RP: Bounty Hunts [Interlude 1]: Interviews

[ShotJon]

Kendra was in her room. The Captain's room. She had Helric clear it out earlier and set up new password for the minigun turret hidden in the ceiling. Now it was her room finally. Sure, it was not searched properly yet, but at least there was nothing that would want to kill her. Thouth it needed a lot more satin, gold and colour. Last captain did not have much of a taste. Kendra spend last two days here recuperating from the gunshot wound. The big bead captain had was perfect for it and much more comfy, after all the beds in medbay were tiny, her tail would not fit there. Here she was happily coiled on the bed, her back on bunch of pillows as she read and chatted with Helric and Doc about stuff. Now she was alone, waiting for one of the crewmembers, she did not have chance to talk with yet.

The door chime rang, signalling said crewmember had arrived outside and was awaiting admittance. She had taken her time responding to the summon to talk, not having felt the desire to go anywhere until she was good and well ready to do so.

"Come on in," Kendra said and made herself comfortable in her nest of pillows. The snake woman took a deep girl and swig of a wine she had there, before setting it back on her night table.

The door hissed open and Amanozako crossed the threashold. She was clad in her black jumpsuit and boots, her gunbelts around her hips with her pair of HHG's. "You wanted to talk about something?" she asked indifferently.

"Yeah, I did." Kendra nodded and waved her hand around the room. "Sit wherever."

Amanozako leaned against the bulkhead, crossing her arms and studying the snake-like mercenary with her crimson eyes.

"So I want to know what is your game. I am happy to have someone like you in the crew, but I need to know where you stand." Kendra went to the point of the disscussion. The point was of course if she can trust the neko.

The black haired neko watched the snake woman for a long moment. "Depends" she said. "If the money stays good, then I will hang around a bit, if it doest, then I will move on" she explained. "But if you are worried about me turning on you, well that will depend if you point your guns at me again" she smiled thinly, it was not a kind smile.

"I am not crazy, I would not take guns to deal with a neko and if you won't give me a reason I won't. Now business of this crew ill be bounty-hunting. That should be okay with you if I am not mistake." Kendra started with the explanation. "But, we will try to stay on the right side of the law. No assassination no shit like that. Only big illegal thing I am okay to do is harbouring a neko on the ship." Kendra added with a smirk.

Amanozako had no qualms about any of the less legal aspects of bounty hunting, or assasinations for that matter. The laws did not matter to her, just the money and, if she ever came upon any Mishhu, revenge. She did not say any of this to Kendra, she seemed like the type that would not understand what went on in Amanozako's mind. "I see" she replied.

"I do not mind if we have to steal something to get to our prey, but I don't want to do something that would piss of cops or goverment. I told this to others I am saying it to you." Kendra explained and moved a bit to get comfortable on her pillow fort. "Now since you helped big fucking lot in actually getting to this ship I have a proposition for you. You will be getting a part of money we make. Same as Nicholas, Desmond and that Iroma dude. You did the most in acquiring this ship. Others will just have the wage. But for this I hope I need you to understand that I am captain and I want my orders to be listened to. I am open to discussion most of the time, but when I say No, the second time , then I mean it."

"Well, we shall see about that" Amanozako said flatly. She had ended her time following orders when she had killed her master and ripped its still beating heart from it's tentaclly, slimy body.

"No we won't," Kendra said, frowning. "I am captain of this ship. I decide in the end. You don't like it, you can go and be on your own. But if you stay here I will treat you right and I will hide you from neps. Plus you said you wanted money, I will give you that. Did NMX ever pay your any money? I doubt so. Besides Nicholas has ties on black market, I bet he can get some hemosynth for you. Isn't that what your kind needs to actually heal if hurt too badly?"

"I operate just fine on my own" she replied. She did not respond to any of the questions about the NMX or her needs as a neko. She did not speak of personal matters or her past with others. She had little to say and they had no need to know anyways. "I do not see how you lay claim to command this ship anyways, I seem to remeber infiltrating this pirate organization months ago and gaining their trust before taking out their leadership from the inside" she commented and looked right into Kendra's eyes. She had no desires for the ship as it was, It was too big for her needs and she did not want something that encouraged bringing others along, but she would have sold it for the cash right away if these people had not come in and planted themselves.

"Because I put our merry band togehether on the star liner and had the bloody idea to steal this ship from pirates. We just met you on the way. You never said you wanted it and everyone else listens to me already. No claim, no gain. We made a good money on the way too and Nick has some more pirate shit to sell. You got your share and you will get more." Kendra shrugged and leaned back in her pillows, trying to not think about the fact that the neko could probably just pull a gun and kill her right there. "And yeah, yeah. You are fine on your own. Everyone says so. Suit yourself I am not your mother. Just don't be sorry later when you are all alone and hunted by cops for having cat ears. I doubt you would like being caught and shipped to Yamatai, just for you, being you."

Amanozako laughed. She sprang forward, in an instant she had Kendra pinned down, knee's keeping her tail immobilized, a hand on each wrist like a vice. "Listen and understand" she hissed. "I do not take orders, I am not in debt to you, I do not work for you and you do not have any say in what I do and where I go" she snapped with a sudden rage. "If you have issue with this, then I get my share of the value of this ship and I am gone. But I will not be talked to in this fashion by the likes of you or anyone else on this ship" she shoved the snake woman down, keeping her pinned.

