Lady and the Tramp

[Waverly Dane]

Waverly accepted the hand of her guard and stepped gracefully out of her transport. She turned her gaze to the posh restaurant in front of them and a smile grew on her face. She had been on a bit of a reprieve from dating lately, but at the insistence of her parents, it was time to go out again. Waverly let go of Kal’s hand and took a moment to carefully inspect her makeup. She pulled a slim designer lipstick from her bag and applied a fresh coat before walking towards the entrance.

“Miss Dane…” Came Kal’s solemn voice. “What do you know about this guy?”

“I know that his name is Damien Westhaven.” She answered plainly.

“So, you don’t know anything else about him? I wish you had provided me with details earlier.” He sighed.

Kal was still talking when Waverly passed through the doors into the restaurant. Had she still been listening she would have heard him lecturing about the lack of information and how it seriously compromised her safety. She rolled her eyes and turned back to face her guard. She knew that Kal was only trying to do his job, she couldn't fault him for that. However, Waverly did have a distinct notion that he was being overly cautious. It was just a date, was there really any danger here?

“It will be fine. Trust me!” Waverly pleaded. “Now… I’m going to sit at the bar. You should too, and you should order a drink. Don’t just order water this time, live a little!”

It was Kal’s turn to roll his eyes. He did as she suggested and made for a dark corner of the bar, where he could blend into the shadows. Waverly smoothed down the front of her black dress and moved swiftly to the bar. She couldn’t help but notice that she had attracted a few gazes, but that was to be expected when one dressed the way Waverly did. Every aspect of her appearance had been carefully planned and painstakingly fussed over for the whole of the day. Her dress was custom made, her jewelry was sparkling, and her heels were precariously high. She ordered a fruity cocktail and shifted on her bar stool, looking around at the other patrons.

Now it was simply time to wait for her date to arrive.

[member="Jyakod Ozen"]

 

[Jyakod Ozen]

Jyakod Ozen, smuggler, whiskey connoisseur, and scoundrel wiped at the dried blood on the back of his knuckles before picking some dirt out from under his thumbnail and dropping it onto the floor of the restaurant. A posh place like this was far above his normal means, but his new client wanted to show what a big shot he was. It happened that way from time to time: money liked to show off. It was one of the reasons Ozen was fond of a lower crowd; they had less to prove to each other.

As he strolled through the lobby, brushing bits of detritus off his battered leather jacket, his gaze was drawn to an amazingly beautiful young woman in a black dress sitting at the bar. The way hers eyes scanned the crowd, including flicking on then past him, led Jyakod to assume she was waiting for someone, and the brash smuggler decided it might as well be him.

Jyakod slid into the space between the almond-eyes beauty's stool and the one next to hers, which was occupied by a red-skinned Devaronian. Holding up two fingers, he hailed the bartender. "Corellian whiskey sour," he ordered, before turning his gaze to the woman. "Sorry I'm late," he said, flashing his most charming smile. "My freighter hit a bantha."

[member="Waverly Dane"]

 

[Waverly Dane]

Waverly swiveled back towards the bartender and then took a glance at the clock. Usually she was the one that would turn up fashionably late, but this time things were different. Just as she was about to let out a rather dramatic sigh, she heard a voice next to her and she looked over to see a man standing there. Her dark eyes took in his appearance, and despite the fact that she was a bit surprised by his slightly disheveled looks, she maintained a friendly smile.

“You must be Damien.” Waverly said, batting her eyelashes at him for good measure. She’d been informed by her father that Damien was a very successful business man, and she had to admit that she would never have suspected it. Perhaps this man was one of those eccentric men; the kind you would never guess had wealth to his name. She extended her hand daintily to him as an introduction. “And I’m Waverly. It’s a pleasure.”
She watched as the bartender slid the Corellian whiskey over to her new suitor. The men Waverly went out with generally stuck to designer wines and top shelf liquors. A quick glance over towards the darker side of the bar showed her that her guard was eyeing them with a narrowed gaze. Though it seemed that she was not in any immediate danger, or else Kal would have been on his feet and at her side by now.

“So, I take it you’re in the transport business?” She asked to break the ice, making a quick judgement based on his comment about his freighter.

