Just a Trick of the Light... (INVITE)

[Ser Yorick]

OOC: This thread takes place almost immediately after "Out From the Cosmos..."

IC: Ah, dinner, dinner, dinner, went the mind of Grognak the Barbarian, some called him. They weren't far off either, as he and his associate Spacey Pete had just sent a couple thugs out for a swim in the cold black outside the Cosmos.

The Cosmos certainly was a magnificent ship. Ugly, but magnificent. The craftsmanship was extraordinary, except of course, for what I just mentioned. But honestly, its function far surpassed its looks. It served its purpose, which was to appear to be the flagship for a garbage hauling company (COSMOS Waste Disposal), but really, that was all just a front. In reality, the Cosmos was the mobile headquarters for one of the most secretive and dangerous criminal syndicates in the galaxy. Why did they pose as a garbage hauling company? Well, why not?

So anyway, as both Grognak and Pete wandered back through the hallways of the Cosmos, away from the hangar bay, the Nikto wondered what would happen to the families of the workers who had perished when they were flung out with the leaders of the Sontrebren Crew only mere moments ago. Well, he supposed they would be upset, but they would be told it was a workplace accident, no foul play involved. That was a lie, but hey, he couldn't have angry mothers ringing up the secretaries all day. They had to work!

"Argyle," Grognak called out while walking.

"Yes sir?" came the immediate response. A.I. systems were so quick these days.

"Why don't you make the jump to that place I told you about earlier. We were supposed to meet a contact out there in a day or so, but we might as well be early for once."

"Yes sir, Grognak sir."

Meanwhile...

The hangar bay shield went back up as ARGYLE reset the systems and unbolted the ships. More men in dingy grey uniforms came out to replace the ones lost, and work continued. Hopefully they would be luckier than their predecessors. A few minutes later, a single shuttle floated into the hangar bay and set down in the area designated by the controller while the vessel was on approach. Grognak and Pete did not realise this, but the shuttle actually carried the companion Kaori S'gaat, who was there for her appointment with the two Co-Founders. They had forgotten, and as such, the poor woman would exit her shuttle and be greeted by no one.

"Wait, hold up, Grog," Pete said. "I gotta use the bathroom real quick."

The Nikto sighed and said "Oh whatever," and continued walking.

"No, wait for me."

"I'm not waiting for you," Grognak said without turning around. He wasn't going to wait for him. What, were they supposed to be inseparable or something? Pete could catch up when he was finished. Besides, sometimes it took humans a while to go and Grognak did not want to stick around to see how long it took him this time.

On the bridge...

Dozens of men in dingy grey uniforms, all with the CWD logo on them, stood behind dozens of control panels and buttons. Only a few people were in seats. When designing the layout of the bridge, Spacey Pete had suggested taking away the chairs behind most of the panels and doohickeys. He thought it would keep the works on their toes. Grognak didn't really agree, but Pete was pretty adamant about it. Eventually, they played a game of pazaak over it, and Pete won. He got lucky. Anyway, the hyperspace coordinates the men were told to punch in earlier were punched in and the hyperdrive was engaged. The ship then began the jump.

 

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

The blurry flashing numbers on a digital display kept appearing and disappearing. What the hell was going on? Iskarr swatted at the numbers and a loud smashing sound could be heard. Crap. That had been the clock on his nightstand and he had just smacked off all the objects that had been resting on the surface. The clock, a remote, his datapad, and a lamp.

"Oh hell."

Iskarr got up and stretched. He hadn't the faintest clue as to how long he had been sleeping but he was sure it was longer than intended as his muscles ached and his stomach was rumbling. Ignoring the mess he made by simply stepping over it he made his way to the small closet that beautifully complimented his small room. Opening the sliding door and pulled out his CWD jumpsuit. It always unnerved him. Iskarr hadn't noticed the first month he had signed on but on the back of his jumpsuit he noticed a small stitched patch and red discoloring that never came out. He had never asked about how it got there. Instead Iskarr opted to throw on a Hawaiin shirt to cover it up. To go along with his little tropical theme he preffered to wear sandals instead fo big clunky boots.