Kendra took a deep breath to remain calm. She then looked to the side at her held wrists. "Oh boy not even a dinner date? You work fast girl." Kendra took another deep breath, feeling the wound in her arm that did not healed yet. "Yes, you are strong I get that. That is why I want you on this bloody ship. Cause I need someone who so bloody good at killing folks. I just don't want a loose cannon. And if you look at the money Nicholas already gave, I think that is more then you would get for your share of this ships worth."

"That was just the bounties for the scum I dealt with" she responded, "As for being a loose cannon, do you think I would have survived as long as I have if I went around indiscriminately killing people?" she hissed. "I take out the targets that will get me paid. It does me no good to kill bystanders, collateral damage doesa not pay" she did not yet let up on Kendra, she had no intention of giving her the ability to wrench herself free.

"Either kiss me or let go, cause this is getting tiring." Kendra chuckled and looked Amano in the eyes.
"Not afraid I'm going to break your little neck?" the neko asked with just the hint of a grin at the corners of her mouth.

"First it would not make you any money, second I am not exactly defenseless you see. But since I am trying to be on good terms and my stomach hurts I am not going to wrap my tail around your neck, because you know my tail is quite long. It might be surprising. Still I don't see a need of fighting someone who is part of my crew." Kendra smirked at the kitty-cat.

Amanozako grinned at all that. While most people this expression might look cheerfull or nice, on her it wasn't, there was just something behind her eyes that wasn't right. "Well, if you want to be diplomatic about it" she said, easing herself up into more of a sitting position, slowly letting Kendra's wrists go.
"Ah well I hoped for that kiss," Kendra chuckled and looked at the cat. "Now okay, I will be even more diplomatic. I won't give your orders, but be so nice and at least tell me what are your plans so they don't collide with mine. If we are to work together on bounties, we need to cooperate a bit. More bounties more money for all of us."

"Cooperating is fine" Amanozako replied.

"Great!" Kendra said, happy to get somewhere. "Glad we are finally getting on the same page. Anything you need from me?"

"Good" Amanozako said, watching her a moment. She leaned back down, planting her lips against Kendra's, deciding the kiss wasn't such a bad option, anyways, since an arrangement seemed to have been come upon and if she did not have to argue or shoot the snake woman it would make things less..difficult, in the long run, at least until she opted to move on to somewhere else.

Kendra did not even bat an eyelash as their lips met. Quite teh opposite actually as she met the cat's lips and hugged her with her hands drawing her closer. She was about to show Amano, how good a kisser she was. This was a best way of recuperating after all. A nasty interview, turning into night of fun.

 

[ShotJon]

=== Next Morning ===

With Amanazoko gone, Kendra lazied around the bed. It was a fun night and successful one too ,since it had helped her to get on the better side of the kitty-cat. Kendra was already feeling a lot better, so she slithered out of her bed and got a shower. With a fresh t-shirt and cup of coffee, she went to the wardroom and sat by a table. Now she had Amano sort of sorted, it left one person to talk with.

Hello Lapas, could you meet me in the wardroom? We need a chat. Kendra.

The snake-girl formed a message on her communicator and sent it to the Iroma. He was sort of a joker of their group. A wildcard. Kendra did not know him very well and wanted to get a better judgement. Meeting him alone and having a chat would help, tell her where he stood.

Lapas received Kendra's message while he was cleaning his Laiz Rifle. He let a sigh and to no one in particular he state "So Snake-tits finally melts to my charm. Ha"

Lapas walked into the wardroom, "I would have brought flowers but this was so sudden I just didn't know what to do."

"Charming," Kendra replied and sipped some coffee. "Have a sit. We need to chat about your future and your place on this ship."

Lapas moved up to the chair and sat down. "Well as far as my future I see myself fabulously wealthy with girls from every attractive species waiting on me hand and foot. Is that a proper answer?"

"Nice future, I am aiming for something similiar." Kendra chuckled and put the coffee mug down on the table. "Now, you seem to want to stay on this ship with us right? I beleive Nicholas already paid you out for the help you gave us."

"I would mind sticking around here, you all seem crazy enough to keep up with me so I can't complain. And I guess that means I'm on the official payroll then?" He leaned back and put his feet up on the table. "So any more questions for me or can we skip to the fun part of this little date?"

"Aren't we in a hurry," The snake-girl remarked with a smirk. She leaned on her elbows, putting her chin on her palms. "Well yes, you are on the payroll, which makes you part of the crew. You will be getting a part of the bounties same as others. Now I want to make one thing clear. I am the captain of this ship and expect you to listen to me. You don't, you can take your things and leave. I can use you, you are resourceful, but I need someone I can trust around. Not a wild cannon who does whatever he wants."

"I'll follow most of your orders to the 'T', which is weird because orders doesn't have a 'T' in it, but who am I to argue with the Nepleslian language? But if you don't give me orders I'll do my thing which happens to be blowing stuff up and or talking it to death. So if neither of those things are useful to the situation please say so before the charges are primed."

