Chapter 3: Can the Leopard Shed Her Spots?

[Adia Issoris]

This is open if you ask.

Entry 1:17-6-84

Only a day ago, I witnessed a possiblity. The least humane, most evil outcome for a person in my line of work: Dan.

Yet even Dan, at his bottom, would at least have some style. I would simply end up being a terrible attack animal. An animal which would enjoy every aspect of killing people. I don't want that, so I suppose I have some shred of civilization left.

I refunded the money, and the shuttle I was supposed to kill Dan with.

I'm headed for Coruscant right now. I should head for some backwater where I can stretch my savings for a few years, but I don't have any skills that would be useful on a low-population world.

On Coruscant, they'll be something.

I haven't written anything since I filed a report for Vahlshalynn. I don't trust anyone, so I have to confide in a crummy datapad.

Ok, crummy datapad. You're going to help me organize my thoughts.

I need a job that doesn't involve killing people.
I need a place to stay.

The problem with Item 1 is that aside from being physically fit, I don't have any real skills.

What I'm good at:
Killing things
Industrial sabotage
Nearly killing things

I don't see those as a great skillset for someone trying to get out of the assassin/bounty hunter bussiness.

I'm supposedly rude and insenstive. If I had some kind of social background, I would agree. But for the past fifty some cycles, I haven't had any real reason to aquire social skills.

Entry 2: 19-6-84
I found a cheap appartment. It is a hole. Still looking for a job. I forgot how much Coruscant stinks. At least the foodkeeper works.

Entry 3: 24-6-84
Flattent fellow warehouse worker when he pinched my butt. Both of us were fired. Manager said he's sorry but can't help me out. Foodkeeper broke. I burnt the ready-made soup--it exploded all over the food prepper.

Entry 3: 25-6-84
Some punk Rodian tried to mug me. I broke all of their fingers. I wonder if I'm supposed to feel bad. I didn't do anything the rest of the day except read news. I haven't read news in a long time. For the most part, it didn't apply.

Entry 4: 27-6-84
Out jobhunting again. I need to get some better clothes to interview in.

27-6-84
"Oh sithspit."
It poured on Adia. The sky had filled with black clouds without warning, unless you were in a penthouse. Then you might have been able to glance down and watch the clouds roll in. Her new blac bussiness suit clung to her like a terrified cat. Adia hated her new shoes. It was like walking on ice, and supposedly, flats weren't as tricky as heels. She wanted her boots back.

"Dammit!" Frustrated, Adia raised a single finger skyward. She didn't have enough for cab fare.

[Arya Ravenwing]

And, just like that, a cab pulled over, repulsors screeching to a halt by the pedwalk Adia was standing on. The passenger window rolled down, and the dark haired cabbie leaned over to peer out. "Need a ride, lady? You look wetter than a drowned womprat, although, to tell the truth, never seen a womprat around enough water to drown in before. It's an expression. M' name's Rima, Rima Xavier, get in the cab before you melt, and let me take you where you're going."

Arya smiled jovially at the woman she'd not met before, but certainly recognized. She'd been sent to get her, and although she didn't usually smuggle people, the cab driver bit was something she'd done before. "C'mon, can't be more fun out there in the rain than it looks. Where're you headin'?"

[Adia Issoris]

Adia looked dejected. She held a hand above her eyes to keep the rain away, and realized that it was dark, and her range of color wasn't full. Then again, she was on Coruscant, and she wasn't wearing a cloak. Modifcations like lobeless ears weren't unheard of.

"I don't have any money for fare, Rima."

[Rick Wright]

Of all of the streets, in all of the cities, in all of Coruscant, Rick Wright just so happened to be on the same one as her. There is such a thing as coincidence, but sometimes things are just a little too convenient for that.

Standing on the opposite side of the street to the redhead, as soaked to the bone as she was, the ex-Republic soldier found himself frozen to the floor. The apparently ordinary pair had met under extremely extraordinary circumstances, and Rick certainly had not expected to see his fellow escapee again, especially not so soon after their flight.

“Adia?” he called over the sound of the traffic. Though it was useless (now that his head was already soaked), he flicked up the hood on his sweatshirt and jogged out across the street. He rounded the back of the speeder that was parked up on the curb, and found he was grinning quite inexplicably.

