Something's Burning

[Alistair Fenn]

[member="Saffron"]

"Great." He said patiently. "How much of that comes here?"

The statement was pretty unfair, Allecto was a brand new city practically. The Destroyer it had been built out of had really only been discovered about ten years or so ago, and it had taken some time for people to carve out their homes and little territories. There had been no reason for ATC to expand here, not until recently anyway. The Smuggler knew that, but he wasn't about to admit it in front of blondie, not when he saw how much his words annoyed her. "Plus."

He went on, still leaning against the bulkhead.

"What else is there besides Arceneau?" That was certainly true. Though the company did a massive amount of business, there wasn't really much diversity when it came to trade. Of course there was a reason for that, Tatooine was...well Tatooine. "If your company wants to direct resources here, great, but I don't want this city to die because some Hutt is pushing out what little traffic already comes here."

Alistair had grown oddly fond of Allecto, even though he'd only lived there a short time.

Perhaps because it felt more...urban than either Mos Eisley or Mos Espa, but either way Alistair liked it here. He fit in well.

 

[Saffron]

[member="Alistair Fenn"]

He was becoming defensive. Being shot on the side earned him that. Saffron took a quiet breath, simply waiting for him to finish. It was what a Companion did; listen. Most folk just wanted to be heard. They wanted to say their piece and vent and let out the tumble of thoughts and frustrations that had their brainpan doing circles.

It was then up to Saffron to help guide or bring some clarity. Yet these things had to be done delicately.

However, right now she was running from a riot, her ankle twisted, and her security detail nowhere in sight on a desert city built on the bones of a derelict star destroyer.

It made things a bit interesting.

"Why do you believe Allecto would die?" sure, towns came and went, but supplies is what kept them going. For him to belittle that trade failed to see the bigger picture, but it appeared that the man wasn't thinking along those same lines.

"Nari the Hutt cannot afford to push any traffic out. She needs that to flow and knows that without any resources, she can't hold this place on her own."

 

[Alistair Fenn]

[member="Saffron"]

"Hutts are stupid." There was no question his view on that was rather biased.

Alistair clearly despised the slugs. He had lost his eye to them, been indebted to them, and nearly been killed by them half a dozen times. As far as he was concerned the Hutt's didn't care about anyone but themselves. It was probably true too, though of course with that bias in his mind Alistair failed to see that Nari saw Allecto as her fiefdom. Without a constant supply of traders and merchants her fiefdom was die.

The Hutt would likely stop that from happening, but Alistair was too buried in Xenophobia to see it.

"All she wants is profit." He sounded aggravated. "For her the bottom line is it, and she'll use force to get it."

The Smuggler frowned, looking away from Saffron. "You'll see. When we get to the hangar."

He wanted to prove his point to her, wanted her to see that Nari wasn't reasonable. Sure he had started the riot, but in reality the riot was probably more than deserved. Fuel prices were too high. But Alistair knew that Nari would suppress even a hint of dissent using her mercenaries. It was what she did.

 

[Saffron]

[member="Alistair Fenn"]

A single brow rose. Yes, he certainly held a grudge against all hutts. As it was, he had a point. They had to get back to the hanger where her ship would be and then she would need to consider how to move forward with Nari.

Maybe request an audience?

No, more information had to be gathered. As the blonde straightened to follow the scoundrel, a plan was already being created. The riot might have been a terrible thing to incite, but with that cover, perhaps Saffron could find a way to get to Nari.

 

[Alistair Fenn]

[member="Saffron"]

They still had a bit to go.

Unfortunately the maintenance tunnels weren't built as direct passages. They eventually went where you wanted to go, but in a rather round about fashion. This was mostly due to the design of the ship itself. Star Destroyers were massive things, and although most of the time they were maintained by droids, tunnels like these allowed human workers to fix something when it broke down. Of course now they were mostly left alone, too cramped to be used as anything but shortcuts by kids.

