Private Burc'ya vaal burk'yc, burc'ya veman.

[Tessa Thayne]

Tessa sat in the cockpit of the Relentless, her boots resting on the console as sheets of rain rolled over the view port, blurring Nar Shadda’s busy hangars from view, somewhere a radio was playing, the steady beat of background music made her foot bounce slightly as she thumbed her way through the holonet, eyes scanning new articles picking between the lines to try and find the truth of what was being reported, sipping a cup of caff.

Coruscant had fallen to the Covenant. The Sith Order had ambushed the High Republic at Mooja, skirmishes with the Imperial Confederation had broken out, not just with the republic but the Covenant. The galaxy was on the brink of a full scale war and it didn’t take a genius to figure that out, the question was where would it finally break? And what side would they fall on?

A chime sounded, making her drop her feet, sitting up and setting the datapad to one side her gaze flicked over the display. She’d tapped into Nar Shadda’s security channels as soon as they’d landed, it never hurt to have an ear to the ground. Especially in places where she knew corruption ran rampant.

[SECURITY ALERT: Firefight on Lower level 26.
Possible force wielder in play.
All nearby units respond.]​

“Shit.” She reached for the comms. “Adelle, should I be concerned that a security alert just went city wide for a force user causing trouble?”


Adelle Bastiel

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Tessa Thayne

What in Corellia’s Nine hells?

How in Corellia’s Nine hells?

Adelle extinguished the blade of her saber as the body fell and ran into an alley, cutting through city blocks and moving up and down levels. This was supposed to have been an easy task: meet with the information broker, haggle a bit, get the information, leave. She had arrived at the designated location. The broker had showed with a couple bodyguards. They talked and began negotiations. And then suddenly the broker and his guards were dead. Now she was running from well-trained, armed thugs. What in the fething hells was going on?

::Adelle, should I be concerned that a security alert just went city wide for a force user causing trouble?::

City-wide security alert. Osik.

She finished scaling the ladder up to the next rooftop, pulling out her comlink. This was the first time she actually missed wearing her buy’ce.

“In my defense,” she said a little breathlessly, dropping into a roll onto an adjacent ledge, “I didn’t start it and it was self-defense.”

A flash of phantom heat on her face made her flatten against the duracrete as a bolt lanced through the air where her head was just a second before. Kriff, she regretted opting for subtlety and anonymity instead of Mandalorian intimidation. Her beskar’gam would’ve been handy just about now.

“How fast can you get that ship ready to go?” she asked. “I’m trying to lose them but just in case.”

 

[Tessa Thayne]

The breathlessness was enough to make Tessa move, her hands moving over panels and consoles, bringing the ship to life, a wry grin on her face as the sound of a blaster bolt echoed behind Adelle's voice. She wasn't the leats bit concerned for Adelle's safety, not because she didn't care, but because she was Mandalorian and there wasn't a soul who existed in the depths of this osik'la city that had a hope in hell of taking her out.

"Why do I get the feeling that you are just a magnet for trouble?" she replied, the soft hum of the ships engines warming under her feet. "She'll be ready in five, I'll see if I can throw them off your scent."

She drained the rest of her caff, balancing the empty mug on the top of the console before cracking her fingers as pre-flight checks cycled on her screen she swiped them to one side and began typing, throwing false reports into the system pulling Nar Shadda's security in different directions, wiping her digital finger from the lines after each report. If they had a half decent slicer on their payroll then they would trace her withing a few minutes, but she only needed a few minutes.

"Don't worry about losing a tail, just get your sheb back here, Nar Shadda security forces are about as corrupt as they come, I have no issue killing them."

Adelle Bastiel

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Tessa Thayne

“If you think this is bad, you should see me in a bar.” Adelle dropped into a roll onto the main walkway, then tried to use the crowd to cover her tracks between herself and the security converging on her. “Actually, no you shouldn’t.”

At Tess’s order to forget security and just head for the ship, Adelle couldn’t help herself. “If you wanted my shebs that badly, all you had to do was ask. On my way.”

She pocketed the commlink and broke into a run again, now having to weave through people. While it did slow her down, hopefully it also meant that no one could take a shot at her. Which really meant nothing with corrupt security but there was a slim hope. Adelle flipped over a speeder bike that came out of an intersection and kept running, the driver yelling behind her.

