Chapter 3

A Favour

Garfield woke nearly ten hours later, he enjoyed sleeping in during lightspeed as there was little else to do around the ship other than minor maintenance or stock taking, both things that he could knock off in a few hours. He groggily rose and got himself into a shower on autopilot, cleaning himself before wrapping a towel around his waist and saunter down the hall to the rec room, hoping to get himself something to eat before he dressed himself.

A slight nagging thought tugged at his mind, trying to remind him of something that he wasn't remembering. That was until he ran straight into an unknown object in the hallway, collecting himself, he found himself on top of a slightly confused Raven. Realisation hit him like a truck, remembering that he wasn't alone on the ship and he couldn't exactly walk around half naked anymore.

Picking himself up, he bolted down the hallway gripping tightly to his bath towel, leaving a very confused Raven laying in the hallway. He dressed himself in a flurry, throwing clothes everywhere as he grabbed one a simple white shirt and blue shorts. Dressed, he thumped his head against the bulkhead a few times and hoped that he wasn't about to walk into the rec room to find them all staring at him like he was a madman… or worse.

Dragging his heels, he took the longest route to the rec room, unsure if Raven's disappearance was a blessing or a curse. Entering into the rec room, he found Kori and Richard sat at the table eating a cooked breakfast, Victor working in the kitchens and making another plate of the food he served to the other two. Raven sat on the sofa at the far end reading a book that he knew he didn't have on board, the moment he entered she levelled a stare at him, conveying her confusion and quite possibly a secret intent to hold the incident over his head.

Garfield tried to open his mouth to say something when she raised an eyebrow, shifting her gaze over to the others before looking back at him. Reluctantly closing his mouth, knowing that he wasn't getting out of this one any time soon, he defeatedly walked over to the kitchen to investigate what Victor was cooking.

"Morning Gar… or whatever morning is… is it morning?" Victor tried to sound cheerful until he realised that he didn't know if it counted as morning, he stared off in daze for a second, trying to align his thoughts.

"Not much space travel under you belt?" Garfield broke him out of his musing, watching him opening his mouth a few times before shaking his head. "Don't worry about, most smugglers set their own sleep schedules, the jet lag planet side is utter hell. Best thing to do is just forget about the time and make your own clock, its easier than trying to figure it out every time."

"Thanks, I'll try to keep that in mind." Victor nodded to him before returning to his work, frying meat on the stove. Garfield twisted his face up, trying to wrack his mind on when or how meat managed to make it on board his ship. Victor noticed him staring weirdly at the meat he was cooking. "Couldn't find the storage room and there wasn't much in the cupboards, this I got on Tatooine, merchant said it was a delicacy. Can't wait to taste it!"

"Uh… The pantry is over there." Garfield pointed to the door next to the kitchen, it had little to no markings on it that would describe its contents. He couldn't exactly blame him for not finding it, since he was the only living on board it never occurred to him to label anything. "Also… there is no meat in there."

"Wait… do you mean there is no meat on board?" Victor's word carried over to the others, who all stopped what they were doing to listen in intently, hoping that what was said was in jest. Victor stared incredulously at Garfield, wondering if he mis-heard him.

"Yep. There is meat substitutes and a full stock of fruit and vegetables, but no meat of any kind." Garfield clarified, sparing a glance at the still frying meat sizzling on the stove, shuddering at the sight of it. Victor's jaw dropped, staring at him as he had gone raving mad. "I don't eat meat, and since I live alone, I never had cause to buy any."

"We are stuck on meat substitutes until we reach our destination…" Richard's eye twitched as he looked at the last few morsels of meat on his plate, wishing he had savoured each bite a lot more than he had. Kori on the other hand, just sat eating merrily away at her plate, uncaring to the news of the lack of meat as she had lived by the rule of always eat what is available rather than wishing for something that wasn't.

"Well, I use a vac storage system in there to store things a lot longer, I think there might be a container of meat in there that I got once when I had a guest over." Garfield offered, perplexed that this would as big a deal as they were portraying. He had a vastly sized pantry that he didn't always empty out since the food could be stored forever, that and he stocked up more than he needed to so there was probably some things in there that he has forgotten about. The storage worked on carefully keeping the food cold and removing as much oxygen as needed to slow them down from becoming rotten.

Victor set about finishing off the frying the meat before plating it for himself and Raven, he left his portion in the oven as he dashed off into the pantry to tear it apart. Garfield followed Victor into the pantry, watching him open and close sealed storage cupboards and scrambling through each of them, he pulled out a selection of fruit from one of the countless cupboards lining the room. He returned and set about making himself his usual breakfast, cutting up the fruit and adding spices from the cupboard before cooking them, plating, and sitting down at the table to eat quietly.

"Eureka!" Victor exclaimed, exiting the pantry with a wide grin plastered on his face, happy that his search wasn't for nothing. Noticing the eager looks on the other's faces, he shared his discovery. "There's a hole host of bantha meat in there, we need to be careful, but it will last us till we make it to a space station."

A collective sigh escaped all of them, even Kori joined in as she would miss the taste of meat over the next couple of weeks. A twitch graced Garfield's eye, trying to focus on eating his food over their obsession of meat, though it bugged him that he couldn't exactly remember where he got that bantha meat from. Striking him like a bolt of lightning, he suddenly remembered how he acquired it.

"Oh yeah! Honey went on a mothering rampage and changed nearly half of everything on my ship at one point, never did find out everything she did." Garfield exclaimed before shuddering at shock of walking into his bridge one day to find it coated in pink fur, and his cargo bay being completely reordered from his original organisation method. Richard and Victor confusedly stared at the girls, hoping one of them knew who he was talking about.

