You want it? I got it.

[Smitty]

Smitty watched ships pilot in and out of the port docks from his office window on level 121. A fine case of Corellian ale was sitting in the corner. It was good times all around as far as he could see, the war was the best thing to happen to this little corner of the galaxy. Everyone who wanted to play was making money hand over fist or paw or tenticle, take your pick.

[Darriann Sollak]

A battered YT-2000 sailed into the Cloud City port, it's transponder code identifying it as the Renegade Angel. The craft looked like it had recently been dragged out of the Ord Mantell scrap yard, hull platting flapped in the wind as it moved to an empty landing pad. It's landing gear extended slowly, screeching as they did so. Dock workers turned their heads and cursed at the ship as it touched down with a heavy thud upon the pad. Bits of loose platting fell as the ship came to rest, the Angel was in need of serious repairs.

The ship’s boarding ramp extended and a man in light body armour stepped out, an angry look upon his face. He walked around his ship once and kicked a piece of scrap across the pad before heading to the hatch into the dock complex. Inside a dock officer awaited him, he held a datapad in his hand and was reviewed it before speaking to the new arrival.

"Welcome to Bespin, Captain Sollak." the dock officer said with a nod, placing his hands and pad behind his back

Not in the mood for pleasantries Darriann spoke bluntly, "I'll be needing that pad for a while until I can get parts and repairs done."

Immediately the dock officer changed his tone. "Their will be a fee based on how many days your ship remains docked here, three hundred credits per. Repair crew will be an additional cost."

"Fine." Darriann said plainly, "Are there any parts merchants here, ones who carry components other than the standard stock? I'm looking for some upgrades as well as repair parts."

The officer eyed Darriann, then tapped upon his datapad. "You may try this person." A beep sounded from the pad Darriann had clipped to his belt. "They may have what your looking for."

Darriann gave a nod to the officer. "Thanks."

"Enjoy your stay." The officer said turning and continuing on his rounds through the port.

Darriann unhooked his pad and reviewed it. He then headed to the lift and followed the directions on his pad. Hopefully the person at the address would be in, and Sollak could acquire the parts he’d need to leave the city without having the port authority wanting so many credits. Good thing I’m not calling this place home, I wonder what they charge the locals to stay here?

[Smitty]

Smitty's ear twiched at the sound of footsteps approaching his office. He quickly scanned his desk and removed a few items from plain sight and replaced them with a bottle of something with a green tint. <i>Somebody was always in need of something.</i>

Smitty began to whistle a snappy tune to himself.

[Darriann Sollak]

As Darriann ambled up to the office he could hear a faint whistling. He was in luck, the person he needed to see was in. The Corellian walked into the office and was impressed with what he'd seen, he half expected to see junk all around like most dealers he'd come to know, but not in this place. Darriann gave Smitty a greeting and offered his hand across the desk.

"Name's Darriann Sollak. I'm told your the man to see about acquiring the items I need in this port. Looking at your office I must say you're either new to the business, or doing extremely well. I hope it's the latter."

[Smitty]

Smitty reached out and shook Darriann's hand in a warm friendly firm manner. "Glad to meetcha Darriann." He motioned for Darriann to take a seat and as he sat down glanced around his spartan office. "Oh..." with a hand he casually waved in the air as if shooing away a fly. "I have a wide variety of friends with diverse philosophical and political views."

Reaching down he opened his desk drawer and pulled out two drinking glasses. "I've found that it helps keep the peace if merchandise is out of sight." He then opened the bottle on his desk. "Makes it harder for anyone to covet thy neighbors bag of goodies," he poured Darriann and himself a drink.

"So tell me what you are in need of my friend."

[Darriann Sollak]

"I'm in need of some upgrades and replacement parts for my YT-2000." Darriann said leaning forward to grab the glass on the desk. "I'm also seeking a droid that can handle inventory and move cargo, preferably one with a personality."

Darriann took a sip of the greenish liquid while he listened to Smitty. The beverage was unfamiliar, but alright for taste. A good choice of drink to enjoy while talking business.

[Smitty]

Smitty's eyes lit up at the mention of the YT freighter. "God bless the engineers of the CEC. Without them where would men like us be? Penal colonies that's for sure. You know," Smitty leaned in a bit "my first ship was a little 450a. Thing was rusted beyond belief but man could she skip from system to system. Ol' Muddy the Mudskipper is what I called her." He took a drink and started tapping on his console bringing up his inventory charts and flicked his intercom on, "Hey rum dum."

