Down the open road (Meira)

[Susan]

Kuat. The small word went around his head for a few moments after she had said it. So she was a core girl, that was interesting – it was something he had not expected, for sure. He had been to Kuat before, a few times if he recalled, although he never spent much time there. It wasn’t a planet that he got a lot of business from, when he was there he generally just dropped something off and didn’t stick around to see the sights.

”Kuat? You are a long way from home then, how did you end up on Nar Shaddaa?”

His voice came out steady and calm, he was not interrogating her anymore, the question was just one of idle curiosity. They would spend a few days together, so as far as he could see it, they might as well spend that time getting to know each other. If only so there wasn’t an excess of uncomfortable silences. Avanni wasn’t really a man of too many words, but he did not like uncomfortable silences.

Her eagerness to clean up and bed down was more than understandable and not that surprising. Especially since she was crawling around in the access shafts, he was pretty certain they had never been cleaned. She probably had all sorts in her hair. He made a mental note to check the ducts later to fix that access panel she used to get in. Whilst this time the stowaway was a harmless little girl, next time it could be some highly trained assassin. And he didn’t want a highly trained assassin sneaking in on his ship, that’d just be dangerous.

He let her in the bathroom and was happy enough to leave her alone for a few moments. He headed back up to the cockpit and checked the navigational info, they were still some way out of Coruscant, more than enough time to get a good few hours of sleep. He also took the time to inform his co-pilot of the new developments, and in no uncertain terms tell him to keep away from the guest room. Miles Tanner could be a horny little bastard at times, and he didn’t really have a conscience to restrict him.

He arrived back near the bathroom just as she was stepping out, and happily escorted her to the guest room, showing her the door and then leaving her too it. Which was a little strange to him, usually in the presence of a pretty woman he would be doing everything to get them into bed. And whilst he was in fact getting Amber into bed, he wasn’t to join her – and that would usually be disappointing. But not in this case, and he mused as to why as he headed to his own quarters.

Sleep came easy and he woke several hours later feeling rather refreshed. He decided now would be a good time to sort out his own hygiene situation, and headed to the bathroom himself. He showered and that was about it really, he made himself less smelly, as far as he was concerned nothing else was required. He ran a hand through his grizzly beard, and he knew it could be considered unkempt and dishevelled - but he didn’t care too much. It was his beard, and he enjoyed it.

After that he went straight to the cockpit, again to check on the flight path – noting that they were only a few hours out of the Coruscant system. They’d made quite good time considering they didn’t go the direct route, and he realised he would have to start thinking of what to do with the girl. But that was a problem for future Avanni. Until then, he decided that breakfast was a more pressing matter.

He went to the galley and prepared himself a simple prefab meal, tucking into it with little enthusiasm and checking his correspondents on a small datapad. He had an interesting offer about a delivery to Corulag, and that was certainly something to look into later. Before he could read more details about it, the girl entered the room, likely hungry.

”Good morning, sleep well?”

He tried his soft smile again, thinking that he was actually getting quite good at it. His cheeks stopped hurting when he did it, and that had to be a good sign. He left his half finished bowl of barely edible swill and got up from the table to approach her.

”I imagine you will be hungry now? As I said we don’t have the best of food here, but it’ll keep you nourished. Help yourself.”

He indicated over to the side where the prefab meals were stored, many of them could be eaten right away, but some were capable of being heated up. He reckoned it must be to try and make it somewhat nicer, but he had tried them as well – and it really wasn’t any great improvement. Swill was swill, be it hot or cold.

[Meira]

"Thank you." she replied, moving over to where he had indicated and taking a package of food and a utensil.

She sat across from him once again at the table and opened the package. The food contained was similar to rations they would receive from Green Meadows, though Whiskey expected it to be considerably lacking in the nutrients. Green Meadows spared no expense meeting the nutritional needs of their wards. She took a bite and had to fight back a grimace. That was another thing she wouldn't mind having the chip back for. With emotions controlled, the taste of food mattered little. It was surprising how much of life was different with the chip. Things she never thought would be affected were, and usually a great deal. But now... she wasn't sure if food had always tasted bad, or this particular package was spoiled. She checked the date and it seemed fine. Whiskey was no connoisseur, but she might prefer real food when they landed.

She managed to finish a reasonable amount. Enough to keep her stomach from growling. Once done, she cleared up the trash, taking what was sitting near by Avanni Silas as well. "I can clean whatever you need cleaning." she said as she emptied the trash into a bin. "To work off whatever I owe you."

And she would clean. Avanni Silas didn't keep a dirty ship, but he didn't have the same eyes as she did. Nor did he have her attention to detail. She would clean, and clean well. It would also give her a chance to finish the job of swapping out the datapads he was transporting.

"And when we get to Coruscant, I'll be on my way. You won't see me again, I promise."

[Susan]

The girl seemed to have assimilated herself onto the ship quite well, and with his permission she did indeed help herself. He had a feeling that just a few hours prior she would have preferred to huddle in a ball and stare at him with terrified saucer eyes. He wasn’t sure if she did have saucer eyes, he would have to have a proper look later, he just enjoyed the imagery.

As she was busy bustling around helping herself to the food, his attention went back to the datapad in front of him. There was a lot of news stories about this, that, and the other happening across the galaxy, but none of it he really had any interest in. In fact, he had long since given up on current affairs, and was instead perusing holovids for him to rent later. Amber’s company was fun enough for now, but he would get rid of her soon, and then he would need something else to keep him entertained whilst on his long distance flights. He had an extensive collection of vids as it was, but more couldn’t hurt.

