No Rest For The Wicked (Invite Only/Nik)

The Rusted Lady was everything Nik had advertised and more. It was most emphatically a man's ship, right down to the pervasive smell that, whilst not necessarily bad as such, seemed to linger around men's living quarters, most cantinas, and many of the alleyways on Nar Shaddaa. Thalia was used to it, having hitchhiked and bribed her way this far across the galaxy, but what she wasn't used to was the living habits of an evidently single man. She was finding it hard to settle into a routine working with Nik. He was courteous, awkward and clumsy and, on occasion, quite funny; but he was not what she was used to. It seemed easier to draw into herself, clinging on to her grief and her burning desire for revenge to see her through the day.

At last the day came when she received the transmission she had been waiting for. Bertran had promised work and, finally - after copious threats - the Rodian had come through for them. It seemed a pretty standard fare, from what she had heard whispered discreetly in crowded cantinas; and of course from what she had read. Travel, locate and 'acquire' an object of value, and get the hell out of there before the blasters started firing.

A part of her was excited. She hadn't been able to hold on to many possessions as a child because they moved around too much. Her only solace had been fiction, diving headlong into a world of dashing smugglers, whirlwind romances and daring rescues. Now she was faced with the reality of it - very few smugglers were dashing (most being in desperate need of a bath, a shave and a new personality), romance wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and in a rescue you could only rely on yourself. The harsh reality had dimmed the glamour of the stories, but enough of the fantasy remained that she was genuinely thrilled at the opportunity to be a part of one.

'That's enough daydreaming,' she scolded herself. 'Get to work.' Thalia headed out in search of Nik. She found him in the cargo hold and approached him cautiously, maintaining her aloof facade. She gave a small, cool smile as he looked up.

"We have a job, oh captain of mine," she said, tossing him the datapad with the information. "I'm not sure how long it'll take this..." She refrained from saying heap because, quite simply, he had a ship and she didn't, so who was she to find fault? "We'll have to head to Socorro," she said instead, fixing her blue eyes on Nik. "Which gives us plenty of time to work out what the hell we're doing, doesn't it."

"Where..." Nik was saying aloud while turning slowly, his eyes scrutinizing the cargo hold. It had many nooks and crannies, some part of the design and others due to disrepair. "Where would that drunk prick have hidden it..." Somewhere up there, tucked away in a duct or crevice, was the last remaining bottle of Corellian.

His search was interrupted by his new shipmate. He'd resume the search later, he thought and then drunk Nik would think better in the future. The datapad nearly clocked him on the nose but he managed to semi-catch/semi-juggle it into his hands.

"Ah, suction cups came through eh?" Nik hopped up onto a crate and swung his booted feet. He looked more like a child tackling a complex sum, such as 2+2=?, than an outlaw. Truth be told he hadn't had a decent job in so long he had forgotten what one looked like.

"Lovely ship?" He added helpfully although they both knew that was a heinous lie. "Then to Socorro we shall go! Hopefully not exploding on the way." His cheer masked the fear that they just might.

"Make sure everything's secured down here while I do the pre-flight and if you happen to find a bottle of booze around, I'll love you forever dear Thalia." He waved back to the blonde as he headed to the cockpit and flung himself down on the pilots seat.

A giddy nervousness had taken a hold of him, it always did on the cusp of frowned upon behavior. It wouldn't last very long, once the blaster bolts started flying his old friend terror would stop by to say hello but right now he was riding upon the waves of anticipation. The ship began to rouse under his commands and soon the engines were sending dull rumbles through the ship as they spun to life.

"Hey! Get a shift on blondie!" The intercom was a wondrous invention, he mused.

Thalia rolled her eyes as her captain's voice crackled through the intercom. How this cowboy had ever come to be in charge of a ship baffled her thus far. She was desperately hoping he had some redeeming qualities, such as the ability to fly a ship, or shoot well, or actually do his job. Being as she didn't have a clue what on earth she was doing, one of them needed to know.

