Shore Leave

[Sanis Prent]

(OOC: Takes place a week after Heroes Welcome (http://sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?t=21774))

My eyes opened, and I knew I'd woke up still drunk from the night before. No problems there, at least I wasn't hung over. The problems started when I didn't recognize anything around me. The room was too big, nothing was in the right place, and I couldn't hear the engines. This wasn't good.

I leapt out of bed, tumbling a bit from my impaired balance, and braced with a hand on the too-large mattress, right next to a nude purple Twi'lek, whose only response was to turn on her other side and pull the covers over her.

"Why are we stopped?"

Still half asleep, I fumbled for the heap of clothing at the bottom of the bed that contained my pants and my gun belt, when the realization hit me. I wasn't on a ship. I was planetside. Layla had been destroyed a week ago. I calmed down a bit, sitting back down on the bed, feeling the room spin a little with residual motion. I ran a hand through my bed hair, and breathed into a cupped hand to check the status of my morning breath as my other hand prodded the derriere next to me.

"What planet is this?"

An accented voice replied back, heavily dulled by sleep.

"Gelthia."

I mouthed the word silently in drunken confusion. Where the fuck was Gelthia? Somewhere with drinks and girls obviously. Of course, being on the lam with the Rebel Alliance and the Jedi Order meant that you didn't get to cross the most well-known space lanes.

There were pressing things to attend to, before I got more introspective about all this. After the fastest in & out of the sonic shower imaginable, I was back in my clothes and out the door. I still had credits in hand, and if Miss Purple was a whore instead of just a casual lay, I wasn't waiting around for the check. Even if she was an honest lay, this was usually about the time that they started talking about their feelings, and asking what your name is, and that's just too complicated.

I somehow managed my way out of the motel without incident, and after a hair of the dog from the dregs of my hip flask, I was off to...

...to...

...and in the middle of a busy street, in the midst of a big city in the middle of a galactic nowhere, I hadn't the foggiest idea of what was next.

I looked up at the sky and caught a glimpse of a morning sun starting to peek up. Frantically, I fumbled to put my shades on. I took another drink, but this was only a few dribbles of backwash.

I hadn't felt like this since Nar Shaddaa.

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

Sabacc was boring.

Staying in insect infested hotels was horrifying.

Since she'd left Rai'raa on Cloud City, life was lonely.

Well, she mentally amended, peeking through her lashes at the human staring at her across the bar from where he was sitting at a sabacc table, not exactljy loneljy. Company was plentiful, but companionship was something else entirely.

Saarrreeaa pushed up from her seat and made her way outside to the sunshine of Gelthia. Sometime in the night it had become daytime, and all she wanted to do was get to her hotel and get some sleep. Her mark was here - or maybe he wasn't - but she'd find him later. She adjusted her leather pants and jacket, flipping up the collar against the brightening morning sun, and headed down the street, traffic picking up around her as people began to go about their daily routines.

[Sanis Prent]

Lost in my thoughts a bit, and I shuffled a bit too much to the left.

"'scuse me."

I brushed against a young Cizerack lady in passing, giving a half-hearted little apologetic wave as I continued on. Yeah. Girls and drinks alright. Judging by the street I was on, the whole shambling zombie thing was a sign that there were a lot of bars and casinos tossing out the riff-raff in time for breakfast...which did sound pretty good. That's one thing that wasn't quite like Nar Shaddaa yet at least. I had enough credits to buy me some breakfast.

Letting the thought of hot chow act as a placebo against my depression, I got a little bit more pep in my step as I went on the prowl for a greasy spoon.

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

She kept walking for two more steps, then her feet turned her around and Saa found herself staring lasers into the back of a mop of dirty blond hair that was slouching away from her. All thoughts of sleep were gone in an instant.

She was still exhausted, however, and his pace was quickening. An immediate assault and capture was out of the question. Saarrreeaa slunk after her mark, using a compact as she walked to make sure she looked presentable. Clicking it closed and slipping the mirror into a pocket, the Cizerack followed him into diner that was advertising a special on breakfast.