They ate together pretty much in silence. Avanni too busy perusing through the discounted sections, and Amber too busy doing whatever young women did with their spare time. Thinking about shoes, he’d wager. He almost didn’t notice when she took away his discarded waste, and only did when she activated the trash dispenser, his dull silver eyes tearing away from the muted holovid he was watching to see what she was doing.

”That’s really not necessary.” And it really wasn’t, he had had stowaways in the past before, and likely would in the future. When he did, he generally made up something for them to do just to seem useful, and in the case of a pretty girl, he would often have his engine scrubbed. But in this case, Amber was a scared little girl, lost and looking for help. He wasn’t going to take advantage of that. Although this place could do with a bit of sprucing up. ”Buuuuut if you insist, I won’t stop you.” A weak smile this time, to be honest he didn’t care what she did on board his ship, so long as she behaved. He idly remembered a neighbour back on Eschan who used to clean in the nude, and wondered how common that was.

”Well if that’s your choice, that’s your choice. You can always come with me while I take care of some business if you like, might be able to get you some kind of job.” And that was a sincere offer, the contact who ordered the datapads was involved in several legitimate business practises. He was sure he could arrange for a job for her as a secretary or something. Or a stripper, he still wasn’t convinced she wasn’t inexperienced in that field.

[Meira]

She was glad that Avanni Silas conceded to let her clean. She would now have an opportunity to reclaim her satchel and store it somewhere more accessible for when she made the switch. And until then, she would have something to focus her mind on while she waited. Idle time made her feel as if her skin was trying to crawl away from the rest of her body. She couldn't handle it. Whiskey needed tasks to complete. Eating, sleeping, bathing. It didn't matter how mundane. She simply needed a way to focus her mind.

"I'll start in here then." she said, her eyes moving around the room to determine the best place to start. The surfaces and counter tops seemed as good a place as any, so without asking, Whiskey began to rummage for cleaning supplies. She managed to find sufficient cleaning solutions and a few rags and a sponge. It would have to do.

Whiksey set into her work, focusing her energy on the task and only sparing Avanni Silas enough attention to know if he was still in the room or not. As she cleaned, she waited for him to leave. As soon as he did, she would retrieve her satchel, and more importantly, her knife. Then she would be able to move on to cleaning the bathroom, where she had seen him hide the datapads before she'd fallen and gotten herself into this mess.

"No." she said to Avanni Silas when he offered to help her find work on Coruscant. "I know I was afraid before, but I can take care of myself." Not a lie.

[Susan]

He watched her for a few moments as she wondered around the ship’s galley. At some of the dive bars he would often frequent, there were spacers like him who often enjoyed sharing humour over a tankard of what passed for alcohol. Avanni wasn’t really one to tell jokes, but he often liked to listen – some of them could be quite amusing. A common theme to a lot of the funny little stories was the implication that women were only good for a handful of things, cleaning being the second most commonly mentioned. The Echani did not really agree with those opinions, in his upbringing he had met many powerful women, and was raised to respect them. On Eschan, women were not just cleaners or sex dolls, often holding more power than the men.

This girl that had happily fallen into his lap would certainly seemed like she would be good at the first most frequent things balding spacers would joke about at a bar. Her looks would most likely generate a lot of interest in her, which was why he had initially thought she were a stripper. She’d earn an absolute fortune. After spending some time with her however, he had decided that this may not be the case. To him those who exhibited their bodies for money exhumed confidence, Amber seemed far too timid to be into that kind of thing. He was surprised whoever set her up to steal from him chose to use her as a footpad rather than taking advantage of her natural assets. The probably were just not very good criminals, as illustrated by needing a little girl to steal a few datapads.

”If that’s what you want girl, I’m not your father. I think you should reconsider though, it’s a dangerous world out there. Even though it’s the core, doesn’t make it any safer than Nar Shaddaa.”

It was true, some of the lower tiers on Coruscant housed some right nasty pasties. Of course the illustrious high rises and ivory towers were crawling with private security and even a whiff of wrongdoing would be thrown out. People like him had no place up there though, and he doubted some runaway urchin from the rim would either. No matter how pretty.

”You can probably just potter about in this room, Amber. I don’t think anywhere else is all that bad to be honest. Had some maintenance droid do the bathroom last week anyway, needed some of the tiles touched up.”

Very little from that sentence was factual. Pretty much all of the ship could do with some cleaning, he hadn’t done any himself in a while. As she certainly already noted, given her apparent penchant for cleaning, his own room were a right sty. The bathroom had had a good clean, but it wasn’t by a maintenance droid, and it wasn’t last week. About a month or so ago he had pulled half the wall out to install the little hidey hole where his current cargo was living, and gave the place a clean while he did so. Nothing really major, washed the toothbrushes and flushed the toilet. But it counted as cleaning.

[Meira]

She nodded her head at the man's comment on the bathroom. But he was either stupid or lying. That bathroom was not clean in the least. It didn't matter though. She would set about cleaning for now and wait for a good opportunity. So she scrubbed and wiped the layers of grime off the surfaces in the room, working her way from the counter tops to the table. She'd been right, having her mind focused to a task seemed to relax her a great deal.

