FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Finding Iri By: Shalmendo © 2017 For: Doran Eirok

Iri sighed as he flipped through the shutdown sequence on his customized Y-wing, feeling a minor sense of relief at having arrived at his destination and knowing he would shortly be free of the confines of the cockpit. The cockpit canopy rose up and a puff of 'fresh' air buffeted his dark grey hair, bringing with it more natural oxygen and scents than the cockpit's life support system provided. The air was colder than the cockpit air was and he breathed in deeply as he took his flight helmet off. "Ahh, glad to be getting out of this little cockpit." He sighed to nobody in particular. He heard a series of bleeps behind him and turned to look at the dark blue droid in the astromech slot behind him, he cracked a smile at the polite machine, "Yes we'll get you out of there in a moment and you can stretch your treads." Iri unstrapped himself from the piloting seat and grabbed his field equipment stashed behind it as he hopped out of the cockpit to the icy ground below, stretching his legs a little as he leaned with one hand against the side of his Y-wing. An impatient bleep from the droid reminded him that it was still locked into the astromech socket, so he went over to the controls and lowered the elevator, "Whoops, sorry about that. It just felt so good to stretch my legs after hours in that seat. Here." He unlocked the clamps and the droid wheeled out from the unit, doing a little spin as it scanned the area, bleeping a response to the greenish reptile pilot. Iri nodded, "Okay good, hopefully it stays that way." Iri shuddered as a sudden, cold, blast of wind buffeted him from around the hill, "Jeez it's still colder than a Tauntaun's tit here!". He turned and hopped up to dig into the gear stashed behind the pilot seat and tugged out some of his heavier cold gear consisting of a pair of thick wintery boots with a lovely Sorcen fur liner, and a comfy puffy heat retaining jacket. He slipped each boot on, eager to get his bare paws out from the snow, hopping around a little as he tugged it on, eliciting a blaat of amusement from the watching droid. Iri snerked as he slipped the other boot on, "You try hopping around on one leg," and grabbed the jacket, quickly slipping it on and nestling into it's precious warmth. He flipped up the hood and tightened it, "Okay that should do, now let's double check that briefing." He pulled out his datapad and checked the briefing data, "Okay, the Destroyer should be around this snowy hill here." R3-422KT, aka "Katie" bleeped and started heading off, Iri followed, shaking himself out a little to get his circulation going. He admired the planet's frigid sky as he made his way to an overlook with the droid, spotting the Destroyer a short distance away, "Man, those things were so scary before..." He shook his head as he adjusted his pack as he looked down at the abandoned ship. It was 'parked' in a crashed position, listed off to the side, and from his view on the overlook it was clear that it had crash landed with a crumpled bow.

Iri stood there as he looked over the formerly frightening and threatening profile of the derelict ship, feeling a bit of adrenaline as he recalled the evacuation of the rebel base that had been here what felt like yesterday. He recalled the shaking of the ground as the AT-ATs approached, the debris dropping from the ceiling, and the panic surrounding the screaming of the evacuation alarms. He shuddered as he hugged himself in the feeling of the flashbacks before giving a heavy sigh, "It's okay now, it's just a dead piece of junk..." he reminded himself. Kate gave him a reassuring series of blips and bleeps, reminding him she was a little nervous, too. He sighed and nodded, "Thanks Katie." and patted her dome gently, "Can you find a way down?" Katie bleeped and led the way.

He made his way along the side of the hull with Katie for company, listening to her chatter about the lack of lifesigns, taking that to be a good sign that things would be simple. He checked his briefing again to make sure he had a clear understanding of the details;

Mission: Retrieval of any salvageable data from crashed Star Destroyer Contracted by: Lt. Bendis Rayne, New Republic Location: Hoth Site Coordinates: Attached

Notes: Star Destroyer crashed as a result of the Battle over Hoth, last survey reports it is lifeless without functioning power. Advised to bring lighting and power equipment. It has been in place long enough that salvagers may have discovered it by this point, be cautious and be armed.

Iri nodded and patted his blaster thoughtfully. He hoped it would just be totally abandoned still so he could easily waltz in, collect some data with Katie, and make his way back out again without a problem, but he wasn't stupid enough to leave his regular equipment behind. His thoughts were brought back to the current moment as Katie bleeped an alerting sound at him. "Huh?" Iri looked around with some concern then realized what Katie had said, "Oh, good! I'll see if I can get this open then." Katie had just alerted him to the presence of a maintenance hatch which would be a perfect entry point for both of them, with a little lifting on Iri's part. Iri got to work on the door. With the control panel out of commission he had to pry open a service panel and manually release the door and crank it open. He exhaled sharply as he finished and looked into the dark opening they had gained entrance to. It was quiet and lifeless as the briefing had said it would be.

Iri grunted as he lifted Katie the short distance over the lip over the hatch and she blipped a bit as she activated a small personal spotlight she was equipped with. Iri squinted at the small circle that revealed a fairly plain maintenance corridor he would have to duck through, with various pipes and panels on the sides that seemed to jump out from the walls in the small circle of the spotlight. "Yeah this should be fairly simple as long a we don't bump into any Imperial ghosts." he snickered, knowing that was unlikely although Katie made a concerned question, "No no, I was kidding! Really! Everyone knows ghosts don't exist." he laughed a bit as he patted Katie's dome, and pulled a light bar, flipping it on to provide an ample circle of lighting within a small radius, "There we go. Unlike you, I don't have a dome full of advanced 360 degree sensors, and I'd probably trip over everything." Katie made an amused blaat at him, making him chuckle as they proceeded in further. Having Katie along made such a big difference on the potentially creepy missions like this. Her congenial personality was good company and he wouldn't trade her for anything in the galaxy. His primary reason for bringing her, aside from her astronavigation skills, was her scomp link and onboard power supply he could use to not only have the droid slice into terminals to download data, but to power the terminals in the process, saving him a good deal of trouble lugging a battery around. Why lug a battery when the battery can not only lug itself, but provide pleasant company on the way?

They followed the passage deeper into the bowels of the derelict Destroyer and finally came to another hatchway, it too was dead, so he did the same routine he did earlier, opening it gradually with the clanking of the crank lever. Behind it was a typical Destroyer hallway, they had made it to main interior area. He peeked in, ears twitching as he listened for any presence. Katie bleeped that there was no motion within the entirety of her extended sensor range, other than sounds usually associated with derelict spacecraft. Privately, Iri was hoping that there weren't any bodies hanging around, those always made him nervous. He swallowed down his concerns as he stepped out into the hallway and waved the light bar around a bit to get a better idea of the hallway's condition. This deep in the Destroyer, and this far back from the bow, there was almost no sign of damage save for a few open panels with their innards poking out, or even strewn on the floor. It looked like it would be a fairly easy mission to complete if he could find some good terminals to siphon the data out of.

The pair got to work and started navigating through the interior hallways, Iri was kind of concerned they would get lost, but Katie reassured him that she was building an internal map of the areas they were passing through so finding their way back would be an easy backtrack. That didn't help them locate a working terminal, however, and this took some time as they had to manually pry open doors and inspect various rooms. "Isn't there any kind of map or something for this place?" Katie responded and Iri shook his head, "Ugh, a catch-22...can't find a terminal without a map, and can't get a map without a terminal...Well, we have time, I guess." Each room was abandoned, and had random bits strewn in it. Iri got a particular scare as Katie's spotlight fell on a stormtrooper helmet and he mistook it for part of a body, but it was empty, thankfully, and a little beat up on the side. Iri lifted it up and looked it over, it was dented, a little charred, but showed no signs of having been worn at the time of the crash, "Okay this has been here for awhile..." he set it back down and they continued their search. They did find one or two control panels but those held only intercoms and local controls, nothing useful for their purposes of data gathering. However, some time later, they stumbled into an office that probably belonged to an Imperial Officer of some kind and bore a terminal that happened to be rather intact, if unpowered.

"Over here, Katie, I found the data port." Katie wheeled over and inspected it, then extended her data arm and plugged in, activating it. The terminal sprang to life as it was fed power and she started rotating the data link to find anything useful. Meanwhile, Iri was inspecting the room, mostly out of interest. A few datapads were under the desk, looking like they had slid across the floor in the impact, and the chairs had also tumbled against the wall. Other items in the room included a glove (he wasn't sure where the other one had gone) and a code cylinder which got the reptile's attention. He grabbed it and looked it over, it seemed intact and undamaged for the most part so he pocketed it to check out later. Katie bleeped a report on the terminal, Iri's heart sank a little, "Well Dang, I should have expected system damage. Allover? Ugh. Well what now?" Katie processed for a moment then offered an option. "Hmm, well I guess we do have the time...I mean what else are we going to do, and I don't want to go back empty handed, either. Okay, see if you can pull out an index or something and we'll find one." Katie had suggested they try and locate an intact memory core in one of the semi-functional terminals. One such core would be data rich with all of the information that had passed through that terminal over a long history. Katie studied the contents of the terminal few a few minutes while Iri righted one of the chairs and plopped down into it. He sighed as he fought the distraction of the memories of his work in the rebel base that had been here, working in the hangar to keep the precious rebel ships in the best working order he could. All the Astromechs he had come to know, and that particularly interesting one. What was his designation again? Oh yes, R2-D2. That particular X-wing and droid had become so interconnected with each other had to ask Commander Skywalker to borrow R2-D2 to get the diagnostic data he needed to tune-up the spacecraft. Most of what he was remembering, however was what little he saw of the battle at the end, and the panicked evacuation that marked the abandonment of the base. This very destroyer he sat in had been part of that assault, and he remembered looking out a window as they rushed away from the planet, seeing one. Possibly even THIS one. He found some comfort that it had been brought down, but hoped that there wouldn't be any 'ghosts' of one kind or another to make this an more unpleasant than it already was.

Katie announced that she had downloaded a map and located where the most likely places were to find the most intact memory cores, then projected a holoimage as she withdrew her data arm from the terminal. Iri studied this, it looked like there were some workstations in the back of the ship that would be ripe with rich data if one of their memory cores was intact. He presented his datapad to the droid, "Here Katie, upload that in here so I don't have to keep asking you to holoproject the map constantly for me." Katie obliged as she linked with the datapad and uploaded the map for him. "Thanks. Okay so we have a map, and an idea where to look...That should make things a bit snappier." Katie bleeped her agreement. "Okay! Let's go get this sucker done."

They made their way, with confidence now, out of the office and up the hallway to where the terminal was located in the back of the ship. It took several minutes to make the distance with a bit of climbing and lifting Katie to get them there but they soon found themselves in front of a large blast door. Iri stared, suddenly feeling discouraged. If that terminal was behind there, it would take a bit of work to get in there, even with Katie's power source and slicing skills. Iri rubbed the back of his head as he looked at the imposing door, "Must be something important in here..." Katie blipped and used her spotlight to point out a panel. "Right, let's see" Iri pulled open the panel to reveal the components inside and put his backpack down to pull out a few electronics tools. He set to work on the door with Katie supervising and providing periodic suggestions, "Yeah I don't think that will...damn, it's got tight security. Must be something -really- important...There's a primary and secondary security module in here not to mention how secure the locks are. I guess we could cut through it but that would take some time. How's your cutter?" Katie bleeped a not-so-confident response, "Ugh yeah this would take forever to cut through... I wasn't expecting to be cutting through big blast doors like this. Hmm...have to find a way to open it, cut it...maybe another way in." Katie bleeped in the negative, "Okay, guess it's the first two, then. Any ideas?" Katie made her way back and forth to examine the door, noting it would have been magnetically sealed if the ship still had power, and that the locking mechanism was pretty sturdy, but the lack of power and Imperials to intervene meant that finding way through was just a matter of time. Iri hissed a bit in contemplation, "what if we found a different memory core?" Katie blatted. "...right so this is our best bet then. Guess that sorts it." he turned back to the wiring and modules, trying to sort out a solution.

While they worked on the door with minimal light a sudden distant clang made Iri's blood freeze. He stood tensely while his ears strained for a moment and he then turned to look at Katie, "Did...you hear that?" Katie made a quiet noise that sounded like a yes. Iri swallowed and grabbed his blaster out of it's holster, "I hope we don't have company..." He switched off the light, motioning for Katie to do the same with her spotlight and crouched in the darkness. His ears strained to hear something, but all he could hear was his own concerned breathing and the quiet humming of Katie's motivator. He chewed his lip as he stayed in that position, blaster ready, listening to the discomforting silence. Katie started to bleep something but he quietly shushed her. A moment later they heard scraping and more clanging. Either the ship was shifting, which was extremely unlikely, or a new source of disturbance was moving around further down the hallway. Then, he saw a light. Not the kind where a ship suddenly has an electrical discharge...but a bobbing, weaving light. There was someone else there. His blood ran cold as he retreated back down the hallway quietly, with Katie humming along softly behind him as they made their way from the door, to another doorway that would likely be easier to open. "Give me a spotlight katie." he whispered. The droid complied and shone it on the doors panel. Iri pried it off quietly, setting the panel down softly and started working the manual door opening mechanism. He gritted his teeth as it produced clunks and creaks that felt too loud while they were trying so hard to be so quiet. He dared not make too much noise with it so he opened it just enough for katie to wiggle her way into it and slipped in behind her. It looked like a small maintenance closet with panels for wiring and modules all around the small cylindrical space, and a data terminal as well, not that it would be useful at the moment.

Iri took shuddering breaths, feeling adrenaline pumping around in his system as he heard further clangs and sounds from someone else in the ship nearby. He heard shuffling, and murmuring of someone speaking, coming ever closer. Katie bleeped softly in concern and he patted her on the head, "We'll get out of this...just stay quiet and they'll probably just go by without knowing we're even here." he whispered to her. The small space was starting to feel notably claustrophobic as they sheltered there. Iri was feeling himself shake a little, but wasn't certain it was the adrenaline or some kind of fear he was suppressing. Certainly both were quite high at the moment as it sounded like they were right outside. For a few moments, all was quiet and he was wondering what was going on outside, or if they were there. He felt Katie withdraw against the wall, and looked down at her curiously. When he looked back up he was suddenly blinded by a light shining into his face and heard a harsh voice say "Drop the blaster!" He gasped and covered his eyes, dropping it as ordered, not wanting to risk any trouble. "Woah, hey, no problem. I don't want any trouble! Not at all!"

A rough hand reached in and grabbed him, but Katie, being rather protective of the Argothae scout she was owned by, extended her charge arm and zapped the unsuspecting assailant. A loud hiss was issued as the hand fell away and Iri jumped into action grabbing his blaster and slipping through the doors. The light that the other had been holding had fallen away but rolled and turned to shine in their direction, revealing that the other one was a Trandoshan who had reeled back from the pain of the electrical shock delivered by the astromech. Iri didn't want trouble, but it had already found him...he pointed his blaster at the Trando and shouted, "Okay I still don't want any trouble, just drop YOUR blaster now! Do it!" The Trando hissed and dropped it, "Fine." Iri was shaking with adrenaline and the stress of the situation, not used to dealing too much with it. Katie wiggled her way back out and kept an eye on the Trandoshan. Iri grunted, "Like I said, I don't want any trouble, so just don't do anything. I just want to walk out of here in once piece, and I bet you'd like that too, right?" The Trando hissed wordlessly, obviously not very happy. Iri continued as he backed down the hall, "Yeah so you just don't worry about us, we're just going to leave all quiet like and there doesn't need to be any blaster fire or anything..." Iri kept talking, hoping to talk the Trando down from anything he was planning to do. He might have succeeded if a blaster bolt hadn't shot right past his head. The Trando had allies! He shouted, "Hold it I don't want to get into a blaster fight or anything! Just let me go!" The spate of incoming blaster fire marked a complete lack of interest in cooperation.

Iri dove down as the blaser fire went overhead, "Oh shit shit shit shit shit" he said to himself as he crawled around a corner. With Katie squealing nervously as she ran ahead of him. Once around the corner he squeezed the grip of his blaster tight, not wanting to get into a fight, but being forced into it. Katie shined her light down the hallway, revealing it was a dead end with a door on either side. "Oh noooo..." Iri moaned to himself as blaster fire shot past the offshoot down the main hallway. He jumped to one of the doors and yanked the panel off to try and force it open. He managed to crank it open a bit as he heard shouts and approaching boots running closer up the hallway, but as the door gaped open and he peeked in, he noticed it was an elevator shaft. There was no way that Katie would be able to climb up or down an elevator shaft and he didn't want to leave her behind, but he noticed that the other door was identical, so probably an elevator shaft. They were trapped with no real direction to go. A trandoshan veered around the corner and spotted Iri with his infrared night vision, levelling a shot right at him. Again, Katie intervened and another charge-arm attack was made, but with diminished effect due to the distance. The Trando hissed at the attempt and a shot was fired into Katie's chassis. Iri gasped as the droid squealed and slammed into the wall, "Katie!" he shouted, turning to the trandoshan and firing several shots at him. The Trandoshan dodged to the side and a couple more arrived, all with blasters, some with rifles. Iri shouted, "I said I didn't want any trouble!" but they didn't seem to care as they rushed him. He managed to hit one or two with blaster fire but shortly found himself stunned unconscious.

