The droid was sufficiently entertained by self-provided images of all the awful things that could happen to it that it didn't really notice. "Originally a G-9 Rigger style freighter, Corellian manufacture."
"Seems a bit old, in places, newer in others," noted Jiraiya.
"Well, yes, the original vessel was built long before the Clone Wars," admitted the droid.
"That long ago?" asked Jiraiya, having no idea what war the droid was talking about.
"Oh yes, but no worries - it's been repaired and overhauled many times bit by bit," said the droid. "Completely spaceworthy and you wouldn't get much for it if you sold us off as scrap."
"Well, good," said Jiraiya. "I'd hate to have to do something like that. In the meantime, let's see if we can't just find a mechanic to do a quick overview of it."
"You took this as 'spoils of war' didn't you?" asked the mechanic, glancing back at his clients.
"How can you tell? Is that a problem?" asked Jiraiya.
"Nah," said the mechanic, the stick in his mouth swinging around as he went over the thing. "Good thing you came in though. You two are human, like me, and the atmospheric mix isn't set right."
"Ah," said Jiraiya.
"As for the rest, I accessed the ship's maintenance logs," said the mechanic. "Normal procedure. Not sure what the previous owner did for a living, maybe a bounty hunter or assassin. Whatever he was, he wasn't above a little piracy. Had multiple names but whoever he was - sloppy. Didn't change his appearance on the IDs, didn't use a voice-changer."
"Sloppy," agreed Jiraiya. "Or else just plain cocky."
"Point," agreed the mechanic. "You want me to squirt the authorities on this guy? They might take the ship, but you might be better off without it anyway. It's been repaired and it's spaceworthy, but a bucket this old is bound to have problems. There might be a reward for the previous owner."
"How old is it?" asked Naruto.
"Easily two hundred years," said the mechanic. "Most of the internal parts are from other ships, cadged or adapted to replace the worn-out original parts. Looks like it was mothballed a couple of times too."
"'Mothballed'?" asked Naruto.
"Taken out to an asteroid or some such, let the air leak out of it, open to space, completely shut down and emptied of all fluids," said the mechanic. "You can leave a ship like that for decades and then have someone come out and refill everything and just drive it away."
"But you're saying it can be flown, right?" asked Naruto.
"Yeah, it's structurally sound," said the mechanic. "Just old."
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(Posted Sat, 27 Apr 2013 17:30)
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