[member="Jyakod Ozen"]

 

[Jyakod Ozen]

"Eeeeyyyyuuuuuup, that's me! Damien!" He took her soft hand in his calloused own and shook it. "Transport business, that's me!" Well that part's not a lie, he thought to himself. Not technically, anyway.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Waverly, uh, finally," said the smuggler. "I've...heard, you know, about you. I mean, otherwise I wouldn't be here, right?" He clinked his glass against her own and took a healthy swallow of his whiskey. "To new friends and new beginnings." That sounded good, he reasoned. Taking a quick look around the room, he realized that whoever Damien actually was, he'd probably be turning up soon. "What do you say we take a walk, find something interesting to do?" he asked. "I could show you my ship, or we could get some dinner somewhere, or um...I don't know, somewhere a bit less...stuffy?"



[member="Waverly Dane"]

 

[Waverly Dane]

“To new friends!” Waverly echoed his toast and finished off her cocktail. She wondered how much he had heard about her from her father, or if he had happened to see the holonet reality show she had been on a while back. She casually brushed a few strands of her flowing black hair off her shoulder and listened as her date made a proposal. Her brows perked with curiosity, was the restaurant really stuffy? The posh surroundings were very standard when it came to her dates, so the idea of doing something different was quite intriguing.

“Sure, we could go somewhere else.” She answered with a slight shrug. Waverly listened to the options provided and took a moment to reflect. Usually she fancied things like shopping or going out dancing, but simply taking a walk? That was a new concept. “A walk sounds nice.” She nodded a few times and stood up, automatically waiting for him to offer his arm.

Her dark eyes shifted slightly to the corner where Kal was sitting. She watched as her guard furrowed his brow at her, he too rose to his feet and would follow along at a discreet distance. If she could say anything about Kal, it would be that he was very good at remaining unseen. “Where would you like to go? Maybe we could stop by your ship… that could be fun.” She said with a grin.

[member="Jyakod Ozen"]

 

[Jyakod Ozen]

"Yeah! Walk! Let's go! My ship's over at docking port six on the South Side." Jyakod took Waverly's immaculately-manicured hand and helped her to her feet. As he did, he stole a look over her shoulder to see a man rising at the same time from the far corner of the bar, looking like he was ready to cross the distance between them quickly if needed. A chaperone? the smuggler wondered. His lip curled in a momentary sneer as he led his newfound date out of the restaurant. That won't do at all. Luckily, Ozen had had many years of making quick escapes and vanishing from would-be pursuers. He'd let the man follow for now, but if things got interesting Jyakod felt confident he could give the well-dressed man the slip.

As Jyakod and Waverly hit the street, the Corellian gave the beautiful girl's hand a gentle squeeze. "Now then, miss. Tell me all about yourself. Pretend no one's ever told me anything at all. What do you want me to know about you?"

She smells nice, thought the smuggler. Like money. Probably best not to say that out loud.


[member="Waverly Dane"]

 

[Waverly Dane]

Waverly smiled pleasantly as she and her date moved out into the night. She let him lead her along as she had little idea where the docking port was. Although her shoes were far too impractical for every day wear, she walked alongside him quite easily. Waverly was of the mind that one needed to occasionally suffer to look good. She felt him squeeze her hand, and she looked to the man that she knew as Damien.

What exactly was there to tell him? Waverly often worried that there was little more to her than what people saw on the surface; a pretty lady in expensive clothing. There was also the fact that many feigned friendship in order to reap the benefits of being acquainted with a rich girl. She bit her bottom lip lightly as she thought for a moment.

“Well…I enjoy fine dining, wine, and dancing.” She started in a light tone. “Usually in that order.” She added with a giggle.

She let a silence fall between them for a few moments as she considered what to say next. She assumed that he knew a little about her professional life, and her personal life was currently made up of a string of blind dates. Waverly knew a great many people, but still managed to feel quite lonely. There were days when she felt quite shallow, and often purchased new clothes and jewelry to cover up her sadness.

“There really isn’t much more to know about me.” Waverly shrugged. “But I’m curious about you.”

Movement across the street momentarily drew her attention; she thought that she’d just seen a small group of men watching them. However, upon second glance she only saw darkness in the alleyway. Perhaps it had just been Kal, moving along with them, but wanting to remain unseen.

“What do you want me to know about you?”

[member="Jyakod Ozen"]

 

[Jyakod Ozen]

Jyakod winced inwardly. Well that gave me nothing to go on, he mused. He looked around, taking in their surroundings, and wondering how to converse with Waverly without actually telling her anything.

