Past Due

[Sanis Prent]

Two Years Ago

I sniffed in the cockpit for effect.

"Practically smell the money in this system."

Muunilinst, of course. The banking clan hub world bustled with activity below us as we exited hyperspace. Of course, our trip was just to pass through. Our good fortune had landed us enough credits to top off fuel and even afford repairs.

Couldn't quite relax though. It was still Imperial territory, though not nearly as under the banner as a core world. My precious cargo, seated adjacent, meant that I always had to keep my eyes peeled.

"We'll be putting into Home Port station over there."

I pointed off in the distance at an immense space station, tethered over the Muun capital of Harnaidan.

"Muuns charge for dock by the hour so, lets have a good time, but maybe not too much of a good time."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

With a critical eye the Lupine, Loklorien s'Ilancy, let her gaze travel over the station that Sanis had gestured toward. She leaned back a little more in her seat, unsure of how to feel about their being... well, here. She bit her lip, shifted her weight, and let out a long breath. She had no plans or intentions on having a 'good time', or even a time really. She was perfectly content to stay aboard Layla during their stopover.

"I'm sure you'll manage to have a nice enough time for the both of us," she finally got out.

It wasn't said to provoke, rather her tone was of a strange exhaustion. Re-acclimating to spacetravel had taken a bit, and s'Il found her body revolting in much the same way that it used to, so many years before. It was never anything so disastrously sickening as it used to be, but more of a flighty, slightly nauseous feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Tell me again why we can't simply go planetside?"

[Sanis Prent]

"Docking rates are cheaper up top."

I spoke matter-of-factly as we approached, mindful to load one of the stolen transponder ID's I'd collected. Let's see, today we'd be Nuri's Charm, a venerable little hauler registered out of Bespin.

"Besides, there's always the skyhook."

I guestured to the tether holding the station in place

"Planetside's just a ten minute jaunt down the line if you'd rather.

Hm...thats odd."

I noticed a large ship berthed on the station's docking ring. Being the sort that likes to be in the know, I ran it against MARCUS's library of known vessel configs. It came up as...

"...a Korri class battle galleon?"

It was a Cizerack ship of the line, sure enough. The ship's burnt-orange hull and unique shape gave it away.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Idly scratching at an itch on the periphery of the upper portion of her scar, s'Il gave him a sidelong look. Mildly interested in his reaction, she continued to scratch.

"And that would be... ?"

[Sanis Prent]

"Cizerack warship."

I paused. Maybe that wasn't quite right.

"Or, uh, capital ship at least. Don't usually see them outside of the Carshoulis cluster unless there's some amount of business being done."

I tapped the comm that would link me below deck with the engine room.

"Cirr, you might want to catch the viewfeed."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr paused in his quest to find the toys that Tak had randomly strewn about the engine room, and sat up from under a manifold, wiping sweat off his brow with the bottom of his shirt.

"What now?"

He leaned over to the little troublemaker who'd turned his engine room into a play pen and handed her a few more toy tauntauns, with a look that implied she needed to find somewhere else to hide them.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

She paid no amount of attention to the look Cirr was giving her. Instead, the little Lupine smiled wide, hopping her way over to him like a taun taun would, arms drawn up and her head bobbing and waggling. She even made taun taun noises like she'd heard on the soundbooks Sanis had given to her!

"Mmmyuh! Nergle nergle nergle!! Bruffpptptptptt!"

Crashing into the big Cizerack, Tak joyfully climbed up into his arms to tickle at his eartufts. He was the BEST playmate EVER!

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

His ears switched out of the way to avoid a tickling, as he tucked her under one of his arms like a load of cordwood, while walking over to the viewer to switch it on. His face quirked in confusion.

"That's a Cizerack shjip."

He stood there, perplexed.

"What arre they dojing therre?"

Really, there wasn't cause for alarm, it was just really unusual.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Always one to see the best in her situations, Tak giggled in his hold. In a feat of acrobatics that only children can possess, she managed to grab a hold of his tail. She was mindful enough at least to not tug too hard, but she did shake it about.

"A'kaha'ss'a Khu'e'ss!"

She knew well enough that Cirr had no clue what she'd said, but it didn't-

"Teagan!"

She froze, Cirr's tail still in hand and eyes suddenly very wide. That was Dama's voice on the comm, and apparently she'd heard what the little Lupine had said.

"Ueh'khudeh an'ue'k Kheh'du ou'ss'eh'ara. A'hga'na."

She grumbled just a little in answer to Dama's scolding, her body a bit more limp in Cirr's hold.

"hGa'na, Dama."

[Sanis Prent]

"Probably just pulling in for a loan like everyone else."

I replied dismissively over the comm as I broadcast Nuri's Charm's ID to the station for docking clearance. A few seconds later, we were being directed to a smaller dock, and the billing rates showed up on my computer up front. Not cheap, but it could be worse.

"No matter, just thought it was unusual. How long are we looking at turnaround over here?"

Cirr's voice came through over the comm, over Tak's giggling and carrying-on.

"Forr fuel and rrepajirrs, thrree hourrs. Not long."

I gestured to the vox as I looked at s'Il, confident that my mechanics's estimate would meet with her approval.

"See, not too bad, right? We could probably even make it planetside for a real meal too."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

The thought almost made her stomach growl. Almost.

"How real of a meal are we talking?"

She'd eaten the normal spacer food for too long; the kind of food that Sanis had seemed more than happy enough with it, and he'd certainly been jealous, but the Lupine was ever-so-slowly beginning to reach a stage of withdrawals from her normal fare.

