Rum Lullabies

[Armand Temi]

​

Location: Maramere, outside of Point Modie, the capital​

As dusk began to obscure her vision, Lola sat on the edge of the water speeder, watching the breathtaking but fading view of Point Modie behind her while the craft was on autopilot to The Veiled Islands which was where their small domed shelter was. Sometimes she missed living in a bustling city like the capital of Maramere, but it was difficult to say that their island life was tough by any means.

Not at least until Torm Wynn's credits ran out.

Their house was modest, but right on the beach so anything that she and Averin wanted food-wise was right before them - coconut milk, fresh fish and seafood, hanava fruit. When they longed to sink their teeth into a juicy, rare Bantha steak, they could zip right over to Point Modie anytime to dine out.

Earlier that morning, Lola was restless. Only twenty-two and never having any kind of credits to her name - not that were wholly hers to spend, she kissed Averin goodbye and traveled across the water to shop. Shopping turned into eating, which turned into drinking which, in turn, somehow led to gambling in the casino district of Point Modie. Perhaps a pipe-full of spice had something to do with that.

But Lola did not come back empty handed. Not at all.

“Captain!” she shouted, climbing out of the water speeder - splash, splash, splash, the hem of her skirt dragging in the cerulean blue sea. “Come quick, love. I have something to tell you about my shopping trip." She gazed at the sky momentarily, and then the kiffar native checked her chrono

"Actually, I can show it to you in about five minutes.”

[member="Averin An'Arach"]

 

[Averin An'Arach]

The loss of their ship had certainly made things interesting, no wait the opposite of that. While they did have a pile of credits, each other, and a home in paradise they didn't have any adventure. Averin considered one of his essential addictions. If his wife was addicted to alcohol, spice, and him. He was addicted to treasure, adventure, and her. That was how much he loved adventure. However, going on adventures was hard when you didn't have your own ship which leads us neatly to his current predicament.

While Lola went out to spend the day shopping he spent the day laying around listlessly. Occasionally he'd read something on the holonet or get up and fix himself a drink or a bite to eat, but other than that nothing. It was getting late and he was getting slightly worried. While his wife was many things, she wasn't terribly good in a fight. He was just getting to the point where he was thinking of going after her.

Just as he is about to act on this decision Lola comes up on the water speeder. Stepping outside he looks at his wife raising an eyebrow. "You were gone a little long for just a shopping trip love." He says in his mellow mish-mash of various accents. He wears that cocky half-grin that she knew so well as he leans against the railing of the deck looking down at her. His eyes are alight with amusement at her sudden excited appearance.

[member="Lola An'Arach"]

 

[Armand Temi]

“Indeed I was,” she said, laughing. At times, Lola still felt bashful around her husband, and red splotches blossomed on her cheeks as he teased her. But his cocksure grin and the delight in his eyes just to see her caused her to kick up the sand beneath her feet and perform a little wiggle with her hips.

“All of that holonet sabacc came in handy after all. I won us a ship at the Golden Nautolan!”

Lola was so proud. She was normally Averin’s right hand woman, letting him lead them into danger or safety, content to have him make the decisions, not out of naivety, but because she couldn’t really give a feth. The kiffar no longer had to pretend she was having fun at Indupar dinner parties while Ianthe did everything she could to insult her in front of the guests.

She was free. And now the Averins were space bound.

Lola waved her Cap’n down from the railing and then turned and gazed towards the sea again, her hand on her forehead to ward off the setting sun. The noise of a ship could be heard, signaling to Averin that she was not pulling his leg, and that there was some kind of vessel heading towards The Veiled Islands.

As it came into view, impossibly large juxtaposed against the tiny island, Averin would be able to glimpse all forty meters of its length.

“Now I know it’s not pretty! But it’s ours,” Lola shouted over the roar of the thrusters. She had no idea exactly what the model was or even whatever features the ship had come with, but her husband would know right away.

Hovering above them was an Aurore-Class II Freighter, a ship that had been associated with nothing else but Zygerrian slavers, and in certain systems of the galaxy would be shot to smithereens on sight.

[member="Averin An'Arach"]

 

[Averin An'Arach]

"You got us a ship?" He says halfway between shock and incredulity. Then he laughs and at her urging vaults over the railing dropping down to the sandy beach. He moves across the sand and sweeps her into his arms. His lips find her's as he hoists her off her feet and swings her about before settling her on the ground. Keeping her in his arms as he looks up at the sky expectantly, spinning her about so she can gaze up with him.

