A/N: Haven't managed to update for a while due to various RL obligations. Thank you to everybody who read and reviewed the last chapter.

KitFisto's Girl: Thanks :) I'm glad you're still enjoying the story.

Queen: Heh, Tula really doesn't know when to quit (or indeed when to flee the planet). Aurra sees instilling proper seething resentment towards the cruel, unfeeling universe is her maternal duty. Ruby however is very good at looking small and sad.

Aurora Luna 0Love This0: Always happy to entertain :)

Reulte: Thank you :) I'm glad you're enjoying the story.

Anahita Unduli II: Poor little Ruby. It would serve her parents right if she decided to eschew the criminal underworld and take up a career in floristry.

Coli Chibi: Am glad you're enjoying the story :)

Fandelivres: Thanks for commenting (you're English is a lot better than my French). Aurra thinks that she's a perfectly good mother and is rather irked by the fact that nobody else seems to agree with her on this point.

Ash Veran: Heh, poor Hondo. I fear however that he brings it all on himself.

-o0O0o-

Since becoming the leader of a band of Weequay brigands Hondo Ohnaka had engaged a wide variety of strange, bizarre, exotic, morally dubious and outright illegal activities(1). Despite this, he had never before been required to formally join two beings in matrimony. As the Captain it was technically his job. However, relationships between the pirates in his gang tended to be based more on 'informal agreements'(2) than public commitments; and thus it was an activity of which his knowledge was entirely second hand(3).

Still, if there was one thing that he enjoyed it was playing to an audience and so it was with a grin and a gleam in his eye that he surveyed the beings assembled in the bar to watch the wedding of Sholto and Tula. There was aunt Hyarsinth, as stern and pinched faced as ever; his finest warriors, in various stages of drunkenness; Pilf Muk Muk outdrinking the lot of them; and Aurra, looking for all the galaxy as though the whole thing was a spectacle being put on for her personal amusement.

He cleared his throat. "Marriage is a very fine and honourable institution."

There was a round of snickering from the drunken pirates, to which Aunt Hyarsinth responded with a disapproving scowl. The fact that the gratuitous consumption of ale was a staple of traditional Weequay marriage ceremonies meant that she couldn't outright complain. However, that didn't mean that she had to like it.

"Yes, yes, a very honourable institution. It's about commitment and tradition and ..." he paused, struggling to think if marriage had any other purposes. It was not, after all, a state that he himself had ever considered entering into. Then inspiration struck "It's about bringing families closer together." This was no, of course, no mere platitude; Hondo was very keen to bring the 'Ohnaka Gang family' closer to the Coruscanti family's liquid assets.

His grin widened. "As my sweet mother always used to say—"

The wisdom that he was about to impart was cut off when Ruby started to cry. Sholto, who was holding the little one as though she might explode at any minute, looked desperately around.

"Oh, give her to me," said Tula snappishly, clearly wanting the whole disagreeable event to be over as soon as possible.

Sholto eagerly handed the infant over; a move that caused Ruby to cry even louder. For this, Hondo didn't blame her one bit. Tula was reeking of a particularly obnoxious brand of floral-scented perfume.

Thankfully for the eardrums of all assembled however, after a few moments of inconsolable wailing, Ruby became enthralled with the bright, glittering accessories Tula had attached to her wig.

"Where was I?" he said.

"You were committing them to an institution," Aurra called out, looking thoroughly entertained.

There was a roar of laughter from the pirates. Tula scowled and quietly muttered something about not being the one who needed to be institutionalised.

"Something that your mum said," said Sholto.

"Ah yes. As my sweet mother always used to say when asked why she'd married my father: 'Well, you can't pull the Mid Rim Gem Hoard Con by yourself, can you? And that, I think, says it all. There are some jobs that you can't pull without a reliable partner." He then recalled that his own father had never really been on familiar terms with the concept of 'reliability'. "Well, a partner, at least. And many would argue that raising a child is one of them."