Now equppied in clothing aside from his CWD boxers that he had been wearing, Iskarr proudly stepped out into the hall. Before he headed to the mess Iskarr ondered if he should find that little fuzzball of a squib. Perhaps the furry bastard wanted to kick his ass at some card game again.

 

[Dragon Fae]

Kaori had begun to wonder if contacting these gentlemen was the right move to make. Still, Andraes had never steered her wrong before in matters of business (he was as shrewd when it came to money). Taking a deep breath and checking her hair one last time, she pulled her shawl closer about her shoulders and moved toward the ramp. She wore a dress custom tailored for her in a rich blue, accented with white lace with stilletto heeled boots.

Sapphire blue eyes took in the whole hangar bay, seeing other shuttles such as the one she arrived in. Workers were busily going about their business, paying no attention to her whatsoever. To them, having a guest aboard must be commonplace. Gracefully, she stepped down the ramp, sweeping her gaze across the bay, looking for her hosts. Yet, she found no one. Patiently, she waited, believing the CEOs were possibly delayed in greeting her.

 

[Viggy]

“Forty-seven, forty-nine, fifty! You bet!”

Having completed the jumping jacks he liked to do every morning, Dmivo stretched a bit before tip-toeing his way through the mess of random paraphernalia carpeting his bedroom, until he reached the less cluttered but still very messy bathroom. He had a quick shower, being sure to wash out the insides of his (relatively) long blue ears. Stepping out and shaking himself until his fur was mostly dry, he pulled on his jumpsuit and tightened the belt that was already slipped through the loops. He pulled his scarlet hood over his head, ears swivelling around as they poked up through the holes cut into the hood for them, picking up the sounds of other CWD employees who were just getting out of bed. Dmivo had always been an early riser. He completed his outfit by snapping on his green gloves and slipping his feet into his usual boots, which were made of some lightweight green metal (the colour of which matched his gloves quite nicely).

He was whistling a happy little tune as he stepped out into the hallway. His big, bright yellow eyes reflected his excitement for another new day aboard the Cosmos, an excitement most of his coworkers didn’t seem to share. Oh well. For the young and enthusiastic Squib, garbage was a passion. He turned to walk down the hallway, thinking he’d stop in at the mess and grab some breakfast before finding out what work he had for today. But Dmivo had hardly taken ten short steps when he spotted Iskarr emerging from his room. The blue-furred alien waved with a wide grin.

“Good morning, Iskarr!” he called loudly, moving over to his human coworker with alarming speed. “How are you? I’m ultrafine myself, you bet! Another day of collectivating the Galaxy’s floating treasure lies dead ahead of us!”

He paused for a short second to breathe.

“Before we get down to our glorificous work, wanna grab a bite at the mess?”

 

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

Iskarr liked Dmivo but sometimes he fealt his good buddy could use a chill pill. His attitude would seem could to other people, but it seemed to be on a cycle for him. At the beginning of the day Iskarr would find Dmivo's good mood rub off on him and then later on he would be planning the demise of the squib. Last week he was going to place an antipersonel charge on his toilet seat. Seeing as it was early in his day Iskarr flashed the blue furred creature a smile and nodded.

"Some chow sounds absolutely heavenly. I just hope they aren't serving the same stuff they had two days ago... I didn't leave my wash room all night."

 

[Ser Yorick]

Grognak decided it would be quicker to take the electric cart Pete had used earlier to bring them down from the bridge to the hangar bay, so he jumped in and pulled the lever. The cart suddenly took off at speeds almost unbearable to the Nikto, so he let go of the mechanism in an attempt to slow down. Big mistake. He was almost thrown off by his own momentum as the cart came to a complete stop. The Co-Founder and CEO took a moment to settle his stomach and gingerly pulled the lever back only slightly this time. It took off at a leisurely pace, and he was satisfied. "Pete certainly is a speed demon," he said to himself. "He set the damn thing so sensitive. It's a miracle he can control it at all!" Well hey, at least he got back at him by taking his cart and leaving him in the bathroom.

