Lessons in the dying art of true thievery(Tianje/open)

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

ooc: continued from here (http://www.swforums.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20051)


ic:

s'Il led the way to the door of the bar and grill, stopping at the guard's station to retrieve her guns, and after that had been taken care of stepped out into the light.

Arcan IV's sun was just on the horizon, casting the clouds that jutted through the sky in hues of purple, red, and orange. It was a strangely beautiful on a planet as backwater and... well.... dingy as this. The walk through the streets of the city was a silent affair; s'Il in her thoughts and the young woman most likely in her own.

As the two made their way to the starport, s'Il lazily pulled on her shoulder holster, feeling more relaxed now that the cool leather was draped over her shoulders. It was strange, but even within the confines of her ship, The Rascal King, she often wore her weapons.

They approached the sprawling port, with it's countless individual landing pads, and s'Il headed for one pad in particular. Atop the tarmac sat a somewhat large, gracefull craft, it's lines and contours sweeping yet hard edged, and it rested silently on strong landing struts. It had a tanned appearence; as if it'd seen far too many skirmishes in its day, but underlying the doctored paint job was a craft rivaled by few.

s'Il smiled as she walked towards The Rascal King, her beloved ship.

Sighing, she looked once more to the sun just as it dipped below the horizon, then turned to the girl. "So. Are you going to tell me your name now?"

[Tianje Xhu]

stopping several yards behind s'ilancy, she eyes the ship ahead of them then cuts her gaze to the woman. the craft had a rougher looking appearance than she herself did and she knew she was no vision of beauty. the expression on her face spoke volumes but she was smart enough to know that you didnt talk down someones ship, especially if they had weapons showing. for all her talk about hoisting art and diamonds, you'd think she have a classier lookin vessel than what rested on the tarmac dead ahead. ah well, least this might work out to three squares a day and she wouldnt pass that up for nothin! with a slight shrug of her shoulders, she turns to s'ilancy.

"ya bought and paid for it so i guess ya earned it, eh? its tianje..
tianje xhu. pleased to meet ya. might wanna consider lettin me give this he...here ship a paint job for ya sometime."

the word "heap" had almost slipped off her tongue but she had caught herself at the last second.

"ya never said if'n there was someone else goin with us."

the last rays of light slip away silently, making the illumination of the spaceport all that much brighter.

"lots o' people around. do ya ever jus' wonder where theyre all goin?"

[MMU]

Even before s'Il and entered the port MMU had begun lowering his main boarding ramp; utterly excited that s'Il was finally back. It wasn't that he didn't like where he was, it's just that it was so..... boring. Nothing to do, no computer worth hacking into that he'd come across; yet, at least, and he was growing tired of writing and rewriting some of his subroutines; one could only go through a translator program for so long before going buggo.

As the ramp descended fully, the small avatar flew down its length, literally latching himself onto s'Il's leg; coming up barely to her knee.

Oh thank God you're back!!!!! I was going insane!!!

He ignored the look she gave him. When can we leave???!!! I have some viruses I want to drop-

For the first time the little droid noticed the stranger standing behind s'Il, and his glowing eyes danced as he hopped over to stand and look up at the girl.

Hi!!!

[Tianje Xhu]

her right hand dipped in an instinctive motion, straight to the dagger tucked out of sight in her waistband as the maddened little thing dashed from the ship. it took her a few seconds before it became clear that it wasnt an attack on s'ilancy but a wildly happy greeting. she felt like a gundark caught in a beam of light as the tiny droid locked its glowing receptors on her. off guard, she mumbles a short reply.

"yeah, umm...hey there...li'l...thing."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il laughed at MMU's greeting. Her ship's AI was going insane; it already was. She turned to look at the little avatar as it greeted Tianje, smiling.

"Name's Lok s'Ilancy; you can call me Lok or s'Il. It's all up to you; I answer to both, and that thing in front of you is MMU, my ship's AI's avatar. Get used to 'im; he only loses more of what semblence of sanity he pretends to have every minute."

As she led the way up the boarding ramp, MMU tagging along at her heels, she laughed. "My ship isn't this worn down from constant usage; I had it painted this way.

"The guys I hired did a good job, no?"

As s'Il depressed the hatch release, the gangplank began retracting back up into the ship.

If the exterior of The Rascal King was second only to a Jawa sandcrawler, the interior was the complete opposite. Sparse, spartan, and almost utterly spotless, it gave off an air of calm and elegant simplicity.

s'Il once more led the way to her office, striding through the spotless corridors. "MMU," she spoke to the little avatar, "get yourself off this planet; I want to in space in ten minutes." She rounded a corner, Tianje and MMU (silently going through his preflight sequences) still following.

As they approached the door to her office, it opened, revealing a darkened interior. Aquick word in Selonian caused the light to slowly rise in intensity, and illuminate the nearly bare room. All that decorated it were an expansive oak desk behind which sat a leather chair, and before it sat two others; all three had been gifts from her business partner, Blake Hawke. A low table on the opposite end merely had a bottle of sake and a decantur of Corellian Brandy. On the wall behind the desk, however, hung s'Il's pride and joy; a large painting of a sunset on Alderaan. Directly below it hung the companion piece; a small portrait of a young woman with an unknown Alderaanian creature.

The latter had been given to her by Grand Admiral Millard after a botched heist, and she treasured it; though at the time he'd given it to her she would have rather spit on his boots; that and she was half drunk at the time.

s'Il bade Tianje to sit in one of the chairs as she herself skirted her desk to lower herself into her own chair. MMU took up residence atop the glossy surface of the desk, flopping his little metal bulk down to sit and stare unabashedly at the new arrival.

"I guess the first thing to do," s'Il started, pulling a datapad from one of her drawers along with a small commset, "is for me to figure out what kind of weapons you're used to using; after that we'll go from there. I just want to know what you're used to and if you have any natural abilities that'll help you."

[Tianje Xhu]

glancing over her shoulder to make sure that she didnt traipse any oily, dirty footprints from the tarmac, she slides onto the cool leather of the chair indicated. the exterior of this vessel certainly did belie the interior and for the first time since thier meeting, she was impressed. she kept her weight forward on the seat, afraid to lean against the backrest for fear of leaving the dirt from the last place she bunked, on it. one hand comes up to scratch thoughtfully at her head as she thinks on s'Il's question.

"..'bout the only weapon ive used is this dagger but i aint cut no one with it. umm, well..im 'bout as fast as they come, im real quick at turns and spins and can leave most eatin my dust on a straight'way. i got a couple o' shots off on a blaster one time but i didnt hit nothin. can peg a man on the side o' the head real easy using jus' a rock an' thats 'bout at 50 paces."

her dark eyes flick to the little avatar, who had momentarily grown quiet. a soft tremor beneath her feet told her that the ship had come to life and that mmu had almost completed the pre-flight check.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il smiled lightly as she listened to Tianje. "Well, speed is a good thing in this line of work, as well as accuracy."

She felt as The Rascal King lifted gently off the landing platform, and tapped MMU on his head with a finger. "Set a course for Coruscant; and let my dealer know when we'll be there."

