Cradle Will Rock [completed]

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

<center>Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we try to decieve....</center>


Sasseeri glowered at the holographic star charts in front of her, and especially at a certain point of light next to a large multicolored group of dark splotches. She turned to Gwl, the large Twi'lek who had listened in on Saarrreeaa and Sanis after the meeting the day before.

The listening bug, unfortunately, had been destroyed before anything else could be discovered. But this was enough. Oh, yes, it was more than enough. "Keto'jigwl...you have done well." She did not tease him sexually as was her wont, as his personality was different from that of her other flunkies. He would be offended, and she liked having him around.

It was an odd relationship they had, although the flirting was to a minimum, their...experiences... were quite fullfilling. Gwl bowed slightly, and left silently, his robes swishing behind him as the door to her office closed.

Ten minutes later the secretary paged. "Your niece and Mr. Prent are here for the eight thirty meeting."

Sasseeri thumbed the intercom. "Good. Send them jin."

[Sanis Prent]

(I'd woke up today with practiced bravado, going about my routine as if it were all for the first time. Every time I met with Sasseeri now, a few more chips were antied up onto the table, and the stakes got a little heavier. I'd never in my life felt more bamboozled than when she ran ruckshod over my game, and my plans. Yeah, I was in her pocket, and it was a tight squeeze. But with what we had going on the side, I was gambling on getting out of that pocket soon. No telling what would happen when the woman found out about it.

But I knew...she would eventually. I could give the half-breed her credit. She was shrewd, and as sharp as a lightsaber run on a whetstone. I nodded to Saa, and glanced to one of the mirrored walls, adjusting my hair as I stepped into the office.

It was time to play the game again.)

[Saarrreeaa Meorrrei]

Saarrreeaa cracked her neck, and tugged at a few stray strands of blonde hair that wisped down her neck from the loose twist it was held in. Sanis was glancing at his hair in the mirrored wall as the secretary announced them, and then ducked inside the door.

Clutching datapads, Saa followed him inside. The underlings around the Rangers' building called this room "The Lion's Den." As a full blooded Cizerack, Saa knew she had nothing to fear from her aunt. Half breed that she was, she craved the acceptance of her people. Saarrreeaa was the way for her to get that acceptance.

As long as Sasseeri realized that as well.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

She silently motioned Sanis and her niece into seats across the desk from her, and studied them for a moment. Saa's sensitive ears twitched as she carefully set a stack of datapads under her chair. Prent was using his best sabacc face, but his eyes were taking in the star map suspended between them.

With a throaty purr, Sasseeri's voice almost dripped with honey. "jI thank you both forrr bejing prrrompt thjis morrrnjing. jI had planned to djiscuss ourrr furrrtherrrjing plans forrr the spjice cache, but somethjing caught my attentjion."

She clicked a button on the surface of the desk, and the star chart zoomed in, until it was impossible to deny that they were staring at a holomap of the Maw system. Kessel hung there, mere centuries away from total destruction within the grip of the unrelenting Maw.

[Sanis Prent]

(My breath froze mid-stride in my lungs, sending an icy chill down my spine and turning my blood into crimson frost. On the outside, my right eye twitched almost imperceptibly. On the inside, fear was banging the hinges of whatever door was keeping in my cool. It was still possible to be just a happy coincidence, but seeing a holo of Kessel floating on Miss Reeouurra's desk was like seeing my own naked body crucified horizontally on that oaken study. I'd invested too much of my money (to a degree) and too much of my ass on this deal to see the greedy tramp snatch it out of my hands and dispatch it in gluttonous fashion. Pins and needles stabbed from my backside, criss-crossing up my spine and diving into the spongy gray matter of my brain. I bit my tongue behind pursed lips, locking my jaw to keep from stuttering, or cursing in spite of myself. On the outside, I was cool as a cucumber, but a hurricane was tearing the weather stripping loose when you went skin-deep. A snarling debris field of emotional baggage and half-baked ideas of how to save the score, and save my own hide.)

Kessel? You want...Kessel?

(When I spoke, a calm deadpan monotone timbre issued forth from my now-dry lips. A voice that took the edge off of every seething iota of anxious rage brewing behind my eyeballs. I could've been in showbusiness...I coulda been a contender. But now I was cashing it all in on a shot-in-the-dark play it dumb routine, and I didn't have a hold card to back my play. My eyes glanced to the side in a carefully timed bit of faux-casuality to Saarrreeaa, and her two blue eyes, utterly fixated on Sass in a way that I though she'd stare a laser beam through her aunt's skull. If it could get me out of a jam, I wouldn't mind if looks could kill.)

You'll have to excuse me, Sasseeri. I'm not used to you jumping onto tangents.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sanis' eyes were half lidded; like a true gambler he hid behind a sabacc face. Sasseeri also kept her face impassive...in fact, the only person who seemed to be having any trouble at all with their feelings was her niece, Saarrreeaa, who seemed about to leap across the desk at her. Sass flicked away Sanis' last statement, and tackled his previous question.

"Of courrrse jI want Kesssel. Any half lucjid busjiness perrrson wants Kessel. But, you do not just drrrop in system and clajim such a planet full of thejives and slaverrrs. That, and the fact that the Maw jis so close...The Galactjic Empjirrre's prrresence jinsjide (rrrumorrred orrr not) jis enough to deterr any but the most experrrjienced.

