How do you solve a problem like Corso Riggs? That was the question Captain Zavvi had been entertaining for a while; she didn't know if it was her time of month or he was just being particularly annoying right now, but for some reason he was really getting under her skin. The task on Nar Shaddaa had been so simple on paper; go to a Hutt called Drooga, give him the shanjaru in the cargo hold, get a prototype starship engine in return.
But, as always, nothing went to plan.
The first was the captive Wookie Drooga had on his barge; Bowdaar. After helping him out in a fight, Zavvi became sympathetic to the Wookie and had pondered whether she could let him go free; as she saw it, spoiling a Hutt's fun was a good deed for the galaxy. Corso, however, had made inane comments about Bowdaar attacking them, to which she told him rather reasonably that Bowdaar wasn't likely to rip their arms off considering they'd just helped in his duel, and if couldn't say anything useful, to shut his trap. Corso had ruffled his feathers and grumbled something angrily under his breath, despite the glares she gave him.
Then Drooga's shanjaru was taken, so they followed the trail first to an animal rights activist so full of drivel Zavvi punched her out. That again upset Corso.
"Aw Captain, sure you couldn't've done something else? Seems mighty mean to do that..." He'd said, to which she'd replied:
"Would you rather I shot her in the head, farm boy? Look, we've no time for her nonsense, so unless you've a better idea, shut your damn mouth."
"I guess it's better than shootin' her..." He'd amended, but she could see he was particularly unhappy as she rifled through the unconscious women's clothes, stealing all the credits she had on her, as well as the datapad they needed to continue their search.
Then the bounty hunter Zenk appeared. Trying to keep herself intact, the Twi'lek had laid the charm down upon him, clutching at the desperate hope he'd let her go, but Riggs had snorted and made comments to the effect of 'kissing up to a bully', which caught the hunter's ire.
"Your Captain has more brains than you, kid." Zenk had growled at Corso, but the mercenary had been as defiant as anything.
"I'm not a kid." Corso had replied, staring where he thought his opponent's eyes were.
However, Bowdaar had decided to assist, much to Zavvi's surprise and delight. She'd been concerned for the Wookie's condition, but he assured her he'd be fine...yet again Corso had whined like a spoilt child and the smuggler threatened to send him back to the ship and she'd do the rest of the mission on her own, which she knew would silence him quickly.
Zenk had gone down fairly fast thanks to Bowdaar's aid, and it made Zavvi want to rescue him all the more, though she knew she couldn't just yet.
Lazhae had been a freak; mad, bad, and thankfully, was now very dead. After seeing what he'd done to Nomi, Zavvi's fury was kindled and with two blaster pistols pressed uncomfortably into his neck, Lazhae had sent the shanjaru back to Drooga and had handed over the genetic samples. Zavvi ordered Corso to get Nomi out and to safety with someone she trusted, whilst she taught the scientist a lesson. Corso had lingered, however, and even though she barked at him to get moving, he refused.
"Captain," he'd said, "you go with Nomi, I'll deal with this slime."
"Riggs, you'll obey my orders." She'd growled coldly, but he'd moved over to her, Nomi propped on his arm, and gently slumped her onto the Twi'lek.
"With all due respect, Captain, I need to belay that order. He's not worth it. You go get this lady to her pop and I'll deal with Lazhae. He's more likely to trust you than me anyhow." His voice had been soft, yet firm, and to her chagrin reminded her of her father. She'd noticed her anger seething away and reluctantly nodded.
"Fine." A look to Nomi. "Let's get you outta here." And as they'd left, she'd heard the single gunshot that ended Lazhae's miserable existence.
The deal had completed finally, but Drooga was determined to kill Bowdaar one way or another with his sick 'entertainment', going as so far to poison the Wookie and release a starving gundark to fight and or devour him. Needless to say, Zavvi had charged to Bowdaar's side, with Corso making comments that it wasn't the best idea she'd had, to which her reply was;
"I'd rather die like a glorious bastard than rot a bored old woman."
The fight had been rather hectic, to the point of Zavvi having to stick a vibroknife into the gundark's eye to put her down, with a furious Corso beating on the creature and demanding for it to put her down or else.
