Welcome to Gaia! :: .~Edelsteine~. Karaskis' Journal by Cinderfae

Cinder stood on the plank waiting for the others her eyes flickering over the bay of their landing pad. After a healthy shot of stimulants and pain medication for the changes that Karaskis was doing to her body she was ready to head out. It had been a long night and her side still pained her from where she had taken a hit from a sentry, it had been her bad luck and theirs as well that they had come across her. The wound wasn't that bad but it was annoying and made the aches she was already getting from Karaskis that much worse; which was why she was glad she had painkillers on the ship.

You came out ahead and that is what is important. Karaskis was voicing on the bit of herself Cinder was not allowing to come to the surface. The bit of her that nagged and fumed over the fact that she had ended up killing the lone sentry. She hoped that the strife she had noticed last night would mask the pirate's death from rousing suspicion.

Hearing the others within she turned slightly to get sight of them, "lets get heading out and get this over with as soon as possible. Remember we come back and then take the side doors heading to the pleasure district. We'll be staying there until we get our other ship this evening, Kalfyra says she'll have more food for us when we get there." Cinder grinned faintly, "she cleared out the pantry deciding that the Naruni couldn't have it."

Cinder had changed into one of her normal uniforms also wondering if she'd be able to get another stealth suit from the Naruni before they headed out. Her's had taken the bulk of the blaster hit last night. Without more commentary Cinder headed for the door of the docking bay.

Saljin nodded, stepping to the side. Both he and Jaster were wearing two pistols this time. Hopefully the pirates would think that it was to keep their slaves under control until they returned to their ship. Triq was remaining with Kalfyra to help her with the food.

The night had been uneventful for them but everyone had worried about Cinder being out there alone as she had been. The things they had taken from the ship were safely tucked away in the rooms they had paid for. The shifter would be glad when this entire business was over so he could take some time to relax. But he was quite certain that there would be little time for that for some time to come. Too much needed rebuilding already. "We won't forget, Cinder."

Jaster was still frowning as he watched her move. Any injury at all was too much and he had fussed over her most of the night. He still watched her closely to make sure she did not push and hurt herself more. There was a certain amount of stiffness easily noticeable in her movements when she had first awaken. Now she was moving much easier and his worry for her was smoothed away more. Hopefully they'd get this person and the others they were buying as extras and be able to get out as expected. Especially if the pirates still thought to attack them once they were off the planet. "Let's get this done. The sooner it is, the better our chances of getting home without trouble."

Taj thought it was amusing and had commented on it several times until Jaster got extremely annoyed about it. Waging war with his host was not what he had wanted to do and after a few moments, he simply sighed, letting him alone. Too much was in turmoil to add more at a whim of amusement.

Eddard felt stiff in his recently acquired garb, but still enjoyed the new finery. He smirked at the comment about taking the food. He had the same notion, but when he went to help pack up, Kalfyra was already well ahead of him. Before crossing the hanger to the main exit and waiting for everyone else to finalise what ever preparations were neglected, he gave Cinder a once over. She seemed to be alright, maybe a little banged up, but she carried it well. Eddard assumed she was fine though she could always sit this one out if she needed to.

As he stood there, he had a notion. "Guys, are we bringing all of Arithon's treasure? I was thinking we might not want to, in case the pirates are on to us, or they grow impatient and things get heated. What do you think? We could leave some of it here, in the ship and then get it when we comeback before heading to the inn." The concern was justified. One never knew how informed Tybalt and one also never knew how he would react should he sense a double cross.

Arithon looked slightly uneasy at the suggestion to leave part of the treasure behind. It was, of course, a good idea to not bring the entire amount with them. Having it all on hand made it easier to spend, and Jin Huang would appreciate having as much returned as possible.

"But what if they know that there's more of it and they raid the ship while we're gone?" he asked, voicing his other thought. "I c'n stay behind and guard what's not taken."

Pausing slightly Cinder paused watching Eddard a moment in some amusement at his discomfort before glancing over to Arithon. She waited a time to consider it, "alright, head over to the rooms. Keep an eye on the treasure and the pieces we have collected. You can be back up for the Aoidei...they are both helpful but neither Kalfyra nor Triq are warriors." Cinder looked over to Jaster, Saljin, and then Eddard, "I think it's a sound idea myself." Cinder glanced toward the door as well feeling the day wear on.