"Careful." Alistair said outloud, though he wasn't entirely sure why he did.

The smuggler was still marginally sure that if Saffron were to...disappear things would likely end up better for him. That of course didn't mean he wanted her dead or anything, but he was pretty certain that if she was gone he would be in the clear.

Until he met Nari's goons anyway. "There's a shaft up ahead, we'll have to climb down."

Then it would just be a short walk to the hangar.

 

[Saffron]

[member="Alistair Fenn"]

Climb down? There was the subtlest flicker of concern that swept over the blonde's face. It was hidden by the overcast shadows but it remained there. If they were supposed to go down, was he going to go first? And if so, that still meant that Saffron was holding the blaster. She'd have to put it away in order to use both of her hands. Her ankle was already throbbing and if she didn't use both of her arms...

"Thank you. I'll be alright," she assured him, using her soft Companion voice to relay a measure of calm. Tricks and methods of using specific words and tones were one of the many lessons Saffron had learned at the Guild House. They would work the majority of the time, although, there were always the more difficult ones.

"After the shaft... then where?" she asked, trying to plan ahead.

 

[Alistair Fenn]

[member="Saffron"]

"Then I have to read the sign to see if we go left or right." Alistair couldn't quite keep the annoyance out of his voice.

He had done nothing to her this whole time, nothing but answer her damned questions. The Smuggler was starting to be a bit thorny about all of this, especially because he knew the closer they got to the end of their trip the closer he got to maybe getting beaten by Nari's thugs. The thought rang in his head pretty severely, though he wasn't about to voice that to Saffron. He was still pretty sure that Blondie would gladly toss him to the wolves if it gained her something.

Corporate types could be trusted about as much as Hutts themselves. "Afraid I might look up your skirt?"

He asked, slight hint of amusement in his tone.

The Smuggler saw the apprehension on her features. He wasn't trained as a companion, and he certainly wasn't a Lorrdian, but when one did what Alistair did long enough you could tell when someone was uncomfortable. In reality she was probably more worried about her ankle, but he saw the opportunity for a joke and took it.

Might as well if he was walking into a death trap.

 

[Saffron]

[member="Alistair Fenn"]

"It is a sari," Saffron would reply, indicating the delicately embroidered sash and skirt. What made it all the more amusing was that it was said in a cordial tone while she was still holding onto the blaster. Such a contradicting pleasant manner when one considered that the blonde had shot the scoundrel minutes before.

"I will go first," she told him, indicating that by taking a slow step in front. While yes, it would make sense for him to go first, there wasn't anywhere else for him to run off to while she was heading down. That was a dead end. Which meant he had to come the same way he was showing her and that way, she could still keep an eye on him.

 

[Alistair Fenn]

[member="Saffron"]

Alistair stepped to the side of the shaft's entrance, waving his hands almost as if he were a servant presenting something to a Queen.

"By all means." The Smuggler said, keeping his expression neutral.

For a brief moment he considered running back the way they had come as soon as she got a few rungs down, but he knew that he couldn't get out that way. The door had been sealed shut, and even if it wasn't the riot was for sure still raging in that hangar bay. When he and Saffron had gotten out they had devolved into Blaster fire, and he wasn't too eager to check if that was any different now. Better to just keep following along and look for another opportunity.

That or actually prove to the woman that he was innocent.

It would be harder given the fact that he actually wasn't at all innocent, but he thought Nari could be painted in a bad enough light that he could at least make it work. Blondie didn't seem like an idiot, but Alistair had picked up on the fact that she was at least sympathetic to the injustice here in Allecto.

He could work with that.

 

[Saffron]

[member="Alistair Fenn"]

Now, this was going to be the interesting bit. First Saffron would need to place her blaster away. Then she'd have to try and carefully climb down the ladder well. Her lips gave a slight purse. This is going to hurt, she told herself.

A brief flicker of her eyes came to rest on the man she'd yet to know his name. There had to be a bit of trust. He wasn't doing very well with that blaster bolt on his side, would he?

