A Mercenary's Tale - Chapter Three
Civil war
We were in mid hyperspace heading back to Tatooine and Parda's Palace. I decided that I would take a stroll up to the cockpit and take my turn at keeping watch, I'd been asleep the past five hours after all. Ever since my dream of Morgana my sleep had been undisturbed. I no longer had mysterious dreams or nasty nightmares plauging my every sleeping moment. Part of me felt relief, the other part of me felt utterly disturbed.
I entered the cockpit and my eyes fell on the sleeping figure in the pilot's seat. Maria. Maria had confessed to me that after I killed the owner of the cantina on Manaan that she almost feared going back to report to Parda. Maria wondered what Parda would do and what lengths he would go to achieving them, but then Maria told me that she didn't really care anyway, it was me that should be worried, not her. After all, she is the best mercenary Parda has and he was unlikely to kill the best there. That bothered me however. I didn't exactly see Hutts, especially those who are crime lords, being into the whole "you are inexpendable" business. Something told me Maria was either over confident, naiive...
Or she was just bloody good at what she does.
So I sat down in the co-pilot's seat and began to consider the situation. Was Maria over confident? Yes. But she also struck me as a coward. After all, she did not want to deal with me back on Coruscant but allow someone three times my size to beat me to a bloody pulp.
Was Maria naiive? To an extent, I decided this to be true. Back on Coruscant she had the chance to kill me, but something stopped her. Sure, it's insulting to call Maria naiive for that reason, especially when the reason allowed me to be alive with every part of my anatomy in working order. But the truth hurts and I guess she would just have to deal with it, not that she would ever know nor find out these thoughts of mine.
Was Maria good at her living? Yes, insanely good. She was cold hearted, ruthless and brutal. It was a lethal combination and somehow I managed to live past it. Sheer luck or the Force? Although, I can imagine if Bastila were alive and could hear my thoughts she would be berating me for even considering it to be luck. No, everything has to be the Force. So I guess I will just put it down to the Force's will of wanting me to be alive, obviously, I'm in some kind of grand masterplan and I have to live through it.
Somethings *did* disturb me about Maria though. The small flicker of fear, the small tremble when drawing her blade that day in the Temple. I didn't see her hand tremble ever again thus far, but I'd seen the look of fear a few times. Maria was torturous but it was almost as if the thrill of battle exhilirated her so much that she felt fear from it. I tried to decide inside my mind how that could possibly work, but I decided that their was no possible way it could. No matter how much I thought that it was true, something about it just didn't seem logically possible.
I turned my head towards Maria and looked at her for a moment. She managed to look innocent and calm enough when she was asleep, but to believe that this petite woman could turn into a fully grown Rancor when she hears someone calling her by her first name was enough to put me off my thoughts, completely. I decided that Maria was the type of woman that would leave me wanting to be intimate with the comparitively placid Kath Hounds on Dantooine.
She reminded me of something.
A nagging wife.. NO.. Worse..
A mother in law.. *cringe*
Only the in laws knew how to shapeshift into Rancors, I guess it came with the job description. Maria wasn't an in law though, she was too young to be.
I doubted Maria was even human.
Maria was so infuriating, I decided that she was definitely a Rancor that could shapeshift into a human instead.
So she was the opposite of in laws then? Ugh.. ..How confusing.
How's this for an accurate description of Maria?
Maria is.. Annoying, vicious, violent, brutal, excitable-
I was disturbed by a loud snore.
....
..And she snores too. I decided this was going to be an incredibly *long* journey..
Because of these reasons I decided to look at Maria's good points, I decided to see if their was any possible way that the good could outshine the bad.
Well.. She was certainly attractive.
That was it.
Either I was being incredibly shallow or I wasn't looking hard enough at her. No. That was wrong, Maria was closed up, she never gave me a chance to pierce that rock hard exterior of hers to *allow* me to look closer at her. Everytime their was a joke, everytime their was serious conversation it would almost always end up with threats of my head rolling off in one direction or another. I was so convinced that she had run out of threats that sooner or later my head would be doing somersaults! The only thing Maria did seem accustomed to was getting me to talk to her and it was almost *always* in a cajoling manner. It was never questions, it was statements, thrown in my face.