She pottered about the cargo hold, using all available straps to hold down the important things and then just wedging the rest in and hoping it wouldn't break. She came across a dusty bottle of booze that had rolled behind a crate and briefly debated what Nik would do if he found out he'd broken it during take off before sighing and picking it up.

"Don't say I never give you anything," she muttered, brushing the worst of the accumulated dust and grime of the floor off it before tucking it under her arm. Her own possessions were already safely stored in the small cabin that Nik had apologetically offered her. It wasn't bad, in its own way; she'd certainly had worse in her life, but it was much better to keep him off balance. Already her meagre experience of the man had taught her that he was very much one who thought better on his feet.

At last she was satisfied. The engines were rumbling now, waiting for the commands to spring into action. The ship seemed as impatient as its captain, eager to take to the stars once more. Thalia leaned against the wall next to the intercom.

"Everything strapped down safely, except for this lovely, full bottle of whiskey I happened to come across," she said, reading the label to herself as she spoke. "Try not to smash it in take off, okay? I'm heading up to the bridge." She left the cargo hold with a spring in her step, bottle tucked safely under her arm. Time to find out how good a pilot Nik was, she mused as she made her way to the bridge.

A high pitched beeping greeted Thalia as she entered the cockpit but a sharp thump of Nik's fist silenced it and dulled the blinking warning light that accompanied the noise. It was probably nothing, he hoped as he looked round with a crooked smile and an expectant look in his hazel eyes.

"You're a bloody star." He beamed spotting the bottle under her arm, he didn't take it from her immediately but set the nav-computer for Socorro. When the ship had the coordinates locked in he eased the Lady off the landing pad and set her nose toward the stars. "You ever broken into a secure warehouse?" He asked in reference to the gracious job offer Bertrain had passed their way.

Thalia stifled a grin as Nik resorted to the tried and tested method of fixing a broken console - a good thump to whatever the offending instrument was. She didn't bother ask what was wrong with the Lady; she probably wouldn't be able to fix it anyway. The ship seemed to run on a combination of hope and dreams - either way, no amount of skill in mechanics would be able to fix it all.

Nik was actually not a bad pilot; she could feel the ship gently lifting off the landing pad and building up speed, without the characteristic bumps and jerks of most ships in inexpert hands. That was a relief in itself, so much so that she was happy to offer out the bottle of whiskey in her hands.

"A secure warehouse?" she asked, guessing that that was their ultimate destination on Socorro. "Not recently, no." Not ever, though she could pick locks. Just another advantage of her unorthodox childhood. Her mother deemed it an essential skill to be able to escape custody, which was something Thalia could go along with. "You sound like you're a dab hand at it. Instruct me, oh fearless leader." She let a smile grace her usually serious face, enough to let Nik know that despite her words, she was willing to listen to whatever advice he could impart, preferably before he got drunk, be it one or two words or a crash course in breaking and entering.

"Once or twice..." Rillians responded as they slipped from the atmosphere into a sea of stars. He neglected to inform her about the running, screaming and blaster fire. Third times a charm, he thought with little confidence in the cliche. The ship cleared the gravity well and with a few quick motions of his hand they were into hyperspace and not exploded, which was a damn fine start in his book.

"Depends really..." He pondered, twisting the lid from the bottle and reaching down the side of his chair for two glasses-mostly clean-and poured himself and Thalia a half. "Judging by what we're looking for I wouldn't imagine they'd have over the top security. Maybe an electronic lock, possible a bio-scanner, and a guard or two. If that's the case we're golden. Then again this is Betrain, so I wouldn't be shocked to discover that the place had an AT-ST and a legion of storm troopers eagerly awaiting our arrival. The slippery bastard..." He handed her the glass, kicked his feet up onto the battered control board and took a long gulp.

"We'll be fine. I tend to think better when my very precious life is at stake. So relax, have a drink. No point in being criminal scum if you can't enjoy the little things." He motioned his glass toward the swirling colours of hyperspace. "I never get tired of seeing that. Always leaves me in awe and makes me wonder why I never left Corellia sooner. Good old Kassey, I knew I was in for a memorable one when I met her..." His eyes seemed to unfocus as his thoughts turned inward and a ghost of a smile, half happy nostalgia and half sadness pulled at his lips for a moment before he caught himself.

