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Pirate frowned, raising her voice as she saw a Twi'lek woman get slapped by a human man.
"Oi!" She snapped, stalking towards the man.
“Stay out of this, clone, it’s none of your business.” The man immediately snarled.
Grabbing the man's wrist, Pirate yanked his arm behind his back, doing the same for his other arm, cuffing him.
"Are you ok, ma'am?" She asked, shoving the man towards Yeti when he came over.
The Twi’lek nodded slightly, gingerly pressing her fingers to her cheek. “Y-yes, I’m alright.”
Pirate studied her, frowning. "Just a second."
She reached into the pack she carried, pulling out a Bacta bandaid. "Do you want this, ma'am?"
“Oh. No, no, I’m fine-” The Twi’lek started to protest quietly, gaze flicking from side to side nervously.
"It's no trouble." Pirate insisted, carefully placing it on the Twi'lek's cheek.
“..Thank you.” The Twi’lek nodded slightly after a moment, still glancing back and forth nervously.
"Are you ok?" Pirate asked her.
“I’m fine.”
"Do you need walking back to wherever you live?"
“..Please.” The Twi’lek murmured, seeming slightly thoughtful.
Pirate nodded, keeping hold of her blaster. "Please lead the way, then."
The Twi’lek started walking down the street, lekku curling slightly as she led Pirate along.
"I'm Pirate." She introduced herself.
“Leva.”
Pirate nodded, keeping pace alongside the Twi'lek.
Leva led her towards a rather shady area of Coruscant, heading towards a building covered with neon signs.
"That's where you have to go?" Pirate frowned a bit. "Is there nowhere else?"
“It’s where I live and work,” Leva answered quietly. “My son is there. I have to.”
"Do you have a comm?" Pirate asked, after a second, thinking that over.
“It’s monitored,” Leva murmured.
Pirate frowned more but nodded, thoughtfully. "Are you one of those dancers that can have their time booked?"
Leva nodded. “Yes.”
Pirate nodded again, thoughtfully. "I'll be seeing you soon, then."
Leva smiled faintly. “Alright.”
Pirate, holding a bag containing something, trotted back into the barracks, humming quietly to herself.
“Where’ve you been?” Pangolin asked her curiously.
"Found some clothes. And fruit."
“Nice.” Pangolin nodded.
Disappearing briefly into the barracks, Pirate then left them a few minutes later, holding another bag and making her way into the female bathroom.
Pangolin went back to what he was doing, looking up again when she came back out and tilted his head. “Where’d you get those?”
"I found them." Pirate repeated.
“Yeah, but where?” Pangolin persisted.
"Not important. I'll be back in a few hours." Pirate strode past him.
“Alright, see you.”
An hour later, sitting at a table, Pirate looked up as Leva came over to her.
“You came.” Leva’s eyes brightened slightly.
"Yep." Pirate nodded. "Are we able to go to your room? I got fruit for your son."
“As long as you’ve booked me, we can do anything,” Leva answered quietly.
Pirate nodded, considering that. "We've got an hour. You can sleep while I entertain your hatchling."
“Would you?” Leva answered gratefully. “Thank you.”
Standing up, Pirate strode after Leva, holding the bag tightly as she was led towards her tiny room, in the back.
Leva opened the door, letting Pirate in first before going in after her.
"Mama!" A toddler Twi'lek immediately squealed, playing with heavily damaged blocks, looking up at her.
“Hi, baby.” Leva smiled tiredly. “This nice trooper’s going to play with you for an hour, okay? I think she brought some fruit for you.”
Pirate plucked the little boy up, bouncing him gently as she sat down on the floor, holding him in her arms.
“Thank you,” Leva murmured again, lying down on the hard cot.
"What's your name, huh?" Pirate wondered once Leva was asleep, looking down at the child.
“Khinal!”
"It's nice to meet you, Khinal." Pirate reached into the bag, pulling out a few boxes of fruit. "Do you like these?"
Khinal nodded excitedly, stubby lekku bouncing.
With a small smile, Pirate lifted a strawberry to his mouth, feeding it to the toddler.
Khinal cuddled into her, chewing the berry happily.
While the hour trickled by, Pirate continued to feed Khinal the fruits, purring quietly to him, until she was holding a snoring little toddler in her arms, just as Leva stirred.
Leva’s lekku curled as she stretched out, stirring.
"Had a good sleep?" Pirate asked, looking at her.
“Yes.” Leva nodded, sitting up. “Thank you.”
