Romeo And Twilek Ch 01

Ok! 100% honest, I am uploading this now because of how rapidly my last story blew up to see if you guys like this, while there's lots of eyes around. I'm not certain if it fits here but I've put way too much time into this for it to go unread. There is NO sex in this chapter, or the next couple to come. Enjoy and comment!

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In a galaxy full of people willing to die for and -much worse- kill others for their beliefs, it's hard to find someone levelheaded.

Myself being an amateur surveyor of worlds, women, and winning pazaak hands, it took me a considerable amount of traveling and sneaking and hiding, and running, to find her.

And who else but a Twi'lek? Their Lekku isn't just for show, though she did have quite a pair.

It was after a fairly mediocre bit of traveling after my big win on Lok and my subsequent

very

successful escape from that pit, that our paths crossed on Tatooine.

I was aiming to double the pot I scored from that last hand of Pazaak on Lok in the local pod racing circuit. I reasoned that it being a very unknown little town on such an insignificant planet, it'd be easy to spot the best racer in a gaggle of amateurs.

As usual, I was only partly right, but what was unusual was that I did not flee the planet afterwards to save my own skin, but to protect someone else's.

I had just tossed the dock master a credit chip -receiving a funny look in return- after finalizing my docking information and made my way outside to find the nearest cantina when I heard the horns blasting into the air above. I saw the cantina at the corner of the dusty, busy road, but it and everything around it was overshadowed by the towering stadium letting all know about the races going on with its great flapping, tattered flags and bruising horns.

I looked at the cantina and then I looked at the stadium. I didn't look at the incredible sum of credits in my pocket, but I knew I was going to do something with it.

The stadium it was.

I made my way past the very diverse cast of ugly sentients trying to make their way in life on this speck of dust of a planet and to the betting window. A large set of eyes peered past the bars separating us and watched my every move. I spoke to it and it seemed to understand Basic, and credits, albeit much more fluently than the former.

I set the stack of chips on my side of the window and the eyes were distracted for a moment before cutting right back to me while I looked at the roster of racers on deck on the holoscreen above the window.

All looked like small time thugs or desperate people with mouths to feed or both. All except one. Amongst all the drab brown of the rough sand and clothing, smooth, blue skin and uncovered Lekku seemed to shine in the intense sunlight. A young female Twi'lek with a mischievous look in her eye sat in the pod that appeared most unlikely to fall apart on the track. She tested her controls before she snapped the goggles on her forehead over her eyes. She looked like a winner.

I asked the eyes what the Twi'lek's name was and got an irritated gurgle in response before two very delicate looking tentacles inched out and took my little stack of credits. I thanked the thing and hurried to the viewing area at the starting line.

I was unsure how to feel about finding the stadium filled at a fraction of its capacity. Bored and pensive looking creatures leaned on the railing, while others' eyes were glued to the view-screens and lineup of the racers. I peered out onto the burning sands and spotted my Twi'lek. Her blue head tails protruded from her skull cap and were wrapped around her neck like a scarf. I hoped it'd brace the impact of a crash, at least.

Little droids ran to and fro from the vehicles and garage pits. Jawas supervised but seemed to be just as ineffective at preparing a race. Eventually the announcers decided it was time enough and the crews vacated the track. The racers primed their engines and awaited the countdown.

Seemingly always present, the ruling Hutt sat on his opulent mound of pillows and slaves and hit the gong with a little hammer at the last count. The gong's reverberations were amplified throughout the stadium and the racers shot out, though a couple failed to get off the ground and remained there for the rest of the race.

Though I felt a pain of empathy for the stalled losers, I felt glee at my increased chances. The track extended out of the stadium and traversed a difficult course out on the dunes and back into the stadium as the finish line. I saw the Twi'lek shoot out amongst the front of the pack but had to watch the rest of the race on the view screen. I cycled through the racers till it focused on her.

It said her name was Sahra Sarcosa, and it was her eighth race on Tatooine circuits, though it didn't list how many wins she had under her belt. She was safe in third place but I could tell she was building momentum. She stomped on her accelerator to get extra boosts over the tops of the dunes, sometimes flying over racers in smaller pods below.