Kendra chuckled and looked at the guy. She liked his guts and his easy-going act. "Well if you blow up our bounties up, it will be hard to claim it. Also I said this to others, I will tell it to your as well. I want this show to be as legal as possible. I don't want to deal with cops. It is expensive and annoying."

Lapas nodded with a smile as he remembered his days with the brotherhood. "No we don't want cops anywhere near us. I've found they have a way of ruining all the fun little projects me and my friends seemed to come up with. You by chance would have anything to drink? I can still smell the explosives."

"Well this is wardroom so just grabwhatever. There is a mini-bar." Kendra said, leaning back and pointing. "I think we need you get some little place off ship, where you can do your explosive experiments. I don't want to wake up one morning without the ship."

"No of course not, I've seen it happen always a sad affair and I do find may self missing my old workshop back home. But look Sna- Kendra I assure you I take full care when I'm restocking my bomb supplies so you have nothing to worry about." He got up and found a bottle of rum "Care for some?"

"I hope so," Kendra nodded. "And nah, I am fine with coffee. By the way you can call me Snake, I got used to it. Some neps I new used to call me Boa. It is not like I am not both so whatever."

He took the bottle back to his seat and resumed his former position. "Alright snake ti- Boa." He would need to watch himself with that name now. "So any more questions: favourite position, most embarrasing moment, worst fear, anything else you can think of. If it matters I like long walks of the beach, drinking and recrational demolitions"

"I am afraid you won't find many beaches on Delsauria. Lots of desert thought, which is sand as well. Personally I hate sand. Scrapes against my scales badly." The Separa'Shan said with another chuckle. "Also are you flirting with your captain?"

"That depends on two things: Is it working? And if so how much?" He took a swig of rum and moved his posture into a mock business pose.

"It is working a little," Kendra smiled at the Iroma. "Sadly for you I just had a really nice night this night. I can't just go and let myself go crazy with yet another crewmember. What kind of captain would I be?"

"A captain who is very concerned about the morale of her crew. And that would make you a very good one" He raised an eyebrow towards her.

"Well your morale seems high as ever luckily, judging from your chirpy attitude." Kendra chuckled and folded her arms on her bountiful chest.

Lapas coughed "Well you see this is all an act. I'm actually very sad and very lonely. If only I had a beautiful captain to give me a will to fight" He let a wicked smile creep across his face.

Kendra raised one eyebrow and thought for a bit. So far he seemed actually quite nice and she could not help, but to be a bit attracted to his way of talking. The easy-going nature did call out to her. Still she was a captain and in all the books and shows she watched and read, the captain had to have some respect. Going around and banging half of the crew would not help with that all much. Well then it seemed that Kendra would not be that kind of captain then.

"Oh you poor thing, sad and lonely? How sad and lonely are you exactly?" Kendra had a cheerful smile on her lips as she played with him.

"I often sit alone in my bunk dreaming of a warrior princess who would slither up to my bedside every night and banish away my loneliness." He took another swig." yes thats me sad and lonely."

"Oh that sounds so terrible," Kendra leaned closer with a sad expression on her face. Of course it was clearly played one. "Want to come to my room and tell me all about it?"

Lapas made his best sad puppy face as he said "Well if you insist, but I'm not sure how much good talking about will do." His sad face turned into an evil smile as he leaned closer to her. "I think it would be better if I showed you."

"Well if there is no other way, then I am afraid you must." Kendra said and giggled enjoying the little game. This would make fore a very interesting morning.

 

[ShotJon]

It was another beautiful and very very VERY dusty day on planet Delsauria. Luckily the bounty hunters were not bothered by that at all, seeing as they were inside they homey ship The Iron Ferret.

Kendra just finished her breakfast and went for stroll through the ship. She was coped up in her room for last several days so she wanted to stretch her tail and see what was new on her ship. Not that she did not enjoy some of those last few days. There were one or two moments, that were highly enjoyable.

She reached the cargo bay and noticed a box sitting in the empty space with a delivery note on top. Kendra perked her eyes, looked around to see if anyone was there. She could not see see a living sould so she just slithered to the box and checked it up.

One of the crewmember probably picked it up from the courier and then set it here for the owner. The box was covered with Origin sticker and seemed a bit heavy. The person who it belonged to was Desmond according to the note on top. Kendra raised an eyebrow, curious what was inside.

She picked up her communicator and sent simple message to mr. Stroud. "Hey Desmond, there is a box for you in cargo bay. It is from Origin, come pick it up." Kendra sent the messaged and then sat on one of the boxes around and waited.

A couple moments later, the door to the cargo bay opened and Desmond stepped inside. The bounty hunter wasn't wearing the token bulletproof vest that already seemed to be as much as part of him as his limbs, but instead was just wearing a simple white T-shirt that was tucked under his cargo pants. Sweat trickled down his forehead and spotted some places on the shirt, hinting that he had been exerting himself prior to coming there.

"Cool." Desmond said flatly as he spotted the crate. In truth, he was very excited. The metal container, in fact, was as big as a violin case, blocky and matte black, which counted for most of its weight. The bounty hunter approached it, crouching down and using the wirecutters from his toolbelt to cut the seals and open it. He dug through the foam stuffing inside the crate before retrieving his prize.