"Lets get moving then, Arithon I'll take the few bars of gold. You keep the rest. I think gold should be enough for these slaves since the pirates are already planning to take it back later on." She glanced to Eddard with a thoughtful look before speaking again, "lets not get more then five at the most we don't want to take on too many especially not knowing what sort of ship we are going to be left going back in." She knew what Eddard had in mind but she didn't want to buy a cargo or transportation ship just to get back.

Jaster nodded. "It makes sense. And one other thing, we might want to treat them as slaves even if we have to apologize to them later. That is what we are buying them for. The pirates might suspect something if we treat them nicely."

Saljin agreed also. "If we are trafficking in slaves then we have to treat them as such. It will be expected." He frowned thoughtfully. "Jaster and I will bring up the rear as usual and push them a bit, just to maintain that appearance. We will give them an apology once in the rooms."

Eddard nodded his head. It did make sense to treat them accordingly even if he didn't like it. As for the amount, any were better than one. He just hoped that the pirates wouldn't fly a slave ship with the rest of their ships in pursuit of theirs later today. If the Naruni brought even a shred of the technology they boasted, Eddard was sure it would spell certain doom for the pirates. "I can follow those guidelines," he said, finally responding to the group, "treat them like dirt and no more than five slaves. Saljin, since you know the engineer's face, I'm going to go ahead and let you pick the other four slaves. I don't want you to pick the one and then myself to pick the others, that might also draw attention to him." Eddard moved over to the hanger's door and pushed it open, the sounds of the city coming in doors a bit more loudly. Putting on his best "boss" voice, "Lets go men. We can discuss the rest as we make our way to meet with Tybalt."

Cinder smiled faintly hearing Eddard's 'boss voice' but then fell in behind and let him make the way to the meeting point. It was close to where they had met the other day but actually in front of the Diswes Flagship instead of in the restaurant; it seemed a good portion of slaves were kept on the ship. Cinder wondered idly if any would make their escape once the ship was damaged and the pirates were distracted.

As the group moved through the city it seemed almost quiet, considering the noise and violence of the night before it was more eerie then if it had been noisy. Broken bottles and at times blood was seen in the streets, Cinder was glad that most had taken to their homes or where sleeping in today. The aggression wasn't hard to notice over the past few days, she just hoped it didn't make the pirates more difficult to deal with but somehow she knew it would.

The landing area of the Southern District opened up in front of them and Tybalt stood with several of his men. Behind them a rag tag group of men, women, and a few that looked as if they were barely more then children stood. Most of them were dirty and had seen better days but at least it appeared they had been fed recently and regularly, bad for the trade to offer up shoddy slave stock. Seeing the group arriving Tybalt raised his hand in greeting and offered what could only be described as a false smile, Cinder had a feeling the man would be horrible at poker.

"ah, Greetings. We are here to do the business you spoke of the other day. Have only brought out the finest that we have with us."

"As you say, boss. Just tell me when." The shifter replied as he stepping into place behind Eddard. He'd be glad when this was over.

Saljin and Jaster brought up the rear as they had each time before. The shifter stepped to the side carefully looking over each person without walking forwards. It would be presumptious of him to move forwards and begin checking them out without Eddard's orders. His eyes glided over the women first, carefully, a smirk appearing on his face as he watched one woman in particular. He wanted the pretense of what he was thinking to be very apparent.

She was a pretty thing, though looked fragile. He'd grab her making his intentions plain, but apologize when they got them to the ship. She'd not fight much, he was certain, but she'd look horrified and fearful of him and his leer said he was interested before he turned his attention to the men. And he singled out two other females that he would look closely at before settling on her and one of the others.

Some of the men were older and he barely looked at them until he got to the grouping of engineers. Three caught his attention. One was the fellow that had challenged that night and gotten belted for his words. A bruise was easily seen and he had decided to take him. Fighting would get him killed and Saljin was quite certain that he'd not be alive if they returned. One was the fellow they needed and he glanced at him appraising him from head to toe, before turning to look over the third.

"Thank you for your consideration, Tybalt, and well met." Eddard was cordial as he had been during the early stages of their prior encounter. "Lets get down to business, shall we?" He raised his hand and waved the shapeshifter on, "Saljin. You earned the right to choose our quarry, pick as you see fit," he said in a commanding voice.

He turned to Tybalt while Saljin set about to the task of choosing slaves. "So, since were buying from your kennel, what can you tell us about their conditions? Our boss doesn't want to purchase fickle stock that winds up being lame and useless. He's not particularly understanding of products poor in quality," he said as a matter of factually..