He risked a glance at Aunt Hyarsinth and was relieved to see that her nodding her head approvingly. Time, he thought, to wrap the whole thing up and let the gang get down to some serious drinking(4).

"So Sholto, do you agree to marry this woman."

For moment Sholto eyed Tula, clearly having second thoughts about the matter. Then the young Weequay shrugged. "Yes, Boss."

"Excellent. Now Tula, do you agree to marry this man."

Tula gave an ill-natured sigh and opened her mouth to speak. However, as her lips began to form the words 'I do', something happened. Something that was about to throw all of Hondo's cleverly orchestrated deceptions into disarray.

Obi Wan Kenobi walked through the bar door.

-0-

(1)Sometimes all at the same time.

(2)Though it would be a mistake to conflate 'informal' with 'casual'. Such arrangements frequently had a very distinct undertone of: 'If you so much as look at another sentient being I'll slit your throat and steal your loot'.

(3)... and almost entire derived from the gatecrashing, looting and pillaging of upscale Outer Rim wedding receptions.

(4)While most beings would doubtless class the previous hour's booze consumption as an 'almighty binge', to the pirates of the Ohnaka Gang it had constituted nothing more than a little light merry making.

-o0O0o-

As she watched the whole ridiculous charade play out, Aurra couldn't help but be a little impressed by the way that Hondo had managed to get everyone to play along. Tula Coruscanti could, of course, be bribed to do more or less anything that wasn't dangerous or out and out unhygienic. But the fact that he'd got his entire gang in on the act was quite something.

She herself was playing along partly because the situation amused her, partly because she liked the idea of Hondo being indebted to her(1) and partly because she actually liked Hondo.

Liking Hondo was an inconvenient habit that Aurra had never quite managed to quit. She always told herself that she'd come and claim the bounty on his head if the price was right, but it hadn't happened yet, despite the rather generous offer Urgo the Hutt had once made(2). Aurra suspected that the sentiment was mutual, but couldn't quite guess the price at which he'd sell her out. She would, she knew, be furious if the sum in question was less than seven figures.

"Make a funny-looking couple, don't they?" muttered a nearby Weequay. Even for a pirate he looked hard-bitten, with one arm, one eye and what was obviously a false leg.

She snorted. "A half-wit and a schutta."

The pirate cracked a gap toothed smile. "Ere, didn't you lock the Coruscanti woman a box once?"

She shrugged. "She was the only person small enough to fit in it."

Her gaze then fell on her daughter who – seemingly unbothered by the noise and commotion – was industriously trying to pull the baubles off Tula Coruscanti's hideous turquoise wig. Such an acquisitive little girl, she thought fondly. If she could just be brought to realise that the best way to obtain bright shiny objects was with the aid of a blaster and the right underworld contacts then all would be well. However, as her thoughts began to drift – as they often did these days – to thoughts of Baby's First Rifle and matching mother and daughter holsters, a man walked through the door.

It took her half a second to register the lightsaber and another half a second to duck behind a partition. Then, blaster at the ready, she waited and listened.

-0-

(1) Aurra being Aurra, it hadn't occurred to her that she might be indebted to him for hauling her half-dead body out of the wreckage of Slave 1.

(2) Though to be fair, the fifty-thousand credits she'd subsequently claimed for Urgo's carcase had been a lot of money for very little effort.

-o0O0o-

"Kenobi, what are you doing here?" Hondo forced as much joviality into his voice as he could, but under the surface panic was starting to set in. He wasn't sure what he was more afraid of: Aunt Hyarsinth finding out that Ruby was not the progeny of Sholto and Tula, or Aurra finding out that Kenobi already knew about Ruby's existence.

"Oh, it's quite simple. I've come to escort Miss Coruscanti to a tribunal at the galactic senate."

"Galactic Senate," Tula squeaked, terrified. As far as Hondo was concerned however her fate was a far less dreadful fate than the one that he was currently envisioning for himself.