Kendra slopped off the box and crawled closer. She leaned closer to see what was inside with curious eyes. She looked like a kid watching a bag of candy in a shop. "Come on, come on, what is it?" She asked enthusiastically.

It was a sheathed blade.

Desmond got up, unsheathed the machete and ran his finger through the brand new blade. It was a single edged blade, like any other machete, the back end had sawed teeth and near the handle it housed a attachment almost as thick as the blade itself. The bounty hunter felt that blade's weight; It was not balanced, and by no means had the finesse of a proper sword, with the weight mostly concentrated on the end of it, it was a weapon designed to mercilessly chop through things -and people- and it showed.

But that was not all it had to it, if he had wanted a simple machete then Desmond would've simply gone to the nearest retail store. The bounty hunter pressed a button on the front of the weapon's handle, much like a trigger, and triggered the power field around the blade, enveloping it in a faint blue light. That made the blade humm and vibrate in a frequency that set Desmond's teeth on edge with it.

He toggled the field off and sheathed the blade again before throwing it inside the crate. "How's the wound?" he suddenly asked Kendra once he closed the black metal casing, turning to face the Separa'Shan. Now that he was facing her, it was possible to see that his forehead still had a bruise mark and a couple of scratches around the face.

"All fine now," Kendra said with a grin. She pointed at a semi-healed bruise in her belly, about the height where people normally have thighs. "I just hate that I will have this scar until I shed skin next. Which is like amonth away. I hate scars. I hope the one on the arm will be gone." She said and shrugged. Her attention then went to the blade he had.

"So a short cutter eh?" She raised her eyebrows and looked at it closer. "What all you got for it? The humm says it vibrates, what next? Got the mono-knit too I hope."

"No, and yeah. It doesn't vibrate, the humm comes from the power field around it." Desmond said, "I won't blow your brains with science, but that's how it works. We also got one new guy on the crew." He added.

"Oh a new guy? What's he like." Kendra asked with a smile on her face. It was nice not having to be bitch for once. She moved her hands forward with her palm open. "May I?" She gestured for the machette."

"Reliable. We shot some place up, made a good buck." Desmond said, proferring the machete towards Kendra, handle first.

"You have to tell me all about it. Hopes you did not cause any trouble for local law enforcement. This seems to be place where we set up shop so I want to do good with the locals. Cops are good source of information and even help sometimes." She said as she grabbed the weapon. She moved back a bit and weighted the blade. She then swung it few times. "Hmm very front heavy. A chopping instrument. Nasty piece of thing. Swaps elegance for reliability and force. I like it."

"If they were, people like us would be without a job." Desmond replied to the snake-woman, leaving it at that and just watching her examine the weapon. "But that doesn't mean I'll go doing wet work if that's what you're worried about." He added.

"Nah I know you are good," Kendra said with a smile on her lips. She looked at Desmond and handed him the blade back, handle first. "I just know cops from my previous.... engagements. They can be a bit of an arse, even when you do stuff that is technically legal. Like shooting up a lot of bounties."

Desmond pulled the blade, suppressing a laugh. Good? Him? That was new. He wasn't a loose cannon like Amanozako, but the aggression was still there; Bottled up and ready to leash out, but still was there. "Money talks." Was his reply.

"That is true, but I prefer to the talking talks. Means more money for me. Being polite gets very far. And when it does not work you still have money or a gun." Kendra explained what she was getting at. "By the way I had a chat with Amano. I... handled her. There should not be troubles such as her shooting random people. Still she quite individualistic. Don't extect much of a team spirit of her."

"Whatever." Desmond said. He didn't particularly care about most of the other crewmembers did or didn't do, but if that directly affected him, specially in a way that meant getting shot on the back. "As long as she's not shooting at me, I do

"Just thought you might want to know, being my first officer and what not." Kendra chuckled and stretched, her breasts perking up. "Man I was bottled up on the ship for last few days. How about we go out and do something? Oh I know, let's go shopping. I wanted some stuff!"

"Yeah, sure." Desmond said, watching his captain stretch out. For a moment he thought of the possibility of her breasts being scaled like the nickname Lapas had given her, but quickly put that aside. With the backplate of his bulletproof vest ruined since his last 'job', he had a good -and sad- excuse to spend money. "Just don't take me purse shopping or anything." He added.

"Well you could use new wardrobe," Kendra said, looking at him critically. His clothes were quite frankly terrible. White t-shirt and cargo-pant. "We should get you a nice suit or at least a good coat for when you are not busy shooting people. You like some kind of military bloke. Which is too bad, a decent set of slacks, shirt and nice coat, maybe a short visit at hairdresser and every woman on this ship would want to be in your bed."

That made Desmond raise an eyebrow. He didn't particularly care exactly how he looked, he wasn't raised to do that, and was an avid believed that a person should only wear a suit twice: the day they marry and the day they die. "No. Actually, the only thing I need to buy is a new set of armor." The bounty hunter said, ignoring- or trying to- Kendra's last comment.

"Suit yourself. I am neither your mum, neither your girlfriend to force you into wearing clothes you don't want." She giggled and slithered around him. "As for armour, yes I wanted to buy myself a set of Murr. Everyday won't cut it for big shoothouts. So give me a minute I will grab a gun and we will set off. Meet here in 2 minutes?"