A few minutes later Grognak and the cart swung around the last corner and flung past both Dmivotiktokalalakee and Iskarr Shia. The Nikto turned his head back around as he passed them and pushed the lever to break. Then he hit reverse and went back to greet the pair. "Hullo Dmee-voh-tick-tock-ah-la-la-kee!" He took a breath. "Hey Iskarr." That name was much easier to say. Normally he would have just called the Squib by his quick little nickname, Dmivo, but Grognak enjoyed saying the whole thing and emphasizing each syllable. "You guys want a ride? I'm heading to the mess hall for some grub."

 

[Dragon Fae]

As time passed and no one appeared, she began to grow a little impatient. Seeing one of the worker's pass, she raised a hand and walked toward him.

"Excuse me, sir? Sir?" she called, her boots clattering against the floor as she followed him and tried to watch where she was going. "Sir? Could you help me, please? I'm looking for a Mr. Grognak and Mr. Pete."

A few workers looked up at hearing the names of their fellow CEO's but no one seemed to be willing to point her in the right direction. As another worker passed, minding his own business, she lifted her skirt slightly and followed after him, trying the same tact to no avail. He too seemed to ignore her. Yet, just as she was about to turn to another fellow worker, he pointed her to a terminal.

"Th-thank you," she finally told him, bowing her head to him to which he turned his back on and strutted away. She watched him go, her feathers slightly ruffled, and then headed over to the computer terminal in question.

Her sapphire blue eyes read the main screen as she placed her hands over the keypad and began to navigate the screens, or so she thought.

 

[Viggy]

The Squib nodded in agreement, his brow furrowing a bit at the memory of the indigestion he too had suffered . “Yeah, I think their meat is collectivated along with the garbage loads… Oh well, gotta keep our chins up and chipper-like! They'll be serving something fantasticus today, you bet.”

He turned to continue down the hall with Iskarr, but squeaked in fright and nearly jumped out of his fur as Grognak came hurtling by in that insane electric cart. The frightened little blue alien was smoothing out his fur when he was surprised to see the Nikto brake and pull back, moving the cart up alongside the Squib and the Human. Dmivo saluted the boss, grinning happily as his full name was used in the greeting. Most non-Squibs didn’t ever go to the trouble of spitting out all those syllables (in fact Dmivo had a feeling many weren’t even capable of putting them together), so he always appreciated it when someone decided to use it.

“Heyo, boss! A ride to the mess would be great cause we was just goin’ that way ourselves, you bet. C’mon Iskarr!”

With some difficulty, the Squib scrambled up the side of the cart and pulled himself up. A little whimper escaped him as he tumbled into the cart, misjudging his ability to land inside of it gracefully. But he swiftly recovered, smoothing out his fur once more as he stood on his toes to peek out of the cart and beckon for Iskarr to follow.

 

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

Iskarr sighed as he stepped onto the cart. Wasn't his first choice of intership transportation but it was an offer out of kindness and it was his boss offering. He gripped onto the side tightly, hoping that Grognak wouldn't be whipping the thing around or coming to abrupt stops. The only brightside he could see to this was that their was no breakfest, lunch, or dinner to toss around in his stomach so throwing up wouldn't be happening.

 

[Ser Yorick]

On the bridge one of the men in dingy grey uniforms had finally had enough, he wasn't going to stand any longer! And so, he sat down. Everyone in the surrounding vicinity either gasped or gaped, stopped what they were doing, and turned to look at the rebel. Some gaped admiringly, while most who gaped or gasped either looked on with loathing or were just too darn surprised to decide how they felt about it. "I was just playin'..." the man said, and climbed back up to his feet.