Thankfully, Drooga had been so annoyed with them all he dismissed not only the spacer and the mercenary, but also Bowdaar as well, who was very grateful for their assistance and the fact he was now free. Zavvi offered to happily anywhere the Wookie wished to go, but he wanted to join the crew, which of course, she could not refuse, happy to have someone else other than Risha and Corso on board, as well as somebody else to haul the heavy cargo.
The farm boy, on the other hand, waxed lyrical about Bowdaar snoring like a broken starship engine and smelling like a wet bantha when she lost her calm and smacked Corso upside the head with the butt of Flashy.
"What was that for?!" He'd cried, rubbing his chin and making a mental note that she could hit when she wanted to. She'd given him the steeliest look he'd ever seen from her.
"For being a blasted crybaby, that's why! Did the rakghouls bite off your balls on Taris? Because all you've been doing is whining and complaining through this trip. Honestly, it's like I picked up a child from Ord Mantell..." Corso had been rather taken aback by this rant, and said nothing else all the way back to the spaceport.
However, the shenanigans didn't stop there; after helping Bowdaar get settled in and giving him a couple of kolto injections to deal with the poison and some food to help build his blood levels back up (Corso had grumbled under his breath that the Captain was fussing over the Wookie as if he couldn't take care of himself), she was talking to Risha about their next port of call and some more about the mysterious Nok Drayen, when Corso had run in, informing Zavvi of a distress call coming from a stranded ship near to their position. Risha was sceptical of it, but Zavvi was determined to help and called Corso to 'armour up' and see what they could do...
They returned a few minutes later, the mercenary looking moody, the smuggler half annoyed and half sheepish. They tried to sneak back in without Risha noticing, but she was standing in the doorway, unimpressed.
"How did it go, Captain?" She asked, taking in their faces.
"Um...Fine?" Zavvi smiled weakly, before Risha groaned.
"Don't tell me, it was a trap, wasn't it?" Zavvi nodded, and then sighed.
"Would you believe that one of Skavak's ex-girlfriends tried to kill me?" The Twi'lek spoke.
"And me!" Corso piped up, but was promptly ignored. Risha raised an eyebrow.
"Really? What do they see in him?" She asked, and Zavvi shrugged.
"Beats me. All I saw was someone who wanted to get into my pants, and then steal my starship. Not really good boyfriend material." She replied.
"I can agree with you on that." Risha nodded. "If there's one thing I hate, it's phoney distress calls. They make spacers too paranoid to answer the real ones."
"Mmhm. I might have left her without help for that." The Twi'lek said. Risha raised an eyebrow.
"Captain, did you-"
"No, we just left her." Corso broke in again, scowling at the Captain.
"I take offence to being called to a distress call and then nearly being killed, Riggs. Serves her right." The smuggler told him for what felt like the umpteenth time.
"Oh, that reminds me, there was a message for you, farm boy..." Risha mentioned, and he immediately lit up.
"I'll get it!" He said, and hurried off quickly, both women watching him go with raised eyebrows.
"What was that all about?" Risha asked when he'd left their earshot.
"The message or why he's so narked with me?"
"I meant the message, but do tell."
"Well, you can probably tell he's old-fashioned and all, but his parents have piled him so full of chivalry it's wonder he isn't such a blooming doormat. Keeps thinking that women need to be protected and aided and if they fall over they'll break; that silly stuff." Zavvi explained, and Risha snorted derisively.
"Oh joy. I'm surprised he didn't get under your skin earlier."
"Well, he wasn't doing it so much before, but now he seems to be either making up for lost time or just being ignorant about the fact I really couldn't care less. Neither of us has needed a man to look after us, have we?"
"Certainly not, Captain. And about the message?"
"Oh, he's looking for his long lost cousin. Only family he's got now, I think. So no doubt we'll be making another stop to find her, if that's alright with you?"
"Yes, that's just fine. I need to find the other contacts I need to buy the rest of the items in your cargo bay. It'll take a little bit of time." Risha commented. "I think you best see what news your 'knight in shining armour' has to impart to you." A slight grin tugged at her lips as Zavvi rolled her eyes.
