"Hahah, nope.  Never been that far, hah."

To Hakkof's comment he bashfully rubs behind his head.  "Hah, like, maybe more reckless than brave, hahah.  Wunna see my scars, hahahah?"

Fast forwarding a bit, Juros gets the equipment needed while the crew has mostly small talk. It seems Juros and Nivi like Hakkof, Kevin and each other well enough. Juros is more than happy to be doing his job. Nivi has the others doing clean up, mostly. Juros is easily finding parts that are so done for, they are beyond any use. So he piles those into "trash" heaps for Kevin and Hakkof. Nivi seems to be planning things with her data pad.

Then, an unexpected thing happens. Some goon starts approaching the group about some kind of "insurance" for this area.

  Unexpected?... Oh, right.  Blissian employer.

  "Slow day?  Perhaps you can come back later, when the ship is actually worth somethin-Is that the airlock seal?"  Hakkof's reasonable explanation to the insurance agents is interrupted when he glances over to the latest addition to the junk pile.

Kevin sings the song, "We're all dudes," as he works, apparently cheerful enough in spite of expecting to die.  When Hakof treats the goon like a legit insurance salesman he can't help but chuckle.

"Hahahah!  Hahah!  Dude!  Like...  He's not really selling insurance, hah.  He's like...  an extortionist, hahahah!"

To the goon he says, "Dude!  This ship's like, a Blissian's ship.  If like, you're conscious can handle it, hah, she might just give you money just for askin, hahahah!"

The man looks at the blissian. Looks at the junk ship. Then looks at the others. "Look. I'm not really an insurance salesman. I'm robbing you, see? Now you guys gotta be pretty rich to be able to afford a ship. So... fork over what you got and I'll be on my way."

  Hakkof is perfectly aware of such implied threats, he just prefers to pretend he does not understand them.  It clears up a lot of things, really.

  The Barrakian has probably had enough time to guess if this guy has a gun on them by now.  If they don't seem properly armed, he will attempt to just pick the guy up by a leg and carry them over to his employer to ask what to do with them.

  Otherwise, he'd just comment on how they should try a ship where they are less outnumbered.

"Woah, hahahah!  Looks like that's an 'affirmative,' hah.  Well I'm guessing the conscious of the rest of us won't let you like, take advantage of her so easily, dude, hah."

If Hakof subdues the would-be thief, Kevin will try and find some I.D. on him to show to the boss bunny.

Hakkof is able to lift the guy up by his leg. One could say it's sad that the guy was not properly armed.

Nivi says, "And this is why you don't make threats to a barrakian."

Kevin finds an I.D. on the guy. Nivi looks it over. "Harry Henderson." her eyes keep scanning. "...there is nothing on his I.D. that shows him as anything other than a normal civilian. So we'll just let him go, report him to the local authorities so they can keep an eye on him, and continue what we were up to?"

She takes a picture of the guy (when gravity isn't giving him a troll doll hairstyle) and waves.

If Hakkof lets Harry go, he runs off.

  Hakkof drops Harry (Was his middle name "And The"?) off at the Exit.  From shoulder height.  His polite professionalism only goes so far.

  "Get a job.  Somewhere else."

Kevin watches the guy run off.  "Dude.  Extortion is his job, hah.  And like, he's gunna go and tell his mob boss who's gunna be like, 'Dude!  A Blissian hired a Barakian?!  Awesome!  They must be guarding some way valuable tech or something, hah.'  So like, then they go and buy a huge arsenal and attack.  And we'll be all, 'No way!' and like, do an emergency warp jump.  But not before the Navigation computer gets damaged, hah.  So we'll like, end up on a remote planet with limited food supply.  So we'll be all starving, and I'll be all, 'Dudes!  We could like, eat my arm, hahahah!'  Only problem is, I've been told I taste like a goat, hahahah!"

(Flashback)
A pile of fallen mountain climbers try to untangle themselves from each other, one of them has a mouthful of Kevin's tail.  He breaks free and sputters and spits.  "Gross!  You taste like goat!"

"Hahahah!  Dude!  You like, ate my shorts, hahahah!"

"We would have to have a running ship in the first place for all that to happen." Juros objects.

"Well the ship DOES run..." Nivi points out.

"Not to my satisfaction." Juros counters.

"Hakkof, if you're any good at trailing, follow Harry and find out who and where his boss is."

She looks at Juros. "You know how to build stun mines?"