The Cosmos came out of hyperspace and pulled the dozens of men in their dingy grey uniforms back to work. The ship had successfully made the jump to an area of space close to the outer rim. This part of the galaxy was no-man's-land, an area between both parties in the Hutt War. Mere parsecs away was Republic territory, and in the opposite direstion, lay the Hutt Empire. It was a very dangerous part of the known galaxy, but luckily it was usually empty. The system was not all that common, and actually held no planets that contained any life or even viable resources. It was the perfect rendezvous spot for criminals looking to make contact out of reach of the local law enforcement. So, like I said, it was usually empty, but...

"Um, we made the rendezvous early, right guys?" asked the one who had sat down earlier.

One of the men in dingy grey uniforms that gaped instead of gasped answered him. "Yeah, the boss wanted to change things up a bit."

"Then why is there a blip on my screen reading as a small collidable object, sort of like a ship?" The sitter turned his head to face the one who had answered him as if to say, "Ya got an answer for that, huh buddy?"

"Bring it up on screen."

He did. A freighter, one very unlike the one COSMOS Waste Disposal was supposed to make contact with appeared on the view screen. It was actually larger, perhaps 300 standard metres in length. And it had no lights on. "I'm not detecting any power sources... no distress signals either."

Now it was the gaper's turn to ask a question. "What do we do?"

Back on the electric cart...

"So we've got an exchange happening in about 22 hours," Grognak said. The Nikto was still driving the cart, though this time at a much slower pace. He wanted to be heard over the whine of the cart. "The other end has requested a ship-to-ship trade-off, so we're gonna fly a shuttle out to meet them. Normally we wouldn't do that, but we've dealt with these guys before. They're reliable. I need the both of you to—" Grognak was cut off mid-sentence by ARGYLE.

"Grognak, sir, there appears to be a problem up on the bridge that requires your attention."

The Nikto was actually getting kind of annoyed with their A.I. system. While ARGYLE was always very polite with his speech, he had yet to learn not to interrupt people when they were talking. "A problem? Why didn't one of the workers contact me?"

"They didn't really know what to do, sir. They were afraid you'd be upset."

"I am upset! I haven't had my dinner yet!" Grognak hit the breaks on the cart, stopped the infernal machine, and sighed heavily. "Argyle, just tell me what the problem is."

"Sir, I've taken a look at the long range scanners and there appears to be a ship not too far from our location."

"You mean our contact is early too?" Grognak was puzzled, if that was all, it hardly constituted a problem.

"No sir, the vessel appears to be of different specifications than the one we have in our databanks for the contact. The ship has been left floating without power, probably for quite a while. There are also no distress beacons anywhere in the system. If you ask me, sir, I think it's an abandoned vessel left by either the Hutt Empire or the Republic. It does not appear to be damaged, but we won't know unless we get closer."

Grognak pushed the cart's lever and began the long way back down toward the hangar bay.

 

[Dragon Fae]

I turned my head, looking behind me at the workers and seeing them still paying little heed to my actions. Did they not worry about some stranger coming in and hacking their systems? Not that I would dare to try against someone I was seeking a business deal with. Still, it was tempting, standing there and having free access...it seemed suspicious if not a little odd. Too easy in fact. The very idea sent a chill down my spine. Perhaps the men who ran this operation were more clever than she I had first given them credit for. Casually, my eyes scanned the room's ceilings, looking for security cams before turning back to the datapad.

Eyes fixated on the screen, I finally found what appeared to be a map of the facility. Finally, I was getting somewhere. I turned to my satchel, fishing for my datastick. Once I found it, I inserted it into the terminal and began to copy the map. So far there had been no problems...

As the terminal worked, I looked closer at the screen, remembering the name on the introduction of the screen. "Argyle," I said in a whisper. "Hmm. I wonder what Argyle stands for..."

