Hot on my Heels
Author: Rochelle B
Fandom: SWtOR
Characters: Various from the smuggler, trooper, and Jedi Consular story quests.
Pairings: Fem!Smuggler/Corso Riggs, Fem!Trooper/Elara Dorne. Male!Consular/The Jedi Code.
Genre: Action/Adventure, Romance, Drama, and Sci-Fi.
Notes: This story is mostly Smuggler centric, but does feature the Trooper and Consular as main characters, as well as the various companions, and probably a Jedi Knight at some point.
Warnings: Language, Racism, mentions of past slavery/abuse, lesbianism, and a handful of deeply dysfunctional people.
Summery: Tial Chraya is a lot of things: Loud, crackshot, smart mouthed, and full of attitude. But now, shipless and reunited with the siblings she likes to pretend don't exist, she's forced to reevaluate her life.
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Chapter One
But I Move Too Fast
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Leta Chraya knew she was there a day before actually speaking to her. She glimpsed her for a moment and nearly tripped on her feet trying to crane her neck around to get a better look. It had only been a brief look but she knew it was her and it had taken a serious effort to not go after her. Instead she'd gone about her mission, hoping that they wouldn't cross paths and she could put the siting out of her mind.
It went well, until she was leaving the planet.
She heard her before she saw her, and wasn't surprised to see the older woman, pistol drawn and crouched behind a cargo box when she rounded the corner.
"Sorry boys, I don't fly cargo. You'll have to tell Rogun to come visit me."
Leta sighed loudly, drawing the attention of the three men in the room, one human and two aliens, before drawing her side arm. The woman in cover smiled widely then made a motion towards the lone human male. Leta nodded her understanding.
"Sir?" Aric said, clearly hesitant.
"You're under arrest. Hands up." Leta said, tone firm.
The aliens exchanged glances then, as Leta had expected, reached for their own weapons. The human male reacted fast, cracking the taller alien once across the face with his rifle and then again in the back of the neck. Once the alien was down the man fired.
The second alien pivoted on his feet, rolling into cover. The human male scowled and followed, though at a much more subdued pace. The small alien fired, but his bolts were absorbed by the human's shield generator. Leta started to follow but the older woman held up a hand to stop her.
"Don't bother. He needs to let off a little steam anyway."
"I wouldn't need to let off steam if you hadn't shot Syreena!"
"She would have done the same." The woman said, hand going to her hip. "You can't let people off with murder just because they have tits!"
"What? No!" The human reached over and dragged the alien up by his shirt, batting the blaster away with obvious frustration. "You should do it because you don't want to stoop to their level."
She sighed impatiently then waved a hand dismissively. There was an awkward moment where Leta watched the human, who seemed to be about her age and a native of the planet if the thick drawl was any indication, shake the small alien senseless while ranting about the degradation of morals in society.
"I was raised to not shoot women! You open doors and pull out chairs for them, not threaten to haul them off to be killed by a guy named 'The Butcher'." With that he dropped the alien and shook his head. "It's just uncivilized. What is the world coming to, really, when two men show up to take on one little woman?"
The alien whimpered, whatever courage he had vanished. Leta didn't know if it was the barrel pressed against his skull or the incensed human yelling at him, but either way she could see where he was coming from.
"Now. Tell the captain here how to get into contact with Rogun." Some more whimpering and then an insistence that he was supposed to take Tial (alive or dead) and receive instruction later. "I see. Captain?"
"Let him go." The woman muttered, frowning. "We wouldn't want to upset these fine soldiers here."
"Your sarcasm is noted Tial." Leta said, rolling her eyes. Aric cleared his throat quietly and she glanced at him. Introductions were probably in order, since her new companion was undoubtedly even more confused than she was.
"Sergeant Aric Jorgan this is my sister, Tial Chraya."
Tial tore herself from the human, who seemed a good deal calmer than he had before, and turned sparking violet eyes on Aric. She looked him over in a disgustingly obvious manner then smiled in the slow sultry way that had always had men falling at her feet. The human made a noise of alarm. Aric swallowed and color rose to his face.
"Tial." Leta's tone was sharp, but not loud, and as a side effect made the Cathar turn his full attention back to her, a touch of embarrassment showing on his face. She rubbed at the bridge of her nose then smiled at the human."Lieutenant Leta Chraya."
Tial laughed then winked at Aric who continued to stare at Leta with the single minded determination she'd come to expect from him in their short time together.
