Work Text:
“That will be eight credits.”
Shai dug in her pocket and extracted her last credits- counted eight which left her with one. The bar droid doesn't seem to notice this as it takes the credits Shai threw on the counter between them before trundling off. Shai stared at her lonely last credit in her hand, turning the thin metal chip over in her fingers with a sigh. The bar droid returns with her drink, placing a coaster down followed by the bottle before heading off to tend to other patrons. Shai picked it up and sipped the light lager with a cringe of disgust. Even the beer was warm on this satellite station, as if this day couldn’t get worse.
What should have been a relatively straight forward hunt had turned into a complete fiasco as Shai now found herself stranded on this satellite station without a ride back to Mandalore or even access to her bank vault to pay for a ride. Sipping her warm beer with another grimace, she mused that she should have known better, and this is what she got for trying to diversify. Jango never took on the complicated cases that required covert identities and as a result he never seemed to get in the fixes she did. Sure, she had some wins, but oh boy did she have some fails like today too.
It had gone well up until a point.
The training she received as a youngster as a courtesan for the Hetaira Clan came in handy in the weirdest ways and schmoozing up the mark, a wealthy financier who kept funding people fighting the Hutts, came easy. Devaronians weren’t as easy pushovers for a raven-haired beauty with a prehensile tail as humans were, human men particularly seemed to lose their marbles when they released the band of fur that curled around her waist moved and was part of her, but eventually his curiosity wore through. After all it wasn’t every day that he found himself being cozied up to by a very attractive woman in the outer rim who wasn’t a Twi’lek on the Hutt payroll or a desperate woman trying to make credits in the underworld in the oldest profession in the galaxy. Of course, he asks about her facial scars, they all do and Shai spun a tragic tale of a dinner party gone wrong which leaves him hanging on every word. Shai knew all the tricks to push and pull and maintain the image of a wealthy socialite who moved in shady circles, until the other hunter burst through the door.
No Hunter shall interfere with another’s hunt was the fifth command of the creed and in the defense of the other Mandalorian, he had no idea who she was. All he saw was a woman cozying up to the mark in the corner of the bar under the dim lights of the bar, but the effect of a fully kitted up Mandalorian from Clan Astra judging by the armor color, busting into the cocktail bar and it was all over.
“I was here first,” Shai snapped, hoping he’d get the hint.
“Move whore,” the Mandalorian rumbled, pointing his blaster at the mark. “This scum has debts with the Hutts.”
“I know. I said I was here first,” Shai fired back in Mando’a drawing her blaster from where it was covertly hidden in the nxxu fur coat that was draped around her shoulders.
The Mandalorian faltered a few paces away and for a few seconds everyone froze. The Creed stated that in this instance the intruder was to back down, but Shai had been around the block enough times to know that not all Mandalorians treated the Bounty Hunter’s creed as law and some of the more fundamental sects saw the Mandalorians as the only bounty hunters in the galaxy and that everyone else were impostors or worse, apostates. Factor in she wasn’t wearing her armor only a slinky black dress and a nexu coat, Shai could see the Mandalorian’s cogs turning slowly as he tried to decide who or what she was.
Before Shai or the other hunter had a chance to react the mark dived under the table and bolted for the door. Both hunters dove after him as the bar erupted into panicked screams and the music screeched to a stop. Shai was almost in range when the other hunter grabbed her by the arm and threw her off balance into the wall. Shai stumbled, slamming hard into the stone wall, shocked that another hunter would so obviously and childishly try to interfere with her hunt. Despite the rumbling baritone, Shai decided he must be new to the game and if she caught him before the mark, she would beat the creed into him herself.
In the end it didn’t matter because by the time she made it out to the street the mark had vanished and so had the other hunter. A few moments later Shai heard a scream down an alley followed by several shots and groaned. Definitely a newbie. Spitting furiously, Shai headed off in the direction of the space port where she found the day’s next piece of bad luck- the small freighter she borrowed for the job was gone, presumably stolen and with it was her data-pad, long range comms, spare blaster and travel pack. The eight credits weren’t hers, she pickpocketed them off a passerby to get herself a drink to think up a plan for getting home.