[Sanis Prent]

I wasn't really sure what I walked into. No nuna eggs and bantha steak in this dive. Something smelled good and a whole lot of things were going on the griddle at once, being turned by an eight-armed droid as patrons crowded the bar up front to point out their orders from a numbered sign. There wasn't any other basic on the sign, just numbers and a pre-fab picture of what the food should look like when done. The three guys in front of me got a #7, so that's what I picked out too. Some bit of meat hit the griddle with a hiss, and was soon decimated with a quick dozen chops from a cleaver while another hand doused it with some kind of orange sauce. That all got mixed together with some pre-cooked mash of some sort and they shared space with something from a warmer bin that looked like juya berries but had a kind of funky stink to them.

I let the droid do its work, confident that I'd be fine. If in doubt, find a place packed with people and you'll usually not wind up eating something that's liable to kill you. Plus, years of close quarters living with Cirr had given me a survivor's palate.

My number came up, and I put down my two credits (another good thing about dives like this, cheap food), got my tray, and headed for the nearest sit-down. With the joint packed, there weren't too many seats to claim, but I found a two top by the window and booked it. About the same time I did, I spotted the Cizerack girl I bumped into a few minutes back. That was strange. This place smelled a bit too much like old grease to be a Cizeri hangout, but maybe they'd accepted the wisdom that this was the universal treatment for a rough night out.

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

The diner smelled... horrendous. Leave it to Sanis Prent to instinctively seek out the worst restaurant on the strip. Saa's ears flattened against her head and her sensitive nose twitched helplessly against the overwhelming odor of bodies and overcooked meat.

She worked her way through the crowd of sleepy beings to where he was finding a wall to lean against to eat his meal and leaned against it with him. Saa looked up at him, her lips twitching up into a smile. "jI can't beljieve you'rrre gojing to eat that."

[Sanis Prent]

I paused in the midst of shuffling the contents on my plate about with a fork, and looked up. She was late teens, and had a strange spotted complexion that the rare Cizerack popped up with here and there. Why she'd found it necessary to come into a place specifically to cast judgment against the food was beyond me. It had to be for my charming company. Must have made an impression when I brushed past.

"To be honest, I've got no idea what it is, but looks like a best seller and there's a lot of happy customers. Cheap too."

I could tell by her face that the sales pitch wasn't swaying her, but she was certainly sticking around for my company. I mustered up a playful smirk.

"You a local? Know any better breakfast spots? Preferably one where I don't have to catch it, because I really don't move so hot until around noon or so."

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

"Do jI know anjythjing betterrr? The harrrd quessstjion would be jif therrre wass anjythjing worrrsse on the ssstrrrjip." She looked him up and down, and then nodded her head toward the door. "jI'll bujy. jYou look ljike jyou could ussse a good meal."

He had hardly changed at all in the years since she'd last seen him. And supplying him with breakfast meant drugging him would be that much easier.

[Sanis Prent]

Pushing the plate to the side, I stood up, and watched her as she did the same.

"Sounds like a plan."

I wasn't dumb. Cizeri girls her age offering to buy a guy dinner were only interested in the dessert. Nothing wrong with that though, I'm a dessert kind of guy sometimes. Still, something about this seemed a little weird.

"Sanis Prent, by the way..."

I jerked a thumb at my chest as we left.

"...Captain of the..."

A pause as I chewed over the remains of a word in that familiar sentence that didn't belong anymore.

"...well, er, just Captain."

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

She raised an eyebrow, looking sideways at him. "Between sshjipss, Captain?" Saa couldn't help feeling surprised. She'd known he hadn't come to Gelthia with the Layla, but that he wouldn't even claim a ship as his was unusual.

"No matterrr," she dismissed airily with a wave of her hand. "Ah, herre we arrre." Saa indicated a restaurant just a few meters up the street with a shake of her blond mane. "Sshall we?" She winked, indicating she had more in mind than just breakfast.

[Sanis Prent]

"Something like that."

I replied to her question distantly, my eyes fixating on some invisible point in space as I replayed the whole awful thing in my head again. It was over in a flash, and I was back to normal, staring at the facade of an eatery several notches up the ladder from the griddle joint I'd tried to patronize earlier.

