Elena watched him carefully as he failed to comply. She had a feeling she wouldn’t, and as she stood straight, a hand of hers went to her belt, slightly behind her blaster pistol’s holster.
“Mister Asteris, I’m going to warn you again. Put it down.” She ordered again, this time her voice had calmed. “Or I will have you arrested for attempted theft. Don’t make me call the Stormtroopers.”
This time he stops looking at the picture altogether to stare at her. “You would lie under oath just because I’m looking at your photo. You know I don’t want to steal this from you.” He puts the picture down--its still underneath his hand, though. “I can’t understand your logic, Captain. You’d get in more trouble than me for doing something like that.”
Vace couldn’t smell much through his bloodied nose, but he knew that the food was good, sweet and savory, a variety of colors and shapes homogenized by magenta lighting. He remembers it, the taste of his own copper blood drying on his face.
The person before him was without a doubt Coruscanti with the well trimmed clothing and beautiful earrings. A good haircut clean on the sides and pulled back into a ponytail. He wanted that glittery shirt and the jewelry, but he’s stolen enough. His captor sucks on seasoned fingers and throws a hand out finally.
“Well? I can’t spend all night in this club, even if it’s mine. Things tend to get dirty the later it gets. Listen, do you even know why you are here? You’re in the presence of greatness–the best pirate who ever lived, and you aren’t even scared? Small time scoundrels like you aren’t worth Bon Yaris’ time, but here you are, because you’ve stolen from one of Jabba’s goons. I don’t know how, but it doesn’t even matter. You will be in Hutt hands soon enough.”
Vace was only nineteen. He’d never been in this kind of trouble before. This was a matter of life and death... and yet, he was just as absent as he was when he sat in that chair in front of the SAGroup’s committee.
Bon Yaris slurped on a drink of some awful concoction and then cringed. “Oh–oh, oh! That’s HOT--that’s the good stuff, baby. Yeah…” Crossed fingers hold the chin of an Imp ruined like him, taking a darker path than what may have been a paved for him. “So quiet. You’re a peculiar one, pirate.”
“You’re one to talk,” Vace finally said. “Then again, anybody that claims to be a pirate but has the henchmen do all the work while they sit in a club dining and wining isn’t someone I believe in.”
“Vace,” C2 warned from his subdued spot in a corner of the suite. Just because it was warranted didn’t mean he should disrespect someone that was going to have them executed.
“Suuuure, but I’m not the one handcuffed to a chair, now am I? I’ve never been in that situation before and really, I’m sorry that you are, sweetie.”
Vace sighs. “How did you find us?”
Bon Yaris laughed. “Easy-peasy, pirate, the cargo ship was being tracked by the pilot’s employer. We went to the coordinates of where it was last seen and did a bit of searching. The ship was intact–sacked, but intact. We could access the cockpit’s video feed! The data accessed by your data pad–you left a whole slew of other evidence on that ship. It was disgusting. Why would you leave the cargo ship intact after you raided it?! That is a rookie mistake. Not even, really, but I am being generous when it call it one. Even rookies should know better. You should have been captured or killed a long time ago.”
Vace stared through the table. Why did he mess something that simple up? How could he? He was distracted. And now he was going to die because of it. Rookie mistake. Such a rookie mistake. He couldn’t make it again, should he survive. Dead men tell no tales. The stars see all but point only towards what is known. Destroy everything. Leave no evidence, no clues. Disappear without a trace. There was a big bang, and it was loud enough, but no one hears it anymore. It’s gone to the world, though present. He couldn’t do this again.
Still, he has the last laugh.
“... At least this is how I am to go out. Successfully stealing from one of the most powerful crime lords. I’m not going to be known as Jabba’s schutta.”
Monolid glittered and painted red eyes roll, poison dripped from their words. Such an allegation digs deeper than Bon Yaris would like. “Please, I don’t associate with that fat slug so much as tolerate him when I have to. I don’t care for what he does. He thought it was one of my people who raided his smugglers. I wouldn’t care even if it was, but I don’t feel like running from a bounty for a few years based on suspicion. I’ve known Jabba for a long time, though. It’s not like him to threaten me when there are many ways I can get back at him. He may even just punish smugglers or their families.“
Vace found that he was being stared at very carefully now. “I’m interested now--not for his sake, of course. What did you steal from Jabba to make him so upset?”
The injured man shrugged, a minor sneer cracks the blood on his face. “That’s not a question you ask on the first date, not unless you buy me a drink, Bon Yaris. How about this: I tell you what you want to know and a way to get us both out of hot water--but you need to buy me a drink first.”
The captor stared more, but this time with surprise in the eyes. Leaning back, they gestured for someone to pour a glass for him and once they did, the bodyguards stood closely after unlocking one of his cuffs.
Vace sipped, and then licked his lips.
Sweet and savory.
“Firstly, the cargo was alive--neither human nor alien...”
@victory-class-captain I wonder then what it's like for Elena, if she stayed with the Empire until it falls and survives the war, only to see the remnants return with the First Order, because clearly the new Republic didn't do jack to stop the uprising when there were warning signs (she's right, they didn't have the discipline or organization to set the galaxy straight)?
13. Are there certain times, currently or in their past, when they are more prone to violence than usual?
The Empire was built on violence, so Vace has sort of known it for a long time, starting with his involvement with COMPNOR activities and academy training in his early teens. I think the kind of violence has changed, I think he’s more violent than he’s ever been. He never outright killed anyone on Coruscant, though a brawl did result in one person’s later, hospitalized death months after the incident. Now, as a pirate, he’s murdered in cold blood, fought and killed over treasure and to stay alive. He kills to set an example in a sector of rampant lawlessness. He uses his brains where he can but it is a quicker solution to use violence with thieves and thugs.
If it’s a gift outside of gift giving events, he is picky. Of course he would prefer a gift that would be something he cares about, but when it comes to just random gifts, he expects them to be something important. Otherwise, why would they be giving them to him? They made that choice to pick up something for him, so he would assume that they thought through what he’d appreciate. He doesn’t show how he feels when receiving it, he’s fairly used to acting like he appreciates whatever it is but if it isn’t something he cares about it’s likely going to just collect dust somewhere until he decides to throw it away.
He kinda does, but what that life is like he doesn’t have any idea. he wasn’t raised with any formal religion in mind and is skeptical about the Force being something that affects those who die. Sometimes he’ll joke about reincarnating into something horrible but it’s a joke and nothing more. it’s better to not think about there being one because if it’s a punitive afterlife he’ll probably end up in hell and that’s unpleasant to think about.
Vace also finds the stars pretty from view while on a planet. He couldn’t see much of that on Coruscant and it looks kind of different when you are in space. The galaxy is just so big. and its wild to see little dots of light actually being whole worlds.
