Chapter 14
Lost Ordnance
"Alright, Red and Kori will be taking the Dynamic for the first leg of the trip, they'll switch out with Victor and Oliver for the rest of the way to Republic space." Garfield handed out the assignments as they waited for Oliver's personal items to arrive. Roy had darted from the area after Garfield lost his temper with him, though he paused for a second to explicitly state that in order for Oliver to get the full experience he should have a turn flying the Dynamic. "After this, I'll personally fly the Dynamic to Coruscant, the rest of you stay on board the Titan. If anything goes wrong during this point, and with the Republic that's bound to happen eventually, you are to leave immediately and hide until I contact the ship. Does everyone understand?"
"Why are you alone? Shouldn't you have some backup since you pair everyone up for flying the Dynamic?" Oliver asked curiously, he had spent most of his tour asking every question he could about the ship and its layout. Kori had tried her best to answer him, though she herself know very little of ships or engines, she had tried to get Richard's help but he had to stay in character, and Rachel didn't know anything of the advance tech Garfield had installed.
"It's easier, I memorised the routes around Republic space as well as several hidden areas and nooks, that and I can escape anyone trying to steal the ship or attack us. I also have a few old contacts that can help me out if things get dangerous." Garfield replied nonchalantly, he wasn't technically lying about being better alone, but there was something he had to do while he was in Republic space that he didn't want the others seeing and the Dynamic gave him the perfect cover. "There is a temporary stop over at a station on the edge of the Republic space, there we'll barter for an up-to-date map of Republic ship movement and checkpoints."
"What do we need with one of those?" Oliver interrupted Richard's near cry of how illegal such a document was and how they could never get their hands on one. Garfield sighed slightly, he was starting to regret accepting this deal, and he could get the map on route through the Republic space but it'll be at the station that he would get the other part of his payment.
"The Republic like to switch things up, ships move about and checkpoints get reinforced. We need to pass through low security checkpoints as without captains looking over their shoulders, the staff are easy to slip past, and can be bribed if they get nosy." Garfield chuckled at how lax Republic security is, smugglers had a running bet on who could get the furthest into Republic space unnoticed, so far the record is still just over half way, no smuggler can get past how frequently they shift the command class ships in the inner areas of their territory. "Captains are the issue, there are several that are hardcore nutcases that flip their lid if a lowly recruit has a button out of place, but there are even more that aren't as dutiful in their duties that can be bribed or persuaded to turn a blind eye. If I know which captain is where, then I can plot a route through the best ones that would let us by with little issue."
"Wow, the Republic really needs to improve their security." Victor whistled mockingly, he smirked slightly at the twitching Red X who looked irked by both the Captain and his grin. He had returned fairly quickly for Garfield's liking, but Victor nearly spent an hour rambling about how perfectly preserved the Dynamic was and how he wanted to map the ship from stem to stern.
"Nope… they need to pay their captains better." Garfield chuckled, the Republic weren't good on giving decent wages to their crew, some were happy with it but there were others who wanted to give their families a better life or wanted to retire comfortably. "That and I know a few captains that are Empire spies, they really don't like me but as long as I keep my requests small, they don't have a problem."
Red X had been leaning against the wall and slipped at Garfield's words, he tried to play it off as him checking his equipment out of boredom but those who knew him as Richard knew he was trying not to explode in rage at knowing there were several Empire spies as Republic captains.
"Do we really need to fly through all of these hoops?" Rachel asked curiously, her limited encounters with the Republic was at one side of a saber battle or being fired at by their soldiers, never had she gotten close to the Republic territory to actually follow their rules.
"Precaution is a smuggler's mistress, its better to be prepared for her to arrive than to suddenly find her at your doorstop with your wife in your arms." Garfield chuckled as he recited his old friend's words on being prepared on every mission, that said, his friend wasn't exactly as smart as he ended up getting killed in a firefight… between his three mistresses and his wife… who were trying to kill each other. His words caused those around him to gaze at him curiously, a slight judgemental tone noting their eyes. "Being a smuggler is being prepared for any eventuality, especially since it only takes the Republic to get lucky once whereas a smuggler has to be lucky every day. That's why a smuggler will always try to remove every obstacle or threat in their path to ensure that luck doesn't have a chance to roll."
