Nar Shaddaa

Ja'red Foekiller crept carefully forward. He held his trusty blaster pistol in one hand. Despite its size, it was impressively lightweight, almost as though it was made of regular plastic instead of metal or plasteel. He was dressed in his trademark orange tank-top, his wiry muscles on display.

Reaching the door, he took a deep breath. He'd fought long and hard to get here. Trekked across dangerous territory. Fought hordes of minions. Penetrated the fortresses defenses. And now, he'd finally reached his goal. The chambers of Vera Hawke, the fallen Jedi Knight.

Squinting, Ja'red reached out, activating the controls for the door. It slid open with a hiss.

"Foekiller... here at last." Vera Hawke, Lady Tyrant of the Galaxy Under Her Manicured Thumb was standing tall and proud, dressed in her own trademark outfit of leather(-like substance of cheaper variety) and (tacky) lightwhip, her face made up in excessive red and black make up.

"I was growing bored.... I already tortured all of your comrades. I was going to move onto your little dog next." She let out a dramatic evil laugh. "You finally arrived to your dooooooooooooooooom!"

For a moment, Ja'red's eyes opened wide. "Oh, my." He said, in an Alderaanian accent.

Ja'red cleared his throat, squinting again. "Vera Hawke. It's too late." He said, his voice rough and rugged. "I've already defeated all of your minions."

He dove forward, over the rug by the door, undoubtedly concealing a pressure sensor. He tucked into a roll, coming up not far from her, blaster pistol held ready, eyes squinting once more. "Now I just have to stop you. By any means necessary." He took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling.

"Muhahahahahah! You fool! By killing my minions, you have sacrificed them to the Dark Side! My power has grown exponentially! I now have! Ultimate power!!! Muhahahaha!" She threw her head back and let out the evil laugh... and dialed it down a notch. There were neighbors after all.

"Taste my Dark Lightning powers!" She extended her right hand towards him, fingers spread, and let loose the evil energy!"

"Bzzzzzt. Crackle crackle." Hopefully she provided the right audio. How does lightning even sound?

Ja'red briefly chuckled, but then threw his head back. "Nooooooooooooooo!" He yelled, remarkably similar to how he sounded when Wrowrean had died. His body convulsed as electricity probably crackled over him, or something. His blaster pistol fell from limp fingers.

But he stumbled forward, despite the pain. He seized her, one arm sliding around Vera Hawke's slender waist. "I'm too rugged and strong, Vera." He said roughly. "You won't defeat me that easily. I can still feel the good in you." His arms tightened around her. "I just have to figure out how to reach it."

She threw her head back in anguish. "Oh noes! He is immune to ultimate power! However I shall prevail." Her eyes opened wide.... like really, really wide. "Ja'red! Through the lips! The evil spirit possessed me while I was breathing! You need to drive him out" She threw her head back again, "possessed" again. "No! The Galaxy shall be mine!"

Ja'red grinned, his squint briefly disappearing. "Well. For the good of the galaxy, looks like I have one more job to do."

His arms tightened around her, the galaxy commando pulling the possessed Jedi knight's body against his. He tilted his head, bending forward to kiss her passionately. His lips parted as they pressed against hers, no doubt to aid him in sucking the evil spirit from her body.

"Oh that sense of duty..." she exclaimed before giggling. "You know... this was more fun before the evil yet competent female rules was defeated by rugged manly charm. This feels so stereotypical."

She did give him another kiss. "I must say... orange is not your color."

"Yeah?" Niall laughed, using his normal voice now. "Maybe we can flip it around next time. The rugged manly hero can't resist the evil female ruler's beauty and power, and joins her. How does that sound?"

"You don't think so?" Niall paused for a moment, squinting and looking off to the side, becoming Ja'red Foekiller (but with more hair) for another moment. Then, with a smooth motion, he peeled off the tank top, tossing it aside.

"On the other hand, you look very intriguing in leather. I hope you'll give me a hand with those laces. There's so many..." It was a bit of a mystery how she got into it, in fact. Niall moved in for another kiss, his excitement clearly high.

"Rule together? Perhaps I'll consider it, if you survive my trials, Foekiller." She squinted too, placing her hands on his chest. "

"Your wig suits you Ja'red... I'll allow it." She moved in, hugging him, the leather squeaking, ruining the moment. Or at least trying to. "Oh? The great hero begging for help?" She smiled deviously. "There is a price for such wisdom, you know."

Having a droid on hand helped a lot.

