Branching out (Asteria Starcatcher)

[Ice]

[member="Asteria Starcatcher"]

Asteria took the Finality into the port and walked out to meet Ice. "Hello, sir. I hope I'm not too fashionably late to catch a 1 bedroom villa in the jungle biome am I?" She gave him a lopsided smile.


Ice

Ice smirked back as he gave her a quick once over. "You needn't be callin' me sir. I'm not your commander. Just Ice is fine." He said in a friendly tone. With a nod for her to follow him, he hopped onto a nearby skycar. "Come with me, we'll get you set up." After she was in, he flew them over to the portion of the station she was referring to. But not to the normal section of villas she seemed to be expecting. Hopping out of the vehicle, he waited for her. When she too was out, he gestured to the section of 1 bedroom villas. "Pick which one you like. It's free. You're apart of the VF after all. This place was built for our faction. As such, all those in the VF get a place to crash automatically."

Pulling out his datapad, he brought up his information on this beauty. Ice remembered her from a couple meetings and one of the battles they fought together in. Once he had gotten what he was looking for, he waited for her to make her selection so he could assign the villas to her profile. "A good section you picked. It's one of my favorites as well. This and the forest biome."


Asteria Starcatcher

Asteria hopped in and looked Ice. "Okay Ice." She liked that rather than sir, which she preferred for RC 212.

When they got to the 1-bedroom villas she selected one that was a little farther away from the others so she could have her privacy, "I'll take that one, you don't mind if I start moving in right away, right?" She looked at Ice.


Ice

He gave a quick laugh as he assigned the villas to her profile. "Of course not. Let me know if you need any help. I'm kind of bored today." He said honestly. After finishing the last of the details, he looked back toward her. "Anyway, so where can I drop you off? The docks?"


Asteria Starcatcher

"Sure, I need to gather some stuff from the Finality so the docks would be great." She smiled at Ice and held on as he turned around.


Ice

He gave a quick nod, and started heading that direction. "So I never did ask when I met you before. Whereabouts you from? If you don't mind my asking of course."

 

[Puppet Kyrios]

Asteria suddenly looked uncomfortable when he asked where she's from, and uncertainty filled her neon brown eyes, "Well..." she bit her lip hesitantly, "Could you help me move in first? I'd rather not say anything until we are in a safer place, if you know what I mean."

 

[Ice]

Ice raised an eyebrow in curiosity, but then simply nodded his head. "Of course." Without having any idea of her current situation and apparent danger level, the rest of the trip was a fairly quiet affair. At least until they had collected all of her things and made their way back to her new villas. Closing the door behind him, he brought up his data pad and assigned a security droid to patrol the general area. Nothing that would alarm anyone walking by, but an extra layer of protection just in case. A simple precaution until he knew more.

"So Asteria. Forgive me for prying a little...but with a comment like that from earlier. I must admit you have me curious. Is everything ok? Anything I should have my men on stand by for?" He finished with a small smirk.

[member="Asteria Starcatcher"]

 

[Puppet Kyrios]

She looked at [member="Ice"], "The fact is I'm not who you think I am." She hesitated, "My real name is Princess Asteria Starcatcher, heir to the Camo throne, and the last known Camo in the universe." She took a deep breath, "My people were slaughtered by Sith when we refused to help spy on the New Republic, for the planet Flague was neutral and did not want to help start a war. They took the royal family hostage and forced them to watch helplessly as their kingdom fell. They then forced me to watch my parents be beheaded. Then they gave me as a slave to one of their leaders as a trophy of their success." Asteria burst into tears at the memory, "I was only twelve." The sobs racked her body so she couldn't continue.

 

[Ice]

Ice raised an eyebrow at her initial declaration. So she was royalty? He thought curiously to himself. Now that's different. Not what he expected from one of their experienced fighters. As her tale continued, he understood why she hadn't really wanted to a say anything in public. An escaped Sith slave always had to be careful. Especially here. Granted this was probably the safest place for her considering the harsh laws in place. But there were nonetheless a lot of known powerful Sith who called this place home. You never knew who might know a friend who knows a friend who knows the "owner" of a person.

