Welcome to Gaia! ::

Dalton pushed open the door to the bar and quickly stepped inside, out of the rain. He had been unfortunate enough to take a short cut to avoid unwanted attention only to find the passage in question was bordering a small localised storm, he had considered turning back but felt a little water was better than a run in with the law. He brushed himself off and made towards the bar itself, his gun, currently engineered to fire custom made marbles was holstered at his hip and caused a fair few of the honest citizen to avoid his gaze. Dalton took a seat at the bar and waited to be served, the Escala barmaid was busy with regulars but politely nodded to indicate she had seen him. Dalton feigned a smile that faded as his thoughts turned to why he was there: blackmail. He needed credit, lots of it and fast. If he couldn't pay off his blackmailer someone would reveal his secrets to the galaxy, or more importantly, to his wife. That was something he couldn't handle, the little voice in his head that had told him how to be a good person since faking his death as a pirate had gone silent and in it's place a sleeping dog had awoken. He was distracted from his thoughts by the barmaid who was standing in front of him waiting for his order. "Water with one of those blue fruits in it." He gestured to another patrons drink with a dark blue slice sticking out of it, the fruit in question looked like an apple on the outside and an orange on the inside, he had forgotten the name. Once he had his drink he moved to a private table to plan his next move, his eyes occasionally scanning the room for anything out of the ordinary.

Dalton took out a small notebook and a pair of glasses. He slipped the glasses on and pressed a button on the side to tint the lenses, they were a fairly cheep make and didn't offer any real privacy beyond that. He then set the note book on the table and pressed a button on the other side of his glasses, the room darkened for him before a hologram of a globe appeared on the table. It spun around a few times as it loaded and Dalton slipped the glasses down the bridge of his nose so that he could see the bar again. He scanned the room, noting the woman who had entered in the time he it had taken him to put on the glasses. He smiled when it looked like she saw him and took a sip of his drink before putting the glasses back on properly and as the planet had stopped spinning and was now waiting for input. Dalton opened the notepad and took a remote out, which he then pulled under the table, it was just habit at this point to keep his business private as much as he could whenever possible. He was searching through listing of ships, looking for something affordable but useful, durable but open to customization. How he missed his own ship: The Afterglow. She was a fine model that sailed the solar winds and stalked her prey with nary a sound before appearing and ransacking ships, sometimes sixteen times her size with fear. But alas, the Glow was in the hands of her current captain and out of range of communications, which probably meant she was in hiding. He stopped scrolling through the second hand ships, as it was becoming harder to think of any other ship than the Glow, and instead flicked through a series of new reports and papers, which rose so he could see them before sorting themselves into piles as he finished skimming them. He was looking for information on something in particular.

Dalton took a sip of his drink as he looked over his glasses at the woman who was causally addressing him. He certainly didn't know her personally, someone so loud and tactless he would have beaten to within an inch of their life in the old days. No, besides she seemed a little too young to have actually served under him, perhaps she recognised his face from a wanted poster. He pressed a button on remote and the glasses stopped displaying the holographic world, then very slowly the dim lenses faded until they were once again transparent. "Would you care to take a seat, Miss...?" He put down his drink and gestured towards the empty seat in front of him, his other unseen hand had placed the remote down in his lap and was now resting gently on his gun. Despite all the witnesses he would happily kill the woman if she didn't play things cool, an action that seemed counter productive for retaining anonymity but better to be known as a lone crazed mad man, then the alternative. "I think you've mistaken me for somebody else, an honest mistake I assure you, but one I'm sure you won't go shouting to the world." He smiled slightly, making sure he gave her just enough time to realise he was threatening her before introducing himself. "James Hunter, Chartered Accountant. Pleasure to make your acquaintance. I was just looking up ships, I have somewhere I need to get to." He smiled at her. His hand never once leaving the gun at his side.

He took a sip of his drink, as he waited for her to sit and then when he was satisfied that she wasn't going to try anything funny he picked up the remote and did a quick search on her name. He didn't like being disadvantaged when it came to matters of business and since she had offered it it seemed worth capitalising on. She could, of course, been lying like he had, it wasn't impossible but something about the way she conducted herself indicated that it probably wasn't in her nature. His search revealed that she was some sort or courier, and he suspected she was more the illegal kind. He did note that she had access to a ship and that alone intrigued him. He pressed a button and the glasses turned off once more. "Sadly, I have no choice in the matter." He had retired, faked his capture and death so that he could live in peace with his wife, if it wasn't for this blackmail business that's where he still would be. "The real reason?" He was drawn out of his thoughts and back to the little bar. "That's not how this works Miss Strix." He paused for effect then continued in character. "I'm have an important account at Dusklight, I need to get there within three days or risk losing a lot of credits and a very important client. If you would be willing to fly me there, I would be willing to pay you for your time." A private hire was going to be his second choice if second hand ships proved too costly. "There would be risks but I'm sure it's nothing you couldn't handle." He showed a glimmer of a smile which quickly disappeared.

He was beginning to wonder why he was bothering to keep up the act, clearly the city had gone downhill since the last time he had visited; he remembered a time when the guards were so strict you couldn't stick chewed gum on the underside of a bench without facing a three month stint on Io. Then again back then the city was fitted with more security devices then most prisons and people were expected to just do what they were told. He looked at her blankly for a long moment, long enough to make her start wondering if he had clocked out and then blinked. "I just need to go to Dusklight. Is thirty thousand credits enough? Five now, twenty five on arrival." He wondered if offering her double the going rate for a private hire was the right way to go, he certainly didn't want to start haggling with the woman, so was trying to be generous. "I'm not going to tell you everything, you have to make a choice. However, I'll tell you something as a friendly accountant; There is a lot of money to be made in Dusklight for someone of your profession." He hoped that would tempt her to want to go to that sector, an additional passenger willing to pay for the privilege was just icing on the cake at that point.

He smiled, as she hadn't asked any further questions or tried to haggle for more money he had decided that he would confirm her suspicions about his identity. Well, he would once they were safely in space and there was nobody else around. "Actually..." He folded up his glasses and put everything away in several swift moves. "I have one stop to make before we can leave, and I'd like you to come along." He was about to stand when he quickly added. "To size it up, no point in buying it if you don't have the space onboard." He smiled then stood. He had a very specific item in mind for his heist, something that would be invaluable if his connections were correct about the type of security he was going to be up against. He waited until they were out in the rain again before scratching his chin and looking at her. "I don't suppose you know if Xaz is still in business?" Xaz used to have a shop near the spaceport when he was still a pirate, it sold equipment for scavengers, nothing illegal, it's just his shop was a little out of the way. Xaz himself was a friendly guy and well liked, but never could get his head around the idea of marketing, so saw very few new customers. "This way." He led the way towards the commercial district, their first stop was to be a second or third hand droid shop.