"Honey is another smuggler, she's nice… so long as you are paying her…" Raven shuddered at the drastic change of her demeanour when she said that she didn't have credits, it was amazing how someone could value credits so much that she would put up an act to lure people in.

"Honey wasn't always like that, she was kind and caring… before a Sith killed her son for nothing more than looking him in the eye." Garfield coldly recalled, it was long before his first time meeting her and he had to relentlessly badger Cole for the story. He didn't mean to pry, but with Honey constantly trying to mother him he had to find out why.

Raven flinched at learning her past, a slight note of guilt etching into her heart as she recalled certain Sith that would happily kill people for much less than that. However, it did make her feel grateful for leaving that life behind, escaping before they indoctrinated her into their way of thinking.

A cold note held over the room as everyone tried eating their food and forget about the horrific tragedies the Sith were responsible for, Kori especially had a dark expression on her face. As the room settled into an eerie silence, a sudden beeping echoed throughout the room, the screen on the far end erupting to life with an incoming call. Everyone but Garfield practically leapt out of their chairs, staring wildly at the screen as they tried to decipher its purpose.

Garfield picked up his bowl and jumped over the main sofa, picking up a data pad hidden underneath the seat. Pressing a button on it, the screen blared to life and a light skinned weequay with a bright smirk on his appeared on the screen. The screen only captured his dull beige face and slanted eyes, the large screen detailing each and every bump and grove of his face.

"Jagar. I've never seen the back end of a bantha look better! So, what do I owe this displeasure?" Garfield coldly addressed Jagar, silently debating if ending the call before it began would save him the headache. The individual calling him happened to be the one person he wished didn't know his number, a pirate that had absolutely no moral compass or empathy for anything.

"Very funny Garfield. Don't think you'll be so happy after you hear what I have to say." Jagar's grin had disappeared immediately, replaced with a scowl as he remembered who he was talking to.

"Well? Spit it out. The longer I have to look at you the more I fear I will go blind from the ugliness." Garfield retorted, hoping he could irritate the pirate into ending the call and leaving him alone, though a part of him knew that he might regret not listening to what he had to say. The others were keeping out of the way of the video call, intently listening in to the conversation as they ate their food.

"Hmph… Words getting around that you have a nice bounty on your ship." Jagar's smirk returned in full force as Garfield mistimed spooning in a piece of fruit into his mouth, when the teeth showed on Jagar Garfield knew he couldn't lie his way out of it. "I'm want to take him off your hands… you know as a concerned citizen wanting to help out his neighbour."

Richard flinched harshly, worried that there would be pirates now out looking for him aboard Garfield's ship. He was stuck on their freighter with no way to escape until he reached whoever Garfield's friend was.

"Like hell you will. You don't even know where my ship is… you never have." Garfield realised where this conversation was going to go, he doubted that this would be the last call he would get from prospecting pirates hoping to make a quick buck. A deep sigh escaped Richard, glad that the pirate didn't know where the ship was, though he didn't exactly know how.

"Oh! But you will come to me… I have information you will want to hear." Jagar's grin exploded so widely that it was a wonder he didn't split his head in half, believing that he won the argument. Even Richard's expression turned sour as he realised that he might not be getting out of this one, he doubted he could pilot this craft and keep the irate smuggler off of him. Though Richard missed the dark expression growing on Garfield's face, his expression turning every shade of anger and rage. "It concerns your family… I think it will give you the lead you need."

An eerie silence filled the room, each of the guest exchanged looks before staring at the smuggler in question. Richard started looking for an exit, trying figure out how to escape from a starship deep in space.

"Jagar… let me tell something I tell everyone that thinks they have the answer to my search…" Garfield paused as he stood up, staring directly into the screen, and letting his cold expression dig into the pirate. Said pirate's smirk died quickly as he finally saw the cold rage glaring him down. "Pray you never see me in person, or the last thing you will see, will be my blaster in your face."

Garfield didn't wait to end the call, carelessly throwing himself back onto the sofa and sighing deeply. He held the bridge of his nose and screwed his eyes shut, trying to calm himself down before he made a scene in front of the others.

Raven sat silently revaluating her opinion on him, wondering if the loner wasn't alone because of his terrible attitude. Victor and Kori remained silent, unsure where the rage that Garfield displayed came from, or if it was directed specifically towards Jagar. As for Richard, he breathed a sigh of relief, though he made a mental note to keep an ear out for anything concerning the smuggler's parents.

"I don't mean to pry but… what happened to..." Victor attempt to break the ice failed as Garfield held up a hand, silencing him instantly and drawing the attention of the others instantly. Garfield turned to level a glare at each of them, regarding them individually before settling onto Victor.

"Let's get something clear right now… the topic of my parents is completely off limits… period!" Garfield returned to his food, intent to eat his rage away. The hatred and rage he felt didn't spawn from anything he found from his family, rather his blind blunder to trust another pirate lead him down a rabbit hole that nearly lost him his life and his sanity. He still wished he could find his family, or at least know what happened to them, though he would never trust another person again to help him, resolved to find the information on his own.

The silence return in full force, each of them returning to their food as none of them could think of anything to break the frosty ice filling the room. That ice was broken by something that none of them expected, the screen lit up as another call came through.

Garfield debated answering it, his sour mood could turn away any of his favoured clients, something he wanted to avoid at all costs. There were some he could afford to lose, though to lose any would be a loss. Sighing deeply, he decided he could use a verbal punching bag and accepted the call. The screen lit up with a bright flash before it disappeared, a thin white line appeared on the black screen.

