Red and the Horned Beauty (Cross Ikon)

[Rik'Tani]

Ah, Nar Shaddaa. A crummy planet, with little order, much chaos, and all the black markets of the universe. If she were in the mood, Rik'Tani would settle down and start a family right then and there. However, that just wasn't the case. She drank some more of her ale, her eyes scanning the club. Nothing interesting so far. What a drag. She was hoping for a show. Oh well...
[member="Cross Ikon"]

 

[Cross Ikon]

Nar Shaddaa... Well, I couldn't say it had gotten worse in eight centuries. Or better. But they had at least learned to ignore when a military-type came a-calling. Me, Ogen, and Kelli were on shore leave, and Ogen had basically stolen Kelli. I didn't begrudge him the date, or whatever came after. They both needed the relaxation, and the romance.


I walked into a bar the one bar that had music that wasn't actually insanely crappy, and looked around. Not bad. At least the women here had gotten sexier. I sat down in a corner booth.... That was occupied. By a woman who I couldn't totally see. She leaned out a bit, and I nearly lost it. She was beautiful. A Zabrak woman with flowing red hair, pretty tattoos on her face, and the most unbelievable eyes.


"Well, hi there. I see there's a rose among the thorns of Nar Shaddaa. And you have rather beautiful thorns, yourself."

[member="Rik'Tani"]

 

[Rik'Tani]

Rik'Tani cocked her head to the side to see who had just spoken to her. It was a slender man with handsome features and bright, almost startling red hair. Her red-orange eyes met his. "A nice little pick-up line, to be sure. I'm pretty sure I've heard it before, though." She said nonchalantly. A little smirk formed on her face as she returned her gaze to the rest of the room. If she had a credit chip for every time someone had flirted with her...
[member="Cross Ikon"]

 

[Cross Ikon]

[member="Rik'Tani"]

"Of course you have.... You live on Nar Shaddaa, beautiful. The line itself was old eight hundred years ago. However, that is not the case for either of us. So, you'll excuse me if I have a little bit of fun talking to a beautiful Zabrak I just happened to sit down next to, yeah?

I grinned nonchalantly. She really was strikingly beautiful. And that was coming from me, somebody who'd lived on Zeltros for a decade. It was refreshing to find a woman who probably wouldn't be able to almost kidnap me into my own bedroom.

 

[Rik'Tani]

Rikki chuckled a bit. "That's where you'd be wrong. I don't live here. I hear those kind of transparent words all over the Galaxy." She looked him over again. "Though, I'll give you this. At least it's nice to look at you when you say it." She grinned a bit. He was handsome...
[member="Cross Ikon"]

 

[Cross Ikon]

"At least I'm smooth and handsome, rather than tounge-tied and ugly, right? That's gotta count for something."

I looked over her whole person for the first time. I noticed a couple hidden weapons, but that was normal... It wouldn't hurt to ask, though.

"Interesting places to hide weapons, beautiful. Makes me think you're probably more than a redheaded bombshell on the Smuggler's Moon for a vacation. Now tell me, are you ex-military or something? Cause I like it when women can protect themselves."

[member="Rik'Tani"]

 

[Rik'Tani]

Rik'Tani glanced over at him without moving her head. It was a little funny that he thought her red highlights were natural against her ebony hair. She said nothing of it, however, instead focusing on his other question. She snorted. "Ex-military? Good one. If anything, I flat out avoid anything to do with those goody-goody soldier boys with their shiny shoes and their buzz-cuts." She said, a little grimace on her face. It was only partly true. some of those soldier boys were real easy on the eyes.
[member="Cross Ikon"]

 

[Cross Ikon]

[member="Rik'Tani"]

"In that case, you're the most beautiful pirate I've ever met. What's your name?"

I winked at her. With her head in the light, now, I could see that her hair was actually black with a lot of red highlights. It was even prettier by contrast. Honestly, I'd rather sit with a beautiful pirate than a beautiful officer. Officers tended to think less creatively, because of a trained predilection towards following orders. Pirates were trained the exact opposite way. Just to live and turn a profit, they had to be able to make elaborate, well thought out plans.

I was hoping this beautiful woman would be able to help me in a way that was more important than my comfort or desires. I needed somebody to be my chief officer. If I could trust her, then she'd be perfect.

 

[Rik'Tani]

Rikki grinned. "Rik'Tani. But you can call me Rikki," She said, holding out a hand for him to shake. "Might I ask who those gorgeous eyes belong to? Red is such a warm color."
[member="Cross Ikon"]

 

[Cross Ikon]

"Cross is my name, beautiful. Cross Ikon. And red is warm, but green is smooth. Like the woman in front of me."

I reached out and took her hand. Her nails were colored pink. Funny.

