Trouble's Legacy: Troubled Florist!

[Diana]

:::Message Transmission Begin:::

This is Siann Acai, and I'm just a florist. A few days ago I bought a used ship, and much to my dismay it turns out the thing was stolen. I was picked up by government officials, who then proceeded to bully me in to some crazy undercover mission to find the previous owner of said used ship. Only, it was a trap, it backfired, and now I'm sitting in a prison cell.

Can someone please, please, please get me out of here before they decide to sell me off to gangsters or pull my legs off like they did to the Admiral? Please? Anybody?

:::Message Transmission End:::

That was it. But with her luck, there wasn't going to be a person in the galaxy that cared to rescue a florist from gangsters! Siann tried to get use to the idea of being sold to slavery or dieing a gruesome painful death.

 

[Zacky Thrall]

Lance Hawkins

Lance was just doing his usual routine in his repair shop. The 5'10 blond hair mechanic wore a dirty white tank top and a pair of greased covered cargo pants. He was in the middle of fixing a 'salvaged' short ranged scanner that he picked out of some speeder. He usually got away with picking expensive stuff off of rich and thugs alike, he was crafty like that. he was trying to tune the blasted thing when his mind started to wonder to the flower girl that owned a shop across from his. She had no idea that he existed, but he would admire her everyday as she tended to her flowers. It wasn't like he was obsessed or stalking her he just thought she was as lovely as the flowers she tended too. He started to wonder where she had gone because she usually never left her shop unattended for too long.

Just then the scanner he was working on picked up a weak transmission that was breaking up:
"......Siann Acai, and I'm.......florist. A few......I bought a used ship,......my dismay.......turns out.......stolen. I was.......by government officials, who.....bully me......to some crazy......cover mission to find.....previous owner.....ship. Only, .......trap, it backfired, and........sitting in a prison cell.

Can someone please, please, ......me out of here.........decide to sell me.......gangsters or pull my legs.....did to the Admiral? Please? Any?......."


Then static. At this point Lance was already on his feet at the first mention of her name.

"Siann what have you got yourself into." Lance said to himself as he tried to boost power to the device, but to no anvil the signal was gone. Lance knew that the signal was weak but she had to be close by. So without thinking anything through he grabbed his olive drab colored jacket and scanner and headed to the first placed that he could think of looking for help. The local cantina. He knew a guy with a decent ship that he worked on who was ex-smuggler and who just might be crazy enough to help, but he never stayed planet side for too long. Lance vowed to find someone to help even if it meant to give up the shop to save her he swore he would.

 

[Diana]

Meanwhile on a planet in that very same solar system...

Gorren Tohrek was sitting up in his high chair smoking an extra thick rolled death stick as he admired his latest acquired booty. The body of some fancy pants admiral made for a pretty good ransom, and now Gorren had quite a bit of money to fund his fleet of 'traders'. But now that he was on the radar of big bad important people, it was about time for Gorren to packup and move to another location.

Now all he had to deal with was that nice little civilian prisoner he had stashed down in one of those cells. Sell her off to the slavers? Ransom her to her family? Of course, having a nice girl around for a personal servant wasn't never a bad idea! Gorren Tohrek took some time to think about it, while he worked on his next plans.

 

[Ochalla]

Eva Starflare
Adam's broach looked very odd on her dark skin tight jump suit. Sure she had the half cloak attached to her belt, but the broach was very ornate and goddy. Everything else about the smoky eyed woman was neat and precise. The way Adam liked his booty. Now it was hers, and it let anyone that knew the former smuggler that if they were looking for him, she was now who they wished to speak.

The cantina was not the place that Eva would normally go, but there had been some business she needed to finish and the seedy dive had served her purpose. Now that was over and she was finishing her drink. No, if Eva had her way she wouldn't see the inside of another place like this for a long while.

 

[Zacky Thrall]

Lance walked through the cantina with the look of a mission on his face. He didn't really know what to look for but Adam was his first thought. First glance he didn't see any trace of him.

A little discourage Lance was just about to approach the bar counter when he noticed something of Adam's, a broach he was so proud of that he'd show off to anyone. When Lance noticed who it was attached to his first thought was, 'Aww crap!' Lance knew it was going to be hard to convince Adam to help for little to nothing, but someone that had bested him, and a woman no doubt, was going to be impossible.

Lance went to the bar and ordered a shot of a light alcoholic beverage and barely managed it down (He's a total feather weight). Lance recovered and took a deep breath and approached the intimidating smuggler with what confidence he could muster and worked his magic.

"Well you have the look of a season spacer, and you seem to have known Adam. How would you like in on a big job."

