieve her ship and be on her way.

That had brought her here, to the Astral Astoria. At least that's what the barkeep called it, but on first sight of it, she thought of it as 'the big hunk of metal in space.' It was a giant space station the had simply appeared from hyperspace in the middle of the Hrydian lane some time ago. What it was doing there, no one knew, and the girl didn't particularly care. All she cared was that he was on it, and she would find him there. That was how it worked. She performed the mission, got the goods or killed/captured the person, and Shim was happy. And in return, she was rewarded by his kindness, and sometimes, gifts.

The best one she had gotten was her ship, the Procella Pennae, a Starlight-class freighter. The design was old, but the ship had been built recently, but as there were no records for it, it was impossible to determine that exactly. It was shaped like a long cylinder with a quarter-circle attached to one side almost like a wing, hence it's name. It had few weapons, but the object of the ship was not to fight. It had an average engine, but the object of the ship was not to fly fast. It was small, but the ship only needed to house one person. It's interior was designed half for comfort, and half for functionality and training. To the onlooker it was just another ship, nothing less, albeit of an uncommon design, but simply another ship nonetheless. From it's exterior, one would not expect that it was inhabited by someone who had been trained to be so dangerous.

Inside the ship was a different manner. The living, bed and bath rooms had been redecorated to her liking, complete with hues of pinks, purples and greens. The cargo bay the ship once possessed had been converted into a training room with a small section for weapons storage. The cockpit was largely unaltered, simply cleaned from the look and smell of its previous, but the small walkway just outside the cockpit was fitted with a computer system that included a dock for an astrometric droid. One had been provided by Shim, named R2-P4, to fly and fix the ship when needed; the girl was a terrible pilot and wouldn't be safe in fixing the ship either.

Approaching the Astoral, the girl found herself sitting in the cockpit seat, just staring at the sight before her, while P4 piloted the ship. A screen on her right blinked, and she spun her head to look as the screen lit up with the image of the station while a voice came over the speakers, "Identify yourself and your intention." The voice was toneless and neutral, like a computer would be, and with no image on the screen, it was difficult to determine if that was the case. P4 issued a string of beeps and whistles until the girl finally responded to him, indicating that he should answer. She was content to look at the station and marvel at its size, which despite her earlier thoughts on the structure, was impressive.

The same screen on her right split in half to accommodate P4's part of the conversation in textual form, if she had cared to read it. She didn't, but at times when she heard the conversation between the droid and the station's voice, the girl, confused, looked to the screen as if it could explain it just by her gaze alone.

This is the freighter Procella Pennae, requesting permission to dock.

"A droid? Are you flying the ship alone?

Negative. This ship contains one living passenger.

"Head to dock 27-B, port 7. Coordinates are being sent within this message."

Affirmative, this ship will proceed to dock. Thank you for your assistance.

The screen clicked off, and the view outside the windows began to change. She watched for a while, but after five minutes of trying to adjust the approach correctly, the girl became bored and went back into the living area. It wasn't until the ship rocked slightly, which, accompanied by a soft thud, indicated their arrival on the station. The girl stood to pick up her things, a bag that contained enough clothes to live out of for a while, among other things needed for her mission. They were safely tucked away, however, where they would not be obvious to spot or bulge out and betray their concealment. Ready, she stepped into the small hallway that doubled as an airlock and hit the control on a panel placed next to the airlock door. The floor beneath it began to lower slowly as it formed a boarding ramp, shuddering slightly when it touched the deck below.

Stepping down onto the ramp, the girl proceeded to check herself in and procure a room for the night. She didn't expect to stay, really, but she had to make her time appear legitimate. As she headed down the halls, there was just one thought on her mind. She, Allyseria Evnairis, Allie, would find her prey. And that was all that mattered.
  • Last Edit: October 10, 2007, 10:13:43 am by The Insane Admin

Re: TRF:Astral Astoria Post - Onboard the Big Hunk of Metal in Space
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The loud music and chatter invaded her ears as the change in illumination made her nearly blind. Closing her eyes tight, a mental twitch activated a switch embedded somewhere in her optic nerves. When she opened them again, she could see again, but in an entirely different way. Instead of the normal perception that she'd had before, the world was now presented in varying hues ranging from blues to reds, depending on the temperature that emanated from objects and people around her. It wasn't a pleasant way to see, and Allie both physically and mentally cringed at the sight; it was everything she could do to keep from triggering the switch again to turn it back. A sigh. She would have to deal with it for now.

The Lonely Preaky Tavern was moderately populated at the time when Allie entered it. Smoke wafted through her nostrils as the smell of alcohol quickly moved to join it. The afternoon's occupants took no notice of her, as they usually did for most newcomers who wandered in. Even the entrance of someone so young didn't seem to shake the concentration of the bar's patrons. The twi'lek barkeep, however, seemed to at least give her a glance before returning to his work. When he turned around again, he found himself face to face with the girl, who had made her way to the counter and hopped onto one of the mis-matched stools that had been carelessly positioned in front of the bar. The bartender's reaction was a little more callous than she'd hoped, as he leaned across the counter to ask, "Aren't you a little young to be in a bar, little miss?"

