[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/QKzXErE.jpg?3[/img][/center]
[right][b]En route to Batuu[/b][/right][hr]
The hum of the hyperdrive filled Huc Vondar's ears as the intercom alert buzzed in his quarters aboard the Corellian Dawn, rousing him from a deep sleep. He smiled as he listened to his baby purr as it hurtled through hyperspace. The drive had never run better. That capacitor Gor-Nada had picked up on Ord Mantell was as good as he said it would be. Fuel consumption on the ship was down almost ten percent, and that meant everything out here near Wild Space. 

Huc liked it out this far from the core, at least when it came to the worlds. Sparsely inhabited and far more interesting from an ecological standpoint. Seeing worlds untouched by the industry that had both ravaged Corellia and made it such a successful economy was freeing. The jungles of his home planet had their own kind of beauty, but it was hard to find vast stretches untouched by mining or the shipyards. But out here the crew of the Dawn could have been the first people to see some of these places. 

Back during the days of Imperial rule on Corellia, he had always dreamed of exploring the galaxy like this. He had already seen so much, and had barely scratched the surface of the vast worlds that filled known space.

Once again the buzzer of the intercom went off, and he pressed it to respond, "What is it, Duck?"

"We will be coming out of hyperspace shortly," AC-DK, the commercial pilot droid who now acted as the Dawn's copilot, announced from the cockpit, which he rarely ever left. He had been programmed to constantly be flying Starspeeder 3000s for Star Tours, one of the galaxy's main commercial space travel corporations. Huc had won the droid on a miracle bet during a podrace on Tattooine. He'd never forget the look on the Zabrak's face he won Duck from. His horns seemed to turn upside down to match the frown on his face. Huc still chuckled sometimes when he thought about it. But Duck was an invaluable as a co-pilot, especially since he didn't need to sleep. What he lacked in style, he made up for in dependability.

"Will be right up," he responded to his co-pilot groggily. "I'll grab some caf and meet you in the cockpit."

He stretched out and put his feet on the bantha skin rug he had picked up for his modest quarters aboard the YT-2000 Freighter. There was only about a meter and a half of space between the bed and the door. On the walls were small holo frames that displayed images he had taken on his travels. These sprung to life as he got out of bed. He smiled to see the memories of him and the crew. None of them had ever thought a few years ago that they'd ever be this free.

Huc dressed quickly and stepped out into the main hall of the Corellian Dawn. To his left was the Holonet Terminal and the cockpit, and across the hall was Yu'li's room. He hoped the beast she had picked up recently was in there with her. He didn't need another Fuzzball ambush. He turned to the right and walked past Gor-Nada's room, the rumble of the huge Herglic snoring away emanating out to here.  which they had to make by knocking down a wall, sealing off a door, and combining two rooms. Still, the big old guy deserved to be comfortable. 

The door to the crew lounge opened, and he made his way eagerly towards the caf machine. He had managed to score some Felucian Roast at their last stop, which was a godsend. Before that he had to make do with the stuff the Republic and the Ewoks were growing on Endor. It just didn't have the same kind of kick. 

Once his mug was filled with the steaming liquid, he made his way back to the cockpit and took the pilot's chair next to Duck. The gleaming silver that covered most of the droid's body was almost as good of a pick me up. He still bore the trademark blue and orange detailing and the Star Tours logo on his breast. It was something Huc kept meaning to rectify, but there never seemed to be time to get him a paint job. He stood at about four feet, and was built like a brawler. Star Tours had built a good looking droid with the AC series, that much was certain.

"Sleep well?" the droid asked, taking a quick glance over to him.

"I'll sleep better when we unload this cargo. Moving weapons always makes me nervous," Huc responded, taking a sip of his caf, enjoying the smooth, rich nuttiness. "At least Oga is a reliable fence for this kind of stuff."

"Have you found a suitable fence for me? Since I am stolen property after all," Duck responded without looking over.

"You seriously need to stop saying that," Huc sighed and rubbed his temples. The droid had never been properly reprogrammed, as the skilled needed was over his skill level. He had done enough to ensure that the droid would not run and would perform his job admirably, but the commercial pilot programming in him was stubbornly ingrained. "I won you fair and square."

"I was not property to be wagered!" he protested.