I opened my mouth, a witty remark no doubt on my tongue about the upscale look of it, but before I could manage, she was already leading me forward by the hand. The interior wasn't bustling nearly as much as the previous dive, so we were able to catch a window seat without waiting or getting in the thick of things. A waiter appeared seemingly instantaneously, filling water and caf, and providing us each a menu. As soon as he came, he went, and I set my menu aside for the moment.

"So what's your story? Never got your name."

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

"Rai'raa Anjumi," she supplied without hesitation. "Rajissed on Zeltrrron." Her foot lightly brushed his calf under the table.

Saa looked carefully at the menu, then set it down to remove her leather jacket, revealing the thin red tank top she was wearing underneath. "To be honesst, jI wasss hopjing jyou mjight walk me back to mjy hotel after brrreakfasst, Mr. Prrrent," she said after they had both ordered. "jIf jyou arrre famjiljiarrr at all with mjy spjiecess..."

She looked coyly at him over her water glass. "jI have an appetjite that jI cannot feed herre."

[Sanis Prent]

"A Cizerack on Zeltros, eh? Sounds like a joke I've heard somewhere."

Sometimes, even I was a little put-off by Cizeri directness. As crass and sleazy as I knew I was, there was at least a sort of perverse chivalry in slapping a cheesy line on a chick to see if it would stick. Kree-rrou girls always seemed like they were just hunting you.

With a knowing smile, I just sighed and shook my head, and glanced at the menu. She was at least trying to play the game by picking up breakfast. For whatever reason, feeling like a whore this morning was patching a few dings in my well-dented ego.

"Rai'raa, eh? That means..."

A disbelieving smile crossed my face. Hell of a nom de guerre.

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

Her lips curved up in a matching smile, showing a bit of her small pointed teeth. "Mjy motherrr had a sssenssse of humorrr. Asss a cub jI djid mjy bessst to ljive up to mjy name, unforrrtunateljy, but jI would sssajy ssshe brrrought jit on herrrssself."

Saa dipped a finger in her water glass and delicately licked it dry. "jI had a frrrjiend on Zeltrrros who wass half Falleen, half Cizeri. Now that wasss a female who alwajyss got what ssshe wanted." Her tone was admiring, and she looked across at her breakfast companion. "jI ssstjill have to asssk."

[Sanis Prent]

"Well I'll make it easy on you, then."

I leaned back in my seat, a bit of the old swagger coming back. The breakfast itself was well and good. It wasn't too expensive for me to wonder about what I was getting into, but it was certainly a step above the griddle. They even had fresh fruit, which when you live your life on starships, is something you appreciate when you can find it.

She paid the bill, and we were off again. I could feel a quickening in her step, and I kept up, planting an after-breakfast stim between my lips.

"So who leaves Zeltros for a vacation on Gelthia?"

We breezed through a nearby hotel lobby, and it was pretty clear that Rai'raa wasn't intending on any stops.

"I mean, it's got a nice club and casino scene compared to, er, Tattooine, but I don't think it would be in my top ten or anything."

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

"Zeltrrross, afterrr a whjile, can get monotonousss. Thjiss jiss jussst a ssstop forrr me, on mjy wajy elsssewherrre." She pressed a floor button in the turbolift and they whooshed upward. Saa pressed her body against his as though the 'lift was crowded, even though they were alone.

His arm went around her, large hand on the small of her back, and she smiled up at him, licking her lips slightly and stretching up... then the turbolift stopped and she was drawing him into the hallway. At this time of the morning it was deserted, and she only slightly fumbled with her keycard in the lock before Sanis was eagerly following her into her hotel room.

Saa threw her jacket over the table as she walked backwards, her lips locked with his, covering the blaster and power cells that were laid out. It was a strange feeling to be kissing Sanis Prent. She'd once said she would collar him as a mate, but for the last few years had spent so much time thinking about exacting revenge for her family's misfortunes that the hate had overcome the affection she'd once felt. That girlhood crush was long gone...

...but in the surge of Kree-rrou hormones she found herself more than willing to take advantage of him. He was, after all, fit and attractive for a hyuu-mann. The edge of the bed bumped against the back of her legs as his hands fumbled with her clothing. Male humans liked to take the lead when they could, and she decided to let him. It would be interesting.

