Chapter 19.

Latest edit: January 6th, 2015. As always, cheers and enjoy!

Raidre returned to the Mantis to the sound of laughter, which was very different from the mood she had come from. She made her way back to the galley to see Aiden in the midst of a laughing fit as Torian finished telling him something. The Mando'ad(1)'s eyes crossed Raidre's and he stood at attention.

"Welcome back."

She frowned, a brow rising in question. "Really?"

"What?"

"Should I tell you to be at ease, soldier?" A light blush eased onto Torian's cheeks, he ambled awkward. "Okay, at ease."

Torian relaxed but stayed standing, Aiden finished laughing and looked at Raidre.

"How'd it go?"

"Better in some ways and worse in others. But Mako got back to me about your folks, I have the coordinates to drop you off, but I waited to get back so you could let them know in person that you're ok."

Raidre sat down next to Aiden and handed him the holo. For a time, the kid just stared at it, eyes big, wide and open. Raidre put a hand on his back and rubbed in a circular motion until Aiden took the holo in his hands and punched in the call. Torian crossed his arms as he leaned on the wall, giving a wide breath. They waited for someone to pick up.

"Don't worry."

Aiden nodded. "Thanks, vod."

Raidre gave Torian a quick glance, Torian shook his head once, a minute motion and she let it go. This made it three reasons for them to have a little chat latter. After three rings, someone finally picked up. A slim woman with big eyes, much like Aiden's looked at them.

"Y-yes, hello?"

Aiden sucked in a breath and squinted his eyes shut. "Mom."

The woman's face crumbled all at once. Raidre tapped Aiden on the back and motioned to Torian for him to follow her out with a shift of her head.

"Well, we'll let you lovely folk get reacquainted."

The Mandalorians vacated the galley in favor of the cockpit. Torian sat in the co-pilot's seat.

"Ma'am."

Raidre smiled. "Aren't we done with formalities?"

Torian shrugged and Raidre let that lion lie. "You teaching Mando'a(2) now?"

Torian shrugged again. "He needed comfort, brotherhood does that."

Raidre nodded. "I'm next."

Torian smiled. "I'll remember you said that."

Raidre stuck her tongue out at him, a black barbell stuck through the middle. Torian just stared at it, so surprised by its unexpected appearance that he forgot to notice how cute she looked. She looked down at it and then back at him.

"Wah?"

Torian laughed, she had her tongue still out and just looked so confused. Raidre wiped her lips. "Never seen piercings before?"

Torian was still chuckling. "Yea, but what is the point of that one?"

That predatory look crept into her features as she punched in coordinates, but she remained silent, which only caused Torian's curiosity to grow. It wasn't that she was chatty, but she didn't typically run away from questions. She had shown herself to be unabashedly honest thus far, not afraid to bear the crude and visceral details bear if he asked her to.

"Raidre?"

She looked him full in the face and for a moment he felt as if she thought he was very young. He had never hated something more, except maybe Jicoln.

"Maybe when we get to know each other a bit better I will tell you. For now, let's say it's not polite to ask a lady about her past lovers."

Torian's face went red, so very red, like an Alderranain beet. What the haran(3) had he just stepped on?! He looked away and just kept his eyes ahead, unable to look at her because although most times all he could think about was what she looked like naked, he was not ready to have this conversation. She stared at him blankly and after three seconds she burst out laughing.

"Okay, the truth is, you won't believe me when I tell you why I got it."

Torian snorted. "And now you gotta tell me."

Raidre shrugged. "When I was a teen I had a hard time paying attention in class. I was always neurotic so I would fidget or play with my pens. Teachers hated me for it. So I got reprimanded every year. "

Torian frowned and crossed his arms. "Point being?"

Raidre shrugged. "A friend of mine suggested I get my tongue pierced, it would give me something to fidget with and not annoy the crap out of my teachers. And it actually worked. Except every guy I meet thinks it's some supper sexual thing instead. So now I just play it up so no one can beat me to making the joke about it."

"Sorry."

Raidre smiled. "Don't believe me?"

Torian grinned. "Might have started out that way, but don't think it ended the same."

It was Raidre's turn to blush. Torian felt a little rush knowing he had figured her out on this. She cleared her throat.

"Moving on."

"Right."

"What happened to your ear piece?"

Torian sighed. "Got socked in the ear, trashed and then lost."

Raidre nodded. "Okay, this tension-"

"Won't interfere with work."

Raidre kept her eyes on him, he was blank right now, but he hadn't let her finish her question. Another topic that was off the table for now. Fair enough. Everyone had their own skeletons in their closet, she wasn't going to force his out into the light if he wasn't ready. She nodded as she slotted that away for later, much later.

"Don't worry so much, you're too young to go gray."

Torian nodded. "Ma'am."