"Orrr, perrrhaps, the most foolish." Sasseeri had dialed up the comfort settings on the arm of her chair earlier, and the temperature was rising slowly to five degrees higher than normal. Sanis was getting a little sweaty around his white collar, but Saarrreeaa was unbothered by the slight change.

Sass toggled the holo display off, and leaned back in her chair slowly. Her eyes glinted like quantum armor, "Only a fool would trrry sometjing that dangerrrous. Wouldn't you say so, Sanjis? Orrr should jI call you 'Barrron Admjinjistrrratorrr?'"

[Saarrreeaa Meorrrei]

Saarrreeaa stared intently at her aunt through the slight haze of the holofield, her blue eyes focusing on her. Sanis threw her a casual sideways glance, and she remembered herself. Relaxing slightly, she picked up a datapad, only to feel her shoulders tense up as Sasseeri delievered her carefully timed speech.

"...Wouldn't you say so, Sanjis? Orrr should jI call you 'Barrron Admjinjistrrratorrr?'" Sass' last words sent a chill down Saa's spine, but the Cizerack finally got herself under control. Perhaps she could just pretend she knew nothing about Sanis' activities on Kessel...

...but judging by Sasseeri's face, that wouldn't get her very far. Saa opted to let Sanis respond before she did anything rash, like killing her aunt.

[Sanis Prent]

(The wan smile...the sign of a dignified defeat. She'd nailed me clean through the heart, smooth enough to go through and leave a light in my shadow. The conversation had quickly digressed from Sasseeri hunting a wild goose to Sasseeri plucking the feathers on a dead duck.

A dead duck named Sanis Prent, although the news of my deceased condition was far from gospel.)

I always have liked the ring to that.

(It was a silent acknowledgment of Sasseeri's guess. Now the gloves were off. The cat was out of the bag, and Sasseeri saw my hand in the Kessel cookie jar. Too bad for her. The cookie jar wasn't hers to begin with. Saarrreeaa tensed up, and I held my breath as I watched...hoping she'd keep her cool. The situation was already bad. No sense in switching to worse. The cold wave of fear had washed away, replaced by the pounding of adrenalines and endorphins in my ears. I felt warm, and I took a deep breath as I fell into damage control mode. She knew. There were worse things in the world, and worse things for her to find out about me that needn't be said.

Some really ditsy person with a surgically-grafted smile once said "If life gives you a lemon, make lemonade". Normally I tend to avoid obsessantly-happy people in my button-down profession, but it was a bit of sick philosophical drivel that seemed to apply to the cesspool of crap I'd landed two feet into. She wanted Kessel almost enough for spittle to form at the corner of her mouth. She was a tough customer to read, but jealousy and greed were two things that were always broadcast over her like a neon sign. Then again, she was one of those squeaky wheel types who always gambled on getting her grease in due time. Some things you reveal and some you conceal. There were a thousand little exceptions to a thousand mundane rules, and the margin for error on screwing them over got less and less each day. Nobody ever wanted to quantify luck, but you always knew that the players had it in surplus. Nobody who knew the score knew it on brains alone.

I looked at Saa again. She tensed up, like a canary on a power line. I could tell she was waiting on baited breath for my rebuttal. I just hoped she liked rollercoasters.)

I'm sorry, Sasseeri, but is there a problem here?

[Saarrreeaa Meorrrei]

She shot him a glance that betrayed her youth. Not only did she see her money slipping away, but her life along with it. Saa's smoldering gaze lingered on the edge of Sanis' profile, and then she fiddled with her datapad, choosing again to try and stay out of it as much as she could.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sanis was as blank faced as ever, and Saa was incredibly taking a calm stance to this situation. She fidgited with a datapad in her hand, her eyes meeting Sassseeri's, and then looking away. Not flinching, just glancing.

Sasseeri fumed inwardly at their gall. Taking Kessel! It was impossible to think about, and even more impossible that Sanis was the one who had done it. "Therrre jis a prrroblem, Sanjis. jI beljieve that you wjill fjind that yourrr jingenujity shall come back to haunt you one of these days." She sighed. "Untjil fate catches up wjith you, congrrratulatjions on yourrr planet."

Saa was still staring at her, but there was a twince of suspicion behind her blue eyes. Sasseeri fiddled with the controls on the holo display, punching up the planet Nal Hutta, and the moon, Nar Shadda, as well as all the surrounding space and planets in the system. It would not be long before she worked out the details of their scheme.

It was a scheme, and they were both in it. But, from the looks Saa couldn't help but flash at Sanis, they were still not getting along. One only needed to find a loose thread and pull on it. Eventually it all unraveled. Sasseeri fixed her eyes on her niece. One loose thread.

[Sanis Prent]

(I sported a casual smile. She was as insincere as a circus mirror to a vampire. Everything in this meeting reeked of faux. What wasn't said was often the invisible gist, which we'd both long-since gotten. I ran a hand through my hair)

So, is that all you wanted to talk to us about? Our little personal project on Kessel?

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

She raised an eyebrow, and found that she was biting the inside of her cheek. Carefully releasing the soft flesh, she abruptly swiveled to face Saarrreeaa. "jI had planned to djisscuss the furrrtherrrjings of the plan forrr the Hutt spjice cache." Sasseeri tossed a datapad at her niece which was caught easily, and held as though it were a poisonous flittersnake.

"Get jin touch wjith thjis Hutt, and worrrk out payment optjions. Confjidentjially." Saa stared at the pad hesitantly. Sasseeri's tone sharpened. "Now, Saa."