She'd changed a lot in the last few months, slowly becoming more outgoing and confident. Part of it was her being in love, part of it was the lessons in fighting, and the last part he knew was being away from her oppressive family. He'd changed as well though in more subtle ways. He was happier than he'd ever truly been and it was because of her. He'd never thought he'd be foolish enough to fall in love but apparently, it was called falling in love for a reason, he hadn't noticed that it had happened until it had.

The ship rolls into sight and he grimaces slightly. A modified slaver transport, the Aurore-Class II was decently manoeuvrable and decently armed. But it was as ugly as a Bantha's poodoo and its hyperdrives wasn't great. However, it got them back into the stars and that meant they could get filthy lucre, which meant they might get a better ship. "Mrs An'Arach, you spoil me. I can't wait to get back to the stars."

 

[Armand Temi]

She watched Averin jump down with the agility of a brezak. When he grabbed her around the torso, firmly kissed her and swung her around she laughed and screamed until she was gazing up into his dark eyes. Despite his cavalier attitude, she knew he was always calculating behind those clever orbs, while Lola was… well, she was probably off having fun. She was pretty good at making “nothing to do” last all day.

“Yep, promise it’s not stolen. Although I think it was stolen by someone else before me, so maybe that’s something to think about. Changing the transponders and what not.”

She grinned when he called her Mrs. An'Arach, not realizing that a slaver’s ship was less than ideal. But they made due so far and they’d keep surviving.

“I was thinking. There’s no place to put it here on the island, and it’s far too expensive to rent a docking spot. How about we gather up what we need and board it tonight. What do you think? I love Maramere but there are plenty of other island planets.” Truthfully between the two of them, they didn’t own much. Their small house was modestly furnished, much of it with found objects like shells and coconut skins and pieces of driftwood carved into utensils. They would not be leaving much behind.

@Averin An'Ararch

 

[Averin An'Arach]

Lola was thinking ahead, that was good. Changing transponders on a used ship was actually standard procedure in this line of work. A lesson he'd learned from some of his former crew. Absently swaying back and forth he rests his chin on the top of her head, enjoying the feel of her hair against his stubble. "Yes changing the transponders is a priority. Also while I can fly this myself, we will need to get a crew. We will also want to change ships eventually. This is a slaver vessel, some people will fire on us just for having it and it isn't the most combat able tub in the stars. Still, this is amazing love."

At her suggestion, he turns and looks up at their beach house. He'd be sorry to leave it behind for sentimental reasons, they'd spent a blissful few weeks here. However, she was right it was better to go and honestly he was eager to go. He belonged in the stars, out there travelling. No matter what some people may wish him to be doing instead. He shakes away condemning voices of old ghosts from his childhood. "Well, we can rent this place out under a false name while we go out and earn a new fortune." He says releasing her and scrambling up to the house. She was right, they could get the whole thing packed up in the span of a few hours.

[member="Lola An'Arach"]

 

[Armand Temi]

She continued to hold onto Averin’s hands, clasping them to her chest. “A crew! Oh wow, this is really happening. Wait, a slaver’s ship? You mean this carried slaves?”

Lola wasn’t sure how to feel about that at first. It wasn’t as though the kiffar native was such a bleeding heart that she would not continue to exploit their boon for their own benefit. Besides, she’d won it fair and square and did so with a fething lucky hand too. If anything, Wynn had taught his daughter that credits were the most important thing in their short lives, and business came first. But she did have reservations especially knowing that sentient beings may have mistreated on the hunk of metal they were about to call their home.

Smiling as Averin scrambled to the house to pack, Lola strode back into the sea, picking up the hem of her skirt gingerly and in ankle deep water took the comms unit that connected her to the ship’s temporary pilot, likely just a valet from the Golden Nautolan.

“There’s a small abandoned island to the south of here that is big enough to hold the ship. Go land it, and we’ll be right over to board."

Giddy with excitement, Lola ran into the house, began tossing her belongings into a small shoulder bag and said, “I know the honeymoon might be over, but at least we can christen the captain quarters."