Desmond nodded, grabbing the casing and setting off to his quarters in the other cargo bay.

====

Some time later the duo foind itself standing in front of a Styrling Vervaading store. As usual it was warm outiside, which was just perfect for Kendra. She loved warm weather, the warmer the better. Delsauria would be her kind of planet, except for all the sand and dust. When dust and sand gets under your scales, that is very very annoying.

Kendra looked up to see a cliff raising above Mahorombi spaceport. The port was actually built partly into the cliff. The higher parts were of course expensive homes of the higher sort. Kendra checked the net and read that those are even closed to lower class citizens. That did not surprise here. There might be no nobles here, just rich fucks. To Kendra there was no difference between those.

"Let's go in," Kendra frowned and turned to the shop.

Desmond nodded, finishing off a cigarette - the second or so during their trip there - and stepping on it. The bounty hunter had, for good or worse, donned his jacket over the T-shirt. It still had the bullet hole on the sleeve.

As the duo went into the store they wouldn't notice anything particularly outstanding about it. It looked like every other Nepleslian shop that focused on either selling stuff that killed or stuff that prevented someone from getting killed. The shop itself wasn't big enough either, some of the goods were on display on shelves or on the walls, but it was clear that most of the stuff was on a stockroom behind the counter. The salesman was a pot bellied Nepleslian with a bored look that adorned his face along with a thick moustache.

"Anythin' ya' fellas looking for?" He asked, leaning against the glass counter and examining the duo. Kendra would notice a look of surprise cross his face once he saw her lower half.

"Yes, yes, we are interested in your armours please," Kendra smiled at the man as she slithered in. She had to say she liked the guys moustache. There was something cool about men with beard or moustaches. Some kind of power. Kendra of course did now even wince when she saw his reactions to her lower half. Everyone reacted that way.

the salesman pointed towards one wall, displaying a set of the Everyday vests and trousers while a full set of the Styrling Muur was worn by a mannequin inside a glass display. "Knock yourself out." He said.

The separa'shan moved to the stand and looked at the Muur armour. It was green. As if someone vomited all over it. The woman frowned at it. "What do you think?" She asked looking at Desmond.

"Looks better than my previous one. Color's bad." He replied. If he'd settle for a color, he'd pick the same matte black as the blade he had ordered.

"Yeah, I already own an Everyday, but I thought about getting body armour for the harder fights. But green just won't do." She said, frowning at the thing. She extended her hand and knocked at it. She was really only interested in the chest guard, fore-arm protectors and the under-jacket. Maybe helmet.

"Expensive. But I'll take it." Desmond said, looking at the "1700 DA" Price tag on the entire set.

"Yeah, I will only need torso though. Pants are kind of useless for me," she giggled and slithered around to see how well the torsto armour protected from the flank and back. "Looks solid enough, not sure if I want the helmet though. It is pain in the arse, getting my hair under these things."

"It's also a pain in the ass to get shot in the head." Desmond replied. "I'll take the whole set, matte black." He said to the salesman after a moment's consideration.

"Gold-like finish would be too much wouldn't it?" Kendra looked at Des. She had her regular set up. Dangly ear-rings, a golden choker necklace, headband with all its feather and several rings on her hand. She also wore her black corset for once, showing off that her shoulders and skind of her back was scaley, while front looked like normal nepleslian-like skin.

Desmond, in the other hand, wore his usual roughed up clothes. The jacket, of some faded dark color, not only was wrinkled like an old person's face but also had the clear tear on the right sleeve. He didn't carry any jewelry either, and couldn't help but to notice how Kendra made up for his lack of 'decoration' with her own excess. "You like gold a lot, don't you?" He asked her, half-joking.

"Well nepleslian women says that diamonds are girls best friends, but I say that gold makes you shine way more." She smiled, showing him her snakey-teeth. Perfectly white. "Hmm okay not all gold. How about gold-like shouts or something. Maybe dark blue armour, nah that would nto work with my scales. Hmmm... maybe auburn colour would work well. What do you think?"

"Gold and Auburn, I guess." Desmond said. It was clear to him that she didn't care whether the armor color would make her a bigger and more identifiable target as well as giving the best sign that she was a leadership element somehow, so he decided to just play along. What did he know, though, he might actually enjoy that game.

"I'll go with that then," She smiled and tapped happily at the torso armour. "Will have to do something with the helmet so it will actually look nice. Maybe put some large feathers on top or something. Give it some Elysian styling. Then I will have my head protected and will be able to look at myself in the mirror."

"Hah. Do what you gotta do, but we're going to be shooting people, not mounting a horse and swinging an axe through someone's head." Desmond said, supressing a grin at the image of Kendra trying to ride a horse.

"That is a good thing, axes are barbaric and un-wieldy. I prefer knives," She grinned at Desmond and stepped back to the salesman. She smiled at him and asked. "Mister, do you handle imports too? I want a gun from Lorath matriarchy. And some modification done to it. Well at least the gun and some ammo for it I will do the mods elsewhere if needed."