"Oh, don't get me started..."
As she expected, Corso was on tenterhooks, and she took him into the bridge to have a word with him about what the message was about, trying to quell her annoyance with him having wound her up most of the day.
"I found someone who knows my cousin Rona." He began. "He's a street doctor on Coruscant. Kinda shady character, but that's who Rona always drifted to. I think he can get us to her. But..."
"There's always a 'but'." Zavvi groaned sadly. "I know a scam when I see one, Corso..." He shrugged helplessly.
"Rona loved to walk that line. Whenever uncle caught her stealing, it'd turn out that she was sneaking cash to some mom with kids on the street. She's the reason I know breakin' the law has nothing to do with being a good person."
Zavvi blinked, not really expecting that, but finding it explained a great deal about him.
"Well, perhaps, but this sounds really dodgy, Corso. Like, I'm not sure I should let you go alone." She said.
"If that settles you, Captain. But...Lets go to Courscant and hear a friend out. Look, you can ask for cash for the job if you want, but I just...I just wanna see Rona." He replied, and Zavvi could feel his need to find this cousin he almost looked up to as a role model (though in her opinion, wasn't a very good one), so she couldn't in her right mind say no. And she had a feeling the young man was about to get himself into heaps of trouble, so decided she might as well tag along; he'd wanted to introduce them anyhow, so it couldn't hurt.
"Tell your friend we'll be there by tomorrow. Where does he wanna meet us?" She asked.
"The Dealer's Den cantina, where Darmas was." Corso replied, and she noted the slight bitterness in his voice when he mentioned Darmas, and she frowned. The Mantellian seemed very concerned about keeping Zavvi to himself; it was likely that's where his annoyance about Bowdaar had come from, that he was no longer her sole crew mate and able to be the centre of her attention.
He better grow out of that quickly, or I'm gonna have to give him a piece of my mind. Zavvi thought to herself.
They were landing on Coruscant as dawn was breaking across the planet, Zavvi organising the usual refuelling and resupplying shipments, leaving a recovered Bowdaar and Risha in charge whilst she went to babysit Corso and stop him from running into trouble.
It didn't take them long to reach the Dealer's Den, though neither spoke to one another on the way there, mostly because there was nothing to say.
Once inside the cantina, Corso took the lead, moving over to an orange skinned Devaronian, a spark of suspicion flashing in Zavvi's gut. She didn't know why, but something seemed off about this.
"Ah, Corso Riggs, and the Captain, I see. It's good to meet such generous souls in a place like this. I'm Doctor Hope." Zavvi rolled her eyes. "I like to think of myself as a messenger of mercy, caring for the poor, forsaken citizens of the underlevels."
"We don't need the pitch." Corso broke in, much to Zavvi's relief. "Just tell us what you know about Rona."
"I'd be happy to, but as a doctor, I must put the needs of my patients first..."
"Look, that's all very well and all, but tell us first if you've got the goods about my friend's cousin. We haven't got time to waste yapping." The Twi'lek piped up, folding her arms. The Devaronian smirked.
"Rona, yeah...She's a hot one. Kiss you or kill you, you never know." That was the wrong thing to say, and the smuggler quickly caught the mercenary's arm before he tried anything too rash.
"Just tell us what you want and lay off talkin' like that!" Corso snarled, letting her restrain him for now.
"Who knew Rona had such a gallant protector...?" Doctor Hope replied, which was enough to raise Zavvi's hackles.
"Yeah, next time you say something like that and anger him, I might just let him go. I've always been interested to see what a Devaronian looks like without horns..." The Captain's tone was smooth and sweet, but with just enough danger simmering beneath it to tell this 'Doctor' she was very serious.
"Okay, look, I'll tell you everything you need to know, but I'm late on a delivery of, eh, life-saving medications. Unfortunately, Coruscant security aren't in their right minds right now, and won't let me go down to the lower levels and distribute, ah, medications at all."
"Better not be asking us to fight Coruscant security." The smuggler replied coldly. The feeling the farm boy had gotten himself wrapped up in something nasty was growing larger by every word the contact spoke, and she felt the need to try and keep him out of whatever this was. At least, as much as she could.
