Madam Monster

[Zandra Tal'verda]

Zax was a beauty. Not on the outside. No Zax was not a looker on the outside, but the old ship had heart. It had gotten Zandra out of more scrapes than she cared to remember. Nah. Zax the Beautiful, was not beautiful, but it had a great beauty to her. Him... Her. Whatever.

The silver haired Echani sat in the pilots seat, silently fuming. She'd left Corrin at home with the rest of Cal's fam, and the droid too. No good bringing a little one on a trip like this. Poor thing'd be bored out of his mind. Zandra clenched her teeth, staring out at the white streaks of hyperspace tear past the ship. Better to look at that, than to look at her husband. No. If he tried to talk to her, she might honestly knock him out. She cracked her knuckles, heaving a great sigh.
Today was just not her day.

[member="Calico Tal'verda"] [member="Kix Tal'Verda"]

 

[Revenchent]

They were on their way to tie up loose ends. Those loose ends being pirates both Calico and Zandra had crossed at one point or another in their misadventures. The couple had needed credits to work on the ship, and to feed themselves. Also to buy new furniture...and build a house...and purchase a holovision. The point was that they needed credits back in the day before the Confederacy's old reserve bank had been squandered with the talents of Boxer. He was a lovely Commando, and an even better cook.

Cal had opted to bring Kix. One, because he favored the boy, despite what his conscience told him, and two, because he needed the extra gun. Zandra was a brilliant fighter in close quarters, but Calico needed another wall of katarn plates between himself and the blaster fire to feel comfortable. That, and Kix was actually effective at a range beyond twenty meters.

He would never tell Zandra that of course, ever.

He settled in the copilot seat in full kit, minus his helmet. They would be exiting hyperspace soon. "You're quiet Z. Did we hit a space deer?"

[member="Kix Tal'Verda"] [member="Zandra Tal'verda"]

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

...He was an idiot. Zandra continued to stare ahead, refusing to even glance at her husband.

"Hit nothin'," she snapped, "Now why don' ya buzz off? Clean yer blaster. I got... space stuff to do. Or somethin'."

Her eyes narrowed. She couldn't even believe how Lady Luck had abandoned her. Of all times? Really? Now? How bad could her luck be for this to happen again? How could he possibly be so careless?
Before she knew it, she had actually reached over to slap him.

[member="Calico Tal'verda"]

 

[Revenchent]

Thankfully, Kix wasn't in the cockpit to see that. The boy was in the back cleaning his plates or something. Cal didn't keep much track of him--he didn't need to. Kix was a grown man and could handle himself in any situation. It was just nice to know where the Commando that had once been such a small things was every once in awhile.

And again, thankfully not here.

He took the slap to the face with relative ease. He just turned to look at her, puzzled. "Tell me what I did before you start abusing my Zandra. You know I break easy." That was a lie. "Better to get it out now than let it fester, cyar'ika."

[member="Zandra Tal'verda"] [member="Kix Tal'Verda"]

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

"You know what you did!" she snarled, slamming her leather clad hands against the dash, "You.... UGH!"

She turned her entire body wound to face him, rage on every corner of her face. She was not okay. Not in the least. And Cal was the reason.

"You were stupid and careless," she clarified, lowering her voice to a sharp whisper and casting a look to the doorway, "Didn't think! How'm I 'sposed to be useful now?"

She was talking in riddles without even realizing it. It wasn't her fault. She expected people to just know what was on her mind, expected then to get the hint right away. For Cal, it might take another slap in the face.

[member="Calico Tal'verda"]

 

[Kix Tal'Verda]

The cockpit's door whizzed open beyond the arguing lovebirds. A familiar figure stood in it and strode a couple steps in with he familiar patter of plastoid boots across durasteel and the wafting scent of a strill.

"-be useful now?"

"Is there something wrong, Ca'buir?" The Clone suddenly asked as Zandra had finished her rather heated question. His eyes darting between the door in a very confused manner. Kix may have been nearing thirty years in age, yet, in many ways he was still younger than most. The last year as Aliit'buir of Tal'Verda made up most of his experience with the outside world. He was a clone afterall, he looked exactly like Calico but with longer warrior braided hair that reached his shoulders and a trimmed half-goatee.

[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]
[member="Calico Tal'verda"]

 

[Revenchent]

"Did I give you flu pills instead of vitamins by accident or somethi--"

Then there was Kix. Cal had been talking animatedly, waving his hands about with one hand while the other rested on the controls. He drew in a sharp breath, and offered the young man a thin smile. "Just talking ad'ika. You'll figure it out once you find yourself a nice girl like Zan'ika ."

He meant it, of course, but the compliment was also aimed to take the edge off their argument; of which Calico had no idea what the subject was. He had grown experienced in most social matters, even surpassing average humans in certain setting. He could talk a man's ear off, understand when he was being lied to, and use words to get whatever he wanted, but women ....women were an entirely different beast all together.

"Now what's the issue Zandra?" He said as the ship came out of hyperspace over a planet known as Lok.

A pirate haven since the clone wars, Lok was a hell hole. It was the perfect place for Zandra and Calico to conduct any one of their less than legal operations, but that wasn't the purpose right now. The Echani had rivals that needed taking care of, and Calico immediately brought the shuttle forth for that purpose.

[member="Zandra Tal'verda"] [member="Kix Tal'Verda"]

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

He was so stupid. Zandra threw her hands up in the air with an "Ack!" as [member="Kix Tal'Verda"] interrupted a perfectly good marital argument. She turned her attention to the world below now. She didn't have time to explain anything to Calico, especially not in front of Kix.

"Forget it," she murmured, "We ain't got time to go into it now, love."

She could yell at him later. For now, she was trying to focus on the task ahead. Eliminate some of her old buddies. She didn't exactly hide the fact that she was still alive, and that made some of her old crowd pretty ticked off.

"Don' think yer off the hook though, mista' [member="Calico Tal'verda"]. You n' I still need to talk."