[member="Averin An'Arach"]

 

[Averin An'Arach]

"Just the captain's quarters?" He asks with a grin as he tosses the last of his clothing into a bag. "I was thinking we'd christen the whole ship while we had it to ourselves." He says his grin lascivious as he steps closer to her his hand playfully swatting her rear. Then he is dancing away as he looks around the small hut. "I'll miss this place but I am pleased to be heading back to the stars love." He says as he turns in a slow graceful circle before facing her once more.

He grins his eyes practically aflame with eagerness for what was to come. He moves in close to her again, he was always circling around her a moon caught in her orbit. Or perhaps she was caught in his? His arms wrap around her and he pulls her into a deep kiss. The passion within that meeting of lips promising a particularly memorable night to come, but that would be later. He moves back and grins. "We are going to be pirates."

Then he is out the door with a whoop sprinting onto their deck. He jumps up onto the railing and from it to the beach rolling along the ground as he jumps into the water speeder. Soon, soon they would be on their ship.

[member="Lola An'Arach"]

 

[Armand Temi]

Just thinking of christening the ship everywhere had Lola snagging her bottom lip with her teeth and pondering that for a moment. Until her husband swatted at her posterior causing her to squeal and side step his advance. And then with renewed fervor, she continued flinging clothing and toiletries back into her bag.

Goodbye palm trees, goodbye coconuts, goodbye mosquitos the size of tennis balls, goodbye blue water, tan lines, no tan line from nude sunbathing, coral, seahorses, rum, more rum and the white sand beneath my toes.

But there was no time to be wistful. They had a galaxy to travel!

Averin encircled his wife and with passion and excitement embracing her again, and they pressed their lips together voraciously like newlyweds would.

Lola had a few minutes of crisis making sure she was taking everything that was meaningful to her and once in the speeder, said, “We just need to go south and then west and we’ll be there.”

The vessel was gigantic up close. Much bigger than she thought it would be. But after a cursory tour through the Aurore-Class II, Lola showed Averin the vestiges of its disturbing past.

Cell blocks after cell blocks for slaves, complete with scratches and blood on the walls from their unfortunate fates.

[member="Averin An'Arach"]

 

[Averin An'Arach]

Averin looks at the slave quarters and grimaces. His appetite for christening every room dropped a few notches, maybe they'd keep it to the bedroom for now. At least until he could take out the walls in this section with a plasma cutter. Once they got the scratches repaired this could serve as a proper cargo hold, rather than one for people. He may have been a pirate, he may kill people but damn it he was an idealistic pirate. He believed with all his heart the best part of being a pirate was the freedom and living on a ship that was used to take away others freedom...

"Well, I won't lie love. I am going to want to sell this thing once we have enough coin to afford to get our own ship commissioned." He says as he leads her up to the command deck. The decor of the ship was leaving a lot to be desired. It was dank, dark, and utilitarian. It didn't feel like a home so much as a floating prison. They could do some things to fix that, again like removing the cells that was priority one. However, the air of despair from the suffering of sentient life on this vessel would cling to it like a miasma no matter what they did. That was why he wanted to get a new ship asap.

Deciding he needed something positive to get his mind out of the dumps he pulls Lola into his arms and kisses her soundly. "So, where do you think we can find more crew?" He asks as his hands explore her body. His grin was somewhere between playful and lustful, she had that effect on him. He was always torn between an almost animalistic need for her and a childlike glee at her presence.

[member="Lola An'Arach"]

 

[Armand Temi]

Lola’s stomach churned at the grisly sight, and she wrapped her arms tighter around herself as though warding off the ghosts of tortured slaves who may have been left to die. Grimacing, she turned to Averin and said, “This ship is starting to give me the creeps, but it would be silly to give it back now.” The fact that she would even consider it was testament to how freaked out she was about owning a slaver's ship.

They walked to the command deck, the kiffar noticing just how giant the transport was. No lack of exercise on the… wait, what were they calling it again?

“We need a name for her. Nothing we can get very attached to if this hunk of junk is getting sold.” As soon as she said that, a panel above them hissed open and stray wires dropped down as if on cue.

Once on deck, Averin embraced her again, rewarding her with a firm kiss, his hands slipping up the hem of her shirt. As soon as she could pry herself away, albeit reluctantly, she said, “Just east of Maramere is the Confederacy of Independent systems. Too east and we run into the Galactic Empire. My father will still be scouring Alliance territory. The CIS sounds like our best bet and since each planet is governed independently, perhaps we can find either a hideout or some kind of reprieve from the Wynn Trade Company reach.” While Torum had the market cornered up and down the Rimma Trade Route, he also did business along the Corellian Run. They would need to be careful in the major space lanes cutting south to north through the Confederacy territory.

