Target
"Ugh, this is taking forever," Tano whined. "Can't you just choose one so we can get going?"
"Hunting bounties isn't like fighting wars, girl. Get in a fight you can't win, or run out of funds on the wrong planet, that'll end our partnership real quick," Asajj said disinterestedly, looking through screen after screen of information on active bounties in the galaxy. She returned to a previous bounty, cross-referencing some details.
"It can't possibly be that difficult to find an expensive bounty," Tano said, looking over Asajj's shoulder at the ship's computer. "What's wrong with this one?"
"Do you want to be The Banshee's captain?" Asajj said, annoyed at the proximity.
"Well, I kind of did until you called it The Banshee. Please tell me that wasn't your idea."
"When I stole it, it was The Year of the Ostrich. And you're here for your lightsaber, not your creative input."
Tano had the decency to seem abashed, "Sorry, it doesn't matter. I'm just trying to be helpful, you look miserable doing this."
"I'm always miserable."
That one Tano ignored, "I can be useful outside a fight. I'm a quick study. So, start teaching. This one looks like a great target. Rescue the nephew of the YT-series head designer, double reward if we bring in the kidnapper? Saving a kid and taking down a creep? We wouldn't even be breaking any laws. So what's the problem with it, why aren't we already in hyperspace to Corellia?"
Asajj sighed. Teaching would be easier than convincing the girl to mind her business. Especially since she technically was minding her business now. "Two reasons. One, we're light on fuel and funds. Turns out fortunes are lost as quickly as they're earned in this business. The Banshee has one more jump in her, so wherever we go, we need to be able to finish a contract there, and we've got no reason to think his nephew is still on planet. And that's number two as well; we don't know where to find this nephew or if the kid is still alive. Too much could go wrong."
"If you're thinking all that, then why are you still looking at this bounty?" Tano asked, puzzled.
"Two more reasons," Asajj said, raising her index and middle finger in Tano's face. "One, I'm tired, didn't get your nap after our spar. When I'm tired, I think more slowly and triple check everything. And two," she lowered her index finger, "this isn't the first job I've seen on Corellia. There's a standing warrant on anyone poaching Corellian sand panthers, apparently that's been a problem. Which makes me wonder…" Asajj made a request of her computer and received the reply she expected. "Naturally, plenty of buyers willing to pay handsomely for panther pelts. New fashion on Nar Shaddaa. Easy money, both."
"We are not poaching panthers," Tano said emphatically, batting Asajj's hand away.
"Of course not," Asajj confirmed. "We steal pelts from poachers, turn the poachers in, then sell the pelts. Never make a profit when you can make two. There, that's lesson number one."
"So you'll help arrest poachers for breaking the law, then go and break it yourself, is that it?" Ahsoka demanded. "No, this isn't a job we're taking. I'm enacting the 'forbid morally reprehensible jobs' clause of our contract."
Asajj finally turned away from the Banshee's computer to look at Tano. If the Togruta had ever feared the nightsister, those days had clearly passed. "Care for some sausage?"
"What." Ahsoka said flatly.
"Sausage. Made some while you were asleep." Asajj retrieved the tin of leftover sausages and offered them to Tano. "No idea what they're actually made of, and I burnt them on one side. Won't say it tastes good, but it's filling enough."
"You can't distract me that easily, Ventress," Tano said. She looked insulted that Asajj would try to manipulate her with such an obvious and juvenile tactic.
"I'm not distracting you, I'm giving you a meal. You haven't eaten since before your shift at the diner. Sit." Asajj motioned to the copilot's seat. "Eat. And talk to me."
Tano didn't talk, nor sit, nor did she take the tin of sausages. She just stood and stared suspiciously.
Asajj sighed, "Fine then, I'll talk. I'm not evil. Or at least, I'm not trying to be evil. Maybe I am from your point of view. Maybe I just am, but I'm too screwed up to know it. But if I'm going to change, you'll have to do better than 'No Ventress! Bad girl!' There's a whole lot of things different between you and me, Tano, and across many of them you might prove to be the 'better' person. But I think I have you on one point: I'm not sure that I'm right about everything."
Tano's face tightened. She exhaled violently through her nose, and balled her fists. For a moment Asajj was certain that the girl was going to strike her. The physical signs of the girl's anger passed, but Asajj could still tell that she was seething.
When even her fury proved incapable of loosening her lips, Asajj pressed on, "I've upset you. That's not what I was going for. I'm not great at friendly conversation, or whatever it is partners are supposed to do when talking business ethics. Next time, just hit me; it will make you feel better, and you know that I deserve much worse."
"That isn't the Je—" Tano started quietly, but quickly cut herself off. She turned away, looking at the deep space out the cockpit window, "Taking pleasure in the pain of others is sadism of the worst sort. Hurting other people should always be a last resort, and then only to be considered if the pain inflicted is less than the pain prevented in those you're protecting. There's my lesson one."
