The group was gathered in a booth at the Wrecked Hyperdrive cantina in Coruscuant's middle levels close to the spaceport.
Melnar Cornac walked over after having collected his drink before sitting down, making the group complete.
"So... What do you think of the Captain?" He asked as he leaned back in his chair.
On his right, Tel'te Visa frowned and the young blue-skinned Twi'lek spoke up. "I'm not sure we should be doing this... discussing the Skipper like this..."
Sarah Honor gave her a grin from across the table. "Relax Tel, it's not like we're discussing mutiny."
Her sister, Padme, nodded. "Besides, its tradition to talk about the Captain on the first real shore leave if he's new."
Melnar nodded next to Tel'te. "Mainly, the tradition came from being able to form a united front with the XO or Captain if something has to change and so that we can jump ship together if things are really bad. Never good for the ones that remain if just half the crew leave."
Then he gave her a smile. "Besides... its a bit of fun. So, what do you think, Tel?"
The Twi'lek hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Well... I think he is doing OK, but it's my first berth out of training so I'm not sure I'm that good of a judge."
Icri, the Mon Calamari, nodded as she took a sip from her green drink. "I think I concur with Tel'te. I might not be bridge or technical crew, dealing mostly with the passengers but I haven't seen any major faults."
Melton nodded. "Personally, I think he's green as grass. He's clearly new... but at least he has a brain in his head and the sense to pick a experienced XO to balance it. That's more than you can say about some of the so-called Captains I've served under after being in the business for ten years."
Shaking his head, Jack Melton leaned back in his chair and shrugged. "Meh, he's doing OK. At least, he doesn't micromanage."
Making the rest nod, before he continued, "Commander Swan is hot though..." earning him a punch on the shoulder from Padme.
Snorting, Mekak shook his spiked head and took a sip from his drink. "Personally, I liked the way he dealt with the pirate ambush. Kept cool and came up with a plan to keep our hides intact. That's something greatly appreciated in a officer."
Sarah nodded. "I think we all have to agree with that one. His solution was a bit out of the box, but it worked. And hopefully with the engine upgrades I'm installing, we should be able to outrun most things we can't out-shoot."
Her sister shrugged. "Well as you said Mel, he's new so he's bound to make mistakes, but I think we'll do fine."
Mac Nevor, the ship's cook, shrugged and was the last person to speak. "Never seen his species around before, but he's alright with me. Gave me a chance which is more than you can say for most people."
Tel'te nodded. "Speaking of which, has anyone even heard of his species before?"
Getting a table of head-shakes, she continued, "Maybe he's from the Outer Rim..."
Sarah shrugged, "Possible, I guess... Must be difficult being that large though. No wonder the ship was completely refitted just so he could fit through the corridors. I admit though that all that extra space is nice..."
Cornac leaned back in his chair, sipping his drink. "So... general sentiment is that he's new, needs watching and will make mistakes, but is learning and is a generally good guy?"
Getting a table of nods in response, he continued, "Well, the watching we can do and together with Commander Swan we should be able to catch most mistakes before they happen so we should do OK."
Four days after the meeting at the cantina, Clear Skies was back in hyperspace on a course towards the mining station in the Matle system with a cargo full of machine parts and all passenger cabins filled.
I was currently coiled around my pillar in my cabin, cursing whoever invented this damn programming language. I hissed at it in disgust before simply scrapping it. It was the one normally used in droids but it is WAY to inflexible to work for Morrigi VI... If I wanted to get some real VI running, I was going to need to use my programming language which meant a ton of more work to get it to run.
Even worse, I couldn't exactly put all my attention into it. I had a ship to run and I needed to get the Force under control. While throwing things around in combat was nice, pulling on the Dark Side when I do it was a Bad Idea. I don't have time to meditate all day like the Jedi either... Even with my XO dealing with most routine matters, I still had a ton of paperwork, even in hyperspace.
I shook my head and climbed down from the pillar to pick a fruit from the bowl before crushing it in my beak, enjoying the sweet taste. At the very least, the economy looked great. We broke even with three-quarters of the passenger slots full and anything else we make in passengers and cargo was almost pure profit.
It had only been a few trips and I had already been able to pay this year's fee to the Jedi when we were back on Coruscant, even with Sarah needing some expensive things to trim the engines... Now, we were twenty percent faster.
That girl was a witch. It still felt a bit odd having female members in the crew, even if they were dustlings though.