Chapter 13: Winging It

A gentle shaking roused Lana from her deep slumber. She struggled to claw her way back to consciousness; apparently the multiple orgasms Vera had given her last night had really drained her energy. Or maybe it wasn’t the quantity, but the quality, which was strongly influenced by the one giving them.

As the events from the evening flitted back through her mind, the last words she’d said came back to her, blazing in her thoughts like a neon sign. Suddenly, she was fully awake and glancing around for Vera, trying to decide what the best course of action should be. A warm chuckle spread a layer of calm over her manic energy, as the Chiss in question leaned down to lay a sweet kiss on Lana’s cheek.

“We just arrived to Rishi,” the bounty hunter said, red eyes roving over Lana’s still naked form. “Why don’t you take a few moments to settle yourself before losing your mind over what was said last night. And what you said in your sleep.”

Lana’s mouth dropped open in horror. As if it wasn’t enough that she may have to do damage control on the few words that slipped out before she was asleep, now she had even more confessions to deal with? “What did I say?” Even though Vera told her to take a few moments she couldn’t help herself.

“Nothing. Just fucking with you.” Vera grinned as her red eyes sparkled with mischief and Lana groaned, unsure whether she should be furious or relieved. “Grab a nutrient bar and then meet me in the lounge. And Mako will be there, so maybe get dressed too. Or not, I like the view.”

This time Lana’s groan was definitely of annoyance and she pushed out with the force, shoving a laughing Vera toward the door. As the hatch slid shut behind the Chiss, Lana sat up and rubbed her eyes. Though she’d prefer to be fully dressed to discuss their plans, she only had the under tunic in Vera’s chambers, so that would have to do. Grumbling, she proceeded to get dressed, wondering if she was going to be subject to any more teasing before she was able to explain herself.

—

Mako and Vera were chatting animatedly as Lana crossed the metal catwalk over to the lounge area. She bypassed them and veered toward the stairs, hoping she could sneak down to her room and throw on the rest of her gear before they noticed. Luck was not on her side, for she hadn’t even made it to the top step before Vera called out to her.

“Lana, we made contact with Theron. He apparently found a suitable hideout and sent us the coordinates. He also has a cryptic message drafted for Kayora, but is holding off on sending it until we get the whole pirate rumor established.” Vera tilted her head toward Mako, who obviously was bursting to talk. “And speaking of the whole pirate rumor …”

“I came up with a name!” Mako practically shouted, waving her hands in excitement. “So I definitely am going with the cannibal story, because, I mean, that’s just hilarious, but for the pirate gang …” she looked at Lana expectantly, who indicated she should continue. “May I introduce the Red Hulls!” Holding up a data pad with one hand, she waggled the fingers of her other hand at the image on the screen, which appeared to be a ship of some kind.

“What am I looking at?” Lana asked in confusion.

“Oh, this is Kayora’s ship! Well, this is the model of her ship, I don’t know if this exact image is hers, but it’s a Defender-class corvette, and it’s painted red!” Mako’s childlike glee was overwhelming as she looked back and forth between the other two women, waiting for a reaction. “Get it? So she’s going to arrive in her ship, which is painted red, and we tell everybody the gang is the Red Hulls, so even if they don’t know exactly what her ship looks like, they’ll assume it must be her!”

“Because of the red hull,” Vera remarked dryly.

“Exactly!” Mako looked so proud that Lana couldn’t bring herself to point out how bad that name was.

Vera, though, did not have that obstacle.

“If the name of the gang wasn’t like the least important part of this plan, I would veto the Red Hulls so fast,” Vera said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Aw, c’mon, you love it! It’s so good.”

“It isn’t, but let’s just move on.” Vera nodded to Lana. “Go get your gear and then we’ll head out to meet with Theron. Shouldn’t take us too long to get there.”

“And then we start spreading rumors about the fearsome Red Hulls,” Mako stated, jabbing a finger into the air for emphasis. 

Chuckling quietly, Lana descended the stairs and let the two bounty hunters continue their heated debate on what made a good name for an up and coming gang of pirates.

—

  The salt in the air pricked against Lana’s skin as she strolled across yet another wooden bridge with Vera. The town that the coordinates had led them to was of a modest size, made up of various sizes of platforms raised up on pilings to deal with the tide from the ocean. The platforms weren’t all at the same height, so often had angled bridges present to span the gap. There seemed to be an equal split of lodging and market buildings, with several open areas obviously dedicated to merchants trying to peddle their wares. Many of the structures were wooden, with thatch or some other type of leafy material for their roofs. It would have almost been a tropical paradise, if not for the myriad pirates scattered about, some causing more problems than others. Lana sidestepped an obviously inebriated Zabrak who was attempting to stumble away from an equally drunk human. It wasn’t immediately apparent whether they were from the same pirate crew or not, but it was obvious that they were pirates based on their outfits and general behavior.

  “You look positively thrilled to be here.” Vera’s voice was slightly modulated coming through her helmet, but it still sent a warm feeling through Lana’s mind. She was well aware they still hadn’t discussed the previous night, and wasn’t sure when they’d have time to. Vera, for the most part, seemed to be carrying on as if nothing had happened, which caused a series of conflicting thoughts to coagulate in Lana’s brain.

