Chapter 10
"Thanks." Zenya replies to me with a shy smile as she tucks some hair behind her ear as her eyes develop a bit of a twinkle to them.
"Since you're an off-worlder, I assume that you'll be needing a place to stay. We have a few rooms that we can loan you for the duration of your stay, with meals included…we'll add the expenses to your bill and work out a payment schedule later on." Zenya says to me while flashing me a business-like smile.
'Damn…I feel like I'm making a deal with the devil.' I curse in my head and find that her business-like smile doesn't have the same effect on me as the one earlier did.
"Okay, let me add up what your total will be for both fighter pilot and light freighter training, along with the certification, licensing and various other expenses…" Zenya says as she starts to type information into a tablet-like device.
"Hmm, your total will be 72,493 credits or a currency of equal value, and that price is to be paid within ten years from today whether or not you complete these courses and pass the licensing test or not." Zenya informs me in a very no nonsense, formal business minded sounding voice.
"There will be no refunds or backing out midway through is that understood?" Zenya asks, still using her formal no nonsense all business tone as she hands me a data pad that has a bunch of boxes that I need to check off on and a thumb print square at the bottom right of the screen.
"Understood." I reply, trying my best to match her tone, but when I try to scan my thumb print the screen turns yellow and a notification runs across the screen that I can't read as George Lucas had to change from using English to Aurebesh.
"You're an orphan, aren't you?" Zenya asks me with a not so small amount of comfort and understanding in her voice.
"Yes." I reply to her aloud but internally my thoughts are different, 'No, not really but…in this universe, yes.' I say in my head while I nod in confirmation for Zenya.
"And you're from a backwater world not a part of the Republic?" Zenya asks me and I nod yes.
"That explains why you're not in the database. I'll have to register your chaincode for you. Don't worry it's a common issue here on Corellia and in the outer and mid rims." Zenya continues to say with a sad smile on her face as her shoulders slump slightly.
Instinctually I reach out and rest my hand on top of her's. "Thank you." I say softly to Zenya with an honest smile on my face.
Zenya breathes in sharply and looks into my eyes, and starts to develop a light flush, I pull my hand back as she seems to start pulling out of her funk.
I notice out of the corner of my right eye that the old man is giving me the stink eye.
"Come on, I'll show you around." Zenya says to me and I step backwards and pick up my stuff, looking at the oldman and then down at the basket I take one of the bottles of whiskey and set it down on the counter.
"Here you go teach." I say in a joking manner.
I hear the old man gasp, "This…this…is Teroshi Whiskey…h-how?" The oldman continues to gasp.
"Wh-what…a bottle of that is worth a hundred thousand in credits." Zenya also gasps as she looks at me like I'm some sort of alien.
'Wait what?' I ask in my head
"Wait…what?" I ask aloud at the same time I ask in my head. "All I did was save their town…and they gave me a million credits in booze?" I continue to ask as I look at the 9 remaining bottles of booze but five of them are wine if I'm reading the markings in the glass correctly.
'The…wine is probably less valuable than the whiskey.' I say in my head and nod externally.
"Shoo am I Glad I didn't leave the basket on the Jedi's shuttle." I express while letting out a large shocked breath at my good fortune.
'Maybe I should go back and marry Lettua…sexy Twi'Lek who gives amazing head…and…she is rich.' I say in my head.
"Well then…looks like my schooling is paid for and the rest can go towards a down payment on the GO that you mentioned…hopefully it's something that can be lived in for long periods of time and used for bounty huntin work." I say as I look at Zenya who looks reluctant to agree.
"That we can do." The old man accepts as he caresses the whiskey bottle like creature caresses his precious, while Zenya develops a concerned look on her face while looking into my eyes before softly shaking her head as she turns around and sits down at a desk and stares at her grandfather.
"Come over here and sit down." Zenya says to me her voice tinged with a light amount of command in her voice, I shrug, walk over and sit in the chair at the edge of her desk, and she turns a terminal and shows me what accounts to a ship inventory with pictures.
"These are the ships we currently have in the yard…that are ready to sell or can be made ready to sell with minimum effort. These ones here are all within the twenty thousand to forty five thousand credits range.
But since you want something you can live out of comfortably we can eliminate these three options here and that leaves the G9…but I wouldn't recommend it as even with some heavy and expensive modifications it's not really designed for long travels…we have an antique XS Stock Light Freighter.
She's an old ship but dependable and easy to modify and even easier to repair there's even a large aftermarket parts market.
As for the G9 Rigger, besides being slow and a little too small to even be considered a light freighter in my book, there's enough room, for a small medbay, a large captain's quarters and we can convert the shipping operators area into more living space for you for even more room that is all on the base deck in front of the cargo hold.
The hold can fit a small rogue class starfighter and some additional freight. Well on the top deck there's three small quarters, a medium sized gallery along with a refresher room with two toilets, two sinks and two sonic scrubbers.
There is also a very small lounge connected to the galley and then you have the cockpit.
Personally, even though she's old I'd take the XS over the Rigger, since it has more space, a cheaper price point and more readily available parts and aftermarket modifications and all the kinks have mostly been worked out of them at this point." Zenya gives me her slightly biased but experienced opinion.
'A bit forward ain't she?' I say jokingly in my head.
"I think we might be getting a little ahead of ourselves, as I don't even have a pilots license yet, but I do think that the XS Stock Light is perfect for me and my needs if these deck plans are anything to go by but I'd like to take a look in person before making a final decision." I cut off Zenya before she can continue with a friendly smile on my face as my brains is already thinking of way's my Galvin and Galvanic mechamorph transformations could breathe new life into the old…no ancient ship.