At some point, Avanni Silas had left the room. He'd been gone before she noticed. At one point, he was there, and then the next time she looked up, he was not. She wasn't sure how much time had passed though. She'd been too engrossed in her work. But when she did notice he was gone, Whiskey paused in her cleaning to figure out where he was. It wasn't hard to find him. She managed to see him working in the cockpit without being noticed. So she moved silently back to the galley.

Whiskey paused for a few moments, listening for movement. When she heard none, she hopped up onto a chair and reached up into the overhead piping. After a moment of groping her hand around, her fingers found the strap to the satchel. Whiskey pulled the bag down and moved on silent feet back to the room that had been provided to her. She pulled the knife from the bag and stored it quickly into her boot. It was a relief to have a weapon on her person once again. What remained were the false datapads she was tasked with switching for the real ones. She left them in the satchel for now, hiding it under the mattress. She would have to take her time with this. If she rushed, he might catch her.

So Whiskey returned to her cleaning. She found a mop in a closet. Though it was somewhat dirty, it seemed to have never been used. The grime it carried was simply from having been in that closet for who knew how long. Whiskey cleaned it up and started to work on the floors. She knew it wouldn't be too much longer before they reached Coruscant. Her timing had to be perfect. Soon, she would finish here and move to clean the bathroom. If she did well, she would finish there and have the datapads switched just as they were landing. She could be gone with the proper datapads before Avanni Silas went to make the drop. If all went according to plan, the switched datapads wouldn't even be realized until it was too late.

[Susan]

Cleaning did not interest Avanni Silas in the slightest. Not that you would be able to tell from the state of his ship, not at all. His complete disinterest in the activity extended out to watching someone else doing it as well, even if that someone was a pretty girl. He rose from his seated position, making a slight groan as he rolled his shoulders. For someone who spent pretty much all of his time cooped up in small spaces, he would have thought his body would have adjusted to the cramp by now. Apparently not.

Amber looked quite engrossed in her cleaning, and in a way she seemed quite happy. The Echani smuggler did not really have anything to say to her, so he did not bother to interrupt her. There was no point in telling her he was vacating the room, it was not like he would be going far anyway. And a few moments later he had left the galley and arrived at his destination. His ship really was not that big at all, especially if you disregarded the cargo bay. As was fitting for a freighter, the cargo bay was the main part of the Redrum, and Avanni scarcely had any reason to walk the length of it – certainly not whilst the ship was in transit.

He set himself up in the cockpit and played with the buttons for a few moments. People who devoted their lives to being star pilots became incredibly versed with controlling what basically amounted to many thousands of tonnes of metal hurtling through space at breakneck speeds. There was a lot of complexity when it came to being a great pilot. But really, a lot of it just amounted to playing with a few buttons. In this case, Avanni was making a slight course adjustment to take advantage of an old shortcut he knew. It was not particularly save or was it well advised to travel off the main hyperspace lanes, but it shaved a few hours off the journey time. Speed was of the essence when it came to his profession, even if it meant a little extra risk.

He shut off the command console and was back in the galley within two shakes of a lekku. The girl seemed to still be enjoying her cleaning, and was employing the use of a strange implement that Avanni did not recognise. It was too big for her to have had that upon her person, so she must have found it somewhere on the ship. He doubted it belonged to his co pilot, so maybe it was just something that came along as standard.

”Your doing a good job here Amber, well done.” He meant it as a sincere gesture of gratification, although he wasn’t sure if his statement was actually true or not. He couldn’t tell if there was much of a difference here, but the place sort of looked a little... shiny. ”You can leave it for now though I think, we will be arriving at Coruscant soon. If you need to get yourself cleaned up or anything, I’d advise you do it now.”

He assumed that cleaning would make someone dirty, hence the offer of cleaning herself up a bit, despite it probably not being all that necessary. As well as this, he was thinking of getting touch in some friends on Coruscant anyway, try and get her a job or something. It didn’t sit right with him letting a young girl just wonder off into the dark.

[Meira]

The layers of dirt were more difficult to clean through than Whiskey had expected. But the strain on her muscles in her arms was a welcome feeling. Even with the work she'd managed to find here and there in recent history, she was simply not able to keep up the perfect physical condition she'd maintained while with Green Meadows. It was hard to tell just how off she was, however. Before, when the chip kicked in would be the indicator, but it hadn't even shocked her in some time. It was likely completely dead now. Strange how she felt a pang in her chest at the thought of losing it entirely. She could always get it back, or get a new one more likely, if she returned.

”Your doing a good job here Amber, well done.”

He hadn't entirely surprised her. She'd been aware of the movement nearby, but was lost in her thoughts until he spoke. She stood up straight, leaning onto the mop and looked around. She'd done more of the floors than she'd intended to, her mind straying as it did. She doubted she would have time to clean the restroom now.

"Thank you." she said, chewing at her bottom lip. How was she going to do this now? Luckily, Avanni Silas provided the solution. Yes, she'd get cleaned up.

When he seemed to move back toward the cockpit, Whiskey went to her room and retrieved her satchel. She stepped into the restroom and activated the refresher, allowing the sound to cover her true purpose. Whiskey moved away the panel she'd seen Avanni Silas move when she first stowed away on the ship. In the compartment sat the seemingly innocent datapads. Without hesitation, Whiskey switched the false one with the true ones. That work being done, she returned the panel and cleaned herself up quickly.

Now it was only a matter of getting the satchel off the ship without Avanni noticing. She decided the duct that she used to board the ship would be best. He could not fit into it, so Whiskey stowed the satchel inside. Once they landed and parted ways, Whiskey would circle back to the ship for the bag. Simple.

