Away from the dangers of Mos Eisley and the noise of the cantina the Alabak’s Gold was a quiet and safe place. Old Arno seemed content to tag along and when everyone was gathered together the old man began to think aloud, chewing his thoughts as he spoke “whose this hero you’re trying to find then?”

"Adar Tallon," interjects Willmar abruptly.  He'd remained silent for a long while while he was still recovering from the effects of the poison.  HE seemed to be getting back his vigor now though, finally.  His color actually looked normal again.  "I have a feeling you've heard of him."

“Yeah I’ve heard of him, great hero of the Clone Wars. As I heard it he died a long time ago” the old scout nodded to Willmar “not sure what he’s go to do with Slag’s and Heff’s being killed” Arno sat down, it was clear on his face that he was thinking hard, trying to piece things together “I figure that someone thought they knew something about this Adar Tallon fellow, seeing as how them and me are the only locals who date back that far” then something clicked in his head and his eyes brightened “seems to me there was a group of people who arrived right around the time of this commander person’s death. They settled out in the Wastes, actually purchasing some deserted homesteads”.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 17:36, Sun 20 Jan 2013.

"So did we, but some folk seem to think he's here, and that you and Heff and Slag knew something. We're trying to find him before they do and more people die." Lyla filled in. She really hoped that Arno could actually help them here, that they could actually get somewhere.

Then she heard what Arno had to say. "That's it? That's pretty circumstantial." she complained, disappointed not to get a more solid lead. "Fine. Who are these people? What have they been doing all this time?"

"They're killing a lot of people for this information, so I guess that the bounty hunters must have something solid on if this Tallon character is alive or not. So...given he's alive...what do they want with him?" Tera looked at Lyla "If you have a medbay here, I can try to work up some antidote for the poison."

“Slag contacted me before that bounty hunter got to her. I’m not sure what she knew but I know that helping you find this Adar Tallon is the best way of me finding out who killed her. Then I can pay ‘em back” whether the old scout would be match for the deadly Mandalorian bounty hunter was obviously not on Old Arno’s mind at the moment, all he was thinking about was settling the score and getting revenge.

“Not sure who they were. I’m thinkin’ Slag must’ve kept in contact with ‘em. She always knew a lot about what was going on around here” he answered Lyla “I know the properties they got was Lank’s Farm, Tusken Fort and Sedi Fisk’s desert manor. I can take you to them in the morning”.

Lyla was silent on why the bounty hunters wanted Tallon, as it meant getting into why the Empire wanted him, and then why the Rebels wanted him, and that they were in the Rebellion. "I dunno about a medbay, but we might have a first aid room somewhere. Or a bathroom." she answered Tera, still not entirely sure what was on the Alabak's Gold.

She considered Arno's offer. It was probably another wild bantha chase into the desert, and it was pretty circumstantial. But the bounty hunters knew more, and had to think Arno knew. If this was what Arno thought, then it was their only lead on Tallon. At least it would get them out of town for a while. Something told her they had to follow this tenuous thread if they were to get anywhere with this.

She brought out her datapad and displayed the image of Adar Tallon as he was alive. She showed it to Arno. "Have you ever seen this guy, a lot older, maybe with a beard or moustache?"


OOC: Perception (sense motive) 12

Tera frowned wondering if Lyla was passing a comment on her hygiene. Not sure whether or not to take the comment as an insult or if it were stated in humour, Tera decided to take a tour of the ship and work up an antidote for the toxin.

The Alabak’s Gold was not a large ship, a jump freighter designed for small cargoes. Much of its interior had been converted for its current use as a rebel ship. Living quarters and a communal area occupied the majority. Tera also found a verdant garden of greenery growing in the cargo bay. Vegetation and foliage grew in hydroponics beneath powerful UV lamps. In the cockpit she found a greasy and dreadlocked mechanic running various diagnostic engine tests. There was no medical bay but room for her to work if she cleared a space.

Old Arno looked at the picture of Adar Tallon but shook his head “Slag would have known” he said slowly. Lyla can see the signs of grief and a determination to find out who was responsible for his friends deaths.

Arno looked to be getting on a vengeance quest. Lyla let him. They needed all the help they could get. She decided to fully report her adventures... Drat! She'd forgotten to go back to that nice Dim-U priest and his free meal. Damn, she was hungry now.

