How can one win, when Fools can be Kings?

[StarWriter]

@Sangga : Kyllan secured his weapon after a quick survey of the area revealed no further beasts encroaching on their position now that they had successfully slain their entire number. The pistols slapped against the magnetic plates on his thighs after he reloaded their energy cells. The Mandolorian captain strode over to the other two men to begin dragging away the corpse of the beast that had nearly crushed Hart. "You're right, but we also need a place to hang our hats, kick up our feet and not worry about whether or not someone's going to come through the door blasters blazing. We need a haven. The more remote, the simpler it is to lay low." Having said his peace for the moment he set about clearing the whole area of the dead fauna and begin to set up emplacements and bulwarks around the two ships.
@Kaylon Neroka : Having been singularly focused on ensuring their safety while they were here, or as much and Mandolorianly possible, Kyllan had yet to really introduce himself to Hart's contact. Perched atop the Entendre one leg draped over the side of the hull as he stood watch Kyllan would call to Neroka to come over for a brief moment. "Apologies for not having made any introductions for the last few days. I wanted to make sure this place was as fortified as I could make it on such short notice. I know the old codger has a tendency to give nicknames to everyone he meets. The name's Kyllan." After the introduction he gave the man a brief nod of his head. "From what I can see, you and Hart have a less than close relationship. That's your business. Not my place to pry. You ever raise a weapon to anyone in our crew again and I won't miss." The Mandolorian's voice was a bit cold, even more so through the modulation of the signature T-visor's speaker. "There's some ale and Alderaanian wine in the galley. Help yourself." He said a breath later, the coldness in his voice replaced by a more relaxed tone.

@Pippa Rhute : Despite their still recent joining as a crew and given his strengths it was no surprise that Kyllan had more or less become the one in charge of their security and protection overall. As well as training for their entire motley band of misfit scoundrels. In fact, he took a bit of pride in instructing the others in how to more ably defend themselves when the proverbial defecate hit the oscillating turbine. Kyllan's helmet rested upon the top of one of the bulwarks he'd set in place around their temporary port. An understanding and reassuring smile curled the corners of his mouth. "Because you're too impatient Pip. You're not compensating for your body's natural imbalance. Unless you have no choice, always brace yourself before you fire." Kyllan stepped closer and drew a blaster from his right thigh, facing the makeshift target he held the weapon aloft, his left hand placed beneath the right, but of the pistol cradled in his left palm. "Try firing like this." One brief squeeze of the trigger later, a discharge and the target had a large hole burned into the center from the high powered weapon. He then dropped to one knee, still holding it the same way, yet with his left elbow braced against his left thigh. Once more he fired and once more he hit dead center. "It'll take time, but you'll get it." He reassured her softly.

@Frannykins87 : It was easy to lose track of time in the midst of this jungle, away from civilization. Especially when he found himself in Alisha's company. In the midst of their regular training session he watched as her, arms crossed over his chest plate. The cheerful mechanic had improved quite a bit since their first impromptu training aboard the Entendre during their initial time together. When she turned to him, grinning like a Loth Cat, he couldn't help but match her grin a bit as her exuberance was infectious. The Mandolorian stood just behind her and to the side a bit to observe her progress, so when she made that bubbly query, he moved one step closer. Leaning towards her with an intense gaze, the same he had the first time they kissed. Except he canted his head slightly at the last moment and planted a brief, yet tender kiss upon her cheek. "How's that?" Kyllan drew back, a grin and a wink given to her. "Hit the dead center of the target and I promise to take your breath away." There was a similar sparkle in his eyes as he looked at her, and a fierce tenderness as well.