Iri stirred with a pounding headache overwhelming his senses. He groaned, wincing at the intense pain in his head. He reached up to rub at the scales on his skull but his arm wasn't responding, staying about where it was. Painfully he opened his eyes to find a brightly lit ceiling in a strange space he didn't recognize. It wasn't the Destroyer, the styling was all wrong, he thought to himself, as he turned his head to look around, feeling various secondary pangs on his body. He tugged and shifted his body but found that his arms and legs were tied down somehow and he was rather helpless to move them. He groaned, lifting his head up to see that he had been cuffed to the floor, on his back, and was devoid of any clothing. He blushed an embarrassment as noticed this and remembered the Trandoshan that had attacked him, and shot Katie. He seethed at that though, tugging on his bonds more firmly, seeing that they were tight and probably inescapable. His body cried out with pain and soreness, leading him to cease his attempts after a few moments. He looked around the room further, trying to figure out where he was. The lighting meant wherever he was had power, at least some. Around the room he spotted some shelving with boxes and what looked like components everywhere, some he recognized as coming from a destroyer. He grunted, "Maybe they're not slavers...god I hope they're not...looks like they're salvagers..." He shifted himself a little bit to see more, seeing a couch nearby his head as he grunted from the discomfort. His body was sore and hurting all over from the stunning he had received. He grunted at the continued discomfort, wondering why they hadn't just killed him, but was grateful they didn't. At least he thought he was grateful. A door hissed open, interrupting his musings. He swallowed as he spotted someone moving behind one of the shelves, who soon revealed themselves to be a Trandoshan in armor, probably one of the ones who he had encountered in the derelict. The Trando stepped over to the bound victim, glaring down at him with angry eyes and a smug expression. Iri shuddered, "Um..hey I'm sorry about the firefight and all but uh...." he would have continued except the Trando lifted one large boot and planted it firmly on his chest with a hiss, "Carpets don't talk." Iri gasped as the air was pushed out of him slightly, eyes widening as the Trando hissed those words out at him. "What??" He wheezed out. The Trando then stomped lightly on his chest carelessly, driving the air out of him to make his point. Iri coughed and gasped as the painful stomp stopped him from talking. The trando hissed as his boot stayed there, heavy on his scales. He could feel the tread against him, good for gripping the ground solidly, but right now it was digging into his scales uncomfortably. He squirmed, starting to feel rather frightened. After a few moments the Trandoshan seemed satisfied and moved his boot to the floor again, stepping right over Iri's face as he moved past him to the couch. Iri got a good view of the boot's tough and worn treads as it passed inches from his face and the towering Trando's leg armor shifting and creaking with his movements. The trando plopped down onto the couch, glaring at Iri, who stared back with growing concern, but kept quiet. The Trando stretched his legs and planted the heel of each boot right on Iri's chest, making him squeak out in surprise with each heel impact. The treads of the boots faced him, and he stared at them, seeing the pattern that gave them a good solid grip on various surfaces. A moment later one boot lifted, relieving some of the uncomfortable pressure, then dropped down on top of the other one, increasing the pressure from that singular heel. Iri grunted in discomfort as the heel rested there, and even wobbled back and forth a little bit as the Trando gazed down at the 'carpet' with a domineering gaze. Iri realized that he was not only in way over his head, but quite seriously in trouble.

Iri had never been captured before, he had always managed to escape or avoid conflict to begin with, and had taken comfort in the security of the others he had worked with, but now that he was alone, and without Katie to even try and get help, he was rather afraid of what was going to happen. The first Trandoshan had simply used him for a footrest, but a second came in and glared down at him, asking the other "Is this the one?" The Trando nodded, "Want to get acquainted?" with a soft chuckle. The other Trando glared down at the 'carpet' again and nodded, "Yes..." Iri swallowed nervously as the other Trando chuckled and withdrew his boots, stood up, then carelessly stepped over him, giving the bound Argothae another look at those big treads all but threatening to crush his snout. The Trando left his brother glaring down with folded arms at the bound reptilian for a moment, Iri staring up helplessly with frightened eyes. "Are you afraid little reptile?" The Trando growled down at him, "You should be. You shouldn't have let your droid zap me like that." Iri swallowed and stammered, "L-look, I'm really sorry about that..I really just wanted to leave without anything happen-ACK!" The trando had cut him off by placing a similar thickly treaded boot on top of his chest. "Too late, weakling!" The trando growled as he let the boot stay there, applying pressure to Iri's chest firmly, making it very difficult to breathe. Iri gasped in short shallow breaths, partly due to the pressure keeping him from taking in much air but from the pain of the impact, groaning a little. The Trando growled, "I'm going to keep you. Not as a slave, not as a pet...but as nothing more than a RUG for my boots to rest on." He ground those treads against Iri's scales as he spoke harshly, "And you're going to stay QUIET and keep my boots clean. Understand?" Iri realized that he was in for a rather abusive time as he grunted painfully under the boot. The pressure was increasing as if to encourage him and as much as he wanted to resist with some kind of hope he'd get out of this intact, he realized that unless the Republic sent a rescue party or something, which was extremely unlikely on such a casual mission as this, he was pretty much sunk. The pressure on the boot increased as the Trando gave him a little stomp, "Well?!" Iri was forced back to the present and nodded as beast as he could, whimpering a little. That seemed to appease the Trando who relented from the pressure and lifted his boot. Iri felt relief, hoping that the abuse wasn't going to get too bad and found that boot pressed to his face suddenly, with a hiss, "Start cleaning." The trando commanded gruffly. Iri wasn't sure what to do, since his hands were rather tied up at the moment. With the hesitation the Trando hissed and ground the treads against his face scales, "With your tongue, foolish one." Iri grimaced. He really didn't want to lick that roughed up boot with his tongue. He felt relief as the boot withdraw, then yelped as the toe was kicked into his side, gasping as he felt the pain of something giving way inside. The boot returned to his face expectantly...and he whimpered a little as he started lapping at the treads. They were mostly clean, having only been used to stomp around in the derelict, so were only slightly dusty. The Trando hissed softly in approval as Iri began to lick over the treads, "Good. Just like a rug should." Iri whimpered softly in pain, which seemed to appease the Trando even further, so he forced himself to whimper a little more to keep the Trando happy, and minimize the potential for further kicking. He lapped all over the boot tread then found the boot toe pushing against his lips, "Open up, rug." came the gruff command. Iri grimaced further as the toe pushed a little bit too harshly against his face and he started lapping over that part of the boot. The leather was worn and a bit rough, obviously having seen a good deal of stompyness on the Trando's part, but was still mostly clean. "Good." was the only praise he got as the Trando carelessly ground that boot toe into Iri's tongue. As he lapped, he found that more of the toe was entering into his maw and starting to fill it, he grunted around it softly as he was forced to suck on the toe of that boot a bit. The Trando snickered softly, "Very good...I might have to keep you around for a long time." Iri didn't want to stay any longer then he had to but it looked like he had no choice. He was forced to lick the other boot clean as well, and a second Trando came in during part of this. The two chatted a bit above him as if he didn't even exist, but soon the other trando, whose feet were bare, stepped closer and started to dominantly rub his bare scaled sole across Iri's chest. It was certainly tough, and thickly scaled. The scales felt tougher than his own, which were well kep and somewhat softer. The two continued to chat a bit while the barefooted Trando rubbed and ground that sole, and sharp claws, against his aching chest. The booted Trando finally left, much to Iri's relief, but that relief was to be short lived.

The new, barefoot, Trando hissed softly as the other left and moved to sit down on the couch, stepping over Iri's prone body. Iri swallowed a bit as the new Trando settled onto the couch with a sigh, glanced down at him thoughtfully, and drove both of his bare soles unceremoniously into Iri's face. He gasped in surprise, being forced to inhale the scent of leather and trandoshan scales from between the strong toes that were curling across his face so firmly. He grunted in surprise as they ground and rubbed their terse scales against his lips, cheeks, and snout. The trando seemed to be enjoying it as he relaxed, leaning back and rubbing those big feet firmly into the helpless 'rug' with a sigh. This continued for a few minutes when a voice called from the hidden door, "Food!" The Trando grinned, hissed, and stood up, stepping quickly over the prone body, giving Iri a view of the toughened scaled sole, in a yellow tint. The foot stepped down firmly against the floor right next to Iri's face, and iri stared as the toes clenched to carry the Trando from the spot, grinding slightly against Iri's sensitive scales on the way. Iri panted as the Trandoshan left him alone in the room.

Iri shuddered as he thought about the boots and feet he would have to contend with. It seemed like a favored thing for several of them to do so far, and was probably why he was bound to the floor like this instead of just locked up in a disused room or somesuch. He collected his thoughts as best he could despite the pain all over, and the new pain in his side from the harsh kick he had received. He grunted as he thought about his predicament. What was the possibility of escape here? It seemed like none. Except perhaps Katie had somehow survived the blaster fire and was either signaling for help or trying to help him? He could only hope. He knew the Republic likely wouldn't send a search or rescue party. Both he and the officer that had given him the mission knew the risks involved. And he wasn't important enough to warrant a rescue, or even much concern, nor was the data he was after. He was just supposed to retrieve what he could. It was a low priority.

He sighed as he looked around the room. He might have been able to construct something to help him get out but he was rather tied. He strained to examine the bonds he was tied with, finding them to be made of metal. Probably some kind of cuffs that were normally used to hold prisoners but had been repurposed. He could see at least one had the other cuff mounted to the leg of one of the nearby shelves. Escaping would be either noisy as the contents of the shelf went everywhere, or impossible. He didn't have the strength to pull a whole shelf of random salvage even an inch. He tugged and twisted his bonds, trying to find a weakness but didn't find any, at least not that he knew of. He wasn't an escape artist and found himself wishing he had studied up on that kind of thing, but never thought of doing so before. He made a mental promise to himself to be better prepared in the future, if he could ever get out of here in the first place. He sighed as he thought about Katie, feeling a combination of sadness at her potential damage, and seething anger that they hurt his companion. Most people only got mildly attached to their droids but he and Katie had been through a lot, even before they had given her to him when he parted ways with the crew he had worked with. He'd already worked with that droid in a Rebel carrier hangar previously, but now it could be a smoldering ruin and that thought brought a deep sadness to his heart. He didn't know what state she was in, but hoped she could be salvaged. He would have to get out of here first, however. Again, he looked around the room without any real options. If this had been an adventure game, this would certainly be a 'game over' point. How he wished he could load a previous save! This was life, though, and there were no extra lives, saves, or resets.

Again, his thoughts were interrupted as a Trando entered. He looked over at the shelf to see a pair of bare Trando feet stomp in carelessly, probably the one that had been rubbing his face with them before. The Trando towered as he stepped over the helpless Iri, and sat down in the couch once more, pushing his feet against the captive's face once more. The scent was about the same, so it was probably the Trandoshan from before, having eaten and now with a full belly. He certainly looked more content as he relaxed on the couch and started grinding the ball of his foot against Iri's face, amusing himself with the abuse of the helpless captive. Iri grunted a little as the scales scraped against his own, rather uncomfortably. The scent of Trando feet wasn't exactly pleasant either. The toes of the other foot curled around and held his snout firmly while the ball of the other pressed against his lips. "I heard you're a good licker." The Trando chuckled, "Show me." Iri sighed as he parted his lips but just couldn't bring himself to lick a Trandoshan's sole...he didn't know where it had been. The Trando waited a brief moment or two then pulled his foot back only to drive it harshly against Iri's mouth, "You heard me, weakling." came the verbal rebuke and Iri whimpered again as he finally drove his tongue against the Trando's scaled foot. It tasted like one would expect, a combination of leather and scales, and a bit salty. Iri grimaced as he lapped at the flavor, periodically wetting his tongue in his maw to continue. He tried hard not to think about the fact he was licking some big Trando's scaly foot to keep himself from gagging or retching, knowing that any failure on his part would probably be met with kicks and further abuse. The Trando sighed in relaxation and became less forceful, apparently finding the licking of his feet fulfilling and relaxing in some way. Internally Iri seethed a bit at the abuse and humiliation he was undergoing, but didn't see how he could do much about it, being tied to the floor. He heard the thumping of another individual entering, guessing it was probably a Trando. The two greeted each other, and it certainly sounded like a Trandoshan. He heard thumps next to him and felt a whoosh of air, probably boots or feet stepping over him, and the sound of the newcomer settling onto the couch. They spoke briefly about the new 'rug' and the new Trando put his boot heels onto Iri's chest, saying "when you're done, I need my boots cleaned." They both laughed a bit and conversed more as Iri lapped over the bare heel, whimpering a little at the thought of licking more boots. He was forced to clean the entire sole before a toe pushed it's way into Iri's maw. Iri instinctively gagged at the sensation of a Trandoshan toe entering his mouth and pushing into his tongue, which resulted in the other Trando's boot heels lifting up and thumping down on him harshly, making him whimper some more as he quieted himself and started suckling on the toe, much to the pleasure of the barefoot Trando who hissed and sighed. Iri heard him say, "This feels great! You should try it barefoot." The other snerked thoughtfully, "I'll make him clean my boots first." they laughed and Iri felt the first toe being removed and the second thrust into place. He lapped that one clean, starting to get a little used to his position, but not really. At least he was keeping them from kicking him too much. He considered that a bit of a win, sorta.

A voice shouted in from the doorway ,"Hey! Sess, we got something for you to look at." The barefooted trando grunted and withdrew his feet, "fine, interrupt my only pleasure..." he growled as he took off to take care of something, leaving the other booted Trandoshan there, hissing in pleasure at having his chance come sooner then he was expecting. Iri looked up at him, he was barechested, wearing bits of armor that showed off a lot of his scales, and large sturdy boots. One of which was shortly pushed against his face, "You know what to do." Was all he said as he folded his arms and leaned back to relax. Iri sighed as he started licking over the treads. He wasn't sure how long he had been licking before the other boot was shoved into his face as well for it's turn at being licked. He licked both boots clean for some time, losing track of how long it had even been since he had first woken, before the boots were withdrawn and the Trando leaned over to take them off. The boots were unceremoniously dropped next to the couch and the bare feet were pushed back and forth across his chest, the Trando sighing at the pleasant sensation across his soles. Iri didn't enjoy it very much as the soles were rather tough, and hot. It felt like those boots had been on those feet for hours, with how hot those soles felt. Before long a sole was pushed into his face expectantly. It was indeed quite hot, and had a good leather scent to it. Iri sighed as he knew what was expected, he started licking over the toes, leading the Trando to grin and lean back, closing his eyes to enjoy the treatment of the new rug. Iri licked, lapped, and licked some more, down the ball of the foot and over the minimal arch area, clenching his fists as he went, finding it a rather unpleasant experience. Soon he was as the tough heel, licking it clean around the scutes that followed the minimal curve of the trando's foot. Before long, the Trando withdrew that foot to let the leg rest on Iri's chest, dangling teasingly as the other foot pushed it's way against his face to begin the pleasant process of being lapped from toe to heel. To Iri it felt like it took forever and even after he had gotten to the heel he could hear the Trandoshan snoring. Apparently it was so relaxing he had licked the Trando into falling asleep. Somehow he found this to be a bit of a minor personal victory and stopped licking to sigh and try to relax. His tongue was feeling sore from all the movement ,as was his jaw and throat. He had never used his mouth so much before and it felt weak and worn out now, as did the rest of him. He found himself drifting off with the trando's foot in his face, breathing in the leathery scent as he also fell asleep.

Iri wasn't sure how long he'd been out when the Trando moved and woke him. He was withdrawing his feet and yawning, "Good." was all he said to Iri as he walked out, stretching, probably going to rest. Iri waited tensely for another arrival but none came as he lay there for what felt like hours. The Trando's must have been sleeping by now and would leave him alone for awhile. He hoped so as he started drifting off again into a fitful light rest.

He stood back in the Derelict and Katie was bleeping at him as he roused, being poked by the droid's manipulator arm. "Huh, what?" Katie bleeped again, and he rubbed his head, "Oh, gosh what...." he looked around, finding himself in the dead-end hallway with the two elevator shafts. He sat up and pushed himself to his feet, leaning against the wall. "Katie you're okay!" He felt a deep sense of joy as the Droid asked him if he was alright, "Yes, Yes i'm fine! Oh gosh that must have been a nightmare or something. These Trandos shot you and stunned me and I woke up tied to the floor...ugh." Katie bleeped her concern and reminded Iri that they needed to get the core. "Oh right, yeah...memory core." he made his way back to the big door and fiddled with the door control components for a few minutes before he pulled out some wiring, "Here Katie, give me a good zap here." Katie's charge arm popped out and applied a charge to the wiring which activated the motors controlling the door's lock mechanism. He watched as the central part of the door gradually rotated into an unlocked state and came to a halt. "Great!" Now I just have to pry it open..." He opened his pack and pulled out a crowbar type tool that he wiggled into the gap in the center of the door and gradually started working on the doorway to open the gap. It took some effort but he gradually inched it open little by little enough that he could squeeze through being fairly lithe. Katie bleeped from the other side of the door, "Yeah I'll get you in in a minute, I just have to find the memory core first to make sure it's in here." He turned and found himself gazing at a Trandoshan. He gasped and reached for his blaster but the Trando grabbed his arms, "What are you doing, rug??" Iri gasped and pulled way, "No!" He shouted and ran to the door gap to squeeze through it, escaping the Trandoshan. He panted, suddenly in full flight mode, "Katie! We have to-ooomph!" He found a bare Trandoshan sole smashing into his face and cutting him off.

