Var stripped off her mother's armor in the engineering bay and piled it beside Rel's pack, for lack of a better place to put it. They hadn't exactly been assigned rooms by the butler. She suppressed a shiver as the dark clothing next to her skin cooled to room temperature. She felt naked after wearing the armor all day. Var took her holstered blaster and tucked it in Rel's pack for safekeeping. No sense in tromping around like a specter of doom, frightening the shipload of terrorist criminals. Var smiled to herself, but she didn't feel amused. Rebel - Imperial - what side was she on, anyway? What side was the ship? Did it matter?

Only if it gets my ass shot off, she decided. But if she and Rel stayed with Viridian, that was a distinct possibility.

Var wrinkled her nose. Mom and dad wouldn't throw in with a renegade admiral against the Imperial Navy. Mom and dad wouldn't have lost their damn ship and needed transport. Frack, mom and dad would have been a lot smarter than to paint the giant red bullseye on her back that caused all her trouble in the first place.

Kark on them. They should have known better than to die and leave me in charge. I'm doing this my way. Time to have a chat with the Admiral.

Var caught her reflection in one of the SoroSuub's panels as she headed for the door. She looked like she desperately needed a long shower and 10 hours of rack time. Var pulled a face and fussed with her hair, trying to undo the damage of spending half the day stuffed in a helmet.

Someone approached the door to the engineering room and Var broke away from the panel. She'd never hear the end of it if Rel caught her checking herself out in the shiny surface of the diagnostic array. The door slid open as she approached and she nearly collided with a young man in a dirty technician's jumpsuit. Human. Finally.

"Is there a 'fresher down here?" he asked.

"No, you want the main deck." Var pointed up. "It's the second door on the left once you get out of the lift."

"Thanks." He smiled. He had nice eyes. He looked past her into the room. "Wow. Impressive equipment."

Figures. One cute human male of the right age on this boat and he has to be a techie. Var suppressed a sigh. "Don't let my sister catch you ogling her territory. She bites, and our parents didn't complete her immunization package."

"The short kid working on the gun in the cargo bay?"

"That's Rel. I'm Var." She put out her hand to shake his. He had a good grip. If techies had a redeeming quality, it was that they were usually skilled with their hands.

"Seth. You're the bounty hunter."

"Yeah." Var advanced on him and he backpedaled, trying to maintain his personal space. She maneuvered him out of the doorway. The door slid shut behind her. "Relax, I'm out of binders."

He laughed. "I'm pretty sure I'm not wanted for anything."

"Really?" Var purred. She cocked her head. "What a shame. Could have been fun to catch you."

Seth colored a little. Var was amused.

Yeah, you go on about your inertial hyperlight computer field whatchamacallit thingys. I've got a power coupling you wouldn't believe.

There were just a few problems. First off, the best place to bork a techie on a ship was engineering. They loved having all that machinery around for some reason. But Rel would probably yell at her afterwards.

Second, they were stuck on this ship for twelve hours and he might try to have an actual conversation. Techies had the irritating tendency to want to fix things and they got attached way too easy. Twelve hours was eleven hours too long to spend with this guy. Var much preferred fighter pilots. Pilots didn't care if the wiring was a little faulty as long as the equipment worked as expected, they didn't overthink things, they were good at taking orders, they were used to small bunks, and they could pack up their stuff and be gone in fifteen minutes without any hassle. The best ones made the bed to regulation standards afterwards.

And third, she was tired. The only thing she had the energy to sleep with was a fresh change of clothes, if she owned any.

"I did steal a power generator once, but I didn't get caught so technically I'm not wanted for it. I could turn myself in," Seth suggested. "You sure you're out of binders?"

He did have nice eyes. Pity about the brains. "Sorry, Seth. You need to have something on your head to get my attention." Var tapped him on the nose, smiled, and slipped around him, past the medical closet to the lift. "'Fresher is this way. I was serious about Rel, by the way. She has an undiagnosed disorder and the doctors say she carries Bandonian Plague and is a vector for flesh eating bacteria, among other things. I'm escorting her to a medical center for another examination."

Seth followed her into the lift. "That's terrible. I heard your parents died."

"Yeah. Rel bit them."

Seth looked alarmed. "She bit them?"

"Don't worry," Var assured him. "I have a muzzle if she throws one of her fits."

The lift door opened. Var followed Seth into the corridor.

