[Rainbowfox Ari]

Omega shrugged a bit, and gave his Captain a bit of a grin. "Just making sure you don't get cheated by this fellow." he murmured back into his ear. "Don't make such a big deal out of it, and you might even get a fair price. Remember I have meds to buy yet, and new supplies for the infirmary. Unless, that is, you want me treating your pain with under-the-table painkillers. As I recall, last time that didn't go so well for you."

He respectfully drew back to let Jack talk business, but found himself interested in the commotion from earlier. Truthfully, he was bored out of his mind these last couple weeks, and the lure of a mystery of any kind - be it benign or not - was just too powerful to resist.

Breaking away from the two, he headed, discreetly, toward the hangar where all the commotion had been. Something was up. That 'crash' had been a bit suspect. After all - isn't a worker like Orel there supposed to know his stuff well enough to avoid dropping things and the like? Or at least well-versed enough in the handling of his wares to make sure OTHER people didn't cause clattering and banging about....

[CupcakeDolly]

Frowning with concentration, Orel took down a list of the requested items (drawing several question marks next to the "long grabbing thing" item on the list) and nodded to Jack. He handed over a slip of paper with an estimated total circled at the bottom. "You look over that, and uh..." He glanced behind him and saw that Julius was still otherwise occupied, "I'll start gathering your things."

The lanky worker jogged off and began gathering items onto a pallet for delivery, very nearly dropping - for the second time - the box marked "STRUTS, 03-K" as he misjudged its weight while moving it. Meanwhile, still crouched behind several crates, Julius spoke in a hushed voice to Beetle in a foreign tongue as he wrapped the injured man's wounds in preparation for moving him. Julius' voice had to started to raise in volume when Beetle stopped talking and stared at the approaching doctor.

Julius looked up at the man, his expression carefully blank and indiscernible. "I'll take your creds over here, son," he called out and began helping Beetle toward a small office set to the side of the warehouse.

[Salone]

Jack followed Julius towards the office, fumbling through his pocket for something. As they entered, he produced a credit chit. He ran his fingers over it, keeping it pressed close in to his palm. In his other he looked at the list of parts and the total credit sum. He winced a bit, thinking about how much his bottom line was about to be dwindled. Fiddling with the credit chit, he struck up small talk with Julius.

"Alright Jules, let's crunch some numbers. Talk turkey, if you will. I need a ship airborne and you need money. Now this number here is a bit high. Number like that might lead a captain to have doubts. That leaves me with a ship on the ground and no credits to your credit. Now I was thinkin'. If this number were to be shaved by about fifteen percent. Then...then I think we'd have a deal. What do you say to that?"

He put on a grin, betting that they'd argue for a bit before haggling and eventually agreeing on a ten percent or even five percent discount, and Jack would be separated from the credits loaded to the chit that he held.

[CupcakeDolly]

While Jack spoke, Julius was busy helping Beetle into a slumped position against the wall of his office. The man's gaze lifted instantly when he stood straight again, and though there was a slight smile on his lips his eyes were hardened and cold.

"No."

Julius sat at a desk and flipped through holographic screens on its surface, his eyes scanning charts, orders, and various other documents. After a moment he chuckled softly, as though Jack's offer were a mildly amusing joke. "You see, the figure we've drawn up for you is already a discount. Our trading methods ensure that inventory stays high while cost stays low. You're welcome to shop around and try to find a better price - or even someone who happens to have everything that you need in stock - but I assure you, we are the best." He lifted his eyes to meet Jack's again, and he hid a message within them, a sense of dangerous knowledge and leverage that swam in their depths. "But since I'm not an entirely unreasonable man, what I can offer you is free labor for repairs to your vessel. Now... If that suits you, I can go ahead and tell Orel to take your order to your ship and start work on it. It's up to you, Mister Axton."

[Salone]

"Well then. You twisted my arm. I'll take that help."

He grinned, throwing a small bag of silver credits across Julius' desk. With a quick turn he made towards the door. Outside he walked briskly towards Omega, grabbing his arm and spinning him around as he continued.

"Well Sunshine, it appears we'll be leaving our good friends here. We're squared away and soon enough will be in ship shape!"