[Susan]

The Echani left her to go to the bathroom herself, and headed back to the cockpit. He did not see the confused young girl that enjoyed to clean as anything remotely close to a threat, and saw no need to keep a close eye on her as he did before. At any rate, they would soon be arriving at their destination, and there was very much an unarmed, unskilled young person could do aboard his ship to cause any significant harm. At the very worst she could leave the tap running and flood the bathroom, and while it would probably be costly to fix up it was hardly a major issue.

At the cockpit, he sent a few messages out over the con, getting in touch with a few people that he could trust on the capital. Or at least as close as a smuggler could get to trusting someone. The one that had the most promise was a Zabrak who ran a greasy cantina in one of the lower and seedier tiers of the capital, and Avanni was quite sure he’d need an extra waitress. It was not glitz and glamour, but it was better than nothing – and the smuggler could hardly get his little stowaway a seat on the senate.

Shortly after he had done what he needed to do, the ship dropped out of hyperspace and began the approach of Coruscant. Avanni felt that he was quite a skilled pilot, pretty damn good was an understatement as far as he was concerned – but for the most part he did not have to do an awful lot of piloting himself. The droids these day were that advanced that sentient interaction was only needed on an ad hoc basis when the ship was in some severe trouble. There was no trouble to be had on this entire trip from Nar Shaddaa, and so Avanni programmed the descent into the computer and let it do its thing.

Traversing back down the length of his ship, he soon arrived at the restroom, and knocked politely on the door. ”Amber, you ready? We’ll hit planetside in a matter of minutes.” He hoped she was ready, because he needed to get into the bathroom to recover his package before they landed. After waiting for a response, he knocked again and the door opened slightly, after further investigation he realised she was already done in the bathroom and was probably back in the galley patiently waiting. He sighed to himself and rolled his eyes at his own mistake, before heading into the bathroom and retrieving the secreted away datapads whilst he was there. He pulled out the small package and tucked it under his arm and then headed to the galley, where sure enough he found the girl peacefully minding her own business. If only all stowaways could be this good.

”Hey there you are. We are landing soon, you all ready?”

He smiled at the girl and indicated for her to follow him to the airlock, soon she’d be out of his care and hopefully in employment on the galactic capital. He’d escort her to whichever one of his ‘friends’ responded first, and then deliver the package. His good deed of the year done, and a hell of a lot of credits transferred into his account. Jobs a good ‘un.

[Meira]

Whiskey sat in the galley, listening to the ship. Changes in the sounds the engines made told her all she needed to know about where they were in the process of landing. She marveled at the way she seemed to want to fly the ship. She believed the word best suited to the sensation was longing, but she couldn't be sure. She'd never experienced it before. At least, not that she could remember. But that is what she wanted; to be behind the controls of a ship once again. It had been far too long, and the last ship she had piloted was a far cry from the finely tuned machines she was allowed to use at Green Meadows.

Avanni Silas entered the room and asked if she was ready. She nodded, then followed silently as he led her to the airlock. Whiskey was content that she did not have to kill this man. She never intended to interact with him, but he was pleasant. Having food and a bed was certainly preferable to sleeping in the duct work like she had planned.

Not long after they arrived at the airlock, the ship settled and the engines began to cool down. Whiskey once again found herself wondering what the general public did in situations like this. She never much had to worry about saying goodbye to people. The only ones she ever had memory of either didn't care because they were like her, or they were more interested in her test results and blood work.

"Thank you, again." she managed, looking up at the man. "For being kind to me." The airlock opened and Whiskey turned to quickly exit the ship, but stopped only a few steps away before turning around. "Now that we're here. Could I have my blaster back?"

[Susan]

They walked towards the airlock in silence, neither really with anything to say. It was a strange and quite likely unprecedented situation for Avanni. He had transported passengers before, even smuggled a few illegally into restricted space, but that was always business. He was always paid for those trips, and quite often handsomely too. Yet with this girl she was not a paying passenger, but a stowaway, an unwanted trespasser upon his ship. He had had stowaways before too, and for the most part he did try to stay civil with them. With he noted exception of that redheaded devil woman from a few weeks ago that still occasionally invaded his thoughts. When he eventually got to his destination, he would kick a stowaway off without a second thought. But this Amber, she was on his ship because of an unfortunate turn of events, she was not to blame – and she seemed helpless and innocent to how bad the galaxy could truly be. Not that he himself was naive enough to think that he could somehow ‘save’ her. That’s not how he thought, and he didn’t plan on being anyone’s knight in shining eyebrows any time soon. No, but maybe he could help her.

As they were waiting for the airlock to pressurise, the Echani’s personal datapad binged at his waist and he casually checked the message. It wasn’t quite what he was hoping for, the first of the contacts he had tried to reach out to turning down his request. With a poorly hidden frown and grunt of discontent, he clipped the pad back to his belt, and turned to the girl beside him. ”You were on my ship through no fault of your own, Amber. I could hardly do anything less than help out a lost little girl now could I?” If the smuggler realised he was being patronising and pompous, then he didn’t really seem to care about it. What he did care about was her request about retrieving her weapon.

