9.010 - Package Delivered

[Adjerban the Interloper]

I shrugged and took Sanis by the shoulder. He looked a little relived that things hadn't gotten any worse.

" 'Aight Sanis." I opened the door for him.

"C'mon Tock. we've got to get this bantha-dung a bit presentable." Sanis shot me a glance, but most of this was an act for my own entertainment.

I led them to the staff facilities, which included a full suite of showers and all the other needed things for bodily functions. There was likely quite a lot of DNA scattered about the drains. Sometimes beatings were administered to "improve morale". Morale got real low when the wrong hand went in the cookie jar. Once we arrived, I took the stun cuffs off and gave him a shove way, in case he wanted to take a quick swing at me. Sanis rubbed his wrists.

"Strip. I've got to get this shit cleaned until we can get a wardrobe sorted, as to not offend her royally fantastic hiney's Cizerack sense of smell." I ordered. If he tried something, Tock would pound him into last week.

[Sanis Prent]

I did as I was told. No sense in playing the indignant card now. We both knew it would be a waste of our time.

The partition gave me the barest sliver of privacy as I skinned down to my birthday suit, tossing my get-up over the divide as I did.

"Sounds like you're real chummy with your boss, eh?"

I started the sonics, leaning against the tile wall. Felt good to wash some of the shame of the past two days away, at least.

[Kal Olorin]

"Hey Adjerban, enjoy your time away from the Core?" I gave him a friendly nod as I entered the refresher, my brain slowly registering the sonic shower in use and Tock standing like a statue nearby. My eyes narrowed. "Did I interrupt something? Hang a sock on the door or something."

I stood at the urinal anyway, a safe distance from whatever perversions might be happening in the showers, and contemplated getting into a line of work where someone getting tortured in the employee restroom was less of a given. Of course it wasn't like they were waterboarding anyone with the sonic shower, but I'd seen those things overloaded to make a person's eyes and ears bleed, not to mention the havok it would cause on your skin -

I glanced back over as I was finishing up, and raised my eyebrows in surprise. "Prent?"

[Adjerban the Interloper]

"We have a complicated relationship." I explained as I picked up the discarded clothing. Wearing the same thing for two days made it, and the bearer, damn stinky. My face folded up and I held the stuff at arms length. I'm not a prude by any stretch of the imagination but I am not for reveling in filth.

"I do my job for the most part, and every now and again I raid the special part of her liquor cabinet for the good Corellian brandy." And then Kal decided to socialize. Really dude? Now?

""Did I interrupt something? Hang a sock on the door or something." Kal said.

"Nah, just getting a long-term guest cleaned up." I explained. Kal took another look.

"Yeah. You know this joker?" I asked. I still held the offensive garments away from me. I was going to wash my hands four times, I swear.

[Sanis Prent]

I gave the newcomer a look of vague recollection.

"You must be Kal Olorin."

I'd seen the toadie before, back on Bespin. Of course that was when he was a toadie and not a Vigo. Tough to read a guy who looked like the sort of inoffensive sort you'd find in a caf shop on a couch in the corner reading holos. I wasn't surprised then that he knew me in passing.

The sonics switched off, and I took a moment to stretch a bit, still covered up by the partition.

"Complicated relationships and Miss Reeouurra seem to be familiar bedfellows."

Feeling well-cleaned, I got a second wind of false bravado.

"Speaking of bedfellows, don't suppose I've got a change of clothes on deck, or does she prefer all of her gifts come to her unwrapped in advance?"

[Kal Olorin]

I raised my eyebrows, washing my hands, and shook my head slowly. Tock handed Prent a pair of janitorial coveralls and then resumed his statue pose. Sanis was about my age, maybe a little younger, and you would think that the man would know better than to joke about Sasseerri Reeouurra. Then again, you'd think the man would have known better than to get on her bad side in the first place.

Gallows humor, perhaps. I wasn't unfamiliar with it.

"You're up shit creek, Prent. You know that right?" Adjerban had slipped out to dispose of the smuggler's odoriferous clothing, but now the pointy eared bastard came back in, looking impatient. "See you around." I nodded to Tock and Adjerban, and left.