"Garfield, I need you to… You seem to be distressed, what is the matter boy?" An autotuned voice crackled from the screen, the thing white line responding to the voice in a sound wavelength form. Garfield sighed, wishing it would have been anyone but his friend.

"I'm fine, just had a nice call from Jagar… though I think you already knew that." Garfield grumpily stated as the voice showed absolutely no sign of shock or even a shred of emotion, remaining its dull lifeless monotone self.

"I knew… what did he offer this time?" The voice asked cautiously as if it already knew the answer to the question, wanting Garfield to confirm its prediction patiently.

"Said he had info on my family." Garfield coldly replied, the bitterness in his tone dripped lavishly with each word. The voice remained impassive, no note of inflection or cause to believe that the person had any sympathy or care left in them. "I terminated the call, warned him to never speak to me again."

The room filled with silence as neither Garfield nor the voice uttered a word, both content to let the silence linger in the air, enough so that the others shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Garfield sighed and sat up straight, pulling his legs up onto the sofa and sat cross legged.

"I take it you already know my destination." Garfield rhetorically asked, it wasn't really a question, rather an invitation to get the conversation over with as he knew his friend wouldn't call for anything else. The voice stayed silent for a few heart beats, not even the thin white line indicate that the other person was even breathing.

"Yes, it didn't take long to figure out you are heading here. Once Nar Shaddaa was out after your run in with the Republic, it left two options, until the bounty was posted across all forms of network." The voice concluded its deduction as plainly as one would breathe, figuring out the trajectory easily after crossing out other possibilities. The others sat listening, wondering who Garfield's friend could be, and why they went to such great lengths to hide their identity. "I have a mission for you that is located close to your current path… if you followed standard protocols…"

"You know I do, I would be a fool to ignore them." Garfield quipped, irked that his ability to follow a set list of instructions was in questioned, he understood the need for them though hated each time they were brought up.

"I had to be sure…" The voice didn't exactly convey a lot of trust between it and Garfield, something that the others felt was mutual the other way around, Garfield didn't exactly look happy to be conversing with whoever it was. "A freighter was destined to arrive here three days ago, it hasn't arrived, and any attempts to communicate with them have been futile."

"There is a high number of electric storms out this way, they could have had communication and engine failure." Garfield offered, knowing that his suggestion would be the first thought on his friend's mind and would be the first reason crossed off the list, though he decided to get his friend's possible evaluation rather than ask for it outright. His friend's precautions had precautions, every pilot hired to run cargo to them had to ensure they wouldn't be caught in the storm, or at least have a back up in place.

"Storm activity has been at its lost since the first records were taken, rogue storms were taken into account but failed to meet the threshold." The voice answered clinically, stating it as if it were pure fact without any possible chance of it being wrong. "The ship in question followed Protocol Theta, they shouldn't have any issue with the storm."

"Attack?" Garfield enquired, a slight hope in his voice as he wished to find a couple pirates to beat up and send packing.

"Unsure, possibility is high, though we don't have sensers in that region, nor do we have the ships to spare. Hence where you come in." The voice's monologue tone had the others questioning if it was the software's doing, or if it was how the person behind it actually spoke. "I have sent the coordinates to your ship, locate the missing freighter, secure the cargo and bring it to the station. Understood?"

"Understood." Garfield grumpily responded, knowing that it was most likely a pointless mission, if the storms didn't kill the ship, they would certainly tear it apart by now. Though, if finding a ship was his favour to his friend, then he would happily trail around the storm riddle region of space in search of missing freighter. The call disconnected seconds after if got is affirmation from Garfield, leaving the room in silence once again.

"So… we find this freighter and they give us shelter?" Richard asked, his trust was lacking in regard to the smuggler, and even less when it came to the voice. Though, neither of them gave him cause to doubt that they would turn him in for profit, a comforting thought in his otherwise endless running.

"Pretty much, that cargo has to be pretty important to them if they want me to go after it with the Republic on my tail." Garfield shrugged, eating his food for a bit as his words sunk in, a slight smirk etching onto his face as he saw them exchange glances to each other out of the corner of his eye. Garfield tried vain to hold in his laughter, falling apart and laughing boisterously loudly, loving the look on each of them that they think this could be an important mission. Richard levelled a confused stare at Garfield, trying to figure out what was so funny. "Hahaha! You actually thought it would be that simple, like my friend would ever trust me to find something that important. The ship is most likely lone gone and when we turn up at the station with nothing, they are going to throw me out on another mission the moment we land."

"So, we have to find that ship. Please tell me this ship has enhanced sensors?" Richard groaned, hoping that they wouldn't be traversing back and forth in this region of space with bounty hunters and the Republic after them.

"Wouldn't matter, electric storms would distort any readings." Victor answered for Garfield, he could relate to Garfield's laughter as he knew how electric storms could make a mess of a ships electrical systems. As he ate his food, Victor tried to mull over potential ways to overcome the sensor issue, though he needed to have a look at the ships systems before he could do anything. "Hey, Garfield, would you mind if I could have a look in the engine room and bridge? I think I might be able to boost this ships sensor range, it won't locate the ship, but it might give us a general idea of where to look."

"Firstly, her name is Titan, and secondly, its only me and Ric who need to accomplish this mission." Garfield was slightly stunned that Victor was willing to help out when he didn't need to, they weren't getting paid for his mission, nor would they get anything more than shelter for a couple weeks. He was also getting slightly irked by them calling Titan 'the ship', it was insulting to the masterpiece currently flying them through space.