 

[Sangga]

@Pippa Rhute : He clasped his meaty hand over the Chadra-Fan’s small, squeaking mouth. His blue eyes seemed to so cold that they could almost burn into your mind; having the hair on the back of your neck raise was an understatement. There was a heavy silence; his eyes darted over her face, as if they were vibrating within their sockets. Then he leaned forward, his face centimetres from hers.
“Do all the upkeeping you want, she needs the maintenance... I’ve been putting it off until I had the funds...” he removed his hand from her mouth. “... if tinkering with a hydro-spanner is your idea of fun then who am I to stop you.” He let her down and looked down at her. “Change anything in the performance, and if I feel anything has been slackened... I’ll know which little mechanic to come for.” He turned to leave, something snagged at him. She had joined the crew, he had to try and co-operate. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed your work already, you probably made that descent possible... good job Shortstack.”

@Frannykins87 : The Kid had skill, he walked up to her work. His hands placed in the small of his back, he checked a link and brushed a soldered joint. There was nothing wrong with any of it, in fact the repairs were probably better off than some of the surrounding systems. “At least it all the same as it was before, unlike when Shortstack gets into it.” He closed up the panel for her, and turned to answer her final query. “What d’you want out of this opportunity?” He let the question hang, was he talking about the option to repair the ship, the possibility of more repairs or even upgrading systems. Did he mean the crew and their opportunities to make fat, stacks of credits or even real money. He sized her up a little, she was still young, and had not mastered the 'skills' of her gender. But with a little nudge in certain directions, she'd get there. Who knows maybe he'd get her into Pazaak.

@StarWriter : Hart stumbled up the ramp, rambling as he went. "Money... life... stay alive... money for roof..." he got into the corridor and then continued to the ladder to the turret. Hefting himself into the gunner's seat, he took of his hat and looked up into the sky. The canopy at the edge for the clearing bowed and bent in the breeze, the shadows played across the dome. He saw the heat signatures of Kyllan moving around the ship in the turrets targeting screen.

Slowly, he reached into his duster's pocket and pulled out a small metal case, the longest edge of it being a little longer than his middle finger. He turned it around in his hand, the light shimmering off it. It had been a while sine he had partaken, and the stress was getting to him. This new crew, the near Death experience... it was getting a little too much. Any release would do wouldn't it? But what would they think of him, would they treat him the same if they knew?

@Kaylon Neroka : He'd left Neroka for quite sometime. Let him help out, take the crew to town and gain some people time; he needed to get used to people before negotiating with Hart again. He'd just finished beating Alisha at Pazaak about five minutes before Neroka came into the communal area of the Yoania. Hart split his deck and then dealt a hand to Neroka and took his half and dealt out a hand. Now it was time to see how Neroka was doing. He looked up to the older Pantoran, Hart's eyes unnerved most. Yet had Neroka seen too much to be put off by those icy blues? Hart gestured to the seat opposite him. "Hotshot, you up for a game?" He lowered his hand and slipped it into his jacket, the other took up his hand of cards. "Or have you been away from civilisation for too long?"

 

[Kaylon Neroka]

@Pippa Rhute : Waving a hand in the direction of the short bionic suit's calls of greeting, unsure of whether to stay cautious, Neroka rose from where both he and the beast had tumbled some time ago, seeing to what meat might be edible beneath their tough outer skin. Living life rough gave a fresh perspective to not waste what could be re-used.
"Neroka, just, call me Neroka" It took a moment for him to come to terms with having so much company that, at least for the moment, wasn't baring their teeth at him with the intent to kill. Even as it approached with at least one armament that he could see. Regardless, however, he pushed on to respond.
"I'd appreciate the recharge. Ran out of Tabanna some time ago, and I don't think the attempts at substituting it have done any good for its mechanisms."
Looking down at the bloodied hand, he wiped the flat of his knife on the skin of the beast before returning it to its holster. It would take time before he let his hand wander too far from something he could kill with. But the accepting tone of the short armoured creature offering help somewhat disarmed his guarded stance towards Hart's companions. Reaching for his rifle, and without another word on the matter, passing it into her waiting hand.
That she then offered her own armament for the time being took him off-guard. It showed blatant trust he was unaccustomed to receiving, and he blinked for a moment wondering if he had mis-heard her.
And yet, he took the weapon from her, realizing the weight that was proportional to its deadly potential. No doubt if this weapon had been brought to the fight earlier he wondered whether there would have been anything of a beast left afterwards.
Nodding his thanks and muttering as much quietly, he glanced to the beast-corpse beside him, pondering the weapon's potential a moment further before shaking the thought from his mind and turning back to her.
"Hungry?"

