Private Aggressive Negotiations

[Cadere]

Something was definitely wrong, after throwing a Force push at her he had actually expected her to evade or counter it in some way but nothing. Eventually she stopped and turned round to face him, prompting Cas to skid to a stop in place as his shoulders raised up and down rapidly followed by heavy panting. Her stopping was a good sign, it meant she was willing to listen and she didn't want to fight... probably.

His lightsaber remained ignited as Lavria explained. For once, he sensed genuine fear from her - so intense that it began to influence his own emotions. Then, she asked him to suggest what she should do, he honestly didn't know what to say. His lips parted slightly as he let out a quiet exhale, pondering what he could do to help he turned his head and looked at the ground in deep thought.

"What if... what if you just run away? Abandon the Sith." he genuinely proposed while meeting her gaze again "If you're this afraid of punishment, why go back? I can't imagine serving a group where I'm this afraid to fail." he sympathised. He really didn't want to fight her but he wasn't willing to come to some sort of compromise. Cas sighed and rubbed his nose with his free arm - "I've got a mission to do too, Lavria. I can't let you blow up this transport."

Then... an idea struck his mind and a smirk crept up on his face "What if..." he paused for a moment "Would your overlords mind if you blew up the transport after we dock and get the cargo off? I mean, you'd technically be blowing up the transport still?" he suggested, shrugging afterwards.

Lavria Xedrim

 

[Lavria Xedrim]

She listened as Cas suggested that she run away - leave the Sith Empire. For the first time in her Dark life, she actually considered it for a second, but then reality caught up with her.
"You don't get it, do you? We're not the Jedi. Deserters are hunted and brought to justice. Force users more so." she sneered, but only half-heartedly. She would never admit it, but she appreciated his sympathies. Neither he nor she realized that he had planted the seed of thought at that moment that would change her life even more later on and set her on a much different path.

He went on to say that he also had a mission to do and that he could not allow her to blow up the transport. However, he did continue with a suggestion of blowing up the transport after they offloaded. This made her ponder a bit.
"That stupid idea of yours gave me another stupid idea in return. You're forgetting - I also have a mission. To stop you guys from reaching your goal by any means necessary. We still have this frigate, so how about a compromise? You load half your supplies onto this frigate, along with your weak ass pilots, and then I blow up your original transport? You can still deliver some of whatever it is you need to deliver, and I get to blow up some. Everybody wins." she counter-suggested with just enough of her old sarcasm to not sound like the total pacifist she felt like. Her complete fear of what had gotten hold of her, had driven some of the fight out of her body - leaving her feeling weak and defenseless. All she could do now was hope that Cas would agree, as she had lost most of her drive to fight him. Damnable Jedi. At least he still had good enough presence of mind to keep his lightsaber ignited. Not like her that still had her karking sabers clipped on her belt. She wanted to bang her head against a wall for her stupid ass moves.

Lars chose now to bleep at her through her commlink, asking her plan of action. She sighed before raising her arm to her mouth.
"Just give me a few minutes, would you? I'm busy over here." she said, but not unkind. Lars was probably the only thing, person or otherwise, in the galaxy that had never received a snarky comment from her.
She looked at Cas. "So, Jedi, what would it be?" she asked him.

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

Lavria made a valid point on deserting the Sith Empire. Hooking his thumb and index finger to his chin, his lips slanted upwards as he said "I guess that makes sense." in a defeated tone of voice, this is why he never wanted to get involved with Sith if it didn't involve combat - his stupid compassion would end up making him want to 'save' them from themselves in some way, but even he knew that was naive.

Cas' expression slowly descended into a frown when she called his idea stupid, it wasn't the best but he couldn't imagine her having any better ideas. Except, she actually did, as she went over her counter plan his face gradually switched from a frown into a wide-eyed grin. Her plan seemed... fair, although, he knew the Council wouldn't be too pleased with his actions but in his heart, he felt this was the better option - hopefully trusting his gut was the right thing to do.

While he pondered, he saw the Zabrak speak to someone over her comms which prompted him to raise an eyebrow "Who's that? Backup?" he asked, now feeling slightly cautious over the Sith's sincerity. However... he didn't sense any form of treachery from her and decided to deactivate his lightsaber and let out a deep exhale "Alright, fine. Just remember to tell all your Sith friends how handsome and fierce I am." Cas agreed with a quip, raising his wrist and speaking into his comm through to the surviving crew members "Okay, guys... we've got a compromise - the ship's taken too much damage and is about to go down--" he half-lied "Load as much of the cargo you can onto the pirates' frigate, we gotta go now!" he said urgently.

