Chapter 15.

Cheers and enjoy, as always. Last edited on January 26th, 2014.

"So what's the plan?"

Raidre had her feet up and arms crossed, she had been chewing on her lower lip for a while now. Torian was comfortable with silence, but he could feel the mental exercise next to him, and so much rumination made him uneasy.

"We can't go out with guns blazing, news travels fast on this rock."

Torian frowned but nodded, she knew this place better than he, and it was reasonable to assume that word got around fast in a place where data was constantly streaming from one datapad to another. He nodded as he began to understand their issue. Their armour and colours would be passed onto every thug and hunter in the area, if they went out as they were garbed, they would be gunned down in five minutes, maybe less. Torian groaned as it sunk in, leaning back into his own chair, looking up at the ceiling of the Mantis' cockpit. Why had he not thought of that?

"Do we have the time to dirty ourselves up?"

Raidre shrugged. "Maybe we do, maybe we don't. All depends on whether they have the ship flagged."

Torian shook his head. "Mako is thorough, she said our registry changes with every port we pass through." Raidre rose a brow at Torian, he shrugged.

Raidre snorted. "Someone's on the little Slicer's good side."

Torian blushed as he recalled Mako's proposition, he had never been approached so boldly, well, except once… He shook off thoughts of Jetritra. A look in Raidre's direction banished all such thoughts or even ideas of Mako. Her lower lip was the same shade as blood from all the chewing, soft and supple.

"Guess we'll have to look like civvies."

Torian looked up at the sound of Raidre's voice, brought out of his reverie and a bit confused.

"We have spare gear?"

Raidre kept her eyes on the ceiling. "Nope, we don't, but we got some blue paint in the back."

Torian frowned, they stood in unison and strode to the cargo bay. They looked around the back storage area and happened on a box of paint, with only two unused cans. Raidre frowned.

"This won't be enough for both of us."

Torian stared at hard. "No."

Raidre scoffed. "I am far more used to lighter gear than you."

"No."

"I am more flexible and limber and have better shields."

"No."

"Okay, wise-guy, can you attract a smuggler, 'cause last I checked, men were into breasts." Raidre stood and pulled her chest plate off.

Torian didn't remember a time he had blushed so much, but as she pulled her breast plate off, and almost pulled her chemise off to cup her breasts and push them up together. Torian looked away and took several deep breaths. This was not how he had hoped to see her mostly topless. But she had a point, and he couldn't argue with it. Breasts won every time, unless the guy was not into women, but even then... He pinched his nose-bridge between thumb and fore-finger and sighed.

"What if this turns into another fiasco like your 'fast-cash-grab' at the Twi'lek's fighting pit?"

Torian kept his eyes on his boots, she crouched down so their eyes met.

"But we made it out of there alright-"

"More like ran for it-"he interrupted.

"Better than alright, with piles of credits!"

Torian sighed. "There's no point, is there?"

A coy smile played along those heart shaped lips, half chewed and blood red. Manda(1), she looked so beautiful full of sweat, dirt and blood.

"Determination is a core Mandalorian value, atin(2), right?"

Torian laughed despite himself. He shook his head from side to side, defeated by his own culture.

"Fine, what's the plan?"

Raidre's grin was blinding. "I freshen up and look my sexiest, strut in and find us our smuggler. You will stand guard outside with your newly blue gear and a civvie jacket I kind of got for you."

"How are we supposed to find him, all we have is a name."

Raidre squeezed her lips together as if getting ready to blow a kiss. "So there is some things I can do better."

She stood, and Torian followed suit as she pulled her datapad out. "Our smuggler's been smart enough to keep his face to himself, but he leaves voice trails all over the net."

Raidre pressed play on a feed and Hazzad's voice emerged. "And why would I give you a loyal customer?"

"Because the credits are better."

Torian listened to the second voice, eyes staring off, unfocused.

"500,000.00 credits aren't worth Raidre, she gets me more in a day when she comes by."

"When, being the keyword, she hasn't been very punctual since becoming the Champion of the Great Hunt, now has she? Been far too busy with her new Mandalorian friends."

Hazzad could be heard groaning.

"Did you make your payments to the Ivory Shayums this month? I hear they are starting to move into all kinds of new territory."

