A not so welcoming welcome wagon.

You feel the slightly electric tingle of your ship being towed through the energy field that keeps the open hangar from violently decompressing as you are pulled into the wide open space. There are a number of those small fighters upon the landing grounds of the large hangar and one or two small transports, but there is still enough room for your modified freighter to be pulled in and down onto the hangar bay floor. Perhaps a little more roughly than you'd like it to be too as the ship shakes around you and there's a clang of metal on metal when you hit the floor.

"Hey, careful with the merchandise here! I know you don't think much o' me, but the ship is still worth bein' careful with.", you growl into the comm as you feel more wounded by the rough treatment of your ship than anything else.

"Shut your mouth and exit the ship, Halloway.", you hear a voice growl right back. It sounds vaguely familiar, you find, and you have a sinking feeling that you're about to have a reunion with a not so friendly face. Though not the not so friendly face that wanted you here in the first place.

You sigh and look to Farrah and Teesha, gesturing for them to follow as you head for the cargo bay. "All right, when we get out there, keep your distance from me and act like I'm about the last fucker in the galaxy you wanna breathe the same atmo as.", you tell them as you walk out of the cockpit.

"What, why?", Farrah asks, but you can already see Teesha nodding. For all the Phyrellian's acting as the coquettish sheltered type, she had a sharp enough mind to know where you were coming from without your having to explain. Farrah, meanwhile, seemed to get too emotional about things when it came to things. It made you wonder how she managed to play the honeypot so many times, but you figured anybody who was being baited by tits and ass as fine as hers wasn't gonna have the presence of mind to think too hard about things. You were proof of that yourself, actually.

"Because these ladies here hate me so they won't take too kindly to people that don't hate me, yeah? Meanin' I'm the lecherous spacer that took advantage of two women just tryin' to find their family and made them pay with their bodies to get this far, get it?", you say, outlining the cover story they'd be sticking to when they got out there, "That's the only way you're gonna get the chance to find your mom and sister."

Farrah looks unhappy about it, but she knows you're right so she doesn't say anything against it. Teesha, however, speaks out with a single question that probably anybody would be wondering at this point.

"Why are you doing this for us, Derrick?", she asked and you give a wry chuckle as you reach the cargo bay and move to press the button on the control panel to open up the ramp.

"What can I say? I'm a sucker for a pair of pretty faces.", you remark and then add, with a chuckle, "Plus, it don't hurt that you're both damn good lays."

Before Teesha can question you further, knowing that you can't be risking your life and limb simply because you had a few sexual trysts, the ramp opens and a small troop of lightly armored women come into the cargo bay. They are all wearing uniform combat armor of crimson and carrying automatic rifles, high velocity slug types from what you can tell on sight. They are of varying species and builds, but you don't have a lot of time to inspect each one as the one who is obviously in charge of this small troop is quickly approaching you at a quick march.

"Oh, hey. It's Tal. Hey there, Tal, I'm surprised you're still h-ooof!", you start to say as the woman, a humanoid woman with silver hair cut very short and nearly white skin, interrupts your words with a quick punch to your gut that knocks the air out of you and staggers you back.

The woman, a Carlisian, scowls at you and her pure black eyes glare at you through narrowed slits. "I oughta put a bullet in your skull right fucking now, Halloway.", she growls.

"Aw...c'mon...I, ugh, I thought we parted on pretty good terms. I mean, sure, you were passed out from my fuckin' ya senseless, but sti-ough!", you cough out, but, again, are interrupted as Tal slams her fist into your chest and you stagger back again.

"Shut your fucking mouth. The only reason you're alive is because the captain ordered it.", she snarls savagely at you before glancing over at the two sisters that had come out of the ship with you, "And who are you? You with him?"

"Hardly. We just wanted passage and were **** enough to go along with him. Didn't know what he'd be asking for his price though.", Teesha says with derision and disgust in her voice that makes you think that maybe she should've been the actress of the pair.

Though Farrah keeps up the charade by hugging herself and looking over to you and shuddering slightly before looking back at Tal. "We're...we're just looking for our sister and mother. They were caught by those pirates you all caught up with. We're hoping...we're hoping we can find them with you.", she says and looks to Tal with wide hopeful eyes, "Please? Do you think you could help us? We don't want to get involved in whatever he did. We're just looking for our family."

Jeez, they're good at this acting disgusted by you thing. Kinda hurts your feelings, really, but you manage to keep that off your face as you instead smirk and shrug. "I already told those two that they're wastin' their time 'cuz their sis and mom are probably dead and gone, but, hey, whatever gets my dick sucked, righ-ugh!", you remark, again being interrupted as Tal drives her knee into your stomach and you fall to a knee while retching.

"You shut your dirty fucking mouth, you worthless piece of shit.", she seethes at you before looking to Teesha and Farrah with gentler eyes, "There were a number of prisoners rescued from the slaver ship. Your sister and mother might be among them. We can take you to them a little later if you want. As soon as I deal with...this."

"This? Really? C'mon, Tal. You were a lot more affectionate when I was fuckin' you up against the wall in your room. Though you really had a lot of that affection aimed at my cock, ain't that so?", you quip, always letting your mouth run even when it was a bad idea.

Again, Tal growls and this time slams the butt of the rifle she holds against your mouth, making you rock back and nearly lose consciousness as the hard metal strikes your flesh. You manage to keep yourself from blacking out as you bring a hand to your lips and find them split and bleeding. Your mouth fills quickly with blood, but, ever the wise-ass who doesn't know when to call it quits, you spit the blood out onto the floor and give Tal a crimson-stained smile.

"What's that, a love tap? I slapped your ass harder than that when I had my cock in it, Tal!", you manage to get out before Tal, livid at this point, slams her gun into your jaw and finally knocks the sense out of you as you crumple to the ground. You catch a glimpse of Teesha and Farrah as you fall to the floor, seeing real concern in their eyes as they watch you hit the ground. Well, that takes some of the sting off of the act they had taken to so enthusiastically, you think just before everything goes dark.