He whispered to Omega, keeping his voice low enough just for him as they walked.

"You'll have to get your supplies next time, we're jumping off world as soon as possible."

[Rainbowfox Ari]

Omega sighed and did a mental calculation about how many of each type of medication he had left. He had enough to get them through another month, but if he didn't get more bandages soon, he was going to have to start making his own out of the clothes of the dead mechanics. He gave Jack a sideways glance.

"You realize this is going to mean I'm going to have to cobble things together again? I had hoped to get a new set of scalpels here. Maybe some of that new fancy self-cleaning stuff. I have creds myself, Jack. but not enough to restock the entire ship's infirmary. We have, at best, a month's worth of painkiller left, and that's ONLY with no flare-ups."

He walked a little faster to keep up with Jack. "You alienated someone again, didn't you? See, this is why you need me around." he chuckled, joking with him to try and lighten the mood. "I know... Why don't I use my last few creds to get us a drink, and you some entertainment. You know I don't go for women, but how long has it been for you?"

[Salone]

"Oh, it's been long enough. Too long. I'd be liable to jump the gun a bit too quickly, if you know what I mean."

He chuckled to himself, weaving through the traffic outside as he directed Omega and himself back towards their ship.

"Going to have to pass on that though. I think that Jules character might have been tipped off to something. We got to talking numbers and things got cold. He knows something that I don't. That's not saying much, but this was different. Besides, while we're off having fun with girls and boys I'm sure he'd be chopping our ship apart, so 'our inventory stays high and our costs stay low'."

He wiggled his head back and forth, mocking Julius' manner of speech with the last part. Internally, he was a bit worried. He had next to nothing left, and jobs had been few and far between. He knew Omega's concerns were genuine. Jack himself had spent enough time bandaged up to become acquainted with the quickly diminishing supplies. If he didn't find a break soon, things were going to definitely turn sour for the both of them.

[CupcakeDolly]

After watching to make sure both men had left the premises, Julius stashed the payment and hit the intercom to call for his workers. While he waited, he brought up a bulletin on the holographic desk interface, and the picture of the man who had just left stared back at him. "Wanted," it said, listing a slew of debt-related crimes and advertising a reasonable bounty. It was just as Beetle had suspected.

Julius had his hands clasped in front of his face in a contemplative pose when two repairmen and one engineer entered his office awaiting his instructions. "Meet the cargo at dock 42D and start work on the repairs... but make sure they don't leave too easily." He would have to settle for a more indirect approach. Having a bounty walk straight onto his property was too convenient to pass up, but as far as he still knew, Julius had a bigger score in his possession whose security took precedence over everything else.

[Rainbowfox Ari]

Omega blanched a bit when he heard that, and sighed, walking even faster to keep up with his captain's frantic pace.

"Look... We have enough fuel to maybe get to the next town, but if we keep hopping, we're not going to have enough to get us out of here, and we'll be dead-ducks out there in the big black and empty."

He motioned widely to the sky. "We need to get an upgraded fuel tank, and there are three ways I know to do that. One, we buy one. Legit, with the creds I have in reserve. Two, we steal one. Three... you let me do the talking, and we might be able to run away with enough creds to get ourselves a new hull, let alone replacement parts."

He stopped Jack for a moment, and turned him around. "There are a lot of rich, sick, people - not on this world, but on one of the worlds closer to where I grew up. I interned there as a student, and I know several faces. Many of which might be willing to overlook... I dunno...." He dropped his voice several decibels. "A few smuggling and gambling charges, as well as massive debt. The faces I'm talking about might even be able to CANCEL those debts. Before we landed, I intercepted an urgent message from one of those planets. I was about to ask you about it before we landed here, and I figure now's a good time as any to bring it up. But we'd need two things before we zip offworld to answer these summons. YOU would need a medical corps uniform... and I would need a not-expired licence. And some other things besides. If we can't find them on this world, we should find them on the next. Also..."

