Doxie wasn't, as Lando had assumed, Li-Sen' pet. Far from it. He appeared to be a small mammal that resembled a cross between a cat and a dog. He had orange fur with white patches and could communicate telepathically. Doxie was, in actuality, a large, humanoid with feline features, large blue furred cat ears, a similar tail and amazing mental powers, which simply chose to manifest himself as the small "cog". Why he chose the insignificant form, no one could tell, although it might have been because it seemed more inconspicuous. However, Doxerith himself might reply to that question with the fact that he preferred being "travel size".
"Lando?" Li-Sen called apprehensively.
The gambler chose that moment to step out of the cockpit into the corridor. "Are you all right?" he said, walking towards her.
She nodded silently. "Shaken and upset, but physically, yes, I'm fine." She paused, glancing out of a view port. "Where are we?'
"We're on Naího," Lando informed her. "I didn't really know where else to go, so…" He trailed off, shrugging.
"Naího is perfect," Li-Sen assured him. "No one will think of looking for us here. It's been deserted because the climate is incredibly harsh," she explained. She made an odd look for a moment, thinking that she sounded like one of her college professors, which reminded her of her mother. Her mother, who had insisted she attend the best-and most expensive-school the galaxy had to offer: Mogen School in the Antari System. At this thought, tears threatened to flow again, and finally did when she failed to hold them back.
Lando gave her an almost apologetic look. "Do you want to talk about it?" he offered. He wanted to know what the Core had gone on back there at the estate, but he was more worried about the girl's well being.
As if reading his mind, Li-Sen hurriedly wiped away the tears and shook her head. "No, not about my mother, but thanks just the same. I should tell you about what happened back there, though."
Lando didn't answer, but followed her to the lounge. Li-Sen seated herself regally on a small chair, upright, as she had been taught since she was a child.
Lando lowered himself into another chair, adjusting to be as comfortable,
and seem as cool and relaxed as he could. While waiting for Li-Sen
to begin, he lit a cigar and leaned back, exhaling the smoke.
Li-Sen finally leaned back up, waving cigar smoke out of her face. "I suspect it was Uso-shi Jinn," she stated matter-of-factly. "He wants to kill my mother and I."
"So this…Uso-shi guy…he blew up your estate to kill you?" Lando seemed skeptical. "Why?"
"He hates me."
"What'd you do to him?"
Li-Sen shifted in her seat, looking uncomfortable before answering. "We used to be engaged. By, my mom didn't approve, so I broke it off with him. My sister, she…" Li-Sen paused, her voice breaking as the wave of tears washed over her again. She thought of her mother-the beautiful Lady Genera, now dead, buried under a pile of rubble created by Uso-shi. She thought of her sister, who had been the perfect one, older than Li-Sen by several minutes. When her sister-Kae, her name had been-had died, Li-Sen had nearly gone mad, striving to be everything for herself and her sister. To be enough to make her parents proud for both of them. To be everything to fill the void left by her lost half.
"Uso-shi killed her five years ago," Li-Sen explained, managing to keep her voice even through the tears. "Since I'm…the only one left anymore, he's after me."
Lando thought about this, absently chewing on the end of his cigar. This was a bit much to swallow. "Back up a parsec," he said suddenly. "How can you be sure you're the only one?"
"I just…. know," the now billionaire replied evasively. Unbeknownst to Lando, Li-Sen had been given Jedi training as a child, learned to sense the strange entity called the Force, to sense other things and people. Now, she had reached out with her mind to touch Uso-shi's and her mothers'. Her mother gave no answer, meaning her death. She was careful as she searched the deep recesses of Uso-shi's depraved brain, to see what his dark intentions about her were. She had trusted he would not shut his mind away from her. Uso-shi liked to play things fair, to give her a chance, however small, to fight back against him. He loved seeing her-or anyone, for that matter, try to resist his great and evil will.
The ship's captain didn't pry. "You say we should be safe on Naího for a while. How much constitutes 'a while'?"
"A week at the very most," came the reply. "But I can assure you we'll be fine for at least a few days."
"Right…" Lando snubbed out his cigar. "Well, then, we should
use that time to our advantage and get out of here."
Li-Sen blew a stray strand of strawberry blonde hair out of her face before leaning in over the table in the lounge.
"Tonight, you go out and make sure there isn't anyone or anything who knows we're here, while I make preparations on the Falcon. You know, make sure everything's in working order, tune up…We won't be able to waste any time getting to our-my," she corrected herself, "Second estate in the Oseon. Once we get there, I'll contact the authorities."