 

[Ochalla]

Eva Starflare

All but ready to leave now that her drink was finished, all that Eva could think about was to clean the smoke out of her hair and change cloths. Wasn't it ironic that now someone would eye her, or rather what she wore, and want her to take a job. Eva wore the broach on purpose though, and it would do her no good to roll her eyes or sigh about her fate. The force guide her!

"I guess it would depend on the job," Eva said in a soft spoken voice, though it was without much emotion. The smokey eyed woman looked in the man's eyes, her face was heart shape, and her dark hair, the color hard to discern in the filtered lighting of the cantina, was up in a tight bun. Her lips were puckered ever so slightly in a thoughtful manner.

In a fluid motion she then stood, the half cape wavering in the motion, though the lightsaber on her belt stayed in it's spot. "I do not think this is the type of place we want to discuss this. You don't belong here." Eva then started outside. If he followed he was serious in his need. If he tried to bluff or become defensive she knew he would take his job to anyone.

 

[Zacky Thrall]

The woman look lance right in the eyes with such a lack of emotion that it threw him off. She sure looked like a spacer, but lance dealt with plenty of smugglers in his day always with some kind of pride or serious about them. Her eyes however, Lance couldn't figure it out. Then his train of thought came to a crashing halt,

"I do not think this is the type of place we want to discuss this. You don't belong here."

Lance could feel his eye twitch. No one really took him seriously because of the way he looked and the fact that he was just a mechanic, but when this woman said that too him, 'You don't belong here', Lance couldn't help himself. He chased the woman outside and cut her off,

"Look! My belonging here has nothing to do with this. You must be friends with Adam to be wearing that pendant or bested him in some way. This isn't your average job. See.....there's this girl, that belongs to a very wealthy family, and I know that they will pay very well to see her home safe. So you want in or what?"

Lance couldn't offer anything concrete, so he did what he knew best and lied while appealing to ever spacers and smugglers weakness, greed.

 

[Ochalla]

Eva Starflare

Eva's eyebrow shot up. "And you are what, their representative?" Then a smirk touched her lips. "Tell you what. You come with me to the ship. You tell me the truth and we'll go from there. You tell me what you think I want to hear and you can talk to one of them."

Then she looked down at her arm, and picked off a long hair. "Damn Wookies. I swear he was trying to break my ribs," she muttered, then she gave him one more look before turning and walking in the direction of the space port.

Adam's ship, which was indeed what Eva was walking to, was a Naboo skimmer with several Corillian modifications. It was Adam's standard operation. He liked the elegance and style of the Naboo craft, but in the end he wanted the better made Corillian parts. In fact it could be said the ship was more Corillian than Naboo.

 

[Zacky Thrall]

Lance couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had let his anger get the best of him, but even though she knew that he was full of it she didn't blow him off or try to take advantage. Dumbfounded Lance stood there for a second as he watched the woman head towards the spaceport. Not knowing who or what this person was he found himself following her back to her ship.

As they entered the hanger that her ship was housed in Lance recognized it as Adam's ship. He knew it because the SOB stilled owed him for most of the mods and repairs.

"Ok, how 'bout I start over. My name's Lance Hawkins and I need a ship to find a....friend. I can't offer much, but I have a salvage shop and I can fix almost anything. I'm the best and cheapest damn mechanic in town and that's a fact, because I'm the only one around that knows what he's doing. So what do you do and how do you know Adam?"

Lance was going for broke and was hoping that some how his person would be different than most of the scum on this planet.

 

[Ochalla]

Eva Starflare

"Hawkins? Pleased to meet you." She then touched the keypad and the ramp onto the ship came down. Walking inside, the overly ornate protocol droid sang a greeting to them in some alien language. Eva ignored it, leading Lance further into the ship to a place to sit down.

"Adam, I saved his life," Eva explained simply. "In return, he retired." She then sat back into her seat. "But don't think I go looking for people to rescue all the time. That is not only unprofitable, but in the end more dangerous then smuggling."

Reaching over she held out her hand. "Eva Starflare. Tell me everything that happened."

 

[Zacky Thrall]

Lance held out his hand in return and said,

"Hey don't get me wrong I will find a way to pay you I always make good on my dues. But to be honest this job is probably going to get a little life threatening."

Lance took a step and leaned against the hull. He couldn't think of anyway to sugar coat the truth, so he just told it like it was,

"Well you see, I think my friend might have been captured my slavers."

At that point Lance half expected Eva to laugh out loud and throw him off the ship. Lance couldn't put his finger on it but he knew something was different about this person. So maybe by some miracle she would help save the Troubled Florist.