Shai sipped her beer and tried to tell herself that she was still alive and she didn’t have to go back to the Hutts and explain why the mark was dead. She suspected they would have killed the Devorian anyways but the Hutts like to kill the bounties themselves, or so Shai heard. She never stuck around that long. Jango did. Something that Shai couldn’t understand but he had some other odd enjoyments as well. Shai would take her credits and leave before it got ugly, she had seen enough in her life as it was, no sense adding to the nightmares already plaguing her in the small hours.
Her beer was almost empty when the door slammed open behind her and immediately raucous laughing and crowing filled the bar. Shai looked around at the door and rolled her eyes.
Weequay. Delightful…
Shai huddled into the nexu fur coat and sipped her beer as the young Weequays tumbled up to the bar, laughing outrageously about something before ordering a round of drinks for themselves. They were young, Shai could tell by the slenderness of their faces and the length of their braids. There was a definite leader among them, the shortest one with a handsome brown coat that he no doubt stole from someone with more taste than he had. Shai had almost turned back to her beer when she heard the ringleader mention his new ship.
“What will you call the ship Hondo?” demands his friend excitedly.
“So many possibilities,” the one called Hondo splayed his hands. “How about The Huntress?”
“Ooooh!” his cronies reply.
“Or The Siren?” Hondo continues.
Shai rolled her eyes. Weequay were notoriously full of it, but this one was a pro. Despite this, Shai sensed an opportunity for a ride and slunk closer.
“No! No! Get this,” Hondo continues. “The Naboo Conqueror!”
His friends burst out laughing. “You WISH you conquered that woman from Naboo!” laughs one of them.
Hondo grabs him. “Mention that again and you will be eating my coat for breakfast!”
“How about a Piece of Ship?”
The Weequay, Hondo apparently his name was, looks around, suddenly realizing Shai has slunk well within striking distance without him realizing and is smiling at him harmlessly. Hondo releases his friend before looking her up and down unashamedly, taking in the slinky black dress, nexu fur coat and heavy makeup. Shai holds his gaze as she downs the last of her beer and then gestures at it pointedly. The Weequay startles, immediately understanding the gesture as he clicks his fingers pointedly at the droid.
“Droid! The lady’s drink is empty! And you call yourself a professional,” he exclaims loudly.
“I am not a professional I am a reprogrammed dictation droid from-“ the droid returns bitterly.
“No one cares,” Hondo snaps before turning back to Shai with a broad grin. “As opposed to you, who I very much care about. I for one would be very interested in a courtship.”
Shai chuckled, pleasantly surprised. Weequay weren’t known for being witty. “Oh very good. Failing that, there’s always BanthaShip.”
“Oh please! Madam! You insult my ship that you haven't even seen,” he acts wounded, clutching his chest dramatically.
“Oh forgive me, of course you would be cruising around in a Naboo Starfighter,” Shai corrects herself facetiously.
“Naboo Star- Please!” he scoffs. “I am Hondo Ohnaka, wily pirate captain of-“
“You’re not a Captain?” one of his lackeys pipes up.
“Shut up! Captain of the dreaded ship Royal Furor until it was tragically destroyed in a dramatic skirmish I barely escaped with my life,” Hondo exclaims.
“I thought the Republic seized it?”
“WILL YOU SHUT UP!” Hondo turns on his men. “Go fuel up the ship or something!”
Shai couldn’t restrain the giggle if she wanted to as the men slink off, not to refuel the ship but to start hustling dejarik in the corner. Hondo turns back to her, sighing dramatically. “It’s so hard to be a pirate in today’s economy, so hard. I must make do with the crooks I have. They are crooks, lousy ones and I deserve terrible ones.”
“Of course, of course,” Shai pats his hand, amused.
