As Celestine and Strife arrived on the port. Strife told the alien to wait. They alien and his assistant lowered everything Strife and Celestine bought.
"You can stay on your ship. And call out Rover for me" Strife told Celestine.
"Sure thing." Celestine came inside to the Swift to notify us. As she entered the cockpit we weren't there. She called out our names, there was no response. Celestine called out Strife. He quickly went in as well.
"What is it?" Strife asked.
"They're not here" Celestine had hints of worry. "Go check the engine room" She asked him as she went down to the lower level. She looked over the bunks, the toilet, and even to the escape pod. No one was there. She went back up. "Nothing"
Strife looked back over to the Carpenters through the window. "Maybe their over there"
Celestine walked towards the exit. They slowly approached the Carpenter. Strife looked over the alien and to tell him to wait a little more. But the only thing that was there were the parts. Strife didn't know what happened but he was on high alert.
"The merchant and his helper is not here anymore. I sent them back." A voice was heard behind the Carpenters.
"Who are you and what do you want!" Strife spoke calmly. But his demeanor is hinted.
"I'm just a man who wants to earn a little on the side." The man got out and revealed himself. It was Siltoin. He moved slowly towards Strife and raised his hands.
"Where are they you scum!" Celestine raised her blaster at Siltoin. "What did you do to them?" Her voice became more aggressive.
"Who? The human? I have no idea" Siltoin kept his cool as he replied. "No one was there when we got here." He added.
"We?" Celestine asked.
A blaster charging up sound was heard. "I would let the blaster down if I were you." Someone spoke behind Celestine. She held her neck and blaster.
She looked back, she couldn't see the man pointing a blaster on her head. Strife saw the man, Siltoin's partner, Dhurnuth.
Strife smelled the air. He pulled his two blaster aimed towards Siltoin, another pointed at Dhurnuth. "Let her go." Strife demanded Dhurnuth.
"She drops before you could pull the trigger" Dhurnuth taunted.
Strife growled. He held his gun firmly. "You think I can't pull the trigger fast enough to down both of you?" Strife applied pressure to the already tense situation.
"Although I like your optimism. However, I don't like your odds." Siltoin told strife. As many of the aliens from before arrived aiming their gun at Strife. He was surrounded. "Drop the gun."
Strife seeing no other option dropped his blasters. He growled. "Let the lady go." He demanded. Siltoin waved his hand to his partner. Dhurnuth disarmed Celestine and pushed her towards Strife. "Are you alright?" Strife asked Celstine.
"So far. Yes" Celestine replied with a sharp gaze at both their enemies.
"I'd like to apologize." Siltoin told the two. "I'm not here for a fight." He signalled all his goons to stand down. "I'm here to negotiate."
"Whatever you're dealing. We ain't buying" Celestine replied.
"I'm sorry. Did I say that you have a choice whether to accept or decline?" Siltoin replied with a threatening suave. Dhurnuth growled softly.
"What do you want?" Strife calmly asked.
"My colleagues here said that you found a tablet that would lead to an ancient codex?" Siltoin replied while pointing at the small alien.
"Are you sure you got the right guy?" Celestine questioned.
"We recognized that ship. And we sure do recognized the man that killed some of my men" The small alien barrated Celestine.
"Either way. We want the tablet." Siltoin brought the topic back to relevance.
"Sorry we won't give you the tablet." Strife replied. "Because like you, we also want the codex"
"You might misunderstood. We want the tablet, and we don't want to kill anyone." Siltoin never broke eye contact with Strife. "So I ask you this. How much for the tablet"
"Not for sale." Celestine announced.
Dhurnuth looked furious. He looked like he couldn't wait any longer. He called his partner's attention. Siltoin came towards home. "I don't think negotiating with credits is a good idea for these scoundrels" Dhurnuth told him.
"Do you have any ideas on how to deal with them?" Siltoin curiously whispered.
"Yes" Dhurnuth replied. He walked towards Strife and Celestine. "I don't think you people know what my partner means about we needing the tablet." He told both of them. Strife growled. "We won't take a no for an answer" He continued.
He took out what looked like a detonator, both Celestine and Strife were puzzled. He pressed the detonator. The Swift's wing exploded. They ducked down while their hostage takes didn't even flinch.
"Now let me negotiate. Give us the tablet and you get to walk away alive and well." Dhurnuth said in a steady yet threatening tone.
"What's our guarantee that you won't shoot is as soon as we turn our backs?" Celestine asked.
"You have my word." Siltoin reassured them. "As soon as we got the tablet, we'll be on our merry way to claim the codex" He continued.
"You think you can find it?" Strife asked him.
"Of course we do. We have the best pilots and navigators on our side." Siltoin pointed at the little aliens.
"Well, no offense but don't they have more ships that us?" Strife said as he looked at the aliens. "But if I remembered. We nearly wiped them all out."
"We disabled your ship." The alien shouted at Strife.
"It was a one-against-ten odds. And I'm sure we did just alright." Strife pointed out.
Siltoin looked at Strife. He looked at the alien and back at Strife. He glanced Dhurnuth, who gave him a look that means he gets to decide. "You do indeed have a great point." He said to Strife. "We'll take this one."
Dhurnuth pointed his gauntlet at Strife. He moved his head signalling Strife to come forward.
"The lady comes with me. She's my co-pilot" Strife said.
"Very well. Dhurnuth please express our apologies to them" Siltoin pointed at the alien as he instructed them. "Give them proper compensation for their troubles".
Siltoin walked away. Strife and Celestine followed him. Dhurnuth stayed behind to deal with the aliens.
"Why did you do that?" Celestine spoke softly to not be heard.
"I need a way to save our skins" Strife replied in the same volume.
"We could kill them all easy."
"We don't know what that Dhurnuth guy is capable of. I can't risk your safety."
"Guess we're improvising"
After a short walk Siltoin opened his holowatch, he used it to open his ship. It was bigger that the Carpenters. Both Celestine and Strife were left in awe but they hid it. Siltoin entered, the two followed.
"I hope this partnership of ours will lead to a true success" Siltoin exclaimed.
Back at Dhurnuth. He looked at the aliens around him. He activated his gauntlet, and let's just say the aliens really had a very bad day.