"You realize that I can't actually allow you to murder him, dear," Mon Mothma muttered in a slightly tipsy and maternal way.

"Murder him? No." Leia's hands pawed at her glass. "I might be entertaining fantasies of strangling him, just a little. But no. I'm going to take all his armor, all of it, and dye it the most obnoxious color I can possibly find. Bright pink."

"I'd recommend a nice mauve, myself. It's just dignified enough that he might be forced to keep it on."

"And when he's knocked out recovering from reticulocytic fever, I'm going to braid all of his hair. All of it. Thousands of little twee obnoxious bows." Leia gritted her teeth before taking another sip of her drink. "Seven hells! How does he drink this? How does anyone drink this? ...and more importantly, how long does a sabacc game take?"

They both turned to glare at the table in the corner. Vader seemed, if anything, to be enjoying himself. He had sprawled out lazily in one of the chairs, looking all the world like some smuggler captain. He had even been given a cigarra to enjoy while the others smoked, though he was merely chewing on it like a prop instead of lighting it. He was, however, on his third drink. A dirty joke was told and the group laughed - Leia could tell its content merely from their jeering grins. That moment of laughter flowed smoothly into Vader slamming his cards down on the table and scooping the pile of credit chits and datasticks that made up the pot. Vader kept smiling. Everyone else's smiles fell off their faces. Two looked like they were expecting to lose. Mirax, however, immediately stood up, going red in the face. "You... you're a goddamn cheat!"

Vader smoothly pocketed the datastick with security codes to his newly-won starship and gave the other man a thoroughly irritating smile. "Did I? Thought it was just your luck running out."

Mirax huffed. "You're a dirty cheat! I know it! I dunno how, but you - you're a cheat! I should'a won! I should'a won!" His voice rose to a furious howl as they all stood up and the cantina patrons turned in their seats to watch. Vader didn't step back even as Mirax advanced, bristling. There was only one explanation for the man's anger - the cheater had just been cheated. And now everyone was looking forward to the ensuing fight.

"You did agree to leave it to chance," Vader said, grinning, but he was abruptly cut off as Mirax punched him. He staggered back before reaching up to note the small bit of blood on his now-split lip. The entire room abruptly quieted - obviously the calm before the storm - and as Vader reached up with his good hand to wipe at his lip, admiring the blood. "That..." His voice was low and dangerous, losing a bit of the Tatooineian drawl. "...was a very bad idea." He reached back slowly before grabbing a glass bottle of cheap wine off of a table and smashing it in one smooth movement, brandishing the jagged broken bottle.

All it took was Vader's first flinch forward and the entire cantina broke into chaos. Drinks went sailing across the room to smash on walls. Someone stuck their cigarra in their bottle of liquor to create a makeshift molotov cocktail. Mon Mothma grabbed Leia's shoulder, both of them diving down to dodge a yelping slave sliding down the counter. Just one spark was enough to set off the wild fight. Somehow they managed to dive near to Vader as he dodged back, gripping his makeshift weapon tightly. "Run!"

"What?" Leia shouted over the chaos.

"RUN!" He roared, actually looking back at them this time to glare. Fortunately he was able to pull away from the fighting long enough to dash for the back exit. The cantina had been a powderkeg waiting for a spark - and they happened to be that spark. But the flames didn't follow them out. The alleyway was squalid, but it was enough to let them momentarily catch their breath.

Vader was panting, and now Leia could more clearly see the paleness of his skintone and the dark circles underneath his eyes. "That didn't quite go according to plan."

"Plan? That was a plan?" Leia hissed in irritation. "Your plan was to put me up as a bargaining chip -"

"I may be a bastard, Princess, but even I have standards!" He snapped back, blindly leading the group through the wandering streets.

There were shouts as the cantina fight finally spilled out into the streets. Stormtroopers rushed out in formation, their white armor grimy and dirty. The outdated PA system crackled on with a warning to obey curfew and that rioters would be strictly punished. As they hung back in a side alleyway, Leia glared daggers at Vader while trying to push her hair back out of her face. "So, what's the plan now?" She snapped acidly.

He took a few deep breaths, watching the glimpses of stormtroopers through the streets. Truthfully, he was thinking about how this was not going to end well because he was thinking too much like Anakin again. Stupid rash decisions and impulses. But as if to explain, he mutely held up the datastick he had won in his good hand. There was no question was to what it contained. It meant that a ship was theirs, and there was at least some chance of getting off of the planet. "This way," Vader grunted. "It looks like they're heading to create a roadblock. Likely they'll be looking for us as outsiders... instigators..." He shook his head before ducking around a corner.

It was too late to double back. Leia didn't register what had happened - at first she only saw his back straighten as he froze in apparent fear. As Mon Mothma and Leia followed, it became obvious why.