As the little avatar bounded from the desktop to run from the office, s'Il turned her attention back to Tianje.

"I've got a job I want to do on Coruscant. It's an easy one; a simple grab at a low security museum. I figure we can start you on that one," she said quietly, tapping a few keys on her datapad, then went on.

"I'll put you up in your own room on the King, and you can explore the whole ship if you want. Most all of the ship is free range; no rooms are locked off with the exception of mine." A small grin played across her features. "And if you see some mongoose lookin' guys wanderin' around from time to time, they're just my mechanics......."

A thought occured to her, and she almost laughed aloud. "And if the yellow one gets locked in a room, go ahead and let him out. My ship's taken to locking the poor guy in rooms.

"Any questions?"

[Tianje Xhu]

one corner of her mouth lifts in a smile.

"a yellow mongoose-lookin guy? thats a new one to me. mmu doesnt like him, eh?"

for all "his" abundant enthusiasm, she could imagine mmu being obstinate when he wanted and locking someone he had a dislike for, in a room. grinning wider at her thought about who really ran this ship, she stands and moves to the door.

"if'n ya tell me which one is mine, i'll go shed this double layer of clothes. its gettin kinda warm in here, but yeah, i'd like ta do some explorin, if'n ya dont mind."

pausing a moment, she adds, "a simple grab? i can handle that."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il laughed again. It's not so much as MMU doesn't like Tevit, it's just that he's quite taken with tormenting the poor man. MMU's own little brand of teasing. The last time he did it put me in an odd situation, to say the least.

"Playing mediator between a disgruntled Nehantite and an Imperial grand admiral," s'Il grinned, remembring what had happened, "......and babysitter to both isn't all it's cracked up to be.

"But, MMU's a good ship; listens to me, which is all I ask of him. I tweak him out on certain........ occasions; upgrading systems and writing him new programs. He won't bother you, except to shower you with questions and the like. Curious bugger."

She stood as well, leaving the datapad on her desk but still holding her commset, and with a swift motion fit the small device into her ear as she ushered Tianje from her office. Heading towards the main crew quarters, she stopped at one of the remaining unoccupied rooms, and pointed to the other doors across and down the halls.

"Those two belong to my mechanics. They mostly stay at Tigris, one of my hideouts', so to speak, when they aren't onboard. That one down there, "s'Il pointed to a door farther down the hall, "belongs to my sister. She'll drop in every now and then, so if you see some green-eyed lady with a mouth fouler than a rowdy sailor, then that's her."

Reaching out, s'Il hit the id pad of the door behind her, and it opened with a hiss to reveal a somewhat rounded room; fairly spacious and completely furnished with a bed, dresser, desk, and nightstand.

"Here's your room. Let me know if you need anything, I'll be on the bridge, " she finished, heading down the corridor and accessing the commset, her voice fading as she rounded a corner and disappeared from sight.



"Rhen, it's s'Il. Listen, I'm out of Liquid Silver; I'll be on Coruscantin a few days to pick up another vial..............."

[Tianje Xhu]

standing in the doorway, she gives the room a once over before entering. clean walls, clean bed, clean sheets. she could get to likin this a whole lot! the door swooshes quietly shut behind her as she steps inside to take a closer look. not a spec of dust anywhere as she runs her fingers over the dresser and nightstand. bending over, she yanks her boots off, one at a time then strips the outter layer of clothing off, letting it fall to the floor then kicking it under the bed. would jus' get the drawers in the dresser dirty if'n she put 'em in there.

"ummm,". wriggling her toes to stretch them after being cramped in her too-small footwear felt good and the coolness of the metal beneath her sweat-stained socks felt even better. slapping the palms of her hands together, she grins and heads back out the door. "now for some explorin!"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Lounging in the pilot's seat on the bridge, s'Il had her legs propped up along the center console, and her arms were resting behind her head. She'd nodded off.

Before her, on the viewscreen, the monotonous lines of hyperspace stretched out indefinately.

They'd be at Coruscant in another 5 hours, and s'Il already had most of her plans ironed out.

This was going to be a simple heist; no frills, no lace, just good old simple fun. Of course, museums were always fun to hit. Especially when they had The Crystal Angel; a painting that'd just been found to be one of the last by an infuental and controversial painter from the Hapes Cluster.

s'Il wanted it; it would look good in her office.

[Tianje Xhu]

slipping soundlessly from one room to another, she explores every nook and cranny she can find while avoiding those rooms that s'il told her were occupied. and si'il had been right about her ship being clean...for the better part of an hour, tianje had amused herself by running and sliding back and forth on the metal flooring.

the fun could only last so long though and now her belly was grumbling again. wiping her dirty, sweat-stained face on a sleeve she wanders towards the front of the ship, hoping that s'il will confirm her suspicions of a full larder on board.

the first thing that catches her eye is the way that s'il is sitting in the captains chair. head tilted back and to the side just a little with her mouth slightly open. her dark eyes dart around the cabin then stop as she realises that she wouldnt find any bugs here. that had been one of the best games she used to play with some of the other homeless kids, no matter where she went. it was based on points and played late at night. if you could pop a bug into someones' open mouth while they were sleeping, you earned a point, two if it were a particular nasty tasting bug. if you were very lucky, the person sleeping would swallow it and you could score big! four points for a swallow!! in one night alone, she had racked up 53 sweet points and had won the jackpot...a broken vibroblade, one eye receptor from a rich person's translator droid, an energy pack from an outdated blaster and 10 credits!! yeah, life was good when things like that happened!

with a sigh she opts for not making the new boss angry, 'specially with s'il's weapons belt hanging bare inches from her hand. but she was going to wake her up. tianje had her priorities and right now eating again was at the top. she clears her throat loudly.

"aahhheeemmmmm!!"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

A single eye opened as s'Il's head lolled to the side, and she stared at Tianje before sitting up and yawning. She brought her feet down from the center console, one resting in one of the grooved sections of the elongated 'nose' of the chair and the other bent so she could prop up an elbow on her knee.

Turning to face Tianje more fully; one look at the young woman and it was easily apparent she was warming up to her new surroundings. s'Il grinned slightly, still waking up, and cracked her neck.

"You get enough explorin' done for now?"

[Tianje Xhu]

nodding in response to si'l's question she flashes a wide grin, her white teeth a startling contrast to her dirty face.

"yep, for now but i gotta hunch theres lots more to see here than meets the eye and thats what im gonna be huntin for after we eat...we are gonna eat now...right?"

food and fun often battled it out for top rank on her priority list, with food usually taking top honors. she had found that it was lots easier havin fun if'n your belly were full but many times she had to occupy her mind to keep her thoughts away from her empty stomach.

"i can cook somethin up for us real quick-like if'n you want me to. just show me where you keep the food and i'll get on it. have it cooked and ready in less than 30 minutes...we are gonna eat now...right?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il hauled herself from the heavily modified seat, laughing a little and stretching as she stood. Yeah, Tianje would work out fine.