"Why not, its not like there is anything else to do around here…" Victor started off before something clicked in his mind, he turned and stared at Garfield incredulously. Then he broke down laughing, unable to contain the humour that he just realised. "You call… you call your ship Titan! Titan! You call a titan class freighter, Titan!"

"Wow, such imagination." Raven deadpanned, hiding a smirk as her eyes shone with mirth. Enjoying the grumpy scowl on Garfield as the others erupted into laughter, she never thought she could enjoy mocking another that wasn't a method to throw a competitor off their game.

"Titan is a beast, she can shrug off a major beating, and she once stood her ground against an Empire cruiser for nearly an hour!" Garfield tried to defend his choice in naming his ship, using the past feats that gave Titan the acclaimed nickname as the Silver Behemoth.

"So, if the Titan could withstand a beating… why did we run from the Republic?" Kori asked confused, wondering why they ran in a panic and now faced hunting down a ship just to escape the Republic when they could have taken the beating and formulate a proper escape plan. She knew from experience that rushing in headfirst lead to more problems than answers.

"Just because Titan can take a beating doesn't mean I am going to put her into one every time!" Garfield retorted, wincing as he remembered the last bill he received to have the hull repaired. Though the ship's armoured hull could withstand a lot, it was expensive to replace or patch in the holes. "Each fight takes a major chunk out of my credits, if I can avoid a fight then I will do so at any costs."

"How long would it take to get the sensors boosted?" Richard brought the subject back to the important matter at hand, trusting that Victor's claim of a mechanic wasn't exaggerated. Calming himself down, Victor turned his attention to Garfield in hopes he could be allowed to examine the ship before he could give an estimate.

"Fine… the engine room is out that door to the right and straight to the back of the ship. For the bridge, take either the stairs in the living quarters up or the catwalk out in the cargo bay." Garfield reluctantly agreed, if he could get out of doing any more extra work for his friend then he would allow Victor to have a rummage around his ship. Victor immediately scoff down the rest of his food before darting out of the rec room, heading directly to the engine room first, giddy that he finally has something new to play with.

"I better go alter course to the coordinates." Garfield left his bowl in the sink and disappeared out the door, meandering towards the bridge as he wondered what he was going to expect at the coordinates. Knowing his friend, the ordinary wasn't always what one would expect. He mulled over the words of his friend, debating if priming the weapons system would be necessary since there was always a chance of running into pirates in the outer rim. That said, pirates go for easy targets, prey that they could snatch and run away with immediately, and in this region of space that type of prey is hard to come by.

Garfield made it halfway to the bridge when he heard footsteps behind him, turning around he found Raven following behind him. Curious, he stopped and waited for her to catch up, wondering why she was following him. Once she caught up, she stared expectantly at him for a moment, gesturing towards the bridge.

Entering the bridge, Garfield took his usual seat, systematically working his way through the controls with practiced ease. He found the coordinates that his friend had sent him, charting the location, and imputing it into the ship's navigation. The region was close to a particularly dangerous zone, one that had one too many rogue electric storms that appear out of nowhere, he wasn't surprised that the ship lost contact here.

Any pilot worth their salt would rather rick their client's anger than go anywhere close to that region, though when it comes to his friend, its better to cut through that dangerous zone rather risk their ire. It was unfortunate that this freighter pilot was running late, he only wished he knew, then he could've completed the job without the risk. Though the electric storms were dangerous, to an experienced pilot, they would be able to navigate and avoid the rogue storms with little incident.

"For a ship that is supposed to have more than one crewmember, you prefer to be alone." Raven broke the silence, she had taken the seat next to Garfield, staring out the front window at the stars streaming past. Garfield raised an eyebrow at her, puzzled by her words and debating if she was asking a question or stating a fact. "I am confused why one would be afraid to have company, yet act so easily and brazenly when with company."

"At some point you are going to have to start making sense." Garfield complained, shaking his head as it started to hurt trying to comprehend her words. He didn't want to be rude to her, though he couldn't keep up this conversation anymore without needing someone to translate.

"I asked why you live alone on a ship meant for multiple people." Raven deadpanned, shifting her gaze to him to glare harshly, annoyed that she had to speak simply for the green skinned idiot. Leaning back in the chair, she waited for answer. Raven didn't exactly know why she followed him, though the questions racing in her mind drove her to seek answers.

"Oh… uh… I… I am not really sure…" Garfield never understood why he had the ship remodelled to take several crewmembers, he had originally thought it was because he lived his whole life on board a massive ship with nearly fifty people, then he remembered that he had to sought to escape from that life and every remembrance of it. Scratching his head, he wracked his brains for an answer, though he came up short. "Truthfully… I don't really know, I just liked Titan and bought her. After that I remodelled her however I liked."

"Then why do you hate having company?" Raven continued her enquiry, slightly disappointed that she didn't get a satisfactory answer for her first question. Garfield didn't have to think long on that question, after escaping from the Scarlet Reapers he vowed never to let himself to be kept in those conditions again. He had trusted them with his life, treated them as if his family, to allow someone else to live on his ship meant trusting them like he had with the Scarlet Reapers. Something he couldn't quite do just yet.

"That isn't something I like talking about… it brings up bad memories." Garfield tried to keep the coldness out of his tone, he didn't want to snap at her though the suddenness of the question threw him somewhat. He had to remind himself constantly that they would only be here temporarily, that once he got to his friend, he would have his friend acquire transportation for them elsewhere.