Iri grunted and struggled in the bonds as Trandoshan sole slapped into his face and ground against it, making him gasp and grunt as he woke up from the formerly pleasant dream about everything being okay. "Food time." Said a gruff voice as scraps were dropped onto the floor next to him. The foot was withdrawn with a snicker as the bare Trandoshan feet stomped out of the room, leaving him blearily blinking and sighing as he realized that what he thought was a return to reality was only a fitful dream he had fantasized. He tilted his head as he looked around the room, finally looking at the scraps that had landed in front of his face. It was comprised of bones with a few bits of gristly meat clinging to it that had been left behind after being mostly scraped clean by Trandoshan teeth, and some spots of lingering sauce. He was at actually feeling rather hungry, he realized, and started nibbling on one of the bones to get the last remaining remnants of meat off it, being too hungry to care about the fact it had previously been in another being's mouth. He chewed and gnawed on each bone in turn to try and get what little nourishment he could out of it, wincing as he felt the pain in his side had worsened over his sleep. The rest of him was feeling worse, too, as he felt his muscles feeling tense and locked up, and unable to be stretched. He sighed as he savored the last of the bits of sauce on the final bone, wondering what would become of him. Would he waste away from malnourishment? He wasn't given much time to think it over as a pair of bare feet stomped in and smushed into his face from overhead, "Lick." came the simple command. He could see the trando was holding a pair of boots in his hand but wasn't sure if they had just been removed, or were going to be put on later. His lapping at the demanding sole gave him enough clues, however. The foot was rather cool and lacking of much scent or flavor, so this Trando was probably just waking up and wanted to dominate Iri and get his feet lapped over before putting his boots on and getting to work for the day. This proved true as Iri finished lapping thoroughly over both soles, starting to get a little accustomed to his new duties. At least if he kept their feet well licked they wouldn't be kicking him and that was a bit of a win in his book, although he found himself questioning why he wanted to cooperate at all. Another Trando entered and shoved the first away, "He's MY rug. Move it." the other Trando hissed but relented and moved over to the couch, looking disgruntled as he sat down and rested his bare soled on Iri's chest, taking to rubbing his soles against it as a kind of 'consolation prize'. The dominant Trando standing overhead, apparently the one that had captured him, smooshed his sole down into Iri's face. Iri knew what to do and started lapping over that sole immediately.

He cleaned thoroughly over his 'owner's' feet, then watched him put his boots on and leave. The other Trando had already done the same a few minutes before, and he was left alone again, sighing softly at the respite. He hated what had happened to him, and still desperately wanted to get out, but he figured if he could keep them appeased, they might give him an opening to escape, so he focused on that for the time being. He fell asleep again, feeling rather drained from his ordeals and also because there was nothing else to do...

Katie was bleeping at him and he sat bolt upright, "Katie??" He looked around, finding himself in the hallway end with the elevator shafts, he stared. "Dejavu..." he said to himself, feeling at himself, then looking at Katie who seemed rather confused. "I...must be dreaming...I have to be..." he hugged the droid firmly. If it was a dream, he wanted to enjoy Katie's company a little before he had to wake up again, "Oh Katie..." he started to sniffle, feeling a surge of emotion. Katie bleeped a concerned question. "It has to be a dream...I'm probably still tied to the floor in that damn room....but it's MY dream....and you're MY Katie...my lovely Katie." He hugged the droid firmly, sniffling as he thought about how the real Katie could be a junkpile right now...

He awoke with a start as Trandoshan claws kicked into his side, then were pushed into his face. Yes, it had been a dream. Again. Iri whimpered as he realized the reality of his situation and that his dreams were merely fantastical escapes from the impossible stress of captivity. The foot was quite hot and smelled well of leather. They must have worked all day and he slept through it. Several Trandos were in the room now, seated on the couch, or standing, chatting about the salvage finds they were looking at from the Derelict, and most of them had a foot on him somewhere. Some were on his legs, one was grinding into his thigh, and at least three were on his chest rubbing their soles against him for the pleasant feeling against their soles. Iri whimpered, muffled by the foot on his face as they carelessly chatted around him like he was just a piece of furniture. He lapped firmly at the foot, focusing on keeping the Trandos as appeased as he could. He licked and lapped for hours while various other feet rubbed against him in various places... He was starting to get used to it, and he found a sudden uncomfortable realization coming across him as one particular foot kept rubbing across his thigh..it kind of felt nice. He was so stressed out, his libido was starting to bother him..and that foot rubbing so insistently was actually not bad at all... In fact, it felt rather nice. He grunted as he shook his head and tried to focus on the toe he was sucking..but that wasn't too bad either...He whimpered at the confusing feeling as he tried to focus on doing his 'duty' and serving those feet as best he could to avoid negative reinforcement in the form of kicks and stomps on his weak body. Soon he'd licked every pair of feet offered to him and they had all gradually left, satisfied. He was left alone once more after what felt like hours of foot service when another pair came in and more scraps were dumped next to him...he was desperately hungry b y this point and started nibbling on them. The careless feet rubbed over his face before they left him to eat. Again they were bones with tiny tidbits of meat left, but he savored them, knowing it was his only food. He sighed as he finished scraping them clean with just his teeth and lips, and eventually drifted off again.

Instead of dreaming about Katie and finishing his mission, he dreamt about Trandos and their feet, rubbing and grinding against him, and he was shrinking smaller and smaller, seeing them growing rather large, and with it some kind of excitement. Those dominant feet looked incredible as they grew larger around him and he knelt and worshipped them like they deserved to be...

He awoke with a throbbing sensation between his legs as the door opened to admit some Trandoshan for their morning foot service. Iri lifted his head curiously and saw that his cock had started rising out of it's hidden place in his sheath. Suddenly he felt intensely embarrassed. Especially as the pair of Trandoshan that had entered also noticed this and started laughing. Iri tried in vain to shift his hips to hide it but they pointed at his mild arousal and snickered, starting to laughter about it, "It's so small!" one of them said. The other snerked and poked it with a toe, a sudden sensation Iri wasn't expecting but didn't exactly dislike... "That's the smallest dick I've ever seen" The other laughed. "Hey maybe he's actually starting to like being our rug." the first suggested. The second laughed out more, "A bit TOO much!" A third, and fourth Trando that had entered saw what was going on and started laughing as well. Iri felt deeply humiliated, but for some reason his arousal wasn't going away...

The laughter came to an end as shouting was heard, followed by gunfire. The four Trando in the room rushed to the door, as chaos was heard approaching, alongside more blaster fire. They didn't have their weapons handy so rushed out to grab some. Iri was left bewildered and shuddering, unsure what was going on. Was a rival staging a takeover? He could hear almost feral growls as the Trandoshan were heard running outside, alongside the continued blaster fire and desperate shouts. He heard many shots make impact and various Trandoshan hisses and cries as a result until things fell silent. He shuddered, fearing for his own life as the silence fell and his heart beat rapidly as he laid there, helpless to whatever fate would befall him. He heard the door open followed by heavy deliberate footfalls. Around the edge of the shelf came a large pair of matte black digitgrade boots. Iri stared at them. They were in good condition and unlike most of the boots he had been tending in his time as a rug. The boots approached with an intimidating thump in each step then stopped in front of his head. He swallowed as he looked up to see matte black armored legs and even more armoring in the same coloration, all the way up to a black helmet with glowing red optics. He whimpered and nosed at the boot, getting ready to appease the owner, but then a strong voice rang out as the tall being folded his arms, "Would you happen to be Iri Keltesh?" Iri stared..he hadn't been called by his name in what felt like forever but he forced himself to croak out a weak "Yes..." He stared up helplessly, but with a newfound hope. Over him the beast grunted, and he noticed that the beast had wings prominently protruding from his back, something of legend for his own people.

"You're late."

Iri blinked curiously...Late for what? The republic must have sent someone to pick him up when he never showed! He felt elated as the great beast stepped over him, giving him a view of the thick treads of his boot, and reached down to inspect the bonds, a moment later a blaster shot went through the gaps in the shelving blocking line of sight to the door but fortunately missed as the beast leaned back suddenly.

A growl issued, "One moment." Iri's rescuer turned and jumped behind the shelving and Iri could hear a Trandoshan gasp and squeal out in sudden pain...then silence. Iri shuddered as he thought about what horror might have befallen one of his captors but waited. Suddenly sounds of blaster fire sounded outside the door and an annoyed grunt issued as his rescuer returned and sighed, "Sorry." was all that was said as the being lowered a unique looking blaster rifle down towards him. Iri's blood froze, wait...wasn't this guy supposed to RESCUE HIM? Iri yelped as several shots issued from the weapon...and missed him entirely. Iri jerked his limbs closer to shield himself...then realized he could only have done that if his bonds had been released. He looked down to his wrists to find that while the manacles were still attached, the chains had been shot out by the blaster. Iri blinked and gradually sat up and looked at his feet, which had the same story.

The armored being grunted, "There are at least three outside. Can you walk?"

Iri pushed himself up and found himself feeling quite weak, and the pain in his side suddenly got worse and caused him to collapse against the armored rescuer, "ow...oh fuck..ow...." Iri croaked out painfully, grabbing onto a bandolier the armor bore.

The armored being grunted again "apparently not. Here." he moved Iri to the couch with what seemed like little effort and dug into a pouch for a moment, withdrawing a can of bacta spray which he proceeded to spray the tired and abused Iri with. It started to help as it was designed to but the sound of Trandoshan shouting outside made things rather urgent.

Iri sighed as the bacta started to work on his bruises and scrapes, "Unf...that's a little better."

The beast nodded and turned to check the doorway, calling back "Grab the blaster."

Iri found he could move a bit better although he wasn't entirely healed. He crawled over the floor and grabbed the now dead Trandoshan's blaster pistol before sidling up behind his rescuer with it.

The armored beast nodded and shifted towards the open doorway, peeking through cautiously. "Hm. Two more."

Iri's heart started to sink a bit. Here he was on the verge of being rescued and they may not make it out.

"You probly can't run. Stay covered."

The beast suddenly moved with a surprising burst of speed out through the doorway and began to fire off shots from his blaster rifle, while wielding it in a single large hand like a pistol. He certainly had the stature for it. Iri peeked out around the doorway to see he was jumping off the opposite wall in an attempt to dodge blaster fire, and also saw the 'two more' that he had mentioned. He wasn't going to force his rescuer to take it all on by himself(or herself) and leaned out to start taking pot shots at the two trandos down the hallway. This proved a good strategy as he hit one one the shoulder and the other one dived down onto the floor to avoid the incoming fire. Meanwhile the big beast was practically climbing the walls to hold the attention of the others, gradually starting to pick them off as they fired in a panicked barrage. Iri started to move out of the doorway when the beast collided with him as he/she jumped back through and knocked Iri back into the shelving. A hand grabbed Iri under the shoulder to keep him from falling over completely and then Iri heard the sound of a thermal detonator going off. Iri shuddered as the blaster fire went silent.

The beast looked out of the doorway, "Dead." and looked back to Iri. "can you walk?" Iri nodded and took a few pained steps towards the doorway, faltering "oof not very well....ow. Still hurts." The beast stepped over and lifted Iri a bit with one arm while keeping his blast rifle ready with the other. Iri grunted as they moved down the unfamiliar hallway, "Who are you?" the beast continued to stay vigilant as they moved, "Your contact." was the short but informative answer. Iri racked his mind for what business he had with this contact. Then it came to him in a mental storm a few moments later, "Oh! The Datacard! I never showed up for the handover! Wait...so you're not with the Republic then?"

The beast shook it's head, "No. Where is the Datacard?"

Iri sighed, so this wasn't a republic rescue...but at least it was a rescue, "I...I don't have it with me." He got a stare...or at least he thinks it was as the helmet focused on him. "Um...yeah see I left it in a safe place while I did THIS mission. I wasn't exactly supposed to get captured, so..."

He was interrupted by a firm question, "Where?"

Iri swallowed, maybe he would be left high and dry here...he hoped not, "Bespin. Cloud city. I hid it in a little case I stuck behind some machinery in one of the maintenance areas."

The helmet stared at him for a few moments, "Where?"

Iri was getting a little tired of this repetition, "Level 388 next to repulsorlift 471."

The beast nodded and started moving away, "Thank you."

Iri blinked as the beast started leaving him behind, striding down the hallway to a ramp, "Hey wait a minute!" The beast paused and turned. "You're not going to just leave me here are you?"

The beast grunted, "You're free. I know where the Datacard is."

Iri moved to catch up to the beast, grunting painfully, "Yeah but, ergh, you don't have my bioprint to get the case open. It has a micro thermal detonator charge that will vaporize the Datacard if anyone else tries to open it. It's practically unpickable."

The best gave a short gruff sound, "Then you will come with me." and reached over to support Iri again. Iri blinked. This person was certainly terse.

"Um, hang on one minute..." Iri cautiously said.

The beast paused and seemed to stare at him.

"Uh, look...I have unfinished business here before I can go. I'm supposed to retrieve data from the nearby Destroyer and...um...I'd rather not leave without it."

The beast grunted, "Then you will come with me?"

Iri nodded, "Yeah...I'll follow you in...oh crap Katie!"

The helmet tilted curiously.

Iri gasped as he remembered his Astromech, "Okay it's kind of complicated. I got a Y-wing parked somewhere around here, and they don't have navigation computers."

There was no response, so he kept going...

"And without one of those I can't calculate coordinates for my hyperdrive....meaning I can't go anywhere in hyperspace. So I have an Astromech droid that copilots and does that for me so I need to find her and see if she's still in working condition. Last I saw she got shot by these assholes..." he felt his throat tightening and he cleared his throat, "So...yeah it's kind of complicated but look, if you help me with the memory core and Katie...I'll make sure you get that Datacard...deal?"

The helmet stared at him silently for a moment, "Not my job." And started to turn away.

Iri felt his heart sank but also a sense of desperation, "Come on, you're a Mercenary right? I mean, who else would be badass enough to kill all those Trandoshan like that...I can see you're quite competent and everything....probably never failed a job either, right?"

The beast paused, apparently he had regained it's attention.

"So...you don't leave jobs unfinished, right? I mean, I'd never walk away from my job...and you obviously didn't since you bothered to come find me, right? You weren't just gonna shrug and leave your client dissatisfied. I don't want to do that either. Look, I promise on my ancestors that you will get that card...right after I get that data core, okay? You, me, we'll go right there and i'll open the case and give it to you, and then we can part ways, that's it. I'll even cover expenses for the trip just to show you how much I mean it."

The helmet studied him, "Okay."

Iri felt a wave of relief come over him, "Okay first I need my equipment...can I look for it? It's kind of cold out there..."

A nod, "I will help you."

The two went back into what was apparently a freighter the Trandos were living and working in and started looking around for it. Iri found it in the same room he'd been held captive in, all shoved into his backpack, "I got it! Gimmie a minute to get dressed."

It was slightly painful getting dressed but the bacta spray had done a good job strengthening him, although that pain in his side was still not going away. He struggled a bit as he got his clothes back on but patted his blaster as he put it back in it's holster, "okay I'm good! Thanks for getting me out of that."

The beast just grunted in response and supported Iri as they left the ship back into the icy snow of Hoth.

The two made their way back to the crashed Destroyer and in through the same hatchway as before. Iri still had his light and could remember the way to where he and Katie had been ambushed. They shortly arrived there, with Iri heading right down the hallway to where Katie had been fired on, and found her about where she had slammed into the wall, tipped over on her back

"Oh no...Katie!" he rushed over to her and started examining the extent of the damage. He tried reactivating her, but several sparks from a blaster hole told him that she wouldn't just turn back on. At this point he found his eyes tearing up as he knelt over her.

The beast behind him stared silently but shortly moved closer, "Can it be repaired?"

Iri wiped a tear from his eye, trying to regain his composure, sniffling a little, "I don't know.." he rubbed his eyes to clear them and studied the damage closer, clearing his throat, "Well, it looks like the primary power systems are shot...but everything else looks okay. This would take far more than a patch job, though..." he sighed, laying a palm on Katie's case, "She can probably be fixed up by a good droid shop..."

The beast grunted, "Are there any in Cloud City?"

Iri looked up, feeling a bit of hope, "hey, yeah. There probably are some good ones up there...um, if you're willing to take her"

The beast pulled the nonfunctional droid away from Iri and lifted it up, "Yes."

Iri felt a surge of relief, "Thank you...she means an awful lot to me..." he swallowed to keep his composure, "Okay so it's behind this big door over here..."

Iri pointed out the door and went to the panel he had been studying before, pulling out some of the wiring again and examining it. His mind flashed back to that dream he had and he dug some more, finding some of the wiring that looked about right, "You know...if we could power the motors that controlled the locks, we could unlock the door directly and pry it open. But...katie is out of action...Dang, she could have zapped the door open."

The beast looked at the wires, "They need a charge?"

Iri nodded and held them up, "yeah these two should work."

The beast grabbed them and appeared to study them for a moment, then a sudden glow surprised Iri briefly as the wires, and the door, suddenly came to life. The central component rotated into an unlocked position and then the glow died down. Iri stared, surprised.

"How did you do that?"

The beast shrugged and moved to the door, studying it and then grunting with a growl as he strained against the metal. The beast grunted with effort as the door shifted, followed by the high-pitched grating of metal on metal as he pushed it open enough that Iri and itself could fit through.

Iri stared, "Holy Sith, you're as strong as a wookie!"

The beast just quietly motioned.