"Well," she started, heading from the bridge with the young woman in tow, "if you're hungry, then by all means we should fix that. I've got some leftover steaks from when a......" s'Il paused as they made their way to the galley, ".... good friend visited, and I've got some eggs I can fry up; hope you like steak and eggs."

As she led the way into the galley, she looked back at Tianje as she stopped at the cooler unit and began pulling out wrapped slabs of nerf steak.

"How you like your meat; bleeding or well done," s'Il asked, setting the steaks on the counter while beckoning Tianje to take a seat on one of the stools that lined the island/bar sitting in the middle of the kitchen area of the galley.

[Tianje Xhu]

"dont matter none to me how you fix it. ive eaten stuff that durn near broke my teeth off from being "well done" to stuff that was still squirmin when i bit into it."


sliding onto a stool, she promptly tests it for "spin capacity", goin 'round and 'round 'til half dizzy. catching the edge of the countertop to stop, she hops off the stool and walks 'round to s'il.

"want me to get the plates 'n forks out? where ya keep'em?"

she roots 'round, pulling out drawers and opening doors 'til shes found all that she thinks they'll need. after setting two places on the bar, she hikes one butt cheek back up on the stool and props her chin in the palm of one hand, her quick, hungry gaze following s'il's every move.

"you havent said what it is we're gonna be grabbin when we get where we're goin. oooo, is it diamonds? or maybe gold? silver, is it silver?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il slapped the steaks down into two pans; not the best way to cook a steak, but she didn't have a grill so the pans would have to do for now. She let the meat cook as she turned to face Tianje, and leaning on the counter, she grinned.

"Well, I'm going after a certain painting, but the museum we're going to has tons of other stuff; anything you see that's not too terribly big is yours. I've read about the place we're gonna hit, and it's got some choice material inside; I might grab a few extra things myself."

She turned around to tend to the steaks, flipping them over before reaching into the cooler unit again for eggs, and pulling the carton out, took six eggs and set them on the counter. Replacing the carton back in the cooler, she began breaking three of the eggs over one of the sizzling pans, and the other three over the second pan.

Tianje's excitement was infectuous, and s'Il found herself wanting to start the job now; unfortunately the were still in hyperspace, so she'd have to busy herself with simply getting ready.

"I've got some clothes if you wanna borrow some for the job," she started, turning a little to grab one of the plates, and sliding the eggs and rare steak onto it, set it in front of Tianje. She repeated the process on the other plate, and after turning the burners off, set it on the island, her fork and knife already in hand and slicing at the still bleeding meat.

[Tianje Xhu]

before the bottom of her plate comes to a rest on the countertop, she slides two fingers beneath one of the eggs, lifting it up and scooping it neatly into her mouth before s'il can sit down on her stool. she swipes her greasy fingers across the front of her shirt then grabs up her fork and knife, quickly shredding the steak into more manageable portions.

"this one time me 'n some friends had stole some eggs from a market stall 'n had slipped 'em in our pockets 'til we could cook 'em later. usually i just poke a hole in one end of 'em 'n suck it out but i was wantin some hot food since it was a pretty cool night. one of the guys, he built us this fire 'n we took turns cookin our eggs over the fire in an ol chest plate off'n a droid. anyways, this new kid we aint never seen before sneaks up then runs at the fire and durn iff'n he didnt scoop my eggs right up outta that plate! you better believe i was up 'n after him real quick-like and it didnt take me long to corner him in a stall. now this kid was as broad as he was tall and it was like gettin ahold of some wild critter but by then i was mad as a thruster is hot and i grabbed hold of him round the back of the neck and he was hollerin and yellin and slingin me back and forth but i hung on. no fonger is gonna take my food and get away with it! by then all the others had gathered 'round and were watchin and cheerin 'n thats when i saw it. it was just layin up there 'neath one of the beams and i reached up and grabbed it and shoved it down the front of his jumpsuit. well, i let go then and stood back to watch. that ol snake had dropped right down past his belly and had gotten a mouthful of his......."

pausing to gauge s'il's reaction, she chooses her next words more carefully.

"....his...thing...ya know? we all started laughing 'n jumpin 'round like he was 'n he took off 'n ran right through the wall of that stall! funniest thing i ever did see! 'n i can tell ya after that none of them ol boys would dare to mess with me!"

with a final laugh she slides of the stool and sets her plate on the far counter to be washed up.

"iff'n you dont mind, i'll be washin these up then i think i could probably use a good washin myself. these clothes im wearin could use it too. ya got somewheres i could do both? then maybe you could tell me more 'bout this museum."

[Khendon Sevon]

Khendon sat in the Imperial palace, his eyes fluttering for a moment as his body rejected the idea of staying up for another hour. He slouched in the immense leather chair that sat in his study, the brown, warn hide caressing his body as he moved slightly. Colors danced upon his face from the still active monitor that displayed an Imperial project with the words, “Pending Approval” highlighted and a digital signature space blinking, waiting for the system’s owner to sign his name so that the resources for the venture could be allocated and development commence.

The room was both gargantuan and copious, inestimable priced paintings lining the walls along with shelves that contained valuable texts and various statues of forgotten gods and goddesses. The fortune that was present in the room was well guarded, more for Khendon’s safety than that of the art collection, but, nevertheless, the art benefited from Khendon’s presence as he did from it.

He collected art not for a show of wealth, but rather to sooth and remind him that beauty could be created, perfection learned, and the galaxy mastered. The room was made mainly of living, or previously living materials, except for the Omerose marble floors, which he had had just put in.

In the shadows waited Khendon’s guard, a massive, deadly droid that had been engineered to aid in a previous plan to eradicate the Jedi. It hovered silently, its sensors sweeping the room slowly. Two elite guards stood outside the door, each with a Sevon Rifle, Co. engineered assault rifle in hand, security cameras enhancing the utterly impenetrable building.

An assassin had once attempted to kill the renowned Vice-Diktat and had met with a bloody end as the energy fields that protected the windows and vents activated, and the security droids cornered him, their energy blades slicing him to bits. It had taken days to cover up the incident, several reporters had to be discredited and fired, a select few actually having memory wipes preformed on them, but all in all, it had gone unnoticed by the general public.

The computer systems of the palace were slightly antiquated, and that was Khendon’s only fear, but the older computer language they used provided a source of protection, considering it was probably the last system to use it, and newer systems couldn’t, as far as he knew, interface with it, unless they packed a UIT designed interface. An uplink was held between the UIT facilities, the entire Empire, and the Palace to quickly get Khendon any piece of information he needed, if it was hacked, the entire Galactic Empire might fall to shards, but the engineers guaranteed this could not happen.

[MMU]

The Rascal King dropped from hyperspace with ease, the glittering jewel of Coruscant hanging in space. For a few brief moments the graceful craft seemed to pause in its approach, but soon it was headed forward once more.

