Back in the saddle again (Spazzy)

[Susan]

He felt like he had been on this planet for years. In actual fact, he had only been on Corellia for a few days, but it was much longer than he had planned too. He only planned to stay here for an hour or so tops, he had a delivery to make – payment to collect, and then it was time to leave. But oh no, the planetary security services had to interfere, they just had to poke their noses in. Apparently, he had been flagged as a person of interest, and had to remain grounded pending an investigation. He was assured it wouldn’t take long, but he had no interest in the bureaucratic red tape, and just wanted to get back to his ship.

The custom offices had apparently identified him as a courier of illegal contraband, and were reliably informed that he was currently carrying highly criminal cargo. The truth is, he was, but he was hardly going to tell them that. They had impounded his cargo freighter, and searched it thoroughly, but came up empty. Which was both fortunate and unsurprising, Avanni Silas would hardly be a good smuggler if he kept all his bootleg gear in a big red crate marked ‘ILLEGAL’. In this case, the cargo was a bunch of artefacts stolen from somewhere, and earmarked for delivery to a certain merchant in Coronet. Avanni didn’t know where they came from, who stole them, or what they were. But he didn’t care, and he wasn’t paid to care. He was paid to get the cargo from point A, to point B, and that’s exactly what he would do.

When the security finally told him that he could retrieve his ship, and carry on with his legitimate business, he made several impatient quips about how his good name and reputation was damaged by his late delivery. The customs didn’t really care, and neither did Avanni – he was just being arsey about being cooped up on land for so long. With the security’s eye firmly glued to him, he could hardly just ship the illegal goods out in broad daylight, which was why he always insisted in carrying a larger cargo of mundane, inoffensive objects. For this job, the artefacts were hidden amongst a variety of ornamental fish. Some of them incredibly and obtrusively large – but it was all part of the service. And for this particular service, Avanni hiked his price up considerably, especially with the heightened threat that he was not expecting.

His contact willingly paid up, as the Echani had expected. This pompous uptight core types, they were all the same – they wanted what they couldn’t have, and would pay obscene amounts of money to have them. Avanni’s bread and butter, and long may it last. And once the delivery was complete, the payment was received – and it was time to leave. The smuggler didn’t hesitate, he didn’t even pause to take in the local delicacies, he just went straight to the spaceport and fired it up. As soon as clearance was given, the Redrum took off and broke the atmosphere, and as soon as was ready, Avanni punched in the hyperspace co-ordinates and headed off. The Echani had a few contacts on Nal Hutta, and that’s where he was hoping he would get his next score. Failing that, he could always hit the bars – anywhere to get the stench of the core off him.

He rolled his shoulders and pinched his nose, in his few days on Corellia, he hadn’t really gotten much sleep, he never could sleep when planetside. It would be a while before they got to the outer rim, so he might as well retire now and get a few hours rest before they arrived.

He headed off towards the rear of his ship, where the personal quarters and cargo bay was located. Just before he reached his quarters and was due to retire for the night, however, something made him pause. A noise, a deep metallic clanking. His eyes narrowed, and he headed in the direction of the hold, any long range freight jockey worth their salt would recognise that noise. He didn’t bother reaching for the blaster at his hip, in this close proximity with limited visibility, he’d do more damage chucking the damn thing. Plus, it wasn’t like he couldn’t fend for himself at any rate. It was probably just some hapless scavenger caught out looking for an easy score.

As he stepped into the entrance of the cargo bay, he activated the internal lighting and scanned the immediate area for the source of the sound. While he had just made a delivery, the bay wasn’t completely empty – he always carried a myriad of junk, just in case it was needed. And in this case, it seem to be needed by whoever was skulking about.

”I know you are in here, show yourself.”

It was an incredibly clichéd thing to say in the circumstances, but there wasn’t really much else he could have said. He moved away from the doorway and crept closer into the bay, alert eyes scanning persistently for the intruder.

[Faeruy]

It had been a completely unsuccessful bounty. Shanti had been caught by another bounty hunter and she barely escaped with her life intact. She didn't quite understand why the other hunter had such a bug up his ass. She had only managed to get halfway out of the compound before he found her trying to steal the target out from under his nose; it's not like she managed to get all the way out. It could be because she sliced into his security system to get in, and that generally didn't make people very happy.

Who would have suspected the Corellians to be so smart and attentive? Certainly not Shanti. She had to remember not to underestimate the dirt farmers. She always did, and it was always to her detriment. At any rate, it had meant she needed a quick exit off the planet before the bounty hunter decided to catch up with her. She needed to get on a ship, and she didn't care where it was heading. Paying for passage wasn't an option, since the bounty fell through, Shanti had no money. She needed a ship that no one would think to look for her on.

She spotted her opportunity in the spaceport; a guard walking away from a light freighter. The ship must have been recently investigated for something, which meant that the Nar Shaddaa girl had free rein to get aboard the ship. And cargo ships were perfect. So many nooks and crannies that a short and clever girl could hide in. Not the most comfortable way to travel, but Shanti was used to that. Plus freighters were the easiest ships in the universe to break into.

It didn't take her long at all to get into one of the cargo holds. It wasn't at all empty like she expected it to be, but Shanti merely shrugged and hunkered down among the crates; waiting for the ship to take off.

Waiting was boring. Afraid that it would take far longer than she would like to leave, Shanti amused herself by opening up one of the crates to see what was inside. She rummaged around inside, and pulled out a metallic item. Her green eyes couldn't tell what it was, but it looked an awful lot like junk. Shanti frowned and continued rummaging through to see if there was anything else of interest. She was so engrossed in her task that she barely noticed the ship taking off. Her hand dove in and grabbed another piece; this one looked like a wrench. What kind of junk was this ship carrying around and why? Shanti made a face and set it aside.

Only her pile had gotten too big, and it collapsed under the weight of the metal, making a horrible clanking sound. Shanti winced and hoped that whoever was on the ship hadn't heard her. But she heard a voice and realized that she had no such luck.