It was quite a good piece of kit, and not something he thought the girl should be running about with. Not just because he thought it was too good for her, but someone with that kind of firepower risked having it violently taken from them. Rules of the road, if you had a big gun you best be prepared to use it. Although he could hardly just leave her defenceless, even if he did manage to find someone to take her in. ”Alright. It is yours, after all. But I want to make sure you know how to use it. I need to drop this off somewhere, but I will be back soon.” He tapped the small package under his arm before stepping off the ship and into the dusky atmosphere of the glorious capital. ”Hang around and I will meet you back at my ship in about an hour if you like? I will get you your blaster, and give you a few tips.”

He gave her a fleeting smile and hoped she would agree to his offer. He was pretty sure she would need the lessons, and not giving her the blaster right now meant she probably wouldn’t wonder off alone. He debated taking her with him to the drop, but decided it was not the place for a young girl. He knew how to handle himself, Amber would be hapless.

[Meira]

Whiskey was at a loss. She knew she still had much to learn about normal interaction between sentient beings, but she thought she'd had the concept of ask and receive down. She had maintained a non-threatening air throughout their encounter. There was no conceivable reason, in her mind, why he would refuse to give her the blaster back. But he was walking away. Whiskey blinked as her eyes followed his exit from the landing pad. He did say he would give it to her when he got back. But that did not coincide with her plan. She would be gone when he got back. He would not be able to give her the blaster then. But Avanni was not aware of this part of her plan. He could not be expected to comply.

Whiskey let out a grunt of frustration. She should have just killed him. Then she'd have her blaster AND a ship. The job wouldn't have been done perfectly, but perfection wasn't a necessity if she had a ship. She wouldn't have to please her employer anymore. She could leave on whatever terms she saw fit. Now she was going to have to waste time searching for the blaster on the ship before Avanni came back. All this work just so that she didn't kill him. It was tedious. Killing was quicker, cleaner.

She waited a while to make sure he was well enough gone before circling the ship to find the duct that had been her original entry into the vessel. She forced it back open and crawled up inside. Retrieving the satchel, Whiskey then began her search for the blaster. She'd been unconscious when he took it, so she couldn't be sure exactly where he'd stowed it. There were a few others on the vessel, she was sure, but this was her blaster. Of all the things in her life she'd been made to forget, her blaster was always with her. She knew every piece of its construction as thoroughly as if she'd machined them herself. It was very much an extension of herself. As much a part of her as a hand or foot, maybe even more. She would not be leaving it behind.

The door to Avanni's private quarters was sealed shut. That was where she suspected it to be. With another frustrated sigh, she moved to the cockpit to find the controls. Hacking was not one of her strengths, but she would have to make it one today.

[Susan]

The Echani was feeling strangely pleased with himself. He never really was a people person, but he had done quite well in this instance he thought. Not only had he convinced Amber to trust him fully, but he had also stumbled on the opportunity to give back to someone who needed the help. For the most part Avanni felt that people should be strong enough to stand upon their own two feet, but this girl was something else. She was in a terrible situation through no fault of her own, and just trying to do what she could to survive. Avanni could respect that, and in a bizarre way he felt somewhat responsible for the naive young stowaway.

The smuggler grew up as an only child, and friends were few and far between. He believed that he had quite a prestigious childhood, although he was still quite close to his mother. He was not sure what his life would be like if he had a sister, perhaps it would be different for the better. For a start he would likely treat women better. He considered himself something of a Lothario, a gift to women everywhere, and that they should be grateful for his attention. For some reason the way he was around this young girl was different, he was not even quite sure why himself. It was not like he didn’t find her attractive, he spent the first few hours since discovering Amber on his ship imagining her as a stripper, and all the things that that entailed.

Yet now, marching through the busy Coruscanti walkways towards his next big payoff, all he could think with regards to her was how best to help. He was starting to consider taking her along with him. He didn’t really need the company, for the most part he and Tanner kept themselves to themselves, and the truth of it was Avanni did not really much care for his co-pilot. His line of work was dangerous, and he had come to losing his life on more than one occasion – but there was very little Amber could do that would not be potentially life threatening, such was the nature of the galaxy. Perhaps it was time he took on a little apprentice, he had his teachers and trainers throughout his life, maybe now it was time for him to turn instructor himself.

Although he may prove to be quite a forgetful instructor, he cursed himself and turned on his heel, anger-fuelled strides taking him back towards his freighter. He had remembered to bring the package, but he had completely forgotten the second most important part of this delivery. Because of the clandestine nature of the operation, the employer wanted to be especially sure that the parcel was not intercepted on route. As such, Avanni was provided with a specially encoded identification chip, something which he had accidentally left on the side in the cockpit. He was already halfway to the meet but now he would have to trek all the way back to the Redrum, only to start his journey all over again.

He was not in the best of the moods by the time he got back to the docks, although at least he could check up on the girl. To his dismay it appeared that she had ignored his instructions and wandered off, she was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps that was his fault though, he should have allowed her to stay on board the ship rather than out here in the cold all alone. And then he noticed something that worried him a little, and made him think that perhaps the young girl hadn’t just wandered off. The grate he had noticed back on Nar Shaddaa was not just loose anymore, but rather it was completely discarded – leaving a gap behind big enough for any variety of raiders and thieves. Clearly someone was waiting for him to arrive to try and intercept his cargo, looks like they arrived a little late. The former Republic soldier drew his blaster pistol at any rate as he head up the landing ramp. There was a good chance whoever the unknown intruders were, they had Amber – and would likely try to hurt her in an effort to get the goods. And that would be on him, Avanni had no intentions of letting harm come to the girl. Weapon in hand and ever vigilant, the smuggler boarded his own ship and headed down the main corridor. Whilst he wasn’t the best gunslinger, he was more than confident enough to allow the weapon to take the lead. And if need be, the blaster could do the talking.

