Bitter Friends, Bitter Rivals

[Vishan Korogoth]

Now that he was fully accepted back as an Imperial Officer, the other soldiers relaxed in his presence. Having his rank back would do wonders sneaking around the base. The Jedi needed to check in with Soolin but there were a few items that had to be taken care of first.

He stopped at registration first to pick up a temporary ID badge that designated him as a member of Fort Korell. Zay had taken care of access codes already so Vishan didn't need to make a request. Zay. What an idiot. He was so blinded by the fact that the Jedi just landed into his lap and wanted to reenlist that he never once questioned if his motives were devious.

Guess Ah put on one helluva an act, an' thank th' Force our friendship means somethin' still ta him.

His next stop was the Quartermaster's office to get fitted for his uniform. He was issued standard boots, pants, shirt, jacket and cap and was promised to have his full uniform, with ribbons, done by the end of the day.

With that done, Vishan was free to sight see and walked over to the front gate. The three soldiers there saluted him gave him a warm fuzzy feeling after the way they treated him earlier. "Much better. Ah'm headin' ta pick up some odds 'n ends for my quarters as they're made up."

"Yessir!" The MP that was so gruff with him before followed Vishan to his parked speeder and opened the door for him.

"If anyone comes lookin' for me, tell 'em they can get ah hold o' me on my comm. It's on file now."

"Yes, Captain."

The Jedi slipped on his mirrorshades and pulled away. Once he was far enough away, he checked for bugs using a scanner found in the Rebel safe house. The speeder was clean. Zay lack of paranoia was a bit disconcerting. It just meant that the Empire really did want him that badly as the Rebel Baize had claimed.

He pulled out his other comm, also borrowed from the good Alliance. This would ensure he wasn't traced as he put in a call to Soolin. Hopefully she wasn't fretting over him the last six hours he'd been gone. "Soolin? Ya there? Over. Blasted t'ing better work."

[Soolin Anjhurin]

:: The Jedi was relieved to hear his voice. She hadn't expected to hear from him this soon. Her voice traveled back through Vishan's comm ::

Soolin here. Where are you???

[Vishan Korogoth]

"Ah'm going shoppin'!" He beamed, trying to lighten the mood as his slowed down to a stop since the traffic light changed red.

[Soolin Anjhurin]

Shopping???

:: there was a pause as total confusion washed over her ::

Vishan, what happened?

[Vishan Korogoth]

"Calm down, Soolin," he said with a chuckle. "Ah'm back inta th' Empire. Zay pretended ta be cool about th' whole t'ing bu' inside he was doin' cartwheels."

The traffic light changed and Vishan accelerated the speeder, "Ah'm actually pretendin' ta go shoppin' for my new quarters so Ah could talk ta ya. Well, Ah do 'ave ta go shoppin' an' bring somethin' back ta make it look good tho."

[Soolin Anjhurin]

I understand.

[Vishan Korogoth]

He frowned. Soolin was harder to read then usual, "You okay?"

[Soolin Anjhurin]

:: Her tone relaxed a bit ::

I'm fine.

[Vishan Korogoth]

"If'n ya want, ya can meet me at the store discretely." He looked around for a street sign. "Ah'm about twenty minutes from Coro-Mart."

Coro-Mart. Terrible name but it was the size of four blastball fields and had EVERYTHING you ever wanted from food to furniture to vids and clothing. And since it was huge, perfect place to meet up with Soolin. "Ya can meet me in sportin' goods. Ah'll be practicin' my swing."

[Soolin Anjhurin]

Get back to me later. Soolin out.

[Vishan Korogoth]

"Geesh, woman," he said, shoving the comm link into his vest pocket. "If ya didn't wanna come all ya had ta do was say so."

The trip to the store would have been worth it if he had the opportunity to see Soolin. Now that idea was trashed, but Vishan still had to go and bring back some supplies for his new quarters. At least he didn't have to pay for it. Faking your loyalty did provide a nice stream of credits, especially when your old buddy Zay gave you an advance to get settled.

So now he stood in households, staring at an entire aisle devoted to soap with a basket in hand, wondering what the frell to buy.

[Jhyx]

"Ah! No! Madame I must protest!"

The sudden shout was followed by a short squeal and clatter of falling items, which in turn was followed by another indignant shout.

"Now see here my dear lady, that was most uncalled for! Look at what a mess you've caused?!

"Ow! Please, stop that! Ouch, stop shooing me away!"

