Drifting

[Aeridas Sia'ryd]

OOC: I’m using this thread/story to help flesh out my character’s background history a little more. So hopefully you read and enjoy. I’ll update as often as I can. Comments are appreciated if you find any mistakes, inconsistencies or just wish to leave a comment. :)

“Four hundred and thirty-one, four hundred and thirty-two, four hundred and thirty-three.” Aeridas finished counting and neatly placed the last chip atop one of the four stacks of credits on the table in front of her. She looked up at Falan, her buir, where he paced next to the table in what seemed like a futile attempt to wear a hole through the durasteel floor.

“Only four hundred and thirty-three?” He asked in his lilting voice and pausing in mid step. Aeridas nodded. “Count it again.” He said, more demanding than asking. She groaned.

“That’s the second time I’ve counted it.” She said as she pulled the pile of credits toward her with a sigh. Her buir resumed his pacing, muttering under his breath about needing to fix the hyperdrive. There never seemed to be enough credits to keep the ship in top condition and purchase supplies for its crew. The Republic was making it harder to eke out a profit these days and had begun clamping down hard on smuggling routes in the Outer Rim recently, making life on their small ship just that much more stressful.

Aeridas didn’t bother to stack the credits as she counted this time. Instead she just tossed them into a separate pile on the table, knowing that in the end she would reach the same number as she had the last two times she had counted. At that moment Tyro, the Taisgeal’s mechanic, entered the common area, looking as if he had just crawled out of the ship’s engine and reeking of machine oil.

“How much we make off ‘at last job, Boss?” He asked, wiping his greasy hands on his equally greasy work apron.

“Four hundred and thirty-three.” Aeridas said before her buir could respond. He shot her a look as Tyro whistled softly.

“It’s gonna take more ‘an ‘at to fix da hyper drive good, Boss.” Falan stopped pacing and shook his head morosely.

“I took an inventory of our supplies and there’s enough of everything to last us the rest of the standard month. If we forgo resupply until after the next job, we can use what we have for the hyper drive and refueling. We’ll be able to pay for the necessary repairs and simply wait until the next payout to finish the job.” Falan said. Tyro did not seem to be too fond of this idea.

“So what is da next job?” He asked uncertainly. A lot of their contacts had dried up recently due to Republic pressures. Aeridas could understand Tyro’s doubt that there was even going to be another job for them to run.

“That’s the problem.” Her buir said, not looking very happy. “The only leads that Kellis has been able to track down for us were put out by the Hutts. “

“Da Hutts? Dey ain’t good for business, Boss.” The mechanic responded.

“It’s either that, or we let the Taisgeal fall out of the sky.” Falan said, looking just as sour about working with the Hutts as Tyro did. The mechanic sighed and shrugged his shoulders before turning to leave and headed back to the engine room.

“Is that really all Kellis could find?” Aeridas asked her buir when they were alone again.

“Don’t worry.” He said. “I’ve worked with the Hutts before, it’ll be fine.” He clapped her on the shoulder as he left the room.

[Aeridas Sia'ryd]

Two days later…

Aeridas was sitting in the cockpit of the Taisgeal with their pilot, Luathais Merleck, playing a game of pazaak as a way to combat the sheer boredom of hyperspace travel. Outside the viewport stars shot by in long streaks of blue and white as the ship traveled through hyperspace.

“Dammit.” She said as her hand busted for the second time in a row. Lu chuckled and picked up a different stack of cards. These cards were not from the pazaak deck, but instead had chores written on them, ranging from cooking to running the trash compactor.

“Let’s see,” he said, half to himself as he shuffled through the cards. They didn’t play for credits on ship, instead they swapped chores. “What do I not want to do this week?” He took a moment to think. “Who’s playing at cook this week?” He asked. Aeridas groaned.

“Tyro’s cooking.” He handed her one of the chore cards as she replied. It said dishwashing. She shot Lu a withering stare as she added it to her own pile. Tyro had a horrible habit of using every possible dish on ship when he cooked a meal and Lu loved antagonizing her in an older brother kind of way. Sometimes she really resented it. He was only five years older than her as it was anyway.