[Sanis Prent]

In the midst of it all, the air felt electric. No, it felt hot. Every little breath of hers against me felt sublime. Her skin against mine...

...this wasn't right.

I ran a hand along one of her spotted shoulders, drawing it back to rub against my face as she pressed her intentions home.

"Heh, that's funny..."

That same amazing tactile buzzing rang back. It was like silk on silk. Rai'raa exhaled expectantly, her mouth a scant inch from mine, and her breath scented with sweet spice. I pressed forward to kiss her again, and that's about when she drew blood from my lower lip, the sudden shock of it feeling electric down to my feet. Even that felt great, though now I had a pretty good idea what was happening.

"The breakfast..."

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

"Deljicjiouss, wasssn't jit," she murmured, clamping her thighs around his waist and pushing him back against the mattress. "jI took the ljiberrrtjy of ssuppljyjing jyou wjith sssomethjing to help jyou rrrelax."

[Sanis Prent]

It was certainly doing the job. I felt completely at ease. My sense of outrage at being essentially slipped a mickey was a lot more diminished than it should've been.

"You had me at free breakfast..."

She cut me off with that, easing down to lick the blood at my chin as she pressed her body against mine.

I tried to keep a coherent line of thought amongst my increasingly hijacked libido. My hands ran up to her tight, athletic backside as I began to hope this was still as innocent as it should be.

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

"Mmmm," she purred, reaching down to cover his hands with hers, and then gently pulled them off her, kissing him fiercely as she stretched them over his head. He smelled a bit like a twi'lek, which was a little weird, and his hands rebounded to her breasts as she released them to reach into the bedside table to retrieve something, still locked in a kiss with him.

Saa persistently pulled his hands over his head once again, and then deftly cuffed them there with a pair of standard stun cuffs. They were set to low, so his initial discomfort would be minimal. A second pair of cuffs secured him to the solid headboard, and then she sat back, giving his pelvis one last grind before reluctantly getting off of him and reaching for her shirt.

[Sanis Prent]

"Huh, that's not really my..."

I couldn't really put up much of a fuss. It all seemed right, even though I knew there were all sorts of warning bells going off in my head. I tested the limits on the stun cuffs, and they snapped a jolt in me as I pulled them more than they should go.

"What's going on?"

Was she stopping? That wasn't cool!

I gave my cuffs another tug, and grimaced at the inevitable response.

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

She ignored him, finding her clothes and slowly pulling them on. Zipping up her pants, Saa turned around, tail swishing behind her. "jYou don't rrrememberrr me, do jyou."

[Sanis Prent]

"You think I'm the kind of guy who'd forget Cizerack girls with a bondage kick?"

Despite my easy-going response, I was starting to get the feeling this wasn't all fun and games anymore. Yet, I still felt great and at ease. It was like half of me was screaming at the other half, but the rest of me was oblivious and wearing headphones, listening to awesome music.

She was all business now. My smile started to fade. Something about the question she asked made me think long and hard. You don't see a Cizerack with spots every day.

"Wait..."

The look of shock and disbelief started to creep into my expression.

"...how old are you?"

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

She ignored that question, how rrrude, and canted her head to the side, studying him like a bug on a card. "jYou taught me how to fljy that ssshjip of jyourrrss. jYou ssseem to have mjissplaced jit sssjince then, asss well asss mjy motherrr'sss forrrmerrrr manssserrrvant."

Saa crossed the room, carefully moving her jacket and revealing her blaster on the table. She picked it up and inspected it idly.

[Sanis Prent]

Now, I knew. The dawning realization played out on my face.

"You grew up."

It was a lame thing to say, but the little girl I remember as Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta seemed so far removed from this sexy, scary creature in front of me. No wonder I didn't have a clue.

I knew I'd seen that look in other people before though. I seemed to cause it a lot. Did she want me to say I was sorry for leaving? For going the way I did? She probably wanted that and a lot more. Good timing, because I was scraping the bottom of the barrel.

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

"No sshjit, genjiuss." Saa spun the blaster around her finger by the trigger guard and then slammed it back down on the table. "My famjiljy name jiss dung, thanksss to jyou. Ourrr forrrtuness - gone.

"And jyou arrre gojing to ansswerrr forrr that." She picked up a slim stiletto knife and stalked back toward the bed.

