Eris: Yo, I is back.
Atton: And she successfully kidnapped me from KOTOR II...
Eris: Why the long face? It's not like you were doing anything important.
Atton: ...
Eris: *grin* anyway, Atton and I were talking and we've decided that Tobias is in fact fantastic.
Atton: Reminds me of this guy I met one time on Koriban. Oh, he was a great guy! Kinda perverted-
Eris: -like you?
Atton: -but he was an all around cool guy. I think he died, though. Din't really keep tabs on 'im after leaving the Sith to become a smuggler.
Eris: ... Yeah, so ANYWAY, onto MY story, what you all came here for. Oh, and we also get another flashback from Ash! I love flashback-ing. Also, the scene between Ash and TI makes me happy; for some reason cursing a protocol droid out in multiple languages makes me laugh...
Atton: ...I can't even remember the guy's name... something beginning with a "k"... or was it a "c"...?
DISCLAIMER: If I owned Star Wars, do you really think I would go to all the trouble of kidnapping Atton?
Chapter 4
It wasn't until they were halfway to one of Nar Shaddaa's many cantinas when Colton realized Aishlinn hadn't put her hair back into a braid. It was still slightly damp from her shower and hung over her shoulders. The Jedi Knight had to admit, she looked pretty like that.
Colton shook his head. He was a Jedi! Jedi couldn't have thoughts like that! What would his master say…? He was acting like a schoolboy with a crush for force sake! There is no passion, there is serenity…
Aishlinn, almost feeling his distress, turned to look at him. He was slightly flushed and the smuggler furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. What was making him so uncomfortable?
She dismissed it for more important things at the moment, but wouldn't forget to ask him about it later.
"Pilot, ship? We go?" Sol asked. Aishlinn looked at the princess, studying her for a moment and trying to decipher her words.
"Uh, yeah. Sure." Ash agreed, dismissing her and hoping she didn't promise the girl something important.
"She wanted to know if we would leave after getting a ship." Colton clarified. Ash nodded.
"As I said, yeah. Sure."
Sol immediately stepped back away from the moody pilot. She was intimidated by her, and really didn't want to ever end up on the receiving end of Aishlinn's wrath. Colton laid a hand on the Tusken Raider's shoulder when he sensed her fear. Sol turned to meet his sky blue orbs with her orange. He gave her a reassuring smile which was all she really needed.
Aishlinn's irritation began to grow at the pair.
"Master, we need to report back to the council as soon as possible. Is there anyway our former pilot could hurry things up?" TI-29 chimed in. Aishlinn spun around to glare at the silver protocol droid.
"Listen here, you bucket of bolts," she hissed, "I'm doing everything in my fripping power to get you to where you want to go. If your gartal 'Master' thinks he could do a better job, then fine! He can sure as frack try. But ever since I took you two snivgold on my ship, all you've done is given me a kriff-load of shab! Son of a murglak, if I hear one more pustina word about it, I'll rip you to fracking pieces myself, you fedding di'kut." She hissed furiously. She turned around once more and began walking, but not before throwing "Golo nochta mootoe, ne linga sochack" in Rodian over her shoulder.
TI-29, thoroughly chastised, fell silent and Colton fought a smile. He sped up so he could keep pace with Aishlinn.
"That's, uh, quite a colorful vocabulary you have." He commented. Ash gave him a rueful smile.
"Yeah, well when you're a smuggler you pick up on quite a few different ways to cuss out a protocol droid without many other people knowing you're doing it." She responded, a genuine smile threatening to break through. Her face suddenly hardened with grim displeasure. "Ish'ka, this situation is bad."
Colton nodded. "Yeah, but you'll pull us through it." He smiled at her and noticed her cheeks flush ever so slightly. "You always do."
"You barely know me; how do you know things go well for me all the time?"
Colton shrugged and began walking at a slightly faster pace. "I don't know, not really. It's just, that if you'd gotten caught before, you'd probably be detained or in jail at the moment."
Aishlinn watched him, unsure of how to respond to the Jedi. "Yet, you still put your faith into me with that knowledge."
"I trust you." He threw over his shoulder. Ash couldn't help but smile.
—
"Aishlinn, what are you doing?" Tegrit asked his companion as she stalked away. She was sporting a mortified blush and almost walked into another patron as she fumed. Tegrit sighed and took the side of her combat boot into his mouth and tugged. That caught her attention.
"What do you want?" she snapped. Tegrit nodded his head in the cocky scoundrel's direction.