At least she was already in space. Unless they were really terrible people, they were unlikely to space a young pretty girl. At least she hoped. Shanti slowly got to her feet to face her fate. And the very tall Echani in charge of said fate.

"Hello."She said, grimacing. "I think... I think I'm on the wrong ship?"Play it stupid. That always helped. Shanti turned the grimace into a smile hoping that a pleasant expression would make the Echani feel more charitable towards her.

[Susan]

He wasn't sure what to expect, shouting out like he did. For all he knew it could be a pack of Gammorean raiders ready to pounce on him. Although he highly doubted it, those pig brains were barely smart enough to put one foot in front of the other, let alone pull of a successful ambush. He didn't expect it to be any kind of boarding party, otherwise they would have taken over the second the ship had entered hyperspace. That didn't mean there wasn't danger here, though. His muscles bunched up and his body slipped into a familiar stance as he edged towards the sound of the disturbance.

And then something unexpected happened. A young woman appeared from behind a pile of junk, and the Echani pilot was momentarily taken aback, he was expecting some half Trandoshan half Rancor death monster. He certainly wasn't expecting a pretty girl, and she was pretty. His dulled silver eyes looked into the green of the woman before him. Very pretty. She appeared to be human, and she appeared to be harmless, but he knew that both of those assumptions could be wrong, and in the latter case potentially fatal. He briefly recalled an incident a few years ago when a Twi'lek assassin had tried the pretty girl act on him, and very nearly killed his face. Not this time girly. His face twisted into a small smile that he thought would be friendly, and he moved slowly around the scrap pile to face her properly.

"Somehow I doubt that, miss. Otherwise you'd be at the cockpit or the quarters. not skulking around down here in the cargo bay. Now give me one good reason why I shouldn't space you.

With this he folded his arms and raised an eyebrow, he wasn't trying to be threatening, he was going for aloof and nonchalant. He wasn't sure if that was coming off great, though. He was curious to why she was on board, probably just another stowaway, she wasn't his first and he doubted she'd be his last - but he had to know at any rate. He most likely wouldn't space her, because that was just mean. The only way he would is if she proved to be a threat he couldn't quite handle, which was a phenomena he had yet to encounter. His eyes danced up and down the younger woman's frame for a few moments, she certainly had an attractive, lithe figure. Maybe she could prove useful, it was a long journey to Nal Hutta, after all.

[Faeruy]

Shanti really had to learn how to lie better. She thought she was good at it, but no one ever seemed to believe her. Was it her tone? Her body language? It was just so very annoying, and actually rather dangerous that she wasn't able to charm her way out of a situation. Especially a situation where spacing was a definite probability.

She looked at the Echani, and couldn't tell if he was serious about spacing her or not. It was always hard to tell but she generally favored caution, especially when it came to pilots. Most of them hated stowaways.

"Look, I don't have money for passage." She said, dropping the innocent act, realizing it wasn't actually working. "But you shouldn't space me because... because...." Shanti trailed off as she thought, her pale cheeks gaining an angry flush as her words completely failed her. What did she have to offer? She looked at him, catching his silver eyes going up and down. She knew what would be easy to offer him. He wasn't exactly terrible looking, tall and muscular, and not particularly old. It wasn't her favorite solution to such problems though; she didn't particularly like feeling obliged to sleep with someone just so they wouldn't kill her. But if was the only offer he'd take, she'd put it on the table. She'd rather start off with something else.

"You shouldn't space me because the fact that I could get onto the ship is your own fault." She said impudently. "Clearly your security system is Bantha poodoo. I can help you find the weak spots if you like. Could also help with... whatever it is you're shipping." Shanti waved an arm towards the few cargo crates that were there. "Then again, I don't know what all you're exactly shipping. Only thing I found so far was junk. What are you doing crating junk around?"

[Susan]

His disarming smile and charming self seemed to have the effect he wanted, the girl quickly changing her story. He didn’t really care if she didn’t have money for passage that much, she’d already made the indiscretion of being on the ship without his prior knowledge, and a handful of credits did not necessarily take that away. If she’d asked him for a lift and he was going the same way, he probably would have dropped her off for free anyway, assuming he was in a good mood. Or horny. She really was quite pretty.

From knowing her all of five seconds, he decided he would like to have sex with her. Not that he was shallow, or anything. But that didn’t mean he was going to force himself upon her, or push her to negotiate with sex. That was an abhorrent act that the Echani smuggler had no time for. Plus, it took all the fun out of it. Well, most of the fun. He smirked gently to himself as he wondered off to a perverted corner of his mind, which was all of them. There would be fun in the act, but it took away the thrill of the chase. He would assess the woman as a threat, she didn’t seem to be one far, but he’d keep his eyes open. And he’d take her as far as Nal Hutta, and all the while he would be greasing the monkey with his oily Echani charm.

He let out a soft chuckle and relaxed a little as she started to blush. He assumed that she had come to the same conclusion as he did, that the only good reason not to space her would because he wanted to see the goods. He glanced at her synth letter vest with interest, there was half a truth truth in that assumption. He wasn’t going to space her, but he did want to see her tits. Although then she came out with something that surprised him, as it turns out she wasn’t just a pretty face. She had a valid point, and her presence here illustrated the fact. The Redrum’s security system was far from perfect. It was just the standard fitted on all Bulls-eye freighters, Avanni had never bother to upgrade. Well, he had fitted some extra measures for the concealed cargo spaces, but that was another matter. He mostly relied on the fact his ship looked like a generic piece of junk for anyone to bother breaking in at any rate.

”You’re a hacker? I thought they were all fat greasy little weirdo’s. Or Rodians. Not pretty girls.” He was leaning against a tall container next to him now, his arms still folding and his body relaxing into a familiar slouch. He winked at her cheekily at the minor compliment, he really could be a bit of a sleaze at times. ”I’m not sure if I am comfortable letting you look into all my security systems, but you can tell me what you have learnt so far, and I’ll think about not launching you into the nearest sun. As for my cargo, that’s my business.”

