video | piracy 101

[straightouttacarbonite]

Who: Han Solo... solo. shut up it was funny in my mind
Broadcast: Yep, to anyone who will listen
Action: not really but he's probably around the Caprine if you want him
When: a couple days into the drift



[ sup Fleet. Han is somewhere on his ship, though it's hard to see much over his shoulder. He looks fairly normal and maybe a little bit bored. ]

So the thing about trafficking stolen cargo-- not that I'm doing that or saying we should do that-- is, it's pretty pointless to steal something no one wants to buy. I guess it happens, if you don't know what you're getting.

I'm sure there's a black market for ribbon somewhere...

[ He looks a little perplexed, not troubled, just deep in thought. ]

I mean, there's gotta be, right?

Comments

[ video ]

[universal_charm]

Except if Atroma is the one wanting us to transport it, there's got to be more to it than simple ribbon.

video;

[oratorical]

[She's just. Not going to comment on a black market for ribbon, dismissing it as Han being Han here.]

I don't think it's just ribbon.

[Gotta love that communications augment.]

Did you not see the patterns on them?

video;

[dreamvour]

There's a black market for everything.

[she says, as if she knows. Maybe she does]

[ video ]

[straightouttacarbonite]

Maybe, but that doesn't mean we wanna hold onto it for too long.

Re: [ video ]

[universal_charm]

Guess that depends on if we can figure out what’s on it. Maybe there’s something there we don’t want some random dealer knowing.

video;

[straightouttacarbonite]

Well if it's not just ribbon, what is it?

[ video ]

[straightouttacarbonite]

Or maybe someone else would pay better.

[ look, he's being optimistic! ]

But do you really wanna just hang onto it til you figure it out?

video;

[straightouttacarbonite]

Sure, but I don't happen to know any unsavory cloth merchants in this corner of this galaxy.

[ At home he's pretty sure he could find a guy who knows a guy who knows a pile of gelatinous ooze with a lead on a buyer, but here? Smuggling is so much harder when you're not from the area. Ugh. ]

Re: [ video ]

[universal_charm]

Yes, I do. Maybe there’s nothing. Maybe there’s something. Either way - I wouldn’t get rid of it until I’m sure either way.

[ video ]

[straightouttacarbonite]

And that's fine, until the people expecting to get it come looking.

Re: [ video ]

[universal_charm]

Maybe, if they come. But we cross that bridge when we get there, with the information off the ribbons.

_{[ Because they would get it off. He was sure of it. Even if it took him months, he’d find a way. ]}

[ video ]

[straightouttacarbonite]

[ Looking at this from a criminal perspective-- which is kind of his usual perspective-- that just seems like a liability. ]

You think they've got a secret code?

Re: [ video ]

[universal_charm]

I think they have something on them somehow. Probably. The last time we transported something for Atroma like this they did.

Seems a good guess these ribbons do too.

[straightouttacarbonite]

What'd they have you hauling last time?

[oratorical]

If I knew, I would have said as much.

[Because even though she can tell there's some sort of repeating pattern on the ribbons, that it's more than just random stitching, that's about all she can figure out. She can't tell what someone would use ribbons with a pattern like this for.]

Would they make us carry a shipment of only ribbon just to play games with us?

[...Well, she wouldn't rule it out, probably, but she wants to believe it's not just ribbon.]

[straightouttacarbonite]

Probably. I dunno. I just think maybe we're better finding somewhere to offload it before they notice it hasn't been delivered.

[ Preferably for a profit, but it's not like he's never dumped cargo for safety's sake.

It always works out so well. ]

[oratorical]

You're not curious about it at all?

[She is, there's no surprise there. If they went to this much trouble for the ships in the fleet to carry these boxes, she wants to know why.]

[straightouttacarbonite]

I guess I'd rather know than not know. But isn't pretty much everything from them bad news?

[oratorical]

[She doesn't exactly say as much, but the expression on her face indicates that, even if she hasn't been on board too long, most of her experience has been just that: bad news.]

I wonder if we--everyone on board--can't find a way to figure out what these are for before we arrive at the next system.

[straightouttacarbonite]

Is that what you're doing now? Trying to find secret messages in ribbons?

[ he doesn't sound like he's taunting, for once. He actually just wants to know what she's up to. ]

[oratorical]

You're welcome to join me if you'd like.

[That would be a "yes." She's not good at or used to not having about a hundred different issues to focus on or occupy her thoughts. Even with the troubles on board the Fleet, it's nothing like everything that required her attention back in the Alliance.]

[straightouttacarbonite]

Maybe I will.

[ Not to be helpful. Don't get any crazy ideas, Leia. ]

[oratorical]

[Han Solo? Helpful? What kind of bizarre galaxy would this be if that happened.

But regardless, she provides directions to wherever she happens to be (likely somewhere on the Iskaulit, because she doesn't like feeling confined to her own ship) studying any notes she's taken on the ribbons and their patterns.]

I'll be around here for a while.

[straightouttacarbonite]

[ He signs off with a wave, and makes his way over. Not in a hurry, because... This isn't an emergency, there's no rush.

But he's hit the point, he thinks, where they've gotta talk.

He'd rather know than not know, right? ]

Any luck?

[ he asks, striding over, casual as anything. ]

[oratorical]

[That's faster than she expected, in all honesty, but she assumes Han might be as bored cooped up as she is at the moment. She looks up from her notes as he speaks, nodding in a sort of greeting before holding the notes out to him. She's not sure if he'll even catch on to the patterns she's seen and what she's looking at, but having a second set of eyes can help.]

Do you see how they repeat like this? They aren't just random patterns.