Private Stowaway

[Neesa]

"Give up, you have lost," Neesa spat. The rain hammered down on the landing pad. It hissed as it struck the Jedi's blue lightsaber. It made soft plink sounds as it struck her two sith sword.

"There is worse than losing," the young jedi stated. He was barely older than here, but carried the determination of a much younger man. He held his ground.

Neesa charged forwards. Sword and sber clashed several times and the jedi kept giving ground. She hissed in frustration as he kept up his desperate defence.

A low whine caught her attention. The shuttle on the landing pad was powering up. Someone was preparing to fly it. The Jedi's statement made sense.

She charged in, sweeping one blade high and then cutting low with the other. The blade bit deep into his calf and he feel. She struck again and her blade sheared the emitter from his lightsaber. The next opened his belly from hip to hip

Neesa charged past him, reaching out with the Force as the shuttle started to lift from the landing pad. It hovered in place as her power balanced its thrusters.

Neesa suddenly felt a tug in the middle of her back. She was yanked from her feet. She felt the rain against her face as she rolled onto her back.

The jedi had one blood soaked arm across his waist, the other held out toward Neesa. She raised a hand in turn, muttering the incantation of an old sith spell. The jedi fell away, writing in pain.

Neesa stood up, but the shuttle was well away, burning for the edge of atmosphere.

"What did you do?" She hissed.

"I lost. What had to be done."

Neesa's stomach sank. She would have to return to her masters and explain her failures. They did not tolerate failure. She drew a slender dagger from her belt.

"You will pay."

"I know that too."

---

We do not tolerate failure.

Neesa slammed into the wall of the corridor and hissed in pain. Her black cloak still smouldered where it had been lashed with lightning. Her dealthy pale skin came away from her waist stained in crimson. She could barely stand, but she had escaped.

Growling with determination for every step she stumbled into a hangar bay. It was a ship. She couldn't fly, but she could hide in the cargo bay and by taken far from here.

 

[Shar'tala]

The sleek freighter known as Casisah had pushed off from the docks and was climbing steadily into the atmosphere. Thoss had previously loaded the vessel full of cargo, left for supplies and returned to make his flight. Red eyes continuously checked the display readings and traffic around him. He wasn't carrying anything particularly illegal but it didn't mean local law enforcement or pirates wouldn't make the Casisah a target.

Coordinates were entered, black soon fading into hyperspace. Thoss stretched tired muscles and stood up after double checking his readings, moving down the corridors of the freighter. He had a ritual to check on the cargo before he would begin to unload rations and fresh stores for the journey. Boots were silent against durasteel as he walked, reaching the cargo bay door and punching in a code.

Harsh lights automatically flicked on as he methodically started walking the rows of cargo, pulling on straps and checking against a mental manifest.

 

[Neesa]

Neesa hissed as the lights switched on. Half her face was covered with her matter, jet black hair. The rest was even paler than the typical echani ivory. She looked up at the chiss from her position. She was sat in the floor, back pressed up against a container.

Neesa growled at him, but it was all the threat she could manage. There were a pair of sheathed swords on the floor beside her. Her hand didn't reach for them, instead staying clasped to her side. Dark patches on her cloak were from both burns and her own blood.

 

[Shar'tala]

Thoss reached for the blaster at his hip but quickly stopped. He immediately went into a more relaxed position when he saw the pitiful creature in front of him. All claws and bravado but there was no bite behind the actions, no threat. Thoss stared down her with a bit of an amused expression, wondering how this one had crawled into his freighter. Perhaps when he had left to go grab food stores for his trip.

"You can only hiss? Why do I keep encountering the least intelligent creatures in this galaxy. " Voice was clipped, smooth and educated. Clearly the Chiss was not always a spacer. "Fortunately for you hyperspace will not allow me to throw you out of the airlock."

Bored look colored his features.

"Considering the hissing, I doubt you even understand the sentences I am stringing together."

 

[Neesa]

"I am going...to comondeer...your vessel..." Neesa snarled. She was in immense pain. It lanced through her body from the side that had taken the brunt of the lighting.

