"Devious Hope, move to the coordinates being transmitted to you now and prepare to be boarded for inspection."
Aittera loosed a frustrated sigh before toggling the comm switch to respond. "Copy that. We'll have tea and cakes ready for your boys, Command."
As she moved the freighter into position, she looked over at Kol with a cocky grin. "So, out of eight runs, this makes the fifth time we've been 'randomly' picked for inspection. Remind me to tell Jean he needs to throw in a bonus for my stellar acting skills."
Kol just shook his head as he looked over at her. "I really think I may kill them this time. I've been patient, I've played nice while they ogled you. And I half believe it's that kriffing inspector just wanting to stare at your chest while his goons scan the ship. I swear, Aittera, if I don't get let off leash soon I'm going to start looking into that planet killer thing again."
She chuckled, shaking her head. "One more run after this one. I promise. Then, I can be the one being cranky about...whatever I'll hate about staying on the Avenger."
"Professionally prepared meals by one of the most sought after chefs in the Empire? Do you know how many people I had to kill before he became open for employment?"
Groaning, she finished maneuvering the Hope into place and prompted the system to prepare for sealing the airlock with the security ship. "I can't ever tell if you're joking when you say things like that, you know."
"And that's part of what makes me so fun." Kol moved out of the cockpit and back to the airlock to greet their guests, waiting for the same team that scanned them the last few times to board before leading them back to the cargo bays.
Aittera joined him a few minutes later, giving the lead 'inspector' - a big, burly man who leered at her the moment she arrived and made her wonder whether or not the Cartel ships had freshers on them at all - a friendly, slightly suggestive, smile. "As much as I curse my luck for these delays, at least we get to see a friendly face whenever we get selected for inspection. How are you, Gido?"
The large mercenary pushed past Kol to stand closer to the spacer, who noticed her ‘first mate’s’ hand slip momentarily beneath his jacket where she knew his lightsaber was hidden. Thankfully, a moment later, the hand reappeared and was empty, but she was finding that her own feelings reflected that sign of irritation. The scumbag who was now leaning against the wall beside her rested his arm above her, violating her personal space stench first.
"Always better when your ship comes through, Red. Glad that you keep making the number for the random stop." His ugly grin all but confirmed their suspicion that these inspections were anything but random.
There was a slight twitch at the corner of her mouth that outwardly indicated that irritation and disgust Kol had always felt from her in the mercenary's presence, but Gido missed it completely. His attention was wholly on other parts of Aittera’s anatomy as she leaned against the doorframe with her hands clasped at her back. "So, when are you going to ditch the Cartel and come work for me? I bet anything I can beat their benefits package."
Bad flirting or not, the burly ruffian responded with a salacious grin of his own, his attention never straying far from her ample cleavage. "Oh I bet you could. Sure you don't want to give me just a taste?"
Taking advantage of the inspector's distraction, Kol used the force to tip one of the empty crates that his two goons had been scanning onto the unwitting scanner. "Hey! You break it you buy it, and I don't think your cartel pay is even enough to cover the cost of the crate."
He shot a look back at the inspector that was a clear dare to say anything to him for yelling at his men, the air tingling with just a hint of the unspoken threat. Gido gave Kol a look of murder but turned back to look at Aittera - or, rather, Aittera’s cleavage. "Your employee has a big mouth. That why you keep him around?"
Grateful for the interruption that at least seemed to slow the man down, Aittera looked past Gido toward the disruption. "Well, not everyone I run into is as capable as you," she responded with a wink, looking back up at the oaf. "Mind having your boys clean that up for me? I hate when my customers are unhappy."
The inspector looked over his shoulder again - this time at his men - and barked, "Clean that up!" before returning his full attention to the redhead.
Normally, Aittera was exceptionally good when it came to keeping her cool in this kind of situation, but today, she just couldn't seem to wrangle the way her stomach was churning in Gido's presence. Was his breath even worse than last time? Was that even possible? How she managed the flutter of eyelashes and the suggestive, "You're so authoritative with them." was beyond her, but the moron ate it up.
As he moved to supervise the clean up, Kol shot Aittera wink unseen by Gido, whose eyes were once again on Aittera's voluptuous form.
"Is that what you like, gorgeous? Authoritative men? We can slip back to your quarters and I can show you just how authoritative I can be." He moved his hand from the wall sliding it down to her hip. "Give me what I want, and I'll make sure your ship doesn't get searched your next time through."
The last time he'd made a similar offer, Aittera had somehow coyly maneuvered the conversation into safer waters, but this time, something inside her just snapped. Her fingers curled around the vibroknife secreted at her back beneath her jacket, and before she'd even realized it, she was shoving it into his throat.
With a wet gurgling sound, the large mercenary's body spasmed once, then crumbled. His weight took her down with him in a shower of blood, and it was only a moment before one of the men from the inspection crew looked over to see his commander's lifeless form and the freighter captain sink to the floor.
Feeling the burst of pure rage from Aittera, Kol turned in time to see her sink to the ground beneath the mercenary’s weight. On pure instinct he threw up both of his hands, lifting the two scanners from the ground by their throats. As he closed his fists, he heard the sound of their necks snapping. In the next moment, he was kneeling at Aittera's side. "He touched you, didn't he?"
An uncharacteristic growl sounded as she pushed at the body while wriggling her way out from beneath it with Kol's help. She drew the blade free and turned it with a flick of her wrist to strike the dead man squarely in the temple with the handle. She didn't have to answer. The look in her eyes said it all when she turned to get to her feet, still shaking with anger she barely recognized as her own, ready to take out anyone else who dared come near her.
When she realized Kol had already taken out the inspection team, Aittera aimed a kick for the man's head that resounded with the crack of his skull beneath the heft of her boot. “Mother-kriffing bastard!"
Kol stood and held his hand out for the vibroblade. "Give the knife to me, Aittera. And then I'm going to fix this. They're going to contact him in a few minutes. They always do. And if we don't make our move first, I suspect those guns are going to open up on us."
She handed Kol the vibroknife as she glared down at the mess. "Damnit! DAMNIT!"
She knew she'd screwed up, but there wasn't much that could be done about that now. He was right. They had to act fast. She looked across the cargo bay toward the other members of the inspection team.
"They're good and silenced. But I have an idea. Do you trust me?" He looked at her for confirmation before he even gave voice to it.
Aittera nodded without hesitation. If there was anyone she was questioning her trust in at this moment, it was herself.
"I'm Darth Ragious. You're how I've been smuggling myself onto the planet for high level meetings with the Hutts. Their man fucked them up, and I'm thinking of withdrawing my support."
"Better than dumping their bodies back through the airlock and trying to blast our way out of here, I guess."
"Oh we may still be doing that. I need to get my armor out of your quarters. I'm going aboard their ship."
She nodded again, then looked down at her blood-soaked clothes. "I'll go clean up."
(( Once again, I have to thank Darth Ragious's player for being so damned fun to RP with. Stick with us, folks. Miles to go! ))
(( Added to Aittera and the Dark Lord ))