[Sanis Prent]

I saw real danger approaching at knife tip, and I talked, fast.

"Saa, I don't know what your mother told you, but when I dusted off Carshoulis, I never took a credit off her. I don't know what happened, I never meant to hurt you, and you're a few seconds away from doing something you're gonna really regret, so listen to me."

The shock of adrenaline was pushing back against the drugs in my system, combined with the jolts I got struggling against my cuffs.

"Put the knife down, Saa."

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

She ignored his pleas, and straddled his chest, tracing a line up his face with the tip of the knife, careful not to leave a mark. He was very still now, eyes straining to watch the progress of the stiletto blade, but she could tell that he was still turned on by her being so close, the drug affecting his anatomy despite the panic in his face.

Saa leaned closer, hand gripping his messy hair and pulling his head up a bit, nearly smothering him in her breasts. With a quick slice she removed a lock of hair, then released him to flop back against the pillows. The hair went into a tightly sealed baggie, and then she pressed the tip of the knife to his finger, drawing a bead of blood as he grunted. Pressing a card to the small wound to collect a red circle of DNA, Saa licked the remainder off.

[Sanis Prent]

She was toying with me, shuffling me between terror and ecstasy, and between the drug, the cuffs, and an assortment of weapons between her and me, I was an utterly captive audience. Now she was taking my hair and blood...for what? Some sick kind of trophy?

"Baby, you trying to clone me? Imitation's the best form of flattery."

False bravado again. I had a pretty good idea what those mementos were really for. After all, I'd done that a few times myself.

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

"jI have to prrrovjide evjidence of collectjion," she said, tapping the card lightly with a claw. "And, of courrrsse, somethjing for me." Saa slipped off the bed leaving him to stew in his juices for a minute while she tucked the lock of hair into her bag. It was already packed - or, more honestly, had never been unpacked.

She put the knife in its sheath in her boot, strapped her holster and blaster to her hip, spare power cells secreted about her outfit quickly. The transmission to Black Sun was taken care of quickly, a small medical scanner sufficing to transmit the blood data across space to verify her claim. "The jImperrrjials arrre offerrrjing morrre, but jI have a feeljing Cirrsseetto's aunt wjill be verrrjy pleasssed to have jyou jin her clawsss."

[Sanis Prent]

Aunt?

Keeping track of Cirr's labyrinthine immediate family was tough enough, much less extended family. I tried rewinding in my head my year on Carshoulis, to see if there was anybody that stood out.

Couldn't be that bad though. Not Empire bad. I knew what I was in for if the Empire got me. I knew the shit I'd pulled didn't get parole.

"Well, at least you're not selling me off to the Rebels." I bluffed, with little expectation she'd take the bait. "Doubt they'd be as friendly as a Carshoulis madam, after I torched one of their frigates."

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

She sneered at him, tucking another knife somewhere into her outfit. "jI'm sssurrre they'd be pleasssed to rrranssom a waywarrrd Rrrogue pjilot, but not wjilljing to pajy morrre than Black Sssun. Whjich jiss what thejy'd have to offerrr forrr me to consssjiderrr jit.

"jI majy be jyoung, but jI'm not ssstupjid." Seeing him all tied up on the bed without the majority of his clothing was not doing much to quench the Kree-rrou fire in her body. Raping him was not an option - well it was, but not for her. There were enough willing males in the universe without forcing oneself on someone. Still.. if he were willing..

Saa nibbled on her lower lip. "We have sssome tjime to kjill beforrre we have to move." She sat beside him on the bed, running a warm hand over his pectorals, and then down to his groin where his body declared him ready for action. "jIf you want..."

[Sanis Prent]

I didn't have enough pride to say no. If I wasn't doped up, and if I was somebody else, it would've been damn nice to watch her twist in Kree-rrou's frustration. Watch her do without what she couldn't get. But she could, because I'm easy.

"You want the three star treatment?"

I waved my cuffed hands for emphasis on the other option.

"Or four stars?"

Worth a shot, right?

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

"jI doubt jyou'll rrrate morrre than two ejitherrr wajy," she said, a hint of disdain in her voice, but with her prey secure and the transaction almost over with, her hormones were taking over. Everything she'd just strapped on was hurriedly removed, carefully placed out of conceivable reach of the prisoner on the floor by the end of the bed.