[Meira]

She was getting nowhere. The codes and language of the computer were entirely foreign to the assassin. She knew everything this ship could do. Controls involved in flight stood out to her and called as if written by her own hand, but the security scripts were a blur. Whiskey could feel the frustration building inside of her. Today, the chip would be no help. How long had it been since she'd last felt its influence? She could not remember.

Tears suddenly flooded the small woman's eyes. Unbidden and unwelcome, Whiskey let out a shout of frustration, slamming her fists down onto the console. Why hadn't she just gone back? She could be rid of all of this; the frightful dreams, the anger, the pain, all of it. They could make her forget. They could fix her. Why did she continue to insist on being broken? What good could come of this half formed experiment she told herself she was conducting? She thought she wanted freedom, but how was this freedom? She lived hand to mouth, hungered, and restrained herself from taking lives when doing so could easily improve her situation. Why? What did she care for these people? When presented with this so called freedom, why did she restrain herself?

The sound of the ramp lowering came to her ears and Whiskey went rigid. Wiping her eyes, she realized it had to be Avanni. He was back too soon to have conducted his business. He must have forgotten something, or thought to return for her. That same frustration that had just reduced her to futile tears now turned and burned inside of her. She was done with pretending. She wanted what was hers, and now she was going to take it.

Standing, Whiskey moved toward the hushed sounds of Avanni's footsteps. He was trying to be quiet. He must have seen how she'd gotten in. He would not attack her if she made herself visible to him. His hesitancy would be her advantage. She met him in the corridor, blaster drawn. Though her eyes were red from crying, she no longer wore the innocent, scared mask she'd presented before. Avanni would not see Whiskey for the blank faced, emotionless killer that she was.

Whiskey closed the distance quickly, they were only a few steps apart. In one swift motion, Whiskey grabbed his hand that held the blaster and turned her body so that her back collided against his chest, then brought an elbow up to connect with his nose. In that moment, his grip faltered and she freed the blaster from his hand, turning around to level it against him.

"Give me my weapon."

[Susan]

He was tense. And he was angry, damn angry. He had no idea what was going on, but there was an intruder here, somewhere on his ship. His ship. The Echani had to keep himself in check, as enraged as he was quickly becoming, he had to keep a clean head. If he failed to do that then he could very well be walking into his own death, he may as well let them use his own blaster to do it. No, he would have to be intelligent about this - work out the details of this incursion onto his property, who and how numerous. To his knowledge he hadn't pissed off any real villains in the galactic underworld, so most likely he would be facing a couple of hired mercs sent for the package. Street thugs, he could handle street thugs.

He edged further along the interior of the cargo ship. A ship that he had recently come to realise was much larger than it looked - it seemed to be taking an eternity to navigate. He had his arms out, slightly bent at the elbows, blaster pistol leading the charge. He was not nearly as comfortable with the firearm as he perhaps should have been, but he never really felt the need. Avanni was much better versed in more intimate forms of combat. He likely wouldn't last with these bandits if they ended up trading ammunition across the hallways - the smuggler would have to work out a way to introduce his fists and his feet to their various body parts. Perhaps even his teeth would get an introduction of their own.

Suddenly things changed. There was the smallest of noises and he flicked his field of vision over to locate the source. His eyes widened in a brief glint of recognition, the person on his ship was not a stranger after all. "Amb-" He never quite managed to finish the short world, instead being interrupted by blinding pain. He wasn't even sure about the source at first, and once he had worked that out - he had no idea how many times she had managed to hit him. Amber caught him completely off guard and he was helpless at her feet. His nose was definitely broken, but he had a feeling that that would be the least of his worries. As he recognised the barrel of his own weapon pointed directly at his recently rearranged face, he slowly raised his arms up, grimacing ever so slightly as the blood seeped from his nose. It meandered haphazardly across his face and down onto his not exactly clean beforehand flight suit. Once more though, the dry cleaning bill did not get into his head right now.

"Names not really Amber, is it?" Somehow the lost little girl had completely deceived him, he was still not totally clued up on exactly what was going on. Everything he thought he knew about this girl was absolutely false. Not only was she clearly not a poor girl with the universe stacked against her, she had a hell of a punch. And she had him dead to rights.

"That's mine now kid. Call it payment for the ride and my generous hospitality. You can go screw yourself." Avanni thought himself a skilled fighter, but he found it hard to think with a blaster a few feet from his face. He had a few ideas on how to disarm his opponent, but something told him that this Amber or whatever her name was would have more than a few things to say about that. Despite the defiance in his words, the Echani smuggler was not feeling mighty confident. But no way was he giving her that blaster back. A victory was a victory no matter how small.

[Meira]

"No." she said to his question about the name she had given him. He then refused her demand. Whiskey moved the blaster slightly to the left of his head and fired a shot. The beam seared into the wall, leaving the area black with soot.

"You made the mistake of not killing me when you found me. I am grateful for that, but I will not extend you the same kindness for much longer. Look at my eyes Avanni Silas. Killing you will not be a problem for me."

Whiskey motioned with the blaster for Avanni to stand back up. She was not lying. Whiskey had had enough of restraint, or pretending. She was a killer, it was all she knew. Denying that was pointless, especially when that denial was counter productive to her own survival.