I can't believe I'm doing this... She thought to herself.
"Oh no, I don't want to get you, or me, into any trouble with the law. The only way to get my medicine down there without being stopped is for it to be carried inside a living body." Doctor Hope replied.
"What?!" Corso spat with disbelief.
"Don't worry, they'll be safely stored in surgical plastic and implanted under the skin, so they won't leak. My, ah, nurse can remove them at the other end." Zavvi turned her gaze to Corso, who shifted uneasily.
"Don't give me that look." He grumbled. "This is worth it if I get to see her again." Zavvi rolled her eyes, and wondered if they'd become stuck like this at some point.
"Ah, what a fine young man. Now, come this way, Master Riggs, I-"
"No, you're not taking him." Zavvi interjected, and the Mantellian's face was a blend of shock and anger.
"Captain!" He began to exclaim.
"Shht!" The smuggler silenced him with a gesture of a hand and the steel in her voice. She turned to the Doctor and her voice became reasonable again. "Take me, not the boy. He's already got enough scars as it is without adding another one. Besides, as you can tell, I have quite the experience with smuggling things, and Coruscant security wouldn't expect a lovely lady such as myself to be carrying anything, would they?" She purred, turning the charm up, though she gave her partner a look that ensured he'd keep his trap shut.
"Hmm. Yeah, that makes sense. Come with me, Captain..."
The silence was incredibly uncomfortable between the two, and yet to Zavvi's mind was very fitting, considering they were going to the Silent Sun cantina. With knowledge of her destination, she only hoped the Doctor's work was as good as he claimed. She could feel the package shifting around her skin slightly, low down on her front. Part of her wanted to chew Corso out for being so stupid. The other was just glad he wasn't carrying her burden.
She'd not allowed his sympathy and arguments once she'd returned to him, merely giving him gruff direction to follow her. He was tailing around her like a lost puppy, but she ceased to care at the moment. All she wanted was to get this done, get Corso to see his cousin, and then bugger off to their next stop on Tatooine (Risha had called as they travelled). Although how she was going to cope on that desert planet with him being as irritating as he had been she had no idea.
Scanned the inside of the cantina, she spotted the plump Rattataki woman who Doctor Hope said was his 'nurse', and Zavvi quickly headed over to her, eager to get the package out.
"Big Jan?" The Twi'lek asked. The Rattataki nodded.
"You bring goods? The doctor say; two people, look out." The reply was a nod. "Now time, cut out spice."
"Sure, sure, just get it out of me." Zavvi nodded, whilst Corso's jaw dropped.
"Spice?!" He exclaimed incredulously.
"Hold you outrage until we get back." The Captain tossed over her shoulder, Big Jan taking her to one side. Her technique was not as good as the Doctor's, and Zavvi knew she'd be carrying a scar from this experience for the rest of her days.
When they returned, Corso eyed the packages and she saw his fist clench, but he still looked bewildered.
"Captain...How did you know?" He asked.
"I haven't worked this business enough without knowing something was amiss when he said about the implantation, and I knew as soon as he directed me here I was carrying something illegal." She sighed. "I did this to save your skin, Corso. You don't deserve to get wrapped up in this, and believe me; I have a few choice words to say to your cousin when we finally meet her."
"This has nothing to do with Rona!" He shot back, and Zavvi just shook her head, too tired to argue back. If that's what you want to believe, go ahead, farm boy. She thought.
He turned to Jan, his eyes ablaze, fists clenched and shoulders square.
"You used us! If you weren't a lady I'd, I'd..." He shook his head, anger surging around in his system. "I gotta go have a word with your boss." He eventually hissed out.
"I not speak Basic." Jan replied, looking nervous. Zavvi almost felt sorry for her; if not for the fact she knew Riggs wouldn't dare lay even a fingertip on her in anger. "You say...take spice away? Good spice. I give good money. Big, how you say...'cut'."
"We're not asking for a bigger cut!" He replied angrily.
"No, we're not. In fact, I don't think you should be having stuff like this!" Zavvi declared, taking the packages of spice from the table.