It wasn't that he couldn't handle being around others, more that he now had to keep reminding himself of all the hidden guns were located. He brushed his knee against the hidden holster under his side of the pilot seat, reminding him of one of two hidden blasters, the other hidden in a compartment above the door.

He had been shipping several containers for a client from Nar Shaddaa to Ord Mantell, supposedly to support the civil war efforts on one side, though when he arrived, they tried to steal the cargo and his ship. Garfield only got away when the Republic came barging in to stop said shipment, in the chaos he made off with his ship and the cargo, which turned out to be a slew of blasters and various grenades. Selling most of the blasters, he kept enough to hide around his ship and store the grenades in the cargo bay, vowing to ensure he never got held hostage on his own ship again.

A sudden flash of movement in his peripheral vision, Raven had pulled out a short dagger from her belt and was in the motion of whirling it around at him. Reacting instinctively, he ripped the blaster from the hidden holster and had it pointing at her face before she managed to get close to him, the two staring intently at one another. Garfield tried to understand her motive, why she would try to attack him when he had cleared his debt with Honey to save her. Raven suddenly smirked before retreating back to her seat, putting away the knife.

"Ha! So, it isn't an act." Raven laid back in her chair nonchalantly, as if she hadn't tried to attack Garfield with a dagger. Shocked, Garfield scrutinised her carefully, trying to understand her and her unique behaviour. Deciding not to escalate the situation, Garfield returned the blaster to the hidden holster, returning to his work on piloting a course and keeping a closer eye on his guest. "Usually, smugglers put up acts to attract business or pretend to be someone they are not. Wanted to make sure I knew who I was trusting to pilot this craft."

"Ha, and you say I have trust issues." Garfield retorted, earning himself a small smile on Raven's face. He found an easy silence settling over them, one that wasn't uncomfortable or awkward, rather they enjoyed the peace and quiet as the stars sailed past.

Footsteps could be heard heading up to the bridge, triggering Garfield's defensive nature and to silently reach for the hidden blaster, he was seconds from whipping it out and whirling on the person approaching when Raven rested a hand on his shoulder. Letting go of the blaster, he turned in his chair to see Victor merrily strolling through the ship and eyeing anything and everything, slightly guilty that he was about to round on him with a blaster on his hand. Victor was the kind of person that Garfield liked talking to whenever he went to get his ship repaired, as well as when he was with the Scarlet Reapers, they would always slip him something to eat or to keep him safe as they knew how nasty pirates can be.

"Dude, this ship is impressive, though it hasn't been given a proper tune up in a long while!" Victor exclaimed as he entered the bridge, surveying every little detail in wonder. He was like a little kid who had been just given his favourite toy, excitedly memorising every detail encase he ever forgot it.

"What do you mean? I had it tuned up nearly a month ago." Garfield exclaimed, starting to doubt his capability as a mechanic. Though, there has always been a reservation in the back of his mind, that the mechanics at the stations never did quite understand how his ship operates.

"Sure, and I bet they told you they fixed the misfiring third engine that lists occasionally." Victor quipped, a victorious smirk appearing on his face as Garfield winced harshly, knowing he had won the short argument. "I can give Titan a quick tune up and fix the misfiring engine, but I can't do anymore unless I have access to a dry dock."

"I am so going to kill Bob…" Garfield promised, his usual mechanic that he trusted to fix his ship had been charging him extra for a better service. Victor broke down into laughter as he heard that name, forced to lean against a wall as he couldn't keep himself standing.

"Bob! Bob, from the Nal Hutta space dock? That useless idiot couldn't tell you which way to point a blaster, let alone fix an actual starship." Victor roared with laughter, enjoying the irritated look on Garfield's face, and noticing Raven hide her mouth behind her hand as she tried not to laugh.

"He did solid work for me, repaired my ship when the engine killed itself." Garfield feebly tried to defend Bob, hoping that he and Victor were talking about two totally different people, yet knowing that Bob wasn't the kind of person that anyone leave their ship alone with for any amount of time.

"Yeah, that's how he works, hires in a pro for the first service and then tricks people into keeping him on retainer." Victor explained, knowing how easily Bob could get fools to pay him for literally no work at all. Garfield thumped his head against the screen in front of him, frustrated that he had been took for a fool. He didn't really trust Victor, but he always had his doubts about Bob, and after having to alter the trajectory of ship as it listed slightly of course, he couldn't disprove Victor's claims. "As for the sensors, they are on a completely different scale from anything I have seen. Are they experimental?"

"Classified actually, they already have an extensive range on them but lacks sufficient processing power to read results." Garfield recovered from thumping his head against the screen only to kick himself as he remembered an important detail about his ship, he realised he shouldn't have actually allowed Victor free reign on board. Victor and Raven both looked at one another before staring wildly at Garfield, trying to figure out how a smuggler got his hands-on classified tech. "Should have said something earlier, stay away from the actual sensors and weapon system. The engine and hyperdrive are experimental tech, both expensive and delicate so try not to break them."

"Don't tell me that Bob gets to play with both experimental and classified tech." Victor deflated, he would not be able to take knowing that the useless wannabe mechanic like Bob got access to this tech before he did. It wouldn't just kill his ego, but his dream to become a dedicated mechanic on board an Alderaanian science vessel as well.

"You're joking? Like I would let him near the engines without me standing there with my blasters at the ready." Garfield quipped, though he didn't like using his blasters, they were good at keeping inquisitive mechanics from wandering where they shouldn't. "I would lock down off limit rooms and cover up the sensor grid in the engine room."