@Frannykins87 : With the woman he'd heard earlier approaching, he couldn't quite picture her as being combat proficient. But the dead meat of a beast that she'd slain with her weapon was testament to her capacity to defend herself.
"I knew Hart some time ago, yes. You can call me Neroka."
At her remark of the terrain, he had the unusual need to supress his lip from curling at one side. The remark of green amused him, as though they hadn't expected as much from Taanab.
"The natives. Or as close a thing to it." In truth he couldn't remember their true name, and his own term for them changed on every encounter. He never needed to say the names aloud, all alone in the jungle.
"You get used to them. They're drawn to noise mostly, but a crash-landing is sure to draw more than a couple"
The squeal of the droid Alisha was addressing caught Kaylon's eye immediately for its skittish personality. A pit droid, he thought of his conversation with Hart earlier, and internally let his groan continue where it had left off. He didn't like them, and he was left silent, unsure what to say as follow-up to Alisha's own remark. Nonetheless, he forced himself not to pre-judge.

@StarWriter : Having watched the group meander and go about their tasks in fortifying the position, Neroka was one to keep his direct gaze from the mandolorian, but always keeping him in his peripheral field of view as much as he could help it.
With a sentry duty assigned, he had no doubt the Mandolorian would be the best man suited to the task, though when his name was called, he couldn't keep from turning his focus directly on him. His approach was slow, but the mandolorian seemed calm enough, what with his leg draped over the edge of the craft. As they talked for a moment, Kaylon satisfied himself to let the mandolorian out of his sight, surveying the quiet ambience of the jungle around them.
"When I first saw you I thought your name really was Buckethead. You should know I won't raise my weapon at any of you again unless I'm given cause to do so. And you'd find if that happened, I wouldn't miss either" Looking at him "He calls me 'hot shot' for a reason, you know"
It seemed like they had the measure of each other, for the moment. He had no doubt Kyllan was superior in arms, armour and training. He even had his own ship, and competent droids too. But as a former bounty hunter, he'd spent his part of his life overcoming his own disadvantages in other versatile (and on a few occasions, unsavoury) ways.
Sure enough, he'd be sleeping with his knife in his hand just as a precaution for those next few nights.

@Sangga : Keeping to himself mostly, knowing better than to get in the way, Neroka would often volunteer to venture into the jungle for food stuffs, or simply going for walks on his own that could span most of the day. He'd have to talk to Hart at some point, though of all the crew, he was perhaps the one Kaylon was uncertain about the most. Uncertain of how things were between them, and whether they were friends, or just a means to an end in the long-game.
When the day came that he found Hart sat shuffling his Pazaak deck and tossed a few cards face-down towards Neroka, they seemed to have finally reached a turning point in the mood.
At first, Neroka wasn't sure whether to pick up the cards, looking at them for a time and wondering if he could even remember the rules of the game. It wasn't as though he was any good at it, and alone on Taanab for so long, what skills he might have had would have deteriorated with time. He took a seat, and a moment later exhaled deeply, watching the face-down cards.
"I could've killed you, when you landed" Eyes turning to Hart, wondering what might be thought in response to such a remark. "But I didn't. I'm just hoping that counts for something."
Picking up the cards, he examined each in turn, studying the hand that fate had apparently dealt him and seeing what he could make of it.

 

[Pippa]

@Frannykins87. One particular morning as Alisha, Pippa and Tippy were performing maintenance on the northern-most of their agitator devices Pippa struck up a fairly personal conversation. "I was wondering, I know that most of us within this small crew have our reasons to be adrift in the galactic ocean, I know that following this many of us have limited home or family to return to. At least that much is becoming apparent if the others are something to measure by. But you seem significantly younger and more earnest in your celestial journey and I wanted to know if you had a home to speak of and why you would choose to leave it?" cheerily and obliviously Pippa chatted away without real concern for any of the implication of her words.