"Corso Riggs. It's nice to meet you ma'am." Corso held out a hand and she took it, not at all surprised by the firm grip or calloused hands. He smiled brilliantly and Leta was certain that if he'd had a hat he would have tipped it at her. She couldn't help but returning his smile with a smaller, but genuine, one of her own.
Then back to Tial, once again all business. There was no other way of dealing with her sister, sadly. "Heading back to your ship?"
All traces of humor left the older woman's face. "No. Some scum sucking soon to be dead man stole it. I'm on my way to the Capital to find him and pry the starter from his cold dead hands."
"Have you reported it stolen?" Leta asked with more than a small amount of irony. If looks could kill Tial would have, at the very least, done some very serious bodily harm to her. After all, odds were Tial had stolen it herself at some point.
Leta was painfully aware that her sister operated on the other side of the law and in this one area she allowed her military sensibilities to take a back seat. She had, once, tried to arrest the other woman and get her on the 'straight and narrow' but in the end she'd simply been more trouble than she was worth. Leta had pulled the strings, and risked her career, to have all matters concerning her sister placed in her hands.
Tial kept her dealings from hurting the Republic and often feed her the sort of information someone doing legitimate work would never have access to, and so far it worked out. Leta had, on more than one occasion, managed to achieve things with the information that her sister provided her and so her career had been moving along swiftly, culminating here, as the new leader of Havoc Squad.
Not that being the new leader of Havoc Squad had been what she'd expected when she'd landed on this rock, but she wasn't going to lie and say she wasn't pleased.
"You can tell me all about it on the shuttle." She wound an arm around Tial's shoulders. Her older sister hesitated for a moment then nodded, allowing herself to guided towards the shuttle.
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Corso leaned against the bar, opting to not sit and instead look out on the people milling around him. The station was busy, being a hub for all Republic transit, and people of all races and walks of life were crammed in to the brim. He wasn't the backwoods farm boy most people would assume and had seen his share of death and fighting, but things like this were still humbling.
Tial had spent most of the shuttle ride with her sister, swapping stories of what they had been up since they'd last seen each other. Leta had kept a lot of things back, just smiling serenely and claiming it was 'classified' while Tial had gleefully recounted tales of mayhem and blaster fire.
Corso had used the time to look over the women, unsure if he would had assumed they were sisters without being told. They shared some similarities; dark green skin and had the same tattoos under their eyes and down the middle of their forehead; a series of triangles arranged together to form a bar. Full lips, pale purple eyes and round faces.
Tial was, and Corso was embarrassed to be so acutely aware of it, soft and curvy in a way that a man just couldn't ignore, even if he was trying to think of her in a purely professional manner. When she'd walked off of her ship and into Skavak's hanger it happen taken effort to not stare. Her hair, a brownish-red, was about shoulder length and was swept in a way to hide the tattoos on her forehead.
Leta was younger, or so Tial had indicated during the trip, but her black hair, pulled back into a tight tail, was going gray already. She had a more muscular and less curvy build, wore no makeup, and a air about her that juts screamed 'military'. Even if Corso had met her out of uniform he would have known she was an officer.
Upon reaching Carrick Lt. Chraya had excused herself, saying something about training, and Tial had gone to see a man she knew about supplies. She'd left Corso at the bar and had only just returned, a second blaster holstered on her hip and a shotgun slung over her back. She'd handed him pack, which a quick glance told him contained a blaster and gear.
"Can you believe the nerve of that guy? Tried to tell me I had to choose to use two blasters or a shotgun." She past him, body brushing against his carelessly. "Claimed that I didn't look like I had the 'stamina' to keep up with all this equipment. Like he knows me. I'll show him stamina."
She paused, drink mere inches from her lips and turned around, just missing the disbelieving look Corso had been giving her back. "You want a drink? ...Are you old enough to drink?"
"I'm old enough to do lots of things." The words were out before Corso had a chance to stop them and he regretted them immediately. "That's not what I mean. I mean it is what I mean but not in a...weird way."
The rest of the 'Corso tries to dig himself out a hole' spiel was cut off by the beeping of Tial's holo. She laid one last amused look on him then turned it on, revealing the terse face of her sister.
"I need you to come up to departures. Now."
Tial nodded minutely then shoved the holo back into her own pack. The drink was handed to Corso who, lacking any further ideas, downed it. Tial hailed the bartender again and paid then gestured for Corso to follow her.