"It's no trouble." Pirate carefully placed the toddler back on the bed. "I'll be back next week. It'll take time to gather up enough money to do this again."
“I appreciate it,” Leva murmured.
Months passed like this, with Pirate going to see Leva and Khinal every week, getting to know them more each time, until, one day while on patrol, Pirate came to a halt, squinting at something, then immediately bolting towards what looked like a small pile of fabric, lying on the street.
Weak whimpers and sniffles came from the pile, Khinal’s small face looking up at her when she moved aside some of the fabric.
Wings arching, Pirate's eyes widened, immediately scooping up the tiny boy.
Khinal blinked at her weakly, still sniffling even as his eyes brightened in recognition, curling into her with a whimper.
"Shhh, shhh.." Standing up, Pirate bolted back towards the barracks.
"Auntie's got you." She promised quietly.
The toddler shivered, tiny fists clinging to Pirate’s armour as she rushed him back to the barracks.
Shoving the door open, Pirate didn't bother saying a greeting to the Guard on desk duty, barrelling past the desk and into the barracks, pelting towards the med bay.
Bear looked up in surprise when she burst in, sitting at his desk.
“Pirate, what’s wrong?”
"You need to check Khinal over." She told him quickly, carefully setting the tiny toddler down.
Bear nodded, standing up and hurrying over.
Khinal whined weakly, the toddler reaching for Pirate as Bear stopped by the bed.
“It’s alright, little one.” Bear soothed, starting to check him over gently. “Get Yeti, would you?”
Lips pursing, Pirate nodded, leaving the medbay to get him.
Yeti was in the rec room, talking to Cashmere when Pirate came in. “Hey, Pirate.” Yeti greeted, tilting his head slightly. “You alright?”
"Bear wants you." Pirate's tone was flat, expression blank of any emotions.
Yeti nodded after a moment, getting up. “I’ll be right there.”
Pirate's chin rested on her arms, hair pulled up into a tight bun, the Kashgar completely focused on the club across the street as she sat on the opposite building's roof.
“Late night stakeout?” A voice asked behind her, a large Kashgar in dark-coloured armour settling on the roof beside her.
"The club needs to close for the night first."
“What’d this one do, other than the usual shit?”
"Killed a friend. And left her hatchling to die."
Deacon growled lowly, nodding. “What do you plan?”
"Kill those running this, and free the rest of the dancers."
“Do you want help?”
Pirate was quiet at that, watching the club still, exhaling quietly, wings ruffling.
“I have no fondness for slavers. I have no qualms helping you lessen their numbers.”
"Killing wasn't meant to be what the Guard does." Pirate sounded slightly reluctant.
"I can't kill them just for myself."
“It’s not just for yourself, though.” Deacon pointed out. “You’re doing this to free those kept under their control, in likely awful conditions and forced to endure all sorts of abuse. I’m sure Fox is doing great with the more minor criminals with his current approach. But this sort of problem only goes away with brutal weeding.”
Wings ruffling, biting her lips, Pirate felt the larger Kashgar's wing wrap around her.
Silently realising he was right, Pirate didn't say a word, just leaning more against Deacon.
Deacon kept his wing wrapped around her, watching the club with her.
After a few hours, when no more people had left the club, Pirate sat up straighter, pushing herself to her feet.
“I’ll follow your lead,” Deacon told her quietly, standing as well.
When she reached the door of the building, Pirate shoved it open, the Kashgar making her way inside.
Deacon followed her closely, the men inside looking up sharply at their entry.
Pirate's lips were twisted into a slight frown, studying the men, before pulling out her blaster and shooting one straight in the head.
The others swore, whipping out weapons of their own as the first one fell.
After a few minutes, Pirate lowered her blaster as the last man fell, looking around the club to check for any others.
“I think that was all of them, unless there’s more hiding in back,” Deacon stated calmly.
"Checking won't hurt," Pirate answered after a second, starting towards there.
Deacon followed her closely, holding his blaster pointed towards the ground.
Entering the back corridor, Pirate sniffed the air and listened out for any noises that could indicate more slavers.
“There are certainly people here,” Deacon noted under his breath, barely audible even to her as he scented the air as well. “I don’t smell any more slavers though.”
Pirate thought over their options, tapping her foot.
".. The clubs can be turned into shelters. So the rooms would have to be refurbished, and the building gutted, but that's no trouble."
Deacon nodded. “I’m certain your fellow Guards would assist you with that effort."
Pirate tapped her foot, watching the burning pile of bodies even as she tapped at her comm, contacting Stone.