"Anyway, what am I allowed to work with to upgrade the sensors?" Victor grumbled, though his ego remained intact, he doubted he would be able to work with the classified tech. He had enjoyed crawling all over the engine and hyperdrive, taking in any and every detail he could of the two experimental pieces he only ever heard about from mechanics in bars. When he noticed the sensor grid in the engine room, he thought it was a weird location for it, and looking it over confirmed his suspicions that it wasn't standard.

"When I first got Titan, I didn't think I would need to upgrade the computer system on board, and the sensor system requires a far greater amount of processing power that Titan can supply." Garfield explained, after he had managed to acquire the sensor equipment, he wanted to upgrade his computing system when they wouldn't work at full capacity though it would have meant tearing his ship apart piece by piece. "If you can increase the processing power to the sensors by another ten percent then it will cut our search time down by a quarter."

"Not sure there is much that I can do, this computer system is ancient. I could add an additional computer directly to the sensor grid itself though…" Victor gave Garfield a knowing look, conveying that it would require working with the classified tech to install his work around for the issue.

"The classified tech comes from your friend, doesn't it?" Raven asked suddenly, she had been trying to work out where a smuggler of all people could get their hands-on classified tech, the only possible solution lied in his friend. "You give no indication of their identity, and they spoke with an almost military profession, only possible conclusion is that they gave it to you."

"They didn't really give me the tech, I did enough work to qualify acquiring it from them." Garfield clarified, he wasn't exactly surprised that one of them would figure it out that the tech came from his friend, his friend easily gave off the vibe of military in one single call. "I can keep them on the condition that I do everything in my power to protect and hide them, another reason why I keep people off of my ship."

"A smuggler working for military, that's not something you see every day." Raven joked, hoping her subtle attempt to get information out of him would yield results, the more she spoke with him the more she found herself intrigued by him. She wouldn't admit it, but she found him slightly interesting, more so than wandering the galaxy in search of a purpose and a name.

"The Republic and the Empire hire smugglers all the time to work missions they want to keep under the radar, it isn't that uncommon." Garfield tried to deflect the question with a common fact, hoping the interrogation could end and he could go about his usual day. Raven didn't take the hint and pried further as she shifted her gaze to him, boring into the side of his head as he finished up charting a course to the location through the storms. "Argh! Fine! They helped me out when I was in trouble, and they provided me with paid work when I had none. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have gained my reputation or clients that kept me on retainer."

"For someone who owes your friend a lot, you don't seem to like them much." Raven continued to pry, intent on learning what she could from the mysterious smuggler. Garfield stared at her puzzled, he had thought of her as the quiet and shy type, one that wouldn't be trying to enquire into his personal life relentlessly.

"I don't like asking for a favour. Like I said earlier, they work on a basis of a favour for a favour, and what they ask for usually never makes asking for help worth it." Garfield yielded, figuring there wasn't much issue for him to talk to someone that was definitely going to leave in roughly a couple weeks. "Beyond that, I occasionally visit when I have no work lined up to offer my services, or if I am bored and have nothing better to do."

"Not to interrupt a beautiful conversation but… can I work on these sensors or do I have to find an alternative to the issue?" Victor had stood their silently, watching the exchange with interest, learning what he could about the smuggler as he hoped to gain access to the classified tech. Learning that if he wanted to work on it, he would have to find a way to convince this mysterious third party.

"Couldn't you instal the additional computer into the system itself?" Garfield asked, he figured that his friend knew of the people he was forced to bring on board, most likely organising transportation for them as soon as they arrive. It would also mean that his friend would quiz them on anything they learned on board, and if they find out that Garfield had allowed a stranger to examine their technology, then he could kiss his tech goodbye.

"Probably… it would be a patch up job, and I couldn't guarantee that it lasts longer than a day or two." Victor reluctantly admitted, he knew he could press the issue and possibly get to work with the classified tech, yet it would be a disservice to his profession to lie about not being able to create a work around.

"That works for me, I'm definitely going to take up a couple more jobs and get my friend to overhaul my computer system." Garfield muttered the end of that sentence just audible enough for them to hear, knowing his friend, he would have to take the difficult and unpleasant missions just to rack up enough favour to overhaul his ship. He was certainly not looking forward to it.

"Alright, I'll get to work… uh… do you happen to have any spare components lying around that I can use?" Victor stopped as he was making his way to the door, remembering that he didn't exactly know the layout of the ship to find where Garfield kept the spare parts. Or if he had spare parts laying around.

"Umm… there isn't much in the cargo bay… other than processed ore that I need to sell…" Garfield listed through his mind everything that didn't have a purpose on his ship, flinching slightly as he had to deal with a shipment that a client cancelled mid transit and told Garfield to keep it as payment rendered. Then he remembered the useless hunk of junk sitting at the lowest part of his ship, a room that previously existed as the crew quarters had been turned into a secret hanger for a fighter.

He wanted to have a way off the ship since he got rid of the escape pods, that and having a way to land on planets that the Titan could not go near would open up new opportunities for him. That said, the fighter he bought from what was supposed to be a reliable starship seller, turned out to be a hunk of junk that nobody would buy for scrap. It irked him to no end that he couldn't trade it or sell it for spare parts as it was an older model that no one used any more.

"There's a busted ship in the hanger, I'm pretty sure it has spare parts though its very old and partially destroyed." Garfield reluctantly admitted, if that damn ship could be used for something useful then it would be such a hinderance on him. Noticing the confused look on Victor's face, he remembered that the old titan freighters didn't come with a hanger bay. "Down were the crew compartments use to be, I had remodelled into a makeshift hanger, got myself a ship and anything… though I got swindled by a 'reputable' starship seller…"

Garfield unhappily grunted, ignoring the slight smirk etching onto Raven's face, Victor merely nodded before he disappeared, only to return seconds later. With his hand raised, he was about to ask a question when Garfield silenced him quickly.

