Star Wars: The Old Republic - Questions of Freedom (Closed)

[HookerBoots]

Gida'Tol shifted through the footwork pass that Vaxi had shown her, her legs and feet moving unerringly though she had never move in that exact pattern before. "Okay," she said, nodding at the end of it. "That seems pretty clear."

Vaxi looked at her with a slightly surprised expression. "I . . . great. It took me weeks to get it down that well," she muttered. Damn, was there nothing Gida'Tol wasn't good at? She made it look effortless! Maybe she was bad at mechanical stuff, there was something to hope for. "So, we'll do something more complicated, next then."

"All right," Gida'Tol said. If it was all like this, maybe it wouldn't be too bad. She knew, somehow, though, that it probably wouldn't be. She watched Vaxi moving smoothly through a much more complicated footwork pass, trying to remember the movements and rhythm with the tricks she'd learned as a dancer.

She was aware of Vaxi's body as she moved as well, the smooth skin and firm, lean muscles, the grace with which she moved. And she was aware of Parn's eyes on them both, his presence something she found herself aware of as she followed Vaxi's lead on the footwork. At one point, she looked up and met his gaze unintentionally, and her feet tangled themselves up in her startlement. She tumbled sideways into Vaxi, who smiled kindly. "It's all right, that was a bit more challenging. Let's try it again."

~ ~ ~ ~​

Humming to herself, Gida'Tol twisted the dial on the oven and opened the door, pulling out a covered pot, filled inside with a rich, spicy stew of vegetables and meat and grains. She set it on the top of the cooking area, opening it and breathing deeply of the thickly scented steam that billowed out.

B9, standing next to her, peered in as well and dipped one finger into the mix. "My chemical sensors indicate that it is optimal." The droid looked at her. "Very well done, Mistress Gida'Tol. You are becoming a very able chef."

The Twi'lek picked up a spoon and took a taste as well. "It's good, but I should serve a few things to mix with it. It's a little spicy for Vaxi's tastes."

There was a moment of startled silence. "It might be, at that. Allow me to put together the tray of additions."

~ ~ ~ ~​

Gida'Tol and Parn sat facing each other in the training room, hands on their knees. "This is the past I've been looking forward to," she said candidly, "and dreading." Her face was a curious mix of eager and nervous. "I'm not really very smart, but I'm going to do my best."

Philosophy was certainly not something she'd ever studied, and she had little enough education otherwise. What she knew of Jedi was almost certainly more than half wrong, but she was at least willing to learn. But she was positive it would be the most difficult part of the training for her.

"So, where do we begin?"

 

[Armphid]

"At the beginning. I'd say we'd stop when we get to the end, but there is no end. If you ever stop learning, you're doing something wrong." He hated those kinds of answers when he was a student, at least at first, but he saw the point of them now. To get make you start to think and to realize you weren't going to just be told everything. "Also, I don't think either of us knows how smart you are, so don't say that about yourself. You're uneducated but that has nothing to do with "smart" and if you think about it, you'll understand what I mean. The way you've taken to the subjects you've taken up on the ship shows you have an agile mind."

Parn was a little nervous about this himself. He hardly felt he was the best person to lecture anyone on proper moral philosophy but he was also far from the worst.

"You're going to be hearing about, discussing, arguing Jedi philosophy for as long as you're with the Order. While a lot of the basics and broad themes are agreed on, there are many different opinions and thoughts on the specifics and how we should live our lives. There are those who want us to almost a fully monastic Order and those who think we should become more like the Sith. What we're going to do is start to lay the foundations and hopefully give you a chance to find out how much of what you think about us is true and how much of it isn't."

He took a few breaths. "For me...I think one of the best ways to encapsulate what a Jedi is is just to look at the title we are given when we finish being apprentices. We are Jedi Knights. Knight is a word that carried a lot with it. Virtue, valor, upholding right, a shield to the good and a sword to the wicked. The reality is more nuanced than that, of course. A knight is also someone who fights. And we Jedi fight all our lives, even the librarians and researchers. We fight ignorance, both our own and others. We fight inequality. We fight disease and injury. We fight the enemies of the Republic and the Order. We fight those who need to be fought. We fight ourselves more than anything else, especially at first. Lastly, a knight is in service and so are we. We serve the Republic, we serve the Order, we serve the Force, we serve the common good. We may give commands and others may look to us for guidance and authority but we must always remember that we serve, we do not rule."

The human inclined his head to the lovely twi'lek, "Does that make sense to you? How different is it from what you expected to hear?"

 

[HookerBoots]

Gida'Tol listened to his words, her head tilted to one side. "Hmm. It is different from what I expected. But it does make sense, I suppose." She rubbed her hands against her her knees. "I hadn't considered the idea that librarians are fighting ignorance." She laughed a little. "Frankly, I don't think I'd thought much about the idea that there would be Jedi librarians. Jedi are warriors, that's what you hear, and show up to right wrongs."

She shifted a little, her face a bit self-conscious. "I know it's true, now; but I'd never considered the day-to-day of it, or that there would be study along with it. It makes sense - you don't just get dubbed a Jedi and 'poof!' you're wise." Her lips quirked a bit. "It has to be hard for you - Jedi, I mean, not you personally - to keep the idea of servitude in mind, with the power you wield. Though I'm sure it's a service much different than what I'm used to."

Flipping one of her lekku over her shoulder, Gida'Tol bit her lower lip, a thoughtful expression on her face. "So, fighting myself? I'm pretty sure I can't beat myself up. Just can't be in two places at once, yet," she joked, trying to lighten things a bit, even though she knew it was probably inappropriate.

 

[Armphid]

When she flipped her lekku over her shoulder and nibbled her lip just then, she looked so good it was a crime. Her appeal was almost a physical force that he could feel washing over him. He suspected Gida'Tol had more of an idea what he meant than she let on. If she wanted to keep her cards close to her chest, he couldn't blame her.

"I'll come back to fighting yourself in a minute. You're right when you say it's hard to keep service in mind." Parn sighed and a rueful expression slid over his face, "Not everyone is good at that part. You're going to meet Jedi who are arrogant, who feel their power, status, whatever gives them privileges. Most of us keep our egos in check, but...well. You'll see. I hope you're not too disappointed in us when you meet guys like that."

He also wanted to mention that even Jedi librarians could fight. Especially after Coruscant, it was more of a priority than ever. Everyone could and everyone trained in it at least a little each day.

But they could come back to that another time. Or she'd figure it out on her own. He'd guess she would be pretty good at measuring people up. "The fighting yourself thing, there's a few different parts to it, actually. You'll find you're one of your biggest obstacles; your doubts, your fears, your biases. But there's more than that." He licked his lips and looked at her. "Yesterday, when we brought you on the ship, you offered to...reward me. And I wanted to accept. I wanted you. So bad I could taste it." He still did. Would she notice? He hoped not. "And I could have had you. With your consent, kind of, or even without it. But it wouldn't have been right. That's what I mean. There will be times where what you want and what you need to do are at odds. Or you will know you can achieve your goal if you do something dirty. Our power and the stakes we play for make it very tempting to give in to those darker urges. That's the fight with yourself. And it never ends."

He quirked a smile, "It probably won't be as bad for you as it is for a scoundrel like me but it'll still be there."

 

[HookerBoots]

She blinked at him as he mentioned that he had wanted her then, badly. Even after knowing what she had been . . . Gida'Tol flushed a little. "I don't know that you're that much more of a scoundrel than the rest of us." She tilted her head to look at him, eyes searching his face intently for a moment.

Usually, she was good at reading people, figuring out what their motivations were and what they wanted from her, specifically. If they were right, that was the Force. But with him, it was harder to read. She couldn't tell if he was just thinking about the feeling from the prior day, or if he was still interested in her. "And I . . . don't know what else to say about it. I would say I'm sorry for putting you in a position where you had to make that choice, but the offer was genuine." She wouldn't tell him it still stood - she didn't want him to feel obliged, or like he would have to keep resisting for the entire time they were together on the ship.

"And I promise I could never think poorly of the Jedi, even if some of the ones I meet are . . . not the bastions of goodwill that I've heard tales of." She shrugged, her hands rubbing lightly over her legs. "They're people, just like any other group of people. It's only reasonable that there would be differences, and not all of them as simple as 'green-eyes-brown-eyes'." Gida'Tol's lips curved in a smile. "Besides, you and Vaxi saved me - twice. That's a debt I don't know that I can repay, ever."

 

[Armphid]

Parn's smile was a bit sad. His left hand stroked along his side, just below his ribs, in an unconscious gesture. It was clear from the rest of his bearing that he was not aware he was doing it. "Be careful of that sentiment. The Order...can ask a lot. It may call on you to die one day." His eyes were keen as he watched her then. "In defense of others, in a hopeless fight to buy time while others flee, to accomplish something that must be done no matter the cost; it will be done with regret but the order will come if it's needed."

"And even if it doesn't, there aren't many Jedi in this era that live full lives and die of old age. The Sith Empire will not rest until we are all dead and the Republic is conquered. A new war will come and soon, very soon." He shook his head, "You may well one day curse me for what I've done. I won't blame you if you do."

He needed to change the subject.

"And to what you said, the point of my bringing that up was to point out that whether the offer was genuine or not, it would have been wrong to accept it. But I wanted to and I had to struggle against that." Parn leaned back on his knees, "You have no idea how many times I run into little annoyances that I want to use the Force to smooth away. Why not use a little mind push to get a beggar to leave me alone or to make a customs officer look the other way? I have the power, why not use it? Why not make it easier for myself?"

"That's the struggle with yourself. The easy way, it can be nice, but it usually means more people get hurt or you force someone to act against their will or without their choice. And that, my lovely young lady, is the first step down a dark path."

He sighed, "I tend to get grim discussing philosophy, I'm sorry, Gida'Tol. I really should have had you talk about this with Vaxi. I imagine you may be a bit bored or confused or both by now. We can keep going or move on to some other training, if you'd like."

 

[HookerBoots]

She tilted her head the other way now, looking at him. "I'm not bored. But we can move on to something else, to give me time to think and process, I guess." She shifted a little, one hand rubbing her chin lightly. It sounded like he resented being a Jedi, but if that was so, wouldn't he have just left them? And what had happened that soured him on it so much? The way he'd moved his hand over the side of his body made her think there was a story there - and not one that he would tell easily.

Gida'Tol gave him a smile. "I don't know what other training there might be. I know you've both said there's physical training as well as mental." She paused for a moment, thinking, and then her eyes lit up. "Wait, does that mean I'll . . . you'll teach me how to read?" She'd never learned, it wasn't important for a slave in her position to know how to read. Not that she'd thought much about it, really, except wistfully a few times. It had never been something she'd seen as a possibility.

But learning to read, to write . . . her mind whirled with thoughts and ideas and feelings that she couldn't fully process. "If so, could - could we start there?"