I was suddenly alerted to the fact that Maria was tossing and turning in her sleep. She was obviously having a nightmare. I walked over to her and placed a firm hand on her shoulder, nudging her back and forth vigorously. "Maria. Wake up." I ordered her. Maria soon stopped and opened her eyes. She looked directly at me, her eyes filled with surprise as she fixed her gaze on me. "That was some nightmare. What did you dream of?"
"You." Maria said, unable to restrain a giggle. So she thought being nasty to me was funny? Well, that was nothing new to me. I sighed and sat back down in my chair, slumping down. Maria was never going to give me an inch. If I was in a more joyous mood I probably would have had some witty retort to use on her, but unfortunately or.. Fortunately, I didn't. Maria continued staring at me and laughing, I turned and looked at her.
"What's the big idea?" I asked her. The laughing continued. "Well, tell me." I stated to her again, feeling really annoyed by her laughter.
"It seems you really annoyed Rivu.." Maria said trailing off, unable to hold off her hysterics. I nodded in her direction.
"Uh-huh" I said in response. Maria keeled up in her chair, closing her eyes not able to stop the howling of laughter she was in. "Look! What's so bloody funny, Maria?" I asked her.
"You annoyed Rivu, a lot." Maria replied. I sighed and decided to play along.
"Surprise me." I requested. Maria simply put one hand over her mouth in laughter and pointed at my hair. I ran my fingers through my hair, well, it felt fine.
"Your hair..." Maria replied, keeling over in laughter. "It's..." She said. I stared at her, my body language aching for her to carry on. "It's.." Maria repeated.
"It's purple!" Maria said almost crying in laughter.
I started to blush, my eyebrows furrowed and my blood boiled. "RIVUUUUU!" I yelled extremely loudly in anger. "Wait until I get my hands on *you*!" I shouted again, leaving the cockpit and a hysterical Maria.
Civil war
We were in mid hyperspace heading back to Tatooine and Parda's Palace. I decided that I would take a stroll up to the cockpit and take my turn at keeping watch, I'd been asleep the past five hours after all. Ever since my dream of Morgana my sleep had been undisturbed. I no longer had mysterious dreams or nasty nightmares plauging my every sleeping moment. Part of me felt relief, the other part of me felt utterly disturbed.
I entered the cockpit and my eyes fell on the sleeping figure in the pilot's seat. Maria. Maria had confessed to me that after I killed the owner of the cantina on Manaan that she almost feared going back to report to Parda. Maria wondered what Parda would do and what lengths he would go to achieving them, but then Maria told me that she didn't really care anyway, it was me that should be worried, not her. After all, she is the best mercenary Parda has and he was unlikely to kill the best there. That bothered me however. I didn't exactly see Hutts, especially those who are crime lords, being into the whole "you are inexpendable" business. Something told me Maria was either over confident, naiive...
Or she was just bloody good at what she does.
So I sat down in the co-pilot's seat and began to consider the situation. Was Maria over confident? Yes. But she also struck me as a coward. After all, she did not want to deal with me back on Coruscant but allow someone three times my size to beat me to a bloody pulp.
Was Maria naiive? To an extent, I decided this to be true. Back on Coruscant she had the chance to kill me, but something stopped her. Sure, it's insulting to call Maria naiive for that reason, especially when the reason allowed me to be alive with every part of my anatomy in working order. But the truth hurts and I guess she would just have to deal with it, not that she would ever know nor find out these thoughts of mine.
Was Maria good at her living? Yes, insanely good. She was cold hearted, ruthless and brutal. It was a lethal combination and somehow I managed to live past it. Sheer luck or the Force? Although, I can imagine if Bastila were alive and could hear my thoughts she would be berating me for even considering it to be luck. No, everything has to be the Force. So I guess I will just put it down to the Force's will of wanting me to be alive, obviously, I'm in some kind of grand masterplan and I have to live through it.
