Rilla Sharpshooter tapped instructions into her ship's nav. computer. She checked her calculations one last time before pulling a lever and bringing The Marauder into hyper-space. Rilla sat back in her chair and breathed a sigh of relief. No pursuit yet.
Then, as her thought's took her down a different path, she almost groaned; She would have to do something with her prisoner. She could no longer avoid it. Grr. Why did she even take this job? She sighed again, with irritation. Rilla had already asked herself this question, over and over again. Always, she came up with the same answers. She needed the money. She needed something to do. Most of all, she needed the reputation. ever since old Camer had died, work had been off. Rilla had, of course, finished all the jobs they'd been working on, but after that, no one would hire her. No one wanted to hire a 'young, inexperienced, human girl, barely seventeen standard years old.'
Rilla WAS young, but she was NOT inexperienced! Hadn't she been raised to her work? Hadn't Camer been training her since she could remember? Ever since he had taken her in?
Scowling, Rilla brought her mind back to the business at hand. The prisoner. The boy.
Rilla had easily gotten into his house -which was really big enough to be considered a small palace,- and, posing as a substitute servant, had, just as easily, slipped a drug into Vernollo's dinner. Vernollo was tall, but had not yet filled out, so it was easy for Rilla to carry him, slung over her shoulders, to a maintenance passage she had discovered in some blue-prints that had been provided with the job. Drat. Her mind was wandering. Again. Still scowling, Rilla got up and went aft, to check on the prisoner.
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Vernollo woke with no idea where he was, why he was there or how he came to be there. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep at his desk. So where was he? Nollo looked at the- Room? -Cell? The room/cell seemed to be square, taller than he was by several feet. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all made of plain ship-steel, though Nollo wasn't sure he was even on a ship. There was no way to open the door from the inside. Nollo would have described it as a cell- if it had not had pillows, blankets, and bean-bag-like things, in all shades of blue, strewn about the floor.
Nollo had just started to wonder who had brought him here, when the door slide open with a loud creak.
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Rilla grimaced at the creak. The old Marauder wouldn't, just once, give a satisfying Imperial swoosh. Oh no That would just be to convenient. Rilla stepped into the holding cell, thinking dark thoughts about ships that always give their owners hard times. The boy -Vernollo- looked up at her from where he was seated crosslegged, in a nest of blue blankets. He wasn't really a boy, as she knew that he was the same age as herself.
Rilla regarded Vernollo in silence. She saw a young man, a little taller than she was, with amber-brown hair and "husky-dog blue" eyes. Vernollo's eyes were a cool, pale blue, flecked with a darker blue, the iris' and pupils lined in the same color. Rilla wondered if that was the real color, or if he wore contacts. He wore a long-sleaved dark blue shirt, and comfortable-looking dark blue pants with plenty of usefull pockets.
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Vernollo looked at the girl standing in the door. She had shiney, dark brown hair, which she wore in two french-braids, that ended at the base of her head, leaving the rest to curl in twin banana-curls half way down to her elbows. Nollo thought the style was probably ment to make her look young and harmless, though he was sure that she was neither. The girl had honey-brown eyes, and dressed in a cranberry-red shirt, with tan pants and tall, practical, brown boots. He would hazard a guess, that she was about the same age as himself.
"So," she said, "You are Vernollo, son of Vertex?" Nollo nodded. "I am Rilla Sharpshooter, you are my prisoner, and we are on my ship, The Marauder. If you are good, I may let you walk around. If not, you will be drugged until we reach our destinatian. You are not under any circumstanses to think that I am to young or inexpirrienced for my job. Any questions?"
"Would you please tell me where we are going, and why we are going there?"
"Why we are going I cannot say; I am only doing what I am paid to do. And, as to where.... We are going to Ruethan Zorthow, and I do not yet know where or when that will be. Do you have any more questions?"
Nollo frowned. Zorthow. Didn't his father use to work with him, or something? He pushed the thought out of his head for a more convienient time.
"Yes, where are we n-," his words were cut off by the ship, which pitched dangerously under them. Nollo realized what the pillows and blankets were for, as he was thowen back againest them. "What the-" he was cut off again, by a man's, unhurried, teasing, recorded message,
"Rilla, the hyperdrive motivator's gone again."
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"Blast." Rilla muttered crossly. "Why is it always the hyperdrive motivator? Why couldn't it be some thing less expenseve to buy parts for?" Scowling again, she stood from where she'd been thrown, and headed for the door,
"Come, or stay here," she told Vernollo, "But don't touch anything, and stay out of my way."
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Nollo watched as the girl -Rilla- ran out of the room. He hesitated, then shrugged, and ran after her. He might as well follow, he would likly be of more use there, then here. Rilla was at the bridge, seeing where they were, and making sure that they wouldn't crash into anything. She looked up as he entered, and said,
"Do you think you can fly this thing?" Nollo blinked at her, wondering if he was looking at the Rilla who had spoken to him in his cell, or if she had a twin, and hadn't told him.
"What?" he asked, feeling confused.
"Do you think that you can fly the ship while i go see what's wrong with the hyperdrive motivator? You shouldn't have to do anything, just make sure we don't get to close to anything that we might crash into." Great, thought Vernollo, no pressure, or anything. Just make sure we don't crash and die.
"Maybe," he said, doubtfully, "I could try, but what's to stop me from bringing the ship about, and heading back to Coruscant?"
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"-heading back to Coruscant?" There was no malice or threat to Vernollo's words, only simple curiosity. Puzzling over such innocence, Rilla smiled brightly at him,
"Well, see, that's why it's handy, for me, that it's the hyperdrive motivator that's fried. We're not going anywhere very fast, at least not until I've seen if I can fix it." Vernollo blushed, and ducked his head akwardly,
"Oh yeah. Forgot about that," he muttered.
"So back to the question, can you fly The Marauder for me?"
A/N: so...... that's the new chapter. I hope everyone enjoyed it, and feel free to make suggestions!!! Which is the author's way of begging for reviews! (grin) But, anywho, sorry it's short, but I thought that short-and-sweet, is better than long-chapters-long-between-updates! I'd like to thank all 3 of my reviewers: Midnight Solo, Briar Rose, and, espesily (yeah, so i can't spell today) Valindon Warrior, for being my first-ever reviewer, as well as being the only person that i didn't know previously!!!! ok, there are a couple of things that i want to clear up, even though you probably didn't notice, or don't care anyway. 1. i need a name for Kara's ship, The Wish was the best i could think of, and i don't like it. 2. if you read carfully, you will notice that i made Nollo'- and Kara's clothes the same color... boring, i know. someday i'll prob'ly go back and change that, but the color fits Nollo. this is getting a little to long, so....
TTFN!
ps i am reposting this chapter in hopes of fixing it a tiny bit...... the POV dividers i put didn't show up, and i was in to much of a hurry to notice. oops. oh, and i want to thank Sweetdeath04 for reviewing, and would also like to ask, if someone knows what ship Fett has at this point!?!??!??!! i put the Slave III, cause i wasn't sure, but think this is supposed to be around the time of Surviver's Quest..... whenever that is..... i've forgotten..... well, G2G,
Kara