"So… no explosive combat with witty come backs and bartering with criminal overlords?" Oliver asked slightly dejectedly, his eyes showing the dying joy of a child on Christmas day when the presents are all socks.
"Please! That's a bad day. If you want something close to that become a mercenary, they burn credits on explosions and always have something to say…" Garfield grumbled irritably, there had been several incidents where he crossed paths with mercs, they always whined when he outshone them or mocked how smugglers were wimps. "Smugglers work on discretion and secrecy, the less they are seen the better. Hell, the Republic's top wanted smugglers are some of the most mediocre around, they don't even make it to the top hundred."
"That… makes senses…" Oliver reluctantly admitted, the others nodding along though a part of them recalled the mission with Lex and the incident on Nar Shaddaa. For a smuggler that claims discretion is the best policy, he sure doesn't half make a lot of noise himself. "So… will I be able to sit in on the meeting at the station?"
"Depends, do you like endless dogfights?" Garfield rhetorically asked, though the look on his face told him he might have to explain his words. "The person I'm going to meet is an information broker, the moment they lay eyes on you half the criminal underworld is going to know your location in a heartbeat, and they'll be on us within the hour… That said, Roy did say you should be given the full smuggler experience, so I've got a deal I need to make with a crime boss on Corellia, he's the type who doesn't get out much nor does he care about anything other than his own business so there's little chance of him spreading word of your whereabouts."
"You sure that's wise?" Richard grunted with as much disdain as he could, mimicking what he read on Red X's profile. The merc was known to be condescending, but Richard had a genuine concern bring a rich playboy to a meeting with a deadly crime boss."
"Not much to worry about, Walker ain't much of a threat, not unless Kitten is involved, then its open season." Garfield shuddered, the man was a brilliant entrepreneur and scientist, and conducted deals with a good deal of professionalism, though he was quite peculiar in his habit of collecting insects. As for Kitten, his daughter, she's a complete lunatic in every sense of the word, a shudder ran down his spine the moment he thought of her. "Last time I was in the area he told me he was expanding his business into Cybertech, I lost a regular client who paid me well and Walker offered to hire me last time we met, but at the time he was knee deep into Biochem work which I refuse to deal with."
"A client meeting, wonderful! Is that where we discuss payment and delivery times?" Oliver asked curiously, his excitement returning after its prior plummet. Garfield resisted the urge to roll his eyes, the trade deal was a minor reason he was going to meet Walker, though the work would be a good influx of credits.
"Not really, Walker already knows my prices and methods, as for the product it would be solely legal Cybertech parts. I don't work with anything illegal from a new client until I'm certain they aren't setting me up." Garfield doesn't always follow this method, but for clients like Walker its best to air on the side of caution. Walker has dealings with the Republic and avoids the Empire, these kind of crime bosses have a tendency to offer up smugglers and others they have worked with in return for immunity from charges, and Walker is overly protective of Kitten so he is even more likely to throw smugglers to the wolves just to save her. "But, in full disclosure, Walker has recently acquired a piece of artwork that an old client of mine had paid me to acquire a long time ago… and I failed that mission. So, I want to set the record straight and acquire the piece."
"And?" Rachel glared at Garfield, she could see he was avoiding the point by pretending to admit to his other deal. Garfield shifted uncomfortably for a moment before running his hands over his face with a despaired groan.
"Walker hates art, he prefers his insect colony than anything flashy which means he got it for his daughter… SHE'S A COMPLETE NIGHTMARE!"Garfield roared angrily before turning round and slamming his forehead against the bulkhead angrily, Kitten drove him insane to the point he nearly shot her, or himself, he wasn't exactly clear on the details as he blacked out after smacking himself in the head one too many times trying not to scream in frustration and anguish. "I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that she doesn't care about the art but will make my life hell because I want it… If she asks me to play hot smuggler saving damsel in distress again, I'm going to kill myself."
"Does that come with an explanation?" Rachel asked a little too quickly, she quickly berated herself for acting like that and stared expectantly at Garfield, passing a seething glare towards Victor when he wiggled her eyebrows at her.