Torian paused the feed. "Ivory Shayums?"

Raidre shrugged. "New local gang, spice dealers, been very aggressive of late. There were a couple of bounties up about them but didn't think much of it at the time."

Torian nodded. "Well at least we know why."

Raidre nodded but shrugged with a frown. "Motive does not make it suck less, any other questions?"

"Just one, when did you get me a jacket?"

Raidre shrugged. "What did you think I picked up while Jilka entertained you?"

Torian shrugged, a smile teasing his lips. "Kind of figured on groceries or female stuff."

Raidre scoffed and smacked him on the shoulder. Torian chuckled but said no more, just signalled with his hands for her to continue.

"So yea, I will lure him out where you will assist me in pulling him back into the Mantis, quietly."

"Into the Mantis?"

"Yea?"

"You want us to bring a smuggler on our ship?"

Raidre shrugged. "Just in the cargo bay and we will make sure he doesn't see anything noteworthy."

Torian frowned.

Raidre rose her hands in admission. "Okay, he gets out of hand, we make sure he vacates the premises in no shape to share any intel on us."

Torian nodded.

"Besides." Raidre pulled out a black bag large enough to pull over someone's head, the material was heavy and opaque. "We can use this thingy."

Torian looked at her and let his face relax, he cocked a brow at her. "This plan is full of holes."

"You got a better one?"

Torian sighed. "Not on such short notice."

Raidre nodded. "Nar Shaadda tends to be unpredictable, so it's best to leave any plans loose and open to adaptation."

Torian nodded and handed her the paint canisters. They didn't need to speak anymore. Raidre sprayed Torian until he was blue from head to toe, helmet included. Once the first task done, Torian watched Raidre walk off to her quarters to commence her 'sexying-up'. He looked at the spot where he had last seen her for a long time, pulling his helmet off, hoping in vain the fumes from the spray paint would clear his mind of lustful thoughts. There was real danger ahead. But another matter nagged at the back of his mind and refused to be silenced.

For a time now, the illusion had been pretty strong, the illusion of her always having been Mandalorian. She had a habit of dropping a couple of words here and there in Mando'a, or knowing the food and spices. He hadn't been aware that she belonged to any clan, but she was genuine. He took a mental note to ask more about that latter. Even so, he knew it was fanciful of him to imagine things that way, but he was not ready to face just how un-Mandalorian she could be when necessary. He liked how messy her hair would get, how it got in her eyes, how it would act like a veil. The natural beauty of those sharp feline eyes adorned only by the simplest black eyeliner.

She was beautiful as she was, she did not need to dress up or to play up any feature, and those eyes alone could hypnotize him if he had let them. Torian busied himself by packing as much heat and gear he could reasonably fit and carry while considering he would be wearing a jacket. Part of him wondered what she had picked out for him, another part of him was trying desperately not to focus on how much he wanted to join her for a shower, something about water running down a curvy form…

"Focus, Cadera!"

"Focus on what?"

Torian's head snapped in the direction of her voice. Didn't women normally require loads of time to get prettied up? As soon as his eyes saw her, shock slackened his jaw. Take that fit, curvy form and put into a little black dress with a deep V-neck and barely enough skirt to cover her rump and you had instant salivation. What shocked him the most was her face, or more like her skin? Her tattoos and scars were absent, concealed by cosmetics. Her face looked different with her ink to cover it up. She looked like a pale porcelain doll with a wicked edge. She leaned on the wall above the stairs, high heels in hand and a clutch in the other. Torian had thought he would hate seeing her all prettied up in civilian gear, but the only thing he really missed was her skin and ink, the dress was nice. Very nice. Not something he wanted her to go out into public with though.

She came down the stairs bare-footed, his eyes followed.

"What are you able to take with you while wearing that?"

Raidre put the heels on the ground and commenced the complicated act of putting them on, gaining almost six inches in height. As she straightened up, and pulled out any ruffles in her dress, for the first time they faced each other eye to eye.

"I have a micro-blaster in the clutch and a vibro-blade on a thigh strap."

Torian couldn't help it, he looked at her thighs trying to discern the tell-tale lump, but could not spot it.