"No!" Jan cried. "Is good money! Good good money!"
Heedless to her words, Zavvi dropped the packages to the floor and crushed them beneath her boots, grinding them under her heel. She gained a pleasure from imagining Skavak's face under there.
"Doctor no be happy with this!" The Rattataki fumed.
"Good!" Corso replied. "We're not too happy with him either! C'mon Captain, I can't believe that son of a mynock tricked us!"
Zavvi led him away without a word, but her fingers ghosted over her pistols. Betrayal was something she didn't take lightly...
It took all of Corso's control not to go storming up to the Devaronian and punch him square in the face, as Zavvi could see from the slight stiffness in his gait. She usually would've let him, but she figured he was the only lead to Rona, and hitting him would get them nowhere. Though she thought she noticed someone looking in the Doctor's direction...
However, she wasn't against an antsy young man grabbing Doctor Hope by the shirt.
"We did your dirty work carryin' spice, you fraud." Corso growled. "Now where's my cousin?"
"Ah well, you see..." Hope began, before Flashy's barrel kissed the side of his face.
"Look here. If you keep us waiting, I'm going to let you discover what it's like for us to implant things into you. So kindly tell my friend where his cousin is before I either shot you in places you'd prefer to keep, or I let Riggs here beat you into a pulp." The Twi'lek said her deathly sweet voice.
"Whoa whoa whoa, back off, please!" He begged. "I'll tell you, I'll tell you!" Flashy slipped away, and Corso released his grip. "You're looking for Rona Riggs, right? Well, don't shoot the messenger, but she told me you two would be right for the job I gave you. That's all I know, okay? I'll just go and let her know you want to see her..." The Captain nodded, and watching him scuttle off towards the figure she'd seen earlier. A brief chat and the figure got up and swaggered over to them. Zavvi kicked Corso's ankle to get him to look.
At first glance, Zavvi couldn't see anything that showed that Rona and Corso were relations. Her skin was much darker than his, her hair black, ashy green eyes and a face that seemed skinnier (through spice use?). And yet, as she looked between her expression full of arrogance and Corso's which was a cross between shock and disbelief (she was tempted to close his jaw for him), there were slight clue between them that they were related, but only very slightly. And then she saw the uniform, recognising it as the uniform she'd seen Urbax wearing; the sign of a Black Sun underboss, and she felt her stomach sink.
I knew this wasn't going well, but this...? Oh I'd hate to be in the farm boy's shoes... The Twi'lek thought to herself.
Rona Riggs swaggered up to her taller cousin with a chuckle.
"Hehe, just like the old times, eh, cuz?" She grinned, and Zavvi caught the twang of the hinterland Mantellian accent. Corso just blinked in astonishment. "Course, I'm a little more big time than ma and pa ever would've allowed."
"I am I missing something here?" Zavvi asked with her arms folded. "You sent your own flesh and blood to smuggle spice for you."
"How could I resist?" Rona smirked. "I remember how much my baby cousin loved all our little 'pranks'."
"Um, trying to get him to smuggle spice isn't a prank, I don't think. That's not something I ever pulled on my sister, for a start." She muttered. Corso seemed to have regained his power of speech, as he began with;
"Rona, what...what happened to you?" He looked her up and down with wide eyes. "What are you doin' here?" His cousin puffed her chest out.
"I'm the underboss for the Black Sun's on this part of Coruscant! Not bad, considering five years ago I was shovelling ronto dung." The Twi'lek saw the realization filter through the mercenary, one he'd been holding back but now could no longer deny.
"The Black Suns...? You're a...gang member?" The Captain couldn't bear to say a word.
"Gang leader." Rona corrected her cousin. "You think I should write home? Make ma and pa proud?"
Zavvi bit her lip, noticing Corso's shoulders slump and his head fall so he was taking in the detail of the floor.
"That's kinda why your 'baby' cousin is with me now." She began softly, not sure exactly how to break the news. "That's why he came to find you."
"They're all dead, Rona." He managed, still staring at the floor. "The separatists got all of them except for me."
There was a pause, before Rona made a 'hah' noise, which made Zavvi's heart miss a beat in shock.