A phantom fist connected with her head and she dipped into slide past the next alley under the arm that shot out. Adelle spared a glance at the Duros that stormed out after his failed attempt as she got her feet under her again. A human pushed himself off the wall as a Klatooinian joined him out of the crowd, vibroknives flashing in their hands. Kriff me. Adelle didn’t slow. As they swiped at her, she leapt over them and kept running.

After that, it took very little time to make her way back to the hangar the Relentless sat in, engines alive and ship waiting. Adelle sprinted up the ramp and only finally came to a stop at the top of it.

“We’re good! Kriff me, I do a lot of running for fun,” Adelle said, panting, “but even that was too much.”

 

[Tessa Thayne]

“Oh no, I definitely should.” She replied with a grin as the ship thrummed to life, the navicomp lighting up as she flung a message to port control to let them know she was leaving. They’d have an approved flight path out before Adelle got back, or Tessa would be flying out with an angry weequay screaming at her in huttese.

Either way they were leaving.

A laugh escaped her at Adelle’s next comment. “Cyar'ika, if I knew it was that easy, I would have asked sooner.”

The engines hummed beneath her, the echo of Adelle’s boots hitting the landing ramp was enough for her to take off, the landing ramping closing slowly as Adelle caught her breath. The comms exploded in a chatter of huttese, demanding she return to her docking bay and receive port security.

“Yeah, that’s not happening.” she muttered, reaching over to flick the comms of, silencing the following tirade of insults. “Port Control are pissed,” she called back, “You might want to get up here and strap in in case they decide to do something about it.”

She shifted power to the rear deflector shields, just in case, and angled the Relentless’s nose skywards, weaving her around incoming traffic with ease. The ship shuddered as a turret shot slammed into the deflector shields and Tess shook her head.

“So fething predictable.” she muttered, pushing the Relentless forward in a burst of speed as they cleared the skyline, breaking atmosphere. As the navicomp finished its calculations for their jump, checking sensors to make sure they weren’t being followed.

“So, who did you piss off?” she asked with a smirk as Adelle joined her.

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Tessa Thayne

The decking shifted underneath Adelle’s feet as the ship lifted up into the air, ramp closing up behind her. She looked back over her shoulder but didn’t see the three thugs she had encountered on her run back. Good. And worrying. It was either an ambush of opportunity—and most criminals only considered easy marks, not someone already in a full-blown sprint—or it had been planned and they’d been ordered not to pursue. If they’d been ordered not to pursue, it meant their boss or whoever called the hit knew they’d get another chance later on.

It meant she was a known entity. Patterns, habits, routines, all of them liabilities now.

“Port Control are pissed,” she called back, “You might want to get up here and strap in in case they decide to do something about it.”

Adelle strode up to the cockpit at Tess’s call, air chilling her shirt even as droplets of hot sweat continued to run down her skin. She slumped into the copilot’s chair, bringing the safety belts over her shoulders.

“Are they ever happy?” Adelle asked sarcastically. This tracked from the few times she had to come here as a Jedi and with CorSec, although they were marginally politer with CorSec. Tess’s hands moved over the controls with a practiced deftness, already adjusting deflector shields, and pulled the Relentless into the air. The ship shuddered once, the sound of turret fire traveling through the corridors. Acceleration pushed her spine back into her chair as Tess rushed the freighter into orbit and angled for a jump into hyperspace.

“That’s the thing,” Adelle said, frowning at the viewport. “I don’t know.”

She hadn’t told Tess why she needed help getting to Nar Shaddaa in the first place: information brokering needed secrecy by necessity. The burner comlink she’d used to arrange everything had been encrypted, its location layered by several false frequencies, and then wiped clean before being destroyed. But op-sec was out the viewport now.

“I was meeting with an information broker,” she explained. “Kept everything quiet on my end—sorry about that. We met, we started negotiating, and the next thing I know, he and his two bodyguards are dead and I now have Narsh Security on my shebs.”

That was a problem she’d have to sort out before she continued the hunt for Krayt’s connections and potential employer. Later. That had been enough work for one day. Adelle unbuckled the harness and stretched out her spine.

“I do know one thing though.”

She flashed Tess a mischievous smirk. “Call me cyar’ika again and you can ask me for anything you want.”

 

[Tessa Thayne]

The navicomputer chimed and Tessa wasted no time activating the hyperdrive, the stars stretching into lines before giving way to the blue glow of hyperspace. They'd gotten away cleanly, a little too clean if Tessa was honest, she'd have to keep an ear to the ground see if anything rumbled along underground lines regarding a force user and a YT series. She very much doubted they'd heard the end of this.