She crouched over his body, tail tickling his face as she put her mouth to him, teeth faintly tickling his cock as she made sure he was as hard as possible. The drug had done most of the work, and the way his body jerked underneath her as she worked assured her that he was either enjoying her ministrations or trying to loosen his cuffs while she wasn't looking.

Either way, he wasn't going anywhere for a while.

[Sanis Prent]

The view from above, I had to admit, was a bit of art. She definitely had a well-tended garden, and that just made things that much more inevitable. Her tail looped over and around her track-star ass, slapping occasionally at my head and arms in what was probably half accidental and half on purpose.

Now, I've had sex with girls that probably wanted to kill me. I'm not proud of it, but sometimes that happens because of my great personality. But I've never had somebody with a blood-wish against me go down on me, whether to test the merchandise or to drive it off the lot. That just seems fucking risky. The feeling is only amplified if they're Cizerack. Those crazy eyes, angry horny crazy eyes, and a hungry mouth full of sharp teeth and slightly rough tongue.

And me in my terror, in my sex-drugs-magic flop sweat waiting for heaven or hell any second with my fate in her mouth.

I wasn't even sure if it was an act of mercy or cruelty when she popped Sanis Jr. out and took a seat on it.

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

The trick was making sure he lasted long enough to make the entire experiment worth it, but that was only a matter of finding the right angle. Her body was running hot enough that she climaxed twice before Sanis couldn't hold back any more, and when she rolled off of him to clean up it had only been twenty minutes.

Saa threw a towel over his crotch to give him some modesty, and retired to the refresher for a few minutes. Generally it was against Cizeri religion to use any sort of contraceptive, but since half-breeds were so unwanted, females knew how to take the proper precautions to make sure cubs only arrived when desired. A single white pill swallowed with a mouthful of water was enough to ensure the traitor would not get her pregnant.

Traitor? She rolled her eyes at her melodramatic mental monologue, and quickly washed, returning to the main room to pull her clothes back on.

[Sanis Prent]

I lay back for a bit, feeling used and pretty ridiculous, and in a limbo between being pissed off about it and being indifferent. My sweat stung in several claw gouges and scratches, byproducts of getting a woman with retractable claws hot and bothered.

How did I get into this mess? Well, I wasn't about to chide myself over chasing tail, that was just life. But how did I get here, as in, in life. I didn't even feel all that put off by the fact that I'd just been raped and was probably going to be shipped off somewhere to be slowly killed by some nameless person I'd pissed off somewhere. Losing my ship and my independence hurt a lot worse, I realized. I felt like I felt when I first stepped foot on Carshoulis those nine years ago - disposable. If I had a future, it got wadded up and tossed in the trash, and garbage pickup was coming.

I wasn't mad at Saa. Maybe frustrated at her? Frustrated for her. She had more opportunity in one of her claws than I had in my whole damn life, and she was too young, and too stupid, and throwing it away in a life that paid out a lot less. Worse, she was eaten up with a lot of hate. I'd seen the way she looked at me. I could almost feel myself counting the nights she must have spent planning this. Nights wasted that could've been better spent on anything else.

Thinking about it made me tired. Of course, a savage fucking adds to that.

"Can you get me a stim?"

I watched her dress, and my eyes traced over to where my clothes were rudely deposited.

"Jacket pocket."

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

She looked sideways at him, and shook her head. "Don't thjink jI am not awarrre of what sssorrrtss of thjingsss can be packed jinto a ssstjim. Nanoparrrtjicless, forrr one." Saa crossed to his pile of clothes and rifled through them to find the stims, then carjefully put them in her own pocket.

Her commlink pinged, and she activated it, listening to the message that had been left for her. A slow smile curved her lips. "jYou've been verrrjifjied. jI'll make the exchange at njightfall at the porrrt." She winked. "jI sssuppossse jyou'll need jyourrr clothesss..."

[Sanis Prent]

What did she think I was, a secret agent? Nanoparticles? I huffed, looking away from her at the window, trying to imagine for two seconds what I'd do if I got a moment of breathing room outside of these stun cuffs. Wring her damn neck.