 

[Armphid]

The auburn haired human man stared at her for several seconds; his shock apparent on her face. She didn't know how to read? She had been a house slave, hadn't she? Why not make her literate? How..what...he felt a sudden urge to reverse their course and go back to Thunn to do some unpleasant things.

Parn shook his head, "Yes. Yes, we will start there. This is a lesson to us both in making assumptions. I was going to give you some things to study about the philosophical, historical, and moral underpinnings of the Jedi but they won't do you much good." There were some pictures, yes. Did he have any of the books for younglings? They'd be in the library.

"Yes! Reading. All right. Well." He leaned over to push the intercom on the wall, "B9, would you please bring me my personal datapad and the library, please?" The library was a larger computer than a datapad, though still quite portable, but it held over a hundred thousand texts itself and also connected to the ship's main computer.

He turned back to Gida'Tol, "While she's bringing those over, let's start with the written system. The writing used for Basic and most other languages in the galaxy is alphabetic; symbols are meant to correspond to sounds and essential spell out words and so on. Of course, there are fewer symbols than sounds, so it can get a little tricky..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

Parn loved his ship. He loved being in her and flying among the stars. He loved sitting in the cockpit and seeing the black when they were in system and he loved the endless scintillating blue of hyperspace. It was true, however, that life on a ship was a thing of schedule and repetition. They rose, they ate, they did ship maintenance and work, and they trained.

All of it was training for Gida'Tol in a way. Learning to be her own person, how to interact from a normal position rather than a slave to superiors or other slaves, learning technology and how to use it and fix it (and break it), learning to read, learning to fight with her hands and with weapons. He hadn't started blaster instruction...they'd need to be planet side for that. Too much could go wrong when if a bolt hit the wrong thing.

He wasn't the only one who taught her. B9 took over her reading and writing lessons, the droid's motherly nature and her wealth of linguistic knowledge making her perfectly suited for it. Vaxi helped with the physical training but also with Jedi philosophical and moral basics. He realized he'd been too concerned about making certain things clear in that first session and it had come out too grim, too dark. He didn't want Gida'Tol to think badly of the Order, after all. He didn't. ...He thought he didn't.

The lovely Twi'lek had made a place for herself on the ship before they reached their destination. She and Vaxi were already fast friends and he liked to think he was a friend to her as well. If only he could stop...well, he wasn't going to. Hell, he still had inappropriate thoughts and feelings about Vaxi, let alone Gida'Tol.

All three of them, as well as Whyme, were gathered in the cockpit. Parn and Vaxi in the pilot and co-pilot's seats respectively, Gida'Tol seated behind the young zabrak woman. A light blinked on the console and Parn reached for the triple lever of the hyperdrive. "All right, we're here."

He pulled it back and the blue began to break up; the infinite endless streaks resolving into distant points and a large, slowly turning orb rearing up in front of them as if from nowhere. It was lovely; green, brown, and black, with a few large blue areas here and there. "Balmorra."

"We're being hailed by the orbital control," Vaxi said, her fingers moving over controls. "Putting it through."

"Approaching ship, this is Balmorran control, transmit identification data now and confirm verbally." The voice was stern but also somewhat bored, the accent pure Imperial.

"Balmorran Control, this is the free trader Void Dancer and I'm Captain Parn Starhawk. We're here on business; manifest and order forms in the data packet, sending now." He pressed a button to send it over.

"Roger, Void Dancer, you are scheduled to arrive." The sh-sound he used in the first syllable of 'schedule' made Parn grimace. "Landing data is being sent and you are cleared for approach. Any deviation from the trajectory provided and you will be fired upon."

"Roger that, Balmorran Control. Void Dancer out." Parn glanced back at Gida'Tol. "Balmorra is under Imperial occupation; they took it in the later days of the war. But there's a very fierce and very tenacious resistance, hence the strictness of the landing protocols. They don't want anyone coming in and landing somewhere they're not supposed to be and supplying the resistance."

Vaxi grinned, "Of course, we're landing exactly where they want us to and still supplying the resistance."

He nodded, "That's the job." His roguish face was serious, "Imperial rule means some things. Imperials don't like anyone who isn't human; so be very careful about where you go and what you say. You'll stick with Vaxi when you're off the ship, follow her lead. Don't go anywhere alone. If you see any Sith, avoid them, stay completely out of their sight if you have to." Unless they were looking for it, they probably wouldn't sense the power of either woman but it was best to be safe. "When we land, I'll have to see the Chief Customs Officer. She and I have an, ah, agreement that means we won't be searched the way we should be. Then I'll get things delivered as they should. Vaxi, take Gida'Tol and get her some clothes and anything else you think she might need. When you're done, go to the rendezvous point and we'll all meet up and head back to the ship together when we're done."

The disguised Jedi looked back and took the helm, taking them down. A few space stations could be seen hanging in orbit far above the planet and there were several of the large, dagger-shaped Imperial cruisers as well. Their path took them between several of them by design; meant to intimidate as much as to put them in a crossfire. "Questions?"

 

[HookerBoots]

Gida'Tol had gotten used to the rhythm of life on the ship, the tasks and duties of their life there. She'd even made serious in-roads on learning how to read, managing to make her way through a few easy books. B9 had given her a datapad with several reading exercises that she worked on diligently, trying to increase her skills as quickly as she could. She had even made progress on learning how to write as well, and even though her script wasn't the best, she was able to put together some sentences.

When they came out of hyperspace, she blinked at the strangeness and suddenness of the planet seemingly appearing out of nowhere. "It's beautiful," she whispered, her eyes reflecting the blue-green orb and the stars shimmering around it. But then Parn started talking, and she turned her attention to him.

When he was done, she nodded. "It seems pretty clear, really. I'll stay near Vaxi, and keep out of sight of the Sith. It's good advice, even though I wouldn't have wanted to draw their attention anyway." She rolled her shoulders, a little awkward. "But it'll be good to have new clothes. I appreciate everything you've done for me with these, but it'll be good to have something that . . . ."

Vaxi chimed in, "Fits?" She nodded. "That makes sense. It can't be comfortable for you, cause we're such different sizes." She leaned back in her chair, thumbs tucked into her belt. "We'll get you something nice, and maybe something nice for me." Her grin was sassy.

"Hey, don't spend all my money," Parn chimed in, giving them an indulgent smile. "It'll be fine, though." They deserved something nice, after all the stuff they'd been through lately. And maybe they'd buy something scandalous . . . he was a bad man.

~ ~ ~ ~​

They landed, and as soon as they were cleared to leave the Void Dancer, they headed into the spaceport, which was one of the biggest buildings Gida'Tol had ever been in. The room was as large as the biggest palace she'd seen in her life, and there were others, she knew because Vaxi and Parn had told her, as big or bigger.

The Chief Customs Officer was waiting, a tall, broad-shouldered woman with dark brown hair, silvered lightly at the temples and drawn back tightly from her face in a bun. She wore an Imperial Military uniform and a pair of wire-rimmed glasses as she peered at a datapad. "Ah, right, Starhawk." She looked up, green eyes sharp, but warm. "Always a pleasure, Captain. Please, come this way - I'm sure your crew and cargo are fine, we'll go over your manifest while they take care of some personal business."

She turned on one heel and started for the door, then paused and turned back, addressing the girls. "I'm sure your captain mentioned it, ladies, but it's worth repeating. Balmorra is an Imperial colony world." Her voice took on a tone of sharp superiority. "There are some here who are resisting our rightful rule, and outside the immediate area of the spaceport and surrounding town is not safe. Not just because of insurgents, really, though they're dangerous enough. There is some very aggressive wildlife out there. Please don't leave the town, for your own safety. And stay together - many of my countrymen would see it as their right to take advantage of a . . . non-human woman on her own."

Vaxi nodded, and Gida'Tol followed suit not far behind. "Yes, ma'am," they chorused. Their expressions were almost identically innocent, but Parn gave them a hard look over the woman's shoulder.

"Remember, don't spend all my money on clothes," he said, his eyes full of a warning that had nothing to do with clothes or money. Then he turned that roguish smile on the officer. "Now, you wanted to, ah, go over the manifests, Major Farros?"

The two of them walked out of the hangar, and Vaxi and Gida'Tol waited for a second with those beatific expressions. Then, they both looked at each other and grinned. "Come on," Vaxi said, taking her hand. "We'll get you something that makes you feel pretty, not just boring old training clothes."

 

[Armphid]

Parn felt a brief urge to have B9 accompany the girls but it was too late for that. She'd never catch up to them. From their expressions, he wasn't sure either of them were taking this seriously enough. Balmorra was a very dangerous place. But he'd trust Vaxi's judgment. Besides, he had his own threat to deal with.

He gave the Imperial officer beside him a winning smile as they drew near a group of her subordinates, "I hope this won't take too long, Major. I've got business in town today that-"

"Will wait as long as necessary, Captain," she snapped. Her voice was cultured and refined pure high class Dromund Kaas. Her eyes were bright as she looked at him, pleased to have the chance to chide him in front of her staff. Major Farros stopped and grabbed him by his jacket, pushing him against the nearby wall. "I shall be all the more thorough as you want to avoid this process and I assure you that any violations or abnormalities will be fully investigated and persecuted." She sniffed and turned to walk away again, "Now come along."

Parn watched her walk for a few moments, Yes uh, yes, ma'am."

Behind him he heard the junior customs agents talking about how Farros had the spacers and scum that came through in hand, how he would regret trying to weasel out of the inspection and interrogation like that, that no one got anything past her. He grinned as he quickened his pace to catch up to her. Good. One part of this little dance complete.

He followed the older woman up a few sets of stairs to the upper walkway that went around this set if landing bays. Unlike many Chief Customs Officers, Farros kept her office in the spaceport rather than a quieter or nicer administration building elsewhere. There was a small room adjacent where a human man younger than Parn sat at a desk; part secretary and part guard. He rose as they passed and Farros nodded approval, "No interruptions, Morn. Captain Starhawk is up to his usual tricks."

"Should have learned by now, Starhawk," the younger man smirked. He stepped up to relieve Parn of the blasters at his hips, the smaller blaster in his shoulder holster, and the knife in his right boot. "She'll have you in chains this time."

"Carry on, Corporal," she said firmly but with a hint of a smile.

He saluted, "Yes, ma'am!"

They went into her office and the door slid shut behind them. Farros walked to her desk and hit a few buttons to lock it as well as tint the windows to make them opaque from the outside but perfectly transparent from within. While lower offices and officers had cameras in them, the Chief Customs Officer's did not. The office was well appointed but spartan, with none of the personal touches senior officials tended to have. Nothing hung on the walls but her writ of office and a red Imperial banner, both there exactly according to regulations. Her desk was close to the rear wall to allow for a full view from the windows. A pair of simple chairs sat in front of it. Past them, under the large, long windows was a bench with a thin cushion that could charitably be called a couch; big enough for perhaps four to sit in relative comfort. On the wall opposite the door was a sizable computer and holonet system, though there were smaller units with the desk as well.

