Coldest Glass Beckons

[Arage Bao]

[member="Blackthorne"]

"Sounds to me like they desperately need to get laid." Thorne commented from the floor, where he was tinkering on something. It was the remnants of a lightsaber - souvenir from scalping one of those bastards during a particularly invasive raid on Ossus.

Or had it been Voss?

Xian couldn't actually remember anymore, but that was fine. The saber itself was worthless- at the death of its master the crystal had shattered, the casing was melted, it looled like complete crap. But it also looked like a lightsaber.

He was just trying to make it... better.

"What was the last one? There is no death... just the Borscht?"

 

[Blackthorne]

"Just the Borscht," the Pirate replied.

The remainder of the journey passed by in much the same routine. Stories shared, questions answered and not, meals cooked and enjoyed, games played, bodies colliding. All in all, a decent little vacation interlude between pillaging, plundering and piracy.



Tchalra Slaver's Port
Several days later.

Her current wardrobe wasn't going to pass for a Jedi slave no matter what she did. The Captain spent some time staking out the station docking bays. Busy place for as out of the way and difficult to find as it were - but perhaps that was the reason why. Wasn't found on any galactic maps, no. Black Market maps? Yes, but only for the right price, the right name drops. Xian had his In as a Slaver, but it likely would have been a task and a half for Blackthorne to find on her own.

While Xian tended to refueling his ship, she scoured the lines and walkways, seeking out the corners where the wretched people lingered. Found a young alien about her size - might've been a slave, might've been a stow-away. Didn't matter much. Blackthorne made friends and traded garb, giving the girl her comm and the silver tin that had once held her stash of Sten. Only one left now and she promptly pinched it in her lips.

"There's a secret pocket here," the Pirate showed the girl, pulling open the seam where the lining of her leather jacket met the hem of the front, "and about 2,000 credits in there kid. That's real silver and that's one of the latest CREN Comm releases. Sell them and buy your way out of this place. There's a goods trader ship just down in block C, bet they could use some extra hands on deck."

"But I-"

