CORUSCANT - 10 ABY
An hour after the planetary defense shield activated almost without warning, grounding them atop the old Imperial Palace, they were
still here
, the skylanes empty, the
Messenger
's idling engines barely disturbing the eerie calm. Taryn frowned. She had seen the initial turbolaser flashes with her own eyes, but nothing since. No invasion, no counterattack. A false alarm maybe? Friendly fire? She had heard rumors in more than a few spaceports of an impending Imperial strike to retake the capital planet from the New Republic, but with Grand Admiral Thrawn dead who was even left to lead their scattered remnants?
"Well kriff you too," Taryn snapped at the droning flight controller, angrily switching off the comm before falling back in her seat. "Delicate twat."
Beside her, her co-pilot Del Sato chuckled and shook his head. Taryn glared at him with big hazel eyes while large firm breasts heaved beneath her flight jacket and whisps of soft brown hair dangled before her pretty face. She was, as her father used to put it,
a catch
, but she didn't like to think of herself that way. Often mistaken for a high-class prostitute--the market having been flooded by Galactic Civil War veterans after Endor, and then again by Imperials after Thrawn's defeat--she received more than her fair share of propositions wherever they docked but had always been careful not to let it go to her head. Her focus right now was on being the best pilot she could possibly be, although it was nice to know she had a fallback option if this whole space captain thing didn't work out.
Gray hair slightly receding after three decades in service, Del sat glued to the hologram in front of him, watching a seductive woman about Taryn's height and build (though several years older) casually flicking her gleaming cortosis blade to keep several drooling Trandoshans at bay. Taryn rolled her eyes. Even as a girl she had never been a fan of Serra Hailey's silly adventure vids, but now it was just embarrassing watching a woman quite obviously in her middle years attempt to play a character half her age. And yet she had to admit the woman still had some moves, feeling an itch between her thighs as she studied Serra's ample bouncing breasts and firm ass. There were rumors she had done holoporn on Bastion under an alias when her career temporarily stalled a few years after the founding of the Empire, Taryn's dark mood breaking just a little as she imagined the beauty being spit-roasted and made airtight by the same Trandoshans trying to capture her. Now
those
were the kind of Serra Hailey vids a holoporn connoisseur like herself might be interested in, although she didn't relish the idea of tracking down a smut broker and paying top credit for them. The last time she did that it cost her nearly a month's wages, only for the vid to eventually leak onto the HoloNet anyway. Not that she regretted the purchase, Queen Soriana's Gungan megabang giving her many satisfactory orgasms and restful nights.
Taryn sighed. "How can you watch that poodoo, Del?"
Del the lifelong fan narrowed his eyes at her, though the little appraising flick didn't go unnoticed. For whatever reason, the Core Courier Service had never seen fit to make him a captain of his own ship, and even though he seemed to have made peace with that and was due to retire soon, Taryn could tell her youth irked him, although at twenty-six she was far from a rookie.
"Not much else to do, is there, Captain? Least not until that shield comes down. Besides, this is a classic. You should watch it, get a little culture."
Taryn made a face, thinking of all the communication datacards sitting undelivered in the
Messenger
's hold. An Imperial invasion certainly wasn't her fault, but this was only her fourth time captaining her own ship and she was still in the hot seat after ditching half her cargo on Kreuk IV to escape local pirates. She touched her jaw at the memory, wondering how many cocks she would have to suck
this time
to keep from getting demoted.
Taryn watched the hologram Serra dance across the nav console. "Does she at least get her tewlies out?"
Del chuckled and gave her an approving sideways glance. "Oh yeah, I forgot you went both ways." He smiled and shook his head. "Sorry, kid, not in this one. So what's her name?"
"Who?"
"The desk clerk. I saw that grin when you came out. You weren't in there long enough to have any real fun. Tell me you at least got her comlink number."
Taryn's face warmed. "Her name's Antilles. And if you must know, yes I did."