Villain (Rex)

25

Tw: Violence.

"Sorry, I know I said you had a couple rotations off, but some pirates are acting up on Florrum," Anakin apologetically said in the briefing room. "It's Hondo and his crew again. They intercepted a shipment of Republic cargo and we have to go get it back."

Rex rolled his eyes. "I hate him."

"Well we have to get the supplies back, mostly to assert dominance over the pirates so it doesn't happen again. If we let it slide they'll think they can get away with it." Anakin ran a hand through his hair. "Oh, and Rex?"

"Yes, sir?"

Anakin patted Rex's back. "I heard about you and Kara. Congratulations! It finally happened. I thought you were just going to pine after her forever."

Rex bristled indignantly. "I wasn't going to pine forever! I didn't even like her for that long!"

"Uh-huh." Anakin crossed his arms over his chest in amusement, a tiny smile toying at his lips. He shook his head with a chuckle. "Just go get Kara, Fives, and Echo. We only need a small group for this. I'm making Ahsoka stay behind so she can learn I do have the power to do so."

"Only a small group?" Rex repeated, adjusting the arm holding his helmet to his side.

"Yes, Rex. It's only negotiations." Anakin frowned. "And I can charm my way through them. We both know I'm a smooth-talker."

"Unfortunately so," Rex quietly said, thinking of a certain senator.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Anakin demanded, but Rex had already slipped from the room.

Things went as expected. Anakin stepped forward to talk. Fives grabbed a drink. Rex and Echo tried to wrangle Fives. Pirates started flirting with Kara. Kara beat up some pirates that wouldn't take no for an answer. Hondo got upset that his crew was getting attacked.

So Hondo attacked.

"This is your fault!" Kara screamed at Anakin over the sound of blaster fire.

"You were the one who threw that guy over your shoulder!" Anakin yelled back, ducking behind a storage crate.

"Well you should've told Hondo not to let his pirates use terrible lines on me!" Kara fished around for a rock or something to throw at him, but Rex grabbed her wrist, shaking his head with disapproval.

"We don't need to fight!" Hondo shouted over everything. "Just toss your weapons over here and we can talk things through!"

Anakin nodded, and his side lowered their blasters, but didn't throw them away. Hondo's crew stopped firing and stepped back. One pirate blew a kiss at Kara, and she launched herself at him. Rex caught her and held her against him so she didn't destroy the temporary truce.

"We want our supplies back," Anakin said with a friendly smile. "Then we'll leave you to yourselves."

Hondo put a finger on his chin as he pretended to think about it. "I don't know... Those weapons could be pretty useful to us."

"We could sweeten the pot," Kara offered.

"What are you doing?" Anakin hissed under his breath at her.

"You were doing terribly!" Kara snapped. "He was playing you like a hand of sabaac!"

"What do you have to offer?" Hondo smiled toothily at her. "Credits? Rations? A favour?"