"Well, that's on that Zabrak, not me, pal," Huc smiled mischievously as the Dawn's navicomputer alerted him that they were approaching their final destination of Batuu.

"Shall I wake Yu'li and Gor-Nada?" Duck asked.

"Nah, let them get some more sleep," the pilot shook his head and began running the Dawn through the paces of coming out of hyperspace. "I think the two of us can bring our girl into Black Spire Outpost alone. We've done it enough."

Suddenly, the white blur of hyperspace peeled away from around the cockpit of the Corellian Dawn and the blue-green marble that was Batuu filled their gaze. But that wasn't the only thing that met them. Hovering in orbit above the planet was an Imperial Star Destroyer.

"Uh, Duck?"

"Wake the others?"

"Yea that'd be great."

After a few presses of the comm buttons, Yu'li Tavir and Gor-Nada appeared in the cockpit. Yu'li, Huc's best friend and closest confidant, moved with the grace of a dancer. The Togrutan had always been graceful, even on the battlefield. It didn't hurt that she could shoot the ears of a gundark at fifty meters. Gor-Nada, a hulking Herglic, merely stood in the cockpit, unable to fit comfortably through the door without effort. Gor was the closest thing either Yu'li or Huc had to a parent at this point, with Huc's dead and Yu'li's in parts unknown. Slow to anger and quick to dispense advice, his calm demeanor betrayed his muscular, whale-like appearance.

"Oh crap," was all the Herglic was able to mutter when he saw the enemy craft.

"They can't have known where we were going," Yu shook her head in disbelief, her head tails swaying with a slight delay to match. "We attacked that convoy three systems ago."

She wasn't wrong. If the Empire knew that Batuu was one of the places the Dawn, an officially sanctioned Republic privateer vessel, liked to offload the merch that they took, they'd be in bigger trouble across the galaxy. They had fake transponder codes running for the ship whenever they were outside New Republic space, so they wouldn't be recognized right away. Still, there always was a slight danger.

But Batuu was remote, and little used in these days. At one time it was an important refueling station in the more remote bands of the Outer Rim, but hyperspace lanes had passed it by. It was more likely that whatever the reason was for a Star Destroyer to be here, it was secret.

"I doubt they're here for us," Huc assured them, though not fully sure of that himself. "Probably some two bit Imp captain who ran off with his Destroyer to play war lord. But if there was any wind about us out there, at least we have good fake IDs and a shipping manifest. Still, jump in one of the gun wells, Yu'li. Just in case."

"And what happens if they want to board us?" she asked, cocking an eye at him.

"I'll talk them out of it?"

"How?"

"I can be very persuasive," he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"We're doomed," she sighed and headed for the guns.

"Gor, just check that our manifest looks legit. And maybe hide."

"Why?"

"Because if we do get boarded a charging Herglic is bound to scare off a few bucket heads," Huc smiled broadly.

Gor-Nada grumbled something as he turned and headed for the cargo hold.

"Duck, take the stick," he nodded to the droid.

"Why is that?" the co-pilot was surprised. Huc rarely if ever gave up control of the Dawn when he was in the cockpit.

"Because you love to fly boring," the captain shrugged. "Will arouse less suspicion."

"Boring!? I will have you know that my programming allows me to fly any craft at peak galactic regulation-specified levels!"

"Yea," Huc nodded and patted him on his metallic shoulder. "That constitutes boring, buddy."

"You're impossible," Duck shook his head, the slight whir of his neck servos buzzing in the cockpit.

Before long, a hail from the planet came to the Dawn. Huc sighed with relief as he saw that it came from no other than the defacto mayor of Black Spire Outpost, the Blutopian Oga Garra. Black Spire was the planet's largest settlement, and Oga had been the proprietor of the cantina there for longer than anyone could remember. That alone gave her sway over the town, not to mention the black market contacts needed to move the Corellian Dawn's merchandise.

"Oga," Huc smiled and accepted the transmission, "it's been too long."

"You're damn right it'sh been too long!" the slurping of the Blutopian's tentacles marred her speech slightly. "I've been waiting on that Trandossshan ale for far too long!"

"Well, give us a docking berth and we'll break into the first cask together!"

"Docking Bay 9," she transmitted the berthing codes. "Will meet you there."

"Oga coming personally to the docking bay means trouble. She almost never does that," Huc shook his head. "I have a bad feeling about this."