I jerked on my cuffs, receiving a rude jolt that helped to drive the effects of her designer drug even farther from the forefront.

"I've got powerful friends, Saa. You're going to regret this."

A pretty impotent bluff, all told. Maybe I did have people who gave a damn about me, but how long would it take for them to realize I wasn't just on a rage-soaked bender after Layla? And if so, could they really afford to put their necks out for me?

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

She smirked. "jI could be thrrrown jinto the feedjing pjit rrrjight afterrr thjis, and jI would sstjill be ssatjisjied. No rrregrrretss...though I am sssurrre jyou have a few."

Saa walked over to the bed and helped him into his pants again, then crossed the room and pretended to watch the holonet until the time for the exchange drew close.

[Sanis Prent]

I fought her for every inch, but there's only so much resistance you can apply when the claws are out. I took my fair share of scratches, but only ended up pissed off with my pants on. Worse, she seemed to enjoy it.

With her attention seemingly diverted, I calmed down, and spent some time looking about. I paid attention to the posts at the headboard I was cuffed to. They were metal, but one of the posts had a little bit of give between it and the larger band it was sunk into. If I moved it here and there, I might get an idea of how much leeway I could get away with. I couldn't be sudden with my movements though. It would only take a heartbeat for her to be on top of me again.

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

He was wiggling around on the bed, but then he settled down, watching holonet with her. Some dumb reality show about ten strangers locked into an apartment together. Saarrreeaa couldn't see the appeal - unless perhaps all the strangers locked in with her were male. They seemed to be equally divided among the sexes, and even a strange third sex from some bizarre alien race was included.

Seemed sacrilegious to her. What was the purpose of a gender if you couldn't mate with it? Although... she supposed that it might be possible, although she'd need more details on the specifics of this third sex. She leaned forward a bit as the flatmates began to pile into the hot tub.

[Sanis Prent]

I held my breath as I exerted just enough pressure on the metal post to ease it under the connecting band. Careful not to have it scratch against, I pried and pulled, until it was barely clear enough to allow the cuff keeping both of my hands secured to the bed free.

Taking stock of my sudden, temporary, and partial freedom, I looked around. No weapons. No blasters, no knives, not even something good and firm I could clock her across the head with. Plus my hands were still cuffed together, which limited me in some ways.

The only thing I could think of was an embedded comm on the nightstand. The moment I started punching in comm frequency, she'd hear it, so I'd have to be fast. Good thing I knew Cirr's comm frequency by memory, and the extra short distress code used in the Alliance.

I rolled for the nightstand suddenly, my fingers flying over the comm.

[Adjerban the Interloper]

The door chirped when the chit slid home. The little multispectral light was "green" for most humanoids. Saarreeaa was late, even by my standards. Since I had been implicated with some measure of responsibility by Sassy, and I liked my neck, I was going to do my job. Of course Saarreeaa probably had some kind of a history with this Prent guy, and Sassy's tail twitched in a special way whenever he was brought up. All the Cizerack women are psycho, I swear.

I cracked the door open in case they were naked or she was naked or he was naked I was not in the mood for naked unless it involved me and some woman who wasn't Cizerack and had some hair of the dog. I was a little hung over and in a bad mood.

"You're late." I said quietly through the door, which had the chainbolt present.

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

"Frrrack!" Saa dove at Sanis, tackling him to the floor just as the door cracked open and hopefully her Black Sun contact arrived. If not, then things just got a lot more interesting.

She backhanded Prent, leaving him with a split lip and a bloody nose, and hauled him upwards by the stun cuffs that still held his hands together. Angrily Saa dialed the cuffs up to nearly as high as they would go, finally turning around and snapping at the door, "jIf jI'm late then Black Sssun hasss a funnjy wajy of telljing tjime."

[Sanis Prent]

"Aaaagh!!!"

The shot to the face, I'd expected. Dialing the cuffs up was a jolt I wasn't ready for, and I jerked about like a hooked fish at Saa's withering mercy. Even with all of that, it was hard to hide the smile on my face.

I spit a bit of red on her face. Might as well take another small victory.

"Too late, love. The cavalry's already on their way."