“And you Madam?” Hondo doesn't miss that chance to seize her hand in his rough one before she can retract it. “Surely your husband is about to return and challenge me to a duel? That I will win of course before slinging you over my shoulder and carrying you off.”
Shai falters, surprised that although his skin feels like Trandoshan hide, his grasp is surprisingly gentle. Shai forces herself to focus before managing a bashful grin. “No husband to fight.”
Hondo withdraws his hand dramatically. “No one to fight? Then I am not interested! Hondo only steals women!”
Despite herself, Shai laughs out loud. Full of it as he might be, this idiot Weequay was brightening her crappy day. Hondo seems to realize this and leans on the bar with a grin. Part of Shai felt certain she could almost ask for a ride back to Mandalore on his shiny new ship, but then again he was a Weequay pirate… they were notoriously untrustworthy and she was just as likely to find herself at the opposite end of the galaxy.
“What a pity,” Hondo sighs. “And there I was thinking we were about to embark on a galaxy ending romance, the kind that you only hear sung about in legends.”
“Or scrawled on lavatory walls.”
“Please!” Hondo gasps. “One man’s bathroom scrawl is a Weequay’s romance holo.”
“There’s an untapped market in the holo-movie market, Weeqquay romances and you’re all known to be the most passionate lovers,” Shai muses, burying a laugh.
Hondo shuffles closer, reeking of his leather jacket, spice, and the grease he uses in his plaits to get them to stay tidy. “Ah a woman of taste. You are familiar with the charms of my kind. Would you care to sample the best?”
Shai slid her hand higher up his arm and grinned into his face. “Only if your ship is nearby.”
“My ship is as close as- WHA!” Hondo startles as Shai curls her prehensile tail around his leg, startling him. “What the kriff is that?!”
Shai stared at him, clamping her hand on his arm to hold him in place. “You’re telling me you haven’t seen a woman with a tail before?”
Hondo recovers quickly, but still glances down at it as it works its way up his leg. “Madam you are full of… surprises! That’s… that is part of you. How remarkable,” he stammers, clearly thrown.
Shai lets her tail creep all the way up his waist and chest until it reaches his face, gently tickling the side of his face. “I’ve got plenty of other tricks up my sleeve.”
Hondo finally recovers enough to gently grasp the end of her tail and bury his face into it with a deep gasp of enjoyment.
“I for one can't wait to discover these tricks you speak of.”
“Lead the way handsome.”
Hondo slips his arm around her waist and steers her towards the door. “DON’T ANY OF YOU DARE INTERRUPT ME FOR AT LEAST AN HOUR. OR MORE. DEFINITELY MORE!”
“Yes boss,” his cronies roll their eyes from over at the dejarik table.
It takes several minutes for their pair to cross the space port to the docking bay. Half way along Hondo pulls Shai into an alleyway pushing her up against the wall and diving in for a kiss. Shai’s tail uncurls to where she hid her blaster in her fur jacket on reflex before realizing the young Weequay was just excited and didn’t intend on murdering her in a dark alley. Shai pushed him back just enough to slow him down, surprised that he was rather good, too good to have only ever gone after his own species.
“I just realized I don’t even know your name Madam,” Hondo gasps, pulling away for a moment before attacking her neck with his pointed teeth but careful to avoid digging his facial horns into her bare shoulders.
Shai hears herself gasp in enjoyment, hardly believing she’s enjoying this but also aware of his greedy hands trying to crawl under the slit in her dress which she grabs and pulls away. “Shai,” she gasps before she can reply with her covert name. Shai hears her name leave her lips and kicks herself, realizing she’ll be easier to track down, not that she intends on keeping his ship.
“There’s a name I can moan,” Hondo mumbles into the curve of her neck.
“Not here! Do I look like a common tramp to you?” Shai gasps.
“No, just a very expensive tramp,” Hondo returns cheekily.
Shai stared at him, aware that any other man she would have knocked out for that comment and yet the laugh tumbles out of her instead. Hondo pulls away with a grin, pulling her with him in the direction of the space port.
