Severance

[Khari Vestra]

Something about this whole mess stank like nerf dung. And while she had not been able to put a fine point on what, for the whole thing was a mad blur and rush of 'what just happened here?', she couldn't shake that feeling off. This wasn't like her, she didn't just jump into speeders with strangers, nor did she run when the person next to her had just committed assault on a security operative. Emperors black bones, she didn't associate with people who assaulted security operatives! Yet here she was, confronted by a man, who on the outset seemed friendly enough, scruffy around the edges, but something wasn't right.

Arasa's interlude had been well timed, but hardly welcomed, especially when her first thought was where her next drink was coming from. But she wasn't going to argue with the woman, especially when she was the one armed to the teeth and Khari was out here in her evening wear. Not only was that not practical, it made her a little easy to pick out in a crowd of regular civies. Making a swift getaway from the scene of a crime, hadn't been on the agenda, and testament to it were just how painfully sore her feet were feeling after being forced to run in several thousand credit shoes.
She wanted out of this debacle before it got much worse, to go back and explain that she had nothing to do with this, and just go back to her abode to relax. This wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

Tress decided to throw all in, unholstering a blaster pistol and pointing it dead straight in the direction of Khari's head. The Kuati looked more bemused than frightened, at least at first. At this point in the day, nothing would have surprised her, but he'd come acutely close to that. Adrenaline wasn't far behind, a cold injection into her veins to remind her she needed to breathe or risk passing out from lack of oxygen.

The man opposite then addressed Arasa, praising her for her efforts. But she had already worked out that the mando had to have been in on this, her presence, inebriated or not, combined with the pickup at the bar, told her all she needed to know, all she should have been paying attention to, when Arasa had booted that security guard in the groin and grabbed her hand to make a run for it.
You fool, you complete, kriffing nerf herder... Scalding herself was all fine and well, though it didn't lessen the severity of her predicament. But nor would what she did out loud.

Khari laughed. Not just a nervous chuckle either, a long, loud, hysterical bout of laughter, that had her bending forth and gripping her own ribs while she sought to recover her composure. Even deigning to lower her gaze from the muzzle of the weapon, still pointed at her head, the raven-haired woman glanced up a second later, wiping a tear from the corner of one dark eye. Struggling to draw breath enough with which to speak, she held up a hand, placating him, asking for his patience.

"I'm...I'm sorry, it's not you, it's just..." Laughter claimed her all over again, and she could feel both their bemused looks, burning into the top of her bowed head. Her shoulders rose and fell, as if she was weeping, but every now and then a new cluck of laughter wrang it's self from her lips.
"...oh my dear, you couldn't have picked a worse mark if you tried." She said, shaking her head and doing her best to look somewhat sympathetic.

"I don't know how much you expected to make from this little...excursion of yours, and I understand why you might have made the assumption that I have credits to hand over. But I am afraid to disappoint you, you probably have more credits than I do, right now."

It wasn't really a laughing matter, truth be told it was more than embarrassing for her, but the irony of this - what appeared for all purposes, to be a robbery - situation was hilarious to her. It couldn't have come at a worse time, for Tress at least. The only things of great worth on her person, were the view items of jewelery she was wearing, and her clothes themselves - and it was highly unlikely, that unless this Odak liked wearing ladies clothing, he was going to want to procure what she had on. Besides, after toppling over that guard rail back in the casino, she had shredded a good portion of it's hem when she'd landed in the botanical display gardens.

Unsettlingly, Tress still hadn't lowered that blaster though. What was he waiting for, maybe he expected retalliation? Khari figured he could just be cautious, she could understand that. Even she carried a weapon when she could, but not today.

"Please, put down the blaster and at least be civil, there's no need for it, I assure you." He certainly looked determined, if a little put off by her earlier amusement. And if she was being completely honest, determination looked good on him. "If you'll just stop the speeder and let me out here, I will not speak a word of this to anyone, we can call this an experience and we can go our separate ways."

 

[Tress]

He was all in now, wasn't he? To late to back out, so push forward and get things done.

They were making good speed getting further and further away from the casino and the scene of the crime. He would just pay off the drunken mando and be done with that part of the deal. As for Khari, she had a blaster pointed towards her head. She wouldn't do anything or would get a full stun bolt. Though the laughter took him for a loop. It wasn't just nervous laughter, it was something else entirely. Frowning, he watched her until she wiped a tear from her eye and explained something she might have thought he understood.

"Who said you were a mark?" he said not understanding her humor.

Did she know about him, then? "So it's a waste of time? No revenge against Anara... I don't think so. She will pay for what she did to my family." he told her with a snarl. He wouldn't be denied after so long and the years of planning. He would use Khari to hurt her mother if it was the last thing he did.

When she tried to be civil he stunned her for her troubles. As she laid slumped there at the back of the taxi he looked over at the drunk Mando woman. Knocking on the glass to get the drivers attention he had him pull over to drop her off. "Here is the credits i owed you, plus a bit extra for your time. That will be all..." he waved her out with the blaster. He was safe in thinking even if she tried to tell someone, no one would believe a drunken woman and one wanted from the Casino riot.

When they left her there at the landing ramp, the taxi took off again heading to the space port. Having time to think finally, Sith spit, what if mother and daughter had a falling out and all this was for nothing?he thought to himself. Landing at the space port Tress paid the taxi driver and pulled Khari over his shoulder taking her to his freighter near by. The time of night it was there wasn't to many people around and even if there was he was sure a male carrying a woman over his shoulder wouldn't draw to much notice. He had a small laugh at that one, his hand resting nicely on Khari's backside.

