RPlog:Ecks File - JD-01 - Welcoming Committee

Chana emerges from the transport car with her R2 unit in tow. "Didi, how can you possibly think that? You&apos;ve seen the holocrons. Anakin Skywalker was way cuter than Joh&apos;s son. He was also a hugely powerful Jedi." The machine twitters at her. "In that war, Didi, there wasn&apos;t any such thing as too-powerful a Jedi. Given how things wound up, it&apos;s pretty obvious that in the end, the Jedi weren&apos;t powerful enough."

She pads over toward the Beta 1, her very own headhunter, then stops, suddenly wary at the new Lambda class shuttle. The black one. "Didi, do me a favor. Go talk to the main computer. Pull the registration on that ship. Do it casually." Someone still has trust issues, it would seem. Chana scans the usual crop of technicians she doesn&apos;t know, pilots she doesn&apos;t know, looking for anyone who seems especially ... Imperial.

"...Yes, that&apos;s right..."

"Yes, Kracen. K-R-A--oh, you&apos;ve seen the show--"

"That Kracen. Y--No. Blame my mother..."

The source of the voice is a very tall human male in a stylish black jacket (worn open), a white shirt and blue trousers with half-high boots and a pale grey cloak thrown over his shoulder. He walks carefully down the ramp of a certain lambda-class shuttle, all shiny black but for the silver lines on it, and he has his head bowed forward (to avoid cracking it on the ventral hull), all the while talking on a comlink attached to his right ear.

"...I would love to broker that deal for you, but I have already taken an extended contract--No, my client&apos;s identity is privileged, as yours would be when we work togeth--"

There&apos;s a pause.

"Of course, good bye." The man lowers a hand from the comlink and stretches his neck from side to side with a groan. "I hate that show. Of all the clients to call..." his voice trails off when he spots Chana nearby, and a smile blossoms on his long, reasonably handsome, sunken-eyed face. "Well, hello there!" he calls out.

Chana reflects that it&apos;s damned convenient when the fellow you&apos;re looking for walks up and announces himself. She looks him over and lets herself stand down a little. Musters a smile. "Oh hi." She points toward the shuttle. "That thing yours?"

Ecks turns around and beams at his pride and joy. Who doesn&apos;t love a lambda? "Yes! That thing is a she and she is the Ecks Factor - oh, don&apos;t punish me for the name; I didn&apos;t choose it. A colleague in my line of work - now a competitor - thought it would be humorous... It fits, somehow, in a twisted, mildly amusing yet embarrassing way..." he trails off again, still admiring the vessel.

"Oh! Kracen Ecks of Ecks Factor Expeditions, at your service!" He bows lightly, at the waist. His accent is oddly mixed - refined, cultured (which matches his rather deep voice), and yet could be from any number of worlds. He sounds like a news-reporter. "I&apos;m a broker. I believe I&apos;m... expected?" he makes that last line a question, cocking a black eyebrow at his &apos;greeting party.&apos;

Chana nods. "Well, you&apos;d want to talk to Johanna then. She runs the show here. I&apos;m just one of her pilots. Nice to meet you. I&apos;m Chana." She offers a hand to shake. If shaken, Ecks might notice the hand has a lot of meat on it. Chana is someone who carries a lot of muscle around, for all the softness that goes over it. "You sound... I&apos;m gonna say Coriscanti?" Chana guesses the old center of the civilized galaxy. A place of great refinement. Also corruption, violence, yadda yadda, yeah she knows.

Ecks takes the hand in a firm grip, both his eyebrows shooting up in surprise at the strength in it (Chana&apos;s). "Am I that obvious?" he asks in reply after lowering his hand once more. "And yes - Johanna. I might as well ask you, Chana, what form of address should I use with her? I like to &apos;get things right&apos; the first time, if I can help it. You wouldn&apos;t believe how priggish some clients can be!"

He smiles widely at the young woman, his eyes a twin-picture of all the warmth and joy of a businessmen (a merchant, pretty much) eager to make a good first impression so that he, you know, gets the contract... On a more devious, deeper level, he is sussing her out, as well as everything else in the hangar - every detail noted, filed and locked away for later use. The mention of &apos;Anakin&apos;, &apos;son&apos; and &apos;Jedi&apos; is of particular interest... but for now, he is the &apos;happy merchant&apos;.