"The other door out of the cargo bay, stairs down and first door on your left. Code is 2398." Garfield didn't put many combination locks on doors on his ship, but since the hanger had a door leading directly out into space that wasn't strictly regulation, he found the notion comforting. The crew quarters had their own combination locks which could be set, though he never bothered to do so since he lived alone, other than that the life support system was the only other area that a set code different from the one into the hanger.

As Cyborg disappeared down the corridor, Garfield set to work finalising the protocols needed for his search, debating whether he wanted to go directly to the exact spot the ship was last seen or to the most likely area that it may have gotten lost in. That region is dangerous, but it also has a region nearby that throws navigation for a loop if the pilot wasn't paying attention, its entirely possible that the ship got lost in there, but the odds were next to nothing. No freighter worth its salt would dare go anywhere near those types of regions unless they had to shake a tail or lose and attacker, not even running late would count as a reason to go into those regions.

Several hours later, Victor had returned to the bridge, a somewhat gleeful expression on his face as he entered. Raven had at some point wandered off to either explore the ship or find something she could since Garfield lost interest in talking after a sudden surge of energy shocked him from one of the panels.

"That ship in the hanger is a beauty, shame its in pieces." Victor happily stated, drawing Garfield's attention away from the panel he was working on. After the sudden surge, he had to run a system check to ensure nothing had been damaged and where the surge originated from. The panel he was working on held some part of the blame as a faulty wire circuit decided to call it quits and burn itself out, he wanted to replace it, but he lacked the parts. He was left with the only option of disconnecting it and bypass the circuit through another node, a temporary solution and one that wouldn't be recommended if he wasn't close to docking with his friend's space station. "What you up to?"

"Shutting down this circuit board, it fried itself. Gonna bypass it to the next circuit board alone for now." Garfield curtly stated, returning to his work as Victor stared over his shoulder, eyeing the work he was doing with a trained eye.

"I take it you don't have any spare circuit boards?" Victor figured that if he had to ask, then he knew the answer, though he wanted an explanation as to why there were so few spare parts around. Most freighter pilots always carried spare parts, anything go wrong in a mission or something breaks then they need to fix it then and there.

"Nope." Garfield chirruped, intent on completing his work and getting himself something to eat before he did his rounds. Victor tried to hide the annoyed expression blooming on his face, out of the many freighter captains and smugglers he had met, Garfield had to be the tightest lipped one of them all.

"Why not?" Victor directly asked, uncaring to try and smoother his words with pleasantries to coax out information from Garfield. He rarely had to encourage freighter captains to talk as they would usually boast about anything and everything they could, something that he figured Garfield wasn't going to do unless directly asked.

"You're a mechanic, you know the worth of good parts. A faulty part could destroy more than just what it replaces." Garfield grunted, finally pulling out the part he had disconnected. "Getting them from reputable sellers is difficult, especially for smugglers as there are those that would happily accept a bribe to provide a sabotaged piece. Then you are a sitting duck, waiting to be killed and your ship stripped for parts. I opt to buy my parts from my friend, they usually have a surplus and are happy to sell them to me as they would otherwise have to scrap them."

"That's a long time to go without spare parts." Victor continued his interrogation, he understood Garfield's reason for not wanting to buy parts wilfully, it could be more costly to repair an entire unit rather than the part that had broken.

"Not usually, I buy as much as I can and then resupply whenever I am in the area, was going to do as after I picked up a job at Nar Shaddaa." Garfield nonchalantly responded, he hadn't been around this area for a while, and as such he practically no supplies left.

"Dangerous precedent, though one that I can understand." Victor reluctantly admitted, he couldn't agree with only buying from a single source though since it was a very reliable source then it was somewhat acceptable. "Anyway, that ship in the hanger is an old beauty, shame its in parts otherwise I would love to tinker with it. That said, it has enough parts for me to make a workable solution to our problem."

"Good, mind taking a look at this." Garfield tossed him the circuit board, he was going to set the bypass and thought that having a mechanic have a look at the busted circuit wouldn't hurt. Victor eagerly searched over the burnt item, checking it for faults or breaks, then turning to the panel itself.

"Seems like a simple system surge, probably from how old this ship is and the advance tech within it." Victor confirmed Garfield's suspicions, he had had this problem for a long time, the advance tech could trip past the breakers and disrupt a few systems.

"If I am going to get the computer systems overhauled then I might as well go for the wiring system as well. Can't keep taking these constant faults." Garfield grumbled, knowing full well that having both the computer system and the wiring upgraded could be very costly, yet the long run benefits would outweigh the short-term pain.

"I could fix the breakers to withstand extra power from the experimental tech, though without knowing anything about the classified tech then it could adversely affect them." Victor hoped he could pull a fast one on Garfield, every time he passed by the engine room or even glance at the weapon system had him wishing he could just take a peek at it. He kept trying to weigh the pros and cons of taking a peek against facing the wrath of the captain who seemed to have more blasters on this ship than anyone he had ever seen before.

During his work in the engine room, he stumbled upon a hidden blaster within one of the panels that a mechanic would rarely look in, he didn't think much of it until he found another within another unnoticeable panel. At first, he wondered if Garfield was the paranoid type, though the precision and deliberate placing of the blasters spoke of a hidden skill that Victor had only seen with pros fighters.