[Arya Ravenwing]

"This one's on me. Just about to go off duty anyways, and you look like you could use the help." 'Rima' grinned roguishly, and the cab door popped open just as man jogged across the street, calling Adia's name.

Arya was careful not to sigh, although she was silently cursing the newcomer for ruining a perfect pick-up.

[Adia Issoris]

The former Mistryl eyed Rima warily until she heard a familiar voice.

"Rick?" Adia almost gaped for a moment. She wasn't expecting to see him, well, ever.

"It figures. The day I stop wearing a cloak is the day it rains like a Storm Coast monsoon." Adia grinned, brushing a sopping lock of hair out of her face and behind a pointed ear.

Lightning crackled above them. The storm had decided that it would not be a simple fifteen minute affair of pouring rain: it was here for an entire afternoon. Adia was tempted to jump into the cab and pull Rick in, but she resisted the impulse. She glanced at Rima and then back at Rick.

[Rick Wright]

Looking at the ominous blanket of grey above, flickering with forks of lightning, Rick cringed. “Doesn’t look like this one is going to tide over any time soon.” His eyes shifted back down to the taxi. He motioned at the open door. “You don’t mind if I share, do you?”

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya drummed her fingers on the steering yoke, waiting for them to get in out of the rain. The man might even pay her for her trouble, although she wasn't sure that Dan would be pleased if this guy showed up as well.

So Bills-Mors might just have to wait until another day, although she would be sure to regognize Arya a second time. The smuggler went through all this in her mind as the rain poured down. She flicked on the wipers again.

[Adia Issoris]

Adia climbed into the cab. Rick followed. Once inside, Adia became aware of how wet she was. Every molocule was making itself known. Her clothing squished against the durable synth-leather, she could feel the water flowing through the fibers.

"Who are you working for, Rima?"

[Arya Ravenwing]

"I work for myself, now. Use ta work under Coco District Taxi Company, but my boss was an old fat - well it doesn't matter much now. Got my own license and cab, and here I am." Arya cut abruptly into traffic, swerving around a slower garbage scow. "Where can I take ya?"

She looked at them in the rearward mirror, waiting to hear what the destination was. Frelling dren, this one is going to try to kill me.

[Rick Wright]

“Forty second and sixth,” Rick smiled at the reflection he saw in the mirror. “I ran a couple of years with the Coco taxi’s, when I was younger. Not a bad job. Really opens your eyes up- especially to the number of nutcases on every street.” While speaking, he looked to Adia and smiled knowingly. Truth be told, Rima would have been hard-pressed to pick up a more unusual pair. He certainly doubted that she had a washed-up soldier turned ‘superhero’ in her cab every day.

[Adia Issoris]

Adia grinned back at Rick. Nutcases indeed. There were three of them sitting in this worn Coruscant cab.

Still smiling, she turned to Rima. "4952 542nd E." That would put her squarely in the middle of Coco's cargo distribution area, which was mostly warehousing and freight terminals.

"Is this your good deed for the week? A free ride for someone looking for a job?"

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya looked into the rearward mirror, grinning as Adia asked the question. "Yeah, you could call it that. I'm trying to build up good karma if you know what I mean. Something the Calanic monks are big on. There's a monastery on Coruscant you know. Or, I've heard there is."

"Rima" continued to pilot the cab through the airlanes, seemingly not looking at the path while she steered around other speeders. After negotiating a freighter through the 'scrapers of Nar Shaddaa, this was almost child's play. She hoped the guy didn't really know Coco all that well, or if he did, that he wouldn't notice where they were going until it was too late.

Another glance in the rear mirror showed that Rick was enarmoured with Adia's green eyes. He wouldn't be looking too closely at the scenery outside any time soon.

They were going to a warehousing district, but not to the one Adia requested. Neighboring Chiba district wasn't too far, and Dan would be waiting. Arya just hoped that he'd take care of the firebrand in the backseat. The guy would probably just run off.