Cinder's eyes flickered over to Saljin as Eddard spoke and ordered him forward. Watching the shifter set into motion she then glanced over to the other guards that the pirates had in the area, if there was trouble it would come from them. The pirates along the outer edges all looked somewhat twitchy and in one Cinder could have swore she saw the start of what must be some sort of disease, a rash moving along the man's neck. Likely something picked up whoring at the docks she thought to herself. After catching sight of the pirate her eyes flickered over to the grouping of slave stock and with a slight frown she noticed a few of those gathered also appeared to be ill. She hoped that those that Saljin chose wouldn't bring anything untreatable on board; she made a note to make sure whatever ship they got later in the day had a full stocked medical bay. If it had been her home planet she would have felt more securely about the whole idea of treating illness...because that is what Sapros was known for. Pulling her thoughts from wandering she looked back to the group.



"We keep all our slaves in good conditions, it would be silly to mistreat them. Of course they are disciplined of needed but a slave that is sick or starving brings little coin. You will find only the top of the line here. And as such the prices will reflect this," Tybalt smiled in what could almost be a friendly fashion, though the impression was lost when one realized he also flashed his teeth some as he did. "I'm sure your boss will be pleased with what we have to offer, once you have chosen we can explain price. Those with training are of course more expensive then the untrained."

"As you say, Boss. I'm going to enjoy this. Saljin grinned widely, a rather wicked smirk sliding across his face. He was going to enjoy this or so those who watched him would think. Moving towards the women first, he circled the first two, making them open their mouths so he could look at their teeth. Then he patted them on the rear as he passed by to get a reaction. The second growled nearly turning on him, but stopped at his smirk knowing he was ready for it and daring her to do it.

Then he moved towards the more fragile girl he had been looking at. He not only circled her twice, he smirked as he did so. She nervously tried to move away from him, but he grabbed her arm, pulling her roughly against him. "I didn't say you could go anywhere, pretty." She trembled trying to push away from him but she had little strength to do so. The shifter laughed pushing her forwards as he suddenly released her. She stumbled nearly tripping, but stood shivering as she lowered her eyes in fear. "Definitely her, boss."

Backtracking, he shoved the woman forwards who had attempted to hit him. "I think her too. She's feisty." He didn't say that he was certain that feistiness would get her killed before they returned if they got that chance.

Moving towards the men, Saljin walked down the row, stopping to study one or two before he moved in closer. Noting that at least six wore engineering patches, he frowned thoughtfully for a long moment. Picking the one who had argued with the guards the previous night, he shoved him forwards.

"You can't sell me." The man growled in frustration. "This is ridiculous."

Saljin didn't hesitate. His hand lashed out, hitting the man and knocking him to his knees. "We do as we like. That tag says you are a senior engineer. Be glad that we need at least one. So don't give me any trouble or you will regret it." His voice was a mean spirited snarl causing the fellow to flinch as he slowly got to his feet and moved to where the two women were hugging one another.

The shifter smirked in satisfaction, but turned back to the rest of the men, studying them silently. Reaching out he grabbed the shirt of the one he knew was the fellow they were after pulling him forwards. He still wore the patch on his shirt. Saljin started to move away, but then reached back and pulled the youngest looking one forwards. He wasn't an engineer, but he didn't look like he'd last long with them. Pushing both towards the other three, he gazed at them a moment. Satisfied, he turned to Eddard.

"I think these five will do, Boss. I don't think there's much fight in them except maybe the old man, but that can be remedied easily. They'll do what we need them to." Saljin stated, standing to one side of the grouping he'd chosen.

Eddard looked over the five chosen from where he stood. "Well enough though it may have been wiser to go with one less woman and one more man for labor. But then again, you have always been insatiable." He turned back to the captain, "How much for the lot of them? What are they, two engineers and three laborers?" He stood, waiting for Tybalt's response, hoping to conclude business as quickly as possible.

Cinder's eyes flickered over those that Saljin chose, despite the more fragile girl being somewhat of a worry none seemed to have at least now taken any sort of diseases. She was glade he didn't seem to have picked any of those that had been pirates on the Athenia, except perhaps Faran she didn't really know about him. Looking over the two males she wondered which one he was.

