Charley moved on to see what else was in the cache.
Apart from the money, Silverton had amassed quite a gallery of exoticana over the course of his life. There were idols of all kinds - animalistic, shamanistic, cosmonautic, cybernetic. Silverton clearly had a fascination with the various cults and religions across the galaxy. She got the impression that pirate lore borrowed from a number of belief systems, adapting them all to its own particular philosophy. The main thing she learned from this loot cache was that a pirate hoarded idols and totems like other people kept photographs - they told the story of the pirate’s life.
Still, Silverton hadn’t mentioned anything about totems and idols. As far as Charley was concerned they were all fair game. She piled them all into a bag, ready for transferal to the D23. She wondered how much money she’d get from them.
Further back in the loot cache Silverton had stored a variety of weapons and armor, just as Charley had hoped. She didn’t find a saber exactly like the one she’d been forced to sell in Zeba, but she did lift something possibly even better. It was a scimitar, deadly and curvaceous. It probably demanded a different technique to the saber, but it was much lighter and it hefted more naturally in Charley’s right hand. It sliced through the air like the saber had done and Charley suspected it was of the highest quality. Better still, it came with a sheaf so it wouldn’t cut Charley to pieces as she walked around. She found a basic utility belt and slid the deadly scimitar into the band at her hip, just behind the right blaster holster. She even found a custom pellet rack to attach to the belt. It felt so good to gear up.
16
There were multiple pieces of armor but Charley suspected they were too big for her. It was common for pirates to wear armor pieces over their utility suits like the ancient warriors did many centuries before. There were titanium gauntlets, breastplates, boots, greaves and pauldrons. All of it could be shield-activated also. Silverton must’ve seen a lot of close quarters action.
Charley wasn’t planning on getting so close to the enemy any time soon. She took the boots and pauldrons for salvage but the rest was too heavy.
Finally, the weapons. Silverton kept a weapons rack at the rear of his cache. Unsurprisingly for a man with so much battle armor, the pirate favored short range weapons. High-powered quantum pistols, very expensive. Snub-nosed shotguns. Flamethrowers. The only medium range weapon was a murderous looking RD47 assault rifle with rotating ammo chamber. Charley slung that over her shoulder.
Dragging the bag back through the crawl space wasn’t easy but she wasn’t about to leave any loot behind. After stowing the bag in the back of the D23, she had a promise to keep. She dragged Silverton’s corpse rather unceremoniously over the boulders to the cave entrance. By that stage she was baking in the sun and needed more of the water trickle. It took about twenty minutes of awkward pulling and dragging to get Silverton into the loot cache. Luckily the leviathan bats seemed to have retreated for good.
Charley laid Silverton to rest on a bed of credit chips, just like he would’ve wanted. A tear squeezed itself from her eye and she brushed it away. She didn’t really know him after all. But a life so well lived was something to be respected.
“Thanks, Silverton,” she said softly as she shut the cache door, probably forever.
She was still feeling a little vulnerable as she made her way back to the rock crawler. FIGJAM seemed to sense her mood and had the good sense to keep quiet.
Sitting behind the wheel of the throbbing D23, Charley considered the journey ahead. She more than likely had the means to buy a ticket on one of the long haul cargo freighters that left from Spacetown. She didn’t really care where she went at this stage, just that it was away from Abeyas. Silverton had mentioned something about a man who
Apart from the money, Silverton had amassed quite a gallery of exoticana over the course of his life. There were idols of all kinds - animalistic, shamanistic, cosmonautic, cybernetic. Silverton clearly had a fascination with the various cults and religions across the galaxy. She got the impression that pirate lore borrowed from a number of belief systems, adapting them all to its own particular philosophy. The main thing she learned from this loot cache was that a pirate hoarded idols and totems like other people kept photographs - they told the story of the pirate’s life.
Still, Silverton hadn’t mentioned anything about totems and idols. As far as Charley was concerned they were all fair game. She piled them all into a bag, ready for transferal to the D23. She wondered how much money she’d get from them.
Further back in the loot cache Silverton had stored a variety of weapons and armor, just as Charley had hoped. She didn’t find a saber exactly like the one she’d been forced to sell in Zeba, but she did lift something possibly even better. It was a scimitar, deadly and curvaceous. It probably demanded a different technique to the saber, but it was much lighter and it hefted more naturally in Charley’s right hand. It sliced through the air like the saber had done and Charley suspected it was of the highest quality. Better still, it came with a sheaf so it wouldn’t cut Charley to pieces as she walked around. She found a basic utility belt and slid the deadly scimitar into the band at her hip, just behind the right blaster holster. She even found a custom pellet rack to attach to the belt. It felt so good to gear up.
16
There were multiple pieces of armor but Charley suspected they were too big for her. It was common for pirates to wear armor pieces over their utility suits like the ancient warriors did many centuries before. There were titanium gauntlets, breastplates, boots, greaves and pauldrons. All of it could be shield-activated also. Silverton must’ve seen a lot of close quarters action.
Charley wasn’t planning on getting so close to the enemy any time soon. She took the boots and pauldrons for salvage but the rest was too heavy.
Finally, the weapons. Silverton kept a weapons rack at the rear of his cache. Unsurprisingly for a man with so much battle armor, the pirate favored short range weapons. High-powered quantum pistols, very expensive. Snub-nosed shotguns. Flamethrowers. The only medium range weapon was a murderous looking RD47 assault rifle with rotating ammo chamber. Charley slung that over her shoulder.
Dragging the bag back through the crawl space wasn’t easy but she wasn’t about to leave any loot behind. After stowing the bag in the back of the D23, she had a promise to keep. She dragged Silverton’s corpse rather unceremoniously over the boulders to the cave entrance. By that stage she was baking in the sun and needed more of the water trickle. It took about twenty minutes of awkward pulling and dragging to get Silverton into the loot cache. Luckily the leviathan bats seemed to have retreated for good.
Charley laid Silverton to rest on a bed of credit chips, just like he would’ve wanted. A tear squeezed itself from her eye and she brushed it away. She didn’t really know him after all. But a life so well lived was something to be respected.
“Thanks, Silverton,” she said softly as she shut the cache door, probably forever.
She was still feeling a little vulnerable as she made her way back to the rock crawler. FIGJAM seemed to sense her mood and had the good sense to keep quiet.
Sitting behind the wheel of the throbbing D23, Charley considered the journey ahead. She more than likely had the means to buy a ticket on one of the long haul cargo freighters that left from Spacetown. She didn’t really care where she went at this stage, just that it was away from Abeyas. Silverton had mentioned something about a man who
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