The Best New Fence Is a Good Old Fence

[Chairdor]

Kess found herself listening to this woman, like really listening to her. She had an economy with her words, not like Kess, not like her at all with her rambling bits and bobs. As she listened to the pirate woman she saw her hand lifting up, so assured, quick yet controlled. Kess felt the hand on her face and remembered how long it had been since someone had actually touched her, not to hit her, or stab her, but just to touch her. Hell, she hadn't shaken hands in months. It was a strange feeling especially on her new face.

The Twi'lek's chin bobbed down slightly as the hand left her chin and Tsu relayed her suspicions on the surgery. Kess's eyes widened for a moment but she covered the reaction with a cough as she was still in a very public area. Nearly paralyzed Kess had to force her foot forward as she was bid back behind the bar past the two men Kess seemed to know very well. They were still scratching their heads as she walked past and frankly so was she, but on a very different question. How on earth did she know?

Letting that thought simmer for a moment she moved into a private albeit unkempt room past a large curtain. Taking a moment to look around and familiarize herself the Twi'lek looked over to Tsu. Noting the booth she moved in and took a seat, the worn fabric a strange kind of soft as she settled in. While she had taken time to sit at the bar earlier, she was still tired from her gallivant so Kess leaned back relishing in the chance to relax. Though that relishing had to cease when she heard the final question, a question she had asked herself so many times after she left it all behind.

What was she running from?

Though Tsu had put it in a different form so all Kess had to do was give a name, "Argyle Men'Tal," she looked down after saying the name, she had choked down the memory so long ago when she decided to run, "He was...we were close...but he thought we were closer...he wasn't exactly one to take no for an answer so...well men have their ways,"

Kess's hand began to tremble slightly at that allusion, she pulled it back and placed it under the table before she continued,

"We robbed a lot of people, I had no problem with that, we killed some people, whatever I can still sleep at night, but then he found a new love and I fell into the background, so I left," Kess smiled at this next part, it was a deep smile seated in a perverse emotion of harsh sadness and irony, "Funny thing is when I left the kriffer remembered what he had lost and sought me out, all over the galaxy far and wide..sure I have wanted posters on other worlds, but I don't care about that...I got a new face because I don't want to live a life looking over my shoulder."

She had already said a lot and the retelling had left her more angry than sad, frustrated that her disguise was imperfect, maybe she would have to maintain a bit of paranoia after all.

 

[Tribunal Power]

A stoic expression adorned Tsu's face as she listened, though it softened slightly when she mentioned the man she was fleeing. She didn't recognize the name, but that didn't mean much anymore-- the galaxy had changed in the seven months she spent wasting away in the jungle on Kabis-3, and she hardly seemed to know anyone anymore. Still, Kess' story was a familiar one; Tsu knew the woes of being haunted by a past life when all she wanted to do was move on.

"Look," she said simply. She turned her head and pulled her hair back, folding her ear out of the way. A curved scar lied under her ear, bending around it to the back where it stopped. It was faint, but when she pointed it out, it became noticable under the light. Turning to face her again, she leaned an elbow on the table and let out a sigh, pulling her datapad from its pouch. "Those scars are from the surgery. There are more of them, but those are the most noticable. Your surgeon must have been better equipped, because you're aren't so easy to notice. I'm guessing you had your skin color changed-- that can help cover the imperfections."

She laid her datapad on the table, turning it to Kess and sliding it toward her. A picture of a red-headed woman was displayed, and Tsu folded her arms on the table. "That's me," she stated. "Taken about, oh... Five years ago, now. Just a few months before my procedure. My face was everywhere, thanks to a group called the Sandrunner mercs. Got a hold of some leaked info from an associate that cracked under the pressure, kriffed over a lot of people. After a few near-misses with mercs and bounty hunters, I had this done." She motioned to herself, to the way she looked now, and leaned back in her seat. She took her datapad back and went on to say, "I used to hate it. I used to wish I still looked like myself, and I used to get tense any time a merc walked by. That took time, and patience... But you know what helped?"

