((Previously, The Princess and the Pod))

Eedy was staring at him.

Wulfric hated it when she did that.

He had a splitting headache, and as much as he hated to admit it, this time his protocol droid probably wasn’t responsible.  As he struggled to remember the events of the night before, he took a moment to survey his surroundings.  He was lying next to the edge of an unfamiliar bed, and from the looks of things he was in some sort of seedy motel room.  The holo-viewer was bolted to the dresser which was in turn securely attached to the floor, likely a pointless gesture since it looked as if the last time it had been in working order was during the Great Hyperspace War.  Nearby was a three legged table that was covered in dozens of bottles in various states of emptiness, containing the spirits that were likely responsible for his current mental anguish.

Eedy was sitting on a stained chair in the corner next to the bed, occasionally tilting her head from side to side as she watched him pull him pull himself unsteadily to his feet.  “Mornin’ Eedy.”  As he ran his hand through his hair and scratched his head, he took another glance about the apartment hoping that something – anything, would jog his memory about the night before.

“Oh, good morning Master Wulfric!  I hope you had a pleasant rest.  Why, after the events of last night I’m surprised-“

Bleary eyed, Wulfric had a difficult time concentrating on what Eedy was saying.  It was if an entire herd of banthas had decided to take up residence in his head, and were currently taking lessons from an energetic Twi-lek tap-dancer.

“-and then, well I can hardly begin to describe it!  What she said certainly didn’t fall within the bounds of normal protocol, or what could be considered the behaviour of a proper lady-“

Suddenly his interest in Eddy’s meandering ramblings was renewed, and he believed he understood what had happened the day before.  Payday.  Once again, he glanced at the bottles that littered the nearby table.  If the labels were anything to go by, the pay must have been pretty decent since it wasn’t all cheap booze.

“-as for what proceeded afterwards, well my goodness!  You’d think that after all these years of companionship I’d have taught you at least something about proper etiquette-“
His eyes were still trying to focus, but at least he seemed to have found his balance.  Turning his head towards Eedy once more, he noticed that her ocular sensors were glowing more brightly than usual.  The realization hit him like a wookie’s fist.

“Eedy, are you recording me?” he yawned as he looked about wearily for his shirt.

“-and then the Mirialan dancing girl had the gall to ask me to leave!  Expect me to leave you and go off on my own in this part of the city?  Why that’s just-“

“EEDY!”  Finding his shirt hanging from one of the bedposts, he struggled to fit it over his head as rapidly as his aching limbs would allow.

“Yes Sir?”  She had evidently been so caught up in her story that she had completely forgotten to pay attention to her audience.

“Why are you still recording me?”

“Oh, this sir?”  Eedy seemed genuinely confused.  “Last night you asked me to record-“

“I’m damn sure I didn’t-“

“-you as soon as you awoke, so that you could review your previous assignment.”

“Oh.  Riiiight.”  He was blushing slightly now, and looking at his flushed face in the mirror he couldn’t help but be reminded of his hidden Zeltron heritage.

“You said Sir that you wished to try something new.  Though now that I mention it, last night you said the same thing to that Mirialan woman-“

“EEDY!  My pants?”

“Under the bed Sir.”

“Thank you.”

To the average sentient it would have been clear that his reply was lacking in sincerity, but as was her nature, Eedy took the statement at face value.

“Oh, you’re perfectly welcome Master Wulfric!  Would you care to get started?”

As he sighed, he nodded to Eedy in the affirmative, taking a seat next to the booze covered table.  Since it didn’t appear as if his headache was going anywhere, he may as well let the effects of the old drink fight the effects of the new and hope it all worked out in the end.  From the looks of things the Corellian Ale was about the make the first assault, and some expensive Chandrilan brandy would serve as the backup.  After taking a swig of the brandy, he motioned for Eedy to begin.

“Well sir, what did you think of the overall result of the mission?”

By now he was beginning to remember why the Brandy had survived the night’s festivities.  Chandrilan drinks never set well with him.

“We’re alive aren’t we?”  Since the bottle was already in his hand, it probably wouldn’t hurt to take another swig.  “The syndicate seemed happy enough with the state of the ship, though we did need to shell out more than a few credits to pay for repairs, but thankfully the reward more than made up for it.”  As he silently counted the number of bottles in front of him, he suspected that after last night his paycheck had shrunken even smaller.  “By the way, the Mirialan, where did she . . . ?”