"No need to apologise, if I had issue with no questions asked I wouldn't have brought you here in the first place." she slipped out of her own webbing a sly smirk playing across her lips as she rose, moving toward the cockpit door, her hand brushing Adelle's shoulder as she passed.

"Noted, I'll keep that one in my back pocket for later." she murmured as she went, heading down to the ships galley and flicking the caff pot to life.

"Do you want a hand digging into this? The underground is where I live and Crimson Dawn has connections I can make use of." She turned to lean on the side, the trickle of the caff pot filling behind her rapidly filling the ship with a rich aroma that said Tessa did not skimp on her caff of choice.

"I also understand if you want to keep whatever it is you're chasing close to your chest." she added with a smile.

Adelle Bastiel

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Tessa Thayne

Tess’s fingers brushed over Adelle’s shoulder as she passed, her voice low. Adelle clenched her jaw for a brief moment before leaving her seat. It had been too long if that made her heart beat just a little faster.

“Tease,” Adelle accused playfully, following the smuggler further into the ship. She leaned against a bulkhead, arms crossed over her chest as Tess started the caff machine and offered help.

On the one hand, more underworld connections would be good. She had lost access to all the contacts she’d had through CorSec years ago, and the only other point of contact she’d tried to make turned out to be a fething Sith. That had yet to pan out and she didn’t have high hopes.

On the other hand… Krayt had been cruel in his attempt to recapture her. Anyone that had ever helped her had been punished. No matter how thin or brief the connection to her was. And she had no idea if whoever he had been working for was the same. Or worse.

“The help would be nice,” she said slowly. “But I don’t feel right asking you to help with this. The person or people I’m hunting are… You’d be taking a big risk for someone you’ve only just met.”

Adelle nodded at the caf machine. “Did you make enough to share?”

 

[Tessa Thayne]

Tess could practically hear the cogs turning in Adelle's mind as she mulled over the offer of help, she understood, they didn't know each other and whatever Adelle was caught up in was clearly something important to her. Trust was not something easily passed around, or at least that was what she thought the heistation was. when it turned out to be concern for Tessa's wellbeing.

She laughed.

"Ok, first of all, you didn't ask, I offered." She turned, reaching to pull a set of mugs from the cabinet as the last of the caff dripped into the pot. "Secondly, I take big risks everyday for lesser people than you."

She glanced over her shoulder with a small smirk. "I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself."

Tess turned back to the mugs, filling each of them before lifting both and turning fully and moving to press one into Adelle's hands.

"I always make enough caff to share."

Taking a sip, she remained deliberately in Adelle's space for a beat more than was necessary, her eyes flicking once over her before she took a sip and moved to the small table anchored in the opposite wall, her smirk widening.

Adelle Bastiel

​

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Tessa Thayne

Laughter hadn’t been the expected response but Adelle supposed there were worse reactions. And Tess did make good points, even if Adelle didn’t like it. ‘Lesser people than you’ especially didn’t sit well. That implied taking a risk on her behalf was worth it. Old guilt gnawed at the back of her mind, even as Tess reassured her that the smuggler could, in fact, handle it. A vague metallic scent drifted in the air.

But she didn’t know Krayt. She didn’t know about Rizzala’s death. Or Rishii’s. Or Astra’s. Or Prahnk’s or—

The bitter, earthy tang of caf hit her hard enough to stop the spiral. Tess passed a mug into her hands, the hot ceramic helping ground her. For a moment, the air was filled with the scents of petrichor, cheap alcohol, and caff that didn’t belong to a fresh made cup, as Tess glanced over her while still standing very close, a knowing glint in her eyes. She took a sip before finally moving away, mischief in that smirk of hers, leaving behind only the scent of properly strong caf and the coppery scent Adelle had caught before.

At Adelle’s feet, Phantom chirped and rubbed her head against Adelle’s shins.

“You play dangerous games,” Adelle said, a light-hearted warning in her tone. “Look at me like that again and I’ll think you’re thirsty for more than caf.”

She took a drink of the scalding liquid, as a bead of hot sweat trickled down the front of her shirt. It was strong, stronger than most sentients liked their caf. Adelle hummed appreciatively.

“Oh that’s good,” she said.

