Now we can talk about it

[Xin Boa]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

"Actually I was thinking about how humans get all wrinkly in water. Are you asking me if I want to touch a dangerous artefact to see if it's worse that a jolt of power?" Xin said. Amusement was clear in the little grey starbursts that appeared on the glossy surface of his eyes. He gave a shrug and turned away, stepping up to the cockpit and taking one of the pilots chairs. He reached underneath and pulled open the panel with some of the breakers.

"You want to though, don't you?" He asked as he felt his way around the little cabinet. His tone was slightly more serious now. "Especially if you're still thinking about going to get it."

"There are about five in here. You got a manual or want me to pull them all?"

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Xin Boa"]

"Oh yeah, the wrinkly bit," she acted like she knew what he was taking about. Smooth fibbing. Fake it 'till you make it. Truth was? Kinsey only took s couple minute sonic steamers. She'd never been in any water long enough to get pruny.

Non-injured fingers pressed against her forehead, tapping against the auburn hair that fell across her brow. "Um." Eyes snapped open. "No. Should be an orange and yellow one. Pull those."

Hair was tucked behind her ears, rear taking a seat on the grated floor behind her. Fingertips dipped inside her mouth, one at a time as she used her saliva to try and ease the burning and tingling sensation. Fingers withdrew quickly.

"It's not like I have a choice. Psychometry remember? I can't risk Sage finding it. I mean...potentially, he could track back to this fleet. To Larry's ties. I have to find it. Destroy it. Easier said than done with Sith magic."

She fiddled with the torx driver.

"So...could you um, maybe show me where Larry's ship that he has with the fleet is? So I could look around?"

Snoop around. It's not like she was stealing if she was finding something that had already been hers!

 

[Xin Boa]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

Two years in prison. Yet it had felt like a decade when compared to the two years before that. Xin finally got his release and it had been nothing but trouble. It was like that old caamasi proverb. No it wasn't that, it had been an ithorian curse. May you live in interesting times. Jedi and Sith and blasters. And too many damn blaster bolts flying in his direction.

His plan on getting out had been to gather the credits he had tucked away and spend two weeks drinking heavily and taking to a different bed each night. Things were most definitely not proceeding according to plan.

"You want to see if he's lying?" Xin asked as he dropped into his back under the console. He flicked the safety switch next to the breaker and tugged it loose. "I could get in trouble around here. I haven't got much favour to my name." He looked over to Kinsey, showing her the free breaker to check it was the right colour. She had very large eyes, for a human. "Trouble seems intent on finding me at the moment. Or standing in my way in a cloaking device."

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Xin Boa"]

"He's a thief. Of course he could be lying," exasperated face half-scowled at the nautolan. "Sticky hands Larry," the girl muttered, moving her fingers gently.

She nodded, blues looking over the breaker he held up. "One of 'em."

White teeth flashed in a momentary smile. "Something tells me trouble was following you long before YOU bumped into ME." Smile disappeared and her eyes drifted back down to the tool in her hand. She tapped it against the grating. Thinking. Thinking.

"If you're too scared to help me then fine. Let's just get this over with so I can talk to Brak and get what I need."

 

[Xin Boa]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

"Who said scared?" he shot back suddenly, falling into her ploy readily. Two years behind bars and the first bit of action he got was from an accidental grope and the girl accusing him of landing her in trouble and then of cowardice. "No one said scared. Just... didn't seem like a good plan. You heard the Jedi."

Xin weighed it up in his head. There was a chance the smuggler had been lying and he still had the amulet. If that was the case then he could afford some bravado and get away with it. If not then he could find a better plan. His mouth got him out of trouble as much as his eyes.

"We'll go look over his ship. Gonna finish the job or want me to get in there?" he asked, pointing towards the cabinet.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Xin Boa"]

"Yeah, yeah," she grumbled. The thing was? The jedi was right. Kinsey thought about Rosa's offer to stay with them. It had been a generous offer. But the twenty-one year old would've felt too tied down. She was a wanderer and an explorer. Couldn't stick to one ship forever.

Genuine surprise flickered across her features, eyes snapping back up to Xin. Really? He was going to help? The space-explorer tried to smooth out her features, playing it cool and casual.

