Twiddling Thumbs

[Varien Moxla]

Flying was cool.

In this Galaxy you pretty much did it all the time. You travelled at speeds that were impossible to see, impossible to mimic unless you were within the same ship or had it slowed down enough for you. The young Kiffar himself knew what it was like to fly one of the ships he was currently on. That's how he had gotten off Togoria a while ago, but there had been a need to. None of those furry clowns were going to do it.

The saying if you wanted something done right, you did it yourself had come to mind.

Not that he had done it right back then, but with someone who almost never knew what it was like to feel regret or to acknowledge a mistake, crashing a ship and killing himself and everyone on board wasn't something that he'd particularly guilty about.

Bad things happened.

Flying was cool... But doing it personally? That wasn't in the works for Varien of Clan Moxla.

Being a passenger on of of these big ships that carried tons of people? Yeah... That was much easier on the mind, for him anyway. If something went wrong, he knew who to blame for his life being cut sho-

He climbed up onto the ship, an old one at that. Within, he had entered a lift that was relatively empty.

Likely he was one of the last passengers as he got into the sizeable passenger compartment and took the first seat that he could find and he was disappointed to find that there wasn't more than one strap to tie himself into the chair.

At least let me die quick.

The ship lifted off a few minutes later and was breaking atmosphere soon after.

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Varien Moxla"]

The Starchaser had to give up flying her ship since she escaped the clutches of Sage Bane. Too recognizable. And for a Starchaser, giving up flying was no small thing. The teen squirmed in her seat but for different reasons than the man next to her.

She wasn't an empath but it didn't take much to see how nervous he was.

"First time flying?" Too-blue eyes focused on the stranger, tucking dark strands of hair back, behind her ears. "I'm Kinsey." She offered a warm hand.

The girl never met a stranger.

"It's okay you know. Shuttles are safer than flying personal aircraft and only have a 3.2% crash rate."

 

[Varien Moxla]

He was quiet when the human looking girl on his side spoke.

He hadn't registered what she looked like when he sat down and strapped himself in, but after doing so, he was surprised, no, delighted to see it was someone was attractive as that. How many Jedi women had he met? How many women had he met while he was in the New Jedi Order? Actually, forget that, how many people had he met while being with the Alliance?

Not many.

Just his Master and some other Jedi Master on Keres I.

So basically no one.

After a moment being taken to realize she was indeed talking to him, his dumb look soon changed to that ever confident look he usually had when faced with a challenge. No matter how much he dreaded making himself look like a fool on the inside, though that was rarely a problem. But, it just so happened that this time it was. "Not my first time, I've flown... Once or twice," he said, smiling. Extending his own large hand to hers, he decided it best to be quick with his actions.

Instead of taking her hand to shake it, he grasped her hand gently, wrapping his fingers around the tips of her fingers as he lowered his head to kiss her gently on the knuckles. His amethyst gaze was focused, intensely on her own eyes as he did his best to use the Sense aspect of the Force, to try and gauge her reaction, before it happened, to what he had done. After all, it was likely best to know if someone was going to smack you clean across the face before it happened.

He released her hand, flashing his practically perfectly whitened smile as he said, "Varien. A pleasure."

The Kiffar Padawan couldn't remember when the plan had changed to transforming into a gentleman of old.

He continued on as if what he had done wasn't abnormal in the slightest, though his amethyst gaze stuck to hers as he said, "If I found myself behind the controls of a starship more, that percentage would rise. Quite quickly too," he said jokingly.

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Varien Moxla"]

Ohhh, he was smooth.

Kins wasn't used to, well, really anyone kissing hands. Most spacers made it a contest to see how hard you could shake the other hand and which palm was the most calloused. He was certainly different.

She smiled and then laughed outright at his quip.

"Not really into it, huh?" The pilot was running through pre-flight checks. Thrusters were firing and soon they'd be airborn. Kinsey gave a longing look toward the cockpit. Unlike her companion, she was itching to fly.

"So what brings you out here?"

Blue-eyes shifted back to his, what were they? Purple eyes. Very unique. Don't see much of those in the verse.

 

[Varien Moxla]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

The young Kiffar was glad that she hadn't smacked the tattoos right off of his face to say the least.

He would make sure to remain confident through the rest of the trip.