Iri entered and shone his light around, "Okay...uh...okay here!" He found a control bank full of buttons, switches, and so forth, and a terminal port where Katie could have prodded the system. He sighed as he realized Katie was unavailable. "Okay um...I need to find the memory core give me a minute." He pried open several panels to find one that had a memory core inside, "Here it is..." and looked it over through the opening. It looked intact for the most part, but that didn't mean the data inside it was. Iri sat back on his haunches and pondered for a moment. "I need to power this for a minute so I can do an integrity check on the core...see if it's worth taking."

The beast moved over and started feeling around at the panels and systems...then shoved his or her hand inside, feeling about at the wiring. A moment later part of the panel lit up.

Iri was shocked, he didn't have a battery, yet somehow things were waking up around this creature.

"Be quick." the beast grunted.

Iri jumped over to the terminal and quickly set it up for an integrity scan of the memory core. It went through and came back with some corruption, but not enough that a data expert couldn't fill in the gaps. "Oh wow, this is perfect!" The terminal died just after he said that and he looked over at the beast, who had withdrawn his hand and was leaning against the terminal. "You okay?"

The beast nodded quietly and watched what Iri did next. Iri pulled the cables and connections that linked the data core to the system and undid the mounting bolts before pulling at it to remove it. He found he was still weak as he grunted against it. The beast moved in to gently move him aside and grab the handle, yanking it out in one smooth motion before setting it down on the floor.

Iri blinked at the latest show of strength, "That works great...this should be all I need. Unfortunately I can't just go on my own since my ship is useless for hyperspace without Katie so..."

The beast nodded, "I will take you to Cloud City."

Iri nodded, "Yeah...that much would be good. I'll pay the expenses like I said!"

The beast nodded back, "My ship isn't far." and picked up the data core and the droid, "Be vigilant."

Iri nodded enthusiastically and drew his blaster to provide the beast cover while they made their way out to the snow covered plains outside. Iri wondered about this beast that had come to save him, but was glad he, or she, did...he didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth but was brimming with questions about who or what this being was. He watches the being's back as they walked in the snow, it certainly was as tall as wookie, with wings. He was mystified by it...but hoped that he might get to know it better. His eyes traveled down to those digitgrade boots, finding them rather nice to look at, with a pleasant matte polish. He wondered what it might be like to polish them, possibly as a token of thanks for his rescue, but drew his attention back to the tasks on hand and followed the beast to their ship.

Iri found himself walking up to a matte black ship of Mon Calamari design, at least he was sure it was one of theirs, with the bulbous look of the engine areas. "Wow is that yours?"

The beast nodded as he keyed a code into the cargo lift, which dropped down and both of them stepped on. It rose up after a moment, rising into a mostly empty cargo hold. Iri looked around curiously, seeing only a crate or two stashed in a corner. The beast set the droid, and the data core, off to the side and made his way through a doorway into a hall which had a few doors on the sides and one more at the end.

Iri followed curiously, "uff... to be honest, I don't feel too great and I haven't eaten in awhile..."

The beast paused and moved to a doorway, inside was a double bunk cabin that looked rather comfy. The beast motioned, "I have bactade and food. First, the coordinates for Bespin." The beast then turned and made his way forward through the door at the end.

Iri looked longingly at the bunks but figured he could stay awake for a little while longer and followed to the cockpit at the front of the ship, which had two seats. The beast motioned to one of the seats and went into one of the rooms that was behind the cockpit to either side of the entrance they came in from. Iri sat down and watched the beast go inside. Iri sighed as he relaxed in the chair, feeling rather comfortable, noting the other chair was somewhat larger, a good fit for the beast's stature. Iri relaxed as he looked out the window.

Snow was majestically falling from the sky, landing on the nose of the ship and even on the viewport itself. It was peaceful, quiet, and beautifully serene. A sharp contrast to the fighting he had just experienced, and the history of the planet. It's no wonder the rebels had a secret base here, and no wonder the empire showed up to try and destroy them.

After several minutes the beast returned, this time without the armor or much of anything else save a pair of shorts, and red-lensed goggles. It was striking, a tall black skinned creature with wings, and a strong physique, quite intimidating. Iri stared briefly at the beast's strong physique, with a lightly visible musculature of pecs, abs, and biceps. It's skin was defiant of his gaze, seeming to absorb the light that hit it and was unnaturally dark and difficult to discern. Further up the beast had a strong, short, snout with fangs that poked out from it's upper lip and pointed ears that shifted periodically.

"Now...directions to Bespin." The beast sat down in the other seat and with a push of a button the lights dimmed significantly, Iri blinked a bit at the change, then noticed the beast took the goggles off, revealing glowing red eyes that sent a shiver up his spine.

"Wow...you're...quite impressive."

He got a stoic look, with a raised eyeridge over one of those creepy eyes.

"Um hey...what's your name? I mean..you know mine but..."

A smirk, "I am called Shalmendo."

Iri tilted his head, that was an interesting name. "Shalmendo what?"

Shalmendo looked down at the panels, arranging for takeoff and starting the engine warming up, "Just Shalmendo. We do not use last names."

Iri found himself more curious, "uhm...we? Sorry, i'm just really curious."

Without missing a beat Shalmendo kept starting up the systems, "Garrighol. My people are called Garrighol."

Iri wiggled a bit in the seat, "ooh that's a neat name...Garrighol..."

Shalmendo sniffed as the engines powered up, "Almost ready."

Iri wiggled as he punched in the coordinates for Bespin, eager to get off the planet for a while, glancing at the displays. It seemed Shalmendo was an okay pilot as he finished the startup sequence and the craft took off into the snowy sky.

"Oh man am I glad to be out of there...." he sighed as he put his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes. He cherished the hum of the engines and everything, when the ship suddenly shook and an alarm started going off. His eyes snapped open and he looked down at the display. A ship was firing on them!

Shalmendo grunted and flipped on the shields, "Unexpected company. Can you gun?" He was apparently unperturbed by the sudden threat.

Iri nodded, "Yeah!" and grabbed the controls, activating the gunnery system and orienting the turret on the bottom of the ship to start firing back at the ship following them. It looked like the ship they had left! Iri's eyes widened, "I think..that's the same ship I was captive in..."

"It seems so." came the terse reply as Shalmendo focused on piloting, twisting the ship to dodge the incoming fire.

Iri gritted his teeth as he fired through the turret, not wanting to be taken captive again, "Can you get us out of here?"

Shalmendo grunted as he glanced at an upper panel, "If you provide adequate cover." Iri nodded, "Right!" and focused on his shooting, the turret was decently powerful but he was having difficulty landing any shots, probably due to his weakness and tiredness, "I'm not sure I can..." he mumbled after a moment. His tiredness and combination of the erratic movements of the attacking ship was making it surprisingly hard to target solidly.

The ship was rising eagerly into the sky on maximum engine power, screeching it's way up out of the atmosphere, hopefully they could jump into hyperspace quickly when they got out of the gravity well. Iri gritted his teeth as he continued to try and provide cover for their escape, but the difficulty was concerningly persistent. Iri was starting to feel kind of exasperated when the rear shield went down, accompanied by an alarm.

Shalmendo reached over and activated a backup, which brought the shield back up again, "Only one backup for the rear and front." he noted, making Iri feel a sense of alarm.

Iri focused harder on the attacking ship as they left the atmosphere, but still had difficulty.

Shalmendo grunted, "Good." as the blue of Hoth's atmosphere fell away, and reached over to push a button causing a notable explosion on the vessel chasing them. It careened to the side and spun out of control. Iri stared, wondering what had just happened.

"What was that??"

Shalmendo checked some displays, "remote thermal detonator hidden near the outer hull."

Iri paused, when did Shalmendo do that? It must have been in the silence before Shalmendo showed up and freed him from the floor. "That..was really thoughtful."

Shalmendo started preparing for the jump to light speed, letting the astronav computer calculate the coordinates. Once that was done he pushed the appropriate lever forward. The hyperdrive wound up...then chugged and sputtered.

Iri blinked, "...uh?"

Shalmendo gruffed and fiddled with some of the controls, checking a display then gave a notable growl of annoyance, "hyperdrive is out."

Iri facepawed, "Great..."

Shalmendo tried the drive again, to no effect, "Patience."

Iri sighed, "Do you know how long it'll take to get to Bespin on sublight?"

Shalmendo gruffed as he reached up to adjust some of the controls on the overhead panel, apparently attempting some kind of bypass.

Iri fidgeted, "hey, why didn't you blow them up right away?"

"Not enough explosion power by itself. Needed to wait for the vacuum of space to make it more effective."

Iri realized that was pretty smart since a thermal detonator by itself, especially the kind he had seen on the bandolier wouldn't have been enough to do that on it's own. The small explosion would have only made a minor hole in the ship's hule, but with the vacuum of space the escaping atmosphere probably ripped it much larger and also caused an explosive decompression doing much more damage, and saving their lives, "So now what?"

Shalmendo flipped a few switches and the jump to hyperspeed occured, the stars turning into a streak of light.

Iri jumped, "what...how did you fix it so fast??"

Shalmendo glanced over, "Didn't. Have a backup."

Iri blinked, damn that was fortunate!

Shalmendo continued, "It's class 10."

Iri realized what this meant, "It's going to take a bit to get there then... he leaned over to look at Shalmendo's displays. "Oh, well...I guess 3 days isn't bad...I mean, I want to rest a bit anyway."

Shalmendo nodded, "Rest in the bunk. I'll get you some food."

They both departed from the cockpit and Iri went to the room Shalmendo had offered. It was a lovely room with twin bunks a wardrobe, and a few other touches one would find on a passenger ship. It was nicely outfitted. He climbed up to sit on the bunk, relaxing with a sigh. Shortly afterwards Shalmendo came in with a bottle and some packets of food, already heated.

"Here, drink this first."

Iri grabbed the miniature bottle and looked down at the it, seeing it was full of icky looking brown liquid. The label called it 'bactade', and was probably a good idea to take in his condition.he drank it, grimacing as he noticed the contents had a nasty chalky taste, but he drank the whole tiny bottle of it. "Blech! Jeez that stuff is nasty...."

Shalmendo nodded, "You got pretty beat up."

Iri shuddered at the reminder, "Yeah...thanks again for getting me out of there. I'll make it up to you somehow."

Shalmendo shrugged and put the hot packets on the bed, "Eat. I'll be in my office." He turned and left.

Iri ripped open a packet and shoved the contents in his mouth. He'd had eaten these kinds of rations before, but in his hungry and weakened state it tasted like a gourmet meal. It was some kind of meat with potatoes and gravy...he moaned as he chewed it. It was delicious, juicy, and not just a bone with fleshy remnants...he opened the next packet and ate the contents of that one too. It was a bantha burger. He wolfed it down and at the final packet, some kind of dessert! It was chocolate with crispy wafers, cherry syrup, and dried ice cream. He moaned as he layed back in the bunk, savoring the flavor and his now warm and full belly. The bunk itself was comfortable, with a plush pillow, and right now it felt like he'd died and gone to heaven. He curled up, turned this way and that...and started feeling amazingly comfortable. Before he knew it, he was out like a light and dead to the world.

Some time later Iri woke up, startled at first, expecting more boots to stomp on him, then realized he was surrounded by the gentle humming of a ship in hyperdrive, and laying on a deliciously comfortable mattress, his head cradled in the cloud like caress of a pillow. He murred, yawned, and opened his eyes, seeing the sight of the bunk cabin he had been given by his rescuer. He stretched out gently, feeling a good deal better thanks to the bactade he had taken, and the nourishment from his first good meal in awhile, "mmmh."

He slowly got up, realizing he'd fallen asleep in his clothes, and carefully stood as he slipped out of the bunk. The room was nicely appointed. "Mmh, this is travelling in style...I could get used to this..." but he felt the call of nature urgently, he grunted and made his way outside, looking about. The hallway looked identical on each end so he was completely unsure which was the way to the cockpit. He picked a direction and found himself in the cargo area where Katie was still lifeless. He realized he was getting used to the low level of light that was present in most of the ship, feeling curious about it. He turned, and made his way back up, and found the cockpit where Shalmendo was checking on the displays.

Shalmendo turned his head as if somehow aware of Iri before Iri even said anything, "Better?"

Iri nodded as he moved closer, "Yeah...thanks so much, that was an amazing meal..."

Shalmendo smirked, "Just rations."

Iri slipped into the empty chair, "Yeah but I hadn't had anything real solid to eat for...awhile." he blinked and thought about this, "Actually I don't know how long I was tied down. Gosh, it seems like forever! But hey, I really appreciate your hospitality, I'll make sure to pay for everything."

Shalmendo shrugged, "Just worry about the Datacard."

Iri nodded, "well, okay, if you say so...um hey listen, why is the light level so low in here?"

Shalmendo glanced at Iri with those glowing red eyes. Now that the light level was so low he felt a little startled to find that they lacked pupils. They were just a blank glowy red. "My eyes. Used to twilight."

Iri nodded, "ohhhh....yeah okay that makes sense...no worry, then, I can see just fine." That was a bit of a fib, he could -mostly- see just fine. His eyes weren't as well adapted to darkness as the Garrighol's were, but he didn't want to impose on him. He knew that some nocturnal races couldn't stand bright light because it hurt their eyes and he wasn't about to impose on someone who just rescued him any more than he had to. "Um do you have a refresher in here somewhere?"

Shalmendo pointed to one of the doors at the back of the cockpit, to either side of the main hall door, "There."

Iri nodded and rushed over to it, "Thanks..I could REALLY use a shower, oh my god...I hope you don't mind if I take a long one?"

Shalmendo shrugged, although Iri couldn't see that due to the darkness. In fact, all Iri could see was the glowing eyes and the way they floated in the dark was incredibly creepy and disconcerting. "Feel free."

Iri nodded and stepped in..looking around it was a decently appointed Refresher with a sink, shower, toilet, sanitizer, and all the things one would expect in a comfortable home. He sighed as he dropped his pants and make use of the toilet to empty his screaming bladder. Once he had taken care of his business he turned his focus to the shower.

Iri discovered the shower was sonic, and felt mildly disappointed it wasn't a sanisteam. Sanisteam would have felt much nicer on his scales with the hot water, but he figured a sonic shower was better than none and turned it on. Waves of low pitched sound washed over his body, dislodging all the dirt and loose scales that had build up. He moaned softly as he gave himself into the pulsing of the system and closed his eyes as it washed over his body and practically massaged it. He tweaked the control a bit to make the pulsing stronger, reveling in the relaxing waves that practically caressed his body, working out all the tension from his ordeal.

About an hour later, Iri stepped out of the sonic shower feeling practically like a new man, aside from that lingering pain in his side...Even with the bactade it wasn't quite stopping. He decided to mention it to the Garrighol and slipped his clothes back on, feeling incredibly relaxed and renewed. He stepped out, looking for Shalmendo who wasn't in the cockpit. A moment later one of the side doors opened and he stepped through, his eyes marking his location.

Iri smiled, "Oh man I feel..so new...you know? God I didn't know it was possible to feel that bad. Um hey one thing though, this pain isn't going away...in my side here?" Iri pointed it out.

Shalmendo grunted, "Rest in your bunk. I will get something."

Iri nodded and made his way to the bunk while Shalmendo went into the cargo hold. Iri sighed as he lay down in the bunk, feeling again how comfortable it was compared to that harsh floor. Shalmendo returned with what looked like a fully outfitted medical backpack and pulled out the diagnosis unit. He applied it to Iri and observed it while it did some automated scans.

"Injury detected" read out a calm automated voice, "Fracture detected in right rib, recommend resetting and microsplinting. Current user medical skill insufficient." The machine whirred a moment, "Previous Bacta application detected, patient is stable. Recommend patient rest until visit to medical facility."

Iri winced, "Oh that's why it's been hurting. Well I guess I'll be taking it easy."

Shalmendo nodded as he put the unit away, "You're stable."

Iri nodded, "Thanks for the checkup, I guess I won't be going into any battles anytime soon. I've had enough of that for awhile. Hey where do you keep the rations? I don't want to keep bugging you when I get hungry, and we're gonna kinda be roommates for a bit so...mind if I help myself and stuff?"

Shalmendo shook his head, "I'll show you around." and motioned. Iri hopped out of the bunk, although with a wince, and followed shalmendo to the hallway. He pointed at a door opposite, "My quarters." then pointed to another door down the hall, "Galley there."

Iri nodded, "and the cockpit has your office?"

Shalmendo nodded, "Office on the left, Armory on the right."

Iri nodded, "You have your own armory huh? Well I guess that makes sense with how much firepower you carry. Are you hungry at all, big guy?"

Shalmendo shrugged, "I don't eat often, but if you wish I will join you."

Iri smiled, "Well let me see what's in the Galley and maybe I can do something for both of us now that I'm feeling better." And made his way into the galley. It was nicely appointed with plenty of prep space, a window looking out at the strange hyperspace effect, and a comfortable eating area. He made his way over to the cabinets and started looking inside, seeing there were some fresh ingredients and the equipment to prepare it with. While he wasn't much of a chef he did want to do something for the big guy who pretty much saved his life, and he had the time, so he pulled out some ingredients and started preparing a bit of a spread for both of them. While he worked he hummed a bit and wondered why he had been given rations, then realized it was probably so he could get something in his stomach right away, and Shalmendo had the forethought to heat it up first, too.

Some minutes later he had prepared two simple, but tasty, dishes based on the ingredients and set them out on the table, the bigger one for Shalmendo. He figured that the bigger you are, the more you eat. Next, he made his way to the cockpit to find him but he wasn't in there..so he tried the office, where Shalmendo was seated and working on a terminal. "Oh hey sorry, shoulda knocked!"