 

[Ochalla]

Eva Starflare

"Might have been? That doesn't sound promising." She crossed her arms. "If that's all you know, then it will be next to impossible to find her. I don't think you're that naive. You have a sector to start off with I hope."

Eva stood up. "This is a life debt you'll owe me though. Think long and hard if this is something you want to have hanging over you before you give me your answer." She looked at him like she was looking at his soul.

In the back ground near the now closed entrance ramp of the ship, the protocol droid was still singing. It was a haunting tune, but lined with hope. Electronic irony to be sure.

 

[Zacky Thrall]

'A life debt?' Lance thought to himself. What did he look like a wookie in distress? Lance thought about it long and hard of the price he would have to pay. He thought she would make him do repairs on her ship for life or make him sell his shop. Lance uncrossed him arms and made his decision,

"Alright I'll do it. I'm willing to pay any price to save her. As for destination I did receive a weak transmission in my shop a few hours ago. Adam used to tell me stories about smugglers and other sorts of thugs and scum, no offense, that do their business around the local moon. I thought we could stop there and check it out, after I get us some fire power first, if that's alright. I used to hide some of his shipments when he was planet side sometimes and he would forget so I would sell them on the black market."

 

[Ochalla]

Eva Starflare

Eva stood and nodded. "That's fine, you have two hours to gather up what you need." The dark hair woman then escorted him down to the ships ramp, giving an annoyed look to the droid who was still singing. "I will leave in two hours one way or another. And only a suggestion, but don't tell anyone what you're up to. Don't lie, just let people make their own conclusions."

Waving him gone, Eva brought the ramp back up once Lance was off ship. "Do anything? He really didn't belong in the cantina." With a bit of a sigh, Eva walked up to the cockpit to start on her pre-flight checks. She wasn't interested in staying planet side a moment long then she had to once Lance was aboard.

Sitting in the flight seat she looked down at the broach. "You old space dog did not ever once forget your cargo. So why were you helping him?" Eva thought about that as she did her checks.

 

[Diana]

'Local System News Update; Two Days ago the body of Admiral Had was found in a cargo container en route shipment to the government military fleet. It's rumored the Admiral was on a covert undercover mission with the aid of a civilian and was captured. There has been no evidence found of a civilian body, but the Fleet refuses to comment. Sources say slave-trader and smuggler Gorren Tohrek sent the body as a warning for the Fleet. Admiral Had was a-'

Siann accidentally groaned out loud as she leaned over a desk pouring some wretched looking hot liquid in to a mug and slid it over to the man she was now calling 'Master Tohrek Sir'. That blasted Fleet! She wouldn't have been in this mess if that Admiral weren't completely insane and forced her in to it! Now he was deader than dead and she was serving meals and playing house with a real villain. Siann had tried to escape when they explained the whole deal to her, but that ended quickly with the little collar latched and locked neatly around her neck. One wrong move and ZAP! Instant pain!

Master Tohrek Sir seemed to have heard her groan at the little news blurb and cast her a dreadfully snarky grin. Could she get away with it, Siann would have splashed hot goop in his face! Luckily he was too busy chatting with someone through a com-link to throw his normal bragging at her. Fussing with the items on the table, she couldn't help but peek at his map screen. They were headed for some moon out of her home system. Sigh... there went any hope of finding a way out and going home. Looks like the moon Hrel is going to be her home from now on!

 

[Zacky Thrall]

Lance was hurrying back to his shop when he happened to over hear a news break.

'-Civilian and was captured. There has been no evidence found of a civilian body, but the Fleet refuses to comment. Sources say slave-trader and smuggler Gorren Tohrek...'

'Gorren Tohrek!' Lance felt a very cold chill run up and down his spine at the mention of the name. He remembered Adam telling his story of that monster. Lance had a very good feeling that he was the one that capture the flower girl and if he was holding her it was going to be one hell of a rescue. Lance quickened his pace to his shop.

As Lance arrived at his shop he opened a secret hatch the lead to a safe under his shop, it took a whole year for him to install it, and opened the walk-in size safe. There was a rack of high end blaster pistols and a light repeater rifle on one end and the other a shelf of grenades and combat vest all to military specifications. He grabbed a vest and filled four holsters with pistols and concealed them with his jacket. He stuffed a few grenades in his pockets and stared and thought about taking the Repeater, but after a few minutes he decided otherwise and closed the safe and hatch and hurried back to Eva's hangar.

 

[Drew]

Elsa Moon

It was all over with a single hand shake before Elsa Moon knew what exactly had happened. One of the men stood laughing as another tossed her the keys to the colar she wore around her neck. It was all over. At least thats the way they wanted it to look.

