Xander Stargo's Story

Her sister had been promising to teach her how to shoot for weeks now, and after enough pestering Keira had finally gotten Harlin to agree to it. After arriving at a more secluded area in Ticon territory her sister had produced a blaster pistol and began to teach her the basics of how to hold, fire and reload the weapon. It had taken quite a bit of trial and error, but after a few hours of practice she was confident enough in her own ability to handle herself should the need arise to actually use the pistol. The one thing she had overestimated, it seemed, was the generosity of her sibling when it came to obtaining a weapon of her own.

Thankfully nothing had ever been said about borrowing.

Okay, well, maybe it was more like temporary theft, but they were a crime family anyway, so it wasn't that big of a deal. Besides, it wasn't like she really meant to shoot anybody. That's not what guns were useful for in the long run, at least, not if you were smart about it. If you knew what you were doing, you could get what you wanted just by flashing a blaster at the correct moment, and get where you wanted to go just by being armed in the first place. Murder wasn't something that had to happen, and paying close attention to how her father operated had only proven that to her. If he was able to get his way through thinly veiled threats and carefully spoken words, then so could she.

For awhile she and her friends had talked about what to do with her newfound 'persuasive ability,' but it hadn't taken long for them to find a target. Long-standing was the feud between Ticon and Stargo, and the children had become even more embroiled in the conflict, taking it far more personally than their parents ever had. It wasn't immediately obvious what Xander was doing on the street corner, but it didn't take much close observation to discern just what he was up to. When she pointed it out to her friends they couldn't help but laugh, each of them finding amusement in his attempt at what they say as playing their game.

She stopped walking just as soon as she reached the invisible boundary that separated their territory, and for a few seconds all she did was watch him, eyes squinting in the way that meant she was considering just how much trouble all of this was worth. "The fuck do you think you're doing, pushing product across to our side? You know how we feel about dealing in spice."

There were two types of people in Coronet City, the broke and the broken.

Then there were the Stargos.

The fifteen-year old Xander Stargo passed a small baggie to his latest customer, who didn't care to check the contents before burying it in his jacket and handing over a bundle of Galactic Alliance credits. Xander turned his back to the street, holding the bundle close to his body and shifting through them one at a time.

"Let me see, Xander! How much did we get?" Kiel, a tall Zabrak, questioned; reaching out to snatch the money

Xander slapped his hand away, hissing, "Keep your hands off, Kiel! I'm the one dealing the spice and that means I handle the creds!"

Kiel's face twisted sourly, cursing passed sharp teeth. The Zabrak, who was already missing two horns from past brawls, was not only three years Xander's senior but dwarfed him by about five inches. Still, he didn't say anything more and stepped back.

"Can we go to Poto's Diner now? I'm getting hungry..." Came the gluttonous snorting of Jab, a Gameroan three-year-old who managed to be both shorter than the rest of the trio, yet wider than all of them combined. He stood to Xander's left, rubbing his bulbous stomach and slobbering hungrily at the credits.

"No, we aren't going to the diner! Fier Fek, you people don't know anything about dealing, do you? We are sitting here and selling it all." of course Xander knew next to nothing besides what little his dad's lackeys had told him, but it seemed like a logical step.

"You are going to get shanked by a druggie if you keep this up. Sooner or later somebody is just going to want to take the shit from you." The third wheel, Chila, a female Chiss remarked with an unimpressed cock of her head; pushing aside her red dyed hair.

"That's why I paid you all to come along in the first place" Xander dismissed, turning back to the street, "you can all do what I paid you for or I can find-

"The fuck do you think you're doing, pushing product across to our side?" Xander's eyes shot across Blue Sky Boulevard, past the old signs that designated East from West and saw a familiar, unwelcome face. "You know how we feel about dealing in spice"

The girl walked to the edge of the highway, toes just barely touching the invisible barrier that barred both of them from coming into direct contact. Blue Sky Boulevard was the Great Wall of Corellia, it cut through the urban maze of Coronet City's Blue Sector. It was everything here and most gangs and families used it to mark their territory. It was not only East and West but North and South.

Stargo and Ticon.

"What's it to you, Ticon brat? Shouldn't you be back at your mansion, sucking on daddy's thumb?" Xander shot back over the highway, shoving the credits into the waist-long Corellian Freighters Grav-Ball jacket he was wearing.

"Big talk from the kid who's barely allowed outside as it is. Are you sure you don't want to run crying to your dad about how mean the people on the other side of the street are? I know this must be too much for you." The Stargos were very much the new kids on the block, and they would have to prove themselves far more before she began to so much as entertain the idea of taking them seriously. The sensation of a pistol pressed against her spine from where it rested in the waistband of her jeans was a dangerous reassurance as it was, and made her even more inclined to dismiss he and his friends as the outsiders she'd always seen them as.

"You're lucky someone over here hasn't killed you yet, or that one of your customers hasn't gotten pissed and stabbed the kid keeping them from their next hit. Hell, I would have already." That was Valsi, the Lethan Twi'lek whose skin erred on the darker side of red, nearly maroon. He was only a year or two older than Keira, but unlike Xander she didn't have to pay her friends to stick around.

"Where did you even get the drugs from, anyway? Not like you can even tell the difference between ryll and glitterstim. Do you even know what the hell you're selling?" Sola chimed in next, the female Mirialan who stood at her right, opposite of Valsi. Out of the three of them she appeared to be the least impressed, looking almost bored with the present scenario.

Despite their harsh words none of them set foot across the lines as they had been drawn, each wholly aware of the consequences should any territory be breached. They might have all just been kids, but none of them were careless enough to incite conflict over one rivalry that was taken far more seriously than it ought to have been. This was just their own way of posturing and establishing dominance, and it rarely escalated into anything beyond that.

"Why don't you do the smart thing for once and fuck off? We both know I could kick your ass anyway." And there was the main difference between Ticon and Stargo. Whereas Zev endeavored to pass on to his kids some air of refinement in the realm of the underworld, the Ticon children were highly encouraged to become independent at a young age, being able to mostly function by themselves on the streets. That didn't, however, mean she was allowed to carry a gun, but details were just that, and better left out of the equation.

"Take a hint, funtihruo. Your dad never wanted you around, and neither do we."

Raising an eyebrow, Keira couldn't help but laugh as Xander exploded in anger, continuing to toe the invisible boundary line. "We're the half-bred idiots? Last I checked the Ticons have been around. You guys have been here for what, maybe a decade? You don't have shit to claim as your own, not that your dad would let you anyway. When was the last time your name got you anything besides a kick in the head?" The Stargos were known as the bastards of Corellia for a reason, and no matter how ingrained into the fabric of things they became, none of them would ever really belong. And, of course, she and the rest of her siblings had no problem reminding them of that fact.

Sola raised a hand to cover her mouth as she laughed, dark eyes darting across the trio on the other side of the street. "Why don't you all just go back where you came from? It might save you more trouble in the long run. I don't think any of you want to get hurt."

The pressure of the blaster at her back became more noticeable then, and Keira reached back to run her fingers across the grip, not quite drawing it just yet. She really didn't want to shoot anyone, and besides, it wouldn't do any good to reveal her final trick before the time came. Xander had always talked a big game, but she wanted to see if for once he would actually back it up. It never occurred to her that she was playing at something kids really had no place in, because in her eyes this was just another piece of the puzzle that made up the underworld.

"Are you sure? It doesn't look like you can afford to lose any more brain cells." Valsi took another step forward, his eyes trained steadily on the Zabrak.

"Go on then, Xander. If you're a big kid now, prove it."