"After all that grousing about the big dangerous galaxy, huh? Guess that showed them." Corso's head snapped back up, expression seemingly stuck at 'horrified', though the smuggler felt exactly the same.
"How can you say that?! Don't you care?" He said, before his expression hardened. "Well, we obviously came jus' in time. Come on Rona, we're getting you outta here. It's messin' you up."
"Poor, chivalrous little Corso." Rona sneered at him. "Uncle really pumped you full of that shit, didn't he? Don't you get it? I don't need to be rescued, because I chose this life."
Zavvi decided to step in before this got too out of hand.
"Look, Rona, Corso has every right to be concerned. There are only two ways out of the life you're leading. You can take our help, or you'll go out in a bodybag. However," she turned to Corso, "that's her decision and hers only. If she wants to stay and be a gang member, that's her decision and be damned if you won't respect it."
"How can you say that after what you jus' said, Captain?" Corso blazed. "She's not your cousin!"
"She's a damn sight older than you, Riggs, and by now, I think she can make her own choices. Unless of course you were taught women have to be guided through their lives by men."
"Captain, that's not fair!"
"Oh really? Well, I don't think it's fair that you see fit to drag somebody out of a life they might actually be enjoying just because you believe it 'isn't right'. I also don't think it's fair that you treat women as if we can't make decisions for ourselves, or that we're above punching or hitting each other. Frankly, it makes me sick, and I am this close to throwing you off my ship, Torchy and Skavak be damned, because guess what, Bowdaar doesn't think I'm weak and frail and that I need protecting! And I can get along with that sort of thinking, so don't think you can keep making these comments without punishment because I will throw you off my ship and you can take your guns with you!"
When Corso didn't respond, she added: "Get out of this damn cantina and stand outside whilst I have a sensible word with your cousin." He dipped his head in the barest hint of a nod and walked out.
Zavvi was very aware the cantina had become very quiet, in an attempt to listen in to the argument that had exploded between the smuggler and the mercenary. She ignored her audience and turned to Rona, whose expression was quite unreadable. The Twi'lek lowered her voice politely.
"I'm sorry about that...He does drive me around the bend sometimes. I picked him up a couple of days ago from Ord Mantell and he's been travelling with me ever since, though I don't know if I can take any more of his preachy behaviour."
"My uncle always kept teaching him to be like that." Rona replied. "But he never was as bad as just now."
"He looks up to you, you know." Zavvi spoke, the cantina sound surrounding them once more. "I think you broke his heart when he saw you like this. Don't think I'm trying to guilt you out of your life, though. If this is what you really want to do, then by all means. Better to do a job you enjoy." Rona looked at her questioningly.
"He looked up to me?"
"Yeah. Said you were the reason he knew breaking the law had nothing to do with being a good person. I think he thought you were like me, in a way." Rona sighed sadly.
"It was a nice dream. But this is where I woke up. It's not a bad life, but there could be more, you know?" Zavvi nodded.
"Of course. You know, if you ever need to talk, you can have my holo number. Should you need help moving out of this, I'll help ya. I'll only pass your number to Corso if you want to. I understand you might not want to put up with his behaviour of late."
"That's...very kind of you, Captain."
"Captain Zavvi." The Twi'lek smiled as they exchanged numbers. "I guess I should go and pick up your cousin and babysit him some more."
"Wait, Zavvi." The smuggler paused, raising an eyebrow. "I'm sorry I dragged you and him into this mess. I shouldn't've done it, but I just thought it'd be funny. Look after him, will you? If he is the only family I've got, I don't want him suddenly disappearing on me."
Zavvi smiled weakly.
"I'll do what I can, Rona. Take care of yourself."
Corso was not happy, and aside from asking what Zavvi had said to Rona, to which the reply was 'things', he didn't talk to her for a while, making the taxi ride home silent.
He eventually spoke again when they were navigating the spaceport to find their hangar, as she supposed he couldn't be silent any more.
"Nothing worse than realizing your parents were right all along..." He muttered angrily. "My folks always said she'd come to no good in the big city. And there she is...a stooge for some spice smuggler." He glanced to Zavvi. "And you didn't seem to care."