The ship is small, but Shai is quick to gush about how fast and powerful it looks which of course Hondo plays right into hyping up its firepower which Shai can tell is a barefaced lie. Inside the ship Shai gets a good look at the dashboard- hyperdrive, single ion engine and forward gun turrets. More than enough to get her back to Mandalore.
Now how to get Hondo and the ship apart…
Hondo crashes into the captain’s seat and pulls Shai into his lap as they return to kissing, Hondo’s rough hands pushing the coat off her shoulders so he can nibble on the curve of her shoulder some more. Shai feels the weight of the blaster hidden in the lining that she can reach with her tail before she pulls away from Hondo.
“Hang on, hang on,” she murmurs, shrugging out of the jacket and putting it between them. “I think it’s fair we disarm before we go further.”
“Oh of course,” Hondo nods, shuffling under her to unstrap the holster around his skinny hips.
Shai holds up the small blaster hidden in the lining which Hondo makes a noise of appreciation at as he finally gets the buckle of his holster undone. “Very nice. A powerful blaster for a young lady.”
Shai drops it on the durasteel floor with a clatter as he does the same with his blaster holster. Shai digs the small dagger hidden in her knee-high boots which she displays to Hondo who nods in approval, before removing his own dagger from its holster on his leg. Followed by another much smaller blaster, another dagger, a round of disintegration shells designed to fit a rifle, some magnetized grenades, some rounds for a slug rifle from one of his pockets and a poison dart gun that he assures her isn’t loaded from the inside chest pocket of his jacket.
“Is that it?” Shai chuckles, aware that if they met while she was in armor they’d be going round for round who was carrying more weapons.
Hondo pats his chest frowning. “I am certain I had another blaster. One of my men must have stolen it… the scoundrels. I must give them a raise for pick-pocketing me without my knowledge.”
“That kind of skill must be rewarded,” Shai nods, feigning seriousness.
“I must say, where did you get such a fantastic coat?”
Shain grins as he picks it up from between them, burying his face in the black and white mottled fur. “I stole it,” she grins, which was true. Silly bitch of a Pantoran who was dripping in jewels at the Fathier races who was stupid enough to tell Shai she didn’t belong in the lady’s bathroom in the VIP section. She didn’t, she was there chasing a mark, but that was beside the point.
“What a coincidence! I stole mine too!” Hondo exclaims.
Shai runs her hands along the smooth leather realizing it wasn’t bantha but shaak skin based on how clean and smooth the leather was. Shai ran her fingers along the designs on the collar, certain they were traditional Nabooena runes. “This is magnificent,” she purrs. “Can I try it on?”
“Only if I can try yours on,” Hondo smirks at her.
“Seems fair,” Shai chuckled, slipping off his lap.
Hondo eagerly, almost too eagerly, shrugs out of his coat and accepts the fur, wrapping it around his shoulders with a dramatic cry. Shai pulled the jacket on, marveling that it was the perfect size to wear over her armor minus the pauldrons of course. Hondo meanwhile is enthralled by the fur coat, twirling around the ship gleefully. Shai watched him with a broad grin, imagining the snotty Pantoran she stole it off and the horrified look on her face at a Weequay pirate wearing her coat.
“Its magnificent! As my dear mother would say, it looks better on me than it did the naked nexu who's now running around out there,” Hondo declares.
Shai chuckled at that comment watching Hondo stroke the fur almost affectionately. Despite the ridiculousness of a Weequay Pirate wearing a silky white fur coat, Shai had to agree it did look good on him.
“Almost as good as this looks on me” Shai replied, flapping the jacket out. “I mean it looks a bit out of place with your pirate garb, they might laugh on Nar Shaddaa you know.”
“Well then we trade that too!”
“What?”
Hondo stared at Shai like it was the most obvious solution. “I’m getting you out of that dress anyways so you might as well take it off now.”