"I wish… its exactly as described, I come in and rescue her from some unbelievably stupid situation and she pretends to fawn over me to make her boyfriend jealous." Garfield groaned grumpily, he still has the scar when her boyfriend put a blaster bolt into his shoulder out of jealousy after Kitten left. Kitten flew into a rage after that, though not for her boyfriend shooting him, but because he put her boyfriend in the infirmary for three months… she did calm down fairly quickly when she realised she could play nurse… he really felt sorry for her boyfriend, though he was as crazy as she is. "Look, Oliver, I won't lie and say I hadn't toyed with the idea of making you into her chew toy, but its my reputation on the line so I can't avoid the hassle. You'll be there for the initial meeting, but beyond that I'll be on my own to deal with Kitten. Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to spend ten minutes trying to remember where I stashed my illegal liquor before getting myself blackout drunk and forgetting where my stash is… again… Rachel, the bridge is yours, take us up once the Dynamic is sorted and ready to take off."
Garfield groaned violently as he laid in his hammock , waking up to a thumping sound, the pounding headache was ungodly excruciating and it took him several minutes to realise that the banging wasn't inside his head. Reluctantly getting to his feet, he steady himself and stumbled to the door, pausing for a second to remember that he was in his boxers.
"Alright! Alright! I'm up!" Garfield called out as whoever was hammering on his door tried once again to get his attention, he started to wonder what kind of hell he could rain down upon them once he got most of his faculties together. Slamming his fist into the door control, he was greeted by an unusual sight of Rachel standing in his doorway looking rather angry.
"Your ship hates me." Rachel growled angrily, her words filled with venom as they smacked into Garfield's hazy mind. He stood there dumbfounded, both at the sight of Rachel clad in a simple dark purple shirt and black skin tight trousers, a sight that nearly shorted his brain in its partially working state. Then, with a shuddering thud of an old engine sparking to life, realisation dawned on him.
"Oh! Sorry, I forgot to make you an official member of the ship's system, you only have temporary access and it comes with a time limit that I forgot to renew." Garfield groaned in frustration, it was a protocol in the system made by the Doom Patrol to ensure that anyone given temporary access would be cut out if they weren't cleared by the administrator regularly. Unless they are given a full status on the ship, he would have to enter an All Clear code every week, use to be every day but Garfield changed that a short while after registering Rachel on the system, if he didn't then the system would fold in on itself. "Give me a moment, I need to find my… oh there it is."
Garfield couldn't remember where he placed his necklace, he use to wear it to bed but the metal scraped his skin raw if he didn't remember to move it over his clothes, which in his drunken state was next to impossible. He doesn't always get drunk, he mainly does it to forget his day or to deal with some situation he absolutely hated, just remembering Kitten and the things he had to do for her brought forth a series of memories he had to purge.
Lumbering into the bridge, he sat in his chair and set to work updating the system. They had already left Tatooine and were making decent progress on their journey and he had only been asleep ten hours, Rachel actually got them further than he expected to be in that time.
"Press your hands to the screen." Garfield grunted, he was still recovering from his pounding headache and almost missed Rachel's hesitation as she remembered the first time she pressed her hands to said screen. "Don't worry, the system already has your bio print, it's just… oh what's the word… precaution… procedure… Protocol! That's it!"
Rachel narrowed her eyes at him, he had lied to her before and she was hesitant to believe him, though she was still getting use to the whole trusting people. Placing both her hands onto the hand prints, fully expecting another jolt of intense pain, yet as she stood there watching the screen scan her hands, nothing happened… that was until Garfield slapped a metal cuff onto her wrist.
"Before you kill me, that's only for the moment until the system can get a record of your DNA and tie your vitals into the system itself." Garfield quickly shied away when Rachel rounded on him, she was quite terrifying when she wants to be. Rachel stood there for a moment quietly pondering if she should let him tie her vitals into the system. "Don't worry, the system only ever links to the Doom Patrol computers to get an uplink on current data and reports that are available to me, and they already know about you."