"You will open the door to your room, or I will kill you."

[Susan]

A chronic problem Avanni Silas had suffered through during many periods of his life was his seeming inability to shut the hell up, no matter the situation. This was not the first time he was held at gun point – although it was not usually his own gun. He had gotten out of those sticky spots before, although he was less optimistic with this one. His go to response – talk and talk and talk, and look for an opening. The speed and strength the young woman displayed in disarming him inspired terror in the Echani pilot, however. That wasn’t the kind of stuff you picked up drifting around the fringe, that was high level training. He had devoted almost the entirety of his life to his own martial training, and he was caught completely and utterly off guard. Did not mean he was down and out for the count though. ”Amber is a silly name any-“ The usually quick-tongued smuggler was cut off uncharacteristically quickly, but a blaster bolt that close to your head tended to be a good indicator to change your ways and shut the hell up. He could swear he could smell the hairs on the side of his head burning.

He looked into the woman’s eyes as she spoke to him, as she held the weapon in front of him unwaveringly. Pretty girl. Scary girl. He was far from the best liar but he was egotistical enough to think he was a good one, and that he knew how to spot a better one. Either Amber was a system class swindler, or she was telling the cold hard truth. She had deceived him well enough so far, but he was not ready to take the chance again. If she would kill him given the chance, then she would not have the chance. ”I really need to start spacing the people I find on my ship.” The sorrow filled complaint was more a statement to himself and the world at large, rather than in the direction of his former passenger. Picking up stowaways and hitch hikers was becoming more than just a pain in the mikta for the Echani, one of these days it was going to get him killed.

He did not plan for that day to be this one. There was no chance he was letting her past that door, if she had what she wanted then there was no guarantee that she wouldn’t just kill him anyway and take his ship. Which was probably her plan anyway, and the smuggler had to agree that it was quite the plan. Better than anything he could come up with right at this very moment. No, the only plan he could think of was a very bad one indeed. Yet it was far better than the alternatives.

His arms still aloft, he relaxed his body slightly and took the smallest of steps backwards with his left foot only. ”Look, Amber. I’ll call you Amber since I doubt you will give me your true one. I have no idea what your end game is here, but there’s nothing here that can help you. Why don’t we just t-“ And then he decided to execute what could well have been the second most stupid idea he had ever had. His left leg rose slightly and swept towards the woman, with both arms coming down heavily to try and wrest the weapon from his attacker’s grasp. Avanni had no intention of dying on this day. But even the best laid plans often went awry.

[Meira]

She agreed with his sentiment, but said nothing as the Echani man came to his feet. She was watching him closely, but couldn't tell what he was thinking. He must have been in situations like this before, as he did not show many of the outward signs of distress she'd learned to recognize. However, she could see that his mind was working, trying to find an answer to this problem he'd found himself in. She watched his eyes, which did not focus on her consistently, but would focus somewhere just slightly off center, as if in thought. They'd return to her, and then wander again. He was definitely trying to think of something.

She was so wrapped up in watching his eyes that Whiskey didn't see his shift in weight as he brought his leg up and swiped it at her. She barely dodged his foot, and in the act did not notice his hand as it came slamming down. The force of the blow knocked the blaster from her hand and sent it sliding across the floor to a far side of the room. Whiskey was already grinding her teeth in frustration. Two moves catching her off guard? That would never have happened if the chip was still working. She would never be here. She would be back at Green Meadows or out on another mission... that she wouldn't remember.

With an uncharacteristic growl, Whiskey dropped to her knee, pulling the large knife from its place in her boot. Just as his foot was lowering from his strike, Whiskey finally managed her reaction. The knife slid easily into the flesh just above his heel, severing the tendon there. She did this just as quickly as he had executed his own attack, but to the assassin, it felt like they were fighting in water. It was slow.

Tossing the knife gently in the air, she caught it again in a reverse grip and rushed at Avanni. In the moment of pain and confusion, she managed to catch him off balance and knock him to the ground. Placing a knee at the base of his sternum to discourage resistance, she glanced back at his leg. There was already a considerable pool of blood on the ground. She'd cut through an artery then. If he was still, he could slow the rate at which he lost blood. And she could help him, if he helped her.

"You cannot walk now, Avanni Silas." she said, her voice regaining its cold, detached tone. She pressed her knee down harder on his chest and held the knife to his throat. "Tell me how to deactivate the security systems, or you will bleed to death."

[Susan]

The entire point of a surprise attack was to be quick, quicker than the target could see or expect. The young woman had already proven that she was good at executing them when she so easily disarmed the Echani pilot, but now it was Avanni’s turn to press the offensive. He was confident enough when it came to close combat, it was part of his blood. The fact that his somewhat foolhardy tactic did indeed get by whatever defences the woman may have was not a shock to him. That is, it wouldn’t be if there was enough time for such shock to register. The leg sweep may not have connected, but the rest of the attack came to fruition as the stowaway was disarmed – although Avanni’s attack did not quite have the same elegant fluidity earlier displayed by his young passenger.

As the weapon was scattered away from the both of them, the Echani’s silver eyes were hypnotised by the blaster that was quickly becoming more and more out of reach. So distracted was he that he had no chance to see that Amber was far from done – underestimating her had already proven to be a big mistake, one he seemed incredibly prone to repeat. All of a sudden, the brief surge of triumph from his own successful gambit was soon drained away a d replaced by something, whilst not entirely unfamiliar, completely unwelcome. It began near his foot, and then the rest of his body was screaming at him as he collapsed to the deck. His head hit the metal floor inducing a near-disabling ringing in his ears and more than noticeable vision impairment. He felt like a thermal detonator had just gone off directly beside him, the little control he had of the situation was completely and utterly vanquished.

