"You made it!"
There was a hint of surprise in the voice as the three entered the apartment. Yana was still a little dizzy from their escape, using the chaos to escape via a maintenance door had been so frightfully close to failing, enough to give the giant Jovan a limp from when he'd fought a an imperial officer with an electrostaff of all things.
Too close.
The apartment they had entered was homely, warm yellow carpets covered most of the floor in the hallway they stood in, the lamps above were covered in some sort of barely transparent white stuff that dimmed the lights. The coatrack attached to the right wall was empty save a grey coat that seemed to have seen better days.
The man greeting them was nothing what Yana had expected, he didn't look like a leader of men. She had of course seen him in the mission statement, but then she had figured him being bent forward was due to leaning on his desk. But now, when he stood before them, Yana realised the man was simply hunchbacked.
Lean and wiry of built Zanc Lert was close to sixty, his brown hair beginning to both grey and recede backwards. The grey eyes of his seemed strong though, and the smile of his was...curious, Yana found herself smiling back while Leela said: "Yes, by the hairs of my neck...speaking of which..." She moved to free her odd hairdo.
An odd whine escaped the rebel commander, his mouth curling upwards. "A shame, I liked it like that...not that I complain, you look lovely with your hair down as well." Then he winked, winked!
"Down boy." Leela chuckled, Zanc's mood apparently contagious even on the woman Yana had pegged for a bore. "There's children here." She nodded towards Yana.
"Hey; I might be short and...young looking." Yana frowned. "But I'm twenty-six dammit!"
"Beautiful and with a temper? How lovely!" Zanc looked absolutely delighted as he eyed Yana closely, to her surprise she blushed under his appreciative scrutiny.
A crude chuckle escaped Jovan, the giant placing a monster of a hand on Yana's shoulder, the weight of it surprising her. "Oh leave her alone you old dog, there'll be plenty of time tricking her pants off latter."
Yana rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, make jokes on the small one's expense...are we going to stand in the hallway like this all day?"
"Of course, of course." Zanc nodded and waved them to follow. "I'd like to show you the bedroom, but I guess we have to settle for the kitchen for the moment."
Yana snorted even as Jovan chuckled once more. "And here I thought you liked using the kitchen."
The kitchen was to the right of the hallway, was large and sported a table with enough chairs to seat six. It looked so clean...homely, Yana briefly wondered if Zanc kept a maid or the like, then flinched as Zanc laughed. "Yes well...women usually don't, not at first at least."
"Erm...you are joking right?" Yana asked, suddenly worried by the amused looks on the others faces. It was with suspicion she took the chair offered by Zanc, the man's actions that of a impeccable gentleman as he offered her a cup of already warm tea...how he had prepared it in time for their arrival she had no idea...yet the smile of his was that of a snake spotting a mouse.
Yana swallowed.
"Besides..." Zanc continued, seating himself at the head of the table, hands clasped before him as he continued with that deceptive smile of his. "...my stash of toys is in the bedroom." The words elicited a muffled gasp from Leela even as Yana felt the colour drain from her face.
"Guys...joking...right!?" Why wasn't anyone answering her!?
With a shrug Zanc deflected the question and turned to Leela. "Did you manage to gather any information while you were in there?" The smile faded only slightly, and Yana had the odd feeling of the man still eyeing her as he focused on the two higher ranked rebels.
"No." Leela answered, face glum. "There was no time for that, though I think I at least wounded some imperial higher ups with the explosives."
Zanc shook his head, actually looking a little upset. "Not good enough apparently, that general of theirs came up on the holonet, very angrily speaking of the crimes and terrorism acts of the rebels." He took a deep breath, a look of irritation passing his face before it was hidden under his kind looks. "I expect times to be tough..."
"Sorry boss, we weren't careful enough." Jovan spoke the words with a straight back, obviously not the least sorry, or maybe just ready to take any expected criticism with straight face.
"Nothing to apologise for." Zanc waved the apology aside, shooting Leela a look. "What has been done has been done." He turned back to Jovan, smile slowly returning. "Good that you're here though, I expect that you'll come with some great advice for how to deal with this situation that's partially your own fault."
"Hey! What about her?" Jovan nodded towards Yana, apparently she wasn't important enough to talk to unless it was crude jokes... "She's as much at fault as I am."
Zanc rolled his eyes. "She's a lady Jovan, they're never at fault. To even suggest otherwise is a great wrong by you." He turned to shoot her a wink before eyeing Jovan. "Now come, you always got something, however stupid it might be..."
"Are you calling me stupid?" Despite the hard tone Jovan was smiling.
"Well simple sounds too arrogant..."
Jovan rolled his eyes. "Fine, well I don't rightly know...keep low I guess?"
"Your observational skills are exceptional, you know that right?" Zanc's words elicited a small chuckle from Leela, in turn earning her a glare from the giant next to her.
"Actually..." Yana suddenly spoke, making everyone flinch in surprise. Great...no one expects the twi'lek to have an idea or opinion, despite the rebellion being partly aimed to free the aliens...many thoughts were still humanocentric, even among the rebels. Ugh... "Jovan got a point, keeping low is important, yet...we need information. Can't we ask one of them for it?"
"Eh?" There was an unanimous raising of eyebrows, the humans no doubt doubting her sanity.
Rolling her eyes she leant forward, a conspiratory look on her face. "Ask...as in asking them while they're under duress?"
"Oh!" Unanimous looks of realisation, ugh, humans...at times they drove her nuts. Leela's face crunched up in disgust though. "We're not imperials..."
"Well I like it." Jovan nodded, a look of glee on his face, memories of his time in the dungeon probably on his mind.
Zanc nodded as well, his nod more thoughtful though. "It's a good plan..." He noticed Leela's frown and inclined his head slightly in apology. "We'll do it as kindly as we possibly can...and we won't enjoy it." He shot Jovan a look at that, then he lowered his head, the happiness of his as if blown away. "I hate this part of my job..."
"Very well..." Leela nodded solemnly in agreement. "A prisoner it is..."