"So, Captain-"
"You can call me Tial, kid."
He decided to not even acknowledge she had spoken. He supposed he liked her well enough, and certainly didn't mind looking at her for whatever that was worth, but he was far from comfortable with her. She wasn't like the girls on Ord Mantell. Not even close.
"How does a straight shooter like your sister end up with a sister like you?"
Tial let out a bark of laughter then ran her fingers through her hair, laughter still playing in her eyes. "It's a long story. I may be inclined to tell it to you one day, if you play your cards right."
Corso was curious, but not enough to push the issue. The rest of the short trip to departures was in silence, though he did notice a few male heads turning to watch his new 'boss' go by and more than one disbelieving look laid on him. He could tell that working with her was going to be an interesting endeavor, if nothing else.
They stepped off the elevator and he could see Leta standing next to a robe clad Mirialan. Leta spotted them and rose a hand to gesture them over. Tial let out what sounded like a long suffering sigh then weaved her way through the stream of people intending to board the ship leaving from the hanger they were in.
"Corso Riggs, this is Jedi Tymar Chraya." Leta inclined her head at the robbed figure, who offered a hand to Corso. He was a bit shorter and thinner than Corso was, but his grip was strong. He shared the facial features of the women, though his face was more narrow and sharp, and Tial's reddish hair, which was also worn long and swept across the forehead. "Our brother. He's on his way to the Capital from the Tython."
"It's a damn reunion." Tial muttered, ignoring the scathing look Leta sent her way. Tymar smiled placidly. "All done at the Jedi Academy Ty? It's been almost 5 years since you've so much as sent a letter, I was afraid you'd gone off to commune with the darkside or something."
This earned her a frown. "What a terrible suggestion Tial. I have finished my trials and now I'm on my way to the capital. My master has fallen ill and I need to look into helping her get well." His frown deepened. "Leta tells me your ship was stolen and now you intend to kill a man."
"Did she tell you that?" The anger literally dripped from Tial's words and Corso was willing to swear that the temperature around them dropped a few degrees. Corso, suddenly worried that she was going to do something to this man, (Her brother and apparent Jedi.) put a hand on her shoulder. She started, as if surprised by the contact then let out a slow breath.
Tymar turned his gaze, pale purple eyes so like Tial and Leta's but shining with a strange kind of calming light, to Corso. "You must be Tial's latest unfortunate conquest."
"Not...to my knowledge." He hesitated for a moment then added. "Not that I would turn down an offer, it just hasn't been made."
Tymar seemed scandalized by the very notion. "I must insist you do just that. I sense much anger in you and the potential for great darkness. You should let go of your hatred towards those that have wronged you before you find yourself on a path you can't turn away from, much as my twin has. You know she spent time at the military and Jedi academy before her lusts called her away?"
Tial's hand was on her blaster and pulling it out. Corso grabbed her wrist and Leta, who'd been practically choking on her laughter the whole time, moved to intercede.
"Master Jedi." The man who'd been leading people into the airlock approached them, taking a moment to eye Tial's weapon distastefully. "The private suites you requested for your guests are available and your Trandoshan and Cathar friends have checked the rooms to their satisfaction. You may all board now."
Tymar nodded and the man turned to leave them, clearly not impressed with the 'Master Jedi's' choice of companions.
"Tia-" Leta started, hand raised as if that would stop any further issues.
"Don't you 'Tia' me." Tial groused before pulling free of Corso, shooting a poisonous glare up at him, and stomping away to board.
"I suppose you have another brother who's a Bounty Hunter and will be arriving soon?"
Leta chuckled and clapped Corso on the shoulder; surprising him with the strength in her small body. "Of course not. I guess it is strange that we're all here at the same time though."
"It's fate." Tymar said, eyes serious. "If we have been brought together it is because the Force has willed it."
With that said the Jedi walked away, robes billowing after him dramatically. "...I'm honestly not sure if he means that or if he's just screwing with us."
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I always find the manner that the four story lines basically get smashed together after the starter planets to be amusing, hence the 'Hey you guys, look who's here?' aspect of the story. It did occur to me that the humor might be lost, hence this explanation. Expect lots of "How strange that there is a superweapon on this planet where a Jedi is also going insane and a strange delivery needs to made?".
Tial is a scoundrel, with a little gunslinger flair. Leta is a Vanguard and Tymar is a Sage, with a touch of shadow when it suits him.