Stopping had been the problem. Whilst she was running the adrenaline has coursed through her veins. Her anger was a cold thing. She had lost that keen edge to it.

Neesa managed to place one hand on the hilt of her sword. Despite the situation she felt no fear. Just anger and a touch of embarrassment that perhaps her final moments would be helpless before some space junker.

 

[Shar'tala]

"Commandeer my vessel? You can not even commandeer the decking at the moment. One thing at a time."

Red eyes took in the sight before him. Pitiful looking if you asked him. Thoss had seen so many pitiful creatures since he began to travel through non-Chiss space, however, this one was close to the top of the list. If you asked him the creature sprawled in his cargo bay was in need of medical assistance yet she seemed to be going for her weapon. Typical animal behavior, wounded yet still trying to fight, to claw their way out of the situation.

"It seems you are in need of medical assistance. I can bring you my medical kit, I do not have a full medbay on this vessel. Or you can lay here and die, I do not have a preference in the matter."

 

[Neesa]

She wrapped her fingers around the pommel of a sword. There was strength in the runes etched into the blades. Not enough.

She looked back up at him with one grey eye. There other still covered by a curtain of messy curls. She pursed her thin lips.

Her sword rattled quietly as she took her hand away and it rocked back and forth on the deck.

"I would...like the med kit."

 

[Shar'tala]

Thoss let a heavy sigh escape. It would have been much easier to vent a lifeless body into the cold reaches of space. The injured woman was now interfering with his work - he was tempted to point down the corridor and direct her to the location of his medkit. However, her blood would seriously mar his decking and Thoss would have even more work to do. Damned if you do, damned if you don't as many in this part of the galaxy claimed.

"Right away your Highness."

The Chiss left her sight for a moment, leaving just as silently as he arrived. It didn't take long for him to return - a minute at most - with a large briefcase style medkit. The other hand held a hypospray, handing that over first before setting down his medkit.

"I'd advise the hypospray first, otherwise you'll die before you unwrap the first bandage."

 

[Neesa]

It was a mistake on his part, she thought to herself. Foolish to help someone who had threatened her. She would not have done it in his stead.

That thought shamed her a little too. There was far too much of that already running through her core. Neesa knew she had failed and that she was alone again. It had happened many times now. Traitors and backstabbers and a world of Sith politics. It had never worked in her favour.

"I don't...die easily..." She trailed off, but she heeded his advice. She felt as if she was about to. That last blast of lightning had ripped through her whole body.

 

[Shar'tala]

"Well, that remains to be seen."

Thoss was certain she would live but with the extent of her injuries she would need more care than his medical kit. At least, this was his highly unprofessional opinion. What did he know? Humans and near-humans typically didn't regard such things as true necessity, instead relying on a type of grit or toughness. A sure fire way to become horribly disfigured, if not worse.

One last look at the woman and he was back to checking his cargo.

 

[Neesa]

He was just going to continue his cargo checks? Neesa knew that she should have been grateful not to be attacked but it still irritated her. She was too tired, even with all her anger, to do anything about it. She was burned, drained and defeated.

Neesa sat gasping as the drugs spread through her system. Then she undid the clasp of her cloak and let it fall to the floor. It pooled around her, leaving her on a turbulent sea of black.

Her grey tunic was burned through down one side. She hissed in pained as she pulled back her jet black hair and peeled it upwards. There were patches stuck to her skin. There were scissors in the medical bag. She cut around the wounds slowly with trembling fingers. Her skin was white as milk, courtesy of her nagai heritage. A stark contrast to the fresh blood that welled up. Black and red and white, all up one side from her hip to her neck.

 

[Shar'tala]

The sound of two metal rachets could be heard as he secured something particularly fragile down tightly to the decking. Red eyes kept a lookout on his stowaway from time to time but given her current state he was far from concerned. In a day or so he would be more mindful not to let the woman out of his sight. Thoss felt he had enough safeguards to currently keep himself safe from whatever the injured woman might have been plotting.