Ice moved up and wrapped an arm around her to console her some. "There there. You're fine. I mean, I'm sorry to hear about your past. That truly is terrible. But you're safe now. We take care of our own." He smiled at her warmly, hoping his meager words would help at least a little. Truly, he knew he wasn't good at this consoling thing. But he also knew nothing he really said would help much, if at all. His words wouldn't change the past. And only had a small chance to change how she felt about the people involved.

Still, he hoped the young beauty before him, would be able to work past it. Another thought came to mind. Maybe something that would be a bit more encouraging. "I'm sorry....I uh....don't mean to stay on the topic but. Are you sure you're the last? I mean. It's a big galaxy. It's extremely difficult to eradicate a whole race. Hell look at the Sith. Perhaps we could devote some resources to finding survivors or your people. There had to be plenty off planet and elsewhere when the Sith attacked. I'm sure we just need to search. What say you to that?" He waited as he looked into her teary eyes once more with a friendly smile.

[member="Asteria Starcatcher"]

 

[Puppet Kyrios]

She smiled and replied, "Yea, that's good. Thanks, but I sent my," Asteria hesitated, looking for the right word, "former owner to grave before I was old enough to give him any ideas." She took a breath knowing he would want to know she kept her nobility a secret, "Why I kept my identity a secret for is because I did not know that he had an apprentice until later that year, when the apprentice sent a bounty hunter after me to bring me back, alive. I ran from my solitude on Naboo, and found an assassin to train me for the grudge match, but I haven't found the apprentice, yet."

She looked at [member="Ice"] with enough hope to eradicate most illnesses, "Do you really think that there are more of my kind?" She smiled hopefully, "If you think so, I say yes. But please, Ice, keep my identity a secret, for my safety."

 

[Ice]

He gave her a nod in agreement. "Of course. Your secret is safe with me. As for your kind." He added with a smile. "I would truly be surprised if you were the last. Rare perhaps, but I'm sure there are more out there. I'll start putting a few feelers out there and see what I can turn up. No promises on anything coming back quickly. But you never know." He finished with a wink.

He turned toward the exceptional view the villas had to offer, and took in a deep breath as he walked onto the porch to gaze out onto the landscape. It truly was amazing to him what the terraformers were able to do. Sure this part of the station was his idea. But somehow he didn't imagine it would turn out this well. He had to give those people credit. It was such a wild and mysterious looking place. A place that could really stir you to go explore. At least that was how he felt. Course Ice was a little biased.

Coming back from his thoughts, he asked over his shoulder. "So how are you finding working with the Valhallan Feds? Everyone been easy enough to get along with?" Somehow he doubted she had a hard time. But who knows.

[member="Asteria Starcatcher"]

 

[Puppet Kyrios]

She smiled, this time it was genuine, and she blushed blue with hope, "I know I can trust you, [member="Ice"]." And she meant it, Ice had become a friend, not a person who pretended to be one, a real friend.

"I'm actually getting along fine, thank you for asking. Everyone can be so nice." Then she stood up and walked over to Ice, "How's business been here on the Libertalia? If you are ever in need of assistance, message me and I'll be there as soon as possible." She smiled as if the pain of her memories had gone away, "Anything for a friend."

 

[Ice]

He smiled at her kind words. It wasn't often he just got to chat with his people. Normally, it was all business and very impersonal. Here in the villas, it almost felt like he was helping an old friend move into her new apartment. Ok, so a good looking friend. But technically still just a friend. They hadn't really had the chance to get to know each other much beyond that after all. Still it was strange to Ice. She was a sweetheart, and yet he knew she was one of their more aggressive fighters. How interesting it was how people could have two personalities when they needed it. One off the battlefield, and one for when they were on it.

"Business has been good. We've gotten a good number of the upper echelon of society calling the place their home. Even after paying all my initial investors off and splitting the profits, the business still manage to bring in quite a few credits. As for assistance, I appreciate it. If I think of something, I'll give you a hollar. Maybe next weapon I put out, I'll get you in on the testing phase eh?" He said happily, gently nudging her shoulder with his as he then turned back out toward the view. A smile still plainly on his face.

"Well, I think I'm going to get a drink. Would you care to join me at the cantina? Or would it be all right if I just brought something over? Then we could keep getting stuff organized around here, if ya like."

[member="Asteria Starcatcher"]

 

[Puppet Kyrios]

Asteria smiled, "Hmm.. I think I'll take you up on that. A drink sounds great."