The flying recorder tracking her zoomed in on her face as she cleared a gorge, her red tongue stuck out in pure focus, her Lekku threatening to unwind around her neck. Her sand poncho flapped around her at the incredible speed she was going.

The other patrons around me grumbled at her jump to second, presumably prejudiced against the unusual existence of a Twi'lek on this planet. I caught my smile before it spread upon my face in case they grew belligerent. I looked around once more and saw a few shady Rodians loitering in the corner, they didn't seem to be talking much but their screen was fixed on Sahra as well.

I absently hoped she'd win for their sake as well but hoped they had no ulterior motive. I turned back to my screen to catch her on the rebound of a collision with another racer. His helmet and goggles shrouded what type of being he was but he tried to slam into her once more, forcing Sahra to mount the wall of the canyon to avoid him. She launched off the side onto the ridge of the canyon, causing some consternation from the viewers and the announcer, citing the Hutt's annoyance with such a move.

Though it was technically not allowed, the rules were usually a bit bent in pod racing in general, so no real repercussions would befall her unless she abandoned the race completely. She obviously had no desire to do that though, and blasted her pod over the side onto the rear end of the pod barreling forward in first. A great splash of sparks flew about the two vehicles as she collided with him. The driver turned around and threw a spanner at her pod, obviously furious at the attack.

The Twi'lek careened away from him and slingshotted into first, the incumbent's vehicle now crippled. He shook his fist in fury as his pod dropped to the ground and the remaining racers left him in their dust. Sahra didn't seem to savor his defeat as I had, she was wholly focused on keeping her pod functional long enough to cross that finish line.

The mysterious being gunning for her reappeared from behind a dune, gaining on her fast. She looked over her shoulder and saw him coming, leaning into the turn in the course to get away from him. More racers followed and cut him off from her, eliciting a remark I couldn't understand from one of the suspicious Rodians.

I raised my guard after that, uncertain of their intent. Sahra seemed to be holding onto first place solidly, maintaining a good distance between her and the other racers and closing in on the last portion of the track.

A field of scrapped and destroyed speeders and pod racers remained before the stadium entrance and the finish line. Sahra weaved expertly in and out of the way of demolished vehicles, though a few racers following her could not do the same, crashing and some exploding on impact with the hunks of metal.

The shrouded rival had no such problem, unfortunately and brought up second place soon enough; only a handful of original racers remaining. Sahra passed into the tunnel of the stadium followed shortly after by her hunter. The view screen stayed black for eternal seconds and no one around me made a sound in anticipation of the tunnel exit.

With a flash of blue over brown, Sahra zoomed out of the darkness, her poncho gone and her pod belching smoke. Her goggles seemed hastily replaced on her face and she appeared to be gasping for breath as she crossed the short distance over the sand across the finish line, the only one to do so for several moments until a rough looking Weequay burst out the tunnel, Sahra's pursuer nowhere to be found.

The scheming Rodians exclaimed angrily, I knew now there was some correlation between them and the violent racer. I quickly sliced into the view screen to get into the network all the screens used to show the raced and overloaded the one the Rodians were about to stomp away from. Their screen exploded with bright light and bits of metal and a great concussion. They screamed and I dashed away in the confusion to collect my winnings from the betting center.

I hurried past the stadium security and verified my identity with the official who dealt me my winnings, hiding how overjoyed I was out of politeness. I tucked the belt of credit chips into my overcoat and turned to head for some cantina to lie low in. On my way out the door, I remembered why I even blew up those Rodians; Sahra. Someone was definitely out to get her.

Usually I'd just cut and run in a situation that could endanger my life and credits, but that girl had made me the most money I'd had in years. She was cute, too. Instead of turning for the exit, I found my way to the vehicle bays and searched for Sahra or whoever was after her.

At the end of the bay I saw what looked to be the Rodians from earlier snooping around an empty stall, one of them standing to the side holding onto one of his bug-eyes in pain. It seemed my little trick wasn't harmless to such sensitive eyes. I walked past them without a glance out the open garage door opposite them. I asked a beggar sitting at the corner of the building by the roadside if he's seen a blue Twi'lek and he pointed me down the road.