Soon as he dropped her off in a room, tied and secured while he flew them away from Kuat....

 

[Khari Vestra]

Contemplating what he’d responded wasn’t an option, particularly when you had the business end of a blaster pointed at you, and the next few seconds whizzed by in a blur. Out of which, the only thing she experienced was blanket darkness, the sounds around her fading to nothing she recognized, unconsciousness finally claiming her.

Khari awoke a considerable time later, and with a painful keening ringing in her ears. It felt as if her skull was in the process of being cloven in two, with a agonizing stab of pain eminating from hear eyesockets back towards the base of her skull. After effects, she would later suppose, of being stunned. Either that or she’d hit her head on something on the way out, which was a good point...

A quick attempt to raise one hand to her head, and the retiscent clink of metal on metal told her that her predicament hadn’t gotten any better. In fact, it was infinitely much, much worse. Her eyelids fluttered open, but even that seemed to take a great deal of effort, only to squint into the brightly lit space that surrounded her.
Conduits, one of which she was tethered to, laced the walls and crate after storage crate of gods knew what, littered the floor in neatly stacked piles. Wonderful, she was most likely in a cargo hold or smuggling compartment, so that was what she’d been reduced to. Whoever this Tress Odak was, if indeed that was his real name, he really had a grudge to bear.

Vaguely she remembered what he’d told her before she had been stunned, and it confused her even more. By the sounds of things, he had something of a bugbear with Anara, her mother to be precise, and it was then his thinking that stealing her away would upset the old battleaxe? It might well do that, but where did that leave her? She wasn’t exactly in the older woman’s good books right now, nor was Anara in hers. That could work to her advantage.
All this was dependent on one thing, though: Just what Tress intended to do with her, and why, to each exact detail, he’d done this to begin with. He’d said that he was making Anara pay for what was done to his family, but on Kuat that could mean any number of things from extreme extortion to outright murder. None of it would have been done direct, of course, Anara wasn’t where she was by wearing her heart on her sleeve, but that didn’t rule it out as a possibility.

Pulling herself into a sitting position, Khari tested her bonds well, and sure enough, the binders stayed put. A brief glance around the room she was in couldn’t tell her much about what make and model the ship was, not that she’d made it her habit to know each design, but it wasn’t Kuati in origin, she could tell that much. Even some of the imprinted information on the conduits wasn’t in basic, so it really could have come from anywhere. That wasn’t good. What she needed was information, and judging by the sounds of things, they were currently travelling through hyperspace, which meant there was no chance of getting out of here anytime soon. No time like the present to make her captor aware of her sudden conscious state, then.

Shifting around the vertical conduit, she wedged herself in the gap between the sealed door and the pipe at her back, then drew back one leg and kicked out at the door before her. A resounding, metallic bang could have carried a fair way down the corridor, so she repeated the action again and again, hoping to gain someone’s attention.

“Hey!” She hit the door yet again, cursing when she felt her sole sting after having done it a little too hard that time, “Is anyone out there?!”

Deciding against another barrage of kicking, the kuati slumped back against the pole she was secured to, head lolling tiredly to one side. That was when she spotted what appeared to be a small glass of water set to the side of where she had woken, sitting rather innocuously on the floor, the lack of oxygen bubbles around the sides and rim of the glass indicating it hadn’t been there long, so maybe she hadn’t either. But that wasn’t what made her scoff.

“You have got to be joking...sithspit, I’ve been kidnapped by amateurs.” Khari didn’t know how she was supposed to pick the glass up and drink it’s contents, not that she would have trusted them anyway, but with her hands secured to the conduit, behind her back, unless she was a contortionist, or desperate enough to attempt to drink like some kind of animal, she wasn’t going to be picking that up.

Movement beyond the doorway had her looking in that general direction, though she could see nothing through the barrier’s transparisteel viewport, it was clouded and scuffed up with what looked to be years worth of grime and mechanical dirt.

“If that’s that vaping-moron from the speeder taxi, you’re hospitality leaves a lot to be desired...” Another rough tug on the binders made her wince, they still weren’t budging, but at least they weren’t the kind that stunned you into submission. She had given thought to using the water on them too, trying to short out the locking mechanism, but if it was that easy, binders wouldn’t have been used in the first place.

 

[Tress]

He'd taken a small jump through hyperspace after getting clear from Kuat's orbit. Coming out in the pitch black of space away from the major hyperspace lanes, he took his time going over Nav charts as he let his freighter drift out in the middle of no where. He would aim towards the Outer Rim, only to head back closer to the Core. He had a safehouse on the planet Andara where they would hold up until he got a ransom or sold his hostage to the Hutt's. Deciding that's what he'd do he set about setting in a course.

Done with his piloting duties he left the cockpit and went to the back where he found his LE-series repair droid, named Bellendy. "Is the princess up?" he said a little gruffly.

What sounded like a "tsk" came from the droid as he kept working on the ship. As always when he wasn't helping piloting the ship or dealing with overbearing starport officials he was tinkering with the ship. "Go and check for yourself, I have multiple duties I must see to or the ship will fall down around us."


"Yeah, yeah. One of these days your going out the airlock if you don't lose that attitude..." Tress told him leaving him to his work.

He her her bang on the door and winced looking back over his shoulder at Bellendy. All he needed was the droid to burn a circuit over the damage he would have to repair.

The vaping moron from the taxi, was it? He peeked through the window moving around for the best vantage point to see her clearly. There she was still cuffed and in a mood. He finally really got the chance to look at her. She was the type of woman that men lost their wits over, as he looked at her he wondered what her smile looked like. Catching himself he smacked his hand on the door activation and stood there aggressively at the doorway. "Bang on the doorway again and switch those cuffs for the stun variety...."