She was an illegal stowaway, and if she was a hacker too she probably got into a lot of illegal and sordid practises herself. But that didn’t mean he was just going to out himself as a smuggler to her. He’d let her believe that he was just a handsome, charming freighter captain. And he was certain she found him both handsome, and charming. End of the day, who didn’t?

[Faeruy]

Shanti decided she didn't much like the way he laughed, nor did she like the way his eyes settled on the vicinity of her breasts. Was he that much of a sleezeball, or was he deliberately trying to make her uncomfortable? If it was the former, she wouldn't be surprised; she ran across them all the time back home, with varying degrees of subtlety - some more, a lot of them less. If it was the latter, he clearly didn't know her. It didn't make her uncomfortable, but it did annoy her. He stood carelessly, and arrogantly, as if he owned the place.

Well he did, but he didn't own her.

"You're scared I'll steal something?" Shanti snorted indignantly. "I may be a slicer, but I'm not a thief. Slicing's just a useful skill to have in my line of work. Besides, right now I doubt there's anything here that I would want. And all I can tell you so far, since you won't let me see the rest of the ship, is that your cargo bay is a weak point. It took me five seconds to figure out the code to get in. And trust me, I'm far from the best." She didn't often like to admit it, but since she left Nar Shaddaa, she'd learned very quickly that as good as she thought she was, there were so many more who were much better. She was good enough though. That was all that mattered.

"Not to mention so far I've noticed a bunch of larger ducts; they could easily hide a person; well a human anyway. Anything too much bigger than me probably wouldn't hide very well. They crisscross though, and that's really not good. Someone wanted to sabatoge you, all they'd have to do is hide an explosive in one of those ducts. This thing would be dust before you heard the explosion on the bridge. Unless you've already taken those measures, but from outside the ducts, I can't tell if you have." She shrugged, as if she didn't really care one way or another. And she didn't, not really. She had a ride to Nal Hutta, that was all she really needed. He hadn't spaced her yet, and she doubted that he was going to.

In her admittedly little experience men didn't space women they thought they could sleep with. At the moment she wasn't particularly inclined, but if things went sour it wouldn't hurt to let him think she was.

And keep her vibroknife close at hand at all times. It was a dangerous galaxy, after all. And nothing was more dangerous than owing for a debt.

[Susan]

A wry smirk danced across his features at her snort. It wasn't a very attractive quality but he enjoyed the way her face creased up with emotion. To him it displayed a streak of elitist confidence, arrogance even. Avanni liked that, he believed wholly that people should know how good they were, and if need be flaunt it. He didn't think she would steal anything, he wasn't actually carrying anything of real import or value at this moment in time. He simply objected to having a stranger have free reign around his ship.


"I'm hardly going to let some random intruder run around unsupervised. As you said I have security issues, so I'm going to need to trust you. Lets start with your name, girl." The way he spoke would come across as condescending and overbearing, but really that was the point. This was his ship, and he was in charge. She was just some lost little girl that had wondered on board. Sure, if she was interested he'd have sex with her. But other than that he was the boss, and she would do what he wanted. And right now he wanted her name. And maybe her shoe size.

He listened with interest as she spoke about her observations. He never really thought about the ducts that ran the length of the ship. He hadn't been through them himself, and he doubted that he would fit. He eyed the woman up and down again, but this time without the lustful eagerness. He was genuinely interested in the size and shape and proportions of her body. And a mighty fine body it were. She said that she doubted someone larger than her would fit, and the lithe woman was hardly large. The security risk was likely limited to children and less than voluptuous women.

"The code clearances are factory default. Never bothered to look into upgrading them, most people don't sneak aboard this rust bucket. The real threat is piracy whilst in flight. But while you are here, you can fix the door controls."

He gently pushed himself off the container and out of his slouch, rolling his broad shoulders for comfort. He didn't make any move towards the young woman, but instead tilted his head slightly and watched her face. His dull silver eyes rested on her innocent features for several moments than necessary, before he got on wit it.

"I will not space you, and there are guest quarters you can stay at until we reach Nal Hutta. But this isn't a free trip little lady. I will put you to work, and I will ride you hard."

He paused as he redigested exactly what he had said. For once the crude double entandre was completely unintentional. He thought about clearing up the mistake, but decided not too. He didn't care if he thought he were a sleazy horny space captain. After all, most of them were, and it was not that far from the truth anyway.

"How about's you tell me exactly what I would have done if I had indeed taken precautions to protect the ducts thing. And maybe I will even feed you." He didn't phrase it as a question, because it wasn't a request. She was on his ship and she would do what he commanded her to do. He was the boss here.

[Faeruy]

"You'd have the same problem with piracy; don't know what kind of detectors you got on this thing, but I'd double check your proximity alerts. If yours are bad, a pirate could get in easily." Hard to tell; the ship hadn't been powered up when she stowed aboard, or it may not have been calibrated to detect people. Usually they weren't; it was much more important that they detect ships.

She had to laugh though at his suggestion that she fix things. "What do you think I am, an engineer? Please." Now she rolled her eyes at the Echanni. "I told you, slicing is useful in my line of work, but it's not essential. Just because I know how to bypass a system and break into things doesn't mean I know how to put it back together. I can tell you what's wrong. That's all, and that was the deal we made. If you think I'm gonna put it back together for you, you're sorely mistaken. As for the ducts, most people would put some sort of safety barriers along the route; they shut down when there's any change in pressure, heat, whatever. Contains explosions. Can also contain an idiot who decides to use the ducts for travel." Not that Shanti couldn't break through those, given enough time and effort; that had been her speciality back in her gang days. But she wasn't about to tell him that.

She also debated against telling him her real name; but lying took effort; once she started, she'd have to continue with the charade, and she generally would prefer not to put too much effort into such things."As for my name, you can call me Shanti. And if you won't let me see the rest of your security systems, then I really can't think of anything else to offer you, so I'd like to see the guest room."