Parn let himself look over Major Farros as she turned back to face him. She was barely shorter than him and her broad shoulders were the start of a strong, solid build. Even with that, her shape was undeniably feminine with a waist narrower than her hips, a stomach that was mostly flat and toned, a slight swell to her hips and ass, and a pair of very large, rounded breasts that her uniform clung to delightfully. She couldn't be called beautiful unless you were in love with her but she was pretty. Her features were strong and well defined; her jawline in particular more robust than was usually considered attractive. But he liked that about her. Her lips were then and usually set in a serious, no-nonsense straight line. There were faint lines at the tips and at the corners of her eyes, other than the little gray in her hair the clearest signs of her age.

He'd seen pictures of her when she was younger than her current 51 years and she had always looked more or less the same. Some were beautiful when young and faded but she was somewhat pretty and seemed like she would stay that way her entire life.

"Would you like a drink, Captain?" She walked around behind the desk and pulled a drawer open. The tall woman removed a bottle and a pair of glasses to set them on the desk. She removed the army cap from her head and set it on the desk, "Pour for us, won't you?"

The smuggler walked to the desk and lifted the bottle, "Ah. It's still pretty full. Didn't you like it?" He removed the re-sealing stopper and poured two fingers of an amber liquid into each glass before replacing it.

"Yes, it's the best brandy I've ever had." She shook her head as her hands unbuckled her own gunbelt and set it, her sidearm and stun baton in it, onto the seat of her chair. "All the way from Alderaan, no less. After the first glass, I wanted to wait on having more until I could share it with the one who sent it to me so unexpectedly on that particular date."

He lifted the glasses and held one out to her as she came back around the desk, "Happy belated birthday, Tana."

The older woman took the offered glass, "It was very thoughtful. Cheers." They clinked the glasses and each took a long drink. They set them down together before he reached for her, pulling her against him. Her hands slid up his chest before going about his neck, "Welcome back, my naughty boy."

He answered her with a kiss; a hard, searing press of lips that became several more. Their hands began to move over each others' bodies with eager, hungry familiarity.

 

[HookerBoots]

"Thank you for your business, ladies," the merchant said, his accent pure Imperial silk. "And please, remember, if you need help trying anything on, I'm at your service." He winked one ice-blue eye, and handed Vaxi the receipt from their extensive purchases. This particular shop had been general supplies, so it was where they'd bolstered some of the ship's stocks of non-food items, and gotten Gida'Tol personal hygiene items as well as a few basic pieces of clothing - the man also had a few pieces of undergarmentry that they'd bought, much to their surprise.

At his lascivious farewell, both girls simpered in exactly the way they'd learned the male merchants here liked from non-human females, and Vaxi waved, wagging her fingers at him. "We'll certainly consider it," she said, taking Gida'Tol's arm as they turned and walked away. "We'll consider it around the time we get sucked into a black hole," she muttered, rolling her eyes. They left the shop, and stopped just outside it while Vaxi checked the datapad that held a real-time record of the credits they'd spent.

This place was the last of their shopping, and Gida'Tol already looked better dressed than before - she was wearing a pair of boots that fit, and a jacket made of what the seller assured them was genuine zeldrate leather, reinforced with plates made of colicoid shell. She was also wearing a headband of leather, set with a swirling design in brass and iron, something that had been so eager suggested to them by every merchant they'd approached that she finally bought one. She felt a lot more confident in the new items, things she'd picked out, even if it was kind of strange to be able to pick whatever she wanted. She leaned against the wall of the building and looked up at the sky with a feeling of strange contentment.

"Rancor shit."

"What's wrong?" Gida'Tol turned her gaze to Vaxi, who was staring at the datapad in dismay.

The Zabrak woman looked at her, cheeks a little flushed. "We may have gotten a little carried away." She swallowed hard. "I may have gone over the budget Captain gave us by," she coughed, "a couple thousand credits."

"WHAT?" Gida'Tol's face was pale and her eyes were wide. "We . . . oh, hells." She blinked. "Okay, so, we can return the jacket, and, um . . . the boots too, that'll get us something back, and . . . ."

"No, no, that won't do." Vaxi chewed her lip. "The whole point was to get you things to wear, things you liked. And you have to have good boots." She tucked the datapad away, obviously steeling herself for it. "I'll just admit I didn't keep track of our spending, and endure the lecture. He won't mind - too much."

Gida'Tol sighed. "You'd know best, I guess. I just feel bad, you know?" They started back towards the ship, passing through the paths of the military encampment. Suddenly, Gida'Tol stopped and looked at a posting board they were in front of. "Vaxi, look!"

"Hmm?" The other woman had clearly been lost in thought and brooding a bit. "What?"

The Twi'lek walked up to the board and pointed. "Here, look! The infirmary is looking for someone willing to go out and gather an herb that grows around the outside. Not easy to spot, but they'll pay five thousand credits for a small satchel." Her face fell. "Oh, right. I forgot, though, we're not supposed to leave the base."

Vaxi looked at the posting. "Yeah, but . . . I mean, it's just herbs. How far out could we have to go? And how much trouble can we get into from gathering up plants?" Her eyes were speculative. "We could gather up as much as we could and be back in time to meet the Captain."

"I don't know if we should . . . ."

Vaxi put an arm around the blue-skinned woman's shoulders. "It was your idea, it's great! Come on, we can manage it." She leaned in and whispered, "Plus, if we get extra, we can use it to help the resistance, too."

Gida'Tol's mouth firmed a bit. "Okay, but I want it on record that I reminded you that we weren't supposed to leave the area." She laughed. "But you're probably right. Let's go."

 

[Armphid]

"Ahh, that's a good boy, Parn dear." Major Tana Farros let her head roll back, her cheeks flushed, eyes shutting for a few moments. The older woman was seated on her desk and leaning back; her duty jacket unfastened and hanging open, as was the undershirt beneath to reveal her large, plush breasts. They were rounded and luscious with jut a bit of sag, still looking magnificent. "I've been waiting for this all day, ever since I saw you on this week's schedule."

Parn's jacket was off as well but he had not dressed down further. The red headed man was kissing and licking her breasts, worshiping them with the devotion of a zealot. His hands cradled them like they were precious works of art even as his lips and tongue devoured them. "You must have. No bra, Tana, isn't that against regulations?"

"Not the first I've broken since meeting you." She ran a hand through his hair, looking down at her with a warm gleam in her eyes. "I like the feel though; just doing it and breaking the rules gave me the nicest tingle. My nipples were hard against my uniform all day."

He wasn't surprised. Major Tana Farros was known for her adherence to protocol and to the rules; it was one of the things that allowed her to rise as high as she had in the Imperial Army despite the hangups the Imps had. They weren't nearly as sexist as they were racist but the only women in positions of real power in the Empire were Sith. Tana had realized that no matter how well she did, no matter how much smarter or better she was than her colleagues, she was never making any higher than Major. She'd never do anything more important than this position. He'd taken advantage of that; opened her up to enjoying life and they'd made their little deal. Even the little violators of rules were a turn on for her.

"I like the more daring you," he grinned up at her before taking one of her nipples into his mouth. "Mmm," he purred around it, flicking it with his tongue and sucking hungrily.

"So do I." The brunette licked her lips, "Mmm, yes, suck on my tits, my naughty boy, that's right." She stroked his head with her left hand, gently pressing his face more firmly into her breast. Her right hand was working the fastening of her trousers, tugging it open and then slipping the zipper down.

He felt the motion and moved his head to her left tit; suckling hard on it and making her gasp, removing one of his hands from her jugs to her uniform pants. Together they worked them over her full hips before he took control and slid them down her legs as she kicked her feet to send first her right, then her left boot flying across the room. A sharp, pungent scent his his nose and he blinked, pulling off of her breast and glancing down her body. "And no panties." Parn raised his eyebrows and shook his head, his face astonished, "Tana, you bad girl, you!"

She laughed, her tits jiggling. Her body was lovely; her dedication to military service and a genuine patriotism to the Empire that baffled him led her make a habit of fitness training early in her life; so if she ever had to fight for the Empire, she would be at her best. He didn't think she'd ever have to go to war but he loved the results of her readiness. Her skin was firm and taut and her body was toned and sleek, particularly given her age. There was little, if any, of the looseness that older women often had. "A genuine surprise! I'm delighted. I don't know that I've ever really shocked you before."

"Nicely done. And I fully approve." Parn slid down her body and he felt her tense in anticipation. "It makes this all the easier."

"Oh, yes. Please," she whispered. Then she moaned out loudly as his clever tongue licked her slit from base to top; knowing that the secure construction of her office made it fully soundproofed. "Ohh, you're always, mmm, so mouthy! So smart!" She cooed as he began to lick at her cunt faster; quick, firm, eager licks running up and over her lips. "But that's, ahh, the best use for that mouth of yours!"

Her taste was strong and flavorful, almost like overbrewed tea. Parn slid his tongue up and down her gash before slipping past her lips and making her squeal as he rasped over the more sensitive flesh beneath. He pressed his lips to her lower ones in a fervent kiss and sank his tongue into her sex. She drew in a ragged breath and let out as an airy sigh; her channel was snug and hot, wet already and growing more so every moment. He swirled his tongue inside, stirring her up and making her moan again.

"Oh, yes, oh, you rogue! You dirty, nasty, cunt licker!" She was flushed and her speech made her blush deeper. As much as saying such things was a turn on, she was enough of a prude it still shocked her, even when she did it. "Lick me good now, my wicked lad, make me cum. I want to cream all over that pretty boy face of yours, leave my scent on your skin, let those alien whores you travel with know you're mine."

The Jedi Shadow pumped his tongue in and out of her tunnel over and over, curling his tongue up as he slid out to rasp over her roof and make her cry out. Then he pulled fully from her and slid up the pink sweetness to start lashing and tapping the swollen nub of her clit. He looked up at her and felt a surge run through him.

She looked incredibly sexy. Her hair hung loose around her face, out of her prim bun, and her cheeks were flushed. Her eyes were bright and her lips were slightly parted as she panted and moaned, watching him pleasure her. Her hands were on her own breasts, squeezing and fondling them, pinching and tugging on her stiff nipples. Her breathing was picking up and starting to hitch and he smiled as best he could while feasting on her glory.

Parn took her clit lightly between his teeth and she stiffened up; her breath hitching in her throat. He started to rapidly lash the tip of his tongue over her clit and she shrieked. Her thighs closed on his head, squeezing, and he felt her tip back. Her body tensed and her legs kicked as he heard her howl and her sex spasmed and twitched around his tongue. Hot liquid joy smeared over him as she humped his face, wailing out as she came on him.