“Sorry sweetheart,” he said as Aeridas reached for the canteen of water sitting by her elbow. “I don’t want my fingers getting pruney, you know what they say about a pilot’s hands.” He winked and wiggled his fingers. She choked on the water as she tried to laugh.

They were interrupted by a beeping from the control console. Lu turned the pilot’s chair around to face the controls and glanced at the offending sensor.

“We’ll be exiting hyperspace in a moment. Let the others know will ya?” He said. Aeridas nodded, getting up from her seat to grab the headset where Lu had placed it earlier before their pazaak game. The Taisgeal rocked slightly as it passed through some eddy and the hull groaned in a threatening protest.

“That didn’t sound good.” She said, trying not to let any of the panic into her voice. At that moment the ship dropped out of hyperspace with a jolt that sent Aeridas stumbling into the back of Lu’s chair. “Thanks for the warning,” she muttered. As she pulled herself to her feet. Nar Shadaa filled the viewport. It was very large. “Think you got close enough?” She said, leaning against the back of Lu’s chair.

“Hey, your Fa was the one who told me to get as close as possible.”

“Within reason, Lu.”

“This is reasonable.” He said with an all encompassing gesture. “C’mon, say it. I’m good.” He smirked at her. Aeridas rolled her eyes.

“Well, you’re not bad…”

“Close enough.”

Lu flashed a smile over his shoulder. Something clipped the exterior of the viewport.

“What was that?” Aeridas said, leaning over him to look out the viewport, but she couldn’t see anything. Ping-ping-smash echoed down the hallway behind them as something else hit the outer hull.

“Probably just some space junk.” He said, angling the ship for entry into the atmosphere. “Don’t worry; I’ll get us to a landing platform in one piece.” As he said it, flames licked the exterior viewports blocking their view, and the Taisgeal jerked and screamed as metal grated on metal.

“That sounded like a piece of the hull. Nothing to worry about eh?” Aeridas reached for the panic grip above her head, thanking whoever had installed it.

“It’s not a breach.” He tapped one of the screens on the console. It looked as if the planet was hurtling toward them, but Aeridas knew it to be the exact opposite.

“Lesson the angle, won’t you?” She said, tucking a strand of dark brown hair behind her ear.

“The ship’s not responding--”

“If you crash this ship, Luathais, you’re going to--”

Her aunt Kellis chose that moment to enter the cockpit, cutting Aeridas off with a grunt as she slid into the bulkhead. When Aeridas looked over at her, she was bracing herself against the wall as the Taisgeal dropped some fifty feet.

“Is he crashing again?” She asked with a gesture of her chin.

“No,” was Lu’s answer. “It’s windy.”

“It must be one hell of a headwind,” Kellis replied.

Aeridas looked at her aunt. “It happens when you’re falling out of the sky.”

“I’m not crashing,” Lu said; his knuckles were white from trying to stabilize the ship. “Though, I would advise you two to strap in. Someone might want to tell the rest of the crew, too.”

Before moving to take a seat, Kellis tapped the comm unit in her ear. “Hello everyone, Lu’s trying to kill us again so it might behoove you to start making peace with your gods. And…well, you should probably find some crash-webbing in case they decide to grant us a miracle.”

Lu glared at her over his shoulder.

“Thanks for that. Your confidence is overwhelming,” he said once the comm was silent. The Taisgeal leapt up twenty feet and then fell another thirty, which momentarily overrode the ship’s artificial gravity. When it caught back up, Aeridas’s shoulder slammed into the wall next to her seat. An alarm went off; the refueling spires and towers of Nar Shadaa came up to greet them.

“Altitude… Altitude… Altitude…”

“You do have something of a track record,” Kellis said with too much nonchalance as she reached for the co-pilot chair. Gripping the back, she sat with about as much grace as a bull rancor and pulled the crash-webbing over her head. “In case we die…”

“We’re not gonna die.”

“Well, in case we do…”

“We won’t.”

Aeridas could make out individuals walking on the nearest level as her aunt and the pilot argued.

[Tracyn]

[ooc: I really like where this is going, keep it up :D]

[Darim Valen]

[ooc: Indeed! Very nice so far! :D]

[Gilamar]

pretty good aerid, i haven't finished reading it all yet but i want to save it for when im bored.