"Interestin' choices, needing engineers I see." Tybalt shrugged faintly looking somewhat curiously at the group and then turned looking to Eddard, "though the tiny miss I suggest for pleasure work, not an ounce of muscle on that frame."

The fragile looking girl trembled slightly after the assessment and Cinder gritted her teeth slightly, they needed to be done with this dealing and out of here.

"Well most are just from normal stock, da pretty ones I'd like about five hundred credits extra for and well one has a special price," Gesturing toward Faran somewhat idly Tybalt considers on, "hundred thousand, now I do have some of lesser skill that would run you cheaper but...he is actually rather good at what he does."

Cinder quirked a brow glancing over to Faran, she wondered what exactly he had done to gain such a price.

"You going to be offerin' any more of those diamonds? An' for all I would say a nice round three hundred thousand," a smile came over Tybalt's face, "rounded it off for ya."

Cinder just barely kept herself from rolling her eyes, the price was sort of outrageous, she didn't have that on her. She did have the few gold bars passed on to her by Arithon, stepping up she waits near Eddard hoping he remembers they have some gold to offer as well. Cinder was pretty sure Tybalt was testing them to see what they would, or if they had the coin.

He gave Tybalt a wry smile, shaking his head, "Rounded it up is more like it. Now we were more than generous with our negotiations the day prior, but I need remind you, if you recall the slaves are a sample of your common stock of goods that you normally deal in that we intend to take back to our employer for his assessment. It would bode well for future endeavors with our employer that you show a certain degree of flexibility in this. After all, a good working relationship with our patron is certainly more profitable than a poor one. Why don't we start the negotiations at say around 150 grand? That seems much more realistic than that gouged price you just offered." Looking to Tybalt's crew, he picked out a couple of pirates who were obviously in the early stages of some sort of ailment and pointed one out, "Besides, do you take us for fools. If they've been exposed to whatever that one's coming down with," and then pointing to another, "or what that one's catching than these slaves could be far more trouble than they're worth at even 150 grand."

Eddard was done being prodded and bullied by the greedy captain. They had been on the defense in all their negotiations and the amount he just asked for far surpassed a reasonable price, no matter how jacked up it was.

Cinder rocked back and forth slightly listening, if there was indeed a specific bounty or price on the one Eddard's suggested starting price was much lower then what they would be worth all together. She wondered how easily the captain would let it go.

Tybalt watched Eddard a moment in some amusement, "keep in mind that one," he gestures to Faran, "has a specific price on his head, well trained as well."

Cinder raised a brow, once again wondering about Faran. They'd have time to talk to him once they were done here.

"I'll drop it fifty thousand from my original offer but don't push me too much. Your master or not I won't allow myself robbed either."

Eddard looked a little discouraged but retorted. "250, huh? 220 and we'll call it done." He smiled inwardly, knowing the more money they kept in their possession the more juicy a target they would seem to the greedy pirate. "I assure you, the better the deal you give us today the better chances your profits from us will be down the road."

Tybalt quirked a brow at that and eyed Eddard a moment as if considering, "two hundred and twenty five but that is as low as I can go." He gave a smile as if appearing to be genuine but ended up looking more predatory.

"If you'll agree to that we can get into the how of payment next."

Cinder glanced over the lot, a bit overpriced she figured but not as bad as before. The mark up wasn't more then she would have expected. Her eyes flickered over to the others in the area and noted that the other pirates seemed more restless then normal as well.

Your right, the sooner we are out of here the better...

She didn't need Karaskis to speak up for her to already know that the goddess agreed, somehow the bit of speech was comforting.

"Done, and well played sir. As far as payment goes, I'll allow my associate, the red-headed woman, to finalize the method of payment. I want to get a good look at the slaves we just agreed to." Turning to Saljin, "If were still over budget, you might have to cough something up for that little pretty of yours. If you don't have anything to offer up, you can borrow from me again, but you know what that will cost you." He gave the fragile looking woman a wanton leer before going over to inspect his purchase.

Saljin growled faintly. Eddard meant to use something of his to do this. Then he understood. His sapphire earring. His father would have been pleased at its use to free someone like the girl, but he needed to show annoyance.. "Figures. I just got it back." His eyes narrowed at the girl. "She'd better be worth it." Reaching up, he removed the sapphire earring, holding it in his hand a long moment as if contemplating its worth against hers. "Women... Always get me in trouble."