"Nice to meet you, Seth. Don't make my sister angry, and don't get any of her bodily fluids on you. It's an ugly way to die."

"I'll keep that in mind," he replied, and headed for the 'fresher with a worried expression on his face.

Var hummed a happy little song to herself and crossed the thick carpeting to the bridge in her socks. Now the techies would stay out of engineering and they'd do anything Rel asked for fear of upsetting her. Brilliant. Rel wouldn't be appreciative if she figured it out, but Var was entertained. It was almost as good as sex.

Corric Viridian sat in the plush leather captain's chair, silhouetted against the blue glow of hyperspace. His attention was on the Privilege's controls as she approached silently, not wishing to interrupt. She took a position on the edge of his peripheral vision and waited, hands clasped behind her back. She recognized her posture and grimaced, choosing instead to fold her arms over her chest and shift her weight to one hip. Dad hated it when she slouched. He never understood why she couldn't remember a simple at ease standing position. It took independence, Var thought, to recognize the expectations of command and then deliberately defy them. The smallest acts of the sheep defined the herd. So she slouched. If it was mistaken for stupidity or sloth, it wasn't her problem.

Viridian's aura of command was stronger and more polished than her father's. He'd probably dealt with thousands of sentients in his Imperial career and he wouldn't have risen to his rank without being a keen judge of people. He was accustomed to having his expectations met, one way or another, and that meant it was all the more important to establish her independence from the start. So she slouched. If she judged him right, he'd figure it out.

Var could tell Viridian was no fool. The question was, exactly how much bantha shit could she feed him, and what percentage of the truth had he earned?

--

Viridian sighed as he began re-entering the initial hyperspace jump plots into his datapad for the third time. You are either getting old, or you are getting sloppy, you old derelict, he thought. Probably both, with a good measure of fatigue thrown into the mix for flavor. Of course, having fresh young leftenants doing most of the work for you, even under the watchful eye of a helpful senior chief petty officer, hasn't helped you keep the edge on your skills either. And these courses! Add double dog-legs on the next two jumps or even an idiot like Ozzel will track you down, Viridian.

An unusual smell alerted Viridian to the presence of another person on the bridge. Glancing around, he noticed the young bounty hunter standing there. You have spent too much time alone on this ship when you can notice someone else by a simple scent change, he thought. Noticing she was standing almost on top the stain where what was left of Lt. Valton's body had come to rest, Viridian casually double- checked the safety on the bridge defenses. He hardly knew any of the refugees aboard his ship, but he really didn't want to have see any of them die in such a fashion. Note to self: Acquire a new U5 housekeeping droid ASAP, preferably one with the floor scrubbing option.

Taking a second look at his late night visitor, he noticed she was unarmored, and interestingly, not obviously armed. Viridian shifted slightly enviously, as his damn blaster pistol had been digging into his leg ever since they boosted out from the shipping company. Note to self: Learn how to wear a holster again, Cadet. She looks tired, he thought, but the slouch is deliberate. Curious. The fatigue was a matter of some concern, though. He had hoped she would be fresh enough to monitor the controls while he got some sleep, and maybe a swim. I wonder if any of the others are certified pilots? Note to self: Find out some skill sets.

Looks like all of us are in for short naps.

Turning back to his datapad to add his notes, Viridian asked "And what can I do for you this evening, Ms. Theslin?"

--

Var scrubbed the ugly stain with one toe and wrinkled her nose. Light colored carpet was so impractical. Hell, the whole ship was impractical.

"You look busy so I'll make this quick. You have a gun that needs to be installed. Rel and I need to get to Ghambeezi Drift. I figure you owe us two favors already, but if you can get us where we need to go, I'll call it even. Deal?"

Var held her breath, but tried not to look like she was holding her breath. It probably wasn't smart to try to bully a former admiral, but he wasn't in a good bargaining position.

--

"Ghambeezi...Drift? The Admiral looked puzzled. He turned halfway to the console before his protocol circuits kicked in. "Please, sit down and relax a moment," he said while gesturing towards the co-pilot's chair. "Despite the whispered stories of a few young ensigns I very rarely eat the flesh of the young." He chuckled and thought to himself, only the stupid and willfully incompetent.

It took Viridian a short while to find the entry and starmap location for Ghambeezi. It was...remote. "It would add another three or four days travel time, but is still within the limits of Privilege's endurance. What, may I inquire, were you hoping to find out there, other than perhaps a very dark hole to hide in?"