Really, she had gotten the better end of the bargain; so she thought. She offered to help him with his cargo, which he didn't seem to want her to help with, she offered to figure out what was wrong with his security, most of which he didn't seem to want her to see, and he had made the deal assuming that she could fix things, which she never said she could. In return, she managed to get a ride off of a fruitless and despicable planet. All his talk about putting her to work and riding her hard seemed to be just bluster. She rather wondered how he made any money at all. She knew several businessmen on Nar Shaddaa who would eat this man alive for breakfast.

Shanti crossed the cargo bay, towards the door that the Echani captain entered from, a confident sway in her hips, and an impudent smirk on her face. "This way to the rooms, I take it?" She said, tossing her red mane over her shoulder so she could look back at the tall captain. This trip was going to be cake.

[Susan]

The Echani Pilot wasn’t quite sure if he was handling this situation well or not. The girl had gone from being frightened and lying to being overly confident and laughing right in his face, in really quite a short amount of time. She certainly knew her stuff about starship security, or at least knew enough to bullshit him. It was one of admittedly quite a few gaps in Avanni’s knowledge, and he usually left stuff like that up to his co-pilot. Miles Tanner was a right lazy bastard so there was no way he was going to put more than the minimal effort to do anything, and the minimal effort was to leave all the security as basic. Until now, Avanni was happy to leave it that way. It wasn’t that he hadn’t had a break in or stowaways before, it had occurred plenty of times. But they were usually quite easy to deal with, most if not all of the important cargo was hidden away in the secret compartments – and it was mostly junk out in the hold. The majority of stowaways were just young and hungry urchins, and Avanni often didn’t mind giving them a lift to the destination. He tended to be quite a good host, respectful of the guest, although made use of any usefulness the guests would have. Which he intended to do with this girl here.

He felt that he had missed a trick somewhat when she said she wouldn’t fix things, she was right that wasn’t the deal they had made, he had just made what he thought was a logical assumption. He was a little distracted, and he made a note to be a little sharper around her now. Really though, he could just threaten to space her if she didn’t do everything he wanted to do. Which he wouldn’t do, at worst lock her in the airlock and make a big show out of it. The Echani had killed before, at some times he had no other option, but he wasn’t a murderer. Despite the fun hidden meaning of his ship’s name, which he hadn’t actually noticed at first. Although he would never openly admit that, except maybe after a bottle of Tarisian ale.

He listened with interest as she spoke about security barriers in the ducts, and made a note to look into them. They were going to Nal Hutta next, which also meant Nar Shaddaa. He knew for certain that he would be able to get what he wanted there, you could get anything on the Smuggler’s Moon – but the markets there hardly provided the most reliable of gear. He was certain that at least one of his contacts would be able to hit him up with a delivery to the core, and that’s where Avanni could get his rig kitted out. It wouldn’t be cheap, but he had more than enough cash after the extortionate amount he charged the last guy on Corellia, and it would likely be there where he spent the majority of said credits.

He stood stock still, his face impassive, as the woman walked past him, a self-assured look plastered across her delicate features. He turned as she continued speaking, and watched with interest at her gyrating hips. He had no doubt that the young woman knew exactly what she was doing, but he didn’t mind because it was certainly working for him. He’d experienced many women who were skilled at turning their sexuality in a very fine tuned weapon, to be used whenever the situation demanded. The situation didn’t exactly demand it here, but this girl, this Shanti probably didn’t know he wouldn’t actually space her. So she’d use every trick going, and Avanni did not mind that one bit.

”Avanni. And don’t misunderstand my words, Miss Shanti. I extend my hospitality to you, but do not abuse that hospitality. This is my ship and you do what I want. I will show you to the quarters, later.”

He walked at a brisk pace to make up the distance between them, a steely edge to his tone as he passed her and turned to face her. His tall figure blocking the door, he folded his toned arms across his broad chest and looked down upon her. Looking down on people in this manner didn’t make him feel any more superior than others, because the way he saw it, he was already superior to most anyway. His height was just an added benefit. Plus, at this angle, he could stare at her breasts whilst pretending to look at her face.

”But first, you will tell me exactly what you did to override the controls and get on board this ship. You will then tell me about superior security systems that you have encountered in similar situations that have afforded you much more difficulty.” He paused for a moment and flexed his toes beneath his boots. He had a terrible itch on the top of his foot and he was dying to rip off his boot and go at it. But despite the whole lecture about it being his ship, there was a lady here and he didn’t want to parade about his smelly spacer feet in front of her. Especially since he still wanted to dance the waltz with the pretty young Shanti. His foot hygiene was far from the best, and he was pretty sure it’d spoil his chances.

”And after that we will both go up into the ducts and you can show me exactly how I would defend it, and where these barriers would be set up. And after that we can discuss pirates. Then maybe a shower and a bite to eat.”

The shower was more for him because he hadn’t gotten round to having one for a while, but he certainly wouldn’t object to her joining in. It wasn’t a large shower, but much like when they would journey into the ducts later, Avanni would certainly enjoy close contact with the woman. He really was a dirty little bastard at times.

[Faeruy]

Shanti was vaguely annoyed that the cocky captain was impeding her progress, and especially, her dramatic exit. She stopped and crossed her arms, looking down her nose at him despite his superior height. He was really a cocky bastard. Also, she found herself really disliking the captain's gaze, and choice of words. She had worked for people; and if they were paying her she'd go along with their orders, but the girl had a deep disdain for authority. She was barely out of her teen years, and even less removed from her days as a member of various gangs; anytime someone used the phrase 'you do what I want', it made her want to kick them in the balls. And then turn them in for a bounty.

Come to think of it, maybe she should check to see if there was a bounty on this captain. She'd have to gain access to the holonet to check. It wouldn't surprise her. Even if he had done nothing illegal, she wouldn't be surprised if someone had a hit out for him. Maybe this journey wouldn't be a total loss.

But Shanti was getting ahead of herself. Right now, the tall alien was standing in her way, and making demands of her. She sighed, because she really didn't have much of a choice.