On the bridge, MMU paced back and forth in concentration as he handled all of the formalitities of introducing himself to the controllers of Coruscant's airspace, answering their questions with carefully crafted lies; who he was, what name he was registered under, the nature of his visit, all queries were given their answers without a second's hesitation, and soon enough the yacht was entering the planet's atmosphere.

s'Il and Tianje had each retired to their own rooms; s'Il to most likely nap and go over some last minute details, and Tianje to wash herself up.

Now, left to his own devices, MMU decided it was time to have fun now that he was through talking to Coruscant Port Authority.

They're boring anyways.... he said to the empty bridge, and hopping into the vacant pilot's chair, settled himself comfortably (quite an odd thing to see; a droid making himself comfortable).

Time to explore, he chirped once more to no one inparticular, and accessing his remote sensors, connected himself to one of the ESPY probes orbiting the city-planet. Diving into the vast netweork the orbiting machine was connected to, he shot through countless datastreams.

It was a city; a civilization in and of itself in fact, if not....... A little old, he mused aloud, ...kinda outdated.....

This didn't stop the little avatar, however, as he tried to get a firmer hold within the vast network and mainframe. His curiosity often got him in trouble; as had happened on the Superior when s'Il had visited Grand Admiral Millard for a short while. But it'd been fun, and the droid had been able to get a few files and security codes before being shorted out by the Star Destroyer's autocheck system which had sent him a retrovirus.

As he delved deep into the Imperial network, a node of certain information being processed caught his little virtual eyes, and he slowed, heading for the activity. He followed the stream easily, slipping past safegaurds a security pockets without too much difficulty. He'd have to thank s'Il for the new alert system she'd installed into his hacking peripherals. It was helping him immensly.

Noticing with mild interest that he'd passed into the data network of the Imperial palace, MMU continued to follow the information conduit to its source.

He came to a jarring halt, his road now ended, to find himself in the personal mainframe of a high ranking Imperial. With the proverbial rub of his little hands, The Rascal King began picking through the information treasure trove stored with the confines of the computer.

And then he stopped, coming across the name on practically every document...... Khendon Sevon......

Gleefully he cleared away the project the Vice-Diktat was currently working on; careful to save it and make sure it wasn't damaged.

The screen before the Vice-Diktat's drooping eyes suddenly blinking off to be shortly replaced by a single image.


http://mediaservice.photoisland.com/auction/Jul/20027117812928868814530.jpg

[Khendon Sevon]

Khendon’s eyes fluttered for a moment, his left palm moving towards his face and rubbing sleep out of his eyes. He sat straighter in the leather chair, a slight, satisfying squeak emitting from the leather as it rubbed and created friction with Khendon’s clothing and itself. The tactician stretched, his hands shooting outwards, the muscles cracking under the slight stress. He put his palm to his neck and head and stretched the muscles out there, finally demanding his eyes focus on the screen ahead of him.

His first thoughts were that one of his aids had snuck in and quickly changed the material he was viewing, but he shoved this out of his mind, DHC2-1 would have stunned the man, cuffed him, and alerted security and Khendon. The Vice-Diktat’s second thought was that his console had been sliced, and this one, he felt, was more accurate.

Sevon quickly keyed in a command and the screen cleared, he loaded his project, scanned it for accuracy, then cursed—so far everything was normal except for the image. After several minutes of checking and reconfirming his files accuracy, he gave up the chase. He ran a quick backdoor checker and virus scanner, then brought up the server logs, finding which systems had been used to access his own personal console.

After another several frustrating moments of looking at logs and using UIT designed backdoor software to trace the original operating signal through the universal data-stream pin of the systems that accessed one another, Khendon hit a dead end, a bank off world.

He searched furiously for an outside connection, and after a moment or two, requested that DHC2-1 go into light assault mode and aid Khendon in his search, using the frequently upgraded UIT slicing software that was on his encrypted hard drive. The Vice-Diktat and 2-1 quickly found it, a restricted pipeline that used ancient fiber optic technologies to communicate to the space port, from there, it was smooth sailing, he even managed to access the ships computer, but that’s where the problems started.

[Tianje Xhu]

in amazement she watches the dirt, grime and grease sluice off from her body and disappear down the drain. that it had been so hard earned and was disposed of so quickly was somehow disappointing to her young mind. but that was the way of life, she was learning. sometimes you had it and sometimes someone else did and they would hold it out in front of you, taunting you with it or hold up over your head, just outta reach and you had to jump over and over again, your fingertips just managing to brush against it while the bigger person laughed. pouring a generous amount of shampoo into her palm, she begins lathering her hair, a thoughtful expression creeping over her face at the memory......

thats the first time it happened and she could still see the look of shock on his face and on those around her. she hadnt known his name and still didnt but what she did remember was half laying on the ground from where he had pushed her down, and staring up at him, her anger and humiliation growing by terrible leaps and bounds. jumping to her feet she had thrown one hand out at him, yelling, demanding that he return her meager property. and he had...in the most unexpected way. her worn and slender pouch fell from his hand as his body was blasted backward, landing with a hard thud on the rough and cracked permacrete. dead silence hung in the air as his companions stared first at thier friend and then at her. squatting down, she slowly picked up her bag and took several retreating steps, her eyes shifting quickly between the others before turning tail and running.

it had been some time since that memory had resurfaced and again she wonders how it happened, not once considering that it could have come from her. rinsing the shampoo from her hair, she twists the water off and opens the shower door, wrapping the towel closely around her as she begins to comb the multitude of tangles from her hair. peering down at the comb, shes relieved to see no bugs crawling and sets it down to dry off before slipping on the clothes that s'il loaned her.

[MMU]

MMU watched with amusement as his hack was traced, and let the man do the trace; most likely Sevon himself, the little avatar mused.

As he felt his systems being accessed, he rubbed his little palms together, diving back in to the Vice-Diktat's console.

Of course all he wanted to do was to say hi; he hadn't seen Vice-Diktat Khendon Sevon in a while, and often complained to s'Il about it to which she'd always replied with "---whenever I get around to seeing him again. And if you ask me one more time, so help me---"

MMU usually left it at that, leaving s'Il alone so that he could sulk in privacy. The Rascal King loved to pester Khendon; almost as much as the little droid loved to badger s'Il. MMU would spend hours with Khendon, asking nonsensical technical questions with no real answer; or if there was one, it was so outlandish and completely stupid that he'd often been booted from the Vice-Diktat's office. Literally.

* * * *

As Khendon accessed his files, MMU closed off all of his non-essentials locking them down with a set of encryptions s'Il had just written and installed the previous week; she made it a habit to change them on a regular basis. He did however, leave the Imperial with hundreds of unrelated files to sort through if he so wished, each ranging from the latest Ithorian coleslaw recipes to the intestinal workings of an eopi.

The Rascal King loved doing this to Khendon.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il sat in her office, slouched in her chair while reading over last minute security checks from her datapad. The museum she and Tianje were going to hit wasn't exactly upscale, but it wasn't a rat hole either; it did, after all, have the The Crystal Angel, and she wanted it.

It bore an uncanny resemblence to the creatures she'd seen while dead, and she had to have it in her possession; she had to know what it was she'd seen.