"So, the system doesn't actually record my DNA, it just uses a part of the DNA code to create a link that it can track and monitor specifically without hinderance of other lifeforms." Rachel muttered aloud, Garfield stood there with his mouth agape, stunned by the fact that Rachel managed to completely understand the ships strange but basic system. Garfield never corrects anyone when they believe his ship had a full biometric system that was uncrackable when in fact it was a lot simpler than that. "What? Did you believe that I wasn't smart?"
"No, of course not, it's just… well, the ships biometrics aren't as advance as many believe, it is advance for most ships, but I couldn't install the proper system due to the computers' lack of capacity… you're the first to realise this." Garfield reluctantly admitted, it was a fatal flaw in his ships security but one that couldn't be exploited now that a second administrator had been assigned. The system has a requirement that there has to be two recorded administrators on the ship, its due to the current system being a lesser variant of the biometric system people believe his ship has. "Though, its not much of an issue to worry about since the system runs on an internal circuit, one that cannot be accessed without physically interacting with the terminal onboard the ship."
"Not bad, if people try to hack the system they'll hit brick walls without any way to know what was wrong, and if they do know then they have to infiltrate the ship which means coming into contact with you." Rachel whistled, she had to admit that despite the real reason for the ships inadequate protection, the one use of deception and trickery is rather brilliant. "Though, that means you have to ensure the ship is locked up anytime you leave for extended periods of time."
"Technically yes, but the actual computer system is hidden on board, even I don't know where its physically located… I think… I've hidden far too many things on board this ship that I can't remember where I hid the plasma warhead I stole from an Empire military research base… I think it might be in the hanger bay… or the couch…" Garfield tapped his chin pondering, his words causing Rachel to shudder at the thought of the amount of times Victor and Garfield had leapt over and sat down on the couch with a great amount of force. "Oh, don't worry, I deactivated it… I think… Did I get drunk before or after I disarmed it…"
"I seriously wonder how you're still alive…" Rachel sighed and ran her hand over her face, she made a mental note to get Victor to create a device that could scan for the warhead as she was certain that Garfield had concealed it from the ship's internal sensors. "Is there anything else I need to be aware of?"
"Nothing I can think of… Oh! If you come across a small yellow box locked in red chains… don't open it." Garfield nervously chuckled, he wanted to make it a joke but somehow in the back of his mind he vaguely remembered that he acquired some sort of superweapon from the same military base he got the warhead. He had been under the impression the warhead was the superweapon, but he somehow got that cube and… lost it, and he's been having second thoughts on the warhead. "Yeah, not exactly sure what it does, but don't open it."
"This just gets better and better."
Author's Note
Sorry for the Long Update, been focusing on finding a job and haven't had much time writing.
Comments:
Guest – Thank you for the comment. I'm glad you are liking the story, but the slow chapters are mainly me posting what I've written rather than sitting on it until it forms into one of those ten thousand word chapters I find myself making on occasion.
As for Raven, its not plastic surgery rather a tattoo similar to the ones the Mirialans have. She is a hybrid sith pureblood and I made her with purple skin with no characteristics of the sith pureblood, therefore she can already be misplaced for a Mirialan so the Tattoos are an added layer of protection to cover her identity.
Wesman95 – Thank you for the comment. Sorry for the long update times, I'm trying to work them down.
Wolgon999 – Thank you for the comment. Oliver and Roy was an interesting addition, mainly because I wanted Oliver as a client but I didn't really think of making him like the playboy type before he became the green arrow, but as I was writing him I found introducing Roy as a brilliant adaption to Garfield's past.
Death Stroke is already in the story, I have him as Richard's backstory, that and he is hunted by Richard (not that he knows this yet but its implied given Robin and Slade's history). Rose Wilson is an interesting idea, I had toyed with the idea when I made the Ravagers, but that fell to Terra first. I might add her later on, but I'm not sure on if there will be a relationship between the two as Garfield is not a few years after leaving the Scarlet Reapers, though it would make an interesting jealousy arc between him and Raven.
Don't worry about asking too many questions, I encourage it as it gets me thinking about my story and the progressions I have in mind. You should take a look on my other long story, I have a reviewer that I appreciate greatly because they ask a mountain of questions, it gives me a chance to think over my story and debate about where the story might go.