Thinking on this, Saffron carefully tucked the miniature blaster in the hidden holster right under the sash of her sari. Then came the ever so cautious first step on her good leg. It was the second that would give her a full understanding of just what she was in for.

 

[Alistair Fenn]

[member="Saffron"]

Alistair watched her closely.

For a brief second a thought flashed through his mind, a rather cruel one. He could have easily squatted down, pulled her fingers off the ladder and then pushed her down the maintenance shaft. She would have fallen fifty or sixty feet, easily enough to kill her. She wouldn't have an opportunity to use her blaster and nobody would be around to see it. Perfect crime really.

Except for the fact that her guards had seen them together last, that and despite every crime that he was guilty of...Alistair wasn't a murderer.

He had killed people before sure, even shot them in cold blood, but there had always been a reason for it. Blondie had been annoying, she'd wounded him, but she hadn't done anything really wrong to The Smuggler. In his head he couldn't justify doing it, and he knew that afterward it would leave more than just a sour taste in his mouth. With a slight shake of his head Alistair banished the thought from his mind, instead wincing as he squatted down in front of Saffron as she began her climb down.

"Need a hand?" He said with a smug smile.

The Smuggler knew his own climb would be painful, but he would still rub it in a bit.

 

[Saffron]

[member="Alistair Fenn"]

"I am alright," Saffron added. Not due to pride, but more for attempting to keep a measure of calm control of things. Even the illusion of control was a measure of control. Well, that was as much as she was telling herself. At that point, of course, is when her sprained right foot slipped on the last rung.

Needless to say, Saffron lost her footing and began to fall back.

 

[Alistair Fenn]

[member="Saffron"]

"Uh huh." Alistair said as he watched her, expecting to follow after her in just a few moments.

Then he saw it.

It was easy enough to spot really, the look of panic that instantly crossed her face, the instant growth of her eyes. For just the briefest moment his thoughts returned to letting her fall, letting her die, but he still couldn't let himself do it. Without much thought Alistair reached out and grasped Saffron's arms.

His fingers wrapped around her wrist, his hand tightened and he did his best to hold on to her.

No matter the consequence.

 

[Saffron]

[member="Alistair Fenn"]

The hold on her wrist brought Saffron to an abrupt halt, her body jerking against the strain only to bounce right up against the ladder well. Pain ran along the length of her right side where the rungs dug into her ribcage. Saffron gave a small cry, heart jack rabbiting and hazel eyes flashing wide.

Her head went snapping up, seeing the strained visage of the scoundrel as he did his best to hold her up. Not that it was going to be easy. With that wound on his side from the earlier blaster hit, it was going to be mighty painful putting that much strain to keep her up.

There wasn't even time to think. Saffron pushed past the pain and attempted to use her other hand to balance herself by holding on to a rung.

"I-I I'm okay," her voice stumbled out, fingers clasping around the rung and her good foot finding purchase. That had been, well... unexpected. She could still feel her heart thundering in her head.

Okay, so maybe she wasn't that well on her feet right now.

 

[Alistair Fenn]

[member="Saffron"]

Pain shot through his abdomen as he crunched over, the muscles in his arm straining slightly as he held onto the girl. His eyes popped open and his expression twisted into a mixture of pain and focus as he tried very hard not to drop her. Fingers held on tight around her wrist, his touch almost bruising as she curled herself back around the ladder and found her footing once more.

As soon as she spoke Alistair let go, his hand moving away almost as though her very skin burned him. ”Kark.”

He breathed, hand shooting to his side as though touching the wound would somehow make it hurt less. When he'd bent down to grab her the scorched and burned skin had stretched and cracked, what remained of it had broken open and now his side was releasing a small trickle of blood. It stained his wrinkled white shirt, slowly pooling as he took a step back from the edge of the shaft.

His breathing slowed, eyes closed.

That had hurt.