[Rick Wright]

Perhaps Rick was enamored with Adia’s eyes, but he wasn’t entirely away with himself. He listened to the conversation in the cab, as Adia questioned Arya’s generosity. “Got some bad karma you need to even out?” he asked in a playful voice, yet there was something about his expression, his eyes, that suggested he was actually half-serious.

[Adia Issoris]

Adia doubted it was karma. Briefly, she glanced out the window of the cab while Rick spoke. Cityscape cruised by, most of it unremarkable aside from being hundreds of stories high. The architechture was larglely uniform, and it was difficult to pick anything out aside from a vauge sense of era or age on some of the towers. Detail was doubly difficult to pick out through the sheets of rain.

She looked back at Rick, who's eyes locked with hers again. Adia smiled slightly.

"Rick... you never really explained what it is you do here.

[Rick Wright]

“No?” He smiled in that practiced way he had learned a long time ago. That kind of smile that didn’t really say anything, but that was sincere enough so that the people looking at it didn’t wonder why you were stalling answering their questions. “I’ve done just about everything – but right now… right now, I’m out of luck, out of a job. Then, laughing, he added, “The last place I was working at didn’t take too kindly to my extended leave on Serna Pur.”

[Adia Issoris]

"Oh. Even with that joke of the ship that got out first, I guess they didn't believe you." One day I am going to get a straight answer out of this man.

"I guess we both used up most of our luck back on Serna Pur. You'll find something, even if it's being a security guard." Adia laughed. As a former special forces soldier, security guard was akin to pounding tacks with a pile driver.

"Rima, are we there yet? I can't see a thing with the rain."

[Arya Ravenwing]

"Gettin' closer." Arya grinned at the rearward mirror, and returned to peering through the windshield. The wipers were helping a little with the rain, but it was still hard to see. Should be there by now... He wouldn't like to be kept waiting.

Ah ha. She pulled the speeder over a little abruptly, and killed the engine. "Here we are." She clicked off her seatbelt with one hand, and felt underneath her seat with the heel of one boot. She met resistance, which meant nothing had shifted. She'd managed to avoid answering the man's question about karma which was just as well. She didn't think that getting into a list of her sins would be helpful, at this point.

Through the windows her passengers would be able to see that they'd parked near a huge building. Once they got out, they'd realize that it was a warehouse. In fact, they were surrounded by a maze of warehouses. But this one was special, because Dan was supposed to be in here. Arya popped her door open a little after Adia did hers, but didn't exit the cab... yet.

[Rick Wright]

When they were driving the rain had formed thick curtain around the windows, but now that the cab had come to a halt it was not so difficult to see the outside world. Squinting, Rick wiped away some of the condensation on the inside of the glass. He could make out the shapes of buildings but not any that were familiar. A little tingling feeling danced across the back of his neck, as thought warning him of the danger ahead. “I think you might have taken a wrong turn, Rima,” he said, taking hold of Adia’s shoulder to turn attention towards him and the look of firm concern on his face.

[Adia Issoris]

Adia slid out of Rick's grasp, and back into the rain. Her sense of being vauglely lost was gone and replaced with a desire for answers.

Rima's door was yanked open, dragging her hand out for a moment--just enough for Adia to grab it. The supposed cabbie was hauled out into the rain and dumped onto the cab's hood.

"Who are you working for, delivery girl?"

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya's breath escaped as a grunt when she slammed into the hood of the speeder. Adia might have been a small woman, but she certainly had muscle packed onto that slight frame.

"Who are you working for, delivery girl?" The rain was thick and heavy, and all three of them would be drenched again in a matter of minutes. Adia slammed her shoulders to the hood again for good measure, and rain dripped of her red hair into Arya's face.

The smuggler's eyes narrowed at being called a girl, face to face with a woman who could only have been a few years older than she. The smaller woman's eyes widened a bit as Arya's right hand moved slightly, pushing the muzzle of her holdout blaster into her stomach. She'd just had time to pull it out from underneath her seat as she'd been pulled unceremoniously from the cab.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Arya shoved Adia back and stood up, nodding towards the warehouse door. The curiously empty warehouse door. What? Where are you Dan... She licked her lips and wavered momentarily, trying to keep an eye on the man Adia had called Rick as well.

[General Dan]

"Ease off 'er, assassin."