Chana chuckles, gives the hand a firm squeeze and lets go. "You&apos;d be better off asking a droid that than me. I&apos;ve pissed her off just this side of firing me way too many times. She&apos;s got a temper, and she&apos;s protective of her people. Beyond that, call her Ma&apos;am until she tells you otherwise, and it&apos;ll probably keep you out of trouble." Chana is a little different than most. Most people, if you watch them long enough, show influence of their parents, popular culture, and so on. Chana doesn&apos;t show it. She seems almost distressingly outside this culture, glancing at it when she thinks nobody&apos;s watching, trying to fit in, or to wear it as camoflage.

"A temper, you say?" He inhales through his teeth, creating a &apos;hissing&apos; sound, and then tsks a few times. "I&apos;ll remember to mind my manners then. I assume my ship is alright where she is? The good thing about lambda&apos;s is they don&apos;t take up too much space."

He chuckles.

"&apos;Ma&apos;am&apos;, then. I&apos;ll try to remember." And he grins. "So, tell me about this place! Johanna&apos;s communique contained coordinates and little else."

Chana looks over at the parking job. "Should be fine. It&apos;s a big hangar. About this place." Chana shakes her head. "I got nothin&apos;. I fly patrols where she asks me to when she asks me to. I&apos;m just a hired gun. Sorry I can&apos;t be more helpful. I mean... it&apos;s a big ship. It doesn&apos;t seem to be run by any of the major powers in the galaxy, and you don&apos;t see many big ships that way. I don&apos;t know, man. She&apos;ll find a way to get you on board, if that&apos;s what she wants. I was cheap. Pay me ten times what my old job was paying me and give me a fighter to fly and a little droid buddy. I&apos;d say ... be honest. She&apos;s very, very savvy.

"I had heard that she was generous..." Ecks says with a speculative smile. "Generosity without savvy is like a candle with no wick; burns bright and fizzles quickly." His smile broadens. "No, to run a vessel this size requires more than a &apos;giving heart&apos;, but a clever head! Johanna seems to have both; she doesn&apos;t strike me as the kind of businesswoman who does things without cause." And he motions with a hand to Chana.

"Hiring you speaks volumes about your capability. I would love to see you fly sometime; perhaps even go flying with you." He looks back over at the &apos;Factor. "Flying is my true passion. I enjoy my work too, but it pays the bills, and requires that I fly a great deal. It&apos;s the best of both worlds." He looks genuinely pleased.

"So we have something in common. Tell me, should I wait in my ship until Johanna is free to see me? I don&apos;t want to intrude, and I have arrived... a bit earlier than I planned. A business deal on Nar Shaddaa didn&apos;t go as planned. Not all do, I&apos;m afraid. I am quite comfortable on the &apos;Factor, if that is allowed."

Chana shrugs. "I&apos;d say... keep to the public parts of the ship, stay away from the bridge, engineering, and so forth, but you can probably wander. It&apos;s not like you&apos;re hard to find. The ship&apos;s computer always knows where you are." She smiles a little more certainly. "And I&apos;d love to go flying with you sometime. Meantime, I&apos;ve got a certification test to take, so I need to let you go.

Ecks nods, especially at the notion of going flying sometime. "I look forward to it," he says with delight. "And please, don&apos;t let me keep you from your work - we must remember Johanna&apos;s temper." And that of course, ends in a grin.

The comlink earpiece buzzes then, drawing the man&apos;s attention. "Yes... I see. I am with a client, but--we have a recess. Go ahead." He smiles at Chana again, then adds a long-suffering eye-roll, and turns back toward his vessel. It would appear the man is popular, to some degree or another.

No rest for the wicked.

Chana walks past and waits until Ecks is in conversation with this person on the comlink. THEN pats his rear. She keeps right on going, and that R2 unit that has rejoined her sounds like it&apos;s giggling.

End Report.