Head in the Clouds

[Sirus Blackjack]

It was a fresh morning in Cloud City. Sirus, dressed as sharply as ever, was leant up against the barrier of one of the walkways, his gaze cast out of the fluffy, white landscape before him. The ride in had been easy, and it was always a joy to pilot his Punworcca 116 into the city.

He was here upon Kasajian's request. There was a job. Quite what, he wasn't sure yet. Only time would tell.

[Garrik]

"Son of an un-named gun! You made it!!!"

:: Garrik walked up and gave Sirus a firm handshake and a pat on the back. He was pleased that things had gone well for his old friend ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

A grin spead across Sirus' face.

"It's been too long. Far too long" he remarked. "You were right. Working here beats going it solo."

[Garrik]

"Welcome back to the fastlane."

:: Garrik led him to a turbolift, and waited for him to enter first ::

"Dren before Shovel." he laughed, giving Sirus a friendly jab in the ribs.

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus swatted Garrik away, hopping into the lift and pressing the close button, chuckling as his friend dashed in, just fitting between the sliding doors as they shut.

"So what's the deal today?" he asked.

[Garrik]

"Gonna show you around the territory, and see about getting you a decent ship."

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus stared at him, dumbfounded.

"A dec...? A decent ship!?"

He jabbed Garrik in stomach with the tips of his fingers.

"I'll have you know the old 116 is a fine vessel!" he cried, wagging his finger in Garrik's face.

[Garrik]

"That old kite of yours isn't gonna cut it against a Corellian ship."

:: They reached the Port town district and Garrik swaggered off the turbolift ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus grumbled, following Garrik out into the crowds.

"And just what would you suggest?"

[Garrik]

"I've always preferred the YV line. Having access to the Merchant's Guild is also a plus."

[Sirus Blackjack]

"Yeah well we can't all be Correlian" Sirus rolled his eyes. "So what, we goin' shopping, my man?"

[Garrik]

"Not quite."

:: He flashed an evil grin ::

"Collecting."

:: Garrik made his way past many rough looking characters. Others ducked out of sight to avoid contact with the two men ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus chuckled softly, following Garrik through the crowds. He had very rough knowledge of Port Town, but hadn't a clue where to find anything.

"Who's the lucky soul we're visiting?"

[Garrik]

:: An infamous grin lit up Garrik's face. A grin Sirus knew well from the past ::

"A business partner of mine, late with the credits again."

:: He stopped in front of a door guarded by two Aqualish. They stopped him from entering the room ::

"Don't make it difficult, guys. You know why I'm here."

:: He tried to enter again, and they didn't budge ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus gave Garrik a wink, and without hestation, sharply grasped hold of the left creature by the collar, roughly shoving him against the doorframe. Garrik had done likewise with the other, and the Black Sun employees stared hard into the eyes of the Aqualish.

"This could go badly for you, or very badly for you" Sirus grunted at the creature in his grasp, his fingers under the being's tusks as wrapping them around it's throat.

[Garrik]

:: The Aqualish reacted angrily, throwing both humans against the wall ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus let out a gruff cry, his back cracking against the wall. He pulled his blaster from its underarm holster, but it was knocked away instantly, followed by a stiff punch to Blackjack's jaw.

He stumbled off sideways, but turned quickly to parry a few blows from the Aqualish that was assaulting him, before returning with a stiff left hook of his own and advancing on he creature.

[Garrik]

:: Garrik went straight for a groin shot, and the Aqualish let out a guttural howl as pain shot through it's mivonks. Then he drew the alien's pistol from it's belt and pistol whipped it in the head until it dropped ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus piled heavily into the Aqualish with a series of thudding jabs, before throwing a right hook that rendered the creature's thought processes all bu useless.

His chest heaved up ad down heavily, and Blackjack stared at Garrik.

"Why did you have to get the soft one?" he groaned, collecting his blaster before returning to the door and pushing inside.

[Garrik]

:: Garrik smirked, slicking his hair back and straightening his jacket before entering the room. It was garishly lit, and a slender blonde danced on a table top as a sleazy looking man smoked a cigar ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

The pair paced across the room.

"Kasajian sent us."

Brash as ever, Sirus marched across to the man, who was looking a lot less uncomfortable now. He tried to stand, but Sirus pushed him back on his seat instantly. He hadn't done this in such a long time, and waited for Garrik to make the demands.

[Salas]

"What the hell is ... who the hell are you???!!!"

:: Salas tried to stand again and Sirus shoved him down ::

"What the gorram hell is this, Garrik??? You're not supposed to be here till next week!!!"

[Garrik]

:: Garrik made a tsk tsk noise with his mouth ::

"The lady changed her mind. Break out the books."

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus pulled out a chair, taking a seat and making himself comfortable. He glanced up at the dancer, who looked like she wasn't sure what to do. Sirus waved her away, and girl made a move to leave.

"And be sharp about it" Sirus latched on after Garrick had spoken. "We ain't got all day, pal."

[Garrik]

:: Garrik caught the girl's hand before she could leave ::

"Don't rush off, Darlin'." he grinned widely. "Stick around awhile."

[Lenina]

:: Lenina smiled back nervously and did as she was told ::

[Salas]

:: Salas stomped behind the bar and slapped a datapad on the bar top ::

"There, ya lousy bastards."

:: He puffed on his cigar in annoyance ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus made his way over, collecting the datapad and giving it a quick glance.

"Ugh...math was never a strong point of mine..." he sighed, tossing it to Garrik.

