Sylvana wandered on down to the Batcave, having heard all the commotion. Rumour was (and they certainly did fly fast in Mendellia) that Lady Henscheid was in a strop, and going down to give Josh Nolan a talking to. Which was the perfect opportunity for Sylvana to go see just what kind of ship he was flying nowadays... and perhaps be a little creative about it. Her form faded from view as she pulled the light around her, sneaking through the crowd and crawling under the landing gear to take care of any bracken. Once secluded in the shadows, she let the stealth slip and pulled out a green paint-pen as she jiggled at a branch stuck in the gear with her other hand.
There was a hiss and a groan of servomotors as the shuttle's hatch opened. Kristy stepped out and hurried away, but her gait wasn't as forceful as rumour had led Syl to believe. She wasn't on a shouting mission any more. Then, a second set of footsteps made their way out of the ship, and Syl watched as Crispy lowered himself to the ground and slid underneath the ship, right towards her - he must have been preoccupied, because he didn't look first, just slid headfirst on his back.
"Occupied!" Syl called as Crispy approached, and tried to suppress a giggle as Crispy spasmed in surprise, cracking his head on the underside of the shuttle.
Tried to suppress it.
Without much success.
"Syl?" asked Crispy, rubbing his forehead. "What are you doing down here?"
"Helping," Syl said, wiggling the branch as she single-handedly capped the paint pen, hiding it in her sleeve. On the strut was a happy-faced green Grey alien, waving and saying, in its own little speech bubble, *Wheep*. She wiggled the branch again. "You need to floss your ship, Josh," she said, half smirking at him.
"That's what I was trying to do," Crispy said complainingly. "SACUL made me land out in the forest. I can do this myself, you know."
"As if the entire island isn't in the know," she scoffed, rolling her eyes and wiggling another of the little sticks from the branch free. "Stupid, idiotic, overbearing..." the rest of her mutterings weren't very lady-like.
"That's a bit more polite than how I'd put it," Crispy agreed. "Here, shove over. There's a tricky bit up there but I need to get my arm up to check it."
"Oh I've got it!" Syl said quickly. "My arms are smaller, I'm sure it'll go more quickly if I try. Why don't you work on... another bit!" Her eyes half widened. She coughed, "What did Pikay want with you, anyhow? Word was she was about to vape you," she tried to change the subject.
"Just mind the power converters," Crispy said, but gave her room near the strut. He lowered his voice to just above a whisper. "I pulled a Billy Goats Gruff on PK, and I'd be much prouder of that if it had been a bluff."
Sylvana's fingers worked carefully, untangling a leaf as she thought of the implications of that. "Josh." She stopped, then sighed, turning on her side a little to observe him. "I'm not sure I like what that could mean," she said finally, quiet as him.
"I'm pretty sure you wouldn't like what it does mean," Crispy whispered back. He turned his head to face her, and over his right eye was a metal eyepatch, a bulky, ugly thing, but he seemed to pay it no mind. "But I'd rather we don't talk where we can be overheard."
Sylvana's eyes didn't show a flinch as she stared in his eye, and his patch, at once. She nodded. "We'll finish up down here, then," she said softly, with a nod, "And then you're going to give me a tour of your... ship." she nodded, wriggling back to work on the branch, finally pulling it free.
"Don't say that so grudgingly," he muttered, and patted the underside. "Don't listen to her, old girl." He raised his voice. "One more strut," he said. "I've got it. Go have a look inside if you like."
"Alright," she said, patting his shoulder. "I bet she's one of those, once-you-know-her-you-love-her, sorts of ladies?" she asked, wriggling out from beneath.
"Pretty much," he agreed, and scooted over to another strut.
Sylvana hummed to herself, ignoring the few startled looks at her appearance. She ran her fingers along the cool metal of the ship before walking silently up the ramp. As she stepped in to the somewhat Spartan hold of the shuttle, she noticed three things:
One, a pot of some foul-smelling brew was still hot.
Two, a padded disc was floating in the middle of the floor with no visible means of support.