The damp fabric of her shirt shifted and air brushed against her skin as she moved to stand opposite Tess by the table. Adelle stopped abruptly and finally examined her shirt. A large tear split the dark fabric from her right side to near the middle. The folds of the tunic had kept it unnoticeable. The copper scent was stronger now.

“Feth, I actually liked this shirt,” she hissed. “I don’t suppose you’ve got one spare.”

Her fingertips came away red. Something started to burn on her ribcage. Adelle spat another curse under her breath and sat the mug down on the table, turning away to check the wound. Of course one of the thugs got lucky with his swing. A shallow but wide gash cut across her sixth rib bone, ending just shy of the sternum.

“I’m going to need your medkit too,” she said with a sigh. Just her luck.

 

[Tessa Thayne]

Adelle's comment earned a chuckle from Tessa as she set her own mug on the table. "I honestly have no idea what you're talking about." she replied with mock innocence, glancing back towards Adelle as she let out an appreciative hum at her caff. Her eyes drawn down to the feline Phantom as she chirped affectionately at Adelle's feet. She had almost made it to sitting when Adelle cursed, requesting a spare shirt.

"Sure." she made to move towards her quarters when another curse made her look back, catching a glimpse of glistening red before Adelle turned her back to her. Tessa didn't hesitate, yanking open an overhead cupboard and pulling the medkit free, moving back to the table she moved the caff cups out of the way and set the kit down, unzipping it and tearing open a gauze pack.

Moving in front of Adelle she slipped her hand over wound, pressing it into place. "Sit down. Shirt off, I can't help you if you're going to chose this moment to be modest." Whatever amusement lingered in her tone was not entirely reflected in her face, instead it was full of concern, her eyes on the wound. How the feth had she not noticed? Her jaw tightened slightly, recalling her mother own instinctive use of the force to keep pain at bay.

"Do we need to check the rest of you?" She was only half joking.

Adelle Bastiel

​

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Tessa Thayne

Tess was quick with a medkit, pulling out gauze and placing it on the injury. Adelle scoffed at the comment about modesty.

“Please, I’m a healer and I’ve worked battlefields,” she said, reaching for the hem of her shirt. “My sense of modesty is only slightly better than my sense of pain.”

Adelle pulled the shirt off, careful to keep the blood-soaked portion away from the rest of her skin. Scrubbing blood off of her face wasn’t something she particularly enjoyed doing. She lifted her arm and carefully looked at the gash before Tess pushed gauze back on it to stop the bleeding.

“This should be the only hit,” Adelle muttered, more focused on assessing the damage. Her initial thought was correct: the injury was shallow but wide, thanks to the vibrations made by a vibroknife. She’d need to close it first before putting a bacta patch on it.

“Fething vibroknives. I thought I avoided it.” She looked through the medkit, careful to keep everything in its place. The last thing anyone needed was to have their medkit disorganized or even reorganized by someone else. “Do you have quick sutures or something to close it? I need to do that before slapping a bacta patch on it.”

 

[Tessa Thayne]

Sapphire eyes lifted to Adelle's face with a wicked grin at her comment about modesty and pain before she reached for the hem of her shirt and pulled it carefully free before Tessa move in again to press the gauze back against the wound.

"Well, at least we know your assailant looks after his blades, if it had been blunt, it would have been far worse. And you definitely would have felt it sooner, warped sense of pain or not. Hold the gauze, I'll get the suture kit."

She stepped away. "And stop saying "I", I'm literally right here, I've got you. I'm not gonna let you stitch yourself up on my ship, thank you very much." She shifted back in front of Adelle, setting the suture kit and antiseptic wipes down at the tables edge where she could reach them before settling onto her knees between Adelle's to bring the wound to eye level.

She lifted the gauze away, her focus shifting from casual flirting to gentle care of the wound, cleaning it gently before beginning to carefully stitch it.

"You know," she began her eyes flicking upwards once, that mischievous glint returned briefly "Normally, I'd expect a few drinks at the very least before I sit between a woman's legs, you should consider yourself lucky. You get all this goodness for free." She winked before focusing back on the stitches, her hands steady, moving with experience as she carefully threaded the needle through the skin, closing the wound.

Adelle Bastiel

​

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Tessa Thayne

Tessa, it seemed, was an experienced hand at taking care of injuries like this. Adelle gave the smuggler a look though when she berated her for saying ‘I’.

