Mahriel~

I roll out of my bed with a groan, I'm not looking forward to another day of managing the cantina. Breaking up fights, making sure everyone gets their food, and cleaning up messes is never something I look forward to, and today is worse because I normally have jobs to do that take me away from the cantina for a while, but business has been slow lately and I need a break. 

Skylla knocks on my door, "are you up yet? We need to get to work!"

I groan but get up. Once I have gotten ready I head out to the noise and stink of the Cantina. I wave to the regulars and head over to my seat in the corner booth, where I can see everyone who comes in or goes out.

I saw no one new for a while, but then someone caught my eye. A Silkiomur dressed in an expensive looking suit entered and walked over to Skylla. After a few words were exchanged between them Skylla pointed towards me. I was instantly alert. He walked over to my table and slid into the seat across from me, folding all four of his arms.

"Can I help you?"

"I hope so. I work for an orginization called The Roses."

My eyes widened The Roses was a big name in my world, only the best of the best worked for them.

"What does that have to do with me?"

"We are offering you a job smuggling counterfeit drachtia."

I frown, not sure wether or not to believe him. "How much?"

"About 3 million."

I stare at him in shock "are you joking!"

"No joke, it is a pretty simple operation, we need you to get the money from here to our base in Thrauis"

"what's the catch?"

"I have to come with you that's it, now, is it a deal?"

I frown, I don't like bringing others in on my plans, especially someone who might challenge my authority, but I need the job, and if I turn this down I may not get another one for far to long. "Deal."

He nods and gets up, I will give you a day to get ready, and I when I come back tomorrow I expect you to have made all the provisions."

I nod, then watch him leave, only a day! I will need to work fast to get a good crew in that amount of time. Skylla walked over.

"What was that about?"

"He's with The Roses." I pause to see her reaction and am pleased when a look of surprise spreads over her face. "He was offering me a job smuggling several million drachtias out of Graza."

Her eyes got even bigger.

"Did you accept?"

"Yes, but we only have one day to get a good crew."

My eyes scan the cantina, looking for anyone who looks like a good fit for the job, my eyes rest on one of our regulars, Gaia. 

I'm going to try to post regularly! Apologies if I forget about this.

Gaia~ 

Phoenix and I walk through the cantina doors pretty soon after they open. Say what you will about the behavior of the regular customers, but they've got the best breakfast in the sector. We sit down at our regular spot, and Nix props her boots up on the table. 

After a few minutes, the kitchen door opens and someone comes walking towards us. I raise my eyebrows slightly when I see it's Mahriel herself. She doesn't often wait tables, unless...

Unless she has a job. 

"This had better be a good one," Nix says, as if she's reading my thoughts. 

"Hey, I'd take just about anything these days," I reply, shrugging. "The jobs we're getting are barely enough to cover fuel." I wave at Mahriel as she approaches the table. 

"You want your regular, I assume?" she asks. 

"You assume correctly," I tell her. "And hey, it's nice to see you, by the way. Looks like the kitchen's been keeping you busy?"

"Ugh, you don't know the half of it," she says, shaking her head. "But I'm guessing you've already figured out why I'm out here in the cantina."

"You got a job for us?" Nix asks her. 

She nods. "Yes. And it's a big one."

Nix swings her feet down from the table and leans forward, interest showing in her eyes. "How big?"

In response, Mahriel nods her head towards the corner, where a Silkiomur in a fancy suit is sitting at a table. 

"Is that...?" I trail off, not sure if I believe my eyes. I've seen this guy on holograms before-- he works for the Roses, who are a pretty big deal. If we're working for the Roses, this job is way better than what we've been getting. It's certainly going to cover fuel, that's for sure.

She nods. 

