At The Handoff, on Typhon station, Lorne meets with Ganio Gunrun about his star chart, meanwhile Aayla finds the crew a paying job.They are to take Picus Thel, of the Chibavaa city Thels, to Dinoah. First they must take him to meet a contact at Nessceen Qassabah, then on to an undisclosed location in the Jungle where Picus will go hunting. The Longhorn needs to wait for his return, and he will come back with a Trophy. With his trophy acquired (which he assures them will be dead and will fit in the cargo hold) he wants to be taken to Buallaba. Picus suggests that they could take him all the way back to Chibavaa but he wagers that an independent ship won't want to get so close to the seat of RiftCo power.
Val negotiates that Picus will need to pay them half the money when he leaves the ship to head into the Jungle to go hunting. The other half to be paid on arrival at Buallaba. Picus agrees.
Jorus knows a bit about Dinoah, The Jungle Moon is covered in Moss-Jungle. Agents of RiftCo exploit it's natural resources; Rich hunters venture into it's Jungle to hunt exotic animals, Timber and Logging operations scar the jungle and rare plant and animals are exploited for drug compounds including the rare and extremely expensive Fngur a cure all. Gathered from the jungle floor this slightly mysterious orange sap like substance promotes rapid cell growth and tissue regeneration and it can be prepared into hyposprays, generally it is hard to get hold off and the limited bound for the 1% on Chibavaa.
The crew of the Longhorn meet with Picus at their docking bay only to find that he has much more equipment than just the transport cases he had stacked up in the bar. He orders his droid MN to load the gear giving instructions constantly along they way, without loading any himself. Lorne fed up with the delay begins loads the crates himself, despite Picus's objections about the sensitive equipment and supplies in the cargo crates. Eventually they get underway. Val stays in his cover identity of Luca.
On route to Dinoah Picus gets settled in, he fusses around and generally make a nuisance of himself in a polite, toffy, upper-class, I am your paying customer, sort of way. During the journey he:
Spends time drinking and smoking Tabac with Jorus and Val.
Plays Jorus at Dejarik but losses. He asks Jorus if Luca (Val's cover identity) has ever been to Chibavaa.
Runs the refresher out of hot water.
Triggers an altercation between a mouse droid and MN which Aayla has to step in an break up.
Conducts target practice in the hold. Lorne and Val stop Picus shooting at target holos of various creatures in the cargo bay, he's calibrating the scopes of his hunting rifles.
Convinces Lorne to spar with him, using two of Picus's electro staffs. Lorne soundly beats him giving him a lesson on Inheritor history as he does so. Picus pays him for the painful lesson. Lorne has credits to his name for the first time, RiftCo credits, but credits.
During the final approach to Dinoah Picus breaks out yet another bottle of spirits and a deck of Sabac cards, Jorus, Picus and Val (still disguised as Luca) play, During the game Picus suggests Jorus could get a job on Chibavaa and even suggests he look him up. Jorus suggests he might when he's ready to retire but there are two many people who need help out on the Frontier. As the game progresses Picus beging to talk about recent events on Chibavaa, he talks about a home invasion on the Vander-Dak'win family. "A terrible thing, terrible thing… what happened to those Vander Dak'wins. Felistia (Val's Mother dead), Emeilion (Val's father)in a coma. Awful, awful business." Jorus hears a version of the events that drove Val into the rift for the first time. "It's not clear what happened to young Val, Valderon Vander-Dak'win, he might of died, he might be on the run, there where rumours he had become addicted to drugs, got indebted to the street gang that invaded the penthouse mansion and ended up causing his parents murder and attempted murder." The drink and tabac and the bad memories weaken Val's resolve and his disquise slips a fraction just for a moment, Picus might have noticed. Afterward Picus returns to his quarters to freshen up for landing. Val is unsettled by the bad memories. Jorus is the first member of the crew to hear about what happened to Val and why he teamed up with Aayla.
On final approach, Picus goes to the cockpit and asks to send a holo. Aayla agrees and Picus sits down and sends a recorded holo. Aayla doesn't see what's sent.
As the longhorn arrives at Dinoah, Val convinces Picus that the docking fees are part of his charter cost and Picus covers them. The Longhorn is safely set down on a landing pad at Nessceen Qassabah.