Continued from x
Sydney stared blankly at the stranger for the barest instant. Wait, was he talking to her? She recovered quickly. “Uh, yes.” She hopped off of the pallet hurriedly to stand in front of him. “Yeah, she’s mine,” she said, somewhere between defensive and resigned, glancing back at the ship. “Fare depends on where you’re goin’ and what’s comin’ on board with you. ‘Out of the system’ is a little vague, y’know?” Subtly, mostly with her peripheral vision so as to not take her eyes off of his face and make her purposes obvious, she sized him up. He was young, first off. Probably more than a few years younger than than she was. He was wearing clothes that were in good condition, clean and new, not like a typical refugee looking for passage. Mentally, she tacked half again as much to the number that initially popped into her head. And the kid (like it or not, since he was her junior, that was his new designation in her head) carried himself with a certain… air. Like all this was beneath him–the grubby little spaceport, her ship, her. She added a zero to his fare in her mind, a little gleefully.
“I won’t ask too many questions, mind you. But there are some specifics I need in order to give you a fair price, yeah? So where’re you headed? Or, you know, where’re you leavin’, if that’s more pertinent?”
How was he supposed to answer that?
”I need-” He cut himself off, before he could say anything incriminating. What had he planned to say, anyway? ‘I need to escape from the two most powerful factions in the galaxy’? No, that would only serve to lose him his ride. ‘I need to go somewhere the government won’t find me’? Yes, because that would absolutely help his situation. He wanted to get through this without raising any more suspicion than was absolutely necessary. He didn’t think that he was doing a great job of that, right now.
“I just need to get away from Coruscant.” He sighed, passing a hand over his hair. “Far away.” That would surely be sufficient explanation, wouldn’t it? …. Probably not, but, he knew how to sweeten the pot, as it were.
“Just name your price, I’ll give you whatever you want.” That would do the trick. It always did. Of course, he didn’t honestly plan on giving what he really considered to be valuable - his sabers, and the twin kyber crystals in the pouch around his neck. No, those, he would keep, those he would kill for. Safely tucked under his robes, away from prying eyes, they would be fine. After a moment, he spoke again, glancing over his shoulder as he did so.
“And the sooner we can get going, the better.”
Interesting. She shifted her weight to one leg, putting her hands on her hips. “What, did you knock up some senator’s daughter?” Sighing, she shook her head. “Look, I can’t exactly give you a price without knowing where we’re headed. I have to factor in fuel and rations. Plus, you haven’t told me if you’re bringing anything special on board, you know? Anything that might need hiding from customs and surprise inspections. That’s extra. And if you pissed off somebody important who’s gonna come after us with large guns--that’s extra too.” She waved a hand vaguely. “I guess we can hash this out once you’re on board and settled. You wanna get away? We can go three months at a stretch with the new fuel cycler. That’ll get you pretty far. Starting price is... is...” She was on tiptoe, looking over his shoulder with a mix of irritation, dismay, and amusement. “...Hold that thought.” She stepped around him, raising her voice.
“What is that. What is that.” Behind him, a ruddy-skinned Zabrak male was driving a cargo loader towards the ship with a large, toothy grin. There was a large, shaggy plant in the seat next to him. It was bright magenta. Sydney held her hands out, palms up, in a helpless gesture. “Lovac, what is thaaaat,” she whined.
“It’s a Kashyyykian parasitic dwarf palm!” The Zabrak offered, helpfully.
“That is not coming on board.”
“I already paid for it. I can’t bring it back.”
Sydney groaned loudly and put her face in her hands. “There is no more room for plants on the ship, Lovac.”
“Sure there is. Look at it. It’s fuzzy.”
“...Can we eat it?”
“I wouldn’t recommend it.”
“Great. Go load the cargo. Pain in my ass.” She muttered something under her breath.
Turning back to the Kid, she sighed and pointed over her shoulder at the loader with her thumb. “That would be my co-pilot, Lovac-Tun. Soon as he’s done, we’ll shove off.
Lovac waved jauntily from the loader, the huge grin still on his face.