 

[Khari Vestra]

The door slid open with a swoosh of exchanging air...air that smelled like it had been through the filters about ten times before reaching her lungs. The whole place reeked of oil and mechanical grime, he'd really gone to a lot of trouble when he'd picked her quarters for the journey. It would have been funny, were she not so uncertain about her immediate future. And then he stepped into view, Tress, to be precise.

Upon first glance, she eyed him with all the contempt one might afford the scum of the galaxy, defiant, haughty and decidedly uninterested in anything he had to say...or threaten in this case. That was what had really gotten her blood boiling.

"I'm surprised you didn't take that option in the first place, it didn't deter you before." Khari hissed, disdainfully, then turned her attention back to the room she was held up in.

The indignity of it all still didn't answer many of the questions she had, why he thought this was a good way to get back at her mother without getting himself killed in the process. But people like him didn't do things like this unless they'd thought it out, that or they were incredibly stupid. A quick glance up and she tried to evaluate which was the more likely case, his aggression didn't frighten her in the slightest, it was just another side effect of a poodoo poor society from some other world that was inferior to her own. And likewise, they didn't understand the importance of a matriarchal hierachy. He was human, so far as she could see, and none too hard on the eyes either, now that she noticed it. A little rough round the edges, but nothing a pressure sanisteam wouldn't fix, as one of her close friends would have said. That thought almost made her laugh aloud, the thought of this man jumping around as the result of a surprise and highly pressured dousing would be the least of his worries if she ever had revenge. But it was a good place to start.

Sabacc face firmly in place, she held her head high - ironic considering she was sat on the floor - chin jutting out proudly.

"I was merely trying to get someone's attention. So good of you to leave me something to ease the dehydration when I woke, a slight oversight when you cuffed my hands to this pipe. Don't you think?" Blinking at him, waiting for a response, however curt, seemed to be like waiting for the tide to come in. At least it seemed that way, when you were sat there like she was, waiting for fate to make it's mind up.

This 'Tress' didn't reply quick enough for her liking, so she took it to mean he didn't understand.

"The drink, I would like one. Release my hands." The kuati then raised her hands at her back, jangling the two static rods that held the links together in emphasis and encouragement. Expectancy soon replaced her exasperated expression and the more she looked at him, the more she seemed to take in, from the white wisps of hair that flecked the otherwise dark, unkempt crop on top of his head, to the fact he'd lost the sharp suit he had been wearing earlier, in favour of more practical clothes, those of a typical spacer, somehow he made it work for him.

"And then you're going to tell me exactly what it was my mother supposedly did." She added imperiously, "I would have asked earlier, but you shot me."

Now there was an awkward one to get around, she really would have asked, and maybe not as imperiously as she just had now. He'd said something about making Anara pay for what she'd done to his family, but she would have been lying if she had told him she knew what he'd meant. So far as Khari was concerned, her mother's business was just that. She didn't ask questions, or rather, had given up asking them after a particularly nasty incident concerning the conspiracy to oust a Kuati diplomat from office. What the Ten ruling households decided amongst themselves, was law, and while she was indeed included in that bunch, she wasn't an elder, and had many years before she became one. Therefore, some subjects really were off limits.

"In fact, you may as well let me up. I'm not going to leap out the nearest airlock, now, am I?" He was probably hoping she would at this point, she had a tendancy to grate on people's nerves with her superior attitude, but it wasn't as if he'd made it his business to be threatening enough, yet, that she had lost her nerve and let her fear get the better of her. To get anything out of Anara, he'd need her alive...that did depend on him wanting that end, of course.

 

[Tress]

She was what he'd imagined her to be, snotty, spoiled and opinionated as she spoke to him about the stun cuffs. He waited and looked around in boredom, hoping she would stop sooner or later and let him get a word in edgewise. "Keep talking and see it done." he didnt have to be nice to her, just as long as she stayed out of the way and let him be about his business without the constant nagging.

When she spoke of the water being brought to her, but being restrained to the pipes counter productive to her drinking it he glanced at it. He could use a nice quenching cup of water right now, since she hadnt drunken hers, it would now be his. Taking to long to answer her back seemed to push her into speaking her mind again. By the Gods, she was bossy. Telling him to release her hands and such.

Reaching for it he, smirks. "Wasnt for you, but for me." he looks over his shoulder at Bellendy. "Thanks buddy."and he made a show of drinking it in front of her. Even going so far as smacking his lips as he finished.


"What your mother did and what I am doing is none of your concern. All you need to know is she will pay and your a means to making sure she does." when she spoke about releasing her, he relented and sent Bellendy in to see to it. He had other more important things to do like get some shut eye in the cockpit. "Bell, you release her and keep an eye on her. Lock the commsystem and engine rooms, I'll be in the cockpit..."

Stepping into view was Bellendy, the E-series repair droid. "Greetings, my lady." he told her as he undid her cuffs. "Are you hungry or thristy?"

 

[Khari Vestra]

The audacity of this man was unmatched by anyone she had ever had the displeasure of encountering! It would have been hard to top it.
Looking on as he proceeded to help himself to the water, which had been resting there for some time, and make a complete show of it, flashy smile and all, just made her gape. An expression she clamped down on immediately in favour of adopting a more, unimpressed stance instead. Had she had the use of her arms, they would have been crossed across her chest by now.

But when Tress called back to the droid, who was aptly out of view, she had begun to wonder just how many were on this ship. The cargo hold was sizable, but not huge, so it couldn't be more than a light frieghter. Maybe a modified one at best.