Fiddling around with some buttons on his wrist comm, he patched into the same frequency as BB-5 "Hey, bud come back to the ship. No use in fixing those thrusters now." with a few argumentative beeps and chirps, Cas shook his head and then spoke to cut him off "I know, I know, just come on." he ordered. With that over with, he lowered his wrists and glanced at Lavria "Welp, we'd both better get out of here - pretty scandalous if we're caught together." he winked with a smile before his face went semi-serious "Not gonna lie, I hope I never see you again... because teaming up with a Sith was not on the ol' bucket list and... things would just be weird." he shrugged casually and as he extended his hand he smiled again "So, to never seeing each other again."

Lavria Xedrim

 

[Lavria Xedrim]

After she spoke to Lars, Cas asked her about who it was she was speaking to. Suddenly her old smirk was back.
"Dearest crybaby, did I ever give the impression that I need any form of backup? Why, you scared I'm cheating on you?" she taunted before turning a bit more sincere. "It's my astromech I'm speaking to. Not some dangerous Sith Lord you need to worry about." she continued.
Cas agreed to her plan, but of course he had to throw a quip in there. She glowered at him.
"Maybe I should tell them. Let them finish you off, then this whole ordeal would be resolved." she sneered, but with a slight smile. "Dumbass. You're not worth talking about. Not even to my droid."

The Kiffar spoke to his people and droid over his comms before turning his attention back to Lavria and giving her a ling-winded speech about scandals and not meeting each other again. She regained a bit more of her old, snarky composure. "That would imply that I had a mind to see your ugly mug again, which I don't. It's the stuff of nightmares." she teased, but the still gripped his wrist in farewell. "Don't be a grandpa while getting half your cargo in here. Disappoint those old wookiee spirits for a change and hasten things along. I give you fifteen minutes to drop that transport from the hull." Lavria let go of his wrist and stepped back. "Until we never meet again." she said before taking off towards the airlock. Before she went through, she stopped.
"Oh and Cas?" she called back at him. "I'll kill you if you ever tell someone I said this.....but thank you." she told him and for the first time, she gave him a genuine smile before disappearing through the airlock. She reached her ship without any hindrance and Lars bleeped happily. She quickly took off and hung back to allow Cas to uphold his end of the bargain. If he did, she'd send a few blasts at the transport to send it into oblivion and put this strangeness behind her.
"Lars, as soon as that transport goes down, I want you to set a course back to Bastion, please." she asked her droid and he confirmed with a few chirps.

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

Cas held his hands up grinning "Relax, I was only asking. That was a lot of unhealthy projecting going on there." he retaliated, quipping back at the Sith Apprentice's snark. But her telling him it was just her astromech put him at ease slightly.

"Ugly mug? Stuff of nightmares?" he repeated, rubbing his chin as he pretended to take offence "Look who's talking, horn head." he quickly fired back, waving his free finger in the direction of the horns on her head while his lips were etched in a smug grin, although deep down he was pleased she was at least able to grip his arm in an act of their momentary truce. When she let go, he stood in place as she stepped back making her way toward the airlock - of course she had one final thing to say.

"Yeah, yeah I got it." he said waving off her threat, not at all worried. Then he glanced at her, a genuine smile formed as he nodded in her direction "You're welcome." he said sincerely before watching her disappear, hopefully forever. Cas raised his wrist comm to his mouth once again "BB, I'll meet you on the surface, alright? Stay safe pal." he commanded before heading to the transport to aid the others in getting the cargo onto the pirate's frigate. When enough was stored on, he quickly worked with the pilots in detaching the frigate from the transport and heading making the rest of the way to Onderon.

Reflecting back on the day's events, this was definitely up there as one of the weirdest moments of his life. He couldn't have ever imagined allying himself with a Sith, but, strangely despite her protests and the Dark side that surrounded her like a black cloud - the Padawan was sure he sensed a glimmer of Light within her, buried deep beneath the surface. Even if he never saw her again, he hoped that the Light within her would continue to grow.

END​