Tsu pressed a few keys and returned the datapad to Kess. Displayed was a holonet article that read 'PARCO SANDRUNNER, DOZENS OF EMPLOYEES KILLED IN TERRORIST ATTACK'. "Confrontation," she commented simply. Tsu let her read it for a moment, before asking, "Where is Argyle now?"

 

[Chairdor]

Kess felt her head slipping, the headaches from the spice were long past her, but now she had a more chronic stress pressing on her mind, memory. As she watched Tsu listen to her tale she noticed a slight blip, a change in her expression when she mentioned the man. It was odd to speak of everything, it was like living it all over again, the fear, the self-loathing, shaking her head determined to not feel sorry for herself, Kess made her expression stony, hard. If fake it till you make it really worked, then Kess, living a life of lies within lies, was most certainly an expert in the technique. So putting on a smile and never taking it off, she looked to Tsu closely as she responded.

Looking down the long scar behind her ear the Twi'lek felt her hand grip at the table in a small remembrance of the pain she had experienced under the knife and the dull ache of knowledge that one slip of the surgeon's tools might have ended her, faceless, unidentifiable. Wasn't that the point though, to lose her identity...maybe. She nodded slightly her smile noticeably mellowing as she lifted her hand from the table to look at the change. It was often said the universe would be a better place if we could get into someone elses skin. Funny, she didn't feel improved from the experience.

Kess's eyes widened as she looked on what this Tsu formerly looked like, she looked down then back up, then down, then squinted then back up. There wasn't a semblance of resembling nature, from the arc of her chin to the color of her hair, everything had changed, perhaps irreparably so. Thinking on that Kess wondered what she had lost in leaving her old life behind, family...no they didn't care about her, friends...well quite literally yes as she had to snuff them to keep her secret. Yet here her secret was out, perhaps they died in vain to protect a treacherous girl who couldn't keep her mouth shut or her spice habit in check.

Kess nodded as she looked down at her hands. Tsu mentioned how she learned to love the change, the Twi'lek didn't feel much had changed when she altered her appearance. Her skin was new, her eyes were a tad different, but her thoughts never cut off mid surgery, she never felt any shift. Still, she wasn't who she was in at least one way.

Looking over the report she was handed she found her smile widen again, there was something about suffering that just gave her a good rush. Perhaps it was her own sense of helplessness in her past life, or a mere genetic slip of fate, but whatever it was Kess found herself lightly laughing at some of the details of the event before handing it back.

Despite this built up good mood it flattened when she heard the name. Argyle...like the sweater. He had certainly made her sweat over the years and now that she was finally rid of him she had to think about him more than ever. Wracking her brain on the last details she had heard on her former lover she recounted,

"Argyle last I heard joined a crew that's been haunting Wild Space...not just robbing, his crew has a tendency to just up and burn towns to the ground. Which is alright if it gets your jollys up, but lord is it bad for business."

Looking up at the pirate she scratched her chin for a moment before asking,

"So why are you doing this, the questions the concern the saving my ass from a Hutt? Not that I'm complaining...it's just...one of your guys said you might've seen, potential in me," the word potential came out so foreign, the Twi'lek seldom hearing it about herself except for her potential to be a nuisance, "So we have a lot in a common, why are we talking?"

 

[Tribunal Power]

Tsu nodded along to her explanation as she took back her datapad, keying in a few things as she listened. Then came the girl's question, one Tsu wasn't quite sure how to answer off the top of her head. She smiled disarmingly and leaned back in her seat, letting out a defeated sigh as if to say, 'Well, you caught me'

"I recently spent some, ah, time away. Let's call it a sabbatical." She looked down to her datapad, though her attention was enraptured elsewhere. She thought of Kabis-3, of the crash, of her and Joric limping away from the wreckage, of their confrontation between them over the meal that ended in her using three of her twenty rounds of ammunition, and the lonely seven months that followed. "It gave me a lot of time to think. I thought about all the things I've been through, all the opportunities I've been given. I was a stupid little spice-rat once, too, sniffing my life into the shitter and kriffing whoever had more. But I rose above that, and you know what? I never would have had those opportunities if someone hadn't taken a chance on me."