Shalmendo glanced up with the dim light of the terminal on his face, apparently he had the screen modified to be dimmer, "what do you need?"

Iri smiled warmly, "Well I made us some lunch! Or uh, dinner, or something. I dunno what time of day it is but I hope you like it?"

Shalmendo stood up, and Iri went back to the galley with Shalmendo following, something about how big he was was interesting. He showed Shal the meal he had prepared and slipped into his seat.

Iri smiled, "It's just a little something but I figured I should thank you more properly for the save."

Shalmendo sniffed at it and took a bite, "Good."

Iri smiled and ate his while watching Shalmendo eat as well.

Iri enjoyed his meal immensely and made some small talk with the big creature, "So hey, I've never run into a Garrighol before. Where do you guys come from?"

Shalmendo swallowed a bite, "Used to be Garr, our homeworld, but the Empire blew that up. Now, the Mines of Kessel where they moved us."

Iri stared, "The empire blew up your homeworld? I KNEW there was a good reason I was fighting them. See I worked for the Rebel Alliance to help bring them down! They blew up the Death Star, both of them, and all that good stuff. And the Mines of Kessell...wow that's like..the worst place in the world to go. The Empire is gone though, can't you guys just...leave?"

Shalmendo swallowed a few more bites, "Don't know what's going on there now. I snuck out in a spice crate years ago."

Iri looked the Garrighol over, "wow..you've been through a lot. That must have been super dangerous and...gosh...And now you're a Mercenary?"

Shalmendo nodded as he finished off the plate, "Yes. I do work, I get paid. Worked for a hutt for awhile but...I like this better."

Iri nodded, he'd heart of the hutts and how they had their crime families, "Yeah I've heard bad things about Hutts. I don't think I'd want to work for them. So, things are better for you now? I mean you got this nice ship and all."

Shalmendo nodded, "I've established myself. Decent pay...keep myself busy. Might check into my people someday, see if they're still at Kessel."

Iri nodded, "hey uh...You know, I could look into that for you? See if I can get some info or something. I'm pretty much a scout anyway so..."

Shalmendo tilted his head, "It would be nice."

Iri smiled, "Well I'll look into it for you, then! I have to get Katie back in working order, deliver that memory core...you know, all that stuff, but I'll put out some feelers and stuff!"

Shalmendo nodded, "I would like to know."

Iri grabbed the empty plates and put them in the recycler, "Yeah don't worry, I'll take care of it as one Mercenary to another."

Shalmendo looked at him for a few moments, "Thank you. If you find something you can send a message. Will need my holocom code."

Iri nodded, "Yeah that would be good. I imagine you're kind of hard to track down."

Shalmendo nodded and had Iri follow him to his office where he produced a datacard, "Here." He set it down on the desk, "Don't share it. I don't give it out to just anyone."

Iri nodded, "oh yeah, gotta keep that stuff private, of course. I won't let anyone else have this." he nodded vigorously as he slipped it into a pocket, then yawned, "oof, I'm still tired...all that abuse..ugh..took it out of me."

Shalmendo nodded, "rest all you like."

Iri smiled, "thanks. Hey how long till we get there?"

Shalmendo moved out to the cockpit and glanced at the controls, "hm...8 hours."

Iri nodded, plenty of time to rest. He made his way back to the bunk and stripped off to nudity where he stretched into the bunk, enjoying the luxury of the covers against his bare scales, and pulled the privacy curtain closed. He smiled as he rolled about to get comfy and gave a long relaxed sigh as his head came to a final rest against the pillow, "mmmh, comfy..." He dozed off within minutes.

Much later, Iri awoke with a deep sense of satisfaction, and rest. It was like he'd slept for 100 years, and he felt like he sure needed it. He felt more awake and alive then he had over the last couple of days, minus the constant pain in his side from the cracked rib. He winced a little as he stretched, but still felt much better than he imagined he could be. He sighed as he dug into his pack to pull out some relaxed clothes to wear, mostly a simple shirt and some shorts, and slipped out to the cockpit to check on their progress.

Iri entered, finding Shalmendo seated in his chair. He could only tell by how his dark form blocked the hyperspeed tunnel visible through the cockpit's viewport. "Hey Shal. Hey do you ever sleep?"

Shalmendo turned to look at Iri with those unsettling eyes, "Rarely. Don't need it often."

"Huh." Iri moved closer to sit in the other chair. "So how much longer now? Sorry to keep nagging, just...you know, eager to make sure you get that Datacard and all."

Shalmendo checked the displays, "About an hour."

Iri smiled, "Oh good...gosh I can't believe I slept through most of this. But hey, I feel almost entirely recovered, minus that rib."

Shalmendo nodded, "Is there a medical facility you can get examined in on Cloud City?"

Iri nodded back, "Yeah, the place is a complete city, really. You can find everything there. Food, droid repair, medical care, even dancing girls and bars. They'll have everything I need, so. I'll be good. I just hope my ship is okay. Oh yeah, they can probably repair your hyperdrive too."

Shalmendo nodded as he sat back in his seat and folded his arms, "Good."

Iri yawned and stretched a little more, although cautiously due to the rib, "mmh...how about some breakfast?"

Shalmendo glanced over, "I don't eat often, but feel free."

Iri nodded, "Okay. How about coffee?"

Shalmendo nodded, "In the galley."

Iri hesitated, "Um..would you like some, though?"

Shalmendo turned to gaze at Iri for a moment, "Please."

Iri nodded and left the room, shaking himself out a little, having found that gaze disturbing, "man he's a little scary" he mused to himself as he went into the galley, locating an integrated coffee machine and the appropriate beans in a nearby cabinet. He prepared two cups and brought them in to the cockpit, offering one to the Garrighol. It was taken with a "Thank you" and Shalmendo returned to monitoring the controls as he sipped it. Iri sipped his in silence for several minutes, watching the displays, and the Garrighol.

After a bit of time, and his cup ran empty, Iri spoke up, "So hey, uh, Thanks again for the rescue and all the care. I guess you really could have just like..thrown me over your shoulder and made me open the box but, you've been real..uh..nice, and I appreciate it. How much would you charge for ferrying me, Katie, and my cargo do you think?"

Shalmendo gave his signature grunt, "Don't worry about that."

Iri scratched the back of his head nervously, shifting in his seat as he felt a little awkward, "you sure? I mean...you've been really hospitable and all..."

Shalmendo grunted again as he started to prepare to drop out of light speed, "I need you alive to retrieve the Datacard for my client."

Iri pondered that. Was the Garrighol simply ensuring the Datacard got to his client? He DID need Iri alive, but...he'd been so kind in helping Iri heal back up and making sure he was fed and comfortable. He didn't have to do any of that if he'd just extorted the Datacard out of him. He pondered the Garrighol quietly, wondering what was going on in his head. He was so quiet, and stoic, that it was impossible to tell.

Shalmendo reached up and dropped them out of lightspeed. The swirling tunnel gave way to stars, and the the gas giant, Bespin.

Iri sighed, "It'll be nice to have a whole Cloud City to run around in. Not that I felt cramped here... It's actually really luxurious in here! I've just got a little pilot seat and a slot for my droid, nothing like this. I'm kind of jealous." Iri laughed.

Shalmendo checked coordinates and started speaking to Cloud City, "Black Claw requesting landing permissions for Cloud City."

Iri blinked, Black Claw? That must have been the name of the ship, and a fitting one, too, with it's paintjob and all, although it seemed a bit bubbly shaped being a Mon Calamari ship. He didn't care, though. It was comfortable and a wonderful way to travel.

Cloud city responded, "This is cloud city, Black Claw. Transmit your registration and identification please. Declare all passengers and cargo."

Shalmendo pushed a few buttons, "Passenger Iri Keltesh, one damaged Astromech droid, that is all."

There was silence as the information was checked and arrangements made. After a few moments the callback came, "Black Claw, you are cleared for landing at docking bay 12. Your Mercenary status has been noted, please leave all weapons of any kind on board, thank you."

Shalmendo smirked and replied, "Understood."

Iri sighed as they got clearance, then realized something hadn't been declared, "um why didn't you declare the memory core?"

Shalmendo looked over, "What memory core?"

Iri blinked, then nodded, "ohhh..yeah yeah okay..."

Shalmendo got to piloting the ship into the atmosphere, "Before we disembark, have a safe place for it."

Iri nodded, "Thanks, Shal, you're really being great about this."

Shalmendo grunted as he took an approach to bespin and maneuvered to find the docking bay they had been assigned to. He extended the ship's landing gear and put it down on the pad, then motioned as he started putting the ship through a shutdown sequence. "Get the memory core."

Iri nodded, and jumped up to go fetch it from the cargo bay, dragging it to the cockpit with some effort while Shalmendo took care of all the procedures. As he entered he heard Shalmendo calling in, "Need repairs for primary hyperdrive."

Cloud City responded, "Bad hyperdrive huh? Oh ouch, did you have to run on the class 10 secondary? Must have been a long trip. Yeah we'll send a tech down to look at it!"

Iri cleared his throat and Shalmendo got up to grab the memory core and moved into the armory. Iri followed, curiously, and saw himself staring at a smallish room full of racks and containers. Guns were everywhere. Blasters pistols, rifles, etc, were carefully arranged, and there was even a workbench with some tools laid out. Iri was impressed. This guy had some serious firepower. Iri even spotted a medium blaster repeater emplacement, but it looked modified. Shalmendo shoved a rack aside, and opened a panel in the floor and lowered the core into it closing it up, then pulled the rack back into place over it.

Shalmendo grunted, "There. Well concealed."

Iri nodded, "Sure looks like it. And Wow, I didn't know you had such a nice little set up here."

Shalmendo moved to put on his goggles but not his armor, "I like to be prepared." With that he opened up a concealed drawer and took out what looked like a holdout blaster and a few ampules, stashing them on his person underneath the light clothing he was wearing. In fact, Shalmendo was just wearing a pair of shorts aside from the goggles, so Iri was curious where that blaster and energy ampules had been hidden, but made no comment.

Shalmendo adjusted his shorts a bit, "you didn't see that."

Iri nodded, "nope!" and felt a little safer for it.

The two made their way to the cargo bay in the back and disembarked on the elevator where they were met by an official and a technician. The technician asked for permission to go ahead and check out the engine which was given, while the official approached, looking, well, rather official.

The offical presented Shalmendo with a datapad, "Welcome to Cloud City Mr. Shalmendo and Mr. Keltesh. Just some formalities. A declaration of your mercenary status, declaration you've declared everything on your ship, and so forth. Need you to sign off on these here, sir."

Shalmendo signed off on the files grunting, "Left all weapons on board, as you requested."

The official smiled, "Good to hear, thank you. We often have a lot of arguments from the Mercenaries that come by not wanting to part with their weapons, but we don't want any incidents."

Iri nodded, "Yeah we don't like being without protection but rules are rules. I left mine too, of course."

The official gave his almost patronizing smile, "Thank you as well, then, we appreciate it. Helps keep the peace. Now if you'll just step over here for a quick security scan we'll get everything signed off and you can enjoy everything our fine city has to offer."

The two submitted to the quick scans, which found nothing out of the ordinary. The Official did check Iri's datapad but found it harmless so let them through.

Iri grunted a little, "damn their security got tighter since last time. I'm surprised we just got through so easy though."

Shalmendo grunted, "The Datacard?"

Iri nodded, "yeah! We'll go get that right away, um...but you won't mind if I get something to eat after? Your food was great but I'm really craving something from a nice place. You can come with! I'll pay."

Shalmendo shrugged as they proceeded into the crowds on on the top tourist deck, "I don't eat often." then looked down at Iri, "but I appreciate the offer."

Iri smiled, "So you'll come? I don't mind treating you for saving my butt."

Shalmendo looked thoughtful as they walked, then nodded, "Okay. I suppose I don't relax enough as it is."

Iri grinned, thinking about which of the fantastic restaurants Cloud City had to offer Shalmendo might get a kick out of going to. He was starting to like the big guy and he was genuinely grateful for the save, so felt it was reasonable to at least take him out to a nice place in thanks to make their last minutes together memorable ones.

The crowds didn't take too much notice of the tall black creature entering the areas but they did tend to give him some space. Iri noticed this finding it curious, but remembered how intimidating Shalmendo had seemed from the floor of the Trando ship so figured it was actually a pretty reasonable response. Regardless, they made their way through the various areas until they came to a lift, which they boarded.

Iri pushed in the code for a random level, then popped open the elevator's control panel, "Now just a little slicing trick...they don't let just anyone down there, so we kind of have to cheat a little."

Shalmendo watched as Iri plugged in his datapad and proceeded to work his slicing magic with a bypass, override, and whatever else he needed to do..and the elevator paused briefly before continuing.

Iri smiled as he unplugged his pocket computer and put it away, replacing the panel, "There....straight on to level 388."

Shalmendo nodded, folding his arms as he waited, "efficient."

Iri watched the numbers count up as they went down through the different levels and finally stopped at level 388. The two stepped out and Iri glanced around, "Okay...repulsorlift 471 is.." he turned around a couple of times as Shalmendo watched, bemused. "Oh, right this way, yeah. Sorry! it's kind of maze-like down here!"

Shalmendo followed Iri as he made his way through to the repulsorlift.

Iri chatted a little, "Yeah I thought i'd have more then enough time to grab it and meet you at the swap point but, I got tied up and stuff, so...yeah sorry about that. Wasn't my fault!"

Shalmendo just shrugged and followed Iri through the industrial area, over catwalks, down stairs, and through tight areas, grunting a little as he ducked down many times due to his stature. Finally they came to repulsorlift 471.

Iri looked around at it, "yep this is it, I stashed the box over here..." he moved over and dug behind some cable and pipework, "unf...where is it. Oh man, I hope it wasn't stolen..." He felt around a bit more, then finally felt it, "here it is...I think." and withdrew the object he'd gotten ahold of. It was the case he had described, a neutral grey with a pad on the front for a finger to be pushed against it.

Shalmendo looked at it curiously.

Iri smiled a bit, "It only open safely for me so, here we go." he pushed his thumb to it and a green light came on, after which he lifted the cover open, and revealed the Datacard inside. "Here it is." He lifted it up out of the case, stashing the case in a pocket, and held it out to the Garrighol.

Shalmendo sighed a little and took the card, looking it over and nodding as he put it into a pocket, "Thank you. My client will be pleased."

Iri nodded, glad that was all finished. "I am too, actually! That's all done and sorted out now. Anyway, like I said...I'm kind of hungry so, I'd like to take you somewhere if you're up for it."

Shalmendo glanced around the industrial area with it's dark lighting, steaming pipes, and otherwise inhospitable area, "Yes, that'd be nice."

Iri smiled and the two made their way back out to the elevator, and up to the tourist decks again. Shalmendo stretched out once he left the lift, wings spreading out for a moment before shuffling in the air a moment more and folding up again. Iri wiggled a little, finding the display rather impressive. He wondered what his own kind was like back when they supposedly had wings.

Iri glanced around, "So...do you feel like anything in particular?"

Shalmendo shrugged, "Whatever you like."

Iri considered this as they walked out into the sunlight among the crowd, "well, there's this one place. It's not too classy but it's pretty nice. I think it's on deck 4. Called Buzu's."

Shalmendo nodded, "lead the way."

Iri lead Shalmendo back into the elevator and down to deck four where Iri showed him to a smaller establishment which seemed like a mix between a bar and a restaurant. They seated themselves at a table where the Garrighol could sit comfortably, albeit on a kind of smallish chair, rather than a booth he wouldn't have fit in.

Iri felt at home, smiling as he settled into his chair, "They've got some good drinks, and they make really good dustcrepes. I think you'd love those, actually."

Shalmendo nodded, "sounds fine."

Iri wondered if it was his imagination, but it seemed like the Garrighol was becoming less terse, and a bit more talkative then he had been, but he shrugged that off.

The waiter, a short spider-like creature with six arms, wiggly palps, at least four eyes, and blueish fur, approached, with a congenial palp wiggle "Welcome to Buzu's. Would you two like something to drink?"

Shalmendo just looked at Iri, who smiled and ordered for both of them, "yes please. My friend is new here so why don't you get him a couple Sonic Screwdrivers, make them both triples, he's kind of on the big side. And I'll take a Corellian Ale."

The waiter nodded and palp wiggled, turning to Shalmendo, "I hope you enjoy your first time, sir." he then returned his focus to Iri, "And anything to eat for you gentlemen?"

Iri thought briefly, "I think...Yeah, He'll take...uh...four dustcrepes. And I'll take..mmh, a big bowl of tauntaun chowder!"

The waiter palpwiggled, nodded, jotted down the orders on a datapad and cheerily bounced to the kitchen to put it in.

Iri smiled, "Dustrcrepes are really good, they're like this bread stuffed with meat. I think four will be sufficient for ya. And the drink is pretty wild. Do you like alcohol?" Iri realized he forgot to check.

Shalmendo shrugged, "Sometimes. We'll see."

Shortly the waiter brought the drinks, setting them down on the table, "Your food will be ready in a couple of minutes, Gentlemen. Enjoy!"

Iri chuckled after the waiter left, "He's kind of bouncy."

Shalmendo shrugged and sniffed at one of the glasses. The liquid was blue, and slightly glowy, probably just fluorescing under the restaurant lighting. He sipped it, then his ears wiggled lightly and and he drank down the rest of the glass, "Hmm...nice."