The lights of her office were somewhat dimmed, and with a tired sigh, s'Il tossed the datapad onto the glossy surface of her desk. Leaning back, she rested her head on the comfortable leather of the chair, and stretched her legs.

This was going to be fun.

s'Il heaved herself to her feet, and strode from her office, heading for the bridge. If she knew her ship, then it was high time she checked on him.

MMU was no doubt getting himself; and her, in trouble.

[Khendon Sevon]

Khendon bit his lip as he accessed the ship’s database, MMU, he thought, you evil little devil, you, as he sorted through the mountains of useless data. His fingers flew over the controls furiously, groping for a way to access the ship’s logs to find out if he could put a stop, once and for all, to the little demon Lok kept as a pet.

He moved in his chair, crossed his fingers and hit a button, but nothing happened besides the screen changing to hard code as the encryption held. “2-1, contact security, have them break it, number one priority, I’m going on a trip.” He stood, cracked his neck and stretched his muscles, then strode over to a closet to retrieve some clothing. He stripped his military uniform and put on black fatigue pants and a button up black shirt, followed by an old flight jacket with a hide outside. Underneath this he placed a shoulder holster with a Sevon Rifle, Co. blaster along with two extra packs. His hand reached for one of his sabers and he stopped himself, S’ilancy wouldn’t be too happy to see them, and he wouldn’t need weapons really, so he retracted his hand, empty.

Khendon turned to leave but stopped, “2-1, you’re coming along, activate your holographic disguise system, project yourself as someone my age, wearing street clothing and follow me.” The two left the room, the guards at the door simply nodding as they passed and Khendon pulled out a datapad, a 3d map appearing and showing the fastest way to get to the spaceport. Just another day, he thought to himself, again, hopefully no one will get vaporized this time.

[Tianje Xhu]

pulling her damp hair out of the shirts' neckband she gives her head a shake, the still wet strands flying every which way and flinging little droplets of water onto the mirror. using the towel she had dried off with, she swipes carelessly at the mirrors' surface, smearing the droplets more than clearing them away. grinning at her now wobbly and distorted reflection she picks up the comb and drags it through her thick mane again, the natural bold red streaks standing out brightly on the background of the rest of her dark, black hair. she had grown used to the monotoned coloration due only to the fact that she rarely had the chance or could find water cleaner than herself to bathe in.

padding barefoot, she slips from the bathroom and quietly enters the kitchenette. her gut instinct told her that s'il wouldnt mind a late night raid on the 'frig but she wasnt sure if the boss was still awake or sleeping and she didnt want to chance rousing her a second time. opening the coolers' door gently, she pulls out the carton off eggs and removes the orbs from thier container before tossing it in the trash receptacle. with practice made perfect from long experience, she taps the narrow end of one egg against a canine tooth and gives it a quick twist, effectively drilling a larger hole. turning the egg so that the narrow end was now in her mouth she gives one long suck on it and swallows the yolk and white as it glides down her throat, then licks her lips before repeating the actions on the three remaining eggs. one by one she tosses the empty shells into the trashbim before returning silently to her room. it had been a long couple days for her and she finally decided to give in to her bodys' demand for rest. young or not, sleep was badly needed and she flops down onto her bed, falling asleep almost the instant her head hits the pillow.

though not alarming in nature, her sleep was a jumble of dreams.
the most pleasant was being in a restaurant and having the cooks prepare dish after delectable dish, all for her, until the table she was sitting at groaned beneath the weight of the food. but the one that caught her attention was of a man who seemed to have no emotions at all...and walked with strange clanking sounds. she stired in her sleep...

[Khendon Sevon]

The wind was picking up as Khendon trudged onwards through a darkened section of the city. He had a good idea of exactly what he was walking into, he had dealt with Lok’s crafty droid before, but MMU just kept getting smarter and changing strategy, which surprised Khendon to a great degree. The two figures ambled onwards, towards their final destination, the spaceport, 2-1 making slight clanking sounds as his metallic feet hit the duracrete sidewalk.

Tall buildings loomed overhead, reaching towards the stars with fingertips of artificially engineered materials. They were getting close to their target, in ten minutes Khendon would be requesting access to S’il’s ship.

He pulled his coat closer and shoved his hands in his pocket, his spine tickled with cold as he picked up the pace, his droid close to his side, still cloaked in human form.

[Tianje Xhu]

she rolls onto her back, one forearm thrown across her brow as she sleeps and her breathing once again evens out, her chest rising and falling with each slow breath. faintly at first, ever so faintly she hears it. huumm......clank. huumm......clank. it was getting louder now, the fractions of seconds between the alternating sounds closing. hum..clank. hum..clank. her bedroom door slides open and a man steps into her room, watching her, his silence cold and aloof in itself. he raises one arm, pointing it towards her, hand extended and fingers together.
in slow motion the scene unfolds. a puff of smoke creeps from his fingertips, billowing slowly outward as a roundish object emerges from the white cloud, inching its way towards her, its progress slow but with deadly intent. then in a rush of a nanosecond, the scene speeds up before her eyes, the round object clearly a grenade as it makes impact......

..........she jerks upright, mouth open as she takes long deep gulps of air, her chest heaving with the effort. she draws a shakey arm along her brow, the sweat leaving a damp trail on the sleeve. her eyes lift upward to the still closed door and she strains to hear any sound, anything, moving in the stillness.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il ambled through the halls of The Rascal King, heading for the bridge. The ship would be landing soon; a couple of minutes to be more precise, and she wanted to be on the bridge when they touched down on the tarmac. That, and she wanted to check on MMU to make sure he was behaving himself.

As she stepped through the door and onto the bridge, s'Il strode swiftly up behind the pilot's chair, and peering over the top, reached down and tweaked her little avatar's antannae.

"Oi. MMU. You behaving yourself?"

The look he gave her, even though he was a droid, was priceless and enough to tell her he was pestering someone, though she hadn't the foggiest as to who the poor individual could be, nor did she really care for that matter.

Shooing the avatar from the chair, s'Il slid easily into the formfitting seat, taking hold of the control throttles and manually guiding the ship down the rest of the way. Her fingers ran over a side console, and the landing struts extended before kissing the landing pad gently at first, then depressed fully as the weight of the large ship settled itself down onto the pad.

The Rascal King shut itself down, with the exception of it's mainframe of course, and s'Il turned around to stare into the green eyeports of the avatar.

"You wanna tell me what you were doing.....?" she asked finally.

[Tianje Xhu]

crawling off the end of the bed, she tiptoes to the door, pausing every couple of steps to hold her breath and listen. with her heart still pounding out an uneven rythym, she wipes her face against her sleeve once more then takes the last step forward, triggering the doors automatic opening. her dark shift wildly back and forth, up and down until shes certain that no one is waiting in the darkness beyond. cat-quick she darts from the room, her bare feet slapping out a sharp staccato as she flies into sil's room and flings herself on the bed. in dismayed alarm she finds herself alone still, unsure of where s'ilancy could have gone off to. against a real person, one she could see and touch, tianje showed no fear but this was too much like the spookie ghost stories her father used to spin as he sat on the side of her bed, enthralling her with his wild, made-up tales.

embarressed but still frightened by her dream, tianje burrows beneath silancy's bedcovers and lies motionless, waiting for the older woman to return.