The full breed got to her feet, retaining the race's languid grace, and took her leave of the pair. She didn't seem unhappy to be going... but Sanis was slightly less than amused by her departure. Sass could read it in the tightening around the corner's of his eyes.

Getting to her feet, she walked around the desk, and grabbed his collar, pulling him up off his feet, but only to face level with her as his feet scrabbled to purchase on the floor. "Sanjisss, why djid you do jit? Do you despjise yourr exjistance so, that you would wjish thjis death wjish?" Her hands tightened on his shoulders, squeezing the pressure points at the base of his neck.

[Sanis Prent]

Aaack...gah...

(She'd gone for the Divide and Conquer routine, sending Saa to be her errand girl while she got right nasty and personal with me. She might be a half-breed, but she was still a bit stronger than me. Before I realized that the dren had hit the fan, she'd wrangled me by my collar, hefting me up just enough for her to get in my face. Her blue eyes seemed to glow acetalyne fire into the back of my skull, while her vice-grip hands gave me a not-so-affectionate squeeze. The confidance on my face evaporated, now that we'd thrown civility out the window. She could clean my clock, and we both knew it. And now with nobody around, she had 15 rounds to go with me, and no referree. Suddenly, I wished I'd packed some heat into this little meeting. Now I knew why Sass never allowed weapons in her office. She kept the upper hand, wherever she went.

My hands reached up, hanging on for dear life onto her cocoa wrists.)

Just...expanding my porfolio. Gotta pay off my debt to you...somehow.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

She released him in anger, and backhanded him, splitting his lip with the force of her blow. Sanis tumbled back into his chair and she shouted, "You wjill not repay the debt!" Not right away, at least. That much capital was going to take time to accrue, yet with Kessel, the black ink for his balance would be much sooner than never.

Furious that he dared to climb out of her grasp, that he had even thought about being free of her, she changed tack, and sat her self in his lap. She looked a tiny bit pouty, a lot dangerous, and sexy, all rolled into one. "Haven't jI gjiven you everrrythjing you mjight need, Sanjis?" She leaned into him, kissing his mouth and tasting the blood from his lip.

As she pressed against him, the chair overbalanced and they toppled to the floor.

[Sanis Prent]

(My head snapped back in recoil from the backhanding. She didn't pull her punches, and she hit like a man, but fought dirty like a woman. The worst combination possible, especially when neither of us knew if she wanted to kiss me or kill me. Knowing Sasseeri though, the thought of having her cake and eating it too was already stuck on her brain and being mulled over like a skipping record. The ferric tang of blood filled my mouth as she settled over me, her roving tongue cleaning up her handiwork as she went to work sending mixed signals. The shifting weight caused the chair to tumble backwards, and my head hit against the floor, causing me to grimace)

Aghhh...

(I looked back at Sasseeri, who was perched atop me in a straddling position


Haven't jI gjiven you everrrythjing you mjight need, Sanjis?

I thought it over, wiping at my lip)

Yeah, and no. You're good, Sass...real good. But you knew from the get-go that I'm a rolling stone. We both want it all. The trick is, you want it all delivered to your doorstep, and I just like taking the road trips for it.

(Now it was my turn for mixed signals. My hands slid slowly up her thighs to either side of me. Maybe it would take the edge off her angry streak, although it was probably just another example of pissing gasoline on an open fire to put it out.)

[Saarrreeaa Meorrrei]

Saa had grabbed her datapads and practically fled the room, but in a few scant minutes she had been able to compose herself. So, Sasseeri knew about Kessel. She did not know how they had the money to finance the operation.

It was tempting to go back through the months' old accounting files, looking for errors in her figures, but Saa knew that would simply alert her aunt to any incongruities that might exist. No, she would trust her computing, and leave the accounting files where they were. She felt a flash of concern about Sanis, but Sasseeri wouldn't hurt him.

Not Sanis. At least...not too much. Saa felt a twinge of jealousy. Sanis could not refuse Sasseeri as he had refused her on several occasions. She still did not know exactly how she felt about him. On one claw, he was her rival in Sasseeri's blessings (although they were probably both on the same level in her ire as well). On the other claw, Sanis was an independent male who lived as he pleased and had an attitude about women that both shocked and intruiged the young Cizerack.

Saarrreeaa's eyes fell on the datapad in her grip, and she closed and locked the door of her office. Back at her desk, she laid the datapads out again. There was the extra pad from Sasseeri, with the comm for Gorgja the Hutt, plus instructions. Saa laid it aside.

And then she allowed herself a tiny smile, and pulled a data chit from her shirt. Inserting it into the console inset in her desk, she accessed a weak, tightband transmission coming from her aunt's office.

Under the second chair in the office, a lone datapad lay. It had been forgotten, apparently, by Saarrreeaa, and included a variety of mundane lists, including a to do list for when the Cizerack female returned to the penthouse later that night. It also included a top of the line, encrypted listening bug.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sanis' hands crept up her thighs, and Sasseeri allowed him to leave them there as she ripped his shirt open. A manicured nail scratched his chest, leaving a trail across his right pectoral muscle. His fingers twitched as she pinched his nipple between her thumb and forefinger.

"Yourrr 'rrroad trrrjips' have taken you farrr frrrom the fold. The wolves may overrrtake you, Sanjis." Sasseeri was both shepherd and wolf to him...a fact he well knew. She pulled him to his feet again, and pushed him against the desk.