I dropped him a couple credits and hailed a speeder. It was driven by a couple Jawas who turned around to learn where I wanted to go and I pointed down the road. They chattered to each other a moment and then we were off.

I scanned the street and the people walking by for any sign of her or trouble. Eventually the city turned to outskirts and the Jawas grew restless. The passenger turned to look at me several times before quietly throwing his hands up and saying something to the driver.

Their annoyance and leisurely control of the speeder going down the street was broken by a large, boisterous land speeder tearing out of nowhere and crossing the road before us. The Jawas screamed in surprise and I yelled for them to follow the land speeder. They struggled to reclaim control of the speeder and then did as I asked, albeit reluctantly and not as fast as I'd liked.

The usual riffraff occupied the speeder: Duros and Rodians and a large Trandosian in the back. They seemed to be following a trail breaking away from the traveled path, into the badlands. They were going so fast they didn't seem to notice we were following them, or simply thought it was Jawa travel.

After passing nothing but moisture vaporators, our band of thugs stopped abruptly and pulled off the little trail. I thrust my hand forward from my hunched sitting position, attempting to look like a Jawa to a cursory glance. The Jawas drove around them and continued on the path up a little hill and I hopped off, tossing them a credit chip and getting low.

The Jawas shrieked excitedly and sped off, I cursed them internally and got out my macrobinoculars, laying on the shrubland. The aliens were out of their speeder and advancing cautiously down a ravine. Their blasters were drawn and they glanced everywhere but behind them; unconcerned about witnesses it seemed. These guys really were small time, then, if they didn't notice or remember the Jawas and I.

From my position I could see the still forms of two of the Rodians from the stadium laying face down ahead of the aliens. They lay a short distance away from each other, just failing to reach the small shack at the end of the ravine. The Rodians' reinforcements checked their pulses briefly and kept their weapons trained on the shack.

They approached the door and the leading Trandoshan reached one arm toward the door. Before he could pull it open, the last Rodian, tied and screaming, was thrown off the roof onto the startled thugs below. The Trandoshan and a Duro were knocked over, causing one of them to discharge his pistol, obliterating the palpable silence of the gang's approach and throwing the ravine into chaos.

An engine roared to life and the aliens dashed for cover, blasting the shed as they fell. Red lasers speared through the thin metal walls and stray shots vaporized sand and rock. Sahra burst through the shack's flimsy door on her swoop, blindsiding the Trandoshan as he got to his feet.

The aliens shot at her as she raced down the ravine. I got up fast and un-holstered my blaster, clicking the safety off and wondering how this happened. I aimed at the shed and squeezed a few blasts off, my green lasers flashing over the aliens' heads. They ducked and shot wildly into the hills, only a few shots landing in my direction.

I thrust my blaster back into my holster and sprinted down the hill to intercept Sahra as she fled for her life. I was practically falling down the hill as I hopped from foot to foot to control my momentum. I ran hard back onto the footpath and heard the drone of the swoop closing in fast. Sahra cried out for me to get out of the way, only seconds from running me down with her swoop.

I sidestepped and readied myself to jump onto the back of her swoop before she got away. I wasn't certain if she understood that I was helping her -or wanted to help her anyway- and knew she wouldn't be able to hear me say anything, so I prayed she wouldn't attack me once I was on board.

She seemed satisfied I got out of the way and turned her attention back to the path ahead of her, so I had time to explain when I leapt with all my might onto her swoop. My hands caught the edge of the cockpit and I pulled myself in after being dragged above the sand a moment. My heart returned back to its assigned spot in my chest as I felt the familiar safety inside of a vehicle opposed to dangling off its side.

I was stuffed in behind Sahra as she piloted the machine and tried to duck further as the blaster fire returned towards us until we were out of sight from the ravine. Once Sahra realized this she tried to strike me with her elbow, cursing me and demanding I get off. I dodged her attempts to hit me and carefully retrieved my winnings on their clip and showed it to her when she turned her head to look at me. I could see her eyes bulge under her goggles and her lips mouthed something I couldn't hear. She turned to hit me once more for good measure but I shouted at her to stop.

