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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 1829303" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 26: Deals and MistakesIt had taken nearly two hours of wandering the streets of the city, but they finally found someone who was both interested in buying a beat up Y-Wing and willing to sell a larger ship. The ship in question was an older Lambda-class shuttle, commonly used as Imperial transport ships. They weren’t combat ships, and this particular one had its weapons removed, and some cargo area reduced for better crew quarters and a better hyperdrive. The ships were good quality, and Akan had encouraged Jen to go for it. Of course, he was being ‘menacing’ so he’d had to find an interesting way to do that. His thinking failed, and he ‘cheated’, using the Force to send her the message directly.    Jen showed no hint in her expression that she’d heard him, as that might give away to the man she was sitting across from that the big pet was more than just a bodyguard. She had pulled her hair back and was attempting to be much more stiff of a negotiator than she was with things like this. The way she did this was easier than she’d expected. Jen simply thought about buying the ship as she would a project she deeply believe in. She figured this was why the man was giving in and allowing her to negotiate for lower prices. She sounded like she really was good at this.    “One ten,” Jen said, leaning back in her chair at the small outdoor tapcafe and giving the older looking man across from her a long look.”    He had demanded to be called ‘Slick’, stating that this was what everyone knew him by. From the look of the people around him, even if they had any idea who he was, they didn’t care. Jen humored him. Slick was probably in his early fifties, and how exactly he’d picked up this Lambda shuttle was kept just as quiet as to why their Y-Wing was in such bad shape. He was examining her expression, “One twenty. She’s a good ship.”    “One ten,” Jen repeated, waving a hand in the air, “Good ship or not. Its well used, doesn’t even have an ion cannon, and really it should be ninety. The Y-Wing’s worth at least that much, but I’m willing to let it go for less. If you’re smart enough to see a good deal that is.”    Talk like that and you had any good salesman interested. They hated being shown up, and especially hated missing out on a good deal. Slick obviously knew it was a good deal and was just trying to get more for his money. There was that long, calculating silence between them before Slick finally nodded, “Deal. One ten.”    When he extended his hand across the small table, Jen knew he wasn’t requesting her to shake it. He wanted the money. So, she handed him a credit chip. This, he examined for a long moment, and before he spoke, she raised a hand, “One ten is on that chip. You can check it if you like. Now, what are the codes to the ship?”    Slick sighed and dug through his pockets before pulling out a small datacard. As he did this, Akan reached over Jen’s shoulder and handed her a similar card, which held the codes to the hangar the Y-Wing was in. They’d cleaned it out already, and were carrying the very small amount of equipment in two packs. Or rather, Akan was carrying them.    The two of them exchanged datacards, checked them, and Slick then disappeared without even a ‘thank you’. Once he was out of sight, Akan took the seat across from Jen and finished looking over the information on the card, “Private hangar not far from here,” he grinned suddenly and looked over to her, “You’re good at that fast talking.”    Jen shrugged. What could she say? She honestly didn’t know where she’d gotten it from. It was just something she’d needed to do, so she’d focused and done it. She couldn’t help a small smile and eventually nodded, “You know what the best part of it is?”    Akan tilted his head slightly, “Hm?”    She was surprised. Of all people, she’d have expected him to have caught on to it first. Her smile became a grin, “Remember the docking officer? We only paid half of those fees. We’re supposed to pay the other half when we leave.”    Slowly, Akan’s face formed into a devious grin. He started to laugh, “You’d be a great politician with the way you make people forget things like that,” Akan suddenly went silent, and Jen got worried until she realized he had thought of something else, “Where did you get a hundred and ten thousand credits? I thought we said we’d split the cost.”    Oh. That. She laughed this time, shaking her head, “My treat. Well, no. Think of it as the New Republic’s treat. It was the last payment of commission money to the facility on Endor. We used it to buy supplies...the Imperials arrived about three weeks before the next supply ship and I just had a hold of it.”    Akan smiled but didn’t say anything for a while. From the look of it, he was thinking about what to do. Jen was doing the same. The thing that was getting her the most was that Imperial, Voort. He’d just walked by like she didn’t even exist. Arguably, that was a good thing, but it was still strange. Still, Akan had said that Voort had sounded like he’d recognized Akan’s species. As far as Jen(and Akan for that matter) knew, he and Shadow were the only two of their kind in the galaxy. It was now more likely this was wrong. Hmm...she let her thoughts run on and then asked, “You said Voort called you something when he saw you, right?”    “Hm? Oh!” Akan nodded and welcomed himself back into reality, “Yeah...Alrax.”    “Shortened version of Alraxian?” Jen suggested, not completely believing it herself.    Akan shrugged, “I dunno...the way he said it made it seem like it was a name.”    “So he knew another Alraxian?”    Again, Akan shrugged, “It seems that way.”        Jen leaned forward and gave Akan a very serious look, “And you just let him walk away knowing what you are, and likely, what you can do?”    Slowly, what Jen had said dawned on him. Jen watched it creep onto his face before he cursed and kicked the table. The table nearly impaled her, but thankfully he caught it, his anger suddenly gone and a sheepish look on his face now. He was obviously still getting used to the strength of the body. He then just sighed, “One thing at a time...lets get that shuttle, get out of here, and get Shadow.”</blockquote>

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