She looked up again, meeting eyes with the girl. Leaning forward on the table, she said, "Potential... What I see in you is me. So I'm taking a chance on you." Letting out a sigh as she looked down to her hand, she flexed her fingers the way she did when she ached to manipulate her pistol. Cleaning, maintaining, and firing it was theraputic for her, and she often felt the need for it when discussing things that made her uncomfortable. "You're treading water here. Stay, and you'll go under eventually. Maybe it'll be spice, maybe a pissed-off Hutt, maybe some grimy shit in an alley with a blaster." There was a brief pause, before Tsu traced her finger along an invisible line on the table and added, "Suppose you had the chance to stick with me for a while. You can learn a few things around me. You'll learn ships, blasters, smuggling and piracy inside and out-- and most importanly, retraint. You'll get away from this hole. And maybe, if the planets align, sometime down the line I give you the opportunity to, ah... Have a chat with this Argyle. A way of boxing up all that shit you went through and burning it to ash, never worrying about it again. What would you say?

 

[Chairdor]

Listening to Tsu's description of her time away the Twi'lek found her focus did not shift. She was enraptured with the tale, but more than mildly miffed when the comparison came, I mean sure you can be a spice-rat and know it, but calling someone else one was just rude, no matter how very very very true it was. Thinking on that Kess realized what her life had come to boil down into, it's tracest elements, it's core, everything was about spice. She killed for spice, stole for spice, laughed, cajoled, begged for spice. Then spice returned that effort, those hours, with minutes of blissful pleasure, only to have her wake up feeling worse for wear and often in even worse circumstances.

In a way, her relationship with Spice was worse than with Argyle, and what made it far more terrible was that it was never forced upon her like him, she chose this torture.

As she was prepared to look down at that sobering thought, if a thought could ever sober one as drunk and high as she Kess looked up as Tsu noted that they were one in the same. What she saw was a confident woman, a pirate captain with men at her beck and call and connections to powerful wealthy figures. Then she said it, she was taking a chance on the Twi'lek. Chance...what everything is built upon, some call it destiny, others call it fate, Kess called it Luck, and today, she seemed to have the good kind.

As her options were laid before her, stay here, die slowly or quickly, or take this chance, this leap. She was about to immediately say yes when Tsu mentioned Argyle, the bit of baggage that weighed upon her every decision the knife at her back that forced her forward, never resting, always worrying. She sighed at that final remark, but maintained a grin at the collective offer. It was hard to see her life as a waste, everything she had ever done has taken her here to this moment, so in a way she couldn't have done it different and so in her mind she wouldn't have.

Pushing back on the chair and extending a hand then pulling it back in a mock salute she declared with a bit of pseudo sarcasm to take a bit of the cheesiness out of her words,

"Well then....When do we sail capn?"

 

[Tribunal Power]

The mock salute made Tsu crack a smile, and she stood as well. Straightening her tight white tank top, she stated, "Right now."

Moving around the table, she tucked her datapad into its pouch on her belt as she swept through the curtain door and into the cantina. Strolling past the empty tables to the front where Rol and Terren stood behind the dimly-lit bar, Tsu said simply, "Stay classy, you two." The two nodded and gave her a light laugh as she pushed open the door and looked back for Kess to catch up.

The sleek black speeder was parked outside the door waiting for them. Tsu slipped around the front and stepped into the driver's seat, and whether or not Kess had gotten in yet, the speeder came to life. Lifting a foot or two off the ground as the repulsors did battle with gravity, the speeder let out a warming hum that reminded Tsu of her old engine room after she put in the new tweaks. She smiled to herself, and once Kess was in, she turned the speeder toward the sky and lifted away, headed back toward the dock upon which her ship Space Heater was waiting.

The drive was quick, and her ship was secluded when they reached it. No guards, no traffic, just a lonely Barloz-class freighter on a large circular landing pad. The air speeder fit up the cargo ramp with little room to spare, so the climb was slow but steady until they were clear of the ramp and in the cargo bay. Tsu lowered the speeder, raised the ramp, and climbed out.

"Welcome to the Space Heater," Tsu said, turning to face Kess and putting her arms out to motion to the ship around her. "She's old, but she's a fighter." She made her way through the ship to the cockpit, where two seats sat at a wide angular terminal full of buttons and levers and screens. Tsu took a seat in the chair on the left and nudged the other around on its axis with her foot to face Kess.