That surprised the salesman. The pot-bellied man stood on his full, and not imposing, height and pulled the counter up, revealing that it also made for a makeshift chest. He motioned to Kendra to move around it so she could see the 'less legal' goods he had in store.

"Watcha' lookin' foah'?" The vendor asked.

"I want a hand-cannon, but I want to modify the handle so you can add stock to and I want ti to have longer barrel. Is that doable?" Kendra as she leaned to see in the chest. "I am going to require special ammo for it as well."

"Of course." Said the vendor, leaning on his elbows against the open counter. "I got jus' what ya' need. One of them space chickens sold 'em to me to get some quick cash and book it off the planet." He added, and pulled a very big revolver from inside. "Ain't nothing that can be stopped by this beauty! Can stop one of them big ID-SOLs dead on 'dem tracks with the right ammo." The man said with a grin as he looked at Kendra.

"I can do the modifications, but it will take some time to get 'em done, so I'll have to ship it to ya." He added.

"Well how long will it take? I am going to be in town for a while and in anyway I don't really have shipping adress so I would pick it up later I guess." Kendra shrugged looking at the revolver. She held out a hand. "May I?"

The vendor gave the Separa'Shan the pistol, "Couple' days." He said.

"Hokay, so how about I pay half now, you do it and keep it here for me and I will pay the rest when I come pick it up?" She said as she hefted the revolver. It was a big mofo of a gun. She made sure to aim it away from people as she opened the cylinder. It was a five-round cylinder and each hole looked like a small tunnel.

"Gun's four hundred. I can do the mods' foah an extra hundred. You can come pick 'em up in a day or two." The vendor said, taking down a notepad from his pocket and writting on it with a very stubby pencil that was stored on the notepad's metal loops.

"Okay, I will need ammo for it too. Some High Explosive Gel, some conventional explosive rounds, box of normal bullets and soft gel slug, if I ever needs someone alive. Oh and I will take helmet and torso armour from Muur." Kendra explained, locked the cylinder and turned there revolver, presenting it handle first to the man. "Oh you do recolours of the armour?"

The vendor nodded as he wrote down what Kendra wanted. "Yep, single color is free." He said as he finished calculating the price, "...Twenty one hundred." He said.

"Hokay, then make the main coulour auburn and the edgest and stuff gold. Well not realy, it is okay if it just looks gold. If you don't have that, then yellow will do." Kendra said and that did a few calculations in her mind. It seemed like she was set and the price seemed fair. "Twenty-one hunded it is then."

Meanwhile, Desmond approached the counter himself, then pointed at the Styrling Muur set on the display, "Full set. Matte Black." The bounty hunter said.

"Seventeen hundred." The vendor said, looking at him for a while before responding. "You look like sumthin' chewed you up and spit you out, man." He added, looking at the bruise that had turned from red to a faint purple on the bounty hunter's forehead. The scratches hadn't completely healed either, but they looked like they wouldn't leave any scarring.

"Such is the life of a bounty hunter," Kendra commented, looking at Desmond and smiling. "He could look a lot bettter if her let me dress him properly."

"Whatever." Desmond said, pulling his credit chit and handing it over to the vendor. The other man took the proferred item and passed it through an electronic reader, before handing it to the bounty hunter. "I'll get the armor on the back. We got the colour ya want in stock, but her's will take a while to paint." He said.

"Yeah, I will take it when I come for the gun." The snake-girl replied and took out her credit chit. "Hokay so ten-fifty now and the rest when I come pick up the stuff. I should be still in town before you finished, but one never knows." She then stopped talking as the man went back.

The vendor came back some minutes later, carrying a box that must've been amost as tall as him with ease. Once he planted it on the table Desmond noticed that it was because the thing had two handles on each side for carrying.

"Aight', you just pass your credit chit on the reader over there." He said to Kendra, pointing at the phone-sized machine across the counter

Kendra did so, swiping the the chit and checking if it removed the right price. The machine beeped and then showed that the fifteen hundred DA transaction had been accepted. With that she raised eyebrows. "Well I guess I will pay up just six hundred when I come over."

"That's the plan." The vendor said, watching as Desmond hefted the box. "Anythin' else ya folks want?" He added.

"I am good, you need anything Des?" Kendra raised her eyebrows looking at he first officer slash friend.

"Fine." Desmond said with a little hint of strain on his voice. The bounty hunter started heading for the exit.

"See you in two or three day then," Kendra said to the vendro, nodding in a goodbye and following Desmond out. "Let me help you get that thing back to ship. I wanted to do some jewelry shopping afterwards, but you don't have to suffer through that with me." She chuckled.

"I'm fine." Desmond said, hefting the box over a shoulder to make it easier to carry. He was not. Although the armour didn't weigh a considerable ammount, the metal box that carried it made up for that.

"Suit yourself," Kendra smiled and followed. She was happy,made a good purchase and now all there was, was waiting until it was finished. For now she could just sitback and do whatever. At least until Nicholas shows up with his findings."Let's head back to ship then. Hopefully it did not burn down or anything, while I was off."

======

Back on the ship, with Desmond's big box and smaller box stowed, Kenda and him sat down in the wardroom. Kendra coiled around her chair as she opened a beer she took from the fridge earlier. She raised it up saying, "cheers, to a good purchase."