"I got in by way of a P2C2E." She replied smartly. "It's my preferred method of slicing really, and it works on practically everything. To be perfectly honest, if there is a security system that can keep me out, I haven't found it. But some do take longer than others; mostly because it requires a combination of codes and identity prints to get through. Retinal's best. Hand or fingerprint scanners are easier to override." Her tone was tinged with arrogance, sure of her own knowledge in the subject of slicing.

What bothered her was his continued insistence that she tell him how to fix things; like the ducts. Though then again, it was entirely possible he didn't actually care. She could think of only one reason they would need to go physically into the ducts, and that was so that he had an excuse to look at her rear. "I really don't understand why we need to go into the ducts to do that. It's pretty simple. Every cross section gets a barrier. It would be easier to point out where from outside the ducts, not inside. But, sure. If you insist, we can check out the ducts. Lead the way." Shanti waved her hand in an impatient gesture. There was no way she was going into the ducts first.

[Susan]

The Echani wasn’t really the kind of person used to bossing people around, he wasn’t a leader and he enjoyed working for himself. But he was quietly confident that his little speech there had put the girl in her place. This was his ship, he was in charge – not all that difficult to understand at the end of the day. She would comply with what he wanted, because at the end of the day she didn’t have much choice. He was much bigger than her, and forcibly dragging her to the airlock would be little trouble to him, he very much doubted she would be able to fight him off. The thought that there were a lot of things she would be powerless to prevent him from doing flittered through his mind, and a look of intense disgust danced across his face. He was quite often more than a bit of a pervert, and some of his actions could at times be taken as creepy – but he was a better man than that. He had paid for sexual favours before, but never would he steal it.

Avanni decided to stop ogling her breasts for a while, really he had stared at her body for more than long enough anyway. His curious grey stare instead settled on the young woman’s face as she spoke. He wasn’t very good at reading facial expressions or emotions, but he did like to try at times – he found it an interesting challenge. He recognised that there were many different varieties, and even the slightest wrinkling of the nose could probably allude to about six different emotions – but when he looked, it was just a cute little quirk. He had started reading up on the subject lately over the Holonet, at least when he wasn’t looking for musical inspiration. Staring at the young woman though, he had no idea what she was thinking, and he ended up just getting distracted again. His pupils dilated a little as thoughts idly drifted through his mind again, and he decided that standing there and staring could be construed as an act of a creepy sexual predator.

His arms still crossed tight across his chest, he remained quiet and maintained eye contact as she spoke to him. Unsurprisingly, she cooperating with his demands, and spoke at length at the topics he had requested. He had never heard of a P2C2E, but he assumed it was some kind of electronic hacking device. He would have to remember to look that up later, and more importantly find out how to defend against it. His ship was his bread and butter as a smuggler, and it was high time he spend some of his hard earned credits doing the old girl up.

”A retinal scanner you say? I’m not sure how effective that would be. One look into my eyes and the machine will be enchanted.” He flashed a toothy grin at this comment, he wasn’t actually trying to chat her up, yet, but he thought the cheesy line was funny, and had to get it out. His grin remained on his face but it did recede somewhat at the realisation that she wasn’t going to just do everything he said.

Although as she spoke, he realised she had a fair point. If he was being completely honest, having her lithe young body pressed against his was the major incentive to crawl around in the dirty ducts. But really it wasn’t the only reason, he had decided she could be useful, and he had assumed that a firsthand inspection would be necessary. Apparently not, and the pilot was willing to sacrifice his own perverted pleasure so that he didn’t have to crawl around the forever unclean starship. His fading grin almost twisted into a wry smirk as she gestured for him to lead the way, it seemed to him that she did not see in him any authority. It may be his ship, but in her eyes he was as much a passenger as her. In a sense, Avanni couldn’t blame her, he was hardly the most charismatic of people – he didn’t need to be. He was a pilot, a tool to get something from A to B. He left the charisma and leadership to those more suited to it. Like politicians, or drug dealers.

”I’d prefer it if you would go ahead, out the door and to your left, Miss Shanti. We won’t bother going into the ducts, if you are confident that you can indicate the necessary areas externally. Ladies first.”

And now it was his turn to wave his hand, although his was soft and slow, he was trying to indicate polite direction. The bullish approach didn’t quite work out on this woman, and it was an approach he was never very confident in anyway. He decided it was best to swim in his own pool, and try the charm offensive – something he was well versed in.

”Oh and if you’d prefer,” he called playfully at her, his hands now loose at his sides, ”then I can not stare at your arse. But it’s a shame, works of art deserve to be admired.” He did not know if she had noticed him eyeing her up, although he was hardly subtle. Nor did he know if she enjoyed it or was repulsed by the attention he was affording her. However, judging by the confident, swaggering way she had carried herself so far, he imagined if she didn’t like it she would protest. Loudly. As far as he was concerned, this was yet another woman in the galaxy that wanted a bit of the Avanni magic.

[Faeruy]

Shanti was not drunk enough for this poodoo. In her mind there was a time and place for cheesy pick up lines and comments about her backside. That was in a nightclub, when she was dressed for attention, and had enough alien swill that such lines seemed charming and funny. In a ship, in space, and in a position where she was intruding, she found such comments deeply creepy. If there was one thing she hated, it was being treated like property when she had no recourse to fight back.

The sooner she was off this ship, the better.

"Does that actually work on anyone?" She asked the Echani. "Or just Echani women? Because I can tell you right now, captain, that you're making me wish you had spaced me instead. Or tried to anyway." Her voice held a bit of a threat; however he took it, she didn't mean she would get violent on him. Merely that he would find it very difficult to throw her out the airlock after she sabotaged the controls. If she could get to the controls. The other very disagreeable thing about having him watching her so closely was that it would be very difficult to sabotage anything without him knowing it.