 

[Chairdor]

Kess nodding at Tsu's quickness moved behind her. As she walked, matching the pirates brisk pace the Twi'lek felt her lekku twitch in excitement, a feeling she hadn't had in oh, twenty minutes so she was certainly due. As she passed by the two men who had helped her out she threw them a wink and a smile then turned to walk out the door with Tsu.

Once outside the Twi'lek's eyes widened as she looked over the impressive speeder before her. Sure she had stolen nicer cars, but the problem with that is you can't show them off without ending up in the slammer, so those beauties all ended up in the chop shop. Such a shame that was. So jumping in and sliding into the fine interior Kess made herself cozy as the pair sped off.

The trip was quiet and truly Kess needed the moment to breath and take sum of the breaths she made. There had been quite a shift in her life, hitting rock bottom and then getting picked up just like that. The Twi'lek remembered one, just one good foster parent she had in a long line of credit grubbers. She had always told her and the others kids these fairy tales about young princesses, princes, getting found by loving parents, ruling a kingdom with love and kindness.

Even then Kess knew that was bullshit

However, now, before this freighter, entering with a pirate who held the ear of hutts, went were she pleased, and had credits to spare. The Twi'lek felt that this might be the start of her own personal fairy tale. Albeit much less child-friendly.

As Tsu introduced the ship, Kess walked up the ramp behind her, taking a moment to lightly touch the metal of the entrance, it was cold yet it hummed lightly as the engine started up. It was in that moment that this all became real to the Twi'lek, visceral. Smiling and looking all around at the interior of the freighter she looked upon all the flashing lights and the sources of the varying sounds all about her. It was like a spice trip really, minus the headache.

Noting as Tsu sat down that she angled a chair toward her, Kess took the hint and leaped in allowing the chair to spin for a moment until it hit it's edged and whirled right back to face Tsu. Slowly friction caused the chair to stop it's sideways movement and when it did the Twi'lek looked upon the screens and levers of the ship. True she had seen ships before, but usually from the cargo hold, stashed away on smuggling runs, hiding in hallway corners with a blaster in case forged documents were detected. This was really the first cockpit she had been in, so for a moment she just studied it, taking mental picture after mental picture until at last her memory was full.

Then looking back at Tsu she asked, "So where exactly are we headed?"

 

[Tribunal Power]

The sound of the engines coming to life filled the ship with a hum and a faint vibration. The viewscreen flashed as the heads-up display came online. Tsu reached overhead and flicked a switch, lights illuminating the dock pad, and then another, underlaying lights illuminating the navigation terminal. For a moment, Tsu didn't answer her question, instead tending to helmsman duties; she snatched the commlink from its charging port on the nav console and slipped it onto her ear, pressing a key to open a comm channel with the docking station. "Space Heater to control, requesting break-away." An inaudible response was given through the commlink a moment later and Tsu reached for the throttle. Twisting a stick at her left angled the thrusters down for liftoff, and as she slowly eased the throttle, the hum and rumble of the engines intensified. Soon the viewscreen showed the pad falling from beneath them, and Tsu turned the stick again to direct the thrusters to their normal positions. The inertial dampers of the ship compensated for the pull of the g-force, and so the two sat comfortable and unmoved as the ship's engines let out a burst of energy, rocketing them into the sky.

The pale pink and blue of the late afternoon sky peeled away to a muddled grey, then a velvet black as the Space Heater fired its way through the atmosphere. Several minutes had passed now, and so Tsu plotted a course and engaged autopilot, leaning back in her chair. She rotated toward Kess and elevated her feet on a blank space on the console, and let out a sigh. "This ship," she began, motioning to the cockpit around them, "is just a freighter. A small one. Try to flag down a Mando hauler in this, I dare you. This old girl is reliable, but she's just a pistol."

She reached back beneath the console, where what appeared to be a minifridge was concealed in the plasteel. Popping the door open, she grabbed two small bottles of Corellian ale, and used the corner of the console to pop the cap. Taking a swig, she offered the other to Kess flippantly, the cold condensation dripping from the bottom of the bottle. Lowering her drink as she wiped her mouth, she said, "We're gonna go get the rifle."