[Khendon Sevon]

Khendon swept a wisp of hair out of his face, then he shoved his hands deep in his pockets as he approached the spaceport, his silent guardian keeping pace with him, its face emotionless, eyes never moving nor blinking. The clanking of two-one’s metallic feet was drowned out now by the noisy whine of engines and repulsors as craft landed and took off from the massive installation.

People’s voices chimed into the chaos as did blaring lights and strange odors, some giving pleasure to Khendon’s senses and others repulsing him. As he entered the security check zone, he fumbled in his jacket’s inside pocket, retrieving a laminated pass that allowed him, and his companion, to quickly bypass the security.

The two quickly turned a corner and accessed a departure/arrival terminal, two-one sliding his universal data instruments into the ports, retrieving what they were looking for. “They’re here,” Khendon said, his head turning toward his mechanical companion.

“Pad 32 Section E, sugguest route through tube C,” his bass voice shook Khendon down to the bone as the red eyes of two-one shown brightly through the hologram for a moment before fading back to the dull orange they had previously been.

“Let’s go,” Khendon said, turning on his heel as his droid followed.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Foregoing MMU's excuses, s'Il let out a sigh before he could respond to her inquiry. She was tired of his constant trying to account for his actions; that and she was tired. It was still 1:30 in the morning on Coruscant, and she had only dozed lightly on the trip through hyperspace.

Climbing from her chair, she shuffled off the bridge and out into the hallway. She stifled a yawn as she walked, her feet scuffing along the deck and she idly ran her fingertips along the wall.

She stopped at the door to her room, sighing once more and running a hand through her hair before walking through the door. The room was dark, and she didn't bother to turn the lights on as she made her way to the bed, sitting on the edge of one side of the comfortable queen-sized bed. s'Il failed to notice the extra lump in her covers, and depressed the button that turned on the small lamp on her nightstand.

Her back was to the lump, and she bent forward, her elbows on her knees as she reached down to take off her boots. Her socks soon followed, and slapping the switch to once more plunge the room into darkness, she expelling a loud breath, leaned back crossways across the bed; right across the lump.....

...and shot right back up, whirling around and pulling the covers down...


"Tianje...............??"

[Tianje Xhu]

"...i....i was....scared. had a real bad dream. sorry."

her cheeks flush, knowing that silancy must be thinking what a big fat baby she was and to be truthful, thats the way she was feelin. red with shame, she slides off the far side of the bed and walks slowly towards the door, head lowered and eyes downcast.
her lips move silently as she murmers over and over again the same four words, heard only in her own mind.

"please let me stay, please let me stay, please let me stay.....".

it was a deep, heartfelt wish of a young girl who had battled and struggled for far too long on her own and desperately needed someone to lean on, if only for a moment. but she still had some pride left. she wouldnt ask and she wouldnt beg. tianje liked to pride herself on her inner strengths even if they faltered and stumbled from time to time. and durn if she hadnt fallen flat on her face with this one. the doors to sil's room swish open as tianje begins edging out of the bedroom, tousseled hair flyin as her head swivels rapidly from side to side, eyes wide and peering.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il sighed. She knew well enough about nightmares, and she knew what it was like to be scared. She'd had her fair share of both. The thing that confused her was the fact that Tianje had come in here, to s'Il's own room looking for solace and.... protection?

s'Il shook her head and pushed herself more up onto the bed, leaning back against the headboard while turning on the nightstand light once more.

"Why don't you come back here and tell me about it," she said her eyes half closed as she made herself more comfortable. "It always helps me to talk about my nightmares, though I usually have to tell them to the wall over there," s'Il jerked a thumb at the far wall, "and it doesn't really talk back."

To be honest, s'Il didn't mind if Tianje ended up falling alseep in the bed. She knew there were times when she'd wanted someone to simply be with; unfortunately, most of those times were spent alone.

She motioned for Tianje to come back. "Come on, I ain't gonna bite you."

[Khendon Sevon]

Khendon had taken the route his droid companion had suggested to him, and, as predicted, it was expedient. He walked up to the hull, the ramp not yet extended, nor the mouth of the Rascal King smiling for him to enter. The Vice Diktat looked up at the small camera that guarded, like a demonic dog’s eye, the entrance to the vessel. “Open up,” he said, a grin creeping along his face.

With a snap, a hiss, and some random buzzing sound, the craft yawned open for Khendon. The tongue of the craft extended until it touched the ground before him, the lips slid upwards until the innards of the Rascal King were plainly visible.

He walked forwards, his boots inaudible on the polished surface of Lok’s craft, but two-one's rang a distinct, heavy, metallic clicking as he strode forwards, his hologram washing away, revealing the hard edges of his combat armor and his stolid, human-like, polished droid face.

Khendon’s eyes narrowed as he glanced at his crono, it was late, too late for anyone to be awake, especially after a long voyage. He made a quick right and headed for the quarters section of the craft, trying to remember exactly which one was S’ilancy’s.

[Tianje Xhu]

as soon as s'il had uttered the words "come back here", tianje hadnt waited to hear the rest. spinning on her heels, she darted back to the warmth of silancy's bed and crawled beneath the covers, the sheets still warm with her own body heat.. pulling the bedspread up to her chin, she cuts her eyes up and over to s'il with an apologetic smile which quickly gives way to a more somber expression.

"a man came into my room and jus stood there in the doorway, all quiet like. didnt say nothin....just starred at me for a few seconds.....'n you could tell that he wasnt feelin nothin either. wasnt any emotion behind them eyes of his....jus lifeless 'n' dead.
'n' he didnt move, not one foot......then he raised his arm, like this...."

she draws her right arm out from the covers and points it at s'il.

"....'n' his fingers were all straight, pointin out at me but he had 'em together, like so. then, all the sudden, this puff o' smoke comes outta his fingertips and outta the smoke comes this round thing....sorta like a ball but not 'xactly......'n' its all in real slow motion. this round thing jus keeps gettin closer to me 'n' closer to me and then......like it all was happenin fast, that round thing was hangin right in front o' my nose!"

lowering her arm, she pulls it back into the covers and turns onto her side, looking up at the older woman. her dark eyes grow more round in appearance and her voices drops low, speaking in a hushed tone.

"but s'il, that wasnt the spookiest part. it was before he got to my door....i could hear him comin. faint it was, at first but then it got louder.........huummm.....clank.........huumm....c lank. then it got faster....humm...clank...humm...clank. i woke up after that round thing was hangin off'n my nose and it took some doin but i checked outside my door, then hightailed it right here to your room. i didnt mean to scare ya."

tianje's voice trails off as she waits for s'ilancy to give her some insight as to what it could possibly mean, her eyes still on s'il's face.

and in the quiet, between the telling and the response, they hear it. "huumm......clank.....huumm......clank."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Tianje's dream certainly was strange. It reminded s'Il of her own dreams; the dreams when the Reaper came to her.....



hummmmm........ clank............. hummmmm........ clank.....