"Nice try, Vic." Garfield smirked, he found Victor's perseverance hilarious, not many people would be as tenacious as him when concerning classified tech. Most would shy away when they hear of something being classified, only the truly idiotic or greedy would try to either steal or kill Garfield to get at the tech. Victor didn't seem idiotic, nor did he seem the type to be greedy with his constant asking. "I'm afraid that if I show it to you then it will be the last time 'I' will ever see it."

"That strict, huh?" Victor couldn't blame him now that he knew the tech could be taken away if someone else ever see it, to be given such tech in first place requires a decent amount of trust, something that couldn't be squandered on a stranger. "I'll stop asking… though since the ship in the hanger is practically in pieces… can I work on it?"

"Sure, can't sell the damn thing for scrap anyway. Just don't take anything from my ship or blow anything up." Garfield absentmindedly said, focusing on the bypass. He didn't really care about the ship since there was nothing he could do about it, he had been debating about ditching in space though that would mean he lost all of his credits in purchasing the accursed thing.

"Cool, I'll set up the power booster and work on the ship in the meantime." Victor stated before departing from the bridge, nodding to Richard who was heading towards the bridge. Garfield was fixing the final part to the bypass when Richard entered the bridge.

"I hear that everything is going along well?" Richard asked, he had heard them talking as he made his way towards the bridge, only the tail end of the conversation but enough to get the gist of it. Garfield passed him a quick glance before returning to his work.

"It'll be two days before we reach the target location, and further six to map and search that area with Victor's upgrade." Garfield informed Richard, normally he would have shooed though since Richard was to help him on this mission, he brought him up to speed. It would take them nearly two to three weeks to reach the station from the target location, combined with the mission time would mean a full month to get to the station. They had to get spare parts from ship otherwise they might never make it to the station if another circuit fries itself.

"Eight days in total, could the search be shortened down any further?" Richard didn't like the idea of being in a location for any more than a few days, with the Republic on his tail it meant that he could be easily captured. He didn't have as much technical knowledge as Victor, nor the skill as a freighter pilot as Garfield, he had to rely on them to get the job done which didn't exactly sit well with him.

"Depends if you know the exact location of the freighter." Garfield sarcastically quipped, this was already the best-case scenario. If things somehow miraculously improved beyond this point, then Garfield would start believing in the existence of a deity. The search alone would take nearly fifteen to twenty days to complete without Victor's upgrade, a boost of power to the sensors could allow him to avoid taking unnecessary risks and extending their already long journey to encircle various hazard zones in the area.

"What about the freighter, will we be expecting company?" Richard ignored Garfield's quip, opting to focus on the problem rather than argue with the disgruntled captain.

"Best case, no. Worst case, yes." Garfield curtly stated, finishing up the final adjustments to the bypass. "Regardless, we have to find the damn thing first. That alone is the major problem, I highly doubt we will find a trace of it, let alone find the actual ship itself."

"What happens if we turn up to the station without finding the ship or the cargo?" Richard enquired, trying to understand the parameters of the mission. His military training kicking in, forcing him to evaluate all options.

"We will get another mission, or if the cargo turns up before we arrive then we still get another mission." Garfield grumpily admitted, he knew how his friend worked. Wasting all the effort to find the ship and it suddenly turns up at the station was the absolute worst-case scenario, it meant everything they had done would be all for nothing and they would have to go out and work another mission to pay off his friend.

"That tough, huh?" Richard knew of commanding officers that were as strict as that, they would throw soldiers back into the fray with limbs falling off if they failed the mission.

"A failure is a failure, it brings nothing and serves nothing. To fail is to do nothing, and to do nothing is worth nothing." Garfield remembered his friend's famous saying, one that they would say as often as they could. It irked him that his friend valued nothing except results, the effort expended to get those results didn't count for much.

"Some friend… Do you have any plans for the freighter we are searching for?" Richard wanted to do something, to aid in the mission in someway otherwise he might go stir crazy. Garfield laughed loudly, throwing Richard for a loop at his sudden action.

"No captain worth its salt would ever give anyone plans to their starship, its akin to suicide." Garfield wheezed, glad for hilarious distraction. "If an enemy knew where their life support was located then all it would take would be a single precision shot to take out an entire ship. Hell, if anyone knew the plans to my ship then it wouldn't matter how strong Titan was, one shot from an ambush could take us all out."

"Can't argue with that." Richard begrudgingly admitted, resigning himself to doing nothing as other decided his fate. He felt as useless as the time he sat before the tribunal, finding him guilty despite the fact he didn't commit the crime. With nothing else he could, he nodded to Garfield who was sat at one of the terminals on the bridge tapping away a set of commands, he left the bridge.

Garfield finished the bypass, entering in commands to regulate the circuit power, creating an alarm to warn him if the bypass fails. He set himself down in his normal chair, content to watch the stars stream past the view screen for a few minutes before he got to work.

Suddenly, the ship shook slightly, jostling Garfield from his seat to check internal sensors. Finding nothing on the damage report, he checked the external sensors for an attacker with similar results.

"Umm… sorry about that Gar… may have overloaded the one of the circuit breakers with my first attempt." Victor's voice sounded through the intercom, causing Garfield to groan. Rising from his seat, he trudged towards the engine room where the intercom listed the call originating from. Grumbling about regretting bringing them onboard.


Author's Note: I hope people picked up on who Garfield friend is, though if not then it will be a few chapters before I introduce them. I hope I played each of them well, though I do take some artistic differences in regard to making them somewhat OOC.