Lando nodded. "Sounds good to me." He stood. He was beginning to grow quite fond of her. By the Core, any girl who knew how to deal with a ship like his Falcon and was that cute was fine by him. "You sure you know what you're doing, Li?" Lando had a habit of shortening people's names-and Li-Sen wasn't exactly the kindest to his tongue, although he heard worse. He chuckled inwardly at the thought of a certain Elder from a certain vacuum-breathing race he'd happened upon only a few years earlier. Li-Sen gave him a harsh look, but didn't otherwise protest the sudden nickname.
She flipped her hair behind her shoulder haughtily. "I didn't go to the best school in the galaxy for fourteen years for nothing, Lando," she snapped. "Honestly, what do you think I am? Some kind of washout?"
Lando chuckled and tousled her perfectly styled hair, mussing it. He was beginning to enjoy ticking her off. She was cuter with that indignant look, anyways. Li-Sen scowled. "That remains yet to be seen, old aristocrat."
She scowled even more at this. "Just leave, will you?"
Shaking his head, still laughing softly at her indignation, Captain
Calrissian casually left the lounge.
Humming to herself, Li-Sen began to tinker around; checking to
make sure everything in the Millennium Falcon was sound. Some people
might not understand why she was humming, but she preferred not to dwell
in the past, to get on with life. Now was no exception. No
way was she going to dwell on her sorrow. Suddenly, she spotted something
unusual with the circuitry. "Hullo…. what's this?"
"Honey, I'm home!" Lando exclaimed jovially as he closed the hatch a few hours later.
Li-Sen's head poked out of the doorway leading to the cockpit. "Bit presumptuous of you, isn't that, Captain?"
"Who said anything about you, old mechanic? I was talking to the cog!" Lando scooped Doxie up, grinning playfully at Li-Sen. Doxie barked and wagged his tail until it looked like it might fall off. He was never bothered by anything.
Li-Sen didn't seem amused, but nor did she seem annoyed. Odd, Lando thought, not that he minded, of course. If she wasn't annoyed, it meant she was warming up to him. Girls were always easier to deal with if they trusted you.
"I'm judging by your tone, my dear wishful thinker, that there's nothing out there to be worried about."
Lando nodded and set Doxie back on his furry feet. "So…what's for dinner?"
"Humph!" The girl snorted. "Why don't you go cook it and then tell me?"
The gambler chuckled. "Haven't yet met a girl willing to
banter with me like that. Hungry?" He didn't wait for an answer,
but put his arm around her shoulders-which, even more mind boggling to
Lando, she didn't object to-and hauled her down the hall to the lounge.
Doxie followed, yapping out the melody Li-Sen was so fond of humming.
A while later, the two were seated across from each other at the table where they had made their plans.
"So you're sure there's nothing out there, Lan?" Li-Sen asked. Two could play at that game, she told herself as she pushed away her now empty meal container.
Lando nodded in answer, not seeming to care either way. Just like him, she said to herself, rolling her eyes as he lit a cigar. His third that day, she noted. "Not enough intelligent life-forms to fill the trunk of a skyhopper." He took a drag of his cigar and exhaled the smoke, trying not to blow it in Li-Sen's face. "How'd things go with the Falcon?"
"Perfectly, to say the least. I tuned up a few instruments; everything's running perfectly now," she replied.
"Great." He nodded, tapping the ash from the end of his cigar into his own empty meal container. Li-Sen had by now stopped rolling her eyes at his habit, in the new light of ignoring it, instead. He stood and took both containers, dumping them into the small door that led to the trash container down under the deck of the Falcon. "Great," he repeated as he sat back down.
"Where are we supposed to sleep, anyway?" Li-Sen asked, as if she had been waiting all day for a chance to ask. In fact, she had noticed while looking around the freighter earlier, that there were no sleeping quarters, or anything of the sort. There only seemed to be lots and lots of cargo space.
Lando considered this. "There's the table…and the chairs in the cockpit. That's about it. But I only have one blanket." He admitted the next bit a tad sheepishly. "Unfortunately, I kind of lost the other two when I was kidnapped in the Pahsten System." He looked away, muttering about "the stupid Pahstenian law enforcement".
"Oh, wonderful…" The sarcasm in Li-Sen's voice was unmistakable.
A/n: Pretty much all of the planets, by the way, I made up, including Pahsten and the entire system Li lives in. I also made up the race Doxie is, even though I know there's some kind of cat-human things in Star Wars, I made Doxie up before I knew about them. Also, Tae-Kai belongs to me and Kae belongs to one of my best friends. ^_^ She's my sister in all but blood! I'd like to thank her here, since it's as good a place as any, for fanficting this for me.