She'd find a way though. Somehow. In the meantime, despite his clear idiocy (Seriously, what was so hard about finding places where the ducts either bent or split off? And he was supposed to be the pilot. Then again, she had probably spent more time in tiny passageways than he had. The Echani was skinny, but he was TALL), she walked around the ship, pointing out clear places where he should put storm doors. Boring work, but somebody had to do it. Especially if that someone wanted to live a little bit longer.

Shanti turned to him, after finishing up the trip around the ship. "Alright Paleface, I've shown you around your ship. Now, would it be too much to ask for a bite to eat, or do you want me to go through your security systems to show you what I can slice through?"

[Susan]

Maybe he was wrong. It certainly wasn’t the first time, although the Echani was loath to admit it, not publically at least. And especially not to a woman as sharp tongued as this red-headed stowaway before him. She didn’t like his comment about his arse, and fair enough – it was far from his best line, after all. He had hoped for a better reaction, a happy ending if you will, but you played with the cards you were dealt. And whilst Avanni started holding all the cards, it seemed like the woman felt the roles were reversed. She was confident now, she even spoke to him almost as he was beneath her. And not in the way he would have liked, either. The smuggler was used to the way she said her words, and he knew what that almost metallic edge to her voice meant. She wasn’t going to play his game with him, maybe he should have tried the hard arsed pirate shtick for a little while longer.

”Spacing is still on the table, girl. Don’t make me regret my decision now.”

His voice was devoid of any hostile or threatening tone, he just spoke calmly and matter-of-factly. That wasn’t necessarily because he was so used to spacing people at the drop of a hat that it didn’t faze him. It was more due to the fact it was a hollow threat that he wasn’t even remotely committed to following through. He didn’t even care if she believed him or not. Whilst he wouldn’t space her, he wasn’t averse to leaving her on the next habitable planet. Regardless if it was populated or not.

They walked the short journey through his ship in relative silence, the girl only piping up to point out areas she thought should be reinforced. Avanni made a mental note, and realised that most of the spaces were just where the ducts widened off. He wasn’t all that sure if she was just taking the easy route or if he was just moronic in neglecting the obvious. To be fair, he wasn’t’ sure if he had even looked at the ducts in any great detail before. Whilst he was not the tallest, at his height it wasn’t often that he needed to crane his neck upwards.

His eyes dropped down from the ceiling now though, as his little tour guide stopped and turned to face him. He felt his cheek twitch involuntarily at her little nickname. He wasn’t sure if he liked paleface, and he thought it was a little on the nose, but often pet names were.

”You didn’t think to pack a lunch before you stole away on my ship, little mouse? Well that was a little silly, wasn’t it?” He grinned slightly at his condescending joke, and because he liked the pet name he had given her. Initially he thought of going with firemane, but knew that was more obvious and less intelligent than even paleface.

”But fine, I’ll feed you. Galley’s this way. You can try my rim-famous stew surprise.”

He headed off past her, his long legs creating a quick stride. He really would make her some of his stew. And it really was well known at places he had been. Rim-famous because it was poodoo.

[Faeruy]

Shanti felt a chill up her spine. She had assumed by this point that he wasn't that dangerous. But that deadpan tone when he mentioned spacing was scarier than she expected it to be. Perhaps it was because he clearly wasn't trying to intimidate her; more like it was just a fact. The redheaded human would have to be slightly more careful in her choice of words.

If she could manage it. Diplomacy was never her strong suit. Nor was playing nice, or playing fair, or keeping out of other people's stuff. Granted, she never tried particularly hard to overcome her weaknesses in any of those areas.

"Of course I didn't pack anything. My plan was to hide out and fall asleep until you docked. If I was hungry, well, then I would just crawl through the ducts to the mess." She grinned at her own joke, though just because she was joking didn't mean she was lying. That in fact, had been her plan. Which was quickly scuttled because she was caught. She never seemed to take that into account when she put together a plan.

Stew sounded fantastic though, which was unusual because she didn't normally like it very much. She really must be hungry. She followed the Echani down the hallway towards the galley. "I could go for some stew, sure thing Whitey. Got any booze to wash that down with? I'm powerful thirsty." She didn't get her hopes up too much; Shanti was aware she was probably already pushing her luck. Then again, maybe he thought she'd be more amenable if she was drunk. It was a fifty-fifty chance really. Either she'd start to find him funny, or she'd take his balls off with her knife.

A win-win situation for her.

[Susan]

As she spoke about her intended plan, he tried his best not to imagine her crawling through his filthy ducts, that lovely little arse of his wiggling as she went along. He failed in this endeavour, but on the plus side he managed to imagine her fully clothed, and for him that signified personal growth. Albeit only a little.

”Then I definitely want to be increasing the security in those ducts then. I don’t want a little mouse infesting my pipes every time I dock. Maybe I should fill it with razor wire, thoughts?”

The grin was back on his face and he was feeling more confident again now. He felt that earlier the girl had been far too flippant about her presence on his ship, but it seemed to him that he was starting to get a little put of the power back. She was pretty enough and probably worth taking a spin, maybe two, but that didn’t make her queen of his vessel. Not by a long shot. He stopped as they arrived outside the ship’s galley, or the mess as she called it. In truth her description was probably more apt, neither Avanni nor his co-pilot really had a tendency to clean. It got done, but only when needs be and hardly to exacting standards.

He headed off inside the room, whatever it was called, and over to what was politely called the main food preparation area. He wasn’t going to make her stew, that took an amount of effort he wasn’t even close to wanting to reach. There was a pot of it leftover from a few nights ago that would still be good, so he just prepared that instead, playing about with a few switches and heating the stuff up. It wouldn’t taste very good, but then the things he made seldom did, so not much change there. He turned his head slightly as she continued speaking, the cheeky mare now asking for even more. He’d already offered her a bed, a shower, and food , all to someone trespassing on his ship = and he hadn’t even asked for anything in return. Sure, he’d alluded to certain things, and if she offered, he probably wouldn’t even hesitate. After all, he had a pulse. But that was besides the point, she now wanted alcohol, and while he did have quite a bit on board, it was his and he wasn’t a huge fan of sharing. Although there was cause to think about it. On the one hand, if he let her drink, she’d probably be much easier to have around, and he’d get the power back for sure. Might even get laid, and he never ruled that out as an option. On the other hand, it would mean less for him to drink.