There was a weight on his chest and his eyes tried to focus on the blurred figure in front of him, it took some time but things were starting to swim into vision. He could at least tell that the figure was a person, although any distinguishing features beyond that were lost to him. He had had this dream before, although the circumstances were much different. Usually he did not feel like his foot was trying to eat him, for example. Not only that, but he was pretty certain his foot was winning. Then reality decided to take a greater hold of him, explaining the more intricate details of the situation that was unfolding. Avanni did not really like this. He preferred it when his foot was trying to eat him. The fact of the matter was, where once was a poor young girl lost and needing assistance, there was now a cold calculating killer promising to end his life. He really wished she was a stripper. It seemed that the only thing between him and instant death was the security codes on his door. They were not that advanced, it might take a while but he was pretty sure this person, whoever she was, could crack it eventually. He’d be damned if his last act was to make it any easier for her. Avanni Silas prided himself on being difficult. ”E chu, ta!” The brief phrase was said with as much defiance as the crippled Echani could muster, which was very little. He had spent much of the last few years out on the fringe, with all sorts of Huttese curses floating around his mind. They may not be the best last words, but he decided to go out with a classic.

As far as he was concerned, Avanni Silas, smuggler extraordinaire, had reached his final destination.

[Meira]

She waited, a shining example of patience, while his mind and body came to terms with what had happened. It took some time, as he'd hit his head pretty hard when he fell and the loss of blood was not likely helping. but soon, Avanni Silas' eyes came back into focus. She repeated her warning that he would bleed to death, unless he helped her. She felt as though this were a perfectly reasonable situation, and it would all be settled soon.

Avanni Silas, however, seemed to think differently. She understood the curse, but not why he used it. This was not a pattern of behavior she was familiar with. It was Whiskey's understanding that, when faced with certain death, people became more cooperative in the interest of self preservation. No one wanted to die. But this Echani's refusal seemed to indicate just the opposite. She did not believe it was a matter of his race. Whiskey knew that Echani took martial arts very seriously, but she could not think of any code of honor that might prevent him from giving something up in order to live.

Tilting her head slightly, Whiskey's honey colored eyes stared at the man. There was no emotion there, save for a small amount of perplexed confusion. She leaned down closer, her knee consequently pushing a bit harder against his ribs. "Your resistance is futile, Avanni Silas. I will gain the access I want with or without your help. Helping me will ensure your survival. I told you that I do not want to kill you. So why do you refuse?"

His eyes were beginning to lose focus again. An acidic sensation began to stir in her nerves. Frustration, mixing with her confusion. She grabbed his chin, shaking his face and repeated. Avanni groaned slightly, but did not answer. Whiskey could feel a tightening in her chest, but her own body felt frozen as she stared into his fading eyes. His face fell to the side when she released her grip and Whiskey knew he'd gone unconscious. It wouldn't be long until his heart failed.

"Avanni." she said, moving her weight from on top of him and shaking his shoulders, but he did not stir. Frantic now, she removed his belt and tightened it around his leg in an attempt to stop the flow of blood. She slipped in it as she scrambled, the metallic smell hanging in the air around her. Slowly, the spurts of blood stopped. Whiskey groped at his neck, searching for a pulse. If it was there, she couldn't feel it. His chest no longer moved.

"AVANNI!" she cried out, her eye watering against her will. There were smears of red on the skin of his neck and face. Without understanding why, she reached to wipe them away, but only managed to smear more. Looking down at her hands, Whiskey saw that they were red with his blood. It covered the floor in an almost black pool, grotesque splatters of it spread where she'd moved around him. Her clothes were sticky with it.

Whiskey ground her teeth, unable to distinguish between rage and regret. Why? It made no sense. WHY?! She found herself screaming this unanswerable question as she pounded her fists against his corpse. Never had she felt so ineffective, futile, and alone. As tears began to flow from her eyes in earnest, her rage turned inward. Somewhere inside her skull, there was a chip that would have stopped this, all of this. But it was dead; as dead as Avanni Silas.

And for what? This... experiment? What had she gained from her choice? What did she have to show, spare a hollow head that echoed pain and dwelt on failure? She grabbed at the overgrown shoots of jet black hair on either side of her head, her blood soaked hands sticking as she pulled and growled out what she couldn't stand to feel. She was broken. She could feel it in her chest and in her stomach. The knowledge of it shot up and down her spine in spasms. She was broken, and this was the result.

Her eyes opened and she stared at the body on the floor in front of her again. This is what she did. She was broken. They'd broken her and built her into a machine that did this, then taken away her ability to feel it. Wasn't it better that way? Was this not the answer she'd been searching for? She could not live like this. Even without a functioning chip, she was broken and would continue to break others. She could not do this and feel it too. So why did her stomach turn at the thought of going back? Why did her mind shrink away from the obvious answer?

Whiskey lost the strength to sit as her mind warred with the unsolvable problem of her own existence. She slumped to the floor and found herself staring into Avanni Silas' half closed, silver eyes. He's empty. she thought. Like me. The only difference was that Avanni Silas could not feel that emptiness.