@StarWriter. Pippa did her best to force her knee actuators into a braced firing position. It was clear that robotic legs were not designed to bend very well, this more than anything else was probably why Pippa's walk was so much of a waddle. Eventually she managed to take up more balanced footing and she carefully aimed before firing again. The shot landed just inside the bottom of the ring painted on the tree and Pippa squeaked in delight, this was the best shot she'd made all afternoon. "Thank you Kyllan. You were correct, patience and balance. Though I may need to make some modifications to my legs or to my blaster. I think trying to brace like that in a combat scenario would be far too unwieldy to be practical." She spent a few moments thinking to herself. "Hmm, I had never considered altering my legs before. The design that Kel and Daana made for me has been wholly sufficient until now. No matter, I shall put that on the list." She took aim once more and fired at the target. While it fell out side of the circle, it was quite close to the last shot and the blast mark had landed right on the line.

@Sangga. A few days passed since Hart had 'talked' to Pippa. Since then she had worked industriously to rework the internal systems of the Yoania. In every way she could she managed to bring the ship's performance back to it's factory settings, the original speed, the original handling even the cycling of the electrical flow was back to normal function. Most of the problems were the kind that you wouldn't notice day to day, not really. There'd be a flickering light or a poorly responsive console, the kind of problems that you'd unconsciously compensate for. You might tape over a warning light or you might thump a shorting control unit. There were some things that could not be fixed or patched, these items went on a list that Pippa would find a spare for the next time they hit civilisation.

The only real indication that many of these changes had been made was the ship just functioning more smoothly then it previously had. Pippa was very careful to make everything appear as it had before. No dents were removed, no surfaces re-worked or polished, even the odd noises the ship was want to make had been maintained (even though the issued causing them had been removed). She had come to the conclusion that this would be the best way to keep Hart happy with her work. She knew her fixes were more modifications than maintenance, because that was just how she worked, she never saw the point in not improving something when you have the chance. But as long as it felt, looked, sounded and even smelled like the ship Hart had grown to love she reasoned that it would be fine. And who know's maybe one day she'd tell Hart about the extra spaces in his ship for secret storage or about the increased power settings that would be functional when she had a replacement for the worn plasma couplings on the ship's reactor or about the point she could shave off of the hyperdrive rating if she could get new inductor plates. Yes, one day she'd tell him, but not anytime soon.

@Kaylon Neroka "No thank you I have eaten, but if these creatures are edible It would be good to harvest them for sustenance." As she spoke she popped the front hatch on her small walker. The two meter tall armoured shell opened up to reveal the tiny Charda-fan pilot. She took Kaylon's rifle from the now still robotic hands and began to look it over. It had indeed sustained significant damage here on Taanab and while some of that was pressure fracturing from improper gas mixtures most of it was just a build up of moisture. Despite that the weapon had clearly be well maintained to have continued functioning this long. "Hmm, I will remove the ammo clip for now and charge and refill it separately. It should function well enough if I clean it out fully. However before I can give this back to you I will have to repair the micro fractures along the cooling vents. As it is if fully reloaded it would be prone to potentially explosive failure."

She pulled out a tray from the side of her cockpit and disassembled the rifle out into it's components. After a few minutes of work with a couple of odd looking tools from her satchel she put it back together. Then she flushed the ammo clips reservoirs and gave it a thorough clean. She connected the clean clip to a universal connector where it was charged and refuelled. Once it was done she reloaded the rifle and proffered it back to Kaylon. "I have reinforced the firing chamber and expanded the amplitude of the focusing array. Now the rifle will have a greater range and penetration as the plasma bolts it discharges will hold form for longer. These enhancements are mainly to allow it to use the heavily enriched Tibanna mixture that I use in my own weapons. I would not be surprised if the recoil was greater than before, I'm afraid you will probably need to re-sight the weapon's scope. I do not use manual sights on firearms myself but I'm sure you are more than proficient with them."