Iri laughed as he saw the Garrighol's ears express themselves like that and sipped on his own. "Glad you like it, I wasn't sure if you would."

Shalmendo sipped on the other glass, seeming to relax a little. "It's nice."

The food arrived at this time, with the waiter setting down a large plate with the four dustcrepes on it and a smallish cauldron for Iri, providing cutlery for both of them, "here you are gentlemen, enjoy!" then palped at Shalmendo, "These are on the house, sir, to thank you for giving us a shot." and made his way to other customers.

Iri smiled as he grabbed his spoon and dug into the tauntaun chowder, "mmh, I forgot how good this was."

Shalmendo picked up one of the crepes, sniffed at it, then took a bite out of half of it, chewing it thoughtfully before swallowing it down and popping the other half into his mouth.

Iri looked up expectantly, "Like it?"

Shalmendo nodded, "It has a nice meat texture inside." and proceeded to put the second entirely into his mouth to chew it thoughtfully.

Iri chuckled at the display of gastronomic talent and proceeded to enjoy the chowder immensely.

About 20 minutes later Iri settled up the tab with the spidery waiter and they contentedly made their way out of the restaurant and back out to the deck.

Iri sighed, "Man, I didn't think I'd ever eat here again. It's amazing how an ordeal like that really gets to you." he shook his head as he patted Shalmendo on the arm softly without thinking about it.

Shalmendo peered down at Iri, who chuckled nervously.

"Eheh, sorry about that, just wanted to let you know I really appreciate everything."

Shalmendo nodded, "It's fine. You're welcome." He gazed over the crowds, "I haven't been here before." and looked down at Iri's bright purple eyes, "I appreciate this, too."

Iri beamed, "Yeah? Actually, I've really enjoyed your company. Like a lot. You not only saved my tail, but you've been really great about it and everything. Um...there is something though."

The two proceeded to walk through the crowds, mostly headed back to the Black Claw.

Shalmendo grunted, "hm?"

Iri fidgeted with his fingers a little, "Well, I know I've been kind of an imposition this whole time but I wondered if you wouldn't mind waiting while I got Katy fixed up and maybe ferrying me and her to the Republic base I was supposed to turn this into...and then maybe back to my ship? Would that be too much?" Iri swallowed, feeling nervous and not wanting to impose any more, but was also not sure he could find passage to all his destinations, let alone Hoth.

Shalmendo folded his arms as he looked down at the slowly-growing-timid Argothae. "Well..." he sounded thoughtful as he looked down at the greenish creature that had travelled with him.

Iri tailtwitched, hoping he hadn't pushed the Garrighol too far.

After a few moments Shalmendo shrugged, "Why not. I doubt anyone here is going to Hoth anytime soon. Hm. 80 credits."

Iri tilted his head at the low price, thinking 'just 80? That's about as much as a taxi on Coruscant would charge to take someone across the city.. Hardly a fitting price for a journey to Hoth and more.' Iri wiggled a bit, "Why so low?"

Shalmendo looked down at Iri, "It's fair."

Iri took a moment to realize that the Garrighol wasn't being naive about the pricing, but was instead giving him a big break to help him out. 80 credits probably wasn't even enough to cover the expenses of just the fuel for the trips. A wave of appreciation broke over him and he hugged Shalmendo's torso, "Thank you! This means so much."

Shalmendo looked down at the smaller reptile hugging him, not quite sure how to react. But it gave him a flashback to someone else he used to know, and he found himself with his palm gently on top of Iri's head, "I'm...glad to help." he said after a moment, withdrawing his hand.

Iri felt the large strong hand on his head so gently and blushed, withdrawing after a moment, "Yeah thanks so much...so hey, I'm going to go get Katie fixed and uh...I'll keep in touch?" Shalmendo nodded, "I believe I can find my way back."

The two parted there for the time being. Shalmendo returned to the Black Claw to check in with the technician repairing the hyperdrive, while Iri went to find a place to fix Katie. He shortly did and made his way back into the Black Claw, calling out to Shalmendo as he rode the cargo lift up.

"Hey Shal, I found a place to fix Katie, would you mind helping me haul her over there?"

Shalmendo appeared from the hallway, "Lead the way." and went to pick up Katie and put her over his shoulder.

Iri admired the Garrighol's strength as he handled Katie so easily, remembering how it was a bit of an inconvenience to haul her up to the lip of the maintenance hatch back on Hoth. Together, the two made their way to a droid repair shop on the lower levels. The two weaved their way through crowds until Iri found the shop he had located earlier.

Once inside Iri showed Shalmendo where to put the droid and Shalmendo simply stood off to the side with his arms folded, and a typical stoic expression while Iri dealt with the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper was an Ugnaught who seemed a bit startled at Shalmendo's appearance, "Uh is this the droid you wanted repaired?" he wandered over to look it over briefly, "Oooh, a blaster shot. And straight to the power system too." He winced and shook his head, "probably going to have to completely replace the power system, and the shell of course. Won't be too expensive, about 400 credits. That sound fair?"

Iri nodded, "Yes that sounds fine. How soon can you have her ready?"

The shopkeeper looked up at Iri, "her? Oh a girl Astromech? Heh, that's cute."

Iri smirked, "Yeah I call her Katie."

The shopkeeper smiled a bit, "Well I can probly get to her tomorrow or so...probably have her ready by the end of the day tomorrow or the next day."

Shalmendo grunted, causing the porcine shopkeeper to look up, way up, at him, "We'd prefer if this could be done today, soon."

The shopkeeper swallowed, "Um well, I think I could do that but it'd be a rush order in that case...And only if we happen to have a power unit for this R3 in stock...but..." He seemed to grow more nervous at the goggled gaze of the Garrighol, "It'll cost a bit extra.."

Iri intervened, noticing that Shalmendo just tended to be intimidating by default due to his stature and appearance, "Yeah how much would that be, mister?"

The shopkeeper regained his composure, "ah well...I'd have to charge around um...550 credits?" He glanced up at the slight scowl on Shalmendo's face, "but I'll have it done in a couple of hours! Guaranteed!"

Iri nodded, "hey that'd be great. Here, let me pay you up front. You just call us on the Black Claw, okay?" Iri put the required credits up on the counter.

The shopkeeper nodded and started shouting to his assistants to come get the droid ready for repairs immediately.

Shalmendo and Iri walked out of the shop, and Iri looked up at the tall being, "Hey uh...did you have to intimidate that guy so much?"

Shalmendo paused and looked at Iri quizzically, "What do you mean?"

Iri blinked, realizing that perhaps Shalmendo didn't do it intentionally, "Well, when you said we wanted it done today..."

Shalmendo tilted his head curiously, "Don't we?"

Iri thought about this for a moment, "Well...I guess I don't want to wait too long to get that memory core in, but...We could have been nicer about it."

Shalmendo stared for a moment, "Nicer?"

Iri sighed a bit, this was going to take some explaining, "Right okay, well when you demanded him do it today, you didn't say please or anything like that and you kind of glared at him, you know?"

Shalmendo said nothing.

Iri chewed his lip a bit, "I guess you don't...Okay standing tall over someone and looking at them without being nice and smiling and stuff is kind of...scary."

Shalmendo grunted, "It's not my fault he was so short."

Iri nodded, "okay yeah, but you didn't really ask nicely."

Shalmendo grunted again "It was business. He could have said no, or later..."

Iri nodded, "Yeah I guess so...okay nevermind." he thought about that. It didn't sound like Shalmendo intentionally scared the Ugnaught but might have done so accidentally because he didn't know any better. Probably due to cultural differences between him and other species. Something maybe he could talk to Shalmendo about later.

They made their way back to the black claw and Shalmendo checked in with the tech about the hyperdrive. Iri watched them talking.

The technician had a panel on the underbelly of the ship open and wires were strewn everywhere, "Oh hey there ya are, boss. Yeah so, your primary hyperdrive is pretty much shot to shit here. It took a good hit. Ruined your paintjob, too. But don't worry! We got a spare, and It's already on the way, so we'll just swap that out and you'll be golden. If you wanna wait a bit we can patch the hole in your armor and repaint it, too."

Shalmendo asked, "how long for all that?"

The technician thought about it, "Eh about a couple of hours. Swapping out the hyperdrive will just take about an hour, Then another hour for the patch and paint, no problem."

Shalmendo thought about this, "That will be acceptable."

The technician nodded, "I see ya got custom durasteel plates on this baby, nice stuff. Unlucky shot though, right where the plates meet, but we'll patch it up for ya like new. And with a nice touch up on the paint, you won't notice the difference." and went off to put in the additions to the order.

Iri winced a bit as he looked at the shot engine, "Wow...I'm really sorry about that damage. How much will it cost?"

Shalmendo shrugged, "I can afford it."

Iri nodded, "yeah but how much?"

Shalmendo responded, "probably a couple of thousand credits or so for the drive."

Iri winced at the cost, "Can I help you cover some of it?"

Shalmendo shook his head, "that was an expense incurred as part of the job. I needed you alive to retrieve the Datacard."

Iri felt a little uncomfortable with the businesslike view on needing him alive but figured that if it was going to save him some credits and his life...he better not push it. "Well, I'm sorry still...you went through a lot to get me."

Shalmendo shrugged, "part of the job for the Datacard."

Iri wondered if Shalmendo might be putting that charge to the client but figured that was his business. They weren't exactly partners or anything. "Well hey i'm gonna go see some sights and stuff. You can come along if you want?"

Shalmendo shrugged, "I will see to my ship."

Iri nodded, "Well okay. I'll come on back later. Don't take off without me, now!" And made his way back out to the tourist areas, mostly to find a medical facility where he could get his rib looked at. This took an hour and he shortly made his way back to the Black Claw.

Iri found Shalmendo watching the Techs finish installing the drive and get started on patching the plating on site with some special machinery.

Iri walked over, "Hey shal."

Shalmendo looked down quietly at him.

Iri shifted his stance a little, "I got my rib looked at, found a clinic a few levels down, feels much better. They said the bacta you gave me stabilized it well so it wouldn't get any worse and after they reset it and gave me some bacta injections it should heal up in a couple of days. You're a pretty crack medic."

Shalmendo nodded, "Good."

Iri glanced over to the ship, "Is the Black Claw going to be okay?"

Shalmendo grunted, "It will be fine. Hyperdrive checked out. Working on the armor now."

Iri smiled, "oh good. It's a really lovely ship, she deserves a good repair job."

Shalmendo just nodded and watched.

Iri watched with him but grew rather bored after only a few minutes, yawning, "oof, Have you been standing here this whole time?"

Shalmendo nodded, "Yes."

Iri looked up at him, "A whole hour?"

Shalmendo nodded again.

Iri blinked, "how can you just..stand still for so long like that?"

Shalmendo shrugged, "It feels fine to me. But I have noticed many others get fidgety and tired after awhile."

Iri nodded, yawning again, stifling it with his hand "oof, yeah like me...right now..." he shook himself out to wake himself up a little, "mmf, sorry, not sure how you can stand it. I'm gonna go check on Katie, okay?"

Shalmendo grunted in understanding, and Iri shook his head and made his way down to check on the progress of the droid.

The shopkeeper looked a little nervous as he Iri walked in, "Here to check on your droid?"

Iri nodded with a pleasant smile, "Yeah. And hey, sorry about my friend...it seems like he doesn't know how intimidating he is and all. So don't worry, I won't be mad if you have to delay a bit."

The shopkeeper looked visibly relieved, "Well you're kind of in luck. Your droid suffered a rather clean shot and it was fairly easy to get the old power system out, although it was pretty melted. It hadn't fused hardly any to anything else so we were able to get it out with only a little bit of work. We're installing the new system now and we've got a replacement for the shell. It's not the same paint job but it's an R3 shell so it should fit just right."

Iri smiled, "that's great news...how long?"

The shopkeeper seemed more at ease now, "Well, we're almost done getting the new power system hooked up, then we have to test the connections and do some circuit tests...then put the new shell on. We'll have it done in about 45 minutes."

Iri nodded, "Great, that sounds about perfect." Inside he was practically jumping for joy as he was eager to have Katie recovered from that nasty shot and in working condition again." He made his way back out and meandered around the various shops and stalls, seeing some interesting items, but knowing he should keep his credits safely in his pocket. Hopefully the pay for the job would make up for the repair costs. He found a bench nearby the shop to rest on and watched the people going by. There were a lot of different species intermingling but none were as striking as the Garrighol. He wondered if there were any other Garrighol that had gotten out of the Kessel mines, and remembered his promise to check into it. He nodded to himself, he owned Shalmendo that much, just for saving his life, but also for all the extra hospitality, and helping him take care of Katie. He realized he was feeling pretty warmly about the big stoic guy and chuckled to himself, thinking what an unlikely friend he was.

Roughly 45 minutes later he wandered back into the repair shop where the shopkeeper was waiting.

Iri smiled, "How is she?"

The shopkeeper smiled back, "why don't you let her tell you?"

Katie wheeled out from behind the counter, having been waiting for Iri to return, and sped right up to him with a joyful squeal of a greeting.

Iri gasped and knelt down to hug the droid warmly, "Katie you're okay now!"

The droid rapidly told Iri a few things and he smiled, feeling tears welling up in his eyes.

Iri hugged his favorite droid a little more, "I thought i'd lost you..that you were just a pile of junk, I'm so glad to see you working again."

The shopkeeper chuckled a bit and Iri suddenly blushed, feeling embarrassed at his show of affection for the Astromech, "uh we...we've been through alot..."

The shopkeeper waved a hand with a smile, "You don't have to explain it to me, kid. I know, trust me. I'd be brokenhearted if I lost Jacob."

Iri beamed, realizing the shopkeeper understood his feelings and nodded, "Thanks so much for this."

The shopkeeper smiled and nodded, "It was worth it to see that little scene there. One thing though, next time? Maybe ask your big friend to wait outside, huh?"

Iri laughed, "Yeah I'll do that, thanks again!" Iri made his way out of the shop with Katie in tow, bleeping her happiness at being with Iri again. Iri wiped his eyes dry, feeling like he was on cloud 9. He kind of was, in a way, being in Cloud city.

Once back at the docking bay he gave Katie a little pre-talk before taking her in, "Okay Katie, this guy is like, REALLY tall...he's as big as a wookie, and he's all black and intimidating but he seems really gentle. Besides, he took the time to carry you all the way to his ship so, don't be scared. Okay?"

Katie bleeped in the affirmative cheerfully.

The two of them entered the bay, and Iri found Shalmendo looking at the paint job and paying the technician the credits for the engine repairs and hull patches.

Shalmendo nodded, "Good work on the paint."

The technician smiled a little nervously, "Thanks, boss, I figured you really loved her to have so many nice touches 'n all." Then took his credits and made his way out of the docking bay.

Iri smiled, "all patched up?"

Katie twittered curiously.

Shalmendo looked down at the droid, "I could ask the same."

Iri laughed, "Yeah she's all fixed up...I'll have to get her repainted but that's a minor problem."

Shalmendo nodded, "All fixed here as well."

Iri nodded and patted Katie's dome affectionately, "Katie, this is Shalmendo who not only rescued me from those Trandoshan, but you too."

Katie wheeled forward, bleeping and blipping her thanks.

Iri chuckled, "She says a big thank you."

Shalmendo looked down at the chirpy little droid, "You're welcome." then to Iri, "all set then?"

Iri nodded, "Yep it should be all good now. Katie is repaired, and it looks like your ship is too. Class 1 hyperdrive now?"

Shalmendo nodded, "Yes. Fully functional."

Katie twittered.

Iri smiled, "Yeah that too." and showed Katie onto the lift. Shalmendo followed and they all rose up into the ship to get ready for the next trip to the New Republic's office.

They made their way into the cockpit, with Katie making curious sounds as she looked around, and twittered comments.

Shalmendo seemed rather fascinated by the droid, watching it wheel around and examine the controls in the cockpit. It found a standard terminal port and bleeped a question.

Iri relayed the question to the Shalmendo, "Uh, she wants to know if she can plug into the terminal there and look your ship over? She won't do anything to it, I promise."

Shalmendo looked at the little droid thoughtfully, "Sure." as he lowered the lighting to minimum and slipped his goggles off, rubbing at one of his eyes briefly.

Katy bleeped and extended her data arm plugging it in and chirping softly as she explored the ship's systems and examined it's schematics.

Iri chuckled, "Katie likes the backup systems. Anyway, Yeah we need to head to Chandrila where the New Republic capitol is, in the Core worlds there. I gotta drop it off with this one officer I was hired by."

Shalmendo nodded and started the preparations for takeoff. Iri settled into the copilot chair, relaxing, although feeling just a little bit of discomfort in his side from where his rib had been reset and splinted, but it wasn't that annoying kind of deep pain he was having before, it felt like it was really healing now. Iri sighed, watching Katie explore the ship's computer. Katie's dome turned and she bleeped a few sentences, and a question.

Iri looked at her, "Huh. Hey Shal?"

The Garrighol paused a moment to gaze at Iri in that slightly unsettling way without saying anything.

Iri was starting to get just a little used to it, "Katie would like to know if you'd like her to handle the flight for you. She'd like to do it to show her appreciation for helping us out. She's perfectly capable. She flies my Y-wing all the time while I read or do other stuff."

Shalmendo seemed to ponder this for a moment, "Hm. Yes."

Iri grinned, glad he got a chance to show off Katie's talents, "Go ahead Katie."