"For part of the payment." the shifter stated, holding out the earring to Tybalt. "It's an antique and one of the finest quality sapphires you'll find as old as it is."

Jaster suddenly snorted. "It's your own fault. And the boss loves setting you up like that and you fall for it each time." He smirked at Saljin and then turned back to watching Cinder and Tybalt.

Cinder stepped forward with a slight sigh, as if to say 'men'. Cinder snatched the earring from Saljin as she walked up to Tybalt, holding it up to the light she did a quick mental appraisal, "that's at least worth one pleasure slave. Lets call it twenty five thousand," her voice was matter of fact and almost bored with a slight tone that almost dared Tybalt to argue with her.

Tybalt watched her in some amusement, "I'd say more like twenty, but I'm feeling generous." He flashed her a smile.

"Twenty five, the rest will be in gold." She did a quick mental calculation in her mind, "and the last part credits." She almost winced since she'd have to dish out around fifty thousand in small credits. She wondered if that would deter the pirates any but decided likely it wouldn't, after all they had caught a glimpse of what Arithon had been carrying the other day.

Pay the last bit in pennies...

Amusing but not productive.

Setting the money together Tybalt gestured one of his men forward to get it, "A pleasure doing business with you."

"With you as well," Cinder turned and looked over to Jaster and then Saljin motioning them toward the slaves, "get 'em lined up and ready to go back; ready when you are boss." She glanced to Eddard with the last and moved back among the others.

Eddard nodded, stepping back away from the slaves to allow Saljin and Jaster to line them up. Without so much as a good bye to the pirates, Eddard lead the group off heading to the hanger. He hoped the Naruni were waiting for them back at the hanger. The quicker Cinder could finalise the deal between her and the Overseer, the quicker they could get out of here.

The pace back to the hanger was slowed in due part of the slaves. On the way Eddard noted that even more people seemed to be ill than there had been this morning. He recalled Jaster mentioning apocalypse themed occurences, some of which he had been subjet too. He wondered if Sh'Khin was responsible for this cloud of illness that seemed to hang in the air not liking it much.

Let it not bother you. Plague is what he is. Should he not be then he goes against his sworn duty to the Lord. And what kind of megaverse would it be should its gods go against their inherent responsibilities?

Eddard only nodded in silence. He drifted back to Cinder as they went. "When do you think you'll meet with the Overseer?"

The entire way, Jaster and Saljin pushed the slaves to remain in line. They had to keep up the pretense for all their sakes. The shifter was quite certain they were being watched. Followed, but there was little he could do. Instead he leered at the girl though the other woman glared at him angrily. It only made him smirk more. Keeping a close eye on the one they'd really come after, Saljin watched him silently. He wondered why there was a price on his head that made him worth so much more than the others.

The girl fearfully watched Saljin the entire way to the hanger. Clutching at the woman beside her, she tried to keep up with the others. At least they were off that awful pirate ship. This could not be worse, could it? she wondered briefly. So much had changed in such a short time for all of them.

"What do you think they are going to do with us?" she whispered to her companion.

"Keep moving." Saljin growled shoving from behind. She nearly tripped over her skirt as the other woman kept her on her feet.

"Why don't you leave her alone?" the female finally growled.

"Shut up and do what I asked." Saljin snarled back in reply. The sooner they got this done the better. He owed them all some serious apologies.

Cinder moved the group through the city, she'd make sure to vaccinate everyone once they got to the rooms. The ship they got from the overseer would need to have a medical bay as well. She wanted to keep everyone contained in their rooms tonight, gesturing the group into the hanger she shut the door and locked it up.

"Alright, get them on through to the rooms." She looked over to Saljin and Jaster as she spoke. Her eyes then went toward the ship and sure enough there was a two man Naruni crew. The group they had just bought settled some seeing the Naruni as if suspecting that something was up. The woman labeled as 'fiesty' earlier started to speak up likely to ask a question. Cinder brought her finger to her lips, "just head on through, everyone will get a meal and we can talk a bit then." The five had a somewhat more surprised look on their faces as Cinder spoke and then turned and strode toward the two Naruni.

"I left her prepped for you, the Lark system is on board and the Diswes flagship is going to start experiencing trouble right about..." taking a palm unit from her pocket Cinder put in a rather long code before hitting the enter, there was no huge explosion but deep within the Diswes ship several key systems started to go offline, "now."

She sighed glancing to the Daughter, "I suggest you get moving along as quickly as you can."