He looked behind him quickly to make sure no one was following or listening to them. "We might be able to get that parts dealer in a great heap of trouble - enough for us to skip planet, and leave the cops something other to worry about than a debt-laden outlaw. You know I was walking around in the back to find some hull pieces... I saw part of his warehouse. I'm ninety-percent sure that a good deal of that warehouse is stolen goods. And there's one package in-particular I'd be interested to get my hands on. I THOUGHT I saw a human-shaped box. Or a coffin-shaped box. If they're trafficking dead bodies, I'm pretty sure that's against the law... But I'd need to get into the warehouse again to check."

[Salone]

"Squealing is a good way to wind up in that box. But I like the way you think. We definitely need something, and soon."

He stopped as he saw Julius' people had already beat him to his own ship, working quick to facilitate the repairs to his ship. The new gears looked rather slapped on, but they seemed amazingly almost done. A host of things that could go wrong ran through his mind, and were immediately forgotten about as he spied several other crates that had been brought on the repair run.. Grinning, he waved as he strolled past the repair crew. Amongst the chaos of crates containing parts, one or two boxes could easily go amiss, and not be missed too quickly.

Jack waited until the group had started to make a weld. Motioning to Omega, he mouthed to keep an eye on Julius' men. Under the cover of the light and noise, he quickly shoved the box amongst the various crates of trash in his own hold. Whistling to himself (Although there was no point as the sound of metal and sparks overpowered all), he mixed in his own random boxes to add to their own.

------------------------------

"Well gents, it's been shiny."

Jack waved the crew off of his ship, hurrying to get off planet. He had started the engine sequence before they were finished with welding the gear covers back on, earning a few swears and nasty looks. Locking the cargo bay door shut, he quickly spun to flash a devilish grin to Omega.

"Let's get off planet and in to trouble, shall we?"

[CupcakeDolly]

Aria woke with a start.

For however long she had been put into artificial sleep, she had experienced nothing but constant and vivid dreams, and at first there was no way for her to know that this was not just another vision in her head. She felt her heart start up in a fast beat in her chest though, which was something that was not supposed to happen until she awoke.

After the confusion and delirium had lifted away the girl began troubleshooting the situation. It was still dark and cramped, and therefore she was obviously still secured in her transport container. A hissing noise by her left ear indicated that some hose or another had been knocked loose from her complex setup (she couldn't say what it did, but it must have been important because it came complete with an ominous flashing red light at its connection origin). Reasoning that - were she being properly cared for - somebody would have come to check on her status by now, and in fact wouldn't have handled her container so brutally as to knock her setup into disarray, Aria could only assume that something had gone wrong.

Her neck hurt, and her limbs were stiff, but that didn't stop her from violently kicking open the lid of the box.

The clatter resounded through the cargo bay. Aria stood - a thin, sterile white suit clinging to her body (leaving nothing about what was underneath to the imagination), double-thick black gloves on her hands and a black gas mask over the lower half of her face; her burgundy-brown hair dripping with some bio-fluid or another. She immediately bent down and picked up a long metal bar with a vaguely crescent shape on the end. She couldn't have named the object or its function, but based on its weight she reasoned that it could be used as an impromptu weapon, which was exactly her intention should things prove to be dangerous for her here. Looking around at what "here" entailed, Aria showed the usual minimal emotion in her eyes. Then she sighed, a sound that was unnatural and almost robotic coming from her.

"What in the ass-fuck of hells am I doing in this dump?"

Walking stiffly and tentatively, Aria began searching for an exit.

[Rainbowfox Ari]

Omega had been down in the Cargo bay, dealing with opening some of the suspicious containers. He'd found some medical supplies, some clothes, someone's diary and a lot of junk... but nothing overtly useful. The medical supplies were a bit too 'high end' to work with what he had in stock, but he'd hang onto them just in case... and he was already starting to tear up the white shirts to make bandages when the lid came flying off the container that had been near him. To say he was surprised would be an understatement.
Omega flew out of his crouch, grabbing the stethoscope around his neck as if he were going to swing it at someone, before he realized that standing before him was a very confused, very angry, very unstable, and possibly very about-to-kill-him young woman. He slung his stethoscope back around his neck, and put up both hands to show he was unarmed.