“I didn’t realize you were a doctor and a smuggler,” she said, sarcasm heavy on her tongue. Guilt was quick on its heels. “Sorry, I— Thank you.”

Apparently two years on her own had seen bad habits pop up in her life again. She thought she had gotten better about asking for help when she needed it.

The wicked gleam in Tessa’s eyes didn’t go unnoticed. Especially not with what she followed it up with. Adelle dryly raised an eyebrow, an amused half-smile on her face.

“How very lucky indeed. Definitely lucky you have such skilled fingers.” Adelle watched Tessa work for a moment. “I’ll have to make it up to you. First round of whatever poison you prefer at whatever bar you prefer. Then, with my luck, you’ll get drinks and a show.”

 

[Tessa Thayne]

The sarcasm drew a chuckle from her, waving the apology away with a shake of her head. "It's ok, I get it." she tied the final stitch and sat back on her heels for a moment to check her work. "I'm a smuggler who flies solo eighty precent of the time, knowing how to field dress and stitch a wound can mean the difference between life and death on a job."

She shifted, dropping the needle and remaining thread onto the used gauze, picking out a wipe to clean the area before pressing a bacta bandage over it, looking back up at Adelle as she did.

"Drink and a show, huh?" she smiled. "Sounds like my idea of a good time." She got to her feet, collecting the waste tossing it into a canister. "Let me grab you a shirt." She left Adelle for a moment, slipping into her quarters, washing her hands in the basin before rummaging through to grab a simple shirt with a v-neckline, handing it to her with one hand she snatched up her abandoned caff with the other taking a sip before setting it back down.

"Most of the bars I know are smuggler dens and I wouldn't take you into any of them." She packed up the medkit as she spoke. "Not that I think you can't handle it, for the record, more that I don't need to subject you to that kind of crowd."

Adelle Bastiel

​

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Tessa Thayne

The borrowed shirt brought with it the mix of ozone, caf, and alcohol, much stronger. So that was Tess, then, and not something she had imagined. Adelle pulled the shirt on over her head, only moving carefully to avoid reopening the stitching rather than out of any discomfort.

“Most bars you know,” Adelle repeated. “That does imply knowledge of a few that aren’t. And I’d much prefer to stack the odds in my favor of having a quiet drink.”

She sat down at the table and picked up her mug of caf, no longer quite as scalding. “I’m not familiar with the systems around Nar Shaddaa but I do know we’re near Republic space if there’s nothing you know of close by.”

Phantom hopped up in her lap and spared a sniff at her chest where the bacta patch was before she curled up. Adelle gave the spukami a few strokes and rubbed that one spot at the base of her ear that she liked. For a moment, she let the quiet hum of the ship and Phantom’s growing purrs fill the silence.

“If you’re serious about helping,” Adelle said slowly, “then please understand that I’m not exaggerating the risk.”

Her jaw clenched and her fingers gripped soft black fur.

“I’ve lost enough people I know to that shabla demagolka.”

For a moment, the metallic tang of blood and stringent bacta threatened to pull her memnii to the fore, drag her under. Adelle raised the caf up to her mouth, breathing in the acidity before taking a drink. It helped ground her in the present.

“I’m hunting a crime lord.” She set the mug back down on the table, fingers still wrapped around the cup. “Firrerreo male, code named Krayt, base territory Coruscant. Real name Sy Dir’egon. He was one of the wealthy elite. Was.”

Adelle took another sip. The few account numbers she’d been able to pull burned in her mind.

“He’s been dealt with. I’m hunting his contacts, his networks. He purged that information before I could get to it.”

“I don’t know if your contacts reach as far as Coruscant, but anything you can give me would help.” She took a longer drink of caf, more to settle the anxiety the topic of Krayt always brought up. But it was necessary. Whoever Krayt had been working for, what Krayt had been working on, could not be allowed to continue.

 

[Tessa Thayne]

Tessa settled into the bench seat opposite Adelle, settling with her back against the wall, legs stretched along the bench in front of her as she wrapped one hand around the mug, watching the feline hop neatly into Adelle's lap. the quiet settled between them, easy and comfortable. Tess let her mind wander, running through the local systems in her mind and trying to figure which had the best location for a quiet drink. When they dropped out of hyperspace, they'd be near the Rishi hypergate and much closer to Republic space. Probably better to let Adelle pick. Her knowledge of reputable bars this side of the galaxy were limited to say the least.