She sighed, not wishing a repeat of the argument earlier as she was too tired for it.
"It wasn't that I didn't care; were your ears not open? I did tell her that the only ways out were with our help or to come out feet first. You told her what you think. I told her what I thought. It's all up to her, Corso, there is no way in the Void you can force your will upon her. In fact, if you do that she's likely to do worse stuff in spite of you. It's her life; let her live it how she wants."
"But her life matters to me, Captain. Hard to trust her with it when I've seen how she's treated it. She's the only family I've got left..."
"I know that, Corso. But you can't do as you did and run in all guns blazing and say; 'Rona, I'm taking you out and giving you a better life!' It doesn't work that way. It's something she's gotta do herself, whether you like it or not."
He sighed, and she could feel his stubbornness. He wasn't going to let go of it for a while.
"You saw it all comin' though, didn't you, Captain?" He said. "'Doctor Hope'. You knew that's what had happened. But I just didn't wanna think that was who Rona'd fallen in with. I'd said such good things about her to you, and then we meet, she's like that..." Zavvi couldn't help but feel sympathy for him. He sighed against as they entered the elevator. "Guess that's what I get for trying t' see the best in folks..." He murmured.
The Captain blinked wide, heart twisting slightly at his downcast look.
"Corso, don't get all mopey...I won't have anyone else to cheer me up on the ship if you do..." He looked up, and to her relief, he had a small smile on his lips.
"Captain, I'd do a lot worse than work for some spice dealer if it put a smile on your face. And talking of that, thank you. For takin' the spice instead of me. You took a big risk, and I appreciate it." He opened his mouth to say more, but wisely stopped.
"You're welcome." She replied.
"You know, Captain, I don't plan on stopping giving anyone the benefit of the doubt. If I trust the wrong guy, maybe I get hurt. But if I'm too scared to help someone who really needs it, who knows how many people could suffer?"
Zavvi was reminded of the conversation she'd had with Risha about the phoney distress call. 'They make spacers too paranoid to answer the real ones.' She'd said. And now Corso spoke giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, as if he didn't people who were in need could get hurt. And somehow, she subscribed more to his way of thinking, even if he was doing his best to drive her mad.
When they got onboard, Zavvi quickly explained to Risha what had been going on as briefly as possible, and then took the helm of her beloved Skylark, guiding her safely out of Coruscant's atmosphere, and beginning a hyperspace jump to Tatooine. She'd never been there before, and was slightly dreading the heat, despite her species having originated from Ryloth. She was used to Coruscant, where weather is tightly controlled, so she had few coping mechanisms for extremes in temperature. She sighed. Best not think about it.
She went to bed that night, her exhausted was such she collapsed as soon as her head touched the pillows. All of the crew retired to bed as well, except one.
Corso Riggs stood on the bridge of the Skylark, watching the colours of hyperspace dance and weave before his eyes. He kept thinking of his cousin Rona, and the Captain, and how angry she'd been with him. What was he doing wrong? Why did he keep upsetting her? He couldn't help who he was...She preferred him when he wasn't suave but just himself...
The Mantellian sighed heavily, shoulders sagging. How was he ever going to win her heart? At this rate, he might be breaking his own, through her throwing him off the ship in a rage.
His mind wandered briefly back to an offhand comment Zavvi had made, one that referred to her sister. Now he knew she had a father, mother, and now a sister. Old or younger he couldn't tell, but it made him remember his own younger sister. It made him remember seeing a ronto calf charging at her, and how he'd picked up the nearest thing to hand (a tree branch) and he'd ran up to it and beat it repeatedly until it took the hit and fled, and he'd gone to his young sibling's side and held her close until his parents had come.
The tree branch became Whacky, a companion he'd appreciated through his younger years, and as his mind continued its wandering, he wondered who her sister might be...Another smuggler, perhaps? Or in a more legal profession?
Corso shrugged, standing up once again and deciding at last to go to sleep, hoping their adventure on Tatooine would be less argumentative than the one on Nar Shaddaa.
It was a wish that wasn't to be granted...