"Oh please." She scoffed, trying to look unamused, "The only thing that would make that show better, is if you drugged yourself in the process."

Settling back, confident in the knowledge she had at least won that round, she was forced to listen to his spiel about this being none of her business. So she was a means to an end, then? Not on her watch. Little did he realize, but she could be more than a handful if she wished to be, she just needed the best opportunity. But that would require being able to be a tad more mobile than she was right now. A problem she was seeing to, sort of.

"I think you'll find this is very much my concern. It became my concern when you kidnapped me and took me to...where are we going again?" Now she flashed him a smile, a pure mockery of the one he'd flashed her, because she was sure he would slip up on that one, if only for a moment, and almost tell her their destination. Of course, it mattered null if she couldn't do anything about it, but that didn't mean she wouldn't enjoy another small victory. Give him enough doubts, Khari believed, and he might well crumble.

He didn't, though, not yet. And while he was stalking away, she heard the wirring servos of the repair droid approaching, then eclipsing her view of the man departing. Tress had, at least, conceded to let her go free about the immediate space, that was something. Bellendy, or Bell, as Tress had referred to it as, was a lot more genial than his master, taking the time to release her hands as asked, and then inquire about her general needs. So she was being kept alive then, another small tidbit of information to file away...this was definitely some kind of extortion, it just had to be.

"You're going to wish you listened to me!" Khari called after Tress, paying his warnings no mind whatsoever "She's been down this lane before..." So have I, and I was thirteen when I brought an entire star destroyer to a full standstill. This ship wasn't of Kuati design though, she couldn't possibly hope to figure out an access override for anything here. Still, if he was willing to let her wander around a bit, it couldn't be all bad.

Rubbing the soreness out of her wrists, she glanced at the expectant droid, "I'm starving, actually, and your master just deprived me of refreshment. I don't know how you put up with him."

 

[Tress]

He almost broke character and smiled at that one. She'd known he had been putting on a show and told him drugging himself would have been better. He'd have to think about that one, but automatically said instead. "I might have to resort to drugs spending more time than i have to with you." and he left it at that. The rest he heard as he walked away.

"You're going to wish you listened to me!" Would he be? He wasnt planning on keeping her around long anyway, a quick call to her mother to set the terms or he'd sell her to a Hutt somewhere for the trouble. All he had wasted was time and fuel, and anything would be better than keeping her around and having to deal with her. "Yeah yeah save it for someone who cares."

No, best to lock himself in the cockpit and get some work done, and by that he meant some sleep until the next safe jump point.

Meanwhile Bell had stepped into view and asked if she needed anything while he undid her binders. With a wave of his arm he invited her to step out of the cargohold and accompany him to the galley since she was hungry. "I have a few files on cooking, but from what Tress says 'It's like running his tongue over dirt' I fancy myself quite adapt at it."he said in a pleasant sounding voice. "Though I am programmed to help out with repairs around here. As you can see even working non-stop its a huge duty before me."

He went on and on about his duties as he led her around the ship, away from the cargohold and engineering. The ship took on a better appearance....

 

[Khari Vestra]

Tress' abrasiveness was put to the back of her mind when it came to the prospect of food. She had no idea how long she'd been out for, it could have been a day and a half and the time would have passed her by completely. Judging by the way she felt as she moved, a little sore but not much else, it couldn't have been too long. But she was hungry.

Bell might have had the necessary program files in order to whip up something that passed as nutritious, but the idea of a maintenance droid being charged with the inner workings of a living being, as opposed to the inner mechanics of a machine, was a little disconcerting. Still, it couldn't have been any worse than whatever she could have rustled up to eat. The last time she had set foot inside a kitchen, it was to complain about the food she'd been sent in person. Again, actually setting foot inside a kitchen hadn't figured much in her thirty years. The droid it was, then.

"Run's his tongue over dirt often, does he?" She asked almost innocently, while casually taking a look around. Now that she was free, it didn't hurt to inspect her surroundings a little more thoroughly, and every so often she paused to look around a still-open doorway or down a new corridor. When it seemed as if she had paused too long for suspicion's sake, she pivoted back to face Bell and smiled politely. "I'm sure he over exaggerates, you're doing a stellar job of keeping this wr...ship running."

Ironically, it seemed like the droid was all too happy to have company that actually listened to what it had to say. The truth was far different, she wasn't so much as listening as nodding in all the right places, and occasionally taking the time to pick up on a few sentences in order to perpetuate the conversation, all as genially as she could. Not once did she see Tress emerge from anywhere, and this ship wasn't that big, that only left the cockpit and some of the cabins free. It wouldn't do to do too much poking around then.

The Galley, as Bell had described it, consisted of a very simplistic design, something a small crew could make use of as quickly and easily as possible. But to Khari, it was a pokey little space with very little she recognized in it. The fresher was about the only thing that made sense, a hot plate or two, the controls to which had two settings that could be defined as on, or off.

"I hope whatever your master's asking for, he decides to spend a little on his surroundings." She did well to sheath that knowingly predatorial smile she felt brewing, "What is he asking for, by the way?" And if she found out, what then, double it? She couldn't really afford to do that, not now...back to square one again, or perhaps not?

Carefully depressing the door pressure switch, she let the galley panel slide closed, shutting them in together, but not locking it. Her aim was to cripple prying ears, not the droid. Keen to prove unthreatening, the dark haired woman took a few steps away from the door, and propped herself up, elegantly, against a nearby counter top, appearing to contemplate something that had just sprung to life in her mind.