"Well, after they ambushed us in the cantina, I tracked that Jodo Kast guy — Mandalorian armour, poison dart gun, seems to be boss bounty hunter on this and the killer of Heff and Slag."

"Then Puggles Trodd ambushed me instead. Well, I got him, and was pretty cool at it, even if I say so myself. I got these from him." She pulled out the remaining credits, 250 in all, as well as two smoke screamers, two blocks of detonate, and three timers. "We're lucky Puggs didn't play demolitionist at us back in the cantina else we wouldn't be walking around now."

"Well, he stalled me and made me lose the trail, and then some lawmen came around to see, so I had to move around a bit. Then I came back to where I'd lost Jodo and spotted one of the hunters who'd been shooting at us, the bald dude with shades. He went into this big blockhouse. Inside was a Gamorrean thug in gang colours, probably the same goon harrassing the shopkeepers the other day. So, I think the bounty hunters are hanging out there, but they're in with Jabba's gang. They'd be well defended, bloody hard to take down."

Her tale told, she got up and rummaged through the kitchen for a drink and a meal.

Tera decided to fabricate some antidote in the green part of the cargo bay. After such a long time with nothing but desert it just felt nice to be somewhere green. Smiling she brought down the items she'd need to make it, working on the ships computer she managed to come up with something workable given the contents of the ship. Not her best work, but enough to keep them alive. She hesitated, hoping the physiologies were close enough it would work. She raised an eyebrow as she noted one possible side effect. Lyla's skin might turn purple for a week. After an internal debate she decided not to raise this possibility with Lyla. If she didn't know she would be less hesitant to use the antidote if she needed it.

Tera glanced in surprise at the ships clock realising all this work had taken her hours. Rising from her seat with three doses of her solution, she went to the galley for some food.

"Anybody have a spare medpac?" Mallox asked. He still looked hurt from the previous fight that knocked him out cold. "If we're going to hunt down this bounty hunter, we better make sure that everybody is up for the job."

Lyla returned from the galley with a cheap reheated frozen meal and a cheaper beer she didn't care to see the name of. She sat down and shoveled it down during the rest of the conversation.

To Mallox, she answered "I've still got one I'm saving for emergencies. With the credits I got from Puggs, minus what that cantina-owner blackmailed out of us, and at the hugely jacked-up prices around here, we can buy... one more. Gee. We're practically rolling in them now." she said with sarcasm. "We might even put all our credits together and maybe get another. That's until we can drain and sell that water silo."

But it brought up another issue that had been troubling her. "We can't keep going like this, getting into ambushes and firefights. We're getting one or two shot down every time. Never mind the money for medpacs, one of us could die if this keeps up." She'd been against the mission from the start, and this was another damn good reason to pull out in her opinion.

As everyone settled down to eat Old Arno helped himself to food and found himself a place to rest for the night. As he ate he nodded his head and uttered his thoughts aloud “yup it’s gonna an interesting day tomorrow”.

[OOC When everyone done healing, rest etc I’ll move to morning. Just let me know when you’re ready.]

Tera tossed Mallox a medpack. "I uh... liberated it at the cantina." She paused for a moment, in the eating of her dinner. "If anyone else is hurting...I have a few spare."

Tera nodded, sipping at the soup as Lyla talked. "It does seem as though we're blundering into one ambush after another. For some reason we've been tagged as competition to get to this Tallon. As a result it seems like every hunter on planet sees us as the competition."

"Mmm. Pity they won't fight each other with the same kind of enthusiasm. Who'd have a thought a bunch of ratbag bounty hunters would agree to work together on a job? And with the Jabba gang?" Lyla complained, incredulous at the alliance against them. It seemed unfair. "The price on Tallon must be quite a bit to make sharing worthwhile."

"I agree, and given fact he's dead....probably dead....ok, might be dead" Tera thought "Actually, I've revised my opinion. I think he's alive. There's no way that many bounty hunters would come here on a whim. They have some solid information he's alive, which changes everything."

Tera frowned as she condiered the implications "well, first thing is first, battlefield triage, Lyla, Willmar, get over here so I can fix you up. I'll need a lot longer with Mallox."

Placing her medical gear on the galley table, Tera began to examine the crew and fix their various hurts and pains.

Lyla scraped out the rest of her bowl and drained the last of her beer before rising from her chair to join the doctor. "Alright, doc." She surveyed and pointed out her growing collection of injuries. She'd actually been doing rather well until today. She guessed that was her luck running out.

