Begin data log entry. 50 years after the destruction of Malachor V and the end of the Sith Civil War. 3 days since leaving Karnak.
The trip to Coruscant was basically uneventful. The hyperdrive on the Old Renegade is a bit old, but she holds together just fine, and makes good time too. When we arrived on Coruscant, I could have sworn that Kaahna had no idea what she was doing. It was like she'd never had to fly in any sort of traffic before. Somehow, we barely made a safe landing on the corporation's private landing platform, and a group of eight security personnel came out to greet us. Not exactly what I would call a welcome party.
Turns out, the company had switched hands, and they didn't feel like paying for the meds we just brought half way across the galaxy. Now, they still wanted the meds of course, just didn't want to hand over the creds for them. Since Coruscant is the last place where I wanted to get into trouble with any sort of security or law enforcement, I very calmly tried to go back to the ship, and talk them into letting us just go on our merry way.
Then Ting Ting did what he usually does. Lucky for me, I'm used to it. Also lucky for us, the Sec guards weren't. Arms flailing, waving his atlatl around, and hollering at the top of his lungs, he threw himself at the nearest guard. Chuck and I both opened fire, and a lucky shot brought down the captain in the first volley. Alura may not be the best with a blaster, but she was at least another body to help even numbers, and she managed to wing at least one of them. Kyle saw the commotion from the ship's monitors inside and quickly activated the concealed anti-personnel laser cannons on the belly of the Renegade. Ting Ting continued to wail on the one guard he had latched on to, and the other guards turned all their attention on him.
With some incredibly smooth talking, and fate apparently on our side, and we were able to convince the guards that with their leader and another guard dead, and one more in the grip of our maniacal Gungan, it would be in their best interest to just put their weapons down and leave. Which they did. Reluctantly, Ting Ting released the guard he was holding, who incidentally had soiled himself in the meantime. We returned to the ship and headed off to meet our primary contact on Coruscant and finish our job here.
A strange thing happened on the ascent from the landing pad though. The ship starting rising, but then Kaahna appeared in the cargo hold and started complaining about the smell of charred Gungan, as Ting Ting had received a few singe marks. I immediately asked who was flying the ship! Kaahna said she engaged the autopilot, and that's when I knew things were going to be bad. This ship's autopilot was never programmed for flying in Coruscant type traffic, or so I thought. As we dashed to bridge, the ship lurched violently, as if it was taking evasive action, all on it's own. Somehow, we avoided a massive collision with a public transportation vessel.
I quickly shoved Kaahna into the pilot's chair, and she grabbed the control yoke, eyes wide. I started to wonder if she really was qualified to be a pilot. But then the creepiest thing I think I've ever heard happened. Something in the ship spoke. It claimed it was the ship's artificial intelligence. Well, I had never installed one, and certainly was curious as to why, after all this time, it was just now revealing itself. After some varied conversation with it, and among ourselves concerning what to do about it, we decided to just let it go for now, and we'd have Alura, or some other people check it out.
The AI couldn't tell us much. It said it's name was 'Slave', and that it's former owner had programmed him into the ship. He said his former owner had been searching for some sort of Sith vessel with an experimental hyperdrive system. Sounded like a load of osik if you asked me, but when we tried to inquire more, Slave insisted that he couldn't reveal any more information to us. Kriffing thing was partially encrypted or something. The only good thing Slave was able to do for us was reveal a few things about the ship I hadn't discovered, like a couple of extra hidden compartments we could use for smuggling, and then some sort of sub-light ion drives, custom installed and very well concealed. You'd think with a smuggler for a captain, and a pretty good mechanic on board, it would've been hard to keep something like a pair of extra engines hidden. But whoever this former owner was, he either had a ton of credits, or he was one incredible starship builder. Turns out, these extra engines pack quite a punch. I'm anxious to try them out at some point.
With these new revelations, and new puzzles laid before us, the crew decided that Slave didn't seem like much of a threat to us. So we pressed forward to go pick up our cargo. An old friend of mine was our contact here on Coruscant, and went by the name Den. We touched down near Den's place, and he met us in person, with the cargo. I can't say I was thrilled to learn that whatever was in those containers was alive, and didn't sound friendly. I don't usually do live cargo. But, a job is a job, and this one was paying pretty well, so we set Dog to loading them up, and then the crew followed Den down to his favorite cantina. For some reason, Kyle refused to come. Doesn't like Coruscant for some reason. Not quite sure why, but I know my crew each has their own past to deal with, so I don't press the issue.
During the course of our evening of catching up and sharing old stories, Den mentioned a rumor he had heard: towards the end of the war, a secret Sith warship was stranded in the middle of an asteroid belt. As he continued to talk about it, we realized it sounded strangely similar to the tale that Slave had told us. Too similar to be simply a coincidence. At that time, I didn't really know what Den wanted with the ship, or if he was telling us an interesting story he'd heard, but he gave us some coordinates, and promised to make it worth our while if we could bring back anything of value for him.
We reviewed the coordinates, and it wasn't too far off our route back to Karnak. And we had a week or so to spare before our cargo delivery deadline, so we said we'd at least check it out.
Before we left the cantina, I asked Den if he'd be interested in the extra pharmaceuticals we had on hand, since the earlier deal had gone poorly, but he didn't want them. He suggested a contact he knew, and Chuck tried to talk them into working something out with us. The only way they would take the meds, and pay us for it, which was important, was if we helped them with some vault-cracking job. Alura is good with just about anything mechanical, but wasn't comfortable with that idea, and based on this contact's reputation, ultimately we decided to pass.
I commed Kyle to see if he knew of any local contacts in the medical field that might be interested. He gave me a couple names, but he insisted that I make the call and the arrangements. I was a bit skepical, but I called the contacts. Turned out, they refused to even consider an arrangement unless I told them how to find Kyle. Well, that didn't sound too pleasant, and I may not be the best being in the galaxy, but I stick up for my own crew, that's for sure. So that conversation ended quickly.
Our final option was to contact a local med center, through somebody Den knew. For some reason, probably because we thought it would be a good laugh, we decided to let Ting Ting handle this negotiation. I don't know why in space they believed him, but he pulled it off, and soon we were off to get paid at least something for the stuff we hauled here from halfway across the galaxy. It didn't end up being as much as we were hoping for, but it would pay to keep the ship running and the crew happy.
So, cargo of some sort of live animals loaded up, coordinates for this mystery ship plugged into the navi-computer, and fresh creds in our pockets, we headed off from Coruscant, and back into deep space.
End data log entry
_________________ -Aaron Mand'alor "You either die a hero, or you live to see yourself become the villain."
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