He fell against it, unbalanced, and the holo of Nal Hutta enveloped him in a greenish lightshow. Sass's eyes glittered like flechette pistols, and she slowly removed her suit jacket, her body straining against the flimsy tanktop she wore underneath. The jacket dropped to the floor beside the only upright chair, and she advanced on Sanis.

Grabbing his head as she pressed against him, Sasseeri placed her thumbs on his temples. "You must have had money, Sanjis...enough to buy the loyatjies of the cutthrrroats on Kessel." Her thumbs began to create pressure on his temples as she continued, her body moving and exciting his, even as she threatened his life. "Wherrre djid the money come frrrom?"

[Sanis Prent]

(She held me suspended, like a man torn between two planes of existance; utter ecstacy and utter torture. It was an act of zen to keep my thoughts corraled in my brain long enough to form a coherent thought, be it the truth or a damn lie. My eyes strayed to a streak of lusty crimson that grew like a tributary on my bare chest. A claw that deep would leave a scar. It made me laugh. Yet another one to add to the long list. Somehow, I don't think Sasseeri would let me forget the story behind it, either.

She hunted me, stalked me...with her words, her purring accent like the baying of a distant bloodhound, hot on my scent. She never let on, but I always had a sneaking suspicion that she'd never so much as scratched her ass without six degrees of premeditation. It had a way of making you look around every syllable till you got whiplash. And she'd still be waiting to blindside you. The temperature began to rise with the tone of her voice, a sheen of sweat barely visible on both of us. She drug me across her desk, the green glow from the hologram draping us in an emerald gauze. She removed her jacket, and dived right in, running her hands across my head. Suddenly, the pressure came in on both fronts. Her thumbs pressed inwards like a vice, while a loaded question dripped like poisoned honey from her supple, beestung lips. She kept me in emotional vertigo...thrown around in a whirlwind of motive and libido.

"You must have had money, Sanjis...enough to buy the loyatjies of the cutthrrroats on Kessel. Wherrre djid the money come frrrom?"

The question hovered over me as tangibly as her bottomless cleavage, and every bit as dark. The heat and suspense turned my tongue to sandpaper in my mouth. The iron taste in my mouth came through strong again with the saliva in full retreat. I mounted a weak counteroffensive, playing with her platinum hair.)

Day trading.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

"Day trrradjing." She was not stupid enough to believe him. Her thumbs pressed inward, until he lingered on the edges of unconsciousness. And then she released his head, pushed him completely down on the desk and climbed up on top of him. The rest of his shirt was torn off and slipped off the large desk to the floor, along with her tanktop.

Her bare foot accidently depressed the controls for the holodisplay, and Nal Hutta winked out, replaced by a large display of the entire galaxy. As Sanis looked up at her, she settled into a comfortable position, and then slapped him hard again. A red mark bloomed instantly on the side of his face, her fingers clearly outlined. "Do not play games wjith me, Sanjis. Tell me the trrruth, and jI wjill be lenjient!"

His eyes still managed to retain the gambler's glaze she knew so well, but his body could not hide what it wanted. Sasseeri hid her smile.

[Sanis Prent]

(Its funny how pain ran inversely with time. The more pain you found, the slower time ticked away. Sass pressed my brains inward on themselves, like a ripe canteloupe. Nerves screamed just to be heard over the screaming nerves I already had. In response, my face contorted into something rather non-photogenic. She let go, and I gasped...just realizing I was holding my breath. Blood rushed back into my head, doubling the feeling of leaving my brain in a church bell. It was all white noise to me. She was trying to distract me, yet again. She flung me like a rag doll fully onto the desk, straddling me yet again. The green planet of Nal Hutta was replaced by a swirling pinwheel of white and blue dots; the galaxy. It spun over me like a baby's mobile, twinkling like a thousand diamands cast off a disco ball, streaking past in a prismatic haze to the tune of a four-alarm stupor. The myriad of lights dressed Sasseeri's outline as she layed a hand full across my face. I saw new stars, but nothing from the holo. Distant red giants flung full into view as the room's lights dimmed for a fraction of a second. My head snapped to the side in recoil, as the wet packing sound of her fleshy palm slamming into my cheek rang in my ears like a gunshot. Vibrations died away in my jaw like a tuning fork, as my tongue pried away a loose dental cap, rolling it out of my bleeding mouth.

She wanted the truth, and she told me as if it were a news flash. She also wanted me. Two things that she was getting very frustrated about. I was the gatekeeper, the high wizard of secrets, tucked away in my little cave. She could beat on me, and she could tease me. I'd seen both from so many angles in my life that they'd become bright flashes of the passe'. It made me smile. Even though I was on the bad end of the deal, I had her by the tail, and that got under her skin.)

You think all I do is run your errands, sit in your little golden cage, and look pretty for you?

(I shook my head, shattering her little idealist world)

Sass, there's a thousand suckers, on a thousand planets, and each has at least a thousand credits to burn. We both know how to get around. You do the math.

(I reached up, locking a hand on her backside, and caressing. There was something surreal about putting foreplay thick as vasoline onto somebody who would just as soon kill you. A sort of aura of invincibility. Either that, or a euphoric haze of stupidity)

We both know I wasn't a boyscout. I know you've got a stim game that you play on the side, but Kessel's the big leagues, Sass. I was a small fish in that game for a long time. It helps to press the flesh with dons and glit-czars, but the game is played by the middle men. I press the flesh with the fat, cigar-chomping bosses with hookers draped over their shoulders like minks. I also get on the street scene.