She was about to voice as much when Adelle broke the silence, drawing Tessa's gaze back to her, noting the tension in her jaw. Her focus sharpened instinctively, watching for little details, for subtle shifts in the force around Adelle as well as those in her expression. She didn't interrupt, letting Adelle get all the information out before she moved, her feet sliding off the bench as she moved to sit upright arms resting on the table between them.

Krayt, Coruscant, Firrerro. Key words she filed away, thoughtful for a moment before she took a sip of her caff. Something dark had settled over Adelle a shadow of something flickered in her expression.

"I believe you when you say you're not exaggerating. But like I said, I take big risks every day..." she trailed off thoughtful for a moment. There were people she could ask, but to pull on the right lines, she'd need more. "I can dig, I have contacts everywhere, and if I don't know someone directly, I can get to others indirectly. It will help if I know more about his work, will help me narrow it down."

Adelle Bastiel

​

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Tessa Thayne

She asked what Krayt did. Of course she did. It made sense. Tess needed to know to figure out the right approach, the right people. The full details would do more to protect her than silence would.

But it meant reliving the past.

Adelle took a long drink of caf and set the mug down on the table.

“Criminally? His operations touched on a bit of everything. Some smuggling, some drugs, a bit of slavery,” she started. It’d be better if she could ease into it. “His big thing though was wetwork. Had agents and handlers in different areas, hired them out in contracts. But. I was after him for… something else.”

She turned the mug on the table with her fingers, not really seeing what was in front of her.

“Sentient experimentation,” she said quietly. “Entire levels of his underworld stronghold dedicated to it. Implants, behavioral conditioning, Force sensitives. He purged all the data before I could get to it so I never found out what it was for. Who it was for. I only managed to grab a couple scraps of info—a few account numbers that lead nowhere.”

A scoff escaped her.

“Hardly worth the cost.”

Adelle finally looked up at Tess, watching her expression, her body language. She hardly knew this woman, but Tess had proven herself reliable, consistent. More honest than most smugglers she had interacted with. Maybe it was stupid but Adelle felt she could trust Tess, with this at least.

“That’s as much as I’ve got,” she said. “Lost all my old contacts when my liasion contract with CorSec ran out. I hope that's enough.”

 

[Tessa Thayne]

Tessa saw all of it, the need to fiddle with the mug, the way her eyes glassed seeing beyond what was in front of her. A faint frown creased her forehead. Wetwork wasn't easy to trace, it was deliberately anonymous, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't have any idea where to start. It never hurt to have that option in your back pocket when dealing with a problem head on wasn't an option.

Adelle's voice went quiet and Tessa's attention sharpened. She took in a small breath, sitting back her jaw tightening. Memories of concentration camps she barely escaped in the wake of the civil war; Ra's answer to the so called 'problem' was to cure them of the force. En Masse. She ran a hand through her hair, swearing under her breath.

This wasn't a simple case of asking a few contacts, this was specialised in a way that meant pressing people personally. "Its plenty. I might have to get a bit ugly to get the answers I want but I'm not against stepping on a few shabuire necks." she paused, studying Adelle for a moment before continuing. "You okay?"

Adelle Bastiel

​

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Tessa Thayne

The swearing caught her attention first but the visceral disgust and anger that followed said more. Had Tess experienced something like this? Or was this just a reaction to what Krayt had done? Adelle had told so few people. What would Tess's reaction be if she knew how deep in it Adelle had been? She could imagine all that revulsion turned on her if the smuggler ever knew about her role.

A weight eased off Adelle's shoulders when Tess confirmed it was plenty. No more questions. Her lungs moved easier and she sat back in the seat, fingers loosening their hold on the mug. She nodded and sipped at the caf quietly, ignoring how intently Tess looked at her.

Na’an had never given similar looks but she’d put good credits on Leigh having watched her that closely.

"You okay?"

Adelle stretched her neck from side to side and rolled her shoulders while Phantom looked up at her with half-lidded eyes, as if echoing Tess’s question. That question always had a complicated answer that only inspired more questions. She tapped her fingers on the mug as her other hand combed fingers through Phantom’s fur. And she did what she had always done.

“Considering I’m currently on a ship headed for hopefully a decent bar with excellent company…” The mischievous, self-satisfied grin didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I’d say I’m doing pretty good, all things considered. Speaking of, I don't think we ever settled on a destination.”