Jonas is seated on an old shipping crate, busily tapping in commands to the drone on the Prognosticator, and barely notices Alarus arriving. He nods as the Thana describes the situation, and takes the items offered to him.
Wishing Alarus safe travels, Jonas sits down again and resumes his tech wrangling. Ahzi arrives shortly after, and Jonas updates him on what has transpired.
As they are talking, their squawkers beep and Paavo’s voice can be heard; “Had a word with Tic and he’s overhauling the engines, so we can’t use the Fang. I’m on my way to your location in an aircar. We can ride it up to Centertown and arrange to rent a skimmer from there. My guild membership should give us a nice fat discount.”
A few moments later, a large aircar sets down close to the group, and Paavo leans out and motions them over. The driver quickly takes off again, and soon they find themselves in an affluent area of Centertown, where nobles and guild members obtain their transportation, the more ostentatious the better.
Leaving Jonas to work on tracking Jo’vet’s hoverbike, Paavo enters into negotiations with a slick-looking salesman. There is a lot of arguing back and forth, and a few choice curses can be heard from the office, but in the end, Paavo emerges with a small brass key, half a dozen fuel cells, and a handful of paperwork.
“He drove a bloody hard bargain,” mutters Paavo. “But I got us a good deal on a used Lazzarini CoupĂ©, which was apparently ‘only used by an old nun to drive to the market on Fridays’. Should be faster than a hoverbike anyway.”
On the way out to the lot, Jonas’ Prognosticator emits a screeching noise and indicates that the drone has managed to get a lock on the stolen Pegasus.
[Jonas scored a Minor Victory]
Paavo opens the canopy of the skimmer and climbs in. Quickly adjusting the controls to suit his driving style, he nods in satisfaction as the Lazzarini lifts smoothly off the ground, engines rumbling. “Let’s take her on the open road!”, he exults.