"No, no, I got it," independent girl and all. Surprised expression turned to mildly offended. Turning away from Xin, she crouched over, slightly singed-hand wedging back into the wires, squirming the tool around. With a pop-twist, the navigation widget came loose. She gingerly brought out the circuit panel, holding it up to the bit of artificial light coming through the viewport and opened back.

"Definitely fried."

Just great. Another trade.

 

[Xin Boa]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

"That navigation? Yeah at least that's not too pricey, even if you can't fly without it. Then again depends what the Fleet has in stock. I'm told prices change quickly depending on need." He offered a shrug. Xin weighed up the options. He could play the brave hero up until the point where they found out if Larry was telling the truth or not. If he was then his cowardice would seem even worse, but if it was on his ship then he'd get to talk himself up at no cost to himself.

"Nah, at the very least you had a rope at a very convenient time so I suppose you're owed that much. So... We check out Larry's ship. Told it's a heavy freighter with a crew of about fifty. If it's not there then on the ship the sith impounded. Before that need enough parts to get there. If the fleet is short you might need to go on a job. Downside, stuck with me some more. I tend to get the really crappy ones." The girl had a lightsaber and an invisibility cloak. She could handle herself better than he could. Not the worst thing to have around on a job. Easy on the eyes too, for a human.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Xin Boa"]

"Yeah, sounds drifter colony typical," she muttered and stood. Fingers scooped up the satchel, adding the nav. widget to the bag with the couplings. Well-worn strap of leather was slung over her shoulder. She probably could get away without it. That was the one thing in the force she had a knack for - intrinsic navigation through the stars. Just like her uncle.

Could find the open spaces in crowds too.

Except when someone ran right into her.

"Kark-straight it was convenient! Mom and Dad always said never travel without a grappling hook and rope," a brilliant half-smile flashed at Xin before quickly disappearing. Mom and Dad. They were also hoarders and traveled with probably about ten grappling hooks. She still remembered how she and her twin brother had to sleep in the hangar of the Dawn Treader because of all the junk their parents kept in their allotted dwelling space. Bunch of doomsdayers.

"Sounds like a plan to me," she took the few short steps up to the cockpit and hovered partially over the nautolan, offering him an outstretched hand. "C'mon let's go. Wasting starlight. And...what kind of crappy jobs are we talkin' about?"

 

[Xin Boa]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

"For a pretty girl you have a mouth that can turn the air blue," Xin chuckled. It was a low rumble that reverberated around the cockpit. He took the offered and and drew himself up. "Bet it catches out some well-to-do types who live in the ground." Xin had seen societies where females were still kept as delicate objects to be kept and traded. He would have loved to see them come across Kinsey. Xin didn't know that he soon would.

"So then we're agreed," he said as he stepped down into the main hold. He turned as approached the bay doors and walked backwards so he could see her expression. "It's your fault that the troopers shot at us but the grapple rope got us out of a right spot. This thing isn't flying anywhere so let's go appropriate a shuttle."

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Xin Boa"]

Pretty? Blues widened just a bit, dark-brows raising along alabaster-brow. Sure, she'd heard praise like that all the time during her wild years as a teen - sneaking into any and every club. But those guys would say anything...give her anything for a kiss or more. This was different.

She was showing a heck of a whole lot less skin under the worn spacer-threads. Hands and face were splotched with ship grease. She certainly wasn't being flirty and cutesy with Xin. She was being herself. And because of one backhanded compliment from a nautolan, she found her bravado and cockiness slip for just a second.

He was waltzing halfway out the ship by the time she found her voice again, focusing on the backhand part of his compliment.

"What? Fat chance no." Boots carried herself down the steps as she caught up with Xin. "Pretty sure your own mouth caused them to shoot at us. And that blaster of yours," eyes traveled to his holster before finding his black orbs again. "And how does that work? The whole talking under water thing? Does all the hot air you spew rise up as bubbles or something?"

An innocent smile briefly graced her face as she turned to close the ramp behind them.

 

[Xin Boa]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

Xin kept walking backwards, grinning as he went. “No I think that's what we just agreed. You helped a little back in the city with the smugglers and I'm helping a little now. I'm sure I remember shooting at those troopers after they shot at the half of you that was visible at the time.”