(I felt my momentum increasing, like a revving locomotive. Maybe cause I hadn't been slapped down in the past few seconds, or maybe because I still had something to say. I paused to lick away fresh blood on my lip)

That equates to an insider's tip, babe. You're Sasseeri Reeouurra, and you've obviously got credentials. But if you aren't in the game, you might as well be Qui-Gon Frelling Jinn, and you're about as relevant to 'em.

(I flashed a cocky smile)

I saw a score, and you had your fingers in another pie. If I nickel and dime my way into the scene, its about as much difference as you laying out a bankroll. I work for ya. You ask me to do something, and I'll do it. But I don't got blinders on, and I'm still looking out for number one. I cashed in, and you're a day late and a dollar short.

(My smile faded somewhat on saying that. It was, undoubtedly, one hell of a profound breakthrough. Obviously, Sasseeri hadn't thought of my relevance to her as anything more than a piece of fluff. She'd forgotten I was still a player in the game, and that sometimes I'd come up to the plate and switch hit.

My smile faded...cause Sasseeri wasn't the share & share alike kind of girl.)

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

She let his hands work her, even as he talked blasphemy to her ears. What he said was true, and she knew it. Worse, he knew she knew.

Sass' tail swished across his legs, and she let her eyes flit towards the back of her head as his caresses got as insistent as his words. Her lips parted in a slight moan, but her mind was flicking through possibilities faster than he could finish his sentances.

"A day late? jI am neverrr late. The rrreasons you state about Kessel arrre all sound ones. Therrre jis no way forrr me to take Kessel. The unjiverrrse djictates jit must belong to anotherrr." Sasseeri bent over him, nipping at his strong jawline gently. "As forrr the dollarrr shorrrt, jI beljieve you owe me that." A tender reminder of the debt that still hung over his head like a ripe fruit.

Sass smiled, "You look out forrr numberrr one, yet jI could kjill you rjight now. How does that help Numberrr One?" She kissed him again, his lip already swollen. Sitting back up, she opened her mouth to speak, and the intercomm pinged.

"Ms. Reeouurra...Miss Thorn is here to see you." Sasseeri growled, pawing for the intercomm. "jI told you, jI am seejing no one! Send herrr away." She switched the intercomm off, and grabbed Sanis' hands, pinning him to the desk.

[Sanis Prent]

(She could threaten all she wanted. I was sticking to my bet. She wouldn't have the gall to kill me. She'd do everything in her power up to that point, maybe. That I could handle. But there was that nagging voice of reason, somewhere subdued by my adrenaline and testosterone, reminding me that Sasseeri Reeouurra was anything but a predictable woman. She may have the same textbook vices, but she called the shots on when and where, and what flavor she got. Like a spoiled birthday girl, she always got exactly that, and equally like a birthday girl, she'd raise hell if it wasn't verbatim.

However, in my confidence, a thought crept into my mind. What if I did make it big. What if I did bankroll my way out of her clutches, and she simply didn't take the check? In all my scheming and plotting, I hadn't thought of that simple conclusion. After all, she was Sasseeri Reeouurrra, galactic crime mogul. I...well, I was just another go-between, too damn focused on the bone I found to notice the filet mignon that had gotten away. Funny thing, crime is. No checks and balances. No Better Business Bureau. She frells me up the backside, and if I don't like it, I still smile and ask for seconds.

As forrr the dollarrr shorrrt, jI beljieve you owe me that.

Damn right I did. Something painfully obvious to me in foresight. My ears grew hot as blood rushed to them, subsequently flushing my face in a sign of utter frustration.

She threatened to kill me...again, and then scrambled my radar with another deep-diving kiss, skimming the bile off my tonsils. I copped a feel for atmosphere's sake. Inside, I just imagined it was her neck I was groping. Maybe if the tables turned, I'd aim high.

The comm crackled on, and she shooed one of her appointments away. But the name instantly drew recognition in my head, as Sasseeri's spider web gained another sticky strand.)

Thorn?

(My eyes locked onto hers. She made connections. I definitely gave her credit.)

Gia? What the frell do you have going on here, Sass?

(I reversed our positions, shoving her off of me and onto the desk, taking up position above her. I didn't bring the foreplay with me on this one, however)

What, are you going behind my handiwork and playing cleanup? She's out of the game, what the frell are you doing with your claws in her?

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri gave him a prim look and wrapped her legs around his hips. He was clearly annoyed, and in spite of all his claims to the contrary, Prent the Boy Scout was rearing his ugly head. "Gjia has sjigned a contrrract wjith the Rrrangerrrs. jIt's a 'scrrratch my back, jI'll scrrratch yourrrs' deal. You know how jit goes, Sanjis dearrr."

She grabbed his shoulder with one hand and pushed off on the desktop with the other, easily turning him on his back again. One half dangled over the edge of the large desk, and they both ended up on the floor again, somehow tangled with her desk chair. Aggravated, she threw it away from them as Sanis winced from a head bump.

The chair rattled off the wall and tumbled into the corner of the office.

[Sanis Prent]

(Funny, I didn't even know why I'd asked. I had no feelings for the woman, and she wasn't particuarly useful to me in the long run. She was just...there. One of those poor innocent tools that I'd normally never give a second thought. Oh, how a change of viewpoints can change a perspective. She'd had it rough, and now...Sass had her in the same faustian tangle she'd gotten me with. I still had enough stubborn guile to know I'd make it out. But Gia...

...she would never make it, and I knew it. Damn shame, made all the worse by the fact that it was just another feather in Sass's hat.