[Garrik]

:: Garrik caught it, looking it over carefully as Salas fumed ::

"You know, a 30% drop is embarrassing, Sal. You ought to be up 30%. What seems to be the trouble?"

[Salas]

"I told you, the gorram Twi'lekies backed out of the deal! Something about pirates, now buzz off. I'll have the difference next week."

[Garrik]

"That's not good enough. I'm gonna have to take some collateral."

:: Garrik's grin widened as he glanced at Lenina ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

"What's your name, sweet'art?" Sirus asked the girl, maoving back across the room away from Salas.

[Salas]

:: Salas' face turned crimson as he slammed his fists on the countertop ::

"BACK OFF!!! SHE'S BOUGHT AND PAID FOR!!!"

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus stopped dead, raising an eyebrow and turned back to face Salas.

"Then she's property, right pal?"

He paced back towards the bar.

"Property that'll be reposessed, unless you have the money?" he grunted, leaning over the bar.

[Garrik]

"I"m giving you til the end of the week, Sal. Then we'll be back at noon, Imperial standard time. I don't care where you get it, but you'd better have it, or I'm selling the pretty lady to the Hutts."

[Lenina]

:: Lenina's face contorted in abject terror, and she squirmed as Garrik caught her by the arms, and pinned them behind her back ::

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!" she screamed hysterically. "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!
"Nooooooooo!!! Noooooooooo!!! Noooooooooo!!! Noooooooooo!!! Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!"

[Salas]

"No!!! Don't do this!!!"

:: Salas moved out from the bar to stop him ::

"Dammit Garrik, give me back my Droid!!!" :verymad

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus froze in place for a moment.

"D...droid!?" he spluttered.

He shook his head, clearing his mind. No time for pratting about.

"Hey! Not so fast pal!"

Salas had moved past Blackjack, but Sirus was hot on his tail, clawing at Salas' clothing to try and restrain him.

[Garrik]

:: Garrik let go of Lenina as Salas came shuffling towards him, and unloaded with a haymaker to the jaw that knocked him out cold ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus gazed down at the unconscious man, before looking up at Garrik wth a raised brow.

"I see you've not lost your touch."

He glanced at Lenina.

"She's a droid then, huh?"

[Garrik]

"Yep. She's an HRD."

:: Garrik straightened his jacket again ::

"You can have one of these pretties custom made for about nine million. I may have to give her a test drive before the week is up." ;)

[Lenina]

:: Lenina whimpered as Garrik took her by the wrist, leading her out of the bar ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

"Why doesn't that suprise me?" Sirus teased as he followed them out. "9 million's worth of robotics ain't gonna be a real woman though, whatever way you look at it"

The three emerged in the street of Port Town.

"You really intent to sell her?"

[Garrik]

:: Garrik smiled at his friend's cynicism as he wiped a tear from Lenina's cheek. He tasted it and smiled ::

"Wanna bet?"

:: He ignored the second question, handing her over to Sirus as he stepped away to have a word with a Vratix ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus frowned, looking down at the droid. He'd heard about HRDs before, but never had he seen one. It was certainly nigh on impossible to tell her apart from a human. She looked lost, frightened almost. It was a sad thing to behold.

"You alright?" he asked her, lost in his own thoughts before realising what he was saying. "Uh...I'm sorry darl', it's just..."

He trailed off, giving a helpless shrug and looking back over towards Garrik.

[Lenina]

"Please don't hurt me." she sniffled. "I'll do anything you say." :(

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus' attention remained on Garrik, trying to avoid eye contact with Lenina.

"I'm not gonna hurt ya, sweetie. Just, behave. We don't want no more trouble."

[Garrik]

:: Garrik finished talking to the alien, then motioned Sirus to come over ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

"Come on" Sirus said, beckoning Lenina to follow, but not cheking to see if she was as he paced over to Garrik and the Vratix.

"What is it?"

[Garrik]

"We're gonna go see about your ship now."

:: Garrik walked off, whistling as the Vratix took custody of the HRD and led her away ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

"My ship?" Sirus asked, his voice hesitant. "You haven't picked one out for me, I hope."

[Garrik]

:: Garrik raised a brow ::

"You're gonna fly a company ship and you're gonna be picky about it? What kind of operation do you think this is?"

[Sirus Blackjack]

"Well, ya know, it's..."

Sirus skipped ahead, moving in front of Garrik and stopping him. With his back turned to Garrik, he wrapped his arms around himself, rubbing his sides and swaying his hips.

"There's gotta be love, baby!"

He ignored the querying stares of people passing by, determined to get his point across.

[Garrik]

:: Garrik laughed, slapping Sirus on the back. After all these years, the guy was still crazy.

A short time later, they were standing in front of a TransGalMeg "Kihraxz" Assault Fighter ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus was grinning like a kid, his eyes wandering over the body like it were that of a woman. He still got a kick out of things like this.

"Oh yes, oh yes."

Suddenly, he wrapped Garrik up in a bear hug.

"There's the love! You feel it, right?"

Luckily for Garrik, it was only the datapad in Sirus' pocket that was digging into him.

Dropping his old friend, Blackjack moved towards the fighter, running his fingers along the underside of the ship.

"How much is she?"

[Garrik]

"It's a gift from the boss." he winked.

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus could barely contain himself. He hopped up and down, running around to the ladder and clambering up into the cockpit. He marvelled at the controls, flicking a few switches and pulling on the throttle. The engines roared to life, and Sirus hollered above the noise.

"Beee-yoouuu-teee-full!!!"