We rode on together in silence, I wasn't sure where yet but I presumed she had a better hiding spot than that little wilderness retreat that got shot to pieces. To my surprise and bittersweet amusement, we drove right back into town. Sahra did not seem worried but she did periodically check for any skulking degenerates around. We turned off the main road into a deserted alley. She slowly piloted the swoop into a massive overturned container and shut it off.

I waited to see what she wanted me to do. She spun around and grabbed my collar, I could see my own wide eyes in her large brown ones. She demanded to know my name and how I was involved in this.

I told her my name and explained that I had bet on her race and she had made me a very rich man. She still appeared skeptical so I reached for my belt of credits.

"A very rich man," I said.

She released my collar and gently raised the belt closer to her face with her fingertips. Her eyes returned to mine and she said, "That's a lot of money."

I nodded and smiled awkwardly.

"Winner doesn't even get half as much and I'm the one risking my life out there," she grumbled. She thought for a moment and added, "A quarter."

"What?" I responded, hoping she didn't mean what I thought she meant. "Why? What about your prize money?"

She seethed and said, "I didn't get it! Those Garth thugs tried to kill me after I pulled my swoop in. I had to get out of there without even receiving the trophy!" She bit her lip and seemed to change tactics.

"Please. You're a part of this now, help me. I made you that money and almost died three times over now for my trouble."

I didn't know what to say so I fixed my collar. "Just hold on. I don't even know why those guys were trying to kill you. What'd you do to them? Who's Garth?"

Sahra climbed out of the swoop and I followed her out of the box.

"This," she said, gesturing toward the swoop, "isn't mine."

I couldn't mask my disappointment.

"It's Garth's, then?" I asked.

Sahra nodded.

"Garth is the local gangster trying to get away with as much as the Hutts won't notice. Everyone who's too afraid to work for the Hutts works for him instead. I didn't plan on sticking around here any longer so thought I could stick it to him and make some money at the same time."

She sighed hard and crossed her arms before walking towards the door beside the container.

I followed and listened to her as she unlocked the door.

"But somehow, he found out I took the bike."

She pushed the door open and walked in, waiting for me to follow before shutting and locking it behind me.

We were in a large room that served as what looked to be both her living space and a mechanical workshop.

She noticed me looking around and quietly said, "I needed that prize money."

I nodded and asked her what she worked on in here.

"I'm a mechanic. I can fix anything. Starship, swoop bike, speeder. Anything for credits."

I scoffed and asked, "Do you "fix" things for credits too?"

She was taken off guard and denied it thoroughly.

"I'd never! I keep to myself and do good work. Garth's gang does that, all the business has been driven away and that's the very reason I had to steal their bike and get out of here," she explained.

"How likely are they going to find us here?" I asked.

She sat down on her bed and said, "I don't know. But if you have family or people you care about here, they might find them soon."

I groaned and held my face in my hands as I thought of my ship, parked right in the open on that landing platform.

She asked me what was wrong and I told her my ship was vulnerable and probably found by now.

Sahra jumped up and yelled, "You have a ship?"

I hesitated a moment before affirming that I did and hoped I still did after they were done with it.

Sahra was still dumbstruck that I possessed a means off this planet and said, "Why didn't you say you had a ship?"

I shrugged and said, "I hadn't thought about it, been kind of focused on swoops until this point."

She slapped her thighs and closed the distance between us.

"Forget the quarter! Just get me out of here, please! It won't cost you a thing but your courage to get it back from Garth."

Sahra stopped and smiled with that same look she wore before the race. She wagged her finger at me and said, "And you need me to help you find it before he scraps it."

I knew she was right but didn't want to give in to her so easily, so I cupped my chin and faced away from her, feigning consideration.

"What planet do you even want to go to?" I asked, turning around.

Sahra laughed and hugged me before gathering her own blaster and valuables she couldn't leave behind if we did manage to get off-world. She offered me some spikes and a bag of supplies to hang over my shoulder before she answered simply, "The Core."