 

[Chairdor]

Tsu didn't immediately respond which was fine as the ship hummed to life and she made the necessary com calls. It must have been heaven for the first ship owners, a free empty sky all to themselves, no rules, no regs, no one to answer to, but of course everyone had to flap right behind that guy and now the sky is just as clogged as every other spot in the galaxy.

Kess was impressed as she found herself physically unmoved by the thrust of the ships lift off. She wasn't expecting it so her muscles still tensed slightly as they lifted off the ground. Realizing no impact of force was coming, the Twi'lek relaxed and allowed her mind to be moved instead. Truly it was magnificent, space flight. To escape the very pull of a world, it's obsessive grasp, and be allowed to explore worlds infinitum. It certainly beat being stuck in one spot and to the criminal it had long been a life saver as she hopped from system to system fleeing wanted posters to once again be a face among millions of faces.

As the minutes went by and the pair soared first through blue sky, then clouds, then on to the dark of space, only twinkling stars telling them that they had not been swallowed whole by some hideous beast, Kess looked over to see Tsu still piloting, in complete control of the ship and he own expression. This changed as she turned to face the twi'lek and at last answered her question. Kess nodded as she suddenly thought on her circumstances and realized that while flight allowed freedom, the ship itself was a prison from which she could not escape, to leave would lead to her death. Odd how freedom and death are always so closely entangled and order and prison closer still, Kess could only hope to play in the gray area for as long as possible.

All this thought made her head hurt so the ale was taken with a sincere smile. Feeling a tad playful and perhaps forgetting the enormity of this situation for a brevity Kess performed a usual ritual when sharing a drink with someone. Bopping her bottle on Tsu's she watched as the chemical mix suddenly sprung to life as the drink began to bubble upward the activated gases springing to find freedom. Kess hoped Tsu would be quick enough to catch the extra drink, but if not Kess at least would have a laugh before possibly being chucked out of the ship. To be free at last then to die. With a wry smile she pulled back and took a long drink before finishing with a belch and saying,

"Rifle...pistol...eh ya got a nuke?"

 

[Tribunal Power]

If the clinking bothered Tsu, she certainly didn't seem to show it. In fact, she seemed in a pretty good mood; she let out a light chuckle at her comment, and before she took a long drink of her ale she conceded, "The analogy's not perfect."

A light flashed on the viewscreen, and Tsu reached up to press a large button overhead, before slumping back into her seat. The ship's speed increased dramatically, and suddenly the viewscreen flashed white as they jumped faster than light.

---

Hours passed before they arrived at their destnation, and the DSC Daedalus stretched across the viewscreen. Tsu was groggy, but awake; while her new companion was nice enough, Tsu didn't quite trust her enough to fall asleep beside her just yet. One had to be careful when dealing with the sort of people Tsu was accustomed to; while she liked to think there was honor amongst them, she was often shown otherwise, and caution had become her nature.

The Barloz-class freighter cruised aroudn the side of the station towards the docks. Tsu took control of the ship, adjusting course toward the docking bay; as she did, they passed the external docks where the larger ships linked to the Daedalus. She peered through the black of space and spotted her ship, huge and majestic, and smile with pride. "There she is," she said, motioning on the viewscreen. The Crusader-class corvette was painted a pale grey in the docklights, its ends obscured by the velvet black it floated in. Painted in orange script along the neck of the ship read No Rest For the Wicked. "Beautiful, isn't she?" Tsu said as it passed from view, the freighter entering the docking bay.

 

[Chairdor]

Kess flashed a smile as Tsu seemed to roll with the shenanigans. She remembered Argyles crew, she used to pull that all the time until one of them finally snapped. She lost a tooth out of that, but the guy lost a few fingers from all the biting so she figured she won. Still it wasn't a battle she'd like to repeat anytime soon. She liked her new smile way too much. She turned her head just in time to see light stretch out as they burst forward. Bathed in light for a moment, Kess was in awe, then after awhile she grew bored, too much of a good thing and all. Slumping back she closed her eyes, and pure light became pitch black.

