Van moved his away around, and groaned a bit at the sight of his ship. The paint looked a little worse for wear thanks to the crash, and the pirate felt that the ship itself wouldn't impress Ewa.
Beryllian ships were certainly of a different sort of... nature than your average, sleek, designed-by-Apple-in-California type of ships most people were used to. To the untrained eye, it looked like a giant metallic rock. And much to Van's annoyance, that was usually the first comment people had about the thing.
Ships of this scale, with terribly thick walls made from a natural metal with a stone-like appearance, were built originally to withstand the rigors of Gravitic Warp. In the past, when the technology was being refined, engineers feared that relying on the ships that were standard at the time would be too flimsy, and would break apart once they entered the warp vortexes.
So, instead of building what they thought would make the cut, the engineers built ships that were above and beyond the call for structural stability. The approach was wonderfully hamfisted, and the bulky spacecraft that became the norm for Beryllia certainly reflected this sensibility. Beryllians always liked to live in the large, so overly bulky ships weren't a problem. And the only other reason they hadn't moved beyond the design was because the ships not only looked like rocks, they were hard as rocks, and took damage very well.
Van had originally hoped to eventually come to a pirate-friendly dock and trade his cargo for money that would pay for a good re-painting on the hull, and some luxury accoutrements. Sadly, he was now stuck at the Bar, with possibly-damaged cargo, and a girl to impress. Great, the Pirate thought, But, maybe I can do this.
He turned towards Ewa, and gestured at his vessel, "This, my dear lady," he said with enough flourish to gag a pea****, "is what you would call the luxury Beryllian space-yacht. Except it's also the Pirate ship, and looks it, don't you think? My ride, the Palkoris."
He slid out a short, wand-like device he had clipped to his new pants, and waved it before Palkoris. A ribbon of light flowed from the wand, and Van made an elaborate pattern. The ship's computer recognized the pattern, and lowered a large block to the ground. The block then opened up into a series of stairs, brushed smooth so that walking up them would not be challenging.
"Since you're not of the cargo, we won't use the ramp, chaasi."
Van walked on ahead into a a fairly well-lit and surprisingly intact lounge area. It was fairly large-ish, comfortable enough for four or five people to sit down and relax. The room was aglow with a pale, warm, yellow light. Two blue curved crescent-shaped communal cushions surrounded a little table that had thankfully not budged an inch in the crash. Naturally, the blankets, pillows, and plants had been jostled around, but the storage panels were closed, which meant the food, drinkware, and other such things were still safely stored away.
The Lounge was connected to a set of stairs that wound their way up to the second level, where the Bridge and Captain's quarters where. And, below the Lounge was the bathing area, where Beryllian noblemen could partake in a warm bath or clean themselves in a shower, even in the lonely depths of space. Three bedrooms were connected to the Lounge, and though they would have been used by crew members or guests, Van was using them as storage space, for now. His cargohold was filled to the brim with all sorts of loot, and the Vivalite was a sudden opportunity he wanted to smuggle before cashing in on his stolen Sedvarian spices, and the more practical crates of ship parts and tools.
Concerned about his Vivalite, as it was far more fragile than spices or stacks of heat shields, Van rushed ahead up into one of the three rooms on the Lounge floor, slid open the doors, and groaned. The rugged metal crates certainly looked out-of-place in this jungle of bright purples, yellows, pinks, and exuberant alien silks, but it was their current position that disappointed him the most. The crates were also jostled haphazardly against the wall, and one was even broken open by the force of the impact, and leaking the tell-tale green liquid that was Vivalte. Panicked, Van suddenly ran from that room, and checked the two others, only to see the same disappointing sight. "Visht. Iko-nyah, sandar vikul ond'la..." (Sh*t. The cargo's totally ruined...)
Exasperated, he turned, only to realize that Ewa was to come aboard. Van grinned, and figured maintenance and more thorough checks would have to wait. He had to show her way to the facilities where she could clean the blood off.
"Come on in, come on in! Don't worry about the mess, I have much to do on the clean up, anyways, chaa. Mmm, the bathrooms are on the downstairs to your right, I'll show you how to get them started. The water-tanks are mostly full, since I'm the only one who really uses them to bathe. Most pirates are, " Van frowned sourly, "Less then hygienic. Not squeaky clean. Not like me!"
It was then that Van remembered his hair. It was still a bit of a mess from the crash. He figured he had to do something up in his room, while she bathed, before surrendering it to her to change in.
Delightful. Finally, I have a chick on my ship again!