He sighed quietly to himself, still pottering about with the food, getting a bowl out for each of them, before turning his body slightly and looking at her over his shoulder. “Fine. Top far cupboard, bottom shelf. Help yourself Red, but not too much.” He pointed across with his arm, his forearms flexing against the tight material of the jumpsuits sleeves, more accident than design. He’d decided to allow her yet another amenity, but definitely none of the good stuff. On the bottom shelf in the top far cupboard was about half dozen or so bottles of ale he had picked up on Denon a few months prior. It was low quality stuff, but more than drinkable, he’d been slowly working his way through them but hadn’t gotten around to the few that now remained. It was only marginally better than swill, but it was more than good enough for the intruder. And Avanni was happy to drink just about anything.

”Make sure you grab two girly, and that’s not two for you, either.” He didn’t even bother to look to see if she had moved over to raid his cupboards, but judging from the few short minutes he had known her, it wouldn’t take long. He didn’t see her as much of a threat really, and was now comfortable to have his back to her whilst preparing the meal. At most she might take a swing at him out of frustration, the girl sure was fiery. Avanni was however confident that his years of martial training coupled with his time in the military would be enough to deal with one girl, no matter how much bite she had. Satisfied the meal was heated up enough, he turned it off and spooned some of the slop into each of the bowls and adding a little seasoning. He might not be the best chef in the galaxy, but he wasn’t a barbarian.

He put what was probably a clean spoon in each bowl, and carried them both to the table, again not really caring what the girl Shanti was doing. He plopped himself down on one side of the table with his bowl of stew, sliding her bowl to the opposite side.

”Grubs up kid, hurry up with that ale. You aren’t the only one whose parched here.” He dug into his stew, not bothering with any semblance of politeness by waiting for her to join him. It wasn’t actually all that bad really, it was edible at any rate. And he was sure it was more than good enough for some stowaway duct rat. ”You don’t sound like a Core girl, so I’m guessing you’re not from Corellia. Heading to the Rim?”

There was no real logical reasoning in his assumption, it was mere speculation, she could easily just be one of many people on a core planet, even if she didn’t carry the accent. Space travel was a wonderful thing, after all. Although he was pretty sure she wasn’t from Corellia, because as far as he was aware, Corellian girls didn’t go about breaking into other people’s ships. This one had Rimmer written all over her.

[Faeruy]

Shanti flounced over to the cupboard and threw the door open; letting it bang loudly against the wall. She was too short to see what lay above the bottom shelf, so it was just as well that that's what he told her. She looked at the bottles, not entirely sure what kind of stuff was inside them. It would pair well with the stew; which, from what she could see, was also made of unknown ingredients. She tossed one to the Echani, and swung her leg over the seat; straddling it as she dug into the stew.

It was awful. Not so much that it was rancid or off... it was just that somehow tastes that should have come together didn't. Plus there was definitely something in there that shouldn't be a part of any stew, but Shanti couldn't figure out what it was. Not to mention the spices, which were sitting on top of the glop without a chance to blend. At least those didn't taste rotten.

She took a swig of beer to wash the taste out of her mouth, which in retrospect wasn't a great idea. It was potable, but only just. At least it was better than the stew. She couldn't decide whether to pound it and get it over with, or nurse it and use it to wash the taste of stew out of her mouth. She decided on the latter.

"I don't care where I'm headed, as long as there's a decent space port,and decent cantinas, and a decent source of information. Corellia is not that place. And no, I'm not from there. I'm no dirtfarmer." She took another bite of stew and tried not to gag. "I'm from the toxic waste dump known as Nar Shaddaa, if you'd like to know. I was only on Corellia to do some hunting. Didn't work so well." She shrugged nonchalantly. You win some, you lose some, and sometimes you get spotted by obnoxiously alert Corellians. "Where are we headed anyway?" She asked curiously, and took another swig of beer.

She almost wanted water to rinse the taste of swill out of her mouth. Almost.

[Susan]

The woman did not really need much encouragement, and it was clear she had no qualms about politeness or anything of that ilk. Avanni reminded himself that spacers and drifters rarely did, there was a certain etiquette to be observed, but other than that it was do what you want. There certainly was no necessity for being gentle when rooting into another’s kitchen counters. Although he supposed it went out of the window a little when the guest involved here was a stowaway. A pretty one, sure, and there were many spacers that would not mind how she acted on their ship – so long as they got something out of it. Most would consider Avanni would be someone like that, this he was sure of. Yet recently he had been trying to reign in his urges somewhat, or at the very least keeping it to himself. Coupled with that, he did not like to take advantage of scared little girls – not on his own ship anyway. Although this girl may be little, she was far from scared, and the Echani was starting to think she was far more than what she seemed.

This was not something that bothered him too much though, at least not for now. Something he distinctly stated was that while she was here on purpose, the ship in question was purely due to chance. Something about her haste and ballsy attitude made him think she wanted to leave that last rock behind just as much as he did, perhaps even more so. Talk could come later though, for now was food. And beer.

”Good girl. It’s piss, and it won’t get you hammered, but it’s better than water.” Water was probably a far viable alternative, but she did ask for booze after all. And his water might not have been the best, it could very well have a couple of dead Gizka in the main tank. ”Now eat your stew, and try to think of it as meat.” It did have meat in it, although the smuggler was not sure from who or what it came. And he didn’t really want to know. It was sustenance, and for a long flight cargo hauler, that was all that was important.

”I must say I agree with your comments about Corellia. The whole damn core can go to hell as far as I am concerned.” He paused in eating his bowl of brown to take a liberal helping from his booze. He had had it before and was used to the taste, but he still couldn’t hide the momentary look of disgust flitting across his face. ”Although it is an unfortunate necessary that the core is a hub for almost everything in this galaxy. I much prefer the rim. At least the slime balls out there don’t pretend to be high and mighty diplomats with a cortosis blade stuck up their arse.”