Three, there was a familiar astromech plugged into the wall.
"Dis!" Syl half squealed with joy, running over to the mech and hugging it. "It's good to see your superior self!" She grinned, kneeling back and sitting on her heels. "Have you been taking good care of Josh?" She asked, her eyes running over toward the foul-smelling brew as one eyebrow raised questioningly.
Dis's response was surprised, and seemed to be a slightly elaborate form of a standard greeting. Without a translation, Syl couldn't be sure, but she'd have bet everything she owned on there being some veiled insult or backhanded compliment in there, directed at either Crispy or herself.
Syl grinned, then her eyes widened as a thought struck her. "Hold that thought," she said, sitting on the floor with a soft *whump*. She pulled up her pant-leg over her knee, and pressed a complicated pattern into the back of it, a panel opening in the false leg. She started picking through a small amount of items stored in a little compartment where her calf would have been, had she still had that leg, that is.
Dis detached from the wall socket, spun slightly, and warily backed away from Syl. His mobile optic focused in on the compartment, and he hooted ominously.
"Shush," she raised her free hand, not looking up. "Nothing dangerous in here... that I'm going to take out," she amended, pulling up a small ear-bud and slowly bringing her hands together to flick the switch. "I'm just going to put this in my ear, and then you can chatter away all you like about your adventures over the octade, okay?" she asked - her careful movements slow as she put the ear-bud in, leaving the leg open for now. She really should have known she'd startle him. "See? No danger from the ear-bud translator," she said quietly, keeping both hands up where the droid could 'see'.
<All right>, Dis said, visibly relaxing. <I just get nervous when people begin rummaging in toolboxes. I blame Nolan.>
"That makes perfect sense," Syl said. "Can I close my leg up now?" she asked, smiling.
<Please do. The sooner the better,> said the droid magnanimously. <You're looking better than I would have expected,> he went on.
"Really?" Syl asked, shifting the items a moment before closing the compartment, the synth-flesh smoothing over to conceal it. She rolled her pant-leg back down. "How did you expect me to look?" she asked, tilting her head as she looked at the Droid. "You look well," she offered.
Dis contrived to look sheepish. <You're remarkably unchanged from my last file on you,> he said, <and I'm given to understand youth equates with health and wellness>. He rallied, and went on, <As for me, I'm not getting oil baths as frequently as I'd like, but I manage.>
"Oh..." She nodded. "It's the... well, the others call it the 'elf thing'. I'm part Elenari," she offered, not sure if Josh had told his droid - she knew it had been over a year before she let Sci tell anyone else on the team, and by then, the two had been long gone. "As for your oil baths, we shall definitely have to remedy that while you're here," she nodded firmly. "Now. May I ask what you said earlier, Dis? I caught the jist of it, but I'm curious," she said. crossing her legs and leaning her elbows on the floor, resting her chin in her hands as she watched the droid.
"He said," came Crispy's voice from the door, "'Careful you don't unplug me, you clumsy ape, there's no way I'm getting my dataprobe repaired on this miserable rock'."
<That's not how I would have phrased it,> beeped Dis huffily.
Crispy tapped his eyepatch. "Subtitles. Logged. You're not wiggling out of this one."
Sylvana giggled, sitting up again and looking up at Josh. "How long have you been standing there? I sort of zoned out for a few moments there." she grinned.
"Not long," said Crispy, stepping inside and closing the hatch. "But I was getting Dis's side of the conversation. What did you do to spook him so much?"
"Oh, I showed him my smuggling compartment without warning," she replied, completely oblivious as to how that could be taken.
Crispy blinked at that, and after a moment said, "Your leg, I hope."
"Yeees..." she said slowly. "Phaanan helped me put it together a few years ago, wicked helpful in getting to keep some of my tech from getting stolen."
Crispy nodded. "Good thinking, I guess." He gestured at the floating disc. "Have a seat, if you like. Want any caf?"
"Is that what that's supposed to be?" she asked as she stood up, brushing off her seat. "How about no. Thank you," she eyed the stuff warily.