"You know, B311-ND," The Kuati punctuated clearly, knowing such prissy units to be ridiculously pleased - if droids could feel such a thing as pleasure - when their full serial numbers were cited back to them as opposed to a more organic nickname, "My family happens to have a lot to do with a subject very close to your primary functions. In fact, a droid of your skill would have access to the latest modifications and resources with which to do work truly befitting of your calibre."

Was he considering this? One simply couldn't tell because droids looked the same no matter what. They sounded the same when they were not retrofitted with the most sensitive of vocabulators, and Bell wasn't a protocol droid.

"You could work on some of the newest ships imaginable, many of which have not been unveiled to the public yet. I could make that happen....if, you were willing to help me, of course?" Cocking a slender eyebrow, she waited expectantly, it would have been just her luck that the droid was fitting with a restraining bolt, but on first glance, she hadn't glimpsed one.

 

[Tress]

Bell didnt know what to make of the Kuati woman at first, she seemed sincere for the most part or it could be a human trick. His first loyalty was to Tress who saved him and made him part of the crew and if he dared say part of the family. They had been on many adventures, both relying on the other to make it through things. She even complimented him on his work on the ship, his pride and joy. He spent hours working on things to improve its handling and speed, not to mention the weapons systems they had illegally installed or the smugglers compartments they had hidden here and there around the ship.

"Thank you, i do do my best with what i have to work with. Each new job gives me a bit more to work with, a few more and the ship will be in fine working order."he beamed it seemed as he patted the bulkheads affectionately.

The rest of her questions caught him off guard, but he decided to play along with it. "I havent a clue really."he said as to her question of Tress's intentions towards her release. It was something they had never spoken of really so he was in as much a loss as she was.

"Are you trying to bribe me, Miss Vestra?"he stopped and looked at her almost with a wonderment, his receptors dimming like he was skeptical of her offer. "Are you offering me a place to work for helping you escape?"

"Tress, you were right...." he raised his vocabulator to speak to Tress in the cockpit.

"I told you, Bell. Kuati way of thinking toss credits around."came the muffled reply back.

"I owe him 5 credits now." he said to Khari. "So food? What would you have?" he said stepping past her

 

[Khari Vestra]

"Bribe you? I would never-"

The not so false accusation leaving her mock-aghast, she never so much as finished the sentence before the droid called back to Tress that the game was up. Cursing under her breath, she had to turn away for a second, hiding the defeatist frustration in her eyes while she couldn't control it. By the time she had turned to face the droid again, she could hear Tress calling back his assumption and insult. The very nerve of it! As if he knew what an entire planet full of people were like, what did he expect her to do? Sit here and just wait for him to do whatever he wanted? Not while she was still conscious.

Khari was about to make a retort when Bell announced that he now owed the man five credits. Five credits wasn't much to owe someone, not in her books, but she supposed that she should be scrimping and saving, really, since her mother had done a particularly good job of cutting her out of her inherritance for the forseeable future. Even so, she did what she did without so much as a care - Tress wanted to call her on a stereotype, she'd oblige.

"I will give you ten, if you find a way to shut him and his ridiculous ideas up." She retorted, this time crossing her arms haughtily across her chest. Glaring at the droid would do little, but it was almost as if she was trying to channel her anger through him somehow. Impossible, but it made her feel a little bit better. As did what she said next.

"You might also like to inform this 'Tress' that he is, by far, the worst kidnapper I have ever encountered. He really ought to do his research, because if he had he'd know what I know right now. So please excuse me, while I take a moment to laugh at his misfortune."

Realizing then, that she had become just a little irate, she tried to calm herself down again, taking a few measured breaths before smoothing out the rumpled appearence that had befallen her clothes, something about laying on the floor for a long time, that hadn't done them any favours, and rearranging her hair. It was the little, mundane things that gave her a sense of re-control, even when she blatantly wasn't.

"Apologies, Bell, I realize that the shortcomings of your master aren't anything to do with you. Where were we? Ah yes...I'll have the best thing available, and was that a bottle of Whyrren's reserve I saw earlier?" She wouldn't have minded betting that was not on the menu, she wasn't much of a fan herself, but if it got under Tress' skin, she was only too happy to put up with the burn for the sake of another stab at him. Sooner or later, he was going to have to come out of his hiding place, and then they could really get down to business, as it were. The crux of the matter.

"I could use some of that, right about now...make it a double."

 

[Tress]

"Bribe you? I would never-"

Bell ended up doing that dimming of his photoceptors as if he was calculating her response, in the end he took it for sarcasm and when about his duties. The idea of her bribing him ten credits had him looking back at her perplexed, but he did hold out his hand waiting for her to hand them over. After waiting several seconds, he finally said something. "I have my hand out for the ten credits."he would gladly get paid to tell Tress to shut up. He took it upon himself to do so occasionally as it is, why not get paid for it while he was at it.

"He is the master, after all. There is no talking sense after what was done, I don't blame him really. I have been at his side for years now and...." he looks past her to the cockpit and lowered his voice. "...dear i say, have become his friend."

"I heard that and we aren't !" Said Tress from the Cockpit.

She seemed to calm down and get a hold of herself, which he liked for some reason. He would have expected her to go on and on, like the spoiled pampered rich he'd heard so much about. Though Lady Vestra seemed cut from a different cloth it seemed. Wonder if Tress would see it before it was to late? Either way he answered her, "Whyrens Reserve, yes indeed it was."he made a show of pouring her a double like she asked and handed it to her. "There you go."Turning back he finished the task of completing the roba steak for her. "I hope Roba steak is to your liking, mistress Vestra...."