The nautolan turned and fell into stop beside her. His hand brushed across the Glie44 on his hip. Xin had used many blasters ever since learning to use one at around ten years old. This one he'd found to be reliable and a good weight for a quick draw. He always seemed to be up in situations where a quick draw and fire was required to tip the odds.

“And how does that talking in the air thing work?” He asked. “Sound goes further in the water too, so you can shout to someone next village over if you really wanted. You must have been on a spacewalk before? Ever just sit back on the tether and float? That's what it's like to be fully submerged. Free to move in any direction, no sore feet…” Xin trailed off, not realising it was more nightmare than fond memory for Kinsey.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Xin Boa"]

Blues rolled and head shook. "You mean when they shot at you. Hard to tell exactly when our hands were all over each other." Thumbs hooked into the edges of her pockets as she strolled with Xin. For a water-dweller he kept up just fine.

Seemed just as good on a rope.

"The next village?" A low whistle left her lips as she looked around the starport for a shuttle. "Course I've been on a spacewalk. This isn't amateur hour Xin," the easy-going, cockfire lopsided grin stayed on her lips until he mentioned water. Then it faltered. Just like with that compliment. Xin would suddenly find auburn strands of dark hair shielding her expression as her head tipped to the side.

For some reason water filling lungs was a thousand times more horrifying than the void of cold space.

"Why're you all the way out here instead of home if you miss it so much?"

Of course Kinsey didn't know how much potential that question had to strike a nerve in the nautolan.

 

[Xin Boa]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

His throat bobbed even as his expression remained stoically neutral. He thought of the oceans and of the beautiful stunning cities that sprawled across the seabed. Of what he had left behind and broken promises.

"Home wasn't home after the clockwork rebellion," he replied. "Besides, I like the travel and I like ships." Xin had the empathic abilities of his species. The same reaction had been provoked a few times when he'd mentioned water.

"Come on, what's the deal with water? Can't swim? But think zero gee. Lots of things fun in that. Sports. Other things."

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Xin Boa"]

The drifter and explorer girl wasn't an empath and she didn't have magical head tails that sensed subtle shifts in chemical changes, but she was observant enough to pick up on the drawn out moment of silence before Xin answered. And his tone. And clockwork was no joke.

Had she been with Sage then?

She couldn't remember. And a part of her didn't want to remember. Stride slowed. Fingertips reached out and touched lightly against the green skin along his upper arm. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. Hand withdrew just as quickly, embarrassment flickering in the depths of shifting hues of blues.

The embarrassment only spread at his guess about swimming.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it's buckets of fun. I just...does this fleet have a shuttle we can use or are we taking public transport?" Words tumbled from her mouth in a rush to change the topic so she could question avoid. The confident young woman found herself floundering but just for a second.

 

[Xin Boa]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

Xin hadn't expected that quiet little comment after she touched his arm. He came to a halt and turned towards her. There was still a ghost of a smile on his face. Any nautolan would read how that comment had affected him but humans couldn't typically read how one of his kind was feeling from the patterns in his eyes or motions of the headtails.

"It was a long time ago. I was very little and don't remember much," he lied abruptly. "Anyway because I work for the Dragoons - they're sort of the expedition group and enforcers I might be able to get our own shuttle. Sometimes we have to wait for one. But we're docked with the Adrogaddo. It's like the nerve centre of the fleet, one of the only military ships and people can't come and go easily."

He turned and continued towards the docking ring from the freighter that had collected them from the Coalition dreadnought and into the Adrogaddo. He walked with a slower gait than before. There were armed guards posted, Xin gave a wave and they let them both pass.

Lips pursed and his longest headtails have a brief flick of frustrations. He slowed and turned to face Kinsey. "Thank you though," he replied very quietly. That he didn't like talking about the subject, or even thinking about it, did not mean she hadn't acted out of kindness to talk about it.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Xin Boa"]

"Was...is Larry a Dragoon?"

Tension rippled its way across her shoulders as they passed the armed guards. Fingertips tapped against the fabric of her pants. The blaster she'd picked up from the trooper back in Sith space was in her bag. She did still have a personal shield band around her wrist. The one that still worked.

Hopefully she'd be able to trade the Sith trooper gun for something more her size.