"Well, it's sure a big one, all right," Nix says. I see a hint of a smile on her face.  

~~~

Side note-- I'm sorry if I kind of controlled your character, Mahriel-- I couldn't think of a way to move the story forward without that conversation happening, and I tried to stick to the personality you mentioned for your character, but if I controlled Mahriel too much, let me know and I can tweak this. 

Kalure~

I stride into the Cantina, letting the door slam shut behind me. I see a few people jump, but pay no heed. There's an open table in the back corner and I sit, making sure my jacket covers the blaster on my hip. I don't need to be thrown out before I can find a job.

I've been on Graza for a few weeks now, and it seems there's no work to be had. I heard tell from an old colleague of mine that the Graza Cantina would be the place to look. A girl walks over to me, asks what I want to eat.

"I'll take a water for now," I say, and she scurries away, obviously glad to be going. When she returns with my glass, I give her a nod in thanks. I'm just raising the glass to my lips when I hear a man's voice from in front of me.

"Well, what do we have here?" he drawls. I look up and see a Shevrin swaggering towards me. I don't enjoy dealing with Shevrin as a rule, but I enjoy it even less when they provoke me.

"I'd go pick someone else to talk to," I say, quietly but with a threatening undertone. The Shevrin shakes his head.

"Nuh uh, I know all them, but it's not every day we get someone new in here. 'Specially not a big Kenidian like you."

"Go bother someone else," I repeat, louder.

"They say you Kenidians are real tough, but I think I could take you, huh?"

Losing my cool, I stand up, sending my chair skittering back behind me. I march forward in two quick strides and grab the Shevrin by the neck, hoisting him up in the air and drawing my blaster. Before I can do much more, a Grazian girl storms out of the Cantina's kitchen.

"I am not dealing with this today!" she roars, and I drop the Shevrin. He gives me a terrified look as he massages his neck, and the girl points at him. "Out! Get out, Levin!"

Once the Shevrin is out of the Cantina, the girl turns to me. "Sorry about that. He's a regular, and he loves to infuriate other customers. Trust me, I've wanted to wring his neck myself a few times." She eyes my blaster. "Even so, we have a 'weapons away' policy here, so if you don't holster that, you're going to be following Levin."

I holster the blaster as she says and stick out my hand. "I'm Kalure."

"Mahriel," she responds, shaking it. I sit back down, and she joins me at my table. "So, what brings you to the Cantina?"

"I'm looking for work," I say. "Mercenary. An associate suggested this place. Got anything?"

She looks me up and down. "As a matter of fact," she says. "I just might. See that guy?" She uses her head to indicate another customer, a well dressed Silkiomur. I nod. "Just got a job from him, and boy, it's a big one. I don't have much time, and we could use some extra muscle. What do you say?"

Without hesitation, I say, "I'm in."

Mahriel~ 

I gather all of my new team together and give them a briefing on the job we will be doing, then head out to start readying my ship. She's a beautiful X9 Starfighter, gleaming silver on the outside, amd stocked with all the best equipment inside. After we loaded up on all the esseintials I sat down to play a game of holo-chess and talk with Skylla. 

"So how are you feeling about this" She asks with that knowing smile of hers.

"Nervous, I know an experienced  smuggler like me shouldn't feel nervous but I still am."

"Makes sense, it's a big job and you don't want to blow it."

"Well, that doesn't help, but thet hing I'm most nervous about is having Kattale along, I just don't trust him."

She nods and then grows quiet. Suddenly she grins and says "Checkmate"

I look down to see that she's right then smile. "You always win, anyway, I'm going to see if there is anyone else I can convince to join us and then I think we could all use some sleep."

I head inside and look around but at first I don't see anyone that I deem to be usefull, as I'm looking I feel a hand on my shoulder. I whirl around to see Di'san standing behind me.

"Oh, Di'san, you scared me."

"My apologies, I couldn't help overhearing you talking to the Silkiomur and I wondered if you knew that an super advanced andriod has been made for the sole purpose of rooting out the roses."

I frown, I normally heard all the latest gossip from my customers but I had heard nothing about this. Still, I trusted Di'san and believed him. "I hadn't heard, but I can't turn them down now, still, this means I might need some more manpower, will you join me?"

Di'san frowned, thinking about it. 

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