"So whats your story oh co-pilot, my co-pilot?"

Thalia accepted the glass gratefully, giving the rim another discreet wipe before she dared to drink from it. Nik's confidence was at first worrying, but his second comment cheered her up - if he thought better when his life was on the line, she would simply have to make sure things got dangerous if they got stuck. Hopefully Bertran wouldn't cross them too badly. He needed what they were retrieving, and her father's reputation preceded her. So long as he didn't know that she actually had no idea what her father's reputation was, they'd probably be more alright than not.

"There won't be stormtroopers," she said, a cold chill entering her voice as she uttered the word. "He knows better than that." If he tried to hand her over to the remnants of the Empire, his life was forfeit. She didn't know if she could kill a Rodian in cold blood, but in that instance she'd be happy to find out.

"My story isn't very interesting," she commented, sipping the whiskey slowly. Her throat felt like it was burning as the liquid went down, but the aftertaste and slight glow was quite pleasant. "My mum brought me up. We moved around a lot - she worked as a mechanic, so she spent a lot of time on ships. She didn't like to stay in one place for too long. Then, not that long ago, stormtroopers found us. My mum stayed behind for me to run. She was killed." Thalia took another mouthful of whiskey, this time appreciating the burning sensation as it held back the sobs. "Bertran is going to find out who was responsible, and then I am going to kill them." She said this in such a matter-of-fact way that it unnerved her, and she drained the rest of the glass in one gulp.

"How about you?" she asked, sliding the glass over in the hopes of getting it refilled. Nik was right: time to enjoy the little things, and maybe his story would help her forget her own for a time. "Who was Kassey?" She hadn't missed the play of emotions on his face as he spoke of his past, and was intrigued as to the cause.

"You're very intense." Nik said thoughtfully as her story came to an end, although if that was a bad thing or not he showed no indication. Nik took another mouthful of deliciousness but his motions seemed to slow, his muscles tensing when Thalia asked about his late mentor. She might as well have slapped him, the reaction would have been the same.

Nik didn't speak for a moment and then silently swung his legs down hard, his boots thumping onto the floor. "I'm too sober for that conversation," He drained the glass to emphasize that point and quickly poured himself another, this time the liquid kissed the brim.
"She found me, trained me and then she died. I don't have much going for me-don't snigger-but everything I do have, skill-wise, came from her. " He looked at her glass and topped it up.

"When I find them-and I will find them....." His voice trailed off, too much anger, to much uncertainty. Where would he be once they were dead and Kassey avenged? He didn't know, he'd had this thirst for revenge so long now that once it was sated what would he do?

Thoughts for another time.

"Better times?" The Corellian spoke with a smile, raising his glass toward Thalia.

With a few brief words, Nik won her to his side completely. Thalia could understand exactly how he felt - she was a little too sober for such things herself, although she'd never been drunk before to know what the difference was. She saw a more serious side to the easy-going man, an ironclad streak of determination that was inevitably what had kept him alive thus far. She felt bad for dredging up bad memories instead of good, and took her now full glass without hesitation.

"Not to better times," she said softly. "To revenge; may she taste as sweet as she sounds." Thalia drained the glass in one, coughing a little as it went down. Silently she made a vow, that if she discovered any information that might help Nik in his quest, she would let him know. At the present time, though, there was a long way to Socorro - even at hyperspeed, it would take a while - and the mood was already getting too maudlin for her tastes.

"I can be quite intense," she said, referring to Nik's first statement, trying to distract him from his past. "My mother was a very serene woman. She must have found the secret to inner peace because nothing phased her, not even a teenage daughter trying to rebel. She brought that peace to everything she did." Thalia eyed her empty glass and laughed. "She always used to put her hands on her hips and tell me, 'You're just like your father'. I don't know him well enough to know if she's right or not, but I believe that if something is worth doing, it's worth doing properly. If a thing is worth feeling, you feel it with a hundred percent of your being. Otherwise, why bother?" She dragged a finger around the bottom of the glass to collect the last few drops of whiskey.