Shai stared at him for a moment before nodding, knowing when to concede defeat as she shrugs out of the jacket and hangs it on the back of his chair. Now that was a good line, she thought before holding her hands up so he could see them before pulling one of her favorite party tricks- using her tail to unzip the dress. Hondo’s smug grin drops off his face in time with her dress hitting the floor, seemingly by the force. Shai steps neatly out of the dress with a small gesture of ‘tadaa!’
“Neat trick huh?” Shai grinned, putting her hands on her hips.
Hondo was still staring. Shai shook her head in amusement before clicking her fingers. “Eyes are up here Captain.”
Hondo startles, looking at her face before his eyes drag away before making a noise that was somewhere between a gasp and squeak. “Magnificent! Never have I seen such a trick!”
“I learnt it as a courtesan for the Heitara clan,” Shai says, surprising herself that she would willingly offer him a grain of truth about her past. He was definitely getting under skin which definitely meant it was time to leave.
Hondo makes a noise of appreciation. “Some of the best. They are known for their brutal tactics but their women….”
Shai bent down and picked up the dress, pushing the feelings about the clan aside before offering it to him. He clearly knew what he was talking about. “Go on. Your turn.”
Hondo snatches the dress off her before hurriedly shrugging out of his clothes. Shai picked up his jacket again and pulled it on, before watching the Weequay shed his clothes before struggling to get into the dress. After a moment, Shai tutted before stepping over to help him.
“Please be gentle, that’s Nemoidian silk,” she mutters.
“Apologies, apologies. It feels magnificent,” Hondo exclaims appreciatively.
Shai is reaching for the zipper when there’s sudden banging on the hull of the ship followed by the other Weequay yelling his name. “GO AWAY! IM BUSY!” Hondo yells while being zipped into a Nemodian silk gown.
“HONDO! ARE YOU IN THERE WITH THAT GIRL?”
“HONDO WE NEED MORE BEER CREDITS!”
“HONDO WE LOST AT DEJARIK!”
“HONDO THERE’S A DEVORIAN OUT HERE WHO'S LOOKING AT US FUNNY!”
Hondo, now dressed in a satin gown with a fabulous fur coat shrugged around his shoulder’s sighs dramatically. “Children! They are like children! Mummy this, mummy that! Hondo is not your mummy!”
“Go tell your children to go away,” Shai smirks at him.
Hondo stares at her for a moment, his eyes widening. Shai rests her hands on her hips, the coat parting as Hondo’s gaze trails down her naked body with his mouth hanging open.
“You heard me,” she purrs with a glint in her eye. “If you want any of this…”
Hondo meets her gaze before clearing his throat with a look of determination in his eyes. The Weequay straightens up with a yell, barrelling for the doorway, slamming his fist against the door button. The door whisks open and his men’s eyes turn to platters as Hondo barrels down the steps yelling at them for interrupting him, while dressed in a slinky gown and fur coat while the woman they saw at the bar stands in the doorway wearing nothing but Hondo’s coat and her knee high boots. Hondo keeps yelling about what lousy pirates they are and he wasn’t their mother as the woman watches from the doorway amused as his men clearly don't hear a damn word he says. Shai bends down and tosses his hat and holster at his feet, startling Hondo from his tirade.
“Pleasure doing business Hondo Ohnaka,” she grins before slamming the door shut.
The Weequay pirates stare open-mouthed as the ship fires up and rises up into the air before ripping upwards into the sky and vanishing. The pirates stare between the sky and their captain, still not quite processing what their captain is wearing and what just happened.
“That’s our ship! Stop her!”
“She stole our ship!”
“Why are you wearing her dress?”
“Hondo! She stole our ship!”
Hondo starred up into the darkened sky in the direction his newly acquired ship just vanished to, his eyes wide with affection. “I know.”
Several rotations later, Hondo received a private comm with the coordinates to a remote location where she stashed his ship. When he found it the ship had been cleaned and there was a note on the dash apologizing and promising to buy him a cold beer the next time they met.
He never did get that jacket back, but then again neither did she….