 

[Khari Vestra]

She looked down at the droid's outstretched hand, then back up at his photoreceptors, then back down again. His verbal response assured her that he was, indeed, being serious. Well she wasn't giving him ten credits for a ploy that wouldn't work.

"Never mind, I'll tell him myself." Not that it would make a difference, he seemed like a wise guy, far too full of his self to be bothered by what she considered unnecessary annoyance.

Tress had called back by that point, proving her right yet again. Suddenly she was able to see why her mother might have taken such a disliking to his family, if they were all like him, she would have taken a stab at them too. But she couldn't say for certain when she didn't know exactly what had been done to whom, and when. Khari wasn't sure she wanted to, if the result was kidnap, a very poorly chosen victim or not.

"Does he always lock himself in there when he can't face his problems?" She asked Bell, casting a glance out of the galley and peering round the corner of the doorway. Yes, as suspected, the cockpit door was still slid closed. The indicator lit up crimson for locked.
"Such a pity, I was so looking forward to sharing a drink with him. I'm sure he's scintillating when sociable."

Bell handed her the drink and she flashed him a smile of thanks, noting the way he'd been calculating her own sarcasm again, she debated confirming the droid's suspicions. If she was going to be along for the ride, he'd need to get used to that one, it was her default setting, so far as defense mechanisms went. And she needed to buy herself some time, but gaining the droid's trust obviously wasn't going to get her too far. Not unless she got really sneaky. But could she gain Tress'? Unlikely, if his manner was anything to go by, but anything was worth a try right now.

She downed the drink, grateful to have something to steady her nerves a little, but it took a great deal of effort not to cough when she felt the burn as the amber liquid slid down her throat. Lost to her thoughts, she barely noticed it when the droid placed down the Steak in front of her, and it took a moment's breath longer to realize that it was actually genuine.

Blinking, Khari turned her head towards Bell, incredulity painting her expression plain and clear.

"Did he raid my mother's fresher too?"

Yes, this would do nicely, very nicely in fact. Even she couldn't resist to give the food the once over, the last thing she wanted was to end up drugged and wake up in another dark, dank hold somewhere, and with considerably less agreeable company. Could it get worse though? Almost certainly.

When she had said she was starving, she really hadn't been pulling any punches. Eating the meal in relative silence, posing the occasional question to Bell, she finished up alone. Or as alone as one could be with a droid watching their even move. Tress, meanwhile, hadn't moved from his location up in the cockpit, and seemed determined to shun all further contact with her in what she could only assume was protest. It hadn't been a joke of hers, though, when she had said she would tell him herself, if she got the chance. She would tell him something alright, but first she wanted answers.

With a quick thanks to Bell for his culinary skills, surprisingly good for a repair droid, she was about to put the strain on his servos again as she took a brisk few paces around to the cockpit door and rapt her knuckles against the durasteel, then waited. No answer came quick enough for her, so she did it again, this time accompanied by words. And she did her best not to make them sound half as imperiously awkward as she felt like being to him. After all, he might have deserved no less, but that would put her back in the cargo hold.

"Captain Odak? I was hoping that we might get the chance to discuss something." A long pause followed, and the Kuati was almost certain that she could feel him in there, just ignoring her for the sake of it...well she wasn't saying please.

The next best option then? Oh most definitely.

"It could mean the difference between what you desire and a sentence in the spice mines of Kessel."

 

[Tress]

Bell, made a buzzing sound as he sighed. There goes ten credits he thought as she went off on her own. This would be fun to watch so he got a good vantage point to watch the fun about to begin.

Sitting in the cockpit enjoying the momentary silence, Tress was just checking over his course when he heard the knocking on the bulkhead door. One he ignored for the time being, the course he was setting was a dangerous one coming parsecs away from a nebula he didnt want to hit. Though he did it with an open ear to the single person talking to herself, or still talking to herself out there. She must be one of those that liked the sound of their own voice and spoke a lot of the time just rambling on and on. He had other things to do than to waste his time, he was in a mind to gag her and toss her back into the cargo hold until they reach their destination.

When it grew quieter he thought he could get in some shut eye, but no sooner than he had closed his eyes and started to drift off to sleep than she came back knocking. "Im busy !"

"Captain Odak? I was hoping that we might get the chance to discuss something."

"It could mean the difference between what you desire and a sentence in the spice mines of Kessel."


Those two sentences had him still ignoring her, he knew it was just a plow to get him to open the door for her. He had nothing to say to her, if he sat around chatting her up all it would do is make things difficult later.

Sitting up suddenly as the door opened he looked at her standing there, "how in the nine hells did you open that doorway?"


"That would be me.." Bell, said waving to get Tress's attention.

"Fine, speak your mind and then leave. I have other more important matters to deal with." he said with a glare at both of them. "Make it quick!"he added when she didnt speak up fast enough.

 

[Khari Vestra]

There was a certain ammount of smug satisfaction in seeing his incredulous face, as the door slid back to reveal him there, currently sat up, alert and to attention in his battered old chair. She didn't know how the door had opened either, and supposed that it might have been a simple case of dodgy wiring, but when his own droid admitted to the feat, she could do little else but chuckle away to herself.

"At least one person on this ship has their head screwed on the correct way round. Nice to see you again, Captain." She mused faux-cheerily, stepping over the threshold before he had a chance to close the door in her face again.

"Fine, speak your mind and then leave. I have other more important matters to deal with."

