Returning Tak's Cat (D7 EA, Bounty)

[Cole Ormont]

"I'm hoping it won't come to that. Especially if Captain Tightass decides the best thing to do is storm the freighter and recover the children by force." He fished the cherry out of his drink with a toothpick, it had absorbed its weight in whiskey and lemon juice, and was his favourite part of the drink. He chewed slowly, savouring it.

[Shaisha Vreysk]

She nodded carefully, her mood darkening slightly.

"Referring to something in particular, Cole...?"

[Cole Ormont]

"I'm not going to endanger your mechanic, or anyone else for that matter, if I can help it. If Captain Organa storms the vessel, my boots sure as hell won't be on the ground."

[Shaisha Vreysk]

"Fair enough... was just curious if you were referring to something that happened last night."

She cast a glance around them, then lowered her voice. "I have footage of Captain Organa, Jedi Baesal and another Jedi fleeing the scene where someone attacked my people. To be honest, I thought better of the Republic, at least those who had been spouting about peace all this time... but I guess deception is on both sides. So I'm not very happy with the Captain right now."

[Cole Ormont]

His military instincts almost kick in, to defend the man, but instead he chuckled, and it was a humourless sound. He indicated to the waitress to bring him another drink, and he sucked his teeth for a moment. "Captain Alderaan," and he says the nickname with sarcasm, "believes what he preaches, I'll vouch for that much at least. Can you give me a copy of the footage?"

[Shaisha Vreysk]

"Perhaps..." she leans back slightly. "Depends on what you intend to do with it."

[Cole Ormont]

"Leverage," he answered flatly. The waitress brings his drink and he waits until she's moved away. "This is my own people the footage damns, remember. The only thing it's good to me for is demanding an explanation."

[Shaisha Vreysk]

Shaisha breathed deeply as she considered it. Then without a word, got out her datapad and passed on the file to Cole.

"Eight dead, one in critical condition." She added in a flat tone as she picked up her drink again. Despite her tone, she did seem agitated about the issue. "I have not taken this to a higher level yet. I trust you won't either."

[Cole Ormont]

"Civilians?" his pale eyes flashed, Kidaja got better than he deserved, he reminds himself.

[Shaisha Vreysk]

A slight shake of her head.

"Not as such, no, but most of them non-combatants. Could be there were civilians nearby who got caught in the explosion, but I don't have any numbers on that. The Hutts are keeping the whole deal pretty quiet though, probably thinking it's another attack by those Crescent Shadow-terrorists."

[Cole Ormont]

Cole muted the sound on his datapad, angling it away from the rest of the bar, and watched the footage dispassionately. He recognised Niall and Thy, and Baesal was hard to miss, the other woman he didn't know. "There were Imperials in the building?"

[Shaisha Vreysk]

Shaisha nodded.

"People who work with me. So you'll have to forgive me for being a little on edge."

[Cole Ormont]

Sighing, Cole narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "There must be more to this. The Captain's a prig, with a rod so far up his ass he must be able to taste it, but he's no saboteur."

Cole swallows half of his second whiskey sour, "then again, until this morning, I didn't think I was either."

[Shaisha Vreysk]

"I would very much like to know what reasons he had for doing this," she crossed her arms. "But you might be better suited to asking than I would be... judging by my mood this morning and last night, I would be more inclined to run a lightsaber into his gut than to hear what he had to say for himself."

[Cole Ormont]

Cole smirked and his eyes hardened, "just leave his pretty face untouched, and drop him at my door when you're done?"

[Shaisha Vreysk]

Shaisha chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind if our paths cross, but the sensible side of me would rather have answers. I will get my revenge, eventually."

[Cole Ormont]

Cole put the datapad away and slouched back in his seat, knees wide enough to cross multiple timezones, he adjusted a pants leg and took another drink. I don't know if I recognise myself anymore, who knows what Captain Organa is capable of?

[Shaisha Vreysk]

Cole's manspreading wasn't the worst she had seen, though it was perhaps one of the more justified ones.

"You know," she began, "Organa did ask me to look after you, even when I warned him I might be a bad influence on you. Look where that's gotten us."

[Cole Ormont]

"Drinking in Shadow Town without a Republic soldier to guard my squishy self?" Cole laughs, "Nar Shaddaa's a shit hole. I need your bad influence more then I need him stepping into the shoes of Group Commander Ormont."

[Shaisha Vreysk]

Shaisha joined in the laugh for a brief moment.

"Ah right, your old man. You don't sound very enamored with him."

[Cole Ormont]

"Try and imagine growing up with Captain Alderaan for a dad," he ran a hand through his curls, his expression softening.

[Shaisha Vreysk]

"Ew," was her first response.

"Not gonna claim my sire is any better, but at least he's not an complete berk like him."

[Cole Ormont]

"Not the word I would have applied to the Group Commander," Cole's mouth twisted thoughtfully. Shrugging, "his approach to raising a child was to treat it like I was a new recruit he needed to train. I'm not saying it was a bad upbringing, just one without room for sentimentality."

[Shaisha Vreysk]

"Hm," she nodded. "What of your mother though, if you don't mind me asking?"

[Cole Ormont]

Cole smiled fondly, "mother is a sweet little mouse of a woman. She had a lot of love to give, too bad the Group Commander was the man she chose to give it to. He never hit her, for what that's worth, but she's a broken woman in other ways."