Canderous:
It was too quiet. The bickering wenches must have left the ship. I reached into my pocket and found my metal cigarra case. There were two of the good hand-rolled ones left, the rest were junk.
I pushed the two hand-rolled ones aside and chose one of the others. There was no telling what the quality of tobacco would be on this deplorable rock. I'd save the hand-rolled cigarra's for dire emergencies until I could find a smoke shop that sold superior leaf.
The sound of metal on metal caught my attention. I looked to the door and saw the little astromech droid, T3-M4 roll in.
"What do you want?" I barked.
The droid blinked its main light and burbled. I shook my head. Mouthy little shit.
I propped the cigarra in my lips. "Got a light?" I asked.
A panel in T3-M4's body slid open to reveal a flamethrower. I shrugged and bent forward over the stream of flame that it spat out.
"Thanks." I inhaled the stale tasting leaf. "Let's see how useful you are. What else do you have on you?"
T3-M4 chortled and displayed its small arsenal for me. I perused the tools and weaponry it exhibited and nodded.
"Not bad at all." I murmured. "Have you ever upgraded a repeating blaster?"
The droid whistled its reply. I snorted and expelled a cloud of smoke at the bucket on wheels. It bleated a crude remark. I kicked it.
T3-M4 gibbered and sped out of the room as fast as its gears would carry it. I strode out after it. A cherry ember drifted from the cigarra to the floor. I watched it glow vividly red-orange before it faded to gray.
I decided that I should explore my freshly pilfered ship. Its former owner had a flair for excess, so I was positive that there would be plenty of contraband, I just had to know the right places to look. I headed down the first corridor on my right.
Before the crew's quarters, there was a supply room. Davik had no reason to hide his spoils since he hadn't expected our ambush, so most of the interesting loot would probably be in there. Unfortunately, there was also a Wookiee with his pet Twi'lek seated in the supply room.
The blue-skinned girl was curled up tightly in the Wookiee's shaggy arms. Her small fingers were twined around the hair on his chest and he rubbed her back in a fatherly manner. I couldn't understand why someone with as much raw talent as that swoop rider would waste her time on two Tarisian street urchins.
The Wookiee barred his teeth in a warning. I blew a stream of cigarra smoke from my nostrils. I had never bothered to learn how to make smoke rings or any other fancy display of idiocy. It always seemed like a misuse of time and ability that should be applied elsewhere. The Wookiee gave a low growl to reiterate his previous threat.
I ignored him. I walked over to the first footlocker. It was locked, but I smashed it open easily with the butt of my blaster. Fine wine from Alderaan, not a bad year either. The swoop rider and her goggle-eyed boyfriend would probably appreciate the vintage bottles. That left two supply closets, a box that appeared to have a state-of-the-art security system and a footlocker that the Wookiee was perched on. The rest of the canisters were for food.
The first supply closet was filled with a mishmash of bourbon, painkillers, whiskey and stim shots. The second closet held the gaudiest piece of armor I'd ever laid eyes on. Royal purple plate with a reinforced mesh underlay, I was sure that Davik Kang had to have paid a fortune for the ugly paint job.
I wasn't even going to try and tackle the box with the security system, so that left the footlocker that the hairball and his underage girlfriend were sitting on. I walked towards them and shot the Wookiee a look. He glared back, apparently resolved to remain on top of my footlocker.
I tossed my cigarra butt on the metal floor. "Move." I said.
The Wookiee snarled. I noticed that his grip tightened on the Twi'lek.
"I don't have time to play games. Move." I commanded.
The Twi'lek released her grip on the Wookiee's fur. She turned to face me, her red-rimmed eyes narrowed and livid. Not for the first time, I wondered why Davik passed up this petite beauty for his collection; perhaps she was too young, even for him.
"What's your problem?" she demanded. "Unless you look forward to Big Z tearing you limb from limb."
"He's welcome to try, but I don't particularly like the smell of blaster fried Wookiee hair." I replied. "Now move. You can cry somewhere else."
"I am not crying!" she sniffed defiantly.
"Is this about what happened to Taris?" I raised an eyebrow.
"It's none of your business!" she hollered.
It was beyond me why she would expend that much energy when a simple 'yes' would have sufficed. "You're weak." I said. "Planets are destroyed all the time. Deal with it."
"And you've been with too many diseased joy-girls!" she shot back. "Just because you're a heartless scum-sucker doesn't mean that I have to be."
"Listen, you mewling twit," My patience was slowly being drained away. "I didn't come back here to coax you from your sniveling. I want to go through the footlocker that you and your friend are sitting on."
"Why don't you go choke on your blaster?" she taunted. Her blue cheeks had slowly turned purple, however, so I knew she was getting far too worked up.
I loaded a charge into my blaster. "Have it your way, brat."
The Wookiee stood up and tossed the girl behind him. He roared and took an offensive stance.
I shook my head. "Pathetic." I sidestepped him and opened the footlocker still warm from where he had been sitting.
The footlocker was filled with cigarra cases. Of course, the wrappers had all been tampered with, so there was no telling exactly what was in the cigarras. I'd try one and depending on what they had been laced with and how much of it had been put in there, I would claim the footlocker as my own.