Katie twittered for a moment and took over the flight preparations which went noticeably faster. Even the engines warmed up a bit sharper than usual. Shalmendo watched the displays curiously, then Katie twittered again.

Iri translated as there wasn't a translator built into the ship, seeing as it wasn't meant to be carrying astromech crew, "She's already to go, you just have to get permission to take off from the Cloud City authorities."

Shalmendo nodded and contacted them, "Black Claw requesting permissions for takeoff."

Cloud City responded after a few moments, "Granted, Black Claw. You've got a clear departure through airway six. Come back soon."

Iri nodded to the droid, "Okay Katie, take it easy until you get used to the engine power, okay?"

Katie twittered again, and Iri couldn't help smile. It was so good to have her company again. The ship rose up on the sublight engines as Katie retracted the landing gear, locked the cargo lift, and took care of a few other details in rapid succession. All while the ship was positioning into the appropriate airway, then accelerated up and out the layer of Bespin's atmosphere. Shalmendo watched with interest as Katie handled all the maneuvers to leave the gas giant's gravity well, then bleeped a question.

Iri nodded, "She wants to know if you'd like her to handle the jump through hyperspace as well."

Shalmendo shrugged, "Why not."

Katie twittered and collaborated with the Black Claw's computer to calculate the hyperspace coordinates and the ship shortly jumped into hyperspace with Katie piloting.

Shalmendo grunted, "Interesting. Efficient."

Iri nodded, "Yeah she's quite a useful little droid, despite her age."

Katie blatted.

Iri laughed, "You're much better than those R4's!"

Shalmendo looked at Iri curiously who answered the unspoken question, "Yeah I picked her up from the crew I worked with in the Rebel Alliance, so she's been around for quite a few years. Lots of experience, and even though she's older, she's still got plenty of usefulness. I'll probably keep her around for many many years to come."

Shalmendo pondered this, then asked, "Where would I get one?"

Iri couldn't help but smile at the thought of an Astromech working with the big stoic beast, "Well there are all sorts of droid shops in different cities and ports, like the one I got Katie repaired in. Some sell older used models, while the more classy shops will sell them brand new straight from the manufacturer. I got really lucky to end up with Katie. She's a former military Astromech, and wasn't really solid to the public. Boasts some extra space for hyperspace coordinates, up to six sets, and a stronger computer then those even older R2 units. Not that the R2s suck but there are a lot of newer models around now if you want to buy new. If you want a droid like Katie and you have the credits, you might try looking into an R6 series. Those are pretty new and I've heard a lot of good things about them."

Shalmendo nodded quietly.

Iri looked over to Katie, "Hey Kates, how long will our trip be?"

Katie twittered a response.

Iri sighed, "Yeah that's much faster." Then looked to Shalmendo, "She said about 6 hours. Not bad considering it would take 10 times that long on the backup drive."

Shalmendo pondered that, "Perhaps I should get an upgrade for the secondary."

Iri nodded, "That might not be a bad idea, actually. I mean, the long trip to Bespin wasn't too bad considering the comforts you got here. This is kind of like a little flying hotel sorta, but yeah I'd much rather spend hours on a trip instead of days like that. Then again I slept through most of it."

Shalmendo nodded and got up, standing tall with his naturally imposing presence, "Coffee?"

Iri smiled, "I was just thinking about that. Yes please."

Shalmendo nodded and disappeared down the hall into the galley.

Katie twittered a bit.

Iri shook his head as he turned the seat to face the droid, ""Yeah it's kind of a long story but the short of it is that after those Trandos put you out of commission, they stunned me. And sorta kept me tied to the floor on their ship and kicked me around and stuff. So like...gosh I don't know how long it was but it must have been like a couple of days or so, Shal shows up and there's a bunch of chaos, blaster fire, and all that craziness, and he takes them all out. Well sorta, he came into the room, spotted me, asked if i was Iri, which I am of course, and then some more Trandos came and he shot the chains holding me down so I could kind of fight for myself, although I had a broken rib apparently so I couldn't do much. Still, I Was able to shoot a couple of them while he dealt with several more. I think he threw a thermal detonator cuz they blew up shortly. Anyway, I got my gear back on and we went back out and to that Destroyer where we found you with a blaster hole in your case and also got the data core. It was really weird, the door was motorized and I found the wires that would have unlocked it, but you were out of commission so you could give them a zap. We didn't have another power source but Shal grabs the wires and like..makes it work anyway! I still don't know how he did that. So we get the door open, he like just goes all super beast and pushes them open with his arms, and I find the memory core in the terminal but wanted to make sure it was intact enough to bother taking. So Shal does this weird thing again where he stick his arm in there and like...turns it on somehow. I run a quick check and it's fine, so I disconnect it, but I can't lift it because of my broken rib hurting so bad, and he just picks you and the memory core up and we go back to his ship. It would have been smooth sailing from there except there must have been some survivors we didn't spot or something because the Trando ship came after us, shot out the primary hyperdrive, and we make a run for it up out of the gravity well. I can't hit crap with the turret and the rear shield goes down, except Shal kicks in the backup and keeps us intact. Then once we get out of the atmosphere he waits a minute and hits this button... then the other ship explodes and goes spinning off. Turns out he had a thermal detonator hidden somewhere on the trando ship with a remote trigger. We got to Cloud City where I gave him that datacard we stashed, and got you fixed up. Thank god the primary drive works now because that trip took a couple of days on the backup."

Katy made a long drawn out 'wow' type sound.

Iri laughed, "Yeah it's been a heck of a trip so far. Neither of us would be alive if it weren't for him really."

The door opened and Shalmendo entered with two cups of coffee, handing one to Iri, then looking over to Katie, "Is everything taken care of?"

Katie bleeped a response.

Iri sipped his coffee before going to translate then gasped at the strong flavor, "OH! Wow! This is STRONG!" he cleared his mouth with another swallow before sipping it again, "Jeez...this is good!"

Shalmendo's mouth quirked up in the barest slight representation of a smile, apparently amused at Iri's response. Katie broke into a blipping chortle of laughter as well.

Iri swallowed another mouthful before shaking his head, "damn. Okay, uh Katie says she's taking care of everything. You have nothing to worry about until we get to Chandrila where you'll just have to get landing permissions and she can land just fine."

Shalmendo nodded and sipped his coffee, "Good. Thank you. I have to inform my client."

Shalmendo made his way to the office, where he would presumably send a message to his client.

Katie questioned.

Iri looked over to the door, "Yeah he has an office in there. Looks pretty nice, and the other door over there has an armory where he keeps his weapons and armor, and there is the refresher. But droids don't need refreshers."

Katie blatted.

Iri snickered and reclined in the seat, getting comfortable. "Mmh, we'll drop off that memory core, get our pay, then Shal is gonna ferry us back to Hoth where we can get ourselves back together wit the Y-wing and put this all behind us." He looked around the more spacious cockpit of the Black Claw, "Maybe I should think about upgrading at some point."

Katie bleeped a response.

Iri contemplated, "Oh, yeah I guess that's true. This guy is more of a fighter then I am. And I'm pretty sure the y-wing could have outrun those Trandos easy...Yeah it works for us I guess. Still...that double bunk was so comfy." Iri wiggled a bit as he thought about it then realized he was still feeling a little tired. "Actually Katie i'm gonna take a nap. I think I'm still recovering from all that kicking."

Katie bleeped at him and he walked over to pat her dome, "Thanks."

Iri went back to the double bunk room where he stripped down again, just tossing the clothes on the wardrobe, and slipped into the lower bunk again, pulling the curtain closed. It wasn't the most amazing bed but it felt pretty good compared to sleeping in a cockpit seat. He stretched out, cautiously with his rib, and nuzzled into the pillow, "mmh..." He drifted off fairly quickly.

A few hours later he woke up, feeling even more refreshed now and rubbed a little at the bacta patch they had put over his rib to help it heal. It hardly hurt but he remembered the advice from the clinic, to take it easy for a few days and get it checked out again later to make sure it set and healed properly to avoid later complications. He stretched gently, rolled out of bed and rubbed his stomach as it growled a little. "Hmm...time for noms." Iri got dressed again and made his way into the galley, which was unpopulated, and dug around in the cabinets for some of those fresh ingredients. It looks like Shal had restocked at Cloud City so he helped himself to some greens, meat, and a few other things to prepare a decent meal for himself. Periodically he looked out the window in the galley as he stirred the meat while it sizzled. The strange hyerspace tunnel was visible going by the window in an almost mesmerizing display. He shook his head a little, thinking about all that had happened as he offloaded the meat onto a plate and put some of the sliced and sauted veggies around it. From there he took the plate over to the table and ate thoughtfully, considering how badly things could have gone, but well they did. He could be still on the floor of that ship, licking boots. As he thought about that he felt a little stir between his legs and blushed a bit, he couldn't be liking that thought could he? He dismissed the that idea as he finished off the contents of the plate and adjusted himself before getting up and putting the plate in the recycler. He went out to the Cockpit to see how Katie was coming along.

Back in the cockpit Katie gave a warm greeting to Iri as he entered. Shalmendo was seated in the pilot seat as usual but seemed to just contemplating hyperspace. Katie blipped a little.

Iri nodded, "Yeah, Katie says you might want to consider getting a translator installed in the ship if you're going to get an Astromech. Either that or learning to understand binary. The translator is probably easier. I've been working with Astromechs for awhile and I've learned to generally understand them but I still don't speak it fluently. It's pretty hard."

Shalmendo turned his head to listen, "Makes sense."

Iri walked over to Katie, "So how we doing?"

Katie twittered a reply.

Iri nodded, "Okay that's not too bad. Katie says we'll be there in about 30 minutes or so. Also, says she helped break in your hyperdrive. It needed a little recalibration because the techs hadn't tested it under actual flight conditions so it needed a little tweaking to settle it in. It should be good now."

Shalmendo looked to the droid, "Good. Thank you."

Iri settled into the copilot chair again, pulling his legs up to his chest comfortably, "So hey, what are you gonna do after this?"

Shalmendo stared out the viewport, "Hm? Get more jobs, do more jobs."

Iri nodded, Getting shal talkative was kind of hard it seemed, "Like, in the outer rim or something?"

Shalmendo nodded, "Spend most of my time there. Decent jobs, decent pay."

Iri thought about that, "Well, if I come across any really good paying jobs that would be perfect for you I'll send you a note. I know that the New Republic is always hiring since they don't have much of a military of their own or anything, so you could probably find some good work there."

Shalmendo grunted, "Maybe."

Iri looked at the stoic face, realizing it was rarely expressive, "Well, maybe think about it a bit, I guess. Uh, can you help me get the memory core out?"

Shalmendo nodded and went into the armory where it had been stashed. Iri followed, noticing the armor on display, neatly arranged on holders that held it in pretty much the same positions it would have been on his body. Iri's gaze floated down to the tough intimidating boots he had seen close up before, feeling a little tingle in the back of his head for a few moments before he looked away to find Shalmendo had already moved the weapon rack and lifted the core from the hiding place in the floor.

Iri glanced at the boots again, then refocused on the memory core, "Okay thanks, I'll move it into the cargo bay so I can take it to the office when we land."

Shalmendo nodded and closed the hiding place, and went back into the cockpit to stare out at hyperspace again. Iri wondered if the brightness of it bothered the Garrighol's eyes but figured that since it was hyperspace it probably registered differently to his eyes or something, but focused on dragging the data core carefully into the cockpit and down the hallway to the cargo lift. Once he got it there he leaned against a crate, panting a bit, "ow...yeah I guess that counted as exertion." he felt some dull discomfort in his rib area and smirked, realizing he would need Shal's help to take it to the office as it was so heavy and a bit big for Katie. He made his way back out to the cockpit, "Hey Shal."

Shal looked at him with his penetrating gaze.

Iri rubbed his side a bit, "My rib is still healing up and I realized that memory core is a little heavy so uh, would you mind helping to bring it to the office when we get in?"

Shalmendo shrugged, "Okay." Then resumed looking out the viewport.

Iri nodded, "Thanks. I'm really sorry to keep asking for your help constantly, but hey as soon as I get back to my Y-wing, you can stop worrying about it."

The Garrighol just stared out the viewport.

Iri fidgeted in the chair as the time passed, "Say do you have a holonet feed anywhere?"

Shal nodded, "my office, my living room, and your bunk. Head of the bed."

Iri blinked, "oh! I didn't realize I had my own holonet feed in there, gosh. I kind of wish I'd known that this whole time."

Shalmendo shrugged, "Came with the ship. Left that bunk untouched for passengers."

Iri nodded and eagerly went to the guest room to see about the holonet feed in the bunk. It turned out there were controls at the head of the bed, and a screen on the top so he could see it while laying down on his back, "perfect!" he slipped into the bed and got comfy as he flipped through the channels, finding a news feed and relaxing as he watched it, getting caught up on recent events and some of his favorite programs. Before he knew it the ship had dropped out of hyperspace and was making a landing.

Iri stretched as he shut the display off and shook himself out a little to get his circulation going. He yawned a bit and made his way up to the cockpit to see how things were going as he felt the ship clunk down onto its landing gear with a soft shifting beneath him. He got into the cockpit to see Shalmendo leaning back in the pilot chair with his arm folded, and Katie still interfaced with the terminal port.

Iri yawned a little, rubbing an eye as he entered, "How'd it go Katie?"

Katie twittered a response and Iri nodded softly.

Iri smiled, "Great. Katie says she, or another Astromech, could do a better job if you got an Astromech docking slot installed in the cockpit somewhere."

Shalmendo grunted, "She did well as it was, but I'll keep that in mind."

Iri stretched a bit more, careful of his rib, "Okay ready to help me hand in the memory core? I'll see if I can get them to give you a little something for helping me out."

Shalmendo nodded and got up from his seat, while Katie disconnected from the computer terminal. The three made their way to the cargo lift, with the memory core, and Shalmendo pushed the button for it to descend. Once down, Shalmendo grabbed the core and watched as Iri talked to one of the flight staff that had come to meet them.

Iri smiled to the human, "Hey, yeah I'm here to deliver a memory core."

The human checked his computer, "You uh...that's not a Y-wing. Iri right?"

Iri nodded, "Yeah bit of a long story but I had to take this ship instead of the Y wing that kind of got left back at the mission."

The human nodded and entered some details, "And your uh...companion there?" Motioning to the Garrighol.

Iri nodded, "His name's Shalmendo. Mercenary. He's been helping me out."

The man nodded and entered some more details, "Shalmendo what?"

Shalmendo grunted, "Just Shalmendo. Don't have a second name."

The man stared for a minute, "Uh right, okay...Yeah Lt. Rayne is expecting you. You know where his office is, right?"

Iri nodded, "Yep!"

The three headed through to one of the buildings and down a hallway or two. Shalmendo ducked through the low doorways.

Iri observed this, "Yeah sorry about that...I guess they don't expect a lot of tall visitors. Most species are more my height."

Shalmendo grunted in response.

Soon they were at the office and Iri pushed the button on the door's panel to buzz for entry. It was granted and Bendis Rayne looked up from his terminal.

Bendi smiled as Iri and Katie rolled in, "Welcome back Iri. How did your mission-" he cut himself off as Shalmendo ducked in, surprised at the Garrighol's stature and appearance. He wasn't in his armor, but was wearing his red-lensed goggles. "I see you brought a visitor..."

Iri smiled, "Yeah this is Shalmendo. Oh and he has something for you."

Shalmendo took that as a cue to place the memory core on the man's desk.

Bendis blinked, "Ah so you did find something salvageable, very good. You're rather late, however. Did something happen?"

Iri rolled his eyes, "Oh yeah...lots."

Bendis nodded, "Well why don't you two take a seat and tell me about it for the record."

Iri plopped into the chair, and Shalmendo just stood where he was, folding his arms.

Bendis glanced up at the tall creature again, "Ah, or you could stand, yes."

Iri was so used to Shalmendo now he just went ahead with his report.

"Okay so, I landed on Hoth uneventfully and we made our way into the destroyer. Me and Katie, I mean. Shalmendo hadn't entered the picture yet. Anyway, we got into the Destroyer and started hunting around for anything we could salvage data from. It took us a little bit because we had some trouble finding a working terminal with anything useful in it. From there Katie tapped into a working terminal and got us a bit of map and some info on a terminal that probably had a good data core in it. We made our way up to there but there was this big blast door in the way and we would need to get through it. Before we could, though, these Trandoshan showed up and we went and hit in a little maintenance closet. One found us and Katie zapped him to help us get away. I'm a scout so I didn't want any confrontations. I'm not like super well armed or anything. I don't even wear armor! So we tried to run away but a bunch of them came chasing after us, cornered us next to some elevators, and Katie got a good blaster shot, that's why she's got a different paintjob now, she needed a new case and power system, and I got stunned. Um...from there the pretty much held me captive and abused me a bit, even cracked one of my ribs. God, did that hurt. Anyway, they held me captive for awhile and then this badass shows up," Iri motioned to Shalmendo who had been stoically listening to the recounting.

Bendis cleared his throat, "If I may.. Ah, Mr. Shalmendo, why DID you show up? Were you just in the area, or?"

Shalmendo grunted, "I was to meet him for a Datacard exchange he didn't show up for."

Iri nodded, "Yeah this turned out to save my tail, actually...I didn't show up for the planned exchange and he tracked me down to Hoth to get the card."

Bendis raised an eyebrow, "You hunted him down to get a Datacard he failed show up to hand over? A bit extreme for a Datacard isn't it?"

