The Adventures of a Healer and a Viking: Pirates, Part II

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

The aggression she could feel was...staggering. Myrtle ellipses narrowed and a hand dropped to the blaster at her side. The problem with these outer rim stations was that there weren't that many women around. And the few that were, wore tons of BA armor.

Okay, she was a little jealous of that spiked, purple haircut chick.

But still. She might have to shoot some of these men. On STUN OF COURSE! "Is that so?" Eyes flicked up to the massive man walking next to her. "A kiss will get me a lot these days...," voice trailed off as they approached a small market. There were 'booths' set up with all kinds of wares - mostly technology. And mostly weapons: guns, blaster, flame throwers, jetpacks, bombs.

"Wow," she breathed. Eyes scanned the tables, finally resting on what looked like the kind they wanted. "Over there."

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

"We'll see later what it gets you." Val said as he wandered up to the booth, eyes slowly moving over all the different kinds of explosives.

It was actually kind of amazing the things that you could get on the black market. There were baradium charges here, thermal detonators, half a dozen military surplus disruptor bombs, Val couldn't quite believe it. This was more equipment than the PDF he'd worked for had ever even dreamed of, and it was only one Vendor. The man behind the counter was a beige skinned Devaronian, a fierce smile on his face as he looked at Val, his tongue flicking out as he leered at Taheera.

"Baradium charges." Val said simply. "Three of them."

His voice was stern, commanding. The Devaronian did a double take for a moment, staring at Val and then looking back towards Taheera.

"How will you be paying for them? Credits? Rare Ores?"

He stared at Taheera.

"Traaaaaade?"

A sigh escaped Val's lips. This was why he despised the Underworld. There was a certain lack of tact that every single person here had, and he couldn't help but despise it. From the small bag that he had taken from Thres he pulled a bead of Aurodium. It was tiny, but worth more than half the weapons on this floor.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

She frowned at the Devaronian but here eyes widened at Val's payment method. "Only three?" She questioned to Val. Was that really all they'd need?

"I can sell you more, sweetheart." The smile almost reached from horn to horn. "But I wouldn't ask for credits from a pretty thing like you. I'd just need...an hour. With you." Tongue flicked across his razor teeth.

Was he being serious right now?!

"I'm so sick of this," she muttered. Hand was already on her blaster and with a little force-induced speed, she drew the weapon, a flash of blue burying itself right into his chest at nearly point-blank range.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Val looked down at Taheera. "Good move."

Sarcasm heavily dripped from his voice. The Aurodium bead was slipped back into his pocket, and with a frown he climbed over the counter. For a moment he shuffled around the booth, kicking the Devaronian in the side. People were already gathering around them of course, and more than a few were dialing security on their comms. Val let out a sigh, pulling out a bag from one of the shelves and beginning to throw the charges into it. Three were enough, technically one was enough, but he heeded Taheera's words and took a few more.

In all he stuffed the bag with five baradium charges, enough to take out a small city if placed in the right spot.

"Come on, beautiful." He left the Aurodium on the counter top. "Back to the ship before they decide to throw you in the brig."

There was no real law here, but there were rules. One of those rules was of course that you didn't go around shooting people, even if it was with a stun blaster. Val wasn't too keen on losing his traveling companion just yet, especially since he was pretty sure by the end of this he would end up with a few more cuts and scrapes, that and, he was wondering just how far he could take their little game.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"What? WHAT. I had to establish my reputation," she muttered and elbowed her way through the small crowd. Although, to her credit, most folks stepped out of the way now and gave her some space. Maybe that was because she was still gripping her blaster.

"Besides, he was ripping you off. I saw a wookie leave with twice that many charges with only credits."

Begged the question what the wookie was up to. But that was neither here nor there.

Still, she quickened her pace a bit. The ramp to the ship lowered. She boarded and called over her shoulder and waved her blaster once at Val with a mischievous smirk on her face. "And don't you forget how good a shot I am."

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

"That's fine." Val said. "It's not my Aurodium, remember?"

The words were said with a smile as the crowd parted in front of them. A few gave Taheera dirty looks, and in the distance Val could swear he heard the scrambling of local guards. Thres didn't have a police force per-say but there were a few mercenaries he kept on in order to keep the peace. He gently placed a hand on Taheera's back and pressed her forward a bit faster than before, eager to get out of the station before the impact of what she had just done truly spread.

"You assume that works on me." Val said to her other comment, giving her a smile as they stepped onto the loading ramp of their ship.

Before she could answer him he half bounded forward into the cockpit.

