Echo Base, Hoth
Mid-Summer, 20 ABY, Maghrl's Timestream
Monfrox wrote:Brit walked into the back of the ship with a neutral expression on her face. She looked to Feen, recognizing his species from her deployment to Sullust, before looking at Tormak. “Those power converters are no doubt frozen solid.” She told him. “We took welding torches to ‘em to thaw ‘em out when I was stationed here. You may have to do the same.”
Feen shrugged. "We dug them out of a collapsed storeroom. Lots of rock between them and the cold." He was thankful for Brit fighting to liberate his homeworld, but more interested in matters at hand.
The testing and division of the power converters went quickly, though there were only fifteen working ones out of the fourty or so in the crate. The Belas agreed to share one between them, which gave the ex-pirates four a piece, and one each for Brit and Giovenith. As some of the broken ones might be cannibalized to make working ones, Sandy suggested they would remain on Hoth, as part of the group's share.
Sandy also asked that they turn over all of the droids. Tormak protested, but Sandy pointed out that his offer was that the pirates get shares of the ship and the power converters, and the red droid wasn't mentioned. Tormak reluctantly agreed, muttering about Coreworlders always driving such hard bargains.
The only surprise was that Amanda insisted on accompanying the ex-pirates to Bespin. "Marisi is out cold. She can't stand up for her own interests. Nor can we just hand these guys guns and hope everything turns out for the best. Tormak has the advantage there. So I'm going to go with them to make sure the deal is carried out as agreed." She added a whispered French aside for Sandy, though Brit and Giovenith could overhear her. "And there's supposed to be one suite in Cloud City with a hell of a view. I'd like to see it."
Sandy reminded Amanda of the risk because the ship could barely fly, but she was unmoved. All she did want was for Soli to be dealt with. Sandy replied in quiet Greek, "I don't think we have much choice. We can't take her home, and the cold here will kill her."
The ship's take-off was wobbly, and it appeared Tormak struggled to avoid over-controlling the ship as the vertical thrusters faded in and out. The ship slid sideways, and the wingtip caught the edge of the wide-open blast doors, cracking the wing at its root. With effort, Tormak prevented the ship from pivoting around and slamming into the cliffside, but it was a near-run thing. Sandy relaxed only when the ship climbed out of range, though it did drop alarmingly a couple of times along the way.
After finally breathing out and taking a deep breath, Sandy turned to Giovenith and Brit. "I'm going to try to have Big Red put some of the other crates back they were. And then I'm going home. It's getting harder and harder for me to pull ousia out of the area, I'm hurt, and sunset will be in a few hours. I'll come back tomorrow and look around more.
"So, what are you going to do about Soli?"