Shalmendo grunted, "I was hired to pick it up and guarantee delivery to my client. I was doing my job."

Iri nodded, "Yeah see he doesn't fail his jobs... if something happens he sees a way to finish it anyway. Pretty reliable, and it saved my tail so i'm not complaining."

Bendis nodded, "hmm, quite interesting...go on."

Iri continued, "So he showed up and pretty much wiped the floor with the trandoshan, freed me, and while he wanted me to just get him the Datacard I convinced him to take me to the destroyer to get the core, and recover Katie."

Katie twittered a small comment.

Iri nodded, "Yeah I wasn't going to leave her behind. So we got to the corridor where that door was and I work out how to open it but we need power to do that. Katie was out of action, so Shal grabs the wires and does this like Jedi mind trick on them, and the thing unlocks."

Bendis clears his throat, "Jedi mind trick?"

Iri chuckled, "Oh, uh that's kind of what it seemed like. I dunno what happened exactly he grabbed them and there was this weird glow effect, then the motor turned and unlocked the door."

Bendis hmmed, "I see...what happened next?"

Iri continued his tale, "Right, so once it's unlocked he goes all muscle man and forces the door open, he's really strong, and we go in, find the terminal and I check on the memory core. It looks good but I was going to have Katie do a quick data integrity check just to make sure it was worth taking. Well, Shal reaches in and the terminal turns on somehow so I do a quick check myself, and all is good. Then he helps me carry the memory core and Katie out to his ship, the Black Claw."

Bendis nodded, "Is that the Mon Calamari light freighter that landed a few minutes ago?"

Iri nodded, "Yeah! It's actually pretty nice inside, he's got outfitted with a nice galley and stuff. So we take off with my stuff, and we get attacked by the Trandoshan ship he rescued me from. I guess there were a couple left that we didn't get. They got a lucky shot in on us before Shal can get the shields up and we take off to get the heck out of there before we got shot up. He's piloting, and I'm gunning with this smart little turret it's got, and I can't hit the damn thing. I was all weak and tired from being bound up and kicked and stuff...like with the cracked rib."

Bendis glanced at Iri, "you do look a bit worse for wear but not that much."

Iri realized he forgot something, "Oh yeah, when he rescued me he sprayed me with Bacta spray. Like he always carries some just in case. Pretty resourceful, and later he gave me some Bactade just to make sure, along with some delicious rations I was about ready to die without. So we get up into the atmosphere and that ship is still following. The rear shield generator goes down, but being a Mon Calamari ship it's got backups for lots of important systems, like the shields, and Shal switches over to the backup. They still wouldn't leave us alone and it turned out that the main hyperdrive had been taken out. So Shal had the forethought to hide a thermal detonator in the Trando ship when he rescued me."

Shalmendo interrupted, "A Precaution."

Iri nodded, "A great precaution! He waited until we got up out of the atmosphere to blow the detonator remotely, and that made a hole big enough for the vacuum to suck out the atmosphere and cause even more damage than just the detonator would have done by itself. So the ship ends up with a gaping hole and it just kind of goes spinning off. He kicks in the secondary hyperdrive, which is a class 10, and we head off to Bespin where I had the Datacard hidden in a utility area next to a repulsorlift. It took us a few days to get there on the class 10 so I mostly spent the time recovering by sleeping and eating. My ribs still hurt though so he had this medical backpack he scanned me with and it told us about the rib. Since we were already on the way to Cloud City I figured I'd just get looked at there. Finally we got there and I showed him where the card was and unlocked the case for him. See, I had a little biosignature lock on it and a micro thermal detonator charge to vaporize the Datacard if someone tried to unlock it so Shalmendo needed me alive and intact to get it open. Probably why he took me all the way to Cloud city. After that we got Katie fixed, fixed his hyperdrive and the damage to the hull, and we came straight here with the memory core. And here we are."

Bendis sat back to take it all in, "Quite a remarkable tale. And fortunate that he showed up to rescue you. I'll see that the memory core is taken care of and we'll get your pay for the job, Iri." Bendis drummed his fingers thoughtfully on the desk, "I'm not really authorized for extra payments but I'll see about getting you a bonus Shalmendo to thank you for making sure we got this data. You went above and beyond, and I think we should too. That's how the New Republic will outlast things like the Empire. May I ask what your normal type of work is, aside from rescuing helpless scouts?"

Shalmendo snorted, "I enforce, intimidate, fight, protect and guard. Sometimes I ferry passengers who need protecting, sometimes I rescue. Depends on the job and the client."

Bendis nodded thoughtfully, "Sounds like you're quite good with combat."

Iri nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah, if you'd seen him fight those Trandos, wow! It was like an action holo."

Bendis nodded, "Well, If you don't mind I'll make a little internal file on you and see about perhaps recommending you for future work? I can promise it will pay well. Especially with the kind of skills I've heard you have."

Shalmendo shrugged, "good pay helps."

Bendis nodded a bit more, "Yes, I'm sure. Well, if that's all gentlemen?"

Iri nodded, "Yeah just need my pay like the contract agreed."

Bendis smiled, "Right, and a bonus for your friend."

Bendis activated an intercom, "Would you send in the paymaster please."

A few moments later another human officer came in with a case.

Bendis motioned, "1,500 credits for Iri, and 1,000 credits for Shalmendo. We wouldn't have this core at all if it weren't for both you."

The paymaster set the case on the desk, pulled out two 1,000 credit chits, and one 500 credit chit, setting them down on the desk before leaving.

Bendis sat back in his chair, "Take it with my thanks. Now if you don't mind I have to see that this core gets analyzed right away." Iri picked the credit chits and handed one to Shalmendo with a grin. Shalmendo took it expressionlessly, and they made their way out of the office and back up the hall.

Iri smiled, "I'm glad to have that done. But I'll be more glad when I can get me and Katie back in the Y wing."

Shalmendo nodded, "I think this paid for your fare."

Iri smiled, "Thanks...you're so nice, really."

Shalmendo just grunted as they loaded back onto the cargo lift with Katie.

Katie twittered as they ascended.

Iri nodded, "Katie wants to know if you'd like her to pilot to Hoth for you."

Shalmendo nodded as he moved down the hall, "Please."

Katie twittered happily as she went down the hall, into the cockpit, and plugged into the terminal to get things ready. Shalmendo sat in his usual seat, and Iri plopped down into the copilot seat.

Iri smiled, "I gotta say, this ship is really comfy and pretty sweet. And you are too. I mean, like..in the 'I really appreciate you going out of your way' kind of way."

Shalmendo just grunted.

Katie twittered a bit.

Iri nodded, "Katie says she can get us to Hoth in about 5 hours."

Shalmendo nodded, "Very well." and activated the comm "Black Claw requesting permission for takeoff."

The landing port responded, "Permission granted, fly safe!"

Shalmendo then nodded to Katie, who started the takeoff sequence. Shalmendo then got up and made his way down the hall to his bedroom.

Katie twittered at Iri.

Iri shook his head, "Nah, I think he just knows you can handle it. Besides we've been asking him to help us with everything so he probably wants a nap or something."

Katie bip bleeped as she piloted the ship out of the atmosphere and got ready for the jump to light speed.

Iri relaxed in the copilot seat, sighing a bit as he thought about how he looked forward to getting back into his Y wing. Granted, the Black Claw was quite a luxury craft in comparison with it's comfy bunks, onboard entertainment, expanded galley, and even the refresher, but he still missed his ship. His mind lit up, speaking of the refresher...he really felt like another should would be just the perfect thing to enjoy on the final leg of his journey.

Iri stretched as he got up, "Hey Katie, I'm gonna take a shower and stuff. It'll be awhile before I see another on-board refresher."

Katie twittered.

Iri laughed, "Yeah." and made his way into the refresher, slipping his clothes off, doing his secondary business, and slipping into the sonic shower to luxuriate for a little while. Like before the pulsing waves of air really felt good on his muscles, and even the healing rib. He turned the pulse power up a bit to enjoy a deeper massage as he cleansed himself of all the tribulations from the day, relaxing and leaning against the control pad with a soft sigh.

Iri luxuriated for a while, taking full advantage of the refresher for a good hour before he emerged feeling completely refreshed.

Katie twitted at him.

Iri sighed and grinned, "Oh it was amazing...those sonic showers can really give you a deep tissue massage if you tune them just right. Mmh. I'm gonna miss that the most I think." He stretched a little and made his way into the galley to fix himself something. He picked out a few things he thought would go well together, chopped some, fried some, made a bit of sauce. Then sat down and ate contentedly. Man, chewing on basic rations in his own pilot seat was gonna seem so band compared to stretching out in the galley with a hot meal. Once he finished he pushed it aside and leaned on his elbows, gazing at the hyperspace visible through the window, yawning a little.

He awoke with a start, realizing he had fallen asleep on a full stomach and in the comfort of the galley. He lifted up his head from the table and rubbed his eyes, "Gosh I keep falling asleep." He hoped he wasn't sick or had some kind of long term injury. Then again he had a cracked rib and had been beaten up a lot. He stretched seeing he'd only fallen asleep for a few minutes this time as he got up and dumped the plate in the recycler. Stretching lightly he made his way back into the cockpit to find Katie sitting by herself, still plugged into the terminal. Katie blipped a greeting as Iri stepped in.

Iri smiled as he sat down in the copilot seat, "Hiya Katie. Yeah I had a good lunch." he stretched a little more, tail flicking, "mmh, and a bit of a nap. Been falling asleep a lot lately. Probly cuz of all those injuries. Just need to recover and I'll be good as new. Actually we should probably stop by a clinic once we take off to double check my rib. The clinic said to get it peeked at once more to be sure."

Katie blipped her agreement and gave a report on the current status of the journey.

Iri nodded, "Yeah it's a bit slower then the Y-wing but I dunno, it'd be a hard choice between a bunk or a faster engine...that and the refresher!"

Katie blatted her amusment, and made a comment.

Iri laughed, "yeah I know. You're a tough lady, you just need a charge once in awhile and you don't care much otherwise."

Katie agreed.

Shalmendo entered the cockpit and sat down in his usual seat.

Katie blipped a greeting.

Iri smiled, "Katie says hello and that everything is fine. We're on schedule. Oh, and hello from me too. How you doing?"

Shalmendo nodded, "Fine."

Iri curled up in the chair comfortably, "So do you think you might take some work from the New Republic?"

Shalmendo shrugged, "Might. Depends what they want."

Iri nodded, "Yeah I can see how that makes a difference. I mean, do you just do like shoot stuff or do you care about like...humanitarian causes? Getting aid to people who need it?"

Shalmendo shrugged, "If it pays enough."

Iri nodded, "Yeah I guess expenses and stuff are important. Speaking of that I hope all this didn't cost you too much or upset your client or anything...I already feel like we've been a big imposition and all."

Shalmendo shook his head, "Don't worry about my client. I made sure our jobs got done."

Iri nodded, "Yeah that really means alot to me, and probably to the republic too. Who knows, they might come up with something perfect for you. I've seen your armory, it's pretty impressive for just one guy and all. And that trick with the thermal detonator blowing a hole in that ship's hull was pretty smart. You had to plan ahead for that."

Shalmendo shrugged, "it seemed like the right thing to do."

Iri smiled, "Yeah it was. Really saved my skin, and yours. Still, I'm sorry about that damage and all."

Shalmendo shook his head, "You didn't do the damage."

Iri tilted his head, "yeah but...it was kinda my fault."

Shalmendo shrugged, "part of the job."

Iri smirked, "well not..not entirely. I mean, if I had just shown up I could have saved you all this trouble."

Shalmendo shrugged, "It is what it is."

Iri pondered that for a moment, "So...you're not upset or anything?"

Shalmendo looked over at Iri. "No. I see no reason to be."

Iri thought about that, "Huh. You're a pretty calm and patient person...Not a lot of people would just shrug stuff like this off."

Shalmendo shrugged, "You finished your job, I can now finish mine easily."

Iri nodded a bit. It sounded like Shal was a really task oriented person who would do whatever it took to make sure he completed his client's goals. A noble trait, really. That pretty much meant he was extremely reliable and would finish the job somehow no matter what surprises popped up. He could see that being pretty valuable on the Mercenary market. "Hey shal, are you pretty popular? Get a lot of work? Clients lined up and stuff?"

Shalmendo shrugged, "I keep busy."

Iri asked in another way, "Yeah but, do you ALWAYS have work going or...do you get lulls or anything?"

Shalmendo shrugged, "I work enough."

Iri rolled his eyes, it was hard to get a straight answer, even though he was short and to the point. Iri wondered how someone could say so little even with being so direct. "Well, I'm gonna go watch something on the holonet. Katie knows where we parked so she should be able to land you close by."

Katie twittered her agreement.

Iri nodded, "Yeah, she said she can, I'll come back up when we land." and made his way back to the double bunk. Once there he looked around and realized he should probably pack too. So he got his pack out, turned on the holonet to a news channel, and listened to to it while he sorted his things away and switched back to his scouting gear in the process. He got himself all ready, making sure his boots were on properly then lay down to watch the holonet for a couple hours due to lack of much else to do. Shalmendo wasn't too much of a conversation partner, so he figured he'd just while away watching the holonet.

The five hours didn't take too long to pass, and Iri felt the ship coming out of hyperspace. He stretched, turned off the holonet screen and made his way to the cockpit to check on things.

Shalmendo hadn't moved from his spot and Katie was still piloting. As usual she twittered her greeting as he came in, "Heya Katie." and leaned on the back of the copilot chair, "Oh good we're here. Got those coordinates, Katie?"

Katie gave an affirmative warble.

Iri smiled, "Great. Well, look like we're almost out of your...well i'd say hair but I can't say that I've noticed any on you."

Shalmendo nodded as he gazed at the approach of the icy planet, "No hair."

Iri nodded, "ah right, okay. Well We'll stop being any trouble for you, at any rate."

Shalmendo turned to look at Iri with his glowing eyes, "No trouble."

Iri blushed a bit, "Thanks for saying so, but I still feel like we put you out. I mean, I ate a lot of your food and delayed your delivery and all"

Shalmendo shrugged, "Nice to have company for a while."

Iri smiled, so the big stoic Garrighol had enjoyed the company? He was glad for that. "Well hey, It was nice to have your company too."

The two watched as Katie piloted the ship down, and circled for a landing while extending the gear. The ship thumped down softly as Katie put her down within sight of the Y-wing.

Katie twittered as she disengaged from the terminal socket.

Iri nodded, "Katie says thank you for helping us and making sure I was safe. And thank you for letting her be your pilot for awhile. She enjoyed it."

Shalmendo got up and walked over to katie, kneeling down to pat her dome like he had seen Iri do, "thank you, too." then got back up "I will see you to your ship." and entered his armory. A few minutes later he emerged in his full gear, with his blaster rifle in it's holster. Iri was glad for the extra protection, knowing there could very well be a couple of Trandos still around or something. He also hoped his ship was was still intact.

The three descended to the icy surface and made the short walk to the Y wing. Katie indicated she had no readings of any life forms that could be a Trandoshan or any other major intelligent threat. Iri was glad, and made haste to the Y wing with Katie and Shalmendo in tow.

The Y-wing was just where he left it, although it had been snowed on a little. He wiped away snow to find the steps to climb up and released the canopy, giving it a couple of tugs to loosen it so it could open. The inside looked fine, untouched, and had some of his other gear still stashed like it had been before.

Iri smiled, "everything looks fine so far. Katie, let me get you slotted in and you can do a systems check."

Katie twittered and moved over to the socket behind the cockpit. Iri followed and got her slotted in, then raised into the socket where she started some diagnostics and worked on warming up the engines. Katie twittered some feedback.

Iri nodded, "okay great!" and turned to Shalmendo who was keeping an eye out for any more Trandoshan who might have somehow survived, or a new threat, "She says things are good to go." iri looked up at the armored beast, "I uh...I enjoyed the trip with you."

Shalmendo nodded.

Iri had hoped that the Garrighol might have opened up a bit by now but figured it was time to go. He climbed up into the cockpit and started activating systems in tandem with Katie.

Shalmendo approached, "Iri."

Iri looked up, surprised, "Yeah?"

Shalmendo's mouth contorted slightly into something that could be indicative of a smile, "Be safe. Don't make me have to come get you again."

Iri laughed, feeling a little welling of emotion, "Yeah I'll do that big guy! Keep in touch, yeah?"

Shalmendo nodded, "Yes. Please."

Iri smiled broadly as the canopy lowered and gave a thumbs up as Shalmendo stepped back to let him take off clearly. As his ship oriented to start an ascension to the vacuum of space, he glanced to the side to see the big stoic Garrighol outlined clearly in the snow, and gave a final wave. He was sure the Garrighol couldn't see it with all the snow, but just as he was about to hit the accelerator, he watched Shalmendo raise an arm briefly before turning to walk back to his own ship.

Katie twittered as they accelerated out of the planet's atmosphere. Iri shook his head, "I don't know Katie, I hope so. I...I kind of liked him."

Katie calculated the coordinates for their next destination and Iri looked out at the planet, trying to spot the Black Claw, but knew there wasn't a chance he'd see it. As Katie initiated the jump, and the stars turned into streaks, he said a last quiet, "Thanks big guy." as the planet fell away into the depths of hyperspace. He sat in silence quietly for a few minutes as he thought about the entire ordeal from start to finish a couple of times over, then sighed as he turned his mind forward to the future, "Okay Katie...what's next on our itinerary?"