Metallic eyes narrowed as s'Il's head snapped to the door, the clanking noise augmented in the silence of the ship. It most certainly wasn't MMU, she knew that immediately. Her ship liked to harass her, but at this time of night, even he knew not to bother her. So that only left one other option; somehow, someone had gotten onboard. Whether it was someone she knew or not, now was not the time to be bugging her.

In a swift movement she reached over, opening the drawer to her nightstand and pulling out an older model slugthrower. Removing it from its holster, s'Il set it in her lap while looking over at Tianje. She put a finger to her lips, but remained where she was; utterly relaxed and lounging against the headboard.

Her hand closed around the grip of the gun as the clanking got louder, and she hefted it as the noise stopped just outside the door to her room. The firearm raised, aimed unshaking at the door, and as it opened up, her finger tightened ever so lightly on the trigger, but she caught herself at the sight of the man standing in the doorway; a hulking droid at his shoulder. Her gun remained trained on the two, not moving an inch, but her eyes widened briefly.

"Khendon..........???!!!"

[Khendon Sevon]

Khendon grinned and shifted his weight to take a step forward, but, as he did this, two-one’s eyes brightened until they were charcoal flames with souls of their own, blazing infernos readily consuming all the matter that came near them. The combat droid stepped forwards and knocked Khendon back into the hall, the Vice Diktat falling to the ground, his head hitting hard and making a thud as it connected with the floor.

The droid’s armor opened up and extra folds moved to provide protection as it fell into a low stance, its gattling beginning to rotate as its saber-technology-based claws sprouted from its hands and began to glow crimson. A demonic growl emitted from the metallic warrior as it dropped its free hand and took aim with its precision gattling, dots appearing on Tianje’s forehead as the radiating fires that were the demonic looking droid’s eyes narrowed.

On the lower of the two hands a nozzle sprouted and a small burst of flame emitted as the weapon cleansed itself of residue from its last firing. “Under Imperial law 382 declaration five of the Jedi Obliteration acts, you are herby forcibly requested to come with me, any resistance is futile and will be met with more than equivalent action,” the dark creature’s low voice spat the words as its armor finished being deployed and angled.

Khendon’s eyes fluttered open for a moment and he propped himself up on one elbow before darkness pulled him back by his feet into unconsciousness and he fell to the ground, once again the shadows making him their prisoner.

[Tianje Xhu]

her first instinct was to roll off the edge of the bed and scurry under it for what meager protection it might offer. even before the metallic giant had finished kneeling down, her mind had registered the fact that s'il's blaster was no match for the thing bristling with weapons...all of them aimed right at herself. for a brief maddening second, tianje had the impression that bugs were crawling on her forehead but somehow she resisted the urge to lift her hand and brush them away, worried that even the most minute of actions would trigger a barrage of whatever projectiles were lodged in the droids' nasty looking armament.

s'ilancy hadnt moved yet and tianje sensed that this had taken her completely by surprise. she certainly seemed to know the man on the floor well enough, by name and from the tone in her voice when she called to him. tianje's eyes shifted quickly to him. nope, he was still out cold. the fella couldnt take a hit, could he? one hit to the head and he was sleepin like a baby. she saw no alternative in her mind, no possibility of slinking outta this room and into the shadows as shed done many times in the past, when cornered by bigger or stronger ruffians, her ability to fade into the shadows or slip into the smallest of cracks had served her well before....but not this time.

tianje still hadnt moved a muscle but now did the only thing she thought would save both silancy and herself. in a small, quiet and rather squeaky voice she replied to the droids' demand.

"i give up."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il growled, grabbing Tianje by the arm and dragging her across the bed as she slid off the side, still keeping her gun aimed at the huge droid. She knew it'd do no good, but hell, it was all that she had.

"Damnit...."

Putting herself between Tianje and the droid, s'Il backed away until the wall stopped their meager retreat. Where the hell was MMU? And why had he just let Khendon stroll onto her ship like he owned the damn thing? She cursed again, swearing she'd make scrap metal out of Khendon's droid; she didn't know how, but it would be done, no matter what. Or maybe she'd drop it off on Tatooine in the middle of a Jawa settlement...... after stripping away all of its weapons...

The laser sights, which had once been trained on Tianje, were now dead center on s'Il's chest, the red dots seemingly painted on the skin of her lower neck.

"Khendon," s'Il growled, lowering her gun just a little and aiming past the droid, "wake up, damnit..... I need to shoot you..."

[Khendon Sevon]

Khendon heard the voice in the distance faintly which called his name, but it threw his mind off balance, the only thing he knew was the gut feeling that pounded out of his chest like a bat out of hell, the sensation moving upwards and towards his head where it remained, a buzzing sound filling his ears. For what seemed hours Khendon’s mind tried to sort through the information it had gathered, then a sharp pain emitted from near the cerebellum, an unnatural pain, in fact, it wasn’t generated by something organic.

A stimulant was released and the Vice Diktat’s memory sharpened like a battle worthy weapon, the information falling into place as the drug release reorganized Khendon’s mind and allowed it to handle the massive amounts of stress put on his system. The module’s enhancers, designed for flying a CTS based craft, had been activated from the massive hit sustained when Two-one had gone insain.

His eyes shot open as he jumped to his feet, he didn’t know how or why Two-one had gone into attack mode, but he knew that his eyes were not lying. The silvery pools of ice that were Khendon’s eyes narrowed on the behemoth before him. The droid would have to be destroyed, there was no other choice, Khendon could not let an incident like this happen again.

Khendon lunged forward, his right leg connecting with the frame of the doorway, he jumped off it and arched his back and slammed his leg into Two-one’s face, crushing the sensitive optical sensors and sending the demon stuttering backwards. The dark jedi landed on the ground in a crouched position, then shot upwards, his right hand—aided by his anger, rage, and fury—connected with two-one’s head, sending it skidding to the ground, sparks erupting like a volcano before being shutoff as the secondary AI activated.

He focused all of his energy onto his palm and struck the chest of the massive war droid, the side he touched not changing, but the back of the creature blowing out and mechanics shooting out. Khendon turned towards Lok but was sent through the air as the droid’s fuel tank exploded, the regular self-destruct having been utterly cleaved from the mad machine.

The Vice Diktat landed again with a thud and skidded, hitting the bed and finally falling to the ground, blood trickling down his forehead and pain shattering his thoughts as his head numbed and he fell back into darkness.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il watched as Khendon skidded across the deck, coming to rest against her bed, and she stood for a few seconds, still keeping Tianje behind her. After a minute, she stepped forward, her eyes moving between the destroyed droid and Khendon's inert form.

She sighed.

Just like old times... if it wasn't me needing to be bandaged up and then bedded, it was him....

s'Il knelt next to the Imperial; she knew he was alive still, and didn't bother to check for a pulse. Instead she poked at his side with the barrel of her gun before setting the firearm aside to gently lift his arm over around her neck, and bracing herself, she started to stand.