"Um, well, I too enjoy fine dining and wine. My dancing skills are kinda limited though. My dance...master...told me I moved like a bantha with a severed hamstring. Other than that, you know, shipping business. I move stuff from one place to the other for money. I like to keep involved in the process. I know a lot of other guys would just hire people to do the work and spend their days behind desks signing checks, but I'm a pilot at heart."

The lights, sounds, and smells of the landing platforms grew in brightness, volume, and pungency as they neared Jyakod's ship. It was then that the figures that had been following them stepped from the shadows.

"Right, nobody move!" barked a Trandoshan. "Gimme yer--"

"I see you," interrupted Jyakod releasing Waverly's hand. He tried to put himself between her and the new arrivals, but there were three of them and they had spread out to form an uneven triangle. Time for clever words, thought the smuggler. "I saw you blocks ago. You're not exactly Noghri, are you?"

"I am," growled the second figure.

"Hunh. Yeah. I guess you are."

"Gimme yer creds!" demanded the Trandoshan, finishing his sentence.

Jyakod shook his head. "No."

The Trandoshan growled. "No? No? We'll kill ya both, ya dummy!"

Jyakod looked over his shoulder at his date. "When I say duck, you duck, okay? Don't worry, everything's going to be fine." To the Trandoshan, he asked, "Does Meeka know you're here? He's okay with this?"

The Trandoshan shifted his weight. "M...Meeka?"

Jyakod looked around. None of the three had actually drawn weapons yet, but all had at least one hand inside a loose-fitting jacket. "Meeka's a Hutt," Jyakod said to Waverly. "He runs things in this part of town. And pretty much the whole planet and several nearby moons." Ozen caught a glimpse of movement in the darkness between two buildings on his right. "Yeah, Meeka. I guess maybe he doesn't. So here's what's going to happen. On the count of three, unless you mooks run away very quickly, the Noghri is going to drop dead. And when he does, I'm going to shoot the man to my right, and then you, Mr. Spokesman."

"Wha...what? You can't..." Now the three thugs had weapons in hand.

"One."

"I'm not kiddin' mister! Y...you'd better--"

"Duck."

"What?" asked the Trandoshan.

"Three!"

A blaster bolt erupted from the alleyway, hitting the Noghri dead center in the chest. In one swift motion, Jyakod had his own blaster out of the holster, spun, and fired, hitting the until-now silent, dark-skinned Human in the shoulder and knocking him to the ground with a loud cry. A blaster bolt from the Trandoshan, fired with a panicked cry, sailed past Jyakod to the exact spot where Waverly had stood. The smuggler fired again, hitting the Trandoshan in the stomach.

"Run!" ordered Jyakod.

[member="Waverly Dane"]

 

[Waverly Dane]

Wavery walked along, enjoying the night time scene lit up by the landing platforms up ahead. She listened with interest as he told her of his lack of dancing skills and a love for flying.

“Dancing isn’t so hard, I could teach you-” She started to say, when she was interrupted by a Trandoshan making demands.

She felt panic shoot through her as he let go of her hand and moved in front of her. Waverly moved up close to him, gently clutching on to the back of his jacket with shaking hands. Her brown eyes were wide as she watched the scene unfolding before her. She had to admit that deep beneath the fear, she was impressed at the bold way he spoke to their assailants. Waverly blinked a few times when she was instructed to duck, but she nodded.

The order came too fast for her, she wanted very much to duck, but was frozen to the spot. Waverly screamed as she felt the impact of Kal knocking her to the ground. As always, her trusty guard was there to protect her. For a moment he shielded her with his own body, until they heard Jyakod shout. Kal knew Waverly better than anyone, and he knew full well that she was incapable of running in her shoes. In a swift motion Kal scooped Waverly into his arms and took off for cover.

As she was carried away for the action, she watched as the muggers went down. Once they were sheltered behind a large ship, Kal gently set her down. Waverly noticed that her guard’s blaster was drawn and held in a steady hand. The guard’s sharp eyes were shifting about and he was listening to every sound that came though the darkness.

“That man is not Damien Westhaven.” Kal said quietly, taking advantage of the moment alone with Waverly.

“What-” She started.

“I met Damien just as we were leaving. This impostor is likely after your fortune; this was probably an elaborate set up.” He explained.

Waverly stood still, trying to take in what she had just heard. Surely this man wouldn’t be so cruel? She liked to think that she was a good judge of character, and he had seemed very friendly.

“No, Kal… you must be mistaken!” She shook her head.

She didn’t wait for her guard to respond, instead taking the chance to peek around the ship to see what was happening.

[member="Jyakod Ozen"]