"And our crew."

[member="Averin An'Arach"]

 

[Averin An'Arach]

Averin pouts slightly when she pulls away. Lola was probably right to do so considering they still had a lot of work to do. That didn't mean he had to like it. "Well, ship name is easy." He looks around and drawing an imaginary sword he touches it to the main flight controls. "I pronounce her The Holdover." He says with an air of regal bearing and great authority. It was a terrible name but it suited a ship they'd be dumping as soon as they could.

That settled he moves around the deck considering her idea. "True and as long as we avoid attracting any undue from a singular other government, I doubt they'd go out of their way to hunt us or help others do so. So if we make sure to spread out our attack we could consider CIS our home system so to speak. The place we return to when we aren't pillaging the stars." He suddenly bounds to her and sweeps her into his arms for another deep kiss.

"You are brilliant." He says with a grin before bounding away against to investigate the engines and controls. Like any true pirate, he knew a lot about ship repair and upkeep. He wasn't the best mechanic in the galaxy but he could fix a hyperdrive.

[member="Lola An'Arach"]

 

[Armand Temi]

“If someone is really looking for The Holdover and they’re a Zygerrian slaver than we should get a move on. On autopilot, of course.” She set the course for Ryloth. “There’s ryll on Ryloth. And Twi’leks,” Lola said with a wink.

But she wasn’t all business right now. The young kiffar was just as eager to enjoy the privacy of the vessel as much as her husband was. Especially after his liberal kisses and caresses. And there was no time like the present.

Lola beamed when he called her brilliant. She’d never truly considered herself an intelligent woman. Certainly, her father had given her educational opportunities on Indupar, but not exactly the same ones as her more cherished siblings. Often she was truant and sullen, playing hooky and hiding out in the Wynn estate watching trashy horror holo movies and daydreaming.

Not too long after he'd left the command room, she found him tinkering around in the bowels of the ship.

“I’ll tell you the story of my lucky hand in the Captain’s quarters.”

Despite the shambolic state of the rest of The Holdover, the bedroom and fresher of the previous owner was large and well-appointed with a huge bed. Again, Lola had to wonder what went on in this room. “The ship was originally owned by a Zygerrian female. Other than that, the Rodian who I lost it to did not know much about its origins.”

[member="Averin An'Arach"]

 

[Averin An'Arach]

Looking up from the hyperdrive, Averin grins when Lola invites him to the bedroom. "Well, good news love." He says as he saunters to her side wrapping an arm around her hip as she leads him to the bedroom. "For all this is an ugly pile at least it is a pile in good repair." His hip bumps into her's as they enter the captain's rooms. They were well appointed at least though like Lola he had to wonder how many time product had been sampled here.

Still, it wasn't as depressing as the rest of the ship.He sweeps her into his arms and raises an eyebrow as he carries her towards the bed. "A Zygerrian female really? Well, I'll remember to keep my eyes out." He say's as they flop onto the bed in a tangle of limbs. He grins at her with playful desire hot in his eyes. "Tell me all about it my dear." He says as he attempts to distract her from this task with playfully kisses to her neck.

[member="Lola An'Arach"]

 

[Armand Temi]

“I suppose some of the slaves are probably worth more than the ship itself,” Lola remarked. She pressed her lips together, and with a faraway look in her eye, considered the gravity of human cargo and just how cruel the galaxy could be.

But as soon as Averin hip checked her down onto the bed, she felt less uncomfortable about The Holdover’s scandalous past, and in between the kisses he liberally gave to her neck, she withdrew out her bamboo pipe and tucked a pinch of marcan herb into the bowl. While Averin did not rarely ingest spice, she offered him a puff just the same and took a drag upon it herself, letting the fragrant smoke hang in her lungs for ten seconds until she blew it out. Lola set the pipe down as one hit was enough to give her a subtle sensation of euphoria.

And finally she sunk into her husband’s his arms, content to let the adrenaline of gambling earlier that day fade away into a languid relaxation where in between raw passion and intimate trust, she told him the exact events leading up to how she won the ship.

[member="Averin An'Arach"]