 

[Viggy]

Dmivo remained on his toes as they started moving, peeking out of the cart as he held the edge tightly He was watching the walls and uniforms of his coworkers as they went by. He inwardly wished Grognak would make this thing go faster so they could have some real fun with it, but after all they were at work right now and the boss had to explain what they would be doing. Unfortunately, just as the Nikto was about to expain Iskarr and Dmivo’s work for the day, he was interrupted by the ship’s A.I. with a problem. The Squib listened curiously as his boss talked it over with ‘ARGYLE’. The situation sounded suspicious to him, but more daunting then this mysterious, apparently abandoned ship was the fact that Grognak was turning the cart around.

“So we’re not go-going to the mess for a bite, bossman?” he asked rhetorically, his ears drooping with disappointment.

 

[Ser Yorick]

OOC: Sorry for it being short, I was being pressured.

"No, we're not going to the mess hall," Grognak replied. "We're going to investigate that ship, perhaps do some salvaging, and make a nice pile of credits." While he too was annoyed at the prospect of skipping meal time, the Nikto decided it could wait. There was a possibly abandoned ship floating out in the middle of space, and it needed to be checked out. If it was the contact they were supposed to meet, then there would be trouble, and Grognak was not one to wait and find out. They were going to get this done as soon as possible, and if that meant skipping dinner, then so be it!

In the hangar bay...

When Kaori S'gaat whispered ARGYLE's name, he immediately responded through the speakers on the terminal. "It is my name, miss S'gaat. I am this ship's onboard Artificial Intelligence program. How may I be of assistance?" The voice itself had a cold and mechanical sound to it.

Outside the bathroom...

"Give me a shittin' minute!" came Spacey Pete's voice through the door. The human Co-Founder and CEO of COSMOS Waste Disposal was still in the bathroom, and was now being pestered by Grognak, who had stopped the cart on his way back to the hangar bay.

"No, you've had enough minutes to shit! We need you out here now, there's a situation." Grognak pounded on the door again, hoping to hurry the human along. He looked back at the pair still in the electric cart and smiled nervously by smoothing the breathing flaps on either side of his face. How could he let his employees see him like this? Arguing with their other boss because he was taking too long in the bathroom. Great, just great.

 

[Dragon Fae]

The voice startled me as my hand went to my chest and I laughed at my own skiddish behavior. "Artific...of course. Forgive me, Argyle, you startled me," I said, my tone still having a mirthful tone. "I was wishing to find Mr. Pete and Mr. Grognak. I had an appointment..." I continued, wondering how far I really should talk to a computer as my voice trailed. "...And, well, no one has met me here," I said, seeing that there was no need to beat around the bush. My tone and innocent look would not do me a bit of good to get me where I needed to be. "Is there a room, a sitting room perhaps, where I could wait for Mr. Pete and Mr. Grognak and be out of the way?" I asked, standing up straighter and clasping my hands before me.

"A map and directions have been uploaded on your datastick. Is there anything other assistance you require?" Argyle said.

"Oh...no. No, thank you," I said with a smile as I removed my datastick and uploaded it into my datapad. Pulling up the map, I looked around the hangar then consulted the map, following the directions that led me out of the hangar and into a hallway of some type.

 

[Sir Dakar]

***In the Hanger Bay***
​

“Good, because I really wasn't planning on helping you anymore.” Argyle told the girl that was stumbling around his innards. The AI figured it was probably best to just let her have the map, this was she wouldn't accidentally break something. Stupid Humans.

***Back to the real problem***
​

“There's a situation in here too! But I don't see you caring about that one at all.” Came the muffled response from Pete on the other side of the door. “Kriffing raiders attacking my shack again... I'm running out of ammo for Ol' Reliable, don't they understand this?” He muttered to himself, once again returning his attention to his hand held gaming device. Suddenly the screen flashed as one of the Raiders used a fat man to finish him off. “What the Kriff is that! Shallhara curse this to the underworld!” He bellowed at the screen, as if that was going to fix his death in the game.

“Fine! I'm finishing up.” he said to Grognak once he was finished fuming over. A flush, stumbling, more swearing, and a loud thud followed, along with the reassuring sound of a tap being run. Finally Pete emerged, looking just as he had entered, except a little lighter.