"Whoever your mentor was," she said, changing the subject again, "she obviously taught you well enough. You're alive, aren't you?" She looked up at Nik and graced him with a smile. "And I'm putting my trust in you to keep me alive, too. You might think you don't have many skills, but you've got all the important ones, otherwise you wouldn't be here to teach me."

Any excuse for a drink, he thought. One more to vanish into the pit in his stomach that could never truly be filled. It took the edge off and some days you needed that, to dull the ache.

"She sounded like quite a woman." Rillians commented with a smile, glad to be dragged back from the black abyss they had found themselves at. "That applies to booze too!" He laughed topping her up, taking a double gulp of his own before and doing the same. Her change of subject caused him to feel uncomfortable and he felt a rush of blood colour his cheeks. He didn't really do compliments, he never believed them when they were said about anyone else let alone himself.

"Are you flirting with me Thalia Rhose?" He asked seriously but could barely stifle a grin. When in doubt, he thought, deflect with a joke.

Thalia choked on her whiskey, spluttering it all over the console. She glared at him furiously, annoyed more at herself for the blush that she knew was creeping into her cheeks.

"No!" she said vehemently, wiping up the spilled whiskey so that she didn't have to look at him. "I am not flirting with you, Nik, nor will I ever be inclined to!" She decided not to refill her glass, instead setting it down with as much patience as she could muster. If she couldn't control herself after a few glasses, she wasn't going to risk any more. What was the point in trying to get people to see her as an adult if she was going to react like such a child to gentle, good-humoured teasing?

"I'm going to find some work to do," she scowled, wanting to get away from Nik and compose herself. "Let me know when we get there." She crossed the bridge quickly, desperate to escape. It wasn't that Nik was unattractive, really. He was certainly charming, and that could make up for a lot of flaws. He just wasn't her type, and she was desperately hoping she hadn't been giving him the wrong impression.

"Oh," she added on her way out, "try not to drink too much. I don't want to end up in a sun because you got drunk and passed out on the console." This parting barb made her feel a bit better, but not much. She badly needed to follow up on her mother's advice and meditate to clear her emotions. She was afraid she had shown Nik just how young and naive she really was.

"You sure about that? Life is full of surprises." Nik grinned as she got up and stormed away. Her parting shot sailed across how bow. Drunk or sober there was always a chance he'd drive them into a sun, or an asteroid, or a Star Destroyer. She just wasn't aware of that. So instead he gave a little wave to her back and kicked his legs back up on the console.

"You just can't get the shipmates these days." He sighed and took another drink. It occurred to Rillians, around about his fourth refill, that perhaps Thalia hadn't been hit on much-even jokingly-or worse still, she had been hit on too much. She was a good looking girl, there wasn't any mistaking that fact but even in his inebriated state he couldn't quite picture them slotting together in any way shape or form. She was chasing something and he was running away as fast as he could.

Still, he'd found a button which he would no doubt push with wanton abandon if he ever got bored. A thought popped into his head that he might be dead before he and Thalia departed ways but caution was never really a skill he had mastered.

OOC: Do you want to skip us across to Socorro next post so we can get this party started?

IC:

Thalia found herself back in the cargo bay before she calmed down. The realisation that she had overreacted came over her and she wondered whether or not to return to the bridge and apologise to Nik for her behaviour.

"No," she said quietly, finding herself a quiet nook to curl up in. At the rate he was putting the drinks away, he probably wouldn't remember it if she apologised anyway. For now she had to focus, pull herself together so that when they arrived, her mind would be on the job; only on the job.

She settled herself down, finding the little ritual of preparing to meditate soothing. A pang of sadness struck her as she remembered: usually her mother would be next to her for this.

"Clear your mind, Thalia. Life is so busy that we need to make time to find peace." The memory came through so clearly it was as if her mother was beside her again.

"Don't let your emotions rule you. You are the master of your mind."