Apparently, the Wookiee wasn't finished with me. I grabbed his wrist as he went to grapple my head with his hands. He was strong, I'd give him that. I'd always been told stories of the ferocity of Wookiees. I wondered how fierce this particular Wookiee could be. With my other hand, I pointed the blaster at the Twi'lek girl.
"Drop your hand, beast." I said.
I caught a quick flash of sharp teeth and the glint of frenzied rage in the Wookiee's eyes before he howled. He threw himself on top of me and I allowed him to send my repeating blaster hurtling across the room. I still had a hunting knife in my boot if I really needed it.
I fell onto my back and the Wookiee held me in a sort of lover's embrace. His one hand was firmly around my throat and I could feel his claws rake against my windpipe. He held his other hand high above my face, the claws unsheathed menacingly.
I laughed. "So this is how Wookiees fight, huh?" I asked.
The Wookiee glanced at his raised hand and he hesitated for a moment. Something was wrong. The claws slowly retracted back into his furry fingers. Instead, he stood, lifted me by my neck and chucked me into the wall.
I felt a rib crack as I made contact with the metal wall. I crashed headlong into a canister of grain. My healing implant would mend the bone in a little under an hour, but as it was, I was going to have to breathe with more care for the moment.
The Twi'lek had a vindicated smile on her lips. I grinned back at her and her look immediately soured. The child must not have understood yet.
"What the hell is going on here?" The swoop rider stalked into the room, her hands rigidly on her hips.
She was followed by the Jedi dame, her robe cinched tight enough around her waist to accentuate her wide hips. The pretty-boy pilot was next, tense shoulders, darting eyes and all.
"That bloodthirsty maniac pointed his blaster at me so Big Z smashed his face in!" the Twi'lek screeched.
"What were you doing?" The swoop rider tore into me with her dark violet eyes. The way she stalked towards me groin first was probably more masculine than a narrow hipped woman with short hair should dare.
I did my best to hide my amusement. "I was trying to do an inventory of the ship's cargo." I replied.
"What does that have to do with pointing a blaster at Mission?" the black haired woman asked.
I shrugged. "She wouldn't move. It got her to move."
Her boyfriend's face started to turn red. She shot him a stern look before he could say anything.
"Can I speak with you privately?" From the look in her eyes, I knew it wasn't a question.
"Sure."
The swoop rider walked from the supply room and I followed her. Behind us I could hear the Twi'lek jeer obscenely. The swoop rider led me to the closest crew's quarters. Once inside, she made sure the door was locked.
"Don't bullshit me." She said simply. "There's more that you're not telling me."
"And what is it that you think I'm not telling you?" I asked.
"If you just asked that kid to move, there wouldn't have been a problem." she replied. "Yet somehow you managed to provoke a Wookiee to chuck you into a wall. Why?"
"Are you sure you want to know why?" I snorted. I pushed the spike of pain from my broken out of my thoughts.
"I asked, didn't I?" she said.
"Curiosity." I admitted. "It was a test of sorts. I've heard tales of Wookiees being worthy combatants."
"So you pointed a blaster at Mission?"
I nodded. "I told the Wookiee to back off."
"But Zaalbar attacked." she stated.
"Yeah."
"What would have happened if Zaalbar did what you asked?" she wondered.
"I would have shot the girl." I replied. "If he backed down it would have shown that he was weak. Having that child's fate on his shoulders would have been a valuable lesson to protect what he holds dear."
"I see." she said quietly.
"Do you?" I asked.
She swallowed hard. The harsh light in the cabin made the swoop rider's skin a dark yellow.
"Listen, Bastila's claimed the Ebon Hawk in the name of the Jedi." She gave an agitated sigh as she stuffed her hands into the back pockets of her khakis. "There's no way you can leave this port on this ship without having an enclave of Jedi down your throat. So for the time being, you're stuck with me."
"What makes you think that I'm afraid of Jedi?" I demanded.
"I never said that." She pulled her hands from her pockets and crossed her arms. "But pulling a stunt like stealing a Jedi ship outside of a packed Jedi enclave that has at least four Jedi Masters is just suicide. So, unless you want to join up with one of those bands of Mandalorians roaming Dantooine, you're stuck with me."
There were remnants of my people on Dantooine? I suppose I could understand given the likeness that this planet had to our home. My stay here could be interesting.
"What's your point?" I opened my cigarra case and selected one of the hand-rolled ones.
"I won't put up with you threatening the lives of my group." In her eyes I could see my own death. "I know a couple of people on this ship would love to string you up just because you're a Mandalorian. I haven't let them because I owe you for getting us out of Taris. But don't let me catch you threatening any of my crew again. If you want to kill something there are kath hounds outside the settlements. Got me?"
I struck a match and lit my cigarra. "Yeah, I got you." Every instinct told me to shoot the woman and be done with it. But I didn't. She had a harrowing battle-hardened look about her that had me intrigued for the moment.
She nodded and her long bangs fell over her right eye. "Good." She left me alone in the crew's quarters.
"I got you." I mumbled over the cigarra. "But do you understand me?"