"Cheers." Desmond said, using the edge of the table to pop the cap off the bottle. Now that he had beer in his hand the bounty hunter seemed to be 'loosening up' a little. He took a sip off the bottle, looking around the room.

"So you were always a bounthy hunter?" Kendra asked as she sipped some of her beer and then set it down on the table, wiping her lips with her long tongue. It was a good beer for a bottle.

"No. Used to fix ships before I fixed people." Desmond said, wincing internally. He knew where that conversation would end up eventually.

"Fixing ships sounds like a nice quite job. Did someone kill someone you knew or something? If you don't mind me asking I mean." She looked into his eyes, waiting for his response.

Desmond's lips twitched, as if he wanted to smirk but thought about it better, "No, I screwed up and lost my job." He said, leaving it at that. He didn't make eye contact either. "You?"

"Well, I grew up in the monastery, belive it or not." Kendra smiled at the man. She leaned back in the chair.

That made him raise an eyebrow. "How does a monastery girl end up in this line or work?" He asked.

"Hell now that is a long story." Kendra replied with raising her eyebrows. I kept running away, fucking around with kids in streets, got into a bit of a rought crowd. Finally I ran away and imagined great future out there as a ganger or whatever. No such thing there though."

"Yeah." Desmond said, pensive. He took a swig from his bottle. "Then you ended up on the startliner." He added.

"Nah, then I ended up being a drug addicted whore, who was being beaten and used by her pimp all the time for bad shit. Fun life." She frowned and grabbed her beer for another drink.

"Damn." Desmond said, finally looking at Kendra to catch her expression. He decided that dropping the subject was a good idea and contended himself to quietly finish his drink.

"Meh... it was bad. But I got out of it and left our bloody planet. Nothing there for me. Feels like we are primitives now that I am in Nepleslia." Kendra's expression was cold for a bit, but then she sighed and put on neutral expression.

"And how advanced are we." Desmond commented. Their business involved killing or capturing people that the law enforcement couldn't be 'bothered' to get themselves. He would hardly call Nepleslia a 'good place to live' or 'advanced',

"Well you guys are thinking a lot more freely. Like... Yammies and Lorath ussualy gives me weird looks. Some lorath are actually thinking I am one of them." Kendra shrugged. "You guys though. You either dont give a shit or you do tell that you give a shit. Like yammies were trying to be polite and shit when it obviously botther them that I am half snake. That is infuriating."

"True." Desmond conceded. The bounty hunter got up, picked another beer and then sat back down, poping the cap off the bottle on the table again.

"Other than that, this place is a murder-fest like everywhere else. Chaos and stuff. Just with more advanced technology then we have. I mean I have not seen anyone here using a bow. Sad things, bow is great for killing people. Might be old, but works great." Kendra chuckled.

The memory of the gang member getting hit by the arrow on the leg flashed on Desmond's mind. He nodded, "I'd still take a gun." He said.

"Yeah gun is better. But not when you want to be silent. Nothing beats the box at that. Except of course the body falling down." The snake girl smield and finished her beer. "Silenced guns are not all that silent after all."

"Yeah. That's why I got a blade." Desmond said, relaxing as the subject moved to weapons in general. "You can't be quieter than that." He added.

"I sure can, but you are not equipped to do that." Kendra sand and flapped her tail loudly against the crow. "Unless you are ID-Sol I can wrap around and literally and silently smother you to death. No breath, no voice, no sound."

"Alright." Desmond said, rotating the beer bottle around his hand before taking a swig of it. "But I can't do that, so I that's why I have a blade." He said.

"Yup, blade is great. I don't like blood on my clothes though." Kendra grinned and got up, moving to get herself a new beer.

Desmond watched the Separa'Shan as she slithered this way and that. "Not a big deal if you tell yourself it's raspberry juice." He said.

"It is not that, it comes off real hard. If you don't get to wash it fast you might end up not being able to." Kendra frowned as she set down again.

"Oh." Desmond said. He should've expected that Kendra would be more worried about getting her clothes stained than the person being killed fighting back. "Yeah, I guess."

"Anyway, I can take care of myslef when things get up close and personal, but I prefer to keep a distance. Makes getting out there easier adn faster too. Puff from a pistol into back of the head and then time to dissapear. Although I guess now we actually have to stick around to claim bounties." Kendra sighed.

"Don't think you'd be captain if you couldn't" Desmond said, half complimenting her. He finished his second bottle, but didn't get up to take a third, instead fishing for something in his pockets and retrieving the cigarette packet and lighter. The bounty hunter plucked a cigarette in his mouth and lit it up.

"I am still figuring this captaining gig out. It is cool, but dealing with people like Amanozako is hard." She sighed again, enjoying her beer.

"Must be." Desmond said, remembering how they came across that particular crewmate on the starliner. "So what do you wanna do now? I mean, Raven and I might've gotten some solid intel on that gang that attacked us during our raid to their little place."

"She is great in bad though," Kendra added with the giggle, but then Des came out with work. "Yeah, I think we should deal with them. Might be good bounty on them too, seeing as they had a relationship with ex-owners of this ship. How did that raid go? Problems?"