Raidre tried not to feel too disappointed. She had prodded and he had clammed up. But she knew well enough to leave him alone. She stood and instead of touching his shoulder as she wanted to, she let her hands hang on her sides.

"I'll check to see if our charge is ready to go home. We're short on time."

"Right."

She went and took all the warmth with her. Torian felt as if the room lost a couple of degrees of heat. He sighed. Too close. She had good instincts and just as she felt no qualms about being honest, she expected it. He couldn't do the same. He wasn't ready, wasn't comfortable… He wasn't ready to trust. And even if that were not an issue, he wasn't worthy. That was the crux of his problem. He might never be worthy to pursue her and that bit him right in the gett'se(4). He sighed and let his face fall into his palm. He needed the objectivity that distance afforded him, but too much time alone with her made distance impossible. All he wanted was to breach that distance, touch her, not just physically but down to her core, just as she touched him.

He looked at their coordinates and pulled out all the data Mako had pulled together for them. Jezzik was indeed Tarro's older brother, but the smuggler had fallen out of most of his employers' favor since his brother's passing. A background check revealed that the people they had put to rest at the Cove were likely the only folk who would have cared enough to seek revenge. Now that was their first wink from Lady Luck all day. As for Aiden's family, they just happened to have too much credits, Aiden had been kidnapped for ransom, but when the sum had been delivered, the boy had not been given back. Maybe they had hoped to gain more money from the parents, but who knew? It didn't matter, the boy would finally get to go home.

Torian pulled out Raidre's info on the next job and reviewed the data. He was not surprised by what he found, but felt tired, another child taken for ransom. Oritsir(5), if he ever had kids, he would make sure they'd be tough as nails and never get caught in such a situation. Especially a girl. He grit his teeth as he looked at the girl's holo, she was cute, which made her danger that much worse. Pretty girls were tempting spoils of war, for scum like these, her body would be an expected bonus. Torian tried not to let his feelings runaway with him, but you did not touch kids, and at thirteen, this Prixila was still very much a child. He kept his mind on what he could control, he counted their dets, blaster cells and rockets, although they had used far more already than anticipated, Raidre had stocked up. They still had enough for another engagement or five.

The problem is that this meeting area was wide open, lots of room to hide men for an ambush and they were only two. Too much room to cover between them, even with extra gear and they were also pressed for time. Torian moved over to the pilot seat and started punching in the necessary prep work to lift off. They needed to go, if they wanted this job to go smoothly, for that they would need time to recon their pick-up spot properly. They needed Aiden off the ship and somewhere safe now, or at least in the next 30 minutes. Torian pulled the ships comm down as his hand hovered above the lift off button.

"Gotta go, buckle up."

He counted to five and pressed it. Off in the air and above the garish electric lights in all the hues of a rainbow. The ships holo rang and Torian frowned, really? Now? He pushed it and stared at a vaguely familiar ruddy face.

"How you holding up, kid?"

"Not a kid."

Gault laughed and sighed. "She's a handful, ain't she?"

Torian frowned some more as he navigated a busy skylane. "You got a point? Make it."

"No time to waste, I see. Just checking in, Mako's not good at keeping a secret, said you guys saw more action than you were expecting."

Torian frowned some more and rose a brow at Gault. "All parts accounted for. Hair ain't even singed."

Gault snorted. "Yet, I'll give it to ya, I'm impressed. Well, have fun, don't be late for dinner, it is in your honor and all. Try to look a bit less like death and more like a friendly, cuddly local, ok?"

Torian wanted to murder the Devaronian. Cuddly? Did he look like he wanted to be krifing(6) cuddled?! Gault must have felt his intent through the holo, because he held his hands up, open palmed and empty of his usual blaster rifle.

"Okay, so come looking like you're ready to shoot up the place, what do I know?"

Gault disconnected and Torian went back to his work, doing his best not to grumble. They had a job to do, credits to make, hopefully some people to kill. Maybe even another good fight to finish too? He needed the sharpening. He knew he was good, precise and practised, but he also knew he was a bit green around the edges still. Like a cruiser you were used to, but still had that fresh smell to it. He hadn't been bled enough yet, hadn't been in enough sticky situation, not like Raidre. Gosh, that woman had a talent to get into the Rancor's Pit, but shabla(7) did she ever know how to climb right back out of it again and with some fresh whole Rancor eggs to boot! She had this uncanny ability to read the winds around her and take the one that took her the farthest.

Nope, travelling with her was definitely not boring.

NOTES:

1. Child of Mandalore, the planet not the actual leader.

2 .The name for the Mandalorian language.

3 .Hell, literally.

4 .Nuts, you get what I mean, right?

5 .Curse, swear, bellow, used in this context like the English swear; fuck.

6 .Fucking.

7 .Screwed up, impolite.