"Good luck," Pirate turned and headed off, looking much more like a Jedi Slave than she had an hour ago.

~~~~

"I have two favors left, Krayt," Blackthorne said as she found the twi'lek again outside his ship, "first I need a light."

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Blackthorne"]

"Alan, ey."

Alan was short for Dibo'alan'soben, a Chiss mechanic he had worked with in the past. Steady hand, knew his ships and could crew a laser-pod like few others he had seen before. Made him think the oldie had been part of the Expedition forces in a different life- but Valart didn't pry, it wasn't his business after all.

"Ey, Val, haven't seen ya in a while."

Xian nodded, throwing him a credit chit. "Section B, Hangar 43, still remember the old bird?"

"Sure, sure, half the duct-tape that piece of shet has comes from me, no?"

The Twi'lek chuckled, looking past him and towards the new faces. They had blasters, holstered for now, but the helmets didn't look all that pleasant to hm. Alan followed the look and nodded grimly. "Tchalra's boys. They keep the order 'round these parts now." Xian could remember a day this port had been anarchy.

Tchalra's boys would have been strung up back in those days.

"Things change." Alan just nodded again, before shrugging. "Commerce is up, so nobody's complaining... for now." That was something Xian could understand.

For the meantime the couple of bastard lords and their posses were satisfied while the money flowed.

Wouldn't last... never did.

"Got some cargo-" The Chiss wrinkled his nose, but knew better than complain. "Need a vouch with the new bazar."

Alan sighed, but that was all he did. There was no real point in trying to argue about it- he knew Xian would sell his crap either way, the bazar would net him more coin. Which would hopefully but the Twi'lek in a better mood, especially after the whole Tchalra business. Which would hopefully mean a request for some more repairs.

"Sure. ID will be on your comm once the tank is full."

* * *​

​

"Figured that after all the... exercise we had we would be even by now." Xian retorted bemusedly, while snapping out the lighter and passing it over this time.

"Nice outfit- kinda understood now why some got a fetish for Jedi, thinking they look like that." A shrug. "Whatcha need?"

 

[Blackthorne]

Pirate gave a derisive snort while lighting up, "Sex isn't a favor, it's a perk."

Purple smoke billowed, coiled, plumed about and soon surrounded the woman again. She breathed in, deeply, taking a long pull and holding it in for extra measure. What prickles and thorns might've been present slowly began to smooth over as the essence of irnroot permeated her being. A delayed blink flashed jungle greens beneath a misty morning fog.

Oh, yes, much better.

Now about that last favor...

"I need you to hit me. Few times aught to do the trick. No one's going to believe I'm a slave if I'm not a bit roughed up."

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Blackthorne"]

Brows furrowed in mock surprise.

"Sex? I was talking about the saber throws we been doing all week." Teeth flashed white like ivory as the grin was offered freely as grey storm gave way towards calm blues, watching as the smoke was drawn in before pouring out.

Her stance shifted, slightly, the only reason Xian noticed was because he had grown intimately familiar with the rise and slope of her figure after all this time.

If she imagined that the Twi'lek would hesitate on her last request... she didn't know him well. "Smart." His hand already lashed out like thunder. Back hand, firm, like she had said something that did not agree with the slaver at all.

As she looked up his fist was already incoming.

Slamming her down to the ground.

"Stay down if you know what's good for ya." Xian said clear-cut and solid. He knelt down, fingers curling in hair and raising her head up. "How's that, Thorne?"

 

[Blackthorne]

She did not maintain any delusion that the man would hesitate. As a matter of fact she'd taken another fast, deep pull on her sten and placed it aside on a nearby crate, fingers leaving the roll only second before his fist impacted her. Blackthorne dropped to the ground with such force she felt her head crack against duracrete. Blood immediately welled up in her nose, gushing across lips and flooding down the back of her throat. For several moments she didn't move from where she lay hunched over on the ground, fingers planting beneath her to slowly push up.

The ploy started now. Every single witness was a boon to his sale. Pain exploding within her head, the woman grunted as she felt his hands in her hair, pulling her gaze up. Just nights ago this had been a source of pleasure. Not today. Not for a Jedi slave. She did her very best to throw a look of stoic defiance at him - a woman facing her threat with dignified fear.

"Bite me," she hissed, but it was not the salacious and insistent request of someone in the throes of lust - it was the scathing remark of someone bent but unbroken.

A hand reached out towards him and issued a point-blank Force push at his chest. The Slave was rebelling and a whole docking bay of people had just witnessed something very unusual.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Blackthorne"]

The Twi'lek was pushed back and even took a few more stumbling steps backwards to sell the act.

Usually people didn't pay attention to this sort of thing- just a slave that would be beaten into submission soon enough, that wasn't exactly a special occurrence. But the slaver being pushed several meters back with just a single movement and twitch of the hand? Now that was an entirely different stry altogether.

"Oh, I will do more than bite, schutta." Xian growled out, before launching himself at her again. This time he shifted to the side - her eyes tipping him off - to avoid another force push.

This one slammed into a nearby onlooker, who flew against the wall and collapsed there.

His fist impacted her stomach, then he followed it up by a slam against her doubled-over head. Before Thorne could recover his foot would hook against her side - twice.

"Gonna sell you, find the meanest bastard in this place." He grunted out as he got out his knife and held it against her neck to the cheers of his audience. "Move and I cut your throat and leave my profit to bleed out, you got it?"

 

[Blackthorne]

The Jedi reeled, yelped, bit back a cry of pain and curled against the beating on the ground, splattering blood across the duracrete as she heaved for breath. Had to hand it to the twi'lek, his wrath was mildly surprising given the man she'd become so familiar with over the last week. One day murmuring sonnets into her ear while wringing his fingers through her hair, the next spitting death threats ...

...while wringing his fingers through her hair, dagger at her throat.

Her jaw dropped to gasp in breath, emitting a sound of pain that he would recognize as a sound of something else.

"Try not to moan, yeah? Will probably give it away," she heard him mutter over the chorus of applause and appreciation of criminal onlookers.

Peh. Couldn't stop the faint curl of a smirk on her lips. Jedi grimaced and nodded. Got it.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Blackthorne"]

The grip around her hair tightened slightly.

For her benefit, his, little bit of both.

"Fetch a good price, luv." She murmured over another gasp, to which Xian just grunted in the affirmative. There were things that he wanted to do to her, the curl of his hand around the transition of shoulder to neck would tell her that. No position to do that though. Not with that many onlookers here- well, not in any fashion where it would be acceptable to him.

This crowd was bad.

* * *​

​

At the end of the day one lone feisty Jedi was sold to an Umbaran by the name of Orlan Whiik. Not the cruelest of owners, but the price he had offered for Thorne was exceptional.

And Valart had always been known for caring more about profit than retribution.

"Good luck, 'Cap." He mumbled to himself as he watched her be carted away. They shared one look, he held it, until she was taken off the podium and it was time to leave for him. Alan was paid a reasonable share and he decided to install a few upgrades for his little ship, while he was here anyway.

The next day Xian was gone.