"Senator Dee Bell's been indicted for corruption. You're a witness, apparently."

"Apparently?" Tula's tone of voice went from terrified to incensed.

"I don't know the specifics, but Senator Amidala seems to have obtained evidence to suggest that you know something about Dee Bell's less savoury habits."

"She should know, she's one of them," crowed one of the pirates. Hondo could see that his men were enjoying the scene far more than he was. For a split second he considered ordering them to fire on Kenobi. If they shot en masse one of them was bound to hit. Then he thought about the general carnage and complication it would cause and thought the better of it. Besides, it wasn't as if he had any particular desire to kill the Jedi. Steal his lightsaber and any valuables he might be carrying, maybe. But not kill him.

"Hondo, do you know this man?" demanded Aunt Hyarsinth.

"Him?". He gave a short and rather forced laugh. "This is just Obi Wan Kenobi. He's an old friend of mine."

Kenobi raised an eyebrow. "Friend? The first time I came here I was drugged, imprisoned and electrocuted. I have to say that you have a very strange definition of friendship."

"Oh that." Hondo made a dismissive gesture. "That was just business. It was nothing personal."

"Yes, so you said." The Jedi visibly rolled his eyes. "Look Hondo, I've not come to reminisce about times past. I'm merely here to collect Miss Coruscanti."

"You want me to turn her over to you?" For a second Hondo mentally debated what he could demand in exchange for Tula's handover. Despite the perilous nature of the situation, he was still Hondo Ohnaka. Before he could come to a firm conclusion on the matter however, Aunt Hyarsinth took the decision from him.

"You can't take her away yet. They're not married."

"Married?" Kenobi scrutinised the bride and bridegroom in turn, clearly wondering why a high class tart like Tula Coruscanti would pledge herself to a callow young Weequay pirate like Sholto. "Those two?"

"Because of the baby," blurted out Sholto, clearly unable to stand the Jedi's gaze.

"What, that baby?" Kenobi pointed to Ruby, who responded by giving the Jedi a happy, gurgling smile. Hondo's little girl, it seemed, enjoyed playing to an audience almost as much as her father did... well, mostly did. At this particular moment the thought of quietly fading into the background held a certain appeal.

"That's right," mumbled Sholto. Had Weequay been capable of blushing, Hondo had no doubt that that was what Sholto would be doing right now.

Kenobi turned his gaze on Hondo, his expression one of perplexity. Hondo responded by giving a subtle nod in the direction of his great aunt and looking at the Jedi imploringly. For a moment the Jedi looked puzzled, then a look of amused realisation seemed to dawn.

"So you see, you can't take her away until they're decently married."

"What?" Tula squealed. "You can't let him drag me back to Coruscant. We have an agreement."

"Yes, but it doesn't cover Jedi," he said, making an emphatic gesture. As soon as the words had left his mouth however, Hondo realised that he'd miscalculated.

Tula's nostrils flared. "Well, in that case, I'm done." Then she glared at him an evil, angry little smile tugging at her painted mouth. He could tell that she was trying to think of the most devastating way to declare the truth to Aunt Hyarsinth. Hondo inwardly cursed. There was no bribe he could offer without giving the game away himself. He doubted that any subtle threat on his part would work either. Despite the fact that he was the leader of one of the Outer Rims most infamous pirate gangs and could order her death with a snap of his fingers, he knew that she wasn't particularly scared of him.

Then inspiration struck. She might not be mortally afraid of him, but she was terrified of Aurra.

"Now Tula," he said, lowering his voice. "I don't think that you should anything that might upset your half-sister. You know how touchy she can be."

Tula scowled. "What the kriff are you—" As she reached mid-sentence, she crashed to a verbal halt, comprehension suddenly hitting.

For a few moments, her expression was one of agonised indecision. Then she straightened, handed Ruby to Hondo and turned to the Jedi and gave an indignant sniff.

"I'm not talking to anybody without my legal representative present."