[Adjerban the Interloper]

I took a moment to watch Kal disappear, and wondered what his damage was. Prent had probably kicked sand in his face, maybe burned him. Who knows. All this crap was before my time.

"Nah." I said after Tock numbly handed Prent the coveralls and he had started to dress. "Something satisfying about a nice gift wrap for Sassy." I explained.

"I have to wash your clothes, mostly because they stink like bantha shit, and partly because I have to make sure you haven't stashed anything clever in them, so you'll get them back later. After I've made sure there are no laser guided poison tipped hairpins."

Prent had finished dressing.

[Sanis Prent]

"If I had a credit every time I heard that one."

I replied to Kal as he was already on the outs. Did he come to gloat? I didn't get the appeal. Sick jollies from mingling with the apparently-condemned? Maybe. He had a reputation as an organizational guru so maybe what they said about madness alongside genius was true. I wasn't in much position to wax philosophical over it either way.

I put on the coveralls, which were stiff, heavy, and boring. I wasn't feeling much like a high valued prisoner right now. Maybe my captor just needed reminding.

[Adjerban the Interloper]

Sanis looked like a dude having a bad day. He was a dude having a bad day. I'd been in those shoes before. They were damn uncomfortable shoes. They cramped your toes. They had tacks in them. Rusty tacks, with citric acid.

"Cheer up, man. I'll give your clothes back to you once they stop smelling like a hutt's underside." He shot me a look, the kind a man reserves for the person who ran over their pet. I cuffed Sanis again.

"Well, provided you survive this next meeting." My ears dropped wide, and I shrugged. I led Sanis back to the lift. The walking wall Tock followed.

The three of us entered the Lioness' Den, once again. Cripes this was gonna suck for Sanis.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri delicately pulled apart the fish fillet with her fingers, the hot fish not quite burning her as she ate it. She'd been making an effort to have better table manners, but still mostly ate without utensils. It felt unnatural to have to use tools to take apart one's meal.

The door opened as she was finishing up the last bite, and she dabbed her lips with a napkin and pushed the plate to the side. "We wjill be leavjing forrr the Clusterrr jin two days." Sasseeri eyed Sanis carefully, noting that he looked much better with his hair slicked back and slightly messy from the shower. He still needed a shave, though.

"Untjil then, you wjill ejitherrr be housed jin ourrr cells, orrr..." Her voice trailed off. She didn't trust the man enough to keep him at her penthouse, however tempting the idea was. "An employee aparrrtment, underrr guarrrd of courrrse. jIf you attempt to leave beforrre you have pajid back yourrr debt to me, you wjill be shot on sjight."

[Sanis Prent]

I slid on a confident smile in response to Adjerban's dour appraisal of my chances.

"I wouldn't worry about my odds. I think your boss knows what she's got her hands on."

A knowing smile.

"She should remember from past experience, that is."

We were whisked into the Lioness's den, so to speak, and I made do with what I had, taking the seat opposite the crime czarina like I owned it.

"Are you giving me a choice, or just not quite sure what to do with me yet?"

I still wore my smile resting my hands on a crossed knee.

[Adjerban the Interloper]

This crap was way over my head, way before my time. I leaned back against the door frame, crossed my arms, and frowned. Fuck this gangster shit, cuffing people and making them change clothes. I carry a blaster and I hope I never have to use the damn thing again. Every time I use it.

I've seen all kinds of heinous nonsense. All that underground sex club BDSM nonsense, the illegal fights, the deathmatches between exotic creatures, but there is nothing shittier than seeing another being shot in front of you for some dumb shit like credits.

And now here they were, circling each other like a pair of wompas for dominance. It hit me: was Sassypants grooming me for something other than heading loss prevention? I hope not. I like doing loss prevention. Worst we do is break a few bones, take the credits, and kick them out.