The familiar voice should be more than enough to answer Adia's question, as a lean silhouette appeared in the warehouse doorway.

[Rick Wright]

Things had taken a sudden change for the worse. Though Rick knew that both he and Adia could handle themselves if things came to blows, Arya had the upper hand. She had blindsided Adia first with the blaster and now with the appearance of her apparent benefactor. From the look on her face, Adia recognized the voice. Rick, on the other hand, was beginning to feel as though this was going to turn into yet another situation where the pair of them were plunged into something far over their heads.

“Take it easy,” he motioned one hand downwards, gesturing for Arya to lower her weapon.

[Adia Issoris]

Dan stood just shy of the drops splattering while the rest were victim of an increasing rain. Adia was a wet cat in every sense of the phrase: wet and furious. She considered breaking Arya's arm and taking the cab, but knowing Dan, it was rigged.

She glanced at Arya's blaster, and then up at the rain. Then, as if she wasn't interested or impressed, turned back to Dan.

"I told you I quit."

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya narrowed her eyes at Rick, and kept the weapon trained on Adia as the rain drenched them all. He was focusing on her, but the woman was the greatest threat. After all, Arya still had the keys to the cab in her jacket pocket.

"I told you I quit." Adia turned her back on the smuggler and addressed Dan. Arya immediately trained the weapon on Rick, just in case he tried to make a move.

She spoke up over the sound of the rain. "Well she quits, so should I be going? I'll just take her back where I found her."

[General Dan]

"And I told you it ain't exactly the quittin' profession."

Dan kept his voice even, and his gestures disarming. He didn't need to remind Adia who he was, and what he could do.

"How bout you all come inside, before you catch your death of cold."

[Rick Wright]

The gun now pointed directly at him, Rick saw little option other than to comply with the request. He raised his hands in submission and moved towards the man whom Rick guessed had once been Adia’s employer. His instincts told him that Adia, at least, was important to the man and that therefore no harm would come to her. Unfortunately, he wasn’t so certain about his own safety.

[Adia Issoris]

Adia looked back up into the rain and contemplated staying in it. For a human, she supposed it might be on the cold side, but it didn't bother her much. That wasn't what Dan was talking about.

She smiled slightly at Dan beneath his dry overhang.

"Dan, this is Rick. Rick, Dan. Rick's a friend. He bumped into me on my way to a job interview."

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya motioned with the blaster, making sure Rick didn't get any last minute ideas about running away. Adia seemed happy to stay in the rain, but the smuggler didn't want to have to force her inside. She wasn't a hired gun, for frell's sake.

Not a hired gun, Dan. She pursed her lips, and lowered the blaster. She was still in the rain though, trying to bring up the rear of Dan's two reluctant guests.

[General Dan]

"Heh."

An easygoing smile snaked its way across the parched canyons of the shootist's face.

"Pleasure to meet you, Rick. Maybe you can convince our ladyfriend not to be a mule about my hospitality. It's a damn soft evening out there."

He glanced to Arya offhandedly.

"Oh..." He nodded dismissively "...you can put that away. We're all friends."

It was the kind of thing the walrus would say to the oysters.

[Rick Wright]

Though Dan had instructed Arya to holster her weapon, Rick did not think for one minute that they were – as the old man had said – all friends. In fact, there was something more worrying about a man who was so assured of his control over a situation that he did not see the necessity for firearms. At least they were inside now – although it would be a good long while before Rick dripped dry. Even his bones were soaked.

[Adia Issoris]

Adia stepped under the overhang, following Dan into the warehouse. Arya and Rick followed. Even with the rain, she could smell that Rick was on edge. Dan was always up to something, but it was near impossible to garner what. Adia knew that after tracking him for weeks. His motivations were different. She suspected he was guided by the Force, if such a thing existed.

Damn him. She thought as she gathered her hair and squeezed it. Water spattered against the duracrete in the mostly empty warehouse that seemed too small. This was a front for something else.

"I'm in a bit of a mood, I haven't had lunch. You know how it goes. Is there a place to hang my coat?"