"Better yet, how about you let me stock your galley this time around?"

[Sanis Prent]

"Sure thing, you buying?"

If she wanted to spring for premium that was fine by me, but I was usually trying to make sure the ship was fueled and not falling apart, so I was naturally less picky.

We eased to the docking pad at Home Port, secured our moorings, and the extended pad lowered into the main hull, as a hatch sealed over the hangar. The Muun operator gave an all clear when atmo regulated, and I finished up the power-downs.

"Alright Cirr, we're off. Use what we've got in the balance to pay our meter for three hours, top the fuel, and whatever you want to patch for 2000 credits. Lock up, and meet us at the skyhook in an hour."

"Surre thjing, boss."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Standing, a bit stiffly - thought she'd never admit to such - the Lupine rolled her shoulders back while stepping out to stand behind her vacated seat, her eyes on Sanis.

"Of course I'll pay. It would do you good to have some substance to your food."

A conspiratorial grin as she leaned on the headrest of the co-pilot's chair.

"You always seemed to enjoy what I made on Cathar."

[Sanis Prent]

"That's hit or miss, but I'll chance it."

I remembered some of her "experiments". Some were good, and some...were horrifying.

We exited Layla and promptly left the hangar area. A team of Muun engineers were already gathering to meet with Cirr and Tak. Cirr kept the little girl somewhat mollified while he talked to the techs about what he wanted as far as service for the ship.

It wasn't much of a stroll for us to reach one of the main concourses on Home Port. It was an enormous domed vista, with stories and stories of balconies and walkways overlooking kiosks, places of business, and other such things. Everything was very stark and formal. Muuns had some sort of thing about columns and domes, and I felt like I was under-dressed at times for the scenery.

"Well, first thing we should do off ship is get a drink, I think."

I pointed across the way at a bar, conveniently located next to the docks.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

A worried look flitted across her features for a fraction of a second. She'd not had a drink in long enough that her desire for alcohol was a distant memory. Even the times that she'd been with Dan following her self-imposed exile were spent with him partaking, and her abstaining. So unlike how she used to conduct herself during her time with the Rebels.

But, the Lupine was not about to allow Sanis the satisfaction of seeing her balk, and s'Il only gave a nod to the affirmative.

"A drink would be nice I suppose."

[Sanis Prent]

We stopped at the nearest watering hole and pushed our way toward the bar. There was a cosmopolitan crowd around, and for once, most of which weren't Muuns.

"Two Corellian whiskys!"

I got the barkeep's attention with an itemized chit as I slapped it down on the counter. The Muun dipped his bulbous head in understanding as he pocketed my payment, busying himself with filling two shot glasses.

It was about then that I picked up on the half dozen or so red-tinted uniforms around us.

"Looks like the crewers from that galleon are on leave."

Our shots arrived, and I passed one off to s'Il, running my own under my nose.

"About time somebody had the real deal. Too used to malastarian dregs and whatever somebody cooked up in a coolant tank."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She held the small glass for a moment, looking down at its' contents and then back up at Sanis. How long had it been since she'd had whisky? She smiled, though it might've been a grimace, and sniffing at the brownish liquid, she blew a short breath from her nose, angling her head away.

"I'd forgotten how strong it smells."

[Sanis Prent]

"That's the smell of hand-tended love and smoke and wood barrels right there. You just don't get that in any regular interstellar hooch."

I rocked my head back, tilting the glass at my lips in tandem to rifle down the strong liquor. Swallowing, I grimaced, which eased into a smile.

"Ahh....man I love it."

As I went to ease my shot glass back to the counter, I was jostled a bit as one of the red-clad Cizerack officers pushed her way onto the stool adjacent to mine. Apparently I had my arm leaning a bit too far to the side and she just saw fit to push it out of the way, rather than taking the time to ask.

"Excuse you."

Blue eyes looked down her nose at me from under her black officer's cap, and her ears switched back a bit.

"Complajin to ssomeone who carress, forrda."

It didn't take an idiot to figure out that you shouldn't start shit in a bar that was rolling deep in a dozen folks on the other team.

Grudgingly, I scooted over a bit, gesturing for the Muun to fill my drink once again.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

The slight altercation - if it could be called that even, only elicited a raised eyebrow from the Lupine before she upended her shot as Sanis had. It burned a blazing trail of fire down her throat, and s'Il let the barest of coughs escape. She frowned, lifting the shotglass to examine it, as though it posed further threat to her tastebuds.

"I've... never drunk whisky like that before. Usually it was taken in a glass on the rocks."

She made another face as the memory of the taste resurfaced.

"This is... different."

[Sanis Prent]

"On the rocks? Only people I know take it that way are old men or people who drink more expensive stuff than I afford."

I gave the countertop a pair of knocks with my fist to indicate the Muun barkeep should let me ride a tab on the chit I'd passed him. He added the balance to what I'd authorized.

"You feel it quick. Warms you up, loosens you up, makes you relax."

The conversations around them grew more frequent and louder, with the sing-song cadences of Cizeri heavy in the air as even more Pride soldiers and officers arrived.

Again, I was jostled, this time by the same overbearing officer. Except this time, she was grabbing me by the shoulder as a command that I turn to face her.

"Forrda woman." She looked past my shoulder to s'Il. "jYou and jyourr man, drrjink wjith uss."

Bottles were procured from somewhere and sat at a circular table a distance away, where shot glasses were also set up.