She flung me like a rag doll, and we fell in a tangled heap to the floor. My head had already taken a spill like this, and I landed right on the knot that had grown. Needles of pain jammed into the base of my skull, and I winced. Up until that most recent baptism of synaptic profanity, I probably had something clever on the tip of my tongue, or at least some idea of where to go. I blanked, and simply lay there, with Sass perched over me like a vulture circling over a dying bantha.

Not a bad analogy, either. Cause after a few seconds, I still didn't have a thing to say.)

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Stretching, Sasseeri pulled her top back on, and sat on the floor next to where Sanis was lying, half dazed. She purred, and lay her head on his chest.

"Now, tell me, how does Saa fjigurrre jinto all of thjis? Arrre you two jintjimately acqujianted yet?" Sass laughed, "jI cannot jimagjine that she jis jinnocent jin thjis." She leaned close to his ear. "Tell me. You do not ljike herrr, thjis much jI can smell on you. Gjive me the excuse, and jI wjill be rjid of herrr. Forrr you. Kessel wjill be yourrrs, and only yourrrs..."

[Sanis Prent]

Saarreeaa?

(Despite my reputation as a liar, my interest in the situation was genuine. I'd never let onto her at any point, and it was interesting to see what my employer had on us...or what she thought she had. She'd kept the books as airtight as a bomb shelter, so I wasn't worried about Sasseeri finding out at any point.

I WAS worried, however, about her attention on her niece. Funny how the thread ot violence makes feelings float to the surface. Maybe I was getting soft...or stupid...but Saa was growing on me. The thought of Sass dealing with her niece in whatever manner she had in mind...really rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't know what I was thinking about the younger Cizerack. All I knew was that I had a little more affection for her than to be indifferent. And that was a dangerous thing, so close to Sass's scouring nose.)

What's she got to do with this?

(I smiled, diverting Sass's little probe. I ran a roving hand up her abdomen, and across her chest)

Kessel's mine, and mine alone. What Saa doesn't know...won't hurt her.

(My smile widened, and I moved in for a convincing kiss)

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri accepted his kiss, tasting the blood still in his mouth. Her heart beat faster as he gently pushed her down to the floor, and then she took his hands and held him up and away from her. "So, Saarrrrrrrrreeaa knows nothjing about Kessel?"

She found that hard to believe, judging from the female's expression before she had been sent out of the office. But there were a number of things that could have caused it. Sasseeri's mind shot off in another direction even as she allowed Sanis to continue caressing her.

[Sanis Prent]

(I was shocked...or at least my face was shocked.)

What? You think I'd split a take like that with her??!!

(In oscar-winning mock-indignation fashion, I pushed away from Sasseeri, or as far as she would allow me to push.)

Your niece is a good worker and all...but she's nothing special. Not to me.

[Saarrreeaa Meorrrei]

Sasseeri purred with satisfaction over the encrypted transmission, while Saa sat white knuckled in her chair. A thread of doubt trickled between her sensitive ears at Sanis' words. "What? You think I'd split a take like that with her??!! ...Your niece is a good worker and all...but she's nothing special. Not to me."

Perhaps he never meant to share Kessel, or the millions of creds she had helped him filch from Sasseeri's pocketbook. But it couldn't be true. They had too much resting on this together for him to write her out of it now.

On the other hand, who could she tell? Sasseeri would have them both gutted and filleted if Saa went to her aunt. There was also a strange sensation in her heart at his last words. "...nothing special....not to me." It was true, despite her previous best efforts, he had rebuffed her at every turn.

Saaa frowned, and fiddled with the datapad Sasseeri had given her.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Her back arched and she pulled Sanis back to her. "jI thought so." Her neice and Sanis had never gotten along, which was the whole point to making them partners. Too busy fighting each other to fight her.

Sanis taking control of Kessel was still an unplanned incident that she would have to deal with. However, that could wait for half an hour... Sasseeri purred again, her fingers digging into his back.

[Sanis Prent]

(The nails dug into my back, painful reminders of the contract I was shackled to. They say the teeth of predators curve inward, so that struggling prey are impaled deeper. I don't know much more about biology, but from what I'd seen in the past year, I was a believer. There was the illusion that pulling away from Sasseeri would be more trouble than taking a flying leap down her greedy jaws. If I pulled away, I might be just as worse off. Sasseeri wasn't about to discuss my price. She obviously wasn't putting me up for sale. So much for bartering my way out of this little affair. My options were decreasing to a singular course of action...more ballsy and dangerous than anything I'd ever contemplated before...

...simply walking out on the woman.

My words about Saa were a smokescreen...thrown to pacify her for a while. I had to know where she stood, and now that I knew, it worried me. I don't know why I felt the way I did, but if the dren hit the fan in this...I wanted to keep Saa out of it. Maybe I was being noble, or I was too damn sentimental to play the game. At any rate, the idea of Sass killing her own niece pissed me off. I'd have to figure out the why's and the how's as they came to me. All I knew now...was that I wasn't in the mood to be Sass's plaything today. She purred victoriously over me, her claws scratching nymphotically across my back like she owned me.

She did.

For now. I'd never pondered the life of a Gigolo before. But I'd gotten a right-uncomfortable taste of it now. Maybe I was just restless, and maybe I really was a rolling stone. That very same part of me that Daleethria loved, Sasseeri could not change. I'd never change. I was too pissed off at the moment.

The kisses stopped, and I gently removed Saa's hands from me, sitting up.)