She got a curious glance as they passed but nothing more. At least Xin was turning out to be a man of his word so far. Fidgeting fingers adjusted the leather strap on her shoulder. Starburst blues caught the flicker of movement in Xin's headtails. And she stopped as he faced her for the second time. She looked into his inky eyes a bit more closely, catching a subtle shift she hadn't been able to read before.

He was being genuine.

The shifting of gears made her more self-conscious. More so at putting him back at ease. Lead him back to the shallow waters of quips and joking banter. It was a safer place to be.

Shoulders quickly shrugged.

"Don't mention it."

Lips parted as if she wanted to say more but she quickly closed them. Then changed the conversation entirely. Stick to the shallow waters.

"So your headtails. When they move like they just did. Do they work like a twi'lek's? Showing emotion and all that?"

 

[Xin Boa]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

Oh you bastards, Xin silently berated his headtails. She was observant. In fact if she was a Force User she could probably skim some of his very thoughts too. That was a disconcerting notion.

"Not like a twi'lek no. At least I don't think so. So I suppose a little bit but not a huge range of expression. Actually they can read some emotion by pheromones but it works much better with my own species and in the water."

They took some stairs that led down to another secured door. The guards let him through but held up a hand towards Kinsey.

"Just a moment," Xin promised. Through the door she would catch a glimpse of a small flight deck control with two droids and a human at their stations.

"Quick shuttle for the Maressa?" Xin asked as the door shut. There was an artificial reply and then the door opened again. "We've got a shuttle," he explained. He passed Kinsey and headed for another set of narrow, metal stairs for the deck itself.

"He isn't one no," Xin explained. "But he does captain a ship carrying two hundred refugees. That gives him a voice in the council. Not a large one, but still a voice. Dragoons report to someone who reports to the Fleet council."

Several small shuttles sat ready on the deck. Asmus' checked the names and headed for one on the left.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Xin Boa"]

Nerves skittered along her belly as she waited in that cramped deck of stairs. Funny thing was? Everything about the place smelled like home. Industrial with a hint of stale, recycled air. The whirring of droids in the background and murmurs of commands.

But those guards? And the creeping sensation of wanting to fight or run....

Chill Kinsey. You've gotta trust someone eventually. He's been honest so far. Even though he almost sold you out in front of all those Jedi.

"Great," she breathed as the door opened again. Eyes lingered for a moment beyond his shoulder. Interesting operation they had here.

"That many refugees? Where do you pick them up? Any of the plethora of war-torn worlds?" Tone was slightly bitter. And guilt coursed through her. Her time with Sage? She'd done some war-tearing.

Even though she hadn't been in control.

She kept pace with Xin, boots clinking softly along the deck plating. Blues narrowed on the shuttle. She'd seen worse but couldn't help the quip. "You sure that thing can fly?"

 

[Xin Boa]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

"Corellians formed the first part of the fleet," Xin explained. "Netherworld cracked that planet and the most stubborn of them refused to be rehomed by charities and gathered together. Lots of other people here though." Xin gave a shrug. "Lots of wars and catastrophes to run from."

The galaxy had come out of the dark times and the fallout of the plague. Instead of coming together to rebuild the Galaxy had torn itself apart fighting for scraps.

"It might. That's part of the fun," he added of the shuttle. It had seen better days but the Fleet had good mechanics. Had to have them, in fact.

The moment he stepped through the door and out of sight of the control room he turned and placed his hands on his hips. "What is up? I can feel you tending up and it's making me nervous."

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Xin Boa"]

"Sounds like the typical Corellian," she mused, thinking of [member="Adder"] slash whatever her alias had been. Tough as nails and as fiery as her red hair. Kinsey missed that crew and [member="Jethro Wright"]. She'd been on her own since they broke up a few years ago. At least she saw Thrukk every now and then.

As long as the shuttle had better bones than it looked. Looked rust splotched and pieced together from all manner of ship parts. The entrance to the shuttle was narrow and Kinsey had been looking around. So, when Xin stopped she didn't see.

She would potentially walk straight into him. The curves of her chest and hips would bump right into his torso. Head would jerk around at the sudden wall of nautolan muscle and skin. "I just didn't know if I could trust you. Trust this," she blurted. Blunt and honest. The 'this' was the operation of the fleet. Most folks who found out about a bounty tended to cash in the person for credits these days.