Sweet the Sting

[Tmoxin Temi]

As Aleks suspected, Tmoxin truly did love games of all kinds. She was not only an active Sabacc player at luxury casinos on Nar Shaddaa, she often bet on multiple sports events at her own Morpho Sports Complex, tournaments featuring the best swoop bike racers, smash ball matches and even Keffi derbys. As cliched as it was, love to the Hapan executive was just another game. She could think of only a few times where it wasn't a conquest and those pesky things like feelings appeared to be getting in the way. There was only one individual in her past that she had truly loved, but Tmoxin tried to not dwell on him.

Still how sweet the chase! When Aleks squeezed her hand and rose from the sofa, she raised her brown eyes up to him and smiled.

"Of course," she said, taking her long-stemmed glass with her as she followed him to the yacht's quarters. "What have you been producing lately, Aleks?" she asked, sincerely interested in one of his newer luxury ships. Not that she was ready to trade in the Sovereign Stingray, but perhaps she could have Morpho purchase some kind of vessel for business travel. Like when she took the top brass to the Golden Nautolan on Nar Shaddaa.

"Is there a something in the works that you are truly proud of?"

As they entered the yacht's bedroom, the starship mogul would see the same stark, white interior design, but with a softer palette and grey accents. The same large monitor was on the wall, presumably to satisify Tmoxin's thirst for business news as well. It was modestly sized since the Sovereign Stingray itself wasn't a large ship. A silky, white fur blanket was draped across the bed.

She watched him carefully as he appraised the room, knowing that he would be looking for details that she would never catch having less of a critical eye for ship design.

Spoiler

[member="Aleksandyr Gaillard"]

 

[Aleksandyr Gaillard]

Alek wandered into the bedroom of the Hapan's luxurious vessel, at first his visage was rather neutral; maybe even satisfied. Then a subtle frown found revealed itself to all who looked closely enough to notice it, his eyes went from one area of the room to another, his head only tilting slightly with his gaze. Finally after a few moments he turned back to look at Tmoxin.

"I am currently working on a starship to blow my competition out of the airlock..." He moved about the room slowly, putting different amounts of pressure into each step as if he was searching for the right feeling.

His attention drifted, "if I paid money for a starship such as this, I'd want the room to be more open and offer the least obstructed view of space possible. Stars exist to be seen, there are nebulae that even the Hapan couldn't compete with in beauty," he smirked.

Then he moved back around and closer to her. "Of course, I suppose it has its own charms. The starship I'm designing will sell for around eight billion credits on the market, reserved for only for the true elite of the galaxy. The best part? Thanks to my recent partnership, the design and development costs me nothing out of pocket. Pure profit for myself." Alek was rather pleased with that fact, when Gaillard was independent the company had terrible expenses to produce those fine ships.

[member="Tmoxin Temi"]

 

[Tmoxin Temi]

Tmoxin leaned her hip against the doorway and watched Aleks survey the room. Obviously, he was looking for design flaws or other specifics that she could only imagine. She ran the tips of her fingers over the rim of her wine glass.

"I agree with you about the views. But wouldn't that type of breathtaking view make the ship vulnerable at the end of the day?"

Tmoxin kicked off her shiny, black heels at the threshold of the door and padded into the room in stockinging feet, soundless against the carpet. She met him, again halfway, in the middle of the bedroom. The diffused overhead lights picked up the merigold highlights in her hair. There was very little noise in the room but the gentle hum of the ship on auxillary power.

"You know my reputation," she said, sounding a little more shrewd now. "I couldn't risk standing in front of an expansive view-port while a sniper's bullet goes right through my temple."

She sat down on the bed and softly bounced on it once, then twice, crossing her legs. "Oh who is your partnership with?" Tmoxin asked innocently. But by now she had nearly figured it out. The close connection between Gaillard and Kuat Drive Yards. Silly Hapan, why didn't you figure this out before? But she wanted to hear it from him. That he had sold his company to Kuat. Had he sold his soul to the Sith Queen as well?

But one thing was certain in Tmoxin's mind as she played coy and waited for his response: She wanted one of those newer model ships. And she wanted the man who had designed it.

But how long before she crashed and burned both of those things once they were in her possession?

Only time would tell.

[member="Aleksandyr Gaillard"]

 

[Aleksandyr Gaillard]

"Glasteel is as strong as durasteel, you could probably make an entire ship out of it if you wanted." His voice became quieter as she moved closer, his eyes met hers as she made her way to the bed, watching how her figure moved so fluidly as she bounced. For a moment he seemed intoxicated by her presence that he had forgotten what she asked, then the words replayed in his head.

Blinking three times, "It should be obvious, no? We're standing on a world underneath the largest shipyard in the galaxy." Alek spoke enthusiastically, if not boastfully, of the fact.

Certainly he didn't own or even operate KDY, but being in bed with the corporate superpower gave him a certain thrill that he just didn't get anywhere else. Not only did it mean good things for his own business, it meant good things for his person as well. Now, was he in bed with the Queen of Kuat? He probably wished he was, but Lorelei had a rather aloof attitude towards him. Perhaps she didn't like men like him, he was eccentric after all and eccentricity wasn't always an attractive trait to many.

[member="Tmoxin Temi"]

 

[Tmoxin Temi]

Tmoxin suppressed the urge to shout out, I knew it! She only smiled and slid up to the head of the bed in a serpentine motion, propping herself up on the pillows, stretching her legs out, the lace of her slip now visible at her pale knees. Of course, she still clutched her wine glass.

She followed the business news enough to inform her next statement: "I didn't take you for one who would sell himself off so easily. Was the contract signed in ink or in blood, Aleks?"

Of course, the Hapan executive was a hypocrite in this respect. She had completely sold Morpho Pharmaceuticals off to Khaleel Malvern's company, Salvatrucha, but this merger, as she liked to think of it, did give her access to much more capital than she had before. Enough to purchase one of these new ships of which Aleks spoke.

And this new development was both thrilling and a bit intimidating. If Gaillard had formed an alliance with Kuat, that would mean he was protected by a fortress of credits and resources of which Tmoxin could only dream. But there was no harm in dreaming, now was there?

"When is this new model available on the open market?" she asked.

[member="Aleksandyr Gaillard"]