"Not really," he says with a smile as he catches her looking towards the cockpit. He says, "You are, I take it? How come you aren't in your own cockpit?" When a pilot wasn't behind their own controls, he imagined that they would feel everything wrong with what the current pilot was doing. Their startup, their angles, everything. I mean, he had problems with that too and he wasn't even a pilot.

"Well, I'm sort of apart of the New Jedi Order," he said with a shrug. "Figure if I'm not good at it and I die, I want to die knowing that I've seen plenty of the world."

"What about you?"

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Varien Moxla"]

Kiffar. That's what was alluding her. He had to be. With those tattoos. She had never met one before. Surprising with all her travels.

Until now.

"Yeah," she grinned. "Am I that obvious? And NJO. Figured you were with the Alliance or Outback. Makes sense for out here. I joined the Allaince awhile back under my uncle, Coren Starchaser. You might've heard of him. But he hasn't been around lately. And the alliance probably doesn't trust me much."

Brainwashed by a Sith Lord and working for a time with the One Sith did that to a girl's reputation. Even if she was constantly reminded that it hadn't been her fault.

"It's....complicated. Anyway, I joined a pira-- I mean shipping crew."

A lopsided grin pulled at her full lips.

"Heading out to meet up with them. How'd you end up jointing NJO? Is it true you aren't allowed to date anyone? And there's a curfew? I've heard rumors...."

 

[Varien Moxla]

Varien grinned back when she had confirmed his rather obvious statement. But he had shaken his head in the negative when she mentioned Coren Starchaser. The name didn't seem familiar, but he could admit the name sounded cool.

"Haven't heard much about the Outback, but I assume they do good work, right?" He knew enough to know they fought on the same side. At least he thought so.

"It's only complicated if you let it be," he said with a confident grin. "Shipping," he repeated with an amused look on his face. "Are you the one that flies, or makes space station officials forget their words?" He teased, or... Flirted.

Whatever.

"Well, uh, how I joined? At the start of it all, I wanted to be a Guardian of Kiffu. They're the security for the prisons on Kiffex. Highly dangerous criminals and such, don't think pira- I mean, shipping crews fit the bill." He teased again as he continued, "Figured it was respectful work."

There was a shrug from him.

"Joined the Alliance after being captured by the One Sith after they invaded some planet." The grin had left his face, but he maintained that air of nonchalant to conceal his suppressed emotions.

"And not being allowed to date anyone? Curfews? Well... if the rumors are true, suppose I've broken them plenty," it was his turn have a lopsided grin as he said, "The second one anyway. Haven't met many people in this part of Space... Besides, don't think anyone in the Alliance would be... Attracted." He was content to do his own thing on the edge of the Galaxy.

Whether it was because he was late, or because he didn't know anyone, the idea felt sort of weird for some random kid who no one knew entering their social circle suddenly.

"I'm plenty cool though," he added, before he remembered. "What about you? The dating part?"

His amethyst gaze watched curiously for her reaction.

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Varien Moxla"]

She laughed nervously. "Yeah, shipping crews aren't dangerous criminals." Throat cleared. "Ahrrrm. Just promise me if you ever see me in a prison, you'll go easy on me." She laughed but it was hard to say how serious she was.

Kins listened thoughtfully and her face turned grim along with his. What if she had been part of that One Sith attack? Her time as the Sith lord's thrall was so muddled. If only she could forget it all. If only her mind had been stronger to resist...

Head shook.

"Sorry about the One Sith. I want to bring them down. I'm not strong enough to do it on my own. That's why I joined a crew."

Face grew lighter as he asked about dating and she couldn't help the bubble of laughter when he proclaimed his coolness.

"I was with someone, not too long ago." Thoughts drifted to Darius. She hadn't heard from him in awhile. But she also hadn't made it a point to reach out. "I travel around so much. Can't sit still. And apparently that isn't conducive to having a healthy dating relationship."

An announcement came over the speakers from the cockpit.

"If anyone on board has their piloting license, please come up front. We have a situation." The shuttle lurched. Kinsey was already unbuckling her safety belt.

 

[Varien Moxla]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

He grins at her. "Easy on you? How would I teach you to be a disciplined person then?" The way he said it, the look in his eyes, basically everything apart of him suggested he was anything but a disciplined person.

"You don't need to apologize, it wasn't your fault." He explained. He couldn't let someone feel guilty about something they had no control over. It wasn't necessary to say that no one could stop the One Sith alone.