Somethings *did* disturb me about Maria though. The small flicker of fear, the small tremble when drawing her blade that day in the Temple. I didn't see her hand tremble ever again thus far, but I'd seen the look of fear a few times. Maria was torturous but it was almost as if the thrill of battle exhilirated her so much that she felt fear from it. I tried to decide inside my mind how that could possibly work, but I decided that their was no possible way it could. No matter how much I thought that it was true, something about it just didn't seem logically possible.
I turned my head towards Maria and looked at her for a moment. She managed to look innocent and calm enough when she was asleep, but to believe that this petite woman could turn into a fully grown Rancor when she hears someone calling her by her first name was enough to put me off my thoughts, completely. I decided that Maria was the type of woman that would leave me wanting to be intimate with the comparitively placid Kath Hounds on Dantooine.
She reminded me of something.
A nagging wife.. NO.. Worse..
A mother in law.. *cringe*
Only the in laws knew how to shapeshift into Rancors, I guess it came with the job description. Maria wasn't an in law though, she was too young to be.
I doubted Maria was even human.
Maria was so infuriating, I decided that she was definitely a Rancor that could shapeshift into a human instead.
So she was the opposite of in laws then? Ugh.. ..How confusing.
How's this for an accurate description of Maria?
Maria is.. Annoying, vicious, violent, brutal, excitable-
I was disturbed by a loud snore.
....
..And she snores too. I decided this was going to be an incredibly *long* journey..
Because of these reasons I decided to look at Maria's good points, I decided to see if their was any possible way that the good could outshine the bad.
Well.. She was certainly attractive.
That was it.
Either I was being incredibly shallow or I wasn't looking hard enough at her. No. That was wrong, Maria was closed up, she never gave me a chance to pierce that rock hard exterior of hers to *allow* me to look closer at her. Everytime their was a joke, everytime their was serious conversation it would almost always end up with threats of my head rolling off in one direction or another. I was so convinced that she had run out of threats that sooner or later my head would be doing somersaults! The only thing Maria did seem accustomed to was getting me to talk to her and it was almost *always* in a cajoling manner. It was never questions, it was statements, thrown in my face.
I was suddenly alerted to the fact that Maria was tossing and turning in her sleep. She was obviously having a nightmare. I walked over to her and placed a firm hand on her shoulder, nudging her back and forth vigorously. "Maria. Wake up." I ordered her. Maria soon stopped and opened her eyes. She looked directly at me, her eyes filled with surprise as she fixed her gaze on me. "That was some nightmare. What did you dream of?"
"You." Maria said, unable to restrain a giggle. So she thought being nasty to me was funny? Well, that was nothing new to me. I sighed and sat back down in my chair, slumping down. Maria was never going to give me an inch. If I was in a more joyous mood I probably would have had some witty retort to use on her, but unfortunately or.. Fortunately, I didn't. Maria continued staring at me and laughing, I turned and looked at her.
"What's the big idea?" I asked her. The laughing continued. "Well, tell me." I stated to her again, feeling really annoyed by her laughter.
"It seems you really annoyed Rivu.." Maria said trailing off, unable to hold off her hysterics. I nodded in her direction.
"Uh-huh" I said in response. Maria keeled up in her chair, closing her eyes not able to stop the howling of laughter she was in. "Look! What's so bloody funny, Maria?" I asked her.
"You annoyed Rivu, a lot." Maria replied. I sighed and decided to play along.
"Surprise me." I requested. Maria simply put one hand over her mouth in laughter and pointed at my hair. I ran my fingers through my hair, well, it felt fine.
"Your hair..." Maria replied, keeling over in laughter. "It's..." She said. I stared at her, my body language aching for her to carry on. "It's.." Maria repeated.
"It's purple!" Maria said almost crying in laughter.
I started to blush, my eyebrows furrowed and my blood boiled. "RIVUUUUU!" I yelled extremely loudly in anger. "Wait until I get my hands on *you*!" I shouted again, leaving the cockpit and a hysterical Maria.