  “I’m not a fan of pirates,” Lana said simply, though she was aware of the mild look of disgust still present on her face. “They’re so … inelegant.”

  “Aren’t bounty hunters similar?”

  Lana knew that Vera was teasing her, poking to see if she could draw out a compliment. “Depends on the bounty hunter. I’ve certainly met a few that were more suave than others.” She lingered on the last word, drawing out the pause. “None come to mind at the moment though.”

  A burst of laughter came from the woman next to her. “Well, you let me know if you find one. Maybe I can pick up some pointers from them.

  A smile found its way onto Lana’s face. “I certainly will.”

  They continued on, weaving through stalls and the occasional brawl, both keeping their awareness high and making mental notes of the areas they passed. Lana paid close attention to any of the local inhabitants that they saw. The Rishii were a bird-like species, covered in feathers with talons and faces that looked similar to an owl. Knowing very little about them, Lana was curious to see if there was any information she could glean about them by simple observation. All she’d noticed so far was that the Rishii appeared to be very non-confrontational, with many of the vendors shying away from any act of violence in view. Of which there were many.

  “It’s a good thing Mako stayed back at the ship,” Vera commented, as she watched a couple of kids being dragged along behind a pirate, their hands tied. “She isn’t very good at staying her hand when she sees slaves, especially that young.”

  Observing the children that Vera was alluding to, Lana tightened her jaw. Some might call her a hypocrite, considering that the Sith had plenty of slaves of their own, but just because it was a part of Lana’s culture didn’t mean she embraced it. Unfortunately, she had come to the conclusion a long time ago that certain pillars of Sith society were far, far outside of her influence. She flicked her fingers, and suddenly the pirate tripped over nothing, stumbling forward and over the railing of the platform. He could be heard shouting curses before a thud indicated he had made contact with the ground below. The two children looked at each other, wide-eyed, before bolting down an alleyway. Lana knew they may still be caught again, but at least now they had a chance.

  Neither of them had slowed their pace during the action, still following the directions to Theron’s hideaway. “You think that they’ll actually get away?” Vera asked. Lana couldn’t tell exactly what Vera’s tone of voice was because of the helmet.

  “They have a better chance than they did,” she replied, giving a nearly imperceptible shrug. “Besides, we’ve already established that I don't like pirates.”

  It wasn’t much longer before they reached their destination. The platform they found themselves on was on the edge of the settlement, and was much more sparsely populated than the rest of their trek. Buildings surrounded all sides except the one they were entering from, effectively making it a dead end.

  Vera nodded her head toward a circular building in the corner. “That’s the one.” Striding over to the metal door, they were both slightly surprised when it slid open upon reaching it. “Either Theron knows it’s us, or his security is shit,” Vera remarked. The two women stepped inside and followed a curving hallway before reaching a large room. A large holotable dominated the center of the space, and several different computer setups with mounted monitors were against the walls. At one of these displays sat their SIS friend, his fauxhawk as prominent as always. Spinning in his chair, he spread his arms as he stood.

  “Hello ladies, and welcome to Rishi!”

—

  It didn’t take too much effort to start spreading the rumor. Theron had already modified a few of the town crier droids that wandered the settlement to start disseminating the misinformation, and had picked out a few high impact individuals to leak the rumor to as well.

  “By high impact, you mean prone to excessive gossip, right?” Vera asked, looking for clarification.

  “Yep, pretty much.”

  After that, all that had to happen was for Theron to coordinate with Mako, split the rumor into a few different pieces of supporting information, and set it free. On Rishi for less than a day, and they’d already set up a full misinformation campaign to kickstart Kayora’s career as a cannibalistic pirate, as short as it may be.

  “I’ve already sent the coded message to bring Kayora to Rishi, so now all we can do is wait,” Theron explained, arms crossed as he watched the dots representing the town crier droids moving through the map of the city. “Aaand hope that she actually comes to Rishi.”

  Both Vera and Lana whipped their heads around to stare at the SIS agent. “What do you mean, ‘hope she actually comes’? Didn’t you send her a message?” Lana asked, resisting the urge to rub at her temples.

  “Well, yes, but like I said, it was coded.”

  “Do you mean coded, or do you mean cryptic?” Vera asked, a look of irritation on her face.

  Theron clapped his hands together. “Cryptic! That’s the word I mean. I sent her a cryptic message, so even less of a chance that somebody figures out who sent it and what it’s about.”

  Lana lost the battle of wills and massaged her temples with her fingers. “Including Kayora?”

  There was an uncomfortable lapse in conversation. “Technically yes, but I have the utmost confidence she’ll be here.” Theron’s voice did not sound as confident as his words did. “Though I can’t say when, so … we’ve got some time to kill.”

  “For fuck’s sake, Theron.” Lana took a step toward the man before she felt Vera’s gloved hand on her forearm. Vera grabbed her helmet off of the table and tucked it under her arm.

  “Come on. Let’s go find some pirates so we can ruin their day.”

  Theron smartly stayed out of their path of the two women as they headed toward the door, though didn’t miss Lana’s glare as she passed. As soon as they were outside, Lana let out a frustrated growl. Her lightsaber was unclipped from her belt and in her hand without her even realizing she’d done it. Vera cracked her knuckles and slipped her helmet down onto her head. She bent slightly at the waist and gestured with a flourish.

  “Shall we?”