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Nigel Brojack
Jun 10th, 2018, 04:29:20 PM
"Hey there Mama Luis, how you doing? Get any good shipments lately?" Nigel asked after sliding down from the cockpit. His boots landed softly in the ranch's soil, indication that they'd finally gotten the good rains that the locals had wanted for a while. Their latest winter drought had been a dozy and some feared it would run through the first summer.
 
"Come now Nigel, does it look like I've gotten anything good lately?" Luis replied as she gestured around with her hand. The local parking fields were empty and the cafe was desolate save for the few loyal patrons that come no matter what's on the menu.
 
"I suppose I'll have the usual then," he ordered with a sullen look on his face. She smiled glumly as she handed over the ration pack and padded him on the shoulder.
 
"You could at least try to show some appreciation you know, at least I have rations to dole out, even if they're bland as hell and I have five millennia worth of them stashed away," she admonished with a wink.
 
"Sorry Mama, see I'm smiling right now, these are so good, I so wouldn't want to starve instead of eating these every day," came the retort in a sarcastically playful tone. He added a fake smile in between bites and sips as he forced himself to consume the food as quickly as possible. No sense in prolonging the suffering of his poor taste buds.
 
"Oh you youngsters, you have it so good and fancy, being able to hyperspace everywhere and get what you want. I tell you what, back in my day...." started Luis off on one of her usual rants, which Nigel promptly toned out as he finished her meal. She was a good person but tended to rant too much, just a habit of hers that others tended to ignore. She knew they were ignoring her but her rants helped her to vent her frustrations, most of which actually stemmed from the lack of shipments and not from the playful disrespect of the young-ins.
 
Finished with his meal, Nigel activated the package's self-recycling device and watched as it heated and crumbled into bio-dissolvable pellet crumbs that could also be used as a fertilizer for most plants. He fished for his pouch as he glanced around one more time at the ranch.
 
"How much do I owe you this time Mama?"
 
"That'll be seven creds junior," she responded in a more serious tone of voice.
 
"Seven! My stars, no wonder you only have the diehards sitting in your lounge," he exclaimed as he pulled a ten chip from his money pouch and forked it over. He wouldn't be asking for change as he always left her a decent little tip. He was ever so slightly miffed that the rations that she had a billion of now cost seven credits instead of her usual price of five.
 
"Sorry hun, but my secret ration stash isn't getting any bigger. If all I have is demand and no supply, then what else am I going to do?" she gestured helplessly before embracing him goodbye.
 
"Take care Mama."
 
"You too, Junior."
 

Nigel Brojack
Jun 10th, 2018, 04:29:51 PM
The brown grass colored valley gave way to the sharp ridges of the Azzelback Mountains and the lush green plains of Loppo beyond as he piloted his cargo lifter higher into the verdant atmosphere of the planet. The growing sights in the distance of Verdun's skyline and the raised platforms of Pollack Spaceport gave way to the overall view of the planet as the darkness of space encompassed the Merrymover.
 
With the planet ever so slightly starting to shrink behind him he set his course for the nearby Corellian Corvette. Unlike the other three of the same ships currently orbiting around the planet, this one bore no markings of the planetary defense force but rather had a plain if not slightly rusty name etched into her side, that read in basic the Jaunt.
 
While it was fun getting onto the planet and breathing in some real air, it was time to get back to his crew and get on to the daily grinds of life.
 
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of rattling followed by a snap and screech of metal on metal. Glancing off to the side Nigel cursed softly as he saw that one of the support struts had broken in half. Leaving the cargo lifter in free control mode he grabbed some fixing tape from a side compartment and went about temporarily fixing the strut.
 
He had just finished repairing it when the engine on the 'mover coughed once, making him drop the tape. Checking on the engine he didn't see anything wrong and briefly considered going back for the tape but he could see it was already burning up in the reentry point to the planet close below. Seeing no more tape in the side compartment, he mentally added it to the list of things they needed on their trip, along with having the 'mover overhauled or replaced.

Nigel Brojack
Jun 10th, 2018, 04:31:12 PM
"Number eleven is acting up again Storn, see what you can do to keep her purring evenly."
 
Flicking off the intercom, Ruby glanced up at the view screen at the stars and planets beyond, her thoughts flickering between the status of the ship and their next destination. In the off-season they tended to make little hops here and there to tend to the needs and desires of some of the smaller companies.
 
In this case they had a load of Tiskerine original baklava wood sculptures that they would be delivering to a trader on Corellia, before they swung by CEC to get engine number eleven either replaced or heavily worked on. After that they would be heading to Tatooine of all places to pick up a shipment of Bantha dung that Plop-Tech wanted to experiment on to see if it could be used as a more efficient fertilizer for the Polly-Wom plants.
 
Then of course they had a load of Polly-Wom plants itself that they would be delivering into the Black Market itself. Although they would fetch a dastardly profit there the income they would be receiving in return will be illicit items, mostly likely warheads to replenish their stocks onboard the Jaunt.
 
"The Captain is inbound with our last crate," came the grating voice of Shri-Poe, their Wookie sensors officer.
 
"Good, its high bye time we get this show on the hyperlane," replied Ruby with a smile.