[member="Rik'Tani"]

 

[Rik'Tani]

Rik'Tani chuckled. "If by green you mean gold, then I guess I'd agree." She said, holding her hand a little more toward the light so that he could see her golden complexion. "Cross is a lovely name indeed. Also unique. Much like the man in front of me." She replied coyly.
[member="Cross Ikon"]

 

[Cross Ikon]

[member="Rik'Tani"]

My expression darkened for a moment.

"You have no idea, Rikki. You might get an idea if I told you, but then I might scare off the beautiful woman in front of me.... And who wants that?"

I grinned again.

"And my name is nothing special. It's just the constellation I was born under or something. Crazy Hapan myths, I guess."

 

[Rik'Tani]

Rikki's eyes lit up with a desturbing amount of interest when Cross spoke of scaring her. "You might fine that some women are braver, and more crazy than others. I love a good horror story." She purred. She had quite a few of her own to tell, too. ONe of the best thing about being a Pirate was that you never ran out of fantastical tales.
[member="Cross Ikon"]

 

[Cross Ikon]

[member="Rik'Tani"]

"Really? Let me tell you then...."

I looked around real quick.

"Alright. So, Eight hundred years ago, I was an admiral under the command of the Hapan Royal Navy. I was doing experiments on clones on the side. Big experiments. We're talking full physical modification. I learned how to make female clones to function as infiltrators and clandestine officers and the like. But one was flawed. She was born basically without most of her life functions... And she was born Force sensitive. I saved her, at the cost of... fundamentally changing her. One day, somebody from High Command came to take her away... And arrest me. I shot him. He survived, but he had me put on trial and nearly executed. In the end, I and more than half a million other people were exiled on the HRN's version of an Outbound Flight project."

I shuddered a bit from the memory, and continued.

"WE got as far as the Unknown Regions... And all hell broke loose. A plague swept through and killed most of my people. It happened within a week. It was so bad, that I gave the order for everybody to go into stasis. Eight centuries of sleep. All my loved ones, with the exception of my brother, died when they were removed from stasis. My creation.... My daughter.... She's comatose. The stasis had an effect on her nervous system or something. When the people first came out of stasis, I almost had a mutiny on my hands when they found out she was on board. My dear Sammy. She would've hated that. She would go around in the parks and feed stray animals. Give money to the random homeless people she saw. But now, because of my arrogance, she and hundreds of thousands of others have no home, no reality, and some of them don't even have families anymore."

I realized I was crying. Damn. She wouldn't be impressed with that.

"I am without a doubt, a despicable creature. I would feel better if everything that happened was by my own design, but it was all because of my arrogance and subsequent stupidity."

I smiled at Rikki, a small, sad, smile.

"You're right, you are different from other women. Everybody else who's ever heard this story has screamed, or run away, or told me to go die somewhere. Thank you."

 

[Rik'Tani]

Rikki placed both hands on his as he spoke. For once, she appeared sympathetic and even warm. That was a new thing for her. She gently patted his head after he was done speaking. "There there, Red. Everyone has their crosses to bear. Hell, I've got so many I could make jewelry out of them. What you need to remember is that no one is perfect. We all make mistakes, and must live with the consequences. We just need to remember to to leanr from them, and not let the past destroy our future."
[member="Cross Ikon"]

 

[Cross Ikon]

"The past...."

I had a sudden thought and grinned broadly.

"I should go to the Consortium and see what they do... I was almost a historical figure then... I must be a legend, now!"

I turned back to Rikki, gripped her hands back, and grinned even wider.

"You know, I think I need a drink. Stupid turnabouts always make me thirsty..."

[member="Rik'Tani"]

 

[Rik'Tani]

Rik'Tani laughed. "Finally, you're speaking my language!" She waved a hand to a waitress at the bar. "Two pints of Corellian Prospector for me and this handsome gentleman!" She called. Turning back to Cross, Rikki smiled widely. "A legend? Sounds sexy..."
[member="Cross Ikon"]

 

[Cross Ikon]

"Well, I'm either gonna be really legendary now, or I'm going to be arrested as a traitor and executed."

The expression on Rikki's face was really shocked.

"Oh, don't worry, Rikki. I can escape really easily. Anyway, I have no idea if people would even recognize me as the hero of the consortium... I was less... Hairy."

[member="Rik'Tani"]

 

[Rik'Tani]

Rikki smirked. "Oh, I'm not worried. It's no fun when all people do is welcome you back with a parade. I'd prefer possies to floats any day." A waitress came over with their drinks. She laid a few credit chips on the woman's tray, and took a swig. "Ah. That's a good brewskie. Less hairy, you say? But your hair's so illustrious." She joked.
[member="Cross Ikon"]

 

[Cross Ikon]

[member="Rik'Tani"]

"Yeah."

I made a face and flipped my hair jokingly.

"And I honestly don't like parades... Whoever decided that being forced to stand up on duracrete for hours just to watch over-decorated speeders pass by was probably brain damaged."