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Chapter Fourty Three In
the last booth, in the very back of the gray, smoky and dingy tap-caf sits Vic
Orion. On the tabletop rests a tall glass of crystal clear water. Vic never
imbibed when he was working, and almost never any other time. However, since Vic
was always working, there was never much of a chance of the latter ever
happening anymore. And today was no different, though his patience is beginning
to wear thin. Vic never liked to stay in one place for too long, and his contact
was late. Not
unusual for a Corellian, but none the less, Vic was getting irritated. Just then
he noticed the man enter the tap-caf from the side door. The man, wearing the
typical spacer’s wardrobe, a battered flight-suit and a worn thin heavy
jacket, notices Vic and makes his way to the booth. Vic
drops one hand to his thigh, before the man can even see the motion. Never
can be too cautious. The man drops into the booth, but never slides in too
close to Vic. “Hey, Orion, sorry I’m late… I ran into some… Trouble.” “Whatever…
I haven’t got time for small talk, give me the rundown.” Vic takes a careful
sip from his glass. Looking
around the tap-caf suspiciously, “Yeah, well, we all got problems… Anyway, I
need to put you in touch with this guy I know. He might have a job for you… He
might not. He just wants a meeting.” The man continues to act very nervously;
his eyes darting around the room. “Yeah…”
Vic takes one more sip from his glass before tightening his grip on the
slugthrower under the table. “I don’t do third party garbage… And you know
it.” Slowly bringing the glass down to rest on the table, he then squeezes the
trigger, releasing a silent blast of hot metal into the dingy man’s gut.
“And I never deal with slimeballs like you.” Vic
stands up from the table, throwing a few extra credits down onto the table. And
then, without pomp or circumstance, Vic strides out the front door. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Walking
casually through Treasure Ship Row, Vic Orion can feel the presence of the man
attempting to stealthily follow him through Coronet City. Vic
knows that the man will try to approach him in the first alley he takes, so Vic,
already tired of dealing with this kind of rabble tonight, ducks into another
tap-caf. The dark man following him, comes casually into the tap-caf just after
Vic has ordered another water. If I could just finish one of these, just
once… Oh well, guess not. The man makes his way to Vic’s table and then
sits down. His
jet black hair and chiseled features betray the fact that he does not belong in
this seedy part of the city, but his demeanor lets Vic know that he is not
unfamiliar with it either. There is one other thing that is setting the hair on
the back of Vic’s neck on end, but he cannot quite make it out. “I
have a proposition for you, Orion…” He hands Vic a data card. “There is no
need to answer now. We will know when you have answered, and the rest of the
credits will be paid.” Vic takes a quick glance at the data-card in front of
him, and without another word the dark man was gone. Releasing his grip on the
slugthrower, Vic takes the data card into his hand. Turning it over in his hand,
Vic takes the glass of water and downs it in one tip. Being
fed up with the luck he has had on this trip, he decides to beat feet out of
Corellia. After all, I have real business waiting for me in Chandrila. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Warming
up the engines of the Death’s Grip as he went through his pre-flight
checklist, Vic comes across the data card in his chest pocket. Deciding that it
might make entertaining reading material for the trip, he pops it into his
data-pad. As
he begins his ascent into Corellian air space Vic turns the data-pad on and a
wry smile comes to his normally somber face, “Well, I’ll be a Kowakian
monkey-lizard!”
Creator: PtrsonsZOO (Jennifer)
*SPECIAL NOTE: Due to circumstances beyond our control, the rest of the story will be written by PtrsonsZOO (Jennifer)
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