Odette walked down the corridor of The Gambit. She slid her hand down the paneling as she made her way to the cockpit. She didn't doubt Corso set the right coordinates for Taris but it had been so long since she'd been close and personal with her baby, she wanted to make sure everything had the once over Fabizan had promised.
The lights blinked and the nav-computer sat at standby but the cockpit was empty. She squealed a little when she pressed the engage hyperdrive combination and the ship shuddered only slightly as her engines engaged and the field of stars ahead lengthened out to brilliant streaks of light rushing by.
She returned to the corridor that housed most of the crew quarters. She was nearly back to where she'd left Risha and the cargo hold when she finally found Corso. He'd found the smallest crew bunk on the ship and had somehow managed to fit his large frame into the small space along with his duffle.
Odette smiled and shook her head. "What are you doing?"
Corso turned around so fast he smacked his forehead against the frame of the doorway.
"Oww," he said, holding his head. "What does it look like? I'm getting my stuff put away."
"And out of all the of bunks left available on the ship you chose this? The one Nico put me in when I was six years old."
"Well, it was empty and you said—"
She bent over and grabbed the sleeve of his jacket and pulled him out of the small room. Once he got on his feet, she took his hand and pulled him down the corridor.
"This one is Nico's. Apparently, this one's Risha's. This one's mine, and this—"
She pressed the door panel for the bunk next to hers.
"This one is empty," she said, her hand indicating the much larger room than the one that he'd been in.
"But this one is next to yours," he said.
"And?"
"Well...I...thought, maybe—" he sputtered.
Odette rolled her eyes. "Do you have any plans to make any indecent advances towards me? Do you plan on slicing into my room while I'm sleeping and taking advantage of me?"
Corso's face turned a few different colors of purple and red at her suggestions. "No!"
"Ok, then. Here's your bunk. Go get your stuff."
He turned a sharp 180 degree turn and hurried back to his original bunk to get his things.
Odette frowned. While she was trying to be funny, his over-the-top reaction to any sexual suggestion between them bothered her a little. Was she really that unattractive? She hadn't thought so until he'd come along. Most humanoid males that preferred humanoid females always seem to try to get her attention. Even Darmas, though she was sure he had ulterior motives, seemed more than satisfied with her company and her bed. And for a while there, Corso seemed to get awfully prickly every time Darmas put the moves on her. Now that Darmas wasn't going to be an issue, she wasn't interesting anymore?
Corso came back with his arms full of his stuff and dumped it on the bed. He undid the buttons on his jacket top and pulled it off exposing the clean lines of his muscled back well outlined under his tank top. He turned and caught her staring. "Do you mind?"
"Not very well, usually."
"I mean,...nevermind."
"Did you need help with anything?"
"I really don't have that much stuff. Too used to moving around," he said, looking around the room. He sighed and sat down on his bed. "Do you ever get tired of moving around, Captain? I mean, have you ever wanted something, I don't know, normal? Husband, kids, someone to take care of you?"
Odette bit her lip. "What does that even mean—normal? Or at least I have no idea the kind of normal you're talking about. This is my normal. The Gambit is my normal. Before Nico found me, the only things I can remember is scrounging for food and staying away from the older kids and the adults so they wouldn't hurt me. Here I had a bed, food, clothes, warmth, safety and someone that loved me and took care of me. What you're describing—I guess it sounds nice but I wouldn't know the first thing about it."
In the course of her little speech, Corso had stood up and listened while she talked. He looked into her eyes and took a step towards her. Before she knew what he was doing, he'd wrapped his arms around her and held her to his chest. "I'm sorry."
Odette melted into him. She wasn't sure what he was apologizing for but at that moment she really didn't care. She wrapped her arms around him and held herself there for as long he'd let her. Hugging her father had always been nice though Nico hadn't been a huge hugger. But hugging Corso, this was different, in a totally different galaxy different, and she closed her eyes, willing the water that threatened to pool there to stay away.
"I think someone nipped my Alderaanian sunset whiskey," Nico said as he walked past the open bunk door. "I can't find it."
The two jumped apart and Odette smoothed down her jacket.
"Thanks, Corso," she said, her voice a bit huskier than normal. "I think I'll go get freshened up and in my normal clothes before helping Nico. The Force forbid he lose any of his whiskey."
She walked out of Corso's bunk and took a glance back before going into her bunk. He looked down at his bed, rubbing the back of his neck.
Risha looked up from her console in the cargo old at Odette with a smile on her face like the feline that had eaten the nerfcalf. Odette ignored it for about five minutes.
"What?" Odette demanded.
"Oh, nothing. Unless nothing has something to do with a certain backwater planet space stud," Risha said.
"Oh, please," Odette said. "I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You don't have to play coy with me," Risha said. "I can see it written all over your face when he's around. It's just too bad he's as dense as a gas giant's vapor cloud." Risha inspected her nails. "Of course, in my experience, most men are. You'd have to hit them over the head with the butt of your blaster to get them to see what's right in front of them."
"Even if you're right, and I'm not saying you are," Odette said, trying to mimic Risha's cool facial expression. "I don't have time for such nonsense. I'm surprised you haven't been the first to point out we have a whole cargo hold worth of shipments to make, plus Rogan the Butcher on my tail. The last thing I need is...whatever it is you're suggesting."
"Flirtation. Love. Raw, animalistic sex," Risha said. "Which can be quite fun if you're with the right partner."
"That's not really his sty--...hmph," Odette said folding her arms.
Risha smirked and shook her head. "Been a while, captain?"
"Actually no," Odette said. "Not that it's any of your business, and not with him, if you must know."
"Oh, I didn't think so. There's a certain light in the eyes that shine when a man gets taken care of in the right way by a woman who knows what she's doing."
Odette laughed at the idea of Corso wandering around The Gambit with that look in his eyes, though it occurred to her it would only be funny if it was her that put it there.
"Now, let's get down to business," Risha said. "Taris, the galaxy's biggest graveyard. Some lunatic leveled it centuries ago and now all it has is skeletons, ruins and man-eating creatures."