Avanni Silas did not find the girl’s company unpleasant, despite the fact she was clearly taking liberties on his ship – and forgetting whose ship it was. Her appearance certainly went a way to softening his mood though, if she was some fat smelly Rodian, he probably would have opened the airlock. No place for that kind of stowaway on his bucket of rust.

He pretended to be fully engrossed with his food as she continued to speak, finding that he was quite eager to listen. Company was hard to come by in his lifestyle, at least in this manner, and sometimes it was nice to just to slow things down and have a chat. And he certainly took an interest in what she was saying. ”I’d imagine that the kind of game you were hunting was something more dangerous than a couple of Iriaz.” He kept his head down, even when he reached for his drink, not making eye contact with her as he got on with his meal. Bit by bit he was starting to piece her together.

Although he did look up as she asked where he was heading, he wondered just how long it would take for her to do so. She even sounded nonchalant, almost casual about it. He couldn’t quite keep the grin off of his face, although he wasn’t even trying too. ”Somewhere I’m sure you know very well little mouse. It looks like I’m taking you home. Nar Shaddaa is a few hours away.”

He wasn’t sure off the top of his head just how far away they were now. It was a long-ish journey, but they had been travelling for a bit now. More than enough time to find out more about this woman. A slightly paranoid thought hit him as his pale eyes locked with her sparkly ones. Her words indicated that she was a Bounty Hunter, and he knew full well that he had made many enemies in the past. Bounties were put on his head more than once, and more than once someone had tried to collect. It didn’t take. It had been a while though since someone had got this close.

He best not regret keeping her on board.

[Faeruy]

Shanti smiled up from her swig of beer. "What, didn't I tell you? I'm a bounty hunter. This was some smuggler or pirate who got in the way of one of the Hutts. Gave me the slip though." He had, but only after he set the authorities on her. Stupid Corellian loyalty. Some day she would actually prove to be successful on a job. She noticed that Echani was looking pale.

Echani always looked pale, of course, but he definitely wasn't grinning back. She wasn't surprised. There were a lot of people who didn't like what she did. Most of the time it was because they thought her line of work completely repellent, even though she was the one cleaning up the galaxy, but the others... well on Nar Shaddaa, there was good reason for most people to be wary of bounty hunters. They usually weren't wary of Shanti though. She thought it was because she was small and didn't look like a bounty hunter. In truth, part of it was that she just wasn't a very good one.

She was surprised to hear they were going to Nar Shaddaa, and it showed; her eyes lit up. "Perfect!" She exclaimed, and then realizing how excited she sounded, leaned back in her chair and swigged on the beer. The more she drank, the less she could taste. "I mean, I've been in these same clothes for three days. I could use a new set. Besides, all the best access points are there. I could find a new target in no time." She belched loudly, mostly from the beer, but she didn't bother to hide it at all. "What business do you have there?" She asked, more out of boredom than true curiousity.

[Susan]

The young woman seemed quite happy to speak about her profession. Avanni Silas was not too sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. Most likely it was a bad thing, she didn’t care what he knew because it was already too late. Not that he’d be going down without a fight.

”Some smuggler or pirate? Good to see you do your research kid.” The Echani tried to keep the humour alive in his voice but was struggling, and the slight grin on his face radiated false. He was a smuggler, and he had got in the way of a Hutt, recently too. The way the whole slug lord political system work, you couldn’t avoid pissing off at least one of them at times. If she was chasing him, then either she was trying to play with him, or just wasn’t a very good at her profession. He was hoping that it was the latter, but just in case he was prepared to put the airlock back on the table.

If she was working for the Hutt’s, then she would probably have been tasked to bring her quarry back to Nar Shaddaa. And if he was indeed her quarry, then he’d be taking himself to her masters. Something that probably was not a good idea. He needed to find out who it was she was after, if it wasn’t him, then great. If not – then things might get complicated.

”Who was this pirate you were after, anyone I’d know?”

As far as he was concerned his voice was calm and conversational. It probably wasn’t, and his face was hardly calm. He was watching her with interest, staring at her face with intensity – hoping to be certain if she lied to him or not. Not that he was any good at reading faces, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t try. ”My business is none of yours girl, so keep out of it.” He had been the polite little ship’s captain for long enough now, and he wasn’t going to continue to be nice to someone who may or may not be after his head. No way he was going to tell her he was a smuggler at any rate. If she wasn’t already after him, he didn’t want to give the half pint any ideas.

[Faeruy]

The way he phrased the question was odd, as was his refusal to tell her anything about what he did. After all, she had told him. But then again, she was a bounty hunter, and people were often scared to talk to bounty hunters about who they were and what they did; especially if what they did was lucrative but not exactly legal. It made Shanti wonder.

It also made her really want to get onto the holonet and see what she could find out about this ship captain. Pirate? Smuggler? Illegal Slaver? Dealer? It was hard to tell, but generally anyone who said 'My business is none of yours' was generally up to no good. She almost hoped he was; it would give her an excuse to earn some money off of this excursion.

"Why? Do you know a lot of pirates?" She asked, sucking down her beer, a knowing glint in her green eyes. She set it down on the table with a thud. "I don't remember the name; the dopa-maskey wermo changed it so many times I couldn't keep track. The only thing I do know for sure is that he's a Wookie. Hrm." She snorted. "You'd think those things would be easy to keep track of out here. Apparently not so much. He's probably hiding with some of the howlers or something." Shanti hated to admit defeat, but she really didn't have a choice in the matter. She also was a little put out that he wouldn't answer her question, but she wasn't about to let that show. She leaned back in her seat and yawned hugely; only partially as an act. She really was tired, and the quality of the food, or rather, the lack of it, didn't help matters.

"Well, a few more hours until dock we hit planetside, right? I could definitely do with a nap. Got any place for me to bunk for a bit?" She tilted her head and blinked her eyes sleepily at the Echani captain.