A static charged disembodied voice answered, "What now?"

"Get our best tin men out of the closet and get 'em in a line up."

"Ok," the intercom clicked off.

"Now we just got through working on a 1930... so let's see what's in stock." he began humming to himself as he searched.

"Now does your baby have the standard config? or has she been tinkered with a bit already? The reason I ask is that if she's had some modification work done we'll need to be careful about part compatibility issues. The last thing you'll want is to have the hyperdrive go on the fritz when you really need it."

[Darriann Sollak]

"The Angel's still fairly standard CEC spec. I've got a few systems installed such as comlink activated hatches just to remove the hassle of hitting switches while I'm moving a load of cargo. Other than that, it's like she'd be right from the factory." Darriann said thinking about his ship back in pristine condition. "And then seen eight years of use running around the Galaxy."

After a short laugh he finished off the remainder of his drink and set the glass on the table. That ship had been through quite a lot and deserved a complete overhaul. Hopefully, if Smitty had the parts available, these repairs and upgrades would revitalize the Renegade Angel.

[Smitty]

"Ahh good. I've hear stories where the wrong component craps out on you at the wrong time and wham, hello jail cell." Smitty typed a few more commands, "It looks like we should have enough parts for you to ramp up the engines and armor," Smitty paused and looked at Darrian, "provided the back end is still there. However, any heavy weaponry will take a day or two to ship in."

[Darriann Sollak]

"Yeah, bulk of the ship is still intact, although from the outside that's hard to tell." Darriann said shaking his head, "Hull plating has been flying off. I lost a few sections on entry today."

The thought that a strong enough gust of wind would strip the Angel bare played in his head. He dismissed the image. No captain ever wanted to see their ship in ruin.

"Waiting for weaponry wont be a problem. I'll be holding up on Cloud City for a week or so. Gotta find a crewmate, have a few drinks, and catch a game of sabacc. You know, what any man of flight would do should he find himself in the Clouds."

[Smitty]

"Well, a pal of mine runs a little place called Cloud 9 down on level 122. Can always find something to entertaining there." Smitty wrapped up his data entries. "And the waitresses ain't too shabby." He winked.

"Now, let's go see this ship of yours and we'll start running a full set of diagnostics." Smitty stood up and passed a datapad to Derrian, "Just select the level of upgrades and options you want from the list. The prices of each are input there as well as a place for your contact information should we need to get a hold of you in a hurry."

He began walking Darrian to the door, "The droids should be all out and about by now as well."

Smitty and Darrian walked down towards the shop level and came upon a raggedly man covered in grease with several contraptions dangling off of him and some wild piece of equipment sitting on his head.

"All ready for yous guys," he slurred out. Just beyond him a line of about 20 droids stood ready for Darriann to select from. They varried in form and function, from new to old and covered every possible need a man could have.

[Darriann Sollak]

Darriann glanced at the datapad, the list provided everything he needed to fix up his ship and then some. The prices were affordable as well, however Darriann didn't want to spend more than he'd like to. He dropped the datapad into a cargo pocket on his belt when they reached the shop floor.

Darriann looked the worker up and down, and then to the droids. It was quite the array of able looking droids from around the galaxy although some were better looking then others, matching coloured parts did a lot for looks.

A certain crimson droid stood out. Sollak had seen, and had to evade a few of it's kind before. 501-Zs. Never good to run into one with a badge. The droid stood tall at just over six feet, covered in armour that would withstand punishemnt no human could, and boasted the strength of Gamorrean. The ideal cargo worker.

Darriann turned back to the labourer, "Impressive work. That's a Zed over there ain't it?"

[Smitty]

The labourer sighed heavily, "You don't wa..."

Smitty quickly stepped in front of the grease monkey and shoved him out of the way, "What my friend means to say is you've got an eye for quality." Smitty turned and stared down the gruffy man 'til he turned and went back to work on an old Spelunker.

"Now Zippy here is fine, fine merchandise. SoroSuub's top of the line, it's got durasteel outer covering, state of the art tactical programming capable of adapting on the fly and talk about an upbeat positive personality!" Smitty grinned from ear to ear while the droid mechanic groaned at his workbench.