An Imperial officer leveled a blaster pistol at them, stormtroopers behind him, all the rifles pointed directly at their small group. "Lars Quell," the officer said crisply. "You are under arrest for inciting a riot on Imperial territory -"

"Lucien Vivax. How pleasant to see you." The farmboy twang was completely gone from Vader's voice. He had drawn himself up to his full impressive height, squaring his shoulders, looking distinctly menacing. Despite the obvious sickness he was battling, he had suddenly become Vader - though the dark circles under his eyes seemed to suit him. Leia grit her teeth. It figured. She had always assumed Vader was a sick bastard, though she hadn't expected to see it so literally.

"That is Captain-Supervisor Vivax to you, sirrah," the officer snapped, even though his eyebrows knit in apparent frustration. He hadn't yet fired, however.

"No, Lucien, it isn't," Vader replied, smiling. "I heard you were stuck here after the divorce. I suppose it can't be pleasant to have your ex-wife so significantly outrank you." His voice was downright friendly, and it scared Leia on a deep and fundamental level. At least with him in the black suit and dramatic ominous presence, you knew what you were getting. This false sweetness unnerved her. "Ah, but you still have your girl with you, don't you? Calixte? What would she be now - seven, eight?" Vader's smile was wolfish and predatory as he took one small step forward.

Vivax gulped, holding his gun firmly. "You will stop there, sirrah, or I will shoot. And I will have you tortured to find out how you know such information -" It was a desperate bid to reclaim control of the situation.

"No you won't. Not unless you want to die exactly like Captain-Supervisor Grammel."

"But that's utterly impossible," Vivax scoffed. "Grammel was killed by Vader..." His voice trailed off as Vader locked eyes with him, still wearing a smile that seemed to contain far too many fangs to even be called a smile at all. Silently, Vader reached for his lightsaber, pulling it out with a slow flourish. Its blade came out with a snap, glowing blood-red. The color drained from Vivax's face, and he gaped. "Oh, gods... the rumors are true..."

"I'm a reasonable man, Lucien. I'm also ruthless. You know that if you fire that first shot, not only will your men die, but you will die. I will make sure that, unlike Grammel, you will die slowly and painfully. Just think of where that would leave your poor little Calixte." The false sweetness was definitely starting to make Leia nervous, now. She shared a long glance with Mon Mothma, who did nothing. But the older woman's pursed lips said all that Leia needed to know.

For the moment, all they could do was trust him.

Vivax didn't respond, nostrils flaring in panting, fearful breaths. "But as I said, I'm a reasonable man. You can simply... let us go. Lose the reports. Say that you were unable to catch me. In four hours, have three speeders at the southwest exit gate with a full month's supplies for a group of five. They will mysteriously go missing. You don't case us. I don't kill you. And little Calixte might be able to have a childhood of something other than being ignored by her mother." Vader was still smiling, but his words were firm as he bargained. Leia tried to hide her surprise. It was amazing that he would be so pushy when odds - and the situation - were obviously not in their favor. And as she watched his face, she saw the sweat on his forehead, the deep breaths he was taking - the way she could tell just by standing next to him that his skin positively glowed with feverish heat - surely this would all end badly...

"Done." Vivax squeaked out, trying to look dignified. But he didn't drop his gun. "Troops, tactical retreat formation 9-A. Do not fire a single shot." He barely inclined his head in a nod as he backed away slowly. The stormtroopers had no such grace after the first few steps, most of them breaking into a jog.

Soon they were alone in the dirty alleyway. Vader gave a long sigh of relief, sheathing his lightsaber and putting it back on his belt.

Leia lowered her own pistol, her hands shaking somewhat. "Was that part of the plan?"

"Not entirely," Vader admitted, sounding exhausted.

Mon Mothma politely cleared her throat as if trying to stop an argument before it began. "I take it the speeders are to give us enough time to locate Ahsoka, Strand and Artoo, as well as the ship?"

"No," Vader said quickly, staring off into the distance as if still able to see Vivax even though he had gone. "We're going to rig the autopilot to head about a hundred clicks away from here and send them off."

"What? And waste the supplies?"

"Vivax isn't stupid. Every single one of them will have geolocator tracking devices." Vader shook his head. "The longer he spends combing the jungle for us, the less attention we'll attract here." There was a hoarseness entering his voice - the sickness was getting worse - but he still paced like an anxious cat, staring up through the makeshift city to what were presumably the Captain-Supervisor's quarters and estate.

"Of course, the geolocators mean Vivax is going to break our agreement. And that means..." Vader ran his tongue momentarily along his teeth in thought, tracing the shape of one of his canines. "When night falls, I'll have to pay him a visit..."