Forgive me...I'm not really in the mood today.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri sat up, and backhanded him. "Do you thjink jI carrre?" She grabbed Sanis, and pinned him to the ground with her strong hands as his head cleared from the blow.

Fifteen minutes later, she threw his shirt at him and sent him out of the office. She licked her lips, and straightened her clothes. There was some blood on her skirt from Sanis, and she frowned. Paging her secretary, Sasseeri arranged for some clean clothes to be brought to her.

A cleaning droid entered from a hidden compartment in the wall, which Sasseeri ignored, turning her attention to the computer screen. Saarrreeaa was a constant threat to her; it was like living with the Pride Mother herself breathing down her neck.

Saa meant Carshoulis, and Carshoulis meant the Pride. As long as her niece worked for her, Sasseeri was under the scrutiny of the Pride, and the scrutiny of her half sister. Perhaps there was a way that the rift between Saa and Sanis could be widened, to the point where Sasseeri would have no choice but to send her back.

Although killing the bitch sounded a lot more final. Sasseeri frowned again, her thoughts returning to Sanis. He was too insolent. To sure he was getting away. You arrre neverrr gettjing away, my pet. Not as long as jI drrraw brrreath.

[Sanis Prent]

(One black eye, swollen. One split lip. One missing dental crown. Two broken ribs. 39 minor lacerations, 22 bruises, and a strained groin muscle.

I walked out of there like I was going for a sunday stroll.

Through my one eye that wasn't swollen shut, I recall people at first looking at me with shock, then, as if prodded, returning to their work. It occurred to me that this wasn't the first time that the lady of the house hadn't gotten what she wanted. I stood in the hallway, looking myself over in the faux-gold reflective wall paneling...my mind wandering to the sterile-sounding pings the lift made with each floor it passed. I frowned, wetting a finger with saliva as I scrubbed a crimson blot on my Zuzani designer suede shirt. The crimson blot turned into a rusty blur. Such a shame. That shirt matched so well with my Lana Ing "Professional" slacks. I glanced down at the reflection. My pants cuffs were shredded below the knees...

...irony always seems to come in pairs.

The alkaline pulse of pain had long since been blurred out by action, screaming, and the deafening thunder of my meandering thoughts. After all, you only resist so much against a person who can bench press nearly twice your body weight. After that, you're just a wad of hamburger, fortified with vitamins and strong moral convictions.

I'd probably have a concussion. Wiping the residual trail of blood from my chin, I wondered what would occupy my interest on the holoviewer when I stayed up that night. Infomercials aren't the best thing for fighting coma-inducing sleep desires. I leaned close to my auric reflection, gazing into the dark well that stared back at me.

I'll be frelled. Pupil fully dialated.

It gave me something to focus on. Mundane things, like the spot of blood on my new shoes, buffed off with a torn hemline. After all...what was I supposed to think about? Sasseeri had gotten what she wanted. I'd played hero, like Rieekan at Hoth. Got me about as much. I only delayed the inevitable. I could feel the sticky cling under my shirt...my cuts coagulating and mingling with the fabric. It itched.

Damn elevator takes forever.

An attractive Twi'Leki secretary passed by me. I turned on instinct and smiled, causing her to increase her distance. I'd forgotten about the blood on my teeth. I doubt the shiner was any help, either.

Ding

Finally...the lift was here. Now, only 82 floors stood between me and a hot bath and bacta salve.

[Saarrreeaa Meorrrei]

The doors to the 'lift opened, and Saa lifted her eyes, meeting Sanis' unbruised one. Her gaze was intense, but nearly unreadable. In her hands she clutched a datapad, her claws digging into the touchscreen, dimpling the surface to the point of breaking.

Sanis entered the 'lift after a slight hesitation, and they both faced the front as the doors closed with a light swishing sound. Saa cast a sideways glance at her business partner, the thorn in her side, and the rock that she tripped on everyday on the way to the office.

Only she wasn't angry at him, or anything like that. Sasseeri would bear the full brunt of her niece's anger, one of these days. It was a small comfort to know that they had ripped her off for millions of creds. The domineering bitch...

Saa's thoughts trailed off as she caught Sanis looking at her in the reflection of the door. The 'lift continued up as she turned towards him, and leaned against the wall. "jI wjill kjill herrr." Forrr jyou. She didn't dare voice her thoughts. She barely understood them herself.

[Sanis Prent]

(If I was seeing Saarreeaa through a new light, I didn't know if I was reaching some kind of endorphin-fed epiphany, or if it was due to one eye being swollen shut. She had a look about her...as if she was projecting her feelings into some kind of palpable sense, like a whisper on the wind. The vibe I picked up comforted me, and freaked me out. If I didn't know better, there were reasons for Saa's reaction that didn't involve her own needs.

Through chapped and split lips, I smiled...painfully)

Don't let her get to you, Saa. We're alright.

[Saarrreeaa Meorrrei]

She shrugged her slim shoulders, and silently stared at the wall behind him until the 'lift announced with a ping that they were at the penthouse level. Wordlessly she stepped out, and then looked back at Sanis, who was leaning against the back of the 'lift.

Saa walked back in the 'lift, and slipped underneath his arm, helping him into their apartments. "Cjirrrrrr!" He was here somewhere. Sanis groaned as her hands touched a tender spot along his ribs, and she mewled her apologies. "Sssasssssseerrrji wjill ... We arrre all rrrjight, perrrhapsss. Forrr now. But sssoon ssshe wjill fjigurrre out how to scrrrew jyou overrr and take Kessssssel frrrom jyou."