"Puggles threw a smoke screamer at me. I breathed some of the smoke, and didn't get my ears down in time. There's still a bit of ringing."

"And I got this." She'd sustained a bad blaster burn during the shootout, scorching part of her lekku tchun, her left brain-tail. The tail stored fat, and had a thin core of brain tissue relating to memory. "I don't think I'm suffering memory loss. Or maybe I just don't remember." she tried to joke. It was also a highly sensitive erogenous zone, and she was trying not to think about getting her tails shot off. "Ow, starting to sting like hell though."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:07, Wed 30 Jan 2013.

Willmar regarded his still wrecked shoulder, the flesh neatly cauterized around a chunk of missing tissue.  His first instinct was to shrug it off and tell the doctor 'it's not that bad.'  Then he came to his senses; infection was truly no laughing matter.

Wordlessly, he ambled over to Tera and let her do her thing.

Tera examined Lyla thoroughly, gingerly turning her headtails in her hands. "It looks like you are lucky. Put some of this burn ointment on the affected areas and take some pain killers and you'll be good in the morning. Promise." Tera smiled happily "There's no damage. It's a superficial wound. You're very lucky."

Tera winced as she saw Willmar turn up for treatment. "You know...you should have come to me earlier. There's not a lot that can be done to regenerate much of this tissue short of bacta. The best I can do is to stop the wound from getting infected and some minor repair work. You need a few days to recover really, you're lucky I was at the cantina to stop you from dying there and then." Tera pursed her lips as she looked over the damage. "Next time try ducking." Tera opened one of her medpacks and used it with her medkit to try to clear up the worst of Willmars wounds.

OOC:I could use an FP on you if you like to boost your HP's

Mallox was the worst. He looked to be needing a hospital, despite the fact none were available. Tera frowned in concern as she leaned over his body, carefully exmaining each wound. "Okay, Mallox, this will hurt. These burns are deep. I'm going to sedate you, so you won't feel the pain while I work." Administering a sedative, Tera turned to the others "I'll need your help on this. He's not doing well. Out of danger, but still hurting." Tera spent her time carefully treating each of Mallox's wounds, clearing the debris, sterilising and sealing the wounds as she went. Only after some time did she lean back from the table, looking and feeling tired. "Let's all get some sleep before tomorrow."

Lyla moaned slightly as Tera handled her tails, though not in discomfort. That always was her sweet spot, but being touched by a woman there was a new experience. "Well, you've got nice hands." she complimented, but it was getting kind of awkward. She took the ointment and painkiller gratefully. "Sure. Thanks. I'd hate to get my tails all scarred up."

She took her tail back, rubbing it to sooth the sting, but she couldn't see the burn. She'd have to find a hand-mirror, or... "Ah, can you rub that ointment in for me later, after my shower? I don't think I'll be able to see it too good." she asked.

"Hey, if you need a place to stay, you can crash here on our ship. I don't know if we have a spare room, I think Arno's taken it, but you can bunk with me if you need to." Lyla offered generously, but wondered if this was sounding like a come-on. "Ah, that's just my best effort at my native Twi'lek hospitality, not 'cause you're doing nice things for my tails." she clarified.

*

She was no nurse, let alone a doctor, but Lyla assisted where she could when Tera worked on Mallox, usually cleaning up or holding things. She was envious of Tera, wishing she had that skill to make people better and save lives.

Tera drew back, a grin on her face. "I see you've not lost all sensation in that area." she nodded her assent "I'll put the cream on later, once I'm done here."

"Uh, I know it's presumptuous....." Tera paused "but I brought everything I own with me. I was going to ask to stay here for a bit anyway, though if you don't mind. I'd like to sleep in the garden. The humidity there takes me back..."

"Go ahead and drop your arse and the rest of your stuff wherever you want," Willmar confirms to Tera.  The response was typical of his own blunt manner but was about as warm and inviting as one could probably expect from the (lately) frustrated old soldier.  It was clear that the tussle at the bar (and his lack of success therein) was still weighing negatively on his mind, try as he might to hide the fact.  "It'll be useful having someone around to stitch us all back together."

Mallox woke up after Tera finished. He blinked. "Ohhh..." He tried to get up. "Dizzy, I think I'll stay here tonight."

"Sure. Just ask Oglo, the garden is his baby." Lyla told Tera.