EXTREMELY PIC HEAVY!!!
This week's very special episode (Chapter 6) of Joe's Cantina will be aired in 2 parts. New customs to be revealed include the long awaited debut of J.G. Pluvinski, as well as "Night Force" versions of Mr. and Mrs. Ajax
Viewer Discretion is advised.
Episode 6: Who Shot J.R.? aka The time I customized pluv
Meet J.G. Pluvinski, owner of Joe's Cantina. The idea of a former local sports hero taking over a dive bar and making it his own might seem cliche...because it is. But that's precisely what appealed so much to "P-luv" about the chance to purchase Joe's Cantina, shortly after his Grav-Ball career had ended.
Though the Farhaven Fighters never so much as advanced to the playoffs during his tenure as starting HF (Heavy Forward), Pluvinksi was a perennial Galactic Grav-Ball Association all-star and fan favorite. It didn't take long for that fame to translate to success as a bar owner, that is, at least until the orbital space station which was home to Joe's Cantina had become something of a wasteland.
"You know, the thing about 'p-luv' is that he seems like the most normal and well adjusted guy here. Makes you wonder what he's doing here at all, let alone running the joint. I don't know how he puts up with most of you." Dr. Bex Ajax, Artifex Clinic and Sick Bay
{That's a great point} Percy thought to himself, upon remembering those words once spoken by his wife. {It's the quiet ones you have to watch out for.} And with that thought registered in the appropriate mental databank, Ajax went back to work...
---
Previously on Joe's Cantina: Joe's Cantina Chapter 5
A busy night is drawing to a close and a quiet has settled throughout the station. In the wee hours of the night/very early morning, J.G. "P-luv" Pluvinksi arrives at the Cantina, to find it completely empty...
"Ami? Anybody here? Hello? Sputters?"
"Nobody's here? That's strange."
Pluvinksi decided to check the register: "Let's see how we did tonight, I guess."
"Wait a minute. What. Have. We. Here?" P-Luv's excitement is hardly contained as he sees canned hamburgers waiting for him on the bar.
After taking a quick peek around the bar...
... and feeling comfortable nobody is in sight...
... P-luv snatcheded teh burgerz.
"I'd better see if Ami is coming back soon before I go...
Dammit...voicemail for a frakking robot?!?"
"Ami, this is pluv. I'm going to be gone for a bit, you'll have to run the place. Tell them... tell them I'm heading planetside for a bit for a Grav-Ball event, but should be back on the next shuttle."
Just as P-Luv walked out the back way, Marshal Spinner, Percy Ajax and Josephus Michaelangelo LXX (aka JM70, aka The Space Cowboy) enter JC's after a long night's patrol.
Ajax: "I'm calling it a night fellas. Let's see what turns up tomorrow and try again."
JM70: "yeah, me too. I gotta say though, I've never gone trolling for beaver this often and had so little luck finding any..."
Ajax and Spinner shake their heads in unison, before shaking hands to call it a night.
Ajax: "Marshal, you got a place to crash? P-luv probably wouldn't care if you took a bench over there."
Spinner: "Yeah, Officer Jonn said he'd have a cot set up for me at the Customs office down at the hub."
JM70 (aloud, to himself): "Where the hell is Sputnik?"
---
Marshal Spinner caught a skimmer towards the Spaceport hub, then walked the rest of the way in the quiet and dark nightime corridors of The Artifex.
As he entered the Customs hub, he commanded the lights to dim, as no new traffic was scheduled.
Just as he did so, he heard a loud clang...{Wait, what's that? I thought nobody was down here} Spinner's hand reactively fell to the grip of his holstered Needler
Then he recognized the sound in the distance as a small cargo transport. The sound was coming closer, and was clearly coming from a ship already docked below.
The sound of the motor ceased, as G.I. Joey pulled up and shut down to say hello.
Joe: "How ya been Marshal? Any luck on the investigation?"
Spinner: "No luck at all. Getting too old for this I think. Going to catch some shut-eye."
Joe: "Wish I could say the same, but I have to bust ass and get this freight unloaded now if I want to be free for the big day Saturday. I heard there's a party at JCs, a Sputnik Holo show, and a bunch of fresh meat coming."
Joe responded to Spinner's inquisitive look by adding, "Gotta be some tourists on that starliner looking to buy some prospective resort properties out here on the Fringe, and I'm just the man to help them out."
Spinner chuckled: "Good luck with that. I'm just hoping to keep the place safe. We'll see ya."
With that, Marshal Spinner headed on towards the office.
He had just begun to settle in, before hearing another strange sound, this one much more frantic - scuffling feet and heavy breathing included...
There was simply no conclusion to be made other than how strange...and suspicious...this looked. Spinner knew he had to check it out, as Pluvinksi went past the customs booth and proceeded towards the gate.
But as soon as had he started to peek out to follow, he heard the frantic fall of footsteps returning his way, and ducked back into the office. P-luv went running past, this time without his Grav-Ball coat.
Spinner watched which exit P-luv took: {The old Monorail escalators? Why is he heading there? That's just a freight corridor now...}
...before cautiously following...
At the upper level of the abandoned (nearly so anyway, if you ignore the vagrants) Monorail lobby, near the boarding gate, Pluvinksi pauses to do something
He turned frantically - {what's there?}
Was it just the sound of the rats rustling through the trash? Or the vagrant on the bench turning in his sleep? Or was it...
SOMETHING ELSE?!? He knew now he had been followed, so he bolted towards the Monorail gate...
Marshal Spinner emerged onto the platform...
Two steps forward and BLAM! The distinctive muffled thud of a needler shot...
...
At the other end of The Artifex, Percy Ajax had just returned to his loft. A quick glance at some typography maps for a claim stake he was about to go on with G.I. Joey while The Talon was in for repairs, then off to bed. Gazing out the viewport, he reflected that while Farhaven was a flawed planet, he had really grown to appreciate the view.
It was shortly after he settled in for bed, when both his communicator, and that of his wife, Dr. Bex Ajax, rang out simultaneously...
Percy (on communicator): "No "LASER BLAST"? Where? Is he going to make it? I'll check, but I heard hers go off also. Yeah. No, I think the central computer is still down. Ok. Yeah, we're coming down now."
Percy: "Lights On."
Percy and Bex both hang up - simultaneously they say to each other: "Spinner's been shot."
Bex: "I hope he's ok, I need to get down there."
Percy: "I agree. But I have to admit, the biggest question on my mind right now, is who shot him. Who shot Marshal Spinner?"
TO BE CONTINUED