He kept going, licking at her pearl, not giving her any respite from the pleasure rocking through her. One of her hands left her tits to grab hold of his hair, yanking it hard to mash his face even harder into her cunt. "Yesss, fuck, yes, you bastard! You, ahh, you spacer slut boy! Making me, ahh, cum! Don't you stop! Not, ahhh, until I can't fucking breathe!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

They'd passed the many guards at the heavily fortified entrance to the military town easily enough. They had been scrutinizing the two women heavily, not just because of laciviousness but due to both of them being non-human. The bulk of the resistance weren't human, understandable given the nature of the Empire, and so any non-humans were considered possible suspects.

But Gida'Tol had simpered and flirted just right. Vaxi did have to use the Force on the sergeant on duty but it had worked like a charm!

Beyond the gate was clearly what had once been part of the town before the Empire had conquered Balmorra. Most of the houses and structures were gone; just the foundations and a few shattered walls remaining. Many of them had blaster turret nests in them, crewed by small groups of soldiers. Several of them noted the two women and more than a few blaster rifles carefully followed them until they were past those troopers area of control.

Vaxi licked her lips. This...this was still a good idea. They'd range out, find the herbs, get enough to make up for how much they spent, and get back. There was an unsettled feeling in the pit of her stomach but she ignored it. It would be fine. They were both armed and it couldn't be that bad out here. Not with all those soldiers around.

All the same, she loosened her pistol and her vibroblade in their holsters. "We'll have to go out a little ways. I'm sure anything close to the town has been picked clean already." She had her datapad out, scanning for the plant. "Nothing right around here...let's head north. There's a river that way, so there should be more growth."

 

[HookerBoots]

Gida'Tol looked around, taking in the sight of the first free land she'd ever seen. It . . . was a little underwhelming, really, though. Shattered, battle-scarred land and torn grass, ruined buildings . . . it was just all so grim. But that was the reality of war, she supposed. "Right." She shook her head a little, bringing herself back to the job at hand.

She did have a bad feeling, somehow, about this, but they were into it now. "So, we head north, find the river, gather some herbs, and head back." She nodded, mimicking the other woman's motion to make sure her blaster was clear in its holster. "Easy." It felt like a case of easier said than done.

They walked for a while in silence, Vaxi scanning the area with her datapad, and Gida'Tol enjoying the change of pace that of the easy hike. Every now and then, they'd stop and grab a few leaves from a stand-alone specimen of the plant, always careful to leave it in good enough shape to keep growing.

They finally reached the river, and there were a number of the little yellow-flowered plants growing along the banks. Vaxi smiled, a bit relieved. "Thank goodness," she muttered, bending over to help harvest some of the leaves from the nearest one. They'd made it this far without having to do more than detour slightly to avoid a vicious-looking lizard, and that was better than she'd hoped.

They had just grabbed the last handful of the leaves and were fastening the satchel closed when they spotted a number of Imperial soldiers heading towards them. The two of them tensed, unsure how to react. The men approaching didn't seem hostile to them, but they would certainly be escorted back to the town.

"Vaxi . . ." Gida'Tol looked over at the other woman, her face troubled. "What should we . . . ?"

The words died as she looked at the half-dozen soldiers. There was a rustling from a small copse of trees, and almost two dozen people ran out, yelling and blasters firing. "Hell!" Vaxi slung the satchel across her body, pulled her blaster out but didn't aim it. "We leave, that's what we should do!" She looked at Gida'Tol, her eyes serious. "Either side wins, they'll want to question us. We don't have time for that, come on!"

Gida'Tol took her free hand and they started to run, not paying attention to which direction they were heading. They were more or less heading toward a hillside that they could see as they grew closer had a large metal door covered in rust set into it. About two hundred feet away from the door, they both stumbled, tripping over a small ridge in the the ground that surrounded a wide depression. Inside the depression were a number of sickly green eggs about a hand and a half long, most of which were broken open.

They stopped for a second, looking around the little area in surprise and concern. "What . . . what are these?" Gida'Tol shook her head. "This isn't right, this is . . . bad."

There was a moment of silence, and from all around them came a whirring, clicking sound. As they started running again, heading for the door set in the hillside, all Gida'Tol could see were insects tall enough to reach her waist, in a darker shade of sickly green, with an assortment of claws and pincers, and vicious mandibles dripping slime. There were, she thought she saw, a handful of still-larger insects.

But then they were at the door, and both of them wrenching at it, pushing it open, and then shoving at it to shut it again. They managed to get the door shut, and paused for a moment, breathing hard.

Then they heard the creatures start to impact on the door, and jumped as the door shifted slightly back in towards them. ". . . Grab whatever you can to pile in front of it." Vaxi started looking around, then sighed. "I'm awful at this, but I'll try it." Gida'Tol started levering a couple of barrels in front of the door, and Vaxi went over to where three steel beams had fallen from where they had been. Taking a deep, steadying breath, Vaxi held out her hands. "There is no emotion, there is peace," she whispered, and reached out with the Force.

The beams moved, slowly and one at a time, but they moved, and settled on top of the barrels that Gida'Tol had managed to get situated. Together, they were also able to move a couple of sandbags in front of the door as well before they both stopped, breathing hard. "Should we go further in?" Gida'Tol whispered.

"Yeah," Vaxi managed, her face pale. "If they think we're gone, they may give up." She looked around at the structure they were in. "And if we're lucky, I'll be able to get a distress call out. I don't think we'll get out of here on our own."

 

[Armphid]

Tana Farros panted atop her desk, now fully laying atop it. Her hair was disheveled and a few strands were wet and stuck to her face and forehead. Her eyes were distant and happy behind her prim looking glasses and her cheeks were flushed. Her chest heaved as she drew in great lungfuls of breath, recovering from the blistering series of orgasms her dear scoundrel had delivered with that devilish mouth of his. "That...is precisely...what I meant. Oh, very good, my...bad boy."

He leaned back from his kneeling position into a crouch and grinned. Parn's lower face was smeared with her juices and the scent of her would be in his nose all day. Not that he minded. Seeing her like that, lost in and just enjoying the haze of her pleasure...that made him feel good about all this. He was using her. It was a fact. But when he could give her this, it didn't feel like a cold thing. "We're not done yet, Major. Get your wind back but I haven't yet gotten to fuck that scorching pussy of yours and there's no way I can leave without that."

"Oh. Oh, you are so right." She smiled and leaned up on her elbows, opening her mouth to speak and then sniffing the air. "Mm. Lovely but a bit of a giveaway." Tana slid her left hand to the desk's room controls and hit a few buttons. There was a whir from the ceiling and then the feeling of the air in the room stirring and moving up and away. The vents were put in place by her predecessor who had engaged in a very different style of...interrogating suspects. The smell of the blood and such got bad enough that the vents were put in to deal with it.

As she did so, Parn had removed his own boots and was now working on his trousers. She noticed and smiled slowly; a hungry, leonine expression that sent a throb of want through him. "That's a good lad. Let me see my favorite toy."

He laughed, "I should feel bad about being reduced to a sex object for you but..."

"You do have a nice butt," she interrupted. He laughed again and then slid his boxers down his legs to puddle with his trousers on the floor. His aching cock bounced free, almost slapping against his stomach, standing proud and stiff in the now breezy air of the room.

Tana's eyes half lidded as she admired it openly. "A nice butt, a handsome face, a charming smile, but that...that my boy is your best feature." Long, thick, strong, and so very pretty. "just what a woman wants, needs."

He groaned from the sensuality of her open approval and the feel of his own hand wrapping around his shaft and giving it a slow pump. "Why don't you come over and show your appreciation?"

She slipped off her desk and sauntered over to him, her hands going to his shoulders and pushing him back. Their lips met, the two lovers kissing as they moved. His legs bumped into the bench beneath the windows and he sank down onto it, spreading them apart.

Tana knelt in front of him and leaned down, breathing in along the length of his dick from base to tip, taking in the virile, manly scent of this scandalous young man. She kissed the head and he shivered. "Now," she said, "just because I'm on my knees, don't," she kissed the head again, a wetter, more open mouthed kiss, "think it means anything other than getting access to what I," another wet, hungry kiss to his crown, "want."

"Ahh, don't worry, Tana." He let his head tip back against the thick glass of the windows behind them. She cooed and opened her lips wide to take him into her mouth. "Uhh! Oh, fuck! I, ahh, know, mm, what this is. No illusions huh-here." He slid a hand into her hair as she began to bob up and down on his thickness; her lips sealed tight to his prick as she slurped greedily upon him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

The door would hold. Vaxi was sure of that. Those things...collicoids, she remembered they were called, were still banging on the it. Even though the two of them had gone further in and away from it, they could still here the clanking crack of hardened chitin on steel. There were fewer though. Some of them had given up. Or noticed the firefight and gone after the soldiers and the resistance fighters. It was ghoulish but she hoped they had. It would make getting out of here easier later.

She felt a sudden chill as had another thought that some of them might be looking for another way in. Ugh, don't think like that! Well, it was all right to think like that; it was a sound tactic. But don't freak out about it. Remember what Master Parn said.

"I'm worse than a novice," she sighed. "I never listen to my instincts." The zabrak shook her head as she pulled her holocomm from her jacket and keyed it to life, "For what it's worth, you were right. And take a lesson from this; listen to your gut." The device in her hand whirred and then chirped at her. "Shit. This building is shielded...meaning I can't call out. What the hell were they doing in here?"

She ran a hand up and along her hair, fingers sliding through the spiky, back swept, dark blonde locks. "Okay. Well, whatever they were doing, even if personnel couldn't call out from inside, the facility had to have a way to call out. So, we find their comm station. And hope it still has power or that we can get a back up online."

Vaxi turned back to look at the lush twi'lek. "Are you okay? I've been in some dangerous situations before but this must be a first for you." She smiled in what she hoped was a confident manner. "Don't worry though, we'll be fine!" Fine...

 

[HookerBoots]

Gida'Tol took a deep breath and forced a smile. "I'll be okay for now. I might have a breakdown when we get back to the ship, but I'm fine for right now." She hoped it sounded confident. "This would be the first time I've been . . . in such a situation, yes." Looking around the large room they were in, she made a face. "So we go further in, right?"

Vaxi nodded, holding her communicator up. "Yeah. We go further in." She sighed as they headed toward the interior of the structure. "Man, today has turned out to be very strange. Parn is going to be so mad when he finds out where we are."

There was a beat of silence, broken only by the sounds of their boots on the dusty floor. "He really is," the busty twi'lek answered.

~ ~ ~ ~​

Most of the rooms they found were sealed, heavy vault doors locked tightly. They to corridor opened up eventually to a wide room filled with computer banks that were dark and covered in dust and debris. "Okay, so this is probably the best place," Vaxi said, looking around. "There's got to be a way to hack into the com channels here."

"What do you want me to help with?" Gida'Tol peered at one of the dark screens. "I've got pretty much no experience with this kind of thing." She tapped a button, then shrugged. "I could hold the light for you?"