Looking at her in the same way that one would a temperamental child who was up past its bedtime, Kenobi gave a snort of amusement and escorted her from the bar, ignoring both Aunt Hyarsinth's protests and Tula's declarations of her intent to sue.

For a while there was dead silence. Then Sholto cleared his throat.

"Do I still get to keep the speeder bike?"

-o0O0o-

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you almost caused me today?"

Ruby opened her eyes, regarded him with a placid, untroubled expression and then closed them again.

Smiling fondly in spite of himself, Hondo put her back into her bassinette, noticing as he did so that she was clasping something in her right hand. On coaxing it from her grasp, he saw that it was one of Tula Coruscanti's hair ornaments.

"Clever girl," he said, giving a chuckle.

"She gets it from her mother," said a female voice off to his side.

Hondo looked at Aurra sceptically, but decided that it was neither the time nor the place dispute this assertion and start listing her intellectual failings(1). To his relief she had not deduced that Kenobi had any prior knowledge of Ruby's existence(2). She had however expressed her extreme dissatisfaction about the fact that she hadn't been able to get a clear shot at Kenobi and obviously thought it extremely kind and self-sacrificing of her to refrain from shooting at him through Hondo (didn't he know that the Separatists had a one million credit bounty on Jedi?). Knowing that she wouldn't have hesitated to shoot through most other beings to achieve her aims, he did, despite himself, feel touched (not to mention relieved) by the fact.

"What are you going to do now?" he asked, no quite certain how he wanted her to respond. On the one hand the woman was magnet for trouble: destruction followed in her wake as if she was the goddess of some primitive death cult(3). On the other hand, he'd be sad to see Ruby go. In the ten days since their inauspicious introduction he'd grown very fond of her. Florrum was not, of course, a suitable place for a small child... but even so.

"I'm waiting for Bane."

"He's coming here?"

She shook her head. "I'll be meeting him on Nar Shaddaa"

"Something big?" he asked, interested.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Her tone was sultry, teasing. But there was a certain edge to voice that suggested that any further probing would be futile.

"So, what about her?" He nodded towards the bassinette, where Ruby was sleeping.

"I can leave her with the droid, or..." Her lips curved into a smirk.

"Or what?" he asked, suspiciously.

"Or I suppose I could leave her here for another few weeks." The smirk intensified. "In fact I think you were right, it's not safe to leave her alone with a droid for such a long time."

"Now, wait a minute," he protested. "You can't..." Then he trailed off, fully aware that he d didn't want the child to be left alone in an isolated, booby-trapped apartment with no company apart from an overly officious nanny droid. Muttering something in the Weequayan language that roughly translated as 'damnable woman whom I ought to have shot while I still had the chance' he scowled at her.

She merely smirked in the obnoxious – but annoyingly fetching – manner of one who knew that they had already won.

"Fine," he said. "But don't expect me to take her in every time you've got somebody to kill."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Aurra replied. "As soon as she's old enough to hold a blaster I can start taking her with me."

"Now wait a minute..."

As her parents launched into an argument about the proper age at which to introduce a child to the world of contract killing, Ruby dreamed. She dreamed of jewels and monkey lizards and all of the interesting, brightly coloured things that she'd be able to play with once she learned how to travel about on two legs.

-0-

(1)It was not that he thought her stupid. Stupid females were only ever of very transient interest to him(1a). It was more that she was more that her single-minded pursuit of prey sometimes crossed the line from relentless to idiotic.

(1a)And even then, his interest was limited to those who looked like they might stand a good chance of landing a starring role in the next Interspecies Pillow Fight holo.

(2)Though he suspected that he'd be having nightmares about rusty daggers for weeks.

(3)This was, in fact, technically true. An emergency crash landing nine years earlier had led to Aurra and Hondo becoming indelibly enshrined in the religious iconography of a pre-industrial species as: Pale Bringer of Death and He Who Takes Anything Not Nailed Down.