Releasing an audible and flustered sigh, she never would understand why he was so worked up over this if he seriously thought he was doing the right thing, Khari took a quick look around the cockpit. There wasn't enough time to take stock of everything, but things up here looked pretty standard from what she could tell. The navicomp had a course already plotted, and by the looks of things this wasn't going to be your average, run of the mill flight. Squinting to see what their destination was, or at least their current position, sector wise, would have been a feat too far. She'd come here to talk, so talk she would.

Settling at the edge of the co-pilot's seat, she frowned at just how lumpy and uncomfortable the thing was, though if his only copilot had been the droid, she can't have imagined it would have mattered what the seat felt like.

"It seems to me that you have somehow acquired the idea that I am a person of worth...at least in my mother's eyes. Would that be safe to assume?" She gave him time to catch up, then continued, "The thing is, Tress...can I call you Tress? That is possibly the furthest thing from the truth right now. You see, my mother and I, well...how can I put this? Had a little bit of a tiff, you could say."

Was he following this? She couldn't really tell, but her rambling wasn't helping, she needed to get to the point.

"The upshot of all this resulted in her cutting me out of my inherritance...entirely. In fact, I can't imagine she will wish to hear from me, kidnapped or not, for quite some time. Bringing me to her attention in such a way would be more to your detriment than gain...in fact, it would probably see both of us sent to Kessel. So you see, it really would be worth your while if we forgot this entire mistake and you just dropped me off somewhere coreward, safe and sound."

Smiling pleasantly, she waited...and waited....and not content to wait any longer, she just had to ask, had to push it that bit further.

"So, how about it? It doesn't even need to be Kuat, to be honest I was getting rather tired with the place. Coruscant will do niceley."

 

[Tress]

He watched incredibly as she assumed she had the right to just come in and seat herself without so much as a polite how do you do. Then his name had him sitting up straighter glaring at her.


"It seems to me that you have somehow acquired the idea that I am a person of worth...at least in my mother's eyes. Would that be safe to assume?" She gave him time to catch up, then continued, "The thing is, Tress...can I call you Tress? That is possibly the furthest thing from the truth right now. You see, my mother and I, well...how can I put this? Had a little bit of a tiff, you could say."


"No, you may not!" he almost shrieked at her in response. Damn it, he was in charge here not her. "I am Captain Odak to you and nothing else. You are my prisoner, my hostage.." he glared past her to Bell, blaming him for letting her in here and letting her getting the upper hand. Should he just stun shoot her again and be done with her nagging ways? Maybe Bell would be getting shot next time, too.


"The upshot of all this resulted in her cutting me out of my inherritance...entirely. In fact, I can't imagine she will wish to hear from me, kidnapped or not, for quite some time. Bringing me to her attention in such a way would be more to your detriment than gain...in fact, it would probably see both of us sent to Kessel. So you see, it really would be worth your while if we forgot this entire mistake and you just dropped me off somewhere coreward, safe and sound."

All he did was start laughing, what an incredible story she had concocted in such a short time on her own. The whole plan revolved around mother and daughter being on good terms so when he ransomed her he would get what he wanted or send her in pieces back to her loving mother. "You better be lying, one way or the other you will be the means to some sort of finacial payment. If it is as you say, and i will get nothing from your mother, then I will get what i need by selling you to the highest bidding Hutt..."

There was no way this was the case, everything was hinged on the mother wanting her back. Otherwise it was all a waste of time and ...SITH SPIT !

"Get out before i lose my patience and shoot you again." he said swinging his chair around to look over his console. Once they reached their destination he would figure out if what she said was the truth or not. Then deal with the either worthless or priceless cargo.

 

[Khari Vestra]

Reasonable nature had gone completely out of the airlock when it came to him, who did he think he was anyway? He was fortunate she had tried being so peacable, but since that didn't suit his modus operandi, she could only too happily oblige his abrasiveness. She could be a world of misfortune for him if she so wished, a risk it might be in her case, but a risk worth taking if just to push back against how unagreeable he was. The very nerve of it, and here she was actually trying to help him. Oh yes, it helped herself too, but this could have ended with no consequences for both of them.

"Lying? You made it abundantly clear that you are in charge here, Captain. What difference would it make if I was lying?" If it was ice queen he wanted, that would be exactly what he would get, she was no longer in the mood for playing games now, either. "I'm sure you would be able to see through that, though."

She was already getting up, managing to dislodge the metal arm-rest of the seat in the process, from where she had been sat when he swiveled around, turning away from her. Issuing him what amounted to a sniff of derision, the Kuati shook her head disdainfully. He really was something, never before had she encountered such a perfect blend of rudeness and incompetence. Turning away from her like that had been his first mistake. And while the droid could have raised the alarm if she wished to strike him with something, it wouldn't reach her in time before she did it.

"Get out before i lose my patience and shoot you again."

"Oh don't worry, I'm leaving."

No, that wasn't going to happen, and while he'd been determined to make sure she knew he held all the cards, the tables were about to turn in her favour.
Bending down she picked up the battered arm rest, raising it up as she took precarious aim at the back of Tress' head. Bringing it down swiftly, she hoped for the best, her intention wasn't to kill the man, but he was going to take her where she wanted to go one way or another. And she really did mean to make good of that promise to make him regret ever laying eyes on her.

 

[Tress]

"Lying? You made it abundantly clear that you are in charge here, Captain. What difference would it make if I was lying?" If it was ice queen he wanted, that would be exactly what he would get, she was no longer in the mood for playing games now, either. "I'm sure you would be able to see through that, though."