"Can't be much of a blade, how fast can you draw it?"

Raidre drew the knife in a fluid motion, not even nicking her dress or flashing her underwear. A practised motion.

Torian nodded. "Okay, this might work."

Raidre replaced the vibro-blade into its secret sheath and straightened up, she did a little girly spin, which left Torian a shade of red he did not even know he could turn. Her legs looked so long in those shoes, and every curve just stood out that much more with the way she stood in them. So maybe there was something about civilian life worth noting.

"I look okay?"

Torian cleared his throat. "Yea."

"Nothing showing that shouldn't be showing?"

Torian sighed as he checked her out. He pulled her skirt down as far as it would go, while trying to cover her bosom up as much as he could. He wondered if his face showed how conflicted he was, he loved the show, but did not want to share it with anyone. Not to mention that touching her was intoxicating. As soon as he started he wanted to do nothing else. He needed more control and he was running out of ideas as to how to keep a tentative grip on himself. A light touch on his right cheek pulled him out of his internal struggle, she grabbed his face firmly and pulled so his eyes would meet hers, when had he started looking up?

"It's gonna be alright."

"You have no armour."

"I always pack light."

"You're practically naked!"

That feline look transformed her face, Torian was very glad that he had armour on, because in that moment he lost himself to his physical urges, he could feel his lower brain knocking against his cod piece. He swallowed as she put those lithe arms around his neck and pulled him into an embrace, their noses touching.

"I'll be fine, you've got my six, right?"

Could she see his heart racing because Torian was convinced his jugulars were pounding and he felt so hot all of a sudden? Damn it!

"Yes."

She smiled. "So then what's your worry?"

And with that she was gone, a final touch on his right ear and her heels clicked as she strut out like a vid-star. It took him a moment to recollect himself, to calm himself. No one had ever caused his body to respond like that with a single look. He breathed deeply and let the smells of her evaporate.

"Hey, Tor! Can you hear me?"

Torian gripped his right ear from where he could hear her voice, and found a little device inserted there. He sighed, how had he missed that?! This woman had such skills of distraction the likes of which he had never encountered… This might just work, if she turned on the charm just like that on their smuggler, he would have no idea what hit him. And the Torian would also hit the smuggler, because… Damnit! He'd be jealous.

"Yes."

"Good, gosh I had forgotten what it was like to walk in heels!"

Torian pulled on the last of his gear and started looking for the jacket, helmets would be out of the question, too conspicuous, but lots of mercs went around Nar Shaada with gear underneath some civvie clothes.

"Is your movement impaired?"

Raidre snickered. "Of course, nothing I can't handle."

Torian rummaged around looking for this infamous jacket she had mentioned. "Raidre. Jacket. Where is it?"

She chuckled with a voice that could make a man's knees weak. "Look behind you, hangar door, the jacket's hooked there."

Torian stopped gripping onto his ear piece like his life depended on it and looked at the hangar door. Sure enough a matte black bantha hide jacket hung there. It was two sizes too big for him, but it fit perfectly with his gear and extra dets. He pulled it on and felt comfort in knowing that she had thought of the details. Torian pulled out his vibro-blade and quickly shaved his facial hair off and slapped on some blue paint on his face. He exited and locked the Mantis up only two minutes behind Raidre.

"How you holding, Tor?"

"Only two minutes behind you."

"Good, but keep your distance, you can't look like your tailing me."

"I know."

"Then I'll stop worrying."

Torian smirked. "When do you worry?"

"You don't collect my kind of skin adornments without some measure of worry."

Torian frowned. "Fair enough."

"Going into the Cantina, live feed mode on, keep in mind I won't be able to answer you."

"Noted."

Torian sighed and pulled out his datapad to make himself look busy, he slowed down as he got closer to the Cantina's entrance. He stopped fully two meters away from the entrance on the opposite side of the street and began filtering through the data. They still had very little idea who was this Karik, but Torian also wanted to know what was going on inside. With the help of Mako's hacking programs, Torian had managed to get into the security systems of the Cantina. He could now watch as well as hear everything going on inside. He watched Raidre strut against the crowd to the bar, most of the eyes in the bar turning to her as she walked by. It sucked to watch from the side-lines, but they wouldn't get closer to understanding what went wrong if they did not react quickly, so it was necessary to run in half-blind. He understood the urgency and the necessary risks, but he felt no solace in this knowledge. He sighed and tore his eyes away from the feed.