She sighed, and looked around for Cirr. It didn't look like he was around. Saa walked towards Sanis' half of the penthouse, and sat him on the edge of his bed. She started hot water running in the ornate bathtub, and sat next to Sanis as steam began to fog up the mirror in the 'fresher. "And when ssshe fjigurrresss that out, jit jisssn't even a matterrr of tjime anjy morrre. jYou'll have morrre to worrrjy about that sjimpljy bejing herrr playthjing. And jI'll be on the hjit ljissst. jIf jI'm not alrrreadjy."

[Sanis Prent]

Aaagh...aahhh...

(Removing my clothes and sliding into a steaming hot bathtub only served to put every one of my flayed nerves on overdrive. Once again, my body pulsed with firing synapses, endorphins lagging behind to pump a lulling drug through my veins. My hands were clenched into fists, the knuckles red and raw from carpet burn.)

Well...

(My one eye winced as I leaned back)

...by the time she figures it all out, I figure to be long gone.

[Saarrreeaa Meorrrei]

Saa poked her head in the door, waving away the steam. "What wasss that?" She walked into the refresher, and kicked his clothes out of the way, handing him a tube of bacta salve. Sanis winced as he took it, and she picked up his clothes, shoving them into the laundry chute.

Before he could speak again she was leaning out the door, hands on the frame. "Cjirrrrrr!" Saa sat on the edge of the tub and shook her head. "jI don't know wherrre that male jisss..." Her voice trailed off, and she studied him as he attempted to open the tube with trembling hands.

Without a word, she took it from him, opened the lid, and squeezed a bit onto a browned finger. Saa leaned in close and dabbed at his split lip gently. "Can't have jyou lookjing ljike jyou werrre the prrrjize jin a prrrjize fjight, Barrron." She refused to meet his eyes.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Obediently, the large Cizerack entered the room, responding to his mistress's call. He approached her, then stopped when he saw the hyuu-mann Prent lying in the tub. His fangs bared slightly, wondering if he would be needed to finally kill him.

jYou called forrr me, Sssaarrrrrreeaa?

[Saarrreeaa Meorrrei]

She moved away from Sanis, letting the tube of salve drop into his wet hands. Slightly flustered, Saa stood up from the edge of the tub. "Take carrre of Sssanjisss. Sssasssssseerrrji hasss mjissstrrreated hjim."

With feline grace, she walked to Cirr, and kissed him hungrily on the lips, trailing a hand across his chest as she moved behind him, and started for the door.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Take carrre of Sssanjisss."

Cirrsseeto froze in his tracks, only snapping out of his daze to return his mistress's kiss. Take care of the hyuu-mann? WHY? Sometimes, Cirrsseeto wished he was smart, and wished he got to make decisions. He would throw Sanis out one of the high windows. He was a nuissance, and not only that, he was now competing with him for Saa's attention. As his ears drooped, Cirr knew that Saa would have both as she saw fit, but it still meant that Cirr had to share...with a hyuu-mann, no less. And Sanis was an ungrateful manservant...in fact, he wasn't even being Saa's servant.

It was all very frustrating to Cirr, but nevertheless, he went to work. Squeezing a big glob of bacta into a large hand, Cirrsseeto reached over, picking Sanis up by the back of the neck, and slathering the stuff over all of his wounds. He did what he had to do...but without a smile. He bared his teeth maliciously at the hyuu-mann, making sure to be as rough as possible without injuring him.

[Sanis Prent]

OW!!

(I winced as the big oaf pulled me up to eye level. I didn't really like the idea, what with being beaten to a pulp, and now dripping wet and bare-assed...but it seemed like the big guy wasn't out to tear me apart, as a big hand slapped a wad of bacta onto my chest, where I winced. He held me up by one hand, in the air, while he brusquely applied the stuff. It wasn't the most dignifying experience, to be sure.)

Frellit you big furball...put me down, just let me do it myself!

(My legs dangled in the air, but Cirrsseeto was determined to see the job through. I had to say, his bedside manner sucked like a Kessel black hole. But as the sting of my wounds lessened, I had to at least give him credit enough to acknowledge that he'd gotten all the bad spots.

He finished up the bacta, tossing it to the ground as he let go of my neck, causing me to unceremoniously drop to my feet. He gave a lopsided grin, and then swatted a big paw onto my damp hair, either rubbing my hair or giving me a noogie on steroids)

Okay okay...cut it out!

(I muttered, sliding a towel on, and stretching where the pink skin was beginning to grow)

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Tap ... tap ... tap ... tap ... tap

Sasseeri clicked her manicured nails against the polished wood of her desk while a holo of Kessel rotated above it. Sanis did not seem to understand his situation. She would allow him to play at his little games for the time being, but soon he would become hers completely.

She pursed her lips. If today's little escapade had not driven that fact home to him, nothing would. "Show me Nal Hutta."

The holo phased out and shifted, transforming into the scummy home world of the Hutts. Currently under the oppressive government of the Sith Order, and in posession of the famed Hutt Spice Cache. The Order had never cracked down on the spice trade going in and out of Nal Hutta. Not yet, at least. They had been busy in other areas of influence, and many Hutts had been driven from their home planet, their "Glorious Jewel."

The cache remained undiscovered. Until now. Sasseeri sat back in her chair and smiled.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

<center>(Continued in <a href=http://www.swforums.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=195342#post195342>Cat's Cradle: Compromising Situations</a>)</center>