#exocron

[W]ith a gesture, he directed Lando and me to follow him back out to the Thrusterburn where he ordered a round of drinks and took an oddly long first sip. Despite his nonchalance, the assassination attempt had clearly spooked him.

“Well.” He finally declared, “now you intrigue me. And I find things that interest me to be very  much worth my time.”

“Like Rastus Khal.” Lando remarked.

“Who?”

“He’s a character from the Adsila saga.” Lando raised an eyebrow,  “ancient Corellian mythology, you see.  He always made time for that which interested him. You remind me of him.”

“I will have to revisit the saga.” Bombaasa replied looking impressed, “I do not remember this Rastus figure. Now I must ask, what payment do you demand for your actions?”

“For saving your life?” I asked innocently, “for foiling a multi-layered assassination plot with my hands tied behind my back after having my ship boarded and nearly being executed under false pretenses?”

Lando, placed a hand on my shoulder warningly.

 "I just don’t want to face down a vengeful Jedi Master if something happens to you.”

I snorted again, “sure. That’s a real worry.”

“You don’t think he’d be upset?”

“If Luke Skywalker cared about what I was up to, he could have come on this jaunt.”

“Would you have been any nicer to him than you have been to me?”

I thought of Skywalker skipping out on the dinner he’d invited me to.

“Probably not.” I admitted.

Calrissian shook his head, “okay, let’s see what this ship can do against those asteroids.”

“You mean let’s see what I can do.”

“No, the ship. I know you’ll do fine. It’s your paint job I’m worried about.”

“Thanks.” I turned back to the panel. 

“Looks like we’ve got something to prove then,” I said quietly to the Fire, “let’s do this.”

Carefully, I advanced into the asteroid field.

“Do you want help?”

“You offering?” I didn’t take my eyes off the viewport.

“Would I have asked if I wasn’t?”

“I guess not,” I gestured at the ceiling, “you know where the gun router switches are. Switch the turbos to the co-pilot’s panel and hit anything that I don’t seem to be clearing.

“So you’re making it my job to protect your paint.” He said as he slid into the copilot seat next to me.