"Relax! Relax! No one's going to hurt you. My name is Omega, and this hunk of space-junk is The Vera. She's not going to hurt you either. Relax! Put down the wrench?" He raised the volume of his voice after another couple moments. "JAAACK! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE! PRONTO!"

And now back to the 'calming doctor's influencing voice'. "Just... settle down. Jack's the captain here. But he's not going to hurt you either. He might be tempted to, if you were to hit me with that wrench, though. My name is Omega, and I'm a doctor - See?"

He held up the stethoscope slightly so she could see. "No weapons, just tools of the trade. What's your name?"

[Salone]

Jack came running, stumbling a bit as his prosthetic knee gave way under the sudden stress. Righting himself, he whistled as he took in what was in front of him. He fought back a chuckle at the spectacle, trying not to laugh as he fumbled for the pistol at his side.

"You know Omega, I've seen a few movies that started out like this. Didn't peg you for the type."

He looked back and forth between Omega and the woman, not really sure if he should raise his pistol. Throwing caution to the wind, he snapped it back in to its holster before closing the distance between the two. He stammered over a few words as he tried to size her up.

"Name's Jack. Yep...Jack. Guess you knew that by now."

He strained to keep his eyes at hers, sliding towards Omega and whispering in his ear.

"You lucky bastard. Last time I opened anything with a prize inside it was a cereal box. I got a sticker."

[CupcakeDolly]

The sudden movement and voice of the rainbow-headed man was unexpected and registered milliseconds later than it should have in Aria's mind. She blinked several times and wondered if she had been drugged or was simply still shaking off the effects of cryogenic transport. She'd had little experience translating emotion or intent in the words of others, but it was obvious that she was being treated as a threat. That was all very well. She was perhaps the greatest threat these men had ever seen.

"...'Space vessels are uniquely different from sea transportation in that their names do not start with 'the'.'" Her words were as stiff as her limbs, and she glanced around with the intensity and curiosity of a feline. "'In a craft where men must survive for months or years at a time, being on a first-name basis with their home encourages familiarity and comfort.'" Her gaze settled on each of the men in turn.

"Vera." She shook her head in disapproval, whether at the ship or the two men or at her predicament in general. "Have I been sold to this crew? I think you should know, your pieces of imaginary currency have been wasted. I am going elsewhere, and it would be disastrously stupid of either of you to try to stop me."

[Rainbowfox Ari]

Omega quirked his mouth into a smirk as the implications of the fact that he referred to the ship as 'The' sank in. Well, he really DIDN'T like girls all that much, did he? Even if they were ships.

"Yes, well... Manners and all that." he said. "At any rate... If you could PLEASE put that wrench down, I'm sure we can talk some more..."

He was making his way around behind the girl, now that her attention was on Jack. He was going for his set of supplies that he'd left on the stairwell. The extra bandages were there, and his medication for Jack... but there was also a pre-filled syringe of sedative - if he could just get her attention distracted enough to sneak up behind her....

Snagging the syringe, he motioned to Jack to keep her busy and concentrated on HIM, so that Omega could sneak up in as stealthy a manner as possible.

[CupcakeDolly]

In the brief silence of the man who identified himself as the captain, Aria was able to see, out of the corner of her eye, the small object in the doctor's hand. She whipped around, lunged, and smacked the syringe from his fingers with the crescent-shaped tool. She gritted her teeth in frustration. Her motions were slower than usual, and she wasn't exactly fast or strong to begin with.

"Stupid man! Did you think I would not expect needles from a doctor?" Her words were louder than they had been until then. "Doctors! You are a pack of hypocrites. You whispers lies to calm your victims before sticking metal into their flesh!"

Aria's vision went white then, and her eyes rolled momentarily back into her head. She stumbled, but managed to stay standing. The wrench fell from her grasp and clattered to the ground. If she tried to retrieve it she would surely not be able to stand back up. Her breathing became heavy through her mask. One syllable left her lips when she attempted to speak, but it was silenced by the sound of a gun cocking and whirring to charge its laser.

"Gentlemen." Julius stood at the entrance to the cargo bay with four men flanking him on either side. They all held identical rifles, three of which were pointed in their direction. "I thought I'd misplaced some cargo, and it seems I was right. Thank you kindly for finding it for me."