Vaxi laughed lightly. "That would be help, actually." She walked slowly down the aisle of computers, looking back and forth between them. "Hmmm." The zabrak stepped forward to study the controls for a moment. "This is the one I need." She bent down and pried off one of the panels below the console. She waved one hand, calling Gida'Tol over.

The twi'lek walked over and took the small flashlight that Vaxi handed her, shining it into the tangled mass of wires and circuitry. "So what's the plan? Or should I shut up and let you do what you need to?"

"Well," Vaxi said, pulling aside a handful of wires. "First off, I'm going to try and get this operational, or as close as I can." She reached into a pocket and pulled out a small screwdriver, fiddling a bit in the opening. There was an electric crackling sound and the console flickered into dim, wavering light.

Gida'Tol blinked. "That's amazing! How did you . . . you know, I'm just glad you did." She shook her head.

"That was the easy part. I think." Vaxi poked around a bit more, using the screwdriver to handle the wires now. "Now, I hook my com into the power source to steal a little of the juice in their generator to boost my signal." Her communicator beeped as she plugged a few of the wires into one of the ports on the com, and she looked at it. "All right, things are going okay so far." She grabbed one of the thicker wires in the desk. "And this should be the last of it, once I get this plugged in, I should be able to use it to bypass their shielding and get a distress call out."

Sighing in relief, Gida'Tol nodded. "So . . . should we expect it soon?" She snapped the flashlight off as Vaxi stood up.

"That depends," she said, "on whether or not Parn has his com on." Vaxi peered at the screen of her communicator. "Annnnd it doesn't look like he has it on, or has access to it." She sighed heavily. "Sithspawn."

Silence again, and Gida'Tol asked in a small voice, "What do we do?"

"We . . . we wait." Vaxi gave her a bolstering smile. "He'll come for us." She put an arm around the other girl's shoulders. "I'll have it send out an emergency pulse every ten minutes, so we don't have to babysit it." She swallowed hard. "He'll come for us, I promise."

 

[Armphid]

"What are you-oh!" Tana Farros blinked as she found her face just inches from the long, tall octagonal window of her office. Below her a view of the closest docking bays spread out and just in front was the high catwalk that her crews and officers moved about to stay out of the way of the work below when the situation called for it. She let out a gasp as she was pressed forward a bit more and her large, heaving breasts were mashed against the cold glass. There was a jolt of shock that went through her; they'd see her!

And that thought triggered a rush of wet heat between her legs and roll of sensual, wicked delight through her. Sithspawn, why did that turn her on so? To think her men would look up and see her pressed against the glass, panting like a bitch in heat, taking a criminal rogue's dick?

The older woman let out a brief wail before clapping her lips shut. Fuck, she'd almost creamed right there.

"I thought you'd like this." Parn was behind her, having effortlessly tugged the long couch aside before turning and pressing her against the window. His hands gave her big breasts a squeeze before traveling down her sides to her hips, stroking there. She let out a whimper as she felt the long, thick, spit slick length of his cock rubbing up and down the crack of her ass. "The perfect officer exposed as a sex hungry slut in front of all her men. Any of them, all of them, could look up and see you right now." She trembled under him and he could feel the rolling wave of perverse delight that went through her.

Tana licked her lips. They couldn't actually. She'd changed the window on entering so that it was opaque from the outside; no one could see in. But she could see out. And imagine they could see her. And-"Ahhh, ohh, fuck, fuck! Yes, let them all see me as not a ball busting bitch but a, uhh, a sexual, hungry, passionate woman eager to be fucked and filled!" She spread her legs further apart, bracing herself more against the unyielding glass. Her hands reached up to grip the top of the window and she looked back at him, "Do it, please. Fuck me. Fuck me in front of everyone, you bastard."

Damn, there were times he loved his job in the Order. How many Jedi got to hear that panted at them by a sex drenched Imperial sex goddess? The auburn haired man shifted his stance and brought his dick low to line up with her cunt. "Just like you want, Major." He entered her and groaned as her body welcomed him; embracing his cock and seeming to draw him further up and in.

Tana gasped and then hissed, her hands clenching down on the rim of the window, her toes curling up, "Ahh, yesss, YES! FUCK! SHIT!" Her cunt throbbed and pulsed around him even as he sheathed himself fully into her and she quivered as her body was ravaged by pleasure as well as his invading pride.

Parn couldn't help but smile as he leaned forward to kiss the back of her neck and then of her right ear, "I feel you cumming around my dick and I just put it on. Such a hot slut you are, Tana!" He knew this would bring her close to the edge but he'd underestimated her. Fuck, to cum just from him putting it in! If only he could put that in his mission report...

"Muh-more, oh, fuck, please, more," she panted.

He nuzzled her neck and drew back before driving into her again and blasting a happy "Oh" from her elegant lips. Parn didn't speak now; there was no need. He just drove into her over and over and over and over again. Long, fast, hard strokes with his cock, rocking her forward to mash her tits harder against the glass, her face nearly touching it.

Tana's eyes widened as one of the customs officers on the catwalk a few meters away paused in his work and glanced at the window. "Ohhh," she whimpered, "he hears, ah, hears you, hnn, fucking my body against the glass. He'll know, ohhh, yess, he'll know!" Her cunt squeezed the invading dick hard and she crested close to her peak again, not quite there, as the man's gaze lingered for a few seconds. He then shrugged and turned back to his work.

"FUCK!" She crowed then, head going back, nearly being detected and then escaping throwing her over the brink. "Ahh! HhNN! Again, oh, again, you big dicked smuggler scum! Making me cum over and over, fuck!" Her legs trembled, feeling weak, but she didn't give a damn. Her face was upturned to bask in the raw, violent sensations and feelings, giving herself over to the fiery joy fully. No hesitation or iron control now, just pure lust, pure enjoyment, pure freedom!

He felt her legs quivering again and shifted his grip to lift them. She let out a squeal of surprise and then hooked her legs about his waist to pull him closer to her and again mash herself against the glass. Parn pistoned in and out of her sopping pussy; wet, squishing and greedy slurping accompanying the slap of their bodies meeting. Her gasps and whimpers married with his growls, a vocal rhythm to go with the physical one. Again and again and again he speared deep into her, her body and her moans urging him on. Each delicious thrust drove them further to pleasure together and brought him closer and closer to the brink.

Parn bit his lower lip, feeling a familiar tension growing in his balls. "Tana...Tana, baby, I'm-"

"Cum then! Inside, oh, fill my belly, you dirty fucker!" She was well beyond child bearing age; not that she didn't have a few eggs frozen so she could fulfill that duty to the Empire as well.

"Every and any time I can, you beauty, you wonder, fuck!" Parn hilted within her and groaned as he felt it go and bliss burst within him. His hips pumped, pushing his dick inside her slightly deeper, as he began to streak and paint the purity of her womb with his sticky, greasy seed. He shuddered as his body was scorched by pleasure and each tremor through him brought another jet of heavy jizz that fired into her.

Tana cooed as she felt it blossom in her. Oh. Oh, that feeling! How she loved him cumming inside! His semen was so hot and heavy in her belly; she could feel it and relished the welcome pollution. "That's it...that's my boy. My wicked, bad, naughty lad, give it aaaall to me...just like that...oh, I love this feeling, love your cock, your cum..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

Vaxi looked around the lab they'd entered. "So I think this explains those bugs out there." It was a bio lab and one that dealt with large specimens. Maybe this place had somehow been breeding the colicoids for something or doing research to see if there could be medicines made form them? Or make them more docile? ...or more aggressive. Balmorra was renowned for weapons manufacture, after all.

She looked at one of the monitors there. "Might be some data left on this still." The zabrak looked over at her shapely companion, "Come on, we'll have a technology lesson while we're waiting."

Keeping both of their hands and minds busy would also keep them both from worrying. Too much. She hoped.

~~~~~~~~~~~~​

The door to Major Farros' private bathroom slid open and she emerged, clean and mostly dressed. Her boots and uniform pants where in place, and her magnificent breasts were now contained in a regulation bra that she'd apparently kept in reserve. Her undershirt was open over it and her uniform jacket was draped over the chair of her desk. Her hair was back up again and her glasses settled properly on her nose. "Well. That was lovely, my lad, but I'm afraid we must be about our business now."

Parn was completely redressed, standing in front of her large window with his hands behind his back and a smile on his lips. He turned at the sound of her voice and his smile grew, "Now that, Major Farros, is a lovely picture. You wouldn't mind if I took one, would you? To keep me company on all those lonely nights in space?"

She scoffed but her lips were upturned, "Try and you'll be mining ore on a prison colony before the end of the week." Her eyes slid over to a small data cylinder that had not been on her desk before. "Good. What is it this time?"

"Something nasty. Magnataur shipment."

She took it up and smiled at the cylinder; intercepting that particular variety of spice would be very good for her, indeed. "You're a strange smuggler. Most would be bringing spice in, not giving intel on those doing so." Her eyes moved to him. Part of her wondered what he was bringing in then. But she did not want to know, because then she would.

Parn just shrugged, "It's part of my charm."

"Perhaps." She crossed behind her desk and began to button up her shirt. "There's something you should know." Her voice was serious enough that it made him fully turn to face her. "There's been an notice placed on you. Your ship, you specifically, your...crew by description."

"I should have expected that," he sighed. Parn closed his eyes and shook his head once before opening. "Let me guess; Mactus."

She nodded, now tucking her shirt into the uniform trousers. "Quite. You've made a serious enemy, my feckless lad. It's an alert but not to hold or interfere with you, merely to observe and send a notice to him. It's been sent through every Imperial controlled port."

Parn grimaced. He hadn't expected it to go that far. He'd been counting on the man not wanting it widely known that he'd been crossed and shown up by space scum. "You'll send it, naturally."

"Send? I sent it as soon as you arrived." Tana was pulling on her uniform jacket now. "I've lived and succeeded in the Imperial military due to two things; excellence and staying out of Sith madness. I'm very fond of you, I may even love you in a certain way, but I'm not about to cross a Sith for you."

Parn felt disappointment but he understood. She was a patriot and a true believer, despite it all. "I understand."

"Now there's no record of the message being received and I've no idea where this Sith currently is, so you're likely looking at days before he arrives." She fastened the jacket. "But even so...I'd finish your business here quickly. Find your crew." Her eyes looked into his with sad certainty, "And then run and don't let him catch you."

Parn felt a shiver go down his spine. "Well then." He walked to the door and paused, glancing back at her. He would never see her in the flesh again, he was sure of that. There was no more coming back here. "Take care of yourself, Tana. Live a happy life. ...You know that secretary of yours has a crush on you, right?"

"Does he?" She sounded genuinely surprised. "I may have to look into that." Having found passion now, she wasn't about to let it go again. And he wasn't coming back; one way or the other. "Now go. And don't look back again."

Parn smiled and lifted his right hand to his forehead in a two fingered salute before turning to her door. It swished open and closed as he stepped through it. Corporal Morn, her assistant, looked a bit disappointed as he came through. "Gave something up, did you, scum?"

"You know me so well, Morn." Parn smirked back at the man. "My property?" He took back the weapons and his commlink the man handed over and put them back into place. He sighed, "She got a little too close for comfort this time, I don't think I"ll be coming back to Balmorra."

The Imperial let a smirk twitch on his lips before resuming a more neutral expression. So he knew about the alert too. "Good. Though I'd have preferred to see you hauled off to the mines, knowing the Major ran you off for good is enough."

Parn shook his head, "For me too. She's one hell of a woman, Morn. Be good to her, huh?" He didn't wait for a response but walked away.

The other man blinked and didn't speak, apparently unsure of what to say to that.

The smuggler made his way out of the spaceport and into the tense little town beyond it. There were a few messages on his commlink but he wanted a little more distance between him and the customs agents. He'd have to be more careful in general; he had to assume Mactus' edict had been communicated to the security and military personnel as well, not just customs.

The cantina would be the best spot to check his messages. While it was full of Imperial Intellgence assets, it was also loud and full of noise. Parn was halfway there when there was a blip from his comm. Another message now? He would have ignored it but he felt a sudden impulse to check it now. His training had taught him what that kind of hunch meant; the Force was stepping in.

Parn ducked into an alley and pulled out his comm, thumbing it to life. No audio messages; just text. His deliveries, legit and otherwise, had been completed while he was with Tana, good there. And then...three messages from Vaxi? He felt a cold tightness in his gut as he pulled the first one up. "Bloody nass." It was a simple string of numbers and then a second set but it made his heart sink. It was a coded call for help and then coordinates, all jumbled, but his 'link was programmed with the cipher for this code. "What happened to you girls?"

These coordinates were outside the city by a few miles. The code didn't indicate they were captured but trapped. "Damn. Damn! Of all the times!" He tried to send an acknowledgment but the comm let out a flat bleep and his heart sank deeper. Unable to reach. Shit.

Parn strode out of the alley, his roguish face serious. He had to go now; the messages were ten minutes apart so at least thirty minutes trapped. He could be too late already. He wanted to think he'd have felt it if she...but he hadn't. So he had to hope she was alive, they were both alive.

He licked his lips. He'd need transportation big enough for all of them. And to get out through the carefully watched gate with it. With the weapons he had...and get some medical supplied, which were in short supply here already. And the clock was ticking.

