Navarizi Tango
[Reccomended Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNoedF8lRZY ]
Navarizi is an almost paradise-like world, all but entirely fit for human habitation. Its plant life is lush, its sky a gentle blue, and its climate largely temperate thanks to its native species' heavy investment into terraforming technology. However, any scrapper worth their salt knows approaching the planet requires brass balls, a death wish, or the right favors to have the xenophobic locals not train planet-side guns on you.
Suffice it to say, Spinner approached cautiously. Every bit of her documentation was sent beforehand along with a commensurate "gift" to make the arrogant aliens clear her for atmospheric entry. It was hard to look past the sheer beauty of the planet and remember that humans had about 10% of the planet as a "trade area" they could be without special permissions. Thankfully, dock 406 Beta was in the trade area: an idyllic tower of greenery made of white clean-cut plasteel. The private dock was built out of a natural cave, with native birds fleeing Weber's ship as it descended to the designated landing zone. She could see a welcoming committee, wearing frilly dresses in an ancient style and bearing identical little smiles. She could tell immediately from the markings on their backs that they were bound by some kind of slavery contract. The girl she came here for was waiting in the middle of the procession and could easily be picked out because she wore pink and white while her fellow slaves wore white and gold.
A part of her wondered if this was a cult setting a trap or some kind of mind control experiment: all this looked far too good to be true. It wouldn't be out of character for Aliens to be trying different ways to enslave the human mind. Spinner stims herself up before slipping her piece into a thigh holster on her right side in case her fears were right.
As she steps off the ramp, the welcoming committee gives a practiced bow: "Welcome to Navarizi's premier spa and salon, Lady Spinner" they say in unison as she walks between the columns of attendants. She looks at one for a moment: tall and busty, lacking the emptiness in the eyes that total mind control would usually bring. It still didn't mean she trusted this place: they'd send their best if they wanted another victim.
Her prospective crew member simpers forward and curtsies: "Greetings, Lady Spinner!" she says with cheer, her full skirts bouncing a bit with every movement as she holds onto one of many luggage cases.
"You never mentioned you were "contracted", Reef"
The shorter woman is eager to present Spinner with a document from the Rownette Association, which with lots of verbosity says she is only obligated
to serve the interests of the association as a whole in her work.
"As you can see, I am within my rights to take up whatever work my inherited masters see fit to increase the renown of the Rownette Association. You will be compensated more than commensurately for your assistance in my work, Lady Spinner" Reef says with the same pleasant smile.
"Allow my coworkers to handle your luggage: I had one of the middle penthouses reserved for your short stay with us. Is the rest on your ship?"
Spinner shakes her head: "I travel light". A loud beep can be heard, the alien ship locking itself as the involuntary workers take her singuler metal case up to her room.
Sophia relaxed herself in the familiar activity of massaging the joints of her betters, in this case, her new captain Lady Evi Webber. It was soothing in and
of itself, an act of comfortable servitude. Her beloved mistress would always say even in her magnificence, she was a slave to others even further above her. One improves their station through trust, not by following the temptation of backstabbing guile.
She shakes her head in a barely noticeable gesture: musings on servitude could wait. For now, she had a client who was more machine than she was used to. She did what she could for metallic joints, hoping her trained hands could still be felt by their sensors.
"Reef, I can do maintenance on my cybernetics. Just hurry up" Spinner says curtly.
Sophia nods, as she moves over a wash basin for her long purple hair over. It was frazzled and strained, clearly kept poorly. While machines could work faster than her, discerning clients much prefer a stylist's touch to the process of hair care. She'd even done work on other species, hair being a common trait of pride amongst species that bore it.
For her part, Spinner could only feel impatient about all the cleaning rituals Reef seemed to have. She muttered songs to herself while she worked, insisted she wear a comfortable robe instead of her normal clothes, even offered some kind of relaxation drug to her. Reef's hands were soft and skillful, though her heightened senses caught glimpses of unhealed scars and could feel rougher parts of the girl's hands. She was way too small to be a slave meant for labor or combat, so those must have been from whatever life she had before she signed her life away.
Despite all of that, she showed no signs of mind control: none of the repetitive ticks or unbroken stares that such a state usually held, at least when done technologically. The option of this being a psionic ability still held firm, but was slim given the fact Reef was a strong psionic herself. The girl's alleged powers are just about the only thing that made her more than a very attentive maid who can speak alien. The two pets she showed off sat by the door like guards, a large and well-fed Zorga lounging on one end while a strong and lean Loni sat alert opposite to it.
Sophia hurried herself with scrubbing some hair product in as she spun a mirror around: "Is it to your standards?"
"Yeah, put it in a ponytail and be done with it" Spinner tries to say in a kind tone toward Reef. It had been a long time since her hair had that kind of shine before...
"As you wish, Lady Spinner" Sophia responds as she applies an elastic band to her hair.