Gritting his teeth Alistair looked down at the blonde woman, her big doe eyes staring up at him. The Smuggler didn't say anything, but it was more than clear from his expression that he was at least expecting a thank you.

Or maybe a reward down the line. He'd take either, really.

 

[Saffron]

[member="Alistair Fenn"]

Saffron didn't have to ask if he was hurting. She could very well feel it like the empath she was. There was a brief flicker of regret and concern over her face. By the time she managed to get down to the ground, her ankle was aching and her pride, well in as much shatters as it could possibly be.

Her hand didn't reach towards the blaster this time around. Instead, her head rose, face turning up towards Alistair's direction.

"Are you able to climb down?" she asked, unable to hide the note of empathic concern in her voice.

 

[Alistair Fenn]

[member="Saffron"]

Not even a thanks.

Figured.

Alistair had never liked anyone with too much money, and Saffron clearly had too much money. Everyone working for that blasted company did. A scowl pulled across his lips, but the Smuggler managed to take in a few deep breaths and calm himself. The wound in his side was now bleeding, pain was slowly running through his body, but he needed to make it down the ladder. There was no doubling back, and he certainly just couldn't sit up here waiting for someone to help him.

"Yes." He called down to her, slightly indignant about the fact that he might actually fall.

With another deep breath The Smuggler shifted, drawing himself back while still holding his wound. He turned and lowered himself onto the ladder, cringing slightly as his abdomen screamed with a fiery pain. With one hand he clutched the wound, the other held onto the ladder like a vice. A loud hiss escaped his teeth, a breath filling his lungs again.

Then, he slowly began to descend.

The process was long and laborious, but eventually The Smuggler reached the lower rungs. Sweat began to pool on his face, his fingers felt weak, and then he finally slipped. The pain got to him and his grip loosened, Alistair falling a foot or two and crashing onto the ground with a loud thump.

 

[Saffron]

[member="Alistair Fenn"]

It wasn't that Saffron wasn't grateful; she was. The thing was that the situation was not the sort that made things easy. Either way, that choice was taken from her hands when Alistair went crashing down.

Ignoring her own pain on her ankle, the young blond went forward, crouching down beside the dark haired scoundrel.

"Don't think you're fine at all." she added, brows furrowing. She attempted to help him get on his feet, giving him a quick sweep to see where he was hurt. Well, besides the shot she gave him on the side.

She had no medkit. Nothing that could help him out. Well.. Her sari, the sash like piece of cloth could work....

"Hold on."

 

[Alistair Fenn]

[member="Saffron"]

Alistair let out a grunt of pain as Saffron sis her best to drag him to his feet.

Doing so was more difficult than he'd expected, and in truth he was using the wall to support himself more than he was using his own legs. The wound in his side was flaring with pain, blood soaking his clothes and quickly staining them. The initial shot that Saffron had sent his way hadn't been too bad, but because he hadn't treated it and all the movement he'd done since then the wound had become significantly worse off.

Had he tended the damn thing immediately The Smuggler would have been more than okay.

”I'm fine.” He insisted, trying to wave her away.

As she moved to mess with her clothing Alistair shut his eyes. Not to save her modesty or anything silly like that, but because it helped him with the pain in his side. He took deep labored breaths. Then slowly continued to speak.

”Just need a minute.” He insisted, not wanting to fall into her debt for saving him. ”We Tatooine boys are built tough.

 

[Saffron]

[member="Alistair Fenn"]

"Mmm, so Miz. Arceneau says." Saffron would reply quietly, taking the sash off to drape the vine silk fabric across her arm. She still had the long flowing skirt and the short sleeved top. It bared her midriff, but that wasn't an issue.

"Hold on a second... I do not have a med kit but this can at the very least do the trick," he'd hear her say, the rustle of fabric and her presence growing closer.

Granted, once she started to wrap it around him, he just might find himself objecting. Or not.

Either way, it would look ridiculous if he let her.