"Good grief, Khen," she grumbled, slowly rising under his weight, "You been eating too much; your appetite'll kill you one of these days...."

With a final grunt s'Il lifted the unconscious Khendon up as far as she could get him, then fell backwards, and the two landed on her bed. She disengaged herself from under him, then rolled farther onto the bed, pulling him with her.

"....and you're gettin' blood on my clean sheets; jeez....."

[Tianje Xhu]

the events had unfolded so quickly that tianje still wasnt sure exactly what had transpired. but she knew one thing and it sang out in her heart, through her entire being, that silancy had been willing to protect her and even possibly die for her. had the droid opened fire on them, there would have been nothing that s'il or herself could have done to stop the maddened behemoth.

s'il had moved away now and was wrestling the injured man onto the bed. temporarily shaking her immobility off, she helped hold the man up from the bed, just enough so that silancy could squirm out from beneath him and together they hoisted him furhter up onto the bed, blood from his head wound dripping onto s'il's fancy sheets.

tianje hurries to the bathroom, ripping a strip of cloth from the bottom of her shirt and wetting it before returning back to the bedroom and carefully placing it on the man's head while applying light pressure to staunch the flow of blood. she finds herself smiling as she looks down at him. he was so pretty! and the way he went after that droid still amazed her. tianje had felt something, a feeling of some sort when this guy had launched himself at the warbot. she couldnt begin to explain what it was. so much had happened in so little time that she was going to have to take a couple of days to think about all of this.

flicking her eyes up to s'il, she smiles wider then glances down at the man again....."Khendon", was it? she sighs. he was sooo pretty!

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il stood from the bed; her eyes traveling along the trail of red Khendon's blood had made across her simple white sheets. A slight sense of deja vu hit her, and she sighed.

Here we go again.....

A quirky smile played out across her features as she watched Tianje tend to Khendon's wounds, and the sparkle in the girl's eyes when she looked up at her more than confirmed a slight growing suspicion in the back of her head. s'Il held back her laughter, sitting on the edge of the bed.

The dreaded Florence Nightengale bug bites again, she thought ruefally, reaching out to strip off his flight jacket, then unbutton his shirt. She pulled it off, dropping both the button-up and the jacket to the floor, and with yet another tired sigh, she stood, moving to the foot of her bed to retrieve her gun. After setting it on the nightstand, s'Il looked down at Khendon as Tianje continued to stare at him.

Reaching down, she slapped Khendon firmly but gently across the face.

"Hey. Wake up; I've seen you take harder hits than that...." mostly cause I was givin' 'em.... "...you're losin' your touch there boy..."

[Khendon Sevon]

Khendon’s eyes slowly fluttered open, before him was what he thought an angel, then his eyes focused and he saw her, she was young, far too young for him, but fairly attractive, non-the-less. He hadn’t died, as his first intimations had suggested, but, rather, had been knocked unconscious, rather painfully. The young woman was tending his wound, he turned his head slightly, his eyes were now a dull blue-gray, the luster of hatred having drained away, and they fell upon an old comrade, an old fling, and a friend, Lok, “hey,” he said hoarsely, swallowing hard and tried to sit up but floundered in his attempt.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Yeah, 'hey'," s'Il echoed dryly, her expression darkening. She didn't bother to help him sit up; instead she simply glared at him. Straightening, she crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes.

"The last time you and I were in this bed we had an argument, and this time is shaping up to be the same."

In all honesty she really was glad to see him; it'd been too long since they'd seen eachother. But what'd happened with the droid; how it'd targetted Tianje the second the door had opened had sort of put a damper on the current situation.

s'Il liked to make sure that none of her charges got hurt, maimed, or killed, and she wanted to keep it that way.

[Tianje Xhu]

the beginnings of a sputtered protest died on her lips as sevon's eyes fluttered open for a second time. tianje had frowned as silancy smacked the man awake but it had done the job. taking his closest arm, she helps him into a sitting posistion then steps back quickly at sil's next words.

"the last time you and i were in this bed".

the words echo and reverberate in her mind and she blushes furiously at her previous thoughts. what a dolt she was! silancy had style and class, just like the guy on the bed did. why would he even give a street rat like her a second glance? and the fact that they had...you know....right here in this very bed made her feel even more foolish for her thoughts.

he was off limits to her now. he belonged to silancy and tianje would never willingly betray the person who had taken her in and then protected her life with her very own.

looking back at what was left of the massive droid, tianje turns and moves toward it, the acrid stench of burnt wiring still hanging in the air. piece by piece she begins to clear the area of debris and random parts that were flung when the droid exploded. it also gave silancy and khendon a chance to speak privately without her overhearing them.

[Khendon Sevon]

Khendon grinned at the younger of the two women in the room, "S'il," he said, his glare returning to her, "I didn't make that bad of a mess, did I?" The Imperial attempted another sly smile but it turned to an inverse reaction as a sharp pain shot through his skull, "remind me to make take the number of that anti-grav sled that mowed me down," he said through clentched teeth.

He swallowed hard and raised a brow, "Now, Lok, if you'd just get me a stiff drink, I'll be getting back to business... i'm going to dismantle that two-bit, psychotic, flake of a droid that hacked my secure network! You have to stop giving him high-quality slicing soft., he might do some damage to me one of these days!" He leaned forward and folded his legs in an 'indian-style'.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il laughed out loud. "My droid? Doing damage to you? Khendon, I'd be more worried about your own droids hurting you."

s'Il grinned at Khendon's previous comment about MMU's intrusion; apparently the little guy had taken it upon himself to say 'hello' to Khendon. In his own special little way.

"I think you're gonna hafta go without that 'stiff drink'," she went on, "... and also I'd prefer it if you left my ship and his... eccentric activities alone. He's just trying to be friendly."

Her grin turned almost semi-evil, as is her next words were a death sentence... "He likes you."



And as if on cue, MMU bolted into the room, and with a bright green-eyed gaze along with a squeal of pleasure, he pulled himself up onto s'Il's bed. Trotting up to Khendon, he plopped himself into the man's lap and looking up with his green eyeports, spread his arms wide in expectation of a hug.


KHENDON!!!!!!

[Tianje Xhu]

eventually she had gathered up quite a pile and had busied herself prying small pieces of the former large droid out of the bulkheads. when it had exploded, sharp fragments had been flung like shrapnel and there were a few pieces she couldnt dig out. razor like edges had cut her fingers and she had scraped her knuckles in the attempts but they didnt hurt. she simply wiped the blood off on her clothing and carried on about her business.

mmu had darted past her moments ago and she heard his cry of greeting to the man laying on the bed. seemed like they were all old friends. hunting for a broom to sweep the smaller bits up, tianje finally locates one tucked away in a remote closet and makes short work of the chore, leaving the entire mess in one neat pile.

still feeling that more privacy is called for, she wanders back into the kitchen and hops up on a stool, occupying her time by getting dizzy as she spins 'round and 'round.