Upon Celestial Tiger: Chapter One

First topic message reminder :

A small, fast space yacht. The last owner named it Celestial Tiger.

Three small bedrooms (with bunks), one bathroom. Very small storage hold. combined dining/living area. Everyone's going to hate each other by the end of this road trip.

https://i.servimg.com/u/f11/19/46/08/46/small_10.jpg

(Okay, I think a day or two would be long enough for the message to arrive, so here's a timeskip)

TIMESKIP - APRIL 27
The Tiger forged its way on through space, heading toward the next stop on its tourist voyage. That was still a few days away though, and right now all the crew had was each other's dubiously enjoyable company. And, around mid morning, a message.

Luka brought the message up for the Captain to see. It was from Hytar who wanted to know what they wanted. He was awfully polite about it though.

Tala had Luka or someone else read the message to her because she couldn't read well enough, and looked thoughtful once she knew what it said. "We must ensure that the reply is delivered safely and that Hytar knows not to slaughter indescriminately," she said. She looked to see if Rigel was here, she needed his advice.

Luka nodded. "Maybe we should meet in person to discuss the exact expectations? and so you can threaten him if he does decide to just blow the place up?" Yeah she didn't trust that guy.

"That may be wise. It will mean disclosing our location in a message however, which may prove hazardous," Tala said thoughtfully. "Ensuring that the message would not be intercepted, would be very important."

"meet somewhere? Neutral territory, somewhere we can run if there's any sign of trouble or evesdroppers." Luka suggested.

Rigel was in his room, working on something or other. He had finished the smaller incubator and given it to Starr, though she seemed to want to keep the egg with her a lot more than in the incubator.

"I would be worried that the our pursuers might get the message and find us at the meeting place. The risk to Starr could be large," Tala said. "Rigel!" She bellowed. She wanted his advice on this.

Rigel heard his name called and looked around then got up and went to find them "Yes? I'm here, what's going on?" He asked, surprised by the bellow.

"We have received contact from Hytar! We are unsure whether it is best to simply tell him where Avolire Hold is, or whether we should meet him in person. Both are possibly risky. What are your thoughts?" Tala asked.

"We should meet with him first, otherwise he would just go in and destroy the entire place without rescuing any slaves." Rigel said firmly, yeah, he remembered the way the guy had acted before when he had been rescued. "He's good at what he does, but he has no compunction against just killing everyone. Besides, he likes to be paid for what he does, even just in a favor owed."

Tala considered that, then nodded. "You know him better than I do. Luka, you agree with Rigel?"

Luka nodded grimly. "From all we saw of him, he seems to be a man with few morals and an almost psychopathic hatred for slavers. I don't think he is a man who can be fully trusted, and I also don't think he works for free. He'll want something. " She frowned, remembering all she'd seen and heard, and what little Esk had volunteered. He was, she was led to believe, not a man you wanted to be alone with, nor someone you wanted on your bad side. "I think we need to be careful."

"All right. Rigel, you will need to be sure the message we send cannot be intercepted, as Starr's enemies are still searching for us," Tala said. "Arrange for us to meet Hytar in person, not on the beach planet, but in this sector."

Rigel nodded and turned to go try to make such a vague message about a meeting "I hope Vestia is close enough for them to get in on the meeting when he gets here." It might be a wild hope, but he would be more comfortable to have the others there.

Luka looked grim, but Rigel really was the best person to do this.
She turned her attention back to flying.

"Yes, that would be excellent," Tala agreed. She watched Rigel as he composed the message. "We will see."

Rigel picked a space station to meet at and set up the meeting, leaving out details besides the name of the station and naming themselves as 'the friends of Esk' that had asked to meet.

Tala looked pleased. "And now we must simply time our arrivals to coincide. This shall be most satisfactory."

Swarm coalesced. "The we shall have time to decide on exactly how much we want to tell him and what to offer in return for his services." "Maybe we should pay per slave." "Do you think he is motivated by money?" "are we certain we can trust him at all?"

Rigel looked at then then read off the message he had made for approval. It was basically a date, time and very vaguely who they were and where to meet.

"No one can fully be trusted in this situation, but we choose to speak to him anyway," Tala said. "We can offer him monetary compensation for his fuel and time, as well as a reward. He may refuse or accept as he likes. Vestia will pay it I am sure." She nodded at Rigel, "the message is satisfactory."

"I'll go get it scrambled and sent" Rigel said and went to do that.

Swarm bobbed up and down in a sort of nod. Unfortunately they knew so little about the man Hytar they couldn't offer any decent insight or advice on how to deal with him. This irritated them, they liked knowing things.

Tala nodded. "Send it and we wait."

(And from here we can probably timeskip a while)

(Yep, and archive this page)