He was glad his back to her was covering up his smirk, guess being rude and unsociable payed off on kidnapped high class kuati...beauties. Where did that come from? Shaking his head to clear it he glared at the controls and did his best to ignore the irate woman about to leave and he did not think she was a beauty, if anything she was only passable. He was being kind, too.

Switching on the auto pilot and activating the security systems so he could sleep comfortably knowing she couldnt by pass his controls of the ship, when out of no where he was hit from behind. The resounding blow made him see white, and then nothing but blackness as he pitched forward onto the control panel. He must have pushed or hit the wrong buttons because the consol lit up in sparks and smoke just as they were knocked out of hyperspace. Then the power systems shut off leaving only the emergency lights and minimal life support systems.

Bell, on the floor from where he had been thrown as the ship lurched into real space scurried to his feet trying to work the controls. "Dead, controls are unresponsive. We are on life support...barely. What have you done?" he looked over his shoulder at Khari. "Tress?" he made his way to him. "Tress can you hear me?"

There was a bloody gash on his forehead, along with a nice bruised bump at the back of his head. "Mistress are you, ok?"

 

[Khari Vestra]

One minute she was so sure of herself that the only thing that could have gone wrong, was the potential for her hit not to be hard enough to knock him out, the next everything was thrown into chaos. She hadn't expected him to go down that hard, but down he went, head like a giant durasteel weight against the console - which also happened to be the one console he absolutely should not hit - tripping just about every switch on it. Circuits sizzled, sparks flew in an argent arc across the cabin, and she was thrown completely off course, hitting another bank of controls the opposite side of the cockpit as she struggled to try and keep her balance. The ship it's self shuddered and groaned then lurched violently as they were torn out of hyperspace in the middle of goodness knew where, and then the lights on board went out completely.

She was far too old to actually be afraid of the dark, but even she couldn't prevent a startled curse passing her lips when she realized what was going on. Thankfully for everyone on board, they hadn't reverted from lightspeed into the path of an oncoming star destroyer, or any other transport for that matter. They weren't anywhere near an asteroid field, from what she could see out the main viewport, but they were dangerously close to that nebula. That was going to make communication a severe issue, but even that was moot if she couldn't get the power-

A metallic plinking sound resonated from the cabin and alligned ring corridor, then the emergency lights blinked into existence. From her floorbound position, she squinted into the light and carefully picked herself up, checking herself over for any sign of cuts or scrapes, thankfully, she was relatively unscathed.
Tress was still slumped where she'd left him, held in his seat by inertia or maybe he'd actually been strapped in and she hadn't noticed. Khari didn't trust him enough to not be faking it, though, and silently took steps towards him. It was only now that she could see that he was bleeding, not much, but enough that spatters of crimson flecked some of the controls. She instantly dropped the armrest she had used as a weapon, wondering if that had been her handiwork, surprised and horrified by the idea all at once.

Bell was around, somewhere outside the cockpit bulkhead, reading her the odds like she would actually know what to do about getting this rust bucket up and running again. Wasn't that his job? But when he entered the cockpit, saw his master laying there, slumped against the instrument panels, she really wished she had checked to see if the droid had been modified to use weapons it's self. Only when it didn't attack, did she ask the inevitable question, bracing for the answer.

"Is he dead?" the Kuati hoped not, she hadn't planned on adding murder to her list of wrongs this month, even if it was self defence...he was going to sell her to a hutt for stars sake!

"Mistress are you, ok?"

The droid's photorecepters were tilted her way long before the question ever registered in her mind. Her eyes had been fixed on the unconscious man in front of her, noting now, and only now, that there was a large bump appearing at the back of his head. So she had hit him considerably hard then? It did more than make her wince, she suddenly felt a bit nauseaus.
Leaning on the console for support, her fingertips gripped it's lip hard while she steadied herself, finally drawing on a sliver of cool minded composure.

"Nothing that cannot wait, considering. You said something about us being on life support...how long do we have?" Panicking solved nothing, and they weren't dead yet. "I need you to figure out what's gone wrong and where, I am afraid I know minimal when it comes to systems engineering...I have someone of my own for that."

Now that brought an idea to mind, the nebula might prevent them from getting comm contact with anyone, but not trying to do so was akin to just giving up. She highly doubted a short range comlink would do anything out here, but if the ship had it's own hypercomm, then they might be in business.
"Do we have enough power to make communications?" How dire was dire, she wondered, it was a long shot, one too far, perhaps.

 

[Tress]

Bell made his way into the cockpit, pressing buttons and pulling switches here and there. Then he looked at the damaged systems, noting those that needed extra attention. Though he was more worried about Tress and his captive being hurt, he repaired tech not flesh. As he finally got closer he examined Tress, the swelling in the back of his head was his main concern. He knew that was bad, he did date that medical droid for three weeks back on Coruscant after all so he picked up tidbits of information. "He might have a concussion, try to wake him while i see to this." he told Khari as he sat in the co-pilot chair.

Power was out and emergency power had kicked in, the forced drop out of hyperspace had overloaded all the systems. Some would need to be replaced, others restarted. "What happened?" he said looking over his shoulder.

"Yes, emergency life support though the reserves wont hold for more than an hour tops. We need to get the main power up and running..." he looks out the view port. "Might have to hurry, we are drifting in space and that nebula is getting closer."

"Heir to the biggest shipping industry and you dont know your way around a ships systems. Imagine that." he said trying to reroute power from the cockpit, nothing seemed to work so he would have to do it manually. That meant going to engine room in the back, and it would leave her alone with Tress. "Not enough power, you try and life support will be deminished. Take him to the medbay, try to wake him, while i try to save us all."


He heads off muttering to himself. "Going to ask for a promotion or raise..."