Juros says, "Well yeah, but I would need the parts..."

Nivi says, "Good. Then make a list of parts for 8 stun mines. I'll have Kevin keep you company while I pick up the parts."

(Yay! You caught my reference to Harry and the Hendersons!)

"Hahahah, dude!  Like, awesome!  Barakians aren't known for stealth, hahah, so it'll be like, double awesome for Hakkof to trail the dude!"

  Kevin keeps saying things Hakkof agrees with.  Is this a bad sign for Hakkof?  "Tracking, yes.  Tracking inconspicuously not so much.  I suppose I could loom ominously in the background and see what happens."

Nivi says, "Nevermind, Hakkof. I'll trail him. You get the parts for Juros. Here are some creds." she transfers some credits to Hakkof's account, then hurries off to follow the goon.

  "Shopping it is.  Do be careful Nivi, rainbow shirts are not very subtle either."  Plus they would all have to find another job if something happened to her.

  Hakkof will be sure to keep the receipt for the parts he leaves to purchase, just in case.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:44, Wed 30 Jan 2013.

"Woah, hahahahah.  Blissian spy in tie die!  Gets kidnapped and held for ransom.  Her employees like, can't meet the ransom and go to the authorities.  Who are on the take, hahah.  And then like, their ship is stolen.  Hah."

He gets to work helping out as asked.

Nothing against Kevin. Nivi just expects Kevin to laugh as he trails the guy while bragging about how he's gonna get caught. And Juros needs to fix the ship. Hence picking herself.

While Hakkof is shopping, some other barrakian guy happens to be there and looks at him. "Oh hey. You're the first barrakian I've seen all day. I think they're all busy watching the game. So what's your deal? You a technician?"

Meanwhile, back at the ship, Juros is rolling his eyes. He looks at Kevin and says, "I think I get the picture. You always look at the worst case scenario so you can only be pleasantly surprised. Right? I mean, you don't ACT like a negative person. You're laughing the whole time!"

  Finally, somebody around eye level.  "I think the job title is still up in the air, getting the parts for the actual technician.  Merc work was getting samey, so some variety to make sure I continue to appreciate fighting later seemed in order."  Boredom could get you killed, if you were bored with the wrong things.

Nivi's expectations may very well be accurate.  Or Kevin might some other reason why he would be caught.  Like hooves.  He thinks for a second when Juros asks his question then resumes his animation and chuckling.

"No way, hahahahah!  There's like, no such thing as 'worst case,' hah.  'Cause like, no matter how bad things get, they can like, always get worse hahahah!"

Juros shrugs. "From an individual's perspective, at least, things can only get to a certain level of bad before tolerance levels just forbid anything being worse. For example, you know people can go unconscious after a certain level of pain, right? Same for psychology. So if the guy is being tortured and just finished watching everyone he cared about either die or betray him, if he doesn't fall unconscious, one of two things could happen to his mind: 1) He stops caring and goes cold, so nothing is bad for him anymore. Or 2) He goes insane and lives in a fantasy world where things go however his mind makes them go in order to cope. .....but yeah, outside personal perspective, things can always get worse. Though that also depends on your definition of what's good and what's bad. Some people would be happy if the entire universe imploded."

---

The barrakian ohs and says, "Interesting. So what's your boss like, if not specific about what your actual job entails?"

"Woah, like, totally!  And like, just to spite those dudes the universe, like, doesn't implode!  Get it?  That's why Hakkof like, totally served that extortionist, hah.  'Cause like, 'one dude's victory is another's wipe-out,' hahahah."

  "Nice enough, though knowing them only a few hours means I only have first impressions to go by so far.  I suppose keeping idiots from bothering her too much will be about the same as it is for any other job."  If with potentially less piledrivers to attempted extortionists.

Shopping goes easily enough and the barrakian seems like a sane guy and welcome company.

Meanwhile, back at the ship, Nivi returns and waves to Kevin and Juros. "Hi, guys!"

When Hakkof makes it back to the ship, he sees Nivi waiting for him.

"Hahahah, hey, Nivi!  Good to see you back in one piece, hah.  So like, how'd it go?  Did he lose ya or somethin?"

Kevin also greets Hakkof when he returns.  "Welcome back, dude!  Hahahah.  So like, how's it hangin?"

  Of course the Barrakian had been sane and welcome company, they were a Barrakian.  Yes we know what bias means, what does that have to do with anything?

  "It is hanging reasonably well.  I have the parts requested."