[General Dan]

Dan looked to the side, a visual cue for the droid standing near the door. The automated coat rack unstiffened, walking towards Adia on spindly legs, and chittered a binary salutation.

"I'm less handy when it comes to hot lunches, unfortunately."

He glanced to Arya and grinned roguishly.

"We do have a delivery girl, though."

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya stood with arms crossed just inside the doorway, and tried not to glower as Dan referred to her as a 'delivery girl.' She managed to hold herself to a dark look in his direction.

[Rick Wright]

Rick looked between Dan and Arya, establishing a mental chain of command in his mind.

“So,” he cleared his throat. “Why are we here, exactly?”

[Adia Issoris]

"Thank you." Adia said, placing her coat on the droid rack, which aranged it neatly and skittered back off into the corner.

Dan appreciated politeness, especially when it came to his hospitality. The man had a special disdain for the rude.

"Rick, please indulge our host."
She glanced over at Arya, ignoring Rick for the time being.
"Thirty minutes or less and the food is free." Dan's grin returned briefly.
"Is there somewhere we can sit to discuss, ah, whatever it is?"

[General Dan]

"Of course. This way."

Dan gestured to a door towards the back, which led to a modestly-furnished office. The desk was cluttered with some papers here and there.

"You'll have to excuse the mess. The previous tenant was a bit of a slouch."

He gestured to some comfortable chairs.

"Rick."

He squared himself from behind the desk, giving the man his full attention.

"I must really apologize. I can see I'm wasting your time. You may go if you'd like."

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya was still trailing along behind everyone, feeling very ignored and used. But she really didn't have any choice, as she had accepted the job.

As Dan addressed Rick, she stepped aside, to let the other man pass by on his way out of the warehouse.

[Rick Wright]

“I don’t mind waiting for Adia,” Rick shook his head. Though he knew she could look after herself, he didn’t feel comfortable with the thought of leaving her with Dan.

[Adia Issoris]

It was clear Rick didn't fully understand. Dan wanted to talk to her, and only her. Rick probably made it inconvient for Dan, who was smart enough to know that this was probably a coincidence. Adia tended to be a loner.

She hooked her thumbs in the crook of her arms, and frowned. This was an awkward situation--if she had killed Dan when it was convient, this wouldn't be happening right now. Adia was one of the rare people that were true to their word. She had quit, or so she thought.

"Dan, why have you brought me here?"

[General Dan]

"Tempting fate." He replied coolly.

"Why didn't you kill me?"

[Adia Issoris]

Adia frowned. She felt that she was on a fraying rope bridge and both ends were coming undone.

"I'm not killing people for money anymore."

[Rick Wright]

Rick averted his gaze casually from the conversation between Adia and Dan. Though he’d often wondered where she had picked up her combat skills, Rick had never ventured to guess that she was a bounty hunter and was a little shocked – this being the real reason why he looked away, to hide the surprise in his eyes.

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya didn't have anything else to do but keep her eyes on Rick, so she noticed the look he carefully hid from the other two. Their eyes met briefly, and she smiled. "Don't worry, I don't get paid when I kill people."

[General Dan]

"Then forget the money."

Dan set his hand on the desk, fingers outstretched.

"You had me dead-to-rights on a hunk of rock the galaxy has long forgotten. Reverse the situation. I would've gladly killed you for free.

That's an itch that's easy to scratch. Easier still to climb onto this moral high ground of yours in the aftermath. Who'd miss me, much less find me?"

[Adia Issoris]

Adia sighed.
"No one. Maybe the delivery woman would miss the pay. It would have made an awful lot of people happy. But I'm not killing people unless they shove me in a corner and destroy the alternatives. Maybe I just want to do something else." She stopped for a moment.

"You ever heard of Releese's Traders over in the Corporate Sector?"

[General Dan]

"I'm afraid not."

The shootist interlaced his fingers together, cocking an eyebrow quizically.

"That's more of Miss Ravenwing's stomping grounds, I think."

[Rick Wright]

Maintaining his silence, Rick felt a pang of guilt as he trying to avoid listening to the conversation between Adia and Dan. It felt as though he was eavesdropping on something he shouldn’t have been hearing. After all, if Adia had wanted him to know about her employment history, she would have brought it up.