“You were driving my cart!” He cried as soon as he stepped out and saw that the cart was not exactly where he had left it. Quicker then a speeding wookiee Pete was on his knees examining the cart from all sides, making sure that his precious transport wasn't damaged in any way. “A scratch!” came another cry from Pete as he tried to rub it off with his suit jacket's sleeve. His attempt to repair it was rather futile, and he realized it quickly, hopping into the driver seat and waiting for his friend to get back in once again.

 

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

Iskarr hadn't planned forwork on salvaging a ship. He had planned for a delicious stack of pancakes or a heaping mound of spaghetti. Though as the dutiful employee it wasn't really his place to question such things. Times like these though is why he loved being with Cosmos Waste Disposal. The two CEOs were fun guys and were not just some soulless robots who seemed to only be interested in the money. Sure he was sure it didn't hurt but these two seemed like they still could have a good time without all the success. Iskarr had been approached by other gangs and some smugglers before to employ him, he had previously been working with a smuggler by the name of Lucien Balto before he came to work for CWD. The pay wasn't as good, the quarters were cramped, and of course the smuggler's vessel didn't have any of the luxuries of the COSMOS. Iskarr made a wise change.

 

[Viggy]

At the very least, it was reassuring for Dmivo to know that they had good reason to be skipping mealtime: they were looking into a potential goldmine of scavenging. An entire ship, left abandoned? The Squib’s toes wiggled in his boots at the thought of how much clutter and junk could be aboard that ship, just waiting for someone to find a use for it. His mind was focused on imagined hordes of unwanted treasure, until the cart stopped outside a bathroom.

Dmivo clapped a hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter as the CEOs bickered. With his sensitive ears the Squib would swear he could hear the beeping of a video game, and soon even human ears would be able to hear Spacey Pete’s enraged cursing. No doubt it was ‘game over’, and Dmivo could barely hold in his amusement. He had to shove a furry fist in his mouth to muffle his giggling as the human CEO emerged from the bathroom at last. Fortunately, Pete was busy inspecting the electric cart and the damage Grognak had allegedly done to it, and so hopefully wouldn't notice his diminutive employee being entertained by his struggles.

“Eheh, heh… Ahem. Hiya boss!” Dmivo quipped innocently, as Pete got into the driver’s seat.

 

[Ser Yorick]

The Nikto flattened his mouth flaps and shook his head. Freakin' Pete. Here we are, running an illegal operation, housing thieves, smugglers, bounty hunters and all manner of scum, all under the guise of a waste disposal company, and he can't even try to act professional? No, he has to play video games in the kriffing toilet for crying out loud!

“A scratch!” Pete called out. This brought Grognak back to reality. The human had run over to inspect his precious electric cart.

"That's been there since last week," the Nikto grumbled back. "That damn cart has so many scratches and dings on it it's amazing you can even tell which ones are new!"

Grognak saw Pete heading for the driver's seat and knew what would happen. At least, he thought he did. Oh no you don't! the Nikto thought, and ran to the electric wagon and jumped in before his associate could take off. He landed right on top of a giggling Squib. When he got to his feet he realised, Pete was just sitting there, he hadn't taken off at all.

 

[Viggy]

"Eeeeep!" Dmivo squeaked loudly in fright as he saw the impending doom descending upon him in the form of a Nikto in a spiffy jumpsuit. He ducked for cover and pulled his long ears down over his eyes, seeing his life play out in his mind's eye. Luckily for him he did not die, as Grognak somehow landed on his feet with Dmivo between them. The Squib crawled away to the other side of the cart, then stood up straight again with an undignified huff. He didn't complain outright, because after all this Nikto wrote his paycheck. But Grognak had nearly given him a heart attack!

 

[Ser Yorick]

"Sorry Dmee-voh-tick-tock-ah-la-la-kee, it was an accident," Grognak replied. He smiled a Nikto smile in an attempt to appear genuine, but a Nikto smile could be interpreted for any number of things, many of which were not too polite.

OOC: Wanted to throw that in quick. :P