~~~~~~~~~​

The message had repeated twice more by the time he got out of town and into the ruins beyond. The mid-size speeder he'd rented skimmed along at a brisk pace and he noted the guns trained on him by the soldiers in the burned out wreckage but no shots came. He'd been there when the sergeant at the gate put the order through to clear him but he wasn't about to take chances.

The speeder was older but decently maintained; an open top Incom model with a small, single ion engine providing thrust with repulsors underneath to lift it up off the ground a good three feet. There were two sets of seats, enough room for them all to fit in. The engine let out a shriek as he accelerated and shot across the blasted landscape. The coordinates were west, towards the river where the terrain became more healthy and greener than this immediate no man's land. He felt a surge of worried irritation. What were they doing out here?

The vehicle covered the distance in just a few minutes; Parn was almost on top of the coordinates now. He slowed down to a gradual halt. If they were trapped, something had done the trapping. Parn pulled the speeder into a small copse of trees and shut down everything but the low hover setting of the repulsors before hopping out of the side.

Even as he vaulted over, he knew part of what had happened. People had been here; a dozen or more. There were traces in the way the foliage was bent and pressed down in places. They were waiting in ambush. Which meant it was resistance fighters, not Imperials, who'd be patrolling. He could smell scorched wood and the acrid stick of melted plastic; there had been a fight with blasters.

He crouched low and moved forward carefully, wrapping himself in the Force and activating the stealth field generator on his belt. They were rare and valuable technology that let one blend in with what was around for short periods of time. Jedi Shadows were trained in their use and they were handed out as available for mission purposes. Of course, he'd given the one the Order has assigned him back two years ago after "securing" a better one on Nar Shadaa.

Parn skulked out into the open and fought not to let a breath hiss out between his teeth. There had been a fight, all right. An Imperial patrol was ambushed by the freedom fighters and it looked like both were ambushed by a third party. Moving among the corpses were huge insects; colicoids they were called. There were about nine that were the size of large dogs with vividly green carapace and three larger ones that would be his height or a little more. All of them were working at the bodies, peeling off armor to get at the flesh beneath. There were several dead colicoids on the scene too; the warring sides able to at least pick off some of the beasts before being overwhelmed.

He swallowed and took a deep breath. The girls weren't there. They couldn't be. Not and have this signal still come to him. At least one of them had to escape to send it.

The coordinates were beyond the carnage in front of him; coming from a hill. A cave? Or a hidden bunker of some kind? He couldn't tell from here. Either way, the bugs were between him and where the girls were. And he couldn't count on them being sated to just walk past and back out. Especially if they had or were spawning near here.

There were a lot of them. But he felt no fear, only a tingle of anticipation. This was another reason why not all the Masters trusted him. He liked fighting, just as much as he liked flying the space lanes, doing to dives, and all the rest of his dirty deeds. The lean Jedi pulled his blasters from their holsters and thumbed off the safeties. He could take them all just as they were...but that was no reason not to even the odds a little.

Parn crept closer, surveying the scene before him. It was ugly but he'd seen ugly before. It didn't turn his stomach, didn't even make him feel queasy. He felt a bit regretful at that. But then there was no death; there was the Force. These people were one with it now; what was left was just meat. That and their gear. His eyes lit on the belts of one of the soldiers were two round objects rested and he smiled.

He reached out with the Force and triggered both grenades. The faint click drew warning hisses from the feeding colicoids but they didn't scurry away; not in the middle of their feast and with no apparent danger. Parn lowered his head just before the plasma grenades burst into twin spreading spheres of white hot fury to blast and burn the hideous insects that were feasting on the dead. The heat rolling off of them was immense and the flash of both blazed blindingly in the eyes of those that survived the initial explosion.

Parn straightened up, his stealth field clicking off from the rapid movement, his right hand gesturing upward above his head and his left thrusting out. A boulder the size of a man's chest ripped up out of the ground to his right and he swung his hand down to bring it down on one of the larger colicoids with brutally crushing force. Pebbles and smaller stones shot through the air in the direction his left hand indicated like the bullets from an old slugthrower; the accelerated stones chewed through the chitin and actually blew off one of the many jointed legs and a ripping claw of another of the larger beasts. It's shriek was cut off as a last stone crushed it's head and it toppled over.

There had been twelve. Now there were four; three of the smaller, he guessed youger bugs, and one of the larger guardians. They were still shaking off the fire the plasma flares had put in their eyes, the pain of even being close to the heat that has seared their chitin and devoured their kin, and the shock of the sudden assault. His blasters spat blazing crimson bolts as he sighted and fired all at once; a quartet of shots slamming into the bulk of one of the smaller colicoids to put the thing out of it's misery. He walked forward slowly as the remaining bugs managed to orient on him and took careful aim.

They rushed in mad panic and he felt a moment of impressed disquiet. 15 yards. That was not a natural reaction; they should have run. Making that mental note didn't make him pause as he fired a shot from each blaster into the cluster of eyes of the closest insect; the bolts bursting it's head apart. Five yards. The Jedi swung his arms in a crossing motion inward and then out and a wave of raw kinetic energy rippled out from him and into the oncoming predators. Both were lifted off their feet and thrown back past the shattered and burned bodies of their kin and the fallen warriors. He pointed his left gun at the boulder he'd wielded earlier and it made a sudden lurching hop to come down on the smaller colicoid with a snapping crunch of chitin and a gushing squish of soft innards.

Parn advanced on the last bug as it righted itself and began to move again. Both guns barked again and again and again and the sizzling bolts pounded into the towering monstrosity. It shrieked and shuddered and made a feeble effort to rush forward before simply toppling over.

His blasters didn't cease firing or moving. He pumped another few shots into each of the fallen insects to make sure of his work. Then Parn stepped back a few paces, weapons still trained on them. Nothing stirred.

From here he could see that there were doors set into the base of the hilltop, positioned to be shadowed by the crest. Looks like hidden bunker was right. Parn walked around the corpses of the sentients and beasts alike to the doors, noting the little ditch where the broken eggs were. The steel doors were a good three inches thick and were dinged and dented, a few scratches here and there. "Looks like they tried to get in. Please be in there, girls."

He half turned to keep an eye back at the area behind him. Too many surprises here for his liking already today. Parn rapped the butt of his right blaster against the door three times, each measured a beat apart. He waited a count of three and then did it again. Another three count and then he knocked twice with the same beat and then let two beats pass and pounded twice more. If they could come out to him, so much the better. If not, he'd give them a minute or two to respond before going in himself.

 

[HookerBoots]

Gida'Tol had managed to get the data terminal to surrender some of its secrets, with Vaxi's careful coaching and instruction. They'd gotten involved in the process, exactly as Vaxi had hoped, and managed to secure a fair amount of data loaded onto a holopad they'd managed to charge up with the reserve power - what they'd found was encrypted, so they had no idea if it was valuable secrets or just a large file of time sheets.

Gida'Tol had just disconnected the holopad when they heard sounds from outside again, faint because of how far they were inside, but they could hear it. Blaster fire, and the horrible buzzing sound those bugs made, coupled with screeching sounds. They looked at each other. "Do you think . . . ?" Gida'Tol asked, eyes wide.

Vaxi nodded. "I do. I felt the Force, however faintly." She straightened up, dusting off the seat of her pants. "Let's go. Either way, we'll want to be there to greet whoever it is." Please be Parn, please please please.

They made their way, quietly, to the front area, where they'd barricaded the door. Vaxi pulled out her blaster, and Gida'Tol did the same, both of them heading to either side of the door while the sounds of combat faded. There was the soft sound of someone walking towards the door, and then a rhythmic pounding on the door made them both start. Vaxi started to grin, relief flooding her. "Thank the Force, it's him!" She moved, holstering the blaster. "Master! We're here, we're safe, but the door is barricaded!"

They could hear him shout through the door, "Thank the Force! All right, move out of the way, then."

They scrambled farther away from the door, Gida'Tol ducking behind a still-standing support beam. After about a minute, there was a thunderous crash as Parn pushed forward with the Force to open the door with a powerful shove. The beams and barrels went sprawling over the floor with an ear-splitting clatter, and the sandbags were almost exploded by the power of it, sending their contents flying into the air.

Parn strode into the room through the haze, both blasters still out. He stood there, breathing hard from the exertion, and Vaxi and Gida'Tol made their way from where they'd tucked themselves. He sighed in relief, and then gestured, pointing to the floor directly in front of him. "Here. Now."