"Don't we have a mission to complete?" he asked. Even though the prospect of slave trading didn't appeal to him, it was a job his companion took and Sollad the Hutt could easily cause their lives misery if they didn't succeed.
"Scum! Filth! Enemy of all women!" the young human female raged and continued walking. Tegrit sighed as he realized she wasn't paying any attention to him anymore. "If I ever see that kriff again, I'm gonna rip out his intestines and strangle him with them!"
"Ash, stop." He ordered, jumping in front of her and pushing with all his might. Aishlinn looked down at him. "You need to calm down. Take the slave girl from him and take her back to Sollad. Then we're done, we can leave, and we'll never see that fool again, alright?"
Aishlinn hesitated but nodded. It seemed like an easy enough plan. She whirled around and began stalking back to the cantina. Tobias grinned and waved when he saw her reenter.
"Well, hel-lo again, gorgeous. Knew you'd be back; they always are."
"Look," she said tightly, "I'm here to take the slave girl to Sollad. Giver her to me, and then I'll leave." Aishlinn crossed her arms over her chest and waited. Tobias eyes roamed over her body once more before slowly coming to a stop at her eyes.
"Sleep with me, and I'll consider it."
Tegrit sighed as they (once again) were storming away from the cantina. It was going to be a long day…
—
"So, any luck?" Ash asked from her position at their table. Colton sighed while shaking his head.
"Despite this being a smuggler's moon, everyone is asking for way too much money to transport us to Alderaan." He replied, a slight amount of irritation creeping into his voice. The Jedi ran a hand through his blond hair. "I guess since its well know Republic space, not many pilots here are welcomed there."
Ash shrugged, stretching her arms back to cradle her head. Sol was seated beside the pilot (with quite a bit of space between them), Tee-eye was standing on the opposite side of the table, and Tegrit stood on the seat behind Ash's head. Colton watched the small group and huffed in mild annoyance.
"If I had some help, I'm sure we're bound to run into some—"
"Hey, babe! Been a while, huh?" a definitely masculine voice leered from behind Colton. The Jedi Knight spun around to see a tall man a few years his senior with dark brown hair and eyes to match. He was grinning at Aishlinn who looked up at him in disgust.
"What do you want?"
He chuckled before sliding into the booth next to her, slinging an arm around her shoulders. The female pilot didn't look amused. She tried to pull away, but he simply gripped her tighter and pulled her flush against his side. A cocky smirk was plastered on his face.
"Aw, don't be like that. I missed you, babe. You haven't come to visit for quite some time." He said. Ash's lips curled up into a snarl and Colton felt like this was a good time to step in.
"Could you please stop harassing my pilot and state your business?" Colton said. The older man scrutinized him, not moving from his position.
"Huh, name's Aeon. Tobias Aeon. And I couldn't help but make my way over to talk to my favorite little schutta."
"Milking." Ash cursed at him, causing the scoundrel to chuckle.
"Come on now, Ash. I know you can do better than that." he taunted. Aishlinn's face turned red with anger and she shoved the man out of the booth and onto the floor before standing over him. He stared up at her incredulously.
"Min min vil ut valle Nharquis!" she shouted. Colton wasn't sure what language it was in or what it meant only that it was definitely an insult of some sort. Tobias knew what it meant, though, and that was all that mattered. Ash stormed off, leaving behind a stunned scoundrel still sitting on the floor. Tegrit stared down at him in mild interest before hopping next to Sol and speaking with her to the best of his abilities. The Kushiban waved him off practically telling the Jedi to go after Ash. Colton nodded and complied.
Ash had stormed out of the cantina and was sitting comfortably on the front steps not too far away from the bouncer. Colton slowly approached her, not wanting to anger her more.
"Ash?" he tentatively called out. Ash looked up at him, her face downcast and tears threatening to spill over. Colton froze in shock at her exposed expression. She looked away again and buried her face in her arms. Colton took a seat next to her, allowing her to get comfortable in his presence.
"Sorry; I'm such a mess." She muttered. "It's just… that di'kut always seems to find a way to get under my skin. He isn't kand, at all, and… and… ugh! Su dralshye'ra!"
Colton listened respectfully, not quite sure how to respond to the distraught pilot. She sniffed and laughed coldly.
"Oh, if my parents were alive and could see me, they would be so ashamed."
"Why?" Colton asked. Ash wiped at her eyes.
"Because I'm being weak. 'Mandálii kote, Mandálii kel'lum'." She responded. Something clicked in Colton's brain; he knew that phrase. He'd heard it before.
"'Mandalorian glory, Mandalorian might;' you're Mandalorian?"