Of course, that was highly up for debate. I was playing the optimist for shits and giggles.

[Adjerban the Interloper]

"Whatever." I winced my eyes shut, and my ears drooped. Ok, I was really hung over. I glanced at my chrono, and no fucks were given about the actual time. One of the numbers at the end said 2 and the next one said 4 so I knew what the minutes were. This was important because I was going to make a statement about timetables. Ironic, because I didn't like timetables. I like gambling, non-Cizerack women, alcohol and money. The order is situational, but it's usually money first.

"Just get your shit together in thirty minutes." I wasn't in the mood for Cizerack women. Thirty minutes was being really generous, too. I'm sure some hardened thug would barge in there and make a scene, but I'm not a hardened thug. I'm a professional cheat. I'm a clever bastard who now turns in other clever bastards: the House Clever Bastard. Prent is supposedly a clever bastard, and this worried Sassy enough to send me along.

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

"Fjine," she retorted, wiping her face with Sanis' discarded shirt and dragging him along behind her as she stalked to the door. She wasn't about to mess around with trying to get a shirt back on him, not with what he just pulled, and so he got a black rain poncho shoved over his head to cover his bare skin.

Saa scooped up her jacket, made sure her weapons were secure, and shoved Sanis out the door in front of her. "Don't need thjirrrtjy mjinutess, we can go now."

[Sanis Prent]

The dull ache in my face and arms and in the rest of me was all creeping into my head, and now I had a headache. I winced as I was frog-marched along, and caught sight of the Black Sun stooge that was here for the pickup.

"Hey man, you got a stim? I'm raw in the saddle and the rest of me feels like hamburger, so it'd really take the edge off, y'know."

Maybe he wasn't a complete psycho. Maybe.

[Adjerban the Interloper]

"No. Ran out six hours ago." I said. I could smell the sweat and the sneaky on this guy. Sending me along was probably a good idea. If I had a stim I would be three into a pack by now, although I didn't smoke all the time. On really good or a really bad night I might kill a pack. In the name of a kindred spirit, I might have even given the guy one.

"This poncho isn't going to work. Put a damn shirt on him." I wasn't normally the bossy type, but this was just sloppy. And, well, I could be. My ass was on the line too. People were going to notice. I steered him back toward the door.

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

Saa rolled her eyes. "jIf he getss awajy whjile jI deactjivate the cuffs jits yourr fault." She deftly worked the stun cuffs, holding a blaster on Sanis as he struggled back into his shirt.

"jYou get herrre hourrrss earrrljy -" she narrowed her eyes at the Black Sun male. "Mjy monejy betterrr be rrreadjy."

[Sanis Prent]

"How much you gettin paid for me, kiddo?"

Of course I knew how much I was worth. You get to be in my shoes, it's both a bit of survivalism and a point of pride to know.

"Think you'll get a fair shake from Black Sun?"

[Adjerban the Interloper]

I ignored Saarrreeaa. Also, Cizerack names are annoying. Yes, they account for the impediments on canines but if I don't say your name perfectly don't bite my damn head off.

"Yeah, we're gonna discuss the money in front of you." I said with enough sarcasm to weigh down a heavy freighter. Besides, I knew enough about who Sanis Prent was to know that he knew the value of his own ass.

"We're paying market value." Was all I would give him, and waited for Saarreeaa to put the cuffs back on him.

[Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta]

The stun cuffs snapped in place with a zap, making him wince. Saa's lips curled up in a smile at him, and then she was pushing him along behind the Black Sun flunky. Sanis had the good sense not to make a fuss, and no one would have stopped them anyway. She had the proper bounty papers ready to flash at anyone who might feel like interfering.

He was well and truly nabbed. Saa only hoped that Black Sun was going to make him suffer.

[Sanis Prent]

I had no real choice but to play along at this point. Saa's Black Sun gopher was at least street-smart enough to avoid getting played, so that didn't leave me with a lot of options, except to fall in line, watch that damn minx get paid (bloody handsomely) for my proverbial scalp, and hope. I was sure that Cirr got the message. Whether he'd get to Gelthia in time to make heads or tails of it was another thing.

I could only hope I wouldn't drop off the face of the galaxy before that happened.