"Suppose we have that travelling around a lot in common," he said as he leaned back into the chair to likely find a more comfortable position.

Whether he was suggesting that that was a reason they should date, or he was just saying it was why he was single.

He knew not.

The announcement came over the intercon and before he could even siggest she go up there she was already gone.

Naturally he had already wrestled himself out of his chair and buckles and was following right behind her a few seconds later to see what was up.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Varien Moxla"]

She noted that Varien was close behind. Good. She could use a friendly face and an extra hand, depending on what the situation was. And for some odd reason, she trusted him, even though they just met. Hopefully she wasn't being foolish. And it was good to know he wouldn't be easy on her...

Pulling out a card from her back pocket, she flashed it to the stewardess. Sure it had a fake name but she really did have a pilot's license. Having a bounty on your head made you get a little creative. The stewardess wrung out her hands, nervously and went to pull Kinsey and Varien inside the cockpit, the door whooshing shut behind them.

Except there was no pilot.

"What the kark...." Kins obviously had a potty-mouth. It was something she was working on. Kind of.

"We don't know what happened. One of the chute's is gone. He must've jumped out before we reached orbit. I...I...don't...".

Kinsey offered her best reassuring smile. "It's okay. I can fly us where we need to go. Why don't you take care of the people in the cabin and my friend and I will figure things out?" She gave Varien a look, that said she wanted to talk more about this once the stewardess left.

She was more worried about why the pilot had abandoned the ship.

 

[Varien Moxla]

Shamelessly, his amethyst eyes may have been... wandering as he followed a few steps behind her.

They were definitely wandering.

Thankfully, after [member="Kinsey Starchaser"] had showed her pilot's license, the Kiffar hadn't needed to. Or perhaps he did, but he just ignored them, at that point being so close, his eyes were already drawn to the cockpit that seemed relatively normal, all except for one thing.

When the woman who had evidently become his partner, conversation wise had swore, he had been of the mind to echo her words. He had a potty mouth too, but he usually reserved it for when he was making crude jokes, or even to make fun of something. Unfortunately, neither of those times were now. In this instance it was only surprise that caught his mouth, keeping him in relative silence.

Sparing a glance and a barely perceptible nod as his eyes swept the cockpit, he stepped out of the way of the door and allowed the stewardess to leave, but not without his winning smile and a wink before he folded his arms over his chest as the door closed. "What do ya think made him jump?"

He couldn't fly, or rather, he could but chose not to, he was quite good at reading scanners and sensor systems. He could even run diagnostics if needed. He was more of an engineer than a pilot, but the writer doubted that even Varien knew that yet.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Varien Moxla"]

"I don't know," lips puffed into a deep frown. She slid into the pilot's seat, shrugging on the crash webbing. "My guess? He sold us out to slavers or bounty hunters. Or he was insane."

Shoulders shrugged as her fingers flipped through the controls like a veteran. "How good are you with a weapon?" Blue-eyes glanced over at him. The shuttle lurched. Alarms lit up the cockpit in red.

"Chit sticks. Tractor beam. Must be coming from behind. Looks like we're about to find out if the slaver theory is true."

Whoever it was, they were pretty gorram ballsy to try this near Alliance space. She just knew it wasn't her crew. That was the only good thing. Didn't seem to fit a pirate's MO.

 

[Varien Moxla]

"I think I prefer insane. Sort of," he joked to himself than to the one other occupant in the room.

How good with a weapon?

His amethyst gaze flashed as he grinned. "I'm an excellent shot."

I hope she doesn't mean as a gunner.

His shoulders rolled backwards as he rocked on his heels. It was what he did when he was anticipating a fight.

"You should come back to the Alliance," he said casually, as if they weren't being threatened with being boarded by slavers. Simultaneously, he went through the scanners, running a diagnostic on the other ship that had them locked in place.

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Varien Moxla"]

She released the controls. There was nothing more she could do with that tractor beam operational. They were going in. "Any read outs on what we're up against? Type of ship?"

She could only see the shadow of what they were being pulled into.

Hand fell to the blaster on her hip, flipping off the safety. "And the Alliance?" Blue-eyes widened as they finally fell back to Varien's amethyst gaze. "I don't think they'd want me back. Before, they treated me like a pariah. I was working with the Sith. Folks don't tend to forget chit like that even if there was brainwashing involved."

