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Corso and the Captain
The Voidhound.
"Even the name sounds unpleasant." Corso Riggs thought to himself. After recent developments between a certain Imperial Moff, a certain Twi'lek captain and the biggest players in the criminal underground, the Mantellian Volunteer found himself at a rather troubling situation. The Captain he had sworn alliegence to had become one of the most notorious, and quite possibly, most powerful gangsters in history. But by doing so, the Republic lost a lot of lives. (In fact, if Corso hadn't known that the Empire was in shambles after the pirate fleet attack, he would've outright quit.) Facing this particular moral dilemma, he cleared his throat to wake up the slumbering captain.
"Captain, I feel as though I've got to speak my mind."
The Blue, petite Twi'lek male lifted his large-rim hat to glare at Corso.
"Really?" The Smuggler said with a smile on his face. "All this time, I thought you were. Explains the long amounts of extended silences…"
It took but a moment to realize that the Captain, as always, was having his share of fun teasing Corso.
"Laugh all you want, but you're not going to stop me from telling you how I feel."
"I'd pay for that…" The Captain scoffed.
"You know what you did up there was wrong! Some people of the Republic are just soldiers trying to get by and you have to send pirates after them."
"Lighten up, Farmboy." The captain said, pulling out some Alderaanian rum. "So, I may have sacked a few ships to make a little profit. Empire's just as bad as the Republic now."
"Captain…" The Mantellian soldier said.
"Look, I get lectured enough by the Princess on a daily basis. Your little 'let's sit down and talk about this' chats tend to be a little grating…"
"All I'm saying is that it shouldn't be too hard on a fella to be a little courteous to people!" Corso defended.
"And it's not just this criminal empire business. Remember Rona from Coruscant?"
Corso, sadly, had the unfortunate discretion of bringing the Captain to meet with his less than reputable cousin. He also regretted introducing the two of them, seeing as the captain 'hired' Rona for underworld dealings.
"She says hi, by the way." The captain replied.
"Not funny." Corso replied.
"Why bring this up now?" He said. "I've got a business to run. If you had any major complaints, I think it'd been best to bring it up 'before' my name became as big as Nok's."
"Because I think there's still a chance for you to turn this around. This… gang you've got lining your pockets can do some good."
"There they go again…" Risha sighed, looking in from a corridor. It wasn't easy taking an upstart self-proclaimed pilot and molding him into one of the notorious gangsters in the galaxy. Ever since she met him reclaiming his ship, she's had to ensure that he not only trust her but make sure that what she was doing was for a tidy profit. She even had to convince the captain to keep doing the jobs instead of free-lancing every time he could. However, given his more pragmatic nature (which thankfully was immune to Corso's naïve thinking), she was sure that he was on the right path for lots of money.
This complication, however, could've easily gotten out of hand.
"Why do men have to be such…"
"Men?" Risha turned to find the red-skinned Mandalorian, staring at the cockpit.
"Exactly."
"Let them be. You know it is the male Manka Cat the roars the loudest, but the female that cares for the pride."
Risha rolled her eyes. There was a time when saw herself with the captain. After all, the way he conducted business, she was careful of her pockets and her heart. However, after a heated confrontation between the two women, the decision was made.
"Did I ever thank you of relieving me of 'his' animal instinct?" The Princess of Dubrillion said.
"Personally, I don't think you could handle his more primal appetites."
"I trust you two are getting along?"
If it wasn't for Akaavi's red skin, Risha could've sworn the Mandalorian blushed.
"He is an… adequate lover."
"Good to hear."
"You don't get it, do you?" The Captain said.
"You gotta stop being all noble around women. They see through your little act. They like honest guys, not guys who run around being unselfish and heroic all the time."
"Where'd you hear that?" Corso said.
"That's an old spacer saying. 2, 3 years ago tops."
"Well, it's not an act."
"Oh boy…" The captain said, exasperated as if he knew the phrase was coming.
"Alright, how about this? The next raid I hit over is an Imperial banquet being held for the Emperor's honor. What say you and I crash ourselves a party?"
"Are they full of Imperial nobles with far too much money for themselves?" The Mantellian soldier asked.
"As spoiled as a bottle of Tarisian Ale."
"Are we going to give the money to a good cause?"
"We're a good cause…" The captain said, with a hopeful tone. However, by the disapproving look on Corso's face, the Twi'lek sighed.
"I'll talk to Risha…"
"…Are we going to hurt women?" The boy asked.
"Corso…"
"I'm sorry; where I come from, it ain't gentlemanly to hit or shoot a woman."
"So I'm an equal opportunity offender, sue me."
Corso glared at the Captain.
"Alright, how about this: they give us their credits or a kiss on the cheek."