[Darriann Sollak]

"Sounds like a deal to me. What's his story anyway?" Darriann asked eager to hear a bit of a tale.

He'd purchase the walking tank, even if it were gonna be a hassel. A machine like that could not be passed up. Although somewhere down the road he knew it would cause one incident to flare up. A smuggler with an ex policebot for a labourer.

[Smitty]

Seeing that Darriann was seriously interested in the machine Smitty felt he could open up a bit about Zippy's past. "Well," Smitty searched for the right words that would tell the truth without busting the deal. "He was originally bought to augment the security force for a mining operation on Corjain. Everything was fine until he discovered that the head constable was skimming profits." Smitty lit up a cigar. "After they cleaned up the mess the head of the mining guild there decided it would be better off to sell Zippy, as it wasn't only the constable who was in on the flow of profits." Smitty turned and whistled at the Zed, "Zip Man, front and center!"

The crimson unit walked forward "I am unit zed-ix-pax 479, programed to serve and protect."

"Yeah, yeah." Smitty walked around the unit. "He's had string of owners since then." Smitty peered at Darriann over the unit's shoulder. "Guys come in, get all excited over him and then bring him back when he starts causing problems for their business dealings."

Smitty came around to stand in front of the Zed unit and rocked back on his heals looking up at the droid. "We've tried reprogramming him a hundred times," Smitty took out his cigar and spit a bit of tobacco out of his mouth. "We just can't seem to override his built in law and order programming. Then again, software's not our specialty"

He turned to look at Darriann, "Any legit dealings you got going he's a dream. It's when things start skating on the line between legal and illegal things start getting a bit... interesting." Smitty chomped back down on his cigar and scratched his 3 day scruff. "I have been able to make some head way with him by pulling out some <i>it's for the greater good</i> logic. But..." he exhaled and smoke curled up around his hat.

The droid mechanic spoke up finally, "Look pal, if yous like most guys around this place," he waved a wrench around the docks, "yous need to seriously think about a different unit."

[Darriann Sollak]

Darriann shot a glance to the mechanic. No doubt his words were true about this droid, and so were Smitty's. However Sollak had a knack for getting through tough problems, even if they were law abiding droids. As far as Darriann knew anyway many of his jobs were legal, or could be made to sound legal.

"Doesn't matter to me. He's got the strength I need and I've seen these guys in firefights." Darriann said, "I'll take him, but I want a datapad with his history. Previous owners, upgrades. Anything you have on him."

[Smitty]

Smitty's eyes lit up with delight, then he shouted at the mechanic, "You heard the man, chop chop!" he snapped his fingers at the mechanic.

There was a clatter of metal and plastic as the man down loaded the data into a small pad. Smitty snatched the pad from the mechanic as soon as it was finished.

"Here you go my friend." He passed the pad to Darriann. "And just to sweeten the deal a bit, I'll nock off a little of the labor on your ship since you're taking a chance on the ol'boy."

[Darriann Sollak]

"Right on." Darriann said taking the datapad. "Lets get to fixin' my ship up. Think I'll head down to Cloud 9 and get a parts list done up."

Darriann pocketed the other pad for the droid. Seems he'd lucked out heading to Cloud City this trip. It was time to enjoy the the place.

"What's your preference concerning methods of payment and currency type? And the big one, when do you want complete payment?"

[Smitty]

"Mmm... cold hard cash baby." Smitty's eyes drifted to heaven. "Nothin like it." He put his arm around his new best friend.

"Standard Imperial Creds are good around here, but if you are sportin a different flavor, a variety of money changers can be found up on the shopping levels that will get you set up to transfer your funds to our account."

Smitty pulled his cigar out of his mouth and poked a bit at Darriann, "I'll send word on a head to my buddy that you're on your way to have some good eats and light entertainment. And once you finalize that list, send it on back with 50% upfront and we'll jump on the old gal right away. We'll notify you when the repairs are complete, you come inspect our work, you like what you see, pay the other half and bon voyage, as they say."

[Darriann Sollak]

"Sounds good." Darriann said, "I'll get this done and get your cash."

He turned and offered Smitty a firm hand shake before departing for Cloud Nine.