Asajj took a moment to consider her statement. "I'm not sure your lesson forbids sadism."
Tano's head snapped back to look down at her, annoyance breaking through the Jedi mask. The girl really was quite terrible at hiding her emotions. "How do you figure that?"
"Well, I'd assume that protecting yourself by inflicting a lesser amount of pain is allowed by this lesson. Someone comes shooting a blaster at me, I'm free to return fire as long as my blaster is set to stun, right?"
Ahsoka nodded cautiously.
"And one other point of clarification: pain and pleasure are two sides of the same coin. No, that's not right," Asajj shook her head. "They are opposite ends of the same scale. The one is the inverse of the other."
"Well, yeah," Ahsoka said impatiently.
"Then your rule of 'only use violence if the result is less total pain than if you hadn't acted' is precisely the same as the rule 'only use violence if the result is more total pleasure than if you hadn't acted.' Or would you say that I shouldn't pinch your cheek even if doing so somehow brings lasting peace and prosperity to an entire system?"
Tano's frown deepened, but she didn't respond.
"Well then, if it's fine to use hurt someone for another person's pleasure so long as the pleasure is more intense than the pain, and I value my well-being as being equal to that of anyone else in the galaxy, than sadism is perfectly justified, so long as the pain is less than the pleasure. And at that point it's just a matter of weighing degrees of pain and pleasure."
Ahsoka let out a cry of frustration and threw herself into the copilot's seat, "How can you get this all so wrong? You're taking my words and twisting them, warping them until they mean something else entirely! Okay, you're good at arguing, but that doesn't make you right."
"I'm not saying that I'm right," Asajj said. "But I've spent far too long accepting other people's truth. Narec. Dooku. Talzin. All convinced they knew what was best for me and the galaxy, and I just accepted all of it without question, and all it's gotten me is... I'm done with that. You want to change how I think, that's fine, but I'll be questioning you every step of the way." Asajj realized she was ranting and shut her mouth. "…Anyways, if you still think I'm wrong, take your time to figure out why. I'm more concerned with being right than with being right right now."
Ahsoka reached into the tin and grabbed a sausage, looking thoughtful. She recoiled at the taste. "You really are an awful cook."
"You want to make the next meal, feel free." Asajj said, sliding back into her comfortable sneering tone of voice.
They sat in silence for a few more minutes, both half-pretending to be interested in the view of Coruscant as they orbited above it.
"You eat meat." Asajj eventually pointed out.
"Really?" Tano said, finishing off her third charred sausage.
"I mean you eat animals. I'm trying to figure out your objection to my poaching plan. You don't mind animals being killed for food, but you don't like people wearing them, is that it?"
"Leather," Tano said, knocking her knuckles on her boots. "Try again."
Asajj felt a spike of annoyance, "I'm not much for games."
"Try sometime. Fun is remarkably fun." Tano took her time finishing the last sausage before giving a proper answer. "Two reasons: it's against the law and—"
"Against the…are you planning to be a law-abiding bounty hunter?" Asajj asked, stupefied. Do you have any idea how many regulations this ship breaks just by existing? How many systems forbid the possession of lightsabers to all non-Jedi? I'm widely known as a war criminal and you're a runaway Jedi; our very existence breaks half a dozen galactic laws."
"Which means we should try to do our work without calling attention to ourselves," Tano answered evenly. "And I have a second reason: if their hunting is illegal, it's probably because Corellian sand panthers are endangered. Call me selfish, but they're beautiful creatures, and I don't want to see them go extinct, never mind have a hand in their disappearance."
Asajj smirked. "Now those are reasonable objections. But, I have solutions to them." She reached out with the force and pulled her masked helmet to her hand, "Anonymity is easy if you bother to try. We can get something for you once we get a bounty. Might have to get a special order to accommodate…" she gestured above her head in a crude representation of Tano's montrals. "And I have two points on the extinction of sand panthers. They aren't endangered. The law is to protect the hunters, not the animals; they're dangerous creatures. And like I already said, we won't be killing any of them, just selling the pelts of those the hunters have already killed."
Tano certainly wasn't smiling, but her frown had at least become less pronounced, "And you don't think that participating in the poaching system will help it thrive?"
"Have you ever been to Nar Shaddaa?" Asajj asked. "Fashion changes quickly, and the more popular it is, the more quickly it goes out of style. If you want them to stop sending poachers to kill your pretty panthers, make sure everyone is wearing one of their pelts."
Tano looked contemplative for a few moments, than began making adjustments to the navi-computer.
"What are you doing?" Asajj asked.
"If we're going to be paid for those pelts, we'd best find those poachers before panthers go out of style." Ahsoka turned to Asajj, "To Corellia?"