Spinner marveled at the penthouse as she changed into her clothes. It held a view over the whole landscape, even of Navarziri spires that jutted out of the forested cities. Humans would cut all this down to make room for an urban sprawl bathed in neon. It was clear this place was owned by someone wealthy enough to make slavery appealing and to conform to the standards of the planet, And if she heard right then it made perfect sense that Rownettes were involved in this.
Maybe she could spend a day or two here while Reef was making it free...
An alert pops up from Processing Assistant: "Attempted Firewall Breach on-ramp and landing systems". She hops up in a moment and runs with speed to the nearest elevator, blowing past a laundry cart. Reef runs after her, exhausted by the time she gets in the same elevator.
"Lady Spinner, is something wrong?" Reef calmly asks between breaths
"Yeah, somebody's trying to jack the Neophron!" Spinner shoots back quickly
The elevator stops for a moment, demanding an access card for the private dock. Spinner grabs it off of Reef's belt and slides it in. She repeats this twice to get the reader to recognize it.
"I'm sure our staff are handling the situation, Lady Spinner, please calm-"
"Quiet! You hear that?" Spinner says as she focuses. The sound of lifting drones doing their work.
[Reccomend Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF_kIV1Dnmw ]
By the time the elevator reaches its destination, the Neophron is already out of the cave, gleaming in the sunlight as some tall aliens glare down at some sniveling human ambassadors.
"Mr. Daughtry? W-What is going on?" Reef says as she approaches the pair
"Miss Trepan, it's a small matter of cultural heritage you see: our hosts just need a week or three to look over the inscriptions and system and they promise to return it" he says with nervous cheer. The tall Alien merely smirks. It's all Spinner needs to know that she'd never see it again if she let this happen.
"I need an aircraft or neither of us are getting out of here" Spinner whispers down to Reef, who looks up.
"On the roof, we keep recreational flying crafts... you can't be.." The younger lady says in a more shocked whisper.
"Pin the tall bastard down and grab any comms device he has with your animals and then we're chasing my ship" she says with a determined edge.
Reef gulps and closes her eyes. Her pair of guard animals spring into action. The Loni, its eyes glowing purple as it grabs a gold communicator in its mouth while the Zorga blocked the offended alien's way and threatened to body-slam it with a hiss. The agile beast hands it off to Spinner as the Scrapper grabs Reef's wrist and runs back to the elevator. The animals stay to keep the snooty alien distracted.
The ride up to the roof is tense, and the choice of craft is far from ideal: weaponless eco-friendly joyriders.
At least it could fly.
Spinner hops in the pilot's seat and flipped the switch on the controls as Reef bungled her way into the open seat behind her. They were in the air before Reef could even slip her goggles on:
"WHAT ARE WE DOING!?" she yells as Spinner pushes the aircraft in a forward sprint to catch up with the cargo drones. She smirks when she sees they have no escorts.
"CAN YOU SHOOT!?" Spinner asks as they get closer.
"Y-YES??"
Spinner tosses her handgun back: a heavy ballistic piece made for punching through hard armor: "DON'T DROP IT! HIT THE DRONES OR WE NEVER LEAVE THIS ROCK!"
As the two get in range, a shaking and nervous Reef brings the hand cannon to bear. She squints and breathes, pulling the trigger as she exhales and a drone goes up to smoke, 3 left holding the weight of the unbreached Neophron up above the forested city. White and gold air-defense guns start locking on from under the tree line, their lasers avoidable by a pilot as skilled as Spinner, at least for now.
"TAKE THE SHOT!" Spinner shouts back to Reef as she makes a quick pass by the adjacent transport drone, the gun going off and the shot going wide.
"SORRY!" Reef says as she can barely hear Spinner growl, taking the plane for a vertical loop.
"NOW!"
Reef squints, breathes, and fires in short order: the second of the drones going up in flames as the Neophron lists off to the side of the cargo net to what was hopefully an unoccupied park. The pair get a brief moment of excitement before a loud crash rings in their ears and their smoke fills their nostrils. The fragile body of the plane was hit dead on by a slug bigger than Spinner's head.
Parachute packs pop out from under the floor as they descend quickly, Spinner trying to steer the crash landing closer to where the Neophron juts out while Reef panics.
"FOLLOW MY FALL AND DON'T BLOW THE CHUTE TOO SOON!" she orders slipping it on and grabbing the slave girl's wrist in one hand, the chord for the parachute in the other. By the time the second slug twists the plane into a burning pretzel of white and gold metal the two women jump: Reef hugs onto Spinner as she waits for the perfect moment to deploy the chute. Her logic assistant proves right when they avoid getting turned into a red paste by a slug flying about as the average human eye's ability to see and float to the ground.
Spinner and Reef make a mad dash for the Neophron as the ramp rapidly opens and its engines start up, Reef’s pets having already been making their way over to board. Before the planetary defense guns of Navarizi can lock a target on the spaceship, it has already slipped away.