The ramp began to seal shut behind him as he rushed towards the pilot. From the small pocket he had stuck Thres' bag in he pulled out a data-key. The small key was plugged into the navicomputer, and instantly the droid powered into life. Val let out half a sigh of relief. He hadn't thought Thres would betray him, the Hutt was a bit too kind for that, but...well it was difficult to trust the slugs, even when you had known them for thirty years. Sometimes stereotypes just stuck.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

She sputtered as he nudged past her. "Excuse you." She followed after him, eyes watching the coordinates. She swayed a bit as the ship lifted. Hand gripped the co-pilot's seat. With a lift and a turn, the ship shot free from the asteroid station.

Seemed his friend had come through. No healers or vikings put in the brig or sold as slaves today. It was a good day.

She nudged him lightly in the side with the nozzle of his blaster. "Whaddyah mean this might not work on you?"

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

He spun in the chair and looked up at her.

There was a slight smug look on his face. Blasters of course, harmed him, stun shots even took him down, but...well not in the same way they did others. The Devaronian was a good example. The man had taken a single stun blast an instantly dropped to the floor unconscious, he'd fallen like a heavy sack of potatoes. For Val, that would have worked out much differently. It would have caused his muscles to seize, his hands to clamp up, and he would have had trouble moving for a minute or two, but he wouldn't have been knocked unconscious.

It was a part of his physiology, the odd differences that set him apart from other beings. "Well."

He smirked.

"I could tell you." His fingers drummed against his knee. "But it will cost you."

It was hard to understate the small boyish grin on his face.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

Eyes rolled and she snorted.

Valkyrien Aurelios. This frexing man. He didn't even know her last name or really anything about her. She wasn't sure if she wanted him to. She didn't know what she wanted half the time. Well, one thing that seemed impossibly out of reach. She missed another and wondered if he'd ever look for her or if he was even alive.

Her heart ached a little.

She forced a smile on her face, deciding to play into Val's 'game' but on her own terms. The muzzle of the blaster gave one last tap on his shoulder. "Or, I could just shoot you and find out for myself."

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

"You could." He admitted, though the look on his face didn't seem to change at all. Either he was confident she wouldn't pull the trigger, or he had enough faith in the fact that the weapon wouldn't work well enough to phase him much. Either way the look in his eye didn't go away, and neither did the smile on his lips. He simply leaned back in the chair and looked up at her. He seemed at east, calm, despite what he had been through, despite what was ahead of them.

"That's entirely up to you." Val continued. "Though, I think it might be a whole lot less fun for both of us."

Whereas Taheera didn't know what she wanted, Val knew perfectly well. As far as he was concerned his life had already been lived. He'd met the love of his life, he had lived his life with her, they had raised children, and then she had died. To him, this wasn't living any more, not really anyway. Without Aerith everything seemed a bit more bleak. It was a hard thing to admit, but it was true. He moved through life pretending, pretending that he was still alive.

He wasn't ready to die, but what he did...it wasn't the same as living.

So he played the Knight, the hero that he claimed he never was. He saved lives, chased pirates, discovered ancient artifacts, lived the story of a hundred holo-books just to maybe feel something again.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

Finger twitched on the trigger. She met him eye to eye as if this had turned into a staring contest as well. Muscles in her arm tensed. "Peow, peow," she spoke and grinned. She finally holstered the weapon.

"Consider yourself lucky on this day." Her smile widened.

Three days. They had three days. She hadn't even looked around the ship when they'd left. Hopefully they had enough supplies because it was too late to pick up any extra food now. They couldn't afford the time to stop for anything else. She regarded Val for a moment longer.

"Some of us have to work around here, big guy. I'm going to go check our supplies."

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

That was probably a good idea.

He rose from the chair and followed after her, though while she headed for the small kitchen room Val instead wandered towards the small storage lockers that had been situated on on the left side of the cargo hold. He wondered briefly what this ship had been used for, likely simple cargo-runs, but there was an air that it was something a little bit...more. The vessel was nice, nicer than Val would have guessed most Jedi were used to.

"What Order are you a part of?" Val asked loud enough for her to hear. "I know there's several."

It didn't really matter to most folk, nor did it to Val, but curiosity had finally gotten the better of him.

She knew quite a bit about his past already from the night before, though there were still...fairly large details he had chosen not to share, it was just about time that he learned the same of hers. Of course it wasn't that he didn't trust her, she had already saved his life, but when you were working with someone it was nice to know their history.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

Taking a seat on the ground, she began digging through the lower cabinets first. She glanced over at the viking. Lips pursed. Luckily, it was a simple question so she could provide a simple answer. But she couldn't stop the tensing of her shoulders or in her gut.