Both of them made their slow, shame-faced way to the spots indicated. When they were standing there, eyes downcast, he studied them for a moment. "I was so worried," he said, tucking the blasters away in their holsters before reaching out and pulling both of them into a tight hug. "I was so worried, you can't imagine."

 

[Armphid]

He could feel the tension in them and then relief. It mirrored his own; he hadn't honestly been sure how he would react when he saw them. But this was the most important and useful of the feelings that was swirling through him right now. He was angry with them somewhat, certainly disappointed, frustrated, but right now none of that was helpful or mattered. They were all right.

And damn did they feel good in his arms. Their warm bodies against his; Vaxi's soft in places and hard muscled in others, Gida'Tol plush and ripe. He felt another emotion then and his body reacting to it. Damn! Was it Gida'Tol projecting that aura again? In part, maybe. In large part, he was just a bad man.

Parn took a deep breath and stepped back. Vaxi smiled cautiously, "Captain, Master, I'm so glad to see you. And-and I'm sorry for all this."

"There'll be time for more of that later, Vaxi. But thanks." He looked them both over as he took another step back and took his arms away from them. "We need to go. I can't imagine it'll take the Imperials much longer to try to find out what happened to their patrol. We don't want to be here when they come investigating."

He led them back out of the strange research facility, hearing them hurrying behind him. He heard a few sounds from them as they surveyed the carnage of the collicoid attack and his assault on the insectoid creatures.

Vaxi felt a brief shock as she followed her teacher and partner. He played the fool so often and could be so casual...she forgot how powerful and how deadly he really was. And he hadn't even had his lightsaber...

Parn led them to the copse and hopped into the waiting speeder, powering it up fully as the girls climbed in. "There's a complication, even beyond this. We'll be leaving today, if we can."

The zabrak girl glanced at him, her dark blond hair shifting back and away as the speeder accelerated and pulled away. "Today? But that's completely off schedule."

"We can't risk staying longer." His expression was grim. "This little incident won't be forgotten right away and you two will be remembered leaving. So we don't want to stick around to see if they decide to scapegoat you or try to turn you into informants." Parn then shook his head, "But my...contact in Customs also let me know that there's an Imperial alert out on our ship."

Vaxi tensed. "Mactus?"

"Yeah." Parn pushed the engine further and it's whine rose in volume and pitch, the speeder shooting faster over the ground. "No telling where he is now; if he's in hyperspace, he won't have gotten the message, but if he's in real space, he knows we've docked here. He'll be coming. But unless he just happened to come to this system, he's days away." However, Parn was not about to chance it.

Getting back in took a bit of bribery. That wasn't helping matters either. Between the girls overspending, renting the speeder, the bribe to get out and then back in, and the fact that he wouldn't be able to take on the cargo he had planned to, his finances were not in good shape. He wouldn't have enough fuel to get to Tython with what was left...so he'd have to go somewhere else and do some other work.

Once he'd returned the speeder, Parn walked the girls to the spaceport. "Back to the ship and no side trips, no arguing, not this time. I'll see if I can't get us something to try and make some credits." He thought a moment, "When you get back, tell the droids we're going to be lifting off as soon as I get back and get the ship ready. Tell Whyme to plot a course to Taris."

Vaxi blinked, tilting her head slightly to one side, "Where? I've never heard of that system."

"Not many have," he acknowledged. "He'll be able to look it up. Just go. I'll be back in three hours." Parn set a timer on his holocomm. "Keep the sensors and your eyes peeled." The jedi who played smuggler gave them both a tight lipped smile, "Then we'll talk about the rest." He turned and strode away back into the town. "No side trips! No distractions!"

 

[HookerBoots]

The two women followed directions exactly. They went straight to the hangar where the ship was, barely acknowledging the greetings of the guards and workers they passed. B9 greeted them as soon as they got on board, bustling out with a tray of sandwiches. "Mistress Vaxi, Mistress Gida'Tol, welcome back! How was the surface?"

Vaxi took a sandwich and headed for the bridge without a word.

"Oh, one of those trips," the droid said. "Did Master Parn flirt too much with a barmaid, or were we unable to rendezvous with the rebels?"

Gida'Tol took a sandwich as well and sighed. "Vaxi and I went outside the fort, against Master Parn's orders, and almost got killed, and he had to come rescue us. Among other things. We're leaving as soon as he gets back."

There was a moment of silence. "I see." B9 turned and set the tray of sandwiches on the table nearby. "I will prepare his favorite drink for his return." The droid headed off, and then paused, turning back to Gida'Tol. "If I may be so bold, Mistress Gida'Tol, I am glad you are all uninjured."

The twi'lek gave her a weak smile. "I think we all are."

~ ~ ~ ~​

Vaxi plopped down in one of the seats on the bridge, chewing a bite of the sandwich. Whyme booped and beeped at her, and she shook her head. "He'll be here in a little bit. He said to be ready for takeoff when he gets here, and to plot a course for Taris."

A surprised set of sounds came from the little droid, one of his sensors spinning madly around.

"I don't know, I've never even heard of the place. But don't push it with him, he's . . . sithspawn, he's furious, and he's right to be." An inquisitive bloop-boop-whirr came, and she shook her head. "At me and Gida'Tol. Me, mostly, and rightly so. We disobeyed orders, and almost got caught by the Empire. And eaten by giant bugs. And did get trapped in an abandoned research facility until he came to save us."

A long whistle came from her right, and she nodded. "Yeah. So get that course set, and prep for takeoff. Maybe if this goes well, he'll give me less of a scolding than I deserve."

 

[Armphid]

After leaving the girls, Parn went where most people in his situation would go. The bar wasn't as loud or casual as he was used to in most ports. There was a quiet tension that made everyone talk a little quieter, laugh a little softer, and keep an eye on anyone who came in. Humans got a close look in particular; while anyone could be an informant, Imperial Intelligence was just as bigoted as the rest of the Empire and used almost exclusively human agents. Bless their black, xenophobic hearts. On planets like Balmorra where most of the population and the resistance in particular were non-humans, it made infiltrators easy to spot.

Parn ignored the many looks directed his way as he entered and walked to a table in the middle of the joint. There he sat down and started drinking like a man trying to forget. Three Bin's Pride beers were followed by a Jolly Rigorra, a Blasted Imperial, all local brews, followed by a Coruscant Rainwater and a Chancellor's Shame.

He was finishing the latter well into his second hour of drinking when another human slid into a secret at his table. The newcomer held up a hand to the barmaid who'd been tending to Parn, "Excuse me, sweetheart, a Bin's for me and coffee for my pal here." He was slight taller than Parn but had a similarly rangy build that made him look almost skinny. His hair was a coal black and cut in what would be a professional hairstyle but it was just a little too long. He had a smart, well trimmed mustache and his eyes were a keen blue. He was a handsome man with a charming smile and a confident, sassy voice. He wore a long coat over casual spacer's clothes and a long barreled blaster pistol was strapped at his side. "I'm a little surprised to see you this drunk already, Starhawk. Must be bad. That tight little minx Vaxi ditch you? I was looking forward to seeing her."

The auburn haired man looked at him with a bleary gaze that was only partly feigned. The booze code was effective but it could get you pretty blasted, even if you were cheating and using the Force to metabolize the alcohol faster. "Oh, it's you. No, Doc, she's still around. Which is part of the damn problem."

"I'll take her off your hands if you want," the rogue and physician grinned. "I could stand to have a problem shaped like that for a while."

Parn snorted, "It's a thought." The waitress returned at that point, Doc giving her a winning smile and a tip that was half again the cost of their order. He took a sip of the brought coffee and made a face as the two flirted before the server walked away with a bit more sway in her hips. "Looks like you've got a problem already though."

The other man laughed, "Can you have too many? So, what's going on? You're usually not in your cups this much until it's liftoff."

The smuggling Jedi sighed, "You got it. I'm hitting the black in...forty minutes."

Doc frowned, "You can't have a cargo loaded already." The resistance member looked at Parn a little closer. "What trouble have you gotten yourself into?"

"Nothing that concerns you." There was no direct or indirect link to the freedom fighters and no threat to them. "I managed to upset someone with a dogmatic anger issue. He's got eyes out."

Doc let out a low whistle and shook his head, taking a pull of his beer. "I'm surprised you didn't just message from space. I'd be gone by now."

"No you wouldn't." Parn took a swig of the swill in front of him. "I owe it to my business partners to give them a reason for ditching my commitment." He hadn't been compromised. "I'll get the word out. Someone'll pick up your work." The Jedi hadn't forgotten Balmorra; a new smuggler would take up the deliveries.

"Yeah. Too bad. We got used to you." Doc waggled his bottle, "Maybe the next one will be a pretty lady though. I can keep positive thinking about that."

"I'll miss you too, Doc." The spacer stood up. "Take care of yourself, sawbones."

"I always do." Doc gave Parn a little salute and he nodded, then turned and walked away. The doctor sighed and waved the barmaid over again, "Put the Captain's drinks on my bill, won't you? And while you're at it, why don't you get one for yourself and take a break with me for a while?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

The engines muted roar lifted them up out of the planet's atmosphere, tendrils of gas pulling away from Void Dancer as the black wrapped around her. "Balmorran Control, this is Void Dancer requesting final permission to depart system," Parn was in the cockpit, manning the pilot's chair.

"Acknowledged, Void Dancer. This is Balmorran Control, permission granted. Continue on your current heading until you make the jump." There was a pause. "Enjoy Risa. Balmorran Control out."

Parn smiled. "Acknowledged, Control." He closed the channel. "Thanks, Tana." She was helping lay the trail for him. He sighed then, "Whyme as soon as we hit the marker, initiate the jump. I'll feel a lot better when we're in hyperspace." Then he turned his chair to look at Vaxi and Gida'Tol. "So, we might as well do this now. Girls, you fucked up. Big. It wasn't as bad as it could have been and I actually commend you for making it out of that in one piece." He lifted his eyes to their faces, sure to look both in the eye. "But this should never have happened. You had instructions, you had a budget, and you blew both."

"Master," Vaxi broke in, "It wasn't us, it was me. I was the one who didn't watch the money. And I made the choice to leave town. It's not Gida'Tol's fault." She felt so low. Why wasn't he angrier about this? He just looked sad. That made it worse somehow. "I knew it wasn't smart. I disobeyed and I ignored my instincts."

Parn nodded. "Good, you're being responsible at least. But this isn't the fault of either of you over the other. You were together. You both made a decision you knew was dangerous for spurious reasons that was against my instructions and your own better judgment." He shook his head, "If there wasn't the alert on us from Mactus, we still couldn't risk coming back here after what happened. I bribed those guards but you two leaving and going to the same area as the ambushed patrol would come out. The whole smuggling operation to the resistance would have been at risk. Lives could have been lost. Your own not least of all."

He paused and took a deep breath. "I am profoundly disappointed. There's no need for punishment." Parn looked at Vaxi directly now, "I was going to recommend you be made a Knight when we got to Tython. I will be reconsidering."