"Probably wise," he said, and poured himself a cup. "So. First things first." He gestured around at the hold. "This is my ship, the Dirtbox. Paid for from the sweat of my brow, and it's been home to Dis and me for the past few years."
<You wouldn't know it from how rarely he upgrades it,> muttered Dis.
"He gets shirty because I spend money on things like food and oxygen," explained Crispy. "I've upgraded the shields, but everything else is pretty much factory standard."
<Or below,> chimed in Dis.
"So... you're channeling Han Solo then?" She glanced at Dis, "Does that make you Chewbacca?"
<He's the hairy one,> said Dis haughtily. <And he's been closer to a Wookiee than I'd like to be.>
Crispy coughed at that. "Also," he said quickly, "More mercenary, less smuggler."
Syl burst out laughing, biting into her lip in futile effort to stall it. She held up a hand for him to pause. "Mo...ment... can't... breathe...." she giggled.
Crispy glared at Dis, who managed to look smug.
Not having had a gigglefit like that in a while, it took her a minute to settle down. She took a few deep breaths, wiping her fingers beneath her eyes and nodding. "Right... So. Mercenary?" She eyed him a moment, then nodded. "I can't believe it, but I can see it... a bit."
"Bounty hunter is probably more accurate," Crispy said. "But I've fought and killed where the price has been right. And the target." He took a sip of caf. "Of course, I'm also an NRI asset."
Sylvana frowned, finding herself stepping back a little, crossing her arms half a moment before dropping them and walking closer, eyeing him once more. She looked into his organic eye as her lips pulled into a thoughtful frown. Why did he say he would kill when the price was right, adding the target (for their crime, she assumed) as an afterthought? Why did he choose to be a hunter? Why was he working with NRI, when anyone who did just Had to know what they'd done to Terra Group, his once.. still? .. friends.
"Why?" she finally asked simply, not able to articulate better how much was going through her mind.
"They paid for my therapy," he said simply. "Their price was to accept them tugging my leash now and then. I've infiltrated a number of groups to feed intel about them. They want me to do the same here."
She took a deep breath, not reacting just yet, no matter how much her palm itched for her to just slap him. "And?" she asked, her voice nearly a whisper.
"And I'd be doing a pretty sloppy job if I meant to go through with it," he said, his posture shifting slightly - either out of guilt, or as a pre-emptive defensive response. "Dis has bought me some time before I have to file a report, but if they know I'm rumbled, they might send someone else. Someone who you might not see coming." He took a swig of the caf, and grimaced. "Thayer asked me to come. Was I supposed to say no?"
"I really want to slap you, but you've done the right thing... considering." She gripped her hand into a fist and sunk to sit on the floaty chair pad. "Trip Trop, eh?"
Crispy frowned at her for a moment, then realisation sunk in. "Oh. Billy Goats Gruff. No, that wasn't what got Kristy off my back. That was a conversation I had this morning with a young lady called Grace." It was clear from his tone that 'lady' wasn't a compliment.
Sylvana couldn't stop the growl in her throat at that name. She frowned, before taking a settling breath and crossed her ankles half beneath the chair, folding her hands to keep them from doing something foolish. "She's in Mendellia." The question sounded more like a statement.
"She was, a few hours ago. Assuming it's the same girl. Not only that, she knew I was on-planet and guessed that I'd be visiting my finance people, and got there in time to set an ambush."
"Which means she's not only walking free, here, but that there's a mole somewhere," Sylvana's frown turned into a scowl. "It's not any of us, but... things get overheard here, there's always someone figuring something out. Which is why we're talking on your ship and not beneath it, I imagine?"
He nodded. "Exactly. I already briefed Kristy a moment ago, and she's got an audio recording of our conversation." Crispy nodded at Dis. "My partner there had my back."
<Though I should warn you it's probably going to be slap material,> warbled Dis. <I should play it for you now!>
"Why would it be slap material, Dis?" Sylvana asked, her eyes not moving from the man in front of her.