Slowly the man paid his tab and left leaving a very confused and her pasted out owner crumbled on the table. Lance had just left the place about an hour before. Tired and out of sorts Elsa could only watch the exchange between the two strangers. Some handsome man and a woman with dark eyes. So many odd people in this world she took notice of the only two that looked somewhat normal right away. She had seen him leave, going after the woman with dark eyes after a quick exchange. Her heart longed to follow him. It mattered not where he was going or where that woman might have lead him. It only mattered that she distance herself from the sick bastard before he knew what he had just done.

The deal was sealed and her freedom was a complete fluke. This was her one and only chance to escape. She had no money, no family or friends to speak of. Her hands worked on the colar and chains and before they had completely fell to the floor she was out the door and into the crowd. Dodging back and forth she ran blind into the street. Her heart thundering in her ears as she tried to think of her next move. *Dont get caught... dont get caught* was all she kept telling herself as she moved.

Images of Tohrek kept popping up on the faces of people she past by. Some of them shouted at her, only adding to her panic as she ran. Her once neat and clean jump suite was stained with blood. Torn and ripped in places. She looked nothing like she did months before. Before life changed and before the man she thought would never leave her was killed. She thought she could save him and rescue him, but had been tricked and for that she paid a heavy price. Getting back at Tohrek would be her only goal.. that and staying alive. As Elsa rounded the corner she her mind was flashing to the violent nights with the slavers.. She had not seen Lance and before she knew it.. She crashed right into him. Knocking him down and sending herself falling hard to the patched earth.

 

[Zacky Thrall]

Lance Hawkins

As Lance was rushing back to Eva for fear that he had taken too long he wasn't really paying attention to where he was going and before he knew it he slammed right in to someone. Living around here a accident like bumping into someone can be dangerous, so expecting a fight Lance jumped to his feet with the best of his ability after recovering form the crashed and started to reach for one of his pistols,

"You don't want any of this tough guy....."

But to much of Lance's surprise it was a girl he ran into an injured girl at that. Shocked and worried at the same time Lance took his hand off his pistol and knelt down beside her to make sure she wasn't dying.

"Hey are you ok? Your not dying are you? Come on you can't die here!"

 

[Drew]

Elsa Moon

Coughing a little from the dust and the wind being knocked out of her Elsa blinked and looked up at the man. He was talking to her and it took her a moment to get her barrings. It wouldnt be long before her drunk bastard owner would be looking for her she had to act fast.. She quickly got to her feet and looked around.

With his words still hanging in the air between them she tried to look composed and steady. "Im okay.. Im fine.." her eyes dodged back and forth. She had to think quickly before anyone knew she was missing.. Taking a huge risk she just came right out with it..

"Look I have to hide, they cant find me, do you want a slave? I will do whatever you want, I can work, I can clean.. I'll do anything I even have some information on slavers..I can tell you anything, just please.. if anyone asks say you own me okay"

Hoping and praying that her sudden confession of being a slave and then begging to be in his possesion wouldnt get her shot right her on the spot. He might even report her or turn her in for some money. Why did she say so much.. She felt so naked and stupid standing there as others walked by them muttering. In the distance some men came out of the cantina and pointed toward her general direction. Shaking Elsa stood there waiting...

 

[Zacky Thrall]

The poor girl took a pretty hard fall and tried to convince Lance that she was alright, but the blood on her jump suit didn't get there by itself. She seemed really scared and like she was run form something then she dropped the whole story on him,

"Look I have to hide, they cant find me, do you want a slave? I will do whatever you want, I can work, I can clean.. I'll do anything I even have some information on slavers..I can tell you anything, just please.. if anyone asks say you own me okay"

Lance didn't detect any dishonesty in her voice just fear. She was a runaway...great. If Lance decided to help her out there was going to be a whole mess of trouble. He was already going to start a small war with one of the biggest baddest criminals in the system and now was to risk his life for a slave he hardly knew...then again that's what he was doing in the first place so....

As Lance was just about to offer her help he noticed that she reminded Lance of himself when Adam discovered him on his ship, Adam helped him then and now he was going to help this girl. Lance reached out his hand,

"Come on lets go back to my shop and get you out of those clothes...Wait! I didn't mean it like that! Aw, lets just get you safe for now."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
As they arrived at his shop he handed her a clean jumpsuit unfortunately it was the only thing clean that he had lying around, he directed her to the back room to change which just happened to be his bedroom as well. As she was changing he thought it might be a good idea to call Eva. Lance pulled out the transmitter and dialed into Adam's old ship frequency with any luck Eva had the same frequency,

"Eva can you read this? It's Lance, I'm using Adam's old frequency pick up if you can hear this."