Torian surveyed the surrounding areas of the Cantina where their smuggler was known to frequent. He was beginning to understand the look Gault had shown his way before leaving, that sort of skeptical look. To be honest, he had no idea what he was getting into before now, Raidre had a knack for getting into some serious trouble. What was that old saying his mother used to us? Out of the frying pan and into the fire? Torian snorted as he kept his eye on the prize, the doorway to the shady Cantina. Once again, she had gone into a dangerous situation with next to no gear, no wonder she had such a collection of battle scars. It had been such a shock to see her dressed like a civilian…

Torian tore his mind from such thoughts as his ear piece began feeding him something interesting.

"Now, aren't you a sight for sore eyes!"

Torian cross-referenced the voice talking to Raidre. It was simple, every time someone walked up and spoke to Raidre, Torian would check to see if the voice matched feeds they had managed to pull up from the net. If he wasn't their man, Raidre sent them packing in her most convincing drunken act. Jezzik had been sly, he kept his face to himself, so they had no idea what he looked like, but they had managed to dig up plenty of voice clips, including a conversation between Jezzik and a certain Twi'lek.

"Raidre, he's the target."

He heard Raidre shift her position, probably to face Jezzik. Torian pulled out his datapad again and continued to watch the live feed.

"Am I now, and who might you be?"

Jezzik was a thin man, above average height with brown hair, exceptionally unremarkable, which made him perfect for his chosen career. He was also leering at Raidre in a way that set Torian's jaw muscles on edge.

"Call me Jezz, luv. What brings a pretty little thing like you into such a rowdy place?"

Raidre made a show of pouting through her hair as she sighed theatrically. "The other Cantina said I'd had enough."

Jezzik sat next to her and ordered another round without saying a word to the bartender, eyes fixed on Raidre. "And have you had enough?"

A big grin lit up Raidre's face, she looked so young and naive in that moment, the act was convincing, when had she learned to do this?

"There is never enough Corellian rum!"

Jezzik laughed at her antics. Torian closed the feed and went back to surveying the entrance, he couldn't stomach this. He knew it was fake, had come to know her well enough that he could tell when she was sincere and genuine. But it still nagged at him that she paid Jezzik any attention. He knew this feeling he was being nagged with; jealousy. Torian sighed to himself, eyes still on the prize. He had often been told of stories about how Mando'ade(3) would just fall into each other in the heat of the moment. United by the test of battle and forging bonds as strong as beskar itself, but this was far beyond his comfort zone, it worried him. For what seemed like a long time, he listened to the useless chatter of two people faking interest in each other when clearly they only had one interest in common.

Raidre was half-dragged and half-dragging Jezzik out of the bar, his jacket draped on her for warmth. Torian watched them inch away from the Cantina, Raidre leading the way since Jezzik seemed a fair bit inebriated. An act no doubt, but Torian kept his cool and his distance. He'd get to pummel this man soon enough, and the promise alone was enough to sustain his cool.

"I got the rear, Raidre."

"I bet you do, Tor."

"Tor?"

It happened quickly, Raidre drew the vibro-blade as they turned into an alley that was a block away from the Mantis. Jezzik was held at knife point before Torian or anyone around had the opportunity to see what had happened. Torian strode up to the alley in calm strides, hands in his jacket pockets. When Torian came face to face with Jezzik, he was met with nonchalance.

"I presume you're Tor?"

Torian smiled without respect. "You like having teeth?"

"Sure, chewing is important."

"Then keep your mouth shut."

Torian laid tape along Jezzik's mouth and threw the opaque bag on Jezzik's head while Raidre relieved him of his hidden weapons and tied his hands. Once their tasks completed, Torian picked Jezzik up and carried him to the Mantis while Raidre acted as look out. They were in the Mantis and in the air within five minutes and no hiccups.

1.Mandalorian concept of heaven.

2 .Stubborn, tenacious, capable of endurance.

3 .Children of the planet Mandalore.