"Hatred and revenge are poisons that will consume you if you hold on to them."

This last memory hit her like a blow to the head. Thalia opened her eyes and stared across the cargo bay, unaware of the tears that were streaming down her face.

"They're all I have left," she whispered. Quiet though her voice had been, it was amplified by the cargo bay, until she felt though as if had shouted it. Thalia wiped her eyes and knew she would find no peace today. Sleep, however, she could use; until Nik either flew off course or managed to get them safely there. Once they stopped, she would apologise. She couldn't afford to lose any friends now.

OOC: I refuse this request!

"ABANDON SHIP!" Nik screeched bolting upright, smacking his head upon a low hanging monitor and collapsing back onto his seat again. The hyperspace reversion alarm bleeped at him, his world was pain and he had the distinct impression that he'd been having a terrible dream although about what he couldn't quite say.

The inside of his mouth was as dry and foul tasting as a batha left to rot on the Dune Sea, it wasn't at all sexy and he dreaded to think what his breath must smell like. A hand reached up to his head and felt the growing lump of his collision, he winced as his fingers touched the red whelk. "I need a drink..." He croaked, his voice destroyed by the deliciousness of whiskey and then set about the task of joining the land of the living.

The nav-com showed the had indeed reached their desired destination, Socorro. It was yet another world that lacked any kind of appeal to the more refined of the Galaxy and was only marginally classier than Tatooine by virtue of its endless deserts being black,; which as everyone knows is super cool.

"This is your captain speaking, I am very hungover and may die. Please remain seated and keep your voice to a whisper. Also we have arrived at Socorro." He said into the ships intercom before feeling the intense urge to vomit wrack his entire body.

Thalia found that she wasn't suffering too badly as a result of her first drinking session. She felt a little more snappish than usual and had a slight headache, but apart from that hangover was minimal. She had woken early and spent the time checking her weapons and raiding whatever she could find stashed around the ship in preparation for their arrival.

A laugh escaped her mouth as she heard the crackling of the intercom. It seemed as though Nik had finished the bottle. Somehow, heroically, she resisted the urge to shout back at him via the intercom. Thalia instead chose to head up to the bridge, finding that she was in a remarkably good mood. Perhaps it was because she was actually going to be doing something, instead of dwelling on her thoughts and memories. She had no time for grieving, not until after her mother's killers had been firmly put down.

"Good morning," she said drily, keeping her voice low so as not to antagonise the only other ally she had in the galaxy - Bertran didn't count; he was a slime bucket who would sell her out as soon as look at her. "Congratulations on not crashing en route. I trust the whiskey kept you company after I left?" Nik looked as if he was going to vomit, so she stayed in the doorway - no way was she going to be cleaning up after him.

Nik ran a hand over his face and tried to shake of the queasiness in his guts. A buzzing in his head and the fog of his hangover allowed Thalia to sneak up on him so much so that her voice jerked him with fright eliciting a wince of pain.

"It did, much to my regret..." RIllians responded with a croak. "We're here....yay..." He finished and then placed his head on the control board and tried not to cry.

Thalia studied Nik for a long, uncomfortably silent period. He wasn't regretting the whiskey enough, in her entirely honest opinion, but that was neither here nor there. They had a job to do and right now, he was in no fit state to do it. It was time to call on her softer side, the side she kept well hidden - the part of her most like her mother. As much as she wanted to apply her usual brand of tough love here, it wouldn't end well. It rarely did.

"You look like crap," she said bluntly. 'Maybe not that soft, after all... she mused. The words hadn't come out right but they were out now. "Go wash and shave, captain. I can pilot a ship enough to get us safely down to the planet." On most planets, getting through stringent Imperial or Alliance security measures may be a worry. Thankfully Bertran had sent them to one of the galaxy's many hellholes, where the only security was what could be bought or taken at the point of a blaster.

"Go on," she repeated, this time managing to sound a little kinder. "This is probably the only time you're going to get to relax until this job is done and, well, what's the point in having me tag along if I'm not going to be useful?"