Vaxi wavered a bit, almost as if he'd hit her. "Go get some food, clean up, go to your quarters, both of you." Sithspawn, he felt so weary right now. "I'd like to have the ship to myself as much as possible until tomorrow." With that he turned the chair around to face the console and the canopy, the dismissal clear.

He reached out to pick up the large tumbler of hot tea B9 had presented him on boarding. Behind him, he heard Vaxi's almost whispered affirmative and then her feet retreating. Before him, the pinpoints of the stars began to elongate and then there was the sense of displacement and acceleration before the scintillating blue of hyperspace enveloped the ship.

Whyme bleeped a few times. "No, not really. Go do something else. I want to be left alone unless something important comes up. Tell B9." The droid warbled sullenly but kicked his third leg out and rolled out of the cockpit. Alone. He closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair. "Well. So much for that."

 

[HookerBoots]

Gida'Tol had been prepared for a lot of things in the aftermath of their experience on Balmorra. She hadn't really been prepared for what they actually got. They hadn't even considered the impact that it would have on the Resistance, especially since it wouldn't have been an issue if the ambush hadn't been there.

But, she thought, heading back to the room she and Vaxi shared, that was the point, wasn't it? They hadn't thought. If they'd considered things more fully, they might have done things differently. It was just lucky neither of them died from that mistake.

She was almost in tears by the end of the short walk. These people had saved her life, more than once, and it had been her stupid idea to do the stupid thing that almost got one of them killed and made the other feel like neither of them could be trusted to make decisions. She'd almost made her mind up that when they got to Taris, wherever that was, she would leave so that they could go on with their lives they way they should be, without her messing everything up for them, when Vaxi flopped down on the bed and sighed dramatically.

Gida'Tol looked up, started at the sound. "Oh! What . . . well, I know what's wrong," she said, with a shrug.

"Yes, but," the Zabrak said, tucking her hair behind her ears, "I just feel so responsible. I should have vetoed the idea, or gone along with you when you said not to."

The busty Twi'lek sat on the bed next to Vaxi. "Don't say that! We both made mistakes, I never should have said anything about doing it. We should have just returned some of the things, and called it good."

Vaxi let out a little laugh. "Doesn't matter now, of course, but it's good we both know we screwed up royally." She gave Gida'Tol a tight hug. "I didn't want to show it, but I was so scared when we were there," she whispered, and the other woman could feel the tremor in her arms.

As the blue-skinned woman returned the hug, she choked back a sob. "Me too, I was . . . I was terrified, but I was glad you were with me." It had been a long time since she'd been close to someone without the intention of intimacy, and the feeling was pleasant, if strange.

They pulled back a little, arms still wrapped around each other, and Vaxi gave her a watery-eyed smile. "I was glad to have you there too." She leaned forward and carefully put her forehead against Gida'Tol's. "I'm glad you're here, too."

There was a silence in the room that felt expectant, and Gida'Tol met Vaxi's gaze with her own. "I . . . don't know if it's right, but . . . ."

Before she could finish, Vaxi had pressed forward, her lips meeting Gida'Tol's in a soft, warm kiss. They stayed like that for a long moment, and then parted, looking at each other with wide eyes. That lasted for a heartbeat or two before they kissed again, harder and hungrier this time, pulling each other close.

 

[Armphid]

Vaxi had felt so terrible just a few moments ago and now, oh, now she felt like she was flying. Gida'Tol's lips were so, so soft and warm! And did she ever know how to kiss! By far the best she'd ever had.

Was this right? She had felt the invitation, or so she thought, and taken it. She wanted this, wanted Gida'Tol. She wanted the comfort and to feel alive after being close to dying.

The brown skinned Zabrak girl pulled back for a moment and licked her lips, "If you're not sure of this, if you don't want it, if you think you have to or something-" Gida'Tol reached out to shush her by placing two fingers against Vaxi's lips, shaking her head slightly. The apprentice smiled sheepishly, "Good then."

She reached down and tugged her shirt up and over her head, having tossed her jacket off once they were on board. Her pert and perky tits were luscious and round, quite a bit smaller than her twi'lek lover's were but still enough to fill a man's palms. She wore a sports bra that she pulled up and off as well, letting her breasts free. They bounced just a bit and she breathed a sigh, "Ahh, that always feels so good." Her nipples were a purplish color that was darker than the rest of her skin and they were starting to visibly stiffen.

They two women moved together to kiss again. Hands moved to caress and explore. She ran her fingers up Gida'Tol's spine before moving to gently stroke one of her lekku, Vaxi's other hand slipping low to rub the other woman's left thigh. Vaxi gasped as she felt Gida'Tol's hands lip between to cup and squeeze her tits, "Oh. Oh, mmm, that's nice! Your hands are so warm, so soft."

She tipped her head back to moan and then let out a gasp when she felt the twi'lek's lips on her neck, "Mmm, that's good!" She shook her head a bit, the ends of the backward swept spikes her locks were in moving back and forth, "...I've never been with another girl. So...if I'm not doing it right, tell me, okay?"

Vaxi then gently pushed Gida'Tol away so that she could stand. She looked at her with a sudden shyness that was at odds with her normal behavior. But she undid the fastening of her trousers with a snap. Her boots and belt were already off, so there was nothing in the way. She pushed them over her hips and down her legs to expose a lovely expanse of long, shapely leg and a surprisingly racy thong style set of panties in bright blue.

A sudden idea struck her, "I think you're a little overdressed. How about...you take my panties off and then...then I can undress you?"

 

[HookerBoots]

"That sounds like a very good idea," Gida'Tol said softly, her eyes tracing over Vaxi's body. She was so pretty, but still strong and powerful, athletic and beautiful. The blue-skinned woman moved off the bed and slid to her knees in front of Vaxi, hands moving slowly up over those long, strong legs. "You look wonderfully sexy," she breathed, her fingers finding the waist of the shockingly colored thong and slipping under it.

Vaxi looked down at her, biting her lower lip. "Not as sexy as you do," she murmured, trying not to feel nervous or shy. It was so hard, but she didn't want Gida'Tol to think she was some frightened, innocent virgin!

In one smooth motion, the twi'lek slipped off her friend's panties, dropping them to the floor and exposing Vaxi in all her glory. "Mmmm, you are amazingly beautiful," she whispered, leaning in to press a kiss against the top of Vaxi's slit before leaning back and standing up. "Now," she said teasingly, "I think there was talk about you undressing me."

A shudder had run through the mahogany-skinned woman at the sensual touch of Gida'Tol's lips against her skin. "Y-yes, there was," she said, her eyes traveling over the blue-skinned ex-slave. She stepped close and ran her hands up and down Gida'Tol's arms through the shirt she was wearing, then towards the neck where it buttoned. She undid the buttons there and then trailed her hands down, pausing on the way to squeeze those generous tits, and then grabbed the hem of the shirt, tugging it up and over Gida'Tol's head.

The twi'lek had been wearing a breast band underneath the shirt, as Vaxi's bras would not fit, and that also was tugged off and over her head, leaving her lush breasts to bounce free. "Oh, glory," Vaxi whispered, looking at her with the stretchy fabric still dangling from one hand. She'd seen the other woman naked before, but that was different somehow. The band slipped from her hands and she visibly took control of herself before she knelt down and started to unfasten Gida'Tol's pants.

Without boots, belt, or socks, it was an easy task, and before long the blue-skinned woman was wearing only a pair of forest green boyshort-style panties. Vaxi trailed her hands up the smooth curve of Gida'Tol's waist, and then back down to the top of the panties before tugging them down slowly, teasingly.

With both of them naked, they stood for a moment, both looking at the other. Finally, Gida'Tol smile and laughed, reaching out to wrap her arms around Vaxi's waist. "I think we were both waiting for the other to move first," she said, pressing a kiss to the zabrak's neck. "But I think I'm less patient than you."

Vaxi's arms were stroking over the other woman's back and she laughed breathlessly. "That would take some doing." She shivered at the feeling of Gida'Tol's tongue slipping over one earlobe. "Mmmmph! Apparently, we'll take some doing as well," she teased, hands dropping down to grip that round, blue ass.

 

[Armphid]

Vaxi couldn't quite believe how wonderful she felt now, after how badly she'd felt earlier. Gida'Tol's every breath, every touch, seemed to send sparks of joy through her. And those kisses! She didn't know a kiss could be like that! On the lips or other places! She'd imagined it might be like that with Him but-

She gasped as the Twi'lek girl ran her tongue down her earlobe and then over her jawline before kissing her chin and then down her neck. Vaxi let her head fall back, offering more of herself to the blue skinned beauty, "Ohh, baby girl, how does that feel so good?"

The other woman chuckled, "And you haven't felt anything yet." She looked up at Vaxi with a twinkle in her eyes. "It's my turn to teach you a thing or two." She rose up and claimed the Jedi apprentice's lips in a hungry kiss.

Vaxi let out a happy giggle into her lover's lips. Her lover! How insane and awesome was that? She walked them backwards, their lips meeting in kiss after kiss, Gida'Tol's skilled hands delightfully mauling her smaller tits while Vaxi continued to massage that plush, pert ass. She felt her legs hit the back of her bunk and let them buckle to tumble back onto it.

She spun them as they tumbled so they landed more or less oriented properly on the bed, Vaxi lying under Gida'Tol. The zabrak grinned up at her, "Your willing student, Master Gida'Tol." Then she leaned her head up and kissed the side of the buxom woman's neck, "I learn quickly, as you can tell."

 

[HookerBoots]

"I can tell that, yes," Gida'Tol teased, stroking a hand along Vaxi's side. "That means more interesting lessons." She started to shift, moving down the tattooed woman's body towards the foot of the bed, her mouth and hands teasing and playing lightly over Vaxi's skin as she went.

"Ah-hh, I can't wait to learn them," the Zabrak woman breathed. The feeling of those hands and lips ghosting over her skin, from her breasts down to her navel and moving further and further down were amazing; how something so simple could cause such a reaction! And she had some idea what Gida'Tol would be teaching her next, and she had to stifle a shiver at the idea.

When blue-skinned woman was nestled between Vaxi's legs, she looked up at her, a wicked little smile on her face. "Now, pay attention, my student. There will be a test later." She winked and dipped her head, pressing another, longer kiss to the top of Vaxi's slit. Then her tongue slipped out of her mouth and she let it slide down to tease the mahogany-skinned woman's pussy, gently opening and toying with her labia. And she didn't stop, starting to lap at Vaxi's pussy, tasting the moisture that had already gathered.

Vaxi gasped, her eyes going wide at the sensation. "Ohhhh, oh my . . . mmmm." She hadn't thought it would feel that good, even when she touched herself it didn't feel like that. "Oh, that's incredible already, fuck! I can't wait to learn . . . mmm, all I can!"