“Pirate?” Stone answered relatively quickly. “Where’ve you been? You okay?”
"There's a former club that can now be turned into a shelter," Pirate informed him.
“I’ll get Fox to send a group to help you clear it out, then.” Stone answered, then repeated his question. “You okay?”
"Yeah, I'm good. I'll be here when the group arrives. Pirate out." Pirate cut the comm call, sighing quietly as she looked around.
Now, just to wait until the others arrived.
The stench from the bonfire blew towards her as the wind shifted, smoke billowing and sparks jumping out and fizzling uselessly against the metallic ground.
Pirate wrinkled her nose, placing her helmet on to block out the smoke. She turned away from the bonfire, her eyes landing on something.
In a dark corner behind the building, a familiar dark orange Twi’lek laid sprawled lifelessly on the ground, patches of dried blood covering up the light purple stripes on her lekku.
After a second of stillness, Pirate stepped towards her and knelt.
Despite knowing it was futile, Pirate pressed a finger to Leva’s neck, but not finding a pulse at all.
The young woman’s eyes were still opened wide, an expression of desperation and panic frozen onto her features. Her body was already cold, clearly having been there a while.
Deacon looked over when she reentered the room, eyes softening faintly in sympathy.
“Your friend?”
"Leva," Pirate answered, still wearing her helmet, resulting in her words coming out through the vocaliser.
"...She never told me her last name. I don't know if she even had one."
“I’m sorry,” Deacon told her quietly before tilting his head as the sound of many footsteps approached. “Your Guards, if I’m not mistaken. I will leave you now. Best not for me to be seen as intruding on Fox’s jurisdiction.”
"Thank you for your help, Commander Deacon."
“You’re welcome.” Deacon inclined his head slightly before teleporting away, vanishing.
Looking around, Pirate picked up one of the slavers' cloaks, wrapping it around Leva’s cold, naked body, just moments before the door opened.
“Pirate?” Stone called, leading the way inside.
Setting Leva down carefully on one of the tables, Pirate then turned around.
“Slavers are already dealt with?” Stone asked her.
"They are." Pirate nodded.
“We can take it from here, then, if you want to head back to the barracks.”
After a second, Pirate tilted her head in acknowledgement, scooping up the stiff body of her friend and stalking out.
“One thing, actually, Pirate.” Stone added quickly.
Stopping, Pirate turned to face him.
“Talk to Yesenia Haakim at the Temple. She can help you arrange a burial.” Stone told her.
After a second, Pirate nodded curtly, resuming walking.
The Jedi Priestess Stone had referred Pirate to helped her arrange a small, respectable funeral for Leva. They were the only ones in attendance, but the burial plot was in a nice spot, and Yesenia made sure there were flowers surrounding the headstone and lit candles in prayer for the poor Twi’lek’s smooth journey to the afterlife.
"Thank you." Pirate told her after a second.
“You’re welcome.” Yesenia nodded. “All the prayers are complete. I will leave you to pay your respects now, if you wish.”
"Yes please."
The Mirialan Jedi nodded, lighting one more candle before walking away, leaving Pirate at the graveside.
After a second, Pirate removed her helmet, lowering herself down to kneel.
For a few minutes there was quiet, the only sound being the faint crackle of the candle wicks. Then, after a couple minutes, a blurry figure started to form over the grave.
Pirate glanced up, eyes widening a bit as she saw Leva.
“Hi, Pirate.” Leva smiled slightly.
After a second, Pirate managed a strained smile, pushing herself up to stand. "Hey."
“Please don’t be sad, Pirate.” Leva told her. “I’m going to be with my love now, and Khinal is safe with you. I’m happy.”
"Easier said than done." Pirate answered, hesitating a bit before speaking. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to save you."
“Don’t blame yourself.” Leva shook her head. “You made the last months of my life more bearable than they’ve been since they killed my husband. Thank you for that.”
Wings twitching, Pirate bit her lip slightly.
“Will you do one more thing for me, my friend?”
"What is it?" Pirate asked.
“I have a sister, Saera. She was kept separate from me but in the same club. Will you make sure Khinal is reunited with her?”
"Ok." Pirate agreed after a second.
“Thank you, Pirate. You were a good friend.” Leva looked past Pirate and her eyes brightened, seeing something she couldn’t. “I have to go now. Take care of Khinal, and thank you!”
After a quick glance behind herself, Pirate glanced back to see Leva was gone, leaving her alone in the room.