[Aeridas Sia'ryd]

The landing platform looked as if it were rushing upwards, ready to smash their ship into a billion little pieces. Lu was wrestling with the controls trying to get the Taisgeal to level out, but everything was locked up and Aeridas couldn’t make herself close her eyes against the impact that she knew was coming. At that moment Tyro’s voice rang out over the comm system.

“Lu, try engaging the inertial stabilizers now, I think we got it fixed.” Lu reached over his head and pulled a lever down with more force than was necessary. The ship shuddered as the controls unlocked and Lu pulled the Taisgeal out of its dive right before it was about to destroy itself on the landing platform.

The high pitched screech of metal scraping along metal filled the cabin as the ship literally bounced across the surface of the landing platform like a rock skipping across water. After the third bounce the ship stayed in the air and Lu was able to navigate it to the next empty landing platform where the landing could have been described as anything but gentle.

“Wayii!” Kellis exclaimed as the ship powered down. “That was too close for my taste.” She shot Lu a despairing glance as she unbuckled herself from the co-pilot’s chair. “You’ll be lucky if Falan doesn’t murder you Lu.” She said as she left the cabin to check on the rest of the ship.

“I almost did the job for him.” Lu muttered under his breath as he fell back limply into his chair.

Aeridas released her white knuckled grip of her seat’s arm rests and unbuckled herself from the chair. As she stood up she stepped on several of the pazaak cards that were now scattered all around the cabin. She could hear her buir yelling angrily down the passageway leading to the common area. The curses echoed ominously in the cockpit.

“I don’t like the sound of that.” Lu said, sitting up from the pilot’s chair. “The capn’s never going to let me live this one down, if he lets me live at all.”

“I’d run.” Aeridas said, halfway serious. Lu made a face at her. “Suit yourself, better you than me.” She said, ducking out of the cabin. She had to plaster herself against the wall halfway down the corridor as her buir went storming past with Tyro in tow. Kellis was only a few steps behind.

“What do you reckon the odds of Lu surviving this one are eh?” Kellis asked. Aeridas only shrugged. Falan Sia’ryd at full temper certainly was a sight to behold, only if you weren’t the target of that temper.

“Let’s hope he does, we don’t have enough credits to hire another pilot.” Aeridas said. Her aunt laughed.

[Darim Valen]

Great update! Can't wait for more :D

[Aeridas Sia'ryd]

Aeridas fidgeted uncomfortably. The blaster vest her buir had given her was slightly too big and It didn’t make her look even remotely intimidating. It also smelled funny.

“I look like an or’dinii.” She said to her buir.

“Nah,” he said, looking her over. “You’re still young, you’ll grow into it. Just think of it as an investment in your future.” Falan said at her continued sour look. “Besides, the vest is big enough so you can conceal this and no one will be the wiser.” He handed her a small hold-out blaster.

“Are we looking for trouble?” She asked, taking the blaster pistol and tucking it away. He chuckled and clapped her on the shoulder.

“Aer’ika, you can never be too careful, and you should never walk into a Hutt’s palace unarmed and empty handed, that’s just plain ole common sense. C’mon,” He said. “Kellis is waiting.”

They headed out of the cargo bay and down Taisgeal’s loading ramp onto the busy platforms of Nar Shadaa, she in her blaster vest and her buir in a full kit of Republic make. Neither he nor his sister Kellis, wore their beskar’gam. They both lived as Mandalorians in every other way, but neither had the armor. Her buir had explained it to her once, and only once. He and Kellis had been declared dar’manda, no longer Mando’ade. They had never told her why and she knew not to ask; it was a sensitive subject. The loading ramp closed behind them with a mechanical hiss and the landing platform vibrated under her feet as the Taisgeal’s engine’s rumbled to life and the ship lifted off the platform. Tyro knew another mechanic that owed him a favor and he and Lu were paying the Sullistan a visit while the rest of them cut a deal with Bagrah the Hutt.

Kellis was waiting on the edge of the landing platform in a speeder she had “liberated” from some unfortunate individual, tapping her fingers impatiently on the controls. She wasn’t the most patient person. Aeridas slid into the back seat as her buir got into the front passenger.

“Let’s go pay this shabuir a visit.” Kellis said as she engaged the controls and the “liberated” speeder merged smoothly into a busy traffic lane.