Ash nodded. "I don't have Taung blood running through my veins, but I was raised Mandalorian before my parents died and I ran off to Datooine."
"How'd they die? If you don't mind me asking."
"Ambushed by a small squad of Sith on Dxun." She answered. "Once I found out, I realized I would either have to marry or become a full warrior. Neither option was one I wanted to consider at fifteen, so I stowed away on a ship and ended up on Datooine. I ran into Tegrit and not too long afterwards I… came into ownership of a starship and we became smugglers."
Colton raised an eyebrow at her. "'Came into ownership'?"
Ash laughed. "Yeah, oh fearless leader; I came into ownership of a starship."
"Legally?"
"Mmm… possibly."
The two sat in silence for a few moments before Colton stood up and offered the pilot a hand.
"Mandalorian or not, you've gotten us out of several sticky situations and I trust you."
Ash smiled at him, taking his offered hand. She followed him back inside the cantina.
"Oh, and by the way, what did that mean, what you told Tobias?" Colton asked.
"It's a Corellian oath meaning "I will devour your flesh after brutally murdering you' or something to that affect." She answered. Colton grimaced.
"That's kind of gruesome."
Ash nodded with a small smile. "If I was Corellian, than that oath would be held sacred and I would have to go through with it." She sighed and cracked the bones in her neck. "Good thing I'm not Corellian; eating dead people isn't something I would enjoy doing."
Colton laughed. "I would hope not."
Back at the table, Tobias had sidled up next to Sol and was stroking her arm, speaking to her in a smooth tone. Colton saw red at how he was openly flustering the poor girl who had no idea what was going on and prepared to go over there and chew out the scoundrel, but Aishlinn beat him to it.
"Alright you saen ratch," she hissed, "get your fraking hands off of her before I slice your frizzled jiffies off."
Tobias grinned at her, but stopped caressing the Tusken Princess. She looked quite flustered and Colton pulled her out of the booth the stand beside him. Aishlinn continued to glare at the scoundrel.
"Look, babe, I didn't mean ta make you jealous." He winked at her and Ash made a slight noise of indignation. "Come on over here and sit with me; I can make you feel wanted."
"You are such a perverted nerf herder! I am trying to find someone with a ship and I can't get anything done with the likes of you hanging around!" she practically shouted. Several patrons around them stopped to see what all the commotion was about.
"You need a ship? Well it just so happens that I have one and I can take you for seven thousand, anywhere nearby and out of Hutt space."
Ash gave him a nasty look before sticking up her middle finger. "Frack off." She said at the same time Colton said "Agreed." Aishlinn whirled around to glare at the Jedi.
"Are you our of your ever luvin' mind? Do you really want to trust that son of a blaster for anything, especially after he molested your little Princess?" Ash contemptuously shouted at him, an undertone of bitterness at his protectiveness of Sol laced within her words. Colton nodded.
"Yes. He is the only one willing to take us anywhere; I do not think we'll be able to find a better deal or another pilot for that matter." He rationalized. Aishlinn took one look at Tobias before turning back to Colton.
"No. Force no."
"Despite his… lack of finesse, I do believe the pilot is the best option." TI-29 added. Tobias grinned.
"Looks like your protie agrees with the boss-man." He said. Ash ignored him.
"But my ship…" she protested weakly, knowing she was beaten. Even Tegrit hadn't piped up to offer any assistance. Colton placed a hand on the smuggler's shoulder.
"I will make sure that the Jedi Council provides a new one for you. However, at the moment we need to make our way to Alderaan as soon as possible." He said.
"I guess that's my cue." Tobias said, standing up and stretching his lithe but well-muscular body. Ash rolled her eyes at his cocky behavior and turned away. The pilot was smirking as he watched the young woman. She had aged well since he last saw her, six maybe seven months ago. He'd be lying in he said her rough persona didn't turn him on a little bit.
"Ladies, gentlemen, and protocol droid, please follow me and I will take you to my ship: the Scarlet Eagle."
Tegrit hopped up on Ash's shoulders, but she shook him off. When he landed on the floor, he looked up at her incredulously. Ash glared down at him.
"Traitor."
"For what, might I ask?"
Ash's scowl only deepened. "Not backing me up concerning that vaping sleemo."
Tegrit only sighed as he followed his companion. "I do believe we need to work on your language. You're beginning to sound like a Hutt."
Aishlinn huffed angrily and refused to respond to the Kushiban's comment. Tegrit rolled his onyx eyes and took to following behind the small group on all fours.