"No." Desmond said. There was, he had gotten shot in the back and chest, and his vest had barely stopped the bullet that had hit him in the back, which was why he had to buy a new set of armor. If the bounty hunter had to describe that raid he'd say it was like poking a hornet's nest, since they were grossly outnumbered by the gangers and only came through because they were dumb enough to do something stupid like trying to rush the duo in a open terrain. But he didn't say any of that, since he had come through in one piece.

"Good to hear, well I am okay now so next time to you go out for a hit, you call me too. I could stretch my tail and kills something." She said. "Which reminds me that I need to hit a pet shop and get me some dinner. I am not much for rations."

"You mean, you actually eat live stuff?" Desmond asked, almost dumbfounded. He thought that was a joke all that time.

"Well yeah, it is best for me. Rabbits are best. But don't worry I kill them before i eat them." She explained and drank more of her beer. "Cooked meal does not do very well for my digestion. Even thought it tastes great. Plus I dont have the right set of teeth for chewing."

That made Desmond wince. "Yeah, sure." He said, taking a drag off his cigarette. "You don't need me to carry your purse or anything, right?"

"Nah I will do that later, it just crossed my mind. So tell me more about this Raven guy." She suggested, putting the beer bottle back on the table.

"Reliable, serious, also a good shot. You'd have to talk to him." Desmond said.

"Serious eh? He is not a lot of fun, is he?" Kendra joked, circling her index finger around the neck of the bottle. The crew was sure growing. Kendra wondered how many will arrive and how hard it will be to rule over them. She just hoped that Desmond will have her back if anything should come up.

"Depends on what you call fun." Desmond said. He did have a lot of 'fun' taking on an entire armed apartment with only one backup. Still, that wasn't what most of people would call fun, but it was those heart-racing moments that made the bounty hunter feel more alive than usual. Well, that, and spaceships, which were still something he liked a lot.

"Booze is fun, strippers are fun, dancing is fun, sex is fun. A lot of ways to be fun. Being in a firefight can be fun sometimes, though I like my scales too much really." Kendra explained what was ussualy fun for you. "I hear that the video-game thing is fun too, never tried one though."

"Well, I'm not doing any of those until I'm damn sure there are no other jobs left to do here." Desmond said. Truth was, he wasn't good at any of those, he wasn't a good dancer, he wasn't good with the opposite sex, and he didn't find any interest in video-games. The only things he was good at, though, were fixing ships and the lately discovered gift of fixing people, permanently; And he'd never admit that to anyone, anyway. Still, he made up his lack of social skill with his ambition to make money.

"Bah... then you will work forever. Then you will either die old and sad, cause you wont be able to shoot people anymore, or one of thos people will shoot you before that. You should learn to relax while you are young, so you can do it when you are going to be an old grandpa with bunch of grandkids sittin on your knees." Kendra said to Desmond.

"Except I don't plan on having any. I know how this line of work usually ends, so there's no need to teach it to me." Desmond said, snorting at the thought of having kids.

"One old goat of a mercenary once told me that to survive the gig one must have plans for future. He must want to surivive, to make it trough, to live. If you don't care about that, you are likely to not be careful enough and end up having your brain vented out of your head." Kendra added another wisdom. She lived by it. She wanted to live loud and as long as it was possible. "If you give up, you lost."

"You got it wrong, what I meant is that I'll wait until I get there to do that. I'm not gonna bother about something that might not happen." He shot back

"The question is if you want all that to happen or not. Sure someday, works as a time stamp, but you need to actually want to that. I found setting some kind of goal help me, it gives me determination. One need to live, not just survive." The snake-woman leaned back in her chair, looking into his eyes.

Desmond didn't answer that, instead just leaning back on his chair and finishing yet another cigarette.

"Bah we delved into such a serious topic. We really need to get a stripper pole for this place. Could you make one? Then we need to talk our little attendants into dancing at them for us. It will be awesome." Kendra chuckled.

"I'm just surprised they aren't gone first thing after we landed." Desmond said. He wondered how much of a shitty job those attendants must've had to throw away a perfectly stable career at a starliner and throw their lot at a ship like the Iron Ferret.

"That surprised me too. I guess they feels safer here maybe?" Kendra shrugged, taking up her beer and having a sip. "Or maybe Nicholas is just a great smoothtalker and talked them into this."

"Yeah." Desmond said. The bounty hunter looked pensively at the empty beer bottle on the table. Damn it, he should be doing something productive instead of burning time like that.

"Well I need to go get myself a dinner. How about you go check on the engineering or whatever. Oh hey that engineering girl we have. Why don't you go say hello, maybe have a chat about engines or whatever. She is great practice material for you." Kendra poked her finger at Desmond and laughed, before she finished her beer.

"Whatever." Desmond said, looking unphased by the comment, or trying to. "This talk never happened." He added.

"Hah, you are such a big baby. Have fun!" Kendra waved at him and started slithering out of the room, after making a very accurate toss of empty bottle into the garbage bin.

Desmond waited until the Separa'Shan was out of the room before getting up and dusting off his pants. The bounty hunter left the crew lounge and headed for his den in the cargo area.

"Sounds like my god damn sister." He muttered as he entered his newly-acquired quarters.