<The part where he offers to sell you all out for one hundred million dollars is the prime candidate,> said Dis with a mischievous glint in his sensor.
"Lives on the line!" said Crispy exasperatedly. "What part of that didn't you get?"
"Throttle back," Sylvana stood. "What lives - not ours, that's our business. What. Lives. Josh."
"My banker's family is being held hostage against my co-operation," Crispy said. "And if I hadn't let her think I was willing to compromise, they'd be dead, and probably so would I."
"How many are holding them, where, and would there be reinforcements?" Sylvana started pacing.
"Unknown at this stage," said Crispy, taking another sip. "I've got Ewoks looking into it, though, so if they're anywhere on the island we should know in a day or two at most."
"You're going to let me help you take care of it," she stopped pacing and looked up at him. "If nothing else, it'll be handy to have a doctor there if something's been done to the hostages. I won't take `no' on this, either," she said in no uncertain terms.
"You're in," he said. "I don't know how soon we should tip her off that this little ploy's rumbled, but worst-case I'll have Ewoks standing sentry should they try anything." He scowled. "Though any misinformation will have to be close to the truth. She told me she had high-placed contacts."
Sylvana nodded. "Then we always need to be on guard." She shook her head. "I wonder if this is how Lord Thayer felt in the days before he began his rebellion?" she wondered aloud.
"I'd imagine he was angrier," said Crispy. "He's a little passionate."
"Angry, and betrayed," Sylvana said. "And now he has to feel that again. That sithspawn," she looked like she was going to hit something, then stopped herself. The ship did nothing to her. She hadn't felt the need to go for a fight this badly in a while though.
"I'm sorry all this got dumped on you at once," said Crispy. "I would have -" he broke off. "I'm sorry," he said again.
"I made this my home, you know... I never moved out of the castle, like the others. It's strange not to feel safe in your own home," she said quietly before looking up at him with a sigh. "Would have what, Josh? There's nothing you could have done to change what's happening now. What you CAN do, what any of us can do, is take it and do something about it now," she replied firmly.
"Yeah. My step one was to let you guys know about my precarious position," he said. "NRI wants information on the reformation of Terra Group, Grace wants to know how to take you down, and I suspect that one or the other will see the other's cards. And if I misstep, Mr. Laets's family pays the price." He quirked a half-smile. "No pressure."
"Indeed," Sylvana shook her head. "How do you get yourself into such predicaments?"
He shrugged. "I turn up. They happen."
"Trouble magnet," she smirked, shaking her head.
"I'm just hoping that I can take Grace's little plan and shove it right -" He stopped abruptly, and finished, "-in her ear."
"This family - includes children?" Sylvana asked with false off handedness.
"Yes. I don't know how many, but at least two. Unfortunately, I'd never grilled Laets about it before, and after today he thinks I'm a snivelling coward and a traitor," he said.
"Any woman who would threaten a child..." Sylvana's voice was soft. "Deserves far worse than shattered plans. Should she touch them... well," she shrugged, trailing her fingers along the wall of the Dirtbox.
"I don't think she's going to be getting her own hands dirty on this," said Crispy. "She's got some training and knows how to handle herself, I think, but she seems to prefer having others do her dirty work." He drained his mug and put it down. "Hell, she was trying to recruit me to do it."
"Doesn't matter, if they're hurt, it's on her orders. And, well, you know what they say about responsibility."
"All the same, I'd rather she not issue the order until after they're safe. And that means we should probably get cracking to find out who our leak is."
<Or what,> chimed in Dis. <The actual phrase she used was 'eyes and ears'. That doesn't necessarily mean she's got human assets in place.>
"Dis, have you had upgrades since you were with us - can you do some sort of scan for various tech?" Sylvana asked, looking at the droid.
Dis began to laugh.
"I had my work cut out keeping his memory unwiped," said Crispy. "I've not been able to get him any upgrades."
<Besides,> said Dis, <if we had decent sensors on this tub I could modulate those, but he won't even spring to get them to adequate levels.>
"Do you think we could mcguyver some?" Sylvana asked.