[member="Ice"]

 

[Ice]

"Alright. I'll have something brought up." Bringing up his datapad, he sent a message to the staff to bring up a bottle of Corellian Whiskey. One of his favorites. "I think I'm having some whiskey. How about you? What's your poison?"

[member="Asteria Starcatcher"]

 

[Puppet Kyrios]

"Hmm... What do you suggest, [member="Ice"]?" She preferred wine made from her Wikinia fruit tree on Naboo, bit she needed to start trying new drinks other than water and Wikinia wine.

 

[Ice]

He let out a quick laugh. "Oh good lord. I have no idea what to suggest for you yet. What do you prefer to drink? See for me, I tend to prefer harder alcohol or strong mixed drinks like a Reactor Core or a Meltdown, minus the spice though. That stuff will melt down your brain. Though I guess that's probably where they got the name." He chuckled in a realization. "Here. I'll pass you a small list of stuff you might find interesting."

On her datapad, would now show a list of many types of alcoholic beverages they could make, or simply had on the station. It wasn't a complete list, not by a longshot. But it was a start. A sudden smirk began to play on his face. "How about we play a drinking game? It's been a good while since I've been able to just let loose and relax. Find something on there that catches your fancy, and we'll play. What say you?"

[member="Asteria Starcatcher"]

 

[Puppet Kyrios]

So many choices, "I'll take the Correllian red." She closed her datapad set it on the coffee table, "So what's this game you're talking about?" She picked up her weaponry rack and placed it on the wall near her bedroom.

[member="Ice"]

 

[Ice]

Ice nodded and put in the order. It would only take a matter of a couple minutes for the staff to arrive. Within the order though, he had also requested a few extra items. Following her toward the wall, he smirked and gave a wink as he pulled a small pistol off the rack and handed it to her. Nodding back toward the balcony, he walked to there. Ice cast a glance down below and noted there wasn't anyone around that particular area.

"Your one of our mercs. I'm assuming that means you can shoot yes?" There was a bit of a challenge to his tone as he eyed the woman playfully. Pulling out the pistol he carried on his hip, he flipped it around a couple times and then pointed outside the balcony with it. "We throw an object out there. You miss. You take a shot." Turning toward her with a daring grin he finally added. "Last person standing wins."

[member="Asteria Starcatcher"]

 

[Puppet Kyrios]

Asteria smiled back, she knew she was a good shot, but she hadn't seen [member="Ice"] on the battlefield, yet. "Sounds exciting. You first, or me first, Ice? I've got some tin cans around here somewhere."

Asteria went over to one of her small boxes and opened it up, revealing junk, spare parts for random stuff, all stuffed in tin cans. She turned around and smiled mischievously.

 

[Ice]

"Ladies first of course." He said with an equally mischievous grin. "Though don't worry about emptying the tin cans. I got some clay pigeons coming with the drinks. After all, we got Shooter's Ridge below us. Plenty of shooting supplies in hand."

It was about that time a knock at the door signalled the arrival of the items. Ice took them carefully from the droid. "Thank you." He finished, then closing the door, turned to Asteria. "So...ready to get your rear beat at target practice?" He challenged playfully.

[member="Asteria Starcatcher"]

 

[Puppet Kyrios]

Asteria raised an eyebrow at the comment, "Are you?" She couldn't help but smile another mischievous grin, her eyes challenging [member="Ice"] in a playful way. She took out her pistol and spun it around her forefinger.

 

[Ice]

"Hmph! We'll see." He countered. Though it was obvious he was anything but offended. Picking up the whiskey, he poured two shot glasses worth. But then poured her a glass of the Corellia Red, just in case she really did end up wiping the floor with him. No sense she should miss out in the drink entirely.

Ice turned on his sheer silence device to make sure his other guests wouldn't be disturbed by the shooting.

"All right, you ready?" He asked as he picked up the first clay pigeon. "Here you go!" Ice finished as he lobbed the clay pigeon from the balcony. He managed to put just a bit of spin on it, so it began to angle away from its original straight trajectory.

[member="Asteria Starcatcher"]

 

[Puppet Kyrios]

Asteria aimed and shot the pigeon in the wing instead of what she was aiming at, the body, and watched it plummet down. She turned towards [member="Ice"], "So is that one point for me?"