"We includes me?" I asked.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

She looked sideways at Adjerban, as if she were seeing him in the room for the first time. "jIf you want to. The Draa'guurra'naatarr has been brrrjingjing less than usual the last few months. Rrrevjiewjing thejirrr prrrocedurrres and jinterrrnal loss prrreventjion measurrres would be a good place to starrrt."

Sasseeri sighed softly, thinking about having to dive into the mire of the Cizeri legal system. "As forrr you, Sanjis Prrrent..." She walked up to him and took the stun cuffs off of his wrists. "jI trrrust you know enough to not trrry to weasel out of yourrr debt to me."

[Sanis Prent]

Haha, yes!

"Wouldn't dream of it."

I was the epitome of carefree, a confident smile on my face. Of course I wouldn't...well...until I did. Uh. Somehow. I didn't have to figure the nuts and bolts of it out right now at least. I had some time to think it over.

"I can be a stand-up kind of guy."

Giving my wrists a cursory massage, I downplayed the cruelties I'd endured and looked up at my captor warmly. She hadn't changed. Still every bit the powerful siren I'd met on Bespin. Something sobering about looks that good combined with the power to destroy my life with the snap of her fingers. Danger's an aphrodesiac, they say.

I cracked a smile at Adjerban's discomfort at the notion of travel to Carshoulis. Seemed a popular point of view for us non-chosen forrda.

"Prime, eh? Not my first choice for a vacation spot, but I suppose even there you can hide a rap sheet."

Sasseeri obviously didn't sweat a trip, and if a Black Sun Vigo could find a way to avoid the sort of problems that smugglers and pirates often found themselves in, you developed a bizarre sense of well-being by proximity.

[Adjerban the Interloper]

"Right." I said, knowing full well that meant my ass was on the line if they kept fucking up over there. Gods, Carshoulis could be miserable. Then again, maybe this time I wouldn't be stalked by a wrinkly old lady who fancied my ears. Maybe, just maybe, one of the younger pretty ones would find my unusual ears fascinating.

Oh who am I kidding? I'm screwed.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri waved them out of her office. "Fjind Prrrent somewherrre to stay the njight, Adjerrrban. jI wjill see you both tomorrrrrow, forrr ourrr trrrjip."

[Sanis Prent]

"What, no honeymoon?"

I feigned surprise.

"I mean, I take all this time out of my busy schedule to become your prisoner or indentured servant or whatever and you sock me up with the motel treatment?"

A winning smile.

"You know, it's all about return on investment. I'm a much better pilot after a night on a king sized bed, a bottle or two of fizz, and room service."

Leaning forward, I propped my chin up with a hand as I rested my elbow on the table.

"Do you still talk in your sleep?"

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Her slap caught him open handed across his face, and then she flexed her arm and followed through with a back hand. "Keep a cjivjil tongue jin yourrr head, Mjisterrr Prrrent." Sasseeri's eyes glittered darkly.

[Adjerban the Interloper]

I winced sympathetically for Prent. Sassy wasn't pulling any slaps, and a thin trace of blood escaped Prent's lips on the first slap. When the second came around, he spat a tooth. If she had been punching instead, he probably would have spat all his teeth. Damn Cizerack. Prent winced, and grinned. I hauled him up by the collar and shoved him toward the door.

"C'mon stupid, we have to pack." I said, and guided him out the door. Once clear into the hallway, I opened up.

"You godddamned Force fucked Fanback fondler." I shook him by the shoulders. Now I had to be somewhere shittier to keep an eye on this asshole.

"I was going to put you up somewhere decent, but now I have to keep an eye on your mouthy ass in shittier quarters. You keep this up and I'm going to start taking pleasure in making your life difficult, because you're making mine difficult." I threw my hand in the air.

"Fuck!" I exclaimed, still angry, and kicked Prent in the shin.

[Sanis Prent]

I was kinda bummed about the tooth. Not the first I'd lost in my hard knock life, but my line of work doesn't really include free dental. Still, it was worth it.

All I had to retort with to Adjerban was a bloody smile, and as he kicked me, I hobbled along with him. My head was killing me, and I'd probably hate myself in the morning, but I was alive at least.