"If anyone can, Dis can," said Crispy.
<With what? A tin can and a hydrospanner? Sorry, this is Earth, we don't do hydrospanners.>
"Well... bugger-snot-ripple," Sylvana grumped, kicking at the bulkhead. "Because... that would have been seriously helpful."
"Nick didn't tell me about any tech caches he left behind," said Crispy, "but it'd be handy to get a hold of one."
Syl's eyes brightened slightly.
<What makes you think he left any?> asked Dis.
"It's Nick," said Crispy and Syl levelly. In perfect unison.
<Of course. Yes. Well. He may have... left some information where I can get it.>
"So, how do you get with the getting of the information so we can start fixing this mess and I can start flaying an evil bitka?" Sylvana asked, crossing her arms and leaning back against the bulkhead she'd just kicked.
<It'll take a while, but I'll let you know if anything comes up,> said Dis. <Assuming my partner doesn't have more secret jobs to spring on me.>
"That'll be great," said Crispy. "You do that."
"Good. Meanwhile, we all watch each other's backs, right?" Syl asked, looking at Josh.
"Yeah, we do. Because someone's looking to stab us in them."
"As long as we're clear," she nodded, then smiled. "Anything interesting going on out there? I haven't been off planet since the change over." she said, changing the subject she didn't want to think on any more just then. Not when there wasn't something she could immediately do about it.
"The New Republic's getting a push on into the Outer Rim," said Crispy. "There's been a rash of warlords getting offed and their forces thrown into disarray, and Republic peacekeepers have been on hand to clean up the mess." He smiled. "I may have had something to do with some of that." His smile faded, and he continued, "Oddly enough, having a stable, non-evil government seems to be fairly popular.
"Which means..." Sylvana prodded gently.
"Depends on how cynical you want to be," said Crispy. "On the one hand, life's becoming better for a segment of the Galactic population who've been handed a bowl of suck for centuries now. On the other, the Republic is stretching resources it doesn't have into places it's not wanted. It's all perspective."
"Do you think they've thought of allying themselves with these systems, rather than simply... taking them under wing?" she asked, curious.
"Most of them don't play well with others," said Crispy. "And don't like the New Republic's rhetoric about the rights of sapient beings and so on. Some can be reasoned with, but the others..." he shrugged. "I do a lot of work out that way."
"Surgical hits to get their point across?"
"The surgery's usually in getting them where they're needed. The only way to quickly fix a corrupt power structure is to replace it, and to replace it needs to be removed."
She nodded slowly. "Ah... See that's why I'm not in politics."
"Neither am I," said Crispy. "But I need to know about the bigger picture to do my job."
"But you're still you, inside that mercenary's skin?" she asked.
"Now that's a tricky question," he said. "I think I'm me, but the me I think I am might not be the me you think I am. I've spent the last few years learning that I was holding on to a me that died in a bacta tank years ago, and that I'm someone new. I had to change or die." He shrugged. "I changed."
"For good or ill, I wonder."
"For life," he said. "I survived the personality graft by treating it as a separate personality - at least at first. But that just fed it power. I've dismantled it and integrated it, and now it's me, too. But as to who that is? I'm still learning."
"So, you're you with a kick?" Sylvana asked, lips twitching into a small smile. "Because, that would imply that you didn't die, you just amalgamated with the stormie, rather than become a better version of him."
"Maybe I was being overdramatic," he acknowledged with a small smile of his own. "But the grafting wasn't a small thing. I've heard a dozen theories as to why it didn't take me over completely, but none that sound convincing."
"Sheer bloody-mindedness," she replied. "You're one of the most stubborn people I've ever met, and I'm glad to have met you. I've integrated my inner evil, no reason you can't have done yours."
He grinned. "Now that, I can believe," he said.
"Of course you can, because I'm right - and I'm always right," she teased.
"You're never wrong," he agreed. "Listen, I know it's only lunchtime, but do you want to go grab a drink? I could use a beer."
"Mmm, Beer," Syl went over and linked their arms. "Let's go be conspicuous."