-- Var slid into the co-pilot's chair and folded one of her legs beneath her. She resisted the urge to smile at Viridian's joke, but she found herself warming to the older man just the same. He did have style.

"Nah. I'm going there to sacrifice Rel to a vengeful deity to end the blood curse on our family. Don't tell her - she thinks I'm taking her to an amusement park." The lie came out smoothly, without thought. Var felt her mouth twist. She shook her head. "I'm trying to locate relatives who might be able to take in Rel. The herglic had some information that puts them at Ghambeezi. If you can get us there Rel will make sure your ship is in order, and I can help with the piloting, and possibly other things." Var looked at Viridian. "They haven't issued a contract for you, yet, if you were wondering. That's good news and bad news. Of course, you still have at least one person on the ship with a price on their head."

--

"Ah, yes. The enigmatic Lady Sumna. She who annoyed a Hutt enough that it would unclench its fist from its wallet. There is also Lady Lovelace, whose vile, seditious works have left her on the Imperial Wanted List. And Master Than, who goes around talking about a defunct religious philosophy which can have battalions of stormtroopers dropped on the merest hint of its existence. Also, Scout Killarawarr, who is technically an escaped slave, but who could also be charged with being AWOL from the Explorer Corps, as well as being in possession of a stolen Republic, now Imperial, scout ship. We also have Delta, a rogue combat reconnaisance droid, whose new-found freedom is a memory wipe away. And finally myself, who the Empire will try to deal with quietly, at least at first. Wouldn't want to upset too many of the officer corps in the Fleet, don't you know. Bad for morale. All in all, one could make a tidy sum if we were all rounded up at once," said the Admiral.

Viridian looked up from his datapad and locked his gaze on Var. "Once we offload the guests you picked up on Ord Mandell, that really only leaves you and your sister. A bounty hunter with a sibling you are trying to find a safe, remote place for. Putting aside the fact it will take at least a day on land to wheel the blaster assembly out of the hold and install it under the ship, plus another day or two to adjust the hull plating to allow for a drop turret, what reason do I have to trust the one person who can easily make a lot of money doing her job and following her to some remote little hole in the wall."

--

"Bad crowd you've fallen in with." Var agreed, nodding. "Guess it's in your best interest to have an actual legal citizen in the mix. Someone who won't get nabbed the first time they try to get past a checkpoint, or spout off about rock worshiping or something."

She dug out her IPKC from a pocket and slapped it on the console. "Run it if you want. Doesn't matter to me. You can believe me or not, but I don't give a flaming nerf turd about you, your problems, or whatever criminal psychotics you want to keep company with. All I care about is getting Rel to Ghambeezi. And if I had any interest in trying to capitalize on this spoggick-kark of an adventure, I would say, 'Thanks very much for the ride, mister,' and I would get off at Taris, and then I would round up some backup and hunt you down. Or I'd take you hostage right now and get a fancy ship as a souvenir. Whatever. But I sure as hell wouldn't sit down with you, unarmored, unarmed, and discuss the finer points of being a fugitive.

Var propped her foot on the console and stifled a yawn. "Look, you've pissed off the entire star-fracking Imperial Fleet, and they will blow this ship to dar'yaim without caring who is caught in the crossfire. I am choosing sides and I am betting my life, and more importantly Rel's life, on your ability to get us to Ghambeezi. If you need more convincing than that, well, I'm borked."

--

And yet the two of them could get off at any time and catch a normal civilian transport to Ghambeezi, Viridian thought. It might take a month to find the right connections, but she is willing to ride along with the highest ranking target drone this side of the Core. Curious. And she could probably take your ship, Viridian. By the time you could draw the damn blaster from under your ass she could do about five laps of the bridge.

Turning back to the console, the Admiral replied, "Very well Ms. Theslin, you have a deal. I'll need you to relieve me here in three hours so you had best get a hot shower and some rest. You can use cabin three, next to the galley. Feel free to move Leftenant Valton's equipment to make room for yourself."

While I sit here and try to stay awake through another three bloody hours of hyperspace plots. Maybe I can get CF7 to try and make a decent cup of coffee.

--

Well, that was easy enough.

Var extricated herself from the chair, retrieved her IPKC card and gave Viridian a slightly mocking salute. "Yes sir. Three hours."

She began to leave but stopped. "Thanks."

Var padded down the aisle to the cabin, avoiding the dark spot on the carpet. Maybe it would work.