The girl exhaled a long breath, perturbed by the twi'lek's choice of words. As usual, Allie thought. I always seem to be too young, a little girl, small, or a child. When will they stop learning to judge me by my size or age? Her dejected thoughts were kept to herself for now, however, and her face and body gave no outward reaction to the barkeep's words. Only the question that he had posed, to which she simply shrugged. "Don't get many 'little miss'es in your tavern these days?" The response was a direct jab at the twi'lek's instant prejudice of her, but it wouldn't do any harm. It didn't usually.

"What do you want? he barked, agitated by the girl's interwoven sarcasm.

She only smiled and tilted her head, "You wouldn't happen to know of a Gavon Cabaril, would you? I've heard he's known to drop by these parts often, close to every day."

The twi'lek jerked his head in response, his lekku's flying out at odd angles as he did so. His head indicated a position back further into the bar, towards the sea of bodies in between the bar and the far wall. "He's usually over there. Haven't seen him today, though. You can check with his buddies, they're always in here, but be warned, they aren't a friendly bunch."

The girl grinned at him, "Don't worry, I can take care of myself." Flashing him another smile, she added a thanks and turned back to where the bartender had indicated. It was farther back, through the masses of people, but once she reached the table near the back, the crowd had thinned, giving her a clear indication of who she had been directed to. The table was circled by five large beings of differing race and size, and attired in all manners of clothing. Three humans, a Rodian and a Wookiee. Casually walking around the table, Allie passed a trained eye over them. All five carried at least one weapon, minus the Wookiee, which Allie supposed was because he could as easily use his own brute strength and claws as a weapon. They were all drinking, sharing stories and laughing to each other, taking little notice of the patrons around them.

One of the humans took notice of Allie, however. Grunting he turned to her and made a sweeping motion with his hand, saying, "Shoo, little girl."

The Rodian took hold of his arm and brought it down. Saying something in his native tongue, the human nodded, "You're right." Turning back to her, he asked, "Well? Come on, out with it girl, we haven't got all day." Turning to his friends, he added, "Well, actually we do, but we're too busy getting drunk and laughing at Fodo's hair."

He burst out laughing at this remark, and the other humans and the wookiee joined him, as the already-blue Rodian turned a deep sapphire color. Sure enough, the Rodian's head was topped with a dark tuff of hair that grew in an odd pattern, almost similar to the rigid mane that topped the blue-robed Chancellor's Guards of the Old Republic. It was amusing, but not something that the girl would outwardly laugh at. Then again, she wasn't drunk.

"You fellas wouldn't happen to know Gavon Cabaril, would you?"

"Know Gavon?" The same human answered her, turning to his compatriots, who all accompanied him in laughing this time. Facing Allie again, he said, "Of course we know Gavon, little girl." He said nothing more than this, to which the girl was forced to pose another question.

"Well, where is he?" She thought she'd try a direct route, who would suspect her of anything? Cabaril's friends seemed to regard her as harmless, anyways.

The wookiee rose from his seat and growled at her, a deep, yet high pitched growl that made the tavern's other occupants turn and look in his direction. The human also rose and explained, "He's right. Gavon's busy, and that's all you need to know. Now shoo, little girl."

The girl thought for a moment before replying. This wasn't going very well. Hoping to salvage the situation, she said, "Just tell me where he is and I'll go bother him. I don't want to bother you."

A second human stood up. Now three of the five were up, the arms at their sides, presumably within reach of their blasters. The second human, obviously more drunk than the first, spoke, "Now listen, keed. We tol you he was busy. He's not here, so busy ees where he ees. Got eet? Good. Now scran!"

Yep, definitely not going very well, she thought. She backed up and found herself against the wall. Oh, just beautiful, she chided herself, Get your back up against the wall facing three humans, a rodian and a wookiee, not to mention a whole tavern. Just beautiful, Allie. It sounded like a bad joke, like 'What do you get when you cross three humans, a rodian and a wookiee?' But the situation was truly serious, and it was looking like the girl was going to be on the receiving end of that situation. And it wouldn't be pretty. The nearest entry was too far away for her to get out the normal way, the only thing left was to try to talk them down. Either that, or start running now.

Allie tried, but her legs wouldn't move. Perfect! she thought. All of that training and my legs freeze up. It looked like she was either going to have to talk them down, or fight them. She had her blaster inside the bag that she wore on her back, but she wouldn't be fast enough to get to it. No, it would have to be the twin vibroknives she had strapped to her ankles. The girl frowned and nodded to herself on an earlier thought. This wasn't going to be pretty.
  • Last Edit: October 12, 2007, 09:36:13 am by The Insane Admin