Corso thought about this for a moment and nodded. It wasn't easy trying to steer the captain in the right track, but with a little luck and a lot of persistence, he knew he could get through to him, one way or another.
"Well… I can't pass up a kiss from a pretty girl. But, only if they want to!" Corso replied.
"You sure you won't get in trouble with the misses for this?"
"You worry too much, Corso. Next thing you'll be telling me is that she's down the hall, spying on us."
(A little something extra…)
The captain, for some reason, had used the intercom to call a crew meeting. So, Corso, Bowdaar, Risha, Akaavi and Guss gathered in the dining area to find a very unhappy Twi'lek.
The crew looked to each other.
"Would anyone like to explain this and why it was in our shower drain?" The Captain said, dumbing a handful of the most vile-smelling wet hair he'd ever seen in his life. The crew shied away from it and coughed loudly to indicate how horrid it smelled.
"Don't look at me," Risha replied. "I was the one who suggested the sonic showers, but no. You were the one who insisted that the ship keep her 'rustic charm'."
"Hey, no one touches my ship after what Skavak did to it. Now, focus."
"Well, it looks like a hairball, Captain." Corso replied.
"Exactly. But whose hairball is it?"
"This is ridiculous; we have business to conduct." Risha said, sighing.
"I think the lady doth protest too much." The Captain said, shooting daggers at her.
"Yeah, and you know what they say about whoever denied it!" Corso added. This particular response caused the captain to sigh and put his face into his palm.
"Yes, Corso. That's what I meant…"
"Well don't look at me!" Guss protested rather loudly. "We Mon Calamari don't have hair, so it couldn't have come from us!"
"Right. And neither do Twi'leks…" The Captain said. "So that only leaves Corso and Princess here."
"What about your walking carpet?" Risha pointed out. "He has more hair than any of us."
"Have you smelled Bowdaar lately? I don't think he knows the meaning of the word 'shower'. No offense, buddy."
"(Umm… None taken.)" The Wookie growled softly.
"Well, it can't be Akaavi, can it?" Corso spoke up. "She doesn't have any hair… does she-"
"Corso, I suggest if you wish to keep your arms, you will not talk about anything of mine…" Akaavi spoke up.
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Alright, so this is officially an investigation of whose disgusting hair is clogging up our showers." The Captain spoke up.
"Do you really have to ask?" Risha spoke up. "If you'll simply look up the mess on top of his head,"
"Hey!" The Mantellian soldier cried.
"It's obviously Corso's. He has so much that he must've lost track of it all."
"Wait a minute now!" Corso grabbed the hairball and pulled out a single, red strand.
"Aha! Red hair! That proves who's your culprit! And I almost thought you were stuck up, Risha!"
"Please. One strand cannot possibly compensate for the bulk of the thing."
Risha and Corso's argument began to grow louder before a single voice spoke up.
"(Umm… I know who did it.)" Bowdaar growled softly.
The crew whipped to him and leaned in towards him.
"Who? Who did it?" The Captain asked.
"It was Risha, wasn't it!"
"Bowdaar, be honest; you know Corso did it."
"(It's mine…)"
The crew paused, to have the look of a stuck mynock upon them.
"Sorry, B. But, that ain't gonna cut it. I've smelled you." The Captain said.
"(Well, you see, I swore a life-debt to you and you kept telling me that if I wanted to stay, I would have to shower. I didn't want to leave so, I went into the shower. It was horrifying. No Wook should ever have to have their fur wet by one of those prisons! Anyway, I began to… shed a lot so I stopped showering. It has brought great shame to me.)"
So, Corso, Risha and the Captain had realized that the wet mass of hair, or rather fur, they had been holding was in fact shedded Wookie hair.
That week, no one took a shower.
(A/N: I actually really liked the Smuggler storyline a lot more than I expected to. While the whole Skavak mess took a while to get over, the resulting storyline of you thieving for the Republic was charming. Rumor has it that Jennifer Heplar, who wrote the Dwarf Commoner Origin in Dragon Age and the numerous changers for Anders in Dragon Age 2 was in charge. I'm not exactly sure how much of it she wrote, though as some parts don't seem to match with others. But I will say it turned out to be more interesting than I thought. As for the party, I like them. Risha actually thinks like a gangster, Akaavi has a great arc and voice actress (much more than Torian, whose arc drops dead after his recruitment) and Guss is hilarious. Corso, at first, I didn't like, but as time grew on, he grew on me. He is still very… wish-fulfillment in my opinion, but when I offset him with my Dark-sided smuggler, I could see chemistry. Really, the only weak member of the group was Bowdaar… but he's still a Wookie, so bonus points for that.
I've got another project in mind, but it may take a while. Be patient.
Until then, Keep Writing!)