"There's no challenge I can't overcome." He growled, his chest rising and falling under her chest. Well, no challenge except these damned laces, perhaps. He scarcely noticed the squeak of the leather, his mind very firmly on other things.

"Ja'red Foekiller doesn't beg. But your majesty and power are too much for me." He kissed her neck, moving up her cheekbone. "And so if there is a price, I pay it willingly." He whispered, his breath brushing her ear.

She giggled, and turned her cheek to whisper in his ear." Show me Ja'red. Impress me." She nibbled on his ear, before stepping away, turning around, so that he was actually seeing the laces on her back.

"Here's your help then." She giggled once again.

Ja'red/Niall grinned. He took a moment to appreciate her form, looking her up and down, definitely not squinting, his eyes open. "Okay." He said, his tone confident. He cracked his knuckles dramatically, first the right, then the left, then rolled his head from side to side. "Let's do this."

As it turned out, a laced corset was no match for his determination.

/ftb

The heroine was rescued, the evil spirit slayed, and our heroes were exhausted after the battle. "Mhm....should I feel bad about not feeling bad about that?" Asked Vera Knight Blonde Version.

Niall rolled over onto his side, facing her. He propped his head up onto his elbow, his grey eyes gleaming in the dim light as he looked at her. "Aly..." He said, smiling, dropping all remaining bits of the Foekiller act, "I can say with complete confidence that there is no part of what just happened that you should feel bad about. Speaking for myself, I feel very good about it, in fact."

Indeed, he seemed visibly less tense then when she'd seen him earlier that day, the muscles in his shoulders more relaxed, and the lines forming around his eyes were gone.

"Ni... I was hoping I didn't give reasons for disappointment." She smiled at him, and poked his chest. "But more seriously.... I feel I have no idea what does a Jedi do. Or how do they act."

He laughed softly as she poked his chest. "Oh. Okay. No, you certainly did not." Indeed, he was quite thrilled, as much as he had been the first time.

His expression grew more thoughtful, though he still smiled. "Hmm. I've heard the Jedi code. It sounded rather open to interpretation." He shifted, making himself a little more comfortable as they lay together. "Share your thoughts with me?" He invited.

She shifted as well, placing her head on his chest, his heart beats clear to her ears.

"Maybe... but I... well. Where to start." She sighed. "My master and I got off on the wrong foot and... never got on." She raised her left hand in the air, idly looking at it. "He trained me well to fight, but the Code was a different topic."

Niall sighed softly, contented, as Aly leaned her head against his chest. His heartbeat was strong and steady, his skin warm. His hand came up to gently stroke her hair, again and again, as she spoke.

"I see." His voice was soft, but Aly could feel it rumble deeply in his chest. "So it sounds as though he was a bit of a mismatch. And you didn't receive everything you should have as a result. Do I have it right?"

"Yeah. Something like that. It's just... he's a really good duelist, and he is very anti-slavery. He spent a lot of time with abolition, both in the Senate, and in the field. He's popular, and well liked. I saw a different face of him though. We were in an arena, and he was unarmed. Metaphorically."

Her fingers started idly scratching his chest.

"It's difficult to see, when you know that someone's public face and their private one aren't entirely in sync." Niall sighed. "We see that all too often in the Republic." He bend his neck to kiss the top of her head, inhaling softly as he did so. He made a soft encouraging noise for her to go on.

There was a new blaster burn along his side, although it was already fading, clearly treated.

"Yeah... and whenever you bring up that perhaps he's not a good fit, you get pushback for not understanding how awesome he is." She sighed, and snuggled in closer, now noticing the new burn.

"... Niall Organa, what have you been up to?"

"Oh." Niall glanced down. "That. I had just been following up on some leads from the children kidnapping. That was one of the results. They didn't even tell me anything." He smiled. "We did rescue some children, though."

His arms settled back around Aly, helping her to cuddle against him. "But we were talking about you, and your master."

"You know, there are less painful of getting children." She smirked, before turning more serious. "I heard from Master Lorne. Sorry, I don't think I have the time to help just yet. How is it progressing?"

Perhaps she could avoid continuing the topic after all!

"Errr..." Niall cleared his throat, letting that one pass. With what they'd just been doing, discussion of methods of getting children was ... ahem.

"But it's progressing quite well, in fact. Not so much due to the lead that earned me that." He nodded down at the blaster graze. "But Yslane helped me to find a freighter that they're being taken to. I want to do a bit more legwork, but I have hopes of wrapping it up soon."

He kissed her forehead. "I remember you were quite good at deflecting my questions when we were children, too." He said, his tone lightly amused. "But it did rather sound like something you wanted to talk about."