“I believe back to the cantina Sir, she mentioned something about an upcoming shift, and she was unable to wake you.   I was tempted to call emergency services, but she reassured me that-“

“Alright Eedy, I get it.  Next question.”  He believed he was coming around to liking the brandy after all, and once more he brought the bottle to his lips.

“What are your thoughts about the situation with Princess Y’sanne?”

As soon as she mentioned the Falleen’s name the bottle dropped to the floor and he involuntarily spit out the brandy that he had been savouring.  Fortunately for Eedy, she was sitting outside of the splash zone.

“I hope I never see that insane dame again!”  He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth.  If anything his feelings towards her were completely the opposite.  Maybe he was still feeling the effects of her pheromones, but now that Eedy had reminded him of her, he couldn’t get Y’sanne out of his head.  However, considering the manner in which they parted ways, a pleasant future meeting was likely out of the question.  She was probably still under the impression that he had tried to kidnap her, and had likely already put a considerable bounty on his head.  Or at least the head of a Kuati Baron named Kal-manach.  If a baron of that name actually existed . . . well, he’d be in for a very unpleasant surprise.

“Likewise Master Wulfric.  I saw what she did to the interior of that ship – If I hadn’t been safely with you in the cockpit, why I would have been shot to pieces, blasted into who knows what!  Why-“

“You’d have been fine Eedy.  I’m pretty sure that her sights were set on me, and me alone.”  Not that he could blame her, had their situations been reversed he’d probably have done the same.  The only difference would be that his bounty would be woefully small in comparison.  Maybe he should think about starting a savings account . . .  “Next question.”

“Well Sir, now that you’ve had a night to sleep on it, what will you do about the situation with Brogo?”

“Oh yeah, the Hutt . . . “  Though he’d dealt with Hutts before, until this last mission he had only known about Brogo by way of reputation.  “That’d be a second bounty for our illustrious Baron . . . luckily Hutts tend to think that most humanoids look alike, and I don’t think Brogo is the most perceptive of Hutts.  Not that I think it’d be a good idea to run into him again anytime soon.”   Since the brandy bottle had shattered into a thousand pieces on the floor, it was time to sample something else.  Menkooroo whiskey looked like an excellent choice, sadly there was only about an inch or so of the drink remaining.

“Quite right Sir, Hutts are not the most lenient of sentients.”

With a single burning gulp the Whiskey was gone, and Wulfric didn’t spy anything else on the table that caught his interest.  “You’re right on that one my dear.  Anything else Eedy?”

“Just one final thing Sir, during the night I received a secure transmission from your new employer, but you were, ah, otherwise engaged at the time.”   She stumbled over the last part of her comment before continuing, “It appears that the Syndicate will be requiring the services of your ship, some sort of salvage mission I believe.  Truth be told, the message was rather scant in the details Sir, but I believe it would be prudent to have the ship prepared to take off at a moment’s notice.”

“No rest for the wicked it seems,”  pulling himself up from the table, he began to move towards the doorway.  He made sure to step lightly around broken glass, and was relieved to discover that he didn’t have to look very far to find his boots.  Eedy began to follow, with the crisp crunch of crushed glass breaking beneath her feet.  “Let’s get a move on Eddy, we still need to tinker with that skragging power converter.” 

As he opened the door and stepped shakily into the musty smelling hall, he called back to the following droid, “Eedy, be a dear and grab that leftover Rodian Rum.  I have a sneaking suspicion it’ll come in handy. “

With one final backwards glance, he made his way towards the nearest.   As Eedy trundled to catch up, he noticed that her eyes were still shining brightly.

“Dammit Eedy!   Turn off that blasted recorder!”  As he spoke, he grabbed the Rum bottle from the droid’s silver hands.

Making their way outside, he eyed the little bit of liquid amber that remained.   Sighing, he drank the remaining mouthful before tossing it towards the nearest garbage receptacle.  He couldn’t help but think that running out of liquor before noon was an ominous way to start the day.

((Next, Utterly Unsalvageable))