Risha led Maura to a back room, then emerged with her, and if Miriah hadn't known that was her sister, she wouldn't have recognized her. The makeup, costume and wig combined to secure Maura's identity from anyone, even those who knew her well. Aric's eyes bugged out, and he had to hear her voice to be sure that was his wife.
"Damn, Maura, it IS you, I wasn't sure for a minute." He walked around her, obviously enjoying seeing more of her than he usually did in public. "And, honey, rest assured my eyes will be on you the whole time." She glared at him, uncomfortable with being examined so openly.
"You better get used to the stares, Maura," Miriah told her. "It's gonna happen a lot out there. If anyone touches you, though, you have a remote here," she pointed to the middle of her breasts, where there was a hard, plastic piece. "That signals the bouncers, and they'll take care of the offender." She put a thin bracelet on her sister's arm. "This will record the audio as well as send it to our relays, so we can hear what you hear. Ready?"
"No," Maura replied, "but let's get this over with." She followed Miriah and Risha to the nearby stage door.
"Those guys usually try for a corner table, so I've put you on that station, Maura," Risha told her, pointing to the far left. "You'll get a ten minute break every hour, and you can rest for a moment between songs. You do know how to dance, right?" Maura grumbled in response, but walked with her head up to the indicated spot. The music had stopped for a moment and she scanned the crowd. It was still early in the day, so there weren't a lot of patrons. No Twi'leks, she noted. The music stared up, a slow, sensuous number, and she started to move, mimicking the other dancers.
Aric and Felix parked themselves at a table not too far away, Felix with his back to Maura and Aric in full view. I'd be surprised if there's not smoke coming from my ears, he thought, this will be an exquisite torture to watch my Maura and not be able to touch her. He shook his head, trying to stay focused.
By the end of the first hour, Maura had a new respect for the dancers she'd taken for granted were having fun. She hurt in places she wasn't aware of before, and her ten minute break wasn't nearly long enough. By the time she got a meal break, she'd decided she wasn't going out there anymore, damn the mission. Miriah saw her face and ran to meet her as she approached the back room.
"Here, hon, let me help." Miriah sat Maura down, gave her a plate of food, and started to massage a cream with a small amount of numbing agent on her legs, feeling the muscles spasm at her touch. The guys stayed put, not wanting to give themselves away.
"I can't do this, Mir, I'm dying out there," Maura told her, her eyes full of the pain she was feeling.
"I know, it's not an easy life," Miriah told her. "When you're done eating, I'm going to show you some tricks I picked up, that'll help with the fatigue." The sisters sat and talked, and Maura began to feel better. "Okay, girl, now, when you're doing this move, bend your knees a little, like this. It'll keep you from pulling those ligaments around your knees." Corso walked up as Miriah was showing Maura these tricks, and had to stop and stare. Maura in her dancer's costume was enticing, and then there was his wife in black leather. He had to consciously stifle a groan. Miriah is always sensual, he thought, and now she's got Maura moving the same way. Aric will spontaneously combust, he thought, chuckling to himself.
Maura retook her spot, and had only been dancing for a few minutes when a Nikto grabbed her ankle. She pressed the remote, and before she could say anything to him, he was being thrown across the room by Bowdaar, who roared at him for good measure. The crowd, which had grown, laughed at the guy stupid enough to touch a dancer, and returned to their food and drinks. Aric twitched, and Felix put his hand on his friend's arm.
"She's fine, Aric, threat eliminated. Bow's got it under control. Relax." Aric tried, but when he saw Brock enter and make his way to their side of the room, he tensed further. He looked at Maura, who was really, really getting good at this, he thought, and saw that she'd noticed Brock as well. The Twi'lek made his way over to the table Risha had figured he would, and sat, watching all the dancers but not focusing on anyone. He activated a sweeper, looking for any listening devices attached to the table, and found nothing.
Aric saw Brock doing his security sweep and grinned to himself. He'd find nothing, and go on as usual. He saw Maura slowly making her way closer to the edge of the platform, to be nearer to the table Brock occupied. She grinned at him, and winked, and Aric almost forgot what he was doing there, lost in the sensual swaying of her hips and her breasts on prominent display. The blonde wig she wore was long, and made her amber eyes glow. She'd caught the attention of several of the regulars, who had complimented Risha on the new girl, and the creds piled up on her platform.
Brock stood when two men entered the cantina, and they made their way over to him. One was human, Del Kelden, and the other a red Twi'lek, Aric wasn't sure of his name. The audio feed from the bracelet Maura wore brought their conversation to the relays perfectly.
"So, now that we lost the vote on the army bases, what's the next plan?" Kelden was speaking. "Frankly, Brock, if you're wanting to poison anyone else, I'm out, man. That's just not my style." Brock nodded.