The Chiss was in and out of the cargo hold several times before returning, a cup of steaming tea in hand. He took a sip, watching the woman bandage herself in silence. Seemed to be slow going. He supposed that was to be expected. Another sip, more silence.

"That appears painful. Did you apply the hypospray?"

 

[Neesa]

"Yes."

Neesa looked up at the chiss as he stood over her. She continued to meet his gaze defiantly as she wrapped the bandages around her waist. She had applied a thick bacta paste to the burns but it did little for pain as she pulled them tight. Neesa peeled back her lips as she kept her quivering hand working.

At the back of her mind she knew that the defiance was enitely wasted. What was she going to achieve with it? It was all she had. All she had to surround herself to cover up the shame and the fear. This wouldn't be the last she heard from her sith masters.

"Where are you going?"

 

[Shar'tala]

"You have a very animalistic way of showing your defenses. Baring you teeth may work on the lesser intelligent amongst your kind but it does not work on myself. I advise you save it for those times. It would seem to me to be a waste of resources you can ill afford at this moment in time. Yet what do I know? I am a mere spacer."

Thoss gave a tight smile, the type that wasn't friendly at all. He wanted to make it clear from the beginning she was dragging on his nerves. It was something he could live with but if it was stopped now it would be better for both of them. Another sip of tea as he regarded her next question.

"Probably back to the cockpit to study star charts. Why do you ask?"

 

[Neesa]

Because she suspected he could be going to get a weapon? Because she wanted to say something, anything to make her feel like she had the slightest handle on this situation? She was living off the good graces of a captain who clearly did not want her here. It hurt what little she had left of her pride.

"Do you have anything I could drink? Please?" she asked. Neesa couldn't even look at his eyes as she asked. He thought he was very important, clearly. She had held close to one truth since she had found her abilities. She was destined for greatness. There might have been challenges along the way but she had to have been chosen to have this magic for a reason.

 

[Shar'tala]

Thoss kicked himself for not remembering his manners. Clearly, like most Chiss, Thoss felt himself superior to most other species in the galaxy. With that belief came a few things - one of them was trying to be a good host, if not just to show that they were indeed the more evolved beings in the galaxy. He blinked once when she asked for a drink.

"Forgive my manners. You have full run of the ship - just not the cockpit for obvious reasons. There is a full galley and a guest cabin."

One blue hand outstretched to offer help rising off the decking.

 

[Neesa]

"What?" She went, genuine confusion in her eyes. It obviously pained her but she leaned to her side to see the knife or blaster in his other hand. There wasn't one.

"Want do you want then?" She asked. There was venom in her tone, but it had changed as the adrenaline wore off. She was a lothcat too wounded to fight, kissing in fear.

 

[Shar'tala]

"I just said what I wanted, you to stay out of the cockpit. We will be arriving on Nar Shadda in roughly two weeks. Until then you'll stay out of the cockpit while you recover from your beating. I am also tempted to put a ban on hissing but it would be impossible. I highly doubt you would be able to follow such a rule put into place."

Thoss sighed, his hand still outstretched.

"Do you agree?"

 

[Neesa]

Neesa still frowned at his hand. She didn't understand. He had to want something in return for even letting her stay. She was in no position to threaten or command him. He had seen through those empty threats.

"I agree," she replied. It seemed an offer that was too good to be true but right now she had no other options. If she had threatened him this was all she would have tried to get out of him.

"And I am hissing because I hurt," he said, it was half of the truth. Neesa reached out, her hand delicate and deathly pale against his own.

 

[Shar'tala]

"How hard was that?"

Thoss had half-muttered the phrase, knowing very well the woman could hear him. It seemed they had gone around in circles just to arrive at this point when she merely could have agreed to the terms to begin with. What other options did she have besides killing him or tossing herself out of the airlock. The possibility of being killed but Thoss suspected he roughly had three days before that happened. She would have to recover and watch his patterns before acting.

Fingers curled around her hand and he gently pulled, trying to get her back on her feet.

"Then take more pain relievers."