A scurrying of footpaws could be heard, as the voice continued. "Please, that's very unbecoming of a lovely thing such as yourself! No no... ha! You missed me-yeowch!"

A solid thump, and the owner of the voice bounced finally into view, coming to rest at the opening of the housewares aisle. After a moment of regaining his senses, the little creature stood up rather haughtily, dusting off his white-furred chest and rubbing his rump. He was small, laughably so even; his fur an orange hue and his ears standing straight up as his tail seemed to shake itself out.

Satisfied that he had cleaned himself, the thing puffed out his chest, marching right back out of view.

"Now you listen here, ma'am, this behavior of yours - "

And right back he came, tumbling head over tail to stop in the very same spot he had before. Now thoroughly indignant, he decided that retreat was the only option left. Looking about, the small creature spotted a lone man staring at him.

He smiled wide, sauntering towards the man while jerking a thumb over his shoulder.

"Psh, women. What's a guy gonna do, eh? I tell ya, mate. stick with the bachelor life; it's way less complicated."

[Vishan Korogoth]

Vishan chuckled longer then he should, but the little fuzball did have a point.

"Perhaps, bu' sometimes it's worth it if ya find th' right one, little fella." In which the Padawan countered.

He randomly selected some personal items to take back with him to base. "Whatcha do ta get tha' lady all riled up anyway? Tha' was quite ah commotion there."

[Jhyx]

A bound and a hop was all it took for the little creature to deposit himself upon a shelf high enough so that he could be level with the man's eyes, and he pulled a pained expression.

"Ah, she's just jealous.

"Thinks I'm workin' too much."

Another hop brought himself on to the man's shoulder. Settling comfortably on his new perch, he gestured wildly with his tiny paws.

"But what's a guy to do?! Bein' a PI ain't all the glamour that dames think it is. Rough line o' work, that."

[Vishan Korogoth]

The Jedi's face was cheerful talking to the small creature but after it bounded onto his shoulder, his face puckered into one of bewilderment. Vishan has this urge to flick him off."Wha'? PI?"

He stopped and looked at the furry guy on his shoulder in disbelief, "Ya snoop on people?"

[Jhyx]

A wink and a nudge. "Only if you got the dough."

His tail tapping lazily against the man's shoulder blade, he went on.

"Name's Jhyx; gumshoe and lady's man extraordinare"."

[Vishan Korogoth]

Vishan could help toss his head back in a chuckle. This Jhyx was funny. Delusional but funny.

"Ah'm Vishan; Cap'n for th' Imperial Navy. Ah'm based outta Fort Korell bu' off duty right now." ...An' also ah Jedi Padawan who wants ta blow up ah good portion o'said base. He kept that part out though. It was important to keep up appearances even though he doubted anyone would be watching, but one could never tell with the paranoia that was the Imperial Regime.

[Jhyx]

Eyes suddenly as wide as saucerplates, Jhyx let his mouth open in an awestruck "Wooow."

He leaned forward just a tad on his perch atop Vishan's shoulder.

"I bet that's fun! You prolly get to order around alot of soldiers, huh - " He blinked, his eyes still wide as his ears twitched excitedly, "... do you have your own Star Destroyer??!"

[Vishan Korogoth]

A positive reaction and a genuine one at that. As Vishan explained his job, he moved down the aisles to and grabbed a few items into his shopping cart: toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, etc.

"We'll, no. No Star Destroyer. Ah used ta be ah fighter pilot bu' t'ings... happened." He didn't want to elaborate. Not with Jhyx. He was too nosey. Which then started to move the gears inside the Padawan's brain. The little fellow was small, could be sneaky and claim to be a PI. The only problem was trying to gauge his loyalties, if he had any. It could be as simple as paying him, though with what money.

"Ah'm back now an' workin' on base." He winked, remembering those MP's by the front gate that hated seeing him with his commission back. "So ah do get ta order people around. Tha's th' fun part."

[Jhyx]

Comfortably settled atop Vishan's shoulder, Jhyx compensated easily with the man's movements, staying perfectly balanced. He watched with an acute eye at the items Vishan chose.

With a casual grace that seemed very much out of place with the rest of the little guy's habits, he reached out to put doubles of everything Vishan had gotten into the basket.

"I used to be a fighter pilot too! 'Magine that. 406th Fighting Gundarks was my squadron. I remember spending most of the time in the mess though. All that piloting sure made a guy hungry."

He puffed out his little chest, suddenly oh-so-proud. "Got awarded a cross of some sort, too."