Lux of the Draw

A thug or two being thrown across the convention floor didn't really surprise Salvo all that much. She'd been to these kinds of places before - she knew how it all went down and whatnot. Although, what did surprise her a little bit was when her first customer ended up being a bright, bubbly, cheerful Majin girl, and not the usual grizzled hard-asses that she had grown accustomed to dealing with.

"Eh?" she mumbled briefly in surprise at who exactly was inquiring about her pirate services. Still, the girl had mentioned money, and that wasn't something Salvo would turn down, no matter who it was that was paying. Salvo cleared her throat, then continued in a more 'piratey' type voice, "Erm, aye, we do be offerin' that. Pirate services don't be comin' cheap now, though. It's gonna be costin' you more than just a few pieces of eight." 

Salvo sat up more properly in her seat, though, as she was interested. It'd been more than just a spell since her last direct hire, and pillaging Namekian villages hadn't exactly stuffed their coffers full of cash. At best, she and her crew had been living off vegetables for the last few months. Granted, their cholesterol was way down, and they all felt more healthy and lively than ever, but still. It wasn't as good as cold, hard cash.

"What do it be that you're proposin', exactly?"

"No, see, a piece of eight is..." Salvo started to try to explain her pirate lingo, but then the Majin materialized some kind of plastic, physical number eight onto the table in front of her, which Salvo stared at blankly for a few seconds. "Hm." Salvo wasn't totally sure what to do with the eight as she picked it up and examined it, but it did keep her fingers occupied as the Majin got to talking.

Chargestones, huh? Salvo had heard of those. They sold quite the pretty penny on the black market, indeed, but the problem was getting your hands on them. They were quite rare things, and any reserves that the public knew about tended to be well-fortified. Any lone pirate would be out of their mind to try and raid a chargestone mine all on their own. Even if they could fend off the locals, the Galactic Patrol would be called on their ass before they'd have a chance to load even half the stones onto their ship.

"Sure, sure," Salvo replied, her eyes still focused on the little plastic eight. "You do know they're probably gonna call the cavalry in on us though, aye? Locals, I ain't too fussed about. But I don't exactly want to have to deal with Galactic Patrol types, if you rub my jib." 

Salvo set the eight down and folded her arms as she leaned back in her seat, thinking. "I'm thinkin'... Long as we're in and out right quick, it shouldn't be too much of a bother. GP are only so fast to respond to distress calls. Though, if we're fendin' off locals, I can't exactly promise we won't also be killin' some of those locals. Occupational hazard and all that. Now, that don't always sit right with some folks, so how about you? You fine gettin' your hands dirty?"

"I don't think the Galactic Patrol be a particularly new concept," Salvo mumbled, though she supposed it was possible to have never heard of them before if they really didn't frequent Konats all that much. Well, that was good then - even once they received the distress signals, if they did at all, the closest GP force probably wouldn't arrive for at least several hours. More than enough time to get in and out without any trouble. Provided the locals didn't put up some kind of fight, that was. 

And if the Majin had no qualms with her putting up a fight back at those locals, then they really didn't have any kind of issue, here. There was, of course, the question of shares, which the Majin brought up herself.

"You're just eatin, yeah?" Salvo asked. "And if it's a big mine, then, well, I can't imagine you can eat the entire thing before you're three sheets to the wind! ...Then again, ye are a Majin, so maybe we best be settin' some boundaries."

Salvo thought for a moment, her calloused and tough blue finger stroking her surprisingly smooth and scar-free chin as her red eyes wandered. "Me ship can only fit so many stones on it before I'd be at load bearin' capacity, so how's about we split the mine down the middle, and ye can just have whatever's left that I can't stuff into me ship's storage. That agreeable enough to ye?"

"Eh, there's always some do-gooder folks trying to bring peace and order to the galaxy 'n all that. Not that it ever works out for 'em." Salvo shrugged. Trying to tame the galaxy was like trying to hog tie a snake. Simply couldn't be done.

"And aye, to be honest, it'd take us quite some time to pilfer off all those chargestones, anyway. So, why don't we start with me crew takin' on a third of 'em, while you have at the rest of the lot, and once you're all fulled up with... Whatever it is you'll be eatin from 'em, we'll take whatever extra we can fit." Sounded fair enough to Salvo, at least. She was pretty sure her ship, large as it was, could probably only safely carry around that much anyway. Chargestones, as Salvo understood it, were a bit too dangerous to ferry around the galaxy in too large quantities. One bad bump and you could ignite the whole set in the middle of space. That wasn't exactly good for survival.

"Course, me crew'll only be able to help out with the locals, mostly - they ain't built from as tough stuff as you and I, so if any heroic types with big power levels show up, I'm gonna keep 'em out of harm's way. You'll have my sword personally for those types, though." Salvo gave the Majin a nice, toothy grin as she held out one of her hands for a shake. "What say you, bubblegum?"

"Yeah, yeah, energy, whatever," Salvo dismissively replied as the Majin clarified she was technically not eating the crystals themselves yet again. Salvo didn't really care much about the details, so long as she was gonna be getting her fair share.

She was already thinking about what she and her crew would do with the money once they sold them off. New uniforms? While she'd grown somewhat attached to the dark blue rags she wore, maybe it was time to get something a little more extravagant. Something more befitting a pirate captain, at least. There were also a few dings on the Deliverance that'd need some patching up. 'Course, they had have a big, meaty feast afterwards. Salvo was getting sick of the taste of broccoli and leeks. 

The Majin kept talking while Salvo was thinking, as she seemed wont to do, and her request for a spar did make Salvo chuckle. "Hmm," Salvo thought to herself as she examined the Majin. She was rather strong, wasn't she? As much as Salvo hated to admit it, she was strong than Salvo herself was. Course, Salvo could always transform, but chances were that this Majin knew some tricks up her sleeve as well...

"Well, I'll admit, I've been stuck on this backwater called Namek, which is full 'a pacifist weaklings, for the last year or so here," Salvo replied, "So I'm a bit outta practice when it comes to fisticuffs. I can show you what I got, but I doubt it'll blow your socks off right now. Come heist time, though, I'll be much more ready for action. Takes a day or two to grease up the old joints, you know 'ow it is." Salvo, of course, was only thirty-two, so she wasn't exactly pushing up daisies, but it did mean she couldn't jump straight into things like she used to.

"Eh? You know the slugs?" Salvo asked in slight surprise. "Right annoying buggers, aren't they? I'd sooner cleave meself to the brisket than have to deal with them again down the line." They were so self-righteous! Always prattling on about peace and acceptance. Until you made an enemy of them, then they had no problems with trying to punch you back! The hypocrisy was just absurd with those things. Salvo was right glad to be off that planet, hopefully forever.

"But enough about those bilge-suckers. Let's get right to it, then!" Salvo stood up, and in one swift motion, drew her pistol from at her side and pointed it at the Majin's forehead. The hammer clicked and her finger tensed on the trigger, although she paused, briefly, as she took a look around. "Actually, maybe we ought to move to somewhere a bit less crowded. Tryin' to blow each other's heads off in a place this crowded might draw some unsavory attention, if you catch my drift."

Salvo un-cocked her pistol and placed it back under her coat, then placed her hands on her hips. "A'right, then! You prolly know this city better 'n I do, so where's a good spot to have a bout 'a fisticuffs around here?"