"We're not doing any more of that, least that I've been told. No more threats, either, the general has sent her pets to enforce security at the Senate building. So that just leaves the explosives." Explosives! Aric thought. He looked over the table at the bar, and saw Corso leaning casually against the back wall. He nodded at Aric, acknowledging that he'd heard it, too. Brock continued.
"They're already placed and rigged, so nothing to do now but wait for the signal," he told his associates. "Our people are out of there, so whenever the Moff is ready, he'll contact us. For now, we just hold." He looked around, and frowned when he saw Corso, not really putting the face and name together in the darkened bar, but knowing this was a person he didn't want to be around.
"You've been made, Cor," Aric whispered in the relay, seeing Corso nod. "Miriah, join him. You own half of this, not unusual for you two to be here." She clicked in response, and entered the side door, dressed in her black leatheris armor that lovingly hugged every curve, turning more heads than the dancers. Aric saw Brock recognize her, the look of lust and familiarity making him want to punch the scum. Corso saw her enter and met her, pulling her close and murmuring to her about where everyone was, but for appearances it looked like two lovers meeting. She laughed out loud, throwing her head back, silver eyes sparkling, and glanced around the room.
Greetings rang out from several other smugglers she knew, and she waved, taking Corso's hand and pulling him to a far table in the opposite corner than Brock and his pals. Good, Aric thought, seeing Brock follow her with his eyes but making no move to confront her.
"What about our pay?" the unknown associate asked, "We worked hard on Coruscant, we deserve our pay now, Brock." The Twi'lek agreed, and handed them both a handful of credsticks, wanting to have this meeting over so that he could go up to the lovely captain. They took their pay and left, Brock still sitting there, watching Miriah. He's obsessed, Aric thought, surely he knows Corso will gladly kill him. Aric watched as Corso pulled his wife to him and kissed her, and saw Brock's fists tighten as he observed the scene.
"You two need to go now, he's getting ready to come over there and we don't need him dead just yet," Aric whispered, and Felix rose, turning to the Twi'lek, and spilled his nearly full glass of juice on the man.
"You idiot!" Brock yelled, and made to punch Felix as Bowdaar approached them. The huge Wookie grabbed the man and, with a roar, hefted him toward the far exit. The crowd cheered their approval, and the wet and very pissed off Brock left the cantina, muttering expletives. He didn't look back at the couple but they rose and joined everyone in the back rooms of the cantina, giggling.
"Oh, Felix, that was too perfect," Miriah told him, still trying to catch her breath from laughing. "And Maura? You made bank, girl, all those creds up there. Great job, everyone, I forgot how much fun it is to run cons, well, that is, if no one shoots at you, anyway." Corso pulled Aric aside, seeing his friend was still entranced looking at his wife.
"Aric, you okay, man?"
"Yeah, just, umm, this costume and.. yeah, I'm okay," he finally stammered out, seeing Corso grin. Maura walked up to him, loose hipped and still in character.
"Don't you want to kiss me, handsome?" she purred.
"Hell yeah, but where's the wookie? Don't want to get thrown around by him," he told her, pulling her to him and finally getting to kiss her. The family cheered and laughed, and Maura whispered to him.
"Thinking of you was the only thing that got me through that. That, and the look on your face." She leaned back and kissed his nose, then sauntered off to change. He hesitated only a second before he followed, to the howls of the group.
"Let her tease me again now," Miriah said, and Mags laughed. They went back to the ship, the kids with Sarai there, and left Aric and Maura to reconnect.
Corso pulled the recordings from the relays and was listening to the conversation again, stopping periodically to make notes. Miriah approached him, and sat beside the workbench he'd always used, for his weapons, for pretty much everything. She listened as he did, and saw the list of notes he'd made, and smiled to herself. He's so good at this, she thought, and just works through each problem as it comes. She heard Devin running towards them, and Corso turned off the recording and met his little arms, picking him up and putting him on his knee. Devin was telling them about playing with his cousins and waving his arms, and she saw the smile Corso gave him. Devin gave his dad a kiss, then was gone, off again. Corso chuckled and shook his head, pulling Miriah to him. "He's something else, you know. And you, oh cyare, in those leathers? You're something else, too. " He kissed her head, knowing that if he'd done more, he'd have ended up losing the little bit of control he held onto. She felt the thin leash he held, and for once, didn't push him.
Aric finally came over to them, and Corso showed him the notes he'd made. "Wow, Cor, you really did a great job here, I can put together the timeline perfectly from this." He sat across from them, reading. "I want to let Garza know, you have encrypted comms here?"