Truth was out there now.

 

[Varien Moxla]

He read the readouts quickly.

Lots of things jumped out at him. Mainly its class designation based on its size.

"It looks to be an... Imperial Star Destroyer. Mark Two." He said, surprised.

"Not as many guns on the ship as the old standard issue, else they'd be flagged down for not being military." He blinked at the readouts before he shot a look over his shoulder at her again. "Probably less than a skeleton crew. Mostly droids I'd say."

Varien Moxla didn't like to feel down about odds. That's why he went about with a confident personality.

Or perhaps arrogant.

He didn't care.

"Brainwashed?" He said, surprised. Plenty of thoughts raced through his mind, and the revelation was enough to almost make him forget about the situation they were in currently.

"I'm curious, we should talk about that. Lunch sometime?" He joked with a wide grin crossing his visage.

Almost.

"We have to let them come on the ship first. If the pilot was working with them, they'll think the cockpit is empty, right?" He stood between her and the door after all. No need in senselessly throwing yourself into a slave pit to be a hero. "We'll leave after."

He was infamous for making excellent sounding plans, but their execution didn't always pan out.

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Varien Moxla"]

"A star destroyer? Well. Feth-chit-gorram." A disgruntled frown tugged at her lips as he blocked her way. Chiseled chest and all.

"And yeah, lunch," a hand waved through the air. "It's a long story. Involved a concert and drinks." The teen had pretty much been rufied through the force by a Sith Lord.

"Maybe," she replied about the cockpit. It made sense. "But what about the others?" Worried brows knit together. The blackness of space was replaced with the stale lights of a hangar. Blaster was out of its holster and she ducked down, bumping against the Kiffar behind the seats against the small space.

"Get down."

 

[Varien Moxla]

Long story?

Well that meant she had plenty of talking to do, and he'd have plenty of time to hone his listening skills.

At least they had a date.

He was about to answer her question about the other passengers, but then she pressed against him and told him to get down as lights flooded the cockpit.

Oh.

He dropped to the cockpit flooring too, as well as he could manage with his large frame beside hers behind the chairs and consoles.

He struggled to get his own blaster pistol out from its thigh holster, and when he did, he said silently, "The others will be fine." He said surely, though he was anything but. "If they are slavers..." He started out carefully. Suppose it was best to choose careful words here.

"You don't sell dead slaves, right?"

Not that he was planning to let it go that far.

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Varien Moxla"]

"I hope you're right," she whispered, her shoulder pushing up against him in the tight space. Blue-eyes remained alert and her muscles tensed as sounds filtered through the sealed cockpit door. Finger hovered over the trigger.

It seemed like time went slow and fast.

There were a few muffled screams. But no shots. Several muffled voices of authority. One of them got closer, until she could make out the words right outside their door.

 

[Varien Moxla]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

"Yeah," he said lowly.

"Me too." And he also heard the muffled screams as his hold tightened on the blaster in his hand. "It's going to be a cake walk," he said with that confidence coating his words as he said, "Don't worry your pretty little head." If you looked like you knew you were going to succeed in the beginning, you either looked like a dick, or a great guy to be around. He hoped she'd see him as the latter by the end of it.

With electronics, the doors swooshed open, making a sound. But this was a locked compartment, without a card or access code they couldn't get in. But that was when he heard the voice outside of the door.

Don't shoot, he mouthed as he crawled out from behind the chair, crouching just in front of the door. For someone of Varien's height, their arc of vision likely would've passed over him. His plan? To crush the windpipe of the man and pull him into the cockpit before he could make a sound. Here was to hoping that he was the last one performing a sweep on the freighter and was easily taken care of, if not, it would've been quite unfortunate to be cast into chains again.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Varien Moxla"]

Pretty little head?

"Hey, I'm not just a pretty little head," she whispered back and huffed. Unfortunately, for them both, the door opened up with not one, but three men. Varien may have gotten the first but one of the other two was already radioing for help.

Kinsey shot to her feet and fired off a stun-bolt at number two. He went down right away. The third one raised his blaster and fired. Hand pushed forward, the force channeling into an invisible cannon at his chest as she pitched herself to the right in the small space. Arm instantly became numb.

His stun bolt must've grazed her.

She could already hear more booted feet entering the shuttle. Looked like chains it was. Or worse. A worried glance went to Varien.