10
Although they were still grounded and the stars were but distant twinkles in the sky, Liling felt more peaceful than she had for a good while. Sure, she still had to watch out for Rogun the Butcher and all the bounty hunters; and Skavak was most likely coming up with a new plan to get back at her… What's more, the barely disguised war between the Republic and the Empire might or might not come to a boiling point any moment, but right now, she didn't care. She had her ship back and that was all that mattered. C2 might have referred to her freighter as her 'home away from home', but in reality, the Wandering Starla was her home. At least it became it after that day… It represented everything she associated with home: safety, familiarity, freedom. She took care of the ship and it took care of her. Without it, she'd be left with nothing. Paying for the maintenance to keep everything running as it should was motivation for her to keep going forward. The sound of footsteps pulled her back to the present and stopped her thoughts from turning dark.
"Riggs? I thought you went to bed, already." Nonetheless, she patted the seat next to hers.
They sat, facing the sky, in a companionable silence. His thoughts drifted to earlier that evening. At first, when she'd mentioned 'celebrating', he had felt unsure about it. But to his relief, she'd simply dragged him to the galley and grabbed a couple of bottles and glasses. When he'd looked at her questioningly, she'd shrugged "What? I just got her back. I'm not leaving the Starla unless a-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y necessary" she'd told him fiercely. She had even invited Risha to join them, if she wished to, but the other woman had declined politely, saying she had preparations to do.
So it had been just the two of them. They had spent the entire evening talking and just enjoying each other's company. Apparently, Syreena had sent her a mail telling her to get rid of Rogun for them both. Not a very nice thank you, but Corso was glad she was okay. It was also nice to hear that Kixi was free and back to her home planet, far away from the Justicars.
It had been easy talking to her; he told her about the Peace Brigade, how that changed him… He also told her about getting his first gun, about growing up on the farm… The more time he spent in her company, the more he came to like her. She was very talkative as well -especially after a few drinks, but she had remained surprisingly secretive about her personal life. He still didn't know much about her, about her past or her plans for the future. When he had tried asking about her family, there had been a flash of something in her eyes. It wasn't something he ever wanted to see in there again, and so he stopped asking. However, he did learn more about her, even if it wasn't anything she said in particular. He knew she was a good person, even if she didn't want people knowing about it. He recalled her sometimes helping people she knew didn't have much to offer in return. He recalled how she toasted to the fallen lawman, she even toasted to Viidu. He knew she cared more than she liked to admit and he knew, with more certainty than anything, that he wanted to protect her.
He was aware that it was an irrational thought, as she had proved more than capable of looking after herself; he almost felt bad for those who made the mistake of underestimating her because of her inoffensive looks. Almost. At first, he thought it was just his upbringing pushing him to treat her the same way he treated any other lady. But she was…different. Their common cause of catching Skavak had been his main reason for following her, but now, he was starting to wonder if it didn't become more of an excuse. Oh, he still wanted his Torchy back, no doubt about that; but there was a part of him that was almost afraid. What if she asked him to leave once he got Torchy back? No, he didn't want to dwell that. The fact that they would inevitably part ways just meant he had to try to enjoy the present as much as possible.
He turned to look at the Captain, but to his surprise, she was fast asleep, head lolled over on the side in what looked like an uncomfortable position. He felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth and contemplated righting her posture, but didn't want to risk waking her. She looked so peaceful.
Finally, he forced himself to get up and head to the crew's quarters. Sweet dreams, Captain.
A/N: sorry for the lack of action in this chapter, but I felt like our heroes deserved a break before heading to Taris (although, you probably already noticed I don't -read can't- write the action parts anyway ^_^')