"No, we can receive but not transmit them. Risha has the holo in the office though, it should do fine. Let's all go out for dinner, get her to come along." Miriah had stood, and Maura, back to her normal look, spoke.
"My treat. I made more than enough today to cover it," she laughed, and the others joined her. They met Risha, who immediately cooed and fawned over the children, and they walked across the promenade to a family style restaurant, Dev in his Aunt Risha's arms. Aric stayed behind to contact Garza, and they sat to wait for him. He joined them shortly, and they ate, the twins on their best behavior. The Corellian food was passable, and Mags was very hungry. Miriah had scanned it all before they ate, so they felt reasonably assured it was safe. They'd eaten their fill and were relaxing, chatting, when Miriah and Mags got up to head to the refresher. They were laughing on the way back to the table when Miriah's arm was grabbed, and Brock materialized out of the shadows.
"Captain, so nice to see you again. It's been ages since Balmorra, though I was on your homeworld last year." Brock grinned at her with malice, his grip on her arm beginning to hurt. He was about to draw a vibroknife when he was suddenly airborne, lifted off his feet in a force hold, Magdalane glaring at him while the guys rushed over. Magdalane had put a clear shield over Miriah and herself, and watched as Brock was again staring at the business end of Torchy, Corso's blaster, the whine indicating it's full charge was ready.
"Go ahead," Aric told Corso, "I'm sure Risha can just toss him with the other garbage. He's no value to us now." As he moved to the side to allow Corso a clear shot, Brock began to negotiate for his life, knowing the Mantellian would kill him now.
"But..but I can tell you things, things you want to know about, or will, " he stammered, looking at Miriah. "Your sister's a Jedi? Damn, then she can tell you I'm telling the truth. I can help you." He looked at Corso, whose eyes were black holes and whose muscles twitched with the effort to not pull the trigger. Brock began to shake, and Miriah was pretty sure he'd lost control of his bladder. She moved over to Corso, and whispered to him.
"Sugar, if Devin weren't sitting over there with the other kids, I'd say do him now. But I really don't want our son to see it." She felt Corso relax then, about the same time she saw Bowdaar come through the front entrance of the restaurant. Corso looked at his old crewmate, and nodded to him. Bowdaar hauled the jabbering Twi'lek to the holding cells in the cantina's basement, and Aric went to contact the closest Republic squad to come collect him. Maura stood to pay for their meal, and found that Miriah's name alone was enough to for the proprietors, and they were happy to feed the Chantalle family, even with the Brock incident.
Corso came back to Devin, who was quiet and staring. "Hey, buddy, you ready to go get your pj's?" he asked the little boy, who nodded and then threw his arms around his dad's neck.
"You not hurted?" he asked his dad, those huge brown eyes a mirror of his own.
"No, son, and Mama isn't hurted- I mean, hurt either. Everyone is fine." He wanted to minimize the details to make it seem like a misunderstanding, and Dev hadn't started playing with blasters yet. Colin, however, was a different story. Aric would have to talk to him, Corso realized. Miriah followed them, her arm in Magdalane's.
"Thanks, Mags. I don't routinely wear weapons anymore, around the kids. I forget your weapon is with you always." She grinned, and saw Mags smile in return. When they entered the ship, Corso turned to Mags and engulfed her in a hug. Miriah knew that hug, he was grateful and scared.
"Mags, you were magnificent. Thank you, so much," he told her, finally letting her go. He turned to Miraih then, caressing her face before kissing her, gently but with so much love the other women sighed as they watched. When they parted, Miriah would have sworn the ship tilted, but she saw in Corso's eyes he was just glad she was okay. Aric joined them on the ship, telling them Brock would be picked up in the morning and taken to Coruscant, and that a couple of Wookie friends of Bow's were guarding him tonight. They got the kids settled, none of them really seeming too affected by the turn of events, and gathered for a drink.
"Now, do we know if the other two left already?" Aric asked.
"Kelden rents a room, but I'll check with Risha in the morning to see what's going on there," Miriah told him. "We can be underway anytime you guys want, though, and I'll call Rish and let her know. They agreed to wait til morning, simply to make sure Brock was taken into custody. Corso had prepared a copy of the recording they'd made, and they were ready for things to move forward.
Corso took a tipsy Miriah to bed, her champagne glass still a quarter full, and she was already asleep as he relived the events in his mind. So close, he thought, so close to her being hurt again. He pulled her closer and felt her warm breath on his skin, and was thankful that at least Brock was detained.
Brock sat, in his reeking clothes, in a dark cell. The air was warm and he was miserable, wishing he'd had the sense to just leave this afternoon when he'd finished his meeting. He stared out the small window, waiting for morning, wishing Corso had just shot him rather than his handler find out he was in Republic custody.