Sky City

Blue eyes were at half-mast as she languidly sipped at her sixth beer. Thanks to her faster-than-most metabolism, she was just beginning to feel the effects of the comfortable buzz she sought after. It had been some time since she'd been able to enjoy a nice relaxing drink like this; but then, that was the beauty of unemployment... and she was bored shitless.

Around her, the bar bustled with moderate activity. It was too early yet for the real crowd to show. Instead, she was stuck with the last of the less entertaining, day-job alcoholics. Instead of socializing like normal creatures, they simply, silently wanted their fix, so that they could either go back to their jobs or go home for an early night, thank you very much. And, for the life of her, she couldn't understand where they were coming from. Bars were the cradle of the universe, they were the glue that held it all together, and drinking was an inherently communal ritual. The booze took the edge off, and you fought, or you forgot, or you loved, or you laughed. The whole point was to get everything out of your system, so that you could make it through to the next day with only minimal violence. This quiet sadness thing was driving her bonkers.

Her long, prehensile tail unwound itself from the base of the stool she was sitting on to curl around her bottle instead. She gathered her bare feet up, gracefully springing from her seat to hop towards a likely table. Lucky for her, the nearest, fullest one also looked to be the most appealing.

"G'day!" she chirped, making the table's three occupants jump as she swung herself into the fourth chair, "Who's up for a game of poker?"

"Uhm," a male humanoid with blue skin eloquently answered. He then lapsed into silence and was staring at her as if she'd suddenly grown a second head, an impression that seemed to be shared by the rest of the table's occupants.

Still, she wasn't discouraged in the least. Instead, she swung her tail around to place her latest drink on the table, while she used her hands to search her pockets for the deck of cards she always carried. "Good on ya, mates," she responded to their non-committance. Then, a moment later, finding it, she brought out the deck of cards and began dealing, "Now, yer all knowledgeable about the rules, yeah?"

She waited until all of them nodded before baring her fangs in a cheeky grin. "Barkeep!" she hollered, "A round o' drinks for me mates, then! And a bowl o' fruit for me!"

Her unexpected generosity finally earned her three, identically eager smiles--and that only made her own grin widen as she finished dealing and picked up her hand. The others followed suit. For a moment, the table was dominated by intent silence as the players studied their hands. Then, sitting to her left, the blue-skinned male spoke up, "I'll open the pot with twenty credits."

After a few raised eyebrows from the other players, there was a brief shuffling while the male brought the aforementioned currency to the center of their table. Then, the round rolled on...

A couple of hours, and several hands later, two of the table's four occupants left in a rage, leaving behind the better part of whatever cash they had on-hand. In their wake, she split the small fortune with the blue-skinned male while they both had a laugh.

"That was a piece o' piss, then, aye?" She smirked at her long time friend and accomplice-of-old, as she popped a piece of fruit into her mouth and leaned back in her chair. She met him a long time ago on a smuggling job for some faceless money-bags our another. It turned out that they were both hired for the same job, in case the one of them failed. Neither of them much liked their client’s total lack of confidence, so they decided to make off with the goods and sell it themselves, for a much better profit. They’d been close ever since.

"When I saw it was you, Mo, I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing!" the blue-skinned male replied, "But enough about those idiots we scammed, what brings you here? I haven't seen or heard from you in ages!"

"Oh, ya know," she waved a hand, nonchalantly, as she chewed, "Boredom, mostly, and lack of a contract."

“And that’s all you have to say to me? You’re bored?”

She grinned, “Ah, don’t be so cranky, ya feral.” She leaned forward to grab another piece of fruit, which she tossed in the air and adroitly caught with her tongue. “Ya know I like to stay busy, and ya live too far away from anythin’ to visit on the regular.”

Her friend chuckled and nodded his head, “We’ve had this argument before, I know. And I still like it here way better than anywhere else…”

And so, the two continued their conversation with the camaraderie born from an easy friendship; and, for once, Momo let herself get lost in how good it felt to be so normal.

---

And naturally, just as she was beginning to get accustomed to easy conversation and abundant alcohol, a wookiee had to walk into the bar and get on her bad side in a hurry...

Vera couldn't help but give a sly smile before turning her eyes skyward and back to Damocles.

That's changing as we speak. I was sent ahead to scout a landing zone, but I see that may not be needed.

She would then produce a small holo communicator and send an alert to Galaar Vhett. Eager to inform him of Damocles' presence on the surface.

Aliit'alor, look who I've run into!

Damocles studied the holoimage of his old friend for a moment as he Stated that a raid was about to commence. Lianna was little more than a way point on his travels. He had no stakes or duty to defend the world. Nor did he have any reason to aide the attackers. His gaze briefly lingering upon the woman that had found him, before she gave a nod to Galaar and was taking off to find a place for the troops to land.

Space combat was far from his forte, especially given that he had only The Retribution and a handful of warriors. But they would definitely be enough to help Vera out. He shifted his gaze back down to the communicator that had been left with him
You leave me little choice old friend... I shall help Vera clear the way for your approach... just this once, understood?
He cut the line and slipped the communicator into his pocket. With a wave of his hand, Absolution Company moved into action packing up the gear and getting it loaded onto the ship. Damocles slipped his helmet on and opened a line to Vera
There is a spot 10 miles south of the city that I’ll meet you at. It should be large enough to land the incoming forces, without putting them in range of the guns...
It seemed like mere moments passed, before he was ascending the ramp back into the ship. The last of the gear being loaded back in as Damocles finished his preflight check.

The ramp retracted as the repulsive lifts moved the ship clear of the ground. The wings folded forward before Damocles piloted The Retribution clear of the spaceport and started making his way towards the spot he had spoken to Vera about

No worries... Not like I could say no to a beautiful lady anyway...
He smiled as he reached into a pocket and produced the holocommunicator. Stepping forward he grabbed her wrist gently and pulled it toward him, before pressing the device into her open palm
It's a good thing I came to help, otherwise you'd not have been able to radio this in...
With a chuckle, he let go of her wrist so that she could make the call up to the fleet. He couldn't help but wonder whether she had just not thought about her need of the device, or if she had calculated already that he would follow her. But then, she surely had to have had a means of communication to the fleet in orbit available in her StarViper

Vera could feel herself blush as she had a rather... intense moment with the legendary Damocles Ordo. In fact it took her a couple moments to recover and finally move, let alone speak. Good thing she had on her helmet. Turning away she activated the projector again.

Galaar Vhett, we have secured a landing zone, sending the coordinates now. It seems Clan Bralor has already began their landing. I await your futher orders, Aliit'alor.

Damocles smiled behind his mask as Vera took a moment to compose herself after receiving the transmitter back. He then turned his attention toward Comyn Bralor, motioning toward the holoprojection of Galaar as the man finished giving out his instructions
Seems we're going to be raiding Sienar industries headquarters. Your forces ready to go?