Walk the Line
"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."
-Albert Einstein
Journal 8762- Ord Mantell
Cantina food, Artymis decided, tasted a lot like dirt. Rodian whiskey, if you could call it that, was akin to drinking a glass of pickling vinegar. Given a choice, she'd gladly eat tasteless military ration paste over this crap any day. And that would have likely been her meal if her starship hadn't been stolen by her former business partner. Arty seethed, mashing the remains of what looked to be a mushroom under her fork. Had she just dropped the cargo and risked the lasers she'd be halfway across the star system.
But NO, she had to stick around and help out the Republic. And in the fifteen minutes she'd been away from the hanger that asshole Skavak had hijacked her ship; her BABY. Artymis leaned on her elbows against the bar and rubbed her tired face. After a hell of a lot of running around she'd managed to track down the boss man who had been impatiently waiting for her cargo, only to find out the slimy thief had given him the slip too and already left with her ship. Now she was grounded on this dry dusty planet in the middle of a skirmish between the Republic and the Separatists.
"Joy of joys," Arty though morosely.
Cracking her neck and stretching her arms above her head, she waived down the bartender and transferred creds for her food before standing stiffly and walking out the door towards the hangar. She'd been lucky enough to obtain a shuttle pass to follow Skavak to Coruscant. It still was a heavy hit to her ego to be reduced to public transportation. She had not needed to use a transport shuttle for years. Having her ship taken from her was like a bird getting its wings clipped. Not to mention her chances of making a quick getaway lowered dramatically. Though it wasn't something she needed to worry about too much as her illegal dealings only included petty crime, her ship had definitely gotten her out of more than a couple questionable situations.
Upon entering the hangar, she found Corso pacing outside the shuttle docking bay, waiting for her. Poor man had trusted Skavak as much as she had and was also burned in the incident; though Arty couldn't quite see how the loss of his favorite blaster equaled to the loss of her starship. But in his defense, he'd definitely helped her out and was a decent shot with a blaster rifle. Seeing her approach, Corso smiled and extended his hand, shaking hers.
"Captain," he regarded her, accent drawling out the word. "Glad to see I caught ya before you left. With the way you stormed out earlier I woulda sworn you'd be gone by now." She'd been pretty steamed when they discovered Skavak was gone and had promptly left to get a stiff drink. Artymis realized she hadn't even thought to tell him where she was going and groaned at her bad manners. He certainly hadn't deserved such treatment.
"Yeah, sorry 'bout that, Corso," Arty replied, crossing her arms and shifting her weight to one leg. "I needed to get the hell outta there before I did a decent amount of damage. Wouldn't have been pretty." Corso laughed.
"Yeah, I bet. You're pretty scary with that blaster. I'm glad you're putting' Flashy to good use." Corso nodded at the blaster pistol he'd given her. "So, we leavin' now?" Arty blinked.
" 'We'? You coming with?" she asked. Corso nodded.
"Bastard's still got my gun, don't he? And I think I've had more excitement running 'round with you today than I've had in months. It'll do me good to get off this rock and back out there. That, and don't a lady need an escort nowadays? It's awful dangerous out there all by your lonesome," Corso smiled boyishly. Artymis laughed, clapping a hand down on the man's shoulder mirthfully.
"Alright handsome. Welcome aboard my currently missing ship then! Now, I don't know about you, but I'm ready to kick this place like a bad habit. You set to go?" Corso nodded. "Good. Let's get to it then. My baby's pretty fast so Skavak will have a head start. We got some chasing to do."