As she slept Kess began to shiver, her mind bringing her back to Hoth for quite possibly the worst summer vacation ever. One of those years you just want to forget, but the very desire to forget only strengthens the memory, god minds suck. She felt the sting of the cold stretch through her soaking gloves as she rushed back to camp to get a fresh pair. She knew she'd be turned away. Knew she wouldn't get one. But she was in so much pain she had to hope beyond hope that their was an exception. Unfortunately the day proved to not be exceptional, but the same dreary gray as the Hoth sky. She was turned away, she shivered, she wept frozen tears, but she didn't die. Even if she did no one would make a fuss. People die all the time on Hoth. To survive you had to be as cold as the world.

She awoke with a start looking out to the endless stars. She was still cold and her hands automatically wrapped around her body moving up and down with a sudden anxiety, a desire for blood flow to stave off the creeping cold. Then shaking her head as her feelings and senses turned to normal she realized she had had another fever dream, another lovely side effect of spice. Putting her head down, she hoped Tsu hadn't noticed, but before she looked down completely the Twi'lek caught a flash of the massive space station before her.

Looking up with a start she saw Daedulus, a truly marvelous piece of engineering. Looking upon it, she saw only one thing. Endless opportunity for theft, a world created rather than made. Looking on to the ship Tsu mentioned Kess nodded appreciatively especially at the name. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes to make sure she had the best look, the Twi'lek said it all in four words,

"Am I still dreaming?"

 

[Tribunal Power]

Looking over to Kess as she sat up again after her nap, Tsu smiled and shook her head. "If you were, I'd probably be some beefy piece of man like Terren. Or is Rol more your type?" She gave her a wry grin as they eased into the docking bay, and dock hands approached the landing space appointed to them. A rodian fellow with two little glowsticks that reminded Tsu of tiny laserswords guided the freighter toward the space. Pulling a large lever toward herself, a heavy clunk reverberated through the ship as the large landing gear pneumatically lowered, and the ship gradually descended to the metal ground. The sound of the cabin equalizing pressures to the station filled the ship, and Tsu sat back with a huff to let the docking procedures go on. Flicking open the trans channel on her comm, she said, "Captain Tsu Ordan, of the Space Heater and No Rest for the Wicked." The man on the other end checked her in inaudibly and Tsu set the commlink back into its charging port.

Standing from her seat, she stretched strongly and began to move toward the closed cargo ramp.

 

[Chairdor]

Kess merely shook her head with some initial amusement at the answer to her question. Then inexplicably she felt the same cold wash over her. She did her best not to show it though merely grinning through as the feeling of a damp icy rag pressed randomly all over her form. It was relentless however and soon the Twi'lek had to go back into a self hug, rubbing her hands against her arms once more as Tsu went through various com channels doing, something or other Kess wasn't paying much attention at this point, too busy rubbing, too busy trying to shake the infernal cold.

As the ship sidled toward the port the Twi'lek was quite glad when it docked, a slight bump shaking her from the relatively physicsless ride. Standing and realizing she forgot to do her seat belt, Kess got a strange warm feeling to fit the pervading cold. Her arms lowered as she remembered that she'd never worn one, not for her delivery job not when she stole that really nice black speeder, it wasn't a conscious choice for her, she just didn't do it. For a long time she worried she would change with her face, but things like that, little things, kept reminding her that despite her fancy new looks, she was still nice and rotten on the inside.

With a wry grin Kess turned to Tsu and remarked, "Land Ho"

 

[Tribunal Power]

Cracking her neck, she let out a sigh and turned to look at Kess. She looked like she was coming down pretty hard; Tsu had noticed her sweating during her nap, and now she was huddling up-- probably because of the chills. Part of her wanted to take her to the infirmary to keep her from going into shock, as she once had, but Kess was a big girl and she could deal with her own shit. Turning to look at the cargo door again, she pressed the button to lower it, waiting as the pneumatic door slowly began to open. "You look terrbile," she stated with a chuckle. "I've got a room at the Dellastar Hotel over in District 5. I'll take you there so we can get cleaned up."

The ramp finally reached the ground, and Tsu took the first step, turning back to say, "Come on. We've got shit to do."