"I free-lance with a group of healers. We work with a few of the jedi groups left. The Levantines. The Jedi Academy." Those were the two she imagined he might be most familiar with. He already knew about her loose connections with the Kathol Outback.

She started separating the food into piles: dried fruit, nuts, soup packets, stew packets, vegetable packs. Standing, she pushed herself on her tip-toes, trying to reach the top cabinets.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

He frowned slightly.

He'd never heard of the Jedi Academy, but then again that wasn't too surprising. Val had never left the outer rim, and what little news they got out here was usually about major factions and whatever else was happening on a huge scale in the galaxy. Either way he recognized the other name, and that was enough for him. He popped open the locker directly in front of him, sliding it open to find a few flight suits and some rebreathers as well as a pair of heavy boots that looked like they were for a small woman.

"Have you been with them long?" He asked closing the locker and moving to the next one.

The next locker contained another set of flight suits, though this time they were more Val's size. He made a note of which was which and then opened the third and last locker. To his surprise he found sectioned cabinets, each one neatly labeled with what they contained. There was a shelf for tools, one for spare power packs, and the last one held some sort of...strange stone that he couldn't quite recognize.

He guessed it was something Jedi related, perhaps for meditation?

Val shrugged and closed the locker, looking around the Cargo Hold to see if there was anything else to explore. When he found nothing he slowly wandered into the small kitchenette, deciding that his time was best spent helping Taheera log what kind of food they had.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

She hopped. "I...," she jumped again, fingertips hitting something up there she couldn't quite reach. She gave another hop, fingertips hitting it further back instead of closer. She puffed a strand of hair away from her face.

She turned to face Val.

"Long enough to have learned a lot." Sure it was vague. But that was okay. Nothing was a lie. Turning, she tried again. Of course, she was too stubborn to ask for help. And instead, she focused the attention back on him. "Have you had a lot of experience with jedi?"

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Val watched her hop up and down for a moment, amusement playing across his face. He let it go on once or twice, and then slowly made his way around the small island that cut the Kitchenette into two parts. He came up behind her just as she asked her question. "No."

The answer was a truthful one.

"Jedi don't usually come to the outer rim." He reminded her as he closed the distance between the two, coming near inches from where she was standing. For a moment he looked down at her, smiling, and then he reached up and simply plucked the small object from where it was sitting in the upper cabinet. He pulled it free and then offered it to her, the object was a small can of...well he wasn't quite certain what kind of meat, but that wasn't for him to determine.

"You're the first Jedi I've spoken to." He'd met others in passing. "You're rather rare."

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"Hm," she mused. Hands perched on her hips as he offered the mystery meat can. Before she could say thanks or huff some sort of indignation about being able to get it herself, a package of something else fell from the top shelf as the ship gave off a sudden lurch.

It smacked her on the head; good thing it was small.

"Ow," leaning over, she picked it up off the ground. "Ohhh, dark chocolate." She waved it in front of Val. "Don't tell me this is something else you can't eat. If it is though, that means more for me."

She grinned.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

"I have no idea." He answered honestly.

It was important to remember that Val had lived his entire life on the outskirts of the galaxy, he'd lived on farms and outside of cities, never having even broached most normal luxury goods. There had been a few times that he'd gotten chocolate of course, but because of one reason or another he had either always given it to someone else, or lost it before he could try it. The coincidence of it all was kind of amazing, but Val had never actually tried chocolate before.

"I've never had it." Val said with a shrug. "Suppose I'll have to fight you for it?"

He offered her a small smile.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"But why fight me for it when you know I'd win?" Single chestnut-brow lofted, a smirk on her face. Putting the bag behind her back, she slowly backed up. Eyes darted to the other side of the cargo hold. There was the refresher too, cockpit, and bedroom.

Plenty of places to dash into and close and seal the door.

"I'm just trying to do you a favor. Wouldn't want you to get addicted to the stuff."

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

"What if I just let you buy it from me?" Val offered with a smile.

He could see the way her eyes moved.

She was already thinking of a way to dash and avoid him, though why he had no real idea. Chocolate was hardly his favorite thing to eat, and he wouldn't go around chasing her for it, though it appeared she would chase him for it. Luckily for him, he was big enough that he could probably just step into the doorway and completely block off her path to getting anywhere at all.

"You know." Val said with a smile. "Because I'm so kind."

Before she could move Val suddenly dashed to the side, practically hopping to the doorway to block her way out.